CANTO VIts

home, is the universal temple in which is contained the whole edifice of creation, and outside of which is nothing: this is not circumscribed to place, but is the formation of the primitive mind, or prothoneo of the Greeks of this spoke the psalmist when he sang, 'the Lord hath prepared his throne in the Heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all this, in fine, is the Paradise of blessed saints, as decides our holy Church; and as seems indeed to have been the opinion of Aristotle himself, if his expressions be thouroughly examined (1). Now all the moving heavens, with the exception of the ninth or prime mover, having other movements besides that primitive one from east to west, and this alone being communicated to them by the prime mover, it follows that such minor movements must have their particular and efficient agents to cause them. Thus the planets, which, besides their common revolution along their orbits have other revolutions to perform round their own poles (these, however moveable with regard to external bodies, being stationary with regard to their own) must have their individual movers, or delegated, intellectual agents, who must be substances separate from matter; that is, immaterial creatures. Respecting their number, disputes have arisen, as well as respecting the number of the heavens. Some (among whom whether Aristotle

(1) Aristotele pare ciò sentire, chi bene lo intende. Convito, p. 8o.

CANTO VII.

be to be classed is uncertain, since in different passages he seems contradictory) taught that those immaterial agents ought not to be held more numerous than the heavenly bodies themselves over which they preside; for that more would be useless and in a state of inaction; although it is in action that their very existence appears exclusively to consist. Such however was far from being the opinion of the sublime Plato; for, according to him, those spiritual essences are at least as numerous as the various species of created things. These, he says, (as for example, the species of mankind, species of gold, etc, etc.) must have their invisible guides, or guardians, quite as necessarily as the celestial orbs themselves: and these guardians are named by him ideas, forms, or universal natures. With a gross conception of which that mighty Sage was guiltless, the Pagans (denominating those immaterial creatures Gods and Goddesses, and forgetting that they were nothing more than subordinate agents of one great first cause) set about adoring their images as if they were real divinities: and so Vulcan became the God of fire, Minerva the Goddess of wisdom, Ceres of corn, Juno of power, etc. This we learn from the poets; who are in general very faithful expounders of the creed of Antiquity. Nearly quite similar to the theory of Plato (taking it in its primitive purity and uncorrupted by subsequent, popular misconceptions) is the doctrine of Christianity with

CANTO VI1.

regard to those viewless beings; indeed such was that of the old Hebrew law too; and we change little besides mere names when we denominate them, instead of ideas or Gods and Goddesses, Angels. Since the multitude of spheres and of species may enjoy different portions of beatitude, as they are more or less removed from their Creator's abode (or the tenth heaven ), so may it follow that their spiritual attendants may enjoy various ranks; and hence will arise an Angelical hierarchy corresponding to the divisions of the universe. It may be even, that those incorporeal people are more multiplied than ostensible effects indicate; and that the most refined lead a life not of direct activity, but of what is much sublimer, pure contemplation. Such speculations transcend human understanding, while our souls remain shackled in this prison of clay: yet ought that only to increase our admiration of beings, who, by reason of their noble superiority of nature, baffle all mortal conception in the detail; though, on the whole, our intellect can perceive the neces sity of their existing. For a slight emanation comes from them, and, piercing the obscurity of our minds, suffices to convey to us a confused notion of their sublime perfections; in the same way as a light may be perceived by one whose eyes are shut, by means of some lucid particle, some casual ray, however feeble, which contrives to penetrate through the pores of his eyelids. Whate

CANTO VII.

ver be the attributes imparted to that ethereal race, in this one point all men agree- -philosophers, Pagans, Jews and every sect of Christianity that they must be endowed with virtue and happiness.' Thus far Dante.

Of those aëreal substances, ideas, intelligences, deities, or angels, there is one (says Dante, culling a glorious figure for his poetry, from reasoning which I have just translated from his prose) whose duty it is to preside over the species of worldly honours, and to keep these (like the spheres themselves) in continual rotation: and this celestial regent, by men called Fortune, heedless alike of votaries and revilers, has her entire soul occupied in keeping up the revolution of the orb confided to her care by the universal Creator, and in the conscious enjoyment of her own immortal beatitude. Such, in substance, is the picture of Fortune which is about to be laid before us: and certainly it is with the utmost truth that it gained panegyrick as most grand; for, laying aside the blind-folded image of the Ancients, it presents us with another that preserves all the beauties of their Muse and remedies her oversights; by teaching her to unite most disordered chance with the most unlimited avowal of the superintendence of an omni-present Providence; and by thus reconciling (what never should have been divided) the sweetest poetry, the best of ethics, and the loftiest philosophical speculations. Had

CANTO VIE

this passage been seen by Cicero, he would not have any longer exclaimed against the unworthiness of attributing any thing divine to a being so rash and inconstant as fortune (1). A Goddess with banded eyes may be believed ignoble; but not so, this happy impassible handmaid of an infinite Jehovah. 'Nor is' (says Landino) 'the impossibility of resisting Fortune any argument against the freedom of the will: for we are at liberty to court her favours or not. They are certainly most fugitive: but if, disregarding them, we apply ourselves to the cultivation of our own minds, we gain a treasure of which no power can deprive us. This only is what can truly be called our property: for of all the things in the world the soul alone, as Plato affirms, is independent. The variety of objects that we behold are kept in continual revolution by other created substances superior to them; even the inferior spheres of heaven are influenced by the higher ones; but our soul, though exiled for a moment into this fragile body, has no other superior than the Divinity himself of whom it is a particle. But if we choose to woo the gifts of Fortune, let us be prepared for the instability that is unavoidable: so, may a traveller choose whether to undertake his journey by land or by water; but if he determines on the latter, it behooves him to steel his heart against the fluctua

(1) Quam nemo ab inconstantia et temeritate sejunget: quæ digna certe non sunt Deo. Nat. Deor. 1. 3. P. XXIV.