§ 5. LITERARY ATTACKS AGAINST THE PAPACY. 31
acy in all matters, were the Italians ^gidius Colonna, Jam^s of .Viterbo, Henry of Cxemona, and Augustinus Triumpbus. The writers who attacked the papal claim to temporal power are divided into two groups. To the first belongs Dante^ who magnified the empire and the station of the emperor as the supreme ruler over the temporal affairs of men. The men of the second group \yerg associated more or less closely wjth the French coui±_and__ware, for the moot pa¥t,--Ejienchm ej^ . Tliey called in question the authority jof theempei'or. Among their leaders were Jqlmof^ I^am^nd, JPetgr_Duboj^^ In a number of cases their names are forgotten or uncertain, while their tracts have survived. It will be convenient first to take up the theory of Dante, and then to present the views of papal and anti-papal writings which were evidently called forth by the struggle started by Boniface .
Dante was in nowise associated with the court of Philip the Fair, and seems to have been moved to write his treatise on government, the De monarchia^ by general considerations and not by any personal sympathy with the French king. His theory embodies views in direct antagonism to those promulged in Boniface's bull Unam sanctain^ and Thomas Aquinas, whose theological views Dante followed, is here set aside. 1 The independence and sovereignty of the civil estate is established by arguments drawn from reason, Aristotle, and the Scriptures. In making good his position, the author advances three propositions, devoting a chapter to each : (1) Universal monarchy or empire, for the terms are used synonymously, is necessary. (2) This monarchy belongs to the Roman peo£le. (3) \t was directly bequeathed to the Romans by God^ and did not come through the mediation of the Church.
1 The date of the De monarchia is a matter of uncertainty. There are no references in the treatise to Dante's own personal affairs or the contemporary events of Europe to give any clew. Witte, the eminent Dante student, put it in 1301; so also R. W. Church, on the ground that Dante makes no reference to his exile, which began in 1301. The tendency now is to follow Boccaccio, who connected the treatise with the election of Henry VII. or Henry's journey to Rome, 1311. The treatise would then be a manifesto for the restoration of the empire to its original authority. For a discussion of the date, see Henry: Dante'' s de monarchia, XXXII. sqq.
32 THK MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1294-1517.
The interests of society, so the argument runs, require an impartial arbiter, and only a universal monarch bound by no local ties can be impartial. A universal monarchy will bring peace, the peace of which the angels sang on the night of Christ's birth, and it will bring liberty, God's greatest gift to man.i Democracy reduces men to slavery. The Romans are the noblest people and deserve the right to rule. This is evident from the fine manhood of iEneas, their progenitor,2 from the evident miracles which God wrought in their history and from their world-wide dominion. This right to rule was established under the Christian dispensation by Christ himself, who submitted to Roman jurisdiction in consenting to be born under Augustus and to suffer under Tiberius. It was attested by the Church when Paul said to Festus, " I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged," Acts 25 : 10. There are two governing agents necessary to society, the pope and the emperor. The emperor is supreme in temporal things and is to guide men to eternal life in accordance with the truths of revelation. Nevertheless, the emperor should pay the pope the reverence which a first-born son pays to his father, such reverence as Charlemagne paid to Leo III.^
In denying the subordination of the civil power, Dante rejects the figure comparing the spiritual and temporal powers to the sun and moon,* and the arguments drawn from the alleged precedence of Levi over Judah on the ground of
1 Libertiis est maximum donum human(z nnturce a Deo coUatum, I. 14. It is a striking coincidence that Leo XIII. began his encyclical of June 20, 1888, with these similar words, lihertas prcKstantissim-nm naturae donum, " liberty, the most excellent gift of nature."
2 ii. li. Dante appeals to the testimony of Virgil, his guide through hell and purgatory. He also quotes Virgil's proud lines : —
'Tm regere imperii populos, Bomane, memento. Hcec tibi ernnt artes, pacisque imponere morem Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.'''' Roman, remember that it was given to thee to rule the nations. Thine it is to establish peace, spare subject peoples and war against the proud. 8ii. 12, 13; iii. 13, 10.
* This last section of the book has the heading auctoritatem imperii i?hmediate dependere a Deo.