In this Canto, the Emperor Justinian answers an earlier question of Dante’s. Like a lesson in history, Justinian – the only one who speaks here – lays out for Dante the panorama of the Roman Empire from its beginnings to Dante’s own time.
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[1]The Emperor Justinian has the longest uninterrupted speaking part in the entire Poem – all of this canto and 3 verses of the next.“When the emperor Constantine brought the Roman eagle standards to the east,[2]In the year 324. he reversed the westward path that had been destined for Aeneas, who married Lavinia.[3]In his commentary here, Mark Musa offers some helpful background information:“The reference is to Aeneas, who came from Troy west to Latium (Italy), where he married Lavinia, daughter of the Latian … Continue reading For a hundred and a hundred more years the eagle of Rome, that bird of God, remained at the far edge of Europe near the place from which it began its westward flight with the destruction of Troy.[4]These two hundred years mark the span between the date Constantinople became the capital of the empire (330 AD) and the start of Justinian’s reign in 527 AD, just shy of two hundred years.The eagle … Continue reading There in the east the sacred eagle shaded Constantinople with its wings, ruling the world from there, and passing that rule from hand to hand until it came into my own hands.[5]Byzantium, its original name, was renamed Constantinople in 330 AD. Eagle imagery is used throughout the Bible. The image of the eagle shading the city most likely comes from Psalm 17:8: “…hide … Continue reading Caesar I was, Justinian I am, who, by God’s will, purged from the laws of Rome all that was unnecessary.[6]The spirit of Justinian identifies himself after speaking briefly about how Constantine brought the Roman Empire back to its far eastern borders at Constantinople. This, he tells Dante, reversed the … Continue reading
“Before I re-wrote my Code, I believed only in the divine nature of Christ, not in his human nature as well. But it was the blessed pope Agapetus, God’s highest shepherd, whose enlightened words led me to the true faith. I believed them, and here I see clearly now what he only knew by faith – as you too can see that in a contradictory argument there is a true statement and a false one.[7]Dante’s information about Justinian’s “confession” here, that he was an adherent of the Monophysite heresy, came from Brunetto Latini’s Tresor (recall Inferno 15:119). It seems that both … Continue reading
“Once my faith aligned itself with that of the Holy Church, God inspired me to take up the task of reforming our laws, to which I then devoted all my efforts.[8]It seems that Justinian actually finished his revision of the laws before Agapetus came to Constantinople. The work on the law took place between 528-533. Agapetus was Pope between 535-536. Dante may … Continue reading He also led me to place my armies into the hands of Belisarius and rest from making war.[9]Belisarius (505-565) was Justinian’s famous general, who was credited, among other victories, with defeating the Vandals in Northern Africa and the Ostrogoths in Italy. The latter victory once … Continue reading And with this, I have answered your first question,[10]“Who are you?” though my answer forces me to tell you clearly that those Guelfs and Ghibellines who now fight against the sacred eagle have little cause – whether they approve or oppose its rule.[11]Before he sets out to give Dante a history of the Empire, Justinian loops his narrative forward to Dante’s time where the internecine struggle for power (their “fight against the sacred eagle”) … Continue reading
[12]Justinian will now give Dante a history of the Empire. “But go back now and consider the great courage that consecrated the eagle’s first flight when the noble Pallas joined Aeneas in the battle against Turnus and was killed. His kingdom became the future empire’s first realm.[13]As we know, Aeneas’s destiny was to found Rome. Once arrived on Italian shores, he allied himself with King Evander and his son Pallas against Turnus, king of the Rutulii. Evander, coincidentally, … Continue reading Furthermore, you know that for more than three hundred years the great eagle of Rome resided in the city of Alba Longa until, after the conflict between the Curiatti and the Horatii, it was won back by the latter and returned to Rome. You also know the history of its growth by conquest during the reign of the seven kings – from the taking of the Sabine women to the outrage against Lucretia.[14]Ancient Latium (home of the Latins) was the geographical area of central western Italy, the capital of which became Rome, the seat of the Empire. It king was Latinus. The original kingdom of Aeneas … Continue reading
