DANTE AND HIS IDEAL
 
 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT BAYNES, M.R.A.S. 
 
 Author of " Word-Pictures " 
 " The Evolutien of Religious Thought in Modern Indian? etc. 
 
 WITH A FRONTISPIECE AFTER GIOTTO'S FRESCO. 
 
 ILonlion : 
 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO., 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE. 
 
 1891
 
 BUTLER & TANNKB, 
 
 THE SBLWOOD PUNTING WOBKS, 
 
 FKOMK, AND LONDON.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNlVERSri Y OF CALIFORNIA 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 B3 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE object of this little book is twofold. 
 On the one hand, it appeals to those 
 who take delight in watching the 
 growth of ideals, and more particularly 
 in the fourteenth century ; and, on the 
 other, it endeavours to lay before the 
 reader a consistent view of Dante's 
 trilogy, according to the well-known 
 theory of the late Dr. Karl Witte, 
 which, in spite of all that has been 
 said against it, seems to me the one 
 most adequate to explain the facts. 
 
 As regards the poet's psychology, I 
 am indebted to a very interesting article 
 by Dr. Georg Simmel, which appeared in
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 the Zeitschrift filr Sprachwissenschaft 
 und Volkerpsychologie. 
 
 Wherever translation appears in 
 inverted commas, it is that of Professor 
 Charles Tomlinson, F.E.S., the trans- 
 lator of the Inferno ; in all other cases 
 it is my own.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PREFACE v 
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE 2 
 
 THE POET'S IDEAL 19 
 
 THE INFERNO . . ... . .28 
 
 THE PURGATORIO AND THE POET'S PSYCHOLOGY 49 
 THE PARADISO ....... 66 
 
 THE TRILOGY 75 
 
 BEATRICE AND THE SCIENCE DIVINE . . . 88 
 APPENDIX . 101
 
 voi, ch'avete gl'intelletti sani, 
 
 Mirate la dottrina che s' asconde 
 Sotto il velame degli versi strani. 
 
 ye, icho have the steady brain, 
 
 Weigh well the thoughts which 'neath the 
 
 veil 
 Of mystic verses here remain ! 
 
 Inf. ix. 61.
 
 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 IN Dante it has been truly said, f M:en 
 silent centuries found a voice" ; and 
 for nearly six centuries the 
 unfathomable song" has been growing in 
 favour, and has more than justified the 
 name of its author Dante, i.e. Durante, 
 the enduring one, and Allu(li,ifivi t jfche 
 wing-bearer. His peculiar interest for 
 our own day is this, that, though he 
 was pre-eminently the Poetof Faith, he 
 was the first to clearly enunciate the 
 profound truth that we only arrive at \ 
 Truth through Doubt. Indeed, I make 
 1 B
 
 2 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 bold to say, that he who will patiently 
 listen to the singer of the fourteenth 
 century will in the end learn more than 
 from a study of the dramas and lyrics 
 of him who is par excellence the poet 
 of the nineteenth. Let us compare for 
 a moment the masterpiece of the one 
 with that of the other. 
 
 Alike in the Divina Commedia and 
 in Faust, we have the description of a 
 
 Pilgrjmis Progress, and " from this 
 
 world to that which is to come." Ideal 
 creations as they both are, they are 
 
 nevertheless as real as they are ideal. 
 
 [nthe one case we have the revelation 
 of the intense soul, Dante ; in the other 
 " the verbal expression of the essential 
 man, Goethe." Much as we might like 
 to have a glimpse into the childhood of
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. 3 
 
 Dante and of Faust, the story of the 
 earliest years is, nevertheless, for the 
 most part left untold. When the veil 
 is lifted we behold both pilgrims of 
 middle age, in a state of profoundest 
 gloom as regards both mind and life. 
 The one can no longer live in the shows 
 of things and feed upon the husks of 
 the world. His country, his home, and 
 even his most intimate friends, are filled 
 with low desires and sordid ambition, 
 and more especially with the three vices 
 of Pride, Envy, and Avarice. He leaves 
 the pleasant groves and calm retreats 
 of what might have been the City of 
 Peace, and all the association of years, 
 and wanders forth an exile, shut out 
 from his native shores. Thus it was, 
 as pilgrim and stranger in the world of
 
 4 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Falsehood, the selva oscura, that he 
 built himself, out of his own bosom, 
 that edifice of undying Truth, home of 
 the heart, broad on the roots of eternity. 
 The other feels in the highest degree 
 the woe of the world, the irony of life, 
 and is more than " half in love with 
 easeful death." A burden to himself 
 and a mystery to his companions, he 
 has but one wish left to have done for 
 ever with the stage on which he has 
 played so impoten ta part. To the one 
 this present world is but a passing show, 
 an unreal shadow ; so the theatre of his 
 journeyings is " that awful other world," 
 bodied forth in Hell, Purgatory, and 
 Paradise. To the other it is ** the world 
 at large, as known to him, before whose 
 calm intellectual vision had passed the
 
 DAXTE AND GOETHE. 5 
 
 long procession of the ages." Both 
 pilgrims have their difficulties and dan- 
 gers, and the latter his frequent falls ; 
 but for both there is redemption at last, 
 and, even in heaven, a higher and more 
 mysterious pilgrimage. 
 
 But we cannot fail to be struck with 
 the great difference in the moral stand- 
 point of the two men. To Goethe sin 
 is after all a matter of no very great 
 importance, and we are not a little as- 
 tonished at the easy-going way in which, 
 after a long life of manifold backsliding, 
 Faust's immortal part is wafted to the 
 skies. To Dante, on the other hand, 
 all sin is of vital significance. To him 
 the laureate's words apply : 
 
 " The Poet in a golden clime was born, \ 
 With golden stars above ; \
 
 6 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, 
 The love of love ! " 
 
 Banished from his native city whilst 
 his country was torn asunder by faction 
 and strife, his poet-heart bled for the 
 suffering land, for the God-forsaken 
 people; and as to St. John on that 
 lonely isle of Patmos the vision of the 
 New Jerusalem, so came to the banished 
 Dante, in the stillness of noonday, whis- 
 perings of a higher and better life than 
 any he had known. Then it was that 
 he began to write that wonderful poem, 
 the subject of which is man, the pilgrim, 
 who, according to his actions, ascends 
 the hill which leads to everlasting life 
 or descends to " bottomless perdition." 
 jr Of Dante's biography little is known. 
 He was born at Florence, near the
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. 7 
 
 monastery of Badia, where the Chiesa 
 de' Bonomini now stands, on the 8th 
 May, 1265. His father, Aldighiero II., 
 died while the poet was still a boy ; but 
 his mother, Donna Bella, took care to 
 give him the best education that was 
 possible in those days. As his master, 
 she chose Brunette Latini, a well-known 
 poet and philosopher, the cotto aspetto 
 of the fifteenth canto of the Inferno. It 
 was not long before Dante made him- 
 self master of sej^eral laagtrages, and 
 learnt to delight in il suo maestro e il 
 suo autore, '\VTrgil.\ Giving himself to 
 the study of Aristotle and the classics, 
 he soon became known among color che 
 sanno. Astronomy, jurisprudence, medi- 
 cine, geography, and geometry, were aU/ 
 included in his curriculum. His most
 
 8 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 intimate friend was the philosopher 
 Guido Cavalcanti, whilst his guides in 
 the fine arts were Giotto and Casella. 
 
 " His Casella, whom he wooed to sing, 
 Met in the milder shades of Purgatory." 
 
 After wandering an^ejule^/in various 
 places in Lombardj, Tuscany, and Ro- 
 magna, he finally arrived at Ravenna, 
 where he remained under the protection 
 of the Signori da Polenta, until his 
 death, on the 14th September, 1321, 
 aged fifty-six. 
 
 But in order to fully realize the well- 
 nigh impossible task which our poet 
 }et himself in undertaking to write the 
 Divine Comedy, we must remember that 
 the state of literature and of the scholar 
 
 the fourteenth century was such, that
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. g 
 
 he who would own a copy of one or 
 more of the few manuscripts which ex- 
 isted, must either himself spend months 
 or perhaps years in careful transcription 
 of the text, or, if sufficiently well-to-do, 
 engage a professional scribe. The lot 
 of the literary man in those days was 
 anything but an enviable one. Some 
 one applied to Petrarch for a copy of 
 his treatise, De Vita Solitaria. His 
 answer was : 
 
 " God is my witness, that ten times 
 and upwards I have endeavoured, if the 
 style were not such as to give pleasure 
 to the mind and the ear, that at least 
 the written characters should please the 
 eye ; but all my attempts to overcome 
 the well-known evasions of that part of 
 the literary world known as the copyists
 
 io DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 have been vain. It may appear incre- 
 dible that a work that required only a 
 few months for its composition cannot 
 be copied in as many years. After many 
 delays, I left it as good as copied in the 
 hands of a priest. I know not whether 
 his promise will be held sacred, as befits 
 his sacred character, or be as fallacious 
 as that of a copyist." 
 
 The three earliest editions of the 
 Divina Commedia appeared in the year 
 1472, the first at Foligno, the second at 
 
 Jesi, and the third in Mantua. It is 
 not a little remarkable that in none of 
 these towns, not even in the home of 
 that poet who was destined to lead 
 Dante through Hell and Purgatory, has 
 there ever appeared a second edition. 
 Then follow Naples (1474), Venice
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. 11 
 
 (1477), and Milan (1477-8). In Dante's 
 native city, Florence, the first edition, 
 with Landino's excellent commentary, 
 appeared in 1481, followed by a second, 
 with valuable woodcuts, in 1497. Then 
 at long intervals came the editions of 
 1506, 1572, and 1595, of which the 
 second only contains the Inferno, and 
 it is worthy of remark, as characteristic 
 of the age, that the two last describe 
 the poet as a Florentine nobleman. After 
 this we have a break of 176 years, and 
 another of at least forty-one years. 
 Since 1817, however, the Florentine 
 press has, in this respect, been busier 
 than that of any other city. 
 
