Canto
XV
At
the sphere of Mars, Dante tells us that God has silenced heaven’s music. He sees what seems to be a shooting star fly
off the cross and fall toward Dante. The
shooting star settles in front of Dante, now appearing like a gem, speaks in
Latin: “O blood of mine, O grace of God, poured down from above, to whom, as to
you, have the gates of heaven ever been opened twice?” In total joy, the spirit with ardent love
blesses God for showing such favor to his descendent. The spirit has read in the Book of Life of Dante’s
salvation and has been with anticipation waiting for him. He encourages Dante to speak and ask who he
is. Finally Dante does so, referring to
him as a “living topaz.” The spirit
identifies himself as the father of Dante’s great-grandfather. He tells Dante that he lived in a time when
Florence was a simpler place, a humbler place, a more virtuous place. The light rants against the mores and
luxuries of Dante’s day, and identifies exemplar citizens of his day. Citizens were not exiled then as now, and
parents were dutiful to their children, instructing them of their origins. When he was alive, Florence was peaceful,
fair, sweet, and its citizens were patriotic and devout. Finally he gives his name as
Cacciaguida. His wife came from the Po
valley and was the source of Dante’s last name.
He was knighted by the Emperor Conrad and went on a crusade to retake
the Holy Land, and it was there that he was martyred.
Canto
XVI
Dante
(the author) opens with a short digression on the insignificance of noble
blood. He respectfully and joyfully addresses Cacciaguida, calling him his
father. Dante asks him four questions:
who were his ancestors, what was it like in Florence in his day, how many
people lived there, and who were the noteworthy people of his day? Being given these questions, Cacciaguida
glows with delight. Indirectly he says
he was born in 1091 when Florence was about a third the size and with a fifth
of the population. But all those that
lived there were fit to bear arms and yet still humble artisans. He refuses to name his ancestry out of
modesty and says the town was better with its smaller borders. It would have kept the grifters out from the
nearby towns. The intermingling between
the towns has resulted in an increased population, and that ever since has been
the source of the city’s ills.
Cacciaguida goes on to catalogue the great Florentine families and their
declines. He tells Dante that from
Dante’s perspective he cannot see the degeneration because one’s life is so
brief. Cacciaguida goes on to directly
or indirectly identify some forty families, giving some little tidbit about
each. He ends his discourse with the
death of Buondelmonte who abandoned one betrothed for another only to be
murdered by the kinsman of the jilted lady at the foot of the statue of
Mars. This is in Cacciaguida’s view, the
start of the feuding families and the political strife that has sunk Florence
into infighting. And Cacciaguida
concludes that he was there when Florence was a glorious and tranquil place,
never fighting between themselves.
Canto
XVII
Still
at Mars, Dante (the character) with Beatrice’s encouragement wishes to know
more about the prophesies he’s heard while traveling through hell and
purgatory. These prophesies, Dante says,
were grave, and he would like to prepare himself to face these
afflictions. With plain and clear
speech, Cacciaguida with paternal love tells Dante his future. Looking through God’s sight, Cacciaguida has
seen a vision of things in store for Dante.
He has seen that Dante will be forced to flee from Florence in unjust
exile and indicates that behind the treachery will be the corrupt Pope. The city will turn on Dante but ultimately he
will get vengeance. Cacciaguida tells
him that everything he holds dear will be left behind, and that he will taste
the bitterness of eating another man’s bread.
And the most bitter burden of all will be the abandonment of his
supposed friends, so Dante will be left as a party of one. But a noble Lombard will give him much
assistance and support. This noble
Lombard, Cacciaguida foretells, will earn such honor that even his enemies will
have to acknowledge his greatness. Trust
him, Cacciaguida finally advises. He
concludes once again that Dante will be vindicated. Dante responds that he will need to prepare
for such a blow and asks his forefather if he thinks it’s wise to tell his tale
with absolute truth. Cacciaguida says to
tell the bitter truth no matter who it hurts, and if there are some that don’t
like it, then they can go scratch.
Ultimately it will do them good and Dante will gain the highest honors.
Canto
XVIII
Still
at Mars, while Cacciaguida and Dante ponder what has been said, Beatrice breaks
the dour spell with a command to change their thoughts. She reminds them that God lifts all burdens
and that they are in heaven. When Dante
gazes into her beauty, he feels a release and the pull of eternal beauty. Dante then realizes that his forefather wants
to add something else. He wants to name
some of the souls that are on the cross.
He will go one to name eight, each a fitting soldier for the realm of
Mars. With each name a shooting star
flies off the cross and propels toward Dante.
But in an instant, Dante finds that he and Beatrice have been
transported to Jupiter. Lights that
appear to be birds fly about, singing and morphing into shapes of letters. The first three letters are in the shape of
“D,” “I,” and “L.” Thirty-five letters
fly around, spelling out in Latin the opening sentence from the Book of Wisdom:
“Love justice you who love the earth.” The
birds settle all on the last letter, “M,”
and then scatter with a thousand other lights and when all the lights
finally settle, they form a pattern of a head and neck of an eagle. Dante (the author) goes into several
digressions: the beauty of the pattern, the source of heavenly justice, and the
corruption of papal justice.
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