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10 biographers have gone out of their way to speak ill of her. But from this time until the moment of his exile the poet would seem to have been merged in the citizen. He threw himself into public life with all the energy of his nature, and held several public offices in succession, especially that of ambassador, representing the Republic in various important missions; and at length reached the highest office in the State, and became one of the Priors or supreme rulers of Florence in the year 1293. This elevation lasted only for the short time of two months, according to the jealous custom of Florence; but it proves that Dante had gained the highest consideration in the city, and was one of the notable personages of the period. One of the acts of the Government while he held office was a bold attempt to make peace in the city by banishing the heads of both parties,—a novelty in Florentine politics; and Dante's influence seems to have been entirely patriotic and impartial, his beloved friend Guido Cavalcanti having been one of the belligerents thus banished. It seems, however, to have been a peculiarity of Florentine statesmen that a certain sentiment of patriotism or sense of responsibility made their course of action more honourable and dignified in office than out of it—authority apparently having the good effect of taming, in the greater minds at least, the heat of faction, into which they relapsed again on resigning the active conduct of the State.

The times, however, became more and more stormy, and at last a new revolution undid all that had been done by the long interval of peace. Dante was engaged on an embassy to Rome when the storm burst in the year 1301, and he never returned to the city which he loved so