Lozinskaya Evgeniya Valentinovna – Senior Researcher at the Department of Literary Studies, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The article analyzes excerpts from Dante Alighieri’s works that use the words tyrant and tyranny, in order to form a general idea of the poet’s views on this form of government. The causticity of this usage in Dante’s legacy requires, on the one hand, the use of close reading techniques, and, on the other hand, the study of the general cultural and literary context, including the sources from which Dante could have drawn certain ideas. Among such sources, two are described in detail: Polycratic by John of Salisbury and On Royal Power... by Thomas Aquinas. It is shown that the main tyrannical actions in Dante’s understanding are violence against the life of a neighbor and against his property. The tyrant is also deprived of the ragione that guides people in earthly life, and the intelletto with which higher truths are discerned.
Dante; tyrant; monarchy; John of Salisbury; Thomas Aquinas; passions; government; devil; Obizzo II d’Este; Ezzelino III da Romano