Endnotes

ENDNOTES

[1] Refer to the Translator’s Note.

[2] The One who moves all things: God, understood as the First Unmoved Mover.

[3] The reference is to the Empyrean, which burns most brightly with the fire of charity.

[4] That for which its yearnings long: the beatific vision of God.

[5] Apollo: god of music and poetry as well as of the sun.

[6] The longed-for bay: Cupid shot Apollo with an arrow of desire and Daphne, the daughter of the river god, Peneus, with one of aversion. In order to save Daphne from Apollo’s advances, Peneus changed her into a laurel tree (cf. Peneian leafage, v. 31). Apollo’s love was then transferred to the tree, used henceforth to crown emperors and poets.

[7] According to some commentators, the one peak of Parnassus (v. 16) is Nisa, assigned to the Muses, the other Cyrrha (cf. v. 36), consecrated to Apollo. Others claim that none of Dante’s sources divide the peaks in this way, since both were sacred to Apollo and Bacchus. The two peaks may thus signify a double portion of inspiration.

[8] Marsyas: a satyr of Phrygia who challenged Apollo to a musical contest after having found a flute that played itself beautifully. The Muses declared Apollo the victor, and, as punishment for his presumption, Marsyas was bound to a tree and flayed alive.

[9] Your favored tree: the laurel tree.

[10] That glad Delphic god: Apollo himself. Delphi was the site of the great temple of Apollo on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus.

[11] Cyrrha: the peak of Parnassus dedicated to Apollo and a town on the Gulf of Corinth to the southwest of Delphi connected with his worship.

[12] The four circles are the horizon, the celestial equator, the ecliptic, and the colure of the equinoxes. The three crosses are formed by the intersection of the latter three circles with the horizon. The sun rises at this point of intersection in the constellation of Aries (March 21 to April 20), held to be the season when God created the world and thus a particularly propitious time.

[13] Evening here (v. 43): the northern hemisphere. Morning there: the southern hemisphere.

[14] Leftwards: towards the north.

[15] It was thought that the eagle could gaze directly at the sun.

[16] That spot: the Garden of Eden, originally created as the proper place for humankind (v. 57).

[17] Glaucus: a Boeotian fisherman who, on seeing his catch laid on the grass revive and flop back to sea, ate some of what seemed to be a magic herb and was himself driven to enter the sea, where he was turned into a sea god by Oceanus and Tethys (cf. v. 69).

[18] That in me which You created last: the soul.

[19] The wheel: the Primum Mobile

[20] Harmonies: of the celestial spheres

[21] Dante may now rise through the sphere of fire, above that of air, and below that of the moon.

[22] The proper site (v. 92) of lightning is the sphere of fire. Homewards: to the Empyrean.

[23] If he is still in his body, Dante wonders how he can pass through the nine material spheres (or perhaps those of air and fire).

[24] High creatures: angels and men.

[25] The sphere of fire is immediately below that of the moon.

[26] Becalms that heaven: the Empyrean, which, not revolving, is at rest.

[27] The fastest sphere: the Primum Mobile.

[28] Minerva: the goddess of wisdom.

[29] The Bears: Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Big and Little Dipper, guide sailors at night. They indicate the pole of the northern hemisphere.

[30] Angels’ bread: wisdom.

[31] In Colchis the Argonauts discovered Jason, plowing with fire-breathing oxen and planting a dragon’s teeth that sprouted into men.

[32] God’s own realm: the Empyrean.

[33] Leaves the string, and flies, and strikes: in Italian, these three actions are reversed, perhaps to indicate their near simultaneity.

[34] A wondrous thing: the moon’s physical appearance.

[35] This star, the first you see: the moon.

[36] The moon’s rarefied matter appears like a cloud.

[37] Everlasting: the matter of the heavenly spheres was thought to be in potentiality to one form only and thus incorruptible. Pearl: Dante now seems to realize that the moon is solid and will wonder how two solid bodies can occupy the same space.

[38] The miraculous fact that a human and a lunar body simultaneously occupy the same space should make us long to see the even more miraculous union of the human and divine natures in the one person of Christ.

[39] We can demonstrate the truth of the hypostatic union from the authority of Sacred Scripture, but we shall see it intuitively in Heaven as we now do the first indemonstrable truths of reason.

[40] The spots on the moon were popularly thought to be Cain and his thorns.

[41] That eighth sphere: the sphere of the fixed stars, the eighth, counting outwards from the moon.

[42] Beatrice’s first argument (cf. vv. 64–72) assumes that the influence of the visible stars produces qualitatively different effects in the sublunar world. This qualitative difference of effects must proceed from a qualitative difference of “virtue” or operative power. And this qualitative difference of virtue must emanate from a qualitative difference of formal principles that determine the natures of the various stars. A purely quantitative difference of dense and rare is therefore insufficient to explain the nature of stellar influence.

[43] Vv. 73–78 argue that if we accept the presence of rarer matter in the moon, then layers of such matter would either extend from one side of the moon to the other or would lie on top of denser matter.

[44] Vv. 79–81 refute the possibility of layers of rarer matter extending from one side of the moon to the other, since then the sun would shine through them during a solar eclipse, which does not happen.

[45] Vv. 82–84 state the logical conditions of proof. If an antecedent entails two mutually exclusive consequents, and if both of those consequents are proved to be false, then the antecedent itself must be false.

[46] Vv. 85–90 examine the second consequent. If dense matter lies behind the rare, then it would reflect the light just as if it were on the surface, which does not happen either. Here the mirror’s glass corresponds to the rare matter and its leaden backing to the dense.

[47] Vv. 91–93 raise the objection that light is more dimly reflected from the underlying dense matter.

[48] Vv. 94–105 refute the objection raised in vv. 91–93 by showing that a more distant reflecting surface will reflect a light with the same intensity as a less distant one.

[49] That is, when snow is melted by the sun, water (its substrate, v. 107) is stripped of the white color and crystalline structure of snow.

[50] A body: the Primum Mobile, which lies inside the Empyrean (the heaven of divine repose, v. 112) and encompasses the other eight spheres (cf. v. 114).

[51] The sphere that follows: the eighth sphere, that of the fixed stars.

[52] The power transmitted by the Primum Mobile is distributed by the sphere of the stars to various types of beings.

[53] The other spheres: the seven planetary spheres, which continue to differentiate the power of the Primum Mobile.

[54] Their ends: the effects of the differentiated stellar influences.

[55] Organs: the nine celestial spheres, which are hierarchically ordered (cf. v. 122) such that each receives the influence from the one above and transmits it to the one below (cf. v. 123).

[56] The holy movers’ corps: the angels or celestial intelligences that move the spheres.

[57] The deep mind: a collective term referring to the order of angels moving the spheres, in this case the Cherubim.

[58] The sphere that many lights adorn: the sphere of the fixed stars.

[59] Quickened bodies: the mobile and material spheres.

[60] The spots on the moon come not from the mixture of the dense and the rare but from the power transmitted from above and diversely mingled with the stellar or planetary (in this case, lunar) body.

[61] The sun: Beatrice, who first aroused Dante’s love when he was nine years old.

[62] The lovely truth: concerning the spots on the moon.

[63] To confess: that he was mistaken about the spots on the moon.

[64] Narcissus mistook his reflection for a real person; Dante mistakes real beings for reflections.

[65] True substances: real souls. A substance exists in itself, an accident only in another.

[66] A virgin sister: a nun.

[67] Piccarda: daughter of Simone and sister of Corso and Forese Donati. She was related to Dante by marriage through his wife, Gemma. She is reported to have been forced from the convent of the Clarisse of Monticelli, near Florence, around 1288 by her brother Corso in order to marry Rossellino della Tosa.

[68] This slowest sphere: that of the moon, which, being closest to the center of the universe and farthest from the Empyrean, turns most slowly in the daily revolution of the spheres.

[69] Wondrous aspects: faces illuminated by the light of glory.

[70] A lady: St. Clare (1194–1253), canonized by Pope Alexander IV in 1255. Under the direction of St. Francis, she founded the austere Order of Poor Clare.

[71] That Spouse who accepts each vow: Christ.

[72] Men: her brother Corso and his associates.

[73] The other splendor: the “great Costanza” of v. 118.

[74] The great Costanza: Constance (1154–1198), daughter of King Roger II of Naples and Sicily, wife of Emperor Henry VI, mother of Emperor Frederick II, and grandmother of Manfred. She was herself the rightful heir to the Norman throne of Sicily and was thought to have been a nun taken forcibly from the convent to marry Henry VI in 1185 to effect a political alliance.

[75] Frederick I (Barbarossa) was the first blast, Henry VI the second blast (v. 119), and Frederick II the third and final might. They are called “blasts” because of their short but violent reigns. Swabia: a duchy in southwestern Germany.

[76] Daniel divined both the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (v. 14) and its interpretation when the latter was about to execute the seers who could not do so.

[77] In the Timaeus Plato teaches that souls were assigned to a given star at their creation and would return thereto if, after life in the body, they had mastered passion and lived righteously.

[78] The one with greater spleen: the position (vv. 23–24) that return to one’s star, rather than the beatific vision of God, is the end of man.

[79] The Seraphim are the highest order of angels.

[80] Either John: either John the Baptist or John the Evangelist.

[81] Gabriel and Michael (v. 45) are archangels as is Raphael, who appears in the Book of Tobit.

[82] Timaeus: the chief interlocutor in the Platonic dialogue by the same name.

[83] The other doubt: that expressed in vv. 19–21.

[84] Beatrice symbolizes the true faith, from which the “other doubt” would not lead Dante astray.

[85] A flame not violently blown by the wind in another direction naturally tends upwards.

[86] St. Lawrence (v. 83): a native of Huesca, Spain, and a deacon of the Church of Rome, martyred under the Emperor Valerian in 258. When he refused to reveal the location of the Church treasures entrusted to him by Pope Sixtus II and offered the poor and the sick as the true treasures of the Church, he was roasted alive on a gridiron. He mocked his executioners, however, asking to be turned over so that he would roast evenly on both sides. Mucius (three syllables as in Latin): Gaius Mucius Scaevola (“left-handed”), a Roman who attempted to assassinate the Etruscan King Porsena during his siege of Rome (late sixth century BC). When his attempt failed and he was condemned to be burned alive, he first thrust his hand into a sacrificial fire and held it there unflinchingly, as he told of 299 others who had sworn to kill the King. The latter was so impressed by his fortitude that he released him and quit his siege.

[87] The argument: according to which God would be unjust for placing Piccarda and Constance in the lowest sphere for having been forced against their wills to break their vows.

[88] Another strait: the contradiction explained in vv. 97–99.

[89] Alcmaeon (v. 103): slew his mother, Eriphyle, for betraying the hiding place of his father, Amphiaraus, who had foreseen that he would die in the siege of Thebes. Before he died, he enjoined his son to avenge him against his wife.

[90] The Fount of every truth: God.

[91] My two desires: those suggested in vv. 1–9.

[92] That First Love: God.

[93] Grace for grace: thanks for favor.

[94] That of which it’s made (v. 44): the thing promised (e.g., poverty, chastity, obedience). The covenant: the act of agreement.

[95] The white and yellow key: permission of the Church, with the white key symbolizing the judgment of legitimate cause for release from a vow and the yellow key symbolizing the authority to sanction such a release.

[96] Jephthah: a judge of Israel (ca. 1143–1137 BC) who sacrificed his own daughter to God to fulfill a vow that, if he defeated the Ammonites, he would sacrifice the first creature that came to meet him on his return.

[97] Agamemnon (the Greek chief, v. 69) vowed to Artemis that he would sacrifice to her the most beautiful creature born in his kingdom that year, which turned out to be his daughter, Iphigenia, whom he then refused to sacrifice. Later, when calm winds prevented the Greeks from sailing to Troy, the stillness was attributed to Artemis’ wrath at the broken vow, at which point Agamemnon relented. (Note: Iphigenia counts as four syllables, with -ia as a diphthong.)

[98] Evil greed: perhaps that of religious orders in general, or that of the Friars of St. Anthony, who offered a release from vows for money.

[99] Bilk the Jews of any laughter: at seeing you say one thing and do another.

[100] Its mother’s milk: the Church’s teaching.

[101] The second kingdom: the planet Mercury.

[102] Splendors: glorified souls.

[103] Divinities: here, angels and saints.

[104] Mercury is veiled from mortals by the rays of the sun.

[105] The sun, hidden by its own light, can only be seen when covered by vapors (v. 134).

[106] Constantine (ca. 288–337) carried the Eagle (v. 1), the imperial symbol, from west to east, against the natural motion of the heavens (cf. v. 2), by moving the seat of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople in 324. Aeneas, that ancient whom Lavinia wed, had taken an opposite course in accord with the natural celestial movement by bearing the Imperial Eagle from Troy to Rome. (Note: Lavinia counts as three syllables with -ia pronounced as a diphthong.)

[107] The speaker, Justinian (cf. v. 10), became emperor in 527, slightly more than two hundred years after the transference of the seat of the Empire in 324. He returned the seat of the Empire to Western Europe in Ravenna.

[108] That is, near Troy.

[109] Justinian: Justinian I, emperor of Constantinople (527–565), known for the Codex Iustinianus of 529 and the Digesta and Pandectae of 530–533, compilations of Roman law (cf. v. 12).

[110] Justinian supposedly held the Monophysite heresy according to which Christ possessed a single, divine nature and not a human one as well. But it was probably his wife who held this view.

[111] Agapetus: Agapetus I, pope from 535–536, sent by Theodat, king of the Ostrogoths in Italy, to make peace at Constantinople with Justinian.

[112] In reality, Justinian had completed his reform by 533; Agapetus came to Constantinople in 536.

[113] Belisarius: a general (ca. 505–565) of Justinian. He overthrew the Vandals in Africa, reconquered Italy from the Goths, and founded the exarchate of Ravenna. Dante does not mention that he was accused of conspiracy and mistreated. (Note: -ius counts as two syllables.)

[114] The reference is to the Ghibellines and Guelphs.

[115] Pallas: son of the Latin king Evander. He was slain by Turnus while leading the Latin troops to Aeneas, who killed Turnus and took Latium in revenge.

[116] The kingdom of Aeneas was founded at Lavinium, was transferred by his son, Ascanius, to Alba Longa (v. 37), and fell to Rome more than three hundred years later (v. 38) in the reign of Tullus Hostilius (670–638 BC), when the three Alban Curiatii were defeated by the three Roman Horatii. Both the Albans and the Romans came from the Trojans.

[117] The first of Rome’s seven kings (v. 40) ordered the abduction of Sabine women to give wives to his men. The others extended Roman territory until Sextus, the son of the last king, Tarquinius Superbus, raped Lucretia (v. 41), which moved the people to destroy the monarchy in 510 BC.

[118] Brennus: leader of the Gauls, defeated after besieging the Capitol in 390 BC by Torquatus (v. 46) and one of the Fabii (v. 47). Pyrrhus: king of Epirus, who aided the Tarentine attack on Rome, but was defeated at Beneventum in 275 BC by the Decii (v. 47).

[119] Torquatus: Titus Manlius Torquatus, dictator in 353 and 349 BC and consul in 347, 344, and 340 BC. Quinctius (three syllables): Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus ( = “shaggy-haired”), summoned from his plow to lead as dictator the Romans against the Aequians in 548 BC.

[120] The Decii (three syllables): father, son, and grandson, all named Publius Decius Mus, who died fighting against the Latins (340 BC), the Samnites (295 BC), and Pyrrhus (280 BC). The Fabii (three syllables): a prominent Roman family that produced Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator ( = delayer), who by his delaying strategy saved Rome from Hannibal (v. 50), who had invaded Italy in 218 BC.

[121] Arabs: the inhabitants of North Africa, used anachronistically for the Carthaginians.

[122] Hannibal: Carthaginian general (247–183 BC) who nearly defeated Rome in the Second Punic War. When Rome declared war on him after he had attacked an allied city in Spain, he crossed the Alps (cf. vv. 50–51) in 218 BC with his elephants and 40,000 troops to win victories at the Trebia River, Lake Trasimene (217 BC), and Cannae (216 BC). The Po (v. 51) descends from Monte Viso in the Piedmont Alps.

[123] Scipio Africanus the Elder (ca. 235–ca. 183 BC) defeated Hannibal’s forces in Spain and won final victory over him in Zama in 202 BC. Pompey: Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106–48 BC), who celebrated a triumph in 81 BC over the faction of Marius (cf. v. 53).

[124] The reference is to Fiesole, which overlooks Florence. It was supposedly destroyed by the Roman forces sent by Cicero (62 BC) to defeat Cataline.

[125] Caesar came to power near the divinely appointed time for the Incarnation.

[126] Vv. 58–60 allude to Caesar’s Gallic Wars. The Var formed the eastern and the Rhine the northern boundary of Gaul, where the other rivers mentioned here “beheld” his victories.

[127] Vv. 61–63 refer to Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon (v. 62) between Ravenna (v. 61) and Rimini, which started the civil war against Pompey in 49 BC.

[128] Also in 49 BC, Caesar vanquished Pompey’s lieutenants in Spain (v. 64), besieged him in Durazzo (modern Durrës on the Adriatic), and soundly defeated him in 48 BC at Pharsalus in eastern Thessaly (v. 65), from which he fled to Egypt, where he was killed by Ptolemy.

[129] Vv. 67–72 deal with Caesar’s pursuit of Pompey. Antandros: a coastal town near the Simois River (v. 67), from which Aeneas sailed near Troy, where Hector lay (v. 68). Ptolomy (v. 69): Ptolomy XII, king of Egypt (51–47 BC), who expelled his sister Cleopatra, for whom Julius Caesar won back the kingdom. Juba (v. 70): king of Numidia in North Africa and ally of Pompey, defeated by Caesar in 46 BC. The following year, Caesar defeated the army commanded by Pompey’s sons in Spain at the battle of Munda (vv. 71–72).

[130] Augustus, the next chief (v. 74), defeated Marc Antony at Modena in 43 BC; Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius (two syllables) (v. 73), at Philippi in 42 BC; and Antony’s brother, Lucius, at Perugia the following year.

[131] Cleopatra (v. 76) committed suicide with an asp (v. 77) after the final defeat of Marc Antony by Augustus at Actium in 31 BC.

[132] It hurried to the Red Sea shore: in Augustus’ conquest of Egypt.

[133] The temple of Janus closed its doors only in times of peace, which happened only twice during the entire Republic, but three times during the reign of Augustus (cf. v. 56).

[134] That third Caesar: Tiberius, during whose reign Christ satisfied for man’s sin (cf. v. 90).

[135] Titus (v. 92): the Emperor Vespasian’s son and successor (79–81 AD), who destroyed Jerusalem, which was interpreted as divine revenge for the Jews’ crucifixion of Christ, whose death constituted vengeance for the sin of old.

[136] Great Charlemagne (ca. 742–814), king of the Franks and founder of the Holy Roman Empire, defended the Church when Desiderius, the Lombard king (cf. v. 94), occupied papal lands in 773.

[137] Their new Charles: Charles II (1248–1309), count of Anjou and of Provence, king of Naples, son of Charles d’Anjou, and father of Charles Martel.

[138] A warning to Charles that his actions may affect his children, particularly Charles Martel.

[139] This present pearl: the planet Mercury.

[140] Romeo: de Villeneuve (1170–1250), chamberlain of Count Raymond Berenguer IV of Provence (cf. v. 133). According to legend, he was a humble itinerant (cf. v. 135) who attached himself to Raymond’s court, managed his affairs, and arranged the marriages of his daughters (cf. vv. 133–135), all with the highest competence and integrity (cf. v. 138). When a group of jealous nobles accused him of malfeasance (cf. v. 130) and an accounting was demanded (cf. vv. 136–137), he, offended at this ingratitude, left the Count’s service as humbly as he had come (cf. vv. 139–142).

[141] When Raymond’s daughter Beatrice married Charles d’Anjou in 1246, Provence came under the stern rule of the Angevins. The Provençals were thus punished for their false accusations.

[142] Hosanna: a cry of acclamation, originally meaning “O save us,” given to Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem and preserved in the Sanctus of the Mass.

[143] Happy fires: souls. In the original this tercet is in Latin with three words in Hebrew.

[144] A double light: the lights of nature and of glory, or of Justinian’s roles as emperor and lawgiver.

[145] Bice (two syllables): an abbreviated form of “Beatrice.”

[146] That man who knew no birth: Adam. The rein upon his will was the command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

[147] This verse refers to original sin.

[148] God’s Word: the Second Person of the Trinity incarnate in Jesus Christ.

[149] From a righteous court: that of Titus, the duly constituted Roman authority.

[150] Beings created directly by God—angels and the human soul—are not subject to the influence of the spheres.

[151] Both His ways: God’s mercy and justice (cf. vv. 91–93).

[152] Between the final night and primal day: that is, between Creation and Judgment, their order here being reversed.

[153] A place: the relation of God’s immediate causality and secondary causality.

[154] Air, earth, water, and fire were thought to be the four elements that made up everything in the sublunar world.

[155] What is said: in vv. 67–69.

[156] The angels and the heavenly spheres (this most pure land, v. 130) were God’s original creation and were created in their full being.

[157] The elements and things that they compose undergo the secondary causality of the heavenly spheres, presided over by the angelic intelligences.

[158] Prime matter and the power of the spheres were created directly by God.

[159] The vegetative and nutritive souls of plants and the sensitive and locomotive souls of animals are educed from matter in potentiality to the reception of such forms.

[160] God creates the human soul directly and inspires it with a natural love for Him as its first origin and final end.

[161] One fair Cyprian: the goddess Venus, born in Cyprus and thought to inspire men with mad love.

[162] In Ptolemaic astronomy, an epicycle is the movement of a planet in a small circle whose center moves around the earth in a larger circle called the “deferent.”

[163] Ancient errors: paganism.

[164] Dione: the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, and mother of Venus. Cupid: the son of Venus.

[165] In the form of Aeneas’ son, Ascanius, Cupid (v. 8) sat in Dido’s lap and inspired her love for Aeneas. That one: Venus.

[166] The star: the planet Venus, the last of the three planets touched by the shadow of the earth.

[167] At its nape: as the evening star. At … its brow: as the morning star.

[168] Other lanterns: souls who come to meet Dante. That light: of the planet Venus.

[169] When lit: ignited winds were supposedly visible as lightning.

[170] The round: that is, a round dance

[171] The lofty Seraphim: the highest of the angels. They preside over the Primum Mobile.

[172] Hosanna: here a cry of greeting.

[173] Princely suite: the Principalities, the angelic order presiding over the sphere of Venus.

[174] The first verse of a Canzone in Dante’s Convivio. The angelic intelligences were thought to make the spheres revolve by intellection alone. But in Dante’s earlier work it is the Thrones, not the Principalities, who perform this office with respect to Venus.

[175] Son of Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, the speaker is Charles Martel (1271–1295), himself king of Hungary from 1292 (cf. vv. 64–66), who died of cholera at the age of twenty-four. The citation of v. 37 and the tone of vv. 55–57 suggest that he and Dante were friends. They may have met on his visit to Florence in 1294.

[176] Much ill … which yet shall be: a reference to ill-government by the house of Anjou, which resulted in the revolt known as the Sicilian Vespers (cf. vv. 67–75) and the abuses of the rule of Charles’ brother, Robert (cf. vv. 75–84).

[177] The Rhone (v. 58) and Sorgue (v. 59) rivers mark the western boundary of Provence, acquired through marriage by Charles I d’Anjou and passed on to Charles II and Charles Martel.

[178] The horn of Italy (v. 61): the kingdom of Naples and Apulia, bounded on the east, west, and south by Bar(i), Gaëta, and Catona (v. 62) respectively, with Naples separated on the east and west from the papal states by the Tronto and Verde (modern Liri and Garigliano) rivers.

[179] The geographical reference is to Hungary.

[180] Trinacria: Sicily.

[181] Typhoeus: a hundred-headed giant conquered by Jupiter and buried under Mt. Aetna. His struggles to free himself were thought to cause the Mountain’s volcanic eruptions. Dante attributes the eruptions to solar heat on the formation of sulphur.

[182] The gulf: the Gulf of Catania in Sicily. Eurus: an ancient name for the south wind.

[183] Pachynus (Cape Passero) is the southeast and Pelorus (Cape Faro) the northeast point of Sicily.

[184] Rudolph: of Hapsburg, father-in-law of Charles Martel. Charles: I d’Anjou, Charles Martel’s grandfather.

[185] Evil lordship: the repressive government of Charles I.

[186] A reference to the rebellion in 1282 known as the Sicilian Vespers, which resulted in a transfer of Sicily from the house of Anjou to that of Aragon.

