Commentary Par XXIX 51

For suggetto, see Bemrose (Bemr.1983.1), pp. 197-201, siding with the majority; the word refers to 'terra' (earth).  See, for instance, Lombardi's gloss (DDP Lombardi.Par.XXIX.49-51), saying that earth is subject to (i.e., lies beneath) the other three elements, water, air, and fire.  But see Mazzoni (Mazz.1979.2 [Intro. to Questio], pp. 712-32) and Baranski (Bara.1984.1), p. 300, both of whom suggest that we are meant to realize that what is under discussion is 'prime matter' (la materia prima).  And see Cestaro (Cest.2003.1), p. 248, n. 87: 'Dante alludes here to the common Scholastic notion of a subiectum elementorum, the primal elemental material prior to the definition of four distinct elements, akin to Plato's silva ['hyle']....'  A hedged bet is found in Oelsner's notes (DDP Oelsner.Par.XXIX.49-51): 'Il suggetto dei vostri elementi is usually (and perhaps rightly) taken to mean "that one of your elements that underlies the rest," i.e., earth.  Compare [Inf XXXIV 121-126].  But if we take this passage on its own merits it seems better to understand the substrate of the elements to mean the prima materia (compare [Par II 106-108]; [Par VII 133-136], and [Par XXIX 22-24]); the elaboration of the elements being the subsequent work of the Angels and the heavens.'  The strongest case against this second interpretation was made by Porena (DDP Porena.Par.XXIX.49-51), pointing out that [Inf XXXIV 122-126] reveals that Dante thought that, by the time Satan had penetrated our globe, water and earth had already been separated.  However, Chimenz (DDP Chimenz.Par.XXIX.49-51) countered that argument as follows: The words inscribed over the gate of Hell ([Inf III 7-8]) would seem to suggest that before the creation of Hell (and, Chimenz insists, the contemporary creation of the angels), nothing existed except eternal things, and thus Satan fell into unformed matter.  Nonetheless, it is certainly possible that we are meant to understand that earth was formed while Satan was falling and (at least in part) in order to receive him and his partners in rebellion.