Note 177 — IV DANTE AND MEDIAEVAL THOUGHT

Croce on the contrary urges with perhaps too great a bias in the other direction, that if Dante were not so great as a Poet, little would be thought of his achievements in other lines: “Se Dante non fosse, com’ è, grandissimo poeta, è da presumere che tutte quelle altre cose perderebbero rilievo.”—Poesia di Dante, p. 10.