DE MONARCHIA OF DANTE ALIGHIERI

[admin]

CHAPTER XII: Christ in being born proved that the authority of the Roman Empire was just.

1. And especially those who call themselves zealots for the Christian faith [1] have "raged" and "imagined vain things" against Roman dominion; they have no pity for the poor of Christ, [2] but defraud them in the church revenues, even stealing their patrimony daily, and render the Church destitute; [3] pretending to Justice, they yet permit no executor of Justice to do his duty.

2. Nor is this impoverishment accomplished without the judgment of God, for the church revenues are neither given to relieve the poor whose patrimony they are, nor are held with gratitude to the Empire which bestowed them. Let them return whence they came. They came justly, they return unjustly, for though they were rightly given, they are wrongfully held. [4] What should be said of such shepherds? What, if with the depletion of the Church's substance the estates of relatives wax great? [5] Belike it were better to follow out the argument and await our Saviour's aid in pious silence.

3. I affirm, therefore, that if the Roman Empire did not come to be with Right, Christ in His birth authorized an injustice. This consequent is false; therefore the contradictory of the antecedent is true, since contradictory propositions are of such a nature that the falseness of a statement argues for the truth of its opposite. [6]

4. The falsity of this consequent need not be proved to those of the faith; for he who is of the faith will concede its falsity; if he does not do so, he is not of the faith; and if he is not of the faith, this argument concerns him not.

5. I demonstrate the consequent [7] thus: Whoever of his own free will fulfills an edict urges its justice by so doing; and since deeds are more persuasive than words, as the Philosopher states in his last book to Nicomachus, he is more convincing than if his approbation were verbal. [8] Now Christ willed to be born of a Virgin Mother under an edict of Roman authority, according to the testimony of Luke, [9] his scribe, in order that the Son of Man, made man, might be numbered as a man in that unique census. This fulfilled the edict. It were perhaps more reverent to believe that the Divine Will caused the edict to go forth through Caesar, in order that God might number Himself among the society of mortals who had so many ages awaited His coming. [10]

6. So Christ in His action established as just the edict of Augustus, exerciser of Roman authority. Since to decree justly presupposes jurisdictional power, whoever confirms the justice of an edict confirms also the jurisdictional power whence it issued. Did this power not exist by Right, it would be unjust.

7. And observe that the argument employed to disprove the consequent, though it holds to a certain degree, nevertheless, if reduced, [11] shows its force in the second figure, [12] just as the argument based on the assumption of the antecedent shows its force in the first figure. The reduction is made as follows: Every unjust thing is established unjustly; Christ established nothing unjustly; therefore Christ established no unjust thing. And thus by the assumption of the antecedent: Every unjust thing is established unjustly; Christ established an unjust thing; therefore Christ established things unjustly.

_______________

Notes:

1. Witte points out that these same men are referred to in Purg. 6. 91: "Ah, folk that ought to have been at prayer, and to let Caesar sit in the saddle." They are the clergy who wrongly wish a controlling hand in the world of temporal things. In this chapter Dante is again making use of the language of Ps. 2. 1, and calling attention once more to the opening argument of Book 2.

2. Conv. 4. 27. 4: "Those which do belong to your profession ... take a tenth part and give it to God, that is, to those miserable ones to whom Divine favor alone remains."

Par. 12. 93: "Not the tithes which belong to God's poor."

Par. 22. 82: "Whatsoever the Church guards belongs all to the folk who ask in God's name." Cf. De Mon. 3. 10. 6.

3. Cupidity in the Church, as in men's minds (De Mon. 1. 11. 5), was the source and root of evil. Inf. 1. 49 uses as the figure of Avarice, or the Church grasping for temporal domain, a "she-wolf, that with all ravenings looked fraught in its leanness, and has already made much people wretched."

4. The donation of Constantine is meant. See De Mon. 3. 10. Par. 20. 56, the eagle speaks of Constantine's gift as "a good intention which bare ill fruit."

5. This was more true of Boniface VIII than of any other Pope, for he furthered the interests of his family and friends by all means in his power. Milman says of him in his Latin Christianity, Bk. 11, ch. 7: "Of all the Roman Pontiffs, Boniface left the darkest name for craft, arrogance, ambition, even for avarice and cruelty."

6. Par. 6. 21: "All contradictories are both false and true." That is, one is false and the other true, for contradictories are pairs of propositions so related to each other that both cannot be false. Wicksteed further explains that "They are of the form either of 'All A is B' and 'Some A is not B,' or 'No A is B' and 'Some A is B.' These four terms were usually arranged at the corners of a square in the logic books.

All A is B
No A is B
Some A is B
Some A is not B.

The contradictories are at opposite ends of the diameters, the source of the phrase "diametrically opposed.'"

7. That is, "Christ in his birth authorized an injustice."

8. Eth. 10. 1. 3. Cf. De Mon. 1. 13. 1. So also Thomas Aquinas says, "Concerning human actions and passions words are to be trusted less than deeds."

9. Luke 2. 1.

10. Purg. 10. 34: "The angel that came on earth with the decree of the many years wept-for peace ... opened heaven from its long interdict."

Par. 26 contains the computation of time from the fall to the redemption. Cf. 1. 118: "From that place whence thy Lady moved Virgil, for four thousand three hundred and two revolutions of the sun did I long for this assembly, and I saw him return to all the stars of his road nine hundred and thirty times whiles that I was upon earth." According to this, Adam makes the number of years 5232 from creation to crucifixion.

11. That is, to a syllogism.

12. The second figure has the middle term for predicate in both premises.

[admin]

CHAPTER XIII: Christ in dying confirmed the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire over all humanity.

1. And if the Roman Empire did not exist by Right, the sin of Adam was not punished in Christ. This, however, is false; so the contradictory from which it follows is true. The falsity of the consequent is apparent in this. By the sin of Adam we are all sinners, according to the Apostle: "As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.'" If satisfaction had not been given for this sin through the death of Christ, we, owing to our depraved nature, should still be children of wrath. But this is not so, for the Apostle speaks in Ephesians of the Father "having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption by His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, wherein He has abounded toward us." [2] And Christ Himself, suffering in Himself the punishment, says in John, "It is finished." [3] And when a thing is finished, nothing remains to be done.

2. For greater clearness, let it be understood that punishment is not simply penalty visited upon the doer of wrong, but penalty visited upon the doer of wrong by one having penal jurisdiction. Wherefore unless punishment is inflicted by a lawful judge, it is no punishment; rather must it be called a wrong. Hence the man of the Hebrews said to Moses, "Who made thee a judge over us?" [4]

3. If therefore Christ did not suffer under a lawful judge, [5] his penalty was not punishment. Lawful judge meant in that case one having jurisdiction over the entire human race, since all humanity was punished in the flesh of Christ, who, as the Prophet says, "hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." [6] And Tiberius Caesar, whose vicar was Pilate, would not have possessed jurisdiction over the entire human race had not the Roman Empire existed by Right. Herod, albeit as ignorant of what he did as Caiaphas [7] of what truth he spake concerning the heavenly decree, for this reason sent Christ to be judged by Pilate, as Luke [8] writes in his Gospel. For Herod was not an official of Tiberius under the ensign of the eagle or the Senate, but a king appointed by him to a particular kingdom, and governing it under the ensign of the kingdom committed to him. [9]

4. Wherefore let those who pretend they are sons of the Church cease to defame the Roman Empire, to which Christ the Bridegroom gave His sanction both at the beginning and at the close of His warfare. And now, I believe, it is sufficiently obvious that the Roman people appropriated the Empire of the world by Right.

5. O people, how blessed hadst thou been, O Ausonia how glorious, had he who enfeebled thy sovereignty never been born, or never been deceived by the piety of his purpose! [10]

_______________

Notes:

1. Rom. 5. 12. In De Mon. 1. 16 Dante dates "all our errors" from the fall of Adam. In Par. 7 Beatrice explains to Dante the nature of human redemption. Cf. 1. 85: "Your nature, when it all sinned in its seed, was removed from these dignities as from Paradise; nor could it recover them, ... by any way without passing through some one of these roads; either that God alone of his clemency should have put away, or that man should have made satisfaction for his folly."

Purg. 32. 37. Here in the vision of the Church and the Empire Dante symbolizes the fall and redemption of man, the errors of avarice in the Church, and the universal jurisdiction of Monarchy. "I heard all murmur 'Adam,' then they circled a plant despoiled of flowers and of leafage too on every branch. Its foliage, which spreads the wider as it is the higher up, would be wondered at for height by the Indians in their forests. 'Blessed art thou, Grifon, that thou tearest not with thy beak of this wood sweet to the taste, since ill was the belly griped therefrom.'" As Plumptre remarks, the apostrophe to the grifon is the thought developed in the second book of De Mon.

2. Eph. 1. 5-8.

3. The work of redeeming the human race is finished. John 19. 30.

4. Exod. 2. 14.

5. "Sub ordine judice."

6. Is. 53. 4. Quoted Letter 6. 6.

7. John 18. 14: "Now Caiaphas was he which gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people."

8. Luke 23. 11.

9. Pilate was the real Roman regent. Cf. Par. 6. 86, where Tiberius is called "the third Caesar," and read all the canto for Justinian's account of the Roman Empire.

10. That Constantine's purpose was high Dante always insisted on. See De Mon. 2. 12. 1; and 3. 10 and notes. Par. 20. 58: "Now knows he how the ill, deduced from his good work, is not harmful to him, albeit that the world be thereby destroyed."

[admin]

BOOK III: WHETHER THE AUTHORITY OF THE ROMAN MONARCH DERIVES FROM GOD IMMEDIATELY OR FROM SOME VICAR OF GOD

CHAPTER I

Introduction.

1. "HE has shut the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me; inasmuch as before Him righteousness was found in me." [1] In beginning this work I proposed to investigate three questions as far as the subject-matter would allow. For the first two questions this has been done satisfactorily in the foregoing books, I believe. We must now consider the third, the truth of which may, however, be a cause of indignation against me, since it cannot be brought forth without causing certain men to blush. But since Truth [2] from her immutable throne demands it; and Solomon entering his forest of Proverbs, and marking out his own conduct, entreats that we "meditate upon truth and abhor wickedness;" [3] and our teacher of morals, the Philosopher, admonishes us to sacrifice whatever is most precious for truth's sake; [4] therefore, gaining assurance from the words of Daniel, wherein the power of God is shown as a shield for defenders of truth, and "putting on the breastplate of faith" according to the admonition of Paul, [5] in the warmth of that coal taken from the heavenly altar by one of the Seraphim and touched to the lips of Isaiah, [6] I will engage in the present conflict, and by the arm of Him who with His blood liberated us from the power of darkness, [7] I will cast the ungodly and the liar from the arena, while the world looks on. Wherefore should I fear, when the Spirit, coeternal with the Father and the Son, says by the mouth of David, "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance, he shall not be afraid of-evil tidings "? [8]

2. The question pending investigation, then, concerns two great luminaries, [9] the Roman Pontiff and the Roman Prince: and the point at issue is whether the authority of the Roman Monarch, who, as proved in the second book, is rightful Monarch of the world, derives from God directly, or from some vicar or minister of God, by whom I mean the successor of Peter, veritable keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

_______________

Notes:

1. Dan. 6. 22. The word "righteousness" is the Latin "justitia," which in chapters 11, 12, etc., of Book 1 was translated "justice."

