24 - Love Creates Chaos!? (Canto XII)

In canto XII Virgil tells Dante that the ravine to the circle of the violent was caused by an earthquake, and:

 every side of the valley

shivered as the universe felt love

which some believe has often turned the world

back to the chaos of its origin.

I borrowed my book from the library, and I found the penciled notes by a previous student next to this passage, “love leads to chaos? What is he saying?”

Esolen explains the ancient theory that the elements, like the earth and the sky, originally had separated from chaos because of strife, and that periodically they unite in love and turn back into the primordial mixture (and then they turn to strife again, separating again).

 If we don't consider the anthropomorphic aspect, this theory is not too different from modern science, that matter was created by a violent explosion, the big bang, and it might collapse in a big crunch and put an end to the universe, only to have another big bang explosion that generates the next universe. 

 

But, did Dante want us the readers to find Virgil's words strange – to write at the margin “what is he saying?” I believe Dante did this on purpose; he is making some fun at the expense of his teacher here, even though he maintains a profound respect for the master.

Let's examine the situation. I agree with Esolen that Virgil does not really know who Christ is. He tells Dante: when I did my own harrowing of hell the ravine was not there. The Christian reader would be reminded that Jesus harvested the good souls. What did Virgil do? As explained in a previous canto, he was sent by a witch to harvest the soul of a soldier to...create a zombie (who would tell her the result of a battle). The contrast is really ironic. 

 

Then Virgil tells Dante that right before Jesus undertook the Harrowing of Hell, the earth shook. The Christian readers would have guessed that the earth had shook in horror because right before the harrowing Jesus had been killed. But here we have Virgil saying that the earth shuddered because it felt love for the other elements (basically it was in bed with them?). 

It is like Watson accurately relating to Sherlock Holmes all the observations he makes on a case (like the earthquake, and the timing of the ravine) and then drawing completely wrong conclusions.

But there is more. According to Virgil's theory, strife was the cause for the separation of the elements (and for the world coming into existence), but any Christian reader would have read from Genesis that the separation of light from darkness, and of the waters from the sky, was and act of love from God (to create the world), not an act of violence. 

Here is Virgil, in the circle of the violent, saying that violence is good because it lead to the existence of the world; and in a place where we are reminded of the loving sacrifice of Christ, he says that love leads to chaos. (No wonder Virgil is silent when he sees Dido, who killed herself for love. He is not moved like Dante is. For him love naturally leads to destruction).

After reminding us is canto IX of his doubling in witchcraft, which is probably the reason why he remained stuck in hell, and after realizing that he was making an ode to violence in a place condemning the violent in the dept of Hell, Virgil concludes: “why don't you Dante take a centaur as a guide for this part of Hell instead of me – I am getting a little confused.” I believe!

The centaur lists some of the damned in this circle, and in it we find even valiant conquerors like Alexander. I wonder if Dante is now condemning all kinds of wars as unacceptable (with the exception of defensive wars). Virgil's second part of the Aeneid is one bloody battle after another, with Aeneas being glorified as a demi-god. Its author is the wrong man to lead Dante in this circle.