[187] My brother: Charles Martel’s brother, Robert, chosen as successor to his father, Charles II, before 1300, actually succeeded him in 1309. He may have adopted the miserliness of the Catalans while serving among them as a hostage for his father, or he may have appointed miserly Catalan officials to important posts in his government of Naples and Sicily. Cf. vv. 77–78.

[188] A mold more generous: probably Robert’s grandfather Charles I d’Anjou.

[189] That is, how did the avaricious Charles II and Robert descend from the generous Charles I?

[190] You’ll turn your face … as now your back: you will understand what you do not understand.

[191] The Good: God. The kingdom: the heavenly spheres.

[192] The Intellects that move the stars: the angelic intelligences. The First One: God.

[193] Nature: includes God as natura naturans and the total order of creation as natura naturata.

[194] Your Master: Aristotle.

[195] Solon (v. 124): an Athenian legislator, one of the Seven Wisemen of Greece. Xerxes (v. 124): king of Peroria (485–465 BC), who continued the war of his father, Darius I, against Greece and destroyed Athens in 480 BC but suffered defeat at Salamis and Plataea in 479 BC. Melchisedek (v. 125): in the Book of Genesis, a king of Salem and priest of God. He whose zeal for flying … would lose a son: Daedalus, whose son fell to his death after flying too near the sun with wings his father had fashioned.

[196] Though Essau and Jacob (v. 130) of the Book of Genesis were twins, they possessed very different characters. Quirinus (v. 131), or Romulus, was of such lowly birth that the incredulous Romans ascribed his paternity to Mars.

[197] Fair Clemence: either Clemence of Hapsburg, the wife of Charles Martel, or Clemence of Anjou, the daughter of Charles Martel.

[198] His seed: Charles Robert (Carobert) (1288–1342), son of Charles Martel and Clemence of Hapsburg, and king of Hungary from 1308, but deprived of his right of succession to the throne of Naples by his uncle, Robert, the son of Charles II, in collaboration with Pope Clement V.

[199] The deaths of Robert’s brother and nephew in the battle of Montecatini in 1315 may be meant.

[200] Its fulfilling Sun: God

[201] Another splendor: another soul.

[202] The March of Treviso in northeast Italy lies between the island of Rialto (v. 26), indicating the city of Venice, and the Brenta and Piava rivers, which rise in the Alps.

[203] A mound: the hill of Romano, where the Ezzelino family had a castle.

[204] A torch: Ezzelino III da Romano (1194–1259), the brother of Cunizza (v. 32).

[205] Cunizza: the sister (ca. 1198–after 1279) of Ezzelino III da Romano. She had seven husbands in all but, upon the death of the fourth, seems to have devoted herself to works of mercy.

[206] That is, until five hundred years have passed.

[207] Another: a life of posthumous fame deriving from a first life of excellence.

[208] Adige and Tagliamento: rivers bounding the March of Treviso on the west and east.

[209] The stream: the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza: a town in northeast Italy, northeast of Verona and northwest of Padua.

[210] The Guelphs conquered Vicenza in 1265 but refused allegiance to the Emperor Henry VII. Cangrande della Scala, imperial vicar of the city, and the Ghibellines expelled them in 1314.

[211] The Sile (two syllables) and the Cagnan(o) (modern Botteniga) are two small rivers that unite at Treviso.

[212] Vv. 50–51 refer to Riccardo da Cammino who succeeded his father Gherardo as Lord of Treviso. It seems that, for having seduced his wife, Alteniero degli Azzoni had him murdered in his own palace while he was playing chess.

[213] Its godless shepherd: Alessandro Novello da Treviso, Bishop of Feltre (1298–1320), accepted under his protection in 1314 a group of Ghibellines of Ferrara who had failed in a conspiracy against King Robert’s Ferrarese vicar, Pino della Tosa, and then gave them up to be put to death.

[214] Malta: the name of various prisons, one on Lake Bolsena, one in Viterbo, and one in Padua.

[215] His party zeal: his zeal for the Guelph party.

[216] Thrones: the angelic intelligences directing the seventh sphere, that of Saturn, and thought to execute Divine Judgment.

[217] That other joy: the soul mentioned in v. 37.

[218] Some fine ruby: specifically the balas ruby, thought to protect one from lustful thoughts.

[219] Here: on earth. Below: probably in Hell.

[220] Every pious fire: the Seraphim.

[221] With its six wings: a detail taken from the Book of Isaiah.

[222] The greatest valley: the Mediterranean.

[223] The waters garlanding the earth: the Atlantic, which was thought to surround all the land.

[224] Its each opposing shore: the shores of Africa and Europe.

[225] Against the sun: from east to west.

[226] The Mediterranean was thought to cover ninety degrees of longitude (instead of its actual forty-two) so that what from one extremity is the celestial horizon is from the other extremity the zenith or meridian.

[227] The Ebro: a river rising in the Cantabrian Mountains in the north of Spain and flowing southeast to the Mediterranean. The Macra: or Magra river, which formed part of the boundary between Genoese and Tuscan territory in Dante’s day (v. 90).

[228] Bougie (stressed on the second syllable): an Algerian town on a gulf bearing the same name. That from which I came: Marseilles, on the same meridian as Bougie, where, in 49 BC, the forces of Caesar and the partisans of Pompey fought a naval battle in its harbor (cf. v. 93).

[229] Folco: Folquet de Marseille, a Provençal troubadour (ca. 1160–1231), son of a wealthy Genoese merchant. Devoting himself to pleasure and involving himself in amorous affairs, he frequented the various courts. Around 1195, however, he entered the Cistercian order, becoming abbot of Torronet in 1201 and bishop of Toulouse in 1205. Dante does not mention that he was also involved in the Albigensian Crusade in 1209 but may have taken his zealousness in that endeavor as evidence of a true repentance.

[230] Belus’ daughter: Dido, who wronged both Sichaeus, her dead husband, and Creusa (v. 98), the dead wife of Aeneas, by her passion for the latter.

[231] When it fit my locks: before I turned grey.

[232] The Rhodopean maid (v. 100): the princess Phyllis of Thrace, near the Rhodope Mountains. She hanged herself, believing she had been abandoned on her wedding day by Demophoon (v. 101), the son of Theseus. Hercules (v. 101): son of Jupiter and Alcmene. When he abducted Iole (v. 102) from her home in Thessaly, his wife, Dejanira, sent him a cloak dipped in the blood of the centaur Nessus in order to win back his affections. It killed him, however, rather than charmed him.

[233] The meaning of this tercet, particularly of the last verse, is disputed. It may mean “the world below is turned by that above.”

[234] Rahab: a prostitute who hid two of Joshua’s spies sent to reconnoiter the land of Canaan and the city of Jericho. For this kindness to Israel she was spared when the city fell.

[235] Our globe’s conical shadow supposedly touched Venus when it was nearest to the earth.

[236] One palm and the other: either the palms of Christ’s hands, which, nailed to the cross, won the lofty victory (v. 122) of our redemption, or those of Joshua, who raised his arm to brandish a javelin against the city of Jericho.

[237] Joshua: son of Nun, successor of Moses, and leader in the conquest of Canaan.

[238] Your city: Florence

[239] The reference is to Lucifer.

[240] The bloom accurst: the florin, a Florentine coin stamped with a lily.

[241] Decretals: a compilation of papal laws and decrees forming a part of canon law. They were issued by Gregory IX in 1234, Boniface VIII in 1298, and Clement V in 1324.

[242] Nazareth: in northern Israel, lower Galilee, where the angel Gabriel (v. 138) announced the Incarnation to Mary.

[243] Vatican (v. 139): the hill on the right bank of the Tiber in Rome, where St. Peter’s basilica and the Vatican palace now stand, presumed to be the site of the martyrdom of St. Peter. The prophecy may refer to the removal of the papal court to Avignon, the death of Pope Boniface VIII, the coming of the emperor Henry VII, or to an anonymous redeemer.

[244] The reference is to the sun’s daily revolution along the celestial equator and yearly revolution along the celestial ecliptic, which cross each other in the constellation of Aries.

[245] The ecliptic or zodiac slants across the equator at Aries.

[246] The greatest minister of Nature: the sun.

[247] Latona’s girl: Diana, the moon, whose halo is referred to in vv. 68–69.

[248] Dominic: St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order.

[249] Albert of Cologne: St. Albert the Great (ca. 1193–1280), the Universal Doctor, Dominican provincial, bishop of Regensburg, prolific author, and teacher of Aquinas (cf. my master, v. 98).

[250] Thomas of Aquino: St. Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1225–1274), the greatest Catholic philosopher and theologian, called the Angelic Doctor.

[251] Gratian: Franciscus Gratianus, 12th-century Benedictine founder of the science of canon law.

[252] Peter: Lombard (ca. 1100–1160), known as the Master of the Sentences from his Book of Sentences, a work of his that collected the opinions of the Fathers on God, creation, the Incarnation, redemption, the seven sacraments, and eschatology.

[253] The widow’s mite: the small but sincere offering of a poor woman in Luke’s Gospel.

[254] The fifth light: Solomon, reputedly the wisest man and author of the Song of Songs, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom. His eternal fate was a matter of dispute (cf. v. 111)

[255] That candle’s shining hue: Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of St. Paul in Athens, to whom were ascribed certain very influential fifth or sixth-century Neoplatonic works.

[256] The flamelet: the 4th-century Spanish priest and historian, Paulus Orosius, who compiled historical evidence against the pagan assertion that the world had worsened since Christianity. St. Augustine (354–430) employed it (cf. v. 120) to support his City of God.

[257] This blest soul: Boethius (ca. 480–524), translator and commentator on Greek works, who wrote The Consolation of Philosophy in prison before execution on false charges by Theodoric the Ostrogoth, whom he served as consul. He is buried in Ciel d’Oro (Cieldauro, v. 127).

[258] Isidore: St. Isidore of Seville (ca. 570–636), converter of the Visigoths from Arianism, archbishop of Seville, father of the Western Church, and author of Etymologiae, an encyclopedia.

[259] Bede: the Venerable Bede (ca. 673–735), Anglo-Saxon monk, doctor of the Church, and author of a history of the Church in England. Richard: of St. Victor (d. 1173), a Scottish philosopher, theologian, mystic, and author of De contemplatione.

[260] Siger: de Brabant (d. 1281–1284), professor of the University of Paris and Averroistic interpreter of Aristotle opposed by Thomas Aquinas and condemned by Bishop Étienne Tempier.

[261] The hour: that of Matins. The Bride of God: the Church.

[262] Sings matins (mattinar): means, in secular usage, “to court.” Her Groom: Christ.

[263] Hippocrates: Greek physician, the “Father of Medicine” (ca. 460–377 BC), author of various works, including the Aphorisms, used as a textbook in medicine in the Middle Ages.

[264] The light: that of St. Thomas Aquinas.

[265] The spouse: the Church.

[266] Her Belovèd One: Christ.

[267] Two princes: these will prove to be St. Francis and St. Dominic.

[268] Seraphic zeal: the ardor of charity, as had by the Seraphim.

[269] A splendor of cherubic light: the lucidity of knowledge, as had by the Cherubim.

[270] The first: St. Francis.

[271] Vv. 43–51 serve to locate the Umbrian town of Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, which lies between the Tupino (v. 43) and Chiascio rivers, the latter flowing into the former and running down a hill near the hermitage of St. Ubaldo, later the bishop of Gubbio (1129–1160) (v. 44). To the southeast of the town is the fertile slope of the lofty peak (v. 45), the west side of Monte Subasio, which faces Perugia (v. 46) and its city gate Porta Sol(e) (v. 47). To the east of the mountain range lie Gualdo (v. 47) and Nocera (v. 48), both towns under the harsh dominance of Perugia (cf. v. 48).

[272] In Dante’s day, Assisi was called Ascesi, which happens to mean “I have risen.” The Poet considers this too little for the birthplace of St. Francis and prefers to call it the Orient, where the sun rises.

[273] His father: Pietro di Bernardone (cf. v. 89), a wealthy wool merchant, who did not approve of his son’s desire for poverty. A maid: Lady Poverty. Cf. v. 74.

[274] Et coram patre: in the presence of his father, a biblical expression.

[275] Her first Husband: Christ.

[276] Amyclas: a poor fisherman with nothing to lose, who was therefore unafraid when Caesar knocked at his door.

