Paradiso, Canto 7
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso VII begins as Justinian and the other spirits of Mercury depart singing Hosanna, vanishing like sparks into sudden distance. Dante wants to ask Beatrice about Justinian's paradox that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin, but reverence for her name silences him. Beatrice reads the unspoken doubt and explains: Adam, the man not born, refused the good rein on the will and condemned human nature; the Word of God descended to join that estranged nature to himself in the Incarnation. Christ's death is therefore just when measured by the human nature assumed, and the greatest wrong when measured by the divine person who suffers, so one death can be redemptively pleasing to God and culpably pleasing to its human agents. Beatrice then addresses a deeper question: why God chose this mode of redemption. Divine goodness gives incorruptibility, freedom, likeness, and love to what proceeds immediately from it; sin alone strips human nature of freedom and likeness. Human nature could be restored only if God pardoned by mercy or humanity made satisfaction, but man could not humble himself by later obedience as far as he had tried to rise by disobedience. God therefore chose both ways: generous self-gift and just satisfaction through the Son's humility in becoming incarnate. Finally Beatrice answers why created elements and mixed bodies corrupt: angels, the heavens, human rational life, and the first human flesh are immediate creations, while elements, compounds, plants, and animals are mediated through created powers and celestial influence. From immediate creation Dante can infer the resurrection of human flesh.
Narrative arc
- Justinian and the Mercury souls withdraw singing Hosanna while Dante is silenced by reverence for Beatrice
- Beatrice resolves the paradox of just vengeance justly punished through Adam, Incarnation, and the Cross
- Beatrice names Dante's deeper question and frames redemption through immediate creation, freedom, likeness, sin, and satisfaction
- Humanity cannot satisfy by itself, so God restores human life through both mercy and justice in the Incarnation
- Beatrice distinguishes immediate creation from mediated natural formation and concludes with the resurrection of human flesh
Central themes
- redemption
- love
Justinian and the Mercury souls withdraw singing Hosanna while Dante is silenced by reverence for Beatrice VII.1–18
1«Osanna, sanctus Deus sabaòth,
superillustrans claritate tua
felices ignes horum malacòth!».
Così, volgendosi a la nota sua,
5fu viso a me cantare essa sustanza,
sopra la qual doppio lume s’addua;
ed essa e l’altre mossero a sua danza,
e quasi velocissime faville
mi si velar di sùbita distanza.
10Io dubitava e dicea ‘Dille, dille!’
fra me, ‘dille’ dicea, ‘a la mia donna
che mi diseta con le dolci stille’.
Ma quella reverenza che s’indonna
di tutto me, pur per Be e per ice,
15mi richinava come l’uom ch’assonna.
Poco sofferse me cotal Beatrice
e cominciò, raggiandomi d’un riso
tal, che nel foco faria l’uom felice:
1"Hosanna, sanctus Deus sabaoth,
superillustrans claritate tua
felices ignes horum malacoth!"
Thus, turning back to his own melody,
5that substance seemed to me to sing,
above whom a double light is twinned;
and he and the others moved in their dance,
and, like the swiftest sparks,
were veiled from me by sudden distance.
10I was in doubt, saying, "Tell her, tell her!"
within myself; "tell her," I said, "my lady,
who slakes my thirst with her sweet drops."
But that reverence which takes lordship
over all of me, even for Be and for ice,
15bowed me down again like one who drowses.
Beatrice bore with me this way only a little,
and began, raying on me with a smile
such that it would make a man happy in fire:
Commentary
The mixed Latin/Hebrew Hosanna is retained, and Justinian and the other Mercury souls are sparks withdrawing into sudden distance. The Be/ice syllable split keeps Beatrice's name as an overpowering devotional trigger before doctrine begins.
VII.1–3 The opening liturgical line is retained in its mixed Latin/Hebrew form; the phrase praises God illuminating the blessed fires of these realms. Malacoth is retained from the Italian; variant spellings exist, and Norton glosses it as a realms term.
