Chapter I: Front Matter

DANTE

BY
EDMUND G. GARDNER, M.A.

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

CHAPTER II

DANTE’S MINOR ITALIAN WORKS--

I. _The Vita Nuova._--II. _The Rime._--III. _The Convivio_ 67

CHAPTER III

DANTE’S LATIN WORKS--

I. The _De Vulgari Eloquentia_.--II. _The Monarchia._--III. _The Epistolae._--IV. _The Eclogae._--V. The _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_ 102

CHAPTER IV

THE “DIVINA COMMEDIA”--

I. Introductory.--II. The _Inferno_.--III. The _Purgatorio_.--IV. The _Paradiso_ 136

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX 223

DIAGRAMS AND TABLES 233

INDEX 249

DANTE