2. Note that it was love of truth that started Dante on his task in De Mon. 1. 1.

3. Prov. 8. 7. Dante's idea here expressed does not exactly coincide with that in the verse cited, which runs: "For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips."

4. Eth. 1. 6. 1: "For the preservation of truth ... we should even do away with private feelings, especially as we are philosophers; for both being dear to us, it is a sacred duty to prefer truth."

In Letter 9. 5, to the Italian Cardinals, Dante says again: "I have the authority of the Master Philosopher, who, in treating of all morality, taught that truth is to be preferred beyond any friend whatsoever."

5. 1 Thess. 5. 8.

6. Is. 6. 6, 7.

7. Col. 1. 13, 14.

8. Ps. 112. 6, 7. Much the same idea is in Par. 17. 18: "If I am a timid friend to the truth, I fear to lose life among those who will call this time ancient."

9. De Mon. 3. 4 takes up in detail the argument of the sun and moon.

[admin]

BOOK III: WHETHER THE AUTHORITY OF THE ROMAN MONARCH DERIVES FROM GOD IMMEDIATELY OR FROM SOME VICAR OF GOD

CHAPTER I

Introduction.

1. "HE has shut the lions' mouths and they have not hurt me; inasmuch as before Him righteousness was found in me." [1] In beginning this work I proposed to investigate three questions as far as the subject-matter would allow. For the first two questions this has been done satisfactorily in the foregoing books, I believe. We must now consider the third, the truth of which may, however, be a cause of indignation against me, since it cannot be brought forth without causing certain men to blush. But since Truth [2] from her immutable throne demands it; and Solomon entering his forest of Proverbs, and marking out his own conduct, entreats that we "meditate upon truth and abhor wickedness;" [3] and our teacher of morals, the Philosopher, admonishes us to sacrifice whatever is most precious for truth's sake; [4] therefore, gaining assurance from the words of Daniel, wherein the power of God is shown as a shield for defenders of truth, and "putting on the breastplate of faith" according to the admonition of Paul, [5] in the warmth of that coal taken from the heavenly altar by one of the Seraphim and touched to the lips of Isaiah, [6] I will engage in the present conflict, and by the arm of Him who with His blood liberated us from the power of darkness, [7] I will cast the ungodly and the liar from the arena, while the world looks on. Wherefore should I fear, when the Spirit, coeternal with the Father and the Son, says by the mouth of David, "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance, he shall not be afraid of-evil tidings "? [8]

2. The question pending investigation, then, concerns two great luminaries, [9] the Roman Pontiff and the Roman Prince: and the point at issue is whether the authority of the Roman Monarch, who, as proved in the second book, is rightful Monarch of the world, derives from God directly, or from some vicar or minister of God, by whom I mean the successor of Peter, veritable keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

_______________

Notes:

1. Dan. 6. 22. The word "righteousness" is the Latin "justitia," which in chapters 11, 12, etc., of Book 1 was translated "justice."

2. Note that it was love of truth that started Dante on his task in De Mon. 1. 1.

3. Prov. 8. 7. Dante's idea here expressed does not exactly coincide with that in the verse cited, which runs: "For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips."

4. Eth. 1. 6. 1: "For the preservation of truth ... we should even do away with private feelings, especially as we are philosophers; for both being dear to us, it is a sacred duty to prefer truth."

In Letter 9. 5, to the Italian Cardinals, Dante says again: "I have the authority of the Master Philosopher, who, in treating of all morality, taught that truth is to be preferred beyond any friend whatsoever."

5. 1 Thess. 5. 8.

6. Is. 6. 6, 7.

7. Col. 1. 13, 14.

8. Ps. 112. 6, 7. Much the same idea is in Par. 17. 18: "If I am a timid friend to the truth, I fear to lose life among those who will call this time ancient."

9. De Mon. 3. 4 takes up in detail the argument of the sun and moon.

[admin]

CHAPTER II: God wills not that which is counter to the intention of nature.

1. As in the previous questions, so in the present one, we must assume some principle for informing the arguments which are to reveal the truth. For of what avail is it to labor even in speaking truth, if one have no basic principle? [1] And the principle is the sole root of the assumptions, [2] which are the mediums of proof.

2. Let us set up, then, this indisputable truth, that whatever is repugnant to the intention of nature is contrary to the will of God. If this were not true, its contrary would not be false, that whatever is repugnant to the intention of nature is not contrary to the will of God. And if this is not false, its consequences are not false. For in necessary consequences a false consequent is impossible without a false antecedent. [3]

3. But "not contrary to the will of" means one of two things, "to will" or "not to will;" just as "not to hate" means either to love" or "not to love; " for "not to love" does not mean "to hate," neither does "not to will" mean "to be contrary to the will of" as is self-evident. If these statements are not false, neither will it be false to assert that "God wills what He does not will," than which no greater fallacy exists.

4. I demonstrate as follows the verity of what has been said. That God wills an end for nature is manifest; otherwise the heavens would move to no purpose, which it is not possible to claim." If God should will an obstruction to this end, He would also will an end for the obstruction, or He would will to no purpose. Now the end of an obstruction is that the thing obstructed may exist no longer, so it follows that God wills the end of nature to exist no longer, when we have already said that He wills it to exist.