[277] Francis: St. Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni Francesco Bernardone (ca. 1181–1226), pursued a life of pleasure as a youth and was interested in bearing arms but, after a first illness ca. 1201 and a second ca. 1206, embraced a religious way of life. When his father brought him before the bishop of Assisi to compel him to give up his inheritance, he not only did so gladly but even stripped naked to don a robe of sackcloth, vowing himself to poverty (cf. vv. 61–62). A couple of years later, upon hearing Mt 10, 9–10 in church, he renounced his shoes, staff, and girdle, and tied around his waist the hemp cord that became characteristic of his order (cf. v. 87). He rapidly attracted followers, for whom in 1209 he drafted a rule, which received the verbal sanction of Pope Innocent III (cf. vv. 91–93). In 1212, Santa Maria degli Angeli, the little church in Porziuncola near Assisi given to him by the Benedictines of Monte Subasio, became the center of his order. In the same year, he directed St. Clare in the founding of an order of nuns. After a fruitless attempt in 1219 at converting the sultan in Egypt (cf. vv. 100–102), he returned to Italy (cf. vv. 103–105) to found a tertiary order of both men and women in 1221. In 1223, his order was confirmed by a bull of Pope Honorius III (cf. vv. 97–99). In 1224, he received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, in his hands, feet, and side, and died two years later on October 4 (cf. vv. 106–108). He was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1228, the day of his death serving as his feast day.

[278] Bernard (stress on the first syllable): Bernardo da Quintavalle, a wealthy merchant of Assisi, the first disciple of St. Francis.

[279] Blessed Giles (Aegidius) of Assisi (d. 1262) and Sylvester (d. ca. 1240) were both early followers of the Saint.

[280] The Spouse: either St. Francis or Christ Himself. The Bride: Lady Poverty, or the Church.

[281] Went his way: to Rome.

[282] Innocent: Pope Innocent III (1198–1216) gave the Franciscan order its first seal (v. 93) of approval, somewhat reluctantly sanctioning the Rule of St. Francis.

[283] The poor: the followers of St. Francis were originally known as “the poor of Assisi”; later they were called the Friars Minor.

[284] Would sound much better yet in Heaven’s glory-song: by the Seraphim before God’s throne.

[285] Honorius: Pope Honorius III, who in 1223 officially sanctioned the Rule of St. Francis, the archimandrite (v. 97), a Greek term meaning “head of the fold.”

[286] In 1219, St. Francis went with the Fifth Crusade to Egypt and, at the risk of his life, entered the camp of the Sultan al-Malik al-Kámil to preach the Gospel to him. The Sultan listened courteously but was not persuaded to embrace the faith.

[287] In 1224, while fasting at a shelter built by his followers on the Monte della Verna, between the source of the Tiber and the upper Arno (v. 106), St. Francis received the stigmata from Christ as the final seal (v. 107) of his mission. He died two years later in Porziuncola.

[288] St. Francis asked his followers to strip his body naked after his death and let it lie upon the ground before burial.

[289] The helmsman of Peter’s bark (the Church, v. 119) and the worthy colleague (v. 119) of St. Francis is St. Dominic.

[290] His flock: the Dominican Order.

[291] New nourishment: worldly power, honor, and wealth.

[292] The plant: the Dominican Order.

[293] The holy mill: the circle of spirits.

[294] Her handmaid: Iris, messenger of Juno and personification of the rainbow.

[295] One who wandered (v. 14): the nymph Echo, who used to divert Juno with her chatter, while Jupiter sported with the nymphs. When Juno found out, she deprived Echo of speech except for the power to repeat the last syllables of others’ words. Echo later pined away with unrequited love for Narcissus, until nothing was left of her but her voice.

[296] Our Emperor, who always rules below: God.

[297] Two champions: St. Francis and St. Dominic.

[298] The geographical reference is to Spain, where the Zephyr or west wind rises.

[299] Weeds: used here in rhyme with the double meaning of “plant stems and leaves” and of “clothes.” No negative connotation is intended.

[300] Calaroga: the Spanish Calaruega in the province of Burgos in Old Castile is, compared with Italy, not far from the crashing waves (v. 49) of the Atlantic, where the sun sets due west of Italy in the vernal equinox (cf. vv. 50–51).

[301] The shield of Castile bore in one quarter a lion below a castle, in another a lion above a castle.

[302] The Christian faith’s most ardent lover: St. Dominic (ca. 1170–1221), who studied theology at the University of Palencia, became canon of the cathedral of Osma in 1195, accompanied his bishop on a diplomatic mission ending in Rome in 1203, took part in the Albigensian crusade in Languedoc on his return in 1205 (cf. v. 100), escorted Folquet de Marseille, bishop of Toulouse, to the Lateran Council in 1215, founded that same year the Order of Preaching Friars recognized by Pope Honorius III in 1216 (cf. v. 98), and was then appointed master of the sacred palace at Rome, where he resided until his death.

[303] Before his birth Dominic’s mother dreamed that she would bear a black and white dog holding a torch in its mouth. Black and white are the Dominican colors. The flaming torch represents zeal. And the Latin name Dominicani sounds like Domini canes or “dogs of the Lord.”

[304] Since St. Dominic was baptized as an infant, his godmother assented for him (cf. v. 64). She too had a dream about the Saint in which she saw a star on his forehead, symbolizing his wisdom, which illuminated the world.

[305] The possessive of his Lord: in Latin, Dominicus (“the Lord’s”) is the possessive adjective of Dominus (“the Lord”).

[306] That very counsel given first by Christ: probably the first beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” But poverty, as the first among itself, chastity, and obedience, may also be meant.

[307] Felice: means “happy” in Italian.

[308] Giovanna: means “the grace of the Lord” in Hebrew.

[309] The Ostian: Enrico Bartolomei da Susa, the cardinal bishop of Ostia (1261–1271) in Latium, some twenty miles southeast of Rome, and the author of a commentary on the decretals. Taddeo: probably Taddeo d’Alderotto da Bologna (ca. 1235–1295), a physician, reputed founder of the school of medicine at the University of Bologna, and author of commentaries on Hippocrates and Galen; but possibly Taddeo dei Pepoli, a contemporary specialist in canon law and jurisprudence.

[310] He: Boniface VIII.

[311] The four and twenty plants: the double circle of the wise surrounding Dante and Beatrice.

[312] That is, the wine cask of the Franciscan Order is now covered with the mold of their bad wine, rather than with the crust of their good wine.

[313] Acquasparta: Matteo d’Acquasparta (d. 1302), appointed general of the Franciscan Order (1287), and elevated to the dignity of cardinal by Nicholas IV (1288), relaxed the discipline of the Order, making it prey to abuses. Casale: Ubertino da Casale (1259–?), who headed the Franciscan Spirituals but entered the Benedictines in 1317, when Pope John XXII condemned the reform movement. He fled on being accused of heresy in 1325, after which date nothing further of him is known.

[314] Bonaventure: born Giovanni di Fidanza (1221–1274) in Bagnoregio (v. 128) near Orvieto, and known as the Seraphic Doctor. He was miraculously cured of a childhood disease by St. Francis, who, on hearing of his recovery, exclaimed, “Buona ventura!” at which his mother changed his name. He entered the Franciscan Order in 1238 (or 1243), being made doctor and general of the Order in 1257 and cardinal bishop of Albano in 1274, the year in which he died at the Council of Lyons. He was canonized in 1482 by Pope Sixtus IV.

[315] The left-hand cares: temporal concerns.

[316] Illuminato da Rieti and Augustine d’Assisi were two early followers of Francis.

[317] Hugh of St. Victor: famous mystic and theologian (ca. 1097–1141).

[318] (Pietro) Mangiador: Petrus Comestor (d. 1179), priest and chancellor of the University of Paris, who wrote on sacred and secular history. (Pietro) Spano: Petrus Hispanus (ca. 1225–1277), a grammarian and logician, who became Pope John XXI.

[319] Prophet Nathan: the prophet sent by God to rebuke King David for causing the death of Uriah the Hittite so that he might marry his beautiful wife, Bathsheba.

[320] The Patriarch Chrysostom: (ca. 345–407), Patriarch of Constantinople and Greek father of the Church. Anselm (1033–1109): theologian and archbishop of Canterbury (1093). (Aelius) Donatus: 4th-century Roman scholar and rhetorician.

[321] Rabanus: Maurus Magnentius (ca. 776–856), archbishop of Mainz and author of scriptural commentaries and theological works.

[322] Abbot Joachim: Joachim de Floris (ca. 1158–ca. 1202), of Celico in Calabria, founder of the monastery San Giovanni in Fiore. He was widely regarded as a prophet (cf. v. 141), and is best known for his doctrine of the dispensation of the Father (the Old Testament), that of the Son (the New Testament), and that of the Holy Spirit yet to come (a period of perfection and freedom). He was opposed by St. Bonaventure, and his theories condemned by the Church in 1215 and 1245.

[323] A paladin: St. Dominic.

[324] This company: the eleven souls just named by St. Bonaventure.

[325] The fifteen stars: of the first magnitude in Ptolemaic astronomy.

[326] The Wain: the Big Dipper, always visible in the northern hemisphere (cf. vv. 8–9), possesses seven stars, bringing the imagined total to twenty-two.

[327] The bell-mouth of the Horn: the two stars of the Little Dipper farthest from the polestar, which forms the pointed end of the Horn (atop the axle we behold, v. 11), around which the Primum Mobile (v. 12) supposedly revolved. The total of imagined stars is now twenty-four.

[328] The constellation made … by Minos’ daughter: the Corona Borealis. When Minos’ daughter, Ariadne, died, the crown she wore at her wedding to Bacchus was changed into this constellation, also known as “Ariadne’s Crown.”

[329] The Chiana: an east-Tuscan and southwest-Umbrian river that was extremely sluggish.

[330] Bacchic songs: songs to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and fertility. Paeans: hymns in honor of Apollo, the Greek and Roman god of the sun and justice as well as of music and poetry.

[331] The fifth light refers to Solomon.

[332]  Blaze (v. 56), Light (v. 55), and Love are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Cf. vv. 79–80.)

[333] Nine essences: the nine orders of angels guiding the nine celestial spheres.

[334] God directly formed Adam from the dust (vv. 82–83) and Christ within the womb of Mary.

[335] Aristotle asked this question; that in vv. 98–99 is whether an absolute conclusion can follow from a set of premises, one of which is conditional; that in v. 100 is whether there is any uncaused motion; that in vv. 101–102 was posed by Euclid. The answer to all three is “no.”

[336] Rose: a form of the verb used in Par X, 114.

[337] Our first father: Adam. Our Delight: Christ.

[338] Parmenides: Greek philosopher of Elea (fl. ca. 475 BC), who denied the reality of multiplicity and change. Melissus: a philosopher of Samos (fl. ca. 441 BC) and Parmenides’ follower, who held that being is unlimited in space and time and therefore a plenum. Bryson: a Greek philosopher Aristotle mentions as having attempted to square the circle by spurious means.

[339] Sabellius: a heretic (d. ca. 265) from Pentapolis in North Africa who held that the three Persons of the Trinity are merely different modes of the manifestation of the one God. He was excommunicated by Pope Callistus I for this heresy known as “modalism.” Arius: a presbyter of Alexandria (ca. 260–336), who taught that the Divine Word or Logos was the first of created beings and a half-god or demiurge, and that the Holy Spirit was created by its power. Arius was condemned by a synod at Alexandria (318–319 or 323) and by the Council of Nicaea (325).

[340] Instead of reflecting the truth of Scripture accurately like a mirror, they twist it like the distorted reflection of a face in a sword blade.

[341] Dame Bertha and Sir Martin: the equivalent of the English “Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

[342] The eternal dew: the outpouring of God’s grace.

[343] Divinest light: the light of Solomon.

[344] The angel’s glad decree: that of the angel Gabriel at the Annunciation.

[345] The light: of glory, by which the blessed are made able to look on God.

[346] Like the horizon growing bright and clear: when the sun rises.

[347] The sight: of the new stars.

[348] That smiling planet’s fiery face: that of the planet Mars, which normally has a reddish hue.

[349] The speech that lies in every race: the conception of the thing understood, called the “word of the heart, ” logically prior to and signified by the spoken word.

[350] Holocaust: an offering of thanks to God.

[351] Helios: the sun, here interpreted spiritually as God.

[352] The Milky Way: considered part of the heaven of the fixed stars.

[353] The honored sign: the cross, here in the form of a Greek cross (cf. v. 102).

