Justice Permits No Excuses: PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 64 - 90

Beatrice now takes on the pilgrim's second . . . doubt? It had been questions. Now it sounds as if it's more. Doubts.

Here, she launches into a discussion of free will that ultimately implicates Piccarda and Constance in their own failures, even though they were forced against their wills out of the convents.

Beatrice offers a hard, troubling rationale for their lower status in the pursuit of what she sees as the higher good: the sanctity of free will. This provocative passage may be one of the few moments in which Dante refuses to move his fences.

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The segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:

[01:01] My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 64 - 90. If you'd like to read along or continue the discussion with me, scroll down this page.

[03:31] The less venomous doubt, perhaps because it takes place fully inside Christian theology.

[08:59] Laying the blame on Piccarda and Constance.

[13:04] Aristotle's concept of the involuntary will and the voluntary will; Aquinas' concept of the absolute will and the conditional will.

[19:53] Examples of a firm will: the Christian St. Lawrence and the pagan Mucius.

[24:47] Three implications: the punishment/reward matrix from INFERNO and PURGATORIO continuing into PARADISO, the possible self-editing of PARADISO, and the failure to move the established fence.

[30:33] Rereading the passage: PARADISO, Canto IV, lines 64 - 90.

My English translation of PARADISO, Canto IV, Lines 64 - 90:

[Beatrice continued:] “The other doubt that bothers you

Has less venom because its malevolence

Has less of a chance of leading you away from me.

“Whenever our justice appears as injustice

To mortal eyes, it’s an argument

For faith and not for heretical iniquity.

“Since your understanding can

Very well penetrate this truth,

I will make you content, just as you wish.

“If violence happens in such a way that the one who endures it

In no way aids the one who carries it out,

These souls are still not excused on that basis.

“For the will, except in not willing, is not spent

But does by its nature what fire does in a flame,

Although violence may sway it a thousand times.

“In this way, if [the will] stays bent over, by a lot or by a little,

It then seconds that force, just as these did,

Although they had the ability to seek refuge in their holy place.

“Had their will stayed intact—

As [when] Lawrence was fastened on the grate

Or [when] Mucius was made harsh to his own hand—

“Then it would have pulled them back along the street

From which they’d been dragged, once they were free.

But such a firm will is all too rare.

“And with these words, if you’ve taken them in

As you should, an argument has been destroyed

That would have troubled you over and over. . . .”