Continuing through Dante’s Divine Comedy, I will post the summaries in three parts. The entire canticle of Paradiso is 33 cantos, so I’ll post them in 3 batches of 11 each. These are summaries of the first eleven cantos.
Canto I
Prologue and ascent to the first sphere.
This first canto is divided into two parts: a prologue and the narrative.
The prologue is an invocation to Apollo, the sun god, begging Apollo to supply the necessary words to convey the sense of this journey. Dante begins by saying this canticle tells the story of his journey to heaven, which is impossible to fully recount, because words can’t convey it all, and because at times the intellect goes so deep, that the memory just can’t recall it all.
Here he calls on Apollo to grant him the fitness to recall the journey, saying that while one peak of Parnassus sufficed for the first two canticles, he would now need both peaks. He calls out for power to make known even a shadow of what he saw. He also references the glory that this poem will bring, and notes that someone may come after him who is even greater.
The narrative starts with a typically Dantean reference to constellations to mark the time, but to save the effort, it’s noon on April 13, 1300.
The deeper dive is that the sun rises in different points along the horizon as the year progresses. At the point where four circles join with three crosses AND the sun rises joined to a better course (spring) under a better star (Aries), it was morning there and evening here. The hemisphere was almost all white there, meaning it was just after noon, the brightest part of the day.
The four circles: If you’re standing on the summit of mount purgatory, and look around 360° at the horizon, that’s one circle. The other three circles are the celestial equator (perpendicular to the axis between the two poles), the ecliptical (the apparent path of the sun at the equator), and the equinoctal (the circle that runs over the poles perpendicular to the ecliptical circle), the point when those four circles cross, creating three ‘crosses’ too, would be the spring equinox, which was thought to be the moment the earth was created.
But the moment wasn’t exactly on March 21, it was a few weeks after on Apr 13.
Beatrice looks into the sun intently, which, in turn, caused Dante to do the same. He couldn’t maintain this for very long, but quickly the sky was brightening up dramatically. Dante, a la Paul in 2 Corinthians, questions whether he was in the body, or just the spirit, but then he notices the harmony of the spheres, and along with the increasing brightness, he prepares to ask Beatrice what is going on. She sees what he is going to say and tells him that his mind is being dulled by so many wrong guesses as to why the phenomenon is occurring. The fact is that they are no longer on earth, but flying quickly towards the heavens. Dante then wonders how he ‘transcends these light bodies’? Beatrice answers that all things, being created by God, have an order and in this sense, resemble God to their varying degrees. All natures are inclined in different ways to the nearness of their origin to God. For example, fire tends upwards since its origin is in the sphere over the earth. The movements of animals originate in their hearts, and gravity holds the earth together. This tendency holds for man as well. Providence has arranged that the highest heaven is silent because it holds God’s light, and so doesn’t move. But the prime mover sphere, just below it, is the fastest. As God has created us to be with Him, we too are drawn to Him. But, God’s intention isn’t always realized in us because we have been given free will, and can choose our direction. So often, we are drawn away by the false pleasures of sin, just like when you see lightning, which is a fire and should tend upward, sometimes strikes the ground.
Beatrice tells Dante that if he has understood this, then his ascent should make as much sense as the water of a stream flowing downhill by gravity. It’s natural that man, unimpeded by sin, should ascend to his Maker. What would truly be astonishing is if Dante had stayed on earth.
Canto II
Ascent and arrival at the first sphere- the moon
The cantos of each canticle sometimes stack up vertically, so that they cover similar materials. In Inferno canto 2, Dante wonders if he is worthy of such a journey, before Virgil calls him a coward and tells him Beatrice is waiting for him. In Purgatorio canto 2, he is wasting time on the shore before Cato of Utica chastises him for wasting time.
Here in Paradiso canto 2, Dante warns off readers, telling them to turn back to shores they can see. If they follow him out to deep seas and lose sight of him, they may be lost at sea themselves. He says he’s running in waters never traversed before, and says Minerva (wisdom) inspires him, Apollo (the god of music and poetry) leads him, and the nine Muses (that’s all of ’em) keep him on track. For the few that have put in the necessary work to follow wisdom and theology, of which one is never truly filled, they may set out to follow him. For even the Argonauts following Jason were never so amazed, even when they saw Jason plowing the fields with the fire breathing oxen, as we who follow Dante on his journey will be.
