Brunetto Latini, in that most piteous cry of recogni-
tion, as Dante fixed his gaze upon the cotto aspetto of
the old philosopher wandering in his agony over the
sand beneath the rain of fire ; for Conrad Malaspina,
in the poet's courtly testimony to the valour and
generosity of that noble house ; for Guido Guincelli, .
the glorious master of the dolce stil novo.^ And,
above all, for Beatrice herself, until she drops her
allegorical veil at the consummation of the vision.

' See Purg. viii. and xix.

^ Inf. X., Inf. XV., Purg. viii., Purg. xxvi. For this I am indebted
to Dr. Moore, Studies in Dante, ii. p. 29 and note.

133



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

But in the next Canto Dante will return to the more
familiar form, even with Cacciaguida (xvii. 13-18) ;
he uses it even with the Apostles in the eighth
sphere ; with St. Bernard in the Empyrean (and,
through St. Bernard, in the prayer to the Blessed
Virgin) ; and with Beatrice herself in the last farewell
{Par. xxxii. 79-90), where perfect love has cast aside
all ceremony.

It was supposed that the plural form was first
given by Rome to Julius Caesar, as a mark of respect
when he united in his person all the offices of the
republic, and there seems a touch of satire in the line
that follows Dante's mention of this supposed act of
Rome —

In die la sua famiglia men persevra.*

The early commentators say that at this time the
Romans gave every one the tu, and that only Tuscany
and Lombardy preserved the custom of addressing
with the Voi. It is, however, very probable that
there is a reference intended to the resistance of Rome
to the imperial power ; they no longer persevere in
reverence to the majesty of the Emperor ; and there
may even be a special rebuke to the papal adherents
as the " family of Rome." It is curious to notice that
Dante himself uses the tu when he addresses the
Emperor Henry VII. in his letter in the first year
of the Emperor's descent into Italy : Tu, Ccesaris et
Augusti successor.^ However, he now repeats the
Vol three times as he addresses Cacciaguida, as though

' Wherein her family- less perseveres. Par. xvi. 11.

^ Epistle vii. in the Oxford Dante. Of the other letters ascribed
to Dante, that to Cino da Pistoia (Epist. iv.) alone uses the second
person singular, " thou." The Epistles to Moroello Malaspina (iii.),
to the Florentine Friend (ix.), and to Can Grande della Scala (x.),
all naturally employ the second person plural.

134



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

to make quite sure his ancestor notes his politeness ^
{Par. xvi. 16, 17, 18) ; while Theology in the person
of Beatrice stands apart, since matters are to be dis-
cussed which do not come within her province, and
smiles in kindly superiority at this little exhibition of
human weakness.

Cacciaguida, with another of those varied represent-
ations of the increase of celestial joy by increased
beauty of light and increased sweetness of speech,
answers Dante's questions. He tells the date of his
birth ; 1091 or 1106, according to the reading adopted. \^^
As to the forerunners of Cacciaguida, it is evident
that Dante knew nothing of them, except that they
dwelt in the centre of the city near the Mercato
Vecchio, in the ward named from the eastern gate
of San Pietro, a sign of ancient origin. Therefore
silence is best, and the sainted Crusader will not v
boast of our poca nobilta di sangue. The population
in his day T\^as one-fifth of what it was at the date
of Dante's vision, but of purer blood : not yet had .-^
commenced the entrance of families from the country
round into the old city, to Tvhich is due much of the
degeneration of Dante's Florence from the Florence
which Cacciaguida had known. Just as Dante's ideal
of Italy, as garden of the Empire with Rome its
sacred centre, stands side by side with his ideal of a
united and peaceful Florence, so the same cause has
ruined both — the relentless hostility of the Church to
the Empire. Not only has all Italy suffered, as Dante ^
had shown in Purgatorio vi., but even the individual
cities have been wrecked, as he points out now. If
man's two guides are at war, how can his life be
passed in freedom and in peace ? The successors of \ ^
Peter have been no true parents to Caesar, their first-
born, and have refused to let their light shine upon

135



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

him ; ^ or Caesar would have been stronger to illumi-
nate the world, and the feuds of Guelfs and Ghibel-
lines would not have ruined Florence. The new
families would not have been forced to enter the
town, nor would the rights of the nobles have been
usurped, nor their possessions lost ; confusion of
persons would not have arisen, which was ever the
beginning of the downfall of cities.

