NAPOLEON ON DANTE. [To THE EDITOR or THE "SPECTATOR.")
Sta,—In turning over the pages of a little collection of the Maximes et Pensees of Napoleon I happened upon an appre- ciation of Dante, and as these two names are in the position of actualites at the present time, the passage which shows what the great French Emperor thought of the great Italian poet may be of interest to your readers :— " Dante is for me the greatest genius of modern times. Dante is a sun which shines with the greatest brilliancy in the middle of a profound night. Everything about him is extraordinary. His originality, above all, assigns him a rank apart. Ariosto has imitated the romances of chivalry and ancient poems. Tasso has done the same. Dante disdained to draw inspiration from another; he wished to be himself, himself alone; in a word, to create. He took possession of a vast frame and filled it in with sublime genius. He is varied, terrible, gracious; he has animation, warmth, enthusiasm, fire, ardour. He forces his reader to shudder, to shed tears, to become conscious of a virtue which becomes the height of art. Severe and great, he has terrible imprecations against crime, reprobation for vice, regrets for unhappiness. Citizen smitten by the laws of the republic he thunders against his oppressors, but he likes to excuse his native tows. Florence remains
always his sweet fatherland; dear to his heart. . . . I am jealous, for my beloved France, that she has not produced a rival of Dante; that this colossus has not had an emulator among us; no, his fame is supreme."
Union Club, S.W.
Previous page
