The other
attendants of the car had followed the Gryphon to the skies.
"Observe the car," said Beatrice, "and write what thou hast seen when thou
returnest home." As she spoke, the car was attacked in turn by the eagle
of persecution, the fox of heresy, and the dragon of Islamism; these
driven away, it was disturbed by inward dissensions, the alliance between
Boniface and Philip the Fair.
Rising, Beatrice called Dante, Statius, and Matilda to her, and as they
walked upon that pleasant mead, she asked Dante the meaning of his
continued silence. She explained the attacks on the chariot to him, but he
declared that he could not understand her language. Then, at Beatrice's
nod, Matilda called him and Statius, and plunged them into Eunoe, whence
he rose regenerate, and prepared to mount to the stars.
THE DIVINE COMEDY.
THE PARADISE.
The Paradise of Dante consists of nine heavens, each a revolving
crystalline sphere, enclosed in another; without them, the boundless
Empyrean. The first or innermost heaven, of the Moon, revolved by the
angels, is the habitat of wills imperfect through instability. The second,
of Mercury, revolved by the Archangels, is the abode of wills imperfect
through love of fame. The third, of Venus, revolved by the Principalities,
is the abode of wills imperfect through excess of human love.
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