Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 197

Saint Olafs Dream House
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On the Divine Names”. Here, he says, Dionysius equates the monad first with
the centre of a circle, which unites all the radii, - an appropriate idea for the
theocentric dream house. He also equates the monad with the soul, which unifies
the diverse powers of the whole body. Then Pseudo-Dionysius proceeds to draw
a parallel with the sun which has diverse effects on the many objects of the sensible
world, while it itself is one and shines upon them all with a uniform light.43
The sun and the Neoplatonic Mind are sometimes brought together. In
Bernardus Silvestris’ Cosmographia (Microcosmos Ch. 5) the sun “is pre-eminent
in brilliance, foremost in power, supreme in majesty, it is the mind of the
universe.”44 Martianus Capella is not in doubt either:
You (i.e. the sun) are the exalted power of the Father Unknown, his first offspring, the
spark of sensation, source of mind, beginning of light, the ruler of nature, the glory
and utterance of the gods, the eye of the universe, the splendor of the shining heaven
. . . the circle of ether obeys you, and you govern the celestial bodies with your great
circuits. (The Marriage of Philology andMercury § 185, tr. Stahl et al. 1977.)45
Also Christ has been equated with Mind (nous) (Lilla 1991, p. 603). As will
be discussed later, Christ was associated with the sun, so evidently we have a web
of correspondences, in which the monad, the sun, the mind and Christ are all
equated with each other.
The Six Brothers
The author has a peculiar way of describing where the king’s companions sleep.
In the company of the king there were six brothers, all of the same high rank in
the court. When the king had lain down on his bed he had the bishop to his right
and the queen to his left. In the quarter adjacent to his head three of the brothers
were lying and the other three in the opposite quarter, at his feet. Here we have
six brothers of equal rank placed above and below King Olaf. An allegorical
interpretation is clearly called for. First, the significance of the number six should
be pointed out. It is a number symbolizing creation, in Christianity most
obviously related to the six days of creation (Zahlten 1979, cf. also Ps.-Iamblichus
The Theology ofArithmetic). In this context St. Augustine (The City ofGod XI 30)
explains why it is a perfect number: it is the first number which is the sum of its
parts, that is of its fractions, the sixth, the third and the half; for one, two and
three added together make six. Its use as a symbol of creation is related to the idea
43 Cf. Ps.-Dionysius The Divine Names 821A-824C.
44 Cf. Macrobius Saturnalia 1.19.9, also Cicero Dream ofScipioA: “Next, and occupying almost
the middle region, comes the sun, leader, chief, and regulator of the other lights, mind and
moderator of the universe, of such magnitude that it fills all with its radiance” (tr. Stahl 1990).
45 Cf. Pliny Natural History 2.13: “We must believe that the sun is the soul, or, more intelligibly,
the mind of the universe, the ruling principle and divinity of Nature” (tr. Healy 1991).