Divine Comedy: Inferno | Page 7

was but an extension of the
largely hypothetical geography of the tune.
The Earth was the centre of the Universe, and its northern
hemisphere
was the abode of man. At the middle point of this hemisphere stood
Jerusalem, equidistant from the Pillars of Hercules on the West, and the
Ganges on the East.
Within the body of this hemisphere was hell, shared as a vast cone, of
which the apex was the centre of the globe; and here, according to
Dante, was the seat of Lucifer. The concave of Hell had been formed
by his fall, when a portion of the solid earth, through fear of him, ran
back to the southern uninhabited
hemisphere, and formed there,
directly antipodal to Jerusalem, the mountain of Purgatory which rose
from the waste of waters that covered this half of the globe. Purgatory
was shaped as a cone, of similar dinmensions to that of Hell, amid at its
summit was the Terrestrial Paradise.

Immediately surrounding the atmosphere of the Earth was the sphere of
elemental fire. Around this was the Heaven of the Moon, and encircling
this, in order, were the Heavens of Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars,
Jove, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and the Crystalline or first moving
Heaven. These nine concentric Heavens revolved continually around
the Earth, and in proportion to their distance from it was time greater
swiftness of each. Encircling all was the Empyrean, increate,
incorporeal, motionless,
unbounded in time or space, the proper seat
of God, the home of the Angels, the abode of the Elect.
The Angelic Hierarchy consisted of nine orders, corresponding to the
nine moving heavens. Their blessedness and the swiftness of time
motion with which in unending delight they circled around God were in
proportion to their nearness to Him, --first the Seraphs, then the
Cherubs, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Princes, Archangels,
and Angels. Through them, under the general name of Intelligences, the
Divine influence was transmitted to the Heavens, giving to them their
circular motion, which was the expression of their longing to be united
with the source of their creation. The Heavens in their turn streamed
down upon the Earth the Divine influence thus distributed among them,
in varying proportion and power, producing divers effects in the
generation and corruption of material things, and in the dispositions
and the lives of men.
Such was the general scheme of the Universe. The intention of God in
its creation was to communicate of his own perfection to the creatures
endowed with souls, that is, to men and to angels, and the proper end of
every such creature was to seek its own
perfection in likeness to time
Divine. This end was attained through that knowledge of God of which
the soul was capable, and through love which was in proportion to
knowledge. Virtue
depended on the free will of man; it was the good
use of that will directed to a right object of love. Two lights were given
to the soul for guidance of the will: the light of reason for
natural
things and for the direction of the will to moral virtue the light of grace
for things supernatural, and for the direction of the will to spiritual
virtue. Sin was the opposite of virtue, the choice by the will of false
objects of love; it involved the misuse of reason, and the absence of

grace. As the end of virtue was blessedness, so the end of sin was
misery.
The cornerstone of Dante's moral system was the Freedom of the Will;
in other words, the right of private judgment with the condition of
accountability. This is the liberty which Dante, that is man, goes
seeking in his journey through the spiritual world. This liberty is to be
attained through the right use of reason, illuminated by Divine Grace; it
consists in the perfect accord of the will of man with the will of God.
With this view of the nature and end of man Dante's conception of the
history of the race could not be other than that its course was
providentially ordered. The fall of man had made him a just object of
the vengeance of God; but the elect were to be
redeemed, and for
their redemption the history of the world from the beginning was
directed. Not only in his dealings with the Jews, but in his dealings
with the heathen was God preparing for the reconciliation of man, to be
finally accomplished in his sacrifice of Himself for them. The Roman
Empire was foreordained and established for this end. It was to prepare
the way for the establishment of the Roman Church. It was the
appointed
instrument for the political governument of men. Empire
and Church were alike divine institutions for the guidance of man on
earth.
The aim of Dante in the Divine Comedy was to