Paradiso.
The third and last part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem "Divine Comedy".
In 1868, Paradiso is illustrated by Gustave Doré's eighteen wood engravings.
I'm dumping all of them, here.
Gustave Doré (1832 – 1883)
overview of Paradiso
Dante's Paradiso with english translation can be found here:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/alighieri-the-divine-comedy-vol-3-paradiso-english-trans
Continuing from >>2632084
Dante is flying towards Heaven, with Beatrice alongside, from the Earthly Paradise on the top of the mount Purgatorio.
Dante begins: "The glory of Him, who moves all things, penetrates the universe [..] I have been in that Heaven that knows his light most, and have seen things, which whoever descends from there has neither power, nor knowledge, to relate: because as our intellect draws near to its desire, it reaches such depths that memory cannot go back along the track".
He calls on Apollo, the god of poetry and music, for inspiration: 'enter my chest and breathe', so that Dante might be worthy of those 'laurel leaves' that the god took as his emblem.
The hemisphere where Dante and Beatrice are is all bright, at noon. Dante sees her gazing at the sun, he too fixes his eyes on the sun but not for long, since he's not immortal. But he stares long enough to see 'him' all round like 'molten iron'; as if 'a day had been added to day'. He says to himself: "To go beyond Humanity is not to be told in words".
In the sunlight, Dante wonders whether he is only pure soul or still a soul housed within a body. As he flies upward, he hears the heavenly harmonies of the celestial spheres around him. Beatrice says that he is 'no longer on earth' but he is like lightning leaving its proper home. Now Dante wonders how he can rise 'above lighter matter' when he is heavier than the spheres of air and fire.
Analysis: Medieval philosophers believed:
-in a geocentric universe, with the Earth at the center of the universe and all the other stars revolving around it. The revolution of each planet (the "spheres") creates a different musical note.
-and that the universe was made up of five elements. The northern hemisphere of the planet is all earth. The southern hemisphere (where the mountain of Purgatory is located) is all water. This planet is surrounded by a layer of air, then higher up a layer of fire, finally the ether of the heavens, where God resides.
Continuing from >>2632094
Beatrice anticipates Dante's first question and explains the Universal Order:
"All things observe a mutual order among themselves, and this is the structure that makes the universe resemble God. In that order, all things are graduated, in diverse allocations, nearer to, or further from, their source, so that they move over the great sea of being, each one with its given instincts that carry it onwards. This instinct carries the fire towards the moon; that one is the mover in the mortal heart,[even things without souls]. The Providence that orders it so, makes the Empyrean, in which the ninth sphere whirls with the greatest speed, quiet, with its light and the power of the bowstring, that directs whatever it fires towards a joyful target, carries us towards it now, as if to the appointed place.
It is true that, as form is sometimes inadequate to the artist’s intention, because the material fails to answer, so the creature, that has power, so impelled, to swerve towards some other place, sometimes deserts the track if its first impulse is deflected towards earth by false pleasures".
Then she looks towards Heaven.
Analysis:
Everything in the universe arranges itself in a certain order, as God decrees. Everything is placed at different distances from God. The upward movements are due to forces (‘instincts’) that drive matter and intellect.
Thus, when each thing moves across the 'sea of being', it is motivated by a desire to be close to God, because everything has a natural tendency to return to the point from which it came. This desire affects everything and is what draws Dante towards the source, the highest unmoving heaven, the Empyrean—within which the ninth sphere, the Primum Mobile whirls.
There is the potential for failure and imperfection. Many times people are distracted by earthly pleasures and deaf to God's calling, so they stray from the path towards Him; just like lightning, which "unnaturally" falls instead of rising.
Continuing from >>2632095
Dante now warns us: "O you, in your little boat, who, longing to hear, have followed my keel, singing on its way, turn to regain your own shores: do not commit to the open sea, since, losing me, perhaps, you would be left adrift. The water I cut was never sailed before: Minerva breathes, Apollo guides, and the nine Muses point me toward the Bears. You other few, who have lifted your mouths [..] towards the bread of Angels [..] you may truly set your ship to the deep saltwater, following my furrow, in front of the water falling back to its level".
"The glorious Argonauts who sailed to Colchis, who marvelled when they saw Jason turned ploughman, did not marvel as much as you will".
Beatrice again gazes upward and Dante sees himself arriving, 'in the space of time', on 'the first planet': the Moon. It seems that a cloud covers them, 'dense, lucid, firm, and polished'.
Analysis:
-Dante urges readers who are not ready for the theological theory of Heaven to 'turn' back and reread the first two books of Divine Comedy. His ship, unlike ours, is guided by Apollo and the Muses. So only those who understand (the 'few who turned their minds unto the bread of angels') should follow his wake, where the waves are smooth because he is there to explain what's going on. The rest of the sea is tumultuous, making it hard to navigate.
-Jason, leader of the Argonauts, at the end of his journey, was promised the golden fleece by the King of Colchis, only if he could perform three tasks: first, Jason had to plow a field with fire-breathing oxen, the Khalkotauroi, that he had to yoke himself. Then, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon into the field. The last task was to overcome the sleepless dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece.
Continuing from >>2632096
Dante is amazed at how he and Beatrice can enter the Moon without displacing any mass. Their entrance into the Moon shows 'how our own nature, and God’s, were once unified'.
Dante thanks 'Him who has raised [him] from the mortal world' then asks Beatrice why there are 'dark marks' on the moon's surface. Dante believes that density and rarity of matter explain the shadows.
Beatrice explains that if that were used to explain the differing appearance of the stars it would imply differences in quantity only and not the differences in quality that actually exist. Equally the Moon would have patches of dense matter right through, or would consist of layers of denser and rarer matter. So Dante's case is untrue because during a solar eclipse, the pattern of light from the Sun passing through the Moon cannot be seen through the empty spots of the Moon.
Beatrice continues:
The power from the highest Heaven, The Empyrean, cascades down 'the sacred lower gyres', as God sees fit, through the Primum Mobile, the ninth sphere, then through the Stellar Heaven, the eighth sphere of the fixed stars, varying in quality and quantity as it creates different forms containing different essences, and so down to the seven ‘planetary’ spheres with their diverse qualities. The spheres closer to the highest Heaven receive more power, and thus spin faster, than those farther from it.
The power that flows is mediated by the 'Cherubim' (the second highest rank in the angelic hierarchy) in the Stellar Heaven, and each sphere below is inspired by 'the Angels, who are their movers and are blessed'.
These Angels merge with and imprint their respective spheres, as 'the soul diffuses itself through' within the body, powering the members. So within each star, there is an intelligence, an Angel, which causes it to revolve in its path around the earth. The planets then shine with the virtue of their Angel due to the joyful nature of the source.
1/18
Dante raises his head to the truth, about to confess himself 'corrected and believing'. But something appears, that forces him to look at it, so he stops thinking of his confession.
He sees the pale reflections of many faces in front of him, eager to speak. Their faces are as faint as the reflection of one's face through unpolished glass or shallow water. Naturally, Dante turns around, thinking that they are reflected images. But behind him there is nothing. Beatrice smiles at him and says: "Do not wonder if I smile, in the presence of your childish thought [..] Those you behold are truly substantial, consigned here for failing in their vows. So speak to them, and listen, and believe".
Dante turns to the shadow that seems most anxious to talk and pleasantly requests her name and story.
She was 'a virgin sister' and says again that her name is Piccarda, since Dante did not recognise her. She is 'blessed in this sphere that moves the slowest' because her vows were neglected.
Dante claims she looks shinier than she did on earth and he apologises to her for being 'so slow to recall her to mind'. Dante then says: "you who are happy here, do you wish for a higher place?" At this Piccarda smiles with the other shadows then replies joyously: "the power of love quiets our will, and makes us only long for what we have, and gives us no other thirst. If we desired to be higher up, our wishes would be at odds with his will, who assigns us here, and there is no room for that discord in these circles".
Analysis:
-Piccarda is the sister of Forese Donati, who is among the gluttonous in Purgatory (Canto 23) and of the wicked Corso Donati, who, according to Forese, will suffer eternal damnation in Hell.
She was forcibly removed from her convent by her brother Corso, in order to marry her to a Florentine and further her family's political interests. She died soon after her wedding. In her acquiescence to her brother's wishes, though forced, she neglected her vows to God.
Continuing from >>2632098
‘La sua volontate è nostra pace' she says, 'His will is our peace’. Dante realizes that every sphere in Heaven is indeed a paradise, even though 'the grace of the Highest Good' does not rain equally; everyone in the Heavens is happy with his or her place.
Piccarda now tells her story: she followed the order of Saint Clare as a nun. But evil men abducted her from the cloister, and God knows what her life became then.
She turns to a shining shadow on her right and introduces her. She was a sister as well and her 'holy veil was snatched from her head'. This bright light is the Empress Constance of Sicily, who was forced to make a political marriage against her will. Constance, though forced to leave the convent, remained true to her promise in her heart—and thus to her name: Constance.
Then, Piccarda begins singing ‘Ave Maria’ and vanishes back into the light.
Dante is caught between doubts, as a starving man trying to decide between two equally sumptuous dishes before him; or a lamb standing between two fierce wolves; or a dog between two hinds. Dante is silent but his questioning is pictured on his face.
Reading his thoughts, Beatrice answers Dante's unasked queries:
Dante's first doubt is: if one has a will to do good, how can others' actions endanger that person's own chances at salvation? His second doubt is: if, after death, these souls return to the stars which most affected them in life— as Plato argued in his doctrine—doesn't that mean that the stars rule all human behavior and therefore that man doesn't have free will?
Beatrice chooses to answer the question 'which contains the most dangerous error' first (the second one):
None of the souls Dante sees here are actually here. All spirits inhabit the Empyrean, with God, but they appear to Dante in the sphere with which they are associated because the human intellect must perceive spirits in this manner because men need to see things to believe them.
Continuing from >>2632099
If Plato, in his dialogue 'Timaeus', says that the stars influence human qualities at birth, then 'perhaps his arrow hits some mark of truth', but if he intended to say that souls are split from a star at birth and return to it at death, then he was wrong.
Next, Beatrice responds to Dante's first question about the fairness of blaming people for actions that are forced against them. This doubt is less 'venomous':
Beatrice first concedes that Divine Justice is a matter for faith, and may appear unjust to human beings. Then she says:
"If violence occurs when those who suffer it do nothing to contribute to what displays force towards them, well then, these souls did not have that excuse: since, the will cannot be overcome if it does not will to be, but behaves like nature in the flames, though a thousand times wrenched away by violence. But if it wavers, it helps the force against it: and the [souls here] wavered, since they had the power to return later to the sacred place. If their will had remained entire, it would have pushed them back towards the path, from which they were taken, as soon as they were free: but such strong will is all too rare".
But solving this problem raises another one: "What if it's too hard to fight back?"
Beatrice says that the blessed souls cannot lie and stresses that Piccarda said that Constance remained devoted in her heart. So that Piccarda appears to contradict her.
She concludes:
"Many times before, things have been done to escape danger, that were against the grain, and not fitting. [..] At this point, [..] remember that violence is allowed by the will, and they work together, so that the offence cannot be excused. The absolute will does not consent to evil, but it does consent, in as much as it fears that, if it does not, it will encounter worse. So, when Piccarda expresses this, she is speaking of the absolute will, and I of the practical will, so that, together, we both speak the truth".
Continuing from >>2632100
Analysis:
-The first and lowest sphere of Heaven, the sphere of the Moon, is that of The Inconstant, the souls who abandoned their vows, and so were deficient in the virtue of Fortitude.
-A fault lies in the acceptance of an act rather than in the act itself:
If Piccarda lets violence victimize her when Corso abducted her, her will lacks of strength. By allowing the abduction to happen, she aids the force that breaks her vow, no matter how unwillingly she acts.
Also, if Piccarda and Constance and the others who broke their vows had possessed that strength of will they would have found their way back to the religious life, when they were free to do so. They could have attempted to return to their right path. Since they did not, they wavered in their faith, and are less virtuous for so doing. Yet Beatrice is asserting that they reside here because they gave up and did not try to resist, but they collaborated with force.
The vows were broken to avoid danger, and life may force actions that are morally wrong in one context but unavoidable in another. If one gives in to committing sin out of fear for her life, this is no excuse though. Beatrice shows that this laziness of will is something which is not present in absolute will—that given by God—but only in the practical, free will part of humanity. Thus, both she and Piccarda are right; Piccarda is talking about absolute will while Beatrice addresses practical will.
Dante follows Aristotle’s theory of the dual will, an absolute will that does not consent to evil coupled with a practical will that chooses the lesser of two evils. The former may remain intent on its goal, while the latter compromises, and that is a failing.
Continuing from >>2632101
Dante says to Beatrice that her speech warms him. He feels more and more alive. The intellect is never satisfied with anything less than the truth so that question leads on to question. This repeating process makes one smarter.
Dante asks one more question: "Can a person atone for broken vows by other good intentions"? Beatrice directs her dazzling gaze on him, 'with eyes so filled with divine sparks of love, that his faculties turn away'.
Her beauty and brightness increase as they ascend in Heaven because her joy increases and she sees the progress of understanding in Dante since the eternal light of love and truth is reflected by his intellect.
Beatrice then responds to Dante's last question:
God's greatest gift to man is free will. A vow is a pact 'drawn between a man and God', in which a person freely offers up his free will as a gift to God. So when people break vows they exercise their free will against God. This is an abuse of freewill and a severance of the pact made, an act of self-sacrifice and self-dedication. As such no recompense is possible, no more than it is right to abuse what once was consecrated. Good deeds can never fully compensate for broken vows because it would be doing 'good with stolen evil'.
However, the Church grants dispensations. The vow cannot be cancelled, but its content can be altered. The old content that one promises can be replaced by a new content in the ratio of six [replacement deeds] to four [deeds originally promised].
Therefore, "mortals should never take vows lightly: be faithful, and not perverse".
Beatrice then warns the Christians: "Be more cautious in action [..] and do not think that all water purifies. You have the [Bible] to guide you. If evil greed declares otherwise, be men not mindless sheep.[..] so that the Jews among you do not deride you. Do not do as the lamb does that leaves its mother’s milk, capricious and silly, sporting with itself for pleasure".
2/18
Beatrice turns her face towards the Empyrean, 'and like an arrow, that hits the target, before the bowstring is still, they rise to the second sphere', the sphere of Mercury. Thousand radiances gather around the pair, like fishes in a pool upon something to feed on.
One soul steps forward and says: "You, to whom grace concedes the right to see the thrones of eternal triumph [..] if you want to be lit by us, satisfy yourself at pleasure". Beatrice tells Dante to ‘speak, speak in safety’.
So Dante says: "I see how you are nested in your own light [..] but I do not know who you are, noble spirit, or why you are graded in this sphere". The soul glows even more brightly than before,hiding himself in his own rays, and replies:
"The emperor Constantine, 'turned the Imperial eagle eastwards, against the sky’s course which it had followed' for two centuries and more. Then Rome came to be ruled by me". "Caesar I was, Justinian I am".
Analysis:
-Mercury is associated with intellect and communication as Mercury (Hermes) was the messenger of the gods in greek mythology.
-The spirits here are ‘nested’ in the Divine light as Mercury is often difficult to see because of its proximity to the sun.
-Justinian conceals itself in the glow as he speaks, becoming the last spirit whose features are at all described in the spheres, and implying that as Dante ascends higher the light grows brighter to obscure all individual features.
-Constantine shifted the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium, thus he turned the Empire against Heaven and against centuries of good leadership.
-When Justinian introduces himself, it indicates that his personality remains, but that his earthly status no longer exists in Heaven.
Continuing from >>2632105
Justinian continues: He was converted to Christianity by the words of Pope Agapetus. Inspired by God, he undertook the monumental codification of Roman law which allowed the Empire some peace.
Then, Justinian narrates a long succession of triumphs of the Imperial eagle, the Roman Empire, demonstrating its nobility:
Aeneas, coming from Troy, landed in Italy and formed an alliance with Evander, whose kingdom was based on the seven hills of the site of Rome. Pallas, Evander'son, led these allies and was killed by Turnus, and avenged by Aeneas.
The founding of Rome, through the reigns of Romulus and his six successors.
The era of the Roman Republic that 'threw down the Arab pride that followed Hannibal'.
The ascent and conquests of Julius Caesar: he crossed the Rubicon, campaigned in Gaul, dedeated Pompey and from Ptolemy, he gave Egypt back to Cleopatra.
Then, The emperor Augustus, who followed and took revenge on Caesar's murderers, Brutus and Cassius, and finally brought peace to the Empire.
But Justinian says that 'what the eagle did before' becomes 'dull and insignificant' compared to 'what it was yet to do':
Christ was born, and crucified in the reign of Tiberius, Augustus’s successor, and the sin of the Fall (Adam's original sin) thereby was avenged. Jerusalem fell to Titus and the sin of killing Christ was avenged on the Jews, with the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem.
