34Par14to17W11 - FLESH AND BLOOD 1 Meeting with the...

F
LESH AND BLOOD
Meeting with the father (Paradiso 14-18)
1

T
HE IMPORTANCE OF THE FLESH

Form/matter

Spiritual meaning/literal meaning

Soul/body
If the form is what counts, what about the
matter -- what about this flesh?
L’ultimo sigillo, / che le sue membra due anni portarno
There Francis took from Christ the final seal, and on his
limbs for two years bore that sign
Paradiso 11.107-108
2

T
HREE SEALS
1.
verbal, from
Innocent primo
sigillo (Pd 11.91-94
2.
written, through
Honorius by the
Eternal Spirit
seconda corona
(11. 97-99)
3.
on the flesh, from
Christ directly
(11.108)
3

T
HE IMPORTANCE OF THE FLESH

Waiting for the Resurrection

These really happy people still want their bodies back
So swift and eager were both choruses to say
‘Amen’ that they well showed their desire for
their dead bodies, perhaps not for
themselves alone, but for their mamas, for
their fathers, and for the others who were
dear before they became sempiternal flames.
E l’uno e l’altro coro a dicer ‘Amme!’
Che ben mostrar disio d’i corpi morti
Forse non pur per lor, ma pe le mamme,
Per li padri e per li altri che fuor cari
Anzi che fosser sempiterne fiamme Paradiso 14.61-66
4

H
EAVEN OF THE
S
UN
WHY MARRIAGE
?

Emphasis on connection between heaven and
earth

Up there and down here: Those idiotic strivings of the
human mind ( O insensata cura de’ mortali )11.1-12.
The link of time (while I quando ).

Astronomical wheels, clock wheels (canto 10); wheels
in the head (canto 13)

Solomon, the 5th light 13.47; regal prudence
13.97-103

The wax of the world; the seal of nature. Nature is
an artist with a trembling hand (13.78)
5

C
ACCIAGUIDA
EPISODE
:
Canto 14.80-108
Ascent to Mars

Importance of the
flesh

Meeting with the
father

Dante’s mission
6

M
ARS
,
GOD OF WAR

… or music?

“And as viol and harp, stretched and tuned, make a
sweet tintinnus of many strings to one who cannot
distinguish the melody: so from the lights that
appeared to me, I heard along the cross a melody that
ravished me, though I could not grasp the
hymn” (14.118-123)
God’s guitar: quella dolce lira… le
sante corde/ che la destra del cielo
allenta e tira 14.4-6 7

M
ARK ON THE SKY
Mosaic, Archbishop Andrea’s palace chapel, Ravenna. ca. 494-519
8

M
ARK ON THE SKY
:
So those rays,
arranged in the
depths of Mars,
made the venerable
sign formed by the
joining of the
quadrants of a
circle.
Pd 14.100-102
Sant’ Apollinare in Classe basilica, apse basin mosaic, Ravenna, 549 A.D
9

10

M
ARK ON THE SKY
:
T
HE
M
ILKY
W
AY
Galassia sì, che fa dubbiar ben saggi
The Milky Way, making even sages wonder how and why
Pd 14.97-99
• only visible celestial circle; crosses the poles of
Dante’s universe
• a sign made up of smaller particles ( distinta da
minori e maggi/ lumi), constellated ( costellati )
Pd. 14.97, 100
11

• Scipio and the Milky Way
– Dream of Scipio (end of Cicero’s Republic )
known to the Middle Ages in Macrobius’
commentary.