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the seasons, and January be no longer a winter, but a spring month."

her in the shape of a swan, this sign of the zodiac is called the nest of Leda. Dante now mounts up from the Heaven of the fixed stars to the Primum Mobile,tronomy, Ch. XIII., says: "The Julian or Crystalline Heaven.

103. Dante's desire to know in what part of this heaven he was.

109. All the other heavens have their Regents or Intelligences. See Canto 11. Note 131. But the Primum Mobile has the Divine Mind alone.

113. By that precinct Dante means the Empyrean, which embraces the Primum Mobile, as that does all the other heavens below it.

Sir John Herschel, Treatise on As

rule made every fourth year, without exception, a bissextile. This is, in fact, an over-correction; it supposes the length of the tropical year to be 3651 d., which is too great, and thereby induces an error of 7 days in 900 years, as will easily appear on trial. Accordingly, so early as the year 1414, it began to be perceived that the equinoxes were gradually creeping away from the 21st of March and September, where they ought to have always fallen had the Julian year been exact, and happening (as it appeared) too early. The neIm-cessity of a fresh and effectual reform in the calendar was from that time continually urged, and at length admitted. The change (which took place under the Popedom of Gregory XIII.) consisted in the omission of ten nominal days after the 4th of October, 1582, (so that the next day was called the 15th and not the 5th), and the promulgation of the rule already explained for future regulation."

117. The half of ten is five, and the fifth is two. The product of these, when multiplied together, is ten.

127. Wordsworth, Intimations of mortality:

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar :
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,

But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy:

The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature's Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;

At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day."

137. Aurora, daughter of Hyperion, or the Sun. Purg. II. 7:

"So that the white and the vermilion checks Of beautiful Aurora, where I was,

It will appear from the verse of Dante, that this error and its consequences had been noticed a century earlier than the year mentioned by Herschel. Dante speaks ironically; naming a very long period, and meaning a very short one.

145. Dante here refers either to the reforms he expected from the Emperor Henry VII., or to those he as confidently looked for from Can Grande

By too great age were changing into della Scala, the Veltro, or greyhound,

orange.'

140. Or, perhaps, to steer, and

"Over the high seas to keep The barque of Peter to its proper bearings."

of Inf. I. 101, who was to slay the she-wolf, and make her "perish in her pain," and whom he so warmly eulogizes in Canto XVII. of the Paradiso. Alas for the vanity of human wishes! Patient Italy has waited more than five centuries for the fulfilment of this prophecy, but at length she has touched the bones of her prophet, and "is revived and stands upon her feet."

143. This neglected centesimal was the omission of some inconsiderable fraction or centesimal part, in the computation of the year according to the Julian calendar, which was corrected in the Gregorian, some two centuries and 1 half after Dante's death. By this error, in a long lapse of time, the months would cease to correspond to line Heaven, continued.

CANTO XXVIII.

1. The Primum Mobile, or Crystal·

3. Milton, Par. Lost, IV. 505 :-
"Thus these two,
Imparadised in one another's arms,
The happier Eden, shall enjoy their fill
Of bliss on bliss."

14. That Crystalline Heaven, which Dante calls a volume, or scroll, as in Canto XXIII. 112:—

"The regal mantle of the volumes all.'

16. The light of God, represented as a single point, to indicate its unity and indivisibility.

32. Iris, or the rainbow.

34. 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 Cheru-| bim, and above all are the Seraphim; and these form the third Hierarchy."

It will be observed that this arrangement of the several Orders does not agree with that followed in the poem.

55. Barlow, Study of the Div. Com., 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 be

ing the reverse of the relative movement, from the same source of propul sion, 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."

60. Because the subject has not been investigated and discussed.

64. 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."

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70. The Primum Mobile, in which Dante and Beatrice now are.

77. 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 revolv ing 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 Canto II. Note 131.

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90. Dante uses this comparison before, knowledge; hence it is interpreted fleni. Canto I. 60:

"But I beheld it sparkle round about

Like iron that comes molten from the fire."

93. 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 chess-board; 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.

95. Their appointed place or where

about.

99. Thomas Aquinas, the Doctor Angelicus of the Schools, treats the subject of Angels at great length in the first volume of his Summa Theologica, from Quæst. L. to LXIV., and from Quæst. CVI. to CXIV. He constantly quotes Dionysius, sometimes giving his exact words, but oftener amplifying and interpreting his meaning. In Quæst. 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. Cœl. 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 fervour, 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

given from a certain excess of

tudo scientia; which Dionysius (Cap.VII. Cal. 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 know. ledge, they copiously pour it out upon others."

100. The love of God, which holds them fast to this central point as with a band. Job xxxviii. 31: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Fleiades, er loose the bands of Orion?"

104. Canto IX. 61:

"Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,

From which shines out on us God Judicant."

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Of the Thrones, Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., 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. Cal. 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 Throne are raised so far that they can perceiv 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."

10. Dante, Convito, I. 1, says: "Knowledge 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 know. ing or in loving. Thomas Aquinas main.

tains the former part of this proposition, called The Celestial Hierarchy, which and Duns Scotus the latter. is the great storehouse of all that relates 113. By the grace of God, and the co-to the nature and operations of Angels. operation of the good will of the recipient. Venturi calls him "the false Areo116. The perpetual spring of Paradise, pagite;” and Dalbæus, De Script. Dion. which knows no falling autumnal leaves, Arcop., says that this work was not no season in which Aries is a nocturnal known till the sixth century. sign.

122. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., I. Quæst. CVIII. 6, says: "And thus Dionysius (Cap. VII. Cal. 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."

130. The Athenian convert of St. Paul. Acts xvii. 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,

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 fellowstudent 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, car ried 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 Canto X. Note 115.

133. 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.

138. St. Paul, who, 2 Corinthians xii. 4, "was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

CANTO XXIX.

1. The Primum Mobilę, or Crystalline Heaven, continued,

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The children of Latona are Apollo and Diana, the Sun and Moon.

2. When the Sun is in Aries and the Moon in Libra, and when the Sun is setting and the full Moon rising, so that *hey are both on the horizon at the same time.

3. So long as they remained thus equipoised, as if in the opposite scales of an invisible balance suspended from the zenith.

9. God, whom Dante could not look upon, even as reflected in the eyes of Beatrice.

11. What Dante wishes to know is, where, when, and how the Angels were created.

12. Every When and every Where. 14. Dante, Convito, III. 14, defines splendour as "reflected light." Here it means the creation; the reflected light of God.

Fob xxxviii. 7: "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." And again, 35: "Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are ?"

16. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., I. Quæst. LXI. 3: "The angelic nature was made before the creation of time, and after eternity."

assuming various forms when united with mind. "It is called potentiality," comments Buti, "because it can receive many forms; and the forms are called act, because they change, and act by changing matter into various form.s."

35. The union of the soul and body in man, who occupies the intermediate place between Angels and pure matter.

36. This bond, though suspended by death, will be resumed again at the resurrection, and remain for ever.

37. St. Jerome, the greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Chu.ch, and author of the translation of the Scriptures known as the Vulgate, was born of wealthy parents in Dalmatia, in 342. He studied at Rome under the gram. marian Donatus, and became a lawyer in that city. At the age of thirty he visited the Holy Land, and, withdraw ing from the world, became an anchorite in the desert of Chalcida, on the borders of Arabia. Here he under went the bodily privations and tempta. tions, and enjoyed the spiritual triumphs, of the hermit's life. He was "haunted by demons, and consoled by voices and visions from heaven." In one of his letters, cited by Butler, Lives of the Saints, IX. 362, he writes: "In the remotest part of a wild and sharp desert, which, being burnt up with the heats of the scorching sun, strikes with horror and terror even the monks that inhabit it, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and assemblies of Rome. I loved solitude, that in the bitterness of my soul I might more freely bewail my miseries, and call upon my Saviour. My hideous emaForm, in the language of the Schools, ciated limbs were covered with sackand as defined by Thomas Aquinas, is cloth: my skin was parched dry and the principle "by which we first think, black, and my flesh was almost wasted whether it be called intellect, or intel-away. The days I passed in tears and lectual soul." See Canto IV. Note 54. 23. Genesis i. 31: "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good."

18. In the creation of the Angels. Some editions read nove Amori, the nine Loves, or nine choirs of Angels.

21. Genesis i. 2: "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the

waters.

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22. Pure Matter, or the elements; pure Form, or the Angels; and the two conjoined, the human race.

33. The Angels. Thomas Aquinas, Sum. Theol., I. Quæst. L. 2, says: "Form is act. Therefore whatever is form alone, is pure act." For his definition of form, see Note 22.

34. Pure matter, which is passive and only possesses potentiality, or power of

groans, and when sleep overpowered me against my will, I cast my wearied bones, which hardly hung together, upon the bare ground, not so properly to give them rest, as to torture myself. I say nothing of my eating and drink ing; for the monks in that desert, when they are sick, know no other drink but cold water, and look upon it as sensuality ever to eat anything dressed by fire. In this exile and pri

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