Fair Clemence, once your Charles had said these words for my enlightenment, he then informed me of future plots against his progeny,
3
but said, “Say nothing, let the years go by, ” and for this reason I can only say that those who do you wrong will pay with tears.
6
By now the life within that holy light was turned to face once more the sun that fills it, as to the Good sufficient for all things.
9
Ah, souls deceived, devoid of piety, who turn your hearts away from the True Good, raising your haughty heads toward empty things!
12
And then! Another of those radiant lights drew near to me; its eagerness to please was shining through the splendor of its glow.
15
The eyes of Beatrice fixed on me now gave me full assurance, as before, that my desire met with her consent.
18
“O blessèd soul, ” I said, “grant me at once fulfillment of my wish, and prove to me that you can be a mirror for my thoughts. ”
21
1. Dante seems to be addressing Clemence of Hapsburg, widow of Charles Martel, not in fact, but in memory, in a kind of apostrophe.
19. Here Dante addresses the soul that has approached him. It is that of Cunizza da Romano (ca. 1198-1279), sister of the tyrant Ezzelino III da Romano. Cunizza had during her life four husbands and two lovers.
Whereat the light of that still unknown soul, out of its depths from which it sang, now answered, like one whose joy is giving joyously:
24
“There in that part of sinful Italy which lies between Rialto’s shores and where the Piave and the Brenta rivers spring,
27
rises a hill of no great height from which, some years ago, there plunged a flaming torch, who laid waste all the countryside around.
30
Both he and I were born from the same root: Cunizza was my name, and I shine here for I was overcome by this star’s light;
33
but gladly I myself forgive in me what caused my fate, it grieves me not at all— which might seem strange, indeed, to earthly minds.
36
This precious and resplendent jewel that shines here, closest to me, in our heaven has left behind great fame, fame that will live as long
39
as this centennial year shall be five-timed— you see how man should strive for excellence so that a second life survive the first!
42
And this means nothing to that crowd that lives between the Tagliamento and the Adige, nor does the scourge of war make them repent.
45
But it will come to pass that Paduan blood, and soon, will stain the waters of Vincenza because the people shunned their duty there;
48
29. The “flaming torch” (an allusion to the belief that his mother before giving birth to him dreamed she gave birth to a torch or firebrand) is Ezzelino III da Romano (1194-1259), brother of Cunizza. He was placed by Dante with the tyrants in the first round of Circle Seven of the Inferno, in the river of boiling blood (Inferno XII, 110). As ruler of the March of Treviso, Ezzelino was exceedingly bloodthirsty, and was rumored to have committed all manner of atrocities.
and where Cagnano and the Sile join a man lords over it with lofty head for whom the nets already have been spread;
51
Feltre shall mourn her godless shepherd’s crime, and no man yet was ever sent to Malta for treachery as foul as his shall be.
54
Immense, indeed, would have to be the vat to hold Ferrara’s blood, and weary the man who would weigh ounce by ounce that bloody flood,
57
blood that this generous priest will sacrifice, to prove his party loyalty—but then, such gifts become that country’s way of life!
60
Above us there are mirrors you call ‘Thrones’ through which God shines his judgments down on us— this justifies the harshness of our words. ”
63
Then she was silent, and it seemed her thoughts were drawn to something else, for she had joined the dancing wheel where she had been before.
66
That other joy which she had just described as something precious, now appeared to me like an exquisite ruby struck by sun.
69
Up there joy gives those souls a brighter light, as here it makes us smile, while down below souls darken to reveal their sullen minds.
72
49. The Sile and Cagnano rivers join at Treviso.
50-51. The reference is to Riccardo da Cammino, a son of the “good Gherardo” (Purgatory XVI, 124), who took his father’s place as lord of Treviso and ruled like a tyrant.
53-54. For the ancient commentators, Malta was the clerical prison of Lake Bolsena.
59. The bishop was of the Guelph party.
60. The “gifts” refers to the “blood” (58) that the bishop was so happy to donate for his party’s cause (59).
61-63. Cunizza is referring to the angels that move and direct the seventh heaven or the sphere of Saturn.
“God can sec all, and your sight sees in Him, ” I said, “O holy spirit, so no thought of mine can hide itself from your true sight.
75
Your voice, then, which eternally charms Heaven, in harmony with those adoring flames that make themselves a cowl of their six wings,
78
why does it leave my longing unfulfilled? I would not wait for you to ask of me were I to inyou as you now inme. ”
81
“The greatest valley into which there flows, ” with these words he began to answer me, “the water of that world-encircling sea
84
runs on so far between opposing shores against the sun, that finally it makes meridian where it first made horizon.
