signed, and resemble them to a greater or less
extent in the special virtues they exhibit, and so
co-operate with them in the government of the
Universe. This is more marked in some spheres
than in others, but is seen to some extent in all,
and can be traced by comparing Dante's heavens
and saints with the Celestial Hierarchies of the sup-
posed Dionysius, and with St. Bernard's Angels in
his De Consider atione. The poet's theory is perhaps
mainly a blending of the views of Dionysius and St.
Bernard.
The Angels are severally assigned to individuals as
guardians, and are also the bearers of tidings of
God's bounty to men ; being last in the orders of
celestial intelligences they are nearer worldly and
corporeal objects, and more nearly resemble the
human soul. Therefore in the heaven of the Moon
the saints still appear in the likeness of the human
form, and the matters discussed are concerning vows
and free will, as especially relating to the salvation
and guidance of individuals. The function of the
Archangels is to announce messages of special im-
portance and sacredness, and to protect and guide
particular nations. Thus in the heaven of Mercury
the Emperor Justinian plays the same part towards
the Roman people that Michael did for the Jews ;
24
A STUDY OF THE PARADISO
and the mystery of the Redemption by the Incarna-
tion is explained to Dante, even as from the Arch-
angels Gabriel was chosen to bear the message to
Mary. The Principalities, according to St. Bernard,
regulate and establish earthly Principalities, and
transfer and alter their territories and boundaries.
According to Dionysius, they represent the princi-
pality of God and draw earthly princes to imitate
this by ruling with love, " in order that whatever is
in the chief place may exercise lordship with all love
and may join love with lordship." ^ In the sphere of
Venus, which the Principalities move, the souls of
lovers appear. The influence of the heavens for the
proper constitution of society is treated of, and vari-
ous other matters tending directly or indirectly to
induce good government and substitute love for
avarice in the hearts of rulers. Carlo Martello
speaks to Dante of the Sicilian Vespers, which so
altered the territorial dominions of the house of
Anjou and severed for a time the kingdoms of Naples
and Sicily.
The Poicers represent the Divine Power and
Majesty ; they combat the powers of darkness and
stay diseases. The great doctors and teachers ap-
pear in the sphere of the Sun, and the life work of
St. Francis and St. Dominic is described, the two
champions of the Church in the same conflict and
the healers of the plagues of avarice and heresy by
their sovereign remedies of poverty and doctrine.
The correspondence between Mars and the Virtues
^ J. H. Lupton, Joannes Coletus super opera Dionysii: from
which work the other quotations from Dionysius are also taken
(especially chapters vi.-x. of Colet's version of the De Codesti Hier-
archia). Cf. St. Gregory, Ilomiliarinn in Ecangelia ii. 34; and
St. Bei-nard, De Consideratione v. 4-5. See helow, chapter v.
25
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
is peculiarly close and striking. According to
Dionysius, the Virtues imitate the Divine Strength
and Fortitude, and their name signifies " a certain
manly and masculine strength in them, and an un-
conquered and unconquerable valour." Their special
function is to make all things in God " strongly and
manfully valiant in chaste and masculine virtue."
Christ Himself "taught us that true virtue and
strength among men was endurance by enduring
gloriously unto death, even the death of the cross.
This becoming weak even to death was the strength
and fortitude of God." Risurgi e vinci, arise and
conquer, are the first words that Dante hears on
entering Mars. The souls of warriors and knights
imitate the divine strength and fortitude by forming
a celestial crucifix ; and Cacciaguida co-operates with
the Virtues by announcing to Dante his future life,
and the endurance and fortitude with which the
divine poet must support unjust exile and perform
his life's work. Similarly St. Bernard holds that the
Virtues work signs and prodigies among the ele-
ments to admonish mankind ; he sees this indicated
in the Gospels, where, after describing the signs in
the heavens, it is said virtutes ccelorum movebuntur
(Matt, xxiv., Luke xxi.), that is, the angelic spirits
will be moved by whom these things are done : et
tunc parebit signum Filii hominis in ccdo.
The Dominations are "an express image of the
true and archetji^al dominion in God," according to
Dionysius : " for the dominion in them is simple and
unmingled, and devoid of all subjection, ruling over
all, useful to all, a true and unmixed liberty of bear-
ing sway after the form and pattern of God." Their
function is to draw all things to imitate this true
dominion, so that rulers may bear true lordship in
2G
A STUDY OF THE PARADISO
God, and men may imitate this dominian by subjec-
tion and obedience. Therefore in the heaven of
Jupiter the souls of just kings and emperors appear ;
and they form the imperial Eagle, the emblem of the
universal and absolute form of dominion divinely
ordained.
The Thrones preside over the sphere of Saturn.
Upon them God sits. According to St. Bernard, this
sitting of God upon the Thrones means supreme
tranquillity, most placid serenity, peace which sur-
passeth all understanding. Fittingly, therefore, do
the contemplative saints appear in Saturn. Accord-
ing to Dionysius, the Thrones represent the Divine
Steadfastness ; by means of these Angels will God
execute His judgments, and their special office is
purification. The blessed of Saturn, St. Peter
Damian and St. Benedict, are most emj)hatic in
their denunciation of corruption and their terrible
threats of divine vengeance. The Cherubim repre-
sent God's Wisdom ; their name signifies plenitude
of knowledge. " The Cherubim," says St. Bernard,
'• draw from the very fountain of wisdom, the mouth
of the most High, and XDOur out the streams of know-
ledge upon all His citizens." Therefore in the Fir-
mament Christ is seen, and Dante co-operates with
the Apostles in spreading the knowledge of God by
means of his examination on the theological virtues ;
and Adam himself appears, in whom it is to be be-
lieved that —
Quantunqiie alia natura umana lece
Aver di lume, tutto fosse infuso.
Par. xiii. 43.'
^ Whate'er of light it has to human nature
Been lawful to possess, was all infused.
Longfellow.
27
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
Thus the Apostles and Adam resemble the Cheru-
bim, but Adam is the last soul seen until the final
consummation of the vision. The Seraphim who
preside over the ninth sphere, the Primum Mobile,
represent the Love of God. St. Thomas declares
that by the gift of grace men can merit such glory-
as to be assumed to the orders of the Angels {Siwima
I. q. 108. a. 8) ; but he also teaches that no Seraphim
fell, since they are so named from their excess of
burning Love, which precludes the possibility of
mortal sin. " Cherubim are named from knowledge,
which can exist with mortal sin ; but Seraphim are
named from ardour of charity, which cannot exist
with mortal sin. And therefore the first Angel that
sinned was not called Seraphim, but Cherubim "
{Summa I. q. 63. a. 7). And, similarly, there are no
spirits, excepting the Angels themselves, seen by
Dante in the ninth heaven, which especially belongs
to these Seraphim.
There is a remarkable picture in the National
Gallery, ascribed on the authority of Vasari to
Sandro Botticelli and representing the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin, in which, in circles corre-
sponding to the nine lower spheres of Dante's
Paradise, groups of saints are seen mingled with the
Angels, evidently co-operating with these celestial
intelligences in their work and filling up the vacant
places in their ranks. ^ Here, as in Dante's vision,
there are no saints among the Seraphim, and,
curiously, there seem to be none among the Thrones
^ In spite of Vasari's testimony, this great picture is not usually
regarded as a genuine work of Botticelli. Some German critics
assign it to a certain Francesco Botticini, whose name they
suppose Vasari to have confused -with that of the great master.
Dr. Frizzoni supposes it to be by a pupil of Sandro's who was also
influenced by Andrea Verrocchio.
28
A STUDY OF THE PARADISO
either ; although among the Cherubim appear the
two St. Johns, St. Mary Magdalene and St. Peter,
and, among the Dominations, St. Francis, St. James,
St. Andrew and others. It would seem as though
the painter held that not only did their excess of
burning Love keep the Seraphim from the taint
of Lucifer's sin, but that no Angel fell from that
celestial order, the Thrones, upon which God sits and
in which, according to Dionysius, " there dwells in
greater measure God's fixed and settled resolution
and unchangeableness of purpose."
Elsewhere St. Thomas also holds that none of the
Thrones sinned. Discussing the question whether
as many Angels fell as remained faithful, he says :
" In Holy Scripture the names of certain orders, as
Seraphim and Thrones, are not attributed to demons ;
for these names are derived from ardour of charity
and from the in-dwelling of God, which cannot be
Avith mortal sin. But the names of Cherubim ,^
Powers and Principalities are attributed to them ;
for these names are derived from knowledge and
power, which can be common to the good and the
bad " (Siimma I. q. 63. a. 9. ad 3). And yet again, in
another place, he excepts the Dominations (q. 109.
a. 1. ad 3) : " The name of the Seraphim is given
from ardour of charity ; the name of the Thrones
from the divine in-dwelling ; the name of the
Dominations implies a certain liberty ; all of which
are opposed to sin. And, therefore, names of thi&
kind are not attributed to the sinning Angels."
