E Pietro Mangiadore,* e Pietro Ispano,t Lo qual giù luce in dodici libelli; Crisostomo, ed Anselmo, e quel Donato § 135 *Pietro Mangiadore is better known by the name of Petrus Comestor. He was a Frenchman, born at the beginning of the twelfth century at Troyes, where in 1147 he became Dean of the Cathedral; and 1164 was appointed Chancellor of the University of Paris. He died in the monastery of St. Victor in 1179. The most notable of his many works is his Historia scholastica, which is a recompilation of the biblical books. + Pietro Ispano was by birth a Portuguese, the son of a physician of Lisbon, was born about 1226, became Archbishop of Braga, and in 1273 was made a Cardinal and Bishop of Frascati. In 1276 he was elected Pope, and took the title of John XXI. He was killed by the fall of the papal palace at Viterbo in 1277. He studied medicine in his youth, and wrote a work entitled Thesaurus pauperum, but later on wrote the great work on Logic Summulae logicae. Natan: The only apparent reason why Dante has introduced Nathan among the great, is, in the opinion of the old Commentators, because he said to David: "Thou art the man!" Philalethes thinks that he and St. Chrysostom are put side by side, because both spoke bitter truths to the Great Ones of the earth. "L'autore lo mette fra questi dottori perchè palesò lo suo peccato a David, come questi altri hanno fatti palesi li vizi e le virtù nelle loro opere che hanno scritto" (Buti). § Crisostomo: John, from his great eloquence surnamed Chrysostom (i.e. Golden Mouth), was born at Antioch in 347, ordained priest in 386, elected Patriarch and Metropolitan Bishop of Constantinople in 398. In 403 he was deposed from his high office, and died in banishment on the shores of the Black Sea in 407. Longfellow says of him that "his whole life. . . his austerities as a monk, his fame as a preacher, his troubles as Bishop of Constantinople, his controversy with Theophilus of Alexandria, his exile by the Emperor Arcadius, his triumphant return, his second banishment, and his deathis more like a romance than a narrative of facts." His works are exceedingly voluminous, consisting chiefly of commentaries, homilies, and liturgies. Anselmo Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1993, was by birth a Piedmontese, born at Aosta in 1033; his religious education took place in the Abbey of Bec in Normandy, of which he became abbot in 1078. He was made Archbishop of Canter Ch' alla prim' arte degnò por la mano; Il Calabrese abate Gioacchino,t Di spirito profetico dotato. 140 bury by William Rufus. He wrote a celebrated treatise on the Atonement, entitled Cur Deus homo? and the tract De Veritate is said to be the groundwork of his theory of knowledge. His two greatest works, however, are the Monologion and Proslogion. Many have held that Anselm may be reckoned the earliest of the schoolmen who, in his works, found their first impulse to justify Scripture and the Church by reason. Anselm's dealings with King William Rufus show him to have been a profound statesman. No better account of his life can be read than the Essay by Dean Church. Donato: Elius Donatus flourished about the middle of the fourth century, and was a grammarian who taught at Rome. He wrote a commentary on Virgil, and the Ars Grammatica, a work of great repute in the Middle Ages. Dante calls the work he put his hand to la prim' arte, for Grammar being the first of the seven liberal arts taught to children, was in those days termed "First Art." *Rabano: Rabanus Maurus, a learned theologian, was born at Mayence about 776, was brought up in the monastery of Fulda, and afterwards studied at St. Martin's at Tours. He was made Abbot of Fulda in 822, Archbishop of Mayence in 847, and died in 856. He left many works of theology and biblical exegesis. + Il Calabrese abate Gioacchino; Gioacchino da Celico in Calabria was born about 1130, and having during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land vowed himself to a monastic life, he entered the Cistercian monastery of Sambucina about 1158. He was for a short time Abbot of the monastery of Corazo, but soon left that dignity in order to devote himself to biblical study. He then, in search of a more austere life, founded a monastery at a place called Santa Flora, a wild and remote spot among the mountains, and there he passed the remainder of his life in study and contemplation. He died in 1202. It is said that the multitude revered him as a person divinely inspired, and equal to the most illustrious prophets of ancient times. Among other prophecies that were current of his, Pietro di Dante refers to the following one, which announces the birth of Antichrist in 1260, and he attributes it to Joachim : "Cum decies seni fuerint et mille ducenti Anni, qui nato sumunt exordia Christo, Hugh of St. Victor is here with them, and Pietro Mangiadore, and Peter of Spain who down below (on earth) shines in twelve volumes; Nathan the prophet, and Chrysostom the Metropolitan, and Anselm, and that Donatus, who to the first art (i.e. Grammar) deigned to put his hand; here is Rabanus, and at my side beams with radiance Joachim the Abbot of Calabria, (who was) endowed with the spirit of prophecy. In conclusion Bonaventura explains to Dante that St. Thomas Aquinas had induced him to make this panegyric of St. Dominic, whom he terms a Paladin, because in the romances of chivalry the twelve champions of Charlemagne are called Paladins. Ad inveggiar cotanto paladino Tunc Antichristus nequissimus est oriturus. Haec Cistercensis Joachim praedixit, et anno Quo Saladinus sanctam sibi subdidit urbem." Philalethes thinks Dante may have thought this prophecy to have been fulfilled by the Papal throne being held, at the time, or thereabouts by Boniface VIII. inveggiar: The only meaning of this word given by the dictionaries is invidiare, but none of the best Commentators so understand it in this passage. Casini interprets the terzina thus: "To celebrate the praises of St. Dominic, that energetic champion of the Faith, I, Bonaventura the Franciscan, have been impelled by the example of the Dominican St. Thomas who has proclaimed the praises of St. Francis." Casini adds: "Questo è certamente il senso della terzina, ma gran difficoltà nell' interpretazione letterale adduce il verbo inveggiare, che essendo foggiato [formed] sul nome inveggia (Purg. vi, 20), significa propriamente invidiare." Most of the modern Commentators think the explanation in the Ottimo is the best : "Prendi questo inveggiare cioè invidiare, in buona parte : buona è la invidia che procede in avanzare alcuno in bene operare.' As Poletto points out, Envy in a bad sense cannot exist among the Blessed, and therefore to envy in a holy way is to recognise adequately one's neighbour's merits, which produces a holy emulation, and therefore signifies neither more nor less than "to praise, to celebrate." Nearly all the old Commentators, including the precise Buti, so understand the passage. Mi mosse la infiammata cortesia Di fra Tommaso, e il discreto latino ;* To celebrate so great a paladin the impassioned 145 * discreto latino: Latino is here simply voice, speech, or word. In the Canzoniere, Ballata IV (beginning Fresca rosa novella) Dante uses it for the singing of the birds : "E cantinne gli augelli Ciascuno in suo latino Sulli verdi arbuscelli." See notes on Par. iii, 63; and Par. xvii, 35. Discreto has in this passage, says the Gran Dizionario, the sense of "prudentemente moderato." END OF CANTO XII. CANTO XIII. SPHERE OF THE SUN (CONTINUED) ST. THOMAS AQUINAS RESUMES HIS SPEECH-HE DISCOURSES ON THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON, WHICH IS SECOND ONLY TO THAT OF ADAM AND CHRIST-THE CAPRICIOUS INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE BY CERTAIN SCHOLASTIC REASONERS CENSURED. THERE has been no change in the position of Dante and Beatrice. They are in the same spot they occupied in the last two Cantos, with the double garland of spirits around them. Benvenuto divides the Canto into three parts. In the First Division, from ver. I to ver. 27, Dante compares the two garlands of saints to some of the brightest stars in heaven. (I explain at 1. 25 why I have somewhat altered the divisions.) In the Second Division, from ver. 28 to ver. III, St. Thomas Aquinas solves the second of Dante's two doubts (mentioned in Canto xi), namely, that referring to Solomon. In the Third Division, from ver. 112 to ver. 142, St. Thomas gives to Dante a sort of general precept of warning as to the solution of doubts, and as to the answering of questions. Division I.-In his progress throughout Paradise the conversations of Dante with the blessed spirits |