Dante’s Inferno
1. The voyager-narrator astray by night in a dark forest. Morning and the sunlit hill. Three
beasts that impede his ascent. The encounter with Virgil (V), who offers his guidance and an
alternative path through two of the three realms the voyager must visit.
2. The following evening. Invocation to the Muses. The narrator’s questioning of his worthiness
to visit the deathless world. V’s comforting explanation that he has been sent to help Dante
(D) by three Ladies of Heaven. The voyager heartened. Their setting out.
3. The inscription above the Gate of Hell. The Ante-Inferno, where the shades of those who
lived without praise and without blame now intermingle with the neutral angels. He who
made the great refusal. The River Acheron. Charon. D’s loss of his senses as the earth
trembles.
4. D’s awakening to the First Circle, or Limbo, inhabited by those who were worthy but lived
before Christianity and/or without baptism. The welcoming of V and D by Homer, Horace,
Ovid, Lucan. The catalogue of other great-hearted spirits in the noble castle of Limbo.
5. The Second Circle, where the Lustful are forever buffeted by violent storm. Minos. The
catalogue of carnal sinners. Francesca da Rimini and her brother-in-law, Paolo Malatesta.
Francesca’s tale of their love and death, at which D faints.
6. D’s awakening to the Third Circle, where the Gluttonous, supine, are flailed by cold and filthy
rain and tormented by Cerberus. Ciacco and his prophecy concerning Florence. The state of
the damned after the Resurrection.
7. The demon Plutus. The Fourth Circle, where the Avaricious and the Prodigal, in opposite
directions, roll weights in semicircles. Fortune and her ways. Descent into the Fifth Circle:
the Wrathful and the Sullen, the former besmirched by the muddy Styx, the latter immersed in
it.
8. Still the Fifth Circle: the Wrathful and the Sullen. The tall tower. Phlegyas and the crossing
of the Styx. Filippo Argenti and D’s fury. Approach to Dis, the lower part of Hell: its moat,
its walls, its gate. The demons, fallen angels, and their obstruction of the poets’ entry into Dis.
9. The gate of Dis. D’s fear. The three Furies, invoking Medusa. V’s warning to D lest he look
at Gorgon, Medusa’s head. A heavenly messenger. The flight of the demons. Entry into Dis,
where V and D reach the Sixth circle and its Arch-Heretics, entombed in red-hot sepulchers.
10. Still the Sixth Circle: the Heretics. The tombs of the Epicureans. Farinata degli Uberti.
Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti. Farinata’s prediction of D’s difficulty in returning to Florence
from exile. The inability of the damned to see the present, although they can foresee the
future.
11. Still the Sixth Circle. Pope Anastasius’ tomb. V on the parts of Dis they now will visit,
where the modes of malice are punished: violence in the Seventh Circle’s Three Rings;
“ordinary” fraud in the Eighth Circle; and treacherous fraud in the Ninth Circle. Hell’s
previous circles, Two through Five, as circles of incontinence. Usury condemned.
12. The Seventh Circle, First Ring: the Violent against their Neighbors. The Minotaur. The
Centaurs, led by Chiron, who assigns Nessus to guide D and V across the boiling river of
blood (Phlegethon). In that river, Tyrants and Murderers, immersed, watched over by the
Centaurs.
13. The Seventh Circle, Second Ring: the Violent against Themselves (Suicides) or against their
Possessions (Squanderers). The dreary wood, with the Suicides transformed into strange trees,
and the Squanderers, hounded and rent by bitches. Pier della Vigna. Lano and Jacopo da
Santo Andrea. The anonymous Florentine suicide.
14. The Seventh Circle, Third Ring: the Violent against God. The First Zone: Blasphemers,
supine on fiery sands. Capaneus. V on the Old Man of Crete, whose streaming tears form the
rivers of Hell: Acheron, Phlegethon, Styx, and Cocytus. The sight of Lethe postponed.
15. Still the Seventh Circle, Third Ring: the Violent against God. Second Zone: the Sodomites,
endlessly crossing the fiery sands beneath the rains of fire. Brunetto Latini, whom D treats as
mentor. Priscian, Francesco d’ Accorso, and Andrea dei Mozzi, Bishop of Florence.