After this brief prologue, he returns to the narrative
The second part of the canto has Dante and Beatrice arriving at the first sphere, of the moon. In a very short time; Dante gives the example of an arrow released from a crossbow and finding the target, they were at the moon, and Dante is amazed and unable to hide his concern. Beatrice tells Dante to gratefully give thanks to God. And here, they enter into what Dante can only describe as a cloud, but it is actually the dense, solid, and polished clean surface of the moon itself. The substance of the moon had taken them in, like a ray of light entering the water. This would incomprehensible on earth, how two solid surfaces could intersect this way. This kindles in Dante a desire to see the essence that united God and man (in Jesus). He mentions that one day, all those in heaven will see with their own eyes what we can only accept in faith here; and it will then be known as self-evidently as any first principle here.
Dante then asks about the dark spots on the moon, recognizing that the tale told on earth about them being due to Cain being banished to the moon is nothing more than fable. This brings us to the bulk of the canto: an argument Beatrice will give in two parts. But Beatrice notes that men will devise fables to try and make sense of what they don’t have access to. Then she asks Dante what explanation he might give for the different colored spots on the moon. Dante puts forward the argument from Aristotle that the difference is due to varying densities in the material making up the heavenly bodies. This was put forward by the ancients to explain the unity of the stars materials, but the different aspects visible to our eyes. And it is this that Beatrice will challenge. She starts by referencing the eighth sphere, containing the distant stars, and notes that within this sphere, there are many different stars with many different qualities. If differing densities were the cause of this, then that would mean that there was only one essence for all. The rest would be nullified in this reasoning. Which, by the way, contradicted Aristotelian thought in that he saw many celestial virtues as the cause of many species.
Now, turning the argument back to the moon, if the different colors were due to varying density, then either the planet’s substance was unevenly made, or perhaps different layers, like pages of a book, with different densities could explain this.
To the first, Beatrice notes that if it were true, then during solar eclipses, one would be able to see through the moon. But that isn’t the case, so the first can’t be true.
If the second were true, then it would be the case that sunlight should come through to whatever point the density no longer allowed passage. At that point the rays would rebound to the sun like your reflection bounces off a mirror. Beatrice anticipates an objection in that Dante might say the light DOES bounce off, but does so dimmer because of the increased distance, which is why that area appears darker. To this hypothetical point, she challenges him to do an experiment. Set two mirrors an equal distance apart from you, while you stand in the middle. Then take a third and put it further away than those, but in front of you. Then put a lamp directly behind you, and angle the mirrors so that you can see the light reflecting through them. You will notice the light further away is smaller, but the intensity of the light is the same in all three. This demonstrates scientifically that the second wouldn’t be true either.
However, having torn down that false argument, it still leaves Dante as uninformed as before concerning the actual truth. So Beatrice enters the second portion of her argument, and the fourth section of the canto, by noting that the Empyrean, the tenth and largest sphere of the cosmos, contains the next smaller sphere, the Primum Mobile. This sphere will influence all the others with the being it contains.
The next sphere, the eighth of the distant stars, has many different stars (as already noted) each having had its essence portioned out from the Primum Mobile; the stars are distinct, yet all contained within it. The other smaller spheres, with their various differences, all arrange their distinctions within themselves according to their purpose and ends. These instruments or organs of the universe each take from above and act as such below them. And here is Beatrice’s point: the motion and virtue of these spheres is animated by the angels as from the skill of a smith’s hammer, and that from God himself. Just like the soul inside us resolves itself into the different members and fits according to their different abilities, so the intelligence of God unfolds its goodness through the stars, turning them all in its unity. The essence of God’s creativity is to create a huge variation of things, all deriving their purpose from his unity.
Theologically, this diversity in unity is seen in its most fundamental form- the trinity.
Canto III
The first sphere: the moon- unfulfilled vows.
