"Ars dialectica" and Poetry: The Aristocratic Love Lyric of the Sicilian School

Author(s): Rinaldina Russell

Source: Studies in Philology , Autumn, 1980, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Autumn, 1980), pp. 354-375
Published by: University of North Carolina Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4174051

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

University of North Carolina Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Studies in Philology

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Ars dialectica and Poetry:
The Aristocratic Love Lyric
of the Sicilian School

by Rinaldina Russell

T NHE most notable feature of the love lyric of thirteenth century

Sicilian poetry is acknowledged to be a highly developed for-
malistic virtuosity. This is especially true of the love song in the
elevated style, called canzone illustre. The problem still unsolved con-
cerns the principles governing the overall structures of the individual
texts. The Sicilian poet shows his talent at its best in arranging and
rearranging in an elaborate pattern of design the set themes and the
fixed expressions with which a well-established tradition of love
poetry has provided him.' Outside of this limited range of virtuosity,
the power of suggestion that the aristocratic love song exercises over
us remains baffling. Like those of their ProvenSal and French counter-
parts, the Sicilian poems lack what the modern reader calls either
logical or psychological or narrative coherence. Topical motif follows
topical motif, stanza comes after stanza without apparent order of
sequence.2
On a line that is divergent from but not antagonistic to such views
of the courtly song, I will analyze here a number of Sicilian love poems
in the high style in order to bring to light the traces left by the logical

I A. Schiaffini, "Lingua e tecnica nella poesia d'amore dai Provenzali al Petrarca,"

Cultura neolatina, III (1943), 149-56 and "La prima elaborazione della forma poetica
italiana," Momenti di storia della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. (Rome, 1953); G. Contini, Poeti
del Duecento (Milan-Naples, 196o), I, 48; G. Folena, "Cultura e poesia dei Siciliani,"
Storia della letteratura italiana, ed. E. Cecchi and N. Sapegno (Milan, 1965), p. 286;
C. Salinari, introd., La poesia lirica del Duecento (Turin, 1968), pp. 11-12.
2 Folena, pp. 279-91; Contini, "Le rime de Guido delle Colonne," Bollettino, Centro di
studi filologici e linguistici siciliani, II (1954), 183, 194-5; P. Zumthor, Language et techniques
poetiques a l'poque romane (XIe-XIIe siecles) (Paris, 1963), pp. 122-61 and Essai de poetique
medievale (Paris, 1972), pp. 189-243.

354

(? 1980 The University of North Carolina Press.

0039-3738 / 8o/ 040354-75$2 .40/0

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 355

and rhetorical techniques in which their authors were trained. My

intention is to arrive at the formal structures that account for the
impression of cohesiveness that the poems ultimately give.
The unity of the song, I agree, escapes us if we search for it at the
level of expression. It has been convincingly shown that the indi-
vidual text is consistent to the extent in which it participates in a
given "expressive register," and that the register transcends any spe-
cific group of texts and is also independent of all thematic classifica-
tions. On the other hand, it is clear that the unity of the poem cannot
be perceived at the narrative level alone: the poet's intention is never
to tell the story of his love in an order which is psychologically, al-
though not chronologically, sequential.3 It is well known that the
courtly lyric describes the love experience according to a generalized
formula which seems to repeat itself endlessly. If anything varies at
all, it is the specific manner in which the poet visualizes the relation
of man and woman. Each poem is concerned with the description of a
particular type of relationship. Hence the subthemes into which the
amatory process is traditionally categorized: the lover's lament, his
shyness, his fearfulness, the separation of the lovers, the woman's
deception and so on. The unity of the individual text would become
apparent if we were able to analyze the formal organization at work
in the description of each relationship. My assumption is two-fold: on
the one hand, I propose that the cohesiveness of the text is to be
found in the form of the content; on the other, I maintain that its
unity becomes clear if we take up the suggestions offered to us by the
methods of contemporary logical and rhetorical training.
Most literary historians assign considerable importance to the intel-
lectual and professional background of the Sicilian poets, many of
whom were lawyers and jurists and occupied positions in the admin-
istration and chancery of Frederick II. The overwhelming majority
belonged to a class that would normally receive university training in
the techniques of persuasion and in the subtleties of artes dictandi. The
exercise of poetry for them lay in the manner of an elegant pastime
carried on in imitation of the fashionable models offered by Provenqal
and French literature and which was supposedly encouraged by the
literary bent of the Emperor himself. The historians tend to explain
the connection between the school training of these men and their
literary activity in light of the doctrine of style and of the rules of

3 Zumthor, Essai, pp. 206-7 and 157-88.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
356 Ars dialectica and Poetry

ornatus. Scant attention has been paid to the fact that law students in
their formative years were certainly occupied in developing the skill
to draw implications and conclusions in legal matters and in acquiring
the ability to be persuasive. In simple terms, the exercise of their
professions implied a solid training in the arts of dialectic and of
rhetoric. There are two main reasons why the effect of this legal and
logical training has been heretofore underemphasized: first, because,
with respect to the literary training of poets, one has been inclined to
look largely for explanations in contemporary artes poeticae, which,
being written as text-books for students of grammatica, deal almost
entirely with versification and ornamentation;4 secondly, because one
too easily assumes that for their rhetorical training law students were
exposed only to the teaching of the dictatores. In the text-books written
by the dictatores attention is given almost exclusively to the rules of
the cursus and to the use of the ornatus.5 The search for the proper
issues to be argued in a given case and for the means of arguing ef-
fectively lay outside the purview of the artes dictandi. Dialectica and
rhetorica, as disciplines of the Trivium, were subjects with which all
students of Law and Liberal Arts courses had come across as a matter
of course.6 Furthermore, dialectic was influential on university stu-
dents in many indirect ways.

