{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33896/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33896","id":"gutenberg_33896","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33896","summary":null,"tags":["Banned Books from Anne Haight's list","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: History - European","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Church and state -- Early works to 1800","Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321","Italy -- Politics and government -- 476-1268"],"text":"Produced by Emanuela Piasentini, Linda Cantoni, and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive/American Libraries at\nhttp://www.archive.org/details/danteessaytowhic00chur.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Transcriber's Note: Spelling and punctuation have been retained as\nthey appear in the original, but obvious printer errors have been\ncorrected without note. Printer errors in Italian passages from _The\nDivine Comedy_ have been corrected using the Italian-English Princeton\nUniversity Press edition (trans. Charles S. Singleton, 1973).\n\nA Table of Contents has been added for the reader's convenience. The\noriginal contains a separate Contents of De Monarchia at the end of De\nMonarchia.]\n\n\n\n\nDANTE\n\nAND\n\nDE MONARCHIA.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nDANTE.\n\n_An Essay._\n\n\nBY\n\nR. W. CHURCH, M.A., D.C.L.\n\nDEAN OF ST. PAUL'S, AND HONORARY FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD.\n\n\n_To which is added_\n\nA TRANSLATION OF\n\nDE MONARCHIA.\n\n\nBY F. J. CHURCH.\n\n\n_London:_\nMACMILLAN AND CO.\n1879.\n\n\nCHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS,\nCRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nNOTICE\nDANTE\nDE MONARCHIA\nCONTENTS OF DE MONARCHIA\nPUBLISHER'S CATALOGUE\n\n\n\n\nNOTICE.\n\n\nThe following Essay first appeared in the \"Christian Remembrancer\" of\nJanuary, 1850, and it was reprinted in a volume of \"Essays and\nReviews,\" published in 1854.\n\nIt was written before the appearance in Germany and England of the\nabundant recent literature on the subject. With the exception of a few\ntrifling corrections, it is republished without change.\n\nBy the desire of Mr. Macmillan, a translation of the _De Monarchia_ is\nsubjoined. I am indebted for it to my son, Mr. F.J. Church, late\nScholar of New College. It is made from the text of Witte's second\nedition of the _De Monarchia_, 1874. The _De Monarchia_ has been more\nthan once translated into Italian and German, in earlier or later\ntimes. But I do not know that any English translation has yet\nappeared. It is analysed in the fifteenth chapter of Mr. Bryce's \"Holy\nRoman Empire.\"\n\nWitte, with much probability, I think, places the composition of the\nwork in the first part of Dante's life, before his exile in 1301,\nwhile the pretensions and arguments of Boniface VIII. (1294-1303) were\nbeing discussed by Guelf and Ghibelline partisans, but before they\nwere formally embodied in the famous Bull _Unam Sanctam_, 1302. The\ncharacter of the composition, for the most part, formal, general, and\nscholastic, sanguine in tone and with little personal allusion, is in\nstrong contrast with the passionate and despairing language of\nresentment and disappointment which marks his later writings. As an\nexample of the political speculation of the time, it should be\ncompared with the \"_De Regimine Principum_,\" ascribed to Thomas\nAquinas. The whole subject of the medi\u00e6val idea of the Empire is\nadmirably discussed in Mr. Bryce's book referred to above.\n\nR.W.C.\n\nST. PAUL'S,\n  _November_, 1878.\n\n\n\n\nDANTE.[1]\n\n[JAN. 1850.]\n\n[Footnote 1: _Dante's Divine Comedy, the Inferno; a literal Prose\nTranslation, with the Text of the Original._ By J.A. CARLYLE, M.D.,\nLondon: 1849. I have never quite forgiven myself for not having said\nmore of the unpretending but honest and most useful volume which stood\nat the head of this essay when it first appeared as an article. It was\nplaced there, according to what was then a custom of article writers,\nas a peg to hang remarks upon which might or might not be criticisms\nof the particular book so noticed. It did not offer itself specially\nto my use, and my attention was busy with my own work. But this was no\nexcuse for availing myself of a good book, and not giving it the\nnotice which it deserved. To an English student beginning Dante, and\nwishing to study him in a scholarly manner, it is really more useful\nthan a verse translation can be; and I have always greatly regretted\nthat the plan of translating the whole work was dropped for want of\nthe appreciation which the first instalment ought to have had.\n(1878.)]\n\n\nThe _Divina Commedia_ is one of the landmarks of history. More than a\nmagnificent poem, more than the beginning of a language and the\nopening of a national literature, more than the inspirer of art, and\nthe glory of a great people, it is one of those rare and solemn\nmonuments of the mind's power, which measure and test what it can\nreach to, which rise up ineffaceably and for ever as time goes on,\nmarking out its advance by grander divisions than its centuries, and\nadopted as epochs by the consent of all who come after. It stands with\nthe _Iliad_ and Shakspere's Plays, with the writings of Aristotle and\nPlato, with the _Novum Organon_ and the _Principia_, with Justinian's\n_Code_, with the Parthenon and S. Peter's. It is the first Christian\npoem; and it opens European literature, as the _Iliad_ did that of\nGreece and Rome. And, like the _Iliad_, it has never become out of\ndate; it accompanies in undiminished freshness the literature which it\nbegan.\n\nWe approach the history of such works, in which genius seems to have\npushed its achievements to a new limit, with a kind of awe. The\nbeginnings of all things, their bursting out from nothing, and gradual\nevolution into substance and shape, cast on the mind a solemn\ninfluence. They come too near the fount of being to be followed up\nwithout our feeling the shadows which surround it. We cannot but fear,\ncannot but feel ourselves cut off from this visible and familiar\nworld--as we enter into the cloud. And as with the processes of\nnature, so it is with those offsprings of man's mind, by which he has\nadded permanently one more great feature to the world, and created a\nnew power which is to act on mankind to the end. The mystery of the\ninventive and creative faculty, the subtle and incalculable\ncombinations by which it was led to its work, and carried through it,\nare out of the reach of investigating thought. Often the idea recurs\nof the precariousness of the result; by how little the world might\nhave lost one of its ornaments--by one sharp pang, or one chance\nmeeting, or any other among the countless accidents among which man\nruns his course. And then the solemn recollection supervenes, that\npowers were formed, and life preserved, and circumstances arranged,\nand actions controlled, that thus it should be: and the work which man\nhas brooded over, and at last created, is the foster-child too of that\n\"Wisdom which reaches from end to end, strongly and sweetly disposing\nall things.\"\n\nIt does not abate these feelings, that we can follow in some cases and\nto a certain extent, the progress of a work. Indeed, the sight of the\nparticular accidents among which it was developed--which belong\nperhaps to a heterogeneous and widely discordant order of things,\nwhich are out of proportion and out of harmony with it, which do not\nexplain it, which have, as it may seem to us, no natural right to be\nconnected with it, to bear on its character, or contribute to its\naccomplishment, to which we feel, as it were, ashamed to owe what we\ncan least spare, yet on which its forming mind and purpose were\ndependent, and with which they had to conspire--affects the\nimagination even more than cases where we see nothing. We are tempted\nless to musing and wonder by the _Iliad_, a work without a history,\ncut off from its past, the sole relic and vestige of its age,\nunexplained in its origin and perfection, than by the _Divina\nCommedia_, destined for the highest ends and most universal sympathy,\nyet the reflection of a personal history, and issuing seemingly from\nits chance incidents.\n\nThe _Divina Commedia_ is singular among the great works with which it\nranks, for its strong stamp of personal character and history. In\ngeneral we associate little more than the name--not the life--of a\ngreat poet with his works; personal interest belongs more usually to\ngreatness in its active than its creative forms. But the whole idea\nand purpose of the _Commedia_, as well as its filling up and\ncolouring, are determined by Dante's peculiar history. The loftiest,\nperhaps, in its aim and flight of all poems, it is also the most\nindividual; the writer's own life is chronicled in it, as well as the\nissues and upshot of all things. It is at once the mirror to all time\nof the sins and perfections of men, of the judgments and grace of God,\nand the record, often the only one, of the transient names, and local\nfactions, and obscure ambitions, and forgotten crimes, of the poet's\nown day; and in that awful company to which he leads us, in the most\nunearthly of his scenes, we never lose sight of himself. And when this\npeculiarity sends us to history, it seems as if the poem which was to\nhold such a place in Christian literature hung upon and grew out of\nchance events, rather than the deliberate design of its author.\nHistory indeed here, as generally, is but a feeble exponent of the\ncourse of growth in a great mind and great ideas. It shows us early a\nbent and purpose--the man conscious of power and intending to use\nit--and then the accidents among which he worked: but how that current\nof purpose threaded its way among them, how it was thrown back,\ndeflected, deepened, by them, we cannot learn from history. It\npresents but a broken and mysterious picture. A boy of quick and\nenthusiastic temper grows up into youth in a dream of love. The lady\nof his mystic passion dies early. He dreams of her still, not as a\nwonder of earth, but as a Saint in Paradise, and relieves his heart in\nan autobiography, a strange and perplexing work of fiction--quaint and\nsubtle enough for a metaphysical conceit; but, on the other hand, with\nfar too much of genuine and deep feeling. It is a first essay; he\ncloses it abruptly as if dissatisfied with his work, but with the\nresolution of raising at a future day a worthy monument to the memory\nof her whom he has lost. It is the promise and purpose of a great\nwork. But a prosaic change seems to come over this half-ideal\ncharacter. The lover becomes the student--the student of the 13th\ncentury--struggling painfully against difficulties, eager and hot\nafter knowledge, wasting eyesight and stinting sleep, subtle,\ninquisitive, active-minded and sanguine, but omnivorous, overflowing\nwith dialectical forms, loose in premiss and ostentatiously rigid in\nsyllogism, fettered by the refinements of half-awakened taste, and the\nmannerisms of the Proven\u00e7als. Boethius and Cicero, and the mass of\nmixed learning within his reach, are accepted as the consolation of\nhis human griefs: he is filled with the passion of universal\nknowledge, and the desire to communicate it. Philosophy has become the\nlady of his soul--to write allegorical poems in her honour, and to\ncomment on them with all the apparatus of his learning in prose, his\nmode of celebrating her. Further, he marries; it is said, not happily.\nThe antiquaries, too, have disturbed romance by discovering that\nBeatrice also was married some years before her death. He appears, as\ntime goes on, as a burgher of Florence, the father of a family, a\npolitician, an envoy, a magistrate, a partisan, taking his full share\nin the quarrels of the day. At length we see him, at once an exile,\nand the poet of the _Commedia_. Beatrice reappears--shadowy, melting\nat times into symbol and figure--but far too living and real,\naddressed with too intense and natural feeling to be the mere\npersonification of anything. The lady of the philosophical Canzoni\nhas vanished. The student's dream has been broken, as the boy's had\nbeen; and the earnestness of the man, enlightened by sorrow,\noverleaping the student's formalities and abstractions, reverted in\nsympathy to the earnestness of the boy, and brooded once more on that\nSaint in Paradise, whose presence and memory had once been so\nsoothing, and who now seemed a real link between him and that stable\ncountry, \"where the angels are in peace.\" Round her image, the\nreflection of purity, and truth, and forbearing love, was grouped that\nconfused scene of trouble and effort, of failure and success, which\nthe poet saw round him; round her image it arranged itself in awful\norder--and that image, not a metaphysical abstraction, but the living\nmemory, freshened by sorrow, and seen through the softening and\nhallowing vista of years, of Beatrice Portinari--no figment of\nimagination, but God's creature and servant. A childish love,\ndissipated by study and business, and revived in memory by heavy\nsorrow--a boyish resolution, made in a moment of feeling, interrupted,\nthough it would be hazardous to say in Dante's case, laid aside, for\napparently more manly studies, gave the idea and suggested the form of\nthe \"Sacred poem of earth and heaven.\"\n\nAnd the occasion of this startling unfolding of the poetic gift, of\nthis passage of a soft and dreamy boy, into the keenest, boldest,\nsternest of poets, the free and mighty leader of European song, was,\nwhat is not ordinarily held to be a source of poetical inspiration,--the\npolitical life. The boy had sensibility, high aspirations, and a\nversatile and passionate nature; the student added to this energy,\nvarious learning, gifts of language, and noble ideas on the capacities\nand ends of man. But it was the factions of Florence which made Dante\na great poet. But for them, he might have been a modern critic and\nessayist born before his time, and have held a high place among the\nwriters of fugitive verses; in Italy, a graceful but trifling and idle\ntribe, often casting a deep and beautiful thought into a mould of\nexpressive diction, but oftener toying with a foolish and glittering\nconceit, and whose languid genius was exhausted by a sonnet. He might\nhave thrown into the shade the Guidos and Cinos of his day, to be\neclipsed by Petrarch. But he learned in the bitter feuds of Italy not\nto trifle; they opened to his view, and he had an eye to see, the true\nsprings and abysses of this mortal life--motives and passions stronger\nthan lovers' sentiments, evils beyond the consolations of Boethius and\nCicero; and from that fiery trial which without searing his heart,\nannealed his strength and purpose, he drew that great gift and power,\nby which he stands pre-eminent even among his high compeers, the gift\nof being real. And the idea of the _Commedia_ took shape, and expanded\ninto its endless forms of terror and beauty, not under the roof-tree\nof the literary citizen, but when the exile had been driven out to the\nhighways of the world, to study nature on the sea or by the river or\non the mountain track, and to study men in the courts of Verona and\nRavenna, and in the schools of Bologna and Paris--perhaps of Oxford.\n\nThe connexion of these feuds with Dante's poem has given to the middle\nage history of Italy an interest of which it is not undeserving in\nitself, full as it is of curious exhibitions of character and\ncontrivance, but to which politically it cannot lay claim, amid the\nsocial phenomena, so far grander in scale and purpose and more\nfelicitous in issue, of the other western nations. It is remarkable\nfor keeping up an antique phase, which, in spite of modern\narrangements, it has not yet lost. It is a history of cities. In\nancient history all that is most memorable and instructive gathers\nround cities; civilisation and empire were concentrated within walls;\nand it baffled the ancient mind to conceive how power should be\npossessed and wielded, by numbers larger than might be collected in a\nsingle market-place. The Roman Empire indeed aimed at being one in its\nadministration and law; but it was not a nation, nor were its\nprovinces nations. Yet everywhere but in Italy, it prepared them for\nbecoming nations. And while everywhere else parts were uniting and\nunion was becoming organisation--and neither geographical remoteness,\nnor unwieldiness of numbers, nor local interests and differences, were\nuntractable obstacles to that spirit of fusion which was at once the\nambition of the few and the instinct of the many; and cities, even\nwhere most powerful, had become the centres of the attracting and\njoining forces, knots in the political network--while this was going\non more or less happily throughout the rest of Europe, in Italy the\nancient classic idea lingered in its simplicity, its narrowness and\njealousy, wherever there was any political activity. The history of\nSouthern Italy indeed is mainly a foreign one, the history of modern\nRome merges in that of the Papacy; but Northern Italy has a history of\nits own, and that is a history of separate and independent\ncities--points of reciprocal and indestructible repulsion, and within,\ntheatres of action where the blind tendencies and traditions of\nclasses and parties weighed little on the freedom of individual\ncharacter, and citizens could watch and measure and study one another\nwith the minuteness of private life.\n\nTwo cities were the centres of ancient history in its most interesting\ntime. And two cities of modern Italy represent, with entirely\nundesigned but curiously exact coincidence, the parts of Athens and\nRome. Venice, superficially so unlike, is yet in many of its\naccidental features, and still more in its spirit, the counterpart of\nRome, in its obscure and mixed origin, in its steady growth, in its\nquick sense of order and early settlement of its polity, in its grand\nand serious public spirit, in its subordination of the individual to\nthe family, and the family to the state, in its combination of remote\ndominion with the liberty of a solitary and sovereign city. And though\nthe associations and the scale of the two were so different--though\nRome had its hills and its legions, and Venice its lagunes and\ngalleys--the long empire of Venice, the heir of Carthage and\npredecessor of England on the seas, the great aristocratic republic of\n1000 years, is the only empire that has yet matched Rome in length and\nsteadiness of tenure. Brennus and Hannibal were not resisted with\ngreater constancy than Doria and Louis XII.; and that great\naristocracy, long so proud, so high-spirited, so intelligent, so\npractical, who combined the enterprise and wealth of merchants, the\nself-devotion of soldiers and gravity of senators, with the uniformity\nand obedience of a religious order, may compare without shame its\nGiustiniani, and Zenos, and Morosini, with Roman Fabii and Claudii.\nAnd Rome could not be more contrasted with Athens than Venice with\nItalian and contemporary Florence--stability with fitfulness,\nindependence impregnable and secure, with a short-lived and troubled\nliberty, empire meditated and achieved, with a course of barren\nintrigues and quarrels. Florence, gay, capricious, turbulent, the city\nof party, the head and busy patroness of democracy in the cities round\nher--Florence, where popular government was inaugurated with its\nutmost exclusiveness and most pompous ceremonial; waging her little\nsummer wars against Ghibelline tyrants, revolted democracies, and her\nown exiles; and further, so rich in intellectual gifts, in variety of\nindividual character, in poets, artists, wits, historians--Florence in\nits brilliant days recalled the image of ancient Athens, and did not\ndepart from its prototype in the beauty of its natural site, in its\nnoble public buildings, in the size and nature of its territory. And\nthe course of its history is similar and the result of similar\ncauses--a traditional spirit of freedom, with its accesses of fitful\nenergy, its periods of grand display and moments of glorious\nachievement, but producing nothing politically great or durable, and\nsinking at length into a resigned servitude. It had its Peisistratid\u00e6\nmore successful than those of Athens; it had, too, its Harmodius and\nAristogeiton; it had its great orator of liberty, as potent and as\nunfortunate as the antagonist of Philip. And finally, like Athens, it\nbecame content with the remembrance of its former glory, with being\nthe fashionable and acknowledged seat of refinement and taste, with\nbeing a favoured dependency on the modern heir of the C\u00e6sars. But if\nto Venice belongs a grander public history, Florentine names and\nworks, like Athenian, will be living among men, when the Brenta shall\nhave been left unchecked to turn the Lagunes into ploughland, and when\nRome herself may no longer be the seat of the Popes.\n\nThe year of Dante's birth was a memorable one in the annals of\nFlorence, of Italy, and of Christendom.[2] The year 1265 was the year\nof that great victory of Benevento, where Charles of Anjou overthrew\nManfred of Naples, and destroyed at one blow the power of the house of\nSwabia. From that time till the time of Charles V., the emperors had\nno footing in Italy. Further, that victory set up the French influence\nin Italy, which, transient in itself, produced such strange and\nmomentous consequences, by the intimate connexion to which it led\nbetween the French kings and the Popes. The protection of France was\ndearly bought by the captivity of Avignon, the great western schism,\nand the consequent secularisation of the Papacy, which lasted on\nuninterrupted till the Council of Trent. Nearly three centuries of\ndegradation and scandal, unrelieved by one heroic effort among the\nsuccessors of Gregory VII., connected the Reformation with the triumph\nof Charles and the Pope at Benevento. Finally, by it the Guelf party\nwas restored for good in Florence; the Guelf democracy, which had been\ntrampled down by the Uberti and Manfred's chivalry at Monteaperti,\nonce more raised its head; and fortune, which had long wavered between\nthe rival lilies, finally turned against the white one, till the name\nof Ghibelline became a proscribed one in Florence, as Jacobite was\nonce in Scotland, or Papist in England, or Royalist in France.\n\n[Footnote 2: May, 1265. (Pelli.) Benevento: Feb. 26, 1265/6. The\nFlorentine year began March 25.]\n\nThe names of Guelf and Ghibelline were the inheritance of a contest\nwhich, in its original meaning, had been long over. The old struggle\nbetween the priesthood and the empire was still kept up traditionally,\nbut its ideas and interests were changed: they were still great and\nimportant ones, but not those of Gregory VII. It had passed over from\nthe mixed region of the spiritual and temporal into the purely\npolitical. The cause of the popes was that of the independence of\nItaly--the freedom and alliance of the great cities of the north, and\nthe dependence of the centre and south on the Roman See. To keep the\nEmperor out of Italy--to create a barrier of powerful cities against\nhim south of the Alps--to form behind themselves a compact territory,\nrich, removed from the first burst of invasion, and maintaining a\nstrong body of interested feudatories, had now become the great object\nof the popes. It may have been a wise policy on their part, for the\nmaintenance of their spiritual influence, to attempt to connect their\nown independence with the political freedom of the Italian\ncommunities; but certain it is that the ideas and the characters which\ngave a religious interest and grandeur to the earlier part of the\ncontest, appear but sparingly, if at all, in its later forms.\n\nThe two parties did not care to keep in view principles which their\nchiefs had lost sight of. The Emperor and the Pope were both real\npowers, able to protect and assist; and they divided between them\nthose who required protection and assistance. Geographical position,\nthe rivalry of neighbourhood, family tradition, private feuds, and\nabove all private interest, were the main causes which assigned\ncities, families, and individuals to the Ghibelline or Guelf party.\nOne party called themselves the Emperor's liegemen, and their\nwatchword was authority and law; the other side were the liegemen of\nHoly Church, and their cry was liberty; and the distinction as a broad\none is true. But a democracy would become Ghibelline, without scruple,\nif its neighbour town was Guelf; and among the Guelf liegemen of the\nChurch and liberty the pride of blood and love of power were not a\nwhit inferior to that of their opponents. Yet, though the original\nprinciple of the contest was lost, and the political distinctions of\nparties were often interfered with by interest or accident, it is not\nimpossible to trace in the two factions differences of temper, of\nmoral and political inclinations, which though visible only on a large\nscale and in the mass, were quite sufficient to give meaning and\nreality to their mutual opposition. These differences had come down,\ngreatly altered of course, from the quarrel in which the parties took\ntheir rise. The Ghibellines as a body reflected the worldliness, the\nlicence, the irreligion, the reckless selfishness, the daring\ninsolence, and at the same time the gaiety and pomp, the princely\nmagnificence and generosity and largeness of mind of the house of\nSwabia; they were the men of the court and camp, imperious and haughty\nfrom ancient lineage or the Imperial cause, yet not wanting in the\nfrankness and courtesy of nobility; careless of public opinion and\npublic rights, but not dead to the grandeur of public objects and\npublic services. Among them were found, or to them inclined, all who,\nwhether from a base or a lofty ambition, desired to place their will\nabove law[3]--the lord of the feudal castle, the robber-knight of the\nApennine pass, the magnificent but terrible tyrants of the cities, the\npride and shame of Italy, the Visconti and Scaligers. That renowned\nGhibelline chief, whom the poet finds in the fiery sepulchres of the\nunbelievers with the great Ghibelline emperor and the princely\nGhibelline cardinal--the disdainful and bitter but lofty spirit of\nFarinata degli Uberti, the conqueror, and then singly and at his own\nrisk, the saviour of his country which had wronged him, represents the\ngood as well as the bad side of his party.\n\n[Footnote 3: \"Maghinardo da Susinana (_il Demonio_, Purg. 14) fu uno\ngrande e savio tiranno ... gran castellano, e con molti fedeli: savio\nfu di guerra e bene avventuroso in pi\u00f9 battaglie, e al suo tempo fece\ngran cose. Ghibellino era di sua nazione e in sue opere; ma co'\nFiorentini era Guelfo e nimico di tutti i loro nimici, o Guelfi o\nGhibellini che fossono.\"--G. Vill. vii. 149. A Ghibelline by birth and\ndisposition; yet, from circumstances, a close ally of the Guelfs of\nFlorence.]\n\nThe Guelfs, on the other hand, were the party of the middle classes;\nthey rose out of and held to the people; they were strong by their\ncompactness, their organisation in cities, their commercial relations\nand interests, their command of money. Further, they were professedly\nthe party of strictness and religion, a profession which fettered them\nas little as their opponents were fettered by the respect they claimed\nfor imperial law. But though by personal unscrupulousness and\nselfishness, and in instances of public vengeance, they sinned as\ndeeply as the Ghibellines, they stood far more committed as a party to\na public meaning and purpose--to improvement in law and the condition\nof the poor, to a protest against the insolence of the strong, to the\nencouragement of industry. The genuine Guelf spirit was austere,\nfrugal, independent, earnest, religious, fond of its home and Church,\nand of those celebrations which bound together Church and home; but\nwithal very proud, very intolerant; in its higher form intolerant of\nevil, but intolerant always to whatever displeased it. Yet there was a\ngrave and noble manliness about it which long kept it alive in\nFlorence. It had not as yet turned itself against the practical\ncorruptions of the Church, which was its ally; but this also it was to\ndo, when the popes had forsaken the cause of liberty, and leagued\nthemselves with the brilliant tyranny of the Medici. Then Savonarola\ninvoked, and not in vain, the stern old Guelf spirit of resistance, of\ndomestic purity and severity, and of domestic religion, against\nunbelief and licentiousness even in the Church; and the Guelf\n\"_Piagnoni_\" presented, in a more simple and generous shape, a\nresemblance to our own Puritans, as the Ghibellines often recall the\ncoarser and worse features of our own Cavaliers.\n\nIn Florence, these distinctions had become mere nominal ones, confined\nto the great families who carried on their private feuds under the old\nparty names, when Frederick II. once more gave them their meaning.\n\"Although the accursed Guelf and Ghibelline factions lasted amongst\nthe nobles of Florence, and they often waged war among themselves out\nof private grudges, and took sides for the said factions, and held one\nwith another, and those who called themselves Guelfs desired the\nestablishment of the Pope and Holy Church, and those who called\nthemselves Ghibellines favoured the Emperor and his adherents, yet\nwithal the people and commonalty of Florence maintained itself in\nunity, to the well-being and honour and establishment of the\ncommonwealth.\"[4] But the appearance on the scene of an emperor of\nsuch talent and bold designs revived the languid contest, and gave to\nparty a cause, and to individual passions and ambition an impulse and\npretext. The division between Guelf and Ghibelline again became\nserious, involved all Florence, armed house against house, and\nneighbourhood against neighbourhood, issued in merciless and\nvindictive warfare, grew on into a hopeless and deadly breach, and\nfinally lost to Florence, without remedy or repair, half her noble\nhouses and the love of the greatest of her sons. The old badge of\ntheir common country became to the two factions the sign of their\nimplacable hatred; the white lily of Florence, borne by the\nGhibellines, was turned to red by the Guelfs, and the flower of two\ncolours marked a civil strife as cruel and as fatal, if on a smaller\nscale, as that of the English roses.[5]\n\n[Footnote 4: G. Villani, vi. 33.]\n\n[Footnote 5: G. Villani, vi. 33, 43; _Parad._ 19.]\n\nIt was waged with the peculiar characteristics of Italian civil war.\nThere the city itself was the scene of battle. A thirteenth century\ncity in Italy bore on its face the evidence that it was built and\narranged for such emergencies. Its crowded and narrow streets were a\ncollection of rival castles, whose tall towers, rising thick and close\nover its roofs, or hanging perilously over its close courts, attested\nthe emulous pride and the insecurity of Italian civic life. There,\nwithin a separate precinct, flanked and faced by jealous friends or\ndeadly enemies, were clustered together the dwellings of the various\nmembers of each great house--their common home and the monument of\ntheir magnificence and pride, and capable of being, as was so often\nnecessary, their common refuge. In these fortresses of the leading\nfamilies, scattered about the city, were the various points of onset\nand recovery in civic battle; in the streets barricades were raised,\nmangonels and crossbows were plied from the towers, a series of\nseparate combats raged through the city, till chance at length\nconnected the attacks of one side, or some panic paralysed the\nresistance of the other, or a conflagration interposed itself between\nthe combatants, burning out at once Guelf and Ghibelline, and laying\nhalf Florence in ashes. Each party had their turn of victory; each,\nwhen vanquished, went into exile, and carried on the war outside the\nwalls; each had their opportunity of remodelling the orders and\nframework of government, and each did so relentlessly at the cost of\ntheir opponents. They excluded classes, they proscribed families, they\nconfiscated property, they sacked and burned warehouses, they levelled\nthe palaces, and outraged the pride of their antagonists. To destroy\nwas not enough, without adding to it the keenest and newest refinement\nof insult. Two buildings in Florence were peculiarly dear--among their\n\"_cari luoghi_\"--to the popular feeling and the Guelf party: the\nBaptistery of St. John, \"il mio bel S. Giovanni,\" \"to which all the\ngood people resorted on Sundays,\"[6] where they had all received\nbaptism, where they had been married, where families were solemnly\nreconciled; and a tall and beautiful tower close by it, called the\n\"Torre del Guardamorto,\" where the bodies of the \"good people,\" who of\nold were all buried at S. Giovanni, rested on their way to the grave.\nThe victorious Ghibellines, when they levelled the Guelf towers,\noverthrew this one, and endeavoured to make it crush in its fall the\nsacred church, \"which,\" says the old chronicler, \"was prevented by a\nmiracle.\" The Guelfs, when their day came, built the walls of Florence\nwith the stones of Ghibelline palaces.[7] One great family stands out\npre-eminent in this fierce conflict as the victim and monument of\nparty war. The head of the Ghibellines was the proud and powerful\nhouse of the Uberti, who shared with another great Ghibelline family,\nthe Pazzi, the valley of the upper Arno. They lighted up the war in\nthe Emperor's cause. They supported its weight and guided it. In time\nof peace they were foremost and unrestrained in defiance of law and in\nscorn of the people--in war, the people's fiercest and most active\nenemies. Heavy sufferers, in their property, and by the sword and axe,\nyet untamed and incorrigible, they led the van in that battle, so long\nremembered to their cost by the Guelfs, the battle of Monteaperti\n(1260)--\n\n     Lo strazio, e 'l gran scempio\n     Che fece l'Arbia colorata in rossa.--_Inf._ 10.\n\n[Footnote 6: G. Villani, vi. 33, iv. 10; _Inf._ 19; _Parad._ 25.]\n\n[Footnote 7: G. Villani, vi. 39, 65.]\n\nThat the head of their house, Farinata, saved Florence from the\nvengeance of his meaner associates, was not enough to atone for the\nunpardonable wrongs which they had done to the Guelfs and the\ndemocracy. When the red lily of the Guelfs finally supplanted the\nwhite one as the arms of Florence, and the badge of Guelph triumph,\nthey were proscribed for ever, like the Peisistratid\u00e6 and the\nTarquins. In every amnesty their names were excepted. The site on\nwhich their houses had stood was never again to be built upon, and\nremains the Great Square of Florence; the architect of the Palace of\nthe People was obliged to sacrifice its symmetry, and to place it\nawry, that its walls might not encroach on the accursed ground.[8]\n\"They had been,\" says a writer, contemporary with Dante, speaking of\nthe time when he also became an exile; \"they had been for more than\nforty years outlaws from their country, nor ever found mercy nor pity,\nremaining always abroad in great state, nor ever abased their honour,\nseeing that they ever abode with kings and lords, and to great things\napplied themselves.\"[9] They were loved as they were hated. When under\nthe protection of a cardinal one of them visited the city, and the\nchequered blue and gold blazon of their house was, after an interval\nof half a century, again seen in the streets of Florence; \"many\nancient Ghibelline men and women pressed to kiss the arms,\"[10] and\neven the common people did him honour.\n\n[Footnote 8: G. Villani, vi. 33, viii. 26; Vasari, _Arnolfo di Lapo_,\ni. 255 (Fir. 1846).]\n\n[Footnote 9: _Dino Compagni_, p. 88.]\n\n[Footnote 10: _Dino Compagni_, p. 107.]\n\nBut the fortunes of Florentine factions depended on other causes than\nmerely the address or vigour of their leaders. From the year of\nDante's birth and Charles's victory, Florence, as far as we shall have\nto do with it, became irrevocably Guelf. Not that the whole commonalty\nof Florence formally called itself Guelf, or that the Guelf party was\nco-extensive with it; but the city was controlled by Guelf councils,\ndevoted to the objects of the great Guelf party, and received in\nreturn the support of that party in curbing the pride of the nobles,\nand maintaining democratic forms. The Guelf party of Florence, though\nit was the life and soul of the republic, and irresistible in its\ndisposal of the influence and arms of Florence, and though it embraced\na large number of the most powerful families, is always spoken of as\nsomething distinct from, and external to, the governing powers, and\nthe whole body of the people. It was a body with a separate and\nself-constituted existence;--in the state and allied to it, but an\nindependent element, holding on to a large and comprehensive union\nwithout the state. Its organisation in Florence is one of the most\ncurious among the many curious combinations which meet us in Italian\nhistory. After the final expulsion of the Ghibellines, the Guelf party\ntook form as an institution, with definite powers, and a local\nexistence. It appears with as distinct a shape as the Jacobin Club or\nthe Orange Lodges, side by side with the government. It was a\ncorporate body with a common seal, common property, not only in funds\nbut lands--officers, archives, a common palace,[11] a great council, a\nsecret committee, and last of all, a public accuser of the\nGhibellines; of the confiscated Ghibelline estates one-third went to\nthe republic, another third to compensate individual Guelfs, the rest\nwas assigned to the Guelf party.[12] A pope, (Clement IV., 1265-68)\nhad granted them his own arms[13]; and their device, a red eagle\nclutching a serpent, may be yet seen, with the red lily, and the\nparty-coloured banner of the commonalty, on the battlements of the\nPalazzo Vecchio.\n\n[Footnote 11: Giotto painted in it: Vasari, _Vit. di Giotto_, p. 314.]\n\n[Footnote 12: G. Villani, vii. 2, 17.]\n\n[Footnote 13: _Ibid._ vii. 2.]\n\nBut the expulsion of the Ghibellines did but little to restore peace.\nThe great Guelf families, as old as many of the Ghibellines, had as\nlittle reverence as they for law or civic rights. Below these, the\nacknowledged nobility of Florence, were the leading families of the\n\"people,\" houses created by successful industry or commerce, and\npushing up into that privileged order, which, however ignored and\neven discredited by the laws, was fully recognised by feeling and\nopinion in the most democratic times of the republic. Rivalries and\nfeuds, street broils and conspiracies, high-handed insolence from the\ngreat men, rough vengeance from the populace, still continued to vex\njealous and changeful Florence. The popes sought in vain to keep in\norder their quarrelsome liegemen; to reconcile Guelf with Guelf, and\neven Guelf with Ghibelline. Embassies went and came, to ask for\nmediation and to proffer it; to apply the healing paternal hand; to\npresent an obsequious and ostentatious submission. Cardinal legates\ncame in state, and were received with reverential pomp; they formed\nprivate committees, and held assemblies, and made marriages; they\nharangued in honeyed words, and gained the largest promises; on one\noccasion the Great Square was turned into a vast theatre, and on this\nstage one hundred and fifty dissidents on each side came forward, and\nin the presence and with the benediction of the cardinal kissed each\nother on the mouth.[14] And if persuasion failed, the pope's\nrepresentative hesitated not to excommunicate and interdict the\nfaithful but obdurate city. But whether excommunicated or blessed,\nFlorence could not be at peace; however wise and subtle had been the\npeace-maker's arrangements, his departing _cort\u00e8ge_ was hardly out of\nsight of the city before they were blown to the winds. Not more\nsuccessful were the efforts of the sensible and moderate citizens who\nsighed for tranquillity within its walls. Dino Compagni's interesting\nthough not very orderly narrative describes with great frankness, and\nwith the perplexity of a simple-hearted man puzzled by the continual\ntriumph of clever wickedness, the variety and the fruitlessness of the\nexpedients devised by him and other good citizens against the resolute\nand incorrigible selfishness of the great Guelfs--ever, when checked\nin one form, breaking out in another; proof against all persuasion,\nall benefits; not to be bound by law, or compact, or oath; eluding or\nturning to its own account the deepest and sagest contrivances of\nconstitutional wisdom.\n\n[Footnote 14: G. Villani, vii. 56.]\n\nA great battle won against Ghibelline Arezzo[15] raised the renown and\nthe military spirit of the Guelf party, for the fame of the battle was\nvery great; the hosts contained the choicest chivalry of either side,\narmed and appointed with emulous splendour. The fighting was hard,\nthere was brilliant and conspicuous gallantry, and the victory was\ncomplete. It sealed Guelf ascendancy. The Ghibelline warrior-bishop\nof Arezzo fell, with three of the Uberti, and other Ghibelline chiefs.\nIt was a day of trial. \"Many that day who had been thought of great\nprowess were found dastards, and many who had never been spoken of\nwere held in high esteem.\" It repaired the honour of Florence, and the\ncitizens showed their feeling of its importance by mixing up the\nmarvellous with its story. Its tidings came to Florence--so runs the\ntale in Villani, who declares what he \"heard and saw\" himself--at the\nvery hour in which it was won. The Priors of the republic were resting\nin their palace during the noonday heat; suddenly the chamber door was\nshaken, and the cry heard: \"Rise up! the Aretini are defeated.\" The\ndoor was opened, but there was no one; their servants had seen no one\nenter the palace, and no one came from the army till the hour of\nvespers, on a long summer's day. In this battle the Guelf leaders had\nwon great glory. The hero of the day was the proudest, handsomest,\ncraftiest, most winning, most ambitious, most unscrupulous Guelf noble\nin Florence--one of a family who inherited the spirit and recklessness\nof the proscribed Uberti, and did not refuse the popular epithet of\n\"_Malefami_\"--Corso Donati. He did not come back from the field of\nCampaldino, where he had won the battle by disobeying orders with any\nincreased disposition to yield to rivals, or court the populace, or\nrespect other men's rights. Those rivals, too--and they also had\nfought gallantly in the post of honour at Campaldino--were such as he\nhated from his soul--rivals whom he despised, and who yet were too\nstrong for him. His blood was ancient, they were upstarts; he was a\nsoldier, they were traders; he was poor, they the richest men in\nFlorence. They had come to live close to the Donati, they had bought\nthe palace of an old Ghibelline family, they had enlarged, adorned,\nand fortified it, and kept great state there. They had crossed him in\nmarriages, bargains, inheritances. They had won popularity, honour,\ninfluence; and yet they were but men of business, while he had a part\nin all the political movements of the day. He was the friend and\nintimate of lords and noblemen, with great connexions and famous\nthrough all Italy; they were the favourites of the common people for\ntheir kindness and good nature; they even showed consideration for\nGhibellines. He was an accomplished man of the world, keen and subtle,\n\"full of malicious thoughts, mischievous and crafty;\" they were\ninexperienced in intrigue, and had the reputation of being clumsy and\nstupid. He was the most graceful and engaging of courtiers; they were\nnot even gentlemen. Lastly, in the debates of that excitable republic\nhe was the most eloquent speaker, and they were tongue-tied.[16]\n\n[Footnote 15: _Campaldino_, in 1289. G. Vill. vii. 131; _Dino Comp._\np. 14.]\n\n[Footnote 16: _Dino Comp._ pp. 32, 75, 94, 133.]\n\n\"There was a family,\" writes Dino Compagni, \"who called themselves the\nCerchi, men of low estate, but good merchants and very rich; and they\ndressed richly, and maintained many servants and horses, and made a\nbrave show; and some of them bought the palace of the Conti Guidi,\nwhich was near the houses of the Pazzi and Donati, who were more\nancient of blood but not so rich; therefore, seeing the Cerchi rise to\ngreat dignity, and that they had walled and enlarged the palace, and\nkept great state, the Donati began to have a great hatred against\nthem.\" Villani gives the same account of the feud.[17] \"It began in\nthat quarter of scandal the Sesta of Porta S. Piero, between the\nCerchi and Donati, on the one side through jealousy, on the other\nthrough churlish rudeness. Of the house of the Cerchi was head Messer\nVieri de' Cerchi, and he and those of his house were people of great\nbusiness, and powerful, and of great relationships, and most wealthy\ntraders, so that their company was one of the greatest in the world;\nmen they were of soft life, and who meant no harm; boorish and\nill-mannered, like people who had come in a short time to great state\nand power. The Donati were gentlemen and warriors, and of no\nexcessive wealth.... They were neighbours in Florence and in the\ncountry, and by the conversation of their jealousy with the peevish\nboorishness of the others, arose the proud scorn that there was\nbetween them.\" The glories of Campaldino were not as oil on these\ntroubled waters. The conquerors flouted each other all the more\nfiercely in the streets on their return, and ill-treated the lower\npeople with less scruple. No gathering for festive or serious purposes\ncould be held without tempting strife. A marriage, a funeral, a ball,\na gay procession of cavaliers and ladies--any meeting where one stood\nwhile another sat, where horse or man might jostle another, where\npride might be nettled or temper shown, was in danger of ending in\nblood. The lesser quarrels meanwhile ranged themselves under the\ngreater ones; and these, especially that between the Cerchi and\nDonati, took more and more a political character. The Cerchi inclined\nmore and more to the trading classes and the lower people; they threw\nthemselves on their popularity, and began to hold aloof from the\nmeetings of the \"Parte Guelfa,\" while this organised body became an\ninstrument in the hands of their opponents, a club of the nobles.\nCorso Donati, besides mischief of a more substantial kind, turned his\nridicule on their solemn dulness and awkward speech, and his friends\nthe jesters, one Scampolino in particular, carried his gibes and\nnicknames all over Florence. The Cerchi received all in sullen and\nclogged indifference. They were satisfied with repelling attacks, and\nnursed their hatred.[18]\n\n[Footnote 17: G. Vill. viii. 39.]\n\n[Footnote 18: _Dino Compagni_, pp. 32, 34, 38.]\n\nThus the city was divided, and the attempts to check the factions only\nexasperated them. It was in vain that, when at times the government\nand the populace lost patience, severe measures were taken. It was in\nvain that the reformer, Gian della Bella, carried for a time his harsh\n\"orders of justice\" against the nobles, and invested popular vengeance\nwith the solemnity of law and with the pomp and ceremony of a public\nact--that when a noble had been convicted of killing a citizen, the\ngreat officer, \"Standard-bearer,\" as he was called, \"of justice,\"\nissued forth in state and procession, with the banner of justice borne\nbefore him, with all his train, and at the head of the armed citizens,\nto the house of the criminal, and razed it to the ground. An\neyewitness describes the effect of such chastisement:--\"I, Dino\nCompagni, being Gonfalonier of Justice in 1293, went to their houses,\nand to those of their relations, and these I caused to be pulled down\naccording to the laws. This beginning in the case of the other\nGonfaloniers came to an evil effect; because, if they demolished the\nhouses according to the laws, the people said that they were cruel;\nand if they did not demolish them completely, they said that they were\ncowards; and many distorted justice for fear of the people.\" Gian\ndella Bella was overthrown with few regrets even on the part of the\npeople. Equally vain was the attempt to keep the peace by separating\nthe leaders of the disturbances. They were banished by a kind of\nostracism; they departed in ostentatious meekness, Corso Donato to\nplot at Rome, Vieri de' Cerchi to return immediately to Florence.\nAnarchy had got too fast a hold on the city, and it required a\nstronger hand than that of the pope, or the signory of the republic,\nto keep it down.\n\nYet Florence prospered. Every year it grew richer, more intellectual,\nmore refined, more beautiful, more gay. With its anarchy there was no\nstagnation. Torn and divided as it was, its energy did not slacken,\nits busy and creative spirit was not deadened, its hopefulness not\nabated. The factions, fierce and personal as they were, did not hinder\nthat interest in political ideas, that active and subtle study of the\nquestions of civil government, that passion and ingenuity displayed in\npolitical contrivance, which now pervaded Northern Italy, everywhere\nmarvellously patient and hopeful, though far from being equally\nsuccessful. In Venice at the close of the thirteenth century, that\npolity was finally settled and consolidated, by which she was great as\nlong as cities could be imperial, and which even in its decay survived\nthe monarchy of Louis XIV. and existed within the memory of living\nmen. In Florence, the constructive spirit of law and order only\nresisted, but never triumphed. Yet it was at this time resolute and\nsanguine, ready with experiment and change, and not yet dispirited by\ncontinual failure. Political interest, however, and party contests\nwere not sufficient to absorb and employ the citizens of Florence.\nTheir genial and versatile spirit, so keen, so inventive, so elastic,\nwhich made them such hot and impetuous partisans, kept them from being\nonly this. The time was one of growth; new knowledge, new powers, new\ntastes were opening to men--new pursuits attracted them. There was\ncommerce, there was the school philosophy, there was the science of\nnature, there was ancient learning, there was the civil law, there\nwere the arts, there was poetry, all rude as yet, and unformed, but\nfull of hope--the living parents of mightier offspring. Frederick II.\nhad once more opened Aristotle to the Latin world; he had given an\nimpulse to the study of the great monuments of Roman legislation which\nwas responded to through Italy; himself a poet, his example and his\nsplendid court had made poetry fashionable. In the end of the\nthirteenth century a great stride was made at Florence. While her\ngreat poet was growing up to manhood, as rapid a change went on in her\nstreets, her social customs, the wealth of her citizens, their ideas\nof magnificence and beauty, their appreciation of literature. It was\nthe age of growing commerce and travel; Franciscan missionaries had\nreached China, and settled there;[19] in 1294, Marco Polo returned to\nVenice, the first successful explorer of the East. The merchants of\nFlorence lagged not; their field of operation was Italy and the West;\nthey had their correspondents in London, Paris, and Bruges; they were\nthe bankers of popes and kings.[20] And their city shows to this day\nthe wealth and magnificence of the last years of the thirteenth\ncentury. The ancient buildings, consecrated in the memory of the\nFlorentine people, were repaired, enlarged, adorned with marble and\nbronze--Or San Michele, the Badia, the Baptistery; and new buildings\nrose on a grander scale. In 1294 was begun the Mausoleum of the great\nFlorentine dead, the Church of S. Croce. In the same year, a few\nmonths later, Arnolfo laid the deep foundations which were afterwards\nto bear up Brunelleschi's dome, and traced the plan of the magnificent\ncathedral. In 1298 he began to raise a Town-hall worthy of the\nRepublic, and of being the habitation of its magistrates, the frowning\nmass of the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1299, the third circle of the walls\nwas commenced, with the benediction of bishops, and the concourse of\nall the \"lords and orders\" of Florence. And Giotto was now beginning\nto throw Cimabue into the shade--Giotto, the shepherd's boy, painter,\nsculptor, architect, and engineer at once, who a few years later was\nto complete and crown the architectural glories of Florence by that\nmasterpiece of grace, his marble Campanile.\n\n[Footnote 19: See the curious letters of _John de Monte Corvino_,\nabout his mission in Cathay, 1289-1305, in Wadding, vi. 69.]\n\n[Footnote 20: _E.g._ the _Mozzi_, of Greg. X.; _Peruzzi_, of Philip le\nBel; _Spini_, of Boniface VIII.; _Cerchi del Garbo_, of Benedict XI.\n(G. Vill. vii. 42, viii. 63, 71; _Dino Comp._ p. 35).]\n\nFifty years made then all that striking difference in domestic habits,\nin the materials of dress, in the value of money, which they have\nusually made in later centuries. The poet of the fourteenth century\ndescribes the proudest nobleman of a hundred years before \"with his\nleathern girdle and clasp of bone;\" and in one of the most beautiful\nof all poetic celebrations of the good old time, draws the domestic\nlife of ancient Florence in the household where his ancestor was born:\n\n     A cos\u00ec riposato, a cos\u00ec bello\n     Viver di cittadini, a cos\u00ec fida\n     Cittadinanza, a cos\u00ec dolce ostello\n     Maria mi di\u00e8, chiamata in alte grida.--_Par._ c. 15.[21]\n\n[Footnote 21:\n\n     Florence, confined within that ancient wall,\n       Whence still the chimes at noon and evening sound,\n     Was sober, modest, and at peace with all.\n     Myself have seen Bellincion Berti pace\n       The street in leathern belt; his lady come\n     Forth from her toilet with unpainted face.\n           *      *      *      *\n     Oh happy wives! each soon to lay her head\n       In her own tomb; and no one yet compelled\n     To weep deserted in a lonely bed.\n           *      *      *      *\n     To such pure life of beauty and repose--\n       Such faithful citizens--such happy men--\n     The virgin gave me, when my mother's throes\n       Forced her with cries to call on Mary's name.--WRIGHT.]\n\nThere high-born dames, he says, still plied the distaff and the loom;\nstill rocked the cradle with the words which their own mothers had\nused; or working with their maidens, told them old tales of the\nforefathers of the city, \"of the Trojans, of Fiesole, and of Rome.\"\nVillani still finds this rudeness within forty years of the end of the\ncentury, almost within the limits of his own and Dante's life; and\nspeaks of that \"old first people,\" _il primo Popolo Vecchio_, with\ntheir coarse food and expenditure, their leather jerkins, and plain\nclose gowns, their small dowries and late marriages, as if they were\nthe first founders of the city, and not a generation which had lasted\non into his own.[22] Twenty years later, his story is of the gaiety,\nthe riches, the profuse munificence, the brilliant festivities, the\ncareless and joyous life, which attracted foreigners to Florence as\nthe city of pleasure; of companies of a thousand or more, all clad in\nwhite robes, under a lord, styled \"of Love,\" passing their time in\nsports and dances; of ladies and knights, \"going through the city with\ntrumpets and other instruments, with joy and gladness,\" and meeting\ntogether in banquets evening and morning; entertaining illustrious\nstrangers, and honourably escorting them on horseback in their passage\nthrough the city; tempting by their liberality, courtiers, and wits,\nand minstrels, and jesters, to add to the amusements of Florence.[23]\nNor were these the boisterous triumphs of unrefined and coarse\nmerriment. How variety of character was drawn out, how its more\ndelicate elements were elicited and tempered, how nicely it was\nobserved, and how finely drawn, let the racy and open-eyed\nstory-tellers of Florence testify.\n\n[Footnote 22: G. Vill. vi. 69 (1259).]\n\n[Footnote 23: G. Vill. vii. 89 (1283).]\n\nNot perhaps in these troops of revellers, but amid music and song, and\nin the pleasant places of social and private life, belonging to the\nFlorence of arts and poetry, not to the Florence of factions and\nstrife, should we expect to find the friend of the sweet singer,\nCasella, and of the reserved and bold speculator, Guido Cavalcanti;\nthe mystic poet of the _Vita Nuova_, so sensitive and delicate,\ntrembling at a gaze or a touch, recording visions, painting angels,\ncomposing Canzoni and commenting on them; finally devoting himself to\nthe austere consolations of deep study. To superadd to such a\ncharacter that of a democratic politician of the middle ages, seems an\nincongruous and harsh combination. Yet it was a real one in this\ninstance. The scholar's life is, in our idea of it, far separated from\nthe practical and the political; we have been taught by our experience\nto disjoin enthusiasm in love, in art, in what is abstract or\nimaginative, from keen interest and successful interference in the\naffairs and conflicts of life. The practical man may sometimes be also\na _dilettante_; but the dreamer or the thinker, wisely or indolently,\nkeeps out of the rough ways where real passions and characters meet\nand jostle, or if he ventures, seldom gains honour there. The\nseparation, though a natural one, grows wider as society becomes more\nvast and manifold, as its ends, functions, and pursuits are\ndisentangled, while they multiply. But in Dante's time, and in an\nItalian city, it was not such a strange thing that the most refined\nand tender interpreter of feeling, the popular poet, whose verses\ntouched all hearts, and were in every mouth, should be also at once\nthe ardent follower of all abstruse and difficult learning, and a\nprominent character among those who administered the State. In that\nnarrow sphere of action, in that period of dawning powers and\ncircumscribed knowledge, it seemed no unreasonable hope or unwise\nambition to attempt the compassing of all science, and to make it\nsubserve and illustrate the praise of active citizenship.[24] Dante,\nlike other literary celebrities of the time, was not less from the\ncustom of the day, than from his own purpose, a public man. He took\nhis place among his fellow-citizens; he went out to war with them; he\nfought, it is said, among the skirmishers at the great Guelf victory\nof Campaldino; to qualify himself for office in the democracy, he\nenrolled himself in one of the Guilds of the people, and was\nmatriculated in the \"Art\" of the Apothecaries; he served the State as\nits agent abroad; he went on important missions to the cities and\ncourts of Italy--according to a Florentine tradition, which enumerates\nfourteen distinct embassies, even to Hungary and France. In the\nmemorable year of Jubilee, 1300, he was one of the Priors of the\nRepublic. There is no shrinking from fellowship and co-operation and\nconflict with the keen or bold men of the market-place and\ncouncil-hall, in that mind of exquisite and, as drawn by itself,\nexaggerated sensibility. The doings and characters of men, the\nworkings of society, the fortunes of Italy, were watched and thought\nof with as deep an interest as the courses of the stars, and read in\nthe real spectacle of life with as profound emotion as in the\nmiraculous page of Virgil; and no scholar ever read Virgil with such\nfeeling--no astronomer ever watched the stars with more eager\ninquisitiveness. The whole man opens to the world around him; all\naffections and powers, soul and sense, diligently and thoughtfully\ndirected and trained, with free and concurrent and equal energy, with\ndistinct yet harmonious purposes, seek out their respective and\nappropriate objects, moral, intellectual, natural, spiritual, in that\nadmirable scene and hard field where man is placed to labour and love,\nto be exercised, proved, and judged.\n\n[Footnote 24: _Vide_ the opening of the _De Monarchia_.]\n\nIn a fresco in the chapel of the old palace of the Podest\u00e0[25] at\nFlorence is a portrait of Dante, said to be by the hand of his\ncontemporary Giotto. It was discovered in 1841 under the whitewash,\nand a tracing made by Mr. Seymour Kirkup has been reproduced in\nfac-simile by the Arundel Society. The fresco was afterwards restored\nor repainted with no happy success. He is represented as he might have\nbeen in the year of Campaldino (1289). The countenance is youthful yet\nmanly, more manly than it appears in the engravings of the picture;\nbut it only suggests the strong deep features of the well-known\ntraditional face. He is drawn with much of the softness, and\nmelancholy pensive sweetness, and with something also of the quaint\nstiffness of the _Vita Nuova_--with his flower and his book. With him\nis drawn his master, Brunetto Latini,[26] and Corso Donati. We do not\nknow what occasion led Giotto thus to associate him with the great\n\"Baron.\" Dante was, indeed, closely connected with the Donati. The\ndwelling of his family was near theirs, in the \"Quarter of Scandal,\"\nthe Ward of the Porta S. Piero. He married a daughter of their house,\nMadonna Gemma. None of his friends are commemorated with more\naffection than the companion of his light and wayward days, remembered\nnot without a shade of anxious sadness, yet with love and hope,\nCorso's brother, Forese.[27] No sweeter spirit sings and smiles in the\nillumined spheres of Paradise, than she whom Forese remembers as on\nearth one,\n\n     Che tra bella e buona\n     Non so qual fosse pi\u00f9--[28]\n\nand who, from the depth of her heavenly joy, teaches the poet that in\nthe lowest place among the blessed there can be no envy[29]--the\nsister of Forese and Corso, Piccarda. The _Commedia_, though it\nspeaks, as if in prophecy, of Corso's miserable death, avoids the\nmention of his name.[30] Its silence is so remarkable as to seem\nsignificant. But though history does not group together Corso and\nDante, the picture represents the truth--their fortunes were linked\ntogether. They were actors in the same scene--at this distance of time\ntwo of the most prominent; though a scene very different from that\ncalm and grave assembly, which Giotto's placid pencil has drawn on the\nold chapel wall.\n\n[Footnote 25: The Bargello, a prison (1850); a museum (1878). _V._\nVasari, p. 311.]\n\n[Footnote 26: He died in 1294. G. Vill. viii. 10.]\n\n[Footnote 27: _Purgat._ c. 23.]\n\n[Footnote 28: _Ibid._ c. 24.\n\n     My sister, good and beautiful--which most I know not.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 29: _Parad._ c. 3.]\n\n[Footnote 30: _Purg._ c. 24, 82-87.]\n\nThe outlines of this part of Dante's history are so well known that it\nis not necessary to dwell on them; and more than the outlines we know\nnot. The family quarrels came to a head, issued in parties, and the\nparties took names; they borrowed them from two rival factions in a\nneighbouring town, Pistoia, whose feud was imported into Florence; and\nthe Guelfs became divided into the Black Guelfs who were led by the\nDonati, and the White Guelfs who sided with the Cerchi.