Following his long speech in the previous Canto, Justinian begins to sing and dance as he and all the souls in Mercury fly up into the heavens like countless sparks from a great fire. Seeing him standing there in awe, Beatrice, who can read Dante’s mind, clarifies for him Justinian’s earlier reference to a just vengeance avenging the sin of Adam.
(To read a footnote, click the number in the text. To come back from a footnote, click the up arrow at the note number.)
“Hosanna, holy God of hosts! You illumine with your brightness the happy spirits of these blessed realms.”[1]It is worthwhile to see Dante’s original opening tercet for this canto:“Hosanna, sanctus Deus sabaothsuperillustrans claritate tuafelices ignes horum malacoth”On the surface these lines, an … Continue reading As he sang this glorious hymn, I watched the joyful soul of Justinian dance to the rhythm of his tune as his brilliance merged as one into the glory of the God he praised. And at that moment, all the other souls there joined in the dance, and then, like sparks flying out of a great fire, they rose into the heavens and disappeared.[2]With Justinian himself singing, he becomes caught up in the glory of the moment along with all his companion souls, whirling and dancing their praise. Their “work” done, they then, like … Continue reading
I stood there dumbfounded, my inner voice pressing me: “Speak! Tell her. Speak to this lovely woman here who, with the sweet drops of her words, quenches your thirst.” But I could not, so great was the awe that filled me just saying BE or ICE. So, I lowered my head in reverence. She, however, seeing me suffer like that, spoke with such a glowing smile that a man condemned to the flames would have rejoiced![3]Recall that when the conversation with Piccarda and Constance was finished, they and their companions seemed to quietly fade back into the substance of the Moon leaving Dante alone with Beatrice. … Continue reading
[4]What follows is Beatrice’s longest continuous speech in the entire Poem.“My insight, which is always correct, tells me that you didn’t understand what Justinian meant when he spoke of how a just vengeance can be justly avenged. I will settle your doubts now, so listen carefully because what I will tell you contains important truths.[5]As we’ve learned earlier, Beatrice can read Dante’s thoughts, and so, in spite of his inability to articulate his question, she both knows it and knows the answer, which she’ll guide us through … Continue reading
“Unfortunately, Adam disobeyed the command of God, and in condemning himself by this, he also condemned everyone else in the future. As a result, the human race bore the weight of his terrible error for centuries, until the Word of God became flesh in an act of infinite Love, taking into His own Being our soiled human nature.[6]In the previous canto, Justinian made a few large jumps in time. Here, Beatrice makes an even larger one, jumping from one end of the Hebrew Bible to the other. Adam ate from the forbidden fruit of … Continue reading
“Attend to what I now tell you: once our human nature was taken into Himself by the Son of God, it returned to its original state of purity and goodness. Before this, along with Adam, it had been expelled from the Holy Garden because it had abandoned the true life through its disobedience.[7]In its original state human nature was sinless. When Adam sinned through his own free choice, human nature was tainted by that sin and he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. But when God became … Continue reading
“Then, if you consider that the crucifixion of Jesus was a punishment on the human nature he had assumed, no other penalty could have been handed down with greater justice. At the same time, no other penalty could have been more unjust, considering the One who endured it, and whose divine nature had combined with ours.[8]Beatrice continues here, explaining to Dante that one first has to accept that Jesus had two natures, one divine and one human, and that he took on our human nature in order to heal it of sin. So, … Continue reading
“But the crucifixion of the Son of God resulted in different effects: both God and the Jews were satisfied by this death which shook the earth and re-opened Heaven for us. So, it shouldn’t be difficult to understand the concept of God’s just vengeance against the sin of Adam being avenged much later in time by the destruction of Jerusalem.[9]Now Beatrice arrives at the destruction of Jerusalem. As a result of the crucifixion of Jesus – who was both divine and human – His death satisfied both God and the Jews. Speaking in theological … Continue reading
“Nevertheless, I clearly see the snares that entangle your thoughts, and you’re waiting for me to loosen them. ‘I understand clearly what you’re saying,’ you think, ‘but couldn’t God have chosen some other way to redeem us?’[10]While Beatrice has been explaining the issues involved in Dante’s last question, how a just vengeance can be justly avenged, he has in mind another alternative which she can read in hers: given the … Continue reading
“My dear brother, the reason for God’s choice is buried out of sight from men until their inner spirits grow ripe in the warmth of His love. However, since people always aim at this target but rarely hit it, let me explain why God’s choice was the best one.[11]What Beatrice suggests here is that Dante’s inner vision and his love of God haven’t matured enough to understand the nature of God’s choice. Perhaps another result of Adam’s sin. But one can … Continue reading The divine Goodness of God, rejecting every form of envy, burns so brightly with Love that It creates eternal beauty and fills Its creations with the light of this same glory. Angels and human souls flow directly from God and are eternal; they are eternally sealed with His stamp which nothing can remove. Furthermore, emanating directly from God, these beauteous creations are completely free and not subject to the laws of change. In this way, we most closely resemble God and most please Him. That Holy Flame Who illuminates all creation burns brightest in those who most resemble Him.[12]Beatrice explains to Dante that the divine Goodness of God is manifest in the beauty of His direct creation of angels and humans, who are reflections of Himself and filled with His glory. In other … Continue reading
“So, you can now see the great gifts with which humanity was endowed, and that if one misuses any of them, he falls from the high state to which he was created. And this is sin: it’s the only thing that takes away our true freedom and likeness to our Creator and makes us shine less brightly in His own light. Thus the nature of Adam’s sin was such that we could not recover the eternal nobility that was lost to us unless a just penalty was paid. Human nature, when it sinned by Adam’s disobedience, was cut off from the dignities bestowed on it by God, and was exiled from Paradise. If you think carefully about this, you will see that humankind could not regain what Adam had lost for it except for two possible remedies: either that God in His mercy simply forgive the sin, or that man himself pay the debt for his disobedience.[13]Freedom (free will) and likeness to God are the great gifts with which we were endowed when we (Adam and Eve) were first created. But Adam’s (and Eve’s) sin tarnished these gifts for the rest of … Continue reading
“But now turn your eyes toward the depth of God’s Judgment and consider well what I am about to tell you.[14]Since Beatrice sees God in the Empyrean, and as a symbol of Wisdom, she asks Dante to pay special attention to the answer she will now present to him. Because of his human limitations, man could never have made amends for Adam’s sin. Even if, in his humility, man fell as far down as Adam tried to climb in his pride, he could never repay the debt. And so it was up to God, both by justice and mercy, to bring humankind back to its original wholeness.[15]As she begins to answer, Beatrice highlights the utter impossibility of sinful humanity ever repaying the debt owed to God because of Adam’s sin. Though Adam and Eve were fooled by the serpent in … Continue reading)
“But, since this deed, in the depth of its goodness, manifested the good heart of the One from whom it sprang, so the everlasting Goodness of God, which had already imprinted itself upon creation, was pleased to use every means at Its disposal to restore you back to your original self.[16]Most Christians, unless they are a theologian, probably don’t think about the “decision” to send Jesus to bring humanity back to its original state, and who made that decision. However, in the … Continue reading I tell you, between the end of time and its very beginning, there never was, nor shall there ever be, an act so utterly magnificent and magnanimous as what God Himself chose to do. More than simply forgiving the debt, he gave Himself! Anything less would have been unthinkable if the only Son of God had not humbled Himself and taken on our human nature.[17]In order to highlight the incomprehensible uniqueness of Jesus’ self-sacrifice for us, the Poet (in this case, Beatrice) uses a literary device here called a hysteron proteron wherein he alters the … Continue reading
“But now I see that there is still more I need to untie among your tangled thoughts, so let me go back a ways so that you’ll understand everything as I do. You’re thinking: ‘I know that earth, air, fire, and water – and all that they make – is only temporary and then it decays. Yet, these are all creations of God, and if what you said earlier about God’s creations is true, then they should be free from decay.’[18]Beatrice has already told Dante that the Goodness of God is imprinted on all of creation. But Dante is thinking that if everything in material creation is made from varying mixtures of the four … Continue reading
“My dear brother, the angels and all the heavens around us were created exactly as you see them – whole and unchanging in their nature. But those prime elements you named, and everything that comes from them are created by powers that are themselves created. Everything within them was created, and the forming power within the stars circling around them was also created. Every plant and animal soul is created from a complex of potentials within the stars’ sacred light and motion. But it is the Highest Goodness of God which directly breathes your life into you, thus filling it with such love for Him that it desires nothing more than to be one with Him forever. So, from all that I have told you, you should be able to comprehend the necessity of your resurrection if you recall how you came into being when your first parents were created.”[19]We come now to the arrival point of Beatrice’s explanation. Thus, the four primordial elements and everything created from them are secondary creations, created by other created things. Above … Continue reading
