Dante Vivo

100283

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK ' BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA * SAN FRANCISCO

GIOVANNI

Translated from the Italian by

ELEANOR P-IAMlMOlSrD BROADUS

and AISINA BE1STEDETTI

3STE\V YORK.

THE I^LACJVIILLAN COMPANY

1935

T*JKJtiJViio JViut>eiJUAiNJi iN 1933

Copyright, 1935,
By THE MACMI.LJUAN COMPANY

All rights reserved no part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher,
except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief
passag-es in connection with a review written
for inclusion in magazine or newspaper.

Printed in the United States of America
by the Poly graphic Company of America

GIOVANNI PAPINI: A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

PAPINI was born in Florence, Italy,
1881* For the picture of his childhood
and early manhood one should turn to his great
poetic confession, Un Uomo Fintto (1912), where
he tells his own story* In 1902 he founded the review
Leonardo, which became the organ of Italian pragmatism.
In 1906 he published his first collection of stories and
his first volume of philosophical essays, The Twilight of
the Philosophers a book which, as an intellectual
autobiography, brought him wide recognition. There
followed in rapid succession stories, poems, literary
criticism, and philosophical discussions, in which
Papini showed himself the leader of the younger
generation in Italy, voicing their doubts, their social
discontent, their programme of reform*

During the last twenty-five years, Benedetto Croce
and Papini have been the principal figures in philo-
sophical thought in Italy* If Croce, as someone has
said, opened to modern Italian culture the doors of
philosophy, Papini has given to the movement a deeper
understanding and a spiritual intensity* By turn prag-
matist, futurist, anti-Catholic, and Catholic, Papini
has remained honest with himself through all his
spiritual changes, bringing to his investigations and
conclusions intense ardour and sincerity and originality
of approach * His changes have been a sign of his unrest, his
hatred of complacency and mediocrity a mirror of his
own dissatisfaction and that of his iconoclastic generation.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Friend of Bergson and of William James, literary
correspondent for journals in Italy and in other
countries, especially in Moscow and Paris, prolific
writer on philosophical subjects, poet of no mean
ability, stylist with a genius for paradox and a fury in
invective, the end of the year 1914 found him associated
with Benito Mussolini on the Popolo d'ltalia in a
campaign for the intervention of Italy in the World
War* At the end of the war came his religious con-
version, and following this, his Life of Christ (1919)
a book which has been translated into twenty-three
different languages and has had a world-wide success *

In all his writing Papini has shown the traditional
Tuscan strain impassioned but anti-sentimental,
aggressive and pungent in phraseology, independent and
sometimes revolutionary in conception, and above all
bent on intellectual freedom and justice* These traits
he brings to bear on Dante. As a Florentine, an artist,
and a Catholic, he examines anew the life, the work, the
psychology of his greatest fellow-Florentine. The result
is a study, as William James said long ago of Papini 's
work in another field, 'extraordinarily free and spirited
and unpedantic/

E. H. B.

VI

FOREWORD TO ENGLISH READERS

HE first 'spirito eterno' of poetry which came
to dwell with me in the days of my youth was
Prince Hamlet. The first philosopher who made
a profound impression on my mind was Berkeley,
and later I translated his works into Italian. The
first poet who took possession of my youthful soul
was Walt Whitman. The first foreign review to which I
contributed was the Monist, published in Chicago* The
first thinker of a nation other than my own to whom I was
bound by ties of genuine friendship was William James.

There must exist, therefore, a kind of foreordained
harmony between the Anglo-Saxon culture and my
own mind* and perhaps it is due to this special arrange-
ment of fate that my works have had more readers in
Great Britain and North America than in Italy itself.

I am happy that, at the moment when my book on
Dante is about to be issued in the language of Shake-
speare, an opportunity has been given me to express to this
great group of English readers my sincere and fervent
gratitude* If these my npn-Italian readers may be taken
as representing by anticipation the judgement of the
future, I take pride in having had an honourable and
favourable reception by that immense posterity who
live on the shores of all the oceans, and who have always
known how to mix in due proportions the venerable
traditions of humanism with the bold pursuit of every
modernity, to carry side by side a proper conservatism
and a necessary radicalism.

vii

FOREWORD

No writer can say that he has created and thought for
all men until his work has been translated into English,
that is, into the language which represents to-day the
most universal vehicle of the printed word* What
the Greek language was from the time of Alexander the
Great to St Paul, what the Latin was during all
the Middle Ages and until the final splendours of the
Renaissance, that the English language is to-day.

And for me, a Florentine and an Italian, it is a great
satisfaction to see thanks to the labour of Eleanor
Hammond Broadus and Anna Benedetti this book on
Dante translated into English. Outside of Italy no other
country has so greatly loved and studied the creator of
the Divina Commedia as have England and America* Not
only have they produced accomplished Dante scholars
like the English Lord Vernon, H. C. Barlow, Edward
Moore, Paget Toynbee; and the American Longfellow,
C* E* Norton, J\ R, Lowell worthy to stand on an
equality with the Italian and the German; but the first-
hand knowledge of Dante's work, even among those
of moderate culture, is more widespread than elsewhere*
The English-speaking peoples not only know Dante, but
they admire him, appreciate him, understand him, love
him*

The literature in English about Dante is extra-
ordinarily rich and abundant. Therefore I count it a
great honour that this book of mine should be published
in Great Britain and in North America*

Perhaps it merited this fortune because, as the reader
will see, it is a little different from other books on
Dante in that it tries to bring out new elements through
an untrammelled and dispassionate investigation of the

viii

FOREWORD

secret soul of the divine Poet. Fanatical adulators and
pedants with extravagant imaginations have almost buried
Dante for a second time under a massive and majestic
mausoleum of criticism, erudition, interpretation, and
rhetoric*

This book is an attempt to resurrect him* I am
confident that its true import will be understood by
English and American readers,

GIOVANNI PAPINI,
l May, 1934
Florence^ Italy.

IX

e

PAGE

Giovanni Papini A Biographical Note v

Author's Foreword to English Readers . . vii

BOOK I
PROLEGOMENA

I Introduction ....... 3

II Our Brother 13

III The Dante of the Legends . . . . .18

IV Hebrew, Etruscan, Roman . . . .24
V Dante's Dualism ....... 27

VI- The Three Great Paradoxes ..... 34
VII The Modernity of Dante ..... 37

BOOK II

LIFE

VIII The Orphan 49

IX Unresponsive Beatrice . . . . . .57

X 'The Dear, Benign, Paternal Image' ... 64

XI The Disdainful Friend ...... 72

XII The Soldier Poet ...... 79

XIII The Ox and the Eagle 84

XIV The Scandal 89

XV In the Presence of the Pope ..... 95

XVI Fire against Fire . . . . . . .103

XVII The Great Pilgrim no

XVIII In the Presence of the Emperor . . . .117

XIX The End of the Pilgrimage . . . . .124

BOOK in
SOUL

XX Dante, a Sinner 137

XXI Self-Praise 143

XXII The Crown and the Mitre . . . . .151

XXIII Fears and Terrors . . . . , .156

XXIV The Tearful Poec 164

XI

CONTENTS

*.

PAGE

XXV

Discontent and Nostalgia

. 169

XXVI

The Corrupt Land of Italy

174

XXVII

Dante and his Fellow-men

XXVIII

Dante's Cruelty ....

! 188

XXIX

Dante and Children

197

XXX

The Vendetta ....

. 201

XXXI

The Sharp Wind of Poverty .

. 210

XXXII

Sacred and Profane Love

. 214

XXXIII

The Deification of Beatrice

. 218

XXXIV

The Odour of Sacrilege .

. 225

XXXV

The Christian ....

. 230

BOOK IV

WORK

XXXVI

The Two Suns ....

. 241

XXXVII

Professor Dante ....

. 249

XXXVIII

Dante, the Sorcerer

XXXIX

The Dead Restored to Life

. 259

XL

The Commedia as Revenge

. 264

XLI

Heaven and Earth

. 268

XLII

The Demiurgic Poem

. 274

XLIII

TheVeltro ....

. 280

XLIV

The Alleged Obscurity .

. 298

XLV

Poet beyond Everything

. 303

XLVI

Master of Words

310

BOOK V

DESTINY

XLVII

XLVIII

XLIX

L

Unfriends and Enemies .
Failures .
Dante's Solitude .
Where is Dante Now ? .

Author's Note

3*7
330
336

340

Xll

FACING PACE
I DANTE ....... Frontispiece

Drawing by Raphael. Gallery of the Archduke Charles,
Vienna.

II THE YOUNG DANTE ... 16

From the fresco by Giotto. Palace of the Podesta,
Florence. About 1334. (Before restoration.)

III POPE BONIFACE VIII 98

Statue in the Cathedral, Florence. Work of the School of
Arnolfo, fourteenth century.

IV THE EMPEROR HENRY VII . . . . . . 123

Recumbent figure from the sepulchral monument by
Tino di Camaino (d. 1339) ' in t ' ie Cathedral, Pisa.

V HEAD OF DANTE . . . . . . . l8o

Bronze by an unknown artist, late fifteenth century. The
Museum, Naples.

VI FLORENCE IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY . . . 280

Detail of fresco in the Loggia del Bigallo, Florence.
Florentine work, fourteenth century. The hexagonal
building with the cupola, seen in the foreground, is Dante's
'bel San Giovanni, 1 the Baptistery.

VII MASK OF DANTE, FRONT AND PROFILE . . . .310

The so-called Death Mask, formerly belonging to Baron
Kirk up.

XU1

BOOK ONE

i>

INTRODUCTION

9T would be well to say at once, in order to pre-
vent misunderstandings and disappointments,
that this is not the book of a professor for his
students, of a critic for critics, of a pedant for
pedants, of a lazy compiler for lazy readers. It is meant
to be the live book of a live man about one who, even
after death, has never ceased to live. It is above all the
book of an artist about an artist, of a Catholic about a
Catholic, of a Florentine about a Florentine*

It is not, nor is it meant to be, one of the numerous
lives of Dante write it LIFE or life! useful or super-
fluous, which are published here and there, every year,
throughout the world* Of Dante's outward life little
is known which is based on documents and is absolutely
certain. Yet everyone is given to improvising upon
the happenings of his earthly life, upon the places where
he was or might have been, upon the men and the events
of his time that he may have been acquainted with. On
the other hand, from the abundance of first-hand docu-
ments, that is, from the written evidence furnished by
his own books, we know much about his soul; but
there are few men who care to search it deeply and
interpret it.

Therefore I would have this book of mine, which is
more than a life of Dante, present a living Dante, a
Dante vivo, the essential Dante, a moral and spiritual
portrait. It is an essay of investigation about the things
in Dante which really matter to us to-day*

3

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

In the best books on Dante there is very little about
his real life* A large part of them are filled with
historical details concerning the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries; with information, often unnecessary,
on the persons who were associated with him; with
interpretations, more or less felicitous, of his writings;
and above all with too many amplifications, romantic,
learned, or eloquent, on matters which are not certain
or are insufficiently known. Alighieri's outward life, so
far as it is known with certainty, can be told in a few
pages; 1 while for the full understanding of his soul and
work the whole range of a man's lifetime is insufficient.
There is always something new awaiting discovery*

I do not mean to undervalue the patient compilers
of critical editions or the tireless investigators and
illustrators of historical or biographical details. I
honour them as I honour the miller who supplies the
flour to be consecrated by the celebrant. The workman
who sifts the sand and mixes the mortar performs a
necessary labour, but God forbid that he should pass
judgement on the architect. These learned labours of
preparation are valuable and indispensable whether
they are directed toward establishing an authoritative
text of the work, or are concerned with fixing, on the
data furnished by original documents, the precise
meaning of every act or of every line of the poet* To
these 'positivist' and patient Dantists such as Michele
Barbi, Francesco Torraca, Giuseppi Vandelli, Nicola
Zingarelli, to name only the greatest to-day we owe
just praise and sincere gratitude,

1 For an admirable brief life of Dante, sec the article byM, Barbi in die
Encyclopedia Italiarta, Vol. XII, 327^332.

INTRODUCTION

But these editors themselves are aware that to spend
many years making critical editions and heaping up
explanatory material would not be worth the trouble
unless Dante were something more than a text for
language-study or a subject in Romance or Comparative
Philology. Beyond and above everything else, Dante
is a great soul and a great artist; and to understand
these spirits of largest mould, all the sequence of
manuscript texts, the early editions, the researches
in old chronicles and in mediaeval philosophies, are
entirely insufficient.

On the other hand, most students of Dante fall
into three classes: first, teachers of literature trying to
explain what the poet meant and why he said it as he
did, and for what reasons that way of saying it is
obscure or beautiful; second, minute investigators
seeking to know the why and wherefore of every
happening, the complete and exact itinerary of his
wanderings, and what he did on that day or in that
year; third, enigmatographers, erudite or fanciful,
who wish above all to display their own learning and
skill in revealing the mysteries buried in the poet's
work*

These methods, however, are inadequate for the
understanding of Dante in his loftiness and in his
profundity; for the comprehension of Dante as a man,
a poet, a prophet, of Dante alive and entire* We little
men must approach as near as is possible for us to the
sum of his greatness; we must possess a spirit which
will at least reflect something of Dante's spirit and
vibrate in sympathy. It is precisely this which is
almost always lacking in the professional Dantists,

5

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

Danto legists, and Dantomaniacs. 1 They are anaemic
creatures confronting a sanguine man; ants around a
lion. They can go scouting through its mane, and
count the hairs on its tail, but they cannot see the gigantic
creature entire in its fearful majesty* And woe to
them if the lion should suddenly roar!

These Dantists never warm up, or they get heated
unseasonably* Dante is flame and fire; they remain
lukewarm or frozen, as if they were in contact with
an ageless ruin* He is all life, and they are half-dead.
He is light, they are darkness. He is powerful, they
are weak and flaccid. He burns with moral and messianic
faith; they are usually men who have never known,
even from a distance, the torment of the divine. But
to borrow Dante's words, Tastidium etenim est in
rebus manifestissimis probationes adducere/ 2

Thus Dante has remained, for the most part, the
choice food of worthy teachers, or the pastime of
ambitious amateurs. Only a few ever draw near to
him through a certain similarity of temperament and
with the purpose, or at least with the desire, of making
themselves like to him in order to understand him
better. For this they would need to be not only
diligent and enthusiastic scholars, but true poets or
true philosophers. Outside the circle of professional
Dantists, there are two poets and two philosophers
to confine ourselves to Italy and modern times
who have really devoted themselves to a study of

1 Since 1905 I have been denouncing, perhaps with too summary a judge-
ment, the spiritual insufficiency of the professional Dantists: v. G. Papini,
'Per Dante contro il dantismo t republished in Eresie Letter aric. Florence, Vallecchi,
1932, pp. 13-25.

2 Df Monarcbia, III, xiv, 7. It is a bore to prove the obvious.

6

INTRODUCTION

Dante* These are Carducci and Pascoli, Croce and
Gentile.

But Carducci, who wrote some eloquent pages on
the place occupied by Dante in Italian literature, and
who was worthy, by reason of certain qualities of his
mind and spirit, to call Dante his 'great neighbour/
rarely came down to particulars and never, unfortunately
for us, had the inclination or the opportunity to devote
to Dante a substantial and entire book*

Pascoli, unlike Carducci, was too much given to
detail, and not always with happy results, for he was
over-subtle and quibbling about the hidden meaning
of the Divina Commedia, with the declared intention,
moreover, of being the first to reveal the most jealously
guarded of Dante's secrets. However, as Pascoli was a
poet and a humanist, he succeeded in discerning part
of the truth or in getting a glimpse of it; nor is all
that he wrote on the subject to be discarded without
examination,

Croce, who has written a treatise on .^Esthetics,
although by temperament incapable of understanding
a work of art, was the least fitted of these four to deal
with Dante's poetry. After having defined the Commedia
as 'a theological or ethical-political-theological romance'
completely dead as to its spiritual content, since
Christianity, according to Croce, is now only a mum-
mified body, he set himself the awkward task of selecting
by a method resembling that of the Abbot Bettinelli, 1

1 Severio Bettinelli, in his Ltttcrc Virgilianc (1757), assailed Dante as lacking
in good taste, and condemned the Commtdia as 'a chaos of confusion/ He
exampted from this condemnation a few choice fragments which he per-
mitted to appear in his selections from the Italian poets as examples for the
young. Trans.

7

DANTE VIVO - PROLEGOMENA

those bits and fragments of genuine poetry which are
to be found here and there in the poem.

Giovanni Gentile discussed Dante's conceptions with
deeper understanding; and although he never devoted
an entire volume to Dante, he had the merit of re-
affirming the lasting religious significance of the Com-
me diet, and understood clearly that one of the central
points of the poem was the desire and the preparation
on Dante's part for a thorough reform of the Church
of his time. 1

But, as I pointed out at the beginning, for a full
understanding of Dante, one must be a Catholic, an
artist, and a Florentine* Dante is not limited to these
three qualities, but I do not think it vain boasting
to maintain that the possession of all three of them is
useful to the man who measures himself with Dante.
It is not necessary that the zoologist should be an
onager, or the astronomer a satellite, because in these
cases men are dealing with external things; but it does
no harm for a student of Dante to have a little Christian
faith, a little experience in the arts, and to be born in
Florence. A Catholic: that is, one who still feels to be
true and living that which Dante felt and believed* 2
An artist: since only a poet can penetrate (as a critic
can not) the mind and genius of a poet. And finally
let no one take offence! a Florentine. The Florentines
of to-day are very different from those of Dante's
time, but not different in every way. And however much
Florence may be changed and disfigured, there always

1 G. Gentile, Dante e Man^oni . Florence, Vallecchi, 1923.

2 On the necessity of being a Catholic in order to understand Dante
thoroughly, see A* Curtayne, A Recall to Dante. London, Sheed and Ward,
1932.

8

INTRODUCTION

remain in some remote corner the look and the atmo-
sphere of Dante's Trecento* There are still some stones
and buildings which Dante may have seen, narrow
passages which have changed little since his time. My
belief that a Florentine is by nature and experience
better fitted than another to understand Dante is not
a foolish notion due to parochial pride, but the fruit
of reasoning and observation*

Many years ago, in the days of my bibliophagia, I
amused myself collecting the most important opinions
expressed by men of every nation on Dante and his
writings . Ever since then it has seemed to me that
very few, especially among foreigners, have really
understood Dante.

Although the loftiness of Dante's soul and of his
subject-matter make him a universal poet, nevertheless
these very qualities which make him universal are
bound up with things incident to his humanity, with
historical circumstances, with seasonings of native wit
which cannot easily be recognized and weighed except
by men of his own race. It seemed to me, therefore,
that to understand Dante in all the irregularities of
his nature, in his cracks and blemishes, it is necessary
to be an Italian. And taking the next logical step
along this road, I began to think that only a Tuscan, a
Tuscan of the pure 'old stock, could fully understand
him. Having reached this point, I could do no less
than continue; and finally I was tempted to declare
that only a Florentine, one who has preserved some
trace at least of the ancient Florentine character,
whether for good or ill, could dissect certain aspects
of the mind and the art of Dante.

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

It may be said that I am wrong and that accursed self-
love, thinly disguised as love for my own people, is
drawing me into a capricious and distorted fantasy.
But the truth is that up to the present, neither among
the ancients nor the moderns, have we seen an out-
spoken and worthy Florentine, such as I have in mind,
consecrating himself entirely to the study of the great
poet.

From this we draw three conclusions: the seed of the
Dantesque Florentine is exhausted; or those few worthy
ones now living still bear a certain unconscious resent-
ment against the man who called down curses upon
Florence; or, finally, my idea is only a foolish delusion.

In any case, although I possess the three qualities
named above, being a Catholic, a poet, and a Florentine,
I do not pretend that I have written a book which
presents with thoroughness the whole range of Dante's
universe* I confess that I have tried my best not to be
inferior to my subject, but I am not so mad as to think
that what I have written renders other books on Dante
useless .

However, I am not going to make excuses for having
written one book more on Dante* Dante is a subject
of such proportions that the passing generations can
always discover something new in him or his work. And
certainly I should not have written this book if I had
not thought that I had something new to say, even
if my novelties seem, at first sight, somewhat out of
accord with prevailing opinions.

Although for six centuries men have been writing
in all the languages of the earth about this my greatest
fellow-citizen, I have an impression that there is still

10

INTRODUCTION

much more to be discovered* Dante is, in many ways,
a still unexplained mystery* The text has been studied,
and the work is still incomplete; the external surround-
ings have been investigated, and there still remain
many obscure points; but upon his fundamental nature
(to which biographers devote a few lines or a few pages),
upon the innate and essential character of his senti-
ments and aspirations, upon the secret of his powerful
art, all has not yet been said, and perhaps even the
most important truths remain unspoken* Usually we
move in a circle among the commonplaces of a well-
bred convention which tries to hide the shadows and
the too human side.

This book of mine is neither a prosecution nor an
apotheosis. Dante's fame has survived both efforts*
First came the period of his rising glory from the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century, then a period of
neglect, then one almost of deification, balanced later
by stupid disparagement* Now the time of full justice
is beginning. I have wished, therefore, to present a
'critical portrait' just as there are critical editions
making use of all known facts about the man and his
work, exaggerating nothing and hiding nothing. If
my Dante does not exactly match the standard oleo-
graphic pattern which is handed down from centenary
to centenary by the collectors and reciters of well-worn
phrases, I am at least sure of having on my side every
honest and sensible man. I have searched for the truth
in the spirit of that love which a genius like Dante
deserves, and I hope that I have not betrayed either the
truth or him.

For me Dante is not a prescribed subject, or a pre-

11

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

text for writing one book more. Even from boyhood
I have honoured him, may I say? as a father and a
teacher; and while measuring in all humility the immense
distance between him and me, I know that I love him.
It is easy to admire and praise Dante, but not so easy
to love him* When alive, he could not have been a
man who easily confided in others or who made friends
with everybody* Dead, he gives to most people the
effect of a huge unapproachable statue raised on the
heights of glory, awe-inspiring.

For my part, I have always seen and loved in him
not only the Titan, but the man with all his human
weaknesses, the poet with all his torment before the
unutterable; and therefore I have come to love him in
very truth. And to those whom we truly love we say
everything without fear. God grant that a little of my
affection for Dante may be transmitted to those who
read this book.

12

OUR BROTHER

evERYONE sees you, dear Dante, dressed in your
close, long tunic, passing with austere face
among your fellow-men without even vouch-
safing them a single glance, always absorbed in
thoughts loftier than the towers or the clouds. We
know almost certainly that you were disdainful and
reserved; and we read in the lines and between the lines
of your writings in prose and verse that you had no
great admiration for your fellow-men*

But no one will ever make me believe me an Italian,
a Tuscan, a Florentine that you always displayed that
forbidding visage of solemn abstraction. That would
certainly have been an absurd pretence . It is not possible
for a man to be constantly attuned to that which he is
in the depths of his being; he can be his real self only
in certain hours or at certain periods of his life. He
can put on a semblance of being always absorbed and
magisterial, but to seem is not to be. So, men are
hypocrites, and pedantic hypocrites, which arc the
\orst sort*

But you, Dante, though you were not lacking in faults,
were neither hypocrite nor poseur* You did not assume
a look in order to inspire reverence or awe in the passing
crowd* You were a theologian, a philosopher, a prophet,
and above all else you were a poet and had your hours
and your days of spiritual struggle, of lonely meditation,
perhaps of rapt ecstasy* But you were also a nian, and
indeed a complete man, with all the desires, the caprices,

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

the temptations, the weaknesses which are inherent in
the man not wholly freed from the ferment of the blood
and the weight of the flesh. And besides, even the
greatest saints, when so inclined, ate with gusto their
locusts and dry bread; and they did not hesitate to
smile and even to jest*

You were a man, Dante, and you were young. So
instead of seeing you always with your head bent over
old books or your brow furrowed with thought, it
pleases me to recall you in your human moments, even
the too human moments, of your familiar, everyday life.

I see you in the prime of youth, in prosperous
Florence, the city which you loved, and hated, until you
died* I see you with friends, not all of them poets,
following through the country-side the solitary by-paths
where there were neither walls nor hedges to keep your
hands from the lilies and the poppies in the fields. I
see you laughing and jesting with your companions,
and throwing yourself upon the grass to contemplate
at ease the limpid sky above the city of stone encircled
by its walls of stone. And there you talked of Monna
Berta and Ser Martino 1 and of the reproving face of
Master Brunetto, and of the maidens you saw at Holy
Mass in the church of Santa Margherita or Santa Reparata .
For you, too, mad$ love, and not only in the Platonic,
mystic, romantic fashion which you describe in your
Vita Nuova, all sighs, laments, visions, dreams, saluta-
tions, and swoonings. In the Vita Nuova you are the
artist who selects and changes and recreates at will
the actual history of a youthful adoration; but in the

1 The names are taken from Dante's line, Par. XIII, 139; while Master
Brunetto is the 'schoolmaster/ Brunetto Latini, Trans.

14

OUR BROTHER

same book we learn that you liked to play at love with
other women and pay court to them, and that by some
of them you were courted and well-nigh won over.
In short, it was natural that you, like other young men,
should not be content solely with angelic smiles,
salutations, and rhymed vetses; and you yourself have
confessed that your path was more than once impeded
by sensuous desire. This confession is confirmed by the
early biographies and by those little anecdotes which
are not wholly true but which contain, at least, the
more probable portions of an old tradition. There is no
sufficient reason for maintaining that you were not over-
come, as a youth and as a man, by sinful temptations * l

But. turning aside from these not unfounded in-
sinuations, I picture you eyeing the young beauties who
quickened your heart-beats as you loitered on the corners
or passed on your way through the narrow streets of
old Florence a young poet, a novice in philosophy, a
poor gentleman, a partisan biding his time. Now in
the bright sunlight of morning, now in the pale light
of the moon, I see you peering at a damsel who slips
around the corner, or at a window where a fresh face
shows itself, delicate and lovely* Even in church (you
have written it of yourself) you were not ashamed to
stare at the handsome women until even the bystanders
noticed it. And if, in truth, your love for the 'youngest
of the angels ' was never stained by a thought less than
angelic, need we assume that you never looked at other
girls with the natural disturbance, sinful if you like,
which is common to every youth who is neither an
icicle nor a saint?

1 v. G. Papini, La Leggtni* di Danti. Lanciano, Carabba, 1910.

15

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

Even when youth had passed, can we say confidently
that during your time of exile you lived in the houses
of noblemen and stood in the piazzas of cities always
showing that harsh face of a sour spinster? or of a
metaphysician in mental travail? On the contrary, it is
easy to imagine you chatting with some idle gentle-
woman and taking pleasure in public spectacles in the
entrance of a victorious condottiero, in a religious pro-
cession, in a springtime festival of the people. You
cannot make me believe, however grim you look in the
old and well-known portraits, that you never answered
jest with jest, or that you were not occasionally cheek
by jowl with buffoons. And did you never stop by
chance to listen to a strolling minstrel who sang him-
self hoarse at the cross-roads among gaping country-
folk, or enter the circle formed about a juggler or a
wayside rope-dancer? And that day when you drank a
glass of wine too much at the inn, and stayed joking
with the landlady and the donkey-drivers? And that
other day in late September when you were parched
with thirst, and entered the vineyard in Romagna where
you ate your fill of topaz grapes filched by the same
hand that wrote the Divina Commcdial

I do not mean that you debased yourself like a
Folgore or a Cecco* 1 On the contrary, you always
preserved your dignity and kept to decency, and your
pride and self-respect served as checks* But at times
you were just a man; you were hungry and thirsty, you

1 Folgore da San Gimignano and Cecco Angiolicre were poets contem-
porary with Dante. D. G. Rossetti calls Cecco the 'scamp' of the Danteans,
A brief account of both men may be found in Rossetti's Dante and i/f Circle.
Trans*

16

OUR BROTHER

longed for smiles and kisses, and you could jest or, at
least, share in the jests of others.

The misfortunes of your life brought you to the need
for powerful friends, and one cannot always show to
the powerful a face wrathful or preoccupied* They
might mistake an expression of mental absorption for
a sign of boredom, and hold it an offence* So you
must have had to speak , empty and foolish words,
and smile or make pretence of smiling*

After days and nights of meditation, of study, of
reading, of poetic labour, you would feel the longing
to see a little open sky, a stretch of green fields, to lie
at ease under a tree, to listen to the song of a country-
girl, to gather a rose just bursting into bloom, to sit
beside a stream, to follow with the eye the moving
and changing clouds, to eat ripe fruit, to cheer the heart
with a glass of good wine, to caress the sleek head of
a child*

Of these moments of your life, which are the least
known but which were, perhaps, the sweetest to you,
there is some trace in your writings, but none in the
books written about you* Will you, then, permit a poet
just once to see in you not only the monumental
genius, the martyr of his own and others' passions,
the creator of three superposed worlds, the judge of the
human race, the lover of God, but also the happy
mortal, the offspring of sun and earth, the man
humanly human?

THE DANTE OF THE LEGENDS

/^ OETIZING moderns, whose imaginations soar the

IV /higher the more they themselves wallow in the
/p mire, have spread abroad the idea of a Dante

l> wholly great; at every moment of his life proud,
upright, heroic a Dante who regards with a Michael-
angelesque frown the great ones of the earth and even
the saints in heaven; a Dante wholly majestic and awe-
inspiring; a Dante ^ la Carlyle, an incarnation perfect
and entire of the Hero as Poet* I do not wish indeed to
suggest that the Dante thus pictured is false, but I claim
the right to doubt if it is the only true Dante*

Arguments for thus fashioning a Dante alia dantesca
are at hand by the hundred . The Divina Corn-media alone
would be more than sufficient. One who has written a
work like that with a comprehension so vast and so new
of the historic in life and of the profound moral de-
mands of a religious faith taken seriously and taken
with such sincerity that it is compelling even to-day on
us who are distant and disinterested readers such a man
could not have had a small mind and a common spirit.

But the prolific phrase-makers of our day (whom
Dante, if he returned to life, would treat, I hope, as
Cervantes treated the bachelor-of-arts) l forget, in the
over-stressed exuberance of their exordiums and perora-
tions, two simple truths which a very elementary know-
ledge of history teaches to anyone who can see an inch
before his nose. The first is that a man, even a very

1 Samson Carrasco in Don Quixote, Part II, Chap. II, ff. Trans,

18

THE DANTE OF THE LEGENDS

excellent man, is never all of one piece and one colour;
so that side by side with great achievements are to be
found the falterings of weakness. We should not take
advantage of this fact, as certain so-called doctors of
medicine have done, to explain a genius by his defects,
but neither is there need to forget or disregard the de-
fects when we are concerned not to illustrate the work,
but to write all the pages of a man's life. The other
truth, which derives from the first, is that to picture a
man of genius always in a statue-like attitude of severity
and solemnity is a stupidity equal to the opposite one
of the expert psychiatrists who study the great only in
the spasms of epilepsy.

At first, we experience surprise and a feeling of repul-
sion and disenchantment. Then, on reconsidering and
re-examining the question, we see that it is better thus,
and that thus it had to be. The great are great just be-
cause, in the midst of common life and in spite of the
hindrances of the flesh and of their own baseness, they
have succeeded in expressing and in creating something
which surpasses themselves and their time. The hero, in
spite of his valet's opinion, is a hero even in his dressing-
gown.

On this account, I attribute to the surviving legends
about Dante much more value than is granted them by
the zealous advocates of the 'critical' or 'historical
method/ Not all these pleasantries and tales are likely
to be true, but writers who have discussed them up to
the present have shown themselves over-fastidious, being
prejudiced always by the superhuman image of the poet
to which we referred a moment ago. To be sure, the
Dante derived from these tales is different and in some

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

instances shockingly different from the Dante that we
may call 'official' and sacrosanct* Some of the traits are
those of the historical Dante; others appear coarsened
and exaggerated; many new ones are added, not all of
which do him credit.

We knew already that Dante was proud, and in the
traditions we find some traits of arrogance side by side
with instances of his intense application to study and of
his remarkable readiness of wit* But besides the con-
firmations, there are also revelations, and not all con-
form to the idea which we have of him* This other
Dante, the non-historical Dante, was not a well-bred
person. He was not ashamed to ill-treat anyone who
failed in respect toward him, to abuse anyone who did
not answer to suit him or who annoyed or offended him*
He himself was highly sensitive, but he took pleasure in
deriding others. Up to this point the tradition is prob-
able, if not actually true* But worse follows* He did
not disdain to be a tale-bearer; on occasion, he pilfered;
he was not ashamed to vie in scurrility with Gonnella,
the jester, to throw compliments to the girls in the
streets, to consort with prostitutes, to amuse himself
with plays on words, and to show himself greedy of
tit-bits*

And this is not all. We always see him in the legends
in situations which are ridiculous or humiliating for a
man such as he was* We learn that he was set to train
cats* We see him on intimate terms with buffoons;
derided for his low stature and for his greediness at
table; soundly thrashed; sought as adviser in the matter
of seducing a woman; suddenly dumb at the beginning
of a discourse through previous over-confidence; and>

20

THE DANTE OF THE LEGENDS

finally, once suspected of heresy. 1 Quite different from
the perfect Dante of the heroic biography with a face
stern and frowning, like an ancient Roman mask*

But up to what point may we accept as true the
gossiping, irreverent legend?

Dantologists have never taken very seriously this
little Dante the 'stuff that buffoons are made of/
to quote Farinelli and they have always preferred
Alighieri the Great, Who would think them wrong?
But the less decorative Alighieri is not to be thrown
away without examination, and the anecdotes told
about him are not all to be rejected. At times there
is more flavour of life in the legend than in the authentic
historical documents, which are not always impartial
and clear.

In regard to these anecdotes Moore 2 states that the
'great majority' of them, were told of other men before
they were told of Dante. This is not true. Of the
forty-five legendary motifs or themes which I have
collected, only six are to be found in texts earlier than
the time of Dante; two are related also of contem-
poraries; six are told of persons who lived somewhat
later: that is, of the forty-five, only fourteen, at most,
are suspect. Where is Moore's 'large majority '?

That of the remaining thirty the most are either
false or doubtful is quite probable, not to say certain;
but that all are false or doubtful I firmly deny. Some
are told by men who lived shortly after Dante and
held him in respect and admiration Boccaccio, Petrarch,

1 These legends with their variants are collected in La Lcggcnda, di Dante by
G. Papini. Lanciano, Carabba, 1910. The present chapter is, in part, the pre-
face to that collection.

2 E. Moore, Dante and bis Early Biographers. London, 1890, p. 167.

21

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

Benevenuto da Imola. Others were handed down by oral
tradition, losing in the process exactness in the details
but not all the truth. Some of the stories are in har-
mony with the character of Alighieri as we know it from
his writings; as, for example, those that illustrate for
us the 'bread that tastes of salt'; and if others put
before us a Dante that does not correspond precisely to
the lithograph described by the Carlylean phrase-makers,
there is no need for us to lose our tempers and become
angry. If the righteous sin seventy-seven times a day,
according to the proverb, is it altogether impossible
that an austere man should be guilty of trifling, or a
hero of pettiness?

Legends exaggerate, expand, disfigure; but they rarely
create* From every bubble, which seems a nothingness,
we derive a drop of water; and from a mass of traditions
we can obtain with patience a speck of truth.

Finally, there needs to be done for Dante what
Socrates did for philosophy: he should be brought down
from heaven to earth. We have raised, with the best
intentions, a statue larger than life. It is time to revive
the real man as he was in life; not indeed in order to
debase him that which is eternally great in him resists
every such effort of little men like ourselves but in
order to understand him better. A giant such as Dante
has no need of high heels, of stilts, of embellishments.

The entire truth is due to the genius, as it is to the
hero. And Dante, who spoke the most bitter truths to
the living and the dead, cannot complain if we refuse
to hide his less worthy traits. His weaknesses and his
defects make him seem nearer to us, make him our
brother; a brother immeasurably greater, but fashioned,

22

THE DANTE OF THE LEGENDS

nevertheless, of the same earthly clay of which we our-
selves are made. And because of this acknowledged
brotherhood we feel that we love him better. We
venerate the saints, but we embrace and forgive our
brothers.

In every man, whether great or small, there is mingled,
as the poet said, fire and filth. The very great men are
those who, like Dante, have known how to expel the
ignoble elements or to consume them in the fire so as
to make the flame burn more brightly.

HEBREW, ETRUSCAN, ROMAN

ANTE is a world in little, and also, by fore-
Jshortening, a people: a people not altogether
homogeneous and concordant* I see in him
besides the Florentine of the thirteenth century, a
Hebrew prophet, an Etruscan priest, and a Roman
imperialist.

He was nourished, as all Christians were and ought
to be, on the Bible; but I suspect that he was more in
sympathy with the Old Testament than the New. In
the Old Testament he must have felt himself akin to the
prophets. That inner force which compelled him to
admonish, to warn, to threaten, to foretell punishments
as well as to announce salvation all this expressed in
symbolic language which was often harsh but inspired
allies Dante with the greatest prophets of Israel, Even
in his political letters he has a figurative style, an
emphasis, an impetuosity of movement which recall
the violent denunciations of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

From Etruria he has derived, unconsciously, the two
great themes of his masterpiece a preoccupation with
coming events and with the life after death* The
Etruscan religion, so far as we understand it from their
figurative art, which must serve us in lieu of documents
and a sacred text, gave more importance than any other
ancient religion to the myths of the dead in the under-
world and to the divinities of the Hereafter, In the
Etruscan religion there are more demons, and more
fearful ones, than in the Hellenic and the Roman*

24

HEBREW, ETRUSCAN, ROMAN

Certain paintings in Etruscan tombs are anticipatory
illustrations of Dante's HelL Moreover, the Etruscans
made of prophecy a real and exact science, haruspicy;
and as soothsayers and diviners they were always held
in repute and were consulted until the early centuries
of the Empire* Destroyed as a nation, they survived
for centuries as privileged prophets. Thus in Dante we
often find besides the fulminating prophet of the
Hebraic type, something of the haruspex who is not
content with general predictions but aims at a precision
almost mathematical. It may be said that numerical
precision with regard to the future is found in the Book
of Daniel and in the Apocalypse; but the fact that Dante
imitated them may be traced to an obscure survival -of
the Etruscan prophetic consciousness, unless we wish
to seek a nearer source in the calculations of Joachim of
Flora. 1

Like the Roman of ancient times, Dante has the
twofold instinct of justice and political unity. He
unites in himself the two adversaries Cato, the man
of rectitude, and Caesar, the founder of the Empire.
He speaks of Rome as of his true fatherland, and feels
that it is still necessary to gather all the peoples and
countries of the world under the banner of Rome.
He is a jurist with a passion for liberty, and yet resigns

1 Joachim of Flora (d. 1202) was Abbot of Flora in Calabria. The most
famous of his prophetic treatises was his comment on the Apocalypse. He pro-
claimed the doctrine of the three world- ages, and maintained that the dispen-
sation of the Father and of the Son would be followed by that of the Holy
Spirit, the precise date of whose coming he announced as 1260. (See the
article * Joachim,' Enc. Brit.') Readers of Dante will recall the reference in
Par. XII, 140-141 to the Calabrian abbot 'endowed with prophetic spirit/
There are numerous references in this volume to his prophecies and to his fol-
lowers, the Joachimists. Trans.

25

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

himself to seeing a Teutonic prince take the throne of
Augustus if only the great Roman unity may be re-
established on the earth.

Some have said of Dante that above all else he bears
the stamp of the .Germanic mind. The Germans and
their admirers, like Houston Chamberlain, are united
in maintaining that in aspect, family-descent, and genius
Dante is a pure Teuton* There is in him, undoubtedly,
a moral earnestness which is to be found in the portrait
of the German which admirers of the Teutonic type
are accustomed to paint. But earnestness is not, so far
as I know, a monopoly of the Nordics . We find a deep
moral earnestness in the Hebrew prophets and in the
Romans of the great periods*

And so, to return to Dante, I see as actuating causes
in his mind the three things discussed in this chapter,
I find in him a Daniel without the lions, a Tarchon
without Tages, 1 a Cato who did not commit suicide*

1 Tages was a mysterious being who instructed Tarchon, the leader of the
Etruscans, in the art of the haruspices. Trans.

DANTE'S DUALISM

9N the treacherous thickets of literature there is
a race of huntsmen who go beating the bush
night and day, trying to drive into the open
the inconsistencies of great men. People of this sort
do not understand, in the heat of the chase, that
real contradictions are found more often in mediocre
minds, and that in the case of the great we ought to
take account of the vastness of soul and intellect which
gathers within itself opinions and tendencies apparently
contradictory, but actually concurrent and comple-
mentary* In little minds, contrasting ideas live together
with difficulty and must of necessity come to blows; and
in the outcome remain definitely contradictory* But in
vigorous minds, more active and more ample, con-
trasting ideas work together to produce a richer vision;
and, in achieving harmonious results, arrive at a
higher synthesis which annuls, while it justifies, their
opposition*

Thus it is with Dante* From a distance he
appears a monolith all of a colour; but those who
penetrate within find that he is made of different
marbles brought from different places* Or, rather,
let us say that instead of a monolith we face an
edifice of many styles of architecture to which unity
is given by the burning imprint of his spontan-
eous genius* As with every great man, Dante is
like a many-sided pillar, and his bust is that of
a herm*

27

DANTE VIVO * PROLEGOMENA

Whoever sees in him only the Thomist 1 or only the
Ghibelline, sees but a part of the truth, Dante, is out-
side the fixed categories, above incidental divisions,
beyond the unyielding yea and nay. In him there is
everything: the wisdom of the East, the Greek logos,
the Christian caritas, the Roman civilitas. He venerates
Aristotle and follows St Thomas, but he does not
hesitate to levy upon the Arabians and the Jews. He
feeds upon the Old and New Testaments, but does not
scorn to make use of Moslem tradition. 2

In the general principles of his theological belief he
is a follower of St Thomas, but he is also profoundly
influenced by St Augustine, St Bernard, St Bona-
venture, by the mystic Victorines, 3 and the apocalyptic
Joachimists .

Dante was, at heart, an Augustinian and a Platonist;
intellectually, an Aristotelian Thomist; and his poetry
verges now toward one, now toward the other. He
is too messianic and mystic to be called a rationalist;
and, at the same time, he has too much intellectualism
and civism. to be called a purely contemplative mind*

He is an Aristotelian and a Thomist this has been
said often enough, but he makes St Thomas praise
the 'invidious truths' of the Averroist philosopher,
Siger of Brabante; and makes St Bonaventure, adversary
of the Spiritual Joachimists, praise that same Joachim
of Flora whom Aquinas himself did not hold in favour.

1 Follower of St Thomas Aquinas, the great scholastic philosopher and
theologian of the thirteenth century. Trans.

2 I do not accept in its entirety the exaggerated thesis of Asfn Palacios, La
Escatologia tnusulmana en la. Divina Commcdia (^Madrid, E. Maestre, 1919), but
some of the comparisons are certainly worth considering.

3 Followers of Hugh of St Victor, in Paris.

28

DANTE'S DUALISM

In Dante lived the man of earlier times, the citizen
of Rome who dreamed of Empire; but at the same time
he is the messianic disciple of St John and of the
Calabrian abbot, who expects from the Veltro, from
the Holy Spirit, the spiritual renewal of the world* 1

Dante is undoubtedly a Christian, although not a
perfect Christian and who except the saints could
pretend to be a true Christian ? and he is a Catholic
Christian, an enemy of heresy; yet he preserves in his
heart a deep affection for the pagan philosophers, cites
Cicero as on an equality with the Gospel, and provides
for the salvation not only of Trajan, in homage to
Gregory the Great, but also of Cato, enemy of the
Empire, of Statius, through an unlikely and unverified
conversion, and finally, thanks to a half-verse of
Virgil's, qf the very obscure Rhipeus. 2

Dante does not choose between the Church and the
Empire. He accepts the Church provided it reforms.
He desires the Empire provided it fulfils its function*
He does not wish that the Emperor should become the
master of the Pope, nor that the Pope should usurp
the mission of the Emperor* And he brings together
these two great powers, which had been for so long a
time in opposition, and equalizes them in a higher
purpose which transcends them both the service of
suffering humanity, the triumph of peace*

Among the religious orders which held the field in his
day and contended for control over the souls of men,

1 For the identity of the Veltro with the Holy Spirit, see Chap. 43 of this
volume.

2 Rhipeus, iustissimus unus

Qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus aequi. Acncid, II, 4x6-427.

29

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA **\

Dante takes his seat as a supreme judge who brings
together and reconciles the opposed. St Bonaventure,
the Franciscan, eulogizes St Dominic, 'harsh to his
foes'; and St Thomas, the Dominican, sings the
praises of St Francis, who, in strict accord with the
Gospel, preached and practised love toward one's
enemies* Both Dominicans and Franciscans, Dante
seems to say, serve the faith of Christ and the welfare
of Christianity; the one order combating heresy which
threatens the indispensable unity; the other setting
the example of poverty, so desirable at a time when the
greed of prelates had alienated many souls from the
true Church*

Everyone remembers what admiration Dante has for
Julius Caesar and in what terrible jaws Caesar's assassins
are crushed* 1 Yet the same Dante places the poor
Curio 2 in hell for no other fault than that of stifling
all hesitation in the mind of Gesar when he delayed to
cross the Rubicon; and in the Convivio 3 and the
Purgatorio 4 he glorifies the younger Cato who com-
mitted suicide rather than obey Caesar* Dante, then,
who glorifies the Empire, condemns the man who assisted
in the founding of the Empire, and extols him who
opposed the establishing of the Empire, This seems a
clear contradiction, but the contradiction, when well
examined, disappears. In Curio, instigator of civil
war, Dante sees one who spoke through evil passions
and for private gain In Cato of Utica, who openly

1 Inf. XXXIV, 61-67. 2 Inf. XXVIII, 94-102.

3 Conv. IV, v, 16 ; vi, 10 ; xxviii, 13-19.

4 Purg. I, 31-109.

5 According to contemporary sources, Caesar paid the debts of Curio, who,
for this reason, became Caesar's adherent*

3

DANTE'S DUALISM

opposed Caesar, he sees one who is redeemed by his love
of justice and of Rome a love so strong as to make
him prefer loss of life to loss of liberty. And perhaps
in his heart Caesar himself esteemed Cato more than
Curio *

Lastly, for Dante, woman is not only the almost
divine Beatrice who draws him toward God. She is also
the gentlewoman who makes pretence of love and
serves him as a convenient screen; she is the 'pitiful
lady* who compassionates him and whom he rewards
with respectful affection; she is Pargoletta or Violetta,
the Little Maid or the Violet, who gives him occasion
for charming and musical songs; or she may be the wild
and rebellious Pietra of the stony heart, whom he would
like to grasp by the hair and drag with him into 'hot
hell/ 1

Other antitheses and paradoxes could be pointed out
in Dante's work, but I should not be justified in calling
them contradictions . Multifarious aspects are the right
of those who have a rich inner life; and to show a double
aspect does not mean in every case to be either insincere
or forgetful. Still less so when, as happens with Dante,
the apparent dualisms are resolved into a synthesis which
surmounts them. Dante is neither wholly pagan nor
wholly Christian; but he was unwilling to renounce
entirely the heritage of the ancients. Even more he dis-
tinguished the human needs of the contemporary civil
life from the ultimate goal to which the soul of man is
destined. Each one of us desires salvation and the joy
of everlasting life; but meanwhile, since we are here

1 The references, which students of Dante's minor works will recognize,
are to the Vita JVwova and to names which occur in the Rime,- Trans*

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

below, we must live with one another in the best
possible way* We must follow, first of all, the Gospel
and the saints; but in our desire for peace and justice
during our enforced earthly habitation we need not
throw away either Aristotle or Cicero. Holding these
desires and beliefs, Dante was neither wholly Guelph
nor wholly Ghibelline. If the Pope leads us, or ought
to lead us, to the peace of heaven, the Emperor is better
qualified to secure peace on earth*

Faith and faith, too, in revelations of the future
is the very essence of the Christian* But we cannot
renounce the aid of reason, which is a gift from God.
And we do no wrong if, after having followed St
Bernard or Joachim, we go to school to Aristotle and
Seneca* St Thomas, it is true, has constructed a wonderful
edifice wherein reason demonstrates to the intellect
the solidity of faith; but if certain useful truths are
found in St Augustine or in Hugh of St Victor, or
even in Pier Giovanni Olivi 1 and Ubertino da
Casale, 2 why reject them? St Thomas is the fortified
tower where we can barricade ourselves, but the others
are eagles or doves which fly above the highest
ramparts*

Was Dante conscious of this duality within himself?
Or did these different attitudes of mind succeed one
another at intervals as time went on, without his even
being aware of their contradictions ?

1 Pier Giovanni Olivi (d. 1298) was a Franciscan, leader of the Spirituals,
and a teacher at Sta. Croce in Florence, where, possibly, Dante listened to his
lectures, v, Davidssohn, Finnic ai Tempi di Dante. Florence, Bemporad, 1929,
pp. 223-224 -Trans.

2 Ubertino followed Pier Giovanni as leader of the Spirituals. There is an
interesting reference to him in Par, XII, 124, Trans.

32

DANTE'S DUALISM

I believe that the synthesis of these contrary elements
was brought about by the natural unifying power of his
genius, nourished as it was by so great and varied a
culture; and that through his complete universality,
which brought into intimate contact past, present, and
future, he could rightly offer himself, in the Commedia,
as the symbol of the whole human race*

33

THE THREE GREAT PARADOXES

IKE every great work, Dante's is an answer* It
is the expression of a desire to supply a lack, a
deficiency, a want, in the ordinary temporal
existence* An unbearable sense of mediocrity is
the point of departure for attaining to greatness. To
the humbleness of their lot the heroes of the intellect
reply with the greatness of their work. Therefore we
must keep in mind three paradoxes in the character of
Dante.

Reacting to the wretchedness of his ruined life, Dante
answers with his immeasurable pride, his consciousness
of being almost a supreme master of men, an adviser of
emperors, a judge of pontiffs, a herald of the designs of
God.

To his natural sensitiveness, almost feminine, corre-
spond, by contrast and revulsion, the boldness of his
conceptions, the rashness of his designs, the audacity
of his aims and words.

To his deep and persistent sensuality sometimes
running over into licence he reacts by turning again
to an earlier poetic motif and magnifying it until it
becomes almost the spiritual deification of the Beloved.
The eternal sensualist makes of his Lady almost a
counterpart of Our Lady.

The poor mendicant exile conceives of himself as an
intermediary between earth and heaven. Timorous even
to the point of weeping, he becomes the intrepid and

34

THE THREE GREAT PARADOXES

pitiless chastiser of men. The slave of sex in adoration
exalts the transfigured woman to the side of the Blessed
Virgin. All of Dante's work, in its character and in its
dominant ideas, is an instinctive and splendid com-
pensation for his sufferings and his weaknesses.

In truth, every great quality derives from its opposite.
The mediocre remains mediocre for ever. But from
the coward can come forth the hero; from the humbled,
the dominating; from the criminal, the saint. The
man of the middle class always remains middle class;
but the man of the people may become dictator or
emperor.

The soul, brought low and hemmed in by circum-
stance, will rise, create for itself another environment,
restore the equilibrium between fate and aspirations,
reply with a victorious Yes to all the Noes of life. He
who stands in the middle is content. He who has been
condemned to the depths, wishes to spring up to the
very summit*

Pride is almost always humiliation which has been
overcome, an attempt to escape from the mediocrity
of life.

Boldness is fear surmounted, the outbreak of the timid
who have cast off their chains, the ferocity of the
wrathful lamb,

Platonism is sensuousness transformed and purified,
the effort to change the appetite for carnal pleasure
into spiritual adoration*

Without these paradoxes, which are the beginning
of every real victory over self, we could not succeed in
understanding the greatness of Dante and his work.

35

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

The really great man is not he who is born great, and
who through a fatal facility loses his native powers,
but rather he who wins his greatness in spite of every-
thing and everybody, against the trammels of his own
nature, against every adversity*

THE MODERNITY OF DANTE

OVER every considerable period of the brief
history of human thought there presides a
supreme genius who sums it up and represents
it. For indolent minds, antiquity is Homer, the
Renaissance is Shakespeare* Romanticism is Goethe,
Modernism is Dostoievsky TVDante belong, as fief or
empire, the Middle Ages. In the notorious darkness
of the Middle Ages covering a world expectant of the
pagan mistral which would sweep away that darkness,
there was seen, all at once, in the midst of Italy, a tiny
lamp, a lantern, a torch, a pyre, even as some think
a small volcano; and this light, a little smoky to tell
the truth, was called AlighierL

According to common opinion, Dante might be a
megatherium or a dinosaur preserved, at least as a fossil
skeleton, at the close of those dark ages which extend
from the splendours of Romulus Augustulus to the
glories of Caesar Borgia.

The thoughts and the faith of Dante, which were as
flesh and blood to him, are now dust and ashes because
Catholicism (according to the epigones of the slayers of
Christ) is no more than a badly embalmed corpse still
standing upright, perhaps through the effect of devilish
injections. But there survive, so they say, of this mediaeval
monster called Dante, some precious fragments of poetry .
Art, and art alone, has been able to preserve an ana-
chronistic document of the infantile conceptions of an
epoch past and gone.

37

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

Dante, to use the accepted phrase, summarizes and
closes the Middle Ages. He is a monument, but of a
city in ruins, of a civilization fallen to pieces; and the
monument is saved only because of the beauty of certain
capitals, of a group of bas-reliefs, of a few arches, of
three or four pinnacles. But Dante, as a whole, belongs
to a world entirely dead. He is at once the cathedral
and the sepulchre of the Middle Ages,

The truth, as I see it, is absolutely different. With-
out any rhetorical trickery, we can speak of the modernity
of Dante.

Of course, not everything in him is alive and modern,
just as not all of Tolstoi, who lived in our own time, is
alive and modern. Nevertheless, there are certain sub-
stantial elements of the Dantesque spirit so modern as
to be, even to-day, among the hopes and ideals for
whose fulfilment we still look to the future.

I shall say nothing of Catholicism and of Catholic
philosophy. In spite of all the hasty grave-diggers,
there are still some people in the world who believe
firmly in the kingdom of Christ and in His law; and
there are still to be found and not only among the
clergy and the seminary-teachers ardent Thomists and
Scotists and sincere admirers of St Bernard and St
Bonaventure. The wise ones will say that thinkers
holding such beliefs have been superseded for centuries,
and that they form no integral part of the stream of
modern culture. Let us leave these wise folk to wade
in the stream until the moment, fast approaching,
when they drown.

Let us turn our gaze rather to those modern Catholics
and, in general, to all Christians who feel keenly the

38

THE MODERNITY OF DANTE

necessity for not limiting their religious life to mere
devotional mechanics. In all these people we find, here
in the well-advanced twentieth century, the same
aspirations and hopes as in Dante. Let me mention
two of them*

First of all, an aversion to the prominence of the
political side in the life of the Church, and to any
intermingling of economic activity and priestly function.
Modern Catholics are as hostile as Alighieri was to the
politician-priest and to the man-of-business-priest . They
are convinced that the Church is, in its essence, a
spiritual society with spiritual aims, and that therefore
it must avoid, so far as social obligations and historical
changes permit, all meddling, direct or indirect, in
political affairs. This means that priests ought not to
belong to any political party or take part in the govern-
ment of a country, or share in the struggles between
factions or classes, unless they are acting as peace-makers.
Their mission is moral and spiritual only; they are
called to direct the faithful to the betterment of their
souls and to eternal salvation, not to administer
states *

Priesthood deals only with divine things, and politics
is one of the most earthly among all earthly things,
and one of the furthest from the evangelic ideaL
The priest must be neither a prince nor a minister of
princes, nor in any way a partaker in the civil govern-
ment of states, Caesar is one thing and Peter is another*
In the Catholic Church there is one king only, Jesus
Christ. All emperors, kings, presidents, and ministers
are subject, if they are Christians, to the moral authority
of the Church which can, in given cases, blame and

39

DANTE VIVO * PROLEGOMENA

condemn their actions, but cannot and ought not to
associate itself with them to govern the human races.