[31] It still\nprofessed to be but a family feud, confined to the great houses; but\nthey were too powerful and Florence too small for it not to affect the\nwhole Republic. The middle classes and the artisans looked on, and\nfor a time not without satisfaction, at the strife of the great men;\nbut it grew evident that one party must crush the other, and become\ndominant in Florence; and of the two, the Cerchi and their White\nadherents were less formidable to the democracy than the unscrupulous\nand overbearing Donati, with their military renown and lordly tastes;\nproud not merely of being nobles, but Guelf nobles; always loyal\nchampions, once the martyrs, and now the hereditary assertors, of the\ngreat Guelf cause. The Cerchi with less character and less zeal, but\nrich, liberal, and showy, and with more of rough kindness and vulgar\ngood-nature for the common people, were more popular in Guelf Florence\nthan the \"Parte Guelfa;\" and, of course, the Ghibellines wished them\nwell. Both the contemporary historians of Florence lead us to think\nthat they might have been the governors and guides of the Republic--if\nthey had chosen, and had known how; and both, though condemning the\ntwo parties equally, seemed to have thought that this would have been\nthe best result for the State. But the accounts of both, though they\nare very different writers, agree in their scorn of the leaders of the\nWhite Guelfs. They were upstarts, purse-proud, vain, and\ncoarse-minded; and they dared to aspire to an ambition which they were\ntoo dull and too cowardly to pursue, when the game was in their\nhands. They wished to rule; but when they might, they were afraid. The\ncommons were on their side, the moderate men, the party of law, the\nlovers of republican government, and for the most part the\nmagistrates; but they shrank from their fortune, \"more from cowardice\nthan from goodness, because they exceedingly feared their\nadversaries.\"[32] Boniface VIII. had no prepossessions in Florence,\nexcept for energy and an open hand; the side which was most popular he\nwould have accepted and backed; but \"he would not lose,\" he said, \"the\nmen for the women.\" \"_Io non voglio perdere gli uomini per le\nfemminelle._\"[33] If the Black party furnished types for the grosser\nor fiercer forms of wickedness in the poet's Hell, the White party\nsurely were the originals of that picture of stupid and cowardly\nselfishness, in the miserable crowd who moan and are buffeted in the\nvestibule of the Pit, mingled with the angels who dared neither to\nrebel nor be faithful, but \"_were for themselves_;\" and whoever it may\nbe who is singled out in the \"setta dei cattivi,\" for deeper and\nspecial scorn--he,\n\n     Che fece per vilt\u00e0 il gran rifiuto--[34]\n\nthe idea was derived from the Cerchi in Florence.\n\n[Footnote 31: In 1300. G. Villani, viii. 38, 39.]\n\n[Footnote 32: _Dino Comp._ p. 45.]\n\n[Footnote 33: _Ibid._ p. 62.]\n\n[Footnote 34: _Inf._ c. 3, 60.]\n\nA French prince was sent by the Pope to mediate and make peace in\nFlorence. The Black Guelfs and Corso Donati came with him. The\nmagistrates were overawed and perplexed. The White party were, step by\nstep, amused, entrapped, led blindly into false plots, entangled in\nthe elaborate subtleties, and exposed with all the zest and mockery,\nof Italian intrigue--finally chased out of their houses and from the\ncity, condemned unheard, outlawed, ruined in name and property, by the\nPope's French mediator. With them fell many citizens who had tried to\nhold the balance between the two parties: for the leaders of the Black\nGuelfs were guilty of no errors of weakness. In two extant lists of\nthe proscribed--condemned by default, for corruption and various\ncrimes, especially for hindering the entrance into Florence of Charles\nde Valois, to a heavy fine and banishment--then, two months after, for\ncontumacy, to be burned alive if he ever fell into the hands of the\nRepublic--appears the name of Dante Alighieri; and more than this,\nconcerning the history of his expulsion, we know not.[35]\n\n[Footnote 35: Pelli, _Memorie per servire alla vita di Dante._ Fir.\n1823, pp. 105, 106.]\n\nOf his subsequent life, history tells us little more than the general\ncharacter. He acted for a time in concert with the expelled party,\nwhen they attempted to force their way back to Florence; he gave them\nup at last in scorn and despair: but he never returned to Florence.\nAnd he found no new home for the rest of his days. Nineteen years,\nfrom his exile to his death, he was a wanderer. The character is\nstamped on his writings. History, tradition, documents, all scanty or\ndim, do but disclose him to us at different points, appearing here and\nthere, we are not told how or why. One old record, discovered by\nantiquarian industry, shows him in a village church near Florence,\nplanning, with the Cerchi and the White party, an attack on the Black\nGuelfs. In another, he appears in the Val di Magra, making peace\nbetween its small potentates: in another, as the inhabitant of a\ncertain street in Padua. The traditions of some remote spots about\nItaly still connect his name with a ruined tower, a mountain glen, a\ncell in a convent. In the recollections of the following generation,\nhis solemn and melancholy form mingled reluctantly, and for awhile, in\nthe brilliant court of the Scaligers; and scared the women, as a\nvisitant of the other world, as he passed by their doors in the\nstreets of Verona. Rumour brings him to the West--with probability to\nParis, more doubtfully to Oxford. But little certain can be made out\nabout the places where he was an honoured and admired, but it may be,\nnot always a welcome guest, till we find him sheltered, cherished,\nand then laid at last to rest, by the Lords of Ravenna. There he still\nrests, in a small, solitary chapel, built, not by a Florentine, but a\nVenetian. Florence, \"that mother of little love,\" asked for his bones;\nbut rightly asked in vain.[36] His place of repose is better in those\nremote and forsaken streets \"by the shore of the Adrian Sea,\" hard by\nthe last relics of the Roman Empire--the mausoleum of the children of\nTheodosius, and the mosaics of Justinian--than among the assembled\ndead of S. Croce, or amid the magnificence of S. Maria del Fiore.[37]\n\n[Footnote 36: See Dr. Barlow's _Sixth Centenary Festivals of Dante_.\n(1866.)]\n\n[Footnote 37: These notices have been carefully collected by _Pelli_,\nwho seems to have left little to glean (_Memorie_, &c. Ed. 2da,\n1823). A few additions have been made by _Gerini_ (_Mem. Stor. della\nLunigiana_), and _Troya_ (_Veltro Allegorico_), but they are not of\nmuch importance. _Arrivabene_ (_Secolo di Dante_) has brought together\na mass of illustration which is very useful, and would be more so, if\nhe were more careful, and quoted his authorities. _Balbo_ arranges\nthese materials with sense and good feeling; though, as a writer, he\nis below his subject. A few traits and anecdotes may be found in the\nnovelists--as Sacchetti.]\n\nThe _Commedia_, at the first glance, shows the traces of its author's\nlife. It is the work of a wanderer. The very form in which it is cast\nis that of a journey, difficult, toilsome, perilous, and full of\nchange. It is more than a working out of that touching phraseology of\nthe middle ages, in which \"the way\" was the technical theological\nexpression for this mortal life; and \"_viator_\" meant man in his\nstate of trial, as \"_comprehensor_\" meant man made perfect, having\nattained to his heavenly country. It is more than merely this. The\nwriter's mind is full of the recollections and definite images of his\nvarious journeys. The permanent scenery of the _Inferno_ and\n_Purgatorio_, very variously and distinctly marked, is that of travel.\nThe descent down the sides of the Pit, and the ascent of the Sacred\nMountain, show one familiar with such scenes--one who had climbed\npainfully in perilous passes, and grown dizzy on the brink of narrow\nledges over sea or torrent. It is scenery from the gorges of the Alps\nand Apennines, or the terraces and precipices of the Riviera. Local\nreminiscences abound:--the severed rocks of the Adige Valley--the\nwaterfall of S. Benedetto--the crags of Pietra-pana and S. Leo, which\noverlook the plains of Lucca and Ravenna--the \"fair river\" that flows\namong the poplars between Chiaveri and Sestri--the marble quarries of\nCarrara--the \"rough and desert ways between Lerici and Turbia,\" and\nthose towery cliffs, going sheer into the deep sea at Noli, which\ntravellers on the Corniche road some thirty years ago may yet remember\nwith fear. Mountain experience furnished that picture of the traveller\ncaught in an Alpine mist and gradually climbing above it; seeing the\nvapours grow thin, and the sun's orb appear faintly through them; and\nissuing at last into sunshine on the mountain top, while the light of\nsunset was lost already on the shores below:\n\n     Ai raggi, morti gi\u00e0 nei bassi lidi:--_Purg._ 17.\n\nor that image of the cold dull shadow over the torrent, beneath the\nAlpine fir--\n\n                   Un'ombra smorta\n     Qual sotto foglie verdi e rami nigri\n     Sovra suoi freddi rivi, l'Alpe porta:--_Purg._ 33.[38]\n\nor of the large snow-flakes falling without wind, among the\nmountains--\n\n             d'un cader lento\n     Piovean di fuoco dilatate falde\n     Come di neve in Alpe senza vento.--_Inferno_, 14.[39]\n\n[Footnote 38:\n\n                       A death-like shade--\n     Like that beneath black boughs and foliage green\n     O'er the cool streams in Alpine glens display'd.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 39:\n\n     O'er all the sandy desert falling slow,\n       Were shower'd dilated flakes of fire, like snow\n       On Alpine summits, when the wind is low.--IBID.]\n\nHe delights in a local name and local image--the boiling pitch, and\nthe clang of the shipwrights in the arsenal of Venice--the sepulchral\nfields of Arles and Pola--the hot-spring of Viterbo--the hooded monks\nof Cologne--the dykes of Flanders and Padua--the Maremma, with its\nrough brushwood, its wild boars, its snakes, and fevers. He had\nlistened to the south wind among the pine tops, in the forest by the\nsea, at Ravenna. He had watched under the Carisenda tower at Bologna,\nand seen the driving clouds \"give away their motion\" to it, and make\nit seem to be falling; and had noticed how at Rome the October sun\nsets between Corsica and Sardinia.[40] His images of the sea are\nnumerous and definite--the ship backing out of the tier in harbour,\nthe diver plunging after the fouled anchor, the mast rising, the ship\ngoing fast before the wind, the water closing in its wake, the arched\nbacks of the porpoises the forerunners of a gale, the admiral watching\neverything from poop to prow, the oars stopping altogether at the\nsound of the whistle, the swelling sails becoming slack when the mast\nsnaps and falls.[41] Nowhere could we find so many of the most\ncharacteristic and strange sensations of the traveller touched with\nsuch truth. Everyone knows the lines which speak of the voyager's\nsinking of heart on the first evening at sea, and of the longings\nwakened in the traveller at the beginning of his journey by the\ndistant evening bell[42]; the traveller's _morning_ feelings are not\nless delicately noted--the strangeness on first waking in the open air\nwith the sun high; morning thoughts, as day by day he wakes nearer\nhome; the morning sight of the sea-beach quivering in the early light;\nthe tarrying and lingering, before setting out in the morning[43]--\n\n     Noi eravam lunghesso 'l mare ancora,\n     Come gente che pensa al suo cammino,\n     Che va col cuore, e col corpo dimora.[44]\n\n[Footnote 40: _Inf._ 31, 18.]\n\n[Footnote 41: _Ibid._ 17, 16, 31; _Purg._ 24; _Par._ 2; _Inf._ 22;\n_Purg._ 30; _Par._ 25; _Inf._ 7.]\n\n[Footnote 42: _Purg._ 8. \"Era gi\u00e0 l'ora,\" &c.]\n\n[Footnote 43: _Purg._ 19, 27, 1, 2.]\n\n[Footnote 44:\n\n     By ocean's shore we still prolonged our stay\n     Like men, who, thinking of a journey near,\n     Advance in thought, while yet their limbs delay.--WRIGHT.]\n\nHe has recorded equally the anxiety, the curiosity, the suspicion with\nwhich, in those times, stranger met and eyed stranger on the road; and\na still more characteristic trait is to be found in those lines where\nhe describes the pilgrim gazing around in the church of his vow, and\nthinking how he shall tell of it:\n\n       E quasi peregrin che si ricrea\n     Nel tempio del suo voto riguardando,\n     E spera gi\u00e0 ridir com'ello stea:--_Parad._ 31.[45]\n\nor again, in that description, so simple and touching, of his thoughts\nwhile waiting to see the relic for which he left his home:\n\n       Quale \u00e8 colui che forse di Croazia\n     Viene a veder la Veronica nostra,\n     Che per l'antica fama non si sazia,\n       Ma dice nel pensier, fin che si mostra;\n     Signor mio Ges\u00f9 Cristo, Dio verace,\n     Or fu s\u00ec fatta la sembianza vostra?--_Parad._ 31.[46]\n\n[Footnote 45:\n\n     And like a pilgrim who with fond delight\n       Surveys the temple he has vow'd to see,\n       And hopes one day its wonders to recite.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 46:\n\n     Like one who, from Croatia come to see\n       Our Veronica (image long adored),\n       Gazes, as though content he ne'er could be--\n     Thus musing, while the relic is pourtray'd--\n       \"Jesus my God, my Saviour and my Lord,\n       O were thy features these I see display'd?\"--WRIGHT.\n\n     Quella imagine benedetta la quale Ges\u00f9 Cristo lasci\u00f2 a noi\n     per esempio della sua bellissima figura.--_Vita Nuova_, p.\n     353.\n\nHe speaks of the pilgrims going to Rome to see it; compare also the\nsonnet to the pilgrims, p. 355:\n\n     Deh peregrini, che pensosi andate\n     Forse di cosa, che non v'\u00e8 presente,\n     Venite voi di s\u00ec lontana gente,\n     Com'alla vista voi ne dimostrate.]\n\nOf these years then of disappointment and exile the _Divina Commedia_\nwas the labour and fruit. A story in Boccaccio's life of Dante, told\nwith some detail, implies indeed that it was begun, and some progress\nmade in it, while Dante was yet in Florence--begun in Latin, and he\nquotes three lines of it--continued afterwards in Italian. This is not\nimpossible; indeed the germ and presage of it may be traced in the\n_Vita Nuova_. The idealised saint is there, in all the grace of her\npure and noble humbleness, the guide and safeguard of the poet's\nsoul. She is already in glory with Mary the queen of angels. She\nalready beholds the face of the Everblessed. And the _envoye_ of the\n_Vita Nuova_ is the promise of the _Commedia_. \"After this sonnet,\"\n(in which he describes how beyond the widest sphere of heaven his love\nhad beheld a lady receiving honour, and dazzling by her glory the\nunaccustomed spirit)--\"After this sonnet there appeared to me a\nmarvellous vision, in which I saw things which made me resolve not to\nspeak more of this blessed one, until such time as I should be able to\nindite more worthily of her. And to attain to this, I study to the\nutmost of my power, as she truly knows. So that, if it shall be the\npleasure of Him, by whom all things live, that my life continue for\nsome years, I hope to say of her that which never hath been said of\nany woman. And afterwards, may it please Him, who is the Lord of\nkindness, that my soul may go to behold the glory of her lady, that\nis, of that blessed Beatrice, who gloriously gazes on the countenance\nof Him, _qui est per omnia secula benedictus_.\"[47] It would be\nwantonly violating probability and the unity of a great life, to\nsuppose that this purpose, though transformed, was ever forgotten or\nlaid aside. The poet knew not indeed what he was promising, what he\nwas pledging himself to--through what years of toil and anguish he\nwould have to seek the light and the power he had asked; in what form\nhis high venture should be realised. But the _Commedia_ is the work of\nno light resolve, and we need not be surprised at finding the resolve\nand the purpose at the outset of the poet's life. We may freely accept\nthe key supplied by the words of the _Vita Nuova_. The spell of\nboyhood is never broken, through the ups and downs of life. His course\nof thought advances, alters, deepens, but is continuous. From youth to\nage, from the first glimpse to the perfect work, the same idea abides\nwith him, \"even from the flower till the grape was ripe.\" It may\nassume various changes--an image of beauty, a figure of philosophy, a\nvoice from the other world, a type of heavenly wisdom and joy--but\nstill it holds, in self-imposed and willing thraldom, that creative\nand versatile and tenacious spirit. It was the dream and hope of too\ndeep and strong a mind to fade and come to naught--to be other than\nthe seed of the achievement and crown of life. But with all faith in\nthe star and the freedom of genius, we may doubt whether the\nprosperous citizen would have done that which was done by the man\nwithout a home. Beatrice's glory might have been sung in grand though\nbarbarous Latin to the literati of the fourteenth century; or a poem\nof new beauty might have fixed the language and opened the literature\nof modern Italy; but it could hardly have been the _Commedia_. That\nbelongs, in its date and its greatness, to the time when sorrow had\nbecome the poet's daily portion, and the condition of his life.\n\n[Footnote 47: _Vita Nuova_, last paragraph. See _Purg._ 30; _Parad._\n30, 6, 28-33.]\n\nThe _Commedia_ is a novel and startling apparition in literature.\nProbably it has been felt by some, who have approached it with the\nreverence due to a work of such renown, that the world has been\ngenerous in placing it so high. It seems so abnormal, so lawless, so\nreckless of all ordinary proprieties and canons of feeling, taste, and\ncomposition. It is rough and abrupt; obscure in phrase and allusion,\ndoubly obscure in purpose. It is a medley of all subjects usually kept\ndistinct: scandal of the day and transcendental science, politics and\nconfessions, coarse satire and angelic joy, private wrongs, with the\nmysteries of the faith, local names and habitations of earth, with\nvisions of hell and heaven. It is hard to keep up with the\never-changing current of feeling, to pass as the poet passes, without\neffort or scruple, from tenderness to ridicule, from hope to bitter\nscorn or querulous complaint, from high-raised devotion to the\ncalmness of prosaic subtleties or grotesque detail. Each separate\nelement and vein of thought has its precedent, but not their\namalgamation. Many had written visions of the unseen world, but they\nhad not blended with them their personal fortunes. S. Augustine had\ntaught the soul to contemplate its own history, and had traced its\nprogress from darkness to light;[48] but he had not interwoven with it\nthe history of Italy, and the consummation of all earthly destinies.\nSatire was no new thing; Juvenal had given it a moral, some of the\nProven\u00e7al poets a political turn; S. Jerome had kindled into it\nfiercely and bitterly even while expounding the Prophets; but here it\nstreams forth in all its violence, within the precincts of the eternal\nworld, and alternates with the hymns of the blessed. Lucretius had\ndrawn forth the poetry of nature and its laws; Virgil and Livy had\nunfolded the poetry of the Roman empire; S. Augustine, the still\ngrander poetry of the history of the City of God; but none had yet\nventured to weave into one the three wonderful threads. And yet the\nscope of the Italian poet, vast and comprehensive as the issue of all\nthings, universal as the government which directs nature and\nintelligence, forbids him not to stoop to the lowest caitiff he has\never despised, the minutest fact in nature that has ever struck his\neye, the merest personal association which hangs pleasantly in his\nmemory. Writing for all time, he scruples not to mix with all that is\naugust and permanent in history and prophecy, incidents the most\ntransient, and names the most obscure; to waste an immortality of\nshame or praise on those about whom his own generation were to inquire\nin vain. Scripture history runs into profane; Pagan legends teach\ntheir lesson side by side with Scripture scenes and miracles; heroes\nand poets of heathenism, separated from their old classic world, have\ntheir place in the world of faith, discourse with Christians of\nChristian dogmas, and even mingle with the Saints; Virgil guides the\npoet through his fear and his penitence to the gates of Paradise.\n\n[Footnote 48: See _Convito_, 1, 2.]\n\nThis feeling of harsh and extravagant incongruity, of causeless and\nunpardonable darkness, is perhaps the first impression of many readers\nof the _Commedia_. But probably as they read on, there will mingle\nwith this a sense of strange and unusual grandeur, arising not alone\nfrom the hardihood of the attempt, and the mystery of the subject, but\nfrom the power and the character of the poet. It will strike them that\nwords cut deeper than is their wont; that from that wild uncongenial\nimagery, thoughts emerge of singular truth and beauty. Their\ndissatisfaction will be chequered, even disturbed--for we can often\nbring ourselves to sacrifice much for the sake of a clear and\nconsistent view--by the appearance, amid much that repels them, of\nproofs undeniable and accumulating of genius as mighty as it is\nstrange. Their perplexity and disappointment may grow into distinct\ncondemnation, or it may pass into admiration and delight; but no one\nhas ever come to the end of the _Commedia_ without feeling that if it\nhas given him a new view and specimen of the wildness and\nunaccountable waywardness of the human mind, it has also added, as few\nother books have, to his knowledge of its feelings, its capabilities,\nand its grasp, and suggested larger and more serious thoughts, for\nwhich he may be grateful, concerning that unseen world of which he is\neven here a member.\n\nDante would not have thanked his admirers for becoming apologists.\nThose in whom the sense of imperfection and strangeness overpowers\nsympathy for grandeur, and enthusiasm for nobleness, and joy in\nbeauty, he certainly would have left to themselves. But neither would\nhe teach any that he was leading them along a smooth and easy road.\nThe _Commedia_ will always be a hard and trying book; nor did the\nwriter much care that it should be otherwise. Much of this is no doubt\nto be set down to its age; much of its roughness and extravagance, as\nwell as of its beauty--its allegorical spirit, its frame and scenery.\nThe idea of a visionary voyage through the worlds of pain and bliss is\nno invention of the poet--it was one of the commonest and most\nfamiliar medieval vehicles of censure or warning; and those who love\nto trace the growth and often strange fortunes of popular ideas, or\nwhose taste leads them to disbelieve in genius, and track the\nparentage of great inventions to the foolish and obscure, may find\nabundant materials in the literature of legends.[49] But his own\nage--the age which received the _Commedia_ with mingled enthusiasm and\nwonder, and called it the Divine, was as much perplexed as we are,\nthough probably rather pleased thereby than offended. That within a\ncentury after its composition, in the more famous cities and\nuniversities of Italy, Florence, Venice, Bologna, and Pisa, chairs\nshould have been founded, and illustrious men engaged to lecture on\nit, is a strange homage to its power, even in that time of quick\nfeeling; but as strange and great a proof of its obscurity. What is\ndark and forbidding in it was scarcely more clear to the poet's\ncontemporaries. And he, whose last object was amusement, invites no\naudience but a patient and confiding one.\n\n       O voi che siete in piccioletta barca,\n     Desiderosi di ascoltar, seguiti\n     Dietro al mio legno che cantando varca,\n\n       Tornate a riveder li vostri liti:\n     Non vi mettete in pelago, ch\u00e8 forse\n     Perdendo me rimarreste smarriti.\n\n       L'acqua ch'io prendo giammai non si corse:\n     Minerva spira, e conducemi Apollo,\n     E nuove muse mi dimostran l'Orse.\n\n       Voi altri pochi, che drizzaste 'l collo\n     Per tempo al pan degli angeli, del quale\n     Vivesi qui, ma non si vien satollo,\n\n       Metter potete ben per l'alto sale\n     Vostro navigio, servando mio solco\n     Dinanzi all'acqua che ritorna eguale.\n\n       Que gloriosi che passaro a Colco,\n     Non s'ammiraron, come voi farete,\n     Quando Jason vider fatto bifolco.--_Parad._ 2.[50]\n\n[Footnote 49: _Vide_ Ozanam, _Dante_, pp. 535, _sqq._ Ed.]\n\n[Footnote 50:\n\n     O ye who fain would listen to my song,\n       Following in little bark full eagerly\n       My venturous ship, that chanting hies along,\n\n     Turn back unto your native shores again;\n       Tempt not the deep, lest haply losing me,\n       In unknown paths bewildered ye remain.\n\n     I am the first this voyage to essay;\n       Minerva breathes--Apollo is my guide;\n       And new-born muses do the Bears display.\n\n     Ye other few, who have look'd up on high\n       For angels' food betimes, e'en here supplied\n       Largely, but not enough to satisfy,--\n\n     Mid the deep ocean ye your course may take,\n       My track pursuing the pure waters through,\n       Ere reunites the quickly-closing wake.\n\n     Those glorious ones, who drove of yore their prow\n       To Colchos, wonder'd not as ye will do,\n       When they saw Jason working at the plough.\n\n     WRIGHT'S _Dante_.]\n\nThe character of the _Commedia_ belongs much more, in its excellence\nand its imperfections, to the poet himself and the nature of his\nwork, than to his age. That cannot screen his faults; nor can it\narrogate to itself, it must be content to share, his glory. His\nleading idea and line of thought was much more novel then than it is\nnow, and belongs much more to the modern than the medieval world. The\n_Story of a Life_, the poetry of man's journey through the wilderness\nto his true country, is now in various and very different shapes as\nhackneyed a form of imagination, as an allegory, an epic, a legend of\nchivalry were in former times. Not, of course, that any time has been\nwithout its poetical feelings and ideas on the subject; and never were\nthey deeper and more diversified, more touching and solemn, than in\nthe ages that passed from S. Augustine and S. Gregory to S. Thomas and\nS. Bonaventura. But a philosophical poem, where they were not merely\nthe colouring, but the subject, an _epos_ of the soul, placed for its\ntrial in a fearful and wonderful world, with relations to time and\nmatter, history and nature, good and evil, the beautiful, the\nintelligible, and the mysterious, sin and grace, the infinite and the\neternal--and having in the company and under the influences of other\nintelligences, to make its choice, to struggle, to succeed or fail, to\ngain the light, or be lost--this was a new and unattempted theme. It\nhas been often tried since, in faith or doubt, in egotism, in sorrow,\nin murmuring, in affectation, sometimes in joy--in various forms, in\nprose and verse, completed or fragmentary, in reality or fiction, in\nthe direct or the shadowed story, in the _Pilgrim's Progress_, in\nRousseau's _Confessions_, in _Wilhelm Meister_ and _Faust_, in the\n_Excursion_. It is common enough now for the poet, in the faith of\nhuman sympathy, and in the sense of the unexhausted vastness of his\nmysterious subject, to believe that his fellows will not see without\ninterest and profit, glimpses of his own path and fortunes--hear from\nhis lips the disclosure of his chief delights, his warnings, his\nfears--follow the many-coloured changes, the impressions and workings,\nof a character, at once the contrast and the counterpart to their own.\nBut it was a new path then; and he needed to be, and was, a bold man,\nwho first opened it--a path never trod without peril, usually with\nloss or failure.\n\nAnd certainly no great man ever made less secret to himself of his own\ngenius. He is at no pains to rein in or to dissemble his consciousness\nof power, which he has measured without partiality, and feels sure\nwill not fail him. \"Fidandomi di me pi\u00f9 che di un altro\"[51]--is a\nreason which he assigns without reserve. We look with the distrust and\nhesitation of modern days, yet, in spite of ourselves, not without\nadmiration and regret, at such frank hardihood. It was more common\nonce than now. When the world was young, it was more natural and\nallowable--it was often seemly and noble. Men knew not their\ndifficulties as we know them--we, to whom time, which has taught so\nmuch wisdom, has brought so many disappointments--we who have seen how\noften the powerful have fallen short, and the noble gone astray, and\nthe most admirable missed their perfection. It is becoming in us to\ndistrust ourselves--to be shy if we cannot be modest; it is but a\nrespectful tribute to human weakness and our brethren's failures. But\nthere was a time when great men dared to claim their greatness--not in\nfoolish self-complacency, but in unembarrassed and majestic\nsimplicity, in magnanimity and truth, in the consciousness of a\nserious and noble purpose, and of strength to fulfil it. Without\npassion, without elation as without shrinking, the poet surveys his\nsuperiority and his high position, as something external to him; he\nhas no doubts about it, and affects none. He would be a coward, if he\nshut his eyes to what he could do; as much a trifler in displaying\nreserve as ostentation. Nothing is more striking in the _Commedia_\nthan the serene and unhesitating confidence with which he announces\nhimself the heir and reviver of the poetic power so long lost to the\nworld--the heir and reviver of it in all its fulness. He doubts not\nof the judgment of posterity. One has arisen who shall throw into the\nshade all modern reputations, who shall bequeath to Christendom the\nglory of that name of Poet, \"che pi\u00f9 dura e pi\u00f9 onora,\" hitherto the\nexclusive boast of heathenism, and claim the rare honours of the\nlaurel:\n\n     S\u00ec rade volte, padre, se ne coglie\n     Per trionfare o Cesare o poeta,\n     (Colpa e vergogna dell'umane voglie),\n       Che partorir letizia in su la lieta\n     Delfica deit\u00e0 dovr\u00eca la fronda\n     Peneia quando alcun di s\u00e8 asseta.--_Parad._ 1.[52]\n\n[Footnote 51: _Convito_, 1, 10.]\n\n[Footnote 52:\n\n     For now so rarely Poet gathers these,\n       Or C\u00e6sar, winning an immortal praise\n       (Shame unto man's degraded energies),\n     That joy should to the Delphic God arise\n       When haply any one aspires to gain\n       The high reward of the Peneian prize.--WRIGHT.]\n\nHe has but to follow his star to be sure of the glorious port:[53] he\nis the master of language: he can give fame to the dead--no task or\nenterprise appals him, for whom spirits keep watch in heaven, and\nangels have visited the shades--\"tal si part\u00ec dal cantar\nalleluia:\"--who is Virgil's foster child and familiar friend. Virgil\nbids him lay aside the last vestige of fear. Virgil is to \"crown him\nking and priest over himself,\"[54] for a higher venture than heathen\npoetry had dared; in Virgil's company he takes his place without\ndiffidence, and without vain-glory, among the great poets of old--a\nsister soul.[55]\n\n[Footnote 53: Brunetto Latini's Prophecy, _Inf._ 15.]\n\n[Footnote 54: See the grand ending of _Purg._ 27.\n\n       Tratto t'ho qui con ingegno e con arte;\n     Lo tuo piacere omai prendi per duce:\n     Fuor se' dell'erte vie, fuor se' dell'arte.\n       Vedi il sole che 'n fronte ti riluce.\n     Vede l'erbetta, i fiori, e gli arboscelli\n     Che questa terra sol da s\u00e8 produce.\n       Mentre che vegnon lieti gli occhi belli\n     Che lagrimando a te venir mi fenno,\n     Seder ti puoi e puoi andar tra elli.\n       Non aspettar mio dir pi\u00f9 n\u00e8 mio cenno;\n     Libero, dritto, sano \u00e8 tuo arbitrio,\n     E fallo fora non fare a suo senno:\n       Perch'io te sopra te corono e mitrio.]\n\n[Footnote 55: _Purg._ c. 21.]\n\n     Poich\u00e8 la voce fu restata e queta,\n     Vidi quattro grand'ombre a noi venire:\n     Sembianza avean n\u00e8 trista n\u00e8 lieta:\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n       Cos\u00ec vidi adunar la bella scuola\n     Di quel signor dell'altissimo canto\n     Che sovra gli altri come aquila vola.\n       Da ch'ebber ragionato insieme alquanto\n     Volsersi a me con salutevol cenno\n     E 'l mio maestro sorrise di tanto.\n       E pi\u00f9 d'onore ancora assai mi fenno:\n     Ch'essi mi fecer della loro schiera,\n     S\u00ec ch'io fui sesto tra cotanto senno.--_Inf._ 4.[56]\n\n[Footnote 56:\n\n     Ceased had the voice--when in composed array\n       Four mighty shades approaching I survey'd;--\n       Nor joy, nor sorrow did their looks betray.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     Assembled thus, was offered to my sight\n       The school of him, the Prince of poetry,\n       Who, eagle-like, o'er others takes his flight.\n     When they together had conversed awhile,\n       They turned to me with salutation bland,\n       Which from my master drew a friendly smile:\n     And greater glory still they bade me share,\n       Making me join their honourable band--\n       The sixth united to such genius rare.--WRIGHT.]\n\nThis sustained magnanimity and lofty self-reliance, which never\nbetrays itself, is one of the main elements in the grandeur of the\n_Commedia_. It is an imposing spectacle to see such fearlessness, such\nfreedom, and such success in an untried path, amid unprepared\nmaterials and rude instruments, models scanty and only half\nunderstood, powers of language still doubtful and suspected, the\ndeepest and strongest thought still confined to unbending forms and\nthe harshest phrase; exact and extensive knowledge, as yet far out of\nreach; with no help from time, which familiarises all things, and of\nwhich, manner, elaboration, judgment, and taste are the gifts and\ninheritance;--to see the poet, trusting to his eye \"which saw\neverything\"[57] and his searching and creative spirit, venture\nundauntedly into all regions of thought and feeling, to draw thence a\npicture of the government of the universe.\n\n[Footnote 57: \"Dante che tutto vedea.\"--_Sacchetti_, Nov. 114.]\n\nBut such greatness had to endure its price and its counterpoise. Dante\nwas alone:--except in his visionary world, solitary and companionless.\nThe blind Greek had his throng of listeners; the blind Englishman his\nhome and the voices of his daughters; Shakspere had his free\nassociates of the stage; Goethe, his correspondents, a court, and all\nGermany to applaud. Not so Dante. The friends of his youth are already\nin the region of spirits, and meet him there--Casella, Forese;--Guido\nCavalcanti will soon be with them. In this upper world he thinks and\nwrites as a friendless man--to whom all that he had held dearest was\neither lost or embittered; he thinks and writes for himself.\n\nAnd so he is his own law; he owns no tribunal of opinion or standard\nof taste, except among the great dead. He hears them exhort him to\n\"let the world talk on--to stand like a tower unshaken by the\nwinds.\"[58] He fears to be \"a timid friend to truth,\" \"--to lose life\namong those who shall call this present time antiquity.\"[59] He\nbelongs to no party. He is his own arbiter of the beautiful and the\nbecoming; his own judge over right and injustice, innocence and guilt.\nHe has no followers to secure, no school to humour, no public to\nsatisfy; nothing to guide him, and nothing to consult, nothing to bind\nhim, nothing to fear, out of himself. In full trust in heart and will,\nin his sense of truth, in his teeming brain, he gives himself free\ncourse. If men have idolised the worthless, and canonised the base, he\nreverses their award without mercy, and without apology; if they have\nforgotten the just because he was obscure, he remembers him: if \"Monna\nBerta and Ser Martino,\"[60] the wimpled and hooded gossips of the\nday, with their sage company, have settled it to their own\nsatisfaction that Providence cannot swerve from their general rules,\ncannot save where they have doomed, or reject where they have\napproved--he both fears more and hopes more. Deeply reverent to the\njudgment of the ages past, reverent to the persons whom they have\nimmortalised for good and even for evil, in his own day he cares for\nno man's person and no man's judgment. And he shrinks not from the\nauguries and forecastings of his mind about their career and fate. Men\nreasoned rapidly in those days on such subjects, and without much\nscruple; but not with such deliberate and discriminating sternness.\nThe most popular and honoured names in Florence,\n\n       Farinata e 'l Tegghiaio, che fur s\u00ec degni,\n     Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, e 'l Mosca\n     E gli altri, ch'a ben far poser gl'ingegni;\n\nhave yet the damning brand: no reader of the _Inferno_ can have\nforgotten the shock of that terrible reply to the poet's questionings\nabout their fate:\n\n     Ei son tra le anime pi\u00f9 nere.[61]\n\n[Footnote 58: _Purg._ 5.]\n\n[Footnote 59:\n\n       La luce in che rideva il mio tesoro\n     Ch'io trovai l\u00ec, si fe' prima corrusca,\n     Quale a raggio di sole specchio d'oro;\n       Indi rispose: coscienza fusca\n     O della propria o dell'altrui vergogna\n     Pur sentir\u00e0 la tua parola brusca;\n       Ma nondimen, rimossa ogni menzogna,\n     Tutta tua vision fa manifesta,\n     E lascia pur grattar dov'\u00e8 la rogna:\n       Che se la voce tua sar\u00e0 molesta\n     Nel primo gusto, vital nutrimento\n     Lascer\u00e0 poi quando sar\u00e0 digesta.\n       Questo tuo grido far\u00e0 come vento\n     Che le pi\u00f9 alte cime pi\u00f9 percuote:\n     E ci\u00f2 non fia d'onor poco argomento.\n       Per\u00f2 ti son mostrate, in queste ruote,\n     Nel monte, e nella valle dolorosa,\n     Pur l'anime che son di fama note.\n       Che l'animo di quel ch'ode non posa,\n     N\u00e8 ferma fede, per esemplo ch'aja\n     La sua radice incognito e nascosa,\n       N\u00e8 per altro argumento che non paja.--_Parad._ 17.]\n\n[Footnote 60:\n\n     Non creda Monna Berta e Ser Martino\n     Per vedere un furare, altro offerere,\n     Vederli dentro al consiglio divino:\n     Ch\u00e8 quel pu\u00f2 surger, e quel pu\u00f2 cadere.--_Ibid._ 13.]\n\n[Footnote 61: _Inf._ 6.]\n\nIf he is partial, it is no vulgar partiality: friendship and old\naffection do not venture to exempt from its fatal doom the sin of his\nfamous master, Brunetto Latini;[62] nobleness and great deeds, a\nkindred character and common wrongs, are not enough to redeem\nFarinata; and he who could tell her story bowed to the eternal law,\nand dared not save Francesca. If he condemns by a severer rule than\nthat of the world, he absolves with fuller faith in the possibilities\nof grace. Many names of whom history has recorded no good, are marked\nby him for bliss; yet not without full respect for justice. The\npenitent of the last hour is saved, but he suffers loss. Manfred's\nsoul is rescued; mercy had accepted his tears, and forgiven his great\nsins; and the excommunication of his enemy did not bar his salvation:\n\n       Per lor maladizion s\u00ec non si perde\n     Che non possa tornar l'eterno amore\n     Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde.--_Purg._ 3.\n\n[Footnote 62:\n\n     Che in la mente m'\u00e8 fitta, ed or m'accuora,\n       _La cara buona imagine paterna._--_Inf._ 15.]\n\nYet his sin, though pardoned, was to keep him for long years from the\nperfection of heaven.[63] And with the same independence with which he\nassigns their fate, he selects his instances--instances which are to\nbe the types of character and its issues. No man ever owned more\nunreservedly the fascination of greatness, its sway over the\nimagination and the heart; no one prized more the grand harmony and\nsense of fitness which there is, when the great man and the great\noffice are joined in one, and reflect each other's greatness. The\nfamous and great of all ages are gathered in the poet's vision; the\ngreat names even of fable--Geryon and the giants, the Minotaur and\nCentaurs, and the heroes of Thebes and Troy. But not the great and\nfamous only: this is too narrow, too conventional a sphere; it is not\nreal enough. He felt, what the modern world feels so keenly, that\nwonderful histories are latent in the inconspicuous paths of life, in\nthe fugitive incidents of the hour, among the persons whose faces we\nhave seen. The Church had from the first been witness to the deep\ninterest of individual life. The rising taste for novels showed that\nsociety at large was beginning to be alive to it. And it is this\nfeeling--that behind the veil there may be grades of greatness but\nnothing insignificant--that led Dante to refuse to restrict himself to\nthe characters of fame. He will associate with them the living men who\nhave stood round him; they are part of the same company with the\ngreatest. That they have interested him, touched him, moved his\nindignation or pity, struck him as examples of great vicissitude or\nof a perfect life, have pleased him, loved him--this is enough why\nthey should live in his poem as they have lived to him. He chooses at\nwill; history, if it has been negligent at the time about those whom\nhe thought worthy of renown, must be content with its loss. He tells\ntheir story, or touches them with a word like the most familiar names,\naccording as he pleases. The obscure highway robber, the obscure\nbetrayer of his sister's honour--Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo,\nand Caccianimico--are ranked, not according to their obscurity, but\naccording to the greatness of their crimes, with the famous\nconquerors, and \"scourges of God,\" and seducers of the heroic age,\nPyrrhus and Attila, and the great Jason of \"royal port, who sheds no\ntear in his torments.\"[64] He earns as high praise from Virgil, for\nhis curse on the furious wrath of the old frantic Florentine burgher,\nas if he had cursed the disturber of the world's peace.[65] And so in\nthe realms of joy, among the faithful accomplishers of the highest\ntrusts, kings and teachers of the nations, founders of orders, sainted\nempresses, appear those whom, though the world had forgotten or\nmisread them, the poet had enshrined in his familiar thoughts, for\ntheir sweetness, their gentle goodness, their nobility of soul; the\npenitent, the nun, the old crusading ancestor, the pilgrim who had\ndeserted the greatness which he had created, the brave logician, who\n\"syllogised unpalatable truths\" in the Quartier Latin of Paris.[66]\n\n[Footnote 63: Charles of Anjou, his Guelf conqueror, is placed above\nhim, in the valley of the kings (_Purg._ 7), \"Colui dal maschio\nnaso\"--notwithstanding the charges afterwards made against him\n(_Purg._ 20).]\n\n[Footnote 64: See the magnificent picture, _Inf._ 18.]\n\n[Footnote 65: _Ibid._ 8.]\n\n[Footnote 66: Cunizza, Piccarda, Cacciaguida, Rom\u00e9o. (_Parad._ 9, 3,\n15, 6, 10.)\n\n     ----La luce eterna di Sigieri\n     Che leggendo nel vico degli Strami\n     Sillogizz\u00f2 invidiosi veri----\n\nin company with S. Thomas Aquinas, in the sphere of the Sun. Ozanam\ngives a few particulars of this forgotten professor of the \"Rue du\nFouarre,\" pp. 320-23.]\n\nThere is small resemblance in all this--this arbitrary and imperious\ntone, this range of ideas, feelings, and images, this unshackled\nfreedom, this harsh reality--to the dreamy gentleness of the _Vita\nNuova_, or even the staid argumentation of the more mature _Convito_.\nThe _Vita Nuova_ is all self-concentration--a brooding, not unpleased,\nover the varying tides of feeling, which are little influenced by the\nworld without; where every fancy, every sensation, every superstition\nof the lover is detailed with the most whimsical subtlety. The\n_Commedia_, too, has its tenderness--and that more deep, more natural,\nmore true, than the poet had before adapted to the traditionary\nformul\u00e6 of the \"Courts of Love,\"--the eyes of Beatrice are as bright,\nand the \"conquering light of her smile;\"[67] they still culminate,\nbut they are not alone, in the poet's heaven. And the professed\nsubject of the _Commedia_ is still Dante's own story and life; he\nstill makes himself the central point. And steeled as he is by that\nhigh and hard experience of which his poem is the projection and\ntype--\"Ben tetragono ai colpi di ventura\"--a stern and brief-spoken\nman, set on objects, and occupied with a theme, lofty and vast as can\noccupy man's thoughts, he still lets escape ever and anon some passing\navowal of delicate sensitiveness,[68] lingers for a moment on some\nindulged self-consciousness, some recollection of his once quick and\nchangeful mood--\"io che son trasmutabil per tutte guise\"[69]--or half\nplayfully alludes to the whispered name of a lady,[70] whose pleasant\ncourtesy has beguiled a few days of exile. But he is no longer\nspell-bound and entangled in fancies of his own weaving--absorbed in\nthe unprofitable contemplation of his own internal sensations. The man\nis indeed the same, still a Florentine, still metaphysical, still a\nlover. He returns to the haunts and images of youth, to take among\nthem his poet's crown; but \"with other voice and other garb,\"[71] a\npenitent and a prophet--with larger thoughts, wider sympathies, freer\nutterance; sterner and fiercer, yet nobler and more genuine in his\ntenderness--as one whom trial has made serious, and keen, and\nintolerant of evil, but not sceptical or callous; yet with the\nimpressions and memories of a very different scene from his old\nday-dreams.\n\n[Footnote 67: Vincendo me col lume d'un sorriso.--_Parad._ 18.]\n\n[Footnote 68: For instance, his feeling of distress at gazing at the\nblind, who were not aware of his presence--\n\n     A me pareva andando fare oltraggio\n     Vedendo altrui, non essendo veduto:--_Purg._ 13.\n\nand of shame, at being tempted to listen to a quarrel between two lost\nspirits:\n\n       Ad ascoltarli er'io del tutto fisso,\n     Quando 'l Maestro mi disse: or pur mira,\n     Che per poco \u00e8, che teco non mi risso.\n       Quando io 'l senti' a me parlar con ira\n     Volsimi verso lui con tal vergogna,\n     Ch'ancor per la memoria mi si gira, &c.--_Inf._ 30.\n\nand the burst,\n\n       O dignitosa coscienza e netta,\n     Come t'\u00e8 picciol fallo amaro morso.--_Purg._ 3.]\n\n[Footnote 69: _Parad._ 5.]\n\n[Footnote 70: _Purg._ 24.]\n\n[Footnote 71: _Parad._ 25.]\n\n     After that it was the pleasure of the citizens of that\n     fairest and most famous daughter of Rome, Florence, to cast\n     me forth from her most sweet bosom (wherein I had been\n     nourished up to the maturity of my life, and in which, with\n     all peace to her, I long with all my heart to rest my weary\n     soul, and finish the time which is given me), I have passed\n     through almost all the regions to which this language\n     reaches, a wanderer, almost a beggar, displaying, against my\n     will, the stroke of fortune, which is ofttimes unjustly wont\n     to be imputed to the person stricken. Truly, I have been a\n     ship without a sail or helm, carried to divers harbours, and\n     gulfs, and shores, by that parching wind which sad poverty\n     breathes; and I have seemed vile in the eyes of many, who\n     perchance, from some fame, had imagined of me in another\n     form; in the sight of whom not only did my presence become\n     nought, but every work of mine less prized, both what had\n     been and what was to be wrought.--_Convito_, Tr. i. c. 3.\n\nThus proved, and thus furnished--thus independent and confident,\ndaring to trust his instinct and genius in what was entirely untried\nand unusual, he entered on his great poem, to shadow forth, under the\nfigure of his own conversion and purification, not merely how a single\nsoul rises to its perfection, but how this visible world, in all its\nphases of nature, life, and society, is one with the invisible, which\nborders on it, actuates, accomplishes, and explains it. It is this\nvast plan--to take into his scope, not the soul only in its struggles\nand triumph, but all that the soul finds itself engaged with in its\ncourse; the accidents of the hour, and of ages past; the real persons,\ngreat and small, apart from and without whom it cannot think or act;\nthe material world, its theatre and home--it is this which gives so\nmany various sides to the _Commedia_, which makes it so novel and\nstrange. It is not a mere personal history, or a pouring forth of\nfeeling, like the _Vita Nuova_, though he is himself the mysterious\nvoyager, and he opens without reserve his actual life and his heart;\nhe speaks, indeed, in the first person, yet he is but a character of\nthe drama, and in great part of it with not more of distinct\npersonality than in that paraphrase of the penitential Psalms, in\nwhich he has preluded so much of the _Commedia_. Yet the _Commedia_ is\nnot a pure allegory; it admits, and makes use of the allegorical, but\nthe laws of allegory are too narrow for it; the real in it is too\nimpatient of the veil, and breaks through in all its hardness and\ndetail, into what is most shadowy. History is indeed viewed not in its\nephemeral look, but under the light of God's final judgments; in its\ncompletion, not in its provisional and fragmentary character; viewed\ntherefore but in faith;--but its issues, which in this confused scene\nwe ordinarily contemplate in the gross, the poet brings down to detail\nand individuals; he faces and grasps the tremendous thought that the\nvery men and women whom we see and speak to, are now the real\nrepresentatives of sin and goodness, the true actors in that scene\nwhich is so familiar to us as a picture--unflinching and terrible\nheart, he endures to face it in its most harrowing forms. But he wrote\nnot for sport, nor to give poetic pleasure; he wrote to warn; the seed\nof the _Commedia_ was sown in tears, and reaped in misery: and the\nconsolations which it offers are awful as they are real.\n\nThus, though he throws into symbol and image, what can only be\nexpressed by symbol and image, we can as little forget in reading him\nthis real world in which we live, as we can in one of Shakspere's\nplays. It is not merely that the poem is crowded with real personages,\nmost of them having the single interest to us of being real. But all\nthat is associated with man's history and existence is interwoven with\nthe main course of thought--all that gives character to life, all that\ngives it form and feature, even to quaintness, all that occupies the\nmind, or employs the hand--speculation, science, arts, manufactures,\nmonuments, scenes, customs, proverbs, ceremonies, games, punishments,\nattitudes of men, habits of living creatures. The wildest and most\nunearthly imaginations, the most abstruse thoughts take up into, and\nincorporate with themselves the forcible and familiar impressions of\nour mother earth, and do not refuse the company and aid even of the\nhomeliest.\n\nThis is not mere poetic ornament, peculiarly, profusely, or\nextravagantly employed. It is one of the ways in which his dominant\nfeeling expresses itself--spontaneous and instinctive in each several\ninstance of it, but the kindling and effluence of deliberate thought,\nand attending on a clear purpose--the feeling of the real and intimate\nconnexion between the objects of sight and faith. It is not that he\nsees in one the simple counterpart and reverse of the other, or sets\nhimself to trace out universally their mutual correspondences; he has\ntoo strong a sense of the reality of this familiar life to reduce it\nmerely to a shadow and type of the unseen. What he struggles to\nexpress in countless ways, with all the resources of his strange and\ngigantic power, is that this world and the next are both equally real,\nand both one--parts, however different, of one whole. The world to\ncome we know but in \"a glass darkly;\" man can only think and imagine\nof it in images, which he knows to be but broken and faint\nreflections: but this world we know, not in outline, and featureless\nidea, but by name, and face, and shape, by place and person, by the\ncolours and forms which crowd over its surface, the men who people its\nhabitations, the events which mark its moments. Detail fills the sense\nhere, and is the mark of reality. And thus he seeks to keep alive the\nfeeling of what that world is which he connects with heaven and hell;\nnot by abstractions, not much by elaborate and highly-finished\npictures, but by names, persons, local features, definite images.\nWidely and keenly has he ranged over and searched into the world--with\na largeness of mind which disdained not to mark and treasure up, along\nwith much unheeded beauty, many a characteristic feature of nature,\nunnoticed because so common. All his pursuits and interests contribute\nto the impression, which, often instinctively it may be, he strives to\nproduce, of the manifold variety of our life. As a man of society, his\nmemory is full of its usages, formalities, graces, follies,\nfashions--of expressive motions, postures, gestures, looks--of music,\nof handicrafts, of the conversation of friends or associates--of all\nthat passes, so transient, yet so keenly pleasant or distasteful,\nbetween man and man. As a traveller, he recalls continually the names\nand scenes of the world;--as a man of speculation, the secrets of\nnature--the phenomena of light, the theory of the planets' motions,\nthe idea and laws of physiology. As a man of learning, he is filled\nwith the thoughts and recollections of ancient fable and history; as a\npolitician, with the thoughts, prognostications, and hopes, of the\nhistory of the day; as a moral philosopher he has watched himself, his\nexternal sensations and changes, his inward passions, his mental\npowers, his ideas, his conscience; he has far and wide noted\ncharacter, discriminated motives, classed good and evil deeds. All\nthat the man of society, of travel, of science, of learning, the\npolitician, the moralist, could gather, is used at will in the great\npoetic structure; but all converges to the purpose, and is directed by\nthe intense feeling of the theologian, who sees this wonderful and\nfamiliar scene melting into, and ending in another yet more wonderful,\nbut which will one day be as familiar--who sees the difficult but sure\nprogress of the manifold remedies of the Divine government to their\npredestined issue; and, over all, God and His saints.\n\nSo comprehensive in interest is the _Commedia_. Any attempt to explain\nit, by narrowing that interest to politics, philosophy, the moral\nlife, or theology itself, must prove inadequate. Theology strikes the\nkey-note; but history, natural and metaphysical science, poetry, and\nart, each in their turn join in the harmony, independent, yet\nministering to the whole. If from the poem itself we could be for a\nsingle moment in doubt of the reality and dominant place of religion\nin it, the plain-spoken prose of the _Convito_ would show how he\nplaced \"the Divine Science, full of all peace, and allowing no strife\nof opinions and sophisms, for the excellent certainty of its subject,\nwhich is God,\" in single perfection above all other sciences, \"which\nare, as Solomon speaks, but queens, or concubines, or maidens; but she\nis the 'Dove,' and the 'perfect one'--'Dove,' because without stain of\nstrife--'perfect,' because perfectly she makes us behold the truth, in\nwhich our soul stills itself and is at rest.\" But the same passage[72]\nshows likewise how he viewed all human knowledge and human interests,\nas holding their due place in the hierarchy of wisdom, and among the\nsteps of man's perfection. No account of the _Commedia_ will prove\nsufficient, which does not keep in view, first of all, the high moral\npurpose and deep spirit of faith with which it was written, and then\nthe wide liberty of materials and means which the poet allowed himself\nin working out his design.\n\n[Footnote 72: _Convito_, Tr. 2, c. 14, 15.]\n\nDoubtless, his writings have a political aspect. The \"great Ghibelline\npoet\" is one of Dante's received synonymes; of his strong political\nopinions, and the importance he attached to them, there can be no\ndoubt. And he meant his poem to be the vehicle of them, and the record\nto all ages of the folly and selfishness with which he saw men\ngoverned. That he should take the deepest interest in the goings on of\nhis time, is part of his greatness; to suppose that he stopped at\nthem, or that he subordinated to political objects or feelings all the\nother elements of his poem, is to shrink up that greatness into very\nnarrow limits. Yet this has been done by men of mark and ability, by\nItalians, by men who read the _Commedia_ in their own mother-tongue.\nIt has been maintained as a satisfactory account of it--maintained\nwith great labour and pertinacious ingenuity--that Dante meant nothing\nmore by his poem than the conflicts and ideal triumph of a political\nparty. The hundred cantos of that vision of the universe are but a\nmanifesto of the Ghibelline propaganda, designed, under the veil of\nhistoric images and scenes, to insinuate what it was dangerous to\nannounce; and Beatrice, in all her glory and sweetness, is but a\nspecimen of the jargon, cant, and slang of Ghibelline freemasonry.\nWhen Italians write thus, they degrade the greatest name of their\ncountry to a depth of laborious imbecility, to which the trifling of\nschoolmen and academicians is as nothing. It is to solve the enigma of\nDante's works, by imagining for him a character in which it is hard to\nsay which predominates, the pedant, mountebank, or infidel. After that\nwe may read Voltaire's sneers with patience, and even enter with\ngravity on the examination of Father Hardouin's Historic Doubts. The\nfanaticism of an outraged liberalism, produced by centuries of\ninjustice and despotism, is but a poor excuse for such perverse\nblindness.[73]\n\n[Footnote 73: In the _Remains of Arthur Henry Hallam_ is a paper, in\nwhich he examines and disposes of this theory with a courteous and\nforbearing irony, which would have deepened probably into something\nmore, on thinking over it a second time.]\n\nDante was not a Ghibelline, though he longed for the interposition of\nan Imperial power. Historically he did not belong to the Ghibelline\nparty. It is true that he forsook the Guelfs, with whom he had been\nbrought up, and that the White Guelfs, with whom he was expelled from\nFlorence, were at length merged and lost in the Ghibelline party[74];\nand he acted with them for a time.[75] But no words can be stronger\nthan those in which he disjoins himself from that \"evil and foolish\ncompany,\" and claims his independence--\n\n                          A te fia bello\n     _Averti fatto parte per te stesso_.[76]\n\n[Footnote 74: _Dino Comp._ pp. 89-91.]\n\n[Footnote 75: His name appears among the White delegates in 1307.\nPelli, p. 117.]\n\n[Footnote 76: _Parad._ 17.]\n\nAnd it is not easy to conceive a Ghibelline partisan putting into the\nmouth of Justinian, the type of law and empire, a general condemnation\nof his party as heavy as that of their antagonists;--the crime of\nhaving betrayed, as the Guelfs had resisted, the great symbol of\npublic right--\n\n       Omai puoi giudicar di que' cotali\n     Ch'io accusai di sopra, e de' lor falli\n     Che son cagion di tutti i vostri mali.\n       L'uno al pubblico segno i gigli gialli\n     Oppone, e _quel s'appropria l'altro a parte_,\n     S\u00ec ch'\u00e8 forte a veder qual pi\u00f9 si falli.\n       _Faccian li Ghibellin, faccian lor arte\n     Sott'altro segno; ch\u00e8 mal segue quello\n     Sempre chi la giustizia e lui diparte._[77]\n\n[Footnote 77: _Ibid._ 6.]\n\nAnd though, as the victim of the Guelfs of Florence, he found refuge\namong Ghibelline princes, he had friends among Guelfs also. His steps\nand his tongue were free to the end. And in character and feeling, in\nhis austerity, his sturdiness and roughness, his intolerance of\ncorruption and pride, his strongly-marked devotional temper, he was\nmuch less a Ghibelline than like one of those stern Guelfs who hailed\nSavonarola.\n\nBut he had a very decided and complete political theory, which\ncertainly was not Guelf; and, as parties then were, it was not much\nmore Ghibelline. Most assuredly no set of men would have more\nvigorously resisted the attempt to realise his theory, would have\njoined more heartily with all immediate opponents--Guelfs, Black,\nWhite, and Green, or even Boniface VIII.,--to keep out such an emperor\nas Dante imagined, than the Ghibelline nobles and potentates.\n\nDante's political views were a dream; though a dream based on what had\nbeen, and an anticipation of what was, in part at least, to come. It\nwas a dream in the middle ages, in divided and republican Italy, the\nItaly of cities--of a real and national government, based on justice\nand law. It was the dream of a real _state_. He imagined that the\nRoman empire had been one great state; he persuaded himself that\nChristendom might be such. He was wrong in both instances; but in this\ncase, as in so many others, he had already caught the spirit and ideas\nof a far-distant future; and the political organisation of modern\ntimes, so familiar to us that we cease to think of its exceeding\nwonder, is the practical confirmation, though in a form very different\nfrom what he imagined, of the depth and farsightedness of those\nexpectations which are in outward form so chimerical--\"_i miei non\nfalsi errori_.\"\n\nHe had studied the \"infinite disorders of the world\" in one of their\nmost unrestrained scenes, the streets of an Italian republic. Law was\npowerless, good men were powerless, good intentions came to naught;\nneither social habits nor public power could resist, when selfishness\nchose to have its way. The Church was indeed still the salt of the\nnations; but it had once dared and achieved more; it had once been the\nonly power which ruled them. And this it could do no longer. If\nstrength and energy had been enough to make the Church's influence\nfelt on government, there was a Pope who could have done it--a man who\nwas undoubtedly the most wondered at and admired of his age, whom\nfriend or foe never characterised, without adding the invariable\nepithet of his greatness of soul--the \"_magnanimus peccator_,\"[78]\nwhose Roman grandeur in meeting his unworthy fate fascinated into\nmomentary sympathy even Dante.[79] But among the things which\nBoniface VIII. could not do, even if he cared about it, was the\nmaintaining peace and law in Italian towns. And while this great\npolitical power was failing, its correlative and antagonist was\nparalysed also. \"Since the death of Frederic II.,\" says Dante's\ncontemporary, \"the fame and recollections of the empire were well-nigh\nextinguished.\"[80] Italy was left without government--\"come nave senza\nnocchiero in gran tempesta\"--to the mercies of her tyrants:\n\n         Che le terre d'Italia tutte piene\n     Son di tiranni, e un Marcel diventa\n     Ogni villan, che parteggiando viene.--_Purg._ 6.\n\n[Footnote 78: Benvenuto da Imola.]\n\n[Footnote 79:\n\n     Veggio in Alagna entrar lo fiordaliso,\n     E nel vicario suo Cristo esser catto;\n       Veggiolo un'altra volta esser deriso;\n     Veggio rinnovellar l'aceto e 'l fele,\n     E tra vivi ladroni essere anciso.--_Purg._ 20.