What power of will must the
steady, unbroken elaboration of the _Divine Comedy _have required! And
if we look at the matter of the poem, we find that in the whole
spiritual or physical world there is hardly an important subject which
the poet has not fathomed, and on which his utterances --often only a
few words--are not the most weighty of his time. For the visual arts he
is of the first importance, and this for better reasons than the few
references to contemporary artists--he soon became himself the source
of inspiration.
The fifteenth century is, above all, that of the many-sided men. There
is no biography which does not, besides the chief work of its hero,
speak of other pursuits all passing beyond the limits of dilettantism.
The Florentine merchant and statesman was often learned in both the
classical languages; the most famous humanists read the Ethics and
Politics of Aristotle to him and his sons; even the daughters of the
house were highly educated. It is in these circles that private
education was first treated seriously. The humanist, on his side, was
compelled to the most varied attainments, since his philological
learning was not limited, as it is now, to the theoretical knowledge of
classical antiquity, but had to serve the practical needs of daily
life. While studying Pliny, he made collections of natural history; the
geography of the ancients was his guide in treating of modern
geography, their history was his pattern in writing contemporary
chronicles, even when composed in Italian; he Dot only translated the
comedies of Plautus, but acted as manager when they were put on the
stage; every effective form of ancient literature down to the dialogues
of Lucian he did his best to imitate; and besides all this, he acted as
magistrate, secretary and diplomatist--not always to his own advantage.
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