In Cacciaguida's lament for the decay of the grand
old Florentine families, Dante shows a kind of
patriotic hero worship for the venerated names of
these noble citizens of old, which comes out clearly
all through the poem. In Hell, the very stain of
their sins could not alienate such men as these from
his reverence and affection. It cannot be said, how-
ever, that his picture in the Paradiso quite accords
with some terrible passages in the Inferno concerning
the morality of early Florentine society. And with
it, as in a kind of running commentary, he weaves in
many a bitter reference and rebuke to his own con-
temporaries, sometimes obvious, sometimes so subtle
that it is not certain to what special individuals he
alludes. Those open foes or false friends connected
with his exile naturally receive due chastisement.
Baldo d'Aguglione, the lawyer who drew up the
decree in 1311 which confirmed the unjust sentence,
is contemptuously denounced; the Cerchi, the cowardly
or incapable heads of the Bianchi, come in for their
share ; and a monument of infamy is erected to the
Adimari, from whose house came Boccaccio degli
Adimari, who seized the poet's goods when he was
exiled and exerted his influence to prevent his recall.
Coming to the family of the Amidei, he fitly ends his
account of the Florentine houses with their fatal
^ Cf. De Monarchia, iii. 16.
136



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

quarrel with the Buondelmonti in 1215. Up to that
date Florence had been strong and united, but
Buondelmonte's desertion of his betrothed at the
instigation of Gualdrada Donati, and his subsequent
murder at the foot of the statue, supposed to be of
Mars, a victim to the god of war in the city's last day
of peace, involved the Florentines in the factions of
the Guelfs and Ghibellines. But the Canto closes,
not in this note of misfortune, but with the trium-
phant sound of the united and victorious state of
Florence, as Cacciaguida had known it : —

Con queste genti, e con altre con esse,
Vid'io Fiorenza in si fatto riposo,
Che non avea cagion onde piangesse.

Con queste genti vid'io glorioso

E giusto il popol suo tanto, che il giglio
Non era ad asta mai posto a ritroso,

Ne per division fatto vermiglio.

Par. xvi. 148.*

So victorious that never had a captured standard been
reversed in derision by her foes ; so just and united,
that the colour of her lily had not been changed for
party purposes (from white to red, as by the Guelfs in
1251), nor the ensign of the republic stained crimson
with the blood of her citizens. Both meanings may
be implied in the last line.

From the Florence of Cacciaguida the passage is
natural to Dante's own Florence, and her treatment
of him. Whilst guided by Virgil through Hell and
Purgatory, he has heard grievous words of his own

* With all these families, and others with them,
Florence beheld I in so great repose,
That no occasion had she whence to weep :
With all these families beheld so just

And glorious her people, that the lily
Never upon the spear was placed reversed,
Nor by division was vermiglion made.

Longfellow.
137



V



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

future life. Farinata had told him that he would
soon learn from bitter experience how hard it was
for a banished man to return to Florence ; Brunetto
Latini had warned him of the ingratitude of the
Florentine people towards him, and that he w^ould
be forced to play a solitary part in their factions ;
Oderisi of Gubbio had darkly prophesied that, before
long, his fellow-citizens would make him know the
bitterness of poverty and dependence upon others.^
But Virgil had bidden him avv'ait the full explanation
till he should be reunited to Beatrice ; so now, at her
bidding, Dante questions his ancestor upon these
ominous prophecies that he has heard; for, as clearly
as we see that a triangle cannot contain two obtuse
angles, so clearly do the elect behold these contingent
things in their vision of God, to whom all things and
times are present because He sees them all in Him-
self.^ How it can be that the divine prescience does
not render these contingent things necessary, nor
deprive man of his free will, was one of those in-
soluble questions upon which the scholastic mind
loved to exercise itself. Cacciaguida does not at-
tempt to solve the problem here ; he merely affirms
that the divine prescience does not render these
things necessary, just as a man who sees from afar a
ship on a certain course does not thereby necessitate
it to that course : —

La contingenza, che fuor del quaderno
Delia vostra materia non si steude,
Tutta 8 dipinta nel cospetto eterno.



' Inf. X. 79, Inf. xv. 61, Purg. xi. 140.

^ Contingent things are those which are, but might not have
been, contingent as opposed to necessary, and here Dante especially
means those things which depend upon the free acts determined by
the human will. — Cornoldi.

138



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

Necessita per6 quindi non prende,

Se non come dal viso, in che si speccliia,
Nave che per corrente giu discende.

