The Ascent to the First Heaven

The Ascent to the First Heaven is the threshold event of the Paradiso, the moment when Dante Alighieri, guided by Beatrice, leaves the Earthly Paradise behind and enters the celestial realm of the Moon, the first of the nine heavens. This ascent is not merely a physical journey but a transformation of perception and being, as Dante must learn to see beyond the appearances of the material world and understand the divine order that governs all things. The event is defined by Beatrice's discourse on the nature of the universe, the cause of Dante's levitation, and the revelation of the Moon as the first sphere of Paradise, where souls who were forced to break their vows reside.

The Ascent and the Transformation of Vision

The ascent begins with Beatrice turning her gaze toward the sun, an act Dante imitates, fixing his eyes "beyond our wont" . This imitation is not mere mimicry but a participation in Beatrice's own action, as Dante describes: "Thus of her action, through the eyes infused / In my imagination, mine I made" (E09812-E09813). The result is a sudden intensification of light, as if "day to day / Was added, as if He who has the power / Had with another sun the heaven adorned" (E09821-E09823). Dante's own transformation is compared to that of Glaucus, who, upon tasting a herb, became "Peer of the other gods beneath the sea" (E09828-E09829). This simile underscores the radical nature of the change: Dante is being "transhumanised" , a state that cannot be fully expressed in words, only experienced through grace. The newness of the sound and the great light kindle in him a longing for their cause, a longing so acute that Beatrice, seeing his perturbation, speaks before he can ask (E09842-E09847).

Beatrice's Discourse on the Order of the Universe

Beatrice corrects Dante's false imagining that he is still on earth, telling him: "Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest; / But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site, / Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest" (E09851-E09853). This revelation only deepens Dante's wonder, leading him to ask how he can transcend bodies so light . Beatrice responds with a comprehensive explanation of the universe's order. She begins by stating that all things have order among themselves, and this order is the form that makes the universe resemble God (E09863-E09865). The higher creatures see the footprints of the Eternal Power, which is the end to which the law of order is directed (E09866-E09868). All natures, by their diverse destinies, are inclined more or less near to their origin, and they move onward to diverse ports over the great sea of being, each with an instinct given it that bears it on (E09872-E09874). This instinct carries fire toward the moon, is the motive power in mortal hearts, and binds together the earth (E09875-E09877). Not only creatures without intelligence are subject to this bow, but also those that have both intellect and love (E09878-E09880). The Providence that regulates all this makes the heaven forever quiet, where that which has the greatest haste turns (E09881-E09883). The virtue of that cord bears them away to a site decreed, aiming its arrows at a joyous mark (E09884-E09886). However, Beatrice acknowledges that sometimes the creature deviates from this course, as fire may fall from a cloud if the first impetus is wrested by false delight (E09891-E09895). She concludes by telling Dante that he should no more wonder at his ascent than at a rivulet descending from a high mount to the lowland; the marvel would be if, deprived of hindrance, he were seated down below, as if on earth the living fire were quiet (E09897-E09901).

The Arrival at the First Heaven: The Sphere of the Moon

After Beatrice's discourse, she turns her face heavenward again , and the ascent continues. The transition to the first heaven is described as swift and almost imperceptible: "in such space perchance as strikes a bolt / And flies, and from the notch unlocks itself" (E09926-E09927). Dante finds himself in a place where a wondrous thing draws his sight, and Beatrice, turning to him, says: "Fix gratefully thy mind / On God, who unto the first star has brought us" (E09932-E09933). The first star is the Moon, and Dante perceives it as "a cloud encompassed us, / Luminous, dense, consolidate and bright / As adamant on which the sun is striking" (E09934-E09936). The eternal pearl receives them "even as water doth receive / A ray of light, remaining still unbroken" (E09938-E09939). This image of light penetrating a substance without dividing it prefigures the nature of the blessed souls who appear within the sphere. Dante then asks Beatrice about the dusky spots on the Moon, which on earth are the subject of the fable of Cain (E09952-E09954). Beatrice smiles and corrects his erroneous opinion, which attributes the spots to rare and dense matter. She offers a detailed refutation, arguing that if rarity were the cause, the light would shine through in an eclipse, which it does not (E09982-E09984). She proposes an experiment with three mirrors to demonstrate that the difference in light is not due to density but to the diverse virtue of the formal principles that produce the stars (E09970-E10051). She explains that the heaven of the divine repose revolves a body, in whose virtue lies the being of whatever it contains; the following heaven divides this being by essences diverse, and the other spheres dispose all distinctions to their ends and effects (E10015-E10023). The power and motion of the holy spheres proceed from the blessed motors, and the Intelligence diffuses its virtue multiplied among the stars (E10030-E10041). The mingled virtue through the body shines, and from this proceeds whatever from light to light appears different, not from dense and rare (E10048-E10049). This is the formal principle that produces, according to its goodness, dark and bright (E10050-E10051).

The Souls of the Moon: Piccarda Donati and the Empress Constance

As Beatrice concludes her explanation, a vision appears to Dante: faces that seem like reflections in transparent glass or clear water, so faint that a pearl on a white forehead is not less quickly seen (E10062-E10067). Dante initially mistakes them for mirrored semblances, but Beatrice corrects him, saying: "True substances are these which thou beholdest, / Here relegate for breaking of some vow" (E10081-E10082). She encourages him to speak with them, for the true light permits them not to turn from it their feet (E10084-E10085). Dante addresses the shade that seems most wishful to speak, and she responds with laughing eyes: "I was a virgin sister in the world; / ... I am Piccarda" (E10098-E10101). Piccarda explains that she and the other souls are blessed in the slowest sphere because their vows were neglected and in some part void (E10107-E10109). When Dante asks if they desire a higher place, she answers with a smile: "Brother, our will is quieted by virtue / Of charity, that makes us wish alone / For what we have, nor gives us thirst for more" (E10122-E10124). She articulates the fundamental principle of Paradise: "In his will is our peace" . Piccarda then tells her own story: she fled from the world in girlhood to follow a lady (St. Clare) and pledged herself to the pathway of her sect, but men accustomed to evil tore her from the sweet cloister (E10155-E10159). She points to the other splendour on her right, the Empress Constance, who was also a nun and was forced to return to the world, but never divested herself of the heart's veil (E10164-E10169). Constance, from the second wind of Swabia, brought forth the third and latest puissance (E10171-E10172). After singing "Ave Maria," Piccarda vanishes like a heavy object through deep water (E10174-E10175).

Thematic Significance: The Foundation of Paradise

The Ascent to the First Heaven establishes the essential principles that govern the entire Paradiso. Beatrice's discourse on the order of the universe provides the cosmological and metaphysical framework for understanding the hierarchy of the heavens and the nature of the blessed souls. The souls of the Moon, who were faithful in heart but forced to break their vows, demonstrate that the will of God is the source of all peace and that true blessedness consists in perfect conformity to that will. The event also introduces the method of the Paradiso: the souls appear in the sphere that corresponds to their earthly disposition, not because they are confined there, but to signify the gradations of grace and beatitude. As Beatrice later explains, all the blessed dwell in the Empyrean, but they manifest themselves in the lower heavens to accommodate Dante's human understanding. The ascent thus serves as both a literal journey and an allegorical education, preparing Dante for the progressively more intense visions of divine truth that await him in the higher spheres.