Paradise
PENGUIN CLASSICS
THE DIVINE COMEDY 3 PARADISE
DANTE ALIGHIERI was born in Florence in 1265. Though he believed he was a direct descendant of the ancient Romans, he was of distinguished, not noble, lineage and modest means. He followed the normal course of studies (the Quadrivium and the Trivium) and later attended lectures on philosophy in Florence. When he was about twenty, he married Gemma Donati, by whom he had at least three children. He first met and fell in love with Bice Portinari, whom he called Beatrice, in his ninth year. When she died in 1290 he sought distraction by writing La Vita Nuova and by further studies in philosophy. After 1295 he became involved in politics and was elected Prior of Florence. The Guelf party, then in power, had split into two opposing factions, the White and the Black, and Dante, an eminent White Guelf, was condemned to exile when the Blacks took over by violence in 1302. He took refuge first with fellow exiles and during his wanderings he was twice a guest of the ruler of Verona. He settled finally in Ravenna, where he completed the Divine Comedy, which he had begun in about 1308. He died in Ravenna in 1321.
DOROTHY LEIGH SAYERS was born in Oxford in 1893. She graduated with first-class honours in French from Somerville College in 1915. In her early years she published two volumes of poetry. Her career as a highly successful author of detective fiction began with Whose Body?, published in 1923, and continued until 1937, when she wrote her first religious drama for Canterbury Cathedral, The Zeal of Thy House. From then on she became known as a writer on the Christian faith, and was celebrated especially for her cycle of radio plays on the life of Christ, The Man Born to be King. She began translating Dante’s Divine Comedy during the Second World War but died in 1957, leaving Paradise unfinished. She also translated The Song of Roland for the Penguin Classics.
BARBARA REYNOLDS, a scholar in Italian studies, was for twenty-two years lecturer at Cambridge University. The General Editor of the Cambridge Italian Dictionary, she has been honoured by the Italian Republic and holds three honorary doctorates. The author of the highly acclaimed biography Dorothy L. Sayers: Her Life and Soul, she has also edited four volumes of the letters of Sayers and a supplementary fifth volume of her childhood memories. She is at present at work on a biography of Dante. She has also translated Dante’s La Vita Nuova and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso for the Penguin Classics.
The Comedy of Dante Alighieri
The Florentine
Cantica III
Paradise
(Il Paradiso)
Translated by DOROTHY L. SAYERS
and BARBARA REYNOLDS
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
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First published 1962
Reprinted with corrections and new Foreword 2004
30
Copyright © Anthony Fleming, 1062, 2004
All rights reserved
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
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978-0-14-191602-6
“Ma or convien che mio seguir desista più dietro a sua bellezza, poetando, come all’ ultimo suo ciascuno artista.”
PARADISO, xxx. 31–3
Diagrams
specially drawn for this edition by
C. W. Scott-Giles
CONTENTS
Forewords
Introduction
THE DIVINE COMEDY CANTICA III: PARADISE
Appendix:
Note A: Astronomy in Paradise
Note B: Pilgrim or Falcon?
Note C: Animal or Silkworm?
Glossary of Proper Names
Books to Read
DIAGRAMS
The Three Crosses and the Four Circles
The Circle of Twelve Lights
The Two Circles of Twenty-four Lights
The Little Bear as a Horn
The Cross of Warriors
The Transformation of the Letter M
The Eagle’s Eye
The Sun below the Horizon
The Sun and Moon on the Horizon
The Celestial Rose
The Earth’s Cone of Shadow
The Organization of Paradise
General View of Paradise
GENEALOGICAL TABLES
Descent of Dante from Cacciaguida
Kings of France, 1223–1350
Kings of Aragon and Sicily, 1196–1337
The Della Scala Family
NOTE
The abbreviation Inf., which occurs in the Notes and elsewhere, refers in every instance to the first volume of this translation of the Divine Comedy: Hell. Dante’s own title for this section of his poem was Inferno, which by long usage tends to oust the more English rendering, Hell, from the mind of the reader, and seems even to have done so from the mind of the late Dorothy L. Sayers who in the second volume. Purgatory, refers throughout to Inferno or Inf.
