The Divine Comedy found fewer imitators than the _Canzoniere_; for who could bend the bow of Ulysses? Yet some poets of the transition were hardy enough to attempt the Dantesque meter, and to pretend in a prosaic age that they had shared the vision of the prophets. Among these should be mentioned Fazio degli Uberti, a scion of Farinata's noble house, who lived and traveled much in exile.[176] Taking Solinus, the antique geographer, for his guide, Fazio produced a topographical poem called the _Dicta Mundi_ or _Dittamondo_.[177]
From the prosaic matter of this poem, which resembles a very primitive Mappamondo, illustrated with interludes of history and excursions into mythological zoölogy, based upon the text of Pliny, and not unworthy of Mandeville, two episodes emerge and arrest attention. One is the description of Rome--a somber lady in torn raiment, who tells the history of her eventful past, describes her triumphs and her empire, and points to the ruins on her seven crowned hills to show how beautiful she was in youth[178]:
Ivi una dama scorsi; Vecchia era in vista, e trista per costume. Gli occhi da lei, andando, mai ton torsi; Ma poichè presso le fui giunto tanto Ch'io l'avvisava senza nessun forsi, Vidi il suo volto, ch'era pien di pianto, Vidi la vesta sua rotta e disfatta, E roso e guasto il suo vedovo manto. E con tutto che fosse così fatta, Pur nell'abito suo onesto e degno Mostrava uscita di gentile schiatta. Tanto era grande, e di nobil contegno, Ch'io diceva fra me: Ben fu costei, E pare ancor da posseder bel regno.
Fazio addresses the mighty shadow with respectful sympathy. Rome answers in language which is noble through its simple dignity:
Non ti maravigliare s'io ho doglia, Non ti maravigliar se trista piango, Nè se me vedi in sì misera spoglia; Ma fatti maraviglia, ch'io rimango, E non divento qual divenne Ecuba Quando gittava altrui le pietre e il fango.
The second passage of importance, more noticeable for a sense of space and largeness than for its poetical expression, is a description of the prospect seen from Alvernia, that high station of the "topless Apennines," where S. Francis took the Stigmata, and where Dante sought a home in the destruction of his earthly hopes[179]: