Paradiso

Canto XXVIII

God and the Celestial Hierarchies.

After the truth against the present life¹Of miserable mortals was unfoldedBy her who doth imparadise my mind,²As in a looking-glass a taper’s flameHe sees who from behind is lighted by it,Before he has it in his sight or thought,And turns him round to see if so the glassTell him the truth, and sees that it accordsTherewith as doth a music with its metre,In similar wise my memory recollectethThat I did, looking into those fair eyes,Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me.And as I turned me round, and mine were touchedBy that which is apparent in that volume,³Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent,A point beheld I, that was raying out⁴Light so acute, the sight which it enkindlesMust close perforce before such great acuteness.And whatsoever star seems smallest hereWould seem to be a moon, if placed beside it.As one star with another star is placed.Perhaps at such a distance as appearsA halo cincturing the light that paints it,When densest is the vapor that sustains it,Thus distant round the point a circle of fireSo swiftly whirled, that it would have surpassedWhatever motion soonest girds the world;And this was by another circumcinct,That by a third, the third then by a fourth,By a fifth the fourth, and then by a sixth the fifth;The seventh followed thereupon in widthSo ample now, that Juno’s messenger⁵Entire would be too narrow to contain it.Even so the eighth and ninth; and everyone⁶More slowly moved, according as it wasIn number distant farther from the first.And that one had its flame most crystallineFrom which less distant was the stainless spark,I think because more with its truth imbued.My Lady, who in my anxietyBeheld me much perplexed, said: “From that pointDependent is the heaven and nature all.Behold that circle most conjoined to it,And know thou, that its motion is so swiftThrough burning love whereby it is spurred on.”And I to her: “If the world were arrangedIn the order which I see in yonder wheels,What’s set before me would have satisfied me;But in the world of sense we can perceiveThat evermore the circles are divinerAs they are from the centre more remoteWherefore if my desire is to be endedIn this miraculous and angelic temple,That has for confines only love and light,To hear behoves me still how the example⁷And the exemplar go not in one fashion,Since for myself in vain I contemplate it.”“If thine own fingers unto such a knotBe insufficient, it is no great wonder,So hard hath it become for want of trying.”⁸My Lady thus; then said she: “Do thou takeWhat I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated,And exercise on that thy subtlety.The circles corporal are wide and narrow⁹According to the more or less of virtueWhich is distributed through all their parts.The greater goodness works the greater weal,The greater weal the greater body holds,If perfect equally are all its parts.Therefore this one which sweeps along with it¹⁰The universe sublime, doth correspondUnto the circle which most loves and knows.On which account, if thou unto the virtueApply thy measure, not to the appearanceOf substances that unto thee seem round,Thou wilt behold a marvellous agreement,Of more to greater, and of less to smaller,¹¹In every heaven, with its Intelligence.”Even as remaineth splendid and sereneThe hemisphere of air, when Boreas¹²Is blowing from that cheek where he is mildest,Because is purified and resolved the rackThat erst disturbed it, till the welkin laughsWith all the beauties of its pageantry;Thus did I likewise, after that my LadyHad me provided with her clear response,And like a star in heaven the truth was seen.And soon as to a stop her words had come,Not otherwise does iron scintillateWhen molten, than those circles scintillated.¹³Their coruscation all the sparks repeated,And they so many were, their number makesMore millions than the doubling of the chess.¹⁴I heard them sing hosanna choir by choirTo the fixed point which holds them at the Ubi,¹⁵And ever will, where they have ever been.And she, who saw the dubious meditationsWithin my mind, “The primal circles,” said,“Have shown thee Seraphim and Cherubim.¹⁶Thus rapidly they follow their own bonds,¹⁷To be as like the point as most they can,And can as far as they are high in vision.Those other Loves, that round about them go,Thrones of the countenance divine are called,¹⁸Because they terminate the primal Triad.And thou shouldst know that they all have delightAs much as their own vision penetratesThe Truth, in which all intellect finds rest.From this it may be seen how blessednessIs founded in the faculty which sees,¹⁹And not in that which loves, and follows next;And of this seeing merit is the measure,Which is brought forth by grace, and by good will;²⁰Thus on from grade to grade doth it proceed.The second Triad, which is germinatingIn such wise in this sempiternal spring,²¹That no nocturnal Aries despoils,Perpetually hosanna warbles forthWith threefold melody, that sounds in threeOrders of joy, with which it is intrined.The three Divine are in this hierarchy,First the Dominions, and the Virtues next;²²And the third order is that of the Powers.Then in the dances twain penultimateThe Principalities and Archangels wheel;The last is wholly of angelic sports.These orders upward all of them are gazing,And downward so prevail, that unto GodThey all attracted are and all attract.And Dionysius with so great desire²³To contemplate these Orders set himself,He named them and distinguished them as I do.But Gregory afterwards dissented from him;²⁴Wherefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyesWithin this heaven, he at himself did smile.And if so much of secret truth a mortalProffered on earth, I would not have thee marvel,For he who saw it here revealed it to him,²⁵With much more of the truth about these circles.”

The Primum Mobile, or Crystalline Heaven, continued. ↩
Milton, Paradise Lost, IV 505:— “Thus these two, / Imparadised in one another’s arms, / The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill / Of bliss on bliss.” ↩
That Crystalline Heaven, which Dante calls a volume, or scroll, as in Canto XXIII 112:— “The regal mantle of the volumes all.” ↩
The light of God, represented as a single point, to indicate its unity and indivisibility. ↩
Iris, or the rainbow. ↩
These nine circles of fire are the nine Orders of Angels in the three Celestial Hierarchies. Dante, Convito II 16, says that the Holy Church divides the Angels into, “three Hierarchies, that is to say, three holy or divine Principalities; and each Hierarchy has three Orders; so that the Church believes and affirms nine Orders of spiritual beings. The first is that of the Angels; the second, that of the Archangels; the third, that of the Thrones. And these three Orders form the first Hierarchy; not first in reference to rank nor creation (for the others are more noble, and all were created together), but first in reference to our ascent to their height. Then follow the Dominions; next the Virtues; then the Principalities; and these form the second Hierarchy. Above these are the Powers, and the Cherubim, and above all are the Seraphim; hese form the third Hierarchy.” It will be observed that this arrangement of the several Orders does not agree with that followed in the poem. ↩
Barlow, Study of the Divina Commedia, p. 533, remarks:— “Within a circle of ineffable joy, circumscribed only by light and love, a point of intense brightness so dazzled the eyes of Dante that he could not sustain the sight of it. Around this vivid centre, from which the heavens and all nature depend, nine concentric circles of the Celestial Hierarchy revolved with a velocity inversely proportioned to their distance from it, the nearer circles moving more rapidly, the remoter ones less. The poet at first is surprised at this, it being the reverse of the relative movement, from the same source of propulsion, of the heavens themselves around the earth as their centre. But the infallible Beatrice assures him that this difference arises, in fact, from the same cause, proximity to the Divine presence, which in the celestial spheres is greater the farther they are from the centre, but in the circles of angels, on the contrary, it is greater the nearer they are to it.” ↩
Because the subject has not been investigated and discussed. ↩
The nine heavens are here called corporal circles, as we call the stars the heavenly bodies. Latimer says:— “A corporal heaven, … where the stars are.” ↩
The Primum Mobile, in which Dante and Beatrice now are. ↩
The nearer God the circle is, so much greater virtue it possesses. Hence the outermost of the heavens, revolving round the earth, corresponds to the innermost of the Orders of Angels revolving round God, and is controlled by it as its Regent or Intelligence. To make this more intelligible I will repeat here the three Triads of Angels, and the heavens of which they are severally the Intelligences, as already given in note 1240. The Seraphim, — Primum Mobile. The Cherubim, — The Fixed Stars. The Thrones, — Saturn. The Dominions, — Jupiter. The Virtues, — Mars. The Powers, — The Sun. The Principalities, — Venus. The Archangels, — Mercury. The Angels, — The Moon. ↩
Aeneid, XII 365, Davidson’s Tr.:— “As when the blast of Thracian Boreas roars on the Aegean Sea, and to the shore pursues the waves, wherever the winds exert their incumbent force, the clouds fly through the air.” Each of the four winds blows three different blasts; either directly in front, or from the right cheek, or the left. According to Boccaccio, the northeast wind in Italy is milder than the northwest. ↩
Dante uses this comparison before, Canto I 60:— “But I beheld it sparkle round about / Like iron that comes molten from the fire.” ↩
The inventor of the game of chess brought it to a Persian king, who was so delighted with it, that he offered him in return whatever reward he might ask. The inventor said he wished only a grain of wheat, doubled as many times as there were squares on the chessboard; that is, one grain for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, and so on to sixty-four. This the king readily granted; but when the amount was reckoned up, he had not wheat enough in his whole kingdom to pay it. ↩
Their appointed place or whereabout. ↩
Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor Angelicas of the Schools, treats the subject of Angels at great length in the first volume of his Summa Theologica, from Quaest. L to LXIV, and from Quaest. CVI to CXIV. He constantly quotes Dionysius, sometimes giving his exact words, but oftener amplifying and interpreting his meaning. In Quaest. CVIII he discusses the names of the Angels, and of the Seraphim and Cherubim speaks as follows:— “The name of Seraphim is not given from love alone, but from excess of love, which the name of heat or burning implies. Hence Dionysius (Cap. VII Coel. Hier., a princ.) interprets the name Seraphim according to the properties of fire, in which is excess of heat. In fire, however, we may consider three things. First, a certain motion which is upward, and which is continuous; by which is signified, that they are unchangingly moving towards God. Secondly, its active power, which is heat; … and by this is signified the influence of this kind of Angels, which they exercise powerfully on those beneath them, exciting them to a sublime fervor, and thoroughly purifying them by burning. Thirdly, in fire its brightness must be considered; and this signifies that such Angels have within themselves an inextinguishable light, and that they perfectly illuminate others. “In the same way the name of Cherubim is given from a certain excess of knowledge; hence it is interpreted plenitudo scientiae; which Dionysius (Cap. VII Coel. Hier., a princ.) explains in four ways: first, as perfect vision of God; secondly, full reception of divine light; thirdly, that in God himself they contemplate the beauty of the order of things emanating from God; fourthly, that, being themselves full of this kind of knowledge, they copiously pour it out upon others.” ↩
The love of God, which holds them fast to this central point as with a band. Job 38:31:— “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” ↩
Canto IX 61:— “Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them, / From which shines out on us God Judicant.” Of the Thrones, Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, CVIII 5, says:— “The Order of Thrones excels the inferior Orders in this, that it has the power of perceiving immediately in God the reasons of the Divine operations. … Dionysius (Cap. VII Coel. Hier.) explains the name of Thrones from their resemblance to material chairs, in which four things are to be considered. First, in reference to position, because chairs are raised above the ground; and thus these Angels, which are called Thrones, are raised so far that they can perceive immediately in God the reasons of things. Secondly, in material chairs firmness must be considered, because one sits firmly in them; but this is e converso, for the Angels themselves are made firm by God. Thirdly, because the chair receives the sitter, and he can be carried in it; and thus the Angels receive God in themselves, and in a certain sense carry him to their inferiors. Fourthly, from their shape, because the chair is open on one side, to receive the sitter; and thus these Angels, by their promptitude, are open to receive God and to serve him.” ↩
Dante, Convito, I 1, says:— “Knowlege is the ultimate perfection of our soul, in which consists our ultimate felicity.” It was one of the great questions of the Schools, whether the beatitude of the soul consisted in knowing or in loving. Thomas Aquinas maintains the former part of this proposition, and Duns Scotus the latter. ↩
By the grace of God, and the cooperation of the good will of the recipient. ↩
The perpetual spring of Paradise, which knows no falling autumnal leaves, no season in which Aries is a nocturnal sign. ↩
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I Quaest. CVIII 6, says:— “And thus Dionysius (Cap. VII Coel. Hier.), from the names of the Orders inferring the properties thereof, placed in the first Hierarchy those Orders whose names were given them in reference to God, namely, the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones; but in the middle Hierarchy he placed those whose names designate a certain common government or disposition, that is, the Dominions, Virtues, and Powers; and in the third Order he placed those whose names designate the execution of the work, namely, the Principalities, Angels, and Archangels. … But to the rule of government three things belong, the first of which is the distinction of the things to be done, which is the province of the Dominions; the second is to provide the faculty of fulfilling, which belongs to the Virtues; but the third is to arrange in what way the things prescribed, or defined, can be fulfilled, so that some one may execute them, and this belongs to the Powers. But the execution of the angelic ministry consists in announcing things divine. In the execution, however, of any act, there are some who begin the act, and lead the others, as in singing the precentors, and in battle those who lead and direct the rest; and this belongs to the Principalities. There are others who simply execute, and this is the part of the Angels. Others hold an intermediate position, which belongs to the Archangels.” ↩
The Athenian convert of St. Paul. Acts 17:34:— “Howbeit, certain men clave unto him, and believed; among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite.” Dante places him among the theologians in the Heaven of the Sun. See Canto X 115:— “Near by behold the lustre of that taper, / Which in the flesh below looked most within / The angelic nature and its ministry.” To Dionysius was attributed a work, called The Celestial Hierarchy, which is the great storehouse of all that relates to the nature and operations of Angels. Venturi calls him “the false Areopagite”; and Dalbaeus, De Script. Dion. Areop., says that this work was not known till the sixth century. The Legenda Aurea confounds St. Dionysius the Areopagite with St. Denis, Bishop of Paris in the third century, and patron saint of France. It says he was called the Areopagite from the quarter where he lived; that he was surnamed Theosoph, or the Wise in God; that he was converted, not by the preaching of St. Paul, but by a miracle the saint wrought in restoring a blind man to sight; and that “the woman named Damaris,” who was converted with him, was his wife. It quotes from a letter of his to Polycarp, written from Egypt, where he was with his friend and fellow-student Apollophanes, and where he witnessed the darkening of the sun at the Crucifixion:— “We were both at Heliopolis, when suddenly we saw the moon conceal the surface of the sun, though this was not the time for an eclipse, and this darkness continued for three hours, and the light returned at the ninth hour and lasted till evening.” And finally it narrates, that when Dionysius was beheaded, in Paris, where he had converted many souls and built many churches, “straightway the body arose, and, taking its head in its arms, led by an angel, and surrounded by a celestial light, carried it a distance of two miles, from a place called the Mount of Martyrs, to the place where it now reposes.” For an account of the Celestial Hierarchy, see note 1443. ↩
St. Gregory differed from St. Dionysius in the arrangement of the Orders, placing the Principalities in the second triad, and the Virtues in the third. ↩
St. Paul, who, 2 Corinthians 12:4, “was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” ↩