After Beatrice proves Dante’s thoughts about the variation in the colors of the moon wrong, he is ready to confess himself corrected, when he notices faces barely outlined. He goes towards them, and then thinking they must be reflected, as in a mirror, he turns around. But sees nothing behind him. Beatrice smiles at this childish act, but encourages him to speak to the spirits, who are relegated to this sphere for unfulfilled vows.
He asks the shades to give him their names and stories.
The first is someone he knows, but doesn’t immediately recognize because her beauty has been so augmented by her being in heaven. Piccarda, sister of his friend Forese Donati.
Dante asks her if she ever wishes to ascend to higher spheres? She responds that God has placed each in their appropriate spheres, and they are each contented with their place, since longing for something outside what God has given would be discord, and all throughout heaven, those placed in their spheres are in accord with the will of God who placed them there.
He further asks Piccarda what the vow was that was left unfulfilled.
She had joined the order of Saint Clair of Assisi and vowed her life to follow their rules, but her other brother, Corso Donati, had her forcibly removed and married her off for political reasons. She only says about her following life that God knows what it became.
Then she mentions another next to her that knows exactly what she went through. It is Costanza, daughter of Roger I of Sicily and the mother of Frederick II. Piccarda states that Costanza was also a sister and had the sacred veil removed from her head, and was returned to the world against her will, but she always retained the veil over her heart. Whether or not this take was true, is dodgy. But Dante believes it and relates the story as he knew it.
The two then turn away as they are singing Ave Maria. Dante turns to ask Beatrice some questions, but finds Beatrice is now shining so brightly that he can take looking at her for too long, which makes it difficult to ask her his question.
Canto IV
The first sphere: the moon- discussion of will
Dante starts the canto with three examples of choice: given equal choices, the will can’t decide on its own. He uses this to illustrate how he, with two different questions, couldn’t decide which to ask first, so he ended up staying quiet. But he says Dante did as Daniel did to Nebuchadnezzar and answers the question without even having heard it from the source. She notes that two questions are pulling at him.
The first is: why did Piccarda and Costanza enjoy lesser merit, when they preserved the intent to keep their vows, but were prevented from it?
The second concerns Plato’s assertion that souls return to the stars- or more to the point, to the planetary gods that made them.
Beatrice deals first with the second question, since she says misunderstanding it is more poisonous.
Plato’s assertion was that souls were immortal, but that after death they would return to the planetary gods that the great creator god instructed to create them. Dante had a belief that God created some things directly and others through an intermediary, but this was thought to entail that the body was not good and holy and would resurrected. Beatrice confronts this first to clarify this.
From the highest to the lowest in heaven, all have access to God, and equal time in it. But they experience the sweet life differently through more or less of the eternal spirit.
Piccarda and Costanza weren’t assigned to the sphere of the moon, far away from God, (as might be assumed by the poetic scheme) but they appeared in that sphere to Dante in order for him to grasp that there are different ways in which the life of heaven is experienced, and so that Dante could understand the lowest sphere. This is fitting and necessary, because humanness is only able to grasp things through what it knows, then apprehending beyond. The Bible itself descends to this form, using anthropomorphic terms to explain God’s actions, while of course referring to something other. The church represented the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael with human faces so that humans could grasp something of them.
Beatrice says that isn’t true, if taken literally. Perhaps, if he meant rather that the honor or blame of the influence of the spheres returns, then the statement could be taken as closer to the truth. But the principle of the stars themselves being the guides has been misapplied greatly, such that people have even named the stars the names of the gods Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter.
The first question is less problematic because it wouldn’t lead Dante astray: If the justice of heaven appears unjust to the world, Beatrice says that is a mark in favor of the faith, not an evidence that justice in heaven is heretically misunderstood. Beatrice then offers an explanation of the problem from the last canto. Violence, if understood as the situation that occurs when one person is forced to do something not wished, neither Piccarda’s or Costanza’s situations would qualify.
Because the will, if it truly doesn’t want, does not soften in the face of the threat. But it will act as fire does, which always does what is in its nature even if buffeted a thousand different ways and returns to its ways as soon as the buffeting is over.
Therefore, whether the will submits a little, or a lot, to the force, it still submits, as did these two.