4 See the comparisons between the texts made by E. Faral, Les Artes poetiques du XIme
et du XIIme siele (Paris, 1923), pp. 55 -60 and the analysis made by D. Kelly, "The Scope
and Treatment of Composition in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Arts of Poetry,"
Speculum, XL (1966), 261-78. See also G. Mari ed., "Poetria magistri Johannis anglici de
arte prosaica metrica et rithmica," Romanische Forschungen, XIII (1902), 883-965. Inventio
and dispositio are not treated in Matthew of Vend6me's Ars Versificatoria and in Eberhard
the German's Laborintus; they receive a short treatment in Geoffrey of Vinsauf's Poetria
Nova and in John of Garland's Poetria: here, without giving specific examples, the
authors underline the importance of a careful organization of the poetic composition
and emphasize the subordination of inventio and ornamentatio to the total plan set out
by the poet in advance. Cf. also J. Baltzell, "Rhetorical 'Amplification' and 'Abbrevia-
tion' and the Structure of Medieval Narrative," Pacific Coast Philology, II (1967), 32-9.
5 A. Schiaffini, Tradizione e poesia nella prosa d'arte italiana dalla latinita medievale a
G. Boccaccio, 2nd ed. (Rome, 1943); A. Viscardi, Storia letteraria d'Italia, Le Origini, 4th
ed. (Milan, 1966), pp. 143-4, 334-6; M. Marti, "La prosa," Storia della letteratura italiana,
ed. E. Cecchi and N. Sapegno, pp. 511-623. For the concept of rhetorical persuasion
understood as embellishment see F. Tateo's entries "rettorica" and "persuasione," in
Enciclopedia dantesca (Rome, 1973) and Retorica e poetica fra Medioevo e Rinascimento (Bari,
1960), pp. 205-12.
6 An interdisciplinary study of the arts of the Trivium is recommended by A. D.
Scaglione, Ars Grammatica (The Hague-Paris, 1970), pp. 37-8 and "Aspetti delle arti del
Trivio tra Medioevo e Rinascimento," Medioevo romanzo, III (1976), 225-67. The rele-
vance of dialectic to inventio and dispositio is underlined in all texts of argumentative

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 357

The teaching of rhetoric in the Middle Ages was subject to the pre-
vailing influence of the Ciceronian tradition, which was based on the
De inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium. The Aristotelian tradi-
tion, on the other hand, was very influential in the field of logic. It
was also paramount in shaping the mentality of students in more
specific forms of training: in the custom of the questiones disputatae of
the glossators and, above all, in the practice of disputatio as a method
used in classroom exercises and examinations. Before 1150 the text-
books used in the programs of logic- were Aristotle's Categories and
De Interpretatione, both available in the translations of Boethius and
usually accompanied by his commentaries, Porphyry's Introduction
to the Categories and the logical treatises of Boethius himself. After
that date, the curriculum was extended to include the so-called Logica
Nova which consisted of Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics and
Sophistical Refutations.7 It seems certain that by the middle of the thir-

logic, beginning with Aristotle's Topics, IV: "What remains to be discussed now is the
order and the method of questioning. Whoever intends to ask questions must, first of
all, select a subject and then give his questions expression and order ... As far as the
choice of subject matter is concerned, the problem is identical for the philosopher and
the dialectician; as for the order and expression of the questions, the problem pertains
only to the dialectician." In his plan to reconcile the Ciceronian with the Aristotelian
tradition, Boethius considers the logic of probable argumentation as logic of persua-
sion, which is used and given expression by rhetoric: "Huius [logic's] autem vix duplex
esse perpenditur, uno quidem in inveniendo, altera in judicando, quod Marcus etiam
Tullius in eo libro cui Topica titulus est, evidenter expressit, dicens: Cum omnis ratio
deligens disserendi duas habeat partes, unam inveniendi, altera judicandi, utriusque
princeps (ut mihi quidem videtur) Aristoteles fuit. Stoici autem in altera elaboraverunt,
judicandi enim viam diligenter persecuti sunt, eam scientiam quem dialecticen appel-
lant: inveniendi vero artem quae topice dicitur, quoque ad usum potior erat, et ordine
naturae certe prior totam reliquerunt." Commentaria in Porphyrium a se translatum, J. P.
Migne, Patrologia Latina, LXIV, 73, B.
7 For the Ciceronian and the Aristotelian tradition in the Middle Ages and the con-
nection between rhetoric and dialectic, cf. R. McKeon, "Rhetoric in the Middle Ages"
and "Poetry and Philosophy in the Twelfth Century: the Renaissance of Rhetoric,"
Critics and Criticism. Ancient and Modern, ed. R. S. Crane (Chicago, 1952), pp. 260-96,
296-318; E. Garin, "La dialettica dal sec. XII ai principi dell'etai modema," Rivista di
filosofia, LXIX (1958), 228-53; P. 0. Kristeller, "The Aristotelian Tradition," Renaissance
Thought (New York, 1961), pp. 24-47. For the relation of logic to jurisprudence, see
A. Giuliani, "L'elemento giuridico nella logica medievale," Jus, XV (1964), 1-28 and
"La logique de la controverse et le droit chez les romanistes du XIIme et du XIIIme
siecle," Studia et Documenta Historiae et Juris, XXXIV (Rome, 1968), 223-48; H. Kantoro-
wicz, "The Quaestiones disputatae of the Glossators," (1939), Rechtshistorische Schriften
(Karlsruhe, 1970), pp. 137-85. The scholastic method and the quaestio are dealt with by
M. Grabmann, Die Geschichte der Scholastischen Methode (Graz, 1957); C. H. Haskins,
Studies in the History of Medieval Science, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, Mass., 1927).

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
358 Ars dialectica and Poetry

teenth century the last two works became the standard texts for the
study of dialectic in all European universities.8
Everything indicates that rhetoric and dialectic exerted a profound
influence in shaping the minds of the Sicilian poets. Indeed, even
when they did not occupy posts in the imperial administration, the
Sicilians were unquestionably part of the intellectual milieu of towns
where the higher educational institutions were mainly geared to the
training of law men and public officials. Of the coming together of the
Aristotelian and Ciceronian traditions and methods we find evidence
in Brunetto Latini's Rettorica.
In the first part of his work, which is a translation with commentary
of the De Inventione, the Florentine rhetorician extends Cicero's con-
cept of caftsa, meant as a case debated in court, to include the idea of
debate in a dialectical sense. ". . . An uncouth reader may believe
that Tullius spoke of cases that are dealt with in court, and of nothing
else . . . a perceptive reader however ought to consider that all day
long people reason among themselves over diverse matters, so that it
often occurs that one person says his opinion and says it in his way,
and the other maintains the opposite so that soon they are engaged in
an argument; one refutes and the other defends his view . . ."9 The
implications in Brunetto's passage become clear when we verify them
against what Boethius says in his Speculatio de rhetoricae cognatione. In
this work the Roman philosopher explains that the oratio is the instru-
ment of rhetoric: '. .. this is indeed the oratio, which is sometimes
concerned with court cases and sometimes not at all. . . consequently
the oratio that has to do with court cases, runs on continuously; the
one that has nothing to do with court cases unfolds through question
and answer." And further along he writes: ". . . the first one is called

