setting an hundred and fifty of the best in the
host to fight in the front,i of whom twenty were
new-made knights, dubbed on the field. And
M. Vieri de' Cerchi being one of the captains, and
being lame of his leg, he would not on that account
be excused from fighting in the front ; and it
falling to him to make the choice for his Sesto,'-^
he would not lay this burden on any who did not
desire it of his own free will, but chose himself
^ It is probable from what Leonardo Bruni says that Dante
was among these.
2 One of the six divisions into which the city of Florence
was at this time divided.
So DANTE IN FLORENCE
and his son and his nephews. And this thing was
counted to him as of great merit ; and after his
good example, and for very shame, many other
noble citizens set themselves in the fore-front of
the host. And when this was done they flanked
each wing with light-armed infantry, and cross-
bow-men, and foot-soldiers with long lances ; and
the main body to the rear of the fore-front was
also flanked by foot-soldiers ; and in the rear of
all was the baggage drawn up so as to support the
main body, outside of which were stationed two
hundred horse and foot of the Lucchese and the
Pistojans and other allies ; the captain of these
was M. Corso Donati, at that time Podesta of
Pistoja, whose orders were, if needful, to take the
enemy in flank.
" The Aretines on their side ordered their troops
skilfully, inasmuch as they had, as we have said,
good captains of war among them ; and they set
a strong body to fight in the front, to the number
of three hundred, among whom were chosen twelve
of the chief leaders, whom they styled the twelve
paladins. 1 And each side having adopted their
war - cry, the Florentines ' Nerbona ' and the
Aretines ' San Donato,' the fore-front of the
^ Doubtless in allusion to the fact that they were opposed
to Aimeri de Narbonne, a name familiar in the old Chansons
lie Gtste as at one time a foe of Charlemagne and afterwards
as one of his doughtiest warriors.
DANTE IN FLORENCE 8i
Aretine liorsemen advanced mth great daring at
full speed to charge the host of the Florentines^
and their remaining ranks followed close behind,
except that Count Guido Novello, who was in
command of a troop of an hundred and fifty horse
for a flank attack, did not venture to join battle,
but stood his ground, and then took to fliglit to
his own territory.! And the charge and attack of
the Aretines against the Florentines was to the
end that, being confident in their prowess, they
might by their bold stroke break the Florentines
at the first onset, and put them to flight. So great
was the shock that the most part of the Florentine
fore-front were unhorsed, and the main body was
thrust back some way across the field, but for all
that they were not dismayed nor thrown into
confusion, but received the enemy steadily and
bravely ; and with the foot-soldiers drawn up on
either flank they closed in on the enemy, fighting
desperately for a good while. And M. Corso
Donati, who was in charge of the reserve of
Lucchese and Pistojans, and had been ordered to
stand fast, and not to attack, under pain of death,
when he saw the battle begun, said like a brave
man : If we lose, I will die in the battle with my
^ This was the second time that Guido Novello dis-
tinguished himself by running away. The first occasion
was when he abandoned Florence after the defeat of Manfred
at Benevento. (See above, pp. 54-56.)
6
82 DANTE IN FLORENCE
fellow-citizens ; and if we win, let him come who
will to Pistoja and exact the penalty ; and he
boldly moved out his troop, and took the enemy
in flank, and was the main cause of their rout.
" After this, as it pleased God, the Florentines
had the victory, and the Aretines were routed and
defeated ; and thei*e were killed more than seven-
teen hundred, horse and foot, and more than two
thousand taken prisoners, whereof many of the
best were got away secretly, some by their friends,
and others for ransom ; but seven hundred and
forty of them Avere brought into Florence in
bonds. Among the slain was M. Guglielmino degli
Ubertini, Bishop of Arezzo,who was a great warrior,
and M. Guglielmo de' Pazzi of Valdarno and his
nephews, who was the best and most crafty captain
of war of his time in Italy ; and there was killed
too Buonconte, son of Guido da Montefeltro, and
three of the Uberti, and one of the Abati, and
many other exiles from Florence. On the side of
the Florentines scarce one man of note was slain,
but many both of the Florentines and of their
allies were wounded.