They could have returned to their vows as soon as the threats subsided. Had their wills truly been steadfast, as Lawrence, who was roasted on a grate, or Mucius Scaevola, who threw his own hand into the fire as he was threatened with burning at the stake. But, Beatrice admits, such iron will is extremely rare.
But here Beatrice submits another difficulty: She has said souls in heaven can’t lie because they are close to God, the First Truth. So if Piccarda and Costanza both claimed to love the religious life they had before abduction, yet they didn’t really resist their removal, it would seem to say that they didn’t really love their vows.
In fact, it often happens that one in danger of harm will do things he normally wouldn’t do, even things that are against his principles, like Alcmaeon. Alcmaeon was the son of a prophet. His mother betrayed her husband for a necklace, and his father’s ghost appeared and begged Alcmaeon to avenge his death. While Alcmaeon didn’t want to murder his mother, he did so to honor his father.
From these, Beatrice is hoping Dante has arrived at the point where he thinks force mixed with will make it impossible to excuse the offense. But here Beatrice references Aquinas’ view of absolute will, which is a simple declaration of what the will would do unconstrained, with the relative or conditional will, which doesn’t consent to harm, but consents to the degree that it fears falling into greater harm if it resists the violence.
Beatrice acknowledges that Piccarda expressed herself in these terms of absolute will- she didn’t want to leave her vows, while Beatrice herself was speaking of the relative will, and in so doing, they were both speaking the truth.
Dante is deeply grateful for the explanation and knows that he cannot, of himself, recompense her for the grace she has shown, so he rests that the Lord will do that for her. He then finishes by stating that doubts are the things that push us upward in knowledge so that we can arrive at the summit. With that, he asks Beatrice if an unfulfilled vow can be made up with other good works?
Beatrice begins to glow with excitement and shines so brightly that Dante has to turn away.
Canto V
The first sphere: the moon, then to the second sphere: Mercury.
Beatrice starts by explaining what Dante’s question is: can someone compensate for an unfulfilled vow with another service, so that the person doesn’t incur God’s wrath? Beatrice explains that the greatest gift God has given to man is free will. It is the most conformed to God himself, and that which He most appreciates. All intelligent beings: angels and men, and ONLY them, have been given this gift.
Making a vow is essentially a pact between man and God: where this treasure, free will, is sacrificed to God in the particular area, so that man voluntarily renounces his freedom to choose to do otherwise. God consents to accept this when man consents to obligate himself. So then, if you freely offer something, then take it back, it has effectively been stolen, and offering to do something else with it is, at the core, offering to do good with what you’ve stolen.
This being clearly established, one might reasonably ask how it is then that the Church can grant dispensations- an exception from adherence to church laws, particularly in exchange for money. Beatrice breaks down two aspects of a vow: the thing sacrificed, and the pact itself. The pact itself can’t be cancelled until it is fulfilled. For this, the Hebrews were required to make sacrifices, but allowance was made for different levels of financial means in what was sacrificed, so that it wasn’t a sin to exchange one thing for another at times. But no one can exchange the terms of a vow, given the weight of the free will he has sacrificed without 1) the permission of the authority of the Church, and 2) he exchanges it for something worth 1.5 times the original.
For this reason, men should be exceptionally careful and not obligate themselves in a vow the way they would flippantly engage in idle talk. She gives two examples of vows taken with disastrous consequences. The first is Jephthah, one of the judges in Israel who vowed that he would sacrifice whatever first crossed his threshold if the Lord would give him victory, and that turned out to be his virgin daughter. Beatrice says it would have been better to have admitted he was foolish than commit the even greater sin of actually killing his daughter. The second example is Agamemnon, who sacrificed his daughter Ifigenia in order to obtain a favorable wind from Artemis when sailing to Troy.
She reprimands Christians for both being fickle and believing that such hasty vows would wash away sins.
At this point, Beatrice glows even brighter and becomes more beautiful that Dante quiets his questions and then they shoot quickly to the next sphere: Mars.