8 J. J. Murphy, "Two Medieval Text-books in Debate," Journal of American Forensic

Association, I (1964), 1-6. The curricula of medieval universities are the subject of
H. Randall, The University of Europe in the Middle Ages, ed. F. A. Powicke and A. B.
Emden (Oxford, 1939), I-III; L. J. Paetow, The Arts Course at Medieval Universities with
Special Reference to Grammar and Rhetoric (Champaign, I1., 1910); C. Calcaterra, "Alma
Mater Studiorum," L'Universita di Bologna nella storia della cultura e della civilta (Bologna,
1948).
9 My translation of: "Penserebbe per aventura un grosso intenditore che Tullio par-
lasse delle piatora che sono in corte, e non d'altro . . . ben si dee pensare un buono
intenditore che tuttodie ragionano le genti insieme di diverse materie, nelle quali
adiviene sovente che 11' uno ne dice il suo parere e dicelo in un suo modo l'altro dice
il contrario, si che son in tencione; e l'uno oppone e l'altro difende . . ." Brunetto
Latini, La Rettorica, ed. F. Maggini, introd. C. Segre (Florence, 1968), pp. 142-3.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 359

rhetoric, the second dialectic."10 In the complex diagram of human

knowledge and activities that Brunetto draws up in his commentary,
dialectic appears twice. The first time it is mentioned as a subdivision
of logic, in accordance with the Aristotelian classification, by then
prevalent in all Europe, I' the second time as part of the scienza in detti,
which is nothing else but the art of persuasive speaking and consists
in expertise in reasoning as well as skill in expressing one's ideas
effectively.
Later in his work, Brunetto writes about the relevance of these
techniques to love poetry:

Customarily it happens that two people exchange letters in Latin, either in

prose or verse, or in the vernacular tongue or other, in which they argue
about something, and so they engage in a debate. In the same way a lover
pleading for mercy with his lady says many words and gives reasons and she
defends herself, strengthens her arguments and weakens those of the man
who is pleading with her.... If we then wish to consider the features of a
letter or a song carefully, we can easily see that the person who writes it, or
sends it, intends that something be done by the person to whom he sends it.
And this can be achieved by way of praying, ordering, menacing, entreating
or counseling; correspondingly, the person to whom the letter or poem is ad-
dressed can also deny the request or put up a defense in some way. Besides,
the sender provides his letter with ornate words and sententious sayings by
which he may be able to persuade the addressee not to turn his request
down, by which also he may be able to weaken any excuse his opponent may
have or ward it off altogether. There is then a silent argument between them.
In the same way all love letters and poems are shaped in the manner of a
dispute either outspoken or silent.12

10 Boethius, Speculatio de rhetoricae cognatione, in Patrologia Latina, LXIV, 1219D-1220A.

According to Maggini, many passages in Latini's La Rettorica go back to Boethius' De
differentiis topicis and Topica Ciceronis; he does not mention the short Speculatio.
11 Logic is concerned with the demonstrable, dialectic'with the probable. Rhetoric
and dialectic are not two different methods of arguing; they are complementary aspects
of the same mental activity. Aristotle, Topics, IV.
12 Latini, pp. 40-8 and 146-8. In Piero della Vigna's correspondence we find two
interesting items. The first is a love letter consisting of twenty-two sentences ending
with as many maxims derived from well-known classical and medieval sources. The
second item is a debate between a violet and a rose over their respective superiority.
Piero also left us a note regarding a quaestio on nobility proposed to him in a letter from
a certain Master T. Here are the words with which the proponent posits the question:
"In scolis nostris jocoso quodam incidente litigio, de nobilitate generis et animi probi-
tate facta est contentio quae illarum videretur esse major; et hic satis probabiliter dis-
putatum." Cf. G. Bertoni, "Una lettera amatoria di Pier della Vigna," Poesie leggende
costumanze del Medioevo (Modena, 1927), pp. 63-76. See also M. Corti, "II genere 'dis-

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 360 Ars dialectica and Poetry

The extent to which the Sicilians applied their legal training to the
poetry they wrote is clear in the love songs I have chosen to analyze
here. They are: I, Amore in cui disio ed o speranza by Piero della Vigna;
II, La ben aventurosa inamoranza by Mazzeo di Ricco: III, Donna amorusa
by Pietro Morovelli; IV, Amor non vole ch'io clami by Giacomo da Len-
tini; V, Assai cretti celare of uncertain authorship; VI, Assai mi placeria
by Stefano Protonotaro; VII, Ancor che l'aigua per lo foco lassi by Guido
delle Colonne.13 In these poems the transfer of the techniques of
persuasion to love poetry goes beyond the tendency to be persuasive
obviously inherent in any writing in which the lover pleads for the
lady's sympathy. In all of them the man's entreaty for love is grounded
in arguments that are unquestionably syllogistic in character. In some
of the poems the overall organization is that of a legal brief. After the
exordium, which often contains a captatio benevolentiae and a short
narratio, the poet moves on to the discussion of the arguments and,
in the closing stanza, draws the appropriate conclusion that he is
most deserving of reward. Other poems exhibit a structure patterned
on a logical figure which is at work in the theorizing stance of the
poet-lover. Since their internal organization can be apportioned be-
tween these two types of structure, I have divided the poems into
two separate groups.

In the first group, traditional courtly love themes and formulas

have been arranged to fit the pattern of a legal brief. On the most ob-
vious level, each canzone is organized in this manner: the first stanza
represents the exordium; the last-which happens in all instances
to be also the fifth-is taken up by the invio; in the central part the
charges or the arguments for the defense are stated, usually in three
distinctive stages. On a less obvious level, we can see that the poet
has chosen a persuasive strategy appropriate to the situation and the
woman's mood, real or imaginary as they may be, and has selected
from the courtly code at his disposal those rules that are most fitting
to substantiate his line of reasoning and the commonplace arguments

putatio' e la transcodificazione indolore di Bonvensin da la Riva," Strumenti critici,

XXI-XXII (1973), 157-85.
13 All the texts examined here are those of B. Panvini's edition Le rime della scuola
siciliana (Florence, 1962), vol.l.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 361

that go with it. Pointed in the same direction are the precepts that
Master Boncompagno of Bologna gives in his Rota Veneris, ars dictandi
for lovers written around 1215.'. In preparing a love letter, Bon-
compagno urges the writer to give careful attention to the situation
at hand. He sets out some examples as general guidelines: "Duxi
quedam narrandi genera ponere generaliter in exemplum, ut dicta-
tores quilibet preparatoria inveniant in dicendo." The cases to be con-
sidered are three. "Sed distinguendo sunt amandi tempora:" i) the
lover has either already enjoyed his love, or 2) he has not yet had a
colloquium or 3) he pines away for a person he has never met. The
next thing to keep in mind is the social category to which he belongs:
"laicus videlicet et clericus." These preliminary considerations will
guide the writer in his selection of the topoi to be used in the letter, as
he also keeps in mind the possible objections of his beloved. And
Boncompagno lists the obstacles the recalcitrant lady may throw in
the way of satisfying his desires.15
The exordium of Amor in cui desio by Piero della Vigna, besides
stating the subject of the whole song, contains a captatio meant to
mollify the lady from the start. The poet declares that he had been
favored by Love when he was compelled to yearn toward the most
lovable of creatures. From this privileged condition he quickly infers a
justifiable confidence: he is looking forward to the ultimate satisfac-
tion of his wishes and for a sign from the lady to join her shortly.
"Amore di voi, bella, m'a dato guiderdone; / guardandomi [awaiting]
infin che vegna la speranza, / pur aspettando bon tempo e stagione."
In La ben aventurosa inamoranza by Mazzeo di Ricco the argument is
carried out in defense of the lover's excessive boldness. Since the first
task of the defendant is to establish all possible mitigating circum-

