Unfortunately we have not a reliable and complete record of that life. Legend and fancy have been interwoven with facts so closely that often it is hard to separate one from the other. The following data, however, are well established. Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in the year 1265, the day and month being uncertain, but probably falling between May 18th and June 17th. He belonged to a family which was counted among the lesser nobility. Dante himself does not seem to have been able to trace his ancestry further back than four generations. In the fifteenth canto of Paradise there is a famous passage where the poet tells how he meets in Mars his great-grandfather, Cacciaguida, who gives him certain autobiographical details: That he was baptized at the church of San Giovanni in Florence; that he had two brothers; that his wife came from the Po valley (whence originated the name Alighieri); that he had gone on the crusades with the Emperor Conrad, by whom he had been dubbed knight, and finally, that he had been killed by the Arabs. This is all Dante knew, for he makes Cacciaguida say: "They, of whom I sprang, And I, had there our birthplace," that is, in a certain quarter of Florence-- "Thus much Suffice of my forefathers; who they were, And whence they hither came, more honorable It is to pass in silence than to tell." Of Dante's immediate family we know little. Strangely enough for one who reveals himself so completely in his poetry, he says nothing of either father or mother. As to his education we can only infer it from his works and the condition of the times. The statements made by Boccaccio and Villani concerning his early school life, are fables. He did not go to school under Brunetto Latini, for the latter had no school; although Dante was undoubtedly influenced by Latini's _Trésor_ (a vast encyclopedical compilation of contemporary knowledge) which laid the foundations of the poet's learning. Moreover, it may well be that the distinguished statesman, judge, and writer directed by his personal counsel the studies of the bright young scholar, for whom he prophesied a brilliant career. Hence Dante's joy and gratitude at meeting in the Inferno the "dear paternal image of him who had taught him how man becomes eternal."