Dante begins this Canto in a state of near ecstacy as he hears all the souls in Heaven sing out in praise of the Trinity. Soon, the light of St. Peter gets brighter and the singing stops. He begins a stinging reproach of the current state of the papacy and all of Heaven blushes as he speaks. When he finishes he tells Dante to make sure he repeats everything he’s seen and heard. Then, like rising snowflakes, all the souls slowly rise into the Empyrean until Dante can no longer see them. For a second time, Beatrice tells Dante to look down through the heavens to see how much farther they have come. Looking back into her magnificent and powerful eyes, Dante finds the two of them rising at great speed up to the highest and fastest-spinning sphere in the heavens, the Primum Mobile. There, Beatrice gives Dante a basic understanding of this place, and then begins a lament against worldly greed. She blames the disorder in the world on poor leadership and notes that a change is coming that will set things aright.
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“Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit!” sang out all of Heaven in one voice, carrying me away with the beauty of such sweet sound. At that moment, it seemed to me that the entire universe smiled, and I became inebriated as my eyes and ears drank me into ecstasy. O joy! O ineffable happiness! O fullness of life, perfected in love and peace! O eternal richness, complete and without want![1]Having successfully completed his examinations in faith, hope, and love, not to mention his meeting with Adam, Dante hears all of Heaven sing out a hymn of praise to the Trinity. He is so elated by … Continue reading
There before me were those four great blazing lights, and soon that first one who had come down to me started to glow more radiantly than the others. It was a glow as if Jupiter and Mars had become great birds that exchanged their lovely plumes. Then that Power Who assigns to all of Heaven’s souls their proper role commanded those blessèd choirs to be silent, and that glowing light said: “Do not be amazed to see me change color, for all of these souls will also change color as they hear what I have to say. He who usurps my place on earth, my place, that place of mine which, in the eyes of Christ, the Son of God, stands vacant, that one has turned my holy tomb into a cesspool of bloody filth, which causes the Evil One who fell from this great height to rejoice exceedingly.”[2]The “spell” of Dante’s ecstatic experience is quickly broken as the mood of glory is replaced by execration and invective. The glowing light of St. Peter changes from its white hot color to a … Continue reading
As clouds turn a reddish color at sunrise and sunset, I saw that same color spread over the heavens. And as a woman, modest and virtuous, will blush at just the mention of someone else’s faults, in the same way did Beatrice’s face change then. I think the heavens blushed like that when the Son of God died for our sins.[3]At the mention of Pope Boniface and his morally corrupt papacy the blush of St. Peter spreads over the entire Heaven of the Fixed Stars. Even Beatrice, standing next to Dante, blushes. Seeing this … Continue reading
Then that chief Apostle continued speaking, the look on his face as dark as his words: “The Bride of Christ was not nurtured by my blood, nor that which came from Linus and Cletus, so that she could be swayed by love for gold. No, it was for their love of this sacred place that Sixtus, Pius, Calixtus, and Urban – after torture – gave up their lives. It was not our intention that Christianity be divided, with some standing on this side or that side of our holy successors; or that the keys given to me by Christ Himself should become an emblem on a flag carried in battle against baptized Christians; or that the image of my head should become a seal by which fraudulent privileges are bought and sold. I blush with shame and anger to think of it![4]St. Peter continues his scathing diatribe against Boniface’s corruption of the papacy by contrasting it with his own martyrdom and that of his first successors. Their blood far outweighs the … Continue reading
“From up here we look down and see in your fields ravenous wolves dressed in shepherds’ clothing. O God Almighty, what are You waiting for? Successors of ours from Cahors and Gascony are ready to drink our blood. From such a holy beginning, look to the foul doom that awaits you! Nevertheless, I know that the high Providence which, through Scipio’s victory, saved Rome for glory, will once again rise up and save you. My son, you whose mortal flesh will bring you down to earth again, speak out when you return and do not hide these things I have told you.”[5]Once again Dante has the Gospel warning of Jesus in mind (Mt. 7:15): “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” And he follows … Continue reading
