Paradiso, Canto 19

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Summary

The Just Rulers composing the sign of the Eagle now speak as one voice, the voice of justice. Dante is emboldened to hope that he may at last learn the solution to a problem which has long troubled him, namely the exclusion from Heaven of virtuous heathens who have never heard of Christ. The Eagle replies that human intellect cannot explore the depths of divine justice; man cannot ask whether the judgements of God are just but only whether they are in accordance with the will of God. If so, they are just, for the will of God is the perfect standard of justice, of which our own is but a reflection. The Eagle then denounces the unjust rulers of contemporary Europe.

The Prepatory Lecture

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Questions for Reflection

• What relationship does Dante determine between earthly justice and divine justice? How do we see him work out his sense of justice grammatically through his employment of singular and plural pronouns in lines 7-12?
• How does Dante conceive of the limits of human vision/human understanding of the divine will (19.49-63)?
• How does Dante employ his understanding of the limits of human understanding to the question of salvation of the pagans (19.70-81)?
• What makes something just (19.88-90)? Do you agree with Dante?
• Can anyone be saved apart from Christ (19.103-111)? Why might there be so many (at least nominally) Christian people in Dante’s hell?

Paradiso, Canto 19 © Jan Hearn

The Images

The Heaven of Jupiter: see Canto xviii, under Images.

The collective voice of the just rulers: In the sphere of Jupiter no one of the souls speaks singly, but all speak together in a voice which is both one and many. In the allegory, this blending of many utterances to form a single sound signifies the contributions of just men in the course of history towards the establishment of earthly justice.

The Eagle: In this canto, the Eagle represents Divine Justice, of which the concept of world peace under imperial authority is but an imperfect image. In its historical operations. Divine Justice is also Grace and, as such, lies beyond the reach of human comprehension.

Tom LA Books