Fu della Tolonta la libertate,
Di che le creature iutelligenti,
E tutte e sole furo e son dotate.
Par. Y. 19.1
1 The greatest gift that in His largess God
Creating made, and unto His own goodness
Nearest conformed, and that which He doth prize
Most highly, was the freedom of the will,
Wherewith the creatures of intelligence
Both all and only were and are endowed.
Longfellow.
Cf. Richard of St. Victor, De Statu Interioris Hominis {I.e.) :
" Nothing in man is more sublime, nothing more worthy than Free
70
THE HEAVEN OF THE MOON
In a vow that God accepts, by its own act this
most sublime of God's gifts to man is offered as vic-
tim. If such is the sanctity of a vow, how can the
Church's dispensations be exjplained ? Dante shows
great severity on this point : the essence of the vow
contains two elements, the matter of the vow and
the sacrifice of the will ; the latter cannot ever be
cancelled, the former can be commuted by the au-
thority of the Church. St. Thomas was far more
lenient, and held, not only that the matter could be
commuted, but that the Church has power even to
dispense from the actual vow. Nor, in Dante's
opinion, can vows always be even commuted. The
change of matter must, according to him, be to some-
thing of greater value ; hence there are some vows
for which compensation is impossible, such as a
solemn vow of perpetual chastity. Both Benvenuto
and the Ottimo are somewhat concerned at the sever-
ity of Dante's doctrine, Benvenuto noting that Con-
stance failed in her vow for the good of the kingdom
of Sicily, and both testify their belief that the Pope
has full power in the matter. Such, indeed, would
seem Dante's final conclusion also ; for Beatrice, after
a solemn warning against vows of indifferent or of v^
unlawful matter (the latter illvistrated as usual by
one example from the Scriptures and one from
classical antiquity), thus concludes her discourse on
matters connected with freedom of the will : —
Siate, Cristiani, a raovervi piu gravi,
Non siate come penna ad ogni vento,
E non crecTiate ch'ogni acqna vi lavi.
Will. In it man was created to tlie image of God. Liberty of the
will is impressed with the image of changeless Eternity and the
likeness of the Divine Majesty."
71
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
Avete il vecchio e il nuovo testaraento,
E il pastor della Chiesa che vi guida :
Questo vi basti a vostro salvamento.
Far. V. 73.^
' Christians, be more serious in your movements ;
Be ye not like a feather at each wind,
And think not every water washes you.
Ye have the Old and the New Testament,
And the pastor of the Church who guideth you;
Let this suffice you unto j'our salvation.
Longfellow.
Dante's view of the solemn vow of perpetual chastity agrees
with St. Thomas {Snmma II. — 2. q. 88. a. 11). Such vows cannot
be commuted even for the common good and the peace of nations,
for perils of human things are not to be met by converting things
divine to human use.
72
II
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
" Dico ergo, quod si Eomauuni imperium de iure non
fuit, Christus nascendo praesumpsit iniustum. Et si
Romanum imperium de iure non fuit, peccatum Adae in
Christo non fuit punitum." Dante, Dt Monarchic.
SWIFTLY as an arrow that strikes its mark while
the cord still vibrates, Dante and Beatrice have
ascended into this second heaven. Besides the usual
sign of ascent to a higher sphere, the increased
loveliness of Beatrice, there is manifested in these
spirits of Mercury a corresponding higher grade of
glory and higher perfection of charity, when com-
pared with those in the Moon. Here, as in the Moon
and nowhere else in the lower spheres of Paradise,
the actual figures of these blessed souls are at first
seen in the midst of their radiance ; but, as showing
a higher grade of beatitude, the figure becomes con-
cealed in the splendour of its light as its joy is
increased. So, too, the perfection of their charity is
greater. The spirits in the sphere of the Moon had
appeared eager to speak, yet had waited for Dante's
question ; here, in the sphere of Mercury, one of
them at once addresses Dante in his ardour of
oharity, to bid him at his own pleasure learn from
them all that he desires to know, and his address
resembles Dante's own appeal to Piccarda (O bene
73
/
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
nato), so much have the saints of Paradise ah^eady
made the poet one of themselves. Ecco chi crescera li
nostri ainori, is their greeting to Dante and Beatrice :
" Lo, one "vvho will increase our loves."
