Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso

Canto IX

Dante hears stories of human love transformed into an adoration for God. He meets Cunizza da Romano, sister of the tyrant Ezzelino {III} and mistress of Sordello (Purgatory, Cantos VI and VII), and also Foulquet of Marseilles, a troubadour poet famous for his verse and love affairs. Both souls deliver damning speeches about temporal affairs: Cunizza predicts disaster for Treviso and its surroundings whilst Foulquet denounces the Church for its failings and indicts the city of Florence. They finally express jubilance at being where they are and comprehend that God's will, which is Love, governs the cosmos.

 

Beautiful Clemence, after that thy Charles

Had me enlightened, he narrated to me

The treacheries his seed should undergo;[1]

 

But said: "Be still and let the years roll round;"

So I can only say, that lamentation

Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.

 

And of that holy light the life already

Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,

As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.

 

Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,

Who from such good do turn away your hearts,

Directing upon vanity your foreheads!

 

And now, behold, another of those splendours

Approached me, and its will to pleasure me

It signified by brightening outwardly.

 

The eyes s of Beatrice, that fastened were

Upon me, as before, of dear assent

To my desire assurance gave to me.

 

"Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,

Thou blessed spirit," I said, "and give me proof

That what I think in thee I can reflect!"

 

Whereat the light, that still was new to me,

Out of its depths, whence it before was singing,

As one delighted to do good, continued:

 

"Within that region of the land depraved

Of Italy, that lies between Rialto

And fountain-heads of Brenta and of Piava,[2]

 

Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,

Wherefrom descended formerly a torch

That made upon that region great assault.

 

Out of one root were born both I and it;

Cunizza was I called, and here I shine

Because the splendour of this star o'ercame me.[3]

 

But gladly to myself the cause I pardon

Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me;

Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.

 

Of this so luculent and precious jewel,

Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,

Great fame remained; and ere it die away

 

This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.

See if man ought to make him excellent,

So that another life the first may leave!

 

And thus thinks not the present multitude

Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,

Nor yet for being scourged is penitent.[4]

 

But soon 'twill be that Padua in the marsh

Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,

Because the folk are stubborn against duty;

 

And where the Sile and Cagnano join

One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,

For catching whom e'en now the net is making.[5]

 

Feltro moreover of her impious pastor

Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be

That for the like none ever entered Malta.[6]

 

Ample exceedingly would be the vat

That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,

And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,[7]

 

Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift

To show himself a partisan; and such gifts

Will to the living of the land conform.

 

Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,

From which shines out on us God Judicant,

So that this utterance seems good to us."

 

Here it was silent, and it had the semblance

Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel

On which it entered as it was before.

 

The other joy, already known to me,

Became a thing transplendent in my sight,

As a fine ruby smitten by the sun.

 

Through joy effulgence is acquired above,

As here a smile, fut down below, the shade

Ourwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.

 

"God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,

Thy sight is," said I, "so that never will

Of his can possibly from thee be hidden;

 

Thy voice, then, that for ever makes the heavens

Glad, with the singing of those holy fires

Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,

 

Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?

Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning

If I in thee were as thou art in me."

 

"The greatest of the valleys where the water

Expands itself," forthwith its words began,

"That sea excepted which the earth engarlands,

 

Between discordant shores against the sun

Extends so far, that it meridian makes

Where it was wont before to make the horizon.

 

I was a dweller on that valley's shore

Twist Ebro and Magra that with journey short

Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.[8]

 

With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly

Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,

That with its blood once made the harbour hot.[9]

 

Folco that people called me unto whom

My name was known; and now with me this heaven

Imprints itself, as I did once with it;

 

For more the daughter of Belus never burned,

Offending both Sichaeus and Creusa,

Than I, so long as it became my locks,[10]

 

Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded

was by Demophoon, nor yet Alcides,

When Iole he in his heart had locked.[11]

 

Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,

Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind,

But at the power which ordered and foresaw.

 

Here we behold the art that doth adorn

With such affection, and the good discover

Whereby the world above turns that below.

 

But that thou wholly satisfied mayst bear

Thy wishes hence which in this sphere are born,

Still farther to proceed behooveth me.

 

Thou fain wouldst know who is within this light

That here beside me thus is scintillating,

Even as a sunbeam in the limpid water.

 

Then know thou, that within there is at rest

Rahab, and being to our order joined,

With her in its supremest grade 'tis sealed.[12]

 

Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone

Cast by your world, before all other souls

First of Christ's triumph was she taken up.

 

Full meet it was to leave her in some heaven,

Even as a palm of the high victory

Which he acquired with one palm and the other,

 

Because she favoured the first glorious deed

Of Joshua upon the Holy Land,

That little stirs the memory of the Pope.

