Dante and the animal kingdom / by Richard Thayer Holbrook.

  • Richard Thayer Holbrook
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Dante and the animal kingdom / by Richard Thayer Holbrook. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    token an inadequate knowledge of the age in which he lived. Whoever reads carefully the works of an Alber- tus Magnus, a Thomas Aquinas, or those of Dante, cannot fail to perceive how greatly their credulity ex- ceeds our own. It is possible, too, that six centuries from now much that we deem rational may be thought mere fantasy. Dante Alighieri’s art and philosophy of the animal kingdom are not vitiated by modern science, for they are part of him; and though we may smile at his dogmas, it is his belief and sincerity, joined to his power, that make his philosophy interesting, his art beautiful. By learning what Dante felt and thought, we discover what impression the animate world made on one of the noblest thinkers, one of the most keen- sighted poets, that have blessed our earth.