Dante the Divina Gommedia - Forgotten Books

DR. SCHAFF’

S WORKS .

H I STORY OF TH E CHRI ST IAN CH URCH . sth ed 1t ion , rev1s edand en larged . 1890

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[Vo l s V and VII are i n co u r s e of p reparat1onTH E CRE EDS OF C HRI ST E NDOM . 6th ed 1t 1on ,

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1890 . 8vo ,

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TH E T EACH I N G OF TH E TW ELVE APOS TLES , o r, TH E OLD

ES T C H U R C H M ANUAL . 3d ed 1t 1on ,revrs ed and e n larged .

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ST A UGU ST IN. M ELANC H T HO N , NEANDE R Th r ee Bi ograjl zzes 1886 . 12m o , $ 1 0 0 .

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BI BLE D I CT IO N A RY . 4th ed 1t1o n 1888 .

TH ROU GH BIBLE LA N D S aNarratwe o f aRe ce n t Tou r l n Egy ptan d the H o l y Lan d . W 1th l l l u s trat 1on s . A new ed 1t 10 n ,

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C H R I ST AND C H R I ST I A N I TY : Stud 1es l n Ch rl s to logy , C reed s andCo n fes s m n s ,

P rote s tan t1s m an d Romam s m, Refo rmat1o n P r1n

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ACOM PAN IO N TO TH E G R EEK T ESTAM E N T ANDTHE ENGL I S H VE R S I O N , W I T H PAC S I M I LE I LLU STRAT IO N S OFM S S AND STANDAR D E D I T IO N S OF TH E NEW T ESTAM E N T . 3d ed 1t1on ,

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TH E P ROG R ESS OF R EL IG IOU S FRE E DOM ' as s how n i n the

H i s to ry of To le rat 1o n Acts . 1889 . 8vo , $ 1 50

C H U R C H ANDST AT E I N TH E U N I TED ST AT E S ,o r

,T he Am e r i

can Ideao f Re l rgnou s Freedom and 1ts Pract 1cal Effe ct 1888 .

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C R E E D R EVI S IO N IN T HE PR ESBYT E R I A N CH U R C H ES . 1890 .

50 ce n tsL I T E R ATU R E AND POET RY Stud l e s i n the Engl i s h Language .

the Poetry of the Bi b le,th e Dre s Ira, th e S tabat Mate r , the

H ym n s o f S t . Be r nard ,Dante Al lgh l e r l , and th e DivmaComme

d 1a 1890 . 8vo,

280 DANTE ALIGH IERI.

gious of the three. H e i s the H omer of med ieval Chr i s tian i ty,and reflects the theology of St. Thomas Aqui nas . The d ivinei ns pi ration and author i ty of the Scr iptures , the H oly Tr i n ity,the d ivi n i ty of Chri s tand the H oly Spi r i t

,the neces s ity of the

atonement,convers ion and sancti fication , future rewards and

pun i s hmen ts, were to h im as certain truths as mathematical

propos i tion s,and heaven and hel l as real facts as happines s and

m i s ery i n th i s l i fe. In th i s respect he resembles the s i nger ofParad i s e Los t and Parad is e Regained, and the s inger of the

M ess iad much more than Shakespeareand Goethe ; but the Engli sh M i lton and theGerman Klops tock, wi thapurer and s implerfaith

,do not reach the height of the gen i us of the Tuscan poet.

Danteand M i lton have several poi nts i n common : both arei ntensely rel igious

,one as aCathol ic, the other as aPuri tan ;

both s tood at the height of learn i ng and culture,the one of the

th i rteenth, the other of the seven teenth century ; both were

champions of freedom again s t despoti sm ; both engaged i n partypol itics , and fai led ; both ended their l i fe i n unhappy i solation ;but both rose i n subl ime heroi sm above personal m i s fortune,andproduced i n sorrowand d i sappoi ntment thei r greates tworks

,ful l

of i nspi r ing thoughts for future generations .

Shakes peare i s asecular poet,and professes no rel igion atal l ,

whether Cathol ic or Protes tant ; he i s h id beh i nd h i s characters .

But healway s s peaks respectfully of rel igion he makes vi rtuelovelyand vice hateful ; he pun i shes s in and cr ime

,and h i s trage

d ies have the moral effect of powerful sermons . H e i s fu l l of

remin iscences of,and al lus ions to, the Bible.

1 H e passed throughthe great convuls ion of the Reformation wi thout los ing hi s fai th .

There can be no doubt that he reverently bowed beforeH imwhose

Blessed feet were nai l edFor our advantage on the bi tter cross .

I Bi shop Charl es Word sworth,of St. And rews

,has wri tten abook of 420

pages on Shakespear e’s Knowledge and Use of the Bi ble (Lond on ,

th i rd cd . ,

i n wh i ch h e traces over400 pas sages of the Bi bl e quoted or referred to

by Shakespeare. As he wrote most of h i s works before 1611,when the

Author i zed Vers i on appeared , h e us ed ear l i er tran s lations . Word sworth as s erts(p . 9) that Ki ng James ’ trans lators owed more to Shakespeare than he to

them .

H en ry IV.,P. I .

, Act I ., Sc. 1 .

DANTE ALIGH IERI. 281

And we look i n vai n i n al l l i terature, outs ide of the New Tes tament

,for amore eloquent and truly Chr i s tian descri ption of

n 1than that given by “ gentleW i ll iam

The qual ity of mercy i s not strai n d ,It droppeth as the gentle rain from heavenUpon the p lace beneath . It i s twice bless

’

d ;

It blesseth h im that gives , and h im that takesTi s mightiest i n the mightiest ; i t becomes

The throned monarch better than his crownH is sceptre shows the force of temporal power ,Theattribute toaweand majesty ,Wherein doth s it the fear and dread of kings ;But mercy is above th is sceptred swayIt i s enthroned in the hearts of kings ,

It is an attribute to God h imsel f,And earth ly power doth then show l i kest God

’

s ,

When mercy seasons ju stice.

”

Goethe is l i kewi seawor ld ly poet, and touches rel igion on lyi ncidentally and cas ually as one of the es sential elemen ts of

h uman l i fe ; as for i ns tance i n the con fes s ions of abeauti ful soul

(Fraulein von Klettenberg, ap ious Moravian lady and fr iendof h i s mother), i nserted among the mi xed theatr ical company ofW i lhelm Mei s ter . H e character i zed h imself as al i beral andi mpartial outs ider

,

”and as ach i ld of the world between two

p rophets .

8 H e had aPelagian or U n i tarian view of the wayof salvation , and expres sed i t i n the Second Part of Faus t

,

wh ich has been called the tragedy of the modern age of theeighteenth and n ineteenth centur ies . Faus t i s saved, not i n theevangel ical way by free grace through repentance and faith inChr is t, but by h i s own cons tant endeavor and self-culture

,aided

by d ivi ne love,and by Maryand Gretchen drawi ng h im heaven

ward . Angels bear Faus t’s immortal partand s i ng

1M erchant of Ven i ce,Act IV. , Sc. 1 .

3 Ich bi n kei n Unchr i st, Icei n Wi derchm'

s t, dock ei n deci d i rter Ni chtclm’

st.

Lette r to the p ious Lavater , the fr i end of h i s youth , 1782.

Pt'ophel e rechts , Prop hets l i nks ,

Das Wel tlci nd i n der M i tten .

”


Gerettet i s t das ed le GladDer Gei sterwel tvom BosenWar immer s trebend s i ck bemuht,Den k’

o‘

nnen wi r er l’

o’

s en .

Und batan 17m , d ieDiebegarVon oben tei lgenommen ,

Begegnet i hm d ie sel’

ge S chaar

We need not wonder that Goethe had the h ighes t admi rationfor Shakes peare

,but d i s l iked Dante

,and cal led h i s Inferno

abominable h i s Purgator io“ambiguous”and h i s Parad i s o

“ti res ome

”(May , In showing abus t of Dante to

Eckermann , he said : “ H e looks as i f he came out of hell .”

The contrast between the two men i s almos tas greatas the contrast between Gretchen and Beatr ice. And yet the Fi rs t Partof the tragedy of Faus t furn i s hes as tr ik i ng parallel to the

Inferno of the Divine Comedy , and contains some of the pro

foundes t Chr i s tian ideas , expressed i n the pures t language.

Th i nk of the prelude i n heaven , im i tated from the Book of Job,

the s ubl ime songs of the threearchangels , the tr iumphan t Eas terhymn

, wh ich prevents Faus t from committi ng su icide,the

s ol emn cathedral scene,the judgment trumpet of theDies Ira,

the terrors ofagui lty consc ience,and the downward progres s ofs in begetting new s i n and lead i ng s tep by step to i nsan ity, pr i sonand death . The descr iption of Meph i s topheles i s far more trueto the character of the s neer i ng, s coffi ng, h ideous arch-fiend of

the human race than Dante’s horr i d mons ter at the bottom of

the Inferno. The conclud i ng act before the day of execution,

the salvation of the i nnocently gui l ty and pen i tent Gretchen,

1 The emphas i s l i es on the th i rd and fourth l ines , the earnes tand cons tantend eavor of man ,as the ch i ef cond i ti on of salvati on , to wh i ch i s ad d ed d ivi nel ove as ah el p from above. Goethe h imsel f d eclared to Eckermann (June6, 183 1) that i n these verses l i es the key for the red emption of Faus t. In

Faus t selber ci ne immer hb’

here and reinere Tha'tigkei t bi s an ’s Ende, and von

oben d i e i hm zu H i llje kommende ewige Liebe. Es stehtd i es mi tunserer rel igi b‘

sen

Vor stel l ung durclums i n Harmon i e,nach wel cher wi r n icht blocs durch eigene

Kraft sel igwerden , condom durclt d ie h i nzukommende go'

ttl i ebs Gnade. Th i s

reverses the evangel i cal order , wh ich puts Divi ne grace firs t an d h umanendeavor s econd , and puts both i n the relati on of caus eand effect.

DANTE ALIGH IERI . 283

and the perd i tion of her gui lty seducer , followed by the cry of

pi ty H enry,H enry I i s the very perfection of tragical art,

and overpoweri ng in i ts moral effect. The Second Part, wh ichoccupied the trembl i ng hand of the aged poet dur ing the las tseven years of h is li fe, i s ful l of unexplai nedallegor ical mys teries ,and ends wi th theattraction of the eternal woman ly.

” So far,

but no further,i t resembles the Parad i s e of Danteand theattrae

tion of Beatr ice. The Purgatory i s mi ss ing i n Faus t, or hid i ns i lence between the Fi rs tand Second Part.Of the l i fe of Danteand Shakes pearewe knowvery l ittle,and

that l i ttle i s uncertai n and d i sputed . Goethe left acharmi ngrecord of h is ear ly l i fe

,and h i s later years are equally well

known . Danteand Shakespeare d ied i n the vigor of manhood,the former at theage of fifty

-s ix, the latter at theage of fifty

three,both i n the Chr i s tian fai th and the hope of immortal ity.

Goethe l ived to aserene old age of eighty-two,pray i ng for

more l ight,

”and left, ten days before h i s departure fromth i s wor ld of mys tery to the wor ld of l ight

,as h i s last wi se

u tterance, ates timony to the Chr i s t of the Gospel wh ich i s wel l

worth ponder i ng by every th i nk i ng skeptic,say i ng : “ Letmental

culture go on advancing, l et mental sciences go on gai n ing i nd epth and breadth

,and the human m i nd expand as i t may , i t

w i ll never surpass the elevation and moral culture of Chr i stian i ty as i t gl i s tens and s h i nes forth i n the Gospels .

” Add to

th i s hi s emphatic declaration I cons ider the Gospels to bethoroughly genu i ne ; for there i s reflected i n them amajes tyands ublim i ty wh ich emanated from the pers on of Chr i s t, and wh ichi s as truly divineas anyth ing ever seen on earth .

”

The great poet of Weimar poi nted i n these tes timon ies to thes tronges tand mos t convi nci ng i nternal evidence of Chr i s tian i tyth e perfect teach i ng and perfect example of i ts Founder . I f th i s

o n ce takes hold of the heartas well as the m i nd of aman,he i

im pregnableagai ns t the attacks of i nfidel i ty. Th i s was the con

fes s ion of one of the profoundes t thi nkers of the n i neteenthcentury.

“ The foundation of al l my th i nki ng,”says R ichard

Bothe,l “ I may hones tly declare, i s the s imple fai th i n Chri st,

1 Preface to the firs t ed i tion of h i s Theologi sche Ethi lc, repr inted i n th e

s econ d ed i tion (W i ttenberg, 1867, vol . I ., p . xvi .

284 DANTE ALIGH IERI .

as i t (not th is or that dogmaor th i s or that theology) has foreighteen centur ies overcome the wor ld. It i s to me the ultimatecertai nty

,i n view of which I am ready, unhes i tati ngly and joy

fully,to cas t overboard every other as s umption of knowledge

wh ich should be found to contrad ict i t. I know no other fixedpoint i nto wh ich I could cas t out the anchor for my thoughtexcept the h i s tor ical man i fes tation

, wh ich is des ignated by thesacred name

, Jes us Chri s t. I t i s to me the unas sai lable H oly ofH ol ies of mank ind

,the mos t exalted th i ng that has ever come

i ntoahuman conscious nes s ,and asunr i se i n h i s tory, from wh ichalone l ight d i ffuses i tself over the collective ci rcle of the objectswh ich fall with in our View. W i th th i s one absolutely und i scoverable datum, the knowledge of wh ich moreover bears d i recttes timony to i ts real i ty

,as the l ight to i tself, and i n wh ich l ie

involved consequences beyond the reach of anticipation,stand s

and falls for me, i n the ultimate ground, every certainty of thespi r i tual and therefore eternal nobi l i ty of the human race.

”

W i l l Amer icaever produceapoet equal i n gen ius to Dante,Shakes peare, Goethe, but free from thei r errors ; apoetwho s hallidenti fy h is l ife and work wi th the cause of Chr is tian i ty pureand undefi l ed

,and show forth the bl i ss ful harmony of beauty,

truth,and goodnes s?Or mus t we wai t for the m i l lenn ium,

or

for Parad i se?

THE LIFE OF DANTE.

Behold the man who has been i n H ell,

”1 exclaimed the

women of Veronawhen they looked on Dante,as an ex i le,

wal k i ng lonely, thoughtful, sad and solemn th rough the s treets .

They m ight have added,

“ and i n Purgatory and in Parad is e.

”

But the Parad is o was at that time not yet fin i shed,and the

women were naturally struck with the mos t prom i nent feature ;they expres sed the popular preference for the Inferno, wh ich i smos t read and bes t known . Few have the patience to cl imb up

the moun tai n of the Purgator i o, and to fol low h im i nto the

Parad i so, though th i s i s the pures t and s ubl imes t part of the

Dioi naCommedia. Etern i ty i n al l i ts phas es seems impres sedupon that countenance, pai nted by h i s fr i end G iotto, wh ich once

i Eccom'

l’nom ch’e statoal l ’ i nferno.

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

seen can never be forgotten . We behold there combined thesolemn sadnes s

,the d i scipl i ne of sorrow,and the repose of faith .

Dante’s l i fe i s atragedy. I t opens wi th the sweet Spr i ng of purelove, passes i nto the s ummer heat of severe s tudy and pol i ticals tr i fe

,and ends i n an autumn of poverty and exi l e ; but the out

come of al l was theDivinaCommed ia, by wh ich he continues tol ive.

Nurtured i nto poverty by wrongH e learnt in sufferi ngwhat he taught in song.

H is i nner l i fe i s wri tten i n h i s works ; but of h is outwardl i fe we know on ly afew facts wi th any degree of certainty ;others are doubtful or d i fferently i nterpreted ; hence we mus t be

guarded i n our assertions .

Dante -an abr i dgmen t of Durante, the Endur i ng— wasdescended from the ancientand noble fam i ly of the Al iger i orAl igh ier i (Al l igh ier i), and born at Florence i n the month of

May or June, 1265 , dur i ng the pontificate of Clement IV.

(1265 i n the age of the Crusades,the cathedrals

,the

s cholas tic ph i losophy,the monas tic orders

,the papal theocracy

i n confl ict wi th the emp i re, and of the gigan tic contras t betweenmonk i s h wor ld-ren unciation (Weltenl sagung)and i mpi sh» wor ldd om in ion (Wel l beherr schung).H e was aboy of-th-ir teeapwhen Conrad in

,the las t s cion of

the i llus tr ious imper ial house of H ohens taufen, was beheaded at

Naples he was -“ b at the death of St. Lou is , ofFrance

,the las t of the Crusaders n i neteen, when St.

Thomas Aqu i nas and St. Bonaventura, h is mas ters i n theology,ascended to the beatific vi s ion i n Parad i se H e was yet

ayouth when Giotto was born when Albertus Magnusd ied when the Sici l ian Vespers took place In

the year 1289, FrancescadaR imi n i was murdered , whom he

immortal i zed i n the fifth Canto of the Inferno. The death and

glor ification of Beatr ice occurred i n 1290, when he had reachedh i s twen ty-fifth year .

Some important events fel l i n the per iod of h i s ex i le : the first

papal jubi lee at Rome the confl ict of Bon iface VIII .

wi th Ph i l ip the Fai r ; the beginn i ng of the Babylon ian ex i le of

the papacy (1309 the s uppres s ion of the Templars


the b i rth of Petrarca and of Boccaccio

and from these two poets may be dated the I tal ian Renai s sance,and that Revival of Letters wh ich, i n turn , prepared the wayfor modern civi l i zation .

Dante’s father was alawyer . H i s mother, DonnaBella, isonce mentioned by Vi rgi l i n the words addres sed to Dante

Blessed is she that bore thee.”1

DANTE AND BEATRICE .

I n h i s n inth year Dan te saw for the firs t time,on afes tive

May-day , under alaurel tree, aFlorenti ne maiden of angel icbeauty and lovel ines s , wi th fai r hai r, br ight blue eyes and pear lwh i te complex ion

, on ly afew months younger than h imself.She was the daughter of Falco Porti nar i , anoble Florentine,and bore the Ch r i s tian name of B ice or Beatr ice

,wh ich recalls

the ideaof beati tude or bles sedness .

H e touch i ngly des cr i bes the i nterview i n h i s New L ife (VitaNuova). She appeared to me,

”he says,

“clothed i n amos t

noble color, amodes t and becomi ng cr imson

,garlanded and

adorned i n s uch wi seas befitted her very youthful age. At thatinstant the sp i r i t of l ife wh ich dwells i n the mos t secret chamberof the heart, began to tremble,and sai d Behold agod , s trongerthan I

,who, com ing, shal l rule me

’

(Eoce dens fortior me, quiven i ens domi nabi tar mi hi

“ Th i s mos t gentle lady reached s uch favor among the people,

thatwhen she passed along theway persons ran to see her, wh ichgave me wonderful del ight. And when she was near any one

,

s uch modes ty took poss ess ion of h i s heart,that he d id not dare to

rai se h is eyes or to return her salutation and to th i s,should any

one doubt i t, many, as having exper ienced i t, could bear wi tnes sfor me. She

,crowned and clothed wi th hum i l i ty

,took her way ,

d i splayi ng no pr ide i n that wh ich s he sawand heard . Many,when she had passed

,said : ‘Th i s i s notawoman , rather i s s he

one of the mos t beauti ful angels of heaven .

’Others said : She

i s ami racle. Bles sed be the Lord who can perform such amarvel .’ I say that s he showed herself so gentleand so full of

1 Inferno, VII I . ,45 Benedetto colei eke i n te s ’i nci ns e.

”

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288 DAM E ALIGH IERI .

than the stars,to the poet Vi rgi l of imper ial Rome, and com

manded h im,wi th the angel ic voice of love, to extr icate Dante

from the dangers of the dark fores t and to lead him throughH el l and Purgatory to the gates of Parad i se. She meets h im

on the top of the mountain of Purgatory, sm i l ing and happy.

’

She rebukes h im for h i s s i ns,and then leads h im to Parad i se.

H e sees her

Gaz ingat the sun ;Never did eagle fas ten so upon i t.

And she such l ightnings flashed into mine eyes ,Thatat the first my s ight endured i t not.

”

Beatrice gaz ed upon me with her eyesFul l of the sparks of love, and so divine,That, overcome my power, I turned my backAnd almost lost my sel f with eyes cas t down .

And Beatrice, she who is seen to pas sFrom good to better , and so sudden ly

That not by time her action i s express ed ,H ow lucent in hersel f mus t she have been I

Whi le the eternal p leas ure, wh ich directRayed upon Beatrice, from her fai r faceContented me wi th i ts reflected aspect,Conqueringme wi th the radiance of asm i le,She said to me, Turn theeaboutand l isten ;Not in mine eyes al one i s Paradi se.

’

And so trans lucent I beheld her eyes ,So ful l of p leas ure, that her countenanceSurpas sed i ts other and i ts latest wont.

O Beatrice, thou gentle guideand dear l

And around Beatrice three several timesItwh i rled its el f with so d ivineasong,My fantas y repeats i t not to me.

”

So from before mine eyes did BeatriceChase every mote with rad iance of her own

,

That cas t its l ightathousand mi les and more.

’

DA M E ALIGH IERI . 289

She smil ed sojoyous lyThat God seemed in her countenance to rejoice.

As Danteapproached theEmpyrean or the h ighes t heaven, heagain turns to Beatr ice wi th i ntense adm i ration and love.

If what has hi therto been said of herWereal l concluded i n as ingle prais e,Scant woul d i t be to serve the present turn .

Not only does the beauty I behel dTranscend ourselves , but tru ly I bel ieveIts Maker only may enjoy i t al l .

Vanqu i shed do I confess me by thi s passageMore than by problem of hi s theme was ever0

’

croome the comic or the tragic poet.

For as the sun the s ight that trembles most,Even so the memory of that sweet smi l eMy mind depriveth of i ts very sel f.

From the first day that I beheld her faceIn this l i fe

,to the moment of this look,

The sequence of my songhas ne’

er been severed ;

But now perforce this sequencemus t des is t

From fol lowingher beauty wi th my verse,As every artis tat h is uttermost.

Such as I leave her toagreater fameThan any of my trumpet, wh ich is bringingIts arduous matter to afinal close,

With voiceand gesture of aperfect leaderShe recommenced :

‘We from the greatest bodyHave i ssued to the heaven that is pure l ight ;

1 860 references to Beatr i ce i n Inferno, II . 53 sqq .,70, 103 ; x . 131 ; XI I .

88 xv. 90. Purgator io, I . 53 VI .47 ; XV. 77 ; XVI I I ,48, 73 XXI I I . 128 ;m m . 36. 53 , 136 ; xxx . 73 ; XXXI . 80

,107, 114, 133 ; XXXI I . 36

,85

,106 .

Parad is o, I . 46 ; I I I . 127 ; Iv. 139—142 ; x. 37—40 ; XVI I I . 16—21 ; 55-58 ;

XXI I I . 34; XXIV. 22-25 ; xxvr. 76-79 ; xxvn . 104, 105 ; xxrx. 8 ; xxx .

14, 128 ; xxxr. 59, 66, 76 ; xxxn . 9 ; XXXIII . 38. The pas sages quotedar e from Longfel low’

s trans lati on .

19

290 DA M E ALIGH IERI .

Light intel lectual replete with love,Love of true good replete wi th ecs tas y ,Ecs tasy that transcendeth every sweetness .

H ere shalt thou see the one hostand the otherOf Paradi s e, and one in the sameas pectsWhich at the final judgment thou shal t see.

So far al l i s pureand lovely. Danteand Beatr icearean idealand i nspi r i ng pai r of beauty

,and exertaperenn ial charm upon

the imagination . They repres en t alove that i s k indled by anearth ly and by aheaven ly flame

,and blends i n harmony the

natural and spi ri tual. As U hland s i ngs

Jal m i t Fagwi rd d ies er SangerAle der gb

'

ttl icheverehr s t,Dante, welchem i rdsche I/iebeS ick z u h imm l is cher verkla‘ret.

The relation of Dante to Beatr ice i s altogether un ique. It i s

the las tand h ighes t stage of ch ivalr ic sentiment, but trans formedi nto amys tic devotion to an i deal. Beatr ice was awoman of

fleshand blood,and at the same time the impersonation of Divine

wisdom the l ovely daughter of Folco Portinar i and the symbolof theology, that queen of sciences wh ich comes from God andleads to God . She was both realand ideal, terres tr ial and celestial

,human and d ivi ne. She was to h im al l that i s pure,

lovely and attractive i n i nnocent womanhood , and al l that i ssacred and subl ime i n Divi ne wi sdom. She was wh i le on earththe guardian angel of h i s youth ,and after her death the guard ianangel of h i s lonely ex i le. She was to h im the golden ladder

from earth to heaven , the br idge from Parad is e Los t to Parad i se

0

1 Parad . XXX. 16-45,Longfel l ow

’s trans lati on . If Beatr ice rep res en ts true

theol ogy , or the knowl edge of God , then God on l y can fu l l y knowan d ful l yenjoy i t, ver . 21. Thearti s t fai l s i n h i s h ighes t aim ,

wh i ch i s the perfect

revelation of h i s i deal,ver . 32. Th e h eaven of pure l igh t, ver . 39, i s the

tenth and last heaven,aboveal l space. Dante say s (Convi to, I I . 15 ) The

Empy rean H eaven , by i ts peace, res embl es theDivi ne Sci ence, wh i ch i s ful l ofal l peace ; and wh ich sufi

'

ers no str i fe of op i n i ons or soph i s ti cal arguments ,

becaus e of the exceed i ngcerti tude of i ts s ubject, wh i ch i s God .

” In ver .45we mus t d i s ti ngui s h the host of angel s who have the same aspect after thelas tjudgment as before, and the hos t of sai nts who wi l l wear the twofol d

garment,”the sp i r i tual body and thegl orified earth l y body (CantoXXV.

DA M E ALIGH IERI. 291

Regained . She symbol i z es that “ love wh ich moves the s un andthe s tars

,

”that “ eternal woman ly ,

”wh ich i n i ts deepes tChr i s tian

sense i s the ever watch fu l love of God i rres i stibly drawi ng us onward and upward

Mortal that perishesTypes the i deal

Al l that fai th cherishes

Thus becomes realWrought superhuman lyH ere it i s done ;

The ever-womanlyDraweth us on.

”1

The double character of Beatr iceagrees with the double sense,the l i teral and spi r i tual

,wh ich Dante gives to hi s poem . H e

accepted the exegetical canon of med imval theology wh ich d i st i ngu ished i n the B ible four sen ses— the l i teral, theallegorical,the moral

,and the anagogic (correspond ing to h i story, and to

the three card inal vi rtues ,faith, loveand hope).

There are some d i s ti ngui s hed Dante s cholars who deny theh i s toric character of Beatr ice and regard her as apure symbol

,

as acreature of the poet’s imagi nation .

2 But th i s i s i ncons i s

tent wi th anatural i nterpretation of the VitaNwova,and of the

s onnets to Beatr ice wh ich are addressed to a l ivi ng bei ng.

Dante m ight i n h i s n i nth year have fallen i n love wi th apretty

gi rl, but not with an abs tract symbol of wh ich he knewnoth i ng.

1 Themy sti c concl us ion of the Second Part of Goeth e’s FaustAl les Verga

'

ngl i che

I st nur ei n G’l ei chn i s s ;

Das Unz u lo’

i ngl iche

H i er wi rd ’s Ereign is s

Dd s Unbeschrei bl i cheH i er i s t’s gethan

Zieht uns h i nan .

3 Canon Bi sci on i (1723 ) unders tood Beatr ice to mean s impl y wi s dom or

th eol ogy Rossetti , the imper ial monarchy Prof. Bartol i ,woman in h er i deal

character . Accord i ng to other Ital ian commen tators , she i s to teologia la

graz iaemperante lagraz iasalvificante lasci enz iad ivi ne. Kathar i ne H i llard ,

i n the i ntroducti on to her trans lation of The Banquet (London , 1889,

pp . XXXIX, favors the purel y al l egori cal conception of Beatr i ceand theDonnagenti l e. She d i scred i ts the un trustworthy romancer , Boccaccio.

”

G ietmann (Beatr ice, 1889) makes Beatri ce the symbol of the i deal church .

292 DAM E ALIGHIERI .

Th i s was an after-thought of later years , when shewas i n heaven .

H er death and h i s deep gr ief over i t have no mean i ng i f shewas amere al legory .

l

There i s one s pot on th i s br ight p icture. Judgi ng from the

standpoi nt of Chr i s tian eth ics,we should th i nk that s uch an ideal

relationsh ip mus t end ei ther i n legitimate marr iage, -or i n per

petas l vi rgi n i ty. But nei ther was the case. Beatr ice d id not

return the love of Dante, except by asmi le from ad i s tance.

She marr ied— i f weare to cred i t Boccaccio —ar ich banker of

Florence,Simone de’ Bard i

,and became the mother of several

ch i ldren . Dante, after two years of gr ief for Beatr ice, marr iedGemmaDonati

, who bore h im fou r or seven ch i ldren . H e

never mentions the husband of Beatr ice, nor h is own wi fe, and

remained true to the love of h i s youth .

These facts mar both the poetry and the reali ty of that relations h ip. But the ch ivalry of theMiddle Ages and the customof I taly allowed ad ivis ion of afl

'

ection wh ich i s i ncons i s tentwi th modern ideas . The troubadours ignored thei r own wives ,and idol i zed other women , married or s i ngle.

THE DONNA PIETOSA.

Dante mourned the death of Beatr ice, the firs t del ight of hi ssoul

,

”ti l l he had no more tears to give eas e to h i s sorrow.

“

The eyes thatweep for p ity of my heartHave wept so longthat their grief languishethAnd they have no more tears to weep withal .

H e gave utterance to h i s gr ief in sonnets to

That lady of al l gentle memories .

H e thus celebrated the firs tann iversary of her departure (June9th ,

About that time he saw the “ gentleand compass ionate lady,I Gi ov. daSerraval l e, who wrote aLati n trans lati on and commentary (as

quoted by Dean Pl umptre, I , p . LII,from the MS . i n the Bri ti sh M useum ),

s ums up the cas e wi th the words Dante d i lexi t hanc pue l lam Beatr icem

hi stor i es et l i teral i ter , sed al l egor i ce, sacrum Theologiam.

” But theol ogy i s too

narrowaconcepti on Beatr ice i n h er i deal nature combi nes Divine revelation , Divi ne wi sdom, and Divine love.


whom he does not name, but who captivated h i s eyes and h i sheart. She has given great trouble to h i s biographers and com

mentators, whoare d ivided between al i teral and an allegor ical

conception,or combi ne the two.

I l ifted up m i ne eyes -ao he tells the s tory towards the endof the Vi taNuova and perceived agentle (nobl e) lady, youngand very beauti ful

, who was gaz ing upon me from awi ndowwi thagaz e full of pi ty

,so that thevery s um of pi tyappeared gathered

around her.

1 And s eeing,that unhappy persons , when they beget

compas s ion i n others,are then mos t moved i nto weepi ng, as

though they also felt pi ty for themselves , i t came to pas s thatm ine eyes began to be i ncl i ned unto tears . Wherefore, becom i ngfearfu l les t I s hould make man i fes t m i neabject cond ition, I rose

up, and went where I could not be seen by that lady ; sayingafterward wi th i n myself : Certain ly wi th her also must abidemos t noble love.

’ And wi th that I resolved upon wr iti ng as onnet

, wherein , speak i ng unto her,I s hould say al l that I have

jus t said .

Then fol lows th i s sonnet,after wh ich he continues It hap

pened after th i s , that whensoever I was s een by th i s lady, s hebecame paleand of api teous countenance,as though i t had beenwi th love whereby she reminded me many times of my own most

n oble lady, who was wont to be of al ike palenes s . And I knowthat often

, when I could not weep nor i n any way give ease tom i ne angu i sh

, I went to look upon th i s lady, who seemed tob ri ng the tears i nto m ine eyes by the mere s ight of her . At

l ength,by the cons tant s ight of th i s lady

,m ine eyes began to be

gladdened overmuch wi th her company ; through wh ich th i ngmany times I had much unres t and rebuked myself as abas e

person ; also many times I cursed the uns tead fas tness of m ineey es . The s ight of th i s lady brought me i n to so unwon ted

acond i tion that I often thought of her as of one too dear unto

m e ; and I began to cons ider her thus : ‘Th i s lady i s young,beauti ful

,gentle

,and wi se perchance i t was Love h imself who

1 Vi d i unagenti l donna, gi ovane e bel lamol to, laquale daunafenes tramifi guardaoamol top i etosamente quant

’al lavi sta s i cche tattalap ietadep erson i nla

“

accol ta.

” Dante uses genti le i n the ol d Engl i s h s ens e of noble, and gentil ez zaand nobi ltd as synonymous .

294 DA M E ALIGH IERI .

set her i n my path, that so my l i fe might find peace.

’ And

there were times when I thought yet more fondly, unti l myheart consented unto th i s reas on ing.

”

H e then descr ibes i n asonnet the battl e between reason andappeti te

,and avi s ion of the mos t gracious Beatrice,

”wh ichled him painfully to repent of h i s evi l des ire. From th i s timeon h i s thoughts turned again to Beatr icewi th h i s whole humbledand ashamed heart. H e concludes the VitaNuovawi th awonderful vi s ion

, wh ich determi ned h im“ to say noth ing further of

th i s mos t blessed lady unti l s uch time when he could d iscoursemore worth i ly of her who now gazes conti nually on the countsnance of God

,bles sed for ever . Laue Deo.

”

In theBanquet, wh ich was wri tten several years later , he refersto the same gentle lady

,and remarks that she appeared to him

ayear after the death of Beatrice,who “ l ives i n heaven wi th

the angels,and on earth wi th hi s soul

,

”and that she wasaccompan ied by Amor and took pos ses s ion of h i s mi nd .

’l

Th i s i s aclear h intat the sens ual character of hi s new love.

In the same Banquet he tells us that after the death of

Beatr ice he read for h i s comfor t the famous book of Boethi uson the Cons olation of Ph i los ophy , and Cicero

’s treati se on

Friendsh ip , and speaks of the ph i losophy of thes eauthorsas agentle lady.

” And he descr ibes her as “the daughter of God

,

the queen ofal l , themos t nobleand mos t beauti ful ph i losophy.

”3

Connecting these passages ,i t is very evident thatthegentleand

pi teous lady has adouble character , li ke Beatrice, but i s i n some

res pects her counterpart. Dan te h imself says at the close of thefirst sonnetaddressed to the compas s ionate lady

Lo Iwith thi s lady dwel l s the counterpartOf the same Love who hol ds me weep ingnow.

The fai r lady of the wi ndowwas anactual being,aFlorenti ne

l Oonm'

to,Trattato Secondo, cap . 2 (ed . Frati cel l i , p . 111) quel lagenti l

donna, d i cui feci menz ione nel lafine del la Vi taNuova,’ apparve p r imamente

accompagnatad’Amore agl i occhi miei , e p ress al cuno l uogo nel lamiamente.

”

Th i s referen ce sets as i de the s uppos i tion of two d i s ti nct lad ies .

I I . 13 : “ E immagi navalei fattacome unadonnagenti le e non lap oteaimmaginare i n attoalcuno, as non mi s er i cord i oso Q ues tadonnafaf igl iad

’

Idd i o, reginad i tutto, nobi l is s imae bel l i ss imafllosofla.

296 DA M E ALIGH IERI.

he was much given to sensual i ty.

‘ Th is tes timony i s confirmedby Dante’s own son

,Jacopo’

,and by asonnet of h is fr iend

G u ido Cavalcanti , who reproaches h im wi th fal l ing from h i smany vi rtues intoan abject li fe.

”3 But the s tronges t proofwe have i n theDivinaOommedia, which i s autobiographic andimpl ies h i s own need of pur ification and Divi ne pardon . H e

puts i nto the mouth of Beatr ice, when s he meets h im on the

mountai n of Purgatory , the following severe reproof :

Some time did I sus tai n h im wi th my look ;Reveal ingunto h im my youthfu l eyes ,

I led h im wi th me turned in the right way .

As soon as ever of my second ageI was upon the threshold and changed l i fe,H imself h'

om me he tookand gave to others .When from the flesh to sp i r it I ascended ,And beauty and vi rtue we

'

re in me i ncreas ed,I was to h im les s dear and less del ightful ;

And into way s untrue he turned h is steps ,Pursu ingthe fal se images of good,That never any prom i ses fu lfil ;

Nor prayer for i nsp i ration meavai led ,By means of which i n dreams and otherwiseI cal l ed him back, so l ittle did he heed them.

So low he fel l , thatal l app l iance sFor h i s salvation wereal ready short,Save showinghim the peop le of perdition.

For th is I vi s ited the gates of death ,And unto h im, who so far up hath l ed him ,

My i ntercess ions were wi th weep ingborne.

God’

s lofty fiat wou ld beviolated ,If Lethe shou l d be pas s ed , and i f such viandsShou ld tasted be, withouten any scot

Of peni tence, that gus hes forth in tears.

mol to ded i toal lalussur ia.

”1 In an unpubl i shed commentary on the Inferno i n theNati onal Li brary of

Par i s, as quoted by Ozanam,

i n Les Poetes Franci scai ns , p . 356 sq . th i rd ed i

tion, Jacopo say s that when Dantc bep n the Commed iahe was peccatore e

vi z i oso, e eraquas i i n nnaselvad i vi z i e d ’ignoranza,”and aman who l ivedcarnal l y (carnalmen tevi ce), but thatafter h i s ascent to the mountai n of true

knowl edgeand true l ove he l eft ques tacal l s evi tad i mis er ia.

”3 The sonnet i s trans lated i n Rossetti ’s Ear ly Ital ian Poets , p . 358

,and i n

Longfel l ow’

s Dante, IL , 364.

‘1 Purg.

,XXX. ,

121— 145 . Longfel l ow’s trans lati on . Compare Canto XXXI . ,

37-63,wh ere Beatri ce conti nues her censure of Dante.


Pr icked by the thorn of pen itence,and s tung at the heart

by self-conviction,

”1 Dante makes hi s confess ion,falls to the

ground,and i s drawn neck-deep by Mati ldathrough the r iver

Lethe to be clean sed . On the other s hore he i s pres ented firs tto the four nymphs

, who symbol i ze the four natural vi rtues ;these i n turn lead h im to the Gryphon

,asymbol of the Divi ne

human Saviour,where Beatr ice i s s tand i ng ; and three vi rgi ns ,

who repres ent the evangelical vi rtues of fai th,hope and love,

i ntercede for h im wi th Beatr ice that she would d i splay to h imher second beauty .

“

Mos t of theDante scholars refer these reproaches and confes

s ion s to practical transgres s ions .

a

Dan te’s aberrations were probably confined to the trans i tion

period from Beatr ice’s death and the ear ly part of h i s pol itical

l ife to h i s ex i le,and are not i ncon s i s tent wi th the tes timon ies i n

favor of h i s many vi rtues .

‘

The sel f-accusations and repentance of Dante,l ike the confos

s ions of St. Augus ti n,impart apers onal i n terest to h i s Oom

med ia,br i ng him nearer to our sympathy and lessen h i s gui l t.‘5

1 Purg,, XXXI .

,35

,38 sqq. I bi d .

,XXXI .

,130 sqq.

Cary , Longfel l ow, Lowel l , Pl umptre, Ozanam ,D’Ancona, Carducci ,

Ross etti , Ph i lal ethes ,W i tte,W egel e, Dbl l i nger , Schefi'

er-Boi chors t,an d oth ers .

