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By Root 5543 0

before dying. Then, through Peter's Gate, Dante and Virgil come to the seven cornices inhabited by those who are painfully working off their indulgence in each of the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, sloth, covetousness, gluttony, lust. Each is presided over by an angel representing the `light' opposite to its particular form of egotism: humility, generosity of spirit, peace, zeal, acceptance, temperance, chastity. Higher and higher Dante mounts until he finds himself in a place of flowers, trees and running water, the garden of mankind's innocence before the Fall, the earthly Paradise. Here an amazing pageant unfolds before him, and while he is gazing at it, transfixed, he realises his guide Virgil has silently departed. As he weeps at his loss, he realises he is now looking instead at the visionary beauty of Beatrice, the woman who has been the central inspiration of his life ever since their first childhood meeting in Florence, personifying his anima, the carrier of his soul. It is she who, unknown to him, has arranged from on high that he can make this journey, and that for the first part he should be accompanied by Virgil, representing spiritual wisdom on earth. But now Dante is ready for the next stage, which begins when, enlightened by all he has seen, he is finally overwhelmed by a sense of his own unworthiness. He faints at the horror of his past blindness and inadequacy, but regains consciousness to find he is being dragged across Lethe, the river of Forgetfulness, which blots out all his unhappy recollections. Beatrice leads him past the Tree of Knowledge, which bursts into blossom, he drinks of the waters of Good Remembrance and now, purged and filled with a sense of heavenly peace, he feels reborn, `pure and prepared to leap up to the stars'. The second book thus ends on the same starry image as the first. He is ready for his anima to lead him on to the final stage.

The third book, the Paradiso, begins with a mystical vision as Dante sees Beatrice gazing into the light of the sun, hears the music of the heavenly spheres, finds himself surrounded by a shimmering sea of light and flame and realises that they have floated weightless above the earth. They rise into the first of nine heavens, each presided over by one of the nine orders of angelic beings. The first heaven, that of the Moon, is guarded by the lowest order of angels, those who watch over each individual through life. The second, that of Mercury, is guarded by the archangels who protect whole nations and bring tidings of great import to mankind, as Gabriel brought news to Mary that she was to give birth to Jesus. Here Dante talks to the Emperor Justinian, as an ideal Christian ruler and lawgiver. This takes them on to the third heaven, that of Venus, guarded by the beings known as `Principalities, who preside over just and well-ordered earthly government. The fourth heaven, that of the Sun, is guarded by the `Powers, images of divine power in combating the powers of darkness. Here Dante sees a dazzling array of philosophers, moral teachers, wise men and saints, from Thomas Aquinas to Solomon. The fifth heaven, Mars, guarded by the `Virtues, the angelic images of strength and fortitude, is peopled by righteous warrior-leaders, from Joshua to Charlemagne. The sixth heaven, Jupiter, guarded by `Dominions' representing justice and the ultimate dominion of God over the world, includes King David and the first Christian Emperor Constantine. The seventh, Saturn, guarded by `Thrones, represents divine steadfastness and self-discipline, personified in saintly contemplatives such as Benedict, founder of Christian monasticism.

Here, appropriately, Saturn marks the end of one sequence and the beginning of another, as Dante and Beatrice ascend a Celestial Ladder to the final two heavens. The previous five have represented different aspects of power, justice and selfdiscipline, the masculine virtues. Now at last we come to the feminine values, beginning in the eighth heaven, that of the fixed stars guarded by Cherubim, representing Divine Wisdom. Here Dante