The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1921-05-28


 flustrious, says: "To an American there is something supremely impressive in this cumulative influence of past full of inspira- tion and rebuke, something saddening in this repeated proof that moral supremacy is the only one that leaves monuments and not ruins behind it.'' It is this moral supremacy his moral and spiritual great ness. that has made Dante uniuue figure among the poets of the world. When Italy celebrates, on September 14, the six hun- dredth anniversary of Dante's death it will not be merely the memory of the poet of 'The Divine Comedy she will be celebrat- ing, but the memory of her first great patriot, the patriot at the white fire of whose lonely spirit the undying fslne of Italian freedom has ever since renewed itself.
 Florence Graves the Poet Dead;
 Ravenna Holds His Ashes Some other great poets may be held rep resentative of their country, Homer of Greece, Shakespeare of England. Burns of Scotland, but none of these has been part and parcel of the national life in the same w1y as Dante. He might almost yet be regarded a political issue; and one won Sers if the demand so often through those six centuries made in vain by Florence of Ravenna for the return of his sacred ashes 'Nill be made once more this coming Sep tember. In this respect his fate, indeed, is curiously parallel to the legendary story of Homer, embodied in the old rhyme:
 Seven Grecian cities for Homer
 dead Through which the living Homer begged
 his bread.
 For the man in the street he is. doubt less, first of all. as in his later years of exile he was to the citizens of Verona, 'the man who has been in hell.' So the women of Verona pointed him out to their children as he passed auSterely by: the author of the ''Inferno,' the terrific describer of hell. The melodramatic genius of Dore has helped to fix that stamp upon him. The "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso' are compara- lively little read, and the Dante who, out of his suffering. finally wrought that peace with God. in which was revealed to him the mystic harmony of the universe, is largely forgotten in the tragic, unbreak- able exile:
 But now was turning my desire and will. Even as a wheel that equally is moved.
 The Love that moves the and other
 stars.
 
 Dante the great lover, Dante the great patriot. Dante the great poet. The man who had been to hell, he who loved Flor ence so well as to be called, beyond all others, ''The Florentine,', was also the lover of Beatrice. he who from his ninth year to his last breath, kept before the eyes of his soul the face of one beloved girl. Dante and Beatrice! We say the names together as we say "Romeo and Juliet. To be so great a lover, so great a patriot so great q poet-haS been given to none but Dante. So is he unique among the historic figures of the world. The facts of Dante's life have been so often told that it may hardly seem necessary to tell them again. But general familiarity with the lives Of great men is somewhat of a polite assurnp- tion and even for those who know, or once have known, it Is well that such memorial occasions as this of Dante'S death six hun dred years ago should be used not merely for refreshing our memories. but for re- freshing our spirits by the recital and con temptation of the great story of great man,