\n\nG. Villani, viii. 63. Come magnanimo e valente, disse, _Dacch\u00e8 per\ntradimento, come Ges\u00f9 Cristo, voglio esser preso e mi conviene morire,\nalmeno voglio morire come Papa_; e di presente si fece parare\ndell'ammanto di S. Piero, e colla corona di Constantino in capo, e\ncolle chiavi e croce in mano, e in su la sedia papale si pose a\nsedere, e giunto a lui Sciarra e gli altri suoi nimici; con villane\nparole lo scherniro.]\n\n[Footnote 80: _Dino Compagni_, p. 135.]\n\nIn this scene of violence and disorder, with the Papacy gone astray,\nthe empire debased and impotent, the religious orders corrupted, power\nmeaning lawlessness, the well-disposed become weak and cowardly,\nreligion neither guide nor check to society, but only the consolation\nof its victims--Dante was bold and hopeful enough to believe in the\nDivine appointment, and in the possibility, of law and government--of\na state. In his philosophy, the institutions which provide for man's\npeace and liberty in this life are part of God's great order for\nraising men to perfection;--not indispensable, yet ordinary parts;\nhaving their important place, though but for the present time; and\nthough imperfect, real instruments of His moral government. He could\nnot believe it to be the intention of Providence, that on the\nintroduction of higher hopes and the foundation of a higher society,\ncivil society should collapse and be left to ruin, as henceforth\nuseless or prejudicial in man's trial and training; that the\nsignificant intimations of nature, that law and its results, justice,\npeace, and stability, ought to be and might be realised among men, had\nlost their meaning and faded away before the announcement of a kingdom\nnot of this world. And if the perfection of civil society had not been\nsuperseded by the Church, it had become clear, if events were to be\nread as signs, that she was not intended to supply its political\noffices and functions. She had taught, elevated, solaced, blessed, not\nonly individual souls, but society; she had for a time even governed\nit: but though her other powers remained, she could govern it no\nlonger. Failure had made it certain that, in his strong and quaint\nlanguage, \"_Virtus authorizandi regnum nostr\u00e6 mortalitatis est contra\nnaturam ecclesi\u00e6; ergo non est de numero virtutum suarum_.\"[81]\nAnother and distinct organisation was required for this, unless the\ntemporal order was no longer worthy the attention of Christians.\n\n[Footnote 81: _De Monarch._ lib. iii. p. 188, Ed. Fraticelli.]\n\nThis is the idea of the _De Monarchia_; and though it holds but a\nplace in the great scheme of the _Commedia_, it is prominent there\nalso--an idea seen but in a fantastic shape, encumbered and confused\nwith most grotesque imagery, but the real idea of polity and law,\nwhich the experience of modern Europe has attained to.\n\nHe found in clear outline in the Greek philosophy, the theory of\nmerely human society; and raising its end and purpose, \"_finem totius\nhuman\u00e6 civilitatis_,\" to a height and dignity which Heathens could not\nforecast, he adopted it in its more abstract and ideal form. He\nimagined a single authority, unselfish, inflexible, irresistible,\nwhich could make all smaller tyrannies to cease, and enable every man\nto live in peace and liberty, so that he lived in justice. It is\nsimply what each separate state of Christendom has by this time more\nor less perfectly achieved. The theoriser of the middle ages could\nconceive of its accomplishment only in one form, as grand as it was\nimpossible--a universal monarchy.\n\nBut he did not start from an abstraction. He believed that history\nattested the existence of such a monarchy. The prestige of the Roman\nempire was then strong. Europe still lingers on the idea, and cannot\neven yet bring itself to give up its part in that great monument of\nhuman power. But in the middle ages the Empire was still believed to\nexist. It was the last greatness which had been seen in the world, and\nthe world would not believe that it was over. Above all, in Italy, a\ncontinuity of lineage, of language, of local names, and in part of\ncivilisation and law, forbad the thought that the great Roman people\nhad ceased to be. Florentines and Venetians boasted that they were\nRomans: the legends which the Florentine ladies told to their maidens\nat the loom were tales of their mother city, Rome. The Roman element,\nlittle understood, but profoundly reverenced and dearly cherished, was\ndominant; the conductor of civilisation, and enfolding the inheritance\nof all the wisdom, experience, feeling, art, of the past, it elevated,\neven while it overawed, oppressed, and enslaved. A deep belief in\nProvidence added to the intrinsic grandeur of the empire a sacred\ncharacter. The flight of the eagle has been often told and often sung;\nbut neither in Livy or Virgil, Gibbon or Bossuet, with intenser\nsympathy or more kindred power, than in those rushing and unflagging\nverses in which the middle-age poet hears the imperial legislator\nrelate the fated course of the \"sacred sign,\" from the day when Pallas\ndied for it, till it accomplished the vengeance of heaven in Jud\u00e6a,\nand afterwards, under Charlemagne, smote down the enemies of the\nChurch.[82]\n\n[Footnote 82: _Parad._ c. 6.]\n\nThe following passage, from the _De Monarchia_, will show the poet's\nview of the Roman empire, and its office in the world:\n\n     To the reasons above alleged, a memorable experience brings\n     confirmation: I mean that state of mankind which the Son of\n     God, when He would for man's salvation take man upon Him,\n     either waited for, or ordered when so He willed. For if from\n     the fall of our first parents, which was the starting-point\n     of all our wanderings, we retrace the various dispositions\n     of men and their times, we shall not find at any time,\n     except under the divine monarch Augustus, when a perfect\n     monarchy existed, that the world was everywhere quiet. And\n     that then mankind was happy in the tranquillity of universal\n     peace, this all writers of history, this famous poets, this\n     even the Scribe of the meekness of Christ has deigned to\n     attest. And lastly, Paul has called that most blessed\n     condition, the fulness of time. Truly time, and the things\n     of time, were full, for no mystery of our felicity then\n     lacked its minister. But how the world has gone on from the\n     time when that seamless robe was first torn by the claws of\n     covetousness, we may read, and would that we might not also\n     see. O race of men, by how great storms and losses, by how\n     great shipwrecks hast thou of necessity been vexed since,\n     transformed into a beast of many heads, thou hast been\n     struggling different ways, sick in understanding, equally\n     sick in heart. The higher intellect, with its invincible\n     reasons, thou reckest not of; nor of the inferior, with its\n     eye of experience; nor of affection, with the sweetness of\n     divine suasion, when the trumpet of the Holy Ghost sounds to\n     thee--\"Behold, how good is it, and how pleasant, brethren,\n     to dwell together in unity.\"--_De Monarch._ lib. i. p. 54.\n\nYet this great Roman empire existed still unimpaired in name--not\nunimposing even in what really remained of it. Dante, to supply a\nwant, turned it into a theory--a theory easy to smile at now, but\nwhich contained and was a beginning of unknown or unheeded truth. What\nhe yearns after is the predominance of the principle of justice in\ncivil society. That, if it is still imperfect, is no longer a dream in\nour day; but experience had never realised it to him, and he takes\nrefuge in tentative and groping theory. The divinations of the\ngreatest men have been vague and strange, and none have been stranger\nthan those of the author of the _De Monarchia_. The second book, in\nwhich he establishes the title of the Roman people to Universal\nEmpire, is as startling a piece of medi\u00e6val argument as it would be\neasy to find.\n\n     As when we cannot attain to look upon a cause, we commonly\n     wonder at a new effect, so when we know the cause, we look\n     down with a certain derision on those who remain in wonder.\n     And I indeed wondered once how the Roman people had, without\n     any resistance, been set over the world; and looking at it\n     superficially, I thought that they had obtained this by no\n     right, but by mere force of arms. But when I fixed deeply\n     the eyes of my mind on it, and by most effectual signs knew\n     that Divine Providence had wrought this, wonder departed,\n     and a certain scornful contempt came in its stead, when I\n     perceived the nations raging against the pre-eminence of the\n     Roman people:--when I see the people imagining a vain thing,\n     as I once used to do; when, moreover, I grieve over kings\n     and princes agreeing in this only, to be against their Lord\n     and his anointed Roman Emperor. Wherefore in derision, not\n     without a certain grief, I can cry out, for that glorious\n     people and for C\u00e6sar, with him who cried in behalf of the\n     Prince of Heaven, \"Why did the nations rage, and the people\n     imagine vain things; the kings of the earth stood up, and\n     the rulers were joined in one against the Lord and his\n     anointed.\" But (because natural love suffers not derision to\n     be of long duration, but, like the summer sun, which,\n     scattering the morning mists, irradiates the east with\n     light, so prefers to pour forth the light of correction)\n     therefore to break the bonds of the ignorance of such kings\n     and rulers, to show that the human race is free from _their_\n     yoke, I will exhort myself, in company with the most holy\n     Prophet, taking up his following words, \"Let us break their\n     bonds, and cast away from us their yoke.\"--_De Monarch._\n     lib. ii. p. 58.\n\nAnd to prove this pre-eminence of right in the Roman people, and their\nheirs, the Emperors of Christendom, he appeals not merely to the\ncourse of Providence, to their high and noble ancestry, to the\nblessings of their just and considerate laws, to their unselfish\nguardianship of the world--\"_Romanum imperium de fonte nascitur\npietatis_;\"--not merely to their noble examples of private virtue,\nself-devotion, and public spirit--\"those most sacred victims of the\nDecian house, who laid down their lives for the public weal, as\nLivy--not as _they_ deserved, but as _he_ was able--tells to their\nglory; and that unspeakable sacrifice of freedom's sternest guardians,\nthe Catos;\" not merely to the \"judgment of God\" in that great duel and\nwager of battle for empire, in which heaven declared against all other\nchampions and \"co-athletes\"--Alexander, Pyrrhus, Hannibal, and by all\nthe formalities of judicial combat awarded the great prize to those\nwho fought, not for love or hatred, but justice--\"_Quis igitur nunc\nadeo obtus\u00e6 mentis est, qui non videat, sub jure duelli gloriosum\npopulum coronam totius orbis esse lucratum?_\"--not merely to arguments\nderived \"from the principles of the Christian faith\"--but to\n_miracles_. \"The Roman empire,\" he says, \"was, in order to its\nperfections, aided by the help of miracles; therefore it was willed by\nGod; and, by consequence, both was, and is, of right.\" And these\nmiracles, \"proved by the testimony of illustrious authorities,\" are\nthe prodigies of Livy--the ancile of Numa, the geese of the Capitol,\nthe escape of Clelia, the hail-storm which checked Hannibal.[83]\n\n[Footnote 83: _De Monarch._ lib. ii. pp. 62, 66, 78, 82, 84, 108-114,\n116, 72-76.]\n\nThe intellectual phenomenon is a strange one. It would be less strange\nif Dante were arguing in the schools, or pleading for a party. But\neven Henry of Luxemburg cared little for such a throne as the poet\nwanted him to fill, much less Can Grande and the Visconti. The idea,\nthe theory, and the argument, are of the writer's own solitary\nmeditation. We may wonder. But there are few things more strange than\nthe history of argument. How often has a cause or an idea turned out,\nin the eyes of posterity, so much better than its arguments. How\noften have we seen argument getting as it were into a groove, and\nunable to extricate itself, so as to do itself justice. The everyday\ncases of private experience, of men defending right conclusions on\nwrong or conventional grounds, or in a confused form, entangled with\nconclusions of a like yet different nature;--of arguments, theories,\nsolutions, which once satisfied, satisfying us no longer on a question\nabout which we hold the same belief--of one party unable to comprehend\nthe arguments of another--of one section of the same side smiling at\nthe defence of their common cause by another--are all reproduced on a\ngrander scale in the history of society. There too, one age cannot\ncomprehend another; there too it takes time to disengage, subordinate,\neliminate. Truth of this sort is not the elaboration of one keen or\nstrong mind, but of the secret experience of many; \"_nihil sine \u00e6tate\nest, omnia tempus expectant_.\" But a counterpart to the _De Monarchia_\nis not wanting in our own day; theory has not ceased to be mighty. In\nwarmth and earnestness, in sense of historic grandeur, in its support\nof a great cause and a great idea, not less than in the thought of its\nmotto, [Greek: heis koiranos est\u00f4], De Maistre's volume _Du Pape_,\nrecalls the antagonist _De Monarchia_; but it recalls it not less in\nits bold dealing with facts, and its bold assumption of principles,\nthough the knowledge and debates of five more busy centuries, and the\nexperience of modern courts and revolutions, might have guarded the\nPiedmontese nobleman from the mistakes of the old Florentine.\n\nBut the idea of the _De Monarchia_ is no key to the _Commedia_. The\ndirect and primary purpose of the _Commedia_ is surely its obvious\none. It is to stamp a deep impression on the mind, of the issues of\ngood and ill doing here--of the real worlds of pain and joy. To do\nthis forcibly, it is done in detail--of course it can only be done in\nfigure. Punishment, purification, or the fulness of consolation are,\nas he would think, at this very moment, the lot of all the numberless\nspirits who have ever lived here--spirits still living and sentient as\nhimself: parallel with our life, they too are suffering or are at\nrest. Without pause or interval, in all its parts simultaneously, this\nawful scene is going on--the judgments of God are being\nfulfilled--could we but see it. It exists, it might be seen, at each\ninstant of time, by a soul whose eyes were opened, which was carried\nthrough it. And this he imagines. It had been imagined before; it is\nthe working out, which is peculiar to him. It is not a barren vision.\nHis subject is, besides the eternal world, the soul which contemplates\nit; by sight, according to his figures--in reality, by faith. As he is\nled on from woe to deeper woe, then through the tempered\nchastisements and resignation of Purgatory to the beatific vision, he\nis tracing the course of the soul on earth, realising sin and weaning\nitself from it--of its purification and preparation for its high lot,\nby converse with the good and wise, by the remedies of grace, by\nefforts of will and love, perhaps by the dominant guidance of some\nsingle pure and holy influence, whether of person, or institution, or\nthought. Nor will we say but that beyond this earthly probation, he is\nnot also striving to grasp and imagine to himself something of that\nawful process and training, by which, whether in or out of the flesh,\nthe spirit is made fit to meet its Maker, its Judge, and its Chief\nGood.\n\nThus it seems that even in its main design, the poem has more than one\naspect; it is a picture, a figure, partially a history, perhaps an\nanticipation. And this is confirmed, by what the poet has himself\ndistinctly stated, of his ideas of poetic composition. His view is\nexpressed generally in his philosophical treatise, the _Convito_; but\nit is applied directly to the _Commedia_, in a letter, which, if in\nits present form, of doubtful authenticity, without any question\nrepresents his sentiments, and the substance of which is incorporated\nin one of the earliest writings on the poem, Boccaccio's commentary.\nThe following is his account of the subject of the poem:\n\n     For the evidence of what is to be said, it is to be noted,\n     that this work is not of one single meaning only, but may be\n     said to have many meanings (\"_polysensuum_\"). For the first\n     meaning is that of the letter--another is that of things\n     signified by the letter; the first of these is called the\n     literal sense, the second, the allegorical or moral. This\n     mode of treating a subject may for clearness' sake be\n     considered in those verses of the Psalm, \"_In exitu\n     Israel_.\" \"When Israel came out of Egypt, and the house of\n     Jacob from the strange people, Judah was his sanctuary, and\n     Israel his dominion.\" For if we look at the _letter_ only,\n     there is here signified, the going out of the children of\n     Israel in the time of Moses--if at the _allegory_ there is\n     signified our redemption through Christ--if at the _moral_\n     sense there is signified to us the conversion of the soul\n     from the mourning and misery of sin to the state of\n     grace--if at the _anagogic_ sense,[84] there is signified\n     the passing out of the holy soul from the bondage of this\n     corruption to the liberty of everlasting glory. And these\n     mystical meanings, though called by different names, may all\n     be called _allegorical_ as distinguished from the literal or\n     historical sense.... This being considered, it is plain that\n     there ought to be a twofold subject, concerning which the\n     two corresponding meanings may proceed. Therefore we must\n     consider first concerning the subject of this work as it is\n     to be understood literally, then as it is to be considered\n     allegorically. The subject then of the whole work, taken\n     literally only, is the state of souls after death considered\n     in itself. For about this, and on this, the whole work\n     turns. But if the work be taken allegorically, its subject\n     is man, as, by his freedom of choice deserving well or ill,\n     he is subject to the justice which rewards and punishes.[85]\n\n[Footnote 84:\n\n     _Litera_ gesta refert, quid credas _allegoria_,\n     _Moralis_ quid agas, quid speres _anagogia_.\n\n     De Witte's note from _Buti_.]\n\n[Footnote 85: Ep. ad _Kan Grand._ \u00a7 6, 7.]\n\nThe passage in the _Convito_ is to the same effect; but his remarks on\nthe _moral_ and _anagogic_ meaning may be quoted:\n\n     The third sense is called _moral_; that it is which readers\n     ought to go on noting carefully in writings, for their own\n     profit and that of their disciples: as in the Gospel it may\n     be noted, when Christ went up to the mountain to be\n     transfigured, that of the twelve Apostles, he took with him\n     only three; in which morally we may understand, that in the\n     most secret things we ought to have but few companions. The\n     fourth sort of meaning is called _anagogic_, that is, above\n     our sense; and this is when we spiritually interpret a\n     passage, which even in its literal meaning, by means of the\n     things signified, expresses the heavenly things of\n     everlasting glory: as may be seen in that song of the\n     Prophet, which says, that in the coming out of the people of\n     Israel from Egypt, Judah was made holy and free; which\n     although it is manifestly true according to the letter, is\n     not less true as spiritually understood; that is, that when\n     the soul comes out of sin, it is made holy and free, in its\n     own power.[86]\n\n[Footnote 86: _Convito_, Tr. 2, c. 1.]\n\nWith this passage before us there can be no doubt of the meaning,\nhowever veiled, of those beautiful lines, already referred to, in\nwhich Virgil, after having conducted the poet up the steeps of\nPurgatory, where his sins have been one by one cancelled by the\nministering angels, finally takes leave of him, and bids him wait for\nBeatrice, on the skirts of the earthly Paradise:\n\n       Come la scala tutta sotto noi\n     Fu corsa e fummo in su 'l grado superno,\n     In me ficc\u00f2 Virgilio gli occhi suoi,\n       E disse: \"Il temporal fuoco, e l'eterno\n     Veduto hai, figlio, e se' venuto in parte\n     Ov'io per me pi\u00f9 oltre non discerno.\n       Tratto t'ho qui con ingegno e con arte:\n     Lo tuo piacere omai prendi per duce;\n     Fuor se' dell'erte vie, fuor se' dell'arte.\n       Vedi il sole che 'n fronte ti riluce:\n     Vedi l'erbetta, i fiori, e gli arboscelli\n     Che quella terra sol da s\u00e8 produce.\n       Mentre che vegnon lieti gli occhi belli\n     Che lagrimando a te venir mi fenno,\n     Seder ti puoi e puoi andar tra elli.\n       Non aspettar mio dir pi\u00f9 n\u00e8 mio cenno:\n     Libero, dritto, sano \u00e8 tuo arbitrio,\n     E fallo fora non fare a suo senno:--\n       Perch'io te sopra te corono e mitrio.\"[87]\n\n[Footnote 87:\n\n                    When we had run\n     O'er all the ladder to its topmost round,\n     As there we stood, on me the Mantuan fix'd\n     His eyes, and thus he spake: \"Both fires, my son,\n     The temporal and the eternal, thou hast seen:\n     And art arrived, where of itself my ken\n     No further reaches. I with skill and art,\n     Thus far have drawn thee. Now thy pleasure take\n     For guide. Thou hast o'ercome the steeper way,\n     O'ercome the straiter. Lo! the sun, that darts\n     His beam upon thy forehead: lo! the herb,\n     The arborets and flowers, which of itself\n     This land pours forth profuse. Till those bright eyes\n     With gladness come, which, weeping, made me haste\n     To succour thee, thou mayest or seat thee down,\n     Or wander where thou wilt. Expect no more\n     Sanction of warning voice or sign from me,\n     Free of thine own arbitrement to choose,\n     Discreet, judicious. To distrust thy sense\n     Were henceforth error. I invest thee then\n     With crown and mitre, sovereign o'er thyself.\"\n\n     _Purg._ c. 27--CARY.]\n\nThe general meaning of the _Commedia_ is clear enough. But it\ncertainly does appear to refuse to be fitted into a connected formal\nscheme of interpretation. It is not a homogeneous, consistent\nallegory, like the _Pilgrim's Progress_ and the _Fairy Queen_. The\nallegory continually breaks off, shifts its ground, gives place to\nother elements, or mingles with them--like a stream which suddenly\nsinks into the earth, and after passing under plains and mountains,\nreappears in a distant point, and in different scenery. We can,\nindeed, imagine its strange author commenting on it, and finding or\nmarking out its prosaic substratum, with the cold-blooded precision\nand scholastic distinctions of the _Convito_. However, he has not done\nso. And of the many enigmas which present themselves, either in its\nstructure or separate parts, the key seems hopelessly lost. The early\ncommentators are very ingenious, but very unsatisfactory; they see\nwhere we can see, but beyond that they are as full of uncertainty as\nourselves. It is in character with that solitary and haughty spirit,\nwhile touching universal sympathies, appalling and charming all\nhearts, to have delighted in his own dark sayings, which had meaning\nonly to himself. It is true that, whether in irony, or from that\nquaint studious care for the appearance of literal truth, which makes\nhim apologise for the wonders which he relates, and confirm them by an\noath, \"on the words of his poem,\"[88] he provokes and challenges us;\nbids us admire \"doctrine hidden under strange verses;\"[89] bids us\nstrain our eyes, for the veil is thin:\n\n     Aguzza, qui, lettor, ben l'occhi al vero:\n     Ch\u00e8 il velo \u00e8 ora ben tanto sottile,\n     Certo, che il trapassar dentro \u00e8 leggiero.--_Purg._ c. 8.\n\nBut eyes are still strained in conjecture and doubt.\n\n[Footnote 88:\n\n       Sempre a quel ver, ch'ha faccia di menzogna,\n     De' l'uom chiuder le labbra, quanto puote,\n     Per\u00f2 che senza colpa fa vergogna.\n       Ma qui tacer nol posso; e per le note\n     Di questa _Commedia_, lettor, ti giuro\n     S'elle non sien di lunga grazia vote, &c.--_Inf._ 16.]\n\n[Footnote 89: _Inf._ 9.]\n\nYet the most certain and detailed commentary, one which assigned the\nexact reason for every image or allegory, and its place and connexion\nin a general scheme, would add but little to the charm or to the use\nof the poem. It is not so obscure but that every man's experience who\nhas thought over and felt the mystery of our present life, may supply\nthe commentary--the more ample, the wider and more various has been\nhis experience, the deeper and keener his feeling. Details and links\nof connexion may be matter of controversy. Whether the three beasts of\nthe forest mean definitely the vices of the time, or of Florence\nspecially, or of the poet himself--\"the wickedness of his heels,\ncompassing him round about\"--may still exercise critics and\nantiquaries; but that they carry with them distinct and special\nimpressions of evil, and that they are the hindrances of man's\nsalvation, is not doubtful. And our knowledge of the key of the\nallegory, where we possess it, contributes but little to the effect.\nWe may infer from the _Convito_[90] that the eyes of Beatrice stand\ndefinitely for the _demonstrations_, and her smiles for the\n_persuasions_ of wisdom; but the poetry of the Paradiso is not about\ndemonstrations and persuasions, but about looks and smiles; and the\nineffable and holy calm--\"_serenitatis et \u00e6ternitatis afflatus_\"--which\npervades it, comes from the sacred truths, and holy persons, and that\ndeep spirit of high-raised yet composed devotion, which it requires no\ninterpreter to show us.\n\n[Footnote 90: _Convito_, Tr. 3, c. 15.]\n\nFigure and symbol, then, are doubtless the law of composition in the\n_Commedia_; but this law discloses itself very variously, and with\ndifferent degrees of strictness. In its primary and most general form,\nit is palpable, consistent, pervading. There can be no doubt that the\npoem is meant to be understood figuratively--no doubt of what in\ngeneral it is meant to shadow forth--no doubt as to the general\nmeaning of its parts, their connexion with each other. But in its\nsecondary and subordinate applications, the law works--to our eye at\nleast--irregularly, unequally, and fitfully. There can be no question\nthat Virgil, the poet's guide, represents the purely human element in\nthe training of the soul and of society, as Beatrice does the divine.\nBut neither represent the whole; he does not sum up all appliances of\nwisdom in Virgil, nor all teachings and influences of grace in\nBeatrice; these have their separate figures. And both represent\nsuccessively several distinct forms of their general antitypes. They\nhave various degrees of abstractness, and narrow down, according to\nthat order of things to which they refer and correspond, into the\nspecial and the personal. In the general economy of the poem, Virgil\nstands for human wisdom in its widest sense; but he also stands for it\nin its various shapes, in the different parts. He is the type of human\nphilosophy and science.[91] He is, again, more definitely, that spirit\nof imagination and poetry, which opens men's eyes to the glory of the\nvisible, and the truth of the invisible; and to Italians, he is a\ndefinite embodiment of it, their own great poet, \"_vates, poeta\nnoster_.\"[92] In the Christian order, he is human wisdom, dimly\nmindful of its heavenly origin--presaging dimly its return to\nGod--sheltering in heathen times that \"vague and unconnected family\nof religious truths, originally from God, but sojourning without the\nsanction of miracle or visible home, as pilgrims up and down the\nworld.\"[93] In the political order, he is the guide of law-givers,\nwisdom fashioning the impulses and instincts of men into the harmony\nof society, contriving stability and peace, guarding justice; fit part\nfor the poet to fill, who had sung the origin of Rome, and the justice\nand peace of Augustus. In the order of individual life, and the\nprogress of the individual soul, he is the human conscience witnessing\nto duty, its discipline and its hopes, and with yet more certain and\nfearful presage, to its vindication; the human conscience seeing and\nacknowledging the law, but unable to confer power to fulfil\nit--wakened by grace from among the dead, leading the living man up to\nit, and waiting for its light and strength. But he is more than a\nfigure. To the poet himself, who blends with his high argument his\nwhole life, Virgil had been the utmost that mind can be to\nmind--teacher, quickener and revealer of power, source of thought,\nexemplar and model, never disappointing, never attained to, observed\nwith \"long study and great love:\"\n\n     Tu duca, tu signor, e tu maestro.--_Inf._ 2.\n\n[Footnote 91: \"O tu ch'onori ogni scienza ed arte.\"--_Inf._ 4. \"Quel\nsavio gentil che tutto seppe.\"--_Inf._ 7. \"Il mar di tutto 'l\nsenno.\"--_Inf._ 8.]\n\n[Footnote 92: _De Monarchia._]\n\n[Footnote 93: Newman's _Arians_.]\n\nAnd towards this great master, the poet's whole soul is poured forth\nin reverence and affection. To Dante he is no figure, but a\nperson--with feelings and weaknesses--overcome by the vexation,\nkindling into the wrath, carried away by the tenderness, of the\nmoment. He reads his scholar's heart, takes him by the hand in danger,\ncarries him in his arms and in his bosom, \"like a son more than a\ncompanion,\" rebukes his unworthy curiosity, kisses him when he shows a\nnoble spirit, asks pardon for his own mistakes. Never were the kind,\nyet severe ways of a master, or the disciple's diffidence and\nopen-heartedness, drawn with greater force, or less effort; and he\nseems to have been reflecting on his own affection to Virgil, when he\nmakes Statius forget that they were both but shades:\n\n     Or puoi la quantitate\n     Comprender dell'amor ch'a te mi scalda,\n     Quando _dismento la nostra vanitate\n     Trattando l'ombre come cosa salda_.--_Purg._ 21.\n\nAnd so with the poet's second guide. The great idea which Beatrice\nfigures, though always present, is seldom rendered artificially\nprominent, and is often entirely hidden beneath the rush of real\nrecollections, and the creations of dramatic power. Abstractions\nventure and trust themselves among realities, and for the time are\nforgotten. A name, a real person, a historic passage, a lament or\ndenunciation, a tragedy of actual life, a legend of classic times, the\nfortunes of friends--the story of Francesca or Ugolino, the fate of\nBuonconte's corpse, the apology of Pier delle Vigne, the epitaph of\nMadonna Pia, Ulysses' western voyage, the march of Roman\nhistory--appear and absorb for themselves all interest: or else it is\na philosophical speculation, or a theory of morality, or a case of\nconscience--not indeed alien from the main subject, yet independent of\nthe allegory, and not translateable into any new meaning--standing on\ntheir own ground, worked out each according to its own law; but they\ndo not disturb the main course of the poet's thought, who grasps and\npaints each detail of human life in its own peculiarity, while he sees\nin each a significance and interest beyond itself. He does not stop in\neach case to tell us so, but he makes it felt. The tale ends, the\nindividual disappears, and the great allegory resumes its course. It\nis like one of those great musical compositions which alone seem\ncapable of adequately expressing, in a limited time, a course of\nunfolding and change, in an idea, a career, a life, a society--where\none great thought predominates, recurs, gives colour and meaning, and\nforms the unity of the whole, yet passes through many shades and\ntransitions; is at one time definite, at another suggestive and\nmysterious; incorporating and giving free place and play to airs and\nmelodies even of an alien cast; striking off abruptly from its\nexpected road, but without ever losing itself, without breaking its\ntrue continuity, or failing of its completeness.\n\nThis then seems to us the end and purpose of the _Commedia_;--to\nproduce on the mind a sense of the judgments of God, analogous to that\nproduced by Scripture itself. They are presented to us in the Bible in\nshapes which address themselves primarily to the heart and conscience,\nand seek not carefully to explain themselves. They are likened to the\n\"great deep,\" to the \"strong mountains\"--vast and awful, but abrupt\nand incomplete, as the huge, broken, rugged piles and chains of\nmountains. And we see them through cloud and mist, in shapes only\napproximating to the true ones. Still they impress us deeply and\ntruly, often the more deeply because unconsciously. A character, an\nevent, a word, isolated and unexplained, stamps its meaning\nineffaceably, though ever a matter of question and wonder; it may be\ndark to the intellect, yet the conscience understands it, often but\ntoo well. In such suggestive ways is the Divine government for the\nmost part put before us in the Bible--ways which do not satisfy the\nunderstanding, but which fill us with a sense of reality. And it seems\nto have been by meditating on them, which he certainly did, much and\nthoughtfully--and on the infinite variety of similar ways in which\nthe strongest impressions are conveyed to us in ordinary life, by\nmeans short of clear and distinct explanation--by looks, by images, by\nsounds, by motions, by remote allusion and broken words, that Dante\nwas led to choose so new and remarkable a mode of conveying to his\ncountrymen his thoughts and feelings and presentiments about the\nmystery of God's counsel. The Bible teaches us by means of real\nhistory, traced so far as is necessary along its real course. The poet\nexpresses his view of the world also in real history, but carried on\ninto figure.\n\nThe poetry with which the Christian Church had been instinct from the\nbeginning, converges and is gathered up in the _Commedia_. The faith\nhad early shown its poetical aspect. It is superfluous to dwell on\nthis, for it is the charge against ancient teaching that it was too\nlarge and imaginative. It soon began to try rude essays in sculpture\nand mosaic: expressed its feeling of nature in verse and prose, rudely\nalso, but often with originality and force; and opened a new vein of\npoetry in the thoughts, hopes, and aspirations of regenerate man.\nModern poetry must go back, for many of its deepest and most powerful\nsources, to the writings of the Fathers, and their followers of the\nSchool. The Church further had a poetry of its own, besides the poetry\nof literature; it had the poetry of devotion--the Psalter chanted\ndaily, in a new language and a new meaning; and that wonderful body of\nhymns, to which age after age had contributed its offering, from the\nAmbrosian hymns to the _Veni, Sancte Spiritus_ of a king of France,\nthe _Pange lingua_ of Thomas Aquinas, the _Dies ir\u00e6_, and _Stabat\nMater_, of the two Franciscan brethren, Thomas of Celano, and\nJacopone.[94] The elements and fragments of poetry were everywhere in\nthe Church--in her ideas of life, in her rules and institutions for\npassing through it, in her preparation for death, in her offices,\nceremonial, celebrations, usages, her consecration of domestic,\nliterary, commercial, civic, military, political life, the meanings\nand ends she had given them, the religious seriousness with which the\nforms of each were dignified--in her doctrine, and her dogmatic\nsystem--her dependence on the unseen world--her Bible. From each and\nall of these, and from that public feeling, which, if it expressed\nitself but abruptly and incoherently, was quite alive to the poetry\nwhich surrounded it, the poet received due impressions of greatness\nand beauty, of joy and dread. Then the poetry of Christian religion\nand Christian temper, hitherto dispersed, or manifested in act only,\nfound its full and distinct utterance, not unworthy to rank in\ngrandeur, in music, in sustained strength, with the last noble voices\nfrom expiring Heathenism.\n\n[Footnote 94: Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, 1849.]\n\nBut a long interval had passed since then. The _Commedia_ first\ndisclosed to Christian and modern Europe that it was to have a\nliterature of its own, great and admirable, though in its own language\nand embodying its own ideas. \"It was as if, at some of the ancient\ngames, a stranger had appeared upon the plain, and thrown his quoit\namong the marks of former casts, which tradition had ascribed to the\ndemi-gods.\"[95] We are so accustomed to the excellent and varied\nliterature of modern times, so original, so perfect in form and rich\nin thought, so expressive of all our sentiments, meeting so completely\nour wants, fulfilling our ideas, that we can scarcely imagine the time\nwhen this condition was new--when society was beholden to a foreign\nlanguage for the exponents of its highest thoughts and feelings. But\nso it was when Dante wrote. The great poets, historians, philosophers\nof his day, the last great works of intellect, belonged to old Rome,\nand the Latin language. So wonderful and prolonged was the fascination\nof Rome. Men still lived under its influence; believed that the Latin\nlanguage was the perfect and permanent instrument of thought in its\nhighest forms, the only expression of refinement and civilisation; and\nhad not conceived the hope that their own dialects could ever rise to\nsuch heights of dignity and power. Latin, which had enchased and\npreserved such precious remains of ancient wisdom, was now shackling\nthe living mind in its efforts. Men imagined that they were still\nusing it naturally on all high themes and solemn business; but though\nthey used it with facility, it was no longer natural; it had lost the\nelasticity of life, and had become in their hands a stiffened and\ndistorted, though still powerful, instrument. The very use of the word\n_latino_ in the writers of this period, to express what is clear and\nphilosophical in language,[96] while it shows their deep reverence for\nit, shows how Latin civilisation was no longer their own, how it had\ninsensibly become an external and foreign element. But they found it\nvery hard to resign their claim to a share in its glories; with\nnothing of their own to match against it, they still delighted to\nspeak of it as \"our language,\" or its writers as \"our poets,\" \"our\nhistorians.\"[97]\n\n[Footnote 95: Hallam's _Middle Ages_, c. ix. vol. iii. p. 563.]\n\n[Footnote 96: _Parad._ 3, 12, 17. _Convit._ p. 108. \"A pi\u00f9\n_Latinamente_ vedere la sentenza letterale.\"]\n\n[Footnote 97: _Vid._ the _De Monarchia_.]\n\nThe spell was indeed beginning to break. Guido Cavalcanti, Dante's\nstrange, stern, speculative friend, who is one of the fathers of the\nItalian language, is characterised in the _Commedia_[98] by his\nscornful dislike of Latin, even in the mouth of Virgil. Yet Dante\nhimself, the great assertor, by argument and example, of the powers of\nthe Vulgar tongue, once dared not to think that the Vulgar tongue\ncould be other to the Latin, than as a subject to his sovereign. He\nwas bolder when he wrote _De Vulgari Eloquio_: but in the earlier\n_Convito_, while pleading earnestly for the beauty of the Italian, he\nyields with reverence the first place to the Latin--for nobleness,\nbecause the Latin is permanent, and the Vulgar subject to fluctuation\nand corruption; for power, because the Latin can express conceptions\nto which the Vulgar is unequal; for beauty, because the structure of\nthe Latin is a masterly arrangement of scientific art, and the beauty\nof the Vulgar depends on mere use.[99] The very title of his poem, the\n_Commedia_, contains in it a homage to the lofty claims of the Latin.\nIt is called a Comedy, and not Tragedy, he says, after a marvellous\naccount of the essence and etymology of the two, first, because it\nbegins sadly, and ends joyfully; and next, because of its language,\nthat humble speech of ordinary life, \"in which even women\nconverse.\"[100]\n\n[Footnote 98: _Inf._ 10, and compare the _Vit. N._ p. 334, ed.\nFraticelli.]\n\n[Footnote 99: _Convito_, i. 5.]\n\n[Footnote 100: Ep. ad Kan Grand. \u00a79,--a curious specimen of the\nlearning of the time: \"Sciendum est, quod _Comoedia_ dicitur a\n[Greek: k\u00f4m\u00ea], _villa_ et [Greek: \u00f4d\u00ea], quod est _cantus_, unde\n_Comoedia_ quasi _villanus cantus_. Et est _Comoedia genus quoddam\npoetic\u00e6 narrationis_, ab omnibus aliis differens. Differt ergo a\nTragoedia in materia per hoc, quod Tragoedia in principio est\nadmirabilis et quieta, in fine foetida et horribilis; et dicitur\npropter hoc a [Greek: tragos], i.e. _hircus_, et [Greek: \u00f4d\u00ea], quasi\n_cantus hircinus_, i.e. foetidus ad modum hirci, ut patet per\nSenecam in suis tragoediis. _Comoedia_ vero inchoat asperitatem\nalicujus rei, sed ejus materia prospere terminatur, ut patet per\nTerentium in suis _Comoediis_.... Similiter differunt in modo\nloquendi; elate et sublime Tragoedia, _Comoedia_ vero remisse et\nhumiliter sicut vult Horat. in Po\u00ebt.... Et per hoc patet, quod\n_Comoedia_ diciter pr\u00e6sens opus. Nam si ad materiam respiciamus, a\nprincipio horribilis et foetida est, quia _Infernus_: in fine\nprospera, desiderabilis et grata, quia _Paradisus_. Si ad modum\nloquendi, remissus est modus et humilis, quia locutio Vulgaris, in qua\net muliercul\u00e6 communicant. Et sic patet quia _Comoedia_ dicitur.\"\nCf. de Vulg. Eloq. 2, 4, _Parad._ 30. He calls the \u00c6neid, \"_l'alta\nTragedia_,\" _Inf._ 20, 113. Compare also Boccaccio's explanation of\nhis mother's dream of the _peacock_. Dante, he says, is like the\nPeacock, among other reasons, \"because the peacock has coarse feet,\nand a quiet gait;\" and \"the vulgar language, on which the _Commedia_\nsupports itself, is coarse in comparison with the high and masterly\nliterary style which every other poet uses, though it be more\nbeautiful than others, being in conformity with modern minds. The\nquiet gait signifies the humility of the style, which is necessarily\nrequired in _Commedia_, as those know who understand what is meant by\n_Commedia_.\"]\n\nHe honoured the Latin, but his love was for the Italian. He was its\nchampion, and indignant defender against the depreciation of ignorance\nand fashion. Confident of its power and jealous of its beauty, he\npours forth his fierce scorn on the blind stupidity, the affectation,\nthe vain glory, the envy, and above all, the cowardice of Italians who\nheld lightly their mother tongue. \"Many,\" he says, after enumerating\nthe other offenders, \"from this pusillanimity and cowardice disparage\ntheir own language, and exalt that of others; and of this sort are\nthose hateful dastards of Italy--_abbominevoli cattivi d'Italia_--who\nthink vilely of that precious language; which, if it is vile in\nanything, is vile only so far as it sounds in the prostituted mouth of\nthese adulterers.\"[101] He noted and compared its various dialects; he\nasserted its capabilities not only in verse, but in expressive,\nflexible, and majestic prose. And to the deliberate admiration of the\ncritic and the man, were added the homely but dear associations, which\nno language can share with that of early days. Italian had been the\nlanguage of his parents--\"_Questo mio Volgare fu il congiugnitore\ndelli miei generanti, che con esso parlavano_\"--and further, it was\nthis modern language, \"_questo mio Volgare_,\" which opened to him the\nway of knowledge, which had introduced him to Latin, and the sciences\nwhich it contained. It was his benefactor and guide--he personifies\nit--and his boyish friendship had grown stronger and more intimate by\nmutual good offices. \"There has also been between us the goodwill of\nintercourse; for from the beginning of my life I have had with it\nkindness and conversation, and have used it, deliberating,\ninterpreting, and questioning; so that, if friendship grows with use,\nit is evident how it must have grown in me.\"[102]\n\n[Footnote 101: _Convito_, i. 11.]\n\n[Footnote 102: _Convito_, i. 13.]\n\nFrom this language he exacted a hard trial;--a work which should rank\nwith the ancient works. None such had appeared; none had even advanced\nsuch a pretension. Not that it was a time dead to literature or\nliterary ambition. Poets and historians had written, and were writing\nin Italian. The same year of jubilee which fixed itself so deeply in\nDante's mind, and became the epoch of his vision--the same scene of\nRoman greatness in its decay, which afterwards suggested to Gibbon the\n_Decline and Fall_, prompted, in the father of Italian history, the\ndesire to follow in the steps of Sallust and Livy, and prepare the way\nfor Machiavelli and Guicciardini, Davila, and Fra Paolo.[103] Poetry\nhad been cultivated in the Roman languages of the West--in Aquitaine\nand Provence, especially--for more than two centuries; and lately,\nwith spirit and success, in Italian. Names had become popular,\nreputations had risen and waned, verses circulated and were\ncriticised, and even descended from the high and refined circles to\nthe workshop. A story is told of Dante's indignation, when he heard\nthe canzoni which had charmed the Florentine ladies mangled by the\nrude enthusiasm of a blacksmith at his forge.[104] Literature was a\ngrowing fashion; but it was humble in its aspirations and efforts. Men\nwrote like children, surprised and pleased with their success; yet\nallowing themselves in mere amusement, because conscious of weakness\nwhich they could not cure.\n\n[Footnote 103: G. Villani was at Rome in the year of jubilee 1300, and\ndescribes the great concourse and order of the pilgrims, whom he\nreckons at 200,000, in the course of the year. \"And I,\" he proceeds,\n\"finding myself in that blessed pilgrimage in the holy city of Rome,\nseeing the great and ancient things of the same, and reading the\nhistories of the great deeds of the Romans, written by Virgil, and by\nSallust, and Lucan, and Titus Livius, and Valerius, and Paulus\nOrosius, and other masters of histories, who wrote as well of the\nsmaller matters as of the greater, concerning the exploits and deeds\nof the Romans; and further, of the strange things of the whole world,\nfor memory and example's sake to those who should come after--I, too,\ntook their style and fashion, albeit that, as their scholar, I be not\nworthy to execute such a work. But, considering that our city of\nFlorence, the daughter and creation of Rome, was in its rising, and on\nthe eve of achieving great things, as Rome was in its decline, it\nseemed to me convenient to bring into this volume and new chronicle\nall the deeds and beginnings of the city of Florence, so far as I have\nbeen able to gather and recover them; and for the future, to follow at\nlarge the doings of the Florentines, and the other notable things of\nthe world briefly, as long as it may be God's pleasure; under which\nhope, rather by his grace than by my poor science, I entered on this\nenterprise: and so, in the year 1300, being returned from Rome, I\nbegan to compile this book, in reverence towards God and St. John, and\ncommendation of our city of Florence.\"--_G. Vill._ viii. 36.]\n\n[Footnote 104: _Sacchetti_, Nov. 114.]\n\nDante, by the _Divina Commedia_, was the restorer of seriousness in\nliterature. He was so, by the magnitude and pretensions of his work,\nand by the earnestness of its spirit. He first broke through the\nprescription which had confined great works to the Latin, and the\nfaithless prejudices which, in the language of society, could see\npowers fitted for no higher task than that of expressing, in curiously\ndiversified forms, its most ordinary feelings. But he did much more.\nLiterature was going astray in its tone, while growing in importance;\nthe _Commedia_ checked it. The Proven\u00e7al and Italian poetry was, with\nthe exception of some pieces of political satire, almost exclusively\namatory, in the most fantastic and affected fashion. In expression, it\nhad not even the merit of being natural; in purpose it was trifling;\nin the spirit which it encouraged, it was something worse. Doubtless\nit brought a degree of refinement with it, but it was refinement\npurchased at a high price, by intellectual distortion, and moral\ninsensibility. But this was not all. The brilliant age of Frederick\nII., for such it was, was deeply mined by religious unbelief. However\nstrange this charge first sounds against the thirteenth century, no\none can look at all closely into its history, at least in Italy,\nwithout seeing that the idea of infidelity--not heresy, but\ninfidelity--was quite a familiar one; and that side by side with the\ntheology of Aquinas and Bonaventura, there was working among those who\ninfluenced fashion and opinion, among the great men, and the men to\nwhom learning was a profession, a spirit of scepticism and irreligion\nalmost monstrous for its time, which found its countenance in\nFrederick's refined and enlightened court. The genius of the great\ndoctors might have kept in safety the Latin Schools, but not the free\nand home thoughts which found utterance in the language of the people,\nif the solemn beauty of the Italian _Commedia_ had not seized on all\nminds. It would have been an evil thing for Italian, perhaps for\nEuropean literature, if the siren tales of the _Decameron_ had been\nthe first to occupy the ear with the charms of a new language.\n\nDante has had hard measure, and from some who are most beholden to\nhim. No one in his day served the Church more highly, than he whose\nfaith and genius secured on her side the first great burst of\nimagination and feeling, the first perfect accents of modern speech.\nThe first-fruits of the new literature were consecrated, and offered\nup. There was no necessity, or even probability in Italy in the\nfourteenth century that it should be so, as there might perhaps have\nbeen earlier. It was the poet's free act--free in one, for whom nature\nand heathen learning had strong temptations--that religion was the\nlesson and influence of the great popular work of the time. That\nwhich he held up before men's awakened and captivated minds, was the\nverity of God's moral government. To rouse them to a sense of the\nmystery of their state; to startle their commonplace notions of sin\ninto an imagination of its variety, its magnitude, and its infinite\nshapes and degrees; to open their eyes to the beauty of the Christian\ntemper, both as suffering and as consummated; to teach them at once\nthe faithfulness and awful freeness of God's grace; to help the dull\nand lagging soul to conceive the possibility, in its own case, of\nrising step by step in joy without an end--of a felicity not\nunimaginable by man, though of another order from the highest\nperfection of earth;--this is the poet's end. Nor was it only vague\nreligious feelings which he wished to excite. He brought within the\ncircle of common thought, and translated into the language of the\nmultitude, what the Schools had done to throw light on the deep\nquestions of human existence, which all are fain to muse upon, though\nnone can solve. He who had opened so much of men's hearts to\nthemselves, opened to them also that secret sympathy which exists\nbetween them and the great mysteries of the Christian doctrine.[105]\nHe did the work, in his day, of a great preacher. Yet he has been\nboth claimed and condemned, as a disturber of the Church's faith.\n\n[Footnote 105: _Vide_ Ozanam.]\n\nHe certainly did not spare the Church's rulers. He thought they were\nbetraying the most sacred of all trusts; and if history is at all to\nbe relied on, he had some grounds for thinking so. But it is confusing\nthe feelings of the middle ages with our own, to convert every fierce\nattack on the Popes into an anticipation of Luther. Strong language of\nthis sort was far too commonplace to be so significant. No age is\nblind to practical abuses, or silent on them; and when the middle ages\ncomplained, they did so with a full-voiced and clamorous rhetoric,\nwhich greedily seized on every topic of vilification within its reach.\nIt was far less singular, and far less bold, to criticise\necclesiastical authorities, than is often supposed; but it by no means\nimplied unsettled faith, or a revolutionary design. In Dante's case,\nif words have any meaning--not words of deliberate qualification, but\nhis unpremeditated and incidental expressions--his faith in the Divine\nmission and spiritual powers of the Popes was as strong as his\nabhorrence of their degeneracy, and desire to see it corrected by a\npower which they would respect--that of the temporal sword. It would\nbe to mistake altogether his character, to imagine of him, either as a\nfault or as an excellence, that he was a doubter. It might as well be\nsupposed of Aquinas.\n\nNo one ever acknowledged with greater seriousness, as a fact in his\nposition in the world, the agreement in faith among those with whom he\nwas born. No one ever inclined with more simplicity and reverence\nbefore that long communion and consent in feeling and purpose, the\n\"_publicus_ sensus\" of the Christian Church. He did feel difficulties;\nbut the excitement of lingering on them was not among his enjoyments.\nThat was the lot of the heathen; Virgil, made wise by death, counsels\nhim not to desire it:\n\n       \"Matto \u00e8 chi spera, che nostra ragione\n     Possa trascorrer la 'nfinita via\n     Che tiene una sustanzia in tre Persone.\n       State contenti, umana gente, al _quia_;\n     Ch\u00e8 se potuto aveste veder tutto,\n     Mestier non era partorir Maria:\n       E disiar vedeste senza frutto\n     Tai, che sarebbe lor disio quetato,\n     Ch'eternamente \u00e8 dato lor per lutto;\n       I' dico d'Aristotile e di Plato,\n     E di molti altri:\"--e qui chin\u00f2 la fronte,\n     E pi\u00f9 non disse, e rimase turbato.--_Purg._ c. 3.[106]\n\n[Footnote 106:\n\n     \"Insensate he, who thinks with mortal ken\n       To pierce Infinitude, which doth enfold\n       Three Persons in one Substance. Seek not then,\n     O mortal race, for reasons--but believe,\n       And be contented; for had all been seen,\n       No need there was for Mary to conceive.\n     Men have ye known, who thus desired in vain;\n       And whose desires, that might at rest have been,\n       Now constitute a source of endless pain;\n     Plato, the Stagirite; and many more,\n       I here allude to;\"--then his head he bent,\n       Was silent, and a troubled aspect wore.--WRIGHT.]\n\nThe Christian poet felt that it was greater to believe and to act. In\nthe darkness of the world one bright light appeared, and he followed\nit. Providence had assigned him his portion of truth, his portion of\ndaily bread; if to us it appears blended with human elements, it is\nperfectly clear that he was in no position to sift them. To choose was\nno trial of his. To examine and seek, where it was impossible to find,\nwould have been folly. The authority from which he started had not yet\nbeen seriously questioned; there were no palpable signs of\ndoubtfulness on the system which was to him the representative of\nGod's will; and he sought for none. It came to him claiming his\nallegiance by custom, by universality, by its completeness as a whole,\nand satisfying his intellect and his sympathies in detail. And he gave\nhis allegiance--reasonably, because there was nothing to hope for in\ndoubting--wisely, because he gave it loyally and from his heart.\n\nAnd he had his reward--the reward of him who throws himself with\nfrankness and earnestness into a system; who is not afraid or\nsuspicious of it; who is not unfaithful to it. He gained not merely\npower--he gained that freedom and largeness of mind which the\nsuspicious or the unfaithful miss. His loyalty to the Church was no\ncramping or blinding service; it left to its full play that fresh and\noriginal mind, left it to range at will in all history and all nature\nfor the traces of Eternal wisdom, left it to please itself with all\nbeauty, and pay its homage to all excellence. For upon all wisdom,\nbeauty, and excellence, the Church had taught him to see, in various\nand duly distinguished degrees, the seal of the one Creator. She\nimparts to the poem, to its form and progressive development, her own\nsolemnity, her awe, her calm, her serenity and joy; it follows her\nsacred seasons and hours; repeats her appointed words of benediction\nand praise; moulds itself on her belief, her expectations, and\nforecastings.[107] Her intimations, more or less distinct, dogma or\ntradition or vague hint, guide the poet's imagination through the land\nwhere all eyes are open. The journey begins under the Easter moon of\nthe year of jubilee, on the evening of Good Friday; the days of her\nmourning he spends in the regions of woe, where none dares to\npronounce the name of the Redeemer, and he issues forth to \"behold\nagain the stars,\" to learn how to die to sin and rise to\nrighteousness, very early in the morning, as it begins to dawn, on the\nday of the Resurrection. The whole arrangement of the _Purgatorio_ is\ndrawn from Church usages. It is a picture of men suffering in calm and\nholy hope the sharp discipline of repentance, amid the prayers, the\nmelodies, the consoling images and thoughts, the orderly ritual, the\nhours of devotion, the sacraments of the Church militant. When he\nascends in his hardiest flight, and imagines the joys of the perfect\nand the vision of God, his abundant fancy confines itself strictly to\nthe limits sanctioned by her famous teachers--ventures into no new\nsphere, hazards no anticipations in which they have not preceded it,\nand is content with adding to the poetry which it elicits from their\nideas, a beauty which it is able to conceive apart altogether from\nbodily form--the beauty, infinite in its variety, of the expression of\nthe human eye and smile--the beauty of light, of sound, of motion. And\nwhen his song mounts to its last strain of triumph, and the poet's\nthought, imagination, and feeling of beauty, tasked to the utmost, nor\nfailing under the weight of glory which they have to express, breathe\nthemselves forth in words, higher than which no poetry has ever risen,\nand represent, in images transcending sense, and baffling it, yet\nmissing not one of those deep and transporting sympathies which they\nwere to touch, the sight, eye to eye, of the Creator by the\ncreature--he beholds the gathering together, in the presence of God,\nof \"all that from our earth has to the skies returned,\" and of the\ncountless orders of their thrones mirrored in His light--\n\n                                       Mira\n     Quanto \u00e8 'l convento delle bianche stole--\n\nunder a figure already taken into the ceremonial of the Church--the\nmystic Rose, whose expanding leaves image forth the joy of the\nheavenly Jerusalem, both triumphant and militant.[108]\n\n[Footnote 107: See an article in the _Brit. Critic_, No. 65, p. 120.]\n\n[Footnote 108: See the form of benediction of the \"Rosa d'oro.\"\n_Rituum Ecclesi\u00e6 Rom. Libri Tres._ fol. xxxv. Venet. 1516. Form of\ngiving: \"Accipe rosam de manibus nostris ... per quam designatus\ngaudium utriusque Hierusalem triumphantis scilicet et militantis\necclesi\u00e6 per quam omnibus Christi fidelibus manifestatur flos ipse\npretiosissimus qui est gaudium et corona sanctorum omnium.\" He alludes\nto it in the _Convito_, iv. 29.\n\n     O isplendor di Dio, per cu' io vidi\n       L'alto trionfo del regno verace,\n       Dammi virt\u00f9 a dir com'io lo vidi.\n     Lume \u00e8 lass\u00f9, che visibile face\n       Lo creatore a quella creatura,\n       Che solo in lui vedere ha la sua pace:\n     E si distende in circular figura\n       In tanto, che la sua circonferenza\n       Sarebbe al Sol troppo larga cintura.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     E come clivo in acqua di suo imo\n       Si specchia quasi per vedersi adorno,\n       Quanto \u00e8 nel verde e ne' fioretti opimo;\n     S\u00ec soprastando al lume intorno intorno\n       Vidi specchiarsi in pi\u00f9 di mille soglie,\n       Quanto di noi lass\u00f9 fatto ha ritorno.\n     E se l'infimo grado in s\u00e8 raccoglie\n       S\u00ec grande lume, quant'\u00e8 la larghezza\n       Di questa rosa nell'estreme foglie?\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     Nel giallo della rosa sempiterna,\n       Che si dilata, rigrada, e redole\n       Odor di lode al Sol, che sempre verna,\n     Qual'\u00e8 colui, che tace e dicer vuole,\n       Mi trasse Beatrice, e disse; mira\n       Quanto \u00e8 'l convento delle bianche stole!\n     Vedi nostra Citt\u00e0 quanto ella gira!\n       Vedi li nostri scanni s\u00ec ripieni,\n       Che poca gente omai ci si disira.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     In forma dunque di candida rosa\n       Mi si mostrava la milizia santa,\n       Che nel suo sangue Cristo fece sposa.--_Parad._ 30, 31.]\n\nBut this universal reference to the religious ideas of the Church is\nso natural, so unaffected, that it leaves him at full liberty in other\norders of thought. He can afford not to be conventional--he can afford\nto be comprehensive and genuine. It has been remarked how, in a poem\nwhere there would seem to be a fitting place for them, the\necclesiastical legends of the middle ages are almost entirely absent.\nThe sainted spirits of the _Paradiso_ are not exclusively or chiefly\nthe Saints of popular devotion. After the Saints of the Bible, the\nholy women, the three great Apostles, the Virgin mother, they are\neither names personally dear to the poet himself, friends whom he had\nloved, and teachers to whom he owed wisdom--or great men of masculine\nenergy in thought or action, in their various lines \"compensations and\nantagonists of the world's evils\"--Justinian and Constantine, and\nCharlemagne--the founders of the Orders, Augustine, Benedict, and\nBernard, Francis and Dominic--the great doctors of the Schools, Thomas\nAquinas, and Bonaventura, whom the Church had not yet canonized. And\nwith them are joined--and that with a full consciousness of the line\nwhich theology draws between the dispensations of nature and\ngrace--some rare types of virtue among the heathen. Cato is admitted\nto the outskirts of Purgatory; Trajan, and the righteous king of\nVirgil's poem, to the heaven of the just.[109]\n\n[Footnote 109:\n\n     Chi crederebbe gi\u00f9 nel mondo errante,\n     Che Rif\u00e8o Trojano[A] in questo tondo\n     Fosse la quinta delle luci sante?\n       Ora conosce assai di quel, che 'l mondo\n     Veder non pu\u00f2 della divina grazia;\n     Bench\u00e8 sua vista non discerna il fondo.--_Parad._ c. 20.]\n\n[Footnote A:\n\n                   Rhipeus justissimus unus\n     Qui fuit in Teucris, et servantissimus \u00e6qui.--_\u00c6n._ ii.]\n\nWithout confusion or disturbance to the religious character of his\ntrain of thought, he is able freely to subordinate to it the lessons\nand the great recollections of the Gentile times. He contemplates them\nwith the veil drawn off from them; as now known to form but one whole\nwith the history of the Bible and the Church, in the design of\nProvidence. He presents them in their own colours, as drawn by their\nown writers--he only adds what Christianity seems to show to be their\nevent. Under the conviction, that the light of the Heathen was a real\nguide from above, calling for vengeance in proportion to\nunfaithfulness, or outrage done to it--\"He that nurtureth the heathen,\nit is He that teacheth man knowledge--shall not He punish?