The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VIII (of X) - Continental Europe II.

s ancient riches, and this is done in the part that begins, "Nor will they admit that a man lowly born a noble can become." And in the first place, this is refuted by an argument taken from

being, therefore, time to learn the truth-and this it

ey contradict their own statement when they say that time is required for nobility, by putting in this word ancient (riches); because it is impossible by a process of time to arrive at the generation of nobility, by the reason of theirs here given, which denies that a man of low birth can be

r ancestors is forgotten, I answer that this tells against himself, because there must necessarily be a change here fr

's ancestors has fallen into oblivion, then altho the text takes no notice of this, it is fitting that the commentary should reply to

bility would be commemorated among the good things. And that this would be so is proved; for if rank or rather nobility (which is understood to be the same thing) is generated by oblivion, then the sooner men are forgotten the quicker is the

rl noble and one vile. And that this distinction could not be made is proved thus: If the forgetting of ignoble ancestors is a cause of nobility, where the ancestors never were ignoble there could be no oblivion, since oblivion is the destruction of memory. And in the said animals and plants and minerals degrees of high

is understood as the forgetfulness of his low estate, one would like to answer not with words but with the knife to s

ld often come before the generation, which is qu

t noble? And who would not agree with me in saying that he was noble? Certainly none, however presumptuous they may wish to be, because he was noble and such will his memory ever be. And if his ignoble ancestors had not been

uld be considered noble, being dead, who was not noble when living; and

nd Dardanus ignoble during life. Should we, to whom the memory of their ancestors (I mean beyond Dardanus) has not come down, should we say that Dardanus while alive was a common peasant, and dead became noble? And this is not contradicted by the story t

t of which who would make oblivion the c

TNO

known of Dante's prose writing. It is believed to have been written in his maturity, but was not completed.