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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/8796-h.zip b/8796-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96b0366 --- /dev/null +++ b/8796-h.zip diff --git a/8796-h/8796-h.htm b/8796-h/8796-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbbc2f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/8796-h/8796-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2625 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<title>Dante's Paradise, Part 1.</title> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {background:#faebd7; margin:10%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + table {font-size: 120%; } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Times; font-size: 97%; margin-left: 15%;} + // --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + +<h2>THE VISION OF PARADISE, Part 1. +<br>By Dante Alighieri, Illustrated by Dore</h2> +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Paradise, Part 1., by Dante Alighieri + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vision of Paradise, Part 1. + +Author: Dante Alighieri + +Release Date: August 1, 2004 [EBook #8796] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISION OF PARADISE, PART 1. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<br> +<hr> +<br><br><br><br><br><br> + + + +<center> +<h1>THE VISION</h1><br> +<h2>OF</h2><br> +<h1>HELL, PURGATORY, AND PARADISE</h1><br> +<h2>BY</h2><br> +<h1>DANTE ALIGHIERI</h1> +<br><br><br> +<br><br><br> +<h2>PARADISE</h2> +<h3>Part One</h3> +<br><br><br> +<h3>TRANSLATED BY</h3><br> +<h2>THE REV. H. F. CARY, M.A.</h2> +<br><br> +<h4>Click on Any Image to Enlarge It</h4> + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img alt="coverth.jpg (42K)" src="images/coverth.jpg" height="478" width="553"></a> +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"><img alt="front2.jpg (41K)" src="images/front2.jpg" height="477" width="431"></a> +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/titlepage.jpg"><img alt="title2.jpg (21K)" src="images/title2.jpg" height="535" width="416"></a> + +<br><br><br><br> +<br><br><br><br> +<h1>PARADISE</h1> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> +<center> +<h2>LIST OF CANTOS</h2> +</center> + +<center> +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td> + + + + + +<a href="#1">Canto 1</a><br> +<a href="#2">Canto 2</a><br> +<a href="#3">Canto 3</a><br> +<a href="#4">Canto 4</a><br> +<a href="#5">Canto 5</a><br> +<a href="#6">Canto 6</a><br> +<a href="#7">Canto 7</a><br> +<a href="#8">Canto 8</a><br> +<a href="#9">Canto 9</a><br> +<a href="#10">Canto 10</a><br> +<a href="#11">Canto 11</a><br> +<a href="#12">Canto 12</a><br> +<a href="#13">Canto 13</a><br> +<a href="#14">Canto 14</a><br><br> + + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> +<br><br><br><br> + +<center> +<table summary="Paradise"> +<tr><td> + + + + +<a name="1"></a> +<h2>CANTO I</h2> +<br> +<p>His glory, by whose might all things are mov'd,<br> +Pierces the universe, and in one part<br> +Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In heav'n,<br> +That largeliest of his light partakes, was I,<br> +Witness of things, which to relate again<br> +Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence;<br> +For that, so near approaching its desire<br> +Our intellect is to such depth absorb'd,<br> +That memory cannot follow. Nathless all,<br> +That in my thoughts I of that sacred realm<br> +Could store, shall now be matter of my song.<br> +<br> Benign Apollo! this last labour aid,<br> +And make me such a vessel of thy worth,<br> +As thy own laurel claims of me belov'd.<br> +Thus far hath one of steep Parnassus' brows<br> +Suffic'd me; henceforth there is need of both<br> +For my remaining enterprise Do thou<br> +Enter into my bosom, and there breathe<br> +So, as when Marsyas by thy hand was dragg'd<br> +Forth from his limbs unsheath'd. O power divine!<br> +If thou to me of shine impart so much,<br> +That of that happy realm the shadow'd form<br> +Trac'd in my thoughts I may set forth to view,<br> +Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd tree<br> +Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves;<br> +For to that honour thou, and my high theme<br> +Will fit me. If but seldom, mighty Sire!<br> +To grace his triumph gathers thence a wreath<br> +Caesar or bard (more shame for human wills<br> +Deprav'd) joy to the Delphic god must spring<br> +From the Pierian foliage, when one breast<br> +Is with such thirst inspir'd. From a small spark<br> +Great flame hath risen: after me perchance<br> +Others with better voice may pray, and gain<br> +From the Cirrhaean city answer kind.<br> +<br> Through diver passages, the world's bright lamp<br> +Rises to mortals, but through that which joins<br> +Four circles with the threefold cross, in best<br> +Course, and in happiest constellation set<br> +He comes, and to the worldly wax best gives<br> +Its temper and impression. Morning there,<br> +Here eve was by almost such passage made;<br> +And whiteness had o'erspread that hemisphere,<br> +Blackness the other part; when to the left<br> +I saw Beatrice turn'd, and on the sun<br> +Gazing, as never eagle fix'd his ken.