Paradise: Canto XXVIII. The Heavenly Hierarchy.
The Heavenly Hierarchy.
After she who imparadises my mind had disclosed the truth counter
to the present life of wretched mortals, as he, who is lighted by
a candle from behind, sees its flame in a mirror before he has it
in sight or in thought, and turns round to see if the glass tell
him the truth, and sees that it accords with it as the note with
its measure;[1] I thus my memory recollects that I did, looking
into the beautiful eyes, wherewith Love made the cord to ensnare
me.[2] And when I turned, and mine were touched by that which is
apparent in that revolving sphere whenever one gazes fixedly on
its gyration, I saw a Point which was raying out light so keen
that the sight on which it blazes must needs close because of its
intense keenness. And whatso star seems smallest here would seem
a moon if placed beside it, as star with star is placed. Perhaps
as near as a halo seems to girdle the light which paints it, when
the vapor that bears it is most dense, at such distance round the
Point a circle of fire was whirling so swiftly that it would have
surpassed that motion which with most speed girds the world; and
this was by another circumcinct, and that by the third, and the
third then by the fourth, by the fifth the fourth, and then by
the sixth the fifth. Thereon the seventh followed, so spread now
in compass that the messenger of Juno entire[3] would be narrow
to contain it. So the eighth and the ninth; and each was moving
more slowly, according as it was in number more distant from the
first.[4] And that one had the clearest flame from which the Pure
Spark was least distant; I believe because it partakes more of
It. My Lady, who saw me deeply suspense in doubt, said, "On that
Point Heaven and all nature are dependent. Gaze on that circle
which is most conjoined to It, and know that its motion is so
swift because of the burning love whereby it is spurred." And I
to her, "If the world were set in the order which I see in those
wheels, that which is propounded to me would have satisfied me;
but in the world of sense the revolutions may be seen so much the
more divine as they are more remote from the centre.[5] Wherefore
if my desire is to have end in this marvellous and angelic
temple, which has for confine only love and light, I need yet to
hear why the example and the exemplar go not in one fashion,
because I by myself contemplate this in vain." "If thy fingers
are insufficient for such a knot, it is no wonder, so hard has it
become through not being tried." Thus my Lady; then she said,
"Take that which I shall tell thee, if thou wouldest be
satisfied, and make subtle thy wit about it. The corporeal
circles[6] are wide and narrow according to the more or less of
virtue which is spread through all their parts. Greater goodness
must make greater welfare; the greater body, if it has its parts
equally complete, contains greater welfare. Hence this one,[7]
which sweeps along with itself all the rest of the universe,
corresponds to the circle[8] which loves most, and knows most.
Therefore, if thou compassest thy measure round the virtue, not
round the seeming of the substances which appear circular to
thee, thou wilt see in each heaven a marvellous agreement with
its Intelligence, of greater to more and of smaller to less."[9]
[1] As the note of the song with the measure of the verse.
[2] The eyes of Beatrice reflected, as a mirror, the light which
shone from God.
[3] The full circle of Iris, or the rainbow.
[4] These circles of fire are the nine orders of Angels.
[5] The planetary spheres partake more of the divine nature, and
move more swiftly, in proportion to their distance from the
earth, their centre.
[6] The planetary spheres.
[7] The ninth sphere.
[8] Of the angelic hierarchy.
[9] The greater heaven corresponds to the angelic circle of the
Intelligences which love God most and know most of Him; the
smaller to that of those which love and know least.
As the hemisphere of the air remains splendid and serene when
Boreas blows from that cheek wherewith he is mildest,[1] whereby
the mist which first troubled it is cleared and dissolved, so
that the heaven smiles to us with the beauties of all its flock,
so I became after my Lady had provided me with her clear answer,
and, like a star in heaven, the truth was seen.
[1] When Boreas blows the north wind more from the west than from
the east.
And after her words had stopped, not otherwise does molten iron
throw out sparks than the circles sparkled. Every scintillation
followed its flame,[1] and they were so many that their number,
was of more thousands than the doubling of the chess. I heard
Hosaimah sung from choir to choir to the fixed Point that holds
them, and will forever hold them, at the Ubi[2] in which they
have ever been. And she, who saw the dubious thoughts within my
mind, said, "The first circles have shown to thee the Seraphim
and the Cherubim. Thus swiftly they follow their own bonds,[3] in
order to liken themselves to the Point so far as they can, and
they can so far as they are exalted to see. Those other loves,
which go round about them, are called Thrones of the divine
aspect, because they terminated the first triad.[4] And thou
shouldst know that all have delight in proportion as their vision
penetrates into the True in which every understanding is at rest.