“You know how the famed Romans carried it in victory against Brennus, king of the Gauls, Pyrrhus of Epirus, and a host of other kingdoms. And it pleases me to honor other great men like Torquatus, Quintius the curly-haired, and the families of the Decii and the Fabii. When Hannibal crossed the Alps, where the Po has its source, the eagle decimated his Arabian armies. Both the great Scipio and Pompey triumphed under the eagle standard; and even the place where you were born saw its wrath when nearby Fiesole was destroyed in the battle against the renegade Catiline.[15]Justinian here gives Dante a list of victories of the Roman eagle during the Republican era which spans more than 300 years from Brennus’ attack on Rome in 387 BC until the defeat of Cataline in 63 … Continue reading
“And then, at the time when Heaven willed to restore the world’s peace, the Roman eagle gave itself to Caesar. Soon, the great rivers of Gaul, from the Var to the Rhine, saw his triumphs. Later, that eagle flew from Ravenna over the Rubicon – an event so momentous no tongue can speak about or pen describe. Then it soared into Spain, striking Pompey’s army; then on to Durazzo, and finally to Pharsalia where it struck Pompey such a blow that even the Nile felt it![16]Note again Dante’s reference to divine destiny of the empire. Though technically the first Roman Emperor was Augustus, it was believed in the Middle Ages that Julius Caesar was the first. While … Continue reading
“After Pompey’s defeat, the eagle soared back toward its homeland near Antandros and Troy, where Aeneas set sail. Passing Hector’s grave, it soared now toward Egypt and Ptolemy’s defeat.[17]According to Lucan’s poem, Pharsalia (Dante’s resource here), after the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar visited Troy. This put him at the place where Aeneas escaped the destruction of the city and … Continue reading Then, like lightning, it hit against Juba in Numidia, and from there it moved on toward Spain against the sons of Pompey. This great eagle then boldly empowered the young Augustus who, with the great Antony, set about the destruction of Brutus and Cassius, foul assassins whom Lucifer now chews upon in Hell![18]Juba, king of Numidia in northern Africa, was a supporter of Pompey. Caesar defeated him and then went to Spain to defeat the sons of Pompey and their army at Munda in southern Spain. This brought an … Continue reading
“Then Antony took the famed Cleopatra as mistress. Defeated by Augustus, he ended his life, soon followed by she who fatally suckled the black snake at her bosom.[19]The story of Antony and Cleopatra has been made famous over the centuries in literature and art. Following this, the young emperor brought the eagle of peace to the whole Mediterranean world from the Red Sea to the western shores. Janus’ temple, always open during war, Augustus closed and locked.[20]Justinian here refers to how Augustus virtually brought the entire Mediterranean world to peace under the Roman eagle, that peace symbolized by the rare closing of the gates of the temple of Janus in … Continue reading But when the eagle came into the hands of Tiberius, what it had already done and what it would do in the future pale in comparison to what it would do now, because the Living Justice granted the eagle the glory of wreaking vengeance for the death of Christ.[21]The “Living Justice” is a reference to God, who gives the Roman Eagle the glory of carrying out his vengeance against humanity for the sin of Adam, namely, the crucifixion of Christ. What … Continue reading
“Continue in awe at what I shall now add to what I have told you already. The eagle later flew with Titus to destroy Jerusalem and thus avenge the ancient sin of Adam.[22]The destruction of Jerusalem took place in 70 AD, some 40 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. It was carried out by Tiberius’s general, Titus, who later became emperor himself. It was the common … Continue reading And when the Lombard King threatened the Church, the eagle marched to its rescue with the armies of Charlemagne.[23]Here Justinian makes a huge leap in time – some 700 years – from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the year 774. At the risk of too much brevity, Desiderius, king of the Lombards (all of … Continue reading
“Earlier, I accused your two warring parties. Perhaps now you can better judge them because what you are suffering is a result of their crimes. Your Guelphs replace the eagle with the fleur-de-lis of France, while your Ghibellines claim the eagle as their own. Both parties offend the common good! Let those Ghibellines plot their evil under another banner because those who separate justice from the eagle are not its true followers. And Charles of Anjou should not trust the Guelphs to attack the empire’s eagle because its claws have torn the flesh off lions more fierce than he! How many times do sons weep for their fathers’ crimes? God’s sacred eagle will not be replaced by Charles’ lilies![24]Justinian makes another leap in time, bringing his story to up to date, as it were, well into Dante’s exile. Early in this canto, Justinian criticized the Guelfs and Ghibellines for having no … Continue reading
