The Divine Comedy: Part 3
Origin and structure of the poem and something of the sources that Dante drew on: Virgil, Saint Paul, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and with a passing reference to Plato and Saint Augustine
Recently we had a discussion here about the impact of the Kindle: as to whether or not its arrival heralds the death of books; and I am happy to tell you that the result was two to one against. But if you care to argue that the death of books has arrived, The Divine Comedy would be a good place to start.
In my copy, of the 741 numbered pages, there are 234 pages of notes; so, as they would say on celebrity TV, "I can now reveal, that, - - - the poem is, - - - - - - 452 pages long." From these numbers you will know, that The Divine Comedy is not for the faint-hearted; but that doesn't make it inevitable that we should feel excluded, or, that we have to have some exceptional literary skills to gain some appreciation of it.
As is the case with any great work of literature, we can, if we wish, begin by taking Dante's Comedy in small doses, focusing on those areas that interest us. In my own case and in the context of these blogs, my primary interest is in the human and spiritual aspects of the story, while at the same time wanting to acknowledge, as is conveyed in Harold Bloom's essay The Strangeness of Dante Ulysses and Beatrice, that there is a vigorous debate as to what the poem is actually about. As to whether or not, (in the context of literary criticism), the poem holds up as being what most people suppose it to be, an account of the journey of the soul to God, or, because of the extent to which Dante defies the conventions associated with such literature, it is about something else: a case of Dante promoting Dante. As represented by Harold Bloom, it is a serious and intriguing debate, but one that has to be passed over, as a luxury, at my time of life.
The Structure of the Poem
To begin with, the story of Dante's journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, is told in the first person, with Dante at times, breaking off from his narrative to address the reader directly; an informality that is as deliberate as the rest of the poem is structured; a case in point being, Dante's cosmology, or preoccupation with the heavens.
In Medieval thought, astronomy and philosophy were closely allied, with the heavens evoking a sense of wonder and perceived to be a manifestation of the Divine. So in terms of understanding the significance of Dante's cosmology, it is worth noting how it is structured within the poem. Each of the three Cantata (sections), begin and end with reference to the heavens; (or as commentaries seem especially keen to note), how the last line in each of the Cantata's ends with a reference to "stars". But Dante also uses the heavens to indicate time and place within the poem. As when, having passed through Hell and emerged, (on Easter Sunday) on the shore of the mountain of Purgatory, Dante, facing a daunting climb to Purgatory's narrow entrance, persuades Virgil to rest on an East facing ledge. Gazing at the sun, he is perplexed and turns to Virgil for advice, for he has noticed that the sun is moving, not to the right, but left to the north, an observation that on reflection, tells him that his arduous journey through Hell, had taken him through the centre of the earth and out into the oceans of the southern hemisphere, to Purgatory, that sits as an island at the opposite point to Jerusalem that is at the centre of the northern hemisphere.
Now if Dante's cosmology, (which I will return to in the context of Paradise), is important, so too is the evidence of an equally purposeful numerical framework to the poem; though it is worth saying, that from a critical point of view, (and possibly a lack of understanding on my part ?), I am not as confident about some of the assertions made, as I am about others. Be that as it may, a few observations on the significance of numbers.
Set in the period of Easter 1300, the poem begins with these words:
Half way along the road we have to go,
I found myself obscured in a great forest,
Bewildered, and I knew I had lost the way.
Based on the biblical idea of longevity, (Psalm 90), this was Dante's way of disclosing his age, that he is 35; though the Psalm does allow for the possibility that as an exception, the strong might live until they are eighty.
Written in the vernacular, Italian, The Divine Comedy is comprised of three cantata, or books, one for each of the themes of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. In total there are a hundred cantos and with some commentaries discounting the first of these, (treating it as a preamble to the poem) they attach significance to the fact that 33 cantos are allocated to each section of the poem; 33 being the age at which Christ died. And though the cantos are uniform, in that they are made up of tercets, (three lines of interconnecting rhyming verse), the length of each canto, (passage or chapter), can vary, as in Canto VI (6) in Hell, where there are 115 lines of poetry, as compared to 155 in Canto XXXIII (33). Of themselves, these numbers don't matter; but what binds or holds the whole process together, is the rhyme scheme.