16. Still the Seventh Circle, Third Ring, Second Zone: other Sodomites. Three Florentines,
Guido Guerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, Jacopo Rusticucci. The decadence of Florence.
Phlegethon, cascading into the next zone. The cord of D used by V to summon a monstrous
figure from the waters.
17. The monster Geryon. The Seventh Circle, Third Ring, Third Zone: the Violent against
Nature and Art (Usurers), each seated beneath the rain of fire with a purse--bearing his
family’s heraldic emblem--around his neck. Descent to the Eighth Circle on the back of
Geryon.
18. The Eighth Circle, called Malebolge (“Evil-Pouches”), with its Ten Pouches, where
“ordinary” fraud is punished. The First Pouch, with Panders and Seducers scourged by horned
demons. Venèdico Caccianemico. Jason. The Second Pouch, with Flatterers immersed in
excrement. Alessio Interminei. Thaïs.
19. The Eighth Circle, Third Pouch, where the Simonists are set, heads down, into holes in the
rock, with their protruding feet tormented by flames. Pope Nicholas III. D’s invective against
simoniacal popes.
20. The Eighth Circle, Fourth Pouch, where Diviners, Astrologers, Magicians, all have their
heads turned backward. Amphiaraus. Tiresias. Aruns. Manto. V on the origin of Mantua,
his native city. Eurypylus. Michael Scot and other moderns adept at fraud.
21. The Eighth Circle, Fifth Pouch, with Barrators plunged into boiling pitch and guarded by
demons armed with prongs. A newly arrived magistrate from Lucca. Ten demons assigned by
Malacoda (“Evil-Tail”), the chief of the Malebranche (“Evil-Claws”), to escort D and V. The
remarkable signal for their march.
22. Still the Eighth Circle, Fifth Pouch: the Barrators. The Barrator from Navarre. Fra Gomita
and Michele Zanche, two Sardinians. The astuteness of the Navarrese that leads two demons
to fall into the pitch.
23. Still the Eighth Circle, Fifth Pouch: the Barrators. Pursuit by the demons, with V snatching
up D and sliding down to the Sixth Pouch, where the Hypocrites file along slowly, clothed in
caps of lead. Two Jovial Friars of Bologna, Catalano and Loderingo. Caiaphas. V’s distress at
Malacoda’s deceitfulness.
24. Still the Eighth Circle, Sixth Pouch: the Hypocrites. Hard passage to the Seventh Pouch: the
Thieves. Bitten by a serpent, a thieving sinner who turns to ashes and is then restored: Vanni
Fucci. His prediction of the defeat of the Whites--D’s party--at Pistoia.
25. Still the Eighth Circle, Seventh Pouch: the Thieves. Vanni Fucci and his obscene figs against
God. The Centaur Cacus. Five Florentine Thieves, three of them humans and two of them
serpents. The astounding metamorphoses undergone by four of them.
26. Still the Eighth Circle, Seventh Pouch: the Thieves. D’s invective against Florence. View of
the Eighth Pouch, where Fraudulent Counselors are clothed in the flames that burn them.
Ulysses and Diomedes in one shared flame. Ulysses’ tale of his final voyage.
27. Still the Eighth Circle, Eighth Pouch: the Fraudulent Counselors. Guido da Montefeltro, for
whom D provides a panorama of the state of political affairs in Romagna. Guido’s tale of the
anticipatory--but unavailing--absolution given him by Boniface VIII. The quarrel of a demon
and St. Francis over Guido’s soul.
28. The Eighth Circle, Ninth Pouch, where the Sowers of Scandal and Schism, perpetually
circling, are wounded and--after each healing--wounded again by a demon with a sword.
Mohammed and Alì. Warning to Fra Dolcino. Curio. Mosca. Bertran de Born.
29. Still the Eighth Circle, Ninth Pouch: the Sowers of Scandal and Schism. Geri del Bello, an
unavenged ancestor of D. The Tenth Pouch: the Falsifiers. The First Group, Falsifiers of
Metals (Alchemists), plagued by scabs, lying on the earth, scratching furiously. Griffolino.
