No mortal power may stay her spinning wheel.
The nations rise and fall by her decree.
None may foresee where she will set her heel:
she passes, and things pass. Man's mortal reason
cannot encompass her. She rules her sphere
as the other gods rule theirs. Season by season...
In this passage in Canto VII (Circle 4) Dante asks Virgil to explain what Dame Fortune is. They speak about fortune as if it is a woman or some womanly being. Virgil explains that Dame Fortune is a being that cannot be understood by man. No earthly power can stop her or alter what she does and she is elusive, so no man can determine what exactly she will do. She is constantly changing and cannot be kept up with by mortals, only God has the power to see and control her. Dante says that Dame Fortune cannot be controlled by mortal powers, only God. He also seems to say the Dame Fortune is one of God's minions that transfers worldly items between people, such as winning the lottery is transferring money to that person. Fortune rules her element just as the other Gods rule theirs, so Dante is saying that Dame Fortune is like a god. This relates to Dante's conception of God because Dante believes that God is a being that provides justice and retribution to mortals, and Dame Fortune can be a way to administer justice. By using Dame Fortune, God can administer justice and retribution without mortals understanding about fortune because Dame Fortune cannot be understood by mortals. Dante also believes that God only wants to bring ultimate love and intellect to human beings which Dame Fortune can also bring to humans. In Sophocles' work, fate is not so much a being as something that just happens in the universe. In Dante's work, however, fate is seen as some high power that is controlled by God. Sophocles also seems to say that fate can also bring judgement and retribution to mortals as seen through Oedipus. In Sophocles' work Oedipus, Oedipus is taken off the high throne because of his fate that was prophecised to him as a child.
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