, that the greater part of it was written
before 1341. It is remarkable for the strictness with which it holds
to the spiritual interpretation of the poem, and deserves much more
to be called Ottimo, than the comment which goes by that name. Its
publication is due to the zeal and liberality of the late Lord
Vernon, to whom students of Dante are also indebted for the
parallel-text reprint of the four earliest editions of the Commedia.
[198] See Wegele, _ubi supra_, p. 174, et seq. The best analysis of
Dante's opinions we have ever met with is Emil Ruth's "Studien ueber
Dante Alighieri," Tuebingen, 1853. Unhappily it wants an index, and
accordingly loses a great part of its usefulness for those not
already familiar with the subject. Nor are its references
sufficiently exact. We always respect Dr. Ruth's opinions, if we do
not wholly accept them, for they are all the results of original and
assiduous study.
[199] See the second book of the De Vulgari Eloquio. The only other
Italian poet who reminds us of Dante in sustained dignity is Guido
Guinicelli. Dante esteemed him highly, calls him maximus in the De
Vulgari Eloquio, and "the father of me and of my betters," in the
XXVI. Purgatorio. See some excellent specimens of him in Mr.
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