Paradiso

Dante addresses his readers, telling them that only those who are prepared for the unearthly journey that lies ahead should continue following him.

Dante and Beatrice ascend into the heavens, impelled by the “thirst for God”; Beatrice bids Dante to “[d]irect your grateful mind to God” (2:29). Dante tells Beatrice that he is grateful to God for removing him from a life of sin.

Dante feels that they are in a luminous and pearly “cloud,” and it is apparent that Dante and Beatrice are now on the moon. Dante wonders about the reason for the moon’s “dark spots,” opining that they are due to the “rare” or “dense” quality of bodies. Beatrice explains instead that the spots are due to the quality of light. She compares the way light is irradiated in different objects to the way that the one divine nature is reflected in different ways in all created things.

Dante notices the presence of souls in the moon and thinks at first that they are only reflections. Beatrice explains that they are souls that failed in their vows during life and, therefore, occupy the lowest rank in heaven. Dante talks with Piccarda Donati, a nun who was unfaithful to her vows and who implies that Dante knew her on earth. Piccarda took her vows as a nun in the order of St. Clare, but some men took her away from the convent and forced her into a marriage. Piccarda’s fellow nun, Constance of Sicily, suffered a similar fate: She was removed from the convent against her will and forced to marry the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI.

When Dante asks Piccarda if souls like her desire to achieve a “higher place” in Paradise, she answers that they desire only God’s will. Dante realizes that “everywhere in heaven is Paradise, even if the grace of the highest Good does not rain down in equal measure” (3: 88-90).

After talking to Piccarda about her broken vows, Dante begins to wonder about the nature of human will. Beatrice explains that there are two types of will: absolute and conditional. These are sometimes in conflict, leading human beings to sin even when part of them does not consent to the act. The blessed all enjoy the same heaven, but they enjoy their heavenly life “in differing measure” according to their moral capacity. In this way, God condescends to the capacity of individual souls, and that is why there is a lower rank of heaven occupied by people like Piccarda.

Dante reflects that Beatrice’s wisdom has put all of his “desires at peace.” He asks a further question: Can a soul make up for broken vows by performing other good works? This question pleases Beatrice; she looks radiantly at Dante, overpowering him.

Beatrice continues to inform Dante by explaining that freedom of the will is the greatest gift God gave to man; thus, vows freely taken have great weight. Nevertheless, substitutions can be made for broken vows.

Dante and Beatrice now ascend to Mercury, where Beatrice’s radiance makes the planet shine brighter. They see thousands of souls filled with joy at seeing a new soul, Dante. One of the souls speaks to Dante, explaining that they are “on fire with the light that fills all Heaven” (3: 118) and that they will be happy to enlighten him in turn. Dante asks this soul who he is and why he resides in the planet that is most hidden from mortal sight by the sun’s rays.

The speaker reveals that he is the Roman emperor Justinian (483-565 CE), most famous for his law code. He recounts how he converted to orthodox Christianity, his involvement with the empire, and his reform of Roman law. He also comments on the contemporary conflict in Florence between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, claiming that it is ripping Italy apart.

Justinian explains that the souls in Mercury fell short in Christian love during their lives but nevertheless may enjoy the glory of heaven. He stresses that the “sweet harmony” of heaven is made by “differing voices.”

Dante hears a Latin hymn being sung; Justinian and the other souls dance and disappear into the distance. Beatrice intuits that Dante is wondering, from Justinian’s mention of the Roman emperor Titus in Canto 6, about why “just revenge itself perhaps deserves just punishment” (159).

She explains with reference to the Christian theology of sin, incarnation, and redemption. In the fall of Adam, mankind sinned, thus deserving punishment. Christ took the punishment upon himself by dying on the cross. Yet the crucifixion was itself a great “outrage.” Providence, therefore, in Beatrice’s interpretation, allowed Titus to destroy the city of Jerusalem as a form of “vengeance” against the killing of Christ.

Dante still wonders why God wanted to redeem mankind in precisely the way he chose. Beatrice replies that it is a mystery understood only by those whose minds have been “ripened in the flame of love” (163), but she proceeds to offer an explanation. Either man himself had to pay the penalty for Original Sin, or God had to simply pardon him. The first was impossible, and the second “fell short of justice” (167). Thus God, in his infinite love and goodness, himself became man and suffered the penalty in the crucifixion, thus combining both solutions. God chose this method because, by means of it, the “Eternal Beauty” was able to shine forth in a form that “most resembles it” (i.e., the person of Jesus).

Dante is still perplexed by one more doubt: If the elements are created by God, why do they decay and die? Beatrice explains that plants and nonhuman animals are derived from primal matter, whereas human life is directly inbreathed by God. Therefore, humans are immortal.