“However, let me now tell you that the beauty of this small planet is increased by the light of souls whose valiant deeds on earth – noble as they were – were also prompted by the hope of worldly fame. The more they sought fame the more they strayed from true Love, and thus they burn less intensely here. But it gives us all great pleasure that you see, as we do, the balance between our merits and our reward. True Justice is so fully alive in us that our wills can no longer be bent and led to what cannot content us.[25]Here, Justinian begins to answer Dante’s other question from the previous canto. Recall that the sphere of the Moon was reserved for those who were inconstant and broke their vows. They were mere … Continue reading
“So many different voices here make our melody sweet, and our lives among the different ranks of the blessèd here in Heaven make for the harmony that sustains these heavenly spheres.[26]Justinian amplifies what Dante has already started to learn about Heaven: that there is a great diversity of souls here, but this is what creates the harmony that sustains Paradise. Heaven is an … Continue reading Within the precious jewel of this lustrous pearl glows also the brilliance of Romeo of Villeneuve whose honorable deeds went mostly unrewarded. Those envious Provençals who slandered him will suffer for their evil words. He walks an evil road who begrudges the good done by another. Thanks to this humble Romeo, the four daughters of Count Raymond Berenger each became a queen. Sadly, though, the Count believed the slander and called this honest soul to make an account of his good stewardship. But Romeo, old and poor, left his post instead, and wandered until he died as a pilgrim begging for his bread. Had the world known what was in this beggar’s heart, he would be praised even more than he is today!”[27]First, notice that Dante describes both the sphere of the Moon and that of Mercury as pearls. And then this canto is brought to a close with a story that might seem slightly out of place, but, given … Continue reading
Notes & Commentary
| ↑1 | The Emperor Justinian has the longest uninterrupted speaking part in the entire Poem – all of this canto and 3 verses of the next. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | In the year 324. |
| ↑3 | In his commentary here, Mark Musa offers some helpful background information: “The reference is to Aeneas, who came from Troy west to Latium (Italy), where he married Lavinia, daughter of the Latian king, and in so doing founded the line of the Roman Empire. Lavinia, then, is the mother of the Roman race. In symbolically bringing the eagle to Latium, Aeneas moved in accordance with the east-west course of the heavens, and with implicit celestial justification. Constantine’s relocation to Byzantium, Dante implies, wrongfully contradicts this movement. |
| ↑4 | These two hundred years mark the span between the date Constantinople became the capital of the empire (330 AD) and the start of Justinian’s reign in 527 AD, just shy of two hundred years. The eagle was the standard and symbol of the imperial power and authority of Rome. Musa, commenting on it as “the bird of God,” adds: “As the bird of God the eagle signifies the just rule over humanity that God ordains through the Empire. The eagle’s farseeing eyes, broad wings, pinions, and hooked beak are metaphors for both tenacious power and fairness.” Dante believed that the foundation of Rome was willed by God and that Aeneas was his destined agent. Although he places Constantine higher up in Paradise, Dante disagreed with his moving the seat of the empire eastward. He also disagreed with Constantine’s giving the Church temporal power in a document (now considered a forgery) known as The Donation of Constantine. This secular power corrupted several popes, not the least of which was Dante’s nemesis, Boniface VIII, whom he places in Hell (Canto 19) with the simonists. Recall that the sun is a symbol of God, and note that by moving the seat of the empire to the east, opposite the direction of the sun, Dante suggests that Constantine was going against the will of God. |
| ↑5 | Byzantium, its original name, was renamed Constantinople in 330 AD. Eagle imagery is used throughout the Bible. The image of the eagle shading the city most likely comes from Psalm 17:8: “…hide me in the shadow of your wings.” |
| ↑6 | The spirit of Justinian identifies himself after speaking briefly about how Constantine brought the Roman Empire back to its far eastern borders at Constantinople. This, he tells Dante, reversed the destined path of Aeneas (who founded Rome after the fall of Troy). Justinian (Emperor from 527 to 565 AD) includes in his self-identification his most famous endeavor, the creation of a revised Code of laws for the empire, traces of which will still be found in modern jurisprudence. Observe how he speaks in the past tense (when he was alive) about his title (Caesar), and in the present tense as he is now, simply Justinian. Note, finally, the words “bird of God,” “sacred eagle,” and “God’s will” all add to the heavy religious tone Dante the Poet will develop here in this canto. |
