Page:The National Idea in Italian Literature.djvu/19

 the Empire meant for Dante the unity of civilisation: a unity of civilisation, originally Italian because the continuation of that Latin civilisation which Rome and Italy had of old given to the world, but now diversified in accordance with the diverse needs of the new nations of Europe. It meant the realisation of the principles of justice embodied in Roman law, with full liberty to the individual nations and states to regulate themselves by their own particular laws and customs, according to the special conditions of each. There is a striking sentence in the letter to the Florentines, where Dante rebukes his fellow-citizens because they are striving "that the civic life of Florence may be one thing, that of Rome another." In this Romana civilitas—this civic life in the Empire under Roman law—he sees all the nations included. But, among these nations, Italy has high prerogatives of her own; she has been donna di provincie; she is still "the garden of the Empire," "the noblest region of Europe." There is no opposition between Dante's nationalism and his imperialism, for his imperialism is itself essentially Italian. Rome is not only the seat of the Papacy and the capital of the Empire, but it is an Italian city, the centre and rallying point of the Italian people. In the letter to the Italian cardinals, Dante speaks of Rome as Latiale caput: "The head of Latium must be reverently loved by all Italians, as the common source of their civic life." The phrase, Latiale caput, is from Lucan; but, for Dante, it means "the capital of Italy." In the Convivio and the De Monarchia, Dante insists that the Empire 7