The Divine Comedy is classically referred to as the epitome, the supreme expression of the Middle Ages. - Dante Alighieri

Nobility is the perfection in each thing of its proper nature.

That infinite and indescribable good
which is there above races as swiftly
to love as a ray of light to a bright body.

It gives of itself according to the ardor
it finds, so that as charity spreads farther
the eternal good increases upon it,

and the more souls there are who love, up there,
the more there are to love well, and the more love
they reflect to each other, as in a mirror.

one of the biggest, most varied and most accomplished poems in all the world. Appreciated on the level of its verse, the thing never stops getting steadily more beautiful as it goes on.