Italy, how glorious hadst thou been, if either he that
weakener of thine Empire had never been born, or if
his own pious intention had never deceived him."
And elsewhere in the same treatise (iii. 10) the poet
declares that, had Constantino alienated the dignities
of the Empire, he would have rent the seamless coat
which even they who pierced our Lord's side with a
spear did not dare to divide.

First in the lower arc is the spirit of William II.,
the last of the great Norman kings of the two Sicilies,
the nephew of Constance, who succeeded him in his
dominions and so opened the way for the long and
deadly struggle between the houses of Hohenstauffen
and Anjou ; "he for whom that land mourns which
now weeps for the living Charles and Frederick ;
now he knows how Heaven loves a just king." Aquinas
(in the De Regimine Principum, quoted in Hettinger)
says : " The eternal reward that God will bestow
upon His earthly representatives is the supreme and
ultimate motive which impels the monarch to be just.
But since a pre-eminent degree of virtue is requisite
in order that he may govern justly, that is, without
respect to any personal advantages, therefore a just
prince merits a far higher reward than others."
Dante has a high conception of the virtues of these
mighty Normans both in war and peace — Constance,
Robert Guiscard, and William : noble women, heroic
warriors, just rulers — such is the poet's judgment
upon the house of Hauteville. Possibly he was in-
fluenced by the fact that their race was already a
thing of the past, as well as by his divided feeling
towards the bouse of the Hohenstauffen and his
hatred of the house of Anjou. And now that their
fair heritage had been rent in twain between Anjou

164



THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER

and Aragon, in spite of his respectful treatment of
the founders of the two dynasties, Charles the elder
and Peter, in the valley of the Princes {Purg. ix.),
both Aragonese and Angevin in his sight are usurpers
and tyrants. To Charles, the Angevin king of Apulia,
and Frederick, the Aragonese sovereign of Sicily,
Dante cries in the Convivio (iv. 6) : " Look to your
safety, ye foes of God, who have seized the sceptres
of the kingdoms of Italy." The death of William II.
initiated for Naples and Sicily the long series of
changing dynasties, each eclipsing its predecessor in
misrule, and all practically (as Balbo observes) re-
maining as foreign rulers without becoming really
Italian. Dante's \aew of the two Sicilies and their
rulers, French and Spanish alike, seems to be not
only historically true, but even prophetical.

Last of the six most illustrious spirits of the Eagle
is Rhipeus the Trojan, raised from the mists of
paganism to rejoice in the Beatific Vision, and to
penetrate into the infinite mysteries of divine
grace as deeply as a finite intellect may {Par. xx.
67-72).

Just as Dante preluded the Eagle's rebuke oi
unjust kings with a reference to the divinely or-
dained sway of the Roman Empire, so he concludes
the Eagle's panegyric of righteous rulers with another
indication that this Eagle, that passes judgment upon
kings and princes, is indeed the emblem of that form
of government which is according to God's will. He
leads up to it with the exquisite lines on the
lark : —

Quale allodetta cTie in aere si spazia

Prima cantando, e poi tace, contenta
Dell' ultima dolcezza che la sazia,

Tal mi sembio I'imago della imprenta

165



\y



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

Dell' eterno piacere, al cui disio
Ciapcuna cosa, quale ell'e, diventa.

Far. XX. 73.*

That is, the Roman Empire, of which the Eagle is the
emblem, is the imprint of God's will and an unfolding
upon earth of the likeness of the Eternal Goodness :
" What God wills to s.ee in mankind is to be held as
real and true Right."

The Eagle proceeds to enlighten Dante's wonder at
seeing these t^vo pagans, Trajan and Rhipeus, adorn-
ing the region degli Angeli. It first commends the
poet's faith in believing all that it has told him
concerning the necessity of Faith and the salvation
of these two spirits, without understanding how the
contradiction can be explained ; not believing because
he has seen or understood, but crediting things that
he does not see, in order that he may understand ;
then it makes clear the difficulty : —

Eegnum ccelorum violenza pate

Da caldo amore, e da viva speranza,

Che vince la divina volontate ;
Non a guisa che I'uomo all' uom sopranza,

Ma vince lei, pei'che vviole esser vinta,

E vinta vince con sua beninanza.

Par. XX. 94,*



^ Like as a lark that in the air expatiates,

First singing and then silent with content
Of the last sweetness that doth satisfy her,
Such seemed to me the image of the imprint
Of the eternal pleasure, by whose will
Doth everything beconae the thing it is.