87
I dwelt upon that valley’s shores between the Ebro and the Magra whose short course divides the Tuscans from the Genoese.
90
Almost the same sunset and dawn are shared by Bougie and the city I came from, which with its own blood warmed its harbor once.
93
77-78. The flames are the Seraphim, ministers of Divine Love. In Isaiah (6:2) these angels are said to have six wings.
81. Dante constructed the reflexive verbs “in you” and “in me” in order to convey the notion of interpenctration of minds. He is saying that if he were capable of knowing the question to be directed to him, as the soul is, he would answer it without delay.
91-93. Marseilles and Bougie, on the coast of Africa, have longitudinal proximity. In 49 B.C., during the Civil War, Caesar conquered Marseilles after a bloody victory at sea against Pompcy’s supporters.
To those who knew it Folquet was my name; this sphere of heaven bears my imprint now as from my day of birth I bore its own.
96
Dido, Belus’ child, did not burn more, wronging Sichaeus and Creusa, too, than I burned loving till my hair turned grey;
99
nor she of Rhodope who was betrayed by her Demophoön, nor Hercules when he enclosed lole in his heart.
102
But we do not repent, we smile instead: not at the sin—this does not come to mind— but at the Power that orders and provides.
105
From here we gaze upon that art which works with such effective love; we see the Good by which the world below returns above.
108
But now that I may fully satisfy all of your wishes born within this sphere, let me proceed. It is your wish to know
111
who this one is within the luminance you see in all its splendor next to me like crystal water struck by rays of light.
114
94. Folquet of Marseilles (born ca. 1160) was a troubadour and poet. The son of a rich merchant of Genoa, Folquet devoted much of his life to pleasure and was well known for his amorous affairs. Later, however, he became a Cistercian monk and rose to become abbot of Torronet in 1201 and bishop of
Toulouse in 1205. He died in 1231.
100-102. Rhodope is a mountain in Thrace. Phyllis, daughter of King Sithon of Thrace, was to marry Demophoön. When he did not appear on the wedding day, she hanged herself and was changed into an almond tree. Hercules loved lole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Thessalian Oechalia, and abducted her after killing her father. His wife, Deianira, in order to recover his love, sent Hercules a shirt bathed in the blood of the centaur Nessus, believing that blood to carry a love potion. The centaur had tricked her, however, and Hercules was poisoned. In despair and grief, she killed herself.
Know, then, that there within Rahab has peace, and once joined with our order, she impressed her seal upon it at the highest rank.
117
To this sphere where the shadow of your earth comes to an end, she was the first to rise among the souls redeemed in Christ’s great triumph.
120
It was most fitting that she be received and left in one of our spheres as a palm of that great victory won by those two palms,
123
for it was Rahab who made possible Joshua’s first glory in the Holy Land— which seems to matter little to the Pope.
126
Your city—which was planted by the one, the first to turn against his Maker’s power, and whose fierce envy brought the world such woe—
129
creates and circulates the wicked flower that turns the shepherds into ravening wolves and breaks the fold and lets the lambs run wild.
132
115. This is Rahab, the Whore of Jericho. When Joshua sent spies to scout that city prior to battle, Rahab hid them from the king’s men, and aided their escape. Because she thus helped the people of Israel to regain the promised land, her soul rose from Limbo to Heaven immediately after the Crucifixion.
118-119. According to Ptolomy and Alfraganus, the Arabic astrologer, the shadow of the earth extended in a kind of cone shape with its point reaching no farther than the sphere of Venus. Metaphorically, these verses suggest that Venus is the last of the spheres containing souls that once were marked by an excess of earthly inclination.
120. Christ’s “great triumph” was the harrowing of Hell.
122-123. The “palm” is the symbol of victory over Hell by means of the crucifixion. The “two palms” are those of Christ which were willingly extended and nailed to the Cross for the redemption of mankind.
127-129. Lucifer, the first to fall away from God, envied the happiness of Adam and Eve and made them sin, the result of which was Original Sin and the world’s grief.
The Gospel and the fathers of the Church lie gathering dust, and Canon Law alone is studied, as the margins testify.
135
The Pope and Cardinals heed nothing else; their thoughts do not go out to Nazareth where Gabriel once opened wide his wings.