VII.1–3 The opening liturgical line is retained in its mixed Latin/Hebrew form; the phrase praises God illuminating the blessed fires of these realms. Line 1: The opening liturgical line is retained in its mixed Latin/Hebrew form; the phrase praises God illuminating the blessed fires of these realms. Line 3: Malacoth is retained from the Italian; variant spellings exist, and Norton glosses it as a realms term.
VII.1 The opening liturgical line is retained in its mixed Latin/Hebrew form; the phrase praises God illuminating the blessed fires of these realms. The opening liturgical line is retained in its mixed Latin/Hebrew form; the phrase praises God illuminating the blessed fires of these realms.
VII.3 Malacoth is retained from the Italian; variant spellings exist, and Norton glosses it as a realms term. Malacoth is retained from the Italian; variant spellings exist, and Norton glosses it as a realms term.
VII.4–6 The double light recalls Justinian as saved soul and imperial/legal figure from Paradiso VI.
VII.4–6 The double light recalls Justinian as saved soul and imperial/legal figure from Paradiso VI. Line 6: The double light recalls Justinian as saved soul and imperial/legal figure from Paradiso VI.
VII.6 The double light recalls Justinian as saved soul and imperial/legal figure from Paradiso VI. The double light recalls Justinian as saved soul and imperial/legal figure from Paradiso VI.
VII.10–12 The thirst/drops image continues Paradiso desire as a wish for doctrinal clarification through Beatrice.
VII.10–12 The thirst/drops image continues Paradiso desire as a wish for doctrinal clarification through Beatrice. Line 12: The thirst/drops image continues Paradiso desire as a wish for doctrinal clarification through Beatrice.
VII.12 The thirst/drops image continues Paradiso desire as a wish for doctrinal clarification through Beatrice. The thirst/drops image continues Paradiso desire as a wish for doctrinal clarification through Beatrice.
VII.13–15 Be and ice split Beatrice's name into syllables; even the name fragments overpower Dante with reverence.
VII.13–15 Be and ice split Beatrice's name into syllables; even the name fragments overpower Dante with reverence. Line 14: Be and ice split Beatrice's name into syllables; even the name fragments overpower Dante with reverence.
VII.14 Be and ice split Beatrice's name into syllables; even the name fragments overpower Dante with reverence. Be and ice split Beatrice's name into syllables; even the name fragments overpower Dante with reverence.
Beatrice resolves the paradox of just vengeance justly punished through Adam, Incarnation, and the Cross VII.19–51
19«Secondo mio infallibile avviso,
20come giusta vendetta giustamente
punita fosse, t’ha in pensier miso;
ma io ti solverò tosto la mente;
e tu ascolta, ché le mie parole
di gran sentenza ti faran presente.
25Per non soffrire a la virtù che vole
freno a suo prode, quell’ uom che non nacque,
dannando sé, dannò tutta sua prole;
onde l’umana specie inferma giacque
giù per secoli molti in grande errore,
30fin ch’al Verbo di Dio discender piacque
u’ la natura, che dal suo fattore
s’era allungata, unì a sé in persona
con l’atto sol del suo etterno amore.
Or drizza il viso a quel ch’or si ragiona:
35questa natura al suo fattore unita,
qual fu creata, fu sincera e buona;
ma per sé stessa pur fu ella sbandita
di paradiso, però che si torse
da via di verità e da sua vita.
40La pena dunque che la croce porse
s’a la natura assunta si misura,
nulla già mai sì giustamente morse;
e così nulla fu di tanta ingiura,
guardando a la persona che sofferse,
45in che era contratta tal natura.
Però d’un atto uscir cose diverse:
ch’a Dio e a’ Giudei piacque una morte;
per lei tremò la terra e ’l ciel s’aperse.
Non ti dee oramai parer più forte,
50quando si dice che giusta vendetta
poscia vengiata fu da giusta corte.