And much later, the victorious Charlemagne, who 'sheltered [the Church] under its wings' against the Lombard.
Now Justinian adresses to Dante and comments on the current state of Italy: "One faction, the Guelphs, oppose the golden lilies of France to the people’s Eagle, and the other, the Ghibellines, appropriate it to their party, so that it is difficult to see which one offends the most". Justinian then expresses the hope that Charles, head of the Guelphs, will fail to destroy the Ghibellines, who should fight under their own banner.
Continuing from >>2632107
Justinian then explains that 'this little planet', Mercury, is filled with spirits who hoped for earthly fame and honour so that they impaired the force of their spiritual hopes.
Nevertheless the spirits are delighted because reward is matched with merit and, as 'the living Justice so sweetens their affections', they are free of any envy.
Justinian starts praising Romeo of Villeneuve, whose light is here:
Romeo was a poor pilgrim whose virtue got him appointed to the position of minister to Count Raymond Berenger of Provence.
However, Romeo's success in expanding the count's power and prestige, including the arrangement of advantageous royal marriages for each of his four daughters, moved jealous rivals of the court to plant a rumor that Romeo was swindling money from Berenger, which the count believed to be true.
Though innocent Romeo was offended, and rather than suffer the indignity of such ingratitude he renounced his position. He left the court with his few possessions—leaving Berenger begging for him to come back— and poor and old, took to a life of begging.
Finally, Justinian and the others move in dance, singing, then they vanish.
Analysis:
-The emperor Justinian, whose name suggests 'justice', held an important place in the late medieval imagination and in Dante's Paradiso: He was the Lawgiver and he is the only character in the entire Divine Comedy who speaks for an entire canto. Justinian is also among the last group of souls referred to with the term "shade" in the poem.
-the second sphere of Heaven, Mercury, is that of the Ambitious: the souls who were driven to achieve worthy goals on earth by their desire for honor and fame, but neglected God by diminishing the force of their commitment to 'the highest good', and so were deficient in the virtue of Justice.
-Romeo's story echoes the tale told by suicide Pier della Vigna in Hell (canto13), and elicits a reaction in Dante, who views his own (unjust) exile from Florence.
Continuing from >>2632108
Dante says to himself: "Speak to her, speak to my Lady who quenches my thirst". Beatrice smiles and paraphrases Dante's question: why was it just for Titus to destroy Jerusalem if the Crucifixion was just vengeance for the sins of man?
Beatrice answers:
Adam condemned all of mankind with his original sin, which was an abuse of his free will through a failure of restraint.
Therefore Humanity laid 'in sickness down there, and in great error, for many ages', until God, in an act of love for mankind, sent Christ, his bringer of the eternal message, incarnated as Man.
Christ's Incarnation ensured that he was both man and God. Both natures were in him united but also distinct. Christ's human nature was pure—because he was united with God—but in itself, human nature was sinful because of Adam's mistake.
So, paradoxically the Crucifixion was both just, because it punished Christ's human half, and unjust, because it offended Christ's divine half.
The Crucifixion of the human side of Jesus was just punishment for the sins of man, thus God was pleased because man had redeemed himself and could be allowed into Heaven once more.
But the Crucifixion of the divine side of Jesus was a sacrilege. The Jews were pleased they had killed the Christians' Savior. Thus the destruction of Jerusalem was just punishment for that sacrilege against God.
Beatrice then responds to Dante's second question: why God chose Crucifixion as the way to redeem man?
Everything that derives directly from God is immortal and with free will, because it has His goodness and cannot be influenced by anything else. Such a creature is most like God.
Mankind was perfect—both immortal and free—when God first created humans but fell from grace because of Adam's sins. Redemption for these sins could only come through divine mercy and there is no example of greater divine mercy than Christ's sacrifice at the cross.
Continuing from >>2632110
Man needed to atone for Adam's sin and he could only gain back his freedom or immortality—which man showed himself unworthy of, when he sinned—if God were to forgive everyone or if man were to offer some sort of compensation to God.
'Man had no power ever to be able to give satisfaction since he could not humble himself'. So Adam's sin was one of pride.
'Therefore God had to return Man to his perfect life in his own way: that is, through mercy or through justice, or both'.
God was merciful by 'wedding Himself to human nature in the Incarnation'—in the form of Christ—to pay penance for man's sins. And He was also just because the human part of Christ suffered 'just punishment' for Adam's sin.
'God in this showed generosity' [..] and brought 'the hope of redemption to all humankind'.
Beatrice now reads Dante's mind and asks his question for him— why human beings, composed of the four elements: fire, water, air, and earth, and therefore subject to corruption, are nevertheless eternal?
Paradise, including Man, and the Angels were directly created by God.
All other things, like plants and animals, gain their limited life indirectly by creative power from created matter,the Angelic presences, so they aren't immortal.
God directly created both the human soul, with His breath, and the human body by shaping Adam and Eve, so both parts of man are immortal. This implies that the death of the human body must be followed by its resurrection, at the Last Judgement when redemption is complete.
Dante now tells that in ancient times, the world thought that the third planet sent down rays of love on the people. They named her after the mother of Cupid: Venus, the roman goddess of love.
Upon seeing Beatrice's aspect grow more beautiful, Dante realizes that they have ascended to the Sphere of Venus.
There, Dante sees spirits dancing harmoniously in the light, like sparks among flames. One soul breaks away from the dance and approaches Dante.
3/18
Dante turns to the light and asks him who he is. This gives the soul so much delight it grows 'in size and splendour'.
He is Charles 'Martel' of Anjou. He says that he lived 'below for only a little while [but] if it had been longer, much of the evil that will happen would not happen'; and he reminds Dante that they befriended when they met in Florence.
'Martel' talks about the county of Provence which waited for him to be its lord, so did the Kingdom of Naples. He was heir to the Kingdom of Hungary as well but he never managed to govern it. And he regrets that Charles I of Anjou, his grandfather, was expelled from the kingdom of Sicily in the aftermath of the Sicilian Vespers (a rebellion in 1282).
Then he prophesies about his still alive brother Robert of Anjou, Duke of Calabria, who became heir to the crown of Naples after the death of 'Martel': because of 'his nature, meanness descended from generosity', Robert cannot see that he should have avoided 'the greedy adventurers of Catalonia'.
Dante replies that his joy at the conversation is increased because he is aware that Charles is also aware of it. But Dante has a question: "How bitter seed can be born from the sweet?" (meaning: how a bad trait can emerge in a succeeding generation)
Analysis:
-Charles 'Martel' of Anjou (1271-1295), the eldest son of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, died before his father. He should not be mistaken for Charles Martel, the Frankish ruler of France, who is well known for his victory against Arab Islamic forces during the battle of Poitiers in 732.
-Robert of Anjou was accompanied back to Italy by Catalonian mercenaries when he succeeded to the throne of Naples. Although Dante treats Robert as an example of meanness though descended from a generous line, Robert was nicknamed "the peace-maker of Italy" due to the years of beneficial changes he made to Naples.
Continuing from >>2632112
Charles explains that God acts through Divine Providence, which is loving care exercised by God over the universe, his foresight and care for its future.
Providence structures and controls the creation in its nature and its continuing welfare. Since God is perfect then the results must be regular and not chaotic, art and not disorder. If the universe were chaotic, that would indicate an imperfect Creator.
Divine Providence is the force that creates dissimilarity between offspring, and between parent and offspring. Differences between people are created by God according to a divine scheme and any irregularities are due to Providence—God's continuous upholding the existence and natural order of the universe.
The earth needs diversity, and Providence makes it possible for people to differ, otherwise 'the nature at birth would always be like its parent, if Divine Providence did not overrule it'.
A properly functioning human society requires varied conditions and qualifications amongst its members. But when the world drives people into roles not suited to them, it overturns Providence. If the world paid more attention to people's inborn qualities, 'it would be satisfied with its citizens'. But since the world tries to makes natural-born warriors into priests, and natural-born priests into kings, 'so that your path cuts across the road'.
Dante addresses Charles’s wife Clemenz that Charles told him that great ill fortune will befall their family but their wrongs will be avenged. Charles then looks at the sun and disappears.
Now another soul approaches Dante, and 'signifies its desire to satisfy him, by an outer brightening'. With Beatrice's permission, Dante asks the spirit to speak.
She comes from the hills of Romano, a region of 'the depraved country', where her brother Ezzolino the tyrant scorched the land. She is Cunizza and she shines here because 'the light of Venus conquered' her but her fate does not grieve her.
Continuing from >>2632114
Cunizza states that the fame of the spirit next to her will last for five hundred years.
She now predicts that 'Paduan blood will stain the water that bathes Vicenza, because the people rebel against their duty'. Then of the treacherous murder of Riccardo da Camino at Treviso. Finally Cunizza prophesies that 'a wail of grief will rise from Feltro, because of the sins of its impious pastor Novello'.
She then says that these words are truths because, above, there are 'the Thrones', the third Order of Angels, from which God shines in judgement on the souls. They are the mirrors of God's judgement.
Here she falls silent and joins the dance of the spirits again.
The famous but unnamed spirit steps forward and names himself as Folco of Marseille. He 'burned' with amorous desires during his lifetime, even more than Dido. Folco asserts that the spirits here are beyond the state of repentance. Here they smile: 'not at the sin, which the mind does not dwell on', but at 'the Power that ordained and provided'.
Folco then names the most gleaming spirit beside him: she is Rahab the prostitute.
Analysis:
-Cunizza of Romano was famous for her love affairs. She had four husbands and many paramours, of whom the poet Sordello (who is in Ante-Purgatory, canto 5 to 8). Later, she liberated her House's serfs as a deed of manumission.
-Cunizza prophesies the treachery of Alessandro Novello Bishop of Feltro, who in 1314 surrendered certain Ghibelline gentlemen of Ferrara, in his protection, to Pino della Tosa, Vicar of Ferrara, by whom they were killed.
-Folco of Marseille was a Provençal poet who later became a monk. Finally he served as Bishop of Toulouse and persecuted the Albigensian heretics till his death.
-Dido was the mythical Queen of Carthage. She inhabits the circle of lust (Inferno canto 5).
Continuing from >>2632115
Folco says that she has the 'highest rank' in Venus: 'before any other soul, she was uplifted at Christ’s triumph, by this sphere' because 'she favoured Joshua’s first glorious campaign in the Holy Land'.
Then Folco condemns Dante's city, Florence: Florence's founder was Satan himself and 'the accursed lily flower [..] sent the sheep and lambs astray, since it has made a wolf of the shepherd', so 'the Gospels are neglected, and only the Decretals are studied'. But he predicts that Rome will soon free itself from the vices that have befallen Florence.
Analysis:
-Rahab was a prostitute who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land. When Joshua sent two spies to investigate the military strength of Jericho, Rahab hid them in her house and helped them escape. The spies promised to spare Rahab and her family if she would mark her house by hanging a red cord out the window. When the city of Jericho fell, Rahab and her family were incorporated among the Jewish people. Despite her sinful life, Rahab earned salvation for this act. Since she lived before Christ, she went to Hell upon death, but was the first one taken up to Heaven when Christ harrowed Hell.
-Dante uses the examples of Folco and Rahab to assert that their faith or conversion and support for the cause (however dubious we might consider their actions, religious persecution in Folco’s case, treachery towards Jericho in Rahab’s) redeemed their past lives of excessive dependence on earthly love and sexuality, and placed them in Heaven.
-Folco censures Florence for producing the florin (coins) which is responsible for the corruption of the Church, and he criticises the Papacy for their focus on money and law-books, rather than on Scripture.
-The sphere of Venus is that of the Lovers, who were deficient in the virtue of Temperance.
Continuing from >>2632116
This pic and the previous one are from 'the Holy Bible', a book also known as the 'Bible de Tours', edited in 1866 and illustrated by Gustave Doré.
I will post pics from it or from "History of the Crusades" 1877 (which is also illustrated by him) whenever it is related to Dante's Divine Comedy.
The post with a pic numbered like x/x genuinely are Doré's illustrations of the book Divine Comedy, the others are not.
you can check this site out for the Bible:
http://www.creationism.org/images/DoreBibleIllus/index.htm
and this one for the Crusades:
http://www.danshort.com/crusade/
finally, this one for all Doré's work (in russian though, so it's a pain in the ass to browse through):
http://gravures.ru/photo/gjustav_dore/2
Continuing from >>2632123
Dante urges us to raise our eyes with him to the stars and see the primal and unutterable Power's art: the perfect orbit of the planets. He then tells us that the movements of the sun and of the stars create the seasons on Earth. If the revolutions of the sun or of the stars strayed off path then everything on Earth would die.
Suddenly, Dante realizes that he and Beatrice have ascended the Sphere of the Sun in no time.
The sphere is so bright that Dante says he 'could never express it so as to make it imaginable, but it may be believed, and desired to be seen [..] since no eye could ever transcend the Sun'. Beatrice orders Dante to 'give thanks to the Sun of the Angels, who, in his grace, has raised [him] to this visible sun.’ He obeys gladly. Dante's 'love is committed to Him so completely that it eclipses Beatrice from his memory'.
Then he sees 'many lights, living and victorious', dancing and singing a beautiful melody, form a crown around him and Beatrice. After completing three circles, the souls suddenly fall silent, and one of them comes forward and paraphrases Dante's question: "You wish to know with what flowers this garland is decorated that circles the lovely lady who strengthens your resolve for Heaven. [..] If you wish to know the rest as well, direct your sight according to my words".
He introduces himself as Thomas of Aquinas, then he names the spirits that surround the poet: Albert of Cologne, Gratian, Peter the Lombard, King Solomon, Dionysius, Orosius, Boëthius, Isidore of Seville, Bede, Richard of Saint-Victor and Sigier.
After introductions, the twelve figures in 'the glorious wheel' again begin to dance around Dante and Beatrice in sweet harmony.
Continuing from >>2632124
Analysis:
-Saint Thomas of Aquinas: the ‘Angelic Doctor’ of theology and a medieval philosopher (c1225-1274).
-Albertus of Cologne (1193-1280): the ‘Universal Doctor’ and one of the two great lights of the Dominican order. Albertus, with Thomas Aquinas his pupil, ‘christianised’ Aristotle adapting his philosophy and making him a treasury of pagan learning.
-Gratian: an Italian Benedictine monk.
-Peter the Lombard: an Augustinian, known as ‘the Master of the Sentences’, who wrote his four books on God, the Creation, Redemption, and the Sacraments and Last Things.
-Solomon: the wise King of Israel, son of David and Bathsheba.
-Dionysius: a Christian theologian and philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century.
-Orosius: a Gallaecian Christian priest who wrote 'Seven Books of History Against the Pagans'.
-Boëthius: a Roman consul and philosopher who was condemned to death by Theodoric, at Pavia. He wrote the Consolation of Philosophy while in prison, defending the virtuous life and the ways of God. He argued the timelessness of God’s view of existence, and the validity of Human Freewill.
-Isidore of Seville: "The last scholar of the ancient world". His fame after his death was based on his Etymologiae, an etymological encyclopedia which assembled extracts of many books from classical antiquity that would have otherwise been lost.
-Bede: "The venerable" and "The Father of English History", an English monk at the monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth and its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow.
-Richard of Saint Victor: a prominent mystical theologian (probably from Scotland).
-Sigier of Brabant: a professor in the University of Paris who was considered a radical by the conservative members of the Roman Catholic Church, but it is suggested that he played as important a role as his contemporary Thomas Aquinas in the shaping of Western attitudes towards faith and reason.
The first and second parts of Dante's Divine Comedy, respectively Inferno and Purgatorio, are both here:
http://archive.4plebs.org/hr/thread/2612096/
Continuing from >>2632125
Dante starts by musing on the senseless acts of mortals: "O mindless mortal cares! How defective the reasoning that makes you beat your wings towards the earth!"
Dante says that their pursuits of earthly things seem trivial while, he, 'free of all these things, was received, with Beatrice, so gloriously in Heaven'.
Each spirit has returned to the place in the circle where he was before, but Thomas of Aquinas remains standing 'like a candle in its holder'.
St Thomas declares that to ensure the union between the Church and Christ, 'Providence, that governs the world with wisdom, ordained two Princes, to be guides'. The first leader was Saint Francis of Assisi, 'all Seraphic in his ardour', and the second was Saint Dominic, 'a splendour of Cherubic Light on earth'. Thomas says that he will speak of the first, because in praising one of them, he praises them both, since 'both their efforts were to the same end'.
St Francis, 'in his youth, rushed to oppose his father, for such a Lady, to whom, like Death, no one opens the gate of his pleasure'. He 'loved her more deeply, from day to day'. 'She, deprived of her first husband, [..] was obscure, [..] faithful and unafraid that She mounted the Cross with Christ'. Francis and 'Lady Poverty' were these two lovers.