<br> +As from the first a second beam is wont<br> +To issue, and reflected upwards rise,<br> +E'en as a pilgrim bent on his return,<br> +So of her act, that through the eyesight pass'd<br> +Into my fancy, mine was form'd; and straight,<br> +Beyond our mortal wont, I fix'd mine eyes<br> +Upon the sun. Much is allowed us there,<br> +That here exceeds our pow'r; thanks to the place<br> +Made for the dwelling of the human kind<br> +<br> I suffer'd it not long, and yet so long<br> +That I beheld it bick'ring sparks around,<br> +As iron that comes boiling from the fire.<br> +And suddenly upon the day appear'd<br> +A day new-ris'n, as he, who hath the power,<br> +Had with another sun bedeck'd the sky.<br> +<br> Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels,<br> +Beatrice stood unmov'd; and I with ken<br> +Fix'd upon her, from upward gaze remov'd<br> +At her aspect, such inwardly became<br> +As Glaucus, when he tasted of the herb,<br> +That made him peer among the ocean gods;<br> +Words may not tell of that transhuman change:<br> +And therefore let the example serve, though weak,<br> +For those whom grace hath better proof in store<br> +<br> If I were only what thou didst create,<br> +Then newly, Love! by whom the heav'n is rul'd,<br> +Thou know'st, who by thy light didst bear me up.<br> +Whenas the wheel which thou dost ever guide,<br> +Desired Spirit! with its harmony<br> +Temper'd of thee and measur'd, charm'd mine ear,<br> +Then seem'd to me so much of heav'n to blaze<br> +With the sun's flame, that rain or flood ne'er made<br> +A lake so broad. The newness of the sound,<br> +And that great light, inflam'd me with desire,<br> +Keener than e'er was felt, to know their cause.<br> +<br> Whence she who saw me, clearly as myself,<br> +To calm my troubled mind, before I ask'd,<br> +Open'd her lips, and gracious thus began:<br> +"With false imagination thou thyself<br> +Mak'st dull, so that thou seest not the thing,<br> +Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off.<br> +Thou art not on the earth as thou believ'st;<br> +For light'ning scap'd from its own proper place<br> +Ne'er ran, as thou hast hither now return'd."<br> +<br> Although divested of my first-rais'd doubt,<br> +By those brief words, accompanied with smiles,<br> +Yet in new doubt was I entangled more,<br> +And said: "Already satisfied, I rest<br> +From admiration deep, but now admire<br> +How I above those lighter bodies rise."<br> +<br> Whence, after utt'rance of a piteous sigh,<br> +She tow'rds me bent her eyes, with such a look,<br> +As on her frenzied child a mother casts;<br> +Then thus began: "Among themselves all things<br> +Have order; and from hence the form, which makes<br> +The universe resemble God. In this<br> +The higher creatures see the printed steps<br> +Of that eternal worth, which is the end<br> +Whither the line is drawn. All natures lean,<br> +In this their order, diversely, some more,<br> +Some less approaching to their primal source.<br> +Thus they to different havens are mov'd on<br> +Through the vast sea of being, and each one<br> +With instinct giv'n, that bears it in its course;<br> +This to the lunar sphere directs the fire,<br> +This prompts the hearts of mortal animals,<br> +This the brute earth together knits, and binds.<br> +Nor only creatures, void of intellect,<br> +Are aim'd at by this bow; but even those,<br> +That have intelligence and love, are pierc'd.<br> +That Providence, who so well orders all,<br> +With her own light makes ever calm the heaven,<br> +In which the substance, that hath greatest speed,<br> +Is turn'd: and thither now, as to our seat<br> +Predestin'd, we are carried by the force<br> +Of that strong cord, that never looses dart,<br> +But at fair aim and glad. Yet is it true,<br> +That as ofttimes but ill accords the form<br> +To the design of art, through sluggishness<br> +Of unreplying matter, so this course<br> +Is sometimes quitted by the creature, who<br> +Hath power, directed thus, to bend elsewhere;<br> +As from a cloud the fire is seen to fall,<br> +From its original impulse warp'd, to earth,<br> +By vicious fondness. Thou no more admire<br> +Thy soaring, (if I rightly deem,) than lapse<br> +Of torrent downwards from a mountain's height.<br> +There would in thee for wonder be more cause,<br> +If, free of hind'rance, thou hadst fix'd thyself<br> +Below, like fire unmoving on the earth."<br> +<br> So said, she turn'd toward the heav'n her face.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="2"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO II</h2> +<br> + +<p>All ye, who in small bark have following sail'd,<br> +Eager to listen, on the advent'rous track<br> +Of my proud keel, that singing cuts its way,<br> +Backward return with speed, and your own shores<br> +Revisit, nor put out to open sea,<br> +Where losing me, perchance ye may remain<br> +Bewilder'd in deep maze. The way I pass<br> +Ne'er yet was run: Minerva breathes the gale,<br> +Apollo guides me, and another Nine<br> +To my rapt sight the arctic beams reveal.<br> +Ye other few, who have outstretch'd the neck.<br> +Timely for food of angels, on which here<br> +They live, yet never know satiety,<br> +Through the deep brine ye fearless may put out<br> +Your vessel, marking, well the furrow broad<br> +Before you in the wave, that on both sides<br> +Equal returns. Those, glorious, who pass'd o'er<br> +To Colchos, wonder'd not as ye will do,<br> +When they saw Jason following the plough.