The divine comedy paradiso

Paradiso opens with Dante's invocation to Apollo and the Muses, asking for his
divine task. He and Beatrice ascend from the Earthly Paradise. Beatrice outlines the
structure of the universe. Dante warns the readers not to follow him now into
Heaven for fear of getting lost in the turbulent waters.

Dante and Beatrice arrive in the First Heaven, sphere of the Moon. Beatrice
vigorously quizzes Dante and then corrects his views on the cause of the moon
spots. Dante first sees the blessed souls as points of light. He meets Piccarda
Donati, who explains the souls' happiness with their places in Heaven. She explains
that the Moon houses souls who broke their vows. Beatrice explains why Dante sees
the souls in these heavens, when they are all located in the Empyrean, (the Tenth
Heaven). Then she explains vows in terms of absolute and contingent will.

They ascend to the Second Heaven, sphere of Mercury. Justinian explains the history
and destiny of Rome. He tells Dante that the souls in Mercury were all just, but
motivated by fame. Beatrice explains God's just vengeance on Jerusalem.

They ascend to the Third Heaven, sphere of Venus. Dante meets Charles Martel, an
early French emperor, and he explains why sons can end up so different from their
fathers. Dante meets Cunizza da Romano and Folco of Marseille, who points out
Rahab to Dante.

Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Fourth Heaven, sphere of the Sun. St. Thomas and
eleven other souls form a crown around our heroes. Dante denounces the senseless
cares of mortals. St. Thomas discusses the life of St. Francis and the Franciscans. A
second crown forms around the first. St Bonaventure talks about the life of St.
Dominic and the Dominicans. The crowns dance. St. Thomas explains the wisdom of
King Solomon and warns Dante not to judge hastily. Solomon explains the source of
the blessed souls' light.

They ascend to the Fifth Heaven, sphere of Mars. The souls form an image of the
Cross. Dante meets Cacciaguida, who expounds on the virtue of ancient Florence.
Dante indulges in a rare proud moment over the nobility of his birth. Cacciaguida
talks about the noble Florentine families. Then, he tells Dante about his destiny of
exile, but tempers it with encouragement to Dante to fulfill his poetic mission.

Dante and Beatrice move on to the Sixth Heaven, sphere of Jupiter. The souls spell
out the message Diligite iustitiam, qui iudicatis terram ("Love justice, you who judge
the earth"), and then form the Eagle. The Eagle explains Divine Justice and the
inscrutability of God's Mind. It introduces the six spirits that form its eye and
explains why the Emperor Trajan and Ripheus are there.

They continue to the Seventh Heaven, sphere of Saturn. Dante sees the golden
ladder. Dante meets St. Peter Damian, who denounces degenerate prelates. The
spirits cry out in encouragement and Dante faints from the force. Dante meets St.
Benedict.
Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Eighth Heaven, sphere of the Fixed Stars. Dante
gazes down on Earth and realizes how small and petty it is. They witness the
coronation and re-ascension of Mary and Christ into the Empyrean. St. Peter
examines Dante on faith. Dante conveys his hope of returning to Florence one day
to be crowned as a poet. St. James examines Dante on hope. Dante goes blind. St.
John examines Dante on charity. Adam answers Dante's four questions. St. Peter
denounces corrupt popes.

Beatrice and Dante then move on to the Ninth Heaven, Primum Mobile. Beatrice
prophesies the coming redemption of the world. Dante observes the model of the
nine Angelic Intelligences orbiting a shining Point. Beatrice explains the discrepancy
between it and the material universe. Beatrice tells Dante the Creation story,
explains the order of the universe, and clears up the question about the number of
extant angels.

They ascend into the Tenth Heaven, the Empyrean. Dante sees the illusion and then
real Celestial Rose. Beatrice points out the seat reserved for Henry VIII. Beatrice
disappears and is replaced by St. Bernard. Dante prays his thanks to Beatrice.

Next, Dante gazes upon Mary. St. Bernard explains the placement of the blessed in
the Celestial Rose, including that of the innocent infants. St. Bernard prays to Mary
to intercede to God on Dante's behalf so that the poet may look upon God. Mary
approves. Dante looks into the Eternal Light, and sees within it the image of the
Holy Trinity. He ponders the mystery of the Incarnation. God bestows the answer
upon him in a flash of light and Dante's soul is, finally, at one with God's.

Enter: Heaven. As we open the third and last canticle of Dante's Comedy, Dante is
flying towards Heaven (or Paradise), with Beatrice alongside.
He sees some amazing sights along the way. In fact, it's so amazing that any mortal
who sees such things would immediately forget them upon landing back on earth.
But Dante is going to do the impossible, to record (through his poetry) all this
impossible stuff he sees as he journeys through Heaven. Dante is trying to put in
human terms something human beings never see. In other words, he's doing what
no other poet has ever done. This is a very important concept.
It makes sense to ask for a little help in doing the impossible. So Dante promptly
asks the god and protector of all poets to let him deserve his "loved laurel." Which is
poet-speak for "Help me, Lord!" Dante asks Apollo to enter into his chest and
"within [him] breathe [his] power," to allow him to show "a shadow of the blessed
realm." On top of that, argues Dante, writing this poem should make Apollo happy
since it means that a mortal might finally be worthy of the Apollonian crown of
laurel branches.
Back to the story. It's around noontime, according to the sun.
Beatrice turns her face toward the approaching sun and stares directly into the light.
(She can do this because she's not mortal.)
Dante decides he wants to be special too and copies her movements. He explains
that he can also stare into the sun because when one is this close to Heaventhe
"true home" of mankindsuch things are allowed.
Of course he can't do it for long, since he's not immortal. But he stares long enough
to see it shining brightly. He's so overcome by the sun's brilliance that it seems to
him that "day had been added to day" as if a second sun had suddenly sprung up.
When Dante cannot stand the brightness anymore, he turns his gaze towards
Beatrice. As he watches her, he gets spiritually invigorated. He compares watching
her to Glaucus's transformation from a lowly fisherman into a sea god. (In other
words, watching Beatrice makes him feel godlike.)

In the sunlight, Dante feels so good that he doesn't know whether he is only "the
part of me that You created last"pure soulor still a soul housed within a body.
Only God knows.
As he flies upward, he hears the music of spheres around him.
(Quick theology lesson: medieval philosophers believed in a geocentric universe,
with the Earth at the center of the universe and all the other stars and planets
revolving around it. The revolution of each planet, which Dante calls "spheres" or
"Paradises," creates a different musical note. So the sky is always full of music,
commonly known as the "music of the spheres.")
Caught up in all this light and music, Dante becomes curious about where they
originate. He's about to ask Beatrice when she opens her mouth to tell him. Beatrice
tells him that he's still "obtuse" (read: a little thick) with "false imagining." He's
actually not on earth like he thinks, but like lightning, flying up towards Heaven.
You say, "Like lightning? Lightning doesn't go up!" Well, Medieval philosophers
believed that the universe was made up of five elements. The northern hemisphere
of the planet (where Jerusalem sits) is all earth. The southern hemisphere (where
the mountain of Purgatory is located) is all water. This planet is surrounded by a
layer of air, then higher up a layer of fire, before giving way to the ether of the
heavens, where God resides. So here, Dante and Beatrice are ascending through the
layer of fire. Lightning, it was believed, is an unnatural phenomenon because it
comes down, instead of going up. Why would it go up? Because it is trying to reach
its creator, God.
Dante is still not satisfied. He doesn't understand how he's rising when he is a
heavier body than the spheres of air and fire.
Beatrice sighs like a frustrated mother. She explains that everything in the universe
arranges itself in a certain order, as God decrees. Everything is placed at different
distances from God, some nearer, some farther. Thus, when each thing moves
"across the mighty sea of being," it is motivated by a desire to be close to God. This
desire affects everything, even things without souls. This desire, explains Beatrice,
is what is shooting Dante like an arrow towards the highest heaven, called the
Primum Mobilethe only sphere of Heaven that doesn't revolve. In other words,
he's being drawn toward God.
But, Beatrice says, many times people are distracted by earthly pleasures and deaf
to God's calling, so they stray from the path towards Him. This is just like lightning,
which unnaturally falls instead of rising.
Beatrice sternly tells Dante that he shouldn't be surprised that he's flying; it would
be more surprising were he still on earth after being purified in Purgatory.
With that, she looks towards Heaven.

fter Beatrice's lesson, Dante gives a warning to his readers. Comparing us to

passengers in a ship following his (Dante's) ship, he warns us to "turn back to see
your [our] shores again" because otherwise we might lose sight of him and thus be
lost at sea. In other words, because Dante is so talented, writing about unknown
phenomena, we might not be able to understand his poetry. He urges readers who
are not ready for the theological theory of Heaven to "turn back" and reread the first
two books of the Divine Comedy.
Our poet says that his ship, unlike ours, is guided by Apollo and the Muses. So only
those who understand (the "few who turned your minds in time unto the bread of
angels") should follow in Dante's wake, where the waves are smooth because Dante
is there to explain what's going on. The rest of the sea is tumultuous, making it hard
to navigate.
Those worthy of following me, Dante asserts, will be more amazed than the
Argonauts when their leader, Jason, tamed a pair of fire-breathing bulls.
Now back to the story. Beatrice again gazes upward.
In an instant, the travelers reach a wonderful place, whichBeatrice announcesis
the "first star." Well, we wouldn't think of it as a star; it's the moon.
It's a beautiful place. Dante describes it with jewel-like imagery: "It seemed to me
that we were covered by a / brilliant, solid, dense, and stainless cloud, / much like a
diamond that the sun has struck." He compares the light to the reflection of light on
water.
Dante is amazed at how he and Beatrice can enter the moon without displacing any
mass. The explanation has to do with God, and His command of the universe. Their
entrance into the moon shows "how God and human nature were made one."
We readers have to take this miracle on good faith. Dante, though, observes it
firsthand. (This general rule applies to the entire Divine Comedy: what mortals have
to believe on pure faith, Dante knows from experience.)
Dante thanks God, then asks Beatrice why there are dark marks on the moon's
surface.
Beatrice smiles knowingly, saying that the human senses cannot possibly come up
with the correct explanation for the moon's spots. She asks Dante his opinion.
Dante answers that the moon spots are caused by denser concentrations of matter
in certain random areas.

Beatrice says this is incorrect. Dante's explanation would suggest that some stars
simply have more matter than others. This would mean that a single power (in
Italian, virt) governs them all, manifested randomly as greater here and lesser
there. But, Beatrice argues, this is wrong. Different appearances must originate
from different powers.
Furthermore (ready for some serious physics?), if the moon spots were indeed
caused by denser and rarer matter, this would mean that the entire moon would
have spots totally devoid of matter, or that their density and rarity would alternate
in stripes. The former theory is wrong because during a solar eclipse (when the
moon is directly between the sun and the earth), sunlight cannot be seen through
the empty spots of the moon. The latter is incorrect because the dense stripes of
the moon would not allow light to pass through, but instead reflect them.
Here, she anticipates Dante's argumentthat a reflected beam of light from far
away will be dimmer than a reflected beam from a nearer source. But, if you
actually do an experiment and place three mirrors at different distances from the
light source, all three reflections will have the same brightness (though not the
same size).
Now, she continues, let's learn the correct explanation, by returning to the concept
of the different powers. The Eighth Heaven of the Fixed Stars receives the
undifferentiated power from the highest Heaven and has the job of distributing this
power to the various stars, as God sees fit. Those closer to the highest Heaven
receive more power, and thus spin faster, than those farther from it. Just as each
organ within the human body has a different power, each star is "inspired by the
blessed movers." These "blessed movers" are different intelligences, commonly
known to man as angels. So within each star, there is an intelligence (angel) which
causes it to revolve in its path around the earth and shine forth in gladness for God.
This, Beatrice proclaims, is the correct explanation for the moon's spots. Basically,
nothing in the universe (not even matter) is random, as Dante thought; each thing
has its proper place in relation to God.

After this long lecture, Dante raises his head to the truth, about to confess himself
"corrected and convinced."
But his confession is cut short when he's assaulted by a new vision. He sees the
pale reflections of many faces in front of him. They're so faint that it's like seeing
the reflection of one's face through unpolished glass, shallow water, or a pearl
strung on a lady's forehead.

