The Divine Comedy
Page 90
16. contingent things: Contingency, in Scholastic terminology, is “that which could or could not exist.” Contingency is dependent upon the action of necessity (that which must necessarily exist). Contingent being is possible, finite, and secondary. Necessary being is certain, infinite, and primary.
29. to the light: To Cacciaguida.
31-32. that glued the foolish like limed birds: Bird-lime, a highly viscous substance, is spread on boughs and used to trap birds much as flies are trapped on flypaper. Dante compares the sayings of pagan oracles to that lime, in which the pagan world let itself be trapped before the Lamb of Christ suffered to set men free of such traps.
36. his own smile: “Smile” is used here for “gladness of spirit”—a regular usage in the Paradiso. That gladness is revealed to Dante by the brightening of the flame that hides Cacciaguida from Dante’s view. Thus he is both concealed in and revealed by the brighter shining of his bliss.
37-42. Divine foreknowledge of contingency does not confer necessity because man is given free will. The nature of free will within the workings of omniscient prevision is a point of faith and must be referred to the mysteries rather than to reason.
46. Hippolytus: Son of Theseus and the Amazon Antiope. He rejected the advances of his stepmother, Phaedra, and she, accusing him of what she herself wanted, turned Theseus against him. Theseus not only drove him from home but called on Poseidon for vengeance and Poseidon sent a bull from the sea to kill Hippolytus as he was driving his chariot along the shore. Ovid tells the story in Metamorphoses, XV, 487 ff. Through Cacciaguida, Dante is, of course, protesting that the charges brought against him were as false and self-seeking as Phaedra’s against Hippolytus.
Dante, as a high official of Florence and a leader of the Whites, was charged, vaguely and inconclusively, with grafting. The “Anonimo Fiorentino,” a nearly contemporary fourteenth-century commentary, says that part of the charge brought against Dante was his “opposition to the Holy Mother Church,” which in this case is, clearly enough, another way of saying “opposition to the politics of Pope Boniface VIII.”
50-51. him who plots it: Boniface VIII, if not in person and with Dante specifically in mind, then through his corrupt agents and evil policies. where Christ is daily bought and sold: Rome, i.e., the Vatican.
52-53. you of the offended party: Both Dante and his party, the Whites.
53-54. the vengeance truth will demand: Truth will take its vengeance by punishing those who are guilty. In so doing, it will bear witness to what is true. Throughout this passage (from line 46) Boniface VIII is compared to Phaedra. (See Inferno, XII, 12-18, and note.) For the force of the comparison it is well to bear in mind that Phaedra was born of a queen so lecherous that she crept into a wooden cow in order to be taken by a bull. Phaedra later committed suicide, overcome by her guilt, her death clearing the name of Hippolytus. Hippolytus, curiously enough, survived a shift of legend and appears in Catholic hagiography as St. Hippolytus or St. Hippolyte.
62. the foul and foolish company: Dante seems to be alluding to his own party, the Whites. As a fallen leader, he seems to feel his party has betrayed him. In any case there seems to be nothing to hope for from political parties. In line 69 Cacciaguida praises him for having become his own party of one.
63. that barren coast: Of exile.
65-68. soon thereafter . . . cheeks turn red: The same sort of machinations that led to Dante’s banishment led Florence into foolish wars and bloody internal disorders that left the Florentines with more than enough reasons for blushing. The Whites in particular suffered many humiliations and bloody defeats.
69. A party of your own: In 1266 the Ghibellines were driven forever from Florence (see Inferno, X, 32-51, note). The Guelphs, thereupon, divided into Whites and Blacks, and Dante became a member of the Whites’ ruling council. At the end of 1301 the Blacks elected a new podestà, and on January 27, 1302, while Dante was on a mission to Rome, the Blacks published a decree fining him 5,000 florins and banishing him for two years. On March 10, not having appeared to pay his fine, Dante was banished permanently, and sentenced to death if he returned. In 1303, the Whites, joined now with the remnants of the Ghibellines, were gathering forces for an assault on Florence, and Dante was their ambassador at the court of Bartolomeo della Scala, Lord of Verona. At that time Boniface VIII died, and was succeeded by Benedict XI, who sent a cardinal to Florence to negotiate a settlement. With that hope in view, Dante remained affiliated with the Whites. The Blacks, however, resisted all negotiation, and the Whites prepared an attack that was repulsed with heavy losses at La Lastra, above Florence, July 20, 1304. Dante seems to have felt that the internal bickerings of the Whites had caused the carnage, and it was probably after La Lastra that he withdrew, damning Blacks and Whites together, to become a one-man party of his own.
