Authors: Dante
46–48.
In good Scholastic style, Beatrice summarizes the first three elements in her exposition. See the note to vv. 46–63.
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49–51.
No one seems to have found a reason or a source for this segment of time that Dante decides it took the angels to fall from the Empyrean into Hell. In fact, normal gravitational force, applied to normal objects, would have left them falling a far longer time. Their sin, self-loving rebellion against God, occurred the moment of/after their creation, for all intents and purposes instantaneously. Their fall, traversing the entire universe to its core, took less than half a minute.
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50.
See
Convivio
II.v.12 for Dante’s previous handling of the question of the fallen angels: It was about one-tenth of the whole group who sinned and fell; God was moved to create humankind as a kind of replacement for these (“alla quale restaurare fue l’umana natura poi creata”).
For Augustine’s absolute unwillingness to consider that God created the eventually fallen angels anything less than completely good, see Cornish (Corn.1990.1), pp. 10–14. On the other hand, he clearly thought that angelic nature would have come into being making choices. And so Augustine, caught between two very strong theological imperatives (God never created evil; Satan never enjoyed the bliss of loving God), invented an amorphous
mora
(delay) between his creation and his fall. According to Cornish, for Augustine “the devil was not created sinful, yet his sin was not deferred even for a split-second. He makes the distinction that by nature the devil was good, by choice he became evil, so that the beginning of Lucifer’s being and the beginning of his sin occurred at two separate moments. Whether these are logical or chronological moments is not clear” (p. 11). Dante’s view, while never clearly stated, is probably not very different.
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51.
For
suggetto
, see Bemrose (Bemr.1983.1), pp. 197–201, siding with the majority; the word refers to “terra” (earth). See, for instance, Lombardi’s gloss (comm. to vv. 49–51), saying that earth is
subject to
(i.e., lies beneath) the other three elements, water, air, and fire. But see Mazzoni (Mazz.1979.2 [Intro. to
Questio
], pp. 712–32) and Baranski (Bara.1984.1),
p. 300, both of whom suggest that we are meant to realize that what is under discussion is “prime matter” (
la materia prima
). And see Cestaro (Cest.2003.1), p. 248, n. 87: “Dante alludes here to the common Scholastic notion of a
subiectum elementorum
, the primal elemental material prior to the definition of four distinct elements, akin to Plato’s
silva
[‘hyle’] ….” A hedged bet is found in Oelsner’s notes (comm. to vv. 49–51): “
Il suggetto dei vostri elementi
is usually (and perhaps rightly) taken to mean ‘that one of your elements that underlies the rest,’
i.e.
, earth. Compare
Inf.
XXXIV.121–126. But if we take this passage on its own merits, it seems better to understand the
substrate
of the elements to mean the
prima materia
(compare [
Par.
] II.106–108; VII.133–136, and lines 22–24 of this canto); the elaboration of the elements being the subsequent work of the Angels and the heavens.” The strongest case against this second interpretation was made by Porena (comm. to vv. 49–51), pointing out that
Inferno
XXXIV.122–126 reveals that Dante thought that, by the time Satan had penetrated our globe, water and earth had already been separated. However, Chimenz (comm. to vv. 49–51) countered that argument as follows: The words inscribed over the gate of Hell (
Inf.
III.7–8) would seem to suggest that before the creation of Hell (and, Chimenz insists, the contemporary creation of the angels), nothing existed except eternal things, and thus Satan fell into unformed matter. Nonetheless, it is certainly possible that we are meant to understand that earth was formed while Satan was falling and (at least in part) in order to receive him and his partners in rebellion.
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52–57.
The verb
circuir
does not suggest that the remaining (loyal) angels are flying around the heavens freestyle, but that they form nine angelic circlings around God, as opposed to the fallen angels, who, along with their leader, Lucifer, are imprisoned in Hell. The text (vv. 56–57) specifically reminds readers of their vision of Satan at the center of the universe (
Inferno
XXXIV.110–111).
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58–60.
The good angels, unlike the prideful members of their cohort, are portrayed as “modesti” (humble), possessing the virtue opposite to their brethren’s vice of pride.
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61–63.
See Singleton’s gloss (comm. to this tercet): “The angels who waited for the bestowal of the higher light, the light of glory, received that light (here termed ‘grazia illuminante’). Their merit (
merto
) was precisely that humility and their waiting upon the Lord to bestow that higher light.
With that bestowal they were forever confirmed in this highest grace, and accordingly they are now bound thereby to the good and to
do
the good. They have fullness of vision and of will, and they cannot sin. See Thomas Aquinas,
Summa theol
. I, q. 62, a. 8, resp.: ‘The beatified angels cannot sin. The reason for this is, because their beatitude consists in seeing God through His essence. Now, God’s essence is the very essence of goodness. Consequently the angel beholding God is disposed towards God in the same way as anyone else not seeing God is to the common form of goodness. Now it is impossible for any man either to will or to do anything except aiming at what is good; or for him to wish to turn away from good precisely as such. Therefore the beatified angel can neither will nor act, except as aiming towards God. Now, whoever wills or acts in this manner cannot sin. Consequently the beatified angel cannot sin.’ ”
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64.
Dante, Beatrice divines, may be wondering what the angels actually
did
in order to merit illuminating grace.
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65–66.
