THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
shows an acquaintance with Vprn;il, Cieoro, Lucan, Horace, Ovid, Livy, and Statins. At the age of nine he saw for the first time Beatrice, the daughter of Folco Portinari, for whom he conceived an ardent passion which stimulated his poetical penius and found its last expression in the Divina Coinnialia. Their intercourse was confined to occasional salutations, and she married in 12S7 and died in 1290. Dante, some time before 1208, married Gemma Manetto Donati, who bore him four children.
The party divisions in Florence in Dante's time were twofold, one Italian, the other local. The former was between Guelfs and Ghibellines, the latter I.ietwecn Bianchi and Ncri
2. Floren- (" AVhites and Blacks "). The Guelfs, tine the popular party, were represented
Parties, by the burghers and trade-gilds.
The Ghibellines represented the aristocracy and the soldiery. Dante was originally a Guelf and a "White. Later he passed over to the Ghibellines, but finally broke away from both parties. During Dante's earlier life the power was gradually shifting from the nobles to the people. In 1289 the Tuscan Ghibellines were routed at the battle of Campaldino (June 11), where Dante served as a soldier, as he did a little later at the siege and capture of the Pisan castle of Caprona by the Florentines and Luccans. The revolution of 1293 overthrew the grandees, and the democratic character of the constitution was confirmed by the reforms of Giano dell^i Bella, a noble with popular sympathies. Thenceforth the nobles were excluded from the office of prior. However, they continued their intrigues, which were now promoted by the newly elected pope, Boniface VIII. (1294), who aimed to concentrate in himself all authority, temporal and spiritual. The control of Tuscany was an important means to this end.
Without membership in one of the industrial gilds no one could hold office. Dante was enrolled in the Gild of Physicians and Apothecaries in ]2'J5, and in 1300 became one of the priors, in whom the executive power of the State was lodged. The division between the Whites and the Blacks — the Cerchi and Donati — now came to the front. The Cerchi represented the democracy, and the Donati the pope and his policy. A fight took place between the two factions. Boniface despatched a legate to Florence, nominally
3. Dante's as a pacificator, really to support the Banish- Blacks. Dante with the signory re-
ment. fused his overtures. As the disturbance continued, the priors banished the leaders of both factions. Corso Donati went to Rome and appealed to Boniface, who selected as his tool Charles of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair of France. He sent him to Florence with an armed force, on the pretense of restoring peace, and his arrival was the signal for a ferocious attack upon the Whites by the Blacks. Dante's house was sacked. The priors were deposed. On Jan. 27, 1'5()2, Dante was pronounced guilty of extortion, ( nil)ezzlement, and corruption; of resistance to the pope and Charles; and of assisting to expel the Blacks, the servants of the Church. With four others he was banished for two years, condemned
to pay a heavy fine, and excluded from holding office thereafter. On Mar. 10 a second sentence was pronounced, forbidding him to return to Florence on penalty of being burned.
It is impossible to follow the track of Dante's wanderings. It appears that, after the proscription, in 1302, 1303, and 1306, three attempts were made by the banished Whites to enter Florence. In the first and probably in the second of these Dante took part; but he soon broke finally with hi.s
associates, and thenceforth was a 4. His Wan- party by himself. His first refuge derings. was with the Scaligers at Verona, Later Life, after which he wandered over the
greater part of Italy. He was at Padua in 1306, and the same year with the Malaspini at Lunigiana. He was also at Mantua. It has been claimed that he resided in Paris, and that he visited England and Flanders. After the death of Henry VII., in 1313, he appears at Lucca. In 1316 the Government of Florence offered amnesty to political exiles, and Dante was granted permission to return on condition of undergoing the public penance of a malefactor. The offer was indignantly refused. In the latter years of his life he resided chiefly with Guido da Polenta at Ravenna, but was for a considerable time at Verona with Can Grande della Scala. He was invited to go to Bologna to receive the poet's crown, but declined. He was sent as an ambassador to Venice by Polenta, upon whom the Venetians had made war. Shortly after his return he died, and was interred near the church of San Francesco.
XL Literary Works: (1) The Vita Nuova : The story of his passion for Beatrice in prose, interspersed with brief poems. It explains the part which Beatrice plays in the Commedia. (2) The Convivio or " Banquet " (the form Convito is later): Projected in fourteen treatises, only four of which were written; a philosophical commentary on three of Dante's own Canzoni. It treats of questions of geography, astronomy, etymology, and dialectics, but also of philosophy, patriotism, and nobility of soul. (3) Canzoniere : Minor poems, songs, ballads, and sonnets. (4) De monarchia : In Latin, in three books. Monarchy is the normal, divinely instituted form of government. The Roman Empire is invested with universal monarchy by the decree of God, and is perpetuated in the Hohenstaufens. The normal administration of human affairs is through two coordinate agents, the Empire and the Church. The pope and the emperor are equally God's vicars. (5) De vidgari eloquenlia : A treatise in Latin. It examines the fourteen dialects of Italy, and discusses the meter of the canzone, giving rules for the composition of Italian poetry. Four books were projected, of which only two were written. (6) Epistles : Number and authenticity much disputecl; fourteen have been attributed to Dante, and ten are doubtfully accepted as genuine. (7) De aqua rt terra : A treatise in Latin. Dante's authorship has been generally denied, but soni(> moilcrn scholars, notai)ly Professor Edward Moore, believe it to be authentic. The question discussed is: Can water in its own sphere or natural circumference be in any place higher