5. But if God did not will the obstruction to the end, it would follow from His not willing it that He cared nothing for the obstruction, whether it existed or not. Now he who cares nothing for the obstruction cares nothing for the end obstructed, and therefore has it not in his will, and what he has not in his will, he does not will. Hence if the end of nature can be impeded, and it can, it necessarily follows that God does not will an end of nature, and follows further, as before, that God wills what He does not will. That principle is therefore most true from the contradictory of which results such an absurdity. [5]

_______________

Notes:

1. De Mon. 1. 2. 2; 2. 2. 1.

2. "Assumptions" are the major and minor premises.

3. Anal. Pr. 2. 2.

4. Dante proves this point De Mon. 1. 3. 2; 1. 10. 1; 2. 7. 2, 3; and 3. 15. 1. See also the quotations in the notes to these paragraphs. Dante expresses the idea most clearly, perhaps, in Par. 1. 109: "In that order which I say have all natures their propension, through divers lots, more or less near to their origin, whereby they move to divers ports through the sea of being, and each with instinct given to it to bear it."

5. Miss Hillard notes the use of proof by reduction to absurdity, Conv. 2. 9. 4.

[admin]

CHAPTER III: Of the three classes of our opponents and the too great authority many ascribe to tradition.

1. In entering on this third question, [1] let us bear in mind that the truth of the first [2] was made manifest in order to abolish ignorance rather than contention. But the investigation of the second [3] had reference alike to ignorance and contention. Indeed, we are ignorant of many things concerning which we do not contend: the geometrician does not know the square of the circle, [4] but he does not contend about it; the theologian does not know the number of the angels, [5] but he renders it no cause for quarrel; the Egyptian knows naught of the civilization of Scythia, but does not therefore make the civilization a source of strife. [6]

2. Now the truth of the third question has to do with so keen a contention that, whereas ignorance generally causes the discord, here the discord causes ignorance. For it always happens to men who will things before rationally considering them that, their desire being evil, they put behind them the light of reason; as blind men they are led about by their desire, and stubbornly deny their blindness. [7] Whence it often occurs not only that falsehood has her own patrimony, but that many men going out from her boundaries run through strange camps, where, neither understanding nor being understood at all, they provoke some to wrath, some to disdain, and not a few to laughter.

3. Three classes of men struggle hardest against the truth which we would establish.

4. First the Chief Pontiff, Vicar of our Lord Jesus Christ and successor to Peter, he to whom we should render not what is due to Christ but what is due to Peter, he, perchance in his zeal for the keys, together with some pastors of Christian flocks, and others moved solely, I believe, by their zeal for Mother Church, contradict the truth I am about to declare. They contradict it, perchance, from zeal, I repeat, not from pride. [8]

5. But others in their inveterate cupidity have quenched the light of reason, and call themselves sons of the Church, although they are of their father the devil. [9] Not only do they arouse controversy in regard to this question, but, despising the very name of the most sacred Princehood, impudently deny the first principles of this and the previous questions.

6. The third class, called Decretalists, [10] utterly ignorant and unregardful of Theology and Philosophy, depending entirely on the Decretals (which, I grant, are deserving of veneration), and I presume trusting in the ultimate supremacy of these, derogate from the imperial power. Nor is it to be wondered at, for I have heard one of them aver and insolently maintain that ecclesiastical traditions are the foundation of faith. Let those dispel this error of thought from mortal minds whom the world doubts not to have believed in Christ, the Son of God, ere ecclesiastical traditions were, believed in Him either to come, or present, or having already suffered, [11] and believing hoped, and hoping burned with love, and burning with love were made co-heirs with Him. [12]

7. And that such mistaken thinkers may be wholly shut out from the present discussion, it must be observed that some of the Scriptures take precedence of the Church, some are equivalent to the Church, and some subordinate to it.

8. Those taking precedence of the Church are the Old and New Testaments, which, as the Prophet says, "were commanded for ever," [13] and to which the Church refers in saying to the Bridegroom, "Draw me after thee." [14]

9. Equivalent to the Church are those Councils so worthy of reverence, and in the midst of which no believer doubts the presence of Christ; for we have, according to Matthew's testimony, the words spoken to His disciples at His ascension into heaven: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." [15] In addition, there are the writings of the Doctors, Augustine, [16] and others, and whosoever doubts the aid of the Holy Spirit therein has never seen their fruits, or if he has seen, has never tasted them.

10. Subordinate to the Church are the traditions called Decretals, which, while they must be revered for their apostolic authority, must nevertheless be held unquestionably inferior to the fundamental Scriptures, seeing that Christ rebuked the priests for not so doing. When they had inquired, "Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?" [17] (for they had omitted the washing of hands) Christ answered, as Matthew testifies, "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" Here the inferiority of tradition is clearly implied.

11. If, as we believe, traditions of the Church are subordinate to the Church, authority necessarily accrues not to the Church through traditions, but to traditions through the Church. And I repeat, those who have faith in traditions alone are excluded from this discussion. For they who would hunt down this truth must start in their search from those writings whence the authority of the Church emanates.

12. Others must likewise be excluded who, decked in the plumage of ravens, boast themselves white sheep of the Master's flock. In order to carry out their crimes, these sons of impiety defile their mother, banish their brethren, and scorn judgments brought against them. Why should reason be sought in behalf of these whose passions prevent them from understanding our basic principle? [18]

13. There remains, then, the controversy with those only who, led by a certain zeal for their Mother the Church, are blind to the truth we are seeking. And with them, confident in that reverence which a loyal and loving son owes to father and mother, to Christ and the Church, to the Shepherd and all who profess the Christian religion, I enter in this book into combat for the preservation of truth.

_______________

Notes:

1. "Whether the authority of the Roman Monarchy derives from God immediately, or from some vicar of God."

2. "Whether temporal Monarchy is necessary for the well-being of the world."

3. "Whether the Roman people rightfully appropriated the office of Monarchy."

