and that Manetti, an early biographer, seems to support the theory.  But the best evidence, if evidence it can be called, which we have for this theory is to be found in a codex in the Laurentian Library, quoted by Bandini and cited by Dr. Ricci, which says:  “It is commonly reported that Dante, being in Ravenna, studying and giving lectures as a doctor to his pupils upon various works, the schools became the resort of many learned men.”  This statement upon hearsay, however, does little more than confirm the definite assertion of Boccaccio that Dante “trained many scholars,” not in civil law, but in “poetry, especially in the vernacular.”

[Footnote 1:  For a full discussion of all that may be known of Dante at the Poleata court see Dr. Ricci’s large work, L’Ultimo Rifugio di Dante (1891).  A charming book in English, Dante in Ravenna (1898), by Catherine Mary Phillimore, is to a great extent based upon Dr. Ricci’s work.  A valuable book that should be consulted is the more recent volume by P.H.  Wicksteed and E.G.  Gardner, Dante and Giovanni del Virgilio (1902).]

It is quite unproved then that Dante lectured in Ravenna as a professor of Civil Law.  It might seem equally certain that he did lecture upon Poetry and the vulgar tongue, and it seems likely that we have the text of his lectures in the latter if not in the earlier part of the De Vulgari Eloquentia “in which in masterly and polished Latin he reproves all the vulgar dialects of Italy.”  Boccaccio tells us he composed this when he was “already nigh his death,” and though modern criticism seems inclined to date its composition not later than 1306 the evidence of Boccaccio is not lightly to be set aside[1].

[Footnote 1:  The first part of this work was certainly not written later than 1306 the second part may well have been later.]

Lonely as he doubtless was in Ravenna he was not alone there.  With him it would seem was his daughter Beatrice, who became a nun in S. Stefano dell’ Uliva, and his sons Pietro and Jacopo.  The latter, though a lawyer and not in holy orders, held two benefices in Ravenna, but most of his time seems to have been spent in Verona where Jacopo, his brother, later held a canonry.  And then there were his friends.

In his lectures upon Poetry one of his most eager pupils would seem to have been his best friend and host, Guido Novello, who evidently knew well at least those parts of the Divine Comedy, chiefly the Inferno be it noted, which deal with his ancestors, for he quotes one of the most famous of them—­an unforgettable line spoken by his aunt Francesca da Rimini: 

  “Questi che mai da me non fia diviso.”

in a sonnet of his own[2].

[Footnote 2:  Cf. Ultimo Rifugio, p. 384, where the sonnet is given in full.]

After the lord Guido Novello, we must name the archbishop of Ravenna, Rainaldo Concorreggio, as among Dante’s friends.  It is possible that he had known Dante at the University of Bologna and he had been a chaplain of Boniface VIII.  He was a brave man, learned in theology, law, and music, and devoted to his religion, an eager student, and he had composed a treatise which has come down to us upon Galla Placidia and her church.