European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages by Burrow Colin Curtius Ernst Robert

Author:Burrow, Colin, Curtius, Ernst Robert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2013-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

Ignorance of a text and faulty reading can, then, be the causes of evil deeds. After the battle of Benevento (1266) the bones of the Hohenstaufen Manfred would not have been scattered on unconsecrated ground if the Bishop of Cosenza had rightly read that page of the Gospel according to St. John—“avesse in Dio ben letto questa faccia” (Purg., III, 126)—in which it is written: “Et eum, qui venit ad me, non eiiciam foras” (John 6:37). To be sure, pride of reason and idle striving after novelty lead many to philosophical eccentricities. But heaven is less provoked to wrath by this than it is when God’s word is slighted or twisted (Par., XXIX, 85 ff.):

Voi non andate già per un sentiero

Filosofando, tanto vi trasporta

L’ amor dell’ apparenza e il suo pensiero.

Ed ancor questo quassù si comporta

Con men disdegno che quando è posposta

La divina scrittura o quando è torta.

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