Then, as snow begins to fall from the skies during that season when Capricorn’s horn touches the sun, so I saw the heavens glow with all the triumphant souls there like countless snowflakes softly rising upwards. I followed them with my eyes as they rose higher and higher into space until I could no longer fathom such heights. Then Beatrice, who saw that I could no longer follow those glorious souls in their ascent, said, “Let your eyes look downward now and see how far around you have traveled.”[6]As a kind of grand finale to the three examinations, the appearance of Adam, and St. Peter’s tirade, all the triumphant souls that had come down to the Heaven of the Fixed Stars from the Empyrean … Continue reading
Since the last time I had gazed below my feet I now saw clearly that I had moved across one entire arc of the heavens, from the middle to the end of the first clime. From where I stood I could see beyond Cadiz and follow Ulysses’ mad southward course, and to the east that shore where Jupiter disguised as a bull carried Europa on his back. I would have seen more of this small world of ours but for the movement of the sun beneath me, which had moved into the next sign, leaving part of our globe in shadow.[7]Since Dante last looked down through the cosmos at the end of Canto 22 until now, he has moved across the constellation of Gemini 90 degrees, which, in terms of time means he’s been in the Heaven … Continue reading
My mind, enraptured with Beatrice and longing for her, burned more than ever for her to cast her stunning glance upon me. But if all that art and Nature might create to ensnare the eyes and thus possess the mind by a living subject or a portrait – all of this combined would be nothing compared to the divine beauty that shone upon me when once again I looked into her smiling face. The power her loving gaze now granted me drew me from the comfort of Leda’s soft nest and sped me up into Heaven’s highest and swiftest sphere. The parts of this grand place are all alike and I could not tell exactly where we had stopped. But she, who knew what I wished, smiling, began to speak with such happiness that I was sure the joy of God was reflected in her face.[8]By now Dante has finished looking down at the earth through the celestial spheres, and he longs to look again into Beatrice’s beautiful face and be graced by the power of her smile. And when he … Continue reading
“In the nature of the universe, when you consider where the center point is still and all the spheres revolve around it, this place is its starting-point. There is no other ‘Where’ that contains this sphere except the Mind of God, because within that Mind is kindled the love that makes it spin and gives it the power of motion it sends out to the other spheres. Just as it contains all the rest, this sphere is contained only by the light and love of God, and only He knows how they are all bound together. This place takes its motion from no higher sphere, and all those below this one measure their precise speed by this one, just as ten is the product of two and five. It should be clear to you by now how time’s roots are hidden in this sphere and yet its leaves can be seen through all the rest.[9]In this passage Beatrice gives Dante a full explanation of the Primum Mobile. Looking up from the stationary earth, as it were, one would see first the sphere of the Moon; then Mercury, Venus, and … Continue reading
“O Greed! How quick you are to sink mortals so far into your depths that no one has the strength to keep their eyes above your raging torrents! The human will blossoms forth beautifully, but too much rain ruins and rots good fruit. In a small child one will always find faith and innocence, but these disappear even before he begins to grow a beard. While still young, he honors the fast-days, but as soon as he’s grown somewhat he gorges himself with all he can eat at any time in the year. Still young, he loves and obeys his caring mother’s words. But soon enough, he tells her in grown-up talk that he’d be happy to see her dead and buried! Sadly, the innocent white skin of childhood turns black when exposed to the corrupting temptations of adulthood.[10]Here in the Primum Mobile, Beatrice’s apostrophe on greed and its ruinous effects on humankind stand in stark contrast to the perfect order of the cosmos as a reflection of God’s Love. Though the … Continue reading