The Church is a teacher. She teaches all men, (and,
therefore, men in political life) to be perfect so as to
merit peace on earth and bliss in heaven. This is the
mission assigned to her by her divine Founder, If in
some periods of her history there were abbots who were
feudal lords, popes who wished to direct the politics of
this or that country, cardinals who were ministers of
monarchs, that same history teaches us that from all
this the Church received more harm than good. Neither
the Reformation nor Encyclopedism would have resulted
as they did if all the members of the Church had re-
mained faithful to their purely spiritual duties. By the
very necessity of the case, the Church has a policy of
her own which is not policy in the usual political sense
of the word, but is rather a search for the best way of
living among different states and within them. It is a
protective policy, not a directive policy. And what else
than this did Dante mean when he hurled himself
against the popes of his time, who instead of conse-
crating all their efforts to the perfecting of souls in the
requirements of the Gospel and to the pacifying of a
disordered world, sided with this or that king, sought
alliances and temporal advantages, and by so doing
helped to increase immeasurably the fratricidal wars
and the divisions between country and country?

Dante was no less severe against the covetousness of
the clergy and the frenzied pursuit of riches, all too
frequent among the prelates. It is not possible for the
Church, as an institution, to preserve absolutely the
principle of evangelic poverty (even the disciples had

40

THE MODERNITY OF DANTE

their cashier), but it is most unfortunate for the prestige
of the faith that the heads of the Church and, in general,
the priests and the monks, should show themselves
eager to acquire worldly goods . The Canon Law, in fact,
forbids priests to engage in trade or banking, and in these
matters very great progress has been made since the
time of Dante * But it needed the creation of the Mendi-
cant Orders, the aggressive action of the Reformation,
and the hard lesson of more modern experiences to
bring about such a result.

And in another aspect of his Catholicism Dante is
very modern* He was expecting, as we shall see later,
the advent of the Third Person of the Trinity who
would drive back to hell every form of concupiscence
and of evil covetousness * He was, in fact, although
beneath 'the veil of strange verses/ a thoughtful and
independent disciple of Joachim of Flora and of the
Spirituals* This expectation of the Paraclete is, even
in modern times, more alive among Catholic writers
than is generally supposed: it is sufficient to instance
UonBloy, 1

Even to-day there are those who, remembering
Christ's promise in the gospel of St John, expect the
third Revelation, the coming of the Comforter, the
Epiphany of the Holy Spirit* This expectation is not
based, like that of the Joachimists, on fantastic calcula-
tions; nor does it give rise among Catholics to heretical
communities. It is a vague expectation, more a hope
than a belief; and in those who accept it there is no

1 This expectation appears in almost all the works of Lon Bloy, especially
in L'Amc it Napolton. Indications of a desire for a new Revelation appear
also in De Maistre and Huysmans.

41

DANTE VIVO - PROLEGOMENA

inclination to separate themselves from the Church or to
refuse the least part of its dogmatic teaching.

The attitude of these Catholics, then, is very similar
to that of Dante, who never intended, even in his
messianic prophecies, to separate himself from Catholic
discipline.

This is not the place to ask how far the hope of a
future and explicit manifestation of the Holy Spirit may
be in conformity with the teaching of the Church.
Here we are speaking of the modernity of Dante, not of
his orthodoxy. Moreover, if there were in him some
shadow of heterodoxy, the fact would remain that such
shadows have not disappeared entirely from the modern
world, and that even on this point he could be considered,
whether for good or ill, alive in the world of thought
to-day.

Dante's modernity reveals itself, however rash such a
statement may appear, also in his fundamental political
concept.

As everyone knows, this concept was the restoration
of the Empire. Many think that in Dante it means a
literary nostalgia for the greatness of Rome, and still
more a desire for an authority sufficiently strong and
wide to blunt the unwise desires of the papacy for
temporal power, and to establish in Europe, and
especially in Italy, order, concord, and justice. Although
warranted by memories of ancient times and by the
political circumstances of that time, torn as it was by
strife and fatal divisions, this imperialistic concept of
Dante's came to be considered a Utopia, and it is now
looked upon as a mere historical relic of mediaeval
thought. It is a point in proof that at the period of the

42

CJL

THE MODERNITY OF DANTE

Risorgimento many Italians, without quite understand-
ing Dante's ideals, saw in him above all the prophet
of national unity and not what he really was, the
militant theorist of the imperial idea. The formation of
national states which was begun in the Middle Ages and
has been protracted, we may say, to our own day, has
created a state of mind contrary to the conception of a
universal authority such as Alighieri desired. As a
partisan of the Empire, he came to be regarded as a
Utopian even in his own cenrury, which was moving
toward the autonomy of the communes and the division
of the governing power; and in our time, as an advocate
of the Empire, Dante is regarded as an honourable fossiL
Actually the painful experience of these last years
warns us that the creation of national states has been a
necessary but not a definitive stage in the organization
of the world. The dissolution of mediaeval Christianity
and the flourishing of nationalism and separatism have
brought the nations to carnage and misery. 'The little
threshing-floor which makes us so ferocious* is now
at length so small in our eyes, and the peoples who
inhabit it so connected and bound together by all the
forms of modern life, intellectual and economic, that
already many are turning in thought, without being
quite aware of it, to the mediaeval Utopia, to the
Utopia of Dante. Once more we seek for unity,
though by other ways than Dante's* We are discovering
that Europe, or rather all the human race, is destined
to disasters always more and more terrible, if it does
not achieve the reconstruction of a great political union,
which may not be precisely the Roman Empire, but
which shall, at any rate, be a multiform organism

43

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

governed by a single body of laws and by one supreme
authority .

The very countries where nationalism is strongest
are aware that the present political units are too small
to deal with the new conditions of life; and we speak
once more of Empire, not because we are moved by
nostalgic fancies but because we are driven by urgent
spiritual and economic needs*

The problem is to see if this unification will be
brought about by means of conquest on the part of one
state more powerful than the others, or by means of a
voluntary accord which, at the beginning, might consist
of a loyal federation . Will unity be imposed by force,
or will it come about through spontaneous and ana-
logous desires?

The political unity of the civilized world, of which
Dante dreamed, was undertaken in the sixteenth century
by the Flemish-Spaniard, Charles V, who handed over
Rome to be sacked by the Lutherans, and who in the
end abdicated* It was again undertaken in the opening
years of the nineteenth century by a gallicized Italian
who took the Pope prisoner, and who later died defeated
and a prisoner himself* Every other attempt at hege-
mony economic on the part of England, military on
the part of Germany has failed in these last years.
To-day the attempt is being made to achieve the necessary
unity by means of agreements between the nations:
by customs unions, continental leagues, a League of
Nations.

We speak for the moment only of proposals, of hopes,
of tentative approaches. But that Dante is not to-day a
stranger among us is shown by the fact that men are

44

THE MODERNITY OF DANTE

beginning to think, just as he did, that in order to put
an end to the perilous rivalries of states and to establish
a higher form of justice which shall be exercised also for
the peoples menaced or sacrificed, the most certain
method would be the political unity of at least Europe*

Such a unity would not be the Empire in Dante's
sense, but the substance is the same and the end is
identical* Dante, then, was not merely a dreamer
about the past; he was a seer of the future.

The final proof of the modernity of Dante is in his
poetry, that is, in the modes of his literary art* He is
accused of an excessive fondness for the use of symbols
and of obscure allusions. But has not modern poetry
from Mallarme and Rimbaud onward found once more
in the natural universe a forest of symbols almost
supernatural? It is said that Dante sometimes creates
strange new words, that he does not avoid even plays
on words or deliberate alliteration. But do we not find
the same thing in Work in Progress, the most recent book
of James Joyce, who is considered by sophisticated
readers the most modern of modern writers?

It is said that Dante was at fault, from the point of
view of the latest aesthetics, in wishing to express in
poetry that which is foreign to the very nature of poetry,
namely, theological truths and abstract thoughts. But
has not Paul Claudel, the greatest modern Catholic poet,
expressed in verse some of the most mystic dogmas
of the Church ? And Paul Val&y, the poet who is the
latest passion of our literati, has he not energetically
defended the right of poetry to convey and transmit
the most complicated processes of thought ?

Also as artist, then, Dante has not been 'superseded* ;

45

DANTE VIVO PROLEGOMENA

on the contrary, he is able to take his place beside and
above the most recent innovators of poetical technique. 1
In the days of ingenuous realism and of scholastic
rhetoric, the art of Dante would have seemed gothic,
archaic, artificial. Our modern age has ended by re-
turning to him and acknowledging him right.

And, finally, we may say that to-day Dante is more
intimately and profoundly alive through our under-
standing of him than he has ever been since his own
times: he is more modern than many moderns, more
alive than many who are dead but think themselves alive*

1 Even the latest among the literary schools of Europe, Super-realism,
names Dante among its possible predecessors: 'bon nombre de poctes pour-
raicnt passer pour surroalistcs, a commencer par Dante. . , .' Andr Breton,
Manifests du Surrealisms, Paris, Kra, 1924, pp. 42-43,

BOOK TWO

THE ORPHAN

'OCCACCio, the writer of novelle, tells us in his
iLife of Dantt that Dante's mother, being with
child, dreamed of giving birth in a meadow
to a son who, feeding on laurel-berries, became first
a shepherd and then a peacock* This, according to
modern interpretation, would have foreshadowed a
pastoral poet and a coxcomb*

Although Dante wrote two eclogues in which he
appears under the name of Tityrus, he assumed the guise
of a shepherd only for a moment, a little while before
his death; and granting that he was unduly proud, still
no one can imagine him given up to ostentatious display.

Let us then leave the oneirology to the story-teller,
and see rather what true omen presaged the coming of
Dante* He was born, it seems certain, at the end of
May 1265, and was conceived, therefore, at the end of
August 1264. And precisely in that month of August
there began to blaze in the sky one of those stars which
have so often accompanied extraordinary events.

It is no teller of tales who recounts it, but a sober
chronicler, Giovanni VillanL 'In the year of Our Lord
1264, in the month of August, there appeared in the
sky a comet-star with great rays and a tail; which,
rising from the east with great light until it reached
the heavens overhead, [sank] toward the west: its tail
was dazzling and it lasted three months, that is, until
the end of November/ 1

1 Viilani, Cron. VI, xcL
49

DANTE VIVO LIFE

It was, of course, a mere coincidence; but such co-
incidences are observed only at the birth or the death
of great men; Caesar, 1 for example, or Dante. It is not
fitting that we should recall with reference to a mortal,
however great he may be, the star seen in the east by the
three Wise Men in the days of the most mysterious
birth that the earth has witnessed*

Brunetto Latini, who delighted in astrology, drew
from Dante's horoscope, some years later, the prophecy
of his future glory. And on this occasion, at least, the
astrologer was not mistaken; but the poet bought his
greatness and immortality at the heavy price of mis-
fortunes and disasters*

His first misfortune was to be left an orphan while
still a child, bereft of both father and mother. His
mother, Madonna Gabriel la (probably of the Abati
family), died when Dante was not more than five or six
years old. 2 His father, Alighiero, died before the
sixth of August, 1277. 3 When about twelve years old,
Dante was left alone with a stepmother*

The biographers have not given sufficient prominence
to this early orphanhood of Dante, which left traces
in him even until his last years. We know little of his
father, and that little is not such as to make him appear
a man of much intelligence. The son never mentions
him, and when Forese Donati recalls him in one of the
famous sonnets of the Ten^one, 4 * the son in his reply

1 For the comet which appeared at the time of Caesar's death, see Suetonius,
LXXXVIIL

2 Zingarelli, Dante. Milan, Vallardi, 1931, p. 89(znded.).

3 ttid. t p. 91.

4 For the allusion to the father and for the entire Tcnsync, see the learned
and acute investigation of M. Barbi, Studi Danteschi, IX, 5-149 ; XVI, 69-103,

See also Chap. 14 of this volume.

50

THE ORPHAN

makes no defence of his father. It would appear from
these sonnets that there rests on the memory of the
dead Alighiero some unavenged shame, we cannot say
what, it may be of usury or heresy. His name never
appears in the Florentine annals of that stormy period,
and from the scanty documents that mention him, we
learn only that he loaned money. Probably he was a
money-lender in a small way, and not such a man as the
son could take pride in, either for quality of mind or for
importance of position*

To his mother Dante makes a single allusion * It is when
he applies to himself through Virgil's lips the famous
words which in the Gospel are addressed to Christ:

Benedetta colei che in te s'incinse J 1
Blessed is the womb that bare thee !

But a boy who lost his mother in his fifth or sixth year
cannot have very vivid memories of her. There remains,
however, the lasting, unsatisfied longing for the mother's
caress, Dante lost his mother too early for him to have
enjoyed her tenderness, and in his father he found neither
guide nor protector*

Although his longing for the maternal affection which
he had scarcely experienced may have been the more
acute, he must also have felt deeply the desire for the
counsel and support of a real father* Even after the
orphan has become a youth and a man, he will always
be conscious of the unsatisfied hunger which he suffered
in his loneliness as boy and as adolescent. Deprived
before his time of real parents, he will feel the constant
need to create for himself with his imagination another

1 Inf. VIII, 45. Cf. Luke *i t 27,

51

DANTE VIVO LIFE

father and another mother* The orphan does not accept
his orphanhood with indifference. He has an over-
whelming desire to hear himself called son. In the
Commtdia, in the poem which is a mirror of four worlds
but which is at the same time the poet's fragmentary
autobiography, symbolic but authentic, he is able to
satisfy, perhaps without conscious intention, that filial
longing. He represents those whom he admires and
loves as calling him by the beloved name of son.
Brunetto Latini repeatedly calls him 'my son'; 1 as do
Statius, 2 Cacciaguida, 3 and even Adam 4 and St Peter. 5
His beloved Virgil calls him 'son/ 'dear son/ 'my
dear son' many times, 8 and once also 'sweet son/ 7
And, further, Dante represents Virgil as a father in the
act of saving his son and holding him close to his
breast:

portandosene me sovra '1 suo petto
come suo figlto, non come compagno. 8

Bearing me along upon his breast as his own son/ not as a companion*

It seems that this orphan, now a man, is never tired
of hearing himself called by that affectionate name which
he could have heard from his own parents for so brief a
time* And he is not satisfied with being merely called
son; he wishes to think that he has foutid a new father
and a new mother* The first who could have seemed to
him a truer father than the dead Alighiero was Brunetto

i Ii,/. XV, 31, 37. * Pur&9 XXV, ^ j 8 .

3 Par. XV, 52 ; XVII, 94. * Par. XXVI, 115,

* Par. XXVII, 64.

e Figlio: Inf. VII, 115 ; Purg. XXVII, 35, 128. Figliolo: Inf. VII, 61 ; VIII,
67 ; Purg. VIII, 88 ; XVII, 92. Figliol mio: Inf. Ill, 121 ; XI, 16 ; Purg. IV,
46 ; XXVII, 20.

7 -Purg. Ill, 66. 8 In XXIII, 50-51.

THE ORPHAN

Latini, whose 'dear,, benign, paternal image* 1 he recalls
although he meets Brunetto in a place of shame. But
nearer to his heart, though unknown to him on earth,
was his ancestor, Cacciaguida, whom he meets in the
light of Paradise, and to whom he says frankly and
openly, 'You are my father. . * / 2 My real father, he
seems to say, I knew but little and he was of little worth;
but I can call you my father, you who were a knight, an
honoured offspring of the Roman seed, a martyr for
the faith, a Florentine neither decadent nor corrupt;
you, a blessed soul in heaven; you, the first plant of my
stock; in you I see myself and rejoice.

But he who in the mind of Dante more completely
fills the place of the lost and perhaps little loved father
is Virgil. In the Commcdia and elsewhere, Dante gives
him many names, but the one which most willingly
conies from his pen is padre, father. Nor does he call
him simply father, but in the fullness of his affection
he adds other words which make even more tender
that name which he finds so beautiful to speak: 'sweet
father/ 'dear, sweet father/ 'my more than father/
'my true father/ 'sweetest father/ 3 He gives that
name to some others, but to no one else with such
insistence and tenderness.

So great is Dante's affection for Virgil that he sees in
him not only a father but even a mother. When the
poet, in the eighth circle of the Inferno, is threatened
by demons, he says:

1 Inf. XV, 83. 2 Par. XVI, 16.

a Padre: Pwrg. XIII, 34. Dolce padre: Inf. VIII, no ; Purg. IV, 44 ; XV, 25,
124; XVII, 82; XXIII, 13; XXV, 17; XXVII, 52, Dolce padre caro: Purg.
XVIII, 13. Pifc che padre: Purg. XXIII, 4. Padre verace: Purg. XVIII, 7-
Dolcissimo padre: Purg. XXX, 50.

53

DANTE VIVO LIFE

Lo duca mio di subito mi prese,
come la madre ch'al romore c desta,
e vede presso a s le fiamme accese,

che prende il figlio e fugge. . . . x

My leader suddenly took me as a mother who, wakened by the noise and
seeing near her the burning flames, gathers up her son and flees.

When in the Earthly Paradise Dante stands trembling
at the unexpected sight of Beatrice, he feels the need of
turning quickly to Virgil:

Volsimi alia sinistra col rispitto
col cjuale il fantolin corre alia mamma,
quando ha paura, o quando elli e afflitto,

per dicere a Virgilio. , . . 2

I turned to the left as confidently as a little child runs to his mother
when he is frightened, or when he is hurt, to say to Virgil . . .

But she who takes the place of the lost and lamented
mother in Dante's thirsting heart is no other than
Beatrice. He receives her reproofs as those of a mother
who is angry but kind and loving,

Cosi In madre al figlio par superba,
com'ella parve a me. . . . 3

As a mother seems haughty to her son, so she seemed to me.

Dante, the mature, unsparing Dante, who is not
ashamed to compare himself to a little child, receives
her reproofs as if they were those of a mother:

Quali i fanciulli, vergognando, muti,
con li occhi a terra stannosi, ascoltando
e s riconoscendo e ripentuti,

tal mi stav'io. . . . 4

As children ashamed and silent stand with their eyes upon the ground,
listening and contrite and repentant, so was I standing.

i Inf. XXIII, 37-40. 2 Purg. XXX, 43-46.

3 Purg. XXX, 79-80, * Purg. XXXI, 64-67,

54

THE ORPHAN

At the beginning of his ascent to Paradise, Dante
speaks ingenuous words, whereupon Beatrice

. , . appresso d'un pio sospiro,

li occhi drizzo ver me con quel sembiante

che madre fa sovra figlio deliro, 1

. . . with a pitying sigh, directed her eyes towards me with that look
which a mother turns on her delirious child*

Dance is suddenly disturbed by the great cry of the
blessed souls and quickly looks toward Beatrice;

oppresso di stupore, alia mia guida
mi volsi, come parvol che ricorre
sempre cola dove piu si confida ;

e quella, come madre che soccorre
subito al figlio palido e anelo
con la sua voce, che 1 suol ben disporre,
* mi disse. . . . 2

Oppressed with wonder, I turned to my guide like a little child who
always runs thither for help where his trust is greatest ; and she, like a
mother who quickly soothes her pale and breathless son with her voice
which is wont to comfort him, said to me . .

Beatrice, then, is not only the beloved maiden, the
heavenly all-but-goddess, the symbol of Divine Wisdom,
but in the poem and in the poet's fancy she is also the
mother who saves and who reproves, the gentle sub-
stitute for Madoijna Gabriella. Dante's love for Beatrice,
which in the Vita Nuova is Platonic adoration afid in
the Commedia is theological veneration, appears at
moments to be filial love. She could not be his bride
on earth: in heaven, together with the Virgin, she shall
be a mother . The unloved orphan, the exiled Hippolytus
who had to endure a stepmother in his home, felt
throughout his life the nostalgic longing of his lonely

1 Par. I, 100-102, 2 PAT. XXII, 1-7.

55

DANTE VIVO LIFE

childhood; and he has represented himself, even when
almost old, in the aspect of an infant and a little child,
He has found a compensation for the sadness of his
orphanhood in new kinships transfigured by his inspired
imagination and by the divine sweetness of his poetry .
But we must always remember that Dante was not
loved enough in the early part of his life and perhaps
he never was*

UNRESPONSIVE BEATRICE

E most significant event in the boyhood and
youth of Dante was his meeting with Beatrice
and his love for her. No other fact of his life
had more influence or importance in his work*

A poet may be permitted at this point to ask a question
which would seem trivial or ridiculous in a man of
learning: what were Beatrice's sentiments toward Dante?
did' she pity him, or did she even fail to understand him?

I speak of the Beatrice real and alive, the Beatrice of
flesh and blood, dressed in white and crimson, the
legitimate daughter of Folco Portinari and of Cilia
Caponsacchi; the Beatrice who was the second wife of
Simone dei Bardi; not of that symbol which she became
in the mind of Dante, first taking shape in the Vita
Nuova, becoming well-defined in the Convivio, and all-
controlling in the Commedia.

Dante has lifted her above the human, but in life and
reality she was human, entirely human, perhaps too
human. The poet has transfigured her, and we all
rejoice in this creation of his or we discourse learnedly
about it; but, in the first place, there was in the city of
Florence a Beatrice, daughter and wife, who was born
in 1266 and died in June 1290; a Beatrice corporeal,
terrestrial, and visible, who would have existed even if
Dante had not loved her, even if Dante had not sung
her, even if Dante had not exalted her in the Paradise
of his mind to a place approximating that of the
Madonna.

57

DANTE VIVO * LIFE

That this child, this married girl, had all the marvellous
qualities which Dante discovered in her and described in
phrases suited only to the great saints, to the Mother
of Christ, or to Christ Himself, we permit ourselves to
doubt, indeed we must doubt it* Supreme poets, with
their kindling imaginations and with the strength of
their emotions, create a reality which is more real to us
than the actual and historical, but they cannot annihilate
the actual and historical. It may be inferior or uglier, but
it existed and must be taken into account* To recall it
to our memories, especially in order to show the manner
of the transfiguration, is neither forbidden nor wrong.

What, then, would the historical and concrete little
Beatrice have thought of that very timid lover of hers
who transformed himself so often into a most ardent
singer of her praises? We know, or think we know,
what Dante felt for Beatrice during her life and after her
death; but we do not take the trouble to know, or at
least to comprehend, what Beatrice felt for Dante*
It is, of course, Dante who most concerns us, Dante
and his passion, fruitful of art and of ecstasy* But the
life of each one of us is in some degree a reflection
of the attitudes and responses of other beings who come
in contact with our life and who for good or ill, for
a brief or a long period, make a part of it* Beatrice, in
short, has always been studied as 'object 1 of the poet
Dante. Perhaps it is time now to consider Dante, even
though hastily, as 'object' of Beatrice*

We all agree that Dante loved, adored, deified
Beatrice* But what did Beatrice think of Dante? How
did she receive his love? Did she love him in return?
or did she laugh at him?

58

DANTE VIVO LIFE

and it is unthinkable that this 'angel/ a compound of
all the virtues human and divine, could harbour the idea
of a forbidden love, even though it were Platonic,

But Dante, as we know from the Vita Nuova, pre-
tended to love other women, and of one woman
especially he professed himself the admirer and wrote
rhymes in her honour so that many talked of it. 'And
for this reason, that is, because of this false rumour
which gave me the unmerited fame of a man fallen into
evil-doing, that most gentle lady . . * passing along
where I was, denied me her most gracious salutation/ 1

Dante goes on to explain, through 'a youth clothed
in very white raiment/ the reason for Beatrice's denying
him her salutation* 'Our Beatrice/ says the youth,
'has heard from certain persons who spoke of you, that
the lady whom I named to you . , . received from
you some harm; and therefore this most gentle lady,
who is opposed to all things harmful, refused to salute
you, fearing lest it might be harmful/ 2

An explanation rather over-subtle and not quite con-
vincing. Almost all the commentators explain the last
phrase as meaning that Beatrice fears lest Dante may
cause annoyance or harm also to her. But in this case,
would she have said noiosa^ It is possible, on the other
hand, to give these words another and quite opposite
meaning. Beatrice feared, by saluting Dante who was
troubling another woman with his attentions, to
trouble him, to cause him annoyance, no ia. And from
this one could allege a certain jealousy on the part of

dated 15 January, 1288. Therefore Beatrice must have been married at the
latest in 1287,
1 7,2V. X, 2. 2

60

UNRESPONSIVE BEATRICE

Beatrice, who (according to a statement in the same
chapter) was aware of the poet's love: In truth your
secret must have become somewhat revealed to her
through long observation of your condition/ Now
that Dante follows another woman and writes for this
other little things in rhyme/ Beatrice, almost as a
return blow or in revenge, punishes him: she no longer
salutes him. But jealousy, as the anatomists of the
heart know, is not always a proof of love; often it is a
proof of the contrary. In Beatrice, there may have
been in place of love, which was not there and could
not be, a certain feminine satisfaction in the devotion
of this youth who was obscure and poor and probably
not even good-looking, but who had an intense nature
and manifest talent. Learning that he had taken to
writing verses for other ladies, she may have felt
vexation, disappointment, anger, but not jealousy.
But it may well be that the reason of her not saluting
him is that which Love gives to Dante: If another pleases
you, I do not wish to be troublesome to you by saluting
you as I did formerly*

There may be also the wish to prove his constancy:
If my salute used to fill you with happiness, as I know
it did, my refusing to salute you should fill you with
pain; thus I will assure myself whether you still love
me, or if you have, in truth, changed* Or else: If your
love (whether feigned or not) gives offence to another,
who does not love you, I do not wish to give you
annoyance with my salutation in case you have ceased
to love me*

However we look at it, there is not apparent in
Beatrice the least return of his love either when she

61

DANTE VIVO LIFE

salutes him or when she does not. A woman might be
pleased, through vanity, that a youth should swoon for
love of her without her having any tender feeling for
him. But this self-love is the opposite of true love.

But the clear and unmistakable proof that Beatrice
cared nothing for Dante is found in the famous wedding-
scene. The poet is conducted by one of his friends,
perhaps Guido Cavalcanti, to a marriage feast. There,
suddenly, he sees Beatrice and the usual effects follow:
pallor, faintness, trembling, and so on. Of this the ladies
become aware, and 'whispering together with this most
gentle lady they mocked' Dante. 1 It is not credible
that they ridiculed him while they were talking to
Beatrice without her joining in the ridicule, because a
little later Dante, who has returned to his house to the
'chamber of tears, ' thinks within himself, 'If this lady
knew of my condition, I do not think that she would
thus mock at me/ 2

But just a little before this he had said that she knew
his secret. Therefore she ridiculed Dante, knowing very
well what his condition was* If a woman has the least
bit of affection for a man, she does not acquiesce in
laughing at, ridiculing, making fun of, in short, in
mocking at that man before his own face and in the
presence of others. Neither would she do it if she had
even a little pity for him. She might, through shyness,
keep silent while others derided him, but she would not
take part in the derision, as Beatrice so heartlessly did
that day.

And after all why should Beatrice have loved Dante?
That meagre youth of low stature, emaciated by his

1 V.N. XIV, 7,

62

UNRESPONSIVE BEATRICE

study and by the strength of his emotional nature, of a
family neither illustrious nor rich, and not yet famous
in his own name for his writings, expressing himself
with ardour when he wrote, but shamefaced and tongue-
tied in her presence such a person was not likely to
kindle the heart of a woman already married, who was
too young and too lacking in delicate perceptions to be
able to understand the divine quality of his art and to
foresee the future greatness and fame of the young poet
who sang her praises. At times she may have felt a
certain pleasure in the incense of the sonnets and
lallatei but often, I think, she would have smiled at his
ingenuousness and jested about it with her well-born
friends behind the poor young poet's back.

Some time after this episode, the mocking laugh was
changed to a lament for the death of her father, * nor
do we know if Beatrice ever saluted Dante again before
her own death, which occurred five months after that
of her father. 2 And from the moment of her death she,
who did not know love or did not wish to love, was
loved and glorified as no other woman has ever been
except Mary the Virgin.

1 V.N. XXII, 2, 3. '. * . this lady was full of bitter grief and wept pite-
ously.'

2 Folco Portinari died 31 December, 1289, and his daughter Beatrice, I
June, 1290.

'THE DEAR, BENIGN, PATERNAL IMAGE'

ANTE'S first real teacher was undoubtedly Bru-
/netto Latini. It has been debated far and wide
whether he was a teacher in the customary pro-
fessional sense, but such discussions are useless.
Brunetto the notary, secretary to the commune of
Florence, ambassador, writer, and statesman, did not
make a business of teaching, nor give public and private
lessons at fixed hours and for a salary* He had, never-
theless, a passion for teaching, as we learn from his
writings; and often, when the occasion was suitable,
he must have lingered to talk with the young Florentines
who showed a love for science or literature, and who
promised well. One of these was Dante,

When they first met, and where and when they con-
versed together and on what subjects, we do not know,
and it is a waste of time to try to find out *

The fact is that, in the Inferno, Dante is still deeply
moved as he recalls the 'dear, paternal image' of
Brunetto, and that Brunetto, in turn, calls Dante
'son/ But there is only one reference to the teaching
of the master: 'you taught me/ says Dante, 'how a
man makes himself eternal/ how he achieves enduring
fame* For those times Brunetto was a man of varied if
not sound learning, but he had no individual system or
art to transmit to his disciples* His greatest work, Li
Livres dou Tresor, The Treasury of Knowledge, which he
commends to Dante, is one of the many mediaeval
medleys of varied erudition. He compiled his Trlsor at

'THE DEAR, BENIGN, PATERNAL IMAGE'

Paris, in a language not his own, pillaging without risk
Pliny, Solinus, St Ambrose, Isidore of Seville, Palladius,
Aristotle, Cicero, John of Viterbo, Daude de Prades,
and others. He adds nothing of his own but mistakes. 1
His Rhetoric is a paraphrase in Italian of the first book
of Cicero's De Inventions As to his compositions in
Tuscan verse, it is better not to speak. Brunetto may
have been a good lawyer and a good compiler of political
letters, but he was certainly not a poet nor, to tell the
truth, even a tolerable versifier. His Tesoretto is a long-
winded poem of 2944 washed-out septenary verses,
flabby and tiresome, which must have stirred pity in
Dante. This is the way Brunetto tells the story of
the creation:

I now come to the time that God
made the day and the pleasant light,
and He created heaven and earth and
water and air.

And He fashioned the angels, each
one separately and all out of nothing.

Then the second day, by His great
power, He established the firmament.

And the third, so it seems, He set
apart the sea and divided the land. . . .

Omai a cio ritorno
Che Dio fece lo giorno,
E la luce gioconda,
E cielo e terra ed onda
E 1'aire creao.
E H angeli fermao
Ciascun partitamente
E tutto di neente.
Poi la seconda dia
Per la sua gran balia
Stabilio '1 fermamento.
E '1 terzo, ci6 mi pare,
Specifico lo mare
E la terra divise, . . . 2

A man who wrote such verses could not be teacher of
the art of poetry to the future author of the Divina
Commedia. And those who veijture to suggest that the
Tesoretto was the forerunner and perhaps the inspiration

1 Ch. V. Langlois, La Connaissancc de la nature et du monde d'apres dts tcriti
franfais a V usage des la'tes. Paris, Hachette, 1927, pp. 340-342.

2 II Tcsoretto e il Favolelk, ed. B. Wiese. Strasbourg, Heitz, p. 29, vv. 427-
441.

65

DANTE VIVO LIFE

of the Commedia owing to certain resemblances in the
initial outline show that they do not know where art
dwells . There remains, however, the weighty testimony
of Dante and his openly declared gratitude. Brunetto
taught the young man, or the boy, in what way a man
makes himself eternal, famous through the centuries.
Brunetto was not a church-goer, nor even, I think, a
religious man; and he was not able to point out to Dante
the ways by which, in truth, a man makes himself
eternal, that is, renders himself worthy of that blessed
eternity which is found in Paradise. The notary and
diplomatist had a great love, ill-requited, for poetry and
literature, and he must have kindled in the adolescent
mind of Alighieri a vision of the men of earlier times
who were still alive in the world because of their works
and the renown which recommends them and illumines
them. Although Brunetto was a man of action as
diplomatist, if not as warrior or merchant he felt,
nevertheless, that his chief strength was in the art of
using words; and that by means of the well-chosen
and well-placed word a man could make his influence
and fame endure for many centuries . He gave to Dante,
therefore, the passion, the dream, the desire to achieve
fame through the art of words among those 'who will
call this time ancient 1 the art which leads not only
to literary but to civil renown. Brunetto was a little
like the sophists of ancient Greece; he maintained that
eloquence and adroit discourse were necessary weapons
for carving a way in the government of the city and the
state. A proof that the Florentines remembered him as a
teacher of the relations which exist between rhetoric and
the art of governing is to be found in the closing words

66

'THE DEAR, BENIGN, PATERNAL IMAGE'

of the death-notice, often cited, which Giovanni
Villani includes in his chronicle: Brunetto Vas the
beginner and master in refining the Florentines and in
making them skilful and correct in speech, and in
teaching them how to guide and rule our republic
according to the art of politics/ 1 We should not
forget that, although throughout his life Dante desired
the poet's crown, he also had the ambition, until the
death of Henry VII (1313), to be a statesman.

Brunette's influence on Dante, therefore, was both
parallel to and different from that which Guido
Cavalcanti exercised on his young friend. For Guido,
the poetry of love was a mark of the noble and gentle
soul and a means of purifying it. To serve the Lady
in verse meant to raise himself above the sensuous,
shopkeeping crowd, and to make himself citizen of a
noble and ideal republic of the Platonic pattern*
Brunetto, on the other Jiand, directed Dante to glory,
to that worldly renown which the poet will come to
despise 2 precisely because it is not sufficiently lasting,
sufficiently 'eternal/ but which, at the same time, he
will long for all his life, and long for in its two greatest
forms, renown as a poet and as a statesman* And for
this reason it pleased the writer of the Commtdia, by
way of recompense, to 'make etetnal* the master who
first made him conscious of this thirst in his souL

But how can we reconcile the affectionate gratitude
expressed by Dante with the public, though posthumous,
denunciation of sodomy which he makes at the very
moment of his glorification of the master? For Brunetto
is accused of this Socratic vice by no other voice or

1 Cron. VIII, x. 2 Ptwj. XI, 100-117.

67

DANTE VIVO LIFE

tradition save that of Dante; and to many it seems un-
fitting and unworthy of Alighieri that he alone should
have defamed in this way his first and dearest teacher,
the one to whom, according to his own words, he
owed so much; for whom, on his own confession, he
wished a longer life; whom he always recalls with filial
sorrow.

Almost all readers of the Corn-media are certain that the
sodomites are placed in that circle of the Inferno where
we find Brunetto; and their belief is not shaken by the
fact, undoubtedly disturbing, that except for Dante's
denunciation we have no proof that Brunetto 's com-
panions were guilty of this unclean sin* Of Priscian, who
was among them, there is a tradition that he was an
unfrocked ~" monk; Francesco d'Accorso was reputed a
usurer; Andrea dei Mozzi was a gouty and foolish
preacher. 1 We may ask whether those may not be right
who see in this circle not sodomites but contemners of
divine laws. 2

For the sin of Violence against God' the proofs against
Brunetto are not lacking, Giovanni Villani called him
'a worldly man* (rnondano uomd); and Latini himself in
the Tesoretto confessed, 'You well know that we are
considered a little worldly/ 3 And mondano, in the
language- of that time, meant the opposite of spirituale,
religious*

1 Andrea dei Mozzi was apparently transferred to Vicenza for political not
moral reasons. Cf. P. E. Palandri, Annuario I)antc$co> 1929 (Florence, 1931),
pp. 91-118.

2 The first to raise doubts on this question was Merlo in C-ultura, V, 1884,
pp. 774-784. See also A. Padula, B. Latini e il Pataffio. Milan, Rome, Naples;
Albrighi and Segati, 1921.

3 vv. 2560-2561.

68

'THE DEAR, BENIGN, PATERNAL IMAGE 1

Moreover, Brunetto, who in the Tresor condemns
sodomy 1 severely and this he could scarcely have done
had he himself been guilty makes in the Tcsorctto an
open confession of his slight respect for God and His
Church: '. . * I have been a wicked sinner, since for
my Creator I had no care; nor had I any reverence for
Holy Church, but rather have I offended her in word
and deed/ 2

It will be said that Brunetto could make confession
of his impiety, of which he says he is repentant, but that
he would have been ashamed to confess to the vice of
Sodom, which was punished severely by Florentine law.
But, we may ask, was there not the Inquisition to punish
offences against Holy Church? And why should he have
repeated three times in voluminous works, in French and
in Italian, his severe censure against the sodomites ?

It seems a little strange that if Dante did indeed
believe his master guilty of such a sin, he should treat
him like a father and have himself called son by Brunetto,
Brunetto, born about 122,0, could not have known
Dante until after 1280, and at this time the master was
sixty years old and the disciple little more than fifteen*
There would rise in the minds of readers of the Commedia
rather unpleasant conjectures as to how Dante came to
know Brunetto 's secret vice* Brunetto, moreover, is
represented by Filippo Villani as a man full of raillery
and jests, 3 qualities which are more the attributes of a
Voltairian avant la lettre than of a homosexualist.

1 v. Trcsor, edL Chabaille, p. 300 and pp. 379-381. The condemnation is
repeated in the Ttsoretto, vv. 2859-2864*

2 vv. 2522-2529.

3 'Fuit Brunectus scurrilis', etc. in M. Scherillo, Alc-uni capitoli dtlla liografia
di Dante. Torino, Loescher, 1896, p. 151. Villani refers also to libidini* acultos,
but the 'libido' is not necessarily sodomitic.

6 9

DANTE VIVO * LIFE

In any case, even if Brunette's sin were not what most
readers believe on the declaration solely of Dante, there
would remain guilt and disgrace no less serious. But
to Dante's mind the sins of heresy seemed less iniquitous
than other sins : we need cite only Farinata degli Uberti,
well known as an epicurean, and Frederic II, whom he
places with Farinata but without the accompaniment
of harsh words; and indeed in another place in the
Inferno, Dante says that Frederic is Vorthy of honour, '
d'onor si dcgno.^

Dante, it appears, looked upon free-thinking as a
grave fault but not such as to destroy greatness of soul
or even reputation. The effects of sodomy are "quite
different* Dante could have condemned Brunetto as
an unbeliever with justice, but without plunging him
into the filth of a sin which belittles and debases him.
Placing Brunetto near to Capaneus and Farinata, majestic
spectres of pride and irreverence, does not associate him
with the corrupters of youth. To make him a sodomite
would be too great a cruelty against the master and would
place the poet himself under suspicion the favourite
disciple of an unseemly plotter against the chastity of
boys.

But all these fine-spun arguments avail little against
Dante's precise accounts of the partitioning of the
damned in the seventh circle; and we are forced to
conclude that the troop of those moving along in the
place where poor Brunetto is seen is indeed composed
of sodomites. 2

1 Inf. XIII, 75-

2 Cf. Inf. XI, 16-90 and XIV, 19-27, Those who are continually moving
must necessarily be the sinners against nature.

70

THE DEAR, BENIGN, PATERNAL IMAGE'

We do not know what reasons led the poet thus to be
the pitiless executioner of a man respected and loved;
nor does it help us to inquire in what way the disciple
came to a knowledge of his master's repulsive sin*
One thing, however, is certain: to Dante alone the
compiler of the Tesoro owes the worst and the best of
his fame.

THE DISDAINFUL FRIEND

E friendship between Dante and Guido Caval-
canti appears to have been foreordained by the
underlying similarity of their fates. The life
of Cavalcanti is, in certain aspects, almost a prototype
of AlighieriV

Each was bound to a Beatrice* Guido was the husband
of the one, a daughter of Farinata degli Uberti; Dante
was the worshipper of the other, a daughter of Folco
Portinari. Both Guido and Dante were condemned to
exile at the demand of factions of citizens . Both died
of the same illness, malarial fever, which Guido con-
tracted at Sarzana, and Dante on his return from Venice
to Ravenna*

Although, in the Inferno, the father of Guido declares
the two friends equal in 'loftiness of genius' and much
may be conceded to a father in torment the differences
are many and great. Guido was a sceptic and perhaps an
epicurean, 1 Dante was a believer, even if not always
orthodox; and a Christian, even if not always perfect.
Guido was a poet, but of the second or third rank;
Dante was one of the noblest and most powerful poets

1 See the well-known evidence of Boccaccio (Dfcamcron, VI, 9).

I recognize the objections raised by Parodi (Bull, ciella Soc. Dant. XXII, 1915,
pp. 37-47), but they do not convince me because (i) the fact that an idea is found
attributed to several persons does not prove that it is true only of the first ;
(2) Boccaccio had been told by his father and other old men about things that
had occurred in Florence in their time, and he must have known certain things
better than we do ; (3) if Guido's 'disdain' refers, as Barbi and others think, to
Beatrice (symbol of Divine Wisdom), we have an implicit confirmation from
Dante himself that Guido was irreligious.

72

THE DISDAINFUL FRIEND

that humanity has known in six millenniums of litera-
ture. Guido was studious, at least in the periods of
leisure left by his roving love-affairs and his political
quarrels, but studious in the manner of the gentlemanly
dilettante who wishes to include among his other
luxuries a little poetry and philosophy. Dante, on the
other hand, from the period of his youth had kept fore-
most in his thoughts the desire to acquire universal
knowledge, and he became one of the most profoundly
and individually learned men of his time*

There were other differences also between the two
friends, external but no less important. Guido was older
than Dante by eight or nine years, perhaps more; 1 and
at that age a seniority of ten or fifteen years makes a
great difference. Guido belonged to a noble and
wealthy family, and could flaunt himself in many ways,
while Dante was of a family much less prominent and
powerful; and after his father 's death, 2nd long before
his exile, he had to struggle against the restrictions im-
posed by a genteel poverty. And, finally, Guido was a
man much more violent and rash than Dante; he tried, as
we know, to kill Corso Donati, and by Corso's partisans
he was stoned and wounded in the hand. 2

Guido, let .us add, could not have had a very easy
temper. Villani says that he was 'sensitive and easily
angered' (tenero e sti^oso);* and Corso Donati, his enemy,
nicknamed him Cavicchia, which means, according to
the dictionary, a tactless and obstinate man. 4 It would

1 Guido was born certainly before 1259, and the date has been placed by
many at about 1250.

2 Dino Compagni, Cron. I, xx. 3 Villani, Croru VIII, xlii.

4 D. Compagni, Cron. I, xx. For Cavicdia, see the note by Del Lungo, For
the meaning of Cavicclia, see also D. G, Rossetti, Dante and Us Circle, Intro, to
Part I, note on quotation from Compagni. Trans.

73

DANTE VIVO LIFE

seem from this that Guido was irritable and prone to
take offence,

Nor was his manner of life without blemish, if we can
believe a sonnet addressed to him by his brother-in-law,
Lapo degli Uberti, in which there are clear allusions to
unnatural offences. 1 Taken altogether it must have been
convenient for Dante to represent his journey to the
Inferno as beginning some months before the death of
Guido, thus avoiding the necessity of placing his friend
either among the heretics or among the sodomites,

For these reasons I do not believe that the friendship
between the two poets was so deep and intimate as most
readers suppose, Dante, it is true, often calls Guido
'first of my friends'; but when we recall that the friend-
ship began in 1283 when Dante was scarcely eighteen
years old, we may infer that 'first 1 is to be understood
in its usual sense of first in point of time, and not in the
sense of 'greatest' or 'dearest/ which is the usual
interpretation*

There can be friendships especially among men of
letters which are apparently staunch and which are
really the response to a certain intellectual sympathy;
but they may be accompanied in the depths of the heart
by a mixture of intolerance, jealousy, and even hatred*
I do not say that this was the case with Cavalcanti and
Alighieri, but we may infer that their friendship had
two phases: one from 1285 to 1292,2 characterized by

1 It accuses Guido of having spoken in one of his poems about a shepherdess
when, as a matter of fact, he had been seen in the wood' with a 'fair-haired,
short-coated lacquey/ v. also Davidsohn, Firtn^e ai tempi di Dante. Florence,
Bemporad, 1929, pp. 333-334.

2 I do not set down this date at random. In 1292 Dante was absorbed in his
philosophical and religious studies (Conv. II, xii, 7), and Guido left Florence
with the intention of making a pilgrimage to Compostella.

74

THE DISDAINFUL FRIEND

fresh, eager, and affectionate intimacy; tlie other, from
1293 to the death of Guido in 1300, colder and perhaps
troubled by some discord or misunderstanding. If the
famous sonnet of reproof, lo vcgno *I giorno a te, is really
Guido 's, it seems to me that there are clear indications
of a dissension between the two* The second quatrain
reads: Much company was wont to displease you; you
always avoided dull people* Of me you spoke so kindly
that I gathered up and cherished all your verses.

We can understand the 'dull people' to be those
'philosophizing* and 'religious' men whom Dante had
begun to frequent and whom Guido, a gentleman of
pagan spirit by family tradition and natural disposition,
did not find to his liking. Whoever was occupied with
philosophy in those days was either a friar or a priest;
and the boundaries between philosophy and religion were
not as yet quite distinct. Guido, poet of love and no
friend to Latin, to scholasticism, or to friars, could not
look kindly on Dante's plunge into those studies and
into that mystic and moiikish company* In the third
line of the quatrain just quoted there appears a certain
sadness on Guido 's part because Dante does not speak
of him so affectionately as in the past : *di me parlavi s\
coralmente,' you ustl to speak of me so affectionately;
you used to, but do so no longer

And there remains the telling fact that on 24 June,
1390, Dante joined the other Priors in banishing Guido
from Florence. It is all very well to say that Dante could
do no less, and that in disregarding the claims of friend-
ship for the sake of peace and justice he gave proof also
on this occasion of his upright mind and his civic
honesty. But if Guido had actually been at that time

75

DANTE VIVO LIFE

the first, the best, of his friends, would Dante have voted
to send him into exile? Would he not have opposed
that decision with all the vigorous eloquence of his
affection? Besides, his term of office as Prior had almost
expired (Guido had to leave Florence at the end of June
1300, and Dante would have gone out of office on 15
August), and he could have asked for a delay in the
sentence* Or he could have resigned*

I maintain, then, that the harmony and intimacy
which had existed in the early years between the two
poets of the White party had for some years ceased to
exist; and it is not impossible that there lay underneath,
with one or the other, a grain of envy. 1

In the Commedia, as everyone knows, Dante mentions
Guido only twice, and on both occasions to praise and
to disparage him in the same breath* In the first
instance (Inf. X, 61-63), Dante recognizes Guide's
loftiness of genius/ altezga d'ingegno, but quickly adds
that Guido disdained Beatrice, that is, that he scorned
the science of divine things, Theology, which for Dante
is superior to everything else* 2 The 'disdain' can also
be taken as alluding to Guido 's scant admiration for the
real Beatrice in whom he could not, perhaps, see all the
wonderful beauty and excellence which Dante dis-
covered in her. In that famous terzina Dante seems to
say to Guido *s father: Your son did not love the know-
ledge of the faith, Theology, and did not make himself

1 Dante says to Sapia (Purg. XIII, 133-135) that he will stay only a short time
in the circle of the envious, but confesses that he has on a few occasions ex-
perienced the feeling of envy.

2 I believe, as do the authoritative Dantxsts (D'Ancona, Rajna, Barbi,
Zenatti, Bianchi, and others), that the famous 'disdain' of Guido (Inf. X, 61-
63) refers to Beatrice and not to Virgil. v

76

THE DISDAINFUL FRIEND

worthy to be brought before her in the Earthly and in
the Celestial Paradise . To me, on the other hand, Virgil
was sent in order that I might ascend to her where she
stands transfigured and triumphant.

In the other famous passage (Purg. XI, 97-99) Dante
affirms through the lips of Oderisi that Cavalcanti has
taken away from Guinizelii 'the glory of our language*
of our language, he says, not of poetry but immedi-
ately adds

. . . e forse nato
chi 1'uno e 1'altro caccera del nido.

And perhaps he is born who shall drive from the nest both the one and
the other.

Many believe that in this future victor Dante sees
himself, and granted his pride there is nothing in-
credible in this boast. He drove Cavalcanti from his
real nest, from his city, and now with the Commedia he is
certain of driving him from the nest of poetical glory.
But if, as certain writers maintain, Dante wished to
allude to others than these or to some undetermined
person yet to come, the fact remains that Guido Caval-
canti will be driven from the nest, or, as we say to-day,
surpassed*

In the mind of Dante, as we see, two almost contra-
dictory states of feeling alternate when he recalls the
first friend of his youth. He acknowledges Guide's
worth and immediately after, by implication, disparages
and humbles him: Guido did not lift his mind to things
divine, he is not worthy to mount toward heaven, and
on earth there is someone already born who will deprive
him of his poetical primacy.

We need not be surprised at this confusion of

77

DANTE VIVO LIFE

opposite feelings which modern psychologists call
ambivalency* It is common enough among us, and
whoever studies himself deeply will easily discover it in
himself too* Hatred and love, veneration and envy,
attraction and fear, are pairs of sentiments which are
opposed but often inseparable. In this strange way the
human heart is*put together, and Dante, however great,
was human.

THE SOLDIER POET

ANTE is perhaps the only Italian poet who ever
jfought in a real pitched battle. When he was

twenty-four, n June, 1289, he was at Certo-
mondo (or Campaldino), where the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines faced each other in a bloody fight. At
the head of the Guelphs was Florence; at the head of
the Ghibellines was Arezzo and its bishop; The army
which moved out from Florence numbered about 12,000
men; that from Arezzo was somewhat smaller, but
confident of victory. The Guelphs, however, were
victorious; but the battle was exceedingly fierce and
hard- fought. When the ranks were broken, the Ghibel-
lines 'were put to flight and killed: the regular Florentine
soldiers, who were accustomed to routs, slaughtered the
fleeing Aretines; and the auxiliaries had no pity/ 1 The
Aretine forces lost 1700 dead and more than 2000
prisoners . 2

Among the Florentine horsemen who sustained the
first attack of the Aretines and who were thereby un-
horsed and thrown into confusion, was Dante. Later,
he recounted in one of his letters, now lost, the part
which he had taken in that battle. He said (according
to Leonardo Bruni, who had the letter before him) that
he was no 'novice in arms' at Campaldino, 'where he
experienced great fear, but, in the end, the greatest joy
because of the varied fortunes of that battle/ 3

1 D. Compagni, Cron. I, x. 2 Villani, Crow. VII, cxxxi.

3 Solerti, Vite di Dante. Milan, Vallardi, p. 100,

79

DANTE VIVO LIFE

It is almost certain that he took part also in the
incursions which the victorious army made that summer
into the country around Arezzo, and even under the
walls of the enemy-city* In the rapid and joyful
movement of the lines which open Canto XXII of the
Inferno, we seem still to feel the gay confidence of the
young soldier:

Io vidi gia cavalier muover campo,
e cominciare stormo e far lor mostra,
e tal volta partir per loro scampo ;

corridor vidi per la terra vostra,
o Aretini. . . .

In former times I have seen horsemen moving camp, and joining battle
and making their muster, and at times retiring to escape ; and I have seen
them making forays through your land, O Aretines. , . .

Dante's military experience did not end at Campaldino .
He undoubtedly took part the same year, 1289, in the
war against Pisa and in the capture of the castle of
Caprona ;

cosl vid'io gii temer li fanti
ch'uscivan patteggiati di Caprona
veggendo s& tra nemici cotanti. 1

Thus I saw the foot-soldiers, who were coming out from Caprona under
terms of surrender, afraid at seeing themselves among so many enemies.

And with this impressive sight end, so far as we know,
Dante's military experiences* He took part in these
affairs as a matter of party loyalty or civic duty, certainly
not for the pleasure of fighting or for military glory,
because often in his writings he shows himself opposed
to war of every sort,

But it is no unusual thing to find i young poet present
at a battle. Everyone recalls yEschylus at Marathon,

i Inf. XXI, 94-96.

80

CJL

THE SOLDIER POET

Cervantes at Lepanto, Tolstoi at SebastopoL But it
does not happen often* Poets in all countries are men
who have more love for studies and the quiet of the
countryside than for the bloody tumult of battle*

Horace fought valiantly with Brutus at Philippi, but
when he saw things going badly, he ran away, even leav-
ing his shield behind him. 1 No famous Italian poet
after Dante, from Petrarch to Manzoni, took part in
battles* We must get to Foscolo, Mameli, and
D'Annunzio to find in our history examples of soldier-
poets .

Dante, then, is the only one for many centuries who
fought in a battle* We may be certain that he fought
bravely and that at least one of the 1700 slain was killed
by him. At the very time that Dante was writing
harmonious rhymes for the still living Beatrice, he
stained his hands with blood.

What must he have felt on that hot and sultry day of
June, in view of La Verna of the Stigmata, when he
saw himself assailed by shouting foes, by horsemen in
armour; when he was thrown, perhaps, by having his
horse killed, and confused by the furious onslaught of
the Aretines? And with what thoughts did he, the
courteous lover, the melancholy maker of rhymes, raise
his sword to wound and to kill ?

There have been poets and writers who killed
Villon, Ben Jonson, Chiabrera, Baretti 2 ; but in these

1 Horace, Qdts, II, vii, 9 ff.

2 The episodes here referred to m the lives of Francois Villon, Ben Jonson,
and Gabriello Chiabrera are known to most English readers. The story of
Baretti's trial for murder may be read in Boswell's Johnson. Among the wit-
nesses for Baretti were Dr.. Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke,
David Garrick, and Oliver Goldsmith. * Never,' says Boswell, 'did such a

81

DANTE VIVO - LIFE

instances it was a case of homicide committed for private
reasons. Dante killed in battle in an honourable cause;
but as we read his sentences of condemnation in the Com-
media, we wonder whether Dante too, sword in hand,
may not have sent a soul before its time to that world of
the dead.

And perhaps we know also the name of his victim;
Buonconte di Montefeltro. The hypothesis is not
mine; it is that of a careful and serious Dante scholai,
Nicola Zingarellu Let us turn to the terzina where
Dante addresses Buonconte:

E io a lui: Qual forza o qual ventura
ti travid si fuor di Campaldino,
che non si seppe mai tua sepultura ? 1

And I to him; What violence or what chance carried you so far from
Campaldino that your burial-place was never found 1

Zingarelli, commenting on this passage, writes: 'In that
question is summed up all the vain searching on the field
of battle and around it for the body of Buonconte , . ,
and perhaps the question revealed to him just who it was
had given him that stab in the throat/ 2

And it was indeed strange that of all the illustrious
men who fell at Campaldino only Buonconte, who
fought oft the opposite side, arouses Dante's interest and
leads him to recount the episode in detail and almost,
we may say, with tenderness. It is even more strange
that Dante, in order to send Buonconte to Purgatory,

constellation of genius enlighten the aweful Sessions-House/ v, Boswell's
Life ofjolnson, ed. Birkbeck Hill Oxford, Clan Press, 1887; II, pp. 96 ff.
Trans,

1 Purg. V, 91-93.

2 Zingarelli, Dante. Milan, Vallardi, 1931, p, 259.

82

THE SOLDIER POET

on the way to ultimate salvation, invents all the famous
story of the storm, the flooding of the river, the struggle
between the angel and the demon over the body* The
storm itself is certainly no invention, because on the day
of the battle 'the sky was covered with clouds/ 1 but all
the rest of the story is something that no one could have
known either in the natural or the supernatural part.
Dante must have imagined it for himself, driven by some-
thing which resembles remorse.

We must suppose that Dante, knowing that he had
himself killed Montefeltro, invented that final adventure
compounded of human, divine, and diabolic elements,
in order to give to the dead knight some recompense for
his wretched end. Dante must many times have recalled
that fierce battle of his youth and the killing of Monte-
feltro; recalled it not indeed with real remorse, since
Montefeltro had been killed in just warfare, but with
compassionate regret, increased by the mysterious dis-
appearance of the body. And then he thought of reward-
ing the noble victim of partisan warfare and of saving
his soul, at least in the poem and in intention, in .order
to make amends for the violent separation of soul from
body so many years before* And Canto V of the
Purgatorio, which closes with the gentle prayer of Pia, is,
as it were, the funeral oration over the slain pronounced
by the slayer.

1 D. Compagni, Cron. I, x (ed. Del Lungo, p. 41).

THE OX AND THE EAGLE

9N the years which intervened between the date
of the first sonnet, 1283, and the death of the
first friend, 1300, Dante was influenced by four
men: a patrician, a notary, and two friars Guide
Cavalcanti, Brunetto Latini, Remigio Girolami, and
Pier Giovanni Olivi: a gentleman who was a gentle
poet, a compiler who was a mediocre poet, a Dominican
philosopher who was an execrable poet, a Franciscan
philosopher suspected of apocalyptical heresy.

Two poets and two philosophers. And they have
nothing in common except their connection with France.
Guido lived for a time in Provence and admired the
troubadours; Brunetto lived in Paris and wrote his
greatest work in the languc d'oil; Fra Remigio was a
student and licentiate at Paris, where he had as master
St Thomas Aquinas; Olivi was really French, having
been born at Serignan, and his true name was Pierre
Jean Olieu.

Dante was encouraged by Guido in the study of the
new philosophical love-poetry. He was strengthened by
Brunetto in his natural desire for the renown which
comes from public office and especially from study and
letters* But he was influenced in a very different way
from this by the two friars.

Fra Remigio Girolami (1235-1319), recalled from
Paris, while still a deacon, to lecture in theology at Sta.
.Maria Novella in Florence, became one of the important
members of the Dominican order of Preachers in Italy.

THE OX AND THE EAGLE

In 1294 and in 1313 he was prior of Sta* Maria Novella,
and in 130910 He was Provincial of the Roman
Province*

He was a famous preacher and had in his audience
princes and kings. He composed funeral panegyrics by
the dozen, usually rubbish. He wrote sermons, pro-
logues, verses, expositions, and treatises on an infinitude
of subjects, and did not disdain to cite either the old
pagan writings or the romances of chivalry* In his
sermons he does not always show good taste: there is an
excess of punning and of fantastic comparisons. In his
more considered works, though he is learned and subtle,
he does not display any marked traces of original
thought.

Nevertheless, he was a man of vast learning and of
lively talent. Dante had read his writings and remem-
bered them so well that the beginning of the Convivio
is an almost literal translation of a prologue on science
written by Remigio; 1 and a part of the invective of
St Peter in the Paradise echoes an idea developed by
Fra Remigio in his commentary on the Song of
Songs. 2

But in Florence, Girolami represented, first of all,
the new scholastic philosophy; that is, he represented his
master, St Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas had come to
Florence, and to Sta. Maria Novella, in June 1272; and
Dante, who at that time had completed his seventh year,
may have seen him. But the most illustrious follower

1 G. Salvador!, Sulla vita, giovanile di Dantf. Rome, Soc. Ed. Dante Alig-
hieri, 1906, p. 109.

2 Cf. the commentary on the Canticle (Bibl. Laurenziana, Conv. 362, foL
I09r) and Par. XXVII, 40 ff. For this and other parallels, v. Busnelli, Studi
DanUscJ)i t XII, 108-9.

85

DANTE VIVO LIFE

and apostle whom the 'great mute ox of Sicily' 1 had at
that time in Tuscany, was Fra Remigio, and it is quite
probable that it was he who first made known to the
young Alighieri the two great works of Aquinas, Swntna
Tlcologia and Summa Catholics Fidei contra Gentiles. In so
far as Dante's mind is Thomistic, it is due, at least in its
beginnings, to the energetic lecturer at Sta. Maria
Novella*

The second of the two most celebrated schools then
in Florence conducted by religious orders was that of the
Franciscans at Santa Croce. There during Dante's youth
two famous Franciscans taught and preached, Pier
Giovanni Olivi and Ubertino da Casale, both of whom
belonged to the group of the Spirituals (initially
followers of Joachim of Flora), Pier Giovanni taught
at Santa Croce from 1287 to 1289, when Dante was
between twenty-two and twenty-four years old* It is
almost certain that Dante listened to the lectures of Pier
Giovanni, if indeed he did not know him. 2 At any rate,
he read some of the Franciscan's writings, for traces of
Pier Giovanni's thought are found in the Commedia.

Pier Giovanni was among those who saw in the
prophecies of Joachim of Flora the prediction of the
Franciscan age; and in the new order represented by the
Spirituals, who practised absolute poverty as opposed to
the corrupt luxury of Rome, he saw the beginning of the
new reign of the Holy Spirit, longed for and foretold

1 The phrase quoted does not mean that St Thomas was born in the island
of Sicily, as an English reader, might readily suppose. His birthplace was
Aquino, between Rome and Naples, in territory which then formed part of the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. -Trans.

2 R. Davidsohn, Gcscl, von Floren^. Berlin, 1908, II, 2, p. 275. U. Cosmo,
Giorn. Dant.> VI, pp. 112 ff. F. Sarri, Stwli Francescani, Xl'^igzj, pp. 115 ff,).

86

THE OX AND THE EAGLE

with exactness and certainty by the Abbot Joachim.
We shall see later what a deep impression was left pn the
mind of Alighieri by the bold theories of Olivi, who in
these same years converted to Spiritual Franciscanism
his colleague, Ubertino da Casale, who had come to
Santa Croce a little later than himself. The writings
of Olivi were condemned, and before his death he
abjured his errors; but there remained, both in Italy and
in France, many followers of his teachings, some pro-
fessed, some secret* Among the latter, as we shall prove
in another part of this book, was Dante Alighieri* If in
its background and structure the Commedia is theological,
Thomistic, * its prophetic inspiration, expressed in
symbolic form, is derived, through Olivi, from
Joachim.

We cannot imagine two minds more in contrast than
those of the two famous friars who influenced the mental
development of the young Dante* Fra Remigio Giro-
lami, the Dominican scholastic and Thomist, diligently
studious of diverse cultures and indulgent to the profane
writers; and Pier Giovanni Olivi, the Franciscan vision-
ary and half-heretic, who cared for nothing except the
interpretation of the Scriptures and the imminent
spiritual revolution of the world *

Through the Dominican, Dante came in contact with
St Thomas Aquinas, and through St Thomas with
Albertus Magnus and Aristotle* Through the Francis-
can, Dante became permeated with the message of
St Francis and the mysticism of St Bonaventure and

1 Not Thomistic solely. See, for example, B. Nardi, Saggi di Filosofia
Dantcsca. Soc. Dante Alighieri, 1930. Manichean elements have been pointed
out by L. Tondelli, Mani. Rapporti con Bardesant, 5. Agpstino, Dante. Milan,
Vita e Pensiero, 1932.

DANTE VIVO - LIFE

thus found his way to Joachim, the seer of San Giovanni
in Fiore, and through him to the heretic Montanus and
the visionary of Patmos, On the one side, the good
Brother Thomas, whom his contemporaries in derision
called the 'dumb ox of Sicily ; ' on the other, St John,
the Eagle, the first announcer of the Paraclete and of the
Eternal Gospel, And confronting each other in the
mind of Dante, under the guidance of the two eloquent
teachers, were the two fires kindled in southern Italy to
illuminate the last great period of the Middle Ages
St Thomas Aquinas and Joachim of Flora: the Builder
and the Dreamer; the wise architect and the inspired
Prophet; the conscientious Rationalist and the reasoning
Utopian* The one represented Science with all the
majesty of his well-constructed systems; the other
represented Mysticism with all the splendour of his
prophecies of a new earth of the free and the perfect.

Which had the deeper influence on the spirit of Dante,
the Ox or the Eagle? It is difficult to say. Certainly
both influenced him, Dante was at one and the same time
a scientific theologian and a prophet in expectation of
radical changes. St Thomas taught him to build with
order and wisdom the three-part temple of his poem;
but in the centre of that temple is a tabernacle covered
with mystic emblems which encloses a flame kindled
with sparks that come from Joachim, from Pier Gio-
vanni Olivi, and from Ubertino da Casale* Dante, in
the vastness of his mind, succeeded in reconciling the
antitheses of the two giants, and was at one and the
same time follower of St Thomas and of Joachim,
disciple of the Ox and continuator of the Eagle.

THE SCANDAL

9N the lives of almost all famous men there is a
scandal or what appears such to enemies, to
the envious, to the ignoble. In the life of
Alighieri the greatest scandal, in the eyes of devoted
Dantomaniacs, is the poetical dispute, la ten^one, between
Dante and Forese Donati.

The Ten^one consists of six sonnets full of insults and
offence: three written by Dante against Forese, three by
Forese against Dante* It appears that Dante began the
sequence in a sonnet ridiculing his friend; Forese, how-
ever, had the last word. The poems were exchanged
in one of the years between 1290, the year of the
death of Beatrice, and 1296, the date of Forese's
death.

Of Forese we know very little, and no other rhymes
of his are extant. He was a son of Simone Donati, a
brother of the insolent Corso Donati who tried to lord
it over Florence and was killed in 1308, a brother also of
Piccarda who is one of the first souls met by Dante in
the Paradiso. Forese's wife was a certain Nella, and by
her he had a daughter. Dante speaks of him in the
Commedia, and the only point on which the Ten^one and
the poem are in accord is on the subject of Forese's
excessive gluttony.

What led to the unseemly bickering in these half-
joking, half-spiteful sonnets is not known, and to guess
at it is futile. Not all the insulting allusions tossed back
and forth between the two so-called friends are entirely

DANTE VIVO LIFE

clear, but as much as is understood does no honour to
either of them, 1

Dante accuses Forese not only of being a great eater
but also a bad husband because he is a night-walker, and
a night-walker because he is a thief, and although a thief,
of being so deeply in debt that he is likely to end in
prison* Dante adds that Forese has a scarred face, that
he is a bastard and is perhaps guilty of adultery with his
sisters-in-law.

Forese, in his turn, accuses Dante of being the son of a
father who, because of some mysterious sin, does not
find peace even in the tomb; of living on charity and at
the expense of asylums meant for the poor; of being a
coward who does not avenge the injuries done to his
father; and of becoming a friend to the man who thrashes
him*

How much truth there may be in these violent and
disgusting accusations is not easy to say* Some, per-
haps; the gluttony of Forese for which he is punished in
the Purgatorio, 2 and the lack of desire on the part of
Dante to exact vengeance on behalf of injured relatives. 3
For all the rest, documents and proofs are lacking, and
it is probable that in the excitement of the recriminations
both men invented charges or at least exaggerated them.
It matters little to us to know what sort of man Forese
may have been apart from the light thrown on the "sort

1 The merit of having cleared up the difficulties in the Ten^cnc belongs
especially to M. Barbi. See his learned and penetrating exposition in Studi
Danttschi, IX, pp. 5-149* I find unconvincing the argument advanced by D.
Guerri, that the Ten^one is a jest of the first years of the fifteenth century,
y. La (orrtntc popolarc ncl Rinascimento. Florence, Sansoni, 1931, pp. 104-148.
On this book v. M. Barbi, $tudi Dantcsdi, XVI, pp. 69-103*

* Purg.< XXIII, 40 ff.

3 Inf. XXIX, 18-36.

9

THE SCANDAL

of friends that Dante chose; but it matters very much to
know if the reproaches cast at Dante are based on truth.
That his father^ Alighiero, was a money-lender is shown
by documents, and the distance between money-lender
and usurer is not great. It is unlikely, however, that
Dante had recourse to the institutions for the poor or
that he solicited aid from the Donati, although it is
known that he was forced to contract debts even
before his exile. That he was not a coward is clear from
his conduct at Campaldino; but, on the other hand, the
reproof of Geri del Bello, one of his unavenged kinsmen,
would suggest that Dante had neglected to avenge,
according to the usage of those times, some insult or
injury done to his father.

But that Dante did not take too seriously the contu-
melies and calumnies of Forese is proved by the way in
which he speaks of his dead kinsman in the Purgatorio.
He recalls, covertly, the Tenant and perhaps the not
irreproachable life which they had led together:

. * * Se ru riduci a mente
qual fosti meco, e qual io teco fui,
ancor fia grave il memorar presented

If you call to mind what you were with me, and what I was with you ,
even now the memory may be a grief.

These memories, then, were not held in honour by
either one of them. But Dante, a little while before,
had said to him:

la faccia tua, ch'io lagnmai gia morta. 2
Your face which once I wept for dead.

Dante, then, had wept for Foresees death in July 1296;
which means that after the Tenant they had been better

1 Png. XXIII, 115-117: 2 Pwg. XXIII, 55.

91

DANTE VIVO LIFE

friends than before* And Dante makes Forese speak of
his widow, Nella, in words of deep and reverent affection
of that wife whom Dante had facetiously represented
as alone in her bed and coughing, basely neglected by her
husband. It almost seems that in that episode of the
Purgatorio Dante had wished to write the recantation of
the Ten^one. And Forese is one of the few to whom the
poet names Beatrice and Virgil, A great honour.

In any case, for those who imagine a Dante always
austere, unbending in his philosophical gravity, and
absorbed every day of his life in the contemplation of
terrestrial angels and angels of the empyrean, the Ten^onc
is deeply offensive. For in these sonnets the lachrymose
and metaphysical poet, soon after the death of Beatrice
and perhaps during the very time in which he was writ-
ing the Vita Nuova, goes to loggerheads with a glutton
who is notorious also as a thief, and "uses and receives
words which suggest a vulgar manner of life rather than
the exalted world of visions and contemplation in
which we like to think that the young poet had placed
his permanent habitation. What makes it worse is that
Dante was really the first to stir up the unseemly wrangle
and to give to the other, more irascible, man an excuse
for rolling him in the rnud. To find oneself in the
presence of a Dante who in fear of his adversary, though
only for a brawling joke, has filled his wallet with the
same material that Thais was plunged into and that
made Cambronne famous; a Dante who lives at the
expense of relatives and takes a beating tamely, this
Dante is such a spectacle as to make every good Danto-
maniac of strict observance shudder with horror. Add
to this also an implicit lessening of genius; for the

92

THE SCANDAL

sonnets of the coarse glutton are not inferior either in
wit or style to those of the already recognized poet.

But if we remember that the two disputants are
Florentines, and especially that they are Florentines of
the thirteenth century, the surprise and distaste will
diminish* A true Florentine can renounce all and endure
all. He can give up his coat and his dinner; he can sub-
mit to the direst poverty and to the misgovernment of
the powerful. But even if he were at the point of death
he cannot forgo his pungent wit, his biting jest, his
sarcastic retort, his mockery . Nor does he find it con-
trary to his taste to annoy his best friend with words
of raillery and derision, to take advantage of comical or
embarrassing aspects which present themselves, unfortu-
nately, in every man. 1 And if the victim is himself a
Florentine, we may know where the affair began but not
where it will end. A dispute begun in jest may become
a violent attack continued in earnest. Even to-day
Florentine boys, at the first word of ridicule, retort with
aspersions against the father and the mother of the jester,
exactly as Forese did and as Dante, in his turn, did* And
scornful words, like blows, do not promote peace. One
word leads to another, and whoever does not wish to be
outdone, makes extravagant statements or invents facts.
But after a few hours, or a few days, or a few months,
those who, to judge from what they said, were most
bitter enemies, now find themselves drinking together
and resuming their former peaceful relations. The out-
burst is over, the score is even, the words were but words,

1 On this trait of the Florentines see the discourse entitled Finnic, given by
G. Papini, I May, 1932, in Palazzo Vecchio (Florence, Casa Editrice Nemi,
1932).

93

DANTE VIVO LIFE

and each one knew and knows just what they amounted
to.

Thus it was, as I see it, with Dante and Forese. They
.were still young, they were Florentines, of fluent and
biting speech* They were amused, they were angry, they
became reconciled. And Dante would not have been
averse, in the interval between a poem in the dolce stil
nuovo and a disputation in philosophy, to an exchange of
fisticuffs in sonnet-form.

94

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POPE

X^ ET the truth be told, and the whole truth, even
/ when it is about Dante. The part which he
^^T^^^took in civic affairs from 12.95 to 1300 was
of little importance. In the suspicious and factious
democracy of the Commune one man could not
legally hold continuous authority in public affairs.
Only an armed ruffian, like Corso Donati, or a foreigner
invested with authority by the Pope, like Charles of
Valois, could attempt or, at certain moments, succeed
in exercising a true, directive hegemony.

There were six or seven councils, including both
major and minor, which kept watch over one another
and took turns impeding one another; and, in addition,
there was a parliament which assembled them all every
two months . Thus between magistrates and councillors
there were hundreds of rectors: the Podesta, the Captain
of the People, the Consuls of the Guilds, the Ancients,
the Priors of the Guilds, and so on. The most important
office was, in theory, that of the Priors; but they were
six in number and remained in office only two months.
We can imagine how pre-eminent and lasting the
influence of any one of them would be*

Dante was Prior from 15 June to 15 August, 1300;
but previously, in 1295 or 1296 and perhaps afterwards
also, he took part in several of the many councils which
were held then in Florence, and we have record of his
presence at six councils in 1301. Some of the opinions
expressed by Alighieri on these occasions are recorded,

95

DANTE VIVO LIFE

but only two have any importance: on 15 March, 1301,
he opposed the grant of a subsidy to Charles of Anjou;
and on 19 June, 1301, he was opposed to their continuing
the service of one hundred soldiers maintained by
Florence for Pope Boniface on the borders of Tuscany.
Neither time, according to history, did his advice prevail;
but his opposition to the controlling hand of the Pope
was later one of the prime causes of his exile from
Florence*

In 1300, before he became one of the Priors, two duties
were entrusted to him; the first, in April, was to oversee
the widening of the street of San Procolo; the second,
in May, was to undertake an embassy to the town of San
Gemignano* The biographers have talked much about
the importance of these two extraordinary appointments,
but an examination of the documents reduces them to
very little. The widening of the street was a matter of
some importance to Dante who owned two bits of land
and a small house near by; but in itself it was a matter of
small account. The embassy to San Gernignano con-
sisted merely in carrying a request to that commune to
send someone to represent them at the election of a
captain for the Guelph League of Tuscany.

In short, from 1295 to 1301, Dante was only one of
many citizens hundreds of citizens who in those con-
fused and disorderly years took part in the many councils
of the commune. One notable office, and only one, he
held at the end and it was the last; the embassy to Pope
Boniface VIII.

In October 1301, when Charles of Valois, summoned
by the Pope to re-establish peace in Tuscany, approached
Florence, the new Florentine Signoria decided to send

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POPE

three ambassadors to Rome to the papal Court to oppose
the intrigues of the Black Guelphs, who were well-
disposed toward Charles* Those selected were Maso
Minerbetti, Corazza da Signa, and Dante Alighieri.
The precise date of their leaving Florence and of their
arrival in Rome is unknown; but thanks to the spirited
and vivid prose of Compagni we know how Boniface
received them* 'The ambassadors having arrived in
Rome, the Pope received them alone in his private apart-
ments, and said to them secretly, Why are you so
obstinate? Humble yourselves before me. I tell you
truly that I have no other intention than to bring about
your peace. Two of you return home, and if you secure
obedience to my will, you shall have my blessing/ 1

The great Pope did not go round about or resort to
subterfuges: Humble yourselves; obey. He did not
regard the men before him as the ambassadors of a free
commune; he treated them as rebellious servants or
stubborn vassals. The pontifical court was full of
Florentines, and Boniface knew very well what were the
sentiments and the opinions of those who stood before
him, but especially of one of them: of that man of
medium stature, with the protruding lower lip, maker of
rhymes for love of women, but, at the same rime,
adversary of kings and popes ,

Boniface sent back to Florence the two weaker and less
steadfast men, but kept at his court, almost as a pledge
and hostage, the third ambassador, the more formidable .
and eloquent Dante.

Probably Dante had already seen the haughty Pope the
year before, when he had come to Rome for the Jubilee;

1 D. Compagni, Cronica, II, iv(ed. Del Lungo, p. 139).

97

DANTE VIVO LIFE

but this was the first and the last time that he stood
before Boniface, close to him, face to face. What im-
pression must this audience have made upon him who
even then was dreaming of the advent of the Third
Kingdom against the unfaithful and simoniacal Church,
and who was hoping perhaps, in accord with the belief
of the Spirituals, that an emperor would come to subdue
it? What did he think of those brief and arrogant words
Humble yourselves to me; let my will be obeyed ?

Did Dante say anything in reply? Or did he close his
lips in disdainful silence, more eloquent than words?
And on that day of audience in October or November,
1301, was there born in Dante his lasting anger against
the Pope whom, through 'reverence for the supreme
keys/ he will call the 'new Christ/ but whom he will
describe also as 'prince of the new Pharisees/ 1 as
usurper of the seat of St Peter, as him 'who has made a
sewer of my cemetery' 2 ; and for whom he will prepare
a hole in the region of the simonists ? 3

This embassy to Rome is one of the most solemn
moments in the life of Dante and, indeed, in the history
of that century* The Pope and the poet are face to face,
adversaries. Two of the greatest minds of that age, very
much alike in their unbending pride, very unlike in
everything else.

Both are strong and great: Boniface because of his
exalted office, the abundance of his wealth, and the
alliance with princes; but only for the moment. Before
two years have passed, he will be seized and treated like a
criminal, his palace sacked, his person outraged, and he

* Inf. XXVII, 85. 2 Paff

* Inf. XIX, 52-57.
9 8

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POPE

will die a month later, consumed by madness* 1 Dante,
apparently, is powerless, because he represents a party
on the eve of defeat and is, at the moment, in the hands
of the Pope. But his strength, hidden as yet, lies wholly
in his heart and mind, in the power of his art and of his
words; and to him, not to Boniface, belongs the future*

Brothers only in pride, in everything they were
antagonists: worthy, however, of standing face to face
and of measuring and judging each other* Two colossi:
the successor of Peter and the heir of Virgil; the one
already meditating his edict, Unam Sanctam, the other
the future author of the De Monarchia; the Pope who
wished to command kings and emperors, and the Poet
who will judge relentlessly, from on high, not only
kings and emperors but popes as well *

Both are Utopians, but preoccupied by opposite
Utopias; by Utopias drawing to an end, but vfery much
alive still in Boniface and Dante, more than in any other
men* In Boniface it is the theocratic Utopia, which
ends, we may say, with him* In Dante it is the imperial
Utopia and that of the Eternal Gospel, which will
scarcely survive the poet's century* Boniface was dream-
ing of the Pope as the lord of the world, who would have
the plenitude potestatis and set it super reges et regna. Dante
was speculating upon a new revelation, upon the advent
of the Holy Spirit which should render useless both
popes and kings; and meanwhile he placed his hopes in
a lord of the temporal world, an heir to the Roman
Empire* It was Boniface who had induced Celestine V,
the 'angelic pope* of the Joachimite Spirituals, to

1 G. Villani, VIH, Ixiii ('tutto si rodea come rabbioso'). Grief produced a
strange malady so that he gnawed at himself as if he were mad.

99

DANTE VIVO LIFE

abdicate; it was he who had smiled at the 'fatuous men*
who expected the end of the world. Dante was a friend
and disciple of the Joachimists and the Spirituals, and in
his poem he will write with the same pen about the
infamy of Boniface and the glory of Joachim of Flora.

Both Boniface and Dante felt themselves possessed
and inspired by God: the one as pontiff, the other as
poet. But Boniface, a man of action, of finance, of law,
despised the poet in Dante; and Dante did not recognize
in the simoniacal and traitorous Cardinal Caetani any
divine quality. They could not understand and still less
esteem each other. Boniface, shrewd and learned in
canon law, recognized only the authority of written law,
the power of armed force, the power of wealth. Dante,
poet and philosopher, Platonist and mystic, admitted
no other legitimacy and sovereignty than that of the
spirit, and these only in their highest forms. Boniface,
man of the Campagna, had preserved in his manner and
speech something of the cynical hardness of the maraud-
ing feudal vassals, and seemed, at moments, but a rough
man of the people wearing the papal crown. Dante was
the polished and cultured townsman, the courteous
gentleman, the scholar and artist.

Nor did they resemble each other in appearance.
Boniface, at that time, was an old man of sixty-six years,
but tall and robust. Dante had passed by only a year
the 'middle point on the journey of our life*; he was of
medium height, but already a little stooping and thin
through his long devotion to study. Both, however,
had broad foreheads, a stern expression, and brilliant,
piercing eyes.

In spite of so many contrasts a similar fate awaits

100

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE POPE

them. In 1302 Dante will be accused of barratry and
rebellion, and condemned, if taken, to be burned alive.
In 1303 the assembly of Paris, convoked by Philip the
Fair, will accuse Boniface of heresy, of simony, of
practising the black arts, of robbery, of incest, and of
sodomy. Unjust accusations in both cases, but they
deprived Dante of his country for ever and cut short
Boniface's dreams and his life before his time*

Perhaps no other pope was hated so far and wide as
Boniface VIIL The Franciscan Spirituals hated him;
the surviving adherents of Celestine, the Ghibellines,
and the powerful Colonna family hated him; the King
of France, the despoiled noblemen, and the hard-pressed
subjects hated him. And these innumerable hatreds,
which only superiority could excite and keep alive, give
to Boniface an air of grandeur almost titanic.

But no hatred was so fatal to him as that of the poets.
He had against him the two greatest poets of his time:
Jacopone da Todi and Dante. He injured both. It was
due to Boniface that Jacopone lay in prison from 1298
to 1303. It was due to Boniface that Dante lived an exile
from, his birthplace from 1301 until his death. Both
poets had their revenge; and the evil renown of Boniface
through the centuries is due, in great part, to what they
wrote about him. Messer Ludovico Ariosto was not
altogether wrong when he advised the great ones of the
earth to keep the goodwill of the poets.

In those days of 1301 Boniface did not imagine or fore-
see that his Florentine half-prisoner would one day mark
him for the pits of hell, and that the poet would have
him condemned from the heights of Paradise by the
mouth of St Peter himself. If the Pope could have

101

DANTE VIVO . LIFE

imagined any such thing, Dante would never have got
away alive from his hands. The terrible Pope had killed
many enemies, his own and the Church's, and would
not have hesitated at one more* And the world would
have gone without the Divina Commedia. Luckily,
Boniface had greater power of will than of imagination,
and Dante was saved* On 4 November, Charles of
Valois entered Florence, and the news must have reached
Rome quickly. Dante understood that his every hope
was ended; and he succeeded, we do not know how, in
disappearing from the papal court and returning to
Tuscany.

102

FIRE AGAINST FIRE

E reward which Dante received for all that he
had done, from 1295 on, for the good of his
country was accorded in the fashion common
to tyrannical democracies: banishment, pillaging of
houses, confiscation of property, sentence of death*
They wished, they tried to destroy him utterly * They
deprived him of the sight of his native city, his patri a
which is half his life to a man of feeling. He was
separated from his family, reduced to poverty and
beggary which is death itself to noble minds* He was
loaded with infamy, given the name of barrator, falsifier,
thief, simonist. Finally, he was threatened with the
destruction of his body. In every possible way they
intended to put an end to Dante. When you take away
from a man his native place, his wife and children, his
livelihood, his honour and good name what remains to
him? A disdainful spirit in a fragile body* That is still
too much. The soul must be divided from the body;
the body must be consumed by fire*

To us, so far removed in time, these things astound
and horrify. We, who know Dante as the triumphant
Blacks in November 1301 did not and could not know
him, and see in him the poet-prophet of the Commcdia,
are inclined, in our turn, to condemn unjustly Boniface,
Cante de' Gabrielli (the podestk of Florence who pro-
nounced the sentence of banishment), and all their
accomplices and helpers.

But we must remind ourselves that Dante, at that time,

103

DANTE VIVO . LIFE

appeared in the eyes of most people as only one of many
Florentines who had taken a small part in the govern-
ment of the city, and as one of the many who wrote
love-poems for real or imaginary women. No halo then
surrounded the head of the proscribed* And we must
remember especially that in those turbulent and cruel
times every political party which got possession of a city
was forced and indeed compelled to banish or destroy the
representatives of the opposite party* The Blacks had
the advantage, thanks to Boniface and Charles of Valois;
and all those who had not sided with them and had
created opposition to the Pope and the French had to be
banished or suppressed*

Let us note also that Dante was condemned together
with others, and that the accusations in the formal
sentence are not ad personam, but collective. Several
times the text repeats the expression, 'they or any one of
them/ ipsi vd torum aliquis. It is not stated, then, that
Dante himself was actually charged with having given or
taken money from wrongful motives; but the general
tone of the sentence is such as to make us suppose that,
in the opinion of the judges, no one of the condemned
had transgressed because he loved his country, but rather
because he thirsted for gold.

Let us add also that Dante had given some occasion to
his adversaries for accusing him. Not of peculation,
certainly, in which perhaps no one believed then and in
which to-day no one could believe; but there remained
the fact that Dante had failed to oppose the bad govern-
ment and the atrocities of the Whites in the city of
Pistoia in 1301, when, although he was no longer one of
the Priors, he had often been called in to the councils

104

FIRE AGAINST FIRE

and would have had opportunity, had he chosen, to
oppose those shameful deeds. Moreover, the charge of
his being opposed to Boniface was true: an accusation
which might have brought him honour among the
Whites, the Ghibellines, and posterity, but which, of
necessity, was held a crime by the party enjoying the
protection of Boniface*

The history of those centuries is full of similar injus-
tices and condemnations. Dante himself, in 1300, had
signed a sentence of banishment; and it is certain that if
the Whites had been triumphant in 1302 or 1303, and
Dante had returned with them to Florence, there would
have been slaughters, sentences of death, infamous
accusations, and confiscations at the expense of the
Blacks.

For two or three years after his banishment Dante did
not give up the hope of re-entering Florence in triumph*
On 8 June, 1302, we find him at the meeting of the exiles
at San Godenzo; in 1303, at Forll to aid the undertaking
of the Whites against Florence; in 1313 he was urging the
Emperor, Henry VII, to besiege and punish the city.
From 1304- to the coming of Henry, Dante kept aloof
from the other exiles and tried to win his return to his
country by peaceable ways, through his eloquence and
the fame of his writings; but every attempt failed be-
cause he was not willing to return in humility as a
penitent. He still hoped, naive dreamer that he was, to
re-enter Florence in triumph, summoned thither by her
citizens, and in the glory of their acclaim, to receive the
poet's crown.

But Dante was never the man to remain in accord
with parties. In consequence, he was threatened with

105

DANTE VIVO - LIFE

death not only by those within the city, but also by those
without. The evidence of the Ottimo Commtnto and, in
particular, a clear allusion made by Brunetto Latini, 1
show that his companions in misfortune, either because
they found themselves in difficulties through having
followed his advice, or for other reasons, began to hate
him and tried, possibly, to kill him. No other meaning
can be attached to the words of the old master:

La tua fortuna tanto onor ti serba,
che Tuna parte e 1'altra avranno fame
di te ; ma lungi fia dal becco 1'erba*

Your fortune reserves such honour for you that the one party and the
other shall have hunger for you* But the grass shall be far from the goat.

The words of Cacciaguida convey the same meaning:

E quel che piu ti gravera le spalle,
sara la compagnia malvagia e scempia
con la qua! tu cadrai in questa valle ;

che tutta ingrata, tutta matta ed empia,
si fara contra te ; ma, poco appresso,
ella, non tu, n'avra rossa la tempia. 2

And that which will weigh heaviest upon your shoulders will be the
wicked and foolish company with which you will fall into this valley:
which all ungrateful, mad, and pitiless, will set itself against you ; but,
soon after, it, not you, will have the forehead red.

It was, then, because of this threat of death that Dante
made a party of himself alone, that is, established that
superior party of which he was the commander and the
only soldier. And, henceforth, he remained outside and
above parties. At the coming of Henry, Dante did not
speak and write as a Ghibelline, but as the enemy of
every division and disorder, as a seeker for peace, for the
unity of Italy and of all Christian countries under the

1 Inf. XV, 70-72- 2 Par. XVII, 61-66.

106

FIRE AGAINST FIRE

leadership of one who would re-establish the Roman
Empire.

The beginning of Dante's misfortunes lay In his
having belonged, or in having appeared to belong, to one
of the factions of the Guelph party; and as a White
Guelph he was included in the sentences of 1302. There
were two sentences: the one of 27 January, comparatively
mild; the other of 10 March, much more severe* In the
first, Dante was condemned, together with three others,
to pay a fine of 5000 gold florins, to stay outside the
borders of Tuscany for two years, and to lose what we
to-day call civil rights. Dante did not think even for a
moment either of appearing or of paying* It would have
been an acknowledgment of the truth of the accusations,
and he knew besides that not even the accusers honestly
believed in those accusations. To them it was a matter
of putting outside the law a political adversary who
might become dangerous; and no humiliation on his part
would have availed to remove their suspicions and save
himself from future persecution.

In the second sentence, Dante together with fourteen
others was condemned to death* The manner of the
execution was specified: if any one of them fell into the
hands of the commune, he should be burned alive*
There was to be no mere display of power, no half-
measures; he should be burned in the fire until he was
dead: talis perveniens igne comluratur sic quod moriatur. The
same death which later overtook Cecco d'Ascoli and
Savonarola. !

1 Cecco, or Francesco, Stabili da Ascoli was burned as a heretic in Florence,
in 1327.

The great Dominican was burned in 1498, when Alexander VI was pope.
Trans.

107

DANTE VIVO - LIFE

But Dante contrived not to be taken, and Boniface
failed where later Alexander VI succeeded. But the
thought of the fire must have remained stamped into
Dante's mind, and it may have been one of the uncon-
scious motives which drove him, a little later, to begin
the Inferno; everlasting fire against promised and threat-
ened fire. The Hebraic principle of an eye for an eye
was not wholly dead in the prophetic soul of Dante.
He did not disturb himself to cast into the fire of hell
Messer Cante de' Gabrielli d'Agobbio, mere executor of
others' commands and vendettas, who had no special
resentment against Dante; but he knew, and so wrote it,
that the true author of his disaster was Pope Boniface,
He says it clearly in the words of Cacciaguida, when he
speaks of his exile:

Questo si vuole e questo gia si cerca,
e tosto verra fatto a chi cio pensa
la dove Cristo tutco dl si merca. 1

This is willed, this is already sought for, and soon will be accomplished
by him who plots it there where every day Christ is bargained for.

To Boniface, then, belongs the guilt of having con-
demned Dante to death by fire; and Dante in turn, as
equal to equal, as prophet against pontiff, condemns
Boniface to be consumed by everlasting fire. In the
vision of 1300, a place for Boniface is already prepared in
the pits of the simonists. And in the written poem, in
the eager question of Nicholas III, we sfcem to hear the
frenzied impatience of the avenging poet:

. . . Se' tu gia costl ritto,
se* tu gia costl ritto, Bonifazio ? 2

Are you already standing there ? Are you already standing there, Boni-
face?

x P*nXVII, 49-51. 2 inf. XIX, 52-53.

108

FIRE AGAINST FIRE

But when Dante wrote these lines, n October, 1303,
had already passed. Boniface had died of madness in
Rome, and the visitor to the Inferno was certain that the
fire was already burning the legs of the simoniacal pope.
It was not the fire which ends with death, like that with
which Dante was threatened, but fire everlasting, that
fire which still illumines with its sinister gleam the figure
of the haughty pontiff*

109

THE GREAT PILGRIM

/*"OR almost twenty years the life of Dante was
"T" that of a pilgrim not a pilgrim of love, nor a
/") I pilgrim to Rome for religion's sake; not even a
^^ wanderer for pleasure or variety. He was a
pilgrim of necessity. At the beginning of the Convivio
he laments having gone 'through almost every part to
which our language extends, a wanderer, .almost a
beggar. * * / x But we must take account of the
almost' s which appear twice among so few words: almost
every part, almost a beggar. Dante did not see all Italy,
nor did he live 'begging his livelihood bit by bit/

Certain biographies convey the idea that from the time
of his exile, Dante devoted himself to making a tour of
Italy* His merely naming a city, a district, a mountain,
is regarded as certain proof of his sojourn here, or at least
of his passage. Some biographers, finding Italy too
limited a field for Dante's roving mania, have sent him
beyond the Alps, into France, Flanders, Germany,
Switzerland, and finally 'over seas' to Oxford. But even
the journey to Paris, which has in its favour the testi-
mony of Villani and Boccaccio and seems indisputable to
many, is far from being certain or probable. The proofs
are too few and the reasons against it too weighty. 2

But he certainly traversed Italy from the Alps to Rome;

1 Convivio t I, iii, 4.

2 The fundamental book on this subject is Dante e la Francia, by A. Fari-
nelli (Milan, Hoepli, 1908, 1, pp. 91-154),

Also M. Barbi thinks the journey to Paris 'scarcely probable' (Enc. It., XII,

IIO

THE GREAT PILGRIM

and from undeniable references in his writings, or from
documents, or from legitimate inferences, we know to
what places he went or where he stayed. In Tuscany
Lunigiana, the Casentino, Arezzo, Siena, Pisa, Lucca;
and beyond Tuscany Forli, Bologna, Verona, Mantua,
Venice, Ravenna, and perhaps Genoa and Milan. As
for his journeys to convents San Benedetto dell' Alpe,
Fonte Avellana, the monastery of Corvo these are
suppositions more or less supported by evidence, except
the last, which is almost certainly a fable*

We picture him going on horseback across hills and
rivers, silent, with knitted brows; sometimes in the
company of noblemen or of merchants, sometimes quite
alone, uncertain of the roads and of the halting-places.
There is undoubtedly autobiographic reminiscence in
that passage of the Convivio where Dante recalls the un-
certainties of the wayfarer: 'And just as a pilgrim who
goes along a road where he has never been before, and
thinks that every house which he sees in the distance may
be the inn, and finding it not so, turns his faith to the
next one, and so from house to house until he comes to
the inn. * / x

But this wandering from castle to castle and from town
to town could not always have been unhappy, because
Dante, according to his own words, was curious about
new things:

Li occhi miei ch'a mirare eran content!
per veder novitadi ond V son vaghi. 2

My eyes which were intent on gazing in order to see novel sights of
which they are desirous.

. IV, xiL 15. 2 Purg. X, 103-104.

Ill

DANTE VIVO * LIFE

Fanciful inferences, however, about places where he

sojourned or passed are less important to us than to

know what his life was in those years. An unhappy life,

undoubtedly, but rather that of a courtier than a mendi-

cant, This is not mere conjecture, but an opinion sup-

ported by the expert authority of Michele BarbL 'The

position of Dante, ' he says, 'when he had separated him-

self from his companions in exile, was almost that of a

courtier* To hasten here and there, where there were

noblemen reputed liberal toward men of wit and learn-

ing or even of pleasant disposition, so that the court felt

honoured by their presence and made use of them in

affairs of importance, or found amusement from their

talents in daily life; to live, therefore, among a throng of

people coming and going, people of different natures,

different in taste and understanding, varying from

persons of knowledge and political experience to buf-

foons* And usually these last were not the least welcome

or the least liberally rewarded or the first to be

dismissed/ 1

A life often embarrassing and humiliating. Not in-
deed that among courtiers there were not persons both
honoured and honourable, like that Marco Lombardo
immortalized by Dante; but their position was always
that of temporary servitors who depended on the
humours and caprices of the prince, and had to pro-
pitiate him with their accomplishments, good or bad, in
order to obtain protection and means of Subsistence.
Add to this the promiscuous intercourse with people of
every sort and kind who gathered at the most abundant
tables and had need to be tolerant of others and to bring

1 Enc. It. t XII, 329,
112

THE GREAT PILGRIM

themselves into favour. Of this troubled life among
noblemen far from noble, among strolling players and
buffoons, there are echoes in the legends about Dante,
and probably not all the legends are without foundation
in truth* Dante was not a man given to jocularity; on
the contrary, he was easily moved to reproof and scorn;
while noblemen have commonly preferred those who
made them laugh to those who made them think. And
we can well believe that Dante was obliged* to remove
himself from one of those courts because he had become
too much disgusted with the buffoons who enjoyed a
greater degree of the patron's favour than he did.

In short, Dante was not a true courtier. Nor was he a
true beggar, since in some sort he served his protectors;
but neither was he a free man. Whoever understands
the dignity of self-respect and knows the pride of the
poet, can imagine what must have been Dante's suffer-
ings during those enforced wanderings.

But at least, we ask, they made use of him in affairs of
importance? It seems not. The only duties entrusted to
Dante about which we are certain, are the conclusion of
the peace between the Malaspina and the bishop of
Luni, and the embassy to Venice on behalf of Guido
Novello missions disproportionate to the greatness of
the man* They bring to mind the story of the painter
Menighella who induced Michelangelo to draw a St
Roque or a St Anthony destined to be daubed with
colour for the delectation of peasants* The greatest men
can accept certain tasks through necessity or goodwill,
but not without a secret bitterness.

Dante, therefore, who had to maintain himself and his
sons, was obliged very often to appeal to the generosity

DANTE VIVO - LIFE

of the noblemen who received him. Traces of these
requests, which must have cost his pride so dear, remain
even in the Commtdia. In the Purgatorio, when he meets
Currado Malaspina, he speaks in high praise of Mala-
spina' s descendants:

e io vi giuro, s'io di sopra vada,
che vostra gente onrata non si sfregia
del pregio della borsa e della spada. 1

And I swear to you, so may my journey on high be accomplished, that
your honoured race does not disgrace its reputation of the purse and the
sword.

It was a receipt of the grateful poet for hospitality
received* Although this reference to the purse seems out
of place in the poem of Christian salvation, there is
another of the same sort in the words of Cacciaguida
which praise Can Grande della Scala, one of Dante 's
protectors, for a liberality past or desired:

A lui t'aspetta ed a' suoi benefid ;
per lui fia trasmutata molta gente,
cambiando condizion ricchi e mendici. 2

Look to him and to his benefits. By him shall many people be trans-
formed, rich and poor changing condition.

The meaning seems to be: You shall go almost a,
beggar, but the lord of Verona, Can Grande della Scala,
will by his liberality change your condition, and will
make rich you who had been poor. A prophecy which
was never realized for the poet, but it gave rise perhaps
to the calumny that he was one of the many flatterers
who hung about noblemen's courts in those days. There
is an echo of this in a sonnet attributed incorrectly to
Cino da Pistoia, where Dante, together with Manoello

1 Purg. VIII, izy-129. 2 Par. XVII, 88-90.

114

THE GREAT PILGRIM

Giudeo, is placed in the Inferno in the region of the
flatterers. 1

In reality, as the poor poet was neither a mendicant
nor a mountebank, neither was he a servile toady of the
powerful; but through his pressing need he had to bring
himself to praise those little worthy of his homage. His
life as a 'man of the court' must have been painful and
sometimes detestable; but on the whole he was some-
thing half-way between the gentleman-companion and
the diplomatist, between the secretary and the coun-
sellor.

But in other and far higher ways than these already
spoken of, Dante was a pilgrim. Before his exile he had
gone in 1300 to Rome for the Jubilee announced by
Boniface VIII, and it is precisely this year which he
selected as the fictitious date of that pilgrimage to the
Empyrean which forms the Divina Commtdia. He men-
tions other travellers, pellegrini, who like himself were
going to Rome; 2 but he wished to be romeo, a religious
pilgrim to Rome, in order to mount to that more
splendid Rome which is Paradise.

His first master, Brunetto, had gone on a pilgrimage
to Campostella; and his first friend, Guido, had set out
from Florence to go there. But Dante aspired to a very
different pilgrimage not indeed to Rome 'to see our
Veronica/ or to Campostella to pray at the tomb of
St James; but a pilgrimage toward those heavens where
he could speak with the Apostle and see, face to face,
the true image of Christ.

1 Part of this sonnet, written after the death of Dante, may be found in
Zingarelli, Dante, p. 670.

2 V.N., XL ; Par. XXXI, 130 ff.

1*5

DANTE VIVO LIFE

The Middle Ages are full of pilgrims* Down every
road pass the Christians who are journeying toward
Spain or Rome or the Holy Land. Alighieri, greater
than all other pilgrims, imagines and describes an ideal
and sacred pilgrimage which leads him across the dark-
ness of the Inferno and the mountain-ledges of Purga-
tory to the City of Light and Beatitude, to the feet of
the Trinity. The other pilgrims go to venerate tombs
and sepulchres; Dante ascends on the wings of poetry
even to the living God* The Corn-media is the wonderful
itinerary of the most wonderful pilgrimage which any
Christian ever made before death*

116

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE EMPEROR

ANTE kissed the feet of only two men Boniface,
)the Pope, and Henry, the Emperor. He knelt
before Boniface in 1301, when he was sent to
Rome as ambassador; before Henry in 1311 or
1312, perhaps at Milan, perhaps at Pisa. Dante paid
homage to the Pope in observance of ceremonial usage;
to the Emperor through motives of eager devotion.

He kissed the feet of the human being who had most
greatly stirred his wrath, and of that other who had
roused his highest hopes the sirnoniacal pontiff and the
peace-making king. Both, not long after the kiss
bestowed by Dante, flickered out wretchedly.

Dante has left an account of his homage to the Em-
peror, in his famous letter to Henry; 'ego qui scribo , . .
velut decet imperatoriam maiestatem benignissimum vidi
et clementissimum te audivi, cum pedes tuos mantis
meae tractarunt et labia mea debitum persolverunt/ l

Who was this man whose feet one of the proudest men
of all time did not disdain to kiss ? He had been, up to a
little while before, the count of a small domain not
much larger than the modern Luxembourg. He was
elected king of Germany in 1308, and crowned emperor
at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1309. He descended into Italy in
October 1310, and was crowned with the iron crown at
Milan, 6 January, 1311. When Dante saw him he must

1 Epis. VII. I who write . . . saw thee most benignant and heard thee most
merciful, as befits imperial majesty, when my hands touched thy feet and my
lips paid their due tribute, Trans.

117

DANTE VIVO * LIFE

have been nearly forty years old. He was of medium
height, like the poet, and had a squint in one eye.

Among the many German emperors after Charle-
magne who came down into Italy, Henry VII was one of
the most unfortunate. His father had been killed in
battle in 1288, leaving him an orphan of tender years;
his brother Waleran died in Italy at the siege of Brescia,
and his wife Marguerite at Genoa* He himself, within
less than three years from the time he crossed the Alps,
died of fever at Buonconvento . He had come to restore
harmony between Guelphs and Ghibellines, and both
parties were dissatisfied with him: many abandoned him,
many betrayed him. He had come to make peace, and
many cities rebelled against him; some, like Florence,
closed their gates in his face and answered his messengers
with insulting words. He had come to be crowned by
the Pope in St Peter *s, and when he reached Rome he
had to fight his way in, taking a part of the city by armed
force; and, finally, only through a popular uprising did
he succeed in being crowned, and even then not in St
Peter's but in the church of St John Lateran; and by
three cardinals, not by the Pope. He had come to re-
establish the authority of the Empire against the leader
of the Guelphs, King Robert of Naples; and in order to
gratify the Pope, Clement V, he had to grant a year's
truce to Robert. When finally he started to make war in
earnest, he was stopped for ever by death.

His undertaking was a lamentable failure. He ex-
hausted men and German money in vain; he diminished
still further the prestige of the imperial name; he did not
succeed in subduing the centres of the Guelph resistance,
Naples and Florence; he delayed too long in regions and

118

Ci.

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE EMPEROR

in enterprises of little importance; and he left affairs in
Italy in a worse condition than he had found them.
Henry was a Utopian who, plunged into the midst of
harsh and complex realities, did not know how to be an
aid to his friends or a vexation to his enemies*

The city which did him the most harm and brought
about his greatest humiliation was Florence* The man
who more than all others believed in him as saviour and
avenger was Dante, an exile from Florence* In the duel
between the city and its greatest citizen, the city con-
quered. The gold of Florence, and her skilful manage-
ment, accomplished more against the poor Emperor than
the army of the King of Naples did* Dante saw the
situation clearly when he passionately urged Henry to
move against the fox and the viper of the Arno, instead
of delaying in northern Italy* But when finally, 19 Sep-
tember, 1312, Henry laid siege to Florence, it was too late.
He did not dare, or was not able, to invest it vigorously;
and on 30 October, apparently through lack of pro-
visions, he was forced to retire without giving battle*
A Florentine, Betto Brunelleschi, had already on an
earlier occasion answered the imperial ambassadors that
'the Florentines would never lower their horns for any
lord/ and this time it was true* The fox of Dante knew
how to be the bull, taking its stand behind wall and moat
in order to repulse the idealistic Emperor* During the
siege the Emperor stayed at the monastery of San Salvi, a
few paces from the city; but he was not accompanied by
the Florentine Dante, who, although he had incited the
Emperor to chastise the city, had not wished to fight
against his own birthplace and men of his own blood*

In 1310, when Alighieri first knew that Henry was

119

DANTE VIVO LIFE * *)

__________ JLtx

about to descend into Italy, his joy was great* Italy
would once more become the garden of the Empire, the
authority of the Pope would be blunted, peace would be
restored between city and city, between citizen and
citizen; he himself would be able to see once more,
'with other fleece/ his 'beautiful church of St John/

Not content with prostrating himself at the Em-
peror's feet, Dante addressed a passionate letter to the
kings, princes, and people of Italy; another, very elo-
quent, to Henry himself; and a third, full of threats and
fury, to the 'most wicked Florentines within the walls/
And at the same time he wrote the De Monarch ia, a logical
defence of universal monarchy and virtually a reply to
the Unam Sanctam, the famous Bull of Boniface*

But his ardent words and his impassioned support
availed little or nothing. We do not know what Henry
and Dante said to each other at their first and perhaps
only meeting* It is unlikely that the Emperor under-
stood fully the greatness of the man who knelt before
him* Not because Henry was a barbarian; he had been
educated at the French court, he spoke French well, and
he did not despise talent and ability* Nor was he the
uncouth mediaeval Teuton such as we imagine* He was,
on the contrary, more Gallic than Germanic, both in his
culture and his interests* 1 But probably he did not read
the Italian vernacular, and Dante must have seemed to
him just one of the many banished Italians who wer.e
rushing to him from every part, only more cultured and
more sincerely devoted to the imperial cause* Perhaps
Henry managed in time to read the De Monarch ia, but it

1 In 1294, in consideration of a regular revenue, he had agreed to support
French policy.

120

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE EMPEROR

is certain that he did not know the Inferno, completed by
that time, nor those cantos of the Purgatorio which were
already written.

Undoubtedly, in speech as well as by letter, Dante
would have denounced to the Emperor the stubborn
attitude of Florence and the danger threatening thence,
and would have exhorted him to hurl himself without
delay against that city. Although he was a dreamer,
Dante saw the situation more clearly than Henry. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century, Florence held a
position like that of England at the beginning of the
nineteenth century in the wars against Napoleon. From
Florence came the sinews of war, the florins which
bought the traitors and strengthened the rebellious; from
Florence came the intrigues, the plots, the interested
counsels. And taking the world as it was then, Florence
was nearer right than Dante. The imperial idea was at
an end; and only from the rich and independent middle
classes of the cities could the modern states be formed.
The idea of Empire was more splendid, and would have
saved them many crashes and disasters; but it no longer
had a secure foundation in the new society which was
just becoming articulate. Christendom was breaking up;
the Empire would remain a memory until the coming of
Charles V and Napoleon.

Dante's counsel, finally, would have seemed suspect to
Henry because he would have thought the exiled Floren-
tine more interested to secure his own repatriation than
to aid the Emperor's undertaking. When at length
Henry decided to listen to him, it was probably too late.

Meanwhile the poet had taken refuge, it seems, in the
Casentino, as guest of the counts of Battifolle, and

121

DANTE VIVO LIFE

thence he must have followed the movements of the
Emperor* And Henry with his goings here and there,
from Milan to Genoa, from Genoa to Pisa, from Pisa to
Rome, must have seemed to Dante like a blue-bottle fly
that goes blundering about a room among people who
wish him dead* And perhaps that little cross-eyed man,
who had roused so much reverence and exaltation in
Dante's soul, now moved him to pity* At the end of
August 1313, when Dante received news of the death of
his idol, we may be sure that he wept; and with his tears
of compassion for the poor unsuccessful emperor must
have mingled his tears of rage*

But Dante would not be unfaithful to Henry even
after death* The blame for the disaster, so Dante makes
Beatrice say, rests on blind and unwilling Italy*

'n quel gran seggio a che tu li occhi rieni
per la corona che gia v'e su posta,
prima che tu a queste nozze ceni,

sedera Talma, che fia giu agosta,
dell'alto Arrigo, ch'a drizzare Italia
verra in prima ch'ella sia disposta.

La cieca cupidigia che v'ammalia
simili fatti v'ha al fantolino
che muor per fame e caccia via la balia, 1

In that great seat on which you fix your gaze because of the crown which
is already placed above it, shall sit (before you are summoned to this
wedding-feast) the soul, imperial on earth, of the noble Henry, who will
come to direct Italy before she is ready. Blind Greed, which lays a spell
on you, has made you like the little child who dies of hunger, and yet
drives away the nurse.

He whom, alive, 'Dante had called another Moses, a
new David, bridegroom of Italy, and even Lamb of God,
becomes now in humbler guise the nurse driven away by
the foolish suckling. The admiration has become less

1 Par. XXX, 133-141.
122

IN THE PRESENCE OF THE EMPEROR

emphatic but more human; the exalted worship becomes
filial affection.

The sepulchral monument which Tino di Caniaino
carved for the unhappy emperor in the cathedral of Pisa
is splendid and noble; but more resplendent and lasting
is that which the disappointed Dante raised to him in
these lines on the shining, mystic rose, the Candida rosa/
of Paradise*

123

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

E twenty-fourth of August 1313, the date of
the death of Henry, marked the enid of Dante's
eatthly hopes. Eight years later, in August or
September 1321, the poet himself died, and of the
same fever that killed the Emperor*

In 1 3 15 his native Florence once more menaced him with
death * As he had not accepted the humiliating conditions
of the general pardon offered to the exiles in August of
that year, and had not presented himself within the time
limit before the vicar of King Robert, he was condemned,
together with the other rebels and Ghibelliues, to be
beheaded. Dante was still dreaming, and would go on
dreaming until his death, of a repentant Florence placing
on his head in solemn ceremonial the laurel crown of the
poets. Florence, however, occupied herself with his head
only to decree that it should be severed from his shoul-
ders if he should fall into her hands: Caput a scapulis
amputetur ita quod ptnitus moriatur. In 1302 Florence had
promised him death by fire; now, instead of the throne
of triumph, she offers the headsman's block; instead of
flame, steeL Florence had resolved to cut off from her-
self by every possible means this undesirable son of hers,
unless he should present himself humbly in San Giovanni
as an offering, as a reprieved criminal. And he was un-
willing to re-enter San Giovanni except to receive a
crown! Between Florence and Dante there is no coming
to terms: the city and the citizen are equally obstinate.
The poet asks from her the consecration of his glory.

124

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

The city demands from the poet his humiliation or his
blood*

Since he could not and would not return to Florence,
since he did not wish to remain longer at Verona where
the gay and miscellaneous court was not to his liking, he
had to seek another refuge. He chose Ravenna* Just
when he went there and whether he lived there con-
tinuously -we do not know with certainty* Clearly not
before the summer of 1316, when Guido Novello da
Polenta succeeded Lambert; and not after January 1320*
And in those years he was at Verona again, and at
Mantua and Venice*

We do not know if it was Guido Novello who called
him to Ravenna, or if the new podesta, a known friend
to poetry and to men of talent, limited himself to
receiving the poet with kindness. Furthermore, we do
not know what members of his family Dante had with
him: doubtless his son Pietro who had ecclesiastical
benefices at Ravenna; perhaps also his son Jacopo and
his daughter Antonia who became a nun at Santa Maria
dell* Ulivi, taking the name of Sister Beatrice; and
perhaps also his wife, Gemma*

Neither do we know if he taught in the university at
Ravenna, or whether he had private pupils or only
younger friends who later boasted of having been his
disciples* In short, except for his embassy to Venice
and his death, we know little or nothing of his last years.

It is probable, however, that at Ravenna he wrote the
last cantos of the Paradise, and that the glorification of
the eagle was composed in the selfsame place where the
Empire began and ended. There has been much talk,
apropos of Dante at Ravenna, about the Byzantine

125

DANTE VIVO LIFE

records and monuments; but to Dante the Eastern
Empire meant little. To him Ravenna was the place
which saw the beginning and the end of the true empire,
the Roman Empire. Caesar, the founder, according to
Dante, moved from Ravenna to cross the Rubicon:

Quel che fe* poi ch'elli uscl di Ravenna
e sal to Rubicon, fu di tal volo,
che nol seguiteria lingua ne penna. 1

That which [the Imperial Eagle] did when it came forth from Ravenna
and leapt the Rubicon, was of so bold a flight that neither tongue nor pen
can follow it.

And at Ravenna the last miserable Emperor of the
West, Romulus Augustulus, was captured and deposed.
At Ravenna also Odoacer was defeated and killed, the
first barbarian in Italy who openly took his place in the
line of the successors of Caesar,

Other records at Ravenna, but Christian this time,
would have roused Dante's interest: those of the saints
Romualdus and Peter Damian whom the poet recalls in
the Paradise and in cantos which were almost certainly
composed at Ravenna* 2 Peter Damian more than all
others must have pleased him because earlier than Dante,
in the Liler Gomorrhianus and in other books, he had
denounced with Dantesque severity the unclean vices of
the prelates and the friars.

But if the melancholy city, the last refuge of the
Empire and of Dante, roused memories of a past that
was splendid, the reality in those first decades of the
fourteenth century was less impressive* The territory

1 Par. VI, 61-63.

2 On the influence of St Peter Damian on Dante, see P. Amaducci, Nel
ciflo dt contcmplantL Rome, Alfieri and Lacroix, n. d.

126

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

was small, and the people who inhabited it were not dis-
tinguished. Guido da Polenta, the nephew of Francesca
da Rimini, was a good soldier and a graceful writer of
lallate; but he could not compare with Can Grande della
Scala* Nor was he sufficiently strong to maintain him-
self in the government. Exactly a year after Dante's
death, in September 1322, he was turned out by Os-
tasio II, and 'died in exile ,and disconsolate, in 1330*' l

And at this point we must observe that Dante did not
bring good luck to those whom he loved and who, in
* turn, loved him. His mother died a few years after his
birth; his father died when Dante was still a youth; his
first friend, Guido Cavalcanti, died young; Beatrice died
at twenty-six years of age; Can Grande at thirty-eight;
Guido No veil o, as we have seen, lost, soon after Dante's
death, both his rule and his life.

Some have imagined that Dante busied himself in the
solitude of Ravenna with the study of theology in the
company of the archbishop Rainaldo Concoreggi. But it
is impossible that there could have been any intimacy
between the two men. Rainaldo had been one of the
favourites of Boniface VIII, and when he was rector of
the Flaminia at Forll, he was assaulted in a Ghibelline
tumult and severely wounded. It is not possible that the
archbishop would have enjoyed conversing with an
enemy of Boniface, one who passed for a rabid Ghibel-
line, and who was a friend of the lord of Verona,

Dante, however, did not lack companions but what
companions! Dino Perini, a shallow-brained young
Florentine; Menghino Mezzani, notary and indifferent
rhymester; Pietro di messer Giardino, another notary; a

1 G. L, Passerini, La Vita di Dante. Florence, Vallecchi, 1929, p 340.

127

DANTE VIVO * LIFE

physician from Certaldo named Fiduccio de' Milotti;
Bernardo Canaccio, who scribbled Latin verses. The
greatest poet of his time, and one of the greatest of all
times, was reduced to conversing with these provincial
would-be intellectuals, who could not comprehend
either the loftiness of his wounded soul or the marvel of
his poetry* He was writing the cantos of the Paradise,
the most perfect and most glorious of the entire poem,
and he was surrounded the while by affixers of seals and
by fourth-rate poetasters. His sons, as we know from
what they have left, were of small mind and of slow
understanding* Much has been written about his daugh-
ter (Antonia = Beatrice?), who consoled with filial and
womanly gentleness the last years of the melancholy
father; but it is all an embroidering on nothing. We
could imagine with equal justification that this grown-up
daughter with her caprices and petty womanish ways
greatly wearied the singer of the Paradise.

In short, Dante was an eagle who was forced to content
himself with the companionship of sparrows and barn-
yard fowls. If the story related by Vasari is true, that
Giotto, at the suggestion of Alighieri, was called to
Ravenna by Guido Novello to fresco a church, then one
friend worthy of Dante, at least in the field of art, saw
the poet in these last years of his life*

Others, it is true, addressed themselves to him from a
distance* But what sort of men were they ? The extrava-
gant and overbearing Cecco d'Ascoli, a philosopher sus-
pected of heresy and a clumsy versifier, who afterwards in
the Acerla had the effrontery to ridicule the Divina Cam-
media^ Then there was the humble and obscure teacher of
grammar at Bologna, Giovanni del Virgilio, who per-

128

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

mitted himself to advise Dante as to themes for new
pbetical works, and invited him, we do not know by
what right or authority, to betake himself to Bologna,
there to receive we don't know what laureation or
complimentary award*

And Dante, who was thought by everyone to be
reserved and churlish, deigned to answer the poetic
effusions of the self-important grammarian of Bologna
with two eclogues in Latin, and sent him two new
cantos of the Paradise; refusing, however, to accept the
invitation to go to Bologna.

This was one of the oddest adventures in Dante's life
as a poet. Imagine it! Dante in the role of shepherd!
Dante an Arcadian! If ever there was a poet who had
nothing in common with Arcady and pastoral poetry,
that poet was Dante. And yet while he was describing
in powerful verse the loftiest heights of the Christian
Paradise, he travestied himself in the guise of an old
shepherd with the name of Tityrus, who converses
with other shepherds, milks his ewe, and stretches
himself on the grass. It is true that Tityrus is the
first name used by the Roman Virgil in his Eclogues;
but it creates an incongruous effect to see Dante,
the theologian and prophet, schooling himself to
take to his lips the pastoral syrinx in order to do
honour to one who admired him to be sure, but as
a pedagogue would admire from a distance a volcano
which casts forth at the same time lava and flowers.
And the other shepherds are too inferior to Tityrus
(Dante) for the fiction to take on an air of grandeur.
Mopsus is Giovanni del Virgilio, Melibceus is the young
Dino Perini, Alphesiboeus is Master Fiduccio, lolas is

129

DANTE VIVO LIFE

Guido Novello, and Phyllis, we suppose, is Gemma
DonatL

Dante would have found better company in the twisted
pine trees of Chiassi above the solitary shores of the
Adriatic, or among those saints, emperors, and angels in
mosaic, with their enormous, staring eyes, who for cen-
turies had awaited from the walls of San Vitale and of
Sant' Apollinare a song which should release them from
that enchantment in the sacred stone*

Dante 's conversation was now more with the dead than
with the living* He must have had a foreboding that the
end of the Commedia would precede by only a little the
end of his life* Alone among men, as he had always been,
rejected and proscribed by his fatherland, with no hope
of seeing a worthy emperor crowned or of witnessing the
victorious descent of the Veltro, he passed his days
among visions of the Empyrean and in the melancholy
contemplation of that city where the Roman Empire had
died ingloriously in 476, and whence the last degenerate
heirs of that Empire had been driven out for ever by the
barbarian Astolphus in 751 .

Ravenna, city of pine trees and the dead, l was in a
sense predestined to see the end of the last great man
who remained loyal to the imperial idea. In 1321, Dante
was in his fifty-sixth year. He could not be called old,
but his hair was already white and his shoulders more
bent than in the days of his early manhood. But perhaps
he would have lived longer if it had not pleased Guido
Novello to give the poet a token of his goodwill* In
1321 there had been a quarrel between some Ravennese

1 Many years ago I called the city a sepulchre, v. Nipoti d'lJJio. Florence,
VaUecchi, 1932, pp, 213-219. The essay on Ravenna dates from 1905.

130

DANTE VIVO LIFE

and guide, the Roman Virgil. The lord of Ravenna
recalled his kinswoman, that Francesca who had moved
the poet so profoundly in the whirlwind of the carnal
sinners.

But if in the sleeplessness of fever he reviewed one
after another the events of his whole existence, from the
first springtimes in Florence to this grievous vigil of
autumn in Ravenna, a season which he would not live to
enjoy, he must have thought that his life had been a
series of misfortunes and disillusions. The death of
Beatrice, the twofold threat of death hurled by the city
which he loved, the humiliating exile, the wandering
among people who did not perceive his light, the en-
forced begging of his bread in courts and castles, the
performing of duties that were beneath him as the price
of his livelihood, the death of Henry VII, the unful-
filled hope of laureation among the marbles of his *bel
San Giovanni' these were some of the links in the cruel
chain*

One thing, and one only, remained which would
redeem with interest all the disappointments and sor-
rows: the last born child of his genius, the work which,
as he must have known, would be his everlasting com-
pensation through the centuries to come. The Divina
Commcdia was finished, the book which inclosed in the
most powerful and melodious verse of all our poetry, his
revenge, his hopes, his prophecies, his visions of earth
and of heaven. He knew with certainty that he had not
passed his life uselessly on earth; he knew that men would
remember him to eternity; and that the Florentines
themselves would beg for his poor body which they had
tried to destroy with fire and steeL

132

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

The sacred poem which embraced the universe, and
guided souls from the dark forest of sin to the mystical
rose of the radiant Blessed and to the inscrutable circle
of the Trinity, was finished and consigned to immor-
tality* Dante, who was born and who had lived for this,
could now die*

BOOK THREE

DANTE, A SINNER

Dante was a sinner and guilty of many sins,
and that he himself admits it in open or in
indirect confession, is a truth denied by no one.
In the introduction of the Coin-media, the poet depicts
his wandering in the dark forest of evil and sin;
and the first two parts of the poem are a progressive
purification up to the second forest, the one in the
Earthly Paradise, where Beatrice summarizes the accusa-
tions against her poet* 1 That Dante was a sinner, like all
of us, is not a matter for surprise. He was a man, not an
angel; an artist, not a saint.

But in what ways and to what extent did he sin? The
flock of modern Dantomaniacs, driven by the romantic
habit of making every genius a demi-god, gladly passes
over the sins of Dante, and either thinks them less grave
than they were, or translates them into adroit euphemisms
which lessen them and almost absolve them. Wrath, for
example, becomes 'generous disdain'; pride becomes
'natural consciousness of his own greatness/ and so on*

Others, on the contrary, because of their scornful
intolerance of that semi-deification attempted by the
fanatics, exaggerate the failings of Dante, or think that
they have discovered new ones, on the basis of fantastic
and insufficient proofs, such as the emotion of the poet
before certain of the damned; his pity for Paolo and
Francesca, for example, would be taken as an indirect
admission of his adultery with a sister-in-law* 2

1 Purg. XXX, 109-145; XXXI, 1-69.

2 The most notable of these Devil's advocates was the lunatic Vittorio

137

DANTE VIVO SOUL

This time, however, the truth lies between the two
extremes* Dante was not that 'spotless conscience* that
his sheep-like worshippers imagine; neither was he the
half-blackguard that the others would have him.

We need not put unquestioning trust in the confes-
sions of the poet* When a man judges himself, he
almost never judges accurately, either because of that
natural self-esteem and leniency illustrated by Christ in
the famous parable of the mote and the beam, or because
of insufficient self-examination for introspection is not
at all easy even when done in good faith* Therefore,
those who interpret the judgements must take into
account the man who is making the confession, must
note differences in moral sensibility and in the systems
of valuation* A saint like Francis of Assisi thinks him-
self the worst man in the world; a madman like Ben-
venuto Cellini boasts of having committed murders *

If, for example, in the opening canto of the Inferno, the
three beasts of the wood typify, as most commentators
maintain, luxury (in its mediaeval sense), avarice, and
pride; and if" they symbolize the chief impediments to
Dante's salvation, that is, the sins to which he is most
addicted, we can say at once that a third of the con-
fession is mistaken. Dante was never avaricious, nor is
there a trace of avarice in the records relating to his life*
Obviously, only by a misuse of the word can we call
avaricious a man who laments his own poverty*

Perhaps, however, some malicious person might say,
since Dante received from his father only a meagre

Imbriani. See his article, I vi%i di Dante (1883) in Studi letter ari e
satiriclc, edited by B. Croce. Bari, Laterza, 1907, pp. 359-381. Also Studi
DanttschL Florence, Sansoni, 1891, pp, 427 fE

138

DANTE, A SINNER

legacy and very soon after, by reason of his banishment,
was forced to incur debts or to beg, he lacked the first
condition, and the essential one, for display of avarice*
But the imaginary speaker would be mistaken* The
miser is not always rich, and sometimes those who
have few possessions are very niggardly with those
few; and we have no lack of examples of very miserly
beggars.

But in order to know by what sins the soul of Dante
was tempted or overcome, it is best to pass in review
the seven deadly sins of the Christian doctrine. Since
we are discussing a Catholic, we may be permitted to
measure him by the teachings of the children's catechism.
When a poet professes himself a Christian, the fact that
he is a great poet is not sufficient excuse for his becoming
or remaining a sinner. And in the case of Dante there is
the express command of Christ: 7 uc % e not > ^at ye be
not judged/ Few men have judged others with such
assurance and severity as Dante judged them* It is only
fair, then, that he should not escape the judgement of
others*

The count is quickly made. Of the seven sins of first
consequence, three or perhaps four are foreign to Dante.
Since he was a man of laborious and sober life, we cannot
accuse him of sloth or of gluttony. As for envy, he
himself says, at one point in the poem, that he must
stand in the circle of the envious, but only for a little

time,

che poca e I'ofFesa
fatta per esser con invidia* . . . 1

because slight is my offence committed through being envious*

1 Purg. XIII, 134-135.
139

DANTE VIVO - SOUL

In spite of this definite confession, it seems almost
incredible that Dante should have been capable of envy
even a very few times* He was too proud to be envious*
There is nothing to surprise us in this statement* The
truly proud man is so certain of his own superiority that
he cannot lower himself to envy those who are, in his
own opinion, inferior to him* And pride is not the only
sin which saves a man from another sin* sometimes more
grave* Luxury and gluttony usually exclude avarice; just
as avarice is often a safeguard against gluttony, luxury,
and sloth* Pride is not only a counter-poison for envy,
but is almost always a weapon against sloth* The proud
man covets glory, and Dante himself, in lines that are
famous, 1 notes that fame is not acquired in bed* It is
this mutual incompatibility of certain sins which makes
it impossible to find the instance of a man, however
much he may have sinned, who was guilty of all seven*

Dahte was guilty of three of them, easily discernible
from his works lust, wrath, and pride* One must admit
that these are heavy sins; and if there are gradations of
gravity, they are among the gravest that imperil the soul
of a Christian.

We could add besides that these three sins associated
with Dante are the perfect and exact opposites of the
three cardinal virtues of the Christian, and especially of
that heroic embodiment of Christianity which was found,
in Dante's time, in the genuine Franciscan.

The perfect Christian must take a vow of chastity,
and Dante, more than was befitting a moralist and a
prophet, yielded to lust*

The virtue most recommended to all Christians is

1 Inf. XXIV, 47-48.
140

DANTE, A SINNER

humility, and Dante was not only proud but he often
indulged openly in self-praise.

Patience and resignation even in the midst of mis-
fortunes and injuries the 'perfect joy' so eloquently
explained by St Francis to Brother Leo l are the third
proof of fortitude and faith demanded of Christians.
Dante, on the contrary, was inclined to anger; and he
showed, in his life and in his writings, a passion against
men, parties, and cities which sometimes reached ferocity.
One of the most famous eulogists of St Francis was,
however one may regret to say it, a spirit radically anti-
Franciscan.

Dante is so really and abundantly great, in spite of his
fallible human side, that I should not dare, even if I were
able, to act as his accuser or defender. But our Floren-
tine Titan has a right to the truth, which is not always,
alas! what it seemed. Perhaps, however, one of his
posthumous friends may be permitted to suggest an
addition to the judgements already passed, which may
succeed in explaining, if not in harmonizing, the
undeniable discords of his spirit.

A sin is always a sin whatever its name and form, and
all are blameworthy in the sight of God* But from the
psychological point of view, if not from the theological,
a distinction is possible and justifiable.

There are base and despicable sins characteristic of
base and despicable souls, such as gluttony, sloth, envy*
There are other sins which more readily dominate souls
which are vigorous and noble. Of this last sort, we
believe, are the sins of Dante. I do not say that lust is a

1 v. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, translated by T.W. Arnold. London,
Dent, Chap. VIII, pp. 25-28. Trans.

141

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

trivial and pardonable sin, but it may be the beginning of
love: love of particular, mortal persons, not of the
Eternal and Perfect Being; love of the flesh more than of
the spirit, love turned away from its true object, love
perilous and base* But even in such love there is a
beginning of self-forgetfulness, an overcoming of frozen
indifference, a spark of fire which can burn in desires
more worthy* Where there is love, there is a possibility
of purification, and the libertine may raise himself to
saintliness* Dante himself has shown to what heights
the love of a woman may lead* Where there is love, even
ill-placed love, there is always hope of salvation. There
is but one real enemy: indifference.

Pride, in its most endurable forms, is desire for glory,
for greatness; desire which is blameworthy in an absolute
Christian, but which is natural in heroic natures* And in
lofty minds, wrath is hatred of injustice and of wrong, a
generous anger which the ascetic does not know, but
which was and will continue to be the glory of the
apostles and the prophets.

142

SELF-PRAISE

HEN a man is Dante Alighieri and is writing
the Divina Commedia, the temptations to
pride are natural and understandable. Pride,
for a Christian, is always a sin even when the
greatest poet in the world is in question; before the
judgement-seat of God there is no difference between a
transcendent genius and a poor and ignorant old woman,
when judgement is to be pronounced upon their
obedience to the moral law* Dante himself has plunged
into the Inferno men of the highest excellence because
they were stained with base iniquities. A pre-eminent
talent is not a special passport which grants immunity;
it is an aggravation of the offence*

But from the human point of view, the pride of a
creative genius, if not excusable, may, in a sense, be justi-
fied by the loftiness of the work upon which he is en-
gaged. He who has no faith in himself does not create,
and from faith in himself he passes easily to an exag-
gerated consciousness of his own merits and his own
powers *

Such pride grows stronger, the more his pre-eminence
remains unrecognized and the genius himself is perse-
cuted* There rises in the wounded soul, as by a natural
reaction, an irresistible tendency to declare that which is
ignored or denied* You do not wish to acknowledge me
(he seems to say), but a day will come when you will be
compelled to admire me* You drive me out now, but a
time will come when you will call me back* I seem to

143

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

you an obscure suppliant for alms, but I am creating
works which will reveal to you what message I carry in
my soul.

Something like this must have been in the mind of
Dante from the first days of his exile onward, and espe-
cially when the Commedia was advancing well. The
enormous disproportion existing between the genius
which he perceived within himself and the inferiority of
his earthly lot; the immense distance which stretched
between his hopes and his power of expression on the one
side, and the opinion which others, even those who knew
him intimately, had of him on the other, must neces-
sarily, in accordance with a well-known psychological
law, have increased in him the conviction and almost the
intoxication of his lonely greatness. No one enjoys so
deeply as the slave does the taste of his secret inner
liberty. No one feels his innocence so much as the
guiltless man unjustly condemned*

Dante's pride, therefore, has in it nothing unnatural,
nothing surprising, especially since he repented it, as a
Christian, and openly confessed it.

But there is something else which we may find sur-
prising: it is his habit of praising himself and the quali-
ties of his genius more often and more freely than befits
so lofty a spirit. A man may be proud and, because of
that drop of vanity which is always mixed with pride,
take pleasure in the praise of others. But that he
himself, on every possible occasion, should write in
praise of his own intellect and his own works is a
matter less easily understood.

Such is Dante. His habit of self-praise, if it does
credit to his frankness, is all the more surprising because

144

SELF-PRAISE

it is not common among writers. It is in contrast,
moreover, with the very essence of that pride which,
when it is complete, does not deign to speak of itself.
Let us note, too, that Dante is conscious of the
unseemliness of self-praise: 'It would be necessary/
he says, 'for me to speak in praise of myself, a
thing which is altogether blameworthy in whoever
does it/ 1

In the Convwo, after having said that 'to undervalue
oneself is, in itself, blameworthy, ' he adds, that 'self-
praise is to be avoided like the falling-sickness, inasmuch
as we cannot speak any praise of ourselves which would
not prove a greater shame to us / 2

But even in the same work he forgot his own precept,
and forgot it still more in the Commtdia.

Proofs of this are before our eyes. Dante speaks often
of his genius, and at bottom there is nothing wrong
about that since the gifts received from God ought not
to be hidden. But when he speaks of the 'swiftness 5
(celerita) of his genius, 3 or of his 'excellent' (cccdhnte)
ability, 4 or of his lofty talent' (alto ingegno)^ and of
the 'loftiness of genius' (altiiga d'ingegno),* or of the
'lofty fancy' (alta fantasia), 1 or of the 'memory which
is unerring* (mtnte cle non erra)? our amazement is
legitimate. And those whom he meets on the threefold
journey are represented as dispensing similar praises. He
meets Brunetto and immediately puts into the master's
mouth the famous words:

1 V.N. XXVm, 2. 2 Gmv. I, ii> 7.

3 DC V.E. n, i, i. * DC V.E. II, i, 5.

s j&i/. n, 7- * Inf. X, 58-59.

7 Par. -XXXHI, 142. * Inf. II, 6.

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

. . . Se tu segui tua Stella,
non puoi fallir a glorfoso porto,
se ben m'accorsi nella vita bella* 1

If you follow your star, you cannot fail to reach the glorious port, if in
the fair life of the world I discerned rightly.

The first discourses of Beatrice to Dante are a wise
mixture of praise and blame;

. , . per larghezza di grazie divine

quest! fu tal nella sua vita, nova
virtualmente, ch'ogni abito destro
fatto averebbe in lui mirabil prova. 2

. . . through abundance of divine graces . . . this man was poten-
tially such in his youth that every natural ability would have made excel-
lent proof in him.-

Dante, according to the beloved, was endowed with
'good, earthly vigour' (buon vigor terrestro), and,
according to Cacciaguida, the divine grace was diffused
in him beyond measure:

O sanguis meus, o superinfusa
gratia Dei, sicut tibi cui
bis unquam coeli ianua reclusa ? 3

O my offspring I O overflowing grace of God I to whom, as to you, was
the gate of Heaven ever opened twice ?

And finally St Peter, after having examined Dante on
matters of faith, embraces him three times, 'so much
had I pleased him in what I said/ 4

From his youth onward, Dante was conscious of
speaking well and writing well in verse* In the Convivio
he is not ashamed, besides affirming the great value of

1 Inf. XV, 55-57. 2 Purg. XXX, m, 115-117.

3 Par. XV, 28-30, * PaTt XXIV, 154.

146

SELF-PRAISE

his comments, 1 to point out the beauty of his canzone
which begins Voi cle intendendo il ttrz$ del movett: 'Notice
its beauty, which is great whether in its construction,
which pertains to the grammarians, or in the ordering of
the discourse, which pertains to the rhetoricians, or in
the rhythm of its parts, which pertains to the musicians.
These qualities in it may be discerned as beautiful by
whoever examines it well/ 2

In the De Vulgari Eloquentia he never names himself
expressly, but constantly alludes to himself as the friend
of Cino, and cites initial lines of his own poetry. He is
among those Florentine poets who have recognized the
excellence of the Italian vernacular 3 and have rendered it
more harmonious and capable of fine distinctions; 4 and
who have elevated it so that it has become distinguished,
lucid, accurate, refined; 5 and through their use of this
idiom they have gained renown. 6 And when he ends his
canzone, lo sento si d'Amor la gran possan^a, he cannot help
exclaiming,

Canzon mia bella, se tu mi somigli
tu non sarai sdegnosa
tanto quanto a la tua bonta s'avvene. 7

My lovely song, if you resemble me, you will not be so disdainful as is
fitting for your excellence.

The 'beautiful style' (lo bello stilt) which has brought
him honour makes him worthy to be compared with no
less than Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan, and Virgil; that
is, with the poets whom he most admires. 8 His own

1 Coiiv. I, xiii, 12. 2 Co/iv. II, xi, 9.

3 DC V.E. I, xiii, 3. 4 Df V.E. I, x, 4.

5 Dt V.E* I, xvii, 3. * De V.E. I, xvii, 2-6.

7 Rimt, XCI, 81-83. * Inf. IV, 100-102.

H7

DANTE VIVO SOUL

poem, as everyone knows, he calls 'consecrated' 1 and
'sacred, ' 2 as if in competition with the Sacred Scriptures *
Nor is there reason for taking offence, since he writes
under the dictation of love, 3 and faces seas never crossed
before, 4 so that his account shall be Vital nourishment*
for those who follow. 5 Moreover, he does not wish to
be accused of having hidden his talents, 6 and his work
will be so powerful that it will drive the impious and the
liars out of the lists in the sight of the world. 7

This result is due not only to the natural vigour of .his
intellect, but to the long sweat and labour of his studies. 8
Has he not suffered hunger, cold, and vigils for love of
the Muses ? 9 Did he not cherish from his birth the love
of truth? 10

Justly, then, he expects fame after death* 11 Although
his name as yet makes no great sound, 12 it is he who will
'drive from the nest the one and the other Guido, ' 13 and
who will finally be crowned with laurel 14 in the beautiful
church of St John. 15

Not only is he great in genius and in learning but in
uprightness and nobility of soul. He is one of the only
two just men who were in Florence in i3oo, 16 and he
proclaims himself without circumlocution 'a man
preaching justice/ 17 He is four-square to the blows of
fortune, 18 and holds exile an honour 19 because his con-

1 Par. XXIH, 62. 2 Par. XXV, I.

Purg. XXIV, 52-54. * p dn n> 7.

* Par. XVH, 130-132. 6 De Mon. I, i, 3.

7 De Mon. Ill, i, 3. 8 Epist. XII, 5.

Purg. XXIX, 37. 10 Quest, dc A. et T. t 3.

U Inf. XVI, 66. 12 Purg. XIV, 21.

l Purg. XI, 98-99. 14 Par. I, 13-33.

i* Par. XXV, 7-9. 16 inf. VI, 73.

" Efist. Xn, 7. 18 Par. XVII, 24.
i Zinu. CIV, 76.

148

SELF-PRAISE

science does not chide him 1 'under the breastplate of
integrity/ 2 He is, in fact, the 'sweet fig* among the
'bitter sorb-apples/ 3 the 'lamb* among the 'wolves/ 4
and resembles that Hippolytus of Athens who was
unjustly accused by his stepmother* 5 But he consoles
himself by thinking that 'to fall with the good is worthy
of praise/ 6 To complete his apologia he does not even
omit to remind us of his courage, of the time when he
fought valiantly at Campaldino, 7 and of that other time
when, in the Baptistery, he saved someone who was on
the point of drowning. 8

No one, I think, will deny the truth of these eulogies
on himself and his works which Dante supplies liberally
and frequently. Posterity has added greatly to these
praises, and what was admiration has long since become
open adoration.

But we should reflect that the habit of self-praise,
censured by Alighieri himself, is not often met with in
the ancient poets, still less in the mediaeval and in the
modern. We can find apologies pro domo sua by men
accused of public offences, from Socrates and Cicero to
Lorenzino dei Medici and Guerrazzi; but in the verses of
a poet we very rarely come upon self-praise. Among
politicians and orators the habit is not unusual and causes
no surprise. In a great poet, who is besides mediaeval
and Christian, it is extremely rare and is therefore the
more surprising.

We have noted at the beginning of this chapter the

1 Inf. XV, 92. * Inf. XXVIII, 117.

s In/1 'XV, 65-66. 4 p arf XXV, 5.

5 p ar . XVII, 46. Rime, CIV, So.

7 Leonardo Bruni, Vita di Dante, p. loo (ed. Solerti).

8 I*/. XIX, 1 6-21.

149

DANTE VIVO SOUL

justification which can be brought forward in defence of
Alighieri and, in view of natural human feelings, we hold
this a sound vindication* There remains, however, a
confused sense of dissatisfaction, almost of regret, as if
some one had usurped the duty which should have been
ours. Does it, we ask, befit a man both great and
guiltless to indulge in praises of his genius and his virtue ?

150

THE CROWN AND THE MITRE

/^^ (1^ E cou ld define Dante as the man who wished
^^ IX /to be crowned, but wished in vain* With
<r V what crown ? From explicit allusions it is
clear that he yearned for the poets* crown, and
wished to receive it in no other spot in the world
than Florence* Petrarch, many years after him, was
satisfied with the Campidoglio. Alighieri, for a similar
coronation, could see only his lei San Giovanni*

In reality, Dante seems to aspire to other and different
crowns. Whoever reads his works with a mind in har-
mony with that which inspired them, without too much
pausing over the minutiae of the text, will readily per-
ceive that Dante speaks as if he came in the name of an
authority transcending the princes of the earth, both
secular and ecclesiastical* He sometimes seems to be an
unarmed prophet and a king without a kingdom; but
in the disheartening days which make up the history of
his time and in the most ecstatic moments of his
journey in quest of God, his whole attitude resembles
that of a sovereign inspired from on high, one who feels
himself above kings and pontiffs. He has the air of
being a claimant to the throne in disguise, a lord of the
world not yet recognized, but 110 less legitimate for all
that* His secret ideal appears to be that of becoming
the right arm and the counsellor of the Emperor of the
Earth; the herald and representative of the Lord of
Heaven. In a word, Vice-Emperor and Vice-God* The
Emperor is not there; and when he appears, he hesitates

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

and blunders* The popes, official vicars of God, are
traitors to the Gospel and the Church* Dante, in his
temporal reality, is a poor wandering exile, without
titles, without fiefs, without investitures, riches, armed
followers, or crowns. Nevertheless, he assumes the
right to reprove the Emperor, to call the nations to
account, ro curse and threaten the cities, to rebuke and
condemn the popes, to admonish and guide the car-
dinals, to speak in the name of Italy and of the Christian
people*

His epistles and the terzine of the Corn-media are so
explicit that there is no need of minute reasoning to
prove that Dante took upon himself this supreme
office, or that he frankly usurped the imperial and the
papal prerogatives* When was a private citizen ever
permitted to address appeals so solemn and so peremp-
tory as those contained in the epistle to the kings,
princes, and peoples of Italy? We should suppose it to
be written by the Emperor himself or by his chan-
cellor; but that a fugitive of little importance, deprived
of whatever office or dignity he may have had, should
write such a manifesto in order to recall to their duty
or to their obedience the legitimate rulers of Italy and
all the Italian cities, would be an * incredible thing if it
had not actually happened*

The same may be said of the fervent and imperious
letter to the Florentines, and of the one in which he
points out to the cardinals what they ought to think
and do in order that the Church and Rome may not
perish. It is true that he makes excuses for his great
boldness, and admits that his protesting voice comes
from one who is low in station; but the deed belies

152

THE CROWN AND THE MITRE

his declared humility. He alone, the least of Christ's
flock, dares apostrophize with bold reprimands the
greatest assembly of Christendom* In the same way,
the epistle to Henry VII is, in its form, that of a most
faithful, reverent, adoring follower; but at bottom it is
a distinct reproof and a stern appeal. The letter says in
brief: What are you doing there wasting time? Blind
that you are, do you not know where the real head of
the hydra is? Abandon your vain undertakings in
Lombardy and hasten to the destruction of Florence!

With what right, by virtue of what privilege, does
Dante, almost like a judge appointed by God, place
himself above the lords of the earth? First of all, be-
cause he is a poet. He declares openly in the De Vulgar i
Eloquentia that the familiars of the 'volgart illustre/
those who have written in the ideal or literary Italian,
surpass in renown the throng of the powerful* 'Nonne
domestici sui, reges, marchiones, comites, et magnates
quoslibet fama vincunt?' 1 And as he makes it under-
stood that he is one of the first among these familiars
of the volgare illustre, it follows logically that he held his
fame and glory greatly superior to that of kings.

But it is not a question of fame only. In a passage
of the De Monarchia 2 he recalls the words of Aristotle
that he who has the greater intellect ought to be the
ruler. As Dante very often affirms, directly or indirectly,
the superiority of his intellect and knowledge, it is not
surprising if he believed himself to have every right to
exercise authority spiritual first of all, while awaiting
the temporal over other men. He felt, therefore, the
legitimacy of his high mission: to bring back to their

1 DC V.E. I, xvii, 5. 2 De Men. I, in, 10.

153

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

duty the two greatest powers of the earth, the Pope and
the Emperor. And in case they failed, to substitute
himself for them.

Dante offers himself in order to bring light to the
blind and wandering peoples, and in a special way to
Italy. As a pilgrim journeying through the three king-
doms of the other world, he intends to represent and
typify in himself the entire human race, Dante, a
synonym for humanity*

He imagines himself chosen for this pilgrimage,
where all men are impersonated by him, through the
special intervention of the Mother of God, who will
permit him, while still alive, to contemplate the mys-
tery of the Trinity, He proposes, in a way, to write a
new gospel intended to complete the redemption of
mankind. And therefore he dares to make himself the
herald of a new manifestation of the Divinity who
conies to save, of that Veltro which, in his conception,
is the Holy Spirit. He is not only the pupil of Virgil,
he is the successor of the two saint Johns: the Fore-
runner and the Prophet . Finally, with the beatific
vision which concludes the Paradiso, he makes himself
the equal of the greatest saints.

Is it any marvel if from these heights he considers
himself superior to all the popes of his time? As judge
of the dead, Dante takes the place of the Pope in exer-
cising the power, assigned to Peter, of binding and
loosing. The final judgement on the righteous and the
unrighteous belongs to God; the poet anticipates this
judgement and forestalls it. Equally with God, he dares
to ask an accounting from His vicars on earth, and to
substitute for their injustices his own higher justice.

THE CROWN AND THE MITRE

Little by little, from being a judge of popes, he raises
himself to the seat of vicar of God as if he were God's
confidant, the executor of His judgements* The poor
exile under sentence of death places himself, by his own
volition, above the vacant thrones or the thrones ill-
occupied, and unites in himself the veiled splendour of
the two suns* 1

Rarely has mortal man dared to pretend to such
crowns and, by his manner of speech, to engender the
thought that he believed them already placed upon his
own head. The modern superman, in comparison, is
only a paper-weight in imitation bronze*

When Alighieri is invested by Virgil with complete
freedom of will in the famous line,

per ch'io tc sovra te corono c mitrio 2
therefore I crown and mitre you lord of yourself*

his mind selects precisely those two symbols of highest
power to which his own secret desire had turned the
crown of the Emperor and the mitre of the Pope.

1 Dante did not have a high opinion of kings: f ai regi, che son molti, t i
buon son rari' the kings who are many, and the wise are few (Par. Xffl, 108).
See also Par. XI, 6 ; XIX, 112-148.

2 Purg. XXVn, 142-

155

FEARS AND TERRORS

f*^\ /-%"\AS Dante a bold man or was he, as is
^^IV /usual with those who are meditative and
<r r given to study, more excitable than daring?
At this late day it is not easy to answer such a
question*

As to his physical courage, we know from the letter
cited by Leonardo Bruni that at Certomondo Dante at
first experienced 'great fear' in the disorder following
the assault of the Ghibelline forces, but that later he
fought valiantly with the other horsemen until they
gained the battle.

We do not know what part he took in the military
enterprises in the first period of his exile (1302-1304)
before separating himself from the other banished men;
but we know from a reference in the Ottimo Commento
that the wrath of the Whites against their great com-
panion had its origin in the counsels of delay and post-
ponement urged by Dante upon those rabidly impatient
men. Those counsels, as it appears, did not obtain the
hoped-for result, and it is likely that the 'evil' and
'stupid' men -accused Dante of cowardice. Undoubtedly
they turned against him with malevolence, as appears
from the allusions of Brunetto and Cacciaguida,

But it is difficult, even for a psychologist or a moralist,
to distinguish between prudence enlightened by wisdom
and hesitation counselled by fear. Usually we judge by
the outcome* Desperate decisions are at times the most
prudent, while in other cases the apparent cowardice of

156

FEARS AND TERRORS

a Fabius demands more real courage than furious onsets
require, and in the end proves itself, right.

In the case of Dante, we must remember that, like all
poets of genius, he had an extremely acute sensibility
and a very powerful imagination. These qualities make
poets write, among other things, Divine Comedies;
but they induce a susceptibility almost morbid in the
presence of the dangerous or the terrible* He who has
little imagination goes forward, serene and undisturbed,
against all the ambuscades of death* He does not
imagine; therefore he does not foresee* But he who has
the vivid and creative imagination of the poet ha!s an
anticipatory vision of all the possibilities and of all their
concrete horror; and if, in spite of this, he shows
himself courageous, he has much more merit than
another*

If we keep in mind that the Commedia is, indirectly, a
biographical document nor should we be far wrong,
since a poet involuntarily reveals his ruling thoughts
even when he is not speaking of himself we shall find
detailed evidence of all that has been said up to this
point* In Dante's works the words 'paura* (fear),
'tema (apprehension), ' 'sbigottimento' (dismay), and the
like, occur very often, and almost always with reference
to the writer himself.

We are not considering here the Vita Nuova where
the Tearful spirits/ 'the intoxication of great trem-
bling/ the 'strong fear/ the 'terrible dismay ' and similar
expressions, refer more than anything else to the effects
of love or of the suffering which accompanies it* But
in the Inferno the fears of Dante are beyond counting*
In the first canto alone the word is repeated four times:

157

DANTE VIVO SOUL _JL*)

the wood 'in memory renews my fear'; 1 then 'the fear
was quieted a little, ' 2 but 'not so that the sight of a
lion did not give me fear'; 3 and especially the she- wolf
'with the fear which came from the sight of heir' 4
made his Veins and pulses tremble/ 5

The same thing happens repeatedly in the other
cantos* The plain trembles, and 'the memory of that
terror still bathes (him) with sweat/ 6 Before the gates
of Dis his face has the colour of cowardice* 7 When
Virgil invites him to mount upon the shoulders of
Geryon, behold his condition:

QuaTe colui che si presso ha '1 riprezzo
della quartana, c'ha gia 1'unghie smorte,
e triema tutto pur guardando il rezzo

tal divenn'io. . . . 8

Like one who has the shivering fit of the quartan fever so near that
already his nails are blue, and he trembles all over only looking at the
shade, such I became. . * .

When he has mounted, his 'fear* was greater than
that of Phaeton in flight 9 'whereat I, all trembling,
gripped more closely with my thighs/ 10

At the first words of Pier della Vigna, he stands 'like
a man who is afraid/ 11 In the region of the barrators
Virgil calls him and he turns as 'the man . . . whom
sudden fear weakens/ 12 When he falls among the
demons, he sees them pressing forward so that he
'feared they would not keep the compact/ 13 He sees

1 Inf. I, 6. 2 inf. I, I9 _ 2I .

3 Inf. I, 44-45. 4 Inf. I, 52-53.

* Inf. I, 90. Inf. Ill, 131-132.

7 Inf. IX, I. 8 frfi XVII, 85-88.

Inf. XVII, 106-114. lo Inf. XVII, 123.

11 Inf. XIII, 45. 12 Inf. XXI, 25-28.
13 Inf. XXI, 92-93.

I 5 8

Ci.

FEARS AND TERRORS

how they treat one of the damned and his 'heart still
trembles with fear at the thought of it/ 1 Descending
into the sixth lolgia, the poet was thinking that the
demons might be planning their revenge, and there rose
in his mind such a thought 'that it made the first fear
double/ 2 and he confesses a little later that he felt his
'hair already standing on end with fear/ 3 Virgil's mere
uneasiness is sufficient to frighten Dante: 'thus my
Master frightened me/ 4 The recollection of his first
sight of the serpents 'still curdles (his) blood/ 5

The giants make a no less terrifying impression:
'error fled and fear increased within me/ 6 One of the
giants, Ephialtes, shakes himself, and then it is worse
than ever: Dante thinks himself dying*

Allor temett'io piu che mai la morte,
e non v'era mestier piu che la dotta,
s'io non avessi visto le ritorte. 7

Then I feared death as never before ; the dread alone would have killed
me if I had not seen the chains [which bound him].

The ice which encloses the traitors frightens him even
in the moment of describing it:

gia era, e con paura il metto in metro,
la dove I'ombre tutte eran coperte,
e trasparien come festuca in vetro. 8

I had reached the place (and with fear I put it into verse), there
where the shades were completely covered [with ice] and showed through
like a bit of straw in glass.

* Inf. XXII, 31. 2 Inf. XXIH, 12.

3 Inf. XXm, 19-20. * Inf. XXIV, 16.

5 Inf. XXIV, 84. Inf. XXXI, 39.

7 Inf. XXXI, 109-111. * Inf. XXXIV, 10-12.

159

DANTE VIVO SOUL

We can imagine his state of mind when he found
himself confronting Lucifer!

Com'io divenni allor gelato e fioco,
nol dimandar, lettor, chY non lo scrivo,
pero ch'ogni parlar sarebbe poco.

lo non mori 1 e non rimasi vivo:
pensa oggimai per te, s'hai fior d'ingegno,
qual io divenni, d'uno e d'altro privo. 1

How frozen and faint I became then, do not ask me, Reader, for I do
not write it, since all speech would be useless. I did not die, nor did I re-
main alive. Think for yourself, if you have aught of wit, what I became,
bereft of one and the other.

One would suppose that when Dante had issued
forth from the Inferno to climb the airy mountain of
Purgatory, comforted by the hope of Heaven and by
the presence of the angels, his fears would end* Not at
alL Dante is warned that he is about to meet a serpent,
and he, 'all frozen with dread/ draws close to 'the
trusty shoulders' of the master* 2 He wakes from sleep
and becomes pale, 'as a man who, terrified, turns to
ice/ 3 He feels an earthquake, and a coldness assails
him 'such as is wont to seize him who is going to die/ 4
The sudden voice of an angel makes him start 'as do
frightened and untamed beasts/ 5

Later he tells how he finds himself between two
fears:

. . . io temea il foco
quinci, e quindi temea cader giuso. 6

... on the one hand I feared the fire, and on the other I was afraid of
falling off.

1 Inf. XXXIV, 22-27. 2 Purg. VIII, 40-42.

3 Pwrg. IX, 41-42. 4 Purg. XX, 128-129.

5 Prg. XXIV, I34-I35- 6 Pig. XXV, 116-117.

160

FEARS AND TERRORS

An angel tells him to enter into the fire, and then

. . * divenni tal, quando lo 'ntesi,
cjual e colui che nella fossa messo. 1

... I became such, when I heard him, as he who is put [head first and
alive] into the pit.

The appearance of Beatrice has an even more marked
effect. As soon as he is aware of her, he turns

. . . col rispitto

col quale il fantolin corre alia mamma
quando ha paura o quando elli e afflitto

per dicere a Virgilio: Men che dramma
di sangue m'e rimaso che non tremi. 2

... as confidently as a little child runs to its mother when it is
frightened or when it is troubled, to say to Virgil, 'Less than a drachm of
blood remains in me which does not tremble/

At Beatrice's reproaches he feels

confusione e paura insieme miste ; 3
confusion and fear mingled together.

From the beginning of his journey Dante had
suffered from fear. Beatrice had made this clear to
Virgil when she sent him to Dante's aid:

. . e impedito
si nel cammin, che volt'e per paura.*

* . . he is so hindered on the way that he has turned back for fear.

All the while poor Virgil must continue to reprove
Dante for his fears and instil courage into him* 'Your
soul is hurt by cowardice/ 5 the kind master says to

i Purg. XXVII, 14-15. 2 P*g- XXX, 43-47*

3 Purv. XXXI, IJ. 4 Inf. H, 62-63,

5I/.n, 4 5.

161

DANTE VIVO SOUL

him; 'so that you may free yourself from this fear, I
will tell you why I came/ 1 Virgil asks again:

perche tanta vilta nel cuore allette ?
perche ardire e franchezza non hai ? 2

ogni vilta convien che qui sia morta. 3

Why do you cherish such cowardice in your heart ? Why have you no
daring and self-confidence ? All cowardice must here die.

But nothing avails, and Virgil's reproofs to his
timorous companion go on: 'that pity which you mis-
take for fear'; 4 'let not your fear harm you'; 5 'fear
not'; 6 'do not be dismayed'; 7 'be not afraid'; 8 'I
would not have you afraid'; 9 'put aside now, put aside
every fear/ 10

Even Beatrice on one occasion must give him a like
reproof:

... da tema e da vergogna
voglio che tu omai ti disviluppe. 11

From fear and shame I wish that you should henceforth free yourself.

Only in Paradise will fear cease, replaced by wonder
and by the feeling that what he is called to contemplate
is beyond the power of words.

It would be arbitrary to assume from all these fears
and terrors of the poet in the Inferno and the Purgatorio,
that Dante was always subject, even in life, to fear.
The demands of art require that when he finds himself
in a place so terrifying as the Inferno, he should display

1 Inf. II, 49-50. 2 i n f t n t 122-123.

3 Inf. Ill, 15. * Inf. IV, 21.

* Inf. VII, 5. Inf. VIII, 104.

7 Inf. VIII, 122. 8 Inf. XXI, 62.

Inf. XXI, 133. 10 p ur ^ XXVII, 31.

11 Pufg. XXXHI, 31-32.

FEARS AND TERRORS

the natural fear that anyone would experience at the
mere thought of such overwhelming sights.

But, on the other hand, the frequency of such terrors
and the explicit reproaches for cowardice which are so
often addressed to him by Virgil, reveal something.
Dante's powerful imagination pictured to him those
awful visions of hell as if he were indeed there among
them; and his imagination was so vivid that it alone
could produce the shudders of fear. But the tongue
strikes, so the saying goes, where the tooth aches; and
the fact that the poet so often represents himself as
timorous and pale, like a person shaking with ague,
like a dying man or a dead man, leads us to think that
he was more easily disturbed, more fearful, than the
Dante whom the well-known myth represents as a man
made all of granite*

163

THE TEARFUL POET

who know Dante chiefly through the
commonplaces of monuments to his memory
orations in his honour naturally think of
him as a stern, inflexible colossus, more like Capaneus
or Farinata than the youthful lover in the pre-
Raphaelite paintings. They believe that in his character
of prophetic and denunciatory genius he must be above
the elementary emotions of ordinary mortals. They do
not imagine, for example, a Dante who laughs; his
laugh, if ever he laughed, would sound mocking or
loudly contemptuous. They are by this time accus-
tomed to see in him only the tower which never totters,
four-square to the blows of fortune* Not indifferent,
but imperturbable*

And yet those who have been really acquainted with
Dante for a while know very well that his spirit was
shaken and disturbed not only by indignation. He
shows himself in his writings a sensitive, indeed a
hypersensitive man, and sometimes even a sentimental
person* Perhaps Dante laughed little, but he was abun-
dantly capable of tears. He could be moved to pity ancf
compassion even to the point of losing consciousness,
of fainting.

In proof of this the Vita Nuova will suffice. Few
books in the world are so drenched with tears as this
confession of a lover who annotates his adorations and
his languors. There is scarcely a page where he does not
speak of lamentations, tremblings, and pallor; there is

164

THE TEARFUL POET

even a 'chamber of tears/ la camera delh lagrime. The
mere sight of Beatrice is sufficient to make him swoon;
the famous scene of the marriage is a case in point.
Through his continual weeping he becomes *in a little
time so frail and weak' that people no longer recognize
him. His head 'many times moved like a heavy, life-
less thing/ and his eyes from much weeping were 'so
weary that they could no longer give outlet' to his
sorrow. His life at this time, if we are to accept the text
literally, was all 'painful weeping and anguished sighs/
and he fell asleep 'like a beaten sobbing child/ If we
were asked how large a part of the Vita Nuova is filled
with tears, we should have to answer, At least a fourth*
In the Rime appear similar themes:

se vedi li bcchi miei di pianger vaghi

per novella pieta che '1 cor mi strugge. * . . 1

If you see my eyes dim with weeping through the fresh sorrow that melts
my heart. . . .

The remembrance or the dread of faintness returns;

. . . io caddi m terra
per una luce che nel cuor percosse. 2

... I fell to earth because of a light which struck into my heart*

Grief reduces him to such a state that a breath of
wind will topple the future four-square tower to earth;

e de la doglia diverro si magro

de la persona, e 1 viso tanto afflitto

che qual mi vedera n'avra pavento.

E allor non trarra si poco vento

che non mi meni, si ch'io cadro freddo. 3

Through sorrow I shall become so thin of body and my face so lined,
that whoever sees me will have fear of me. And then no wind, however
slight, will blow that will not buffet me so that I shall fall to earth, bereft
of my senses.

1 Rime, CV, 1-2. * Rime, LXVII, 63-64. 3 Rime, LXVHI, 18-22.

I6 5

DANTE VIVO SOUL

These tears and sighs, however, are but a part of those
literary conventions which are found in all love-poetry,
ancient and modern: the lover wishes to rouse the com-
passion of the beloved, and women are especially moved
by tears in a man* At that time, Dante was young and
his mind was disordered by love; moreover, a certain
deliquescence is not unnatural in a poet who has found
an incomparable woman and then lost her*

In the Commedia as well, Britten when Dante was no
longer young (begun, it is believed, when he was about
forty years old), we find fresh instances of his sensi-
bility* Francesca's story makes him weep:

... i tuoi martiri
a lacrimar mi fanno tristo e pio. 1

Your sufferings make me sad and compassionate, moving me to tears*

This not sufficing, her story makes him fall in a
swoon:

. . . di pietade

io venni men cosl com'io morisse ;
e caddi come corpo morto cade. 2

Through pity I swooned as if I were dying, and fell as a dead body falls.

We might argue that here also Dante is writing about
love, and that the vision of Francesca might well have
awakened memories of his youthful sufferings. But even
a glutton like Ciacco moves him to tears:

. . . Ciacco, il tuo affanno

me pesa si, ch'a lagrimar m'invita. 3

Ciacco, your suffering so weighs upon me that it asks my tears.

The suicide of Pier della Vigna 4 makes his heart ache
with pity, and the weeping of the soothsayers makes
him weep in sympathy. 5

1 Inf. V, 116-117. 2 2nf. V, 140^142. 3 / yi, 58-59,

* Inf. XIII, 84. fi Inf. XX, 25.

166

THE TEARFUL POET

Who can forget the great lament in the Earthly
Paradise? The bitter-sweet words of Beatrice and the
song of the angels move him so deeply that

lo gel che m'era intorno al cor ristretto,
spirito e acqua fessi, e con angoscia
delia bocca e delli occhi uscl del petto. 1

The ice which was bound tight around my heart was changed into
breath and water, and issued from my breast with anguish through my
lips and eyes*

When Beatrice wounds him with new reproaches

scoppia* io sott'esso grave carco,
fuori sgorgando lacrime e sospiri
e la voce allento per lo suo varco, 2

I broke under the heavy load, pouring forth tears and sighs, and my
voice faltered in its passage.

We do not mean to imply that Dante's weeping on
seeing Beatrice again was not pardonable. After the 'ten
years' thirst/ again to contemplate 'the youngest of the
angels 5 who has become almost a goddess, to hear from
her the merited and tender reproaches, was an experi-
ence to shake and move him. But in Dante as a stern
judge of evil, the tears which he sheds for the two adul-
terers, the glutton, the suicide, and the soothsayers,
seem less justified . That Dante should have been brought
to weep even over the damned and not be ashamed to
confess it, seems to me a significant indication of his
extremely sensitive mind*

Tears are not unworthy of a man, even of a very great
man. Still more abundant tears drop from the pages of

1 Purg. XXX, 97-99* 2 Pwg* XXXI, 19-21

DANTE VIVO SOUL

St Augustine and of Petrarch. 1 But this sensitiveness of
Dante, not sufficiently observed by those who see him
only in his granite-like or his volcanic aspect, makes us
comprehend better the complexity of his character and
understand better certain qualities of his genius. If it
contradicts the commonly accepted idea of him, no
matter! That he was not always the proud oak tree but
was sometimes the weeping-willow, only serves to brino-
him the closer to our own humanness*

1 In this connection, see the essay on Petrarch by G. Papim, in Ritratti
ItalianL Florence, Vallecchi, 1932, p. 38.

168

DISCONTENT AND NOSTALGIA

who make it their business to sing praises
on all occasions and who, as a natural conse-
, see a traitor in anyone who does
not believe himself to be living in the best of all
possible centuries, will find, I regret to say, that Dante,
of all men the most critical, was not wholly pleased
either with his own times or with the human race in
general.

To him the world appeared to be destitute of every
virtue and full of iniquity ; * all forms of human activity,
without exception, were 'insensate cares' which weight
the souL Even priests and kings excited in him pity and
disgust. 2

Nothing pleased him. Nothing was in its proper
place* Nothing was what it ought to be. Men are all
changeable and unstable, 3 all are sinful. 4 And since the
greater part follow the senses and not the reason, it
follows that most men are to be considered children, 5
or worse still, unreasoning animals and, as it were, dead
men. 6

Florence, his native city, his little patria> seems to him
an abode of usurers, of robbers, of madmen. His great
patria, Italy, 'the corrupt Italian land/ is a ship driven
by storms and without a pilot, deserted by him who
ought to direct her course, battered by strife, at the

1 Purg. XVI, 58-60. 2 Par. XI, 1-9.

3 De V.E. I* ix, 6. * Com. I, iv, 9.

5 Conv. I, iv> 3. 6 Conv. IV, vii, 14-15.

169

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

mercy of ambitious and unworthy people; she had been,
and ought again to be, her own mistress, and instead she
is a slave* Her princes are kites who circle above
noisome things; 1 her courts are synonyms for baseness, 2

It is no better elsewhere. The Catalans are covetous, 3
the French vain, 4 the Germans gluttonous. 5

The Church, as Dante saw it in his day, was a 'thief
and 'prostitute*; a place where the prelates neglect the
Fathers and the Doctors in order to devote themselves
to the study of the Decretals; where the preachers, no
better than beasts, feed the people idle tales; where the
friars think only of eating and enjoying themselves;
where all hope for riches and care for nothing else. How
could it be otherwise, if the head of the Church is 'the
prince of the new Pharisees/ 6 like Boniface VIII; or a
traitor and a simoniacal 'shepherd without law/ like
Clement V; 7 or a covetous pope like John XXII, who
prefers the image of St John on the gold florin to the
saints Peter and Paul ? 8

The Empire offered Dante no greater consolation.
Rudolph and Albert, kept in Germany by their greed,
were without care for Italy; 9 the unfortunate Henry VII,
who finally came to put in order 'the garden of the
Empire/ delayed in empty ceremonies and futile under-
takings, did not dare to attack Florence, and died at
Buonconvento without having accomplished anything.

Nothing, in his own time, consoles or encourages
Dante: The present is evil, decadent, corrupt, shameful.

1 Conv. VI, vi, 20. 2 Cbrtv. II, x> 8.

3 Par. VIII, 77. 4 Inf. XXIX, 123.

5 Inf. XVII, zi. 6 Inf. XXVII, 85,

7 Inf. XIX, 82-87. 8 p ar . XVIII, 130-136.

9 Purg. VT, 97-105.
170

DISCONTENT AND NOSTALGIA

Therefore in his search for comfort he takes refuge in
the past and the future*

Like all the poets, h is given to nostalgia; and like
all the prophets, to messianism.

Nostalgia for the 'primal age/ which, as "beautiful
as gold/

f e savorose con fame le ghiande,
e nettare con sete ogni ruscello. 1

With hunger made acorns savoury, and with thirst turned every stream-
let to nectar.

Nostalgia for ancient and imperial Rome; nostalgia
for the primitive Church, not yet ruined and befouled
by the base appetite for riches.

Never, perhaps, did the stern and rugged poet speak
in accents of such heart-broken tenderness as when, in
the words of Cacciaguida, he evokes from the past the
pure and upright Florence of earlier times*

But wistful contemplation of the past could not satisfy
a spirit so eager and ambitious as Dante *s, which turned
in disgust and contempt from the present to an, anxious
expectation of the future. The Commedia, as we shall see
more clearly in a later chapter, is in its central idea the
announcement of a palingenesis, of a renewal of man and
of the world; it is a new Apocalypse, whose protagonist
is the Veltro, the DXV, the One sent by God. To-day
is darkness, but yesterday the sun was shining and will
shine again to-morrow.

Those who disparage and despise the present do not
enjoy the approbation of many among their contem-
poraries; nevertheless, to the observant such were the

1 Purg. XXII, 148-150.
171

DANTE VIVO - SOUL

great men of the past. Great not because of their bitter
arrogance or their desire to oppose the mass of com-
placent men, but on account of those very qualities
which are the foundation of their greatness. The mind
of the poet and, in a measure, every great man is a
poet is infinitely more sensitive than that of the
ordinary man, and therefore more susceptible to impres-
sions of the world around him* What seems to the
vulgar a pin-prick or the buzzing of a fly, is to the poet
a knife- wound or a wind threatening calamity. He who
lives and rejoices among filth does not notice the stench
which revolts the poet accustomed to breathe the air of
Elysian gardens. The poet's mind, more alert and
active, sees and discovers those evils which to most men,
dulled by habit, seem a regular part of the ordinary
course of human affairs. The great man has his eye
fixed always on things of supreme worth, and as Ire
judges by this ideal standard, he comes to see reality as
it is, a conglomerate of errors, faults, and miseries.
Ordinary men, on the other hand, hardened in their
habits, embedded in the fecund mud of gross living, are
not aware of the shadows and the precipices* They are
not happy, but they do not know how to account for
the prevalent unhappiness. A poet who is content with
the world in which he lives would not be a poet* Even
Voltaire, the least poetical of the poets, could not
swallow the optimism of Leibnitz, and answered him
as he was well able to answer with mocking caricature;
but he felt the need of answering. And what, finally, is
Christianity if not profound dissatisfaction with the
existing state of humanity, the longing for primal inno-
cence, the preparation for a new life, whether it be the

172

DISCONTENT AND NOSTALGIA

Kingdom of Heaven on earth or the Life Eternal in the
Empyrean?

All poets, and especially the Christian poets, have felt
the need of escaping from the present world and of
creating by their art a world pf their own* Thus Dante
escapes to his own world, the world of the dead, the
kingdom of the shades, but of dead more alive than the
living, of shades as brilliant as flames in the heavens
which form Paradise. To call Dante a pessimist, how-
ever, would not be entirely just* As is true of the very
greatest, he is beyond both pessimism and optimism*
He is not an optimist because he sees with clear insight
the evils of the present* He is not a pessimist because
he remembers the ancient good and trusts in an even
greater future good* He could be called, if anything,
nostalgic* Just as in the case of poets- less great than he
was, he suffered from a double nostalgia: nostalgia for
that which was and is no longer; nostalgia for that
which will be and is not yet* Dante's true intercourse
is not among the living, but among the dead and the
unborn* He is contemporary with the earliest and the
ultimate ages*

173

THE CORRUPT LAND OF ITALY

9T would be both foolish and stupid to say that
Dante did not love Italy greatly* For him Italy
was the 'garden of the Empire/ the centre of
the world; and from its unification, at least from
its spiritual and moral unification, must come a new
order of things under a single authority which will
establish a lasting peace and just laws for all men*

To moderns, who understand patriotism only when it
is expressed in adulation and public ceremonies, and
maintain that the good citizen is the man who finds his
country always right, Alighieri's love for Italy will
scarcely seem loving at all, since, for the most part, it is
expressed in censures and reproofs; a savage love made
up of clawing and biting more than of smoothing and
licking*

Although I am a Florentine and know that Florence
was most grievously wounded by the teeth and claws of
Dante, yet I believe that his sort of patriotism is the
most beneficial in moments of confusion and distress.
Such patriotism can injure the fame and fortune of the
man who displays it and, for this reason, his action is
all the more heroic* The same people who have been
rebuked, as Dante rebuked the Florentines, and despised
for just reason, will later, with the passing of the
generations, end by 'realizing that those reproofs were
not unmerited and that they have helped, at least a little,
to improve the nation*

These rebukes are signs of a more genuine love than

THE CORRUPT LAND OF ITALY

the conventional flatteries of the timid and the indif-
ferent. Nor need we assume that Dante was always
hurling invectives against his country, whether Italy or
Florence* From time to time expressions of affection
and longing escape from him, which give the key to the
true meaning of his bitter attacks. For no one, perhaps,
as for Dante is the familiar saying of the stern pedagogue
so true I punish you because I love you. Precisely be-
cause he loves his country tenderly he would wish that
she should be better, and to make her better he is
forced, almost in spite of himself, to touch the sores
with caustic words in order to cure them.

Italy, for example, is 'fair Italy' 1 and the 'noblest
region of Europe, ' 2 but, at the same time, she is called
"the corrupt land/ 3 'servile/ 'a hostel of woe'; even
a 'brothel/ 4

The same thing is repeated for Florence* Dante loved
no other place in the universe so tenderly and so stub-
bornly as he loved Florence* Florence is his 'noble
fatherland/ 5 'the most beautiful and most famous
daughter of Rome'; 6 she is 'the great town' on the 'fair
river Arno/ 7 'the place most dear/ 8 'the lovely sheep-
fold where a lamb I slept'; 9 and if he hears a Florentine
speaking, he is constrained to aid him through 'love for
his native place'; 10 nor is there on earth a place more
pleasant than Florence, 11 and because he loved her too
much, he suffers exile unjustly* 12

i Inf. XX, 61. * De Man. II, iii, 16.

3 Par. IX, 25. 4 Pur - VI > 76-78.

5 Inf. X, 26. 6 Gmv. I, iii, 4.

7 Inf. XXIII, 95. 8 Par. XVII, no.

9 Par. XXV, 5. 10 Inf. XIV, 1-2.

n & V.E. I, vi, 3. 12 Dt V.E. I, vi, 3.

175

DANTE VIVO SOUL

He speaks of no other city with such kindness and
such poignant regret; and of no other with such severity.
Although he is her faithful son, he cannot overlook or
hide her sins and her defects* Florence is 'full of
envy/ 1 and in addition to envy, of arrogance and
avarice. 2 She is 'a nest of wickedness' 3 and 'a dismal
forest/ 4 At times the reproof becomes ironical, as in
the famous apostrophe which refers to the number of
thieves who were then in Florence, 5 to her bad govern-
ment, 6 and to the capricious instability of her decrees* 7

The 'ungrateful and malevolent people/ 8 made up
of 'Fiesolan beasts' 9 and 'blind folk, 10 is further
spoiled by the coming in of peasants and by their
commercial greed:

la gente nova e' subiti guadagni
orgoglio e dismisura han generata,
Fiorenza, in te, si che tu gia ten piagnu 11

The upstart people and their sudden gains have bred arrogance and
excess in you, O Florence, so that you are already weeping because of it.

It is this thirst for gold, symbolized by the scattering
of the golden florin, which makes Florence deserve to
be called 'the city planted' by the Demon* 12

It is not to be wondered at if Florence

di giorno in giorno piu di ben si spolpa
e a trista ruina par disposto, 13

. . . from day to day strips herself more of good and seems bent on dismal
ruin.

1 Inf. VI, 49-50. 2 ln f. vi, 74-75J XV, 68.

3 Inf. XV, 78. * Pwg. XIV, 64.

5 Inf. XXVI, 1-6. * Purg. XII, 102.

7 Prg. VI, 127 ff. 8 Inf. XV, 61.

9 Inf. XV, 73. 10 Inf. XV, 67.

11 Inf. XVI, 73-75. 12 Pn IX, 127 ff
13 Purg. XXIV, 80-81.

I 7 6

THE CORRUPT LAND OF ITALY

Not even the women escape his censure, those
'brazen Florentine women/ who go about displaying
for the enticement of men those parts of their bosom
which ought to be kept solely for the innocent mouths
of their children* 1

When the 'most wretched progeny of the Fiesolans'
offer resistance to Henry VII, Dante's wrath overflows
against 'the most wicked Florentines/ 2 Already, in the
Purgatorio, he had called them 'wolves*; 3 but now Flor-
ence is a stinking fox, a viper which attacks the breast
of its mother, a sickly sheep which contaminates the
flock, a woman raging in her madness. 4 And notwith-
standing all this, Dante dreamed until the end of his
days of no other reward for the long labours of his
poem than that of receiving the poet's crown in his
never-forgotten, his loved and hated Florence.

Other lands than Tuscany and Italy are not treated
more gently* Lucca is full of forgers and barrators, 5
Pistoia is 'a fitting lair* for evil beasts 6 and ought to
be burned to ashes so that she may cease her wrong-
doing* 7 Pisa, as all know, is the /reproach of the
people* and ought to be sunk beneath the Waters, 8
because her inhabitants are

. . . volpi si piene di froda,
che non temono ingegno che le occupi. 9

. . . foxes so full of craft that they do not fear to be entrapped by any
astuteness.

1 Purg. XXIII, 101 S. * Efto. VI, 24 ; VI, I.

3 Purg. XIV, 50. 4 Epist. VII, passim.

5 Inf. XXI, 41-42. 6 Inf. XXIV, 125-126.

Inf. XXV, io-i2. Inf. XXXHI, 79 ff.

XIV. 53-54.

177

DANTE VIVO ' SOUL

The people of the Casentino are

* . . brutti porci, piu degni di galle
che d'altro cibo fatto in uman uso, 1

. , filthy hogs, more worthy of acorns than of other food made for
human use.

The people of Arezzo are curs, 'more disposed to
snarl than their power warrants'; 2 and those of Siena
are a vain people, 3

Romagna is always at war through the fault of
her tyrants, 4 and is now peopled by bastards, 5 Lorn-
bardy is so fallen that only some old man keeps the
tradition of her ancient worth. 6 Bologna is full of
avaricious men and panders. 7 The Neapolitans are
traitors, 8 and the Genoese are 'men alien to all morality
and full of every corruption' who ought to be wiped
out. 9

Not even Rome escapes this universal condemnation.
And here we must distinguish between ancient and
modern Rome.

Ancient Rome is the holy city worthy of reverence, 10
and from it the Italians derive the beginning of their
civilization. 11 It is so sacred that it becomes, on the
lips of Beatrice, a synonym for Paradise. 12 But modern
Rome, the Rome of Dante's time, is different. It is
less beautiful and splendid than Florence, since the view
from Monte Mario is surpassed by that from the Uccel-

1 Pwrg. XIV, 43-44. 2 Purg . XIV, 46-47.

3 Inf. XXIX, 121-123 ; Purg. XIII, 151. * inf. XXVII, 37-38.
5 Purg. XIV, 99. 6 p ur g. XVI, 115 ff.

7 Inf. XVIII, 58-63. 8 ty XXVIII, 16-17.

9 Inf. XXXIII, 151-153. lo Conv. IV, v, 20.

11 Epist. XI, 22. 12 p u rg. XXXII, 102.

178

THE CORRUPT LAND OF ITALY

latoio* 1 And what is worse, the modern Romans, in
their language and their customs, are unworthy of their
fathers: 'We say, then, that the vulgar tongue of the
Romans, or rather their wretched jargon, is the ugliest
of all the Italian dialects; and this is not to be wondered
at since in the corruption of their customs and habits
they are the most objectionable of all/ 2

It appears that not even the majesty of the memories
so venerated by Dante, was any palliation when he was
intent on passing just judgement in accord with truth.
So, to summarize his charges, Italy is the first country
of the world, but, taking into account the vices and
defects of her cities, she is inhabited by the foulest
beasts on earth; and if God had listened to Dante's
prayers, Pistoia would have been destroyed by fire, Pisa
sunk beneath the water, Genoa depopulated, and Flor-
ence razed to the ground* So violent in its nature was
Dante's love for his, and our, Italy*

In reality he loved Italy in the manner induced by the
deplorable times and his own passionate nature* In Rome
he saw above all else a symbol a symbol of the Empire
and of the Church, of the two powers which, when they
could be brought into harmony, would save the human
race* In Italy he saw the garden of the Empire, the
consecrated seat of the universal authority which trans-
cends the nations* Dante felt himself a citizen of the
world: 'In whatever corner of the earth I may find my-
self, can I not look upon the sun and the stars ? wherever
I may be under the expanse of heaven, can I not meditate
sweetest truths?* 3

1 Par. XV, 109-110. * De V.E. I, xi, 2.

3 Epist. XII, 9* Cf. DC V.E. I, vf , 3.

179

DANTE VIVO SOUL

But his most impassioned and tender affection was for
Florence, especially for the Florence of earlier and un-
corrupted times* In the same moment in which he
prophesies sufferings and disasters for her, a shade of
sadness tempers his ferocity:

cosl foss'ei, da che pur esser dee I

che piu mi gravera, corn piu m'attempo* 1

Would that it had already happened, since happen it must ! because the
older I grow, the more it will grieve me.

The poet involves in the same affliction his own life,
which is passing swiftly away, and his city, which must
suffer and make him suffer too. Even in his denuncia-
tion he is one with Florence*

1 Inf. XXVI, ii-i2.

180

DANTE AND HIS FELLOW-MEN

X^ n"\ E cannot sa 7 tk 3 ^ D ante did not love his
^^ IV /fellow-men* The Corn-media has among its

<r r other aims that of bringing back the erring
to the truth, sinners to the good, unbelievers to the
faith, the turbulent to ways of peace* If Dante with
fervid impatience desires an emperor who will restore
the political unity of the world, it is not only because
of his longing for the classical past, his infatuation for
certain theories of government, or because his motives
are selfish* It is rather because the dissensions and
rivalries of states and towns, of parties and communes,
the arrogance of the spiritual powers and their quest for
temporal benefits, have so disordered the usages of civil
life that it is not possible for men to attain in peace
their lawful earthly ends or to pursue those other-
worldly aims enjoined upon every Christian. There is
no more justice in the world, no concord. All, there-
fore, must suffer* Only the authority of one supreme
head, recognized by all, a reverent son of the Church but
independent of the Pope, could bring back upon the
earth order, peace, and justice* Dante, then, longs for
the Emperor because he is moved to pity by the
wretched state of mankind* Dante thinks of the good
of his brothers, works and writes for them, to better
their condition, to save them. He wishes, sincerely, that
all were less wicked and unhappy here below, and that
all might be made worthy of ultimate beatitude*

Notwithstanding all this, we must admit that in his

181

DANTE VIVO SOUL

works we do not find accents of tenderness for His
fellow-men in general. Dante is a Christian, and in his
poem he constitutes himself the voluntary lay-apostle
of Christianity* He turns with longing to the primitive
simplicity and poverty of the Church, but he never sur-
renders himself to the spontaneous emotion of caritas.
When he speaks to men or of men, he seems not so
much a loving brother as a displeased father or a bad-
tempered schoolmaster* His teachings and admonitions
to the human race are almost always just, but almost
never warmed by the fire of charity, of the charity
which reproves but at the same time grieves and pardons.
Even when he has in view the good of humanity,
Dante is always a little aloof, and easily shows a surly
temper* He is a magister, a wise guide, an overwrought
prophet; he is rarely a sinner who speaks to sinners, a
humble man who bears himself humbly among the
humble, weeping with those who weep*

He is -sometimes moved to compassion, but always
under special circumstances and for special beings* He
lacks the intense white-heat of St Paul, the universal
brotherhood of St Francis* We hear in his words
echoes of the Ethics of Aristotle and the Swnma of St
Thomas rather than the serene or reverberant phrases of
the Gospel* Dante's love is more of the head than the
heart, more theological than evangelical*

He has words of warm affection for his duca Virgil, for
his master Brunetto, for his friend Casella, for his
ancestor Cacciaguida; but even toward them he displays
that grave dignity which suits an ancient philosopher
better than a Christian* Even when he is greatly moved
at the torture of another, his emotion more readily ex-

i8z

DANTE VIVO SOUL

works we do not find accents of tenderness for His
fellow-men in general. Dante is a Christian, and in His
poem he constitutes himself the voluntary lay-apostle
of Christianity. He turns with longing to the primitive
simplicity and poverty of the Church, but he never sur-
renders himself to the spontaneous emotion of caritas.
When he speaks to men or of men, he seems not so
much a loving brother as a displeased father or a bad-
tempered schoolmaster. His teachings and admonitions
to the human race are almost always just, but almost
never warmed by the fire of charity, of the charity
which reproves but at the same time grieves and pardons.
Even when he has in view the good of humanity,
Dante is always a little aloof, and easily shows a surly
temper* He is a magister, a wise guide, an overwrought
prophet; he is rarely a sinner who speaks to sinners, a
humble man who bears himself humbly among the
humble, weeping with those who weep.

He is -sometimes moved to compassion, but always
under special circumstances and for special beings. He
lacks the intense white-heat of St Paul, the universal
brotherhood of St Francis. We hear in his words
echoes of the Ethics of Aristotle and the Summa of St
Thomas rather than the serene or reverberant phrases of
the GospeL Dante's love is more of the head than the
heart, more theological than evangelical.

He has words of warm affection for his duca Virgil, for
his master Brunetto, for his friend Casella, for his
ancestor Cacciaguida; but even toward them he displays
that grave dignity which suits an ancient philosopher
better than a Christian. Even when he is greatly moved
at the torture of another, his emotion more readily ex-

182

CJL

DANTE AND HIS FELLOW-MEN

presses itself in hatred for the oppressor than in loving
compassion for the victim* Count Ugolino asks him
for tears of sympathy: 'And if you weep not now, at
what are you used to weep?' But Dante, instead of
weeping, waits until the agonized soul has finished his
overwhelming story and then invokes the destruction of
Pisa and the drowning of all the Pisans: 'May every
soul in thee be drowned!' Ugolino asks for tears and
Dante, in response, invokes a cataclysm: evil for evil, a
vendetta of horror. And then he passes on, satisfied,
without addressing another word to the anguished
gnawer of the skull.

In Dante's work there are two kinds of love love,
for Woman and love for God* Love wholly spiritual
for Beatrice, love wrathful and carnal for Pietra. There
is also his love for the Virgin Mother and for the
Three Persons of the Trinity. But if his love for
Beatrice inspires him at times to melodious verse almost
tremulous with tenderness, divine love often remains in
him more adoration than self-surrender. The prayer of
St Bernard to the Virgin is a marvellous supplication in
language both poetical and theological, but it is not
imbued with that loving and impassioned vehemence
which is sometimes found in poets inferior to Dante.
He speaks many times of Christ, and always with the
greatest reverence and doctrinal correctness; but there is
no instance in which he makes us feel that he has
suffered with Him, that he has wept in the remembrance
of His Passion, that he has laid his head on His bosom,
that he has longed to embrace His lacerated body, to
kiss His wounds. He calls Christ 'Highest Jove/
'Lamb of God/ 'Pelican/ even 'the door of the

183

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

eternal chamber/ and 'abbot of the college 5 ; but all
these appellations come from the brain, not from the
heart. They are abstract or literary formulas, and lack
the force of impassioned ardour. Dante is Christ's
soldier, not His son or His brother. In his love for the
Crucified there is befitting adoration rather than fervent
love* Even when he speaks of the Divine Persons, he
shows himself the rationalist and the scholastic, not the
worshipper whose soul trembles and overflows with
emotion* It is the same when he speaks of men.

Jesus wished to bind together in our hearts love for
the Father who reigns in heaven and love for our
brothers who suffer on earth. He who does not burn
with love for the Father will not easily be moved by
tenderness for his brothers. It is a difficult undertaking
for everyone truly to love his fellow-men. Yet we must
love them in order to respond to the love which God
has for us and to manifest fully, by loving them, the
love which we bear for Him. He who is lukewarm to-
ward God will be cold toward men. He who cannot
suffer with Christ, who suffered for all, will be little apt
to feel compassion for his brothers, who are imperfect
images of Christ.

And yet, Dante loved men, as we have seen. He loved
them somewhat haughtily, more intellectually than
fraternally; but he loved them* And it needs to be said,
in justification of him, that love, even Christian love,
does not consist solely of caresses, embraces, blind in-
dulgence, and gentle words. To love signifies mainly to
obtain what is best for the beloved; and there are good
things procured by means which have at the moment the
look of evil. The stern lessons, the pitiless reproofs, the

184

DANTE AND HIS FELLOW-MEN

bitter invectives can be, according to the times and the
particular needs, evidence of the most genuine love if
they are inspired by a profound desire to help one's
neighbour, to recall him to the vital truths and the right
way of salvation. In many cases, love may consist of
chiding, of correcting, of reproving, even of scourging
with deep-cutting words. What matters is the purity of
intention* A false friend may embrace and kiss you in
order the better to betray you. Another and a truer friend
will cover you with contumely in order to set you back
on the right road.

But acerbity does not always secure the desired amend-
ment; we all know that. But neither is it always ob-
tained by honeyed and tearful entreaty. We must take
into account the persons concerned, their dispositions,
the moment of approach, the circumstances, the causes;
and then select in a spirit of brotherliness what the case
demands either the gentle manner or the stinging. But
those modern Christians who have the word charity
always on their lips, and maintain that charity should be
exercised only with affectionate phrases, and who con-
demn as lacking in charity the vigorous manner so often
needed as if charity imposed an obligation of never say-
ing to the sinner that he has sinned and to the dirty that
he has need of washing himself show that they do not
know what charity really is and what true Christianity
is in its rich significance.

Dante was one of those Christians who are more dis-
posed to show their affection by reprimands and re-
proaches than by tender speech and melting tears. This
was in accord with his character as it appears in the brief
but convincing description of him left by his contem-

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

porary Villani: 'This Dante, because of his learning, was
somewhat haughty, reserved, and disdainful . . * / 1 In
the eyes of men he appeared as the sage rather than the
devoted friend or the affectionate brother. But to give
light to the wandering and the bewildered is also a work
of charity*

Although we have noted in him a marked tendency to
tears and an almost morbid sensitiveness more like a
woman than a man Dante was above all an intellectual*
And as in all intellectuals, his love for humanity takes
forms more theoretical and abstract than warmly human.
His conscience assured him that his every effort helped
toward the elevation of humanity, and he was content.
^Why mix with the commonplace, the inferior, the base ?
Man, seen close at hand, is almost always repugnant.
Only saints can overcome the aversion caused by his
mediocrity, his baseness, his malevolence. Before hav-
ing attained a perfection almost divine, it is impossible
without the aid of heavenly grace to love all men, one
by one, with all the heart. From a distance it is easier.
We think of our fellow-men, we do our best for them;
but more than this is impossible for those who are not
saints. And Dante, alas! was no saint* He was a Chris-
tian, but not perfect; and love for our neighbour is the
severest test which Christ asks of us* Christianity is be-
yond question divine precisely because it demands of us
that which seems most contrary to human nature. This
mingling of affection and resentment which Dante
showed toward men is peculiar to those souls, great but
not saintly, which feel the demands of love and, at the
same time, the impulse of hatred. In connection with

1 Villani, Cronica, DC, 136.

186

DANTE AND HIS FELLOW-MEN

another prophet who loved humanity in the same way,
it is fittingly written: *A ceux qui passent une longue vie
difficile, s'interrogeant sur la question de savoir, defini-
tivement, s'il faut aimer les homines ou les hair, et se
disant qu'il faut regler cela une fois pour toutes, ou
aimer eperdument, betement, malgre tout, ou s'isoler
farouchement et hair, hair a tout jamais, la reponse
s'impose: Tun et Tautre. II faut les aimer d'un amour
hostile* Les aimer, selon les vers du grand poete Milosz,
d'un vieil amour use par la pitie, la colere et la solitude. D'un
amour combattu* D'un infatigable amour que la haine
viendra sans cesse couper et rajeunir/ 1

These words seem to have been written for Dante.
The love which Dante had for men was of this nature
and composition* The distant love of a reserved intel-
lectual, the discriminating love of a proud savant, the
almost cruel love of an angry prophet. The uncertain
and confused love of one who cannot, however much he
may wish it, be a true imitator of Christ*

1 J* Cassou, Grandeur et Infamie de Tolstoi. Paris, Grasset, 1932, pp. 125-
126.

187

DANTE'S CRUELTY

ANTE has been universally proclaimed a Chris-
tian poet, and for reasons which are obvious
the title is rightly his. The Commedia, in fact,
is a way of perfection, a progress toward God, a flight
of a hundred steps by which we may mount from the
dark forest to the shining rose*

But if we measure Dante's works by the standard of
Christianity, we shall meet with surprises*

The Holy Gospel constantly enjoins gentleness, long-
suffering patience, forgiveness* In Dante we find a quick
irascibility which often reaches the point of intolerance
and sometimes of outright cruelty*

We do not cite as evidence the passage in Boccaccio's
Lift of Dante, because it refers to Dante's political pas-
sions, and because we cannot estimate how much truth
there may be in this tradition. It may very likely over-
emphasize a matter that was of no importance* 'What
I regret most to recall in my task of serving his memory, '
writes the official biographer, 'is the fact, well known in
Romagna, that any gossiping woman or child even, if
they were talking of political parties and spoke ill of the
Ghibellines, would drive him into such a fury that he
would throw stones at them if they did not stop
instantly* Aud he kept this animosity until his death/ *

Here we have an instance of simple partisan rage, an
outburst so excessive as to make him capable of stoning

1 G. Boccaccio, Vita di Dante, XXV (ed. D. GuerrL Bari, Laterza, 1918. 1,
47>

188

DANTE'S CRUELTY

a child* But as if in confirmation, we have explicit con-
fessions of his which reveal a tendency toward a ferocity
so vindictive that it takes no thought for disastrous
consequences *

In the fourth treatise of the Convivio, Dante speaks of
the meaning of nobility and considers the question
whether nobility is a quality to be found only in men,
or if it exists also in other creatures and things; and he
asks how we may distinguish the origins of nobility.
Clearly it is not a question likely to rouse the anger of
one who looks upon himself as a philosopher* Never-
theless, Dante bursts all at once into these words: 'If
the opponent means that in other things we understand
nobility to be the goodness of the thing itself, but that
when we speak of nobility in man we mean that there is
no memory of his low origin, we should answer such
stupidity not with words but with a dagger. . / 1
To what other person, especially if he were arguing on
a matter which did not intimately concern either his
honour or his political faith, would it have occurred to
knife his adversary only because that adversary made a
mistake in distinguishing the different kinds of nobility?

More excusable possibly is Dante's savage fantasy in
the presence of the lady Pietra, whom he loved extrava-
gantly but who did not return his love* I do not believe
that in all the other love-lyrics in the world, even in
those inspired by anger, we could find the expression of
desires so atrocious as those in the famous canzone,
Cos} ml mio parlar* voglio esser aspro. * . * * If I had
grasped those lovely tresses which have been whip and
lash for me, seizing them before tierce, I would sport

1 Conv. IV, xy, II*
189

DANTE VIVO SOUL

'with them through vespers and compline. I should not
be kind and pitiful; nay, I should be like the bear when
he gambols* And if Love should use those tresses to
scourge me, I should take my revenge a thousandfold/ 1

It may be said in defence that when Dante was writing
these lines, he was in a frenzy of love and did not
measure his words; or that he was engaged in a mere
literary exercise and intentionally exaggerated in order
to emphasize the idea of disappointment* But even in
the 'sacred poem, ' written for instruction and edification,
we find again this mania of Alighieri's for catching
people by the hair and tearing it out*

Down in the second ring of Cocytus, Dante strikes
with his foot (either by wish, he says, or by destiny or
chance) one of the heads which protrude above the ice.
As the unfortunate soul protests and does not wish to
give his name, the compassionate poet grows angry;

Allot lo presi per la cuticagna,
e dissi: El converra die tu ti nomi,
o die capel qui su non ti rimagna. 2

Then I seized him by the nape of his neck and said: You shall tell me
your name, or not a hair shall remain upon you here.

But the damned soul still refuses to speak:

lo avea gia i capelli in mano avyolti,
e tratti li n'avea piu d'una ciocca,
latrando ltd con 1 occhi in gi& raccolti. 3

I had already twisted his hair in my hand and had torn out more than
one tuft while he, howling, kept his head down.

Then a companion, calling the victim by name,
reveals who he is and Dante looses his hold*

1 Rime, CIH, 66-73. 2 & XXXH, 97-99.

3 Inf. XXXH, 103-105.

190

DANTE'S CRUELTY

It is true that Dante is dealing with a despicable
traitor, with that Bocca degli Abati who was the chief
cause of the Florentine defeat at Montaperti; but is it
quite worthy of a Christian poet to rage in that fashion
against a dead man who can still suffer and who is
making grievous atonement for his sin?

Dante does not show himself more tender in the
Stygian swamp where Filippo Argenti is expiating his
arrogance* Dante says to him,

. , con piangere e con lutto,
spirito maladetto, ti rimanL 1

With weeping and with woe may you remain, curst spirit.

It is because of this pitiless imprecation that Virgil, the
gentle Virgil, addresses to Dante the famous encomium:

. . . Alma sdegnosa,
benedetta colei che in te s'incinse ! 2

Disdainful soul, blessed be she who bore you !

We have here an echo of the Bible, but the passage is
transferred to an exactly opposite occasion; there it
refers to the merciful Jesus, here to the cruel Dante.

The repellent episode does not end at this point*
Encouraged by the untimely praise of Virgil, our Chris-
tian poet hastens to express a desire which borders on
sadism*

. . . Maestro, molto sarei vago
di vederlo attuffare in questa broda
prima che noi uscissimo del lago. 3

Master, I should like to see him plunged in this hell-broth before we
leave the lake.

1 Inf. VIII, 37-38. 2 Inf. VIII, 44-45.

s Inf. VIII, 52-54-

DANTE VIVO - SOUL

And the 'gentle guide' answers in the same tone,
competing with Dante in harshness:

, . . Avante che la proda
ti si lasci veder, tu sarai sazio :
di tal disio convien che tu goda. 1

You shall be satisfied before the shore is seen by you ; it is fitting that
you should enjoy the fulfilment of such a desire.

The enjoyment promised by Virgil is not delayed:

Dopo cio poco vid'io quello strazio

far di costui alle fangose genti,

che Dio ancor ne lodo e ne ringrazio* 2

Soon after this I saw such a violent rending of him at the hands of the
muddy folk that I still praise God for it and thank Him*

Here, unhappily for Dante, we are in complete nega-
tion of Christianity; sacrilegious negation, besides, be-
cause he would make God Himself a participant* But
God is justice, not cruelty* Filippo Argenti is punished
for his sins and his punishment will never end* How
is it possible that a poet, a Christian, one who ought to
be doubly kind, can enjoy seeing an increase in the tor-
ment of one who is already suffering without hope?
What fearful audacity in his praising and thanking
God Him who was incarnated as the Pardoner for
haying granted him such a spectacle!

Let us note that Filippo Argenti is placed among the
wrathful and is called by Virgil "a proud person/ 3 The

55-57.

* Inf. VIII, 58-60.

8 Filippo Argenti appears in one of the stories of the Decameron, IX, 8, as
*uomo . . . sdegnoso, iracundo'; a wrathful, choleric man: and when he is
angered, 'tutto in se medesimo si rodea/ he eats his heart out with rage.
Trans.

192

DANTE'S CRUELTY

sins of which Filippo was guilty were, it appears, not
alien to Dante, who was wrathful and proud himself.
As he stood before a brother in sin, he ought to have
felt compassion for him and for himself rather than the
inhuman desire for Filippo '$ augmented suffering,

Dante is no more merciful when he is down in
Tolomea, where the wretched friar Albergo asks help
in opening his eyes sealed by frozen tears:

.... E fo non liF apersi.
e cortesia fu lui esser villano. 1

And I did not open them for him. It was a courtesy to be churlish with
him*

It is not without significance that Dante has the
courage to praise St Dominic because he was 'harsh to
enemies/ 2

We can say in defence of Dante that in his poem he is
creating imaginary situations, and that in real life he
would act in quite another manner* Very well* But art,
equally with dreams, is an indirect confession of the
underlying traits of the soul. He who delights in imagin-
ing himself cruel shows that he has within himself in-
stincts of cruelty. As art is often a revelation and an
outlet for blameworthy sentiments which we do not
dare to display in real life, we may suppose that the
cruelty which Dante imagined of himself may have been
the compensation and the substitute for that actual
cruelty which could rarely or never find an outlet in
concrete form.

In the Inferno, it sometimes happens that Dante

1 Inf. XXXIII, 149-150. (It was churlish of Dante not to keep his promise.
Cf. 115-117.)

2 Par. XII, 57.

O 19}

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

weeps at sight of the damned* Virgil does not reprove
him when he shows pity for Francesca, the adulteress;
for Pier della Vigna, the suicide; for Ciacco, the glutton.
But when Dante perhaps because of a vague feeling of
imaginary complicity which is not surprising in one who
delights in prophecy begins to weep in the lolgia of the
diviners and soothsayers, the gentle Virgil reproves him
sharply; and Dante puts into Virgil's mouth the expres-
sion of this harsh judgement:

. . Ancor se* tu delli altri sciocchi ?

Qui vive la pieta quand'e ben morta;
chi e piu scellerato che colui
che al giudicio divin passion comporta <? 1

Are you still among the other fools ? Here piety lives when pity is
wholly dead. Who is more wicked than he who feels pity because of the
punishment inflicted on sinners by the Divine Judgement ?

We do not pause over the contradiction > Dante, who
is sometimes moved to compassion by the punishment
of the damned, would be (according to Virgil, which
means according to Dante himself) a 'fool' and 'wicked/
What matters is the principle which is formulated here:
the outspoken condemnation of pity* I do not know
how far this condemnation is dogmatically justifiable,
but coming from Dante it has an ill sound* Let us
admit that the inmates of the Inferno are now unalter-
ably and justly condemned, and that to excuse them or
pity them would be an implicit censure of Divine Jus-
tice. But I think that a living man, who is likewise a
Christian and a poet, passing through the region of the
damned and thinking on his own sins which may one
day imprison him also down there with those other

1 Inf. XX, 27-30*
194

DANTE'S CRUELTY

sinners, ought rather to weep, if only for himself, than
delight in the torture of others and rejoice in its increase*
Even if Filippo Argenti was in life a personal or political
enemy of Alighieri, this attitude of cruelty after death
toward one who is already suffering does no honour to
the mind of the poet, and gravely compromises his title
of true Christian. The Christian can and ought, at
times, to inveigh against sinners, but it is unworthy of
a follower of the Gospel to meditate vengeance against
individuals even beyond the grave* Dante thinks of him-
self as invested with the dignity of a Christian poet who
is destined for salvation; this is made clear by the poet
himself at the beginning of his poem* Everyone remem-
bers Virgil's account. Three ladies of Paradise are
moved to pity for the poet lost in the forest, and they
send Virgil to him to serve as guide. One of these ladies
is no other than the Virgin; the third is Beatrice, the
immortal Beloved; the second is Lucia, to whom Dante
is 'faithful/ The poet describes Lucia in these few
words 'enemy of every cruel person/ 1 She is identified
by some as St Lucy, the Syracusan martyr; allegorically,
she stands for illuminating Grace, or the like. But what-
ever she may be, she is foe to all cruelty. This is her
special virtue. And Dante, her devotee, on that journey
of purification, which he owes likewise to the intercession
of Lucia, dubs 'fool' and 'wicked* him who feels pity;
it is Lucia 's feeble who, as he passes along, enjoys kicking
the skulls and tearing the hair of the most desperately
unhappy creatures to the eyes and heart of a believer
that exist in the whole universe.
If we do not demand that the poet shall display pity

1 Inf. H, ioo.

195

DANTE VIVO SOUL

at any cost, let us turn to the demands of justice, which
the poet exalts and seeks* In the presence of the punish-
ment of Francesca, Dante experiences something more
than natural compassion judging at least from the
effects for he straightway swoons. It is as much out of
proportion to the cause as his ferocity against Bocca
degli AbatL Is Dante perhaps indulgent toward the sins
which he himself has committed or might commit ? It
would seem not* He has pity for Ciacco although he
himself is no gorger of food; and he has no pity for
Filippo Argenti who is as violent as he himself is . There
is no just measure, therefore, in the mind of Dante; and
to the suspicion of cruelty we must add the no less
grave suspicion of a doubtful sense of justice.

196

DANTE AND CHILDREN

NOTHER proof that Dante does not always give
perfect and active support to the teachings of
jesus is found in the opinion of children which
he expresses in the Conv/vio* I do not think that
anyone has noticed this contrast between Dante and the
Gospels, and perhaps it was not apparent even to him.
In any case, it is significant. 'Most men/ says Dante,
'live according to their senses and not according to
reason, after the manner of children * , , so that . . .
these men, who include, alas! almost everyone . . are
quickly desirous of something and quickly satisfied, are
often joyous and often sad because of trivial delights and
disappointments, are quickly friends and quickly enemies.
They do everything in the manner of children, without
the use of reason/ 1

Here speaks the pure rationalist, the philosopher, and
we may add, the illuminist: he who values above every-
thing else the work of the intellect, and undervalues or
ignores the freshness, the spontaneity, the richness of
intuition* But Dante should have made reference, at
least in passing and to justify himself, to the explicit
testimony of Jesus on the spiritual worth of little
children and of those who are childlike* The three
synoptic gospels record the famous words; 'Suffer
the little children to come unto me, and forbid
them not, for of such is the kingdom of God* Verily,
I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the

1 Coriv. I, iv, 3-5.
I 9 7

DANTE VIVO SOUL

kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein/ 1

These are the words of God Himself made man; no
Christian can ignore them; even less can he contradict
them. He can, however, recognize, as St Augustine did,
the perversity of children, the heritage of the Fall; but
in the text of the Gospels and in that of the Convivio
they are not speaking of actual children, but of men
who resemble children* According to Jesus, to resemble
little children is an evidence of superiority in a man;
according to Dante, it is an inferiority. Jesus says that
only those who make themselves like little children are
fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; that is, can reach
the greatest perfection to which man can attain* Dante,
on the contrary, speaks of the likeness with children as
a detraction, an imperfection, a misfortune*

In this instance there speaks in Dante the man of
earlier times who maintained that mature and clear in-
telligence was the highest faculty of man; and there
speaks also, perhaps, the student of the rationalistic
theology of Dante's own time. But a Christian to whom
the Gospel is familiar is not permitted to ignore that
there are faculties of the soul superior to reason sim-
plicity, meekness of spirit, unquestioning adoration,
love* It is not sraid that with reason alone man shall
reach beatitude or even the deepest truths. The Scribes
and the Pharisees, in comparison with the unlettered
disciples of Jesus, represented culture and intelligence;
nevertheless Jesus condemned them, and Christianity
won its victory through the instrumentality of ignorant
fishermen in spite of the Doctors of the Law*

1 Matthew xix, 13-15; Markx, 13-16; Lukexviii, 15-17*
I 9 8

DANTE VIVO SOUL

kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein/ 1

These are the words of God Himself made man; no
Christian can ignore them; even less can he contradict
them* He can, however, recognize, as St Augustine did,
the perversity of children, the heritage of the Fall; but
in the text of the Gospels and in that of the Convivio
they are not speaking of actual children, but of men
who resemble children. According to Jesus, to resemble
little children is an evidence of superiority in a man;
according to Dante, it is an inferiority. Jesus says that
only those who make themselves like little children are
fit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; that is, can reach
the greatest perfection to which man can attain* Dante,
on die contrary, speaks of the likeness with children as
a detraction, an imperfection, a misfortune.

In this instance there speaks in Dante the man of
earlier times who maintained that mature and clear in-
telligence was the highest faculty of man; and there
speaks also, perhaps, the student of the rationalistic
theology of Dante's own time. But a Christian to whom
the Gospel is familiar is not permitted to ignore that
there are faculties of the soul superior to reason sim-
plicity, meekness of spirit, unquestioning adoration,
love* It is not sraid that with reason alone man shall
reach beatitude or even the deepest truths. The Scribes
and the Pharisees, in comparison with the unlettered
disciples of Jesus, represented culture and intelligence;
nevertheless Jesus condemned them, and Christianity
won its victory through the instrumentality of ignorant
fishermen in spite of the Doctors of the Law.

1 Matthew xix, 13-15; Mark x, 13-16; Luke xviii, 15-17*
198

DANTE AND CHILDREN

We may say that in the passage from the Convivio
Dante was not thinking of the Kingdom of Heaven,
that he had in mind lower and more human problems,
But if we read attentively, we see that the implicit con-
demnation of men who resemble little children is a
general condemnation, and has all the effect of a censure
which admits no exceptions.

The question might be raised as to whether the
psychology of the child sketched by Dante is entirely
correct. It consists, according to him, in the brevity and
inconstancy of the emotions : 'they are quickly desirous
of something and quickly satisfied* . . / But can we
assert that reason itself escapes this changeableness ? Is
not the thinker besieged and dominated now by one
argument, now by another ? does he not waver often be-
tween assent and negation, \between one thesis and its
opposite? Is not the history of the human reason one
of perpetual vacillations and obsessions? Granted that
the rationalist remains longer in one mental position,
is inconstancy to be measured by hours and not by years
as well? In comparison with the eternal, that which
changes in the course of a generation is as variable as
that which changes in the course of a day*

But the fact remains, serious and significant, that
Dante, speaking of the resemblance between grown men
and little children, does not remember the impressive
and well-known words of the GospeL Even in the
Commedia, the soul prone to deceive itself is compared,
with an implication of inferiority, to an ignorant child
who laughs and weeps without reason:

. . . a guisa di fancmlla
che piangendo e ridendo pargoleggia,

199

DANTE VIVO SOUL

Tanima semplf cetta che sa nulla

Di pi cciol bene in pria sente sapore ;
qtdvf s*lnganna. . * 1

Like a little maid who, weeping and smiling, follows her childish
whims, the artless soul which knows nothing . . at first tastes the
savour of some slight good ; by this it is deceived. . . *

Therefore, continues Dante, rulers and laws are
needed, die checks of reason*

Here also, Dante is too much concerned with the
human side, and does not think of the other and nobler
aspect of childish simplicity* This open contempt for
childhood, contrary to the spirit of Christianity, brings
him close to the arrogant pagan intellectualism* Once
more in Dante Aristotle over-rides the GospeL

But fortunately not always* In the end, Beatrice
echoes the thought of Christ;

Fede ed innocenzia son reperte
solo ne J parvoletti* * * * 2

Faith and innocence are found only in little children. . * .

It was time I

1 Purg. XVI, 86-88; 91-92,

2 Par. XXVII, 127-128.

zoo

THE VENDETTA

ON two occasions Dante refused to play the role
of avenger. He did not avenge his father, 1 and
he did not wish to avenge his father's cousin,
Geri del Bello, who was killed, apparently, by one of
the Sacchetti. 2

Of the first case it may be said that there was no cause
or reason for a true vendetta, and that everything is re-
duced to a malevolent insinuation of Forese DonatL In
the other case, it is probable that the unhappy duty,
according to the barbarous custom of the time, would
not have fallen to Dante until after the nearest relatives
had failed in their criminal obligation. However that
may have been, Dante, as a Christian and moralist, knew
that private vengeance was condemned by the law of the
Gospel, and that the obligation of forgiveness was sub-
stituted for the old savagery of retaliation*

This much is true, at any rate, that Dante uses as an
example of clemency the action of Pisistratus, who
refused to take vengeance on his daughter's wooer* 3 The
appetite for revenge is represented as one of the sins
punished in Purgatory:

ed e chi per ingiuria par Vaonti
si che si fa della vendetta ghiotto
e tal convien die il male altrui impronti. 4

And there is he who seems so enraged because of some injury received

1 The Ttnzone, sonnet 6 (Rimt, LXXVTO).

2 Inf. XXIX, 22-36.

3 Pttfg. XV, 97-105.

* Pwrg* XVII, 121-123.

201

DANTE VIVO SOUL

that he becomes eager for revenge, and in such a state that he must
hasten harm for others.

Dante praises the fortitude 'of the 'good Marzucco*
who did not wish to revenge the death of his son. 1

Notwithstanding these precepts and examples, we are
obliged to recognize in Alighieri a partiality for the
word vendetta and sometimes also for the feelings
associated with it. 2

Dante ends one of his most famous canzoni, Cosl nel
mio parlar voglio esscr aspro, with a line still more famous:

che belFonor si acqmsta in far vendetta. 3
Because great honour is acquired in taking vengeance.

This poem, however, was written in a state of erotic
fury, and the verse quoted cannot be considered typical.
But we cannot offer this excuse for the passages in the
Commedia which refer to vengeance, and especially to
divine vengeance* The punishments which Dante re-
cords, whether terrestrial or infernal, are viewed almost
with satisfaction, and arc called frequently and readily by
the word vendetta, which reveals thoughts of resent-
ment and retaliation rather than of just punishment.
Elisha, who was 'avenged by the bears/ 4 and the arch-

1 Purg. VI, 17-18.

2 We must call attention, for the sake of fairness, to the fact that some-
times the word vendetta in Dante means 'punishment' ; and punishment,
when it comes from God, is in its essence one of the forms of justice. We
should add that vengeance is demanded and exacted by the just men of the
Old Testament although even then it was clearly said that God reserved it
for Himself (Deut. xxxii, 35).

The word is found in the New Testament also in the sense of punishment.
For example, in the parable of the unjust judge, the widow says, 'Avenge me
of my adversary' (Luke xviit, 3). 'I tell you that he will avenge them
speedily* (Luke xviii, 8).

3 Rimi, CIII, 83.

4 Inf. XXVI, 34.

202

THE VENDETTA

angel Michael, who 'wrought vengeance for the proud
violence, ' 1 belonged to the scriptural tradition and are,
at bottom, representatives of divine justice. But when
the effect of this justice appears to the eyes of Dante in
the Inferno not as grievous punishment but as actual
vengeance, vendetta, the word sounds a little strange to
modern ears. The vendetta presupposes and implies a
wrathful mind, one which rejoices in harm to others;
and such sentiments, appropriate to evil men, contradict
all possible conceptions of the Christian God. 2 Dante,
however, says of the damned that 'the divine vengeance
hammers them/ 3 and that in another lolgia 'also for
Medea is vengeance prepared. ' 4 He sees the burning sand
on which the blasphemers walk, and exclaims,

O vendetta di Dio, quanto tu dei
esser temuta. . . . 5

O vengeance of God, how much you should be feared I

Farther on, seeing the torture of the thieves, he cries,

Oh potenza di Dio, quant'e severa
che cotai colpi per vendetta croscia. 6

Oh power of God, how severe it is, that it rains down such blows for
vengeance !

1 Inf. VII, n-12,

2 That a clear distinction was made in the Trecento between vendetta
(vengeance, revenge) and puni^iom (punishment), or gastigamento (chastise-
ment), is proved by the following passage from Boccaccio : 'All that I do to
you cannot properly be called vengeance (vendetta) but rather chastisement
(gastigamento), inasmuch as vengeance (vendetta) should exceed the offence, and
this will not equal it/ Decameron, VTII, 7,

s Inf. XI, 90.

* Inf. XVIII, 96.

5 Inf. XIV, 16-17.

Inf. XXIV, 119-120,

DANTE VIVO SOUL

Dante, at a certain point, was moved to pity by the
punishments which he has seen:

E condoliemi alia giusta vendetta, 1
And I grieved at the just vengeance*

Although he represents himself as grieving at the
vengeance, he makes those whom he recalls or nieets de-
mand vendetta. The widow does not ask Trajan for
justice; she asks for vengeance:

. . Segnor, fammi vendetta
di mio figliuol ch'e morto. . . , 2

Lord, grant me vengeance for my son who is slain,

Hugh Capet twice asks God's vengeance on his suc-
cessors, or rather makes direct appeal to the wrath (ira)
of God:

Ma se Doagio, Liila, Guanto e Bruggia
potesser, tosto ne saria vendetta
e 10 la cheggio a lui che tutto giuggia.

O Segnor mio, quando sari io lieto
a veder la vendetta che, nascosa
fa dolce Tira tua nel tuo secrete ? 3

But if Douai, Lille, Ghent, and Bruges had power, there would
quickly be vengeance, and I implore it from Him who judges all things.
. , When, O my Lord, shall I rejoice to see the vengeance which,
hidden in Thy secret, makes sweet Thy wrath ?

The same word is used by Cacciaguida when he
prophesies the expulsion of the White Guelphs :

. * . ma la vendetta
fia testimomo al ver che la dispensa. 4

But the vengeance will bring witness to the truth which administers it.

_ *

1 Purg. XXI, 6. 2 Purg ^ x , 83-84.

3 Purg. XX, 46-48 ; 94-96. * Par. XVII, 53-54.

204

THE VENDETTA

Gentle Beatrice herself, in announcing the coming of
the DXV, solemnly affirms 'that the vengeance of God
fears not any sop/ 1 In allusion to the same judge and
avenger, she says to Dante, who had been frightened by
the cry of the Blessed, If you had understood the words
of that cry

gia ti sarebbe nota la vendetta

che tu vedrai innanzi die tu muoi ; 2

already would be known to you the vengeance which you shall see before
you die.

Our surprise is even greater when that terrible word is
used to mean the deed of the Crucifixion* Justinian re-
counts the history of the Eagle, of the Roman Empire,
and having reached Tiberius, he says:

* . la viva giustizia che mi spira
li concedette, in mano a quel ch'i dico,
gloria di far vendetta alia sua ira. 3

The Living Justice which inspires me granted [to the Eagle] in the
hand of him of whom I speak, the glory of avenging God's wrath.

Afterwards Titus, by destroying Jerusalem,

. * . a far vendetta corse
della vendetta del peccato anrico* 4

. . * hastened to exact vengeance for the vendetta of the an'cient sin*

Dante had already said the same thing in the Purgatorio:

Nel tempo che '1 buon Tito, con Taiuto
del sommo rege, vendico le fora
ond'tiscl *I sangue per Giuda venduto. 5

At the rime when the good Titus, with the aid of the Most High King,
avenged the gashes whence issued the blood sold by Judas*

1 Pttrg. XXXin, 36* The meaning of this famous crux appears to be that
there are no limitations to obstruct the execution of divine vengeance*
Trans.

2 Par. XXII, 14-15, 3 Par. VI, 88-90.

4 Par. VI, 92-93* 6 P*2. XXI, 82-84.

205

DANTE VIVO SOUL _ji!)

Beatrice is aware of Dante's doubt and perplexity at
the words of Justinian, and makes a long discourse on the
mystery of the Atonement, using the same terms as the
great Emperor:

Secondo mio infallibile awiso,
come giusta vendetta giustamente
punita fosse, t'ha in pensier miso. 1

Through my unfailing insight, I know that the question, how a just
vengeance could be justly avenged, has set you thinking.

Indeed, it needed explanation,

The theological doctrines of the Atonement numbered
three: first, the Mystic (called also speculative and
physical), derived especially from the Eastern theologies,
according to which men were redeemed from sin by the
fact of the Incarnation alone, that is, by the union of the
divine and human nature which took place in Christ, and
which elevated and purified our condition; second, that
of the ransom from the Demon, which appears es-
pecially in St Augustine, according to which Satan, in
consequence of Adam's sin, had become in a sense
master of humanity, so that a great price had to be paid
to free man from such servitude, and the price paid was
the blood of Christ; and finally, the realistic theory, due
mainly to St Anselm, according to which Christ has
redeemed us by substitution, that is, by taking our place
and, through His passion and death, offering to God that
satisfaction which the human race owed to the Creator
after the Fall but which we, being finite ' and sinful
creatures, were incapable of offering.

Beatrice expounds this last theory, following the
famous dialogue of St Anselm, Cur Dtus homo ? which is

1 Par. VII, 19-21.
206

THE VENDETTA

even to-day one of the classic treatises of the Catholic
doctrine of salvation* St Anselm's teachings were
accepted with some modifications and additions by St
Thomas; both St Anselm and St Thomas always speak
of 'satisfaction' (satisfactio) and never of vengeance. 1
The offering of the life of Christ is a 'gift' (donum) of the
Redeemer, not a punishment inflicted by God* Dante's
thought is, in general, the same as St Anselm's and
St Thomas's: man has sinned deeply against God and
God must obtain reparation; but man cannot by himself
alone make infinite satisfaction for an infinite offence.
It is necessary, therefore, that God should intervene in
the person of Christ, who was man and God* The
martyrdom of the Cross is a means of punishing human
nature and by that expiation rendering it worthy of
pardon. It is a voluntary act of love on the part of God:
it is not and it could not be an act of vengeance, a
vendetta.

In the words of Justinian, however, in the above-cited
passages from the Paradise, the theory of St Anselm be-
comes, at least in form, altered and distorted. God is
angered, irato, against man, and it is honour, gloria, for
Tiberius to serve as the instrument of God's vengeance,
vendetta. God is angry and wishes revenge, and He
avenges Himself against mankind by permitting men
(Pilate, the vicar of Tiberius) to put to death His own
Son, The fact that Titus justly takes vengeance for this
vengeance, destroying Jerusalem and scattering the Jews,
appears more natural although first it is the glory of
Tiberius to have permitted the vengeance and now the

1 Dante, speaking on another occasion of the Atonement, says that Christ
'made satisfaction' (sodisfece) ; Par. XIII, 41.

207

DANTE VIVO - SOUL

vengeance for the vengeance (la vendetta della vendetta) falls
upon the Jews and not upon the Empire* But that the
Father should consider the crucifixion of His only be-
gotten Son as vendetta, that is to say, as the outlet of
His wrath against an Innocent Person who pays for the
sins of mankind, such a thought as this was never
spoken by the Fathers or the Doctors of Christianity.
Only Alighieri could have achieved the temerity of
voicing it that Alighieri who finds his inspiration more
often in the harshness, the terrililith, of the Old Testa-
ment than in the gentleness of the New.

To the Christian understanding, the death of the
Saviour is a spontaneous offering prompted by a divine
and infinite love. Dante transforms it into a vendetta of
God the Father. Even if we substitute the word punish-
ment for vengeance, and argue that the poet wished to
give more force to the idea and so used the tremendous,
the too human vendetta, there remains in the mind of the
Christian reader a vague confusion and the belief,
natural under the circumstances, that Dante has ex-
pressed, with it may be an over-emphasis of form, the
orthodox theory of the Atonement. And such dis-
tortion, even if unconscious, inclines us to think
that the mind of Dante was too much disposed to
see wrath in every judgement and vengeance in every
punishment.

We must reach the seventeenth century, the century
of the Jansenists, in order to find the word vendetta used
in regard to the Atonement. 'En effet/ says Bossuet,
*il n'appartient qu'a Dieu de venger les injures. . . .
II fallait done, mes Freres, qu'il vmt lui-meme contre
son Fils avec tous ses foudres; et puisqu'il avait mis en

208

THE VENDETTA

lui nos peches, il y devait mettre aussi sa juste vengeance.
11 1'a fait, Chretiens; n'en doutons pas/ 1

Bossuet, who is an orator, which means that he is an
artist and poet, repeats the same word used by Dante;
and Dante, led by his instinct for the effective and force-
ful word, gave to the theory of ' satisfactio* the terrible
aspect of vendetta.

Could we not sustain the argument that the Commcdia
itself is due in part to an idea of vengeance? Did Dante
not use it in fact to avenge himself against those who
were enemies of his person or his ideas ? 2 Did he not
conceive of the coming of the DXV, of the 'messenger
of God/ as the coming of a terrible avenger? Dante, a
Christian, too often forgot the divine injunction which
Christ repeated so many times to men Forgive your
enemies.

1 Pour It Vendreii Saint (26 mars 1660); Troisi^me point. (Euvrcs
Oratoires ie Bossuet; Edition critique de 1'abbe J, Lebarq. Paris, Desd^e de
Brouwer, 1927, ITT, 385. The same ideas and expressions may be found in

Massillon and Bourdaloue.

2 Note how Dante speaks of Baldo d'Aguglione, author of the famous
reform of 131 1, which excluded the poet from among those recalled to
Florence: Purg. XII, 105; Par. XVI, 56.

209

THE SHARP WIND OF POVERTY

ONE of the surest signs of the Christian is love of
poverty or, at least, uncomplaining endurance in
the midst of distress. A greater sign in the most
perfect Christians is the voluntary search for poverty
and, as a natural consequence, the decision to live on
charity.

The two great religious orders, founded about half a
century before Dante was born, held it an honour to be
called Mendicants. Dante was well aware of this; in the
Paradiso he speaks of 'the most dear lady' of St Francis,
his spouse, the Lady Poverty; 1 and he called the Friars
Minor the 'poor folk/ gcnte poverella. 2

If an uncomplaining acceptance of poverty were the
only virtue demanded of the Christian, Dante, with in-
numerable others, could hardly be considered a true
follower of Christ. He recalls and praises the poverty of
the Virgin Mary, 3 that of St Peter, 4 of Fabricius, 5 of
Romeo da Villanova; 6 but when it comes to his own
poverty, we do not find in his writings words of resigna-
tion or of rejoicing, but only complaints and murmur-
ings. Dante approved of poverty but only in others.
His own lay heavy on his soul and humiliated him; and
he did not scruple to remind others of his distress in tones
of bitterness, in order that they might excuse him or
sympathize with him or succour him.

1 Par. XI, 112-114. 2 Par. XI, 94.

* Purg. XX, 2,2. * Par. XXIV, 109.

* Purg. XX, 26. Par. VI, 139.

210

THE SHARP WIND OF POVERTY

The earliest lament, probably, is that contained in the
letter of condolence written to Oberto and Guido di
Romena on the occasion of the death of their uncle,
Count Alessandro, in 1304. 'As your servant therefore/
he says at the close of the letter, 'I excuse myself for not
having taken part in the sad obsequies since neither
negligence nor ingratitude kept me away but the unfore-
seen poverty which is the outcome of my exile* For
poverty, like a pursuing wild beast, having despoiled me
of weapons and horses, has driven me now into her den
as into a prison; and although I exert every effort to
escape, up to the present it is she who prevails and
cruelly contrives to keep me always under her claws/ 1

Some time afterward, possibly in 1306, in writing the
first book of the Conv/v/o, he expressed his complaint
more openly. He says that he has journeyed through
almost every part of Italy like a pilgrim, displaying
against my will the wounds of fortune* ... I am a
ship without sail and without rudder, driven . . * by
the sharp wind which blows from grievous poverty. . * / 2

Again, in the letter to Can Grande, which belongs to
the last years, perhaps to 1318, Dante recalls his wretched-
ness: 'urget enim me rei familiar is angustia/ 3 And he
adds quickly that from the generosity of the prince he
hopes for aid to enable him to go on with his poem*

There is a veiled allusion here to hoped-for and per-
haps asked-for contributions* The proud pilgrim may
have been obliged more than once to make similar
requests, in person and in a form more explicit* There
was nothing so bitterly distasteful to Dante, nothing

1 Epist. H, 7-8. 2 Ccnv. I, iii, 4, 5.

3 Epist. XIII, 88.

211

DANTE VIVO SOUL

which inspired in him such commiseration, as mendi-
cancy. Even in Canto XI of the Paradise, in which he
exalts St Francis, Dante is a lukewarm Franciscan, re-
mote from the spirit and the rule of the Mendicants.

We have just seen in the Convivio how Dante con-
siders it a supreme misfortune to go almost begging
from town to town and from court to court; and all
readers will remember the tone of desolation in the
terzina of Cacciaguida's prophecy:

Tu proverai si come sa di sale
lo pane altrui, e come e duro calle
io scendere e '1 salir per Talma scale. 1

You shall come to know how bitter is the taste of another's bread* and
how hard a passage is the mounting and descending of another's stairs.

Bitter, therefore, that bread of charity which St
Francis in joyfulness of spirit divided with his poor
companion on the clean stone beside the cold fountain. 2
And 'hard* that mounting and descending of another's
stairs, which for the gente povtrella was, and is to-day, a
duty and a joy*

We recall also with what grief and conscious sympathy
Dante speaks of Romeo da Villanova who departed
'poor and old/ and how it seems to Dante a title to pity
that Romeo should have gone 'begging his livelihood bit
by bit/ 3 To have to ask for charity is such humiliation
that, according to Dante, it has won salvation even for
the proud Provenzan Salvani who, 'every shame laid
aside,* stationed himself in the Campo of Siena to beg
for money to liberate a friend, and with such sacrifice of

1 P*r. XVII, 58-60.

* v. Tie Uttit Flowers cf St Francis, XHL

3 Par. VI, 139-142.

212

THE SHARP WIND OF POVERTY

pride that *he brought himself to tremble through every
vein/ 1

Humanly speaking, this fear of poverty on Dante's
part and his bitterness and complainings are things that
we understand and sympathize with* A man of noble
family, heir to a patrimony small but sufficient to keep
him from hunger and beggary and the servitude which
they engender; unjustly deprived of his little property by
pillage and exile; a man of learning and of great genius,
forced to contract debts and to beg; in every moment of
this life he must have felt embarrassment, scorn, grief,
and shame at such necessity. But that which is under-
standable and pitiable in any man, in a man simply
human and unthinking, or in a man of great but pagan
mind, is understood ill and arouses little sympathy in the
ase of a Christian who sets up as his aim in his greatest
work the recalling of mankind to Christianity, who often
commends poverty in pagans and in Christians, praises
the famous bridegroom of Poverty and those who
followed him, and approves those who bring themselves
to live by charity. If poverty is an evil, why praise it?
If it is a good, why so many complaints about his own
poverty? Why call it *a pursuing wild beast/, "cruel/
and 'grievous*?

1 Pwrg. XI, 133-138.

213

SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE

E Dante of the popular biography and the
chromolithographic tradition is the man of one
woman only, the servant of Beatrice, the ideal
and monogamous lover, faithful to the one and
only woman, to the Chosen One. But if we study
Dante's life a little more closely and read his lyrical
poems carefully, we shall ultimately perceive that more
than three women had encompassed his heart. 1 His
loves, whether Platonic or Ovidian, were several. Dante,
like most men, was polygamous although he was
married only once.

We are not saying it would be an unwarrantable
perversion of the truth that we ought to see in Dante a
forerunner of Don Juan Tenorio or of Casanova; but the
fact is that on his own testimony or that of others there
were, between named and unnamed, at least a dozen
women in his life. And we may permit ourselves to
think that there were a few more, since Dante would not
have wished or have been able to refer in his poems to all
his adventures.

The women named by him are seven in number:
Beatrice, Violetta, Lisetta, Pietra, Gentucca, Fioretta,
and Pargoletta. Then there are the three women to
whom he refers in the Vita Nuova without giving their
names: 'the gentle lady of very pleasing aspect' who was
the first of his 'screens'; the other lady chosen by Love

1 The reference is to the opening line of the canzone, Trt donns intamo al
cor mi son vfnute. Trans.

214

SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE

himself, who was his second screen; and finally, the
'piteous lady' who comforted him for the death of
Beatrice. That makes ten* In addition, there is the
beautiful girl of the Trentino, to whom, according to
some, he dedicated the canzone, Amor, da cht convien pur
cb'io mi doglia. Last of all, there is poor Gemma Donati,
his wife and the mother of his children* And that makes
twelve*

It is possible, however, that the three unnamed women
of the Vita Nuova may be identical with three named in
the Rime. We observe that Lisetta is a temptress, not a
woman beloved; that the adventure of the Trentino is a
legend; and that Pargoletta is not necessarily a proper
name since the word was commonly used to mean a
young girl* Subtracting these, there remain always six.
For an austere moralist, six are a few too many. I take
no account of the exaggerated hypothesis of Imbriani
that Dante had loved dishonestly his sister-in-law Pietra,
the wife of his brother Francesco* But the recent dis-
covery from a document in Lucca that Dante had a son
Giovanni, has given rise to fresh doubts* Was Giovanni
the son of Gemma or of some other woman? Whatever
the truth of the matter, we hold the belief that there are
still some unsolved mysteries in the life of Dante*

Some of these loves were probably mere literary long-
ings, fictions or velleities, or stratagems for hiding
actually existent love-affairs; about this we cannot be
positive* But there is no doubt that Dante was a sensual
man* If the cord with which he had once thought *to
take the leopard of the painted skin' x is the girdle of the
Franciscan, and if the leopard symbolizes lust, as many

1 Inf. XVI, 106 ff*
215

DANTE VIVO SOUL

commentators think, then this passage is the confession
of a guilty man* The testimony of Boccaccio, who must
have known some contemporaries of the poet, could not
be more explicit; 'Amid so much virtue and so much
learning * . sensuality found ample place, and not
only in his younger years but even when he was
mature* * * /

The so-called can^oni pittrose, because of the sensual
ardour which pervades them, could have been written
only for a real woman of flesh and blood, and they are an
indubitable proof of the truth of Boccaccio's assertion*

On the other hand, in Dante's major works the
dominating figure is Beatrice, the woman made angel,
who incites to virtue and whom Dante scarcely dares to
look upon when, transfigured and exalted by death, she
accompanies her 'faithful one' unfaithful several times
to the heights of Paradise.

There is, therefore, no consistent parallel between
Dante's life and his poetry* In his life Libido rules; in
his poetry, Eros purified* Under such circumstances can
we speak of duplicity? I think not. For Christians of
the Middle Ages the carnal side of love, which they could
not forgo, was considered something impure, shameful,
not to be acknowledged; so much so, that they rarely
sang of conjugal love, although it was sanctified by the
sacrament of the Church, because implied in it was the
union of the flesh as well as of the souls. The only love
admissible, and expressible in written words, was
spiritual love freed from carnal desires; a love that en-
nobled the soul that held it, and raised that soul to
virtue and faith* Every poet of that time was perforce
and without any hypocrisy a Janus: he did what he could

zi6

SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE

not sing, and sang those sentiments or conceptions which
were not opposed to the traditions of the 'faithful in
love* or to the ascetic morality of Christianity.

One time only, in the poems for the girl of the
Casentino, for the cruel Pietra, Dante found himself
uniting life with art, the violence of passion with the
forms of poetry. But when he wrote those canzoni,
Dante was no longer young, and his unsatisfied desire
made him forget the sacred rules of the poetry of love*
And in this instance the singer of the angelic Beatrice
appears as a frustrated faun who whines with unsatisfied
desire in 'the hot ravine/

THE DEIFICATION OF BEATRICE

X^k s\ ^\HETHER we like it or not, it is impossible to
^*j J| /speak of Dante without facing the problem

J' r of Beatrice. It cannot be avoided* She is
so omnipresent in his work, from the youthful
little book of the Vita Nuova to the end of the third
canticle of the Cotnmedia, that if we wished to be silent
on this point or to ignore it, it would be like arguing
on the question of light without naming the sun*

There are hundreds of books about Beatrice, in large
part useless or tedious, but all of them turn on these
three problems: Was Dante's Beatrice a real woman of
flesh and blood, or was she a pure creation of the poet's
mind, a fantasy and symbol? If Beatrice was a real
woman, was she the Beatrice who was the daughter of
Folco Portinari and the wife of Simone dei Bardi, or
some other woman unidentified? If she was a symbol
only, or a real woman transformed into a symbol, what
does she represent: Grace, the Holy Scriptures, Divine
Wisdom, Revelation, Theology, or something else?

Of these three problems the second, we should say,
has no importance beyond that of a curiosity more or
less warranted. Whether Beatrice was of the Portinari
family or another is of little aid in throwing light on the
life of Dante or on the significance which that young
girl had in his thoughts.

As to the first and third, we can say that there is
virtual agreement among the most learned and trust-
worthy Dantologists: Beatrice, they say, was a real

218

THE DEIFICATION OF BEATRICE

woman and only after her death became a symbol; and
in the Commedia she is a symbol of the knowledge of
divine things, or Theology. I, too, accept these reason-
able conclusions, but I do not therefore consider that the
discussion on Beatrice is closed or that there is nothing
more to be investigated or questioned* There is a fourth
problem, so it seems to me, which almost no one has
stated. How and by what successive steps was Dante
able to enlarge to more than human size the figure of a
simple Florentine girl and wife until he came to regard
her as higher than the angels and the blessed spirits,
almost the equal of the Virgin, and a new mediator
between humanity, personified in Dante, and the
Almighty ?

An elevation so out of the ordinary, an exaltation so
tfnusual and incredible and from the Catholic point of
view quite inadmissible has need, I think, of explanation.
The point of departure is normal, but the point of
arrival is so astounding as to create surprise that the
problem of the transition from one to the other has not
attracted more attention from the professional Dantists.
The effect of habit, no doubt, which makes a thing seem
natural and obvious when it is strange and even
mysterious.

In the Provencal poets and in Guinizelli we find the
first traces of the exaggerated idealization of the beloved*
The woman is like an angel, and therefore worthy of
Paradise; on the lover she has a wonderful effect, and that
too in the moral sense* But Dante goes much further.
His Beatrice, from the very first pages of the Vita Nuova,
is a being apart, transcending humanity* The little niaid,
dressed in crimson, who appeared to Dante when she was

219

DANTE VIVO SOUL

but nine years old, is the 'youngest of the angels* of
whom 'might be said those words of the poet Homer,
She seemed to be the daughter not of a mortal, but of a
god/ 1 She appears to him also as 'destroyer of all the
vices and queen of all the virtues/ 2 and inspires in him
such 'a fire of charity' that it makes him 'pardon who-
ever had injured [him]. 3 She is so perfect that without
her Paradise is imperfect:

Lo cielo, die non have altro difetto
che d'aver lei, al suo segnor la chiede,
e ciascun santo ne grida merzede, 4

Heaven, which has no other defect than lack of her, implores her of
their Lord, and every saint asks the grace of her presence.

In the same canzone, the poet says that she is the 'hope
of the blessed spirits/ so greatly 'desired in highest
heaven' that Love himself asks;

. . . Cosa mojtale
come esser po si adorna e si pura ?
Poi la reguarda e fra se stesso giura
che Dio ne 'ntenda di far cosa nova*

How can mortal be so" lovely and so pure? Then, gazing on her, he
takes oath within himself that God meant to make a new creature.

'Cosa nova/ a new thing, something different from
other mortals* 'Pride and wrath flee before her/ 5 and
many who saw her pass said, 'This is no woman but one
of the beautiful angels of heaven/ 6 and even greater
things*

1 7.N. E, 8. a V.N. X, 2.

* V.N. XI, i, * VM. XIX, 7.

5 V.N. XXI, 2. V.N. XXVI, 2.

220

THE DEIFICATION OF BEATRICE

Because, adds Dante,

Vede perfettamente onne salute
chi la mia donna tra le donne vede. 1

Who sees my lady among other ladies sees every excellence in its
perfection.

It is no wonder that when she died the whole city
became a 'widow despoiled of every dignity/ 2 and that
Dante wrote to the lords of the earth about the death of
this superwoman. Even less should we wonder at
Dante's intention, expressed at the close, *to write of her
that which has never before been written of any woman/ 3

He kept his promise. All of the Divina Gmnudia,
from the first to the last canto, is a monument to
Beatrice, 'true praise of God/ It is she * whose beauteous
eye sees everything'; 4 she who is 'the beloved of the first
lover"; 5 and even the wisest spirits in the heaven of the
sun circle about her like a garland, gazing on her with
delight* 6

It must be said at once that this strange sublimation of
Beatrice is, in a Christian writer, unexpected and dis-
turbing* I should say, if the worshippers of Dante will
permit, that it approaches sacrilege* Christianity recog-
nizes in two beings only, but in ways substantially
different, the ineffable union of the Divine with the
human* In Christ who, although God, humbled Him-
self to assume the nature and form of man; and in Mary
who, although an earthly being, was the Mother of
Christ, of God, and almost shares in the homage due to

1 V.N. XXVT, io. 2 V.N. XXX, i.

* V.N. XLE, 2. 4 Inf. X, 131.

5 Par. IV, 118; c Inf. H, 76-78-

6 Par. X, 92-93*

221

DANTE VIVO - SOUL

God through the fact that she, among all women, was
chosen by the Holy Ghost as His spouse* To deify
another terrestrial creature, as Dante does Beatrice, is an
erotic and heretical extravagance. I say 'deify^jiot with-
out reason, because, according to the poet, Beatrice is
higher than the saints and angels, the source of every
virtue, a being free from sin, almost a rival of the Virgin
Mary, and through her power of saving Grace, like Christ
Himself. vVe could almost say that Dante wished to
make a Madonna just for himself, a private and personal
Madonna, a mediator between himself and Mary, just
as Mary is a mediator between mankind and Christ.
Before Beatrice 'was a symbol, ' writes Scherillo, 'she was
a woman; and like the Virgin whom she so closely re-
sembles, tutta santa, perfect and holy/ 1

No other poet, either before or after Dante, has ever
idealized a woman to this extent. It has occurred to no
one else to transform a woman whom he loves into the
specially chosen and preferred handiwork of God.
Women almost deified appear often in the history of
Christianity, but always associated with heresy. Simon
Magus had with him the famous Helena of Tyre who
personified, according to him, Ennoia, a direct emanation
of God; and faith in Helena and in him was the prime
condition of salvation* Montanus took with him the
women-prophets Prisca and Maximilla, and they also
were the mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit. The German
heretic, Manasses, was accompanied by a woman who,
according to his statement, was another Virgin Mary.
In Dante's own time, the famous Wilhelmina, who died
in 1282, was believed by certain fanatics to be the incar-

1 Scherillo, Dante. Milan, Treves, 1921, p. 52.
222

THE DEIFICATION OF BEATRICE

nation of the Holy Spirit, and was succeeded by a certain
Maifreda as vicar* The Fra Dolcino 1 recorded by Dante
was united to a certain Margherita whom he called his
spiritual sister and whom he placed above all other
women.

Dante's case is different. He did not live with his all-
but-goddess, and only after her death did he dare to
make her a quasi-divinity, contemplated and honoured
under the veil of symbolism.

To find an instance similar to that of Beatrice we must
come to the nineteenth century, to Clotilde de Vaux, be-
loved by Auguste Comte. He too, after the death of the
woman, imagined that she had become, in some sort,
divine; and in the positivist cult which he founded, the
central figure was the lost Clotilde, transfigured into a
mystic symbol of regenerated humanity. But Comte had
abandoned Christianity and in the last years of his life
he was of unsound mind.

But Dante was a Christian and sane. And the deifica-
tion of Beatrice, which we accept to-day without sur-
prise because of long custom, remains one of the boldest
and strangest aspects of his great spirit*

To say that Beatrice is deified only in so far as she is a
symbol of Divine Wisdom is not sufficient explanation
for two reasons : first, because the poet attributes to her
supernatural and thaumaturgical qualities even in the
Vita Nuova, which is a story of love and not a theological
poem; second, because Beatrice in the Commtdia, although
she may be a symbol, never really loses her concrete
human personality. She may be Theology or some other
symbol, but she is always, in her own remembrance and

1 Inf. XXVHI, 55-60.
223

DANTE VIVO SOUL

in that of the poet, the young Florentine woman who
was loved on earth and who died* 1 The mystery re-
mains; and there remains also our legitimate amazement
before the quasi-divinity created by 'theologus Dantes/

1 See the allusion to her 'second age' and to her death. Purg. XXX, 124-
125 ; Dante's 'ten years' thirst/ Purg. XXXII, 2 ; etc.

224

THE ODOUR OF SACRILEGE

ONE of Dante's most surprising customs per-
haps not yet noted is that of applying to
mortal creatures words from the Bible which
refer, and ought to refer, only to Christ and the
Virgin*

He adopts this singular practice, first of all, for his
divinized Beatrice. When he writes in a sonnet which
celebrates a vision of her in life,

e venne in terra per nostra salute,
she came to earth for our salvation,

he does no less than repeat an expression which in the
apostolic symbol is used only for Christ*

The apparition of Beatrice in glory in the Earthly
Paradise is accompanied by similar reminiscent phrases,
When she is about to show herself, one of the four-and-
twenty elders he who represents the Song of Songs, or
perhaps Solomon himself cries three times, Veni,
sponsa, dc Libano, 1 'Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse/ Words of the famous Song 2 which the Church
adopts and repeats only for the Virgin Mary and for the
Church itself. And almost at once all cry, Bcntdictus qui
vcnis,* 'Blessed thou that comest' the same words which
the people of Jerusalem applied to Christ at His last
entry into the fatal city* 4

When Beatrice is about to pronounce the famous

2- XXX, II. * Song of Solomon iv,

* Pwrg. XXX, 19, * Matthew xxi, 9.

Q 225

DANTE VIVO SOUL -*\

prophecy of the DXV, she uses and applies to herself
the same words which Christ spoke of Himself at the
Last Supper: Modicum, et mm non viiebitis me; et iterum
modicum et videbitis me . . * l 'A little while and ye shall
not see me; and again a little while and ye shall see me/
Twice in succession, then, Beatrice either as a woman
or as a symbol is identified with Christ.

This heterodox honour is not reserved for Beatrice
alone. Dante likens to Jesus, and does it openly, the
man whom he has most hated on earth and the man
whom he has most loved Boniface VIII and Henry VII.
Everyone remembers the famous lines, spoken by Hugh
Capet, on the assault at Anagni:

veggio in Alagna intrar lo fiordaliso
e nel vicario suo Cristo esser catto. 2

I see the fleur-de-lis entering Alagna and Christ made captive in His
vicar.

Up to this point it is permissible, because Christ is
seized indeed, but in the person of His vicar, Boniface*
In the next terzina, however, Christ is substituted with-
out reserve for the injured Pope, with a complete
repetition of the Passion which, in truth, did not occur
at Anagni.

Veggiolo un'altra volta esser deriso ;
veggio rinnovellar Taceto e '1 fele,
e tra vivi ladroni esser anciso. 3

I see Him mocked a second time; I see the vinegar and the gall
renewed, and Him put to death between living thieves.

At this point the Pope is no longer the vicar of Christ,
but Christ Himself who undergoes a second time His
sufferings and death.

1 Purg. XXXIII, 10 & John xvf, 16.

2 Purg. XX, 86-87.

3 PHIZ. XX, 88-90.

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THE ODOUR OF SACRILEGE

The same thing is repeated in the case of Henry VII*
So long as Dante calls him another Moses or a new
David (proles alter a Isat), there is no offence; they too
were men. We can attribute the vigour of Dante's
praise and prophecy to his being a partisan excited by
the hopes of a speedy revenge, and go on. But the situa-
tion changes when he applies to Henry the prophecy of
Isaiah which foretells the sufferings of the Redeemer, 1
and above all when he describes his visit of homage to
the Emperor: 'Then my spirit rejoiced in thee while I
said silently to myself, Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world/ 2 They are the same
words which John the Baptist spoke when he saw Jesus
coming toward him the first time. 3 And even if we
can see in Dante another precursor, it is a little hazardous
for a Christian to recognize another Christ in the Count
of Luxembourg.

Henry, at least, was a Christian. But what shall we say
when we see Dante declare that a worshipper of 'the
false and lying gods* is the only one worthy to serve as a
symbol of God? 'And what mortal man was more
worthy than Cato to symbolize God? Certainly none/ 4

But there is worse to come. Dante does not fear to
liken himself to Christ and to appropriate to himself
deeds which parallel those of Christ or words addressed
to Christ. At the end of the first treatise of the Cbnvzv/o,

1 'tanquam ad ipsum, post Christum, digitum prophetic propheta direxerit
Isaias, cum, spiritu Dei revelante, predixit: Vere languores nostros ipse
tulit et dolores nostros ipse portavit/ Epist. VI, 25.

2 Tune exultavit in te spiritus meus, cum tadtus dixi mecum: Ecce
Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata miradi/ Epist* VII, 10.

3 John i, 29.

4 Conv. IV, xxviii, 15.

227

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

wishing to recommend to the reader the nutriment which
he offers, he exclaims: 'This shall be that barley bread
with which thousands will be fed, and full baskets of
the fragments will remain over for me/ 1

It is possible to look upon this as a metaphor based on
the poet's recollection of the miracle of the loaves and
fishes; but we find a definite appropriation of a eulogy
spoken to Christ, in the famous line which Dante causes
to be addressed to himself by Virgil;

Benedetta colei che in te s'incinse! 2
Blessed is the womb that bare thee I

The plagiarism deliberately assigned to Virgil implies
two equalizations: Monna Bella (Dante's mother) is
another Mary; Dante, another Christ*

We need not dwell on these bold comparisons. In the
Middle Ages, which were nourished on Holy Writ,
biblical expressions applicable to contemporaries flowed
easily from the pen. But an expression which referred to
Christ could not be applied to any mortal without
evident sacrilege. Precisely in Dante *s time the Church
had condemned the custom, which the Spiritual Fran-
ciscans and especially Pier Giovanni Olivi had, of find-
ing a perfect parallel between the life of Christ and
the life of St Francis* And in that instance they were
speaking of a saint, and a great saint!

Probably Dante's intention was impeccable and he did
not think himself transgressing when he applied to a

1 Cony. I, xiii, 12. Also the words which follow, on the light which shall
overcome darkness, repeat phrases of the New Testament which were used of
Jesus. Cf* I Peter ii, 9 ; and Paul, Eph. v, 8*

2 Inf. VIII, 45. Cf. Luke xi, 27.

228

THE ODOUR OF SACRILEGE

young Florentine wite, a sinful pope* a German
emperor, and to himself, those words which in the
revealed books refer to Christ and only to Christ* But
an orthodox Christian, who sees in the Bible a work
inspired directly by God, and maintains, therefore, that
it should be used with infinite respect, cannot think that
the passages having reference to the Eternal should be
perversely misapplied to mortal and earthly creatures;
and he cannot fail to perceive in those Dantesque
assumptions of the divine in favour of the human, a
certain unmistakable odour of sacrilege*

229

THE CHRISTIAN

X 1 ^ O"^ AS ^ ante a secret heretic or a perfectly
^^ IV /orthodox Christian? This is the problem
<r y that most people propound when they speak
of Dante's religion. But there are, in addition, two
other problems, much more important and almost never
mentioned*

I will say at once in order to clear the field that I put
no faith in the intricate lucubrations of Gabriele
Rossetti 1 and his continuators and imitators. Dante was
not a member of any sect, and he did not belong to any
secret conventicle of heresiarchs. If we meet with ideas
and hopes in his works which do not seem wholly
orthodox to-day, it is not important. The Catholicism
of the fourteenth century is not that of the twentieth.
In Dante's bitterest invectives against the curia of Rome
and in his boldest prophecies like that of the Eternal
Gospel there appears to be nothing that could shut him
out from the community of the faithful. The more a
Christian loves the Church, the more he wishes to see it
purified and made worthy of reverence. To expect, as
Dante did, a renewal of the world through the coming of
the Holy Spirit, the Comforter promised by Christ in
the gospel of St John, is not in opposition to the
obedience which, until His advent, is due to the Church

1 Not to be confused by English readers with his son, Dante Gabriel
Rossetti. Gabriele Rossetti, who came to England from Italy in 1824, was
later professor of Italian at King's College, London. He regarded Dante's
CommeJia as a poem distinctly anti-Catholic, and gave it a fantastic inter-
pretation. Trans .

230

THE CHRISTIAN

founded by the Second Person of the Trinity. St John
the Baptist, who awaited and announced the coming of
the Saviour, was not considered a heretic by the
Hebrews; his death was due to the vengeance of the
Tetrarch and his woman, not to the denunciation of
the priests or to a sentence passed by the Sanhedrim*

Dante was a Christian and a Catholic both by birth
and free will* He held in scorn the sowers of schism and
every sort of heretic. But the other questions which we
can and ought to raise about his religious attitude are
these: Up to what point, in belief and in practice, was
Dante a Christian ? In what sense, taking into account the
complexity of his mind, was he a Catholic?

We are in the habit of calling Dante the greatest
Christian poet and of characterizing his greatest work as
a poem essentially religious, whose purpose is to point
out to wandering or feeble souls the way of salvation*
These assertions are true, but they do not answer the
two questions just now stated*

It is necessary to distinguish between the intellectual,
doctrinal, and practical concurrence with Christianity
and the complete Christian life, A man may be a
Christian by faith, sincerely Christian, and fulfil all the
devotions prescribed by the Church, and yet not be pro-
foundly and completely Christian in the essential ele-
ments of the spirit and in his manner of thought and his
conduct towards others* True Christianity is con-
formity to the life and teaching of Christ as found in
the four gospels, and not merely acceptance of theological
dogmas and of devotional practices. Very few, as we
all know, succeed in achieving this conformity, and they
are so few that the Church presents them for the

231

DANTE VIVO SOUL

veneration of the faithful under the name of saints.
But the duty of being perfect even as God is perfect is a
commandment laid upon all Christians without dis-
tinction. In this approximation to the evangelical type
there are varying degrees.

There are Christians who, urged by the desire of
aiding their brothers, summon men to the evangelical
perfection while they themselves remain far from such
perfection. Yet they cannot be accused of duplicity or
of deliberate deceit. They are usually entirely sincere.
They see the ideal and the necessity for adhering to it
and reaching it, but they themselves lack the strength
and the innate qualities which achieve the heights. They
call all mankind to the summit while they themselves
remain half-way up the slope, hindered by mists and by
precipices. It is not that they lack the will to persevere
to the top, but they exhaust all their ardour in appeals
and entreaties . Others, sustained by a stronger flame of
charity, unconsciously reach the clear light of the up-
lands, and from these heights they call to others, and aid
more by example than by words.

Among those Christians who point the way to the
summit which they have not yet reached, was Dante.
And which of us could cast the first stone ? How many of
those who call and think themselves Christians, are
certain of having advanced farther along the way than
he? All are summoned to Christlike perfection, but in
every century those who attain it are extremely few*
Only the saints attain it, and even they not always in
every phase of their life. Dante let us say it with the
frankness which it deserves was not much of a saint.
No one would think of blaming him for not having

232

THE CHRISTIAN

acquired holiness, neither the saints who are full of
loving pity for sinners, nor, .even less, ourselves, cold
and imperfect Christians that we are, far below Dante
in other things besides genius.

But in approximating to the complete Christian life
there are, we repeat, gradations; and after having ex-
amined some aspects of the soul and the life of Dante,
we are forced to admit that he was further from the
evangelical ideal than is generally believed an ideal
which, half a century before his birth, had had a wonder-
ful renewal in St Francis and his followers . Dante did
not have the essential virtues requisite for a true
Christian, or else these virtues were opposed and
weakened in him by passions which were in direct
contrast.

The Gospel enjoins chastity, and Dante was given to
love-affairs not altogether Platonic and poetic, and,
according to his own son, to sensuality. The Gospel en-
joins humility, and Dante was proud beyond measure,
even to the point of praising himself in his works. The
Gospel enjoins uncomplaining acceptance of poverty,
and Dante bewailed the loss of his property and the
scantiness of his resources. The Gospel enjoins for-
giveness, and Dante yielded, at least in thought and in
words, to feelings of revenge. The Gospel enjoins love
for one's enemies, and Dante gave vent to his hatred for
his adversaries in cruel words and atrocious imaginings.
The Gospel enjoins kindness and gentleness, and Dante,
at least in the scenes of the Inferno, showed himself un-
necessarily cruel against some of those unfortunates who
were already being severely punished by Divine Justice.
The Gospel points to little children as an example to be

233

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

followed, and Dante, from the heights of his rational-
ism, holds them in contempt*

This continual contrast between Christian perfection
and the qualities which we find in the poet, gives us food
for thought* No one thinks that Dante ought to have
been a saint; but the divergence between what is de-
manded of the Christian and the attitude we find in
Dante is greater than would be expected in the truly
divine poet of the Paradise. It is not enough to say that
he was, as I believe him to have been, a faithful observant*
He himself wrote in the Convivio that 'God did not wish
us to be religious if not with the heart/ 1

We must add to all this his custom, almost sacri-
legious, of applying to human beings and even to him-
self expressions and words of praise, reserved in the
Scriptures and in the liturgy solely for Christ or the
Virgin* Furthermore, the deification of Beatrice, in
whatever way the symbol may be interpreted, is always
a puzzling and disturbing question,

This tendency toward deifying mortals belongs
properly to paganism, and there are not lacking in Dante
other signs of a mind which seems pagan by nature
such as his admiration, wholly of the ancient Roman
stamp, for the civitas and the Empire; and his inclination
to make pagans (often on slight foundations) partici-
pants in the Christian salvation as Cato, Statius,
Trajan, Rhipeus* There was in Dante not only the
passion of the new humanist, but also the conviction
perhaps that the just men who had lived in Paganism
had been treated too severely by the Church; and he
wished, so far as in him lay, to remedy it. And yet Virgil,

y. IV, xxviii, 9.

234

THE CHRISTIAN

the 'sweet father' who conducts him to Beatrice, is
condemned to return to Limbo.

Dante's admiration for pagan poetry was unbounded
and, in a Christian, exaggerated. Not only does he
people the Inferno with mythological and poetic figures
taken from the ancient poets Cerberus, Minos,
Phlegyas, Geryon, and so forth ; but when he prays for
aid in his undertaking, he addresses invocations to the
Muses and Apollo 1 and not to that God who in the
Gospel left to the world the loftiest examples of poetry.
That the greatest Christian poet should constantly invoke
Calliope, Urania, or even Euterpe 2 produces, to tell the
truth, a rather curious effect. Dante believed himself to
be descended from Roman stock, and it really seems at
times that there lives again in him one of the pagan
poets of the Augustan age.

There remains the other question In what sense was
Dante a Catholic? Dante professed Catholicism with
sincerity, and followed by preference the theological
teachings of Thomas Aquinas who is even to-day the
pre-eminent master of Christian philosophy. But to
understand the Catholicism of Dante it is necessary to
examine not only that which to-day is recognized as
Catholic by most people. Dante did not believe that all
was well within the Church. He did not hold that all
the priests and monks were saints. On the contrary, he
went so far as to put popes and bishops into the Inferno.
Nor was he of the opinion that Christianity consists
solely of indulgences, of unconditional absolution, and

1 Inf. H, 7; Purg. I, 7 ff. ; Par. XVHL, Si ff. ; XXIII, 55 ff,

2 The invocation to the Virgins sacrosanct' and to Urania, Purg. XXEXj
37-42; to Calliope, Pwg. I, 9. Some commentators believe that the 'divs
Pegasea' of Par. XVHI, 82, is Euterpe.

DANTE VIVO * SOUL

of caressing pity* He had a horror of sin and frankly
detested sinners. His Catholicism, in short, included a
free criticism of the clergy and a spirit sharply aggressive.
Dante, then, is the opposite of the modern pattern of the
right-thinking Catholic*

We must keep in mind also that his boldly critical
attitude towards pontiffs and prelates was not, even in
his time, entirely original* Only after the Counter-
Reformation, and especially after the Vatican Council of
1870, there arose in the Church a spirit of optimistic
reverence, at least in the writings, toward the clergy
and ecclesiastical authority even in matters which do not
properly concern either ^the doctrine of the Church or
the form of worship. Obedience in matters of dogma
and discipline is right and necessary since it is implicit
in the intrinsic nature of the Church; but perhaps the
excessive timidity of the laity in all those questions
which are outside the theology, the mysteries, and the
liturgy, has not helped to hasten the necessary victory
of Catholicism in the world* I fear that this lack of
internal criticism is due not so much to an increase of
reverence as to a cooling off of the spirit. It has
facilitated from outside the Church criticism by non-
Catholics, and has given occasion for apostasy, abandon-
ment, increasing indifference, detachment,

Wherever there is love, there is also a desire to make
better, and consequently a zeal for accusations and
contests.

Every living body is subject to corruption if there is
no courageous physician who from time to time
cauterizes without pity. The Church, founded by
Christ and aided by the Holy Spirit, is immortal and

236

THE CHRISTIAN

incorruptible in its principle and in its essence; but it is
formed by men who are weak and fallible creatures.
The Church always received a rekindling of life from
outside persecutions and even from heresies; but above
all from those Christians, whether they were saints like
Peter Damian or simple scholars like Gerson, who dared
to put their finger on the sores of their time. One of
the physicians, and perhaps the most pitiless and the
most famous, was the poet Dante AlighierL

BOOK FOUR

JL336C*.

THE TWO SUNS

X^ /-)*\HEN Cacciaguida, in the heaven of Mars,
^^ IV /looks forward through time, and praises his

-^ ^ descendant for having, in his exile, made of
himself a party by himself, that is, for having turned his
back on all factions, it is no mere play on words, no
boast on the part of the poet,

Dante, like all great spirits, could not long ally him-
self with any faction. In truth, he was neither the
'fugitive Ghibelline' of Foscolo nor the ' White Guelph*
of Isidoro Del Lungo. Both by family tradition and by
love for his native place, he was a Guelph during the
years of his life in Florence. During his exile, especially
after the coming of Henry, he appeared by the necessity
of events and of his banishment, a Ghibelline. In reality,
as well as in the De Monarchia, he is beyond Guelphisin
and Ghibellinism, A lofty mind like his could not re-
main at ease in those prison-shades of partisan intrigue.

Absolute Guelphism, expressed in the book of
^Egidius Romanus and in the Bull of Boniface, Unam
Sanctam, demanded the complete subordination to the
papacy of all monarchs, including the Emperor,
Absolute Ghibellinism, on the contrary, demanded that
the prelates should receive their authority from the
Emperor rather than from Rome, and saw in the Pope
little more than the Emperor's chaplain.

Dante goes beyond both theories, fixing his attention
on the good of humanity which both Pope and Emperor
ought, in the last analysis, to serve. He distinguishes the
R 241

DANTE VIVO WORK

two chief ends of man earthly happiness and heavenly
beatitude; and as basis for this distinction he affirms the
mutual independence of the two powers which ought to
lead the way to those two fundamental beatitudes.
There should be two universal rulers: one for all men as
members of a mundane society; the other for all men as
souls destined to make part of an ultramundane society.
The Emperor does not derive his authority from the
Pope, nor is the Pope in any way subject to the Emperor.
The Pope owes counsel and aid to the Emperor in
spiritual matters; the Emperor owes reverence to the
Pope as a son to a father*

Dante, with his Latin and Tuscan liking for clear and
distinct ideas, boldly separates the earth from the sky.
He separates political life from religious life; the search
for the peace necessary in human life from the search for
the salvation which concerns the life after deathj the
realm of justice from the realm of charity; the journey
of the living from the triumph of the immortals

To the two aims, the two ways, the two ideals, corre-
spond the two sovereigns: the Pope, at the head of his
bishops, who bases his sacred authority on Revelation
and Theology; the Emperor, with the kings subordinate
to him, who bases his human authority on Tradition (the
Roman Empire) and Philosophy (jtbilosophica document a).

A magnificent conception which was called and is still
called Utopian, but which really corresponds to the
needs and desires of mankind* These two universal
authorities, both supreme, each autonomous but con-
cordant in essentials, which promise to the human race
peace on earth and salvation in heaven, the one by means
of Reason and Justice, the other by the light of Mysti-

242

THE TWO SUNS

cism and the fire of Charity, are both necessary to the
man who thinks of something besides his stomach, his
shop, and the interests of his city*

Dante disliked the political meddling and the avarice
of the prelates and the popes, but at the same time he
saw in Boniface, even in Boniface struck down by
French insolence, another Jesus injured by a new Pilate
and a new Caiaphas. The Pope ought not to interfere
with the government of the people, but the Emperor
and the kings ought not to entangle themselves in the
government of souls* The Pope is intangible and cannot
be deposed by the Emperor, just as the Emperor cannot
be driven from his throne at the will of the Pope. Both
Pope and Emperor should give an accounting only to
God.

From the Catholic point of view Dante's theory
seems, in some respects, disquieting and dangerous.
Cardinal Del Poggetto had some reason after the poet's
death for causing the three books of the JCte Monarciia to
be burned; they are essentially a reply to the famous Bull
of Pope Boniface and a concise condemnation of every
sort of theocracy*

The complete separation of the political from the
religious power, advocated by Dante, is the first
principle in that theory of the autonomy of the State
which in modern times has changed with the Reform
and the anti-clericalism of the Emperor Joseph II into
the intrusion of the State into the affairs of the Church*
Later still, in the French Revolution and in the Russian
Revolution, we see the attempt of the State to substitute
itself for the Church and to deny it all right to existence*
Dante's theory, then, was a first step in progressive anti-

243

DANTE VIVO * WORK

clericalism: the State ought to be independent of the
Church; the State has a right to supervise and direct the
Church; the State transfers to itself the greater part of
the offices of the Church; the State ignores the Church;
the State ought to suppress the Church.

We might answer Dante that in the concrete man it
is not always possible to separate that which concerns his
present terrestrial and civil life from that which concerns
his future celestial life. Men must earn heaven while
living on earth* The terrestrial life, for ascetics and
devout Christians, is only a painful preparation in a
lower world for the higher life of heaven. If this life is
wretched, full of suffering and sacrifice, it matters little
or so much the better! The present life is short, it is
nothing more than a hard examination to be passed,
What counts is the other life, the life eternal. In order
to merit eternal life, we may find ourselves in given
moments unable to fulfil our duty as citizens and as
subjects when it is opposed to the duties laid down by
the GospeL Indeed for mystics, the most certain way of
ensuring future beatitude is to withdraw entirely from
the world about them, from all its laws and obligations,
to retreat to a solitude or shut themselves up in a
cloister, and consecrate themselves wholly to con-
templation.

But Dante, who is both pagan and Christian, does not
lose sight of the obligations and the purposes of the
practical and social life which coenobites have been un-
able to abolish. In order to construct his book
logically, he is forced to separate himself from two
saints who were dear to him and who had often been his
teachers, St Augustine and St Thomas. For St Thomas

244

THE TWO SUNS

the earthly good of the individual and of society is
secondary to the eternal good; and, therefore, the
authority which conducts us to this good, the priest-
hood, is superior to all others. Dante, on the contrary,
assigns an almost equal value to the two felicities, and
consequently to the two monarchs. In order to demon-
strate his thesis he has recourse to Averroistic principles;
that the human intellect, since it can know all things
perceptible to the senses, ought to know them all; but as
this is impossible for the individual, it results that
humanity as a whole knows them. Therefore there is a
social end independent of the individual. And the dis-
tinction between religious truth valid only in the super-
natural sphere, and political truth valid in civil com-
munities, presents a certain analogy with the Averroistic
doctrine of the two truths*

Dante, then, in order to write the second book of the
De MonarcLia and to make the legitimacy of the Roman
Empire directly derivable from God, had virtually to
contradict the famous indictment which St Augustine
wrote in the De Civitate Dei. For Dante, the earthly city
and in this he is profoundly Roman, or pagan is not
the city of the devil but a city almost as sacred as the
city of God, and it has its rational foundations and its
special virtues*

As we follow the poet's argument, which is indicated
in the Convivio and repeated in the De Monarcbia, we be-
come aware that the contrast between the two concep-
tions is less marked than it appeared at first. According
to Dante and here he returns to an idea cherished by
Augustine man has a right to happiness. But there are
two kinds of happiness; happiness in this brief vigil

245

DANTE VIVO WORK

which we call life, and happiness in the other life* To
this last we are guided by the Old and New Testaments
and by the Pope* But the Gospel is not so universally
accepted and practised that we can dispense with a sure
guide who will lead the way to earthly happiness. Man
wishes to be happy here below, but too often within him
dwells the accursed love of riches, of power, of honours,
which sets man against man, town against town, nation
against nation* In the midst of such confusion, dis-
cords, and wars, man cannot be happy, because the first
condition for happiness is peace. There is need, there-
fore, of a supreme authority set above the cities, the
peoples, and the princes, which, lighted by philosophy,
inspired by justice, free from all covetousness, will
hinder dissensions, rivalries, and wars. This authority
is the Emperor. Possessing all, he desires no more;
being above all princes in honour and legitimacy, he fears
no one; invested by God Himself and crowned by the
Pope, he has full authority over all men and is subject
to none. He alone, therefore, can conduct the human
race to perfect peace, to happiness.

In the mind of Dante, the Empire is not so much a
glorious abstraction as a guarantee against war. Dante
hates dissensions and conflicts. Dante is a pacifist, and
desires the Emperor because the Empire means peace.
Even Christ, according to Dante, would not descend to
earth until the world, under the imperial rule of
Augustus, found itself after so long a time enjoying
perfect peace. 1 As the complete pacification of mankind,
that is, the abolition of hate and the declaration of love,

1 Conv. TV, v, 8. The idea of peace returns constantly to Dante's mind.
Cf. Conv. IV, iv, 4; IV, vi, i7;De Mon. I, iv, z flF,; xi, 14, etc.

246

THE TWO SUNS

is one of the greatest aims of Christianity also, it is clear
that Dante *s pacifist ideal, urged upon the imperial
authority, was easily reconcilable with the aspirations
of his Christian heart. In brief, the Emperor is necessary
because men are not yet true Christians. If the teaching
of Christ had uprooted from their souls 'the blind greed
which bewitches them/ there would be no strife and
carnage and, consequently, no need of laws and emperors.

Unfortunately, those very men who ought to set a
good example and guide mankind to evangelical per-
fection, which means before all else the renunciation of
riches, have betrayed the Gospel and sought to make
themselves rich and powerful. Both the Church and the
Empire have been guilty. Constantine, by ceding a part
of the Empire to the Pope, was the first author of the
evil; and if the popes had been true followers of Christ,
they would have refused that gift. Instead, they have
begged for more, and have sought to displace the
Emperor and substitute themselves as supreme authority
over the princes. This usurpation, added to a thirst for
riches, has brought about a decline in the pontificate,
and rendered less and less efficacious its apostolic work
of spiritual renewal. Therefore, the complete separation
of the two powers is necessary. He who carries the
crosier ought not to carry the sword. The 'confusion of
rules' is the ruin of humanity, because to the many
causes of war already existing one more is added, con-
trary to reason and the Gospel. Kings are needed to
curb men and to force them to observe the laws; the
Emperor is needed to curb the ambitions of the kings
and to uproot every desire for war.

When Caesar and Peter are equally obeyed, but in

247

DANTE VIVO WORK

two spheres strictly delimited, the world will be at peace
and mankind will be happy in this life and certain of
happiness in the life to come. Neither Pope nor
Emperor has the right to give commands except in so far
as they contribute to the spiritual and temporal good of
their subjects. They are legitimate masters only in so far
as they are the first servants of the human race under the
all-seeing eye of God* The one is no greater than the
other* They are two suns destined to illumine the dark
forest of the earth* If they do not shine in full concord,
man suffers and comes to grief. Upon them lies the
terrible responsibility of the good and evil in the world*

Dante, raised on high by the majesty of his genius,
takes his place above the one and the other, and pro-
nounces them both unfaithful to their divine offices the
Emperor because he is remiss or timid; the Pope because
he usurps property and powers not his own* Dante
teaches them what they ought to be and what they ought
to do for the happiness of mankind*

Neither Guelph nor Ghibelline, Dante forms by him-
self alone the party of the disregarded prophets* But he
is convinced that he speaks in the name of the greatest
authorities that he knows: Reason, History, the Gospel*
His conception went beyond political science; it was
Utopia* But it was among those Utopias which the
greatest minds will dream of till the end of Time and
which suffice for the glory of one man and one age*

248

PROFESSOR DANTE

S\ A A AY his august shade pardon me, but I cannot

I VVY re ^ a ^ n fr m saying it: with less genius there
>rf ? f Vy^ulj J iave ^ en n ) ante t k e makings of an

intrepid professor. I do not say teacher for he was and
is still a very great teacher but rather a professor, just
that! His genius as a poet got the upper hand of his
pedagogical talents, but not always. The professor
remained in the shade, overpowered but not killed.

Some think that Dante taught publicly at Verona and
Ravenna, but we have no proofs and the most wary
Dantologists do not believe it. It is unimportant.
Whoever is born to be a professor carries his cathedra
with him, invisible and permanent; and the great hall of
a palace, the tavern, or the street serves him in place of
lecture-room and university. Then there are the books
which he writes; these can take on the method and the
appearance of formal lessons, as often happens in Dante's
writings.

All books teach or try to teach, but there are many
ways of doing it. Dante *s way very often recalls the
methods of the professor in his lecture-room. It may
well be that this meticulous method, founded on
definitions, distinctions, and formal disputations, was
suggested to him by the scholastics. The scholastics
really taught school, and many of their writings are
their courses of study or summaries of lessons prepared
for their students.

z 49

DANTE VIVO * WORK

Dante, on the contrary, is the lonely artist who writes
in the vernacular Italian for everyone, and who yet feels
impelled to stop every moment to give a lesson* The
Convivio is in large part a series of brief lessons on morals,
rhetoric, philosophy, and the history of philosophy, with
an occasional interlude on politics or religion. The De
Vulgari Eloquentia is an actual course of lessons, left
incomplete, on linguistics and metrics, not .without in-
struction also in theology and philosophy* The De
Monardia is a treatise on political science* The Epistle to
Can Grande is an excellent lecture on the underlying
meanings of literature* The Quastio de Aqua et Terra is a
public dissertation, serious and ample in treatment, on
natural philosophy and physics.

In the Commedia, too, the professor appears at every
turn, especially in the Purgatorio and the Paradise. He
uses every pretext to insert in the religious epopee of
salvation a little lesson on ancient or modern history, on
aesthetics, moral practice, astronomy, or the tenets of
the Church. Yielding still further to this invincible
passion for teaching, our poet pretends that he himself
is a pupil and listens to the learned lectures which he
himself puts into the mouth of Virgil, Beatrice, Father
Adam, and others. He often uses figures of speech
which recall the schools, like the famous one of the
'bachelor who arms himself but does not speak ' (Par.
XXIV, 46). Toward the end of the Paradise (XXIV-
XXVI), the starry heaven is transformed into an examina-
tions-hall where Dante is methodically questioned before
being admitted to the supreme visions, St Peter, St
James, and St John examine the poet who answers, of

250

PROFESSOR DANTE

course, astonishingly well. Only then Beatrice opens to
him the entire vista in order to qualify him to con-
template the angelic choirs and the mysteries of the
Trinity*

This pedagogical mania of Alighieri's corresponds, in
essentials, to his apostolic design of enlightening his
contemporaries and posterity with the truths in which he
believed; but in part, especially in his prose writings
which are more definitely doctrinal, it was the natural
outpouring of one who has discovered new lands and
rejoices to make them known to others.

Almost up to Dante's time, learning was a monopoly
of the clergy and was almost always transmitted in Latin*
Dante is one of the first laymen who mastered theo-
logical, philosophical, and classical culture, and who felt
himself compelled to share these shining riches with
his brothers in that vulgar tongue which was the only
language understood by everyone* In an age of universal
culture he could have spared himself the copiousness and
the insistence of his lessons* In the midst of a people
who were still almost ignorant, since the highest learn-
ing was the property of the men of the Church and was
shut away from others by the barrier of Latin, Alighieri
perceived the duty of making himself not only a prophet
and master of life, but also a professor* He knew
himself to be a poet and a great poet, but he wished to
be also Prrttptor Italix, schoolmaster to all Italy* What
seems at times the pedantic prolixity of a parvenu of
learning, happy to display his newly acquired treasures,
is in Dante the fulfilment of a duty and, at the same
time, a necessity in order that he may be the better

251

DANTE VIVO WORK

understood by those unlettered laymen to whom he
addressed himself* And the coruscating prophet per-
haps with more complacency than could have been ex-
pected from him frequently brought himself to don, in
prose and verse, the professorial gown.

252

DANTE, THE SORCERER

9N 1319, Matteo and Galeazzo Visconti, lords of
Milan, wished to bring about the death of Pope
John XXII by means of sorcery. They sum-
moned a priest, Bartolommeo Canolati, reputed a
sorcerer. He refused, however, to lend himself to this
undertaking, and refused a second time, a year later,
when he was called by the Visconti to Piacenza.
Then Galeazzo, perhaps to excite the professional
jealousy of the 'sorcerer '-priest, told him that they had
sent for Master Alighieri of Florence to do the business
magistrum Dante Aleguiro dt Florencia pro isto eodcm negocio
pro quo rogp tc.

Probably there was no truth in the statement that
Alighieri had been summoned. Nevertheless, it is clear
from a notarial document that in 1320 Dante was
thought, or possibly was thought, an expert in the black
arts.

He was not the first learned man who had such a
reputation. Virgil was so reputed; and so was Pope
Sylvester II, and Roger Bacon, the famous Franciscan,
who was contemporary with Alighieri. In those days it
was sufficient for a man to have a reputation for extra-
ordinary learning and to appear constantly absorbed in
solitary investigations and meditations in order for the
common people, and not only the common people, to
give him the name of sorcerer. In the case of the
Visconti it was something more. Dante had boasted, in
certain verses written in the vulgar tongue, of having

DANTE VIVO WORK

descended into helL It was known also that he did not
love Pope John XXII, against whom he had vented his
wrath (or was about to do so) in Canto XVIII of the
Paradise.

We may recall, however, that Dante had already
placed in the Inferno diviners and sorcerers, and that,
therefore, he did not intend to have anything in com-
mon with them* On the other hand, this statement is
valid only up to a certain point* Dante, as a Christian
and a moralist, put into the Inferno every sort of sinner;
but as a man and the Commedia furnishes evidence of
this he himself was not guiltless of some of those sins.
For example, among the lustful and the proud, to
mention only these, he must have felt himself a fellow-
sinner rather than a judge. In the lolgia where 'magic
frauds' are punished, when our poet sees the sorcerers
with their faces turned to the back so that their tears run
down over their buttocks, he is moved more than usual
and begins to weep* And it is just at this point that
Virgil pronounces the pitiless condemnation of every
pity* Those tears of Dante's, shall we say? were the
natural compassion of a kindly souL Or were they the
tears of remorse ? In short, was Dante entirely innocent
among those ravishers of the future ?

To me it seems that he was not* We can and we ought
to distinguish between the common and vulgar fortune-
teller, like Asdente, and the noble prophet like Joachim
of Flora, enskied by Alighieri* But in each of them the
primary wish is identical the desire to announce, or the
pretence of foretelling, things which have not yet
happened* In the fortune-teller there is greed of gain, a
foolish itch for notoriety, the aims of the charlatan.

254

DANTE, THE SORCERER

In the prophet there is inspiration (sometimes super-
natural), purity of purpose, and no self-interest* But
there is always a certain fellowship between the two as
there is between the sleep-walker of the market-place
and the witches in Macbeth, or between the bastard and
the legitimate son. Dante was a prophet and so pro-
claimed himself* His Inferno begins with the prophecy
of the Veltro. The Purgatorio ends with the prophecy of
the DXV. In the Paradiso his prophecies are confirmed
by Beatrice and St Peter.

We can go beyond this. Equally with workers in the
occult, Dante believed in astrology* He definitely admits
a direct influence of the stars on human affairs* "And
since the composition of the seed/ he writes in the
Conv/v/o, 'can be better or worse . . * and the dis-
position of the Heavens toward this effect can be good,
better, and excellent (varying according to the constella-
tions which are continually shifting), it results that
from the human seed and from these influences a soul
perfect or less perfect is produced* * / 1

Even the birth of Christ was due, according to our
astrologer, to the favourable disposition of the stars:
'since the heavens began to turn, they were never in
better disposition than when He who made them and
rules them descended thence to earth; as by virtue of
their arts the astrologers can still calculate/ 2 And it is
the stars which announce and approve the early advent of
the One sent by God, Beatrice affirms it in the famous
passage:

1 G*v. IV, xxi, 7. On the influence of die stars, see Purg. XVI, 73 ff. :
'The heavens initiate your movements,*
* Gwv. IV, v, 7,

255

DANTE VIVO WORK

ch'io veggio certamente, e pero il narro,
a darne tempo gia stelle propinque,
secure d'ogn'intoppo e d'ogni sbarro,

nel quale un cinquecento diece e cinque,
messo di Dio, ancidera la fuia
con quel gigante che con lei delinque. 1

I see with certainty, and therefore I announce it, stars even now
moving near, secure from every opposition and hindrance, to appoint us
a time at which a Five hundred, Ten, and Five, a DXV, sent by God,
shall slay the infamous woman and that giant who sins with hen

This means, so the commentators explain, that stars
are about to rise which, free from every opposing and
unpropitious circumstance, will by their influence
render the time of their ascendancy favourable and
opportune for the coming of the messenger of God. 2

Dante believed that he himself had been born under a
favourable conjunction of stars. Brunetto Latini is made
to say:

...... Se tu segui tua Stella

non puoi fallire a glorloso porto. 3

If you follow your star, you cannot fail to reach the glorious port.

When Dante has mounted to the Eighth Heaven and
discovers the constellation of the Twins, beneath which
he was born, he breaks forth into a hymn of astrological
gratitude:

O gloriose stelle, o lume pregno
di gran virtu, dal quale io riconosco
tutto, qual che si sia, il mio ingegno,

con voi nasceva e s'ascondeva vosco
quelli ch'e padre d'ogni mortal vita,
quand'io senti 1 di prima Taere tosco ;

e poi, quando mi fu grazia largtta
d'enrrar neH'alta rota che vi gira,
la vostra region mi fu sortita.

XXXIII, 40-45. 2 Vandelli's paraphrase.

3 Inf. XV, 55-56.
Z 5 6

DANTE, THE SORCERER

prayers

A voi divotamente ora sospira
Tanima mia, per acquistar virtuce
al passo forte che a s& la tira. 1

O glorious stars, O light imbued with great virtue, from whose
influence I acknowledge that I have received all my genius, whatever it
may be ; with you was rising and setting he who is father of all mortal
life, when first I breathed die Tuscan air; and then, when grace was
granted me to enter within the lofty wheel which turns you, your region
was assigned to me. To you my soul devoutly breathes the hope that she
may acquire virtue for the difficult task which draws her to itself.

Dante, it is clear, thought that he had been born under
a favourable constellation, and to it he addresses
that he may receive new power.

We cannot, therefore, think Galeazzo Visconti entirely
wrong if in the mysterious explorer of the Hereafter, the
prophet and astrologer, he saw a supposed worker of
evil spells*

But Dante has an art no less wonderful and even more
powerful than that of the sorcerers. His magic art,
which is one with his poetic art, is necromancy*
Alighieri is the greatest necromancer in all literature*
All the characters in the Divina Commclia, except the
living and breathing visitor to the XDther World, are
spectres of the dead, evoked with such effectiveness
through the powerful magic of Dante's art that even
to-day they appear alive to our eyes* Ulysses had to
pour blood at the entrance to Hades in order to give
some moments of life to those who had passed into the
realm of the dead* For Dante the power of his imagina-
tion sufficed to reanimate those dead bodies and to make
them speak in such a way that they seem more alive than
the living* In his own way Dante triumphs over death*

r. xxn, 112-123*

DANTE VIVO * WORK

From the three kingdoms of the shades he has drawn
forth those whom he wished* Supreme sorcerer, by the
enchantment of his verse, he has brought them back
among us on the earth; and here they will remain,
phantoms alive and speaking, as long as there is a man
able to understand his poem*

258

THE DEAD RESTORED TO LIFE

ANTE is the greatest poet of the dead* But on
) careful examination, we see that in his poem
there is no such thing as death.
I mean, first of all, physical death; the fearful
dissolution of the flesh, the decay of the body* That
terrifying vision of the final destruction which appears so
repellent and violent in the prose of Innocent HI, in
the poetry of Jacopone da Todi, in the frescoes of the
Camposanto at Pisa; a vision which continues until the
seventeenth century in the realistic and terrifying pages
of John Donne, of Father Segneri, and of Daniel
Bartoli this is an aspect of death never found in the
Commcdia. In Dante, we are in the realm of the dead,
but there is no charnel-house, no ossuary, no vermiculous
destruction of the body, no uncovering of tombs. We
are among the dead, but there is no stench of dead
bodies, no whiteness of skeletons. All of Dante's dead
have a body either tortured or shining, but in appearance
whole, although not solid. Some of die dead are changed
into branches, others into serpents, others into light and
flame. But nowhere is there the evil smell of the
cemetery or of the corpse in decay*

The dead of Dante resemble the living in almost every
way. They speak, they remember, they lament, they
prophesy, they teach. The earth and the life of earth are
present to them even in the heights of the Paradise. They
are souls who suffer, hope, rejoice. They are not the
dead who cause shuddering and fear. Only Buonconte

259

DANTE VIVO WORK

gives a thought to his body dragged along by the waters,
and Manfred to his corpse buried beneath the cairn.
But all appear as if death had been only a very brief pause
in life, like a simple moving from a temporary dwelling
to a permanent one.

Dante, differing from the ascetics and the moralists
before and after him, does not wish to teach the true
life of the soul through the pitiable spectacle of the
body. He does not wish to rouse terror, or rather he
wishes to rouse it, but without the display of the
charnel-house, representing for his purpose the torments
of the souls in the new world which they inhabit. Not
the earth, but the tombs are forgotten. Even from the
burning sepulchres of the heresiarchs, the damned souls
lift themselves to speak, upright and whole.

Why has Dante made no use of the fearful theme so
dear to the ascetics of every age ? Because the decay of the
body, the vile and perishable sheath of the soul, has little
importance for one who believes in a double survival.

Dante, as a Christian, believed in the everlasting life
of the soul in Heaven. As a poet he believed in life
perpetuated on earth by glory. The ancients coveted
this last above all things. Ascetics desired only the first.
Dante had a lively faith in both. Man, as he believed,
does not die. He continues to live here below in his
own works and in the memories of men. He continues
to live hereafter either in torture or in beatitude* The
death of the body is for him only an unimportant
episode, the passing from one to another form of life.

Dante was too spiritual to give great importance to the
abhorrent destiny of our mortal body. When the soul
has departed, the body remains an insensible sheath

260

THE DEAD RESTORED TO LIFE

which will be devoured by worms* But the soul knows
nothing of that horrible dissolution, and does not suffer.
To exhibit to the living the open tombs with their
carrion excarnated and deliquescent might be a preacher's
expedient to inspire humility or thoughts of the transi-
toriness of earthly things; but it was not worthy of a
philosopher. Dante supplants these visions of the tomb
by introducing us among dead who seem alive, among
dead who have still the appearance and feelings of the
living.

He was led all the more toward this because at the
period when he began to write the Commtdia, the beings
most loved by him were already in the kingdom of the
dead. His mother was dead, his father was dead;
Beatrice was dead, the woman of his first love; dead his
first and best-loved master, Brunetto; dead the first of
his friends, Guido. All the life of his affections had been
transferred to the other world* Those who had loved
him and whom he had loved were now among the dead.
In expectation of seeing them again, he wished to re-
suscitate them in fancy, to treat them as living, to move
toward them in anticipation.

In this desire is to be found, I think, one of the initial
motives influencing Dante *s choice of theme the
journey in the realms of death; a theme common in
literature from the time of the Odyssey. In order to call
mankind to the true salvation, he could have written, as
so many others did, a treatise on morals, a history of the
world, a guide to mysticism* But these would have been
abstract works and of little efficacy* As artist and as
poet, he chose the world of the dead because it would
permit him to give manifest life and potent words to

261

DANTE VIVO WORK

the shades called forth in the poem. It is for this reason
that in Dante the dead are alive, and are indeed the only
living, freed as they now are for ever from the ephemeral
prison-house of flesh and bone,

Nietzsche, who passes for a profound thinker, has
defined Dante, in the Twilight of tie Idols, as 'the hyena
who composes poetry among the tombs . ' The definition
may seem a happy one or, at least, to have a semblance
of truth; but it proves that Nietzsche did not read the
Divina Commedia, or that he read it carelessly and hastily.
The hyena feeds on dead bodies, and Dante is the
opposite of a necrophagist* He does not give sepulture
within himself to the dead, but he gives new life to those
no longer living* He restores the dead to life, it may be
for only a moment and with only a word, in that world
so terribly alive, the world of the imagination, the world
of eternal resurrection* To the disembodied shades he
restores a body; to those mute through long silence he
gives a voice. And he makes use of those dead to whom
he has given an aspect of life, to teach the way of a
nobler life to those still living. Dante, in short, not
only writes poetry in the purely literary sense, he creates.

Reflecting on Nietzsche's known jealousy, I have
found the key to his contemptuous judgement of Dante,
given in these words from Ecce Homo: 'Dante compared to
Zarathustra is only a believer and not a man who first
creates the truth, a spirit which dominates the world,
a fatality/

Let us examine each word* 'Compared to Zara-
thustra': the clamorous prophet, born of Nietzsche's
nostalgia, does not fear comparison with the Florentine
and Catholic prophet*

262

THE DEAD RESTORED TO LIFE

He 'is only a believer/ that is, a minus labens, an
unfortunate, a primitive. Nietzsche also is a "believer/
but he does not lower himself, as Dante did, to believe
in Christ. He believes in himself, he believes in
Dionysius, he believes in the coming of the Superman.

'Not a man who first creates the truth/ Truth is not
something to be sought for; it is not something which
stands of itself, eternal, outside and above man* But
man himself, a super-Protagoras, must create it in his
own fashion, make it to his own measure, in order that
it may serve to satisfy both his boasting and his extrava-
gant speculations.

'Not a spirit which dominates the world/ An answer
to this insolent and fallacious declaration has been made
by a fellow-countryman of Nietzsche, Friedrich Gun-
dolf, the greatest German critic of our time. In the
introduction to his book on Goethe, he recognizes two
great types of creators the introverted and the expan-
sive. The poet who, according to Gundolf, best corre-
sponds to the first type is Dante. He continues, 'The
introverted creator tends to transform the whole world
into his own Ego, to remake it according to his own
inmost image. He feels his Ego as the centre and symbol
of the world, as happened in the case of Dante/

Was Nietzsche, who was secretly jealous of Jesus in
the field of religion, of Socrates in the field of philo-
sophy, of Wagner in the field of art, jealous also of
Dante, at least momentarily, in the field of poetry? 1

1 * Nietzsche a etc jaloux du Christ, jaloux jusqu'a la folie.' A. Gide,
DostoievsiL Paris, Plon, 1923, p. 116, On the secret affinity of Nietzsche
with those whom he opposed most violently, see E. Bertram, NietQclc. Vcrsucb
cintr Mytlologie. Berlin, 1919*

263

THE COMMEDIA AS REVENGE

s~^ /-)~\E cou ^ * ve * anc ^ ot kers have gi yen > a number
^* / 1 V /of definitions of the Divina Commedia. Each of
JS r them, if not altogether senseless and foolish,
is probably true in what it affirms, if not always
true in what it tends to exclude. In a youthful
essay, I myself ventured to define the poem in a phrase
which seemed to me fresh and comprehensive. I called
it *a Last Judgement anticipated/ 1 I do not wish to-
day to forswear or refute that ambitious definition* It
may stand beside the others because it serves to recall
one of the aspects under which we may study the opws
mains of Dante.

But a poem like that, constructed by the patient and
impassioned work of years, by a mind greater than the
greatest in so many qualities, cannot be reduced to a
single phrase. The aims which the poet set for himself
were undoubtedly many, and there are likewise many
aspects and characteristics which we can discover in the
poem according to the emphasis we place upon one or
the other of its elements.

One of the most original definitions of the poem, in
my opinion, is that offered by Piero Misciattelli. The
Divina Commedia, he says, 'is nothing other than a
miracle performed by the Blessed Virgin to save the
soul of Dante; a miracle glorified in verse by the sinner
devoted to Mary. . . . Who first was moved to pity

1 In Dantt vicar io d'lAdio, published in 1907; now reprinted in Ritratti
ItalianL Florence, Vallecchi, 1932, pp. 7-17.

264

THE COMMEDIA AS REVENGE

by Dante 's lot? Who averted the danger of the "harsh
judgement" hanging over him? The gentle Lady of
Heaven, Mary. The Divina Commtdia may be called
a miracle of the love of Mary/ 1

Such a conception is far from being arbitrary. It has
the merit besides of putting into relief one of the
starting-points of Dante's inspiration. Nevertheless, it
is not possible to consider the Commedia solely as an
ex voto to the Madonna. It is that certainly, but not
only that. The sacred poem is a forest, and in the
forest is a great abundance of plants and animals. It is
a populous city, and a city cannot be reduced to a
church-tower. It is the superposition of three realms,
of three worlds; and no formula, however ingenious,
clever, and illuminating, can include them alL But this
does not mean that we should give up trying to find it.
The whole truth, as complex as the work, will result
from the sum of the multiple points of view, in so far
as they do not contradict or nullify one another*

We might, for example, suggest a definition of the
Divina Commedia which would emphasize especially the
original subjective impulse which led Dante to write it.
Every work of art is, in addition to many other things,
an imaginary compensation which the artist offers to
his unsatisfied souL He who cannot fight writes a
bellicose book. A man unloved consoles himself with
poems or romances of love. One who cannot dominate
the nations by force, tries to seduce and conquer them
with his music.

1 Miracoli della gloriosa Vergini Maria, edited with an introduction by P.
Misciattelli, Milan, Treves, 1929, pp. xzzviii-xlii. On Dante's worship of the
Madonna, see P. Domenico Bassi, Maria ntl pocma. di D&ntt. Florence, Lib. Ed.
Fior., 1931.

265

DANTE VIVO - WORK **)

Applying this principle, we may define the Divina
Commcdia as a retaliation and a revenge* Dante's tem-
poral state did not measure up to his pride. Born of an
ancient family, he was poor and forced to take second
place. Desirous of excelling in the front rank, and of
commanding others, he had to content himself with
the duties of a subordinate and appear almost as a
beggar. He wished for the moral reform of the Church,

oo

and became the victim of Boniface VIIL He hoped to
re-enter his native country, and his own city obstin-
ately repulsed him. He believed for a moment that
Henry VII might be the awaited deliverer, and then
saw the Emperor's undertaking come to a wretched
end.

Then was born in his mind the overpowering need of
a victorious recovery, of a revenge which should com-
pensate him for his humiliations and delusions. The
poor wandering pilgrim, compelled to accept the hospi-
tality of the great, will judge from on high the kings
and emperors. The exile, victorious through the splen-
dour of his poetry, will be recalled to Florence to re-
ceive the crown. The victim of Pope Boniface will
cause the covetous and simoniacal popes to be con-
demned by the voices of the saints. The humble
courtier of princes will make himself the announcer
and prophet of an approaching restoration of the world.
Inconspicuous, neglected, sacrificed in the temporal
order of the world, Dante will declare his unmeasured
greatness in the spiritual order. The Divina Commedia
is the proof of his claims; it is his refuge, his sublime
revenge* He is poor, but he offers as a gift that which
is worth more than gold. He is obscure, and one word

z66

THE COMMIDIA AS REVENGE

of his confers immortality* He was defeated in life,
and reconquers a thousandfold in poetry .

Meanwhile he revenges himself for all his humilia-
tions and all his injuries. He rends Florence which
had banished him. He casts dishonour on Boniface
who had caused his condemnation and exile* He dis-
tributes through the blackest circles of Hell his own
enemies, the enemies of truth, and the enemies of the
Empire* The power of his art is such that his vengeance
goes on without end. The world which saw the birth
of the poet is now dust and a few names. Dante alone
is alive, proud, victorious.

267

HEAVEN AND EARTH

ANTE had the instinct and habit of greatness;
Jnot only of moral and intellectual greatness,
but of that sort which seems to be bound up
with the idea of quantity; a love of the immense and
the immeasurable* It derived first of all from the
very nature of his constructive and soaring genius the
spirit of an eagle which had at its service an architect
of the universal and the sublime* It came to him also
from the very air and attitude of mind of the period.
The thirteenth century in which he was born/ and which
deserves much more than the fifteenth to be called the
Renaissance, had seen the rise of the vast doctrinal
system of Dante's master, St Thomas, and of those
equally vast if less important of Roger Bacon, Vincent
of Beauvais, and Brunetto Latini* The learned men of
that time did not content themselves with essays, with
contributions, and approaches. They were titanic, en-
cyclopaedic. They did not hesitate to undertake labours
destined *to describe the foundation of the whole
Universe/ 1

But perhaps no one undertook to weave and colour
so immense a web as Alighieri did. Even more than
most great men, he had the disposition to see and to
think greatly* His impassioned imagination was scarcely
content with the whole* If art, as someone has said, is
an exaggeration, then no one was a greater artist than
Dante* In his mind, a young girl becomes a divinity;

1 Inf. XXXH, 8*

268

HEAVEN AND EARTH

the little city of merchants, a terrestrial hell; a second-
rate emperor becomes a new Moses, a new David, a
Jove, a Titan, a second Christ, The Inferno is a
gigantic crater which opens down to the centre of the
earth. Purgatory is an immense mountain which rises
from the unbroken expanse of ocean until, with the
leafy boughs of the Earthly Paradise, it almost touches
the first heaven.

Giants have a special attraction for Alighieri, whether
they are imaginary and symbolic like the Old Man of
Crete, monstrous like Geryon, arrogant and fulminat-
ing like Capaneus, terrible and rising tall as towers
around the lowest pit of the Inferno like Nimrod,
Ephialtes, Briareus, and Antaeus* They make Dante
shake with fear, but his imagination cannot picture
them as less terrible* It almost seems as if he were
attracted by that corporeal magnitude which suggests,
even in these accursed giants, a confused idea of super-
human majesty.

But the greatness most typical of Dante is not to be
sought for so much in outward aspects and in imaginary
creatures as in the conception of the poem as a whole* It
is the only work among the great creations of human
genius which really embraces in its plan and in the
working out of that plan, the entire universe. That
totality of subject-matter which appeared to be re-
served for the vast compendiums of history, philosophy,
and theology was transported successfully into poetry,
for the first and last time, by Dante* There are poems
and dramas which mingle together heaven and earth*
In the Iliad we are present at assemblies of the gods on
Olympus; in the Odyssey and in the jntid we descend

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DANTE VIVO WORK

Into Hades; in Jerusalem Delivered and in Paradise Lost we
see intervention by celestial and infernal powers; in
Faust there is a prologue in Heaven and an attempt to
reach the mysterious realm of the Mothers. But these
supernatural episodes remain fragments, incidental events,
simple interludes: the poems and the characters who
appear in them are almost always terrestrial* In the
Commedia, on the contrary, there is all this present world
but, even more, all the other world: the cavity of the
earth, the other face of the earth, the nine heavens
which revolve around it, and, finally, the supreme
heaven, unimaginable and ineffable, where, radiant in
its mystery, abides the triune Divinity.

As these three worlds are peopled by creatures who
lived on earth and who remember the earth, and suffer
or rejoice for what they did there, the poem reflects,
almost as in a great mirror, all our life in all its mani-
festations, its activities, its sufferings, and its achieve-
ments. But in addition there is the life which is no
longer life but death, which, in turn, has its own life,
full of torture or of bliss; and there are all those worlds
which are hidden from the eyes of the living the world
of the indifferent, the world of the blameless unre-
deemed, the world of the eternally damned, the world
of those to whom liberation has been promised, the
world of the blessed and the saints, the world of the
angelic hierarchies and of the Virgin, the world and
the super-world of the Love which moves every world*
All the universe visible and invisible, physical and meta-
physical, human and divine, subterranean and astral,
is contained in the Commedia. All is there from the
lizard which runs across the road, to Eve, the ancient

270

HEAVEN AND EARTH

mother of the living; from the lark which sings as it
rises from the furrow, to the Thrones and Domina-
tions; from the little child who seeks its mother, to
the Virgin Mother, daughter of her Son; from the
'evil worm' with the three crushing mouths, to the
intolerable vision of the Trinity*

The history of the world from the fall of Adam to
the latest misdeed in Romagna; biblical, classical, and
contemporary history all is contained, in allusions and
flashes, in the three canticles of the Commedia. In
addition, these contain, in fragments, a summa tbto-
logica, a treatise on cosmography, a speculum of Nature
in all her aspects. Men of all races, of all times, of all
religious faiths, people this epopee at once funereal and
exultant; and all the beasts of the earth and birds of the
air, real or symbolic, appear there.

Even to-day Dante's poem remains, in the universality
of its subject-matter, the vastest of all those which the
human mind has conceived and created. Works exist
which try to represent, by means of legendary or real-
istic adventures, almost the whole life of man* But the
Orlando Furioso, Don Quixote, the plays of Shakespeare,
Candide, and the Comtdit Humaine, all deal with ter-
restrial things, and they have as background and setting
the countries and cities of the earth; and as characters,
living human beings* In the Commedia, on the contrary,
is presented all the known life of the earth and, in
addition, all the other life of the world beyond* Men
of every sort appear; but we see also the shades of the
dead, the demons, the angels, the three Divine Persons*
No other human book up to the present has surpassed
the Divina Cvmmcdia in the vastness of its theme* Only

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DANTE VIVO WORK

the Old and New Testaments, which we owe to the
inspiration of God, surpass it and overshadow it*

It is not surprising that Dante, toward the close of
his superhuman labour, should call his work

, . . '1 poema sacro
al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terra* 1

The sacred poem to which both heaven and earth have set their hand.

Commentators explain 'heaven and earth* in two
ways: Dante means either that the poem describes
heavenly and earthly things, or that he was aided in
composing it by heavenly knowledge (revelation and
theology) and by earthly knowledge (science and philo-
sophy)*

It seems to me, however, that Dante may have meant
something more, that he may have been transported by
a thought so majestic in its implications that the com-
mentators have not perceived it or have not dared to
express it* The poet does not say that heaven and earth
are the subject of his poem, but that heaven and earth
have 'set their hand' to a poem which is not merely
human but 'sacred/ Dante himself, toward the end of
the Paradise, must have been amazed by the grandeur,
the power, and the profundity of the work which had
'made him lean/ Perhaps the thought flashed upon
him that he was not the sole author of the great poem.
Might he not have thought that he had at times been
inspired directly by God, to whom he wished to lead
back humanity corrupted and gone astray ? Had Heaven,
perhaps, to aid him in his sublime labour, set its own
hand to the task Heaven and He who in other times

1 Par. XXV, 1-2.

272

HEAVEN AND EARTH

inspired Moses and David, the Prophets and the Evange-
lists? Might not the Commelia, also, be a prophecy,
almost a continuation of the New Testament? Had
the words been given to him almost by supernatural
dictation? Had he an unseen collaborator whom he
called 'heaven/ that is, God? Is it not right, therefore,
that his poem should be called 'sacred/ just as the
Scriptures are called sacred because they were inspired
by God?

Perhaps he himself trembled and hesitated when such
proud thoughts as these rose in his mind. So he con-
tented himself with merely glancing at them quickly
and then veiling them. But the soul of Dante was in-
deed capable of such great pride and of such humility,
Of pride, because he thought, No human work is equal
to this of mine, worthy to be called sacred* Of humility,
because he would say to himself, Alone, without the
help of God, I could not have accomplished it.

He knew that true nobility of soul is a gift of Divine
Grace and that because of this some men are 'almost as
gods/ 1 Almost certainly Dante believed himself to be
one of these men 'most noble and divine/ that is y
almost God (guasi Die). What wonder if he imagined
himself to be aided and inspired by Heaven?

1 Conv. IV, xx, 3, 4.

273

THE DEMIURGIC POEM

E greatest wrong which we can do to Dante
one which many continually do him is to
classify his most important work as litera-
ture; although, of course, great poetry is literature.
The Divina Commedia is a book like other books
only in appearance, only in so far as it uses words
as its vehicle for the transmission of ideas* In reality,
at least in the intention of its creator, it is an act, a
means of action, a work, an opera in the primary mean-
ing of the word; that is, an attempt to change and
transform material. In this case the material is man.

Dante has a love for perfect literary form, for 'bello
stile* and 'dolce stile/ a passion for teaching, a longing
for glory and for revenge. But his poem was not be-
gotten solely from these motives. Dante did not wish
to make a fine book which would amuse or instruct;
and he would have been ashamed to be considered
simply one of the main pillars in the temple of the
Belles-Lettres.

Dante wished to act, to change the souls of men and
the condition of the world. In his eyes, the Commedia
is above all the instrument of this transforming opera-
tion, of this remaking of the human race. Only that it
may attain this end, act more effectively on the spirits
of men, it is powerful art and noble poetry.

Dante himself states clearly in his letter to Can
Grande the purpose of the poem: '* . . finis totius et
partis est removere viventes in hac vita de statu miseriae

274

THE DEMIURGIC POEM

et perducere ad statum felicitatis. Genus vero phylo-
sophiae sub quo hie in toto et parte proceditur, esc
morale negotium, sive ethica; quia non ad speculandurn,
sed ad opus inventum est totum et pars/ 1

Nothing could be more explicit than this. The Corn-
media is not to be a poem solely for aesthetic enjoyment
art for art's sake nor, as most people think, for
philosophical teaching, a book of instruction . 2 It is
to be a practical work, a work operative and formative,
a work which shall be not only poetically beautiful and
morally good, but which shall change the state of man,
and change it radically; which shall conduct man from
misery to happiness, from suffering to beatitude, from
present hell to future heaven.

It makes use of figurative language and metrical forms,
but it is not a literary work. It contains ideas and
theories, but it is not a speculative work. It reveals
itself in forms of beauty, but only in a subordinate
way is it a work of art.

The Commcdia was to produce not merely admiration
and surprise; it was to produce a miracle a funda-
mental change in the human race. Art in this instance
was not to illuminate; even less was it to amuse. It was
to metamorphose. Therefore the Gmmfdia is outside
all the categories of human literature. It is useless to

1 Epist. Xffl, 59-40* The purpose of die whole and the part is to remove
those living in this\life from their state of misery and to lead them to a state
of happiness. Now the kind of philosophy under which it advances in both
the whole and the part is a moral act, or ethics ; since die whole as well as the
part was conceived not for speculation, but for a practical end.

* In the letter to Can Grande quoted above, Dante speaks of the Commalia
as opera dettrinalc, because if contains certain theoretical teaching (Epitf. XIII,
18). But this has to do with a means of subserving the chief end, which is
practical.

275

DANTE VIVO - WORK ___j/)

seek a definition of it, or a designation in the thickets
of aesthetics* It is not a moral poem, nor an heroic
fable, nor a mystic drama, nor even a simple Odyssey
of the other world*

It is a writing, but only in so far as the written signs
can serve as implements and tools of a transmutation
not wholly intellectual* It is composed of words, but
only in so far as the words can be translated into acts,
and into acts such as to change the values of life and
the face of the earth*

The Commtdia, in short, is to be the book as instru-
ment; as hammer, scourge, wings, remedy. The 'sacred*
book which shall melt down and recast the hearts of
men, and redeem those who are plunged in the 'black
slime*' The book which is to mark a new epoch in the
history of mankind, making happy the unhappy, and
holy the sinful*

Dante is not only a writer, a philosopher, a moralist*
He is a demiurge, a sort of rival of God* His purpose
is to offer a supplement to the Bible, a sequel to the
Apocalypse* He is a poet, but only in the primary and
literal sense of the word as one who makes, who works
from TToitlv* to make, to produce* Although the
author of the DC Vulgari Eloquentia defines poetry as
fictio rttlorica musieaque posita,* the author of the Com-
mtlia returns intuitively and willingly to the most
ancient conception which makes poetry synonymous
with magic, something which possesses a miraculously
transforming power* Dante is the new Orpheus* He

1 I> 7.2:. II, iv, z. The meaning of this much-debated phrase seems to be
A product of the imagination of a rhetorical kind, composed in verse.
Trans*

276

THE DEMIURGIC POEM

wishes to tame wild beasts; or, rather, to make the evil
good, the foolish wise, the mournful happy.

The fundamental problem for Dante, as for every
truly great man, is this: Can the human soul be changed ?
and how?

And why change it? Because men suffer and make
others suffer* Because the world is a place of vileness
and of torture. Whoever loves men must perceive
within himself, as an absolute duty, the need of working
to make them less unhappy and the world less vile.

It is not enough to change the outward forms, the
institutions, the teaching, the dominating castes. In
order to obtain a true transformation, complete and
enduring, it is necessary to change from the very bottom
the character and the inherent powers of man, his
feelings and his passions.

To wish to change the human soul means not only
that we consider it base and weak, but that we possess
a model to which we wish to conform it, in order that
it may rise and free itself. For a Christian there is a
model, perfect and divine, and its lines are drawn for
ever in the Gospel.

But by what means can we bring about this funda-
mental change, apparently impossible and yet necessary?
Certainly not alone by moral teaching and preaching.
It is not sufficient to say to men Do this, and do not
do that. It is not sufficient to praise innocence and love,
and to rail against lust and idleness. Almost all men
know approximately what is good and what is evil; but
most of them are incapable of good and continue to
wade in evil.

Dante understood perfectly this ineffectiveness of

277

DANTE VIVO WORK

pure theory* He was not content to repeat lessons
already familiar to the mind*

The ordinary man, he thought, is by nature sensual.
He is not moved by abstract ideas, by philosophical
terms, by the syllogisms of ethics, by general sermons
on the moral entity. 1 Man is bodily sense above all,
sight and hearing; and feeling especially, fear and
desire.

It is necessary to place before the eyes of men the
ugliness of the present life, and to show in concrete
forms, fearful and horrible forms, what the lot of
sinners will be after death. It is useless to discourse in
mystic phrases about the felicity of the blessed and the
saints. It is necessary to make men see it, to make
them hear, taste, and desire that bliss which will actually
be found in the high heavens, in the light, the splendour,
the flaming brightness, the harmony, the sweetness, the
supreme ecstasy of the Empyrean*

In order that the vision, not merely the apprehension,
of this triple life the life of the damned, the hopeful,
and the blest may be reproduced for the living in a
manner potent and irrefutable, carnal for the carnal,
sensual for the sensual, the poet resorts to the power of
poetry, to the enchantment of word-music, to the
supreme /miracles of art. In order to work upon men,
he has need to terrify them and to charm them.

From this inspiration and this desire was born in the
spirit of Dante the Divina Commedia, a book unique in

1 Cacciaguida says to Dante : 'The mind of him who hears is not persuaded,
nor does it feel confidence ... in an argument which is not apparent'
(Par. XVII, 139-142). That is, the mind is not moved *by theoretical
reasoning which is not clear, which is not rendered easily understandable and
persuasive by clear examples/ Vandelli.

278

THE DEMIURGIC POEM

the entire range of literature precisely because it is not
only a book but something more than a book: one of
the most heroic attempts that a man has ever made to
reform and to save his unhappy brothers, to conduct
the living, as the poet himself said, from a state of
misery to a state of felicity.

The Commedia is a miracle of poetry which was meant
to perform a striking spiritual miracle. Therefore it
does not belong solely to the brief history of literature,
but above all else to the strange and dolorous history of
mankind.

279

THE VELTRO

/^ * o one who writes about Dante can refrain
V V\ fr m pursing the Veltro. He may shun the
^ * Vp$ ftrmo, skip the disdegno di Guido, give over
the Papt Satan aleppe, disregard Matilda and the femmina
Idla, avoid the Messenger from Heaven who opens the
city of Dis with his rod. But he cannot ignore the
Veltro (the Hound), and its twin-brother, the DXV,
the Five-Hundred-Ten-and-Five.

The Inferno is not only a description of sufferings.
For readers and commentators, it is an instrument of
fresh tortures. Every Dantist is damned. He is con-
demned to everlasting research on the meaning of the
Veltro* The problem is to strip from this famous
hound the mask of the symbol, to discover his true
name* No excuses may be made; there is no way of
escape* A man must resign himself to the inevitable
and say, as did the people of Dante's Florence, *I
submit!'

A harsh necessity for one who enjoys the full splen-
dour of the poetry and the ascent to the heavens of its
grandeur and its truth, to bring himself after such
magnificence to the task of deciphering enigmas. He
risks being mistaken for a trifler or a maniac, or for
one of the devotees of learned pastimes and of esoteric
toys* But that is of no moment* The messianic pro-
phecies of the Veltro and the DXV are at the very
centre of Dante's thought, and upon their interpreta-
tion depends in part the true meaning of the Commtdia.

280

THE VELTRO

The undertaking may well seem hopeless. Hundreds
of printed articles, long and short, deal with this
famous mystery, but as yet there is no agreement. It is
not possible to review in a few pages the history of the
pursuit of that animal whose 'chief excellence . * * lies
in his swift running'; 1 and in any case that is not my
present concern.

Whom does the Veltro symbolize? The candidates
are not few: Henry VH, Duke Louis of Bavaria, the
Khan of Tartary, Can Grande della Scala, Uguccione
della Faggiola, Guido Bonacolsi of Mantua, the Emperor
William of Germany, Cino da Pistoia, Castruccio
Castracani, Pope Benedict XI, Garibaldi, Vittorio
Emanuele II, an unidentified Ghibelline captain, an
unidentified emperor, an angelic pope unidentified,
Dante himself, or Christ returning. To-day most writers
on the subject believe that it must refer to an emperor;
few think that it means either a pontiff or the Redeemer.

Let me say at once that those who think that the
Veltro means Christ seem to me nearest to the true
interpretation. An attentive reading of the first canto
of the Inferno, accompanied by some knowledge of the
religious thought of Dante's period, quickly convinces
one that no man, however powerful and perfect, can
be concealed under the symbol of the Veltro. If, as
almost everyone believes, the She- Wolf is Avarice, that
is, covetousness in all its forms, and in the last analysis,
the centre and essence of sin, it is not conceivable that
Dante should expect from a mere man the miraculous
and supernatural enterprise of driving it from the world
and thrusting it back into the Inferno*

1 Conv. I, xif, 8. Cfc Inf. XIII, 125-126.
28l

DANTE VIVO - WORK

Those who identify the Veltro as Henry VII, always
cite those passages l where Dante speaks of the Emperor
as superior to every desire because, since he possesses
all, he can desire nothing. But they forget that the
Emperor is the only one in this privileged position,
that he alone is exempt from avarice. What of all other
men? However submissive they may be to the will of
a single ruler, they will always go on desiring the good
things of earth, possessions. No emperor can stop his
subjects from feeding on 'land and lucre/ The Wolf
might be driven from the mind of the Emperor, but it
would remain in every town; while the Veltro, as Dante
says, must make it disappear from the face of the earth*

To expel completely from human life the chief cause
of sin is not a task to be entrusted to a man, born in
sin and from sin, even though he may be great and
holy. The freeing of humanity from the Wolf, and
from the Leopard and the Lion, 2 can be accomplished
only through the act and favour of the Omnipotent,
of God, But Christ, according to the Scriptures and
the early Christian beliefs, will return upon the earth
only at the end of time, for the Last Judgement, when
the earthly history of the human race will be completed*
Dante, however, definitely assumes that the Veltro will
inaugurate a new epoch in the lives of men. If every-
thing were ended for mankind, it would no longer be
necessary to put the Wolf back into the Inferno, because
the Wolf dwells within men; it is the avarice which
consumes them, which is bound up with their existence.

1 DC Mon. I, xi, ij; XIII, 7. Conv. IV, iv, 4,

2 Perhaps we should remind ourselves that die three beasts, which appear
in In/1 I, are usually understood as representing Avarice, Lust, and Pride.
Trans,

282

THE VELTRO

When the last man is dead, avarice will automatically
disappear.

If then we must think of the intervention of a Divine
Person, but must exclude a return of Christ, we must
necessarily turn to the Third Person, to the Holy Spirit.
The first one to think of this interpretation, more than
forty years ago, was a German, Paulus Cassel; 1 but he
did not present arguments of a nature to be taken
seriously. He based his reasoning mainly on etymo-
logical subtleties which caused him to identify the
Veltro with words which signify vento, wind; so that
the transition was easy from wind to breath and to
spirit, and the Holy Spirit. 2

An Italian, Filomusi Guelfi, 3 with greater insight and
broader preparation, attempted to prove that the Veltro
must be the Holy Spirit. Other arguments may be
added, with advantage, to his discussion.

Let us return, meanwhile, to an examination of the
perplexing lines.

Why should Dante have called the Holy Spirit a
Veltro, a Greyhound? First of all, as others have already
observed-, because the use of the Wolf demanded the

1 D. Paulus Cassel, ll Vdtro, der Retter und Dicker in Dantes Halle. Berlin
and Guben, Sallischer Veriag, 1890 ; a pamphlet of 57 pages.

That Dante's Veltro might have reference to a religious reform of the world
(and therefore to Joachimite Franciscanism) was the thought expressed by
Rousselot (Histoire de I'Evangile EterneL Paris, 1861); Kraus(Xmfr. Sein Lelen
und seine Werke. Berlin, Grote, 1897); J. C. Huck (Ulertin von C&alt tmd
(lessen Ideenkreis. Freiburg L B. Herder, 1903); P. A.Martini (Dante Fran&s-
tano. Arezzo, 1921, pp. 17-18), and others,

2 P. Cassel, pp. 2526. The conclusion alone is important : *Der Veltro ist
fur den Dichter das allegorische Bild des heiligen Geistes/

5 L. Filomusi Guelfi, Ifallegoria fondnment&le del poem* di L ante. Florence,
Olschki, 1910. Note especially pp. 24-32. I accept for the most part
GuelfTs arguments, But in my discussion I proceed in another way, adding
proofs which do not appear in his article,

283

DANTE VIVO WORK

use of one of its natural enemies a hunting dog famous
for its speed in running. We must not think it strange
that Dante concealed under the name of an animal one
of the Divine Persons* In Christian symbolism and in
mediaeval poetry, Jesus Himself appears as a fish, a
lamb, a serpent, a lion, a dragon; * and Dante calls Him
a pelican. 2 The Holy Spirit had already been repre-
sented as a dove, that is, under the symbol of an animaL
It is possible that the selection of the Greyhound, the
Veltro, as an enemy to the three beasts, had been sug-
gested to Dante by the dream of Charlemagne in the
Chanson de Roland:^ Charlemagne is asleep and dreams of
being attacked by a bear and a leopard, but 'd'enz de
sale uns veltres avalat/ from within the hall a hound
leaps down and bites the two beasts furiously.

Finally, the six letters in the word Veltro may con-
ceal an allusion, not yet observed, to the doctrine of
Joachim of Flora. We are aware that Joachim's prophecy
of the coming kingdom of the Holy Spirit was known
in Dante's time under the name of Vangelo Eterno, the
Eternal Gospel. 4 In the words, Vangelo Eterno are con-
cealed, in their proper order, the six letters which form
the word Veltro:

VangEL eTeRnO.

1 Cf Remy de Gourmont, Le Latin Mystique. Paris, Cres, 1913 (znd ed.),
and other collections of mediaeval poetry.
Par. XXV, 113.

3 LVIT, 730. The first to make the comparison was E. Boehmer, ll Veltro.
Jabrlwcl dtr dtutschcn Dante-Gfsellscbaft : Vol. II. Leipsic, Brockhaus, 1869,
pp. 363-366.

4 The expression 'everlasting gospel* occurs in Revelation xiv, 6, and
Joachim of Flora had used it. Gherardo da San Donnino established its use
and made it popular with his Introdwtorius in Evangelium JEttmwn (12,54),
which was the collection of die 'three works of Joachim with introduction and
comments*

284

THE VELTRO

Let us say, however, that this is mere chance
although nothing in the Gmmtiia is left to chance
and examine the information which Dante gives on the
liberator of humanity and the slayer of avarice*

The Veltro 'will not feed on land/ Who is it in the
Bible who is condemned to feed on land, earth, dust?
Tommaseo is the only one, so far as I know, who
remembered it in this connection. It is the serpent in
Eden; it is Satan: 'Dust shalt thou eat all the days of
thy life/ 1 The Veltro, then, is the opposite of Satan,
and this is another reason why we cannot identify the
Veltro with a man* The opposite of Satan could be
only the Divinity* The not feeding on earth signifies
also, refusing every temporal power. Therefore the
Veltro cannot refer to a prince: the Emperor possessed
a part of the earth.

Nor will the Veltro feed on ptltro (literally, pewter);
that is, metals in general and, as the commentators
explain it, money* Therefore he will be the enemy of
wealth, the restorer of evangelical poverty.

For Joachim of Flora, and especially for his Franciscan
followers, poverty was one of the signs of the new era
of the Holy Spirit; an era which would be that of the
hermits, of those who renounce everything, and there-
fore, as the Franciscans of Dante's time declared, of
the Friars Minor. 2

1 Gen* iii, 14. Cf. Isaiah bcv, 25.

2 The phrase used by Joachim of Flora is famous: *Qtti vwe mooacius esc
nihil reputat esse suum nisi citharam/ (Hie true monk thinks nothing his
own except his song, his psalmody, his prayers,) Expositw super Afocsiyfsmi,
f. 183, b.

The phrase is, of course, another affirmation of the monk's poverty*
A brief discussion of this passage, giving another interpretation of rftAsnoi*,
occurs hi the article entitled Joachim of Flora : A Critifal Swrwy, by George La

285

DANTE VIVO WORK

This explains why Dante says of the Veltro that his
'dominion shall be between feltro and feltro/ Although
there has been much cudgelling of brains over the mean-
ing of feltro > it seems to me impossible to overlook the
early commentators who are unanimous in saying that
it is the name of a poor kind of cloth* 1

With this interpretation of feltro, the passage would
mean that the Veltro will have his habitation among
people dressed in poor cloth, perhaps among the mendi-
cant friars, among those who represent for Joachim and
his followers the beginning of the era of the Holy
Spirit. 2

We find conclusive, therefore, the line in which
Dante announces that the Veltro will not eat dust or
money (fion cilera terra w ptltro), but wisdom (sapien^a),
love (amore), and power (yirtute). These are, as Dante
well knew, 3 the special attributes of the Three Persons
of the Trinity.

As Dante knew also that the Three Persons are one
substance only, 4 he reasons that to each of them belong
those attributes' which our intelligence, unequal to the

Pfana. Speculum } A Journal of Mtdiaval Studies; April 1932: Vol. VII, no 2:
pp. 257-282. Trans.

1 Those in accord on this point are Ser Graziolo, Jacopo delta Lana, the
Ottitno Commtnto t and Boccaccio. 'No one,' adds Filomusi Guelfi, 'will
care to deny the authority of the old interpreters where it concerns the
meaning of a word* (p. 26).

2 See P. A. Martini, Dante Franc fscano. It is clear that the third age,
according to Joachim, was that of the monks, and many Franciscans believed
that he had prophesied the coming of St Francis.

a *la potenza somnia del Padre . . . la somma sapienza del Figlitiolo . .
la somma e ferventissima caritade dello Spirito Santo* (Cov. II, v, 8).

It is clear that potenza= virtute, and carita (caritade)=amore. Cf. 'fecemi
la divina Potestate, la somma Sapienza e '1 primo Amore* (Inf. Ill, 5-6) ; the
divine Power, the supreme Wisdom, and the primal Love made me.

4 Pwrg. in, 34-36.

286

THE VELTRO

mystery, discerns and distinguishes; so that to the Holy
Spirit belong also the power (yirtutt, potenqi) of the
Father and the wisdom (sapien^a) of the Son* He who
unites in himself, as the Veltro does, almost as his
nutriment and essence,, the three manifestations of the
single divine substance can be no other than one Person
of the Trinity.

We turn now from heaven to earth. How and where
will the supernatural power of the Veltro act ?

Di quella umile Italia fia salute
per cui morl la vergine Cammilla
Eurialo e Turno e Niso di ferute, 1

He shall be the salvation of low-lying Italy, for which the virgin
Camilla and Euryalus and Turnus and Nisus died of their wounds,

It seems as if the horizon suddenly closes in. The
Holy Spirit must transform, the earth, must drive avarice
out of the world; but here, instead of the world, a
definite and, apparently, restricted place is named. 'Low-
lying Italy* may mean the plains of Lazio (Latium), the
district in which Rome is situated; but actually the poet
wishes to indicate Rome without using the name.
Rome, in Dante's time, meant the Church, and by a
permissible extension, Christianity. The Veltro would
not come to save that ancient Rome for which the
virgin Camilla died: that Rome is ended and lives only
in memories and in ruins. The Rome present to the
mind of Dante could be only Christian Rome, the seat
of the universal Church, the capital of Christendom.
To say that the Veltro will be the salvation of low-lying
Italy is equivalent to saying that he will be the salva-

1 Inf. I, 106-108,

287

DANTE VIVO * WORK

tioii of the Christian peoples; and all the more so
when we remember that, according to the theories of
Joachim's followers, the coming of the Holy Spirit
would be marked above all else by a profound change
in the Church of Christ which has its centre at Rome*
Those who have died for this Rome are not the heroes
of the JEntib but rather, symbolized in those Virgilian
figures, the many Christian martyrs who, to found a
Christian Rome, died gloriously 'of their wounds/ It
is this Rome, which is the Church or the great society
of Christians, that the Veltro, when he comes, will
save*

The divine character of the Veltro is strongly re-
affirmed in the last terzina which refers to him,

Qucsti la caccera per ogni villa,
fin che 1'avri rimessa nello 'nferno
la onde invidia prima dipartilla. 1

He shall hunt Avarice through every town until he has put her back in
hell whence Envy sent her forth*

Here is represented, if I am not mistaken, a divine
addition to the Redemption* Christ, making Himself
man and taking upon Himself the sins of the world,
had redeemed mankind from the fault of Adam and
had made possible the reconciliation with the Father*
After the sacrifice on Golgotha, the way of salvation
was open to every man, the grievous heritage of the
Fall was cancelled* But in spite of this, not all men
gained salvation* The way had been opened to them
since they had been freed from the bond of original sin
by virtue of Christ's blood* But they must of their

1 Inf. I, 109-111.
288

THE VELTRO

own free will co-operate with Christ for their salvation
by avoiding new sins and conforming to the teaching
of the GospeL

But there were always grave obstacles , Satan had not
disappeared from the world* He continued to tempt
mortals, especially by means of that avarice which,
'through envy/ he had unchained upon the earth. For
this also, thinks Dante, divine compassion, which has
no limits, will find a remedy* A Veltro will come, an
anti-Satan, whose work will be the opposite of Satan's.
Satan had sent out the Wolf from hell; the Veltro will
put it back in helL The Veltro will be another Saviour,
a second Liberator, a continuator of Christ. He is,
indeed, the Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father
and the Son*

Men, freed from the gadfly of avarice and from its
devilish goadings, will be able the more easily to reach
eternal salvation, and will not be forced, like Dante, to
'follow another road/ Christ had opened the road of
salvation to all; the Veltro, the Holy Spirit, will re-
move the greatest hindrance which impedes most of
those upon that road the love of riches, of pleasure,
of power* A marvel like this, the uprooting of every evil
desire from the lives and hearts of men, could be accom-
plished only by a Divine Person, by the Paraclete whom
many contemporaries of Dante were still expecting.

With this we complete our examination of the lines
which Dante devoted to the Veltro; but the proof that
the Veltro is identical with the Holy Spirit is not yet
finished. There are abundant proofs,

First of all, let us consider the selection of the one
who announces the coming of the Veltro* Virgil, as

289

DANTE VIVO WORK

the Middle Ages and as Dante himself believed, 1 had
prophesied, in the Fourth Eclogue, the incarnation of
Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity* It was not
without design that the poet entrusted to Virgil the
duty of announcing another descent from Heaven, a
second palingenesis of humanity*

It is said that Dante was the devotee of Saint Lucy
who in the Commtdia is Lucia, the messenger of the
Virgin and of Beatrice; and it is thought that Dante
considered her his patroness. But Lucia is not only the
saint invoked by those who suffer from weakness or
disease of the eyes. She is also the martyr who, more
than others, makes repeated appeals for the protection
of the Holy Spirit* 2 In the presence of the prefect
Paschasius, the virgin of Syracuse solemnly recalls the
words of Christ that the Holy Spirit will speak through
the lips of those who are persecuted, and says that she
is the temple of the Holy Spirit. She appears in this
instance to be associated in a special way with faith in
the Third Person. Of this her 'faithful one' could not
have been ignorant.

If he 'who made the great refusal' is, as most believe,
Celestine V, it is easy to understand Dante's severity
(Inf. HI, 5866}. The election of Pietro Morrone to
the pontificate had been received with great rejoicing by

1 Pitrg. XXH, 64-73.

2 'Said Paschasius: Then the Holy Spirit lives in thee? Lucia, answered:
Those who live chastely are the temple of the Holy Spirit . And Paschasius
said : I will cause thee to be taken to a place of shame so that when thou art
dishonoured, the Holy Spirit may then depart from thee. . . . And when
they desired to drag her to. the place of shame, the Holy Spirit stayed her
going with so great a weight that they were not able to move her from the
spot.' Jacobus de Voragine, Lcgenda Aurea, ed. Levasti. Florence, Lib. Ed.
Fior*, 1924, I, 65-66.

290

THE VELTRO

the Spiritual Franciscans and by the Joachimists. His
renunciation of the tiara -was considered almost a be-
trayal, and certainly a calamity for the Church, since his
successor was Boniface VIII, enemy of all those who
awaited the triumph of the Eternal GospeL Dante
echoes this painful disillusionment and has given proof
of sharing, even after many years, the ever-active
sentiments of the expectant Spirituals.

It should be added that Dante hurled himself not
only against Boniface who despised the Spirituals, but
also against the other popes who opposed the Spiritual
movement: Nicholas IH, 1 Clement V, 2 and John XXII, 3
who was the most hostile of alL

The enemies of the Spirituals and of the Little
Brothers of St Francis, that is, of those who were
especially filled with the hopes derived from the teaching
of Joachim, were looked upon as enemies by Alighieri
also. The confession of his intimate thoughts could
not be more explicit.

That Dante admired Joachim of Flora, the great
prophet of the Holy Spirit, needs no pointing out. To
have placed him in Paradise despite the condemnation
which struck some of his doctrines in 1215 and 1255
leaving untouched, however, the orthodoxy of the
founder of the flourishing order is a proof of the
sympathy which the poet had for him as a man and as
a prophet*

We have already seen, in an earlier chapter, that Dante
as a young man knew and almost certainly frequented
the lectures of the famous Franciscans, Pier Giovanni

1 Inf. XIX, 31-11*0. 2 Inf. XDC, 82-87-

3 Par. XVIII, 130 flF. ; XXVH, 58,

2 9 I

DANTE VIVO WORK

Olivi and Ubertino da Casale. These two were among
the most ardent and outspoken upholders of the theories
of Joachim, adapted as those theories were to the times
and to the ideals of the Minorites. In the Commtlia
there are traces of their writings, especially of the Arbor
Vit& crucifhca, 1 which is now considered one of the
sources of the poem*

We should not argue that because Dante censured
Ubertino da Casale he did not admire him* The famous
passage in the Paradise (XII, 124126) which contains
the censure delivered by the same Bonaventure who
points to the shining light of Joachim, links the names
of Casale and the Cardinal of Acquasparta:

ma non fia da Casal ne cT Acquasparta,
la ondc vegnon tali alia scrittura,
ch'uno la fiigge, e 1'altro la coarta.

But [the good friar] will not come from Casale nor from Acquasparta,
whence come those who so interpret the writing that one relaxes it, and
the other makes it more stringent.

1 For the resemblance between Olivi and Dante, see U. Cosmo, Pier
Giovanni Olivi e Dante (Giomalf Dantesco, VI, 1898, pp. 112 ff.); P. F. Sarri,
P. di C. O. e Ubertino da Casale (Studi Francescani, Jan.-Mar. 1925); F. Tocco,
II canto XXXII del Purgatorio. Florence, Sansoni, 1902. (The appendix
contains a part of Olivi's unpublished commentary on the Apocalypse.)

Tliere is an abundant literature on Ubertino. For the comparisons with
Dante, see the studies of Huck and of Sarri ; U. Cosmo, Le mistule nojge di
Frate Francesco con Madonna Poverta (Giorn. Dantesco, 1898, pp. 61 ff.) ; also his
Noterelle Franceseane (Giorn. Danteseo, 1899, pp. 69-70); Kraus> on Dante
(pp. 738 f); E. G Gardner, Dante and tie Mystics. London, Dent, 1913
(especially pp. 343-348). Of special importance are P. A. Martini, Ulertino
da Casale alia Verna (in La Vcrna } Arezzo, 1913, pp. 193 f); A. Donini,
Appunti per una storia del pensiero di Dante in rapporto at movimento gioaclimita (in
Annual Reports of tie Dante Society , 1930. Cambridge, U.S.A., Harvard
University Press, 1930, pp. 49-69); F. Casolini, Utertino da Casah e Dante
(in Annuario del -R. Istituto Tecnico C Cattaneo in Milano t 1928-1929. Milan,
I 93 o>

Z92

THE VELTRO

The 'writing' (la scrittura) is the rule of the Order of
St Francis, and it has been believed until the present
that Dante was accusing Acquasparta of relaxing this
rule (la /*) because it seemed to him to be too strict,
and that he was accusing Ubertino da Casale of re-
straining or contracting it (la coarta), that is, of wishing
to make it even more stringent and severe. But another
interpretation has now been given to these lines. 1
'Either we are greatly mistaken/ writes Donini, 'or the
one who restrains it, makes it more strict (coarta), is
Acquasparta, who by introducing laxity into the order
constrains or forces (sfor^a) the spirit of the rule; and
he who "relaxes" it (la fuggt) is Ubertino da Casale.
When John XXII was elected pope . . * Ubertino found
himself in an impossible situation and was persuaded to
desert the Franciscan order and to enter the Benedictine.
In 1317, therefore, he had timidly "fled from" the
"rule" of the Franciscans and could no longer say with
the true Friar Minor,

I'mi son qucl ch' i* soglio.
I am what I was wont to be.

'Not a few of Dante's contemporaries shared this
severe estimate, perfectly justified by the conduct of
Ubertino; and this helps to make clear once more to
which side Dante's sympathies inclined in the contest
between the authority of the Curia and the later
followers of Joachim/

In other words, Dante blames Ubertino not because
he is one of the Joachimite Spirituals, but because he

1 A. Donini, Appunti per una storia dd pensicro di Dante in T&pporto al movf-
mento gioacbimita., pp. 5960.

293

DANTE VIVO WORK

had abandoned his post of battle in the Franciscan
Order.

To make clearer the influence of the Joachimite
Franciscans on the conception of the Veltro, we should
remember that the first cantos of the Inferno were
written, as some Dantists think, before the exile, that
is, at a time when Dante's mind held in fresh and vivid
remembrance the teachings and the conferences at Santa
Croce. Even the form of the first canto, less perfect
than the rest of the poem, confirms this hypothesis:
Dante was younger then and less a master of his art*
According to the opinion expressed by Barbi, which
seems to me most reasonable and which was accepted
by Parodi, the actual composition of the Inferno was
begun about 1307; but it is not improbable that Dante
had already conceived the general plan of the poem a
few years after the death of Beatrice, that is, before
1300*

The death of Henry VII (1313) and other experiences,
and long contemplation, must have weakened Dante's
hope in the descent of the Veltro, understood as a
spiritual revolution brought about by the Holy Spirit,
and must have led him to the conclusion that there was
needed first an effective human force, political and
military, to put in order the practical affairs of the
world and, in particular, those of Italy and Rome. If
the corruption of the Curia and its complicity with the
enemies of the Empire were the main obstacles to the
reform of humanity, then it was necessary to restrict
the papacy to its proper and just authority, to punish
and reform it. There was need, therefore, of a powerful
temporal prince, an emperor more able and more for-

294

r* THE VELTRQ

tunate than Henry; there must be a leader, a Dux, who
would be not a direct manifestation of God, like the
Veltro, but 'a Messenger of God/

The Five-Hundred-Ten-and-Five, the DXV, mysteri-
ously announced by Beatrice, * is therefore not one and
the same with the Veltro. It is rather his instrument,
his harbinger, his forerunner. 2

Towards 1300 Dante was still under the influence of
the Joachimists, and with them awaited the Third
Kingdom. In 1313 or 1314 he realized that this new
kingdom could not come to pass unless they should
first slay the *fuia/ the corrupt Roman Curia, guilty
of simony and usurpation. Whoever the person was
whom Dante had in mind and perhaps we shall never
know with certainty there is no doubt whatever that
he was thinking of a prince 'sent by God, * who would
put all things in order and prepare a new era of peace
like that which obtained under the Emperor Augustus,
an era which had been chosen for the incarnation of the
Second Person of the Trinity.

