Convivio: translation
(The Banquet)
by Dante Alighieri
(1304–1307)
DANTE’s Convivio is an unfinished work in alternating verse and prose commentary that was apparently intended to bring the wisdom of philosophy to readers of vernacular Italian. Conceived metaphorically as a Convivio, or Banquet, the text was to offer separate courses in wisdom gleaned from the wisest of philosophers, in which a CANZONE of Dante’s was to be the “meat” of the meal, while his prose commentary on the poem was the meal’s “bread.” Dante originally planned 14 courses of alternating canzone and discussion, but completed only four books—an introductory tract and three “courses”—before he abandoned the text to focus on his DIVINE COMEDY.
Dante worked on the Convivio between 1304 and 1307. He includes canzoni that appear to be conventional love poems, but that, in his commentary, he interprets allegorically as being concerned with love for the personified Lady Philosophy. He asserts that, after the death of his beloved Beatrice as related in his VITA NUOVA (1292), the “gentle lady” he describes as consoling him was in fact the Lady Philosophy to whom these poems are addressed. Certainly the Convivio’s structure combining alternating passages of verse and prose owes something to the scheme for the Vita Nuova, but it also suggests the influence of The CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY by the fifth-century Roman philosopher BOETHIUS. That influence is also apparent in the personified Lady Philosophy and, of course, the philosophical subject matter itself. The extant text of the Convivio begins with an introductory book explaining his intent for the work, declaring that the vernacular language is appropriate for topics of moral and ethical significance— a point Dante argues more extensively in De VULGARI ELOQUENTIA and that he demonstrates conclusively in the Divine Comedy.He does mention that he is writing in an elevated style to give the text sufficient gravity to discuss these topics in Italian. In the second book, he discusses his canzone beginning Voi che ’ntendendo (You who through intelligence move the third sphere) in a 16-chapter commentary, and in the third he includes a 15-chapter discussion on his poem Amor, che ne la lente (Love, that speaks to me within my mind). These first two “courses” focus on the praise of Lady Philosophy. The fourth book, commenting on the canzone Le dolci rime d’amor (The tender rhymes of love), spends 30 chapters addressing the question of true nobility. It was a subject that Boethius had discussed. But Dante is clearly interested in other classical authors, including, most significantly Virgil.
Why Dante abandoned the Convivio is a matter of some debate. But it is a significant question, since the Convivio as projected would have been a huge work, judging from the length of the first four books. Perhaps his study of Virgil had inspired him to focus on his own epic-length poem. Perhaps the tacit rejection of the values of his Vita Nuova and his love for Beatrice in favor of philosophical discourse was not as interesting for Dante as his spiritual Comedy, in which Beatrice played a central role. Indeed, there are places in the Comedy in which Dante seems to reject his earlier work: In Canto II of the Purgatorio, for example, while Dante and others are listening to a recitation of the poem Amor, che ne la lente (second canzone of the Convivio), he is chastised by Cato and urged to run toward the mountain to begin his ascent of Purgatory. In the Paradiso, Beatrice twice corrects mistaken notions Dante had expressed in the Convivio (first, in Canto II, on the cause of spots on the moon; second, in Canto XXVIII, on the hierarchy of angelic orders). And there are other similar instances. Perhaps these passages imply that Dante had grown beyond his earlier work. Still, Dante’s readers have found the Convivio worthwhile. There are 30 extant manuscripts of the text, six of them from the 14th century. In addition, there was an early (1490) printed edition of the text in Florence, and three editions printed in Venice. The Convivio remains, for Dante scholars, the most interesting and significant transitional work between the Vita Nuova and the Divine Comedy.
Bibliography
■ Dronke, Peter. Dante’s Second Love: The Originality and the Contexts of the Convivio. Exeter: Society for Italian Studies, 1997.
■ Lansing, Richard H., trans. Dante’s Convivio (The Banquet). New York: Garland, 1990.