He attracted disciples who followed him by accepting poverty in their hearts and in their behavior. He took the seal of his Order, the Franciscans, from the Pope Innocent III. After journeying to Egypt to try to convert the sultan Soldan to Christianity, Francis returned to Italy to preach of Christ, where he bore the Stigmata for two years. At the end of his life, 'he commended his Lady to his brotherhood, and asked that they should love her faithfully'.
Finally, St Thomas praises St Dominic for following the same route as St Francis. But 'his flock, [the Dominicans or Black Friars], has grown so greedy for new food, it cannot do other than stray through strange pastures'.
Continuing from >>2632176
Analysis:
-Seraph (pl. Seraphim) is the highest rank in the Christian angelic hierarchy; and Cherub (pl. Cherubim) is the second highest rank.
-Saint Francis of Assisi was the son of a wealthy merchant and enjoyed a privileged youth. At age twenty, he fought with his countrymen in a military campaign against Perugia; following Assisi's defeat, he spent time as a prisoner of war. Francis later believed he was called by God to repair and rebuild churches. Francis stripped naked and returned his clothes to his father, thereby renouncing any claim to his inheritance and choosing instead to enter into a symbolic marriage with poverty. Other men soon joined Francis in his new life of work, prayer, and poverty.
Filled with missionary zeal and seeking martyrdom, in 1219 Francis traveled to the Holy Land (there he predicted the failure of the fifth crusade) to preach to the sultan of Egypt. Back in Italy, Francis experienced a miracle in 1224, while praying, he received the Stigmata, making him the first recorded person to bear the five wounds of Christ's Passion (hands, feet, and side as if caused by the same lance that pierced Jesus). He died in 1226.
Commentators who believe Dante himself may have belonged to this order typically identify the cord that the character Dante wore in Hell (Inferno canto16, before Virgil and Dante meet Geryon) with the simple cord worn by Francis and his followers as both a symbol of humility and a reminder of the need to restrain the body.
It may not be true that Dante was ever a Franciscan, but he was most likely educated at the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in Florence and there is no doubt that he venerated Francis and strongly endorsed the saint's spiritual values. For this reason, it seems fitting that when the poet died in Ravenna in 1321 he was buried in the basilica of St Francis, where the Friars have diligently safeguarded his mortal remains ever since.
4/18
Still in the Sphere of the Sun, as soon as St.Thomas has spoken the last word, the sacred mill begins to turn and a new ring of spirits encircle the first ring, harmonised with it. Dante compares the twin coronet to two rainbows, the one echoing the other.
Then 'a voice comes from the heart of one of the fresh lights'. He says to Dante that the love brings him to speak of the other leader, Saint Dominic.
The loving servant of the Christian faith was born [..] in Spain, towards that region, where sweet Zephyr rises, at Calahorra'. 'As soon as he was created his mind was so full of living virtue that in the womb it sent his mother a prophetic dream'. His mother saw a black-and-white dog holding in its mouth a torch which it uses to set the world on fire. He was truly a messenger of Christ, 'since the first love he showed was for the first counsel of Christ, that of Poverty'. Dominic became a great teacher and traveled great distances to preach his message. 'His force struck the roots of heresy most fiercely where the resistance was most obstinate. Then many streams sprang from his, so that the Catholic garden is watered'.
The spirit then compares both St. Francis and St. Dominic to wheels on the chariot of the Church and praises St. Francis for his excellence. But he laments the state of his own Franciscan Order and its extremism, singling out Ubertino da Casale: "now there is mould where there was once bread. His family (Francis's), who walked directly in his footprints, have turned so that their toes strike his heel-prints".
Continuing from >>2632899
The speaker finally identifies himself as the Franciscan, Bonaventura, then names the eleven souls who've come in the second ring:
Illuminato da Rieti and Agostino of Assisi (two of St. Francis' first followers), Hugh of Saint Victor (a mystic of the Abbey of Saint Victor at Paris), Peter of Spain (a pope), Pietro Mangiadore ('the Eater of Books'), Nathan (the wise biblical Prophet), Chrysostom (Archbishop of Constantinople, of fearless eloquence), Saint Anselm (of Canterbury), Donatus (a Latin grammarian), Rabanus (bishop of Mayence), and Joachim of Flora (a monk from Calabria).
Analysis:
-About the dream of Dominic's mother: the black and white became Dominic's colors, worn by his followers, and the torch came to symbolize his fiery zeal in preaching.
-Saint Dominic (1170-1221) is the founder of the Order of Preachers at Toulouse in 1215, called Dominican or Black Friars. He became a canon and preached against heresy, the civil war within the Church. He was active among the Albigensians, trying to convert by persuasion, as Simon de Montfort was perpetrating his massacres. He died in Bologna, Italy.
-Ubertino of Casale was one of the leaders of the Spirituals, the stricter branch of the Franciscan order. Ubertino appears in Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose (1980), and its film adaptation.
-Saint Bonaventura (1221-1274) was a friend and colleague of Thomas Aquinas, and minister-general of the Franciscan Order.
Continuing from >>2632900
Dante asks us to imagine the astronomical delights that surround him and to think of the twenty-four brightest spirits arranged in a double crown of stars. The crowns circle in opposite directions as they sing the Trinity, and the twofold nature of Christ.
Then amongst the harmonious divinities, the silence is broken by St Thomas to voice Dante's question: why 'the good that was enclosed in the fifth light, King Solomon, never had an equal'?
All things, mortal and immortal, begins St. Thomas, are created by the flow of Love and Light in the Empyrean, 'reflected' downwards through "the angelic mirrors": the nine moving heavens; until it engenders transient life forms on Earth.
The matter of these things is compared to wax, which varies in its perfection, more or less transparent; it doesn't always capture a perfect reflection of the light, which is why it can be corrupt.
Nature is variable because the heavenly spheres vary their state, thus vary in their qualities. This explains why 'the same kind of tree fruits better or worse' and why human beings 'are all born with varying genius'.
'If the wax was moulded precisely the light of the seal would be completely apparent: but Nature always makes it imperfectly, acting in a similar manner to the artist, who has the skill of his art, but a trembling hand'.
But when God himself prepares both the Light and the wax, His perfection is transferred to his creations. Therefore 'human nature never was, or will be, equal to Adam and Christ'.
St.Thomas now says: " think who Solomon was, and what the motivation was, when he was told: ‘Choose’[..] It is royal Prudence, worldly wisdom,[..] and it only applies to kings, of whom there are many, and the good ones rare".
"Let this (Prudence) always weight your feet down with lead, and make you go slowly, like a tired man, approaching the yes or no you do not grasp, since [..] a quick opinion leans to the wrong side, and then Pride entangles the intellect".
Continuing from >>2633249
Analysis:
-God came to Solomon in a dream and says to him: "Ask for whatever you want me to give you".
Solomon asked God to give him 'a discerning heart to govern people and to distinguish between right and wrong'.
God was pleased and said to him: “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.
Solomon is regarded as a righteous king and is especially praised for his wisdom, because he chose ‘kingly prudence’ as the greatest gift.
The best known story of his wisdom is the 'Judgment of Solomon':
Two prostitutes with a child came to the king and stood before him. The first woman said she had a baby and three days later the second woman also had a baby. One night while she was asleep, she thought, the second woman's baby had died and its mother had swapped her dead baby for hers. When she got up she found a dead baby on her breast but it wasn’t the son she had borne. The second woman said: "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours." But the first one insisted: "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king.
Solomon cut through the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two women. The first woman was deeply moved and said to the king: "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!" But the other said: "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"
Solomon gave his ruling and declared the woman who showed compassion, proving that she would rather give up the child than see it killed, to be the true mother.
btw for those who asked for Paradise Lost, this is here: >>2632484
Continuing from >>2633317
St. Thomas proves his point by naming examples of incorrect philosophers and sacrilegious teachers who did not practice sound judgment and whose opinions turned out to be wrong—Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson. And Sabellius and Arius, 'who were like gleaming swords applied to Scripture, in making straight faces crooked'.
Finally, St.Thomas warns men not to 'be too secure in their judgements': men should wait until the end before judging because 'bad may end in good' like the rose tree, a thorny and sharp and forbidding stem which bear the flower; 'good may end in bad' like a ship that run straight and sure over the sea for her entire course, and sink in the end, entering the harbour mouth.
As St. Thomas falls silent, Beatrice begins talking. She requests that the spirits tell Dante if 'the light, with which [their] substance blossoms, will remain [theirs] as it is now, and if it will, whether, when [they are] visible again, at the last day, it will not cloud [their] vision'.
Analysis:
-Parmenides, who is known for his poem 'On Nature', from which the expression "nothing comes from nothing" (Latin: nihil fit ex nihilo) comes from– there is no break in-between a world that did not exist and one that did, since it could not be created "out of nothing" (ex nihilo) in the first place.
-Melissus, who like Parmenides, argued that reality is ungenerated, indestructible, indivisible, changeless, and motionless.
-Bryson of Achaea, who was said to have taught Crates the Cynic, Pyrrho the Skeptic, and Theodorus the Atheist.
These three ancient greek philosopher were considered by Aristotle examples of the powers of false-reasoning.
-Sabellius: a third-century priest. The Sabellian heresy taught that God was single and indivisible, with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being three "modes" or "masks" that God presented successively to the world.
-Arius: a priest in Alexandria. The Arian heresy claims that "he [the Son] had his substance from nothing."
>>2633317
The Judgment of Solomon
please tell me youre going to post more, ive been following these threads since the start
>>2635821
I will. I'm kind of busy atm but it´ll be done, no worries
>>2636032
Thank you so much for putting such great effort and energy into these threads.
5/18
The ring of spirits, listening intently to Beatrice's words, gives a shout of joy. A modest voice, from King Solomon, floats up from the inner circle and answers.
According to him, spirits will retain their radiance because it is an expression of their inner joy. The bright flesh will penetrate the spirits’ existing spiritual brightness making them complete, and will increase in power, increasing in turn their ability to see God and their ardour. When body and soul meet again at Resurrection, the spirit will attain infinite and perfect glory. The body will develop the strength to withstand the extreme brilliance.
Solomon's fellow dancers agree so heartily with this that they shout "Amen," making Dante see how eager they are to have their bodies back, 'not only for themselves, but for their fathers, mothers, and others dear to them'.
A third crown surrounds the inner two and intensifies the brilliant light surrounding Dante. The poet must look away to avoid blinding himself. Beatrice comforts Dante with her beauty and smile, and when he raises his eyes again, he realizes that they have entered the Sphere of Mars, which seems redder than usual.
Analysis:
-In proper Hell groups of spirits are fixed in their location, unable to go forward, or to go back: in Purgatory they progress through time, until the will is free: and in Paradise the blessed spirits are free and timeless, but manifest themselves in the lower spheres as symbolic meeting places with Dante that are appropriate to them. The journey therefore allows increasing degrees of freedom, until freedom itself becomes an irrelevance within God’s will.
-The first three spheres, which fall within the shadow of the Earth, are associated with deficient forms of Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance. Within the Sphere of the Sun, which is the Earth's source of illumination, Dante meets the greatest examples of Prudence: the souls of the wise, who help to illuminate the world intellectually.
>>2632062
Will you post a zip or a sum of everything at the end, hell and purgatory included?
Also, are you italian?
6/18
Dante prays to God at this sign of grace, and two blood-red rays form the sign of the Cross inside the circle of the planet, just 'as the Milky Way gleams between the poles of the Universe'. A vision of Christ on the Cross is then revealed, white within the redness, and beyond Dante’s powers of description.
Radiant spirits perform an intricate dance and a melody, that enraptures Dante, comes from 'the lights that appeared, gathered along the Cross'. They sing a hymn which is beyond Dante’s understanding but contains the words ‘Rise and conquer’.
Dante, overcome with joy, is totally absorbed in this vision and he states 'that there had been nothing, till then, that tied [him] in such sweet chains'. Dante tells that he has not yet looked at Beatrice's beauty in this sphere, and her eyes will be more beautiful than before when he does so. Gazing at her is a pure joy that grows 'purer as they ascend'.
Then, God's will, 'in which the Love that truly perfumes always distils itself, as greed does in the envious will, imposes silence on that sweet lyre, and stills the sacred strings'.
'As a meteoric flame flashes through the pure and tranquil sky', a spirit blazes down from the cross to its base and on towards Dante. 'With such tenderness Anchises’s shade came forward when he saw his son Aeneas in Elysium', the light approaches Dante and says: "‘O blood of mine, O grace of God poured into you, to whom was Heaven’s Gate ever opened twice, as to you?’
Dante is dumbfounded. For a while, the cordial soul is so delighted to see Dante that his speech is so high and lofty that Dante, as a mortal, cannot understand him.
Analysis:
-The soul's profound speech should be compared with Nimrod’s in Inferno Canto31. The speech of Babel cannot be understood because it has been corrupted. Here the lack of understanding is because language has been elevated beyond mortal comprehension.
>>2637476
yea why not. and no i'm not italian.
>>2636168
ty
Continuing from >>2637807
The first words Dante understands are: "Blessed be thou, Three and One, who are so noble in my seed". The soul now tells that Dante has 'assuaged a dear, long-cherished hunger, induced by the reading of [the] great volume' of God's Providence and he thanks Beatrice, 'who clothed [Dante] with wings for this high ascent', for fulfilling the prophecy.
The soul correctly anticipates what Dante wants to ask: "You believe that your thought finds its way to me, from the Primal Thought, [..] and so you do not ask who I am, or why I seem to you more joyful than others in this festive crowd."
The soul confirms that Dante's train of thought is correct because all souls in Heaven can perform the miracle of looking into God's mirror of providence, reading mortals' thoughts before they are spoken.
The soul says to Dante: "let your voice sound out your will, your longing, safely, boldly, and delightedly, to which my answer is already given.’ Dante looks to Beatrice for permission to speak, which she grants with her smile even before he asks. Dante expresses his gratitude for the spirit's 'paternal greeting' and asks: "I beg you, living topaz, who are a gem of this precious jewel, to satisfy me with your name."
The soul replies, "I was your root, my leaf. [..] He, the first Aligieri, from whom your family takes it name, and who has circled the Mount on the first terrace, for more than a hundred years, was my son, and your great-grandfather"; Dante should pray for him so that he may soon enter Heaven. He then starts talking about the ancient Florence of his time which was 'lived in peace, sober and chaste'. There, everything was balanced. Daughters' marriages were causes for celebration. All families bore children. There was no improper lust or lechery. Florence even rivaled Rome. Women came into public with unpainted faces. Men were 'content with only clothing of skins' and 'their ladies themselves handling flax and spindle'.
Continuing from >>2637920
And Parents weren't afraid to speak to their infants and wives would tell stories from Classical times over their spinning.
Into this good Florence, the souls says, I was born and 'became Cacciaguida and a Christian'; 'my wife came to me from the valley of the River Po, and your surname was derived from hers'.
Cacciaguida tells how he served Emperor Conrad III and 'marched in his ranks, against the infamy of that religion whose infidel people usurp', and gaining his favor so much that the Emperor knighted him. It was there in the Crusades that Cacciaguida 'was disrobed of that deceitful world, whose love corrupts many a spirit, and came, from martyrdom, to this peace.’
Analysis:
-Cacciaguida was Dante’s great-great-grandfather and the father of Alighiero, the family namesake. He took part in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux’s unsuccessful second crusade of 1147 under Emperor Conrad III. There, on the Holy Land, Cacciaguida met his glorious death, at the hands of the Saracens (Muslims).
-Dante's ancestor Cacciaguida comes forward to speak to him like Anchises, Aeneas’s father. In Book 6 of Virgil's Aeneid, Aeneas descends into the underworld; there he speaks with the spirit of his father Anchise and is offered a prophetic vision of the destiny of Rome. Beatrice in the Earthly Paradise, and Cacciaguida here, both stand in the same relationship to Dante as Anchises to Aeneas at the end of Aeneid Book VI. With love, they reveal things to him, they kindle his imagination with a passion for the glory to be, they clarify and confirm his mission, and they prophesy the future. By the reference to Aeneas the history and destiny of Troy and Rome is tied to Christian history, all part of a single Divine unfolding. Dante himself becomes heir to Aeneas and Saint Paul, the gate of heaven to be twice-opened to him, now in life and afterwards in death, which is Cacciaguida’s subtle prophecy.
Continuing from >>2637940
Analysis (sequel):
-Saint Paul or Paul the Apostle was born about 10AD, jewish by birth but a Roman citizen. He underwent conversion on the road to Damascus. He preached in Greece. He was martyred in Rome with Saint Peter on the same day. Nero condemned Paul to death by decapitation and Peter by crucifixion. In Inferno Canto 2, he entered Hell.
