Paradiso (97 page)

130–132.
   Those courtiers, we suppose, who spoke ill of Romeo to Raymond succeeded in forcing his removal from a position of trust (see vv. 136–139), but in the end suffered the tyrannical rule of Raymond’s successors.
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134.
   When we read or hear Raymond’s name, we may reflect on how many names or references to historical figures we have encountered in this canto (all but two of them in the first 106 verses). The total (Constantine, Aeneas, Lavinia, Justinian, Agapetus, Belisarius, Pallas, the Curiatii, the Horatii, the seven first kings of Rome, Sabine women, Lucrece, unnamed republicans, Brennus, Pyrrhus, Torquatus, Cincinnatus, the Decii, the Fabii, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Hector, Ptolemy, Juba, Augustus, Brutus, Cassius, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Tiberius, Titus, Desiderius, Charlemagne, Charles II of Anjou, Romeo, and Raymond), even if we count some plural presences as single units, as here, is an impressive thirty-eight, and that excludes the several-times-alluded-to Guelphs and Ghibellines. If we have bought into the discredited but still supported notion that in the last
cantica
Dante has given over
worldly concerns, it may come as something of a surprise to have a canto in
Paradiso
make so obvious a gesture toward history.
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137.
   The phrase
dimandar ragione
is a term used for requesting a review of the financial situation between involved parties.
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138.
   For example, Romeo’s accounts always returned more than he had accepted into his care. The numbers seem merely casually chosen, but would indicate a healthy 20 percent gain in Raymond’s holdings under Romeo’s management.
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139–142.
   Where the opening verses of the canto imply the presence of Virgil, as author of the
Aeneid
, the concluding ones summon the image of the exiled and “mendicant” Dante (cf.
Par
. XVII.58–60, Cacciaguida’s admonition: “You shall learn how salt is the taste / of another man’s bread and how hard it is / to go down and then up another man’s stairs”). See Mazzoni (Mazz.1982.1), p. 157; and see Woodhouse (Wood.1997.1), for a treatment in English of Romeo’s resemblance to Dante: It is he who, “by recalling, in his person and in his name,
Romeus
, pilgrim to Rome, the tragic figure of Dante himself” (p. 7). His name also binds the two seemingly disparate parts of the canto, ancient and modern. This is a “Roman canto,” even when it turns its attention to recent events in Provence; its first part is a sort of vernacular version of a theologized
Aeneid
; its last, a comic (i.e., happily resolved) version of a lament for a courtier.
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1–15.
   
If one were to select a single passage from the entire
Commedia
that seems most self-consciously wrought and thoroughly marked by poetic exuberance, it might be difficult to find one more fitting that description than this, with its opening mixture of Hebrew and Latin, the mysterious “double light” glowing upon Justinian, the sudden departure of that soul and his dancing fellows, the protagonist’s wild excitement in his bafflement over a theological question, and, finally, the linguistic playfulness of the poet’s reference to Beatrice’s name. It is as though Dante were apologizing in advance for the lack of poetic energy that typifies the rest of the canto, turned over to the theological needs of its protagonist as ministered to by his guide.

Canto VII almost seems to be offered as reassurance to readers with a religious and/or theological bent that we’ve closed the books on Roman history and Italian politics and now will stick to our good Christian knitting—for a while, at least.
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1–3.
   See Tozer’s translation and note (comm. to vv. 1–3): “ ‘Hosanna, holy God of hosts, who by Thy brightness dost illuminate from above the happy fires of these realms.’ These verses appear to have been Dante’s own, not a hymn of the Church; but they are in Latin, to correspond to other mediaeval hymns.
malacoth
: as Dante required a rhyme for
Sabaoth
—no easy thing to find—he availed himself of the word
malachoth
, which he met with in St. Jerome’s Preface to the Vulgate, where it is translated by
regnorum
(realms). The proper form of this, which is read in modern editions of the Vulgate, is
mamlachot
, but in Dante’s time
malachoth
was the accepted reading.”

