Intelletto and the Theory of Love in the Dolce Stil Nuovo

Author(s): Donald Heiney

Source: Italica, Vol. 39, No. 3 (Sep., 1962), pp. 173-181
Published by: American Association of Teachers of Italian
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/477068
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 INTELLETTO AND THE THEORY OF LOVE
IN THE DOLCE STIL NUOVO

Probably the best-known short lyric of Dante is t

canzone of the Vita Nuova, beginning " Donne ch'avete in
d'amore. " Dante himself evidently attached great impor
this poem, maintaining that it marked the inception of
stil nuovo; in Canto XXIV of the Purgatorio Bonagiunta d
quotes its opening line as he hails the poet as ((colui ch
trasse le nove rime)) (XXIV: 49-50). The first stanza of thi
canzone turns on the key phrase i(intelletto d'amore,
although seemingly obvious, is nevertheless used in a
technical sense. Most English translators have constru
signify some kind of knowledge: (( Ye ladies skilled in
or " Ladies that have understanding of love." But the poet
himself is more precise; in the prose commentary to the poem
he explains the ladies as " coloro che sono gentili e che non sono
pure femmine" (XIX: 1-2), i.e. ladies of refined sensibility, not
mere females incapable of comprehending noble love 1. " Intelletto
d'amore, " in short, refers to an instinctive or innate receptivity
in matters of love, possessed only by certain ladies and by male
lovers of refined sensibility, including, as we shall see, the poet
himself. A detailed investigation of the use of intelletto in
Trecento Tuscan poetry serves to clarify further the precise
meaning of the term, and incidentally to shed some light on the
psychology of love as it was understood b the stilnovisti.
Considering the embryonic state of Italian as a literary
language in the period, the poet of Dante's time had available to
him a rich vocabulary of psychological terms, especially those
pertaining to levels, categories, and faculties of the mind. Many
synonyms or near-synonyms for intelletto in the sense of " reason, "
" intellect" are found in medieval Italian: mente, pensiero,
memoria, spirito, sapienza, conoscenza, ingegno, intender (noun),
intermedio, intelligenza. These terms are often used more or less
interchangeably with intelletto to signify understanding or
intelligence. In fact Dante himself, in his commentary on the
canzone "Le dolci rime d'amor," states casually, "E dico
intelletto, per la nobile parte dell'anima nostra, che di com
vocabolo mente si pub chiamare" (Conv. Tr. IV, Cap. X
Copious examples of intelletto used in this rather loose way m
be found in the literature of the period. Often it is contraste

173

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174 DONALD HEINEY

feeling: "e poi l'affetto l'in

"reason" would seem the best English translation. In other
passages the sense is conveyed by " understanding: " thus the
lady Matelda promises Dante that the psalm Delectasti " puote
disnebbiar vostro intelletto " (Purg. XXVIII: 81), and the poet
himself remarks to Vergil that it seems not unworthy " ad omo
d'intelletto" that the father of Sylvius should have journeyed in
the flesh to the Underworld (Inf. II: 19). Frequently the choice
among near-synonyms seems governed by the exigencies of meter:
e.g.,a from a sonnet of Cino da Pistoia, "perch& l'ingombra
angoscia l'intelletto. " Here the choice of intelletto is obviously
forced by the tight rhyme-pattern of the octet: effetto / amore /
detto, cospetto / core / treimore / intelletto. Ceriello properly
construes the line as " l'angoscia gl'ingombra la mente. " 2 Other
typical examples of rhyme-forced choice of intelletto are found
in Inf. XV: 205-8, Dante's canzone " Doglia me reca," Dante's
sonnet " Due donne in cima, " and the sonnet attributed to Cino
" L'alta verth. " In at least one instance the choice of the term
seems forced by meter: following the cryptic Allegory of the
Furies (Inf. IX: 61 if) Dante exhorts his readers:

O voi ch'avete ii 'ntelletti sani,

mirate la dottrina che s'asconde
sotto '1 velame de ii versi strani.