Hence may be seen how beatitude is founded on the act which sees,
not on that which loves, which follows after. And merit, which
grace and good will bring forth, is the measure of this seeing;
thus is the progress from grade to grade.
[1] The innumerable sparks each moved in accord with the gyration
of its flaming circle. The doubling of the chess alludes to the
story that the inventor of the game asked, as his reward from the
King of Persia, a grain of wheat for the first square of the
board, two for the second, and so on to the last or sixty-fourth
square. The number reached by this process of duplication extends
to twenty figures.
[2] The WHERE, the appointed place.
[3] The course of their respective circles to which they are
bound.
[4] "Throni elevantur ad hoc quod Deum familiariter in seipsis
recipiant."--Summa Theol., I, cviii. 6.
"The next triad that thus buds in this sempiternal spring which
the nightly Aries despoils not,[1] perpetually sing their spring
song of Hosannah with three melodies, which sound in the three
orders of joy wherewith it is threefold. In this hierarchy are
the three Divinities, first Dominations, and then the Virtues;
the third order is of Powers. Then, in the two penultimate
dances, the Principalities and Archangels circle; the last is
wholly of Angelic sports. These orders are all upward gazing, and
downward prevail, so that toward God they all are drawn, and they
all draw. And Dionysius[2] with such great desire set himself to
contemplate these orders, that he named and divided them, as I.
But Gregory[3] afterward separated from him; wherefore, so soon
as he opened his eyes in this Heaven, he smiled at himself. And
if a mortal proffered on earth so much of secret truth, I would
not have thee wonder, for he who saw it hereabove[4] disclosed it
to him, with much else of the truth of these circles."
[1] At the autumnal equinox, the time of frosts, Aries is the
sign in which the night rises.
[2] The Areopagite. See Canto X.
[3] The Pope, St. Gregory, who differs slightly from Dionysius in
his arrangement of the Heavenly host.
[4] St. Paul, supposed to have communicated to his disciple the
knowledge which he gained when caught up to Heaven. See 2 Cor.,
xii. 2.
After she who imparadises my mind had disclosed the truth counter
to the present life of wretched mortals, as he, who is lighted by
a candle from behind, sees its flame in a mirror before he has it
in sight or in thought, and turns round to see if the glass tell
him the truth, and sees that it accords with it as the note with
its measure;[1] I thus my memory recollects that I did, looking
into the beautiful eyes, wherewith Love made the cord to ensnare
me.[2] And when I turned, and mine were touched by that which is
apparent in that revolving sphere whenever one gazes fixedly on
its gyration, I saw a Point which was raying out light so keen
that the sight on which it blazes must needs close because of its
intense keenness. And whatso star seems smallest here would seem
a moon if placed beside it, as star with star is placed. Perhaps
as near as a halo seems to girdle the light which paints it, when
the vapor that bears it is most dense, at such distance round the
Point a circle of fire was whirling so swiftly that it would have
surpassed that motion which with most speed girds the world; and
this was by another circumcinct, and that by the third, and the
third then by the fourth, by the fifth the fourth, and then by
the sixth the fifth. Thereon the seventh followed, so spread now
in compass that the messenger of Juno entire[3] would be narrow
to contain it. So the eighth and the ninth; and each was moving
more slowly, according as it was in number more distant from the
first.[4] And that one had the clearest flame from which the Pure
Spark was least distant; I believe because it partakes more of
It. My Lady, who saw me deeply suspense in doubt, said, "On that
Point Heaven and all nature are dependent. Gaze on that circle
which is most conjoined to It, and know that its motion is so
swift because of the burning love whereby it is spurred." And I
to her, "If the world were set in the order which I see in those
wheels, that which is propounded to me would have satisfied me;
but in the world of sense the revolutions may be seen so much the
more divine as they are more remote from the centre.[5] Wherefore
if my desire is to have end in this marvellous and angelic
temple, which has for confine only love and light, I need yet to
hear why the example and the exemplar go not in one fashion,
because I by myself contemplate this in vain." "If thy fingers
are insufficient for such a knot, it is no wonder, so hard has it
become through not being tried." Thus my Lady; then she said,
"Take that which I shall tell thee, if thou wouldest be
satisfied, and make subtle thy wit about it. The corporeal
circles[6] are wide and narrow according to the more or less of
virtue which is spread through all their parts. Greater goodness
must make greater welfare; the greater body, if it has its parts
equally complete, contains greater welfare. Hence this one,[7]
which sweeps along with itself all the rest of the universe,
corresponds to the circle[8] which loves most, and knows most.
