Cinque Canti.

Some scholars from the sixteenth century to our day have theorized that Ariosto intended his incomplete Cinque Canti to be a sequel to the Orlando Furioso. Others have argued that the poet, whatever his original intention, may have planned to insert the cantos into the last edition of the Orlando Furioso between cantos 46 and 50.

In his excellent and informative introduction to this bilingual edition, David Quint argues convincingly that incomplete though they may be, the Canti are not unfinished; neither are they a sequel. No matter that many plot actions were left incomplete. Quint observes that the poems "bear a close relationship to the final scene of the most famous unfinished poem of classical literature, the Pharsalia or De Bello Civile, of Lucan" (6). Like Lucan, Ariosto deliberately stopped writing because he meant the work "to end where it does, with its loose ends still loose, with its story unresolved" (11).

By reading the poems as finished (albeit incomplete), ideas and attitudes of Ariosto develop as a subtext to the narrative: his disillusion with the political situation of his own day and his assessment of the corrupting facets of power and tyranny. In each of the Canti, Quint says, the obvious motif is the breaking down of the chivalric tradition. Such breakdowns occur in nearly every plot sequence. As a result there is a split between the poet's feelings and the narrative.

In the same vein Bartlett Giamatti pointed out that there was a combination of "seeming order" and "felt mutability" whose split "is indeed the very subject of the poem" (The Earthly Paradise, 138). In short, in the beginning is the end.

Not only does Quint connect the Pharsalia with Cinque Canti, he also shows their relationship to the Orlando Furioso and to the Orlando Innamorata. In addition he points to Ariosto's uses of and implicit references to classical writers, especially Virgil and Ovid.

There are shades of Virgil and Ovid in the very first canto as well as references to the Bible. Envy, an important figure in the action, harks back to Ovid as well as to the war in the last books of Virgil's Aeneid. But despite the allusions and the awareness of the "split" in this canto, the power of its fantasy and imaginative quality supersedes everything else. The Fairies and their leader Demogorgon hold their council, in which Alcina persuades her fellow Fairies to wage war and destroy Orlando, Charles, and the Empire. In Demogorgon's palace - a structure that may have suggested Satan's palace to Milton - the Fairies convene and plan their retribution. Alcina, who will lead the assault, will use the treacherous, traitorous Ganelon as her agent. Envy, Alcina believes, will be the best galvanizer for insidious Ganelon.

Charles, the object of all this malice, receives continual praise from Ariosto. He is virtuous, loving, religious, heroic - but also gullible, a trait that allows him to place total trust in Ganelon who will lead him to ultimate tragedy.

In each of the succeeding cantos the machinations of Alcina, Ganelon, and the protean Vertumnus turn friend against friend, chaos into greater chaos. Orlando and Rinaldo, deceived, do battle with each other. Although Bradamante takes Ganelon captive, she and Marfisa fight a horrifyingly gory battle against his army. When Ruggiero, pitched into the belly of the whale, finds Astolfo and two other captives there, the four manage to establish a comfortable camp. The two cousins decide to lead the other two captives to the true faith. In the last canto, during a confusing and harrowing battle, Charles is pitched from a bridge into the river. No one helps him, for "each man has so much to do to take care of himself that there is little concern for others." In addition to these comments, the poet-narrator also remarks on the political ambition that leads men to envy, suspicion, and greed, keeping them from caring about others. Charles is saved not by his men, but by his horse. With that episode Ariosto lays down his pen.

In none of the episodes is there resolution. All the events and characters are left in a kind of fictive suspension.

This book affords every advantage to the reader. The translators have provided a list for further reading, a summary of events leading up to the opening of the Canti, and very useful notes. The translation is set in eight-line stanzas so that the reader can comfortably refer to the Italian text. Occasionally a modern intrusion jolts; for instance, Astolfo says that he did not want to embark from Southampton. But the Italian text does not use that place name. It reads "he in Antona" (274-75). Another time the slang phrase "in a pinch" is the translation for "per bisogno" (229).

To cavil over matters so minor is unjust, however, since Sheers and Quint have contributed an important and readable work. They have shown the intensity of the Ariostan crisis and have presented English readers with a much needed, worthy translation and a remarkably significant introduction.

V.B. HALPERT Providence College