W i tte takes acomprehens ive vi ew and comb i nes ph i l osoph ical , pol i ti cal anderoti c aberrati on s .

“Es wa’re ei n Ir rthum

,h e says (D. A. Gdttl . Kom. p .

wenn man d ie Entfremdungvon dem Andenken an Beatr i ce, deren Dantes i ch sel ber anklagt, ausschl ies s l i ch i n p hi losop h i s ch-theoreti s chen Unters uchungen

fi nden wol l te. Gewi ss haben wi r dabei z ugl eich an ei n weltl i ches Treiben con

mancher lei Art (Fegefeuer , XXI I I . an lei dcns chaftl i che Bethei l igung beid en Parteikdmpfen and mehr derglei chen z u den lcen auch i s t kein Grand vorhandcu

,neuaufkeimcnde Neigungen z u ander en Frauen (Fegefeuer , XXXI ., 58)

aus z us chl iessen . Compare th e notes of Longfel l ow on Purgat. XXX .

‘1 Mel chi ore Stefano Coppi say s that Dante l ed amoral l i fe (moralmentetame), and Sebas tiano Engub i nus , that he excel l ed by gi fts of nature andevery vi rtue ( inter humanai ngen ianatures doti bus corm s can tem ct omn i um

enor um habi ti bus ruti lantem).5 H eal l udes to St. Augusti n i n the Convi to I , 2 The oth er case [ in wh i ch

s peaki ng of ones el f i s al l owab l e] i s when the greates t good may come to

o ther s by th e teach ing convey ed ; an d th i s reason moved Augusti n i n h i s

004138810118 to speak of h ims el f ; s i nce i n the course of h i s l i fe, wh i ch wasfrom bad to good , and from good to better

,and from better to bes t, h e s et

forth an examp l eand i n struction , to wh i ch we cou l d have no such true testi

m on y . St. Augus ti n i s menti oned In Par . X. ,120, and XXXIL , 35 .


0 noble conscienceand wi thoutastain ,

H ow sharp asting i s trivial faul t to thee.

DANTE’8 EDUCATION.

Dante received agood education ,and was aprofound student.H e pas sed through the usual course of the Tr ivium and Q uadr ivium. H e s tud ied grammar , rhetor ic

,mus ic

,chronology

,

as tronomy (or as trology rather), med ici ne, and the ol d Romanclas s ics

,especially Vi rgi land Cicero. H e learnedafewGreekand

H ebrew words , but depended for h i s knowledge of the Bible,wi th nearlyal l theChr is tian scholars of the M i dd leAges

,on the

Vulgate of Jerome. H e mas tered the ph i losophy of Ar is totle

(in Lati n trans lations ), and the theology of Thomas Aquinas .

H e had an encyclopsed ic knowledge of the learn i ng of h is age,and worked i t up i n to an independen t organ ic view of the

un iverse. The bes t proof he gives i n h is Cbnvi to. But h is

knowledge of h i story was very limi ted and i naccurate. H e

bel ieved wi th h is wholeage i n the false donation of Cons tantine,and made no di s ti nction between facts

,legends and myths .

H e attended the schools of h i s native ci ty,wh ich was the

centre of i n tellectual l i fe i n Italy,and probably also the U n i

vers i ties of Bologna,Pad ua

,and Par i s

,although the date i s nu

certai n . H i s vi s i t to Oxford i s more than doubtful .H is pr i ncipal teacher in Florencewas BrunettoLati n i (d .

to whom he add res sed as onnet,accompan ied by acopy of the

Vi taNuova? H e i s descr ibed by Vi llan i (in h i s Gran ica) as aworthy citi z en

,agreat phi losopher and perfect mas ter of rhetor ic

both in speak i ng and wr i ti ng,als o as the firs t mas ter i n refin ing

the Florentines,and teach ing them to speak correctly and to

govern the Republ ic on pol i tical pr i nciples . H e wrote severalbooks , among them apoem i n aj i ngl i ng metre

,the Tes oretto

,

wh ich descr ibes avi s ion , with the cus tomary al legor ical pers onages of theVi rtues and Vices . H e i s supposed by some to haveugges ted to Dante the firs t ideaof the Commed ia.

1 Paryat. , m .,8 9 (W i tte

’s text)

0 d ign i tosacosczbnzae netta,Come t’é p i cciol fal l oamaro mom

3 Trans lated by Ros setti , i n Danteand his Ci rcle, p . 110, beginning“Master Brun etto, thi s my l i ttl e mai d .

”


But -s trange to say— Dante placed h im i n H ell for as i n

agai ns t nature, and forever branded h im wi th the mark of

i nfamy.

1 We may adm i re the s tern impartial ity of jus tice, buti t would have been far better i f he had covered the name of h i s

teacher and fr iend wi th the char i ty of s i lence.

Dante pas sed through aper iod of skeptici sm, wh ich tempted

i ndependent th i nkers even i n those ages of fai th . H e subetituted

,as he i nforms us i n the Cbnvito

,ph i los ophy for fai th ,

class ical l i terature for the B ible and the Fathers,Athens for

Jerusalem . The s tudy of natural scienceand of med ici ne emanci pates from supers ti tion

,but often tend s towards mater ial i sm

and panthei sm ; hence the proverb wh ich or igi nated i n the

per iod of the Renai s sance,i f not ear l ier Where are three

phys icians,thereare twoathei s ts .

”2

ButDante,l ikeal l truly profound i ntellects

,returned to faith

,

and ver ified Bacon’s max im,that phi losophy s uperficially tas te d

l ead s away from God , thoroughly s tud ied,lead s back to God .

a

H e subord inated ph i los ophy to theology,regard i ng i t as the

handmaid of rel igion,and retained aprofound regard for Ar i s

totleand Vi rgi l.H IS MARRIAGE.

I n 1292,two years after the death of Beatri ce

,i n the 27th

year of h is l i fe, accord i ng to others i n 1294,he marr ied Gemma

Donati,who bore h im at leas t four ch i ldren (some reports say

s ix,others seven ). Two sons

,Pietro and Jacopo

,and two

daughters,Imper iaand Beatr ice, survived h im . Beatr ice became

aFranci s can nun at Ravenna,and received some aid from the

ci ty of Florence through Boccacio.

Dan te never men tions h i s wi fe, nor d id he see her after h i sex i le. This s i l ence has given r i se to the sus p icion

,s upported by

Boccaccio,that she was aXanth i ppe, or at al l even ts that he

was unfortunate i n h i s domes tic relation s , l ike Socrates , Mi lton ,Goethe, Byron , Dickens , Carlyle, and other men of gen ius

,who

areapt to move i n an ideal wor ld above the prosy real ities and1 Inferno XV. , 30 sqq . ; 101 sqq .

3 “Ubi tres med i ci , duoathei .

”

Ph i losop hia, obi ter l i bata, abduci t aDec, p en i tas haus ta, reduci t ad


homely duties of ord i nary l i fe. It i s qui te li kely that she couldnot appreciate h im, or she would have followed h im i nto

ex i le. But i n th i s cas e,s i lence on h i s part was k inder than

speech,and h i s poverty would go far to explai n

,i f not to

excuse, the permanent separation from h i s fami ly, wh ich i t wash i s duty to support.A highly g i fted German lady, who trans lated the Divina

Commed iawi th i n the br ief space of s ixteen'

months,

1 has takenup the cause of Dante’s wi fe i n aremarkable poem

,of wh ich

I give the firs tand las t s tanzas

On every tongue i s Beatrice’

s nameOf thee, much Borrowingone, no songdoth tel l ;

The pangof parting l ikeakeen dart came,And p ierced thee with awound invis ible

Art brings her i ncense to the fai r,Virtue must wai t her crown i n heaven to wear.

Yes , thou brave woman , mother of his sons ,’N as thine to know the weight of dai ly care

’h as thi ne to understand those p iteous tones ,Th ine much to suffer

,al l i n s i l ence bear ;

H owgreat thy grief, thy woes howman i fol dGod only knows— of them no songhath tol d .

DANTE IN PUBLIC LIFE.

The publ ic l ife of Dante was a d i sas trous fai lure. H e

plunged h imself i nto the wh i r lpool of party pol i tics . Poetryand pol i tics rarely agree ; the one or the other mus t s ufi

'

er bythe con tact. The one i s s oar i ng to the sk ies

,the other cleaves to

the earth . Dante was aman of much uncommon sen se, but

of l ittle common sense wh ich,i n practical l i fe

,i s far more

important than the former .

Dante joi ned thegui ld of Phys i cians and Apothecar ies , beingfami liar wi th thei r arts

,and h i s name was entered i n 1295 as

1 Josephavon H ofli nger , born atVi en na, 1820, d i ed i n 1866, i n cons equence

of h er over-exertions i n n urs i ng the s i ck and wounded d ur ing th e warbetween Aus tr iaand Pru ss ia. She studi ed theol ogy wi th Ddl l i nger . H er

trans lati on of Dan te appeared as acontr i buti on to the s ixth centenary of

Dante, at Vi enna 1865,i n 3 smal l vol s . wi th bri ef notes . Sec

P lumptre’s Dante

,IL ,492

,where her poem on Dan te’s wi fe i s trans lated .


the poet of Florence”(pastaFi orentino). I twas one of the

seven gui lds which control led the ci ty. In 1299 he was sentas ambassador to the Commune of S. Gemignano to settlead i spute. Th i s i s the on ly embas sy before that to Rome, of wh ichwe have documentary evidence ; other embass ies to Siena, Genoa,Perugia

,Ferrara,Ven ice, Naples , and to foreign k i ngs , reported

by some wr i ters (F i lelfo, Balbo),aremeremyths , orat leas tverydoubtful . H e was not long enough i n pol i tical li fe to fulfill somany m i ss ions

,and dur i ng the seven years from 1294to 1301

he seems to have been i n Florence:In 1300 he was elected one of the s ix Pr i or i delle Arti , who

ruled the ci ty for two months atatime. The S ignory of Florence was composed of seven persons

,namely

,s ix Pr iors of pro

fess ions,and one Gonfalon iere of jus tice. They were s ubject to

the popu lar wi l l and an as sembly of nobles called the Counci lof the H undred. Dante was to hold ofi ce from June 15thto August 15th . H is col leagues were i ns ign ificant persons ,

ros ly known by name. From thatappointmen t to the pr iorsh ip, he dated the beginn i ng of h i s mi sfortunes .

The l ittle ar is tocratic Republ ic of Florence was i nvolved i nthe great contes t between the Guelfs (Guelfi ,

Welfen , fromWolf,afam i ly name)and theGh ibelli nes (Ghibel l i n i , Ghi bell i nen , fromWaibl ingen, the patr imon ial cas tle of Conrad of H ohenstaufen ,i n Swabia), or between the Papi s ts and the Imper ial i s ts . Th iscontes t may be dated from the time of Pope Gregory VII . andEmperor H enry IV.and the humi l iating scene at Canossa, andcontinued for three or four hundred years . I t caused 7200

revoluti ons and more than 700 wholesale murders i n1

,

Every city of Italy was torn by factions headed by petty tyrants .

Every Ital ian was born toan i nher i tance of hatredand revenge,and cou ld notavoid shar i ng i n the fight. The war between theGuelfs and Gh ibell ines , under i ts general and mos t comprehens iveas pect

,was awar for the supremacy of Church or State i n

temporal matters . Bon i face VII I .,whoascended the chai r of

St. Peter i n 1294,and celebrated the firs t papal Jubi lee i n 1300,

1 Th i s cal cu lation has been made by Ferrari , H i stoi re des revoluti ons d ’Ital ic,on Gud fes ct Ghi bel i ns , Par i s , 1858,4vol s . (quoted by Dol l i nger , Akad . Vor

tra'ge, I .,


claimed the two sword s of the Apostles (Luke xxn . the

spi r i tual and the temporal the spi r i tual sword to be wielded bythe pope d irectly, the temporal to be wielded by the emperor, butunder the pope’s author i ty. The Imper ial i sm maintained thed ivine or igin and i ndependent author i ty of the State i n al lth i ngs temporal . They anticipated the modern theory wh ichhas come to prevai l s ince the s ixteenth century.

Bes ides th i s,there was i n Florence alocal fami ly quarrel

between the party of CorsoDonati , called theNer i or Blacks ,and

Ithe party of B ianco, called the B ianch i (also Cerch i) or Wh i tes .

Florence was predom i nantly Guelf. Dante h imself belongedor iginally to that party, and fought for i t i n 1289, at the battleof Campal d ino, and at the s iege of the cas tle of Caprona; butwhen the B ianch i fam i l ies un i ted wi th theGh ibell i nes

,he joi ned

them,wi th the reservation of acertai n i ndependence.

‘ PopeBon i faceVI II . i nterfered wi th the government of Florence,andthrewal l h is i nfluence i n favor of the Ner i and Guelfs .Danteand h i s five obscure colleagues acted wi th s tr ict impar

tial i ty , and ban ished the leaders of both factions . Th i s i s the on lymemorableact i n h i s pol i tical career , and i t proved fatal to him.

Both parties plotted agai ns t h im. The ban i s hed Cors o Donati ,thegran barone of Florence, was determ i ned on revenge

,and

appealed to Pope Bon i face,who eagerlyaccepted the opportun i ty

of d ivid ing and govern i ng the ci ties of Tuscany.

Dante was sent wi th three others to Rome by the Pr i ors whoheld ofli ce fromAug. 15th to Oct. 15th, 1301 . H e was to opposethe com i ng of Charles of Valoi s , brother of K i ng Ph i l ip of

France,or to i nduce h im to wai t for the cons en t of the ruli ng

party. On that occas ion he uttered the proud word of contempt :If I go, who i s to remai n i f I remain , who i s to go?

” Th issay i ng was treas ured up and promoted h i s ru i n .

H e went to Rome wi thout dream ing that he was never to

return to h i s native city,never to see h i s fami ly, never to s it

agai n on the Sas so di Dante i n the Piaz zaof the magn ificent

1 Boccaccio represents h im as amostvi ol ent Gh i bel l ine, from h i s exi l e unti lh is death (see Longfel low, I .

,222) but th i s i s i ncons i s tent wi th h i s fr i end

shi p for Gu ido daPol en ta, who was aGuel f, and wi th hi s impartial d i stributi on of members of both parti es to the p laces of puni shment or reward.

304 mu n : ALIGHIERI.

prince of modern Phar i sees,

”and ausurper , who turned the

cemetery of St. Peter (that i s , the Vatican h i l l) i ntoacommons ewer .

’

Th is was the pope who exerted,but cou ld no l onger main

tain,the mos t extravagant claims of d ivi ne author ity over the

church and the worl d, and marks the begi nn ing of the decl i neof the papacy from such agiddy height. H e fr ightened Celestine intoares ignation , and was inaugurated wi th extraordi nary

pomp, r id ing on awh i te horse i ns tead of an humbleas , two

kings hold ing the bridle,butam ids t afurious hurr icane wh ich

extinguis hed every lamp and torch i n St. Peter’s . A s im i lars torm interrupted the crown ing ceremony of the VatiCounci l i n 1870

, when Pope Pius IX. read the decree of hisown infall ibi l i ty by candle-l ight in m idn ight darkness .

Yet Dante d id not spare h is r ighteous wrath against Ph i l ipthe Fai r of France

,that modern Pi late,

”who with sacr i le

gious violence sei zed theaged Bon ifaceat Anagn i ,

And Christ in his own Vicar captive made.

DANTE IN EXILE.

Dante learned the sentence of h i s ban i s hment at Siena, onh i s return from Rome

,probably in Apr i l

,1302. The other

ex i les joined h im and engaged wi th the Gh ibel l ines i n vain plotsfor arecovery of power. Florence

,

”he said

,

“ we mus t no

cover : Florence for I taly,and I taly for the wor ld .

” Theyes tabl ished aprovi s ional governmen t, raised an army and made

Inferno, xxvn. 85.

Parad XXVII . ,22-27, wh ere St. Peter says

H e who usurps upon the earth my place,My place, my p lace, wh i ch vacant has becomeBefore the pres ence of the Son of God ,

Has of my cemetery mad easewerOf b lood and s tench , whereby the Perverse One,Who fel l from hence, below there i s appeas ed

Fatto hadel cimi ter i o mio cloacaDel sangue e del lap uz za ond e i i p ervers o,Che cadde d i quasar) , laggiu (i . e. , nel l

’ i nferno) s i p laca

Purg.,XX.

, 87 sqq.

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

twoattacks upon Florence,but were defeated , and the pr i soners

were s laughtered wi thoutmercy.

Dante became d i scouraged,and final ly wi thdrew from al l par

ties . H ealways was apatr iot rather than aparti san , and tr iedto reconci le parties for the good of the country. H e es teemed

patr ioti sm as the h ighes t natural vi rtue, and abhorred treas on asthe most h ideous cr ime

, worthy of aplace wi th Judas i n the

lowes t depth of hel l .The confiscation of h is property left h im and h i s fam i lydes ti tute but h i s wi fe, being of the wealthyDonati fami ly, mayhave recovered aportion under the pleaof asettl ement for

dowry.

From the time of h i s ban i shment to h i s death, aper iod ofnearly twenty years

,Dante wandered through U pper and Middle

I taly from ci ty to ci ty,from court to court, from convent to con

vent, apoor, homeless and homes ick ex i le

,wi th the sentence

of death by fire hangi ng over h im ; everywhere meetingfr iends and admi rers among Gh ibell ines and those who couldappreciate poetry and vi rtue, but als o enem ies and detractors ,find ing res tand happines s nowhere except i n the s tudy of truthand the contemplation of etern i ty. Fl orence

,

”he says i n h i sCanada(I . the beauti ful ci ty

,the famous daughter of Rome,

has rejectedme from her sweet bosom,where I was born , where

I grew to midd le l i fe,and where

,i f i t may please her, I wi sh

from my heart to end my l i fe and then to res t my weary soul.Through almos t al l parts where our language i s spoken

,I

have gone,awanderer

,well-n igh abeggar

,s howing agains t

my wi ll the wounds of fortune. Tru ly I have been avess elwi thout sai l or rudder

,dr iven to d ivers ports and s hores by that

hot blas t,the breath of dolorous pover ty .

” I t mus t have beenhard

,very hard i ndeed

,for s uch aproud spi r it to eat the sal ty

b read of others,and to go up and down the s tairs of s trangers .

1

H e fully exper ienced the bi tter truth of the words of Eccles ias

1 Parad .,xvn .

,58-60

“Thou shal t have proof how savoreth of sal t (sad i sale)The bread of oth ers

,and how hard aroad

The goingdown and up another’s stai rs .

20


ticus : I t i s ami serable th i ng to go from house to house ; for

where thou artas tranger, thou darest not cpen thy mouth .

My son,lead not abeggar

’s l i fe, for better i s i t to d ie than to

Mg.

”

When stoppi ngat the convent of SantaCroce del Corvoandasked by the pr ior what he wanted, he repl ied : Peace.

”l

And yet i t was dur i ng th is sad per iod of exi le that he wroteh is Divi naCommed ia. It brought h im no earthly reward (forauthorsh ip was unprofitable i n the M idd le Ages), but immortalfame. It was truly ach i ld of sorrow and grief, l ike many of

the greates tand mos t endur ing works of man . For

“

Poes ie i s t tiefes S chmerzen ,Und es kommt das scho

'

ns te Lied

Nur aus ei nem Memchenhen en,

H e seems to have spent mos tof the years of h i s ban i shment inBologna, Padua,and Verona, s tudying everywhereand gather inglocaland h is tor ical i nformation for h i s great poem. H e probablyvi s i ted Par is also about the year 1309, and bur ied h imself i ntheological s tudy. Other reports place th i s vi s i t before h is ex i le.

Perhaps he was there twice. The chron icler Vi l lan i s implysays : Dante was expel led and ban ished from Florence, andwent to s tudy at Bologna

,and then to Par i s , and i nto several

parts of the wor ld.

”Boccaccio’s account i s vagueand confused .

The exped i tion of Emperor H enry VI I .,of Luxemburg

,to

I taly i n 13 10,excited in h im the hope of the overthrow of the

Guelfs and the real i zation of h i s theory on the Monarchy,that

i s,the temporal supremacy of the holy Roman Empi re i n inde

pendent connection wi th the Catholic Church . H e hai led h imas a Second Moses

,

”who was cal led to heal I taly

,wh ich had

been wi thout an emperor s i nce the exti nction of the house of

Justinns Kerner,the Swabian poet and friend of Uh land and Schwab.

Remember al so Goethe’s

Wer n i e sei n Bratmi t Thrd nen as s ,Wer n i e d ie kummervol len Nd chte

Der kennt euch n icht,i hr himml ischen M dchte.

DANTE ALIGHIERI. 307

H ohens taufen,and torn by feuds , civi l wars and anarchy.

l H e

wou ld not recogn i ze Rudolph of Habsburg (1273 nor

Albert I . (“Alberto tedes co”

,1298 as emperors , because

they never came to I talyand were not crowned by the pope. H e

regarded Freder ick I I . (1220—1250) as the las t emperor,but

placed h im i n H ell among the heretics .

" H e exhorted H en ryi n aletter to purs ue energetic meas ures for the res toration of

peace. H eaddress ed aletter toal l the rulers of Italy, urgingthem to yield obed ience to the new Cwsar cons ecrated by thes ucces sor of Peter . But the emperor cou ld accompl i s h noth ing.

H e d ied— it was said of poi son— Aug. 24th, 1313 , after as hortreign of five years , near Sienaand was bur ied i n the CampoSanto of Pi sa.

8

Wi th h i s death the cause of the Gh ibell ines and the poli ti calas pi ration s of Dante were well-n igh crushed .

In the year 13 16 or 13 17, the government of Florence, in thefeel ing of securi ty

,ofl

'

ered amnes ty to pol i tical exi les , but on con

d i tion of afineand penance i n the church,thus degrad i ng them

to alevel wi th cr im inals . A nephew of Danteand h i s fr iendsu rged h im to accept

, but he proudly refused pardon at theexpense of honor .

1 Sch i l l er cal l s the interrep um,from 1254to 1273, di e kai s er lose, di e

ochrcckl i che Zei t.

Inf .,x . 118—20

W i th i n here i s th e second Freder i ck,

And the Card inal ; and of the rest I speak not.”Freder ick IL , themos t bri l l ian t of the H ohens taufen emperors , success ivel y

the pup i l , the enemy and thevi ctim of the papacy , was cal l ed by Pope Gre

gory IX. abeas t,fu l l of the word s of b las phemy ,

”and accus ed of bei ngtheau thor of the s entence De Tr i bes Imp ostor i bus (M oses , Jes us , M ohammad ),whi ch haunted the M i dd l eAges l ikeaghost. The Card i nal ”i s Ottavianod egl i Ubal d i n i , of Florence, who doubted th e immortal i ty of th e sou l . On

the skepti ci sm of Frederi ck II .,s ee H . Renter ’s Geschi chte der Auf klarung im

M i ttdal ter (Ber l i n , Vol . I I .,25 1- 304, especial l y 275 sqq . H e th i nks

that the word about the th ree impos ters i s probably authenti c, but cannot be proven .

See RobertPli h lmann, Der Ro

‘

merz ugKai ser H einr i chs VII . and di e Pol i tikder Cur ie

,des Haus es Anjou und der Welfen l iga, Nl im berg, 1875 ; and Georg

Irmer, Die Romfahrt Kais er H ei n r i chs VII .

,1881 . They shed l igh t on

many obs cure pam ges in the Purgator i oand Parad i so. See Pl umptre, I ., p.

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

Has my i nnocence,”he wrote to apr ies t, wh ich i s man i fes t

to al l , after nearly fifteen years of ban i shment, deserved s uch arecall? Have my i ncessant labors and s tud ies deserved i t?

Far be i t from aman fami l iar wi th ph i losophy to s ubm i t tosuch i nd ign i ty. Far be i t from aman who i s apreacher of

r ighteousness and s uffered i njus tice,to pay those who d id h im

i njus tice,as i f they were h i s benefactors? Th i s i s not the way

to return to my native city. I wi l l rather never enter Florence.

And what then Can I not everywhere behold the mi rrors ofthe s un and the s tars Can I not everywhere s tudy the sweetesttruths rather than render myself i nglor ious

, yea, mos t iguom i n i

ous to the people and commonwealth of Florence Nor wi llbread fai l me.

”1

CAN GRANDE,THE VELTRO ,

AND THE DUX.

In the year 13 17 Dante went to Can Grand s , of the fami lydellaScala(Scal iger i ) of Verona, who was the leader of the

Gh ibell i ne party i n Lombardy,and appoi nted V icar of H enry

VII . i n 13 11. H ewas much younger than the poetand s urvivedh im eight years (b. 1291

,d . Many exi led Gh i bel l i nes and

other un fortunate persons of d i s ti nction found refuge at h i shosp itable court

, wh ich d isplayedabarbar ic magn ificence s imi larto the court of Freder ick I I . i n Sici ly. H e kept

,weare told ,

actors,bufl

'

oons,mus icians and paras i tes

,who were more caressed

by the courti ers than poets and scholars . Var ious apartmen ts i n the palace wereass igned to them

,des ignated by various

symbols ; aTr iumph for the war riors , Groves of the Muses for

the poets ; Mercury for theartis ts ; Parad i se for the preachers ;and for al l i ncons tant Fortune Al l had thei r pr ivateattendants

,and atable equally well served . At times Can

Grande i nvi ted some of them to h i s own table,particularly

Dante and Guido d i Cas tel d i Reggio,exi led from h i s country

with the fr iends of l iberty .

”3

Dante fixed h i s poli tical hopes ,after the death of H enryVI I .

upon Can Grande,and gave h iman undeserved celebr i ty.

1 An extract from Ep . X.,500-503 (ed . of Frati cel l i ).

2Q uoted by Longfel l ow, I II .

, 308. A l ivel y p icture of Can Grande’s court

and Dante ’s l i fe there i s given by Ferrari i n h i s comed y , DanteaVerona.


H e made h im the s ubject of pred ictions i n the Commedia,none

of which were fulfilled .

H e mentions h im firs t i n the i n troductory canto of the Infernounder the allegor ical name of Vel tro

,wh ich means greyhound ,

and was sugges ted by the name cane,hound

,and the boundary

of h i s terr i tory,

traFeltro e Feltro,i . e.,

between Feltro i nFr i uli and Mon tefeltro i n Romagna. H e descr ibes h im as thecom ing saviour of I taly

,who sets h i s heart not on land and

money,but on wisdom,

love and vi rtue, and who wi ll s lay thewolf of avar ice

,the root of many evi ls (1 T im. 6 : 8,

Many theanimal s wi th whom she [the she-wol f, lupa] weds ,And more they shal l be sti l l , unti l the greyhound [ i tvel tro]Comes , who shal l make her peris h in her pai n.

H e shal l not feed on either earth or pel f,But upon wisdom ,

and on loveand vi rtue’

Twixt Feltroand Fel tro shal l his nation be ;

Of that low Italy shal l he be the saviour ,On whoseaccount the maid Cami l ladi ed ,Euryal us , Turnus , Ni sus , of thei r wounds ;

Through every ci ty he shal l hunt her down ,Unti l he shal l have dr iven her back to H el l ,There from whence envy first di d let her loose.

In the Parad i s o he praises h i s benefactor i n s im i lar terms .

2

But ere the Gas con cheat the noble H enry ,

Some sparkl es of h i s vi rtue shal l appearIn caringnot for s i lver nor for to i l .

So recogn i zed shal l h is magn ificenceBecome hereafter , that h is enem iesW i l l not have power to keep mute tongues about i t.

On him rely , and on h i s benefits ;By him shal l many people be trans formed ,Changingcondi tion rich and mendi cant. 3

1 Inferno, I .,100 sqq.

2 Parad ., XVII .

,82-90, sqq.

1 The Gas con i s Cl ement V. ,who was el ected P0pe i n 1305 . The nob l e

H en ry”i s the Empero r H en ry VII .

,who came to Ital y i n 1310, when Can

G ran d s was about 19y ears of age. Cl ement pub l i cl y profes sed to be H enry’s

fr i en d ,but secretl y he was h i s enemy , and i s sai d to have i nstigated or con

n ived at h i s death by poi son .


H e ded icated to him the firs t cantos of the Parad i so, andwrote h im aletter wh ich furn is hes the key to the allegor icalunders tandi ng of the Commed ia.

In al l probabi li ty Can Grande i salso mean t i n that pas sage ofthePurgator io— the obscures t i n thewhole poem— whereBeatr icepredicts the coming of am ighty captain and mes senger of Godwho would res tore the Roman emp i reand s lay theRoman har lot,(i . e.

,the corrupt, ous papacy), together wi th her gian t

paramour (i . e.,the of France who transferred the papacy

to Avignon).1

W ithoutan heir shal l not forever beTheEagle that l eft hi s plumes upon the car ,Whence i t becameamonster , then aprey ;

For veri ly I see, and hence narrate i t,The stars al read y near to bringthe time,From every h i ndrance safe, and every bar ,

W ithi n which aRae-hund red, Ten , and Five,

One sent from God , shal l s lay the thi evi sh woman ,And that same giant who i s si nni ngwith

The mys tic number 515,i n Roman numerals DXV, or

wi th a s light transpos i tion DVX,means not a per iod (as

between Char lemagne and Louis the Bavar ian,799 but

apers on,aDues

,acaptain

,apr ince. Some emi nent com

mentators refer i t to Emperor H enry VII . but he was morethan aDun , and d ied (1313) before the Purgator i o was com

pl eted (about We mus t,therefore

, ei ther th i nk of some

unknown future Roman emperor,‘or of Can Grande whom

1 Purg. ,xxxm .

, 37—45 .

1 Net qualean ci nquecento d i ece e cinque,Mes so daDi o, anci derd Iafu ia,Con quel gigante che con lei del inque.

1 Longfel l ow,Pl umptre,and others who unders tand theVel troof Can Grand s .

SoW i tte (p . 649) “ Der Di chter wi rd i n der Zei t d i evergangen war , sei t erd i e Prop hezei ungeu Anfangder H e

‘

l l eges chr i eben hatte, erkannt haben , das s CanGrands der Aufgabe, d ie er i hm damals ges tel l t hatte, n ichtgen i lgte, und so tiberwei st er nun deren Erf i l l l ung entfernteren unbestimmteren H of nungen . oh

Dante dabei an ei ne schon lebende, bes timmte Per sb'

nl i chkei t yedacht hubs , and anwelche

,i s t zweifel haft. M dgl i ch we

'

i r s es,das s er um d i ese Zei t noch eon dent

mehr al s zwanz igi d hr igen SohneH ei n r i chs VII .,dem KdnigJohann eon Bo

'

hmen ,

solche Erwartungen gehegthd tte.

”


claimed the two sword s of the Apostles (Luke xxn . the

spi r i tual and the temporal the spi r itual sword to be wielded bythe pope d i rectly, the temporal to be wielded by the emperor, butunder the pope’s author i ty. The Imper ial i s ts maintained the

d ivine or igin and i ndependent authori ty of the S tate i n al lth i ngs temporal . They anticipated the modern theory wh ichhas come to prevai l s ince the s ixteenth century.

Bes ides th i s,there was i n Florence alocal fami ly quarrel

between the party of CorsoDonati , cal led theNer i or Blacks ,andthe party of B ianco

,called the B ianch i (also Cerch i) or Wh i tes .

Florence was predomi nantly Guelf. Dante h imself belongedor iginal ly to that party

,and fought for i t i n 1289

,at the battle

of Campald ino, and at the s iege of the cas tl e of Caprona; butwhen the Bianch i fami lies un i ted wi th theGh ibell i nes

,he joi ned

them,wi th the res ervation of acertai n i ndependence.

1 PopeBon i faceVI II . i nterfered wi th the government of Florence

,and

threwal l h i s i nfluence i n favor of the Ner i and Guelfs .

Danteand hi s five obscure col leagues acted wi th s tr ict impartial i ty , and ban ished the leaders of both factions . Th i s i s the on lymemorableact i n h i s pol itical career

,and i t proved fatal to h im.

Both parties plotted agai ns t h im. The ban i shed Corso Donati,

thegran barons of Florence,was determi ned on revenge

,and

appealed to Pope Bon i face,who eagerlyaccepted the Opportun i tyof d ivid ing and govern i ng the ci ties of Tuscany.

Dante was sent wi th three others to Rome by the Pr i ors whoheld ofi cs fromAug. 15th to Oct. 15th, 1301. H e was to opposethe com ing of Charles of Valoi s

,brother of K i ng Ph i l ip of

France,or to i nduce h im to wai t for the consent of the rul ing

party. On that occas ion he uttered the proud word of contempt :I f I go, who i s to remai n i f I remain

, who i s to go?” Th is

say i ng was treas ured up and promoted h i s ruin .

H e went to Rome wi thout dream ing that he was never to

return to h i s native ci ty,never to see h i s fami ly

,never to s i t

agai n on the Sas so di Dante i n the Piaz zaof the magn ificent

1 Boccacci o represents h im as amostvi ol ent Gh i bel l i ne, from h i s exi l eunti lh is d eath (s ee Longfel low,

I . ,222) but th i s i s i ncons i s tent wi th h i s fri end

sh i p for Gu ido daPol en ta, who was aGuel f, and wi th h i s impartial di str ibuti on of members of both parti es to the places of puni s hment or reward .


cathedral of SantaMar iadel Fiore,whose foundations had been

laid afew years before

THE BANISHMENT. DANTE AND BONIFACE VIII .

On Nov. l st,1301

,Char les of Valoi s entered Florence by

authori ty of the Pops,under the ti tle of Pacifier of Tuscany.

”

Wi th h i s aid the Guelf or Donati party tr i umphed .

Dante and three of h i s col leagues i n office as Pr ior i wereban i shed from Tuscany for two years ,and declared incapable of

hold ing any publ ic office,on the charge of extortion

,embez z le

ment,and corruption , and of havi ng res i s ted the Pope and

expelled the Neri , the fai thful servants of the Pope. Havi ngbeen ci ted for tr ial and notappear ing

,they werealso fined 5000

flor ins each for contumacy. The sentence i s dated January 27th,

1302. It was repeated March l 0th,wi th the threat that they

would be burntal ive i f they ever returned to the terr i tory ofFlorence. Thei r property was confiscated.

The charges were never proved,and were no doubt i nvented

or exaggerated by the party fanatici sm of h i s enem ies . Dantetreated the charges wi th the contempt of s i lence. H i s i nnocence

i s as serted by al l h i s biographers , i nclud ing Giovann i Vi llan i ,/

who was aGuelf.Dante spent several months in Rome. The Pops summoned

h im and h i s fel low-ambas sadors , and scolded them for thei robs ti nacy, but prom is ed them h i s bened iction on cond i tion of

obed ience to h is author i ty. Th i s i s al l we know about th i sembas sy, and even th i s i s very uncertai n .

1

Dan te as s igned to Bon i face,for h i s graspi ng ambi tion

,

avar ice and s imony, aplace i n hell .2 H e calls h im the

1Q u i te recentl y the fact of Dante’s embass y to Bon i face VI II .

,wh i ch

r es ts on the author i ty of Boccacci o and Brun i , has been d en i ed by Scar

taz z i n i (Handbook to Dante, tran s l . by Th . Davi d son, p . on th e ground

ch i efly of the s i l ence of G iovann i Vi l lan i , th e contemporary chron i cl er

of Fl orence . If Dante was i n Florence at the time of the catas troph e, hem us t have fled wi th h i s pol i ti cal partisans after the firs t s entence of

1 Infer no, XIX.,53 sqq . The DivinaOommed iawas commenced i n 1300

,

b ut not compl eted before 1321 Boni face d i ed 1303 .


pri nce of modern Phari sees ,”1 and ausurper, who turned the

cemetery of St. Peter (that is , the Vatican h i ll) i nto acommons ewer .

1

Th i s was the pope who ass erted, but could no longer mai ntai n , the mos t extravagant claims of divi ne author ity over the

church and the world,and marks the beginn ing of the decli ne

of the papacy from such agiddy height. H e fr ightened Celesti ne i ntoares ignation

,and was i naugurated wi th extraordi nary

pomp, r id i ng on awh i te horse i ns tead of an humbleas s , twok i ngs hold ing the bridle

,butamids t afurious hurr icane wh ich

extingui shed every lamp and torch i n St. Peter’s . A s imi larstorm i nterrupted the crown ing ceremony of the Vati canCounci l i n 1870

,when Pope Pius IX. read the decree of h is

own infall ibi l ity by cand le-l ight in m idn ight darknes s .Yet Dante d i d not spare h i s r ighteous wrath against Ph i l ip

the Fai r of France,that modern Pi late,

”who with sacr i l s

gious violence sei zed theaged Bon i faceatAnagn i ,

And Chri st in hi s own Vicar captivemade.

DANTE IN EXILE.

Dante l earned the sentence of h i s ban i s hment at Siena,on

h i s return from Rome,probably in Apr i l

,1302. The other

exi les joi ned h imand engaged with the Gh ibell ines i n vain plotsfor arecovery of power. “ Florence

,

”he said, we mus t t e

cover : Florence for I taly,and Italy for the world.

” Theyes tabl ished aprovi s ional government, raised an army and made

1 Inferno, xxvn . , 85.

1 Parad XXVII . , 22-27, where St. Peter say s

H e who us urps upon the earth my p lace,M y p lace, my place, whi ch vacan t has becomeBefore the presence of the Son of God ,

Has of my cemetery madeasewerOf blood and stench , whereby the Perverse One,Who fel l from hence, bel ow there i s appeased l

Fatto hadel cimi ter io mic cloacaDel sangue e del lap uz za onde i l p erverso,Che cadde d i quas su, laggiu (i . e.

,nel l ’ i nferno) s i

1 Purg.,XX.

, 87 sqq.

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

twoattacks upon Florence,but were defeated, and the pr i soners

were s laughtered wi thoutmercy.

Dante became di scouraged,and finally wi thdrew from al l par

ti es . H s always was apatriot rather than aparti san , and tr iedto reconci le parties for the good of the country. H e es teemed/patr ioti sm as the h ighes t natural vi rtue, and abhorred treas on asthe mos t h ideous cr ime

,worthy of aplace wi th Judas i n the

l owest depth of hell .The confiscation of h is property left him and h i s fam i ly

desti tute ; but h i s wi fe, being of the wealthyDonati fami ly, mayhave recovered aportion under the pleaof asettlement fordowry.

From the time of h is ban i shment to h i s death, aper i od ofnear ly twenty years

,Dante wandered through U pper and Middle

I taly from ci ty to ci ty, from court to court, from convent to con

vent, apoor, homeless and homes ick ex i le,wi th the sentence

of death by fire hanging over h im ; everywhere meetingfr iends and admi rers among Ghibell ines and those who couldappreciate poetry and vi rtue

,but also enemies and detractors ,

find ing res tand happi ness nowhere except i n the s tudy of truthand the contemplation of etern i ty. Florence

,

”he says i n h i sCbnvito (I . the beauti ful ci ty

,the famous daughter of Rome,

has rejected me from her sweet bosom,where I was born, where

I grew to m iddle l i fe,and where

,i f i t may please her, I wi s h

from my heart to end my l i fe and then to res t my weary s oul .Through almos t al l parts where our language i s spoken

,I

have gone, awanderer, well-n igh abeggar , showing againstmy wi ll the wounds of fortune. Truly I have been avess elw i thout sai l or rudder

,dr iven to d ivers ports and shores by that

h ot blas t, the breath of dolorous poverty.

” It mus t have beenhard, very hard i ndeed, for such aproud spi r it to eat the saltyb read of others

,and to go up and down the stairs of s trangers .

1

H e fully exper ienced the bi tter truth of the words of Eccles ias

1 Parad ., XVII . , 58

-60

Thou shal t have proof how savoreth of sal t (8ad i sal e)The bread of oth ers , and how hard aroadThegoi ngdown and up another

’s stai rs .”

20


CHARACTER AND HABITS OF DANTE.

The personal appearance and habi ts of Danteare descr i bedby Boccaccio

,h is firs t bi ographer, who knew h i s nephew, and

delivered lectures on theDivi naCommed iai n 1373 .

Accordi ng to h im,Dante was of m i dd le height

, s l ightly ben ti n later years , dign ified and courteous

,always decently dres s ed ;

h i s face long, h i s nose aqu i l ine, h i s eyes large, h i s cheeks full,

h i s lower l ip somewhat protrud ing beyond the upper ; h i s complexion dark

,h i s hai r and beard black

,th ick and cr i sp ; hi s

countenance always sad and '

thoughtful ; h i s manner calm andpol i shed . H e was most temperate i n eati ngand dr i nk i ng, fondof mus ic and s inging

,mos t zealous i n s tudy

,of marvellous

capaci ty of memory ; much i ncl ined to sol i tude, and fam i l iar

wi th few ; grave and taciturn , but fervent and eloquent whenoccas ion requi red. The author of theDecamer one charges h imwi th i nconti nence, wh ich, i n h i s eyes and that of h i s age andnation , was an excusable weaknes s ; but, whatever viewwe maytake of h i s unfai thfulness to Beatr ice, for wh ich hewas severelyrebuked i n Purgatory, he deeply repented of i t.1

Dante was no sai nt,any more than M i lton or Goethe, but pro

found ly religious and ser ious to aus ter i ty. H e charges h imselfwi th pr ide and envy. H e had aviolent temper

,and i ndulged

in the language of scorn and contempt. H e was deficient i nthe crown i ng graces of hum i l i tyand char i ty. But h i s pr inci pleswere pure, and h i s ideas rose to the h ighes t peak of grandeurand subl imi ty. H e was capabl e of the sweetest love and the

bi tteres t hatred . H i s relation to Beatr ice reveals an unfathomabledepth of soul . H ewas aman of in tense bel ief,and thought h imself i nves ted wi th ad ivi ne m i ss ion, like the H ebrew Prophets .

H e loved truth and r ighteous nes s,and hated falsehood and

i n iquity. H e loved h i s native Florence and Italy,i n spi te of

i l l treatment. H e was the mos tardent patr iot— the I tal ian ofItal ians — and yetacosmopol i tan . H e was true to h i s convic

tion s,and uttered them wi thout fear or favor of men

,and wi th

out regard to h is own comfortand happiness .

1 Seeabove, pp . 295 sqq .

DANTE ALIGH IERI . 3 17

In h i s immortal work hewrote h i s own biography,h i s pas sage

through the knowledge of s i n and the s truggle of repentance tothe holiness and blis s of heaven .

PORTRAITS OF DANTE.

1

There are two contemporaneous and equal l y character i sticpictures of Dante : the portrai t pai nted by Giotto on wood andcopied al fresco on thealtar-wal l of the chapel of the Palace ofthe Pod s stai n Florence (now the Bargel lo, apolice-s tation andpr i son), and aplas ter cast of h is face taken after h i s death andpreserved i n the M useum i n Florence. They subs tantially agreewi th the descr i ption of Boccaccio (except the absence of the

heard), but d i ffer as youth di ffers from mature age. Giottorepresents the pos t i n the beauty and vigor of youth or earlymanhood wi th apomegranate i n h i s hand and acap gracefullycover ing h i s head. Professor Char les E. Norton , of HarvardCollege

,places th is l ikenes s of the supreme pos t by the supreme

arti st of med iaeval Europe at the head of al l the portrai ts ofthe revival of art.” After centur ies of neglect i t was recoveredin 1848and chromo-l i thographed by the Arundel Society fromthe traci ng of the fresco

,wh ich Seymour Ki rkup , an Engl i sh

arti st, made previous ly to i ts res toration or r ifacimento.

2 The

mas k represents the pos t i n the repose of death at the age offifty

-s ix years, grave, s tern , melancholy, wi th the marks of the

conflict of an i ron wi l l wi th m i sfortune. It furn i shed the outl ines to Raphael’s pictures

,wh ich have made Dante’s mortal

frame so fami l iar to the wor ld .

11 The face of the youth,”says

1 M uch has been wri tten on the portrai ts of Dante by Ital ians , in the Gi ornal e del Centenar i o d i Dante (Fl orence 1864 by W i tte , W el cker, Savi andPaur

,

’

i n the“Transacti ons of the German Dante Soci ety ”(1869, 1871, etc.

by Char l es E. Norton (On the Or igi nal Portrai ts of Dante, Cambr i dge, Mas s ,

1865 , repr i nted i n Longfel l ow’s Dante I . ,

363 sqq . S . F. Clarke andDean Pl umptre (vol . I I .

,529 See note on p . 325 .

1 The or iginal of the tracing i s i n possess i on of Lord Vernon , the l iberalpatron of Dante scholarsh i p . A facs im i l e i n the firs t vol ume of Pl umptre’sDante i n Frati cel l i ’s and oth er ed i ti on s of the Commedia.

1 Norton gives th ree photographs of the p las ter cas t ; and Pl umptre puts acopy i n front of h i s second vol ume.

318 DANTE 111.1011a

Norton , i s grave, as wi th the shadow of d is tant sorrow ; theface of the man i s solemn , as of one who had gone

“Per tutti i oerchi del dolmte regm .

Al l the portrai ts of Dante,”says Lord Macaulay

,i n h is essay

on M i l ton,are s i ngular ly character is tic. N0 person can look

on the features , noble even to ruggedness , the dark furrows ofthe cheek

,the haggard and wofu l s tars of the eye, the s ullen

and contemptuous cur l of the l ip, and doubt that they belongedtoaman too proud and too sens i tive to be happy.

”

Thomas Carlyle, apos t i n proseand apai nter i n words , callsDante’s portrai t the mournful les t face that ever was pai ntedfrom reali ty ; analtogether tragic, heart-afl

'

ecti ngface. There isi n i t

,as foundation of i t, the softnes s , tendernes s , gentleafl

'

ection

as of ach i ld ; butal l th is i s as i f congealed i nto s harp contrad iction

,i nto abnegation, i solation , proud , hopeles s pain . A soft

,

ethereal soul look i ng out so s tern , implacable, grim,trenchant

,

as from impr i sonment of th ick-r ibbed ice 1 Wi thal i t is as i lent

pai n too, as i lent, sorrowful one ; the l i p i s cur l ed i n ak ind of

god-l ike d i sdai n of the th i ng that i s eating out h i s heart, —as i f

i t were wi thal amean,i ns ign ificant th i ng

,as i f he whom i t had

power to tortureand strangle were greater than i t. The face ofone wholly i n protes t, and l i fe-long, unsurrender ing battleagains t the world. Afl

'

ection al l converted i nto i nd ignationan implacable i nd ignation ; s low,

equable, s i len t, li ke that of a

god 1 The eye too, i t looks outas i n ak ind of surpri se, aki ndof inqui ry, why the world was of such asort? Th i s i s Dante :so he looks

,th i s ‘voice of ten s i lent cen turies ,

’and s i ngs us h i s

mys tic,unfathomable song.

’

What Giotto painted from l ife, Raphael, wi th equal gen i us ,reproduced from the mask . In h is Disputa”on the mys ticalpresence, be pleas e Dante between Thomas Aqu inas and DunsScotus

,the heads of the two r ival schools of scholas tic theology ;

i n h is Parnas sus,

”he places Dante between Vi rgi l and H omer,

the two mas ter pos ts of clas s ical antiqu i ty.

1 The fam01m descri pti ons of Dante’s p i cture by Macau lay andCarl y l e appl y to the cep i s s mad e from the mask rather than the

pi cture of Giotto, whi ch was recovered afterward , and they must be judgedaccord i ngl y .


in remi n iscence of Plato’s Sympos ion , i s an encyclope dic compendof the theol ogical

,ph i losoph ical and scienti fic knowledge of h is

age for the un learued i n thei r own language. I t is l ikewi se com

posed of proseand poetry, but unfin is hed . It was to embracefifteen books or trattati (i ncl ud i ng the i ntroduction),and fourteencanzon i

,but on ly four books and three canz on i were completed.

It i s es teemed as the firs t mas terpiece of I talian pros e, and con

tai ns pas sages of great eloquence and pathos . I t i s,however,

very hard read i ng, and the text i s exceed i ngly corrupt.

The Banquet contai ns , as far as i t goes , the raw mater ial ofthe Comedy . I n i t theology and phi losophy are for the firsttimeadd rem ed to the lai ty i n thevernacular language.

The Cbnoitowas begun perhaps as earlyas 1298, but enlargedduri ng h is exi le, to wh ich i tal ludes .

1

ON THE EMPIRE.

The book De M onarchiai s apol itical treatise i n which Danteunfolds i n the Latin language

,for scholars

,h i s views on govern

mentand the relation of the papacy and the empi re. It contai nsthe programmeof the Gh ibel lines or the imper ial party, but i t i srather an ideal Gh i bel l in ism wh ich roseabove the narrownes s ofparty spir it. H e proves , i n three parts , firs t, that there mus t beaun iversal monarchy or empi re ; secondly, that th i s monarchybelongs of r ight and by trad i tion to the Roman people ; andth i rd ly

,that themonarchy depends immed iately upon God , and

not upon the pope.

The conflicti ng i nterests of society i n h i s judgment requi reanimpartial arbiter

,and on lyaun iversal monarch can bean impartial

arbiter,s i nce k i ngs of l imited terr i tor ies arealways l iable to be

i nfluenced by selfish motives and aims . A un iversal monarchalone can i nsure un iversal peace. The r ight of Rome i s bas edupon the facts that Chr is t was born under the reign of Augustusand d ied under Tiber i us . The un iversal rule of God i s d ivided

1 Th e Ital ian text wi th notes i n Frati cel l i ’s ed . of Dante’s Opere Mi nor i

(Fi renze, ed . II . ,1862, pp . 399) G iul ian i ’s ed . (1875) Engl i sh trans lati on by

El i zabeth Pri ce Sayer , London , 1887 , wi th an i ntroduction by H en ry Mor l ey ,

and another by Kathar i ne H i l lard , London , 1889, wi th an i ntroducti on . The

chronol ogy of the Convi to i s much d i sputed the es timates vary from 1298 to

1314. W i tte ass igns i t to the per i od from 1300 to 1308.

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

between the emperor and the pope the emperor i s s upreme bydivine r ight i n temporal th i ngs ,and i s to gu i de the human raceto temporal fel ici ty i naccordancewi th the teach i ng of ph i losophy ;the p0pealso by d ivine r ight i s s upreme i n spi r i tual or eccles i

as tical thi ngs , and i s to gu ide men to eternal l i fe i n accordancewi th the truth of Revelati on .

Th i s theory i s i n d i rect oppos i tion to the u l tramontan s doctri neof the two swords as proclaimed i n the same age by Bon i faceVIII .,

i n hi s famous bu l l Unam Sanctam (Nov.24,

wh ichteaches an absolute papacy wi th supreme control over temporalsovereigns . Dante placed th i s pops i n hel l ; no wonder thatafter his death the book DeM onarch ia(as Boccaccio reports ) wascondemned and burn tas heretical

,i n 1329

,by the papal legate

,

Card inal del Pogetto, wi th theauthor ity of Pope John XXII .,

of Avignon . H e i ntended also to burn the bones of the pos t,but was res trained by powerful fr iends . The Counci l of Trent

put the book on the Index.

The poli tical theory of Dante has never been reali zed,except

i n partand on al imi ted national scale. Some have compared i twi th the cons ti tution of the Nether lands

,others wi th that of the

U n i ted States ; but nei ther compari son wi l l hold . Dante wasmonarchical and imper ial . H e Fad no

ber ty and popular r ights,no i deaof “a

gover nment of the people,by the people,and for the people,

”butheapproached modern ideas by laying down the important pr i nci ple, that the government i s for the people, and not the peoplefor the government.

1 H e strove for the pol i tical un i ty of I talythrough the legi timate Roman empi re ; that emp ire is gone, butanew German empire arose i n 1870

,and s tands in fr iendly

all iance with un i ted I taly. If Dante l ived i n the presentage,he would no doubt sympath ize wi th the U n i ted Ki ngdom of

I taly and i ts i ndependent relati on to the papacy. H e wouldaccept Cavour’s programme of aFree Church i n aFree State,but probably look forward to aun iversal empi re.

The book on the Monarchy,accord ing to Boccaccio, was occa

s ioned by the exped ition of Emperor H enry VII . to Rome,in

13 10, as aprogramme for the restoration of the empi re. But

1 Non en im gens p rop ter regem,sed e converso rec p rop ter gentem.

”

21


/Witte

, avery h igh author i ty , puts the compos ition before 1300,as there i s noal lus ion i n i t to h is exi ls .

1

THE CANZONIERE.

The lyr ic poems of Dante embrace the sonnets , bal lads andcanzon i s cattered through h is Vi taNuovaandv ito

,and other

pieces , some of doubtful or igi n .

The theme of these lyr ics i s love to Beatr ice,and devotion tonatural and spir itual beauty. H e i nfus ed i nto the ch ivalrousl ove-poetry of the troubadours amy s ticaflatus , and d i rected i tto ph i losophy and theology. H i s love wandered away for awhi l e to the “ gentle lady”of th is world

,but returned to

Beatr ice i n Parad i se.

In the ed i tions of the Canzon ierearealso included an Ital ianvers ion of the seven Pen i tential Psalms i n

'

terzarims,and the

Lati n colognes addres s ed to Giovann i del Vi rgi l io,ateacher ofLati n l iterature in Bologna

, (13 18 G iovann i prais edDante wh i le at Ravenna, i n aLati n ode

,for h is Comedy , but

blamed h im for wri ting i t i n avulgar tongue,and invited h im

to come to Bologna,and to s urpas s hi s I tal ian Comedy by Lati n

poetry. Dante proved i n h is replies that hewas master of Latinas well, and could resuscitate the bucol ic poetry of the age ofVi rgi l .1

Church, pub .

,wi th h i s father ’s Essay on Dante, 1878. Scartaz z i n i say s

(Handbook toDante, p . The firs t ed i ti on of DeMonarchiawas i ssuedat Bil l s i n 1559

,by John Opor i nus . Between that date and 1618 i t was

repri nted i n Germany five times . I t was firs t pr i nted in Ital y i n 1740,at

Ven i ce,wi th the date Geneva. At the pres ent day some twenty ed i ti ons can

be coun ted , the latest bei ngthat of Gi u l ian i , wi th many textual emendati onsand ap rol ix commentary .

” H ettinger fu l l y d i scuss es Dante’s pol i ti cs , fromthe Roman Cathol i c point ofvi ew,

in h i s Die Gdttl .Komo'

d ie des D. A.

pp . 510-554.Fraticel l i (I l C

’anzoni ere d i Dante A.,Fi renz e, 1856, and later ed i ti ons )

i ncl udes l s r ims sacre e l s pos s i e lati ne, i . s .,the Pen i tential Psalms , thevers ified

creed , an d the col ognes . H e vi nd i cates to Dante44don ate,10 bal lads , 20

odes or can zon i , 3 sextai ns Gi u l ian i,i n h i s ed i tion , gives the number of

genu i ne sonnets as 37 , bal lad s 5, od es 20, sextai n 1 . Al l the res tare doubtfu lor spurious . Comp . Giosue Carducci , Del l s Rims d i Dante, i n Stud i Let

terar i,

”1874, pp . 139-237. Engl i sh trans lation of the canzon i ere and the

eclogues by Pl umptre, Dante, II . 199-344.


on POPULAR ELOQ UENCE.

De Vulgar i Eloquio,1 i s adefense of the l i terary use of the ver

nacular language, but wr i tten i n Lati n to i nfluence the learneddesp i sers of the language of the people. I t was to embrace tenbooks

,but on ly two have come down to us . I t treats of language

i n general, and the d i fferent d ialects of Italy, and i s importantfor the development ofanational Italian l i terature wh ich Dantefounded as the firstand unsurpas sed clas s ic.

The treati se was wr i tten i n the latter part of h i s exi l e, to

wh ich he touch inglyal ludes when he wr i tes : I have mos t pi tvfor those, whos oever they are that langui sh i n exi le

, and revrs rt

thei r country on ly i n dreams .

ON WATER AND EARTH .

A Lati n es say on the two elements of water and earth

(Q ue stio d s Aquast Terra) contai ns the s ubs tance of ad i sputation wh ich Dante held January 2oth , 1320, before theas sembledclergy at Verona

,i n the chapel of St. H elena. It concludes

with an hones t con fess ion of humbleagnos ticism,ask ing men to

cease troubl ing thei r brains about s ubtle ques tions wh ich transcend thei r capaci ty

,and remi nd ing them of Paul’s words : “ 0

the depth of the r iches of both the wi sdom and knowledge ofGod : how un ssarchabl s are h i s judgmen ts , and h i s ways pas ttraci ng out”(Rom. xi .

In th i s treatise Dante maintai ns that the sea-level i s un i form,

that the earth i s spher ical,that the moon i s the ch ief cause of the

tides . Some zealous admi rers claim for h im an anticipation of

Newton’s theory cfh gravi tation and other important discover iesof truths of modern sci ence.

2 But th i s i s aboutas preposterousas to as sert that Shakes peare d i scovered the ci rculation of the

blood before Harvey,or that St. James an ti cipated the Copern i

can sys tem when speak i ng of the Father of l ights,

”wi th whom

there can be no shadow of turn i ng (i . Dante was or iginal as apos t, but as aph i losopher he was apupi l of Ar i stotle,and as atheologian apupi l of Thomas Aqu inas .

1 Or better, Devulgar i E loquentia. See Scartaz z in i , p . 243 .

1 H e was,however , aware of un iversal attraction . Inf . XxxIv. , 106

-114.


LETTERS .

Fourteen letters,two of them recently di scovered by Professor

Wi tte. They i llus trate the prophetic character wi th wh ichDante believed h imself to be endowed .

The longes tand most important i s addressed to h i s patronandfr iend

,Can Grands dellaSeal s

,of Verona,and fam i shes the key

for the unders tanding of theDivi naOommsd ia. The letters toEmperor H enry VII .

,and to the pri nces of Italyand the peopleof Florence cas t l ight on h is pol i tics .

THE CREED.

The Credo of Dante,so called

,i s aser ies of d idactic poems or

poetic paraphras es of the Apos tles ’ Creed,the seven Sacraments

,

the Ten Commandments , the seven Pen i tential Psalms , the sevendeadly s ins

,the Lord ’s Prayer

,and the Ave Mar ia. It i s asort

of manual of fai th and devotion and wr i tten i n the same metreas the Oommsd ia.

1 But i t i s so much i n fer ior to h i s genu inepoetry that i t betrays ei ther great has te, or premature decl i ne ofpower

,or

,more probably

,the hand of an admi rer who wi shed

to clear h im of the suspicion of heresy.

1 Th is was avery unnecessary task . H i s Comedy i s sufli ci s ntl y orthodox for every i ntell igent Cathol ic, i f we judge i t from the med i ssval , and not from

the modern Vatican or u ltramontane s tandard . H i s genu i neprayer to the Vi rgin Mary i n the th i rty-th i rd Canto of the

Paradi s o i s far s uper ior to the ques tionable Ave Mar iaof theGreda

,both i n ardor of devotion and poetic beauty.

1 Pl umptre (IL , 318-325 ) gives arhymed tran s lati on of the Credo,but

confes s es that h e cannot find i n i t the traces of the mas ter ’s hand . It i s not

men ti oned by Boccacci o and the ear l i es t commentators,and comes to us

th rough an anonymous MS . i n the Bi bl iothecaRi ccardianaof Fl orence, buti s received by Frati cel l i and i ncl ud ed i n h i s edi tion of the Canzon i ere,and byW i tteand Krafi‘t i n thei r German trans lati ons of Dante’s M i nor Poems .

1 Accord i ngtoan uncertai n trad i tion , the Franci s cans took offen s eat thelamentati on s of St. Franci s over the degeneracy of h i s ord er i n Parad i so, XI .

120-139, and brought Dan te before the Inqu i s i tor , but Dante as ked for ashort resp i te to prepare h i s d efense, and prod uced over-n ight th i s Credo

whereupon h e was acqu i tted .

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

THE COMEDY.

The Divi na Commed ia,wh ich requi res a separate essay, i s

Dante’s las t and greates t work, to wh ich al l others are preparatory and contr ibutory. H e cal ls i ta sacred poem

To wh ich both heaven and earth have set their hand.

1 Par .,xxv.

,1

I l p oemasacro,Al quale hap esto, mano e ci s lo e terra.

Noram p . 317,TH E PORTRAITS or DANTE — S i nce the precedi ng

were s tereoty ped , Prof. Thomas Davi ds on d i rected my atten tion to Le Opered i Gi orgi o Vasar i con nuove annotaz i on i e commenti d i GAETANO M ILANES I

(Fi ren z e, wh i ch contai ns (p .413 sqq . )al engthy di s cuss i on on G i otto’s

portrai t of Dante. M i lanes i shows that G iotto was not theauthor ,as i s genral l y suppos ed , of th e fres co pi cture of Dan te i n th e capel lad el Palaz zo d el

A ffirmi n Fl orence, but of aportrai t on wood wh i ch s tood on theal tar,and

was l os tabout the begi nn i ngof the fifteenth century , havi ng, however , beenprevious l y copi ed on the wal l of sai d palaz zoand al so on that of the Churchof Santa.Croce.


DANTE CHRONICLE.

A. D. 1265 . May or Jone. Dante born at Fl orence.

1268. Conrad i n , grand son of Frederi ck II . and the lastof theH ohens taufen

,defeated at Tagl iacoz zo by Charl es of Anjon , and

67 sqq. )1274. May . Dante ’s firs t meeting wi th Beatri ce (see Vi taNuova).

Death of Thomas Aqu inas , theangel i c doctor , and Bonaventura,

“the seraphi c doctor .

”(Purg. XX. 67—69 Par .

x . 96 xrr, 110, 127

1276. Bi rth of G i otto, the pain ter . (Fury . XI .

1280. Death of Al bertus Magnus . (Par . x .

1281 . Dante ’s second meeti ngwi th Beatri ce. Death of PopeNicholasIII . (Inf . xxx.

1282. The S i ci l ian Vespers ,and revol t of Pal ermo. (Par . VI I I . 73 sqq.)1289. June 11. Dante figh ts as aGuel f i n the battl e of Campal d ino

and the s i ege of Caprona. (Inf . XXI . M urd er of

FrancescadaRim i n i . (Inf . V. 71 sqq. ) Death of Count

Ugol i no. (Inf . xxxrr. 124, xxxrrr.

1290. December 31. Death of Beatr i ce. (Pury . XXXII . 2, decen

n ial th i rs t.1290 or 1291 . Dante wrote the Vi taNuova, the story of Beatri ce.

1290 Ep i sode of the DonnaPi etosa. Stud y of ph i losophy andsecu lar pursu its . (See and of Vi taNuova, and beginn ingof Conoi to . )

1292. Dante marri es GemmaDonati , of the nobl e fam i l y of Corso

Donati , the l ead er of the Guel fs . (Purg. XXIV. 82 he

whose gu i l t i s most.

1294. POpe Cel es tine V. makes , through cowardi ce,

th e greatrefusal .” (Inf . IV. 59 sqq.

, xxvrr. 104sqq. ) But the refer

ence to th i s sain ted pope i s doubtful . El ecti on of Bon i

face VIII .

1295 . Dante joi ns the gui l d of Phy s i cians and Apothecar i es , and i sentered as PoetaFi oren ti no.

1296 . Dante exerci ses h i s civi l ri gh ts as aci ti zen of Fl orence.

1299. May . Dante i s sentas an ambas sador of the republ i c of Fl orence to S . Gem ignano.

1300. June 15th to Aug. 15th . Dante i s one of the s i x Pr iors of theRepubl i c of Florence. Join s the Gh i bel l i nes ; Opposes thei nterference of Bon i face VIII . expel s the l ead ers of the

Blacks and Wh i tes . The Papal jubi l ee i n Rome . (Al l uded

to i n Inf . XVI I I . 29 sqq . ; Purg. I I .

1301 . September or October . Dante sentas ambas sador to Rome.

1301. November. Charl es of Val oi s , by authori ty of POpe Bon i faceVIII .

,enters Fl orence as “ Paci ficator of Tuscany .

”Tr iumph of the Guel fs .

DANTE ALIGH IERI .

DANTE LITERATURE,Sel ected , clas s i fied and arranged accordi ngto nati onal i ty and language.

The Dante l i terature i s very extens ive,and cons tantl y i ncreas iDg. It was

most frui tfu l in 1865 (the s ixth centenary of Dante’s bi rth )an d in the las tfew years (to It i s very ml l y noti ced i n the fol l owingbooks

COLOMB DE BRN'rINRs : Bi bl iografiaDantesca. Prato, 1846 wi th the sup

p l ements of GU IDO BIAG I , Fi renz e, 1888.

FERBAZI : Manual s Dantesco. Bassano,1865 vol s . IV. and V.

J. PEIZH OLDT : Catal ogue Bi bl iothecaDanteaz. Novaed i tio, Dres dm, 1855 .

U . H ORPLI Bibl iotecaDantesca opere d i Dante e commenti . M i lano,1888,

pp .41 .

Jahrbi l cher der Deutschen Dante Ges el l s chafl . Lei pz ig, 1877 , vol . IV .,594

672.

Bol l etti no del l epvbl icaz i on i i tal iane of the Nati onal Li brary Of Fl orence.

Catalogue of the Br iti sh Museum,London , 1887 (Dandagnan-Daventry s ,

col . 3

Harvard Un ivers i ty Bul l eti n , Cambr i dge, Mas s ,vol . IV.

,Nos . 2—6 (1885

and vol . V. ,Nos . 2—6 (1888

W . C. LANE : Dante Bi bl i ography for the Year 1888,i n the Eighth

Annual Report of the Dante Soci ety , Cambri dge (Un ivers i ty Press ), 1889,pp . 83-98.

The ri chest Dante l ibrary i n Ameri cabel ongs to Harvard Col lege, Cambr i dge, Mass , and con s i s ts (as M r . Jus ti n W insor

,the l ibrarian ,

i n formed

me) of 1164vol umes of Dante and on Dante . The th ree most em inen t

Dante scholars i n Amer i ca— Longfel l ow,Lowel l

,and Norton— were connected

wi th that col l ege. TheAmer i can Dan te Soci ety has i ts centre in Cambr i dge,and ad ds annual l y to the l i terature. Next to Harvard Col l ege, the Publ i cLibrary Of Boston has

, perhaps , the t Dante col l ection i n Ameri ca. I

exami ned them both i n Jul y , 188 ,wi thout profit. The Astor Li brary of

New York and Cornel l Un ivers i ty haveal s oacons i derabl e number of worksofDanteand on Dante.

1 . STANDARD EDITIONS or r un: DIVINA COMMEDIA AND M INOR WORKS

or DANTE.

Thereare in al l about 350 printed edi tions of the Conwwd ias ince 1472.

(to Mostof them appeared in the 19th century . Scartazz ini counts257 edi tions from 1801—1882. Lord Vernon gives al ist of 394completeand incomplete editions , trans lations , comments and i l lus trations of Dante,from 1472-1850. The best and most useful editions are those of LOM

BARDI , FRATICELLI , BIANCH I , Wm ,and SCAR'

I‘AZZINI , al l with com

ments (exceptW itte’

s). H OEPLI’

8 edition~(Mdan , 1878) IS the smal l est.

patep er cum d i G. G. WARREN, LORD VERNON. Londra(Boone), 1858,pp . 748 fol . Reprints of the four earl i estandvery rare editions of Fol igno,Jes i

,Mantua

, and Naples . (Onl y 100 cop ies printed. A copy i n the


daGr. G. WARREN,LORD

VERNON (1803 Londra(Boone), 1858 3 vols . fol . In Vol . I.

fol .487—529 there i s achronological l is t of 394printed ed itions and tran s lations of Dante’s Infem o, and other parts of the Commedz

'

a,from 1472

1850. Vol . I . contains the Ital ian text wi th brief notes Vol . II . docu

ments Vol . III . magn ificent i l lus trations . An ed iti on de have. A copy

presented to theAstor Library by the son of Lord Vernon.

LaCommed iadz'

Dan te Al ighten'

col Commento i ned z'

to de'

S tefanoTal z

'

ee daRical done, p ubblz‘

catop er cum de'

VINCENZO PROM Is e dz‘

CARLONEGRONI . Torino, 1886, pp . XIX. and 593 fol. The Ital ian text with aLatin commentary from the year 1474. An ed . gotten up by KingUmberto I. of Italy and ded icated to his son Vittorio Emanuele. Few

OOpies printed and presented by the King— one to theAs tor Library , one

to Prof. Botta, i n NewYork. The same text and commentary in 3 vols .

publ is hed by Ub'ico H oepl i , M i lano, 1888.

LaDivi naCommed iad i Dan teAl ighten'

col commento del P. BALDASSARRE LOMBARDI. Roma, 1815, 3 vols . Padua

,1822 ; Firenze, 1830,

in4vols . The4th Vol . contains the m i nor works of Dante. Alsoother edd.

L’

Inferno da'

Dante Ah’

ghien'

col le figure (If G. DORE. Parigi , 1861,pp . 184fol . Le Purgatoi re et Parad i s avec les dess zns de G. DORE.

Traductr'

on f rangai se de Pier-Angelo Fiorentz'

no, aecompagnée the text

z'

tal ien . Par i s , 1868, pp .407. AFrench prose trans lation with the Ital iantext belowand the magn ificent i l lus trations of Doré interspersed .

CARLO (KARL) LaDivina Commed iadz'

Dan te Al ighiem'

n'

correttasop raquattro d iep i n autorevol i tes ti ap enna. Berl ino (Ridol foDecker), 1862, with cr itical prolegomenaand notes , 725 pp . fol . Dedicated toKingJohn of Saxony (Phi lalethes). The best critical text, whichmay be cal led the textus receptus . A smal l ed. without Prolegomena,Berl in

,1862, reprintedatM i lan , 1864. I have fol lowed W itte in the Ital ian

quotations , but haveal so compared Seartaz z i ni and Fraticel l i .GIOVANNI A. SCAR'

I‘AZZINI : LaDivinaCmnnwd zadz’ Dan teAl ighier i

r ived utanel tes to e commentata. Lei pz ig (F. A. Brockhaus ), 1874 3

vols . 12°

(vol . I. pp . 444; VOL II , pp . 817 ; vol . III. p . The text

with an exhaus tivecommentary invery smal l type. In the Preface to vol .I . dated Coira(or Coire i n Switzerland), July , 1873, the ed i tor say s thathe has col lected and studied al l the commentaries

,Ital ian

, German andFrench , and promises afourth volume contai n ing Prokgomen i s tor ico

letteran'

. Comp . the favorable notice ofWitte in his Dante-Forschungen ,II ,455,M M

BRUNONE BIANOH I : LaCommed iad i D. A Firenze, 7th ed. , 1868.

Textand commentary (pp. wi th rimario (pp .

P. FRA'I'ICRLIJ

’

s ed. in onevolume, wi th rimario. Firenze, 1873, 1877novacd. , 1887 (pp. 723 andRAFFAELE ANDREOLI : LaDivinaCommed iadz

'

Dante Al ighier i colcommento. Napol i , 1856, etc , Firenze (edi tione stereotipa), 1887 (pp .


Tom s o CASINI : LaDivinaOommeda'

acol conunento. Fi renze,1889.

Oxford and Cambr idge. By the Rev. EDWARD MOORE, D.D. B i nd

Un iver s t’

ty of London. Cambridge (Univers i ty Press)and N. York, (Macmi l lan ), 1889, pages 723 , and Prolegg. LVI. Dedicated to the memory ofDr. Karl W itte. The most important contri bution s inceWitte

’

8 ed ition ,to the settlement of the true text. Moore reprints Wi tte

’

8 text of the

Inferno’

wi th acomp lete col lation of 17 MSS. , and apartial exam inationof the 500 to 600known MSS. in regard to the most important test passages of the whole poem. H e regards the Commett

’

aas perhaps the

greatest work of human gen ius i n any languageOp ereMimm

'

de'

Dante (the Vi taNuova, the Corvette, the Canzomere,De Monarcht

'

a,De Vu lgar t

'

Elogt'

o, Credo, and Ep is tol te), by PIETROFRA'

I‘IOELLI and others , wi th notes . Fi renz e

,1834 3vols . 12mo. new

ed . 1861,and 1873 , several ti rrfes reprinted ; and by G. R. GIULIANI,

Fi renze, 1868 4vol s , 12mo.

II . ITALIAN WORxs ON DANTE.

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO (1313 LaV'

tada’

Dan te. Ven ice, 1477,etc , las t ed . Firenz e, 1888, pp . 100. I l Commento cop ra laCommediad i Dante. Roma, 1544, often republ i shed (e. g. Fi renz e, 1831 and 1844,3 vols . 1863 , 2vols . Boccacci o’s comments reach on ly to the 17th cantoOf the Inferno.

BENVENUTO RAMBALDI DA IMOLA : Cmnmentnm ,etc. Swmp tt

’

bue

Gai l . Warren Vernon , curante P hi l tppo Laeai ta. Florence, 1887, 5vols . Benvenuto daImolawas afri end of Boccaccio and the oldest lec

turer on Danteat BolognaL

’

O'

I'I‘IMO COMMENTO del laDivi naCom. Tes to i ned i to d

’

un contemp o

raimo dr'

Dan te (1334) p ubbl t'catop er curadr'Alexa. Tbrn '

. Pisa, 18273 vol s Usual ly quoted Ottimo. Comp .W itte, Dan te-Fon da. I . 358.

CESARE BALBO Vitade'

Dante. Fi renz e, 1853. Trans lated by F. J.

BUNBURY,i n The L ifeand 17m of Dan te London

,1852, 2vols .

documents partly unpubl ished . Firenz e, 1861.

GUISEPPE JAc. FERRAZI : Manual s Dan tesco. Bassano, 1865 77, 5

vol s . The las t twovols . contai n the bibl iography .

G’t'

omale de Cen tenar io dr'

Dan teAl l ight'

ert'

. Firenze, 186465 .

Dan te e i twe secolo . Fi renze, 1865. By various Dante scholars , inhonor of the 600th anniversary of his bi rthA. G. DE MURZO S tud i fi l osofict

'

, moral i , aton'

ei , p ol i tz'

er'

, fil ologt'

ct'

m

b DivinaConwned tad i Dan te Al tman. Rheum , 1864 3 large fol .vol s .


GIOVANNI A. SOAR'I‘AZZINI (aSwi ss pastorand eminentDante scholar,

whowrites German and Ital ian) Dante Al ighier i , seine Zei t, sein Lebenund seine Werke

, Biel , 1869 ; 2d cd. , 1879. Dan te i n Ger-mania, s tor ialetterar iae bi bl iografiaDan tescaAlemanna. M ilano, 1881 2vol s . Abhand l ungen i i ber Dan te, 1880. Dante M ilano, 1883 ; and other works .

H is edi tion of the Cam . and commentary mentioned above. ThomasDavidson has trans lated hi s Hand book toDante. See below.

ADOLFO BAR'I’OLI : Del laVi tad i Dan teAl ighien

’

. Fi renz e, 1884(pp.

This i s the fifth volume of h is S tor iadel laletteraturaItal iana.

Napol i , 188486, 2vols .

G . POLEI'rO : Diz inar io Dan tesco . Siena, 1885 7vols .

1887.

G. S'I'IAVELLI Gl i amor i di Dan te raccontati dalm'

medesimo (VitaNuovae Canaaniere) can p refatione e note. Roma, 1888.GIOSUE CARDUCCI Del lavar iaFor tunad i Dante, in his Studi lette

rari .” Leghorn , 1874, pp . 239—370 ; and L’

op eracl i Dan te (adi scoursedel ivered in Rome, Jan . 8th , Bologna, 2d cd .

, 1888 (pp .

GUISEPPE FINZI : Saggi Dantesch i . Torino, 1888 (pp .

F. SCARAMUZZA : I ll us traz ioni del laDivinaComnwd ia. M i lano, 1874’

76, 3 vol s . fol . wi th 243 photographs .

III . FRRNOR Worm s .

B. GRANGIRR : Lacoméd ie di Dan te m i se en r imefiangoieeetcommen tée. Paris

,1696 3 vol s .

VOLTAIRE, the keenestand sharpest wit of the 18th century , regardedDanteand Shakespeareas semi -barbarian monsters . In asketch ofDantein the Dictionnai re Ph i losophique, he say s : Les Ral i ens l ’app el l en td ivt

'

n m ac’es t une d ivin i té caches p eu dc gens en tendent s ee oracl es ; i lades commentateur s : c’es tp eut-étre encore une rai son de p lus p our n

’

é‘

tre

pas comp n'

s . Sarep utation s’afi érmeratoujour s , par se qu

’

o n ne le l i t

gucre.” Renan remarks , Vol taire unders tood neither the Bible, nor

H omer,nor Greekart, nor theancient rel igions , nor Chris tian ity , nor the

M iddl eAges .A. F. OZANAM : Dante et lap hi b sop hie cathol ique an 13me s iecl e.

Paris , 1840 ; new ed. 1845 th ird ed . 1855 4th ed . 1859. Al so trans latedi nto Ital ian , German and Engl ish . H e trans lated the Purgatoi re, 1862.

H e happ i ly cal l s Dante the H omer of Cathol icism.

ARTAUD DE MONTOB : H is toi re de Dante Al . Par is , 1841 Lad ivinecoméd i e, trad ui te en f rangai s ; 3d ed. Par i s , 1849. A prose trans lation first

pub]. 1811— 13.

EDGAR Q UINEI‘ Dante, in hi s Les revoluti ons d’

Ital ic. Paris , 1848. H e

cal l s the Commed ia l’

Ody ssée dachrétien ; an voyage clans l’

infi n i , mélé

d’angui sses et de chan ts de s i rénes , an i ti nérai re de l

’

hommevers Dieu.


M . FAURmL : Dan te et les or igins ! de la l ittératu re Ital ienne. Pari s ,1854

, 2vols .

M . DE SAINT-MAURIB LaDiv. comed ic, trad . avec nu resume hi stor

ique et une noti ce cur Dan te. Paris , 1853 , 2vols .SRB. RHEAL : LaDivine coméd ie, traduction nouvel le, avec des notes

d’ap res les medl eurs commentai res , par L . Barre. Paris , 1854.E. AROUX : Lacoméd ie de Dan te, tradui te en vers salon la lettre, et

soafal i s te. Révélations J’an cathol ique s ur ls moyen-dge. Paris , 1854(pp . Thi s book is dedi cated to Pope Pius IX, and theauthor is as

good aCathol icas Ozanam , but heviews Dante in an al together di fferentl ight, as aconceited hereticand enemy of the papacy .

F. BOISSARD Dante révolutionnai re et social ists,mais non hérétique ;

revelation sur lee revelati ons de .M. Aroucc et defense d’

Ozanam. Paris ,1854.LOUIS RATIBBONNE : L

’

enfer , tradu i t enverse. Paris , 1853 ; 3° ed. 1860

Lep urgatoi re, 1856 ; Leparad i s , 1860.

M . MES NARD LaD. comed ic deDan teA.,trad . nouvel le. Notes p er

M Leonce Mesnard . Paris,1854 3 vols .

LAMENAIS : LaD. comed ic de Dan te A., p récédée d

’

une introd uction

s ur lavie, ladoctr ine et les oeuvres dc Dan te. Paris , 1855 , 3 vols .

J. A. DE MONGIS : LaD. comed ic dcD. A., tradui te en vm fi 'angaic.

Dijon et Paris , 1857.

E. MAGNIER : Dan te et ls moyen-dge. Paris , 1860.

F. BERGMANN Dante, savie et s es oeuvres . Par is , 1866.FRANCISQ UE REYNARD : LaDivi ne Comed ic. Traduction no uvelk.

Pari s,1877, 2vols . (prose trans lation wi th al i fe of Dante).

MARC-MONNIER : La renais sance dc Dante aLuther . Paris , 1884(528 pp .

H . VISON : L ’

enfer , tradui t. Par is (Hachette), 1888 (232GUST. DORE’s 125 large i l lustrations , Paris (Hachette), 2 vols . fol .

often reproduced in many edi tions .

IV. GERMAN WORxs .

J08. VON SCHELLING : Ueber Dan te i n phdosop hiwher Benefi ti ng.

An es say in the Kriti sches Journal der PhiIOSOphie,”ed . by Schel l i ng

und H egel , vol . 1L , No. 3 , pp . 35—50, Ti i bingen, 1803. Reprinted in h isWorks

,Vol . V. 152 sqq. A mas terp iece of ph i l osoph ical criticism . An

Engl is h trans lation in Longfel low’

s Dante,II. 435-446. Schel l ing has

trans lated al so some parts of the Commed ia, viz . the inscription on the

gate of H el l (unrhymed) and the second canto of the Paradis e (in terzar ims ). H e ful ly appreciated Dante. So did als o H egel , who cal ls theD. Comedy the purestand riches t work, the proper epos of theChr is tianCathol ic M iddle Ages , and the greatest poem i n the department ofrel igious heroic poetry . (Lectures on .Esthetics , III .


DanteAl ighi er i 8. Berl in , 1826.

L. G. BLANO DanteAl l ighi eri . Leipz ig, 1832. Article in Erech andGruber

’s Encycl . Sect. I . Part XXIIL , 34—79. Very elaborate and

accurate. Blanewas oneof thefirstDante scholars , whowroteal soaVocabolar io Dan tesco , Leipz ig, 1852, and atrans lation of the Commed iawi thcommentary , 1864.J. K. BARR : Dante’s G

'

o'

ttl . Konrb'

d ie i n i hrer Anord n ungnach Raumand Zei t, etc. Dresden , 1852.

miss der gottl . Komb’

d ie. Ti i bingen , 1853.

F. CHR. SCHLOSSER : Dan te S tud i en . Leipz ig, 1855 .

H . FLO'I‘

O DanteA. ,sein Leben und seine Werke. Stuttgart, 1858.

TH . PAUR : Ueber d i e Q twl len cur Lebensgeschichte Dan te’

s . G'

orl itz ,1862. A careful col location of al l the ol der reports of Dante

’

s l i fe.

F. PIPER : Dan teand s eine Theologie. In h i s Evangel . Kalender.Berl in

,1865 .

K. F. GOSOHEL : Vortr t'

ige and S tud ien fiber Dante (posthumous )Berl in , 1863. H is article Dan te

,in H erzog

’

s Encycl . III . 286-296

revi sed by K. in the second ed. vol . III.485—495.

KARL WITI'E (Prof. in Hal l s ) Dante-Forschungen . Al tes and Ns ues .

Hal l s and H ei l bronn , 1869 2vols . Wi tte was the greates t GermanDante scholar. H eand Scartaz z ini havemad eDantea. l i fe-longstudy , andare his bes t interpreters . W i ttewroteabout48books and essay s on Dante,and publ ished one of thebest edi tions of the Ital ian text (seeabove, p .

and an excel lent German vers ion , Dante Al ighier i’

s Go’

ttl i ebs Kom‘

o'

d ie,

notes , Berl in , 1865 , pp . 728 ; 3d ed. 1876. Most of h i s minor Dante

publ ications are col lected i n his Dante-Forschungen . Dean Plumptt s

(IL ,487) pay s h imajus t tribute of praise.

FRANZX. WEGELE (Prof. of H istory in Wurzburg) : DanteAl ighier i’

s

Leben and Werke. Jena, 1852 ; 2d ed . 1865 (pp. 3d. cd . , 1879

(pp . A cr itical account of Dante’s l i fe, hi s pol i tics , and Divi na

DEU’I‘SCHE DANTE-GESELLSCHAFT : Jahrbi i cher , Leipz ig, 1867 4

Vols . Contributions from W itte, Scartaz z in i , Giul ian i , Paur , H uber , etc.

F. H EITINGER (R. Cath . Professor of Theo]. in W i i rzburg) Diegb‘

t

tl icheKom’

o’

d ie des Dante Al ighier i nach i hrem wes entl i chen Inhal tand

Charakter darges tel l t. Freiburgim Brei sgau ,1880 (586 pages). Abridged

Engl ish trans lation by H . S . Bowden, London , 1887. Ihs ueh trans l . by

I ’. Mans ion . Gand , 1888. H ettinger al so wrote Dan te and Beatr ice.Frankfurt—a—M . 1883. H e gives the best expos i tion of Dante’s theologyfi 'om theRoman Cathol ic point of Vi ew, as Ozanam does in French .

PAUL Sow s sa-Borcuos sT : Ans Dante’s Verbannung. Stras sburg,1882 (254pp .


land . Berl i n , 1882, pp. 7—23.

IO. VON DOLLINGER (Old Cath. ) Dante al e Prop het. An addremdel ivered before the Munich Academy of Sciences , Nev. 15 , 1887. Publ .

in hi s Akadem. Vor tra'ge, N'

ord l ingen , 1888, pp . 78-117,

G. GIE'I'MANN

, (S. J.) Beatr ice. Geis t und Kern der Dan teschenDichtungen . Freiburg i . B. , 1889 (pp . By the same : Die G

‘

o‘

ttl iche

Kornbd ic, in“

Klass i sche Dichter undDichtungen.

” Fi rst Part (pp .

German trans lations of the D. Com . with comments by CRR. J08.

JAGEMANN (the Inferno, unrhymed, 1781 A. W . SOHLEGEL (per

tieus only , but very wel l done, K. L. KANNEGIESSER (1809,’14

,

’25, 4th ed . 1843, i n ternary rhyme) ; KARL STRECKFUSS (1824, thirded . 1853 , in tri ple rhyme ; new ed . by Rud. Pfieiderer, AUG .

KOPISCH (1837 3d ed . PH ILALETIIES (Ki ng John of Saxony— one of theVery best trans lations , unrhymed , 1828, 1839,

’

65,’

71) KARL

GRAUL (H bl k, Leipz ig, 1843 ; i n triple rhyme) ; L. G. BLANO (1864, i nblank Verse) ; KARL WITH : (1865 , 3d ed. 1876, in blank verse) ; KARLEITNER JOSEFA VON H OFFINGER (W ien, 1865 , 3vols , m triple

rhyme) ; FR. NO'I'I‘ER (Stuttgart, KARL BAR’I‘SCH (Lei pz ig, 1877)

JUL FRANCHE OTTO GILDEMEISTER (Ber l in , 1888, pp . 551 with

ageneral introduction of 23 pp . and brief introductions to each canto).Thereareal so fragmentary trans lations , especial ly of the filth canto of

the Infern o (Frances cadaRimin i ) of wh ichReinhold K'

Ohler has publ i shedtwenty-two in h i s Derfl i nf te Gesangder H

‘

o'

l le in zwei umi zwanz ig Uebersstzungen sei t 1763 bi s 1865 . Weimar

,1865

‘

(pp .

Plumptre say s (Dante, II . It i s no exaggeration to say that theGermans have taught Ital ians to understandandappreciate their own pos t,justas they haveat leas t helped Engl is hmen to understand Shakespeare.

’

Pref Betta(Introd . to the S tudy of Dante, p . gives al i st ofDantelectures del ivered in German Univers ities, and says : It i s in Germanythat Dantephi l ism has made most rap id progress The wri tings of

Sch los ser,Kop isch , Ruth , Wegele, Paur , Blane, Karl W i tte, and Phi la

lethes fu rn i sh avas t amount of val uable cri tici sm and research in the

various branches of hi s tory theology , phi losophy and wsthetics , as con

us eted with the great poem.

V. ENGLISH AND AM ERICAN WORxs .

(Lord)T. B. MAOAULAY : Cr i ticisms on theB i napal Ital ian Wr i ters . No.

I . Dante. In Knight’

s Q uarterly Magaz ine,”January , 1824; comp . al so

his es say on Petrarch and on Mi l ton al l thes e reprinted in

the firstvolume of his Essay s . In his essay on Mi lton i s hi s bri l l iant com

par isen of the two poets . See Longfel low II. 395 sqq.

THOMAS CARLYLE : The H ere as Poet, in h is H eroes and H ere Worship.

London , 1840, etc. Reprinted in Longfel low II. 381-395.

JAMES HENRY LEIGH H UNT (d. 1859) S tor ies f rom the Ital ian Poets ,


hi s p rlgr image. London (Rivingtens ), 1871 ; 2d ed. 1872 (pp. 4thed . 1884. Wi th i l l ustrations . The same i l lustrations are found i n manyedi tions , e. 9. that of Fraticel l i . Dante’s portrait, his universe, the hel l ,purgatory , and the rose of the bles sed.

REPORTS or THEDANTE SOCIETY. Cambridge, Mas s , 1882 JamesRuss el l Lowel l is Pres ident.S. F. CLARKE : The Por trai ts of Dante. New York, 1884. (The

head from Raphael’

s Dtlrp uta i n the Vatican , Giotto’

s portrai t, andthe profil e on themausoleum inRavenna. ) Thearticle reproducesalarge

part of Professor Nerton’

s paper on the portraits of Dante, HarvardUn ivers i ty Bul letin , Vol . IV. , No. 7, p . 379.

THOMASDAVIDSON AHand book to Dante. By Giovann i A. Scar

(Ginn 85 1887, (pp.

the Cambridge (American) Dante Society , Boston and London , 1888

(pp . 500 cop ies printed .

GEORGERICE CARPENTER : The Ep i sode of the DonnaPietosa, beingan attemp t to reconci le the statements i n the Vi taNuovaand the Convi to

concern ingDante’

s l ife i n they ears afler the death of Beatr ice and before

l i shed in Cambridge, Mas s , 1889, pp . 23—79 of the EighthAnnual Reportof theDante Society .

ton 1887 (pp .

H ON. WM . WARREN VERNON : Read ings , of the Purgator io of Dantechiefly based up on the comm entary of Benvenuto daImola. I’Vi th an Introduction by the Dean of S t. Pau l

’

s . London , 1889, 2 vols . Sim i larRead i ngs on the Inferno by the sameauthor are in course of preparation .

Good articles on Dante in the EncyclopwdiaBritannica, vol . II. andin Schafi-H erzog

’

s Rel . Encycl . I . 607 sqq. (by DR. MARVIN B.

VINCENT).Engl i sh Translations of the Commedia, wi th notes and comments , byREV. H ENRY FRANCIS CARY (1805 ,

’

14, ’

31,’44

,

’

88, etc. i n iambicverseof eas y elegance, but more M i l tonic than Dantesque, sti l l the most readable and popular trans lation , h ighly prai sed by Macaulay both for i tsintimacy wi th the language of Dante , and i ts extraordi nary mastery overtheEngl i sh) ; J. C. WRIGHT (London , 1843 ; 4th ed. J. A. CAR

LYLE (brother ef Thomas C. , only the Inferno, i n l iteral prose with theItal ian textand brief notes , 1849, ’

67, H . W . LONGFELLOW (Beston , 1867, 3 vols . in many American and Engl ish editions ; themost fai thful of al l Engl i sh trans lations , in themetre of the original , but unrhymed);Th. W. PARSONS (The Inferno, i n rhyme, Boston , Mas s . the first ten

centers in 1843 ; completed , JAMES FORD WILLIAM STRAT


FORDDUGDALE (the Purgator io, the Ital ian text with apress trans lation ,s imi lar to Carly le

’

s Inferno, London, 1883) JAMES ROMANES SIBBALD(1884, the Inferno , in Single rhyme) ARTH URJOH NBurma(ThePurgatory , London , 1880 ; theParad i se, 1885 the Ital ian textwi th prose translation, afier the manner of Carly le and Dugdal e, us eful for compar ison)FRED. K. H . HASELFOO'I‘ (1887 In terzarima. of the original ) ; E. H .

PLUMPI‘ER, Dean of Wel ls,1887, 88, 2vols ,

in monosy l labie terzarima,wi th alearned biographical introduction , and studi es on important tepics ,and includi ngatrans lation of the Cafnz on i ere) ; JOH N AUGUS’H NEW IL

STACK (Boston and N. York, H oughton, M ifii in Ce. 1888, 2 vol s ).

Pos '

rro TRIBUTES TO DANTE.

BY M rcnu zr. ANGELO Buoru aor rr .

Trans lated tron tho l tal h n bya h our-mum n .m ).

I .

Into the darkabyss he made hi s wayBoth nether worlds he saw, and in themightOf hi s great soul beheld God

’

5 splendor bright,And gave to us on earth true l ight of day

Star of supremest worth with hi s clear my ,H eaven ’

s secrets he revealed to our dim s ight,And had for guerdon what the base worl d

’

s Spite

Oftgives to souls that noblest grace di splay .

Fu l l i l l was Dante’s l ife-work understood ,

H is purpose high , by that ungrateful state,That welcomed al l with ki ndnes s but the good.

Woul d I were such , to bear l ike evil fate,To tas te his exi le, share hi s lofty mood IFor th i s I

’

d gladl y giveal l earth cal l s great.

II.

What shoul d be sai d of him speech may not tel lH i s splendor is too great for men

’

s dim s ight ;And eas i er twere to blame his foes aright

Than for his poorest gifls to praise him wel l .

H e tracked the path that leads to depth of H el l,

To teach us wi sdom, scaled the eternal height,And H eaven with cpen gates di d him invite ,Who in hi s own loved ci ty might not dwel l .

Ungrateful country , step-dame of his fate,To her own loss ; ful l proof we have in thi sThat sou l s mus t perfect bear the greatest woe.

Of thousand thi ngs sufli ce i t thi s to stateNo exi le ever was unjustas his ,Nor di d theworld h is equal ever know.

1

W itte’s German trans lation of thes e sonnets in Dante-Forschungen,

POETIC TRIBUTES TO DANTE.

DANTE.

BY Lunwro U H LAND.

War’8 ein Thor der Stadt Florenz ,Oder war’s ei n Thor der H immel ,Draus am klarsten Fr i i hl ingmorgenZogein festl iches Gewimmel

Ki nder, hold wie Engel schaaren ,Reich geschm i i ckt mitBlumenkritnzen,

Zogen in das RosenthalZn den frohen Fes test

’anzen.

Unter einem LorbeerbaumsStand , damal s neunjahrig, Dante,Der im l iebl ichsten der Madchen ,Seinen Engel gleich erkannte.

Bauschten n icht des LormoraZweige,Von der M hl ings luf

’t ersch i i ttert

Klangn ichtDante’

s junge Seele,Von der Liebe Hauch durchz ittert

Jal ihm is t i n jener StundeDes Gesanges Q uel l entspmngen ,

In Sonetten , i n KanzonenIst die Lieb

’

ihm fi 'i i h erklungen .

Al s , zur Jungf'

rau hol d erwachsen ,Jonewieder i hm begegnet,Stehtauch seineDichtung schonW ie ein Baum

,der Bl i i then regnet.

Aus dem Thorevon FlorenzZogen di chte Schaaren wieder ,Aber langsam ,

trauervol l ,Bei dem Klange dumpfer Lieder.

Unterjenem schwarz en Tuch ,

’I‘ragt man Beatricen hin ,Di e der Tod so fr i i h gepflucket.

Dante sas s in seiner Kammer ,Einsam, sti l l , im Abendl ichte,H brte fern di e Glocken tonenUndverh i i l lte sei n Ges iebte.

340 POETIC TRIBUTES TO DANTE.

In der W i l der ti efste SchattenStiegder edle S i nger nieder ,

Gleich den fernen Todtenglocken

Tonten fortan seine Lieder.

Aber in der wi l dsten Oede,Wo er gingmi t bangem Sti ihnenKam zu i hm ein AbgesandterVon der hingeschiednen Sch

'

onen

Der ihn fi i hrt’an treuer HandDurch der Hol le tiefste Schluchten,Wo sein i rd

’

scher Schmerz verstummteBei dem Anbl ick der Verfluchten.

Bal d zum sel’

gen Licht empor

Kam er auf den dunkeln Wegen ;

Ans des Paradi eses PforteTrat die Freund in ihm entgegen.

H ooh und h'

oher schwebten BeideDutch des H imm

’

el s Glanz und Wonnen,

Sie, aufbl ickend, ungeblendet,Zu der Sonneal ler Sonnen ;

Er , dieAugen hingewendetNach der Freundin Anges ichts ,Das , verklart, ihn schauen l ies sAbglanz von dem ew

’

gen Lichte.

Einem g'

ottl ichen Gedicht

Hat er al les einverleibs t,M it so ew

’

gen Feuerz i igen ,

Wie der Bl itz i n Fel sen schreibet.

Ja1mit Fugwird dies er S'anger

Als der Gottl icheverehret,Dante, welchem ird

’

sche Liebe

Sich zu himml ischer verklaret.

UH LAND’S DANTE.

Taaxsmm BY Rmv. W . W . Snu r,M .A.

Was i t but the gate of Fl orence,Was ’t thegate of Paradi se,Whence, upon afair May morning,Poured atroop in festal guise

POETIC TRIBUTES TO DANTE.

Chi ldren , fair as troops of angels ,Richly d ight wi th garlands gay ,

Has tened tow’

rd the vale of ros es ,There to join i n danceand p lay .

Dante, who ni ne years had numbered ,Stood beneath alaurel ’s shadeStraight h is glance di scerned an angelIn the lovel iest youthful mai d.

Rustled not the laurel ’s branchesWhen the zephy r caught the grove

Trembled not youngDante’

s sp ir i t,

Breathed on by the breath of love

Yes l within h is heart that instantForth the fount of mus ic brake ;Soon in canzonets and sonnetsTenderly hi s love outs pake.

When once more she met the poet

In her prime of maidenhood ,Likeatree that rai neth blossoms ,Firm and fai r hi s glory stood .

See l from out the gates of FlorencePours once morea. num’

rous train ;Slowly , mournfu l ly , it is sues

Toasad and plai ntive strai n

Neath apal ] of sablevelvetWhich as i lver cross doth wear,

Plucked by Death in bloom of beauty .

Beatr ice forth they bear.

Dante in hi s chamber restedLonely , sti l l , ti l l sunl ight fai led ,

H eard afar the death-bel l boomingSi l ently his face hevei led.

Through the forest’

s deepest shadowPaced the noble bardalone ;

Like the death-bel l ’s di s tant booming,Sounded then hi s mus ic

’

8 tone.

342 POETIC TRIBUTES 'no DANTE.

Ful l to h im of grief and fear ,From the band of soul s departedCameaGod-sent mes senger,

Who his steps securely gui dedFar through H el l

’

s remotest gloom

Where hi s earthly grief was s i l enced,Seeingsoul s fulfil their doom.

1

Soon, his gloomy path pursuing,Came he to the bles sed l igh t

Then , from H eav’n’awi de-opened portal s

Came hi s love, togreet his s ight

Far through H eavn s del ightful regionsScared on h igh the favored ones ;

She, wi th eyes intent, unbl inded,Gaz ingon the Sun of Suns ;

’

Tow’

rds hi s loved one’

s countenance,

Shewed h im the Eternal ’s glance.

Shrined in an immortal poemIs the sp lendidvi s ion shown ,

Rightly was thi s poet honoredW ith the ti tle theDivi neDante , who could earth ly pas s ion

I In the first Canto of the “ In ferno,”Dante descri bes himsel f as lost i na

dreary fores t where, as h e wandered about i n ter ror , he was met by Vi rgi l ,the God-s ent messenger ,

”who gui ded h im safel y through the realms ofH el l . [Note of the trans lator .]

Beatr ice tuttanewacme m ots [the heavens ]Em m gl i

’occl u

’

stava; cd i o i n lei

Le luci flaw, d i las er). remote.—Farad ico

,1. 64—670.

“ H er eyes fast fixed upon th ’ eternal wheel s ,Beatrice stood unmoved and I wi th kenFixed upon her , fium upward gaze removed .

”

344 POETIC mmor rs 10 mm

DANTEm VERONA.

BY EMANUEL GEIBEL.

Gedichte, Erato Per iod s . Stuttgart, 1888, 111th cd .,p. 291.

Geibel wrotealso s aonnet on Dante : “ Sobald d ie Nacht mitdu

’

nklem Fl i igel paar.” New Ged ichte, Dr itte Per iods (2l s t cd .,

1886, p.

Einsam dutch Verona’s Gas sen wandel t’einst der grosseDante,Jener Florenti ner Dichter, den sein Vaterland verbannte.

Davemahm er, wie ein Madchen , das ihn sah voruberschrei ten ,Als o sprach zurji i ngern Schwester , welche sass an i hrer Seiten

Siehe, das is tjenerDante, der zur H ol l’

hi nabgestiegen ,

Merke nur, wie Zorn und Schwermutauf der d i i stern Stirn ihm l i egen l

Denn in jener Stadt der Q ualen musst’

er solcheDinge schauen ,Das s m lacheln nimmer wieder er veimagvor innerm Grauen.

AberDante, der es h’

drte, wandte s ich und brach sein SchweigenUm das Iéicheln zu verlemen

, braucht’

s ni cht, dort hinabzusteigen.

Al len Schmerz , den ich gesungen ,al l d ie Q ualen , Greu

’l und Wunden

Hab’ich schonauf di eser Erden , hab’

ich in Florenz gefunden.

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA.

GENERAL ESTIMATE.

Dante’s Dim’

naOommed iai s one of those rareworks of humangen i us wh ich wi ll command s tudy and admi ration to the end of

time. Thereare many poems wh ich i nteres tand charm amuchlarger number of readers

,but there i s none wh ich combines s o

many attractions for the man of letters , the ph i los opher , thetheologian

,and the h i s tor ian . It i s apoetic encyclopaediaof

med iaeval civi li zation,learn ing and rel igion

,amoral un ivers e i n

song by the loftiest gen i us of that age. H ence few books havebeen so often ed i ted

,commented upon by scholars ,and i llus trated

by arti sts ; and few books have been li ke th i s , made the s ubjectof seri ous and long conti nued s tudy i n al l civi l i zed countr ies .

The Commed ia,i t i s true, can never be popular . I t i s no

easy tas k to read i t through . I t requ i res the closes t attentionand the aid of acommentary. Lord Macaulay says , the greatmajor i ty of young gentlemen and lad ies who profess to knowItalian

, cou ld as soon read aBaby lon ion br ick as acanto of

Dante.

” Of those who make theattempt, few get through theor even from th i s they select on ly the cantos on Fran

cescadaRim in i and the Count U gol ino.

1 The reas on l ies partlyi n the severe solemn i ty, partly i n the obscur i ty of the poem,

i ts

allegor ical imagery, and i ts many allus ions to contemporary

characters and events . I t pres upposes acons iderable knowledgeof clas s ical mythology

,scholas tic ph i losophy and theology

,and

med iaeval h i story. It can on ly be unders tood i n connection wi th

the condi tion of Florence and I taly dur ing the thi rteenth andfourteenth centur ies

,and wi th the greatconflict between theGuelfs

and Gh i belli nes,the popes and emperors .

But the more the poem i s mas tered and comprehended i n the1Al fier i afii rmed

,at the begi nn i ng of the n i neteenth century , that there

were th en not th i rty pers on s i n Ital y who had real l y read the Commed ia but

th e number of read ers,ed i ti ons and commentari es has s i nce been stead i l y i n

346 THE nrvnm oouu s nu .

l ight of i ts age, the more i t becomes an object of admi ration.

Whatafullnes s of i ntel lectual treas ures ,”says Wi tte

,who h im

s elf devoted almos tal i fetime to the study of Dante, must that

poet have to d ispense who exci ted the same enthus ias tic love i nthe youthful Schell ing and the

‘

octogenar ian Sch losser .

”1 The

German phi losopher,hereal luded to

,whowas gi fted wi th poetic

imagination and taste as well as speculative gen ius , calls Dantethe h igh pries t in the H oly of hol ies where rel igion and poetryare un ited.As awork of art

,the Commed iai s the first and the greatest

clas s ic of Ital ian l i terature, and has very few r ivals i n any lan

guage. Longfel l ow cal ls i t the med ieval mi racl e of song”;Tieck, the mystic, unfathomable song.

”K ing John of Saxony,who, under the name of Ph i lal ethes ,

’ publ i s hed one of the bes ttrans lations and commentar ies of the C'ommai ia,aptl y comparesi t to aGoth ic cathedral where the exaggerations of ornamentmay sometimes ofl

'

end our more refined tas te ; wh i le the sublimeand ’aus tere impress ion of the whole,and the exqui s i te fin i s h andvar iety of detai ls

,fil l our mi nd wi th wonder .

” And ThomasCarly le descr i bes i t as agreat supernatural worl d-cathedralpi led up there, stern , solemn, awful ; Dante

’s wor ld of soul s l

The Cbmmed iais not s imply apoem of the h ighes t order, butaph i losophy and theology as wel l ; i t reflects the social

,i ntel

l ectual, moral and pol i tical cond i tions of the Middle Ages ; i tembraces the presentand future s tate of mankind ; i t has evenaprophetic character

,as avoice of warn ing and comfort for al l

time. Dantewrote in theas surance ofapropheticmis s ion s im i larto that of Isaiah, Jerem iah, and Dan iel. H e felt i t h is imperative d uty, wi thout fear or favor of men , at the r i s k of exi leand

poverty, to tel l the truth and noth ing but the truth,to popes

1 Welclw F lats m gei stigen Schd tzen muss der Di chter z u bi oten babe», i ndense» Lied mi tglei cher Vor l iebe, wi e der achtundzwanz igi d hfi ge Schel l i ng, so der

I. p . 221.

1 In the essay on Dante (1803) quoted i n the Li terature, p . 332 Im

Al l erhei l igsten , woRel igion and Food s verbnnden , stemDante al e H ol l e y-tester

and «wi ld d i egonzo m demeKane!far i hreBes timmung ei n es i st d i eBurch

Bel igion, Wisesnachafland Poes ic i n dem{Iber legensten Gei stejenes Jahrhunderts .

THE DIVINA common . 347and emperors

,to ki ngs and nobles

,to the r ich and the poor .

H e rebukes the evi l-doers , he cheers the r ighteous , he pai nts i nthe s trongest colors the eternal consequences of our conduct i n

thi s l i fe of probation and tr ial,and holds up the prospects of

an i deal commonwealth of jus tice,l iberty and peace. H e i s a

prophet of evi l to the wicked , and aprophet of glad tid i ngs tothe r ighteous . H e k indles from time to time the flame of

patrioti sm among h i s countrymen, and keeps alive the hopeanddes i re of aregenerati on of the State and areformation of the

Church .

Theattempt to descr ibe the regi ons of the unseen wor ld andtoas s ume the ofi ce of the al l -knowi ng judge of the living andthe dead in the d i s tr ibution of eternal reward s and eternal puni shments

,could or iginate on ly either i n the brain of afool or a

madman , or in the bold imagination ofapoetic gen ius , under thei nfluence of asecondary i nspi ration . Dante has s hown by theexecution of th i s des ign that hewas agen ius of the h ighes t order

,

though regarded by many of h i s countrymen as fit for a’l unatic’

asylum rather than an ofli ce of public trus t or any ord inarybus ines s of l i fe.

M i lton,who of al l pos ts comes neares t to Dante, ventured on

apoetic descr iption of Parad i se Los tand Parad i se Regained,but

abs tained from peopling i t wi th other than Scr iptural characters .

Emanuel Swedenborg, the Seer of the Nor th, who claimed thesupernatural gi ft of spi r i tual vi s ion and i ntercourse wi th the

departed,reports h is conversations wi th men of d i fferent ages

and rel igions i n H eavenand H ell,but thes e conversations

,though

far s uper ior to the twaddleand gos s i p of modern Spi r ituali sm,

are prosy, monotonous and ted ious . Dante, wi thout claimi ngarevelation , fixed the eternal des tiny of eminent men and womenof h is age and country as wel l as of pas t generations

,i n the

name of impartial jus tice to fr iend and foe : condemn ing theimpen i ten t . s inner to hopeles s m is ery

,comforti ng the pen i tent

bel iever wi th the prospect of u ltimate del iverance, and crown i ngthe saints wi th the reward of celes tial bliss .

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA.

THE SOURCE OF THE COMMEDIA.1

Noth ing falls abruptly from heaven . Dante had many predecessors i n theattempt to descri be the i nvi s ible wor ld, but hesurpas sed them al l .H omer and Vi rgi l furn is hed i l lus tri ous precedents among

clas s ical authors and sugges ted to Dante the outl ines of h is

Inferno. They divide Hades or the realm of the departed i ntoTartarus

,the dark abode of the bad

,and Elys ium,the s unny

fields of the good, but know no i nterven i ng Purgatory. Theyrepresent the dead as s hadowy phantoms flutteri ng about i n theai r under an empty form .

H omer, i n the eleventh book of the Odys sey,descri bes the

vi s i t of U lysses to the joyles s land of Hades, where he con

versed wi th the Theban seer Ti res ias,and wi th h i s own mother ,

and saw the s hades of Agamemnon,Ach i lles and many homes

and heroines s lain i n battle and clad i n bloody armor .

1

Vi rgi l, the favori te poetand gu ide of Dante,to whom he was

much more i ndebted for material than to H omer,mi nutely

descri bes,i n the s ixth book of the M

,the descent of E neas

,

accompan ied by the Sibyl of Cumm, to the infernal regions

where he learns from h i s father Anch ises h i s fateand the futureof the wor ld-conquer ing Romans .Nor should Cicero’s Vi s ion of Scipio be forgotten among the

pre-Chr i s tian an tecedents of the Commed ia.

The Inferno of Dante i s as trange commi ngli ng of heathenand Chr is tian mythology. H e i nvokes Apollo and the Muses

1 Comp . Ozanam on the poeti c sources of the Div. 00m. appended to hi sLes Poetes Franci s can s en Ital ic (Pari s , th i rd ed . 1859, pp. 351—469 ; tom v.

of hi s (Euvres comp letes ) ; Ros setti , Danteand H i s Ci rcle (London , 1874) Al ess .

d ’Ancona, I p recuram'i d i Dante (Fl orence, 1874) Lab i tte

, LaD. Comed ic

avant Dante (Par is , 1842) Th . W r ight, St. Patr ick’s Purgatory , an es say on

the Legends of Purgatory , H el l and Parad i se current dur i ng the M i ddle Ayes

(London , Longfel l ow, i n h i s Il l ustrati ons to the Inferno (I . 381

gives several vi s i ons of the unseen wor l d , beginni ngwi th the 1 l th book of

theOdy ssey and end ingwi th theAngl o-Saxon des cr i pti on of Parad i se

1 Dante had avery l imi ted knowl edge of Greekand of H omer . H e says

(Convi to I . that H omer was not yet turned , or cou l d not be turned,from

Greek i nto Lati n (non at mute d i greco i n lati no), l ike other Greekwr i ters ,because trans lati on wou l d des troy al l hi s sweetnes s and harmony .

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA. 349to aid h im in hi s Chr i s tian poem.

1 H e gives room to heathengods and dem i-gods , but transforms them i nto demon s (as theyare represented by scu lpture i n the Goth ic cathedrals). H e

retains Mi nos as judgeat the door,and Charon as boatman over

the Stygian lake, and as sociates Cen taurs and Fur ies wi th the

agents of d iabolical torture. But he puts even the bes t of the

heathen , i nclud ing h i s own honored Vi rgi l and Ar i stotle, i ntoH el l

, wi th two s i ngular exceptions ,— Cato of U tica, who keeps

watch at Purgatory, and the Emperor Trajan , who was believedto have been saved by the prayers of Pope Gregory I . nearlyfive hundred years after h i s death .

’

The Chr i s tian religion pur ified and i nten s ified the bel ief inthe immortal i ty of the soul

,gave realness to the future l i fe by

teach ing the resurrection of the body, and created anew ideaofH eaven as an abode of hol i ness and bl i ss i n commun ion with

God and the sai nts . After the fourth century the Chr i s tianeschatology was enr iched and obscured by the semi-heathen i shconception of Purgatory as an i nterven i ng s tate of pur ificationand preparation for H eaven . I t was s ugges ted as aprobabi l ityby St. Augustin , and taughtas acertai nty by Pope Gregory L,

and gave rise to many crude s upers ti tions wh ich haunted theMiddle Ages

,and wh ich to th i s day d isturb the peace of pious

Roman Catholics i n the hour of death . Thi s good but cred ulous pope, i n the fourth book of h i s “ Dialogues” tellsincredi ble tales of vi s ions of departed souls

,wh ich greatly

1 Inf . II . 7 ; Pwrg. I . 8,9 ; Par . I . 13 ; I I . 8

,9.

1 Dante refers twi ce to th ese pray ers Purg., x . 75 and (wi thout nam ing

Gregory ) Pan , xx . 109-111 . H e fol l owed acur i ous l egend curren t i n the

Mi dd l e Ages , as to l d by Pau l us Diaconus i n hi s Life of Gr egory , by BrunettoLati ni

,i n theFloredi Fi losoflattr ibuted to hi m ,and al so i n th e famous Legenda

Aurea,and other books . It 18 th i s . Trajan , though hepers ecuted theChr i stians ,

was reputed ajus t emperor . About five h und red y ears after h i s d eath ,Pope Gregory , on heari ngof h i s justi ce and s eei ng h i s s tatue, had hi m d i si nterred , and prayed God wi th tears to take the soul of thi s man out of H el l

and put h im in to H eaven . The pray er was heard ,and Trajan rel i eved ; but

an angel tol d Gregory never tomake s uch apray er agai n and God lai d upon

h im apenance, ei ther to spend two day s i n Purgatory , or to be al way s i l lwi th fever and s i de-ache (male di fianoo). St. Gregory chose the latter asthe l esser puni shment.

350 THE mvmacom ma.

strengthened the medieval bel ief i n Purgatory.

1 Dante mentions Gregory i n Parad ise, but on lyas d ifl

‘

er i ng from St. Dio

ny s ius i n thearrangement of the cel estial h ierarchy.’ H e ought

to have placed h im i n the fourth H eaven , among the great doctors of the Church .

3

TheActs of the female (probably Montan i st) martyrs Perpetuaand Fel icitas (quoted by Tertull ian and Augus ti n), and s ti llmore the monas tic literature of the Middle Ages and the Livesof Saints , abound i n marvelous legends , vis ions and revelationsof the future wor ld. Such vis ions are reported by thevenerableBede (d . St. Bon i face (d . Wettin of ReichenauPrudentius of Troyes Char les the Bald i n the Li feof St. Brendan (eleven th century), i n St. Patr ick

’s Purgatory

(twelfth century, by amonk, Owen), by Eli zabeth of Scht'

mau

(d . St. H i ldegard is (d . Joach im of Fiore (d.

St. Mati ldaor Mechti ld i s (d. The Vi s ion of

Frate Alber ico of Monte Cas s ino i n the twel fth century contai ns adescri ption of H ell

,Purgatoryand Paradise wi th Seven

H eavens . I t i s,

”say s Longfel low,

for themos t partated ioustale

,and bears evident marks of having been wr i tten by afr iar

of some monastery, when theafternoon sun was sh i n ing i nto h i ss leepy eyes .

” Dante’s own teacher , Brunetto Latin i , describes ,i n h i s Tes oretto, how he was los t i n afores t and then l ed byPtolemy theastronomer to the vi s ion of the unseen wor ld

,and

the pun is hments of the wicked . The Gold en Legend of JacopodaVoragi ne, archbi s hop of Genoa(d . about teems wi thsupernatural marvels of saints i t was themos t popular book inthe Middle Ages ,and passed through i nnumerable edi ti on s .‘

The whole poetry of theMiddleAges ,and thearts of painting

edged that h e knew thes e ghost sto r i es on l y from hearsay , and defends h i srecord i ngthem by the exampl e of Markand Luke, who reported the Gospelsecond -hand on theauthor i ty of eye

-wi tnes ses .

2 Par .,xvm . 133 .

3 Pan ,x.

4Seean i nteres ti ngarticl e on the l i terary h i s tory of theAareaLegenda, byProfessor E. 0. Richard son , in the fir stvol ume of the Papers of theAmaucan Soci ety of Church H i s tory ,

”N. York,1889, pp . 237-248.

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA»

and sculpturedelighted i n spectacles of the future wor ld . Labittestates

,as the res u lt of h i s i nves tigation s , that the arch i tecture

of France alone— the frescoes , wi ndows and porches of the

cathed rals of Notre Dame, Chartres , Auxerre, etc.

-s uppliesmore than fifty i llus trations of the Cbmmed iaby way of antici

pation . The mos t popular play s i n Europe were the m i racle

plays or my ster ies , wh ich enacted the descent i nto H ell and thescenes of the las t Judgment. The theatres represen ted by threestor ies the three regions of the invi s i ble wor ld.

One of the grandes t,but mos t d i sas trous , of these spectacles

took place i n Florence dur ing Dante’s l i fetime,May , 1304, and

i s des cr ibed by Vi l lan i i n h is Chron icle. The i nfernal regionswere represented on one of the Arno br idges by mi sshapen men ,h ideous demon s

,divers torments

,groans and cr i es

,and other

horr ible scenes to sati s fy the morbid cur ios i ty of the multi tudewho crowded the banks of the r iver and the boats and woodenrafts

, when s udden ly the br idge fell wi th i ts weight, and manypeople were drowned .

The on ly survival of these med i zsval mi racle plays i s the

Pas s ion Play ofOberammergau in the h ighlands ofBavar ia,wh ich

is.enacted once i n every ten years

,but i s s i ngu lar ly free from

supers ti tious admixtures and preternatural horrors,and confined

with in the l im i ts of the biblical narrative.

The med iaeval fai th i n afuture li fe was strong,and lively, butsens uous

,mater ial i s tic and supers ti ti ous . Everybody held the

Ptolemaic and geocentric sys tem of the un iverse, and bel ievedi n amater ial hel l beneath the earth

,amater ial heaven above the

sky , and an i nterven ing mater ial purgatory or tran s i tion placeand s tate for the di scipl ine of those who by faith i n Chr i s t haveescaped hell, but are not yet good enough for heaven . The

real i ty of these subterres tr ial and celes tial region s was as l i ttledoubted as the real i ty of our terres tr ial exi s tence. There were,of course

,skeptics who den ied or doubted even the immortali ty

of the soul,but they were rare

,and abhorred or pi tied as mad

men . Dante says i n h i s Convi to 1 of al l id iocies,that i s the

mos t s tupid,mos t vi le, and mos t damnable

’ wh ich holds that1 Bk: 11 . ch . 9 (Frati cel l i , p . 139, M i s s H i l lard ’s trans lati on , p .

1 Intratutte l s bestial i tad i quel laestol ti ss ima, vi l i ss imae dannom'

s sima, etc

352 THE DIVINA COMMEDIA.

after this l i fe there i s none other ; because i f we look throughal l the wr i tings of the ph i losophers , as well as of the other wi seauthors , they al l agree i n th i s

, that there i s some part of us

wh ich i s immortal.” H e then refers for proof to Ar is totle,Cicero

,the Genti le pos ts , the Jews , the Saracens , or any others

who l iveatal l accord ing to law, to our as pi ration after immortal i ty

,to the exper ience in the d ivi nations of our dreams ,and to

the most veraci ous teaching of Chr i st, who i s the Way , theTruth

,and theLight (Li fe). Th is teach ing gives us more certainty

than al l other reasons . Th is should be the most poten t ofarguments ; and thus I bel ieve, as sertand am certai n , that afterth i s I shall pass to another, better l i fe where that glor ious lady

[Beatrice] l ives , of whom my soul was enamored .

Thus Dante found and shared the general bel ief i n the threeregions and s tates of the future wor ld. But he mas tered thecrudemater ial of tradi tion for h i s s upernatural journey wi th thei ndependence of gen i us , and reduced the l egendary chaos toorder and beauty. H e threwal l his predeces sors i nto the shade,and has not been s urpassed or equaled by any of h i s s uccess ors .

NAME OF THE POEM .

Dante cal led h is poemaComedy in d is ti nction fromafl agcdy ,for two reas ons : because i t begi ns horr ibly with H ell and endshappi ly in Parad i se

,and because i t i s wr i tten i n vulgar or pcpu

lar language.

1 Anadmi r ing pos ter i ty longafter h i s deathadded1 In the Letter to Can Grand s , ch . 10

,i n whi ch he ded i cates to him the

ti n i nations, non mor ibus . H e d er ives comedy from rebut) ,vi l la,and 9366, contus ,

soas to mean vi l lanus contus ,avi l lage poem, and tragedy from rpéyogand 9566,cantus hi rcinus

,agoat song, and d i s ti ngui s hes comedy from tragedy i n matter

and sty l e. Cm d iai nchoatasp efi tatemal i cuius rei , sed ei us mater iap rosperetermi natur , ut patet per Terenti um i n cuts Oom d i i s S imi l i ter dry er

-uni in

mode l oquend i s late cl subl ime tragoed ia, comwd iavero remis se et humi l i ter , s icutvul tH oratius i n suaPoetica El p er hocpatet, quod Comwdiadi ci tur p rwsensopus . Nam s i ad mater iam resp iciamus , ap r i ncip i o hmr i bi l i s etfoeti daest, quiaInform ; i n fine p rospera, des i derabi l is etgrata, qu iaParad i sus . S i ad modumloquend i , remi ssus es t modus st humi l is , quial oquuti o vulgar is , i n quaet mul iercul l s commun icant.” H e cal l s hi s poema Comedy i n Inf . XVI . 128 xxxx.2 (lamiacommed ia). H e does not s eem to know the other der ivation of


the epi thet d ivine, and bes towed i t al so upon the poet. 1 H e

h imself calls i tasacred poem that made both heaven and earthcc-partners i n i ts toi l . 1

The ord inary mean i ng of Comedy does notapplyatal l to s uchasolemn and ser ious poem .

3 The Inferno i s rather an awfu ltragedy ; the Purgatory i s filled wi th pen i tential sorrow,

i rradiatedby the hope of final deliverance ; the Paradi s o i s joyful i ndeed,but far above earthly felici ty. The whole poem has lyr ic opi

sodoe,epic and dramati c features , and adidacticaim . I t may

be cal ledanallegor ico-d idactic epos of the rel igious h i s tory of thewor ld . But i t cannot be s tr ictly ranked wi th lyr ic

,or epic

, or

dramatic, or d idactic poetry, any more than the Book of Job.

It s tands by i tself wi thout aparallel . In the judgment of

Schel ling,i t i s an organ ic m ixture”of al l forms of poetry

,

“an absol ute i nd ividual i ty, comparable wi th i tself alone,and

wi th nothing else. I t i s not plastic,not picturesque, not

mus ical,but al l of theseat onceand i n accordan t harmony. I t

i s not d ramatic,not epic

,not lyr ic, but apecu l iar, un ique, and

unexampled m i ngl i ng of al l these.

”4

1 Scartaz z in i say s that the ep i thet occurs first i n Dol ce’s ed i ti on,Ven i ce,

1555 , but that Landi no had previ ous l y cal l ed the poet d ivi ne i n the edi tion of1481.

1 Parad ., xxv. 1 sq .

Semai conti ngo che i i p oemasacro,Al quale hap osto mane e ci el o e ter m.

1 Macaulay (in hi s essay on M i l ton ) In every l ine of theDivi ne Comedywe di scern the asper i ty wh i ch i s produced by pri de struggl i ngwi th m i s ery .

There i s perhaps no work i n the wor l d so d eep l y and un i form l y sorrowfu l .

Themelanchol y of Dante was no fan tas ti c capr i co. It was from wi thi n .

H i s mi nd was , in the nobl e language of the H ebrew poet, aland of darkness

, as darkness i ts el f, and where the l igh t was as darkness .

’ The gl oom

of h i s character di scol ors al l the pass i ons of men ,and al l th e face of nature

,

and tingos wi th i ts own l ivi d bus the flowers of Parad ise, and th e gl ori es ofthe otemal throne.

”

1 Ei n absolutes Ind ivi duum,n i chts anderem und nur s i ch selbstverglei chbar .

Schel l i ng’s essay on Dante i n p hi losop hi s cher Bez i ehung, firs t publ i shed i n 1803 ,

and in hi s col l ected Works , vol . V. 152 sqq .

23

354 THE l ) :v COMMEDIA.

TIME OF COMPOSITION.

The Commed ia i s the l i fe-work of Dante,conceived i n h i s

early love for Beatr ice, composed dur ing the twenty years of h isex i le

,and completed s hortly before his death . I t was begun i n

the year 1300, when he had reached the merid ian of l i fe, 1 or

fin i shed the firs t half of the course of seventy years wh ich thePsalmi st of old sets as the normal limi t to our mortal l i fe.

The days of our years are three score years and ten ,Or even by reason of strength four score years ;Yet is their pride but labor and sorrow ;For i t is soon gone, and we fly away .

The year 1300 i s memorable i n church h is tory for the firs t

papal jubi lee, when two mi ll ions of Chr i s tian p i lgr ims vi s i tedRome to ofl

'

er thei r countless oblations to St. Peter,and to receive

in return absolution from his s ucces sor, Bon i face VIII .

2 I t wasagigantic scheme for the i ncrease of the papal powerand wealth ,to be repeated each hundred th year thereafter , and led i n i ts

u ltimate consequences to the Protes tant Reformation wh ichbegan wi th Luther’s Theses against the s hameful trafli c i ni ndulgences for the rebui ld ing of St. Peter’s . Dante may hims elf have been one of the pi lgr ims .

‘ H e al ludes twice to the

jubi lee, but wi thout approval .‘ H o abhorred Bon iface VIII .

for h i s avar iceand s imony, and puts i nto the mouth of St. Peteraprotes tagai nst being made

1 Inf . I . 1 . Nel mez zo del cammi n di nos travi ta,”etc. H e was born in1265 .

1 G iovann i Vi l lan i , one of the Fl orentine p i lgrims , say s (Chronica,vn I . 36)that th roughout the y ear there were i n Rome, bes i des the Roman popu lati on ,

p i lgrims , not counti ngthose who were on the way go ingand return

i ng. G . Ventu ra, the chron i cl er of As ti , reports th e total number of pi lgrimsas no l es s than two m i l l ions . The oblati ons exceed al l calcu lati on . Two

pri ests stood wi th rakes i n thei r hand s , sweepi ng the gol d from the al tarof St. Peter ’s and th i s immens e treasure was at the i rrespons ibl e d i sposalof the p0pe.

1 As Ozanam conjectures (l . e. , p . though wi thout evi dence.

Inf .,xvm . 29 sqq. ; Purg.

, n . 98.

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 355

The figure of asealTo privi leges venal and mondacious ,Whereat I often roddon and flas h with fire.

”1

The Inferno was probably completed in s ubs tanceaboutthe Purgator i o about 13 18, the Parad i s o i n 1321. But the

chronology i s not cer tai n . H e may have worked at d ifferent

parts , revi sed the manuscr i pt, and i nserted al lus ions to factswh ich had occurred i n the meantime.

3

Boccaccio tel l s the s tory that the firs t seven cantos of the

Infer no werewr i tten at Florence before the ban i shment, then los tand recovered

,and that the las t th i rteen cantos of the Parad i so

were found eight months after Dan te’s death , i n ah id i ng-placei n h i s bed-room

,thanks toamarvelous dream,

in wh ich Dan teappeared to h i s son Js copoand revealed to h im the place. Thi s

impl ies that those cantos were not publi shed before h i s death .

Goethe’s Faus t furn i s hes amodern parallel ofapoem on wh ichthe author labored for many years . H e conceived the i deaofFaus t i n h i s youth

,1769, composed at d i fferent times portions

which interes ted h im mos t,and publi shed them from 1790 to

1808,when theFi rs tPar tappeared complete under the ti tleFaus t,cine Tragii di e. The Second Part he took in hand i n Augus t

,1824,

at the age of seventy-five and completed i t i n Augus t,183 1

,

when be sealed i t up and d i rected that i t should not be publi shedti ll after h i s death . Thi s tragedy of the modern age,

”then

,

covers the youth,manhood

, and extreme old age of the poet.

1 Pan,XXVII . 52-55 . In Pl umptro

’s trans lation

Not that I shou l d , engraved on seal, give r igh t

To vonal and corrupt monopol i es ,

W h i ch make me bl us h and ki nd l eat the s ight.

”

The whol e i nd ignant i nvective of St. Peter again s t the corrupti on of h i s

successors (vor . 19 sqq. and 66 sqq. ) app l i es p rimar i l y to Bon i face VIII . ,or to

Rome i n 1300, but as wel l al so to John XXII . , or to the Papal court atAvignon i n 1320.

1 Scartaz z i n i th i nks that th e compos i ti on of the Inferno was not begun ti l l

after the d eath of H enry VII . but th i s i s contradi cted by Dante’s own

s tatement (Inf . I . and by Boccac io’s accoun t of the compos i tion of the

first seven cantos i n Fl orence before the ban i shment.1 For i l l us trati on 1 may refer to h i s trans lator Cary , who i n forms us in h i s

preface that he began the trans lation of the Purgator ioand the Parad i so l ongbefore the trans lation of the Inferno.


DURATION OF THE VISION.

1

Dante presents h i s poem i n the form of as pi r i tual journey orvi s ion . H e began i t in the year 1300, on Good Fr iday, wh ichcommemorates the Crucifixion of our Lord .

2 H e spent twodays (Fr iday and Saturday) i n H el l

,as long as Chr i s t remained

i n the spi r itworld to redeem the wai ti ng sai nts of the old d i spensation , and to transfer them to Parad i se.

1 On Eas ter morni ng(giorno d i Pasqua) heagain r i ses to the l ight. H e needs onewhole day and n ight for hi s s ubterranean journey from H el l

to the foot of Purgatory, on the other hem i sphere. I n four daysof toi l ing, from Monday ti l l Thursday of the Eas ter week

,he

ascends to the top of the mountain of Purgatory. Then he fliesthrough Purgatory i n aday ,

‘or

,accord i ng to another Vi ew

,i n

three days ; namely, Fr iday, Saturdayand Sunday, so that thewholeaction would occupy ten days .

1

1 On the dates of the Commed ia, see Kannegies sor’s trans lation , and E.

Moore, the l i me-References i n the Div. Com. and thei r bear i ngon the as sumed

dateand duration of the Vis ion . London , 1887. Unfortunatel y , I cou l d not

2 Inf. xxr.,112—114, whoreVi rgi l say s to Dante

“ Yes terday , five hours later than thi s hour ,One thousand and two h und red s ixty

-s i x

Years were comp l ete , that here th e way was broken .

”

At the cl ose of Canto XX. , the time i s i nd i cated as bei ngan hour aftersunr i se. Five hours later wou l d be noon

,or the s ixth hour of the Cruci fix

i on (Luko 23 Ad d to the 1266 years th e 34years of Ch r i st’s l i fe onearth

, and we got the y ear 1300, wh en Dante began h i s pi lgr image. The

break or rent i n the work al luded to was caused by the earthquakeat the

1 H o combi nes for thi s purpose, wi th Thomas Aqu i nas , the two pas sagesLuke 23 43 and 1 Pet. 3 19.

4Accord i ng to Blanc, and Butl er , who say s I he Parad ise of Dante, p .

XIV. ) The time occup i ed in thejourney through the d i fferen t H eavens i stwenty

-four hours .

”

1 So Frati cel l i (LaDivi naCom , p . 723 ) I Igiorno di venerd’t e que l lo d i

sabato (s i come r i levas i dal canto XXVI I .,79—87) gl

’ imp i eganel trapassare i novociel i mobi l i ; e nel giorno di domen i ca, ottavad i Pasqua, sal eal l

’emp i reo. E cost

i n tutto l ’az i one del Poemadurad ieci gi or ni .”Davi d son (i n h i s tran s lati on of

Scartaz z i n i ’s Handbook toD. , p . 312) adOpts the samevi ew on the bas i s of

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA. 357

DANTE’S COSMOLOGY.

1

Dante d id not r i se above the geography and as tronomy of h i sage, but took pootié l iberties i n detai l . H i s Commed ia i s

bas ed upon the Ptolemaic sys tem ,wh ich prevai led ti l l the m iddleof the s ixteenth century, when i t was gradually s upplanted bythe Copern ican sys tem .

The geography of the church i n the Middle Ages d id not

extend much beyond the old Orbi s Romanus , that i s , thos e portions of th ree con tinents wh ich are washed by the waters of theMed i terranean . Eastern As ia(except Eas t I nd ia), SouthernAfr icaand Northern Europe were terror incogn i taa, ly i ng beyondthe boundar ies of civi l i zation . Amer icaand Aus tral iawere not

yet di scovered .

‘

The earth was d ivided i nto two hemi spheres,

the eas tern hem isphere of the i nhabi ted land wi th Jorusal omas i ts centre

,and the wes tern hem i sphere of water . Colum

bus undertook h i s voyage across the Atlantic i n the hope of

fin d ing awes tern passage to Eas t Ind ia,and died in the belief

that he had found i t when he d i scovered the “Wes t I ndies ”in1492.

The mod imval cosmology was geocen tr ic. I t regarded the

earth as the immovable centre of the un iverse. I t max im i zedour l i ttle globe, and made sun

,moon and s tars revolvearound

i tas obed ient servants , to give i t l ight by day and by n ight. I t

was moreover , m ixed up wi th as trology and the s upers ti tiousbel ief of the mys ter ious i nfluence of the celes tial bodies upon thebi rth and fate of men . Dante was full of i t.

Pan , xxvn .,79—87

,but I confes s I cannot find there nomore than thatDante

had been then s ix hours (dal mez zoal fine) i n the H eaven of the Fixed Stars .

Butl er (p . 349) s uggests the conjoctural read i ng : Cheva(for fa) dal mez zoal

jln del (for i t) p r ime cl ima.

”

1 See especial l y W i tte, Dante’s Wel tgebaude i n Jah rbuch dor deutschenDante-Gesel l s chaft vol . I .

,73—93 h i s Dante-For schungen vol .

IL ,161—182 and the in trod uction to h i s German trans lation of the Commed ia

(1865 and Al so Phi lal ethes, Ueber Kosmologie und Kosmogen i e nach

den Ans i chten der Scholas tiker i n Dante’s Zei t, ad i ssertati on in h i s trans lati on

of the first Canto of Parad i se (pp . 11 Mar iaFrances caRos s etti , AShadow of Dante pp . 95 13 . Several edi ti ons of the Commed ia

, and thework of M . F. Rossetti give i l l ustrations of Dante’s Un iverse, wh i ch arevery

358 THE nrvon com mon .

The Ptolemaic system has los t al l scientific value, but i t

retains i ts h i stor ical i nteres t, and acertai n practical necess i tyfor our dai ly vi s ion of sunr i seand sunset. I t i s les s grand, butmore defin i te

,phenomenal

,and

,we may say , more poetic than the

Copern ican sys tem.

Dante locates H el l beneath the surface of the land hem is phereand extends i t down to the centre of the earth at the oppos i teend of Jerusal em . H e gives i t the s hape ofafunnel or i nvertedcone

, wh ich end s i n anarrow p i t for . the traitors , where Satani s s tuck in ice. Accordi ng to the datagiven by the poet, thed imens ion s of H el l would be four thousand mi les i n depth

,and

as many i n breadth at i ts upper ci rcumference. It i s preceded

by aves tibule. The entrance i s beneath the fores t at theFauces Avern i , near Cumao, on the coas t of Campan ia, whoreVi rgi l places the entrance to Hades . Dante d ivides the infernalamph i theatre into three divi s ion s , separated from each other bygreat spaces . Each d ivi s ion i s subd ivided into three concentr ic

ci rcles , corres pond i ng to the several clas ses of s inners and the

degrees of gui lt. As they become narrower , the pun i shmentincreases .

Purgatory is located i n the water hemi sphere oppos i te Mount

Sion and di stant from i t by the whole diameter of the globe,

that i s,somewhere near the South SeaI s lands . Dante repre

sents i t as avas t con ical mountain r i s ing s teep and h igh fromthe waters of the Southern ocean .

1 H o surrounds the mountainwi th seven terraces for the pun i shment and exp iation of the

seven dead ly s i n s . As s inand pun i shment i ncrease i nadescendi ng l i ne i n H el l

,so

,on the con trary, s in and pun is hment de

crease i n an as cendi ng l ine i n Purgatory. Rough s tai rway s , cuti nto the rock , lead from terrace to terrace. On the s ummi t i s

the table land of the garden of Eden or the terres tr ial Parad i se,wh ich mus t not be confounded wi th the celes tial Parad i s e.

H uman h i s tory began i n the i nnocence of the terres tr ial Paradi se to i t man i s led back by pen i tence and puri fication ti ll hei s fit for the holiness and bl is s of the celes tial Parad ise.

The fall of Luci fer , tho archrebel, from heaven convulsedd perverted the or igi nal world wh ich God had made. H o

1 “ The mount that ris es h ighes t o’er the wave.

”(Par . XXVI . ,

THE orvrr n com mon . 359

struck the earth wi th s uch violenceas to open achasm clearthrough the cen treand to throw up the Mount of Purgatory on

the oppos i te s ide of the earth .

1 The Inferno i s the eternalpr i son for the impen i tentand los t ; Purgatory i s the temporarypr i son or pen i tentiary for pen i ten t s i nners and wi l l be empty onthe day of judgment. Parad i s e i s the eternal home of holyangels and men . Dante reaches i t

,under the guidance of Bea

tr ice, by flight from the top of Mount Purgatory, where the lawof gravi ty has an end .

Parad i se cons i s ts of n i ne heavens and the Empyrean . The

n i ne heavens corres pond to the n i ne ci rcles of H el l and of Pur

gatory. The firs t seven heaven s revolve around the earth asthe immovabl e centre of the un iverse and are called after thethen known planets : Moon

,Mercury

,Venus

,Sun (wh ich was

l ikewi se regarded as aplanet), Mars , Jupi ter, Saturn . Each i ssupposed to 'bo i nhabi ted . Above them i s the eighth heaven or

the heaven of the Fixed Stars . The n inth heaven i s the crystal l ine heaven or the Pr imum Mobi le, whi ch i s the most rapidi n motion

,keeps the eight lower heavens in perpetual motion

and i s the root of timeand change throughout creation . Wi thoutand beyond the Pr imum Mobi le i s the tenth heaven or the

Empyrean , which contai ns the un ivers e, i s timeles s , spacol es s andmotion les s

,the special abode of God and the eternal ’ home of

h is sai nts . I t i s arranged i n the form of arosearound as eaofl ight. Al l the bles sed dwell i n the Empyrean

,but they appear

to the poet i n the d i fferent heavens accord i ng to the degrees ofthei r mer i tand happi nes s .

The cosmology of Dante i s compl icated wi th as trology i nheri ted from heathen times , and wi th the theory of aceles tial h ierarchy which was developed i n the mystical wr i ti ngs of pseudoDionys ius

,the Areopagi te

,and exci ted great i nfluence on the

s cholas tic theology of the Midd le Ages ;2n i ne angel ic orders

are d ivided i nto three h ierarch ies : the Seraphim, Cherubim and

Thrones ; theDom i n ions , Vi rtues and Powers ; the Pr i ncipal it ies

,Archangels and Angels . They move the n ine H eavens and

1 Inf ,xxxrv. , 121 sqq .

1 On the ps eudo-Di ony s ian wr i tings , s ee Schafi

’

, Church H i s tory , vol . IV.,

589-600.

360 THE orvrr n com mon .

are themselves unmoved . They receive power from the Empy~

roan aboveand stamp i t l i keaseal upon the s pheres below.

Dante,i naccordancewith Thomas Aquinas , placed the creation

of theAngels on the firs t day ,and the fall of Luci ferand the rebelAngels wi th in the twenty m inutes succeed i ng. The fall of manmus t have taken placeafter the upheaval of Parad i se wh ich wascaused by the fall of Luci fer .

The local i ties and scener ies of the future world are meas uredby Dante wi th mathematical preci s ion

,and descr ibed wi th the

gen ius of an archi tectand pai nter . Everyth ing i s defin i teandvi s ible. H e furn i s hes the r iches t mater ial for painters . In thi s

respect the Comedy s tr ikingly contrasts wi th the vaguenes s andi ndefin iteness of Mi lton’s Parad i s e Los t, wh ich Ruski n has adm i rably descr i bed .

l

Even the departed sou ls as sumeaclear,defin i te shape. They

are not nebulous shades,but clothed wi th arefined corporal i ty

resembl i ng thei r earthly tabernacle. They can rol l s tones,l i ft

burdens and feel the pun i shments of H ell and the penal s ufferi ngs of Purgatory. The blessed i n the lower region s of Paradise retai n human l i neamonts , but i n the h igher regions theyappear on lyas flames

,and i n the Empyrean each regains h i s own

body in glor ifie d s hape.

EXPLANATION OF TH E COMMEDIA.

To unders tand theDivinaCommed ia, we mus t keep i n m i ndthatDanteaccepted the med imval hermeneutical canon ofafourfold sense of the Scr iptures and appl ied i t to h i s poem : al i teralor h i s tor ical sense

,and three spi r i tual senses— the allegor ical

proper,the moral ,and theanagogical, correspond ing to the three

card inal graces : fai th (cr edenda), love (agenda), and hope (sp eranda), as expres sed i n the couplet

I/iterages tadocet ; quid erodes , al legor ia;Moral is

, qu i d agas quatendas , anagogia.

Thus,Jornsalem moans l i terally or h i s tor ically the ci ty in

Pales tine al logor ical ly , the church morally,the believing soul

1 In Modern Pai nters , vol . m . , ch . 14,cop i ed i n Longfel l ow

’s Dante

,IL ,


anagogically,the heaven ly home of sai nts . Babylon may mean

the city on the Euphrates,or the wor ld

,or heathen and an ti

Chr i s tian Rome,or the enemies of the church . The three

spi r i tual sen ses may be un i ted i n one sense,called allegor ical or

mys tical .Theallegorical i nterpretation was firs t systemati zed by Or igen

in the th i rd century,who fol lowed i n the s teps of Ph i lo

,the

Jewi s h Platon i s t,and d i sti ngu i s hed three s enses i n the B ible

,a

somatic or l i teral,apsych ic or moral

,and apneumatic or my s ti

cal senso, wh ich correspond to the body, soul, and spi r i t of man

(accord ing to the Platon ic tr ichotomy). The theory of afourfold s ens e was developed i n the fifth century by Eucher i us (d .

450)and Cass ian (d . and more fully by Rabanus Maurus

(d . Al l the patr i s ti c,scholas tic

,and many of the older

Protes tan t commen tator s i ndulged more or less i n allegor ical expos i tion and impos i tion . The grammatico-h i s tor ical exeges i s ofmodern times ass umes that the bi bl ical

,l i keal l other wr i ters

,

i ntend to convoy oneand on ly one defin i te moan i ng,accord i ng to

the use of words fam i l iar to the readers . Thi s sound pr i nciplei s not i ncons i s ten t wi th the h idden depth and man i fol d appl i cab i l ity of the Scr ipture truths to al l ages and cond i tions . But

explication i s one th i ng,and appl ication i s another thi ng. The

bus ines s of the exegete i s not to put h i s own fancies i nto’

the

Bible,but to take out God’s facts and truths from the Bibleand

to furn i s h as olid bas i s to the preacher for h i s practical appl ication . An exception may be made wi th al legor ies , parables andfables

,where the author

,at the outs et, con templated adouble

mean i ng ; and th i s was the cas e wi th the Commed ia.

Dan te expounds hi s theory i n tho Convi to as follows

We shoul d.

know that books can be understood , and ought to be ex

p lained , i n four principal senses . One i s cal led l i teral , and th is it i s wh ich

goes no farther than the letter , such as the s imp le narration of the th ingof which you treat [of which aperfectand appropriate examp le is to befound i n the th i rd canz one treatingof nobi l i ty] . The second i s cal l ed al le

gor ical , and th i s i s the meani ng h idden under the cloak of fables , and is atruth concealed beneath afai r fiction ; as when Ovid say s that Orpheuswith his lute tamed wi ld beas ts and moved trees and rocks wh ich means

that the wise man , wi th the instrument of his voice, softens and humbles

1 Book IL,ch . L , p . 51 sqq . i n K. H i l lard ’s trans lation .

362 THE nrvn n COMMEDIA.

cruel hearts , and moves at hi s wi l l those who l ive neither for science nor

for art, and those who, having no rational l i fe whatever , are almost l ikestones . And howthi s h idden thing[ theal legorical moaning] may be foundby the wi se, wi l l be explained i n the las t book but one. The theologians ,however , take th is mean i ng di fl

'

orently from the poets ; but becau se Ii ntend to fol low here the method of the poets , I shal l take theal legoricalmean ingaccordi ngto thei r usage.

The thi rd sense i s cal led moral and th is readers shoul d careful ly gatherfrom al l writings for the benefit of themselves and their descendants ; i t issuch as we may gather from the gospel when Chr ist went up into the

mountain to be transfignred , and of the twelveapostles tookwi th h im butthree whi ch

,in the moral sense, may be understood thus , that in most

secret thi ngs we should have few compan ions .The fourth sense i s cal led anagogical [or mystical ] , that is , beyond

sense ; and th is i s when abook i s sp iri tual ly expounded , which , although[anarration] in i ts l iteral sense, by the things s ign ified refers to the supernal th ings of tho otemal glory ;as we may see in that psalm of the Prophet

(Ps . 114 when he says that when Is rael went out of Egypt Judaeabecame holy and free. Wh ich , al though mani fes tly trueaccord ing to theletter , is nevertheless tm oal so i n i ts sp iri tual moan ing— that the soul , i nforsaking its s ins , becomes holy and free i n its powers [functions ] .And i n such demonstration the l iteral sense shoul dalway s come first, as

that whose meaning includes al l the rest,and without which i t wou l d be

impos s ibleand irrational to understand the others ; and ,aboveal l , wou ld itbe imposs iblewi th the al legorical . Because in ovorythi ngwh ich has anins ideand an outs ide, i t is imposs ible to get at the ins ide i f we have notfirst gotat the outs ide. Therefore, as i n books the l iteral sense i s alwaysouts ide, it is imposs ible to getat the other [senses] , especial ly the al lo

gorical , without first gettingat the l iteral .

In along letter to Can Grande dellaScala,1 i n wh ich Dan te

ded icates to him the open i ng cantos of the Parad i s e, he makesthe same di s ti nction and i l lus trates i t more fu l ly by the sameexample of the Exodus from Egypt (Ps . l l4z l ), wh ich , hesays

,means l i terally , the h i stor ical fact ; al logor ical ly , our

redemption by Chr i s t ; moral ly, the convers ion of the soul fromthe m i sery of s i n to as tate of grace and anagogical ly, theexodus of the sanctified s ou l from the servi tude of th i s corrupts tate to the l iberty of eternal glory. Then he makes theappl i

1 Magn ificoatquevi ctor ioso domi no, Kan i Grand i de laScale devo

ti ss imus s uus Dantes Alagher i i , florenti nus nati one, non mor rhus , etc.,i n

Frati cel l i ’s ed . of I t Convi to e lo Ep i stole, p . 508 sqq . Frati cel l i as s igns thel ette r to 13 16 or 13 17, others to 1320. The genu i neness has been d i sputed ,but wi thout good reas on .


s tate. The dark fores t i n wh ich the poet finds h imself at thebeginn ing i s the labyr inth of s i n and er ror . The three beastswh ich prevent him from cl imbi ng up the i llumi nated mountai nare the human pas s ions (lus t, pr ide, and greed of gai n)and atthe same time Florence

,France

,and the corrupt papacy.

I t i s i ncons i s tent wi thDante’s rule to deny either theal l egor ical mean i ng, or the h is tor ical real i ty of the persons i ntroduced,and to res olve them i nto mere abs tractions . The las t has beendone frequently i n the case of Beatr ice and the DonnaPietosa.The mos t recentwr i ter on Beatr ice makes her s implyanal legoryof the ideal church

,as the s pouse of Chr i s t

,the Shulamite of

the Song of Solomon,and explai ns her death to mean the trans fer

of the papacy to Avignon and the Babylon ian exi le.

1 ButDantedoes not identi fy the church wi th the papacy

,and attacks the

papacy at Rome in the person of Bon i face VI II .,as well as the

papacy at Avignon i n the persons of Clement V. and JohnXXII . The severes t rebuke of the Roman Church i s put i ntothe mouth of Beatr iceand of St. Peter.

’ Beatr ice d is ti ngu is hesherself from the church tr iumphant when she

,wi th flami ng face

and eyes ful l of ecs tasy, poi nts Dante to“the hos ts of Chr i s t’s

tr iumphal march .

”She i s on ly oneamong the mos t exalted

sai nts,and occupies i n Paradise the same seat wi th Rachel

,the

emblem of contemplation , below Eveand the Vi rgi n Mary .

‘

In cal l ing one of h i s daughters Beatr i ce, Dante wi s hed her tobe a reflection of h i s sai ntly patron i n heaven . H i s other

1 G . G ietmann (of the Society of Jes us ) Beatr ice, Geiat and Kern der

Dante’schen Dichtung, Freiburg i . B. 1889. Th i s book came to hand wh i l ewr i ti ng the es say . My vi ews of Beatri ce are given in th earti cl e on Dante,p . 290 sq .

Comp . Infi , xrx. ,53 ; xxvn.

, 70, 85 ; Purg., xx .

,87 ; xxxrr.

, 149 ;XXXIII .,

44; Par . , Ix.,132 ; xn .

,90 ; xvrr.

,50. sq . (

“ Where every daythe Ch r is t i s bought and s ol d xxvn .

,18 sqq . (Peter

’s fearfu l cen s ure

of th e Church of Rome) XXX . ,145 sqq . (where Beatr i ce pred i cts that Cl e

ment V. shal l soon be th rus t down to keep company wi th S imon Magus ). Thedeath of Bon i face and the removal to Avignon i s proph es i ed as ad el iveranceof the Vatican from thead ul terer (Boni face Par . Ix.

, 139—142.

Par . XXIII . ,19—21.

4Par .,xxxn . , 7 ; comp . Inf .

,IL ,

102 W here I was s i tti ng wi th the

anci ent Rachel .”


daughter he named Imp er ia, probably with reference to h i s

pol itical ideal , the imp er i um Romanum, wh ich he set forth i n

h is work on the Monarchy.

DESIGN OF TH E COMMEDIA.

To the double sense of the Commed iacor res ponds adoubledes ign ; one i s i nd ividual , the other i s general . Dante says

,in

the same letter to Can Grande,that the poem aims to remove

the l ivi ng from the s tate of m isery and to lead them to the s tateof fel ici ty.

1

The Commed ia i s Dante’s own s pi r i tual biography, h i s pi lgr image from the dark forest of temptation and s in throughsuffer i ng and pur i fication to the pur i ty and peace of heaven .

H e i s an i nteres ted spectator and participant i n the awfulsuffer i ngs of H ell

,

“and apen i tent i n Purgatory,from whos e

heart the seven mortal s i ns , l ike the seven P’s upon h i s forehead

,

are gradually purged away.

‘ Then on ly he obtains aforetas te ofthat happiness wh ich he hoped and longed to i nher i t.‘ And th i slongi ng increased as beadvanced i n l i fe and grew weary of thecorruption s of th i s evi l world .

ls

1 Fin i s totias et parti s es se potes t mu l tip l ex, sci l i cet p rop i nquus et rcmotus .

Sed omi ssas ubti l i i nves tigatione, d i ccnd um es t brevi ter quad fin i s toti us ct parti sest, remover s civentes i n lawvi tadc stati c mi ser ies

,et p erduceread statwmfel ici

I nf .,v.

,140 sqq

Th e other one d i d weep so, that, for pi ty ,I swooned away as i f I had been d y i ng,An d fel l , even as adead body fal l s .

”

Purg.,Ix.

,112-114

Seven P’s upon my forehead he d es cri bed

W i th the sword ’s poi nt, and‘Take h eed that thou wash

These woun d s , when thou shal t be wi th i n ,’ he sai d .

”

Pan, V.

,105 XXX. ,

135

Before thou suppes tat th i s wedd ingfeas t.”

Purg., xxrv.

,76-81

H ow l ong,”I answered , I may l ive, I know not ;

Yet my return wi l l not so speed y be,

But I shal l sooner i n d es i rearr iveBecause the p lace where I was s et to l ive

From day to day of good i s more dep l eted ,

An d unto d i smal rui n seems ordai ned .

”


But the Cbmmed iahas amuch wider mean i ng. It i s the

spi r itual b iography of man as man i t i s the s inner’s pi lgr imagefrom earth to heaven . Rusk in cal ls Dante “ the central manof al l the wor ld .

” Dante’s conceptions of the un iverseand thelocal i ty of the future world have passed away wi th the Ptolemaicsystem but the moral ideas of h i s poem remai n . H e knew no

more than we do,and we know no more than he d id about

The undiscovered country , from whose boumN0 traveler returns .

”

The s upernatural geography i s asubject of uncertain opin ionand speculation , but notof revelationand of faith . We knownothi ngof the future wor ld beyond that which God has chosen toreveal

,and th is i s very l i ttle. Thereare more th ings i n heaven

and hell than “ are dreamed of i n our ph i losophy,

”or are

taught us i n the Bible. One th ing i s certai n , however, that therei s s omewhere wi thin or wi thout the created un iverse aheavenand ahel l

,or afuture s tate of reward and pun is hment. Wi th

out th i s final solution the present l i fe has no mean i ng. S in andm i s ery i s hell ; repentance and godly sorrow i s purgatory ;hol iness and bl i ss i s heaven— already here on earth

,and more

fully hereafter . The way to heaven leads through knowledgeof s in and through repentance.

I n Dante’s Infernoal l i s darknes s and despai r ; i n the Pur

gatar io, sun l ight and hope ; i n the Parad i s e, pure l ight andbli ss . I n the firs t weare repelled

,s hocked and d i sgus ted by

the pictures of moral deform ity and hopeles s mi s ery ; i n the

second weare moved to tears by the s truggles of pen i tent souls,

thei r prayers , thei r psalms , thei r as pi rations for pur i ty andlongi ngs for peace ; i n the th i rd weare los t i n the raptures ofthe beatific vi s ion .

Purgatory,as ath i rd or d i s ti nct placeand state i n the future

world,i s amed iaeval fiction and has los t i ts s ign ificance i n the

Protes tant creeds ; but as apoetic descr iption of the trans itions tate from s in to hol ines s , i t comes home to our dai ly exper ienceand appeals to our sympathies . For th i s l i fe i s aschool ofmoral d i scipl ineand acons tant battle between the fles h and thespi r i t. The Inferno i s d iabol ic, the Purgator io i s human , theParad iso i s angel ic.


Ch ri st i s he forced to enqui re the way .

1 In Purgatory he callsh imself as tranger and takes uncertain and timid s teps .

’t H ence,

he h imself need s the guidance of angels from terrace to terrace.

H e represents here that prophetic anticipation wh ich goes beyond ord inary pagan ism. H uman reas on knows much of s in

and m i sery, but very l i ttle of repentance unto l i fe.

Havi ng reached the summi t of the Mount of Purgatory orthe terrestr ial Parad i se, V i rgi l i s compelled to return to the

i nfernal region of darkness . Ph i losophy can on ly lead to the

thres hold of revelation .

‘ A h igher gu ide i s now needed .

Beatr ice conducts the poet from the terrestr ial to the celes tialParad i se i n the nameof revealed wi sdomand the three Chr is tiangraces— fai th, hope, love— wh ich dancearound her .

4

God i s love, and love on ly can know God . H ence St.

Bernard of Clai rvaux i s given aprom i nent place i n Parad ise.

“

H i s motto was : God i s known as far as he i s loved .

” H e is

the champion of orthodox mystici sm wh ich approaches d ivinetruth by devout contemplation and prayer ; wh i le scholas tici smtr ies to reach i t by aproces s of reas on ing. H e leads Danteto gaze upon the mystery of the H oly Tr i n ity after prepari ngh imself for i t by prayer to the H oly Vi rgin .

7

The Vi rgin Mary, St. Bernard , St. Lucia, Beatrice and al l

1 Inf .,XXL

,91—94XXII I .

,127—132 (comp . ver . 37

Purg.,IL

,61—63

And answer mad e Vi rgi l i na Ye bel i eve,

Perchance that we have knowl edge of th i s p lace,But weare s trangers p eregri n ) , even as yourselves .

’

Burg, xvrn . 46—49And he to me What reason seeth here,

M y sel f can tel l thee beyond thatawai tFor Beatr ice, s i nce ’ti s awork of fai th .

’

Pury .,xxxr. , 130

-135 .

5 Par .

, XXXI .,94sqq . ; 139 sqq . ; xxxn 1 sqq.

Tantum Deus cognosci tur quantum d i l i y i tur .

Pan , XXXI II . 1 sqq

Thou Vi rgi n Mother , daughter of thy Son ,H umbl eand h igh beyond al l other creatures .

”

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 369

other sai nts are on ly agents of the one on ly Med iator Chr i s t,wi thout whom there i s no salvation .

Unto th i s Kingdom neverAscended onewho had not faith in Chri stBefore or s ince H e to the treewas nai led.

1

Many,however , here cry , Chr i s t

, Chr is t,”who at the judg

ment s hal l be far less near H im than some shal l be who knewnot Chr i s t.”3 I n theRose of Parad i seare seated on one s ide thesaints of the O ld Di spensation

,

“ Who bel ieved in Chr istwho was to come ;

on the other s i de the sai nts of the NewDi spensati on ,Who looked to Chri stalready come .

”3

U nder the Chr i s tian Di spensation bapti sm i s neces sary to salvation

,so that even unbapti z ed in nocence i s detained i n hell .4

Chr i s t i s often alluded to i n the Purgator ioand Parad i s oasour Lord and Saviour

,as the exalted Son of God and Mary

,

”

as God of very God ,”as the Lamb of God who taketh s ins

away,

”who “

s uffered death that we may l ive.

”

In the Inferno the name of Chr i s t i s never mentioned, for thedamned cannot endure i t, but he i s twiceal luded to by Vi rgi las theM ighty One whom he saw descendi ng i nto H el l “ wi ththe s ign of victory crowned

,

”and i n the clos i ng Canto, when

pas s ing from the Inferno to the Purgatori o, as

The Man whowithout s in was born and l ived .

It i s als o s ign ificant that the Name,wh ich i s above every

nameand i n wh ich alone we can be saved,i s made to rhyme

only wi th i tself. H ence he repeats the word Cr is tathree timeswhenever i t closes al ine.

7

1 Pan ,x1x.

,103—105 . Par . ,

XIX.,106-108.

3 Par . ,xxxrr. ,

22—24.Par .

,XXXIL

,76—84. Thi s fearfu l doctr ine of the damnation of unhap

ti z ed i nfants dy i ng i n i n fancy was firs t cl ear ly s tated by St. Augusti n andi s sti l l hel d by th e Roman Church .

5 Pury . , xvr.

,18 XXI I I .

,75 ; xxe ,

113 sq . ; Par .,xvr. ,

18 XXI II .,

136 ; xxv1 .,59 ; xxxr. ,

107 xxxrr.

,113

,sq .

Inf . IV. ,53

,54; xxxrv.

,115 .

See the pas sages end ingwi th Cr i sta, e.g. Par . XIV. ,104, 106, 108 ; XIX. ,

104,106, 108 XXXI I . , 83 , 85 and 87 . The reason for th i s repeti tion i s nota

defect of the Ital ian language, wh ich has many rhymes to Cr i s ta, as vi s ta,mis ta

,acqu ista, tr i sta.

24


THE POETIC FORM OF TH E COMMEDIA.

The Commed iacons ists of three parts , H el l, Purgatory, andParad i s e. Each part i ncludes n ine s ub-d ivis ions , and th i rtythree songs or cantos . H ell

,however, has an add itional canto,

wh ich serves as ageneral i ntroduction to the whole, so that the

poem numbers altogether one hundred cantos,and fourteen

thousand two hund red and th i rty verses .

The sys tem of vers ification chosen by Dante for the express ion of h i s thoughts

,i s the terzar ima

,borrowed from the

Provencal Troubadours , wh ich combi nes the character of earnes tn es s and solemn i ty wi th that of gracefulnes s and melody, and i sadm i rably adapted to the contents of the poem. Each s tan zacons i s ts of three l i nes , each l ine of eleven sy llables , mak ingth i rty-three syllabl es for each s tanza. One l i ne rhymes wi th twoi n the followi ng s tanzas ; but the las t four rhymes of each cantoare couplets i ns tead of tr ipl ets . The accent fal ls regularlyaccord i ng to the law of poetic harmony. Thomas aCelano, whod ied several years before Dante was born

,had used the tr iple

rhyme in Latin (but i n unbroken s uccess ion) mos t effectivelyand i n im i tably i n h i s Dies Ira.

Everywhere i n the Commed iawe meet wi th the numberthree. I t i s the symbol ic number of the Dei ty. The Parad is oi s ful l of the prai se of the Tr iune God . The s uperscr iption of

the Inferno, cons i s ti ng of th ree s tanzas,rem i nds us already of

H im wi th fearful earnes tnes s,and the th i rty-th i rd canto of the

Parad is o cl oses wi th the vi s ion of the Tr in i ty. Accord ing to

Ar i s totle,everyth ing cons i s ts of beginn ing

,m idd le

,and end .

Accord ing to Thomas Aqu i nas , th i s fundamental ideaof Chr i stian i ty pervades the whole cons ti tution of the world . The nameof the H oly Tr i n ity i s wr i tten upon creation

,and s tamped upon

etern i ty. Our poet represents even Satan wi th three faces ,as theterr ibleanti type of the Tr i une God . The fact that the Commed iaembraces one hund red songs

,symbol i zes the perfection of the

poem wh ich i s complete i n i tself,atrue picture of the harmon iousun iverse. The number ten i s the symbol of perfection

,

1 and i tss quare, one hund red , des ignates absolute perfection or completion.

’

1 Numerap erfetta,”as Dante des ignates i t i n the Vi taMama.

3 Numerap erfetti s s ima.”

372 THE nrvmaCOMMEDIA.

TH E DARK FORES T.

M idway upon thejourney of our l i feI found my sel f wi thi n afores t dark,For the s traightforward pathway had been lost .

Ah , me l how hard athing it i s to sayWhat was thi s forest savage, rough and stem ,

Which in thevery thought renews the fear .

The gloomy and savage fores t to wh ich the poet trans ports usi n these firs t l i nes

,represents the cond i tion of the human heart

lyi ng i n s i n and error,and al s o the cond i ti on of the wor ld at the

time of Dante.

Wi th the dawn of day he reaches the end of the fores t,and

seeks to as cend adelectable mountain i l l um inated by the sun ,

the symbol of vi rtueand of the empi re. H is efforts are i n vain ,for he i s con fronted and dr iven back by aspotted

,decei tful and

l ight-footed leopard,ahaughty and terr i ble lion , and ameagre

and ravenous she-wolf.1 Th i s al legory has amoral as well as apoli tical and h i s tor ical mean i ng. The threean imals reflect therul ing pas s ions of the human heart i n youth

,manhood

,and old

age, and symbol i z eat the same time the pr i nci pal powers of thetimes : the leopard s tand s for cunn i ng

,and the republ ic of

Florence ; the l ion for vi olence, and the ki ngdom of France ;the she-wolf for avarice, and the papal courtat Rome.

Justas the poet rushes down the mountain and back againi nto the dark fores t

,he behold s the s hade of the old s i nger of

the E neid and prophet of the Roman empi re,who repres ents

secu lar wisdom and s tatesmans h ip, and had taught h im the

poetic art.z Vi rgi l was s ent to h i s rescue by Beatr ice,the

impersonation of d ivine love and wisdom,who herself was

moved by the prayers of St. Luciaand the sympathy of the

Vi rgin Mary. H e comforts Dante by pred icti ng, under the

1 Doubtl es s he had i n m i nd here the pas sage i n Jerem iah v. , 6 Where

fore al ion out of th e forest shal l s lay them,awol f of th e even i ngs [ar ,

des erts ] shal l spoi l them ,al eopard shal l watch over thei r ci ti es ; every one

that goeth out thence shal l be torn i n p i eces : because thei r transgress ion s aremany , and thei r backs l i d ings are i ncreased . The th ree s i ns may havhbeensugges ted by

“the Ins t of the flesh , and the Ins t of the eyes ,and thevain

glory of l i fe. 1 Joh n i i .,16.

1 “Lo bel lasti le chem’ hafatto onore.

” Inf .,L,89.


form of aGreyhound,areformer of church and state

,and offers

to lead h im on ajourney through H el l and Purgatory that hem ight witness the ter r i ble pun i s hments of the wicked, and the

pur i fyi ng s uffer ings of the pen itent. Through Parad ise he

would be conducted by aworth ier s pi ri t,Beatr ice herself.

And thus the two brother poets enter upon thei r vis ionarypi lgr image.

TH E INSCRIPTION ON TH E GATE OF TH E INFERNO.

P er m e s i van el laco

i ttadol en tcPer m e s i van el l ’ ctern o d o l orcPer rn c s i vatralapcrdu tagen te .

G i u s ti z iamos s e i i m i o al to FattoreFecern i lad ivi naPotes tate ,Las ommaSap i en za, e i l pr imo Aurore.

Di nan z i am e non fur co s e create ,S c non ctern e , ed i n eternaduroLas c iate ogn i s peran za, vo i , ch

’cn tratc !1

Th i s i nscr ipti on wr i tten i n dark colors on the gate to the

abode of the los t has , for terr ific grandeur , no parallel i n poeticl iterature. I t i s as tryi ng to trans lators as theDies Ira. Let

us compare some of the bes t vers ions , un rhymed and rhymed .

H . F. CARY . 1805 . H ENRY W . LONGFELLOW . 1867 .

Through me y ou pass i nto the ci ty of Th rough me the way i s to the ci ty do

woe l en t ;

Th rough me you pas s i nto eternal pai n Through me theway i s to eternal dol e ; 2

Through meamongthe peop l e l ost foray e. Th rough me the way amongthe peopl el os t.

Jus ti ce th e foun der of my fabr i c movedTo rear me was the task of power d ivi ne,S upremes t wi sdom, and pr imeval l ove.

Jus ti ce i nci ted my sub l i me Creator ;Created me d ivi ne Omn ipotence,The h ighest W i s dom ,

and the primal

Before me th i ngs create were none, saveLove.

th i ngs Before me therewere no created th i ngs ,Eternal

,and eternal I en dure. On l y eterne, an d I eternal last.

Al l hapeaban don , y e who enter here. Al l hopeaban don , y e who en ter i n l

1 Inf .,I I I .

,1-9. W i tte’s text

,but I have capi tal i z ed the th ree noun s

wh i ch refer to the Pers ons of th e H ol y Tr i n ty . Frati cel l i an d Scartaz z i n ir ead eterna(etemame nte) for eterna(wh i ch refers to por ta, vers .

1 Longfel l ow (as he to l d me h imsel f i n h i s study , where I saw hi m once,

not l ongafter the publ i cati on of h i s trans lation ) wi shed to imi tate the repetiti on of sound s l ike th e tol l i ngofafuneral bel l dol en te

,dolore. But i t i s too

l i teral for easy i di omati c Engl i s h ,as i s , in fact, h i s whol e otherwi seadm i rabl e

374Icrn non 0m m Warau '

r . 1833.

Th rough me y e enter theabode of woe :

vey ed

Through me ami d the s oul s accurs t y e

”0

Jus ti ce d i d firs t my l ofty Maker moveBy Power Almigh ty was my fabr i c

mad e,By highes t Wi sdom, and by primal

Love.

Ere I was form’d , no th ings created were,

Save thos e eternal— I eternal las t

Al l hope abandon— ye who en ter here.

Ich f ti bro di ch 1 z ur Stad t der Q ualerkornen ,

Ich fi i b re d ich turn unbegren sten Lei d,

Ich f'

dh red i ch l umVolke d erVer lornen .

M i ch schuf mein M ei ster ans Gereoh tigkei t,

Di e crate Li ebewi rkte mi ch z u gr i l nden ,Di e h i ichs te Wei shei t und Al lmi ichtig

hei t.

Vor m i r war n ichts En chafl'

enes ru l i nden ,

Al s Ewiges , und ewigdam"auch i ch .

Least, d i e i h r eingeht, jade H ofi'

nung

schwi nden !

THE DIVINA (DMMEDIA.

Du n E. II . Pu nmrmr. 1887 .

Through me men pm to ci ty of greatwoe ;

Th rough memen pon toend l ess m i sery ;

Through me men pomwhere al l the lostonce go.

Justi ce i t was that moved my Maker

ThePower of God i twas that fas h i onedme.

Before me noth i ngwas of th i ngs that be,Save the eterne, an d I etern e en dure :

Ye that pen i n , al l hope abandon y e.

Ich f i l bro an der Stad tvol l Schmeraund.

Graus en ,Ich t

‘

rl h re an dem wandel losen Lei d ,Ich fri h re h in , wo di eVer lornen haus en .

Ihn , der m i ch achuf, bewog Gerechtig

kei t,

M i ch grundete d i e Mach t dos Uns i chtbaren ,

Di e erste Li eb un d d i e Al lwi ss enhei t.

Gu chbpfe gi cht es n i cht, di e vor m i r

waren ,Alaewige, d i e sel bst i ch ewigb in .

Lu s t, d ie i hr ei ngeht, al l e H offnungfahren !

H el l was founded after the fal l of Adam by the H oly Tr in i ty,

the Alm ighty power of the Father (lad ivi naPotestate), theW is dom of the Son (IacommaSap i enza), and the Love of the

H oly Spi ri t (i l pr imo Amara). Love i s called the firs tbecause i t i s the motive of the creation and of al l the works ofGod . Accord ing to Thomas Aqui nas , al l the works of the

H oly Tr i n ity are common to the three Persons .

1 Durch mich geld man , woul d be more l i teral and justas good . Adoor

cannot be sai d to load .

3 76 THE DIVINA COMMEDIA..

reas on,continue thei r occupation , and are very courteous and

pol i te to each other .

Dante sees firs t on as ummi t en l ightened by afire the shadesof H omer

,the poet sovereign , H omes

,the sati ri s t

,Ovid and

Lucan . They res pectfully salute Vi rgi l as he reappears amongthem

,and then after proper i ntroduction they salute Dantealso,

and receive h im as the s ixth i n the d i s ti ngui shed band of mas terpoets .

1

Then coming i nto “ameadow of fresh verdure,”he beholds

i n aplace open,luminous and h igh, acompany of the mighty

spi r i ts of ancient Greece and Rome,walk i ng on

“ the greenename Electra

,H ectorand E neas , Ce sar “ i n armor

, wi thfal con eyes

,

”King Latinus wi th h is daughter Lavin ia, Brutuswho drove Tarquin forth,

”Lucretia,Jul ia, Marcia, and Cor

nel ia; and ass ociated wi th them,but in aseparate s pot

,the noble

Saracen kn ight Salad in ; and h igher up Ar i stotle,“ the master

of those who know,

”surrounded by h i s ph i losoph ic fami ly, al l

gaz ing upon h im and doing h im honor ; neares t to him Socratesand Plato ; and after them Democr i tus ,

“ who puts the worldon chance

,

”Diogenes,the cyn ic, Empedocles , Thales , H eracl i tus

,

the weeping ph i losopher ,Dioscor ides ,Orpheus

, Cicero and Livy,and moral Seneca,

”Eucl id, the geometr ician, Ptolemy, theastronomer

,Galen , the phys ician, H ippocrates , Avicenna, and

Aver rhoés , theArabian trans lator and commentator of Ari stotl e,and many others whom he cannotal l portray i n full .”1

As for the bad heathen and had Chr i s tians,they are doomed

to fearful,never end ing torments

, wh ich Dante des cr ibes in

picturmque, but horr ible forms .

The doctr ine of eternal pun i s hment i s the mos tawful that canbe conceived of. The more we th ink of i t

,the more we shr ink

from i t,and the more we des i re to escape from i t. The Roman

Catholic doctr ine of Purgatory appl ies on ly to imperfect Cathol icChr i stians , and leaves the enti re heathen world to outer darknessand des pai r . The theory of an ultimate restoration ofal l humanbeings to hol iness and happiness would giveabs olute rel ief, andcompletely restore the harmony of the un iverse and the con

cord of al l the d i s cards of h i story, but i t i s not s us tai ned by the1 Inf .

, IV.,67 sqq.

1 Inf ., IV.,121-145 .

DIVINA COMMEDIA. 377

Bible or any orthodox Church . The theory of theann i n i lationof rational bei ngs made i n the image of God and redeemed bythe blood of Chr i st i s hard enough , but not near ly as revolti ngto every sen timent of sympathy and compas s ion

,as the doctr i ne

of never-end ing pun i shment. I t i s d i fficult to conceive that ani nfin i tely wi se and merci ful God s hould have created so manybei ngs i n full foreknowledge of s uch aterr ible fate . But we

humbly bow before the h ighes tauthor i ty of H im who came i ntothi s wor ld for the express purpose to save i t from s in and

perd i tion .

There i s,however

,good scr iptural ground for avery ser ious

mod ification of the orthodox doctr i ne as far as the number ofthe lostand the mode of thei r pun i s hmentare concerned . Therei s no Scr ipture warrant for exclud i ng from heaven the over

whelm i ng major i ty of manki nd , i .s .,not on ly al l bad Chr istians ,

but also al l the heathen,Jews

,Mohammedans

,together wi th

their unbapti zed (or , i n Calvi n i s ti c phraseology, non-elect) ch i ldren dyi ng i n i nfancy. St. Augus ti n , who exerted more i nfluenceupon the Creeds of Chr i stendom than any other d ivi ne

,fi rs t

clearly taught the “terr ible dogma

”of the damnation of al l

unbapti zed i nfants,though he reduces thei r s uffer i ngs to am i n i

mum. H e i nfer red i t from the doctr i ne of the'

absolute usees

s ity of water bapti sm for salvation , wh ich he based upon aones i ded i nterpretation of John 3 : 5 and Mark 16 16. But thes epas sages can on ly refer to those who come wi th i n the reach of

the vi s ible church and the ord inary means of grace. We arebound to these means , but God i s freeand h i s Spi r i t can workwhere

,when

,and how he pleases (John 3 As regard s ch i ld

ren dyi ng i n in fancy before they have commi tted any actualtransgres s ion

,we have the word and act of our Saviour Who

i nvi ted them to h is arms,bles sed them

,and declared

,wi thout

any reference to ci rcumci s ion or bapti sm,and before Chr is tian

bapti sm was i ns ti tuted or could be exerci sed Of s uch i s the

Kingdom of God”(Mark 10 : 13 H ere i s afirm and

immovable ground of hope for al l bereaved parents . Surelythere i s noth ing i n the Bible r ightly i nterpreted to prevent, andmuch

,very much to encourage the char i table hope that the

overwhelm ing mass of God’s creatures made i n h i s own image


and redeemed by the blood of h i s Son, wi l l u ltimately be savedand join the great multitude wh ich no man can number

,of al l

nations,and k i ndreds

,and people

,and tongues (Rev.vi i i n

the praise of h i s i nfin i te wi sdom and love.

THE VESTIBULE.

As the poets enter through the gate of des pai r they are overwhelmed wi th the horr id lamentations of the lost.

There s ighs , complaints , and u lulations loudResounded through theai r wi thoutastar ,Whence I , at the beginn ing, wept thereat.

Languages d iverse, horrible dial ects ,Accents ofanger, words ofagony ,And voices h igh and hoarse, wi th sound of hands

Made up atumul t that goes whi rl ingonForever in thatair forever black,Even as the sand doth , when the whi rlwind breathes .

”1

The des cr iption remi nds one of the fearful words of the ghostof Hamlet’s father who

,however, was not i n H ell. but on ly i n

Purgatory.

I am thy father’

s sp i ri t ;Doom’

d for acertain term to wal k the night,And for the day confin

’

d to las tingfires ,Ti ll the fou l crimes

,done in my day s of nature,

Are burntand purg’

d away . But that I am forbidTo tel l the secrets of my prison-house,I coul d atale unfold , whose l ightest wordWoul d harrow up thy soul , freeze thy youngblood ,Make thy two eyes l ike stars start from their spheres ,Thy knotted and combi ned locks to part,And each particular hair to stand on end ,Like qu i l ls upon the fretfu l porcup i ne ;But th is eternal blazon mus t not beTo ears of flesh and blood .

”

The ves tibu le or outer court of H ell i s the s hade of the

melancholy crowd of cowards and i nd ifl'

erenti s ts,whoare too bad

for H eaven and too good for H ell,and hence spi t out by both

i n d i sgus t. Dante pours upon them the vial of h i s scorchi ngsarcasm,

of wh ich he was aperfect mas ter . H e had i n h i s mi ndthe lukewarm Laod iceans who were nei ther hot nor cold, and

1 Inf .,I I I .

, 22-30.


VI II .,whomaboveal l popes he hatedas abad manandadisgrace

to the papacy.

1 But res ignation i s not refusal.”

Some have conjectured thatDante meantEsau who sold h i sb irthr ight

,or the r ich youthwho was i nvi ted by Chr i s t to follow

h im,but wen t away sorrowful”(Matt. xix. : But “

the

great refusal”poi nts toahi s toric person and act well known i nthe time of the poet under that name.

I deem i t mos t probable that the poet had i n m i nd PontiusPi late

,who was perfectly convi nced of the innocence of Ch r i st,

but from coward ice and fear of los i ng h i s place refused to doh im jus tice and surrendered h im to the bloodth i rs ty des ignof the Jewi sh h ierarchy .

“ The bases tactajudge could commi t.Of al l men i n bibl ical or eccles ias tical h istory, Pi late was thefittes t representative of cowardly and selfish neutrali ty. H e

was also bes t known to the readers of the Commed ia, as h i sname i s embedded i n the Apos tles’ Creed to des ignate the histor ic connection of Chr i s t

’s death with the Roman emp i re.

Dante does not mention Pontius Pi late elsewhere, except figuratively by call i ng Phi l ip theFai r of France

“the modern Pi late

,

”

for h i s cowardly cruelty to adefenceles s ol d pope.

“

TH E STRUCTURE OF THE INFERNO.

From the Vestibule the poets are i n s leep as by ad ivi nem i racle tran sported acros s the cheer less Acheron to the Inferno

p roper. I shall confine myself to an outl ine of the p i lgr image.

The s tructure of the Inferno, as already observed, i s that of ahuge s ubterranean amph i theatre i n the s hape of a funnel

,

becomi ng narrower and narrower i n the descent ti l l i t reachesthe abode of Satan i n the centre of the earth . Th i s formcorres ponds to the nature and progress of s in

,wh ich cons i s ts

i n ever narrowi ng and contracti ng selfishnes s . As the numberof s lightand ord inary s i nners i s larger than that of great trans

1 In Inf ., xxe ,

104,105

,he makes Bon i face say of h i s predeces sor , that

h e desp i sed the two key s of the papal power .

1 Th i s i nterpretation as far as I know i s new,and was sugges ted to me

recen tl y by afr i end i n aconversati on on Dante,as ap laus ibl e conjecture. I

wonder that i t has not occurred toany of the numerous commentators onDan te.

1 Purg. xx 91.

382 THE DIVINA common .

consequence of s in,and wi l l yet weep dur ing the d ifl

'

erentagesof i ts exi s tence, wh ich i ncrease i n wickednes s , and find thei rrepresentatives i n these four s treams .

SIN AND PUNISH MENT.

I n the d ivi s ion of s in s our poet follows Ar i s totle, who d ividesthe s i ns i nto three clas ses ; namely

,i nconti nence

wicked nes s and violence,or beastl ines s (flapcéms ).

1 But,

i n accordance wi th h i s Chr i s tian s tandpoi nt,Dante d iffers from

Ar is totle i n that he places wickednes s,or as he terms i t cun n ing

(frada), lowes t i n the scale. The firs t k i nd of s i n,that of

i nconti nence,i s human the s econd

,violence

,i s bes tial ; the

th i rd,cunn ing

,i s demon iacal. Each of thes e generacompr ises

again an umber of d i s ti nct s pecies . U nder i ncon tinence,for

example,he ranks l icentiousnes s

,avari ce

,prod igal i ty, wrath,

etc. under violence he i ncludes murder,blasphemy. etc. under

cunn i ng,the d ifferent forms of treachery.

The pun i shments of the damned are,accord i ng to Dan te

,both

Spi r i tualand bod i ly. The spi r i tual pun i shments cons i s t ch ieflyi n an impoten t hatred toward s God

,i n envy i ng the happy con

d i ti on of the bles sed,i n d i s s ens ion s among thems elves

,and i n a

con ti nual lus t for s i n wi thout the power or.prospect of sati s fy i ng

i t. Th i s ever las ti ng tormen t expres s es i tself als o externally,

and Dante exhaus ts i ngen ui ty i n des cr ibing the bod i ly pun i shmen ts .

I n doing th i s he fol lows the general pr inci ple laid down i nthe Book of W i sdom

,XL, 17 Wherewi thal aman s inneth

,by

the same also shal l he be pun i shed.

” A s im i lar though t wass upposed to be impl ied i n the as sertion of our Lord : W i th

whatmeas ure ye mete, i t shal l be meas ured to you again (Markiv. : 24; Luke vi . : S in i tself

,i n the other wor ld , i s the

pun i s hment of s i n . S i nners flee from pun i shment, but des i rethe s in the des i re i s present

,but i ts sati s faction i s unattai nable ;

the des i re i tself has become atormenti ng s ti ng.

Th i s general ideaof aclose connecti on between s in and the

form of i ts pun i shment i s,however

,carried out

,not i n apedantic

and l i teral,but i n avery freeand man ifold way . The lazy, for

1 Ethi cs, VII .

,1 .


exampl e, rol l themselves about i n the mi re ; the l icentious aredr iven to and fro by awh i rlwi nd ; the i rascible sm i te each otheri n the muddy Styx ; the Archbi shop Ruggier i , who upon earthhad den ied food to Count Ugol ino, is doomed to have h i s headchewed by h im i n H ell .

IMPARTIALITY OF DANTE.

Dante br i ngs together avar iegated mass of pictures from al lages and ranks . Poets , scholars

,ph i losophers

,heroes

,pr i nces

,

emperors,monks

,pr ies ts

,card inals

,and popes

,i n short

,al l that

Truth and H i s tory,Poetry and Mythology

,have been able to

afford of d isti ngu i s hed s i ns and vices ,he causes to pas s before us

,

l ivi ng,s peak i ng, and suffer i ng

,unti l overcome wi th horror we

feel compelled to bow before the terr ible jus tice of God,to whom

every s i n i s an abom i nation . There i s opened here to the carefulreader

,awide field of the mos t i nteres ting

,h i s tor ical

,psycho

logical,metaphys ical

,theologicaland ed i fyi ng observations . N0

poet has ever so forciblyand graphical ly des cr ibed the s in fulnessof s in and the well des erved ter ror of i ts gu i lt.In h i s s tern impartial i tyDan te spares nei ther fr iends nor foes

,

nei ther Gh ibell i nes nor Guelfs,nei ther popes nor emperors

,and

res trai ns the claims of mercy. H e as s igns to ever las ting woeFar i natadegl i U berti , the mos t val iant and renowned l eaderof the Ghibell i nes i n Florence who d ied 1264;1 Cavalcante de’Cavalcanti , the father of h i s mos t i ntimate fr iend, Gu ido Cavalcanti ;

2even Brunetto Lati n i , h i s own beloved teacher and the

unfortunate FrancescadaRim in i,anear relative of h i s las t

patron , Gu ido daPolenta, under whose roof he d ied .

‘1 She i s

said to have been deceived by her father i nto marryi ng the

deformed and repuls ive G ianciotto Malates ta, son of the Lordof R imi n i , wh i le s he loved h i s handsome brother Paolo,and was

1 Inf .,X.

,32 sqq .

1 I bi d . X.

,52 sqq . H e was aGuel fan d doomed to the same torment wi th

the Gh i bel l i ne.

1 I bi d . xv.,30 sqq .

4I bi d . V., 80 sqq . She was ei ther an aunt

, or n i ece of Gu i do. See Note

A.,i n Scartaz z in i ’s LaDiv. Cam. L

,45

,wh o gives the reports of Boccacci oand

theanonymou s Fl orenti ne ed i ted by Fan fan i .

384 THE DIVINA common

murdered wi th h im by her husband duri ng the l ifetime of

Dante When he saw her he was moved to tears , andwhen he heard her del icateand touch i ng tal e of her temptationby read i ngaromantic love s tory, he for pi ty swooned away asi f he had been dyi ng, and fell, even as adead body falls .

”1 H e

would have sent the gu i lty couple to Purgatory i f they had hadtime to repent of thei r i ll ici t love. But i twas too late

,too late !

And so they have to feel that there i s no greater sor row thanto be m indful of the happy time i n m i sery.

” Poor Francescai sthe on ly Chr i s tian woman whom he branded the other femaleswhom he locates i n the same region of despai r

,are al l heathen

Semi rami s ,Dido, H elen,and “

the voluptuous Cleopatra”1 and

so are the women located i n the eighth ci rcle of H ell.“ I t

would have been far more cons i stentwi th jus tice i f he had s ubs tituted for the relation of h i s patron those i nfamous Romanamaz ons — Maroz iaand Theodora— who d ur i ng the per iod of

the papal pornocracy placed thei r paramou rs and bas tard s onthe throne of St. Peter and dragged the papacy down to thelowes t depth of depravi ty. But they are ignored .

TH E NINE CIRCLES OF H ELL.

Let us br iefly survey the n i ne ci rcles of Dante’s Infem o.

‘

1 . The firs t ci rcle i s the moderate hel l for the least gui ltyclass of s inners who were ignorant of Chr i stian i ty and depr ivedof the benefit of bapti sm , yet are included among the los t i nconsequence of Adam’

s fall .“ I t i s the border region or L imbo,

wh ich was former ly d ivided i nto the L imbus Infantum for

unbapti zed i nfants whose s ighs cause theai r to tremble, and theI/imbus Patrum

,the temporary pr i son of the pious sou l s from

Adam to John the Baptis t, who d ied in the hOpe of the com i ngSaviour

,but were trans ferred to Parad i se when Chr i s t descended

1 I bi d . v.,140-142.

1 I bi d . v.,58 sqq .

1 Tha‘

r'

s,the famous cou rtesan of Athen s

,Inf .

,xa ,

130 sqq . H ecuba,Pol yxena, an d the nefar ious M y rrhawho became, beyond al l r igh tful l ove,her father ’s l over

,

”i bi d . XXX. , 16 sqq . ; 38 sqq .

Am i nute d es cr i pti on wi th sui tab l e i l l us trati on s woul d requi reavol ume.

I may refer to the works of Profess or Botta, FrancescaRos setti , and Dr .

H etti nger , whogive large extracts from the poem i tsel f. See Li t. p . 333 , 335 .

1 See p . 375 sq .


5 . The Fi fth Ci rcle i s approached byabroad mars h and con

tai ns the filthy spi r its of brutal arrogance and wrath . Dante

recogn i zes among them Fi l ippo Argenti , aworth l ess man of

i rasci ble temper,H erculean s trength and immense weal th

,whose

r id ing horse was s hod wi th s i lver (argento). H ewas of theNer i

faction i n F lorence, and seems to have provoked thean imos ityof Dante

,who belonged to the Bianch i . Canto VII I .

The firs t five Ci rcles cons ti tute the U pper H ell of I ncontin ence. We descend now to the Lower H ell of Mal ice.

6. The S ixth Ci rcle i s the dreary Ci ty of Di s or Lucifer , fullof burn i ng sepulchres open on the top. H ere heretics and i nfidel s are pun ished . Cantos VI I I , 76 sqq.

—x1 . Among them arevery d i s tingui shed persons , the val iant Gh ibell ine ch ief

,Far i

nataof Florence,Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti (Far i nata

’s s on-i h

law,and father of Dante’s mos t i ntimate fr iend

,Guido Caval

canti ), the Gh ibel l i ne Card inal Ottaviano degl i U bald in i , ofFlorence

,who said

,

“ i f there beany s ou l,I have los t m i ne for

the Gh ibel l ines,

”and the l iberaland accompl i shed H ohenstaufenEmperor Freder ick I I .

,to whomwas ascr ibed the fabulous

book on The Three Impos tors (Moses,Jes us , Mohammed).

1 It

i s s trange that Dante om i ts the far more notor ious arch-hereticso f theancient church ,as Marcion, Man ichmus , Ar i us , Nes tor i us ,Pelag ius , etc. But he wi shed to s tr i ke wi th h i s l ightn ing thes umm i ts of I tal ian h i story s ti ll wi th in the memory of h i s generation .

To them he adds asupreme ponti ff. On the edge of arockyprecipice between the Sixth and Seven th Ci rcle he foundalargemonumentwi than inscr ipti on : “Anas tas i us I holdwhomPhoti nusd rew from the s traight way .

“ H e means Anas tas ius I I .,an

obscure pope, who ru led on ly two years (496 and i s re

ported to have received the monophys i tic deacon,Photinus of

Thessalon ica,i nto church commun ion . For th i s hewas h imself

branded as aheretic i n the famous Decretum Gratian i , and so

1 Comp . above p . 307 . In h i s book De Vulg. Eloquia, L ,12

,Dante speaks

h ighl y of Freder i ck’s l i terary meri ts .

1 Inf . ,XL , 8 9

Anas tas iapapaguardo ,Lo qual trasse Fati n del laviadr i tta.

”


cons idered i n the Church down to the s ixteenth century.

1 H e

d ied sudden ly, and th i s was con strued as ad ivi ne judgment.Dante no doubt followed theauthor i ty of G ratian

,the great

teacher of the canon lawat Bologna. H e m ight have selectedclearer and s tronger examples of heretical popes

,as Liber ius

(352 who was charged with Ar ian i sm,and H onor i us 1

(625 who was condemned by (ecumen ical counci ls and byh i s own succes sors as aMonothel i te. The cas e of H onor ius

figured mos t prom inently i n the Vatican Counci l of 1870, andwas the ch ief argument of theanti-i nfall ibi l i s ts .

2

7. The Seventh Ci rcle (Cantos xu . i n three divi s ions ,i s theabode of murderers

,s uicides and blasphemers

,and i s s ur

rounded by ar iver of blood . The way to i t leads through awi ld chasm of s hattered rocks . I t i s guarded by the Mi notaur ,the horror of Crete and emblem of bloodth i rs ty violence andbrutal i ty. Among the murderers are mentioned Alexander theG reat

,the tyran t Dionys ius of Sici ly

, Guy de Montfort,who

dur ing mas s s tabbed Pr i nce H en ry from revenge,and Atti la, theK ing of the H ans

,who cal led h imself the Scourge of God .

Among the s ui cides,naked and torn

,i s Pietro delle V igne (de

V i nei s), the famous secretary and chancellor of the EmperorF reder ick II ., otherwi se anob le-hearted man , who was chargedwi th treason and was u nwi l l i ng to outl ive h i s honor .

The small clas s of blasphemers again s t God are lyi ng supi neuponaplai n of burn i ng sand . They are more severely pun i s hedthan thei r neighbors

,by as lowand constant s hower of flakes of

fi re,wh ich fall upon them l i ke flakes of snow i n theAlps ; yet

they con ti nue to blas pheme wi th thei r ol d fury. (Can to XIV.)Thei r repres entative i s Capeneus , one of the s even k i ngs whobes ieged Thebes . H e was struck by Jupi ter wi th h i s thunder .

Notany torment, savingthine own rage,Wou ld be unto thy fury pai n comp lete.

3

Cantos XV. and XVI . des cr ibe the pun i shmen t of violenceagai ns t nature. H ere Dante does not spare h i s own teacher and

1 Seeaful l account of th i s cas e i n Dol l inger’s Pap stfabeln des M i ttelal ters ,

p . 124sqq . ; Eng. trans l . 210 sqq .

3 Schafi‘

,Creeds of Chr i s tendom,

L ,178 sqq Church H is tory , IV. ,

500 sqq.

Inf . , xxv. , 65, 66.


fr iend,Brunetto Lati n i (XV., 30 but he speaks to h i s

baked and wi thered figure wi th great res pectand affection .

Canto XVI I . des cri bes the pun i shment of usurers who do

Violence to natureand to art.We now descend to the s ins of bes tial i ty.

8. The Eighth Ci rcle, called the Malebolge1or Evi l-budgets ,

cons i sts of ten concentr ic di tches or p i ts for the fol l owi ng s i nners

(1) Seducers , (2) Flatterers , (3) S imon iaes , (4) Soothsayers , (5)Barrators , (6) H ypocr i tes , (7) Th ieves , (8) Evi l Counselors , (9)Sch i smatics

, (10) Fal s i fiers . Can tos XVI I I .-XXXI .Dante i s especially severe

,in Canto XIX.,

agains t the Simon i s osor Simon i s ts

,that i s

,the wretched followers of thearch-heretic

and arch-hypocr i te,S imon Magus

,who prosti tute for gold and

s i lver the th i ngs of God,and turn h i s temple i nto aden of

th ieves . Theyare fixed one by one i n narrow round holes alongthe s ides of the rock

,wi th the head downwards , wi th the feet

and part of the legs standi ng outand tormented wi th flames .

At the bottom of the chasm are three popes,Nicholas I I I . (d .

who enr iched al l h i s nephews by open s imony ; Bon i faceVI II .,

who “sei zed the comely Lady (theChurch)and then made

havoc of her ”(d. and ClementV. (d .

“ the lawles sshepherd from the west”(who was made pope under shamefulcond i tions by the i nfluence of Ph i l ip the Fai r

,of France).

The las t two Dante condemns by prophetic anticipation beforethei r death (as the Inferno was begun i n Such falseshepherds St. John had i n view when he saw the Romanhar lot comm i tting forn ication wi th the k i ngs . (Rev. xvn 1

Ye have made yourselves a.god of gold and s i lver ;And from the idolater wherei n do ye d ifl

'

er ,

Save that heworsh ips one, and yeahundred

Then fol lows the famous pas sage of Cons tan ti ne and h i sreputed donation of the temporal power to the pope.

Th i s fearful sever i ty does not make Dante an enemy of thepapacy. On the contrary, he says that h i s reverence for the

lofty keys prevented h im from us i ng s ti ll greater s ever ity .

‘

1 Bolgia(Lat. bu lga, Fr . bouge) means abag, budget, and i n awi der sense

any dark hol e or gu l f.

Inf .,XIX.

, 112—114. I bi d . XIX.

,100 sq .


grandsons and s tarved to death i n atower at Pisa,called ever

s i nce the Tower of Famine. The two traitors are froz entogether i n one hole so closely that one head was acap to theother ; and as bread i s chewed for hunger, so the uppermos t puth i s teeth i nto the other where the brai n joi n s wi th the nape.

”

Dante saw U gol ino as he rai sed h i s mon th from the fel l repas tand wiped i t on the hai r of the head he had laid was te beh ind .

”

The count tells the poet h i s last s ufi'

er ings i n the pr i son whenhe hi t both hi s hands for gr ief

,and h i s sons

,th i nki ng that he

d id i t from hunger,said to h im

Father , much less pain’

t wi l l give usIf thou do eat of us ; thy sel f d idst clothe usWi th thi s poor flesh , and do thou strip i t off.

Th is tragedy, immortal i zed by Dante and Chaucer, gives afr ightfu l picture of theamb ition

,treachery

,cruelty and feroci ty

of the MiddleAges,and i l lustrates the law,

that s in i s i ts own

wors t pun i shment.The th i rty-fourth and las t Canto of the Inferno opens wi th

Ven'

l laRegi s p rodeunt Inferm'

The banners of the Ki ngof H el l come forth .

A parody of the hymn of tr iumph on the mys tery of the crossby Fortunatus .

l I t i s as tartl i ng introduction i n to the Judecca,

the ci rcle of the arch-trai tor to God,the trai tor to our Saviour,

and the trai tors to Ces ar.Luci fer the Emperor of the dolorous Realm,

”3 i s descr ibedas ah ideous mons ter

,immersed in the icy lake up to h i s breas t.

H e had three faces,the counterpart of the H oly Tr i n ity

,the one

fiery red i n front, the others pale and b lack on the s ide. The

three colors may symbol i ze the three conti nents then known over

wh ich h i s dom i n ion extends . U nder each face i ss ued forth twomighty wi ngs broader than sea-sai ls

,i n form and texture l ikea

bat’s and he was flapping them so that three wi nds went forth

Vani l laRegi s p rodeunt,Fulget cruci s my ster i um,

Quacam e carn i s condi tor,

Suspensus estpatd mlo.

3 Lo Imperador del doloroso reyno .

” XXXIV . , 28.


from h im. Wi th s ix eyes he wept,and down three ch ins gushed

tears and bloody foam . I n every month he champed as i nnerwi th h is teeth , l i keabrake, so that he thus kept three of themi n torment. The worst of these three s inners

,who suffers great

es t pun i shment,i s Judas I s car iot. H e i s suspended from the

front mouth of Satan and has h i s head wi th i n , h i s feet outs ide.

The other two, wi th thei r heads beneath,are Brutus , who“utters

notaword,

”and Cas s ius , who seems so s tark of l imb.