Attributed to Dante, it is known as terza rima, or, a "third rhyme" scheme and here too, in the context of numbers, the suggestion is that Dante's terza rima is symbolic of the Trinity. Expressed as aba, bcb, cdc, etc,.this code identifies the rhyming scheme, which is, that the rhyme for each succeeding tercet is picked up from the middle line of the tercet that preceded it. So if "aba" represents the first three lines of the poem, the middle line "b" sets the rhyme pattern for lines 4 and 6 and with the middle or 5th line "c" setting the rhyme pattern for the first and third lines, (7 and 9) of the next tercet, and so on until the end. But it is also a feature of terza rima that every canto ends on a single line of poetry.
Now just to make it a little bit more interesting, have a think about this passage and feel free to feel confused.:Why? Because in the translation from Italian into English, the rhyme scheme has been abandoned. I have though added in the rhyming permutation for effect.
When people come away from a game of dice, a
The loser stays on the spot, full of regrets, b
Going over the throws, and is sadder and wiser: a
4 Everybody else goes off with the winner; b
One walks in front, another holds him back c
Another at his side says "Don't forget me": b
7 He does not stop, and listens to this one and that; c
When he holds out his hands to someone, no more pressure; d
And in this way he escapes from the crowd. c
10 This is what I was like in the dense mob, d
Facing first in one direction and then in another; e
And by promises managed to get away. d
Clearly "dice" and "wiser" don't rhyme, any more than do "regrets, "winner" and "me".
Now here is the same portion of the poem Purgatory, (Canto VI (6) 1-12) in Italian, (minus the accents); and even if like me, you have have no knowledge of the language, you cannot but see the rhyming scheme:
1 Quando si parte il gioco de la zara a
colui che perde si riman dolente. b
repetendo le volte, e tristo impara; a
4 con I ' altro se ne va tutta la gente; b
qual va dinanzi, e qual di dietro il prende, c
e qual dallato li si reca a mente; b
7 el non s ' arresta, e questo e quello intende; c
a cui porge la man, piu non fa pressa; d
e cosi da la calca si difende. c
10 Tal era io in quella turba spessa, d
volgendo a loro, e qua e la faccia, e
e promettendo mi sciogliea da essa d
"zara" rhymes with "impara" as does "dolente" with "gente" and "mente".
And something else, in respect of Dante's terza rima, that is not reflected in my Oxford Classics Translation, is the number of syllables in each line. In Dante's original there were eleven, but in this translation, not only has the rhyme scheme gone, but the number of syllables in each line vary, the original idea having been sacrificed in favour of accuracy in representing Dante's Comedy in verse translation.
Now someone who took a different approach to my Oxford Classics, was Dorothy L Sayers, who regrettably died before she had finished her translation. But she did complete the cantos on Hell, and Purgatory, and in doing so, she stuck faithfully to the original terza rima, rhyming scheme. So to that extent, she was faithful to Dante. But this approach has led to her translation being described as "idiosyncratic" (Wikipedia) So here, by way of comparison, are the opening stanzas of the poem, first as translated by Dorothy L Sayers, and then by C. H. Sisson as it appears in the Oxford Classics:
Midway this way of life we're bound upon,
I woke to find myself in a dark wood
Where the right road was wholly lost and gone.
4 Ay me! how hard to speak of it - that rude
And rough and stubborn forest! the mere breath
Of memory stirs the old fear in the blood;
7 It is so bitter, it goes nigh to death;
Yet there I gained such good, that, to convey
The tale, I'll write what else I found therewith.
__________
Half way along the road we have to go,
I found myself obscured in a great forest,
Bewildered, and I knew I had lost the way.
4 It is hard to say just what the forest was like,
How wild and rough it was, how overpowering;
Even to remember it makes me afraid.
7 So bitter it is, death itself is hardly more so;
Yet there was good there, and to make it clear
I will speak of other things that I perceived.
Now though Dorothy Sayers' translation, self-evidently replicates Dante's terza rima, rhyming scheme, there is a subtle, (not so obvious difference). Whereas Dante used what is known as a hendecasyllabic line, (a line of 11 syllables) Sayers reflecting an earlier English adaptation of terza rima, (appears to me) to use pentameter, that adds up to 10 syllables in each line. I say "seems to me" noting that on Wikipedia and referencing Umberto Eco he is quoted as saying that of all the English translations Sayers "does the best in at least partially preserving the hendecasyllables and the rhyme."
And a last thought on the question of translation and representation.