Longfellow.
^ Eegnum ccelorum suifereth violence

From fervent love and from that living hope
Tliat overcometh the Divine volition ;
Not in the guise that man o'ercometh man,

But conquers it, because it will be conquered.
And conquered conquers by benignitj'-.

Longfellow.
166



THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER

By an application of this principle, both Trajan and '^
Rhipeus died with faith in the Redeemer. In the
case of Trajan, the vivid hope of St. Gregory, and
then the true love of the Emperor himself, gained
him Paradise ; by vivid hope based upon the power
of prayer, Gregory obtained from God that Trajan
should return from Hell to life so that his will might
be moved to good (for free will in the lost is obstinate
in evil) ; and in a short second life he believed and
loved much, and so on his second death had earned
the bliss of Paradise. Dante refers to this gran
vittoj'ia of Gregory in Purgatorio x. This most
amazing legend was gravely discussed by mediaeval
theologians, even by St. Thomas himself in the
Summa, and various explanations were given ; some
supposed that it was only a temporary respite ac-
corded to Trajan until the day of judgment, and
others, like Aquinas and Dante, that, after his soul's
reunion with its body, he was baptized and did
penance on earth and then went to Paradise. Even
as late as Bellarmine's time the matter was thought
worthy of discussion, but Bellarmine prudently adds
(quoted in Hettinger) : " But as Trajan's resurrection
was ^vitnessed by no one, and as the fact is not re-
corded by any ancient author, I prefer the view that
the story is fictitious ! "

The case of Rhipeus is distinctly more interesting.
Benvenuto da Imola remarks that it is a complete
answer to Dante's question in the nineteenth Canto,
concerning the fate of the man born on the banks of
the Indus : —



Chh tu dicevi : Un uom nasce alia riva
Deir Indo, e quivi non h chi ragioni
Di Cristo, ne chi legga, u6 chi scriva ;

167



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

E tutti i suoi voleri ed atti buoni
Sono, quanto ragione umana vede,
Senza peccato in vita o in sermoni.

Muore non battezzato e senza fede ;

Ov'e questa giustizia cbe il condanna?
Ov'e la colpa sua, se ei non crede?

Par. xix. 70.*

" So now," says our good Benvenuto, " our author
fitly introduces a pagan infidel in the person of
Rhipeus, of whose salvation there would seem the
very slightest chance of all ; by reason of the time,
so many centuries before the advent of Christ ; by
reason of the place, for he was of Troy, where ex-
ceeding pride was then paramount ; by reason of the
sect, for he was a pagan and gentile, not a Jew.
Briefly then, our author wishes us to gather from
this fiction this conclusion — that even such a pagan,
of whose salvation no one hoped, is capable of
salvation " ; or, as Dr. Scartazzini puts it, to show
how the di\'ine grace revealed the future redemption
to virtuous pagans also. Dante's main object, how-
ever, is clearly to indicate that the men whom he
regards as the ancestors of the Roman People were
not without divine light. Rhipeus is only mentioned
three times in the second book of the ^neid. On the
night of the fall of Troy he is recorded as one of the
band of warriors that gather round -3ilneas in the
moonlight, and again as arraying himself with the

* For saidst thou : " Bom a man is on the shore
Of Indus, and is none who there can speak
Of Christ, nor who can read, nor who can write ;

And all his inclinations and his actions
Are good, so far as human reason sees,
Without a sin in life or in discourse :

He dieth unbaptized and without faith ;

Where is this justice that condemneth him?
Where is his fault, if he do not believe ? "

LOKGFELLOW,

168



THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER

rest in the arms taken from the Greeks and so
mingling with them. And then at last, when they
strive to rescue Cassandra, and their disguise is per-
ceived by the Greeks, they are overwhelmed by
numbers, and amongst the others Rhipeus falls near
the altar of Minerva : " Rhipeus also falls, who was
above all others the most just among the Trojans
and the strictest observer of right" —

Cadit et Rhipeus, iustissimus unus
Qui fuit in Teucx-is et servantissimus sequi.

Dante, as it were, weaves in this description that
Virgil gives of the Trojan's character with the text
in Acts X. : "In every nation he that feareth Him
and worketh justice is acceptable to God " — In ornni
gente qui timet eum et operatur iustitiain acceptus est
illi ; and thus completes his conception of Rhipeus,
the Trojan preacher of truth. This righteousness of
which Virgil speaks was a gift of grace, and in re-
ward of his love for righteousness he was enlightened
with more grace, laboured against paganism, and had
the theological virtues infused into him.

L'altra, per grazia, che da si profonda
Fontana stilla, che niai creatura
Non pinse I'occliio infino alia prim' onda,

Tutto suo amor laggiu pose a drittura ;

Per che, di grazia in grazia. Die gli aperse
L'occhio alia nostra redenzion futura ;

Ond'ei credette in quella, e non sofferse
Da indi 11 puzzo piu del paganesmo,
E riprendiene le genti perverse.

Quelle tre donne gli fvir per battesmo,
Che tu vedesti dalla destra rota,
Dinanzi al battezzar piu d'un millesmo.

Par. XX. 118.»



I



The other one, through grace, that from so deep
A fountain wells that never hath the eye
Of any creature reached its primal wave,

169



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

Dante in his treatment of virtuous heathens follows
the teaching of St. Thomas as to the two ways in
which they may be saved ; God will make known to
such a one the necessary truths of faith, either
through interior illumination or by the voice of a
preacher : "Any one can prepare himself for having
faith, through what is in natural reason ; whence it
is said that, if any one who is born in barbarous
nations does what lieth in him, God will reveal to
him what is necessary for salvation, either by in-
ternal inspiration or by sending a teacher {vel in-
spirando vel docto7^em mittendo)." ^ The way of
interior illumination is seen in Rhipeus, whilst that
of sending a teacher was illustrated by the case of
Statins in the Purgatorio. That of Trajan is of
course a special miracle, outside of God's ordinary
method of action in these matters, a special conces-
sion to the prayers of a saint.

The Eagle concludes by touching somewhat upon
the inscrutable mystery of Predestination ; and, as
St. Thomas had already done in the heaven of the
Sun, so here it rebukes rash judgment of mortals
in these high matters. Let them rein in their judg-
ments, for even the saints that see God do not see



Set all his love below on righteousness ;

Wherefore from grace to grace did God unclose
His eye to our redemption yet to be :

Whence he believed therein, and suffered not
From that day forth the stench of Paganism,
And he reproved therefore the folk perverse.

Those Maidens three, whom at the right-hand wheel
Thou didst behold, were unto him for baptism
More than a thousand years before baptizing.

Longfellow.

* In the Commentary on the Sentences, II., Dist. 28, q. 1, a. 4,
ad 4.

170



THE HEAVEN OF JUPITER

all nor know yet all the elect ; and they are con-
tented so. We have again, though here less sweetly
and simply uttered, the thought that Piccarda ex-
pressed in the heaven of the Moon : —

Ed enne dolce cosi fatto scemo,

Perch6 il ben nostro in questo ben s'afifina,

Che quel che vuole Iddio e noi volemo.

Par. XX. 13G.*

Whilst the Eagle makes clear Dante's short in-
tellectual vision and heals his infirmity of rash judg-
ment, the spirits of these two saints, that have so
wondrously been saved, vividly and harmoniously
manifest their joy ; instead of vibrations of the
chords of the lute, they accompany the Eagle's song
of their salvation by harmonies of celestial light.

* And sweet to us is such a deprivation,
Because our good in this good is made perfect,
That whatsoe'er God wills, we also will.

Longfellow.



171



II

THE HEAVEN OF SATURN

" In summitate hnius scalse stint contemplativi, iam
quasi in cselo positi, quia cselestia cogitant. Isti stint
Angeli Dei per scalam ascendentes, quia ascendunt per
contemplationem ad Deum, et descendunt per compas-
sionem ad proximum. Activa vita innocentia est bonortim
operum : contemplativa vita est speculatio supernorum.
Activa vita terrenis rebus bene utitur : contemplativa
vero, sseculo renuntians, soli Deo vivere delectatur." — St.
Bernard, De modo bene vivendi.

BENYENUTO remarks that the glorious spirits
of the sphere of Jove are those who merited
eternal felicity by the active life, civil and political,
and by just administration of the kingdoms and
princedoms of the earth ; but that now the poet
intends to treat of those souls who served God by
the life of contemplation, far away from the noise
of the world. The active life prepares and disposes
a man for the contemplative, and perfection in the
life of action must be acquired before man can per-
fectly attain to the life of contemplation. The just
rulers represent the highest grade of the glorified
active life. It is for them, and especially for the
Emperor, the bearer of the Eagle, to aim that life
may pass in freedom and peace, " whereby the waves
and blandishments of human desires may be set at
rest " {De Monarchia, iii. 16) ; and such conditions are
in a sense requisite that learning may be duly ap-

172



THE HEAVEN OF SATURN

plied and contemplation practised. It was fitting,
therefore, that the emblem of the Imperial Dominion
should have been seen in the last heaven of the
active life, the sphere ruled by the celestial Domina-
tions who are " an express image of the true and
archetypal dominion in God." From the Thrones,
the mirrors of God's judgments, that represent His
steadfastness and rule the sphere of Saturn, the
Dominations receive the divine light to enable them
to govern with justice, just as the practical intellect
must acquire from the speculative the knowledge
it needs for action.^ The supreme tranquillity and
serenity, indicated by the sitting of God upon the
Thrones, points to their sphere as the fitting heaven
for the appearance of the contemplative saints, and
the intense absorption and steadfastness of contem-
plation is represented in the opening lines : —

Gik eran gli occhi miei rifissi al volto
Delia mia donna, e I'animo con essi,
E da ogni altro intento s'era tolto.

