15. See, further, Dragonetti 1978:89-111;
Eberle
1977:241-62.
16. See Conf. 7.7-14 (PL
32:739-44); also De
civitate Dei. 11.9 (CCSL 48:328-30), 11.22 (CCSL
48:340-41); Enchiridion ad Laurentium de fide et spe et
caritate 4.14 (CCSL 46:55-56).
17. I rely on Battisti and Alessio 1954:s.v;
and on
GDI 10:782. I perhaps should make a special point of Dante's
frequent recourse to etymology--another good example is Inf.
13.59, 62, "Federigo" and
"fede"--since in this regard
he is very much a man of his time and not
"modern"; it is
not that he "trusts" the etymon to "connect"
with reality but that
he takes seriously the question or, if you will, the problem of the
"connection." The literature on etymology is extensive.
A good
starting place now is Brinkmann 1980:39-43 and n. 101 especially;
see, further, Chamberlin 1977:18-43.
18. Cf. Dragonetti 1965:89, 139. Medieval
theory would
probably have understood this matter in terms of multivocity and
equivocity; see Brinkmann 1980:179-81. Florence and the florin are
named by the same word ("Fiorenza"-"fiorino":
"fiore"), which is
thus equivocal; and because of this equivocity, in part, it would
be possible--to take an example which Dante doubtless confronted
often in his life -- for an avaricious man to reduce Florence to
florins.
19. See Saint Thomas Quaestiones disputatae
de
Veritate 2.11(23); Spiazzi 1949:22; Cacucci 1971:75; see,
further, pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite The Divine Names
2.8 (PG 3:646; trans. Rolt 1940:75); also Saint John
Chrysostom Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews 12.3
(PG 63:98; trans. {246/247} Keble 1975:424).
20. Saint Augustine is eloquent on this
matter; see De
doctrina Christiana 2.4.5 (CCSL 32:34; trans. Robertson
1958:36); consult also the commentary by Duchrow 1961:369-72.
21. In libros politicorum 1.7. par.
120; Spiazzi
1951:37; Bridrey 1906:373.
22. The phrase is ubiquitous: it will be found
in Dante
himself in De vulgari eloquentia 1.3.3 (ED 6:756);
see, further, Borst 1959:2.2, 869-77; Engels 1963:87-114; Mengaldo
1978:165 n. 8; Rotta 1909:187.
23. For example, John Aurifaber (transcribed
by Pinborg
1967:228); Roger Bacon (ed. Fredborg et al. 1978:128); John Dacus
(Grubmüller 1975:1.217).
24. Cf. Quintilian Institutio oratoria
1.6.3:
"Custom, however, is the most certain ruler of speech and of
using
language clearly--just as with money, whose form is public";
consider, further, the similar position of John Dacus Summa
grammatica (Grubmüller 1975:1.217), who also speaks of
"significatio publicata."
25. Cf. Saint Thomas, below, "in quibus
proprie haec
nomina dicuntur" ("wherein those expressions are properly
employed"). See, further, Quintilian Institutio oratoria
8.6.5; Saint Augustine, Contra mendacium 10.24; and for
a study of the "proper" in patristic denunciations of
heretics,
with copious documentation, see de Lubac 1961:3.99-113; consult
also Mazzotta 1979:190; and cf. Serres 1982:139-46.
26. The phrase is Saint Augustine's: Contra
mendacium
10.24 (CSEL 41:499); Isidore repeats it: Etymologiae
1.37.2; so does John Balbus: Catholicon, pt. 4, "de
figuris," s.v. Consult, further, Pépin 1970:77,
Pépin
1958:89-90; Chydenius 1960:8.
27. Chenu (trans. Taylor and Little) 1968:99;
Curtius
(trans. Trask) 1953:206; Demats 1973:5-60.
28. Li Livres dou tresor 2.29.2 (ed.
Carmody
1975:199); Bridrey 1906:112.
29. On the whole issue of justice in commerce,
in
scholastic thought, see the excellent study by Langholm
1979:11-37.
30. Cf. the provocative remarks of Burckhardt
1968:22-46.
31. Cf. Aristotle Metaphysics 1006a21;
Lacan
1975:127.
32. Dante confronted the problem most directly
perhaps in
the opposition between the "allegory of the poets" and
the
"allegory of the theologians"; the bibliography on this
subject is
vast, but convenient access to it is provided in Hollander
1969:57-103; Hollander 1976:91-136, 120-36 especially; the classic
debate on the two allegories is, of course, that between Green
1957:118-28 and Singleton 1957:129-35.
33. Cf. Derrida 1974:14; Struever 1970:157 and
n. 39.
34. Policraticus 8.5 (ed. Webb
1909:2.247); Vinge
1967:72-73. {247/248}
35. On Dante's Platonism and, more
specifically, his Neo-
platonism, see Mazzeo 1960 (1977):92, 112; for a reasonable and
well spoken plea for more attention to Dante's Platonism and to
Platonic influences on him, see Chiarenza 1978:207-12, 209
especially.
36. On the terms via negativa and
via
affirmativa and their relevance to Dante, see Williams
1943:8-12. {248}
