The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri
CONTENTS. xxi TABX CANTO XVII. Enooaraged by BeatrioOi Dante questioos the spirit of his anoestora concerning the future of hia ov^n life on earth. Cacciaguida foretella to him hia approaching exile from Florence, and exhorta him to write all that he has aeen in Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven . . 826 CANTO XVIII.
Cacciaguida names to Dante the souls of many renowned warriors in the planet Mars, and quitting him to join his comrades in their song of praise, Dante finds himseUf raised with Beatrice to the sphere of Jupiter. The souls of those who had administered justice nghtly in the world form themselves into letters before him, eidiorting rulers to their own virtue, and finally settle into the shape of the head and neck of an engle.
Kapt in that vision of beatified justice, Dante calls on it to revisit earth and purify, where most wanted, the avaricious Court of Bome 829 ' CANTO XIX. The collected souls of just kings, which form the shape of the eagle, speak to Dante with one voice.
They tell him that salvation ia impossible without belief in Christ, but that many who profess such belief will in the last day be worse off than the heathen, and they declare that many Christian kings will make a sorry figure when ail secrets are then revealed . . . 832 CANTO XX. The eagle sings the praises of certain just kin^s, whose spirits are included in ita ima^e.
Of these, six form its eye, David in the pupil, and in the iris around it Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William II. of Sicily, and Bipheus. The eagle explains how Trajan and Bipheua, whom Dante did not know to be Christiana, had become so, and obtained their seat in Paradise .... 8S6 CANTO XXI. Dante ascends with Beatrice to the sphere of Saturn, where he finds a ladder of gold, so lofty that he cannot see the top.
Along the stairs ascend and descend the spirits of those who passea their lives in holy contemplation. Saint Peter Damiano approaches them, and in answer to Dante's questions states who he was, conoludiing by a vehement rebuke of the luxury of modem prelatea, to which riaea a about of triumphant accord 840 CANTO XXII. Beatrice cleara away Dante'a groundless alarm.
He beholds many other spirits, and is addressed by Saint Benedict, who promises ^m that he shall see his form without its covering of splendour in the highest sphere. The spirits then depart, and Dante follows Beatrice up the golden ladder to the eighth Heaven, the region of the fixed stars, which they enter in the constellation of the Twins.
There they pause, and Dante looks down on all the seven spheres through which he has past to the diminished earth beneiath .... p. 344Dante beholds the triumph of Christ with His saints. The Saviour, followed by his Virgin Mother, ascends out of sight into the higher Heavens. The body of the sainta of both Testaments remains with Dantep. 348
At Beatrice's request Saint Peter questions Dante upon his Faith, and approves his exposition of his belief and the grounds on which it was founded 352
CANTO XXV. Saint James joins Saint Peter, and questions Dante as to the grounds of his Hope. After his reply, Saint John advances to his brother Apostles, and Dante blinds himself by gazing too intently on his flame, to see whether he has risen to Heaven with his body, which Saint John declares to have been the case only with Christ and his Virgin Mother p. 355St. John examines Dante concerning Charity.
A fourth flame then advances, in which is the soul of Adam, who acquaints Dante with the real reason of his fail, and the length of time he remained in the terrestrial Paradisep. 359
After a chorus of praise to the Holy Trinity, the spirits listen silently to Saint Peter, who in an indignant outburst rebukes the government of his successors in the Apostolic See. ^ The Heavenly Host glow with sympathetic indignation at his words, and all then vanish in the height.
Beatrice then raises Dante to the ninth Heaven, the nature of which she explains to him, and blames the perversity of mankind, whose aims are set at a lower goal 363 CANTO XXVIII. Dante beholds in this ninth sphere the Hierarchies of Heaven in nine choirs of angels encircling the Divine Essencep. 367
Beatrice satisfies the cariosity of Dante on certain i)oint8 concerning the creation of Angels and the universe, and explains to him the truth as to the Angelic nature. She then vigorously blames the practice of modern preachers, who, forsaking the simplicity of the Gospel, t^^ich as truths their own idle inventions concerning Divine mysteriesp. 371
The hierarchies vanish in the height, and Dante, rapt in the inefi&.ble smile of Beatrice, ascends into the empyrean. There his sight being strengthened by gazing into the river of light, he is able to behold the triumph of the twofold Court of Heaven, the Angels and the souls of the Blessed, spread out like a full white rose . . .p. 375
While Dante is rapt in the glorious vision of this triumph of the Blest, Beatrice returns to her throne in Paradise. Saint Bernard takes his place by Dante, and exhorts him to dwell on all the glories before him, that he may be prepared for the supreme reward of at last beholding the Deity 379 CANTO XXXII.