" The news of this victoiy came to Florence that
very day, at the very hour it took place ; for the
Priors being gone to sleep and rest after their
meal, l)y reason of their anxiety and watching the
night before, suddenly there was a knocking on
the door of their chamber, with the cry : Arise,
DANTE IN FLORENCE 83
for the Are tines are defeated ; and having risen
and opened the door^ they found no one, and their
servants outside had heard nothing, wherefore it
â– was held to be a great and notable wonder,
inasmuch as it was the hour of vespers before any
one came from the host with the news. And this
was the truth, for I heard it and saw it ; and all
the Florentines marvelled whence this could have
come, and waited in suspense. But when the
messengers from the host were come, and brought
back the news to Florence, there was great glad-
ness and rejoicing ; as well there might be, for at
this defeat were left dead many captains and brave
men of the Ghibelline party, enemies of the com-
monwealth of Florence, and the arrogance and pride,
not of the Aretines only, was brought down, but of
the whole Ghibelline party and of the Empire." ^
Of those who fought on the same side as Dante
in this battle two, Vieri de' Cerchi and the im-
petuous Corso Donati, were destined to play an
important part in the fortunes of Florence, and
incidentally in those of Dante himself
One of the leaders on the opposite side, the
Ghibelline Buonconte da Montefeltro, forms the
subject of one of the most beautiful episodes m the
Divina Comviedia. Buonconte's body, it seems, was
never found after the battle, and Dante, when he
meets him in the confines of Pui-gatory, asks hini :
^ Villani, bk. vii. ch. 131.
84 DANTE IN FLORENCE
"What violence, or what chance, carried thee so
ftir astray from CampaldinOj that thy burial-place
was never known ? " Buonconte replies : " At the
foot of the Casentino crosses a stream, named the
Archiaiio ; at the place where its name becomes
void {i.e. at its junction with the Anio) I arrived,
pierced in the throat, flying on foot, and staining
the plain with blood. There I lost my sight, and
my speech finished with the name of Mary, and
there I fell, and my flesh alone remained. I will
tell the truth, and do thou repeat it among the
living. The Angel of God took me, and he of
Hell cried out : ' O thou from heaven, why dost
thou rob me } Thou bearest away for thyself the
eternal part of this one, for one little tear which
takes him from me ; but of the other part I will
make other governance.' Then, when the day
was spent, he covered the valley with cloud, from
Pratomagno to the great ridge (of the Apennine),
and made overcast the heaven above, so that the
teeming air was turned to water. The rain fell,
and to the trenches came so much of it as the
earth did not endure ; and as it gathered in great
streams it rushed so swiftly towards the royal river
that nothing held it back. The swollen Archiano
found my body, cold, near its outlet, and thrust it
into the Arno, and loosed on my breast the cross
which I made of myself when the pain overcame
me. It rolled me along its banks, and along the
DANTE IN FLORENCE 85
bottom, then with its spoil it covered me and girt
me. 'â–
Dante's military experiences did not end, as
probably they did not begin, with the battle of
Campaldino. In the following August, in conse-
quence of the death of the unhappy Count Ugolino,
and of the expulsion of the Guelfs from Pisa, the
Tuscan Guelfs, headed by the Florentines and
Lucchese, invaded the Pisan territory, and ravaged
it for the space of twenty-five days. During this
time they laid siege to the castle of Caprona,
about five miles from Pisa, which after eight davs
capitulated. By the terms of the surrender the
garrison were allowed to march out under a safe-
conduct from the besieging force. Dante tells us
in the Divina Comviedia that he was present on
this occasion, and witnessed the alarm of the be-
leaguered foot-soldiers, as they filed out between
their enemies, lest the latter should not keep
their compact.^
There are other reminiscences in the Cuinmedia
of Dante's campaigning days. One of these pas-
sages, in which he speaks of how "at times
a horseman goes out at a gallop from his troop
during the charge and seeks to win the honour
of the first assault," ^ is pretty certainly a recol-
lection of what took place at the beginning of
1 Ptirgatorio, v. 91-129. - Iiif.rno, xxi. 93-96.
3 Purgatorio, xxiv. 94-96.
86 DANTE IN FLORENCE
the battle of Campaldino. In another passage
he gives a vivid picture of the various scenes he
must have witnessed during the hostiUties between
Florence and Arezzo, including the running of
the horse-races under the enemy's walls, as the
Florentines did before Arezzo the year before
Campaldino : ^ — " I have seen ere now horsemen
change their ground, and set out to charge, and
make their muster, and sometimes fall back in
their retreat ; I have seen skirmishers overrun
your land, men of Arezzo, and I have seen raiders
go out, tourneys held, and jousts run, now with
trumpets, now with bells, and with drums and
with signals from castle- walls." ^ And elsewhere
he describes a troop of soldiers manceuvi'ing on
the field, how they wheel with the banner at
their head, as they change front under cover of
their shields.^
All these are indications that Dante's military
experiences were a very real part of his life, even
though they occurred at the very time when, as
we know from his own confession in the Fita
Nuova, his mind was most deeply occupied with
the thought of Beatrice and of his love for her.