\"--the great\ncriminals of profane history are mingled with sinners against God's\nrevealed will--and that, with equal dramatic power, with equal feeling\nof the greatness of their loss. The story of the voyage of Ulysses is\ntold with as much vivid power and pathetic interest as the tales of\nthe day.[110] He honours unfeignedly the old heathen's brave disdain\nof ease; that spirit, even to old age, eager, fresh, adventurous, and\ninquisitive. His faith allowed him to admire all that was beautiful\nand excellent among the heathen, without forgetting that it fell short\nof what the new gift of the Gospel can alone impart. He saw in it\nproof that God had never left His will and law without their witness\namong men. Virtue was virtue still, though imperfect, and\nunconsecrated--generosity, largeness of soul, truth, condescension,\njustice, were never unworthy of the reverence of Christians. Hence he\nuses without fear or scruple the classic element. The examples which\nrecall to the minds of the penitents, by sounds and sights, in the\ndifferent terraces of Purgatory, their sin and the grace they have to\nattain to, come indiscriminately from poetry and Scripture. The\nsculptured pavement, to which the proud are obliged ever to bow down\ntheir eyes, shows at once the humility of S. Mary and of the Psalmist,\nand the condescension of Trajan; and elsewhere the pride of Nimrod and\nSennacherib, of Niobe, and Cyrus. The envious hear the passing voices\nof courtesy from saints and heroes, and the bursting cry, like\ncrashing thunder, of repentant jealousy from Cain and Aglaurus; the\navaricious, to keep up the memory of their fault, celebrate by day the\npoverty of Fabricius and the liberality of S. Nicolas, and execrate by\nnight the greediness of Pygmalion and Midas, of Achan, Heliodorus, and\nCrassus.\n\n[Footnote 110: _Inf._ c. 26.]\n\nDante's all-surveying, all-embracing mind, was worthy to open the\ngrand procession of modern poets. He had chosen his subject in a\nregion remote from popular thought--too awful for it, too abstruse. He\nhad accepted frankly the dogmatic limits of the Church, and thrown\nhimself with even enthusiastic faith into her reasonings, at once so\nbold and so undoubting--her spirit of certainty, and her deep\ncontemplations on the unseen and infinite. And in literature, he had\ntaken as guides and models, above all criticism and all appeal, the\nclassical writers. Yet with his mind full of the deep and intricate\nquestions of metaphysics and theology, and his poetical taste always\nowning allegiance to Virgil, Ovid, and Statius--keen and subtle as a\nSchoolman--as much an idolator of old heathen art and grandeur as the\nmen of the _Renaissance_--his eye is as open to the delicacies of\ncharacter, to the variety of external nature, to the wonders of the\nphysical world--his interest in them as diversified and fresh, his\nimpressions as sharp and distinct, his rendering of them as free and\ntrue and forcible, as little weakened or confused by imitation or by\nconventional words, his language as elastic, and as completely under\nhis command, his choice of poetic materials as unrestricted and\noriginal, as if he had been born in days which claim as their own such\nfreedom, and such keen discriminative sense of what is real, in\nfeeling and image;--as if he had never felt the attractions of a\ncrabbed problem of scholastic logic, or bowed before the mellow grace\nof the Latins. It may be said, indeed, that the time was not yet come\nwhen the classics could be really understood and appreciated; and this\nis true, perhaps fortunate. But admiring them with a kind of devotion,\nand showing not seldom that he had caught their spirit, he never\n_attempts_ to copy them. His poetry in form and material is all his\nown. He asserted the poet's claim to borrow from all science, and from\nevery phase of nature, the associations and images which he wants; and\nhe showed that those images and associations did not lose their poetry\nby being expressed with the most literal reality.\n\nBut let no reader of fastidious taste disturb his temper by the study\nof Dante. Dante certainly opened that path of freedom and poetic\nconquest, in which the greatest efforts of modern poetry have followed\nhim--opened it with a magnificence and power which have never been\nsurpassed. But the greatest are but pioneers; they must be content to\nleave to a posterity, which knows more, if it cannot do as much, a\nkeen and even growing sense of their defects. The _Commedia_ is open\nto all the attacks that can be made on grotesqueness and extravagance.\nThis is partly owing, doubtless, to the time, in itself quaint,\nquainter to us, by being remote and ill-understood; but even then,\nweaker and less daring writers than Dante do not equally offend or\nastonish us. So that an image or an expression will render forcibly a\nthought, there is no strangeness which checks him. Barbarous words are\nintroduced, to express the cries of the demon or the confusion of\nBabel--even to represent the incomprehensible song of the\nblessed;[111] inarticulate syllables, to convey the impression of some\nnatural sound--the cry of sorrowful surprise:\n\n     Alto sospir, che duolo strinse in _hui_;--_Purg._ 16.\n\nor the noise of the cracking ice:\n\n     Se Tabernicch\n     Vi fosse s\u00f9 caduto, o Pietra-pana\n     Non avria pur da l'orlo fatto _cricch_;--_Inf._ 32.\n\neven separate letters--to express an image, to spell a name, or as\nused in some popular proverb.[112] He employs without scruple, and\noften with marvellous force of description, any recollection that\noccurs to him, however homely, of everyday life;--the old tailor\nthreading his needle with trouble (_Inf._ 15);--the cook's assistant\nwatching over the boiling broth (_Inf._ 21);--the hurried or impatient\nhorse-groom using his curry-comb (_Inf._ 29);--or the common sights\nof the street or the chamber--the wet wood sputtering on the hearth:\n\n     Come d'un stizzo verde che arso sia\n     Dall'un de' capi, che dall'altro geme\n     E cigola per vento che va via;--_Inf._ 13.[113]\n\nthe paper changing colour when about to catch fire:\n\n     Come procede innanzi dall'ardore\n       Per lo papiro suso un color bruno\n     Che non \u00e8 nero ancora, e 'l bianco muore:--_Inf._ 25.[114]\n\nthe steaming of the hand when bathed, in winter:\n\n     Fuman come man bagnata il verno:--\n\nor the ways and appearances of animals--ants meeting on their path:\n\n     L\u00ec veggio d'ogni parte farsi presta\n     Ciascun'ombra, e baciarsi una con una\n     Senza restar, contente a breve festa:\n       Cos\u00ec per entro loro schiera bruna\n     _S'ammusa l'una con l'altra formica_,\n     Forse a spiar lor via e lor fortuna;--_Purg._ 26.[115]\n\nthe snail drawing in its horns (_Inf._ 25);--the hog shut out of its\nsty, and trying to gore with its tusks (_Inf._ 30);--the dogs' misery\nin summer (_Inf._ 17);--the frogs jumping on to the bank before the\nwater-snake (_Inf._ 9);--or showing their heads above water:\n\n     Come al orlo dell'acqua d'un fosso\n     Stan gli ranocchi _pur col muso fuori_,\n     S\u00ec che celano i piedi, e l'altro grosso.--_Inf._ 22.[116]\n\n[Footnote 111: _Parad._ 7, 1-3.]\n\n[Footnote 112: To describe the pinched face of famine;--\n\n     Parean l'occhiaje annella senza gemme.\n     Chi nel viso degli uomini legge OMO\n     Ben avria quivi conosciuto l'_emme_ (M).--_Purg._ 23.\n\nAgain,\n\n     Quella reverenza che s'indonna\n     Di tutto me, pur per B e per ICE.--_Parad._ 7.\n\n     N\u00e8 O s\u00ec tosto mai, n\u00e8 I si scrisse,\n     Com'ei s'accese ed arse.--_Inf._ 24.]\n\n[Footnote 113:\n\n     Like to a sapling, lighted at one end,\n       Which at the other hisses with the wind,\n       And drops of sap doth from the outlet send:\n     So from the broken twig, both words and blood flow'd forth.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 114:\n\n     Like burning paper, when there glides before\n       The advancing flame a brown and dingy shade,\n       Which is not black, and yet is white no more.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 115:\n\n     On either hand I saw them haste their meeting,\n       And kiss each one the other--pausing not--\n       Contented to enjoy so short a greeting.\n     Thus do the ants among their dingy band,\n       Face one another--each their neighbour's lot\n       Haply to scan, and how their fortunes stand.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 116:\n\n     As in a trench, frogs at the water side\n       Sit squatting, with their noses raised on high,\n       The while their feet, and all their bulk they hide--\n     Thus upon either hand the sinners stood.\n       But Barbariccia now approaching nigh,\n       Quick they withdrew beneath the boiling flood.\n     I saw--and still my heart is thrill'd with fear--\n       One spirit linger; as beside a ditch,\n       One frog remains, the others disappear.--IBID.]\n\nIt must be said, that most of these images, though by no means all,\noccur in the _Inferno_; and that the poet means to paint sin not\nmerely in the greatness of its ruin and misery, but in characters\nwhich all understand, of strangeness, of vileness, of despicableness,\nblended with diversified and monstrous horror. Even he seems to\ndespair of his power at times:\n\n     S'io avessi le rime e aspre, e chiocce,\n       Come si converrebbe al tristo buco,\n       Sovra 'l qual pontan tutte l'altre rocce;\n     Io premerrei di mio concetto il suco\n       Pi\u00f9 pienamente; ma perch'io non l'abbo,\n       Non senza tema a dicer mi conduco:\n     Che non \u00e8 'mpresa da pigliare a gabbo\n       Descriver fondo a tutto l'universo,\n       N\u00e8 da lingua, che chiami mamma, o babbo.--_Inf._ 32.[117]\n\n[Footnote 117:\n\n     Had I a rhyme so rugged, rough, and hoarse\n       As would become the sorrowful abyss,\n       O'er which the rocky circles wind their course,\n     Then with a more appropriate form I might\n       Endow my vast conceptions; wanting this,\n       Not without fear I bring myself to write.\n     For no light enterprise it is, I deem,\n       To represent the lowest depth of all;\n       Nor should a childish tongue attempt the theme.--WRIGHT.]\n\nFeeling the difference between sins, in their elements and, as far as\nwe see them, their baseness, he treats them variously. His ridicule is\napportioned with a purpose. He passes on from the doom of the sins of\nincontinence--the storm, the frost and hail, the crushing\nweights--from the flaming minarets of the city of Dis, of the Furies\nand Proserpine, \"Donna dell'eterno pianto,\" where the unbelievers lie,\neach in his burning tomb--from the river of boiling blood--the wood\nwith the Harpies--the waste of barren sand with fiery snow, where the\nviolent are punished--to the Malebolge, the manifold circles of\nFalsehood. And here scorn and ridicule in various degrees, according\nto the vileness of the fraud, begin to predominate, till they\nculminate in that grim comedy, with its _dramatis person\u00e6_ and battle\nof devils, Draghignazzo, and Graffiacane, and Malacoda, where the\npeculators and sellers of justice are fished up by the demons from the\nboiling pitch, but even there overreach and cheat their tormentors,\nand make them turn their fangs on each other. The diversified forms of\nfalsehood seem to tempt the poet's imagination to cope with its\nchangefulness and inventions, as well as its audacity. The\ntransformations of the wildest dream do not daunt him. His power over\nlanguage is nowhere more forcibly displayed than in those cantos,\nwhich describe the punishments of theft--men passing gradually into\nserpents, and serpents into men:\n\n     Due e nessun l'imagine perversa\n     Parea.--_Inf._ 25.\n\nAnd when the traitor, who murdered his own kinsman, was still alive,\nand seemed safe from the infamy which it was the poet's rule to bestow\nonly on the dead, Dante found a way to inflict his vengeance without\nan anachronism:--Branca D'Oria's body, though on earth, is only\nanimated by a fiend, and his spirit has long since fled to the icy\nprison.[118]\n\n[Footnote 118:\n\n     Ed egli a me: Come 'l mio corpo stea\n       Nel mondo s\u00f9, nulla scienzia porto.\n     Cotal vantaggio ha questa Tolommea,\n       Che spesse volte l'anima ci cade\n       Innanzi, ch'Atrop\u00f2s mossa le dea.\n     E perch\u00e8 tu pi\u00f9 volontier mi rade\n       Le 'nvetriate lagrime dal volto,\n       Sappi, che tosto che l'anima trade,\n     Come fec'io, il corpo suo l'\u00e8 tolto\n       Da un Dimonio, che poscia il governa,\n       Mentre che 'l tempo suo tutto sia volto.\n     Ella ruina in s\u00ec fatta cisterna;\n       E forse pare ancor lo corpo suso\n       Dell'ombra, che di qua dietro mi verna.\n     Tu 'l dei saper, se tu vien pur mo giuso:\n       Egli \u00e8 ser Branca d'Oria, e son pi\u00f9 anni\n       Poscia passati, ch'ei fu s\u00ec racchiuso.\n     Io credo, diss'io lui, che tu m'inganni,\n       Che Branca d'Oria non mor\u00ec unquanche,\n       E mangia, e bee, e dorme, e veste panni.\n     Nel fosso s\u00f9, diss'ei, di Malebranche,\n       L\u00e0 dove bolle la tenace pece,\n       Non era giunto ancora Michel Zanche;\n     Che questi lasci\u00f2 'l diavolo in sua vece\n       Nel corpo suo, e d'un suo prossimano,\n       Che 'l tradimento insieme con lui fece.--_Inf._ 33.]\n\nThese are strange experiments in poetry; their strangeness is\nexaggerated as detached passages; but they are strange enough when\nthey meet us in their place in the context, as parts of a scene, where\nthe mind is strung and overawed by the sustained power, with which\ndreariness, horror, hideous absence of every form of good, is kept\nbefore the imagination and feelings, in the fearful picture of human\nsin. But they belong to the poet's system of direct and forcible\nrepresentation. What his inward eye sees, what he feels, that he means\nus to see and feel as he does; to make us see and feel is his art.\nAfterwards we may reflect and meditate; but first we must see--must\nsee what he saw. Evil and deformity are in the world, as well as good\nand beauty; the eye cannot escape them, they are about our path, in\nour heart and memory. He has faced them without shrinking or\ndissembling, and extorted from them a voice of warning. In all poetry\nthat is written for mere delight, in all poetry which regards but a\npart or an aspect of nature, they have no place--they disturb and mar;\nbut he had conceived a poetry of the whole, which would be weak or\nfalse without them. Yet they stand in his poem as they stand in\nnature--subordinate and relieved. If the grotesque is allowed to\nintrude itself--if the horrible and the foul, undisguised and\nunsoftened, make us shudder and shrink, they are kept in strong check\nand in due subjection by other poetical influences; and the same power\nwhich exhibits them in their naked strength, renders its full grace\nand glory to beauty; its full force and delicacy to the most\nevanescent feeling.\n\nDante's eye was free and open to external nature in a degree new among\npoets; certainly in a far greater degree than among the Latins, even\nincluding Lucretius, whom he probably had never read. We have already\nspoken of his minute notice of the appearance of living creatures; but\nhis eye was caught by the beautiful as well as by the grotesque.\n\nTake the following beautiful picture of the bird looking out for dawn:\n\n     Come l'augello intra l'amate fronde,\n       Posato al nido de' suoi dolci nati,\n       La notte, che le cose ci nasconde,\n     Che per veder gli aspetti desiati,\n       E per trovar lo cibo, onde li pasca,\n       In che i gravi labor gli sono aggrati,\n     Previene 'l tempo in su l'aperta frasca,\n       E con ardente affetto il sole aspetta,\n       Fiso guardando, pur che l'alba nasca.--_Parad._ 23.[119]\n\n[Footnote 119:\n\n     E'en as the bird that resting in the nest\n       Of her sweet brood, the shelt'ring boughs among\n       While all things are enwrapt in night's dark vest--\n     Now eager to behold the looks she loves,\n       And to find food for her impatient young\n       (Whence labour grateful to a mother proves),\n     Forestalls the time, high perch'd upon the spray,\n       And with impassion'd zeal the sun expecting,\n       Anxiously waiteth the first break of day.--WRIGHT.]\n\nNothing indeed can be more true and original than his images of birds;\nthey are varied and very numerous. We have the water-birds rising in\nclamorous and changing flocks:\n\n       Come augelli surti di riviera\n     _Quasi congratulando a lor pasture_,\n     Fanno di s\u00e8 or tonda or lunga schiera;--_Parad._ 18.[120]\n\nthe rooks, beginning to move about at daybreak:\n\n       E come per lo natural costume,\n     Le pole insieme, al cominciar del giorno\n     Si muovono a scaldar le fredde piume,\n       Poi altre vanno via senza ritorno,\n     Altre rivolgon s\u00e8 onde son mosse\n     Ed altre roteando fan soggiorno;--_Parad._ 21.[121]\n\nthe morning sounds of the swallow:\n\n       Nell'ora che comincia i tristi lai\n     La rondinella presso alla mattina,\n     Forse a memoria de' suoi primi guai;--_Purg._ 9.[122]\n\nthe joy and delight of the nightingale's song (_Purg._ 17); the lark,\nsilent at last, filled with its own sweetness:\n\n       Qual lodoletta, che 'n aere si spazia,\n     Prima cantando, e _poi tace contenta\n     Dell'ultima dolcezza che la sazia_;--_Parad._ 20.[123]\n\nthe flight of the starlings and storks (_Inf._ 5, _Purg._ 24); the\nmournful cry and long line of the cranes (_Inf._ 5, _Purg._ 26); the\nyoung birds trying to escape from the nest (_Purg._ 25); the eagle\nhanging in the sky:\n\n     Con l'ale aperte, e a calare intesa;--\n\nthe dove, standing close to its mate, or wheeling round it:\n\n       S\u00ec come quando 'l _colombo si pone\n     Presso al compagno_, l'uno e l'altro pande\n     _Girando e mormorando_ l'affezione;--_Parad._ 25.[124]\n\nor the flock of pigeons, feeding:\n\n                   Adunati alla pastura,\n     Queti, _senza mostrar l'usato orgoglio_.--_Purg._ 2.\n\n[Footnote 120:\n\n     And as birds rising from a stream, whence they\n       Their pastures view, as though their joy confessing,\n       Now form a round, and now a long array.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 121:\n\n     And as with one accord, at break of day,\n       The rooks bestir themselves, by nature taught\n       To chase the dew-drops from their wings away;\n     Some flying off, to reappear no more--\n       Others repairing to their nests again--\n       Some whirling round--then settling as before.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 122:\n\n     What time the swallow pours her plaintive strain,\n       Saluting the approach of morning gray,\n       Thus haply mindful of her former pain.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 123:\n\n     E'en as the lark high soaring pours its throat\n       Awhile, then rests in silence, as though still\n       It dwelt enamour'd of its last sweet note.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 124:\n\n     As when unto his partner's side, the dove\n       Approaches near--both fondly circling round,\n       And cooing, show the fervour of their love;\n     So these great heirs of immortality\n       Receive each other; while they joyful sound\n       The praises of the food they share on high.--WRIGHT.]\n\nHawking supplies its images: the falcon coming for its food:\n\n       Il falcon che prima a pi\u00e8 si mira,\n     Indi si volge al grido, e si protende,\n     Per lo disio del pasto, che l\u00e0 il tira;--_Purg._ 19.[125]\n\nor just unhooded, pluming itself for its flight:\n\n       Quasi falcon, ch'esce del cappello,\n     Muove la testa, e con l'ale s'applaude,\n     _Voglia mostrando, e facendosi bello_;--_Parad._ 19.[126]\n\nor returning without success, sullen and loath:\n\n       Come 'l falcon ch'\u00e8 stato assai su l'ali,\n     Che senza veder logoro, o uccello,\n     Fa dire al falconiere: Oim\u00e8 tu cali!\n     Discende lasso onde si muove snello\n     Per cento ruote, _e da lungi si pone_\n     Dal suo maestro, _disdegnoso e fello_.--_Inf._ 17.[127]\n\n[Footnote 125:\n\n     And, as a falcon, which first scans its feet,\n       Then turns him to the call, and forward flies,\n       In eagerness to catch the tempting meat.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 126:\n\n     Lo, as a falcon, from the hood released,\n       Uplifts his head, and joyous flaps his wings,\n       His beauty and his eagerness increased.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 127:\n\n     E'en as a falcon, long upheld in air,\n       Not seeing lure or bird upon the wing,\n       So that the falconer utters in despair\n     \"Alas, thou stoop'st!\" fatigued descends from high;\n       And whirling quickly round in many a ring,\n       Far from his master sits--disdainfully.--IBID.]\n\nIt is curious to observe him taking Virgil's similes, and altering\nthem. When Virgil describes the throng of souls, he compares them to\nfalling leaves, or gathering birds in autumn:\n\n       Quam multa in silvis auctumni frigore primo\n     Lapsa cadunt folia, aut ad terram gurgite ab alto\n     Quam mult\u00e6 glomerantur aves, ubi frigidus annus\n     Trans pontum fugat, et terris immittit apricis--\n\nDante uses the same images, but without copying:\n\n       Come d'Autunno si levan le foglie,\n     L'una appresso dell'altra, infin che 'l ramo\n     Rende alla terra tutte le sue spoglie;\n       Similemente il mal seme d'Adamo:\n     Gittansi di quel lito ad una ad una\n     Per cenni, com'augel per suo richiamo.\n       Cos\u00ec sen vanno su per l'onda bruna,\n     Ed avanti che sien di l\u00e0 discese,\n     Anche di qua nuova schiera s'aduna.--_Inf._ 3.[128]\n\n[Footnote 128:\n\n     As leaves in autumn, borne before the wind,\n       Drop one by one, until the branch laid bare,\n       Sees all its honours to the earth consign'd:\n     So cast them downward at his summons all\n       The guilty race of Adam from that strand--\n       Each as a falcon answering to the call.--WRIGHT.]\n\nAgain--compared with one of Virgil's most highly-finished and perfect\npictures, the flight of the pigeon, disturbed at first, and then\nbecoming swift and smooth:\n\n     Qualis spelunca subito commota columba,\n     Cui domus et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi,\n     Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis\n     Dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto\n     Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas--\n\nthe Italian's simplicity and strength may balance the \"ornata parola\"\nof Virgil:\n\n     Quali colombe dal disio chiamate,\n     Con _l'ali aperte e ferme_ al dolce nido\n     Volan per l'aer dal voler portate.--_Inf._ 5.[129]\n\n[Footnote 129:\n\n     As doves, by strong affection urged, repair\n       With firm expanded wings to their sweet nest,\n       Borne by the impulse of their will through air.--IBID.\n\nIt is impossible not to be reminded at every step, in spite of the\nknowledge and taste which Mr. Cary and Mr. Wright have brought to\ntheir most difficult task, of the truth which Dante has expressed with\nhis ordinary positiveness.\n\nHe is saying that he does not wish his Canzoni to be explained in\nLatin to those who could not read them in Italian: \"Che sarebbe sposta\nla loro sentenzia col\u00e0 dove elle _non la potessono colla loro bellezza\nportare_. E per\u00f2 sappia ciascuno che nulla cosa per legame musaico\n(_i.e._ poetico) armonizzata, si pu\u00f2 della sua loquela in altra\ntrasmutare senza rompere tutta la sua dolcezza e armonia. E questa \u00e8\nla ragione per che Omero non si mut\u00f2 mai di Greco in Latino, come\nl'altre scritture che avemo da loro.\"--_Convito_, i. c. 8, p. 49.\n\nDr. Carlyle has given up the idea of attempting to represent Dante's\nverse by English verse, and has confined himself to assisting\nEnglishmen to read him in his own language. His prose translation is\naccurate and forcible. And he has added sensible and useful notes.]\n\nTake, again, the _times of the day_, with what is characteristic of\nthem--appearances, lights, feelings--seldom dwelt on at length, but\ncarried at once to the mind, and stamped upon it sometimes by a single\nword. The sense of _morning_, its inspiring and cheering strength,\nsoftens the opening of the _Inferno_; breathes its refreshing calm, in\nthe interval of repose after the last horrors of hell, in the first\ncanto of the _Purgatorio_; and prepares for the entrance into the\nearthly Paradise at its close. In the waning light of _evening_, and\nits chilling sense of loneliness, he prepared himself for his dread\npilgrimage:\n\n       Lo giorno se n'andava, e l'aer bruno\n     Toglieva gli animai che sono 'n terra\n     Dalle fatiche loro; ed io sol uno\n       M'apparechiava a sostener la guerra\n     S\u00ec del cammino, e s\u00ec della pietate.--_Inf._ 2.\n\nIndeed there is scarcely an hour of day or night, which has not left\nits own recollection with him;--of which we cannot find some memorial\nin his poem. Evening and night have many. Evening, with its softness\nand melancholy--its exhaustion and languor, after the work, perhaps\nunfulfilled, of day--its regrets and yearnings--its sounds and\ndoubtful lights--the distant bell, the closing chants of Compline, the\n_Salve Regina_, the _Te lucis ante terminum_--with its insecurity, and\nits sense of protection from above--broods over the poet's first\nresting-place on his heavenly road--that still, solemn, dreamy\nscene--the Valley of Flowers in the mountain side, where those who\nhave been negligent about their salvation, but not altogether\nfaithless and fruitless, the assembled shades of great kings and of\npoets, wait, looking upwards, \"pale and humble,\" for the hour when\nthey may begin in earnest their penance. (_Purg._ 7 and 8.) The level,\nblinding evening beams (_Purg._ 15); the contrast of gathering\ndarkness in the valley or on the shore with the lingering lights on\nthe mountain (_Purg._ 17); the rapid sinking of the sun, and approach\nof night in the south (_Purg._ 27); the flaming sunset clouds of\nAugust; the sheet-lightning of summer (_Purg._ 5); have left pictures\nin his mind, which an incidental touch reawakens, and a few strong\nwords are sufficient to express. Other appearances he describes with\nmore fulness. The stars coming out one by one, baffling at first the\neye:\n\n       Ed ecco intorno di chiarezza pari\n     Nascer un lustro sopra quel che v'era,\n     A guisa d'orizzonte, che rischiari.\n       _E s\u00ec come al salir di prima sera\n     Comincian per lo Ciel nuove parvenze,\n     S\u00ec che la cosa pare e non par vera_;--_Parad._ 14.[130]\n\nor else, bursting out suddenly over the heavens:\n\n       Quando colui che tutto il mondo alluma,\n     De l'emisperio nostro si discende,\n     E 'l giorno d'ogni parte si consuma;\n       Lo ciel che sol di lui prima s'accende,\n     Subitamente si rif\u00e0 parvente\n     Per molte luci in che una risplende;--_Parad._ 20.[131]\n\nor the effect of shooting-stars:\n\n       Quale per li seren tranquilli e puri\n     Discorre ad ora ad or subito fuoco\n     Movendo gli occhi che stavan sicuri,\n       E pare stella che tramuti loco,\n     Se non che dalla parte onde s'accende\n     Nulla sen perde, ed esso dura poco;--_Parad._ 15.[132]\n\nor, again, that characteristic sight of the Italian summer night--the\nfire-flies:\n\n       Quante il villan che al poggio si riposa,\n     Nel tempo che colui che 'l mondo schiara\n     La faccia sua a noi tien men ascosa,\n       Come la mosca cede alla zenzara,\n     Vede lucciole gi\u00f9 per la vallea\n     Forse col\u00e0 dove vendemmia ed ara.--_Inf._ 26.[133]\n\n[Footnote 130:\n\n     And lo, on high, and lurid as the one\n       Now there, encircling it, a light arose,\n       Like heaven when re-illumined by the sun:\n     And as at the first lighting up of eve\n       The sky doth new appearances disclose,\n       That now seem real, now the sight deceive.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 131:\n\n     When he, who with his universal ray\n       The world illumines, quits our hemisphere,\n       And, from each quarter, daylight wears away;\n     The heaven, erst kindled by his beam alone,\n       Sudden its lost effulgence doth repair\n       By many lights illumined but by one.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 132:\n\n     As oft along the pure and tranquil sky\n       A sudden fire by night is seen to dart,\n       Attracting forcibly the heedless eye;\n     And seems to be a star that changes place,\n       Save that no star is lost from out the part\n       It quits, and that it lasts a moment's space.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 133:\n\n     As in that season when the sun least veils\n     His face that lightens all, what time the fly\n     Gives place to the shrill gnat, the peasant then,\n     Upon some cliff reclined, beneath him sees\n     Fire-flies innumerous spangling o'er the vale,\n     Vineyard or tilth, where his day-labour lies.--CARY.]\n\nNoon, too, does not want its characteristic touches--the\nlightning-like glancing of the lizard's rapid motion:\n\n       Come il ramarro sotto la gran fersa\n     Ne' d\u00ec canicular cangiando siepe\n     Folgore par, se la via attraversa;--_Inf._ 25.[134]\n\nthe motes in the sunbeam at noontide (_Par._ 14); its clear,\ndiffused, insupportable brightness, filling all things:\n\n     E tutti eran gi\u00e0 pieni\n     Dell'alto d\u00ec i giron del sacro monte.--_Purg._ 19.\n\nand veiling the sun in his own light:\n\n       Io veggio ben s\u00ec come _tu t'annidi\n     Nel proprio lume_.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n       S\u00ec come 'l sol che si cela egli stessi\n     Per troppa luce, quando 'l caldo ha rose\n     Le temperanze de' vapori spessi.--_Parad._ 5.\n\n[Footnote 134:\n\n     As underneath the dog-star's scorching ray\n       The lizard, darting swift from fence to fence,\n       Appears like lightning, if he cross the way.--WRIGHT.]\n\nBut the sights and feelings of morning are what he touches on most\nfrequently; and he does so with the precision of one who had watched\nthem with often-repeated delight: the scented freshness of the breeze\nthat stirs before daybreak:\n\n       E quale annunziatrice degli albori\n     Aura di maggio muovesi ed olezza\n     Tutta impregnata dall'erba e da' fiori;\n       Tal mi senti' un vento dar per mezza\n     La fronte;--_Purg._ 24.[135]\n\nthe chill of early morning (_Purg._ 19); the dawn stealing on, and the\nstars, one by one, fading \"infino alla pi\u00f9 bella\" (_Parad._ 30); the\nbrightness of the \"trembling morning star\"--\n\n     Par tremolando mattutina stella;--\n\nthe serenity of the dawn, the blue gradually gathering in the east,\nspreading over the brightening sky (_Parad._ 1); then succeeded by the\norange tints--and Mars setting red, through the mist over the sea:\n\n       Ed ecco, qual sul presso del mattino\n     Per li grossi vapor Marte rosseggia\n     Gi\u00f9 nel ponente, sopra 'l suol marino,\n       Cotal m'apparve, s'io ancor lo veggia,\n     Un lume per lo mar venir s\u00ec ratto\n     Che 'l muover suo nessun volar pareggia;--_Purg._ 2.[136]\n\nthe distant sea-beach quivering in the early light:\n\n       L'alba vinceva l'ora mattutina\n     Che fuggia innanzi, s\u00ec che di lontano\n     Conobbi _il tremolar della marina_;--_Purg._ 1.[137]\n\nthe contrast of east and west at the moment of sunrise, and the sun\nappearing, clothed in mist:\n\n       Io vidi gi\u00e0 nel cominciar del giorno\n     La parte oriental tutta rosata\n     E l'altro ciel di bel sereno adorno;\n       E la faccia del sol nascere ombrata\n     S\u00ec che per temperanza di vapori\n     L'occhio lo sostenea lunga fiata;--_Purg._ 3.[138]\n\nor breaking through it, and shooting his beams over the sky:\n\n       Di tutte parti saettava il giorno\n     Lo sol ch'avea con le saette conte\n     Di mezzo 'l ciel cacciato 'l Capricorno.--_Purg._ 2.[139]\n\n[Footnote 135:\n\n     As when, announcing the approach of day,\n       Impregnated with herbs and flowers of Spring,\n       Breathes fresh and redolent the air of May--\n     Such was the breeze that gently fann'd my head;\n       And I perceived the waving of a wing\n       Which all around ambrosial odours shed.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 136:\n\n     When lo! like Mars, in aspect fiery red\n       Seen through the vapour, when the morn is nigh\n       Far in the west above the briny bed,\n     So (might I once more see it) o'er the sea\n       A light approach'd with such rapidity,\n       Flies not the bird that might its equal be.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 137:\n\n     Now 'gan the vanquish'd matin hour to flee;\n       And seen from far, as onward came the day,\n       I recognised the trembling of the sea.--IBID.]\n\n[Footnote 138:\n\n     Erewhile the eastern regions have I seen\n       At daybreak glow with roseate colours, and\n       The expanse beside all beauteous and serene:\n     And the sun's face so shrouded at its rise,\n       And temper'd by the mists which overhung,\n       That I could gaze on it with stedfast eyes.--WRIGHT.]\n\n[Footnote 139:\n\n     On every side the sun shot forth the day,\n       And had already with his arrows bright\n       From the mid-heaven chased Capricorn away.--IBID.]\n\nBut _light_ in general is his special and chosen source of poetic\nbeauty. No poet that we know has shown such singular sensibility to\nits varied appearances--has shown that he felt it in itself the cause\nof a distinct and peculiar pleasure, delighting the eye apart from\nform, as music delights the ear apart from words, and capable, like\nmusic, of definite character, of endless variety, and infinite\nmeanings. He must have studied and dwelt upon it like music. His mind\nis charged with its effects and combinations, and they are rendered\nwith a force, a brevity, a precision, a heedlessness and\nunconsciousness of ornament, an indifference to circumstance and\ndetail; they flash out with a spontaneous readiness, a suitableness\nand felicity, which show the familiarity and grasp given only by daily\nobservation, daily thought, daily pleasure. Light everywhere--in the\nsky and earth and sea--in the star, the flame, the lamp, the\ngem--broken in the water, reflected from the mirror, transmitted pure\nthrough the glass, or coloured through the edge of the fractured\nemerald--dimmed in the mist, the halo, the deep water--streaming\nthrough the rent cloud, glowing in the coal, quivering in the\nlightning, flashing in the topaz and the ruby, veiled behind the pure\nalabaster, mellowed and clouding itself in the pearl--light contrasted\nwith shadow--shading off and copying itself in the double rainbow,\nlike voice and echo--light seen within light, as voice discerned\nwithin voice, \"_quando una \u00e8 ferma, e l'altra va e riede_\"--the\nbrighter \"nestling\" itself in the fainter--the purer set off on the\nless clear, \"_come perla in bianca fronte_\"--light in the human eye\nand face, displaying, figuring, and confounded with its\nexpressions--light blended with joy in the eye:\n\n                         luce\n     Come letizia in pupilla viva;\n\nand in the smile:\n\n     Vincendo me col lume d'un sorriso;\n\njoy lending its expression to light:\n\n     Quivi la donna mia vid'io s\u00ec lieta--\n     Che pi\u00f9 lucente se ne f\u00e8 il pianeta.\n       E se la _stella si cambi\u00f2, e rise_,\n     Qual mi fec'io;--_Parad._ 5.\n\nlight from every source, and in all its shapes, illuminates,\nirradiates, gives its glory to the _Commedia_. The remembrance of our\n\"serene life\" beneath the \"fair stars\" keeps up continually the gloom\nof the _Inferno_. Light, such as we see it and recognise it, the light\nof morning and evening growing and fading, takes off from the\nunearthliness of the _Purgatorio_; peopled, as it is, by the undying,\nwho, though suffering for sin, can sin no more, it is thus made like\nour familiar world, made to touch our sympathies as an image of our\nown purification in the flesh. And when he rises beyond the regions of\nearthly day, light, simple, unalloyed, unshadowed, eternal, lifts the\ncreations of his thought above all affinity to time and matter; light\nnever fails him, as the expression of the gradations of bliss; never\nreappears the same, never refuses the new shapes of his invention,\nnever becomes confused or dim, though it is seldom thrown into\ndistinct figure, and still more seldom _coloured_. Only once, that we\nremember, is the thought of colour forced on us; when the bright joy\nof heaven suffers change and eclipse, and deepens into red at the\nsacrilege of men.[140]\n\n[Footnote 140: _Parad._ 27.]\n\nYet his eye is everywhere, not confined to the beauty or character of\nthe sky and its lights. His range of observation and largeness of\ninterest prevent that line of imagery, which is his peculiar\ninstrument and predilection, from becoming, in spite of its brightness\nand variety, dreamy and monotonous; prevent it from arming against\nitself sympathies which it does not touch. He has watched with equal\nattention, and draws with not less power, the occurrences and sights\nof Italian country life; the summer whirlwind sweeping over the\nplain--\"_dinanzi polveroso va superbo_\" (_Inf._ 9); the rain-storm of\nthe Apennines (_Purg._ 5); the peasant's alternations of feeling in\nspring:\n\n       In quella parte del giovinetto anno\n     Che 'l sole i crin sotto l'Aquario tempra,\n     E gi\u00e0 le notti al mezzo d\u00ec sen vanno;\n       Quando la brina in su la terra assempra\n     L'imagine di sua sorella bianca,\n     Ma poco dura alla sua penna tempra,\n       Lo villanello a cui la roba manca\n     Si leva e guarda, e vede la campagna\n     Biancheggiar tutta; ond'ei si batte l'anca;\n       Ritorna a casa, e qua e l\u00e0 si lagna\n     Come 'l tapin che non sa che si faccia:\n     Poi riede e la speranza ringavagna\n       Veggendo 'l mondo aver cangiata faccia\n     In poco d'ora, e prende il suo vincastro\n     E fuor le pecorelle a pascer caccia:--_Inf._ 24.[141]\n\nthe manner in which sheep come out from the fold:\n\n       Come le pecorelle escon del chiuso\n     _A una a due a tre, e l'altre stanno,\n     Timidette atterrando l'occhio e' l muso;\n       E ci\u00f2 che fa la prima, e l'altre fanno,\n     Addossandosi a lei s'ella s'arresta_\n     Semplici e quete, e lo 'mperch\u00e8 non sanno:\n       S\u00ec vid'io muover a venir la testa\n     Di quella mandria fortunata allotta,\n     Pudica in faccia e nell'andare onesta.\n       Come color dinanzi vider rotta\n     La luce....\n       Ristaro, e trasser s\u00e8 indietro alquanto,\n     E tutti gli altri che veniano appresso,\n     Non sappiendo il perch\u00e8, fero altrettanto.--_Purg._ 3.\n\n[Footnote 141:\n\n     In the new year, when Sol his tresses gay\n       Dips in Aquarius, and the tardy night\n       Divides her empire with the lengthening day--\n     When o'er the earth the hoar-frost pure and bright\n       Assumes the image of her sister white,\n       Then quickly melts before the genial light--\n     The rustic, now exhausted his supply,\n       Rises betimes--looks out--and sees the land\n       All white around, whereat he strikes his thigh--\n     Turns back--and grieving--wanders here and there,\n       Like one disconsolate and at a stand;\n       Then issues forth, forgetting his despair,\n     For lo! the face of nature he beholds\n       Changed on a sudden--takes his crook again,\n       And drives his flock to pasture from the folds.--WRIGHT.]\n\nSo with the beautiful picture of the goats upon the mountain, chewing\nthe cud in the noontide heat and stillness, and the goatherd, resting\non his staff and watching them--a picture which no traveller among the\nmountains of Italy or Greece can have missed, or have forgotten:\n\n       Quali si fanno ruminando manse\n     Le capre, _state rapide e proterve\n     Sopra le cime_ avanti che sien pranse,\n       _Tacite al ombra mentre che 'l sol ferve,\n     Guardate dal pastor_ che 'n su la verga\n     Poggiato s'\u00e8, e lor poggiato serve.--_Purg._ 27.[142]\n\n[Footnote 142:\n\n     Like goats that having over the crags pursued\n       Their wanton sports, now, quiet pass the time\n       In ruminating--sated with their food,\n     Beneath the shade, while glows the sun on high--\n       Watched by the goatherd with unceasing care,\n       As on his staff he leans, with watchful eye.--_Ibid._]\n\nSo again, with his recollections of cities: the crowd, running\ntogether to hear news (_Purg._ 2), or pressing after the winner of the\ngame (_Purg._ 6); the blind men at the church doors, or following\ntheir guide through the throng (_Purg._ 13, 16); the friars walking\nalong in silence, one behind another:\n\n       Taciti, soli, e senza compagnia\n     N'andavam, _l'un dinanzi, e l'altro dopo\n     Come i frati minor vanno per via_.--_Inf._ 23.\n\nHe turns to account in his poem, the pomp and clamour of the host\ntaking the field (_Inf._ 22); the devices of heraldry; the answering\nchimes of morning bells over the city;[143] the inventions and\nappliances of art, the wheels within wheels of clocks (_Par._ 24), the\nmany-coloured carpets of the East (_Inf._ 17); music and dancing--the\norgan and voice in church:\n\n     --Voce mista al dolce suono\n     Che or s\u00ec or no s'intendon le parole,--_Purg._ 9.\n\nthe lute and voice in the chamber (_Par._ 20); the dancers preparing\nto begin,[144] or waiting to catch a new strain.[145] Or, again, the\nimages of domestic life, the mother's ways to her child, reserved and\nreproving--\"che al figlio par superba\"--or cheering him with her\nvoice, or watching him compassionately in the wandering of fever:\n\n       Ond'ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro\n     Gli occhi drizz\u00f2 ver me, con quel sembiante\n     Che madre fa sopra figliuol deliro.--_Parad._ 1.\n\n[Footnote 143:\n\n       Indi come orologio che ne chiami\n     Nell'ora che la sposa di Dio surge\n     A mattinar lo sposo perch\u00e8 l'ami,\n       Che l'una parte e l'altra tira ed urge\n     Tin tin sonando con s\u00ec dolce nota\n     Che 'l ben disposto spirto d'amor turge;\n       Cos\u00ec vid'io la gloriosa ruota\n     Muoversi e render voce a voce, in tempra\n     Ed in dolcezza ch'esser non pu\u00f2 nota\n       Se non col\u00e0 dove 'l gioir s'insempra.--_Parad._ 10.]\n\n[Footnote 144:\n\n       E come surge, e va, ed entra in ballo\n     Vergine lieta, sol per farne onore\n     Alla novizia, e non per alcun fallo.--_Ibid._ 25.]\n\n[Footnote 145:\n\n       Donne mi parver, non da ballo sciolte,\n     Ma che s'arrestin tacite ascoltando\n     Fin che le nuove note hanno ricolte.--_Ibid._ 10.]\n\nNor is he less observant of the more delicate phenomena of mind, in\nits inward workings, and its connexion with the body. The play of\nfeatures, the involuntary gestures and attitudes of the passions, the\npower of eye over eye, of hand upon hand, the charm of voice and\nexpression, of musical sounds even when not understood--feelings,\nsensations, and states of mind which have a name, and others, equally\nnumerous and equally common, which have none--these, often so\nfugitive, so shifting, so baffling and intangible, are expressed with\na directness, a simplicity, a sense of truth at once broad and\nrefined, which seized at once on the congenial mind of his countrymen,\nand pointed out to them the road which they have followed in art,\nunapproached as yet by any competitors.[146]\n\n[Footnote 146: For instance:--_thoughts upon thoughts, ending in sleep\nand dreams_:\n\n     Nuovo pensier dentro de me si mise,\n       Dal qual pi\u00f9 altri nacquero e diversi:\n     _E tanto d'uno in altro vaneggiai\n     Che gli occhi per vaghezza ricopersi,\n       E 'l pensamento in sogno trasmutai_.--_Purg._ 18.\n\n_sleep stealing off when broken by light_:\n\n       Come si frange il sonno, ove di butto\n     Nuova luce percuote 'l viso chiuso,\n     _Che fratto guizza pria che muoja tutto_.--_Ibid._ 17.\n\n_the shock of sudden awakening_:\n\n       Come al lume acuto si disonna,\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n       _E lo svegliato ci\u00f2 che vede abborre,_\n     S\u00ec nescia \u00e8 la subita vigilia,\n     Finch\u00e8 la stimativa nol soccorre.--_Parad._ 26.\n\n_uneasy feelings produced by sight or representation of something\nunnatural_:\n\n       Come per sostentar solajo o tetto\n     Per mensola talvolta una figura\n     Si vede giunger le ginocchia al petto,\n       _La qual fa del non ver vera rancura\n     Nascer a chi la vede_; cos\u00ec fatti\n     Vid'io color.--_Purg._ 10.\n\n_blushing in innocent sympathy for others_:\n\n       E come donna onesta che permane\n     Di s\u00e8 sicura, e _per l'altrui fallanza\n     Pure ascoltando timida si fane_:\n       Cos\u00ec Beatrice trasmut\u00f2 sembianza.--_Par._ 27.\n\n_asking and answering by looks only_:\n\n       Volsi gli occhi agli occhi al signor mio;\n     Ond'elli m'assent\u00ec con lieto cenno\n     Ci\u00f2 che chiedea la vista del disio.--_Purg._ 19.\n\n_watching the effect of words_:\n\n       Posto avea fine al suo ragionamento\n     L'alto dottore, ad attento guardava\n     Nella mia vista s'io parea contento.\n       Ed io, cui nuova sete ancor frugava,\n     Di fuor taceva e dentro dicea: forse\n     Lo troppo dimandar ch'io fo, li grava.\n       Ma quel padre verace, che s'accorse\n     Del timido voler che non s'apriva,\n     Parlando, di parlare ardir mi porse.--_Ibid._ 18.\n\n_Dante betraying Virgil's presence to Statius, by his involuntary\nsmile_:\n\n       Volser Virgilio a me queste parole\n     Con viso che tacendo dicea: \"taci;\"\n     Ma non pu\u00f2 tutto la virt\u00f9 che vuole;\n       Che riso e pianto son tanto seguaci\n     Alla passion da che ciascun si spicca,\n     _Che men segnon voler ne' pi\u00f9 veraci.\n       Io pur sorrisi, come l'uom ch'ammicca:\n     Perch\u00e8 l'ombra si tacque, e riguardommi\n     Negli occhi ove 'l sembiante pi\u00f9 si ficca._\n       E se tanto lavoro in bene assommi,\n     Disse, perch\u00e8 la faccia tua testeso\n     _Un lampeggiar a' un riso_ dimostrommi?--_Purg._ 21.\n\n_smiles and words together_:\n\n     Per le _sorrise parolette brevi_.--_Parad._ 1.\n\n_eye meeting eye_:\n\n               Gli occhi ritorsi avanti\n     Dritti nel lume della dolce guida\n     Che sorridendo ardea negli occhi santi.--_Ibid._ 3.\n\n       Come si vede qui alcuna volta\n     L'affetto nella vista, s'ello \u00e8 tanto\n     Che da lui sia tutta l'anima tolta:\n       Cos\u00ec nel fiammeggiar del fulgor santo\n     A cui mi volsi, conobbi la voglia\n     In lui di ragionarmi ancora alquanto.--_Ibid._ 18.\n\n_gentleness of voice_:\n\n     E cominciommi a dir soave e piana\n     Con angelica voce in sua favella.--_Inf._ 2.\n\n       E come agli occhi miei si fe' pi\u00f9 bella,\n     Cos\u00ec con voce pi\u00f9 dolce e soave,\n     Ma non con questa moderna favella,\n       Dissemi;--_Parad._ 16.\n\n_chanting_:\n\n       _Te lucis ante_ s\u00ec divotamente\n     Le usc\u00ec di bocca e con s\u00ec dolce note,\n     Che fece me a me uscir di mente.\n       E l'altre poi dolcemente e divote\n     Seguitar lei per tutto l'inno intero,\n     Avendo gli occhi alle superne ruote.--_Purg._ 8.\n\n_chanting blended with the sound of the organ_:\n\n       Io mi rivolsi attento al primo tuono,\n     E _Te Deum laudamus_ mi parea\n     Udire in voce mista al dolce suono.\n       Tale imagine appunto mi rendea\n     Ci\u00f2 ch'io udiva, qual prender si suole\n     _Quando a cantar con organi si stea;\n       Ch'or s\u00ec, or no, s'intendon le parole_.--_Purg._ 9.\n\n_voices in concert_:\n\n       E come in voce voce si discerne\n     _Quando una \u00e8 ferma, e' l altra va e riede_.--_Parad._ 8.\n\n_attitudes and gestures: e.g. Beatrice addressing him_,\n\n     Con atto e voce di spedito duce.--_Ibid._ 30.\n\n_Sordello eyeing the travellers_:\n\n       Venimmo a lei: o anima Lombarda,\n     Come ti stavi altera e disdegnosa,\n     E nel muover degli occhi onesta e tarda.\n       Ella non ci diceva alcuna cosa,\n     Ma lasciavane gir, solo guardando,\n     A guisa di leon quando si posa.--_Purg._ 6.\n\n_the angel moving \"dry-shod\" over the Stygian pool_:\n\n       _Dal volto rimovea quell'aer grasso\n     Menando la sinistra innanzi spesso_,\n     E sol di quell'angoscia parea lasso.\n       Ben m'accorsi ch'egli era del ciel messo,\n     E volsimi al maestro; e quei fe' segno\n     Ch'io stessi cheto ed inchinassi ed esso.\n       Ahi quanto mi parea pien di disdegno.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n       Poi si rivolse per la strada lorda,\n     E non fe' motto a noi, ma fe' sembiante\n     D'uomo cui altra cura stringa e morda\n       Che quella di colui che gli \u00e8 davante.--_Inf._ 9.]\n\nAnd he has anticipated the latest schools of modern poetry, by making\nnot merely nature, but science tributary to a poetry with whose\ngeneral aim and spirit it has little in common--tributary in its\nexact forms, even in its technicalities. He speaks of the\nMediterranean Sea, not merely as a historian, or an observer of its\nstorms or its smiles, but as a geologist;[147] of light, not merely in\nits beautiful appearances, but in its natural laws.[148] There is a\ncharm, an imaginative charm to him, not merely in the sensible\nmagnificence of the heavens, \"in their silence, and light, and\nwatchfulness,\" but in the system of Ptolemy and the theories of\nastrology; and he delights to interweave the poetry of feeling and of\nthe outward sense with the grandeur--so far as he knew it--of order,\nproportion, measured magnitudes, the relations of abstract forces,\ndisplayed on such a scene as the material universe, as if he wished to\nshow that imagination in its boldest flight was not afraid of the\ncompany of the clear and subtle intellect.\n\n[Footnote 147: _La maggior valle_, in che l'acqua si spandi.--_Parad._\n9.]\n\n[Footnote 148: _E.g._ _Purg._ 15.]\n\nIndeed the real never daunts him. It is his leading principle of\npoetic composition, to draw out of things the poetry which is latent\nin them, either essentially, or as they are portions, images, or\nreflexes of something greater--not to invest them with a poetical\nsemblance, by means of words which bring with them poetical\nassociations, and have received a general poetical stamp. Dante has\nfew of those indirect charms which flow from the subtle structure and\nrefined graces of language--none of that exquisitely-fitted and\nself-sustained mechanism of choice words of the Greeks--none of that\ntempered and majestic amplitude of diction, which clothes, like the\nfolds of a royal robe, the thoughts of the Latins--none of that\nabundant play of fancy and sentiment, soft or grand, in which the\nlater Italian poets delighted. Words with him are used sparingly,\nnever in play--never because they carry with them poetical\nrecollections--never for their own sake; but because they are\ninstruments which will give the deepest, clearest, sharpest stamp of\nthat image which the poet's mind, piercing to the very heart of his\nsubject, or seizing the characteristic feature which to other men's\neyes is confused and lost among others accidental and common, draws\nforth in severe and living truth. Words will not always bend\nthemselves to his demands on them; they make him often uncouth,\nabrupt, obscure. But he is too much in earnest to heed uncouthness;\nand his power over language is too great to allow uncertainty as to\nwhat he means, to be other than occasional. Nor is he a stranger to\nthe utmost sweetness and melody of language. But it appears, unsought\nfor and unlaboured, the spontaneous and inevitable obedience of the\ntongue and pen to the impressions of the mind; as grace and beauty, of\nthemselves, \"command and guide the eye\" of the painter, who thinks not\nof his hand but of them. All is in character with the absorbed and\nserious earnestness which pervades the poem; there is no toying, no\nornament, that a man in earnest might not throw into his\nwords;--whether in single images, or in pictures, like that of the\nMeadow of the Heroes (_Inf._ 4), or the angel appearing in hell to\nguide the poet through the burning city (_Inf._ 9)--or in histories,\nlike those of Count Ugolino, or the life of S. Francis (_Parad._\n11)--or in the dramatic scenes like the meeting of the poets Sordello\nand Virgil (_Purgat._ 6), or that one, unequalled in beauty, where\nDante himself, after years of forgetfulness and sin, sees Beatrice in\nglory, and hears his name, never but once pronounced during the\nvision, from her lips.[149]\n\n[Footnote 149:\n\n     Io vidi gi\u00e0 nel cominciar del giorno\n       La parte oriental tutta rosata,\n       E l'altro ciel di bel sereno adorno,\n     E la faccia del sol nascere ombrata,\n       S\u00ec che per temperanza di vapori\n       L'occhio lo sostenea lunga fiata;\n     Cos\u00ec dentro una nuvola di fiori,\n       Che dalle mani angeliche saliva,\n       E ricadeva gi\u00f9 dentro e di fuori,\n     Sovra candido vel cinta d'oliva\n       Donna m'apparve sotto verde manto\n       Vestita di color di fiamma viva.\n     E lo spirito mio, che gi\u00e0 cotanto\n       Tempo era stato che alla sua presenza\n       Non era di stupor, tremando, affranto.\n     Senza degli occhi aver pi\u00f9 conoscenza,\n       Per occulta virt\u00f9, che da lei mosse,\n       D'antico amor senti' la gran potenza.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     Volsimi alla sinistra col rispitto,\n       Col quale il fantolin corre alla mamma,\n       Quando ha paura, o quando egli \u00e8 afflitto,\n     Per dicere a Virgilio: Men che dramma\n       Di sangue m'\u00e8 rimasa, che non tremi:\n       Conosco i segni dell'antica fiamma.\n     Ma Virgilio n'avea lasciati scemi\n       Di s\u00e8, Virgilio dolcissimo padre,\n       Virgilio, a cui per mia salute diemi:\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     Dante, perch\u00e8 Virgilio se ne vada,\n       Non piangere anche, non piangere ancora\n       Ch\u00e8 pianger ti convien per altra spada.\n\n           *      *      *      *\n\n     Regalmente nell'atto ancor proterva\n       Continu\u00f2, come colui che dice,\n       E il pi\u00f9 caldo parlar dietro reserva,\n     Guardami ben: ben son, ben son Beatrice:\n       Come degnasti d'accedere al monte?\n       Non sapei tu, che qui \u00e8 l'uom felice?--_Purg._ 30.\n\nBut extracts can give but an imperfect notion of this grand and\ntouching canto.]\n\nBut this, or any other array of scenes and images, might be matched\nfrom poets of a far lower order than Dante: and to specimens which\nmight be brought together of his audacity and extravagance, no\nparallel could be found except among the lowest. We cannot, honestly,\nplead the barbarism of the time as his excuse. That, doubtless,\ncontributed largely to them; but they were the faults of the man. In\nanother age, their form might have been different; yet we cannot\nbelieve so much of time, that it would have tamed Dante. Nor can we\nwish it. It might have made him less great: and his greatness can\nwell bear its own blemishes, and will not less meet its due honour\namong men, because they can detect its kindred to themselves.\n\nThe greatness of his work is not in its details--to be made or marred\nby them. It is the greatness of a comprehensive and vast conception,\nsustaining without failure the trial of its long and hazardous\nexecution, and fulfilling at its close the hope and promise of its\nbeginning; like the greatness--which we watch in its course with\nanxious suspense, and look back upon when it is secured by death, with\ndeep admiration--of a perfect life. Many a surprise, many a\ndifficulty, many a disappointment, many a strange reverse and\nalternation of feelings, attend the progress of the most patient and\nadmiring reader of the _Commedia_; as many as attend on one who\nfollows the unfolding of a strong character in life. We are often\nshocked when we were prepared to admire--repelled, when we came with\nsympathy; the accustomed key fails at a critical moment--depths are\nrevealed which we cannot sound, mysteries which baffle and confound\nus. But the check is for a time--the gap and chasm does not dissever.\nHaste is even an evidence of life--the brief word, the obscure hint,\nthe unexplained, the unfinished, or even the unachieved, are the marks\nof human feebleness, but are also among those of human truth. The\nunity of the whole is unimpaired. The strength which is working it\nout, though it may have at times disappointed us, shows no hollowness\nor exhaustion. The surprise of disappointment is balanced--there is\nthe surprise of unimagined excellence. Powers do more than they\npromised; and that spontaneous and living energy, without which\nneither man nor poet can be trusted, and which showed its strength\neven in its failures, shows it more abundantly in the novelties of\nsuccess--by touching sympathies which have never been touched before,\nby the unconstrained freshness with which it meets the proverbial and\nfamiliar, by the freedom with which it adjusts itself to a new\nposition or an altered task--by the completeness, unstudied and\ninstinctive, with which it holds together dissimilar and uncongenial\nmaterials, and forces the most intractable, the most unaccustomed to\nsubmission, to receive the colour of the whole--by its orderly and\nunmistakable onward march, and its progress, as in height, so in what\ncorresponds to height. It was one and the same man, who rose from the\ndespair, the agony, the vivid and vulgar horrors of the _Inferno_, to\nthe sense and imagination of certainty, sinlessness, and joy\nineffable--the same man whose power and whose sympathies failed him\nnot, whether discriminating and enumerating, as if he had gone through\nthem all, the various forms of human suffering, from the dull,\ngnawing sense of the loss of happiness, to the infinite woes of the\nwrecked and ruined spirit, and the coarser pangs of the material\nflesh; or dwelling on the changeful lights and shades of earnest\nrepentance, in its hard, but not unaided or ungladdened struggle, and\non that restoration to liberty and peace, which can change even this\nlife into paradise, and reverse the doom which made sorrow our\ncondition, and laughter and joy unnatural and dangerous--the penalty\nof that first fault, which\n\n               In pianto ed in affanno\n     Cambi\u00f2 onesto riso e dolce giuoco:\n\nor rising finally above mortal experience, to imagine the freedom of\nthe saints and the peace of eternity. In this consists the greatness\nof his power. It is not necessary to read through the _Commedia_ to\nsee it--open it where we please, we see that he is on his way, and\nwhither he is going; episode and digression share in the solemnity of\nthe general order.\n\nAnd his greatness was more than that of power. That reach and play of\nsympathy ministered to a noble wisdom, which used it thoughtfully and\nconsciously for a purpose to which great poetry had never yet been\napplied, except in the mouth of prophets. Dante was a stern man, and\nmore than stern, among his fellows. But he has left to those who\nnever saw his face an inheritance the most precious; he has left them\nthat which, reflecting and interpreting their minds, does so, not to\namuse, not to bewilder, not to warp, not to turn them in upon\nthemselves in distress or gloom or selfishness; not merely to hold up\na mirror to nature; but to make them true and make them hopeful. Dark\nas are his words of individuals, his thoughts are not dark or\none-sided about mankind; his is no cherished and perverse\nseverity--his faith is too large, too real, for such a fault. He did\nnot write only the _Inferno_. And the _Purgatorio_ and the _Paradiso_\nare not an afterthought, a feebler appendix and compensation,\nconceived when too late, to a finished whole, which has taken up into\nitself the poet's real mind. Nowhere else in poetry of equal power is\nthere the same balanced view of what man is, and may be; nowhere so\nwide a grasp shown of his various capacities, so strong a desire to\nfind a due place and function for all his various dispositions. Where\nhe stands contrasted in his idea of human life with other poets, who\nhave been more powerful exponents of its separate sides, is in his\nlarge and truthful comprehensiveness. Fresh from the thought of man's\ncondition as a whole, fresh from the thought of his goodness, his\ngreatness, his power, as well as of his evil, his mind is equally in\ntune when rejoicing over his restoration, as when contemplating the\nruins of his fall. He never lets go the recollection that human life,\nif it grovels at one end in corruption and sin, and has to pass\nthrough the sweat and dust and disfigurement of earthly toil, has\nthroughout, compensations, remedies, functions, spheres innumerable of\nprofitable activity, sources inexhaustible of delight and\nconsolation--and at the other end a perfection which cannot be named.\nNo one ever measured the greatness of man in all its forms with so\ntrue and yet with so admiring an eye, and with such glowing hope, as\nhe who has also portrayed so awfully man's littleness and vileness.\nAnd he went farther--no one who could understand and do homage to\ngreatness in man, ever drew the line so strongly between greatness and\ngoodness, and so unhesitatingly placed the hero of this world\nonly--placed him in all his magnificence, honoured with no timid or\ndissembling reverence--at the distance of worlds, below the place of\nthe lowest saint.\n\nThose who know the _Divina Commedia_ best, will best know how hard it\nis to be the interpreter of such a mind; but they will sympathise with\nthe wish to call attention to it. They know, and would wish others\nalso to know, not by hearsay, but by experience, the power of that\nwonderful poem. They know its austere, yet subduing beauty; they know\nwhat force there is, in its free and earnest and solemn verse, to\nstrengthen, to tranquillise, to console. It is a small thing that it\nhas the secret of Nature and Man; that a few keen words have opened\ntheir eyes to new sights in earth, and sea, and sky; have taught them\nnew mysteries of sound; have made them recognise, in distinct image or\nthought, fugitive feelings, or their unheeded expression, by look, or\ngesture, or motion; that it has enriched the public and collective\nmemory of society with new instances, never to be lost, of human\nfeeling and fortune; has charmed ear and mind by the music of its\nstately march, and the variety and completeness of its plan. But,\nbesides this, they know how often its seriousness has put to shame\ntheir trifling, its magnanimity their faintheartedness, its living\nenergy their indolence, its stern and sad grandeur rebuked low\nthoughts, its thrilling tenderness overcome sullenness and assuaged\ndistress, its strong faith quelled despair and soothed perplexity, its\nvast grasp imparted the sense of harmony to the view of clashing\ntruths. They know how often they have found, in times of trouble, if\nnot light, at least that deep sense of reality, permanent, though\nunseen, which is more than light can always give--in the view which\nit has suggested to them of the judgments and the love of God.[150]\n\n[Footnote 150: It is necessary to state, that these remarks were\nwritten before we had seen the chapter on Dante in \"Italy, past and\npresent, by L. Mariotti.