(Don Quixote, P. I. c. 6.)
[177] In his own comment Dante says, "I tell whither goes my thought,
calling it by the name of one of its effects."
[178] _Spirito_ means in Italian both breath (_spirto ed acqua
fessi_, Purgatorio, XXX. 98) and spirit.
[180] By _visione_ Dante means something seen waking by the inner
eye. He believed also that dreams were sometimes divinely inspired,
and argues from such the immortality of the soul. (Convito, Tr. II.
c. 9.)
[181] Paradiso, XXV. 1-3.
[182] De Monarchia, Lib. III. sec. _ult_. See the whole passage in
Miss Rossetti, p 39. It is noticeable that Dante says that the Pope
is to _lead_ (by example), the Emperor to _direct_ (by the enforcing
of justice) The duty, we are to observe, was a double but not a
divided one. To exemplify this unity was indeed one object of the
Commedia.
[183]
"What Reason seeth here
Myself [Virgil] can tell thee; beyond that await
For Beatrice, since 'tis a work of Faith."
_Purgatorio_, XVIII. 46-48.
Beatrice here evidently impersonates Theology. It would be
interesting to know what was the precise date of Dante's theological
studies. The earlier commentators all make him go to Paris, the great
fountain of such learning, after his banishment.
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