19"According to my infallible judgment,
20how just vengeance could have been
justly punished has set you thinking;
but I will quickly loose your mind;
and you listen, for my words
will make you a gift of great doctrine.
25By not bearing, for his own good, a rein
upon the power that wills, that man who was not born,
damning himself, damned all his offspring;
therefore the human species lay sick
down through many centuries in great error,
30until it pleased the Word of God to descend
where the nature that had gone far
from its Maker he united to himself in person
by the sole act of his eternal love.
Now direct your sight to what is now reasoned:
35this nature, joined to its Maker,
was pure and good, as it was created;
but by itself alone it was banished
from Paradise, because it turned aside
from the way of truth and from its life.
40Therefore the punishment that the Cross offered,
if measured by the nature assumed,
never bit anything so justly;
and likewise nothing was of such great wrong,
if we look to the person who suffered,
45in whom such a nature was contracted.
Therefore from one act came different things:
for one death pleased God and the Jews;
through it the earth trembled and Heaven opened.
It should no longer seem hard to you,
50when it is said that a just vengeance
was afterward avenged by a just court.
Commentary
Beatrice answers the Paradiso VI paradox: Christ's death is just when measured by assumed human nature, unjust when measured by the divine person who suffers, so one act can please God redemptively and be culpable in its human agents.
VII.19–21 The just-vengeance paradox answers Justinian's claim that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin.
VII.19–21 The just-vengeance paradox answers Justinian's claim that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin. Line 20: The just-vengeance paradox answers Justinian's claim that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin.
VII.20 The just-vengeance paradox answers Justinian's claim that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin. The just-vengeance paradox answers Justinian's claim that Titus avenged the vengeance of ancient sin.
VII.25–27 The man who was not born is Adam, directly created rather than generated.
VII.25–27 The man who was not born is Adam, directly created rather than generated. Line 26: The man who was not born is Adam, directly created rather than generated.
VII.26 The man who was not born is Adam, directly created rather than generated. The man who was not born is Adam, directly created rather than generated.
VII.28–30 The Word of God is Christ in the Incarnation.
VII.28–30 The Word of God is Christ in the Incarnation. Line 30: The Word of God is Christ in the Incarnation.
VII.30 The Word of God is Christ in the Incarnation. The Word of God is Christ in the Incarnation.
VII.37–39 Way, truth, and life language carries Johannine pressure.
VII.37–39 Way, truth, and life language carries Johannine pressure. Line 39: Way, truth, and life language carries Johannine pressure.
VII.39 Way, truth, and life language carries Johannine pressure. Way, truth, and life language carries Johannine pressure.
VII.40–42 Measured by culpable human nature, the Cross is just punishment.
VII.40–42 Measured by culpable human nature, the Cross is just punishment. Line 42: Measured by culpable human nature, the Cross is just punishment.
VII.42 Measured by culpable human nature, the Cross is just punishment. Measured by culpable human nature, the Cross is just punishment.
VII.43–45 Measured by the divine person who suffers, the Cross is the greatest wrong.
VII.43–45 Measured by the divine person who suffers, the Cross is the greatest wrong. Line 45: Measured by the divine person who suffers, the Cross is the greatest wrong.
VII.45 Measured by the divine person who suffers, the Cross is the greatest wrong. Measured by the divine person who suffers, the Cross is the greatest wrong.
VII.46–48 The line preserves Dante's medieval theological claim about God's redemptive will and the Jews' culpable will in one death.
VII.46–48 The line preserves Dante's medieval theological claim about God's redemptive will and the Jews' culpable will in one death. Line 47: The line preserves Dante's medieval theological claim about God's redemptive will and the Jews' culpable will in one death.
VII.47 The line preserves Dante's medieval theological claim about God's redemptive will and the Jews' culpable will in one death. The line preserves Dante's medieval theological claim about God's redemptive will and the Jews' culpable will in one death.
