Justice moved my maker
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Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore; fecemi la divina podestate, la somma sapïenza e ’l primo amore.
Justice moved my high maker; the divine power made me, the highest wisdom, and the first love.
The inscription explains who built the gate, and out of what.
The gate names its architect three times, and the three names are the Trinity read as attributes: the <i>divina podestate</i> (the Father's power), the <i>somma sapïenza</i> (the Son, Wisdom), the <i>primo amore</i> (the Holy Spirit, Love). Hell is not the work of a rival darkness. It was built by the same three that made heaven.
That is the hardest claim on the whole lintel. What moved them was <i>Giustizia</i> — Justice itself, put first and capitalized. Dante wants the reader to feel that even this place of pain is an act of order, not of hatred: love and wisdom raised the gate because justice required it.
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