The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri
INTRODUCTION. worship for Beatrice which was to last for life. Love has ever been the spark to light in the heart of genius the flame of poesy, and love, purified bj lengthened expectation, and made holy by misfortune, inspired the ardent soul of Dante with the strains that have won for him immortal fame.
It was in the praise of Beatrice that he first exercised his art; it was in following this inspiration that he threw off the trammels of his predecessors and created poesy anew in its true law and scope, the realities of Nature. As he tells the poet Buonagiunta, << I am a man, who, when Love breatheth, all its symptoms noteth clear ; I show to others what it says within. "Purgatory," XXIV., 62-«4.
It was the love of Beatrice that first woke in him the promptings of ambition, "that for her sake he left the vulgar herd." — " Hell," 11., 106. It was in memory of her that he chose that pure spirit as his guide through the glories of Paradise when sorrow and age, that could not dim his passion, had purified it from mortal alloy.
Nothing more is known of the youth of Dante than that he completed his studies in the Dniversities of Padua and Bologna, and Boccaccio teUs us that he even travelled at this time in the pursuit of learning to Paris and Oxford. He had, however, returned to Florence in time to take part in the battle of Campaldino, his presence at which campaign he alludes to in the opening lines of the twenty-second Canto of " HeU.
" Ere now I've witnessed knighthood move afield. Pass in review and rally in the fight, And prest at times for safety backwards yield : Over your land I've seen the scouts in flight, O Aretines, and seen the squadrons swell For tourney and for jousting all bedight.
He was also present at the capitulation of Caprona in the following year, to which he also alludes in his poem — '* So did I see of yore the soldiers fear Who issued from Caprona under pact. Seeing so many enemies appear. " HeU," XXI., Unee 94-96.
xl INTRODUCTION. In the meanwhile had occurred the crowning sorrow of hi& life. In the spring of that year, 1290, Beatrice died. The dream of his youth, the hope and happiness of his early manhood, was struck down, and life had lost for him its source of aspiration and all its prospect of domestic joy. He was stunned by the blow, and it is said that his friends even despaired of his life.
But it is less on the body than the mind that such blows have force. To this great earthly disappointment may be fairly traced much of the bitterness of Dante's spirit. For him the glory had departed firom the grass, the splendour from the flower : he looked upon life and Nature with an altered eye.
The hues of romance were stripped from the duU truths of life, and the world appeared to him after the receding deluge all bare and desolate, life without an object, existence without joy. After a short interval Dante re-entered the ordinary pursuits of life, and in the next year he yielded to the solicitations of his friends and was married to Gemma Donati.
His wife belonged to the family of his constant opponent in after years, Corso Donati, and the marriage was effected solely on political and social considerations. Such a union could not prove a happy one.
The affections of Dante were irrevocably fixed elsewhere, and while all his tenderness was concentrated on the Egeria of his soul, it was not to be expected of any woman to remain contented with so subordinate a position in her husband's heart, even though her rival was beyond the tomb.
Dante makes no allusion to his wife throughout his poem, tmless the reproaches of Beatrice at the close of the "Purgatory" may] be supposed to have reference to his marriage, which does not seem likely. Dante did not consider such a marriage as any infidelity to his love. It was a mere worldly alliance, in which the heart had no share.
But that he felt the bitterness of his lot is shown by the feeling with which he makes Jacopo Eusticucci allude to a like fate :-^ " More than all the rest A savage wife has caused my martyrdom. " HeU," XVI., Hnes 44, 45. Whether the fault rested with the violent temper of
INTRODUCTION. xK Dante's wife or with liis own neglect, the unhappiness of their married life is certain, and after his exile, while his wife brought up his children in Florence on the wreck of their father's fortune, Dante made no attempt to be joined bj his family, and showed clearly that he considered separation from his wife happier for them both.
Boccaccio, in his life of Dante, asserts that it was the misery of his wedded life which drove the poet from the pursuits of literature, and made him take up public affairs as a distraction. In this career his powers were immediately recognised, and we have found already that, in the year 1300, he filled the place of chief magistrate in the city.
Brought np in a Guelph £a.mily, he had hitherto shown great moderation in his views, and his object when in power was clearly to hold the balance straight between the rival parties and restore peace to the State. The friends of Dante, and especially his loved companion in literary studies, Guide Cavalcanti, were favourers of the Bianchi, and Corso Donati, the most turbulent of the Florentine npbility, had hotly espoused the Neri faction.
The city was in arms, and Corso was known to have applied for assistance to Charles of Yalois. Dante's energy and prudence entirely overcame both factions. All were compelled to lay aside their arms, and the leaders on both sides were banished from the city. Dante's great, success was, however, of short duration.
While absent at Kome, seeking to strengthen his Republic with the Pope, his enemies obtained entire possession of the city, and decreed the banishment of Dante, together with all the Bianchi leaders. It was while returning to Florence that the news reached him, and from being the leader of the State he found himself suddenly a proscribed exile, while the confiscation of his property added the trials of poverty to his other cares.
Such was the bitter animosity in which those party struggles were carried on, that shortly after the first decree of banishment a second was past, condemning Dante, with the other exiles, to be burnt if they fell into their enemies' hands.
