DANTE
631
DANTE
Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance;
it gives a complete picture of Catholicism in the thir-
teenth centurj- in Italy. In the "Inferno", Dante's
style is chiefly influenced by Virgil, and, in a lesser
degree, by Liican. The heir in poetrj- of the great
achievement of Bl. Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas
Aquinas in christianizing Aristotle, his ethical scheme
and metaphysics are m.ainlj' Aristotelean, while his
machinerj- is still that of popular medie\-al tradition.
It is doubtful whether he had direct acquaintance
with any other account of a visit to the spirit world,
save that in the sixth book of the " ^Eneid ' '. But over
all this vast field his dramatic sense played at will, pic-
turing human nature in its essentials, laying bare the
secrets of the heart with a hand as sure as that of
Shakespeare. Himself the victim of persecution and
injustice, burning with zeal for the reformation and
renovation of the world, Dante's imp.artiality is, in
the main, sublime. He is the man (to adopt his own
phrase) to whom Truth appeals from her immutable
throne; as such, he relentle.s.sly condemns the "dear
and kind paternal image" of Brunetto Latini to hell,
though from him he had learned "how man makes
himself eternal"; while he places Constantine, to
whose donation he ascribes the corruption of the
Church and the ruin of the world, in paradise. The
pity and terror of certain episodes in the "Inferno" —
the fruitless magnanimity of Farinata degli I'berti.
the fatal love of Francesca da Rimini, the fall of Gui( li ■
da Montefeltro, the doom of Count Ugolino — reach the
utmost heights of tragedy.
The "Purgatorio", perhaps the most artistically perfect of the three canticles, owes less to the beauty of the separate episodes. Dante's conception of purgatory as a lofty mountain, rising out of the ocean in the southern hemisphere, and leading up to the Garden of Eden, the necessary preparation for win- ning back the earthly paradise, and with it all the prerogatives lost by man at the fall of Adam, secin> peculiar to him; nor do we find elsewhere the purit'\ ing process carried on beneath the sun and stars, with the beauty of transfigured nature only eclipsed by the splendovir of the angelic custodians of the seven ter- races. The meeting with Beatrice on the banks of Lethe, with Dante's personal confession of an un- worthy past, completes the story of the "Vita Nuova" after the bitter experiences and disillusions of a life- time.
The essence of Dante's philosophy is that all virtues and all vices proceed from love. The " Purgatorio ' ' shows how love is to be set in order; the "Paradiso" shows how it is rendered perfect in successive stages of illumination, until it attains to union with the Divine Love. The whole structure and spiritual ar- rangement of Dante's paradise, in which groups of saints make a temporary appearance in the lower spheres in token of the "many mansions", is closely dependent upon the teachings of the Pseudo-Diony- sius and St. Bernard concerning the different offices of the nine orders of angels. It is doubtful whether he knew the "Celestial Hierarchj-" of Dionysius at first hand, in the translation of Scotus Erigena; but St. Bernard's "De Consideratione" certainly influ- enced him profovmdiy. Dante's debt to the Fathers and Doctors of the Church has not yet been investi- gated with the fullness of research that h:us been devoted to elucidating his knowledge of the classical writers. His theology is mainly that of St. Tlionias Acjuinas, though he occa.sionally (.as when treating of prmial matter and of the nature of the celestial intelli- gences) departs from the teaching of the .\ng<'lic.al Doctor. On particular points, the influence? of St. Gregory, St. Isidore, St. .•\nselni, and St. Bonaventure may be traced; that u! Boethius is marked and deep throughout. His mysticism is professedly b.ased upon St. Augustine, St. Bernard, and Richard of St. Victor, while in many places it curiously anticipates that of
St. John of the Cross. Mr. Wiekstecd speaks of
"many instances in which Dante gives a spiritual
turn to the physical speculations of the Greeks".
Even in the " Paradiso "the authority of Aristotle is,
next to that of the .Scriptures, .supreme; and it is
nntcwcirtliy that, when questioned by St. John upon
cli.iriiN . 1 iiiiti' ap|ieals first of all to the Stagirite (in
the ■' .Mi't;i|iliysips") as showing us the cause for loving
Ciod for Himself and above aU things (Par., xxvi,
37-39). The harmonious fusion of the loftiest mys-
ticism with direct transcripts from nature and the
homely circumstance of daily life, all handled with
poetic passion and the most consummate art, gives
the "Divina Commedi.a" its unique character. The
closing canto is the crown of the whole work; sense
and music are wedded in perfect harmony; the most
profound mystery of faith is there set forth in supreme
song with a vivid clearness and ilhnninating precision
that can never be surpassed.
Dante's vehement denunciation of the ecclesiastical
corruption of his times, and his condemnation of most
of the contemporary popes (including the canonized
Celestine V) to hell have led to some ciuestioning as to
the poet's attitude towards the Church. Even in the
fourteenth century attempts were made to find heresy
in the " Divina Connuedia", and the " De .Monarchia"
w;is burned at Bologna by order of a papal legate.
In more recent times Dante has been hailed as a pre-
cursor of the Reformation. His theological position
as an orthodox Catholic has been amply and repeat-
edly vindicated, recently and most notably by Dr.
Moore, who declares that "there is no trace in his
writings of doubt or dissatisfaction respecting any
part of the teaching of the Church in matters of doc-
trine authoritatively laid down". A strenuous op-
ponent of the political aims of the popes of his own
day, the beautiful episodes of Ca.sella and Manfred
in the "Purgatorio", no less than tlii' closing chapter
of the "De Monarchia" itself, bear witness to Dante's
reverence for the spiritvuil power of the papacy, which
he accepts its of Divine origin. Not the least striking
testimony to his orthodoxy is the part played by the
Bles.sed Virgin in the sacred poem from the beginning
to the end. It is, as it were, the working out in in-