 It is perhaps not too much to say that 
 the state of Europe in the time of Dante 
 was one of barbnri 13 " 1 The Churi
 
 12 
 
 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 the World were at open warfare, so that 
 society was split into^ai} leasi^ JWCL 
 tigns, the ijruelts, or papal adherents, on 
 the one hand, and the Ghibellines, or 
 Imperialists, on the other. In these 
 two parties all men were interested, for 
 they disposed of the fortunes and lives of 
 all. Being a well-known 
 
 Florence, where he was born, our poet 
 was of course mixed up in these quarrels, 
 and, indeed, became their victim. Now, 
 this chaos of outer relations had its re- 
 flex in the spiritual life of those times. 
 Pardons and indulgences were sold so as 
 to be "adjusted to every vice" and to 
 " take the place of every virtue." Long 
 had the phantasy of Christendom been 
 trying to realize the torments of the 
 damned and the various forms of pen-
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE, 13 
 
 ance undergone by those who indeed 
 had left the world in the faith, but with 
 unexpiated guilt. Whilst reviving Art 
 was representing the last judgment on 
 church-doors and in mosaics, Literature 
 was rich in visions of purgatory and the 
 things beyond the grave. Nay, there 
 was a more immediate sensuous repre- 
 sentation of the fate of the disembodied 
 spirit in the spiritual plays, and more 
 especially the Easter plays, of France 
 and Italy. The stage consisted of three 
 stories, one above another. In the 
 middle, one saw man and his dwelling- 
 place, and the toil and turmoil of life. 
 Above were the heavens and the persons 
 of the Trinity, with angels and " spirits 
 of the just made perfect " ; but below 
 were the fire and brimstone, and one
 
 14 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 could hear the oft-repeated cry, " Dam- 
 nation ever; salvation never !" A most 
 magnificent play of this kind was per- 
 formed on one of the Florentine Arno- 
 bridges in Dante's lifetime. 1 Nor is 
 this to be wondered at. The daily in- 
 creasing disasters of the time naturally 
 led men to believe that the end of the 
 world was at hand Society hadjost its 
 
 ideals. Righteousness had given place to 
 expediency. Hence the prophet of his age 
 had to sing to eager listeners a message 
 of awful grandeur, of life-long signifi- 
 cance. He could not but show them the 
 Hell in which they were living, the Pur- 
 gatory through which, as he believed, it 
 was possible for them to go, in order 
 that, by repentance, they might reach 
 
 1 See Karl Witte's Gottliche Komtidic, p. 9.
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. 15 
 
 the Paradise prepared for the redeemed. 
 Cast forth by society, homeless, friend- 
 less, the poet sings his " mystic un- 
 fathomable song." As Carlyle^&randly 
 puts it : 
 
 " The deeper naturally would the 
 Eternal World impress itself on him ; 
 that awful reality over which, after all, 
 this Time-world, with its Florences and 
 banishments, only flutters as an unreal 
 shadow. Florence thou shalt never 
 see : but Hell and Purgatory and 
 Heaven thou shalt surely see ! What 
 is Florence, CAN della Scala, and the 
 World and Life altogether? Eternity : 
 thither, of a truth, not elsewhither, art 
 thou and all things bound ! The great 
 soul of^Dante, homeless on earth, made 
 its home more and more in that awful
 
 i6 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 jother world. Naturally his thoughts 
 brooded on that, as on the one fact im- 
 portant for him. Bodied or bodiless, it 
 is the one fact important for all men : 
 but to Dante, in that age, it was bodied 
 in fixed certainty of scientific shape ; he 
 no more doubted of that Malebolge Pool, 
 that it all lay there with its gloomy 
 circles, with its alii guai, and that he 
 himself should see it, than we doubt that 
 we should see Constantinople if we went 
 thither. Dante's heart, long filled with 
 this, brooding over it in speechless 
 thought and awe, bursts forth at length 
 into * mystic, unfathomable song ' ; and 
 this his Divine Comedy, the most re- 
 markable of all modern Books, is the 
 result." 
 
 When Dante began his great work,
 
 DANTE AND GOETHE. 17 
 
 and when he finished, it is not easy to 
 determine. On the authority of Andrea 
 di Leon Poggi, a nephew on the sister's 
 side of our poet himself, Boccaccio tells 
 us that he began it before the exile, and 
 that afi that time he had already com- 
 posed the first seven canti. What 
 seems to be pretty certain is, that the 
 idea and the plan of the work were 
 anterior to the exile, but that the execu- 
 tion was posterior. 
 
 Besides T+^ia" -irnrm, in which he 
 was certainly most at home, the gre^b 
 Florentine wrote both poetry and prose 
 in Latin ["prr^o we h&vej&maa*chia 
 a work full of the Ghibelline spirit, 
 which was composed about the time 
 when Arrigo VII. contemplated the sub- 
 jugation of Italy, between 1312 and 
 
 c
 
 1 8 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 1313, and a book entitled < <De vulgari 
 eloquentia. A few eclogues and the 
 beginning of a book in heroic verse are 
 all that remain of Dante's attempt at 
 Latin poetry. 
 
 Of his odes Leonardo Aretino well 
 says : 
 
 " Le canzone sue sono perfette e limate e leggi- 
 adre e piene d' alte sentenze, e tutte hanno gene- 
 rosi cominciamenti, siccome quella canzona che 
 comincia : 
 
 Amor, che muovi tua virtu dal Cielo, 
 
 Come il Sol lo splendore ; 
 
 Dove e comparazione filosofica e sottile intra 
 gli effetti del Sole e gli effetti di amore. El' altra 
 che comincia : 
 
 Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute: 
 
 E 1' altra che comincia. 
 Donne, che avete intelletto d' amore : 
 E cosi inmolte altre canzone e sottile e limato e 
 scientifico." 
 
 The experiences of his many-sided
 
 THE POETS IDEAL. 19 
 
 life Dante has given us most systemati- 
 cally in the Latin treatise, De MonarcMa, 
 which is intimately connected with the 
 Divine Comedy, and, together with his 
 letters, forms the chief groundwork for 
 the understanding of the poem. Amid 
 all the distractions of the State, the 
 feuds of parties, fights within and fears 
 without, and the blatant intolerance of 
 the Church, the poet saw no other way 
 of making his nation free, united, and 
 strong, than by placing it under the 
 protection of a universal Emperor, who, 
 supreme above all kings, princes, and 
 dukes, free from all passions and parties, 
 would administer justice and secure 
 peace, the basis of a people's progress. 
 This is clear, too, from a sonnet which 
 was probably addressed to Arrigo VII., in
 
 20 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 which the Emperor is compared to the 
 Holy Sepulchre of our Lord, whence 
 cometh salvation : 
 
 Tomato e '1 sol, che la mia mente alberga, 
 E lo specchio degli occhi onde era ascoso, 
 Tomato e '1 sacro tempio e prezioso 
 
 Sepolcro, che '1 mio core e 1'ahna terga. 
 
 Ormai dal petto ogni vil imbe sperga 
 
 II ciel, che m' ha ridotto il dolce sposo. 
 Sorgete Muse, surga il glorioso 
 
 Fonte, per cui tant' opra s'orna e verga. 
 
 Ecco le stelle lagrimose e stanche, 
 Venuto a ritornare il caro segno, 
 Or fatte illustri, ecco la bella luce. 
 
 clemenza di Dio, potria morte auche 
 
 Scurare il sol ? No signor mio benegno, 
 
 Questo e quel che impera, egli e mio duce. 
 
 And under the protection of a Church 
 which, divested of all arrogance and 
 deprived of all interference in worldly
 
 THE POETS IDEAL. 21 
 
 affairs, might the better watch over the 
 spiritual well-being of her children. 
 
 According to the taste of his time, the 
 jprophet piit.Jiis fundamental-idea-.- into 
 the highest sphere of mysticism, and, 
 in his visionary journey through Hell, 
 Purgatory, and Paradise, made it mani- 
 fest by means of a multitude of sublime 
 pictures. There should be two equal 
 framers and leaders of the world's- \ 
 progress, responsible to God alone : 
 namely, the Emperor, who by means 
 of wise institutions, supported by the 
 teachings of philosophers, should radiate 
 gladness upon earth ; and the Pope, 
 who, according to the middle-age theory 
 of revelation, would lead mankind to 
 virtue and the true faith, and so make 
 them worthy of heavenly blessedness.
 
 22 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 So Dante chose for bis mysterious pil- 
 grimage two guides, Virgil, the singer 
 of the Romans, who, in his epic, had 
 glorified the holy Roman Empire and 
 the first Emperor Augustus, and 
 Beatrice, the poet's early love and here 
 the symbol of Divine love and revela- 
 tion. Hence Virgil is only at home in 
 all that concerns mundane matters and 
 the Empire generally, and in going 
 through the Inferno shows his pupil 
 Dante all the sad results of lawlessness, 
 of rejection of the Divine will, of tyranny 
 and greed ; in short, of all the sins 
 which hinder the peaceful and orderly 
 evelopment of the human race. In the 
 rurgatorie are represented in various 
 gradations the means of grace and of 
 repentance, which God through the
 
 THE POETS IDEAL. 23 
 
 Church vouchsafes to those who only 
 for a time have been led astray by 
 passion. Being given over to his new 
 guide in the Earthly Paradise on the top 
 of the Purgatorial Mount, and having 
 seen there in a vision the symbolic his- 
 tory of the Church and her degeneration 
 up to his own time, and having received 
 from Beatrice the comforting assurance 
 that a lawgiver or Saviour would 
 shortly appear, he mounts up with his 
 friend by sheer force of inspired longing 
 toward heaven, traverses the heavenly 
 Paradise from planet to planet, through 
 the fixed stars and the heavenly spheres, 
 and sees there the glorification of all the 
 souls which in their earthly life fur- 
 thered the great work of the education 
 of humanity in its double aspect of
 
 24 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 temporal and spiritual happiness : wise 
 lawgivers and great emperors, the 
 saintly theologians and Fathers of the 
 Church, martyrs and defenders of the 
 faith, as well as all great statesmen. 
 At last, in the highest heaven, he be- 
 holds the whole company of the re- 
 deemed ranged round the Trinity, and 
 shows in inspired dreams the ideal of 
 spiritual and temporal order, which he 
 would so gladly have seen realized upon 
 earth, and to which all his life he had 
 devoted the best powers of head and 
 heart. 1 
 
 Not a little significant is the fact 
 
 that this bjirping^spiritrlaT^song was 
 given^Jx) the world 
 
 title of The Comedy, m_the original 
 1 Vide Weber : Weltgeschichte, p. 801.
 
 THE POETS IDEAL. 25 
 
 sense of a song of joy (/ce^uo? and <?$ri) ; . 
 for, though it begins in sadness, it enc^e 
 with the highest joy, and that it was 
 the heart of the people that found it to 
 be divine. When the title Divina Corn- 
 media was first used is not quite cer- 
 tain. It occurs in the Venice edition 
 of 1516, and in the frontispiece to that 
 of Giolito dei Ferrari of 1-554. Dante 
 makes a broad distinction between the 
 tragic, the comic, and the elegiac style. 
 The tragic style, which is that of Homer 
 and Virgil, he calls sublime, and speaks 
 of the "high tragedy" of the ^Bneid. 
 That of comedy, on the other hand, is 
 the " inferior " or " middle " style ; whilst 
 the " elegiac " is that in which the 
 sorrowful can best express themselves. 
 In thus modestly styling his poem
 
 26 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Commedia our author would have us 
 understand a "narration" or "represen- 
 tation," simple, calm, and clear, in the 
 homely speech of the people. Instead 
 of singing his great thoughts in Latin, 
 which was the language of his master, 
 Virgil, and indeed that of the cultured 
 classes generally, the poet-exile was 
 content with Italian, and so has for 
 ever spoken to the heart of the nation. 
 ,And the form of the poem, the simple 
 jierssa rima, greatly acfilsto the purity 
 
 a 
 
 I and depth of the ideas. The whole 
 structure consists of some fifteetrthou- 
 sand lines in tierce rhyme, consisting of 
 tercets in which the last word of the 
 middle line of each gives the rhyme to 
 the first and third lines of the following 
 tercet, so that all the tercets of each
 
 THE POET'S IDEAL. 27 
 
 canto continue the action by interpene- 
 tration. But, as the first tercet starts 
 the rhymes by its middle line, it follows 
 that the first and third lines of the first 
 tercet stand out by themselves as a pair 
 of rhymed lines, and at the end of each 
 canto there is a similar pair. 
 
 Prof. Tomlinson represents the struc- 
 ture geometrically, thus :
 
 28 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 The poem is divided into three great 
 parts : Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. 
 According to the Ptolemaic system 
 which prevailed at that time, 
 was considered to be the fixed 
 creation, and the sun a planet revolving 
 round her, which, together with the * 
 other planets, was " under the immediate 
 guidance of angels, archangels, thronesT"" 
 principalities, and powers." The eartn"' 
 and heavens were thus interdependent^ .- 
 and between them were the spheres of 
 air and of fire. From the latter pro- 
 ceeded meteors, lightning, and the 
 aurora, and beyond this sphere of fire 
 was what was known as the heaven of 
 the moon, inhabited by those who had 
 broken the vow of chastity. Mars was 
 the abode of Christian warriors ; Venus
 
 THE INFERNO. 29 
 
 of lovers ; Jupiter of righteous rulers ; 
 Mercury contained the souls of patriot 
 kings and active spirits, whilst Saturn 
 was the seat of contemplative saints. 
 The host of the triumph of Christ was 
 to be found in the heaven of the fixed 
 stars ; the Empyrean was the sphere of 
 God's visible presence, and the Primum 
 Mobile the sphere of the divine glory. 
 