INTRODUCTION. worship for Beatrice which was to last for life. Love has ever been the spark to light in the heart of genius the flame of poesy, and love, purified bj lengthened expectation, and made holy by misfortune, inspired the ardent soul of Dante with the strains that have won for him immortal fame. It was in the praise of Beatrice that he first exercised his art; it was in following this inspiration that he threw off the trammels of his predecessors and created poesy anew in its true law and scope, the realities of Nature. As he tells the poet Buonagiunta, << I am a man, who, when Love breathes, all its symptoms notes clear ; I show to others what it says within." "Purgatory," XXIV., 62-«4. It was the love of Beatrice that first woke in him the promptings of ambition, "that for her sake he left the vulgar herd." — " Hell," 11., 106. It was in memory of her that he chose that pure spirit as his guide through the glories of Paradise when sorrow and age, that could not dim his passion, had purified it from mortal alloy. Nothing more is known of the youth of Dante than that he completed his studies in the Dniversities of Padua and Bologna, and Boccaccio teUs us that he even travelled at this time in the pursuit of learning to Paris and Oxford. He had, however, returned to Florence in time to take part in the battle of Campaldino, his presence at which campaign he alludes to in the opening lines of the twenty-second Canto of " HeU." " Ere now I've witnessed knighthood move afield. Pass in review and rally in the fight, And prest at times for safety backwards yield : Over your land I've seen the scouts in flight, O Aretines, and seen the squadrons swell For tourney and for jousting all bedight." He was also present at the capitulation of Caprona in the following year, to which he also alludes in his poem — '* So did I see of yore the soldiers fear Who issued from Caprona under pact. Seeing so many enemies appear." " HeU," XXI., Unee 94-96.
xl INTRODUCTION. In the meanwhile had occurred the crowning sorrow of hi& life. In the spring of that year, 1290, Beatrice died. The dream of his youth, the hope and happiness of his early manhood, was struck down, and life had lost for him its source of aspiration and all its prospect of domestic joy. He was stunned by the blow, and it is said that his friends even despaired of his life.
But it is less on the body than the mind that such blows have force. To this great earthly disappointment may be fairly traced much of the bitterness of Dante's spirit. For him the glory had departed firom the grass, the splendour from the flower : he looked upon life and Nature with an altered eye.
The hues of romance were stripped from the duU truths of life, and the world appeared to him after the receding deluge all bare and desolate, life without an object, existence without joy. After a short interval Dante re-entered the ordinary pursuits of life, and in the next year he yielded to the solicitations of his friends and was married to Gemma Donati.
His wife belonged to the family of his constant opponent in after years, Corso Donati, and the marriage was effected solely on political and social considerations. Such a union could not prove a happy one.
The affections of Dante were irrevocably fixed elsewhere, and while all his tenderness was concentrated on the Egeria of his soul, it was not to be expected of any woman to remain contented with so subordinate a position in her husband's heart, even though her rival was beyond the tomb.
Dante makes no allusion to his wife throughout his poem, tmless the reproaches of Beatrice at the close of the "Purgatory" may] be supposed to have reference to his marriage, which does not seem likely. Dante did not consider such a marriage as any infidelity to his love. It was a mere worldly alliance, in which the heart had no share.
But that he felt the bitterness of his lot is shown by the feeling with which he makes Jacopo Eusticucci allude to a like fate :-^ " More than all the rest A savage wife has caused my martyrdom. " HeU," XVI., Hnes 44, 45. Whether the fault rested with the violent temper of
INTRODUCTION. xK Dante's wife or with liis own neglect, the unhappiness of their married life is certain, and after his exile, while his wife brought up his children in Florence on the wreck of their father's fortune, Dante made no attempt to be joined bj his family, and showed clearly that he considered separation from his wife happier for them both.
Boccaccio, in his life of Dante, asserts that it was the misery of his wedded life which drove the poet from the pursuits of literature, and made him take up public affairs as a distraction. In this career his powers were immediately recognised, and we have found already that, in the year 1300, he filled the place of chief magistrate in the city.
Brought np in a Guelph £a.mily, he had hitherto shown great moderation in his views, and his object when in power was clearly to hold the balance straight between the rival parties and restore peace to the State. The friends of Dante, and especially his loved companion in literary studies, Guide Cavalcanti, were favourers of the Bianchi, and Corso Donati, the most turbulent of the Florentine npbility, had hotly espoused the Neri faction.
The city was in arms, and Corso was known to have applied for assistance to Charles of Yalois. Dante's energy and prudence entirely overcame both factions. All were compelled to lay aside their arms, and the leaders on both sides were banished from the city. Dante's great, success was, however, of short duration.
While absent at Kome, seeking to strengthen his Republic with the Pope, his enemies obtained entire possession of the city, and decreed the banishment of Dante, together with all the Bianchi leaders. It was while returning to Florence that the news reached him, and from being the leader of the State he found himself suddenly a proscribed exile, while the confiscation of his property added the trials of poverty to his other cares.
Such was the bitter animosity in which those party struggles were carried on, that shortly after the first decree of banishment a second was past, condemning Dante, with the other exiles, to be burnt if they fell into their enemies' hands.
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