登陆注册
5406800000021

第21章 CRITICISMS ON THE PRINCIPAL ITALIAN WRITERS(4)

Nor did the religious spirit of the age tend less to this result than its political circumstances.Fanaticism is an evil, but it is not the greatest of evils.It is good that a people should be roused by any means from a state of utter torpor;--that their minds should be diverted from objects merely sensual, to meditations, however erroneous, on the mysteries of the moral and intellectual world; and from interests which are immediately selfish to those which relate to the past, the future, and the remote.These effects have sometimes been produced by the worst superstitions that ever existed; but the Catholic religion, even in the time of its utmost extravagance and atrocity, never wholly lost the spirit of the Great Teacher, whose precepts form the noblest code, as His conduct furnished the purest example, of moral excellence.It is of all religions the most poetical.The ancient superstitions furnished the fancy with beautiful images, but took no hold on the heart.The doctrines of the Reformed Churches have most powerfully influenced the feelings and the conduct of men, but have not presented them with visions of sensible beauty and grandeur.The Roman Catholic Church has united to the awful doctrines of the one that Mr Coleridge calls the "fair humanities" of the other.It has enriched sculpture and painting with the loveliest and most majestic forms.To the Phidian Jupiter it can oppose the Moses of Michael Angelo; and to the voluptuous beauty of the Queen of Cyprus, the serene and pensive loveliness of the Virgin Mother.The legends of its martyrs and its saints may vie in ingenuity and interest with the mythological fables of Greece;its ceremonies and processions were the delight of the vulgar;the huge fabric of secular power with which it was connected attracted the admiration of the statesman.At the same time, it never lost sight of the most solemn and tremendous doctrines of Christianity,--the incarnate God,--the judgment,--the retribution,--the eternity of happiness or torment.Thus, while, like the ancient religions, it received incalculable support from policy and ceremony, it never wholly became, like those religions, a merely political and ceremonial institution.

The beginning of the thirteenth century was, as Machiavelli has remarked, the era of a great revival of this extraordinary system.The policy of Innocent,--the growth of the Inquisition and the mendicant orders,--the wars against the Albigenses, the Pagans of the East, and the unfortunate princes of the house of Swabia, agitated Italy during the two following generations.In this point Dante was completely under the influence of his age.

He was a man of a turbid and melancholy spirit.In early youth he had entertained a strong and unfortunate passion, which, long after the death of her whom he loved, continued to haunt him.

Dissipation, ambition, misfortunes had not effaced it.He was not only a sincere, but a passionate, believer.The crimes and abuses of the Church of Rome were indeed loathsome to him; but to all its doctrines and all its rites he adhered with enthusiastic fondness and veneration; and, at length, driven from his native country, reduced to a situation the most painful to a man of his disposition, condemned to learn by experience that no food is so bitter as the bread of dependence ("Tu proverai si come sa di sale Lo pane altrui, e come e duro calle Lo scendere e'l sa'ir per l'altrui scale."Paradiso, canto xvii.), and no ascent so painful as the staircase of a patron,--his wounded spirit took refuge in visionary devotion.Beatrice, the unforgotten object of his early tenderness, was invested by his imagination with glorious and mysterious attributes; she was enthroned among the highest of the celestial hierarchy: Almighty Wisdom had assigned to her the care of the sinful and unhappy wanderer who had loved her with such a perfect love.("L'amico mio, e non della ventura." Inferno, canto ii.) By a confusion, like that which often takes place in dreams, he has sometimes lost sight of her human nature, and even of her personal existence, and seems to consider her as one of the attributes of the Deity.

But those religious hopes which had released the mind of the sublime enthusiast from the terrors of death had not rendered his speculations on human life more cheerful.This is an inconsistency which may often be observed in men of a similar temperament.He hoped for happiness beyond the grave: but he felt none on earth.It is from this cause, more than from any other, that his description of Heaven is so far inferior to the Hell or the Purgatory.With the passions and miseries of the suffering spirits he feels a strong sympathy.But among the beatified he appears as one who has nothing in common with them,--as one who is incapable of comprehending, not only the degree, but the nature of their enjoyment.We think that we see him standing amidst those smiling and radiant spirits with that scowl of unutterable misery on his brow, and that curl of bitter disdain on his lips, which all his portraits have preserved, and which might furnish Chantrey with hints for the head of his projected Satan.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 霸行三国

    霸行三国

    梦回千年,是命运的恩赐还是内心的执着。英雄齐聚,是时势的需要还是信念的召唤。新书《汉末逆流》,不可错过的铁血三国小说。
  • 恍惚

    恍惚

    本报讯(记者林海)12月19日,为期三天的老木作品研讨会圆满落下帷幕,共有来自全国各地的五十位评论家、作家和诗人欢聚一堂,就老木新作《绝望》作品进行多方面研讨。滨海市十位有影响的作家应邀与会。据了解:新时期以来,樟县涌现出许多在全国有影响的作家、评论家和诗人,尤其是老木的小说,在全国引起了巨大反响,曾被誉为中国走得最远的先锋作家。创作转型后的老木,以哲学家的思考和诗人的激情创作了大量反映时代精神面貌的作品,特别值得一提的是在樟县完稿的中篇小说《征程》,真实地描写了革命战争时期樟县人为中国人民的解放事业所做出的杰出贡献。
  • 男人模式:3000年关于男子品性的智者高论

