彼岸の世界の橋

Abstract

The author, in order to examine oriental elements in the Divina Commedia of Dante Alighieri, takes as an example the Kinvad bridge (Kinvata Peretush) which is found in the Zend-Avesta. (Part I.) The Avesta inculcated an ethic of high morality, and taught a very systematic theory of rewards and punishiments in the future life. The experiences of the soul after death are described with minuteness and copiousness of detail. For three nights after death the soul sat by the head of body, and, its vigil ended, every soul, good or bad, had to cross the narrow Kinvad bridge made by Mazda. On reaching the bridge head, the soul of ' good thoughts, good deeds, good words and good religion' was met by a lovely maiden, who was his own conscience. By her he was conducted to the place of judgment (Haraberezaiti), and there a book was opened wherein had been kept a record of all the good and evil he had wrought in life. Moreover, the bridge becomes a broad bridge for the righteous, as much as the height of nine spears-and the length of those which they carry is each separately three reeds-; and it becomes a narrow bridge for the wicked, even unto a resemblance to the edge of a razor. And he who is of the righteous passes over the bridge, and a worldly similitude of the pleasantness of his path upon it is when thou shalt eagerly and unweariedly walk in the golden-coloured spring, and with the gallant- He who is of the wicked, as he places a footstep on to the bridge, on account of affliction-and its sharpness, falls from the middle of the bridge, and rolls over head-foremost. And the unpleasantness of his path to hell is in similitude such as the worldly one in the midst of that stinking and dying existence- The author cited all the bridges that are found in the literatures which purport to describe visions during the Middle Ages. Especially among the celts, the author found many bridges. In the vision of Adamnan, an enormous bridge over a glen changes its width in three forms: for one company the bridge is of ample width from beginning to end; for the second company it is narrow at first but broad afterwards; for the third group it is broad at first but nrrrows afterwards until they fall from it into the glen. In the wooing of Emar, the height and width of the bridge are constant, but it moves by itself, so that anyone leaps on it, the bridge throws him on his back. In the vision of Alberico, the bridge assumes the old and traditional features; but in the vision of Tundale, it becomes simply a long, narrow bridge; in the legend of Saint Patrick, it is not only narrow but also slippery; and in the vision of Turchill, it is studded with nails and sharp stakes. The author finds the source of the Kinvad bridge in the Fioretti of Saint Francesco of Assisi, who strongly influenced Dante. From these examples, the author concludes that the Kinvad bridge changes its form variously in the Celtic and Italian literatures of vision, but it scarcely changes its position in the other world as the instrument to connect hell (or purgatory) and paradise (or purgatory). The author cites the following words : ' Where, underneath, the gaping arch lets pass the scourged souls '. (Inf. XVIII, 73-74) ' So hollow is the depth, that from no part, save on the summit of the rocky span, could I distinguish aught'. (Inf. XVIII, 109-111) ' Upon the rugged rock and steep, a path not easy for the clambering goat to mount'. (Inf. XIX, 131-132) Thus the author imagines the stone bridge or arch to be very steep and slippery so that even goats find it hard to climb, the summit of the bridge high, and beneath, a gaping passage. The features of these stone bridges or arches which connect ten gulfs in the 8th circle in Inferno are very similar to those found in the literatures of vision indicated above. Also, a calculation of the number of pages which Dante used to describe these bridges in the Inferno (that is extending from Canto XVIII to Canto XXVI) reveals that it makes up