The Apocalypse of Paul ( http://gnosis.org/library/visionpaul.htm ) is a third-century text which purports to present a detailed account of a vision of Heaven and Hell experienced by Paul the Apostle.
The text extends the Apocalypse of Peter by framing the reasons for the visits to heaven and hell as the witnessing of the death and judgement of one wicked man, and one who is righteous. The text is heavily moralistic, and adds, to the Apocalypse of Peter, features such as: Pride is the root of all evil; Heaven is the land of milk and honey; Hell has rivers of fire and of ice; Some angels are evil, the dark angels of hell.
-The sphere of the planet Mars signifies the cardinal virtue of Fortitude. The red planet carries traditional associations of blood and war in myth and astrology, here of the Church Militant and of the Crucifixion.
Continuing from >>2637944
Dante, valuing his ancestry and regretting how nobility may diminish with time, addresses Cacciaguida in the manner in which Julius Caesar was once addressed, as voi (you) instead of tu (thou). Beatrice smiles at Dante’s acknowledgement of his relationship with Cacciaguida as the Lady of Malehaut coughed discreetly at Guinevere’s first acknowledgment of Lancelot.
Dante calls Cacciaguida 'my father' and asks him what was his ancestry, when he lived, and 'how great the sheepfold of Saint John, Florence, was then and who were the people worthy of highest places there'.
The spirit grows brighter with gladness 'as a coal bursts into flame at a breath of wind' and answers in a gentle voice: "From the day that Ave was first spoken, to the day of my birth [..] this burning planet returned to his own constellation of the Lion, five hundred and eighty times." Then, Cacciaguida says only that his predecessors were born near Florence.
In response to Dante's last question, Cacciaguida says: "At that time, between the statue of Mars, at the Ponte Vecchio, and the Baptistery, all who were capable of bearing arms were only a fifth of those living now. But the citizenship saw itself as pure in blood, down to the humblest worker, that is now contaminated by the blood of [the neighbouring towns] Campi, Certaldo and Fighine. Confusion of people was always the source of the city’s sorrows, as mixed food is of the body’s."
Cacciaguida now mentions the illustrious families of ancient Florence: the Ughi, Catellini, Filippi, Ravignani, Pigli, Calfucci, the Della Bella, among others. The Della Pera whose a gate of the city had been named after them, and the Della Pressa who already knew how to govern.
Continuing from >>2638135
Analysis:
-Guinevere, the wife of King Arthur of Britain, who in the Arthurian Legends conceived an illicit love for Sir Lancelot, which led, fatally, to the dissolution of the Round Table and the death of Arthur.
-Cacciaguida spells out his date of birth, precisely, as 580 revolutions of Mars (because he resides there) in its orbit since Christ’s birth. Cacciaguida was therefore born, according to Dante, in 1091 (if calculated from the period of Mars orbit, 687 days, multiplied by the 580 orbits mentioned, which gives 1091 years. Cacciaguida was then fifty-six when he joined the Crusade if born in 1091.
-The Florentines adopted St John the Baptist as their patron, displacing the Roman Mars's statue. When Florence was destroyed by the Goths, according to legend, the statue fell into the river Arno, and Florence could not be rebuilt until the statue had been reinstated, and it was rescued and set on the Ponte Vecchio when the city was restored by Charlemagne. The rejection of Mars was believed by Florentines to be at the root of the endless factional conflict in their city.
-Cacciaguida now talks about the growth of ancient Florence: The statue of Mars stood by the northern end of the Ponte Vecchio, in the south of the city by the Arno, and the Baptistery is in the north, marking the old boundaries. Cacciaguida laments that Florence does not have the smaller boundaries that it did in the beginning. If it did, he says, Florentines might still be pure-blooded and virtuous. He even goes to blame interracial mixing as the root of evil in Florence.
7/18
Cacciaguida continues and mentions some families who were starting to go bad: The Adimari, 'that is a dragon to those who flee it, and is as quiet as a lamb to those who show their teeth, or purse'. The Uberti, who were once the dominant Florentine family and now are destroyed by pride. The Chiaramontesi. And the Lamberti, who adorned Florence in all her great actions but of whom Mosca was one.
Finally, Cacciaguida names the Amidei and says: "The house, the Amidei, from which, O Buondelmonte, your grief sprang, because of righteous anger which murdered you and put an end to your joyful life, was honoured, it, and its associates. How wrong you were to reject its marriage-rite at another’s prompting! Many would have been happy who are now saddened. [..] But it was fitting that Florence should sacrifice a victim to that mutilated stone of Mars, that guards the bridge, in her last time of peace."
Cacciaguida says that he saw Florence 'in such calm repose that she had no reason for grief'. Her people were 'so glorious and just' that in Florence's emblem—the white lily on a red field—the lily was never dyed blood-red by division, nor were the colors reversed—to a red lily on a white field—by the Guelphs against the Ghibellines.
Analysis:
-Buondelmonte de Buondelmonti was betrothed to a daughter of the Amidei family, but he broke their engagement at the instigation of Gualdrada Donati. In the debate as to whether he should be killed, Mosca de Lamberti said the evil word: ‘A thing done has an end.’ So Buondelmonte was murdered in retaliation, at the foot of the statue of Mars, on the Ponte Vecchio, in 1215.
His murder and the family divisions were the root of the Guelph and Ghibelline factional conflicts within Florence.
Mosca de Lamberti, one of the initiators of the murder, is in the ninth chasm of the eighth circle, as a sower of discord (see Inferno Canto 28).
bumpin
Continuing from >>2638184
Dante says that 'heavy words were said to [him], about [his] future, while Virgil accompanied [him], descending through the dead world, and around the Mount that purifies souls'. So he asks his forefather, as Cacciaguida can 'see things before they themselves exist', to tell him what his future holds 'so that [his] mind would be content to hear what fate comes towards to [him], since the arrow seen in advance arrives less suddenly.’
Cacciaguida, 'revealed or hidden by its own smile', responds kindly 'in clear words': although God sees the future, He is outside the flow of events. God does not interfere with man's free will, 'no more than a boat slipping downstream is driven by the eye in which it is reflected'.
Then, Cacciaguida blurts out: "You must be exiled from Florence, as Hippolytus was exiled from Athens, through the spite and lies of Phaedra, his stepmother. It is already willed so, and already planned, and will be accomplished soon, by Pope Boniface who ponders it. [..] You will lose everything you love most dearly. You will prove how bitter the taste of another man’s bread is". [His fellow exiles] will all be ungrateful, fierce and disrespectful to you" so that you will break from them."
"Your first refuge will be by courtesy of the great Lombard, Bartolomeo della Scala. [..] With him will be Can Grande della Scala, the one who was marked at birth by this potent planet. [..] The gleam of his virtue will be apparent in his indifference to money or to hard labour. His generous actions will eventually be known, so that even his enemies will not be able to stay silent about them. Look to him and to his gifts. Many people will be changed by him their conditions altered, the wealthy and the poor: and you will carry it inscribed in your memory of him, but will not speak it."
Then he adds: "Son [..] you will live far beyond the punishment that will fall on their infamies."
Continuing from >>2639010
Analysis:
-Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the Amazon queen Hippolyte, rejected the advances of Phaedra his stepmother, who fell in love with him. Spurned, Phaedra deceived Theseus saying that his son had raped her. Theseus, furious, banished Hippolytus from Athens and cursed him using one of the three wishes he was granted by the god Poseidon. Poseidon sent a sea-monster to terrorize the horses on which Hippolytus was on; as a result, he was dragged to death.
-Like Hippolytus Dante will be accused of a crime, which is actually that of his accuser(s), in Hippolytus’s case lust, in Dante’s case barratry.
(here i'm getting confused as to whether Dante's 'offence' is barratry—common law—the offense committed by people who bring repeated or persistent acts of litigation for the purposes of profit or harassment, or barratry—simony—the act of selling 'spiritual things' by giving something of a temporal nature for the purchase thereof; i'm inclined to the first one as Dante is a poet and not a clergyman.
-Dante was sentenced with four others to fine and banishment on January 27th 1302. With fifteen others, he was sentenced to death by burning, on March 10th. The Whites were expelled from Florence on April 4th. In June he broke away from them in disgust and took refuge with Lord Bartolomeo della Scala at Verona, where he also found the young Can Grande. Dante took refuge with him sometime between the summer of 1302 and Bartolommeo’s death in March 1304. Can Grande della Scala was probably the ‘Greyhound’ of Inferno Canto I, to whom Paradiso was dedicated and who sheltered him from 1316. Can Grande became lord of Verona in 1311 and in 1318 the head of the Ghibelline party. He was an art patron, and kept a civilised and stately court. Can Grande was one of the great military men of his age—Dante refers to Mars, the god of war, significant in Can Grande's birth chart.
Continuing from >>2639012
When the sacred soul, by his silence, shows that he has finished, Dante declares himself prepared for the hard times ahead.
He promises to report what he has learned 'down in the world, endlessly bitter, and around the Mount, and afterwards through the Heavens'. And even if it will 'savour of acrid pungency to many', he vows to not be 'a timid friend of truth'.
Cacciaguida encourages him by saying: "A conscience darkened by its own shame, or another’s, will truly find your words harsh, but reveal all your Vision nonetheless, avoid all lies, your words may be bitter at first tasting [but people will, after mulling over them, find them just and correct]."
Cacciaguida then says that the spirits who have been shown to him, 'in these spheres, along the Mount, and in the sad depths', as examples, are to encourage those who will read his poetry to understand.
Beatrice then says to Dante: "Change your thoughts, remember that I am near to Him, who disburdens us of every wrong."
Upon looking at her, Dante is overcome by the untold love he sees shining from her sacred eyes. He forgets all other worries when gazing at the eternal joy shining on her lovely face.
With a smile, she says: "Turn now, and listen, for not only in my eyes is Paradise."
Eager to speak, Cacciaguida glows and intoduces the spirits that dwell in the Cross from which he came: Joshua, Judas Maccabaeus, Charlemagne, Roland, William of Orange, Renouard, Godfrey of Bouillon, and Robert Guiscard. The eight spirits 'enact the lightning in a cloud' when their names are revealed.
Finally, Cacciaguida disappears into the crowd of lights, where he starts to sing with the others. Dante turns to know his duty, from Beatrice. He sees 'her eyes, so clear, so glad, that her appearance exceeded all previous form': they are rising into the next heaven.
Continuing from >>2639492
Analysis:
-Divine Philosophy, represented by Beatrice and her stunning beauty, is not the only path of religion: the Church Militant is another facet, represented by Cacciaguida. The contemplative life complements the active life. Fortitude complements Love.
The planet Mars, named after the God of War, is the home of the Warriors of the Faith, who fought for their people and their faith even unto death, thereby displaying the virtue of Fortitude.
The soldiers' spirits now stand out among those who adorn the cross in Mars and sing the battle cry to "rise" and "conquer":
-Joshua who, after the death of Moses, led the Israelites into the Promised Land. Joshua conquered Jericho—sparing Rahab (who appears in Venus)—and many other cities, thus delivering the land west of the Jordan river to the children of Israel, as God had promised. At the battle near the city of Gibeon, Joshua asked God to cause the sun and moon to stand still, so that he could finish the battle in daylight.
-Judas Maccabeus, the valiant Jewish warrior who freed the Israelites from the persecution of King Antiochus of Syria. Before he was slain in battle, Judas also helped protect Israel against its enemies by forging an alliance with the Romans.
Continuing from >>2639697
Analysis:
-The emperor Charlemagne (742-814 AD), King of the Franks and founder of the Holy Roman Empire.
-Roland, Charlemagne’s nephew and paladin, the hero of the battle of Roncevaux in 778, in which a large force of Basques ambushed Charlemagne's army in Roncevaux Pass, in the Pyrenees on the border between France and Spain, as a retaliation caused by Charlemagne's destruction of the city walls of their capital Pamplona. The Basques, familiar with terrain, managed to cut off and isolate the Frankish rearguard, in which Roland was in. He and his soldiers held for a considerable amount of time, before the Basques finally massacred them completely. Though killed to the last man, the rearguard nonetheless succeeded in allowing Charlemagne and his army to continue to safety.
The battle is recounted in the 11th century epic french poem 'The Song of Roland'; though the story of the battle is true, the poem was romanticized into a major conflict between Christians and Muslims.
In the poem, Roland and the rear guard of the army were slain as a result of the treachery of Ganelon (who is punished among the traitors in Hell—Inferno canto 32—though i did not mention him). Just before he died, Roland blew his ivory horn in desperation, to alert his uncle, but Charlemagne was misled by the advice of Ganelon, and did not provide aid. When Charlemagne found the dead bodies of Roland's men, he pursued the Muslims, killed the emir of Babylon, and the Franks conquered Saragossa. The Franks discovered Ganelon's betrayal and the traitor was torn apart by four horses.
Two masterpieces of Italian Renaissance poetry, the 'Orlando Innamorato' (Roland in love) and 'Orlando Furioso' by Ludovico Ariosto in 1516 (literally Raging Roland), are even further detached from history than the earlier songs. Orlando Furioso features knights and sorcerers and fantastic creatures including a gigantic sea monster and a hippogriff (and a naked woman!)
>>2639810
The previous picture is from the Orlando Furioso, edited in 1886 and illustrated by Gustave Doré.
This one too. Not really related to Dante, but you'll love it.
Continuing from >>2639813
Analysis:
-William of Orange, also known as Saint William of Gellone (755–812), was one of Charlemagne’s knights. He fought the Saracens near Narbonne in 793 and forced them to retreat in Spain. During the conquest of the city of Orange from the Saracens, he killed the muslim commander and married his widowed wife. Later, he founded the monastery of Gellone near Lodève where he retired to die as a monk in 812.
-Renard was a former slave and converted Saracen. He was the mythical brother-in-law of William of Orange and his companion in battle. They both fought on behalf of the Franks. He retired with him to become a monk too.
-Godfrey of Bouillon (1060–1100), the "Crusader King", was a medieval Frankish knight and one of the leaders of the successful First Crusade which captured Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. The capture was followed by indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, ‘the knights riding up to their knees in blood, in the Haram enclosure, where the Mahomedans sought refuge’.
Godfrey became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem until his death. He refused to be crowned king "upon the plea that he would never wear a crown of gold where his Saviour, Christ, had worn a crown of thorns", preferring the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulchre. He died unmarried in Jerusalem after suffering from a prolonged illness. Despite the massacre, he was remembered as the best and wisest of the Christian leaders.
-Robert "the Cunning" Guiscard, born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, was the founder of the Norman dynasty in southern Italy and Sicily. He waged war in Sicily and Southern Italy from 1059 to 1080, against the Greeks and Saracens. He won the title Duke of Apulia from Pope Nicholas II in 1059. In 1084, he entered Rome and forced the emperor Henry IV to retire. A rebellion of the citizens led to a three-day sack of the city, after which Guiscard escorted the Pope Gregory VII to Rome. He died the next year.
Bump for more of this epicness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8/18
'The white radiance of Jupiter, the sixth, temperate planet, has received [Dante]'. He sees 'the sparkle of the love inside it'—the souls of Jupiter— singing and flying. The sacred beings rise like a flock of birds to form, one by one, thirty-five vowels and consonants. Dante calls on the Muse to illuminate him, retaining each letter as the spirits pause until they have spelt out the whole sentence: "Diligite justitiam qui judicatis terram: love righteousness you judges over earth, or Love justice, you who judge the earth."
Then they remain, ordered, in the 'M' of the fifth word, terram: Earth.
Analysis:
-Jupiter is described as the temperate planet between the cold of Saturn and the heat of Mars in Ptolemaic astronomy.
-The 35 letters are from the opening text of the 'Book of the Wisdom' of Solomon, one of the books of the Bible, although it was most likely composed centuries after the death of King Solomon.
-The last letter is the M of Monarchia, in the title of Dante’s treatise on kingship, and a symbol of the Empire and Imperial Law. And also the M of Mente, the Mind of God. M in the Latin and Italian alphabets, lacking a w, is also the central letter of the whole alphabet.
9/18
'As innumerable sparks rise from a blow to a burning log', more than a thousand lights descend to enhance the shape, 'just as the Sun, that lit them, ordained. When each one had come to rest in place', Dante sees 'an eagle’s neck and head outlined by that pricked out fire'.
10/18
Dante praises God: "He who depicts it, has no one to guide him, but he himself guides, and from him that power flows into the mind, that builds the eagle’s nest."
When the souls are done arranging themselves, the remaining spirits first entwine themselves, 'by a slight motion', with the shapes of lilies around the lines of the 'M' and finally settle into the shape of the eagle's body.
Dante says to himself: "O sweet planet, how great the quality and quantity of jewels, which made clear to me, that our justice is an effect, of that Heaven you bejewel!"
Dante now begs the Mind, the source of the spirits's motion, 'to gaze at the place from which smoke rises to vitiate [His] light: and that the anger be roused once more, against the buying and selling, in the Temple, whose walls were built by miracle and martyrdom'.
