本文為對中世紀義大利詩人但丁的政冶思想之研究，特別是有關其《神 曲》所蘊含之政治觀的解析，由於在文學上的盛名，但丁的《神曲》之經世意涵 常被忽略，加之以此長篇詩作充滿隱喻及高度抽象之語言，故歷來將此著作視為 政治思想作品研究者不多，但其實它可算是中世紀政治思想的代表作之一，甚至 在某種意義上是集大成之作，本文嘗試追述但丁政治思想的脈絡與源流，分析《神 曲》的創作與古典政冶思想及基督教義間的密切關連，並以當時義大利的歷史環 境為經緯，討論但丁如何在慘遭放逐的命運下，以一首偉大的長篇詩來完成他所 自行體認的天命。

　　　　　This is a study about Alighieri Dante's political thought, and itsparticular emphasis is placed upon The Divine Comedy. The Comedy haslong been neglected as a masterpiece of political thought, mainly because ofits overwhelming reputation in the history of the poetic tradition. The presentstudy is an attempt to reconstruct the intellectual context in which Danteoperated, with the hope to vindicate the claim that Dante is one of the last,not the least, medieval political theorists who successfully integrated theclassical and the Christian ingredients of politics on the eve of theRenaissance. Part of the efforts, in the Final sections, have been laid on theexploration of how the mode of literary representation helped to dictate thelevel on which Dante may have achieved in self-articulating as a prophet ofhis time.