magic spectacle of human affairs," questioning deeply its
significance, engaged actively in practical concerns, he ardently sought
for the solution of the mysteries and the reconcilement of the
confusions of human existence. The way to this solution seemed to lie
through philosophy and learning, and in acquiring them he lifted himself
above the turmoil of earth. All observation, experience, and acquisition
served as material for his poetic and idealizing imagination, wherewith
to construct an orderly scheme of the universe; all served for the
defining and confirming of his moral judgments, all worked together for
the harmonious development of his intellectual powers; all served to
prepare him for the work which, already beginning to shape itself in his
mind, was to become the main occupation of the remainder of his life,
and to prove one of the abiding monuments of the highest achievements of
mankind.

The 'De Monarchia' is written in Latin, and so also is a brief
unfinished treatise, the work of some period during his exile, on the
Common Speech, 'De Vulgari Eloquio.' It has intrinsic interest as the
first critical study of language and of literature in modern times, as
well as from the acute and sound judgments with which it abounds, and
from its discussion of the various forms and topics of poetry, but still
more from its numerous illustrations of Dante's personal experience and
sentiment. Its object is to teach the right use of the common speech;
instruction required by all, since all make use of the speech, it being
that which all learn from birth, "by imitation and without rule. The
other speech, which the Romans called _Grammatica_, is learned by study
and according to rule.... Of these two the Common is the more noble,
because it was the first used by the human race, and also because it is
in use over all the world, though in different tongues; and again
because it is natural to us, while the other is artificial." Speech,
Dante declares, is the prerogative of man alone, not required by the
angels and not possible for brutes; there was originally but one
language, the Hebrew. In treating of this latter topic Dante introduces
a personal reference of extraordinary interest in its bearing on his
feeling in respect to his exile:--

"It is for those of such debased intelligence that they believe the
place of their birth to be the most delightful under the sun, to
prefer their own peculiar tongue, and t