Capocchio.
30. Still the Eighth Circle, Tenth Pouch: the Falsifiers. Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha in the
Second Group, Counterfeiters of Others’ Persons. Master Adam in the Third Group,
Counterfeiters of Coins. Potiphar’s wife and Sinon the Greek in the Fourth Group, Falsifiers
of Words, Liars. The quarrel between Adam and Sinon.
31. Passage to the Ninth Circle. The central pit of well of Hell, where Cocytus, the last river of
Hell, freezes. The Giants: Nimrod, Ephialtes, Briareus, Antaeus. Antaeus’ compliance with
V’s request to lower the two poets into the pit.
32. The Ninth Circle, First Ring, called Caïna, where Traitors to their Kin are immersed in the
ice, heads bent down. Camiscione dei Pazzi. The Second Ring, called Antenora: the Traitors
to their Homeland or Party. Bocca degli Abati’s provocation of Dante. Two traitors, one
gnawing at the other’s head.
33. Still the Ninth Circle, Second Ring. Ugolino’s tales of his and his sons’ death in a Pisan
prison. D’s invective against Pisa. The Third Ring, Ptolomea, where Traitors against their
Guests jut out from ice, their eyes sealed by frozen tears. Fra Alberigo and Branca Doria, still
alive on earth but already in Hell.
34. The Ninth Circle, Fourth Ring, called Judecca, where Traitors against their Benefactors are
fully covered by ice. Dis, or Lucifer, emperor of that kingdom, his three mouths rending
Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Descent of V and D down Lucifer’s body to the other, southern
hemisphere. Their vision of the stars.
Dante’s Purgatorio
1. Proem and Invocation. The skies of the Southern Pole before dawn. The four stars. Cato of
Utica, custodian of the island Mountain of Purgatory. Cato’s queries and V’s reply.
Instructions by Cato. V bathing D’s face and, on the shore, girding him with a rush.
2. Ante-Purgatory. Dawn on the shore of the island mountain. The sudden light upon the sea.
The helmsman angel and the boat full of arriving souls. The encounter with Casella, D’s
friend. Casella’s singing. Cato’s rebuke. The simile of the doves.
3. Ante-Purgatory. From the shore to the base of the mountain. D’s fear when his shadow--and
no other--appears. Reassurance by V and explanation of the nature of shades. Consideration
of the way to ascend the Mountain of Purgatory. The meeting with the souls of the LateRepentant who were also Excommunicates. Manfred.
4. Ante-Purgatory. Still with the Excommunicates; then, on the First Spur, with the LateRepentant through negligence. Plato’s doctrine of the plurality of souls refuted by D’s
experience. The hard climb to the First Spur. V’s explanation of the sun’s path in the southern
hemisphere. Belacqua, D’s friend. Noon.
5. Ante-Purgatory. From the First to the Second Spur: the Late-Repentant who died deaths by
violence. The shades amazed by D’s body. V’s rebuke. The Second Spur and its new
company of shades. Jacopo del Cassero. Buonconte da Montefeltro. La Pia the Sienese.
6. Ante-Purgatory. Still the Second Spur. The simile of the gamester. Others who died deaths
by violence. The efficacy of prayers for the dead. V and his fellow Mantuan, Sordello. D’s
invective against Italy and Florence.
7. Ante-Purgatory. From the Second Spur to the Valley of the Rulers--they too, through
negligence, among the Late-Repentant. Rudolph I of Hapsburg; Ottokar II of Bohemia; Philip
III of France; Henry I of Navarre; Peter III of Aragon; Charles I of Anjou; Peter, youngest son
of Peter III of Aragon; Henry II of England--all thirteenth-century rulers.
8. Ante-Purgatory. The Valley of the Rulers. Sunset. The two angels. D’s friend, Nino Visconti.
The three stars. The serpent put to flight by the angels. Colloquy with Currado Malaspina.
9. Ante-Purgatory. The Valley of the Rulers. Aurora in the northern hemisphere and night in
Purgatory. The sleep of D. His dream of the Eagle. His waking at morning. The guardian
angel. The gate of Purgatory. The seven P’s. Entry.