14 E. Monaci, "La Rota Veneris, dettami d'amore di Boncompagno da Firenze,"

Rendiconti, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, V (1899), 68-77.
15 According to Boncompagno, the objections a man should consider in courting a
lady are the following: "Quinque sunt cause quibus mulier denegat quod postulat
amans." The first obstacle is the spirit of contradiction innate in all women: "prima
est quodam occulta natura, quia naturaliter in ommibus esse videtur primo negare
quesita"; one must also consider their fear to lose men's esteem: "secunda, ne si
propositione tue condescenderet, voluntati crederes fore communem"; third comes the
general belief that what has been withheld for long, becomes of higher value when
granted: "postulanti dulcius esse videatur quod sibi fuerat longo tempore denegatum";
fourthly, women always like to receive some gift before they surrender: "espectet sibi
aliquid elargiri antequam consentiat postulanti"; finally, there are many who fear preg-
nancy: "quinta, quia sunt plurime que concepire pertimescunt." Comp. translation by
J. Purkart, ed.: Boncompagno da Sigma, Rota Veneris (Delmar, NY, 1975), pp. 76-8.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
362 Ars dialectica and Poetry

stances, the lover quickly makes the appeal that his passion is extraor-
dinary because of the lady's god-like qualities: "la ben aventurosa
inamoranza / tanto mi stringe e tene"; it is this passion that moti-
vates his excesses: "a lo meo fallire, ebbi casione": and, at the same
time, gives him hope of her forgiveness and of his happiness to come:
"d'amoroso bene m'assicura." Like Piero's, Mazzeo's love is also a
privileged one-"ben aventurosa inamoranza"-for it takes origin
from her: "da voi, madonna, fu lo nascimento / de la mia 'namor-
anza!" It has therefore built into it its own justification. Captatio and
line of defense are thus put forward in the first stanza. These argu-
ments will be taken up again and brought to a close in the final per-
oration. We shall see later with what sophistical reasoning Mazzeo
will argue his point in the central part of the song.
In his canzone Morovelli charges his beloved with deception. The
accusation is laid out in the first few lines: "Donna amorusa / senza
merzide, I per la mia fede / di me giocate." The lady has avowed her
love but does not keep her promise, hence the series of detailed alle-
gations of deceit through which the song unfolds. In the exordium of
Amor non vole, Giacomo da Lentini declares his rebellion against the
courtly code of courtship and enumerates the long-established rules
which he intends to overthrow. He will not entreat the lady, he will
not boast about his passion and undying devotion, as all lovers do; he
will not pay her homage and render service in the prescribed way. He
will not follow the common custom in extolling what is of undeniable
value in everybody's eyes. The god of love is brought in from the start
as the authority who bids him to behave thus:

Amor non vole ch'io clami

merzede c'onn'omo clama,
ne che io m'avanti c'ami,
c'ogn'omo s'avanta c'ama;
che lo servire c'onn'omo
sape fare non a nomo;
e no e in pregio di laudare
quello che sape ciascuno:
a voi, bella, tale duno
non vorria apresentare.

And in Love's name Giacomo proceeds to justify his reversal of courtly

values, following the conventional scheme of a defendant's speech.
We shall see now in what ways traditional love themes of courtly

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 363

poetry are organized to substantiate the commonplace arguments

that build up the lover's entreaty.
The arguments chosen by Piero della Vigna in overcoming the
lady's reluctance to agree to a rendezvous are three. The first and
the third are ex persona.16 Such a passionate lover unquestionably
deserves a reward; if she doubts his unshakable devotion, all she has
to do is to grant him a meeting, for he will then give her persuasive
proof of his love, more love than even Pyramus was ever capable of
giving Thisbe (st.II). He awaits the appropriate moment to arrive;
there can be no other consideration but timeliness that stands in the
way of his happiness, given the exemplary courtesy of the lady (st.IV).
The argument used in the central stanza is the one afforded by the
locus communis of justice, which also regulates the relations of lovers.17
The suitor's very health worsens with each of the lady's repeated
postponements; it is unfair that he should suffer so cruelly, consider-
ing that it was Love himself who induced him to fall in love with her.
The arguments are also three in number through which Mazzeo's
defense unfolds in the central stanzas of La ben aventurosa inamoranza.
First he rejects the charge of the lover's excessive boldness by bring-
ing in a more correct-and thus a fairer-definition of the alleged
crime.18 It is a determinatio which properly differentiates between
faithless love, which is culpable, and true love, which is never to
blame, even when dismisurato. "Ca s'omo 'a dismisuranza" maintains
the poet, "conservando leanza / non fa dismisuranza, / si che sia
da blasmare: c'ognunque cosa si puo giudicare / perfettamente bona
in sua natura." Here is the sententia he resorts to in appealing for a
just description of his own behavior: "senza riprensione pot'omo
folleiare / e talor senno usare, / ch'e pegio che follia" [at the same
time one can act like a fool without deserving blame, just as it is pos-
sible to behave as a wise man and display a wisdom that is worse
than folly]; "per zo, madonna, ogn'omo doveria / savere ed esser
folle per stasione" [so, my lady, every man should know when to
behave wisely and when to act foolishly, according to circumstances].
The lady's deceit and insincerity are illustrated by Piero Morovelli