\" Had we become acquainted with it earlier, we\nshould have had to refer to it often, in the way of acknowledgment,\nand as often in the way of strong protest.]\n\n\n\n\nDE MONARCHIA.\n\n\n\n\nBOOK I.\n\n\nI.--It very greatly concerns all men on whom a higher nature has\nimpressed[151] the love of truth, that, as they have been enriched by\nthe labour of those before them, so they also should labour for those\nthat are to come after them, to the end that posterity may receive\nfrom them an addition to its wealth. For he is far astray from his\nduty--let him not doubt it--who, having been trained in the lessons of\npublic business, cares not himself to contribute aught to the public\ngood. He is no \"tree planted by the water-side, that bringeth forth\nhis fruit in due season.\" He is rather the devouring whirlpool, ever\nengulfing, but restoring nothing. Pondering, therefore, often on these\nthings, lest some day I should have to answer the charge of the\ntalent buried in the earth, I desire not only to show the budding\npromise, but also to bear fruit for the general good, and to set forth\ntruths by others unattempted. For what fruit can he be said to bear\nwho should go about to demonstrate again some theorem of Euclid? or\nwhen Aristotle has shown us what happiness is, should show it to us\nonce more? or when Cicero has been the apologist of old age, should a\nsecond time undertake its defence? Such squandering of labour would\nonly engender weariness and not profit.\n\n[Footnote 151: \"_In quos veritatis amorem natura superior impressit._\"\nOn the ancient idea (Aug. _De Trin._ iii. 4; Aquin. _Summ._ 1, 66, 3)\nof the influence or impression of higher natures on lower, cf.\n_Parad._ i. 103, x. 29.]\n\nBut seeing that among other truths, ill-understood yet profitable, the\nknowledge touching temporal monarchy is at once most profitable and\nmost obscure, and that because it has no immediate reference to\nworldly gain it is left unexplored by all, therefore it is my purpose\nto draw it forth from its hiding-places, as well that I may spend my\ntoil for the benefit of the world, as that I may be the first to win\nthe prize of so great an achievement to my own glory. The work indeed\nis difficult, and I am attempting what is beyond my strength; but I\ntrust not in my own powers, but in the light of that Bountiful Giver,\n\"Who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.\"\n\n\nII.--First, therefore, we must see what is it that is called Temporal\nMonarchy, in its idea, so to speak, and according to its purpose.\nTemporal Monarchy, then, or, as men call it, the Empire, is the\ngovernment of one prince above all men in time, or in those things and\nover those things which are measured by time. Three great questions\nare asked concerning it. First, there is the doubt and the question,\nis it necessary for the welfare of the world? Secondly, did the Roman\npeople take to itself by right the office of Monarchy? And thirdly,\ndoes the authority of Monarchy come from God directly, or only from\nsome other minister or vicar of God?\n\nNow, since every truth, which is not itself a first principle, becomes\nmanifest from the truth of some first principle, it is therefore\nnecessary in every inquiry to have a knowledge of the first principle\ninvolved, to which by analysis we may go back for the certainty of all\nthe propositions which are afterwards accepted. And since this\ntreatise is an inquiry, we must begin by examining the first principle\non the strength of which deductions are to rest. It must be understood\nthen that there are certain things which, since they are not subject\nto our power, are matters of speculation, but not of action: such are\nMathematics and Physics, and things divine. But there are some things\nwhich, since they are subject to our power, are matters of action as\nwell as of speculation, and in them we do not act for the sake of\nspeculation, but contrariwise: for in such things action is the end.\nNow, since the matter which we have in hand has to do with states,\nnay, with the very origin and principle of good forms of government,\nand since all that concerns states is subject to our power, it is\nmanifest that our subject is not in the first place speculation, but\naction. And again, since in matters of action the end sought is the\nfirst principle and cause of all (for that it is which first moves the\nagent to act), it follows that all our method concerning the means\nwhich are set to gain the end must be taken from the end. For there\nwill be one way of cutting wood to build a house, and another to build\na ship. That therefore, if it exists, which is the ultimate end for\nthe universal civil order of mankind, will be the first principle from\nwhich all the truth of our future deductions will be sufficiently\nmanifest. But it is folly to think that there is an end for this and\nfor that particular civil order, and yet not one end for all.\n\n\nIII.--Now, therefore, we must see what is the end of the whole civil\norder of men; and when we have found this, then, as the\nPhilosopher[152] says in his book to Nicomachus,[153] the half of our\nlabour will have been accomplished. And to render the question\nclearer, we must observe that as there is a certain end for which\nnature makes the thumb, and another, different from this, for which\nshe makes the whole hand, and again another for which she makes the\narm, and another different from all for which she makes the whole man;\nso there is one end for which she orders the individual man, and\nanother for which she orders the family, and another end for the city,\nand another for the kingdom, and finally an ultimate one for which the\nEverlasting God, by His art which is nature, brings into being the\nwhole human race. And this is what we seek as a first principle to\nguide our whole inquiry.\n\n[Footnote 152: The common title for Aristotle from the first half of\nthe thirteenth century. _Vide_ Jourdain, _Recherches sur les\ntraductions d'Aristote_, p. 212, note.]\n\n[Footnote 153: Arist. _Ethics_, i. 7.]\n\nLet it then be understood that God and nature make nothing to be idle.\nWhatever comes into being, exists for some operation or working. For\nno created essence is an ultimate end in the creator's purpose, so far\nas he is a creator, but rather the proper operation of that essence.\nTherefore it follows that the operation does not exist for the sake of\nthe essence, but the essence for the sake of the operation.\n\nThere is therefore a certain proper operation of the whole body of\nhuman kind, for which this whole body of men in all its multitudes is\nordered and constituted, but to which no one man, nor single family,\nnor single neighbourhood, nor single city, nor particular kingdom can\nattain. What this is will be manifest, if we can find what is the\nfinal and characteristic capacity of humanity as a whole. I say then\nthat no quality which is shared by different species of things is the\ndistinguishing capacity of any one of them. For were it so, since this\ncapacity is that which makes each species what it is, it would follow\nthat one essence would be specifically distributed to many species,\nwhich is impossible. Therefore the ultimate quality of men is not\nexistence, taken simply; for the elements share therein. Nor is it\nexistence under certain conditions;[154] for we find this in minerals\ntoo. Nor is it existence with life; for plants too have life. Nor is\nit percipient existence; for brutes share in this power. It is to be\npercipient[155] with the possibility of understanding, for this\nquality falls to the lot of none but man, either above or below him.\nFor though there are other beings which with him have understanding,\nyet this understanding is not, as man's, capable of development. For\nsuch beings are only certain intellectual natures, and not anything\nbesides, and their being is nothing other than to understand; which is\nwithout interruption, otherwise they would not be eternal. It is\nplain, therefore, that the distinguishing quality of humanity is the\nfaculty or the power of understanding.\n\n[Footnote 154: \"_Esse complexionatum._\"]\n\n[Footnote 155: \"_Apprehensivum per intellectum possibilem._\" _V.\nAquin._ I. 79, 1, 2, 10.]\n\nAnd because this faculty cannot be realised in act in its entirety at\none time by a single man, nor by any of the individual societies which\nwe have marked, therefore there must be multitude in the human race,\nin order to realise it: just as it is necessary that there should be a\nmultitude of things which can be brought into being,[156] so that the\ncapacity of the primal matter for being acted on may be ever open to\nwhat acts on it. For if this were not so, we could speak of a capacity\napart from its substance, which is impossible. And with this opinion\nAverroes, in his comment on [Aristotle's] treatise on the Soul,\nagrees. For the capacity for understanding, of which I speak, is\nconcerned not only with universal forms or species, but also, by a\nkind of extension, with particular ones. Therefore it is commonly said\nthat the speculative understanding becomes practical by extension; and\nthen its end is to do and to make. This I say in reference to things\nwhich may be _done_, which are regulated by political wisdom, and in\nreference to things which may be _made_, which are regulated by art;\nall which things wait as handmaidens on the speculative intellect, as\non that best good, for which the Primal Goodness created the human\nrace. Hence the saying of the Politics[157] that those who are strong\nin understanding are the natural rulers of others.\n\n[Footnote 156: \"_Generabilium._\"]\n\n[Footnote 157: Arist. _Polit._ i. 5, 6.--(W.)]\n\n\nIV.--It has thus been sufficiently set forth that the proper work of\nthe human race, taken as a whole, is to set in action the whole\ncapacity of that understanding which is capable of development: first\nin the way of speculation, and then, by its extension, in the way of\naction. And seeing that what is true of a part is true also of the\nwhole, and that it is by rest and quiet that the individual man\nbecomes perfect in wisdom and prudence; so the human race, by living\nin the calm and tranquillity of peace, applies itself most freely and\neasily to its proper work; a work which, according to the saying;\n\"Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,\" is almost divine.\nWhence it is manifest that of all things that are ordered to secure\nblessings to men, peace is the best. And hence the word which sounded\nto the shepherds from above was not riches, nor pleasure, nor honour,\nnor length of life, nor health, nor strength, nor beauty; but peace.\nFor the heavenly host said: \"Glory to God in the highest, and on\nearth, peace to men of goodwill.\" Therefore also, \"Peace be with you,\"\nwas the salutation of the Saviour of mankind. For it behoved Him, who\nwas the greatest of saviours, to utter in His greeting the greatest of\nsaving blessings. And this custom His disciples too chose to preserve;\nand Paul also did the same in his greetings, as may appear manifest to\nall.\n\nNow that we have declared these matters, it is plain what is the\nbetter, nay the best, way in which mankind may attain to do its proper\nwork. And consequently we have seen the readiest means by which to\narrive at the point, for which all our works are ordered, as their\nultimate end; namely, the universal peace, which is to be assumed as\nthe first principle for our deductions. As we said, this assumption\nwas necessary, for it is as a sign-post to us, that into it we may\nresolve all that has to be proved, as into a most manifest truth.\n\n\nV.--As therefore we have already said, there are three doubts, and\nthese doubts suggest three questions, concerning Temporal Monarchy,\nwhich in more common speech is called the Empire; and our purpose is,\nas we explained, to inquire concerning these questions in their given\norder, and starting from the first principle which we have just laid\ndown. The first question, then, is whether Temporal Monarchy is\nnecessary for the welfare of the world; and that it is necessary can,\nI think, be shown by the strongest and most manifest arguments; for\nnothing, either of reason or of authority, opposes me. Let us first\ntake the authority of the Philosopher in his Politics.[158] There, on\nhis venerable authority, it is said that where a number of things are\narranged to attain an end, it behoves one of them to regulate or\ngovern the others, and the others to submit. And it is not only the\nauthority of his illustrious name which makes this worthy of belief,\nbut also reason, instancing particulars.\n\n[Footnote 158: Arist. _Polit._ i. 5.]\n\nIf we take the case of a single man, we shall see the same rule\nmanifested in him: all his powers are ordered to gain happiness; but\nhis understanding is what regulates and governs all the others; and\notherwise he would never attain to happiness. Again, take a single\nhousehold: its end is to fit the members thereof to live well; but\nthere must be one to regulate and rule it, who is called the father of\nthe family, or, it may be, one who holds his office. As the\nPhilosopher says: \"Every house is ruled by the oldest.\"[159] And, as\nHomer says, it is his duty to make rules and laws for the rest. Hence\nthe proverbial curse: \"Mayst thou have an equal at home.\"[160] Take a\nsingle village: its end is suitable assistance as regards persons and\ngoods, but one in it must be the ruler of the rest, either set over\nthem by another, or with their consent, the head man amongst them. If\nit be not so, not only do its inhabitants fail of this mutual\nassistance, but the whole neighbourhood is sometimes wholly ruined by\nthe ambition of many, who each of them wish to rule. If, again, we\ntake a single city: its end is to secure a good and sufficient life to\nthe citizens; but one man must be ruler in imperfect[161] as well as\nin good forms of the state. If it is otherwise, not only is the end of\ncivil life lost, but the city too ceases to be what it was. Lastly, if\nwe take any one kingdom, of which the end is the same as that of a\ncity, only with greater security for its tranquillity, there must be\none king to rule and govern. For if this is not so, not only do his\nsubjects miss their end, but the kingdom itself falls to destruction,\naccording to that word of the infallible truth: \"Every kingdom divided\nagainst itself shall be brought to desolation.\" If then this holds\ngood in these cases, and in each individual thing which is ordered to\none certain end, what we have laid down is true.\n\n[Footnote 159: _Ibid._ i. 2, 6, quoting Hom. _Od._ ix. 114.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 160: Ficinus translates: \"Uno proverbio che quasi\nbestemmiando dice, _Abbi pari in casa_.\"]\n\n[Footnote 161: \"_Obliqua_\" = [Greek: parekbaseis]. _V._ Arist. _Eth._\nviii. 10; _Pol._ iii. 7.--(W.)]\n\nNow it is plain that the whole human race is ordered to gain some end,\nas has been before shown. There must, therefore, be one to guide and\ngovern, and the proper title for this office is Monarch or Emperor.\nAnd so it is plain that Monarchy or the Empire is necessary for the\nwelfare of the world.\n\n\nVI.--And as the part is to the whole, so is the order of parts to the\norder of the whole. The part is to the whole, as to an end and highest\ngood which is aimed at; and, therefore, the order in the parts is to\nthe order in the whole, as it is to the end and highest good aimed at.\nHence we have it that the goodness of the order of parts does not\nexceed the goodness of the order of the whole, but that the converse\nof this is true. Therefore we find a double order in the world,\nnamely, the order of parts in relation to each other, and their order\nin relation to some one thing which is not a part (as there is in the\norder of the parts of an army in relation to each other, and then in\nrelation to the general); and the order of the parts in relation to\nthe one thing which is not a part is the higher, for it is the end of\nthe other order, and the other exists for the sake of it. Therefore,\nif the form of this order is found in the units of the mass of\nmankind, much more may we argue by our syllogism that it is found in\nmankind considered as a whole; for this latter order, or its form, is\nbetter. But as was said in the preceding chapter, and it is\nsufficiently plain, this order is found in all the units of the mass\nof mankind. Therefore it is, or should be, found in the mass\nconsidered as a whole. And therefore all the parts that we have\nmentioned, which are comprised in kingdoms, and the kingdoms\nthemselves ought to be ordered with reference to one Prince or\nPrincedom, that is, with reference to a Monarch or Monarchy.\n\n\nVII.--Further, the whole human race is a whole with reference to\ncertain parts, and, with reference to another whole, it is a part. For\nit is a whole with reference to particular kingdoms and nations, as we\nhave shown; and it is a part with reference to the whole universe, as\nis manifest without argument. Therefore, as the lower portions of the\nwhole system of humanity are well adapted to that whole, so that whole\nis said to be well adapted to the whole which is above it. It is only\nunder the rule of one prince that the parts of humanity are well\nadapted to their whole, as may easily be collected from what we have\nsaid; therefore it is only by being under one Princedom, or the rule\nof a single Prince, that humanity as a whole is well adapted to the\nUniverse, or its Prince, who is the One God. And it therefore follows\nthat Monarchy is necessary for the welfare of the world.\n\n\nVIII.--And all is well and at its best which exists according to the\nwill of the first agent, who is God. This is self-evident, except to\nthose who deny that the divine goodness attains to absolute\nperfection. Now, it is the intention of God that all created things\nshould represent the likeness of God, so far as their proper nature\nwill admit. Therefore was it said: \"Let us make man in our image,\nafter our likeness.\" And though it could not be said that the lower\npart of creation was made in the image of God, yet all things may be\nsaid to be after His likeness, for what is the whole universe but the\nfootprint of the divine goodness? The human race, therefore, is well,\nnay at its best state, when, so far as can be, it is made like unto\nGod. But the human race is then most made like unto God when most it\nis one; for the true principle of oneness is in Him alone. Wherefore\nit is written: \"Hear, O Israel; the Lord thy God is one God.\" But the\nrace of man is most one when it is united wholly in one body, and it\nis evident that this cannot be, except when it is subject to one\nprince. Therefore in this subjection mankind is most made like unto\nGod, and, in consequence, such a subjection is in accordance with the\ndivine intention, and it is indeed well and best for man when this is\nso, as we showed at the beginning of this chapter.\n\n\nIX.--Again, things are well and at their best with every son when he\nfollows, so far as by his proper nature he can, the footsteps of a\nperfect father. Mankind is the son of heaven, which is most perfect in\nall its works; for it is \"man and the sun which produce man,\"\naccording to the second book on Natural Learning.[162] The human\nrace, therefore, is at its best when it imitates the movements of\nheaven, so far as human nature allows. And since the whole heaven is\nregulated with one motion, to wit, that of the _primum mobile_, and by\none mover, who is God, in all its parts, movements, and movers (and\nthis human reason readily seizes from science); therefore, if our\nargument be correct, the human race is at its best state when, both in\nits movements, and in regard to those who move it, it is regulated by\na single Prince, as by the single movement of heaven, and by one law,\nas by the single motion. Therefore it is evidently necessary for the\nwelfare of the world for there to be a Monarchy, or single Princedom,\nwhich men call the Empire. And this thought did Boethius breathe when\nhe said: \"Oh happy race of men, if your hearts are ruled by the love\nwhich rules the heaven.\"[163]\n\n[Footnote 162: Arist. _Phys. Ausc._ ii. 2.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 163: _De Consol. Phil._ ii. met. 8.--(W.)]\n\n\nX.--Wherever there is controversy, there ought to be judgment,\notherwise there would be imperfection without its proper remedy,[164]\nwhich is impossible; for God and Nature, in things necessary, do not\nfail in their provisions. But it is manifest that there may be\ncontroversy between any two princes, where the one is not subject to\nthe other, either from the fault of themselves, or even of their\nsubjects. Therefore between them there should be means of judgment.\nAnd since, when one is not subject to the other, he cannot be judged\nby the other (for there is no rule of equals over equals), there must\nbe a third prince of wider jurisdiction, within the circle of whose\nlaws both may come. Either he will or he will not be a Monarch. If he\nis, we have what we sought; if not, then this one again will have an\nequal, who is not subject to his jurisdiction, and then again we have\nneed of a third. And so we must either go on to infinity, which is\nimpossible, or we must come to that judge who is first and highest; by\nwhose judgment all controversies shall be either directly or\nindirectly decided; and he will be Monarch or Emperor. Monarchy is\ntherefore necessary to the world, and this the Philosopher saw when he\nsaid: \"The world is not intended to be disposed in evil order; 'in a\nmultitude of rulers there is evil, therefore let there be one\nprince.'\"[165]\n\n[Footnote 164: \"_Sine proprio perfectivo._\"]\n\n[Footnote 165: Arist. _Metaphys._ xii. 10, who quotes from Hom. _Il._\nii. 204.--(W.)]\n\n\nXI.--Further, the world is ordered best when justice is most paramount\ntherein: whence Virgil, wishing to celebrate that age, which in his\nown time seemed to be arising, sang in his _Bucolics_:[166] \"Now doth\nthe Virgin return, and the kingdom of Saturn.\" For Justice was named\n\"the Virgin,\" and also Astr\u00e6a. The kingdom of Saturn was the good\ntime, which they also called the Golden Age. But Justice is paramount\nonly in a Monarchy, and therefore a Monarchy, that is, the Empire, is\nneeded if the world is to be ordered for the best. For better proof of\nthis assumption it must be recognised that Justice, considered in\nitself, and in its proper nature, is a certain rightness or rule of\nconduct, which rejects on either side all that deviates from it. It is\nlike whiteness considered as an abstraction, not admitting of degrees.\nFor there are certain forms of this sort which belong to things\ncompounded, and exist themselves in a simple and unchanging essence,\nas[167] the Master of the Six Principles rightly says. Yet qualities\nof this sort admit of degrees on the part of their subjects with which\nthey are connected, according as in their subjects more or less of\ntheir contraries is mingled. Justice, therefore, is strongest in man,\nboth as a state of mind and in practice, where there is least\nadmixture of its opposite; and then we may say of it, in the words of\nthe Philosopher, that \"neither the star of morning nor of evening is\nso admirable.\"[168] For then is it like Phoebe, when she looks\nacross the heavens at her brother from the purple of the morning calm.\n\n[Footnote 166: _Ecl._ iv. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 167: Gilbert de la Porr\u00e9e, [dagger symbol]1154. The \"Six\nPrinciples\" were the last six of the Ten Categories of Aristotle, and\nthe book became one of the chief elementary logic-books of the Middle\nAges. _Vide_ Haur\u00e9au, _Philosophie Scolastique_, 1e Partie, p.\n452.]\n\n[Footnote 168: From Arist. _Ethics_, v. 1.--(W.)]\n\nNow Justice, as a state of mind,[169] has a force which opposes it in\nthe will; for where the will of a man is not pure from all desire,\nthen, though there be Justice, yet there is not Justice in all its\nideal brightness; for there is in that man, however little, yet in\nsome degree, an opposing force; and therefore they, who would work on\nthe feelings[170] of a judge, are rightly repelled. But, in\npractice,[171] Justice finds an opposing force in what men are able to\ndo. For, seeing that it is a virtue regulating our conduct towards\nother men, how shall any act according to Justice if he has not the\npower of rendering to all their due? Therefore it is plain that the\noperation of Justice will be wide in proportion to the power of the\njust man.\n\n[Footnote 169: \"_Quantum ad habitum._\"]\n\n[Footnote 170: \"_Passionare._\"]\n\n[Footnote 171: \"_Quantum ad operationem._\"]\n\nFrom this let us argue: Justice is strongest in the world when it is\nin one who is most willing and most powerful; only the Monarch is\nthis; therefore, only when Justice is in the Monarch is it strongest\nin the world. This pro-syllogism goes on through the second figure,\nwith an involved negative, and is like this: All B is A; only C is A;\ntherefore only C is B: or all B is A; nothing but C is A; therefore\nnothing but C is B.\n\nOur previous explanation makes the first proposition apparent: the\nsecond is proved thus, first in regard to will, and secondly in regard\nto power. First it must be observed that the strongest opponent of\nJustice is Appetite, as Aristotle intimates in the fifth book to\nNicomachus.[172] Remove Appetite altogether, and there remains nothing\nadverse to Justice; and therefore it is the opinion of the Philosopher\nthat nothing should be left to the judge, if it can be decided by\nlaw;[173] and this ought to be done for fear of Appetite, which easily\nperverts men's minds. Where, then, there is nothing to be wished for,\nthere can be no Appetite, for the passions cannot exist if their\nobjects are destroyed. But the Monarch has nothing to desire, for his\njurisdiction is bounded only by the ocean; and this is not the case\nwith other princes, whose kingdoms are bounded by those of their\nneighbours; as, for instance, the kingdom of Castile is bounded by the\nkingdom of Aragon. From which it follows that the Monarch is able to\nbe the purest embodiment of Justice among men.\n\n[Footnote 172: _Eth._ v. 2.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 173: _Rhetoric_, i. 1.--(W.)]\n\nFurther, as Appetite in some degree, however small, clouds the habit\nof Justice, so does Charity, or rightly-directed affection, sharpen\nand enlighten it. In whomsoever, therefore, rightly-directed affection\nmay chiefly dwell, in him may Justice best have place: and of this\nsort is the Monarch. Therefore where a Monarch reigns Justice is, or\nat least may be, strongest. That rightly-directed affections work as\nwe have said, we may see thus: Appetite, scorning[174] what in itself\nbelongs to man, seeks for other things outside him; but Charity sets\naside all else, and seeks God and man, and consequently the good of\nman. And since of all the good things that men can have the greatest\nis to live in peace (as we have already said), and as it is Justice\nwhich most chiefly brings peace, therefore Charity will chiefly make\nJustice strong, and the more so in proportion to its own strength.\n\n[Footnote 174: \"_Perseitas hominum_\" = \"_facultas per se\nsubsistendi_.\"--DUCANGE.]\n\nAnd it is clear that right affections ought to exist in a Monarch more\nthan in any other man for this reason: the object of love is the more\nloved the nearer it is to him that loves; but men are nearer to a\nMonarch than they are to other princes; therefore it is by a Monarch\nthat they are, or ought to be, most loved. The first proposition is\nmanifest if the nature of activity and passivity are considered. The\nsecond is manifest because men are brought near to a Monarch in their\ntotality,[175] but to other princes only partially; and it is only by\nmeans of the Monarch that men are brought near other princes at all.\nThus the Monarch cares for all primarily and directly, whereas other\nprinces only care for their subjects through the Monarch, and because\ntheir care for their subjects descends from the supreme care of the\nMonarch.\n\n[Footnote 175: \"_Secundum totum._\"]\n\nAgain, a cause has the nature of a cause in proportion as it is more\nuniversal; for the lower cause is such only on account of the higher\none, as appears from the Treatise on Causes.[176] And, in proportion\nas a cause is really a cause, it loves what it effects; for such love\nfollows the cause by itself. Now Monarchy is the most universal cause\nof men living well, for other princes work only through the Monarch,\nas we have said; and it therefore follows that it is the Monarch who\nwill most chiefly love the good of men. But that in practice the\nMonarch is most disposed to work Justice, who can doubt, except indeed\na man who understands not the meaning of the word? for if he be\nreally a Monarch he cannot have enemies.\n\n[Footnote 176: A compilation from the Arabians, or perhaps Aristotle\nor Proclus, which, under various names, passed for a work of\nAristotle, and is ascribed by Albert the Great to a certain David the\nJew. It is quoted in the twelfth century, and was commented on by\nAlbert and Thomas Aquinas. _Vide_ Jourdain, _Recherches sur les\ntraductions d'Aristote_ (1842), pp. 114, 184, 193, 195, 445;\n_Philosophie de S. Thomas_ (1858), i. 94.]\n\nThe principle assumed being therefore sufficiently explained, the\nconclusion is certain, to wit, that a Monarch is necessary that the\nworld may be ordered for the best.\n\n\nXII.--Again, the human race is ordered best when it is most free. This\nwill be manifest if we see what is the principle of freedom. It must\nbe understood that the first principle of our freedom is freedom of\nwill, which many have in their mouth, but few indeed understand. For\nthey come so far as to say that the freedom of the will means a free\njudgment concerning will. And this is true. But what is meant by the\nwords is far from them: and they do just as our logicians do all day\nlong with certain propositions which are set as examples in the books\nof logic, as that, \"the three angles of a triangle are equal to two\nright angles.\"[177]\n\n[Footnote 177: Cf. Arist. _Magna Moral._ i. 1: \"It would be absurd if\na man, wishing to prove that the angles of a triangle were equal to\ntwo right angles, assumed as his principle that the soul is\nimmortal.\"--WITTE.]\n\nTherefore I say that Judgment is between Apprehension and Appetite.\nFirst, a man apprehends a thing; then he judges it to be good or bad;\nthen he pursues or avoids it accordingly. If therefore the Judgment\nguides the Appetite wholly, and in no way is forestalled by the\nAppetite, then is the Judgment free. But if the Appetite in any way at\nall forestalls the Judgment and guides it, then the Judgment cannot be\nfree: it is not its own: it is captive to another power. Therefore the\nbrute beasts cannot have freedom of Judgment; for in them the Appetite\nalways forestalls the Judgment. Therefore, too, it is that\nintellectual beings whose wills are unchangeable, and souls which are\nseparate from the body, which have gone hence in peace, do not lose\nthe freedom of their wills, because their wishes cannot change; nay,\nit is in full strength and completeness that their wills are\nfree.[178]\n\n[Footnote 178: Cf. _Purgatorio_, xviii. 22.--WITTE.]\n\nIt is therefore again manifest that this liberty, or this principle of\nall our liberty, is the greatest gift bestowed by God on mankind: by\nit alone we gain happiness[179] as men: by it alone we gain happiness\nelsewhere as gods.[180] But if this is so, who will say that human\nkind is not in its best state, when it can most use this principle?\nBut he who lives under a Monarchy is most free. Therefore let it be\nunderstood that he is free who exists not for another's sake but for\nhis own, as the Philosopher, in his Treatise of simple Being,\nthought.[181] For everything which exists for the sake of some other\nthing, is necessitated by that other thing, as a road has to run to\nits ordained end. Men exist for themselves, and not at the pleasure of\nothers, only if a Monarch rules; for then only are the perverted forms\nof government set right, while democracies, oligarchies, and\ntyrannies, drive mankind into slavery, as is obvious to any who goes\nabout among them all; and public power[182] is in the hands of kings\nand aristocracies, which they call the rule of the best, and champions\nof popular liberty. And because the Monarch loves his subjects much,\nas we have seen, he wishes all men to be good, which cannot be the\ncase in perverted forms of government:[183] therefore the Philosopher\nsays, in his _Politics_:[184] \"In the bad state the good man is a bad\ncitizen, but in a good state the two coincide.\" Good states in this\nway aim at liberty, that in them men may live for themselves. The\ncitizens exist not for the good of consuls, nor the nation for the\ngood of its king; but the consuls for the good of the citizens, and\nthe king for the good of his nation. For as the laws are made to suit\nthe state, and not the state to suit the laws, so those who live under\nthe laws are not ordered for the legislator, but he for them;[185] as\nalso the Philosopher holds, in what he has left us on the present\nsubject. Hence, too, it is clear that although the king or the consul\nrule over the other citizens in respect of the means[186] of\ngovernment, yet in respect of the end of government they are the\nservants of the citizens, and especially the Monarch, who, without\ndoubt, must be held the servant of all. Thus it becomes clear that the\nMonarch is bound by the end appointed to himself in making his laws.\nTherefore mankind is best off under a Monarchy, and hence it follows\nthat Monarchy is necessary for the welfare of the world.\n\n[Footnote 179: \"_Felicitamur._\"]\n\n[Footnote 180: \"_Ut Dii_;\" cf. _Paradiso_, v. 19.--WITTE.]\n\n[Footnote 181: _I.e._ _Metaphys._ 1, 2.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 182: \"_Politizant reges._\"]\n\n[Footnote 183: \"_Oblique politizantes._\"]\n\n[Footnote 184: _Polit._ iii. 4.]\n\n[Footnote 185: _Ibid._ iii. 16, 17.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 186: \"_Respectu vi\u00e6 ... respectu termini._\"]\n\n\nXIII.--Further, he who can be best fitted to rule can best fit others.\nFor in every action the main end of the agent, whether acting by\nnecessity of nature or voluntarily, is to unfold his own likeness; and\ntherefore every agent, so far as he is of this sort, delights in\naction. For since all that is desires its own existence, and since the\nagent in acting enlarges his own existence in some way, delight\nfollows action of necessity; for delight is inseparable from gaining\nwhat is desired. Nothing therefore acts unless it is of such sort as\nthat which is acted on ought to be; therefore the Philosopher said in\nhis _Metaphysics_,[187] \"Everything which becomes actual from being\npotential, becomes so by means of something actual of the same kind,\"\nand were anything to try to act in any other way it would fail. Hence\nwe may overthrow the error of those who think to form the moral\ncharacter of others by speaking well and doing ill; forgetting that\nthe hands of Jacob were more persuasive with his father than his\nwords, though his hands deceived and his voice spake truth. Hence the\nPhilosopher, to Nicomachus: \"In matters of feeling and action, words\nare less to be trusted than deeds.\"[188] And therefore God said to\nDavid in his sin, \"What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?\" as\nthough He would say, \"Thou speakest in vain, for thou art different\nfrom what thou speakest.\" Hence it may be gathered that he needs to be\nfitted for his work in the best way who wishes to fit others.\n\n[Footnote 187: _Metaphys._ ix. 8.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 188: Arist. _Eth._ x. 1.--(W.)]\n\nBut the Monarch is the only one who can be fitted in the best possible\nway to govern. Which is thus proved: Each thing is the more easily and\nperfectly qualified for any habit, or actual work, the less there is\nin it of what is contrary to such a disposition. Therefore, they who\nhave never even heard of philosophy, arrive at a habit of truth in\nphilosophy more easily and completely than those who have listened to\nit at odd times, and are filled with false opinions. For which reason\nGalen well says: \"Such as these require double time to acquire\nknowledge.\"[189] A Monarch then has nothing to tempt appetite, or, at\nleast, less than any other man, as we have shown before; whereas other\nprinces have much; and appetite is the only corrupter of\nrighteousness, and the only impediment to justice. A Monarch therefore\nis wholly, or at least more than any other prince, disposed to govern\nwell: for in him there may be judgment and justice more strongly than\nin any other. But these two things are the pre-eminent attributes of a\nmaker of law, and of an executor of law, as that most holy king David\ntestified when he asked of God the things which were befitting the\nking, and the king's son, saying: \"Give the king thy judgment, O God,\nand thy righteousness unto the king's son.\"[190]\n\n[Footnote 189: _De cognosc. animi morbis_, c. 10.--WITTE.]\n\n[Footnote 190: Cf. _Parad._ xiii. 95.--(W.)]\n\nWe were right then when we assumed that only the Monarch can be best\nfitted to rule. Therefore only the Monarch can in the best way fit\nother men. Therefore it follows that Monarchy is necessary for the\nbest ordering of the world.\n\n\nXIV.--And where a thing can be done by one agent, it is better to do\nit by one than by several, for this reason: Let it be possible to do a\ncertain thing by means of A, and also by means of A and B. If\ntherefore what is done by A and B can be done by A alone, it is\nuseless to add B; for nothing follows from the addition; for the same\nend which A and B produced is produced also by A. All additions of\nthis kind are useless and superfluous: all that is superfluous is\ndispleasing to God and Nature: and all that is displeasing to God and\nNature is bad, as is manifest. It therefore follows not only that it\nis better that a thing should be done by one than by many agents, if\nit is possible to produce the effect by one; but also that to produce\nthe effect by one is good, and to produce it by many is simply bad.\nAgain, a thing is said to be better by being nearer to the best, and\nthe end has the nature of the best. But for a thing to be done by one\nagent is better, for so it comes nearer to the end. And that so it\ncomes nearer is manifest; for let C be the end which may be reached by\nA, or by A and B together: plainly it is longer to reach C by A and B\ntogether than by B alone. But mankind may be governed by one supreme\nprince, who is, the Monarch.\n\nBut it must be carefully observed that when we say that mankind may be\nruled by one supreme prince, we do not mean that the most trifling\njudgments for each particular town are to proceed immediately from\nhim. For municipal laws sometimes fail, and need guidance, as the\nPhilosopher shows in his fifth book to Nicomachus, when he praises\nequity.[191] For nations and kingdoms and states have, each of them,\ncertain peculiarities which must be regulated by different laws. For\nlaw is the rule which directs life. Thus the Scythians need one rule,\nfor they live beyond the seventh climate,[192] and suffer cold which\nis almost unbearable, from the great inequality of their days and\nnights. But the Garamantes need a different law, for their country is\nequinoctial, and they cannot wear many clothes, from the excessive\nheat of the air, because the day is as long as the darkness of the\nnight. But our meaning is that it is in those matters which are common\nto all men, that men should be ruled by one Monarch, and be governed\nby a rule common to them all, with a view to their peace. And the\nindividual princes must receive this rule of life or law from him,\njust as the practical intellect receives its major premiss from the\nspeculative intellect, under which it places its own particular\npremiss, and then draws its particular conclusion, with a view to\naction. And it is not only possible for one man to act as we have\ndescribed; it is necessary that it should proceed from one man only to\navoid confusion in our first principles. Moses himself wrote in his\nlaw that he had acted thus. For he took the elders of the tribes of\nthe children of Israel, and left to them the lesser judgments,\nreserving to himself such as were more important, and wider in their\nscope; and the elders carried these wider ones to their tribes,\naccording as they were applicable to each separate tribe.\n\n[Footnote 191: _Eth._ v. 14.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 192: Ptolemy, the medi\u00e6val authority on geography, divided\nthe known world into [Greek: klimata], zones of slope towards the\npole, or belts of latitude, eight of which from the equinoctial to the\nmouths of the Tanais and the Riph\u00e6an mountains. The seventh \"clima\"\npassed over the mouths of the Borysthenes. See Mercator's map in\nBertius' _Theatrum Geographi\u00e6 Veteris_ (1618), art. \"Ptolemy\" in\nSmith's _Dictionary of Biography_, p. 577. Dictionary of Antiquities,\nart. \"Clima.\"]\n\nTherefore it is better for the human race to be ruled by one than by\nmany, and therefore there should be a Monarch, who is a single prince;\nand if it is better, it is more acceptable to God, since God always\nwills what is best. And since of these two ways of government the one\nis not only the better, but the best of all, it follows not only that\nthis one is more acceptable to God as between one and many, but that\nit is the most acceptable. Therefore it is best for the human race to\nbe governed by one man; and Monarchy is necessary for the welfare of\nthe world.\n\n\nXV.--I say also that Being, and Unity, and the Good come in order\nafter the fifth mode of priority.[193] For Being comes by nature\nbefore Unity, and Unity before Good. Where Being is most, there Unity\nis greatest; and where Unity is greatest, there Good is also greatest;\nand in proportion as anything is far from Being in its highest form,\nis it far from Unity, and therefore from Good. Therefore in every kind\nof things, that which is most one is best, as the Philosopher holds in\nthe treatise about simple Being. Therefore it appears that to be one\nis the root of Good, and to be many the root of Evil. Therefore,\nPythagoras in his parallel tables placed the one, or Unity, under the\nline of good, and the many under the line of Evil; as appears from the\nfirst book of the _Metaphysics_.[194] Hence we may see that to sin is\nnothing else than to pass on from the one which we despise and to seek\nmany things, as the Psalmist saw when he said: \"By the fruit of their\ncorn and wine and oil, are they multiplied.\"[195]\n\n[Footnote 193: Arist. _Categ._, _e.g._: Priority is said in five\nways--1. First in _time_. 2. First in _pre-supposition_. 3. First in\n_order_. 4. First in _excellence_. 5. First in _logical sequence_.]\n\n[Footnote 194: _V._ Arist. _Metaph._ 1, 5; _Ethics_ i. 4; cf. Ritter\nand Preller, _Hist. Philos._ sec. 105.]\n\n[Footnote 195: Ps. iv. 8 (vulg.).]\n\nHence it is plain that whatever is good, is good for this reason, that\nit consists in unity. And because concord is a good thing in so far as\nit is concord, it is manifest that it consists in a certain unity, as\nits proper root, the nature of which will appear if we find the real\nnature of concord. Concord then is the uniform motion of many wills;\nand hence it appears that a unity of wills, by which is meant their\nuniform motion, is the root of concord, nay, concord itself. For as we\nshould say that many clods of earth are concordant, because that they\nall gravitate together towards the centre; and that many flames are\nconcordant because that they all ascend together towards the\ncircumference, if they did this of their own free will, so we say that\nmany men are in concord because that they are all moved together, as\nregards their willing, to one thing, which one thing is formally in\ntheir wills just as there is one quality formally in the clods of\nearth, that is gravity, and one in the flame of fire, that is\nlightness. For the force of willing is a certain power; but the\nquality of good which it apprehends is its form; which form, like as\nothers, being one is multiplied in itself, according to the\nmultiplication of the matters which receive it, as the soul, and\nnumbers, and other forms which belong to what is compound.[196]\n\n[Footnote 196: On the scholastic doctrine of forms, _v._ Thom. Aquin.\n_Summ._ I. 105, art. 4.]\n\nTo explain our assumption as we proposed, let us argue thus: All\nconcord depends on unity which is in wills; the human race, when it is\nat its best, is a kind of concord; for as one man at his best is a\nkind of concord, and as the like is true of the family, the city, and\nthe kingdom; so is it of the whole human race. Therefore the human\nrace at its best depends on the unity which is in will. But this\ncannot be unless there be one will to be the single mistress and\nregulating influence of all the rest. For the wills of men, on account\nof the blandishments of youth, require one to direct them, as\nAristotle shows in the tenth book of his _Ethics_.[197] And this\ncannot be unless there is one prince over all, whose will shall be the\nmistress and regulating influence of all the others. But if all these\nconclusions be true, as they are, it is necessary for the highest\nwelfare of the human race that there should be a Monarch in the world;\nand therefore Monarchy is necessary for the good of the world.\n\n[Footnote 197: Arist. _Eth._ x. 5.--(W.)]\n\n\nXVI.--To all these reasons alleged above a memorable experience adds\nits confirmation. I mean that condition of mankind which the Son of\nGod, when, for the salvation of man, He was about to put on man,\neither waited for, or, at the moment when He willed, Himself so\nordered. For if, from the fall of our first parents, which was the\nturning point at which all our going astray began, we carry our\nthoughts over the distribution of the human race and the order of its\ntimes, we shall find that never but under the divine Augustus, who was\nsole ruler, and under whom a perfect Monarchy existed, was the world\neverywhere quiet. And that then the human race was happy in the\ntranquillity of universal peace, this is the witness of all writers of\nhistory; this is the witness of famous poets; this, too, he who wrote\nthe story of the \"meekness and gentleness of Christ\" has thought fit\nto attest. And last of all, Paul has called that most blessed\ncondition \"the fulness of the times.\" For then, indeed, time was full,\nand all the things of time; because no office belonging to our\nfelicity wanted its minister. But how the world has fared since that\n\"seamless robe\" has suffered rending by the talons of ambition, we may\nread in books; would that we might not see it with our eyes. Oh, race\nof mankind! what storms must toss thee, what losses must thou endure,\nwhat shipwrecks must buffet thee, as long as thou, a beast of many\nheads, strivest after contrary things. Thou art sick in both thy\nfaculties of understanding; thou art sick in thine affections.\nUnanswerable reasons fail to heal thy higher understanding; the very\nsight of experience convinces not thy lower understanding; not even\nthe sweetness of divine persuasion charms thy affections, when it\nbreathes into thee through the music of the Holy Ghost: \"Behold, how\ngood and how pleasant a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in\nunity.\"[198]\n\n[Footnote 198: Ps. cxxxii. 1.--(W.)]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK II.\n\n\nI.--\"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The\nkings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel together\nagainst the Lord and against His anointed, saying: 'Let us break their\nbonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us.'\"[199] As we\ncommonly wonder at a new effect, when we have never been face to face\nwith its cause; so, as soon as we understand the cause, we look down\nwith a kind of scorn on those who remain in wonder. I, myself, was\nonce filled with wonder that the Roman people had become paramount\nthroughout all the earth, without any to withstand them; for when I\nlooked at the thing superficially I thought that this supremacy had\nbeen obtained, not by any right, but only by arms and violence. But\nafter that I had carefully and thoroughly examined the matter, when I\nhad recognised by the most effectual signs that it was divine\nprovidence that had wrought this, my wonder ceased, and a certain\nscornful contempt has taken its place, when I perceive the nations\nraging against the pre-eminence of the Roman people; when I see the\npeople imagining a vain thing, as I of old imagined; when, above all,\nI grieve that kings and princes agree in this one matter only, in\nopposing their Lord, and His one only Roman Emperor. Wherefore in\nderision, yet not without a touch of sorrow, I can cry on behalf of\nthe glorious people and for C\u00e6sar, together with him who cried on\nbehalf of the Prince of heaven: \"Why do the heathen rage, and the\npeople imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth stand up, and the\nrulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His\nanointed.\" But the love which nature implants in us allows not scorn\nto last for long; but, like the summer sun that when it has dispersed\nthe morning clouds shines with full brightness, this love prefers to\nput scorn aside, and to pour forth the light which shall set men\nright. So, then, to break the bonds of the ignorance of those kings\nand princes, and to show that mankind is free from _their_ yoke, I\nwill comfort myself in company with that most holy prophet, whom I\nfollow, taking the words which come after: \"Let us break their bonds\nasunder, and cast away their yoke from us.\"\n\n[Footnote 199: Ps. ii. 1-3.--(W.)]\n\nThese two things will be sufficiently performed, if I address myself\nto the second part of the argument, and manifest the truth of the\nquestion before us. For thus, if we show that the Roman Empire is _by\nright_, not only shall we disperse the clouds of ignorance from the\neyes of those princes who have wrongly seized the helm of public\ngovernment, falsely imputing this thing to the Roman people; but all\nmen shall understand that they are free from the yoke of these\nusurpers. The truth of the question can be made clear not only by the\nlight of human reason, but also by the ray of God's authority; and\nwhen these two coincide, then heaven and earth must agree together.\nSupported, therefore, by this conviction, and trusting in the\ntestimony both of reason and of authority, I proceed to settle the\nsecond question.\n\n\nII.--Inquiry concerning the truth of the first doubt has been made as\naccurately as the nature of the subject permitted; we have now to\ninquire concerning the second, which is: Whether the Roman people\nassumed to itself _of right_ the dignity of the Empire? And the first\nthing in this question is to find the truth, to which the reasonings\nconcerning it may be referred as to their proper first principle.\n\nIt must be recognised, then, that as there are three degrees in every\nart, the mind of the artist, his instrument, and the material on which\nhe works, so we may look upon nature in three degrees. For nature\nexists, first, in the mind of the First Agent, who is God; then in\nheaven; as in an instrument, by means of which the likeness of the\nEternal Goodness unfolds itself on shapeless[200] matter. If an artist\nis perfect in his art, and his instrument is perfect, any fault in the\nform of his art must be laid to the badness of the material; and so,\nsince God holds the summit of perfection, and since His instrument,\nwhich is heaven, admits of no failure of its due perfection (which is\nmanifest from our philosophy touching heaven), it follows that\nwhatever fault is to be found in the lower world is a fault on the\npart of the subject matter, and is contrary to the intention of God\nwho makes nature,[201] and of heaven; and if in this lower world there\nis aught that is good, it must be ascribed first to the artist, who is\nGod, and then to heaven, the instrument of God's art, which men call\nnature; for the material, being merely a possibility, can do nothing\nof itself.[202]\n\n[Footnote 200: \"_Fluitantem._\"]\n\n[Footnote 201: \"_Dei naturantis._\"]\n\n[Footnote 202: Witte refers to _Parad._ xiii. 67, xxix. 32, i.\n127-130. Cf. Thom. Aquin. _Summ._ I., q. 66, art. 1-3; q. 110, art. 2;\nq. 115, art. 3-6. This view satisfied thinkers to the time of Hooker\n(_E.P._ I. iii.), but was criticised by Bacon, _Nov. Org._ i. 66.]\n\nHence it is apparent that, since all Right[203] is good, it therefore\nexists first in the mind of God; and since all that is in the mind of\nGod is God, according to the saying, \"What was made, in Him was\nlife;\"[204] and as God chiefly wishes for what is Himself, it follows\nthat Right is the wish of God, so far as it is in Him. And since in\nGod the will and the wish are the same, it further follows that this\nRight is the will of God. Again it follows that Right in the world is\nnothing else than the likeness of the will of God, and therefore\nwhatever does not agree with the divine will cannot be Right, and\nwhatever does agree with the divine will is Right itself. Therefore to\nask if a thing be by Right is only to ask in other words if it is what\nGod wills. It may therefore be assumed that what God wills to see in\nmankind is to be held as real and true Right.\n\n[Footnote 203: \"_Jus._\"]\n\n[Footnote 204: St. John i. 3.--(W.)]\n\nBesides we must remember Aristotle's teaching in the first book of his\n_Ethics_, where he says: \"We must not seek for certitude in every\nmatter, but only as far as the nature of the subject admits.\"[205]\nTherefore our arguments from the first principle already found will be\nsufficient, if from manifest evidence and from the authority of the\nwise, we seek for the right of that glorious people. The will of God\nis an invisible thing, but \"the invisible things of God are seen,\nbeing understood by the things which are made.\" For when the seal is\nout of sight, the wax, which has its impression, gives manifest\nevidence of it, though it be unseen; nor is it strange that the will\nof God must be sought by signs; for the human will, except to the\nperson himself who wills, is only discerned by signs.[206]\n\n[Footnote 205: _Eth._ i. 7, from Thom. Aq. _Lect._ XI.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 206: The image of the wax and seal was a favourite one. V.\n_Parad._ vii. 68, viii. 127, xiii. 67-75, quoted by Witte, who also\nrefers to the _Epist. ad Reges_, \u00a7 8, p. 444, ed. Fraticelli.]\n\n\nIII.--My answer then to the question is, that it was by right, and not\nby usurpation, that the Roman people assumed to itself the office of\nMonarchy, or, as men call it, the Empire, over all mankind. For in the\nfirst place it is fitting that the noblest people should be preferred\nto all others; the Roman people was the noblest; therefore it is\nfitting that it should be preferred to all others. By this reasoning I\nmake my proof; for since honour is the reward of goodness, and since\nto be preferred is always honour, therefore to be preferred is always\nthe reward of goodness. It is plain that men are ennobled for their\nvirtues; that is, for their own virtues or for those of their\nancestors; for nobleness is virtue and ancestral wealth, according to\nAristotle in his Politics; and according to Juvenal, \"There is no\nnobleness of soul but virtue,\"[207] which two statements refer to two\nsorts of nobleness, our own and that of our ancestors.[208]\n\n[Footnote 207: Arist. _Pol._ iii. 12; Juv. viii. 20.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 208: Witte refers to Dante's commentary on his own Canzone\nin the _Convito_ iv. 3, and the _Parad._ xvi. 1.]\n\nTo be preferred, therefore, is, according to reason, the fitting\nreward of the noble. And since rewards must be measured by desert,\naccording to that saying of the Gospel, \"with what measure ye mete, it\nshall be measured to you again;\" therefore to the most noble the\nhighest place should be given. The testimonies of the ancients confirm\nour opinion; for Virgil, our divine poet, testifies throughout his\n_\u00c6neid_, that men may ever remember it, that the glorious king, \u00c6neas,\nwas the father of the Roman people. And this Titus Livius, the famous\nchronicler of the deeds of the Romans, confirms in the first part of\nhis work, which takes its beginning from the capture of Troy. The\nnobleness of this most unconquerable and most pious ancestor not only\nin regard to his own great virtue, but also to that of his forefathers\nand of his wives, the nobleness of whom was combined in their\ndescendant by the rightful law of descent, I cannot unfold at length;\n\"I can but touch lightly on the outlines of the truth.\"[209]\n\n[Footnote 209: \"Sed summa sequar vestigia rerum.\" Virg. _\u00c6n._ i. 342\n(\"fastigia\" in all good MSS. and edd.).]\n\nFor the virtue then of \u00c6neas himself, hear what our poet tells us when\nhe introduces Ilioneus in the first _\u00c6neid_, praying thus: \"\u00c6neas was\nour king; in justice and piety he has not left a peer, nor any to\nequal him in war.\" Hear Virgil in the sixth _\u00c6neid_, when he speaks\nof the death of Misenus, who had been Hector's attendant in war, and,\nafter Hector's death, had attached himself to \u00c6neas; for there Virgil\nsays that Misenus \"followed as good a man;\" thus comparing \u00c6neas to\nHector, whom[210] Homer ever praises above all men, as the Philosopher\nwitnesses in his _Ethics_, in what he writes to Nicomachus on habits\nto be avoided.\n\n[Footnote 210: _\u00c6n._ i. 544, vi. 170. _Il._ xxiv. 258, quoted in\nAristotle, _Ethics_, vii. 1.--(W.)]\n\nBut, as for hereditary virtue, he was ennobled from all three\ncontinents both by his forefathers and his wives. From Asia came his\nimmediate ancestor, Assaracus, and others who reigned in Phrygia,\nwhich is a part of Asia. Therefore Virgil writes in the third _\u00c6neid_:\n\"After that it had seemed good to Heaven to overthrow the power of\nAsia, and the guiltless race of Priam.\" From Europe came the male\nfounder of his race, who was Dardanus; from Africa his grandmother\nElectra, daughter of the great king Atlas, to both which things the\npoet testifies in the eighth _\u00c6neid_, where \u00c6neas says to Evander:\n\"Dardanus, the father of our city, and its founder, whom the Greeks\ncall the son of Atlas and Electra, came to the race of Teucer--Electra,\nwhose sire was great Atlas, on whose shoulders rests the circle of\nheaven.\" But in the third _\u00c6neid_ Virgil says that Dardanus drew his\norigin from Europe. \"There is a land which the Greeks have named\nHesperia, an ancient land, strong and wealthy, where the \u00c6notrians\ndwell; it is said that now their descendants have named the country\nItaly, from the name of their king. There is our rightful home; from\nthat land did Dardanus come.\" That Atlas came from Africa, the\nmountain called by his name, which stands in that continent, bears\nwitness; and Orosius says that it is in Africa in his description of\nthe world, where he writes: \"Its boundary is Mount Atlas, and the\nislands which are called 'the happy isles.'\" \"Its\"--that is, \"of\nAfrica,\" of which he was speaking.[211]\n\n[Footnote 211: _\u00c6n._ iii. 1, viii. 134, iii. 163; Oros. i. 2.--(W.)]\n\nLikewise I find that by marriage also \u00c6neas was ennobled; his first\nwife, Creusa, the daughter of king Priam, was from Asia, as may be\ngathered from our previous quotations; and that she was his wife our\npoet testifies in the third _\u00c6neid_, where Andromache asks \u00c6neas:\n\"What of the boy Ascanius, whom Creusa bore to thee, while the ruins\nof Troy were yet smoking? Lives he yet to breathe this air?\"[212] The\nsecond wife was Dido, the queen and foundress of Carthage in Africa.\nThat she was the wife of \u00c6neas our poet sings in his fourth _\u00c6neid_,\nwhere he says of Dido: \"No more does Dido think of love in secret.\nShe calls it marriage, and with this name she covers her sin.\" The\nthird wife was Lavinia, the mother of Albans and Romans alike, the\ndaughter of king Latinus and his heir, if we may trust the testimony\nof our poet in his last _\u00c6neid_, where he introduces Turnus conquered,\npraying to \u00c6neas thus: \"Thou hast conquered, and the Ausonians have\nseen me lift my hands in prayer for mercy; Lavinia is thine.\"[213]\nThis last wife was from Italy, the noblest region of Europe.\n\n[Footnote 212: III. 339. The best MSS. of Virgil omit \"peperit fumante\nCreusa.\"]\n\n[Footnote 213: _\u00c6n._ xii. 936.--(W.)]\n\nAnd now that we have marked these things for evidence of our\nassertion, who will not rest persuaded that the father of the Romans,\nand therefore the Romans themselves, were the noblest people under\nheaven? Who can fail to see the divine predestination shown forth by\nthe double meeting of blood from every part of the world in the veins\nof one man?\n\n\nIV.--Again, that which is helped to its perfection by miracles is\nwilled by God, and therefore it is of right. This is manifestly true,\nfor as Thomas says in his third book against the Gentiles, \"a miracle\nis something done by God beyond the commonly established order of\nthings.\"[214] And so he proves that God alone can work miracles; and\nhis proof is strengthened by the authority of Moses; for on the\noccasion of the plague of lice, when the magicians of Pharaoh used\nnatural principles artfully, and then failed, they said: \"This is the\nfinger of God.\"[215] A miracle therefore being the immediate working\nof the first agent, without the co-operation of any secondary agents,\nas Thomas himself sufficiently proves in the book which we have\nmentioned, it is impious to say where a miracle is worked in aid of\nanything, that that thing is not of God, as something well pleasing to\nhim, which he foresaw. Therefore it is religious to accept the\ncontradictory of this. The Roman Empire has been helped to its\nperfection by miracles; therefore it was willed by God, and\nconsequently was and is by right.[216]\n\n[Footnote 214: _Contra Gent._ iii. 101.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 215: Exod. vii. 12-15.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 216: Witte refers to the _Ep. ad Reges_, \u00a7 8, for the same\nthought.]\n\nIt is proved by the testimony of illustrious authors that God\nstretched forth His hand to work miracles on behalf of the Roman\nEmpire. For Livy, in the first part of his work, testifies that a\nshield fell from heaven into the city chosen of God in the time of\nNuma Pompilius, the second king of Rome, whilst he was sacrificing\nafter the manner of the Gentiles. Lucan mentions this miracle in the\nninth book of his Pharsalia, when he is describing the incredible\nforce of the South wind. He says: \"Surely it was thus, while Numa was\noffering sacrifices, that the shield fell with which the chosen\npatrician youth moves along. The South wind, or the North wind, had\nspoiled the people that bore our shields.