34 But in his prose writings he
touches also on the inconveniences of fame; he knows how often personal
acquaintance with famous men is disappointing, and explains how this is
due partly to the childish fancy of men, partly to envy, and partly to
the imperfections of the hero himself. And in his great poem he firmly
maintains the emptiness of fame, although in a manner which betrays
that his heart was not free from the longing for it. In Paradise the
sphere of Mercury is the seat of such blessed ones as on earth strove
after glory and thereby dimmed 'the beams of true love.' It is
characteristic that the lost souls in hell beg of Dante to keep alive
for them their memory and fame on earth, while those in Purgatory only
entreat his prayers and those of others for their deliverance.37 And in
a famous passage, the passion for fame--'lo gran disio dell'eccellenza'
(the great desire of excelling)--is reproved for the reason that
intellectual glory is not absolute, but relative to the times, and may
be surpassed and eclipsed by greater successors.
The new race of poet-scholars which arose soon after Dante quickly made
themselves masters of this fresh tendency. They did so in a double
sense, being themselves the most acknowledged celebrities of Italy, and
at the same time, as poets and historians, consciously disposing of the
reputation of others.
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