At the time of Dante's birth, the Guelf or papal party had recently recovered their ascendancy at Florence, after having been expatriated for several years, in consequence of their disastrous overthrow at the battle of Monte Aperto. The poet was therefore educated in Guelfic principles, and adhered to them till his banishment, when the perfidious interference of the pope with the independence of his native city, and the atrocious hostility of its citizens against himself and his friends, compelled him to take part with the imperialists. The first public character in which we find the patriotic poet distinguishing himself was that of a soldier. In one of the petty wars that were perpetually occurring between the little irascible republics in the north of Italy, the Florentines gained a decisive victory over their neighbours of Arezzo (who had harboured the Ghibelline refugees), at the battle of Campaldino, A. D. 1289. On this occasion, Dante, who served among the cavalry, was not only exposed to imminent peril at the commencement of the action, when that body was partially routed by the impetuosity of the enemy's charge, but when the squadron had rallied again on reaching the lines of infantry, and thence returned to the attack, he fought in the first rank, and displayed such extraordinary valour, as to claim a proud share in the glory of that day. To this conflict, and the particular service in which he had been engaged, he seems to allude in Canto XXII. of the Inferno. Having mentioned the signal given by Barbariccia (serjeant of a file of demons, appointed to escort Dante and Virgil over a certain dangerous pass on their journey,)--a signal too absurd to be repeated here, either in English or Italian, he says:-- "I have seen cavalry upon their march, Hush to the combat, rally on the field, And sometimes seek for safety in retreat: I have seen jousts and tournaments array'd; Seen clouds of skirmishers sweep through your fields, Ye Aretines! and spoilers, lay them waste; Drum, cymbal, trumpet, beacon from tower-top, And other strange or native things their signals; But never, at the blast of instrument So barbarous have witness'd horse or foot, Or ship, by star or landmark, put in motion: --With those ten demons thus we took our way; Fell company! but, as the proverb saith, At church with saints, with gluttons in the tavern."[8]