De Ascensione Domini
The Eagle's Ascent
The poet contemplates Christ's ascension beyond the celestial spheres to his rightful place in the Empyrean.
This noble eagle, taking flight to heaven in a lofty triumph, once she has passed the fourth sphere, I know she wouldn't stay in the fifth with Mars.12 And if I trust the holy Scriptures, of such great honor one does not hope for the eighth sphere; but every rank will pour out from the Empyrean, and he will take the most blessed place.
The Hope of the Heavenly City
A direct address to the spirit of the heavenly city, identifying Christ's ascension as the foundation of human hope.
Gentle spirit of the city above, what are you doing? Tell me—what are you thinking now, what are you gazing at? This is truly our highest hope.3
The Triumphant Humanity of Christ
The poet affirms the humanity of the ascended Christ, whose suffering grants him authority over all angelic powers.
He is man—who denies it?4 He governs all of heaven, and he bears such a triumph of suffering that it surpasses all the splendor of the Cherubim.✦5
Read the original Latin
Questa Acquila gentil che se disparte, Et al ciel va del suo trionfo altiera, Poi che passata avrà la quarta spiera, So che in la quinta non staria cum Marte.
E, se io me fido ne le sante carte, Di tanto onor l’ottava non se spiera; Ma de lo Empireo vargarà ogne schiera, E prenderà la più beata parte.
Spirto gentil de la citta superna, Che fai, dimme; che pensi or mai, che miri? Questa è pur nostra altissima speranza.
Omo è (ch’il nega?) , e tutto el ciel governa; E tal trionfo porta di martìri, Che ogne splendor di Cherubin avanza.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Phil.2.8-Phil.2.11;Heb.2.9-Heb.2.10 — And he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Phil.2.9 — Therefore God also exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name, Phil.2.10 — so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Phil.2.11 — and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Heb.2.9 — But we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Heb.2.10 — For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Notes
- 1 ↩Acquila is archaic aquila (eagle), feminine in Italian; the image is Christ ascending through the heavens (chapter: De Ascensione Domini). Quarta/quinta spiera are the fourth and fifth planetary spheres of the medieval cosmos (Sun and Mars).
- 2 ↩cum Marte uses Latin cum as the preposition with, not temporal when; the supplied gloss tagged cum as temporal, which does not fit this line.
- 3 ↩Italian pur can mean 'indeed/truly,' 'yet,' or 'still'; here it strengthens affirmation of the hope (the Ascension glory just contemplated).
- 4 ↩Omo is older Italian for uomo, “man/human being,” affirming Christ’s true humanity after the Ascension, not a generic “person.”
- 5 ↩martìri is taken as the Passion’s sufferings/torments that crown his triumph, not as a parade of later martyrs; if a plural-martyrs reading is preferred, sense shifts slightly.
Lauds companion
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