In the age of despots and absolute princes which followed, the
nobility in most of the cities had the motives and the leisure to give
themselves up to a private life free from the political danger and
adorned with all that was elegant and enjoyable, but at the same time
hardly distinguishable from that of the wealthy burgher. And after the
time of Dante, when the new poetry and literature were in the hands of
all Italy, when to this was added the revival of ancient culture and
the new interest in man as such, when the successful Condottiere became
a prince, and not only good birth, but legitimate birth, ceased to be
indispensable for a throne, it might well seem that the age of equality
had dawned, and the belief in nobility vanished for ever.
From a theoretical point of view, when the appeal was made to
antiquity, the conception of nobility could be both justified and
condemned from Aristotle alone. Dante, for example, derives from
Aristotle's definition, 'Nobility rests on excellence and inherited
wealth,' his own saying, 'Nobility rests on personal excellence or on
that of forefathers.' But elsewhere he is not satisfied with this
conclusion. He blames himself, because even in Paradise, while talking
with his ancestor Cacciaguida, he made mention of his noble origin,
which is but a mantle from which time is ever cutting something away,
unless we ourselves add daily fresh worth to it.
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