42
just as none could be judged as more unjust, considering the Person who endured it with whom that other nature was combined.
45
Thus, one event produced different effects: God and the Jews both pleased by this one death for which earth shook and Heaven opened wide.
48
Now it should not be difficult for you to understand the concept of just vengeance being avenged in time by just decree.
51
26. The man is Adam, who was created by God directly.
50-51. Even though they actually carried out God’s will in crucifying Christ, the Jews sinned, for their motives were evil. The “just decree” of Titus resulted in revenge on the Jews for their sin, through the destruction of Jerusalem.
But now I see your mind is all entangled with one thought and another, and you wait with eagerness for me to loose the knot.
54
You say: ‘I clearly understand your words, but why God did not choose some other way for our redemption still remains unclear. ’
57
The reason, brother, for that choice lies buried from all men’s eyes until their inner sight has grown to ripeness in the warmth of love;
60
nevertheless, since men have always aimed their arrows at this mark they rarely strike, I shall explain why this choice was the best.
63
Divine Goodness, which from Itself rejects all envy, sparkles so, that It reveals the eternal beauties burning in Itself.
66
That which derives directly from His Being from then on is eternal, for His seal, once it is stamped, can never be effaced.
69
That which derives directly from His Being is wholly free, not subject to the law of secondary things. Created thus,
72
it most resembles Him, most pleases Him; the Sacred Flame which lights all of creation burns brightest in what is most like Himself.
75
These are the gifts with which humanity was privileged; and if it fails in one of these, it must fall from its noble state.
78
Sin is the only power that takes away man’s freedom and his likeness to True Good, and makes him shine less brightly in Its light;
81
75. The love of God shines in all things, but it shines the most in what is most like Himself: i. e., men and angels.
76-84. These “gifts” given to the human soul are immortality and freedom of the will, both of which bring man closer to the likeness of God. Sin deprives the soul of its gifts, and only through individual virtue and God’s grace can the soul be redeemed.
nor can he win back his lost dignity unless the void left by that sin be filled by just amends paid for illicit joy.
84
Your nature, when it sinned once and for all in its first root, was exiled from these honors, as it was dispossessed of Paradise;
87
nor could mankind recover what was lost, as you will see if you think carefully, except by crossing one of these two fords:
90
either that God, simply through clemency, should give remission, or that man himself, to pay his debt of folly, should atone.
93
Now fix your eyes on the infinity of the Eternal Counsel; listen well, as well as you are able, to my words.
96
Given his limits, man could never make amends: never in his humility could man, obedient too late, descend
99
as far as once, in disobedience, he tried to climb, and this is why mankind alone could not make his amends to God.
102
Thus, it remained for God, in His own ways (his ways, I mean, in one of them or both), to bring man back to his integrity:
105
But since the deed gratifies more the doer, the more it manifests the innate goodness of the good heart from which it springs—so, then,
108
that Everlasting Goodness which has set its imprint on the world was pleased to use all of Its means to raise you up once more.
111
Between the final night and the first day no act so lofty, so magnificent was there, or shall there be, by either way,
114
for God, Who gave Himself, gave even more so that mankind might raise itself again, than if He simply had annulled the debt;
117
and any other means would have been less than Justice, if God’s only Son had not humbled Himself to take on mortal flesh.
120
But now, to satisfy all your desires I go back to explain a certain point so that you may perceive it as I do.
123
You think: ‘I see that fire, I see that air, that water, earth, and all which they compose last but a little while, and then decay;
126
and yet all of these are of God’s creation, and so if what you said before is true, should they not be secure against decay?
129
The angels, brother, and all this pure space around us, were created—all agree— just as they are, unchanging and entire;
132
the elements, however, that you named and all those things produced from them are given their form by powers that are themselves created.
135
Created was the matter they contain, created, too, was the informing power within the constellations circling them.
138
The soul of every animal and plant is drawn from a potentiated complex by the stars’ rays and by their sacred motion,
141
but the Supreme Beneficence breathes forth your life directly, filling it with love for Him Whom it desires evermore.
144
From what I have just said you may infer your resurrection, if you will recall how human flesh first came into its being,
147
when our first parents came into the world. ”
CANTO VIII
THE CANTO OPENS with an explanation for the origin of the name of the planet Venus. Without realizing it, the Pilgrim has been ascending with his guide to the sphere of Venus, and he knows that he has arrived there only because he sees that Beatrice has grown more beautiful. Joyful lights appear to welcome the traveller. The soul who addresses the Pilgrim is Charles Martel of the renowned Anjou family, though he never mentions himself by name. What interests the Pilgrim who listens to Martel’s account of the line of rulers in Naples is the doctrine of heredity implied therein. It is not clear to the Pilgrim how good seed can produce bad. Martel explains that it is not a matter of heredity or lineage but rather the workings of Nature through the influence of the stars upon each individual, influencing the formation of his own character without taking into consideration the ancestors of that particular individual. Martel concludes by telling the Pilgrim that the reason many men have gone astray is that they have not been encouraged to follow their inherent character or nature.