He asks these 'soldiers of Heaven' to 'pray for those who have gone awry on earth, following bad examples'. 'It was custom once to war with the sword, now it is done by holding back spiritual bread'.
Dante rants at the pope Boniface, who is detroying the vineyard that St. Paul and St. Peter died for. Boniface has 'so fixed [his] desires on him, en-coined, the Baptist, who lived a solitary life, and was dragged to martyrdom to serve Salome’s dance, that [he] do not know Paul or the Fisherman'.
Continuing from >>2642318
Analysis:
-The eagle is the emblem of Rome, the Divine sign of Empire and Justice. Lilies indicate the Frankish influence on Christian history.
Here, the Mind of God inspires the earthly forms, the nests, where intellect builds, and creates justice.
-Dante now asks that Divine Mind to turn itself towards Boniface’s corrupt Rome, where smoke obscures Divine light, where indulgences are sold, where excommunication is used to wage war, and where the Pope is in love with gold Florins. The Florentine florin was a coin stamped on one side with the head of John the Baptist, Patron Saint of Florence. Master Adam of Brescia (Inferno canto 30), who is in the final chasm of the 8th Circle in Hell —the Falsifiers— counterfeited the Florentine gold florin.
-Salome was the daughter of Herod, the heir of the throne of Judea, and Herodias.
Her mother Herodias, whom John the Baptist had reproved for marrying Herod, demanded his execution, but Herod was reluctant to do so because he feared him, knowing he was a 'righteous and holy man'.
One day, Salome danced before Herod, who was so pleased he granted her a request. When Salome asked her mother what she should request, Herodias took her revenge by telling Salome to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Thus Herod ordered the beheading of John, and his head was delivered to Salome, at her request, on a plate.
Here, Dante says that Florence has been dragged to destruction by the seductions of Boniface's political dance.
bumpity bumpppp
Bumpin for op and his glorious posts
bump 4 effort
Continuing from >>2642336
'The marvellous image, which those entwined spirits' make appears in front of Dante, 'with outstretched wings'. Each soul is 'like a ruby, in which the sun’s rays burn'. He tries to tell what has never before been spoken, written or imagined.
Then the eagle’s beak speaks. A single sound comes, out of the image, 'from those many points of love' forming the shape of the Eagle: "I am exalted here to this glory, which does not allow itself to be overcome by longing, through being just and pious, and I have left a memory on Earth, so constituted that even the evil approve it, though they do not follow its path."
Quickly Dante humbly asks the Eagle to answer his question because it already knows 'what the question is'.
The Eagle shakes its head and claps its wings and replies:
God, 'who drew the compass round the edges of the Universe', has measured out the universe, what is 'shown' and what is 'hidden', and 'his Word' is infinitely beyond human beings. Even Lucifer, 'that first proud being', 'a pinnacle of creation' as one of the angels, was too limited to understand everything without God’s help, and in fact fell 'because he could not wait for enlightenment and so it appears that every minor nature is too small a vessel to hold that Good which is endless'.
Human vision is even more limited because it 'cannot have such great power without its origin seeing far beyond that which it itself can see'. Therefore our perception is 'lost with depth as as our vision is in the ocean, since though it sees the seafloor by the shore, it cannot reach it in the open water, even though it is there, and the depth has hidden it'. 'There is no light unless it comes from that Serenity which is never troubled: the rest is darkness'.
Continuing from >>2643418
Now the Eagle asks Dante's question for him: A man is born in some foreign place, never hears of Christ, and lives as virtuous a life as a mortal can. 'He dies un-baptised and without the faith. Where is the justice, in condemning him? Why is it his fault, that he is void of faith?'
The Eagle answers Dante's question with another question: "Who are you, to sit on the judge’s seat, a thousand miles away, with sight that sees a short span? [..] O earthly creatures, O coarse minds! The Primal Will, which is goodness itself, never abandons its own self, which is the supreme good. All that is in harmony with it is Just." Indeed it is a just punishment, but only God can understand why.
"No one ever rose to this region, who did not believe in Christ, not before he was nailed to the tree, nor after. Many call out: "Christ, Christ" who shall be further from Him at the Judgement, than those who do not know of Christ: and the Ethiopians will condemn such Christians when the two crowds part, the one rich in eternity, the other naked."
Analysis:
-Dante's hidden question is that concerning the Divine Justice of the un-baptised who lived without knowledge of the faith and are excluded from salvation.
God’s justice in the matter is not be questioned. It is a matter of faith. Conformity with God’s will is what is required. The answer is crystal clear. Only those who believe in Christ rise into Paradise. The characters from the Old Testament and other pagans who entered Heaven, we assume, anticipated Christ's coming, or were guided to belief.
Remember that the souls of the un-baptised and also the virtuous pagans who lived before Christ are sent to the first circle of Hell, Limbo (see Inferno Canto 4).
-Of those that shout "Christ!" there are some so false that Ethiopians (meaning non-Christians) will be forgiven much sooner than they will.
Bump!
Thank you so much OP! I'm about to study this in class, your notes and illustrations will help lots.
Also, if I may ask, where did you find all of these? Surely if these come from a database, a database with such quality of images like these, there should be loads of other artists works saved - and I would delight in having HD access to full libraries of the world of art.
Continuing from >>2643444
Then, the Eagle continues and proceeds to name several such unjust Christian rulers and their crimes:
The Emperor Albert who 'will soon set the pen in motion, that will make Prague’s kingdom of Bohemia a desert'. Philip the Fair who 'is bringing sorrow to the Seine, by falsifying the coinage. [..] There the pride will be seen that parches, and makes the Scots and Edward’s English mad, so that they cannot keep the proper borders. The lechery and effeminate life of Ferdinand of Spain, will be seen, and that of Wenceslaus of Bohemia, who never knew or willed anything of worth'. Charles II whose bad deeds will outnumber his good ones by a thousand to one. 'The baseness and avarice of Frederick who holds Sicily [..] will be visible'. James of the Balearic Isles, and his brother James II of Aragon. Then Diniz of Portugal; Hakon V of Norway; Stephen of Serbia; Andrew III of Hungary.
Finally, Cyprus, a land already suffering under the tyranny of its "beast," Henry II of Lusignan.
Analysis:
The Eagle reveals the unjust actions and the poor kingship of the Christian kings of 1300:
-Albert I of Habsburg, King of Germany, was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1298 until his assassination. He carried out an aggressive campaign against Bohemia in 1304, confiscating it as an expired fief of the crown.
-Philip IV, called the Fair or the Iron King, was King of France (1285 to 1314). He was rumored to have financed his war against the County of Flanders by falsifying currency.
-Edward I of England, the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England (1272 to 1307). He claimed the crown of Scotland and suppressed William Wallace’s popular uprising.
-Ferdinand IV King of Castile and Leon (1295-1312) was noted for his luxurious style of living at the expense of his kingdom.
-Wenceslaus II who ruled Bohemia (1278-1305) when it was attacked by his brother-in-law, Albert I(above).
-Charles II was King of Naples and head of the Italian Guelphs in 1300.
OP here
>>2643642 thanks
pics come from various websites. though in a complete mess, the best quality pics are on the russian website here: http://gravures.ru/photo/gjustav_dore/2-18 (page 18 to 21). I couldn't find better pics than the ones i've been posting so far.
Anyway in a few days i'll upload a first zip with Inferno and Purgatorio (full text and all the images) and give you guys a link to download it. Same with Paradiso when it's finished.
I gotta go now. see you next monday. please keep this thread alive
>>2643807
I WILL BUMP
bump to finish this, i cant wait
Bump, I don't want it to end.
>>2632062
Albeit interesting, there's no poetry here. No translation can give justice for this italian masterpiece, even if I have to say Dante is pretty cryptic and not easy to read.
bummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmp
bump agian
anon said he would be back
h-he's coming back right???
11/18
When the Eagle falls silent the 'living lights, shining far brighter, begin to sing things', just as the stars shine out with Divine light when the Sun vanishes. Dante says to himself: "O sweet Love, mantled in a smile, how ardent you seemed in those flutings, breathed out only in sacred thoughts!"
Eventually the 'dear stones with which [he sees] the sixth Heaven gemmed' stop singing. But that sound is quickly replaced by 'the murmuring of a river which falls from rock to rock'. 'The eagle’s murmur rises through its neck, as if it is hollow. There it becomes a voice and issues out of its beak, in the form of words'. The Eagle tells him to gaze at its eye intently, 'since the fires with which the eye in [its] head sparkles, are the most important, of all the crowd of those from which [it] construct [its] shape'.
The Eagle says: "He who shines in the middle, as the pupil does in the eye, was David, the singer of the Holy Spirit.[..] Of the five who make the arch of the profiled eyebrow, there is Trajan, who 'knows how dearly it costs not to follow Christ, from his experience of this sweet life and its opposite'.
The third soul is Hezekiah 'who delayed death by his true penitence'.
The fourth soul is Constantine, who 'now he knows that the evil flowing from his good action does not harm him, even though the world is destroyed by it'.
Fifth is William of Sicily and Naples who 'knows how Heaven loves a righteous king'. Finally, to Dante's amazement, the sixth and last soul is Ripheus, who 'knows much about the Divine Grace, that the world cannot see, although his sight does not reach the end of it'.
Continuing from >>2647856
Analysis:
-David was the second King of Israel, and according to the New Testament, an ancestor of Jesus. Depicted as a valorous warrior of great renown, and a poet and musician credited for composing many of the psalms contained in the Book of Psalms, King David is widely viewed as a righteous and effective king in battle and civil and criminal justice.
-Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 AD until his death in 117 AD. Declared by the Senate optimus princeps ("the best ruler"), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death.
Pope Gregory supposedly interceded on his behalf through prayer, to bring about Trajan’s deliverance from hell, to allow him time for repentance.
-Hezekiah. The King of Judah, whose life was extended by the Lord, for the sake of his past sincerity and virtue, and his penitent prayers.
-Constantine was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. He defeated Licinius at Adrianople and Chrysopolis in 324, becoming sole ruler of the eastern and western Roman empire. Byzantium was renamed Constantinople in 330 and made the second Rome, and the Christian capital as he had embraced Christianity, leaving the Pope Sylvester I with temporal power in Italy. Dante saw this as the source of the fatal involvement of the Church in temporal power. Dante implies that Constantine was not to blame for an action that intended good.
-William II of Hauteville was the Norman King of Sicily and Naples (1166-1189).
-Ripheus was a Trojan hero and the name of a figure from the Aeneid of Virgil. A comrade of Aeneas, he was killed defending the city of Troy against the Greeks.
-The planet Jupiter is associated with Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, and therefore with the Roman Emperors, and with the Christian God. Dante makes this 6th sphere the home of the rulers who displayed Justice.
>>2647856
YES
Thanks
OP here
ok i just uploaded Inferno and Purgatorio (full text and images) in a 268mb zip file, there:
http://uptobox.com/ay2k5lacwp9h
For those who have been following the previous threads, i'm sorry but i forgot 2 images: the cover wich is 00 and the 71st (an anon pointed it out to me) so Inferno contains 76 pics in total and not 74 as i mentioned. my mistake is corrected in the zip file.
I will upload Paradiso later.
>>2648658
Thanks mate you've done such a great job. My favorite thread of threads of all time.
>>2648658
This happens when I click on link. Any chance you could use a different hosting source?
>>2649412
type in youtube: Uptobox not available in your country [solved]
and let me know if it works
>>2649434
Solution works, as far as I'm currently concerned. However, the download speed is very slow - 50 KB/s - so it may take a while. I'll let you know if it manages to chug all the way through and actually downloaded content. I'm at 60 MB's downloaded right now.
>>2649434
It worked! This is great OP, thanks.
OP here
>>2649546
>>2648861
thanks.
I didn't know uptobox was banned in the US. well, i encourage anons from the US or any country where it is not available to do this little trick then as it seems to work fine: >>2649434
For paradiso i'll find another host.
and many thanks to the diehards who have been bumping this thread
Continuing from >>2647858
The Eagle, the imprint of justice, is like a 'lark ascending in the air, first singing and then silent'. Dante is to his doubt, about what he sees, 'like the transparent glass is to the colour it surrounds': "What are these things?" he says, at which he sees 'great sparkles of joy'.
The Eagle, 'blessed and with its kindling eye', replies to him: "I see you believe in these things because I tell you, but do not see the how, so that they are obscure, though still believed in." The Eagle seeing that Dante accepts through faith and not understanding, enlightens it.
The Eagle explains: "the Kingdom of Heaven, suffers the force of hot love and living hope, which overcomes the Divine Will, not in the sense in which man overcomes man, but overcomes that Will, because it wishes to be overcome, and once overcome, in turn overcomes, with its own kindness."
Now, Dante marvels that Trajan and Ripheus are seen 'decking this region of the Angels'. The Eagle says they died as Christians, 'with firm belief in those pierced feet':
"Trajan, came back to his bones from Hell, where no one ever returns to the true will, and this was the reward for living Hope: the living Hope which added power to Gregory’s prayers to raise him. [..] That glorious soul, returning to the flesh where it lived a while, believed in Him who had the power to help, and, believing, kindled so great a flame of true Love, that it was worthy of coming here, to this rejoicing, on its second death."
"Ripheus set all his Love below on righteousness, by that grace which wells from so deep a fount that no creature ever set eyes on its last depth, so that God, going from grace to grace, opened his eyes to our redemption yet to come: and he believed in that. Those three ladies, whom you saw at the right wheel, of the chariot, stood at his baptising, more than a thousand years before baptism."
Continuing from >>2649705
"O Predestination, how remote your roots are from our vision that cannot see the First Cause totally! And you mortal creatures, keep yourselves from judging, since we who see God do not yet know all those who will be elected, and such defective sight is sweet for us, because our good is refined by this good, that what God wills we also will."
Analysis:
Dante celebrates the three theological virtues—Faith, Hope, and Charity once more, in that the Faith of Trajan and Ripheus, who followed and preceded Christ, resulted from in Trajan’s case the Hope that informed Saint Gregory’s prayers:
Trajan returned from Limbo in Hell to his body at Gregory’s intercession which was predestined. God gave him another chance. Trajan was allowed to believe and die a second time, this time after repenting. It was this second life—as a Christian—that won him his salvation.
And in Ripheus’s case from the Love with which he virtuously acted on earth:
Ripheus directed all his love to justice; God therefore, even before the coming of Christ, granted Ripheus a vision of future redemption and instilled belief in him, which, by leading him to repudiate paganism, allowed him to be baptized by the three holy virtues (whom Dante saw in Purgatory, canto 29) over a thousand years before baptism existed.
The salvation of Ripheus, a pagan who lived long before the advent of Christianity, conveys to Dante the extraordinary power of predestination, the idea that certain souls are chosen--or predestined--to be saved.
Dante shows how it is intrinsically bound up with the concepts of grace, providence, knowledge, and justice.
Continuing from >>2649709
Analysis (sequel):
Dante's representation of Ripheus's blessedness finds support in Thomas Aquinas's claim that "revelation about Christ was in fact given to many of the pagans" and that even those who did not believe explicitly in Christ could be saved if they had "an implicit faith in God's providence, believing that God is man's deliverer in ways of his own choosing, as the Spirit would reveal this to those who know the truth" (Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae 2a.2.7). Aquinas identifies predestination as "the plan, existing in God's mind, for the ordering of some persons to salvation".
This plan, moreover, "is certain, though the freedom of choice, from which predestination as an effect contingently issues, is not abolished" (1a.23.6). Because of free will, by which individuals are held accountable for their actions, even the predestined "must strive in prayer and good works, for through them the effect of predestination will assuredly be fulfilled" (1a.23.8). To clarify how both predestination and free will can exist, Dante stresses the insurmountable gap separating human knowledge and vision from the ways of God. The "root" of predestination, the eagle exclaims in response to Ripheus's salvation, is unknowable because human beings are incapable of seeing the first cause in its entirety; not even the blessed know all those chosen to be saved.
Continuing from >>2649714
Analysis (sequel):
The most effective way for Dante to illustrate the distinction between human and divine knowledge is through concrete images. Thus the eagle, even before revealing the unanticipated presence of Trajan and Ripheus in Jupiter, compares the inability of humankind to comprehend fully the workings of divine justice to how the human eye cannot see the ocean bottom far from shore: though hidden by the deep sea, the floor is nonetheless always there (Paradiso Canto 19).
Likewise, Cacciaguida in the previous sphere explains how his ability to see Dante's future doesn't imply necessity (and therefore negate free will) by describing how the act of observing a ship as it floats down a river doesn't determine the ship's movement (Paradiso Canto 17).