Therefore, if thou compassest thy measure round the virtue, not
round the seeming of the substances which appear circular to
thee, thou wilt see in each heaven a marvellous agreement with
its Intelligence, of greater to more and of smaller to less."[9]
[1] As the note of the song with the measure of the verse.
[2] The eyes of Beatrice reflected, as a mirror, the light which
shone from God.
[3] The full circle of Iris, or the rainbow.
[4] These circles of fire are the nine orders of Angels.
[5] The planetary spheres partake more of the divine nature, and
move more swiftly, in proportion to their distance from the
earth, their centre.
[6] The planetary spheres.
[7] The ninth sphere.
[8] Of the angelic hierarchy.
[9] The greater heaven corresponds to the angelic circle of the
Intelligences which love God most and know most of Him; the
smaller to that of those which love and know least.
As the hemisphere of the air remains splendid and serene when
Boreas blows from that cheek wherewith he is mildest,[1] whereby
the mist which first troubled it is cleared and dissolved, so
that the heaven smiles to us with the beauties of all its flock,
so I became after my Lady had provided me with her clear answer,
and, like a star in heaven, the truth was seen.
[1] When Boreas blows the north wind more from the west than from
the east.
And after her words had stopped, not otherwise does molten iron
throw out sparks than the circles sparkled. Every scintillation
followed its flame,[1] and they were so many that their number,
was of more thousands than the doubling of the chess. I heard
Hosaimah sung from choir to choir to the fixed Point that holds
them, and will forever hold them, at the Ubi[2] in which they
have ever been. And she, who saw the dubious thoughts within my
mind, said, "The first circles have shown to thee the Seraphim
and the Cherubim. Thus swiftly they follow their own bonds,[3] in
order to liken themselves to the Point so far as they can, and
they can so far as they are exalted to see. Those other loves,
which go round about them, are called Thrones of the divine
aspect, because they terminated the first triad.[4] And thou
shouldst know that all have delight in proportion as their vision
penetrates into the True in which every understanding is at rest.
Hence may be seen how beatitude is founded on the act which sees,
not on that which loves, which follows after. And merit, which
grace and good will bring forth, is the measure of this seeing;
thus is the progress from grade to grade.
[1] The innumerable sparks each moved in accord with the gyration
of its flaming circle. The doubling of the chess alludes to the
story that the inventor of the game asked, as his reward from the
King of Persia, a grain of wheat for the first square of the
board, two for the second, and so on to the last or sixty-fourth
square. The number reached by this process of duplication extends
to twenty figures.
[2] The WHERE, the appointed place.
[3] The course of their respective circles to which they are
bound.
[4] "Throni elevantur ad hoc quod Deum familiariter in seipsis
recipiant."--Summa Theol., I, cviii. 6.
"The next triad that thus buds in this sempiternal spring which
the nightly Aries despoils not,[1] perpetually sing their spring
song of Hosannah with three melodies, which sound in the three
orders of joy wherewith it is threefold. In this hierarchy are
the three Divinities, first Dominations, and then the Virtues;
the third order is of Powers. Then, in the two penultimate
dances, the Principalities and Archangels circle; the last is
wholly of Angelic sports. These orders are all upward gazing, and
downward prevail, so that toward God they all are drawn, and they
all draw. And Dionysius[2] with such great desire set himself to
contemplate these orders, that he named and divided them, as I.
But Gregory[3] afterward separated from him; wherefore, so soon
as he opened his eyes in this Heaven, he smiled at himself. And
if a mortal proffered on earth so much of secret truth, I would
not have thee wonder, for he who saw it hereabove[4] disclosed it
to him, with much else of the truth of these circles."
[1] At the autumnal equinox, the time of frosts, Aries is the
sign in which the night rises.
[2] The Areopagite. See Canto X.
[3] The Pope, St. Gregory, who differs slightly from Dionysius in
his arrangement of the Heavenly host.
[4] St. Paul, supposed to have communicated to his disciple the
knowledge which he gained when caught up to Heaven. See 2 Cor.,
xii. 2.
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