[20]St. Thomas Aquinas considers whether there was a more suitable way of delivering the human race than by Christ’s Passion. In his answer, he writes in Summa theologiae, III, q. 46, a. 3:“Among … Continue reading
Notes & Commentary
| ↑1 | It is worthwhile to see Dante’s original opening tercet for this canto: “Hosanna, sanctus Deus sabaoth superillustrans claritate tua felices ignes horum malacoth” On the surface these lines, an interesting mixture of Latin and Hebrew, seem to resemble an ancient liturgical hymn that is sung or recited as the introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer in the Roman Catholic Mass (now done in the local language): “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.” (“Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.”) Throughout the Book of Revelation at the end of the New Testament there are moments of heavenly worship like this one, when all the angels and saints sing out, and Dante sees fit to place a similar moment here. |
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| ↑2 | With Justinian himself singing, he becomes caught up in the glory of the moment along with all his companion souls, whirling and dancing their praise. Their “work” done, they then, like fireworks, explode in union with the Light of God as glorious sparkling streamers soaring into the heavens toward the Empyrean. |
| ↑3 | Recall that when the conversation with Piccarda and Constance was finished, they and their companions seemed to quietly fade back into the substance of the Moon leaving Dante alone with Beatrice. Here, on the contrary, Justinian and his companions explode in a glorious conflagration of fireworks and fly up into the heavens where they disappear. The Poet is overwhelmed by what he sees and wants to talk with Beatrice about it, but he’s so completely awestruck he can’t pronounce even a syllable of her name, and bows his head in defeat. “Bice” (BE–ICE) may have been a affectionate nickname for Beatrice. In a scene that we will see again and again, however, she reassures Dante with her smile. With a bit of hyperbole, he tells us that if he were condemned to burn at the stake, her smile would made him smile. Later on, though, far from being hyperbole, Beatrice will caution him that her smile has the power to reduce him to ash! |
| ↑4 | What follows is Beatrice’s longest continuous speech in the entire Poem. |
| ↑5 | As we’ve learned earlier, Beatrice can read Dante’s thoughts, and so, in spite of his inability to articulate his question, she both knows it and knows the answer, which she’ll guide us through for the rest of this canto. The heart of the matter has to do with what Justinian told Dante in the previous canto. First: “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.” And then (this is what Dante has trouble understanding): “The eagle later flew with Titus to destroy Jerusalem and thus avenge the ancient sin of Adam.” So, if the crucifixion of Jesus was a just vengeance for Adam’s sin, Dante wonders, why was it that this just vengeance avenged again, as it were, with the destruction of Jerusalem? In other words, why was it necessary to avenge something that had already been avenged? |
| ↑6 | In the previous canto, Justinian made a few large jumps in time. Here, Beatrice makes an even larger one, jumping from one end of the Hebrew Bible to the other. Adam ate from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. With that act of disobedience he lost for himself and the rest of humankind the primordial innocence of Paradise. As St. Paul puts it: “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Beatrice and St. Paul conclude in a similar fashion: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Jesus) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience (crucifixion) of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19). Jesus is both a second Adam and the Son of God. The “act of infinite Love” was the Incarnation whereby God became human in the person of Jesus precisely to redeem us from the sin and death we inherited from Adam. As St. John writes at the beginning of his Gospel: “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (Jn. 1:14). (Interestingly, as Hollander notes here, earlier in his life and before his conversion, Justinian was a heretic because it was precisely this human nature of Jesus that he didn’t believe in.) Eventually, the death of Christ on the cross, became the just vengeance for Adam’s (Original) sin. |
| ↑7 | In its original state human nature was sinless. When Adam sinned through his own free choice, human nature was tainted by that sin and he was expelled from the Garden of Eden. But when God became human in the person of Jesus, our human nature was restored to its original state. |