On the other hand, it should be observed that
Dante states in the Convivio (ii. 6) that many Angels
were lost out of all these orders, and that human
nature was then created to restore their number.
Also in the Purgatorio (xii. 25) he calls Lucifer colui
29
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
che fu nohil creato piu cli altra creatura, " him who
was created nobler than any other creature," and in
the Paradiso (xix. 47) says that he was la somma
cVogni creatura, — which might be taken to mean
that he was a Seraph.
Be this as it may, the sj)here over which the
Seraphim, who know most and who love most,
preside is Dante's last heaven of preparation. Out
of that he ascends with Beatrice into the true
Paradise, the Empyrean, which receives most of the
glory of God and in which the beatific vision of His
Essence is made known. " And because," thus con-
cludes the Letter to Can Grande, " when the Begin-
ning or First, which is God, has been found, there
is nothing further to be sought, since He is the
Alpha and Omega, that is, the Beginning and the
End, as the vision of John showeth, the treatise
ends in God Himself, who is blessed for ever and
ever-."
30
II
THE PRELUDE TO PARADISE
" Subtrahere ordinein rebus creatis est eis subtraliere
id quod optimum liabent ; nam singula in seipsis sunt
bona: simul autem omnia sunt optima propter ordineni
universi. Semper enim totum est melius partibus et
finis ipsarum."
St, Thomas Aquinas, Contra Gentiles, iii. 69.
THE first Canto of the Paradlso stands some-
what apart from the rest of the canticle, and
serves as a general jDrologue to the whole. As a
most fitting introduction to the most solemn part of
his vision, the poet sings herein of the glory of the
First Mover, of the order and beauty of His visible
image the Universe, and of the Eternal Law by
which all that Universe is governed. Dante's letter
to Can Grande della Scala affords a valuable com-
mentary to accompany this Canto, valuable not only
for what it contains, but also for the method which
it suggests for a Dantesque treatment of the rest of
the Paradiso. This letter, as is well known, is a
dedication of the earlier part of the Paradiso to
the young lord of Verona. Although not among
the letters mentioned by Giovanni Villani in his
Chronicle, in a passage which is the starting point
for all study of the epistles of Dante, it was never-
theless doTsai to the end of last century the only
letter ascribed to Dante which was known in its
31
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
original Latin form, or at least in what purported
to be such. Much doubt has been cast upon its
authenticity. It is said to have been first made
known by Filippo Villani, Boccaccio's successor in
the chair of Dante at Florence, in the course of
lectures he delivered in 1391 ; he quotes it as Dante's
three times in his commentary on the first Canto of
the Inferno ; but as many of the earlier commenta-
tors seem frequently to be taking passages from the
letter, which nevertheless they do not mention, it
has been suggested that in reality this famous
document may have been fabricated from these very
commentaries. On the whole, however, the balance
of probability seems in favour of the letter being
genuine, and its importance and value are admitted
even by some of those critics who dispute its entire
authenticity.^ The letter (I will call it Dante's for
convenience, in spite of the doubt), after drawing
the distinction between the literal sense and the
allegorical sense, defining the subject of the poem (in
the literal sense, the state of souls after death ; in
the allegorical meaning, " man in so far as by free
will, meriting and demeriting, he is subject to justice
rewarding or punishing "), defending its title of
Comedy and stating the end it has in view (to
remove those living in this life from their state of
misery and bring them to the state of felicity),
proceeds to divide this Cantica into Prologue and
Executive part — the latter commencing the main
action of the Paradiso and running on directly from
the last Canto of the Purgatorio. The Prologue
of 36 lines is further divided into Proem (verses
1-12) and Invocation (verses 13-36), and is fully
commented upon in the letter ; but, after all, one
^ See cliapter vii.
32
THE PRELUDE TO PARADISE
cannot but feel that the method is a somewhat dry
scholastic way of dealing with what is not merely
philosophy but essentially poetry, and poetry of so
high an order that Shelley, in what was almost his
last letter, cites this opening of the Paradiso as a
test for genuine admiration of great poetry.
La gloria di Colui clie tutto move
Per I'universo penetra, e risplende
In uua parte piu, e meno altrove.