4. Conv. 2. 14. 12: "The circle by reason of its arc cannot be exactly squared."

Par. 33. 133: "As is the geometer who applies himself wholly in order to measure the circle, and finds not by thinking that principle whereof he is in want, such was I."

In 1761 Lambert proved that the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter was incommensurable. Lindemann has since demonstrated that this ratio was transcendental, and that the quadrature of the circle by means of the rule and compass only is impossible.

5. The number of the angels Dante discusses in Conv. 2. 6, concluding in chapter 2. 6. 2: "It is proved to us that these creatures exist in immense numbers; because His Spouse and Secretary, the Holy Church ... says, believes, and preaches that these most noble creatures are almost innumerable; and she divides them into three hierarchies."

6. Eth. 3. 3. 6: "About things eternal no man deliberates, as about the world, or the diagonal and the side of a square, that they are incommensurable, ... nor about things accidental, as the finding of a treasure, nor yet about everything human, as no Lacedaemonian deliberates how the Scythians might be best governed." Moore thinks that Dante's substitution of "Egyptian" for "Lacedaemonian" was merely a slip of memory.

7. Purg. 18. 16: "Direct toward me the keen eyes of thy understanding, and the error will be manifest to thee of the blind who make themselves leaders." So wickedness to Dante was largely a matter of ignorance, of blindness, of inability to understand. With sight and comprehension of good came right action.

8. Dante even in his moments of greatest indignation had only reverence for the papal office. Inf. 19. 100: "Were it not that still forbids it to me my reverence for the supreme keys which thou heldest in the glad life, I would use words yet more grievous;" so he says to Pope Nicolas placed among the simoniacs in Malebolge. And of the persecution of Boniface VIII, whom Dante hated above all men, he writes Purg. 20. 86: "I see the fleur- de-lys enter into Alagna, and in his Vicar Christ himself made captive. I see Him being mocked a second time, I see the vinegar and the gall renewed, and Him between live thieves put to death. I see the new Pilate so cruel that that sates him not, but without decree he bears into the temple his greedy sails."

9. John 8. 44: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do." For cupidity as the greatest of human sins, see De Mon. 2. 12. 1; 1. 1. 5, and note 12. The worst form of cupidity was simony, trafficking in spiritual matters, shown forth in Inf. 19. 1 ff.: "O Simon Magus! O unhappy followers! because the things of God, which ought to be spouses, and ye in your greed make to commit whoredom for gold and for silver -- now it is meet that for you the trumpet sound, seeing that in the third pit ye are stationed."

Letter 9. 7 To the Italian Cardinals: "Every one has taken Cupidity to wife, even as ye have, -- Cupidity, who is never, like Charity, the mother of Piety and Equity, but always of Impiety and Iniquity. Ah, most holy Mother, Bride of Christ, what sons dost thou bear of water and of the spirit to shame thee! Neither Charity nor Justice, but the daughters of the horse-leech have become thy daughters-in-law, and all save the Bishop of Luni attest what kind of sons they have brought to thee. Thy Gregory lies among the cobwebs; Ambrose lies on the neglected shelves of the clergy; Augustine lies forgotten; Dionysius, Damascenus, and Bede have been thrown aside; and I know not what Speculum, Innocent, and he of Ostia preach. Wherefore is this? They sought God as their end and best good; these run after riches and benefices."

10. Two of these men are named Par. 12. 83, Henry of Susa, Archbishop of Embrun and Cardinal of Ostia, and Thaddeus of Bologna. In Letter 9. 7, quoted in the note preceding, the Speculum of Guglielmo Durante, Innocent III, and the Cardinal of Ostia make another list.

The Decretals were those papal decrees which form the groundwork of the ecclesiastical law. The most important compilation was issued by Gregory IX in 1234. The Code of the Papal Decretals was promulgated as the statute law of Christendom, the authority of which was superior to all secular law. See Toynbee, Dict. s. v. Decretali; Hallam, Middle Ages, Ch. 8, part 2.

Par. 9. 133: "For this the Gospel and the great Doctors are deserted, and study is given to the Decretals alone, as appears on their margins."

11. Par. 20. 103: "They issued not from their bodies as thou deemest Gentiles, but Christians, in firm faith, he of the Feet that should suffer, he of them having suffered."

12. Rom. 8. 16, 17.

13. Ps. 111. 9. This is a rather strained interpretation of "He hath sent redemption unto his people; he hath commanded his covenant for ever."

14. Cant. 1. 4. Dante, as was customary in his times, interprets the Canticles allegorically as applying to the Church.

15. Matt. 28. 30.

16. St. Augustine (354-430). Dante quotes in the next chapter from two of his works, De Civitate Dei and De Doctrina Christiana. The ideals of Augustine in the former treatise and those of Dante in the De Mon. are very similar. For his relation to Dante see Moore, Studies, Vol. 1. pp. 291-294. Augustine is honored with a seat in the Celestial Rose by St. Francis and St. Benedict Par. 32. 35. For further mention of him see note 9, above.

17. Matt. 15. 2, 3.

18. Phys. 1. 2. "Cupiditas" is the word I have this time translated "passions." Cf. Purg. 19. 121: "As avarice extinguished our love toward every good, whence labor was lost, so justice here holds us straitly bound." See also note 9, above.

[admin]

CHAPTER IV: The opponents' argument adduced from the sun and moon.

1. Those men to whom the entire subsequent discussion is directed assert that the authority of the Empire depends on the authority of the Church, just as the inferior artisan depends on the architect. [1] They are drawn to this by divers opposing arguments, some of which they take from Holy Scripture, and some from certain acts performed by the Chief Pontiff, and by the Emperor himself; and they endeavor to make their conviction reasonable.

