Against all such theories and views Dante appears as the fearless,
uncompromising champion of the doctrine of the greatness of man in the
exercise of the divine gift of Free Will. His own life, showing how he
had won victory over the forces of poverty and persecution, is symbolic
of the glorious truth he would teach; viz., that man, endowed with free
will and animated with the grace of God, is master of his destiny and
cannot be defeated even by principalities and powers. So he tells us,
"And free will which if it endure fatigue in the first battles with the
heavens, afterwards if it be well nurtured, conquers everything."
(Purg., XVI, 76.) He makes Beatrice testify to the supremacy of the
will: "The greatest gift which God in His bounty bestowed in creating
and that which He prizes most, was the freedom of will with which the
creatures that have intelligence--they all and they alone--were
endowed." (Cf. Purg., XVIII, 66-73.)
But such a distinctive endowment may be the the curse of man if he fails
to use it rightly. Like Job, Dante insists that life is a warfare.
Victory is possible only by the right exercise of the will enlightened
by God. Defeat is sure if the will embraces sin. To Dante sin is not a
mere vulgarity or the violation of a social convention or "a soft
infirmity of the blood.
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