“But do not be surprised to hear what I am telling you. With no one on earth to lead you in the right ways, is it any wonder that the human flock goes astray? Before January is no longer a winter month – because men neglect to correct the calendar regularly – the heavens here will shine out the bright light of change that will force the errant fleet to turn around and follow the straight course again. Then shall good fruit blossom from the trees.”[11]Beatrice’s remark about lack of leadership most likely points to Rome, where corruption in the Church has literally brought the papacy to France, and where, also, there is no Emperor. Both Church … Continue reading
Notes & Commentary
| ↑1 | Having successfully completed his examinations in faith, hope, and love, not to mention his meeting with Adam, Dante hears all of Heaven sing out a hymn of praise to the Trinity. He is so elated by what he sees and hears that he experiences a moment of ecstacy, letting himself be carried away in complete and perfect joy, happiness, fullness, love, and peace – a veritable foretaste of the true experience of Paradise in which the whole universe seems to smile. This brief hymn, also called a doxology, is often used in the Liturgy and the Divine Office. Here, it heralds the end of his stay in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, which has covered six cantos. Recall the last time we heard a similar hymn of glory – it was in canto 20 of the Purgatorio when Statius was freed from his purgation and the Mountain shook as all the souls there sang out their happiness for him. |
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| ↑2 | The “spell” of Dante’s ecstatic experience is quickly broken as the mood of glory is replaced by execration and invective. The glowing light of St. Peter changes from its white hot color to a deep red – as though Jupiter and Mars had exchanged their planetary colors. This change in his bearing is followed by a jolt, as it were, when God imposes silence on all the singing souls. Then, addressing Dante (whom we can be sure was amazed both by St. Peter’s sudden deep blush and the total silence of Heaven), the chief of the Apostle and the first Pope reviles Pope Boniface VIII with a shocking condemnation. St. Peter calls him a vile usurper who has turned his tomb (Rome, in general) into a filthy sewer of depravity. To him, Boniface is such a corrupt successor that the papacy is literally vacant, empty. And note the unusual form here: St. Peter refers to the usurpation of his place (il luogo mio, my place) three times, as though Boniface’s usurpation of the papal throne is an act of blasphemy against the Trinity – at which Satan rejoices. Pope Boniface VIII, Dante’s nemesis, was elected Pope in 1294 following the abdication of Pope Celestine V, rumored to have been orchestrated Boniface himself. Though he was undoubtedly brilliant and astute, the word “megalomanic” is sometimes used among other words describing him. He has been referred to several times in the Comedy already. The Reader will recall that among these, he is mentioned in the Inferno (Canto 9) by the simoniac pope, Nicholas III who, comically (or not) mistakes Dante for Boniface (a fellow simonist), and later in Canto 27 by the unfortunate Guido da Montefeltro who lost his soul by foolishly accepting absolution from Boniface before sinning by telling the pope how to destroy his enemies. Here, at this highpoint in Paradise, the full force of St. Peter’s denunciation for this wicked pope matches how deeply Dante despised him. Furthermore, Boniface wanted to bring Florence under papal control, and under the guise of keeping the peace, he sent Charles of Valois to do his bidding. In the process, the Black Guelfs took control of the city and expelled the White Guelfs, whose leaders, including Dante, were in Rome negotiating for peace with Boniface. This embassy ended in failure and for Dante exile. |
| ↑3 | At the mention of Pope Boniface and his morally corrupt papacy the blush of St. Peter spreads over the entire Heaven of the Fixed Stars. Even Beatrice, standing next to Dante, blushes. Seeing this change he is reminded of the crucifixion of Jesus and how the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) all record that from noon to three o’clock in the afternoon “…a darkness came over the whole land.” The blush image with the clouds turning red comes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (III, 183-84) where Diana, while bathing, blushes at having been seen by Actaeon: “When she was caught unclad, a blush mantled her cheeks, as bright as when clouds reflect the sun’s rays, as bright as rosy dawn.” Here Beatrice becomes the blushing goddess Diana. |