| ↑8 | Beatrice continues here, explaining to Dante that one first has to accept that Jesus had two natures, one divine and one human, and that he took on our human nature in order to heal it of sin. So, the crucifixion of Jesus was a just punishment on his human nature, whereby He willingly took upon himself the guilt of our sinfulness. On the other hand, she tells him, when you consider that Jesus was also the Son of God, the penalty He endured for our sins, though he was innocent, was unjust and an offense against His divine nature. Mark Musa makes this clear in his commentary here: “The Crucifixion was just in that Christ took upon Himself human nature so as to expiate Adam’s sin. But because Christ is divine, and was on earth judged and made to suffer by men for the wrong reasons, His divinity was outraged. In this sense, the Crucifixion was a great injustice.” |
| ↑9 | Now Beatrice arrives at the destruction of Jerusalem. As a result of the crucifixion of Jesus – who was both divine and human – His death satisfied both God and the Jews. Speaking in theological terms, she explains that Heaven, which had been closed to us because of Adam’s sin, was now re-opened by Jesus’s sacrificial death. No mere human by himself could have paid the price that Jesus did. And while the crucifixion of Jesus was part of God’s plan, the Jews were held responsible for the outrage. Thus the offense against the divine nature of Jesus cried out for vengeance – which came about 40 years later with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus. In the Italian, Dante creates an “X” (a chiasmus) with the different effects resulting from the crucifixion. Robert Hollander highlights this in his commentary here: “The paired results of Christ’s sacrifice are expressed in a chiasmus: The death of Jesus pleased (a) God and (b) the Jews; it caused both (b) the earthquake at the Crucifixion and (a) the opening of Heaven to humankind. The Jews took perverse pleasure at the killing of Jesus for which reason God made the earth shake, expressing His displeasure; at the same time, and of far greater importance, God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and opened Heaven to redeemed humanity.” |
| ↑10 | While Beatrice has been explaining the issues involved in Dante’s last question, how a just vengeance can be justly avenged, he has in mind another alternative which she can read in hers: given the tremendous undertaking of heaven and earth to redeem humankind from the effects of Adam’s sin, couldn’t there have been a less ghastly and costly way to go about it? This is a good question. See the note at the end of this canto from St. Thomas Aquinas on why the crucifixion and death of Christ were necessary. Dante would probably have had this in mind. |
| ↑11 | What Beatrice suggests here is that Dante’s inner vision and his love of God haven’t matured enough to understand the nature of God’s choice. Perhaps another result of Adam’s sin. But one can expect that the Poet’s travels through Paradise are already a part of the enlightenment he needs. And so, she proceeds with a rather difficult explanation. |
| ↑12 | Beatrice explains to Dante that the divine Goodness of God is manifest in the beauty of His direct creation of angels and humans, who are reflections of Himself and filled with His glory. In other words, we are made in the image and likeness of God. In creating us, He held nothing back from within himself (as envy might do). Since we are created directly by God, we are, therefore, free (as in possessing free will), and not subject to the laws of change that affect secondary creations (animals, plants, minerals, etc.). |
| ↑13 | Freedom (free will) and likeness to God are the great gifts with which we were endowed when we (Adam and Eve) were first created. But Adam’s (and Eve’s) sin tarnished these gifts for the rest of humankind after them. The pure light of God that was intended to shine through us shines less brightly as a result of sin. Worse than this, Beatrice tells Dante, having been expelled from Paradise as a result, it was not possible for any human being to bring the glory of that light back to its original state – without paying the penalty for the sin that dimmed it in the first place. Coming close to, but not actually answering Dante’s question of an alternative to the crucifixion, Beatrice tells him that there are two possibilities: God could simply forgive the sin, or we could pay the penalty. |
| ↑14 | Since Beatrice sees God in the Empyrean, and as a symbol of Wisdom, she asks Dante to pay special attention to the answer she will now present to him. |
| ↑15 | As she begins to answer, Beatrice highlights the utter impossibility of sinful humanity ever repaying the debt owed to God because of Adam’s sin. Though Adam and Eve were fooled by the serpent in the Garden, they believed that by eating the forbidden fruit they would become like God. The height of such unimaginable pride could never be matched by an equal depth of humility on our part. This being the case, the only solution for repayment was now up to God’s justice and mercy. Dante undoubtedly had in mind here the great Christological Hymn of St. Paul in his Letter to the Colossians (1:15-20): “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him [Jesus] were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness [of God] was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things for him [God], making peace by the blood of his cross.” (The brackets are mine. |