 Now, when Satan was hurled " head- 
 long, flaming,. from the ethereal sky," he 
 is said to have fallen about where Jeru- 
 salem now stands, and that, shrinking 
 from the polluting contact, this part of 
 the earth's surface at once formed itself 
 into a great conical cavity, a gigantic 
 amphitheatre, with manifold gradations v 
 and diminishingly small arena Hell, 
 the everlasting dwelling-place of the
 
 30 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 unrepentant, the centre of the earth and 
 the centre of gravity, presided over by 
 the Prince of the powers of darkness. 
 Exactly opposite Hell, about where the 
 most southern Society Islands lie, there 
 was formed, by the portion of earth 
 thus displaced, a great and high moun- 
 tain, rising out of the wilderness of 
 waters, Purgatory, the MqujiLof Purjfi*- 
 . cation. As a result of this terrific con- 
 vulsion the Earthly Paradise was re- 
 moved to the summit of this mountain, 
 where the law of gravitation was no 
 longer in force, and whence the purified 
 soul, unfettered, would wing its way to 
 Heaven. 
 
 On Good Friday of the year 1300, 
 when he had reached the middle age of 
 thirty-five, and that period of life when,
 
 THE INFERNO. 31 
 
 as Dante tells us in one of his earlier 
 works, reason triumphs over the pas- 
 sions, the poet's vision begins. 
 
 He finds himself in a darksome lonely 
 wood, having lost the beaten path. 
 
 Ahi quanto a dir qual era e cosa dura 
 
 Questa selva selvaggia e aspra e forte, 
 Che nel pensier rinnova la paura ! 
 
 Tanto e anaara, che poco e piu morte. 
 
 " Ah me I how hard it were to make it clear, 
 
 What icas this strong, rough forest, tangled 
 
 o'er, 
 
 Which only in the thought renews the fear, 
 So bitter 'tis, e'en Death is little more." 
 
 The forest is symbolical not only of 
 the vices of the age and of the moral 
 and political chaos of Italy, but gene- 
 rally of the sins of youth. "Whilst 
 struggling on, he sees in the distance
 
 32 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 the delectable mountain, the top of 
 which is illumined by the Sun of 
 righteousness. At this glad sight he 
 takes courage, and loses no time in 
 pressing forward to climb this hill of 
 happiness ; but hardly is he out of the 
 wood when three wild beasts rush at 
 him and drive him out of the path. 
 That the panther, the lion, and the she- 
 wolf are symbolical of sinful passions 
 there can be no doubt ; what these sins 
 are is, after all, a matter of minor im- 
 portance. They are generally supposed 
 to be Sensuality, Pride, and Avarice, 
 the characteristic passions of youth, of 
 manhood, and of old age. Such fear 
 do these three beasts work in him that 
 he flees, and is well-nigh giving up all 
 hope of the hill of divine peace, when
 
 THE INFERNO. 33 
 
 suddenly he becomes aware of the 
 presence of one 
 
 Chi per lungo silenzio parea fioco ; 
 
 " Who hoarse appeared through silence, long 
 sustained " ; 
 
 and, lo ! it was the Bard of Mantua. 
 On seeing Yirgil, Dante exclaims : 
 
 degli altri poeti onore e lume, 
 
 Vagliami il lungo studio e il grande amore 
 Che m'han fatto cercar lo tuo volume. 
 
 Tu se' lo mio maestro e il mio autore : 
 Tu se' solo colui, da cui io tolsi 
 Lo bello stile, che m'ha fatto onore. 
 
 " light and pride of all the bards that sing ! 
 May the great love, long study profit me. 
 Which to explore thy volume me did bring. 
 In thee my Master, Author, too, I see, 
 
 For thou art he alone, from whom I won 
 The beauteous style that made me honoured 
 be." 
 
 Here, then, was Lo buon Maestro,
 
 34 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 famoso Saggio, Caro Duca mio, as Dante 
 calls Virgil, one who could help him to 
 overcome the beasts. But Yirgil at 
 once tells Dante that he will not forth- 
 with succeed in curbing these passions. 
 He must first be led to a sense of the 
 a wf ulness of sin by going down into 
 Hell, and after that he must visit 
 Purgatory to know the blessedness of 
 repentance, before he will be fit for a 
 vision of Heaven. Through Hell and 
 Purgatory, Virgil will conduct him, but 
 for the celestial regions 
 
 Anima fia a cio di me piu degna ; 
 Con lei ti lascero nel mio partire : 
 
 " A soul shall come, worthier for that than I; 
 fit place thee 'neath her guidance, quitting 
 mine.' 11
 
 THE INFERNO. 35 
 
 Now, upon a right understanding of 
 the character and function of Dante's 
 second guide really depends the mean- 
 ing of the whole work. For the weird 
 and gloomy circles of Hell and for the 
 steep "ascent of Purgatory there could 
 be no more fitting guide than Virgil, 
 the singer of JBneas' descent into HelL\ 
 To the middle age Virgil wa^'auiougs^ 
 poets what Aristotle was amongst 
 philosophers, and the forms of heathen 
 mythology were not looked upon as 
 figures bodied forth arbitrarily, but 
 rather as perverted truth which had a 
 meaning even for Christendom. Thus, 
 in Christian Dante's under-world we 
 find heathen gods and demi-gods as 
 demons, and our poet does not hesitate 
 to mvoke the aid of Apollo and the
 
 36 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Muses. But when we come to the 
 Paradiso, it is Beatrice, the glorified. 
 
 " The woman-soul leadeth us 
 Upward and on." 
 
 It is true she does not actually 
 appear until the end of the Purgatorio, 
 but it is most important that we should 
 notice well the way she is introduced in 
 the second canto of the Inferno. Here 
 Dante's courage fails. He says to 
 Yirgil : 
 
 Ma io perche venirvi ? o chi '1 concede ? 
 lo non Enea, io non Paolo sono 
 Me degno a cio ne io ne altri crede. 
 
 " Why should I go? from whom concession gain? 
 Fin not sEneas, and not Paul am I : 
 Nor I. nor others, worthy would me deign." 
 
 To this Virgil answers, that, if he 
 has rightly understood him, his soul
 
 THE INFERNO. 37 
 
 is infected with cowardice, which is the 
 root of failure in every noble enterprise. 
 He then goes on to explain in what way 
 he was led to come to Dante's rescue. 
 Whilst in Limbo, of which Dante says 
 in the fourth canto : 
 
 Quivi, secondo che per ascoltare, 
 
 Non avea pianto, ma che di sospiri, 
 Che 1' aura eterna facevan tremare : 
 
 E cio avvenia di duol senza martiri, 
 
 Ch' avean le turbe, ch' eran molti e grandi, 
 E d' infant! e di femmine e di viri. 
 
 " Here as by listening I became aware, 
 
 There was no lamentation, save of sighs, 
 Which caused a trembling in the eternal air: 
 From sorrow without pangs did this arise 
 From out the crowds which numerous were 
 
 and great, 
 Of infants, ivomcn, and of men likewise." 
 
 Yirgil says:
 
 38 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Io era tra color che son sospesi 
 
 E Donna mi chiamo beata e bella, 
 Tal che di comandare io la richiesi. 
 
 Lucevan gli occhi suoi piu che la Stella 
 E cominciommi a dir soave e piana, 
 Con angelica voce, in sua favella : 
 
 anima cortese Mantovana, 
 
 Di cui la fama ancor nel mondo dura, 
 E durera quanto il mondo lontana, 
 
 L'amico mio, e non della ventura, 
 Nella diserta piaggia e impedito 
 Si nel cammin, che volto e per paura : 
 
 E temo che non sia gia si smarrito, 
 
 Ch' io mi sia tardi al soccorso levata, 
 Per qnel ch' i' ho di lui nel Cielo udito. 
 
 Or muovi, e con la tua parola ornata 
 
 E con cio c' ha mestieri al suo cam pare, 
 L'aiuta si ch'io ne sia consolata. 
 
 I' son Beatrice, che ti faccio andare : 
 
 " A saintly Lady called me, one so fair, 
 I begged Tier to command my service free. 
 Her eyes shone brighter than the star ; and clear 
 And soft her angel voice, ichen she began 
 In her own tongue thus to address mine ear:
 
 THE INFERNO, 39 
 
 courteous spirit of the Mantuan ! 
 
 Whose fame yet in the world hath known no 
 
 . end, 
 Fame that icill last as long as motion can ; 
 
 A friend of mine, of Fortune not a friend, 
 Now on the desert slope upon his way 
 Is hindered, and through dread would back- 
 icard ivend : 
 
 He may, I fear, be so much gone astray, 
 That I have risen to his aid too late, 
 From that ichich I of him in Heaven heard 
 say. 
 
 Noiv hasten thou, and with thy speech ornate, 
 And with ivhat else it needs for his release, 
 Assist him, so that I be consolate / 
 
 / iclio note bid thee go am Beatrice.' " 
 
 Most willingly does Virgil undertake 
 to do this, at the same time expressing 
 his surprise that Beatrice should come 
 to such a place as Limbo to find him. 
 Then she unfolds to him how in Heaven
 
 40 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 " a gentle Lady," symbolical of divine 
 Mercy, called her to the mission. 
 
 Donna e gentil nel Ciel, che si Compiange 
 Di questo impedimento, ov' io ti mando. 
 Si che duro giudicio lassu frange. 
 
 Questa chiese Lucia in suo dimando, 
 
 E disse : Ora abbisogna il tuo fedele 
 Di te, ed io a te lo raccomando. 
 
 Lucia nimica di ciascun crudele 
 
 Si mosse, e venne al loco dov' io era, 
 Che mi sedea con 1'antica Rachele. 
 
 Disse : Beatrice, loda di Dio vera, 
 
 Che non soccorri quei che t' amo tanto, 
 Ch' uscio per te della volgare schiera ? 
 
 Non odi tu la pieta del suo pianto ? 
 
 Non vedi tu la morte che '1 combatte 
 Su la fiumana, onde il mar non ha vanto ? 
 
 " A gentle Lady doth in Heaven complain 
 
 Of this impediment, to ichich thou'rt sent ; 
 So there stern judgment broken doth remain. 
 With her request to Lucia she went 
 
 And said : ' Thy faithful one needs aid from 
 thee.
 
 THE INFERNO. 41 
 
 I recommend Mm unto thy intent? 
 Lucia, the foe of every cruelty, 
 
 Bestirred herself, and came to the place 
 
 where I 
 With ancient Rachel sat in company. 
 
 And said : l True praise of God, Beatrice, why 
 Dost thou not succour him ivho loved thee so, 
 That he, for thee, the vulgar herd did I fly '? 
 
 Dost thou not hear his piteous cries of ivoe ? 
 Nor see death combat him that flood beside, 
 O'er which the ocean can no boasting 
 know?'" 
 