The very planet begins to glow brighter with her presence, and then Dante notices spirits coming towards them, saying “Here is one who can increase our love”. As they approached, one in particular was glowing and spoke to Dante noting that he had not yet died and become a spirit, and to ask whatever he might want. Beatrice encourages Dante to listen to them as one might listen to God.
Dante then asks who he is and why he inhabits this sphere. The spirit increases in brightness and prepares to answer, which we’ll get in the next canto.
Canto VI
The second sphere: Mercury.
Dante had asked two questions: who are you? And why do the spirits here inhabit this sphere?
The answer to the first is that he is Justinian, Roman emperor. He mentions that after Constantine moved the capital east (against heaven’s course, double meaning with against the sun’s course and the will of heaven), the standard of Rome was located on the edge of Europe. He was moved, after having cleared up some errors in his faith, to condense and codify Roman law.
Then Justinian follows this up with a long-winded history lesson to explain why claiming the mantle of Rome is justified cause for blaming those that would trifle with it.
He begins by detailing the history of early Rome, from Aeneus through the period of kings, and how Rome continued to grow. The banner of Rome was carried through the republican years as Rome increased its territory. Then, at the time Heaven wanted peace for the peoples of the empire, heaven granted victory to Julius Caesar everywhere he went. That was followed by Augustus. Then a strained passage that has Rome being the vehicle of avenging God’s anger on sin, through its condemnation, and crucifixion of Jesus, following that up with Titus then having the further honor of avenging the crucifixion on the Jews who called for his crucifixion. Yeah……
He moves from that to the Lombard attack on the church, which Charles the Great helped repel. Here we get the fight between the “Holy Roman Empire” and the Papacy, supported by the French kings, and the origin of the Ghibelline and Guelph parties that tore apart Dante’s Florence and exiled him. So the follow up to the question was to stress that Rome was the divinely appointed vehicle to carry the Church, and the faith, forward, so Guelphs and Ghibellines need to be very careful about trying to assume that mantle.
Now to the answer of the second question: Mercury is adorned with the souls of those men sought fame and honor for a legacy. Justinian notes that when man’s desires are set on fame and honor, it’s inevitable that their desires would burn upward for God very brightly. Nonetheless, seeing that they did not love God as much, they accept that this is a just recompense for their level of commitment. In fact, just seeing God’s perfect justice in action prevents them from inappropriately desiring a higher place. Inside this star, one particular character worth noting is Romeo di Villanova, a humble pilgrim who served under Raimond Berenger. The count had four daughters, and each married a king with Romeo’s help. But the court in Provence slandered Romeo and he ended up leaving older and just as poor as when he came. He finished his life begging his daily bread, which would earn him praise if the world knew it.
Here the canto ends.
Canto VII
The second sphere: Mercury cont.
The canto begins with Justinian joining a dance with others and then vanishing from sight. From here, Dante argues with himself whether he should ask Beatrice about a question, at which point, Beatrice, perfectly understanding what he wants to ask, tells him what is question is: How can heaven punish a just punishment? In other words, if, as Justinian outlined, Rome was just in committing Jesus to death because it was the vehicle through which sin itself was punished, then how could it be just to punish that action with the destruction of Jerusalem? So Beatrice gives this answer.
Man, through Adam’s sin, was condemned, and for centuries lay under this penalty.
Jesus, came to earth, and united himself, as God, to human nature. The cross was then a perfectly just punishment on the human nature that Jesus had assumed, but at the same time, given the person on whom this judgment fell, it could not have been more unjust in that sense. This one death pleased both God and the Jews; opened heaven and made the earth tremble.
Beatrice then anticipates that Dante understands this is what happened, but doesn’t understand why it had to happen in this way. Her answer is that this is concealed from those who aren’t matured in the fires of love, but because so many attempt to understand it, but get it wrong, she will explain to Dante why God’s way was the most worthy.
The Divine Good unfolds eternal beauties. Whatever he creates directly, that is, not through any intermediaries, is infinite, because the seal of God’s imprint is stamped on it and can’t be removed.
What he creates directly is also completely free of the influences of the heavenly spheres. The more a creature is conformed to this, the more God loves it because it is more like Him. The human race was gifted with all these benefits, and if one is missing, man’s nobility is necessarily degraded.
