Among My Books, Second Series | Page 5

Both
pacificators soon flung out again in a rage, after adding the new
element of excommunication to the causes of confusion. It was in the
midst of these things that Dante became one of the six priors (June,
1300),--an office which the Florentines had made bimestrial in its
tenure, in order apparently to secure at least six constitutional chances
of revolution in the year. He advised that the leaders of both parties
should be banished to the frontiers, which was forthwith done; the
ostracism including his relative Corso Donati among the Neri, and his
most intimate friend the poet Guido Cavalcanti among the Bianchi.
They were all permitted to return before long (but after Dante's term of
office was over), and came accordingly, bringing at least the Scriptural
allowance of "seven other" motives of mischief with them. Affairs
getting worse (1301), the Neri, with the connivance of the pope
(Boniface VIII.), entered into an arrangement with Charles of Valois,
who was preparing an expedition to Italy. Dante was meanwhile sent
on an embassy to Rome (September, 1301, according to Arrivabene,[25]

but probably earlier) by the Bianchi, who still retained all the offices at
Florence. It is the tradition that he said in setting forth: "If I go, who
remains? and if I stay, who goes?" Whether true or not, the story
implies what was certainly true, that the council and influence of Dante
were of great weight with the more moderate of both parties. On
October 31, 1301, Charles took possession of Florence in the interest of
the Neri. Dante being still at Rome (January 27, 1302), sentence of
exile was pronounced against him and others, with a heavy fine to be
paid within two months; if not paid, the entire confiscation of goods,
and, whether paid or no, exile; the charge against him being pecuniary
malversation in office. The fine not paid (as it could not be without
admitting the justice of the charges, which Dante scorned even to deny),
in less than two months (March 10, 1302) a second sentence was
registered, by which he with others was condemned to be burned alive
if taken within the boundaries of the republic.[26] From this time the
life of Dante becomes semi-mythical, and for nearly every date we are
reduced to the "as they say" of Herodotus. He became now necessarily
identified with his fellow-exiles (fragments of all parties united by
common wrongs in a practical, if not theoretic, Ghibellinism), and
shared in their attempts to reinstate themselves by force of arms. He
was one of their council of twelve, but withdrew from it on account of
the unwisdom of their measures. Whether he was present at their futile
assault on Florence (July 22, 1304) is doubtful, but probably he was not.
From the Ottimo Comento, written at least in part[27] by a
contemporary as early as 1333, we learn that Dante soon separated
himself from his companions in misfortune with mutual discontents
and recriminations.[28] During the nineteen years of Dante's exile, it
would be hard to say where he was not. In certain districts of Northern
Italy there is scarce a village that has not its tradition of him, its _sedia,
rocca, spelonca,_ or _torre di Dante_; and what between the patriotic
complaisance of some biographers overwilling to gratify as many
provincial vanities as possible, and the pettishness of others anxious
only to snub them, the confusion becomes hopeless.[29] After his
banishment we find some definite trace of him first at Arezzo with
Uguccione della Faggiuola; then at Siena; then at Verona with the
Scaligeri. He himself says: "Through almost all parts where this
language [Italian] is spoken, a wanderer, wellnigh a beggar, I have

gone, showing against my will the wound of fortune. Truly I have been
a vessel without sail or rudder, driven to diverse ports, estuaries, and
shores by that hot blast, the breath of grievous poverty; and I have
shown myself to the eyes of many who perhaps, through some fame of
me, had imagined me in quite other guise, in whose view not only was
my person debased, but every work of mine, whether done or yet to do,
became of less account."[30] By the election of the emperor Henry VII.
(of Luxemburg, November, 1308), and the news of his proposed
expedition into Italy, the hopes of Dante were raised to the highest
pitch. Henry entered Italy, October, 1310, and received the iron crown
of Lombardy at Milan, on the day of Epiphany, 1311. His movements
being slow, and his policy undecided, Dante addressed him that famous
letter, urging him to crush first the "Hydra and Myrrha" Florence, as
the root of all the evils of Italy (April 16, 1311). To this year we must
probably assign the new decree by which the seigniory of Florence