With Piccarda we had breathed the air of the con-
vent. Her Canto was full of the purest poetry of
the mediaeval cloister, impregnated with the mystical
aroma of the fire that burned from Assisi and the
Umbrian mountains. Now we are brought back to
another aspect of mediaeval life — the deadly feuds of
Gvielfs and Ghibellines, and that misdirected en-
thusiasm for the Empire. In marked contrast to the
pathetic conventual story of Piccarda, the Emj)eror
Justinian recites the proud history of Rome, the
triumj)liant flight of the Roman Eagle over the con-
quered world. As the legislator of Dante's ideal
universal Monarchy, he i^roclaims its divinely estab-
lished right to universal sway, touching first upon
the times that passed between Constantine's reign
and his own, and upon his own work for Italy and
the Empire. With ^neas the Eagle had followed
the course of the heavens from East to West, until
Constantine had turned her back from Italy to the
East : " Against the course of Heaven and Doom "
(as Shelley sang of the Eagle of Freedom) ; and there
the imj^erial bird had remained until the reconquest
of Italy by the generals of Justinian. Justinian in
Dante's eyes recovered for the Eagle the garden of
the Empire, and mended the bridle of the noble steed
whose saddle was now empty {Purgaforio vi. 88-90).
Converted from heresy by Pope Agapetus, he accom-
plished his divinely inspired work as lawgiver, whilst
his general, Belisarius, aided likewise by the right
hand of Heaven, upheld the glory of the imperial
arms against the Goths and Vandals.
74
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
The lines that follow Justinian's account of his own
career inculcate the great doctrine that Dante has in
A-iew : neither Guelf s nor Ghibellines, neither the foes
nor the friends of the imperial cause, in their sordid
and petty party politics have realised the sanctity of
the sacred emblem of the Empire : — ■
Tedi quanta virtu Tlia fatto dcgno
Di riyerenza :
" See what great virtue has made it worthy of rever-
ence ! " Dante has treated in three places of this,
for him, all-important subject, that truth "among
other truths ill understood yet profitable, at once the
most profitable and most obscure, the knowledge
touching Temporal Monarchy or the Empire " : in
the special treatise the De Monarchia, in Book IV. of
the Convivio, and here and elsewhere in the Divine
"Comedy. While the Prtraf?/so is certainly the work
of the last years of the poet's life, it is possible that
the De Monarchia was written in exile, on the occa-
sion" of the attempt of Henry VII. to restore the im-
perial power. It has been sometimes supposed that
the fourth Book of the Convivio was, possibly,
written at two different epochs ; the earlier part, in-
cluding the remarks upon the Empire, being written
before Dante's exile, and the rest of the book, with
its bitter reference to Florence, later on when plun-
dered and banished. Those chapters in the Convivio
which treat of the Monarchy read like a first sketch
for the De Monarchia, containing the first two books
of the latter in germ, but written in a cahner spirit ;
Dante does not yet openly attack the excessive claims
of the Paj)acy and the prelates, nor lash out against
their corruption.^ It would seem, on this supposition,
^ Francesco Selmi, 7^ Convito, sua cronologia, etc., Torino 1865.
'75
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
that he was not yet embittered by unjust exile.
But more probably the Convivio belongs entirely
to that period of Dante's exile, after his separation
from the other Bianchi and before the advent of the
new Emperor, when he was utterly humbled in spirit,
as Leonardo Bruni tells us. It was, perhaps, while
engaged upon this part of the Convivio that his views
underwent the change and conversion which he de-
scribes at the beginning of Book II. of the De
Monarchki.
In the De Monarchki, Dante discusses three ques-
tions concerning the Empire. Is the Empire neces-
sary for the welfare of the world ? Did the Roman
People rightfully and lawfully obtain this universal
sway? Does the authority of the Emperor come
directly from God or only through the Pope ? And
in the De Monarchki he answers these three questions
from the point of view of a philosopher and Ghibel-
line politician ; in the Convivio he answered the first
and second in a slighter and more popular, but per-
haps more poetical manner ; here, in Canto vi. of the
Paradiso, although indirectly answering the first (as
indeed he does throughout the poem), he more
especially deals with the second question, but now
more as a poet than as a practical politician. He
leaves the third question to be answered, allegorically
but most emphatically, in the vision of the Eagle in
the sphere of Jupiter, and now contents himself
mainly with showing that the Roman Empire has by
Divine Providence the universal rule of the world.
" That people who conquered when all were striving
hard for the empire of the world, conquered by the
v.ill of God " {De Mon. ii. 9).
To show this, Justinian recites the mighty deeds of
the Roman Eagle, from ^neas to Caesar and his suc-
7G
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
cessors. The great deeds in war of Roman heroes
are rehearsed as in the Convivlo and the De Monarchia.