Only sin can make man unlike God, and cause the light of God to diminish in him. Man is unable to return to his prior dignity unless that void is filled in through an adequate expiation for man’s love of sin.
When human nature, through Adam, sinned, it was pushed away from this dignity just as it was from the garden. In order to restore man, God would have to either simply dismiss sin out of mercy, or man would have to satisfy the price of his own sin, which would satisfy justice. Man, of course, could never satisfy divine justice given his shortcomings, because he is unable to humble himself in obedience to the same level he presumed to exalt himself in disobedience.
So it was necessary for God to do the work, using either mercy, justice, or both. Given that a work done is dearer its creator, and even more the goodness of the heart from which it came is demonstrated, so the Divine Good was content to use both mercy AND justice to raise man up again.
Not only did this work satisfy justice and show mercy, but it also manifested the greatness of God in giving Himself to make man able to raise himself up, even more so than if he had just dismissed sin on his own. And there was no other path to justice possible.
That question answered, Beatrice articulates another question Dante would have: if what God has created directly is eternal and free, how is that water, fire, wind and earth, the basic elements, are subject to decay?
Beatrice answers this undeclared question by stating that what God creates directly: The angels, the heavenly kingdom, are created as they are. The elements named however, and those things comprised of those elements, are informed by a created power. The matter they have was created, but the forming influence was created in the spheres that circle around them. It is the movement and influence of the spheres that draw out the nature of the unreasoning beasts and plants, that are constituted with a life potency. But God had breathed directly into man. From this, man’s resurrection can be deduced, since human flesh was directly made by God in Adam and Eve.
Canto VIII
The third sphere: Venus
Dante begins the canto with a brief intro about Venus, who gives her name to the third sphere he now finds himself in. He had no recognition of having traveled there, he just… was there, only recognizing it from Beatrice’s increased beauty, which occurs as they progress towards God.
On Venus though he discerns spirits in a dance of communion with the angels that turn the sphere, and when they see Dante, they address him as those full of love. Dante is encouraged by Beatrice to engage them, so he asks who they are. One of the souls begins to shine brighter and, without ever stating his name directly, we are led by the clues to understand he is Charles Martel, who would have ruled over France, Hungary, Naples and Sicily had he not died early. He bemoans that his brother Robert misruled in Sicily, causing the Vespers, and that his greed, though he came from generous stock, caused such problems.
Dante rejoices that his view was in line with Charles’, but asks how it is that someone like Robert could result from such a good family?
Charles notes that the Lord causes His providence to operate through the influence of these celestial spheres. God forsees not only human natures, but also how to preserve them, and achieves whatever end He wills. In fact, if this weren’t so, the heavens wouldn’t produce God’s work of art, but ruins, which would mean that God himself were lacking.
Charles then asks Dante if man would be better off alone or in society with other men? To which Dante affirms man is better off in society.
Charles continues that this could only be so given that men were doing different types of things, as opposed to being all the same. Accordingly, men need different roots to produce different actions. To this end, some are born statesmen, others generals; some are born priests, and others scientists. The heavenly spheres do this work without distinguishing between families. For this reason, the twins Esau and Jacob had radically different personalities, and Romulus, the revered founder of Rome, came from such humble stock that his birth was attributed to Mars instead. In fact, children would always be exact copies of their parents unless divine providence intervened. Now that this truth has been made known to Dante, he should be able to understand how Charles’ brother Robert could be so stingy, yet come from a generous family. Charles finishes the canto with an additional tidbit for Dante: like any seed set in unsuitable soil, nature produces a bad result when the fortunes of life are not suited to it. If the world paid attention to the foundation that nature lays, it would have plenty of capable men. Instead, it forces born soldiers into the priesthood and makes kings of those born to preach. As such, things go off balance.
The canto ends here.
Canto IX
The third sphere: Venus cont.
Dante begins the canto addressing “Clemence”, which would either be Charles wife or daughter, no one is exactly sure which. Let’s say it’s the wife. Dante tells her that he is aware of the deceits of her children and that a just punishment will follow their deeds. Dante then notes Charles returning to his place. Dante chastises men for turning their heads from the good to the pursuit of empty ends.