| ↑7 | Dante’s information about Justinian’s “confession” here, that he was an adherent of the Monophysite heresy, came from Brunetto Latini’s Tresor (recall Inferno 15:119). It seems that both Latini and his own source were inaccurate on this point. The heretic was not Justinian but his wife, Theodora. The heresy claimed that Jesus had only the divine nature, not as all Christians believe, that he had both the divine and human natures. During his time as emperor, this heresy was strongest in the eastern part of the empire. In spite of his attempts to bring a unity of religious beliefs, he was often not successful. Considering the faulty historical information, Pope Agapetus, nevertheless, contributed to a resolution of some of the difficulties. Justinian’s reference to a contradictory argument is a way for him to speak about the difference between what Agapetus knew only by faith and what he, Justinian, now knows for certain. Faith is no longer necessary in Heaven. Paraphrasing Justinian, Charles Singleton makes this clear in his commentary here: “What he (and afterward I) accepted on faith, without being able to comprehend it, I can now see as a fact, as clearly as you see an axiomatic truth – for instance, that if a proposition is false, its opposite must be true.” |
| ↑8 | It seems that Justinian actually finished his revision of the laws before Agapetus came to Constantinople. The work on the law took place between 528-533. Agapetus was Pope between 535-536. Dante may be relying on faulty sources here, or, as some commentators suggest, he wanted to present a view of Justinian’s work that was divinely inspired because he believed that the Empire itself was divinely ordained by God. Dorothy Sayers provides some excellent context in her commentary here: “One of Justinian’s first actions, on his succession as Emperor, was to appoint a commission of jurists, under the direction of Tribonian, to gather together all the valid edicts of the Roman Emperors since Hadrian. The result of their labours was the compilation of the Codex Justinianus (529AD). In 530 another commission was set up to revise all the rulings and precedents of the classical Roman lawyers, and to reject all irrelevancies, contradictions and anachronisms. The result was the Digesta, or Pandettae, in fifty volumes. The definitive edition of the Codex was published in the year 534. The originality of this great compilation lay in its adaptation of Roman law to the conditions of the Christian Empire of the sixth century.” |
| ↑9 | Belisarius (505-565) was Justinian’s famous general, who was credited, among other victories, with defeating the Vandals in Northern Africa and the Ostrogoths in Italy. The latter victory once again secured the Empire’s power in Italy. Once again, however, we seem to have here a conflict between Dante’s presentation of an ideal picture and the realities of history. In 562, sparked by some rumor of conspiracy against himself, Justinian had Belisarius stripped of his rank, dispossessed of all he owned, and imprisoned (one version of the story also includes that he was blinded). In less than a year, however, all the charges were dropped and Belisarius was restored to his original position. But we must be careful not to blame the Poet for presenting too clear a picture here. As it turns out, there were some medieval historians who didn’t include this episode in their work. |
| ↑10 | “Who are you?” |
| ↑11 | Before he sets out to give Dante a history of the Empire, Justinian loops his narrative forward to Dante’s time where the internecine struggle for power (their “fight against the sacred eagle”) rages between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, one result of which is Dante’s condemnation and exile from the Republic of Florence. As much as Dante attempts to glorify the movement of the Roman eagle with Justinian’s history, the emperor, now beyond historical events, comments that nothing seems to have changed in Dante’s time, for neither Guelfs nor Ghibellines have the least regard for the sacred bird. |
| ↑12 | Justinian will now give Dante a history of the Empire. |
| ↑13 | As we know, Aeneas’s destiny was to found Rome. Once arrived on Italian shores, he allied himself with King Evander and his son Pallas against Turnus, king of the Rutulii. Evander, coincidentally, was a Greek who had founded a kingdom near present-day Rome. A great battle ensued (see Virgil’s Aeneid, Books 7-11) against the Rutulii, where Turnus, Aeneas’s mortal enemy, savagely killed Pallas. Aeneas, in turn, killed Turnus. As it turned out, part of the territory that Aeneas gained by this victory would have been inherited by Pallas. It went to Aeneas and, as Justinian notes, it became the great eagle’s first home. |