 

Thy city, which an offshoot is of him

Who first upon his Maker turned his back,

And whose ambition is so sorely wept,

 

Brings forth and scatters the accursed flower

Which both the sheep and lambs hath led astray

Since it has turned the shepherd to a wolf.

 

For this the Evangel and the mighty Doctors

Are derelict, and only the Decretals

So studied that it shows upon their margins.

 

On this are Pope and Cardinals intent;

Their meditations reach not Nazareth,

There where his pinions Gabriel unfolded;[13]

 

But Vatican and the other parts elect

Of Rome, which have a cemetery been

Unto the soldiery that followed Peter[14]

 

Shall soon be free from this adultery."

 

Footnotes

1. Clemence of Austria (1262–1295 AD) was a daughter of King Rudolph I of Germany and Gertrude of Hohenberg. She was a member of the House of Habsburg. Clemence was the mother of Charles Martel of Anjou.

Charles Martel (1271–1295 AD) of the Capetian dynasty was the eldest son of king Charles II of Naples and Mary of Hungary, the daughter of King Stephen V of Hungary.

2. Rialto is a central area in Venice, Italy, known for its historic markets and the famous Rialto Bridge, which spans the Grand Canal. It has been the financial and commercial heart of Venice since the 11th century, featuring vibrant markets and shops.

The Brenta Mountains is located in the subrange of the Rhaetian Alps in the Southern Limestone Alps mountain group. They are located in the Province of Trentino, in northeastern Italy.

Priava is probably a region of northern Italy near Veneto, where Piave Vecchio Cheese is produced today.

3. Cunizza admits: "The light of Venus vanquished me"; perhaps from a different translation? She complains of the ongoing political strife in northern Italy, but she assures Dante this earthly turmoil is part of a much larger divine plan. Cunizza then falls si lent, and another brilliantly glowing soul approaches.

Cunizza da Romano (1198–1279 AD) was an Italian noblewoman and a member of the da Romano dynasty, one of the most prominent families in northeastern Italy.

Cunizza da Romano was born in the Marca Trivigiana, a region in northeastern Italy between Venice and the Alps. She was the third and youngest daughter of Ezzelino II da Romano, a Ghibelline nobleman. Cunizza, along with her two brothers Alberico da Romano and Ezzelino III da Romano, were conceived with Ezzelino's third wife, Adelaide degli Alberti di Mangona, a noblewoman of Tuscan origin.

Along the timeline of Cunizza’s various marriages and love affairs, many of her unions were exploited by her father, Ezzelino III, in order to further his political agenda and sow discord among his rivaling factions. Much modern scholarship on medieval marr iages during this time have accounted for Ezzelino III’s apparent lack of regard for marital traditions, only seeing the unions and separations as political tools for his expansion of power.

In 1222, Cunizza da Romano married her first husband, the Count Rizzardo di Sanbonifacio of Verona. At the same time, Ezzelino III married the count’s sister Zilia, a double alliance that would forge peace between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in the region a nd ideally quell the previous hostility between Ezzelino III and Count Rizzardo. However, tension grew due to the alliance between the Sanbonifacio and the d’Este family, one of Ezzelino II’s political rivals. Both Ezzelino and his father, Ezzelino II, beli eved Cunizza to be at risk to a hostage situation in Rizzardo’s home, so they sent Sordello da Goito to abduct Cunizza and return her to her father’s court. In 1226, it was Ezzelino III who became the podestà and banished Rizzardo from Verona, officiall y severing Cunizza’s first marriage.

Sordello was born in the municipality of Goito in the province of Mantua. About 1220 he was in a tavern brawl in Florence; and in 1226, while at the court of Richard of Bonifazio in Verona, he abducted his master's wife, Cunizza, at the instigation of her b rother, Ezzelino III da Romano. The scandal resulted in his flight (1229) to Provence, where he seems to have remained for some time. He entered the service of Charles of Anjou, and probably accompanied him (1265) on his Naples expedition; in 1266 he was a prisoner in Naples. The last documentary mention of him is in 1269, and he is supposed to have died in Provence. His appearance in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy among the spirits of those who, though redeemed, were prevented from making a final confession and reconciliation by sudden death, suggests that he was murdered, although this may be Dante's own conjecture.

4. The Adige is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the province of South Tyrol, near the Italian border with Austria and Switzerland, and flows 410 kilometres through most of northeastern Ita ly to the Adriatic Sea.

The Tagliamento is a braided river in north-east Italy, flowing from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea at a point between Trieste and Venice.