16 For the loci ex persona cf. Cicero, De Inventione, I, xxiv, 34 and II, ix; Ad Herennium,
II, vi, 9.
17 For the topic of justice and injustice, with which forensic oratory was mostly
concerned, see Ad Herennium, III, iii, 4.
18 In the status definitionis the defendant asks for a more appropriate definition of the
crime committed, which he generally acknowledges. Cicero, Topica, IX, 39-40; Ad
Herennium, I, xii, 21.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 364 Ars dialectica and Poetry

with a series of graceful examples describing three different aspects of

the psychological mechanism of deception. The allegations implied in
the similes make the prosecutor's arguments plausible and call for the
lover's compensation. "Di me giucate / com'omo fae de lo fantino, /
che gioi li musa, e gioca e ride; / e, poi che vide sua volontate,/ lo
'nganna e trae e co amor fino I pur a l'inoia / lo fa angosciare, / no li
vol dare gioia d'amore" [you tease me as at times an adult teases a
little boy: he shows the child something that pleases him, toys with it
and laughs; but when he realizes that the child would like to have the
object, then he fools him and withdraws it; and so with continuous
molestation fills the child with anguish by refusing him what he
wants]. After enticing the man, the lady dangerously abandons him
to himself: "como l'astore/che 'n perca e miso e mal guardato, / a
quando a quando lo va vedire / e, per tenire, lo suo segnore / trovalo
impiso e diffilato" [like the hawk, set on its perch and badly guarded;
when the owner comes to look at it, he finds it strung up and stone
dead through his own negligence]. The lady's carelessness and indif-
ference are murderous: "como '1 zitello de l'auseletto I va dilettando
finche l'auzide, I tanto lo tira e, poi lo mira, I forte s'adira, ma tosto
gira / traisi dall'ira e va giocando" [like the child who has fun with a
little bird and pulls and pokes at it, until he kills it; then, when he
sees that it is dead, he gets angry, but soon turns around, forgets his
anger and goes to play somewhere else].
The line of reasoning is almost everywhere patterned on the syllo-
gism. Piero della Vigna maintains that it is unfair to keep in a dan-
gerous situation anyone who has been driven to enter it by a superior
force; Love compelled him to love her, he therefore deserves to be
relieved of love-anguish. And so on. The syllogistic structure is cam-
ouflaged by suggestive comparisons;'9 their function is two-fold. On
the one side they sustain the suitor's entreaty, on the other they con-

19 The use of comparisons, of exempla, of maxims as means of confirmatio and probatio

had already been established by Aristotle when he dealt with induction and with the
proofs of the enthymeme. Cf. Prior Analytics, II, xxiii-iv; Topics, I, xii; De Inventione, I
xxx, 47-8 e xxi, 52. See also Di Capua, Sentenze e proverbi nella tecnica oratoria e la loro
influenza sull'arte del periodare (Naples, 1946); S. Battaglia, "L'esempio medievale," in Le
epoche della letteratura italiana (Naples, 1965), pp. 321-3. Here is how Boncompagno
describes the persuasive function of similes, proverbs and metaphors, to be added, for
their effectiveness, to the "hidden arguments" used by the correspondent: "Huismodi
siquidem proverbia, oculte ratiocinationes similia et similitudines faciunt plurimum ad
usum amandi, ponantur igitur in talibus iucunde transmutationes et proverbia de
quibus possit multiplex intellectus haberi . . . sic sub quodam verborum velamine
vigor amoris intenditur et amicabile incrementum suscepit."

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 365

fer on his actions the beauty of fantastic creatures or bestow on them

the sense of adventure with which risky and prestigious human ac-
tivities are endowed. The lover's passion seems to acquire a more
propelling force from the image of a sailor manning a ship: "om ch'e
in mare ed a spene di gire, / quando tempo ed ello spanna / e gia mai
la speranza no 'lo 'nganna" [the man who is aboard a ship and wishes
to go, when the weather allows it sets sails and is never misled by his
hopes]. The lover's desire gives a sensuous turn to the metaphor of
the vessel that steers its course towards the restful harbor, whose
appeasing quiet he anticipates with longing: "Guardo tempo che vi
sia a piacimento / e spanda le mie vele in ver voi, rosa / e prenda
porto la ove si riposa I lo meo core a lo vostro insegnamento" [I am
waiting for the moment it may please you to call for me, and I may set
my sails towards you, my rose, and enter harbor where my heart may
find peace in accordance with your courtly wisdom]. Hidden in the
conventional form of the invio the conclusion is also syllogistically
deduced. In view of the lady's perfect courtesy, which cannot obstruct
a noble lover, he repeats his final plea: "Mia canzonetta, porta esti
compianti / a quella ... e mandami per suo messaggio a dire / com'
io conforti l'amor ch' in lei porto." The lady is asked to sustain his
perfect love and give him hope of a forthcoming meeting.
Mazzeo di Ricco also frames his love request in a logically persua-
sive structure: his love is beyond measure, for it is a reflection of her
measureless virtue; that is to say, his passion has had a good begin-
ning; it must, as a consequence, have a happy ending. The major
premise is implicit: what has a good beginning must also have a good
ending. This statement is supported by a sententious comparison:
"ca lo bon pingitore / in tanto e da laudare / quando fa simigliare /
tutta sua pintura, / sl che sia naturale la figura." His love, implies the
poet, is not to blame because it is as good as the person who inspires
it, just as a painting is to be praised when it resembles the object it
purports to represent. "Pero da voi aspetto lo migliore:" therefore,
concludes the poet, from you I expect the best. The plea for mercy is
made indirectly and comes at the end of a compact arrangement of
arguments by means of which the relation of man and woman ac-
quires a special quality, is exonerated from any guilt, is endowed with
confident expectation and with an exalting joy whose strength is the
consequence of the lady's merit.
Finally, we see that Giacomo's paradoxical peroration is grounded
on a syllogistic structure. The value of things is proportionate to their

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
366 Ars dialectica and Poetry

rarity. With their persistent pleas, lovers have devalued merzede and
pietanza and there is urgent need to upgrade them; this should be
done by withholding all requests of love for a period of at least nine
years. Giacomo supports his line of reasoning with the sententia:
"ogni gioia ch'e pilu rara / tant'e p?iu preziosa" and then, through a
semantic twist from gioia-joy of love to gioia-jewel, he makes use of
sententious evaluations most aptly derived from contemporary lapi-
daries: "s'este orientale, I lo zafiro assai pia vale e'nviluti hi xilosmini /
di quel tempo ricordato I ch' erano si gai e fini" [when it comes from
the orient, the sapphire is most highly valued; the turquoise that was
thought so exquisite in the years past, has lost all appreciation]. In the
name of precious gracefulness-gai e fini-in the conclusion we are
given to understand that the poet advances the bold request that her
love should be given spontaneously with no entreaties to debase it;
there is no need for him to beg her so that she may understand his
wish; she can see what it is better than he can see it himself: "Senza
merzede potete / saver lo mio disio, / c'assai meglio mi vedete / ch'io
medesmo non mi vio." If she is convinced that he should receive
nothing for the love he has for her, she should not bother; with this
condition he does not want her friendship. "E per6 s'a voi paresse
altro ch'esser non dovesse I per lo vostro amore avire, unque gioi non
ci perdiate: cusi volete amistate? inanzi vorria morire." It is with syl-
logistic reasoning, then, that Giacomo can overthrow the topos of
courtly service; the motivations of precious courtesy, on which are
grounded the rules of courtship, are so firmly established in the tra-
dition of the love lyric as to allow the "logician" Giacomo to argue
effectively for their reversal.
In sum, it is clear that the request for love unfolds in each of the
poems in this group along the lines of a legal brief. We have an exor-
dium and a final peroration; we have specific allegations that are in-
troduced or argued against in the central stanzas while comparisons
and sententiae are called in to support the charges or to bolster the
defense. The tradition of the courtly lyric transmits to the poet a body
of laws long before interpreted in the minutest details. Their many
possible applications are known to the poet-lover in advance; hence,
he can represent his love experience at a greater or lesser degree of
abstraction. His peroration may be organized along the lines of a legal
oration, or it can take the form of a dialectical argument. From a type
of discourse which is primarily legalistic in character I will now move
on to poems whose overall structure is that of a logical figure. That

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 367

the latter type of internal organization can be dynamically effective

may be seen by analyzing the three poems which follow.

