Paradiso, Canto 18
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XVIII completes the Mars sequence and opens the Jupiter sequence of justice. Cacciaguida, the blessed mirror, withdraws into the enjoyment of his own word while Dante tastes the word just given to him, tempering bitter exile truth with sweet heavenly confirmation. Beatrice, who leads him to God, tells him to change thought and remember that she is near the one who unburdens every wrong. Dante turns to her loving comfort, leaves undescribed the love he sees in her holy eyes, and says only that her reflected divine pleasure frees his affection from every other desire until her smile conquers him and redirects him: Paradise is not only in her eyes. Dante sees Cacciaguida's desire to speak again in the flaming holy light. Cacciaguida explains that on the fifth threshold of the tree that lives from above are spirits whose earthly renown would enrich every Muse, then tells Dante to watch the cross. Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, William, Renouard, Godfrey, and Robert Guiscard flash or move through the cross as named warriors for the faith, and Cacciaguida rejoins the other singers, showing his artistry among Heaven's choir. Dante turns right to Beatrice for his duty and sees her eyes purer and more joyful than before, so her increased beauty tells him his revolution has widened into a higher sphere. The red of Mars changes like a blush leaving a pale face, and the tempered white sixth star, Jupiter, gathers him in. In Jupiter Dante sees love sparkling into visible language. The blessed lights fly like birds from a riverbank, singing and pausing as letters, while Dante invokes the Pegasean Muse to render the spectacle. The lights spell the Latin words from Wisdom, DILIGITE IUSTITIAM QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM, then remain ordered in the final M so Jupiter appears as silver distinguished by gold. Other lights descend to the M's crest, more than a thousand rise like sparks from struck logs, and the formation becomes the head and neck of an Eagle. Dante insists that the painter there needs no guide, because God guides and grounds even the instinctive form by which birds make nests. The other blessed spirits, first enlilied on the M, follow the Eagle's imprint. The canto closes in invective: Jupiter's many gems show Dante that earthly justice comes from that heaven's influence, so he prays the divine Mind to look where smoke vitiates its ray and to be angry again at buying and selling inside the temple built by signs and martyrdoms. He asks Heaven's soldiery to pray for earthly people led astray by evil example. War once used swords, but now it is waged by taking the bread the pious Father denies to no one. Finally he turns to the corrupt pope who writes only to cancel, telling him to remember that Peter and Paul still live while he ravages the vineyard for which they died, and putting into his mouth a sardonic confession that his desire is fixed on John the Baptist, the florin's solitary martyr, so that he does not know the Fisherman or Polo.
Narrative arc
- Cacciaguida rests in his word while Dante tempers bitter and sweet, and Beatrice redirects him from her eyes to wider Paradise
- Cacciaguida shows his wish to speak and tells Dante to watch the cross for renowned spirits in the heaven's fifth threshold
- Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, William, Renouard, Godfrey, and Robert Guiscard flash through the cross before Cacciaguida rejoins the singers
- Dante turns to Beatrice, reads his duty, and recognizes the ascent from red Mars into white tempered Jupiter
- The lights in Jupiter form letters spelling the Wisdom command to love justice and pause in the M of TERRAM
- Descending and rising lights transform the M through lily into the head, neck, and body of the Eagle guided directly by God
- Dante prays against the smoke corrupting justice and turns the vision into invective against papal greed, censures, and ravaged Church
Central themes
- justice
Cacciaguida rests in his word while Dante tempers bitter and sweet, and Beatrice redirects him from her eyes to wider Paradise XVIII.1–21
1Già si godeva solo del suo verbo
quello specchio beato, e io gustava
lo mio, temprando col dolce l’acerbo;
e quella donna ch’a Dio mi menava
5disse: «Muta pensier; pensa ch’i’ sono
presso a colui ch’ogne torto disgrava».
Io mi rivolsi a l’amoroso suono
del mio conforto; e qual io allor vidi
ne li occhi santi amor, qui l’abbandono:
10non perch’ io pur del mio parlar diffidi,
ma per la mente che non può redire
sovra sé tanto, s’altri non la guidi.
Tanto poss’ io di quel punto ridire,
che, rimirando lei, lo mio affetto
15libero fu da ogne altro disire,
fin che ’l piacere etterno, che diretto
raggiava in Bëatrice, dal bel viso
mi contentava col secondo aspetto.