 The four ladies here mentioned are 
 at once real and symbolical. The "gen- 
 tle Lady " is the Virgin, who represents 
 the Mercy of God; Lucia is the mar- 
 tyr of Syracuse, symbolizing radiating 
 Grace ; Rachel is at once the wife of the 
 patriarch and the Contemplative Life ; 
 whilst Beatrice is both the poet's early
 
 42 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Love and Heavenly Wisdom or the 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 Arrived at the vestibule of HelVthe 
 poets behold over its gloomy portals the 
 awful inscription : 
 
 Lasciate ogni speranza, voi che entrate. 
 " Abandon hope, all ye who enter here ! " 
 
 Here they meet with those sad souls 
 who are " without praise and without 
 shame," who are neither faithful to God 
 jnor man, but just live for themselves. 
 Hans truly says, " Any Kibla that may 
 be is better than self-worship"; and cer- 
 tainly this was Dante's view, for, never 
 were more trenchant words spoken of 
 any one than those he puts into the 
 mouth of Virgil on this occasion : 
 
 Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa. 
 " Speak ice not of them : only look and pass ! "
 
 THE INFERNO. 43 
 
 Passing over the first circle with the 
 spirits of the unbaptized poets and 
 philosophers, we come to those who are 
 eternally agitated by the most cruel 
 winds in foulest atmosphere. And 
 here we have one of Dante's tenderest 
 touches, which show us how deep a heart 
 lay within that lofty frame. Amongst 
 the luxurious and the lustful our poet 
 recognises Francesca da Rimini, and 
 hears her pathetic story : 
 
 Amor, che al cor gentil ratto s'apprende, 
 Prese costui della bella persona 
 Che mi fu tolta, e '1 modo ancor m'offende. 
 
 Amor, ch'a nullo amato amar perdona, 
 Mi prese del costui piacer si forte, 
 Che, com vedi, ancor non m'abbandona. 
 
 Amor condusse noi ad una morte : 
 
 Caina attende chi in vita ci spense. 
 Queste parole da lor ci fur porte.
 
 44 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Da che io intesi quelle anime offense, 
 
 Cliinai il viso, e tanto il tenni basso, 
 Finche '1 Poeta mi disse : Che pense ? 
 
 Quando riposi, cominciai : lasso, 
 
 Quanti dolci pensier, quanto disio 
 Meno costoro al doloroso passo ! 
 
 Poi mi rivolsi a loro, e parla' io ; 
 
 E cominciai : Francesca, i tuoi martiri 
 A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio. 
 
 Ma dimmi : al tempo de' dolci sospiri, 
 A che e come concedette Amore, 
 Che conosceste i dubbiosi desiri ? 
 
 Ed ella a me : Nessun maggior dolore, 
 Che ricordarsi del tempo felice 
 Nella miseria ; e cio sa '1 tuo Dottore. 
 
 Ma se a conoscer la prima radice 
 
 Del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto, 
 Faro come colui che piange e dice. 
 
 Noi leggevamo un giorno, per diletto, 
 
 Di Lancilotto, come amor Io strinse : 
 Soli eravamo e senz' alcun sospetto. 
 
 Per piu fiate gli occhi ci sospinse 
 
 Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso : 
 Ma solo uu punto fu quel che ci vinse.
 
 THE INFERNO. 45 
 
 Quando leggemmo il disiato riso 
 
 Esser baciato da cotanto amante, 
 Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, 
 
 La bocca mi bacio tutto tremante : 
 
 Galeotto fu '1 libro e chi lo scrisse : 
 Quel giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante. 
 
 Mentre che 1'uno spirto questo disse, 
 L'altro piangeva si, che di pietade 
 I'venni men cosi com' io morisse ; 
 
 E caddi, come corpo morto cade. 
 
 " ' Love, that on gentle Jieart swiftly attends, 
 Seized him by reason of the person fair 
 Ta'en from me in a mode that still 
 offends. 
 
 Love that lets no beloved 'scape loving care. 
 Seized me / so strong my love of him be- 
 came 
 That as thou seest, it quitteth me not here. 
 
 Love brought us unto death, one and the same / 
 Caina tvaitsfor him, tvho took our life.' 
 Such were the ivords from them to us that 
 came.
 
 46 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 When I had heard those souls oppressed ivith 
 
 grief, 
 
 Ibentmy head,so long held down my face, 
 Till l What dost think ? ' was the Poet's 
 
 question brief. 
 
 When I replied, I thus began : l Alas ! 
 How many dulcet thoughts, hoiv much 
 
 desire 
 
 Conducted them unto the dolorous pass ! ' 
 Then unto them I turned me to inquire, 
 And spake : ' Francesca, all thine agonies 
 Make me to weep sad tears, and ruth in- 
 spire. 
 
 But tell me : at the time of the sweet sighs, 
 By ichat, and in idiot way, did love con- 
 cede 
 
 That dubious longings you should recog- 
 nise ? ' 
 
 And she to me, ' No greater grief we heed, 
 Than to be minded of the happy time 
 In misery - and such thy Teacher's creed. 
 But if to know our love's root in its prime 
 The wish so strong a hold on thee doth take, 
 Like one who weeps and speaks, Til do 
 like him.
 
 THE INFERNO. 47 
 
 We read one day, for delectation's sake 
 Of Lancelot, hoiv love did him compel : 
 Alone were we nought made suspicion 
 icake. 
 
 Full many a time that reading did impel 
 Our eyes to meet, and paled each face the 
 
 while : 
 
 What conquered us, one point alone can 
 tell. 
 
 When ice were reading of the longed-for smile 
 Which such a noble lover kissed of yore, 
 This one, who ne'er from me is separable, 
 
 Kissed me upon the mouth, trembling all o'er : 
 Galeotto ivas the book, and he who writ : 
 That day we read ivithin that book no 
 more.' 
 
 And all the while one spirit uttered it, 
 The other wept, and pity did so plead, 
 I fainted quite, as in a dying fit, 
 
 And fell, as falls a body that is dead! " 
 
 In the twenty-eighth canto Dante 
 depicts the sufferings of those who 
 brought about discord in the community 
 and schism in religion. The sin of
 
 48 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 schism was one which our poet's soul 
 abhorred : hence the awful picture here 
 drawn of the spirits that live in per- 
 petual self -laceration. Amongst these 
 are Muhammad'and Ali, who face each 
 other and tear their flesh, representing 
 the attitude of the Sunnis and Shias. 
 
 Vedi come storpiato e Maoinetto : 
 
 Dinanzi a me sen va piangendo Ali, 
 Fesso nel volto dal mento al ciuffetto : 
 
 E tutti gli altri, che tu vedi qui, 
 
 Seminator di scandalo e di scisma 
 Fur vivi, e pero son fessi cosi. 
 
 The horrible sights and sounds of the 
 ninth and tenth bolgie so affect the Pil- 
 grim that he speaks of his eyes as being 
 drunken with wounds, and of language 
 as failing him to describe the tortures 
 resulting from those sins which are
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 49 
 
 punished by la ministra dell' alto Sire, 
 wfallibil giustizia, " Righteousness in- 
 fallible, servant of the Most High." 
 
 On entering Giudecca, Dante follows 
 Virgil, who shows him Lucifer, formerly 
 " the most beautiful of all God's crea- 
 tures," now the most abandoned of the 
 fallen. Having reached his middle they 
 have found the centre of the earth, and 
 thenceforth mount " to see again the 
 stars." 
 
 In passing on to the 
 see for the first time the Star q 
 gleaming on the trembling waters. 
 
 " Watching, with eternal lids apart, 
 Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, 
 The moving waters at their priest-like task 
 Of pure ablution round earth's human shores." 
 
 Gross darkness is left behind, the dew 
 
 E
 
 50 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 is on tbe lotus, a rainbow smiles upon 
 the shining sea, that bridge divine from 
 Mannaheim to Asaheim, from the home 
 of man to the Home of God, as we have 
 it in the bold and beautiful Saga of 
 the North. What a beautiful thought ! 
 Early on Easter morning the pilgrim of 
 the Inferno, having girded himself with a 
 reed, symbolic of the Washing of Repen- 
 tance, issues forth with his guide on to 
 the Mount of Purification. '^-ILepejis 
 tance," says a Chinese proverb, "is the 
 
 ~' ~~ 
 
 May of virtues." " That trembling of 
 the ocean-waves (tremolar dell' onde)," 
 as Carlyle says, "under the first pure 
 gleam of morning, dawning afar on the 
 wandering Two, is as the type of an 
 altered mood. Hope has now dawned ; 
 never-dying Hope, if in company still
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 5' 
 
 with heavy sorrow. The obscure sojourn 
 of daemons and reprobate is underfoot ; 
 a soft breathing of penitence mounts 
 higher and higher, to the Throne of 
 Mercy itself. ' Pray for me,' the deni- 
 zens of that Mount of Pain all say to 
 him. ' Tell my Giovanna to pray for 
 me, my daughter Giovanna ; I think her 
 mother loves rne no more ! ' They toil 
 painfully up that winding steep, * bent 
 down like corbels of a building,' some 
 of them crushed together so ' for the 
 sin of pride ' ; yet nevertheless in years, 
 in ages and a3ons, they shall have 
 reached the top, which is Heaven's g^te, \ 
 and by Mercy shall have been admitted 
 in. The joy too of all, when one has 
 prevailed ; the whole mountain shakes 
 with joy, and a psalm of praise rises
 
 52 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 when one soul has perfected repentance, 
 and got its sin and misery left behind. 
 I call this the noble embodiment of a 
 true, noble thought." 
 
 Unlike the condemned spirits of the 
 Inferno, those in P^!ga4eFy^j^/<3*ee :> in 
 their sufferings. All punisliin^nLtj.s_uri- 
 fication. Amongst the gluttons Dante 
 recognises Forese de' Donati, who ex- 
 plains : 
 
 E non pur una volta, questo spazzo 
 Girando, si rinfresca nostra pena : 
 lo dico pena, e dovre' dir sollazzo ; 
 
 Che quella voglia all' arbore ci niena, 
 Che meno Cristo lieto a dire Eli 
 Quando ne libero con la sua vena. 
 
 The Furgatorio gives us so much of 
 Dante's psychology that we shall do 
 well to look at it in that light.
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 53 
 
 The soul is throughout one and indi- 
 vidual ; the rational, Grod-given soul 
 draws the nature-given faculties (the 
 sensitive and the vegetative) into its 
 own circle, and makes them one with 
 itself. To the Platonic view, which 
 ascribes several souls to man, Dante 
 makes the empirical objection, that if a 
 pleasant or painful sensation, or indeed 
 any engrossing perception, takes posses- 
 sion of consciousness, all other presen- 
 tative faculties are cut off (Purg. iv. 1). 
 But this does not prevent one's holding 
 distinct powers of the soul and their 
 complete substantiation : memory, for 
 instance, incites phantasy to recall the 
 past. When, however, one of the soul's 
 faculties is engaged, when there is a 
 strong sense-impression, the other
 
 54 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 senses seem extinguished^ and even 
 Imagination may so take possession of 
 us that we become oblivious of trumpet- 
 blasts around us; 2 in this case the soul 
 is no longer itself, self-consciousness 
 leaves it : 
 
 Un' alma sola, che vive e sente e se in se rigira. 3 
 
 The opposite state is when it is intera. 
 Hence for Dante, to~wKom~the oneness 
 of personality is of such great import- 
 ance, the intero assumes a moral aspect : 
 
 it is that which is true to itself and 
 becomes corrupt by nothing outside : 
 
 Mardocheo, che fu al dire ed al far cosi 'ntero. 4 
 
 Whoever is not capable of this con- 
 centration, in whom various thoughts 
 
 1 Purg. xxxii. 1. 2 Purg. xvii. 13. 
 
 3 Purg. xxv. 74. 4 Purg. xvii. 29.
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 55 
 
 are constantly succeeding one another, 
 will arrive at no goal, because the 
 energy of the one nullifies that of the 
 other. And as for the individual so 
 also for the race, the highest goal is to 
 reach Unity; for we must strive after 
 likeness to G-od, who is wholly One and 
 individual. 
 
