The Heaven of the Moon, in which are seen the spirits of those who, having taken monastic vows, were forced to violate them.
In Dante's symbolism this heaven represents the first science of the Trivium. Convito, II.14 : "I say that the heaven of the Moon resembles Grammar; because it may be compared therewith; for if the Moon be well observed, two things are seen peculiar to it, which are not seen in the other stars. One is the shadow in it, which is nothing but the rarity of its body, in which the rays of the sun cannot terminate and be reflected as in the other parts. The other is the variation of its brightness, which now shines on one side, and now upon the other, according as the sun looks upon it. And Grammar has these two properties; since, on account of its infinity, the rays of reason do not terminate in it in any special part of its words ; and it shines now on this side, and now on that, inasmuch as certain words, certain declinations, certain constructions, are in use which once were not, and many once were which will be again."
For the influences of the Moon, see Canto III. Note 30.
The introduction to this canto is at once a warning and an invitation. Balbi, Life and Times of Dante, II. Ch. 15, Mrs. Bunbury's Tr., says :--
"The last part of the Commedia, which Dante finished about this time (1320). . . . . is said to be the most difficult and obscure part of the whole poem. And it is so; and it would be in vain for us to attempt to awaken in the generality of readers that attention which Dante has not been able to obtain for himself. Readers in general will always be repulsed by the difficulties of its numerous allegories, by the series of heavens, arranged according to the now forgotten Ptolemaic system, and more than all by disquisitions on philosophy and theology which often degenerate into mere scholastic themes. With the exception of the three cantos relating to Cacciaguida, and a few other episodes which recall us to earth, as well as those verses in which frequently Dante's love for Beatrice shines forth, the Paradiso must not be considered as pleasant reading for the general reader, but as an especial recreation for those who find there, expressed in sublime verse, those contemplations that have been the subjects of their philosophical and theological studies. . . . . .But few will always be the students of philosophy and theology, and much fewer those who look upon these sciences as almost one and the same thing, pursued by two different methods; these, if I am not mistaken, will find in Dante's Paradiso, a treasure of thought, and the loftiest and most soothing words of comfort, forerunners of the joys of Heaven itself. Above all, the Paradiso will delight those who find themselves, when they are reading it, in a somewhat similar disposition of mind to that of Dante when he was writing it; those in short who, after having in their youth lived in the world, and sought happiness in it, have now arrived at maturity, old age, or satiety, and seek by the means of philosophy and theology to know as far as possible of that other world on which their hopes now rest. Philosophy is the romance of the aged, and Religion the only future history for us all. Both these subjects of contemplation we find in Dante's Paradiso, and pursued with a rare modesty, not beyond the limits of our understanding, and with due submission to the Divine Law which placed these limits."
In the other parts of the poem "one summit of Parnassus" has sufficed; but in this Minerva, Apollo, and the nine Muses come to his aid, as wind, helmsman, and compass.
II. The bread of the Angels is Knowledge or Science, which Dante calls the "ultimate perfection." Convito, I. I Everything, impelled by the providence of its own nature, inclines towards its own perfection; whence, inasmuch as knowledge is the ultimate perfection of our soul, wherein consists our ultimate felicity, we are all naturally subject to its desire. . . . .O blessed those few who sit at the table where the bread of the Angels is eaten."
The Argonauts, when they saw their leader Jason ploughing with the wild bulls of Aeetes, and sowing the land with serpents' teeth. Ovid, Met., VII., Tate's Tr. :--
"To unknown yokes their brawny necks they yield,
And, like tame oxen, plough the wondering field.
The Colchians stare; the Grecians shout, and raise
Their champion's courage with inspiring praise.
Emboldened now, on fresh attempts he goes,
With serpents' teeth the fertile furrows sows;
The glebe, fermenting with enchanted juice,
Makes the snakes' teeth a human crop produce."
This is generally interpreted as referring to the natural aspiration of the soul for higher things; characterized in Purg. XXI. I, as
"The natural thirst that ne'er is satisfied,
Excepting with the water for whose grace
The woman of Samaria besought."
But Venturi says that it means the "being borne onward by the motion of the Primum Mobile, and swept round so as to find himself directly beneath the moon."
As if looking back upon his journey through the air, Dante thus rapidly describes it an inverse order, the arrival, the ascent, the departure ; the striking of the shaft, the flight, the discharge from the bow-string. Here again we are reminded of the arrow of Pandarus, Iliad, IV. 120.
Cain with his bush of thorns. See Inf. XX. Note 126.
The spots in the Moon, which Dante thought were caused by rarity of density of the substance of the planet. Convito, II. 14: "The shadow in it, which is nothing but the rarity of its body, in which the rays of the sun cannot terminate and be reflected, as in the other parts."
Milton, Par. Lost, V. 419:--
"Whence in her visage round those spots unpurged,
Vapours not yet into her substance turned."
The Heaven of the Fixed Stars.
Either the diaphanous parts must run through the body of the Moon, or the rarity and density must be in layers one above the other.
As in a mirror, which Dante elsewhere, Inf. XXIII 25, calls impiombato vetro, leaded glass.
The subject of the snow is what lies under it; "the mountain that remains naked," says Buti. Others give a scholastic interpretation to the word, defining it "the cause of accident," the cause of colour and cold.
Shall tremble like a star. "When a man looks at the stars," says Buti, "he sees their effulgence tremble, and this is because their splendour scintillates as fire does, and moves to and fro like the flame of the fire." The brighter they burn, the more they tremble.
The Primum Mobile, revolving in the Empyrean, and giving motion to all the heavens beneath it.
The Heaven of the Fixed Stars. Greek Epigrams, III. 62:--
"If I were heaven,
With all the eyes of heaven would I look down on thee."
Also Catullus, Carm., V.:--
How many stars, when night is silent,
Look on the furtive loves of men."
And Milton, Par. Lost, V.44 :--
"Heaven wakes with all his eyes
Whom to behold but thee, nature's desire?"
The Intelligences, ruling and guiding the several heavens (receiving power from above, and distributing it downward, taking their impression from God and stamping it like a seal upon the spheres below), according to Dionysius the Areopagite are as follows:--
| 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 |
See Canto XXVIII. Note 99, and also the article Cabala at the end of the volume.
The principle which gives being to all created things.