Even Thomas Aquinas resorts to a visual comparison to show how future events, which cannot be known with certainty by humans, are seen by God in his eternal knowledge: "In the same way a man going along a road does not see those who come behind him; but the same man who sees the whole road from a height sees all together those who are passing along the road" (1a.14.13). According to this line of thinking, God's simultaneous knowledge of all events—past, present, and future—doesn't mean that he causes them to happen.
bump for you based turkey op
bumpin
Op, maybe just post like you did for Paradise lost? if that takes less time for you?
12/18
Dante turns to face Beatrice, but she is not smiling. She says: "Were I to smile, you would turn to ashes, since my beauty which burns more brightly [..] the higher we climb, if it were not moderated, glows so much, that your human powers, at its lightning flash, would be like the leaves the thunder shatters." Dante's mortal senses cannot bear the brilliance of God's reflected love.
She announces that they are now in the Seventh Heaven, Saturn.
>>2651595
I could if you guys are eager to see the end quickly. work and family duty get me really busy but i can finish it this week i think.
13/18
'Inside the crystal planet', Dante sees a golden 'ladder erected so far upward that his sight could not follow it'. Like the motion of a crowd of rooks, climbing down the steps of the ladder are thousands upon thousands of souls.
Dante turns his attention to the nearest soul and thinks that he is so bright, he must be eager to speak. But he must await permission from Beatrice before speaking to the soul.
At this unspoken thought, Beatrice promptly says: "Let free your burning desire." And Dante's words are unleashed: "Tell me the reason why I am placed near you, and say why the sweet symphony of Paradise is silent here, when it sounded below through the other spheres, so devotedly."
The spirit responds that Dante has mortal hearing, as he has mortal sight: there is no song here for the same reason that Beatrice does not smile; and that he has descended down the ladder only to give him joy with words.
Dante asks why the spirit was predestined to greet him. The spirit glows and spins with glee because 'Divine Light focuses itself on [him] from above'. Dante is told that the human mind should not enquire into God’s will. He is assigned and that should be enough. He urges Dante to tell mortals not to bother trying to resolve questions of predestination and other divine mysteries.
His haughty words make Dante take a step back. Thoroughly humbled, Dante meekly asks the soul his identity.
The spirit says that he was Peter Damian. He was called "Peter the Sinner" when he first came to a monastery, near a place called Catria. From this place, he was reluctantly dragged out and eventually became a cardinal.
Damian says: "Saint Peter came, and Saint Paul, the great vessel of the Holy Spirit, lean and unshod. Now the modern shepherds have to be buttressed on both sides, and have someone to lead them, they are so fat and heavy, and someone to support them from behind. They cover their ponies with cloaks, so that two creatures go under one hide."
Continuing from >>2651672
Other spirits descend the ladder, gyring, from rung to rung, and every gyration make them more beautiful. They join Damian in a clamorous shout that overcomes Dante.
Analysis:
Saint Peter Damian, of Ravenna, entered the monastery of Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana, in central Italy (Dante is said to have found refuge there after the death of Henry VII). There he led a simple life conducive to spiritual worship and contemplation. He was made Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, against his will, by Pope Stephen IX.
He launches a vivid assault on Church corruption and hypocrisy by contrasting the ascetic humility of two of Christianity's founding fathers (St.Peter and St.Paul) with the decadent lives led by priests of Dante's day.
Continuing from >>2651675
'Oppressed by stupor' Dante turns to Beatrice, 'like a little child who always goes for help where he has most confidence'. She says: "Do you not know you are in Heaven? And do you not know that Heaven is wholly sacred, and that which is done here is done from righteous zeal?" Beatrice explains that the thunderous shout of the spirits expresses the admonishment of the clergy for its deterioration and that 'vengeance' will be taken on the corrupt Papacy.
Now she tells Dante to direct his look towards the gathered spirits because there are 'many renowned spirits' here. Dante is daunted by the crowd, which he describes as "a hundred little suns," and is too shy to ask a question. 'The greatest and most lustrous of these pearls' comes forward and speaks to Dante.
This soul comes from a town called Cassino and he was the first person to carry God's truth up to Montecassino. He is Benedict, who first carried His name up there.
St. Benedict turns toward his fellow souls and explains that 'these flames were all contemplatives, lit by the warmth that bears sacred fruits and flowers' who meditated on God in life.
He introduces Macarius the Egyptian, a disciple of St. Anthony, and Romualdus who founded the Camaldolese Order, a white-robed stricter branch of the Benedictines.
Dante begs to see Benedict in his physical form. The saint replies that his wish can only be granted when he ascends to the highest level of Heaven where all the spirits truly are, the Empyrean, the final ending point of the ladder.
St. Benedict then returns to his companions, and the souls disappear in a whirlwind.
Analysis:
Saint Benedict was the founder of the oldest Western monastic order, the Benedictines. He founded the famous monastery at Monte Cassino in the north of Campania.
During the Italian Campaign of World War II, the hilltop abbey was the site of the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944, where the building was destroyed by Allied bombing and rebuilt after the war.
I love you OP, I feel kinda sad that it's all coming to an end.
Continuing from >>2651732
Dante and Beatrice follow the saints up the ladder merely with a gesture and arrive in the sign of Gemini, in the Eighth Heaven. Beatrice begins to say: "You are so near the highest blessedness, that your eyes should be sharp and clear. So, before you make your way deeper into it, look down, and see how great a world I have placed under your feet."
Dante turns to look downward 'through each and every one of the seven sphere' and smiles at how small and insignificant the Earth appears. After admiring the seven beautiful planets that circle below him and the 'threshing-floor that makes us so fierce', of Italy and Florence, Dante serenely turns his eyes up towards Beatrice again.
Beatrice, her face aflame with joy, gazes expectantly toward Heaven and says: "See the procession of Christ’s triumph, and all the fruits gathered by the wheeling of these spheres."
Dante sees 'one Sun, above a thousands lights [..] and the glowing substance shines so brightly through the living light that [his] vision could not endure it'. "Inside are the wisdom and the power that opened the path between Heaven and Earth" says Beatrice, "there is the Rose, in which the Divine Word made itself flesh: there are the Lilies within whose perfume the good way was taken."
Beatrice tells Dante that since he has had a glimpse of Christ, he can now 'bear the power of [her] smile'. And she smiles.
Dante turns his eyes toward the spectacle and sees 'a meadow filled with flowers', overrun by the flaming troops of Christ, all shadowed by the gigantic sun shining above. However, Dante cannot see the source from which the glow comes because his vision lacks strenght.
Analysis:
Dante and Beatrice have left Saturn. The sphere of Saturn is that of the contemplatives, who embody temperance.
They now climb the mystic ladder of Contemplation to the eighth sphere, the Fixed Stars, in the constellation of Gemini, Dante’s birth-sign.
bump for op
Continuing from >>2651873
But Dante can see Mary, the Rose, who descends in the guise of 'the living star'. 'An encircled flame, formed like a coronet, falls from the Heavens and clothes her'. The spinning light names himself as Gabriel, the Angelic Love, and he crowns the Virgin and fills the air with a melody so sweet that the sweetest melody of earth would sound like crude thunder next to it.
The Archangel circles her until she follows her Son, Christ, into the ninth and highest sphere, the Primum Mobile.
'The Primum Mobile, that royal mantle of all the folds of the Universe, that burns brightest, is not yet visible to [Dante]. So [his] eyes have not the power to follow the crowned flame as She climbed after her own Child'.
After she disappears, the spirits sing the Easter hymn "Regina Coeli—Queen of heaven" in her honor.
Dante notes with rapture that these blessed souls will enjoy boundless riches here in Heaven for their resistance to material greed in the world below. Dante says: "Here Peter, who holds the keys to such great glory, triumphs."
Beatrice speaks to the souls still gathered: "O company, elected to the great feast of the Blessed Lamb, if, by the grace of God, this man tastes what falls from your table before death has determined his time, take heed of his immeasurable yearning, and sprinkle him a little, you who always drink at the fountain, from which flows that on which his thought is fixed."
Dante sees a blissful flame detached from the group. The soul boldly comes forward and dances three times around Beatrice while singing, and his divine song is so gorgeous that Dante's imagination cannot repeat it.
Analysis:
The heavens are lit by a vision of Christ, brighter than the Sun, more than Dante can endure.
Mary, surrounded by the Angel of the Annunciation Gabriel, is following Christ who has moved higher towards the Empyrean in order to spare Dante’s powers of sight. Dante praises St. Peter, the keeper of the keys of Heaven.
Continuing from >>2652481
The soul greets his 'holy sister' Beatrice. She replies to him: "O eternal light of that great man to whom our Lord left the keys of this marvellous joy, test this man here on the points of faith, the faith that enabled you to walk the waves."
As the student does not speak until the master sets out the question, Dante armes himself with every thought, ready for questioning.
St. Peter then asks Dante: "Speak, good Christian, reveal yourself: what is Faith?"
Dante answers: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen: and this I take to be its essence." St. Peter nods. He then asks Dante why faith is 'substance' and 'evidence'.
Dante replies: "The deep things which grant me the privilege of appearing, in front of me, here, are hidden from the sight of those below, so that their existence is only a belief, down there, on which is built a high hope: and so it justifies the meaning of substance. And from this belief we need to reason, without any further insight: so it satisfies the meaning of evidence."
Peter approves again and says: "This coin’s weight and alloy has been well tried: but tell me if you have it in your purse." At which Dante answers: "Yes".
St. Peter continues: Where does faith come from? Dante: the inspiration of 'the Holy Spirit which is poured over the Old and the New pages'.
Peter asks: "Why do you take [the Scriptures] for Divine discourse?" Dante: Such miracles as the ones recorded in the Bible must have been created by God; they cannot have been the work of nature.
Peter says: "Tell me, who assures you that these miracles took place?"
Dante replies: Faith. "If the world turned to Christianity, without miracles, that would be such a miracle that the others would not rate a hundredth of it, since you entered, poor and hungry, on the field, to sow the plant that was once a vine, and is now a thorn."
So, 'the high sacred court' celebrates with a singing of a Dio Laudamo—We praise God.
Continuing from >>2652778
St. Peter affirms Dante's faith and compliments him on the eloquence of his answers. He asks Dante to state what he believes. Dante answers: "I believe in one God, sole and eternal, who moves all the Heavens with love and desire, Himself unmoving. And I do not merely have physical and metaphysical proofs for such belief, but it is shown me also by the truth that flows from it, through Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms, through the Gospel, and through you, who wrote, when the ardent Spirit had made you holy."
Pleased, St. Peter leans forward and embraces Dante. St. Peter celebrates by blessing Dante, singing and dancing three times around him in circles.
Analysis:
-Heaven and blessedness cannot be seen by mortal eyes, they must be taken on faith. This is why faith is a substance. Since mortals must reason from this blind faith, it is also evidence of unseen things. St. Peter compares faith to a coin and asks if Dante carries such a coin in his purse.
The conversion of the world without miracles, would have been a greater miracle than any recorded, attesting to their reality.
Dante replies that God, himself unmoving, moves the universe with love and desire, and derives this not only from physical and metaphysical knowledge but also from the Scriptural truth that flows from it. In the Metaphysics Aristotle shows that the prime Mover, which causes motion but is not itself moved, must be eternal, must be substantial, and actual, the prime object of desire, and of intellectual apprehension. From these five attributes Aquinas builds his five proofs of the existence of God.
>>2632062
OP is in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Continuing from >>2652787
Quietly, Dante thinks that if this 'sacred poem' ever gets completed, and he survives the cruel years ahead, he would like to return to Florence, 'the lovely fold', one day and be crowned with the laurel wreath as a recognized poet.
Then, a light moves towards them. Beatrice, 'full of joy', turns to Dante and announces the arrival of Saint James, 'the Saint for whose sake, down there, they search out Galicia'.
'As a dove taking his perch next to his companion', St. Peter steps forward as well to greet James. Then they both fall silent and turn, blazing in brilliance, towards Dante. Beatrice, smiling, says: "Noble life [..] let Hope be sounded in this altitude."
James ask Dante: "Say what Hope is, and how your mind is en-flowered by it, and say from where it comes to you."
Beatrice answers for Dante before he can respond by telling St. James that there is no man more full of hope than Dante and because he is granted to see God's kingdom before his death proves such.
Dante answers: "‘Hope is the certain expectation of future glory, the product of Divine Grace and previous worth. This light comes to me from many stars: but David, the highest singer of the highest leader, first distilled it in my heart. You then rained it on me, with his rain, in your Epistle".
'While Dante is speaking, a sudden flash like lightning trembles in the living heart of that flame'. Then it breathes out: "what it is hope promises to you." And Dante: "Isaiah says that, of the souls that God has made his friends, each one will be robed with double robes, in its own land, and its own land is this sweet life." His hope then is of the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body.
Not long after the ending of these words, everyone sing "Sperent in te—Let them hope in you".
Suddenly 'a light flashes out from among them' and joins the other two saints.
Continuing from >>2653582
Beatrice fixes 'her gaze on them like a bride, silent and motionless', and says: "This is John, who at the last supper leaned on the breast of Christ who chose him from the cross, and committed Mary to his care."
Dante stares at St. John until the light blinds him, 'like one who strains and gazes at the sun’s brief eclipse'. John says: "Why does it dazzle you to see that which has no place here? My body is earth in the earth, and there it will be with the others, until our time suits the eternal purpose. Only the two lights which rose, Christ and the Virgin, wear both robes in this blessed cloister."
When he stops speaking, all three men stop their celebration. But Dante discovers, as he turns his face toward Beatrice, that he is blind. He can't see her.
Analysis:
-Saint James, James the Greater, was a fisherman of Galilee and the disciple of Christ. He is thought to be the author of a biblical epistle. He was tried in Jerusalem in 44AD by Herod Agrippa and executed. His supposed tomb at Santiago de Compostella in Galicia (Spain), discovered in the 9th century, became a place of worship, next in importance to Jerusalem and Rome, and he became the patron saint of Spain. He represents Hope.
-Saint John, the disciple most loved by Jesus who, on the cross, told John to look after Virgin Mary, was the presumed author of the Fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation (the Apocalypse).
His body, like everyone else's, is buried on earth; only Christ and Mary are allowed to wear both body and soul in Heaven.
-Note how Dante continually links faith, hope and love as an indivisible trinity within the text. Love is the driving force behind all this faith, and the messenger of hope. Peter, James, and John perhaps appear together here in Dante's paradise because they were alone with Jesus at dramatic moments. Dante's three sons were named after these apostles.
14/18
Through the scary darkness, Dante hears St. John's voice saying: "Until you regain the sense of sight you have spent on me, it would be well to compensate for it by speaking. Begin then, and say on what your mind is focused, and be assured that your vision is dazzled, and not destroyed: since the Lady who leads you through this divine region has the power to heal it."
Dante answers: "[..] these eyes that were the gates where she entered with the fire I always burn with. Love, the good, is the Alpha and Omega—the beginning and the ending [..]"
St. John presses him further: "you must tell me what it was that aimed your bow at such a target"—who directed your love towards God?
Dante replies that he has God's love imprinted in him, and because he tries to be virtuous, that love turns toward God. The good is the object of love, and since God is the supreme good He is the supreme object of love, and the more a mind sees the good the more it must focus on that supreme object, with love.
John questions Dante again: "Keep the highest of your loves for God [..] but tell me if you feel other strings drawing you towards Him—are there any other reasons you love God?—and say how many teeth this love grips you with."
Dante sees in which direction John wishes to lead his statements.
Dante answers: "All those bitings that have power to make the heart turn towards God, work together on my love, since the world’s being and my own being, the death that He suffered so that I might live, and what each believer hopes, as do I, together with the living consciousness I spoke of, have drawn me out of the sea of the perverse, and set me on the shore of true love. I love the leaves with which the whole Garden of the eternal Gardener is leafed, as greatly as good has been offered to them, by Him."
Continuing from >>2653657
As soon as Dante falls silent, the sweetest song resounds through the Heavens, and Beatrice cries: "Holy, Holy, Holy", with them all.
Then, 'as a man wakes from sleep' Dante sees a glimmer of light, then more light. Beatrice has cleared his sight so that he can see more clearly than before. He sees that a fourth soul has joined them.
Beatrice tells him that 'in those rays, Adam, the first soul that the primal Power ever made, holds loving converse with his Maker'.
Dante turns to Adam and devoutly begs him to speak: "you see my wish, and I do not say it, so that I can hear you sooner."
Adam replies:
"Though you do not say it, I see your will, more clearly than you see what you are most certain of, because I view it in the true Glass, who makes Himself the Mirror of all things, and makes nothing which completely reflects Him.
You wish to know how much time has passed since God set me in the exalted Garden—Eden, and for how long its delights endured my presence, and the true cause of the great wrath—God's anger, and about the language that I used."
