Terms

Empyrean The Empyrean is the last heaven, the one that is not in place and has no poles. It is pure light, intellectual light full of love, and in it opens the rose of the blessed. Benedict promises it to Dante as the place where his desire will be fulfilled, and the... Nine heavens The nine heavens are the concentric spheres of the Ptolemaic cosmology that Dante crosses: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Fixed Stars and Primum Mobile. Souls appear in each one only so that he may understand the degrees, because the human... Primum Mobile The Primum Mobile is the last heaven that moves, the royal mantle of the world, and the swiftest. Beatrice says that it has no other place than the divine mind, in which the love that makes it turn is kindled. Dante reaches it at the end of Canto XXVII and... Celestial rose The celestial rose is the form that the light of the Empyrean takes to show the blessed: a flower of more than a thousand tiers, with the saints seated around it, the angels that rise and descend like bees and, at the top, the throne of Mary. A line separates... Transhumanize Transhumanize is the verb that Dante coins in Canto I to say what happens to him when he fixes his eyes on the sun and on Beatrice's gaze: to go beyond the human. He himself declares that it cannot be signified in words, and in its place he gives the example... The Eagle The Eagle is the figure that the souls of the just form in Jupiter after writing a sentence to those who judge the earth. It speaks in the first person singular, although it is made of many souls, and it denies mortals the judge's seat. In its eyes are... Angelic choirs The angelic choirs are the nine circles that surround the point of light, in three triads: Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones; Dominions, Virtues and Powers; Principalities, Archangels and Angels. The one nearest the point is the swiftest, for being the most... Beatific vision Beatific vision is the seeing that makes one blessed. Beatrice gives the rule in Canto XXVIII: blessedness is founded in the act of seeing, and loving comes afterward. Merit measures the seeing, and grace and good will bring it forth. For this reason the... Vow Vow, in Canto V, is the pact between God and man in which the freedom of the will, the greatest gift, becomes a victim. It has two parts: the matter, which can be exchanged if the new one contains the old as six contains four, and the pact, which is cancelled... Kingly prudence Kingly prudence is the measure that Thomas gives to the wisdom of Solomon in Canto XIII: the king asked for sense to be a sufficient king, not to know the movers of the heavens or the necessities of logic. For this reason the verse of Canto X, which says it...