VISIO SECUNDA, cap. XLII
Fortified by Creation
Human beings are strengthened by the elements and all creatures so that no adversity can uproot them while divine power watches over them.
In the way just described, this image is woven through and surrounded by these signs, because human beings are so strengthened and fortified by the vigor of the elements and the help of all other creatures that no blow of adversity can uproot them from their standing, as long as divine power keeps watch over them.
A Second Way of Seeing
The same signs are also to be understood in another way.
All of this, however, is also to be understood in another way.
The Sixteen Stars and the Fear of the Lord
The sixteen principal stars signify teachers who proclaim the fulfillment of the commandments across the ages and urge believers to tremble at the fear of the Lord and the punishments of hell.
For the fact that sixteen principal stars also appear in the circuit of the circle in which the likeness of a bright fire is seen means this: within the wholeness of divine power there are principal teachers who have taught and still teach that the ten commandments of the law are fulfilled across the six ages of the world — four, namely, between the head of the leopard and the lion, four likewise between the head of the lion and the wolf, four between the head of the wolf and the bear, and four more between the head of the bear and the leopard — since these same teachers, through the four corners of the world, urge all believers to tremble at the fear of the Lord and at his judgment and at the punishments of hell together with bodily affliction, so that through dread of these things, even if they have set aside the love of God, they may stop sinning.
The Eight Beatitudes of Love
The eight middle stars signify the beatitudes that proclaim the love of God and neighbor and pour their fervent longings into the desires of the faithful.
Of these stars, the eight that stand in the middle, flanking each other between these heads — that is, two between each pair of heads, stretching their rays toward the sign of the thin air opposite them — signify that the eight beatitudes, dwelling in the perfection of the virtues just mentioned and proclaiming the love of God and neighbor, pour out their longings with the greatest fervor into the desires of faithful people, so that they, even though they are given over to the world in many ways, may set aside earthly things and hasten toward heavenly ones.
The Eight Stars of Judgment
The remaining eight stars direct their rays toward the dark fire, showing that the same beatitudes send the sharpness of inspiration toward the fires of judgment so that no sin escapes divine vengeance.
The remaining eight, which appear closest to the aforementioned heads on either side of these middle stars, direct their rays only toward the dark fire, showing that the same beatitudes, standing ready to assist the true perfection of the other virtues in both prosperity and adversity, send the sharpness of their inspiration toward the fires of judgment for those who ought to serve God in spirit — hinting that no sins, however trivial, are allowed to pass into neglect, but are examined through the judgment and vengeance of God.
The Other Common Stars
The mystical account also concerns the distinct multiplicity and arrangement of the other common stars.
Likewise, the mystical account concerns the distinct multiplicity and arrangement of the other common stars.
Read the original Latin
Hoc modo, ut praefatum est, imago haec signis istis implexa et circumdata est, quia homo fortitudine elementorum ac juvamine caeterarum creaturarum ita confortatus et munitus existit, ut nullo impulsu adversitatis de statu suo evelli possit, dum ipsum divina potestas custodit. Haec autem omnia et alio modo intelligenda sunt. Nam quod in circuitu circuli, in quo similitudo lucidi ignis videtur, sexdecim etiam principales stellae apparent, hoc est quod in integritate divinae potentiae principales doctores sunt, qui decem praecepta legis per sex aetates mundi compleri docuerunt et docent, quatuor videlicet inter caput leopardi et leonis, quatuor quoque inter caput leonis et lupi, quatuor inter caput lupi et ursi, quatuor etiam inter caput ursi et leopardi, quoniam iidem doctores per quatuor partes mundi timorem Domini, judiciumque ejus et infernales poenas cum corporali tribulatione quoslibet fideles expavescere hortantur, quatenus per formidinem istorum, etiamsi dilectionem Dei postposuerunt, peccare desistant. Quarum octo quae mediae sibi utrinque astantium stellarum inter capita haec sunt, scilicet duae inter duo capita quasi radios suos in signum tenuis aeris sibi oppositi extendunt, designantes quod octo beatitudines in perfectione praedictarum virtutum degentes, dilectionemque Dei et proximi pronuntiantes, cum summo studio exspirationes suas desideriis fidelium hominum infundunt, quatenus illi quamvis saeculo plurimis modis dediti sint, temporalibus postpositis, ad coelestia festinent. Reliquae autem octo, quae ex utraque parte harum mediarum praefatis capitibus proximae videntur, velut radios suos tantum ad nigrum ignem dirigunt, ostendentes quod eaedem beatitudines et in prosperitate et in adversitate verae perfectioni caeterarum virtutum assistentes, acumen exspirationum suarum ad judicialem ignem mittunt, his qui Deo in spiritu deservire debent innuentes, quod nulla peccata quamvis levia in neglectum ducantur, quin per judicium et vindictam Dei examinentur.
Item mystica ratio de discreta multiplicitate et constitutione aliarum communium stellarum.
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