So naturally, Dante turns around, thinking that what he's seeing is reflections in a
mirror. But behind him there is nothing.
When he turns with a bewildered look to Beatrice, she answers his question with a
knowing smile.
"There is no need to wonder if I smile," she says, "because you reason like a child."
She tells him that he is not seeing reflections, but "true substances" of souls that
hover before him. And they are set here in the lowest sphere in Heaven because
they broke their vows.
Beatrice urges Dante to listen to them to learn a lesson in truthfulness.
Dante turns to the soul that seems most anxious to talk and begs to know her name
and history.
She answers that her sphereout of its divine charitywould never deny answers
to Dante's questions. She tells her story:
On earth, I was a virgin and a nun. You should recognize me; I'm Piccarda (the sister
of Forese Donati, whom you met in Purgatory), and I live here in the slowestrevolving sphere. But, don't worry, I'm happy here because I delight in taking my
place in God's order. I deserve to be in the lowest level of Heaven because I broke
my vows in life.
Dante is still stuck on the implied insult that he was slow in recognizing her. So he
makes an excuse, claiming she now looks different than she did on earth. She's
shinier.
Having soothed his ego, Dante asks Piccarda if she's really happy here or if she
wants to be in a higher sphere?
At this Piccarda and all her buddies smile, like "one[s] who burn with love's first
flame."
Instead, she says no, they're all perfectly happy because they bear love for God,
whose will put them in their proper places. If she were to want more, her will would
be battling with God's and cause discord.
The secret to living happily in blessedness is conforming one's individual will to
God's will.
Dante gets it. He realizes that every sphere in Heaven is indeed a paradise, but that
"grace does not rain equally from the high good." However, everyone in the
Heavens is happy with his or her place, no matter how high or low it is.

Dante asks more questions. He wants to know the rest of Piccarda's story, which he
puts in a fancy weaving metaphor as "the web of which her shuttle had not reached
the end."
Piccarda tells how she left her pampered life to follow the order of St. Clare, made
vows to follow God's laws (namely, to remain a virgin), and took her place as a nun.
God didn't have a quiet life planned for her, though. Instead, evil men (directed by
her brother Corso) abducted her from the cloister and forced her to marry a
nobleman. Thus, Piccarda was forced by these violent men to break her vow to God.
(By the way, Corso is in Hell.)
Suddenly Piccarda turns to the shining spot on her right and introduces her as the
brightest light on the whole moon. She was a fellow sister, who also took her vows
of chastity and then was forced to go back into the world and marry against her will.
Finally Piccarda reveals this bright light as Empress Constance of Sicily whose
marriage produced the last heir of her royal line.
Because Heaven makes her so very happy, she starts singing a hymn. The "Ave
Maria." And as she sings, she vanishes back into the light.
Dante's still full of questions, so he turns to Beatrice, but is blinded by her brilliance
and stays silent for the moment.

This doesn't stop his mind from working, though. In his moment of silence, Dante
describes what it feels like to hesitate: he compares the moment to the indecision of
a starving man trying to decide between two equally sumptuous dishes before him;
or a lamb standing between two hungry wolves; or a ravenous dog in the midst of
two deer.
The point is that competing doubts make him hesitate. In other words, necessity is
keeping his mouth shut.
It doesn't matter. His face expresses his questions clearly enough for Beatrice to
read.
So, just like David anticipated the questions of Nebuchadnezzar, Beatrice answers
Dante's unasked queries. Ready for some major psychic fireworks?
Beatrice explains Dante's doubts as follows: if one has a will to do good, how can
others' actions endanger that person's own chances at salvation?

His second doubt is if, after death, these souls return to the stars which most
affected them in life as Plato argueddoesn't that mean that the stars rule all
human behavior and therefore that man doesn't have free will?
(Quick aside: medieval theory assigned different characteristics to each celestial
body based on their mythology. The moon was inconstant, Mercury was a prideful,
and Venus lustful. So, if you were fickle, you were supposedly governed by the
moon.)
Beatrice chooses to answer the "most insidious question" first (Dante's second
question). None of the souls Dante sees here are actually here. Nor will any of the
souls Dante sees in the levels of heavens be there.
Instead, she explains, all saved souls inhabit the highest heaven, called the
Empyrean, with God. They only appear to Dante in these different heavens because
this is the only way Dante's human mind will understand that they are not all equal
in their blessedness.
Beatrice continues. Plato's theory is not correct. (Well, Beatrice doesn't actually say
that. More like, "his opinion is perhaps to be taken in other guise than his words
speak." In other words, his theory means something different than what it actually
says.) This is dangerous because it tends to lead people away from God.
Moving on to Dante's first question. This doubt is far less dangerous since it won't
lead Dante astray from the true path. If Piccarda lets violence victimize her when
Corso abducted her, she has a problem. More specifically, her will has a problem. It
is not whole. If it were, she would've fought back. By allowing the abduction to
happen, she aids the force that breaks her vow, no matter how unwillingly she acts.
But solving this problem raises another one, Beatrice says. What if "it is too
wearying to try"? Which translates to: "What if it's too hard to fight back?"
Now she makes it clear to Dante that the blessed souls cannot lie. This means that
Piccarda is wrong. How? Piccarda said before that Constance kept trying to adhere
to her vows despite the circumstances. Yet Beatrice is asserting that they reside
here because they gave up and did not try to resist the men's force. Well, Beatrice
goes on to solve this apparent contradiction.
She gives examples of men who have sinned in order to avoid the violence of other
threatening men. So if one gives in to committing sin out of fear for her life, this is
no excuse.
Beatrice shows that this laziness of will is something which is not present in
absolute willthat given by Godbut only in the contingent, free will part of
humanity.

Thus, both she and Piccarda are right; Piccarda is talking about absolute will while
Beatrice addresses contingent will.
Dante has an intellectual epiphany. He thanks Beatrice for explaining everything to
him. He then expounds on how helpful doubt is because it leads one to ask
questions, which are then answered; this repeating process makes one smarter.
Dante asks one more question: can a person atone for broken vows by doing good
works?
So what's the answer? Stay tuned to find out.

Beatrice turns to Dante and tells him she can see the light in his eyes and says that
anything he finds beautiful is simply a lesser expression of Himself.
But then she predicts Dante wants to know if people can make up for their broken
promises.
Her reasoning goes as follows: God's greatest gift to man is free will. When you
promise yourself to God's service (read: becoming a nun), you willingly give up your
free will.
But it doesn't end there: the Church reserves the right to release people from their
vows.
Beatrice lays it all out: "Dante," she says, "there are two things you should always
remember about a vow: what the vow says and the binding part of the clause.
Basically, the second part holds until the first part is fulfilled."
But she confides to Dante that there is a loophole. One can change the matter of
one's vow (with the Church's okay), but not the binding part. The catch is that the
new content of the vow must somehow exceed the original content's worth.
When someone makes a vow that has a priceless worth, Beatrice continues, he
cannot try to change its contents, because nothing can be more valuable.
The lesson is that mortals should not take vows lightly. Beatrice cites Jephthah and
Agamemnon as examples.
She warns Christians in particular. Just because you're Christian, don't think that
making rash promises will erase sins. Instead, read the Bible and obey the Pope.

And most of all, "be men, and not like sheep gone mad!" Beatrice means that men
should not be like stray lambs, abandoning the mother (the Church) who feeds
them; otherwise they will be hurting themselves.
Beatrice turns her face towards the light. Since we're already in heaven, she turns
towards the highest heaven, Empyrean. And with that, Dante feels both of them
flying upwards towards the Second heaven.
But Dante isn't fascinated by Beatrice's jetpack-at-will powers, only by her beauty.
From his vantage point, Dante can see the thousand inhabitants of the Second
heaven gathering around their (his and Beatrice's) glowing figures. He compares
them to a bunch of fish in a pool who are drawn to anything remotely new that
comes into sight. As each new soul approaches, they declare that this new arrival
will "increase their loves."
One soul steps forward. He calls Dante the guy "whom God's grace allows to see the
thrones of the eternal triumph before your war of life is ended." He tells Dante that
the light which shines in him (Dante) is the same light that shines in all the
heavenly souls (that of charity) and welcomes him to ask the questions burning in
his mind.
Dante says, "I can see your brilliant light, but that doesn't tell me who you are or
why I can't see you in your real heavenly rank."
(Note: None of the souls Dante sees on these various stars are where the blessed
truly reside. They all actually live in the highest heaven, the Empyrean, but appear
to Dante on different stars according to the nature of their blessedness. So Dante's
asking what level of the Empyrean this speaker actually inhabits.)
In response, the soul glows even more brightly than before, just like the sunafter
burning away the morning mistsshines so brightly that one cannot see its form for
its brilliance.
Then the soul starts talking. You'll have to read on to the next canto to find out what
he says.

The soul begins explaining the history of Rome. He talks about how Emperor
Constantine committed the crime of moving the capital of the Roman Empire away
from Rome to Byzantium. By so doing, Constantine turned the Empire against
Heaven and against centuries of good leadership.
After hundreds of years, the soul says, Rome came to be ruled by me, Justinian, who
was known for reforming the Roman laws.

Then he was converted to Christianity by the words of Pope Agapetus. Through

God's inspiration, Justinian created the Codex Justinianus, a huge listing of all the
Roman laws that did not include contradictions, complications, or pagan ideals. This
allowed the Empire some peace.
But he wants Dante to see the hypocrisy of the situation: some people pretended to
support the Holy Roman Church, but really opposed it.
Justinian goes back to the very beginning of Roman history, starting with the death
of Pallas (whom Turnus killed) and the founding of Rome, through its seven
monarch. He then chronicles the era of the Roman Republic and its successful
rebuffing of Hannibal, (the great general of the Carthaginians).
Justinian then details the ascent of Julius Caesar (which occurred around the middle
of the 1st century B.C.) and all of his conquests: the story of Cleopatra in Egypt,
Caesar's rivalry and civil war against Pompey, and the treachery of Brutus and
Cassius, who assassinated Caesar.
The new emperor Augustus took revenge on Caesar's murderers and finally brought
peace to the Empire.
But, Justinian narrates, the most important is yet to come.
During the reign of Tiberius, Christ was crucified, finally reconciling man and God
(for Adam's original sin). God took vengeance on the Jews (for Christ's death) by
having the emperor Titus destroy Jerusalem. Then Charlemagne helped legitimate
Christianity in the Roman Empire.
Now, Justinian says, Dante can understand why he holds the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines (the hypocrites he mentioned earlier) in such contempt. The Guelphs
openly opposed the Roman Empire, while the Ghibellines treacherously took the
emblem of the Empire (the Eagle) and made it their own.
Then he warns Charles of Anjou, leader of the Guelphs, to beware of Rome.
Justinian talks about the souls inhabiting this planetMercury. We are all righteous
spirits, he claims. Everyone on this planet is motivated by his or her desire for fame.
Justinian recognizes now that to value fame so much is to love wrongly.
But he and his fellows rejoice in what God has given them because it is just. And
they're happy to be a part of "differing voices," which "render sweet harmony
among these spheres."
Justinian starts praising a guy named Romeo of Villaneuve, who was a poor pilgrim
whose virtue got him appointed to the position of minister to Count Raymond
Berenger of Provence. Romeo married each of Berenger's four daughters into a
royal family so that they eventually became queens. Romeo was a favorite of the

court, but then jealous people planted a rumor that Romeo was swindling money
from his boss, so they got Berenger to accuse Romeo formally. Though innocent,
Romeo was offended and so he renounced his position, took what few possessions
he originally had, and leftleaving Berenger begging for him to come back.
If the world had known Romeo's true heart, Justinian says, they would have
appreciated him even more.

Having finished his story, Justinian and his friends start singing a Latin hymn, during
which they dance and spin away.
Dante still has questions about Justinian's story.
Beatrice reads his and smiles knowingly. She paraphrases Dante's question for us. If
Christ's crucifixion was just, in that it redeemed man for his original sin, how could it
be just for God to then take vengeance on the Jews for taking part in it? Good
question.
So Beatrice lays out the truth: since Adam gave into temptation, he plunged all of
mankind into sin. Nobody could go to Heaven until the coming of Christ. Christ's
Incarnation ensured that he was both man and God simultaneously. Both natures
were in him united but also distinct. It's one of those miracles that we humans can't
really understand. Christ's human nature was purebecause he was united with
Godbut in itself, human nature was sinful because of Adam's mistake. So,
paradoxically the Crucifixion was both just, because it punished Christ's human half,
and unjust, because it offended Christ's divine half.
God was pleased because man had redeemed himself and could be allowed into
Heaven once more. According to Beatrice, the Jews were pleased they had killed the
Christians' Savior. But God was also upset at the Jews for killing His son. So this
explanation should satisfy Dante as to why God's actions after the Crucifixion were
just.
Now Beatrice anticipates Dante's next question: why did man need to be redeemed
in exactly this way? Why did Christ have to die?
Beatrice explains, but first warns Dante that nobody can fully understand God.
Everything that derives directly from God is immortal, because it has His goodness
and cannot be influenced by anything else. Such a creature is most like God.
Mankind was once this luckyboth immortal and freebut then Adam sinned. And
because of that one error, man showed himself unworthy of both his immortality
and his freedom.

