Patrick Boyde is Serena Professor of Italian in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St John's College. He is the author of Dante's Style in his Lyric Poetry (Cambridge,1971) and Night Thoughts on Italian Poetry and Art (Cambridge,1985). Human Vices and Human Worth in Dante's Comedy is the third book in his trilogy, which also comprises Dante Philomythes and Philosopher: Man in the Cosmos (Cambridge,1981), and Perception and Passion in Dante's Comedy'(Cambridge,1993).