Par. xxi. 1.*

Beatrice does not smile, for now Dante's human in-
tellect would be dazzled by her splendour, and, con-
founded by excess of glory, would comprehend
nothing. At her bidding Dante turns to behold the
ladder of translucent gold, which reaches up to the
last Heaven of Heavens. The ladder is of gold to
denote the perfection of the contemplative life above
all others, as gold is the most precious of metals.
Its steps represent either the virtues by which

* Cf. Prof. Lubin's Commentary.

* Already on my Lady's face mine ej'es
Again were fastened, and with, these my mind,
And from all other purpose was withdrawn.

Longfellow.
173



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

contemplative souls mount upwards, or the truths
that are mastered one by one in consideration, in the
ascent to universal truth. Possibly they may refer
to the steps of contemplation, according to Richard
of St. Victor ; the six progressive grades of ascent to
God, according to the subject matter of considera-
tion and the way in which the soul apprehends it ;
until the highest step is reached, which is above
reason and beside reason, contemplating the impene-
trable mysteries of God which transcend all reason,
and attaining to the sublime consideration of di\ane
truth, in which, finally, contemplation becomes per-
fect : ^—

Tanto, che nol seg-uiva la mia luce,

so high that my sight could not follow it. It has
been seen already that these are only the final rungs
of the ladder that now become visible and signify
contemplation. Since the contemplatives, according
to St. Bernard, ascend through contemplation to
God and descend through compassion to their neigh-
bour, Dante now beholds these spirits coming down
the ladder towards him, in appearance as though all
the stars in heaven were approaching, and in motion
like the rooks flying about their nests at sunrise.
Benvenuto greatly admires this simile of the rooks,
and seems to see some special analogy between the
habits of that species of bird and the customs of
contemplative saints. As Dante so frequently com-
pares the souls of his saints, and sometimes the
separated spirits of his sinners, to birds, it will be
remembered how Shelley has likened a skylark to an
unbodied joy : —

" Like an unbodied joy wliose race is just begun."

' In the Benjamin Major, I. 6. Cf. Vaughan, St. Thomas of
Aquin, Vol. I. pp. 252, 253.

174



THE HEAVEN OF SATURN

As one spirit approaches nearer than the others
and shows its love by increased brilliancy, Dante
desires to question it. It awaits his question, and
there seems a pause before Beatrice gives him leave
to ask. Usually we have seen the eagerness of the
blessed souls to solve Dante's difficulties, before he
has even fully formed them to himself, to increase
in proportion with their increased perfection of
celestial love, as he ascends from heaven to heaven.
It has been suggested that the explanation of the
peculiar conduct of the spirits in this seventh sphere
lies in the idea that one of the good influences of
Saturn is to give the dispositions necessary to exer-
cise the virtue of discretion, and so we certainly find
that, in the heaven of Saturn, Dante has several
checks put upon his impulsiveness and severe limits
prescribed to his questions.

Why has this spirit come to satisfy Dante, rather
than any other of the blessed of this sphere ? Why,
too, are the sweet symphonies of Paradise silent only
in this heaven ? The saint answers the second ques-
tion first : the silence is from celestial charity and
consideration for Dante's weak mortal power. This,
of course, is another way of expressing the still
higher degree of bliss represented by this seventh
heaven over the other spheres of the planets. Per-
haps also in the silence of the celestial music, the
cessation of all such appeal to the sense of hearing,
there may be a reference to the higher degrees of
contemplation in the teaching of Richard of St.
Victor, in which " the imagination is dropped, and ^
the spiritual element alone is the object of thought."
In partial answer to the first question, the spirit
humbly disclaims any excess of love over that of the ^
other spirits of his heaven. He has merely come to

175



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

greet the poet in celestial charity in accordance with
the divine will. Although eager servants to the
divine government, yet free will still exists even
among the blessed of Paradise ; Dante learns —

