Commentary Inf II 20-21

The adjective alma has had various interpretations in the commentary tradition, e.g., 'exalted' (eccelsa: Boccaccio), 'lofty' (alta: Buti), 'nurturing' (alma: Landino), 'holy' (sancta: Benvenuto). Citing Paget Toynbee, Mazzoni (Mazz.1967.1), p. 198, makes a strong argument for the last of these. Our translation reflects his view. And this formulation knits up these two tercets into a single meaning: Aeneas was chosen by God to be the founder of imperial and ecclesiastical Rome. Such a view disturbs those who believe that Dante, when he began the Comedy, was still a Guelph in his political attitudes. But a reading of the fourth book of Convivio (Mazzoni [Mazz.1967.1], pp. 216-220, demonstrates the close correspondence between what Dante says here and what he said in Convivio IV, iv-v) reveals that he had already made a decisive shift toward recognizing the importance of what we would call 'secular Rome.' Dante, as the prophecy of the veltro may already have demonstrated, now believes in the divine origin and mission of the Empire. See C.Inf.I.100-105.