| ↑4 | St. Peter continues his scathing diatribe against Boniface’s corruption of the papacy by contrasting it with his own martyrdom and that of his first successors. Their blood far outweighs the ill-gotten gold of the present pope. It was the early Christian writer Tertullian who said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” In his commentary here, Charles Singleton states: “St. Peter’s terrible denunciation of the corrupt papacy and Rome … is the most impressive of all the denunciations of its kind in the poem, because it is pronounced by St. Peter himself, the first and greatest of popes. But the reader will recall many another in the course of the poem, such as that pronounced by Dante as he stood over the simoniac pope Nicholas III in Inferno XIX.” In this context, one recalls Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 6:19-21): “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The division of Christianity noted by St. Peter here is a reference to Boniface’s partisanship which is a mockery of Christ as the final Judge who will separate the sheep from the goats as noted in St. Matthew’s Gospel (25:31–46). In Boniface’s case, the sheep are those Guelfs loyal to him, and the goats are his Ghibelline enemies. The keys St. Peter mentions as an emblem on a flag carried in battle against other Christians is a reference to that moment recorded in the Gospel of St. Matthew (16:18–19) where Jesus commissions St. Peter: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” For centuries, there have been papal seals with the head of St. Peter used on official papal documents. What St. Peter refers to here is a corruption of the seal as Ronald Martinez notes in his commentary: “The image of Peter, impressed by papal signet rings on wax or lead used to seal papal documents, was used to authenticate privileges, that is, exemptions from taxes and duties, acquired by purchase (a form of simony).” These seals would also have been used for the granting of indulgences, releases from excommunication, and other privilegi venduti e mendaci, “privileges sold and deceitful” (for a fee). |
| ↑5 | Once again Dante has the Gospel warning of Jesus in mind (Mt. 7:15): “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” And he follows in the footsteps of the prophet Jeremiah (23:1-2): “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who shepherd my people: ‘You have scattered my sheep and driven them away. You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds.’” Many commentators suggest that these biblical passages are aimed not just at the papacy and Church hierarchy but, as we’ve seen before, at the clergy and monastic orders. St. Peter’s frustration (most likely Dante the Poet’s as well) is evident here even though, like everyone else in Heaven, he can see the outcome of events in the mind of God. Psalm 44:23-24 captures his impatience: “Awake! Why do you sleep, O Lord? Rise up! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face; why forget our pain and misery?” The mention of Cahors and Gascony is a reference to areas in France connected with the papacy. Cahors, north of Toulouse was infamous for usury. Pope John XXII (1316- 1334), came from there. His predecessor, Pope Clement V (1305-1314), was from the Gascony region in the southwest corner of France. For more information on him see my note (#13) in Canto 19 of the Inferno. Noted for his lust and simony, and in 1309, as a nod to Philip IV who orchestrated his election, Clement moved the papacy from Rome to Avignon in the southeastern part of France and just north of Marseilles. Dante would have been writing the Inferno at this time, and would have had no qualms about placing him among the worst simonists in Hell. One can imagine St. Peter nudging God in his prayer with the phrase, “Ready to drink our blood.” He uses this image to highlight the utter degradation of the early martyrs’ blood by these and other evil popes who disdained those holy Saints who gave their most precious gift, while these earthly representatives of Christ and St. Peter would gladly sell their blood and turn it into filthy cash! Neither Dante nor St. Peter mince words here to show how some in the Church hierarchy have fallen from their holy beginnings, and how an evil end awaits them. The old Latin dictum applies here: Corruptio optimi pessima, “The corruption of the best is the worst.” At this point, St. Peter, like Cacciaguida back in Canto 17, charges Dante to tell everything when he returns to earth, and note how he speaks of Dante as being here – alive – in “mortal flesh.” Rome (the Church), he says, was saved from destruction by Scipio, and it will rise again. High Providence has ordained this. And with this St. Peter’s tirade ends this first half of the canto on a positive note. |
