DANTE
BY
EDMUND G. GARDNER, M.A.
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
681 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1923
By E. P. Dutton & Company
_All Rights Reserved_
PRINTED IN THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA
TO
PHILIP H. WICKSTEED
A SMALL TRIBUTE
OF
DEEP AFFECTION AND HIGH ESTEEM
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I would ask the reader to take the present volume, not as a new book on
Dante, but merely as a revision of the Primer which was first published
in 1900. It has been as far as possible brought up to date, the chief
modifications being naturally in the sections devoted to the poet’s
life and _Opere minori_, and in the bibliographical appendix; but the
work remains substantially the same. Were I now to write a new Dante
Primer, after the interval of nearly a quarter of a century, I should
be disposed to attach considerably less importance to the allegorical
meaning of the _Divina Commedia_, and to emphasise, more than I have
here done, the aspect of Dante as the symbol and national hero of Italy.
E. G. G.
LONDON, _July, 1923_.
N.B.--The “Sexcentenary Dante” (the _testo critico_ published under
the auspices of the _Società Dantesca Italiana_) adopts a slightly
different numbering of the chapters, or paragraphs, of the _Vita Nuova_
and the second treatise of the _Convivio_ from that presented by the
“Oxford Dante” and the “Temple Classics.” I have kept to the latter
(which is indicated in brackets in the _testo critico_). Similarly, I
have followed the numbering of the _Epistolae_ in Dr. Toynbee’s edition
and the “Oxford Dante” (also given in brackets in the _testo critico_).
In the section on the lyrical poetry, _Rime_ refers to the _testo
critico_ as edited by Professor Barbi, _O_. to the new Oxford edition
revised by Dr. Toynbee. In the closing passage of the Letter to a
Florentine friend, I have followed the reading retained by Dr. Toynbee.
I have frequently availed myself of Dr. Wicksteed’s translation of the
Letters and _Monarchia_, of Mr. A. G. F. Howell’s version of the _De
Vulgari Eloquentia_, and occasionally of Carlyle’s rendering of the
_Inferno_. Every student of Dante must inevitably owe much to others;
but, in this new edition of my Primer, I would express my indebtedness
in particular to the writings of Dr. Paget Toynbee, Dr. Philip H.
Wicksteed, the late Ernesto Giacomo Parodi, and Prof. Michele Barbi.
⁂ To the Bibliographical Appendix should be added: A. Fiammazzo, _Il
commento dantesco di Graziolo de’ Bambaglioli_ (Savona, 1915), and P.
Revelli, _L’Italia nella Divina Commedia_ (Milan, 1923).
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
DANTE IN HIS TIMES--
I. The End of the Middle Ages.--II. Dante’s Childhood and
Adolescence.--III. After the Death of Beatrice.--IV. Dante’s Political
Life.--V. First Period of Exile.--VI. The Invasion of Henry VII.--VII.
Last Period of Exile.--VIII. Dante’s Works and First Interpreters 1