138
But Vatican and every sacred place in Rome which marked the burial-ground of saints who fought in Peter’s army to the death,
141
shall soon be free of this adultery. ”
CANTO X
PRAISING THE CREATED order which reflects its Creator, Dante the Poet marvels at the exactitude of the structure and workings of the universe. The Pilgrim, unaware of rising there, discovers himself in the sphere of the sun, surrounded by spirits of such brilliance that their lights are distinct from the light of the sun. Dancing and singing in their joy, the spirits form a circle, making Dante and his guide their center, but they soon pause in their movement to provide an answer to Dante’s evident, though unexpressed, desire to have the souls identified. Thomas Aquinas steps forward to introduce his fellow spirits, all known for their wisdom and learning. The spirits then resume their song and motion, singing and turning with such harmony that they resemble the workings of a clock which calls the faithful to prayer.
Looking upon His Son with all that love
which each of them breathes forth eternally,
that uncreated, ineffable first One,
3
134-135. The books of Canon Law (the decretals) are the papal decrees or epistles, usually composed in reply to a question of ecclesiastical law, and forming the foundation of a large part of general Church law.
137-138. It was at Nazareth in the Holy Land that the Annunciation took place and the angel Gabriel “opened wide his wings” in homage to Mary.
has fashioned all that moves in mind and space in such sublime proportions that no one can sec it and not feel His Presence there.
6
Look up now, Reader, with me to the spheres; look straight to that point of the lofty wheels where the one motion and the other cross,
9
and there begin to revel in the work of that great Artist who so loves His art, His gaze is fixed on it perpetually.
12
Consider how the wheel the planets ride branches from there obliquely; this it does to satisfy the earth that calls on them;
15
for if their track had not been set aslant, then the great powers of Heaven would be vain and Earth’s potentialities stillborn;
18
and if its deviation from the straight were greater than it is, or less, disorder would come about in both our hemispheres.
21
Now, Reader, do not leave the table yet, reflect upon what you have only tasted, if you would dine on joy before you tire.
24
I put the food out; now you feed yourself, because the theme which makes of me its scribe demands all of my concentration now.
27
The most sublime of Nature’s ministers, which stamps the plan of Heaven on the world and with its light measures the time for us,
30
now being in conjunction with that place I pointed out, was wheeling through the spirals in which we see it earlier each day;
33
28. The “most sublime” is the sun. As the symbol of intellectual power and illumination, it represents the Creator Himself.
and I was in the sun, no more aware of my ascent than one can be aware of how a thought will come before it comes.
36
She it is, Beatrice, guides our climb from good to better instantaneously— her action has no measurement in time.
39
How brilliant in its essence must have been what shone within the sun, where I had come, not with its color but with light on light!
42
Even if I called on genius, art, and skill, I could not make this live before your eyes— a man must trust and long to see it there.
45
If our imagination cannot rise to such a height, no need to be surprised. No eye has known light brighter than the sun’s;
48
So, there within, shone God’s fourth family whom the High Father keeps in constant bliss showing them how He breathes, how He begets.
51
Then Beatrice said: “And now give thanks, thanks to the Sun of Angels by whose grace you have ascended to this sun of sense. ”
54
No mortal heart was ever more disposed to do devotion and to yield itself to God so fully and so readily
57
than mine was at her words. So totally did I direct all of my love to Him, that Beatrice, eclipsed, had left my mind.
60
But this did not displease her, and she smiled so that the splendor of her laughing eyes broke my mind’s spell. Again I was aware
63
49-51. These souls found in the fourth sphere of the heavens are those who were endowed with great wisdom: the theologians and philosophers and other great and wise thinkers.
of many things: flashes of living light made us a center and themselves a crown— their voices sweeter than their aspect bright:
66
the way Latona’s daughter sometimes seems, girt by her halo when the pregnant air catches the threads of moonlight in her belt.
69
In heaven’s court from where I have returned there are
some jewels too precious and too rich to be brought back to Earth from out that realm,
72
and one such gem—the song those splendors sang: who does not grow the wings to fly up there, awaits these tidings from the tongueless here.
75
When singing, circling, all those blazing suns had wheeled around the two of us three times like stars that circle close to the fixed poles,
78
they stopped like ladies still in dancing mood, who pause in silence listening to catch the rhythm of the new notes of the dance.
81
Then from within its light a voice spoke: “Since the ray of grace by which true love is kindled and then grows lovingly the more it loves,
84
shines forth in you so greatly magnified that it allows you to ascend these stairs which none descends except to mount again—
87
one could no more deny your thirsty soul wine from his flask than could a moving stream refuse to keep on flowing to the sea.
90
It is your wish to know what kinds of flowers make up this crown which lovingly surrounds the lovely lady who strengthens you for Heaven.
93
67-69. Latona’s daughter is Diana or the moon. The circle of light, made up of the souls of the wise, within which Dante and Beatrice are girdled is compared here to a vaporous “halo” around the moon.