\"[217] And when the Gauls had\ntaken all the city, and, under cover of the darkness, were stealing on\nto attack the Capitol itself, the capture of which was all that\nremained to destroy the very name of Rome, then as Livy, and many\nother illustrious writers agree in testifying, a goose, which none had\nseen before, gave a warning note of the approach of the Gauls, and\naroused the guards to defend the Capitol.[218] And our poet\ncommemorates the event in his description of the shield of \u00c6neas in\nthe eighth book. \"Higher, and in front of the temple stood Manlius,\nthe watchman of the Tarpeian keep, guarding the rock of the Capitol.\nThe palace stood out clear, rough with the thatch which Romulus had\nlaid; here the goose, inlaid in silver, fluttered on the portico of\ngold, as it warned the Romans that the Gauls were even now on the\nthreshold.\"[219]\n\n[Footnote 217: Luc. ix. 477.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 218: V. Liv. v. 47, and the _Convito_, iv. 5.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 219: _\u00c6n._ viii. 652.--(W.)]\n\nAnd when the nobility of Rome had so fallen under the onset of\nHannibal, that nothing remained for the final destruction of the Roman\ncommonwealth, but the Carthaginian assault on the city, Livy tells us\nin the course of his history of the Punic war, that a sudden dreadful\nstorm of hail fell upon them, so that the victors could not follow up\ntheir victory.[220]\n\n[Footnote 220: Liv. xxvi. 11; Oros. iv. 17.--(W.)]\n\nWas not the escape of Cloelia wonderful, a woman, and captive in the\npower of Porsenna, when she burst her bonds, and, by the marvellous\nhelp of God, swam across the Tiber, as almost all the historians of\nRome tell us, to the glory of that city?[221]\n\n[Footnote 221: Liv. ii. 13; Oros. ii. 5.--(W.)]\n\nThus was it fitting that He should work who foresaw all things from\nthe beginning, and ordained them in the beauty of His order; so that\nHe, who when made visible was to show forth miracles for the sake of\nthings invisible, should, whilst invisible, also show forth miracles\nfor the sake of things visible.\n\n\nV.--Further, whoever works for the good of the state, works with Right\nas his end. This may be shown as follows. Right is that proportion of\nman to man as to things, and as to persons, which, when it is\npreserved, preserves society, and when it is destroyed, destroys\nsociety.[222] The description of Right in the Digest does not give the\nessence of right, but only describes it for practical purposes.[223]\nIf therefore our definition comprehends well the essence and reason\nof Right, and if the end of any society is the common good of its\nmembers, it is necessary that the end of all Right is the common good,\nand it is impossible that that can be Right, which does not aim at the\ncommon good. Therefore Cicero says well in the first book of his\n_Rhetoric_: \"Laws must always be interpreted for the good of the\nstate.\"[224] If laws do not aim at the good of those who live under\nthem, they are laws only in name; in reality they cannot be laws. For\nit behoves them to bind men together for the common good; and Seneca\ntherefore says well in his book \"on the four virtues:\" \"Law is the\nbond of human society.\"[225] It is therefore plain that whoever aims\nat the good of the state, aims at the end of Right; and therefore, if\nthe Romans aimed at the good of the state, we shall say truly that\nthey aimed at the end of Right.\n\n[Footnote 222: Cf. Aristotle, _Ethics_, v. 6.]\n\n[Footnote 223: \"Jus est ars boni et \u00e6qui.\" L. 1, fr. _Dig. De Justitia\net Jure_, i. 1.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 224: _De Invent._ i. 38.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 225: Not Seneca, but Martin, Bp. of Braga, [dagger\nsymbol]580.--(W.) V. _Biog. Univ._]\n\nThat in bringing the whole world into subjection, they aimed at this\ngood, their deeds declare. They renounced all selfishness, a thing\nalways contrary to the public weal; they cherished universal peace and\nliberty; and that sacred, pious, and glorious people are seen to have\nneglected their own private interests that they might follow public\nobjects for the good of all mankind. Therefore was it well written:\n\"The Roman Empire springs from the fountain of piety.\"[226]\n\n[Footnote 226: \"_Romanum imperium de fonte nascitur\npietatis._\"--(WITTE.) He has not been able to trace the saying.]\n\nBut seeing that nothing is known of the intention of an agent who acts\nby free choice to any but the agent himself, save only by external\nsigns, and since reasonings must be examined according to the subject\nmatter (as has already been said), it will be sufficient on this point\nif we set forth proofs which none can doubt, of the intention of the\nRoman people, both in their public bodies and individually.\n\nConcerning those public bodies by which men seem in a way to be bound\nto the state, the authority of Cicero alone, in the second book of the\n_De Officiis_, will suffice. \"So long,\" he says, \"as the Empire of the\nrepublic was maintained not by injustice, but by the benefits which it\nconferred, we fought either for our allies or for the Empire. Our wars\nbrought with them an ending which was either indulgent, or else was\nabsolutely necessary. All kings, peoples, and nations found a port of\nrefuge in the Senate. Our magistrates and generals alike sought renown\nby defending our provinces and our allies with good faith and with\njustice. Our government might have been called not so much Empire, as\na Protectorate of the whole world.\" So wrote Cicero.[227]\n\n[Footnote 227: _De Off._ ii. 8.--(W.)]\n\nOf individuals I will speak shortly. Shall we not say that they\nintended the common good, who by hard toil, by poverty, by exile, by\nbereavement of their children, by loss of limb, by sacrifice of their\nlives, endeavoured to build up the public weal? Did not great\nCincinnatus leave us a sacred example of freely laying down his office\nat its appointed end, when, as Livy tells us, he was taken from the\nplough and made dictator? And after his victory, after his triumph, he\ngave back his Imperator's sceptre to the consuls, and returned to the\nploughshare to toil after his oxen.[228] Well did Cicero, arguing\nagainst Epicurus, in the volume _De Finibus_, speak in praise of him,\nmindful of this good deed.[229] \"And so,\" he says, \"our ancestors took\nCincinnatus from the plough, and made him dictator.\"\n\n[Footnote 228: Liv. vi. 28, 29; Oros. ii. 12.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 229: II. 4.--(W.)]\n\nHas not Fabricius left us a lofty example of resisting avarice, when,\npoor man as he was, for the faith by which he was bound to the\nrepublic, he laughed to scorn the great weight of gold which was\noffered him, and refused it, scorning it with words which became him\nwell. His story too is confirmed by our poet in the sixth\n_\u00c6neid_,[230] where he speaks of \"Fabricius strong in his poverty.\"\n\n[Footnote 230: VI. 844.--(W.)]\n\nHas not Camillus left us a memorable example of obeying the laws\ninstead of seeking our private advantage? For according to Livy he was\ncondemned to exile, and then, after that he had delivered his country\nfrom the invaders, and had restored to Rome her own Roman spoils, he\nyet turned to leave the sacred city, though the whole people bade him\nstay; nor did he return till leave was given him to come back by the\nauthority of the Senate. This high-souled hero also is commended in\nthe sixth _\u00c6neid_, where our poet speaks of \"Camillus, that restored\nto us our standards.\"[231]\n\n[Footnote 231: Liv. v. 46; _\u00c6n._ vi. 826.--(W.)]\n\nWas not Brutus the first to teach that our sons, that all others, are\nsecond in importance to the liberty of our country? For Livy tells us\nhow, when he was consul, he condemned his own sons to death, for that\nthey had conspired with the enemy. His glory is made new in our poet's\nsixth book, where he sings how \"The father shall summon the sons to\ndie for the sake of fair liberty, when they seek to stir fresh\nwars.\"[232]\n\n[Footnote 232: _\u00c6n._ vi. 821.--(W.)]\n\nHas not Mucius encouraged us to dare everything for our country's\nsake, when after attacking Porsenna unawares, he watched the hand\nwhich had missed its stroke being burnt, though it was his own, as if\nhe were beholding the torment of a foe? This also Livy witnesses to\nwith astonishment.\n\nAdd to these those sacred victims the Decii, who laid down their lives\nby an act of devotion for the public safety, whom Livy glorifies in\nhis narrative, not as they deserve, but as he was able. Add to these\nthe self-sacrifice, which words cannot express, of Marcus Cato, that\nstaunchest champion of true liberty. These were men of whom the one,\nthat he might save his country, did not fear the shadow of death;\nwhile the other, that he might kindle in the world the passionate love\nof liberty, showed how dear was liberty, choosing to pass out of life\na free man, rather than without liberty to abide in life.[233] The\nglory of all these heroes glows afresh in the words of Cicero in his\nbook _De Finibus_; of the Decii he speaks thus: \"Publius Decius, the\nhead of the Decii, a consul, when he devoted himself for the state,\nand charged straight into the Latin host, was he thinking aught of his\npleasure, where and when he should take it;--when he knew that he had\nto die at once, and sought that death with more eager desire than,\naccording to Epicurus, we should seek pleasure? And were it not that\nhis deed had justly received its praise, his son would not have done\nthe like in his fourth consulship; nor would his grandson, again, in\nthe war with Pyrrhus, have fallen, a consul, in battle; and, a third\ntime in continuous succession in that family, have offered himself a\nvictim for the commonwealth.\" But in the _De Officiis_,[234] Cicero\nsays of Cato: \"Marcus Cato was in no different position from his\ncomrades who in Africa surrendered to C\u00e6sar. The others, had they\nslain themselves, would perhaps have been blamed for the act, for\ntheir life was of less consequence,[235] and their principles were not\nso strict. But for Cato, to whom nature had given incredible firmness\nand who had strengthened this severity by his unremitting constancy to\nhis principles, and who never formed a resolution by which he did not\nabide, he was indeed bound to die rather than to look on the face of a\ntyrant.\"\n\n[Footnote 233: Witte quotes the _Convito_, iv. 5, where all these\nexamples are recounted, almost in the same language. He compares\n_Parad._ vi. 46 (Cincinnatus), _Purgat._ xx. 25 (Fabricius), _Parad._\nvi. 47 (Decii), _Purg._ i. where Cato guards the approach to\nPurgatory.]\n\n[Footnote 234: I. 31 (W.), carelessly quoted.]\n\n[Footnote 235: \"_Levior_\" al. \"_lenior_.\"]\n\n\nVI.--Two things therefore have been made clear: first, that whoever\naims at the good of the state aims at right;[236] and secondly, that\nthe Roman people in bringing the world into subjection, aimed at the\npublic weal. Therefore let us argue thus: Whoever aims at right, walks\naccording to right; the Roman people in bringing the world into\nsubjection aimed at right, as we have made manifest in the preceding\nchapter. Therefore in bringing the world into subjection the Roman\npeople acted according to right, consequently it was by right that\nthey assumed the dignity of Empire.\n\n[Footnote 236: \"_Finem juris intendit._\"]\n\nWe reach this conclusion on grounds which are manifest to all. It is\nmanifest from this, that whosoever aims at right, walks according to\nright. To make this clear, we must mark that everything is made to\ngain a certain end, otherwise it would be in vain, and as we said\nbefore this cannot be. And as everything has its proper end, so every\nend has some distinct thing of which it is the end. And therefore it\nis impossible that any two things, spoken of as separate things,[237]\nand in so far as they are two, should have the same end as their aim,\nfor so the same absurdity[238] would follow, that one of them would\nexist in vain. Since, then, there is a certain end of right, as we\nhave explained, it necessarily follows that when we have decided what\nthat end is, we have also decided what right is; for it is the natural\nand proper effect of right. And since in any sequence it is impossible\nto have an antecedent without its consequent, for instance, to have\n\"man\" without \"animal,\" as is evident by putting together and taking\nto pieces the idea,[239] so also it is impossible to seek for the end\nof right without right, for each thing stands in the same relation to\nits proper end, as the consequent does to its antecedent; as without\nhealth it is impossible to attain to a good condition of the body.\nWherefore, it is most evidently clear that he who aims at the end of\nright must aim in accordance with right; nor does the contradictory\ninstance which is commonly drawn from Aristotle's treatment of \"good\ncounsel\" avail anything.[240] He there says: \"It is possible to obtain\nwhat is the right result from a syllogism, which is incorrect, but not\nby an argument which is right, for the middle term is wrong.\" For if\nsometimes a right conclusion is obtained from false principles, this\nis only by accident, and happens only in so far as the true conclusion\nis imported in the words of the inference. Truth never really follows\nfrom falsehood; but the signs of truth may easily follow from the\nsigns of falsehood. So also it is in matters of conduct. If a thief\nhelps a poor man out of the spoils of his thieving, we must not call\nthat charity; but it is an action which would have the form of\ncharity, if it had been done out of the man's own substance. And so of\nthe end of right. If anything, such as the end of right, were gained\nwithout right, it would only be the end of right, that is, the common\ngood, in the same sense that the gift, made from evil gains, is\ncharity. And so the example proves nothing, for in our proposition we\nspeak, not of the apparent but of the real end of right. What was\nsought, therefore, is clear.\n\n[Footnote 237: \"_Per se loquendo._\"]\n\n[Footnote 238: \"_Inconveniens._\"]\n\n[Footnote 239: \"_Construendo et destruendo._\" Technical terms of the\nconditional syllogism, _constructive_ and _destructive_.]\n\n[Footnote 240: [Greek: Euboulia]. _Ethics_, vi. 10.]\n\n\nVII.--What nature has ordained is maintained of right. For nature in\nits providence does not come short of men's providence; for if it were\nto come short, the effect would excel the cause in goodness, which is\nimpossible. But we see that when public bodies are founded, not only\nare the relations of the members to each other considered, but also\ntheir capacities for exercising offices; and this is to consider the\nend of right in the society or order which is founded, for right is\nnot extended beyond what is possible. Nature then, in her ordinances,\ndoes not come short in this foresight. Therefore it is clear that\nnature, in ordaining a thing, has regard to its capacities; and this\nregard is the fundamental principle of right which nature lays down.\nFrom this it follows that the natural order of things cannot be\nmaintained without right; for this fundamental principle of right is\ninseparably joined to the natural order of things. It is necessary,\ntherefore, that it is of right that this order is preserved.\n\nThe Roman people was ordained for empire, by nature, and this may be\nshown as follows: The man would come short of perfection in his art,\nwho aimed only to produce his ultimate form, and neglected the means\nof reaching it; in the same way, if nature only aimed at reproducing\nin the world the universal form of the divine likeness, and neglected\nthe means of doing so, she would be imperfect. But nature, which is\nthe work of the divine intelligence, is wholly perfect; she therefore\naims at all the means by which her final end is arrived at.\n\nSince then mankind has a certain end, and since there is a certain\nmeans necessary for the universal end of nature, it necessarily\nfollows that nature aims at obtaining that means. And therefore the\nPhilosopher, in the second book of _Natural Learning_,[241] well shows\nthat nature always acts for the end. And since nature cannot reach\nthis end through one man, because that there are many actions\nnecessary to it, which need many to act, therefore nature must produce\nmany men and set them to act. And besides the higher influence,[242]\nthe powers and properties of inferior spheres contribute much to this.\nAnd therefore we see not only that individual men, but also that\ncertain races are born to govern, and certain others to be governed\nand to serve, as the Philosopher argues in the _Politics_;[243] and\nfor the latter, as he himself says, subjection is not only expedient,\nbut just, even though they be forced into subjection.\n\n[Footnote 241: Arist. _Phys. Ausc._ ii. 1.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 242: _I.e._ of the heavens. Witte quotes _Parad._ viii. 97,\n_Purg._ xiv. 38.]\n\n[Footnote 243: I. 5, 11; 6, 9.--(W.)]\n\nAnd if this is so, it cannot be doubted that nature ordained in the\nworld a country and a nation for universal sovereignty; if this were\nnot so, she would have been untrue to herself, which is impossible.\nBut as to where that country is, and which is that nation, it is\nsufficiently manifest, both from what we have said and from what we\nshall say, that it was Rome and her citizens or people; and this our\npoet very skilfully touches on in the sixth _\u00c6neid_, where he\nintroduces Anchises prophesying to \u00c6neas, the ancestor of the Romans:\n\"Others may mould the breathing bronze more delicately--I doubt it\nnot; they may chisel from marble the living countenance; they may\nsurpass thee in pleading causes; they may track the course of the\nheavens with the rod, and tell when the stars will rise; but thou,\nRoman, remember to rule the nations with thy sway. These shall be thy\nendowments--to make peace to be the custom of the world; to spare thy\nfoes when they submit, and to crush the proud.\"[244] And again, Virgil\nskilfully notes the appointment of the _place_, in the fourth\n_\u00c6neid_, when he brings in Jupiter speaking to Mercury concerning\n\u00c6neas: \"His fair mother did not promise him to us to be such as this:\nit was not for this that twice she rescues him from Grecian arms; but\nthat there should be one to rule over Italy, teeming with empires,\ntempestuous with wars.\" It has, therefore, sufficiently been shown\nthat the Roman people was by nature ordained to empire. Therefore it\nwas of right that they gained empire, by subduing to themselves the\nworld.\n\n[Footnote 244: _\u00c6n._ vi. 848, iv. 227.--(W.)]\n\n\nVIII.--But in order properly to discover the truth in our inquiry, we\nmust recognise that the judgment of God is sometimes made manifest to\nmen, and sometimes hidden from them.\n\nIt may be made manifest in two ways, namely, by reason and by faith.\n\nThere are some judgments of God to which the human reason, by its own\npaths, can arrive; as, that a man should risk death to save his\ncountry. For a part should always risk itself to save its whole, and\neach man is a part of his State, as is clear from the Philosopher in\nhis _Politics_.[245] Therefore every man ought to risk himself for his\ncountry, as the less good for the better; whence the Philosopher says\nto Nicomachus: \"The end is desirable, indeed, even for an individual,\nbut it is better and more divine for a nation and State.\"[246] And\nthis is the judgment of God, for if it were not so, right reason in\nmen would miss the intention of nature, which is impossible.\n\n[Footnote 245: Arist. _Pol._ i. 2, 12.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 246: _Ethics_, i. 1.]\n\nThere are also some judgments of God to which, though human reason\ncannot reach them by its own powers, yet, by the aid of faith in those\nthings which are told us in Holy Scripture it can be lifted up: as,\nfor instance, that no one, however perfect he may be in moral and\nintellectual virtues, both in habit and in action, can be saved\nwithout faith; it being supposed that he never heard aught of Christ.\nFor human reason cannot of itself see this to be just, yet by faith it\ncan. For in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, \"without faith\nit is impossible to please God;\"[247] and in Leviticus, \"what man\nsoever there be of the House of Israel that killeth an ox, or lamb, or\ngoat in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, and bringeth it\nnot to the door of the tabernacle to offer an offering unto the Lord,\nblood shall be imputed to that man.\"[248] The door of the tabernacle\nstands for Christ, who is the door of the kingdom of heaven, as may be\nproved from the Gospel: the killing of animals represents men's\nactions.[249]\n\n[Footnote 247: Cf. _Parad._ xix. 70.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 248: Heb. ii. 6; Levit. xvii. 3, 4.--(W.).]\n\n[Footnote 249: Witte quotes from Isidore of Seville, a writer much\nused in the middle ages, the following: \"In a moral sense, we offer a\ncalf when we conquer the pride of the flesh; a lamb, when we correct\nour irrational impulses; a kid, when we master impurity; a dove, when\nwe are simple; a turtle-dove, when we observe chastity; unleavened\nbread, 'when we keep the feast not in the leaven of malice, but in the\nunleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'\"]\n\nBut the judgment of God is a hidden one, when man cannot arrive at the\nknowledge of it either by the law of nature or by the written law, but\nonly occasionally by a special grace. This grace comes in several\nways: sometimes by simple revelation, sometimes by revelation assisted\nby a certain kind of trial or debate. Simple revelation, too, is of\ntwo kinds: either God gives it of his own accord, or it is gained by\nprayer. God gives it of his own accord in two ways, either plainly, or\nby a sign. His judgment against Saul was revealed to Samuel plainly;\nbut it was by a sign that it was revealed to Pharaoh what God had\njudged touching the setting free of the children of Israel. The\njudgment of God is also given in answer to prayer, as he knew who\nspoke in the second book of Chronicles:[250] \"When we know not what we\nought to do, this only have we left, to direct our eyes to Thee.\"\n\n[Footnote 250: 2 Chron. xx. 12 (Vulg.).]\n\nRevelation by means of trial is also of two kinds. It is given either\nby casting lots, or by combat; for \"to strive\" (_certare_), is derived\nfrom a phrase which means \"to make certain\" (_certum facere_). It is\nclear that the judgment of God is sometimes revealed to men by casting\nlots, as in the substitution of Matthias in the Acts of the Apostles.\n\nAgain the judgment of God is revealed to men by combat in two ways:\neither it is by a trial of strength, as in the duels of champions who\nare called \"_duelliones_,\" or it is by the contention of many men,\neach striving to reach a certain mark first, as happens in the\ncontests of athletes who run for a prize. The first of these methods\nwas prefigured among the Gentiles by the contests between Hercules and\nAnt\u00e6us, which Lucan mentions in the fourth book of his _Pharsalia_,\nand Ovid in the ninth book of his _Metamorphoses_. The second is\nprefigured by the contest between Atalanta and Hippomenes, described\nin the tenth book of Ovid's _Metamorphoses_.[251]\n\n[Footnote 251: _Phars._ iv. 593; _Metam._ ix. 183, x. 569.--(W.).]\n\nMoreover, it ought not to pass unnoticed concerning these two kinds of\nstrife, that while in the first each champion may fairly hinder his\nantagonist, in the second this is not so; for athletes must not hinder\none another in their strife, though our poet seems to have thought\ndifferently in the fifth _\u00c6neid_ where Euryalus so receives the\nprize.[252] But Cicero has done better in forbidding this practice in\nthe third book of the _De Officiis_, following the opinion of\nChrysippus.[253] He there says: \"Chrysippus is right here, as he often\nis, for he says that he who runs in a race should strive with all his\nmight to win, but in no way should he try to trip up his competitor.\"\n\n[Footnote 252: V. 335--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 253: III. 10.--(W.)]\n\nWith these distinctions, then, we may assume that there are two ways\nin which men may learn the judgment of God, as we have on this point\nstated; first by the contests of athletes, and secondly by the\ncontests of champions. These ways of discovering the judgment of God I\nwill treat of in the chapter following.\n\n\nIX.--That people then, which conquered when all were striving hard for\nthe Empire of the world, conquered by the will of God. For God cares\nmore to settle a universal strife than a particular one; and even in\nparticular contests the athletes sometimes throw themselves on the\njudgment of God, according to the common proverb: \"To whom God makes\nthe grant, him let Peter also bless.\"[254] It cannot, then, be\ndoubted that the victory in the strife for the Empire of the world\nfollowed the judgment of God. The Roman people, when all were striving\nfor the Empire of the world, conquered; it will be plain that so it\nwas, if we consider the prize or goal, and those who strove for it.\nThe prize or goal was the supremacy over all men; for it is this that\nwe call the Empire. None reached this but the Roman people. Not only\nwere they the first, they were the only ones to reach the goal, as we\nshall shortly see.\n\n[Footnote 254: Witte only gives a query (?). The saying expresses the\nGhibelline view of the relation of the Empire to the Pope; it may have\noriginated with the coronation of Charles the Great.]\n\nThe first man who panted for the prize was Ninus, King of the\nAssyrians; but although for more than ninety years (as Orosius\ntells[255]) he, with his royal consort Semiramis, strove for the\nEmpire of the world and made all Asia subject to himself, nevertheless\nhe never subdued the West. Ovid mentions both him and his queen in the\nfourth book of the _Metamorphoses_, when he says, in the story of\nPyramus:[256] \"Semiramis girdled the round space with brick-built\nwalls;\" and, \"let them come to Ninus' tomb and hide beneath in its\nshade.\"\n\n[Footnote 255: I. 4.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 256: _Metam._ iv. 58, 88.--(W.)]\n\nSecondly, Vesoges, King of Egypt, aspired to this prize; but though he\nvexed the North and South of Asia, as Orosius relates,[257] yet he\nnever gained for himself one-half of the world; nay, when, as it\nwere, between the judges[258] and the goal, the Scythians drove him\nback from his rash enterprise.\n\n[Footnote 257: Oros. i. 14.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 258: \"Athlothet\u00e6.\" The judges or umpires in the Greek games,\nwhose seats were opposite to the goal at the side of the stadium.\n_Vide_ Smith's _Dictionary of Antiquities_, s.v. \"stadium.\"]\n\nThen Cyrus, King of the Persians, made the same attempt; but after the\ndestruction of Babylon, and the transference of its Empire to Persia,\nhe did not even reach the regions of the West, but lost his life and\nhis object in one day at the hands of Tamiris, Queen of the\nScythians.[259]\n\n[Footnote 259: Oros. ii. 7.--(W.)]\n\nBut after that these had failed, Xerxes, the son of Darius and king\namong the Persians, assailed the world with so great a multitude of\nnations, with so great a power, that he bridged the channel of the sea\nwhich separates Asia from Europe, between Sestos and Abydos. And of\nthis wonderful work Lucan makes mention in the second book of his\n_Pharsalia_:[260] \"Such paths across the seas, made by Xerxes in his\npride, fame tells of.\" But finally he was miserably repulsed from his\nenterprise, and could not attain the goal.\n\n[Footnote 260: _Phars._ ii. 692.--(W.)]\n\nBesides these kings, and after their times, Alexander, King of\nMacedon, came nearest of all to the prize of monarchy; he sent\nambassadors to the Romans to demand their submission, but before the\nRoman answer came, he fell in Egypt, as Livy[261] tells us, as it were\nin the middle of the course. Of his burial there, Lucan speaks in the\neighth book of his _Pharsalia_,[262] where he is inveighing against\nPtolemy, King of Egypt: \"Thou last of the Lag\u00e6an race, soon to perish\nin thy degeneracy, and to yield thy kingdom to an incestuous sister;\nwhile for thee the Macedonian is kept in the sacred cave....\"\n\n[Footnote 261: Not Livy. Cf. ix. 18, 3, where, speaking of Alexander\nand the Romans, he says: \"Quem ne fam\u00e2 quidem illis notum arbitror\nfuisse.\" The story is Greek in origin, coming from Cleitarchus\n(according to Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ iii. 9), who accompanied Alexander\non his Asiatic expedition. Cf. Niebuhr, _Lectures on the History of\nRome_, lect. 52, Grote, _History of Greece_, vol. xii. p. 70, note,\nwho argue for its truth, and Mommsen, _History of Rome_, vol. i. p.\n394, who argues against it. Dante, says Witte, used legends about\nAlexander now lost. Cf. _Inf._ xiv. 31.]\n\n[Footnote 262: VIII. 692.]\n\n\"Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!\"\nWho will not marvel at thee here? For when Alexander was trying to\nhinder his Roman competitor in the race, thou didst suddenly snatch\nhim away from the contest that his rashness might proceed no further.\n\nBut that Rome has won the crown of so great a victory is proved on the\ntestimony of many. Our poet in his first _\u00c6neid_ says:[263] \"Hence,\nsurely, shall one day the Romans come, as the years roll on, to be the\nleaders of the world, from the blood of Teucer renewed; over the sea\nand over the land they shall hold full sway.\"[264] And Lucan, in his\nfirst book, writes: \"The sword assigns the kingdom; and the fortune of\nthat mighty people that rules o'er sea and land and the whole earth,\nadmitted not two to rule.\" And Boethius, in his second book,[265]\nspeaking of the Roman prince says: \"With his sceptre he ruled the\nnations, those whom Phoebus beholds, from his rising afar to where\nhe sinks his beams beneath the waves; those who are benumbed by the\nfrosty Seven Stars of the north, those whom the fierce south wind\nscorches with his heat, parching the burning sands.\" And Luke, the\nScribe of Christ, bears the same testimony, whose every word is true,\nwhere he says: \"There went out a decree from C\u00e6sar Augustus that all\nthe world should be taxed;\" from which words we must plainly\nunderstand that the Romans had jurisdiction over the whole world.\n\n[Footnote 263: I. 234.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 264: I. 109.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 265: _De Consol. Phil._ ii. 6.--(W.)]\n\nFrom all this evidence it is manifest that the Roman people prevailed\nwhen all were striving to gain the Empire of the world. Therefore it\nwas by the judgment of God that it prevailed; consequently its Empire\nwas gained by the judgment of God, which is to say, that it was gained\nby right.\n\n\nX.--And what is gained as the result of single combat or duel is\ngained of right. For whenever human judgment fails, either because it\nis involved in the clouds of ignorance, or because it has not the\nassistance of a judge, then, lest justice should be left deserted, we\nmust have recourse to Him who loved justice so much that He died to\nfulfil what it required by shedding His own blood. Therefore the\nPsalmist wrote: \"The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.\" This result\nis gained when, by the free consent of the parties, not from hatred\nbut from love of justice, men inquire of the judgment of God by a\ntrial of strength as well of soul as of body. And this trial of\nstrength is called a duel, because in the first instance it was\nbetween two combatants, man to man.\n\nBut when two nations quarrel they are bound to try in every possible\nway to arrange the quarrel by means of discussion; it is only when\nthis is hopeless that they may declare war. Cicero and Vegetius agree\non this point, the former in his _De Officiis_,[266] the latter in his\nbook on war. In the practice of medicine recourse may only be had to\namputation and cauterising when every other means of cure have been\ntried. So in the same way, it is only when we have sought in vain for\nall other modes of deciding a quarrel that we may resort to the remedy\nof a single combat, forced thereto by a necessity of justice.\n\n[Footnote 266: _De Off._ i. 12; _De Re Milit._ iii. _prol._--(W.)]\n\nTwo formal rules, then, of the single combat are clear, one which we\nhave just mentioned, the other, which we touched on before, that the\ncombatants or champions must enter the lists by common consent, not\nanimated by private hatred or love, but simply by an eager desire for\njustice. Therefore Cicero, in touching on this matter, spoke well when\nhe said: \"Wars, which are waged for the crown of empire, must be waged\nwithout bitterness.\"[267]\n\n[Footnote 267: \"Imperii _gloria_,\" not \"_corona_,\" in _Cic. de Off._\ni. 12.--(W.)]\n\nBut, if the rules of single combat be kept when men are driven by\njustice to meet together by common consent, in their zeal for justice\n(and if they are not, the contest ceases to be a single combat), do\nnot they meet together in the name of God? And if it is so, is not God\nin the midst of them, for He Himself promises us this in the Gospel?\nAnd if God is there, is it not impious to suppose that justice can\nfail?--that justice which He loved so much, as we have just seen. And\nif single combat cannot fail to secure justice, is not what is gained\nin single combat gained as of right?\n\nThis truth the Gentiles, too, recognised before the trumpet of the\nGospel was sounded, when they sought for a judgment in the fortune of\nsingle combat. So Pyrrhus, noble both in the manners and in the blood\nof \u00c6acid\u00e6, gave a worthy answer when the Roman envoys were sent to him\nto treat for the ransom of prisoners. \"I ask not for gold; ye shall\npay me no price, being not war-mongers, but true men of war. Let each\ndecide his fate with steel, and not with gold. Whether it be you or I\nthat our mistress wills to reign, or what chance she may bring to\neach, let us try by valour. Hear ye also this word: those whose valour\nthe fortune of war has spared, their liberty will I too spare. Take ye\nthem as my gift.\"[268] So spoke Pyrrhus. By \"mistress\" he meant\nFortune, which we better and more rightly call the Providence of God.\nTherefore, let the combatants beware that they fight not for money;\nthen it would be no true single combat in which they fought, for they\nwould strive in a court of blood and injustice; and let it not be\nthought that God would then be present to judge; nay, for it would be\nthat ancient enemy who had been the instigator of the strife. If they\nwish to be true combatants, and not dealers in blood and injustice,\nlet them keep Pyrrhus before their eyes when they enter the arena, the\nman who, when he was striving for empire, so scorned gold, as we have\nsaid.\n\n[Footnote 268: Ennius in _Cic. de Off._ i. 12 (W.) \"War-monger\" is\nSpenser's word. _F.Q._ 3, 10, 29.]\n\nBut, if men will not receive the truth which we have proved, and\nobject, as they are wont, that all men are not equal in strength, we\nwill refute them with the instance of the victory of David over\nGoliath; and if the Gentiles seek for aught more, let them repel the\nobjection by the victory of Hercules over Ant\u00e6us. For it is mere folly\nto fear that the strength which God makes strong should be weaker than\na human champion. It is, therefore, now sufficiently clear that what\nis acquired by single combat is acquired by right.\n\n\nXI.--But the Roman people gained their empire by duel between man and\nman; and this is proved by testimonies that are worthy of all\ncredence; and in proving this, we shall also show that where any\nquestion had to be decided from the beginning of the Roman Empire, it\nwas tried by single combat.\n\nFor first of all, when a quarrel arose about the settling in Italy of\nFather \u00c6neas, the earliest ancestor of this people, and when Turnus,\nKing of the Rutuli, withstood \u00c6neas, it was at last agreed between the\ntwo kings to discover the good pleasure of God by a single combat,\nwhich is sung in the last book of the _\u00c6neid_. And in this combat\n\u00c6neas was so merciful in his victory, that he would have granted life\nand peace to the conquered foe, had he not seen the belt which Turnus\nhad taken on slaying Pallas, as the last verses of our poet describe.\n\nAgain, when two peoples had grown up in Italy, both sprung from the\nTrojan stem, namely, the Romans and the Albans, and they had long\nstriven whose should be the sign of the eagle,[269] and the Penates of\nTroy, and the honours of empire; at last by mutual consent, in order\nto have certain knowledge of the case in hand, the three Horatii, who\nwere brethren, and the three Curatii, who were also brethren, fought\ntogether before the kings and all the people anxiously waiting on\neither side; and since the three Alban champions were killed, while\none Roman survived, the palm of victory fell to the Romans, in the\nreign of Hostilius the king. This story has been diligently put\ntogether by Livy, in the first part of his history, and Orosius also\ngives similar testimony.[270]\n\n[Footnote 269: \"_Il sacrosanto segno._\" V. _Parad._ vi. 32.]\n\n[Footnote 270: Liv. i. 24; Oros. ii. 4.]\n\nNext they fought for empire with their neighbours the Sabines and\nSamnites, as Livy tells us; all the laws of war were kept; and though\nthose who fought were very many in number, the war was in the form of\na combat between man and man. In the contest with the Samnites,\nFortune nearly repented her of what she had begun, as Lucan instances\nin the second book of his _Pharsalia_:[271] \"How many companies lay\ndead by the Colline gate then, when the headship of the world and\nuniversal empire well-nigh were transferred to other seats, and the\nSamnite heaped the corpses of Rome beyond the numbers[272] of the\nCaudine Forks.\"\n\n[Footnote 271: II. 135.]\n\n[Footnote 272:\n\n                   \"Romanaque Samnis\n     Ultra Caudinas superavit vulnera furcas.\"\n\nAnother reading is \"speravit.\"]\n\nBut after that the intestine quarrels of Italy had ceased, and while\nthe issue of the strife with Greece and Carthage was not yet made\ncertain by the judgment of God--for both Greece and Carthage aimed at\nempire--then Fabricius for Rome, and Pyrrhus for Greece, fought with\nvast hosts for the glory of empire, and Rome gained the day. And when\nScipio for Rome, and Hannibal for Carthage, fought man to man, the\nAfricans fell before the Italians, as Livy and all the other Roman\nhistorians strive to tell.\n\nWho then is so dull of understanding as not to see that this glorious\npeople has won the crown of all the world, by the decision of combat?\nSurely the Roman may repeat Paul's words to Timothy: \"There is laid up\nfor me a crown of righteousness,\" laid up, that is, in the eternal\nprovidence of God. Let, then, the presumptuous Jurists see how far\nthey stand below that watch-tower of reason whence the mind of man\nregards these principles: and let them be silent, content to show\nforth counsel and judgment according to the meaning of the law.\n\nIt has now become manifest that it was by combat of man against man\nthat the Romans gained their empire: therefore it was by right that\nthey gained it, and this is the principal thesis of the present book.\nUp to this point we have proved our thesis by arguments which mostly\nrest on principles of reason; we must now make our point clear by\narguments based on the principles of the Christian faith.\n\n\nXII.--For it is they who profess to be zealous for the faith of Christ\nwho have chiefly \"raged together,\" and \"imagined a vain thing\" against\nthe Roman empire; men who have no compassion on the poor of Christ,\nwhom they not only defraud as to the revenues of the Church; but the\nvery patrimonies of the Church are daily seized upon; and the Church\nis made poor, while making a show of justice they yet refuse to allow\nthe minister of justice to fulfil his office.\n\nNor does this impoverishment happen without the judgment of God. For\ntheir possessions do not afford help to the poor, to whom belongs as\ntheir patrimony the wealth of the Church; and these possessions are\nheld without gratitude to the empire which gives them. Let these\npossessions go back to whence they came. They came well; their return\nis evil: for they were well given, and they are mischievously held.\nWhat shall we say to shepherds like these? What shall we say when the\nsubstance of the Church is wasted, while the private estates of their\nown kindred are enlarged? But perchance it is better to proceed with\nwhat is set before us; and in religious silence to wait for our\nSaviour's help.\n\nI say, then, that if the Roman empire did not exist by right, Christ\nin being born presupposed and sanctioned an unjust thing. But the\nconsequent is false; therefore the contradictory of the antecedent is\ntrue; for it is always true of contradictory propositions, that if one\nis false the other is true. It is not needful to prove the falsity of\nthe consequent to a true believer: for, if he be faithful, he will\ngrant it to be false; and if he be not faithful, then this reasoning\nis not for him.\n\nI prove the consequence thus: wherever a man of his own free choice\ncarries out a public order, he countenances and persuades by his act\nthe justice of that order; and seeing that acts are more forcible to\npersuade than words (as Aristotle holds in the tenth book of his\n_Ethics_),[273] therefore by this he persuades us more than if it were\nmerely an approval in words. But Christ, as Luke who writes His\nstory, says, willed to be born of the Virgin Mary under an edict of\nRoman authority, so that in that unexampled census of mankind, the Son\nof God, made man, might be counted as man: and this was to carry out\nthat edict. Perhaps it is even more religious to suppose that it was\nof God that the decree issued through C\u00e6sar, so that He who had been\nsuch long years expected among men should Himself enroll himself with\nmortal man.\n\n[Footnote 273: _Eth._ x. 1.]\n\nTherefore Christ, by His action, enforced the justice of the edict of\nAugustus, who then wielded the Roman power. And since to issue a just\nedict implies jurisdiction, it necessarily follows that He who showed\nthat He thought an edict just, must also have showed that He thought\nthe jurisdiction under which it was issued just; but unless it existed\nby right it were unjust.\n\nAnd it must be noted that the force of the argument taken to destroy\nthe consequent, though the argument partly holds from its form, shows\nits force in the second figure, if it be reduced as a syllogism, just\nas the argument based on the assumption of the antecedent is in the\nfirst figure. The reduction is made thus: all that is unjust is\npersuaded to men unjustly; Christ did not persuade us unjustly;\ntherefore He did not persuade us to do unjust things. From the\nassumption of the antecedent thus: all injustice is persuaded to men\nunjustly: Christ persuaded a certain injustice to man, therefore He\npersuaded unjustly.\n\n\nXIII.--And if the Roman empire did not exist by right, the sin of Adam\nwas not punished in Christ. This is false, therefore its contradictory\nis true. The falsehood of the consequent is seen thus. Since by the\nsin of Adam we were all sinners, as the Apostle says:--\"Wherefore, as\nby one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death\npassed upon all men, for that all have sinned,\"--then, if Christ had\nnot made satisfaction for Adam's sin by his death, we should still by\nour depraved nature be the children of wrath. But this is not so, for\nPaul, speaking of the Father in his Epistle to the Ephesians, says:\n\"Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ\nto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise\nof the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the\nbeloved, in whom we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of\nsins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He has abounded\ntowards us.\" And Christ Himself, suffering in Himself the punishment,\nsays in St. John: \"It is finished;\" for where a thing is finished,\nnaught remains to be done.\n\nIt is convenient that it should be understood that punishment is not\nmerely penalty inflicted on him who has done wrong, but that penalty\ninflicted by one who has penal jurisdiction. And therefore a penalty\nshould not be called punishment, but rather injury, except where it is\ninflicted by the sentence of a regular judge.[274] Therefore the\nIsraelites said unto Moses: \"Who made thee a judge over us?\"\n\n[Footnote 274: \"_Ab ordinario judice._\"]\n\nIf, therefore, Christ had not suffered by the sentence of a regular\njudge, the penalty would not properly have been punishment; and none\ncould be a regular judge who had not jurisdiction over all mankind;\nfor all mankind was punished in the flesh of Christ, who \"hath borne\nour griefs and carried our sorrows,\" as saith the Prophet Isaiah. And\nif the Roman empire had not existed by right, Tiberius C\u00e6sar, whose\nvicar was Pontius Pilate, would not have had jurisdiction over all\nmankind. It was for this reason that Herod, not knowing what he did,\nlike Caiaphas, when he spoke truly of the decree of heaven, sent\nChrist to Pilate to be judged, as Luke relates in his gospel. For\nHerod was not the vicegerent of Tiberius, under the standard of the\neagle, or the standard of the Senate; but only a king, with one\nparticular kingdom given him by Tiberius, and ruling the kingdom\ncommitted to his charge under Tiberius.\n\nLet them cease, then, to insult the Roman empire, who pretend that\nthey are the sons of the Church; when they see that Christ, the\nbridegroom of the Church, sanctioned the Roman empire at the beginning\nand at the end of His warfare on earth. And now I think that I have\nmade it sufficiently clear that it was by right that the Romans\nacquired to themselves the empire of the world.\n\nOh happy people, oh Ausonia, how glorious hadst thou been, if either\nhe, that weakener of thine empire, had never been born, or if his own\npious intention had never deceived him?[275]\n\n[Footnote 275: Constantine the Great.--(W.)]\n\n\n\n\nBOOK III.\n\n\nI.--\"He hath shut the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me,\nforasmuch as before Him justice was found in me.\"[276] At the\nbeginning of this work I proposed to examine into three questions,\naccording as the subject-matter would permit me. Concerning the two\nfirst questions our inquiry, as I think, has been sufficiently\naccomplished in the preceding books. It remains to treat of the third\nquestion; and, perchance, it may arouse a certain amount of\nindignation against me, for the truth of it cannot appear without\ncausing shame to certain men. But seeing that truth from its\nchangeless throne appeals to me--that Solomon too, entering on the\nforest of his proverbs, teaches me in his own person \"to meditate on\ntruth, to hate the wicked;\"[277] seeing that the Philosopher, my\ninstructor in morals, bids me, for the sake of truth, to put aside\nwhat is dearest;[278] I will, therefore, take confidence from the\nwords of Daniel in which the power of God, the shield of the defenders\nof truth, is set forth, and, according to the exhortation of St.\nPaul, \"putting on the breast-plate of faith,\" and in the heat of that\ncoal which one of the seraphim had taken from off the altar, and laid\non the lips of Isaiah, I will enter on the present contest, and, by\nthe arm of Him who delivered us by His blood from the powers of\ndarkness, drive out from the lists the wicked and the liar, in the\nsight of all the world. Why should I fear, when the Spirit, which is\nco-eternal with the Father and the Son, saith by the mouth of David:\n\"The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance, he shall not\nbe afraid of evil tidings\"?[279]\n\n[Footnote 276: Dan. vi. 22. Vulg.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 277: Prov. vii. 7. Vulg.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 278: Arist. _Eth._ i. 4.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 279: Ps. cxii. 7.--(W.)]\n\nThe present question, then, concerning which we have to inquire, is\nbetween two great luminaries, the Roman Pontiff and the Roman Prince:\nand the question is, does the authority of the Roman Monarch, who, as\nwe have proved in the second book, is the monarch of the world, depend\nimmediately on God, or on some minister or vicar of God; by whom I\nunderstand the successor of Peter, who truly has the keys of the\nkingdom of heaven?\n\n\nII.--For this, as for the former questions, we must take some\nprinciple, on the strength of which we may fashion the arguments of\nthe truth which is to be expounded. For what does it profit to labour,\neven in speaking truth, unless we start from a principle? For the\nprinciple alone is the root of all the propositions which are the\nmeans of proof.\n\nLet us, therefore, start from the irrefragable truth that that which\nis repugnant to the intention of nature, is against the will of God.\nFor if this were not true its contradictory would not be false;\nnamely, that what is repugnant to the intention of nature is not\nagainst God's will, and if this be not false neither are the\nconsequences thereof false. For it is impossible in consequences which\nare necessary, that the consequent should be false, unless the\nantecedent were false also.\n\nBut if a thing is not \"_against the will_\" it must either be willed or\nsimply \"not willed,\" just as \"not to hate\" means \"to love,\" or \"not to\nlove;\" for \"not to love\" does not mean \"to hate,\" and \"not to will\"\ndoes not mean \"to will not,\" as is self-evident. But if this is not\nfalse, neither will this proposition be false; \"God wills what He does\nnot will,\" than which a greater contradiction does not exist.\n\nI prove that what I say is true as follows: It is manifest that God\nwills the end of nature; otherwise the motions of heaven would be of\nnone effect, and this we may not say. If God willed that the end\nshould be hindered, He would will also that the hindering power should\ngain its end, otherwise His will would be of none effect. And since\nthe end of the hindering power is the non-existence of what it\nhinders, it would follow that God wills the non-existence of the end\nof nature which He is said to will.\n\nFor if God did not will that the end should be hindered, in so far as\nHe did not will it, it would follow as a consequence to His not\nwilling it, that He cared nought about the hindering power, neither\nwhether it existed, nor whether it did not. But he who cares not for\nthe hindering power, cares not for the thing which can be hindered,\nand consequently has no wish for it; and when a man has no wish for a\nthing he wills it not. Therefore, if the end of nature can be\nhindered, as it can, it follows of necessity that God wills not the\nend of nature, and we reach our previous conclusion, that God wills\nwhat He does not will. Our principle is therefore most true, seeing\nthat from its contradictions such absurd results follow.\n\n\nIII.--At the outset we must note in reference to this third question,\nthat the truth of the first question had to be made manifest rather to\nremove ignorance than to end a dispute. In the second question we\nsought equally to remove ignorance and to end a dispute. For there are\nmany things of which we are ignorant, but concerning which we do not\nquarrel. In geometry we know not how to square the circle, but we do\nnot quarrel on that point. The theologian does not know the number of\nthe angels, but he does not quarrel about the number. The Egyptian is\nignorant of the political system of the Scythians, but he does not\ntherefore quarrel concerning it.[280] But the truth in this third\nquestion provokes so much quarrelling that, whereas in other matters\nignorance is commonly the cause of quarrelling, here quarrelling is\nthe cause of ignorance. For this always happens where men are hurried\nby their wishes past what they see by their reason; in this evil bias\nthey lay aside the light of reason, and being dragged on blindly by\ntheir desires, they obstinately deny that they are blind. And,\ntherefore, it often follows not only that falsehood has its own\ninheritance, but that many men issue forth from their own bounds and\nstray through the foreign camp, where they understand nothing, and no\nman understands them; and so they provoke some to anger, and some to\nscorn, and not a few to laughter.\n\n[Footnote 280: \"_Scytharum Civilitatem._\" Cf. Arist. _Ethics_, iii. 5,\nwhere [Greek: to bouleuton] is discussed, and thence come the first\nand the third example, a little altered, the Egyptian being\nsubstituted for the Spartan.]\n\nNow three classes of men chiefly strive against the truth which we are\ntrying to prove.\n\nFirst, the Chief Pontiff, Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ and the\nsuccessor of Peter, to whom we owe, not indeed all that we owe to\nChrist, but all that we owe to Peter, contradicts this truth, urged it\nmay be by zeal for the keys; and also other pastors of the Christian\nsheepfolds, and others whom I believe to be only led by zeal for our\nmother, the Church. These all, perchance from zeal and not from pride,\nwithstand the truth which I am about to prove.\n\nBut there are certain others in whom obstinate greed has extinguished\nthe light of reason, who are of their father the devil, and yet\npretend to be sons of the Church. They not only stir up quarrels in\nthis question, but they hate the name of the most sacred office of\nPrince, and would shamelessly deny the principles which we have laid\ndown for this and the previous questions.\n\nThere is also a third class called Decretalists,[281] utterly without\nknowledge or skill in philosophy or theology, who, relying entirely on\ntheir Decretals (which doubtless, I think, should be venerated), and\nhoping, I believe, that these Decretals will prevail, disparage the\npower of the Empire. And no wonder, for I have heard one of them,\nspeaking of these Decretals, assert shamelessly that the traditions of\nthe Church are the foundation of the faith. May this wickedness be\ntaken away from the thoughts of men by those who, antecedently to the\ntraditions of the Church, have believed in Christ the Son of God,\nwhether to come, or present, or as having already suffered; and who\nfrom their faith have hoped, and from their hope have kindled into\nlove, and who, burning with love, will, the world doubts not, be made\nco-heirs with Him.\n\n[Footnote 281: _Parad._ ix. 133.--(W.)]\n\nAnd that such arguers may be excluded once for all from the present\ndebate, it must be noted that part of Scripture was _before_ the\nChurch, that part of it came _with_ the Church, and part _after_ the\nChurch.\n\n_Before_ the Church were the Old and the New Testament--the covenant\nwhich the Psalmist says was \"commanded for ever,\" of which the Church\nspeaks to her Bridegroom, saying: \"Draw me after thee.\"[282]\n\n[Footnote 282: Ps. cxi. 9. Cant. i. 3.--(W.)]\n\n_With_ the Church came those venerable chief Councils, with which no\nfaithful Christian doubts but that Christ was present. For we have His\nown words to His disciples when He was about to ascend into heaven:\n\"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world,\" to which\nMatthew testifies. There are also the writings[283] of the doctors,\nAugustine and others, of whom, if any doubt that they were aided by\nthe Holy Spirit, either he has never beheld their fruit, or if he has\nbeheld, he has never tasted thereof.\n\n[Footnote 283: \"_Scriptur\u00e6._\"]\n\n_After_ the Church are the traditions which they call Decretals,\nwhich, although they are to be venerated for their apostolical\nauthority, yet we must not doubt that they are to be held inferior to\nfundamental Scripture, seeing that Christ rebuked the Pharisees for\nthis very thing; for when they had asked: \"Why do thy disciples\ntransgress the tradition of the elders?\" (for they neglected the\nwashing of hands), He answered them, as Matthew testifies: \"Why do ye\nalso transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?\" Thus He\nintimates plainly that tradition was to have a lower place.\n\nBut if the traditions of the Church are _after_ the Church, it follows\nthat the Church had not its authority from traditions, but rather\ntraditions from the Church; and, therefore, the men of whom we speak,\nseeing that they have nought but traditions, must be excluded from the\ndebate. For those who seek after this truth must proceed in their\ninquiry from those things from which flows the authority of the\nChurch.\n\nFurther, we must exclude others who boast themselves to be white sheep\nin the flock of the Lord, when they have the plumage of crows. These\nare the children of wickedness, who, that they may be able to follow\ntheir evil ways, put shame on their mother, drive out their brethren,\nand when they have done all will allow none to judge them. Why should\nwe seek to reason with these, when they are led astray by their evil\ndesires, and so cannot see even our first principle?\n\nTherefore there remains the controversy only with the other sort of\nmen who are influenced by a certain kind of zeal for their mother the\nChurch, and yet know not the truth which is sought for. With these\nmen, therefore--strong in the reverence which a dutiful son owes to\nhis father, which a dutiful son owes to his mother, dutiful to Christ,\ndutiful to the Church, dutiful to the Chief Shepherd, dutiful to all\nwho profess the religion of Christ--I begin in this book the contest\nfor the maintenance of the truth.\n\n\nIV.--Those men to whom all our subsequent reasoning is addressed, when\nthey assert that the authority of the Empire depends on the authority\nof the Church, as the inferior workman depends on the architect, are\nmoved to take this view by many arguments, some of which they draw\nfrom Holy Scripture, and some also from the acts of the Supreme\nPontiff and of the Emperor himself. Moreover, they strive to have some\nproof of reason.\n\nFor in the first place they say that God, according to the book of\nGenesis, made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and\nthe lesser light to rule the night; this they understand to be an\nallegory, for that the lights are the two powers,[284] the spiritual\nand the temporal. And then they maintain that as the moon, which is\nthe lesser light, only has light so far as she receives it from the\nsun, so the temporal power only has authority as it receives authority\nfrom the spiritual power.\n\n[Footnote 284: \"_Regimina._\"]\n\nFor the disposing of these, and of other like arguments, we must\nremember the Philosopher's words in his book on Sophistry, \"the\noverthrow of an argument is the pointing out of the mistake.\"[285]\n\n[Footnote 285: _Soph. El._ ii. 3.--(W.)]\n\nError may arise in two ways, either in the matter, or in the form of\nan argument; either, that is, by assuming to be true what is false, or\nby transgressing the laws of the syllogism. The Philosopher raised\nobjections to the arguments of Parmenides and Melissus on both of\nthese grounds, saying that they accepted what was false, and that they\ndid not argue correctly.[286] I use \"false\" in a large sense, as\nincluding the inconceivable,[287] that which in matters admitting only\nof probability has the nature of falseness. If the error is in the\nform of an argument, he who wishes to destroy the error must do so by\nshowing that the laws of the syllogism have been transgressed. If the\nerror is in the matter, it is because something has been assumed\nwhich is either false in itself, or false in relation to that\nparticular instance. If the assumption is false in itself, the\nargument must be destroyed by destroying the assumption; if it is\nfalse only in that particular instance, we must draw a distinction\nbetween the falseness in that particular instance and its general\ntruth.\n\n[Footnote 286: Aristotle, _Phys._ i. 2.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 287: \"_Inopinabili._\"]\n\nHaving noted these things, to make it more clear how we destroy this\nand the further fallacies of our adversaries, we must remark that\nthere are two ways in which error may arise concerning the mystical\nsense, either by seeking it where it is not, or by accepting it in a\nsense other than its real sense.\n\nOn account of the first of these ways, Augustine says, in his work _Of\nthe City of God_,[288] that we must not think that all things, of\nwhich we are told, have a special meaning; for it is on account of\nthat which means something, that that also which means nothing is\nwoven into a story. It is only with the ploughshare that we turn up\nthe earth; but the other parts of the plough are also necessary.\n\n[Footnote 288: Dante does not quote St. Augustine's words, but gives\nhis meaning, xvii. 2.--(W.)]\n\nOn account of the second way in which error touching the\ninterpretation of mysteries may arise, Augustine, in his book\n\"_concerning Christian doctrine_,\" speaking of those who wish to find\nin Scripture something other than he who wrote the Scripture\nmeant,[289] says, that such \"are misled in the same way as a man who\nleaves the straight path, and then arrives at the end of the path by a\nlong circuit.\" And he adds: \"It ought to be shown that this is a\nmistake, lest through the habit of going out of the way, the man be\ndriven to going into cross or wrong ways.\" And then he intimates why\nsuch precautions must be taken in interpreting Scripture. \"Faith will\nfalter, if the authority of Scripture be not sure.\" But I say that if\nthese things happen from ignorance, we must pardon those who do them,\nwhen we have carefully reproved them, as we pardon those who imagine a\nlion in the clouds, and are afraid. But if they are done purposely, we\nmust deal with those who err thus, as we do with tyrants, who instead\nof following the laws of the state for the public good, try to pervert\nthem for their own advantage.\n\n[Footnote 289: I. 36, 37. Dante writes: \"per gyrum.\" The Benedictine\ntext has: \"per agrum.\"]\n\nOh worst of crimes, even though a man commit it in his dreams, to turn\nto ill use the purpose of the Eternal Spirit. Such an one does not sin\nagainst Moses, or David, or Job, or Matthew, or Paul, but against the\nEternal Spirit that speaketh in them. For though the reporters of the\nwords of God are many, yet there is one only that tells them what to\nwrite, even God, who has deigned to unfold to us His will through the\npens of many writers.\n\nHaving thus first noted these things, I will proceed, as I said above,\nto destroy the argument of those who say that the two great lights are\ntypical of the two great powers on earth: for on this type rests the\nwhole strength of their argument. It can be shown in two ways that\nthis interpretation cannot be upheld. First, seeing that these two\nkinds of power are, in a sense, accidents of men, God would thus\nappear to have used a perverted order, by producing the accidents,\nbefore the essence to which they belong existed; and it is ridiculous\nto say this of God. For the two great lights were created on the\nfourth day, while man was not created till the sixth day, as is\nevident in the text of Scripture.