2. For, first, they maintain that according to Genesis God made two mighty luminaries, a greater and a less, the former to hold supremacy by day and the latter by night. [2] These they interpret allegorically to be the two rulers [3] -- spiritual and temporal. Whence they argue that as the lesser luminary, the moon, has no light but that gained from the sun, so the temporal ruler has no authority but that gained from the spiritual ruler. [4]

3. Let it be noted for the refutation of this and their other arguments that, as the Philosopher holds in his writings on Sophistry, "the destruction of an argument is the exposure of error." [5] And because error can occur in both the matter and the form of an argument, a twofold fallacy is possible -- that arising from a false assumption, and that from a failure to syllogize. The two objections brought by the Philosopher against Parmenides and Melissus were: "They accept what is false, and syllogize incorrectly." [6] "False" I use here with large significance, embracing the improbable, which in matters of probability becomes the false element. He who would destroy a conclusion where there is error in the form of the argument must show a failure to comply with the rules of syllogizing. Where the error is material, he must show that an assumption has been made, either false in itself or false in relation to something else. Absolute falsity may be destroyed by destroying the assumption, relative falsity by distinction of meanings. [7]

4. Granting this, let us observe, in order to comprehend more clearly the fallacy of this and other arguments, that with regard to mystical interpretation a twofold error may arise, either by seeking one where it is not, or by explaining it other than it ought to be.

5. Of the first error Augustine says in The City of God: "Not all deeds recounted should be thought to have special significance, because for the sake of significant things insignificant details are interwoven. The plowshare by itself cuts the land into furrows, but that this may be accomplished the other parts of the plow are needed." [8]

6. Of the second error he speaks in his Christian Doctrine, saying that the man who attempts to find in the Scriptures other things than the writer's meaning "is deceived as one who abandons a certain road, only by a long detour to reach the goal whither the road led directly." [9] And he adds, "Such a man should be shown that a habit of leaving his path may lead him into cross-roads and tortuous ways." Then he gives the reason why this error should be avoided in the Scriptures, saying, "Shake the authority of the divine writings, and you shake all faith." [10] However, I believe that when such errors are due to ignorance they should be pardoned after correction has been carefully administered, just as he should be pardoned who is terrified at a supposed lion in the clouds. But when such errors are due to design, the erring one should be treated like tyrants who never apply public laws for the general welfare, but endeavor to turn them to individual profit.

7. O unparalleled crime, though committed but in dreams, of turning into evil the intention of the Eternal Spirit! Such a sin would not be against Moses, or David, or Job, or Matthew, or Paul, but against the Holy Spirit that speaketh in them. For although the writers of the divine word are many, the dictator of the word is one, even God, who has deigned to make known his purpose to us through divers pens.

8. From these prefatory remarks I proceed to refute the above assumption that the two luminaries of the world typify its two ruling powers. The whole force of their argument lies in the interpretation; but this we can prove indefensible in two ways. First, since these ruling powers are as it were accidents necessitated by man himself, God would seem to have used a distorted order in creating first accidents, and then the subject necessitating them. It is absurd to speak thus of God, but it is evident from the Word [11] that the two lights were created on the fourth day, and man on the sixth.

9. Secondly, the two ruling powers exist as the directors of men toward certain ends, as will be shown further on; but had man remained in the state of innocence in which God made him, he would have required no such direction. These ruling powers are therefore remedies against the infirmity of sin. Since on the fourth day man not only was not a sinner, but was not even existent, the creation of a remedy would have been purposeless, which is contrary to divine goodness. Foolish indeed would be the physician who should make ready a plaster for the future abscess of a man not yet born. Therefore it cannot be asserted that God made the two ruling powers on the fourth day; and consequently the meaning of Moses cannot have been what it is supposed to be. [12]

10. Also, in order to be tolerant, we may refute this fallacy by distinction. Refutation by distinction deals more gently with an adversary, for it shows him to be not absolutely wrong, as does refutation by destruction. I say, then, that although the moon may have abundant light only as she receives it from the sun, it does not follow on that account that the moon herself owes her existence to the sun. It must be recognized that the essence of the moon, her strength, and her function are not one and the same thing. Neither in her essence, her strength, nor her function taken absolutely, does the moon owe her existence to the sun, for her movement is impelled by her own motor and her influence by her own rays. [13] Besides, she has a certain light of her own, as is shown in eclipse. It is in order to fulfill her function better and more potently that she borrows from the sun abundance of light, and works thereby more efficaciously.

11. In like manner, I say, the temporal power receives from the spiritual neither its existence, nor its strength, which is its authority, nor even its function taken absolutely. But well for her does she receive therefrom, through the light of grace which the benediction of the Chief Pontiff sheds upon it, in heaven and on earth, strength to fulfill her function more perfectly. [14] So the argument was at fault in form, because the predicate of the conclusion is not a term of the major premise, as is evident. The syllogism runs thus: The moon receives light from the sun, which is the spiritual power; the temporal ruling power is the moon; therefore the temporal receives authority from the spiritual. They introduce "light" as the term of the major, but "authority" as predicate of the conclusion, which two things we have seen to be diverse in subject and significance.

_______________

Notes:

1. Metaphys. 1. 1: "We reckon the chief artificers in each case to be entitled to more dignity, and to the reputation of superior knowledge, and to be more wise than the handicraftsmen, because the former are acquainted with the causes of things that are being constructed, whereas the latter produce things as certain inanimate things do, ... unconsciously." Bryce dates the successful claim of the papacy to rule in temporal matters to Gregory VII (1073-1086).

2. Gen. 1. 15, 16.

3. "Dua regimina" -- two guiding or governing powers. Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, c. 15: "The analogy between the lights of heaven and the potentates of earth is one which mediaeval writers are very fond of. It seems to have originated with Gregory VII" (1073- 1086).

"Two lights, the sun and the moon, illumine the globe; two powers, the papal and the royal, govern it; but as the moon receives her light from the more brilliant star, so kings reign by the chief of the Church who comes from God," are the words of Innocent IV (1243-1254).

Bryce speaks in the chapter cited above of a curious seal of the Emperor Otto IV (1208-1212), figured in J. M. Heineccius' De veteribus Germanorum atque aliarum nationum sigillis, on which the sun and moon are represented over the head of the Emperor: "There seems to be no reason why we should not take the device as typifying the accord of the spiritual and temporal powers which was brought about at the accession of Otto, the Guelfic leader, and the favored candidate of Pope Innocent III."

4. Dante's real view, that the spiritual and temporal rulers are coordinate but different, is expressed De Mon. 3. 16. 6. Again in Purg. 16. 106 is the idea in more figurative language: "Rome, that made the good world, was wont to have two suns, that showed the one and the other road, both of the world and of God. The one has put out the other, and the sword is joined with the crook; and the one and the other together of very necessity it behoves that they go ill."

Letter 6. 2 (To the Florentines) has the following figure: "Why, then, such a foolish supposition being disposed of, do ye, deserting legitimate government, seek new Babylonians to found new kingdoms, in order that the Florentine may be one policy and the Roman another? Why may it not please you to envy the apostolic monarchy likewise? that if Delia is to have a twin in heaven, the Delian One may also? "

After the death of Henry VII and Clement V Dante wrote in Letter 9. 10: "Rome, that city now deprived of both its luminaries."

5. Soph. Elenc. 18.

6. Phys. 1. 3. Parmenides was a Greek philosopher, born at Elea in Italy circ. 513 B.C., founder of the Eleatic School of philosophy, in which he was succeeded by Zeno. Melissus of Samos was one of his followers. These two false reasoners serve for illustration again in Par. 13. 122: "He returns not the same as he sets out, who fishes for the truth and has not the art; and of this are to the world open proofs Parmenides, Melissus, and Bryson."

7. "Distinction" marks out two possible meanings in a proposition; one, the sense in which it must be understood to make it true; the other, the sense in which it must be understood in order to support a given conclusion.

8. De Civit. Dei 16. 2.

9. De Doctr. Christ. 1. 36. Here Dante departs from our present reading of Augustine's text by using the words "per gyrum " instead of "per agrum."

10. L.c. 37.

11. "Litera," Witte says, was a solemn word used for "text," especially in referring to sacred writings, during the Middle Ages.

12. "Man restored to the state of Eden would not need ecclesiastical any more than he would need imperial guidance or authority. Hence Virgil 'crowns and mitres' Dante at the entrance of the Garden of Eden, Purg. 27, 42. It follows that Beatrice, whose ministrations begin here, may be Revelation, but cannot be Ecclesiastical Authority." Wicksteed.

13. The heaven of the moon was the first of the ten Dantean heavens. It is described Conv. 2. 3-7, and Par. 2-5. Nine of these were the so-called moving heavens, each having for its motor a certain order of spiritual creature. Conv. 2. 6. 5: "Wherefore it is reasonable to believe that the motive powers of the Heaven of the Moon are of the order of Angels."

Conv. 2. 6. 7: "These motive powers guide by their thought alone the revolutions over which each one presides."

14. De Mon. 3. 16. 9, and note.

The apostolic benediction even of Clement V, whom Dante punishes among the simoniacs in Inf. 19, is thus spoken of, Letter 5. 10: "This is he whom Peter, the vicar of God, admonishes us to honor; whom Clement, now the successor of Peter, illuminates with the light of the apostolic benediction, in order that where the spiritual ray does not suffice, the splendor of the lesser light may illumine."

[admin]

CHAPTER V: Argument from the precedence of Levi over Judah.

1. They also abstract an argument from the word of Moses, declaring that in Levi and Judah sprang from Jacob's loins the types of these two sovereignties, the one being father of the priesthood, and the other father of temporal rulers. [1] From this they argue: The relation of Levi to Judah is that of the Church to the Empire; Levi preceded Judah in birth according to Scripture; therefore the Church precedes the Empire in authority.

2. Refutation is here easy, for I might as before overthrow by positive denial the assertion that Levi and Judah, the sons of Jacob, typified these sovereignties; but I will concede that point. When, however, they proceed to infer from their argument that as Levi had precedence in birth, so has the Church in authority, I repeat that the predicate of the conclusion is not the term of the major premise, for the one is "authority" and the other "birth," things different in subject and meaning. There is an error, therefore, in the form of the syllogism, which is as follows: A precedes B in C; D is related to E as A is to B; therefore D precedes E in F. But F and C are dissimilar.

3. If they become insistent, saying that F follows from C (that is, "authority" from "birth"), and that in an inference a consequent may replace an antecedent (as "animal" might replace "man"), I answer that it is untrue. Many are older in years who have no precedence in authority, but are superseded by their juniors; for instance, when bishops are younger than their arch-presbyters. And so the insistence is misplaced, for they have named as cause that which is none.

_______________

Notes:

1. Gen. 29. 34, 35. Reference is made to the sons of Levi as men of churchly and not secular authority Purg. 16. 127. Marco Lombardo is speaking to Dante: "Say from this day forth that the Church of Rome, through confounding of herself two governments, falls in the mire, and befouls herself and her burden." "O my Marco," said I, "thou reasonest well; and now I perceive why the sons of Levi were exempted from the heritage."