In less than a year after the triumphant return
from Campaldino the loss of " his most gentle
lady " was to turn gladness into mourning, so
1 Villani, bk. vii. ch. 120. ^ Jn/i-mo, xxii. 1-8.
' Purgatorio, xxxii. 19-24.
DANTE IN FLORENCE 87
that, while all the world in Florence was feasting
and rejoicing, to Dante, as he sat weeping in his
chamber, the city was desolate — " How doth the
city sit solitary," he cries with Jeremiah, "she
that was full of people ! how is she become a
widow, she that was great among the nations ! " ^
1 Vita Nuova, §§ 29, 31 ; Lamentations, i. i.
CHAPTER III
1291-1300
Early studies — Brunetto Latino — Classical acquirements —
Alarriage — Gemma Donati — Children — Public life —
Embassy to San Gemignano — Priorate.
OF Dante's studies during his early years we
know but little for certain. From a mis-
understanding of an expression in the Divina
Commedia'^ it has been assumed that he was a
pupil of Brunetto Latino, a Florentine notary ~
and statesman, who was the author of a book
called the Trcsor, a sort of encyclopaedia of the
knowledge of the day, written in French. Brunetto
could not have been Dante's master, in the
ordinai-y acceptation of the term, inasmuch as he
1 When he meets Brunetto in Hell Dante says to him :
" In my mind is fixed the dear and kind fatherly image of
you, when in the world you from time to time taught me
how man becomes eternal" (^Inferno, xv. 82-85). This
probably means nothing more than that Dante learned much
from Brunette's Trevor, and especially from the compendium
of the Ethics of Aristotle which it contains.
88
DANTE IN FLORENCE 89
was about fifty-five when Dante was born ; besides
which he was too constantly occupied with the
affairs of the commonwealth to allow of his having
leisure for teaching during the yeai's of Dante's
boyhood.
Already, when he was only eighteen, Dante had
acquired the art of versifying, as he tells us in the
Fita Nuova.^ And from the same source we know
that he was to some extent practised in drawing,
for he relates how on the first anniversary of
Beatrice's death, " remembering me of her as I
sat alone, I betook myself to draw the resemblance
of an angel upon certain tablets. And while I did
thus, chancing to turn my head, I perceived that
some were standing beside me to whom I should
have given courteous welcome, and that they
were observing what I did : also I learned after-
wards that they had been there a while before I
perceived them. Perceiving whom, I arose for
salutation, and said : Another was with me.
Afterwards, when they had left me, I set myself
again to mine occupation, to wit, to the drawing
figures of angels." ^
In letters also, as may be gathered from the
Convivio, Dante was largely his own instructor.
After the death of Beatrice, he says, " I remained
1 rHa Nuova, § 3 : "I had already learned of myself the art
of setting words in rime."
" Fita Nuova, § 35 (trans, by Rossetti).
go DANTE IN FLORENCE
so overwhelmed with grief that no comfort availed
me. Howbeit, after some time, my mind, which
was striving to regain its health, resolved (since
neither mine own nor others' consolation was of
any avail) to have recourse to the plan which a
certain other disconsolate one had adopted for his
consolation. And I set myself to read that book
of Boethius,^ whose contents are known but to
few, wherewith, when a prisoner and in exile, he
had consoled himself. And hearing also that
Cicero too had written a book, in which, treating
of friendship, he had spoken of the consolation of
Laelius, that most excellent man, on the death of
his friend Scipio, I set myself to read that.^ And
although at first it was hard for me to understand
the meaning of them, yet at length I succeeded
so far as such knowledge of Latin as I possessed,
and somewhat of understanding on my part,
enabled me to do. And as it befalls that a
man who is in seai-ch of silver sometimes, not
without divine ordinance, finds gold beyond his
expectations, so I, who sought for consolation,
found not only healing for my grief, but in-
struction in the terms used by authors in science
and other books." ^
At the time referred to in this passage Dante
was past his twenty-fifth year. It is evident,
^ The De Cnnsolat'ionc Philosophiae. ^ The De Amicitia.
^ Co/i'uivio, ii. 13.