 Nevertheless this concentration need 
 not be absolutely internal, but, as we 
 have seen, may affect an external object; 
 when, for instance, music is heard, the 
 soul is intera, because then the life- 
 spirits are almost all brought into action, 
 e la virtu di' tutti quasi corre allo spirito 
 sensibile che riceve il suono ; similarly a 
 wish may get so ardent that one becomes 
 well-nigh incapable of speaking of any- 
 thing else.
 
 56 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 The jmmortalitj_j3f-4b soul is to 
 Dante a self-evident dogma, which needs 
 neither explanation nor justification. In 
 the Inferno we read : " On this side are 
 the graves of Epicurus and all his 
 followers, who say that the soul dies 
 with the body." To the heretics belongs 
 also that Cardinal who had said as he 
 was dying, " If there is a soul, then I 
 have lost it for the Ghibellines." The 
 soul being an immediate gift of God, it 
 must be a sin against Him to doubt 
 its imperishability or even its existence. 
 To deny this Immortality is indeed 
 stupidity, a contradiction ; for, inasmuch 
 as many have already renounced the pre- 
 sent life for the sake of that which is 
 beyond, Man, instead of being the most 
 perfect creature which indeed he is
 
 THE PURGATORIO, 57 
 
 would be the most imperfect. But, he 
 adds, as to whether the immortal part 
 in us is corporeal or incorporeal, opi- 
 nions differ. To change this sorrow- 
 laden earthly life for the heavenly was 
 Dante's heart's desire ; it need therefore 
 be no surprise to find him eagerly de- 
 fending Immortality. 
 
 The relationship of ^o^and soul is 
 to him a purely dualistic one, although, 
 in a theologico-metaphysical sense, the 
 uind is the final cause of the physical. 
 
 *" ^^^.^^i-^^"^'^^^^ 
 
 When the formation of the foetus is 
 sufficiently advanced for it to be able to 
 move and have sensation as an animal, 
 God, delighted with Nature's art-work, 
 comes to him, and breathes into him a 
 new mind, the higher soul-faculty, whilst 
 the material part is formed from
 
 58 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 materials which were already there, and 
 at death becomes absolutely separated 
 from the spiritual element. Thus the 
 dead soul forms for itself a shadow- 
 body from the air by which it is sur- 
 rounded. In that lovely and touching 
 scene in the Purgatorio (xxi. 130) be- 
 tween Statius and Virgil, when the 
 former learns that Virgil is before him, 
 he bends at once to kiss his feet, but 
 Virgil holds him back with, " We are 
 both but shadows"; and he, "Now thou 
 canst measure the greatness of my con- 
 suming love for thee, which led me to 
 forget that we are shadows, and to 
 clasp shadows as though they were 
 solid bodies." In spite of this altogether 
 different origin, end, and essence, the 
 soul is most intima,fceiy--CDTinecteT3---w4tli
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 59 
 
 body, gathering up into a relatively 
 unified whole the elements presented to 
 it, as in wine the sun's heat unites with 
 the sap in the vine, it resolves itself into 
 different members having different func- 
 tions, as God shows Himself in manifold 
 fulfilment in the stars. 1 
 
 Amongst the imperfections of life 
 Dante feels most keenly the incapacity 
 of Language to adequately express 
 thoughts and feelings. Once he says : 
 " Had I but the fulness of power to ex- 
 press it, which I have to think it out ! " 
 Our mind is better able to think than to 
 speak. In a dedication to Can Grande 
 he says : "Multanamque per intellectum 
 vidernus, quibus signa vocalia desunt." 
 Language must, of course, share the 
 1 Par. ii. 133.
 
 60 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 common human imperfection, for it 
 serves to show us that of which we are 
 still in ignorance, and the state of 
 Ignorance is characteristic of mortals as 
 opposed to the heavenly beings, who 
 have absolute knowledge in the con- 
 templation of God. Hence the arTgsis 
 have no language, as they have nothing 
 more to communicate. Nevertheless, 
 he is not insensible to the incomparable 
 importance of Language to us; not 
 only because it has come to us straight 
 from God, but inasmuch as it is as 
 necessary an instrument for our ideas-s . 
 the horse is to the soldier ; and as the 
 best soldier uses the best horse, so the 
 best idea the most complete speech. 
 iNay, it is successful in effecting what is, 
 after all, the most powerful and won-
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 61 
 
 Herful, namely, in moving the human 
 /heart; hence Dante interprets the 
 Orpheus-saga allegorically, in the sense 
 of the wise man who with his voice 
 understands how to tame and lead cruel 
 and rough hearts, which are like stones 
 and wild beasts. Thus his pessimism 
 concerning Language is not thorough- 
 going; he recognises that words adjust 
 themselves to subjects, that in them 
 primitive wisdom is hidden, nay, so 
 great is the power of the ^sweetness _of 
 the simple word Amor, that he cannot 
 imagine that anything Amor does can 
 be other than sweet. In one point, 
 however, he makes a difference between 
 things and their linguistic expression, 
 namely, that a correct conclusion can be 
 drawn from false premises ; for, inas-
 
 62 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 much as the True in itself can never 
 follow from the false, it is only the 
 signs of the True which can come from 
 the signs for the false. 
 
 /It was only natural that a poet who 
 was to creatively mould his language to 
 purposes quite new, and thus to form a 
 new language, should be deeply sensible 
 alike of the power and the limitation of 
 linguistic expression ; indeed, it is of 
 such value to him that, in his opinion, a 
 translated poetic work would be without 
 beauty and harmony. Very significant 
 is the fact that the laudatory passages 
 on language occur in his early writings, 
 whilst those of complaint are to be 
 found in the Commedia. Here, too, 
 prose is said to have greater power of 
 expression than poetry, whereas for-
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 63 
 
 merly he had sought the model which 
 prose-writers should always follow in 
 the poets. In fact, the linguistic ques- 
 tion is to Dante a branch of that 
 dualism of which to him the world 
 consists : --sin.ee men differ from each 
 other infinitely, they need means of 
 communication mere movements or 
 gesticulation, such as the ..animals make 
 use of, would not be sufficiently in- 
 telligible, nor would the purely spiritual 
 intercommunication of the angels do ; 
 hence the vehicle of thought must be at 
 once rational and sensual : and this is 
 just what language is; as sound sen- 
 suous, as full of meaning rational and 
 conceptual. 
 
 But that human incapacity to be 
 equal in language to an overwhelmingly
 
 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 momentous question or subject, is 
 > carried up even into the faculty of 
 thought itself : " That which I must 
 now describe a voice has never ex- 
 pressed, a pen described, nor even 
 phantasy ever conceived." Dante calls 
 the Muses to his aid, having things to 
 sing which even to think are difficult. 
 Hence the inability of our intellect to 
 arrive at things to which phantasy can- 
 not help us. 
 
 Perhaps the cantietrai change to 
 which languages are subject^ is the 
 cause of their imperfection. As an 
 instance, our poet gives the variety of 
 names for il sommo Bene, namely, God. 1 
 
 1 In the twenty-sixth canto of the Paradiso 
 (130) our poet puts into Adam's mouth the 
 following remarkable words :
 
 THE PURGATORIO. 
 
 By mutual arrangement, therefore, the 
 jinmutable Latin was adopted, the 
 
 dialects retaining the difference, and 
 only the Language of the Heart being 
 the same for all. The infinite variety, 
 the constant change, which is every- 
 where inseparable from humanity, is the 
 more intimately bound up with the 
 linguistic question, as Dante obviously 
 accepts a fundamental connexion be- 
 tween language and people; he classi- 
 
 Opera naturale e ch' uom favella 
 Ma, cosi o cosi, natura lascia 
 Poi fare a voi secondo che v'abbella. 
 
 Pria ch' io scendesi all' infernale ambascia, 
 / s' appellava in terra il sommo Bene 
 Onde vien la letizia che mi fascia ; 
 
 Eli si chiamo poi : e cio conviene ; 
 
 Che 1' uso de ! mortali 6 come fronda 
 In ramo, che sen va, ed altra viene. 
 
 F
 
 66 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL 
 
 fies nations according to the word they 
 have for Yes, and characterizes Italy as 
 the land dove '1 si si parla. 1 
 
 On quitting Purgatory, Dante is 
 taken up by Beatrice into the Empy- 
 rean, where the moving principle of the 
 heavenly spheres is the longing after 
 God. Here he beholds that great com- 
 pany which no man can number, out of 
 every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, 
 those who have come out of great tri- 
 bulation, have washed their robes, and 
 now, in white stoles, stand before the 
 throne of the Divine ! Our poet feels 
 himself a child and appeals to his 
 celestial guide. She unfolds to him the 
 
 1 See a most interesting article in the Zeit- 
 schrift fur Sprachwissenschaft und Volkerpsy- 
 chologie, by Georg Simmel : Dante's Psychologie.
 
 THE PARADISO. 67 
 
 nature of the world, the origin of evil, 
 and the secret of Redemption. He 
 breathes " an ampler ether, a diviner 
 air," as he becomes aware how, led by 
 the pilot Love, souls set sail for different 
 havens in the great Sea of Being. 
 
 Amor is the beginning, middle, end of 
 Paradise ; Amor which moves the sun 
 and all the stars. With St. Paul the 
 poet says : " Though I speak with the 
 tongues of men and of angels, and have 
 not love, I have become as sounding 
 brass or a tinkling cymbal." 
 
 Looking upon Dante with the com- 
 passion of a mother for her delirious 
 child, Beatrice says : 
 
 . . . Le cose tutte quante 
 Hann' ordine tra loro ; e questo e forma 
 Che 1'universo a Dio fa simigliante.
 
 68 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 What is this ordine, the Eta of the 
 Yedic poets, the Asa of the " wise men 
 from the East " ? It is Love, where- 
 by the universe becomes an image of 
 the divine Principle, which turns Chaos 
 into Kosmos, and forms the world into 
 a well-ordered and beautiful structure. 
 Nay, when in the Purgatorio he explains 
 how he came to be the author of those 
 matchless lines : 
 
 Donne, ch' avete intelletto d' amore, 
 
 our j)oet ascrjlrnn nil hin f^mrrrrTTr in 
 verse to the same noble influence, to a 
 lofty love which takes possession of tlie 
 soul. 
 
 And now Dante is realizing and en- 
 joying to the full the New Life of 
 which he wrote in early youth. In
 
 THE PARADISO. 69 
 
 Paradise he sees not only women, but 
 men " with the intellect of love." And 
 this life of love leads him to a very 
 significant view of truth. According 
 to Dante it is possible for us all to 
 know truth, and from a knowledge of 
 particular truths, purified and strength- 
 ened by previous Doubt, to arrive at 
 the highest Truth, namely, knowledge 
 of God. 
 
 Io veggio ben che giammai non si sazia 
 
 Nostro intelleto, se il Ver non lo illustra, 
 Di fuor dal qual nessun vero si spazia. 
 
 Posasi in esso come fera in lustra, 
 
 Tosto che giunto 1' ha : e giugner puollo ; 
 Se non, ciascun disio sarebbe frustra. 
 
 Nasce per quello, a guisa di rampollo, 
 
 Appie del vero il dubbio : ed e natura, 
 Ch' al sommo pinge noi di collo in collo.
 
 70 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Full well I see at peace is ne'er our mind 
 Unless the Light of Truth upon it fall, 
 Outside of which we nothing true can find. 
 
 And as the lion in his lair doth rest, 
 
 So rests a human soul in Truth, when found ; 
 And found it can be, else were vain all quest. 
 
 And pure desire. As, too, upon the tree, 
 The shoot, so groweth Doubt at foot of Truth 
 And leads from height to height to make us free ! 
 
 Par. iv. 124. 
 
