Dante

The Original Humanist

Early Life

• Born in Florence, Italy• Exact date not known (speculated around

1265)• Dante claimed that his family descended from

the ancient Romans.• Dante entered the guild of physicians and

apothecaries.

Education

• Not much is known about Dante's education, and it is presumed he studied at home or in a chapter school attached to a church or monastery in Florence. It is known that he studied Tuscan poetry.

Most Famous WorkThe Divine Comedy

Effect on Renassiance• Although Dante viewed the world from a standpoint which was essentially

that of the mediaeval age which was passing away, still he was in a profound sense a prophet of the new age which was approaching,--a forerunner of the Renaissance. He was such in his feeling for classical antiquity. When he speaks lovingly of Vergil as his teacher and master, the one from whom he took the beautiful style that had done him honor, he reveals how he has come to look with other than mediaeval eyes upon the Augustan poet. His modern attitude towards Graeco-Roman culture is further shown in his free use of the works of the classical writers; the illustrative material of his great poem is drawn almost as largely from classical as from Hebrew and Christian sources. Again, in his self-reliant judgment, in his critical spirit, in his mental independence, Dante exhibits intellectual traits which we recognize as belonging rather to the modern than to the medieval man.

Famous QuotesA fair request should be followed by the deed in silence.

A great flame follows a little spark.

All hope abandon, ye who enter here!Avarice, envy, pride,Three fatal sparks, have set the hearts of allOn Fire

Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.

If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought.

There is no greater sorrowThan to be mindful of the happy timeIn misery.