Man needed to atone for this sin and he could only gain back his freedom or
immortality if God were to forgive everyone or if man were to offer some sort of
compensation to God. Here's the catch, though: Adam's sin was believing what the
serpent saidthat once he ate of the fruit, he would be like God. So Adam's sin was
one of pride, thinking he could be as high and mighty as God. Nothing man could do
would make up for so great a sin. God, then, was forced to forgive man out of
mercy.
God was merciful in giving Himselfin the form of Christto pay penance for man's
sins. And He was also just because the human part of Christ suffered for Adam's sin.
Beatrice returns to one point, that all things coming from God are immortal. She
reads Dante's mind and asks his question for himso why aren't things like fire,
water, air, and earth everlasting too? The answer: only the angels, Heaven itself,
and man were directly created by God. Everything else was created by "created
powers" (called the Angelic Intelligences), which aren't immortal.
Remember, she says, that God directly created both the human soul (with His
breath) and the human body (by shaping Adam), so both parts of man are immortal.
This implies that the death of the human body must be followed by its resurrection.

Dante tells us that in the time before Christ, people thought the third planet sent
down rays of love on the people. They named her after the mother of Cupid. Hence,
the planet's name became Venus (the Roman goddess of love).
Dante believes he is ascending to Venus. His suspicion is confirmed when he notices
Beatrice growing even more beautiful than she once was.
There, Dante sees a bunch of wheeling lights, dancing so harmoniously together
that he compares them to a spark in a flame, and indeed they are singing the hymn,
"Hosanna."
One soul breaks away from the dance and approaches Dante. The soul tells how his
fellow souls dance around a "celestial Prince" whom Dante once invoked in his
Convivio, and promises to "bring him [Dante] joy."
So after Dante has Beatrice's consent, he turns to the light and asks him who he is.
This gives the soul so much delight it grows brighter and says that he had a brief
life, but if he had been able to stay longer, he would've rid the world of much evil.
He describes the geography of his homeland and we learn that he was once a king
of France. (He is Charles Martel, although he never reveals his name). He says his

sons would've ruled Sicily if the ruler of that region hadn't been so bad that the
people revolted.
Then he prophesies about his brother, who's still alive. If only Robert could see what
lies in store for him, he would run away from Catalonia. Robert is a greedy man
because he uses mercenaries who are only interested in getting rich.
Dante replies that the soul's words have made him happy.
But Dante has a question: how can bad sons (like Robert) come from good fathers
(Charles II)?
Martel answers that God acts through providence, which means looking out for the
ultimate well-being of mankind. Providence is a force that keeps the universe from
total chaos. If the universe were chaotic, that would indicate an imperfect Creator.
Dante is satisfied with this reply.
Now Charles asks Dante if it is a good thing that men are citizens on earth. Dante
says yes. Charles asks if earth could have citizens if people were not different, with
different skills and duties. Dante answers no.
So, continues Charles, the earth needs diversitylawmakers, warriors, priests, and
inventors. But the stars, although they influence mortals, do not make people
different. So, if left up to Nature, sons would always be carbon copies of their
fathers. Because the earth needs diversity, Providence makes it possible for people
to differ.
Charles adds that when a man comes across a task that doesn't come naturally to
him, he doesn't respond well. But if the world paid more attention to people's
natural dispositionsor their true naturesand didn't force them into jobs they
weren't good at, everyone would be more worthy.
Since the world tries to makes natural-born warriors into priests, and natural-born
priests into kings, it often gets it all wrong.

Dante invokes Charles Martel's wife, Clemence, telling her how their bloodline is
headed for bad luck. Dante claims that Charles told him to "be silent" about this; in
other words, Dante has been sworn to secrecy, but vaguely tells Clemence that her
family's wrongs will be avenged.
Then Charles turns towards the Sun and Dante praises him for doing so.

Now another soul approaches Dante, growing brighter to show that she wants to
talk to him, and Dante secures Beatrice's permission.
Dante asks her to speak.
She talks about her birthplace. She comes from the hills of Romano where a
"firebrand descended" and brought a lot of grief to the land.
She reveals that this firebrand is her kin, saying that she and he came from one
root. She names herself as Cunizza and identifies herself as a lover, which is why
she's here on Venus. She isn't bitter about being this low in Heaven because she
has turned her love toward God. She then introduces the shining soul beside her as
a man who is and will remain famous for centuries to come.
But now Cunizza turns away from her shiny friend to convey an ominous prophecy
about the people of March of Treviso whom she calls "rabble" and the Paduan
Guelphs who refused to listen to the crown. She talks about the murder of despots
and about the ransom of the King's men. She foreshadows that these people will
spill so much blood that it would take a huge vat to contain all of it.
She justifies her words by invoking the judgment of the Angelic Intelligences that
rule Venus, called the Thrones. She claims that since they shine down with the
judgment of God, it is her right to speak such truths. She joins the dance of the
spirits again while her shiny friend comes towards Dante.
Dante says that it's obvious the soul knows what he (Dante) is thinking because the
soul is one of God's blessed.
The soul answers, starting with his birthplace. He details the geography of his home
city, Marseilles France. Finally, he identifies himself as Folco. He was also a lover. In
his life, he was so "impressed with [Venus'] rays" that he was rivaled famous lovers
like Dido (who was in love with Aeneas), Phyllis (who committed suicide when she
thought Demophon was cheating on her), or even Hercules (abductor of Iole).
But Folco says he's grateful that God put him here.
But enough about me, says Folco. I know you're curious about this brilliant soul
beside me.
Folco names his really bright neighbor as Rahab and says she has the "highest rank"
in Venus. Since she lived before Christ, she went to Hell upon death, but was the
first one taken up to Heaven when Christ harrowed Hell. This was a just act because
she was always sympathetic to Christ.
(Note: According to the Book of Joshua in the Bible, Rahab was a prostitute. When
Joshua sent two messengers to spy on the city of Jericho, Rahab aided them by

hiding them in her house and helping them escape. As thanks for her help, Rahab's
family was spared when the Israelites destroyed Jericho.)
Then Folco discusses Dante's city, Florence. He claims Florence's founder was
Lucifer himself and the golden lilies, its emblem, turn good priests into greedy men.
Because of that, the Church no longer studies the Gospels but only its own decrees.
But don't worry, Folco says grinning, Florence will soon be rid of those corrupt
priests.

Dante urges us to lift our eyes to the stars and see God's incredible art, the orbit of
the planets. He then tells us that unless these orbits were just so, the entire
universe would go out of wack.
Dante rises to the fourth sphere of the Sun without even realizing it.
Dante notices that Beatrice flies (with him) so swiftly that they arrive in a new
sphere after only a moment.
And, Dante says, the souls in the Sun are so beautiful, I can't even describe them.
Beatrice orders Dante to thank God for lifting him into the Sun, and Dante obeys
gladly. In fact, he gets so lost in his happy prayers that even his thoughts of
Beatrice are "eclipsed" by God.
In the Sun, Dante sees many souls form a crown around him and Beatrice.
They're so pretty that Dante compares them to the halo formed around the Moon on
a misty night.
The souls start singing and dancing in circles around our two pilgrims.
After completing three circles, they suddenly fall silent, and one soul comes forward.
He flatters Dante. Since you shine with the light of God, he sings, anyone who
doesn't fulfill your every wish should be punished.
He paraphrases Dante's question: Who is dancing around me?
The soul starts by introducing himself as one of the "holy flock / that Dominic leads
where one may fatten well if he does not stray off." In English, it means he's in the
Dominican order. His name is Thomas of Aquinas.
Now let's introduce the dancers: Albert of Cologne (a fellow student of St. Dominic),
Gratian (who helped develop law), Peter Lombard (a professor of theology), the

revered King Solomon (who was thought to have composed the Biblical Song of
Songs), Dionysius the Areopagite (writer of De coelestia Hierarchia), and Paulus
Orosius (a Spanish historian).
But there's more: Boethius (a medieval philosopher) who was martyred and came to
Heaven, St. Isidore of Seville (who wrote an encyclopedia), Venerable the Bede (the
father of English history), Richard of St. Victor (a renowned mystic), and Siger de
Brabant (a proponent of the Averroist interpretation of Aristotle) are all in this fourth
ring of Heaven.
After introductions, the spirits start singing and dancing again. Dante compares
them to the Bride of God (the Church) singing matins (morning prayers) to Christ at
dawn.

Dante looks down at the mortals studying law, philosophy, medicine, theology, and
politics. He is happy to be in Heaven. St. Thomas speaks again from within his place
in the ring.
He begins talking about what Dante is thinking: the strange "fatten[ing] up"
comment he made in the last canto.
Providence, St. Thomas lectures, decreed that the Church needed two princes to
help guide her along the correct pathway to God. But they're not really princes;
they're saints. St. Francis was seraphic while St. Dominic was cherubic. In other
words, they have angelic qualities.
But, St. Thomas says, he'll just talk about St. Francis because in praising one of
them, he praises them both, since both saints had the same goal.
St. Francis was born in a place called Assisi. When he was just a boy, he ran away
from his dad to be with his lover. She was a strange woman to take as a lover,
though, because most people feared her as if she were Death. But young Francis
didn't care and he married her, even in the presence of his disapproving father, and
he loved her.
Here's the catch: she had been married before. Since then, she'd been scorned, but
she was a courageous and loyal woman, not afraid of Caesar and so loyal that she
stayed with Christ (her first husband) on the Cross even when Mary abandoned him.
Who was she? Lady Poverty, of course. St. Francis took a vow of poverty.

Their love inspired such holy thoughts that Bernard gave up all his possessions to
live like Francis.
Francis, St. Thomas continues, took his wife and walked with her unashamed to
Pope Innocent. Innocent was so impressed with Francis that he gave him an official
Papal Seal to start a religious order. Followers of Francis were called Franciscans.
After the poor started becoming Franciscans, a second Pope, Honorius III, gave the
Franciscans another honor, a papal bull.
After journeying to Egypt to try to convert a Muslim sultan to Christianity, Francis
returned to Italy to preach of Christ. There he received his final honorthis time
from Christ himself. St. Francis bore the Stigmata, a puncture wound on both his
palms (symbolic of Christ's hands impaled by nails onto the cross) for two years.
When Francis realized it was time to die, he remained faithful to his vow of poverty
by refusing any fancy funeral service and asking instead only to be stripped naked
by his disciples and laid on the earth to die. Then he told his brothers to love
Poverty as faithfully as he had, and died. He was promptly taken to Heaven.
What does this have to do with the "fatten[ing] up" comment?
St. Thomas finally comes back to that by turning our attention back to his own
order, that of the Dominicans. First he praises St. Dominic for following the same
route as St. Francis. But now Dominic's flock has become greedy, straying from their
shepherd (St. Dominic) to find more food, because they're not satisfied with the milk
from their mother. They are gorging on sinful material.
So, St. Thomas says, you can understand what my fattening comment means: that
Dominicans can "fatten well" or be well fed if they do not stray from the flock.

Just as St. Thomas finishes his story, the souls start dancing again in a circle.
Suddenly they're surrounded by another circle of dancing souls, so that the two
wheel around each other in different directions.
Dante compares the two waltzing rings to a double rainbow, one echoing the other,
and signaling (as God did to Noah) that the world will never be flooded again.
The souls stop dancing an a new soul comes forward. He wants to talk about the
other leader, St. Dominic.
St. Dominic was born in a place called Calaroga. No sooner was he conceived than
his forceful mind gave his mother prophetic powers, so that she saw in a dream a

black-and-white dog holding in its mouth a torch which it uses to set the world on
fire.
Christians saw this as a sign of salvation. (The black and white became Dominic's
colors, worn by his followers, and the torch came to symbolize his fiery zeal in
preaching.)
Because of this dream, his parents gave him a name meaning "God's own" in Latin
Dominic.
Dominic was the perfect messenger for Christ because he believed in Christ's "first
injunction"to be poor. Indeed, his nurse often found Dominic praying with his
forehead to the ground.
In time, Dominic became a gifted teacher and tried to oversee the Church, which
was so neglected by its keepers (the clergy). When Dominic saw the Pope, he asked
only for the right to preach against heresy. This he did, honoring the father of the
same twenty-four spirits in two rings.
So great was Dominic's force that he fought to rid the Church of the toughest
heretics. And so successful was he, that those thickets eventually became more
"streams with which the Catholic / garden has found abundant watering."
This soul compares both St. Francis and St. Dominic to wheels on the chariot of the
Church. But then he criticizes his own order, the Franciscans, saying that their wheel
has gone all moldy on its outer rim. Instead of continuing on its path, the wheel of
the Franciscans has started rolling backwards.
Finally, the speaker identifies himself as St. Bonaventure. He then introduces the
souls who've come in the second ring: Illuminato da Rieti and Augustine of Assisi
(two of St. Francis' first followers), Hugh of St. Victor (a mystical theologian), Peter
of Spain (a logician), Peter Book-Devourer (an avid reader), Nathan the prophet,
Anselm, St. John Chrysostom (an eloquent preacher), Aelius Donatus (a Roman
grammarian), Rabanus Maurus (archbishop of Mainz), and Abbott Joachim of Flora.
St. Bonaventure finishes with a nod to St. Thomas for speaking so highly of St.
Francis.