 The Peace of Paradise is in the Will 
 of God, toward which the whole crea- 
 tion moves : 
 
 In la sua volontade e nostra pace : 
 
 Ella e quel mare al qual tutto si muove 
 Cio ch' ella cria e che natura face. 
 
 In the Paradiso it is only natural 
 that we should find our poet's theology, 
 and it is worthy of note that Dante 
 shows a marvellous depth and breadth
 
 THE PARADISO. 71 
 
 in this respect. As regards the anthro- 
 pomorphism of the old Testament, for 
 instance, he says : 
 
 Per questo la Scrittura condescende 
 A vostra facilitate, e piedi e mano 
 Attribuisce a Dio, ed altro intende. 
 
 Respecting the composition of the 
 Paradiso there is a curious story re- 
 lated by Boccaccio on the authority of 
 Petro Giardino of Ravenna. Whilst 
 writing it, it was Dante's custom to 
 send a few cantos at a time to Messer 
 Can Grande della Scala, who, after 
 reading them, ordered copies to be 
 made. " In this way all but the last 
 thirteen cantos reached Messer Cane, 
 when the poet died without having 
 mentioned them to any one. Dante's 
 sons searched diligently for them, but
 
 72 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 could not find them ; whereupon several 
 of their friends requested them to finish 
 the poem. They had actually com- 
 menced their presumptuous task when 
 a vision appeared to Jacopo, who was 
 the more ardent of the two in the 
 matter, which revealed to him where 
 the missing cantos were to be found. 
 In the ninth month after the poet's 
 decease, one night near the hour of 
 matins, Jacopo went to the house of 
 one Petro Griardino, of Ravenna, an 
 earnest disciple of Dante, and told him 
 that in his sleep he had just seen a 
 figure of his father clad in white rai- 
 ment, and his face shining with a super- 
 natural light ; and that, on his asking if 
 he were still alive, he replied, 'Yes, but 
 with the true life, not with the life of
 
 THE PARADISO. 73 
 
 this world.' Whereupon he asked him 
 if he had finished his work before he 
 departed to the true life ; and if he 
 had, what he had done with the con- 
 cluding cantos, since they could no- 
 where be found. * Yes, I finished 
 it,' answered the luminous figure, and 
 forthwith taking the hand of his son led 
 him to the chamber where he had been 
 accustomed to sleep, and, touching a 
 part of the wall, said : ' Here is that 
 which you have so long sought for.' 
 And these words having been spoken, 
 the dream came to an end. Jacopo 
 was so affected that he immediately rose 
 and sought out his friend Petro Griar- 
 dino, to tell him of his dream, and re- 
 quest him to accompany him in the place 
 indicated. So they went together, it
 
 74 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 still being dark, to the house where 
 Dante died, and calling up the master 
 they proceeded to the place pointed 
 out. There was a piece of mat- 
 ting fastened against the wall, as they 
 had before noticed when Dante lived 
 there. On removing it an opening was 
 discovered behind, and in it they found 
 many writings which had become mouldy 
 from the damp, and would have perished 
 had they remained there much longer. 
 Having carefully cleaned them, they 
 perceived the numbers of the missing 
 cantos, and found to their joy that the 
 papers contained the conclusion of the 
 poem the last thirteen. These they 
 gladly copied, and sent them to Messer 
 Cane, and thus the labour of so many 
 years was rendered perfect."
 
 THE TRILOGY. 75 
 
 Now, in order to fully understand the 
 central figure of the Poem, we must 
 bear in mind that t.hfl 
 
 is part of a Trilogy consisting of 
 Nuova, Amoroso Convivio, and Divina 
 Uommedia. 
 
 When still a child^. Dante's innocent 
 heart was aflame with love for Beatrice, 
 daughter of Folco Portinari. The at- 
 v tachment, which was mutual, began 
 when they were both about nineyears 
 old, a-nd lasted, in Dante's case, ejcen 
 after Beatrice had become the. jwilfe of 
 Simone del Bardi. The Vitii Nuova, 
 which was probably written in 1292, 
 after Beatrice's death, is the book of 
 this pure and lofty love, this childlike 
 living piety, beholding everywhere the 
 finger of God and the riches of His grace.
 
 76 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Questa gentilissima, la quale fu distruggi trice di 
 tutti li vizj, e reina delle virtu. 
 
 When Beatrice approaches a 
 
 Spirito d' Amore, distruggendo tutti gli altri 
 spiriti sensitivi, 
 
 drives out the Spiriti del viso, and takes 
 their place. 
 
 " I say that when she appeared in 
 any place the hope of her adorable salu- 
 tation worked upon me in such a way 
 that I seemed no longer to have an 
 enemy, and such a glow of charity came 
 over me that I could have forgiven any 
 one who had offended me; and if any 
 one had asked anything of me, my only 
 reply would have been, ' Love ! ' with 
 humility depicted on my face. . . . 
 And when this most gentle lady saluted,
 
 THE TRILOGY. 77 
 
 love, so far from being the means of 
 overshadowing my intolerable beatitude, 
 produced in me such sovereign sweet- 
 ness that my body, being wholly subject 
 thereto, often became as it were an in- 
 animate mass. Hence it was manifest 
 that my beatitude was in her salutation, 
 although it produced effects on me 
 beyond my powers of endurance." 
 
 " This most gentle lady rose so much 
 in favour with all men, that as she went 
 along people ran to look at her ; which 
 rejoiced me greatly. And when she was 
 near any one, so much truth entered his 
 heart, that he dared not raise his eyes 
 on her or return her salutation, as many 
 can testify from experience. She went 
 on her way crowned and clothed with 
 humility, and displayed no pride at what
 
 78 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 she saw and heard. And when she had 
 passed by, many said : * That is not a 
 woman, but one of the most beautiful 
 --angels of heaven ! ' And others saidj. 
 * This is a marvel ! Blessed be the Lord 
 who can work so admirably ! ' I say 
 that she was so gentle and replete with 
 every pleasant gift and grace, that those 
 who looked on her experienced a sweet 
 and tender feeling which cannot be 
 described. And no one could look on 
 her without sighing. These, and still 
 more wonderful things, were produced 
 by her marvellous virtue. Hence, think- 
 ing on these things, and wishing to 
 devote something to her praise to em- 
 balm, as it were, her excellent and mar- 
 vellous power, not only for the sake of 
 those who had known her, but, so far as
 
 THE TRILOGY. 79 
 
 words could do it, to convey some idea of 
 her to those who knew her not, to this 
 end I wrote the following sonnet : 
 
 " When she, my lady, greets folk with ' Good- 
 
 day,' 
 
 Such candour and such gentleness combine, 
 That tongues grow trenmlous and speech 
 
 resign, 
 
 And to look on her no one dare essay. 
 She feels men's praises as she goes her way 
 In meekness clad, an influence benign ; 
 You fancy she must be a thing divine, 
 Come down from heaven, a marvel to display. 
 Her presence is so pleasant to the eye, 
 
 That through the eye the heart with 
 
 sweetness glows: 
 
 To understand it, you its power must prove. 
 And from those lips an influence seems to move 
 
 So sweet and full of love, it overflows, 
 And goes on saying to our spirit : ' Sigh ! ' " J 
 
 1 See The Sonnet, its Origin, etc., by C. 
 Tomlinson, F.R.S.
 
 8o DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 When, however, he arrives at ftitt 
 manhood, to his intense grief, the object 
 of liis affection is taken from him. He 
 mourns as for lost innocence. But at 
 length tt new: charm entices him. In the 
 loojss-ef -a-4kir^maiden he thinks he can 
 recover the love and mercy of Beatrice. 
 " When," he says, " this lady looked at 
 me, it was with a face so pious and 
 pallid, as though it were of love, that I 
 was often reminded of my most noble 
 lady." She promises to comfort and 
 console, and indeed it is not long before 
 her flashing eyes repress the memory of 
 the dear departed and take full posses- 
 sion of his heart. This second lady is 
 none other than the queen of that vasty, 
 speculative deep, which is lighted mostly 
 by the moon. To this painful and
 
 THE TRILOGY. 81 
 
 baneful 
 
 is dedicated. It is a 
 restless and calamitous affection, for the 
 peace of childlike devotion has vanished 
 from his breast. He is ever asking 
 some new favour of the Beloved ; some- 
 times she turns herself away from him, 
 and then loud are his sighs and moans ; 
 at times, too, he feels that this love can 
 never bring lasting satisfaction to his 
 heart. 
 
 She leads him to philosophize upon 
 everything which comes before him. 
 He investigates the nature of righteous- 
 ness, of valour, and of nobility ; he 
 develops his principles of statesmanship ; 
 he weighs well the great events of his 
 time, and dedicates his life to what he 
 considers true. Now it is that he is 
 
 G
 
 82 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 drawn into the vortex of party politics, 
 which oblige him to take so leading a 
 part in his native city. This also is the 
 time when he develops his views on 
 language and poetry So keen is the 
 conHie%jof_opinion T the noise of many 
 waters, the glare of many lights, that 
 he thenceforth resolves to leave the 
 allurements of the world and to tread 
 the steep and lonely paths of Specu- 
 lation in order to be able to look into 
 the sunlight of Eternal Truth and to 
 know the nature of God. Here how- 
 ever he has soon to learn how mistaken 
 is the way he has chosen, how insuffi- 
 cient all earthly Keason is where only 
 Revelation can lead to the goal. In one 
 of his canzone our poet says :
 
 THE TRILOGY. 83 
 
 Le dolci rime d' amor ch' io solia 
 Cercar ne' miei pensieri, 
 Convien ch' io lasci, non perch' io non speri 
 Ad esse ritornare ; 
 Ma perche gli atti disdegnosi e feri 
 Che nella donna mia 
 Sono appariti, in' han chiuso la via 
 Dell' usato parlare. 
 
 Again, ID the Vita Nuova we read : 
 
 Allora Io mio cuore incomincio dolorosamente 
 a pentirsi del desidero, a cui cosi vilmente s' avea 
 lasciato possedere alquanti di contro alia costanza 
 della ragione, e discacciato questo cotal malvagio 
 desiderio, si rivolsero tutti i mieipensamenti alia 
 loro gentilissima Beatrice. 
 
 " Man tauscht sich," says Witte, " wenn man, 
 wie geschehen ist, diesen, von Dante auf das 
 unzweideutigste ausgesprochenen, Gegensatz von 
 Religion und Philosophie fur eine Besonderheit 
 unserer Zeit halt. Nicht nur dass er in alien 
 Zeitaltern wiederkehrt, so trat er gerade im spa- 
 teren Mittelalter mit besonderer Entschiedenheit 
 hervor. Allerdings redete die Philosophie jener 
 Tage durchgangig eine christliche Sprache ; aber
 
 84 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 durch ihr Bestreben, die Wahrheit, weim auch in 
 Uebereinstimmung mit dem Grlauben, doch auf 
 selbststandigem Wege zu finden, trat sie in aus- 
 gesprochenen Gegensatz zur Kirche. Ohne an 
 die Ivampfe Abalard's und seiner Nachfolger zu 
 erinnern, war das dreizehnte Jahrhundert leiden- 
 schaftlich erregt warden durch das Eindringen 
 Aristotelischer Philosophic, in der Gestalt welche 
 ihr der Spanische Araber Ibn-Roschd (Averroes) 
 gegeben hatte, in die Behandlung theologischer 
 Fragen. Lange wurden die Averroisten als Ket- 
 zer verfolgt und nnch in Presken des vierzehnten 
 Jahrhunderts erscheint Averroes als typischer 
 Vertreter des Unglaubens ; ihn aber betrachtete 
 man wieder als den Chorfuhrer der Philosophen 
 jener Zeit. Erst bei den grossen Kirchenlehrern 
 der zweiten Halfte des Jahrhunderts, bei Albert 
 von Coin, Thomas von Aquino und Wilhelm Dur- 
 antis, finden wir die peripatetische Philosophic 
 des Averroismus entkleidet, mit der Theologie 
 versohnt und zur Hauptstiitze scholastischer Be- 
 griindung der Kirchenlehre umgestaltet. Wenn 
 nun auch durchaus nicht zu behaupten ist, dass 
 es gerade Averroistische Wege gewesen seyen, 
 welche Dante eingeschlagen, so hat es doch 
 durchaus nichts Befremdendes, dass die Wande-
 
 THE TRILOGY. 85 
 
 lungen des Verhaltnisses von Religion imd Philo- 
 sophie, welche jenes Jahrhundert erfaliren, sich 
 im G-eiste des Dichters individuell wiederholt 
 haben." 
 
