The exiled Bianchi joined forces with the many Ghibellines then living in banishment, and made many attempts to return by force of arms. Just how long Dante remained with his fellow exiles is not known, but sooner or later lie wearied of their dissensions, and found an asylum with Ba rtolom meo della Scala, at Verona. Through the year of wandering that followed, it is idle to attempt to trace him—'a ship without sail Of helm,' lie calls himself in the ('onrieio. In 1306 we find him at Padua; in 1307 at Casen lino. and the following year perhaps at Forli; 1309 is the date assigned for his alleged visit to and some would have it that he even pushed on to Oxford, but this cannot he proved. At all events, in 1313 he was in Pisa, where Tetrarch saw him as a child. Two years later the Florentines passed a decree allowing the exiles to return. hut upon such humiliating Con ditions that Dante rejected them with scorn. Iu 1317 he made his permanent home at Ravenna, where he was warmly welcomed by Guido No vell° da Polenta. the lord of the city and nephew, it is thought, of Francesca da Rimini. Here he passed his last years, busied with the completion of his great epic, and surrounded by his children and friends, and here lie died on the night of September 14. 13•1. having been taken ill while on a political mission in behalf of Novell° and the city that had given him refuge. He was buried by Novell° with great honor. hut the latter was expelled from Ravenna before lie had time to raise a fitting monument to his friend. Florence, which sought to make tardy atonement by raising a memorial tablet in the Church of Santa Croce, tried in vain to obtain the custody of his remains. For fear of theft, they were hidden, and their resting-place remained a secret down to 1S65, since which time they have been jealously guarded by Ravenna.
The chronological order of Dante's writings has been the ground of endless debate. The order which affords the least ground for objections is probably the following: Pita uoru, De rulgari Eloquentia, ('onririo, De Monfirehia, the Rime and EpiRtohr, which cover a long period of years; the EC109f•, and the Commedia. The Pita Nuora probably dates fr the early nineties, is written in mingled prose and verse, and contains the story of his love for Beatrice, together with the poems addressed to her and some other ladies. Aside from its lofty sentiment and poetic charm, the Vita Suora possesses a deep interest as being the earliest example of polished Italian prose. The Conririo. or Banquet, is also a combination of prose and poetry. in which, as has been quaintly said, the poems are served up as the viands. the commentary as the accompanying bread. Here, also, Beatrice is the central figure. but this time as a sort of personification of divine philosophy. As originally planned. the Conririo should have eontained fourteen canzoni, with accompanying comment. but in the form in which we have it. it is incomplete. The Rime or Canzoniere are a collection of poems on many subjects, and obviously covering a long period of years. them are four canzoni which relate to a brief attachment felt by Dante for an unknown woman. whom he designates as La Pietra. and whom some would identify with the
donna gentile of the Vita Nuorn. The Dr Fill !poi Elogurntio is the most interesting of Dante's Latin writings. and may lie defined as the first attempt at a scientific treatise of the Italian language. Dante recognizes the kinship of the Romance languages, but errs rather curiously in declaring Latin an artificial product of later origin. He distinguishes, moreover, fourteen dia lects, and condemns them all, including that of Tuscany.
Concerning the poetry. the majesty, the phil osophy of Dante's masterpiece.theDirineCom«ly, whole libraries have been written in praise, in controversy, and in elucidation. The central mo tive of the epic may be lividly summed up as fol lows: It depicts a vision. in which the poet is conducted, first by Vergil. the representative of human reason. through hell and purgatory; and then by Beatrice. the representative of revela tion, through paradise, and finally by Saint Bernard through the several heavens, where he beholds the triune Cod. The name Comniedia was given to the work because, beginning with the horrible, it ends cheerfully, and because in re spect to the style it was lowly, being written in the vulgar The epithet 'Divina'wasadded by the admiration of after-times. Hell is repre sented in the poem as a funnel-shaped 110110w, formed of gradually contracting circles, the low est and narrowest of which is at the earth's cen tre. Purgatory is a mountain rising solitary from the ocean, on that side of the earth that is op posite to us. It is divided into terraces, and its top is the terrestrial paradise, the first abode of man. From this the poet ascends through the seven planetary heavens, the heaven of the fixed stars and the Trillium mobile,' to the empyrean or fixed seat of God. in all parts of the regions thus traversed there arise conversations with noted personages, for the most part those re cently deceased, whom Dante had known per sonally in life. Incidentally, the deepest ques tions of niediceval philosophy are dismissed and solved, and the social and moral conditions of Italy, with the corruption of Church and State, are depicted with noble indignation.
Fifty-two years after the poet's death the Republic of Florence set apart an annual sum for public lectures to explain the Divine Comedy to the people, and Boccaccio himself was ap pointed first lecturer. The example was imi tated in several other cities of Italy. The works of these men are among the earliest commen taries on Dante that we possess. Since 1472 there have appeared nearly 500 editions of the Divine Comedy in Italian, and the number is being augmented at the rate of at least six a year. Of the notable early editions may be mentioned the following, the earliest of all: Fuligno (1472) ; the Nidobeatine (Milan, 1477 78) : the first Florentine (14S1) ; the first Aldine (1502) ; the first t'ruscau edition (1595) ; that of Volpi (1727) ; and of Venturi (1732). Of the countless modern editions, with commen taries, that of Fraticelli (1852) is probably as good as any. The chief English translations are: lloyd's (1785) ; Cary's (1814) ; Wright's (1833) ; Pollock's (1854) ; Longfellow's (1867) ; Norton's (1391-92).