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CH. iJ
DANTE
5
himself 1"'
After the defeat inflicted by Maifred on the Florentines near
Monte Aperti in 1260, Brunetto, who was also a distinguished statesman,
retired into exile in France, where he remained until 1267, i. e. until after
Manfreci's death at the battle of Benevento. It was during this period that
he composed his chief work 'Li Livres dou Tresor': in this also the theory
of the elevation of the sea above the land was maintained, chiefly on account
of the elevated situation of many springs 2"
But in Dante's case the intui
tion of a scientific mind gradually entered into conflict with the views of
his beloved teacher, and that is probably the reason why Dante in the whole
of his discourse 'De aqua et
terra'does not once mention
the
name of
any
of
i
his
,-.
opponents .
Dante begins by enu
merating the arguments of
-
,
the rival schools, and shows
that they lead to two alter
natives ; either the whole
mass of water is situated
eccentrically or there is a
local swelling up of part of
it. He asserts that neither
of these hypotheses is ten
able.
If the mass of the
Ocean were eccentric, then
water must be capable of
flowing both upwards and
't-cc
Fin. 1. Copied from Brunetto Latini: Li Livres don
Tresor, Chabaille Edition, p. 117.
downwards. Let the points A and B (Fig. 2) represent the two centres. A mass
of earth and a quantity of water falling from Z to the earth would proceed
in different directions: but gravity is a property common to all bodies.
For the same reason a local protuberance of the Ocean is also impossible,
for it would be at once dispersed.
The Ocean is thus concentric with the earth and every part of its surface
Since, however, the shores of the
is equidistant from the common centre.
continents and the continents themselves rise above the surface of the
Inferno, cant. XV, v. 82-85.
2 Brunetto Latini, Li Livres dou Treor, pub!. par P. Chabaifle, Collection de docu
ments inéclits sur l'histoire de France, publiée par 1e8 soins du Ministre de l'Instruction
Publique, 4to, Paris, 1863. In particular liv. I, cap. cvi, pp. 114-116; also p. 169: 'et
Mauritaine fenit en haute mer dc Egypte; et commence cele de Libe, oi ii y a trop
fieres merveilles; car la mer i est assez plus haute que la terre, et se retient dedanz sea
marges en tele maniere que dc ne chiet ne ne clecourt sor la terre.'
Inferno, cant. XV, v. 119, 120: 'Siati raccomandato il mio Tesoro Nel quale io
vivo ancora. ..