| ↑16 | Most Christians, unless they are a theologian, probably don’t think about the “decision” to send Jesus to bring humanity back to its original state, and who made that decision. However, in the simplest terms, since we refer to the Trinity as a unity of “persons” we call Father, Son, and Spirit, the “decision” to send his Son, was made by God the Father. Of course, being One – a unity – Jesus, whom we call the Son of God, was in complete agreement. What Beatrice is saying here is that the “deed” of our redemption by the death of Jesus is, at the same time, a manifestation of God’s goodness which, in fact, is imprinted on all created things. Furthermore, she makes it clear that God would go to every extent possible to save us (including the death of his Son). |
| ↑17 | In order to highlight the incomprehensible uniqueness of Jesus’ self-sacrifice for us, the Poet (in this case, Beatrice) uses a literary device here called a hysteron proteron wherein he alters the time sequence of his idea by putting the end of time before the beginning of time. Doing this emphasizes the answer to the Pilgrim’s earlier question whether there was another way God could have accomplished our redemption. Yes, Beatrice tells him here: “More than simply forgiving the debt, he gave Himself!” Nothing greater, nothing better, was possible. Here, Dante most likely had in mind another great Christological Hymn from St. Paul’s Letter to the Philippians (2:5-8): “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” |
| ↑18 | Beatrice has already told Dante that the Goodness of God is imprinted on all of creation. But Dante is thinking that if everything in material creation is made from varying mixtures of the four primordial elements, earth, air, fire, and water, then they are temporary creations and subject to eventual decay. As we will see immediately, Dante has not distinguished between secondary (material) creations (virtually everything around us that is made up of other secondary creations and thus subject to change and decay) and primary creations (created directly by God and which do not decay). Again, Dante probably had St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians (15:21-22; 51-57 in mind as he wrote these lines: “For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life….Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality. And when this which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and this which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” |
| ↑19 | We come now to the arrival point of Beatrice’s explanation. Thus, the four primordial elements and everything created from them are secondary creations, created by other created things. Above these, however, are the primary creations, made directly by God. There are just a few of these creations: angels, the powers of the heavens, and the human soul, which is eternal, and destined to be with God forever. Since we have this eternal destiny, Dante should be able to understand why it was necessary that we be redeemed in the way God determined, and thus look forward to a resurrection to be with Him forever. |
| ↑20 | St. Thomas Aquinas considers whether there was a more suitable way of delivering the human race than by Christ’s Passion. In his answer, he writes in Summa theologiae, III, q. 46, a. 3: “Among means to an end that one is the more suitable whereby the various concurring means employed are themselves helpful to such end. But in this that man was delivered by Christ’s Passion, many other things besides deliverance from sin concurred for man’s salvation. In the first place, man knows thereby how much God loves him, and is thereby stirred to love Him in return, and herein lies the perfection of human salvation; hence the Apostle says (Romans 5:8): “God commends His charity towards us; for when as yet we were sinners . . . Christ died for us.” Secondly, because thereby He set us an example of obedience, humility, constancy, justice, and the other virtues displayed in the Passion, which are requisite for man’s salvation. Hence it is written (1 Peter 2:21): “Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps.” Thirdly, because Christ by His Passion not only delivered man from sin, but also merited justifying grace for him and the glory of bliss, as shall be shown later (III:48:1; III:49:1 and III:49:5). Fourthly, because by this man is all the more bound to refrain from sin, according to 1 Corinthians 6:20: “You are bought with a great price: glorify and bear God in your body.” Fifthly, because it redounded to man’s greater dignity, that as man was overcome and deceived by the devil, so also it should be a man that should overthrow the devil; and as man deserved death, so a man by dying should vanquish death. Hence it is written (1 Corinthians 15:57): “Thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It was accordingly more fitting that we should be delivered by Christ’s Passion than simply by God’s good will.” |