DANTE IN FLORENCE 91
therefore, that in his early manhood he was by no
means far advanced in his chissical studies. With
Provencal literature, on the other hand, it is
probable that he was early familiar, not only from
the references in the Vita Nuova, but from the
fact that the work itself was composed more or
less after a Proven9al model. From the authors
quoted in the Vita Nziova (which was written
between 1292 and 1295, at any rate when Dante
was not more than thirty) it is possible to form a
pretty accurate estimate of the extent of his
classical acquirements at that period. He shows
some familiarity with the Ethics and Metaphysics'
of Aristotle (not of course in the original Greek
— a language he never knew — but through the
medium of Latin translations), and quotes Homer
twice, once from the Ethics of Aristotle, and once
from the Ars Poetica of Horace. Ovid, Lucan,
Horace, and Virgil are all quoted directly, the last
several times, but there is not much trace of
intimate acquaintance with any one of them.
Dante also displays a certain knowledge of
astronomy in the Vita Nuova, Ptolemy being
quoted by name, while to the Ai-abian astronomer,
Alfraganus, he was certainly indebted for some of
his data as to the motions of the heavens, and for
his details as to the Syrian and Arabian calendars.
If we add to these authors the Bible, which is
quoted four or five times, and the works of Cicero
92 DANTE IN FLORENCE
and Boethius already mentioned, we have practi-
cally the range of his reading up to about his
thirtieth year, at any rate so far as may be gathered
from his writings, which in Dante's case is a fairly
safe criterion.
Some of his biographers state that Dante during
his early manhood studied at the universities of
Bologna and Padua, but there is no evidence to
support this statement, which is probably little
more than a conjecture.
Within a few years of the death of Beatrice,
certainly not later than 12.98, Dante married.
His wife, whose name Avas Gemma, was the
daughter of Manetto and Maria Donati, of the
same ancient and noble Guelf family to which
belonged Dante's friend Forese,^ and the im-
])etuous Corso Donati, who, as we have seen,2
distinguished himself at the battle of Campaldino.
Boccaccio states that Dante's marriage was
brought about by his relations in order to console
him for the loss of Beatrice, and he further draws
a melancholy picture of what he supposes Dante's
married life to have been.
" Dante," he says, " formerly had been used to
spend his time over his precious studies whenever
he was inclined, and would converse with kings and
princes, dispute with philosophers, and frequent the
company of poets, the burden of whose griefs he
1 See above, p. 63. ^ ggg above, pp. 81-81.
DANTE IN FLORENCE 93
Avould sharC;, and thus solace his own. Now, when-
ever it pleased his new mistress, he must at her
bidding quit this distinguished company, and bear
with the talk of women, and to avoid a worse vex-
ation must not only assent to their opinions, but
against his inclination must even approve them.
He who, whenever the presence of the vulgar herd
annoyed him, had been accustomed to retire to
some solitary spot, and there to speculate on the
motions of the heavens, or the source of animal
life, or the beginnings of created things, or, may
be, to indulge some strange fancy, or to compose
somewhat which after his death should make his
name live into future ages — he now, as often as
the whim took his new mistress, must abandon
all such sweet contemplation, and go in company
with those who had little mind for such things.
He who had been used to laugh or to weep, to
sing or to sigh, according as pleasing or painful
thoughts prompted him, now must not dare, or,
should he venture, must account to his mistress
for every emotion, nay, even for every little sigh.
Oh ! what unspeakable weariness to have to live
day by day, and at last to grow old and die, in
the company of such a suspicious being ! "
In spite of Boccaccio's expi'ess avowal that he
cannot positively assert the truth of all this,
nevei*theless his picture has been accepted
seriously by many writers as an accurate
94 DANTE IN FLORENCE
representation of Dante's married life. As a
matter of fact there is very little real ground for
supposing that Dante lived unhappily with
Gemma. The arguments adduced in support of
the contention are as follows : — that men of
genius are notoriously " gey ill to live with/' and
consequently, even if Gemma was not the shrew
painted by Boccaccio, Dante no doubt was an
unbearable companion, wherefore they must have
been unhappy together; again, that Dante
nowhere in his works makes any reference to
his wife ; and lastly, that when Dante was exiled
from Florence he left Gemma behind him, and, so
far as is known^ never saw her again. Only one
of these arguments has any real weight. The
first is based on a pure assumption. If the
absence of any reference to Gemma in Dante's
works necessarily implies that they lived on bad
terms, the same must be assumed in the case of
Dante's parents, to whom his references are of
the vaguest,^ and of his children. On the other
hand, the fact that Gemma did not subsequently
live with Dante, so far as our information goes,
when he settled at Ravenna with two of his
children, lends some colour to the supposition
that the affection between them was not of the
^ His father and mother are referred to as " i miei
generanti " in the Con-vl-vio (\. 13) ; and his mother is referred
to in the Inferno (viii. 45).