”

Shakespeare d i ffers wi th Dante i n the judgment of Brutus,

“ the nobles t Roman of them al l,

”who loved h i s country and

the freedom of the Republ ic more than h i s benefactor . But

Dante saw i n the murder of Caesar an assault upon the d ivi nelycons tituted Roman emp i re

,wh ich was the type of the holy

Roman empi re,and the words of the dy i ng Caesar to Brutus :

Even thou,my ch i ld”(xa

‘

t ab,r éxvov), may have remi nded h im

of our Saviour’s word to Judas : Fr iend,do that for wh ich thou

artcome”(é‘

rai pe, ésb’

8 mi pez, Matt. 26 : H ere i s the culm i n

ation of Dante’s view of Church and Stateas developed in h i sbook De M onarchia. Judas s i nned agai ns t the Divine H eadof the Church

,Brutus and Cas s ius s inned agai nst the temporal

head of the Imper ial State,al l s innedagai ns tGod and human i ty.

0

The tr iple-headed Satan wi th three s i nners i n h i s mouth correspond s to the grotesque demons i n med iaeval art. H e i s absol utely h ideous , wi thout one noble feature remai n i ng. H e thusd iffers widely from Mi lton ’s archangel ru i ned

,

”“ i n s hape andges ture proud ly em inent

,

”whose form had not yet los t al l hi s

or igi nal br ightness .

”1 Goetheabs tai ns fromadescr iption of the

outward form of Meph i s topheles,but descr ibes h i s character i n

words and action s more ph i los ophi cally than Dante or Mi lton

Ich bin ein Thei l von jener Krafl ,

Die s tets das Bb'

sewi l l and s tets das Gate schafiIch bin der Gei s t der s tats vernein t.

Havi ng reached the lowes t depth of H ell, Vi rgi l, bear i ngDante

,s l ides down the s haggy s ides of Beelz ebub between the

tangled hai r and froz en crus ts,and pas s i ng throughacavern , the

poets ascend to the oppos i te s ide of the earth,in the South Pacific

OceanThence we came forth to rebehold the stars .

1 Comp . Parad . Lost,L, 192, 589 IL , 636 ; IV.

,985 .


THE PURGATORIO.

What achange from the region of eternal darknes s to thes ight of the sun and starry firmamen t,and from the des pai r ofthe los t to the hope of the saved 1 Purgatory i s the temporaryabode of the pen i tent who d ied in the grace of God , and lookfor that perfect peace wh ich awai ts them after completing the

process of sanctification .

1 Sti ll i t i s aplace of s ufl'

er ing, and so

far of dread . Al l pious Cathol ics expect to go there, wi th

m ingled fears and hopes,and none con s iders h imself fit for

the company of saints i n l ight. Even popes are not exempt ;thei r ti tle “ H ol i ness”appl ies on ly to thei r ofi cial character ;personal ly they may be very unholy. Pope Pi us IX.,

by ani nscr iption on hi s cofli n

,reques ted the fai thful to pray for h i s

s ou l (Orate p ro me). The s ufl'

er ing church in Purgatory i s inconstant contact wi th the m i l i tant church on earth by prayersand mas ses for the dead .

In Purgatory al l i s human , and appeals to our sympathy : am ingl ing of weaknes s and sorrow wi th vi rtueand hope, of thetears of repentance wi th the joys of forgiveness , of prayers ands uppl ications wi th hymns of prai se, of constant effort wi th thebr ighten i ng prospect of ultimate pur i ty and del iverance.

Dante’s Purgatory i s as teep, s pher ical mountain i n theWes t

ern H em i sphere,wh ich

,accord i ng to the or iginal plan of Providence was

.

to have been the abode of the human race. I t i s

the h ighes t moun tai n i n the wor ld . I ts summi t i s crownedwi th the terres trial Parad i se, out of wh ich Adam was thrus ton account of h is transgres s ion . I t i s the d i rect antipode of

Sion,the mountain of salvation

,on the i nhabi ted hem i sphere,

and at the same time the thres hold of H eaven . Both mountain s r i se

,i n adi rect l ine, above the middle point of H ell.

Chr i s t,the second Adam

,has again recovered, by h is death

upon Golgotha, the Parad i se wh ich was los t by the s in of the

firs t Adam. But the way now lead s through Purgatory, i . e.,

through the deep knowledge of s i n, and the pur i fyi ng pains

of pen i tence.

At the foot of the mountai n of pur ification Dante meetsCato of U tica

,the Stoic fri end of l iberty, who comm i tted

1 Purg.,B L

,73 sqq .


s uicide that he m ight not survive the Roman Republ ic. H e i s

described as asol i tary old man with avenerable as pect,~long

gray beard and double lock . H e i s the guard ian of Purgatory,

and the on ly h eathen who escaped the eternal pr i son,except the

Emperor Trajan .

1 H e wonders at the appearance of Vi rgi l,

who as s ures h im that he came not of h i s own accord,butat the

behes t of Beatrice. By h i s d i rection,Vi rgi l mus t first was h

from Dante’s face the fi lth of H ell,and gi rd h im wi th asmooth

r ush (the symbol of humi l ity). Then an angel , the d i rect re

verse of the d readful Charon , who conducted the dead acrossAcheron , br ings them i n al ight bark to the oppos i te shore.

Purgatory has , l i ke H ell,aves tibule where al l those are re

qui red to tarry, who have pos tponed repen tancewh i le upon earthto the las t moment. An angel es corts the wanderers over th rees tai rs

,wh ich represent the three s tages of pen i tence (contr i tio,

confes s io, and sati sfacti o), through the gate of absolution,and , i n

order that he may th i nk upon the seven mortal s ins,cuts the

l etter P (p eccata) s even times upon h i s forehead wi th h i s sword .

2

The mountain i tself has s even broad terraces cut i nto i ts

s ides,and on thes e dwell the pen i tent. The d i fferent penances

corres pond wi th the pun is hments of H ell,i n i nverted order . In

H ell Dante des cended from the les s er to the greater transgress ions i n Purgatory he lead s us from the greater s i ns andpenances upward to those of less enormi ty. The s i ns for wh ichpenance i s done here

,are the same wh i ch are pun i shed there ;

but wi th th i s d ifference,that there we have to do wi th obdurate

and impen itent s i nners,here wi th contr i te s ou l s . As i n H ell

,

s i n and pun i shmen t,s o i n Purgatory

,s i n and penance, s tand i n a

causal relation toward oneanother ; -but the relation here i s oneof oppos i tion

,s in being des troyed

,s i nce the wi l l i s brought to

break and yield,i n d i rect contrar iety to what i t was before.

The proud, who fill the firs tand lowes t terrace, are compelled

to totter under hugeweights , i n order that they may learn humi li ty . The indolent i n the four th terraceare cons tantly and rapidly walki ng. I n the fifth

,the avar icious and prod igal, thei r

hands and feet tied together, l iewi th thei r faces in the dus t, weepingand wai l ing. I n the s ixth , the glutton s mus t

, l ike Tantal us ,1 Seeabove, p . 349.

1 Purg.

,IX.

,93 sqq . ; 102 sqq .


s ufi'

er hunger and th i rst, i n s ight of atree r ichly laden wi thfruits

, and of afres h flowi ng fountai n , unti l they haveQ earnedmoderation . In the seventh , the l icenti ous wander about i nflames

, that thei r sens ual pass ions may be purged from them byfire.

At the entrance i nto every ci rcle theangel who conducts themobl i terates one of the P’

s upon the forehead of the poet. I n the

same measure also h is ascen t becomes eas ier at every terrace.

In place of the fearful darkness of the Infern o he i s here l ightedon h i s way by the three s tars of the theological vi rtues , Faith,H ope

,and Love. In place of the heart-rend ing lamentations

of the damned,he hears the Lord ’s Prayer, the prayers to the

sai nts and the ever sweeter sound i ng hymns of Salvation,as

s ung by the soul s wh ich are longi ngly gaz ing toward Parad i se,and s tep by s tep approach nearer to i ts confines . At the

beginn i ng of the eleventh Canto we hear amos t beautifulparaphrase of the Pater Nos ter from the mouth of the proudwho have to become as l i ttl e ch i ld ren of the Father i n heavenbefore they can enter the k i ngdom of heaven (Matt. xvi i i .,Whenever as ou l has completed i ts pur ification atrembl i ng of

the whole mountain announces i ts entrance i nto heaven .

1

Having reached the Terres tr ial Parad i se on the summi t of themountain

,Dante sees i n agreat vi s ion the Church tr iumphan t

,

under the image of atr i umphal car drawn by agr ifli n , afabulous an imal, half eagle, half lion , wh ich symbol i zes thedouble nature of Chr ist, the H ead of the Church . The mys teryof the i ncarnation and the cros s had been explained to h imprevious ly by Beatrice (i n Can to VI I .

,19

Beatr ice now descends from H eaven and appears to Dante i nthe tri umphal car . She takes the place of Vi rgi l, who i s not

perm i tted to tread the Courts of H eaven . She rebukes Dante i ns trong language for hi s s i ns

,and exhorts h im to bathe i n the

1 0 Padre nostro,che ne’ciel i s tai ,

Non ci rconscr i tto, map er p i ll amore,Cheai pr imi ef etti d i las satu hai ,”etc.

3 Purg. , XXL , 58 sqq .

“It trembles here, whenever any sou l

Feel s i ts el f pure, so that i t s oars , or movesTo mountal oft, and s uch acry attends i t.”(Luke xv.

,

396 TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA.

Pope Gregory the great doctors of the Church ,as Augustin ,Chrysos tom

,An s elm

,Thomas Aquinas , Albertus Magnus , Bona

ventura holy monks,as St. Bernard , St. Dom in ic, Joach im de

Flore,and St. Franci s of Ass i s i . Dante mentions also afew

p ious popes,as Gregory L,

and Agapetus , but on ly cas ually i n aword

,and ignores the great m i ss ionaries who converted the

northern and wes tern barbar ians . But who can make even al im ited selection of the cloud of wi tnes ses from al l nations andk ind reds and tongues No mortal man

,not even the saints i n

heaven know the number of God ’s elect.

O thou predestination , how remote

Thy root i s from theas pect ofal l thoseWho the Fir st Cause do not behold entire l

And you ,O mortal s l hold yourselves restrained

In judging; for ourselves , who look on God ,We do not knowas yet al l the elect

And sweet to us i s such adeprivation ,

Because our good in th i s good i s made perfect,That whatsoe’er God wi l l s , weal so wi l l .

”2

The spi r its of the sai n ts show themselves to Dante i n d i fferentplanets to i nd icate the d i fferent s tages of perfection and glorywh ich they enjoy,and the planetary i nfluences under wh ich theywere wh i le l ivi ng on earth . But thei r proper common abode i sthe M py rean , as explai ned i n the fourth Can to

1

H e of the Seraph im mostabsorbed i n God ,Moses , and Samuel , and wh ichever JohnThou mayst select, I say , and even Mary ,

Have not in any other heaven their seats ,Than have those sp ir its thatjust appeared to thee,Nor of exis tence more or fewer years ;

Butal l make beauti ful the primal circle,And have sweet l i fe in d i fferent degrees ,By feel i ngmore or l ess the eternal breath .

They showed thems elves here, not becauseal lottedTh is sphere has been to them , but to give s ignOf the celestial wh ich i s l east exalted .

To speak thus i s adapted to your m ind ,Since only through the sense i tapprehendethWhat then it worthy makes of intel lect.

1 Seeabove, p . 349.

1 Pan, XX.

,130-138.

1 Pan , IV. ,28-42.


Parad i s e i s aregion of pure l ight,and offers no such var iety

of defin i te local i ties and phys ical s ensations as H el l and Purgatory . H ence i t i s les s pictur us

,but al l themore spi r i tual

and mus ical.It i s located accord ing to thePtolemaic sys tem,

i n and beyondthe heaven ly bod ies known at that time, and viewed as trans

parent spheres that rol l around the s tationary earth with d i fferentdegrees of veloci ty, so that those wh ich are neares t move s lowes t,wh i le the mos t d i s tant revolve wi th greates t rapi d i ty . Dantegives us h i s as tronomical theory i n the s econd Book of the

Convivio as follows 1

The order of pos i tion [of the heavens ] i s th i s , that the first one enumerated i s that where theMoon i s ; the second that where Mercury i s ; the

third that where Venus i s ; the fourth thatwhere the Sun i s ; the fifth thatwhere Mars i s ; the s ixth that where Jup i ter i s ; the seventh that whereSaturn i s ; the eighth that where the Fixed Stars are ; the n inth i s thatwh ich i s not perceptibl e to sense (except by the motion spoken of above),and wh ich i s cal led by many the Cry stal l ine, that i s , the diaphanous , orwhol ly transparent. H owever , beyond al l these, the Cathol ics p lace theEmpyrean H eaven , wh ich is as much as to say the H eaven of F lame orLumi nous H eaven ; and they hold it to be immovable, because it has with ini ts el f, in every part, that whi ch its matter demands . And thi s i s the reas onthat thePr imum Mobi lemoves wi th immensevelocity because the ferventlonging of al l i ts parts to be un ited to those of th is [tenth and] mostd ivine and qu iet heaven , makes i t revolve wi th so much des ire that i tsvelocity i s almost incomprehens ible. And thi s quietand peaceful heaveni s theabode of that SupremeDeity whoalone doth perfectly behold H imsel f Thi s is theabode of thebeatified sp ir its ,accordi ngto the holy Church ,who cannot l ie ; and Ar is totl eal so seems to th ink so, i f rightly understood ,in the first of The H eavens and Earth . Thi s i s the supreme edifice of the

universe, i n wh ich al l the wor ld is i ncluded , and beyond which is nothi ngand i t i s not i n space, but was formed sol ely in the Primal M ind, which theGreeks cal l Protorwe. Thi s i s that magn ificence of wh ich the Psalm is tspake, when he says to God , Thy magn ificence i s exal ted above theheavens . And thus , summ ingup what has here been d is cussed , i t seemsthat thereare ten heavens , of which that of Venus i s the th ird ; and thi swi l l be spoken of i n the place where I intend to exp lai n i t.

In the same work he gives the symbol ic s ign ificance of theseheaven ly bodi es .

2

1 Bk. IL,Ch .4. In K. H i l lard ’s trans lati on

, p . 64sqq .

1 Bk. IL , Ch . 14, pp . 104—107,K . H i l lard ’

s trans lation .


1. To see what i s meant by the th i rd heaven ,we mus t first see what I

mean by the s ingle word heaven and then we shal l see howand whyth i s thi rd heaven was necessary to us . I say that by heaven Imean science,and by heavens the sciences , becaus e of three resemblances whi ch theheavensbear to the sciences ,aboveal l i n orderand number , which seem to correspondi n them ; as wi l l be seen i n treati ngof th is word third .

’

2. Thefirst resemblance i s the revolution of eacharound i ts immovable

[centre] . Because each movable heaven revolves around i ts centre, wh ich ,however forcible that motion may he, remains immovable ; and so eachscience revolves around its subject, which i s notmoved by i t, because sci encedemonstrates its own subject, but p resupposes i t.

3. Thesecond res emblance i s i n thei r power of i l lumination . Foras eachheaven i l luminates Vi s ible things , so each science i l luminates those thatarei ntel l igible.

4. And the th ird resemblance i s i n thei r [the heavens] conductingtowards perfection of th ings d is posed thereto. Of which i nfluence, i n so

far as it concerns the primal perfection , that i s , mater ial generation , al l

ph i losophers areagreed that the heavens are the cause, although they statei t i n di fl

'

erentway s ; some that i t comes from themotivePowers , l ikePlato,Avicenna,andAlgaz el some, from the stars (especial ly i n the cas e of humansoul s ), l ike Socrates , and al s o Plato, and Diony s ius the Academ ician ; andsome from the celestial virtue wh ich i s in the natural heat of the seed , l ikeAris totleand the other Peripatetics .

5 And thus the sciences are the causes that bringabout our second perfection ; for through thei r means we can specu late on truth

, wh ich i s our

u ltimate perfection ,as the Phi losopher has said i n the s ixth of the Ethics ,when he say s that the true i s the good of the i ntel l ect. For these, aswel l as for many other resemblances , we may cal l science heaven .

6. Nowwe must see why we say thi rd heaven. H ere we must reflectupon acompari son between the order of the heavens and that of the

sciences . For , as has been said above, the seven heavens nearest to us arethose of the planets ; then there are two heavens above these, movable,and one over al l the rest, motionless . To the firs t seven correspond the

seven sciences of the Thi vi um and Quad r ivium , that is , Grammar , Dialeoties , Rhetoric, Ar i thmetic, Mus ic, Geometry , and Astrology . To the

eighth sphere, that i s , to the Starry H eaven , correspond Natural Science,cal led Phy s i cs , and the first of sciences , cal l ed Metaphy s ics ; to the n i nth .

sphere corresponds Moral Science ; and to the Q uiet H eaven corres ponds

Divi ne Science, wh ich i s cal led Theology . And the reas on of al l thi s maybe bri efly seen .

”

H e then goes on to explain the reasons of these symbol icreferences

,wh ich are very fanci ful .

Between the d i fferent spheres and thei r i nhabi tants , and the

grades of their fel ici ty,there i s an i ntimate correspondence.


m i rror of God for the i nhabi tants of the earth . H ere res ide

the mos t worthy theologians and docto rs of the Church ; for“the wi se shall sh i ne as the br ightnes s of the firmament ; andthey that turn many to r ighteous nes s

,as the s tars for ever and

ever .

”1 H ere we meet Albertus Magnus,the U n iversal Doctor ;

Thomas Aqu inas , theAngel icDoctor ; Bonaventura, the Seraph icDoctor ; Peter the Lombard , the Mas ter of Sen tences ; Gratian,the great authori ty on canon law ; K i ng Solomon ; Dionys i usthe Areopagi te

,the mystic ph i losopher Boeth ius

,the senator

and ph i losopher i n the days of Theodor ic theGoth St. I s idore

of Sevi lle ; the venerable Bede of the Anglo-Saxon Church ;Richard of St. Victor of Par i s

,and “Mas ter S igier ,

”who l ec

tured on Logic i n Par i s,but i s known on ly i n the verse of

Danteand h i s commentators . H ugo of St. Victor , John Chrysos tom

,An selm of Canterbury, Babanus Maurus , the Calabr ian

Abbot Joach im arealso mentioned i n i rregular order . ThomasAqui nas , Bonaventura, and Franci s of Ass i s i i n s truct the poeti n the mys ter ies of salvation , and the depths of Divi n i ty .

(X.—XI II .)5 . Mars i s the abode of the blessed martyrs , crusaders and

other heroes who have fought for the true fai th . These sh ineas s tars

,and arearranged i n the form of abr ight cros s

,from the

m ids t of which beams forth the form of Chr i s t. (XIV.—XVII .)

6. Jupi ter i s the s tar of Justice a and holdsthe souls of jus tand r ighteous pr inces . Thes earearranged firs ti n letters so as to express the word s Di l igi te jus ti tiam, qui

jad icati s terram,

”afterwards i n the form of an eagle as thesymbol of the German Roman empi re, i n wh ich Dante saw theconcentration of secular power accord ing to d ivine i ns ti tution .

(XVI II .—Xx.)

7. Saturn . H ere res ide the pious herm i ts and contemplativemystics who, l ike flames

,are cons tantly ascendi ng and des cend

ingaladder . St. Bened ict laments over the corruptions of themonks . (XXI . and XXI I .)8. Dante reaches now the Fixed-Star H eaven . H ere

,i n a

vi s ion, he sees the tr iumph of Chr i s tand the Vi rgin Mary, and1 Comp . Dan . Xi i .

,3 ; Matt. Xi i i .,43 .

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 401i s i ns tructed i n the nature of Fai th by the Apos tle Peter , i n thenature of H ope by James

,and i n the nature of Love by John .

Love i s that wh ich gives H eaven i ts peace— the AlphaandOmegaof the H oly Scr iptures . I tar i ses from aknowledge of

God , who i s Love i ts elf. I t i s wi th transport that Dantebecomes aware of being i n pos s ess ion of the trueApos tol icFai th ,over wh ich H eaven exu l ts

,and the blessed spi r i ts shout for joy .

The Apos tle Paul,who i s emphatical ly the Apos tle of Fai th, i s

not mentioned here,but els ewhere cal led the m ighty Ves sel

of the H oly Spi r i t.”1 I find i n the whole Commed ia25 references to Peter

,8 to John

,7 to Paul,4to James . Peter reproves

the bad popes . (XXII I .

—XXVI .)9. I n the n inth sphere, the Crystal H eaven or P r imum M obi le

,

Dante sees the eternal h ierarchy of angels who rule the n i ne

heaven ly s pheres,and move i n n i ne concentr ic ci rcles around a

br ight,l ight-giving

,central point— theDei ty. Beatr ice i ns tructs

h im on the creation of Angels,the fall of Luci fer, and reproves

the ignoranceand avar ice of preachers and the sale of i ndu l

gences . (XXVI I .—XXIX.)

10. NowDan te nears the pi nnacle ofGloryand Bles sedness , theEmpyrean , to wh ich the las t four cantos are devoted .

2 I t i s i n

i tself immovable,and yet the or igi nal cause of al l movement.

For God i s wi thout longi ng for anyth i ng that i s out of h im,but

yet gives forthal l l i fe out of h imself. The poet here sees al l thoseblessed Spi r i ts

, wh ich , l ike i nnumerable leaves , form abound les ssnow-wh i te rose that spreads and multipl ies and breathes anodor of prai se throughout the heavens

,and whose cup i s alake

of l ight.1 Par .

,XXL , 127 sq . al s o XXIV.

,63—65 XXVI II .

,138

,and oth er p laces .

1 Empy rean or Empy real (from m'

zp , fi re, é/u rvpog, i n or by the fire) i s th eh ighes t heaven formed of pure fire or l igh t, the s eat of the Dei ty . M i l ton ,

Par . Lost,I I I .

,56

Now had the Alm igh ty Fath er from above,From the pure Empy rean where he s i tsH igh th roned aboveal l heigh t, bent down h i s eye,H i s own works and thei r works at once to vi ew.

About H im al l the sancti ti es of h eavenStood th i ckas stars

,and from H i s s igh t received

Beati tude pas t utterance.

”

In fas hion then of asnow-wh ite roseDisplayed its el f to me the saintly hostWhom Chris t in hi s own blood had made hi s bride.

1

Th is beauti ful imagery was probably an or igi nal creation of

Dan te’s gen ius , or s ugges ted by the rose windows of Gothiccathedrals . Others connect i t with the golden rose wh ich thepopes present

,

from time to time to royal personages as amarkof special favor .

1

H ere Beatr ice leaves her fr iend, as Vi rgi l had left h im i n

Purgatory,and res umes her placeamong the bles sed i n the th i rd

ci rcleat the s ide of the contemplative Rachel,jus t below the

seat of Eve and the throne of the Blessed Vi rgin . The las twords of Beatr ice, s trange to say , werewords of condemnation of

the corrupt papacy and the pred iction that God wou ld cas t thepape (Clement V.) down to the place of Simon Magus and h i sfollowers

,i n the eighth ci rcle of the Inferno.

3 We shou ldrather expect from the guard ian angel of h i s youthand manhoods ome sweet parting words of love and wi sdom. Dante i s

.at

first notaware of her departure,and looki ng for her, he sees a

fatherly old man , clothed i n l ight, wi thalook of mi ld ben ign ity,who i nformed h im that he was sent by Beatr ice. I t was St.Bernard of Clai rvaux

,the godly mystic,

“the honey-flowing

doctor,

”the s i nger of the sweetes t hymn of the Midd le Ages .

H e i s the master of hearts , as Thomas Aqui nas i s the mas ter of

1 Pan,XXXI . , 1

—3“In farmadunque d i cand i darosa

M i s i mos travalami l i z iacanta,Che nel suasangu i ne Cr istaface sposa.

1 P0pe Innocent III . i n bl es s i ngaros e (1206) Haze tr iades ignantur i n

i n colare jucund i tas , i n adore; aatietas , i n sapare rosaquippep ras cmteri sflor i buscolare delectat, adore reerect, sapare comfortat; delectat i n vi sa, recreat i n olfacta,camfartat i n gustu . Then fol l ow Scr ipture quotati ons . See the whol e passage i n Scartaz z i n i

’s Com ,

KL , 821 .

1 Canto XXX .,145—148. Beatr i ce mus t mean ei ther Cl emen tV.

,who rul ed

at Avignon , 1303 or Joh n XXII .,1316 but more probabl y the

former , s i nce the pred icti on of th e fate of the p0pe fol l ows immed iate l y afterthe prophecy concern i ngthe Emperor H enry VII . whos e fai l ure was cau sedby the doub l e deal i ng of that pope. Bon i faceVIII . and Cl ement V. d ied

before the Parad i sowas fini shed , but Dante always prophes i es from 1300.

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA. 403i ntellects ; he repres ents the theology of love,as the latter repres ents the theo logy of fai th . The i ntui tion of mystici sm r i ses

h igher than the reflexion and speculation of s cholas tici sm,and

attains to the beatific vi s ion .

Dante looked up once more thankfully to Beatr ice crowned

with glory,and thanked her for del iver i ng h im from the s lavery

of s in unto the freedom of the sons'

of God . She cas t on h im alovi ng smi le from her d i s tant height, and then turned agai n to

the eternal fountai n of l ightand love.

1

St. Bernard now takes charge of Dante on th i s las t s tage ofh i s pi lgr image. H e explai ns to h im (i n Canto XXXI L) theRose of the Bles sed

,and poi nts out the s eats of the saints .

Around the cup of the Rose or the lake of l ight are the i nnocent ch i ldren

,wi th thei r ch i ld l ike faces and voices . The sain ts

i n heaven retain thei r ages i n wh ich they d ied wh i leaccord ingto Thomas Aqu i nas they al l s hall r i se i n the unfad ing bloom of

youth. The Rose i s d ivided i nto two sem ici rcles,the left for the

sai nts who were saved before Chr i st’s comi ng, the r ight for thesaints after Chr i st’s comi ng. The seats of the formerare filled ;i n the latter thereare s ti l l vacant seats for the elect of the churchm i li tant below. In the m i dd le of the top tier of theRose i s enthroned the Bles sed Vi rgin Mother

,surrounded by an army of

angels . She looks mos t l i ke Chr i s t,and s end s from her smi l i ngcountenancejoy and peace to al l the sai n ts who del ight i n gaz ingat her . To her left i s Adam,

the first of s i nners and the firs t ofthe redeemed

,and Moses , the lawgiver to her r ight St. Peter

,

the pr i nce of the Apostles,and St. John the beloved d i sciple.

Oppos i te the Vi rgin and on the same level i s John the Bapti s t,

wi th St. Annaon the leftand St. Luciaon the r ight,and next toh im St. Franci s , St. Bened ict,and St. Augus tin , the three teacherswho

,next to theApos tles , exerted the greates t i nfluence on the

Church .

The poet now approaches the h ighes t bl iss of sai nts andangels— the beatific vi si on . St. Bernard prepares h im for

1 XXXI ., 92, 93

ed el las i lantana,Comaparea, sow-r i se e r iguardommiPoi s i tom bau’

etemafantasia.

”


i t by aprayer of unr ivaled fervor and beauty to the Vi rginMother.

l

Beatr iceand many asai nt joi n wi th the venerable Bernard i nth is prayer for thevis ion of gloryand i ts ennobl i ngand sanctifyi ng effect upon the after-l i fe of the pi lgrim. It i s granted .

Dante i s permitted to gaze upon the H oly Tri n i ty. It i s but

one moment of i ntu i tion,but etern i ty i s conden sed i n that

moment. H e beholds three ci rcles of equal ci rcumference, but ofthreefold color ; oneof them exh i bi ti ng the divi ne-human countsnance of the i ncarnate Son of God and Savi our of the world.

0 LightEteme, sole in Thysel f that dwel l est,Sole knowest Thysel f, and , known unto Thysel f,And knowing, lovestand smi les t on Thysel f.

The pen refuses i ts ofli ce the m ind of the poet i s,as i twere,

electr ified by asudden shock power fai ls to h i s lofty fancy,andhe i s i nexpres s ibly happy i n the s urrender of hi s wi l l to the loveof God

,wh ich i llumi nes the Sun and al l the Stars , gives H eaven

and Earth their motions,fills timeand etern i ty

,and draws from

the choi r of the Blessed an end less song of prai se.

Thus ends th i s “ deep un fathomable song.

I f we cas taglance once more at the mutual relation of the

separate parts, we shal l be struck wi th the profound truth of the

h in t given by Schelli ng,that the firs t i s sculptural , the second pic

turesque, and the th ird mus ical, i n accordance wi th the subjectstherei n treated . The Inferno i s an immense group of sharplydefined s tatues

,of dusky shadow-forms , fearful monuments of

Divi ne justice,i l lumined by the touch of poetry. The Purga

1 Canto XXXI IL 1—39

Vary i ne Mad re, jigl iadel tuo Fi y l i o,Umi l e ed al tap in che creatura,Termi nefleso d

’eterno cons igl io,

”etc .

Dante mus t have been very fam i l iar wi th St. Bernard ’s H om i l i es on the

Songof Sol omon ,and DeLatd ibus Vi rgi n iaMatr i s . St. Bernard was adevoutwors h i per of th eVi rgi n ,and contr ibuted very much to the spread of thatworsh i p ; but he opposed the dogmaof h er immacu late concepti on as bei ng con

trary to Cath ol i c trad i tion and d erogatory to the d ign i ty of Chr i s t, the

on l y s in l es s bei ng. We may i n fer, therefore, that Dante d i d not share th i sbel ief. The immaculate concepti on remai ned an open and d i sputed ques ti onti l l 1854, when Pope Pi us IX. proclaimed i tan arti cl e of the Cathol ic fai th .

On theh i story of th i s dogma, seeSchafl'

, Creeds of Chr i stendom,Vol . I . 108-128.


420 Wi tnesses of the Evangel ical Truth i n theDark Ages ,i . e. , among the Lutherans before Luther, as be regarded them

,

and quotes i n proof some pas sages i n the Commed iaand DeM onarchiawh ich bear on the corruptions of the RomanChurch .

1 Th i rty years afterwards aFrench nobleman,Francoi s

Perot de Mez ieres , endeavored to gai n the Ital ians for the Reformation by means of the C

'ommedia.

11 Another Frenchman ,Ph i l ippe deMornay du Ples sy Mar ly, the mostaccompl i shedandi nfluential controvers ial i s tand d iplomatamong the H uguenots ofh is age, l ed Dante i nto the field agains t popery .

1 The contro

versy has been renewed i n our century by Goeschel and KarlGraul , who claim Danteas aReformer before the Reformation .

‘

3 . H e was aheretic i n d i sgu i se,and even arevolution i s t

and social i s t,i n

' league wi th wide-spread anti -papal and anticathol ic societies for the overthrow of Church and State. H e

was amas ter of the symbol ic language of the Templars,used for

thei r des tructive aims , afr i end of the Albigenses,aProvencal

zeal for orthodoxy , butaremarkabl e man of vas t l earn i ngand i ndom i tabl eperseverance and i nd us try . See W . Preger, Matthias F laci us I l l yr i cus andsei ne Zei t, Erlangen , 1859 2vol s .

1 Catal ogue Tes ti um Ver i tati s Evangel i cals , Bas l e, 1556. In th e same Protestant ci ty appeared aGerman tran s lati on of Dan te’s De MonarchiabyH erol d t i n 1559, beforeany ed i ti on of i t had been publ i shed i n Ital y . Some

have gone so far as to attri bute to Dantead i rect prophecy of Luth er,by d i s

cover i ngh i s very name,anagrammati cal l y , i n Vel tro, i . e.

,Lutero (seeabove p .

and theapproximate date of h is bi rth (Nov. 10, i n the cal cu lation of Landi no, the Floren ti ne commen tator of the Commed ia thatDante ’

s reformer woul d be born Nov. 15,1484, accord i ngto Purg. XXX .

,3 1 .

Th i s i s the oppos i te extreme to Ozanam ’s Vi ewof FraDol ci noas aforerunner

of Luther .

1 Avcis o p iacm le dataal label laItal iadaan nobi l e gi ovane Francese, 1586 .

Bel larm i n,the great Roman controvers ial i s t

,takes great pai n s to refute th i s

anonymous book, i n h i s Append ixad Li bros de Summo Ponti fice (i n Di sputai .de controver s i i s Chr i s t. Fi dei , etc ,

Roman ed . 1832,Tom . L

,851

1 My ster i mn i n i qu i tati s s . H i s tor iapapatas , or Le Mystere d’i ni qu i te

’

on H i s

toi re de lapapauté, 1611 . H e finds i n the name of the reigni ngpope (Pau l V)theapocal ypti c n umber of the beas t See thearti cl e of Gaufrés i n Li chtenberger

’s Ency cl 0péd i e,

”Tom . IX. 440.

1 Goeschel , i n h i s Dante wr i ti ngs , quoted p . 333 ; Gran ] , i n the Introd uc

tion to h i s trans lati on of the Infer no, 1843 (LV G iambatti s taGiu l ian i ,ad i s ti ngu i s hed Dan te s cholar , wrote ad i scourse agai n st Gran l i n 1844, tos i l ence the attempts of the fol l owers of the i nsol ent Luther”(i ns ole

‘

nte

Lutero) to claim the firs t Ch ri s tian poet for thei r hereti cal opi n ions .

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 407mocker,aworsh iper of clas s ical heathen i sm,

apanthei s t,an i nfidel .

Th i s s trange theory was firs t proposed by Gabr iele Ros setti, an

Ital ian patr iot, i n an anti-cathol ic spi ri t, and afterward s

(1854) i n amodi fied form by Aroux,an orthodox Cathol ic,and

atrans lator of the Oomnwd ia.

2

The th i rd theory must be d i smis sed as arad ical m i sunders tandi ng and i ngen ious absurd ity. The first i s essentially correct

,but there i s alsoan element of truth i n the second theory.

Dante was as i ncere and earnes t Cathol ic of the med iaeval,but

not of the modern ultramontane type. H e belonged to the partyof progress wh ich demanded areformation of the Church , es pecial ly of the papacy ; and in th i s respect we may regard h imas aprophet of apurer form of Chri s tian i ty.

We can,of course

,on ly judge from what heactually believed

and taught,not from what he m ight have bel ieved i n another

age and under other cond i tions . But judging h im from the

spi ri tof h i s works hewould haveadvocated the caus e of truthandrighteousnes s

,of progres sand moral reform i nany subsequentage.

H e wou ld have thoroughly sympath i zed wi th Savonarola,

the ster n monk,prophetand reform preacher, i n oppos ition to

the fr ivoli ty of Florenceand the wi ckedness of Pope Alexander

VI ., who demanded h i s execution at the s take. H ewould havegone half way wi th Luther, i n h i s war agai nst the s hamefultrafi c i n i ndulgences

,and the corr upti ons of the papacy, but no

further . In the year 1870 he would have opposed , wi th the O ldCathol ics , the two Vatican dogmas of papal i nfal libi l i ty andpapal absoluti sm . In pol ities he, the Ital ian of Ital ian s , and the

1 Gabr i el e Rossetti (1783—1854) wrote Commentoanal i tico s ul laDivi naCommed ia(1826 Su l lo sp i r i taanti -papale che p roduss e laRiforma I l

mis tero del l ’ amar P laton i eo del med iaera, der ivatada’ mi s ter i anti ch i

and LaBeatr i ce del Dante H e tr i es to show that Dan teand h i s con

temporar i es adopted apecu l iar i d i om to vei l th ei r avers i on to the papacy ,and in trod uced awoman as the special object of th ei r ad orati on , to symbol i zetrue Ch r i stian i ty . H ewas apol i ti cal exi l e from h i s native Ital yan d s ettl ed i n

England , 1824. H e i s the father of ad i sti ngu i s hed fam i l y of arti s ts, poets ,

and Dante-scholars . See p . 335 . Foracr i ti cal exam i nati on of h i s th eory com

pareK.W i tte , Rossetti’s Dante-Erkla’r ung, i n h i s Dan te-Farschungen , L ,

96-139.

1Q uoted i n Li terature on p . 332. Ad d to i t h i s work L’here

’

s i e deDante

demontre'

epar Frances cadaRimi n i , devenaean mayen dcp rapagande Vaudais e,1857. Arauxwas refuted by Boi s sard ,al so by W i tte ,

l . e., pp . 109 sqq .

,131 sqq.


idol of I tal ian patr iots , would have hai led the un ion and i nde

pendence of Italy, the des truction of the temporal power of thepapacy, and the separation of Church and State.

But we must not identi fy h im with Protes tanti sm i nany of i tssys tems of doctr ine or church pol ity. H e probably even to—daywould look forward to an ideal Cathol ici sm of the futureandprophesy the com ing of another Veltro and Dam

, who wouldres toreaun iversal church and aun iversal empi re i n fr iend lyi ndependence and confederation for the spi r itual and temporalwelfare of mank ind.

We cannot find i n h i s wr i ti ngs any d is ti nctively Protes tantpr inciples

,ei ther the supremacy of the Scr iptures over trad i tions ,

or justification by faith alone, or the general pr ies thood of thelai ty. H e i s full of Scr ipture facts and Scr ipture doctr ines ,

but throughout ass umes that the teach ing of the Church i s i nharmony wi th them he bel ieves i n salvation by the grace of Godand theaton ing sacr i fice of Chr i st, but demands good works andcrowns them wi th reward ; he teaches the d ivi ne or iginand i nde

pendence of the State, but expects the German emperor to be i ncommun ion wi th the Roman Church . In al l essential doctr i neswh ich d i s ti ngui s h the Protes tant from the Roman Cathol icsys tem he s tands on the Roman Catholic s ide.

1

1 The em i nent Dante-scholar , Kar l W i tte, expres ses s ubs tantial l y the sameVi ew,

i n h i s revi s ion of Goeschel’s arti cl e i n the second ed . of H erzog, I I I .

,

491 sqq . and at the cl os e of the Introd ucti on to h i s German vers i on of the

Commed ia, p . 39 sq .

,where h e say s

Er is tKathol ik im s cha'ns ten Si nne,watcher dasal lgemei n Chr i stl i che bezei chnet;denn auch den f rommen P rates tanten wardenDante

’s Ver seti ef ergreifen ,jas i cher l i ch

mehr erbauen,als d i ebei den chr is tl ichen Epopa

'

en des en i s chen and des deutschen

p rotestanti s chen Dichter s der bei den letz ten Jahrhanderte. Aber aach i n dem S i nnei s t er kathol i sch , dass waei nmal Unterscheid nngs lehren zur Sp rache kommen , wiez . B. Parad i es xxv.

,69, sei n Bakenntn i s s al l er d i ngs n i chtauf Sei ten der evan

gel i schen Ki r che s teht. M i tgerechtem Beumssts eyn i s t as als o, das s der Dichter ,nachdem er sei nen Glauben bekannt hat, com Apastel Petrus , als dem Fels en

,anf

den di e kathal i sche Ki rche s ich gr i i ndet, z um Zei chen seiner Bechtgla'

ubigkei t s ich

s egnen and amkra'

nz en Iti sst. F it/art i hn dach l ehrend and ausdeutend die

verkla'rte Beatr i ce, d i es S innbi l d der val len Erkenntn i ss rechtglaubig r el igia’serWahrhei t, van ei ner H immel sp ha

'

re z ur anderen . Und so hc’

i l tal l er Zorn gegen das

Pap s ttham seiner Zei t den Dichter n i chtab, dem Nachfalger Petr i al s solchem,jas elbs t sei nem bi tteren Fei nde Bon i faz VI II .

,d ie Ehrerbi etung eines gl d ubigen

Kathal iken eu bewei s en . (Hal le XIX.,100 Fegefeuer XIX.