[354] The true account: that Dante did not deem Beatrice’s eyes of less beauty than the hymn because he had not looked into them yet in this sphere. He accuses himself of doing so only to excuse himself.

[355] Dulcet lyre: the cross made of souls, as if they were the strings (v. 5) on a musical instrument.

[356] In each fire: in the splendor of each soul.

[357] A sudden fire: a shooting star (cf. v. 16).

[358] Radii: recall that the cross is formed by the quadrant bars of a circle.

[359] Anchises: the father of Aeneas.

[360] Our greatest “Musa”: Virgil.

[361] “O blood of mine, O overflowing grace of God! To whom was Heaven’s gate ever twice opened as to you?”

[362] That great tome: the book of the future. Black and white: the writing in the book.

[363] God is the principle of the speaker’s knowledge just as unity is the principle of number.

[364] A glass: God, in whom, as in a mirror, all things are seen.

[365] The First Equality: God, in whom all attributes are one with His being.

[366] Topaz, living flame: perhaps the yellow sapphire, the most precious of topazes, which turns red when heated.

[367] Diadem: simply “jewel” in the original, referring to the cross of gemlike souls.

[368] The family name referred to in vv. 92–93 is “Alighieri.” Alighiero was the son of Cacciaguida (ca. 1091–1147) (cf. v. 94) and derived the name from his mother. Cf. v. 138. The first ledge of the mountain spire (v. 92) refers to the circle of pride on Mount Purgatory. Commentators cite documentary evidence that this Alighiero was alive in 1201 and therefore could not have been in Purgatory a hundred years or more (v. 93) in 1300.

[369] Ancient walls: the city walls built by the Romans, or the 9th-century walls built on the same location by the Florentines. A second ring was built in 1173 and a third begun in 1284.

[370] The hours of tierce and nones: the third and the ninth canonical hours, at 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., rung by the bells of the abbey of Badia.

[371] That is, the age for marriage was not so low, nor the dowry so high.

[372] That is, the houses were not emptied by exile and death owing to party strife, or else houses were not built on a scale exceeding the needs of those who lived in them. Note that families must be pronounced with two, not three, syllables in this verse.

[373] Sardanapalus: the last king of Assyria (667–626 BC), known for wantonness and effeminacy.

[374] Florence, seen from the Uccellatoio (v. 109), a hill offering a view from the north, had not yet surpassed the splendor of Rome, seen from the Montemalo (v. 110, modern Montemario), a hill to the north of the city. As Florence was quicker in its rise, so shall it be in its fall.

[375] Bellincione Berti: an honorable Florentine of the second half of the twelfth century, member of the ancient Ravignani family, son of Cacciaguida, and father of the “good Gualdrada.”

[376] With bone and leather girt: wearing a simple leather belt with a bone buckle.

[377] De’ Nerli: an ancient noble family of Florence, knighted by the “mighty Baron” Hugh of Brandenburg. Del Vecchio: an ancient noble Guelph family, expelled from Florence in 1248 and exiled in 1260 after the Ghibelline victory at Montaperti.

[378] Unlined skins: bare leather without a cloth lining.

[379] That is, each was sure that she would not die in exile.

[380] That is, their husbands had not gone to France as merchants. Dante may also be alluding to his separation from his own wife when he was exiled at the advent of Charles de Valois.

[381] The language: baby talk.

[382] That is, tales of the founding of Rome by the Trojans, and then of the founding of Fiesole and Florence by the Romans, which indicates the piety of the Florentines who told them.

[383] (Lapo) Salterello: a prominent politician, but corrupt lawyer and judge, and White Guelph exiled with Dante. Cianghella: a notorious Florentine woman of ill-repute (d. ca. 1330).

[384] Cincinnatus: a farmer called from the plow to be dictator during the Roman republic. He defeated the Aequians (458 BC) and then returned to his farm. Cornelia (three syllables): daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder, mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi, Roman tribunes who died in the service of their country. In vv. 127–129, Dante is saying that the evil Salterello and Cianghella would have surprised the good Florentines of the past as much as the virtuous Cincinnatus and Cornelia would the wicked Florentines of the present.

[385] The Blessed Virgin was invoked by women in labor.

[386] Cacciaguida was baptized and christened in the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence as were most children of the time, Dante included.

[387] Moronto and Eliseo were noble Ghibellines, exiled several times from Florence.

[388] Val di Po: perhaps the city of Ferrara is meant, where, from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, there was an Aldighieri family. My wife: Alighiera degli Alighieri, from whose son, Alighiero, future descendants took their family name. Cf. v. 138.

[389] Conrad: the Emperor Conrad III of Swabia (1093–1152), who embarked upon the ill-fated Second Crusade with King Louis VII of France.

[390] Girt me as a knight: being girt with a sword belonged to the ceremony in which knighthood was conferred. Dante may have confused Conrad III with Conrad II (1024–1039) since there is no record of the former having knighted any Florentines.

[391] That evil law: the religion of the Mohammedans.

[392] Your own pastors: Boniface VIII and other popes.

[393] Crusaders dying in the Holy Land were considered martyrs, who went directly to Heaven after death.

[394] The Latin plural vos was supposedly first used to address a single person during the reign of Julius Caesar.

[395] In the Old French romance, Lancelot du lac, the Lady of Malehaut coughs when Lancelot first avows his secret love for Guinevere in order to indicate her awareness of their illicit love.

[396] The sheepfold of St. John: Florence, of which John the Baptist was the patron saint.

[397] The day when ‘Ave’ first was said: the day of the Annunciation.

[398] Between the Conception of Christ and the birth of Cacciaguida, the planet Mars had returned to the constellation Leo 580 times. Since a revolution of Mars takes 687 days, a total of 398,460 days, or 1091 years, have passed. Cacciaguida was therefore born in 1091.

[399] Horse races were run annually on June 24, St. John’s day, beginning at the west boundary of the city and continuing along the Corso to enter the farthest ward, that of Porta San Piero.

[400] Fit to strive at arms: fit for military service. The number of such men has been calculated at about 6,000, representing one-fifth of the Florentine population in 1300 (cf. v. 48). Between Mars and the Baptist: from the statue of Mars, on the Ponte Vecchio, in the south of the city up to the Baptistery of San Giovanni, in the north of the city.

[401] Campi (v. 49), Certaldo, and Fegghine were small towns around Florence.

[402] Trespiano and Galluzzo are villages to the north and south of Florence.

[403] Aguglione’s churl (v. 56): Baldo d’Aguglione. That one of Signa: Bonifazio de’ Morubaldini da Signa. Both were scheming lawyers and priors of Florence.

[404] That is, if Church officials had not been hostile to the emperor and the Holy Roman Empire.

[405] One, made Florentine: an uncertain allusion. Simifonti (v. 62): a fortress southwest of Florence.

[406] Montemurlo: a fortress between Prato and Pistoia of the Conti Guidi, who, unable to defend it against the Pistoians, were forced to sell it to Florence in 1254.

[407] The Cerchi from Acone’s parish (v. 65) in the Val di Sieve and the Buondelmonti from the Valdigreve (four syllables) were forced to yield their castles and move to Florence, where they led the Guelphs.

[408] Luni on the border between Liguria and Etruria, Urbisaglia (four syllavles) in the March of Ancona (cf. v. 73), Chiusi in the Val di Chiana between Tuscany and Umbria, and Sinigaglia (four syllables) on the Adriatic at the mouth of the Misa in the March of Ancona were all decaying cities in Dante’s day.

[409] The influence of the moon was thought to cause tides.

[410] All the families mentioned in vv. 88–93 were once great but had either declined or become extinct by Dante’s day.

[411] The gate: Porta San Piero, where in 1280 the Cerchi, who instigated much of the party strife in Florence, purchased the houses that the Conti Guidi had inherited from the Ravignani (v. 97).

[412] The bark: Florence, which will jettison its freight, by exiling the White Guelphs in 1302.

[413] Bellincione Berti led the Ravignani (v. 97), an ancient family extinct in Dante’s day. He was the father of Gualdrada, the wife of Count Guido Guerra IV (v. 98), grandfather of Guido Guerra.

[414] Vv. 100–111 catalogue various aristocratic families. In v. 103, the strip of vair refers to the arms of the Pigli family.

[415] The gilded hilt and pommel: signs of nobility.

[416] A reference to the Chiaramontesi, one of whom committed fraud in the salt trade.

[417] Curule seats: offices of magistrates.

[418] Those undone by proud conceits: the Uberti, the family of Farinata in Inf X.

[419] Balls of gold: against a blue background on the shield of the Lamberti family. Mosca de’ Lamberti was behind the murder of Buondelmonte, which started the Guelph-Ghibelline feud.

[420] The Visdomini and the Tosinghi, administering the moneys of the Florentine see, profited from its vacancy.

[421] That haughty breed: the Adimari family. Bellincione Berti first married one of his daughters to the son of Ubertin(o) Donati (v. 119), then another to an Adimari, to which Donai objected.

[422] This tercet mentions three more Ghibelline families, now decayed.

[423] Della Pera’s crew: an ancient noble Florentine family that gave its name to the Porta Peruzza, now unimportant.

[424] Baron Hugh: the Marquis Hugh of Brandenburg came from Germany with the Emperor Otto III to Florence, where he conferred knighthood on six families (cf. v. 130), who adopted his coat of arms with variations. He died there December 21, 1001, the feast of St. Thomas (cf. v. 129).

[425] He who fringed his shield (v. 131): Giano della Bella, one of those knighted by Hugh of Brandenburg, and who bordered Hugh’s coat of arms with a fringe. His Ordinamenti di giustizia introduced populist reform measures against the nobles in 1293; he was banished in 1295.

[426] The Gualterotti (v. 133) and the Importuni (v. 134) were Guelph families excluded from the magistracy in 1211. They lived in the Borgo Santi Apostoli (v. 134). Their new neighbors were the Buondelmonti, who moved to Florence after the destruction of Montebuono in 1135.

[427] The house (v. 136) of the Amidei in 1215 murdered Buondelmonte de’ Buondelmonti (v. 140) for breaking his engagement to an Amidei to marry one of the Donati (cf. vv. 140–141) on the advice of Gualdrada Donati (cf. v. 141). Its companions (v. 139): the Uccellini and the Gherardini.

[428] Ema’s streams: between Florence and the Buondelmonti castle of Montebuono.

[429] Buondelmonte was murdered on Easter morning in 1216 at the foot of the broken statue of Mars (cf. v. 146), the original patron of Florence, on the Ponte Vecchio.

[430] In 1251, after the Ghibellines had been expelled, the Guelphs reversed the colors of the Florentine standard, changing the white lily on a red field to a red lily on a white field. But the line may suggest that the original white lily is stained with blood, or perhaps with shame, or it may refer to the custom of dragging the banner of a defeated enemy in the dust, which happened to Florence after her loss at Montaperti.

[431] When Phaethon was told by his companion Epaphus that Apollo was not really his father, he ran to his mother, Clymene (three syllables) (v. 1), to be reassured, and she sent him to his father. He induced the latter to let him drive the chariot of the sun as proof of his divine filiation, which led to his death.

[432] Dante had heard grave words when he was upon the mount (v. 20) from Corrado Malaspina and Oderisi da Gubbio and before while descending to the dead world (v. 21) from Ciacco, Farinata, Brunetto Latini, and Vanni Fucci.

[433] Phaedra, the stepmother of Hippolytus (v. 46), made improper advances towards him. When he refused her, she accused him to his father, Theseus, of having attempted to defile her virtue. Theseus cursed his son, forcing him to flee from Athens (v. 46) and to meet his death.

[434] As early as April 1300, Pope Boniface VIII and the Roman curia were plotting the Black-Guelph takeover of Florence with Corso Donati. In October of 1301, Dante went to Rome as part of an embassy to seek a change in papal policy towards the city, but in his absence Charles de Valois entered the city as a papal envoy under the pretext of reconciling the opposing factions. Soon thereafter, the Blacks staged a coup, and, on January 27, 1302, Cante de’ Gabrielli da Gubbio, the podestà, issued the first sentence of exile against Dante and other Whites. Dante never returned to his city. Where Christ is daily bought and sold: Rome, the seat of the papacy and the curia.

[435] Vengeance: perhaps, the violent death of Corso Donati, or the shameful end of Boniface VIII.

[436] Sometime around 1304 Dante disassociated himself from the White Guelphs, termed here an evil, senseless crew (v. 62), who attempted to enter Florence by force.