As the Internet is awash with information about The Divine Comedy, don't be surprised if you come across what passes as authoritative versions of the poem translated as prose. One explanation given for this, is, that the translator is solely concerned with focusing on Dante's ideas. Be that as it may, Dante wrote The Divine Comedy in terza rima.
Sources and Influences in The Divine Comedy:
Now as nothing that happens in The Divine Comedy has come about by accident and allowing for the impossibility of discussing the poem in all its aspects, at this point it is worth stopping to consider some of the principal sources and influences that Dante draws on and why.
First among them has to be Virgil, who, as Dante's guide accompanies him through Hell and Purgatory, and there is no mistaking the high regard in which Virgil is held:
79 "Are you indeed that Virgil, are you the spring
Which spreads abroad that wide water of speech?"
When I had spoken, I bowed my head for shame.
82 "You are the honour and light of other poets;
My long study and great love give me strength
Now, as they made me pore over your book.
84 You are my master and indeed my author;
It is from you alone that I have taken
The exact style for which I have been honoured."
Hell. (Canto, 1, 79-86)
As fellow Italians and poets, Virgil and Dante are kindred spirits. But as we will come to appreciate later, it is highly significant that Virgil, (70-19 BC), takes us back to the era of the Roman Empire; and the work that Dante found compelling and drew on when constructing his Comedy, was Virgil's epic poem, Aeneid.
Modelled on Homer's poems Iliad, and Odyssey, the Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan refugee, as he struggles to fulfil his destiny, which is to arrive on the shore of Italy where he will found a new civilization, that in mythological terms, represents the founding of Rome itself. In particular, Aeneas visits Hades to meet the shade (or soul) of his father, so as to learn of future events on his journey, and to have revealed to him, future events in the history of Rome. In this encounter there is a direct parallel with Dante, who, as mentioned in Part 2, met his great-great-grandfather Cacciaguida, in Mars, (that region of Paradise where holy warriors dwell) and who, in terms of his own destiny, was told of his future banishment from Florence. But in the context of the poetic craft, something else is going on that helps Dante to sustain the link between the present and the past.
In The Divine Comedy, Dante is seeking to surpass Virgil, who in his Aeneid, was seeking to surpass Homer, from whom he transposed the character of Aeneas. Dante on the other hand, goes further, for besides Aeneas, he lifts a number of other mythological creatures, and some landmarks, (rivers) from the Aeneid, and re-presents them in his own work: among them Charon, whose unrelenting task is to ferry the souls of the damned gathered on the banks of the Acheron, across the river to Hell; and the grotesque Minos, who, at the entrance to the second circle of Hell, (Hell proper), judges the damned before consigning them according to their sins, to the appropriate circle and form of punishment.
We are first introduced to Aeneas at that point in the poem where Dante is wavering in his resolve to accompany Virgil on the journey; and not withstanding that he is a mythological figure, Dante links Aeneas with St. Paul; but not before he accuses himself of behaving like one who, "shilly-shallies", and whom Virgil in turn, likens to a coward, a condition that as Virgil puts it:
46 Lies like a load on men, and makes them flag
So that they turn back from the fittest task,
Like an animal which mistakes what it looks at.
Hell (Canto II (2) 46-48)
This linking of St. Paul with Aeneas, is more than a case of establishing a link between the present and the past. At the outset it is Dante's way of pointing to the future, to Paradise and to the nature of the claims that he would make in respect of his own spiritual experiences, happenings that he would elevate to those of St. Paul, who, in a vision and transposed to Paradise, saw and heard things, that man was forbidden to speak of:
"I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven - whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows, was caught up into Paradise and saw things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat." (2 Corinthians, 12, 2-4).
But in the broader context of Dante's politics, St. Paul is also a potent symbol of Dante's belief in Virgil's ancient Rome, from which Dante, (without evidence) claimed ancestry: a Rome which he believed was destined to pave the way for Christianity. And in particular, in his time of crisis, his belief in the Holy Roman Empire, and the political autonomy of the city state, as opposed to the over arching claim of the papacy to both temporal and spiritual power.