10.The First Terrace: the Prideful. The hard ascent. The sculptured wall with three examples of
humility: the Virgin Mary, David, and Trajan. The Prideful punished by bearing the weight of
heavy stones.
11. Still on the First Terrace: the Prideful, who now pray a paraphrase of the Lord’s Prayer.
Omberto Aldobrandeschi. Oderisi of Gubbio: his discourse on earthly fame; his presentation
of Provenzan Salvani.
12. Still on the First Terrace: the Prideful. The sculptured pavement with thirteen examples of
punished pride: Satan, Briareus, the Giants, Nimrod, Niobe, Saul, Arachne, Rehoboam,
Eriphyle, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Holofernes, Troy. The angel of humility. Ascent to the Second
Terrace. The First Beatitude. One P Erased.
13. The Second Terrace: the Envious. V’s apostrophe to the sun. Voices calling out three
incitements to fraternal love: the examples of the Virgin Mary and Orestes, and a dictum of
Jesus. The Litany of the Saints. The Envious punished by having their eyelids sewn up with
iron wires. Sapia of Siena.
14. Still the Second Terrace: the Envious. Two spirits, Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli.
Guido’s denunciation of the cities in the valley of the Arno, of Rinieri’s grandson, Fulcieri da
Calboli, and of Romagna. Voices calling out examples of punished envy: Cain and Aglauros.
15. From the Second to the Third Terrace: the Wrathful. Mid-afternoon. The Fifth Beatitude. V
on the sharing of heavenly goods. The Third Terrace, where D sees, in ecstatic vision,
examples of gentleness: the Virgin Mary, Pisistratus, St. Stephen. V on D’s vision. Black
smoke.
16. Still the Third Terrace: the Wrathful. Their sin punished by dark smoke. Marco Lombardo’s
discourse on free will, on the causes of corruption, and on three worthy old men, living
examples of ancient virtue.
17. From the Third to the Fourth Terrace. Examples of wrath: Procne, Haman, Amata. The
angel of gentleness. The Seventh Beatitude. Ascent to the Fourth Terrace. V on love and on
Purgatory’s seven terraces punishing the seven sins: pride, envy and wrath--resulting from
perverted love; sloth--from defective love; avarice, gluttony, and lust--from excessive love of
earthly goods.
18. The Fourth Terrace: the Slothful. V on love, free will, and responsibility. D’s drowsiness.
The Slothful shouting examples of zeal: the Virgin Mary and Caesar. The punishment of the
Slothful, made to run without respite. The Abbot of San Zeno. Shouted examples of sloth: the
Jews in the desert and the reluctant Trojans in Sicily. D overcome by sleep.
19. From the Fourth to the Fifth Terrace: the Avaricious and the Prodigal. D’s dream of the
Siren. Waking to the third morning. The angel of zeal. The Third Beatitude. Ascent to the
Fifth Terrace. Colloquy with Pope Adrian V. The punishment of the Avaricious: given to
earthly goods, they now, bound hand and foot, lie stretched on the ground, face down.
20. Still the Fifth Terrace, the Avaricious and the Prodigal. Excoriation of avarice. Examples of
poverty and generosity: the Virgin Mary, Fabricius, St. Nicholas. Hugh Capet’s condemnation
of his descendants. Examples of avarice: Pygmalion, Midas, Acan, Sapphira and her husband
Ananias, Heliodorus, Polymnestor, Crassus. The mountain’s trembling. The shout of the
souls on Purgatory.
21. Still on the Fifth Terrace: the Avaricious and the Prodigal. The appearance of Statius. V’s
explanation of D’s and his presence in Purgatory. Statius’ explanation of the earthquake and
the exultation. Statius on himself and on his love for the Aeneid. D’s embarrassment, then his
introduction of V to Statius. Statius’ reverence for V.
22. From the Fifth to the Sixth Terrace: the Gluttonous. The angel of justice. First part of the
Fourth Beatitude. Ascent to the Sixth Terrace. Statius: his true sin, prodigality; his
conversion. V on the other souls in Limbo. The Sixth Terrace. The strange tree. Voices
citing examples of temperance: the Virgin Mary, the women of ancient Rome, the Golden Age,
John the Baptist.
