DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61902#0087
The makers of Florence. do
by the inactivity of the members of their party still left in
Florence. This was their second attempt by arms, within
three years, to get themselves back to their city; and these
armed failures were preceded by how many missions, con-
spiracies, combinations of all kinds, and fiery labors on
the part of their leaders, among whom Dante was still
foremost. Everything else—poetry and useful work, and
everything that is good for man—was postponed to this
one object. The time came when the poet asked indignantly
whether he could not see the sweet stars and ponder upon
heavenly truth elsewhere than in Florence ; but no such
enlightenment had come to him in the earlier part of his
exile. To get back, was to him, as to the rest, the one
aim and passion of a stormy and wasted life.
This tempestuous period, which in itself is too painful
for detailed description even were that practicable, offers
few incidents to attract the attention of any but the
sternest of historical students. Nevertheless on the eve of
that last attempt upon Florence, the wife of one of the
exiled assailants brought into the world, in that blazing
July weather, when “ the heat was so great that the very
air seemed to burn,” a child, born on the 19th or 20th of
the month, in the year 1304, who was afterward known
to the world as Petrarch. And we have one glimpse into
the city itself which is very curious if not very attractive.
Pope Benedetto’s messenger, the cardinal-ywzero, entered
Florence in the spring of 1304 to do what he could for the
exiled Bianchi, as his predecessor not long before had tried
his best for the exiled Neri. He was received with the most
gracious welcome, with the waving of olive-branches, sym-
bolic decorations, and every appearance of probable suc-
cess; and among the other entertainments provided for his
eminence was one in which we seem to see a reflection out
of the very soul of the fuor-uscito, then wistfully from a
tower in the Apennines gazing toward Florence, waiting
by the inactivity of the members of their party still left in
Florence. This was their second attempt by arms, within
three years, to get themselves back to their city; and these
armed failures were preceded by how many missions, con-
spiracies, combinations of all kinds, and fiery labors on
the part of their leaders, among whom Dante was still
foremost. Everything else—poetry and useful work, and
everything that is good for man—was postponed to this
one object. The time came when the poet asked indignantly
whether he could not see the sweet stars and ponder upon
heavenly truth elsewhere than in Florence ; but no such
enlightenment had come to him in the earlier part of his
exile. To get back, was to him, as to the rest, the one
aim and passion of a stormy and wasted life.
This tempestuous period, which in itself is too painful
for detailed description even were that practicable, offers
few incidents to attract the attention of any but the
sternest of historical students. Nevertheless on the eve of
that last attempt upon Florence, the wife of one of the
exiled assailants brought into the world, in that blazing
July weather, when “ the heat was so great that the very
air seemed to burn,” a child, born on the 19th or 20th of
the month, in the year 1304, who was afterward known
to the world as Petrarch. And we have one glimpse into
the city itself which is very curious if not very attractive.
Pope Benedetto’s messenger, the cardinal-ywzero, entered
Florence in the spring of 1304 to do what he could for the
exiled Bianchi, as his predecessor not long before had tried
his best for the exiled Neri. He was received with the most
gracious welcome, with the waving of olive-branches, sym-
bolic decorations, and every appearance of probable suc-
cess; and among the other entertainments provided for his
eminence was one in which we seem to see a reflection out
of the very soul of the fuor-uscito, then wistfully from a
tower in the Apennines gazing toward Florence, waiting