| ↑6 | As a kind of grand finale to the three examinations, the appearance of Adam, and St. Peter’s tirade, all the triumphant souls that had come down to the Heaven of the Fixed Stars from the Empyrean in Canto 23 now rise back up so far that Dante can no longer see them. Recall that Jesus and Mary had joined the Saints at first, and had already risen back into the Empyrean. Dante turns everything upside down here and likens this scene to a kind of reverse snowfall, the souls like luminous snowflakes slowly rising back into the heavens. Robert Hollander says, “They are snowing themselves back home.” Then seeing him look upward at what is no longer within sight, Beatrice once again (see the end of Canto 22) tells Dante to look down through the heavenly spheres to see how far they’ve come on their journey. |
| ↑7 | Since Dante last looked down through the cosmos at the end of Canto 22 until now, he has moved across the constellation of Gemini 90 degrees, which, in terms of time means he’s been in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars for 6 hours. Seeing the earth below him, he calls it quaesta aiuola, “this little flowerbed.” The “first clime” is a reference to what we might call “climate zones.” Since only the northern hemisphere was thought to be inhabited, ancient geographers and cartographers used a series of parallel horizontal bands starting from the equator to the north pole indicating the various climates from hotter to colder as one went north. When Dante refers to the first clime, that would be the area just north of the equator. And we need to remember that he’s looking down from the constellation of Gemini (an immense distance). What he’s telling us is that he has moved westward in the heavens by as much as the first climate spans from its midpoint to its farthest edge – about 90° of celestial longitude. As he tells us, then, he’s looking down from just west of Cadiz (on the west coast of Spain about 60 miles north of the tip of Gibraltar). This puts him out over the Atlantic west of Spain where he can “follow Ulysses’ mad southward course.” This is a reference to Canto 26 in the Inferno where he met Ulysses and heard from him the story of his last “mad flight” through Gibraltar and then southward into Terra Incognita where he eventually saw the Mountain of Purgatory from a distance. Tragically, his ship then sank in a great storm, drowning him and all his crew. But the Poet is not done yet. From his vantage point over Cadiz in the constellation of Gemini he can also see eastward toward the coast of present day Lebanon (ancient Phoenicia). He tells us that he might have seen farther eastward but that it was already approaching dusk in that region of the Mediterranean and the shadows were growing. This reminds him of the story of Jupiter’s abduction of Europa in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (II:833-875). Inserting both the Ulysses and Europa stories here, both of them journeying or traveling, hints at Dante’s own journey which, in a sense like theirs, has its mythical qualities. Here he is, after all, looking down from the starry heavens like a god. |
| ↑8 | By now Dante has finished looking down at the earth through the celestial spheres, and he longs to look again into Beatrice’s beautiful face and be graced by the power of her smile. And when he does, in some of the most beautiful lines in the Poem, he captures, momentarily, in words what neither Nature nor art can match, the “divine beauty” of her countenance. The moment of that smile, reflecting the divine “joy of God,” is enough to propel them instantly from the Heaven of the Fixed Stars into the Primum Mobile, or First Mover. This is the largest and outermost of the crystalline spheres that make up the cosmos and the one that moves the fastest. Dante compares this change in place to being moved from Leda’s nest, another name for the constellation of Gemini. In mythology, Leda was the mother of the Twins, Castor and Pollux. It was she whom Jupiter made love to in the form of a swan, and (see above) he who also carried off Europa disguised as a bull. After the death of the Twins it was Jupiter who immortalized them as the two brightest stars in the constellation named after them. Recall that Dante was born under the astrological sign of Gemini. This last sphere is also confusing to Dante because there are no landmarks that stand out here to give him a sense of exactly where he is in comparison to other locations. And there is no one else here except Beatrice and himself. Everything looks the same because the only function of this sphere, as it were, is speed. Charles Singleton notes: “In the other heavens the place chosen for Dante has been either the planet contained by each or the constellation. But in this ninth heaven, where there are no such bodies, Dante cannot say just where he was received into it, or what place Beatrice chose for him therein.” |
