classics digests, reflections and reviews
The Death of Beatrice I was a-thinking how life fails with us Suddenly after such a little while; When Love sobb’d in my heart, which is his home. Whereby my spirit wax’d so dolorous That in myself I said, with sick recoil: ‘Yea, to my lady too this Death must come.’ And therewithal such a bewilderment Possess’d me, that I shut mine eyes for peace; And in my brain did […]
Read morePapal Authority vs. Imperial Authority In Monarchia, Dante addresses three questions concerning monarchy: 1. Whether universal monarchy is necessary to the well-being of the world 2. Whether the Roman people took on Empire by right 3. Whether imperial authority comes from God directly or from Papal authority 1. The Priest and King Argument Argument for Papal Authority: From 1 Kings, they take the creation and deposition of Saul, and say […]
Read moreThe Four Senses of a Text Writings can be understood and ought to be expounded principally in four senses. The first is called the literal, and this is the sense that does not go beyond the surface of the letter, as in the fables of the poets. The next is called the allegorical, and this is the one that is hidden beneath the cloak of these fables, and is a […]
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Poverty as Lady Death for even as a youth, he ran to war against his father, on behalf of her- the lady unto whom, just as to death, none willingly unlocks the door; before his spiritual court et coram patre, he wed her; day by day he loved her more. She was bereft of her first husband; scorned, obscure, for some eleven hundred years, until that sun came, she had […]
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The essence of this blessed life consists in keeping to the boundaries of God’s will, through which our wills become one single will; so that, as we are ranged from step to step throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills that which will please the King whose will is rule. And in His will there is our peace: that sea to which all beings move-the beings He creates or nature […]
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Hell vs. Purgatory What is the difference between Hell and Purgatory in Dante’s Divine Comedy? To put the question in a different way, what determines whether a person stays in Hell or Purgatory? According to St. Augustine, it is the grace of God, which restores free will in man and enables him to desire and attain the Good. Firstly, those in the Inferno are confined to their respective circles, and never […]
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Many people have struggled with the idea of eternal punishment in Hell. “Punishment should fit the crime, but what crime could man possibly commit in this temporal life to deserve eternal punishment?” I’m not qualified to address that question fully from a theological perspective. Truth be told, I don’t quite understand it myself. Hopefully whoever reads this might shed some light on the issue or contribute to the discussion. All I […]
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