See Singleton (comm. to these verses), citing Aquinas (
ST
I, q. 62, a. 5): “As the angel is of his nature inclined to natural perfection, so is he by merit inclined to glory. Hence instantly after merit the angel secured beatitude. Now the merit of beatitude in angel and man alike can be from merely one act; because man merits beatitude by every act informed by charity. Hence it remains that an angel was beatified straightway after one act of charity.”
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70–126.
Dante’s corrosive attack on bad preaching reveals heartfelt annoyance, probably reflecting extensive personal experience. Tasked with the representation of the Word, preachers should control their desires for recognition of their powers of speaking.
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70–81.
Discussing the questions pertaining to the natures of angelic language (see
De vulgari eloquentia
I.ii.3) and memory, see Barbara Faes de Mottoni (Faes.2001.1). Her discussion of this passage, found on pp. 243–53, concludes (p. 253) with the assertion, difficult to fault, that the angels, knowing everything in God, have, at least in Dante’s possibly heterodox opinions (potentially opposed to those of Peter Lombard, Bonaventure, Albert the Great, and Thomas Aquinas), need of neither language nor memory. However, see the further distinction offered by Attilio Mellone (Mell.1974.1), pp. 205–8, who suggests that, while a passage in
Monarchia
(I.iii.7) clearly seems to require that we conceive that Dante
there denies that the angels have memories, here the poet only seems to assert that they do not need to make use of them.
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70.
See the observation of Hawkins (Hawk.1999.1), p. 192: With the exception of
Purgatorio
XXXII.79, “where ‘scuola’ describes the Old Testament precursors of Christ, … [the word] always denotes what is pagan or in some sense defective.…”
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75.
Bosco/Reggio (comm. to this verse) allow that possibly Dante believes that, projecting human experience onto the terms “intellect,” “will,” and “memory” (see verse 72), some earthly judges distort the nature of the angelic versions of these capacities. That would “save” Dante from opposing some pretty potent authorities (see the note to vv. 70–81).
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79–80.
See Imbach (Imba.1996.1), p. 147, averring that Dante embraces at least one heretical position of Siger de Brabant when, in these lines, he argues, against the authorities mentioned in the note to verses 70–81, that the angels have no memory. For discussion, see Curti (Curt.2002.1), pp. 161–62. It seems likely that Dante wants, as is often the case, to formulate his own position on an issue, one that accords with elements found in several other authorities.
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82–84.
The explanation seems clear enough (and is found in many early commentaries): There are those on earth who are totally confused (i.e., they “dream” even while they are not sleeping) in believing that the angels have need of memory, while others, those who maintain such a view while knowing it to be false, are guilty not of ignorance but of fraud. These Christian sophists care more about making a splash than seeking the truth.
Boitani (Boit.2002.2), p. 451, is effective in joining two responses that are rarely seen together in the commentary tradition when he understands (1) that the focus of Beatrice’s anger is completely on the question of angelic memory (and does not spill over into the sins of bad preachers, which dominate the following verses [91–126], as so many allow their discussion to do) and (2) that the zeal behind her (Dante’s) insistence is passionate and fully conscious of the famous feathers that will be ruffled thereby, those of Saints Jerome, Augustine, and Thomas, for starters. However, he perhaps goes too far in asserting that Dante
denies
that angels have memory; the text only asserts (vv. 80–81) that they have no
need
of memory, which may imply either that they have or do not have this capacity.
Dante is obviously outraged at the notion of angels requiring (and actually using) memory, since they live in the eternal present. However, whether he goes as far as Averroës (and Siger) in denying that they have this capacity, that question he leaves us to wonder about. He could not have left the issue more ambiguous, as he obviously desired to—which may imply that he did in fact buy into Siger’s argument.
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85–90.
These two tercets form the pivot on which Beatrice’s argument turns from heavenly theology (involving the nature of angelic mind) to religious concerns of a lower intellectual order, from the disputes of theologians to the fables told by preachers—and Dante almost certainly has in mind itinerant friars.
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91–93.
The “cost” of the benefits of Scripture in blood (of Jesus, the martyred apostles, and the other martyrs [see Pasquini/Quaglio, comm. to this tercet, for these three references]) is not taken into account.
Poletto (comm. to this tercet) at least reacts to the curious present tense of the verb
costa
(costs), and “translates” it as
costò
(cost). Grabher (comm. to this tercet) does take the present tense as meaningful, believing that Dante is not speaking literally of the blood of martyrs, but metaphorically—of the inner sacrifice made by all Christians. This does not seem a convincing gloss. And thus, while the constraints of rhyme may be all the explanation one requires for the presence of the form, the reader is forced to wonder. Did Dante think of the past sacrifices of the heroes of the Church as occurring in the vivid present tense, or is his point that such sacrifices are being made even now, in his day? His opinions on the current condition of the City of Man, expressed volubly throughout the poem (most recently at
Par.
XXVII.121–141), would seem to gainsay this second possible explanation.
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94–126.
Pasquazi (Pasq.1968.1), p. 1031, begins his
lectura
with this invective against preachers, which is a frequent cause of complaint among less stern readers of the last canticle. His view is that it should be dealt with not as aberrant, but as of a piece with the texture and purpose of the canto. Mellone (Mell.1974.1), p. 209, is of a similar opinion. For discussion of a similar discomfort among the commentators with Beatrice’s last words in the poem in the following canto, see Hollander (Holl.1993.5), pp. 31–33.
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