    男人模式:3000年关于男子品性的智者高论

    本书汇集了自荷马以来西方的经典文学、哲学、历史作品中对男人品性和形象的描述,为我们打开了一扇思考男人之道的窗口。通过这扇窗口,读者看到了骑士时代的男子、绅士时代的男子、智慧的男子、家庭中的男子、从政的男子、高尚的男子、美国男子以及后现代的男子,看到他们的勇气、信心、智慧、浪漫、困惑。书中所选,既有对男人品性的哲学和道德思辨,自亚里斯多德到奥古斯丁,到培根,剖析男性美德的细微之处;也有对男人角色的有力辩护,自古罗马的卡托到戴高乐以至肯尼迪,先贤之训诫名言,值得深思;更有对男子形象与模式的生动描摹,自荷马笔下的俄底修斯到中世纪的浪漫骑士,无不是经典男人气质的体现,给人以深刻印象。
  • 龙凤斗:下堂恶妃(全本)

    龙凤斗:下堂恶妃(全本)

    相府千金慕容彦,外貌娴雅,一幅大家闺秀姿态,待在深闺足不出户。一张龙腾金丝圣旨而下,诏告天下:她被当今圣上许给我当朝王爷。当家中沸腾而起之时,她仅是淡淡一言,道:“仅是搬个窝而已,”说完便甩甩水袖仪态大方离去。“鎏金”国王爷东方闲云,权倾天下,俊雅万千,在京城翻云覆雨,当今圣上皆是不言半句。仅因一盘棋,他便要娶一听闻无趣至极的女子,随后便眸光一转,邪睨道:“也好,府里正缺个王妃,就她吧!”就这两人,一个看似高雅却包藏恶心的女子,一个看似儒雅却邪魅如修罗的男子……漫天风沙起,伊人在何方?是那眼前之人或是脑海中的幻影?灯火阑珊处,良人何处寻?是那系着红线之人或是陪伴之人?推荐chyajs1987的文:http://m.wkkk.net/a/201261/
  • 攻约梁山

    攻约梁山

    人生从争生命权开始就是遭遇战。狂人赵岳逆入北宋末,有爱大宋幸福上进的家,面对的却是急剧转变的历史轨迹,腐烂统治、废物军队、麻木浮华民众、湮灭的血性勇气、凶猛逼近的天倾血洗。玩科技的精妙双手不得不举刀。充满科技创想的头脑,不得不布控世界......
  • 现场直播杀人剧

    现场直播杀人剧

    我叫关敏茵,是一家化妆品公司的部门主管。这天,我刚吃过晚饭,手机就收到一条短信息,发送人是我们公司的执行总监——在此暂称他为A男吧,短信内容是:“今晚召开紧急会议,请各部门主管九点整在公司大门外集中。”公司在非工作时间召开会议,是我进公司以来所从未发生过的事。现在有此破题儿第一遭,看来今晚的会议的确是万分紧急、迫在眉睫的。八点五十分,我便回到公司。我们公司的部门主管有十多人,我本以为大家应该差不多都到齐了,没想到此刻站在公司大门外的,却只有一个人。他是另一部门的主管,在此暂称他为B男吧。
  • 弊魔试目连经

    弊魔试目连经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 藏地密码3

    藏地密码3

    一部关于西藏的百科全书式小说!了解西藏,就读《藏地密码》!十年经典,强势回归!火爆热销10周年!数千万粉丝的真爱之选!考证玛雅文明和藏汉文化的神秘纽带。这是一个西藏已经开放为全世界的旅游胜地却依旧守口如瓶的秘密——公元838年,吐蕃末代赞普朗达玛登位,随即宣布禁佛。在禁佛运动中,僧侣们提前将宝物埋藏,随后将其秘密转移,他们修建了一座神庙,称为帕巴拉神庙。随着时光流失,战火不断,那座隐藏着无尽佛家珍宝的神庙彻底消失于历史尘埃之中……1938年和1943年,希特勒曾派助手希姆莱两次带队深入西藏;上世纪61年代,斯大林曾派苏联专家团前后五次考察西藏,他们的秘密行动意味深远,没有人知道他们的真实目的。多年之后,藏獒专家卓木强巴突然收到一封信,里面是两张远古神兽的照片……不久后,一支由特种兵、考古学家、密修高手等各色人物组成的神秘科考队,悄悄出发,开始了一场穿越生死禁地的探险之旅,他们要追寻藏传佛教千年隐秘历史的真相……西藏,到底向我们隐瞒了什么?
  • 大神夫人萌化了

    大神夫人萌化了

    始于偶遇,终于命运,一但爱上就再也忘不掉。莫蓓萌长的像“萝莉”,实则是个混世女魔王。乔一帆崇阳一校霸,却成绩一流!一次小巷的偶遇造就一段“孽缘”的开始。不良少年竟被“柔弱”的萝莉所救?为了维护自己“不良”的尊严,乔一帆从此黏上莫蓓萌——教室,“莫蓓萌你答应做我女朋友,我就帮你补课!”小树林里,“莫蓓萌,以后再有人欺负你就提我名字,这片都是我罩着的。”翻墙逃课的墙头上,“成为我的女朋友,我就下去!”小区门口,“你救过我,我要以身相许!”……命运多舛,契阔重逢…… 乔一帆西装革履,金丝眼镜“莫小姐,好久不见!”莫蓓萌一身戎装,双眸含笑“乔先生,别来无恙婚礼上有人问:“乔一帆,莫蓓萌都离开那么久了,你为什么还要等她?”当年纨绔张扬的不良少年,如今沉静内敛的男人眼底一片宠溺“我的心里有一座迷宫,莫蓓萌一直没有走出去。”
  • 炀帝迷楼记

    炀帝迷楼记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。