re in the right, and, of course, the Donati took up the cause of the
Neri. The original dispute had long been forgotten, but any excuse
would serve two factions anxious to fight. Brawling took place at a
May _festa_, in which several persons were wounded.

Dante was glad to divert his mind from all his discords when the last
year of the thirteenth century came and he set out to Rome on
pilgrimage. At Easter all the world seemed to be flocking to that
solemn festival of the Catholic Church, where the erring could obtain
indulgence by fifteen days of devotion. Yet the very break in the
usual life of audiences and journeys must have been grateful to the
tired ambassador. He began to muse on the poetic aims of his first
youth and the work which was to make Beatrice's name immortal. Some
lines of the new poem were written in the Latin tongue, then held the
finest language for expressing a great subject. The poet had to
abandon his scheme for {25} a time at least, when he was made one of
the Priors, or supreme rulers, of Florence in June 1300.

There was some attempt during Dante's brief term of office to settle
the vexed question of the rival parties. Both deserved punishment,
without doubt, and received it in the form of banishment for the heads
of the factions. "Dante applied all his genius and every act and
thought to bring back unity to the republic, demonstrating to the wiser
citizens how even the great are destroyed by discord, while the small
grow and increase infinitely when at peace. . . ."

Apparently Dante was not always successful in his attempts to unite his
fellow-citizens. He talked of resignation sometimes and retirement
into private life, a proposal which was opposed by his friends in
office. When the losing side decided to ask Pope Boniface for an
arbitrator to settle their disputes, all Dante's spirit rose against
their lack of patriotism. He went willingly on an embassy to desire
that Charles, the brother or cousin of King Philip of France, who had
been selected to regulate the state of Florence, should come with a
friendly feeling to his party, if his arrival could not be averted. He
remained at Rome with other ambassadors for some unknown cause, while
his party at Florence was defeated and sentence of banishment was
passed on him as on the other leaders.

Dante loved the city of his birth and was determined to return from
exile. He joined the band of _fuor-usciti_, or "turned-out," who