Dante now invites us readers to exercise our astronomical fantasies, imagining the
fifteen brightest stars of the two rings, the lovely constellations they form, and their
swift dances. Still dancing, the starry souls sing praises for the Holy Trinity.
St. Thomas stops the dancing to voice Dante's second question: why can't anybody
match King Solomon's wisdom?

Dante's argument, which St. Thomas summarizes, is that God's wisdom can only go
to those he creates directly. The only two people God directly created were Adam
and Christ, so how can Solomon's wisdom be greater than theirs?
Let's start tangentially. Both immortals and mortals, begins St. Thomas, are only the
"reflected light" of the idea that God begot. From there, the nine essences (or
Angelic Intelligences) act as mirrors, reflecting His Light down from one star to
another, and when his light hits the "last potentialities" (matter), they create only
"brief contingent things" (animals, plants, and inanimate objects). The matter of
these contingent things is compared to wax, which varies in its perfection.
Now, because the wax isn't perfect, it doesn't always capture a perfect reflection of
the light, which is why it can be corrupt. So the blame falls to Nature, an "artist
[with] a trembling hand" who cannot stamp the wax as perfectly as she should. This
explains why some trees bear better fruit than others, just as certain men get worse
children than others.
But when God himself prepares both the Light and the wax, His perfection is
transferred to his creations, as in the cases of Adam and Christ.
Okay, St. Thomas continues, now I'll consider your question of why Solomon had
"matchless vision" (which means great wisdom).
Consider Solomon's story: God came to King Solomon in a dream and promised to
answer any question he might ask. Wise Solomon, instead of asking for the answers
to intellectual dilemmas, asked for the ability to distinguish between right and
wrong. This is also called "kingly prudence." St. Thomas explains that "matchless
vision" is having the wisdom to ask for something practical and moral.
St. Thomas warns Dante to consider this story before jumping too quickly to
conclusions about things he doesn't fully understand. Hasty opinions are often
wrong.
St. Thomas proves his point by naming several examples of scholars whose opinions
turned out to be wrongParmenides, Melissus, Bryson, Sabellius, Arius, Dame
Bertha, and Master Martin.
Finally, St. Thomas ends with a warning to men not to judge too quickly, because
things which appear bad can turn out to be good, and vice versa.

As St. Thomas falls silent, Beatrice begins talking.

She says that Dante needs "to reach the root of still another truth." She requests
that the spirits tell Dante whether or not the light the souls emit will stay forever. If

so, then howwhen they receive their bodies backwill be able to look on such
bright light and not be harmed?
The ring of spirits, listening intently to Beatrice's request, gives a shout of joy and
begins singing about the Trinity.
As the spirits wheel around, a modest voice (from King Solomon) floats up from the
inner circle and says, so long as we all stay in Heaven, our clothing will be these
brilliant lights. The degree of our brightness depends on how much we love God,
and that is measured by how well we see.
Our vision is in turn measured by how much grace (or unmerited love) we receive
from God. On Judgment Day, we'll all be reunited with our bodies. Then we shall be
complete. Whatever extra light we have left will be enhanced because God will love
us more, for our perfection.
In answer to the second part of the question, Solomon answers that when our
bodies are united with our souls, the body's organs will become stronger (as a result
of being complete) and we won't be blinded by our light.
Solomon's fellow dancers agree so heartily with this that they nearly trip over their
tongues saying "Amen," making Dante see how eager they are to have their bodies
back.
But look! Dante's eyes shift toward the horizon and he sees the light growing even
brighter there, as if new spirits are approaching.
Beatrice decides she wants to join in on the light show and, to Dante's
astonishment, she grows even more beautiful (and brighter). In fact, she's so
beautiful that Dante cannot describe her in words.
When he finally tears his eyes away from her, he does a double take and realizes
he's standing on red ground and that they're in the next sphere, the heaven of Mars.
As has become custom, Dante takes this moment to thank God for allowing him to
rise so high. As soon as he speaks, he knows his thanks will be accepted. (Dante
sees a signtwo bright rays of light, that he takes to be God's acceptance.
Those two rays of light aren't just any rays, they actually form a cross. Yes, the
cross.
Dante is astonished, but he does actually describe it a little. He talks about how the
souls move across from bar to bar like streaks of light glimmering down the metal
bars of umbrellas. They are singing in perfect counterpoint a hymn that Dante
doesn't recognize.
He notes that his words may seem presumptuous for daring to describe in human
terms what man cannot possibly understand.

Just like this cross, Beatrice's eyes grow lovelier the higher she ascends.

God's will brings all singing to a sudden halt.

Just like a shooting star, a soul comes out from the starry cross.
In Latin, he calls Dante, "O blood of mine unto whom was Heaven's gate twice
open." Say what? This soul is part of Dante's family? Yes, and Dante compares his
greeting to that of Anchises to Aeneas in his all-time favorite book, the Aeneid
(written in Latin, by the way).
Dante is dumbfounded.
For a while, the soul is so overjoyed to see Dante that his speech is so high and lofty
that Dante, as a mortal, cannot understand him. Eventually, though, he speaks to
Dante in a language he can understand.
He tells Dante that he had read about Dante's coming in the "great volume" of
God's Providence and he thanks Beatrice for fulfilling the prophecy.
Like many of the previous souls, this one correctly anticipates what Dante wants to
ask. He comes straight out and explains why Dante is so quiet: Dante knows that
this soul can read his thoughts, so he doesn't feel the need to speak.
The soul confirms that Dante's train of thought is correct because all souls in
Heaven can perform the miracle of looking into God's mirror of providence, reading
mortals' thoughts before they are spoken.
Out of sheer love for his kin, though, this soul wants to hear Dante speak of what he
wants to learn.
Dante looks to Beatrice for permission to speak, which she grants with her smile
even before he asks.
Dante thanks the soul for his "paternal" (fatherly) greeting. He shows how much he
values this soul by calling him a "living topaz" and asking for the soul's name.
The soul replies, "I am your root," avoiding giving his actual name. He calls Dante's
attention to "the man who gave [his] family its name," telling Dante that this
ancestor is on the threshold of Purgatory; Dante should pray for him so that he may
soon enter Heaven.
He then starts talking about Florence. But his focus is on the ancient Florence of his
time, which was "sober and chaste" and "lived in tranquility."

In the days of good-Florence, everything was balanced. Daughters' marriages were

causes for celebration. All families bore children. There was no improper lust or
lechery. Florence even rivaled Rome. Women came into public with unpainted faces.
Men were men, wearing "suits of unlined skins," and women were women, happy in
their places "at spindle and at spool." Men and women weren't afraid to speak to
their infants and wives would tell stories from Classical times over their spinning.
Into this good Florence, the souls says, I was born. He identifies himself as "both
Christian and Cacciaguida."
Cacciaguida, (which we take to be his name), tells us how he served Emperor
Conrad, fighting for him in the Crusades and gaining his favor so much that the
Emperor knighted him. It was there in the Crusades that Cacciaguida met his
glorious death, at the hands of the Saracens (Muslims).
"From martyrdom I came unto this peace," he says. In other words, Cacciaguida's
good work fighting for Christianity in the Crusades earned him a spot in Heaven.

Dante takes a short break to bask in his glory.

He turns back to Cacciaguida and shows him a great sign of respect by addressing
him with the formal form of you, usually reserved for nobility.
Dante calls Cacciaguida "my father" and says that his nobility has given him the
confidence to ask further questions. Dante wants to know who Cacciaguida's
ancestors were, when Cacciaguida lived, and who virtuously followed St. John
(patron saint of Florence) at the time.
Cacciaguida grows brighter with gladness, then answers in a style of speech
sweeter than the harsh modern style. He answers Dante's second question, about
the year of his birth, first. Starting from the date of Christ's conception and adding
530 revolutions of Mars (because he resides there) around the Earth, we get the
date 1091.
Of Dante's ancestors, Cacciaguida says only they that they were born at the point
where the competitors in the annual horse race enter the field.
Cacciaguida then falls silent about the ancestors because, on that subject, "silence
not speechis more appropriate."
In response to Dante's last question, Cacciaguida says that St. John's followers
included one-fifth of the entire Florentine population.

Cacciaguida laments that Florence doesn't have the smaller boundaries today that it
did in the beginning. If it did, he says, Florentines might still be virtuous, pureblooded Florentines. He even goes so far to blame interracial mixing as the root of
evil in Florence.
Cacciaguida then names a bunch of families who had illustrious names in good
Florence and some families who were starting to go bad. He generally claims that
the families and the clergy of the past were honorable people, but that time has
seen the clerics become corrupt. Time has had a bad effect on poor Florence.
In fact, back in the glory days, "there was nothing to have caused her (Florence)
sorrow." Things were so good that in Florence's emblemthe white lily on a red field
the lily was never stained blood-red by war between Florentine factions, nor were
the colors reversed (to a red lily on a white field) by the Guelphs against the
Ghibellines.

Something has been bothering Dante for some time and he wants to get it off his
chest, but he cannot do so without first comparing his angst to some Classical
character. This time, he calls himself Phaethon (the son of the sun god who got his
wish of driving his father's chariot and crashed it into the desert), coming to talk to
his mother about his wish.
Beatrice, reading Dante's mind, tells him to "show his desire" to Cacciaguida so that
he can answer to his troubles. Beatrice makes it clear that both she and
Cacciaguida already know both Dante's question and the answer.
Dante voices his concern: Cacciaguida, since you've made it into a Heaven this
high, you have a good vantage point over all of time. When I was traveling with
Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, he mentioned that my destiny would be difficult. I
want to know what those hard times will be, so I can mentally prepare myself for
dealing with them.
Cacciaguida responds kindlynot with the usually vague and mysterious words of
prophecy, but with plain simple words like those Christ used for his followers.
He tries to comfort Dante by telling him about contingency. This is the principle
stating that even though something has been foretold, it does not mean that it will
necessarily happen; in other words, God doesn't make it happen.
Dante, just like Hippolytus of Athens, will be forced into exile from Florence. He will
leave everything he loves most dearly and will have to serve others. What will be

hardest for Dante to bear is that his fellow exiles will be "insane, completely /
ungrateful and profane" against him, so that Dante would do best to bear this tough
time alone.
He will find some friends, though: a great Lombard (Bartolemmeo dello Scala), who
will house him, and Bartolemmeo's younger brother, Cangrande, who will be a
major military force. He will gain a reputation for "hard labor and disregard for
silver" and will be a hallmark of generosity and honor.
Cacciaguida assures him, saying, "your life will long outlast the punishment / that is
to fall upon their treacheries," meaningof coursethat Dante will earn salvation.
This encourages Dante, who declares himself prepared for the hard times ahead. He
promises to hold his course steady by continuing to write poetry.
Dante, reflecting on his journey so far, knows that for many people it would've been
too difficult. Seeing the truth is always difficult, but Dante vows to not be "a timid
friend of truth."
Cacciaguida encourages him by saying that even if people today consider Dante's
honest words too harsh, they willafter mulling over themfind them just and
correct. And Dante will win honor for daring to speak truth against the highest and
most corrupt powers.

