DGR clearly seems to have decided to translate this
sonnet to illustrate the kind of hostility that was directed at
Dante by his enemies in Florence. The sonnet refers to the key event of 1316, when Dante and
other Florentine exiles were offered pardons if a fine were paid and
public penance made in the Baptistry. Unlike some others,
Dante scorned the degrading terms—his reply was made in his famous
Epistola XII—and
he died in exile.
This collection contains 10 texts and images, including:
Early Italian Poets text.
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
DGR clearly seems to have decided to translate this sonnet to illustrate the kind of hostility that was directed at Dante by his enemies in Florence. The sonnet refers to the key event of 1316, when Dante and other Florentine exiles were offered pardons if a fine were paid and public penance made in the Baptistry. Unlike some others, Dante scorned the degrading terms—his reply was made in his famous Epistola XII—and he died in exile.
DGR's source was Trucchi's Poesie Italiana inedite (I.244).
Textual History: Composition
Probably an early translation, late 1840s.
Printing History
The translation was first published in 1861 in The Early Italian Poets; it was reprinted in 1874 in Dante and his Circle.