[admin]

CHAPTER VI: Argument from the election and deposition of Saul by Samuel.

1. Moreover, they take from the first book of Kings the election and deposition of Saul, and declare that, according to the text, Saul, an enthroned king, was dethroned by Samuel executing God's command as His Vicar. [1] And they reason from this that as the Vicar of God then had authority to give temporal power, to take it away, and to transfer it to another, so now God's Vicar, High Priest of the Church Universal, has like authority to bestow, to withdraw, [2] and even to consign to another the sceptre of temporal dominion. From this would follow undoubtedly, as they claim, that the Empire is a derived power.

2. But to destroy the premise that Samuel was Vicar of God, we need only reply that he was not Vicar; he acted merely as a special envoy for this commission, or as a messenger bringing an express command from his Lord. This is evident from the fact that what God bade him, that alone he did and that alone recounted.

3. Wherefore let it be understood that it is one thing to be a vicar, and another to be a messenger or minister; as it is one thing to be a doctor, and another to be an interpreter. [3] Now a vicar is one to whom has been assigned jurisdiction according to law or to his arbitrary judgment; and so within the boundaries of the jurisdiction assigned to him he may determine legally or arbitrarily matters of which his lord has no knowledge. [4] But an envoy, in so far as he is an envoy, cannot do so, for as the hammer operates only through the strength of the smith, so the envoy acts only through the will of the person who delegates him. [5] Nor does it follow, though God did this when Samuel was His envoy, that the Vicar of God can do it. For through His angels God has achieved, is achieving, and will achieve, many things which the Vicar of God, the successor of Peter, was powerless to do.

4. Their argument is constructed from the whole to the part like this: Man can hear and see; therefore the eye can hear and see. However, it would hold negatively: Man cannot fly; therefore the arms of man cannot fly. And in the same way, according to the belief of Agathon, [6] God cannot through a messenger undo what has been done; therefore His Vicar is unable to do so.

_______________

Notes:

1. 1 Sam. 10. 1, Samuel anoints Saul; 15. 23, he deposes him; 15. 28, he transfers the authority of ruler "to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou."

2. Decretals of Gregory, 2. 13. 3: "The Pope has power to depose the Emperor for legitimate causes." Boniface VIII not only deposed Philip the Fair, but offered the French crown to Emperor Albert I.

3. "Sicut aliud est esse doctorem, aliud esse interpretem."

4. Witte quotes from the Decretals of Gregory IX, 1. 28. 5: "A vicar can do whatever pertains to the jurisdiction of him in whose stead he acts."

5. Gen. Anim. 5. 8. The figure is again used Par. 2. 128: "The movement and virtue of the holy circles, as from the smith the craft of the hammer, must needs from the blessed movers have their breath."

Conv. 4. 23. 2: "The fire and the hammer are efficient causes of the knife, although the principal cause is the smith."

6. Eth. 6. 2. 6: "But what is past does not admit of being undone; therefore Agathon rightly says, 'Of this alone even God is deprived, the power of making things that are past never to have been.'"

Agathon is mentioned as being one of the Greek poets in Limbo Purg. 22. 107. Historically, nothing is known of this poet except his friendship with Socrates, Plato, and Euripides, and the references to him in Aristotle's Poetics and Rhetoric.

[admin]

CHAPTER VII: Argument from the oblation of the Magi.

1. From the book of Matthew they also cite the oblation of the Magi, claiming that Christ accepted both frankincense and gold, in order to signify that He was Lord and Governor of the spiritual and temporal domains. [1] They draw as inference from this that the Vicar of Christ is lord and governor of these realms, and consequently has authority over both.

2. In answering this I grant the text of Matthew and their interpretation, but the inference they try to draw from it is false through deficiency in the terms. Their syllogism is this: God is Lord of the spiritual and temporal domains; the Pope is the Vicar of God; therefore he is lord of the spiritual and temporal domains. While each proposition is true, the middle term is changed to admit four terms to the argument, thereby impairing the syllogistic form. This is plain from the writings on Syllogizing considered simply. [2] For one term is "God," the subject of the major premise, and the other term is "Vicar of God," the predicate of the minor.

3. And if anyone insists on the equivalence of God and Vicar, his insistence is useless, for no vicar, divine or human, can be coordinate with His authority, as is easily seen. And we know that the successor of Peter is not coequal with divine power, at least not in the operation of nature. He could not by virtue of the office committed to him make earth rise up, or fire fall. [3] It is impossible that God should have intrusted all things to him, for God was in no way able to delegate the power of creation or of baptism, as is plainly proved despite the contrary statement of the Master [4] in his fourth book.

4. We know, too, that a man's deputy, in so far as he is a deputy, is not of coordinate power with him, because no one can bestow what does not belong to him. Princely authority belongs to a prince only for his employment, since no prince can authorize himself; he has power to receive and to reject it, but no power to create it in another, seeing that the creation of a prince is not effected by a prince. If this is true, it is evident that no prince can substitute for himself a regent equal in all things to himself: Wherefore the protest is of no avail.

_______________

Notes:

1. Matt. 2. 11.

2. Anal. Pr. 1. 25.

3. Eth. 2. 1. 2. This thought is used by Dante, De Mon. 1. 15. 2, and the words from Aristotle are given in note 6 to that paragraph.

4. Peter Lombard (1100-1164), whom Dante places among the great doctors in the Heaven of the Sun Par. 10. 107. This reference is to his Libri Sententiarum 4. 5. 2, 3: "Christ gave to his servants the administering of baptism, but the power he retained for himself, which had he so wished he could have given them; ... but he did not wish to, lest a servant should put his hope in a servant." As Wicksteed remarks, Dante does not believe in the deputing of ministry without power.