Then Adam answers the third question first: 'it was not the eating of the Tree that was the cause but solely the going beyond the bounds set'. 'In that place, Limbo, my longing for these courts lasted four thousand three hundred and two revolutions of the sun', and I had seen him pass along his track nine hundred and thirty times, while I was on Earth'. 'The language, I spoke, was spent, long before the tower, that was never completed, was built, by Nimrod’s people'. 'In life, pure, and then disgraced, I was on the Mount, from the first hour to that which follows the sixth hour'.
Continuing from >>2653663
Analysis:
-Adam sees all things including Dante’s hidden questions reflected in the Divine mirror where every created thing is perfectly reflected, though none of those created things perfectly reflect God.
Adam answers Dante’s questions:
His original sin lay in disobedience (according to Aquinas pride in desiring spiritual good beyond what was owed him) rather than the eating of the fruit of the tree.
His existence on Earth lasted for 930 years and in Limbo for 4302 years.
Adam’s language had vanished before Babel was built.
Finally, he lived in Eden for seven hours.
15/18
Still in the sphere of Fixed Stars, the whole of Paradise, singing "Gloria", celebrates the Trinity and Dante seems 'to see the Universe’s smile'. The three Apostles and Adam stand burning in front of Dante’s eyes. Peter begins to glow more intense and becomes 'Mars’s warlike red'.
The choir falls silent.
"Do not wonder if I transform the colour of my light, since you will see all these others do the same, as I speak" says Peter. "He who, on Earth, usurps my place, my place, my place that in the sight of God's own Son is vacant now, has made my burial ground a sewer of blood and filth."
At St. Peter's words, Dante sees the sky of Heaven 'tinged with that colour which paints the clouds at dawn or evening'. Beatrice blushes too, 'like a modest woman, who is certain of herself, but feels fear only at the hearing of another’s fault'.
St. Peter speaks again, his voice much different than before:
"The Church, the spouse of Christ, was not fed on my blood, and that of Saints Linus and Cletus, so that she might be used to acquire gold: but it was to gain this joyful life that Sixtus, Pius, Calixtus and Urban gave their blood after many tears."
"It was not our purpose for one part of Christianity to sit on the right side, and the other on the left of our successors; or that the keys given in trust to me should become the insignia on a banner making war on the baptised; or that I should become the head on that seal which stamps false and mercenary privileges, at which I often blush and shoot out flames."
"From above, here, the ravening wolves are seen, dressed as shepherds, in all the pastures. But the high Providence [that supported Rome against Carthage] will soon bring aid, I think. And you, my son, who will return below, because of your mortal heaviness, open your mouth, and do not hide the things I do not hide."
Then, the ether fills with the triumphant spirits like snowflakes travelling upwards.
Continuing from >>2654227
Analysis:
Peter glows red with righteous wrath and the entire sphere takes on this color.
With a triple repetition of ‘my place’, Peter speaks about the current Pope (Boniface III in 1300) who usurps that place as head of the Church. Boniface is so corrupt that Heaven considers the Papacy vacant; and he is making Peter's realm of mankind a "sewer of blood".
Peter and several of his early successors—Linus, Anacletus, Sixtus I, Pius I, Calixtus I, and Urban I—shed their blood to guide the church not toward the acquisition of wealth but toward the attainment of eternal blessedness. They didn't want future popes to be divisive figures, with part of the Christian population on the pope's right side (Guelphs) and part on the left side (Ghibellines), nor did they intend for papal power to be used for waging wars on fellow Christians (the use of the keys of Heaven, given to Peter by Christ, as a battle standard) or for selling false privileges and benefices (the use of Peter's figure as a seal on corrupt Papal documents).
Peter concludes his denunciation by prophesying that high Providence will bring Divine vengeance against these lying popes as it once helped Rome preserve its glory (when the Roman army led by Scipio Africanus the Elder defeated the Carthaginian Hannibal in the Second Punic War in 202 BCE). He then urges Dante to give voice to the truths that are being revealed to him.
Continuing from >>2654234
Dante tries to follow them all the way up, but his mortal eyes cannot behold the Empyrean. Beatrice sees this and tells Dante to look down upon the earth once again to see how he has orbited. He can see, to the west, 'beyond Cadiz that foolish track Ulysses took', the Atlantic ocean, the sea which Ulysses sailed across, and to the east, Lebanon.
Dante turns back to Beatrice and is dazzled by her smiling face as they are drawn up 'into the swiftest Heaven', the Primum Mobile.
She says: "The nature of the universe which keeps the centre fixed and moves the rest around it, begins here, as if from its goal. And this heaven has no other place than in the Divine Mind, in which the Love that moves it is fired, and the Power that it disperses. Light and Love clasp it in one circle, as it does all the other spheres, and only He who embraces it, understands this embrace. Its movement is not measured by any other: but all the rest are measured by it. [..] Time has its roots in this same sphere, and its leaves in the rest."
Then: "O Greed, that so corrupts mortals below, that not one of them has strength enough to draw his eyes away from your depths! The will in human beings blossoms well, but constant rains turn into blighted fruit the genuine plums. Faith and innocence are only found in little children, then both vanish before the cheeks are downy.[..] There is none on earth who rules; and hence the human family goes thus astray. [But before another thousand years pass], these upper spheres shall roar so, that the storm so long foreseen, will turn the sterns to where the prows are now, so that the fleet will run its course aright, and good fruit follow on the blossom’s flower."
Continuing from >>2655013
Analysis:
-Dante and Beatrice move to the next level, the Primum Mobile, the ninth and last sphere of the physical universe. This place, enclosed only by the Empyrean, the mind of God, is the root of the universe; the Primum Mobile was created first. It is moved directly by God, and its motion causes all the spheres it encloses to move. Enkindled in the Empyrean are the love which turns the Primum Mobile and the virtue (or creative power) that the Primum Mobile pours down onto the lower spheres. Time has its origin here, below the timeless Empyrean.
-Beatrice then condemns the greed of the human race, which causes mortals to sin and lose forever the salvation of Heaven. As soon as they grow out of their childhood, they use their free will badly and lose their innocence. She promises that Providence will set things right, turning the backwards-running prows of mankind's ships around so that the world will find redemption.
bummp
16/18
When Beatrice, 'who emparadises [his] mind', has revealed the truth, Dante notices something reflected in Beatrice's eyes as in a mirror, and turns to see a single intense point of light, around which nine concentric circles wheel, turning faster and brighter the nearer they are to the inner point.
Beatrice, who sees Dante 'labouring in profound anticipation', says: "Heaven and all Nature hangs from that point. Look at the circle which is most nearly joined to it, and learn that its movement is so fast because of the burning love which it is pierced by."
Dante is puzzled as to why these circles reverse the arrangement of the heavenly spheres, where that sphere nearest to God, the Primum Mobile, is the widest and fastest.
Beatrice explains: "The earth-centred circles are wide or narrow, according to how much virtue spreads through their region. Greater excellence has power to work greater benefit: and greater benefit is conferred, by the largest sphere, if all parts of it are equally perfect. So the sphere, that sweeps with it all the rest of the universe, corresponds to the circle that loves and knows most. Therefore, if you take your measure from the virtue, not the appearance, of the substances which appear to you in these circles, you will see a marvellous correspondence between greater and more, smaller and less, between every Heaven and its angelic Intelligence."
After Beatrice finishes talking, each of the nine rings glitters 'as iron shoots outs sparks when it is poured', and Dante can hear their voices singing "Hosanna" towards the fixed Point in the center.
Beatrice speaks again, naming each of the rings: from the center outwards, the first ring contains the Seraphim, then the Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Continuing from >>2655732
Analysis:
The Primum Mobile is the abode of angels, and here Dante sees God as an intensely bright point of light surrounded by nine orders of angels, hierarchically arranged according to their proximity to God.
Dante perceives (from the innermost to the outermost ring): Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Similar to mirrors, angels reflect the divine light, which remains "one in itself," down through the created universe.
Dante is confused by an apparent contradiction: the fiery rings of angels are brighter and swifter the closer they are to the central point, whereas the celestial spheres are purer and faster as they increase in size outward from the earth (at the center of the universe). Beatrice must therefore explain this discrepancy between the spiritual realm (the angelic orders) and the physical universe (the spheres). The contradiction disappears if we consider the "power" of the circling rings of angels and not their size and location. From this perspective, the angels and spheres correspond to one another in an inverse relationship: the innermost ring of angels (Seraphim) and the outermost sphere (Primum Mobile) correspond because they are closest to God, from spiritual and physical viewpoints respectively; the Cherubim (second angelic ring from the center) are assigned to the sphere of the Fixed Stars (the next to outermost sphere); and so on, down to the pairing of the outermost angelic ring (simple angels) with the innermost sphere (Moon). This inverse correspondence is based on the theological idea that God "occupies" both the center (as an infinitesimally small point) and a dimension beyond space-time. God is both centre and circumference.
Continuing from >>2655733
Beatrice keeps silent for as along as it takes the sun to set and the opposing full moon to rise; with a smile pictured on her face, gazing intensely at the point of light.
Then she begins to speak: "I do not ask, I say, what you wish to hear of, since I have seen the point of Creation, on which every 'where' and 'when' is focused."
"In his Eternity beyond time, past all others’ understanding, the eternal Love showed himself, in new love, as he desired: not to gain any good for Himself, since that cannot be, but so that his reflected light, shining, might say: I am. He did not lie there, as if sleeping, before Creation. [..]
Form and matter, pure and conjoined, issued into being without flaw, like three arrows from a triple-strung bow [..], so that no time passes between its entry and the illumination.[..]
Before one could count twenty, some of the Angels fell, stirring the foundation of your elements. The rest remained, and began the art you see, with such delight, that they never leave their circling. The source of the fall was the cursed pride of Satan, him you saw imprisoned by the whole weight of the universe. Those you see here were humble, recognising themselves as being from that same excellence that made them so quick in understanding: so that their vision was exalted by illuminating grace, and their own virtue, so that they have their will free and entire.[..]
These Angelic substances, since they first gathered joy from God’s face, have never turned their eyes from that, from which nothing is hidden, so that their vision is never disturbed by any new object, and there is no need to recall anything to memory, because of divided thoughts. So humans dream, down there, when not asleep: certain that they speak the truth, or uncertain: and there is greater error and shame in the latter."
Continuing from >>2655745
Analysis:
-God, out of love, created his creatures so that they might know existence. Time was created in the triple creation, of form, matter and being, out of the timeless, like three arrows from a bow. And order and substance were created instantaneously in the form of the Angelic presences.
-Very soon after the Creation, a number of angels, led by Lucifer, revolted against God. And Lucifer fell because of his pride, while the rest of the angels, content in the knowledge that God had a purpose for them, remained patient and loyal. God rewarded them later with the knowledge to move the universe and with his grace, so that their wills remain intact. They have perfect vision of God and thus, their will is always in conformity with His.
-As the highest created beings, above humans on the ladder of being, angels are associated with pure reason and contemplation. Sempiternal creatures (eternal since their creation), the angels enjoy uninterrupted vision of God.
The Angels have understanding and free will but do not require memory since they see past, present and future, as human beings claim to do in true or false prophecy.
Continuing from >>2655747
"You do not follow a single track when you philosophise down there: love of display, and the thought it produces, delights you so. But even this is tolerated here with less indignation than when Divine Scripture is twisted or discarded. They forget how great the cost was in blood to sow its seed in the world, and how much he pleases, who keeps it by him, in humility.
Everyone strains his wits to call attention to himself, making his own inventions. These are discussed
by preachers, while the Gospel’s voice is stilled.
One says the moon reversed when Christ suffered, and blocked the sun’s light from shining below, and others that the light vanished by itself: so that the same eclipse affected Spaniards and Hindoos, as it did for the Jews.
Many Lapi and Bindi, here and there, shout such fables from the pulpits: so that the sheep, knowing nothing, return from the pasture fed on air, and not to know their loss is no excuse.
Christ did not say: ‘Go and preach nonsense to the world,’ to his first gathering, but gave them the true foundation: that, and only that, was on their lips: so that they made the Gospels lance and shield in their fight to light the faith. Now a man goes to preach with jests and jeers, and if there is loud laughter, his cowl swells, and nothing else is needed. But such a devil is nesting in the hood, that if the crowd could see it, they would know what remission they were trusting in: and from this the foolishness has increased so much, on earth, that people would go with any promise, without proof of evidence."
Continuing from >>2655767
Then Beatrice cuts herself short and says that the Angels are of too great a number for human conception.
"The primal light that shines, above it all, is received by it in as many ways as the reflected splendours, with which it pairs. And since affection follows the act of conception, the sweetness of Love is warm, or hotter in them, in various ways. See, now, the breadth and height of Eternal Value, since it has made so many mirrors of itself, in which it is reflected, remaining itself One, as it was before."
Analysis:
-Beatrice condemns philosophers who care more for show than truth and those who deliberately pervert the meaning the Holy Scriptures, filling people's minds with nonsense while the priests discuss it, and the Scriptures are left silent.
One of the more popular of these intellectual inventions is the idea that the eclipse which brought darkness to the world, when Christ was crucified, was a specifically engineered lunar eclipse. Beatrice scornfully denies this, saying that it wasn't just dark in Jerusalem, but all around the world.
Many Tom, Dick, and Harry tell false stories like this and people believe them, but being unaware of their falseness does not excuse them from sin.
Christ did not tell his followers to go forth and preach false stories, but only gave them true teaching to act as their weapons. But now people preach with jokes and grimaces, preaching in ridiculous cowls, in which the Devil rears his ugly head.
-There are an infinite number of angels because they represent the infinite number of ways God can express his love. God’s Light is reflected in all the elements of creation which vary in their qualities, says Beatrice, as she and Dante prepare to enter the Empyrean.
Bump for you op. You're a champion.
bump for OP
>americans
>pretending to read divine comedy
>>2656668
This is absolutely understandable. I dońt think that british students would read Molière and Dante nor italian would read Shakespeare or Melville. It´s a shame but that´s the way it is.
>>2632062
You kick ass, OP. What is the source of the text you give? I'd love to read the whole thing outside of a web browser.
Litterally God tier thread, OP
>>2656680
Good thing eastern Europeans learn both. Shame indeed for those that have not read them.
Continuing from >>2655768
"As the brightest handmaiden of the sun advances, so Heaven quenches star after star, till even the loveliest are gone. In the same way, that Triumph, which always plays around the point that overcame me, appearing to be embraced by that which it embraces, faded, little by little, from my vision: so that my seeing nothing, and my love, forced me to turn my eyes towards Beatrice.'
'The beauty I saw is beyond measure, not only past our reach, but I truly believe that only He, who made it, joys in it completely.
At this time, I hold myself more utterly vanquished, than ever his theme’s weight overcame comic, or, tragic poet. Since, like the sun, in trembling vision, so the memory of the sweet smile, cuts off my memory, from my deepest self. From the first day, in this life, when I saw her face, until this sight, my song has never failed to follow, but now my way must cease the tracking of her beauty through poetry, as every artist must at his furthest reach."
Beatrice says: "We have issued from the largest sphere, into the Heaven that is pure Light, intellectual Light, filled with Love, Love of true Goodness, filled with Joy, Joy that transcends every Sweetness. Here you will see the Redeemed, and the Angelic, soldiers of Paradise, and the former in their forms that you will see at the Last Judgement."
'As a sudden flash of lightning destroys the visual powers' [..] a living light shines round [Dante], leaving [him] bathed in such a veil of its brightness, that nothing is visible to [him].'
Analysis:
In the Empyrean Beatrice's beauty exceeds all measure, and Dante cannot capture her beauty in language. Here, Dante will see the redeemed spirits and the angels in their forms as at the Last Judgement.
The Empyrean is the pure light of Truth, which is filled with love. That Love, full of transcendent joy, is the love of true Goodness. Though Truth and Love coexist in God, intellect and knowledge in Man is the cause of human love.
For those who want to read The Divine Comedy.
Also, thank you OP.
Continuing from >>2657000
Beatrice's voice penetrates his light-suffused blindness and tells Dante: "The Love, that stills Heaven, always accepts spirits, into itself, with such a greeting, to fit the candle for its flame."
Suddenly, Dante sees 'brightness, in the form of a river, shining, amber, between banks pricked out with miraculous Spring'. Sparks fly out of the river and land on the flowers that line the banks.
Beatrice's voice comes again. She tells him: "The high desire that burns and urges you now to acquire knowledge of the things you see, pleases me more the more it intensifies. But [to slake your thirst] you must first drink of this water".
Then she adds that 'the river and the topazes that enter it and exit, and the smile of the grasses are the shadowy preface to their reality'. Everything is but a shadow of its true self because he does not have 'such exalted vision yet'.
As Dante bathes his eyes in the brilliance, the river itself seems to change before his eyes, and he sees the two hosts of Heaven—the angels and the blessed saints sitting in Heaven's court.
Analysis:
Dante sees a River of Light (see Revelation 22:1: "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb"), symbolising the flow of divine grace, which gradually changes into a vision of the courts of Heaven.