Then another light comes forward wishing to satisfy Dante’s curiosity, which he recognizes by her increased glow. Beatrice reassures Dante that he is free to ask whatever and Dante then asks the spirit to answer his question without even having heard it from him. She explains that she is from the Marca Trevigiana. There is a hill there, Romano, from where a “torch” came to scourge the countryside. The torch is Ezzolino III da Romano, one of the most infamous petty tyrants of the time. She is Cunizza, Ezzolino’s sister, who was married to Count Riccardo for political reasons, but became enamored of the troubadour, Sordello. That didn’t last long though and she then took up with a knight named Bonio. After that, she was married a few more times. She tells Dante that she was taken by an earthly erotic love. But she doesn’t worry too much about this now though, which might seem odd to people who don’t understand. The reason being that the guilt and remorse were purged in Purgatory and the focus now is on God’s providence in foreseeing both the sin and its redemption. Then she another great shining jewel that is near her, of whom great fame remains on the earth, and in fact, before his fame would die, this “hundredth year”, remembering that the setting is 1300, will be ‘fived’, meaning 500 years will pass, and if one considers this, a man should become so excellent as to leave a legacy before leaving life. Dante isn’t advocating for a vain desire for human glory, but it is an admonition that men should seek good so that they leave good that would carry beyond their own lives.
She then states that the rabble living between the Tagliamento and Adige rivers, which would define the limits of the Marca Trevigiana wouldn’t consider such things, nor has it repented of its sin, despite its punishment (the fact that they had been scourged by various tyrants, including her brothers Ezzolino and Alberigo). But soon enough Padova will be punished so that their blood will redden the waters for their insolent resistance to the duty owed to the emperor (by Cangrande in 1314 as imperial vicar). She then states that one who lives there, Rizzardo da Camino, who lords over the area and is arrogant, will soon be captured.
She further prophecies that the Bishop of Feltre, Alessandro Novello had committed such a grievous sin, that there was no one even in the prisons that had done such a thing. Without going into massive detail, he took in some men under his protection, then betrayed them. A wider vat would be necessary to hold the blood of the Ferrarese (the men Bishop Novello took in), and anyone attempting to measure out their blood by the ounce would tire themselves out.
She then leaves off with a statement that there are mirrors above, we call them thrones, through which God, as judge, shines, so that speaking of such things in light of God’s justice means these judgments are a cause for celebration. Then Cunizza returns to her dance.
A second soul comes forward, shining like a ruby in the sun, and here it is noted that the more joy one in heaven acquires, the brighter the soul shines. Dante then also asks this spirit to answer his question without being specifically told what it is. The spirit responds that he lived in Marseilles (not quite so succinctly: he takes 12 lines to describe it in a roundabout way, but he meant Marseilles), and he was the famed Troubadour Folquet. Like Cunizza, he isn’t much repentant over sin here, presumably that would have been taken care of in Purgatory, and the memory of it wiped clean. He then notes that Dante would like to know if there are others that would interest him in this realm, and he points to Rahab, the prostitute that sheltered the Israelite spies when they came to scout out Jericho. Folquet notes that she is here because she was instrumental in securing the initial victory of Israel into the Holy land, the importance of which was fully realized with Jesus’ death on the cross, but such things are ignored by the Pope and cardinals, who are only concerned with searching papal decrees for what would allow them to get away with more sin. He closes with the warning that Rome will soon be set free of these adulteries.
Canto X
The fourth sphere: the Sun- the wise.
The canto starts with a praise to God the Father, and the other persons of the trinity, who caused the universe to turn in such a way that anyone who contemplates it can’t help but get a taste of Him. Dante then encourages the reader to consider how the rotation of the planets, particularly the offset ecliptical angle, that causes the seasons, and the waxing and waning influence of the planets that give varied influence over the earth. This is mentioned as a meal to partake for enjoyment before the work of describing the sphere of the Sun moves forward.
At this point, Dante recognizes he has moved up, but imperceptibly; he is just…. there. This is the sphere of the Sun, where the wise are made known. I should mention here that the tenth canto marks the separation from those whose love of God was tainted by earthly concerns (the shadow of earth was still cast as far as Venus), to these here who wholly followed God according to the gifts bestowed on them.