II

In Assai cretti celare the suitor starts his plea by theorizing on the
very problematic decision of pleading. The first stanza is a captatio
benevolentiae in which a logical schema is hidden by a highly elliptical
phrasing:

For a long time I was determined to hide what now I am forced to reveal, for
prolonged silence can do one harm. Excessive talking, however, may cause
damage. I therefore fear incurring either charge. When a man is afraid to say
what he must, he can easily make a mistake in uttering his words. A fearful
person is not in complete control of himself: if I make a mistake, may Love
then forgive me.

The logical structure on which this preamble is based consists of one

dilemma20 and two syllogisms. The dilemma is of the simple con-
structive type and can be paraphrased in this manner: if the lover
remains silent for too long, he harms himself; if he talks excessively
he also harms himself; the lover either talks too much or not at all, the
lover is then likely to harm himself.21 The first syllogism is: the man
who harms himself by talking is afraid to talk; the lover is likely to
harm himself by talking, he is therefore afraid to talk. The second
syllogism is: the man who is afraid to speak makes mistakes when he
speaks; the lover is afraid to speak, therefore he is likely to make
mistakes. If I make a mistake, continues the lover, may Love forgive
me; whereupon the poet launches his plea.
Implications and correlations of the premise are made explicit in
the central part of the canzone. In the fifth stanza the request for love is

20 We have a dilemma when, by means of one disjunctive proposition and two

conditional propositions, we arrive at the inadmissibility of the first. Cf. 65i.l4Pparov
in Aristotle's Rhetoric, II, xxiii, 1399a. Stoic and Megaric theories on hypothetical syl-
logisms were known to medieval scholars through Boethius' works De syllogismo hypo-
tetico and De differentiis topicis (Patrologia Latina LXIV). Cf. E. A. Moody, Truth and
Consequence in Medieval Logic (Amsterdam, 1953). In rhetoric the dilemma is known
under the name of complexio: Cicero: De Inventione, I, xxix, 45; Ad Herennium, II, 38.
21 We have a constructive dilemma when the minor premise is positive. The destruc-
tive dilemma has a negative minor premise. See M. R. Cohen and E. Negel, "Hypo-
thetical, Alternative, and Disjunctive Syllogisms," An Introduction to Logic and Scientific
Method (New York, 1962), pp. 96-109; W. J. Brandt, The Rhetoric of Argumentation (New
York-Indianapolis, 1970).

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 368 Ars dialectica and Poetry

put forward as the only possible alternative to the lover's dilemma. In

retrospect, the consequential unfolding of the song becomes obvious.
The second stanza has in fact given a description of the lover torn
between the fear of revealing his passion to the lady and the des-
perate daring which arises from the gripping fear itself; the third has
shown him struggling between the sweet forgetfulness into which
her presence precipitates him, and the bitter awareness of his own
checkmate; in the third we have seen him caught between the com-
forting relief brought about by tears and the painful certainty, imme-
diately following it, that nothing has changed. With expert variatio
the poet ties each stanza to the next by elaborating on the three emo-
tional states that paralyze the lover: his fearful shyness, the total
mindlessness by which he is overcome, the comfort that his tears
bring him.
In the central part of the poem, the lover's pains are described
suggestively and convincingly. But in the fifth and last section the
poet resumes his theorizing stance so that in the peroration the lover's
impasse is reaffirmed in the form of yet another logical figure. The way
out of his unbearable situation is suggested with similes evoking vi-
sions of unattainable happiness: "Com' a la fene I vorria m'adivenisse
... a nuovo surgisse / ch'io muteria ventura; I o ch'io mi rinovasse /
como cervo in vecchiezze . . . forse che rinovato piaceria." In these
two comparisons there is a simple destructive dilemma whose struc-
ture can be schematized as follows: if I burned and rose like a phoenix,
I would perhaps change destiny; if I became young again, she would
perchance love me. The simile itself is the sign that the dilemma is
part of a persuasive strategy in pleading for love.22 On the one hand,
the poet seems to visualize the satisfaction of his dream through a
prodigious metamorphosis; on the other hand, the impossibility of
gratifying his desire signals the only available solution. The escape
out of the dilemma is offered in the last line of the poem: "forse che
rinovato piaceria I la onde ogne ben solo merze saria" [if I could be
young again, I would perhaps become attractive to the lady who
might be the repository of all goodness, should she decide to have
mercy on me].
In Assai mi placeria, by Stefano Protonotaro, the captatio also takes
the form of a dilemma:

22 See the concept of 'irony" as variance between the theme set forth by the author
(thema) and the effective use of expressions (consilium) in Lausberg, Elementi di retorica,
trans. L. Ritter Santini (Bologna, 1969), pp. 50-1.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 369

It would greatly please me if Love could hear and understand me, for I would
then remind him of my long-standing service to him, as a servant often re-
minds his master; I would let him know all the suffering I dare not speak
about with her, whom my heart cannot forget. But I see Love nowhere, and
the lady I fear. Hence my suffering becomes sharper than ever."

Obviously the whole passage is meant to arouse sympathy for the

lover by stressing the hopelessness of his position. The underlying
logical structure can be made explicit in the following fashion: if a
lover cannot plead with either Love or with his beloved, he is doomed
to despair; since Stefano can do neither, he is doomed to despair. The
dilemma is brought back into focus in the last part of the poem; here
the emphasis is naturally shifted toward a direct plea for love: "E s'eo
no agio aiuto / d'Amor che m'ave e tene in sua pregione, / non so che
corte mi faza rasone" [if I do not receive help from Love, who keeps
me enslaved, I do not know which court can do me justice]. It is none-
theless clear that we are dealing with a simulated tactic of argumenta-
tion. The lover's peroration is articulated into a reductio ad impossibile
which necessarily leads either to the dismissal of the alternative-
Love's court will not hear him and no other court of justice can decide
his fate-or to the acceptance of the impossible, that is: the accep-
tance of his suffering, which is unbearable, and thus unacceptable.
By the fifth stanza we have become aware that the arrangement given
to the lover's argument is nothing but a tactical maneuver of per-
suasion. Accordingly, Love has been chosen to hear the lover's en-
treaty in the central stanzas. The arguments for the defense have
been put forward in the conventional manner of a legal brief: First,
the lover has expressed his trust in Love's healing capacity which, he
assumes, must be comparable to his power to inflict pain: "M'eo so
ben di tal fede, / poi c'Amor po ferire, / che ben pote guarire / secondo
sua natura;" secondly, he argues in the name of his total submission
to Love's lordship: "Non doveria dottare d'Amor veracemente, / poi
liale ubidiente li fui da quello giorno... ." Finally, he rests his case on
the god's mercy. Here again, topical similes are brought in to support
each specific argument. Their appropriateness and their power of
evocation are proportionate to the logical function they are called on
to perform, which is to underline the critical neglect in which the
lover has been abandoned. His condition of suspense between sal-
vation and catastrophe is beautifully reflected in the description of
people and animals in similar situations: the deer that, exhausted by

