) Does not Dante by his own words
show himself deep-dyed in hatred and cruelty?
"The case against him" says Dinsmore, "is not so bad as the first
reading would indicate. Part of the explanation of his apparent cruelty
undoubtedly lies in the fact that the poet would teach us that character
is influenced by environment. In the circle of wrath, he is wrathful, in
the pit of traitors he is false. Then we are to recall that Dante
undoubtedly laid to heart Virgil's reproof, when he wept at the sad
punishment of the soothsayers: 'Who is more wicked than he who feels
compassion at the Divine Judgment.' Passionate love of God, Dante holds,
implies passionate hatred of God's enemies. That is a thought expressed
by the Psalmist. 'Lord, have I not hated them that hate thee and pined
away because of thy enemies? I have hated them with a perfect hatred and
they are become enemies to me' (CXXXVIII, 21). So it may be said that
Dante has the spirit of the psalmist and seeks to love, as God loves,
and to hate as God hates."
Whether that explanation satisfy my readers or not, there is another
side to Dante's character that is most attractive. "Dowered with the
hate of hate, the scorn of scorn," he was a paradox,--gentle and tender.
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