DANTE IN FLORENCE 95
strongest. Boccaccio makes the most of this
circumstance. He concludes his account of this
ill-assorted match, as at any rate he supposed it to
have been, with the following words : " Certainly
I do not affirm that these things happened in
Dante's case, for I do not know. But, at any
rate, whether that be the truth or not, once
Dante was separated from her who had been given
to console him in hir. grief, he never would come
where she was, nor would he ever allow her to
come to him."
This is an explicit statement, and it is probable
that Boccaccio, who was in communication with
members of Dante's family, did not make it with-
out some authority. At any rate, whatever the
domestic relations between Dante and Gemma
may have been, it is certain that they had a
family of four children, all of whom were born in
Florence before the year 1302. These children
were two sons, Pietro and Jacopo, and two
daughters, Antonia and Beatrice. Pietro, the
eldest son, who was the author of a commentary
on the Divina Conimedia, became a lawyer, and
died in Treviso in 1364.1 Jacopo, who wrote
1 Dante's biographer, Leonardo Bruni (1369-144.4), says
of Pietro : — " Dante, among other children, had a son Pietro,
who studied law, and became distinguished. By his own
gifts, and as being his father's son, he attained a great
position and considerable means, and settled at Verona in
96 DANTE IN FLORENCE
a didactic poem called 11 Dulfrinale, entered the
Church, became a canon in the diocese of Verona,
and died before 134-9. Of Antonia it is only
known that she was still alive in 1332. Beatrice
became a nun in the convent of Sanio Stefano
deir Uliva at Ravenna, where in 1350 she was
presented by Boccaccio with the sum of ten gold
florins on behalf of the Capitani di Or San Michel e
of Florence. She died before 1370, in which
year there is a record of the jmyment of a bequest
of hers of three gold ducats to the convent where
she had passed her days. Three of Dante's
children, Pietro, Jacopo, and Beatrice, lived with
him dui-ing the last three or four years of his life
very good circumstances. This Messer Pietro had a son
called Dante, and to this Dante was born a son Leonardo,
who is still living and has several children. Not long ago
this Leonardo came to Florence, with other young men of
Verona, well-to-do and much respected, and came to visit
me as a friend to the memory of his great-grandfather
Dante. And I showed him the house of Dante and of his
ancestors, and gave him information about many things
of which he was ignorant, owing to the fact that he and
his family had been estranged from the home of their
fathers."
Dante, the father of this Leonardo, died in 1428. Leonardo
had a son Pietro (d. 1476), who had a son Dante (d. 15 15),
who had three sons, the youngest of whom, Francesco,
died Aug. 12, 1563, and was buried at Verona. With
Francesco the male descendants of Dante Alighieri came to
an end.
DANTE IN FLORENCE 97
at Ravenna. Gemma, who, as we have seen, is
supposed never to have rejohied Dante after his
exile from Florence, w^as still living in 1332,
eleven years after Dante's death.
At some period not long after the death ot
Beatrice Portinari, Dante appears to have been
entangled in an amour of a more or less discredit-
able nature. It seems clear from the language
used to Dante by Beatrice in the Divina Commedia
that this must have been the case. She says
that as soon as she was dead and gone,
Dante became unfaithful to her, and "gave
himself to another," whereby "he fell so low"
that she despaired of his salvation. ^ The names
of several ladies which occur in Dante's lyrical
poems have been connected with this charge ;
and there can be little doubt that some similar
entanglement took place at Lucca after his exile,
as appears from the account of Dante's meeting
with the Lucchese poet, Bonagiunta, in Purga-
tory. ^
In 1295 or 1296, whether before or after his
marriage we have no means of ascertaining, Dante,
in order to qualify himself for the higher offices
in the government of Florence, enrolled himself
in the Guild of Physicians and Apothecaries, he
having now reached the age at which, by the
Florentine law, he was entitled to exercise the
full rights of citizenship. This was Dante's first
1 Piirgatorio, xxx. 117-138. - Purgatorio, xxiv. 37-45.