^238 daxte's treatise on government. 



Pope was the only true Emperor and that the Roman Emperor 

 was merely his vicar. On the other side were those who tried 

 hard to establish a legal right inherent in the position of Roman 

 Emperor, to intervene actively by way of veto in the election of 

 the Pope. Both these positions were so evidently manufactured 

 to serve the aims of a political party that they could have no 

 attraction for moderate men. 



And Dante was both a moderate and at heart an orthodox 

 man. As Leo XIII. said in 1892 : " non fu mai ch'ei fosse 

 avverso d'animo alle verita della Christiana sapienza. " There 

 are isolated expressions and sentences in the De Monarchia which 

 it is a little difficult to reconcile with Dante's general theories 

 and with the spirit of the Canon Law ; but they are usually the 

 hasty outpourings of a great heart embittered by exile or the 

 occasionally vague expressions of a great mind beating out new 

 answers to questions asked by the events of the day. In the 

 short space allowed me it will be impossible to deal with these 

 details ; I shall merely call attention to the outlines of his theory. 



We mav sav that he was Ghibelline enough to uphold the 

 independence of the Emperor within his own sphere ; but also 

 Guelph to the extent of not wishing the Pope to be dependent in 

 any way upon the Emperor. Emperor and Pope were both God's 

 vicars in different spheres. 



He dismisses the difficult problem of the relation between Pope 

 and Emperor in a few words. Although, he says, the Emperor is 

 supreme in his own sphere, he is bound to wish to govern well ; 

 and this he cannot do without having due regard to revealed 

 religion and to morality. Since the Pope is the official guardian 

 of these interests in tlie Catholic world, It becomes the duty of 

 the Emperor to consult him in spiritual matters. " The temporal 

 power does not owe its existence to the spiritual, nor yet its 

 strength, nor its Importance, nor its operation, though doubtless 

 it receives something from it, viz., to work better and more 

 efficiently."* But Dante wisely refrains from defining 

 these relations any further than custom and orthodox 

 opinion had hitherto done. He hints that what is needed above 

 all to make the arrangement work smoothly is a eood under- 

 t;tandlng between those who have the rival powers in their hands. 



For after establishing the independence of the civil power, he 

 ends this treatise thus: " This truth must not be so baldly held, 

 as if the Roman Prince were in nothing subject to the Roman 

 Pontiff; seeing that this happiness of our mortal life Is in a sense 

 ordained to serve eternal happiness. Let Caesar, therefore, show 

 that reverence to Peter, which an eldest son should show to his 

 father." But there was no Immediate conflict between these 

 authorities when Dante wrote, and his allusion to them is there- 

 fore brief and merely to round the subject off. 



The real preoccupation of the moment was the Emperor's 

 authority in relation to the peace of Italy. That garden of the 

 Empire had become a restless world infested with petty tyrants. 

 It was divided into endless independent states and autonomous 



* Mon. Ill, 4, 