B.R.
FOREWORD
WHEN Dorothy L. Sayers died on 17 December 1957, she had completed the first twenty cantos, almost two thirds, of her translation of the Paradiso. Of the remaining thirteen cantos, only one long section and a few fragments were found. She had not yet begun work on the Notes and Commentaries or on the Introduction.
My interest in Dorothy Sayers’s work on Dante dates back to August 1946, when I attended a lecture she gave on Canto xxvi of the Inferno at a Summer School of Italian held at Jesus College, Cambridge.1 This was the first of a memorable series of lectures on the Divine Comedy, most of which she later collected together and published in two volumes, entitled Introductory Papers on Dante2 and Further Papers. It was evident from the beginning that she was bringing to Dante studies in this country a new and revitalizing force, and in my foreword to her Introductory Papers I said that she had made possible a new relationship between Dante and the present-day reader. I still think this is true. The most valuable and original service she performed for readers of Dante was to redirect attention to the literal meaning of the Comedy. This she did by commenting, in a stimulating and readable manner, on the story, or poetic reality, of the work. Such an approach should not be regarded as superficial or naively literal-minded. It is, on the contrary, fundamental to a proper understanding of the Comedy. It is no compliment to Dante as an artist to disregard the superb skill with which he constructed his story, related his unique adventure, devised dialogues and situations and created characters. It is not even sound intellectually to do so, for he himself said that the allegory could not be explained until the literal sense had been understood.
In interpreting the allegory, Dorothy Sayers continually drew the reader’s attention to the relevance of the Comedy to life. By her masterly and observant handling of both
these aspects, in her lectures, in her introductions and commentaries on Hell and Purgatory, and in her translation itself, she brought Dante within the reach of thousands of readers for whom he would otherwise have remained unintelligible. It is probably true to say that between 1949 (the date of the publication of her translation of the Inferno) and the present day, the Divine Comedy has had more English-speaking readers than it has ever had over a comparable length of time in all its history. This would not have displeased Dante; as Professor E. R. Vincent has said, “he wanted as many readers as possible.… He could not have foreseen the invention of printing and the vast reading public of today, but he certainly appealed to the widest audience known to him. The lettor Dante had in mind was not a learned man, and therefore neither the Divine Comedy nor the Convivio was written in a learned language. Dante wanted readers because he had a message for all.”1
In completing this translation of the Paradiso, I have done my best to continue in the style of the first twenty cantos. My hope that I may have, to some degree, succeeded rests on the fact that over a period of eleven years, and particularly during the last three years of her life, I was in contact with Dorothy Sayers with regard to her work on Dante. In conversations and in letters she discussed in detail her methods of translation, the reasons for her choice of diction, her preferences as to style and rhythm; sometimes she sent as many as ten or twelve trial renderings of a single passage, and frequently she wrote long letters almost wholly concerned with the technique of verse translation. When I learned, after her death, that she had expressed the wish that I should continue her work, I found that I had accumulated a store of information, almost of instruction, as to how to proceed.
