Page:The Contrasts in Dante.djvu/15

 part of that marvellous symmetry which runs through every bit of work to which Dante set his hand?

Of the several occasions in the Divina Commedia in which contrasts may be observed between one episode and another, there is none which is so conspicuously striking, as the differing fate which befell the two Da Montefeltro, the father and the son, as related in the passages which I venture to submit to you this evening. Here and there among other episodes, we have been able, by our own observation, to discern some remarkable contrasts, but in the present one, beyond all question, the contrast has been designedly traced by Dante himself. In their exalted rank, in their military distinction, and in their personal bravery, the two leading figures in this highly-coloured double picture, both great Ghibelline Captains, are seen to closely resemble each other. But there the likeness ends. Buonconte da Montefeltro would seem to have been a plain, blunt soldier, whereas his father, Count Guido, had been known as one of the most astute, crafty and unscrupulous statesmen of his time. We shall see that he is described as having been carried away from St. Francis by the Devil for a single word of evil counsel which annulled all the fruits of his penitence; whereas after a similar contest between the Angel of God and the Devil for the spirit of the son, one single sigh uttered to the Virgin in the moment of death decided the contest in favour of the Angel. The brave soldier who fell at Campaldino, and the crafty counsellor of Pope Boniface, abide in Dante's mind, united, coupled together, and then disjoined. The qualities of the one excite one's feelings of aversion, those of the other a sentiment of respect and admiration.

Before I deal with the immediate subject of my lecture, I wish to call your attention to a matter of vital importance to all students of Dante, which is that Dante was a Florentine, and wrote chiefly for Tuscans. Their beautiful language, with its boundless wealth of idioms and matchless grace of pronunciation, was that of his divine Comedy.