Saint Bernard points out to Dante the order of the saints in Paradise, how those of the Old and New Testaments are eqaal in number, divided, as it were, by a partition wall of celebrated Hebrew women, who head each row of thrones that make the petals of the flower. In the lowest grades are seated the souls of children saved by election solely, and not by their own merits.
St. Bernard then exhorts Dante to gaze on the Virgin, so as to gain strength to behold her Son, and to join with him in prayer to her for that final boon . . p. 383Saint Bernard prays to the Virgin that Dante may receive grace to contemplate the Divine Essence, and the prayer is granted. Dante then prays that he may have power to record some portion of the glory he beholds, and describes his final vision of the Supreme Mystery . 387
INTEODUCTION.
The great poem of Dante has been finely called the voice of the Dark Ages. From that age of strife and brute oppression, of the slumber of intellect, and the tyranny of force, when the seeds of knowledge and the aspirations of thought were buried in the cloister, the great cry of one of the mightiest intellects the world has produced gave form to the highest spirit of its own era, and created it to live for all time. Though like all great intellects Dante was in advance of his time, he was still of it. The weaknesses of his age were engrafted on his own strength, and neither his principles of ethics nor politics can be judged fairly by the light of the present day. Nearly six centuries divide ns from the great Florentine, whose genius was produced at a time when its fruit was to preserve the memory of long ages which would otherwise have sunk in endless silence. Dante appeared in the twilight which, succeeding the long night of the centuries, preceded the returning dawn of Learn* ing. In his time Italy was the foremost nation of Europe, and her leading sons were preparing the glorious revival. Art was still in its infancy, though Cimabue had found the boy Giotto drawing from Nature amongst his father's sheep, and in that discovery called to his true vocation the first great artist who heads the school of Italian painting. Architecture alone of the Fine Arts had attained maturity, but the solemn aisles and gorgeous traceries of the Grothic cathedrals seem to have had little effect on Dante's imagination, who, at least, has not drawn one allusion from the subject throughout his poem. His sympathies and studies were devoted to man, though the incidental sketches of outward scenery show
CONTENTS. xxi TABX CANTO XVII. Enooaraged by BeatrioOi Dante questioos the spirit of his anoestora concerning the future of hia ov^n life on earth. Cacciaguida foretella to him hia approaching exile from Florence, and exhorta him to write all that he has aeen in Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven . . 826 CANTO XVIII.
Cacciaguida names to Dante the souls of many renowned warriors in the planet Mars, and quitting him to join his comrades in their song of praise, Dante finds himseUf raised with Beatrice to the sphere of Jupiter. The souls of those who had administered justice nghtly in the world form themselves into letters before him, eidiorting rulers to their own virtue, and finally settle into the shape of the head and neck of an engle.
Kapt in that vision of beatified justice, Dante calls on it to revisit earth and purify, where most wanted, the avaricious Court of Bome 829 ' CANTO XIX. The collected souls of just kings, which form the shape of the eagle, speak to Dante with one voice.
They tell him that salvation ia impossible without belief in Christ, but that many who profess such belief will in the last day be worse off than the heathen, and they declare that many Christian kings will make a sorry figure when ail secrets are then revealed . . . 832 CANTO XX. The eagle sings the praises of certain just kin^s, whose spirits are included in ita ima^e.
Of these, six form its eye, David in the pupil, and in the iris around it Trajan, Hezekiah, Constantine, William II. of Sicily, and Bipheus. The eagle explains how Trajan and Bipheua, whom Dante did not know to be Christiana, had become so, and obtained their seat in Paradise .... 8S6 CANTO XXI. Dante ascends with Beatrice to the sphere of Saturn, where he finds a ladder of gold, so lofty that he cannot see the top.
Along the stairs ascend and descend the spirits of those who passea their lives in holy contemplation. Saint Peter Damiano approaches them, and in answer to Dante's questions states who he was, conoludiing by a vehement rebuke of the luxury of modem prelatea, to which riaea a about of triumphant accord 840 CANTO XXII. Beatrice cleara away Dante'a groundless alarm.
He beholds many other spirits, and is addressed by Saint Benedict, who promises ^m that he shall see his form without its covering of splendour in the highest sphere. The spirits then depart, and Dante follows Beatrice up the golden ladder to the eighth Heaven, the region of the fixed stars, which they enter in the constellation of the Twins.
