138 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



the place he had quitted more than ten years before. 

 It is quite possible that there may be a measure of 

 historic truth here, as well as the art which can seize 

 or create an occasion, and which loves to contrast the 

 triumph of arms with the more peaceful honours of 

 literary fame. Frederick, we must remember, in a 

 sort represented both. He was Maecenas as well as 

 Caesar. In welcoming Michael Scot and doing him 

 honour at these imperial banquets he was but crown- 

 ing the success of an enterprise in which his own 

 name and interest were deeply engaged. 



Traces of the impression made by this highly 

 significant incident have been preserved in the arts 

 of poetry and painting as well as in that of prose 

 romance. Dante, who wrote his Divine Comedy less 

 than a century later than the time of Scot, has 

 given the philosopher a place in his poem, describ- 

 ing him as : 



' Quell' altro, die ne' fianchi e cosi poco, 

 Michele Scotto fu.' i 



The commentators, with great reason, refer the 

 epithet * poco ' to the manner of Scot's dress. It 

 would seem that the Spaniards of those days differed 

 from the other European nations in their habit. 

 They wore a close girdle about the waist, like the 

 hhezum of the East ; and indeed they had probably 

 taken the fashion from long familiarity with their 

 Moorish masters and neighbours.^ Scot must have 

 adopted such a dress while at Toledo, and thus, 

 when he returned to Palermo, the singularity of his 

 appearance struck the eyes of the court at once. 

 The impression proved a remarkably enduring one, 

 since, even in Dante's day, it still persisted, offering 



^ Inferno, xx. 115, 116. 



2 The faja still worn in Spain is a direct survival of this custom. 