VII.49–51 The just court is Roman imperial justice, picking up Paradiso VI's Eagle and Titus sequence.
VII.49–51 The just court is Roman imperial justice, picking up Paradiso VI's Eagle and Titus sequence. Line 51: The just court is Roman imperial justice, picking up Paradiso VI's Eagle and Titus sequence.
VII.51 The just court is Roman imperial justice, picking up Paradiso VI's Eagle and Titus sequence. The just court is Roman imperial justice, picking up Paradiso VI's Eagle and Titus sequence.
Beatrice names Dante's deeper question and frames redemption through immediate creation, freedom, likeness, sin, and satisfaction VII.52–93
52Ma io veggi’ or la tua mente ristretta
di pensiero in pensier dentro ad un nodo,
del qual con gran disio solver s’aspetta.
55Tu dici: “Ben discerno ciò ch’i’ odo;
ma perché Dio volesse, m’è occulto,
a nostra redenzion pur questo modo”.
Questo decreto, frate, sta sepulto
a li occhi di ciascuno il cui ingegno
60ne la fiamma d’amor non è adulto.
Veramente, però ch’a questo segno
molto si mira e poco si discerne,
dirò perché tal modo fu più degno.
La divina bontà, che da sé sperne
65ogne livore, ardendo in sé, sfavilla
sì che dispiega le bellezze etterne.
Ciò che da lei sanza mezzo distilla
non ha poi fine, perché non si move
la sua imprenta quand’ ella sigilla.
70Ciò che da essa sanza mezzo piove
libero è tutto, perché non soggiace
a la virtute de le cose nove.
Più l’è conforme, e però più le piace;
ché l’ardor santo ch’ogne cosa raggia,
75ne la più somigliante è più vivace.
Di tutte queste dote s’avvantaggia
l’umana creatura, e s’una manca,
di sua nobilità convien che caggia.
Solo il peccato è quel che la disfranca
80e falla dissimìle al sommo bene,
per che del lume suo poco s’imbianca;
e in sua dignità mai non rivene,
se non rïempie, dove colpa vòta,
contra mal dilettar con giuste pene.
85Vostra natura, quando peccò tota
nel seme suo, da queste dignitadi,
come di paradiso, fu remota;
né ricovrar potiensi, se tu badi
ben sottilmente, per alcuna via,
90sanza passar per un di questi guadi:
o che Dio solo per sua cortesia
dimesso avesse, o che l’uom per sé isso
avesse sodisfatto a sua follia.
52But now I see your mind constrained
from thought to thought inside a knot
from which, with great desire, it waits to be loosed.
55You say: "I clearly discern what I hear;
but this is hidden from me: why God willed
only this mode for our redemption."
This decree, brother, lies buried
from the eyes of everyone whose intellect
60has not grown adult in the flame of love.
Still, because at this mark
many gaze and little is discerned,
I will tell why such a mode was more worthy.
The divine goodness, which spurns
65all envy from itself, and, burning in itself, flashes
so that it unfolds the eternal beauties.
What flows from it without intermediary
afterward has no end, because its imprint
does not move when it sets its seal.
70What rains down from it without intermediary
is wholly free, because it does not lie subject
to the power of newer things.
It is more conformed to it, and so pleases it more;
for the holy ardor that rays through everything
75is more living in what most resembles it.
The human creature has the advantage
of all these gifts, and if one is lacking,
it must fall from its nobility.
Sin alone is what strips it of freedom
80and makes it unlike the highest good,
so that it is little whitened by His light;
and it never returns to its dignity
unless it fills, where guilt makes empty,
with just pains against evil delight.
85Your nature, when it sinned wholly
in its seed, was removed from these dignities,
as it was from Paradise;
nor could they be recovered, if you attend
quite subtly, by any way
90without passing through one of these fords:
either that God alone by his courtesy
should have forgiven, or that man himself, by himself,
should have made satisfaction for his folly.
Commentary
The second question is why God chose this mode of redemption. The translation keeps Beatrice's scholastic terms visible: immediate creation, freedom, likeness to the highest good, sin as loss of freedom, and satisfaction for evil delight.
VII.58–60 Adult in love names the maturity required for intellect to approach this decree.
VII.58–60 Adult in love names the maturity required for intellect to approach this decree. Line 60: Adult in love names the maturity required for intellect to approach this decree.
VII.60 Adult in love names the maturity required for intellect to approach this decree. Adult in love names the maturity required for intellect to approach this decree.
VII.67–69 Without intermediary marks immediate creation by God rather than production through secondary causes.
VII.67–69 Without intermediary marks immediate creation by God rather than production through secondary causes. Line 67: Without intermediary marks immediate creation by God rather than production through secondary causes.
VII.67 Without intermediary marks immediate creation by God rather than production through secondary causes. Without intermediary marks immediate creation by God rather than production through secondary causes.
VII.70–72 Newer things refers to created secondary causes, especially the heavens and their powers, not to novelty as fashion.
VII.70–72 Newer things refers to created secondary causes, especially the heavens and their powers, not to novelty as fashion. Line 72: Newer things refers to created secondary causes, especially the heavens and their powers, not to novelty as fashion.
VII.72 Newer things refers to created secondary causes, especially the heavens and their powers, not to novelty as fashion. Newer things refers to created secondary causes, especially the heavens and their powers, not to novelty as fashion.
VII.79–81 Strips it of freedom renders disfranca, keeping sin as loss of the freedom proper to likeness to God.
VII.79–81 Strips it of freedom renders disfranca, keeping sin as loss of the freedom proper to likeness to God. Line 79: Strips it of freedom renders disfranca, keeping sin as loss of the freedom proper to likeness to God.
VII.79 Strips it of freedom renders disfranca, keeping sin as loss of the freedom proper to likeness to God. Strips it of freedom renders disfranca, keeping sin as loss of the freedom proper to likeness to God.
VII.82–84 The satisfaction logic requires just pains to fill what culpable delight emptied.
VII.82–84 The satisfaction logic requires just pains to fill what culpable delight emptied. Line 84: The satisfaction logic requires just pains to fill what culpable delight emptied.
VII.84 The satisfaction logic requires just pains to fill what culpable delight emptied. The satisfaction logic requires just pains to fill what culpable delight emptied.
VII.85–87 The seed is Adam as source of human nature.
VII.85–87 The seed is Adam as source of human nature. Line 85: The seed is Adam as source of human nature.
VII.85 The seed is Adam as source of human nature. The seed is Adam as source of human nature.
VII.91–93 Courtesy carries divine generosity or mercy; the following lines test mercy together with justice. Made satisfaction keeps the doctrinal term that has recurred in the vow and redemption questions.
VII.91–93 Courtesy carries divine generosity or mercy; the following lines test mercy together with justice. Line 91: Courtesy carries divine generosity or mercy; the following lines test mercy together with justice. Line 93: Made satisfaction keeps the doctrinal term that has recurred in the vow and redemption questions.
VII.91 Courtesy carries divine generosity or mercy; the following lines test mercy together with justice. Courtesy carries divine generosity or mercy; the following lines test mercy together with justice.
VII.93 Made satisfaction keeps the doctrinal term that has recurred in the vow and redemption questions. Made satisfaction keeps the doctrinal term that has recurred in the vow and redemption questions.
Humanity cannot satisfy by itself, so God restores human life through both mercy and justice in the Incarnation VII.94–120
94Ficca mo l’occhio per entro l’abisso
95de l’etterno consiglio, quanto puoi
al mio parlar distrettamente fisso.
Non potea l’uomo ne’ termini suoi
mai sodisfar, per non potere ir giuso
con umiltate obedïendo poi,
100quanto disobediendo intese ir suso;
e questa è la cagion per che l’uom fue
da poter sodisfar per sé dischiuso.
Dunque a Dio convenia con le vie sue
riparar l’omo a sua intera vita,
105dico con l’una, o ver con amendue.
Ma perché l’ovra tanto è più gradita
da l’operante, quanto più appresenta
de la bontà del core ond’ ell’ è uscita,
la divina bontà che ’l mondo imprenta,
110di proceder per tutte le sue vie,
a rilevarvi suso, fu contenta.
Né tra l’ultima notte e ’l primo die
sì alto o sì magnifico processo,
o per l’una o per l’altra, fu o fie:
115ché più largo fu Dio a dar sé stesso
per far l’uom sufficiente a rilevarsi,
che s’elli avesse sol da sé dimesso;
e tutti li altri modi erano scarsi
a la giustizia, se ’l Figliuol di Dio
120non fosse umilïato ad incarnarsi.
94Now fix your eye deep within the abyss
95of the eternal counsel, as far as you can,
held closely fixed to my speaking.
Man, within his own limits, could never
make satisfaction, since he could not go down
with humility, obeying afterward,
100as far as, disobeying, he meant to go up;
and this is the reason why man was
shut out from power to satisfy by himself.
Therefore it fell to God, by his own ways,
to restore man to his whole life:
105I mean with one, or else with both.
But because a work is so much more pleasing
to the worker, the more it presents
of the goodness of the heart from which it issued,
the divine goodness that imprints the world
110was content to proceed by all its ways
to raise you back upward.
Nor between the final night and the first day
was there, or will there be, so high
or so magnificent a proceeding, by one or the other:
115for God was more generous in giving himself
to make man sufficient to rise back up
than if he had forgiven only by himself;
and all the other modes fell short
of justice, if the Son of God
120had not humbled himself to be incarnate.
Commentary
The argument has a two-ford structure: man cannot descend by later humility as far as he rose by disobedience, so God restores human life through both mercy and justice in the Incarnation.
VII.109–111 Raise you back upward keeps rilevarvi's restoration and ascent pressure together.
VII.109–111 Raise you back upward keeps rilevarvi's restoration and ascent pressure together. Line 111: Raise you back upward keeps rilevarvi's restoration and ascent pressure together.
VII.111 Raise you back upward keeps rilevarvi's restoration and ascent pressure together. Raise you back upward keeps rilevarvi's restoration and ascent pressure together.
VII.112–114 The time span frames whole created history between first day and final night.
VII.112–114 The time span frames whole created history between first day and final night. Line 112: The time span frames whole created history between first day and final night.
VII.112 The time span frames whole created history between first day and final night. The time span frames whole created history between first day and final night.
VII.118–120 The line completes the mercy-and-justice account through the Son's humility in the Incarnation.
VII.118–120 The line completes the mercy-and-justice account through the Son's humility in the Incarnation. Line 120: The line completes the mercy-and-justice account through the Son's humility in the Incarnation.
VII.120 The line completes the mercy-and-justice account through the Son's humility in the Incarnation. The line completes the mercy-and-justice account through the Son's humility in the Incarnation.
Beatrice distinguishes immediate creation from mediated natural formation and concludes with the resurrection of human flesh VII.121–148
121Or per empierti bene ogne disio,
ritorno a dichiararti in alcun loco,
perché tu veggi lì così com’ io.
Tu dici: “Io veggio l’acqua, io veggio il foco,
125l’aere e la terra e tutte lor misture
venire a corruzione, e durar poco;
e queste cose pur furon creature;
per che, se ciò ch’è detto è stato vero,
esser dovrien da corruzion sicure”.
130Li angeli, frate, e ’l paese sincero
nel qual tu se’, dir si posson creati,
sì come sono, in loro essere intero;
ma li alimenti che tu hai nomati
e quelle cose che di lor si fanno
135da creata virtù sono informati.
Creata fu la materia ch’elli hanno;
creata fu la virtù informante
in queste stelle che ’ntorno a lor vanno.
L’anima d’ogne bruto e de le piante
140di complession potenzïata tira
lo raggio e ’l moto de le luci sante;
ma vostra vita sanza mezzo spira
la somma beninanza, e la innamora
di sé sì che poi sempre la disira.
145E quinci puoi argomentare ancora
vostra resurrezion, se tu ripensi
come l’umana carne fessi allora
che li primi parenti intrambo fensi».
121Now, to fill you well with every desire,
I return to clarify one point for you,
so that there you may see just as I do.
You say: "I see water, I see fire,
125air and earth and all their mixtures
come to corruption, and last a little while;
and yet these things too were creatures;
therefore, if what has been said is true,
they ought to be secure from corruption."
130The angels, brother, and the pure realm
in which you are, can be said to be created
just as they are, in their whole being;
but the elements that you have named
and those things made from them
135are informed by created power.
Created was the matter that they have;
created was the informing power
in these stars that go around them.
The soul of every beast and of the plants
140from a compound charged with potency
the ray and motion of the holy lights draw forth;
but your life, without intermediary, is breathed
by the highest Goodness, which enamors it
of Himself so that ever after it desires Him.
145And from this you can argue further
your resurrection, if you think again
how human flesh was made then
when the first parents were both made."
Commentary
The final question distinguishes immediately created angels, heavens, human rational life, and first human flesh from elements and mixed bodies informed through created powers. The resurrection inference depends on what proceeds immediately from God being incorruptible.
VII.130–132 Pure realm renders paese sincero as the incorrupt heavenly country where Dante now is.
VII.130–132 Pure realm renders paese sincero as the incorrupt heavenly country where Dante now is. Line 130: Pure realm renders paese sincero as the incorrupt heavenly country where Dante now is.
VII.130 Pure realm renders paese sincero as the incorrupt heavenly country where Dante now is. Pure realm renders paese sincero as the incorrupt heavenly country where Dante now is.
VII.133–135 Created power means these bodies are mediated through created informing causes rather than made immediately as they now are.
VII.133–135 Created power means these bodies are mediated through created informing causes rather than made immediately as they now are. Line 135: Created power means these bodies are mediated through created informing causes rather than made immediately as they now are.
VII.135 Created power means these bodies are mediated through created informing causes rather than made immediately as they now are. Created power means these bodies are mediated through created informing causes rather than made immediately as they now are.
VII.139–141 The vegetative and sensitive souls are drawn forth through celestial ray and motion from prepared bodily mixtures.
VII.139–141 The vegetative and sensitive souls are drawn forth through celestial ray and motion from prepared bodily mixtures. Line 141: The vegetative and sensitive souls are drawn forth through celestial ray and motion from prepared bodily mixtures.
VII.141 The vegetative and sensitive souls are drawn forth through celestial ray and motion from prepared bodily mixtures. The vegetative and sensitive souls are drawn forth through celestial ray and motion from prepared bodily mixtures.
VII.142–144 Human rational life is breathed immediately by the highest Goodness.
VII.142–144 Human rational life is breathed immediately by the highest Goodness. Line 142: Human rational life is breathed immediately by the highest Goodness.
VII.142 Human rational life is breathed immediately by the highest Goodness. Human rational life is breathed immediately by the highest Goodness.
VII.145–147 The resurrection argument depends on human soul and the first human flesh proceeding immediately from God.
VII.145–147 The resurrection argument depends on human soul and the first human flesh proceeding immediately from God. Line 146: The resurrection argument depends on human soul and the first human flesh proceeding immediately from God.
VII.146 The resurrection argument depends on human soul and the first human flesh proceeding immediately from God. The resurrection argument depends on human soul and the first human flesh proceeding immediately from God.
VII.148 The first parents are Adam and Eve. The first parents are Adam and Eve.