| ↑14 | Ancient Latium (home of the Latins) was the geographical area of central western Italy, the capital of which became Rome, the seat of the Empire. It king was Latinus. The original kingdom of Aeneas was at Lavinium (west of Rome to the coast and a few miles south of Ostia). It was named in honor of Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus and wife of Aeneas. After his death, it was Aeneas’s son, Ascanius who, in 1155 BC, transferred the seat of his father’s kingdom further to the east at Alba Longa, along the northwestern shores of Lake Albano (about 17 miles southeast from the center of present-day Rome). Alba Longa became the first center of the Empire and the first home of its eagle. In the succeeding centuries, conflict and rivalry between Alba Longa and Rome came to a head during the reign of the Roman King Tullus Hostilius (670-638 BC). To stave off an all-out war, it was decided that the rivalry between the two city-kingdoms would be settled by a contest between three Roman brothers (known by their family name as the Horatii) and three Alban brothers (known by their family name as the Curiatti). In the end, though only one of the Horatii was left against the three Curiatti, he managed to dispatch all three of them and the rivalry was settled in favor of Rome, which became the second center of the Empire and home of the eagle. The populations of the two cities merged and Alba Longa was abandoned and destroyed. The Roman historian Livy was most likely Dante’s source, which I have broadened here somewhat to provide the reader with more context. Rome was ruled by seven kings from 753-509 BC. At the time of Romulus, the first king, a considerable majority of the population of Rome were unmarried men. After a series of unsuccessful negotiations with neighboring tribes to secure wives for his unmarried men, Romulus devised a plan to have a series of games in Rome to which he invited the neighboring populations. Many of the Sabines (an ancient people who lived in the mountainous region of central Italy) came, bringing their wives and womenfolk. Romulus had arranged that, at a pre-arranged signal, the unmarried Roman men would seize women among the attendees and carry them off. This has come to be known as the Rape of the Sabine Women. Needless to say, war broke out between Rome and its neighbors, but it was short-lived when the abducted women came between the armies of their fathers and brothers and now-husbands and successfully pleaded with them to sue for peace. The “outrage against Lucretia” is a reference to the virtuous wife of Collatinus who was raped by Sextus, the son of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of the Roman kings. Collatinus was the son of Arruns Tarquinius, a nephew of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth King of Rome. Following upon her attack, Lucretia killed herself. The population rose up in outrage and drove the tyrant (Supurbus) and his son from Rome. The year was 509 BC, which also marks the end of the Roman monarchy and the beginning of the republic. |
| ↑15 | Justinian here gives Dante a list of victories of the Roman eagle during the Republican era which spans more than 300 years from Brennus’ attack on Rome in 387 BC until the defeat of Cataline in 63 BC. Brennus was a Gallic chieftain who attacked Rome in 387 and was ultimately driven out. Pyrrhus was the king of Epirus (an Adriatic territory now a part of Greece on the north and Albania on the south). With an eye on Roman power and hoping for a victory, he joined the Tarentines (Taranto lies at the eastern side of the instep in the Italian “boot”) in their battle against Rome and was eventually defeated at the Battle of Beneventum (60 miles northeast of Naples) in 275 BC. The list continues with famous Roman statesmen and military figures: -Titus Manlius Torquatus, consul three times between 347 and 340 BC, and dictator three times between 353 and 320 BC; -Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (519-?) a noble Roman statesman, made dictator in 458 BC to save the republic; -The Decii were a family of Roman patriots (grandfather, father, and son) who sacrificed their lives for the good of the republic; -The Fabii were another Roman family of consuls and self-sacrificing patriots; -Hannibal, the northern Carthaginian general who had earlier crossed the Alps (the River Po rises in the western Alps), was defeated by Scipio in Zama (near Tunis) in 202 BC; -Pompey the Great (106-48 BC), a major (love/hate) figure in Roman history as a military leader and politician toward the end of the republic. Justinian brings the final triumph of the Roman eagle in this section to a close with the defeat of Cataline who conspired to overthrow the republic. Shortly before he and his army were destroyed near Pistoia (north of Florence), they had been encamped at Fiesole, a small hill town to the east, and virtually a suburb of, Florence. Thus bringing the fabled story of the Roman eagle to Dante’s door. |
| ↑16 | Note again Dante’s reference to divine destiny of the empire. Though technically the first Roman Emperor was Augustus, it was believed in the Middle Ages that Julius Caesar was the first. While Dante adopts this prevailing historical view, it is also necessary in his structuring of history that the eventual Pax Romana, during which Christ was born, be marked by a series of victories for the Roman eagle that began under the leadership of Julius Caesar. And so we have his triumphs across the region of Gaul and his famous crossing the Rubicon River, an event so momentous because one (Dante) can construe that event as leading directly to the founding of the Empire. Crossing the Rubicon soon led to the civil war against Pompey. Caesar was then victorious over the forces of Pompey’s legates in Spain. The armies of Caesar and Pompey met again at Dyrrachium (modern-day Durrës on the central coast of Albania). This battle was a draw and Caesar was forced to retreat to Thessaly (northern central Greece). Pompey followed him there and then on to Pharsalus (southern Thessaly). At the Battle of Pharsalus (August 48 BC) Pompey and his army were roundly defeated by Caesar. But Pompey escaped and ended up in Egypt where he expected to be granted refuge by the Pharaoh, Ptolemy XIII. Instead, when he arrived at Alexandria, he was set upon by two of Ptolemy’s henchmen and murdered. |