The so-called prophecies of the Commedia, therefore,
are two in number: one at the beginning of the Inferno,
which refers to a direct intervention of God for the
suppression of avarice and of sin in general; the other
at the end of the Purgatorio, which announces the early
coming of a strong and upright prince, perhaps an
emperor, sent, by God to purify the Church and to give
peace to all men. The Veltro is a divine being and the
moment of his coming is not known; the DXV is a

1 Purg. XXXIH, 37-54- f . t t , , ,

2 That the DXV is distinct from the Veltro is the view held also by
Fiiomusi Guelfi, L'tllfgoriafondamtntalc, etc., p. 29.

295

DANTE VIVO * WORK

human being, sent by heaven, and his coming is
imminent*

In any case, Dante hoped until the very end for a
change in the history of the world, and perhaps in his
mind now one, now the other hope, dominated by
turns* The period was 'the last age of the century/ 1
and a decisive happening could not long delay.

Let us understand, however, that Dante could not be
called a true and complete Joachimist. To have shared,
at least during a period of his life, in the supreme hope
which Joachim held does not necessarily mean tint
Dante accepted Joachim's allegorical and numerical
fantasies , Dante was too much a rationalist to lose his
way completely in the daring exegesis of the visionary of
San Giovanni in Fiore. Usually his thought moves more
clearly in the ordinary enclosures of Scholasticism, and
he could not accept completely a doctrine which in its
essential character disregarded culture and reason. Dante
draws inspiration from the Apocalypse, but without ever
forgetting the Summa. of 'good Brother Thomas/
When he has need in the Paradiso of a mystic guide, he
chooses St Bernard, who was, it is true, a mystic, but
at the same time a man of wisdom.

In Dante, however, side by side with the realist, is
the Utopian who, in his hatred for the present* trusts
eagerly in the future. This second self of his must have
loved Joachim in spite of everything. We can under-
stand, therefore, how he could accept and make his
own certain ideas and prophecies of Olivi and of
Ubertino, Dante shared with the Joachimists their pas-
sion for prophecy and their hatred for the reigning

v. n, v, 13.
296

THE VELTRO

popes. In the Veltro he symbolized their common
hopes a reform of the Church al imis, the defeat of
the Wolf, the triumph of Poverty. All this was to
result from the advent of the Third Person.

Later he placed his hopes in the Dux, as he had earlier
in the Vangelo Eterno; but there remained in his heart
an undying admiration for the abbot 'endowed with
the spirit of prophecy/ This does not mean, however,
that he herded with the Joachimite agitators. An
admirer of Joachim always; but a sectarian never.

297

THE ALLEGED OBSCURITY

9T is commonly said that Dante and by Dante
is meant the Commedia is very obscure* I do
not share this opinion. The poem is not always
easy reading, but difficult reading is not the same
thing as obscurity. Every book is difficult which de-
mands of the reader a serious preparation, but it is
difficult only for him who is not prepared. By prepara-
tion difficulties are conquered and obscurities disappear*
In a certain sense every great work is obscure for anyone
who attempts it without the viaticum of knowledge
necessary for understanding and appreciating it. This is
equally true of those works which seem more readily
comprehensible than the Commedia. To understand the
Homeric poems we must know the Greek dialects, have
something more than a superficial notion of archaeology
and mythology, acquire an idea of the Mycenaean civil-
ization, of Greek and Phoenician history and of the
common traditions. And Shakespeare, although he is
more modern than Homer and Dante, is not under-
stood and cannot be fully enjoyed unless we have a
little acquaintance with Elizabethan English, with
ancient and English history, both the authentic and the
legendary, and at least an approximate knowledge of
the thought of the Renaissance*

The alleged obscurity of the Commedia derives, mainly,
from the ignorance of the readers. If a reader does not
know a little Latin, if he has not studied in the texts
and in dictionaries the word-forms peculiar to the

298

THE ALLEGED OBSCURITY

Florentine vernacular of the Trecento, if he is not
familiar with the history of Florence, of Tuscany, of
Italy, and of Europe in that period, if he has only a
vague and inaccurate notion of the classical myths, of
the Bible, and more especially of mediaeval mysticism,
scholasticism, and apocalypticism, he need not be sur-
prised if he finds difficulties and obscurities in every
canto* And the notes of the commentators do not
always help to untangle the difficulty because the reader
is often lacking in the knowledge necessary for under-
standing the annotations.

This brings us to the second point in the charge of
obscurity in Dante. In addition to whatever is con-
tributed to this legend by the ignorance of readers, there
is also the too great erudition and vanity of those who
wish to interpret the Commciia when no interpretation
is needed* A large number of those who devote them-
selves to the study of Dante many of them amateurs
and therefore the more annoying have a mania for
solving riddles, for unveiling secrets, for interpreting
the mysteries which are, or seem to be, in the 'sacred
poem/ Many times they busy themselves with expres-
sions which have almost no importance for the right
understanding of the Commcdia from the point of view
either of aesthetics or philosophy* A well-known example
is the 'si che '1 pie fermo sempre era *1 piu basso* (Inf.
I, 30). Other times they discuss mysteries which Dante
himself noted as inexplicable; for example, the words of
Nimrod:

Raphel may amech zabi almi, 1

1 Inf. XXXI, 67.
299

DANTE VIVO * WORK

of which Virgil expressly says:

chfc cos! e a lui ciascun linguaggio
come '1 suo ad altrui, ch'a nullo e noto. 1

Since every language is to him as his is to others, which is understood
by no one.

Now and again they tire themselves over problems
(the 'disdain' of Guido, the three beasts of Canto I,
Matilda) which have a certain importance for the under-
standing of the poem, but upon which all authorities
are in approximate agreement, sufficient for a general
understanding of Dante's thought* The three beasts,
for example, are certainly three sins, grievous sins, which
hinder a man from following the true road* But to
be obliged to decide if the leopard is really luxury (or
lust, to use the more modern word), as most think, or
vainglory, or envy, is not a thing which matters very
much for understanding the general lines of Dante's
thought and enjoying the beauty of the poem. But the
mystery-makers are moved less by the desire to shed
more light on the Commtdict than by their eagerness to
furnish an outlet for their acuteness, their fantastic
imagination, and erudition, and by their vanity in wish-
ing to appear more expert and successful than those who
preceded them; and occasionally they are urged on by
some nice point of honour or by a spirit of contradiction.

Only one of these enigmas deserves to be taken seri-
ously and probed to the very bottom. It is the crux of
the Veltro and the DXV, because this constitutes the
centre of the great prophecy which we name the Corn-
media. The others are easily solved, or else they are not

1 Inf. XXXI, 80-81.

300

THE ALLEGED OBSCURITY

worth the fatigue of contriving solutions still more
ingenious and sophistical,

Only in the instance of the Five-Hundred-Ten-and-
Five, the DXV, the poet observes and admits in his
own words that it is an enigma, and he makes Beatrice
say so:

E forse che la mia narrazion buia,
qual Temi o Sf inge, men ti persuade
perch* a lor modo lo 'ntelletto attuia;

ma tosto fien li fatti ie Naiade
che solveranno questo enigma forte. 1

And perhaps my utterance, obscure like that of Themis and the
Sphinx, persuades you the less because in their manner it dims die
understanding. But soon events will be the interpreters who shall solve
this difficult enigma.

The prophecy of the DXV in relation to that of the
Veltro is in truth the single obscurity which is inten-
tional and complete. The other warnings given by
Dante, cited by the specialists in enigmas as justification
for their pretentious labours, are not, if carefully read,
admissions of deliberate obscurity. When, for example,
after the apparition of the head of Medusa, Dante says:

O voi ch'avete rintelletti sani
mirate la dottrina che s'asconde
sotto *1 velame de li versi strani; 2

O you who have sound understandings, consider the teaching that is
hidden under the veil of the strange verses J

he does not mean that such knowledge is inscrutable or
unattainable* It is enough to have a sound understand-
ing, well-balanced and unimpaired, and the veil of the
strange verses, unusual and allegorical, will be lifted
without effort. If Dante had wished to hide that know-

. XXXIH, 46-50. * Inf. IX, 61-63.

301

DANTE VIVO WORK

ledge, he would not have roused the attention of the
reader by saying, 'Mirate/ which means 'Behold/
'Consider/ 'Admire/

Even less likely material for the mystery-makers is
the other terzina which urges the reader to greater
attention:

Aguzza qui, letter, ben li occhi al veto,
che il velo e ora ben tanto sottile,
certo che '1 trapassar dentro e leggero. 1

Here, reader, sharpen your eyes well to the truth, because the veil is
now so very thin that to pass within is certainly easy.

Dante rouses the attention of the reader not because
the meaning is difficult* On the contrary, it is true that
to pass within is easy* But he 'sharpens our eyes* be-
cause we might pass on without stopping to consider
the allegory of the two angels in green raiment, with
green wings and truncated swords, who descend to
drive away the serpents*

Dante, then, is not obscure except to the ignorant or
the fanatic* One time only he is deliberately and inhe-
rently obscure and with reason. He had to hide the
exact meaning of a prophecy that would have seemed
suspect to some over-zealous inquisitor* At that time
hostilities against the Joachimite Spirituals were still
going on; and although Alighieri may have been pro-
foundly convinced that there was nothing heterodox in
his expectation of the Veltro, he preferred to be under-
stood by only a few. At this time he had rather too
many enemies, and to draw other enemies upon him
would have hindered or diminished the spread of his
poem; and this would have reduced the good which he
planned to accomplish by means of the Commedia.

VIII, 19-21*
302

POET BEYOND EVERYTHING

ANTE employed his life in many ways in
I the exercise of arms, in public business, in
councils and embassies. He wished to teach
philosophy, to conduct mankind toward a moral
revival, to announce a spiritual regeneration. But his
deep and abiding vocation was poetry. God meant him
to be, above all else, an artist. And with the colour,
the light, the fire of art, he was able to accomplish the
highest of his missions.

His youthful work, the Vita Nuova, was written to
give unity and background to his first verses. The Con-
v/vfo came into being as a commentary for other verses.
The De Vulgari Eloqucntia is an introduction to the art
of poetry. When Dante wrote in prose, he was, un-
consciously, a poet. Here is a line which bears the
true Dantesque stamp:

con certo giro valla?a li abissi. 1

It might be a verse from the Commedia, but it is part of
a sentence from the Convx'vio. 2 Here are others taken
from the same prose writing:

e poi, conrinuando la sua luce
caggiono, quasi come nebuletre
matutine a la faccia del[lo] sole. 3

1 To translate this and the following examples would be to destroy the
metrical quality which is the point under illustration. Trans.

2 Conv. 1JI, xv, 16. 3 Ibid. II, xv, $.

DANTE VIVO WORK

ahi mirabile riso delta . . . donna. . . .
che mai non si sentia se non de Tocchio 1 x

re can sete di casso febricance 2

si come valli volte ad aquilone

. . . dove luce del sol mai non discende. 8

Other lines like these could be found, equally vigor-
ous and effective* If any change is needed in the prose
to render the line metrical, it is sufficient to add or
take away a word, or a syllable only, and we have
hendecasyllables which would not disfigure even the
'sacred poem/

But it is not enough to say and to repeat that Dante
is a poet beyond everything, a very great poet, noble,
sublime. It remains to be seen through what qualities
of language and style, peculiar to himself, he is so far
above other poets, and so different. On this point very
little has been written, although the literature about
Dante is endless. The best known critics omitting for
the moment those who have devoted themselves solely
to the historical, ethical, philosophical, and mystical
content of the poem have concentrated their attention
on the principal figures of the Commcdia, and have
written analyses, enthusiastic and more or less success-
ful, of the most famous episodes and of the most
popular cantos. We do not wish to condemn entirely
these attempts at thorough understanding and interpre-
tation of Dante's poetry in its Most creatively successful
moments, because the poet shows himself especially a
creator when he endows those dead, whom he most
loves or admires, with a posthumous life which seems

1 Cony. Ill, via, 12. 2 Hid. IV, xii, 5.

3 Ibid. IV, xx, 8.

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POET BEYOND EVERYTHING

to us to be reaL In these analyses we can find skilful
suggestions which help us the better to enjoy the beauty
of certain conceptions or expressions. In the more
notable instances they are collaborative interpretations
of the poetry, the prose of art added to Dante's art in
verse.

Less frequently we find studies on what we may call
the plastic and musical qualities of Dante's verse, on
the tone and colour of his language, on its resonance,
on the wholly original character of his expressions,
Dante is regarded as a sculptor, as an architect. He is
not sufficiently studied as an artificer, an artisan, a
musician. Keen observations are found here and there
in the commentaries, which point out Dante's extra-
ordinary success in the selection and disposition of
words, but these observations are not co-ordinated
under general principles so as to constitute an introduc-
tion to Dante's technique. 1

Studies like the famous ones of Parodi, for example,
on rhyme in the Commedia,* are valuable in so far. as
they contradict the foolish opinion that the poet alters
the form of a word or invents new ones because of the
exigencies of the rhyme. But these are not enough*

Poetry is admittedly inspiration and reflection* When
it flows into verse it is also art; that is, it is material
manipulated and moulded in definite and determined
ways. It is also, to speak plainly, a craft; nor is it
thereby degraded. By the very manner in which the
artist uses his craft to reveal his visions, he discloses

1 See, however, the recent article by G. Bertoni, La lingua di
Nuova Antologia, 16 Feb. 1933.

2 Rima nella Divina Commtdia. Bull Ma Sec. Dtmtcsca. N,S. IE, pp. 81-
156,

305

DANTE VIVO - WORK

not only his experience and his skill but the character
of his genius and the physiognomy of his soul. The
poet does not select words and images haphazard.
Whoever has a limited mind and an unresponsive heart
may make use of the most impressive and glowing
words which sleep in the dictionary, but his prose will
be a dead mosaic and his poetry will be as empty and
dull as his mind. If the soul is lifeless, what it produces
will be lifeless*

As far as this relates to Dante a fertile and living
mind and a master-craftsman the fact that the work
of criticism has been directed more to the figures and
episodes of the poem than to the distinctive and per-
manent characteristics of the poetic diction, has given
rise to an error not yet entirely corrected* It is the belief
that the artistic value of the Commedia diminishes from
one canticle to the next* In the Inferno, where the
figures in the scene are more numerous and more strik-
ingly presented, and most akin to us through common
sins, Dante's aesthetic vigour is thought to be at its
maximum. In the Purgatorio, although there are still
some episodes warmly human in their appeal, we are
farther from the earth, and too many theoretical dis-
quisitions begin to cloud the clear sky of art. In the
Paradiso, except for certain imagery and some famous
invectives, theology too often takes the place of poetry,
the abstract of the concrete, contemplative moralizing
of pure inspiration.

This notion of a descending scale in the Comrwiia,
which many still accept either openly or tacitly, is one
of the worst stupidities in the ordinary criticism of
Dante. The truth is exactly the opposite. Dante is a

306

POET BEYOND EVERYTHING

great poet always, and in all three canticles. But if his
art has attained in any one place to the most sublime
and overpowering perfection, it is precisely in the
Paradiso. Moving ever nearer to God, the poet ap-
proaches more closely to the highest heaven of
poetry.

Two things have contributed to this absurd belief in
the falling off of the Commedia: first, the positivistic
atmosphere of half a century ago, which led to an over-
valuation of actuality and realism, and therefore to the
ascribing of major importance to the violent figures of
the Inferno; and, secondly, the fashion of to-day which,
believing Catholicism to be dead and a thing of the
past, assumes the privilege of ignoring it, and therefore
renders readers incapable of appreciating the lyric sweep
and the significant beauty of the kst canticle, which,
more than the other two, and not alone for its subject-
matter, deserves to be called sublime,

As people read the Paradise and do not understand it
or understand it imperfectly being almost entirely
ignorant of the theology and Christian mysticism
they suppose arbitrarily that the fault is in Dante
instead of in themselves, and think, foolishly, that
theology diminished and congealed the inspiration of
the poet. Even if out of curiosity or shame of their
ignorance they take the trouble to learn something about
Catholic thought, it is insufficient to help them to an
immediate comprehension of the profound poem* There
is always lacking the greatest and the best a tested and
living faith in those truths which the poet believes, sees,
and represents. And further, that which flames brightly
in his verse seems dull, that which is a miraculous effort

307

DANTE VIVO WORK

to speak the unutterable becomes wearisome didacticism,
and all the splendour of the Paradiso gives them the
impression of a ruined church under a wintry sky,
where the only gleams of light among the rubbish come
from the gilding of the altars and the jewels of the
votive offerings and the images* For this reason I said
at the beginning that it is a great aid to the understand-
ing of Dante and his art to be a Christian, and a
Christian not merely by birth or in name.

We can admire the Iliad without believing in the
Hellenic mythology because Homer is not a theologian,
and is not concerned about the salvation of souls and
the moral restoration of the world. He pretends rather
to be an historian and to provide examples of heroic life
for the lords who listen to him.

The case of the Divina Commedia is different. We are
confronted with a work which is meant to be, in a
certain sense, a supplement to the Bible, a universal
sermon, a pointing out of the way to God, the veiled
announcement of a new era of history* The journey
through three worlds is only the pretext for an under-
taking which surpasses every preceding vision. One of
the fundamental personages of the Commedia is Beatrice,
who typifies the knowledge of divine things; and the
initial prophecy foreshadows the advent of the Third
Person*

The Commedia, then, is a poem religious and moral in
its essence, and he who does not believe passionately in
that moral and in that religion will have difficulty at
every turn in understanding the inner and compelling
beauty which in every canto inspires and permeates the
words, the rhythm and the rhyme, but which is still

308

POET BEYONP EVERYTHING

more luminous in the last cantos. For here the poet is
about to reach his goal, to mount to the vision of
that triform Light where every individual human will,
sublimated and perfected, loses itself in the Divine
WilL

309

MASTER OF WORDS

is no secret in Dante's art* His is a soul
that strives and struggles in the words, and
gives to the poetry his own clear imprint, the
tone and flavour which are Dante's and only his.

For poetry, in so far as it is a means of transmitting
the fire of one spirit to another, is made of words and
of nothing but words. Every poet, however, has his
own vocabulary and his own verbal and musical atmo-
sphere, so that a group of words used by him, even
though they may be words which are on everybody's
lips and in everybody's books, take on another aspect,
give out another sound, arouse other images; seem,
in short, the discovery and the property of the one
poet*

Such are Dante's words. The words which we find
in the work of most writers seem employed at second
hand; they are dingy from over-use, without significance
of form or sound. Those of Dante seem to have been
engraved and coined expressly for that moment's use,
to be fresh from the mould, untouched coin, still bright
and shining. It seems as if Dante were the first to draw
them forth from the dark forge of the common language
and to give them a living aspect, an unexpected emphasis,
a vital significance. While most writers turn all that
they touch into glass, mud, or dust, in Dante's poetry
the most lowly words become bronze, iron, silver, or
gold.

More than any other writer Dante restores the youth-

310

MASTER OF WORDS

ful vigour of words. Although he employs the Floren-
tine idiom of his day and, when this is inadequate, has
recourse to Latin, and where Latin fails, turns to the
Italian dialects or to gallicisms, and helps himself, in
short, to linguistic material already existing, he gives
the effect, this Dante of ours, of creating by himself, in
his own manner and for his own use, a new language
entirely for himself* He creates some new words, but
to all the others he gives a new aspect with the light of
his inspiration* His are potent words, almost incanta-
tions or mantram. Not only are they words which depict,
but words which command, destroy, renew.

This fertility in words is not, in Dante's case, the
laboured outcome of deliberate and calculated selection*
It comes naturally from the emotions which animate
and move his souL According to the passion which at
the moment tortures or exalts him those words flow
from his pen which best correspond to that passion and
are best adapted to express it. There is a transfusion of
the spiritual force to the syllables, the vowels and con-
sonants of the chosen words. The sound of the words
comes forth from the very tone of the soul* The poet's
anger blazes in the syntax of the verse, in the position
of the words, in the prevalence or repetition of a certain
letter* His contemplative rapture is reflected, as a torch
in a mirror, by a sudden mellowness of cadence and of
rhythm which steeps all the words in a strange and un-
expected sweetness* Dante's passionate glow is revealed
not only in thoughts, in sentences, but in every verse,
in every expression, in the threadbare material of verbal
usage which his amazing genius masters and elevates*
His anger wrenches the syntax, his contempt is revealed

3"

DANTE VIVO WORK

in the choice of syllables, his adoration gives spacious-
ness and soaring flight to a terzina. Here a verb is filled
with repressed fury, there an adjective hides secret pity,
in that clear imagery which is as delicate as the fall of
petals in the sunshine there is a suggestion of love, a
shy outpouring of tenderness.

Rules of rhetoric do not help us to understand this
art. We need the intuitions of a psychology which
probes beneath the surface*

I/oltracotata sctiiatta die s'indraca
dietro a chi fugge. * . .*

In the sound of that verse, in the angry rush of
syllables, in the threatening r's and t's and contemp-
tuous c's, do we not hear the outburst of scorn and
hatred which Dante felt at the thought of 'the insolent
race who were fierce as dragons behind the fugitive/ the
Adimari family who had always been his enemies ?

He contemplates the starry and moonlit sky. Clear
and shining, it exalts his thoughts to holy sorrow and
heavenly joy; and behold! the liquid verse pours forth
triumphant and serene in the lightness of its Ts and n's,
and carries us drifting along on the moving air of the
infinite:

Quale ne* plenilunii sereni. 2

These two examples show the opposite extremes of
Dante's feeling and expression. Always great in the con-
crete formulation of a dogma, he is still greater in the
expression of harsh, and almost coarse, violence, or of
delicate and almost angelic sweetness. There is in his
nature at times a force almost peasant-like and rough-

1 Par. XVT, 115-116, 2 Par. XXEI, 25.

312

MASTER OF WORDS

hewn, familiar and even vulgar, which reveals itself in
the 'harsh, hoarse rhymes'; and in contrast, there is such
a refinement of verbal and musical harmonies as to make
us think of a saint who, awaking in the morning after
dreams of paradise, stands at the threshold of his cavern
and speaks his gratitude to the rising sun, to the world
wbich shakes off sluihber, surprised in the fresh mantle
of its touching beauty* And in those moments, as we
read the terzinas, we do not know what to say or to do.
We wish to cry aloud in amazement or to weep in
admiration, to embrace and to kiss him, our Dante, if
only he were present here, if he could be brought to life
again for at least a moment by our jealous affection*

Quale allodetta che 'n acre si spazia
prima cantando, e poi tace contenta
delTultima dolcezza che k sazfa. 1

Like a lark which flies through the air singing at first, and then is
silent, content with the last sweetness which satisfies her.

Such is he, the poet so often divine; such are we
insignificant men, when in the depths of our hearts we
feel his song as it flies on inspired wings, the song that
delights and satisfies*

If in equal measure we set over against the harsh and
threatening verses those of a melting tenderness, we
shall not be able to decide which is more admirable in
Dante, the bolts of lightning let loose from the thunder-
ous clouds, or the delicate light which, like a silent nun,
is perceived as whiteness against whiteness, 'a pearl on
a white forehead/

Another element "in Dante's mastery of words lies in

* Par. XX, 73-75*
313

DANTE VIVO WORK

his natural aversion for all that is abstract and trite. He
speaks almost always in figurative language, as do all
demiurgic poets; but at times in Dante the figure is re-
duced to a word. That word, however, is never trite or
ordinary; it is taken from the rich earth, from the daily
life, and carries with it the unmistakable stamp of a
colourful and terse concreteness. Even when he has to
explain philosophical or theological ideas or to name
divine persons, Dante makes no concession to the pallid,
sacrosanct vocabulary. A saint is drudo dclla fede, a para-
mour of the faith; spiritual rewards are luone merct, good
wares; the intellect is fiera in lustra, a wild beast in its
lair; Paradise is un albero, a tree; -the grace of God is
Vcterna plota, eternal rain; the Church is orto di Cristo,
Christ's garden; God is Vortolano eterno, the eternal
gardener, who, like the Virgin, pregna, conceives, and
partorisct, gives birth to ideas.

Does Dante, for example, wish to refer to original
sin? He uses no name and no common and prescribed
image:

. . . nel petto onde la costa
si trasse per formar la bella guancia
il cui palato a tutto *1 mondo costa. 1

. . . in the breast whence the rib was taken to make the fair cheek of
her whose palate all the world pays for.

There are two persons, Adam and Eve; and two facts,
the sin and the falL Dante substitutes four parts of the
human body: breast, rib, cheek, palate. The thought
remains the same, but it is all renewed by the imagery
of the body Instead of repetition iri abstract terms, we
have here a concrete and plastic evocation due to the

1 Par. Xm, 37-39*

314

MASTER OF WORDS

naming of those bodily members which each of us
possesses and knows

Could any two things be more unlike than religious
faith and money? Yet Dante, in a bold metaphor,
succeeds not only in representing faith as money, but
he makes it almost visible and tangible.

. * . Assai bene e trascorsa
d'esta moneta gia la lega e '1 peso ;

ma dimmi se tu Thai nella tua borsa.
Ond'io : 'Si, ho, si lucida e si tonda,
che nel suo conio nulla mi s'inforsa. 1

Very well have the alloy and the weight of this coin been estimated ;
but tell me if you have it in your purse/ Whereupon I answered : 'Yes, I
have, and so shining and round that I have no doubts of its stamp/

In another it might seem irreverent, but in Dante's
poem even St Peter speaks in the money-changer's
language of the great treasure of the Christian, and the
talk seems natural and the effect more striking.

When we think of charity in the religious sense of
love, and wish to express the idea in figurative language,
into the mind of each one of us come such words as
fire, flame, spark, and the like; words that have now
lost their force in this connection although they still
serve for ordinary use. But Dante uses another figure.
Wishing St John to ask him how much he loves God,
he makes him speak in this bold metaphor:

Ma di* an cor se tu senti altre corde
tirarti verso lui, si che tu suone
con quanti denti questo amor a morde. 2

But say further if you feel other cords drawing you towards Him* so
that you may make known with how many teeth this love bites you,

Love of the creature for his Creator is not, it seems,
the gentle aspiration compounded of sighs and languors

1 Par. XXIV, 83-87. 2 P*r. XXVI, 49-51-

DANTE VIVO WORK

as in so many Christians of the modern sort. It is
nothing less than a wild beast, a beast with teeth, with
teeth that bite* A little later Dante calls the impulses
toward such charity 'bitings' (morsi} almost like remorse
and mental torment.

Some readers have been shocked by such brutal ex-
pressions. They wish perhaps that Dante had said, just
as any one would say: 'Tell me what motives induced
you to love God and what is the measure of your love/
Dante's expression has a vigour and power worthy of a
prophet of the Old Testament* The other expression
would go very well in the homily of a chaplain*

Dante sees everything, even the most lofty concep-
tions, in a plastic and living form* Like the ancient
Greeks, he has an instinct for using visible detail instead
of pallid generalities. His poetry is very rich in tactile
values and colourings, stamped with all the aspects of
being, and especially with the aspects of nature. The
Commedia is a theological poem, but it is translated into
the language of the stars and of rude country life, into a
celestial idiom and an idiom tart and juicy, smacking of
the warm earth* From this comes the undying enchant-
ment of his language, harsh and heavenly by turns.

Dante's force of character, the vehemence of his loves
and hates, appears in every verse and gives to his expres-
sions, polished and rough alike, a weight, an emphasis,
an emotional power, which no one has been able to
imitate or equal. He thinks in a way peculiar to him-
self, Dantescamente; he writes in his own language,
Dantesco. Where he has directed his eye and hand, he
has made everything his own, and there is no imagery or
word which will not carry to eternity the imprint of his

MASTER OF WORDS

seal* Even those things which he borrows from others
he takes possession of and marks with his own person-
ality. He becomes, their lawful owner by right of
imperial conquest*

It would be possible to reprint the Gmmedia? setting
opposite in a parallel column all the passages from the
Bible, the Latin poets, and the mediaeval writers of
which there are deliberate or unconscious reminiscence
in Dante's poem. There are cantos where we find a
parallel passage for almost every terzina. And yet no
one would derive the idea that die Commiia is a patch-
work of well-joined selections, for the reason that the
stylistic transformation which they have undergone is
so great and of such a nature that the passages take on
another tone, another value, a wholly different colour-
ing and harmony* The greater part of the material
which forms the substance of the poem is derived from
Dante's own thoughts, from his experience of life, from
his contemplation of the world* The rest comes from
his reading; but even this portion is so thoroughly dis-
integrated and recomposed by his genius that his versions
or citations take on in that magic atmosphere features
and intonations purely Dantesque*

A solitary and meditative pilgrim through the moun-
tains and the plains of Italy, he has discovered for him-
self, with his own eyes and quick perceptions, the
aspects of nature and the creatures of die earth* All
reappear amid the furrows or on the heights of his poem
with the bright freshness of primordial beings. If the
prologue of the poem is a dark forest inhabited by
terrifying beasts, the remainder, and especially the
Purgatorio and the Paradise, is a great country tranquil

317

DANTE VIVO WORK

and sunny, mountainous and wooded, but with flowery
uplands and leafy hedges; and all of it resounds with
the call of flocks, the song of birds, the rush of torrents
and of flooding streams.

When in the tenth heaven the poet declares himself
conquered by his arduous theme, and yet wishes to give
at least some shadowy suggestion of what he sees, he
touches one of his greatest heights, creating a river where
lights, metals, precious stones, perfumes, flowers, and
flames are mingled in the supreme incandescence of an
art which wishes to utter the unutterable*

E vidi lume in forma di rivera
fulvido di fulgore, intra due rive
dipinte di mirabil primavera.

Di tal fiumana usclan faville vive,
e d'ogni parte si mettean ne* fieri,
quasi rubin che oro circunscrive.
Poi, come inebriate dalli odori,
riprofondavan se nel miro gurge. 1

And I saw light flowing like a river, gleaming with brightness between
two banks painted with the wonders of spring-time* From this stream
rose living sparks, and on either side they were settling into the flowers,
like rubies which gold encircles. Then, as if drunk with the odours, they
plunged again into the marvellous swirling flood*

When a poet with his meagre human words represents
so divinely the divine tumult of the blessed spirits, and
with so few lines, which seem woven of pure light, not
of heavy syllables, succeeds in expressing that which the
fancy can scarcely imagine, he may justly feel content
with his victory. But Dante is not satisfied* In the last
cantos of the Paradise, just where he manifests his power
at its utmost, he feels and confesses his incapacity, the
inadequacy of words, the failure of his genius. 2 He no

1 Pan XXX, 61-68.

* Par. XXIV, 23-27 ; XXX, 99 ; XXXI, 137 ff. ; XXXIH, 67 ff. ; 121 ff.

3 l8

MASTER OF WORDS

longer prays to the pagan muses but to God, for help
and inspiration:

O somma luce che tanto ti lev
da* concetti mortali, alia mia mente
ripresta im poco di quel che parevi,

e fa la lingua mia tanto possente,
ch'una fa villa sol della tua gloria
possa lasciare alia futura gente. 1

O supreme Light, that dost uplift thyself so high above mortal con-
ceptions, give back to my memory a little of that which Thou didst
appear, and make my tongue so powerful that it may be able to leave but
one spark of Thy glorious light for the race yet to come*

But the ineffable wonders press him even further, and
the poet declares himself vanquished:

Oh quanto e corto il dire e come fioco
al mio concetto ! e questo, a quel chTvidi
e tanto, che non basta a dicer 'poco/ 2

Oh, how deficient is my speech and how feeble to accomplish my con-
ception ! and this in comparison with what I saw is so slight that to call it
4 little* is inadequate*

Finally, before the shining mystery of the Trinity,
Dante abandons every hope of success and admits his
failure:

All'alta fantasia qui manco possa, 3
Here power failed the lofty fantasy.

He has struggled through canto after canto to express
the inexpressible, to describe the indescribable, to trans-
late into human words the music of the divine light*
Now all his power is broken. In the face of the

1 Par. XXXIII, 67-72. 2 Par. XXXIII, 121-123.

3 Par. XXXIII, 142.

319

DANTE VIVO WORK

ineffable final glory, nothing avails save the renunciation
of the artist and the dignity of silence*

The masterpiece of one of the greatest poets that
ever lived closes with the confession that his poetry
has failed.

320

BOOK FIVE

UNFRIENDS AND ENEMIES

are Accustomed to a reverential attitude,
sometimes excessive, in the presence of
Dante* There are those who speak of him
as if he were a being of another race more estimable
than ours,

In contrast to this, we find that, even in his own life-
time, the divine Dante was ridiculed or censured by a
number of people treated, in short, like any other
man, or rather, we should say, like one who did not
deserve great respect from anyone*

It began with the outburst of Dante da Maiano. To
the first sonnet written by the eighteen-year-old Alighieri
(A ciascun alma prtsa t gentil for/) 1 da Maiano replied
with one of unseemly advice, and in addition called the
young poet delirious. 2

Then came his first friend, Guido Cavalcanti, who
addressed to him, doubtless with good intentions, words
which are anything but respectful:

I* vegno il giorno a. te infinite volte
e trovote pensar troppo vilmente ; . . .
or non ardisco, per la vil tua vita
far mostramento che tuo dir mi piaccia. 3

I come to you many rimes a day and find too much baseness in your

1 The first sonnet in the Vita Nuova. English readers unfamiliar with the
original are referred to D. G. Rossetri's translation. Trans,

2 Dante da Maiano's sonnet may be found translated in Rossetti's Dante
and bis Circle, which is easily accessible. The sonnet begins, *Of that wherein
thou art a questioner/ Trans.

3 For the entire sonnet, see Rossetri (Dante and lis Circle): *I come to thee
by daytime constantly.' Trans.

DANTE VIVO DESTINY _Ju)

thoughts. . . . Now, on account of your unseemly life, I do not dare
to show that your rhymes please me*

Dante receives even worse treatment from Forese
Donati in the famous Tenzone. 1

It may be said in explanation that in those days Dante
was still young and not yet famous. But he was already
known, I think, when Cecco Angiolieri, the mad but
talented Sienese poet, launched against him the famous
sonnet of retort which is, we must admit, one of the
most successful among all those evolved by that cracked
brain* What an assured onslaught in the closing
terzina!

E se di questo voi dicere piue,
Dante Alighier, i J t'avaro a stancare,
ch'eo so' lo pungigHone e tu se' '1 hue* 2

And if you wish more of this, Dante Alighieri, I have enough of it to
wear you out, for I am the goad and you are the ox.

He did not escape attacks, sometimes ironical, some-
times openly hostile, from Cecco D'AscolL 3 If we may
believe the tradition, he was made the butt of jokes at
the court of Can Grande del la Scala in Verona by
Gonnella or some other buffoon* According to the
chronicler Foglietta, he was thrashed at Genoa by clients
of Branca d'Oria in revenge for his pungent criticism
of their patron: 'Brancae clientes, tantam verborum

1 The Ttnzone was discussed in Ch* 14 of this volume* Four of the
sonnets of the Ten^one are translated in Dante and lis Circle > Appendix to
Part One. Trans.

2 For the entire sonnet see Dante and Its Circle : 'Dante Alighieri, if I jest
and lie/

Cecco Angiolieri, the 'scamg of the Danteans/ appears in the Dfcameron,
IX, 4. Trans.

3 l!Acerba, the hest-known poem of Cecco D'Ascoli, contains a number of
contemptuous references to the Commedia. Trans.

324

UNFRIENDS AND ENEMIES

petulantiam re tandem coercendam censentes, hominem
in publico deprehensum male mulctarnnt/ 1

Certain prophetic words of Cacciaguida seem to refer
to an attempt, or at least to an intention, on the part
of Dante's fellow-exiles, to assassinate him in revenge
for his desertion of them*

E quel che piu ti gravera le spalle
sara la compagnia malvagia e scempia . . .

che tutta ingrata, tutta matta ed empia
si fara contra te ; ma, poco appresso,
ella, non tu, n'avra rossa la tempia. 2

And that which will weigh most heavily on your shoulders will be the
company of evil and worthless men . . . who, all ungrateful, mad, and
malevolent, will turn against you; but soon after, their foreheads, not
yours, will be red for it*

Already Brunetto Latini, in Canto XV of the Inferno,
had alluded to the hatred of the Guelph factions for
Dante, and had said to him:

La tua fortuna tanto onor ti serba,
che Tuna parte e Taltra avranno fame
di te ; ma lungi fia dal becco 1'erba. 3

Your fortune has such honour in store for you that die one party and
the other shall have hunger for you; but the grass shall be far from the
goat.

Fame> not hunger in the sense of desire to have him
back again in this or that party; but hunger in the sense
of wishing to devour like a lion, to tear to pieces, to
kill.

1 U. Foglietta, Chrorum Ligunm tlogia. Romae, apud heredes Antomi
Bladii, 1573, p, 254.

Branca's clients agreeing finally that such insolent language should be
checked by energetic measures, caught the man in public and thrashed him
soundly. Trans.

2 Par. XVII, 61-62; 64-66.
8 Inf. XV, 70-72.

325

DANTE VIVO DESTINY

For Dante, then, there was no lack of injurious treat-
ment contrived by human hatred* The divine poet,
whom all the world now honours, was from his
eighteenth year until his death subjected at one time or
another to scorn, bitter reproaches, vilification, injurious
attacks, and bodily assault; he was even threatened with
violent death.

When you see many people enraged against a single
man, draw near* Sometimes it is a disgraced man with-
out protection* More often it is proud pre-eminence
abjectly feared* Dante, because of his consecration to a
lofty ideal, could not escape the detestable experience
of persecution from the mediocre and the base*

326

JL348C1.

FAILURES

IVETED in the heads of average folk is the
ea t ^ iat a g reat ra** 1 must be great always
d everywhere; perpetually victorious; in
whatever he does, at the head of the class and
first in the race. The full and exact biographies
which reveal the f inevitable shortcomings, do not suc-
ceed in changing this half-Plutarchian, half-romantic
notion.

The truth is entirely different* Every man pays for
his greatness with many littlenesses, for his victory with
many defeats, for his richness of genius with many fail-
ings. Every great genius is, on one side at least, a
failure, a rate. And if he appears never to be a rate, it is
difficult to believe him a genius* Even Goethe, who
seems in his genius to be good fortune personified, is a
rate as a writer of romance (except in Werther) and as a
physicist in his theory of colours,

Dante could not escape this law* In at least two
things he was a failure*

He was a failure, first of all, as a man engaged in
public affairs. Although he was ambitious and con-
scious of his ability, he did not hold either before or
after his exile, within his patria or without, any but small
and unimportant offices. His embassy to Boniface VIII
was a failure. His attempt to unite the exiles in order
to bring about their return to Florence was another
failure* A third failure, and greater than the rest, was

327

DANTE VIVO DESTINY

the finish of his hopes for the Empire with the ill luck
and death of Henry VTL

He can be called a failure also as a religious man*
He intended with his poem to instil wisdom into man-
kind and to point out to them the road which ascends
to God* But the Commedia was admired above all as
poetry or as a document of history, and neither then
nor afterwards did it have any appreciable influence on
the habits of his contemporaries and posterity. He
thought that he would be the herald and, like another
St John the Baptist, the forerunner of the new King of
the World who was to come, swift as the Veltro, to
reform sinful humanity. And now after six centuries
we are still expecting, and expecting in vain, the real-.
ization of that sublime hope* Dante, however, thought
that at least the coming of the leader was near at hand,
the Dux who would have prepared the way for the
Veltro*

And, finally, the greatest success for a Christian is to
come near to holiness and to acquire it* But Dante,
although he was a Catholic in good faith, remained until
the last embroiled in earthly passions, ruled by his strong
desire for earthly glory, shaken by his inveterate hatreds*
He never, even remotely, attained the complete purifica-
tion of the saint*

We may say then that he failed as a statesman, as a
White Guelph and as a Ghibelline, as a moral reformer
and as a Christian. In recompense, he was successful as
a poet* But he owes this eminence, at least in part, to
the last and the gravest of his failures. A saint who is
in earnest would not deign, even if he were able, to

328

FAILURES

write poems, however certain he might be that his work
would be greater and more beautiful than the Divina
Corn-media. The saint who has his mind fixed on the
absolute has something better to do than to put together
canto after canto of rhymed verses.

329

DANTE'S SOLITUDE

3T is certainly not my intention to recreate in the
old romantic manner a Dante always grieving,
groaning, and weeping over real and imagined
evils; his face distorted by unending anguish, his
eyes red and wet with tears the wandering victim of a
continuous and merciless persecution.

On the other hand, we cannot think of him as a man
without our hearts being moved to compassion at the
thought of what formed so great a part of his life.
Dante was great not only through his genius but through
his sorrow. And his genius was, I do not say generated,
but purified by his sorrow. i

We know entirely too little about the outward events
of his life to be able to enumerate all the causes of that
deep melancholy which was his companion through
long years and which sometimes broke forth in bitter-
ness and desperation. Without resorting to invention/
contenting ourselves solely with established facts which
have been sifted out of the biographies and the poet's
own writings, we can guess with sufficient certainty
what he must have suffered from the time of his
adolescence until his death*

In the first place, Dante was always terribly alone.
His mother died when he was still an infant. Of his
father we know little except that he was an ordinary
man in every sense of the word, and incapable, even if
he had lived longer, of understanding his son. For the
woman who inspired in Dante the loftiest and the

330

DANTE'S SOLITUDE

purest of all his loves, the young poet was able to show
only a distant courtesy; she was the wife of another,
and died when Dante was scarcely twenty-five years old.
With the first of his friends, Guido Cavalcanti, he was not
in complete harmony for, if the tradition is true, Guido
was a sceptic and an epicurean, and he looked disdain-
fully upon the divine Beatrice. In any event, he died
'in the midst of the journey of our life' when Dante
was thirty-five years old*

Dante's other Florentine friends, a certain Lapo
Gianni for example, lacked the mental and moral stature
which would have enabled them to be the poet's com-
panions in those lofty places which he sought, Dante
could talk with them of lallate and of young maidens,
he could divert himself in their company, but no more
than that*

^*lhe aged master, Brunetto, who taught him 'how a
man makes himself eternal/ vanished from the earth
when Dante was not yet thirty years old; and, in any
case, Brunetto *s mind was not so profound nor his life
so pure that he could give to his disciple more than the
desire for glory*

We have record of a brother, Francesco, who often
comforted and aided him; but what kind of man he
was and in what relations of affection he stood with
Dante we have no means of knowing*

We know even less of Dante *s wife, poor Gemma
Donati* No one can say if Boccaccio *s gossip about
Gemma has any foundation in truth* The very words
of the biographer seem to exclude the idea* But it is
probable that Dante passed many years, perhaps the
whole period of his exile, at a distance from his wife.

33*

DANTR VIVO * DESTINY

For a time he was separated from his sons as welL Was
it the discreet Gemma who for reasons good or bad was
unwilling to depart from Florence? Or was it the poet
himself who wished to spare her the privations and
miseries of his wandering life and so did not wish her
with him? But if she was in truth near him during any
part of his exile, was she able to understand his great-
ness and adequately comfort his spiritual solitude? And
why is she never recalled, even indirectly, by her
husband or her sons?

We need, in short, some trustworthy information
before we can picture the joys and sorrows of Dante's
life as a husband and a father. There remain a few
things written by his sons, Pietro and Jacopo, but we
must admit that they contain no trace of the paternal
genius, and no trace of his wisdom and vigorous char-
acter* It seems certain that the sons lived some time
with their father, probably in the last years of his exile*
We can therefore easily suppose that Dante was not
spared the unhappiness of realizing their intellectual
mediocrity* They did not understand him or they half
understood him, or perhaps even less: so that even with
his sons the great solitary remained spiritually alone*

We may say too that he was solitary when with his
party-associates, in Florence in the period of his office-
holding, and in the first years of his exile* Those
Florentine Guelphs thought mainly of saving money,
of heaping up florins, of using public office for the
advantage of their family, or at most of the faction to
which they belonged* No one looked more than a year
ahead or farther than the walls of the city* They were
astute and profiteering politicians* intensely proud and

33*

DANTE'S SOLITUDE

quarrelsome. Their souls were barren of higher light*
They nourished no vision of a civil and religious ideal
which should transcend their little daily needs.

Dante seemed a partisan like so many others. He
loved Florence more than every other city, more even
than Rome. Rome was a sacred symbol, the seat of the
Empire and the Church* Dante venerated her with
sincerity and ardour, but his veneration lacked that
almost sensual love which he had for his native place.

Dante, however, felt himself to be not only Florentine
and Guelph, but Roman, Italian, Christian* He con-
templated political problems from a more lofty point
of view. He could not find himself in accord, even in
his early maturity, with the corrupt and short-sighted
dabblers in politics whom he found in his party. Led
by his burning desire to recover his native city, he
united for a time with the exiles who were in arms; but
he learned very quickly how 'malevolent and foolish'
was their companionship, and so once more he remained
alone.

He was alone among the clergy who did not under-
stand the imperial dream and who could not, most of
them, approve his prediction of the Third Kingdom,

He was alone among the rhymers and grammarians of
his time who thought of art only as a courtly ornament
or a conventional tribute of love or an outlet for
pedantic display.

He remained alone always. In the wanderings of his

e^ite he seems never to have met with other spirits

"^capable of consoling his scornful and overwhelming

solitude. He was received kindly by noblemen and

princes; he enjoyed the intimate friendship of soldiers

333

DANTE VIVO DESTINY

and writers; he held discussions with notaries and monks,
and contests with bullies and buffoons* In the last years
he had friendly protectors, learned admirers even, and
perhaps a few disciples. But no one of all these many
persons who knew him could understand him fully,
even less could they love him as he needed to be loved*
Henry VII, who, for a moment, was his hero, must on
closer acquaintance have been a disappointment to him;
and the hesitations of the Emperor and his premature
death must have grieved profoundly the Florentine
prophet*

Only Giotto, as an artist, can be considered his equal.
The painter could have been a not unworthy friend to
Dante; but we know too little about the relations exist-
ing between these two great men, and not enough about
the mind of Giotto outside of his painting, to feel
certain that a true and inspiring friendship developed
between them*

From another point of view we cannot blame Dante's
contemporaries for the painful solitude in which he
lived* Of men like him there is perhaps only one to a
century; and even so, not every century; and only death
unites those solitaries who were made to live together*

But there have been great spirits who, lacking equals,
have found at least warmth of affection and unswerving
loyalty. They have had friends, brothers, disciples,
compounded all of reverence and love* There can be in
simple souls, in default of intellectual power, a depth
of sympathy which is worth the other and which can
comfort it. But around Dante we see no one* All are
mediocre: mediocre patrons, mediocre adversaries (ex-
cepting Boniface), mediocre friends, mediocre sons*

334

DANTE'S SOLITUDE

In the centuries after his death, about his name will
cluster mediocre disciples, mediocre imitators, mediocre
commentators, mediocre statue-makers. The only one
worthy of him was Michelangelo, who wished to carve
with his own hands a fitting tomb for Dante, and was
not permitted*

335

WHERE IS DANTE NOW?

/^EW, I believe, have thought or think about
""IT Dante's present fate, beyond this world.
C^j That handful of white dust which is the
last remaining trace of what was once his body,
is enclosed in a commonplace little temple in Ravenna
but his soul, where is it now?

He who before his death, by right of his genius and
his faith, passed through the three realms of the dead
like a dreaming pilgrim, in which realm to-day does he,
in fact, abide?

For those who are not Catholics this question has no
meaning. It may even seem futile or ridiculous. But
for a Catholic this problem, even if it is necessarily
insoluble, has its meaning and its reason.

I, for one, addressing myself to him in verse on the
occasion of the sixth centenary of his death, said that
he had been welcomed in Paradise:

Ora se tu dalla stanza, serena
dove fiammeggi insieme a Beatrice,
degno conviva delTeterna cena
rivolgi il viso. . . .*

If from the heavenly abode where you gleam like a flame beside
Beatrice and take your place, a worthy guest, at the eternal feast, you
turn your face. ...

But can we be quite sure that Dante now enjoys that
beatific vision which he celebrated in his third canticle

1 Prayer to Dante on the Sixth Centenary of His Death (1921), in Poesia in
vcrsL Florence, Vallecchi, 1932, p. zoi.

336

WHERE IS DANTE NOW?

with such marvellous semblance of actuality? He was
not a saint. According to the absolute standard of the
Gospel, he was not even a perfect Christian. In most
respects he was, like all of us, a sinner. We know this
from his life and from what can be discovered frpm his
works. He had, and perhaps still has, to expiate his
sins. 1

So far as a mortal is permitted to scrutinize the in-
scrutable ways of Divine Justice, we reject the idea that
Dante is among the damned in helL His sins, though
heavy, were not such as to merit, so it seems to me,
eternal punishment. But it is entirely probable that he
had to spend some time in Purgatory, Is he still there
at this moment, or has the infinite mercy of God,
whom he loved and praised in verse, already drawn him
up to form a drop in that stream 'gleaming with bright-
ness * ? Will six centuries of purgation have sufficed to
make him a 'citizen' of that celestial Rome where
Christ is Roman? Ought we still to pray for him and
offer sacrifices for his liberation, or may we be per-
mitted to hope that he now has no more need of our
loving prayers? Does he suffer still, or is he at last
filled with the eternal rejoicing which he pictured in the
glories of the blest?

In either case, what does he think now of his greatest
work? What emotions did he experience, whether of

1 Dante knew that he must spend a time in Purgatory (Purg. XIII, 133-
138), but was certain of ultimately mounting to Paradise, as we know from
what Beatrice is made to say: 'before yoct sup at this wedding feast' (Par.
XXX, 135). Antonio Pucci (a writer of the fourteenth century), in his
Centilo<juio> supposed, on the contrary, that Dante was still in Purgatory:
'If Dante's soul is spending in Purgatory its wintry time of expiation, I pray
Christ, whence comes every grace, that of His mercy He will draw it thence
and lead it to the bliss of eternal life/ (Solera, Vitt, etc., p. 7-)

337

DANTE VIVO DESTINY

amazement or of shame, when for the first time he was
able to compare the vision of his imagination with the
absolute reality which was before him?

In what circle of Purgatory, probably different from
that Purgatory which he had imagined, did he pass the
long years, or centuries, of expiation? Did he indeed
meet there some of those souls whom he placed in
Purgatory through his just discretion as a poet? What
discourse did he have with his companions, with those
whom he had already known on earth, and with those
who came a long time after he came?

One thing above all I should like to know* Now
that he is freed from passions and ambitions of every
sort, what judgement does he pass on his poem? Does
he smile at his pride as an artist, at his fierceness as a
partisan? Does he still keep in his soul, freed now from
the prison-house of the flesh, a certain affection for
that great work which through so many years 'made
him lean' ? Or, following too late the example of the
saints, does he judge it unequal to its argument, unjust
and deserving of censure, nothing more than a heap of
empty rhymes, a blind outlet for his pride, a weak
attempt and a miserable failure to lead mankind to the
light and to enclose in words too human for their
purpose some spark of divine truth ?

Does the Divina Commedia, in short, still seem to him
a title to spiritual merit, or is it a cause of remorse and
humiliation? Does he look upon it from on high with
the nostalgia of a poet not as yet completely purified,
or does it seem to him in the unspeakable brightness of
the Empyrean a wretched note-book filled with meaning-
less and fast-fading scrawls?

338

WHERE IS DANTE NOW?

But in whatever way the great Shade judges his own
work, we know, we who are still dragged along by that
life 'which is a running unto death/ what it has been
for thousands of souls and is still for us one of the
boldest and most successful attempts to recreate the
vision of Jacob. The Cvmmcdia, although it is a human
work, is a ladder rising from the hunting-grounds of
wild beasts to the garden with flowers of flame. There-
fore we Christians, we poets, cannot think of Dante
without our souls being flooded with love and gratitude.
We forget his sins, we pardon his mistakes. We re-
member only the misfortunes and the greatness. We are
moved always more and more by the profound tragedy
of his stormy and storm-driven genius, by the ever-
increasing miracle of his rugged and metaphysical
poetry.

In whatever region of the empire of the dead our
Dante suffers or rejoices, we feel an impulse to pray*
To pray for him, if it is not yet granted him to con-
template the triune light which he has already seen in
his vision. To pray to him, as to a gracious intercessor
among the saints, on behalf of poets, if the Virgin
Mother whom he so greatly loved has helped him to
mount to the eternal city of her Son*

And suddenly at the end of this my pleasant labour,
I feel compelled to address a prayer to him. I ask him
to pardon me if I have been it may be over-bold in
weighing and measuring his soul; to pardon me above
all if I, of so little worth, did not know how to speak
worthily of the nobble greatness of his genius,

339

AUTHOR'S NOTE

eiTATiONs from Dante's works are based on the
critical edition of the Societa Dantesca Italiana
(Florence, Bemporad, 1921).

For the Vita Nuova, the critical edition of Michele
Barbi has been used (Florence, Bemporad, 1932). This
forms Volume I of the Edi^ione Na^ionale delle Opere
di Dante.

For lack of space no attempt has been made to list
the works consulted. Readers are referred to the biblio-
graphy compiled by M* Barbi, in Dante. Vita, opere e
fortuna (Florence, Sansoni, 1933), pp. 130-142.

Acknowledgments should be made for aid derived from
the valuable Studi Danteschi (Florence, Sansoni, 1920 et
se^ 9 directed by M. Barbi, of which sixteen volumes
have been issued*

A few notes especially for the general reader have been
added by the translators*

340

THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE

and Venetian sailors in which two Venetians were
killed and several wounded* Venice, having other reasons
for starting a quarrel with Ravenna, displayed intentions
far from pacific. In consequence, Guido thought it well
to send an embassy to the Queen of the Adriatic. Dante
was selected, we do not know whether in company with
others or alone, to go to Venice. It is believed that while
he was returning to Ravenna by land, traversing the
region of miasmal marshes between Pomposa and Co-
macchio, he fell ill of malaria. In a body already ex-
hausted by strong emotions, by mental sufferings, and by
study, the fever must have been severe and must have
started other ills, because the soul of Dante freed itself
from the weary flesh probably on the fourteenth
or fifteenth of September. Thus, indirectly, by the
fault of two bands of sailors, drunk and bloodthirsty,
Dante died before his time, the greatest poet Italy ever
had, and one of the twenty or thirty supreme minds
which the earth has distilled from the generations of
mankind in six thousand years of history.

It is not known who was with him at the last moment:
his daughter, perhaps, or his wife; certainly his sons, a
friend or two, and a friar to commend his souL

If in those days of febrile stimulation he looked back
upon his life, he must have thought it strange that there
at the end he should find in the names of those about him
reminders of the three beings who had filled so great a
part of his thoughts and imaginings. The daughter,
destined to be called Beatrice, if she was not already
known by this magic name, brought back the memory of
the 'youngest of the angels' in Florence. The professor
of Bologna bore in his name the glory of Dante's master

13*