In the Inferno, the tenth canto marked the entrance to Dis, which separated the sins of incontinence from those that were willfully sinful; and the tenth canto of Purgatorio that marked the move from those waiting in ante-purgatory to those in purgatory proper.
Here are those souls who spent their time contemplating God.
Dante first notes that Beatrice is brighter than ever, so much so that she stands out, even on the sun, by her brightness more than any color differentiation. Dante notes that it would be impossible to accurately describe this in a way in which it can truly be imagined, since none of us is able to see something brighter than the sun. But here in this realm, the reward is that the nature of God and His trinity is made known.
Beatrice encourages Dante to give thanks to God for bringing him here, at which point Dante is wholly given over to love God. At this point he notices Beatrice beams even brighter in her smile, leading him to notice that God’s brightness shines through various channels, including spirits approaching them.
The lights encircle them, and make three laps around them before halting, at which point one speaks out saying that when Divine Grace shines to a certain degree, it leads up “steps which no one descends without going up again”. The “steps” are the ‘ladder of contemplation’. The spirit knows Dante would want to know who the spirits are that form the circle, so he introduces them one by one.
They are: Albert of Cologne, a famous doctor of the church, himself- Thomas Aquinas, Gratian, author of the Decretals, Peter the Lombard, writer of the standard theology textbook, King Solomon, Dionysius the Areopagite, Orosius, Boethius, Isidorus, the Venerable Bede, Richard of St. Victor, and Siger of Brabant.
Here Thomas stops his introductions and they all begin to sing. At this point the canto ends.
Canto XI
The fourth sphere: the Sun- the wise, cont.
Dante begins by noting how men waste their time and effort pursuing things that will get them nowhere in the life after death. St Thomas continues speaking by noting that Dante has two questions: the first is about what Thomas meant when he had said earlier that ‘that path feeds well’ (if it doesn’t turn to vain things), and ‘we’ll not see another’ or a ‘second’ like Solomon.
Thomas explains that God, in His providence, has governed (created it to run and manages) the world with such understanding that no created mind is able to penetrate to the depths of it, and this was done so that the Church (the bride) would go towards Christ more assured of what she is doing, and more faithful to God, and with this in mind, God raised up two “princes”, to guide His people in certainty and faith. The two princes were St Francis and St. Dominic. Thomas says he need only speak of one, since what he says of one can just as well be said of the other, since their aims were both the same. Dante then spends 12 lines on St. Francis’ birthplace- Assisi. Next he recounts Francis history of how he, the son of a merchant, left that life and married ‘poverty’, symbolically represented as a ‘wife’.
The woman, poverty, had been Jesus’ companion, but nobody wanted her for over a thousand years until Francis. Thomas then tells of the initial growth of Francis movement when Bernard, Aegidio, and Silvestro joined him; how they went to Rome, unashamed to appear before the majesty of the Pope in such humble state, and how Pope Innocent III accepted him. The growth of the movement is recounted of how Pope Honorius granted the movement official sanction as an order, and then, though chronologically out of order, tells how Francis, hoping to follow Christ in martyrdom, went to Egypt to confront the Sultan and preach Jesus to him. The Sultan listened to him, but sent Francis back unharmed. Francis then returned to Italy where, for two years, he was blessed with the third seal on his ministry, the reception of the stigmata on his body. Finally Francis was called home by God and sought no more coffin than his poverty.
Thomas notes that these men were worthy companions to the church to help maintain her steadfastness in the middle of difficult times. While their followers were commanded to stay wedded to poverty, i.e. forsake trying to obtain worldly goods and follow Jesus, and that if they were to do so, they would see for themselves the preciousness of their ‘possession’, nonetheless, subsequent generations longed for a different food and wandered to different pastures, but unfortunately returning empty.
So, Thomas explains, IF his words have been clear enough, and Dante has heard and understood, then he should by now be able to understand what was meant by ‘the path feeds well if one doesn’t turn to vain things’; meaning, if one adheres to the faith without deviation, the faith will nourish him well.