Par. xvii. 37.^

What Cacciaguida utters is obviously Dante's own
autobiographical record; it is the history of his exile,
written at a time of calm in the comparative peace
of Ravenna. He can now look back upon his career
and see where the blame lay. Dante's attitude will,
of course, be remembered ; he supposes the vision to
have taken place in 1300, not quite two years before
his exile, and that now, many years after the vision,
he, as it were, remembers w^hat was revealed to him
then, and is relating it to the world.

Qual si parti Ippolito d'Atene

Per la spietata e perfida noverca,

Tal di Fiorenza partir ti conviene.
Questo si vuole, questo gia si cerca,

E tosto verra fatto, a clii cio pensa

La dove Cristo tutto di si merca.

Par. xvii. 46.*



^ Contingency, that outside of the volume
Of your materiality extends not,
Is all depicted in the eternal aspect.
Necessity however thence it takes not.

Except as from the eye, in which 'tis mirrored,
A ship that with the current down descends.

Longfellow.

There are no contingent things except in the material world.
In God there is no succession, whereas in material things they
follow each other like the leaves of a book. — Scartazzini.

* As forth from Athens went Hippolytus,

By reason of his step-dame false and cruel,
So thou from Florence must perforce depart.
Already this is willed and this is sought for ;

And soon it shall be done by him who thinks it.
Where every daj'- the Christ is bought and sold.

Longfellow.
139



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

Calumny at Florence and intrigue at Rome are to be
the main causes of his exile. Dante's likening of
himself to Hippolytus is a vigorous protest of inno-
cence. His early commentators vaguely state that
dishonourable proposals were made to him, and that
their rejection in part caused his ruin. It is clear
that Dante still held that his share in punishing the
conspirators who had attempted to betray Florence
to Boniface YIII., and the opposition, that he and his
colleagues in the priorate had offered to the Pope's
legate, Matteo d'Acquasparta, had made him a
marked man in Rome. It will be remembered that,
before this Franciscan " peacemaker " was sent, the
Pope had secretly notified his intention to the Duke
of Saxony of reducing Florence to submission, and had
entered into an understanding with Corso Donati ;
to such an envoy, under such circumstances, a non
tali auxilio could be the only answer of the patriotic
Signoria. The Ottimo refers the si ruole to Pope
Boniface and the .9^ cej^ca to Corso Donati, and
Benvenuto the chi cib pensa to Corso Donati and
Musciatto Franzesi, the latter of whom was partly
responsible for the coming of Charles of Valois.
False reports will assail him, continues Cacciaguida,
but the vengeance of God will punish the real
offenders — the reference being either to the general
misfortunes that fell upon Florence, or to the death
of Boniface VIII. and the terrible fate of Corso
Donati, which his brother Forese had foretold in the
sixth terrace of Purgatory.



Tu lascerai ogni cosa diletta

Piu caramente, e questo fe quello strale
Che I'arco deU'esilio pria saetta.

Tu pi'overai si come sa di sale

140



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

Lo pane altrui, e com'6 duro calle

Lo scendere e il salir per I'altrui scale.

Par. xvii. 55.*

Separation from all that is dearest to him and depen-
dence upon others will be his lot. Uncongenial and
unworthy companions will be his associates, until
their conduct towards him will lead to their own
ruin and force him to form a party by himself.
The lines —

Si che a te fia bello
L'averti fatta parte per te stesso^ —

have ever since been taken as the motto of Dante's
political attitude. Verona will be his first refuge
after separation from his fellow-exiles, where the
great Lombard, Bartolommeo della Scala, and then
his more famous brother, Can Grande, will show him
generous hospitality. The future greatness of the
latter, who was nine years old in 1300, is foretold in
Dante's splendid manner with passages that certainly
recall, not only the opening of the dedicatory Epistle,

* Thou shalt abandon everything beloved
Most tenderly, and this the arrow is
Which first the bow of banishment shoots forth.
Thou shalt have proof how savoureth of salt
The bread of others, and how hard a road
The going down and up another's stairs.

Longfellow.

Among the things most tenderly beloved, both the Ottimo and
Benvenuto mention Dante's wife; Benvenuto, following Boccaccio's
theorj', oddly adds the manuscript of the first seven Cantos of the
Inferno^ which Dante is supposed to have left behind him and
afterwards recovered. Pietro Alighieri has nothing to say upon
the subject ; his commentary upon this Canto is mainly made
up of long quotations from various philosophical writers, with
scarcely a word about his father.

* So 'twill be well for thee
A party to have made thee by thyself.
141



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

but also to some extent the attributes of the Veltro of
Inferno i. ; and there is a final prophecy which would
doubtless seem to coincide with the stupendous deeds
to be performed by the Messo di Dio of Purgatorio
xxxiii. : —

E porteraine scritto nella mente

Di lui, ma nol dirai ; e disse cose
Incredibili a quel che fien presente.

