The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri

Edited and Translated by Robert M. DurlingIntroduction and Notes by Ronald L. Martinez and Robert M. Durling

As Durling and Martinez complete their monumental three-volume presentation of Dante's masterpiece, we can sense their triumph and elation, despite their characteristic modesty. This, after all, is the volume with which they can demonstrate the fullness and consistency of Dante's great project, its final approach to what they describe in one footnote as 'a pitch of intensity unique in all literature.' The scholarship, as always, is graceful, comprehensive, and acute, and it surrounds a translation that is so carefully considered and fully realized as to be, at times, quite breathtaking.

• CONTENTS ; Abbreviations, xv ; Introduction, 2 ; PARADISO ; CANTO 1 ; Notes to Canto 1 ; CANTO 2 ; Notes to Canto 2 ; CANTO 3 ; Notes to Canto 3 ; CANTO 4 ; Notes to Canto 4 ; CANTO 5 ; Notes to Canto 5 ; CANTO 6 ; Notes to Canto 6 ; CANTO 7 ; Notes to Canto 7 ; CANTO 8 ; Notes to Canto 8 ; CANTO 9 ; Notes to Canto 9 ; CANTO 10 ; Notes to Canto 10 ; CANTO 11 ; Notes to Canto 11 ; CANTO 12 ; Notes to Canto 12 ; CANTO 13 ; Notes to Canto 13 ; CANTO 14 ; Notes to Canto 14 ; CANTO 15 ; Notes to Canto 15 ; CANTO 16 ; Notes to Canto 16 ; CANTO 17 ; Notes to Canto 17 ; CANTO 18 ; Notes to Canto 18 ; CANTO 19 ; Notes to Canto 19 ; CANTO 20 ; Notes to Canto 20 ; CANTO 21 ; Notes to Canto 21 ; CANTO 22 ; Notes to Canto 22 ; CANTO 23 ; Notes to Canto 23 ; CANTO 24 ; Notes to Canto 24 ; CANTO 25 ; Notes to Canto 25 ; CANTO 26 ; Notes to Canto 26 ; CANTO 27 ; Notes to Canto 27 ; CANTO 28 ; Notes to Canto 28 ; CANTO 29 ; Notes to Canto 29 ; CANTO 30 ; Notes to Canto 30 ; CANTO 31 ; Notes to Canto 31 ; CANTO 32 ; Notes to Canto 32 ; CANTO 33 ; Notes to Canto 33 ; THE NICENE CREED ; BOETHIUS' O QUI PERPETUA MUNDUM RATIONE GUBERNAS ; Notes to "O qui perpetua' ; ADDITIONAL NOTES ; 1. The Figure of Beatrice (After Canto 2) ; 2. The Paradiso and the Monarchia ; 3.The Primacy of the Intellect, the Sun, and the Circling Theologians (After Canto 14) ; 4. Dante and the Liturgy (After Canto 15) ; 5. The Religious Orders in the Paradiso ; 6. The Threshold Cantos in the Comedy ; 7. The Fate of Phaethon in the Comedy ; 8. Circle-Cross-Eagle-Scales: Images in the Paradiso ; 9. The Final Image ; 10. The Neoplatonic Background ; 11. Dante and Neoplatonism ; 12. Dante's Astrology ; 13. The Heavens and the Sciences: Convivio 2 ; 14. The Paradiso as Alpha and Omega ; Textual Variants ; Bibliography ; Index of Italian, Latin, and Other Foreign Words Discussed in the Notes ; Index of Passages Cited in the Notes ; Index of Proper Names in the Notes ; Index of Proper Names in the Text and Translation