In my opinion the verse "E'l caso ghibellin ben seppe il fiorentino" is (or, better: may be) a reference to Dante (=il fiorentino) who perfectly understood (even if he was NOT a Ghibelline) the Ghibellines reasons... Luca Gallesi ----- Original Message ----- From: charles moyer <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2000 7:09 PM Subject: Re: Ezzelino da Romano > Thank you, Luca. I should have looked at the orginal Italian Canto > LXXII, but Pound , for some odd reason, did write him, Ezalino in the > English translation. > Burckhardt, the Basel historian, says that Ezzelino was someone unique > in the Middle Ages because up to his time there had always been real or > pretended inheritance claims to conquests an usurpations, but in Ezzelino's > case "for the first time the attempt was openly made to found a throne by > wholesale murder and endless barbarities, by the adoption, in short, of any > means with a view to nothing but the end pursued." He is then the most > important character in "Cento Novelle Antiche" ed. 1525. But did the > Florentines understand the Ghibelline case? > "E 'l caso ghibellin ben seppe il fiorentino." Canto LXXII > > CDM