\n\nSecondly, seeing that these two kinds of rule are to guide men to\ncertain ends, as we shall see, it follows that if man had remained in\nthe state of innocence in which God created him, he would not have\nneeded such means of guidance. These kinds of rule, then, are remedies\nagainst the weakness of sin. Since, then, man was not a sinner on the\nfourth day, for he did not then even exist, it would have been idle to\nmake remedies for his sin, and this would be contrary to the goodness\nof God. For he would be a sorry physician who would make a plaster\nfor an abscess which was to be, before the man was born. It cannot,\ntherefore, be said that God made these two kinds of rule on the fourth\nday, and therefore the meaning of Moses cannot have been what these\nmen pretend.\n\nWe may also be more tolerant, and overthrow this falsehood by drawing\na distinction. This way of distinction is a gentler way of treating an\nadversary, for so his arguments are not made to appear consciously\nfalse, as is the case when we utterly overthrow him. I say then that,\nalthough the moon has not light of its own abundantly, unless it\nreceives it from the sun, yet it does not therefore follow that the\nmoon is from the sun. Therefore be it known that the being, and the\npower, and the working of the moon are all different things. For its\nbeing, the moon in no way depends on the sun, nor for its power, nor\nfor its working, considered in itself. Its motion comes from its\nproper mover, its influence is from its own rays. For it has a certain\nlight of its own, which is manifest at the time of an eclipse; though\nfor its better and more powerful working it receives from the sun an\nabundant light, which enables it to work more powerfully.\n\nTherefore I say that the temporal power does not receive its being\nfrom the spiritual power, nor its power which is its authority, nor\nits working considered in itself. Yet it is good that the temporal\npower should receive from the spiritual the means of working more\neffectively by the light of the grace which the benediction of the\nSupreme Pontiff bestows on it both in heaven and on earth. Therefore\nwe may see that the argument of these men erred in its form, because\nthe predicate of the conclusion is not the predicate of the major\npremiss. The argument runs thus: The moon receives her light from the\nsun, which is the spiritual power. The temporal power is the moon.\nTherefore the temporal power receives authority from the spiritual\npower. \"Light\" is the predicate of the major premiss, \"authority\" the\npredicate of the conclusion; which two things we have seen to be very\ndifferent in their subject and in their idea.\n\n\nV.--They draw another argument from the text of Moses, saying that the\ntypes of these two powers sprang from the loins of Jacob, for that\nthey are prefigured in Levi and Judah, whereof one was founder of the\nspiritual power, and the other of the temporal. From this they argue:\nthe Church has the same relation to the Empire that Levi had to Judah.\nLevi preceded Judah in his birth, therefore the Church precedes the\nEmpire in authority.\n\nThis error is easily overthrown. For when they say that Levi and\nJudah, the sons of Jacob, are the types of spiritual and temporal\npower, I could show this argument, too, to be wholly false; but I will\ngrant it to be true. Then they infer, as Levi came first in birth, so\ndoes the Church come first in authority. But, as in the previous\nargument, the predicates of the conclusion and of the major premiss\nare different: authority and birth are different things, both in their\nsubject and in their idea; and therefore there is an error in the form\nof the argument. The argument is as follows: A precedes B in C; D and\nE stand in the same relation as A and B; therefore D precedes E in F.\nBut then F and C are different things. And if it is objected that F\nfollows from C, that is, authority from priority of birth, and that\nthe effect is properly substituted for the cause, as if \"animal\" were\nused in an argument for men, the objection is bad. For there are many\nmen, who were born before others, who not only do not precede those\nothers in authority, but even come after them: as is plain where we\nfind a bishop younger than his archpresbyters. Therefore their\nobjection appears to err in that it assumes as a cause that which is\nnone.\n\n\nVI.--Again, from the first book of Kings they take the election and\nthe deposition of Saul; and they say that Saul, an enthroned king, was\ndeposed by Samuel, who, by God's command, acted in the stead of God,\nas appears from the text of Scripture. From this they argue that, as\nthat Vicar of God had authority to give temporal power, and to take it\naway and bestow it on another, so now the Vicar of God, the bishop of\nthe universal Church, has authority to give the sceptre of temporal\npower, and to take it away, and even to give it to another. And if\nthis were so, it would follow without doubt that the authority of the\nEmpire is dependent on the Church, as they say.\n\nBut we may answer and destroy this argument, by which they say that\nSamuel was the Vicar of God: for it was not as Vicar of God that he\nacted, but as a special delegate for this purpose, or as a messenger\nbearing the express command of his Lord. For it is clear that what God\ncommanded him, that only he did, and that only he said.\n\nTherefore we must recognise that it is one thing to be another's\nvicar, and that it is another to be his messenger or minister, just as\nit is one thing to be a doctor, and another to be an interpreter. For\na vicar is one to whom is committed jurisdiction with law or with\narbitrary power, and therefore within the bounds of the jurisdiction\nwhich is committed to him, he may act by law or by his arbitrary power\nwithout the knowledge of his lord. It is not so with a mere messenger,\nin so far as he is a messenger; but as the mallet acts only by the\nstrength of the smith, so the messenger acts only by the authority of\nhim that sent him. Although, then, God did this by His messenger\nSamuel, it does not follow that the Vicar of God may do the same. For\nthere are many things which God has done and still does, and yet will\ndo through angels, which the Vicar of God, the successor of Peter,\nmight not do.\n\nTherefore we may see that they argue from the whole to a part, thus:\nMen can hear and see, therefore the eye can hear and see: which does\nnot hold. Were the argument negative, it would be good: for instance,\nman cannot fly, therefore man's arm cannot fly. And, in the same way,\nGod cannot, by his messenger, cause what is not to have been,[290] as\nAgathon says; therefore neither can his Vicar.\n\n[Footnote 290: As quoted by Aristotle, _Ethics_, vi. 3.--(W.)]\n\n\nVII.--Further, they use the offering of the wise men from the text of\nMatthew, saying that Christ accepted from them both frankincense and\ngold, to signify that He was lord and ruler both of things temporal\nand of things spiritual; and from this they infer that the Vicar of\nChrist is also lord and ruler both of things temporal and of things\nspiritual; and that consequently he has authority over both.\n\nTo this I answer, that I acknowledge that Matthew's words and meaning\nare both as they say, but that the inference which they attempt to\ndraw therefrom fails, because it fails in the terms of the argument.\nTheir syllogism runs thus: God is the lord both of things temporal and\nof things spiritual, the holy Pontiff is the Vicar of God; therefore\nhe is lord both of things temporal and of things spiritual. Both of\nthese propositions are true, but the middle term in them is different,\nand _four_ terms are introduced, by which the form of the syllogism is\nnot kept, as is plain from what is said of \"the syllogism\nsimply.\"[291] For \"God\" is the subject of the major premiss, and \"the\nVicar of God\" is the predicate of the minor; and these are not the\nsame.\n\n[Footnote 291: Arist. _Anal. Prior._, or rather, the _Summul\u00e6 Logic\u00e6_,\nl. iv., of Petrus Hispanus.--(W.)]\n\nAnd if anyone raises the objection that the Vicar of God is equal in\npower to God, his objection is idle; for no vicar, whether human or\ndivine, can be equal in power to the master whose vicar he is, which\nis at once obvious. We know that the successor of Peter had not equal\nauthority with God, at least in the works of nature; he could not make\na clod of earth fall upwards, nor fire to burn in a downward\ndirection, by virtue of the office committed to him. Nor could all\nthings be committed to him by God; for God could not commit to any the\npower of creation, and of baptism, as is clearly proved,\nnotwithstanding what[292] the Master says in his fourth book.\n\n[Footnote 292: Peter Lombard, \"magister sententiarum,\" iv. dist. 5, f.\n2.--(W.)]\n\nWe know also that the vicar of a mortal man is not equal in authority\nto the man whose vicar he is, so far as he is his vicar; for none can\ngive away what is not his. The authority of a prince does not belong\nto a prince, except for him to use it; for no prince can give to\nhimself authority. He can indeed receive authority, and give it up,\nbut he cannot create it in another man, for it does not belong to a\nprince to create another prince. And if this is so, it is manifest\nthat no prince can substitute for himself a vicar equal to himself in\nauthority respecting all things, and therefore the objection to our\nargument has no weight.\n\n\nVIII.--They also bring forward that saying in Matthew of Christ to\nPeter: \"Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;\nand whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;\"\nwhich also, from the text of Matthew and John, they allow to have been\nin like manner said to all the Apostles. From this they argue that it\nhas been granted by God to the successor of Peter to be able to bind\nand to loose all things; hence they infer that he can loose the laws\nand decrees of the Empire, and also bind laws and decrees for the\ntemporal power; and, if this were so, this conclusion would rightly\nfollow.\n\nBut we must draw a distinction touching their major premiss. Their\nsyllogism is in this form. Peter could loose and bind all things; the\nsuccessor of Peter can do whatever Peter could do; therefore the\nsuccessor of Peter can bind and can loose all things: whence they\nconclude that he can bind and can loose the decrees and the authority\nof the Empire.\n\nNow I admit the minor premiss; but touching the major premiss I draw a\ndistinction. The universal \"everything\" which is included in\n\"whatever\" is not distributed beyond the extent of the distributed\nterm. If I say \"all animals run,\" \"all\" is distributed so as to\ninclude everything which comes under the class \"animal.\" But if I say\n\"all men run,\" then \"all\" is only distributed so as to include every\nindividual in the class \"man;\" and when I say \"every grammarian runs,\"\nthen is the distribution even more limited.\n\nTherefore we must always look to see what it is that is to be included\nin the word \"all,\" and when we know the nature and extent of the\ndistributed term, it will easily be seen how far the distribution\nextends. Therefore, when it is said \"whatsoever thou shalt bind,\" if\n\"whatsoever\" bore an unlimited sense, they would speak truly, and the\npower of the Pope would extend even beyond what they say; for he might\nthen divorce a wife from her husband, and marry her to another while\nher first husband was yet alive, which he can in no wise do. He might\neven absolve me when impenitent, which God Himself cannot do.\n\nTherefore it is manifest that the distribution of the term in question\nis not absolute, but in reference to something. What this is will be\nsufficiently clear if we consider what power was granted to Peter.\nChrist said to Peter: \"To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of\nheaven\"--that is, \"I will make thee the doorkeeper of the kingdom of\nheaven.\" And then He adds: \"Whatsoever,\" which is to say \"all\nthat\"--to wit, all that has reference to this duty--\"thou shalt have\npower to bind and to loose.\" And thus the universal which is implied\nin \"whatsoever\" has only a limited distribution, referring to the\noffice of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And in this sense the\nproposition of our opponents is true, but, taken absolutely, it is\nmanifestly false. I say, then, that although the successor of Peter\nhas power to bind and to loose, as belongs to him to whom the office\nof Peter was committed, yet it does not therefore follow that he has\npower to bind and to loose the decrees of the Empire, as our opponents\nsay, unless they further prove that to do so belongs to the office of\nthe keys, which we shall shortly show is not the case.\n\n\nIX.--They further take the words in Luke which Peter spake to Christ,\nsaying: \"Behold, here are two swords;\" and they understood that by\nthese two swords the two kinds of rule were foretold. And since Peter\nsaid \"here,\" where he was, which is to say, \"with him,\" they argue\nthat the authority of the two kinds of rule rests with the successor\nof Peter.\n\nWe must answer by showing that the interpretation, on which the\nargument rests, is wrong. They say that the two swords of which Peter\nspake mean the two kinds of rule which we have spoken of; but this we\nwholly deny, for then Peter's answer would not be according to the\nmeaning of the words of Christ; and also we say that Peter made, as\nwas his wont, a hasty answer, touching only the outside of things.\n\nIt will be manifest that such an answer as our opponents allege would\nnot be according to the meaning of the words of Christ, if the\npreceding words, and the reason of them, be considered. Observe, then,\nthat these words were spoken on the day of the feast, for a little\nbefore Luke writes thus: \"Then came the day of unleavened bread, when\nthe Passover must be killed;\" and at this feast Christ had spoken of\nHis Passion, which was at hand, in which it was necessary for Him to\nbe separated from His disciples. Observe, too, that when these words\nwere spoken the twelve were assembled together, and therefore, shortly\nafter the words which we have just quoted, Luke says: \"And when the\nhour was come He sat down, and the twelve Apostles with Him.\" And\ncontinuing His discourse with them, He came to this: \"When I sent you,\nwithout purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they\nsaid, Nothing. Then said He unto them: But now, he that hath a purse,\nlet him take it, and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no sword,\nlet him sell his garment, and buy one.\" From these words the purpose\nof Christ is sufficiently manifest; for He did not say: \"Buy, or get\nfor yourselves, two swords,\" but rather \"twelve swords,\" seeing that\nHe spake unto twelve disciples: \"He that hath not, let him buy,\" so\nthat each should have one. And He said this to admonish them of the\npersecution and scorn that they should suffer, as though He would say:\n\"As long as I was with you men received you gladly, but now you will\nbe driven away; therefore of necessity ye must prepare for yourselves\nthose things which formerly I forbade you to have.\" And therefore if\nthe answer of Peter bore the meaning which our opponents assign to it,\nit would have been no answer to the words of Christ; and Christ would\nhave rebuked him for answering foolishly, as He often did rebuke him.\nBut Christ did not rebuke him, but was satisfied, saying unto him: \"It\nis enough,\" as though He would say: \"I speak because of the necessity;\nbut if each one of you cannot possess a sword, two are enough.\"\n\nAnd that it was Peter's wont to speak in a shallow manner is proved by\nhis hasty and thoughtless forwardness, to which he was led not only by\nthe sincerity of his faith, but also, I believe, by the natural purity\nand simplicity of his character. All the Evangelists bear testimony to\nthis forwardness.\n\nMatthew writes that when Jesus had asked His disciples: \"Whom say ye\nthat I am?\" Peter answered before them all and said: \"Thou art Christ,\nthe Son of the living God.\" He writes also that when Christ was saying\nto His disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem and suffer many\nthings, Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying: \"Be it far\nfrom Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee.\" But Christ turned and\nrebuked him, and said: \"Get thee behind me, Satan.\" Matthew also\nwrites that in the Mount of Transfiguration, on the sight of Christ,\nand of Moses and Elias, and of the two sons of Zebedee, Peter said:\n\"Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here\nthree tabernacles, one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias.\" He\nalso writes that when the disciples were in a ship, in the night, and\nChrist went unto them walking on the sea, then Peter said unto Him:\n\"Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.\" And when\nChrist foretold that all His disciples should be offended because of\nHim, Peter answered and said: \"Though all men shall be offended\nbecause of Thee, yet will I never be offended;\" and then: \"Though I\nshould die with Thee, yet will I not deny Thee.\" And to this saying\nMark bears witness also. And Luke writes that Peter had said to\nChrist, a little before the words touching the swords which we have\nquoted: \"Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to\ndeath.\" And John says of him, that, when Christ wished to wash his\nfeet, Peter answered and said: \"Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?\" and\nthen: \"Thou shalt never wash my feet.\" The same Evangelist tells us\nthat it was Peter who smote the High Priest's servant with a sword,\nand the other Evangelists also bear witness to this thing. He tells us\nalso how Peter entered the sepulchre at once, when he saw the other\ndisciple waiting outside, and how, when Christ was on the shore after\nthe resurrection, when Peter had heard that it was the Lord, he girt\nhis fisher's coat unto him (for he was naked) and did cast himself\ninto the sea. Lastly, John tells that when Peter saw John, he said\nunto Jesus: \"Lord, and what shall this man do?\"\n\nIt is a pleasure to have pursued this point about our Chief\nShepherd,[293] in praise of his purity of spirit; but from what I have\nsaid it is plain that when he spake of the two swords, he answered the\nwords of Christ with no second meaning.\n\n[Footnote 293: \"Archimandrita nostro.\" Cf. _Parad._ xi. 99, of St.\nFrancis.--(W.)]\n\nBut if we are to receive these words of Christ and of Peter typically,\nthey must not be explained as our adversaries explain them; but they\nmust be referred to that sword of which Matthew writes: \"Think not\nthat I am come to send peace on the earth; I come not to send peace,\nbut a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his\nfather,\" &c. And this comes to pass not only in words, but also in\nfact. And therefore Luke speaks to Theophilus of all \"that Jesus began\nboth to do and to teach.\" It was a sword of that kind that Christ\ncommanded them to buy; and Peter said that it was already doubly\nthere. For they were ready both for words and for deeds, by which they\nshould accomplish what Christ said that He had come to do by the\nsword.\n\n\nX.--Certain persons say further that the Emperor Constantine, having\nbeen cleansed from leprosy by the intercession of Sylvester, then the\nSupreme Pontiff, gave unto the Church the seat of Empire which was\nRome, together with many other dignities belonging to the Empire.[294]\nHence they argue that no man can take unto himself these dignities\nunless he receive them from the Church, whose they are said to be.\nFrom this it would rightly follow, that one authority depends on the\nother, as they maintain.\n\n[Footnote 294: On the Donation of Constantine, Witte refers to _Inf._\nxxxviii. 94; xix. 115; _Purg._ xxxii. 124; _Parad._ xx. 35; _supr\u00e0_\nii. 12.]\n\nThe arguments which seemed to have their roots in the Divine words,\nhave been stated and disproved. It remains to state and disprove those\nwhich are grounded on Roman history and in the reason of mankind. The\nfirst of these is the one which we have mentioned, in which the\nsyllogism runs as follows: No one has a right to those things which\nbelong to the Church, unless he has them from the Church; and this we\ngrant. The government of Rome belongs to the Church; therefore no one\nhas a right to it unless it be given him by the Church. The minor\npremiss is proved by the facts concerning Constantine, which we have\ntouched on.\n\nThis minor premiss then will I destroy; and as for their proof, I say\nthat it proves nothing. For the dignity of the Empire was what\nConstantine could not alienate, nor the Church receive. And when they\ninsist, I prove my words as follows: No man on the strength of the\noffice which is committed to him, may do aught that is contrary to\nthat office; for so one and the same man, viewed as one man, would be\ncontrary to himself, which is impossible. But to divide the Empire is\ncontrary to the office committed to the Emperor; for his office is to\nhold mankind in all things subject to one will: as may be easily seen\nfrom the first book of this treatise. Therefore it is not permitted to\nthe Emperor to divide the Empire. If, therefore, as they say, any\ndignities had been alienated by Constantine, and had passed to the\nChurch, the \"coat without seam\"--which even they, who pierced Christ,\nthe true God, with a spear, dared not rend--would have been rent.[295]\n\n[Footnote 295: Each side in the controversy used the type of the\n\"seamless robe,\" one of the Empire (_supr\u00e0_ i. 16), the other of the\nChurch; _e.g._, in the Bull of Boniface VIII., \"_Unam Sanctam_.\"]\n\nFurther, just as the Church has its foundation, so has the Empire its\nfoundation. The foundation of the Church is Christ, as Paul says in\nhis first Epistle to the Corinthians: \"For other foundation can no man\nlay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.\"[296] He is the\nrock on which the Church is built; but the foundation of the Empire is\nhuman right. Now I say that, as the Church may not go contrary to its\nfoundation--but must always rest on its foundation, as the words of\nthe Canticles say: \"Who is she that cometh up from the desert,\nabounding in delights, leaning on her beloved?\"[297]--in the same way\nI say that the Empire may not do aught that transgresses human right.\nBut were the Empire to destroy itself, it would so transgress human\nright. Therefore the Empire may not destroy itself. Since then to\ndivide the Empire would be to destroy it, because the Empire consists\nin one single universal Monarchy, it is manifest that he who exercises\nthe authority of the Empire may not destroy it, and from what we have\nsaid before, it is manifest that to destroy the Empire is contrary to\nhuman right.\n\n[Footnote 296: 1 Cor. iii. 11.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 297: Cant. viii. 5.--(W.)]\n\nMoreover, all jurisdiction is prior in time to the judge who has it;\nfor it is the judge who is ordained for the jurisdiction, not the\njurisdiction for the judge. But the Empire is a jurisdiction,\ncomprehending within itself all temporal jurisdiction: therefore it is\nprior to the judge who has it, who is the Emperor. For it is the\nEmperor who is ordained for the Empire, and not contrariwise.\nTherefore it is clear that the Emperor, in so far as he is Emperor,\ncannot alter the Empire; for it is to the Empire that he owes his\nbeing. I say then that he who is said to have conferred on the Church\nthe authority in question either was Emperor, or he was not. If he was\nnot, it is plain that he had no power to give away any part of the\nEmpire. Nor could he, if he was Emperor, in so far as he was Emperor,\nfor such a gift would be a diminishing of his jurisdiction.\n\nFurther, if one Emperor were able to cut off a certain portion of the\njurisdiction of the Empire, so could another; and since temporal\njurisdiction is finite, and since all that is finite is taken away by\nfinite diminutions, it would follow that it is possible for the first\nof all jurisdictions to be annihilated, which is absurd.\n\nFurther, since he that gives is in the position of an agent, and he to\nwhom a thing is given in that of a patient, as the Philosopher holds\nin the fourth book to Nicomachus,[298] therefore, that a gift may be\ngiven, we require not only the fit qualification of the giver, but\nalso of the receiver; for the acts of the agent are completed in a\npatient who is qualified.[299] But the Church was altogether\nunqualified to receive temporal things; for there is an express\ncommand, forbidding her so to do, which Matthew gives thus: \"Provide\nneither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses.\" For though we\nfind in Luke a relaxation of the command in regard to certain matters,\nyet I have not anywhere been able to find that the Church after that\nprohibition had licence given her to possess gold and silver. If\ntherefore the Church was unable to receive temporal power, even\ngranting that Constantine was able to give it, yet the gift was\nimpossible; for the receiver was disqualified. It is therefore plain\nthat neither could the Church receive in the way of possession, nor\ncould Constantine give in the way of alienation; though it is true\nthat the Emperor, as protector of the Church, could allot to the\nChurch a patrimony and other things, if he did not impair his supreme\nlordship, the unity of which does not allow division. And the Vicar of\nGod could receive such things, not to possess them, but as a steward\nto dispense the fruits of them to the poor of Christ, on behalf of the\nChurch, as we know the Apostles did.\n\n[Footnote 298: _Eth._ iv. 1.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 299: \"_Dispositio; dispositus; indisposita._\"]\n\n\nXI.--Our adversaries further say that the Pope Hadrian[300] summoned\nCharles the Great to his own assistance[301] and to that of the\nChurch, on account of the wrongs suffered from the Lombards in the\ntime of their king Desiderius, and that Charles received from that\nPope the imperial dignity, notwithstanding that Michael was emperor at\nConstantinople. And therefore they say that all the Roman emperors who\nsucceeded Charles were themselves the \"advocates\" of the Church, and\nought by the Church to be called to their office. From which would\nfollow that dependence of the Empire on the Church which they wish to\nprove.\n\n[Footnote 300: A.D. 773.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 301: \"_Advocavit._\"]\n\nBut to overset their argument, I reply that what they say is nought;\nfor a usurpation of right does not make right; and if it were so, it\nmight be proved in the same way that the Church is dependent on the\nEmpire; for the Emperor Otto restored the Pope Leo, and deposed\nBenedict, leading him into exile to Saxony.[302]\n\n[Footnote 302: Otto I. (964) deposed Benedict V. and restored Leo\nVIII.]\n\n\nXII.--But from _reason_ they thus argue: they take the principle laid\ndown in the tenth book of \"_Philosophia Prima_,\"[303] saying that all\nthings which belong to one genus are to be brought under one head,\nwhich is the standard and measure of all that come under that genus.\nBut all men belong to one genus: therefore they are to be brought\nunder one head, as the standard and measure of them all. But the\nSupreme Pontiff and the Emperor are men; therefore if the preceding\nreasoning be true, they must be brought under one head. And since the\nPope cannot come under any other man, the result is that the Emperor,\ntogether with all other men, must be brought under the Pope, as the\nmeasure and rule of all; and then, what those who argue thus desire\nfollows.\n\n[Footnote 303: Arist. _Metaph._ x. 1.--(W.)]\n\nTo overset this argument, I answer that they are right when they say\nthat all the individuals of one genus ought to be brought under one\nhead, as their measure; and that they are again right when they say\nthat all men belong to one genus, and that they are also right when\nthey argue from these truths that all men should be brought under one\nhead, taken from the genus man, as their measure and type. But when\nthey obtain the further conclusion concerning the Pope and the\nEmperor, they fall into a fallacy touching accidental attributes.\n\nThat this thing may be understood, it must be clearly known that to be\na man is one thing, and to be a pope or an emperor is another; just as\nto be a man is different from being a father or a ruler. A man is that\nwhich exists by its essential form, which gives it its genus and\nspecies, and by which it comes under the category of substance. But a\nfather is that which exists by an accidental form, that is, one which\nstands in a certain relation which gives it a certain genus and\nspecies, and through which it comes under the category of relation. If\nthis were not so, all things would come under the category of\nsubstance, seeing that no accidental form can exist by itself, without\nthe support of an existing substance; and this is not so. Seeing,\ntherefore, that the Pope and the Emperor are what they are by virtue\nof certain relations: for they owe their existence to the Papacy and\nthe Empire, which are both relations, one coming within the sphere of\nfatherhood, and the other within that of rule; it manifestly follows\nthat both the Pope and the Emperor, in so far as they are Pope and\nEmperor, must come under the category of relation; and therefore that\nthey must be brought under some head of that genus.\n\nI say then that there is one standard under which they are to be\nbrought, as men; and another under which they come, as Pope and\nEmperor. For in so far as they are men, they have to be brought under\nthe best man, whoever he be, who is the measure and the ideal of all\nmankind; under him, that is, who is most one in his kind,[304] as may\nbe gathered from the last book to Nicomachus.[305] When, however, two\nthings are relative, it is evident that they must either be\nreciprocally brought under each other, if they are alternately\nsuperior, or if by the nature of their relation they belong to\nconnected species; or else they must be brought under some third\nthing, as their common unity. But the first of these suppositions is\nimpossible: for then both would be predicable of both, which cannot\nbe. We cannot say that the Emperor is the Pope, or the Pope the\nEmperor. Nor again can it be said that they are connected in species,\nfor the idea of the Pope is quite other than the idea of the Emperor,\nin so far as they are Pope and Emperor. Therefore they must be reduced\nto some single thing above them.\n\n[Footnote 304: \"_Ad existentem maxime unum in genere suo._\"]\n\n[Footnote 305: _Eth._ x. 5, 7.--(W.)]\n\nNow it must be understood that the relative is to the relative as the\nrelation to the relation. If, therefore, the Papacy and the Empire,\nseeing that they are relations of paramount superiority, have to be\ncarried back to some higher point of superiority from which they, with\nthe features which make them different,[306] branch off, the Pope and\nEmperor, being relative to one another, must be brought back to some\none unity in which the higher point of superiority, without this\ncharacteristic difference, is found. And this will be either God, to\nwhom all things unite in looking up, or something below God, which is\nhigher in the scale of superiority, while differing from the simple\nand absolute superiority of God. Thus it is evident that the Pope and\nthe Emperor, in so far as they are men, have to be brought under some\none head; while, in so far as they are Pope and Emperor, they have to\nbe brought under another head, and so far is clear, as regards the\nargument from reason.\n\n[Footnote 306: \"_Cum differentialibus suis._\"]\n\n\nXIII.--We have now stated and put on one side those erroneous\nreasonings on which they, who assert that the authority of the Roman\nEmperor depends on the Pope of Rome, do most chiefly rely. We have now\nto go back and show forth the truth in this third question, which we\nproposed in the beginning to examine. The truth will appear plainly\nenough if I start in my inquiry from the principle which I laid down,\nand then show that the authority of the Empire springs immediately\nfrom the head of all being, who is God. This truth will be made\nmanifest, either if it be shown that the authority of the Empire does\nnot spring from the authority of the Church; for there is no argument\nconcerning any other authority. Or again, if it be shown by direct\nproof that the authority of the Empire springs immediately from God.\n\nWe prove that the authority of the Church is not the cause of the\nauthority of the Empire in the following manner. Nothing can be the\ncause of power in another thing when that other thing has all its\npower, while the first either does not exist, or else has no power of\naction.[307] But the Empire had its power while the Church was either\nnot existing at all, or else had no power of acting. Therefore the\nChurch is not the cause of the power of the Empire, and therefore not\nof its authority either, for power and authority mean the same thing.\nLet A be the Church, B the Empire, C the authority or power of the\nEmpire. If C is in B while A does not exist, A cannot be the cause of\nC being in B, for it is impossible for an effect to exist before its\ncause. Further, if C is in B while A does not act, it cannot be that A\nis the cause of C being in B; for, to produce an effect, it is\nnecessary that the cause, especially the efficient cause of which we\nare speaking, should have been at work first. The major premiss of\nthis argument is self-evident, and the minor premiss is confirmed by\nChrist and the Church. Christ confirms it by His birth and His death,\nas we have said; the Church confirms it in the words which Paul spake\nto Festus in the Acts of the Apostles: \"I stand at C\u00e6sar's\njudgment-seat, where I ought to be judged,\" and by the words which an\nangel of God spake to Paul a little afterwards: \"Fear not, Paul; thou\nmust be brought before C\u00e6sar;\" and again by Paul's words to the Jews\nof Italy: \"But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to\nappeal unto C\u00e6sar; not that I had aught to accuse my nation of,\" but\n\"to deliver my soul from death.\" But if C\u00e6sar had not at that time had\nthe authority to judge in temporal matters, Christ would not have\nargued thus; nor would the angel have brought these words; nor would\nhe, who spake of himself as \"having a desire to depart and to be with\nChrist,\" have made an appeal to a judge not having authority.[308]\n\n[Footnote 307: \"_Non virtuante._\"]\n\n[Footnote 308: \"_Incompetentem._\" Acts xxv. 10; xxvii. 24; xxviii. 19.\nPhil. i. 23.--(W.)]\n\nAnd if Constantine had not had the authority over the patronage of the\nChurch, those things which he allotted from the Empire he could not\nhave had the right to allot; and so the Church would be using this\ngift against right; whereas God wills that offerings should be pure,\nas is commanded in Leviticus: \"No meat offering that ye shall bring\nunto the Lord shall be made with leaven.\" And though this command\nappears to regard those who offer, nevertheless it also regards those\nwho receive an offering. For it is folly to suppose that God wishes to\nbe received that which He forbids to be offered, for in the same book\nthere is a command to the Levites: \"Ye shall not make yourselves\nabominable with any creeping thing that creepeth; neither shall ye\nmake yourselves unclean with them, that ye shall be defiled\nthereby.\"[309] But to say that the Church so misuses the patrimony\nassigned to her is very unseemly; therefore the premiss from which\nthis conclusion followed is false.\n\n[Footnote 309: Levit. ii. 11; xi. 43.--(W.)]\n\n\nXIV.--Again, if the Church had power to bestow authority on the Roman\nPrince, she would have it either from God, or from herself, or from\nsome Emperor, or from the universal consent of mankind, or at least of\nthe majority of mankind. There is no other crevice by which this power\ncould flow down to the Church. But she has it not from any of these\nsources; therefore she has it not at all.\n\nIt is manifest that she has it from none of these sources; for if she\nhad received it from God, she would have received it either by the\ndivine or by the natural law: because what is received from nature is\nreceived from God; though the converse of this is not true. But this\npower is not received by the natural law; for nature lays down no law,\nsave for the effects of nature, for God cannot fail in power, where he\nbrings anything into being without the aid of secondary agents. Since\ntherefore the Church is not an effect of nature, but of God who said:\n\"Upon this rock I will build my Church,\" and elsewhere: \"I have\nfinished the work which Thou gavest me to do,\" it is manifest that\nnature did not give the Church this law.\n\nNor was this power bestowed by the divine law; for the whole of the\ndivine law is contained in the bosom of the Old or of the New\nTestament, and I cannot find therein that any thought or care for\nworldly matters was commanded, either to the early or to the latter\npriesthood. Nay, I find rather such care taken away from the priests\nof the Old Testament by the express command of God to Moses,[310] and\nfrom the priests of the New Testament by the express command of Christ\nto His disciples.[311] But it could not be that this care was taken\naway from them, if the authority of the temporal power flowed from the\npriesthood; for at least in giving the authority there would be an\nanxious watchfulness of forethought, and afterwards continued\nprecaution, lest he to whom authority had been given should leave the\nstraight way.\n\n[Footnote 310: Numbers xviii. 20. Cf. _Purg._ xvi. 131.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 311: Matt. x. 9.--(W.)]\n\nThen it is quite plain that the Church did not receive this power from\nherself; for nothing can give what it has not. Therefore all that does\nanything, must be such in its doing, as that which it intends to do,\nas is stated in the book \"of Simple Being.\"[312] But it is plain that\nif the Church gave to herself this power, she had it not before she\ngave it. Thus she would have given what she had not, which is\nimpossible.\n\n[Footnote 312: Arist. _Metaph._ ix. 8.--(W.)]\n\nBut it is sufficiently manifest from what we have previously made\nevident that the Church has received not this power from any Emperor.\n\nAnd further, that she had it not from the consent of all, or even of\nthe greater part of mankind, who can doubt? seeing that not only all\nthe inhabitants of Asia and Africa, but even the greater number of\nEuropeans, hold the thought in abhorrence. It is mere weariness to\nadduce proofs in matters which are so plain.\n\n\nXV.--Again, that which is contrary to the nature of a thing cannot be\ncounted as one of its essential powers; for the essential powers of\neach individual follow on its nature, in order to gain its end. But\nthe power to grant authority in that which is the realm of our mortal\nstate is contrary to the nature of the Church.[313] Therefore it is\nnot in the number of its essential powers. For the proof of the minor\npremiss we must know that the nature of the Church means the form [or\nessence][314] of the Church. For although men use the word nature not\nonly of the form of a thing, but also of its matter, nevertheless, it\nis of the form that they use it more properly, as is proved in the\nbook \"of Natural Learning.\"[315] But the [essence or] form of the\nChurch is nothing else than the life of Christ, as it is contained\nboth in His sayings and in His deeds. For His life was the example and\nideal of the militant Church, especially of its pastors, and above all\nof its chief pastor, to whom it belongs to feed the sheep and the\nlambs of Christ. And therefore when Christ left His life unto men for\nan example He said in John's Gospel: \"I have given you an example that\nye should do as I have done to you.\" And He said unto Peter specially,\nafter that He had committed unto him the office of shepherd, the words\nwhich John also reports: \"Peter, follow me.\" But Christ denied before\nPilate that His rule was of this sort, saying: \"My kingdom is not of\nthis world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants\nfight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my\nkingdom not from hence.\"[316]\n\n[Footnote 313: \"_Virtus auctorizandi regnum nostr\u00e6 mortalitatis est\ncontra naturam Ecclesi\u00e6._\"]\n\n[Footnote 314: \"_Forma._\"]\n\n[Footnote 315: Arist. _Phys. Ausc._ ii. 1.--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 316: John xiii. 15; xxi. 22; xviii. 36.--(W.)]\n\nBut this saying must not be understood to mean that Christ, who is\nGod, is not the lord of this kingdom, for the Psalmist says: \"The sea\nis His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.\"[317] We\nmust understand it to mean that, as _the pattern of the Church_, He\nhad not the care of this kingdom. It is as if a golden seal were to\nspeak of itself, and say: \"I am not the standard for such and such a\nclass of things;\" for in so far as it is gold, this saying is untrue,\nseeing that gold is the standard of all metals; but it is true in so\nfar as it is a sign capable of being received by impression.\n\n[Footnote 317: Ps. xcv. 5.--(W.)]\n\nIt belongs, then, to the very form of the Church always to speak the\nsame, always to think the same; and to do the opposite of this is\nevidently contrary to its essential form--that is to say, to its\nnature. And from this it may be collected that the power of bestowing\nauthority on this kingdom is contrary to the nature of the Church; for\ncontrariety which is in thought or word follows from contrariety which\nis in the thing thought and the thing said; just as truth and\nfalsehood in speech come from the being or the not-being of the thing,\nas we learn from the doctrine of the _Categories_. It has then become\nmanifest enough by means of the preceding arguments, by which the\ncontention of our opponents has been shown to lead to an absurd\nresult, that the authority of the Empire is not in any way dependent\non the authority of the Church.\n\n\nXVI.--Although it has been proved in the preceding chapter that the\nauthority of the Empire has not its cause in the authority of the\nSupreme Pontiff; for we have shown that this argument led to absurd\nresults; yet it has not been entirely shown that the authority of the\nEmpire depends directly upon God, except as a result from our\nargument. For it is a consequence that, if the authority comes not\nfrom the vicar of God, it must come from God Himself. And therefore,\nfor the complete determination of the question proposed, we have to\nprove directly that the emperor or monarch of the world stands in an\nimmediate relation to the King of the universe, who is God.\n\nFor the better comprehending of this, it must be recognised that man\nalone, of all created things, holds a position midway between things\ncorruptible and things incorruptible; and therefore[318] philosophers\nrightly liken him to a dividing line between two hemispheres. For man\nconsists of two essential parts, namely, the soul and the body. If he\nbe considered in relation to his body only, he is corruptible; but if\nhe be considered in relation to his soul only, he is incorruptible.\nAnd therefore the Philosopher spoke well concerning the incorruptible\nsoul when he said in the second book \"of the Soul:\" \"It is this alone\nwhich may be separated, as being eternal, from the corruptible.\"[319]\n\n[Footnote 318: In the _De Causis_ (_v._ above, i. 11), Propos. 9:\n\"Intelligentia comprehendit generata et naturam, et horizontem natur\u00e6,\nscilicet animam; nam ipsa est supra naturam.\"--(W.)]\n\n[Footnote 319: Arist. _De Anim._ ii. 2.--(W.)]\n\nIf, therefore, man holds this position midway between the corruptible\nand the incorruptible, since every middle nature partakes of both\nextremes, man must share something of each nature. And since every\nnature is ordained to gain some final end, it follows that for man\nthere is a double end. For as he alone of all beings participates\nboth in the corruptible and the incorruptible, so he alone of all\nbeings is ordained to gain two ends, whereby one is his end in so far\nas he is corruptible, and the other in so far as he is incorruptible.\n\nTwo ends, therefore, have been laid down by the ineffable providence\nof God for man to aim at: the blessedness of this life, which consists\nin the exercise of his natural powers, and which is prefigured in[320]\nthe earthly Paradise; and next, the blessedness of the life eternal,\nwhich consists in the fruition of the sight of God's countenance, and\nto which man by his own natural powers cannot rise, if he be not aided\nby the divine light; and this blessedness is understood by the\nheavenly Paradise.\n\n[Footnote 320: See _Purg._ xxviii.: and Mr. Longfellow's note ad loc.]\n\nBut to these different kinds of blessedness, as to different\nconclusions, we must come by different means. For at the first we may\narrive by the lessons of philosophy, if only we will follow them, by\nacting in accordance with the moral and intellectual virtues. But at\nthe second we can only arrive by spiritual lessons, transcending human\nreason, so that we follow them in accordance with the theological\nvirtues, faith, hope, and charity. The truth of the first of these\nconclusions and of these means is made manifest by human reason,\nwhich by the philosophers has been all laid open to us. The other\nconclusions and means are made manifest by the Holy Spirit, who by the\nmouth of the Prophets and holy writers, and by Jesus Christ, the\nco-eternal Son of God, and His disciples, has revealed to us\nsupernatural truth of which we have great need. Nevertheless human\npassion would cast them all behind its back, if it were not that men,\ngoing astray like the beasts that perish,[321] were restrained in\ntheir course by bit and bridle, like horses and mules.\n\n[Footnote 321: \"_Sua bestialitate vagantes._\" _V._ Ps. xxxii. 10.]\n\nTherefore man had need of two guides for his life, as he had a twofold\nend in life; whereof one is the Supreme Pontiff, to lead mankind to\neternal life, according to the things revealed to us; and the other is\nthe Emperor, to guide mankind to happiness in this world, in\naccordance with the teaching of philosophy. And since none, or but a\nfew only, and even they with sore difficulty, could arrive at this\nharbour of happiness, unless the waves and blandishments of human\ndesires were set at rest, and the human race were free to live in\npeace and quiet, this therefore is the mark at which he who is to care\nfor the world, and whom we call the Roman Prince, must most chiefly\naim at: I mean, that in this little plot of earth[322] belonging to\nmortal men, life may pass in freedom and with peace. And since the\norder of this world follows the order of the heavens, as they run\ntheir course, it is necessary, to the end that the learning which\nbrings liberty and peace may be duly applied by this guardian of the\nworld in fitting season and place, that this power should be dispensed\nby Him who is ever present to behold the whole order of the heavens.\nAnd this is He who alone has preordained this, that by it in His\nprovidence He might bind all things together, each in their own order.\n\n[Footnote 322: Cf. _Parad._ xxii. 151. \"_L'ajuola che ci fa tanto\nferoci._\"]\n\nBut if this is so, God alone elects, God alone confirms: for there is\nnone higher than God. And hence there is the further conclusion, that\nneither those who now are, nor any others who may, in whatsoever way,\nhave been called \"Electors,\" ought to have that name; rather they are\nto be held as declarers and announcers of the providence of God. And,\ntherefore, it is that they to whom is granted the privilege of\nannouncing God's will sometimes fall into disagreement; because that,\nall of them or some of them have been blinded by their evil desires,\nand have not discerned the face of God's appointment.[323]\n\n[Footnote 323: _V._ Hallam, _Middle Ages_, c. v. Bryce, _Roman\nEmpire_, c. xiv. Witte, _Pr\u00e6f._ p. xxxiv. xlv.]\n\nIt is therefore clear that the authority of temporal Monarchy comes\ndown, with no intermediate will, from the fountain of universal\nauthority; and this fountain, one in its unity, flows through many\nchannels out of the abundance of the goodness of God.\n\nAnd now, methinks, I have reached the goal which I set before me. I\nhave unravelled the truth of the questions which I asked: whether the\noffice of Monarchy was necessary to the welfare of the world; whether\nit was by right that the Roman people assumed to themselves the office\nof Monarchy; and, further, that last question, whether the authority\nof the Monarch springs immediately from God, or from some other. Yet\nthe truth of this latter question must not be received so narrowly as\nto deny that in certain matters the Roman Prince is subject to the\nRoman Pontiff. For that happiness, which is subject to mortality, in a\nsense is ordered with a view to the happiness which shall not taste of\ndeath. Let, therefore, C\u00e6sar be reverent to Peter, as the first-born\nson should be reverent to his father, that he may be illuminated with\nthe light of his father's grace, and so may be stronger to lighten the\nworld over which he has been placed by Him alone, who is the ruler of\nall things spiritual as well as temporal.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nOF\n\nDE MONARCHIA.\n\n\nBOOK I.\n\nWHETHER A TEMPORAL MONARCHY IS NECESSARY FOR THE WELL-BEING OF THE\nWORLD?\n\nCHAP.                                                             PAGE\n\nI.--Introduction                                                   177\n\nII.--What is the end of the civil order of mankind?                178\n\nIII.--It is to cause the whole power of the human intellect to\nact in speculation and operation                                   180\n\nIV.--To attain this end, mankind needs universal peace             184\n\nV.--When several means are ordained to gain an end, one\nof them must be supreme over the others                            185\n\nVI.--The order which is found in the parts of mankind ought\nto be found in mankind as a whole                                  188\n\nVII.--Kingdoms and nations ought to stand in the same relation\nto the monarch as mankind to God                                   189\n\nVIII.--Men were made in the image of God; but God is one          _ib._\n\nIX.--Men are the children of Heaven, and they ought to\nimitate the footprints of Heaven                                   190\n\nX.--There is need of a Supreme Judge for the decision of all\nquarrels                                                           191\n\nXI.--The world is best ordered when justice is strongest\ntherein                                                            192\n\nXII.--Men are at their best in freedom                             198\n\nXIII.--He who is best qualified to rule can best order others      201\n\nXIV.--When it is possible, it is better to gain an end by one\nagent than by many                                                 203\n\nXV.--That which is most one is everywhere best                     206\n\nXVI.--Christ willed to be born in the fulness of time, when\nAugustus was monarch                                               209\n\n\nBOOK II.\n\nWHETHER THE ROMAN PEOPLE ASSUMED TO ITSELF BY RIGHT THE DIGNITY OF\nEMPIRE?\n\nCHAP.                                                             PAGE\n\nI.--Introduction                                                   211\n\nII.--That which God wills in human society is to be held as\nRight                                                              213\n\nIII.--It was fitting for the Romans, as being the noblest\nnation, to be preferred before all others                          216\n\nIV.--The Roman Empire was helped by miracles, and therefore\nwas willed by God                                                  220\n\nV.--The Romans, in bringing the world into subjection,\naimed at the good of the state, and therefore at the\nend of Right                                                       223\n\nVI.--All men, who aim at Right, walk according to Right            229\n\nVII.--The Romans were ordained for empire by Nature                232\n\nVIII.--The judgment of God showed that empire fell to the\nlot of the Romans                                                  235\n\nIX.--The Romans prevailed when all nations were striving\nfor empire                                                         239\n\nX.--What is acquired by single combat is acquired as of\nRight                                                              243\n\nXI.--The single combats of Rome                                    247\n\nXII.--Christ, by being born, proves to us that the authority of\nthe Roman Empire was just                                          250\n\nXIII.--Christ, by dying, confirmed the jurisdiction of the Roman\nEmpire over all mankind                                            253\n\n\nBOOK III.\n\nWHETHER THE AUTHORITY OF THE MONARCH COMES DIRECTLY FROM GOD, OR FROM\nSOME VICAR OF GOD?\n\nCHAP.                                                             PAGE\n\nI.--Introduction                                                   256\n\nII.--God wills not that which is repugnant to the intention\nof Nature                                                          257\n\nIII.--Of the three classes of our opponents, and of the too\ngreat authority which many ascribe to tradition                    259\n\nIV.--The argument drawn by our opponents from the sun\nand the moon                                                       264\n\nV.--The argument drawn from the precedence of Levi over\nJudah                                                              270\n\nVI.--The argument drawn from the crowning and deposition\nof Saul by Samuel                                                  271\n\nVII.--The argument drawn from the oblation of the Magi             273\n\nVIII.--The argument drawn from the power of the keys given\nto Peter                                                           275\n\nIX.--The argument drawn from the two swords                        278\n\nX.--The argument drawn from the donation of Constantine            282\n\nXI.--The argument drawn from the summoning of Charles\nthe Great by Pope Hadrian                                          287\n\nXII.--The argument drawn from reason                               288\n\nXIII.--The authority of the Church is not the cause of the\nauthority of the Empire                                            291\n\nXIV.--The Church has power to bestow such authority neither\nfrom God, nor from itself, nor from any emperor                    294\n\nXV.--The power of giving authority to the Empire is against\nthe nature of the Church                                           297\n\nXVI.--The authority of the Empire comes directly from God          299\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nCHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.\n\n\n\n\nBEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C.\n_May_, 1885.\n\n     _MACMILLAN & CO.'S CATALOGUE of Works in the Departments of\n     History, Biography, Travels, Critical and Literary Essays,\n     Politics, Political and Social Economy, Law, etc.; and Works\n     connected with Language._\n\n\nHISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, TRAVELS, &c.\n\nADDISON.--ESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. 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Translated entire from the second Paris Edition by RACHEL\n(Scott Russell) HOLMES and ELEANOR HOLMES. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 21_s._\n\nBERNARD (ST.)--THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ST. BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux.\nBy J.C. MORISON, M.A. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ (Biographical\nSeries.)\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 1852-1875. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. With four\nAdditional Sketches, and Autobiographical Sketch. Fifth Edition. Crown\n8vo. 6_s._ (Biographical Series.)\n\nBISMARCK--IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. An Authorized Translation from the\nGerman of Dr. MORITZ BUSCH. Two Vols. Crown 8vo. 18_s._\n\nBISMARCK--OUR CHANCELLOR. Sketches for a Historical Picture by Dr.\nMORITZ BUSCH. Translated from the German by WILLIAM BEATTY-KINGSTON,\nAuthor of \"William I., German Emperor,\" \"The Battle of Berlin,\" &c. 2\nvols. Crown 8vo. 18_s._\n\nBLACKBURNE.--BIOGRAPHY OF THE RIGHT HON. FRANCIS BLACKBURNE, Late Lord\nChancellor of Ireland. Chiefly in connection with his Public and\nPolitical Career. By his Son, EDWARD BLACKBURNE, Q.C. With Portrait\nengraved by JEENS. 8vo. 12_s._\n\nBLAKE.--LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE. With Selections from his Poems and\nother Writings. Illustrated from Blake's own Works. By ALEXANDER\nGILCHRIST. A new and Enlarged Edition, with additional Letters, and a\nMemoir of the Author. Printed on hand-made paper, the Illustrations on\nIndia paper, and mounted in the text. 2 vols. Cloth elegant, gilt,\nwith Designs after Blake by FREDERICK J. SHIELDS. Medium 8vo. \u00a32\n2_s._\n\nBLANDFORD (W.T.)--GEOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY OF ABYSSINIA. By W.T. BLANDFORD.\n8vo. 21_s._\n\nBOLEYN, ANNE: A Chapter of English History, 1527-1536. By PAUL\nFRIEDMANN. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 28_s._\n\nBOUGHTON--ABBEY.--SKETCHING RAMBLES IN HOLLAND. By G.H. BOUGHTON,\nA.R.A., and E.A. ABBEY. With numerous Illustrations. Fcap. 4to. 21_s._\n\nBRIMLEY.--ESSAYS. By the late GEORGE BRIMLEY, M.A., Librarian of\nTrinity College, Cambridge. Edited by W.G. CLARK, M.A., Fellow and\nTutor of Trinity College, Cambridge. New Edition. Globe 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     CONTENTS.--Tennyson's Poems--Wordsworth's Poems--Poetry and\n     Criticism--Carlyle's Life of Sterling--\"Esmond\"--\"Westward\n     Ho!\"--Wilson's \"Noctes Ambrosian\u00e6\"--Comte's \"Positive\n     Philosophy,\" &c.\n\nBRONT\u00cb.--CHARLOTTE BRONT\u00cb. A Monograph. By T. WEMYSS REID. With\nIllustrations. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ (Biographical Series.)\n\nBROOK.--FRENCH HISTORY FOR ENGLISH CHILDREN. By SARAH BROOK. With\nColoured Maps. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nBROOKE.--THE RAJA OF SARAWAK: an Account of Sir James Brooke, K.C.B.,\nLL.D. Given chiefly through Letters or Journals. By GERTRUDE L. JACOB.\nWith Portrait and Maps. Two Vols. 8vo. 25_s._\n\nBRYCE.--Works by JAMES BRYCE, M.P., D.C.L., Regius Professor of Civil\nLaw, Oxford:--\n\n     THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. Seventh Edition, Revised and\n     Enlarged. 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Translated from the German by WILLIAM\n     BEATTY-KINGSTON, Author of \"William I., German Emperor,\"\n     \"The Battle of Berlin,\" &c. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 18_s._\n\nCAMBRIDGE.--MEMORIALS OF CAMBRIDGE. Greatly Enlarged and partly\nRewritten (1851-66). By CHARLES HENRY COOPER, F.S.A. With Seventy-four\nViews of the Colleges, Churches, and other Public Buildings of the\nUniversity and Town, engraved on steel by J. LE KEUX, together with\nabout Forty-five of those engraved on Copper by STORER, and a few\nLithographs, with Twenty additional Etchings on Copper by ROBERT\nFARREN. 8vo. 3 vols. \u00a33 3_s._ Also a Large Paper Edition. The\nEngravings and Etchings. Proofs on India Paper. 3 vols. 4to.\nhalf-morocco, \u00a310 10_s._ Fifty copies of the Etchings, by R. FARREN,\nfrom the \"Memorials of Cambridge,\" proofs signed in portfolio. \u00a33\n3_s._\n\nCAMERON.--OUR FUTURE HIGHWAY. By V. LOVETT CAMERON, C.B., Commander,\nR.N. With Illustrations. 2 vols. 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By the Author of \"John\nHalifax, Gentleman.\" With numerous Illustrations by C. NAPIER HEMY.\nMedium 4to. 12_s._ 6_d._\n\nCOUES.--NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS, KEY TO. Containing a Concise Account of\nevery Species of Living and Fossil Bird at present known from the\nContinent north of the Mexican and United States Boundary, inclusive\nof Greenland. Second Edition, revised to date, and entirely rewritten.\nWith which are incorporated GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY, an Outline of the\nStructure and Classification of Birds; and FIELD ORNITHOLOGY, a Manual\nof Collecting, Preparing, and Preserving Birds. By ELLIOTT COUES,\nM.A., M.D., Ph.D., Member of the National Academy of Science, &c. &c.\nProfusely Illustrated. Demy 8vo. \u00a32 2_s._\n\nCOX (G.V.)--RECOLLECTIONS OF OXFORD. By G.V. COX, M.A., New College,\nlate Esquire Bedel and Coroner in the University of Oxford. Cheaper\nEdition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nCUNYNGHAME (SIR A.T.)--MY COMMAND IN SOUTH AFRICA, 1874-1878.\nComprising Experiences of Travel in the Colonies of South Africa and\nthe Independent States. By Sir ARTHUR THURLOW CUNYNGHAME, G.C.B., then\nLieutenant-Governor and Commander of the Forces in South Africa. Third\nEdition. 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._\n\n\"DAILY NEWS.\"--THE DAILY NEWS' CORRESPONDENCE of the War between\nRussia and Turkey, to the fall of Kars. Including the letters of Mr.\nArchibald Forbes, Mr. J.E. McGahan, and other Special Correspondents\nin Europe and Asia. Second Edition, Enlarged. Cheaper Edition. Crown\n8vo. 6_s._\n\n     FROM THE FALL OF KARS TO THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE. Cheaper\n     Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nDARWIN.--CHARLES DARWIN: MEMORIAL NOTICES REPRINTED FROM \"NATURE.\" By\nProfessor HUXLEY, F.R.S.; G.J. ROMANES, F.R.S.; ARCHIBALD GEIKIE,\nF.R.S; and W.T. THISELTON DYER, F.R.S. With a Portrait engraved by\nC.H. JEENS. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _Nature Series._\n\nDAVIDSON.--THE LIFE OF A SCOTTISH PROBATIONER; being a Memoir of\nThomas Davidson, with his Poems and Letters. By JAMES BROWN, Minister\nof St. James's Street Church, Paisley. Second Edition, revised and\nenlarged, with Portrait. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nDAWSON.--AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. The Language and Customs of Several\nTribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia.\nBy JAMES DAWSON. Small 4to. 14_s._\n\nDEAK.--FRANCIS DEAK, HUNGARIAN STATESMAN: A Memoir. With a Preface, by\nthe Right Hon. M.E. GRANT DUFF, M.P. With Portrait. 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._\n\nDEAS.--THE RIVER CLYDE. An Historical Description of the Rise and\nProgress of the Harbour of Glasgow, and of the Improvement of the\nRiver from Glasgow to Port Glasgow. By J. DEAS, M. Inst. C.E. 8vo.\n10_s._ 6_d._\n\nDELANE.--LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN T. DELANE, late Editor of the\n_Times_. By Sir GEORGE W. DASENT, D.C.L. 8vo. _In the Press._\n\nDENISON.