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The election of Henry of Luxemburg as emperor in 1308

stirred Dante's political hopes. When Henry entered Italy in 1310

at the head of an army, Dante in an epistle to the princes and people of Italy hailed the coming of a deliverer. At Milan he paid personal homage to Henry as his sovereign. When Florence, in alliance with King Robert of Naples, prepared to resist the emperor, Dante in a second epistle denounced them for their obstinacy and prophesied their doom. In a third epistle he upbraided the Emperor himself for his delay and urged him on against Florence.

It was probably during this period that he wrote his De Monarchia, an intellectual defense of the emperor as the sovereign of the temporal order. The death of Henry in 1313, after a year or so of ineffectual fighting, brought an end to the political aspirations of Dante and his party. The city of Florence in 13ll and again in 1315 renewed his condemnation.

After Henry's death, Dante passed the rest of his life under the protection of various lords of Lombardy, Tuscany, and the Romagna. According to one tradition, he retired for a time to the monastery of Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana in the Appenines, where he worked on the Divine Comedy, which may have been planned as early as 1292. He was almost certainly for a time at the court of Can Grande della Scala, to whom he dedicated the Paradiso. In 1315 Florence issued a general recall of exiles. Dante refused to pay the required fine and to "bear the brand of oblation,"

feeling that such a return would derogate from his fame and honor.

To the end of his life he appears to have hoped that his Comedy would finally open the gates of the city to him.

The last few years of the poet's life were spent at Ravenna, under the patronage of Guido da Polenta, a nephew of Francesca da Rimini. Dante's daughter, Beatrice, was a nun in that city, and one of his sons held a benefice there; his wife seems to have resided in Florence throughout his exile. Dante was greatly esteemed at Ravenna and enjoyed a congenial circle of friends. Here he completed the Divine Comedy and wrote two eclogues in Latin which 382 HOW TO READ A BOOK

indicate that a certain contenbnent surrounded his closing days.

Returning from a diplomatic mission to Venice on behalf of his patron, he caught a fever and died September 14, 1321. He was buried at Ravenna before the door of the principal church, with the �.ghest honors, and "in the habit of a poet and a great philosopher.

Now spend about ten minutes pre-reading or skimming the following table of contents systematically. The text used here is that of the Charles Eliot Norton translation. Other translators would of course present the table of contents in somewhat different terms.

TABLE OF CoNTENTS OF THE Divine Comedy

HELL

CANTo 1: Dante, astray in a wood, reaches the foot of a hill which he begins to ascend; he is hindered by three beasts; he turns back and is met by Virgil, who proposes to guide him into the eternal world.

CANTo II: Dante, doubtful of his own powers, is discouraged at the outset. Virgil cheers him by telling him that he has been sent to his aid by a blessed Spirit from Heaven, who revealed herself as Beatrice. Dante casts off fear, and the poets proceed.

CANTO Ill: The gate of Hell. Virgil leads Dante in. The punishment of those who had lived without infamy and without praise.

Acheron, and the sinners on its bank. Charon. Earthquake. Dante swoons.

CANTO IV: The further side of Acheron. Virgil leads Dante into Limbo, the First Circle of Hell, containing the spirits of those who lived virtuously but without faith in Christ. Greeting of Virgil by his fellow poets. They enter a castle, where are the shades of ancient worthies. After seeing them Virgil and Dante depart.

CANTo V: The Second Circle, that of Carnal Sinners. Minos.

Shades renowned of old. Francesca da Rimini.

CANTO VI: The Third Circle, that of the Gluttonous. Cerberus.

Ciacco.

Appendix B 383

CANTo VII: The Fourth Circle, that of the Avaricious and the Prodigal. Pluto. Fortune. The Styx.