The Vision, Or Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

1284 Prince Charles of Anjou is defeated and made prisoner by Rugier
de Lauria, admiral to Peter III. of Arragon. Purg. C. XX. 78.
Charles I. king of Naples, dies. Purg. C. VII 111.

1285 Pope Martin IV. dies. Purg. C. XXIV. 23.

Philip III. of France, and Peter III. of Arragon, die.

Purg. C. VII. 101, and 110.

Henry II. king of Cyprus, comes to the throne. Par. C. XIX. 144.

1287 Guido dalle Colonne (mentioned by Dante in his De Vulgari Elo-

quio) writes "The War of Troy."

1288 Haquin, king of Norway, makes war on Denmark. Par. C. XIX

135.

Count Ugolino de' Gherardeschi dies of famine. H. C. XXXIII. 14.
1289 Dante is in the battle of Campaldino, where the Florentines defeat
the people of Arezzo, June 11. Purg. C. V. 90.

1290 Beatrice dies. Purg. C. XXXII. 2.

He serves in the war waged by the Florentines upon the Pisans,
and is present at the surrender of Caprona in the autumn. H. C.
XXI. 92.

1291 He marries Gemma de' Donati, with whom he lives unhappily. By

this marriage he had five sons and a daughter.

Can Grande della Scala is born, March 9. H. C. I. 98. Purg. C.

XX. 16. Par. C. XVII. 75. and XXVII. 135.

The renegade Christians assist the Saracens to recover St. John

D'Acre. H. C. XXVII. 84.

The Emperor Rodolph dies. Purg. C. VI. 104. and VII. 91.

Alonzo III. of Arragon dies, and is succeeded by James II. Purg.

C. VII. 113. and Par. C. XIX. 133.

1294 Clement V. abdicates the papal chair. H. C. III. 56.

Dante writes his Vita Nuova.

1295 His preceptor, Brunetto Latini, dies. H. C. XV. 28.

Charles Martel, king of Hungary, visits Florence, Par. C. VIII. 57.
and dies in the same year.

Frederick, son of Peter III. of Arragon, becomes king of Sicily.
Purg. C. VII. 117. and Par. C. XIX. 127.

1296 Forese, the companion of Dante, dies. Purg. C. XXXIII. 44.

1300 The Bianca and Nera parties take their rise in Pistoia. H. C.

XXXII. 60.

This is the year in which he supposes himself to see his Vision. H.

C. I. 1. and XXI. 109.

He is chosen chief magistrate, or first of the Priors of Florence;
and continues in office from June 15 to August 15.

Cimabue, the painter, dies. Purg. C. XI. 93.

Guido Cavalcanti, the most beloved of our Poet's friends, dies. H.
C. X. 59. and Purg. C. XI. 96.

1301 The Bianca party expels the Nera from Pistoia. H. C. XXIV. 142.

1302 January 27. During his absence at Rome, Dante is mulcted by his

fellow-citizens in the sum of 8000 lire, and condemned to two years'

banishment.

March 10. He is sentenced, if taken, to be burned.

Fulcieri de' Calboli commits great atrocities on certain of the Ghi-

belline party. Purg. C. XIV. 61.

Carlino de' Pazzi betrays the castle di Piano Travigne, in Valdarno,

to the Florentines. H. C. XXXII. 67.

The French vanquished in the battle of Courtrai. Purg. C. XX. 47.

James, king of Majorca and Minorca, dies. Par. C. XIX. 133.

1303 Pope Boniface VIII. dies. H. C. XIX. 55. Purg. C. XX. 86.
XXXII. 146. and Par. C. XXVII. 20.

The other exiles appoint Dante one of a council of twelve, under
Alessandro da Romena.

He appears to have been much dissatisfied with his colleagues.
Par. C. XVII. 61.

1304 He joins with the exiles in an unsuccessful attack on the city of
Florence.

May. The bridge over the Arno breaks down during a representa-
tion of the infernal torments exhibited on that river. H. C.
XXVI. 9.

July 20. Petrarch, whose father had been banished two years be-
fore from Florence, is born at Arezzo.

1305 Winceslaus II. king of Bohemia, dies. Purg. C. VII. 99. and Par.
C. XIX. 123.

A conflagration happens at Florence. H. C. XXVI. 9.