Not wanting to be left out of the emotional chaos, Beatrice catches Dante's eye and
reminds him that she has the ear of "Him who lightens every unjust hurt." In other
words, God is on Dante's side.
Upon looking at her, Dante is blown away by the untold love he sees shining from
her eyes. He forgets all other worries when gazing at her.
But Beatrice quickly speaks to break the spell. She tells Dante that Cacciaguida has
more to say.
Cacciaguida wants to introduce Dante to the rest of the souls forming the image of
the cross. Their famous names would make great additions to your poem, he says to
encourage Dante.
As Cacciaguida introduced the souls, they flash into Dante's view.
Here come the illustrious names: Joshua (who led the Hebrews to conquer the
Jericho), Maccabeus (a Hebrew warrior who freed the Jews from a tyrant),

Charlemagne (restorer of the Holy Empire), Roland (Charlemagne's nephew who

once gave his life to save his uncle's in battle), William of Orange (a warrior turned
cleric), Renouard (a Saracen giant who converted to Christianity), Duke Geoffrey of
Bouillon (who successfully led the First Crusade), and Robert Guiscard (defender of
Pope Gregory VII).
Finally, Cacciaguida disappears into the crowd of lights, where he starts to sing with
the others.
Trying to keep the names straight in his head, Dante turns to Beatrice to see what to
do next.
She's glowing more brightly, which means that they are rising into the next heaven.
Dante now sees only white Jupiter.
Even at first glance, Dante can tell that the souls of Jupiter think themselves artists,
because they're already forming letters and words with their glowing bodies. He
compares them to flocks of birds forming letters in the air.
The letters only appear for a moment before the souls break off and form new ones.
So Dante invokes the Muses to help him remember the letters as they come so he
can spell out their message in his mind.
His prayer is answered, and he gets this as the final message: DILIGITE IUSTITIAM,
QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM. The Latin translates to, "Love justice, you who judge the
earth."
After forming the last M, other souls descend to enhance the shape. Dante
compares these acrobatics of light to the shower of sparks that arise when one
pokes a burning log.
When the souls are done arranging themselves, Dante sees the M has become an
eagle's head.
Now, massive crowds of other lights surge forward and he see an eagle with a body.
Dante thanks God that such justice appears in the Heavens. The Eagle is the
emblem of Imperial Rome, and also the symbol for justice.
Dante prays to God to turn His mind against Rome because it has "produced the
smoke that dims your rays," meaning that Rome houses many false and greedy
Popes.
This leads into a general rant against the corrupt Church. Dante beseeches God to
let His anger fall on clerics who buy and sell indulgences in the churches, and on
pretentious men who only play at being virtuous.

Finally, Dante addresses his most scathing criticism at Pope John XXII, telling him to
remember that his soul will burn in Hell, while the words of St. Peter and St. Paul
whom he tries to "erase"will live forever.

The Eagle is now complete. To Dante's bedazzled eyes, each of the souls seems like
an individual ruby, reflecting the light of the sun so that it almost blinds him.
The Eagle speaks, saying it is honored here in Heaven because it is both just and
merciful.
Dante notices that even though the Eagle's voice is formed from a combination of
all the souls' voices, it sounds like just one voice.
Dante humbly asks the Eagle to answer his question. But he doesn't actually
articulate the query, because he knows the Eagle can read his mind.
The Eagle shakes its head and flaps its wings and begins to speak.
It says that when God made the universe, He "could not imprint His power into all /
the universe without His Word remaining / in infinite excess of such a vessel." The
whole universe couldn't even contain all of God's goodness. This is proven, the
Eagle says, by Adam's sinful fall. Dante's mortal sight, which is only one ray of God's
Intelligence, cannot possibly perceive the entirety of Divine Justice.
Now the Eagle asks Dante's question for him: If a man is born in some foreign place,
never hears of Christ, and lives as virtuous a life as a mortal can, how can it be just
for God to condemn him to Hell at his death? The Eagle answers Dante's question
with another question: indeed it is a just punishment, but only God can understand
why.
The Eagle proceeds to lambaste evil Christian rulers. It says that nobody has ever
risen this high in Heaven without belief in Christ, and that no one ever will. But of
those that shout "Christ! Christ!" there are some so false that Ethiopians (or nonChristians) will be forgiven much sooner than they will.
The Eagle proceeds to name several such unjust Christian rulers and their crimes:
Albert of Austria, whose reign will lay waste to the Bohemian lands; Philip the Fair,
who counterfeits money and will be killed by a wild boar; various English and
Scottish kings, who cannot keep within their countries' boundaries but constantly
wage war on each other; Ferdinando IV of Castile, who will be known for his
laziness; Wenceslaus IV, who will be famous for his lust; Charles of Anjou (called the
"Cripple of Jerusalem"), whose bad deeds will outnumber his good ones one
thousand to one; Fredrick II of Aragon, who will commit so many sins that they must

be written in shorthand in God's book; Dionysius of Portugal; Hakaam V of Norway;

and Stephen Urosh II of Serbia.

The Eagle falls silent, but then the various souls that make up its image begin
singing. Dante compares this series of events to the setting of the sun and the
subsequent appearance of thousands of stars which reflect the very same sun.
Eventually the "jewels" of the Sixth Heaven stop singing. But that sound is quickly
replaced by a curious murmur coming from the Eagle.
The murmuring crescendos and travels up the Eagle's throat until it spills forth in a
single thundering voice whose words are so power they are inscribed in Dante's
mind.
The Eagle tells Dante to look at its eye. Its image is composed of six of the highestranking souls one for the pupil itself and five for the eyebrow. The Eagle identifies
each soul by name.
First, the eye itself is king David, the "singer of the Holy Spirit" and bearer of the Ark
of the Covenant. Through his writing of the Psalms, David learned that he must
accept God's inspiration instead of being a passive instrument for His genius. For
this virtuous exercise of free will, David was saved.
Secondly, on the eyebrow of the Eagle is the Roman emperor Trajan. Trajan learned
the horrible consequences of refusing to follow Christ; he later learned, and
received, the rewards of living a more virtuous life.
The third soul is Hezekiah, who freaked out when the prophet Isaiah told him it was
time for him to die. Hezekiah immediately wept and prayed to God for mercya
sign of repentance. God rewarded him with fifteen more years on earth.
The fourth soul is Constantine, whose well-intentioned monetary Donation to Pope
Sylvester had the unforeseen consequence of whetting the clerics' appetite for
cash; it also planted the seeds forat least in Dante's eyesall the contemporary
problems of the corrupt Church. Despite the ill effects of his gift, though,
Constantine learned that it was not his fault, and God saved him.
Fifth is William II of Hauteville. Although known for his just rule, William's throne was
passed onto Charles of Anjou and Frederick II of Aragon, both corrupt rulers.
However, like Constantine, he is absolved of any fault for these future rulers, whom
he could not influence. God rewarded him for his "just rule" with a place in Heaven.

Finally, the sixth and last soul is Ripheus, a Trojan warrior in Virgil's Aeneid, who
died a pagan and yet was saved. The lesson he learned was that God works in
mysterious ways and that mankind should not waste its time trying to work through
God's logic.
This whole time, Dante has thought each introduction to be like the lark's song
glorious in its sound but falling ultimately into a silence just as sweet.
Dante still has doubts. And before he can check them, they come tumbling out of
his mouth: "Can such things be?"
The Eagle suddenly goes into red alert mode and all its lights start flashing wildly
before answering. It tells us Dante's state of mindthat he believes what he's been
told but doesn't understand how it could be. This means he doesn't understand their
essence.
The Eagle explains what it means. The will of God, he explains, "is won because It
would / be won." This is a fancy way of saying God chooses whom he saves. Now,
Dante had doubts about why the emperor Trajan and Ripheus are here. He believed
them both to have died as unbelievers, but the Eagle says otherwise. He claims
they died as Christians.
Trajan did indeed go to Hell, but because he was headed the right direction when
death overtook him, God gave him another chance. Trajan was allowed to come
back to his body and die a second time, this time after repenting. It was this second
lifeas a Christianthat won him his salvation.
Ripheus, on the other hand, did indeed die before Christ's coming. But he was
always virtuous and for some unknown reason, God gave him a glimpse of the
future where Christianity reigned. Based on this prophetic vision, Ripheus converted
yes, before anyone had heard about Christand his conversion was legitimized by
a baptism.
Who baptized him, you ask, if there weren't any Christian priests at the time? The
Three Theological VirtuesFaith, Hope, and Charity descended from Heaven to
baptize Ripheus three thousand years before Christ. And that's how he got into
Heaven.
Dante cries out at how unpredictable and unfathomable God's predestination plans
are to human beings. On second thought, Dante reasons, it's not such a bad thing
that man doesn't know God's plans. The "incompleteness of our knowledge" gives
each and every man incentive to be virtuous, because he has as good a shot as
anyone to get into Heaven.
Dante reflects that the Eagle's discourse has shown him how short-sighted he is and
how man should never assume he can predict God's plans.

He remembers with a smile that the souls in questionthose of Trajan and Ripheus
had flashed and winked playfully at him during the Eagle's explanation.

Dante turns to face Beatrice, but she is not smiling.

She explains that were she to smile, Dante would turn to ashes because they've
climbed so high that they've reached the point where Dante's mortal senses cannot
bear the brilliance of God's reflected love.
She announces that they are now in the Seventh Heaven.
Beatrice tells him to look where he'd usually look and he'll see the reflected image
of what comes next.
So Dante looks at Beatrice's eyes. There he sees the landscape of Saturn reflected.
And rising from it is a magnificent golden ladder extending so high that Dante
cannot see its top.
Climbing down the steps of the ladder are thousands upon thousands of souls.
Dante compares their movements, gathering together and flitting about once they
reach the surface of Saturn, to the movement of a flock of jackdaws.
Dante turns his attention to the nearest soul and thinks that he is so bright, he must
be eager to speak. But he must await permission from Beatrice before speaking to
the soul.
At this unspoken thought, Beatrice promptly gives the signal and Dante's words are
unleashed.
Dante asks the aforementioned soul why he stepped up so close and why there's an
unnatural silence in this sphere, whereas every other sphere has thundered with
glorious music.
The soul chooses to answer the second question first. It's quiet here, he says,
because were we to sing, we'd burst your eardrums. In other words, Dante's mortal
hearing could not handle the glory of song at this level of Heaven.
In response to the first, the soul answers that he descended the golden ladder with
the express purpose of meeting Dante. But he qualifies his answer with a humbling
remark: it's not that God particularly favors this soul more than the others, only that
this soul is governed by God's will and thus obeys when told to move down the
ladder.

Okay, says Dante, I understand that you've aligned your will with God's, but I still
don't understand why you in particular were predestined to meet me.
Before he can even say the last words, though, the spirit begins spinning as fast as
it can go.
Predictably, his spinning only makes the soul grow brighter, and he replies, my sight
is good which is why God blesses me with so much grace, but stop asking why,
Dante. Nobody can know the mind of God. And you would do well to remind your
fellow men of that when you return below.
His haughty words make Dante take a step back. Thoroughly humbled, Dante
meekly asks the soul his identity.
The blazing soul responds that he once worshipped God in a place called Catria,
specifically in the monastery of Santa Croce di Forte Avellana. In his meditation
there, he was happy to live on a diet of veggies cooked only in olive juice.
That monastery, the soul continues, used to turn out virtuous souls like clockwork,
but "it is now barren." Then he names himself as St. Peter Damian. Dante nods in
realization.
St. Peter Damian continues his story. He was called "Peter the Sinner" when he first
came to the monastery. From this place, he was reluctantly dragged out and
eventually became a cardinal.
This gives Peter an opportunity to blast the Papal Seat. He recounts how popes were
once good, as when St. Paul wore the hat; he walked "barefoot" and was "lean." But
now, Peter shakes his head, the popes are "so plump / that they have need of one to
prop them up / on this side, one of that, and one in front, / and one to hoist them
saddleward."
Peter's words have attracted the souls, who are now gathered round in a spectacle
of light; when Peter stops speaking, they cry out in agreement. And Dante drops like
an anchor. Their combined voices have overwhelmed his senses, as St. Peter
warned before.