| ↑17 | According to Lucan’s poem, Pharsalia (Dante’s resource here), after the Battle of Pharsalus, Caesar visited Troy. This put him at the place where Aeneas escaped the destruction of the city and set out on his divinely destined journey to become the founder of Rome and its empire (all of which is the subject of Virgil’s epic, The Aeneid). Caesar then followed Pompey to Egypt. As noted above, Pompey was murdered by Ptolemy XIII when he arrived at Alexandria. Ptolemy, seeing an opportunity to curry favor with Caesar, sent Pompey’s head to him. In the meantime, Ptolemy was the co-ruler of Egypt with his older sister, the famed Cleopatra VII. When Caesar arrived at Alexandria, Ptolemy was attempting to remove her from the throne. She fled to Syria where she raised her own army, and so a civil war arose in Egypt. It was at this time that Caesar and Cleopatra became an “item.” At the Battle of the Nile, the combined forces of Caesar and Cleopatra defeated Ptolemy and his other sister, Arsinoe IV. Ptolemy drowned in the Nile, presumably attempting to escape. |
| ↑18 | Juba, king of Numidia in northern Africa, was a supporter of Pompey. Caesar defeated him and then went to Spain to defeat the sons of Pompey and their army at Munda in southern Spain. This brought an end to the civil war, and when Julius Caesar returned to Rome in triumph he was elected dictator. Following his assassination, Octavian (later known as Augustus) and Mark Antony pursued the killers Brutus and Cassius. They died in the Battle(s) of Phillipi in 42 BC and, as readers of Dante know, they, along with Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, are gnawed on forever by Lucifer at the end of the Inferno. |
| ↑19 | The story of Antony and Cleopatra has been made famous over the centuries in literature and art. |
| ↑20 | Justinian here refers to how Augustus virtually brought the entire Mediterranean world to peace under the Roman eagle, that peace symbolized by the rare closing of the gates of the temple of Janus in Rome, otherwise always open during times of war and conflict. |
| ↑21 | The “Living Justice” is a reference to God, who gives the Roman Eagle the glory of carrying out his vengeance against humanity for the sin of Adam, namely, the crucifixion of Christ. What Justinian is referring to here, the complicated and convoluted nature of this vengeance, will be covered thoroughly in the following canto. This will mark the high point of Justinian’s history of the eagle’s flights. At the same time, commentators note that it must have been distasteful for Dante to have to include the emperor Tiberius here because he was known to be brutal, paranoid, and morally depraved. However, the act of vengeance referred to here, the crucifixion of Jesus, was carried out when he was emperor and legitimated by the authority of Rome. |
| ↑22 | The destruction of Jerusalem took place in 70 AD, some 40 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. It was carried out by Tiberius’s general, Titus, who later became emperor himself. It was the common view among medieval Christians – a view that would last for centuries – that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus and that the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple was God’s revenge for what they did. Actually, Dante borrows from the famous historian Orosius the idea that Titus himself was the avenger: “After the capture and overthrow of Jerusalem, as the prophets had foretold, and after the total destruction of the Jewish nation, Titus, who had been appointed by the decree of God to avenge the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ….”(Historiarum Adversum Paganos, VII, iii, 8, ix, 9) As previously noted, this will be presented in greater detail in the next canto. |
| ↑23 | Here Justinian makes a huge leap in time – some 700 years – from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the year 774. At the risk of too much brevity, Desiderius, king of the Lombards (all of northern Italy), was at odds with the papacy and, at the request of Pope Hadrian I, Charlemagne intervened and defeated him in 774. |
