Recently I ran across a translation of Dante’s epic by Allen Mandelbaum. I did not need an English translation since I had already read the work several times in English. However, since the publication included the entire text in Italian, I decided to buy “Paradiso,” the third and last part of Dante’s work.
I have embarked on the ambitious project of memorizing the poem in Italian. So far I have completed only the first canto, so the following study shall focus on this canto, in which Dante begins his ascent toward the heavens.
The Divine Comedy” is based on medieval conceptions. Hell is thought to lie beneath the surface of the earth. Dante believed in purgatory, and thought that it was located on a mountain here on earth, directly opposite the city of Jerusalem and surrounded by water on all sides. Dante also thought that heaven was located in the created universe. There were ten heavens, seven of which were occupied by the sun, the moon, and the five planets known in Dante’s time. The eighth heaven was occupied by the stars. The ninth was a rapidly moving sphere called the Primum Mobile. The tenth was the Empyrean, the place where God dwelt.
Needless to say, I do not believe in purgatory, since it is not mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, heaven and hell are not located in space and time, but in eternity. Science fiction and even legitimate science speak of other dimensions besides length, width, and height. Are heaven and hell located in one of these other dimensions? I personally do not think so, since these extra dimensions, if they really exist, would still lie within the created universe. Nevertheless, this scientific concept shows that it is not unreasonable to believe that heaven and hell exist in regions where the prying eye of science cannot find them.
In the first two sections of “The Divine Comedy,” the Latin poet Virgil conducted Dante through the regions of hell and purgatory. On the top of Mt. Purgatorio, they entered the earthly paradise in which Adam and Eve had originally lived. Here Dante met Beatrice, a deceased girl whom Dante admired. He treats her as a personification of Christian theology. She was to be Dante’s guide as he visited the ten heavens.
At the beginning of the first canto of “Paradiso,” Dante points out that his attempted description of heaven will be very difficult to write. In the highest heaven, he saw things that it is impossible to remember perfectly. However, he promises to reveal whatever he was able to treasure up in his mind.
He invokes the aid of Apollo as he attempts this difficult work. For his previous works on hell and purgatory, the muses alone gave him all the inspiration he needed; but now he needs both Apollo and the muses for the difficult task that he is about to undertake. If Apollo helps him describe what he remembers of the heavenly kingdom, Dante feels that he shall have earned a crown of laurel foliage, which Apollo was accustomed to give emperors and poets after they had achieved a signal triumph.
Some Christian critics question the propriety of inserting pagan deities in Christian works. They may be correct, but Dante uses the deities as mere poetic ornaments. Anyway, I myself cannot throw stones because I’ve done similar things in my own poetic works. At any rate, these features need not keep us from enjoying the beauty of Dante’s poetry.
Dante reached the summit of Mt. Purgatory at the time of the vernal equinox. The poet points out that when the sun rises on that day, it occupies a position where four circles join to form three crosses. Three of the circles are familiar to us: the horizon, the earth’s equator (more specifically, its projection on the celestial sphere known as the celestial equator), and the ecliptic (the apparent path of the sun across the sky). The angles between these three circles are small. However, the fourth circle forms a steep angle with each of the other three, so that this fourth circle forms a cross with each of the other three circles as it passes through the vernal equinox. This fourth circle is called a colure. It connects the vernal and autumnal equinoxes with the celestial poles (the projection of the north and south poles of the earth on the celestial sphere).
(I am troubled by the position that Dante ascribes to the sun at this time. Dante’s descent into hell was supposed to have begun on Good Friday of the year 1300, and he did not emerge from these nether regions until Easter Sunday. He then spent a few days climbing Mt. Purgatorio. Now Easter regularly occurs after the vernal equinox. How could the sun be located in the vernal equinox a few days after Easter? It is true that the Julian calendar did not match the true position of the sun in 1300, and the precession of equinoxes had shifted the vernal equinox from the position in the sky which it still occupied in astrological thinking. However, I do not think that these factors solve the problem. Perhaps Dante is altering astronomical data for poetical reasons, just as Shakespeare distorts history when it suits his purposes.}
Several hours had passed since the time when the equinoctial sun had first shed its propitious rays on Mt. Purgatorio. It was now noon. Suddenly Beatrice turned and looked at the sun. Dante followed her example, and to his surprise, he found that he could look directly at this brilliant orb, at least for a while. He had acquired this unusual power because he was standing in the earthly paradise originally created for man.
Dante’s eyes soon got tired, and he decided to look at Beatrice instead of the sun. Suddenly Dante noticed that the heavens were far more brilliant than they usually were and he heard a wondrous sound (undoubtedly the music of the spheres).
Beatrice could read Dante’s mind, and she knew that he wanted to know the reason for these strange phenomena. So she pointed out that he was no longer on earth but was rising upward toward the heavens. He was, in fact, moving faster than lightning.
Dante’s curiosity was satisfied when he heard this reply. However, he wondered how he could rise higher than the light bodies that he observed round about. The text does not tell us what these light bodies were. According to the note in the book to which I referred above, the light bodies were air and fire, and this is probably a correct interpretation. According to medieval thought, a sphere of fire surrounded the earth, and Dante would have to pass through this sphere before he reached the heaven of the moon.
In a lengthy discourse that occupies the rest of the first canto, Beatrice explains why he is able to rise toward heaven.
She explains that every created thing has a rank determined by its form. This rank or form places some creatures nearer to the Source of their being and others farther away. Each creature has an instinctive inclination to its own place in the order of things, so that they naturally move to the place where they belong. As a result, fire moves upward toward the moon, while the earth remains down here where God intended it to be.
These principles apply not only to creatures that lack intelligence, but also those who are endowed with intellect and love. Providence, who has ordered the universe in this wondrous way, calms the Empyrean with His light. Since Dante’s proper place is near God, he is rising upward and will eventually reach the Empyrean.
It often happens that creatures do not seek out their proper place. Lightning streaks downward, even though it should rise. In the same way, a person influenced by false pleasures may deviate from his true course.
Beatrice tells Dante that his ascension should not surprise him any more than the movement of water downward from the top of the mountain. In fact, since Dante has been bereft of all impediments, it would be surprising if he remained on earth.
After finishing her discourse, Beatrice again raised her eyes toward the heavens.
A comment is in order on the statement that the ascension of Dante was facilitated by a removal of impediments. It is true that Jesus Christ has removed the impediment of sin by His death on the cross. By faith in Jesus, our proper place is with God.
However, a note in my book states that Dante’s impediments were removed when his soul was cleansed through his passage through purgatory. Since the theological basis of “The Divine Comedy” is the “Summa Theologica” of Thomas Aquinas, I have the uncomfortable feeling that the statement in my book accurately reflects the intentions of Dante. Of course, no soul can be cleansed by its own good works or expiatory sufferings. The work of Jesus Christ is the only source of salvation.
Note that many of Dante’s concepts come ultimately from Aristotle, through Thomas Aquinas, of course. For example, form is an important concept in Aristotle’s philosophy. (I do not claim to be an expert on Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, but I have read Aristotle’s work on metaphysics in Spanish translation and also portions of Thomas Aquinas in the original Latin, so the reader may rest assured that my presentation of the final discourse in this canto rests on accurate knowledge.)
Reference
“The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri”; “Paradiso”; Translated by Allen Mandelbaum; Notes by Anthony Oldcorn et al.
