such passionate
vehemence, that she remains and will always remain the loveliest and
most womanly woman of the Middle Ages,--at once absolutely real and
truly ideal.

It was in the year 1292, about two years after the death of Beatrice,
and when he himself was about twenty-seven years old, that Dante
collected into this _libretto d' amore_ the poems that he had written
during Beatrice's life, adding to them others relating to her written
after her death, and accompanying all with a narrative and commentary
in prose. The meaning of the name which he gave to the book, "La Vita
Nuova," has been the cause of elaborate discussion among the Italian
commentators. Literally "The New Life," it has been questioned whether
this phrase meant simply early life, or life made new by the first
experience and lasting influence of love. The latter interpretation
seems the most appropriate to Dante's turn of mind and to his condition
of feeling at the time when the little book appeared. To him it was the
record of that life which the presence of Beatrice had made new.[3]

But whatever be the true significance of the title, this "New Life" is
full not only of the youthfulness of its author, but of the fresh and
youthful spirit of the time. Italy, after going through a long period
of childhood, was now becoming conscious of the powers of maturity.
Society, (to borrow a fine figure from Lamennais,) like a river, which,
long lost in marshes, had at length regained its channel, after
stagnating for centuries, was now again rapidly advancing. Throughout
Italy there was a morning freshness, and the thrill and exhilaration of
conscious activity. Her imagination was roused by the revival of
ancient and now new learning, by the stories of travellers, by the
gains of commerce, by the excitements of religion and the alarms of
superstition. She was boastful, jealous, quarrelsome, lavish,
magnificent, full of fickleness,--exhibiting on all sides the
exuberance, the magnanimity, the folly of youth. After the long winter
of the Dark Ages, spring had come, and the earth was renewing its
beauty. And above all other cities in these days Florence was full of
the pride of life. Civil brawls had not yet reduced her to become an
easy prey for foreign conquerors. She was famous for wealth, and her
spirit had risen with prosperity. Many years before, one of the
Provencal troubadours, writing to his friend in verse, had
said,--"Friend Gaucelm, if you go to Tusc