Par. xvii. 91.^

\/ After the failure of the enterprise of Henry VII.,
Can Grrande became the incarnation of the Ghibelline
hopes, and in 1318 was elected captain of their
league ; so these incredible things might possibly be
the slaying of the Giant and the Harlot, that the
Messenger of God is to perform. Dante may pos-
sibly have even dreamed that the Empire might one
day become again Italian, and therefore truly Roman,
in the person of Can Grande. However, until the
close of the fifteenth century, no commentator saw
any connection betT\'een either of these passages
{Inf. i. 103 and Purg. xxxiii. 40-45) and the young
tyrant of Verona. Nor has Cacciaguida only misfor-
tunes to prophesy for Dante himself. Although this
future is preparing for him, and very shortly, yet in
his certainty of eternal fame he need not envy his
foes ; his fife will reach into the future, far beyond
the punishment of their treachery.

Having thus heard what his future life is to be,
Dante now desires counsel from his ancestor as to
his conduct under these circumstances. In his high
vision he has learnt things that will make him many

* " And written in thy mind thou hence shalt bear
Of him, but shalt not say it " — and things he said
Incredible to those who shall be present.

Longfellow.
142



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

enemies, if he faithfully relates them. He naturally
doubts as to how his verses will be received by his
contemporaries, and whether he may not be dej^rived
of every place of refuge through this proclamation
of justice ; and yet, if he does not utter his grido,
his fame with future generations will suffer : —

E, s'io al vero son timido amico,

Temo di perder vita tra coloro

Che questo tempo chiameranno antico.

Par. xvii. 118.'

For Dante knew well his twofold mission, to rebuke
and admonish his contemporaries, but to instruct and
teach eternal truths to future ages as well. Caccia-
guida, showing still greater joy at this sign that his
descendant like himself is prepared to follow the
good influence of the planet and its celestial movers,
to " arise and conquer " in fortitude and endurance,
gives the familiar answer and injunction : —

Rimossa ogni menzogna,

Tutta tua vision fa manifesta ; *

and let men take it as they will. Only the con-
science stained with guilt or shame will feel the
sting of his words. It will be better for them, too,
in the long run ; vital nourishment when digested,
although bitter in the first taste. Above all, let him
fearlessly assail vice in high places ; for this very
purpose there are shown to him especially famous
spirits, the example of whose punishment, purgation
or reward, will be the more efficacious.

^ And if I am a timid friend to truth,
I fear lest I may lose my life with those
Who will hereafter call this time the olden.

Longfellow,
* All falsehood laid aside,
Make manifest thy vision utterly.

Ibid.

143



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

Questo tuo grido fari come il vento,
Che le piih. alte cime piu percote ;
E cio non fia d'onor poco argomento.

Pero ti son mostrate in queste rote,
Nel monte e nella valle dolorosa,
Pur I'anime che son per fama note;

Chfe I'animo di quel ch'ode, non posa,
Ne ferma fede per esemplo ck'haia
La sua radice incognita e nascosa,

Ne per altro argomento che non paia.

Par. xvii. 133.^

The best comment upon the spirit, in which Dante
carried out this injunction, is that most noble pas-
sage in the De Monarchia, where Dante opens the
third Book with the words of Daniel : He hath shut
the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me, foras-
much as before Him justice was found in me. Since
Truth from its changeless throne appeals to him, he
need not fear the indignation of men : "I Tvdll there-
fore take confidence from the words of Daniel in
which the power of God, the shield of the defenders
of truth, is set forth ; and according to the exhorta-
tion of St. Paul, ' putting on the breast-plate of
faith,' and in the heat of that coal which one of the
Seraphim had taken off the altar and laid on the
lips of Isaiah, I will enter on the present contest,
and, by the arm of Him who delivered us by His
blood from the powers of darkness, drive out from

* This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind.

Which smiteth most the most exalted svimmits,
And that is no slight argument of honour.

Therefore are shown to thee within these wheels,
Upon the mount and in the dolorous valley,
Only the soula that unto fame are known ;

Because the spirit of the hearer rests not,

Nor doth confirm its faith by an example
Which has the root of it unknown and hidden,

Or other reason that is not appai'ent.

LON'GFELLOW.

