The Divine Comedy

by Dante Alighieri

that he demanded accounting of this just soul

  whose management had returned him twelve for ten.

  For this he wandered, aged, poor, and bent,

  into the world again; and could the world

  know what was in his heart that road he went

  begging his life by crusts from door to door,

  much as it praises him now, it would praise him more.

  NOTES

  General Note: THE FIGURE OF JUSTINIAN. The glowing spirit identifies itself as the soul of Justinian (482-565) who became Emperor of Rome in 527.

  He emerges, in his own account, as a luminous and magnanimous spirit. A Christian, he subscribed to the Monophysitic Heresy, which accepted the divine nature of Christ but rejected his incarnation in mortal flesh. From this heresy he was converted by Agapetus (Pope from 535-536). As soon as he was converted, God’s grace moved him to his great task of codifying the Roman Law, and to that work he gave himself wholly, leaving the conduct of his armies (which he had led with great success) to his general, Belisarius. So Dante sees him.

  Another reading of history might have suggested several pits of Hell that might have claimed Justinian. Dante seems not to have known of the tyrannies of Justinian’s reign, nor that the Justinian codification was the work of Tribonius, undertaken by him on Imperial command.

  Whatever one’s reading of history, one should note as part of Dante’s structure that in Inferno VI he summarizes the condition of Florence, in Purgatorio VI the state of Italy, and here in Paradiso VI, the history of the Roman Empire.

  1-3. turned the eagle’s wing: The Imperial Eagle, standard and symbol of Rome. In 330 Constantine moved the seat of Empire to Byzantium. Thus the Roman Eagle flew east “against the course of Heaven,” which turns from east to west, but also against the will of heaven, for Dante believed God had decreed Rome to be the seat of His Church and the Roman Empire to be its earthly arm.

  He also believed that Constantine moved the seat of empire to Byzantium in order to give Rome to the church. This gift was the “Donation of Constantine” (see Inferno, XIX, 109-111 note) whereby the Church (as Dante believed) grew rich and corrupt, hence, once more “against the course of Heaven.”

  The “new son of the Latian king” was Aeneas. He came from Troy (with the course of heaven), married Lavinia, daughter of the Latian king, and founded the line of the Roman Empire.

  4. two hundred years and more: Byzantium became the imperial seat in 330. Justinian became emperor in 527. Thus the Eagle had stayed at Europe’s furthest edge for 197 years before it came to Justinian’s hand. Some commentators argue that Dante meant the period from 330 to Justinian’s military conquests in the east in 536. Such a reading brings the period to 206 years, justifying Dante’s “two hundred years and more.” It seems simpler, however, to assume that Dante made a mistake in his dates.

  6. close to the mountains out of which it rose: The Trojan mountains. They are not far from Byzantium on a continental scale.

  10-12. Caesar I was: On earth. But now only the name given him at the baptismal font is valid. which I now feel: May be taken to mean “now I am in Heaven” but the primary interpretation must be “now since my conversion.”

  19-20. as clearly as you see, etc.: As a first principle of logic, a statement that contradicts itself contains both truth and falsehood. Of two contradictory terms only one can be true and the other must be false. Dante uses it here as an example of what is self-evidently true to human intellect. In Justinian’s present state (informed by divine revelation) the duality of Christ’s nature is as clear to him as is the nature of a logical contradiction to mortal intellect. (See also II, 45.)

  25. Belisarius: Justinian’s famous general was born 505, died 565. His successful campaigns against the Ostrogoths restored most of the Empire’s authority over Italy. Dante seems not to have known that Justinian, in 562, in one of the endless intrigues of the Byzantine court, stripped “his” Belisarius of rank and had him imprisoned—an arrangement that became nearly standard as the Roman soldier’s pension plan.

  31-33. DENUNCIATION OF THE GUELPHS AND GHIBELLINES. Dante has asked to know (V, 126-127) the spirit’s identity and why he was in the Sphere of Mercury. Lines 1-27 answer Dante’s first question, but the nature of that reply moves Justinian to add a denunciation of both the Guelphs and the Ghibellines for opposing the true purposes of the Holy Roman Empire, whose history (and divine right) he then recounts. with how much right: None at all. the sacred standard: The Imperial Eagle. when they plot its subornation: The Ghibellines; they sought to suborn imperial authority to their own ends. or its overthrow: The Guelphs; they sought to end imperial authority and leave matters in the hands of local lords.

  36. Pallas: Son of Evander, a Greek who had founded a kingdom on the present site of Rome. Evander joined Aeneas in fighting Turnus, king of the Rutulians. In the fighting Pallas was killed by Turnus. As a result of his victory, Aeneas acquired a kingdom that included the hereditary rights of Pallas. Thus Pallas died to give the Eagle its first kingly state. Or so at least runs the Virgilian version followed by Dante.

  THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EAGLE:

  37-39. Following his victory over Turnus, Aeneas established his seat at Lavinium. His son, Ascanius, moved it from there to Alba Longa, called the Mother of Rome. There the Eagle remained until in the seventh century B.C. the Curiatii (the three heroes of Alba) were vanquished by the three Horatii of Rome.

  40-42. Expelled from Alba, Romulus established a base in Rome on the Palatine and recruited a band of raiders who carried out the raid on the Sabines (the often-painted Rape of the Sabine Women) in order to get wives. From this robber settlement grew the kingdom of Rome. Through a succession of seven kings it raided and looted its neighbors until Sextus, son of Tarquinius Superbus (the last of the Roman kings), violated Lucretia. When she died as a result of his attack, the people rose in anger, overthrew the king, and founded the Republic of Rome, in 510 B.C.

  43-45. During the Republic, the Eagle was carried to many triumphs by Chosen Romans. Condensing almost three full centuries of history into nine lines, Dante cites the defeat of Brennus and his Gauls (circa 390 B.C.) and of Pyrrhus and his Greek invaders (280 B.C.).

  46-48. From the Republican victories was born the fame of Torquatus (Titus Manlius Torquatus) who defeated (among others) the Gauls. In these battles one of the Fabii also distinguished himself. As did Lucius Quintius, called Cincinnatus because of an unruly lock of hair (from Latin cincinnus, a curl). The story of how he left the plow to become dictator of Rome and to conquer the Aquians in 485 B.C. is well known to schoolboys. Three generations of the Decii died in battle from 340 to 280 B.C., the last of these engagements being the defeat of the Greeks under Pyrrhus. And in 218 B.C. Quintus Fabius Maximus, the most notable of the Fabii, defeated Hannibal (see below).

  Justinian recites these names and says he rejoices in anointing their fame with myrrh. (Myrrh was used by the ancients in embalming, as a means of preserving the body.) Note that Justinian, though on earth he was ambitious for his own glory, now rejoices in citing the glory of others.

  49-51. It (the Eagle) defeated Hannibal in 218 B.C. Dante follows the custom of his times in referring to all inhabitants of north Africa as Arabs. The Po, here apostrophized, rises from the Alps.

  52-54. Bracketing Scipio and Pompey, Justinian leaps from 218 to 81 B.C. In 218 Scipio Africanus, then seventeen, saved his father’s life in battle against Hannibal at Ticinus. At twenty he defeated Hannibal’s forces in Spain. And at thirty-three, by his successful invasion of Africa, brought about the destruction of Hannibal and of Carthage.

  Pompey’s first great victory (over Marius in 81 B.C.) occurred when he was twenty-five.

  “The mountain that looked down on your [Dante’s] birth” is Fiesole, and at Fiesole, according to Roman legend, the Eagle of the Republic overthrew Catiline.

  55-60. These two tercets refer to the coming of Julius Caesar (born 102 or 100 B.C.; assassinated March 15, 44 B.C.) an
d to the Gallic Wars. In Dante’s view of the Empire as the seat God had chosen for His Church, Caesar was serving Heaven’s plan in laying the foundation of Empire, for the Empire would bring the whole world into the harmony that would arise from unification under a single imperial rule.

  Lines 58-60 describe the territory of the Gallic Wars (58-50 B.C.).

  61-66. The Rubicon flows between Ravenna and Rimini. In Caesar’s time it marked the boundary between Italy and Gaul. In crossing it (January 11, 49 B.C.), Caesar left his province without permission of the senate, thus precipitating civil war.

  64-66. Before the year was out Caesar struck Ilerda in Spain, defeating Pompey’s lieutenants. (Note that in this case the Eagle is striking against the Eagle, for Pompey’s cohorts also carried the Roman standard.) In the next year Caesar laid siege to Pompey in Dyrrachium (modern Durres in Albania), broke off, and then engaged Pompey again at Pharsalus in Thessaly (August 9, 48 B.C.), this time winning a great victory. even the hot Nile felt the pain: Because Pompey fled to Egypt and was killed there by Ptolemy.

  67-69. Antandros is a coastal town near Troy. The Simoïs is a nearby river. Aeneas sailed from Antandros when he brought the Eagle to Italy. After Pompey’s death, Caesar visited Troy. Thus the Eagle saw its homeland again. From Troy (“woe to Ptolemy”) Caesar moved to Egypt, defeated Ptolemy, and gave Egypt to Cleopatra.

  70-72. Led by Caesar, the Eagle next overthrew Juba, king of Numidia (46 B.C.) under whom fourteen republican legions had formed. In the next year he struck again at Spain (“on your West”) where Pompey’s two sons had gathered a new army.

  73-78. Augustus, Caesar’s nephew, was “its next great chief.” After Caesar’s murder led by Cassius and Brutus, Augustus became the standard-bearer. He defeated Marc Antony at Modena in 43 B.C., then formed an alliance with him, and the two together finished Brutus and Cassius at Philippi in 42 B.C. In 41 B.C. Augustus defeated Marc Antony’s brother Lucius at Perugia. And in 31 B.C. Augustus defeated Marc Antony at Actium. Antony committed suicide soon after his defeat, and Cleopatra did the same when she heard the news.

  79-81. him: Augustus. far as the Red Sea: The limit of the Empire. Augustus was now undisputed ruler of all Rome and the Empire was at peace. Janus: The gates of his temple were always open in time of war. Now they were closed (as they had been only twice before) to indicate peace throughout the Empire. Thus the serene time was set for the birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace.

  85-90. Tiberius was the third Caesar. The great glory given the Eagle in his reign was the Crucifixion, for thereby the sin of Adam was wiped clean and the gates of Heaven were opened to redeemed mankind.

  91-93. Under Titus, the fourth Caesar, Jerusalem was taken in a bloody conquest which Dante saw as a vengeance taken for a just vengeance. His argument would probably run that it was just to exact vengeance for Adam’s sin and that God sent His only begotten son to mankind for that purpose. Yet, in exacting a vengeance upon the man, the Jews also offended the god, and it is just that they be made to suffer for that crime against God. Such would seem to be the basis for the prejudice against the Jew, and many vexed questions are, of course, involved: If God decreed the Crucifixion, had the Jews any choice? Are they more guilty than Pilate, who simply washed his hands and let his soldiers drive the nails? What is free will in confrontation with a preordained act of God’s will? Such questions must be referred to a quality of revelation unknown to footnotes.

  94-96. Justinian now leaps ahead over six centuries. Desiderius, an eighth-century king of the Lombards, rose against the Church but was overthrown by Charlemagne in A.D. 774. Charlemagne, as Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was still bearing the Eagle standard.

  97-98. those whom I accused above: The Guelphs and Ghibellines. See lines 31 ff.

  100-102. one speeds the golden lilies on to force the public standard: The Guelphs. They urge the Lilies of France against the Eagle. one seizes it for private gain: The Ghibellines. They seek to pervert the Imperial standard to their own ends.

  106. the new Charles: Charles II (The Lame) of Anjou, King of Naples and leader of the Guelphs.

  109-111. father’s sinfulness . . . children’s doom: Justinian is pronouncing what may be a general sentiment, but he must certainly intend some reference to the woes that befell the house of Anjou, as Charles Martel (son of Charles the Lame) will amplify in VIII, 40-84.

  112-114. Justinian has now answered Dante’s first question (concerning his identity) and completed his additional remarks. He now addresses the second question (as to why he is in the sphere of Mercury and what sort of spirits are with him). He identifies this sphere as the manifest realm of the personally ambitious.

  115-120. Dante’s phrasing is especially dense in these lines and I have had to take more than usual liberties in order to bring it to rhyme. His point here may be stated as follows: “We of this sphere worked for the Good but did so in seeking honor for ourselves rather than for the one true motive, which is the love of God. When desire is so bent from the true good, it follows that the upward thrust toward God is lesser for being bent aside. Therefore we are low in Heaven. Yet part of our joy is in knowing that our station is well chosen, our reward being exactly equal to our merit.”

  121-123. By this means: By letting us recognize how exactly our present state corresponds to the merit we showed in our lives.

  124. down there: On earth.

  128. Romeo: Romeo da Villanova. He was born circa 1170 and became prime minister and chamberlain of Raymond Berenger IV, Count of Provence from 1209 to 1245. Dante follows the legend that Romeo, passing through Provence on his way back from a pilgrimage, attached himself to Raymond’s court and soon achieved high station by his wise management of Raymond’s affairs. Among his triumphs, Romeo negotiated the marriages of Raymond’s four daughters, each to a king. Later the local nobles, envious of Romeo’s position, accused him of mismanaging the treasury. When Raymond demanded an accounting, Romeo pointed to the increase in the treasury, and picking up his pilgrim’s staff once more, left the court to wander as he had come.

  131. have no last laugh: The nobles of Provence have committed the sin of envy and must suffer for it. They also have no last laugh in that Provence lost a good manager of the realm.

  Canto VII

  THE SECOND SPHERE: MERCURY

  ASCENT TO THE THIRD SPHERE

  Seekers of Honor: Justinian

  Beatrice Discourses

  JUSTINIAN AND HIS COMPANIONS break into a HYMN TO THE GOD OF BATTLES and, dancing, disappear into the distance. Dante, torn by doubt, longs to ask how a just vengeance may justly be avenged, but dares not speak. Beatrice, sensing his confusion, answers his question before he can ask it.

  She explains the DOUBLE NATURE OF THE CRUCIFIXION, and why the Jews, though blameless in the crucifixion of the man, were still guilty of sacrilege against the God. She then explains why God chose this means of redemption, and why that choice was THE GREATEST ACT OF ALL ETERNITY.

  She then explains the difference between DIRECT AND INDIRECT CREATION and concludes by proving WHY THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH IS CERTAIN.

  “Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth

  superillustrans claritate tua

  felices ignes horum malachoth!”

  —So, giving itself to its own harmony,

  the substance of that being, over which

  two lights were joined as one, appeared to me.

  And all those souls joined in a holy dance,

  and then, like shooting sparks, gone instantly,

  they disappeared behind the veil of distance.

  I stood, torn by my doubts. “Speak up. Speak up,”

  I said inside myself. “Ask the sweet lady

  who slakes your every thirst from the sweet cup.”

  But the awe that holds my being in its sway

  even at the sound of BEA or of TRICE

  kept my head bent as if I dozed away.

  But she soon soothed my warring doubt and dread,

 
; for with a smile whose ray could have rejoiced

  the soul of a man tied to the stake, she said:

  “I know by my infallible insight

  you do not understand how a just vengeance

  can justly be avenged. To set you right

  I shall resolve your mind’s ambivalence.

  Listen and learn, for what I shall now say

  will be a gift of lofty consequence.

  Because he would not, for his own good, take

  God’s bit and rein, the man who was not born,

  damning himself, damned mankind for his sake.

  Therefore, for many centuries, men lay

  in their sick error, till the Word of God

  chose to descend into the mortal clay.

  There, moved by His Eternal Love alone,

  he joined in His own person that other nature

  that had wandered from its Maker and been cast down.

  Now heed my reasoning: so joined again

  to its First Cause, this nature (as it had been

  at its creation) was good and without stain.

  But by its own action, when it turned its face

  from the road of truth that was its road of life,

  it was driven from the garden of God’s grace.

  If the agony on the cross, considering this,

  was a punishment of the nature thus assumed,

  no verdict ever bit with greater justice;

  Just so, no crime to match this can be cited

  when we consider the Person who endured it

  in whom that other nature was united.