--A HISTORY OF CAVALRY FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES. With Lessons\nfor the Future. By Lieut.-Colonel GEORGE DENISON, Commanding the\nGovernor-General's Body Guard, Canada, Author of \"Modern Cavalry.\"\nWith Maps and Plans. 8vo. 18_s._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF PARIS, 1885.--(Fourth Year.) An Unconventional\nHandbook. With Maps, Plans. &c. 18mo. Paper Cover, 1_s._ Cloth, 1_s._\n6_d._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF LONDON, 1884.--(Sixth Year.) An Unconventional\nHandbook. With Maps, Plans, &c. 18mo. Paper Cover, 1_s._ Cloth, 1_s._\n6_d._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF THE THAMES, 1885.--An Unconventional Handbook.\nWith Maps, Plans, &c. Paper Cover, 1_s._ Cloth, 1_s._ 6_d._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 18mo. paper cover,\n1_s._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE. 18mo. paper\ncover, 1_s._\n\nDICKENS'S DICTIONARY OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.\n18mo. cloth. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nDICKENS'S CONTINENTAL A.B.C. RAILWAY GUIDE. Published on the 1st of\neach Month. 18mo. 1_s._\n\nDILKE.--GREATER BRITAIN. A Record of Travel in English-speaking\nCountries during 1865-67. (America, Australia, India.) By the Right\nHon. Sir CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE, M.P. Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nDILETTANTI SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS. IONA, ANTIQUITIES OF. Vols. I. II.\nand III. \u00a32 2_s._ each, or \u00a35 5_s._ the set.\n\n     PENROSE.--AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PRINCIPLES OF ATHENIAN\n     ARCHITECTURE; or, The Results of a recent Survey conducted\n     chiefly with reference to the Optical refinements exhibited\n     in the construction of the Ancient Buildings at Athens. By\n     FRANCIS CRANMER PENROSE, Archt., M.A., &c. Illustrated by\n     numerous Engravings. \u00a37 7_s._\n\n     SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT SCULPTURE; Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek,\n     and Roman. Selected from different Collections in Great\n     Britain by the Society of Dilettanti. Vol. II. \u00a35 5_s._\n\n     ANTIQUITIES OF IONIA. Part IV. Folio, half-morocco. \u00a33\n     13_s._ 6_d._\n\nDOLET.--ETIENNE DOLET: the Martyr of the Renaissance. A Biography.\nWith a Biographical Appendix, containing a Descriptive Catalogue of\nthe Books written, printed, or edited by Dolet. By RICHARD COPLEY\nCHRISTIE, Lincoln College, Oxford, Chancellor of the Diocese of\nManchester. With Illustrations. 8vo. 18_s._\n\nDOYLE.--HISTORY OF AMERICA. By J.A. DOYLE. With Maps. 18mo. 4_s._\n6_d._ _Historical Course._\n\nDRUMMOND OF HAWTHORNDEN: THE STORY OF HIS LIFE AND WRITINGS. By\nProfessor MASSON. With Portrait and Vignette engraved by C.H. JEENS.\nCrown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nDUFF.--Works by the Right Hon. M.E. GRANT DUFF.\n\n     NOTES OF AN INDIAN JOURNEY. With Map. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     MISCELLANIES, POLITICAL AND LITERARY. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nEADIE.--LIFE OF JOHN EADIE. D.D., LL.D. By JAMES BROWN, D.D., Author\nof \"The Life of a Scottish Probationer.\" With Portrait. Second\nEdition. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nEGYPT.--RECENSEMENT G\u00c9N\u00c9RAL DE L'EGYPTE. 15 Gamad Akhar 1299. 3 Mai,\n1882. Direction du Recensement minist\u00e8re de l'Int\u00e9rieur. Tome premier.\nRoyal 4to. \u00a32 2_s._\n\nELLIOTT.--LIFE OF HENRY VENN ELLIOTT, of Brighton. By JOSIAH BATEMAN,\nM.A. With Portrait, engraved by JEENS. Third and Cheaper Edition.\nExtra fcap. 8vo. 6_s._\n\nELZE.--ESSAYS ON SHAKESPEARE. By Dr. KARL ELZE. Translated with the\nAuthor's sanction by L. DORA SCHMITZ. 8vo. 12_s._\n\nEMERSON.--THE COLLECTED WORKS OF RALPH WALDO EMERSON. (Uniform with\nthe Eversley Edition of Charles Kingsley's Novels.) Globe 8vo. Price\n5_s._ each volume.\n\n     1. MISCELLANIES. With an Introductory Essay by JOHN MORLEY.\n     2. ESSAYS.\n     3. POEMS.\n     4. ENGLISH TRAITS; and REPRESENTATIVE MEN.\n     5. CONDUCT OF LIFE; and SOCIETY and SOLITUDE.\n     6. LETTERS; AND SOCIAL AIMS, &c.\n\nENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE, THE. Profusely Illustrated. Published\nMonthly. Number I., October 1883. Price Sixpence. Yearly Volume.\n1883-1884, consisting of 792 closely-printed pages, and containing 428\nWoodcut Illustrations of various sizes. Bound in extra cloth, coloured\nedges. Royal 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ Cloth Covers for binding Volumes, 1_s._\n6_d._ each.\n\nENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE. PROOF IMPRESSIONS OF ENGRAVINGS\nORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN \"THE ENGLISH ILLUSTRATED MAGAZINE,\" 1884. In\nPortfolio. 4to. 21_s._\n\nENGLISH MEN OF LETTERS.--Edited by JOHN MORLEY. A Series of Short\nBooks to tell people what is best worth knowing as to the Life,\nCharacter, and Works of some of the great English Writers. In Crown\n8vo. price 2_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n     I. DR. JOHNSON. By LESLIE STEPHEN.\n     II. SIR WALTER SCOTT. By R.H. HUTTON.\n     III. GIBBON. By J. COTTER MORISON.\n     IV. SHELLEY. By J.A. SYMONDS.\n     V. HUME. By Professor HUXLEY, P.R.S.\n     VI. GOLDSMITH. By WILLIAM BLACK.\n     VII. DEFOE. By W. MINTO.\n     VIII. BURNS. By Principal SHAIRP.\n     IX. SPENSER. By the Very Rev. the DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.\n     X. THACKERAY. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE.\n     XI. BURKE. By JOHN MORLEY.\n     XII. MILTON. By MARK PATTISON.\n     XIII. HAWTHORNE. By HENRY JAMES.\n     XIV. SOUTHEY. By Professor DOWDEN.\n     XV. BUNYAN. By J.A. FROUDE.\n     XVI. CHAUCER. By Professor A.W. WARD.\n     XVII. COWPER. By GOLDWIN SMITH.\n     XVIII. POPE. By LESLIE STEPHEN.\n     XIX. BYRON. By Professor NICHOL.\n     XX. LOCKE. By Professor FOWLER.\n     XXI. WORDSWORTH. By F.W.H. MYERS.\n     XXII. DRYDEN. By G. SAINTSBURY.\n     XXIII. LANDOR. By Professor SIDNEY COLVIN.\n     XXIV. DE QUINCEY. By Professor MASSON.\n     XXV. CHARLES LAMB. By Rev. ALFRED AINGER.\n     XXVI. BENTLEY. By Professor R.C. JEBB.\n     XXVII. DICKENS. By Professor A.W. WARD.\n     XXVIII. GRAY. By EDMUND GOSSE.\n     XXIX. SWIFT. By LESLIE STEPHEN.\n     XXX. STERNE. By H.D. TRAILL.\n     XXXI. MACAULAY. By J. COTTER MORISON.\n     XXXII. FIELDING. By AUSTIN DOBSON.\n     XXXIII. SHERIDAN. By Mrs. OLIPHANT.\n     XXXIV. ADDISON. By W.J. COURTHOPE.\n     XXXV. BACON. By the Very Rev. the DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S.\n     XXXVI. COLERIDGE. By H.D. TRAILL.\n\n     _In Preparation_:--\n\n     ADAM SMITH. By LEONARD H. COURTNEY, M.P.\n     BERKELEY. By Professor HUXLEY.\n     SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. By J.A. SYMONDS.\n\n     _Other Volumes to follow._\n\nENGLISH POETS: SELECTIONS, with Critical Introductions by various\nWriters, and a General Introduction by MATTHEW ARNOLD, Edited by T.H.\nWARD, M.A., late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. 4 vols. Crown\n8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\n     Vol. I. CHAUCER to DONNE.\n     Vol. II. BEN JONSON to DRYDEN.\n     Vol. III. ADDISON to BLAKE.\n     Vol. IV. WORDSWORTH to ROSSETTI.\n\nENGLISH STATESMEN.--Under the above title Messrs. MACMILLAN and CO.\nbeg to announce a series of short biographies, not designed to be a\ncomplete roll of famous statesmen, but to present in historic order\nthe lives and work of those leading actors in our affairs who by their\ndirect influence have left an abiding mark on the policy, the\ninstitutions, and the position of Great Britain among states.\n\nThe following list of subjects is the result of careful selection. The\ngreat movements of national history are made to follow one another in\na connected course, and the series is intended to form a continuous\nnarrative of English freedom, order, and power.\n\n     WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.\n     HENRY II.\n     EDWARD I.\n     HENRY VII.\n     WOLSEY.\n     ELIZABETH.\n     OLIVER CROMWELL.\n     WILLIAM III.\n     WALPOLE.\n     CHATHAM.\n     PITT.\n     PEEL.\n\n     Among the writers will be:--\n\n     MR. EDWARD A. FREEMAN,\n     MR. FREDERICK POLLOCK,\n     MR. J. COTTER MORISON,\n     PROF. M. CREIGHTON,\n     THE DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S,\n     MR. FREDERIC HARRISON,\n     MR. H.D. TRAILL,\n     MR. LESLIE STEPHEN,\n     AND\n     MR. JOHN MORLEY.\n\nETON COLLEGE, HISTORY OF. By H.C. MAXWELL LYTE, M.A. With numerous\nIllustrations by Professor DELAMOTTE. Coloured Plates, and a Steel\nPortrait of the Founder, engraved by C.H. JEENS. New and Cheaper\nIssue, with Corrections. Medium 8vo. Cloth elegant. 21_s._\n\nEUROPEAN HISTORY, Narrated in a Series of Historical Selections from\nthe best Authorities. Edited and arranged by E.M. SEWELL, and C.M.\nYONGE. First Series, Crown 8vo. 6_s._; Second Series, 1088-1228. Third\nEdition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nFARADAY.--MICHAEL FARADAY. By J.H. GLADSTONE, Ph.D., F.R.S. New\nEdition, with Portrait engraved by JEENS from a photograph by J.\nWATKINS. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\n     PORTRAIT. Artist's Proof. 5_s._\n\nFENTON.--A HISTORY OF TASMANIA. From its Discovery in 1642 to the\nPresent Time. By JAMES FENTON. With Map of the Island, and Portraits\nof Aborigines in Chromo-lithography. 8vo. 16_s._\n\nFISKE.--EXCURSIONS OF AN EVOLUTIONIST. By JOHN FISKE, M.A., LL.B.,\nformerly Lecturer on Philosophy at Harvard University. Crown 8vo.\n7_s._ 6_d._\n\nFISON AND HOWITT.--KAMILAROI AND KURNAI GROUP. Marriage and\nRelationship, and Marriage by Elopement, drawn chiefly from the usage\nof the Australian Aborigines. Also THE KURNAI TRIBE, their Customs in\nPeace and War. By LORIMER FISON, M.A., and A.W. HOWITT, F.G.S., with\nan Introduction by LEWIS H. MORGAN, LL.D., Author of \"System of\nConsanguinity,\" \"Ancient Society,\" &c. Demy 8vo. 15_s._\n\nFORBES.--LIFE AND LETTERS OF JAMES DAVID FORBES, F.R.S., late\nPrincipal of the United College in the University of St. Andrews. By\nJ.C. SHAIRP, LL.D., Principal of the United College in the University\nof St. Andrews; P.G. TAIT, M.A., Professor of Natural Philosophy in\nthe University of Edinburgh; and A. ADAMS-REILLY, F.R.G.S. With\nPortraits, Map, and Illustrations. 8vo. 16_s._\n\nFRAMJI.--HISTORY OF THE PARSIS: Including their Manners, Customs,\nReligion, and Present Position. By DOSABHAI FRAMJI KARAKA, Presidency\nMagistrate and Chairman of Her Majesty's Bench of Justices, Bombay,\nFellow of the Bombay University, Member Bombay Branch of the Royal\nAsiatic Society, &c. 2 vols. Medium 8vo. With Illustrations. 36_s._\n\nFRANCIS OF ASSISI. By Mrs. OLIPHANT. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n(Biographical Series.)\n\nFREEMAN.--Works by EDWARD A. FREEMAN, D.C.L., LL.D., Regius Professor\nof Modern History in the University of Oxford:--\n\n     THE OFFICE OF THE HISTORICAL PROFESSOR. An Inaugural\n     Lecture, read in the Museum at Oxford, October 15, 1884.\n     Crown 8vo. 2_s._\n\n     THE GROWTH OF THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION FROM THE EARLIEST\n     TIMES. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Third Edition. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     CONTENTS:--I. \"The Mythical and Romantic Elements in Early\n     English History;\" II. \"The Continuity of English History;\"\n     III. \"The Relations between the Crowns of England and\n     Scotland;\" IV. \"St. Thomas of Canterbury and his\n     Biographers;\" V. \"The Reign of Edward the Third;\" VI. \"The\n     Holy Roman Empire;\" VII. \"The Franks and the Gauls;\" VIII.\n     \"The Early Sieges of Paris;\" IX. \"Frederick the First, King\n     of Italy;\" X. \"The Emperor Frederick the Second;\" XI.\n     \"Charles the Bold;\" XII. \"Presidential Government.\"\n\n     HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Second Series. Second Edition, Enlarged.\n     8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     The principal Essays are:--\"Ancient Greece and Medi\u00e6val\n     Italy:\" \"Mr. Gladstone's Homer and the Homeric Ages:\" \"The\n     Historians of Athens:\" \"The Athenian Democracy:\" \"Alexander\n     the Great:\" \"Greece during the Macedonian Period:\"\n     \"Mommsen's History of Rome:\" \"Lucius Cornelius Sulla:\" \"The\n     Flavian C\u00e6sars.\"\n\n     HISTORICAL ESSAYS. Third Series. 8vo. 12_s._\n\n     CONTENTS:--\"First Impressions of Rome.\" \"The Illyrian\n     Emperors and their Land.\" \"Augusta Treverorum.\" \"The Goths\n     of Ravenna.\" \"Race and Language.\" \"The Byzantine Empire.\"\n     \"First Impressions of Athens.\" \"Medi\u00e6val and Modern Greece.\"\n     \"The Southern Slaves.\" \"Sicilian Cycles.\" \"The Normans at\n     Palermo.\"\n\n     COMPARATIVE POLITICS.--Lectures at the Royal Institution. To\n     which is added the \"Unity of History,\" the Rede Lecture at\n     Cambridge, 1872. 8vo. 14_s._\n\n     THE HISTORY AND CONQUESTS OF THE SARACENS. Six Lectures.\n     Third Edition, with New Preface. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n     HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL SKETCHES: chiefly Italian. With\n     Illustrations by the Author. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     SUBJECT AND NEIGHBOUR LANDS OF VENICE. Being a Companion\n     Volume to \"Historical and Architectural Sketches.\" With\n     Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     ENGLISH TOWNS AND DISTRICTS. A Series of Addresses and\n     Essays. With Illustrations and Map. 8vo. 14_s._\n\n     OLD ENGLISH HISTORY. With Five Coloured Maps. New Edition.\n     Extra fcap. 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF WELLS, as illustrating\n     the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old Foundation.\n     Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n     GENERAL SKETCH OF EUROPEAN HISTORY. Being Vol. I. of a\n     Historical Course for Schools, edited by E.A. FREEMAN. New\n     Edition, enlarged with Maps, Chronological Table, Index, &c.\n     18mo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\n     DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT. WHAT ARE THEY? Second\n     Edition. Crown 8vo. 1_s._\n\nGEIKIE.--GEOLOGICAL SKETCHES AT HOME AND ABROAD. By ARCHIBALD GEIKIE,\nLL.D., F.R.S., Director General of the Geological Surveys of the\nUnited Kingdom. With illustrations. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nGALTON.--Works by FRANCIS GALTON, F.R.S.:\n\n     METEOROGRAPHICA: or, Methods of Mapping the Weather.\n     Illustrated by upwards of 600 Printed and Lithographed\n     Diagrams. 4to. 9_s._\n\n     HEREDITARY GENIUS: An Inquiry into its Laws and\n     Consequences. 8vo. 12_s._\n\n     ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE: Their Nature and Nurture. 8vo. 8_s._\n     6_d._\n\n     INQUIRIES INTO HUMAN FACULTY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT. With\n     Illustrations and Coloured and Plain Plates. Demy 8vo.\n     16_s._\n\n     RECORD OF FAMILY FACULTIES. Consisting of Tabular Forms and\n     Directions for Entering Data, with an Explanatory Preface.\n     4to. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\n     LIFE HISTORY ALBUM; Being a Personal Note-book, combining\n     the chief advantages of a Diary, Photograph Album, a\n     Register of Height, Weight, and other Anthropometrical\n     Observations, and a Record of Illnesses. Containing Tabular\n     Forms, Charts, and Explanations especially designed for\n     popular use. Prepared by the direction of the Collective\n     Investigation Committee of the British Medical Association,\n     and Edited by FRANCIS GALTON, F.R.S., Chairman of the Life\n     History Sub-Committee. 4to. 3_s._ 6_d._ Or, with Cards of\n     Wools for Testing Colour Vision. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nGARDNER.--SAMOS AND SAMIAN COINS. By PERCY GARDNER, M.A., F.S.A.\nBritish Museum, Disnay Professor of Arch\u00e6ology in the University of\nCambridge, and Hon. Foreign Secretary of the Numismatic Society. Demy\n8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nGEDDES.--THE PROBLEM OF THE HOMERIC POEMS. By W.D. GEDDES, LL.D.,\nProfessor of Greek in the University of Aberdeen. 8vo. 14_s._\n\nGLADSTONE.--HOMERIC SYNCHRONISM. An inquiry into the Time and Place of\nHomer. By the Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nGOETHE AND MENDELSSOHN (1821-1831). Translated from the German of DR.\nKARL MENDELSSOHN, Son of the Composer, by M.E. VON GLEHN. From the\nPrivate Diaries and Home Letters of Mendelssohn, with Poems and\nLetters of Goethe never before printed. Also with two New and Original\nPortraits, Fac-similes, and Appendix of Twenty Letters hitherto\nunpublished. Second Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\nGOETHE.--A LIFE OF GOETHE. By HEINRICH D\u00dcNTZER. Translated by T.W.\nLYSTER, Assistant Librarian, National Library of Ireland. With\nIllustrations. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 21_s._\n\nGOLDSMID.--TELEGRAPH AND TRAVEL. A Narrative of the Formation and\nDevelopment of Telegraphic Communication between England and India,\nunder the orders of Her Majesty's Government, with incidental Notices\nof the Countries traversed by the Lines. By Colonel SIR FREDERICK\nGOLDSMID, C.B., K.C.S.I., late Director of the Government\nIndo-European Telegraph. With numerous Illustrations and Maps. 8vo.\n21_s._\n\nGORDON.--LAST LETTERS FROM EGYPT, to which are added Letters from the\nCape. By LADY DUFF GORDON. With a Memoir by her Daughter, Mrs. ROSS,\nand Portrait engraved by JEENS. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 9_s._\n\nGORDON (CHARLES GEORGE). A SKETCH. By REGINALD H. BARNES, Vicar of\nHeavitree, and CHARLES E. BROWN, Major R.A. With Facsimile Letter.\nCrown 8vo. 1_s._\n\nGORDON.--REFLECTIONS IN PALESTINE, 1883. By CHARLES GEORGE GORDON.\nCrown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\nGREAT CHRISTIANS OF FRANCE: ST. LOUIS and CALVIN. By M. GUIZOT, Member\nof the Institute of France. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ (Biographical Series.)\n\nGREEN.--Works by JOHN RICHARD GREEN, M.A., LL.D.:--\n\n     THE MAKING OF ENGLAND. With Maps. Demy 8vo. 16_s._\n\n     THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND. With Maps. Demy 8vo. 18_s._\n\n     HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. Vol. I.--Early\n     England--Foreign Kings--The Charter--The Parliament. With 8\n     Coloured Maps. 8vo. 16_s._ Vol. II.--The Monarchy,\n     1461-1540; The Restoration, 1540-1603. 8vo. 16_s._ Vol.\n     III.--Puritan England, 1603-1660; The Revolution, 1660-1688.\n     With 4 Maps. 8vo. 16_s._ Vol. IV.--The Revolution,\n     1683-1760; Modern England, 1760-1815. With Maps and Index.\n     8vo. 16_s._\n\n     A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. With Coloured Maps,\n     Genealogical Tables, and Chronological Annals. Crown 8vo.\n     8_s._ 6_d._ 108th Thousand.\n\n     STRAY STUDIES FROM ENGLAND AND ITALY. Crown 8vo. 8_s._ 6_d._\n     Containing: Lambeth and the Archbishops--The Florence of\n     Dante--Venice and Rome--Early History of Oxford--The\n     District Visitor--Capri--Hotels in the Clouds--Sketches in\n     Sunshine, &c.\n\n     READINGS FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. Selected and Edited by JOHN\n     RICHARD GREEN. In Three Parts. Fcap. 8vo. 1_s._ 6_d._ each.\n     Part I.--From Hengest to Cressy. Part II.--From Cressy to\n     Cromwell. Part III.--From Cromwell to Balaklava.\n\nGREEN (W.S.)--THE HIGH ALPS OF NEW ZEALAND: or, a Trip to the Glaciers\nof the Antipodes, with an Ascent of Mount Cook. By WILLIAM SPOTSWOOD\nGREEN, M.A., Member of the English Alpine Club. With Maps. Crown 8vo.\n7_s._ 6_d._\n\nGROVE.--A DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS (A.D. 1450-1884). By\nEminent Writers, English and Foreign. With Illustrations and Woodcuts.\nEdited by Sir GEORGE GROVE, D.C.L., Director of the Royal College of\nMusic. 8vo. Parts I. to XIV., XIX. and XX. 3_s._ 6_d._ each. Parts XV.\nand XVI. 7_s._ Parts XVII. and XVIII. 7_s._\n\n     Vols. I., II., and III. 8vo. 21_s._ each.\n\n     Vol. I. A to Impromptu.--Vol. II. Improperia to Plain\n     Song.--Vol. III. Planch\u00e9 to Sumer is Icumen In.\n\n     Cloth cases for binding Vols. I., II., and III. 1_s._ each.\n\nGUEST.--LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By M.J. GUEST. With Maps.\nCrown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nGUEST.--ORIGINES CELTICAE (a Fragment) and other Contributions to the\nHistory of Britain. By EDWIN GUEST, LL.D.. D.C.L., F.R.S., late Master\nof Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. With Maps, Plans, and a\nPortrait engraved on Steel by G.J. STODART. Two vols. Demy 8vo. 32_s._\n\nHAMERTON.--Works by P.G. HAMERTON:--\n\n     ETCHINGS AND ETCHERS. Third Edition, revised, with\n     Forty-eight new Plates. Columbier 8vo.\n\n     THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE. With a Portrait of Leonardo da Vinci,\n     etched by LEOPOLD FLAMENG. Second Edition. Crown 8vo. 10_s._\n     6_d._\n\n     THOUGHTS ABOUT ART. New Edition, revised, with an\n     Introduction, Crown 8vo. 8_s._ 6_d._\n\nHANDEL.--THE LIFE OF GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL. By W.S. ROCKSTRO, Author\nof \"A History of Music for Young Students.\" With an Introductory\nNotice by Sir GEORGE GROVE, D.C.L. With a Portrait. Crown 8vo. 10_s._\n6_d._\n\nHARPER.--THE METAPHYSICS OF THE SCHOOL. By THOMAS HARPER, (S.J.) (In 5\nvols.) Vols. I. and II. 8vo. 18_s._ each.--Vol. III., Part I. 12_s._\n\nHEINE.--A TRIP TO THE BROCKEN. By HEINRICH HEINE. Translated by R.\nMCLINTOCK. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\nHELLENIC STUDIES--JOURNAL OF. 8vo. Parts I. and II., constituting Vol.\nI. with 4to. Atlas of Illustrations, 30_s._ Vol. II., with 4to. Atlas\nof Illustrations, 30_s._, or in Two Parts, 15_s._ each. Vol. III., Two\nParts, with 4to. Atlas of Illustrations, 15_s._ each. Vol. IV., Two\nParts, with 4to. Atlas of Illustrations, 15_s._ each. Vol. V., Two\nParts, with Illustrations, 15_s._ each.\n\n     The Journal will be sold at a reduced price to Libraries\n     wishing to subscribe, but official application must in each\n     case be made to the Council. Information on this point, and\n     upon the conditions of Membership, may be obtained on\n     application to the Hon. Secretary, Mr. George Macmillan, 29,\n     Bedford Street, Covent Garden.\n\nHERODOTOS.--BOOKS I. TO III.--THE ANCIENT EMPIRES OF THE EAST. Edited,\nwith Notes, Introductions, and Appendices, by A.H. SAYCE, M.A. Oxford,\nHon. LL.D. Dublin; Deputy-Professor of Comparative Philology. 8vo.\n16_s._\n\nHILL.--THE RECORDER OF BIRMINGHAM. A Memoir of Matthew Davenport-Hill,\nwith Selections from his Correspondence. By his daughters ROSAMOND and\nFLORENCE DAVENPORT-HILL. With Portrait engraved by C.H. JEENS. 8vo.\n16_s._\n\nHILL.--WHAT WE SAW IN AUSTRALIA. By ROSAMOND and FLORENCE HILL. Crown\n8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nHILL (O.)--Works by OCTAVIA HILL\n\n     OUR COMMON LAND, and other Essays. Extra fcap. 8vo. 3_s._\n     6_d._\n\n     HOMES OF THE LONDON POOR. Sewed. Crown 8vo. 1_s._\n\nHODGSON.--MEMOIR OF REV. FRANCIS HODGSON. B.D., Scholar, Poet, and\nDivine. By his son, the Rev. JAMES T. HODGSON, M.A. Containing\nnumerous Letters from Lord Byron and others. With Portrait engraved by\nJEENS. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 18_s._\n\nHOLE.--A GENEALOGICAL STEMMA OF THE KINGS OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE. By\nthe Rev. C. HOLE, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge. On Sheet, 1_s._\n\n     A BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Compiled and Arranged by\n     the Rev. CHARLES HOLE, M.A. Second Edition. 18mo. 4_s._\n     6_d._\n\nHOOKER AND BALL.--MOROCCO AND THE GREAT ATLAS: Journal of a Tour in.\nBy Sir JOSEPH D. HOOKER, K.C.S.I., C.B., F.R.S., &c., and JOHN BALL,\nF.R.S. With an Appendix, including a Sketch of the Geology of Morocco,\nby G. MAW, F.L.S., F.G.S. With Illustrations and Map. 8vo. 21_s._\n\nHOUSE OF LORDS.--FIFTY YEARS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS. Reprinted from\n_The Pall Mall Gazette_. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._--POPULAR EDITION.\n3_d._\n\nHOZIER (H.M.)--Works by Captain HENRY M. HOZIER, late Assistant\nMilitary Secretary to Lord Napier of Magdala:--\n\n     THE SEVEN WEEKS' WAR; Its Antecedents and Incidents. New and\n     Cheaper Edition. With New Preface, Maps, and Plans. Crown\n     8vo. 6_s._\n\n     THE INVASIONS OF ENGLAND: a History of the Past, with\n     Lessons for the Future. Two Vols. 8vo. 28_s._\n\nH\u00dcBNER.--A RAMBLE ROUND THE WORLD IN 1871. By M. LE BARON H\u00dcBNER,\nformerly Ambassador and Minister. Translated by LADY HERBERT. New and\nCheaper Edition. With numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nHUGHES.--Works by THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C., Author of \"Tom Brown's School\nDays.\"\n\n     MEMOIR OF A BROTHER. With Portrait of GEORGE HUGHES, after\n     WATTS, Engraved by JEENS. Sixth Edition. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     ALFRED THE GREAT. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     MEMOIR OF DANIEL MACMILLAN. With Portrait after LOWES\n     DICKINSON, Engraved by JEENS. Fifth Thousand. Crown 8vo.\n     4_s._ 6_d._--POPULAR EDITION, 1_s._\n\n     RUGBY, TENNESSEE. Being some account of the Settlement\n     founded on the Cumberland Plateau by the Board of Aid to\n     Land Ownership. With a report on the Soils of the Plateau by\n     the Hon. F.W. KILLEBREW, A.M., Ph.D., Commissioner for\n     Agriculture for the State of Tennessee. Crown 8vo. 4_s._\n     6_d._\n\n     GONE TO TEXAS. Letters from Our Boys. Edited by THOMAS\n     HUGHES. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nHUNT.--HISTORY OF ITALY. By the Rev. W. HUNT, M.A. Being the Fourth\nVolume of the Historical Course for Schools. Edited by EDWARD A.\nFREEMAN, D.C.L. New Edition, with Coloured Maps. 18mo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\nHUTTON.--ESSAYS THEOLOGICAL AND LITERARY. By R.H. HUTTON, M.A. Cheaper\nissue. 2 vols. 8vo. 18_s._\n\n     CONTENTS OF VOL. I.:--The moral significance of Atheism--The\n     Atheistic Explanation of Religion--Science and\n     Theism--Popular Pantheism--What is Revelation?--Christian\n     Evidences, Popular and Critical--The Historical Problems of\n     the Fourth Gospel--The Incarnation and Principles of\n     Evidence--M. Renan's \"Christ\"--M. Renan's \"St. Paul\"--The\n     Hard Church--Romanism, Protestantism, and Anglicanism.\n\n     CONTENTS OF VOL. II.:--Goethe and his Influence--Wordsworth\n     and his Genius--Shelley's Poetical Mysticism--Mr.\n     Browning--The Poetry of the Old Testament--Arthur Hugh\n     Clough--The Poetry of Matthew Arnold--Tennyson--Nathaniel\n     Hawthorne.\n\nINGLIS (JAMES) (\"MAORI\").--Works by JAMES INGLIS (\"Maori\"):--\n\n     OUR AUSTRALIAN COUSINS. 8vo. 14_s._\n\n     SPORT AND WORK ON THE NEPAUL FRONTIER; or, Twelve Years'\n     Sporting Reminiscences of an Indigo Planter. By \"MAORI.\"\n     With Illustrations. 8vo. 14_s._\n\nIONIA.--THE ANTIQUITIES OF IONIA, see under Dilettanti Society's\nPublications.\n\nIRVING.--THE ANNALS OF OUR TIME. A Diurnal of Events, Social and\nPolitical, Home and Foreign, from the Accession of Queen Victoria to\nthe Peace of Versailles. By JOSEPH IRVING. New Edition, revised. 8vo.\nhalf-bound. 18_s._\n\n     ANNALS OF OUR TIME. Supplement. From Feb. 28, 1871, to March\n     16, 1874. 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._ ANNALS OF OUR TIME. Second\n     Supplement. From March, 1874, to the Occupation of Cyprus.\n     8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nJAMES (Sir W.M.).--THE BRITISH IN INDIA. By the late Right Hon. Sir\nWILLIAM MILBOURNE JAMES, Lord Justice of Appeal. Edited by his\nDaughter, MARY J. SALIS SCHWABE. Demy 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._\n\nJAMES.--Works by HENRY JAMES:\n\n     FRENCH POETS AND NOVELISTS. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 4_s._\n     6_d._ CONTENTS:--Alfred de Musset: Th\u00e9ophile Gautier;\n     Baudelaire; Honor\u00e9 de Balzac; George Sand; The Two Amp\u00e8res;\n     Turg\u00e9nieff, &c.\n\n     PORTRAITS OF PLACES. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nJEBB.--MODERN GREECE. Two Lectures delivered before the Philosophical\nInstitution of Edinburgh. With papers on \"The Progress of Greece,\" and\n\"Byron in Greece.\" By R.C. JEBB, M.A., LL.D. Edin. Professor of Greek\nin the University of Glasgow. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\nJOHNSON'S LIVES OF THE POETS.--The Six Chief Lives--Milton, Dryden,\nSwift, Addison, Pope, Gray. With Macaulay's \"Life of Johnson.\" Edited,\nwith Preface, by MATTHEW ARNOLD. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nJONES.--THE LIFE'S WORK IN IRELAND OF A LANDLORD WHO TRIED TO DO HIS\nDUTY. By W. BENCE JONES, of Lisselan. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nKANT.--THE LIFE OF IMMANUEL KANT. By J.H. STUCKENBERG, D.D., late\nProfessor in Wittenburg College, Ohio. With Portrait. 8vo. 14_s._\n\nKANT--MAX M\u00dcLLER.--CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON BY IMMANUEL KANT. In\ncommemoration of the Centenary of its first Publication. Translated\ninto English by F. MAX M\u00dcLLER. With an Historical Introduction by\nLUDWIG NOIR\u00c9. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 32_s._\n\nKEARY.--ANNIE KEARY: a Memoir. By ELIZA KEARY. With a Portrait. Third\nThousand. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nKILLEN.--ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF IRELAND, from the Earliest Date to\nthe Present Time. By W.D. KILLEN, D.D., President of Assembly's\nCollege, Belfast, and Professor of Ecclesiastical History. Two Vols.\n8vo. 25_s._\n\nKINGSLEY (CHARLES).--Works by the Rev. CHARLES KINGSLEY, M.A., late\nRector of Eversley and Canon of Westminster. (For other Works by the\nsame Author, _see_ THEOLOGICAL and BELLES LETTRES CATALOGUES.)\n\n     AT LAST: A CHRISTMAS in the WEST INDIES. With nearly Fifty\n     Illustrations. New Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON. A Series of Lectures delivered\n     before the University of Cambridge. New and Cheaper Edition,\n     with Preface by Professor MAX M\u00dcLLER. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     PLAYS AND PURITANS, and other Historical Essays. With\n     Portrait of Sir WALTER RALEIGH. New Edition. Crown 8vo.\n     6_s._\n\n     In addition to the Essay mentioned in the title, this volume\n     contains other two--one on \"Sir Walter Raleigh and his\n     Time,\" and one on Froude's \"History of England.\"\n\n     HISTORICAL LECTURES AND ESSAYS. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     SANITARY AND SOCIAL LECTURES AND ESSAYS. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     SCIENTIFIC LECTURES AND ESSAYS. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     LITERARY AND GENERAL LECTURES. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nKINGSLEY (HENRY).--TALES OF OLD TRAVEL. Re-narrated by HENRY KINGSLEY,\nF.R.G.S. With Eight Illustrations by HUARD. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo.\n5_s._\n\nLANG.--CYPRUS: Its History, its Present Resources and Future\nProspects. By R. HAMILTON LANG, late H.M. Consul for the Island of\nCyprus. With Two Illustrations and Four Maps. 8vo. 14_s._\n\nLAOCOON.--Translated from the Text of Lessing, with Preface and Notes\nby the Right Hon. Sir ROBERT J. PHILLIMORE, D.C.L. With Photographs.\n8vo. 12_s._\n\nLECTURES ON ART.--Delivered in support of the Society for Protection\nof Ancient Buildings. By REGD. STUART POOLE, Professor W.B. RICHMOND,\nE.J. POYNTER, R.A., J.T. MICKLETHWAITE, and WILLIAM MORRIS. Crown 8vo.\n4_s._ 6_d._\n\nLETHBRIDGE.--A SHORT MANUAL OF THE HISTORY OF INDIA, with an account\nof INDIA AS IT IS. The Soil, Climate, and Productions; the\nPeople--their Races, Religions, Public Works, and Industries; the\nCivil Services and System of Administration. By ROPER LETHBRIDGE,\nM.A., C.I.E., Press Commissioner with the Government of India, late\nScholar of Exeter College, &c. &c. With Maps. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\nLIECHTENSTEIN.--HOLLAND HOUSE. By Princess MARIE LIECHTENSTEIN. With\nFive Steel Engravings by C.H. JEENS, after paintings by WATTS and\nother celebrated Artists, and numerous Illustrations drawn by\nProfessor P.H. DELAMOTTE, and engraved on Wood by J.D. COOPER, W.\nPALMER, and JEWITT & CO., about 40 Illustrations by the Woodbury-type\nprocess, and India Proofs of the Steel Engravings. Two vols. Medium\n4to., half morocco elegant. 4_l._ 4_s._\n\nLLOYD.--THE AGE OF PERICLES. A History of the Arts and Politics of\nGreece from the Persian to the Peloponnesian War. By W. WATKISS LLOYD.\nTwo Vols. 8vo. 21_s._\n\nLOFTIE.--A RIDE IN EGYPT FROM SIOOT TO LUXOR, IN 1879; with Notes on\nthe Present State and Ancient History of the Nile Valley, and some\naccount of the various ways of making the voyage out and home. By the\nRev. W.J. LOFTIE, B.A. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nLUBBOCK.--Works by Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., D.C.L., F.R.S.\n\n     ADDRESSES, POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL. 8vo. 8_s._ 6_d._\n\n     FIFTY YEARS OF SCIENCE. Being the address delivered at York\n     to the British Association, August, 1881. 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nMACDONELL.--FRANCE SINCE THE FIRST EMPIRE. By JAMES MACDONELL. Edited\nwith Preface by his Wife. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nMACARTHUR.--HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. By MARGARET MACARTHUR. Being the\nThird Volume of the Historical Course for Schools, Edited by EDWARD A.\nFREEMAN, D.C.L. Second Edition. 18mo. 2_s._\n\nMcLENNAN.--THE PATRIARCHAL THEORY. Based on Papers of the late JOHN\nFERGUSON MCLENNAN. Edited and completed by DONALD MCLENNAN, of the\nInner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, 8vo. 14_s._\n\nMACMILLAN (REV. HUGH).--For other Works by same Author, _see_\nTHEOLOGICAL and SCIENTIFIC CATALOGUES.\n\n     HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS; or, Rambles and Incidents in search\n     of Alpine Plants. Second Edition, revised and enlarged.\n     Globe 8vo. 6_s._\n\nMACMILLAN (DANIEL).--MEMOIR OF DANIEL MACMILLAN. By THOMAS HUGHES,\nQ.C., Author of \"Tom Brown's Schooldays,\" etc. With Portrait engraved\non Steel by C.H. JEENS, from a Painting by LOWES DICKINSON. Fifth\nThousand. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._--POPULAR EDITION, Paper Covers, 1_s._\n\nMACREADY.--MACREADY'S REMINISCENCES AND SELECTIONS FROM HIS DIARIES\nAND LETTERS. Edited by Sir F. POLLOCK, Bart., one of his Executors.\nWith Four Portraits engraved by JEENS. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown\n8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nMAHAFFY.--Works by the Rev. J.P. MAHAFFY, M.A., Fellow of Trinity\nCollege, Dublin:--\n\n     SOCIAL LIFE IN GREECE FROM HOMER TO MENANDER. Fifth Edition,\n     revised and enlarged, with a new chapter on Greek Art. Crown\n     8vo. 9_s._\n\n     RAMBLES AND STUDIES IN GREECE. With Illustrations. New and\n     enlarged Edition, with Map and Illustrations. Crown 8vo.\n     10_s._ 6_d._\n\nMARGARY.--THE JOURNEY OF AUGUSTUS RAYMOND MARGARY FROM SHANGHAE TO\nBHAMO AND BACK TO MANWYNE. From his Journals and Letters, with a brief\nBiographical Preface, a concluding chapter by Sir RUTHERFORD ALCOCK,\nK.C.B., and a Steel Portrait engraved by JEENS, and Map. 8vo. 10_s._\n6_d._\n\nMARTEL.--MILITARY ITALY. By CHARLES MARTEL. With Map. 8vo. 12_s._\n6_d._\n\nMARTIN.--THE HISTORY OF LLOYD'S, AND OF MARINE INSURANCE IN GREAT\nBRITAIN. With an Appendix containing Statistics relating to Marine\nInsurance. By FREDERICK MARTIN, Author of \"The Statesman's Year Book.\"\n8vo. 14_s._\n\nMARTINEAU.--BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 1852-75. By HARRIET MARTINEAU. With\nFour Additional Sketches, and Autobiographical Sketch. Fifth Edition.\nCrown 8vo. 6_s._ (Biographical Series.)\n\nMASSON (DAVID).--By DAVID MASSON, LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and\nEnglish Literature in the University of Edinburgh. For other Works by\nsame Author, _see_ PHILOSOPHICAL and BELLES LETTRES CATALOGUE.\n\n     CHATTERTON: A Story of the Year 1770. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     THE THREE DEVILS: Luther's, Goethe's, and Milton's; and\n     other Essays. Crown 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     WORDSWORTH, SHELLEY, AND KEATS; and other Essays. Crown 8vo.\n     5_s._\n\nMATHEWS.--LIFE OF CHARLES J. MATHEWS. Chiefly Autobiographical. With\nSelections from his Correspondence and Speeches. Edited by CHARLES\nDICKENS. Two Vols. 8vo. 25_s._\n\nMAURICE.--LIFE OF FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE. Chiefly told in his own\nLetters. Edited by his Son, FREDERICK MAURICE. With Two Portraits.\nThird Edition. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 36_s._\n\nMAURICE.--THE FRIENDSHIP OF BOOKS; AND OTHER LECTURES. By the Rev.\nF.D. MAURICE. Edited with Preface, by THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C. Crown 8vo.\n4_s._ 6_d._\n\nMAXWELL.--PROFESSOR CLERK MAXWELL, A LIFE OF. With a Selection from\nhis Correspondence and Occasional Writings, and a Sketch of his\nContributions to Science. By LEWIS CAMPBELL, M.A., LL.D., Professor of\nGreek in the University of St. Andrews, and Professor WILLIAM GARNETT,\nM.A., Principal of Durham College of Science, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. New\nEdition, Abridged and Revised. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nMAYOR (J.E.B.)--Works edited by JOHN E.B. MAYOR, M.A., Kennedy\nProfessor of Latin at Cambridge:--\n\n     CAMBRIDGE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. Part II. Autobiography\n     of Matthew Robinson. Fcap. 8vo. 5_s._ 6_d._\n\n     LIFE OF BISHOP BEDELL. By his SON. Fcap. 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._\n\nMELBOURNE.--MEMOIRS OF THE RT. HON. WILLIAM, SECOND VISCOUNT\nMELBOURNE. By W.M. TORRENS, M.P. With Portrait after Sir T. Lawrence.\nSecond Edition. Two Vols. 8vo. 32_s._\n\nMIALL.--LIFE OF EDWARD MIALL, formerly M.P. for Rochdale and Bradford.\nBy his Son, ARTHUR MIALL. With a Portrait. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nMICHELET.--A SUMMARY OF MODERN HISTORY. Translated from the French of\nM. MICHELET, and continued to the present time by M.C.M. SIMPSON.\nGlobe 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nMILLET.--JEAN FRAN\u00c7OIS MILLET; Peasant and Painter. Translated from\nthe French of ALFRED SENSIER. With numerous Illustrations. Globe 4to.\n16_s._\n\nMILTON.--LIFE OF JOHN MILTON. Narrated in connection with the\nPolitical, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his Time. By DAVID\nMASSON, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature in\nthe University of Edinburgh. With Portraits. Vol. I. 1608-1639. New\nand Revised Edition. 8vo. 21_s._ Vol. II. 1638-1643. 8vo. 16_s._ Vol.\nIII. 1643-1649. 8vo. 18_s._ Vols. IV and V. 1649-1660. 32_s._ Vol. VI.\n1660-1674. With Portrait. 21_s._ _Index Volume in preparation._\n\n     This work is not only a Biography, but also a continuous\n     Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of England\n     through Milton's whole time.\n\nMITFORD (A.B.)--TALES OF OLD JAPAN. By A.B. MITFORD, Second Secretary\nto the British Legation in Japan. With upwards of 30 Illustrations,\ndrawn and cut on Wood by Japanese Artists. New and Cheaper Edition.\nCrown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nMURRAY.--ROUND ABOUT FRANCE. By E.C. GRENVILLE MURRAY. Crown 8vo.\n7_s._ 6_d._\n\nMUSIC.--DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS (A.D. 1450-1885). By Eminent\nWriters, English and Foreign. Edited by SIR GEORGE GROVE, D.C.L.,\nDirector of the Royal College of Music. Three Vols. 8vo. With\nIllustrations and Woodcuts. Parts I. to XIV., XIX. and XX., 3_s._\n6_d._ each. Parts XV. and XVI., 7_s._ Parts XVII. and XVIII., 7_s._\nVols. I., II., and III. 8vo. 21_s._ each.\n\n     Vol. I.--A to Impromptu. Vol. II.--Improperia to Plain Song.\n     Vol. III. Planch\u00e9 to Sumer is Icumen in.\n\nMYERS.--ESSAYS BY FREDERIC W.H. MYERS. 2 vols. I. Classical. II.\nModern. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\nNAPOLEON.--THE HISTORY OF NAPOLEON I. By P. LANFREY. A Translation\nwith the sanction of the Author. Four Vols. 8vo. Vols. II. and III.\nprice 12_s._ each. Vol. IV. With Index. 6_s._\n\nNEWTON.--ESSAYS ON ART AND ARCH\u00c6OLOGY. By CHARLES THOMAS NEWTON, C.D.,\nPh.D., D.C.L., L.L.D., Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the\nBritish Museum, &c. 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._\n\nNICHOL.--TABLES OF EUROPEAN LITERATURE AND HISTORY, A.D. 200-1876. By\nJ. NICHOL, L.L.D., Professor of English Language and Literature,\nGlasgow. 4to. 6_s._ 6_d._\n\n     TABLES OF ANCIENT LITERATURE AND HISTORY, B.C. 1500--A.D.\n     200. By the same Author. 4to. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nNORDENSKI\u00d6LD'S ARCTIC VOYAGES, 1858-79.--With Maps and numerous\nIllustrations. 8vo. 16_s._\n\n     VOYAGE OF THE _VEGA_. By ADOLF ERIK NORDENSKI\u00d6LD. Translated\n     by ALEXANDER LESLIE. With numerous Illustrations, Maps, &c.\n     Popular and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nOLIPHANT (MRS.).--Works by Mrs. OLIPHANT.\n\n     THE MAKERS OF FLORENCE: Dante, Giotto, Savonarola, and their\n     City. With numerous Illustrations from drawings by Professor\n     DELAMOTTE, and portrait of Savonarola, engraved by JEENS.\n     New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     THE LITERARY HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH\n     AND BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. New Issue, with a\n     Preface. 3 vols. Demy 8vo. 21_s._\n\nOLIPHANT.--THE DUKE AND THE SCHOLAR: and other Essays By T.L. KINGTON\nOLIPHANT. 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nOTTE.--SCANDINAVIAN HISTORY. By E.C. OTTE. With Maps. Extra fcap. 8vo.\n6_s._\n\nOWENS COLLEGE ESSAYS AND ADDRESSES.--By PROFESSORS AND LECTURERS OF\nOWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER. Published in Commemoration of the Opening\nof the New College Buildings, October 7th, 1873. 8vo. 14_s._\n\nPALGRAVE (R.F.D.)--THE HOUSE OF COMMONS; Illustrations of its History\nand Practice. By REGINALD F.D. PALGRAVE, Clerk Assistant of the House\nof Commons. New and Revised Edition. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nPALGRAVE (SIR F.)--HISTORY OF NORMANDY AND OF ENGLAND. By Sir FRANCIS\nPALGRAVE, Deputy Keeper of Her Majesty's Public Records. Completing\nthe History to the Death of William Rufus. 4 Vols. 8vo. 4_l._ 4_s._\n\nPALGRAVE (W.G.)--A NARRATIVE OF A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH CENTRAL AND\nEASTERN ARABIA, 1862-3. By WILLIAM GIFFORD PALGRAVE, late of the\nEighth Regiment Bombay N.I. Sixth Edition. With Maps, Plans, and\nPortrait of Author, engraved on steel by JEENS. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     ESSAYS ON EASTERN QUESTIONS. By W. GIFFORD PALGRAVE. 8vo.\n     10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     DUTCH GUIANA. With Maps and Plans. 8vo. 9_s._\n\nPARKMAN.--MONTCALM AND WOLFE. By FRANCIS PARKMAN. With Portraits and\nMaps. 2 vols. 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._ each.\n\nPATTESON.--LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, D.D.,\nMissionary Bishop of the Melanesian Islands. By CHARLOTTE M. YONGE,\nAuthor of \"The Heir of Redclyffe.\" With Portraits after RICHMOND and\nfrom Photograph, engraved by JEENS. With Map. Fifth Edition. Two Vols.\nCrown 8vo. 12_s._\n\nPATTISON.--MEMOIRS. By MARK PATTISON, late Rector of Lincoln College,\nOxford. Crown 8vo. 8_s._ 6_d._\n\nPAYNE.--A HISTORY OF EUROPEAN COLONIES. By E.J. PAYNE, M.A. With Maps.\n18mo. 4_s._ 6_d._ _Historical Course for Schools._\n\nPERSIA.--EASTERN PERSIA. An Account of the Journeys of the Persian\nBoundary Commission, 1870-1-2.--Vol. I. The Geography, with Narratives\nby Majors ST. JOHN, LOVETT, and EUAN SMITH, and an Introduction by\nMajor-General Sir FREDERIC GOLDSMID, C.B., K.C.S.I., British\nCommissioner and Arbitrator. With Maps and Illustrations.--Vol. II.\nThe Zoology and Geology. By W.T. BLANDFORD, A.R.S.M., F.R.S. With\nColoured Illustrations. Two Vols. 8vo. 42_s._\n\nPHEAR.--THE ARYAN VILLAGE IN INDIA AND CEYLON. By Sir JOHN B. PHEAR.\nCrown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nPOOLE.--A HISTORY OF THE HUGUENOTS OF THE DISPERSION AT THE RECALL OF\nTHE EDICT OF NANTES. By REGINALD LANE POOLE. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nPRICHARD.--THE ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA. From 1859 to 1868. The First\nTen Years of Administration under the Crown. By I.T. PRICHARD,\nBarrister-at-Law. Two Vols. Demy 8vo. With Map. 21_s._\n\nREED (SIR CHAS.).--SIR CHARLES REED. A Memoir by CHARLES E.B. REED,\nM.A. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\nREMBRANDT.--THE ETCHED WORK OF REMBRANDT. A MONOGRAPH. By FRANCIS\nSEYMOUR HADEN. With three Plates. 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\nROGERS (JAMES E. THOROLD).--HISTORICAL GLEANINGS:--A Series of\nSketches. Montague, Walpole, Adam Smith, Cobbett. By Prof. ROGERS,\nM.P. Crown 8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._ Second Series. Wiklif, Laud, Wilkes, and\nHorne Tooke. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nROSSETTI.--DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI: a Record and a Study. By WILLIAM\nSHARP. With an Illustration after Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Crown 8vo.\n10_s._ 6_d._\n\nROUTLEDGE.--CHAPTERS IN THE HISTORY OF POPULAR PROGRESS IN ENGLAND,\nchiefly in Relation to the Freedom of the Press and Trial by Jury,\n1660-1820. With application to later years. By J. ROUTLEDGE. 8vo.\n16_s._\n\nRUMFORD.--COUNT RUMFORD'S COMPLETE WORKS, with Memoir, and Notices of\nhis Daughter. By GEORGE ELLIS. Five Vols. 8vo. 4_l._ 14_s._ 6_d._\n\nRUSSELL.--NEW VIEWS ON IRELAND, OR IRISH LAND GRIEVANCES AND REMEDIES.\nBy CHARLES RUSSELL, Q.C., M.P. Third Edition. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._\n\nSAYCE.--THE ANCIENT EMPIRES OF THE EAST. By A.H. SAYCE,\nDeputy-Professor of Comparative Philology, Oxford; Hon. LL.D. Dublin.\nCrown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nSCHILLER.--THE LIFE OF SCHILLER. By HEINRICH D\u00dcNTZER. Translated by\nPERCY E. PINKERTON. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nSEELEY.--Works by J.R. SEELEY, M.A., Regius Professor of Modern\nHistory in the University of Cambridge, Fellow of Gonville and Caius\nCollege, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and Honorary Member\nof the Historical Society of Massachusetts:--\n\n     THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND. Two Courses of Lectures. Crown\n     8vo. 4_s._ 6_d._\n\n     LECTURES AND ESSAYS. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     CONTENTS:--Roman Imperialism: 1. The Great Roman Revolution;\n     2. The Proximate Cause of the Fall of the Roman Empire; The\n     Later Empire.--Milton's Political Opinions--Milton's\n     Poetry--Elementary Principles in Art--Liberal Education in\n     Universities--English in Schools--The Church as a Teacher of\n     Morality--The Teaching of Politics: an Inaugural Lecture\n     delivered at Cambridge.\n\nSHELBURNE.--LIFE OF WILLIAM, EARL OF SHELBURNE, AFTERWARDS FIRST\nMARQUIS OF LANDSDOWNE. With Extracts from his Papers and\nCorrespondence. By Lord EDMOND FITZMAURICE. In Three Vols. 8vo. Vol.\nI. 1737-1766, 12_s._; Vol. II. 1766-1776, 12_s._; Vol. III. 1776-1805,\n16_s._\n\nSIBSON.--COLLECTED WORKS OF FRANCIS SIBSON, M.D., Lond., Fellow of the\nRoyal Society, Honorary M.D. Trinity College, Dublin, and D.C.L.\nDurham, Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, &c. Edited by\nWILLIAM M. 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(For other\nWorks by the same Author, see EDUCATIONAL and PHILOSOPHICAL\nCATALOGUES.):--\n\n     THE THEORY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. Second Edition, revised,\n     with new Preface and Appendices. 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n     PRIMER OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. 18mo. 1_s._\n\n     METHODS OF SOCIAL REFORM, and other Papers. Demy 8vo. 10_s._\n     6_d._\n\n     INVESTIGATIONS IN CURRENCY AND FINANCE. Edited, with an\n     Introduction, by H.S. FOXWELL, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer of\n     St. John's College, Cambridge, and Professor of Political\n     Economy at University College, London. Illustrated by 20\n     Diagrams. Demy 8vo. 21_s._\n\nLAVELEYE.--PRIMITIVE PROPERTY. By EMILE DE LAVELEYE. Translated by\nG.R.L. MARRIOTT, LL.B., with an Introduction by T.E. CLIFFE LESLIE,\nLL.B. 8vo. 12_s._\n\nLIGHTWOOD.--THE NATURE OF POSITIVE LAW. By JOHN M. 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By JAMES\nHELFENSTEIN, Ph.D. 8vo. 18_s._\n\nMASSON (GUSTAVE).--A COMPENDIOUS DICTIONARY OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE\n(French-English and English-French). Adapted from the Dictionaries of\nProfessor ALFRED ELWALL. Followed by a List of the Principal Diverging\nDerivations, and preceded by Chronological and Historical Tables. By\nGUSTAVE MASSON, Assistant-Master and Librarian, Harrow School. Fourth\nEdition. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nMAYOR.--A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL CLUE TO LATIN LITERATURE. Edited after Dr.\nE. HUBNER. With large Additions by JOHN E.B. MAYOR, M.A., Professor of\nLatin in the University of Cambridge. Crown 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\nMORRIS.--Works by the Rev. RICHARD MORRIS, LL.D., President of the\nPhilological Society, Editor of \"Specimens of Early English,\" &c.,\n&c.:--\n\n     HISTORICAL OUTLINES OF ENGLISH ACCIDENCE, comprising\n     Chapters on the History and Development of the Language, and\n     on Word-formation. New Edition. 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To which\nare added, the Lyric Parts of the \"Medea\" of Euripides and the\n\"Antigone\" of Sophocles; with Rhythmical Scheme and Commentary. By Dr.\nJ.H. SCHMIDT. Translated from the German by J.W. WHITE, D.D. 8vo.\n10_s._ 6_d._\n\nTAYLOR.--Works by the Rev. ISAAC TAYLOR, M.A.:--\n\n     ETRUSCAN RESEARCHES. With Woodcuts. 8vo. 14_s._\n\n     WORDS AND PLACES; or, Etymological Illustrations of History,\n     Ethnology and Geography. By the Rev. ISAAC TAYLOR. Third\n     Edition, revised and compressed. With Maps. Globe 8vo. 6_s._\n\n     GREEKS AND GOTHS: a Study on the Runes. 8vo. 9_s._\n\nTRENCH.--Works by R. CHENEVIX TRENCH, D.D. (For other Works by the\nsame Author, _see_ THEOLOGICAL CATALOGUE.)\n\n     SYNONYMS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. Ninth Edition, enlarged. 8vo.\n     cloth. 12_s._\n\n     ON THE STUDY OF WORDS. Lectures Addressed (originally) to\n     the Pupils at the Diocesan Training School, Winchester.\n     Eighteenth Edition, enlarged. Fcap. 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     ENGLISH PAST AND PRESENT. Eleventh Edition, revised and\n     improved. Fcap. 8vo. 5_s._\n\n     A SELECT GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH WORDS USED FORMERLY IN SENSES\n     DIFFERENT FROM THEIR PRESENT. Fifth Edition, enlarged. Fcap.\n     8vo. 5_s._\n\nVINCENT AND DICKSON.--A HANDBOOK TO MODERN GREEK. By EDGAR VINCENT,\nM.A., and T.G. DICKSON. Second Edition revised and enlarged. With an\nAppendix on the Relation of Modern Greek to Classical Greek. By\nProfessor R.C. JEBB. Crown 8vo. 6_s._\n\nWHITNEY.--A COMPENDIOUS GERMAN GRAMMAR. By W.D. WHITNEY, Professor of\nSanskrit and Instructor in Modern Languages in Yale College. Crown\n8vo. 6_s._\n\nWHITNEY AND EDGREN.--A COMPENDIOUS GERMAN AND ENGLISH DICTIONARY, with\nNotation of Correspondences and Brief Etymologies. By Professor W.D.\nWHITNEY, assisted by A.H. EDGREN. Crown 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._\n\n     The GERMAN-ENGLISH Part may be had separately. Price 5_s._\n\nWRIGHT (ALDIS).--THE BIBLE WORD-BOOK: a Glossary of Archaic Words and\nPhrases in the Authorised Version of the Bible and the Book of Common\nPrayer. By W. ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A., Fellow and Bursar of Trinity\nCollege, Cambridge. Second Edition, revised and enlarged. Crown 8vo.\n7_s._ 6_d._\n\nZECHARIAH.--THE HEBREW STUDENT'S COMMENTARY ON HEBREW AND LXX. With\nExcursus on Several Grammatical Subjects. By W.H. LOWE, M.A., Hebrew\nLecturer at Christ's College, Cambridge. Demy 8vo. 10_s._ 6_d._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTHE GOLDEN TREASURY SERIES.\n\nUNIFORMLY printed in 18mo., with Vignette Titles by J.E. MILLAIS, T.\nWOOLNER, W. HOLMAN HUNT, SIR NOEL PATON, ARTHUR HUGHES, &c. Engraved\non Steel by JEENS. Bound in extra cloth, 4_s._ 6_d._ each volume.\n\n     \"Messrs. Macmillan have, in their Golden Treasury Series,\n     especially provided editions of standard works, volumes of\n     selected poetry, and original compositions, which entitle\n     this series to be called classical. Nothing can be better\n     than the literary execution, nothing more elegant than the\n     material workmanship.\"--BRITISH QUARTERLY REVIEW.\n\nTHE GOLDEN TREASURY OF THE BEST SONGS AND LYRICAL POEMS IN THE ENGLISH\nLANGUAGE. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by FRANCIS TURNER\nPALGRAVE.\n\nTHE CHILDREN'S GARLAND FROM THE BEST POETS. Selected and arranged by\nCOVENTRY PATMORE.\n\nTHE BOOK OF PRAISE. From the best English Hymn Writers. Selected and\narranged by the Right Hon. the EARL OF SELBORNE. _A New and Enlarged\nEdition._\n\nTHE FAIRY BOOK; the Best Popular Fairy Stories. Selected and rendered\nanew by the Author of \"JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.\"\n\n     \"A delightful selection, in a delightful external form; full\n     of the physical splendour and vast opulence of proper fairy\n     tales.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nTHE BALLAD BOOK. A Selection of the Choicest British Ballads. Edited\nby WILLIAM ALLINGHAM.\n\nTHE JEST BOOK. The Choicest Anecdotes and Sayings. Selected and\narranged by MARK LEMON.\n\n     \"The fullest and best jest book that has yet\n     appeared.\"--SATURDAY REVIEW.\n\nBACON'S ESSAYS AND COLOURS OF GOOD AND EVIL. With Notes and Glossarial\nIndex. By W. ALDIS WRIGHT, M.A.\n\n     \"The beautiful little edition of Bacon's Essays, now before\n     us, does credit to the taste and scholarship of Mr. Aldis\n     Wright.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nTHE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS from this World to that which is to come. By\nJOHN BUNYAN.\n\n     \"A beautiful and scholarly reprint.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nTHE SUNDAY BOOK OF POETRY FOR THE YOUNG. Selected and arranged by C.F.\nALEXANDER.\n\n     \"A well-selected volume of sacred poetry.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nA BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS of All Times and All Countries. Gathered and\nNarrated Anew. By the Author of \"THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE.\"\n\n     \"... To the young, for whom it is especially intended, as a\n     most interesting collection of thrilling tales well told;\n     and to their elders as a useful handbook of reference, and a\n     pleasant one to take up when their wish is to while away a\n     weary half-hour. We have seen no prettier gift-book for a\n     long time.\"--ATHEN\u00c6UM.\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. Edited, from the Original Edition,\nby J.W. CLARK, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.\n\nTHE REPUBLIC OF PLATO, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH, with Notes by J. LL.\nDAVIES, M.A., and D.J. VAUGHAN, M.A.\n\n     \"A dainty and cheap little edition.\"--EXAMINER.\n\nTHE SONG BOOK. Words and tunes from the best Poets and Musicians.\nSelected and arranged by JOHN HULLAH, late Professor of Vocal Music in\nKing's College, London.\n\n     \"A choice collection of the sterling songs of England,\n     Scotland, and Ireland, with the music of each prefixed to\n     the words. How much true wholesome pleasure such a book can\n     diffuse, and will diffuse, we trust, through many thousand\n     families.\"--EXAMINER.\n\nLA LYRE FRAN\u00c7AISE. Selected and arranged, with Notes, by GUSTAVE\nMASSON, French Master in Harrow School.\n\n     \"We doubt whether even in France itself so interesting and\n     complete a repertory of the best French Lyrics could be\n     found.\"--NOTES AND QUERIES.\n\nTOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS. By AN OLD BOY.\n\n     \"A perfect gem of a book. The best and most healthy book\n     about boys for boys that ever was written.\"--ILLUSTRATED\n     TIMES.\n\nA BOOK OF WORTHIES. Gathered from the Old Histories and written anew\nby the Author of \"THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE.\"\n\n     \"An admirable addition to an admirable series.\"--WESTMINSTER\n     REVIEW.\n\nGUESSES AT TRUTH. By TWO BROTHERS. _New Edition._\n\nTHE CAVALIER AND HIS LADY. Selections from the Works of the First Duke\nand Duchess of Newcastle. With an Introductory Essay by EDWARD\nJENKINS, Author of \"Ginx's Baby,\" &c.\n\n     \"A charming little volume.\"--STANDARD.\n\nSCOTCH SONG. A Selection of the Choicest Lyrics of Scotland. Compiled\nand arranged, with brief Notes, by MARY CARLYLE AITKIN.\n\n     \"The book is one that should find a place in every library,\n     we had almost said in every pocket.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nDEUTSCHE LYRIK: The Golden Treasury of the best German Lyrical Poems.\nSelected and arranged, with Notes and Literary Introduction, by Dr.\nBUCHHEIM.\n\n     \"A book which all lovers of German poetry will\n     welcome.\"--WESTMINSTER REVIEW.\n\nHERRICK: Selections from the Lyrical Poems. Arranged, with Notes, by\nF.T. PALGRAVE.\n\n     \"For the first time the sweetest of English pastoral poets\n     is placed within the range of the great world of\n     readers.\"--ACADEMY.\n\nPOEMS OF PLACES. Edited by H.W. LONGFELLOW. England and Wales. Two\nVols.\n\n     \"A very happy idea, thoroughly worked out by an editor who\n     possesses every qualification for the task.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nMATTHEW ARNOLD'S SELECTED POEMS.\n\n     \"A volume which is a thing of beauty in itself.\"--PALL MALL\n     GAZETTE.\n\nTHE STORY OF THE CHRISTIANS AND MOORS IN SPAIN. By C.M. YONGE, Author\nof the \"Heir of Redclyffe.\" With Vignette by HOLMAN HUNT.\n\nCHARLES LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. Edited by the Rev. A. AINGER,\nM.A., Reader at the Temple.\n\nPOEMS OF WORDSWORTH. Chosen and Edited, with Preface by MATTHEW\nARNOLD. (Also a Large Paper Edition. Crown 8vo. 9_s._)\n\n     \"A volume, every page of which is weighted with the golden\n     fruit of poetry.\"--PALL MALL GAZETTE.\n\nSHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS. Edited by F.T. PALGRAVE.\n\nPOEMS FROM SHELLEY. Selected and arranged by STOPFORD A. BROOKE, M.A.\n(Also a Large Paper Edition. Crown 8vo. 12_s._ 6_d._)\n\n     \"Full of power and true appreciation of\n     Shelley.\"--SPECTATOR.\n\nESSAYS OF JOSEPH ADDISON. Chosen and Edited by JOHN RICHARD GREEN,\nM.A., LL.D.\n\n     \"This is a most welcome addition to a most excellent\n     series.\"--EXAMINER.\n\nPOETRY OF BYRON. Chosen and arranged by MATTHEW ARNOLD. (Also a Large\nPaper Edition, Crown 8vo.) 9_s._\n\n     \"It is written in Mr. Arnold's neatest vein, and in Mr.\n     Arnold's most pellucid manner.\"--ATHEN\u00c6UM.\n\nSELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.--Arranged and\nEdited by Professor SIDNEY COLVIN.\n\nSIR THOMAS BROWNE'S RELIGIO MEDICI; Letter to a Friend, &c., and\nChristian Morals. Edited by W.A. GREENHILL, M.D.\n\n     \"Dr. Greenhill's annotations display care and research to a\n     degree rare among English editors. The bibliographical\n     details furnished leave nothing to be desired.\"--ATHEN\u00c6UM.\n\nTHE SPEECHES AND TABLE-TALK OF THE PROPHET MOHAMMAD.--Chosen and\nTranslated, with an Introduction and Notes, by STANLEY LANE-POOLE.\n\nSELECTIONS FROM COWPER'S POEMS.--With an Introduction by Mrs.\nOLIPHANT.\n\nLETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER.--Edited, with Introduction. By the Rev. W.\nBENHAM, B.D., Editor of the \"Globe Edition\" of Cowper's Poetical\nWorks.\n\nTHE POETICAL WORKS OF JOHN KEATS.--Reprinted from the Original\nEditions, with Notes. By FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE.\n\nLYRICAL POEMS. By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON. Selected and Annotated. By\nFRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE.\n\n[asterism symbol] _Other Volumes to follow._\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Now Publishing, in Crown 8vo. Price 3s. 6d. each._\n\n_The English Citizen._\n\nA SERIES OF SHORT BOOKS ON HIS RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES.\n\nEDITED BY HENRY CRAIK, M.A. (OXON.); LL.D. (GLASGOW).\n\nThis series is intended to meet the demand for accessible information\non the ordinary conditions, and the current terms, of our political\nlife. Ignorance of these not only takes from the study of history the\ninterest which comes from a contact with practical politics, but,\nstill worse, it unfits men for their place as intelligent citizens.\nThe series will deal with the details of the machinery whereby our\nConstitution works, and the broad lines upon which it has been\nconstructed.\n\n_The following Volumes are ready:--_\n\nCENTRAL GOVERNMENT. By H.D. TRAILL, D.C.L., late Fellow of St. John's\nCollege, Oxford.\n\nTHE ELECTORATE AND THE LEGISLATURE. By SPENCER WALPOLE, Author of \"The\nHistory of England from 1815.\"\n\nTHE NATIONAL BUDGET; THE NATIONAL DEBT; TAXES AND RATES. By A.J.\nWILSON.\n\nTHE POOR LAW. By Rev. T.W. FOWLE, M.A.\n\nTHE STATE AND ITS RELATION TO TRADE. By Sir T.H. FARRER, Bart.\n\nTHE STATE IN RELATION TO LABOUR. By W. STANLEY JEVONS, LL.D., F.R.S.\n\nTHE STATE AND THE CHURCH. By the Hon. A. ARTHUR ELLIOTT, M.P.\n\nFOREIGN RELATIONS. By SPENCER WALPOLE, Author of \"The History of\nEngland from 1815.\"\n\nLOCAL GOVERNMENT. By M.D. CHALMERS, M.A.\n\nTHE STATE IN ITS RELATION TO EDUCATION. By HENRY CRAIK, M.A., LL.D.\n\nTHE LAND LAWS. By FREDERICK POLLOCK, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity\nCollege, Cambridge, Corpus Christi Professor of Jurisprudence in the\nUniversity of Oxford.\n\nCOLONIES AND DEPENDENCIES.--I. INDIA. By J.S. COTTON, M.A., late\nFellow of Queen's College, Oxford. II. THE COLONIES. By E.J. PAYNE,\nM.A., Fellow of University College, Oxford.\n\nJUSTICE AND POLICE. By F.W. MAITLAND.\n\n_In Preparation:--_\n\nTHE PENAL SYSTEM. By Sir EDMUND DU CANE, K.C.B.\n\nTHE NATIONAL DEFENCES. By Lieut.-Colonel MAURICE, R.A.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLONDON: RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, PRINTERS.","title":"Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia.","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":86889}