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
370 Ars dialectica and Poetry

the hunt, surrenders to his pursuers in the desperate hope of rest; the
unicorn who has been lured by the virgin into the trap prepared for
him and will soon be killed by the hunters; the bird, whose wings are
caught in the lime and can no longer fly; the man swimming away
from a shipwreck who can see the beach but is too far from it to be
saved; and finally the repentant sinner who suffers in penance of his
past behavior while hoping for forgiveness.
The poem that shows the greatest complexity in its dialectical struc-
ture is Ancor che l'aigua per lo foco lassi by Guido delle Colonne. The
discourse proceeds here at a high level of abstraction. With total
aloofness the author stands outside the situation in which he is in-
volved as the lover. He theorizes upon his attachment to the lady and
explains it as a tripartite relationship among her, himself and the god
of love. The structure of such relationship becomes in fact the subject
of his disquisition. The captatio benevolentiae, which is here the praise
of the lady, is based on a logical hyperbole. His lady-love makes pos-
sible what is logically untenable: the conciliation of contrary oppo-
sites; by shifting from the logical to the physical world, the poet states
that his lady makes possible the coexistence of water and fire.23 If
these two should come into contact, "averria senza lunga dimura, /
che lo foco astutassi, / o che l'aigua seccassi . . . in me 'a mostrato
Amore /1' ardente suo valore: / che senza Amore er'aigua fredda e
ghiaccia ... eo fora consumato, / se voi, donna sovrana, I non fustici
mezzana / infra l'Amore e meve, I ca fa lo foco nascere di neve"
[.. . the fire would die out not long afterwards or the water would
dry up ... through me Love has demonstrated his burning power:
without Love I was like cold and icy water . . . I would have been
consumed if it had not been for you, my sovereign lady, who were
between myself and Love, the god who turns snow into fire].
Here again the central stanzas perform the function of supporting
the three aspects of the relationship with supplementary explanations
and similes. First the poet sets up the equation between a loveless
man and snow: "Immagine di neve si po diri / omo che no a sentore /
d'amoroso calore: ancor sia vivo, non si sa sbaudire" [A man who
does not feel the warmth of love can be called a likeness of snow:
although he is alive, he cannot rejoice]; then he claims to have been
caught by the flame of love: ". . . Cusi, donna d'aunore, / lo meo
gran sospirare / vi porria certa fare / de l'amorosa fiamma, und'eo so

23 Aristotle, Catogories, X.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 371

involto" [.. . so, my lady of honor, my deep sighs can assure you
of the amorous flame which engulfs me. St.II]. Thus the equation
posited by the simile is firmly established. The poet therefore pro-
ceeds to elaborate the idea of the danger into which his passion has
thrust him and insists on the unbearable distress to which he is sub-
ject. I will quote the first line of stanza III: "Eo v'amo tanto, che mille
fiate / in un'or mi s'arranca / lo spirito che manca, / pensando, donna,
la vostra beltate. / E lo disio c'O lo cor m'abranca, / crescemi volon-
tate, / mettemi 'n tempestate / ogni penseri, che mai non si stanca."
[I love you so that, just thinking of your beauty, my heart-beat accel-
erates and stops one thousand times in one hour. The longing that
seizes my heart augments my desires, throws all my thoughts into
a storm that never abates.] The recollection of the woman explains
the survival of her tormented suitor: ". . . s'eo languisco non posso
morire, / ca, mentre viva sete, / eo non porria fallire, / ancor che fame
e sete / lo corpo meo tormenti; ma, sol ch' eo tegna menti / vostra
gaia persona, / obbrio la morte, tal forza mi dona" [If I languish I
cannot die as long as you are alive. I cannot perish although thirst
and hunger torture my body; on the other hand, I totally forget death
if I only keep in mind your delightful person, so great a strength the
thought of you gives me]. In the fourth stanza the poet goes on to
explore the miracle of survival. "Eo credo non sia quello ch'avia, I
lo spirito che porto, / ched eo fora gia morto, / tant'o passato male
tuttavia; lo spirito chi aggio, und'eo mi sporto, credo lo vostro sia, /
che nel mio petto stia / e abiti con meco in gioi e diporto." [I do not
believe that the soul I sport about is the one that used to be mine,
'cause I have long been dead for the protracted tortures I suffered.
The soul I have now, by which I move around, I believe to be yours
residing in my heart and living with me in joy and delight.] The
lady's function in this three-sided relationship is further explained
with a crescendo of praise that finds its culmination in the closing
section.
Like the first, the fifth stanza is entirely taken up by a comparison
between a natural phenomenon and the three protagonists of the
love story: the lover, the lady and Love. The logical coherence of both
opening and closing sections is grounded on a hypothetical syllogism.
Here is the first stanza:

Although water loses its coldness when brought in contact with fire, it would
not change its nature unless a container were placed between the two; what

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
372 Ars dialectica and Poetry

would happen shortly afterward is that the fire would die out or the water
would dry up; but thanks to the container which is in between the two, both
go on. In the same way, gentle creature, Love is giving proof of his heating
power through me: without love I was like cold and icy water, but Love has
lighted me with such enwrapping fire that I would be burnt if you, sovereign
lady, were not between myself and Love, who turns snow into fire.

Here is the fifth and last stanza:

The wise say that a magnet could not attract iron if the air in between would
not allow it; although the magnet is only a stone, other stones do not possess
the quality of attraction for they lack the power to do so. In a comparable
way, my lady, Love realized that nobody could attract me to him but you. So
there are many women who have nothing that could make me move; the only
woman who can is you, my pleasure, in whom are firmly set the strength and
the power. I therefore pray Love to help me.