Dante comes to, and Beatrice coddles him like a concerned mother.
With a comforting voice, she explains that the souls up here are devout, zealous
Christians. Now that he's seen how devastating their cries can be, Beatrice asks

Dante to try to imagine just how much more dazed he'd be if he actually understood
what they said.
Beatrice tell Dante not to worrythe bad popes will get what's coming to them.
Now she tells him to turn towards the gathered spirits because there are some
celebrities here. Dante is daunted by the crowd, which he describes as "a hundred
little suns," and is too shy to ask a question.
Right on cue, the largest and brightest soul comes forward and speaks.
He says that if Dante could only see how much love they have for him, he wouldn't
be afraid to ask his question.
This soul comes from a town called Cassino and he was the first person to carry
God's truth up to Montecassino. (Note: this identifies him as St. Benedict, though he
also names himself.)
St. Benedict turns toward his fellow souls and explains to Dante that here, everyone
is a contemplative who meditated on God in life.
He introduces Macarius (a follower of St. Anthony of Egypt) and Romualadus
(founder of the Camadolese order).
Dante replies the St. Benedict's kindness gives him confidence to ask a question:
Dante asks if he can see St. Benedict's "human face"?
St. Benedict gently replies with a "no" but says that Dante's desire will be fulfilled in
the highest of heaven's spheres. Upon mentioning the Empyrean, Benedict goes
into raptures. He raves about how everything is in its proper place there, and how
the Empyrean is "not in space, and has no poles." He explains that it is the final
ending point of the golden ladder.
St. Benedict continues on the subject of the ladder. Jacob could see to the very top
of the ladder where the angels thronged. But now, nobody on earth is worthy of
climbing the ladder. He laments that his Benedictine order has gone to waste.
This, of course, morphs into a rant against the corrupt Church. St. Benedict fumes
over simonist clerics whose "hearts [have gone] mad with greed."
After this speech St. Benedict steps back into the crowd, and the souls disappear.
Beatrice then makes a mystic sign, and in a flash, she and Dante fly up the ladder,
headed toward the Eighth Heaven.
Beatrice tells Dante that they are so close to the highest heaven that Dante needs
to have "vision clear and keen," and she instructs him to look down and see

everything he's already overcome. Only then will he be worthy of entering the
highest spheres.
Dante gazes downward and sees the dizzying descent of the seven heavenly
spheres down to Earth, which looks "scrawny" from this height. Dante has so much
contempt for Earth and its sinners that he describes it as "the little threshing floor /
that so incites our savagery."
Dante serenely turns his eyes up towards Beatrice.

n the Eighth Heaven, Beatrice stands facing the east with eager eyes, waiting for
the sun. Dante compares her to a mother bird perched on the branches by her nest
waiting for dawn so she can go about her business of finding food for the fledglings.
She doesn't have to wait long before the horizon grows paler. At the first sign of
light, Beatrice announces to Dante, "there you see the troops / of the triumphant
Christ!"
Beatrice's face is burning with joy, so much so that Dante can't describe it. So he
turns his poetic eye towards the dawn itself and compares the rising sun above its
thousand shining hosts to the moon shining amongst all the stars.
He sees Christ himselfthe sun in this sphereand is almost blinded.
Beatrice tells Dante he's seeing a power nobody can resist, the very being that
opened the path between Heaven and earth for the first time since Adam's fall.
Dante feels his mind opening and expanding so much by this boggling sight that he
compares it to "lightning breaking from a cloud, / expanding so that it cannot be
pent, [and] against its nature, down to earth descend[s]."
Beatrice proves it is so by telling Dante that since he has had a glimpse of Christ, he
can now "bear the power of [her] smile." And she smiles.
Dante is blown out of the water with his goddess-worship of her. He swears the
vision of her smile is burned into his memory but he cannot begin to describe it.
At this point, Dante reminds his readers that he's traveling through dangerous
waters now, so treacherous that even his words are defeated.
Beatrice has had enough of Dante's fawning and instructs him to look upon the
garden that is blooming under sun-Christ. There, she tells him, is the rose which

represents the Word of God made flesh, as well as lilies, whose fragrance guides
men to heaven.

Dante turns his eyes toward the spectacle and sees a flowered meadow, overrun by
the flaming troops of Christ, all shadowed by the gigantic sun shining above.
However, Dante cannot see the sun itself, because his eyes are too weak.
But he can see Mary, the rose, who descends in the guise of the living star. A ring of
light surrounds her like "a revolving garland." Each of the souls in that wheeling
garland is singing rapturously and their combined voices make a sound so sweet
that the sweetest melody of earth would sound like crude thunder next to it.
Dante can just make out the words. The souls call themselves "angelic love," the
same love that announced to Mary her immaculate conception of Christ, and
promise to wheel around Mary until she has ascended again into the highest
Heaven and made it more divine than it already is. After this song, all the souls
answer, singing the name of "Mary" thunderously.
The Virgin Mary ascends, following Christ, but the Ninth Heaven is so far above
Dante's vantage point that he cannot see her as she enters the highest Spheres. All
he can see is the host of souls beneath, all stretching their hands upwards in desire
for Christ and His mother. After she disappears, they sing the Easter hymn "Regina
coeli" ("Queen of heaven") in her honor.
Dante takes this peaceful moment to praise the virtuous souls who have been
saved. He notes with rapture that these blessed will enjoy boundless riches here in
Heaven for their resistance to material greed in the world below. He ends the canto
with a celebratory hymn for St. Peter, the keeper of the keys of Heaven, who has
triumphed.

After the glorious re-ascent of Christ and Mary, Beatrice speaks to the souls still
gathered, praying that they allow Dante a taste of the supper of Christ.
Dante observes that the hosts all form circles around fixed poles and dance.
One soul boldly comes forward and dances three times around Beatrice while
singing, and his song is so gorgeous that Dante is paralyzed.
When he stops dancing, Beatrice identifies him as the "great man to whom our Lord
bequeathed the keys." Hence we know him to be St. Peter. She asks him to test
Dante on faith so that he can be worthy of moving into "this realm."

Upon hearing this, Dante doesn't freak out, but acts like a good student, arming
himself with his arguments.
St. Peter wastes no time and turns, almost gleefully, to Dante. He asks a seemingly
simple question: what is faith?
Dante looks to Beatrice for permission to speak, she gives it, and Dante answers,
like your brother, St. Paul, wrote, "Faith is the substance of the things we hope for /
and is the evidence of things not seen."
St. Peter nods. He then asks Dante why faith is "substance" and "evidence."
Dante answers that faith speaks of "the deep things [which] are hidden from sight
below." And because these things (like Heaven and blessedness) cannot be seen by
mortal eyes, they must be taken on faith. This is why faith is a substance. Since
mortals must reason from this blind faith, it is also evidence of unseen things.
St. Peter approves again. He compares faith to a coin, saying that they've now
determined the coin's "alloy and weight." He then asks if Dante carries such a
coin in his purse.
Dante answers, of course.
St. Peter continues: where does faith come from?
Dante doesn't hesitate: the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as seen in the Scriptures,
both the Old and New Testament.
St. Peter asks, why do you consider the Scriptures to be the word of God?
Dante: Such miracles as the ones recorded in the Bible must have been created;
they cannot have been the work of nature, and the only other answer is God.
St. Peter gets tricky. He points out that if these miracles are only attested in the
Scriptures and Dante is saying these miracles legitimize the Scriptures, then Dante's
reasoning is circular. He again asks Dante how he knows the Scriptures are real?
Dante, catching the trick question, says, simple: faith. Nothing else can "attest
these works to you."
That's the winning blow. Everyone celebrates with a singing of "Te Deum laudamus"
("We Praise You, O God").
St. Peter affirms Dante's faith and compliments him on the eloquence of his
answers. But he's not done yet. He asks Dante to state what he believes. Dante
answers with his creed: I believe in one God who moves Heaven with his love, and
this belief comes from the proof of the Scriptures. I believe in the Holy TrinityOne
in Three and Three in One.

St. Peter leans forward and embraces Dante. St. Peter celebrates by blessing Dante,
singing and dancing around him in circles.

The examination has made Dante a bit nostalgic. Quietly, he thinks that if this poem
ever gets completed, and he survives the cruel years ahead, he would like to return
to Florence one day and be crowed with the laurel leaf as a recognized poet. He
would like to homage to Florence in spite of its flaws, because that is where his faith
in God began.
But for now, Dante will have to content himself with the crown that St. Peter gives
him for his faith.
Then another soul steps forward from the throng and Beatrice gets excited. She
urges Dante to look and see this new arrival, whom mortals honor by going to
Galicia. (Note: this identifies the new soul as St. James.)
St. Peter steps forward as well to meet his old friend, and Dante compares their
warm greeting to two doves embracing each other. Then they both fall silent and
turn, blazing in brilliance, towards Dante.
Beatrice intervenes, asking St. James to do another examination on Dante, this time
on hope, since he is the Biblical figure commonly associated with hope. Apparently
St. James feels a little pity for Dante and softens his inquisition by telling Dante that
because God has blessed him by letting him see Heaven before his time, Dante
must know what hope is. So some important questions: What is hope? Do you have
it? Where does it come from?
In a strange turn of events, Beatrice answers for Dante. She claims that there's no
doubt that Dante has lots of hope; only because of this is he allowed to see God's
kingdom before his death.
With Beatrice already answering part of the question for Dante, Dante does the rest:
"Hope is the certain expectation of future glory" and is a result of God's grace. As
for where it comes from, there are lots of texts that confirm hope's existence.
Chiefly, there are David's Psalms and St. James's Epistle.
St. James responds with a burst of light; we think that's a sign of approval. He goes
on to ask Dante what it is exactly that he hopes for.
Dante replies: Other than "getting into heaven," I hope for what Isaiah prophesied,
that "the elect / shall wear a double garment [both body and soul] in their land." So
that's my hope.

Everyone bursts into song, warbling "Sperent in te" ("Let them hope in you").
Suddenly, a new soul joins the party. He's really bright and Dante compares his
arrival to a "happy maiden ris[ing] and / enter[ing] the dance to honor the new
bride."
He approaches the other two flamesSt. Peter and St. Jamesand joins in
celebration.
Beatrice tells us who this man is by identifying him as the soul who "was asked /
from on the Cross to serve in the great task." That tells us that this is St. John, to
whom Christ, while on the Cross, told to take care of the Virgin Mary, going so far to
tell John that Mary is now his mother.
Delighted, Dante squints to try to see the dazzling St. John, but is rebuked.
St. John asks Dante why he tries to see what he cannot? He then dispels a false
assumption Dante voiced earlier. Contrary to popular belief, attests St. John, I do not
have my body up here with my soul. My body, like everyone else's, is buried on
earth; only Christ and Mary are allowed to wear both body and soul in Heaven. Make
sure you tell people that when you return to Earth.
When he stops speaking, all three men stop their celebration.
But wait! Something's wrong. Dante discovers, as he turns his face toward Beatrice,
that he is blind. He can't see her.

Through the scary darkness, Dante hears St. John's voice telling him that he'd better
just talk his way through this one, until he can see again.
St. John assures him of this. Beatrice, he says, can cure you of your blindness. But
first, tell me what you wish for.
Realizing this is another examination, Dante answers that he, like everyone here,
desires God's love.
In his blindness, Dante can somehow feel St. John's annoyance with his answer,
which manifests itself as a burst of light. St. John growls, telling Dante he's got to be
more specific than that. Dante must reveal who directed his love towards God.
He answers that he himself did. As a human being, he says he has God's love
imprinted in him, and because he tries to be virtuous, that love turns toward God.

He continues that anyone who is good cannot help but love God. Dante asserts that
God himself confirmed this when he told Moses, "I shall show you all goodness."
Furthermore, Dante claims that St. John himself agrees in his Gospel, where he
celebrates the mystery of Heaven, Christ Incarnate.
St. John confirms Dante's answer but presses him further, asking if there are any
other reasons he loves God.
Dante knows what he wants to hear: I love God because He created the world,
because Christ died so that I might live, and because He gives me hope of reaching
Heaven. I love God in the proper proportion, which He allotted to me.
This must be the correct answer, because the whole company bursts out into song,
singing about the four animals of the Apocalypse.
A miracle occurs. Dante sees a glimmer of light, then more light, and then so much
that he almost goes blind as he regains his sight. He realizes as he gazes at the
wonderful world that he can see better than he did before.
Dante realizes that a fourth soul has joined them.
Beatrice, reading Dante's mind, tells him who the new guy is; he's the "first soul /
ever created by the Primal Force." That's right, it's Adam himself.
Confused, then inspired by Beatrice's words, Dante turns to Adam and begs him to
speak. Dante knows that Adam knows what Dante wants, so Dante asks Adam why
he won't just answer him.
Adam confirms this by saying that he can indeed see Dante's mind reflected in the
perfect mirror that is God's mind, but which no mirror can reflect perfectly. He
summarizes Dante's four questions: How long has it been since Adam was in Eden?
How long did he stay in Eden? What was the true cause of God's anger? What
language did Adam speak?
Adam wastes no time in answering, but takes the third one first: God wasn't angry
because Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, but because he trespassed the boundary
God had set for him. Adam hasn't seen Eden for 6498 years.The language he spoke
is long dead. According to Adam, nothing that man makesincluding language
lasts very long. Adam continues, saying that Heaven gave man the ability to speak,
but God doesn't care what language a person chooses. However, in Adam's
language God was called I; the next language called him El.
Finally, Adam responds that he lived in Eden for seven hours.

