An Irish precursor of Dante : $b a study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to the eighth-century Irish saint Adamnán, with translation of the Irish text — Dante Alighieri — John Shaqi
An Irish precursor of Dante : $b a study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to the eighth-century Irish saint Adamnán, with translation of the Irish text
Dante Alighieri · en
The Fourth Book of Esdras, as it is numbered in the Vulgate, the
Second in the Authorised Version, though included in the Biblical Old
Testament Apocrypha, was nevertheless composed in Christian times and
to some extent under Christian influences, being written probably in
the third quarter of the first century A.D., though by some it is dated
so late as the first quarter of the third century. The Vision of Esdras
therein contained is apocalyptic in character, being a prophecy of
the end of the world, the speedy coming of which was generally looked
for. It is therefore not properly an instance of our legend, but it
calls for mention in this place, as it contains certain conceptions
derived through Hebrew tradition from Chaldæan or Persian sources, and
transmitted to the eschatological literature of the Christian Church.
The angel Uriel[82] showed to Esdras a great multitude assembled
on Mount Sion, and told him that these were ‘they that have put off
the mortal clothing and have put on the immortal, and have confessed
the name of God; now are they crowned, and receive palms.’ Several
earlier passages furnish good examples of Persian or Babylonian myths
converted, so to speak, and since adopted into the conventional imagery
of Christian eschatology. ‘They shall have the Tree of Life for an
ointment of sweet savour’; ‘I have sanctified and prepared for them
twelve trees laden with divers fruits, and as many fountains flowing
with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains whereon there grow
roses and lilies.’[83]
The name of Esdras is also attached to one of the apocryphal books
of the early Christian Church, the _Vision of Esdras_, which relates
how Esdras was led by Michael, Gabriel, and thirty-four other angels
through the realms of darkness, wherein the punishments meted out to
the wicked are revealed to him, and then to Paradise, where he sees
Enoch and Elias, Peter, Paul, Moses, the Evangelists and Patriarchs,
and all the righteous, assembled beneath the Tree of Life.
Another vision of Christian composition, but likewise fathered upon
an Old Testament prophet, is the _Vision of Isaiah_, the second part
of which, written in the third century A.D., relates a visit of that
prophet to the seven Heavens.