23. Still the Sixth Terrace: the Gluttonous. Encounter with Forese Donati, D’s friend, who
explains the punishment of the Gluttonous, condemned to emaciating hunger and thirst;
praises his widow, Nella; and rebukes the shameless women of Florence. D’s presentation of
V and Statius.
24. Still the Sixth Terrace: the Gluttonous. Forese on his sister Piccarda. The poet Bonagiunta
da Lucca’s praise of Gentucca and discourse on poetry. Forese on Florence and on the death
of Corso Donati. The second tree. Voices reciting examples of gluttony: the Centaurs and
those Hebrews rejected by Gideon. The angel of temperance. The last part of the Fourth
Beatitude.
25. From the Sixth to the Seventh Terrace: the Lustful. Hour and mode of ascent to the Seventh
Terrace. D’s queries about the leanness of bodiless shades. Statius’ explanation of generation,
souls after death, and aerial bodies. The punishment of the Lustful, purification through fire.
The Lustful shouting examples of chastity: the Virgin Mary and Diana.
26. Still the Seventh Terrace: the Lustful. The souls’ amazement at D’s having a body. His
explanation to them. Souls coming from the opposite direction: the Lustful who sinned
through unnatural acts. Colloquy with the poet Guido Guinizzelli. The poet Arnaut Daniel,
who addresses D in Provençal.
27. From the Seventh Terrace to the threshold of the Earthly Paradise. Sunset. The angel of
chastity. The sixth Beatitude. D’s fear of entering the flames. V’s exhortation. The passage
through fire. D’s sleep and dream of Leah, exemplar of the active life, and Rachel, exemplar
of the contemplative life. D’s waking. V’s last words to him.
28. The Earthly Paradise. The divine forest. Arrival at the stream of Lethe. Apparition of a
woman (Matilda). Her explanation of the origin of winds and water in the forest. The ancient
poets and the golden age.
29. The Earthly Paradise. The banks of the Lethe. Sudden light and melody. Invocation to the
Muses. The extraordinary procession. The seven candelabra. The seven pennants. The
twenty-four elders. The four animals. The chariot drawn by a griffin. The seven women.
Seven more elders. The sudden halt.
30. The Earthly Paradise. The seven candelabra likened to seven stars (as if a Great Bear) of the
Empyrean. The disappearance of V. Beatrice (B) rebukes D. The angels’ compassion for D.
B’s accusations.
31. The Earthly Paradise. D’s confession and new rebukes by B. D’s repentance and loss of his
senses. Matilda’s immersion of D in Lethe. The four handmaidens of B. The mystery of the
griffin. The other three women beseeching B. B unveiled.
32. The Earthly Paradise. The eastward path of the procession. Adam’s tree. The griffin, the
chariot, and the reflowering tree. The sleep and waking of D. B’s words on D’s mission. The
eagle, the fox, the dragon, and the transfigured chariot. The giant and the whore.
33. The Earthly Paradise. The lament of the seven women and the compassion of B. B’s
prophecy: God’s vengeance against the dragon, the whore, and the giant. Her words on
Adam’s tree. Her last rebuke of D. D led to Eunoe by Matilda. The sweet draught.
Readiness for Paradise.
Dante’s Paradiso
1. Proem and Invocation to Apollo. D’s passing beyond the human, beyond the earth, in
heavenward ascent with B. His wonder. B on the Empyrean and the order of the universe.
2. Address to the reader. Arrival in the First Heaven, the Sphere of the Moon. B’s vigorous
confutation of D, who thinks that rarity and density are the causes of the spots we see on the
body of the Moon.
3. The First Heaven: the Sphere of the Moon. D’s first visions of the blessed. Piccarda Donati.
Her explanation of the souls’ place in the sphere assigned to them by God. The Moon as site
of those whose vows gave way before violence. The empress Constance. Disappearance of
the souls.
