III Dante's Mount of Purgatory has characteristics belonging to the Islands of the Blessed, or mansions éì yês, to the Plain of Lethe, and to Tartarus, as these places are described in Plato's Myths. The Earthly Paradise on the aethereal top of the Mount of Purgatory answers to the mansions éπì yês The on the True Surface of the Earth." Lethe, as well as Eunoè, is on the top of the Mount of Purgatory; and the disciplinary punishment undergone by those not incorrigibly wicked, in Plato's Tartarus, answers in part to the penance undergone on the various cornices or terraces of Dante's Purgatory. Looking at the composition of the Myth of Er as a whole, we may say that in this Myth we have the sketch of a Divina Commedia, complete with its three parts—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is painted with a few touches, where the torments of Ardiaeus are described. Purgatorio is given in more detail, not only in the reference to what those who come out of Tartarus have suffered during their imprisonment, but also in the account of the march of these Souls to the throne of Necessity, and their choosing of new Lives, and further journey on to the water of Lethe: pp. 117, 118, in reply to Miss Harrison's "Query," I wrote:-"Until Miss Harrison's Eloías has been proved to belong to the original text of Kaibel, I.G.S.I. 642, and the reference in that inscription has been shown to belong certainly to the Orphic Konvn Mynuoσúvns, it will be enough to admit that an Orphic writer in the third century B.C. might very naturally speak of the φύλακες of the Well of Memory as είναι towards those μύσται on whom they bestowed To xpòv dwp, or refrigerium, and that he might very naturally describe that well itself as Euvolas кρývŋ—the Fountain of Loving-kindness.' Since writing the above I have been reminded by a reference in Dieterich's Eine Mithrasliturgie (1903), p. 74, n. 1, that Plutarch, in his Is. et Osir. ch. 47, says that the Persian god Ormuzd made six gods, the first of whom is the God of εὔνοια—ὁ μὲν Ωρομάζης ἐκ τοῦ καθαρωτάτου φάους ὁ δ ̓ ̓Αρειμάνιος ἐκ τοῦ ζόφου γεγονὼς πολεμοῦσιν ἀλλήλοις· καὶ ὁ μὲν ἓξ θεοὺς ἐποίησε, τὸν μὲν πρῶτον εὐνοίας τὸν δὲ δεύτερον ἀληθείας, τὸν δὲ τρίτον εὐνομίας, τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν τὸν μὲν σοφίας, τὸν δὲ πλούτου, τὸν δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς καλοῖς ἡδέων δημιουργόν· ὁ δὲ τούτους ὥσπερ ἀντιτέχνους ἴσους τὸν ἀριθμόν. Here, I take it, τὸν μὲν πρῶτον is the first counted from Ormuzd himself; so that the God of euvola would be the last reached by the ascending Soul of the initiated person on its way up the Mithraic κλίμαξ ἑπτάπυλος. It is a strange coincidence that the last stage in Dante's KXiuag of purification-the Mount of Purgatory-should also be Evola, having passed which his μύστης is Puro e disposto a salire alle stelle. Miss Harrison (Prolegomena, p. 584) refers to tomb-inscriptions with euvolas kal μvýμns xáp. This only means, I take it, "in affectionate remembrance, and can hardly give the clue to the problem of Dante's Eunoè= Mnemosyne. 1 these experiences, leading up, as they do, to yéveσis in the flesh, are all parts of a purgatorial discipline. Lastly, we have the Paradiso of the Myth of Er in the vision of the orrery— the little model of the great Universe, by means of which the astronomical theory of Plato's age-essentially the same as that of Dante's age-is illustrated and presented in a form which appeals to poetical fancy, and yet-so Plato thoughtis scientifically correct. This ancient astronomy, first poetised by Plato, has indeed played a notable part in the history of poetry. Dante's Paradiso is dominated by it-renders it into poetry, and yet leaves it "scientific"; and Milton, although he was acquainted with the Copernican system, adheres, in Paradise Lost, to the old astronomy with its concentric spheres revolving round the Earth. But when we say that Dante's Paradiso-the noblest of all Eschatological Myths-is dominated by the ancient astronomy,-renders its theory of the heavens into poetry and still leaves it "scientific,"-we must not forget that the theory came down to Dante already touched into poetry by an influence not commonly considered poetical, to which, however, Dante's rendering owes much of its poetical effect. I refer to the influence of Aristotle. He put poetry into astronomy when he explained the revolutions of the spheres as actuated by the attraction of God-the Best Beloved, Who draws all