71 ff. THE SCALIGERI (DELLA SCALA). The ancient noble family of the Scaligeri (its German branch was named Scaliger) ruled over Verona and later acquired the office of Imperial Vicar of Tuscany. Alberto died in 1301 and was succeeded, in order, by his three sons: Bartolomeo, died 1304; Alboino, died 1311; Francesco (Can Grande), who shared power with Alboino beginning in 1308, became sole lord of Verona in 1311, and died in 1329. (Dante died in 1331.) Francesco was Dante’s great patron and the lord on whom Dante based some of his hope of peace and order in Italy. (See Inferno, I, 95, and note.) the great Lombard: Francesco. the sacred bird: The eagle. The arms of the Scaligeri displayed a ladder (scala) below an eagle.
73-75. Others ask first and give later. But between Bartolomeo and Dante (as, note, among the souls of Heaven) the giving shall be first and any request (of service from the other) shall come late, the service having already been freely offered.
76. another: Can Grande. He won no particular renown as a warrior. “Of war” (line 78) does not occur in Dante. It is my own rhyme-forced addition. Yet to be stamped by the influence of Mars, praised by one of the warriors of God, and to be hailed, as Dante may have intended, as the Greyhound that shall hunt down and destroy evil, can only be appropriate to a warrior, even when the war record is missing. Perhaps Dante was still hoping ahead from the time of (as distinct from time “in”) the writing, for Can Grande was then in power.
81. nine years: Earth years. Cacciaguida does not say nine “times.” Nine Martian years would equal about seventeen earth years and Can Grande was nine years old on March 9, 1300. (Note that March is “Mars month.”)
82-83. the Gascon . . . high Henry: The Gascon is Clement V (see Inferno, XIX, 77-79, and note. Also Purgatorio, XXXII, 149-150). He succeeded Boniface VIII to the Papal throne in 1305, and to the baptismal font of Hell in 1314. Henry VII of Luxemburg, Emperor 1308-1313 (see Purgatorio, VII, 96, and note), was the main prop of Dante’s hopes for a general peace and for the end of his exile. Clement invited him to Rome with fair promises but threatened to excommunicate him in 1312. “Before,” therefore (line 82), means “before 1312.” By that time Can Grande was twenty-one, had been joint lord of Verona for four years, and sole lord for one. men will start to speak: Dante says, literally, “sparks of his virtue will appear.”
92-93. him: Can Grande. those who shall be present: To bear witness to the astonishing things Cacciaguida prophesies to Dante while enjoining him not to repeat them.
96. a few turns: Probably intended as daily rather than annual revolutions. At the Easter season of 1300 Dante was less than two years from his banishment.
108. on him who is most lax: Who has least foreseen and forearmed himself.
110. the dearest place: Florence.
112. that world: Hell.
113. flowering crown: The Earthly Paradise.
Canto XVIII
THE FIFTH SPHERE: MARS
The Courageous:
Cacciaguida
Great Warriors of God
ASCENT TO JUPITER
THE SIXTH SPHERE: JUPITER
The Just and Temperate Rulers
The Vision of the Flashing Lights
&nb
sp; and of the Eagle
BEATRICE COMFORTS DANTE, who is pondering the bitter and the sweet of Cacciaguida’s prophecy, then instructs him to turn back to Cacciaguida, who proceeds to name among the souls who form the Cross of Mars THE GREAT WARRIORS OF GOD. They flash like shooting stars along the arms of the cross. Finished, Cacciaguida reascends to his original place in the right arm and the whole choir resumes its hymn.
Dante turns back to Beatrice, sees her grow yet more beautiful, and knows they have made the ASCENT TO THE SIXTH SPHERE. He sees the pale glow of Jupiter replace the red glow of Mars and in that silvery sheen he sees THE VISION OF EARTHLY JUSTICE, a spectacular arrangement of lights that spell out a message, letter by letter, and then form as an EAGLE (The Empire) ornamented by glowing lilies (France).
Moved by this vision of Justice, Dante prays that these souls of Heavenly Justice will visit their wrath upon the corrupt Pope, who, like a money-changer in the temple, denies the sacraments of God’s people by excommunication and interdiction, in order to sell back to them what is rightfully theirs. So, for the love of money does the successor of Peter and Paul betray holy office.
Now that holy mirror rejoiced alone, rapt in its own reflections; and I tasted the bitterness and sweetness of my own.
My guide to God said: “Turn your thoughts along a happier course. Remember I dwell near the One who lifts the weight of every wrong.”
I turned to the loving sound of my soul’s aid, and the love my eyes beheld in her sacred eyes I leave unsaid—not only am I afraid
my powers of speech fail, but my memory cannot return so far above itself unless Another’s grace be moved to guide me.
This much of what I felt I can report—that as I looked at her my will was freed of every other wish of any sort,
for the Eternal Bliss that rayed down whole into my Beatrice, shone back from her face and its reflection there gladdened my soul.
And with a smile so radiant that my eyes were overcome, she said then: “Turn and listen: not in my eyes alone is Paradise.”
