Note 216 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
For an illustration of the above remark the reader is referred to the closing pages of chap. 7, Part II., of the “History of Ferdinand and Isabella,” where I have taken some pains to show how deep-settled were these convictions in Spain at the period with which we are now occupied. The world has gained little in liberality since the age of Dante, who could coolly dispose of the great and good of antiquity in one of the circles of Hell because—no fault of theirs, certainly—they had come into the world too soon. The memorable verses, like many others of the immortal bard, are a proof at once of the strength and weakness of the human understanding. They may be cited as a fair exponent of the popular feeling at the beginning of the sixteenth century:
“Ch’ ei non peccaro, e, s’egli hanno mercedi, Non basta, perchè non ebber battesmo, Ch’ è parte della fede che tu credi. E, se furon dinanzi al Cristianesmo, Non adorar debitamente Dio; E di questi cotai son io medesmo Per tai difetti, e non per altro rio, Semo perduti, e sol di tanto offesi Che sanza speme vivemo in disio.” Inferno, canto 4.