Now before they can reach Hell, Virgil and Dante have to pass through Limbo, where the souls of the unbaptised and virtuous pagans reside. At its centre is the great castle of the famed, from which Dante will have a panoramic view of the souls gathered there. But before passing into the castle, and without inhibition, (and perhaps, even with a degree of humour), Dante, leaves us in no doubt as to the extent of his poetic ambition. after which, and once inside the castle, we are presented with a litany of what we might loosely call "the great and the good". Among them is Aristotle, who is the source most quoted by Dante after the Bible, and who, in terms of Dante's overriding objective, is inextricably linked to St. Thomas Aquinas. But before getting to that point, let's have a look at how the unabashed Dante represents himself:
79 Meanwhile, I heard a voice: ""Do honour," it said,
To the magnificent poet, for his shade, [Virgil]
Which had departed, is with us once again."
82 And when the voice had stopped and all was quiet,
I saw four immense shadows come towards us:
They had no appearance either of grief or happiness.
85 The good master opened his mouth to speak: [Virgil]
"Observe the one who, sword in hand, comes first,
In front of the three others, as their chief.
88 That is Homer, there is no poet above him;
The next who comes is Horace, the satirist;
Ovid is the third, then last of all comes Lucan.
91 Because they are all poets as I am;
It was our common name the voice called out;
They welcome me, and in that they do well."
94 And so I saw together that excellent school
Of those who are masters of exalted song
Which, like an eagle, flies above the others.
97 When they had talked together a little while,
They turned towards me with signs of recognition;
And my master smiled to see them do so.
100 And then they did me still greater honour;
They took me as a member of their company,
So that I was a sixth [including Virgil] among those great intellects.
Hell. (Canto IV (4) 79-102)
__________
Now moving on to the worlds of philosophy and theology and in terms of the interconnectedness of the relationship between the philosopher Aristotle, (384-322 BC), and St. Thomas Aquinas, (1224-1274), this is a point in the poem where we can usefully go beyond the page, and in doing so it helps us to come to a fuller appreciation of The Divine Comedy in its contemporary setting: a time of change and revolutionary thought and with Dante in the thick of it.
In making the connection between Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, Dante was putting himself at odds with those who drew their inspiration from the metaphysical reasoning's of Plato, (d. 348/347 BC) and Saint Augustine, (354-430 AD) as compared to that of Aristotle and Aquinas, grounded as their reasoning was in the concrete. It is an important distinction, because as we will see, it lead to a difference of view between Augustine and Aquinas as to how they developed their proofs for the existence of God, or put another way, as to their understanding of what is intrinsic in the nature of man. .
For St. Augustine, God's presence in man was innate, or instinctive, hence from his Confessions, we have the words: "You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." For Thomas Aquinas, God was not present in man in that sense..For him, what was innate was man's need to aspire to his highest good, without knowing what that highest good was. But as Aquinas dealt in the concrete he was at one with Aristotle, who, through his observations of the heavens had come to know of the existence of God: of a first cause or mover that of necessity had to be eternal. What Aquinas did, was take Aristotle's reasoned proof for the existence of God, (though ill defined), and link it to the Jewish and Christian scriptures as evidence of God having made himself known to man.
Described by Dante as, "The master of those who know," we first encounter Aristotle in Hell, in the First Circle, Limbo, where he appears at first among a group of shades known for their outstanding intellectual achievement:
130 And, when I raised my eyes a little higher,
I saw the master of knowledge, Aristotle
Sitting there, with a company of philosophers.
133 All looked to him, and they all did him honour:
I saw there, Socrates, as well as Plato,
The two who stood out and were nearest to him;
136 Democritus, who thought the world came by chance,
Diogenes, Anaxagoras and Thales;
Empedocles, Heraclitus, and Zeno;
Hell (Canto 4, 130-138)
And having previously mentioned that Aristotle is the source most quoted by Dante after the Bible, and bearing in mind the tensions that existed between the differing schools of thought, the Platonic-Augustan v Aristotle-Aquinas, it should not come as a surprise to discover that Aristotle maintains a subtle presence within the poem, as here in Paradise, where we are introduced to Charles Martel. Charles was a just ruler, whom Dante had met in Florence in 1294, but who died prematurely at the age of 24. Overjoyed at their reunion, Charles reflects on what might have been, in particular, with regret at the parsimonious rule of his brother Robert; and that in turn prompts Dante to wonder: "How sweet seed can produce something so bitter." (How in this case, such diverging natures can exist within the same family). What follows is Charles' response, which you might want to read a few times, if the phrasing seems difficult:
94 So I to him; and then he to me:
"If I can show you a truth, what you are asking
Will be before you, as now it is at your back.
97 The good which moves and pleases the whole kingdom
Through which you are climbing, makes its providence [the heavens]
A virtue in these immense bodies.
100 And not only are the natures provided for
In that mind which itself is perfection [God]
But provision is made also, for their well-being:
103 So that whatever arrow leaves the bow
It falls ready for a foreseen object,
Like something that is directed to its mark.
106 If it were not so, this heaven where you re travelling
Would bring its effects about in such a manner
That they would be not constructions but ruins;
109 And that could not be, unless the intellects [angels]
Which move the stars were not themselves defective,
The primal intellect too, which had not perfected them. [God]
112 Do you want further light on this truth?" [Charles Martel]
And I, "No, I see it is impossible [Dante]
That nature should tire, where there is need for her."
115 And he again: "Now say, would it not be worse
For a man on earth, if he were not a citizen?"
"Yes," I replied, "no need to explain that."
Paradise (Canto 8, 94-117)
Now what is interesting here in the context of Dante's personal circumstances: his unjust exile from Florence and the political world with which he has to contend, is that through the virtuous Martel, Dante is promoting the teachings of Aristotle. His conclusion, that manifest in the physical universe is an intelligence that created it, and that of necessity has to be greater than the thing itself so as to sustain it, otherwise it would collapse in on itself and so cease to exist, as well as his belief that man, (as represented in the image of the archer), is integral to it, and has a purpose, towards which he is pointed. And very significant is Martel representing man as a social being. If he is to achieve his "highest good," then again, and echoing Aristotle, he needs to be able to live and function as a "citizen," something of which Dante, by his exile, has been deprived, and which is the driving force behind his poetic endeavour.
Well having made the acquaintance of Charles Martel in Venus: that place in Paradise where Ardent Lovers dwell, we have to move on to the Sun before making the acquaintance of Thomas Aquinas: a Dominican priest and one of the foremost thinkers of the Middle Ages, and still very much to the forefront today as a philosopher and theologian. And that being the case, one can't help but wonder what additional impact he might have had on Dante, had their paths crossed. But Dante was nine years old when Aquinas died in 1274, and Dante's own death came just two years before Aquinas was canonized in 1323. And it is Aquinas' link with the philosophy of Aristotle, that has lead to him being variously described as a proponent of "natural theology", "natural reason" and "speculative theology." And as is the case with Aristotle, Aquinas too maintains an unspoken presence in the poem, in respect of everyday concerns: on suicide, on prayer, on pride, and free will, on the nature of religious vows, and in Paradise, on the vexed question of predestination, on angels, and on geometry. And of the various areas that we might look at, where Aquinas has a presence, the most pertinent is that of free will, a subject that Dante deliberately places at the mid point of the poem; and having dealt with the subject at a personal or individual level, he turns his attention to politics; in particular, to the corrupting conflict of interests within the church.
We are in Purgatory, (Canto XVI (16), with Dante and Virgil making their way with difficulty through thick smoke, for they are among those who are atoning for their sins of wrath, when they meet Marco Lombardo. In life, Marco appears to have been of no particular consequence, but none the less, and perhaps on that account, Dante sees fit to use him for this important debate. After some exchanges between them, Dante seeks his advice as to what is wrong with the world, so that on his return to earth, he can warn others; and what follows below, is a portion of what is a lengthy response:
61 "But I beg you to indicate the reason,
So that I see it and point it out to others;
Some say it is in the stars, some, here below." [to natural causes]
64 He first gave a deep sigh, which my grief compressed
Into a sort of "Whew!", then he began:
"Brother, the world is blind, and you are of it.
67 You who are living attribute all causes
To the stars above, as if everything there is
Had of necessity to move with them.
70 If it were so, that would mean the destruction
Of your free will, and it would not be just,
For good to be rewarded, and sinners punished.
73 The stars may initiate your movements;
I do not say all of them, but suppose I should say so,
There is a light to tell good from evil
76 And free will, which, if it makes an effort
Throughout the first battles with the stars,
Will be victorious, if it is well nourished.
79 Free as you are, you are subject to a greater law
And a better nature, and that creates in you
The mind the stars do not have in their charge.
82 So, if the present world is going off course,
The reason is in you, and should be sought there;
And I will tell you truly how the land lies . . . "
Purgatory (Canto XVI (16) 61-84)
__________
Apart from the rejection of astrological determinism in the context of free will, at (lines 67-71) , 73 reflects Aquinas' acceptance, in his great work Summa Theologica, of the fact that man, in terms of his sensitive appetites, might, in the first instance, respond to the heavenly bodies, but that his "intellectual function of will and reason remain essentially unaffected." (Higgins). And what is important about the reinforcement of the point at 76-9, is, that it reflects Dante's support for Aquinas in his own earlier work, De Monarchia, in which he deals with issues pertaining to secular and religious power. And the discussion is ongoing, for we have this from Virgil to Dante, just a few cantos along, at XVIII. (18):
67 "Those who went to the root of things with their reasoning,
Became aware of this innate freedom;
And so left a theory of morals to the world.
70 So, even supposing every love that is kindled
In you, arises out of necessity;
The power to entertain it is in you.
73 This noble virtue is what Beatrice
Understands by freewill; bear it in mind
In case she chooses to speak to you about it."
Purgatory (Canto XVIII (18) 67-75)
Now I could have said much more about Thomas Aquinas, that would have been interesting though not necessarily relevant, but we will be meeting him again in subsequent blogs. But for now, what matters, is Dante's clearly stated belief that the world, is as it is, either because of the choices we have made, or failed to make, at any given time. For him, man's relation to God is individual and therefore personal, and one of accountability, hence; Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.
_______________
© Cormac McCloskey
Note: The next in this series of blogs will appear on Wednesday nest the 29th
The Divine Comedy Part 4 :
Pride, treachery and the inescapable logic of Hell. Purgatory, repentance and the structure and nature of punishment. Hypocrisy and the Wastrel Friars; and some good news. And raw politics: De Monarchia and Unam Sanctam. And the spiritual: Faith and free will.
The sources listed below were referenced, and in most instances, used, in the composition of these blogs:
The Divine Comedy
Translated by C.H. Sisson
Introduction and Notes: David H. Higgins
(Oxford World's Classics)
Oxford University Press (2008)
ISBN: 978-0-19953564-4
Dante: The Divine Comedy
I: Hell
Translated by Dorothy L. Sayers
Penguin Classics (1953) edition
The Complete Danteworlds
A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy
Guy P. Raffa
University of Chicago Press (2009)
ISBN:10: 0-226-70270-7
The De Monarchia Of
Dante Alighieri
Edited With Translation And Notes
by Aurelia Henry (1904)
Printed in Great Britain
by Amazon.co.uk Ltd
Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol's 1,3,7,11,14 and 28
in respect of a variety of related topics (1991 edition)
Vol 14: Aristotle. 28: Thomas Aquinas
Aristotle
A very Short Introduction
by Jonathan Barnes
Oxford University Press (2000)
ISBN: 978-19-285408-7
BBC Radio 4 archive
In Our Time, 17th September 2009
"Melvyn Bragg discusses the life, works and enduring influence of the medieval philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas, with Martin Palmer, John Haldane and Anabel Brett." here
Bloom's Modern Critical Views
Editor, Harold Bloom
Chelsea House Publishers,
Philadelphia U.S.A. (2004)
ISBN: 0-7910--7658-X
The Poetics of Conversion
by John Freccero
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
and London England (1986)
ISBN: 0-674-19225-7 (alk, paper (cloth)
ISBN: 0-674-19226-5 (paper)
Saint Augustine
City of God
Penguin Books 2003
ISBN-13: 978-8-14-044894-8
Evangelii Gaudium
The Joy of the Gospel
Pope Francis
The Word Among Us press 2013
ISBN : 978-1-59325-262-5Penguin Books 2003
ISBN-13: 978-8-14-044894-8
Evangelii Gaudium
The Joy of the Gospel
Pope Francis
The Word Among Us press 2013
(1) Wikipedia unam sanctam
Virgil (40-19BC) Regarded as one of Rome's greatest poets
(2) Wikipedia, for an excellent broad sweep of The Divine Comedy, go here
(3) De Monarchia:
Boo II: XIII In the chapter headed "Christ in dying confirmed the jurisdiction of
the Roman Empire over all humanity" Dante argues the case for the Roman Empire being the lawful authority by which Christ was put to death (lawful, in the sense of being ordained by God) and at XIII.4 he writes "Wherefore let those who pretend they are sons of the Church cease to defame the Roman Empire, to which Christ the Bridegroom gave his sanction both at the beginning and at the close of his warfare. And now I believe, it is sufficiently obvious that the Roman people appropriated the Empire of the world by Right."
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