| ↑9 | In this passage Beatrice gives Dante a full explanation of the Primum Mobile. Looking up from the stationary earth, as it were, one would see first the sphere of the Moon; then Mercury, Venus, and the Sun; then Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Heaven of the Fixed Stars (Zodiac). The last of the nine spheres in the cosmos, the outermost, is the Primum Mobile, the first mover. It spins the fastest and imparts motion downward to the rest of the spheres, each imparting a slightly slower motion to the one below (or within) it. The numerical image is intended to make this clearer. If 10 (a perfect number) is the Primum Mobile, 2 and 5 as components of 10 (like the lower spheres) are contained within it. Beyond this last sphere is the Empyrean, the Abode of God, Heaven proper. It touches against it, and from here, by virtue of God’s Love, it receives its motion. It is here that time and space begin. In the Italian, Dante uses the word testo (a terracotta flower pot) to describe the Primum Mobile – the roots of time are hidden within the pot, but the flowers and leaves are the rest of the cosmos, the spheres, etc. made visible. This is another “inversion.” Earlier the procession of Saints “snowed upward,” and now time and space grown downward. Within the Primum Mobile everything physical is contained. Beyond it is the realm of the spiritual. Ronald Martinez, in his commentary here, offers another level of interpretation to this outer sphere: “Invisible from earth but philosophically necessary, this sphere surrounds all the other spheres and the earth, and is contained by the Empyrean, or first heaven. The Primum Mobile transmits with its rapid movement God’s influence undifferentiated, which the spheres of the fixed stars and the planets analyze, complicate with their specific influences, and pass on to the spheres below, finally to the earth. Time and change in the natural world are effects of the circling of the Primum Mobile, and in this sense the first sphere is the root or origin of time on earth.” |
| ↑10 | Here in the Primum Mobile, Beatrice’s apostrophe on greed and its ruinous effects on humankind stand in stark contrast to the perfect order of the cosmos as a reflection of God’s Love. Though the human will is directed toward the good, the “rain” of greed is a corruptive influence that, like a stain, ruins our innocence as too much moisture ruins good fruit. In the Paradiso we’ve been accustomed to Beatrice as a lovely presence who becomes more beautiful the higher she and Dante go. Here, though, her two examples of an innocent child growing to be a wretch are startling. On the other hand, we recall her intense interrogation of Dante in Canto 31 of the Purgatorio at the top of Purgatory which led him to repent, but also caused him to faint. St. Paul’s admission comes to mind here as he writes in his Letter to the Romans 7:15, 18-19: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” |
| ↑11 | Beatrice’s remark about lack of leadership most likely points to Rome, where corruption in the Church has literally brought the papacy to France, and where, also, there is no Emperor. Both Church and State are missing, and it is no wonder that humans are left to wander in error. Her closing words are obscure, though they bring us back to things being right again and humankind following the “straight course.” In Dante’s time, the Julian Calendar was in use. The year was 365.25 days long and added one day every four (leap) years. However, there was a slight error of about 13 minutes in this system, about 1/100th of a day. And in a hundred years, this amounted to almost one day. Thus, in 90 centuries (a very long time!) January would have moved quite a few days toward Spring. But this was corrected in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII with what we now use, the Gregorian Calendar. In this corrected system the year is now 365.2425 days with a few minor adjustments to the leap year rules. The point of all this is, as Beatrice notes, another example of human neglect (it would be another 382 years from 1300 before the calendar was corrected). But, in spite of this human error, the light of Heaven will eventually illuminate the error and “the errant fleet” (wandering humankind) will be turned back to its proper course. And the trees will bring forth fruit that is perfectly ripened. Mark Musa, commenting on this, adds wryly: “ This certainly is an unusual way to say that action will be taken soon!” |