ON MR. GLADSTONE'S QUOTATION FROM DANTE , ci propos OF F.
D. MAURICE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—May I call attention to the fact that in the lines of Dante applied by Mr. Gladstone to the late F. D. Maurice,— "L'altro per sapienza in terra fue Di cherubica luce uno splendore,"— the word clierubica is emphatic, and is not sufficiently rendered, in my opinion, by Colonel Maurice's "spirit's splendour.' Dante contrasted the Seraphic St. Francis with the Cherubic St. Dominic; it being known to all mediwval students of the pseudo-Dionysins that Seraphs were the angels of Love,. Cherubs the angels of Knowledge. It is on account of this distinction between their several attributes, that in symbolical painting the colour of flames, red, is reserved for the Seraphs ; the colour of the deep, calm sky, blue, for the Cherubs. This distinction is familiar to Englishmen who have grasped the full meaning of Milton's "cherub, Contemplation." In the lines in question, Dante attributes special gifts of wisdom to St. Dominic, and calls him a splendour of cherubic light This is closely accurate ; for St. Dominic distinguishes himself by rooting out heresies, and to his Order belonged St. Thomas Aquinas, the great founder of Catholic philosophy. St. Francis, who excelled in love, is to be classed with the superior beings of Seraphic nature, according to the pseudo-Dionysian hierarchy. To preserve the full Dantesque intention, Colonel Maurice's- paraphrase should run:—
" The other—Wisdom guiding from his birth—
Shone with Cherubic splendour here on earth."
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