After Adam's enlightening words, all the souls sing the hymn "Gloria," which
celebrates the Holy Trinity. The song is so uplifting that it seems to Dante that "the
universe had smiled."
The five soulsSt. Peter, St. James, St. John, Adam, and Beatriceall flame before
Dante's eyes. And suddenly, St. Peter changes color. Where he was once white, he
now shines red.
The choir falls silent, as if as shocked as Dante. Then St. Peter explains: he tells
them not to be surprised because all of them will be changing color soon. The
reason? Down on earth, the current pope, Boniface III, is usurping Peter's position
(as pope) and doing a lousy job of it, too. In fact, he's so corrupt that Heaven
considers the Papacy vacant. Boniface is making Peter's realm of mankind a "sewer
of blood," which accounts for the wardrobe change.
In ominous harmony with St. Peter's words, the sky turns a blushing redlike clouds
at sunset.
And Beatrice, too, suddenly flushes like a chaste woman who hears about another
woman's loss of innocence.
St. Peter speaks again, his voice much different than before. He roars that his blood
and the blood of the good popesLinus, Cletus, Sixtus, Pius, Urban, and Calixtus
was never spilled trying to gain riches. These good Popes did not want disunity
among people, to wage war on the innocent, or to stamp a papal seal on such vices
as indulgences.
St. Peter rants against the shepherds (popes) who are really wolves in disguise. He
names greedy popes with disgust.
But soon, he warns, Providence will bring Divine vengeance against these lying
popes. Dante, he claims, will help their cause by bringing his poetry of honest words
to mankind. St. Peter urges Dante to tell the truth in his writing.
After St. Peter falls silent, Dante looks up to see souls flying up to the Empyrean,
flying like snowflakes in reverse. Dante tries to follow them all the way up, but his
mortal eyes cannot behold the Empyrean.
Beatrice sees this and tells Dante to look down upon the earth once again. Dante
obeys and is now able to see the earth in even greater detail, despite being higher
up than the last time he gazed downward. This time he can see the sea which
Ulysses sailed across and even the island of Crete.

Dante turns back to Beatrice and his heart almost stops upon beholding her
dazzling beauty. But her increasing beauty means they're ascending into "heaven's
swiftest sphere."
When they land, Beatrice speaks.
She tells him that this place is the root of the universe; the Primum Mobile was
created first. The "where" of this Heaven is God's Mind and it is surrounded in light
and love. It spins the fastest of all the Heavens. Time also began here.
Now Beatrice begins a tirade against mankind's sins. She blasts them for their
greed, which causes them to sin and lose forever the salvation of Heaven. Free will,
she claims, "has a good blossoming in men," but as soon as they grow out of their
childhood and can speak well, they use their free will badly and lose their
innocence.
She explains the source of the problem to Dante: "on earth no king holds sway; /
therefore, the family of humans strays." In other words, man needs to be ruled.
But, she promises, before another thousand years pass, Providence will set things
right, turning the backwards-running prows of mankind's ships around "so that the
fleet runs straight."

After Beatrice's hopeful prophecy, Dante notices something reflected in Beatrice's

eyes, like the image of a double candle in a mirror. He looks into her eyes to see if
he's not just imagining it.
When he realizes it's there, he turns around to find it.
He sees a point of light so bright that it nearly blinds him, and its far larger than any
star. Around it circles nine rings of flame, the first ring out orbiting the Point the
fastest, and the other rings revolving more slowly the farther out they go. The thing
is huge.
He notices that the ring with the purest light is the one closest to the Point because,
Dante believes, the closest ring is the most similarof all the ringsto the Point
itself.
Dante is perplexed by what this is. Beatrice comes to the rescue. She explains that
all of Nature depends on this thing. She further explains that the first ring spins the
fastest because it has the most desire for God.

Dante thinks for a moment, then says if the actual universe were like this, he would
be happy (because Earth as the smallest "ring" would be the purest and closest to
God). So why isn't the universe like this model?
Beatrice smiles knowingly and says, it's okay that you don't understand Dante; no
one has ever tried before. So let me explain: in the material universe, the
blessedness of a material object depends on how much power it has. In matter,
greater power corresponds to greater size. So the bigger an object is, the more
power it has, and the more blessed it is. This is why this sphere of the Primum
Mobileas the biggest sphereis closest to God.
But in this model, where each ring represents an Angelic Intelligence (which is
decidedly not material), only power matters. Thus, the one with the most power
moves closest to God. When matching this model to the material universe, one sees
that the angel with the greatest power and who is closest to God matches the
sphere with the greatest power (the Primum Mobile) but yet is the farthest from
God. It's what your math teachers would call an inverse relationship.
To illustrate his understanding, Dante compares the dawning of his comprehension
to the north wind, Boreas, blowing away clouds from the sky and making it clear.
After Beatrice finishes talking, each of the nine rings grows brighter, their individual
sparks all shining brilliantly and Dante can hear their voices singing a hymn towards
the fixed Point in the center.
Beatrice speaks again, naming each of the rings for Dante's benefit. From the center
outwards, the first ring contains the Seraphim, then the Cherubim, Thrones,
Dominions, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels, and Angels.
Beatrice goes on to say that Dionysius, a scholar, was famous for making this
hierarchy known to mortals. Later, a certain Gregory came and disputed Dionysius's
findings. But when Gregory died and came to Heaven, he saw he was wrong.
Finally, she tells Dante that it shouldn't surprise him that man knows this heavenly
secret because its source was St. Peter himself, who saw it and himself served as
Dionysius' source.

for just a moment, Beatrice falls silent as Dante observes the model.
Then she speaks, answering all Dante's questions before he can even ask them. She
tells him the Creation story. She is qualified to tell such a story, she claims, because
she has observed the Mind of God.

According to Beatrice, God didn't create the universe so that he could acquire more
goodness, but only to see Himself reflected in His creation. The Creation was an
outpouring of God's love and also the beginning of time.
Beatrice continues on, saying that God created three substances first: pure form,
pure matter, and a combination of the two; these all flashed into existence
spontaneously and simultaneously, in a burst of light. They were divided up into an
ordered hierarchy with pure act (or angels) at the top and pure potentiality (matter)
at the bottom, and the combination of the two in between.
Now St. Jerome, Beatrice deviates, claimed that the Angels were created long before
the universe, but he is wrong. The story she tells is the truth, and it is supported by
Scripture. Reason, too, supports her claim, because if the angels were created solely
to move the heavens, then they would have had no purpose if they'd been created
long before the universe.
Back to the story. Very soon after the Creation, a number of angels, led by Lucifer,
revolted against God, and were thrown down to the Erath, the lowest of the
Spheres. The remainder of the angels rejoiced and then began their tasks of
keeping the universe in motion.
So, Lucifer fell because of his pride, while the rest of the angels, content in the
knowledge that God had a purpose for them, remained patient and loyal. God
rewarded them later with the knowledge to move the universe and with his grace,
so that their wills remain intact. They have perfect vision of God and thus, their will
is always in conformity with His.
Beatrice offers to explain some more, since the teachings down on earth are
ambiguous. These angels, because they love God so perfectly, never turn their
faces away from His face. They constantly gaze at perfection, so they have no need
of memory, unlike humans.
Then Beatrice turns this lesson into a diatribe against teachers and preachers who
are too proud of their own genius to look for truth and divinity. She blasts
philosophers who care more for show than truth and thus lead the field astray. She
lambastes those who deliberately pervert the meaning the Holy Scriptures, filling
people's minds with nonsense while the true Gospels remain silent.
One of the more popular of these intellectual inventions is the idea that the eclipse
which brought darkness to the world was a specifically engineered lunar eclipse.
Beatrice scornfully denies this, saying that it wasn't just dark in Jerusalem, but all
around the world.
Many people, Beatrice says, believe false stories like this, but being unaware of
their falseness does not excuse them from sin. According to Beatrice, Christ did tell
his followers to go forth and preach false stories, but only gave them true teaching

to act as their weapons. But now people preach with "jests and jeers," preaching in
ridiculous cowls, in which the Devil rears his ugly head. All of these lessons allow
the false teachers to swindle people out of their money.
Beatrice cuts herself short and gets back on track. Now for the lesson about the
number of angels, which is short and sweet: there are an infinite number of angels
because they represent the infinite number of ways God can express his love.

Dante takes us back to Earth, where he describes the constellations as seen from
the ground during the sunrise. He takes us through the travel of each star as it gives
way to the dawn.
Only here do we realize that Dante is making a comparison between the
disappearance of stars and the gradual disappearance of the Point from his sight as
he and Beatrice ascend to the Empyrean.
When he can see nothing more of the Point, Dante turns again to Beatrice. Beatrice
is beautiful. So stunning that Dante admits instantaneous defeat; he cannot capture
her beauty in language. In fact, her beauty is so striking that her image won't even
remain in his memory long enough to record it. But enough of that, Dante thinks.
Beatrice speaks, telling Dante that they have reached the highest heaven, one of
pure light, intellect, and love. Here, Dante will find "both ranks of Paradise," the
angels and the blessed souls. Best of all, he'll get to see the Virgin Mary in her
completeness, clothed in both her body and soul.
Dante is suddenly enveloped in the living light of the Empyrean and its effect is like
lightning on man's sight blinding. Dante can see very little in this brilliance.
Beatrice's voice penetrates his light-suffused blindness and tells him that this is the
way the Empyrean welcomes all its souls, to prepare man's soul for the ultimate
light.
Suddenly, Dante realizes he's floating, and with this new sensation he sees a
dazzling sight.
As if he's caught in a beautiful painting, Dante sees a river of reddish-gold light
flowing between two flowered riverbanks. Out of the odd-colored water, sparks are
rising and falling, some settling on the flowers and having the color of rubies set
into gold, others plunging back into the water, as if to drink.

Beatrice's voice comes again. She tells Dante she approves of his desire to see
more of this intoxicating sight, but that firstto slake his thirsthe should drink
from the river. Then she adds that everything Dante is seeingthe rivers, gems,
flowersis but a shadow of its true self. Dante must learn to see better if he wants
to perceive things for what they really are.
So Dante hurries to the river, hoping to drink from it to better his sight. As he
bathes his eyes in the brilliance, the river itself seems to change before his eyes.
It is no longer straight, but round, and all the flowers and gems come into focus;
they are really the two hosts of Heaventhe angels and the blessed saints sitting in
Heaven's court.
Overwhelmed by the sight, Dante prays to God to let him keep the memory of what
he's seeing.
Up above, a huge dome of light illuminates everything below.
As he gazes at it, Dante realizes that he's seeing the endpoint of a single ray of
light, coming from God himself and reflected from the top of the Primum Mobile.
This single ray of God's light powers the entire universe.
And at the top of the dome, which acts as a mirror, Dante sees the entire Celestial
Rose with its hosts reflected, like a pretty hill reflected by a pool at its base.
Then Dante turns his eyes to the Rose itself and reaps the fruit of his perfected
vision. He realizes that he can see everything no matter how near or far away.
Beatrice leads Dante into the rose, which blooms under the endless light of the sun
(which is God). She boasts about how many people there are, how big this city is,
how few seats there are left for the blessed.
Dante notices one empty seat with a crown fixed above it. Beatrice explains that
this seat is saved for Henry VIII of Luxembourg who "shall / show Italy the righteous
waybut when / she is unready."
(Quick history lesson: Henry VIII was the man Dante believed would unite Italy and
take the crown of the Holy Roman Empire to bring peace to Europe. After being
crowned king of Germany and being given papal sanction to come quell the
quarreling factions in Italy, Henry VIII made Dante's hopes soar. But his victory was
short-lived. He could not stop the warring Italian parties. He did eventually gain the
emperor's crown, but was not sanctioned by Pope Clement V and eventually died in
battle.)
Beatrice continues, scolding Italy for driving away Henry, like a starving child who
drives away his nurse. She talks about Pope Clement V's betrayal of Henry and
promises Dante that God will take his vengeance and cast Clement into Hell, where

he will replace Pope Boniface III in the Third Pouch of the Eighth Circle, reserved for
simonists.

