taught at Pisa and Perugia, and died in 1357. Less known, but eminent in their way, were Dinus (died 1303), Jacobus de Belvisio (died 1335), Johannes Andreæ, the eminent canonist, who drafted the statutes of the University of Bologna in 1317 (died 1348),* and Francesco da Barberino, the first person to receive the degree of Doctor of Laws at Florence.t Of these names, by far the most interesting is Cino or Cinus, whose Lectura super Codicem and Commentary on the Statutes of Pistoia won a place for him among jurists no lower than did his sonnet praise of Selvaggia among poets. He is not named in the “ Divina Commedia,” but his name occurs frequently in the “De Vulgari Eloquio," and there was a correspondence in sonnets between him and Dante, not in any way touching the subject of the law.! In his sonnets not addressed to Dante he, however, often combines very happily his poetical and legal powers. Take, for instance, two sonnets, one on the Court of Reason and one on Rome. (The translations are my own.) 2 is taken only fire s with the was the to for nt in the THE COURT OF REASON. A thousand doubts and pleadings in a day Are filed in Empress Reason's court supreme • Which of us twain hath been more faithful, say. The sail of fame on life's unhappy stream." I found what gall beneath thy sweetness lay.” Are these the thanks thou renderest, ingrate, Diritto; Irammi" rudenz" Tes nor se may nile of 49 Purg: * He is cited as an authority by our English Lyndewood. + In France the poet-lawyer Beaumanoir was a contemporary. He died in 1300. # Petrarch in his sonnet on Cino's death does not refer to him as a jurist. Nor does he in the sonnet in which he names Dante and Cino together (In Morte de M. Laura, xix.). “Thy left,” cried I, “ slew what thy right hand gave.” TO ROME. Tell me, proud Rome, why dost these edicts read, These many laws by prince or people made, Where thy unconquered sons their might displayed, But slavery not rule is now thy meed. And over foreign nations heldest rein, If thou and all thy fame no more exist? Devoted to man's laws, unjust and vain It is worth noticing that in the Trionfo d' Amore Petrarch couples the names of Dante and Cino, Beatrice and Selvaggia.t Another interesting name is that of Johannes de Virgilio, to whom Dante addresses two Eclogues. In the first he alludes to the unpoetic labour * This sonnet was imitated by Petrarch at the conclusion of the Canzone, Quell'antico mio dolce empio signore. It is an example of a style of verse very common in mediæval poetry. There are court scenes in “ Reynard the Fox” and in “Piers Plowman.” In Gerson's Traité contre le Roumant de la Rose (written in 1402) the author feigns that he is in a Christian Court, presided over by the Lady Canonical Justice and her assessors Mercy and Truth ; Chastity is the plaintiff, the amorous fool or foolish lover (le fol amoureux) the defendant. In Gavin Douglas' “Palace of Honour” the poet is put on his trial before the Court of Venus for a libellous poem and pleads to the jurisdiction that (a) ladies may not be judges; (b) the defendant, being a clerk, is not amenable to a lay tribunal. Many other instances will suggest themselves to those acquainted with the early poetry of Western Europe. The writer hopes at some time to pursue this subject further. + Ecco Dante e Beatrice ; ecco Selvaggia; Ecco Cin da Pistoia. Cap. iv., 31. as of the jurists of Bologna.* ()ther persons connected with Bologna and named by Dante are Franco Bolognese, the miniature painter, Guido Guinicelli, I Pier delle Vigne, s Accursius,|| Venedico Caccianimico, and Gratian.** The geography of Bologna was well known to Dante, one might expect when one knows that he resided there probably for two periods of his life, once as a student and once as an exile. The date of the first residence cannot be fixed, that of the second is placed by Scartazzini between 1304 and 1306. Bologna is frequently referred to in the “Divina Commedia" and other works, especially the “ De Vulgari Eloquio,” sometimes by name,tt sometimes by implication. He knows the leaning tower of Carisenda, to which he compares Antæus, 11 the Salsa-according to one interpretation-a valley near Bologna where the bodies of suicides were cast away,§§ and the frati godenti, |||| called from Bologna in 1266 to rule Florence; the institution of the arti is attributed to them by G. Villani. The word sipas also shews an intimate knowledge of the Bolognese dialect, as does the discussion on the dialect in the “ De Vulgari Eloquio.” * Montibus Aoniis Mofsus, Melibæe, quotannis Dum satagunt alii causarum jura doceri Ecl. i., 28. T. Wright, “ Political Songs,” 210. + Purg. xi., 83. Purg. xxvi., 92. § Inf. xiii., 58. ** Par. X., 104. |||| Inf. xxiii., 103. TT Inf. xviii., 61. This was a peculiar dialectic use of the affirmative, no longer in use. It is said to be connected with sia and not si. Ferrari in his Vocabolario Bolognese says that Bologna ought rather to be called la città del brisa, a form of the negative particle equivalent to the more usual punto. Other University cities visited by Dante were Padua, Perugia, and Siena, and in all these a faculty of law, more or less flourishing, existed.* The University of Pisa was not founded till 1346, a quarter of a century after his death. The principal name connected with the early legal history of Perugia is Bartolus. His life just overlapped Dante's (he was born in 1314), and he was a pupil of Cino's. It is therefore possible that he may have seen Dante when he was quite a child.t (2.) Lawyers. The number of those connected with the law, whom Dante names in the “Divina Commedia," is considerable. The earliest and the greatest is Justinian, the hero of one of the noblest cantos in the Paradiso, I the more immediately legal part of which may be Englished thus : Since Constantine turned back the eagle's flight Against the course of heaven, the which of old It followed from Lavinia won by might, Nigh to the hills that still its birthplace hold; Throughout the world until, from hand to hand Succeeding, at the last it came to mine. And primal love so urged me that to clear The laws of bale and bulk I gave command. One nature in the Christ I deemed, no more, In that belief contented and sincere. (Chief shepherd he) to faith more excellent * See the various Dante itineraries, such as Enrico Croce's, and monographs such as A. Gloria, Dante e Padova (Padua, 1865), B. Acquarone, Dante in Siena (Siena, 1865). † Bartolus was not technically a glossator, in spite of the well-known song of the German Commersbuch, Der Bartolus Glossator. Canto vi.; he is also named in Purg. vi., 89, and in Canzone xviii., 37. Him I believed and that his argument Now see I clearly, just as thou dost see In contradiction truth and falsehood blent. I was inspired, for so it pleased God's grace, With that high task whereto I girded me. 'Twas sign that I must rest what time I marked Heaven grasping his right hand in close embrace. Next in interest is Dante's master, Brunetto Latini or Latino. Like Dante's father he was a notary, and his pride in his profession is proved by the well-known story that when he had prepared a document which was held to be invalid for want of form, he preferred to be thought guilty of fraud rather than wanting in skill. He is thrice named in the “Divina Commedia "* and appears as Brunetus Florentinus in the "De Vulgari Eloquio."' + In two of the three places where he is named in the “ Divina Commedia " he has the epithet of Ser, the title of a jurist, applied to him by the poet. In the Trésor, his French prose work, he has some discussions of legal interest, e.g., the election of kings and emperors, the government of a town, the king and his council, how a king ought to honour ambassadors, the trial of accused persons. In the Tesoretto, his Italian work in verse, he especially condemns the crime for which he suffered in the Inferno.I The simile with which Dante parts with him is one of the most beautiful in the poem. shed * All in Inf. xv. + i., 13. Son via più condannati Brigan con tal lussuria ! Che corrono a Verona il drappo verde |