Page:The Earliest Lives of Dante (Smith 1901).djvu/61



Among the many nations that dwell upon the surface of the earth, the Greek, it is believed, was that one to whom philosophy first revealed herself and her secrets. From her treasures they drew forth the military principle, the life of the State, and many other precious things, whereby they became more honored and famous than any other nation. Among the things drawn forth from this treasury was that sacred maxim of Solon which is placed at the beginning of this little work. And to the end that their republic, which was then more flourishing than any other, should walk upright and stand on both feet, they ordained and decreed penalties for evil-doers and rewards for the deserving.

Chief among the rewards for the virtuous was the crowning with laurel leaves, in public and with the public consent, of poets triumphant after their labors, and of emperors who had enlarged by victory their republic; for they deemed that equal glory belonged to him by whose valor human things were preserved and increased, and to him who treated of things divine. Albeit the Greeks were the inventors of this honor, it later passed over to the Latins, when glory and arms throughout the world gave way to the Roman name, and this custom, at least in the coronation of poets—although that occurs but seldom—survives at Rome to this day. But an attempt to see why the laurel, rather than any other leaf, should be chosen, ought not to prove tedious.

There are some who, since they know that Daphne, the beloved of Phoebus, was changed into a laurel, and that Phoebus was the first author and patron of poets, as well as a triumpher, are wont to believe that for the love he bore these leaves he crowned his lyres and his triumphs with