Nel ciel clie piu della sua luce prende
Fu'io, e vidi cose clie ridire
Ne sa, ne puo clii di lassu discende;
Perch^, appressando se al sue disire,
Nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
Che retro la memoria noii puo ire.
Veramente quant' io del regno santo
Nella mia mente potei far tesoro,
Sara ora materia del mio canto.
Par. i. 1.1
Dante regards these twelve lines as a rhetorical
proem, giving a foretaste of what is to be said, so ^
as to prepare the reader's mind ; and, holding vnih.
Cicero that three things are required for a good
beginning, especially when something very wonder-
ful is to be dealt with, he proceeds to show that,
* The glory of Him who moveth everything
Doth penetrate the universe, and shine
In one part more and in another less.
Within that heaven which most His light receives
Was I, and things beheld which to repeat
Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends ;
Because in drawing near to its desire
Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,
That after it the memory cannot go.
Truly whatever of the holy realm
I had the power to treasure in vay mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
Longfellow.
Risplende is not merelj^ "shines," but "is reflected" or "gloweth
back."
33 D
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
when he declares that he himself was in that first
heaven, and will speak of the things which he saw
there and of which he had power to retain the
memory as a priceless treasure within his mind, he
renders his readers icell disposed, because he is going
to treat of the things that are most alluring to
human desires, namely the joys of Paradise. Their
marvellous character, too, should secure attention ;
for what can be more arduous and sublime than the
conditions of the celestial Kingdom? And, thirdly,
docility is claimed by the possibility of the enter-
prise : if he had the power to retain these things in
his mind, other men will have the same power and
his readers may hope to be able to follow him.
In the same strain he explains and demonstrates
his doctrine, that the glory of the First Mover, the
Divine Goodness and Wisdom and Power, shines in
every corner of the Universe, and that the different
created things are more or less imperfect images of
the divine glory. Dante's method is characteristic.
He first endeavours to prove his belief by reason,
by a long scholastic process, and then aj)peals to
authority. In Dante's minor works he is rather
fond of this method of ai^pealing to authority after
ha\ang employed reason — with him it practically
consists, as here, of quoting a series of texts from
sacred and profane authors, bearing upon the subject
under discussion. There is an extreme example at
the close of the treatise De Aquaet Terra, sometimes
ascribed to Dante but now usually regarded as
apocryphal,^ where authority is urged to end a purely
' This was written before the publication of Dr. Moore's defence
of the autlienticity of the Qiicestio de Aqua et Terra in the second
series of his Studies in Dante (Oxford, 1899). After Dr. Moore's
essay we can no longer say that the treatise is visually regarded as
apocryphal.
34
THE PRELUDE TO PARADISE
scientific dispute and texts are cited which, accord-
ing to ordinary notions, can hardly be said to bear
upon the matter at all. Even for the character of
this first Heaven (or last), the Empyrean, flaming
with spiritual fire of love or holy charity and re-
ceiving most of the divine light, he must needs have
recourse after reasoning to authority : Aristotle and
St. Paul and the prophet Ezekiel. So also for the
exaltation of the human intellect beyond human
conditions and consequent falling short of the
memory, and general insufiiciency of hunnan powers
to relate the vision. His final appeal to authority has
been regarded as indicating the authors upon whom
the Paradiso is mainly based. After examples from
the Scriptures, he adds : " And where these do not
sufiice for the invidious, let them read Richard of St.
Victor in his book On Contemplation ; let them read
Bernard in his book On Consideration ; let them read
Augustine On the Quantity of the Soul, and they will
not be invidious."
In the noble invocation to Apollo in the 24 lines
that follow, Apollo is doubtless to be regarded as
a symbol either of Christ, the Wisdom of the Father,
or of the Divine Grace of which the Sun is the
fitting type. It is the poet's prayer for divine in-
spiration to complete this third most arduous part
of his work. Dante remarks that, while rhetoricians
can be content with a proem, poets in addition have
need of a great invocation, since they are seeking
from the heavenly substances something above the
common mode of men, a certain almost divine gift
(quasi divinu?n quoddam munus). Certainly no man
ever held a higher or more noble conception of
the poet's function than Dante. As his allegory of
the two summits of Parnassus indicates, hitherto
35
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
human knowledge and wisdom have been sufficient,
but now he needs supernatural wisdom and divine
science as well. One of the j)assages of this invo-
cation almost appears again in the last Canto of the
Paradiso, strij)ped of all allegory in that supreme
moment : the power divine of Apollo is there re-
vealed as the Light Supreme of the Blessed Trinity.