Inside the rose Dante sees the host of the blessed spirits.
The other hostconsisting of the angelsswoops around from the light of the God
to the rose itself. As the angels fly, they sing. The angels' wings are gold and they
are dressed in a white paler than snow. When they fly into the rose, they hang out
with the blessed, sharing in the joy. The light from above is never obstructed.
The hosts come from both Old Testament and New Testament stock, and they all
turn their eyes to the sun above, which is a single star containing the threefold light
of God.
The spectacle amazes Dante so much that he compares his wonder at coming from
the mortal to the divine to that of barbarians gazing upon the magnificent city of
Rome.
Indeed, he's so impressed that he's speechless.
All he can do is gape and look at everything, taking in the sights like a pilgrim who
has reached the temple he vowed to reach and is renewing himself. Stupefied,
Dante simply tries to memorize every detail. Everywhere he looks he sees faces
upturned with an expression of utter love.
When he's finally satisfied his first curiosities enough to turn back to Beatrice, he
asks about those things he doubts.
But where Beatrice usually stands, Dante sees an elder, dressed like one of the
blessed. He looks rather fatherly.
Dante asks where Beatrice is.
The elder kindly answers that Beatrice sent him down to Dante to help him on the
final leg of his journey. She, he says, has taken her rightful place in the rosein the
third from highest tier of thrones.
Still not speaking, Dante looks up to find her and, although he is very far from her
seat, he sees every detail of her shining face.
He prays to her fervently, saying that he recognizes her for all she's donecoming
down into Hell for himand thanks her. He then begs for her generosity to continue,
so that when he dies, his soul will be welcome to her.

In response to his prayer, Beatrice only smiles, acknowledging him, before turning
her eyes back to God above.
The elder tells Dante that he should look around this garden because it will improve
his sight in preparation for God's own light.
He identifies as a devotee of the Virgin Mary and introduces himself as Bernard.
Dante's so awestruck to meet the famous St. Bernard that he feels like a heathen
who sees for the first time the miracle of Veronica.
But Bernard turns Dante's attention back to the rose, telling him not just to look at
the base but higher up, at each row, in the corners, and finally at the Queen of
Heaven herself, Mary.
Dante obeys. As his eyes travel up the Rose, he discovers one spot brighter than the
restjust like the sun in the sky. This spot has one brilliant bit in the center, which
Dante calls an oriflamme.
Around this flame, thousands of angels circle, singing.
Mary herself, in the center, is so lovely that when she smiles at the angels sporting
around her, Dante is at a loss for words.
As he gazes in admiration, Dante notices Bernard too looking upon Mary with eyes
of utter adoration. His enthusiasm is contagious and makes Dante look at her even
more ardently.

Even though Bernard is in rapture gazing at his beloved Mary, he does not forget his
duty of teaching Dante. He speaks.
St. Bernard lists a few of the names sitting in the Rose. Beginning with Mary (who
closed the wound of original sin which Eve opened), he continues to Eve (kneeling
at Mary's feet), then Rachel and Beatrice in the third rank, then Sarah, Rebecca,
Judith, and Ruth.
Underneath these women, from the seventh rank down, Hebrew women fill the rest
of the seats forming the vertical radius of the rose.
This radius divides the rose in half. On the left side, in which all the seats are filled,
sit all the souls who believed in Christ before he came. The right side, which still has
a few empty seats, is reserved for those who believed in Christ after he came.

On the other side, opposite from Eve, sits St. John the Baptist. Below him sit St.
Francis, St. Benedict, and Augustine.
Going further down, Dante sees another major partition in the rose. In the entire
bottom half sit rank upon rank of childrensaved for their innocence.
Here, Dante's mind forms a doubt, which St. Bernard immediately catches, but he
urges Dante to be silent and just listen. Dante's doubt concerns the ranking of the
children. He wonders how innocent childrenwith no power over their own free will
can be ranked differently?
Bernard explains that nobody in this kingdom finds his or her place by chance; God
has reasons for ranking the children as He does, but human minds cannot
comprehend the rationale. We must be content with that. Bernard cites the twins
Jacob and Esau as proof of God's inscrutable reason; God assigned at His pleasure
different hair colors to each child.
Regarding the children, Bernard tells Dante that in the early days, a child's
innocence guaranteed his salvation, but that after Christ, a child had to be baptized
and circumcised (in the case of boys); otherwise he would be sent to reside in the
Limbo portion of Hell.
Now Bernard tells Dante to look upon Mary, whose face is most like Christ's. Dante
obeys.
All around her fly angels. The same angel who knelt before her in an earlier canto
then hovers before her and sings the "Ave Maria." Inspired, both hosts join in the
hymn, their faces growing ever more joyful.
Dante asks Bernard the identity of the angel who seems to flame in front of Mary.
The saint responds that this is the angel who carried news of Mary's pregnancy
down to her: Gabriel.
Then he continues his lesson, drawing Dante's attention to the occupants of the
seats above, whom he calls the "roots of this Rose." On the left is Adam; on the right
is St. Peter; to the right of St. Peter is St. John the Evangelist; to Adam's left sits
Moses; Anna (mother of Mary) sits opposite Peter. Finally, opposite Adam, sits Lucia.
Now St. Bernard decides time is running out and that they'll stop and try to turn
their eyes toward God. But to do that, they must go through Mary.
So St. Bernard turns to Mary and begins praying to her on Dante's behalf.

Bernard's eloquent prayer to Mary first praises her for allowing mankind to redeem
itself through her son, Christ. Her love was the foundation on which the rose was
built. To the souls here, Mary is the torch of charity, and to the mortals below, she is
hope.
Bernard then appeals to her compassion, saying that those who would advance
even higher than this point may not make it far without her loving-kindness. She is
known for helping all those who beseech her, as well as many who have not yet
done so. This man, Dante, who has come through all the Divine Realms, begs to
receive enough virtue to rise even further and see the face of God. St. Bernard also
asks that Dante remember what he saw to help him in his poetic mission.
Suddenly the entire host of Heaven joins in the prayer, including Beatrice.
The Virgin Mary gazes down on Dante with approving eyes, then raises them to the
Light above.
Bernard, smiling, signals for Dante to look up as well. Dante is way ahead of the
game, his face ardently upturned and his vision improving with every second that
passes.
Everything he sees from this point, however, is too great for words and even his
memory fails him when he thinks of it. He only remembers it as if in a dream, can
recall only the sweetness of the memory. He compares his loss of language to the
mischievous wind which carried away the leaves on which the prophetess Sibyl
wrote (in the Aeneid).
Now, Dante prays to God to please allow him to remember some glimmer of what
he saw as he looked into the light. He begs for the memory so that he can convey
its glory in his poetry and help bring people of the future to Heaven.
The Light which Dante sees is so bright that he is afraid if he turns away from it, he
will lose his path.
In the Light, he fancies seeing an image: a book, bound by love, which lists and
categorizes all the scattered information in the universe.
Dante's memory about this experience is so dim that he argues the twenty-five
centuries since the Argonauts' journey has never produced as much forgetfulness.
The Light is so beautiful and perfect that Dante never wants to look away from it;
anything else seen after this would seem defective.
From here on, Dante claims, his memory is so feeble that his words must be as
weak as those of an infant at his mother's breast.

Even as he gazes at God, the image alters. Three circles appear, each in three
different colors, but all the same size. The second circle reflects the first, and third
circle is fiery with the love exuded by the first two.
After a little while, Dante notices, the second circle "within itself and colored like
itself, / to me seemed painted with our effigy." Wait, seeing a figure the same color
as its surroundings? That's not possible, right?
Dante agrees and tries to figure out how this can be, but his efforts are futile.
When Dante finds he cannot solve the mystery of the Incarnation on his own, he
sees a flash of light, and suddenly he gets his wish. He understands; but we are not
allowed this final solution because with this ultimate burst of God's love, Dante's
memory disappears, and he is conscious of nothing but his free will, at long last in
complete harmony with God's will.

PARADISO THEME

LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION

Unlike language in the first two cantiche, Paradiso focuses more on the inadequacy
of language in expressing God and his blessed. Most of what Dante encounters
cannot be adequately described in words. Part of this has to do with language's
function in relation to memory. Anything that can be said or written down can
technically be memorized.

What cannot be put to memory (i.e., a lot of what Dante experiences in Heaven),
cannot be put to paper. The issue of plain speech versus elaborate and highly
metaphorical speech comes into play, further complicated by the fact that this text
is in the form of poetry. Finally, Dante plays with language, using various puns,
metaphors, and anagrams.

LOVE

In Dante's Christian universe, every motionfrom the petty choices of humans to

the cosmic revolutions of the starsis motivated by love. Thus love for God gives
the entire universe its proper order, for everything moves in accord with God's will.

Appropriately, then, God's love is represented as light, which grows ever brighter
the closer to Heaven one gets. Charity is the best and most selfless kind of love,
most sanctioned by God. Finally, providence is a special brand of divine mercy or
compassion that allows for seeming deviations in God's plan but ultimately has
mankind's well-being at heart.

RULES AND ORDER

Christian theology claims that the universe is very strictly ordered because it
reflects the mind of God, its creator. Every action and movementfrom the smallest
of human acts to the enormous orbits of the starsis motivated by the desire for
God.

Those things nearest God, like the highest heavens and the most perfect angels,
move the fastest (with proper desire) and possess a nature most similar to His.
Sentient creatures differ from non-sentient objects in that they possess their own
will and are created directly by God, whereas objects are created by lesser beings.

FAITH
In Heaven, one must simply come to terms with the fact that mortals cannot
understand everything they see. For Dante, this means trusting to faith. The
empirical logic, based on the senses, by which Dante has reasoned so far, does not
get him far in Heaven.

One miracle that must constantly be taken on faith is that two bodies can occupy
one space, a prelude for the mystery of the Incarnationthat Christ can
simultaneously be man and God. Finally, Dante defines faith as both a "substance
for things we hope for" and "evidence of things not seen." The Scriptural source is
faith in the Holy Ghost.

FATE AND FREE WILL

The difference between the free will of the blessed and that of other men is that the
blessed have aligned their free will with God's, which is Fate. Thus, they are content
wherever God places them because God's will is equivalent to Divine Justice.

Another way of saying this is that the blessed have yielded to absolute will, which
always acts for justice, and have purged all their contingent wills, which act for
lesser things. The blessed therefore see their free will as "His most prized gift" to
mankind. Vows, then, represent a surrender of one's free will to God and mean that
one has placed himself at the hands of God's will.

SPIRITUALITY

In Dante's vision of Heaven, souls do not resemble material bodies, as they do in

Hell or Purgatory, but are depicted as rays of light. These lights grow ever brighter
the higher up one ascends, because the closer one is to God, the more one reflects
His light of love, shining down from the Empyrean.

Mortals cannot gaze on the souls past a certain point (for Dante, it is in the Seventh
Heaven of Saturn) without being blinded as a result. On Judgment Day, the blessed
souls will wear their physical bodies again and shine all the brighter for being
complete and for meriting more of God's grace. Finally, these souls sometimes form
holy symbols in the sky with their light.

EDUCATION

Perspective is the most important element to possess in the act of learning. It allows
one to see things as they truly are, and to perceive their big-picture significance. In
a Christian context, the only way to improve one's sight is to make oneself more
virtuous; this increases the grace that God bestows upon one.

Once somebody's vision improves, he merits more of God's love. But keen vision
must be combined with prudent judgment, based on distinguishing right from

wrong. Those with proper judgment are concerned with practical and moral lessons,
not just intellectual conundrums.

POLITICS

The biggest connection one can draw between Divine Justice and the human legal
system is that the relationship between the people and the governing body is much
the same. The citizens and the state (or God) enter into a mutually agreed upon
contract (or covenant), by which the one body consents to be ruled by the other,
with some conditions.

Among these conditions are laws (or God's will). Those who adhere to the laws are
considered good citizens; those who violate those laws are subject to punishment.
Thus, one may view God's will as law; those who learn to conform to it become the
blessed, worthy of Heaven.

TIME

According to Dante, time is a bad thing for mortals. Paradiso claims that since God
created the universe and time itself, and nothing can be more perfect than what He
creates, then the passing of time can only bring corruption.

Man cannot hope to maintain the perfection of what God created at the beginning of
time. This is why Dante sees ancient Florence as morally superior to his
contemporary Florence. In Dante's vision of Heaven, there is no time. Heaven, like
God, is immortal.
ART AND CULTURE

The act of creation in Paradiso is seen as a work of art. Artistic pieceslike the
Cross, Eagle, Rose, music of the spheres, and the universe itselfare meticulously
crafted and ordered, each piece rife with meaning. God, according to Dante, is the
ultimate artist, and can create beings almost as perfect and eternal as Himself.

Any other act of creation (like those of the created powersthe Angelic
Intelligences) pales in comparison. All art in Paradiso celebrates the Christian God.
The most frequently recurring image is that of multiple individual souls singing in
unison to form a single song full of rich harmonies.