... such meditations-as St. Paul speaks of those glorious things which he saw when he was rapt into the third heavens-they are neither lawful nor possible to be uttered,. because, that the affections being so intensely employed,-invention, memory, and the intellectual actings of the soul during that time do almost cease. . . .Therefore, those meditations that are fullest of devotion cannot be remembered... or fully set down: for the soul is never so free, nor may be, before others, as with God alone."-A Method and Instructions for the Art of Divine Meditation, by Thomas White. 1672. See note, canto 142. Page 2. (Line 13.) "Chaucer has imitated this invocation very closely at the beginning of the third book of Fame.". Cary. (20.) The Satyr Marsyas, having defied the musical powers of Apollo, was vanquished by him, and flayed alive for his audacity. (36.) Cyrrha was a city devoted to Apollo. Page 3. (Line 37.) The Sun is said to rise through various openings, because the sign of the zodiac, whence he emerges, varies with the seasons. The opening here spoken of is that when the sun rises in Aries, conjoined with Venus, the“ happier star" of the text-viz. in the spring; when "the mundane wax," i.e. the earth, is best suited to receive the impression of his beams. At this time the horizon, the zodiac, the equator, and the equinoctial colour join, intersecting each other, and form three crosses.-The poet says it was morning at this time in Paradise, and night on earth. The meaning is, that though to the natural man all is dark and gloomy-to him who directs his eyes to the Sun of righteousness, God vouchsafes a manifestation of his glory. (49.) i.e. The ray of reflection, generated by that of incidence, turns back, like the pilgrim, after he has attained the object of his journey. "These rays signify the grace of God, which, reflected from the eyes of Beatrice, and ascending to those of Dante, i.e. to his intellect, endue him with superhuman intelligence.—Ottimo Commento. (55.) i.e. Our faculties are far more perfect in the terrestrial Paradise, where Dante was, than on earth; and Paradise is the destination, as it was the birth-place, of the human soul. See Purg. xxv. 84. Page 4. (Line 65.) i.e. The eternal and ever circling spheres of Heaven. (68.) Glaucus is fabled to have been a fisherman, who seeing the fish he had caught leap back into the sea, fed upon the grass whereon they had lain, and became a marine Deity. (73.) "Whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell." 2 Cor. xii. 2. "Love is the leading passion of the soul: all the rest follow the measure and motion of it, as the lower heavens are said to be wheeled about with the first."-Abp. Leighton, Serm. vii. Of the Ptolemean system, see note, ii. 112. (76.) The heavens, are said to be kept in motion by the love of God, attracting them to himself. And this desire, wherewith "the whole creation groaneth," is explained in the Convito, where Dante, speaking of the primum mobile, says: "Il quale per lo suo ferventissimo appetito d'essere congiunto col divinissimo cielo e quieto, in quello se risolve con tanto desiderio, che la sua velocità e quasi incomprehensibile." This is the doctrine of Plato, "The heavens are ever moving in search of the soul of the world, which is not in any one place, but scattered throughout all— which soul of the world is no other than God." "Nothing may be infinitely desired but that Good which is indeed infinite....No good is infinite but only God: therefore He is our felicity and our bliss. Moreover, desire tendeth unto union with that it desireth. If then in Him we be blessed, it is by force of participation and conjunction with Him....Then are we happy, therefore, when fully we enjoy God as an object So smooths her charming tones, that God's own ear Page 5. (Line 99.) The poet is at a loss to understand how he is able to ascend through the spheres of air and fire, both comparatively lighter than his body. Beatrice proceeds to explain that every created thing has its peculiar object, according to the law of nature; and thus, as it is natural for fire to ascend, and water to descend, so is it natural for man, when not impeded by sin, to contemplate the heavens and approach God, in whose image he was made. Page 6. (Line 123.) The empyrean, or seat of God-See note to ii, 112. "To this heaven," says Dante, " our desires are naturally inclined, according to the law spoken of, line 103." Thus Milton, Par. Lost, Book v. 469. "One Almighty is, from whom All things proceed, and up to Him return; If not depraved from good." (127.) Thus Horace, Art. Poet, 348. "Nam neque chorda sonum reddit quem vult manus et mens; Poscentique gravem persæpe remittit acutum : Nec semper feriet quodcunque minabitur arcus." CANTO II. ARGUMENT, DANTE warns his readers not to follow him in his adventurous voyage unless they have accustomed themselves to divine contemplations. The first planet he visits is the Moon. O YE who fain would listen to my song, Following in little bark full eagerly My venturous ship, that chanting hies along, Minerva breathes-Apollo is my guide: And new-born Muses do the Bears display. 1 7 Mid the deep ocean ye your course may take, prow Of God's blest realm, was bearing us on high, Swift as ye see the starry heaven make way,I, gazing upon Beatrice, and she Looking above; and quickly as may fly An arrow to its rest, so quickly we Were to an elevated region brought, 13 19 25 Where things of wondrous aspect met my gaze; Whence she, to whom was known my every thought, Turn'd to me, glad as beautiful; and said: "See that a grateful heart to God thou raise, Methought a cloud enveloped us all bright, Like diamond sparkling with the solar light. The eternal pearl receiv'd us, as a ray In water is received not parted by 31 The beams that through its substance make their way. |