This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...subjected to vagaries of mystical interpretation', by which its true character was almost as completely disguised as that of its author. But although in the peculiar conception which Dante had formed of Virgil he was doubtless influenced by the popular and current beliefs, he was a genuine and thorough ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896 edition. Excerpt: ...subjected to vagaries of mystical interpretation', by which its true character was almost as completely disguised as that of its author. But although in the peculiar conception which Dante had formed of Virgil he was doubtless influenced by the popular and current beliefs, he was a genuine and thorough student of him as a classical author, and it is no idle boast when he puts into the mouth of Virgil the words, Cos! il canta L' aha mia Tragedla in alcun loco: Ben lo sai tu, che la sai tut la quanta. (Inf. xx. 112-14.) It does, however, bear upon our subject to notice that Virgil is quoted by Dante (especially in the De Monarchia) as though his language was invested with almost the authority of Scripture1. One example must suffice. The well-known lines of Virgil, ' Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento, ' &c, Aen. vi. 852 seqq., together with a similar passage from Aen. iv. 227-230, are quoted like a Scripture text, as a direct proof of God's purpose for the universal empire of Rome. Dante's language is--' Propterea satis persuasum est quod Romanus populus a natura ordinatus fuit ad imperandum. Ergo Romanus populus subiciendo sibi orbem, de iure ad imperium venit' (Mon. II. vii. fin.). Many similar passages might be adduced. 'See the elaborate work of Comparetti, Virgilio nel Medio Evo. This has been recently translated into English. 2 Mr. Morfill has kindly sent me the following information illustrative of this popular notion of Virgil. In old Bulgarian writings of the tenth century we find the expression Verziolovo Kolo, meaning the circle or place of necromancers. Also in old Servian songs we have Verzino Kolo in the same sense. In Welsh, Virgil appears as Phciyll (the g being omitted because the language has no palatals), and...
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