Vincendo me col lume d’un sorriso,
20ella mi disse: «Volgiti e ascolta;
ché non pur ne’ miei occhi è paradiso».
1Now that blessed mirror was enjoying
only its own word, and I was tasting
my own, tempering the bitter with the sweet;
and that lady who was leading me to God
5said, "Change your thought; think that I am
near him who unburdens every wrong."
I turned back to the loving sound
of my comfort; and what love I then saw
in the holy eyes, here I leave aside:
10not only because I distrust my speech,
but because the mind cannot return
so far above itself, unless another guides it.
So much I can tell again of that point:
that, looking again at her, my affection
15was free from every other desire,
until the eternal pleasure, which directly
rayed into Beatrice, from her fair face
contented me with its second aspect.
Conquering me with the light of a smile,
20she said to me, "Turn and listen;
for Paradise is not only in my eyes."
Commentary
The opening is a transition out of Cacciaguida's prophecy: bitter exile truth is tempered by Beatrice's reflected divine joy, and Paradise is redirected beyond her eyes alone.
XVIII.1–3 Cacciaguida is the blessed mirror; verbo keeps speech, thought, and divine-word resonance without flattening it into private reflection only. The bitter-sweet tempering resumes Paradiso XVII's exile prophecy and its p.
XVIII.1–3 Cacciaguida is the blessed mirror; verbo keeps speech, thought, and divine-word resonance without flattening it into private reflection only. Line 1: Cacciaguida is the blessed mirror; verbo keeps speech, thought, and divine-word resonance without flattening it into private reflection only. Line 3: The bitter-sweet tempering resumes Paradiso XVII's exile prophecy and its promised nourishment.
XVIII.1 Cacciaguida is the blessed mirror; verbo keeps speech, thought, and divine-word resonance without flattening it into private reflection only. Cacciaguida is the blessed mirror; verbo keeps speech, thought, and divine-word resonance without flattening it into private reflection only.
XVIII.3 The bitter-sweet tempering resumes Paradiso XVII's exile prophecy and its promised nourishment. The bitter-sweet tempering resumes Paradiso XVII's exile prophecy and its promised nourishment.
XVIII.4–6 Disgrava keeps the burden field: God removes or redresses the weight of every wrong.
XVIII.4–6 Disgrava keeps the burden field: God removes or redresses the weight of every wrong. Line 6: Disgrava keeps the burden field: God removes or redresses the weight of every wrong.
XVIII.6 Disgrava keeps the burden field: God removes or redresses the weight of every wrong. Disgrava keeps the burden field: God removes or redresses the weight of every wrong.
XVIII.7–9 Beatrice's eyes again exceed the poem's immediate capacity for description.
XVIII.7–9 Beatrice's eyes again exceed the poem's immediate capacity for description. Line 9: Beatrice's eyes again exceed the poem's immediate capacity for description.
XVIII.9 Beatrice's eyes again exceed the poem's immediate capacity for description. Beatrice's eyes again exceed the poem's immediate capacity for description.
XVIII.16–18 The second aspect is the reflected divine pleasure shining from Beatrice's face.
XVIII.16–18 The second aspect is the reflected divine pleasure shining from Beatrice's face. Line 18: The second aspect is the reflected divine pleasure shining from Beatrice's face.
XVIII.18 The second aspect is the reflected divine pleasure shining from Beatrice's face. The second aspect is the reflected divine pleasure shining from Beatrice's face.
XVIII.19–21 Beatrice redirects Dante from her eyes toward the wider Paradise manifested in the blessed.
XVIII.19–21 Beatrice redirects Dante from her eyes toward the wider Paradise manifested in the blessed. Line 21: Beatrice redirects Dante from her eyes toward the wider Paradise manifested in the blessed.
XVIII.21 Beatrice redirects Dante from her eyes toward the wider Paradise manifested in the blessed. Beatrice redirects Dante from her eyes toward the wider Paradise manifested in the blessed.
Cacciaguida shows his wish to speak and tells Dante to watch the cross for renowned spirits in the heaven's fifth threshold XVIII.22–36
22Come si vede qui alcuna volta
l’affetto ne la vista, s’elli è tanto,
che da lui sia tutta l’anima tolta,
25così nel fiammeggiar del folgór santo,
a ch’io mi volsi, conobbi la voglia
in lui di ragionarmi ancora alquanto.
El cominciò: «In questa quinta soglia
de l’albero che vive de la cima
30e frutta sempre e mai non perde foglia,
spiriti son beati, che giù, prima
che venissero al ciel, fuor di gran voce,
sì ch’ogne musa ne sarebbe opima.
Però mira ne’ corni de la croce:
35quello ch’io nomerò, lì farà l’atto
che fa in nube il suo foco veloce».
22As here one sometimes sees
the affection in the gaze, if it is so great
that by it the whole soul is taken,
25so in the flaming of the holy flash
to which I turned, I recognized the will
in him to speak with me somewhat more.
He began: "On this fifth threshold
of the tree that lives from its summit
30and always bears fruit and never loses leaf,
there are blessed spirits, who below, before
they came to Heaven, were of great voice,
so that every Muse would be rich with them.
Therefore look into the horns of the cross:
35the one whom I shall name will there perform the act
that its swift fire performs in a cloud."
Commentary
The blessed mirror's visible desire leads into the tree that lives from its top and the instruction to watch the cross's horns for lightning-swift named action.
XVIII.25–27 Folgór santo refers to Cacciaguida's holy lightning-like radiance in the cross.
XVIII.25–27 Folgór santo refers to Cacciaguida's holy lightning-like radiance in the cross. Line 25: Folgór santo refers to Cacciaguida's holy lightning-like radiance in the cross.
XVIII.25 Folgór santo refers to Cacciaguida's holy lightning-like radiance in the cross. Folgór santo refers to Cacciaguida's holy lightning-like radiance in the cross.
XVIII.28–30 The heavenly tree lives from its top: root and life come from above, not from earthly soil.
XVIII.28–30 The heavenly tree lives from its top: root and life come from above, not from earthly soil. Line 29: The heavenly tree lives from its top: root and life come from above, not from earthly soil.
XVIII.29 The heavenly tree lives from its top: root and life come from above, not from earthly soil. The heavenly tree lives from its top: root and life come from above, not from earthly soil.
XVIII.31–33 Gran voce carries fame, renown, and poetic matter rich enough for every Muse.
XVIII.31–33 Gran voce carries fame, renown, and poetic matter rich enough for every Muse. Line 33: Gran voce carries fame, renown, and poetic matter rich enough for every Muse.
XVIII.33 Gran voce carries fame, renown, and poetic matter rich enough for every Muse. Gran voce carries fame, renown, and poetic matter rich enough for every Muse.
XVIII.34–36 The named warrior spirits move with lightning speed across the cross.
XVIII.34–36 The named warrior spirits move with lightning speed across the cross. Line 36: The named warrior spirits move with lightning speed across the cross.
XVIII.36 The named warrior spirits move with lightning speed across the cross. The named warrior spirits move with lightning speed across the cross.
Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, William, Renouard, Godfrey, and Robert Guiscard flash through the cross before Cacciaguida rejoins the singers XVIII.37–51
37Io vidi per la croce un lume tratto
dal nomar Iosuè, com’ el si feo;
né mi fu noto il dir prima che ’l fatto.
40E al nome de l’alto Macabeo
vidi moversi un altro roteando,
e letizia era ferza del paleo.
Così per Carlo Magno e per Orlando
due ne seguì lo mio attento sguardo,
45com’ occhio segue suo falcon volando.
Poscia trasse Guiglielmo e Rinoardo
e ’l duca Gottifredi la mia vista
per quella croce, e Ruberto Guiscardo.
Indi, tra l’altre luci mota e mista,
50mostrommi l’alma che m’avea parlato
qual era tra i cantor del cielo artista.
37I saw through the cross a light drawn
at the naming of Joshua, just as it was done;
nor was the saying known to me before the deed.
40And at the name of the high Maccabee
I saw another move, whirling,
and gladness was the whip of the top.
So for Charlemagne and for Roland
my attentive gaze followed two of them,
45as an eye follows its falcon flying.
Then William and Renouard drew
my sight along that cross, and Duke Godfrey
and Robert Guiscard.
Then, moved and mingled among the other lights,
50the soul that had spoken to me showed me
what an artist he was among Heaven's singers.
Commentary
The named warrior spirits are kept as a deliberately mixed biblical, Maccabean, Carolingian, crusading, and Norman roll call under Mars and the cross, without normalizing the epic names away.
XVIII.37–39 Joshua connects Mars' holy warriors with biblical conquest and the preceding Rahab/Joshua material in Paradiso IX.
XVIII.37–39 Joshua connects Mars' holy warriors with biblical conquest and the preceding Rahab/Joshua material in Paradiso IX. Line 38: Joshua connects Mars' holy warriors with biblical conquest and the preceding Rahab/Joshua material in Paradiso IX.
XVIII.38 Joshua connects Mars' holy warriors with biblical conquest and the preceding Rahab/Joshua material in Paradiso IX. Joshua connects Mars' holy warriors with biblical conquest and the preceding Rahab/Joshua material in Paradiso IX.
XVIII.40–42 The spinning-top image makes joy the force that lashes the blessed motion into speed.
XVIII.40–42 The spinning-top image makes joy the force that lashes the blessed motion into speed. Line 42: The spinning-top image makes joy the force that lashes the blessed motion into speed.
XVIII.42 The spinning-top image makes joy the force that lashes the blessed motion into speed. The spinning-top image makes joy the force that lashes the blessed motion into speed.
XVIII.46–48 William of Orange and Renouard/Rainouart are treated here as Christian martial figures from the epic tradition. The list joins biblical, Carolingian, crusading, and Norman holy-war exempla under the cross of Mars.
XVIII.46–48 William of Orange and Renouard/Rainouart are treated here as Christian martial figures from the epic tradition. Line 46: William of Orange and Renouard/Rainouart are treated here as Christian martial figures from the epic tradition. Line 48: The list joins biblical, Carolingian, crusading, and Norman holy-war exempla under the cross of Mars.
XVIII.46 William of Orange and Renouard/Rainouart are treated here as Christian martial figures from the epic tradition. William of Orange and Renouard/Rainouart are treated here as Christian martial figures from the epic tradition.
XVIII.48 The list joins biblical, Carolingian, crusading, and Norman holy-war exempla under the cross of Mars. The list joins biblical, Carolingian, crusading, and Norman holy-war exempla under the cross of Mars.
XVIII.49–51 Artista is retained as artist, marking Cacciaguida's skill within heavenly song.
XVIII.49–51 Artista is retained as artist, marking Cacciaguida's skill within heavenly song. Line 51: Artista is retained as artist, marking Cacciaguida's skill within heavenly song.
XVIII.51 Artista is retained as artist, marking Cacciaguida's skill within heavenly song. Artista is retained as artist, marking Cacciaguida's skill within heavenly song.
Dante turns to Beatrice, reads his duty, and recognizes the ascent from red Mars into white tempered Jupiter XVIII.52–69
52Io mi rivolsi dal mio destro lato
per vedere in Beatrice il mio dovere,
o per parlare o per atto, segnato;
55e vidi le sue luci tanto mere,
tanto gioconde, che la sua sembianza
vinceva li altri e l’ultimo solere.
E come, per sentir più dilettanza
bene operando, l’uom di giorno in giorno
60s’accorge che la sua virtute avanza,
sì m’accors’ io che ’l mio girare intorno
col cielo insieme avea cresciuto l’arco,
veggendo quel miracol più addorno.
E qual è ’l trasmutare in picciol varco
65di tempo in bianca donna, quando ’l volto
suo si discarchi di vergogna il carco,
tal fu ne li occhi miei, quando fui vòlto,
per lo candor de la temprata stella
sesta, che dentro a sé m’avea ricolto.
52I turned to my right side
to see my duty in Beatrice,
signaled either by speech or by gesture;
55and I saw her lights so pure,
so joyous, that her semblance
surpassed her other and her latest custom.
And as, through feeling greater delight
in doing good, from day to day a person
60notices that his virtue advances,
so I noticed that my circling around
together with the heaven had widened its arc,
seeing that miracle more adorned.
And as the change is, in a brief passage
65of time, in a pale lady, when her face
unburdens itself of shame's load,
so it was in my eyes, when I had turned,
through the whiteness of the tempered sixth star,
which had gathered me into itself.
Commentary
Beatrice's increased beauty and the blush-to-whiteness image are the sign of ascent from red Mars into the tempered white sixth star of Jupiter.
XVIII.55–57 The phrase marks Beatrice's beauty surpassing both earlier appearances and her most recent degree, signaling ascent.
XVIII.55–57 The phrase marks Beatrice's beauty surpassing both earlier appearances and her most recent degree, signaling ascent. Line 57: The phrase marks Beatrice's beauty surpassing both earlier appearances and her most recent degree, signaling ascent.
XVIII.57 The phrase marks Beatrice's beauty surpassing both earlier appearances and her most recent degree, signaling ascent. The phrase marks Beatrice's beauty surpassing both earlier appearances and her most recent degree, signaling ascent.
XVIII.64–66 The blush-load image mediates the color change from red Mars to white Jupiter.
XVIII.64–66 The blush-load image mediates the color change from red Mars to white Jupiter. Line 66: The blush-load image mediates the color change from red Mars to white Jupiter.
XVIII.66 The blush-load image mediates the color change from red Mars to white Jupiter. The blush-load image mediates the color change from red Mars to white Jupiter.
XVIII.67–69 Jupiter is the tempered sixth star, traditionally between Mars and Saturn and tied here to justice.
XVIII.67–69 Jupiter is the tempered sixth star, traditionally between Mars and Saturn and tied here to justice. Line 68: Jupiter is the tempered sixth star, traditionally between Mars and Saturn and tied here to justice.
XVIII.68 Jupiter is the tempered sixth star, traditionally between Mars and Saturn and tied here to justice. Jupiter is the tempered sixth star, traditionally between Mars and Saturn and tied here to justice.
The lights in Jupiter form letters spelling the Wisdom command to love justice and pause in the M of TERRAM XVIII.70–96
70Io vidi in quella giovïal facella
lo sfavillar de l’amor che lì era
segnare a li occhi miei nostra favella.
E come augelli surti di rivera,
quasi congratulando a lor pasture,
75fanno di sé or tonda or altra schiera,
sì dentro ai lumi sante creature
volitando cantavano, e faciensi
or D, or I, or L in sue figure.
Prima, cantando, a sua nota moviensi;
80poi, diventando l’un di questi segni,
un poco s’arrestavano e taciensi.
O diva Pegasëa che li ’ngegni
fai glorïosi e rendili longevi,
ed essi teco le cittadi e ’ regni,
85illustrami di te, sì ch’io rilevi
le lor figure com’ io l’ho concette:
paia tua possa in questi versi brevi!
Mostrarsi dunque in cinque volte sette
vocali e consonanti; e io notai
90le parti sì, come mi parver dette.
‘DILIGITE IUSTITIAM’, primai
fur verbo e nome di tutto ’l dipinto;
‘QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM’, fur sezzai.
Poscia ne l’emme del vocabol quinto
95rimasero ordinate; sì che Giove
pareva argento lì d’oro distinto.
70I saw in that Jovial torch
the sparkling of the love that was there
mark out for my eyes our speech.
And as birds risen from a riverbank,
as if rejoicing together over their feeding grounds,
75make of themselves now round, now other ranks,
so, within the lights, holy creatures,
flying about, were singing, and made themselves
now D, now I, now L in their figures.
First, singing, they moved to their own note;
80then, becoming one of these signs,
they halted a little and were silent.
O divine Pegasea, who makes minds
glorious and renders them long-lived,
and they, with you, do this for cities and kingdoms,
85illumine me with yourself, so that I may set forth
their figures as I have conceived them:
let your power appear in these brief verses!
They showed themselves, then, in five times seven
vowels and consonants; and I noted
90the parts as they seemed said to me.
'DILIGITE IUSTITIAM' were the first
verb and noun of the whole depiction;
'QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM' were the last.
Then in the M of the fifth word
95they remained ordered; so that Jupiter
seemed silver there, distinguished with gold.
Commentary
The translation preserves the written-language spectacle: living lights mark speech, pause as letters, receive a Pegasean invocation, spell Wisdom 1:1 in Latin, and settle in the final M.
XVIII.70–72 Segnare is rendered as marking out: the souls form visible language without ordinary ink or trace.
XVIII.70–72 Segnare is rendered as marking out: the souls form visible language without ordinary ink or trace. Line 72: Segnare is rendered as marking out: the souls form visible language without ordinary ink or trace.
XVIII.72 Segnare is rendered as marking out: the souls form visible language without ordinary ink or trace. Segnare is rendered as marking out: the souls form visible language without ordinary ink or trace.
XVIII.76–78 The first letters defer the full Wisdom citation until the whole phrase has been spelled.
XVIII.76–78 The first letters defer the full Wisdom citation until the whole phrase has been spelled. Line 78: The first letters defer the full Wisdom citation until the whole phrase has been spelled.
XVIII.78 The first letters defer the full Wisdom citation until the whole phrase has been spelled. The first letters defer the full Wisdom citation until the whole phrase has been spelled.
XVIII.82–84 The Pegasean invocation asks poetic aid for rendering the unprecedented writing and Eagle formation.
XVIII.82–84 The Pegasean invocation asks poetic aid for rendering the unprecedented writing and Eagle formation. Line 82: The Pegasean invocation asks poetic aid for rendering the unprecedented writing and Eagle formation.
XVIII.82 The Pegasean invocation asks poetic aid for rendering the unprecedented writing and Eagle formation. The Pegasean invocation asks poetic aid for rendering the unprecedented writing and Eagle formation.
XVIII.91–93 The Latin command from Wisdom 1:1 is preserved in the line translation.
XVIII.91–93 The Latin command from Wisdom 1:1 is preserved in the line translation. Line 91: The Latin command from Wisdom 1:1 is preserved in the line translation.
XVIII.91 The Latin command from Wisdom 1:1 is preserved in the line translation. The Latin command from Wisdom 1:1 is preserved in the line translation.
XVIII.94–96 The final M of TERRAM becomes the base for the lily and then the imperial Eagle formation.
XVIII.94–96 The final M of TERRAM becomes the base for the lily and then the imperial Eagle formation. Line 94: The final M of TERRAM becomes the base for the lily and then the imperial Eagle formation.
XVIII.94 The final M of TERRAM becomes the base for the lily and then the imperial Eagle formation. The final M of TERRAM becomes the base for the lily and then the imperial Eagle formation.
Descending and rising lights transform the M through lily into the head, neck, and body of the Eagle guided directly by God XVIII.97–114
97E vidi scendere altre luci dove
era il colmo de l’emme, e lì quetarsi
cantando, credo, il ben ch’a sé le move.
100Poi, come nel percuoter d’i ciocchi arsi
surgono innumerabili faville,
onde li stolti sogliono agurarsi,
resurger parver quindi più di mille
luci e salir, qual assai e qual poco,
105sì come ’l sol che l’accende sortille;
e quïetata ciascuna in suo loco,
la testa e ’l collo d’un’aguglia vidi
rappresentare a quel distinto foco.
Quei che dipinge lì, non ha chi ’l guidi;
110ma esso guida, e da lui si rammenta
quella virtù ch’è forma per li nidi.
L’altra bëatitudo, che contenta
pareva prima d’ingigliarsi a l’emme,
con poco moto seguitò la ’mprenta.
97And I saw other lights descend where
the crest of the M was, and there come to rest,
singing, I believe, the good that moves them to itself.
100Then, as when burned logs are struck
innumerable sparks rise up,
from which fools are used to taking omens,
there seemed to rise again from there more than a thousand
lights and ascend, some high and some less,
105as the Sun that kindles them allotted;
and, each one quieted in its place,
I saw the head and neck of an Eagle
represented by that distinct fire.
He who paints there has no one to guide him;
110rather he guides, and from him is remembered
that power which is form for nests.
The other blessedness, which appeared content
before to enlily itself on the M,
with slight motion followed the imprint.
Commentary
The M-to-lily-to-Eagle transformation is kept as a divine justice and polity image; the difficult nest-form line is left close to the Italian because comparison sources do not reduce it to a simple paraphrase.
XVIII.100–102 The sparks/omen image prepares the Eagle while quietly recalling Jupiter's bird and augury.
XVIII.100–102 The sparks/omen image prepares the Eagle while quietly recalling Jupiter's bird and augury. Line 102: The sparks/omen image prepares the Eagle while quietly recalling Jupiter's bird and augury.
XVIII.102 The sparks/omen image prepares the Eagle while quietly recalling Jupiter's bird and augury. The sparks/omen image prepares the Eagle while quietly recalling Jupiter's bird and augury.
XVIII.103–105 The Sun that allots the rising lights is the divine source that kindles and orders them.
XVIII.103–105 The Sun that allots the rising lights is the divine source that kindles and orders them. Line 105: The Sun that allots the rising lights is the divine source that kindles and orders them.
XVIII.105 The Sun that allots the rising lights is the divine source that kindles and orders them. The Sun that allots the rising lights is the divine source that kindles and orders them.
XVIII.106–108 Capitalized Eagle tracks the Paradiso VI imperial Eagle and the coming justice-Eagle of Paradiso XIX-XX.
XVIII.106–108 Capitalized Eagle tracks the Paradiso VI imperial Eagle and the coming justice-Eagle of Paradiso XIX-XX. Line 107: Capitalized Eagle tracks the Paradiso VI imperial Eagle and the coming justice-Eagle of Paradiso XIX-XX.
XVIII.107 Capitalized Eagle tracks the Paradiso VI imperial Eagle and the coming justice-Eagle of Paradiso XIX-XX. Capitalized Eagle tracks the Paradiso VI imperial Eagle and the coming justice-Eagle of Paradiso XIX-XX.
XVIII.109–111 The nest-form line is deliberately kept close and slightly strange: divine guidance also grounds natural instinct.
XVIII.109–111 The nest-form line is deliberately kept close and slightly strange: divine guidance also grounds natural instinct. Line 111: The nest-form line is deliberately kept close and slightly strange: divine guidance also grounds natural instinct.
XVIII.111 The nest-form line is deliberately kept close and slightly strange: divine guidance also grounds natural instinct. The nest-form line is deliberately kept close and slightly strange: divine guidance also grounds natural instinct.
XVIII.112–114 Ingigliarsi is Dante's lily coinage; enlily keeps the visible M-to-lily phase before the Eagle.
XVIII.112–114 Ingigliarsi is Dante's lily coinage; enlily keeps the visible M-to-lily phase before the Eagle. Line 113: Ingigliarsi is Dante's lily coinage; enlily keeps the visible M-to-lily phase before the Eagle.
XVIII.113 Ingigliarsi is Dante's lily coinage; enlily keeps the visible M-to-lily phase before the Eagle. Ingigliarsi is Dante's lily coinage; enlily keeps the visible M-to-lily phase before the Eagle.
Dante prays against the smoke corrupting justice and turns the vision into invective against papal greed, censures, and ravaged Church XVIII.115–136
115O dolce stella, quali e quante gemme
mi dimostraro che nostra giustizia
effetto sia del ciel che tu ingemme!
Per ch’io prego la mente in che s’inizia
tuo moto e tua virtute, che rimiri
120ond’ esce il fummo che ’l tuo raggio vizia;
sì ch’un’altra fïata omai s’adiri
del comperare e vender dentro al templo
che si murò di segni e di martìri.
O milizia del ciel cu’ io contemplo,
125adora per color che sono in terra
tutti svïati dietro al malo essemplo!
Già si solea con le spade far guerra;
ma or si fa togliendo or qui or quivi
lo pan che ’l pïo Padre a nessun serra.
130Ma tu che sol per cancellare scrivi,
pensa che Pietro e Paulo, che moriro
per la vigna che guasti, ancor son vivi.
Ben puoi tu dire: «I’ ho fermo ’l disiro
sì a colui che volle viver solo
135e che per salti fu tratto al martiro,
ch’io non conosco il pescator né Polo».
115O sweet star, what and how many gems
showed me that our justice
is an effect of the heaven that you begem!
Therefore I pray the Mind in whom begins
your motion and your power, that it look again
120to where the smoke comes from that vitiates your ray;
so that another time now it may be angry
at buying and selling inside the temple
that was walled with signs and martyrdoms.
O soldiery of Heaven whom I contemplate,
125pray for those who are on earth,
all led astray behind the evil example!
Once war used to be made with swords;
but now it is made by taking, now here, now there,
the bread that the pious Father locks from no one.
130But you, who write only to cancel,
think that Peter and Paul, who died
for the vineyard that you ravage, are still alive.
Indeed you can say: "I have fixed my desire
so firmly on him who wished to live alone
135and who through dancing was dragged to martyrdom,
that I do not know the Fisherman or Polo."
Commentary
The closing invective is read as a justice prayer against ecclesial corruption: smoke vitiates Jupiter's ray, temple commerce returns, censures and Eucharistic exclusion become weapons, and papal writing is corrupted by greedy cancellation.
XVIII.115–117 Jupiter's heaven is named as the celestial source of earthly justice under providential influence.
XVIII.115–117 Jupiter's heaven is named as the celestial source of earthly justice under providential influence. Line 117: Jupiter's heaven is named as the celestial source of earthly justice under providential influence.
XVIII.117 Jupiter's heaven is named as the celestial source of earthly justice under providential influence. Jupiter's heaven is named as the celestial source of earthly justice under providential influence.
XVIII.118–120 The smoke that vitiates Jupiter's ray names earthly corruption blocking justice's influence.
XVIII.118–120 The smoke that vitiates Jupiter's ray names earthly corruption blocking justice's influence. Line 120: The smoke that vitiates Jupiter's ray names earthly corruption blocking justice's influence.
XVIII.120 The smoke that vitiates Jupiter's ray names earthly corruption blocking justice's influence. The smoke that vitiates Jupiter's ray names earthly corruption blocking justice's influence.
XVIII.121–123 The temple is the Church, walled by Christ's signs and the martyrs' witness; the buying and selling recalls Gospel temple-cleansing.
XVIII.121–123 The temple is the Church, walled by Christ's signs and the martyrs' witness; the buying and selling recalls Gospel temple-cleansing. Line 123: The temple is the Church, walled by Christ's signs and the martyrs' witness; the buying and selling recalls Gospel temple-cleansing.
XVIII.123 The temple is the Church, walled by Christ's signs and the martyrs' witness; the buying and selling recalls Gospel temple-cleansing. The temple is the Church, walled by Christ's signs and the martyrs' witness; the buying and selling recalls Gospel temple-cleansing.
XVIII.127–129 The bread is Eucharistic and ecclesial; the line targets spiritual warfare through censures and exclusions.
XVIII.127–129 The bread is Eucharistic and ecclesial; the line targets spiritual warfare through censures and exclusions. Line 129: The bread is Eucharistic and ecclesial; the line targets spiritual warfare through censures and exclusions.
XVIII.129 The bread is Eucharistic and ecclesial; the line targets spiritual warfare through censures and exclusions. The bread is Eucharistic and ecclesial; the line targets spiritual warfare through censures and exclusions.
XVIII.130–132 The address is to the corrupt pope who writes censures in order to cancel them for gain. The vineyard is the Church, for which Peter and Paul died and which corrupt office now ravages.
XVIII.130–132 The address is to the corrupt pope who writes censures in order to cancel them for gain. Line 130: The address is to the corrupt pope who writes censures in order to cancel them for gain. Line 132: The vineyard is the Church, for which Peter and Paul died and which corrupt office now ravages.
XVIII.130 The address is to the corrupt pope who writes censures in order to cancel them for gain. The address is to the corrupt pope who writes censures in order to cancel them for gain.
XVIII.132 The vineyard is the Church, for which Peter and Paul died and which corrupt office now ravages. The vineyard is the Church, for which Peter and Paul died and which corrupt office now ravages.
XVIII.133–135 The solitary martyr is John the Baptist; per salti points to the dance that led to his beheading.
XVIII.133–135 The solitary martyr is John the Baptist; per salti points to the dance that led to his beheading. Line 135: The solitary martyr is John the Baptist; per salti points to the dance that led to his beheading.
XVIII.135 The solitary martyr is John the Baptist; per salti points to the dance that led to his beheading. The solitary martyr is John the Baptist; per salti points to the dance that led to his beheading.
XVIII.136 Polo is kept as a marked form of Paul in the pope's sardonic self-indictment, paired with the humble Fisherman Peter. Polo is kept as a marked form of Paul in the pope's sardonic self-indictment, paired with the humble Fisherman Peter.