Paradiso

by Dante

40. That God is here referred to as “emperor” (as He is on only two other occasions: Inf. I.124 and Par. XXV.41) makes Dante’s comfort with imperial trappings clear, especially to his Guelph enemies. This term for God is not in itself unwarranted in Christian tradition, far from it. But Dante uses it here in an ecclesiastical context where it might seem, at least to some, improper. [return to English / Italian]

  43. The reference (“as was said”) is to Paradiso XI.31–36, where Thomas tells of God’s appointment of these two stalwarts to succor the bride of Christ, His Church. [return to English / Italian]

  44. Francis (typified by love) is best represented by his deeds, Dominic (typified by knowledge), by his words. [return to English / Italian]

  46–57. Dominic was “born 1170, in the village of Calaroga, in Old Castile; he is supposed to have belonged to the noble family of Guzmàn, his father’s name being Felix, his mother’s Joanna. The latter is said to have dreamed before he was born that she gave birth to a dog with a torch in its mouth, which set the world on fire. At the age of fourteen he went to the university of Palencia, where he studied theology for ten or twelve years. He was early noted for his self-denial and charity. In 1195 he became canon of the cathedral of Osma. In 1215 he accompanied Folquet, bishop of Toulouse, to the Lateran Council; and in the same year, on his return to Toulouse, he founded his order of Preaching Friars, which was formally recognized by Honorius III in 121[7]. He died in Aug. 1221 at Bologna, where he was buried. He was canonized soon after his death (in 1234) by Gregory IX” (T). And see G. R. Sarolli, “Domenico, santo,” ED II (1970), pp. 546–51. Sarolli points out that, when Dominic, with six companions, arrived in Toulouse in 1215, on the verge of forming a more structured group, he associated with Folco di Marsiglia (whom we encountered in Par. IX.88–102), the newly appointed bishop of that city. [return to English / Italian]

  46. Spain is located in the westernmost part of Europe. [return to English / Italian]

  47. Zephyr is the west wind. For the association of Dominic with the west and Francis with the east, see Bertoldi (Bert.1913.1), p. 47, n. 27, adding the details that for Dante, the Florentine, the main Dominican church (S. Maria Novella) was situated in the western part of the city, while the main Franciscan church (S. Croce) was located in eastern Florence. [return to English / Italian]

  49–51. Torraca (comm. to vv. 56–57) thinks that the waves are found on the surface of the Ebro, the river running two miles from Dominic’s native city, an argument contested vigorously by Bertoldi (Bert.1913.1), pp. 45–46, who supports the early commentators’ belief that the reference is to the Atlantic Ocean. Others specify the Bay of Biscay. After Scartazzini (comm. to vv. 49–51), however, the ruling understanding is that the passage refers to this smaller body of water.

  The sun hides itself from human sight when, at or near the summer solstice, it sets beyond the sight of those on land, because it has moved so far out over the Atlantic. For Dante, we must remember, to the west of the Gates of Hercules lies “the world where no one lives” (Inf. XXVI.117). [return to English / Italian]

  52. Calaruega (“Calaroga,” in Dante’s Italian), a small town in Castile, “fortunate” in having been the birthplace of Dominic. [return to English / Italian]

  53–54. “The royal arms of Castile show a castle in the second and third quarters, and a lion in the first and fourth. Thus on one side of the shield the lion is subdued by the castle, and on the other subdues it” (Oelsner, comm. to these verses). The images represent the kingdoms of Castile and Leon, respectively. [return to English / Italian]

  55. The vocabulary of feudal times (drudo, “vassal”) combines with that of erotic poetry (amoroso, “loving”) to interrupt the military associations of Dominic, and eventually presents him, like Francis, as a “husband” (see verse 61, sponsalizie, “nuptials”). The word drudo, a triple hapax, that is, a word appearing once in each cantica (see Hollander [Holl.1988.3] for a listing of all examples of this phenomenon in the poem), occurs previously in Inferno XVIII.134 and Purgatorio XXXII.155, in both cases referring to a male partner in an illicit sexual liaison, in the first case, the man sleeping with the whore Thaïs; in the second, the giant beating his harlot, the Church in its Avignonian captivity. Thus its context in the poem works against those who would read Dante’s treatment of Dominic as sugar-coated (see the note to verse 57).

  The new interpretation of the second scene offered by Bognini (Bogn.2007.1) does not change the valence of the preceding remark, but does alter the identities of the “actors” in the pageant in Purgatorio XXXII. In a new (and entirely convincing) reading of the major characters in that scene, Bognini demonstrates that the whore is Ezechiel’s Jerusalem and thus Dante’s Florence, while the giant reflects Goliath as Robert of Anjou, the king of Naples and the Guelph leader in Italy, prime enemy of Henry VII. [return to English / Italian]

  56. If Francis is presented as a lover, Dominic is (here) presented as a fighter, but even here he is first described (verse 55) as l’amoroso drudo. See the note to verse 55. [return to English / Italian]

  57. Spiazzi (Spia.1989.1), pp. 339–41, thinks that the word crudo (cruel) is uncalled for, and he sets off on a lengthy defense: St. Dominic was in fact, and despite his crusading spirit, the most mild-mannered person imaginable. However, others take this verse at face value, and see its pertinence to Dominic’s labors against the Cathars (e.g., Ghisalberti [Ghis.2002.1], pp. 184–86), during the period 1203 to 1210, when Dominic moved from preaching and debate to more violent means; but even Ghisalberti insists on the predominance of the “sweet” approach. Others have been less tolerant of Dominic’s behavior. This is the last of thirteen appearances of the adjective crudo in the poem (leaving to one side the related words crudele, crudeltà, etc.); in none of the preceding dozen presences of the word does it have a mitigated meaning. As a result, the motives of those who argue for such mitigation here seem suspect. Dominic, as presented by Dante, is a tough warrior whom he goes out of his way also to present as a “lover.” [return to English / Italian]

  58–60. The embryonic mind of Dominic was so powerful that it could send concepts (or at least images) to the mother who was bearing him. In this way he lent his mother the gift of prophecy. The early commentators are frequently misled, and think the reference of “lei” is not to the mother but to Dominic’s mente in the preceding line, thus making a prophet of him. However, legend has it that, before his birth, his mother had a dream of a black-and-white dog who carried a torch in its mouth, which set fire to the whole world. That is what most of its interpreters today believe is referenced in the line, the mother’s vision of her unborn son’s wide effect on humanity. Since the colors of the habits of the Dominicans are black and white and since an easily available pun (Domini canes = the dogs of God) was in circulation at the time and was included in the first official “Life” of Dominic (by Teodorico d’Appoldia), the dream became a permanent piece of Dominican lore.

  Frequent in discussions of this passage are citations of Isaiah 49:1, “Dominus ab utero vocavit me” (The Lord has called me from the womb); but see also Luke 1:15, “Spiritu Sancto replebitur adhuc ex utero matris suae” (and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb), describing John the Baptist, referred to by Di Biase (Dibi.1992.1), p. 40n. (first cited by Tommaseo [comm. to vv. 58–60]). [return to English / Italian]

  62. Where Francis married Poverty, Dominic took Faith as his wife. [return to English / Italian]

  63. A difficult line to translate convincingly, partly because the noun salute has different meanings in Dante. In Dominic’s case, he will find salvation in his faith; he cannot “save” her, but he does keep her safe from heresy. Vellutello’s gloss (comm. to vv. 61–66) has guided us as far as the sense is concerned: “because he saved the Faith, battling for it against heretics, and she in turn kept him safe.” [return to English / Italian]

  64–66. A woman present at the baptismal ceremony, the child’s godmother, answers (saying “I do”
) for the child when the priest asks whether he or she wishes to be baptized.

  Dominic’s godmother dreamed that he appeared with a bright star in his forehead that illumined the world; his “heirs” are, obviously, his fellow Dominicans. [return to English / Italian]

  67–69. The riddling diction yields its meaning after only a little effort. As Tozer (comm. to this tercet) unravels it: “An inspiration from Heaven (Quinci) was communicated to his parents to name him by the possessive adjective (viz. Dominicus) derived from the name of the Lord (Dominus), who possessed him entirely.” [return to English / Italian]

  67. The word costrutto has caused a certain difficulty. In modern Italian it means “sense, meaning,” but that meaning is not easily assigned to the word here. Tozer (comm. to vv. 67–69) sorts things out as follows: “… ‘that he might be in name what he was in reality’; costrutto: ‘the form of his name’; similarly in Purg. XXVIII.147 costrutto means ‘a form of words’ or ‘sentence’: and in Par. XXIII.24 senza costrutto is ‘without putting it into words.’ ” [return to English / Italian]

  68. From the Empyrean (and not this heaven of the Sun), the text suggests, the Holy Spirit inspired the baby’s parents to call him “Dominicus” (Domini-cus—the Latin for his name, Domenico [from the possessive form of the noun Dominus, the Lord]). [return to English / Italian]

  71–75. This is the first set of the so-called Cristo rhymes. There will be three others, occurring in Paradiso XIV.104–108, XIX.104–108, and XXXII.83–87. For a valuable early study of this phenomenon, see Francesco D’Ovidio (Dovi.1901.1). It is clear that, for Dante’s purposes, no other word is good enough to rhyme with “Christ,” who is the Word. For the next tercet that contains the word Cristo four times, see Paradiso.

  Porena (comm. to vv. 73–78) holds that D’Ovidio was correct to argue that the word Cristo is allowed to rhyme only with itself because, as a penitential gesture, Dante wants to undo the scabrous act he had perpetrated when, in one of his sonnets attacking Forese Donati’s behaviors, he had rhymed the name of the Lord with tristo (distraught) and malo acquisto (ill-gotten gains). [return to English / Italian]

  71–72. The chore given Dominic to perform can hardly fail to remind a Christian reader of the task that Adam and Eve were given and failed to perform, to dress and keep the garden. See Genesis 2:15. [return to English / Italian]

  74–75. What exactly was Christ’s “first counsel” to his followers? In the past one hundred years there has been continuing and uncertain discussion of this seemingly simple question. But it was not always thus. Almost every early commentator seizes on the same biblical passage, Matthew 19:21, Christ’s advice to the rich young man to sell all that he possesses, give the proceeds to the poor, and then follow Him. For a summarizing sense of nearly six hundred years of near-total agreement, see Oelsner (comm. to verse 75): “The counsel of poverty (Matth. 19:21, whence the phrase ‘counsels of perfection’). Thomas Aquinas, while distinguishing between the precepts and the counsels of Christ, says that the latter may all be reduced to three—Poverty, Continence, and Obedience. The first counsel, then, is Poverty.”

  The problem of the precise reference in verse 75 is complicated by the neighboring presences of two instances of the adjective primo (first). Are they used as synonyms, in both cases having a temporal relevance, or not? We think that they are, and thus have translated as we have (“since the first love manifest in him / was for the initial precept taught by Christ”). Some, however, believe that the first primo is temporal, that the second has to do with order of importance, that is, the most important of Christ’s teachings, which would offer a bit more latitude as one searched through the Gospels. If we are correct, what then is “the initial precept” taught by Jesus? (Salsano, “consiglio,” ED II [1970], p. 159b, understands consiglio to equate with “precetto divino.”) That can in fact be the first Beatitude. Or, if Oelsner (see above) is correct, and Dante’s sense of the word consiglio flows through St. Thomas’s distinction between it and “precept,” then the first “counsel” may indeed be thought of as accepting poverty, first among the three “counsels” of Christ, poverty, continence, obedience. Either way, poverty is the issue focal to this line. This seems more than acceptable, since Dominic is presented as parallel in his virtues to Francis (Grandgent [comm. to verse 75] points out that vv. 73–75 of both cantos thus deal with poverty), since Dominicans as well as Franciscans took vows of poverty, and since the next tercet, although also less clear than some might like, would seem to associate him both with Francis and with poverty as well. [return to English / Italian]

  76–78. “For this have I come”: See Mark 1:38, “ad hoc enim veni,” as Jesus announces his intention to preach. The baby Dominic’s closeness to the earth reminds us of the similar association of Francis, indelibly associated with the dust at the end of his life (Par. XI.115–117). Poverty and humility, more usually associated with Francis, are both present in this vignette, as preconditions for Dominic’s preacherly calling. [return to English / Italian]

  79. Dominic’s father’s name, Felice, means “happy” (felix) in Latin. [return to English / Italian]

  80–81. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to these verses) say that Dante, in the life of Dominic by Theodoric of Appoldia, could have read that his mother’s name, Giovanna, meant “grace of God” or “full of grace.” Theodoric’s source (and Dante’s) may have been, says Torraca (comm. to vv. 79–81), Uguccione da Pisa. [return to English / Italian]

  82–105. This passage presents the life and accomplishments of Dominic, after his engendering and childhood (vv. 58–81), the ensemble paralleling that portion of the preceding canto dedicated to the life and works of Francis (XI.55–117). [return to English / Italian]

  82–85. Dominic’s honest religiosity is contrasted with the eye-on-the-prize sort of sham activities of two intellectuals, both of whom died within Dante’s lifetime. The first, Enrico di Susa, from Ostia (died in 1271), was a famous canon lawyer (and thus Dante fires another salvo at the venal practitioners of this profession), while Taddeo d’Alderotto (the probable reference is to him) was a Florentine (died in 1295) who studied and then taught medicine at Bologna. Dante mocks his translation of Aristotle’s Ethics in Convivio I.x.10. In these two men Dante pillories two kinds of false intellectual activity—religious law and Aristotelian science—both of which were of great importance to him. [return to English / Italian]

  87. The metaphorical vineyard (fairly obviously the Church) turns gray with rot if its keeper (obviously the pope) does not take good care of it. This reference to Boniface VIII is thinly veiled. [return to English / Italian]

  88–96. Carroll (comm. to vv. 46–105) paraphrases this elegant pastiche of a canon lawyer’s style as follows: “[Dominic] asked from the Head of the Church none of the evil privileges so eagerly sought for by others: to distribute only a third or a half of moneys left for charitable purposes, retaining the rest; to receive the first vacant benefice; or to use for himself the tithes which belong to God’s poor. His one request was for leave to fight against an erring world for the seed of the Faith.” [return to English / Italian]

  88–90. Bonaventure, here most assuredly Dante’s mouthpiece, distinguishes between the papacy, in its design supportive of the poor, and the pope (the hated Boniface VIII in 1300), ignoring that design. [return to English / Italian]

  91–93. These three corrupt practices all reveal the avarice of prelates, the first and third involving theft of monies destined for the poor, the second, advancement in ecclesiastical position. For this last, see Tozer (comm. to this tercet): “The reference is to the expectationes, or nominations to posts not yet vacant that popes of the day were pleased to make.” Obviously, none of these self-aggrandizing activities had as their goal support for the benevolent tasks that customarily fell to the Church. [return to English / Italian]

  93. The Latin (“the tenth part that belongs to the poor,” the tax collected by the clergy) refers to the tithe, the 10 percent of a parishioner’s
income that the Church collected in order to help feed and clothe the poor. Not even this was safe from predatory clergy, who took these funds for their own use. [return to English / Italian]

  95. See Bosco/Reggio (comm. to this verse): Dominic’s request for approval of his order was made to Pope Innocent III in 1215, and approved only in late 1216 by Pope Honorius III, the newly elected pope (the Church had for a time prohibited the formation of new orders). However, in 1205, Dominic had gone to Rome, seeking permission to wage a campaign against heretics, which was granted. Between 1207 and 1214 he was part of the eventually bloody attempt to bring the Albigensian Cathars back into the fold, alongside of Folco di Marsiglia (see the notes to Par. IX.40 and to Par. IX.94). Bosco/Reggio try to keep Dominic’s hands free of Albigensian blood, saying that on the day of the terrible battle of Muret (12 September 1213), Dominic was at prayer in a church. However, given the poet’s praise of Folco, who was the leader of that crusade (if Simon de Montfort was in charge of the army at that particular battle), he may have imagined a Dominic as warlike as his Folco. See vv. 97–102, where Dominic’s forcefulness in combating heresy is applauded. [return to English / Italian]

  96. This indication reminds us of the precise balance in the two circles of saints that we have seen in these two cantos, each containing twelve souls. [return to English / Italian]

  97–102. While the militarism of Dominic’s order may be metaphorical, referring to his preaching, that his “career” began with a literal war, the crusade against the Albigensians, certainly colors these lines, whatever Dante’s intention. [return to English / Italian]