For
glossolalia
(“speaking in tongues”) as a concern to Dante, see Hollander (Holl.1992.1). And see Di Scipio (Disc.1995.1), p. 281, for another assertion that
Inferno
VII.1 is a parodic version of
glossolalia
. Sarolli, who almost gets credit for being the first writer to connect, in an oppositional relation, the first lines of this canto with those of the seventh canto of
Inferno, “Pape Satàn, pape Satàn, aleppe!”
(Saro.1971.1, pp. 289–90), also unaccountably urges a reader to understand that the macaronic passage includes not only Hebrew and Latin, but Greek. (Tommaseo, in passing, does mention
Inf
. VII.1 in conjunction with the opening of
Par
. VII, thus depriving Sarolli of an honor he merits, since Tommaseo makes no effort to deal with the significance of the phenomenon he has observed.)
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1.
   
See the note to
Paradiso
V.1. This is the third consecutive canto that begins with a speaker’s voice (rather than narration) and the second consecutive canto to begin with the same speaker’s voice, both of these phenomena unique occurrences.

Justinian’s first word of his last speech,
Osanna
, has a history in the poem: see
Purgatorio
XI.11 and XXIX.51. After this appearance, it also appears in
Paradiso
VIII.29; XXVIII.118; and XXXII.135. Its six appearances make it the most present “foreign” word in the poem. The Ottimo hears its resonance from the shouts for the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem (e.g., Matthew 21:9). Benvenuto, discussing (comm. to
Par
. VIII.22–30) the word’s appearance in
Paradiso
VIII.29, has this to say: “Ista vox hebraica significat immensam affectionem mentis quae non potest bene exprimi graece vel latine” (This Hebrew word signifies immense mental affection which cannot be properly expressed either in Greek or in Latin). The second Hebrew word in this line,
sabaòth
, is genitive plural “of the armies” (or “hosts,” as Tozer translates, an English version of Latin
hostis
[enemy], but without its sense of opposition).

For the program of song in the last
cantica
, see the note to
Paradiso
XXI.58–60.
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3.
   God is depicted as shining down from above and illumining these saved souls who, along with Justinian, have appeared to Dante in Mercury in the moments before they withdraw from Dante’s presence.
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4–5.
   Justinian is now presented as a “substance,” an irreducible human soul, singing this holy song. We perhaps now understand why Dante has gone to such lengths to associate the emperor, inspired keeper of the Roman laws, and himself, inspired poet of empire, in the preceding canto (see
Par
. VI.11; VI.23; VI.88); their tasks are not dissimilar.
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6.
   The neologism
s’addua
is problematic. Readers are divided as to what exactly the double light represents, and there are widely various opinions. Mazzoni (Mazz.1982.1), p. 142, suggests that these lights are, the one, earthly, the other, heavenly, that is, the emperor’s past and present identities. Bosco/Reggio (comm. to this verse) are of the opinion that the lights are of the warrior and of the legislator. However, as we have seen in the preceding canto, Justinian seems most eager to put the military life behind him (
Par
. VI.25–27); thus it would be strange for Dante to treat him in such wise. And see Jacoff (Jaco.1985.1), pp. 323–24, arguing for Virgil’s phrase “geminas … flammas,” the description of Augustus at the helm
during the Battle of Actium, his brows casting a double flame, as he is portrayed on the shield of Aeneas (
Aen
. VIII.680, part of the same passage visited in the last canto: See the note to
Par
. VI.79–81). That seems a promising lead to follow. However, it would probably be strange for Dante to have “borrowed” Augustus’s identity for Justinian. There is also a possibility that Dante is thinking of the passage in Acts 2:3–4 in which the apostles are given the gift of
glossolalia
. There appeared to them cloven tongues of fire; these settled on each of them; they were then filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak such languages as the Spirit gave them to utter. That is possibly reflected in what has been occurring in the opening lines of Canto VII; however, there may be a problem with the “dispertitae linguae tanquam ignis,” which may not be all that well described by the phrase “doppio lume.”
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8–9.
   Whereas the souls in the Moon may have been portrayed as vanishing downward into the matter of that body (
Par
. III.122–123), these pretty clearly travel a great distance upward very rapidly. Dante has now got his logistics under control: The souls that appear in the planets return to the Empyrean once they have completed their mission, which is to instruct Dante.
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10–12.
   This is the third and final time Dante uses repetitions of the word
dì
(see
Purg
. XXXI.5 and
Par
. V.122 for identical paired presences of the imperative form of
dire
) to give a greater sense of intensity to a speaker’s urging. The first two times Beatrice is speaking to the protagonist; now Dante speaks to himself, in phrasing that is still more insistent.

