218 Chicago Studies
In the words of Gilson: "To aid theology, philosophy has nothing else to do but exist ... And how can she here aid revelation? By the mere fact that, because she is herself 'something visibly miraculous, of which men's eyes may daily have experience, and because she makes other miracles credible to us, it is manifest that this lady aids our faith by her wonderful aspect.' Indeed, philosophy was eternally destined, in the mind of God, to testify in favor of faith before the men of today. And philosophy thus bears witness to faith not only through the light with which it illumines the intellect, but also through the moral beauty with which it ennobles the soul. By this means God gives us to understand that the splendor of wisdom 'has the power to revive the nature of those who contemplate it, which is a miraculous thing.' " Dante furthermore considers philosophy the layman's science, the special province of those not in sacred orders. Although he never finished it, that was the reason why he wrote the Convivio: to give laymen and laywomen an understanding of this most excellent science. That is also the reason why he wrote philosophy in the vernacular-another mark of modern philosophy. In this he foreshadowed Descartes, Bacon and other writers at the beginning of the modern era in philosophy. Dante's political philosophy and his conception of the relations between the pope and the civil powers shed further light on his attitude toward theology and philosophy. Papini in; his usually clear manner sums up Dante's attitude: "He separates political life from religious life: the search for the salvation which concerns the life after death; the realm of justice from the realm of charity; the journey of the living from the triumph of the immortals. "To the two aims, the two ways, the two ideals, correspond the two sovereigns; the pope, at the head of his bishops, who bases his sacred authority on revelation and theology; the emperor, with the kings subordinate to him, who bases his human authority on tradition (the Roman Empire) and phi los¡ ophy."