Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia.Dante Alighieri
Philosophy
Dante. An essay. To which is added a translation of De Monarchia.
Dante Alighieri
Church and state -- Early works to 1800; Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321; Italy -- Politics and government -- 476-1268
But if we are to receive these words of Christ and of Peter typically,
they must not be explained as our adversaries explain them; but they
must be referred to that sword of which Matthew writes: "Think not
that I am come to send peace on the earth; I come not to send peace,
but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his
father," &c. And this comes to pass not only in words, but also in
fact. And therefore Luke speaks to Theophilus of all "that Jesus began
both to do and to teach." It was a sword of that kind that Christ
commanded them to buy; and Peter said that it was already doubly
there. For they were ready both for words and for deeds, by which they
should accomplish what Christ said that He had come to do by the
sword.
X.--Certain persons say further that the Emperor Constantine, having
been cleansed from leprosy by the intercession of Sylvester, then the
Supreme Pontiff, gave unto the Church the seat of Empire which was
Rome, together with many other dignities belonging to the Empire.[294]
Hence they argue that no man can take unto himself these dignities
unless he receive them from the Church, whose they are said to be.
From this it would rightly follow, that one authority depends on the
other, as they maintain.
[Footnote 294: On the Donation of Constantine, Witte refers to _Inf._
xxxviii. 94; xix. 115; _Purg._ xxxii. 124; _Parad._ xx. 35; _suprà_
ii. 12.]
The arguments which seemed to have their roots in the Divine words,
have been stated and disproved. It remains to state and disprove those
which are grounded on Roman history and in the reason of mankind. The
first of these is the one which we have mentioned, in which the
syllogism runs as follows: No one has a right to those things which
belong to the Church, unless he has them from the Church; and this we
grant. The government of Rome belongs to the Church; therefore no one
has a right to it unless it be given him by the Church. The minor
premiss is proved by the facts concerning Constantine, which we have
touched on.
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