In writing the Introduction and in the Notes and Commentaries, in order to keep to the style and pattern of the two previous volumes, I have re-read the letters I received from Dorothy Sayers about the Paradiso, her Dante notebooks, and one or two of her unpublished lectures. I have also recalled, as best I could, conversations we had on Dante in Cambridge and Witham and elsewhere. By these and other means, I have endeavoured to ensure as smooth a transition as possible between the first two volumes and the third.2
The first acknowledgement which I must make, then, is to Dorothy Sayers herself, whose enlivening and delightful companionship proved so great a help to me in the task that lay ahead. My heartfelt thanks are due also to the distinguished Dantist, Professor G. L. Bickersteth, who had been in correspondence with Dorothy Sayers for some years concerning her work on Dante and, on her death, most generously placed his great learning and experience at my disposal. To him I owe many valuable suggestions for the improvement of the verse and for the clarification of the expression. I should also like to thank Miss Muriel St Clare Byrne, Miss Marjorie Barber, and Mr Anthony Fleming for their help and encouragement, especially during the early stages. To Dr E. V. Rieu, kindest and most understanding of editors, I owe thanks, not only for his discriminating criticism but also for his initial faith in my capacity to undertake this work. I am most grateful also to Professor Cesare Foligno for his valuable comments on the Introduction, to Mr John Press for his help and advice concerning the verse, to the Rev. John Bridger for reading and discussing several of the Commentaries, to the Rev. Dr Leon Morris for enriching the notes on Atonement doctrine in Canto vii, and for his assistance with certain of the notes to Canto xxix, to the Rev. Gordon Bridger for suggesting biblical references for the notes to Canto xxv, to Mr Alan Lloyd for help concerning Dante’s references to clocks, to Professor H. R. Pitt for clarifying the problem of squaring the circle, to Dr R. A. Lyttleton for his assistance with astronomical matters, to Mr David Gardiner for illumination concerning the relevance to modern physics of the experiment with the three mirrors, and to my friend and colleague, Dr Kenelm Foster O.P., who has looked through the Introduction and Commentaries with a Thomist’s vigilant eye. I should also like to thank Mr C. W. Scott-Giles for his enlightening and attractive diagrams. The transformations of the letter M, for instance (pp. 221–2), can never have been so delightfully represented. To my husband, Professor Lewis Thorpe, I owe thanks, as ever, for his encouragement and advice. It was in his company, while on a walking tour in the Euganean hills, that I finished the first draft of the translation. To all the members of my family and my immediate circle of friends, I am grateful for the patience and understanding they have shown me during this exacting and unlooked-for task. In particular, I should like to thank Miss Edith G. Reynolds, whose skill and experience in verse translation have enabled her to be of great assistance to me.
Cambridge
13 June 1960
BARBARA REYNOLDS
FOREWORD TO THE PRESENT EDITION
Over forty years have passed since this translation of Dante’s Paradiso was first published in 1962. Two years later a reprint was issued, in which it was possible to introduce a few minor alterations. This publication in new format gives me the opportunity to make further changes, including the correction of misprints, the improvement of a few lines of my own part of the translation and the adjustment of some of the notes.
I have made one major change to the original Introduction. In 1962 it seemed to me that the work by Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man, which was then attracting great interest,1 was of striking relevance to Dante’s concept of reality. The section of five and a half pages in which I examined this relevance I have now withdrawn. I do not recant what I then said; it is simply that for the general reader interest in Teilhard de Chardin has now diminished and these pages seem intrusive. Those for whom the subject may still be of significance will find it developed in an illuminating review-article published in 1971 by the neo-Thomist philosopher Richard Webster, “Barbara Reynolds’ Introduction to Il Paradiso: a Commentary”.2
More recently, important discoveries have been made by the American scholar Richard Kay concerning the date of Dante’s Latin treatise Monarchia.3 Professor Kay has shown beyond doubt that this work was written not, as was previously maintained, at the time of the invasion of Italy by the Emperor Henry VII in 1310, but to meet an emergency which in 1317 threatened Dante’s patron Can Grande della Scala, the ruler of Verona.
On 20 April 1314, Pope Clement V had died. A conclave of twenty-four cardinals assembled at Carpentras, near Avignon, to elect a successor. Of these only six were Italian, the rest being French, mainly Gascons, eager to maintain the interests of the late Pope. The Italian cardinals hoped to secure the election of the bishop of Palestrina, who pledged to restore the papacy to Rome and to rescue it from Gascon domination. In May or June 1314, Dante, either on his own initiative or, more probably, commissioned by interested persons, had written an epistle to the Italian cardinals, urging them to withstand the Gascons and to restore the Papacy to Rome. The Gascon party, fearing the election of the bishop of Palestrina, organized an armed irruption into the conclave and, shouting “Death to the Italian cardinals”, forced them to take refuge. The See remained vacant for two years, until on 7 August 1316 Jacques d’Euse of Cahors, bishop of Avignon, was elected Pope with the title of John XXII.
