Paradiso (175 page)

121–126.
   Adam and St. Peter each receive a
terzina
, the former the author of our woe, the latter the agent of our redemption as the founder of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, which holds the keys to the Kingdom.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

121.
   Benvenuto (comm. to vv. 121–126) says that this verb,
aggiustarsi
, translates the Latin
appropinquare
(to near, approach). It is yet another hapax occurring in rhyme position.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

127–129.
   St. John the Evangelist, who, as author/scribe of the Apocalypse, saw the final tribulations of the Church in his visions on the Isle of Patmos. See Dante’s “portrait” of him (
Purg.
XXIX.144),
dormendo, con la faccia arguta
(as though he slept, despite his keen expression). Is this a prefiguration of Dante’s visionary experience that is being prepared for in these concluding verses of this canto? See the note to verse 139.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

130–132.
   Three spaces past Peter and next to Adam sits Moses, who led the stiff-necked Israelites (first in Exodus 32:9) through the desert, feeding them on manna (Exodus 16:14–15).
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

133–135.
   Diametrically opposite St. Peter sits Anne, the mother of Mary. She is apparently the only occupant of the Rose allowed the special privilege of
not
looking up at God, but across the rim of the stadium at her daughter.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

136–138.
   This is St. Lucy’s third appearance in the poem (see
Inf.
II.97 and
Purg.
IX.52–63). Bernard here reminds Dante of the first one, when he was “ruining” downward back toward death (
Inf.
1.61) when Virgil appeared to him, the result of the collaboration of the Virgin, Lucy, and Beatrice (seated at first where she is right now, next to Rachel [
Inf.
II.102]). The “greatest father” is, of course, Adam.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

139.
   This verse has caused innumerable problems. Giacalone (comm. to vv. 139–144) compiles six differing attempts at interpretation; there are
probably more, but one must admit it is hard to distinguish shadings of meaning from substantial differences. Most can agree that the verse refers to time and to sleep, but what exactly is time doing to the protagonist and what sort of sleep is involved? Further, and pivotal, is a distinction about when the dreaming referred to occurred or is occurring or will occur. The basic disagreements have, it is probably fair to say, their roots in the temporal relation of Dante’s dreaming. Either Dante (1) has been “dreaming” from the beginning of this special experience, as might be indicated by
Inferno
I.11, where Dante admits he was full of sleep when he lost the true way, and/or (2) is “dreaming” now (in the sense that he is having a more than normal experience of the afterworld), or (3) will be “out of time” (in both senses of the phrase) when he has the final vision of the Trinity, for which Bernard will seek Mary’s aid, in a few minutes. Barolini (Baro.1992.1), pp. 144–51, carries on a long conversation with Barbi (Barb.1934.1), in which she unsuccessfully tries to undermine his objections to her position. Barolini wants to make the entire poem “visionary.” Barbi, on the other hand, wants to distinguish between the “experiential” feel of most of the narrated journey and “vision” properly speaking. And the fact that there are “real” dreams presented in the poem (e.g., in
Purg.
IX, XIX, and XXVII) certainly implies that the rest of the time Dante is having “normal” experience of the decidedly postnormal things he witnesses in the afterworld. The crux of the issue found in this verse is to what precise (or for that matter general) dreaming the text refers. More than one hundred years ago, Torraca (comm. to vv. 139–141) read the verse as follows: “[P]erchè già cessa il tuo essere nel tempo, finisco, per non ritardare la tua partecipazione all’eternità, le tua visione suprema” (Because your presence in time already is ceasing, I finish speaking, so as not to delay your participation in eternity, your supreme vision). For a recent paper, not very distant from Torraca’s finding, see Cuzzilla (Cuzz.2003.1), whose views influenced our reading of the verse. What he suggests is that the “sleep” is the mystic vision, already referred to in the picture of John “dreaming” in
Purgatorio
XXIX (see the note to vv. 127–129).

For some other discussions, see Passerini (Pass.1918.1), ad loc.; Gilson (Gils.1924.1), pp. 62–63; Pernicone (Pern.1965.1), pp. 120–21. Gilson cites Canticle of Canticles 5:2, “Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat” (I sleep and my heart wakes), a passage that Bonaventure uses to indicate the state of ecstatic vision. And see Boyde (Boyd.1993.1), pp. 130–39, for a discussion of
somnia
(dreams). See also the note to
Paradiso
XXVII.79–81.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

140–141.
   Alessio (Ales.1989.1), p. 12, finds a source for Dante’s much-admired image in the conclusion of a treatise on epistolary rhetoric,
Palma
, by Buoncompagno da Signa\. Advising his reader that he should measure out his epistolary space with care, so that his thoughts will all fit onto the amount of paper reserved for them, Buoncompagno continues his thought with a simile: “sicut providus sartor pannum, de quo camisiam disposuit facere vel gunnellam” (just as a tailor, having thought ahead, has prepared the cloth from which to make a shirt or else a skirt).
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

142–144.
   Bernard calls our attention to the fact that Dante’s sight, improving, is moving up within the
raggio
(ray) that irradiates the Rose, eventually to penetrate its source. See the note to
Paradiso
XXXI.94–99.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

145–148.
   Unlike Icarus (see the note to
Par.
XV.54), Dante will not trust his own wings, but will listen to Bernard, a more successful “father” than Daedalus, perhaps because he recognizes the necessity of the grace that Mary can help obtain.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

