(_Transl. by_ D.G. ROSSETTI.)
In the 29th chapter, which we, to-day, do not readily understand, Dante
established by a system of symbolical numbers a connection between
Beatrice and the Trinity; the deification of the beloved had been
achieved in thought and emotion, religion enriched by a new divinity.
"Love, weeping, has filled my heart with new knowledge," he says, at the
conclusion of the work of his youth. I repeat what I have already said
in another place, and supported by passages from the _Divine Comedy_: It
was never Dante's intention to write fictitious poems in our meaning of
the term, but at every hour of his life he was convinced that he was
proclaiming the pure truth; he knew himself to be the chosen vehicle for
the interpretation of the eternal system of the world.
At the conclusion of the _Vita Nuova_, Beatrice is a divine being,
devoid of all emotion--enthroned in Heaven; in the _Comedy_ she becomes
her lover's saviour and redeemer, and through him a helper of all
humanity.
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