As, here on earth, the face sometimes reveals the wish within, if it is wished so strongly that all the soul is gripped by what it feels—
so, in the flaming of the holy ray to which I turned, I read the inner will, and knew that it had something more to say.
It spoke thus: “In this fifth limb of the tree whose life is from its crown, and bears forever, and never sheds a leaf, I would have you see
elected spirits who, in the world’s use, before they came to Heaven, were so renowned their great worth would make greater every Muse.
Look at the arms of the cross. As the swift flame within a flame does, so, within that choir, shall flash the splendor of each soul I name.”
I saw along the cross a streak of light as he pronounced the name of Joshua: nor did the saying reach me before the sight.
And at the name of the great Maccabee I saw another, spinning; and the string that whirled that top was its own ecstasy.
And just as hunters follow their falcons’ flights, so, at the names of Charlemagne and Roland, my rapt attention followed two more lights.
Then William of Orange, and then Rinoard drew my eyes after them along that cross. And then the good duke Godfrey, and Robert Guiscard.
Then, moving once more through those lights, the light that had come down to greet me, let me hear its art among the choir of Heaven’s height.
I turned to my right to learn from Beatrice, whether by word or sign, what I should do, and I beheld her eyes shine with such bliss,
with such serenity, that she surpassed the vision of every other accustomed beauty in which she had shone, including even the last.
And as a man, perceiving day by day an increase of delight in doing good, begins to sense his soul is gaining way—
so, seeing that Miracle surpass the mark of former beauty, I sensed that I was turning, together with Heaven, through a greater arc.
And such a change as fair-skinned ladies show in a short space of time, when from their faces they lift the weight of shame that made them glow—
such change grew on my eyes when I perceived the pure white radiance of the temperate star—the sixth sphere—into which I was received.
Within that jovial face of Paradise I saw the sparkling of the love that dwelt there forming our means of speech before my eyes.
As birds arisen from a marshy plain almost as if rejoicing in their forage form, now a cluster, now a long-drawn skein—
so, there, within their sheaths of living light, blest beings soared and sang and joined their rays, and D, then I, then L formed on my sight.
First they sang and moved to their own song; then having formed themselves into a letter, they stopped their song and flight, though not for long.
O holy Pegasean who consecrates the power of genius, giving it long life, as it, through you, gives life to cities and states—
so fill me with your light, that as it shines I may show forth their image as I conceive it: let your own power appear in these few lines!
In five times seven vowels and consonants they showed themselves, and I grasped every part as if those lights had given it utterance.
The first words of that message as it passed before me were DILIGITE IUSTITIAM. QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM were the last.
Then, in the fifth word, at the final M they stayed aligned, and silvery Jupiter seemed to be washed in a gold glow around them.
More lights descended then and took their place on top of the M, and sang, as I believe, a hymn to the Good that draws them to Its grace.
Then—just as burning logs, when poked, let fly a fountain of innumerable sparks (from which fools used to think to prophesy)—
more than a thousand of those lights arose, some to a greater height, some to a lesser, each to the place the Sun that lit it chose.
And as each took its place in that still choir I saw the head and shoulders of an eagle appear in the fixed pattern of that fire.
The One who paints there needs no guide’s behest. He is Himself the guide. From Him derives the skill and essential form that builds a nest.
The other sparks, at first content to twine in the form of golden lilies round the M now moved a bit, completing the design.
O lovely star, how rich a diadem shown forth to let me understand our justice flows to us from the heaven you begem.
Therefore I pray the mind that initiated your power and motion, to observe the source of the smoke by which your ray is vitiated;
that it be moved to anger once again against the buyers and sellers in the temple whose walls were built of blood and martyr’s pain.
O soldiery of Heaven to whose array my mind returns, pray for all those on earth who follow bad example and go astray.
In earlier eras wars were carried on by swords; now, by denying this man or that the bread the Heavenly Father denies to none.
But you who scribble only to scratch out, remember that Peter and Paul, who died for the vineyard you trample, still defend the good you flout.
Well may you say: “My heart’s wish is so set on the image of the saint who lived alone and who was forced to give his head in forfeit,
as if it were a favor at a ball—what do I care for the Fisherman or old Paul!”
NOTES
1-3. that holy mirror: Cacciaguida. The image is of the blest soul as a mirror and reflector of God’s ray. (Cf. XIV, 40-42.) the bitterness: Of the prophesied exile and of the triumph of his enemies. sweetness: Of prophesied poetic fame.
4-6. Beatrice tells Dante to put away the bitter part of his thoughts (of revenge). She reminds him that she is close to God whose justice rights all wrongs, and that she will always be there as his protector. Her allegorical function as Divine Revelation is, of course, especially relevant here.
12. Another’s: God’s.
13-18. The vision of God’s eternal bliss, rayed directly into Beatrice’s eyes, and so reflected to Dante, fills his soul entirely and drives from it all thoughts of s
eeking revenge for the wrongs done him.