145.
   The word
ne
is not a Latinism (
ne
in Italian is a pronominal particle meaning “of it” or “of them”), but a Latin conjunction meaning “lest.”
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

146.
   The neologism and hapax
oltrarsi
(move forward, advance), nearly certainly forced by the requirement of rhyme, will be echoed in the noun
oltraggio
in the next canto (verse 57).
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

149–150.
   Bernard uses the future tense as an imperative: “You shall follow me.…” The implication is that Dante would not want to do anything else but internalize his words.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

151.
   The poet puts what clearly might have served as the opening line of the next canto here, apparently to give Bernard an uninterrupted presence at center stage for his prayer. Momigliano (comm. to vv. 149–151) describes this canto-ending as one of the most remarkable in the poem, “a long pause that sets apart, like a hush falling over the congregation, the prayer that will be raised in the holy atmosphere of the next canto.”
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

1–39.
   
This much (and justly) celebrated passage, Bernard’s prayer to the Virgin, has the authority and unity of a separate poem. This is not to suggest that it is in any way incongruous in its context (quite the opposite is true), only that it could be published (as surely it has been) in an anthology of devotional lyrics and be one of the most moving and commanding of the collection.

For a study of this passage, see Auerbach (Auer.1949.1), who aligns it with examples of classical and Christian praise. And for the large extent to which Dante has borrowed from Bernard’s own writings for the words of this prayer, see Aversano (Aver.2000.2), pp. 173–76.

Gian Carlo Alessio, in a lecture he presented at Princeton University during the autumn semester of 1981, broke down the rhetorical divisions of Bernard’s prayer as follows:

The tone of intimacy found in this prayer is emphasized by its extraordinary number of second-person-singular pronouns (
tu, te, ti
) and adjectives (
tuo, tua
), 17 of them in 39 verses (and that figure does not include second-person-singular endings of verbs). See the note to
Paradiso
XXXI.79–90.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

1.
   This verse establishes the basic modality of the entire canto, making two references to what will be a common theme of so many verses in it: harmonious resolution of impossibly related contraries. “Virgin” and “mother” cannot logically be the shared properties of any woman; nor can any woman be the daughter of her son. This overriding of the logic of impossibility will culminate in the final simile of the poem, the geometer attempting to square the circle. The only answer to impossibility is miracle. Reacting to the entire canto, Güntert has said (Gunt.2002.2), p. 505, “No Christian poet had ever been so daring.”

For the beginnings of the last cantos of the first two
cantiche
, see the note to
Purgatorio
XXXIII.1–3, which points out that each of the previous
opening lines was in another poetic voice, first that of Venantius Fortunatus and second that of David, both of them speaking Latin. Here we have another poetic voice, that of St. Bernard, but he does not use his customary Latin tongue (apparently no writing of Bernard in French survives), but the vernacular. This opening line thus presents us first with a completed pattern and then, on further consideration, with a broken pattern: We expect Latin here, but do not find it.

For both elements of this verse as dependent on formulations found in the fifth book of Alain de Lille’s
Anticlaudianus
, see Ledda (Ledd.2002.1), p. 308n., citing the previous notice by Jacomuzzi (Jaco.1965.1), p. 12n. Ledda also reports other medieval
formulae
that are similar to Dante’s paradoxical expressions.

This marks the thirteenth time that a canto has begun with a speaker’s words (see the note to
Par.
V.1).
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

2.
   If one had to choose a single line of the fourteen thousand two hundred and thirty-three verses of the
Commedia
to stand for its stylistic program, countering classical high style with Christian
sermo humilis
, this one might serve that purpose. It begins and ends with the humanity of Mary, humble and a mere human creature, who is, at the same time, lofty (
alta
), as is the poem itself.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

3.
   See Carroll’s explanation of this line (comm. to vv. 1–39): “The woman worthy to be the ‘Mother of God’ must have been elect from the beginning.”
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

4–6.
   This tercet, remarkable for its triple play on the “making” of flesh (
fattore, farsi, fattura
), rises to the heights with the hapax (and coinage?)
nobilitasti
(ennobled). What is the noblest act ever done? God’s making himself mortal for our sake (cf.
Par.
VII.118–120).
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

7.
   Dante’s use of the word
ventre
(here and once earlier for Mary’s womb at
Par.
XXIII.104) was perhaps not intended to be controversial. See Bosco/Reggio (comm. to vv. 1–21), pointing out that Dante may have deliberately been echoing “et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus” (blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus [originally found in Luke 1:42]). This is the end of the first part of the prayer: “Hail, Mary, full of grace, / blessed are you among women.” Nonetheless, and as we have observed (see the notes to
Par
. XXI.84 and XXIII.104), some of Dante’s readers find this a lowering of diction unbefitting such a lofty subject.

In a related and similar vein, see McLaughlin (Mcla.1995.1), pp. 20–21, remarking that “After Petrarch reasserts the absolute superiority of Latin over the
volgare
, Dante’s vernacular echoes of classical
auctores
are regarded as a diminution of their status.”

On the word
amore
, see Sacchetto (Sacc.1974.1), for whom love is the key to the poem, occurring 19 times in
Inferno
, 50 in
Purgatorio
, and 85 in
Paradiso
.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]

8–9.
   Christ’s sacrifice was the evidence of the rekindling of God’s love for humankind, resulting in the saved souls that populate the Rose.
[return to
English
/
Italian
]