" (Convito, Tr. I. c. 5.) Carlyle says that "he knew too,
partly, that his work was great, the greatest a man could do." He
knew it fully. Telling us how Giotto's fame as a painter had eclipsed
that of Cimabue, he takes an example from poetry also, and selecting
two Italian poets,--one the most famous of his predecessors, the
other of his contemporaries,--calmly sets himself above them both
(Purgatorio, XI. 97-99), and gives the reason for his supremacy
(Purgatorio, XXIV. 49-62). It is to be remembered that _Amore_ in the
latter passage does not mean love in the ordinary sense, but in that
transcendental one set forth in the Convito,--that state of the soul
which opens it for the descent of God's spirit, to make it over into
his own image. "Therefore it is manifest that in this love the Divine
virtue descends into men in the guise of an angel, ... and it is to
be noted that the descending of the virtue of one thing into another
is nothing else than reducing it to its own likeness." (Convito, Tr.
III. c. 14.)
[103] Convito, Tr. III. c. 11. Ib. Tr. I. c. 11.
[104] Convito, Tr. III. c. 12-15.
[105] Inferno, II. 94. The _donna gentil_ is Lucia, the prevenient
Grace, the _light_ of God which shows the right path and guides the
feet in it.
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