Continuing from >>2657012
Dante praises God to give him the power to say what he sees. Up above, a huge dome of light illuminates everything below: "There is a light, up there, that makes the Creator visible to the creature.[..] It whole appearance is formed of rays reflected from the surface of the Primum Mobile, which draws its life and power from them."
Rising above the light, around, around, Dante sees 'all of us who have won their way back up there, casting their reflection in more than a thousand ranks'.
And at the top of the dome, which acts as a mirror, Dante sees the entire Celestial Rose with its hosts reflected.
'Near and far do not add or subtract there, since where God rules without mediation the laws of nature have no relevance'.
Beatrice draws him into the glow of 'the eternal Rose, that rises layer on layer, and exudes the perfume of praise, towards the Sun, that makes eternal Spring, saying: ‘Marvel at the vastness of the white-robed gathering! Our City, see how wide its circle! See our thrones, filled, so that few spirits are still awaited there'.
Analysis:
-The true home of all the blessed is with God in the Empyrean, a heaven of pure light beyond time and space. Dante sees the blessed systematically arranged in an immense white rose: like a hologram, a three-dimensional image, the rose is formed from a single ray of light, coming from God himself, and reflected from the top of the Primum Mobile below, making the Creator visible to the creature. This single ray of light powers the entire universe. And the spirits themselves reflect the light upwards and outwards.
Continuing from >>2657021
Then Dante looks at an empty throne with a crown above it.
Beatrice says: "The soul, an imperial one on earth, of Henry the Seventh, shall sit on that high seat, that you fix your eyes on,[..] before you yourself dine at this wedding feast: he, who will come to set Italy straight before she is ready for it. And he, Clement, who will be Pope, blind with greed, [will drive him away] as a little child chases away its nurse while dying of hunger. But God will not suffer him long in that sacred office, since he will be forced down where Simon Magus is, for his reward, and push Boniface further down."
Analysis:
-Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg (1308-1313) was in Italy between 1310 and 1313, and was hailed by Dante as the Liberator, the man Dante believed would unite Italy and take the crown of the Holy Roman Empire to bring peace to Europe. He reached Milan in December 1310, but failed as honest broker to reconcile the Guelph and Ghibelline factions. Initially, pope Clement V supported Henry VII and then turned away from him. Henry died in 1313, as he was marching on Florence and planning a campaign against Naples, ending the dreams of Dante and the Florentine exiles.
But as we saw in Inferno canto XIX, Clement, dying in 1314, has his place in Hell reserved next to pope Boniface, whose place is also reserved, in the third chiasm of the eigth circle, amongst the simoniacs.
17/18
"In semblance, therefore, of a pure white Rose, the sacred soldiery which with His blood Christ made His Bride, revealed itself to me; meanwhile the other host, which, flying, sees the glory of Him who wins its love, and sings the goodness which had made them all so great, was, like a swarm of bees, which now inflowers itself, and now returns to where its toil is sweetened, ever coming down to enter the spacious Flower, which with so many leaves adorns itself, and reascending thence to where its Love forever makes His home.
The faces of them all were living flames, their wings were golden, and the rest so white, that never is such whiteness reached by snow.
When down into the Flower they came, they spread from bench to bench the peace and ardent love, which by the fanning of their sides they won.
Nor did so vast a host of flying forms between the flower and that which o’er it lies, hinder the sight, or dim the splendor seen; because the Light Divine so penetrates the Universe, according to its worth, that naught can be an obstacle thereto.
And this secure and joyous Kingdom, thronged by people of the ages old and new, wholly on one Mark set its looks and love."
Continuing from >>2657055
Dante is stupefied, as the barbarians were 'on seeing Rome and her great works, at the time when her palaces exceeded mortal things', having made the triple journey from the human to the divine, from time to eternity, and from Florentine chaos to Heavenly order.
"With what stupor must I be filled! Truly, what with it, and with my joy, my wish was to hear no sound, and be mute."
18/18
'Like a pilgrim who renews himself, by gazing, in the Temple of his vows, and already hopes to retell how it looks', Dante gazes at the multitude of 'love-persuasive faces decked by Another’s light and their own smiles', so as to remember it all, then turns, 'with re-illumined will', to ask Beatrice about things with which his mind is concerned.
But where Beatrice usually stands, Dante sees an old man dressed like the glorious folk. His eyes and cheeks are full of gentle joy, with kindly gestures as fits a tender father.
"Where is She?" Dante says impulsively, at which the spirit replies: "Beatrice brought me from my place to lead your desire to its goal: and if you look up at the third circle from the highest level, you will see her again, on that throne her merit has marked out for her."
Dante lifts up his eyes without answering, and sees her, making a crown for herself, by reflecting the eternal light from her person'. Although he is very far from her seat, farther than the distance between 'the highest vaults of the thunder and the sea’s depths, her image comes down to him unblurred by any medium.
"O Lady, in whom my hope has life, and who, for my salvation, suffered to leave your footprints in Hell, I recognise the grace and virtue of all I have seen, through your power and your goodness. You have brought me from slavery to freedom, by all those paths, by all those ways that you had power over. Guard your grace, in me, so that my spirit, which you have made whole, may be acceptable to you when it leaves my body."
In response to his prayer, Beatrice smiles and gazes at him, before turning her eyes towards the Eternal Fountain.
Continuing from >>2657086
Then, the holy man says to Dante: "Let your eyes fly around this Garden, so as to consummate your journey perfectly, the mission for which prayer and sacred love sent me: since gazing at it will better fit your sight to climb through the divine light. And the Queen of Heaven, for whom I burn wholly with love, will grant us all grace, because I am her loyal Bernard."
Dante gazes at him in awe. And Bernard tells him to look at the circles, to the very farthest, until he sees the enthroned Queen of Heaven, Mary.
As his eyes travel up the Rose, Dante discovers one spot brighter than the rest—just like the rising sun shines out in the sky. Around 'that flame of peace', more than a thousand Angels, joying, with outstretched wings are dancing and singing. Mary herself, in the center, smiles at their dances and their songs.
Analysis:
-Beatrice now rests as Dante’s guide, and Dante in gratitude celebrates her goodness, and her grace that has led him to freedom and the hope of salvation, and asks for her protection.
-Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) was a French abbot and the primary reformer for the Cistercian order. Son of a noble Burgundian family, he founded the great monastery at Clairvaux in France and was abbot there till his death. There Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary. In 1144 pope Eugene III commissioned Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. With King Louis VII of France present, he preached to an enormous crowd in a field at Vézelay, and so the crowd enlisted en masse. Bernard died at age 63, after 40 years spent in the cloister. He was the first Cistercian placed on the calendar of saints, and was canonized by Pope Alexander III in 1174.
He guides Dante to the final Vision. He has brought Dante to gaze at the Virgin, the essential feminine aspect of God’s universe, its grace and kindness.
I LOVE YOU OP THANKS SO MUCH :')
>>2657123
Bernard now points out several notable characters sitting in the Rose: Eve, who opened the wound of original sin which Mary closed, kneels at Mary's feet.
On the left side, in which all the seats are filled, sit all the souls who believed in Christ before he came. The right side, where there are empty seats among them, is reserved for those who believed in Christ after he came.
Two gendered rows mark this division of the rose in two halves. In the row below Mary appear the Hebrew women: Rachel and Beatrice sits below Eve. Then, down the rose, petal by petal, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and Ruth.
Next to Mary and opposite from Eve, sits John the Baptist, who heads a row of men: St. Francis, St. Benedict and Augustine.
Bernard asks Dante to look down the two divisions, where 'the spirits [who] have their places not because of their own merit, but another’s, given certain conditions (Predestination), since these are all souls freed before they had exercised true choice: the children.
Bernard senses that Dante is doubtful on how innocent children—with no power over their own free will—can be ranked differently. He says: "No chance point has place in all this kingdom, no more than sadness, thirst, or hunger do, because what you see is established by Eternal Law, so that the ring corresponds exactly to the finger."
St. Bernard again asks Dante to gaze upon Mary: "Now see the face that is most like Christ’s, since its brightness, and no other, has the power to equip you to see Christ." As Dante turns to Mary, the angel who 'first came down to Her', sings "Ave Maria" in front of Mary, with outspread wings. He is Gabriel, says Bernard, 'who brought the palm down to Mary, when the Son of God willed that He should take on our burden'.
Bernard now names the souls next to Mary in the first rank. On the left are Adam, then Moses, on the right St. Peter and John the Evangelist. Saint Anna, Mary’s mother, is opposite Peter, and Saint Lucy is opposite Adam.
Continuing from >>2657698
Analysis:
-Eve: the first woman, the wife of Adam the first man, created after him, who, at the prompting of the serpent, ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and gave the apple to Adam who also ate of it.
-Rachel: the wife of Jacob in the Bible. She is for Dante the type of Contemplation.
-Sarah: the wife of Abraham, The Patriarch from whom the Children of Israel derived.
Rebecca: the wife of Isaac.
-Judith: the Jewish patriotic heroine and a symbol of The Jewish struggle against oppression. She is usually shown holding the head of Holofernes the Assyrian general whom she decapitated with a sword.
-Ruth: a Moabite woman, the wife of Boaz, and great grandmother of David.
-Augustine: a Christian Saint and influential theologian. The Bishop of Hippo in North Africa.
-Moses who led Israel out of Egypt.
-Lucy: the virgin martyr of Syracuse, traditionally associated with light and vision. She is Dante’s patron Saint.
Continuing from >>2657701
Bernard then says:
"But since the time of your vision flees, here let us stop, like the careful tailor who cuts the garment according to the cloth, and let us turn our eyes towards the Primal Love, so that gazing at Him, you might penetrate as far as possible into his brightness. Truly grace needs to be acquired by prayer, so that you do not by chance fall back as you beat your wings, grace from Her who has power to help you: and follow me with such affection that your heart is not separated from my words."
And Bernard begins to pray.
Continuing from >>2657731
"Virgin mother, daughter of your Son, humbled, and exalted, more than any other creature, fixed goal of the Eternal Wisdom; you are She who made human nature so noble, that its own Maker did not scorn to become of its making. The Love, beneath whose warmth this flower has grown, in eternal peace, flamed again in your womb. Here you are the noonday torch of Love to us, and down there, among mortal beings, you are a living spring of hope.
Lady you are so great, and of such value, that if any who wishes for grace fails to resort to you, his longing tries to fly without wings. Your kindness not only helps those who ask it, it often freely anticipates the request. In you is tenderness: in you is pity: in you is generosity: in you whatever excellences exist in the creature, combined together.
Now he, who has seen the lives of souls, one by one, from the deepest pool of the universe, even to here, begs you, of your grace, for enough strength to lift his eyes, higher, towards the final bliss: and I, who was never so on fire for my own vision, as I am for his, offer you all my prayers, and pray they may not be wanting, asking that, for him, you might scatter every cloud of his mortality, with your prayers, so that supreme joy might be revealed to him.
And more I beg you, Queen, who can do the things you will: after he has seen so deeply, keep his affections sound. Let your protection overcome human weakness: see Beatrice, with so many saints, folding her hands to pray with me."
Continuing from >>2657736
Pleased by St. Bernard's pious words, the Virgin Mary fixes her eyes on Bernard then towards the Eternal light. Bernard makes a sign to Dante, and smiles, telling him to look higher, but Dante is already doing so, because his sight, being purged, is penetrating deeper and deeper, into the beam of the Highest Light, that in itself is Truth.
And Dante says:
"My vision then was greater than our speech, which fails at such a sight, and memory fails at such an assault. I am like one, who sees in dream, and when the dream is gone an impression, set there, remains, but nothing else comes to mind again, since my vision almost entirely fails me, but the sweetness, born from it, still distils, inside my heart. So the snow loses its impress to the sun: so the Sibyl’s prophecies were lost, on light leaves, in the wind.
O Supreme Light, who lifts so far above mortal thought, lend to my mind again a little of what you seemed then, and give my tongue such power, that it might leave even a single spark of your glory, to those to come: since by returning to my memory, in part, and by sounding in these verses, more of your triumph can be conceived.
I think that I would have been lost, through the keenness of the living ray that I suffered, if my eyes had turned away from it. And so, I remember, I dared to endure it longer, that my gaze might be joined with the Infinite Value. O abundant grace, where I presumed to fix my sight on the Eternal Light, so long, that my sight was wearied!"
Continuing from >>2657751
"In its depths I saw in-gathered, and bound by Love into one volume, all things that are scattered through the universe, substance and accident and their relations, as if joined in such a manner that what I speak of is One simplicity of Light. I think I saw the universal form, of that bond, because, in saying it, I feel my heart leap, in greater intensity of joy. A single moment plunged me into deeper stillness, than twenty-five centuries have the enterprise, that made Neptune wonder at Argo’s shadow.
So my mind gazed, fixed, wholly stilled, immoveable, intent, and continually inflamed, by its gazing. Man becomes such in that Light, that to turn away to any other sight is beyond the bounds of possibility. Because the Good, which is the object of the will, is wholly concentrated there, and outside it, what is perfect within it, is defective.
Now my speech will fall further short, of what I remember, than a babe’s, who still moistens his tongue at the breast. Not that there was more than a single form in the Living Light where I gazed, that is always such as it was before, but by means of the faculty of sight that gained strength in me, even as it altered, one sole image quickened to my gaze.
In the profound and shining Being of the deep Light, three circles appeared, of three colours, and one magnitude: one seemed refracted by the other, like Iris’s rainbows, and the third seemed fire breathed equally from both. O how the words fall short, and how feeble compared with my conceiving! And they are such, compared to what I saw, that it is inadequate to call them merely feeble."
Continuing from >>2657755
"O Eternal Light, who only rest in yourself, and know only yourself, who, understood by yourself and knowing yourself, love and smile! Those circles, that seemed to be conceived in you as reflected light, when traversed by my eyes, a little, seemed to be adorned inside themselves, with our image, in its proper colours, and, to that, my sight was wholly committed.
Like a geometer, who sets himself to measure, in radii, the exact circumference of the circle, and who cannot find, by thought, the principle he lacks, so was I, at this new sight: I wished to see how the image fitted the circle, and how it was set in place, but my true wings had not been made for this, if it were not that my mind was struck by lightning, from which its will emerged.
Power, here, failed the deep imagining: but already my desire and will were rolled, like a wheel that is turned, equally, by the Love that moves the Sun and the other stars."
The end.
Continuing from >>2657736
Analysis:
-Bernard’s prayer to the Virgin follows, and Dante associates her with Love, Hope, Grace, Kindness, Pity, Generosity, and other human excellences. She is an embodiment of nurturing, empathetic, and loving humanity, taking on many of the positive and benign attributes of the ancient goddesses. Bernard asks the Virgin for her grace towards Dante so that he might see the final vision, and his protection afterwards. The prayer touches on the incarnation and redemption, the hope of salvation, the end of Dante’s mission, the grace he needs to achieve it and be true to it, the sympathy of the blessed, and Bernard’s own praise and devotion. This prayer on behalf of another is an essentially loving act.
Continuing from >>2657759
Last analysis:
-Dante now looks into the Divine Light. His power of vision is beyond speech and memory, and like a dreamer he retains only the impression and the sweetness. He asks for the power to reveal a little of what he saw and felt, and dared to endure. His Vision, in the moment of supreme stillness, beyond time, is of a universal unity, bound together by Love in a simplicity of Light. Within it is the concentrated and perfect Good, the object of will and desire, which the eye cannot turn away from to another sight. Outside it all things are in some way defective in their goodness. Dante is therefore consistent in treating God as the essential Good, and the intellectual Light of Truth, which is desired by Man, Love as the desire for the Good binding all together.
His speech is inadequate like a babe’s, but as his power of vision increases he sees a triple rainbow in the deep light, symbolising the Trinity, and within it the human form, symbolising Man’s unity with God in his essential nature. Dante is left like the geometer who cannot exactly measure a circle’s circumference in radii (the equation contains the irrational and transcendental number pi: though he can create a square equal in area to a given circle so ‘squaring the circle’) and cannot see how the image is fitted and set there.
Finally his mind is struck as if by lightning, and his will is empowered. The Vision itself loses power in his imagination, but his desire and will to achieve salvation and to create the Commedia are set in motion by Divine Love that moves the sun and the other stars.
OP here
i uploaded the entire Divine Comedy, including Inferno and Purgatorio and Paradiso in a 360mb zip file, there:
http://uptobox.com/qtn7hi8ww21w
(if the site is blocked in your country, install the extension Hola unlimited free vpn in google chrome and just pick an exotic country, then refresh the page)
second link:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/qaw9kq3eic3rdik
well, it's done. many thanks to all of you anons.
feel free to ask me anything about this book
>>2657906
Thank you so much, I've been here since the Inferno thread started, been a real nice trip Op, thank you again friendo.
>>2632062
I didn't realise Sylvester Stallone was around back then...