 How deceptive the light of Philosophy 
 is, and why it is so, Beatrice tells us in 
 the Paradiso (xxix. 85) : 
 
 Voi non andate giu per un sentiero 
 Filosofando, tanto vi trasporta 
 L' anior dell' apparenza e' 1 suo pensiero. 
 
 Yt cannot icalk on earth the sure and certain 
 
 icay 
 
 If led by Reason's lamp : so oft the love 
 Of visions false and fitful thought lead all 
 
 astray. 
 
 The training which the poet has 
 enjoyed in the school of the wisdom of 
 the world, so far from helping, has only 
 hindered him from realising the divine 
 truths which Beatrice reveals to him.
 
 86 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Hence, to the question why her speech 
 is so dark to him, she answers : 
 
 Perche conoschi, disse, quella scuola 
 
 C' hai seguitata, e veggi sua dottrina 
 Come puo seguitar la mia parola ; 
 
 E veggi vostra via dalla divina 
 
 Distar cotanto, quanto si discorda 
 Da terra il ciel che piu alto festina. 
 
 That thou maycst know ichat kind of school 
 It is thou followcst, hoiv such a doctrine 
 Ne'er can understand my word or rule. 
 
 Thou seest too hoic far from the divine 
 Thy way lies, far as from the earth 
 The loftiest heaven, and the stars that shine ! 
 
 Dante has become estranged from 
 Christianity ; he lacks the three virtues 
 so characteristic of our faTth^-febeHtJa"c[ 
 passions which take their place drag 
 him back to the stormy life where there 
 is no light.
 
 THE TRILOGY. 87 
 
 Then comes the Grace of G-od and 
 revives the Ray of Religion ; he repents 
 having cberishedtHe arrog^nceTflf philo? 
 sophy ; Ibhere is a resistless resurrection 
 "oFHie old faith, of the. old love to 
 Beatrice. 
 
 Contra questo awersario della ragione si levo 
 un di, quasi nell'ora di nona, una forte imma- 
 ginazione in me: che mi parea vedere questa 
 gloriosa Beatrice con quelle vestimenta saguigne, 
 colle quali apparve prima agli occhi miei. Vita 
 Nuova, cap. 40. 
 
 On the day when the Saviour re- 
 deemed the human race, he too feels 
 a mighty moving of the Spirit and 
 experiences a great salvation. But, 
 according to the Catholic Church, past 
 sins still weigh upon the soul ; so must 
 the sinner's crushed and sin-laden heart 
 experience the awfulness of its estrange-
 
 88 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 ment from God, and then, by expiation 
 in Purgatory, become meet for the 
 Paradise which God has prepared for 
 spirits redeemed. 
 
 We have seen, then, that Portinari's 
 daughter, who, on earth, had been for 
 Dante the embodiment of a pure and 
 lofty piety, becomes, as he returns to 
 her in ideal revival after a period of 
 unfaithfulness, a higher and altogether 
 spiritual Beauty, a symbol of the deeper 
 knowledge of God, of a theology refined 
 and strengthened by science against 
 doubt and false doctrine. Already in 
 the Vita Nuova our poet had said : 
 
 Appresso a questo sonetto apparve a me una 
 mirabil visione. nella quale vidi cose, che mi 
 facero proporre di non dir piu di questa bene- 
 detta, infino a tanto ch'io non potessi piu degna- 
 mente trattare di lei E di venire a cio io studio
 
 BEATRICE. 89 
 
 quail to posso, si com' ella sa veracemente. Sicche, 
 se piacere sara di Colui per cui tutte le cose 
 vivono, che la mia vita per alquanti anni perseveri, 
 spero di dire di le quell o che ma non fu detto 
 d'alcuna. 
 
 It having pleased Him in whom all 
 things live to spare the poet's life, he 
 wrote in the Comedy Divine : 
 
 donna di virtu, sola per cui 
 
 L'umana specie eccede ogni contento 
 Da quel ciel che ha minor li cerchi sui. 
 
 highly gifted lady, thee to know 
 Enables man to rise, and to excel 
 Whatever the circles of the lower heaven 
 show ! 
 
 Inf. ii. 76. 
 
 Veramente a cosi alto sospetto 
 
 Non ti fermar, se quella nol ti dice 
 Che lume fia tra il vero e 1'intelletto. 
 
 Non so se intendi ; io dico di Beatrice : 
 Tu la vedrai di sopra, in su la vetta 
 Di questo monte, ridente e felice.
 
 90 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 To such high questionings be thou no slave 
 But list' to me until, at length, she come 
 Who only from the depths of doubt can save, 
 Who is the light 'twixt intellect and truth. 
 
 Beatrix call to mind; for, on this moun- 
 tain's top 
 
 Thou'lt see her, smiling, with the bloom of 
 youth ! 
 
 Purg. vi. 43. 
 
 htce, o gloria della gente umana. 
 
 light, O glory of the human race ! 
 
 Purg. xxxiii. 115. 
 
 amanza del primo amante, o diva, 
 
 Diss' io appresso, il cui parlar m' inonda 
 E scalda si che piu e piu m'avviva. 
 
 Primaeval Love's beloved, soul divine, 
 
 Thy speech so warms and moves me, that 1 
 
 gloiv 
 With love renewed and life that's more than 
 
 mine I 
 
 Par. vi. 118. 
 
 As to Dante's second love there can
 
 BEATRICE. 91 
 
 be no doubt, for he tells us in the Con- 
 vivio (ii. 16) : 
 
 " Cosi, in fine di questo secondo trattato, dico 
 ed affermo che la donna di cui io innamorai 
 appresso lo primo amore, fti la bellissima ed 
 onestissinia figlia dello Imperadore dell' Universe 
 alia quale Pitagora pose nome Filosofia." 
 
 Thus at the end of this second treatise I say 
 and affirm, that the lady of whom I was enamored 
 after the first love, icas the most beautiful and 
 honourable daughter of the Emperor of the Uni- 
 verse, to whom Pythagoras gave the name of 
 Philosophy. 
 
 It seems that at this time our poet 
 was engaged in reading the works of 
 Cicero and Boethius, who had often 
 found comfort in Philosophy. Had not 
 the former exclaimed ? 
 
 " vitse philosophia dux ! virtutis indaga- 
 trix, expultrixque vitiorum ! quid non modo nos, 
 sed omnino vita hominum sine te esse potuisset ?
 
 92 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Tu urbes peperisti; tu dissipates homines in 
 societatem vitse convocasti." 
 
 f " philosophy, guide of life. searcher out 
 of virtues and expeller of vices ! What could 
 we have done without thee: and not only we, 
 but every age of man ? It is thou that didst 
 form cities ; thou that didst call together solitary 
 men to the enjoyment of social intercourse" 
 
 "E misimi a leggere quello libro di Boezio, nel 
 quale, cattivo e discacciato, consolato s' avea, e 
 un altro libro che Tullio scritto avea, nel quale, 
 trattando dell' amista, avea toccate parole della 
 consolazione di Selio nella morte di Scipione 
 amico suo. . . . lo, che cercava di consolare 
 me trovai non solamente alle mie lagrime rimedio, 
 ma vocaboli d' autori e di scienze e di libri, li 
 quali considerando, giudicava bene, che la Filo- 
 sofia, che era donna di questi autori, di queste 
 scienze e di questi libri, fosse somina cosa. E 
 immaginava lei falta come una donna gentile, e 
 non la potea immaginare in alto alcuno se non 
 rnisericordioso. E da questo immaginare comin- 
 ciai ad andare la ov' ella si dimostrava verace- 
 mente, cioe nelle scuole de' religiosi, e alle dis-
 
 BEATRICE. 93 
 
 putazioni de' filosofanti ; sicche in picciol tempo, 
 forse di trenta mesi, cominciai tanto a sentire 
 della sua dolcezza, che '1 suo amore cacciava e 
 distruggeva ogni altro pensiero. . . . Questa 
 donna fu figlia d' Iddio, regina di tutto, nobilis- 
 sima e bellissima Filosofia." 
 
 " I set myself to read that book of Boethius in 
 which, though a captive and in exile, he found 
 consolation, and another book which Cicero had 
 written concerning friendship, wherein are the 
 touching icords of the consolation of Selius at 
 the death of his friend Scipio. ... 7, who 
 sought comfort, found not only a solace to my 
 tears, but, weighing well the icords of science 
 and literature, it seemed to me that Philosophy, 
 ivhich was the bride of those tivo authors, was 
 really the goal of all. I conceived it as a gentle 
 lady, ichom I could not imagine as anything 
 but sympathetic. Her I followed in the schools 
 of the religious and in speculative arguments, 
 where she is best shoivn and known ; so that in a 
 short time, perhaps thirty months, I began to feel 
 her sweetness to such an extent that her love con- 
 cealed and destroyed every other thought. . . .
 
 94 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 And this was the daughter of the Lord, the queen 
 of all, the most noble and beautiful Philosophy." 
 
 Her eyes, whose beauty the poet 
 / praises, are her proofs; by her smile 
 she persuades. Love of her finds ex- 
 pression in earnest thought. Dante's 
 philosophy is cognition and recognition 
 of Truth, not however so much from 
 an ethical as rather from a metaphysical 
 standpoint/ Metempirical questions are 
 what chi/fly interested our poet, and, at 
 all events at first, seemed to offer him 
 no insuperable difficulties. He fought 
 hard for the conquest of knowledge; 
 but the greater his exertions, the higher 
 he climbed the cold and lonely heights 
 of speculation, the farther from him in 
 doubtful dimness seemed to gleam the 
 star of Truth ! At first philosophic in-
 
 BE A TRICE. 95 
 
 vestigation promised to give light, but 
 the eye of the seeker soon became lost 
 in gloom ; the noble lady only hid her- 
 self in the thicker veil. Not that Dante 
 had at all a low conception of Philo- 
 sophy. " La Filosofia, in se considerata, 
 ha per suggetto lo intendere, e per 
 forma un quasi divino amore allo in- 
 telletto." And the poet had honestly 
 expected at once light and help at the 
 shrine of this " gentle lady." Never- 
 theless, after passing through the eighth 
 sphere of the physical and metaphysical 
 sciences, ay, and even the ninth sphere 
 of moral science, he is still in darkness 
 and in doubt. Goethe somewhere says : 
 " Der Kampf zwischen Christenthum 
 und menschlicher Weisheit macht das 
 Geheimniss der Weltgeschichte aus."
 
 96 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 And this is exactly what Dante found. 
 It was only when he entered the quiet 
 heaven of the divine science, Theology, 
 that he realised the peace and the joy 
 of which he had so long been in search. 
 
 Ancora lo cielo empireo, per la sua pace, simig- 
 lia la divina scienza, che plena e di tutta pace, 
 la quale non soffera lite alcuna d'opinioni o di 
 sofistici argomenti, per la eccellentissima certezza 
 del suo sogetto, lo quale e Iddio. E die questa 
 dice Esso alii suoi discepoli " La pace mia do a 
 voi, la pace mia lascio a voi," dando e lasciando 
 loro la sua dottrina che i questa scienza di cui i 
 parlo. Conv. ii. 15. 
 