Here the Latin would obviously be the proverbial mens san

Ayres translates " O ye who are in your sound wits " 3 and Ciar
" Men of sound intellect and probity. "4 But intelletto neat
meets the metrical requirements of the line.
This however, is the least precise of the three general sense
of intelletto in the poetry of the period. The second sense is th
in which the term is used in some way to signify the mind
intellect of God, the Divine Logos, either in itself or in its
particularized manifestations in the universe (e.g. in the human
mind). Thus Vergil reminds Dante " come natura lo suo cor
prende / da divino intelletto e da sua arte" (Inf. XI: 99-1oo
There are many similar examples in the Commedia, includin
one in which the noun is converted into a participle:

O luce eterna che sola in te sidi,

sola t'intendi, e da te intelletta
e intendente te ami e arridi!

(Par. XXXIII: 124-126)

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 INTELLETTO AND THE THEORY OF LOVE 175

This curious diction is perhaps rhyme-force

tercet: concetta / reflesso / circunspetta. In
seems interchangeable with intendere as it o
same line. In a slightly modified sense intelletto appears
occasionally as a plural: "Li 'ntelletti / che muovon queste
stelle" (Par. VIII: o109-1o). We are reminded of the familiar
" amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle" (Par. XXXIII: 145, the
last line of the Commedia), and, as we shall see, this is not the
only sense in which intelletto is associated with amore.
It is also in this theological sense that Vergil uses the term
as he approaches the portal of Hell, remarking to Dante:

Noi siam venuti al loro ov'io t'ho detto

che tu vedrai le genti dolorose

c'hanno perduto il ben dell'intelletto
(Inf. III: 16-18)

The Dizionario Enciclopedico Italiano explains, " il ben dell'i e

Dio, la visione del Vero assoluto" (Art. "Intelletto "). But
something more precise is evidently meant, either the Divine
Intellect in the technical sense (Logos) or an aspect of human
intellect as it relates to the Divine. In other examples it is more
clearly the human intellect, in its function as an organ of
theological sensibility, that is intended. Dante tells us he cannot
relate all he beheld in Heaven

perche appressando se al suo disire,

nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non pub ire
(Par. I: 7-9).

Here mere understanding might be meant, except that the

expression " drawing nigh unto its desire" suggests that a faculty
of divine perception is involved.
The basic conception of intelletto as Divine Logos is
Neoplatonic, and in at least one instance the divine sentiment
becomes interwoven with the erotic in the manner familiar to
students of the Symposium. In Par. V Beatrice, preparing to re
a transcendental vision to the poet, tells him:

Io veggio ben si come giA resplende

nell'intelletto tuo l'etterna luce,
che, vista, sola e sempre amore accende
(V: 7-9)-

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 176 DONALD HEINEY

The ambiguity of the passage

is of course the effulgence
the Beatrice who lived as fl
vision, and she introduces he
flaming " nel caldo d'amore
English translators (e.g. Ay
providing love with a capit
divinity, the passage seems a
the Vita Nuova.

Thus, as in the Symposium, divine love and profane spri

birth in the same faculty, as higher and lower forms of a s
impulse. The connection becomes obvious upon examinati
the third and most highly technical sense in which intellett
used by the stilnovisti: that in which it indicates a facul
amorous sensibility. The general meaning has two subdivi
as applied to woman it is passive, signifying a receptivity fo
intuitive comprehension of, love; and as a quality of the
lover it is active, indicating capability of higher amorous
sentiment. Cavalcanti in the well-known ballade, says of his
beloved lady:

Voi troverete una donna piacente

di si dolce intelletto,
cae vi sara diletto

davanti starle ognora.5

This might be badly translated as "a pleasing lady of

thoughts," but no mere mental attribute is involved; in fact
intelletto as amorous sensibility is often specifically distinguished
from mind. Cino da Pistoia comforts Dante for the death of
Beatrice in a passage which treats the two qualities as evid
complementary:
Di che vi stringe '1 cor pianto ed angoscia
che dovreste d'amor sopragioire
ch'avete in ciel la mente e l'intelletto?6

Remaining fixed and immutable in its substance, the faculty

be modified by various adjectives according to the special
personality qualities of the individual. Thus Lapo Gianni
describes the intelletto of his beloved as " giulivo " 7 (gay, joyous),
while Cino mourns the passing of Selvaggia's " accorto intelletto
e cor pensato. ",8 Because of such personality differences the

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 INTELLETTO AND THE THEORY OF LOVE 177

faculty is portrayed in rare instances as activ

Dino Frescobaldi, having been driven almost
cruelty of his mistress, cries:

dico che mosse fuor del su' intelletto

l'ardente lancia che m'ha cosi punto

dritto nel fianco appunto.9

Here intelletto is the power of erotic enchantment, which

launches darts and is cruelly indifferent to the suffering they
cause. Borrowing the terminology of his fellow poets, Frescobaldi
adapts it to fit a personal theory of love in which " la donna vi
appare altera e sdegnosa, amore crudele e spietato. "o10
Except in such special cases it is the male whose intelletto
is an active amorous volition: " I1 nobile intelletto ched i' porto
/ per questa gioven donna ch'e apparita. "11 Like its feminine
counterpart, this male faculty is not to be confused with reason
or " intellect " in the modern sense. In one instance Cino portrays
it as visualising or evoking the beloved object which the poet
boasts only he possesses:

Lo intelletto d'amor ch'io solo porto,

m'ha si dipinta ben propiamente
quella donna gentil dentro a la mente.12

In another sonnet he depicts the faculty as comprised within the

soul:

Poscia ch'io vidi gli occhi di costei,

non ebbe altro intelletto che d'amore
l'anima mia..."s

Here Ceriello paraphrases: " altro pensiero." A more prec

rendering would be, " the intelletto d'amore (sensibility of
drives all thoughts (rational, intellectual) from my soul. " In
usage intelletto d'amore is virtually the antonym of " intell
in the popular sense; a modern poet would say simply, "
I gaze at her eyes, love drives all thought from my head. "
After its irrational nature, the chief characteristic of the active
male faculty is its high sublimated refinement. The origin of the
erotic sentiment is left far behind, and the adjectives commonly
attached to the term are those which stress its gentility and purity:
" accorto " (Cino), " gentile " (Lapo Gianni), " nobile " (Dante),

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 178 DONALD HEINEY

" dolce" (Cavalcanti). The v

" Poscia ch'Amor del tutto m
to the distinction between in
the cleverness or ingenuity o

E altri son che, per esser

d'intendimenti

correnti voglion esser iudicati

da quei che so' ingannati
veggendo rider cosa
che lo 'ntelletto cieco non la vede.
E' parlan con vocaboli eccellenti;
vanno spiacenti,
contenti che da lunga sian mirati;
non sono innamorati

mai di donna amorosa,

ne' parlamenti lor tengono scede;
non moveriano il piede
per donneare a guisa di leggiadro,
ma come al furto il ladro,
cosi vanno a pigliar villan diletto;
e non per6 che 'n donne C si dispento
leggiadro portamento,
che paiono animai sanza intelletto.1'

Base lovers, in order to be thought fashionable (" d'intendimenti

/ correnti "), jeer at the refined love of the poet which their
" intelletto cieco" cannot comprehend. For all their wit and
eloquence (" parlan con vocaboli eccellenti "), they can never
know the refined love of a "donna amorosa" (i.e. one of
superior sensibility, possessing intelletto d'amore). Instead they
move like the thief to his crime, lusting after " villan diletto"
(carnal love) and seeming, in their lack of amorous refinement,
mere " animai senza intelletto. " They are exactly analogous to
the sufferers in hell who have lost " il ben dell'intelletto. " The
gift is as inscrutable as Divine Grace, and impossible to ex
to those who do not already possess it; it is an intuitive facul
whose essence can be grasped only intuitively. It is for th
reason that the canzone " Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore " is
addressed only to those ladies who themselves possess the g
the poet is preparing to speak of his love, " che non e cosa
parlarne altrui. "1i
The philosophical sophistication of this concept sugges
strongly that it was not original with the stilnovisti, who wer
not remarkable as primary thinkers and are known to have dra

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 INTELLETTO AND THE THEORY OF LOVE 179

their theory from sources as diverse as Neo

Avveroism. A philosophical source may per
a single adjective attached to the term in
Cavalcanti:

In quella parte dove sta memora

[amore] prende suo stato...
V'n da veduta forma che s'intende,
che prende - nel possibile intelletto,
come in subietto, - loco e dimoranza.16