4. Still the First Heaven: the Sphere of the Moon. D’s two questions. B’s first answer: the true
place of the souls in the Empyrean; how their appearance in lower spheres is suited to D’s
limited apprehension. Her second answer: violence and unfulfilled vows, absolute and relative
will. D’s further query. B’s dazzling gaze.
5. Still the First Heaven: the Sphere of the Moon. B on the cause of her own radiance, and then
on the possibility of recompensing for unfulfilled vows. Ascent to the Second Heaven, the
Sphere of Mercury. Encounter with the shades there. The nameless holy form whose
discourse will constitute the next canto and reveal him to be Justinian.
6. The Second Heaven: the Sphere of Mercury. Justinian’s canto-long discourse on the destiny
and career of the Roman Eagle and on the souls, in Mercury, of those whose acts were
righteous but motivated by the desire for honor and fame. His praise of Romeo of Villeneuve.
7. Still the Second Heaven: the Sphere of Mercury. Disappearance of Justinian and his fellow
spirits in the wake of hymning and dancing. B’s explanations of Justinian’s references to
Christ’s death as God’s just vengeance and the destruction of Jerusalem as vengeance for just
vengeance; human corruptibility; the mysteries of Salvation and Resurrection.
8. Origin of the planet Venus’s name. Ascent to the Third Heaven, the Sphere of Venus. Charles
Martel. His discourse on fathers and sons and the vicissitudes of heredity, and then on the
need to respect men’s natural dispositions.
9. The Third Heaven: the Sphere of Venus. The prophecy of Charles Martel. Cunizza da
Romano and her prophecy. Folco of Marseille, who points out Rahab, and then denounces
contemporary ecclesiastics and prophesies the regeneration of the Church.
10. Divine wisdom and the harmony of Creation. Ascent to the Fourth Heaven, the Sphere of the
Sun. Thanksgiving to God. St. Thomas (Aq) and the other eleven spirits, who form a crown
around B and D.
11. The Fourth Heaven: the Sphere of the Sun. The senseless cares of mortals. The long
clarification by Aq of his comment on his own order, the Dominicans. His telling of the life of
St. Francis, who wed Poverty and founded the Franciscans.
12. Still the Fourth Heaven: the Sphere of the Sun. The secondary crown of twelve spirits. St.
Bonaventure, a Franciscan. His praise of St. Dominic. The life of St. Dominic. Denunciation
of degenerate Franciscans. St. Bonaventure’s presentation of the other eleven spirits in his
ring.
13. Still the Fourth Heaven: the Sphere of the Sun. Invitation to the reader to exercise his
astronomical fantasy. Dance and song of the two rings of spirits. Aq on the wisdom of King
Solomon. Aq’s warning against hasty judgments.
14. Still the Fourth Heaven: the Sphere of the Sun. B’s request to the spirits to resolve D’s query
concerning the radiance of the spirits after the Resurrection. Solomon’s reply. Appearance of
new spirits. Ascent to the Fifth Heaven, the Sphere of Mars. The vision of a cross and Christ.
The rapture of D.
15. The Fifth Heaven: the Sphere of Mars. The silence of the blessed spirits. Cacciaguida, who
reveals himself as D’s ancestor, Cacciaguida on the Florence of his times and his life there,
and on his death in the Holy Land in the Second Crusade, where he served the emperor
Conrad.
16. Still the Fifth Heaven: the Sphere of Mars. Pride in birth. D’s queries to Cacciaguida.
Cacciaguida’s replies: the date of his birth, his ancestors, the population and notable families
of Florence in Cacciaguida’s time.
17. Still the Fifth Heaven: the Sphere of Mars. D’s asking Cacciaguida for word on what future
awaits D. Cacciaguida’s prophecy concerning D’s exile and tribulations. Words of comfort
from Cacciaguida, and his urging of D to fearless fulfillment of his poetic mission.
18. Still the Fifth Heaven: the Sphere of Mars. The dazzling gaze of B, Cacciaguida’s
presentation of other spirits of the cross. Ascent to the Sixth Heaven, the Sphere of Jupiter.
Letters and words formed by the spirits in Jupiter. The shaping of the Eagle. D’s prayer and
his denunciation of evil popes, especially John XXII.
