_Character of Platonism--Its cosmology a parable--Combination of this with Hebraic philosophy of history--Theory of the Papacy and the Empire adopted by Dante--His judgement on Florence--Dante as a lyric poet--Beatrice the woman, the symbol, and the reality--Love, magic, and symbolism constitutive principles of Dante’s universe--Idea of the Divine Comedy--The scheme of virtues and vices--Retributive theory of rewards and punishments--Esoteric view of this, which makes even punishment intrinsic to the sins--Examples--Dantesque cosmography--The genius of the poet--His universal scope--His triumphant execution of the Comedy--His defects, in spite of which he remains the type of a supreme poet._ IV GOETHE’S FAUST _Page_ _The romantic spirit--The ideals of the Renaissance--Expression of both in the legendary Faust--Marlowe’s version--Tendency to vindicate Faust--Contrast with Calderon’s “Wonder-working Magician”--The original Faust of Goethe,--universal ambition and eternal dissatisfaction --Modifications--The series of experiments in living--The story of Gretchen fitted in--Goethe’s naturalistic theory of life and rejuvenation: Helen--The classic manner and the judgement on classicism--Faust’s last ambition--The conflict over his soul and his ascent to heaven symbolical--Moral of the whole._ V CONCLUSION _Comparison of the three poets--Their relative rank--Ideal of a philosophic or comprehensive poet--Untried possibilities of art._ I INTRODUCTION The sole advantage in possessing great works of literature lies in what they can help us to become. In themselves, as feats performed by their authors, they would have forfeited none of their truth or greatness if they had perished before our day. We can neither take away nor add to their past value or inherent dignity. It is only they, in so far as they are appropriate food and not poison for us, that can add to the present value and dignity of our minds. Foreign classics have to be retranslated and reinterpreted for each generation, to render their old naturalness in a natural way, and keep their perennial humanity living and capable of assimilation. Even native classics have to be reapprehended by every reader. It is this continual digestion of the substance supplied by the past that alone renders the insights of the past still potent in the present and for the future. Living criticism, genuine appreciation, is the interest we draw from year to year on the unrecoverable capital of human genius.