The world once dangerously believed the lovely Cyprian, whirling in third epicycle, rayed down her frenzied beams of love on man,
3
1-2. The Cyprian is the goddess Venus, believed to have risen from the sea off Cyprus.
2. According to Ptolemaic astronomy, the planets possessed three kinds of motion: that of their diurnal cycles, that of their periodic orbits, and that of the turns of their epicycles. It was thought that each planet had a small sphere attached to it, at some point on this circumference, that “carried” the planet. This small sphere was the planet’s epicycle.
so that the ancients in their ancient error offered their sacrifice and votive cries to honor her and not just her alone:
6
Dione too they honored, as her mother, and Cupid as her son who they believed had nestled once in Dido’s loving lap.
9
And from that goddess who begins my canto they took the name and gave it to the star which woos the sun at both its nape and brow.
12
I was not conscious of ascending there, but th
at I was within the sphere, I knew, for now my lady was more beautiful.
15
Even as sparks are visible in fire, and as within a voice a voice is heard, one note sustained, while others rise and fall,
18
so I saw lights revolving in that light, their movements slow or swift, each, I suppose, according to how clearly it sees God.
21
From chilly clouds no seen or unseen winds ever shot down to earth with such rapidity as not to seem slow-motioned, cumbersome,
24
to any one who saw those holy lights approaching us, abandoning the dance begun among the lofty Seraphim;
27
and from the foremost ranks of light I heard “Hosanna” sung in tones so marvelous, my soul still yearns to hear that sound again.
30
7. Dione was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys and mother of Venus by Jupiter. Venus herself is sometimes referred to as Dionaea or even Dione.
8. Cupid was the son of Venus. Like Dione and Venus he was worshipped as a god of love.
12-22. This is a reference to the motion of the planet Venus with relation to the sun. The physical references to “nape” and “brow” are suggestive of the carnal love that Venus was thought to inspire.
Then one came closer and announced to us: “We all are ready here to do your pleasure; we want you to have fullest joy of us.
33
We circle in one orbit, with one rhythm, in one desire with those heavenly Princes whom once you called upon from down on earth:
36
’O you whose intellect spins Heaven’s third sphere, ’ We are so full of love that, if you wish, we happily will stop awhile for you. ”
39
I raised my eyes with reverence to meet my lady’s light, who with her eyes bestowed on me all her assurance and her joy;
42
then to that light who had so generously offered himself, I turned again: “Who are you?” I said, my voice vibrant with tenderness.
45
How that light glowed and grew more beautiful from those few words of mine as it took on new happiness upon its happiness!
48
Radiant, it spoke: “The time I spent on earth was very brief; if my life had been longer, much evil that will be would not have been.
51
My happiness which wraps me in its glow conceals me from you: I am swathed in bliss just like the worm that spins itself in silk.
54
You loved me greatly once, you had good cause; had I not died so soon, you would have seen more than the first leaves of my love for you.
57
31. The soul who speaks to the Pilgrim in these lines never identifies himself by name, but we know from what he says that he is Charles Martel (1271-1295), first son of Charles II of Anjou and Mary, daughter of the king of Hungary. Charles Martel married Clemence of Hapsburg in 1291 and had three children before he died of cholera at the young age of twenty-four. Dante probably met Charles the year before he died (1294) while he was on a visit to Florence, where he was warmly received.
37. This is the first verse of one of Dante’s famous canzoni which is the subject of a commentary in the second book of his Convivio.
The left bank, washed by waters of the Rhone when this has mingled with the River Sorgue, was waiting for me to become its lord;
60
as did the region of Ausonia’s horn, bound by Catona, Bari, and Gaeta whence Tronto and the Verde turn to sea.
63
Already was reflected on my brow the bright crown of the land the Danube bathes once it has left behind the German shores.
66
And on the gulf most plagued by the Sirocco lying between Pachymus and Pelorus darkened by sulphur fumes, not by what some
69
believe to be the monster Typhoeus, beautiful Sicily would still have looked to have its kings through me from Charles and Rudolph,
72
if evil rule, which always alienates those subject to it, had not moved Palermo to cry out in its streets, ‘Death, death to them!’
75
58-60. The land indicated here is Provence, whose west boundary was marked by the Sorgue and Rhone rivers.
61-63. Ausonia is the name the Latin poets used for Italy. These lines refer to the kingdom of Naples and Apulia to which Charles Martel was also heir.
65. This land is Hungary, of which Charles Martel became king in 1290.
67-69. This is the gulf of Catania in Sicily, where the prevailing wind is the stormy southeast Sirocco. Pachymus (now called Cape Passero) is the promontory at the southeastern tip of Sicily, and Pelorus (now called Cape Faro) is the promontory at the extreme northeast.
70. Typhoeus, or Typhon, a hundred-headed giant who attempted to rule gods and men, was conquered by Jupiter and buried under Mount Aetna. According to Ovid (Metamorphoses V, 346-56), the volcanic eruptions of this mountain were caused by Typhoeus’s attempts to free himself.
