ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that, for Dante, these two questions may be effectively reduced to one, and that the definition of the 'good citizen' may be conflated with that of the 'good man', offering a deeper insight into the way in which the term 'citizen' is used by the poet. The 'closed' nature of communal society is clearly illustrated in the attitudes expressed towards those requesting admittance to citizenship. The clearest example of the way in which the notion of citizenship may function for Dante as a positive moral value, rather than as a purely political term, emerges from the encounter with his ancestor, Cacciaguida, in the Heaven of Mars. The notion that one may behave either sinfully or virtuously in relation to one's community lies, therefore, at the basis of Dante's conception of citizenship. The 'closed' nature of communal society is clearly illustrated in the attitudes expressed towards those requesting admittance to citizenship.