5. The Sile is a 95 km river in the Veneto region in north-eastern Italy. Its springs are in the municipality of Vedelago in the Province of Treviso. It flows into the northern part of the Lagoon of Venice at the mouth of the River Piave Vecchia. It receiv es the waters of its tributary, the Botteniga, at Treviso.

Cagnano refers to a small river in Upper Italy, known as the Botteniga, which merges with the Sile River at Treviso.

6. Feltro, also known as Folquet of Marseilles, a late 12th-century troubadour, "burned" with lust before renouncing the world and becoming a monk. The souls in this sphere, Folco explains to Dante, are no longer saddened by the memory of their past foolis hness. "Here we don't repent such things," he says. "We smile ... at that Might that governs and provides."

Feltro, in turn, directs Dante's gaze to another soul who "shines" alongside him. This is Rahab, mentioned in the Hebrew scriptures as a harlot who helps Joshua's army capture Jericho and thereby saved her family from destruction. Her inclusion among the bl essed is fitting, Feltro explains, because she witnessed the triumph of God's chosen people in the Holy Land. Feltro, sharing Dante's craft of poetry, ends his speech by lamenting the corruption of the popes and cardinals, whose greed has made them wholly i ndifferent to the teachings of the Bible.

Folquet de Marseille (1150–1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a troubadour, and then as a fiercely anti-Cathar bishop of Toulouse.

Initially famed as a troubadour, he began composing songs in the 1170s. He is known primarily for his love songs. There are 14 surviving cansos, one tenson, one lament, one invective, three crusading songs and possibly one religious song. Like many other tr oubadours, he was later credited by the Biographies des Troubadours with having conducted love affairs with the various noblewomen about whom he sang (allegedly causing William VIII to divorce his wife, Eudocia Comnena), but all evidence suggests that Fol quet's early life was considerably more prosaic and in keeping with his status as a wealthy citizen.

Malta is often referenced in the context of its historical role as a prison for heretics, as noted in Dante's writings. The phrase "Feltro moreover of her impious pastor" from Dante's work suggests a connection between the moral and spiritual implicatio ns of both places. This reflects a broader theme of redemption and deliverance found in Dante's narratives.

7. Ferrarese relates to Ferrara in Italy. Ferrara is a city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. It is situated 44 kilometres northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, loca ted 5 km north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the Renaissance, when it hosted the court of the House of Este.

8. The Ebro is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows 930 kilometres almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a delta in the Terres de l'Ebr e region, in southern Catalonia.

The Magra is a 62-kilometre long river of Northern Italy, which runs through Pontremoli, Filattiera, Villafranca in Lunigiana and Aulla in the province of Massa-Carrara (Tuscany); Santo Stefano di Magra, Vezzano Ligure, Arcola, Sarzana and Ameglia in th e province of La Spezia (Liguria).

Genoese, natives of Genoa, the sixth-largest city in Italy and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria.

9. Buggiano is in the Province of Pistoia in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 45 kilometres northwest of Florence and about 15 kilometres southwest of Pistoia.

10. Lamia is often identified as the daughter of Belus in Greek mythology. She is known for her tragic story involving Zeus and her transformation into a monster that preys on children.

Sichaeus is the husband of Dido, queen of Carthage, who is mentioned in the second circle of the Inferno.

Creusa is a figure in Greek mythology, most notably known as the wife of Aeneas and the daughter of Priam, the king of Troy. She is recognized for her tragic fate during the fall of Troy, where she becomes separated from Aeneas while fleeing the city.

11. In Greek mythology, Rhodope may refer to several different characters:

 

In Greek Mythology Demophoon may refer to:

 

Alcides is an alternative name for Heracles, the legendary hero in Greek mythology known for his incredible strength and numerous adventures, including the famous Twelve Labors. He is also referenced in various contexts, such as in literature and modern adaptations.

12. Rahab was a prostitute from Jericho during the Israelite conquest of Canaan. In the Book of Joshua of the Hebrew Bible, she is accredited with aiding the Israelites by hiding two spies who had been sent by Joshua to scout the city before the Israelite assau lt. Her actions led to the fall of Jericho, during which Israelite fighters killed every Canaanite inhabitant of the city.

13. In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran.

14. Saint Peter, (born Shimon bar Yonah; 1 BC–68 AD), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repeatedly and prominent ly in all four New Testament gospels, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. Catholic and Orthodox tradition treats Peter as the first bishop of Rome—or pope—and also as the first bishop of Antioch. According to Christian tradition, Peter was crucified in R ome under Emperor Nero.

 

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