These two elaborate and polished similes can be reduced to the fol-
lowing outlines. Major premise: if between fire and cold water there
is a container, the water is not lost but begins to change its nature as it
heats. Minor premise: you, my lady, are between me and Love (fire).
Conclusion: so, because of you, I am not destroyed but survive and
change by loving you. The equivalence of water, container and fire
on one hand, and man, woman and love, on the other, is posited
in incidental and dependent clauses. We have much the same con-
struction in the closing stanza: if the air allows it, the magnet attracts
the iron; Love allows it (in fact, he commands it); the lady then at-
tracts the man. The simile in which the syllogism is embedded implies
that the lover, his lady and the god of love are coordinate in their
relationship to that of iron, the magnet and the medium in which
both operate.
From one analogy to the other, however, the emphasis has shifted
significantly. The beneficial function of the lady has become the sub-
ject of the poem from the middle of the third stanza on-that is to
say, from the very center of the song. The explanation of the tripartite
relationship is gradually extended to magnify the role played in it by
the lady. The thought of her is what gives the lover sufficient strength
to survive; it is her very soul that dwells in him and keeps him alive.
Accordingly, in the closing simile the lady is no longer only a protec-
tive intermediary between the man and the destroying flame; she is
now celebrated for her unique capacity to generate passion. Through
her, the god of love was able to subdue the man to Love's own tyr-

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 373

anny. To the god then goes the final prayer: "Addonque prego l'Amor
che m'aiuti."
We now have become aware that the elaborate and symmetrical
framework of the poem as a whole is organized along the lines of an
EnIXipiya,24 that is to say, a syllogism whose premises and conclusion
are carefully illustrated and proved. The central stanzas of the poem
have done exactly that; they can be said to represent a triptych whose
parts depict in turn the falling in love, the potential demise of the
man, the beneficial intervention of the lady. The final stanza reasserts
both the mechanics of love and the lady's unique qualities. The entire
logical scheme appears then to be a protracted captatio by which the
lady is celebrated according to the prescribed rules of courtship.

III

In conclusion we can say that there is a basic conventional structure

in all the poems chosen for analysis. The order given to the lover's
plea is that of the exordium, narratio-confirmatio, final peroration; such
is the sequence typical of a legal brief. We have also seen that the spe-
cific arguments developed in the body of the poems are the common-
place arguments of forensic oratory and that each one of them is
articulated along the lines of the syllogism. It is this type of reasoning
that gives the Sicilian love plea its distinguishing character. Further-
more, in the last group of texts the disposition of the commonplace
arguments-indeed, the very selection of them-is obviously de-
pendent upon a logical figure which underlies the total structure of
the poem.
In all the songs, the poet argues his case by juxtaposing a deductive
proof with either a simile supporting his point of view through some
parallel instance, or with a sententia to help him justify and generalize
what he has just said into a universal claim, or with examples that can
also function as evidence of what was proclaimed earlier. Similes,
maxims and examples are ready-made themes offered to the poet by
the courtly literary tradition. They are not, however, only a tool for
the argumentation, but also refer to a level of suggestive imagery by
which the relation of man and woman acquires precious connota-
tions. The prodigious transformations of the phoenix, the doomed
existence of the unicorn and the deer, the exemplary love stories

24 EXiXsip?7Ua & avAAoytqya65 bilaA8KTIK6O; (!aTIV): Aristotle, Topics, VIII, ii.

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
374 Ars dialectica and Poetry

given as paradigms for all lovers throw a suggestive light on the love
experience. They in fact help to specify the very mode of that love, a
love at times viewed in anticipation of a forthcoming meeting, at
others marred by the excessive confidence of the suitor, at other times
still, endangered by the treacherous behavior of the lady.
If the substance of these comparisons and maxims is codified in a
set of fixed formulas, their function, however, varies from poem to
poem. I will give here two examples of their all-purpose flexibility.
Both Amore in cui disio and Assai cretti celare contain the simile of a
ship; its use is significantly different in each song. The first poem is
centered upon the anticipation of sexual pleasures; so the lover's
entreaty incorporates the image of the vessel at sea during those
anxious moments of idleness when the crew looks forward to more
propitious weather. In Assai cretti celare the poet elaborates on the
dangerous condition of the unrequited lover; accordingly the ship is
described while fighting its way through a blasting storm. The tertium
comparationis is also different in the two similes of the thief found in
the same poems. In the first it is the secrecy of the robber that is to be
brought to the forefront of the comparison: "potesseo venire a voi,
amorusa, / come larone ascoso e non paresse!" [I wish I could join
you, o lovable one, without being detected by anyone, like a stealthy
thief!] In the second song, it is the fearful and circumspect behavior of
the criminal to be brought to bear on the contradictory behavior of the
timid lover: "Come chi va a furare, I che pur veder li pare / l'ombra di
cui 'a dottanza" [like the man who goes out to steal, who thinks he
sees shadows and is frightened by them]. In simple fact, the nu-
merous comparisons we find in each canzone perform a major function
in the argument selected by the poet and thus greatly contribute to
the total coherence of his peroration.
The third type of topoi entering the composition of these poems is
represented by narrative and descriptive units. The love experience
implies a system of behavior enacted by three characters: Love, the
beloved and the lover. The latter is the subject-active or passive-of
passion; he suffers or rejoices, pleads or makes accusations. Love and
the lady perform interchangeable functions, because they either deny
or concede. At the moment when the sexual desire becomes a per-
sonification, the lover's entreaty is addressed to Love; if the suitor
turns to the lady instead, Love is entrusted with a secondary role,
subservient to the woman, who is now seen as the only possible
source of passion. On the level of the love-story, this sytem of be-

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 Rinaldina Russell 375

havior is fragmented into a myriad of narrative and descriptive units.

Events and emotions seem to remain unchanged from case to case.
This is not because they are considered unimportant; rather they are
taken for granted and, as such, are represented by long established
formulas according to a convention well understood by the poet and
his audience. Indeed, what interests the poet most is the dynamic
power of the moral code that those formulas embody.
Thanks to the courtly code of behavior the lover's argument is
firmly established, and his entreaty or his accusation is advanced.
The regulations of that code substantiate the arguments of the de-
fense; they support the allegations made by the lover. Only when the
inner structures of the argumentation are brought to the surface, the
succession of descriptive and narrative fragments no longer seems
repetitious and incoherent. We see then that the narrative segments,
the expressions of emotion, the descriptions of attributes-although
encapsulated in formulas fixed by a long tradition of love poetry-
perform important and different functions, as different as are the
arguments they are called to support. The unity of the poems is then
not to be seen in a motivated sequence of personal feelings, nor in a
love narrative psychologically arranged; it is rather to be perceived in
the submerged yet dynamic structure of argumentation which the
courtly code substantiates. Only then do we realize that the various
parts of the poems are connected in a way that is cogently coherent.

Queens College, CUNY

This content downloaded from

80.249.45.17 on Mon, 26 Sep 2022 08:29:34 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms