PARADISE
JUSTICE: from God's point of view.
Believing as I do, that the Divine Comedy is a poem about the journey of the soul to God amid the trials and tribulations of life, a journey whose end is determined by the choices we make, my focus here is on ideas, rather than following exactly, Dante's progress though the heavens.
That said, and in anticipation of the stories that I am going to tell, I am returning briefly to Part 5, to remind us of how Dante distributed the souls among the heavenly bodies. But also, to show how, in some instances, Dante makes the connection between the present and the past, by linking the virtues of particular saints, with Roman mythology. .
Dante's distribution of the saints among the heavenly bodies.
Not forgetting that most of these souls will have spent time in Purgatory atoning for past sins, the Moon is where we find those who were unfaithful to their religious vows; and Mercury, where we meet those who, in life, had sought after fame. On Venus we make the acquaintance of those whose love, (for whatever reason), was misplaced. And unsurprisingly, the Sun is where we find the great luminaries: those saints, such as Thomas Aquinas who were renowned for their wisdom. In Roman mythology Mars was the god of war, and it is in this context that Dante placed there, evangelists: the souls of those, who, in crusading for Christ, had put their lives at risk and in some cases lost it. And again in the context of mythology, as Jupiter was the supreme god of the Roman pantheon and protector of the state and its laws, Dante placed there, souls who, when on earth and in positions of power and influence, had ruled with justice. On Saturn we find the contemplatives, and at the Fixed Stars the Church Triumphant; and among them, the apostles, Peter, James and John, and Adam, the first man created by God. And at the Primum Mobile, the orders of angels.
__________
Divine justice and the story of Piccarda Donati and the Empress Constance.
Now in the context of justice, and what I like to call the affairs of the heart, the story belongs to Piccarda Donati and the Empress Constance. We are on the Moon, at cantos III, IV (4) and V (5). Both women were nuns, who, for political reasons were forced by their respective families to leave their convents and enter into politically expedient marriages. Piccarda, (related by marriage to Dante), had been a “Poor Clare” a companion order of nuns, to that of the monks, (Franciscans) founded by the famed Saint Francis of Assisi. In Piccarda's case, the culprit was her brother Corso Donati, a black Guelph leader, and hence, a political opponent of Dante, of whom it was earlier foretold in The Divine Comedy, that he was destined for Hell. Shortly after her marriage, Piccarda died. Constance, who was married to Henry VI, became the mother of the last truly great Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, who, continually at war with the popes, was excommunicated four times. But though he admired him greatly, as Emperor, and for his cultural achievements, Dante placed Frederick among the heretics in Hell, apparently, (as at least one commentator has suggested), so as to represent him as he would have been perceived by his enemies.
Dante's response to Piccarda and Constance is one of sympathy, but with a sense of injustice. After all, weren't they forced to abandon their consecrated life. So surely, he asks, shouldn't they be in a more exalted place: a higher Heaven. But, accepting some blame in the matter, Piccarda tells Dante that there was something “unfulfilled” in their vows. After which, and quoting from the Confessions, of Saint Augustine, she puts his mind at rest; so that he understands that all the saints, in whichever heaven he finds them, are happy, because they are in the presence of God.
79 "It is indeed the essence of this life
That we keep ourselves within the divine will,
So that our wills may be made one with his:
82 So that, how we are at various thresholds
Throughout this kingdom, pleases the whole kingdom
As it does the king who rouses us to his will
85 And in his will we find our peace: [Saint Augustine]
It is the sea to which everything moves
Which it creates and which nature makes.”
To which, Dante responds:
88 Then it was clear to me how everywhere
In heaven is paradise, although the grace
Of the highest good does not fall on all in one way.
(Paradiso (III:79-90)
But notwithstanding this enlightenment, there are other issues to be resolved. And they are not idle speculations, for in all these encounters, Dante, in juxtaposing the wisdom of man, with the wisdom of God, is defining the true nature of Christian belief.
And Beatrice, aware that Dante is still troubled poses the question that she knows is on his mind:
19 "You reason: “If the will remain good,
How can the violence of another
Diminish the measure of my desert?”
(Paradiso Canto IV (4)
And answers it.
Having explained to Dante that the Moon represents the lowest of the celestial states (l. 39), she has something to say about Piccarda's willingness to accept some blame on her own and Constance's behalf, a view that she expresses in the context of both divine justice and free will:
67 “Our justice, appearing to be unjust
In the eyes of mortals, is a matter for faith:
There is nothing wicked or heretical in that.
70 But, because your intelligence is able
To penetrate this truth as you desire,
I will put your mind at rest.
73 If violence is to be understood
As meaning that the sufferer contributes nothing
To the force that moves him, these souls had not that excuse;
76 For the will does not weaken unless it wants to,
But operates as nature does in a flame
If it is violently twisted a thousand ways.
79 For if it bends itself either much or little,
It gives way to the force, and so did these,
For they could have gone back to the sacred place.
82 If their will had remained inviolate,
Like Lawrence's when he lay upon the grid
Or Mucius, who condemned his own right hand,
85 It would have put them back upon the road
From which they had been dragged, as soon as they were free;
But wills so positive are all too rare.
(Paradiso Canto IV (4): 67-87)
But Dante is still troubled and this prompts another question, (though he readily acknowledges the limits of the intellect, when it comes to comprehending the mind of God). If the essence of religious vows is the surrender of the will to God, he wants to know if it is ever possible to make amends when one has been unfaithful, by offering to God, an action that is greater than the thing itself? In response, Beatrice (who likens the vows to the covenants of the Jewish tradition as in the Old Testament), tells him that the answer is no. A truth, that if we think about it in terms of Dante's concerns, far from being a negative, was profound, in terms of the nature of divine forgiveness.
__________
Justice: Charles Martel, providence v inheritance, and the Divine plan.
Now in terms of ideas, one of the many topics that Dante confronted, (and which still resonates today), was what I like to think of as the question of "fitting square pegs into round holes," but which for Dante was a case of grappling with the thorny issue of providence versus inheritance. And here, inheritance has to do with man's natural endowment, and not with inherited power or wealth as such.
We are in Paradiso canto VIII (8), where we make the acquaintance of Charles Martel, who, somewhat obliquely at first, renews his acquaintance with Dante. The warmth and mutual respect is obvious, even to the point of Charles quoting directly from Dante's poetry: the third and final instance in The Divine Comedy of autocitation. They had met in Florence in 1294, for all of three weeks, so why, we might wonder, given the brevity of the acquaintance did the friendship endure? The answer is almost certainly politics, and the promise, both on account of his character and his family connections, that Charles seemed to represent. Heir to the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Hungary, and the county of Provence, he straddled the political divide, for while his grandfather Charles of Anjou (King of Naples) was a Guelph, his father-in-law Rudolph I of Hungary, was a leader of the Ghibellines. But, whatever hope Dante thought there might have been for a political compromise, came to an abrupt end when in 1295, both Charles and his wife Mary died during an epidemic. He was 24.
So here, in the voice of Charles Martel, is how Dante grapples with the question of providence versus inheritance; or of the failure of society to organize itself, for the better, around its natural, (god given) talents:
139 "Nature always, if she finds a fortune hostile,
Just as she does with any other seed
Out of its region, makes a poor job of it.
142 And if the world down there would give its mind
To the foundation nature herself lays,
And was guided by that, it would have excellent people.
145 But you force into a religious order
Someone who would be better with a sword,
And make a king of someone who should be a preacher
148 No wonder your journey takes you off the road.”
(Paradiso Canto VIII 139-148)
But as this is not where the story began, we need to go back to the fifth tercet of canto VIII, (8) for it is at that point, (when distracted by Beatrice's ever increasing beauty as they near the Empyrean), that Dante becomes aware that they have ascended from Mercury to Venus
What he sees are “divine lights” descending from Empyrean, and what he hears is the singing of “Hosannas” a beautiful sound that he wants to sustain. Then, from within the circle of lights a voice comes towards them saying: “We are all/Ready at your pleasure, for you to rejoice at us.” (32-33) And then, the first hint as to the identity of Charles Martel, when the voice quotes from Dante's own poetry, before telling him that they are so full of love for him, that for a moment they are willing to stop singing and be silent. And after Dante has asked “Who are you?” the next clue comes from the voice telling him of his premature death, of what might have been, of why it is that he remains invisible, and of the love that Dante had for him in the past:
49 “The world had me
For a short time down there; and had it been longer,
Much evil that will happen, would not have happened.
52 My happiness keeps me concealed from you,
For it radiates from me and hides me as if I were
A creature bundled up in its cocoon. .
55 You loved me greatly, and you had good cause;
For if I had been below longer, I would have shown you
More than the mere foliage of love.”
Paradiso. (Canto VIII, 49-57)
Following on from this and in succeeding tercets, the voice makes reference to the places with which he had been associated: the county of Provence, and the southern portion of Italy around Ausonia, Bari, Gaeta and Catona, that correspond to the Kingdom of Naples, Hungary and Sicily; and he laments the conduct of his brother Robert, who, as King of Naples from 1309, instead of learning from the family misfortunes, (as in the loss of Sicily), ruled with avarice; a vice that he acquired in Catalonia, where he had lived for a number of years as a hostage, in exchange for the release of his father. A mistake compounded by his appointing avaricious Catalan friends as officials when he came to power..What Charles Martel describes as, “the greedy poverty/Of Catalonia.” (77-78) After which he reflects on how Robert's nature had changed, “sunk”, “from liberality”.into “meanness” From this, a discussion develops on the nature and purpose of man, hence, providence versus inheritance; and with Dante, on the basis of what he has been told about Robert, asking, in the context of inheritance: "How sweet seed [the noble Martel lineage] can produce something so bitter.” (93)
In summary Charles replies to the effect that, as can be seen in the heavens, there is a divine plan, an order and purpose that comes from the mind of the mover, God. Were it not so, even the heavens through which he is travelling, Dante is told, would be reduced to ruin. And the point about a divine purpose is forcefully made, with the image of the archer finding the target:
103 So that whatever arrow leaves the bow [Aristotle]
It falls ready for a foreseen object,
Like something that is directed to its mark.
After which and in the same context he poses the question:
115 “Now say, would it not be worse
For a man on earth, if he were not a citizen?” [Aristotle]
To which Dante, (the exile), in the last line of this tercet, replies with certitude:
“Yes,” I replied, “no need to explain that.”
(Paradiso. Canto VIII.(8) 103-105, 115-116)
The Divine plan and levels of meaning in the Comedy
Now what we have to remember is, that there is no one single narrative in The Divine Comedy, and this is a case in point, because in these easily understood exchanges, more is going on than is apparent. In referencing the archer, and man's nature as a social being, Dante is endorsing the philosophy of Aristotle, that as we saw previously, was the starting point, upon which, Saint Thomas Aquinas developed his proofs, from reason, for the existence of God. And if further proof were needed as to levels of meaning, it is worth returning to Bloom, and a contribution there by Teodolinda Barolini.
Entitled, Autocitation and Autobiography,Teodolinda Barolini, in passing, touches on the subject of Charles Martel. As compared to Purgatorio where Dante had many friends, Martel, she observes, is the only friend that he has in Paradiso. Why? Because as a pilgrim making his way to God, the emphasis is changing. The focus now, for Dante, is on the dying to self, on the process of letting go, in particular in letting go of the social dimension to which we attach so much importance.
And another truth about the Paradiso is, that the further you advance into it, the more it becomes something of a "Who's Who?" which is why, it is not possible, in these blogs, to include everything. So I have had to decide on where the focus should be. Which is why I am passing over hugely significant portions of the poem, and against all expectations, those cantos that feature Saint Thomas Aquinas, who, along with many other luminaries: "theologians, philosophers and scholars" are to be found in the sphere of the Sun, (cantos X-XIV) (10-15). Instead, and so as to follow on the theme of justice, I am moving on to Jupiter.
That it is beyond the capacity of man to, fully comprehend, the nature of Divine justice.
It is at the mid point of canto XVIII (18) that Dante and Beatrice arrive on Jupiter, and we stay with them there until the end of canto XX. (20). And the long and the short of it is, that by that point we know, for it has been clearly demonstrated, that it is beyond the capacity of man to fully comprehend the nature of divine justice. A truth that is put tellingly in respect of the Trojan hero, Ripheus.
In mythology Ripheus was a just ruler, who was rejected by the Gods. But here and though a pagan, we find him among the redeemed. And though redeemed, even he, as Dante represents him, can not fully comprehend the justice of God..
70 He now knows much of the divine grace
Which the world below is not able to see
Although his sight does not discern the bottom of it.
(Paradiso XX (20)
And from all of this comes a conclusion that I touched on in Part 2, and that is worth repeating, to the effect that for the many reasons revealed to Dante, at this point, neither he, nor we, can know who is actually saved or damned:
133 And you mortals hold yourselves back
From giving judgement; for we, who see God,
do not yet know who all the elect are.
(Paradiso Canto XX)
Now, treating these Cantos as one, and moving back and forward between them, when the spirits first appear in Canto XVIII (18) they resemble birds flying with abandon, and singing joyously. But as soon as they begin to form themselves into individual letter shapes, and appreciating that they are wanting to communicate, Dante makes an impassioned and prayerful appeal to Pegasus (the divine winged horse) to help him convey to the reader what it is that he is seeing:
82 O Pegasus goddess, giver of glory
To the inventive mind, and long life,
Which, with your help, it gives to cities and kingdoms,
85 Inspire me, so that I can set out boldly
their figures, in the manner I have remembered them:
Let your power appear in these brief verses!
(Paradiso Canto XVIII (18)
And what he sees, when the formation of letters is finished, is, "DILIGITE IUSTITIAM QUI JUDICATIS TERRAM." ("Love justice you rulers of the earth [set your mind upon the Lord as is your duty]" (Solomon I.I) After which, more lights (souls), descend singing and settling on the final "M" before rising like sparks from a burning log and taking the shape of the head and neck of an eagle. Later and to a no less astonished Dante's, and though comprised of many souls, the eagle, symbolic of Empire, speaks with one voice in support of justice. And finally, in Canto XX (20) Dante is instructed to focus on the eagles eye, on:
31 "The part of me which sees, and in mortal eagles
Withstands the sun, . . . . . .
Should now be watched with attention."
(Paradiso XX (20)
After which, the six "divine lights", that are associated with the eye, are identified. The one that occupies the centre of the eye, as does the pupil, and the five that are around the circumference of the eyebrow. And as we will see later, such is the selection, that they are intended to point up the fact that a full understanding of the nature of divine justice, is beyond man.
And just as the formation of the eagle was symbolic of Empire, so too was the final "M" (Canto XVIII (18)), as spelled out by the lights. Painted as it was with a lily, (the emblem of both France and Florence), it was symbolic of the "M" in De Monarchia; the treatise in which Dante argued, in opposition to Pope Boniface VIII in Unam sanctam, that the temporal authority as exercised by the Holy Roman Emperor, was lawful, (ordained by God), as was the spiritual authority of the Pope.
Dante's concerns for the Church, and for those souls that predated the Christian era
At this point, we have the first of a number of concerns that Dante has about divine justice. In this instance he is moved to prayer, and his concern is for the Church. And prayer though it is, is is also a criticism of the Church, in particular, of Pope John XXII.
124 O army of heaven, which I contemplate,
Offer a prayer for those who upon earth
Are lead out of course behind a bad example!
127 The custom once was to make war with swords;
But now it is made by taking from one or another
The bread the living father keeps from none.
130 But you who write only to rub out,
Remember that Peter and Paul, who both died,
For the vineyard you spoil, are still alive.
(Paradiso Canto XVIII)
"The bread the living father [God] keeps from none", relates to the use of excommunication as a weapon, (hence a ban from the Mass and from communion), for those who defied the Pope. In particular, and as discussed above, Emperor Edward II; as well as Philip IV of France; and in the case of Pope John XXII against Cangrande della Scala, (Dante's patron), who was Captain-General of the Ghibelline League, in 1318. As for the rubbing out at (l..130), this is to do with the ready lifting of the excommunications once the offending parties had conformed, or been brought to book.
Another of Dante's concerns is for those souls who predated the Christian era; and here, too, as was often the case, Beatrice anticipates Dante's thoughts:
70 For you said: "A man is born upon the banks
Of the Indus, where there is none to tell of Christ
And no one to read or write about him;
73 And all his inclinations and his actions,
As far as human reason sees, are good;
He is without sin in word or deed.
76 He dies unbaptised and without faith:
Where is the justice in condemning him?
Is it his fault, if he does not believe?
(Paradiso. Canto XIX (19))
And tells him, that this would be an interesting speculation if it wasn't for the fact that he has scripture to guide him:
85 O worldly creatures, O you gross minds!
The primal will, [God] which is good in itself,
Is never less than itself, the supreme good.
88 Whatever is in accord with it, is just:
No created good can attract the divine will
Unless by its radiance the divine will so directs it."
Or put another way, because all that is good, is a manifestation of the divine presence, divine justice is available to all.
__________
In some instances those that we come across in the poem, are alluded to, rather than named, and even where they are named, the reference is often oblique: So to fully understand what is going on, we have to seek out explanations; as here in the context of the last judgement and the book of life, (Revelations 20: 11-15): when many kings, Dante is told, will fare less well than ordinary Christians. (106-08) Among the unjust rulers who will be held to account, are Albert I, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor. Philip IV King of France, otherwise known as Philip the Fair, and Edward I (associated with the Scottish wars and execution in 1305 of William Wallace?), and Ferdinand IV King of Castille and Leon, and Wencelaus II of Bohemia, Charles II of Anjou and Provence, and King of Naples, and Frederick II of the Royal house of Aragon, and King of Sicily, and his brother James II King of Aragon; and Diniz and Haakon V, kings of Portugal and Norway respectively.and Stephen Urosh II, King of Rascia (old Serbia).
And in this listing, the strength of Dante's feelings against unjust rulers is conveyed by the use of an acrostic, (Canto XIX (19), that is not as apparent in translation as it is in Italian. As David H. Higgins explains in his notes, Dante's listing is presented in three groups of three tercets, with the first letter taken from each set, spelling out the word "LVE" i.e. "LUE" meaning "pestilence." In English it is apparent that Dante is reinforcing or making a point, but not to that extent,.for the phrases that are repeated appear only in two sets of three. They are: "There will be seen . . .", and "Soon also . . ." And though the acrostic does not correspond exactly with the original, sufficient of these rulers, misdeeds, stand out: "pride", "lechery and soft living", "avarice and baseness."
In terms of associated material, the last of these cantos XX (20), is no less dense; and the point is reinforced, that it is not in man's gift to comprehend the mind of God. As for the six lights associated with the Eagle's eye, (on which Dante was told to focus), were the most outstanding examples of justice. And again, any narrow view of divine justice, is cast aside, in favour of a divine justice that is even-handed. Two of these lights are from the Old Testament, (the Hebrew Bible): King David and Hezekiah, and two: Ripheus and Trajan, "Who consoled the widow for the loss of her son;" were pagans; and the final pair, the Emperor Constantine and William II of Hauteville, King of Naples and Sicily, were Christian. And it is King David, who danced before the Ark of the Covenant as it was brought to Jerusalem, and to whom many of the Psalms have been attributed, and who is listed in in the genealogy of Saint Matthew's Gospel, as an ancestor of Christ, who is placed at the centre of the eye. And especially interesting is the inclusion of Hezekiah King of Judah, of whom Dante has this to say:
49 The next one along the circumference [of the eye]
Of which I am speaking, on the upper arch
Put off his death by true penitence:
52 He now knows that the eternal judgement
Is not altered, when a deserving prayer
Defers till tomorrow, what was to have been today.
(Paradiso Canto XX 20))
What is interesting about Hezekiah, is that when Isaiah came to visit him when he was, ill and told him that he would die, (2 Kings 20:1-6) and had left, he was told by God to return and tell Hezekiah, (who had prayed and wept bitterly, and reminded God of how he had ruled justly), that his prayer had been heard and that his life would be extended by fifteen years. And what is exceptional about Dante placing the Trojan Ripheus, a pagan, who had lived long before the advent of Christianity on the eye, as a model of the just ruler, is that in doing so he was feeding into a debate on the subject of predestination, that was ongoing in his day. For it was believed that Ripheus had been redeemed, (saved) in the Harrowing of Hell.
Justice: in summary
In conclusion, and in the context of Paradiso, and in the case of Piccarda and Constance, we have seen the application of divine justice to the individual, and of how, [allied as it is to mercy], it is separate, and therefore not dependent on the capacity of the soul to make amends that are adequate. And in Charles Martel, and in the context of the wider society, indirectly, we are reminded of the Gospel parable of the talents, and the consequences for society, and the divine plan, if they are misused. And in the heavens, through Dante's encounters, we have been made aware of the futility of attempting to comprehend the mind of God; or of speculating, about those things over which we have no control: who will be saved and who will be damned. Or, as to the fate of those souls who predated the Christian era. In effect, we are being reminded of the folly of shaping the mind of God, according to our own flawed standards. A grave mistake. And a truth powerfully expressed in these words previously quoted, but worth repeating.
85 O worldly creatures, O you gross minds!
The primal will, which is good in itself,
Is never less than itself, the supreme good:
____________
© Cormac McCloskey
Above the gate at Auschwitz, the slogan: "Work is Freedom". Photograph taken by me in 2005.
The last in this series of blogs The Divine Comedy Part 8 will be published on Wednesday next 26 February 2014 on:
Dante's interrogation: by Peter, James and John, on the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the role assigned to him. And Dante's Amen.
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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