35.
Venus, the goddess of the third heaven
(Mother of the archer blind, who conquers all),
She whose father is the head of Zeus,
And Juno, most majestic wife of Jove,
These call the Trojan shepherd to be judge,
And to the fairest give the ruddy sphere.
Compared with Venus, Pallas, and the Queen of Heaven,
My perfect goddess bears away the palm.
The Cyprian queen may boast her royal limbs,
Minerva charm with her transcendent wit,
And Juno with a majesty supreme;
But she who holds my heart all these excels
In wisdom, majesty, and loveliness.
Here he makes a comparison between his object (or ideal) which comprises
all circumstances, all conditions, and all kinds of beauty, in one
subject, and others which exhibit each only one, and that through
various hypotheses, as with corporeal beauty, all the conditions of
which Apelles could not find in one, but in many virgins. Now here,
where there are three kinds of the beautiful, although it seems that all
of these exist in each of the three goddesses--Venus not being found
wanting in wisdom and majesty, Juno not lacking loveliness and wisdom,
and Pallas being full of majesty and beauty, in each case it is a fact
that one quality exceeds the others, so that it comes to be held as
distinctive of the one, and the other as incidental to all, seeing that
of those three gifts, one predominates in each and proclaims her
sovereign over the others. And the cause of this difference lies in the
fact of possessing these qualities, not primarily and in their essence,
but by participation and derivation; as in all things which are
dependent, their perfection depends upon the degrees of major and minor
and more and less. But in the simplicity of the divine essence, all
exists in totality, and not according to any measure, and therefore
wisdom is not greater than beauty and majesty, and goodness is not
greater than strength: not only are till the attributes equal, they are
one and the same thing. As in the sphere all the dimensions are not only
equal, the length being equal to the depth and breadth, but are also
identical, seeing that what in a sphere is called deep, may also be
called long and wide. Likewise is it, as to height in divine wisdom,
which is the same as the depth of power and the breadth of goodness. All
these perfections are equal, because they are infinite. Of necessity,
one is according to the sum of the other, seeing that where things are
finite it may result in this, that it is more wise than beautiful or
good, more good and beautiful than wise, more wise and good than
powerful, and more powerful than good or wise. But where there is
infinite wisdom there cannot be other than infinite power, otherwise
there would be no infinite knowledge. Where there is infinite goodness
there must be infinite wisdom, otherwise there would be no infinite
goodness. Where there is infinite power there must be infinite goodness
and wisdom, because there is the being able to know and the knowing to
be able. Now, observe how the object of this enthusiast, who is, as it
were, inebriated with the drink of the gods, is incomparably higher
than others which are different. I mean to say that the divine essence
comprehends in the very highest degree perfection of all kinds, so that
according to the degree in which this particular form may have
participated, he can understand all, do all, and be such an attached
friend to one that he may come to feel contempt and indifference towards
every other beauty. Therefore to her should be consecrated the spherical
apple as to her who seems to be all in all; not to Venus, who is
beautiful but is surpassed in wisdom by Minerva, and by Juno in majesty;
not to Pallas than whom Venus is more beautiful, and the other more
magnificent; not to Juno, who is not the goddess of intelligence or of
love.
CIC. Truly, as are the degrees of Nature and of the essences, so in
proportion are the degrees of the intelligible orders and the glories of
the amorous affections and enthusiasms.