Compassion, Friendship, and Community in the Vita nova
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6093/1593-2214/12918Keywords:
Middle Ages, Dante Alighieri, Vita nova, Cicero, Laelius de amicitia, Aristotle, Ethica nicomachea, Brunetto Latini, Tresor, Augustine, compassion, consensio, friendship, affectivity, communityAbstract
The connection between friendship and compassion – understood in its etymological sense of cum passio, or “commonality of feelings” – is evident in both the thirteenth-century reception of Aristotle’s ethical system and Cicero’s conception of friendship as consensio (Laelius de amicitia VI, 20). Building on this foundation, the present article explores the role of emotional sharing in the formation of communities of readers as portrayed in Dante’s Vita Nova. It further considers Alighieri’s endeavour to foster affective participation through poetry and narrative, situating this pursuit within the broader framework of Christian anthropology and its understanding of affectivity.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Giulia Gaimari
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