The Roman People was ordained by God for Em-
pire, it was by His judgment that it prevailed ; and
Caesar won the prize of monarchy where the rulers
of the East and Alexander of Macedon himself had
failed. Many of these victories which Justinian
triumphantly quotes are held by Dante to have been
special appeals of the Romans to God, and by the de-
cision of combat they gained the crown of the world.
Thus when at last, under Augustus and his universal
sway, the Eagle had set the world at peace, it was
not force but Divine Pro^ddence that had established
this sway of the Roman People and made it j)ara-
mount throughout the earth. As Dante puts it in
the Convivio : —
" La forza dunque non fu cagione movente, ma fu
cagione strumentale, siccome sono i colpi del martello
cagione del coltello, e Tanima del fabbro e cagione
efficiente e movente ; e cosi non forza, ma ragione,
e ancora divina, e stata principio del Romano Im-
perio." ^
From a famous passage at the opening of Book II.
of the De Monarchia, we learn that it was Dante's
con\'iction of this truth which induced his political
conversion. Wlien once convinced that not arms and
violence but Divine Providence had wrought this
thing, he put aside the vain imaginations of Guelf-
ism in which he had been reared, and cried on behalf
^ Convivio iv. 4. Force was not the moving cause, but it was
the instrumental cause ; even as the blows of the hammer are the
cause of the knife, and the soul of the smith is the efficient and
moving cause ; and thus not force but reason, and divine reason
too, was the beginning of the Roman Empii-e.
77
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
of tlie glorious Roman People and for Caesar : *' Why-
do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain
thing ? The kings of the earth stand up and the
rulers take counsel together against the Lord and
against His anointed" — His one only Roman Em-
peror.
Up to a certain point in the De Monarchia Dante
proves his theories by arguments which mostly rest
on principles of reason, and then makes his point
clear by arguments based upon principles of Christian
Faith. These latter arguments are two in number.
If the Roman Empire did not exist by right, Christ
in being born presupposed and sanctioned an unjust
thing, in that He willed to be born under the edict of
Caesar Augustus ; and, if the Roman Empire did not
exist by right, the sin of Adam was not punished in
Christ, for, unless Tiberius Caesar had rightfully juris-
diction over all mankind, the atonement offered by
Christ for all mankind would not have been valid.
So, here too, Justinian now brings forward more
sacred episodes in its history to show the sanctity of
the Empire. All its past and future, all the mighty
deeds that the Eagle had done or was to do for the
earth beneath its sway, were eclipsed by the glory
under Tiberius of having been the instrument of the
Atonement, when Christ Himself owned its jurisdic-
tion. Then, under Titus, it took vengeance for the
death of Christ ; and then protected the Church
which He had left, when beneath its wings Charle-
magne brought succour to the Papacy against the
assaults of the Lombards.
There is a significant difference in the way
Dante concludes his arguments for the Empire in
these three works. In the Convivio there is no fierce
;attack upon the opponents of his view, but merely a
78
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
poetical passage concerning the sacred character of
Rome : —
" E certo dl ferina sono opinione, che le pietre che
nelle mura sue stanno siano degne di reverenza ; e '1
suolo dov'ella siede sia degno oltre quello che per gli
uomini e predicate e provato." ^
In the De Moyuirchia it is the party politician, the
stern and injured convert to Ghibelline principles,
that concludes the second Book (which had com-
menced with a defence of his own conversion) A\-ith
a fierce rebuke to the Guelfs alone : —
" Let them cease then to insult the Roman Empire
who pretend that they are the sons of the Church ;
when they see that Christ, the bridegroom of the
Church, sanctioned the Roman Empire at the be-
ginning and at the end of His warfare upon earth."
But, when the Paradiso was written, Dante had
formed a party by himself ; and, from his height of
moderation and impartiality, Guelfs and Ghibellines
alike are regarded with contemptuous indignation,
both condemned equally as foes to the Emj)ire and
causers of all the woes of Italy : —
Omai piioi giudicar di quel cotali
Cli'io accusal di sopra, e di lor falll,
Che sou cagion di tutti vostri mall.
L'uuo al pubblico segno i glgli gialli
Oppone, e Taltro appropria quello a parte,
Si die forte a veder e chi piu falli.
Par. vi. 97.2
^ Conv. iv. 5. And certainly I am of firm opinion that the stones
that are in her -walls are worthy of reverence ; and the ground
■where she is seated is worthy bej'ond all that men can preach and
prove.
* Now hast thou power to judge of such as those
Whom I accused above and of their crimes,
Which are the cause of all j-our miseries.
79
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
The spirits that appear with Justinian in this sphere
of Mercury are they who did great deeds, but who
were impelled more by ambition and vainglory than
by the love of God : —
Perclie onore e fa,ma li succeda.
Dante's conception here is a striking contrast to that
passionate desire for fame which was to become all
in all to Italians of the Renaissance. With him love
of fame makes "the rays of true love less vividly
mount upwards " —
i raggi
Del vero amore iu su poggin men vivi.
St. Thomas declares that " he is not truly virtuous
who does the works of virtue for the sake of human
glory," and that the glory sought is vain if the seek-
ing of it be not directed to the honour of God and
the salvation of our neighbour. This imperfection of
vainglory tempered the rays of love, and so, since all
inequality of merit is due to inequality of charity,
these souls have the next lowest mansion of beati-
tude to that of the inconstant spirits of the Moon : in-
equality of disposition and inequality of merit being
the twofold principle from which the distinction of
the mansions or degrees of beatitude is derived. And
they themselves desire no more than they have, but
rejoice in this proportion between merit and reward.
As diverse voices make harmony on earth, so diverse
grades of glory render harmony in Heaven.
Among these active spirits Justinian points out the
light of Romeo of Villanova : —
To the public standard one the yellow lilies
Opposes, the other claims it for a partj',
So that 'tis hard to see who sins the most.
Longfellow.
80
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
Romeo, cli cui
Fu I'opra bella e grande mal gradita ;
" whose fair and great work was ill rewarded."
Romeo, the faithful minister of Raymond Berlin-
ghieri of Provence, made each of the Count's daugh-
ters a queen, and then —
Through sin of cursed slander's tongue and tooth,
as Boccaccio in his famous sonnet sings of Dante
himself {colpa di lingue scellerate e ladre), was treated
with black ingratitude, and so departed poor as he
came. In the story of Romeo, his work for Ray-
mond Berlinghieri, the envy of the Provencals and
their punishment, the Count's ingratitude and Ro-
meo's voluntary exile and poverty, it is scarcely fanci-
ful to see an analogy with Dante's own career. The
opra bella e grande which was mal gradita can well
refer to the patriotic efforts of Dante as a Florentine
statesman, especially in his priorate, to repress the
factions and resist Papal interference ; the punish-
ment of the envious Provencals, when the heavy
yoke of the house of Anjou fell upon them, may
stand for the misfortunes of the Florentines after the
coming of Charles of Valois ; and the account de-
manded of Romeo's administration perhaps corre-
sponds to the accusations of corrupt practices during
the priorate which his enemies launched against
Dante. The concluding lines of Canto vi., resembling
so closely what Dante says elsewhere in the Paradiso
and in the Convivio of his own poverty and wander-
ings in exile, could surely be applied to the poet
himself : —
Indi partissi povero e vetusto ;
E se il mondo sapesse il cor ch'egli ebhe
81 G
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
MencTicaiiclo sua vita a frusto a frusto,
Assai lo loda, e piu lo loderebbe.
Far. vi. 139.»
From the Roman Eagle, when Henry of Luxemburg
was its bearer, Dante had once looked for the cure of
the wounds of Italy and his own restoration to Flor-
ence ; and it is not unfitting that he should end his
history of its mighty deeds, and his rebuke of the
party conflicts which were ruining his country, with
this unobtrusive and dignified reference to his own
unmerited exile and sufferings.
Just as in the first appearance and in the bearing
of these spirits of Mercury there was a designed con-
trast with those of the Moon, so it is manifest in
their departure, as Justinian and his companions
return to the Empyrean. The gentle Ave Maria of
those inconstant nuns is replaced by the hymn of
praise to the God of Hosts of these ambitious spirits
of the active life ; and instead of that gradual disap-
pearance of the former, as something heavy through
deep water, still followed by the poet's gaze as long as
possible, these active spirits suddenly vanish as swift
flashes of light.
The difficulties that Justinian's words have left in
Dante's mind, and which Beatrice proceeds to solve,
are of a higher nature and deal with profounder
* Then he departed poor and stricken in years,
And if the world could know the heart he had,
In begging bit by bit his livelihood,
Though much it laud him, it would laud him more.
Longfellow.
The vetusto might well be applied to Dante at the time of writ-
ing the Paradiso; Giovanni del Virgilio in the Eclogues addresses
him as senex. Cf. Paradiso xvii. and Convivio i. 3, where the
poet describes himself as peregrino, quasi mendicando, which
resembles the Romeo persona umile e j^eregrina.
82
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
themes than those in the first heaven, even as the
Archangels have a profounder comprehension of di-
vine mysteries than the Angels. How could just l/"
vengeance be justly avenged, just punishment justly
punished by the same judge that had originally in-
flicted it, and both be the supreme glory of the ^
Roman Eagle ? Adam by his fall condemned himself
and all his offspring, and human nature was alienated
from God until, at the Incarnation, the Word of God
by the work of the Eternal Love was united to hu-
man nature in Christ. The human nature, united to
its Maker in Christ, was pure from sin and good
through infused virtues, as when it was first cre-
ated in Adam ; but nevertheless of itself, inasmuch
as it was human nature, it was still banished
forth from Paradise. The satisfaction offered by
Christ was of infinite value, as was necessary because
of the greatness of the offence offered by man to
God by sin ; and was most just with regard to the
human nature which He had assumed, though with
regard to the infinite dignity of the Divine Person
the Crucifixion was the greatest crime ever com-
mitted. The Earth trembled at the deicide, but
the Heavens opened at the redemption. Thus is
solved the difficulty how giusta vendetta poscia ven-
giata fu da giusta corte {Par. vii. 50), the giusta
corte being, I think, not intended for the Divine
-Justice, but the imperial jurisdiction. This ex-
pression, and that of la pena che la croce porse {Par.
vii. 40), correspond with Dante's own words in the
De Monarchia (ii. 13), where he propounds that
somewhat amazing doctrine that, if the Roman Em-
pire did not exist by right, the sin of Adam was not
punished in Christ. It is intended to show that the
'Crucifixion was a penalty inflicted by the sentence
83
DANTE'S TEN HEAVENS
of a regular judge who had lawfully jurisdiction over
the whole world, since all mankind was punished in
the flesh of Christ. " And if the Roman Empire had
not existed by right, Tiberius Csesar, whose vicar was
Pontius Pilate, would not have had jurisdiction over
all mankind."
A new question arises. Why did God choose this
mode for our redemption rather than any other?
Beatrice explains that the human soul, created im-
mediately by the Divine Goodness, has three lofty
prerogatives — immortality, freedom of the will, and
likeness to God. By sin it sinks to servitude and
becomes unlike to God : a void is left in the moral
order, which must be filled up with just suffering to
restore the soul to its primal dignity : —
Conti-a mal dilettar con giuste pene.
Now original justice was lost together with the
Earthly Paradise. Two ways were open for man's
redemption and restoration to this lost dignity : either
God must have pardoned, or man of himself made
satisfaction. The latter course was an impossibility,
for the enormity of the offence offered by a mere
creature's disobedience to God requires a satisfaction
of infinite value, and man's satisfaction is but finite.
Therefore it remained for God to restore man by the
way of mercy or of justice, or by both. God chose
to proceed by both ways, not simply pardoning man,
but giving Himself to man that the Divine Justice
might be satisfied by the infinite humiliation of the
Word Divine ; and this redemption of man by the
Incarnation was the supremest work at once of
Divine Justice and of Divine Mercy : —
La divina bonti, clie il moudo imprenta,
Di proceder per tutte le sue vie
A rilevarvi suso f u contenta ;
84
THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY
Ne tra I'ultiina notte e il primo die
Si alto e si magnifico processo,
per Tuna o per I'altra fu o fie.
Cbe piu largo fu Die a dar s^ stesso,
A far ruom sufficiente a rilevarsi,
Che s'egli avesse sol da se dimesso.
E__tutti gli altri modi erano scarsi
Alia giustizia, se il Figliuol di Dio
Non fosse iimiliato ad incarnarsi.
Par. vii. lOO.^
Oue more difficulty remains to be cleared away.
^Vliy are some things that God has created subject to
corruption ? Beatrice had said : —
Cio clie da lei senza mezzo distilla
Non lia poi fine, perclie non si move
La sua imjjrenta, quaud'ella sigilla.
Ibid. 67.*
And yet created things are seen to decay and pass
away ; the elements and their mixtures, that is, all
corporeal bodies, come to corruption and last but
little time. The solution of the puzzle lies in the
' Goodness Divine, that doth imprint the world,
Has been contented to proceed by each
And all its ways to lift you up again ;
Nor 'twixt the first day and the fijial night
Such high and such magnificent proceeding
By one or by the other was or shall be ;
For God more bounteous was Himself to give
To make man able to uplift himself,
Than if He onh' of Himself had pardoned;
And all the other modes were insufficient