need help with interpretation
Moderators: kokoyaya, Beaumont
-
c@ui
- Guest
need help with interpretation
"i maestri di color che sanno", this is from "On Liberty" by JS Mill
It's from Dante
Dante Alighieri - a medieval poet exiled from Florence, Italy, due to a political struggle - writes in his main work Divine Comedy:
Poi ch'innalzai un poco piu' le ciglia,
vidi 'l maestro di color che sanno
seder tra filoofica famiglia
(From Book I, Inferno, Chant 4, verses 130-132)
Roughly:
As I raised my eyelids somewhat
I saw the teacher of those who are learned
sitting among The (topmost) philosophers
Mill may be using this expression to point to the best among those who know (color che sanno: those who know), as he changes Dante's words from singular to plural:
il maestro: the teacher
i maestri: the teachers
The person whom thus Dante meets at the onset of his journey across the afterworld is Aristotle, the Greek philosopher.
Poi ch'innalzai un poco piu' le ciglia,
vidi 'l maestro di color che sanno
seder tra filoofica famiglia
(From Book I, Inferno, Chant 4, verses 130-132)
Roughly:
As I raised my eyelids somewhat
I saw the teacher of those who are learned
sitting among The (topmost) philosophers
Mill may be using this expression to point to the best among those who know (color che sanno: those who know), as he changes Dante's words from singular to plural:
il maestro: the teacher
i maestri: the teachers
The person whom thus Dante meets at the onset of his journey across the afterworld is Aristotle, the Greek philosopher.