72. Charles is Charles I of Anjou, grandfather of Charles Martel. Rudolph is Rudolph of Hapsburg, father of Clemence, Charles Martel’s wife.
73-75. Charles Martel refers here to the rebellion against French tyranny known as the Sicilian Vespers, which took place on March 30, 1282. The French were killed by the Sicilians, and the crown of Sicily was passed from the house of Anjou (to which Charles Martel belonged) to the house of Aragon.
And could my brother have foreseen the facts, he would shun all the greedy poverty of Catalans before he is disgraced;
78
for clearly some provision must be made by him or someone else, lest on his ship, already weighted down, more weight be laid.
81
His stingy nature, that derived from one more generous, would have required men who cared for more than filling chests with gold. ”
84
“Oh Sire, I know that the deep joy your words have given me is clear to you, as clear as to myself, there where all good begins
87
and ends—so this deep joy is dearer still, and still more precious to me is the fact that you discern it as you look in God.
90
You made me happy, now make me as wise; your words have raised a question in my mind: how can sweet seed produce such sour fruit?”
93
I said. And then he said, “If I can make just one truth plain to you, then you will see what is behind your back in front of you.
96
The Good that moves and satisfies the realm that you now climb, endows these mighty orbs with all the power of His own providence;
99
and in that One Mind perfect in Itself there is foreseen not only every type of nature but the proper goal for each,
102
and thus, when this bow bends, the arrow shot speeds ready to a predetermined end: a shaft expertly aimed to strike its mark.
105
Were it not so, the heavens you climb through would fashion their effects in such a way that chaos would result, not works of art;
108
this cannot be, unless the Intellects that move these stars are flawed, and also flawed the First One Who created them with flaws.
111
Would you like me to make this truth more clear?” And I: “Oh no, there is no need—I see that Nature cannot fail in what must be. ”
114
And he, once more: “Tell me, would it be worse for man on earth were there no social order?” “Of course, ” I said, “and here I seek no proof. ”
117
“And can this be, unless men had on earth different natures, serving different ends? Not so, if what your master writes is true. ”
120
By reasoning step by step he reached this point and then concluded: “So, the very roots of man’s activities must be diverse:
123
one man is born a Solon, one a Xerxes, one a Melchizedek, another he whose flight cost him the life of his own son.
126
For Nature in its circling stamps its seal on mortal wax, perfecting her fine art, with no concern about man’s lineage.
129
So Esau, once conceived, differed from Jacob; and Romulus sprang from so base a sire, that men imagined him the son of Mars.
132
120. Aristotle, as referred to by Dante in the Inferno (IV, 131), is “the master sage of those who know. ”
122-123. The roots are the different dispositions or tendencies inspired by the heavens.
124-125. One man is born to be a lawgiver, another a general, and still another a priest.
126. This refers to Daedalus, the mythical artificer whose son, Icarus, plunged into the sea after flying too near the sun with wax wings fashioned by his father.
130-132. Though Jacob and Esau were twins (and therefore presumably similar in every way), they were different in character, even in the womb. Because Romulus (or Quirinus) was so great a man, his peers refused to believe that he was of lowly birth and therefore believed his father to be Mars.
The procreated being would always walk the procreator’s path, if it were not for Holy Providence that overrules.
135
Now, you can see what was behind your back. The great joy you give me urges me now to wrap you in this corollary-gift:
138
Should natural disposition find itself not in accord with Fortune, then it must fail as a seed in alien soil must die.
141
If men on earth were to pay greater heed to the foundation Nature has laid down, and build on that, they would build better men.
144
But those men bent to wear the sword you twist into the priesthood, and you make a king out of a man whose calling was to preach:
147
you find yourselves on roads not meant for you. ”
CANTO IX
CHARLES MARTEL HAS made some tragic predictions about his own successors to the Pilgrim, but Dante, in an address to Martel’s wife, Clemence, tells her that Charles forbade him to reveal them to anyone. The light of Martel has disappeared by this time and another soul appears and reveals herself to be Cunizza da Romano, sister of the infamous tyrant Ezzelino. Cunizza, after pointing out the light of another soul nearby (without naming him) and remarking on the good reputation he left behind on earth, goes on to make a prediction concerning the inhabitants of the Marches and confirms the truth of her words with her very vision of God. Cunizza returns to her heavenly dance, and the soul whom she had pointed out earlier now addresses the Pilgrim, telling him how he was influenced by the sphere of Venus. He is the light of Folquet of Marseilles, who, after repenting for his worldly loves, entered a religious order and later became Bishop of Toulouse. Folquet, reading the Pilgrim’s mind and seeing that he wishes to know the identity of a certain soul nearby, tells him that it is Rahab, the Whore of Jericho, and he explains why she is with them in Venus. Folquet makes some bitter remarks about the Pilgrim’s city and the Church in general and closes the canto by predicting that Divine Providence will eventually liberate the Church from its adulterous state.