[437] That great Lombard: probably Bartolomeo della Scala (d. 1304), a captain of Verona, whose coat of arms depicted an imperial eagle upon a golden ladder (cf. v. 72).

[438] This tercet refers to the younger brother of Bartolomeo, Cangrande della Scala (1291–1329), who in 1308 was associated in the lordship of Verona with another brother, Alboino, with whom in 1311 he was made by the Emperor Henry VII joint imperial vicar, a position he held alone from his brother’s death in the same year until his own. Being born on March 9, 1291, he was under the influence of the strong star (v. 77) of Mars and was known for his military exploits.

[439] Henry VII (v. 82) was at first supported in his expedition to Italy by the Gascon Pope Clement V (v. 83) but later opposed.

[440] Glosses: Cacciaguida has now provided the gloss which Virgil foretold Beatrice would give.

[441] Dante lived long beyond the deaths of Corso Donati and of Pope Boniface VIII.

[442] My dearest place: Florence.

[443] My Comfort: Beatrice.

[444] Another: God, as are the Eternal Joy (v. 16), the Good (v. 99), the Sun (v. 105), and the Mind (v. 117).

[445] The spheres of the nine material heavens are here imagined as tiers of branches growing down along a trunk from the Empyrean as the treetop. Mars would be the fifth of such tiers.

[446] The cross’s arms: both the horizontal and vertical axes of the Greek cross.

[447] That is, each spirit will shoot through the cross like lightning through a cloud.

[448] Joshua: associate of Moses, and his successor, who conquered the land of Canaan.

[449] Great Maccabeus: Judas Maccabaeus (d. ca. 166 BC), son of Mattathias. He defended Judaism against the Syrian kings Antiochus IV Epiphanes and Demetrius and restored the Jerusalem Temple (164 BC). He was defeated and slain by the Syrians under Bacchides at Elasa (160 BC).

[450]  Charlemagne (ca. 742–814): king of the Franks, founder of Holy Roman Empire, and legendary hero of the Chansons de geste. He was canonized in 1165. Roland: hero of the French epic The Song of Roland, supposedly the nephew of Charlemagne and one of the twelve peers, ambushed by the Saracens with the complicity of the traitor Ganelon, and slain at Roncesvalles in 778. (Pronounce both names as in English, not French.)

[451]  Renouard (pronounce as in French): a Saracen giant, baptized a Christian, who was the brother-in-law and comrade of William. William: count of Orange, hero of a group of Old French epics. He fought the Saracens in southern France. Duke Godfrey: of Bouillon (1058–1100), duke of Lorraine, leader of the First Crusade (1096), and first Christian king of Jerusalem.

[452] Robert Guiscard (pronounce as in French): Norman conqueror (1015–1085), Duke of Apulia and Calabria, who defended Pope Gregory VII against the Emperor Henry IV and recovered much of southern Italy and Sicily from the Saracens.

[453] The arc (v. 62) of each sphere is greater than that of the previous one. That miracle: Beatrice.

[454] That temperate star: Jupiter, as are the torch of Jove (v. 70) or simply Jove (v. 98), and the sweet star (v. 115).

[455] Godly Pegasea: an unspecified Muse associated with Pegasus, the winged horse that opened up the fount Hippocrene on Mount Helicon with a blow of its hoof.

[456] Diligite iustitiam … qui iudicatis terram: “Love justice you who judge the earth.”

[457] The lights that descend on top of the middle stem (v. 97) of the M shape it into a heraldic lily, to which various symbolic interpretations have been given. Cf. vv. 112–114.

[458] In some parts of Italy, children would strike a burning log in winter and play that the number of sparks would be the number of a given desired thing they would some day possess.

[459] That is, the bird that builds its nest without any prior pattern imitates God who creates without any model other than His ideas as the exemplars of all things.

[460] That is, now wars are waged by excommunications and interdicts, which exclude one from the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, the bread the tender Father bars from none.

[461] You: perhaps Pope John XXII (1316–1334), who accumulated a large fortune by issuing and revoking excommunications.

[462] The addressee has his heart so set on the Florentine florin, a gold coin bearing the image of John the Baptist (cf. vv. 134–135), that he has forgotten both Peter (the Fisherman) and Paul.

[463] In this tercet, Dante refers to the angelic order of the Thrones, who guide the sphere of Saturn, and, as mirror for God’s justice (v. 29), reflect the Divine Judgment.

[464] The first proud being: Lucifer.

[465] The First Mind: God, as is the First Principle (v. 56).

[466] Flesh’s shadow: ignorance. Its poisoned bane: vice.

[467] The far Indus: the Indus river in northern India.

[468] The sign: the Imperial Eagle, which once enjoyed worldwide respect. Cf. v. 102.

[469] The Ethiope (v. 109) and the Persians (v. 112) both stand for pagans in general.

[470] That open tome: the book of life.

[471] Albert of Austria (1248–1308) invaded the kingdom of Bohemia, with its capital in Prague (v. 117), ruled by his brother-in-law Wenceslaus IV (cf. v. 125). In vv. 118–120, Philip the Fair (1268–1314), defeated at Courtrai in an attack on Flanders, debased the French coin to raise money. He died by falling from his horse when a wild boar ran between its legs. In vv. 121–123, the Scot Sir William Wallace (ca. 1272–1305) rebelled against the English King Edward I (1239–1307) and his compatriot, Robert Bruce (1274–1329), against Edward II (1284–1327), winning Scottish independence in 1328. V. 124 refers to Ferdinand IV, king of Castile and León (1295–1312); vv. 125–126 to Wenceslaus IV (1270–1305); vv. 127–129 to Charles II of Naples, titular king of Jerusalem, whose one good quality was liberality, marked with the Roman numeral “I” and opposed to his thousand vices, indicated by the Roman numeral “M”; and vv. 130–135 to Frederick II of Sicily (1272–1337). In v. 137, his uncle is James of Majorca, king (1262–1311) of the Balearic Islands; his brother, James II, king of Sicily (1285–1295) and of Aragon (1291–1327). In vv. 139–141, Norway’s king is probably King Haakon V Magnusson (1299–1319), whose reign was spent at war with Denmark. Portugal’s king is Diniz (1279–1325), generally considered a good ruler but accused of avarice. The king of Rascia, medieval Serbia, is Stephen Urosh II (1275–1321), who counterfeited the Venetian coin, the grosso, with a debased metal (cf. v. 141). In vv. 142–144, Andrew III usurped the throne of Hungary (v. 142) in 1292. Navarra was annexed to France in 1304 on the death of Queen Joanna, the wife of Philip the Fair. In vv. 145–148, Nicosia and Famagosta are two Cyprian towns that suffered under the corrupt rule of Henry II of Lusignan (1285–1324), the beast of v. 147.

[472] Vv. 115–141 contain an anaphora in which the first three tercets begin with Right, the second with And, and the third with Then, the first letters of which spell rat (Italian lue = “pest”).

[473] The sixth of stars: the planet Jupiter.

[474] It was thought that eagles could stare directly into the sun.

[475] That singer: David, who transferred the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem (cf. v. 39) and composed the Book of Psalms by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who did not, however, stifle the contribution of its human author (cf. vv. 40–41).

[476] The one: Trajan (98–117), who showed justice to a widow for the murder of her son (cf. v. 45). Though he had persecuted Christians, legend had it that, through the intercession of Gregory the Great, he was allowed after his death as a pagan to return to life long enough to be converted to Christianity (cf. vv. 46–48).

[477] The next one: King Hezekiah of Judah, who prayed and repented when the prophet Isaiah told him of his imminent death and was granted fifteen more years of life. He eradicated idolatrous practices and restored the temple worship.

[478] The next one: Constantine, who moved the capital of the Empire to Byzantium, thus ceding Rome to the pope (cf. v. 55), and making himself, the laws, and the Imperial Eagle Greek (cf. v. 56). His alleged donation, though made with good intent, nevertheless proved very harmful to the Church and the Empire (cf. v. 57).

[479] William II of Hauteville, the Good (1154–1189), Norman king of Naples and Sicily from the death of his father, William I, the Bad, the sovereign from 1154–1166. He spent the moneys left by his father on the foundation and endowment of religious institutions.

[480] Charles and Frederick: the kings of Naples and Sicily reproached in the previous canto.

[481] Ripheus of Troy: a hero who fell in the sack of Troy. Virgil described him as “one most just … and most zealous for the right” (iustissimus unus … et servantissimus aequi).

[482] Quiddity: the “whatness” or essence of a thing.

[483] From Hell: that is, from Limbo, outside of Hell proper.

[484] One: Pope St. Gregory the Great (590–604).

[485] The other one: Ripheus.

[486] Those three maids: the three theological virtues appearing at the right wheel (v. 128) of the chariot of the Church in the pageant in the Garden of Eden.

[487] An image so divine: the Imperial Eagle.

[488] Semele (three syllables): daughter of Cadmus, and mother of Bacchus, was burned to death when she beheld Jupiter in all his glory.

[489] The seventh splendor: the planet Saturn.

[490] The burning Lion: the constellation of Leo, thought to be hot and dry like fire.

[491] That is, the cold influence of Saturn is raying downwards mixed with the warm influence of Leo.

[492] This mirror: the planet Saturn, into which Dante and Beatrice have now entered.

[493] That is, by weighing the pleasure in obeying Beatrice against the pleasure in seeing her.

[494] The crystal sphere (v. 25) is the planet Saturn, named for the god (the famous leader, v. 26) who supposedly reigned during the Golden Age, when all wickedness lay dead.

[495] A ladder: Jacob’s ladder, in Genesis, traditionally interpreted as the ladder of contemplation.

[496] Such splendors: the lights of souls. Each bar: each rung of the ladder.

[497] The Seraph: a member of the Seraphim, the highest order of angels and those closest to God.

[498] The reference is to the Apennines near Gubbio, not too far from Florence.

[499] Both shores of Italy: the Adriatic and the Tyrrehnian shores.

[500] (Monte) Catria: one of the Apennine mountains, located between Umbria and the Marches, some ten miles to the northeast of Gubbio.

[501] A sacred cloister: the monastery of Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana.

[502] Peter Damian: Pietro Damiano (ca. 1007–1072), a zealous advocate of Church reform, who, though of humble beginnings, studied at Ravenna, Faenza, and Parma, acquired notoriety as a teacher, entered the Benedictine monastery of Fonte Avellana, became its abbot in 1043, served a number of popes in that capacity from Gregory VI to Gregory VII, and was made cardinal bishop of Ostia in 1057. Leo XII proclaimed him a doctor of the Church in 1828. Dante may have chosen Peter because of his indignation at the Church’s avarice and usurpation of temporal power.

[503] The Italian has “Peter Sinner” (Pietro Peccator), with which he is said to have signed his name.

[504] The house beneath Our Lady’s care: the monastery of Santa Maria in Porto, not far from Ravenna.

[505] The hat: that of a cardinal, which, however, was not instituted until 1252 by Pope Innocent IV.

[506] Cephas: Aramaic for Peter, with reference to the leader of the twelve apostles.

[507] The Holy Ghost’s great vessel: St. Paul.

[508] Two beasts: the cleric and his mount. Beneath one pelt: the rider’s fur-lined cloak.

[509] This thunder will be explained in the next canto.

[510] Vengeance: perhaps the humiliation and death of Boniface VIII in 1303 or the death of Clement V in 1314.

[511] Cassino lies on the slope of Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples, near Aquino.

[512]  A center of pagan worship, Monte Cassino had a temple of Apollo and a sacred grove of Venus.

[513] I am he: St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. 480–547). He spent his earlier years as a hermit near Subiaco, Italy. Around 529 he founded the monastery of Monte Cassino. His rule, which prescribed prayer, manual labor, study, and instruction of the young, established the pattern of monastic life from the seventh century on. He is considered the father of Western monasticism.

[514] The name of Him: the name of Christ.

[515] The heat: the ardor of charity.

[516] Macarius: either St. Macarius the Elder of Egypt (301–391), who spent the last sixty years of his life in prayer and manual labor in the Libyan desert, or St. Macarius the Younger of Alexandria (d. ca. 404), who established the monastic rule in the East as St. Benedict did in the West. Romuald (ca. 950–ca. 1027): founder of the Camaldolese, a reformed branch of the Benedictines, that dedicated itself to a purely contemplative life. The order received the sanction of Pope Alexander II in 1072. St. Peter Damian authored his biography.

[517] That last sphere: the Empyrean.

[518] The nine material heavens always revolve; the Empyrean is ever at rest, being immutable.