Here it runs —
diviua virtu, se mi ti presti
Tanto, che I'ombra del beato I'egno
Seguata nel mio capo io manifest],
Yenir vedra'mi al tuo diletto legno,
E coroiiarmi allor di quelle foglie,
Che la materia e tu mi farai degno.
Par. i. 22.1
But there it will become —
O somma Lxice, che tanto ti levi
Dai concetti mortali, alia mia mente
Eipresta uu poco di quel che parevi,
E fa la lingua mia tanto possente,
Cli'una favilla sol della tua gloria
Possa lasciare alia futura gente.
Par. xxxiii. 67."
The Prologue being ended, the main action of the
1 O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me
So that the shadow of the blessed realm
Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,
Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree,
And crown myself thei-eafter with those leaves
Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.
Longfellow.
Light supreme, that dost so far uplift thee
From the conceits of mortals, to my mind
Of what thou didst appear re-lend a little.
And make my tongue of so great puissance.
That but a single sparkle of thy glory
It may bequeath iinto the future people.
Ibid,
36
2
THE PRELUDE TO PARADISE
Paradlso begins. Dante and Beatrice are standing
in the Earthly Paradise, presumably still with the
seven maidens who symbolise the theological and
moral virtues. We hear no more of Matilda and
Statins, who had played their parts in that glorious
scene. Lethe and Eunoe have been passed and
tasted : those two mystical streams that, springing
from the same fountain, take away memory of sin
and restore the recollection of good works, even as
the same ray of divine grace expels sin and brings
to light former works done in charity and accepted
by God. Dante is now indeed purified and prepared
for his ascent —
Puro e clisposto a salire alle stelle.
In order to give full solemnity to the account of the
ascent to Heaven, which he alone of mortal men
since St. Paul had accomplished, he proceeds to tell
us how it was at the noblest and most fitting season
of the year and the day. The sun rises to mortals
from different points of the horizon, but most
favourably at the (spring) equinox, at the point y^
where four circles intersect and form with their in-
tersection three crosses. Then indeed the sun best
impresses vital operations in nature with its heat
and light —
La mondana cera
Pill a suo modo tempera e suggella.
Par. i. 41.'
Dante is not actually describing sunrise on the moun- /
tain ; he is merely making a general astronomical
statement concerning sunrise at the spring equinox,
the time of his ascent, and the influence of the sun
' Temi^ers and stamps tlie mundane wax more after its own
mode.
37
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
at that season {Paradiso i. 37-4:2). AUegorically the
four circles are the cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice,
Fortitude and Temperance ; the three crosses are the
theological virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity. The
former jDerfect man according to the capacity of
human nature ; the latter supernaturally, to set him
in the way of supernatural happiness. Dante would
therefore say that the grace of God shines most upon
the soul where the cardinal virtues, which attain
to human reason, are united with the theological
virtues, whose object is God ; or possibly, as Ben-
venuto puts it, that God, the Sun of Justice and Light
of the World, rises to men through diverse ways,
but especially through the four cardinal and three
di\ane virtues. Remembering too how Dante rather
connects the cardinal virtues with the Empire as the
theological with the Church, it is not too fanciful to
suppose that he may also have meant that, in that
age of conflicting claims of Pope and Emperor, God
shone most upon a soul prepared to fulfil the duty
of rendering to Csesar the things that are Caesar's
and to God the things that are God's.
Fatto area di la mane e di qua sera
Tal foce quasi ; e tutto era la biauco
Quelle emisperio, e I'altra parte nera,
Quando Beatrice in sul sinistro fianco
Yidi rivolta, e riguardar nel sole.
Par, i. 43.'
Such was the season of his ascent and such was the
state of his soul at the time, when Beatrice turned
to gaze upon the sun with the eyes of speculative
and contemj)lative theology. The sun, rising from
^ Almost such a passage had made morning there and evening
here ; and there that hemisphere was all bright and the othe-r part
dark ; when I saw Beatrice turned towards the left-hand side and
gazing upon the sun.
38
^
THE PRELUDE TO PARADISE
the most favourable point of the horizon, had made
morning there {di la) on the mountain of Purgatory
(the morning hours sunrise to midday) and the even-