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The Divina Commedia and Canzoniere: Paradise.
The Divina Commedia and Canzoniere Paradise Author:Dante Alighieri Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Justinian—The Flight tf the Roman Eagle—The Pilgrim Romeo " When Constantine had turned the eagle's flight, Against Heaven's order, heretofore obeyed, Follow... more »ing Lavinia's old heroic knight, That hird of God two hundred years had made, And more, in Europe's furthest coast its nest, ' Near to the hills where first it left the shade; And 'neath the shadow of its wide wings blest, From hand to hand the world's dominion ran, And changing thus, at last with me did rest. Czsar I was, and am Justinian, 10 Who, feeling will of primal Love, was bent To make laws free from vain and cumbrous plan. And ere I was upon that work intent, In Christ one nature only, and no more, I held, and was with that my faith content. u But the blest AgapStus, he who bore The office of chief shepherd, to my view Brought by his words the true faith's better lore. 1 It is not without a sense of relief that we pass from the physical and moral problems of Cl ii.-v. to the splendid epitome of Roman history with which the Canto opens. The speaker (1. 10) is Justinian. 2 The progress of empire had been from East to West. Constantino turned it back towards it source. ' The "ancient" hero is of course dEnens, as the founder of the Roman power (Mm. ii. 3). 4 Two hundred years are reckoned from Constantine (326) to Justinian (527). The borderland of Europe is Constantinople, near the plain of Troy, from which j3Łneas had started. 12 The great task was that of consolidating the confused mass of edicts and opinions into a great code. The words are almost a quotation from the Kmperor's Preface to the Institutes: " Op us desperatum crelestifavore jam adimplevimus " (Butl.). The chaff was sifted from the wheat, and the result was found in the Codex, the Pandects, and the Novel...« less