[519] This tercet refers to Jacob’s dream at Bethel.

[520] When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

[521] When Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land.

[522] You could not stick your hand in fire and pull it out so quickly: in the original these actions are reversed as an example of hysteron proteron to indicate their near simultaneity.

[523] The sign behind the Bull: that of Gemini, called the Eternal Twins in v 121. Dante was born in this sign between May 21 and June 21, 1265.

[524] He who is the father of each mortal kind: the sun.

[525] This high ether’s rounds: the spheres were held to be made of ether.

[526] The seven spheres: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

[527] This globe: the planet Earth, as also in v. 151.

[528] The daughter of Latona: the moon.

[529] Aglow without the shade (v. 140): the far side of the moon was thought to be free of dark spots. The opinion cited here was that of Dante himself on entering the heaven of the moon.

[530] Your son, Hyperion: the sun.

[531] Maia: the mother of Mercury. Dione: the mother of Venus. They both standing for their children.

[532] Jove: Jupiter, whose son and father (v. 146) were Mars and Saturn respectively.

[533] The sun moves more slowly at the meridian than it does on the horizon. Since Dante and Beatrice are above the sun, she does not literally look up to the sun’s meridian in expectation of the coming of Christ, but only “above.”

[534] The circling of the spheres is the primary motion of which time is the measurement. Having been predisposed to salvation by the influence of their particular sphere, which mediates the light of the heaven of the fixed stars, the blessed appearing with Christ are the fruit (v. 20) that has been garnered out of time for eternal reward.

[535] Trivia: a name meaning “goddess at the three ways,” applied to Diana, the goddess of the moon, whose temples were often built at the intersection of three roads.

[536] Eternal nymphs: stars.

[537] As the stars were thought to reflect the light of the sun (cf. v. 30), so the blessed reflect the light of Christ, the Sun.

[538] In scholastic terminology, the Substance of the glorified Christ shines through the accident of the living light (v. 31).

[539] The Wisdom and the Power: Christ, who opened the way to Heaven (cf. v. 38) for the virtuous on earth and in Limbo, who had waited after the sin of Adam up to His coming (cf. v. 39).

[540] Fire: lightning, thought to occur when compressed vapors expand in a cloud, explode, and ignite. The explosion produces thunder, the ignition lightning.

[541] It was thought that the natural tendency of fire is to rise.

[542] The book in which the past is writ: the book of memory.

[543] Polimnia: Polyhymnia, the Muse of singing, rhetoric, and mime. And sisters: the other Muses.

[544] The fair garden (v. 71) is made up of the blessed souls flourishing beneath the rays of Christ.

[545] The Rose: the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. v. 88).

[546] The Word of God was once made flesh: Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity made man. The lilies: the Apostles.

[547] Splendid troops: the blessed.

[548] The higher source: Christ, the sun.

[549] Vv. 79–87 describe the Ascension of Christ.

[550] That fair bloom’s name: the name of Mary (cf. v. 73), whose flame, now that Christ has ascended, is the greatest (cf. v. 90).

[551] The living star: another appellation of Mary.

[552] Mary is the greatest light in heaven just as she was the greatest creature on earth.

[553] A torch: the Angel Gabriel.

[554] The music of that lyre: the song of Gabriel.

[555] This lovely sapphire: Mary.

[556] The brightest heaven: the Empyrean.

[557] Our Desire: Christ.

[558] Vv. 106–109 describe the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. Cf. v. 120.

[559] That regal mantle of each sphere: the Primum Mobile.

[560] The Flame thus crowned: Mary.

[561] Her Seed: Christ, the offspring of Mary.

[562] Regina coeli: “Queen of Heaven,” sung to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Office at Easter.

[563] The Babylonian exile stands for earthly life.

[564] Councils new and old: the saints of the Old and New Testaments.

[565] That one who to so great a glory holds the key: St. Peter

[566] God’s blest Lamb: Christ.

[567]  Carols: a round dance accompanied with song.

[568] The reference in this tercet is to St. Peter.

[569] In Matthew’s Gospel, Peter and the disciples saw Christ walking on the water towards their boat during a storm. In self-revelation, Christ summoned Peter to walk to him on the water.

[570] That place where there is seen each thing that is: the mind of God.

[571] In the medieval examination for the doctorate in theology, the masters (v. 47) would pose the questions and the bachelors (v. 46) or doctoral candidates would argue both sides, leaving it to the examiners to decide the issue.

[572] Your dear brother: St. Paul, thought to have written the Epistle to the Hebrews, from which the following definition of faith is taken.

[573] The quiddity is the “whatness” or essence of a thing and the object of definition.

[574] Old and … new parchments: the Old and the New Testaments.

[575] A “God We Praise”: the Te Deum. Throughout each sphere: by each ring of souls.

[576] The Baron: St. Peter. The term is a title of nobility often designating a great man.

[577] In John’s Gospel, Peter enters Christ’s tomb before the younger John, who reached it first.

[578] Moses, Prophets, Psalms: stand here for the entire Old Testament.

[579] The writ you (plural) were to leave: the other New Testament writings.

[580] One can speak of the one Essence or the three Persons in the Trinity with equal propriety.

[581] For years so long: Dante is thought to have written the Divine Comedy between 1310 and 1320.

[582] Tthe Black Guelphs exiled Dante in 1302 and never allowed him to return.

[583] The sheepfold: of San Giovanni.

[584] The first fruit … of those whom Christ as vicars left behind: Peter as the first pope.

[585] The Baron: the term is here applied to St. James the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome and the brother of John the Apostle. He was martyred by Herod Agrippa I in 44 AD. Legend has it that he preached in Spain and that, after his death in Jerusalem, his remains were miraculously transferred to Santiago de Compostela, the contemporary capital of Galicia (v. 18).

[586] Those two great princes: St. Peter and St. James.

[587] Coram me: in my presence.

[588] Our basilica: the Court of Heaven (cf. v. 43). Many hold that the Epistle was not written by James the Apostle, but by James the brother of the Lord.

[589] You three: Peter, James, and John, to whom Jesus vouchsafed a special revelation of His Person at the Transfiguration, the agony of the Garden, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus.

[590] Our Sovran Ruler: God.

[591] His nobles: the saints.

[592] Egypt: a symbol of earthly life.

[593] Jerusalem: a symbol of life in Heaven.

[594] From many stars: from many wise and holy people.

[595] Highest singer of the Highest Lord: David.

[596] Let those who know Your name … with hope in You be filled: Ps 9, 11.

[597] Your epistle: that of James.

[598] Your rain: the possessive is plural, referring to both David and St. James.

[599] The palm: the victory of martyrdom. The field: the battlefield of earthly life.

[600] The reference is probably to Is 61:7, 10.

[601] Your brother: St. John, in the Book of Revelation.

[602] Sperent in te: “may they hope in you.” Cf. the Psalm verse cited in vv. 73–74.

[603] One light: that of St. John.

[604] The Crab: the constellation of Cancer, which shines all night long for a month in mid-winter.

[605] He who lay upon the breast of Christ (vv. 112–113): St. John, at the Last Supper. Christ, our Pelican (v. 113): the pelican was thought to be able to resuscitate its dead offspring with its own blood and was thus made a symbol of the Redeemer. Chosen for so great an office, from the Cross addressed: from the cross Jesus entrusted John with the care of Mary.

[606] There was a legend that the Beloved Disciple would not die but would be taken up bodily into Heaven. Dante is trying to see through St. John’s radiance to determine whether or not it was so.

[607] Two lights alone: Christ and Mary. Two garments: the glory of the soul and of the body.

[608] The effulgent flame: of St. John.

[609] Ananias: the disciple at Damascus who cured St. Paul of his blindness.

[610] Alpha (A) and Omega (Ω) are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

[611] The very voice: that of St. John.

[612] Him: Aristotle, for whom the Unmoved Mover originates motion as the primary object of desire.

[613] The Truthful Author: God, who divinely inspired the human authors of Sacred Scripture.

[614] Ex 33, 19 in the Vulgate.

[615] This tercet probably refers to the Prologue to John’s Gospel.

[616] Christ’s Eagle: St. John.

[617] The image formed on the pupil by light and color was thought to be transmitted along a nerve running from the pupil to the brain by the optic spirit (v. 71).

[618] A fourth such blaze: Adam.

[619] As the father of the human race, Adam is the common ancestor of every bride and groom.

[620] The truthful Glass: God.

[621] The lofty plot: the Garden of Eden.

[622] Such stairs: the ladder of contemplation. She: Beatrice.

[623] Full suns: solar years. This great council: of the blessed. There: Limbo

[624] All the lights: all the signs of the zodiac.

[625] Nine hundred times and thirty: if, according to Genesis, Adam lived on earth 930 years and, according to Dante, spent 4,302 years in Limbo, then there were 5,232 years between his creation and the Crucifixion. If Christ was crucified in 34 AD, then a further 1,266 years have passed between His death and the fictional date of the journey, yielding a total of 6,498 years between the creation of Adam and the present of the poem.

[626] Nimrod: traditionally considered the builder of the Tower of Babel.

[627] The letter I is the first letter of the tetragrammaton transliterated as Jehovah or Yahweh. Further, as the Roman numeral I, it symbolizes the Divine Unity and the unicity of the one true God of Jewish monotheism. El is the Hebrew word for God from which the name Elohim derives.

[628] The heights that run most high above the sea: the Garden of Eden on top of Mount Purgatory.

[629] From that first hour up to the sixth plus one: from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., thus a total of seven hours. Dante follows the most conservative estimate, that of Petrus Comestor.

[630] That is, just when the sun had passed through the first quadrant at 90°, straight overhead.

[631] Four bright torches: Peter, James, John, and Adam. The one that first came in: Peter.

[632] That is, if the planets Jupiter and Mars were birds that had molted and exchanged their feathers, the silvery Jupiter would turn red and the ruddy Mars white.

[633] He who usurps my place: Pope Boniface VIII.

[634] My sepulcher: Rome, where St. Peter was martyred.

[635] That Perverted One: Satan

[636] A reference to the darkening of the skies at the Crucifixion.

[637] Linus: second pope (64 or 67–76 or 79), beheaded by a certain Saturninus. Cletus: third pope (76 or 79–90), martyred under Domitian.

[638] Vv. 44–45 name four martyr popes of the early Church: Sixtus I (ca. 115–125), Pius I (ca. 140–155 or 157), Calixtus I (217–222), Urban I (222–230).

[639] Thus, with pro-papal Guelphs treated like sheep and pro-imperial Ghibellines treated like goats.

[640] In 1229 the papal troops known as chiavisegnati (“those signed with the keys”) marched wearing the figure of keys upon their shoulders against Frederick II.

[641] The image of St. Peter lies on the papal seal.

[642] The Gascons: a people infamous for avarice, from whom there came Pope Clement V (1305–1314). Cahorsines: citizens of Cahors in southern France, known for their usury, from whom there arose Pope John XXII (1316–1334).

[643] Scipio: Scipio Africanus the Elder (236–184 BC), who conquered Hannibal in the Second Punic War, thereby saving Rome from Carthage (cf. v. 62).

[644] That is, when, in midwinter, the sun is in Capricorn

[645] Wet vapors were thought to produce rain, snow, and hail at different temperatures.

[646] From the time my gaze would first descend: when Dante was in the sphere of Saturn.

[647] The distance from India to Spain was considered 180°. Dante has moved from mid to end of that whole arc (v. 80) and therefore covered the 90° from the meridian of Jerusalem to the Strait of Gibraltar since his first downward look. This distance represents a quarter of the earth’s circumference and would be covered in six hours. Medieval cartographers divided the northern hemisphere into seven horizontal climates parallel to the equator, each with a longitudinal extension of 180°. The first of climates was thought to correspond to Gemini, the constellation in which Dante now finds himself, and which was considered the most noble.

[648]  Cádiz (v. 83): a seaport in southwestern Spain. The shore (v. 83): the coast of Phoenicia, from where Europa rode Jupiter disguised as a white bull back to the island of Crete.

[649] Taurus lies between Dante in Gemini and the sun in Aries, blocking his view, so that he cannot see all the way to the Phoenician coast (cf. vv. 83–84).

[650] Leda’s lovely nest: Gemini, the constellation of Castor and Pollux, the sons of Leda.

[651] Heaven’s swiftest sphere: the Primum Mobile.

[652] The nature of the universe (v. 106) is such that the spheres turn around an immobile earth.