The tercet, a dizzying display of alliteration (there are nine
d
sounds in three lines), also contains a possible pun. Beatrice’s “sweet drops” in Italian (
dolci stille
) sound reasonably like Bonagiunta’s new sweet style (
dolce stil[e] novo
[
Purg
. XXIV.57]), which he attributes to Dante’s poetry in praise of Beatrice. The likelihood of intention behind such a play on words is increased by the presence of the same three rhymes later on in this canto, vv. 53–57 (
nodo, ch’i’ odo,
and
modo
) as are found in
Purgatorio
XXIV.53–57. These are the only two occurrences of these constituents of
terza rima
in the poem; that they occur at the same numerical placemarks (vv. 53, 55, 57) is hardly conclusive evidence, but doesn’t hurt the case, either.
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12.
   For Dante’s phrase “dolci stille” (sweet drops), see Chiamenti (Chia.1995.1), p. 178 (see also Sarteschi [Sart.1999.1], p. 186), indicating a possible source in Augustine,
Confessiones
XIII.30.45: “Et audivi, domine
deus meus, et elinxi
stillam dulcedinis
ex tua veritate” (And I heard, O Lord my God, and drank up a
drop of sweetness
out of Thy truth [tr. E. B. Pusey]).
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13–15.
   In an exerted tercet, the poet says that he bowed his head, under the sway of his devotion to Beatrice, just as does a man who nods off to sleep. For the same phrase, “t’assonna,” see
Paradiso
XXXII.139. There it precedes the vision of the Godhead, featuring the miracle of the Incarnation. It is perhaps not accidental that this is a central subject in Beatrice’s long disquisition that begins at verse 19 and runs the rest of the canto.
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14.
   Surely what is meant is “any part of her name,” but we may want to reflect that the parts referred to just happen to be the first and the last, mirroring, perhaps, the alpha and omega that represent God. “Bice” was, of course, Beatrice’s nickname (see
Vita nuova
XXIV.8, the ninth line of the sonnet “Io mi senti’ svegliar dentro a lo core”: “monna Vanna e monna Bice,” where Dante observes Guido Cavalcanti’s lady, Giovanna, preceding his lady, Beatrice.)
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18.
   Some commentators try to associate the
foco
with the fires of Hell, but it seems more likely that Dante is saying that Beatrice’s smile had the power to calm even one who had been set on fire. And see
Purgatorio
XXVII.10–54 for Dante’s hesitant encounter with the purging flames of the terrace of Lust.
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19–24.
   Had not Justinian just spoken at even greater length, this would have been the longest single speech in the poem, extending 130 lines from verse 19 to the end of the canto (148). The passage beginning here is described by Carroll (comm. to vv. 10–66) as “the chief theological discourse in the
Paradiso
.” All the rest of the canto is, in fact, a Beatricean commentary on two passages in the preceding canto, first (vv. 19–51) Justinian’s presentation of Titus’s doing “vengeance for vengeance” in his destruction of Jerusalem (
Par
. VI.91–93), second (vv. 52–120) his previous claim that Tiberius, by having sovereignty when Christ was put to death (
Par
. VI.89–90), took “vengeance” for God’s wrath by presiding over the Crucifixion. It is interesting that Dante makes his two unusual choices for a short list of the most significant Roman emperors the focus of Beatrice’s commentary in verse.

This stylistic tour de force (having Beatrice, presented playfully in the fifth canto as the author of the poem [vv. 16–17], now reappear as the commentator on two passages from the sixth canto) is not calculated to set
enthusiasts of lyric poetry aflutter.
Terza rima
is about the only thing poetic that we find in the rest of the canto, as Beatrice’s language is Scholastic-sounding and severe, her interests only instructional, and correctively so.
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