Come libero amore in questa corte
Basta a seguir la provvidenza eterna.^

Men on earth are forced to do God's will by His
laws, with their sanction of reward or punishment,
but the blessed in Paradise have obtained their last
end and can now be moved by love alone.^

But why has this saint in particular among his
companions been predestinated to this office of
Dante's instructor ? For the poet has not yet
sufficiently taken to heart the lesson of the last
heaven, that it is vain for mortal minds to peer
into mysteries involving Divine Predestination. The
spirit in answer first touches upon the wondrous
way in which they have their knowledge imparted
to them in Paradise ; and even that does not suffice
to make a full reply to such a question. With them
it is not a matter of mere intellectual vision, how-
ever sublimely exalted we may suppose that to be in
their celestial country ; but divine light comes to
them from the Divine Essence, and, by virtue of that
divine light conjoined with the intellectual power of
his soul, the saint sees that Divine Essence wherein
consists his beatitude, and the brightness of the
spirits of the blessed corresponds to their sight of
God. And thence follows a final rebuke to Dante
and to men on earth, for their presumption in striv-

* How free love in this court sufficeth to follow the eternal
providence. — Par. xxi. 74.

* CORNOLDi's Commentary.

176



THE HEAVEN OF SATURN

ing to comprehend mysteries of Predestination which
not even the brightest saint or the sublimest Sera-
phim can penetrate : —

Ma queH'alma nel ciel clie piu si schiara,

Quel Serafin che in Dio piu I'occliio ha fisso,

Alia domanda tua non satisfara ;
Perocclie si s'inoltra nell'abisso

DeU'eterno statute quel che chiedi,

Che da ogni creata vista h scisso.
Ed al mondo mortal, qiiando tu riedi,

Questa rapporta, si che non presuma

A tanto segno piu mover li piedi.
La mente che qui luce, in terra fuma ;

Onde riguarda come puo laggiue

Quel che non puote, perche il ciel I'assuma.

Far. xxi. 91.^

In answer to a humbler question on the part of the
poet, St. Peter Damian reveals his identity, describes
briefly but vividly the convent of Santa Croce di
Fonte Avellana among the Apennines, and his own
austere life of contemplation there in God's service ;
and laments how (like everything else in Dante's
opinion) that cloister has degenerated since those
days of fervour and simplicity. It is possible that
Dante's ot^ti most noble letter to the Italian Cardinals



' But that soiil in the heaven which is most pure,
That seraph which his eye on God most fixes,
Could this demand of thine not satisfy ;

Because so deeply sinks in the abyss

Of the eternal statute what thou askest.
From all created sight it is cut oiF.

And to the mortal world, when thou returnest,
This carry hack, that it may not presume
Longer tow'rd such a goal to move its feet.

The mind, that shineth here, on earth doth smoke;
From this observe how can it do below
That which it cannot though the heaven assume it?

Longfellow.

177 N



DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS

was written from this same convent,^ and the mention
of the place seems now to give rise to analogous
thoughts. From his promotion to the cardinalate
Peter Damian passes on to a bitter satire against the
cardinals and great prelates. " All of you have taken
covetousness to wife, the mother of impiety and ini-
quity " : so Dante exclaims in the letter ; nor is his
saint now more lenient towards the backslidings of
those who wore that hat, che pur di male in peggio si
travasa.^ The poverty and humility of St. Peter and
St. Paul are contrasted with the luxurious lives and
worldly pomp of the modern pastors, and a terrible
cry like thunder bursts from all the contemplative
saints of the sphere, threatening the vengeance of
God upon these unworthy and vicious shepherds.

Dante is overwhelmed with terror, until Beatrice
reassures him, and explains the cry as coming only
from the good zeal of these saints. If their cry so
startles thee, much less couldst thou have endured
the singing and my smile ; that is, in the allegorical
sense, if so simple a matter as ecclesiastical corrup-
tion and the stern words that holy writers have
uttered against it disturbs thy faith, thou couldst not
have investigated the lofty mysteries of the higher
grades of contemplation, without falling into graver
doubts and more grievous difficulties : —

Come t'avrebbe trasmutato il canto,
Ed io, ridendo, mo pensar lo puoi,
Poscia die il grido t'ha mosso cotanto ;

Nel qual, se inteso avessi i preghi suoi,
Gia ti sarebbe nota la vendetta,
La qual vedrai innanzi cbe tu muoi.

^ See Chapter VII. for this, and for Benvenuto's remark upon
this episode.

^ Which shifteth evermore from bad to worse.

178



THE HEAVEN OF SATURN

La spada di quassu non taglia in fretta,