At the same time, the office of Emperor was also vacant, owing to the unresolved rivalry between Louis of Bavaria and Frederick of Austria.1 Pope John XXII lost no time in strengthening his political position. He began by denying the legitimacy of the tide of Imperial Vicar conferred by Henry VII on several Italian rulers, including Can Grande della Scala. It was a moment of major crisis. An authoritative statement was required showing that the Pope had no authority to renegue appointments made by an Emperor or to interfere in political matters. The obvious person to turn to was Dante.
His views on the subject were well known, not only from letters he had written in support of Henry VII and from what he had written ten years previously in II Convivio. More recently, in Purgatorio, he had plainly attributed the ill organization of the world to the intrusion of the Pope into secular affairs. Dante rallied to Can Grande’s support. The result was his treatise Monarchia.
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sp; He was then living in Ravenna, the guest of the ruler, Guido Novello da Polenta. He had completed Purgatorio and, from a cross-reference in the first book of Monarchia, it is plain that he had already written at least the first five cantos of Paradiso and that they had been made public. In consequence of this recent information, some of the dates given in the original Introduction to this volume require to be altered. I have left them as they stand, however, since to change them would involve re-writing parts of the text.
In the forty-five years which have elapsed since I first undertook to complete the translation of Paradiso left unfinished by Dorothy L. Sayers on her death in 1957 I have come to form a slightly different view of this cantica. This is particularly so in the light of recent work on which I have been engaged in preparation for a forthcoming biography of Dante. My admiration for the beauty of the poetry and construction of this culmination of the Commedia remains what it was. I am more aware, however, than I was before of the overt and deliberate political and personal agenda which it contains. At certain moments, the ineffable and the mystical recede before it, revealing Dante the man in all his individuality. To some readers, this perhaps makes the work the more appealing and accessible.
Several friends have helped me make this edition more accurate than its predecessors. I am grateful in particular to Dr Geoffrey Lee, Professor Andrew Lewis, Canon Geoffrey Edwards and Monsignor Graham Leonard. I am also grateful to the editors of Penguin Classics for their encouragement and assistance.
Cambridge 2004
BARBARA REYNOLDS
INTRODUCTION
IT has been said1 that the joys of Heaven would be for most of us, in our present condition, an acquired taste. In a sense, Dante’s Paradise is a story about the acquisition of that taste. The Dante who has been down to the uttermost depths of Hell and has climbed the Mount of Purgatory, to behold on its summit the wonder and enchantment of the Earthly Paradise, is no more prepared, after all these tremendous and unique experiences, than we should be ourselves for what he finds in Heaven. He is bewildered by his ascent from earth and totally at a loss to describe how he enters the Moon; when souls first approach him, he mistakes them for reflections of people behind him; when Piccarda speaks to him of the hierarchy of bliss, he shows, by the question he asks, how much he has to learn about the nature of heavenly life; when the contemplatives in the Heaven of Saturn utter their cry of execration at the degeneracy of monastic life, he momentarily loses his wits and has to turn to Beatrice for reassurance, as a child runs to its mother; problems of grace and predestination trouble him, the very purpose of his whole experience eludes him; wonder, fear, amazement, and, at one point, even reprehensible curiosity characterize his state of mind. There is only one phase of his journey during which he may be said to feel reasonably certain of himself and that is when he undergoes the examination in faith, hope, and love, conducted, respectively, by St Peter, St James, and St John; though even then he commits the blunder of peering too inquisitively into the radiant deeps of the light of St John, hoping to glimpse the body in which, it was rumoured, the saint had been taken up into Heaven. Yet, as he mounts ever higher through the circling spheres and beyond them to the still centre of infinity which is the abode of God, his vision strengthens and he grows in understanding and love until, at last, in the unveiled presence of the Deity, his will and desire are integrated with the divine love. Although we may feel we are strangers in Heaven, Dante at least is known to us; he is our very selves.