This immediately suggests the distinction of the Scholastic

(Albertus Magnus, Aquinas, St. Bonaventura) between intellectu
possibilis, the passive innate intellect, mere tabula rasa, an
intellectus agens, the active or agent intellect, associated w
human will or consciousness in the process of conception.
According to Bonaventura (Itinerarium), the function of the active
or agent intellect is to illuminate the possible intellect and render
it capable of effecting abstraction 7. This process is termed
dijudicatio: " Dijudication is, therefore, the action which causes
the sensible species, sensibly accepted through the senses, to enter
the intellective faculty, by purification and abstraction. "18 If, for
" sensible species, " one reads " the beauty or external form of
the beloved, " this is a fair description of intelletto d'amore as it
is understood by the stilnovisti. An even more provocative parallel
is provided by Siger of Brabant, leader of the Latin Averroist
school at Paris ca. 127o, who argued that the supreme felicity of
man in this life consists in the intellectual act by which the
possible intellect comprehends the essence of the agent intellect,
i.e. God. 19 As we have seen, the imagery of the dolce stil nuovo
frequently associates, or even confuses, the erotic sentiment with
Divinity, the " eternal light " described by Beatrice " which alone
and always kindles love. " Thus the intellectus possibilis of the
Averroists may be associated with the passive sensibility of love
possessed by superior souls (" Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore "),
and the intellectus agens with the shaft of Eros which comes
from without. whether from God (" etterna luce ") or from
contemplation of the beloved (Cavalcanti's " da veduta forma che
s'intende ").
The Averroist influence on the concept is one which merits
further investigation, but which lies outside the immediate scope
and aim of this paper. Averroist errors taught at the University
of Paris, including the special interpretation which the movement

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 180 DONALD HEINEY

placed on the concept of th

Church in the blanket cond
considered heretical. Yet S
among the great doctors (S
Sun (Par. X). In fact the po
Siger in his lectures in the R
brought him envy (" leggen
invidiosi veri," Par. X: 137
textual comparison is plausible on chronological grounds;
Averroism flourished in Paris ca. 1260-127o0, and Dante's canzone
" Donne ch'avete intelletto d'amore, " the first important use of
the term as we have defined it here, dates from shortly before
1290go (in fact we can establish it as anterior to the death of Folco
de' Portinari, 31 December 1289). Dante, however, is not known
to have used the Scholastic terms " active intellect " and " possible
intellect, " and in any case the reference to possibile intelletto by
Cavalcanti quoted above antedates the Commedia, since Cavalcanti
died ca. 1300. Whatever the origin of the term, or the process by
which it was adapted from the Latin, its period of currency can
be established with fair chronological precision; it is not found
in the Bolognese Guido Guinizelli, the traditional theoretician
of the dolce stil nuovo who died ca. 1276, and it falls into disuse
after Lapo Gianni (d. ca. 1328) and Cino da Pistoia (d. 1337)-
Its occurrence in the Petrarchian period is negligible, and in the
Renaissance epicists (Ariosto, Boiardo, Tasso) it is, as far as can
be determined, nonexistent.
DONALD HEINEY

University of Utah

1" .. donne semplici, ciod non gentili, incapaci di s

prendere l'Amore nobile che egli nutriva per Beatrice." Lod
ed., Vita Nuova (Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 195
2 Text and commentary are found in G. R. Ceriello ed., I
Dolce Stil Novo (Milano, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, 1950), p
cited as Rimatori.

3 Dante Alighieri, La Divina Comrnmedia, with English translat

Harry Morgan Ayres (New York, Vanni, 1953), I, 87.
4 Dante Alighieri, The Inferno, trans. John Ciardi (New York, M
1954), P. 90.
5 , Perch'i' no spero di tornar giammai." Rimatori, p. 75-
" A Dante Alighieri," Rimatori, p. 249-
" Si come i magi," Rimatori, p. o09.

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 INTELLETTO AND THE THEORY OF LOVE 181

8 " Oimb, lasso!," Rimatori, p. 242.

S," Per gir verso la spera," Rimatori, p. 135.
10 Ceriello in Rimatori, p. io.
" Lapo Gianni, " Dolc'e il pensier," Rimatori, p. 9
"2 Lo intelletto d'amor," Rimatori, p. 176.
"3 " Poscia ch'io vidi," Rimatori, p. 157.
14 Dante Alighieri, Rime, ed. G. R. Ceriello (Milan
versale Rizzoli, 1952), p. 52.
5" Vita Nuova XIX: 6. 1" "Donna mi prega," p. 43
17 Etienne Gilson, History of Christian Philosoph
(New York, 1955), p. 336.
18 Itin. Cap. II. 19 See Gilson, p. 397-

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