1306 Dante visits Padua.

1307 He is in Lunigiana with the Marchese Marcello Malaspina. Purg.

C. VIII. 133. and C. XIX. 140.

Dolcino, the fanatic, is burned. H. C. XXVIII. 53.

1308 The Emperor Albert I. murdered. Purg. C. VI. 98. and Par. C.

XIX. 114.

Corso Donati, Dante's political enemy, slain. Purg. C. XXIV. 81.

He seeks an asylum at Verona, under the roof of the Signori della

Scala. Par. C. XVII. 69. He wanders, about this time, over va-

rious parts of Italy. See his Convito. He is at Paris twice; and,

as one of the early commentators reports, at Oxford.

1309 Charles II. king of Naples, dies. Par. C. XIX. 125.

1310 The Order of the Templars abolished. Purg. C. XX. 94.

1313 The Emperor Henry of Luxemburg, by whom he had hoped to be

restored to Florence, dies. Par. C. XVII. 80. and XXX. 135.

He takes refuge at Ravenna with Guido Novello da Polenta.

1314 Pope Clement V. dies. H. C. XIX. 86. and Par. C. XXVII. 53. and
XXX. 141.

Philip IV. of France dies. Purg. C. VII. 108. and Par. C. XIX. 117
Ferdinand IV. of Spain, dies. Par. C. XIX. 122.

Giacopo da Carrara defeated by Can Grande. Par. C. IX. 45.

1316 John XXII. elected Pope. Par. C. XXVII. 53.

1321 July. Dante dies at Ravenna, of a complaint brought on by disap-

pointment at his failure in a negotiation which he had been con-

ducting with the Venetians, for his patron Guido Novello da

Polenta.

His obsequies are sumptuously performed at Ravenna by Guido,

who himself died in the ensuing year.

HELL.

CANTO I.

In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
Gone from the path direct: and e'en to tell

It were no easy task, how savage wild

That forest, how robust and rough its growth,

Which to remember only, my dismay

Renews, in bitterness not far from death.
Yet to discourse of what there good befell,
All else will I relate discover'd there.

How first I enter'd it I scarce can say, Such sleepy dulness in that instant weigh'd

My senses down, when the true path I left,

But when a mountain's foot I reach'd, where clos'd

The valley, that had pierc'd my heart with dread,

I look'd aloft, and saw his shoulders broad
Already vested with that planet's beam,

Who leads all wanderers safe through every way.
Then was a little respite to the fear,

That in my heart's recesses deep had lain,
All of that night, so pitifully pass'd:
And as a man, with difficult short breath,
Forespent with toiling, 'scap'd from sea to shore,
Turns to the perilous wide waste, and stands
At gaze; c'en so my spirit, that yet fail'd
Struggling with terror, turn'd to view the straits,

That none hath pass'd and liv'd. My weary frame
After short pause recomforted, again

I journey'd on over that lonely steep,
The hinder foot still firmer. Scarce the ascent
Began, when, lo! a panther, nimble, light,
And cover'd with a speckled skin, appear'd,
Nor, when it saw me, vanish'd, rather strove
To check my onward going; that ofttimes
With purpose to retrace my steps I turn'd.

The hour was morning's prime, and on his way
Aloft the sun ascended with those stars,

That with him rose, when Love divine first mov'd
Those its fair works: so that with joyous hope
All things conspir'd to fill me, the gay skin
Of that swift animal, the matin dawn

A she-wolf

And the sweet season. Soon that joy was chas'd,
And by new dread succeeded, when in view
A lion came, 'gainst me, as it appear'd,
With his head held aloft and hunger-mad,
That e'en the air was fear-struck.
Was at his heels, who in her leanness seem'd
Full of all wants, and many a land hath made
Disconsolate ere now. She with such fear
O'erwhelmed me, at the sight of her appall'd,
That of the height all hope I lost. As one,
Who with his gain elated, sees the time
When all unwares is gone, he inwardly
Mourns with heart-griping anguish; such was I,
Haunted by that fell beast, never at peace,
Who coming o'er against me, by degrees

Impell'd me where the sun in silence rests.
While to the lower space with backward step

I fell, my ken discern'd the form of one,

Whose voice seem'd faint through long disuse of speech. When him in that great desert I espied, "Have mercy on me!" cried I out aloud, "Spirit! or living man! whate'er thou be!"

He answer'd: "Now not man, man once I And born of Lombard parents, Mantuans both By country, when the power of Julius yet

was,

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