,127 ; XX. ,


who keeps the key s , and exami nes and i nstructs h im in thefai th . H e regards the popeas Peter’s successor and as the vicarof Chr i s t. H e knows on ly one Church, and condemns sch i smeven more than heresy.

But here h i s connection wi th the Roman Cathol ic Churchs tops . I t remai ns for us to cons ider h is reformatory or Protes tan telement

,i f we may so cal l i t.

DANTE’S RELATION TO THE PAPACY AND THE

REFORMATION.

Dante i s amos t earnes t and cons is tent advocate of amoral

(not doctr inal) reformation i n Churchand State, es pecially of thepapacy. H e urges and pred icts s uch areformation i n the headand the members again and again

,i n al l parts of hi s poemand i n

avar iety of images .

1 The very las t word s of h i s belovedBeatr ice i n Parad ise areacondemnation of the popes Bon i faceVI II . and ClementV., who shal l be thrust down

Where Simon Magus i s for hi s deserts .

The key to h i s pos i tion i s h i s pred iction of the Greyhound

(Veltro) and Leader (Dun), who should br ing about such areformation

,and the poli tical theory of h i s book on the Empi re

(De M onarch ia), wh ich was condemned by the Counci l of

Trent.2

H e treats the popes wi th the same s tern impartial i ty as em

perors , k ings and pr ivate persons , accord ing to thei r moralmer i ts . H e respects the office

,but condemns those who d i s

graced i t,in such afear les s manner as would not be tolerated

i n the Roman Church of the pres ent day . H e mentions i ndeed

several papes and card inals among the bles sed i n heaven , asGregory I . and Agapetus , but none of them i s as s igned so h ighapos i tion as the great doctors of the church and founders ofmonas tic orders . H e ignores Gregory VI I .,

the greates t of the

1 Comp . Inf . L,101— 111 ; Purg. VI . ,

97— 125 ; XX .,10—15 ; 94-96 ; XXXII I . ,

34—60 ; Par . XVII . , 76-99 ; XXL ,

118-120 ; XXI I . , 14-18 ; 90—96 ; XXVII . ,

40—66 ; 142—148.

1 Camp . the previous d i s cus s i on on pp . 308—312 ; 320—322.

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 411popes

,probably because of h i s quarrel wi th the emperor .

1

Innocent I I I . i s barely mentioned .

11 H e met two popes amongthe pen itents i n Purgatory, namely, Adr ian V. who s its amongtheavar icious i n the fifth ci rcle

, but was pope on ly th i rty-n i nedays (d . and Martin IV.

,who s uffers among the gluttons

,

because h i s fondness for eels from the lake of Bolsenai n the

Papal States , and the vernacciawi ne brought h is li fe to asudden close H e sawamulti tude of avar icious popes andcard i nals in the fourth ci rcle of H ell

,wh ich i s guarded by

Plutus as thei r jai ler .

1 H e condemns aheretical pope, Anas tas ins I I . H e i s mos t severe on the s imon iacal popes whoarealready, or wi ll soon be tormented i n the eighth ci rcle, notably Nicholas I I I . (d . Bon i faceVI II . (d . and Clement V. (d . The las t two were sti l l l iving when the

Cbmmed iawas begun but Nicholas,wi th the fores ight of

di sembod ied spi r i ts,knew that they were comi ng, and wondered

on ly that they shou ld come so soon and not tarry longer wi ththei r golden i dols on earth .

“

1 For th i s reas on I cannot i d enti fy th e Mati l daof the Purgatory who carri esDante over th e r iver Leth e to Beatr i ce (XXVI II .

,40sqq . ; XXXI . , 92 XXXI I .

,

28, 82 ; XXXII I .,119

,wi th the Countes s Mati l daof Tuscany who pro

tected Gregory at Canossaand bequeath ed to th e papal see alarge amountof h er poss es s i ons , thu s i ncreas i ng th e evi l of the fatal gi ft of Cons tanti ne.

Near l y al l th e ol d er commentators,as al so Ruskin and Longfel l ow,

i d enti fy

the two Mati l das others th i nk of Mati l da, wi fe of Emperor H en ry the Fowl er ,d i sti ngu i shed for good nes s and beau ty , or Mati l daof Hackenbom ,

asai ntl yBened i cti ne nun

,or Mati l daof Magd eburg, or afr i end of Beatri ce whose

death i s mentioned i n the Vi taNnova. See th e notes of Scartaz z i n i andPl umptre (L , 337 sq . ) W i tte

’s Dante-Forschungen , IL ,

311 sqq .,and Preger ,

Dante’s Matelda, M

‘

unch en , 1873 .

1 Par . XL,92.

1 Purg. XIX.,99 ; XXIV.

,22.

1 Inf . VII .,44—48.

1 Inf . XL,8, 9. Seeabove p . 386.

1 Ni cholas I II . , of the Ors i n i (Bear) fam i l y of Rome,

the son of th e she

bear (area), so eager to advance the cubs (orsatti ) (Inf . XIX.,70 firs t

mi s took Dante for Bon i face VIII . (XIX. ,52 sqq . )

And h e cr i ed out : Dost thou stand th ere al read y ,Dos t thou stand thereal ready , Bon i faceBy many y ears th e record l i ed to m e.

Art thou so earl y satiate wi th that weal thFor wh i ch thou d i d s t not fear to take by fraudThe beauti ful Lad y [th e Church ] and then work h er was

In Par . XXX.,145 sqq .

,Bon i face i s supposed to be al read y wi th S imon

Magus , and to be fol l owed soon by Cl ement.


The pope whom he mos t severely condemns and purs ues adozen times i n al l parts of h i s poem wi th fiery i nd ignation andalmos t pers onal an imos i ty, i s Pope Bon i face VI II . H e regardedh im as the ch iefauthor of h is exi le and al l h i s mi s for tune, andas the wors t of S imon iacs .

Bon i face was aman of great learn ing, ab i l i ty and energy,but

violent,cruel , amb i tious , avar icious and utter ly uns crupulous .

H e s cared the humble Ccel es ti n V. i nto ares ignation , wh ichwas never before heard of i n the h i s tory of the papacy, shut h imup i n acas tle, bought the papal crown, created two of h is veryyoung nephews card i nals

,appointed twenty bi shops and arch

bi shops from among h i s relatives and fr iends , and left themenormous sums of money. H e made war upon the powerfulfam i ly of the Colonnas and confiscated thei r vas t possess ions .

H e i ntroduced the firs t papa] jubi lee wi th i ts abuses , i n the veryyear i n wh i ch Dante began the Commedia. H e carri ed the sy stem of papal absoluti sm to the utmos t extreme of audaci ty andpretens ion , and claimed i n the bul laUnam Sanctam (1302) theh ighes t temporal as wel l as eccles ias tical power on earth . A

comm i s s ion of i nves tigation after h i s death , composed of I tal iansand Frenchmen wel l acquainted wi th h im,

charged h im wi th thewors t of cr imes and even wi th i nfidel i ty. H i s haughty reignended i n hum i l iation

,i nsult and gr ief— the very oppos i te of the

s ceneat Canossa. The publ ic Op i n ion of h i s contemporar ies i sexpressed i n the sentence :

“ H e entered l ikeafox, he reignedl i keal ion

,he d ied l ike adog.

”

Dante and Bon i face were pol i tical,eccles ias tical and moral

antipodes,but the poor ex i le tr iumphed over the m ighty pope i n

the judgment of pos ter ity. Dante cal led h is antagon i s t thepr ince of modern Phar i sees , aus urper of the papal chair

, who

bought and then abused the church,and turned the cemetery

of St. Peter, the Vatican h i ll, i nto acommon sewer of cor

r uption .

1

Nevertheles s he jus tly condemns wi th the same impar tial i tyPh i l ip the Fai r

,of France

,that modern Pi late

,

”for hi s crueltreatment of the aged pope at Anagn i .2 H e d i s tingui shed

1 See the pas sages quoted on p . 364, note1 Purg. XX.

,87 sqq .


Ah , Constantine l of howmuch woe was mother ,Nat thy convers ion , but that marriage-dowerWhi ch the first weal thy Father took from thee l 1

H e bel ieved that the gi ft, i f ever made, was un lawful ,althoughi t i s i ncorporated i n the canon law (the Decretum Gratian i ).H ow would he have rejoiced i f he could have seen the book ofthe Roman cr itic and human i s tLaurenti us Valla(Lorenzo del laValle

,d . 1457) who proved beyond contrad iction that the dona

tion of Cons tantine was noth ing butah ierarch ical fable.

1

The pr i nci pal evi l which resulted from the temporal power ofthe popeand h i s connection wi th al l the pol i tical quarrels andi ntr igues of theage, was S imony, or the s in of Simon Magus , whowi shed to buy the H oly Ghos t for lucrative purposes and i ncur redthe fearful rebuke of St. Peter . Thy s i lver per i sh wi th thee,because thou has t thought to obtain the gi ft of God with money.

Thou has t nei ther part nor l ot i n th i s matter : for thy heart i snot r ight before God . Repent therefore of th i s thy wickedness , and pray the Lord , i f perhaps the thought of thy hearts hal l be forgiven thee. For I see that thou art i n the gal l ofbi tternes s and i n the bond of i n iqu ity (Acts vi i i : 20 Th ispassage i s the text of Dante’s i nvectives agai ns t the popes who

1 Inf . XIX 115—118

Ahi,Constanti n

,d i quantamal fu matre,

Non latuaconver s i on ,maquel ladate

Che do top res s i tp r ime r iccapatre I

In M i l ton ’s tran s lati on

Ah Con stanti ne ! of how much i l l was cause,Not thy convers i on , but those r i ch domai n sThat the firs t weal thy pope received of thee

1 Declamatio defalso cred i taet ementi taCons tanti n i donati ons . It was wri tten about 1440, wh i l e the au thor was i n th e servi ce of the l iberal -mi nd edAl fons o V.

,Ki ngof Arragon , and repub l i sh ed by U l ri ch von H utten

,wi th

an i ron i cal ded i cati on to Pape LeoX.

,i n 1517 . It had agreat i nfluence upon

Luther,who received acopy th rough afr i end i n February , 1520. See S traus s ,

U l r i ch van H utten, p . 211 sqq. (4th ed . 1878) K i i s tl i n

,M . Luther

,L,324sq .

Cons tantine’s donation i s adm i tted to be aforgery ,as wel l as the pseudo

Is i dor ian Decretal s , by al l h i s to r i cal scholars of repute . See e. g. Streber i n

the new ed . of W etz er and Wel te’s Ki rchen lexi kon , vol . II I .,979-985 , and J.

Fri ed r i ch , Die Konstanti n i sche Schenkung, M itnchen , 1889.

TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA. 415made themselves gu i lty of the same s i n and i ncurred doublegui lt on account of thei r exalted pos i tion as succes sors of St.

Peter,and the i ncalculable i nfluence of thei r bad example upon

clergy,monks and lai ty. I t i s notor ious that many popes

made merchand i se of holy th i ngs , bought the papal crown , soldcard i nals ’ hats and bi shops ’ m i tres , and perverted the propertyof the church for the enr ichment of thei r nephews and other

members of thei r fami lies . Near lyal l the r ich palaces of Romannobles wi th thei r picture galler ies and treasures of art owe thei ror igin to papal nepoti sm. The wors t per iod of the papacy wasthat of the so-called pornocracy i n the tenth and eleven th centu

ri es, wh ich cannot be mentioned wi thout hum i liation and shame.

I t was then that the German emperors had to i n terfereand to

d epose thos e wicked popes , the paramours and bastard s of some

bold,bad Roman women . H en ry VII .

,at the sy nod of Sutr i

deposed three r ival popes,al l Simon i s ts

,and elected the

worthy bishop Bruno of Toul i n thei r place as Leo IX.,

the firs t reform ing pope under the d i rection of H i ldebrand,who

h imself s ucceeded to the papal chai r as Gregory VI I . (1073)and made war upon s imony

,but as wel l also upon sacerdotal

mar r iage,and the power of the emperor . W i th al l h i s zealagain s t

S imony,Gregory cou ld not prevent h i s s uccessors from relaps ing

i nto the same s in .

Dante condemns the Simon i sts to the eighth ci rcle of H ell,

where they are turned ups ide down wi th thei r heads i n anarrowholeand thei r feetand legs s tand i ng outand burn i ng— afitpuni shment for perverti ng the proper order of th i ngs by putti ng themater ial above the spi r i tual

,and money above rel igion . The

greates t s ufferers i n th i s p i tare the s imon iacal popes . The car

ruption of the Roman court contam inated the h igher and lowerclergy and thewhole church .

Dante looked toGermany forareformation of the Churchandares toration of theEmpi re, but he was doomed to d i sappoi ntmentin the hope he set on H enry VII .

,and h i s vicar i n Lom

bardy. I n the meantimeafter the death of Bon i face,the papacy

had been trans ferred to Avignon , and became subservien t to theFrench monarchs . Then followed the scandalous papal sch i sm,

the reformatory counci ls , the res toration and renewed cor ruption


of the papal power . At last the reformation came from Ger

many,but not from an emperor

, and i n amuch more rad icalform than the poet dreamed of.I n another s ense, however, he proved atrue prophet ; for i t

was by theaid of Germany,in the wars of 1866and 1870

,that

I taly ach ieved her pol itical un i ty and i ndependence.

DANTE AND THE JOACH IM ITES .

Dante s tood notalone i n h i s attitude to the papacy. Thereruns through al l the M iddle Ages aprotes tagai ns t the abusesi n the Church and ades i re for areformation wh ich grews tronger and s tronger and ul timately culmi nated in the m ightyrel igious revolution of the s ixteenth century.

Before him and dur i ng h i s l i fetime there was acons iderablecommotion i n the Franci scan order wi th wh ich he was i n sym

pathy. Trad ition connects h im wi th th i s order .

1 H e was bur iedin the Franci scan church at Ravenna. H i s daughter Beatr icewas anun in aFranci scan convent of that ci ty. H e fullyappreci s ted the monastic pr i nciple ofapos tol ic poverty,and cons ideredwealth and temporal power acurse to the clergy. H e puts i ntothe mouth of Thomas Aquinas , who was aDom in ican , ah igheulogy of St. Franci s of As s i s i ; wh i leBonaventura,aFranci scan,i n the spi r i t of true brotherhood , without envy and jealousy

,

celebrates the l i feand deed s of St.Domi n ic.

1 H eas s igns one ofthe uppermos t places i n the Rose of the Bles sed to St. Franci s

,

the mos t ch i ldl ike, the mostamiable, and the mos t poetic monkof the Mi ddle Ages , the sympath i z ing fr iend of al l God’s creatures , whose h ighestaim and crown i ng glory was trans formationi nto the image of the Saviour, who marr ied Chri s t

’s poverty and

dyi ng left the care of th i s h i s lady -love (lasuadonnap incara) to every one of h i s di sciples . Dante

,who was probably

fami l iar wi th Bonaventura’s l i fe of the saint,thus tersely

descr i bes h i s character :

1 H e joi ned the lay-breth ren of the Franci scan Order , accordi ng to the

testimony of Frances co daButi , one of h i s ear l i es t commentators , who wroteabout 1385 .

1 Par . XL,40 sqq. ; XII .

, 31 sqq .

418 THE DIVINA com ma.

prophet. H e roused the conscience, he reproved wickednes s , hepred icted abetter future, l ike the H ebrew prophets . A briefnotice of th i s remarkable man and h is school may not be out of

place here.

1

Joach im was abbot of aCis tercian conventat Flore or Fiorei n Calabr ia, an older contemporary of St. Franci s (Renan callsh im h is Bapti s t),and l ike h iman enthus ias t for enti re conformi tyto Chr i st in spi r i tand outward cond i tion . H emadeapi lgr imageto the H oly Land

,fas ted forty days on Mount S inai , l ed ali fe

of self-den ial and devotion to h is fellow-men,s tud ied with

s pecial z eal the prophetic portions of the Scr iptures , Opposed thewor ld l iness and earthly posses s ions

,the s imony

,nepoti sm and

avar ice of the clergy, and pred icted areformation . H e d ied

about 1202. H e was revered by the peopleas awonder-work ingprophet and sai nt. Neander says of h im : Gr ief over the

corruption of the Church, longing des i re for better times , profound Chr i s tian feel ing

,amedi tative m ind

,and aglowing

1 The Li terature on th i s chapter of med iaeval church h i story i s qui te exten

s ive,al though s everal poi nts need to be cl eared up . The ActaSanctomm for

May 29th give many documents . Wad d i ng, th e h i s tor ian of the Franci scanOrd er , treats the h i s tory of the Spi r i tual party wi th sympathy , AnnaleeOrd i n is M i n . IV.

,6 sqq . Mauri qne, Annal ee Ci s terci enscs , Regensburg, 1741.

Gervai se, H is toi re de l ’Abbe’

Joachim,Par i s , 1745 , v. vol . Engel hard t, in

h i s Ki rchengesch i chtl i che Abhand l nngen ,

”Er langen , 1832 pp . 1— 150 ; 265

291. Hahn,Geschi chte des Ketz er im M i ttelal ter (Stuttgart, vol . I I .

69-175 . Neander , Church H i s tory , Iv. 220-232 (Torrey’s tran s lation ).

Dti l l i nger , Pope Fables and Prop hecies of the Mi dd l e Ages , Eng. trans l . byP l ummet , Am . ed . by H . B. Sm i th , N. York, 1872, pp . 364391 ; an d h i sAkad .Vortrc

‘

ige, 1888, I 95 sqq . Rouss el ot, H i s toi re de l’ évangi le eta-nel , Pari s ,

1 861,I . Renan , Joachim do F lore ci 1

’ évangi le étemel , i n the Revue d es deux

m ondes , Jul y , 1866 (the same somewhat en larged i n h i s Ncuvel l es études

d ’ hi s toi re rel igi euse,”Pari s , Preger , Das Evangel ium wi ernum and

Joachim con F lor i s,in the Abhand l ungen der Kl i n igl . Bay er i schen

Akad em i e der M i i nchon 1874. Renter,Gesch. der Auflclc

‘

i rungim

M i tfelal ter (Ber l i n , vol . IL ,191—218. Mcl l er in Sohafl-H erz og, s ub

“Joach im von Fl or i s .

” Tocco,L’eres ianel med i c evo, Fi renze, 1884. P .

H ei n ri ch Den ifle, Dos Evangel i um z iemum and d ie Cbmmias i on zu Anagn i ,wi th the Protocol l dcr Commi s s i on zu Anagn i , in the Amh ivf ti r Li teraturund Ki rchengeechi ch te des M i ttc lal ters ed . by Den ifle and Ehr l e, vol . I .

pp .49—142. Franz Eh r l e, Di e Sp i ri tual en, im Verh i i l tn ies zam Franci scaner Orden and an den Frati cd len, i bid . pp . 509-570. The las t two treati s es

p ub l i sh important documents .

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA. 419imagi nation

,such are the pecu l iar character i sti cs of h is spi ri t

and of h i s wr i tings .

”1

Joach im wrote three works : The Harmony of the Old andNew Testament ; Expos i tion of the Apocalypse ; Psalter of TenChord s . To the las t are attached two hymns of Parad i se, thesecond of wh ich was , as Renan conjectures , one of the sources

of Dame ’s Commed ia. Several other works of uncertai n author

s h ip,especially commentaries on I saiah and Jeremiah , were

also ascr ibed to h im.

“

H e wi shed to be orthodoxand remained i n the commun i on of

the Cathol ic Church , but h i s apocalyptic Op in ions could eas i lylead as tray and be uti l i zed for heretical purposes . After h i s

d eath he was condemned by the fourth Lateran Counci l (1215)for tr i thei sm.

‘ H e gave great offence by h i s attacks on the

papacy and h is pred icti on of the Eternal Gospel .An older contemporary, St. H i ldegard, abbess of the Rupert

convent near B ingen on the Rh i ne (b. 1098, d . took as imi lar pos i tion on the church ques tion , and was general lyrevered as aprophetess . Pope Eugene III . and -St. Bernardof Clai rvaux

, wh i le preach ing the second crusade i n Germany,recogn ized her d ivine mi ss ion,and persons ofal l ranks flocked toher for advice

,i nterces s ion, consolation,and l ight on the future.

‘

Joach im attacked as severely as Dante the corruption of the

papacy, although i t was better repres ented i n the early than i nthe latter part of the th i rteenth century. H e

,too

,traced the

decay of morals and di scipl ine to the temporal power and thelove of money

, wh ich i s“aroot of al l k i nds of evi l .” (1 T im .

vi . H e complai ns of the exactions of the Roman cur ia.

1 Church H is tory , IV.,220 (Am .

On h i s works , see Engel hard t, l . c. ; Hahn , l . c. II I . ,84Neander, IV. , 221

Renter , IL , 356 and Den ifle, 91 .

H e wi shed to escape the i nference, from the un i ty of es sence,that the

i ncarnati on of the Son wou l d impl y an i ncarnati on of the Father and Sp i r i tas wel l . It i s uncertai n whether he wroteaSpecial book agai ns t Peter theLombard , or whether h i s vi ews on the Tri n i ty were s imp l y gathered from h i sPaal ter ium decem chordar um. See Hahn, l . c. p . 87 sqq . , and Hafel e, Concil ien~

ges ch. V.,180 (second ed . by Kntipfler). The Sy nod of Ar l ee, 1260, condemned

the doctr i naJoachimi ti caof the threeages .

SeeNeander , IV. , 217 sqq .

420 TH E DIVINA COMMEDIA.

The whole world i s polluted wi th th is evi l . There i s no citynor vi llage where the church does not pus h her benefices , collecther revenues . Everywhere she wi ll have prebends , end lessi ncomes . O God , how long does t thou delay toavenge the bloodof the i nnocent wh ich cr ies to thee from beneath thealtar of the

(Roman) capi tol!”1 H e condemns i ndulgences d i spensed from

Rome,and rebukes the proud and carnal card inal s andObi shops

who seek thei r own i nstead of the th i ngs of Chr i s t. H e often

compares the Roman Church wi th the Babylon and the harlotof the Apocalypse

,who commi ts forn ication wi th the k ings of

the earth,and he pred icts that the las t and wors t Antichr i st

wi l l s it i n the temple of God and the chai r of Peter, and exalth imselfaboveal l that i s called God . H eagreed wi th H i ldegardi n announcing aterr ible judgment and consequent pur ificationand trans formation of the Church and the papacy.

H e divided the h i s tory of the world i nto th ree per iods,wh ich

correspond to the persons of the H oly Tr i n i ty, the three lead ingApos tles — Peter, Paul , and John , and the three Chr i s tian graces— fai th, hope, love. The per iod of the Father extend s from the

creation to the i ncarnation ; the per iod of the Son to the year1260 ; the per iod of the H oly Spi r i t to the end of the wor ld .

The first per iod i s the per iod of the laity, the second that of theclergy

,the th i rd that of the spi r i tual monks under apapa

angel icas . The firs t was ruled by the letter of the Old Tes tament the second by the letter of the New Testament ; the th i rdwi l l be rul ed by the spi r it of the New Tes tamen t, i . e.

,the

spir itual unders tand ing of the Gospel of Chr is t (sp ir i tuale evan

gel ium Chr is ti,sp i r i tual i s i ntel l igentiaNovi Tes tamenti ). Th i s i s

“ the Everlas ting Gospel ,”to be proclaimed by the angel i n the

Apocalypse (Rev. xiv. It i s notawr i tten book, butadonumSp i r i tus Sancti , adonum conternp lati o ni s , and the order wh ich i sto proclaim i t, i s an eccl es iacontanp lativa, ap opulus sp i r itual i s .

’

The las t period i s the per iod of love represented by the be

1 See Nes nder , Iv. 222.

A d i s tinction shou l d be made between the unwr i tten Gospel of Joach iman d the wr i tten Gos pel of the Joach im i tes . H e was too modes t to i denti fythe Ever las ti ng Gospel wi th h i s own wri ti ngs . Comp . Hahn

,l . c. p . 158,

sqq. Den ifle,l . c. p . 56.

422 THE DIVINA comments .

Gerard,or Gherard ino

,of Borgo-San-Donn ino, aFranciscan

monk,publ i s hed at Pur i s , i n l 254,apopu lar ep i tomeof Joach im’

s

propheticand apocalyptic wr i ti ngs , wi th an I ntrod uction (Introductor ius ), under the ti tle,

“ The Everlas tingGos pel,”and an

nounced the near advent of the Eraof the H oly Spi r i t,which

would abrogate the economy of the Son or the New Tes tament,as the economy of the Son had abrogated the economy of theFather or the O ld Tes tament. By the Everlas ti ng Gospel hemeant the three ch ief works of Joach im,

wh ich were to take theplace of the NewTestament

,and to be the canon of the d i spensa

tion of the H oly Spi r i t.1

The publication excited agreat commotion i n the U n ivers i tyof Par i s and throughout the Church . Pope Alexander IV. appointed aComm i s s ion of i nves tigation at Anagn i , where he thenres ided . The res ultwas the condemnation of The Ever las tingGospel i n Gherard ino refused to recant

,and was con

damned to pr i son for l i fe. H e d ied thereafter eighteen years .

The fai lure of the prophecy des troyed i ts effectafter 1260 moreeffectually than the papal anathema. The expectations of the

peoplewere rai sed to the h ighes t p i tch i n November of that yearby aprocess ion of the Flagellants of Perugiathrough I taly

,but

the year pas sed wi thout usher ing i n the new era.But the spi r i t of Joach im and Gerard revived i n the party of

the Spi r i tuals and thei r s ucces sors,the Fraticel l i . Their

prophecies were renewed i n mod i fied forms , especially by PeterJohn de Ol iva, who was s tyled Dr . Col umbinus (the col umba, ordove, bei ng the symbol of the party,and of the H oly Spi r i t),andwere publi shed i n amys tic commentary on the mys ter ies of theApocalyps eabout 1290. H i s tory was now d ivided i n to seven

periods . The s ixth per iod was dated from St. Franci s of Ass i s i

Wer end l i ch ei n G'egens ti ick z u hem Ideenkrei s und der Li tteratur unserer deutschen Mys ti ker und

,der sogenannten Gottesfreunde

’sucht

,wi r d i n der Ga

schi chte,den Schnften and Anschauunyen der Sp i r i tualen manche f rappante

Verglei chspunktefinden .

”

1 The Introductor i us i n Evangel i um M nam i s l ost, wi th th e exception of

some extracts pres erved by Eymer i ch from the Roman Acts . See Hahn , l . c.

p . 164-174.1 The report of the Commimi on was publ ished from MSS . by Deni fle, in

1885 , l . c. p . 97- 145 .

THE orvn n com mon . 423

(b. and extended to the time when the temporal power ofthe papacy

,and wi th i t the general cor ruption of thewor ld, would

reach i ts heightand has ten the Divi ne judgment on the carnalChurch. Then would appear the true '

spi r itual Church of theH oly Spi r i t, free from the poi son of earthly pos sess ions , andwould convert the Jews and Genti les .

From year to year the Spi r i tuals waited for theadvent of theseventh per iod

,butwai ted i n vain . They l ed apureandaus tere

l i fe,accord ingto the s tr ict ru le of thei r foun der . They decl ined

to recogn i z eany pope s i nce John XXI I . (13 16 and were

fearful ly persecuted for more than ahund red years . The bonesof de Ol ivawere d ugup and burnt, and hi s wr i tings were proh ibi ted unti l Sixtus IV. (1471 himself aM inor ite,ordered anew i nves tigation , wh ich declared them orthodox.

The pers ecutions heightened theanti -papal sp i r i t of the partyand matured the Op in ion that the papal chai r was or mightbecome for aseason thevery seat of Anti chr i st i n the templeof God . Th i s opi n ion was confirmed under Bon iface VII I . byh is audacious claim of s upremacy over the whole world, h i styranny and immoral i ty. I t found expres s ion i n the wr i tingsof G iacopone daTod i , of the order of the Mi nor i tes , theauthorof the Stabat Mater

,and i n the Commed iaof Dante, hi s younger

contemporary. G iacoponewas excommun icated and impr i sonedby Bon i face, but pronounced bles sed by pos ter i ty .

‘ Dante wasexi led by the Guelf government of Florence under the i nfluenceof the same pope, but h i s exi le gave the wor ld the DivinaOom

Dante keptaloof from the ascetic extravagancies and apocalyptic fancies of the Joach im i tes and Sp i r i tuals . H e had tOO

much respect for Thomas Aqu inas and Bonaventura, too muchknowledge of theology, and too much tas te for art to fall i ntos uch extremes . Bes ides , he had pol i tical as pi rations wh ich

1 See p . 197 . Has e thus adm i rabl y characteri zes h im (Ki rchenges ch . , p . 309

sq ., 11th Giacop one daTodi (T1306 ) hat das hO

'

chs te G l i tch and ti ef s te

Lei d derjungfr iiul i chen Mutter bes ungen , d ie Wonneschauer h imml i scher Li ebeunddas Vergehn des Menschenherz ens i n G’ott er war ans gla'nz cnder Wel ts tel langdurch Schmerz and Wahns i nn hi ndurchgegangen , i s t com Pap s tegebanntand wi eei n wi ld es Thi er gefangen gehalten , aber com Volke, i n des sen Mund and Denkarter ouch ged ichtet hat, sel iggesp rochen warden .


l ooked towards the restorati on of the German Roman emp i re.But he agreed wi th the Joach imites i n thei r warfare agai nstthe corrupt papacy of Bon i face VIII .

,wh ich he calls “ as hame

les s whore firmas arock seated on amountai n h igh,

”1 and i nthei r zeal for areformation of the church i n the head andmembers .

DANTE AND SCHELLING. THE THREE AGES OF CHURCH

H ISTORY.

I n the confused rubbi sh of the propheticand pseudo-propheticwr i ti ngs of Joachim of Flore

,thereare notafew grains Of gold

and fruitful germs of truth . H i s d ivi s ion Of threeages of h i story corres pond ing to the three persons of the Tr in i ty , and the

three lead ing Apos tles , i s one of thes e frui tful germs .A modern German ph i losopher, who was aprofound s tudent

Of Dante,

2 has independently arr ived at asomewhat s im i lar,

though far super ior cons truction of the h i s tory Of Chr i stian i ty.

Schell ing s tarts from the fact that Chr i st elected three favor i ted i s ciples— Peter

,James

,and John— to whom he gave new names

(Rock,and Sons of Thunder), and whom he made sole wi tnes sesof some of the mos t important events i n h i s l i fe. They correspond to Moses

,the lawgiver, El ijah, the fiery prophet,and John

the Bapti st, who concluded the Jewi s h d i spensation by pointingto Christ.Peter i s the fundamental Apos tle

,the rock on wh ich the

Church was bu i lt, theApos tle of the Father, the Apos tl e of

author i ty,the Apos tle Of lawand s tabi l ity, the type of Cathol i

ci sm.

But the foundation of abui ld ing i s on ly the beginn ing,and i s

followed byas uccess ion,byam idd leand end . Theseare repre~

sen ted by James and John,or rather by Paul and John . James

d ied early, before he cou ld fully develop h i s m i ss ion , and hisplace was filled by Paul, whom the Lord had called before

1 Purg. xxxrr 148-150S icura, quas i roceai n altomonte,Seder cop r

’es so unaputtanas ci ol ta

M ’apparve, con lo cigl iai ntornop ronto.”1 Seeabove, p . 353

,403 .

426 THE orvms common .

Spi r ituals among the Franci scans , who peri shed in the flames Ofthe s take by the thousands , and could find refuge on ly wi th theGerman emperor , Lou i s the Bavar ian . I t was among these sectsthat the Opin ion firs tarose that the pope was thever itable An tichr i st and the beas t of the Apocalypse. The same Peter whowas cal led the Rock Of the Church , was soon afterward s called aSatan by our Saviour when be pres umed to turn h i s Mas ter awayfrom the path of the cross . In the former character he was tobe gu ided byDivi newisdom and power, i n the latter he followedthe i ns tinct of worldly prudence. But Chr i st says : I f anyman would comeafter me, let h im deny h imself,and take up h i scros s dai ly , and follow me.

”(Luke ix., The threefold

den ial of Peter has l ikewiseatypical s ign ificance. The RomanChurch has den ied Chr i st i n three ways : firs t

,by str ivingafter

pol i tical power ; then by us i ng the pol i tical power as executionerof her bloody decrees , and las t by yield ing herself as an instrument to the secular arm . But as Chris t i ntrus ted the samePeter who had thr ice den ied h im,

thr ice wi th the feed ing of h i sflock

,so the Roman Church, i n whose bosom so many holy

members have uttered s ighs and complaints over her cor ruptions

,has not ceased to be aChurch of Chr is t, and to hold

fas t to the foundation of the fai th . Perhaps the time i s not

far d i stant when s he wi ll, wi th Peter, weep bitter ly over her

den ial .John i s the Apos tle of the H oly Spi ri t

,the Apos tle of the

future, theApos tle of love, and represents the New Jerusalemfrom heaven, the tru ly cathol ic

,ideal Church of the un ion of

Cathol ici sm and Protes tantism. H ealone speaks of the Spi ri twhom the Son wi ll send from the Father , who proceeds fromthe Father, and who wi l l guide the Church i nto the wholeandper fect truth . H i s pos i ti on i s i nd icated i n the mysteri ous pred iction Of Chr i s t to Peter concern ing John : I f I wi ll that hetarry ti ll I come, what i s that to thee?

”(John xxi ., Th i s

was at an ear ly time mi s unders tood to i nd icate that John wasnot to d ie

,but the real mean i ng i s that h i s mi ss ion would begin

wi th the second advent, that i s , i n the las t age of the Church .

I t has no reference to the ex i s tence of John, but to h i s work,

wh ich can on ly beaccompl i shed after the exel us iveness of Peter

THE DIVINA com mon . 427is doneaway wi th, and the Church arr ives at the un i ty of theone flock and one Shepherd . (John x.

,

The Church of St. Lateran i n Rome has the firs t rank i n theCathol ic wor ld, as the Lati n i n scr iption says SacrosanctaLateranen s i s eccles ia

, omn i um urbis ct orbi s eccles iamm mater et

caput.”The splend i d temple of S t. Peter

,wh ich was the next

occas ion for the Reformation, s tand s i n the centre of the ci ty ofRome. The Church of St. Paul

,wh ich burned down under Pi us

VI I ., and i s not yet qui te rebuil t

,i s outs i de of the walls . At

some future timeachurch wi ll be bu i lt for al l three Apos tlesatrue pantheon of Church H i s tory.

1

Th is i s asummary of Schell ing’s ph i losophy Of Church H i story. I t i s

, l ike al l ph i losoph ical constructions wh ich an ticipatethe future known on ly to God

,more or les s fanci ful ; but i t i s

certain ly grand and i ngen ious and i nvolves atruth,wh ich i llu

minates the pas t and cas ts l ight on the future. I t impressesitself i ndel ibly upon the mi nd . I have i t from the l ips of suchhi stor ian s as the evangel ical Neander and the cathol icDh l l inger ,that they were i n sympathy wi th i t.11 The three ch ief Apos tles

1 See the two concl ud i ngl ectures of Sch el l i ng’s Ph i losop hi e der Ojfenbarung

in S i i mmtl i che Werke, Zwei te Abthei lung, vol . IV pp . 294—332. H e

claims or igi nal i ty for h i s vi ew,but say s express l y (p . 298) that he foun d i t

confirmed , even i n mos t of the detai l s,by the wr i tings of Joach im of Fl or is

as pres en ted i n th e fifth vol ume of Neander ’s Church H i s tory , wh i ch appearedin 1841 (i n th e Amer i can ed i tion i t i s vol . IV). I h eard Sch el l i ng

’s l ectures

in 1842at the U n ivers i ty of Ber l in and reported h i s vi ews of th e th ree agesof Church H i s tory i n 1844(14y ears before thei r pub l i cati on ) at the cl os e ofmy Inaugural Ad dr es s , The Pr i ncip le of Protes tanti sm, pp . 174— 176. I sawSchel l i ng for the las t timeat Ragatz , i n Swi tz er land (wh ere h e i s bur i ed ), afew day s before h i s d eath (Aug. 20

,when he to l d me that he sti l l hel d

fast to th i s i d eaan d d er ived much comfort from i t,but wou l d suppl emen t i t

by makingroomfor James,as the typ i cal Apostl e of the Greek Church .

1 Nes nder expressed as im i lar vi ewat th e cl os e of th e th i rd ed i ti on of h i s

H istory of the P lan ti ngand Trai n i ngof the Chr i s tian Chur ch . H e d ed i catedthe firs tvol ume of the revi sed ed i ti on of h i s Church H i s tory to Schel l ing i n

the same year i n whi ch the latter del ivered h i s l ectures on the Ph i l osophy of

Revelation H e say s i n the dedi cati on In what you publ icl y ex

pres sed respecti ng the s tad iai n the devel opmen t of the Ch r i stian Ch urch,

how much th ere was wh i ch struck i n harmony wi th my own vi ews !” I

migh t al s o refer for s im i lar s tatemen ts to Stefi'

ens , Schmi ed er , Lange,


and thei r work, the Jewis h Chri stian ity of Peter,the Genti le

Chr i s tian ity of Paul, the temporary col l i s ion of the two,and the

final consol idation of both branches by John— anticipate andfores hadow the pas tand future development of Chr i s t’s k i ngdomon earth .

Dante l ikewi se recogn izes three typical Apos tles who represent the three Chr is tian graces

,but he adheres to the or igi

nal tr io of Chr i s t’s firs t selection,and omi ts the Apos tle Paul.

H e regards Peter as the Apos tle of Fai th,James the Elder

(John’s brother)

.

as the Apos tle of H ope,

1 and John as the

Apos tle of Love. I n Parad i se he places Peter,as the keeper of

the keys of the glor ified Church,and John

, as the seer of “ the

beauti ful br ide who wi th the spear and wi th the nai ls was won ,”

next to the Q ueen Of Parad ise i n the mys tic Rose of the Bles sed .

11

H e sees John (wi th an al lus ion to the legend of h i s s leep ti l l thesecond advent) i n the chari ot Of the Church tr iumphan tas

An aged man al oneWalkingin s leep wi th countenanceacute.

The d i fference as wel l as the harmony i n the Cathol ic andProtestant es timate Of the Apos tles i s character i stic. A Pro

tes tant would s ubord inate James to Paul,and coti rd inate Peter

and Paul as Apos tles of Fai th,and joi nt Founders of the

Church, the one among the Jews , the other among the Genti les . Paul was not one of the Twelve

,and does not fit i nto

the regular s ucces s ion,but he i s of equal power and author

i ty wi th them,and as to the abundance of labors he surpassed

them al l . H e was s oon thrown i nto the background i n the

early Church,as asort of holy outs i der and dangerous i nno

vator,and was never thoroughly appreciated ti ll the time of

the Reformation . Even s uch fathers as Or igen ; Chrysos tomand Jerome could not conceive i t pos s ible that he s hould have soboldly and s harply rebuked the older Apos tle Peter atAntioch

,

and hence they perverted the scene i nto atheatr ical farce or s ubs ti tuted an imaginary Peter for the h i s tor ical Peter . Nor does

1 Dan te seems to have confounded h im wi th the wr i te r of the Epi stl e of

James,wh i ch emphas i zes good works . H e bel i eved i n the impos s ibl e Span

i s h l egend of Campos tel l o Par . XXV. ,17 , 18.

1 Par . xxxrr.-129 Purg. xxrx. ,

.143 sq ; comp . Par . xxv. ,112-126.

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