[653] God’s own mind: here synonymous with the Empyrean.

[654] That is, the motion of the other eight spheres is measured (v. 116) or generated by the Primum Mobile, just as ten is generated by the multiplication of five and two.

[655] Time is the measure of motion. The roots (v. 118) of time are hidden in the Primum Mobile, whose motion is invisible since it contains no planet or star that can be seen. The leaves (v. 119) of time, however, which sprout from it, can be observed in the motions of the other spheres.

[656] The lovely maid (v. 137) is probably Circe, daughter of the sun (him who leaves at dusk and brings dawn back). She is perhaps to be identified with the witch in the second dream of Purgatory, where she stands for the sins of Upper Hell. Here she represents greed for worldly goods. There are, however, other interpretations.

[657] Before Gregory XIII corrected the Julian calendar in 1582, the solar year gained a day every century. January would thus have shifted from winter to spring in some 90 centuries. Through hyperbole Dante is ironically indicating a short period of time.

[658] That is, as singing blends with the musical accompaniment.

[659] That revolving sphere: the Primum Mobile, as also in vv. 27 and 70.

[660] Juno’s messenger: Iris, the rainbow. Complete: as a complete circle rather than an arc.

[661] The circle: of the Seraphim, the highest order of angels.

[662] This wondrous and angelic reign: the ninth sphere is, for Dante, the heaven of the angels.

[663] When all its parts bear like perfection: as does the ninth heaven, which is entirely uniform in every part.

[664] That small ring which knows and loves the best: that of the Seraphim.

[665] That is, the greater material spheres are governed by orders of angels with greater knowledge and love, the smaller by those with less.

[666] The hemisphere of air: the earth’s atmosphere.

[667] Boreas (v. 80), as the god personifying the north wind, could blow from due north, the northwest, or the northeast. The lattermost breath was thought to avert clouds and rain and is intended here.

[668] Every diocese: every region.

[669] Sparkles: the visible symbol of the angels.

[670] Supposedly, the inventor of the game of chess asked the king of Persia for a reward consisting of a single grain of corn on the first square of the chessboard to be doubled on every successive square. The total comes to 18½ million trillion.

[671] Aries’ nighttime chill: from September 21 to October 21, when Aries is opposite the sun.

[672] Divinities: angels.

[673] Dionysius (four syllables): Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, a Neoplatonic writer or group of writers authoring treatises on the divine names, mystical theology, ecclesiastical hierarchy, and celestial hierarchy. He was thought in the Middle Ages to be the prominent Athenian converted to Christianity by St. Paul and the first bishop of Athens, martyred ca. 95.

[674] Pope (590–604) St. Gregory the Great ordered the angelic hierarchies differently.

[675] One who saw it here: St. Paul, who was caught up to the third heaven, i.e., the Empyrean.

[676] The two children of Latona: Apollo and Diana, who stand for the sun and the moon.

[677] That is, when the sun is in Aries (the Ram) and the moon in Libra (the Scales).

[678] No longer than the zenith holds them bound in balance: no longer than the sun and moon are both on the horizon, as if resting in a pair of scales suspended from the zenith, which is about a minute.

[679] Till they’re both unbalanced from their girdles: till one sinks below the horizon and one rises above it.

[680] The Center of each “when” and “where”: God, insofar as all times and places depend on Him.

[681] That in reflections of His splendor He might utter: ‘I SUBSIST’: that creation might share in His being.

[682] New loves: the angels.

[683] Both form and matter—pure or mingled: pure form refers to the angels, pure matter to prime matter, and the commingling of form and matter to the heavens.

[684] The diffusion of light through a translucent medium was thought to be instantaneous.

[685] They, in whom there was produced pure act: the angels. Although God alone is pure act of being, the angels, not having the potentiality of matter, are fully actualized in intellect and will, always knowing and loving, at least habitually if not in actual exercise, the truth and good proportionate to their nature.

[686] As pure potency for form, prime matter lacks in and of itself the actuality of form.

[687] The forms of the heavenly bodies were thought to perfect their respective matters in such a way that there remains in them no potentiality with respect to being, but only to place.

[688] Jerome: Father of the Church (c. 347–c. 420), largely responsible for the Vulgate, a Latin translation of the Bible.

[689] The Holy Spirit’s scribes: the human authors of Scripture.

[690] Him whom you have seen of late: Satan.

[691] Understanding, memory, and will: these are the three Augustinian powers that Dante believed the separated human soul to possess. According to him, angels have no need of memory.

[692] Lapi … Bindi: nicknames for Jacopo and Ildebrando, apparently common names at the time.

[693] His first company: the apostles.

[694] Anthony: St. Anthony of the Desert (ca. 250–356), Egyptian hermit and founder of monasticism, whose symbol was a hog lying at his feet to show his overcoming the temptations of the devil. The monks of the order of St. Anthony kept swine, which the people fattened out of religious superstition. Beatrice is reproving preachers who grow fat on the credulity of the people.

[695] Unminted coins: false indulgences.

[696] The text referred to is Dn 7, 10.

[697] Mirrors: the angels, who reflect the light of grace and glory.

[698] As the sun rises, the conical shadow cast by the earth inclines towards the horizon. Noon follows approximately six hours after sunrise, during which interval the earth rotates one quarter (or 5,100 miles) of its total circumference (estimated at 20,400 miles). If noon is six thousand miles ahead (v. 1), it is thus 900 miles, or a little over one hour, before dawn.

[699] The brightest handmaid of the sun: Aurora, the dawn.

[700] The fairest one: probably Venus, the brightest heavenly body near dawn.

[701] Greatest sphere: the Primum Mobile. Heaven of pure light: the Empyrean.

[702] The one and other host: souls of the just and good angels, as is the twofold court (v. 96).

[703] Optic spirits: the sense of sight.

[704] The Love that calms this heaven: the nine material heavens revolve; the Empyrean does not.

[705] The Sunlight of my eyes: Beatrice, of course.

[706] My eyelids’ eaves thus drowned: my eyelashes thus bathed in light.

[707] The First Moved Sphere: the Primum Mobile.

[708] The spring Sun: God.

[709] High Henry: Emperor Henry VII (1308–1313), who unsuccessfully attempted to restore the imperial authority in Italy.

[710] You (plural): the people of Italy.

[711] The prefect of God’s forum: Pope Clement V, who originally supported the claim of Henry to the imperial throne, but later withdrew his support out of fear of Philip the Fair of France.

[712] Where Simon Magus lies: among the Simoniacs in circle eight, ditch three, of Hell.

[713] Alagna’s son: Pope Boniface VIII.

[714] The saintly host: the souls of the blessed.

[715] The other host: the angels.

[716] So many leaves: so many seats in the amphitheater of the Celestial Rose.

[717] Its Love: God.

[718] Such people, old and new: Old Testament Jews and New Testament Christians.

[719] Threefold Light of but one star: God as a Trinity of Persons.

[720] Helice (three syllables): the nymph who was transformed into the Big Dipper just as Arcas or Boötes (her son, v. 33) was into the Little Dipper. The site (v. 31) referred to is the North.

[721] Lateran: the old papal palace in Rome, supposedly given to Pope Sylvester by the Emperor Constantine. It was destroyed by fire in 1308.

[722] Your bounty most profuse: literally, the Aristotelian virtue of “magnificence.”

[723] Bernard (stressed on the second syllable): St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153), French theologian and mystic, founder of the Cistercian abbey of Clairvaux along with sixty-eight religious houses, instrumental force in the condemnation of Abelard, preacher of the ill-fated Second Crusade, and adviser to popes, kings, and bishops. His work De consideratione provides the allegorical basis for Dante’s ascent through Paradise to the beatific vision. Because of his devotion to Mary (cf. vv. 100–101), he is called the alumnus familiarissimus Dominae Nostrae (“the student and closest friend of our Lady”).

[724] Croatian: stands here for any foreigner.

[725] Veronica: the “true image” (vera icona) of Christ’s face supposedly left on a cloth a woman had given Him to wipe his face with on the way to Calvary. It drew many pilgrims to Rome.

[726] The Queen: the Blessed Virgin Mary, titled the “Queen of Heaven.”

[727] The team (literally, the pole) that Phaethon misled: when driving the chariot of the Sun.

[728] The peaceful Oriflamme: Mary, figured as a standard featuring a red flame against a golden background, supposedly given to the ancient kings of France by the Angel Gabriel to preserve them from defeat.

[729] All the sainted throng: the souls of the blessed.

[730] His pleasure: the Blessed Virgin Mary. That contemplative: St. Bernard.

[731] The wound: of original sin. That Mary salved and closed again: by giving birth to Christ.

[732] One so lovely at her feet: Eve.

[733] In the original, Dante uses the rhetorical device hysteron proteron, putting the closing before the salving in v. 4 and the opening before the piercing in v. 6. Who pierced it and who opened it: by sinning herself and by inducing Adam to sin.

[734] Rachel: wife of Jacob, mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and a figure of contemplation.

[735] Sarah: wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Rebecca: daughter of Bethuel, sister of Laban, wife of Isaac, and mother of Jacob and Esau. Judith: the protagonist of the book of Judith, known for her piety, beauty, chastity, and courage in delivering the Jews from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar under his general Holofernes.

[736] That great grand-dam to the bard of grief for sin: Ruth, the wife of Boaz and the great-grandmother of David. Grief for sin refers to David’s adultery with Bathsheba and orchestration of the death of her husband, Uriah. Miserere: part of the first line of Ps 51 in the Vulgate.

[737] The flower’s tresses: the tiers of seats, termed the sacred stairs in v. 21 and the petals in v. 23.

[738] Upon this side: to Mary’s left, Bernard’s right.

[739] On that side: to Mary’s right, Bernard’s left.

[740] St. John: the Baptist.

[741] Francis: of Assisi. Benedict: of Nursia. Augustine: of Hippo.

[742] Through another’s: those of Christ, the Church, and their parents.

[743] Absolved from wrong: cleansed from original sin.

[744] The reference is to Jacob and Esau in the Book of Genesis. The latter had red hair (cf. v. 72).

[745] The face that most resembles Christ: that of Mary, who is full of grace (cf. v. 95).

[746] In holy minds: in the angels.

[747] The love: the angel Gabriel. The words cited in the next verse are those of the Annunciation.

[748] The teaching of that one: of St. Bernard, called a “teacher” in v. 2.

[749] The morning star: Venus.

[750] Those two who sit upon the highest tier: St. Peter (Holy Church’s father, v. 124) and Adam (our father, v. 122), who have the two highest seats after Mary (the Empress, v. 120).

[751] Upon the right: of Mary, in a position of greater honor.

[752] A comely Bride: the Church.

[753] Vv. 127–129 refer to St. John, the author of the Book of Revelation.

[754] Vv. 130–133 refer to Moses.

[755] Anna: the mother of Mary.

[756] Lucy: who interceded for Dante with Beatrice (your Lady) and bore Dante in sleep up the Mount of Purgatory to the gate.

[757] Compared to eternity, time is like drowsiness, and the time allotted for the journey is short.

[758] One who will relieve your need: Mary, whose intercession initiated the entire journey.

[759] The eyes that God reveres and loves the best: Mary’s eyes.

[760] That pleader: St. Bernard.

[761] In her cave the Cumaean Sibyl, who accompanied Aeneas on his descent to Hades, wrote her oracles on leaves, which the wind blew off whenever the door was opened.

[762] Being is divided by the category of substance and the nine categories of accidents. A “substance” is what exists in itself, an “accident” what exists not in itself but in a substance. Relations, as one category of accidents, signifies the order of one thing to another. The Italian term costume, however, may be better rendered by “disposition.”

[763] That knot’s most universal form: the Divine Idea of the entire universe.

[764] That is, it is easier to remember the voyage of the Argo after twenty-five centuries than it is for Dante to recall his experience immediately after it has happened. The Argo, manned by Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, was the first ship to sail the seas. On its way to Colchis, its shadow passed over Neptune and stunned the sea-god who had never seen such a thing before.

[765] Subsistence: the mode of existence proper to a substance, said pre-eminently of God.

[766] Rings: the Italian giri means “circlings” as well (cf. v. 127), thus symbolizing God as Pure Act.

[767] Three bright colors but one magnitude: the Trinity of Persons in the unity of nature.

[768] The second ring symbolizes the eternal generation of the Son, the third the procession or “spiration” of the Holy Spirit.

[769] The second circle representing the Son appears in the image of our breed, that is, in the human nature of Christ in the Incarnation.

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