There they pause, and Dante looks down on all the seven spheres through which he has past to the diminished earth beneiath .... 344 CANTO XXIII. Dante beholds the triumph of Christ with His saints. The Saviour, followed by his Virgin Mother, ascends out of sight into the higher Heavens. The body of the sainta of both Testaments remains with Dante 348 CANTO XXIV.
At Beatrice's request Saint Peter questions Dante upon his Faith, and approves his exposition of his belief and the grounds on which it was founded 352
CANTO XXV. Saint James joins Saint Peter, and questions Dante as to the grounds of his Hope. After his reply, Saint John advances to his brother Apostles, and Dante blinds himself by gazing too intently on his flame, to see whether he has risen to Heaven with his body, which Saint John declares to have been the case only with Christ and his Virgin Mother 355 CANTO XXVI. St. John examines Dante concerning Charity.
A fourth flame then advances, in which is the soul of Adam, who acquaints Dante with the real reason of his fail, and the length of time he remained in the terrestrial Paradise 359 CANTO XXVII.
After a chorus of praise to the Holy Trinity, the spirits listen silently to Saint Peter, who in an indignant outburst rebukes the government of his successors in the Apostolic See. ^ The Heavenly Host glow with sympathetic indignation at his words, and all then vanish in the height.
Beatrice then raises Dante to the ninth Heaven, the nature of which she explains to him, and blames the perversity of mankind, whose aims are set at a lower goal 363 CANTO XXVIII. Dante beholds in this ninth sphere the Hierarchies of Heaven in nine choirs of angels encircling the Divine Essence 367 CANTO XXIX.
Beatrice satisfies the cariosity of Dante on certain i)oint8 concerning the creation of Angels and the universe, and explains to him the truth as to the Angelic nature. She then vigorously blames the practice of modern preachers, who, forsaking the simplicity of the Gospel, t^^ich as truths their own idle inventions concerning Divine mysteries 371 CANTO XXX.
The hierarchies vanish in the height, and Dante, rapt in the inefi&.ble smile of Beatrice, ascends into the empyrean. There his sight being strengthened by gazing into the river of light, he is able to behold the triumph of the twofold Court of Heaven, the Angels and the souls of the Blessed, spread out like a full white rose . . . 375 CANTO XXXI.
While Dante is rapt in the glorious vision of this triumph of the Blest, Beatrice returns to her throne in Paradise. Saint Bernard takes his place by Dante, and exhorts him to dwell on all the glories before him, that he may be prepared for the supreme reward of at last beholding the Deity 379 CANTO XXXII.
Saint Bernard points out to Dante the order of the saints in Paradise, how those of the Old and New Testaments are eqaal in number, divided, as it were, by a partition wall of celebrated Hebrew women, who head each row of thrones that make the petals of the flower. In the lowest grades are seated the souls of children saved by election solely, and not by their own merits.
St. Bernard then exhorts Dante to gaze on the Virgin, so as to gain strength to behold her Son, and to join with him in prayer to her for that final boon . . 383 CANTO XXXIII. Saint Bernard prays to the Virgin that Dante may receive grace to contemplate the Divine Essence, and the prayer is granted. Dante then prays that he may have power to record some portion of the glory he beholds, and describes his final vision of the Supreme Mystery . 387
INTEODUCTION.
The great poem of Dante has been finely called the voice of the Dark Ages. From that age of strife and brute oppression, of the slumber of intellect, and the tyranny of force, when the seeds of knowledge and the aspirations of thought were buried in the cloister, the great cry of one of the mightiest intellects the world has produced gave form to the highest spirit of its own era, and created it to live for all time. Though like all great intellects Dante was in advance of his time, he was still of it. The weaknesses of his age were engrafted on his own strength, and neither his principles of ethics nor politics can be judged fairly by the light of the present day. Nearly six centuries divide ns from the great Florentine, whose genius was produced at a time when its fruit was to preserve the memory of long ages which would otherwise have sunk in endless silence. Dante appeared in the twilight which, succeeding the long night of the centuries, preceded the returning dawn of Learn* ing. In his time Italy was the foremost nation of Europe, and her leading sons were preparing the glorious revival. Art was still in its infancy, though Cimabue had found the boy Giotto drawing from Nature amongst his father's sheep, and in that discovery called to his true vocation the first great artist who heads the school of Italian painting. Architecture alone of the Fine Arts had attained maturity, but the solemn aisles and gorgeous traceries of the Grothic cathedrals seem to have had little effect on Dante's imagination, who, at least, has not drawn one allusion from the subject throughout his poem. His sympathies and studies were devoted to man, though the incidental sketches of outward scenery show
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