CANTO I.
Proem.—Invocation.—Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Sphere ofFire.—Beatrice explains the cause of their ascent.
CANTO II.
Proem.—Ascent to the Moon.—The cause of Spots on theMoon.—Influence of the Heavens.
CANTO III.
The Heaven of the Moon.—Spirits whose vows had beenbroken.—Piccarda Donati.—The Empress Constance.
CANTO IV.
Doubts of Dante, respecting the justice of Heaven and the abode of the blessed,solved by Beatrice.—Question of Dante as to the possibility of reparationfor broken vows.
CANTO V.
The sanctity of vows, and the seriousness with which they are to be made orchanged.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mercury.—The shade of Justinian.
CANTO VI.
Justinian tells of his own life.—The story of the RomanEagle.—Spirits in the planet Mercury.—Romeo.
CANTO VII.
Discourse of Beatrice.—The Fall of Man.—The scheme of hisRedemption.
CANTO VIII.
Ascent to the Heaven of Venus.—Spirits of Lovers, Source of the order andthe varieties in mortal things.
CANTO IX.
The Heaven of Venus.—Conversation of Dante with Cunizza daRomano,—With Folco of Marseilles.—Rahab.—Avarice of the PapalCourt.
CANTO X.
Ascent to the Sun.—Spirits of the wise, and the learned intheology.—St. Thomas Aquinas.—He names to Dante those who surroundhim.
CANTO XI.
The Vanity of worldly desires,—St. Thomas Aquinas undertakes to solve twodoubts perplexing Dante.—He narrates the life of St. Francis of Assisi.
CANTO XII.
Second circle of the spirits of wise religious men, doctors of the Church andteachers.—St. Bonaventura narrates the life of St. Dominic, and tells thenames of those who form the circle with him.
CANTO XIII.
St. Thomas Aquinas speaks again, and explains the relation of the wisdom ofSolomon to that of Adam and of Christ, and declares the vanity of humanjudgment.
CANTO XIV.
At the prayer of Beatrice, Solomon tells of the glorified body of the blessedafter the Last Judgment.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mars.—Souls of theSoldiery of Christ in the form of a Cross with the figure of Christthereon.—Hymn of the Spirits.
CANTO XV.
Dante is welcomed by his ancestor, Cacciaguida.—Cacciaguida tells of hisfamily, and of the simple life of Florence in the old days.
CANTO XVI.
The boast of blood.—Cacciaguida continues his discourse concerning theold and the new Florence.