19. The Sixth Heaven: the Sphere of Jupiter. The Eagle begins to speak. D’s implicit question
concerning divine Justice. The Eagle’s voicing of the question and, then, its discourse on the
inscrutability of God’s Justice and on salvation. The Eagle’s denunciation of evil Christian
rulers.
20. Still the Sixth Heaven: the Sphere of Jupiter. The song of the spirits. The Eagle on the spirits
that form its shape. The Eagle on D’s amazement at seeing the emperor Trajan and the Trojan
Ripheus redeemed. Predestination.
21. Ascent to the Seventh Heaven, the Sphere of Saturn. The golden ladder. D’s questions to
one of the spirits. The spirit’s replies. Another query and a reply concerning predestination.
The spirit’s identifying of himself as St. Peter Damian, and his denunciation of degenerate
prelates. The outcry of the spirits.
22. Still the Seventh Heaven: the Sphere of Saturn. B on the spirits’ outcry. St. Benedict and
other contemplatives. D’s desire to see the face of St. Benedict. St. Benedict on the
degeneracy of the Benedictines. Ascent to the Eighth Heaven, the Sphere of the Fixed Stars.
Invocation to the constellation Gemini. D’s earthward gaze.
23. The Eighth Heaven: the Sphere of the Fixed Stars. B’s expectancy. The triumph of Christ.
The smile of B. The blessed in the radiance of Christ. Triumph and coronation of Mary. The
reascent of Christ and Mary to the Empyrean. Hymn to Mary. St. Peter.
24. Still the Eighth Heaven: the Sphere of the Fixed Stars. B’s request to the spirits, and St.
Peter’s reply. Her asking of St. Peter to examine D on Faith. D’s preparation and his
examination. The approval and blessing of D by St. Peter.
25. Still the Eighth Heaven: the Sphere of the Fixed Stars. D’s hope to return to Florence, there
to be crowned as poet. The appearance of St. John the Evangelist, who dismisses the false
belief in his bodily assumption to Heaven. D’s loss of sight.
26. Still the Eighth Heaven: the Sphere of the Fixed Stars. St. John’s examination of D on
Charity or Love. Approbation of D by the blessed and the restoration of his sight. Adam’s
answers to D’s four implicit questions.
27. Still the Eighth Heaven: the Sphere of the Fixed Stars. The hymn of the blessed. St. Peter’s
condemnation of the popes and the corrupt Church. His urging of D to fulfill his mission on
earth. D’s earthward gaze. Ascent to the Ninth Heaven, the Primum Mobile. Its nature
explained by B. Her discourse on the present straying of the world; her prophecy of its
redemption.
28. The Ninth Heaven: the Primum Mobile. The nine luminous circles of the angelic hierarchies.
Their revolutions around a Point. B’s explanation. The celestial hierarchy. The correct
angelology of Dionysius and the mistake of St. Gregory.
29. Still the Ninth Heaven: the Primum Mobile. The silence of B, then her discourse on creation
and on rebel and faithful angels; her digressing diatribe against useless philosophizing and
preaching; and her conclusion, on the number of the angels.
30. The departure of the spirits. The beauty of B. Arrival in the Tenth Heaven, the Empyrean.
The Celestial Rose. The seat assigned to Henry VII. B’s final words: her condemnation of
Boniface VIII.
31. The Tenth Heaven: the Empyrean. The Rose. D’s amazement. The appearance of St.
Bernard (StB) instead of B. D’s vision of--and prayer to--B. His reponse to StB’s urging him
to contemplate the Rose and Mary. Mary’s delight in the festive angels.
32. Still the Tenth Heaven: the Empyrean. The placement of the blessed in the Rose.
Predestination and the blessed infants. Mary. The angel Gabriel. The great patricians of the
Empyrean. Bernard’s urging of D to beseech Mary.
33. Still the Tenth Heaven: the Empyrean. Prayer of St. Bernard to the Virgin. Her
acknowledgment of his prayer. D sees the Eternal Light. The three circles of the Trinity. The
mystery of the Incarnation. The flashing light that fulfills D’s vision. His desire and will at
one with Love.