| ↑24 | Justinian makes another leap in time, bringing his story to up to date, as it were, well into Dante’s exile. Early in this canto, Justinian criticized the Guelfs and Ghibellines for having no regard for the sacred eagle. Here he shows them changing their allegiances – the Guelfs for France (the image of the French fleur-de-lis) and the Ghibellines hijacking the eagle as a common symbol of unity and using it for their own dark purposes. Then becoming more specific, Justinian rebukes the Ghibellines for dishonorably separating the eagle from what it symbolizes, justice. And the Guelfs, too, were dishonorable. Being supporters of the Church against the Ghibellines, who supported the Empire, they replaced the eagle with the coat of arms of Pope Clement IV: a red eagle standing on a green dragon against a white background. To this, according to the chronicler Villani, they later added a red lily above the eagle. Justinian suggests that Charles of Anjou should trust false eagles at his own and his childrens’ peril, as the true eagle has torn the hide off would-be lions more fierce than himself. One might hear the Poet saying to both parties: read this canto with care! |
| ↑25 | Here, Justinian begins to answer Dante’s other question from the previous canto. Recall that the sphere of the Moon was reserved for those who were inconstant and broke their vows. They were mere shadows of themselves. The sphere of Mercury, we now learn, is filled with noble souls whose valiant deeds brought them great fame. Unfortunately, Justinian notes, these souls were more in love with their fame than with the true Love and source of their fame. And so, though they, too, are in Heaven and seeing God in the face, they appear to burn less brightly. But, Justinian tells Dante, their appearance is less important than the joy his presence brings to all of them. More than that, like them Dante sees the balance between what they deserved with all their imperfections and what they received as their eternal reward. And since justice is so much the theme of this canto, Justinian tells Dante that it is so alive in them now, they could never be turned away from it again. |
| ↑26 | Justinian amplifies what Dante has already started to learn about Heaven: that there is a great diversity of souls here, but this is what creates the harmony that sustains Paradise. Heaven is an immense choir that sings together, but not the same note. It’s the diversity of the voices that gives the music its amazing breadth and depth. And this theme of cosmic harmony will continue through the rest of the Poem. |
| ↑27 | First, notice that Dante describes both the sphere of the Moon and that of Mercury as pearls. And then this canto is brought to a close with a story that might seem slightly out of place, but, given the larger context of justice in this canto, it works. Furthermore, in the context of fame, here is a man who, in the end, just walked away from it. Romeo seems to have stopped at Count Raymond’s court as a pilgrim and ended up staying for several years to become the manager of the Count’s family affairs and his great wealth. He arranged powerful alliances through the successful marriages of the Count’s four daughters to kings: The first to King Louis IX of France, the second to King Henry III of England, the third to Richard of Cornwall who became the King of the Romans (actually King of East Francia, a division of Charlemagne’s kingdom that included a great part of western Germany), and the fourth was married to Charles of Anjou, then King of Sicily. He also vastly increased the Count’s wealth during the years of his service. But out of envy, the barons of Provence accused Romeo of financial mismanagement to the Count. In the end, knowing their envy, and with great sorrow, he allowed Romeo to leave as the poor pilgrim who had stopped there years before. In Dante’s eyes, the man was a saint. To bring this canto to a close, here is a passage from Ronald Martinez’s excellent commentary which offers a slightly different interpretation and links the story with Dante’s own life story: “The only other soul identified in Mercury is Romeo de Villeneuve (1170-1250 ); he was in fact no pauper but a powerful nobleman of Catalan origin, the leading minister of Raymond Berenguer V (1204-45), the Guelph count of Provence, also a Catalan. The myth of the count’s ingratitude (Romeo in fact profited handsomely in the count’s service) may well have been promoted by the Angevins to discredit him and obscure his opposition to Capetian expansion. Dante probably did not know the very detailed account by Giovanni Villani in his Nuova cronica, who seems to have begun writing after Dante’s death, but in any case the story probably circulated during the lifetime of Charles of Anjou. The idea of Romeo’s being a pilgrim was no doubt suggested by his given name, which however was not an unusual one (as a common noun romeo denoted a pilgrim to Rome). Many critics have been struck by the number of parallels between this canto’s version of Romeo and Dante himself: purity of motives met by the ingratitude of the powerful, exile, poverty, begging, and dependency at princely courts. That Romeo is represented as having been so successful in advancing the status of his lord might be seen as an idealizing compensation for the shipwreck of Dante’s own politics. There is a parallel also with Marco Lombardo (Purgatorio 16), another alter ego of Dante’s and a courtier, and there are important thematic parallels between these two cantos.” |