things unto Himself with strong desire (see Met. A 7; de Coelo, ii. 2; and Mr. A. J. Butler's note, The Paradise of Dante, p. 8). It is Aristotle who dictates the first line of the Paradiso and it is with Aristotle's doctrine-or poetry-that the Paradiso ends All' alta fantasia qui mancò possa : Ma già volgeva il mio disiro e 'l velle, L' Amor che muove il Sole e l'altre stelle.3 1 See Masson's Milton's Poetical Works, vol. i. pp. 89 ff. 2 His glory by whose might all things are moved. CARY. 3 Here vigour failed the towering fantasy; That moves the Sun in Heaven and all the Stars. CARY. The Aristotelian doctrine or poetry of these lines is set forth fully in the Convivio, ii. 44: There are nine moving heavens, and the order of their position is as follows: The first that is reckoned is that of the Moon; the second, that in which Mercury is; the third, Venus; the fourth, the Sun; the fifth, Mars; the sixth, Jupiter; the seventh, Saturn; the eighth is that of the Stars; the ninth is that which can only be perceived by the movement above mentioned, which is called the crystalline or diaphanous, or wholly transparent. But outside of these, Catholics suppose the Empyrean Heaven, which is as much as to say the Heaven of Flame, or the luminous; and they suppose this to be immovable, since it has, in itself, in respect of every part, that which its matter requires. And this is the reason why the primum mobile has most rapid movement: because by reason of the fervent longing which every part of it has to be joined to every part of that most divine motionless Heaven, it revolves within that with so great desire that its velocity is, as it were, incomprehensible. And this motionless and peaceful Heaven is the place of that Supreme Deity which alone fully beholds itself. This is the place of the blessed spirits, according as Holy Church, which cannot lie, will have it; and this Aristotle, to whoso understands him aright, seems to mean, in the first book de Coelo.2 This is μῦθος—as truly μύθος as the Spindle of Necessity in the Vision of Er; which Dante sufficiently recognises in Conv. ii. 3, where he says that although, as regards the truth of these things, little can be known, yet that little which human reason can know has more delectation than all the certainties of sense. To pass now to another point:-The vŵTov, or continuous surface formed by the edges or lips of the concentric whorls of the orrery (Rep. 616 E), has been identified by some with the vÔTOV TOû ovpavoû of Phaedrus, 247 c-the outside of the outermost sphere of the sensible Cosmos, on which the Chariot-Souls emerge in sight of the Super-sensible Forms. Hence, it is inferred, the place where the Souls of the Myth of Er are assembled before the throne of Necessity, and where they choose new Lives before they journey on to the Plain of 1 Against the view here advanced—that Aristotle's doctrine of God is "poetry" -the reader may consult an interesting article on "The Conception of érépyeta ȧkivηolas," by Mr. F. C. S. Schiller, in Mind, Oct. 1900, republished in revised and expanded form, under the title of Activity and Substance, as Essay xii. in Mr. Schiller's Humanism (1903). 2 A. J. Butler's Translation of Scartazzini's Companion to Dante, p. 420. Lethe, is outside the sensible Cosmos.1 I do not think that this inference is certain, or even probable. It is a model of the Cosmos, I think-and an old-fashioned model, with rings instead of spheres 2-not the outside of the actual Cosmos, that the Pilgrim Souls of the Republic see. In the vision of this model, or orrery, we have what is really a vision within the larger vision of the whole Myth of Er. The Pilgrim Souls are still somewhere in the sensible Cosmos-indeed, they are on the surface of the Earth somewhere. In this place, on the surface of the Earth, Necessity and the three Fates, and the rest of the pageant, appear to them, ev eidoλov elder, as the Saints appear to Dante in the lower Spheres where they really are not. Standing in this place, on the surface of the Earth-it may be on the antipodal surface of the Earth-the Pilgrim Souls see on the knees of Necessity the model of the Cosmos, with the lips of its rings making a continuous surface. It is true that in the Phaedrus Souls about to be born actually visit the νῶτον οὐρανοῦ, and see thence the ὑπερουράνιος TÓTOS, but in the Phaedrus these Souls have wings and can fly to the flammantia moenia mundi, whereas, in the Myth of Er the Souls plod on foot. This seems to me to make a great difference. In interpreting the details of a Platonic Myth we do well always to take account of the poet-philosopher's power of exact visualisation, in respect of which he can be compared only with Dante. I think, therefore, that in the Myth of 1 See R. L. Nettleship's Philosophical Lectures and Remains, ii. 361, n. 3. 2 Rep. 616 D: see Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy, p. 202, and §78 generally. Zoóvouλa, Prof. Burnet points out, are not spheres, but rings, what Parmenides (adopting a Pythagorean idea) calls oréparai. According to the opórovλo-scheme, the Earth and the Heavens are not spherical, but annular. As the astronomy accepted by Plato undoubtedly made the Earth spherical, in a spherical Cosmos (see Zeller's Plato, Eng. Transl. p. 379), we must conclude that the system of rings or póvôvλa, in Rep. 616, is that of a model only-either an old-fashioned Pythagorean one, or an up-to-date one, in which, however, only the half of each sphere was represented, so that the internal "works" might be seen. astronomical models were in use we know from Timaeus, 40 D, where the speaker says that without the aid of a model of the Heavens it would be useless to attempt to describe certain motions; and cf. Fabricii Bibl. Gr. Liber iv. pp. 457 ff., on astronomical models in antiquity. That With regard to the breadth of the rims of the opórovλa, see Mr. Adam's note on 616 E, and Appendix vi. Although the view supported by the poréρа καὶ ἀρχαιοτέρα γραφή mentioned by Proclus-that the breadth of the rims of the pódulo is proportionate, but not equal, to the diameters of the planets-is plausible, it seems better to take it that the supposed distances of the orbits from each other are signified by the breadth of the rims. 3 Ρar. iv. 34 ff. Cf. Odys. xi. 600, τὸν δὲ μετ ̓ εἰσενόησα βίην Ηρακληείην | εἴδωλον, αὐτὸς δὲ μετ ̓ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι. Er the Souls about to be born again do not actually visit the νῶτον οὐρανοῦ. Be this as it may, the region of the νῶτον οὐρανοῦ, as described in the Phaedrus, is either the actual abode, or in close touch with the stars (Tim. 42 B), which are the actual abodes, of the purified ones who have drunk of Mnemosyne, and always remember "-" philosophers," who have been translated from the "True Surface of the Earth," as we read in the Phaedo (114 c): οἱ φιλοσοφίᾳ ἱκανῶς καθηράμενοι ἄνευ τε σωμάτων ζῶσι τὸ παράπαν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον καὶ εἰς οἰκήσεις ἔτι τούτων καλλίους ἀφικνοῦνται ἃς οὔτε ῥᾴδιον δηλῶσαι οὔτε ὁ χρόνος ἱκανὸς ἐν τῷ παρόντι. The abode of these purified ones, in or within sight of the super-sensible region, corresponds to the Empyrean or motionless Heaven of Dante, the tenth and outermost Heaven, in which the blessed really dwell, although they appear, év eidwλov eïdei, in all the nine moving Spheres to the poet as he ascends.1 I wish to conclude this section of my observations on the Myth of Er with a few words about the view maintained by Mr. Adam in his note on Rep. 617 B, 11: Ανάγκης γόνασιν.-Plato means us to imagine Necessity as seated in the centre of the Universe. The notion is probably Pythagorean; for Parmenides, who attaches himself to the Pythagoreans in this part of his system (Zeller,5 i. p. 572), speaks of a central 'Аváуkη as the cause of all movement and birth; see Diels, Dox. Gr. 335. 12 f.—τῶν δὲ συμμιγῶν (sc. στεφανῶν) τὴν μεσαιτάτην ἁπάσαις τοκέα πάσης κινήσεως καὶ γενέσεως ὑπάρχειν, ἥντινα καὶ δαίμονα κυβερνήτιν καὶ κληδοῦχον επονομάζει δίκην καὶ áváуκηv; and Zeller, l.c. p. 577, n. 3 (Zeller identifies this 'Aváykn with the central fire of the Pythagoreans). The same school seem also to have held that 'Aváyκη surrounds and holds the world together (Diels, l.c. 321), and Zeller thinks it is this external 'Aváyкn of which Plato here avails himself (l.c. p. 434, n. 3). But it is quite clear that Plato's 'Aváyκη is in the middle. I agree with Mr. Adam in rejecting Zeller's view that it is the external 'Aváyкn of which Plato here avails himself, and in thinking that Plato's 'Aváykη is in the middle. But in 1 Par. iv. 28-39. The appearance of a certain Saint in a certain moving Sphere is a sign of his or her position in the graded hierarchy of the Empyrean, or Unmoved Heaven, in which all the Saints have their real abode. A Saint who appears to Dante in the Lunar Sphere, for example, has a lower position in the Empyrean than one who appears in the Sphere of Jupiter. |