CHAPTER X 



THE LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT CONCLUSION 



THE attachment of Michael Scot to his master, the 

 Emperor Frederick 11., may be conceived as acting 

 in a double sense to procure him his mysterious 

 fame. With the Guelfs, who bitterly opposed that 

 great monarch and his followers, it of course became 

 a reason for believing him to have practised the 

 blackest of arts. With the Ghibellines, on the 

 other hand, who formed the imperial party, and 

 saw a very Arthur in their famous leader, it served 

 to confirm his character as a Mage and man of 

 mysterious might. 



Commencing then with one of the first, and 

 certainly the most famous of the authors who have 

 spoken of Scot in this romantic and legendary 

 style, the observation just made will enable us to 

 understand without much difficulty the sense of 

 Dante's reference to the magician. The poet 

 represents himself as reaching the fourth division 

 of the eighth infernal circle, when Virgil draws 

 his attention to one of those who suffer there, and 

 says : 



' Michele Scotto, fii, che veramente 

 Delle magiche frode seppe il giuoco.' 1 



Dante was a Ghibelline, and must therefore be 

 supposed to have kno\vn well the tradition of com- 



1 Inferno, xx. 116, 117. 



