Commentary Par III 1-3

If many readers have responded to the previous canto -- for some the most labored and unwelcoming of the entire poem -- with a certain impatience (e.g., if Paradiso is going to be like this, I'd prefer to spend my time in Inferno and/or Purgatorio), here they are placed on notice that, for Dante, Beatrice’s instruction in spiritual astronomy is more aesthetically pleasing than any possible worldly attraction.  It is notable that each of the verses of this tercet contains words or phrases that are often associated with sensual or aesthetic pleasure (amor, scaldò il petto, bella, dolce), yet here conjoined with the language of Scholastic argumentation (see C.Par.III.2-3).