The Washington times., 1921-09-14
600 Years

So"ovitiks TO NOnVtnCoo.
Two Women, Beatrice and |
Gemma.
by ARTHUR BRISBANE j
Copyright. 1881,
Six hundred years ago today
Dante died. He was one Of the
worlds three greatest writer's, the
other two, Homer and Shake
speare
In his power to express hatred
and scorn he was infinitely more
lived.
His life was passed in political
strife, bitter hatred, dangers.
three times his native city, Flor
ence, sentenced him to be burned
alive. Little his judges dreamed
That their city would be forever
honored by his birth.
Despite disappointment, sorrow
and poverty that even knew the
shame that comes with holding out
the hand to beg, Dante, with ter
rific burning energy, created his
great work-and that work in
turn created the beautiful Italian
language.
He wrote TO express his hatreds
and avenge his wrongs, putting his
enemies deep in He'll. And he
wrote to honor a woman, Beatrice,
with whom he fell passionately in
love when she and he were nine
years old. r~
He said: 'Tf It be His pleasure
that my life continue within me a
few years, II, Is my hope that I
shall yet write concerning her
what hath not before been written
of any woman - of that blessed
Beatrice, who now gloriously gazes
on the countenancc of God"
He wrote as he hoped to write,
after Beatrice had died.
This Is published In the hope
that the twelve or fifteen million
readers that see It In various news
papers today will read Dante, not
merely ABOUT Dante. Read all
Of his divine comedy, Purgatory,
He'll and Paradise.
In Paradise, Beatrice meets and
leads him. Virgil, his guide
through. He'll, Is Q pagan and must
not see Paradise. Never has
woman been honored as was Beat
rice by the strange spirit Of Dante,
and never again will Heaven, He'll
or Purgatory be described as Dante
described them, for he BELIEVED,
and is convincing.
Milton did not believe what he
wrote. and 10 magnificent, but not
convincing. .s
Little Is known Of Dante's life
and wanderings. While still young
ae left his native city, never to see
it again. Once he was told he
might come back, In humiliating
garb, to do penance at st. Johns
Church and be forgiven. Haughtiiy
he refused, saying thaein any .cor-
ner Of the world he would still be
able to gaze on the sun and stars
and mediate on the sweet truths
of philosophy. "
He lived sometimes In misery,
sometimes sheltered and fed by
the great. But to be received along
with testers, dwarfs, dancers, sing
ers and others that could amuse q
nobleman's leisure did not SUIT
Dante. He quarreled and wan
dered.
Reading Dante, his life and Of
the times In which he lived will
open a hundred new windows in
any mans mind. His work and
thought were Of the age in which
he lived; he could reverently
ascribe to God cruelty, upending,
of which no savage could be
capable. 40.
leads "to the City Of Sorrow, to
the lost people" above the door Of
He'll, where all leave hopes be-
hind, the monstrous statement that
He'll was created by "Justice divine
power" Highest wisdom and the
first love. And in that He'll he
shows men eternally whipped by
devils, tearing each others skulls
with their teeth, their insides de-
voured by reptiles, sunk in, ice to
the chin and rolling in burning
pitch.
He sees his enemy In agony
and adds to 1t with bitter words
Of exultation and Joy at the enc
my's sufferings. He represents
a defiant sinner insulting and
defying God himself, with q vile
gesture. Filled with bitter ha-
tired and cruelty he ascribes the
same feelings to Almighty God.
"If the camels had a god"
said the Greek. "their god would
have four legs and q hump" All
Of his own mental humps and
cruelties, Dante. like other writ
ers, ascribes to his God.
Az Milton borrowed, freely,
from Dante, 30 Dante borrowed
from others, notably from q monk
that had written q rather feeble