DANT& The facts of Dante's life belong to history, but the vicissitudes of his love, the evolution of his soul, stand within the compass of litera ture, they explain and reveal his immortal work. He was nine years old when first he met Bea trice, a child of eight ; nine years later he again met her in the street, and was favored with her gentle saluto. In that instant love mastered his soul, Beatrice was the only object of his thought. The death of Beatrice did not break the charm, though for a moment Dante was attracted by a gentle dame who with him be wailed his great loss; but soon he returned to his worship of Beatrice's memory. 'La Vita Nuova) records the incidents and emotions of his love for Beatrice. Through these sonnets and cansoni, linked together by prose comment, runs a vein of tender melancholy, a spirit of transcendentalism. The canzone Donne cite avete intelletto d'amore is in the Dolce stil nuovo introduced by Guido Guinicelli, with a metaphysical deification of feminine beauty as an emanation of Divine Love as a means of salvation. The sonnets
/erfettamente ogni salute,' and
the death of Beatrice, he describes his vision of her soul rising to the glory of Paradise amidst a choir of cherubims singing praises. In Dante's
are other beautiful lyrics, some with the same inspiration as in
Nuova) and others, known as Rime petrose, composed in a different spirit; per ht.ps inspired by a woman named Pietra. ( onvito) (as the name signifies), is a ((ban
of spiritual food in the Italian language, for those who could not read Latin. Phi losophy, astrology, morals, religion, a compen dium of the Ptolemaic system, and a disserta tion on the destination of the human soul, all are included in this feast; all presented in noble poetry and splendid prose. The Cansone 'Voi the intendendo it terzo ciel movete' show how genius can transform dry dogmatic into a noble hymn of beauty. In (De Monarchia' the question which then divided the world— whether the Church should dominate the em pire—is argued from the Ghibelline (or Im perial) standpoint.