 At last, then, in the Divine Comedy 
 Dante comes to a clear conviction that 
 it is impossible for unaided human rea- 
 son to arrive at the knowledge of eternal 
 truths.
 
 BEATRICE. 97 
 
 Matto e chi spera che nostra ragione 
 Possa trascorrer la infmita via 
 Che tiene una sustanzia in tre persone. 
 
 State contenti, umana gente, al quid ; 
 Chi se potuto aveste veder tutto, 
 Mestier non era partorir Maria. 
 
 E disiar vedeste senza frutto 
 
 Tai, che sarebbe lor disio quetato, 
 Ch' eternalmente e dato lor per lutto. 
 
 lo dico d'Aristotele e di Plato 
 
 E di molti altri. E qui chino la fronte, 
 E piu non disse, e rimase turbato. 
 
 That man is Hind icho hopes by human thought 
 To cross the infinite, eternal ivay 
 Which holds one substance in three persons, 
 sought 
 
 By all. man, suffice " so must it be " ; 
 
 For if to men omniscience aye were given, 
 WJiat need of Mary, Virgin-Mother, we ? 
 
 Those too, whose quest ivere ever vain 
 If their desire forthwith were stilled, 
 Which now they seek for ever to attain. 
 
 H
 
 98 DANTE AND HIS IDEAL. 
 
 Of Aristotle, Plato, thus I speak, 
 
 Of many others too. The master said 
 No more, methought almost his heart icould 
 break ! 
 
 Such, then, is " il poeraa sacro," this 
 Comedy Divine, this Building beautiful 
 and bold, erected by the hands of Heaven 
 and of Earth 1 
 
 This is the work of which Schelling 
 said : 
 
 " Es 1st kein einzelnes Werk eines besondern 
 Zeitalters, einer besondern Stufe der Bildung, 
 sondern urbildlich durch die Allgemeingultig- 
 keit, die es mit der absolutesten Individuality 
 vereinigt, durch die Universalitat, vermoge der 
 es keine Seite des Lebens und der Bildung aus- 
 schliesst, durch die Form endlich, welche nicht 
 besonderer Typus, sondern Typus der Betrach- 
 tung des Universums iiberhaupt ist." 
 
 In conclusion, let us not forget Dante's 
 exquisite feeling for the Stars, the type
 
 BEATRICE. 99 
 
 and trope of Infinity. Each canticaends 
 with the word stelle. He issues forth 
 from the Inferno a riveder le stelle, " to 
 see a^ain the stars." At the summit of 
 
 O 
 
 the Purgatorio he feels puro e disposto 
 a satire alle stelle, " pure and ready to 
 mount unto the stars." Having attained 
 the Paradiso, his will becomes one with 
 the Divine Will, with L 'Amor che muove 
 il Sole e Valtre stelle, " Love that moveth 
 Sun and Stars ! " And what his old 
 master Brunetto Latini said to him in 
 the gloomy circle of Hell, the poet says 
 to us to-day from Paradise : 
 
 Se tu segui tua Stella, non puoi fallire a glorioso 
 porto. 
 
 " Follow thou thy Star, thou shalt not fail of a 
 glorious heaven !" 4 
 
 Look to Christ, thou shalt not fail of 
 Paradise !
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IN taking leave of our poet it may be 
 well to remember one or two more of 
 those exquisite inspirations which at 
 once reveal the supreme artist. Dante 
 is great, not only in what he said and 
 sang, bub also in what he left unsaid 
 and unsung. Take, for instance, the 
 way in which he deals with the three 
 sublime Christian concepts : Faith, 
 Hope, Love; the Vision of the Cross 
 in the planet Mars; or the queenly 
 figure of Fortune, the angel in disguise. 
 
 Quest' e colei ch' e tanto posta in croce 
 Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode, 
 Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce. 
 101
 
 102 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ma ella s' e beata, e cio non ode : 
 Con 1' altre prime creature lieta 
 Volve sua spera, e beata si gode. 
 
 And this is she icho, though reviled much 
 (Upon her laying shame and evil voice?) 
 By those e'en whom, of all, her love should 
 
 touch, 
 Is blessed still, and wotteth not of this : 
 
 With nature 1 s other primal creatures 1 bliss 
 Her sphere revolves, and cannot but re- 
 joice ! Inf. vii. 91-96. 
 
 THE CROSS. 
 
 Qui vince la memoria mia lo ingegno ; 
 
 Che in quella croce lampeggiava Cristo, 
 Si ch' io non so trovare esemplo degno 
 
 Ma chi prende sua croce e segue Cristo, 
 Ancor mi scusera di quel ch' io lasso, 
 Veggendo in quell' albor balenar Cristo. 
 
 Di corno in corno, e tra la cima e il basso, 
 Si movean lumi, scintillando forte 
 Nel congiungersi insieme e nel trapasso. 
 
 Cosi si veggion qui diritte e torte, 
 Veloci e tarde, rinnovando vista, 
 Le minuzie de' corpi, lunghe e corte,
 
 APPENDIX. 103 
 
 Movers! per lo raggio, onde si lista 
 
 Tal volta 1' oinbra, che per sua difesa 
 La gente con ingegno ed arte acquista. 
 
 E come giga ed arpa in tempra tesa 
 Di molte corde fan dolce tintinno 
 A tal da cui la nota non e intesa ; 
 
 Cosi da' lumi che li m' apparinno 
 
 S' accogliea per la croce una melode, 
 Che mi rapiva senza intender 1' inno. 
 
 Ben m' accors' io ch' ell' era d' alte lode, 
 Perocche a me venia Risurgi e vinci, 
 Com' a colui che non intende, e ode. 
 
 Par. xiv. 103-126. 
 
 Here memory mocks the toil of genius. Christ 
 Beamed on that Cross and pattern fails me notv, 
 But ivhoso takes his cross, andfolloics Christ, 
 Will pardon me for that I leave untold, 
 When in the fleckered dawning he shall spy 
 The glitterance of Christ. From horn to horn 
 And 'tween the summit and the base, did move 
 Lights, scintillating, as they met and pass' d. 
 That oft are seen, with ever-changeful glance, 
 Straight or athwart, now rapid and noto slow, 
 The atomies of bodies, long or short, 
 To move along the sunbeam, ichose slant line
 
 104 APPENDIX. 
 
 Checkers the shadotv interposed by art 
 
 Against the noontide heat. And as the chime 
 
 Of minstrel music, dulcimer, and harp 
 
 With many strings, a pleasant dinning makes 
 
 To him who heareth not the distinct note ; 
 
 So from the lights, ichich there appeared to me, 
 
 Gathered along the cross a melody, 
 
 That, indistinctly heard, with ravishment 
 
 Possessed me. Yet I marked it ivas a hymn 
 
 Of lofty praises ; for there came to me 
 
 " Arise" and " Conquer," as to one wlio hears 
 
 And comprehends not. 
 
 (Gary's translation.} 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 Ed io rispondo : Credo in uuo Dio 
 
 Solo ed eterno, che tutto il ciel move, 
 Non moto, con amore e con disio ; 
 
 E a tal creder non ho io pur prove 
 Fisice e metafisice, ma dalmi 
 Ancke la verita che quinci piove 
 
 Per Moise, per profeti, e per salmi, 
 
 Per 1' evangelio, e per voi che scriveste, 
 Poiche 1' ardente Spirto vi fece almi ;
 
 APPENDIX. 105 
 
 E credo in tre persone eterne, e queste 
 Credo una essenzia si una e si trina, 
 Che soffera conginnto sunt et este. 
 
 Par. xxiv. 130-141. 
 
 And I reply : I in one God believe / 
 
 One sole eternal Godhead, of ichose love 
 
 All heaven is moved, himself unmoved the while. 
 
 Nor demonstration physical alone, 
 
 Or more intelligential and abstruse, 
 
 Persuades me to this faith: but from that truth 
 
 It cometh to me rather, ivhich is shed 
 
 Through Moses ; the, rapt Prophets ; and the 
 
 Psalms ; 
 
 The Gospel and what ye yourselves did write, 
 When ye were gifted of the Holy Ghost. 
 In three eternal Persons I believe ; 
 Essence threefold and one mysterious league 
 Of union absolute. 
 
 (Gary's translation.} 
 
 HOPE. 
 
 Speme diss' io e uno attender certo 
 
 Delia gloria futura, il qual produce 
 Grazia divina e precedente merto. 
 
 I
 
 io6 APPENDIX. 
 
 Da molte stelle mi vien questa luce ; 
 Ma quei la distillo nel mio cor pria, 
 Che fu sommo cantor del sommo duce. 
 
 Sperino in te, nell' alta Teodia 
 
 Dice, color che sanno il nome tuo : 
 E chi nol sa, s' egli ha la fede mia ? 
 
 Tu mi stillasti con lo stillar suo 
 
 Nella pistola poi, si ch'io son pieno, 
 E in altrui vostra pioggia repluo. 
 
 Par. xxv. 67-73. 
 
 " Hope," said I, 
 
 u Is of the joy to come a sure expectance, 
 The effect of grace Divine and merit preceding. 
 This light from many a star, visits my heart ; 
 Butfloitfd to me, the first, from him ivho sang 
 The song of the Supreme himself supreme 
 Among his tuneful brethren. l Let all hope 
 In thee,' so spake his anthem, ' icho hath known 
 Thy name '/ and, ivith my faith, who know not 
 
 that f 
 
 From thee, the next, distilling from his spring, 
 In thine epistle, fell on me the drops 
 So plenteously, that I on others shower 
 The influence of their deic" 
 
 (Gary's translation.)
 
 APPENDIX, 107 
 
 LOVE. 
 
 Lo Ben, che fa contenta questa Corte, 
 Alfa ed Omega e di quanta scrittura 
 Mi legge amore o lievemente o forte. 
 
 In this palace is the iceal, 
 That Alpha and Omega is, to all 
 The lessons love can read me. 
 
 Che il bene, in quanto ben, come s' intende, 
 Cosi accende amore, e tanto maggio, 
 Quanto piu di bontate in se comprende. 
 
 Good, inasmuch as we perceive the good, 
 Kindles our love / and in degree the more, 
 As it comprises more of goodness in '. 
 
 Tutti quei morsi, 
 
 Che posson far lo cuor volger a Dio, 
 Alia mia caritate son concorsi ; 
 Che 1' essere del mondo, e 1' esser mio, 
 
 La morte ch' el sostenne perch' io viva, 
 E quel che spera ogni fedel, com' io,
 
 io8 APPENDIX. . } 
 
 Con la predetta conoscenza viva, 
 
 Tratto m'hanno del mar dell' amor torto, 
 E del diritto m' ban posto alia riva. 
 
 Par. xxvi. 
 
 All grappling bonds, that knit the heart to God, 
 Confederate to make fast our charity. 
 The being of the icorld and mine oim being ; 
 The death tchich He endured, that I should I in' ; 
 And that, which all the faithful hope, as I do ; 
 To the forementioned lively knoiclcdge joined ; 
 Have from the sea of ill love saved my bark, 
 And on the coast secured it of the right. 
 
 (Cary's translation.) 
 
 Lastly, in the next canto, Dante has given us 
 the serene vision of Paradise in one matchless 
 line : 
 
 Cio ch'io vedeva, mi sembrava un riso 
 Dell' universe. 
 
 And all I saiv, seemed gathered up 
 In one World-Smile ! 
 
 Par. xxvii. 4, 
 
 Eutler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing \Vurks, Frome, aud Loudon.
 
 - 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW.