ABSTRACT
Considering the severe traditional profile of Dante, poet, philosopher, theologian, judge, preacher of reforms and prophet, and listening to the epigrams in which he is said to be “equally great as man and as poet,” “more than poet,” and his “Divine Comedy” unique in literature, people would be tempted to say yes. Philosophical, ethical and religious interpretation of Dante’s work began in his own time with the notaries, friars, and professors of the university, and with the sons themselves of the poet, and would probably have begun with the poet himself had his life been long enough. The future historian of Dantean exegesis will succeed better than his predecessors if he measure the progress of criticism by the growth and elaboration of historical method. Interpretation has become and tends to become more scientific and critical. The overvaluation, or the misunderstanding of the particular importance of Dante as philosopher and politician, is to be referred to this error of method.
