“On meurt deux Source fois, je le vois bien : > > Cesser d’aimer & d’être aimable, > > C’est une mort insupportable : > > Cesser de vivre, ce n’est rien.”
These poignant words, often attributed to the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri, speak of two deaths. The first is a social and emotional death: the loss of love and the ability to be loved. This, the verse suggests, is an unbearable end. The second death, the mere cessation of life, is comparatively nothing. While the quote’s true origin lies with the French writer Voltaire, its sentiment perfectly captures the tragedy that defined Dante’s life: his forced exile from his beloved Florence.
For Dante, his banishment was more than a political punishment. It was a profound tearing away from the source of his identity, his community, and his sense of self. This experience cast him onto an ‘uncharted sea,’ forcing him to navigate a future filled with uncertainty and loss. Therefore, exploring Dante’s exile through the lens of this quote reveals how a man can suffer a living death, yet transform that suffering into immortal art.
The Bitter Bread of Exile
To understand the depth of Dante’s pain, we must first understand his world. Medieval Florence was a city of intense political rivalries. The primary conflict was between the Guelphs, who supported the Pope, and the Ghibellines, who backed the Holy Roman Emperor. Dante’s family were Guelphs. However, the Guelphs themselves fractured into two hostile factions: the Blacks and the Whites. Dante aligned with the White Guelphs, who advocated for more independence from papal power.
In 1301, while Dante was on a diplomatic mission to Rome, the Black Guelphs seized control of Florence. Source They immediately began a ruthless campaign against their political opponents. Consequently, Dante and other White Guelphs were condemned in absentia on trumped-up charges of corruption. The sentence was severe: a massive fine and permanent banishment. When Dante refused to pay, they condemned him to be burned at the stake if he ever returned to his native city. Thus, in 1302, Dante began an exile that would last for the rest of his life . He never saw his home again.
This was not merely a change of address; it was the first death. He lost his property, his social standing, and his connection to the city that was the center of his universe. He wandered through Italy, depending on the charity of various patrons. In his masterwork, The Divine Comedy, he famously describes the bitterness of this experience, speaking of how salt the bread of others tastes, and how hard the path to climb and descend another’s stairs.
The Unbearable Death of Belonging
This is where the quote’s sentiment resonates so powerfully. “Cesser d’aimer & d’être aimable”—to cease loving and being lovable—was Dante’s reality. He was cut off from the network of family, friends, and fellow citizens that made him who he was. This social death was an ‘insupportable’ torment. In medieval society, a person’s identity was inextricably linked to their city. Without Florence, Dante was adrift, a man without a place.
His political and personal reputation was destroyed by his enemies. He was no longer a respected politician and poet in his homeland; instead, he was a stateless wanderer. This loss of place and purpose is a theme that haunts his work. The pain of being unloved by the city he adored became a central driving force in his writing. He wrestled with this profound sense of injustice for two decades. Indeed, this period of exile, while personally devastating, was artistically transformative. It provided the raw material for his exploration of sin, redemption, and the nature of divine justice.
Navigating the Uncharted Sea
The future that stretched before Dante in 1302 was a terrifying, uncharted sea. All his plans and ambitions had been wrecked. He had lost his connection to the political and cultural life of Florence, which had been his inspiration. Yet, it was on this turbulent sea of exile that he embarked on his greatest journey. Deprived of a worldly home, he set out to build an eternal one in verse: The Divine Comedy.
This epic poem is, in many ways, the ultimate response to his exile. It is the work of a man who, having lost everything, creates an entire cosmos ordered by divine law and justice. He places his friends and, more satisfyingly, his enemies within its structure, passing judgment on them for eternity. For example, he reserves a special place in Hell for Pope Boniface VIII, a figure he held responsible for his political misfortune. This act of literary retribution was a way for Dante to reclaim his agency and impose order on a chaotic and unjust world.
Furthermore, the journey through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso is itself a metaphor for navigating an unknown future. Dante the pilgrim begins lost in a dark wood, a clear reflection of his own disorientation at the start of his exile. Guided by Virgil and Beatrice, he travels through the realms of the afterlife, ultimately finding spiritual clarity and a vision of God. This journey mirrors his own path from bitter despair to a higher, transcendent purpose. He transformed his personal suffering into a universal story of the soul’s search for meaning.
A Legacy Forged in Loss
In the end, the physical death—”Cesser de vivre”—came to Dante in 1321 in the city of Ravenna. He died, still an exile, never having been welcomed back to Florence. Yet, as the quote suggests, this physical end was ‘nothing’ compared to the life he had built from the ashes of his first, social death. His banishment, the most ‘insupportable’ event of his life, became the very crucible in which his genius was forged.
Florence would eventually come to regret its decision. The city later begged to have his remains returned, but Ravenna has always refused. Dante’s tomb remains there, a permanent monument to one of history’s most fruitful exiles. His story demonstrates a profound truth: sometimes, our greatest adversities are the catalysts for our most enduring achievements.
While he did not write the words himself, Dante’s life is perhaps the greatest commentary on the idea of two deaths. He endured the unbearable loss of his earthly home and identity. However, by navigating the uncharted sea of his future, he created a timeless masterpiece that secured his immortality. He proved that even when stripped of everything, the human spirit can create a new world from words, a world where justice prevails and the soul finds its way home.