Tea at Trianon: How Ancient Greece Shaped the Thought of Dante

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 16, 2021

How Ancient Greece Shaped the Thought of Dante

From The Greek Reporter:

The primary subject of the recent study was the search for the many elements of Greek thought that can be found in Dante’s works — especially in his “Inferno,” “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso,” part of his poetic cycle called the “Divine Comedy,” some of the greatest works of poetry ever written.
The meetings to be held in Nicosia and Athens will explore the extraordinary amount of influence that the 13th century poet had — and still has — on Greek and Cypriot poetry.
Dante wrote his vision of his own personal journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise in Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, peopling these realms with figures from history, including many of his personal heroes from the Greek past, including Homer, whom he lauded as “singing master of the earth.”
His Catholic worldview also heavily influenced his life and his writings, however, especially perhaps The Inferno. (Read more.)