144



THE HEAVEN OF MARS

the lists the wicked and the liar in the sight of all
the world." ^

Following Cacciaguida's admonition, the eighteenth
Canto opens with one of the most beautiful passages
in the Paradiso, illustrating the relations between ^
Dante and Beatrice, whether regarded literally or
allegorically. Into his mind, while tempering the
sweet with the bitter, the sweetness of everlasting
fame with the bitterness of unjust exile and un-
merited sufferings, a thought apparently enters of
vengeance upon his foes. But all resentment passes
away at the words of Beatrice : —

E quell a donna, cli'a Dio mi menava,
Disse : Muta pensier, pensa ch'io sono
Presso a colui ch'ogni torto disgrava.

Par. xviii. 4.*

In the literal sense, because Beatrice in Heaven
would be his advocate with God, see his needs and
sustain him by her prayers, thus radiating a sweeter
and gentler influence from Paradise upon her lover
on earth. And in the allegorical sense we are to un-
derstand, as Benvenuto notes, that Theology removes y^
the mind from all desire of vengeance, showing that
nothing remains unavenged with Him who has said,
Vengeance is Mine. Thus Dante declares : —

Rimirando lei, \o mio affetto
Libero fu da ogni altro disire,'

* De Monarchia, iii. 1,

* And the Lady who to God was leading me
Said : " Change thy thought ; consider that I am
Near unto Him who every wrong disburdens."

Longfellow.
^ Gazing upon her, my aflPection was free from every other desire.
Cf. Vita Nuova, § 11 : " When she appeared in any place, it seemed
to me, by the hope of her excellent salutation, that there was no
man mine enemy any longer ; and such warmth of charity came
upon me that most certainly in that moment I would have par-
doned whosoever had done me an injury." (Rossetti's translation.)

145 L



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

as the unworthiness of vindictive desire is burned
away in the pure fire of love. He gazes upon her
transcendent beauty, from which the divine rays are
reflected, until she bids him turn back from this con-
templation to behold the warriors of the Cross : —

Volgiti ed ascolta,
CM non pur ne' miei occlii 6 Paradiso ; ^

that is, allegorically, beatitude must be sought after
not only in the contemplation of theological truth,
but also in following the examples set by valiant
men. These famous spirits of Mars are named by
Cacciaguida and flash across the Cross like lightning,
as soldiers moving to battle at the word of command,
or charging at the call of the trumpet. For these
are they who w^ere influenced by the celestial Virtues
that rule this fifth heaven, to imitate the divine for-
titude by being " strongly and manfully valiant in
chaste and masculine virtue," and who did mighty
deeds on earth like the signs and wonders that these
Angels effect in the sky. Joshua and Judas Mac-
cabseus come first, the warriors for the chosen people
of God under the old law. Then follow the Christian
knights ; Charlemagne and Orlando the Paladin ;
William of Aquitaine and Rainouart, two mediaeval
French heroes of the ninth century who fought
against the Saracens and afterwards became monks,
the former being a familiar figure in Italian art as
St. William ; Godfrey de Bouillon, the deliverer of
Jerusalem ; and last of all Robert Guiscard, the Nor-
man conqueror of Southern Italy, the Church's most
terrible champion in the days of Hildebrand. Then
the spirit of the old Crusader flashing upward rejoins
his comrades in the Cross and in their song.

* Turn thee and listen, for not only in my eyes is Paradise.
—Par. xviii. 20.

146



CHAPTER IV
EMPIRE AND CLOISTER



THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER

" lustitia potissima est solum sub Monarcha ; ergo ad
optimam mundi dispositionem requiritur esse Monarcliiam
sive Imperium." " Auctoritas temporalis Monarclise, sine
ullo medio, in ipsum de fonte viniversalis auctoritatis
descendit." — Dante, De Monarchia.

THE increased loveliness of Beatrice, Dante's own
perception that he himself has advanced a
step nearer to his God, and the change in colour of
the heavens round him from the ruddy glow of Mars
to the silvery white of Jove, indicate the ascent to
the next heaven. This is the sphere of just rulers,
whose spirits appear as golden lights, flying and
singing like a flock of birds. The intense importance
of the transformations which he beholds in this
sphere is indicated by an invocation. In the twenty-
ninth Canto of the Pu7'gatorio, on the approach of
that triumphant pageant with the allegorical figure
of the Church, Dante had invoked the Virgins
sacrosanct and called upon Urania with her choir
to lend him aid ; so now in this heaven, when about
to behold a mystical allegory of the Empire and .
its divine origin, he again invokes the Muses in "
analogous terms. It would seem, too, that in the
very words of this invocation the political nature -