<br> +<br> The increate perpetual thirst, that draws<br> +Toward the realm of God's own form, bore us<br> +Swift almost as the heaven ye behold.<br> +<br> Beatrice upward gaz'd, and I on her,<br> +And in such space as on the notch a dart<br> +Is plac'd, then loosen'd flies, I saw myself<br> +Arriv'd, where wond'rous thing engag'd my sight.<br> +Whence she, to whom no work of mine was hid,<br> +Turning to me, with aspect glad as fair,<br> +Bespake me: "Gratefully direct thy mind<br> +To God, through whom to this first star we come."<br> +<br> Me seem'd as if a cloud had cover'd us,<br> +Translucent, solid, firm, and polish'd bright,<br> +Like adamant, which the sun's beam had smit<br> +Within itself the ever-during pearl<br> +Receiv'd us, as the wave a ray of light<br> +Receives, and rests unbroken. If I then<br> +Was of corporeal frame, and it transcend<br> +Our weaker thought, how one dimension thus<br> +Another could endure, which needs must be<br> +If body enter body, how much more<br> +Must the desire inflame us to behold<br> +That essence, which discovers by what means<br> +God and our nature join'd! There will be seen<br> +That which we hold through faith, not shown by proof,<br> +But in itself intelligibly plain,<br> +E'en as the truth that man at first believes.<br> +<br> I answered: "Lady! I with thoughts devout,<br> +Such as I best can frame, give thanks to Him,<br> +Who hath remov'd me from the mortal world.<br> +But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots<br> +Upon this body, which below on earth<br> +Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?"<br> +<br> She somewhat smil'd, then spake: "If mortals err<br> +In their opinion, when the key of sense<br> +Unlocks not, surely wonder's weapon keen<br> +Ought not to pierce thee; since thou find'st, the wings<br> +Of reason to pursue the senses' flight<br> +Are short. But what thy own thought is, declare."<br> +<br> Then I: "What various here above appears,<br> +Is caus'd, I deem, by bodies dense or rare."<br> +<br> She then resum'd: "Thou certainly wilt see<br> +In falsehood thy belief o'erwhelm'd, if well<br> +Thou listen to the arguments, which I<br> +Shall bring to face it. The eighth sphere displays<br> +Numberless lights, the which in kind and size<br> +May be remark'd of different aspects;<br> +If rare or dense of that were cause alone,<br> +One single virtue then would be in all,<br> +Alike distributed, or more, or less.<br> +Different virtues needs must be the fruits<br> +Of formal principles, and these, save one,<br> +Will by thy reasoning be destroy'd. Beside,<br> +If rarity were of that dusk the cause,<br> +Which thou inquirest, either in some part<br> +That planet must throughout be void, nor fed<br> +With its own matter; or, as bodies share<br> +Their fat and leanness, in like manner this<br> +Must in its volume change the leaves. The first,<br> +If it were true, had through the sun's eclipse<br> +Been manifested, by transparency<br> +Of light, as through aught rare beside effus'd.<br> +But this is not. Therefore remains to see<br> +The other cause: and if the other fall,<br> +Erroneous so must prove what seem'd to thee.<br> +If not from side to side this rarity<br> +Pass through, there needs must be a limit, whence<br> +Its contrary no further lets it pass.<br> +And hence the beam, that from without proceeds,<br> +Must be pour'd back, as colour comes, through glass<br> +Reflected, which behind it lead conceals.<br> +Now wilt thou say, that there of murkier hue<br> +Than in the other part the ray is shown,<br> +By being thence refracted farther back.<br> +From this perplexity will free thee soon<br> +Experience, if thereof thou trial make,<br> +The fountain whence your arts derive their streame.<br> +Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two remove<br> +From thee alike, and more remote the third.<br> +Betwixt the former pair, shall meet thine eyes;<br> +Then turn'd toward them, cause behind thy back<br> +A light to stand, that on the three shall shine,<br> +And thus reflected come to thee from all.<br> +Though that beheld most distant do not stretch<br> +A space so ample, yet in brightness thou<br> +Will own it equaling the rest. But now,<br> +As under snow the ground, if the warm ray<br> +Smites it, remains dismantled of the hue<br> +And cold, that cover'd it before, so thee,<br> +Dismantled in thy mind, I will inform<br> +With light so lively, that the tremulous beam<br> +Shall quiver where it falls. Within the heaven,<br> +Where peace divine inhabits, circles round<br> +A body, in whose virtue dies the being<br> +Of all that it contains. The following heaven,<br> +That hath so many lights, this being divides,<br> +Through different essences, from it distinct,<br> +And yet contain'd within it. The other orbs<br> +Their separate distinctions variously<br> +Dispose, for their own seed and produce apt.<br> +Thus do these organs of the world proceed,<br> +As thou beholdest now, from step to step,<br> +Their influences from above deriving,<br> +And thence transmitting downwards. Mark me well,<br> +How through this passage to the truth I ford,<br> +The truth thou lov'st, that thou henceforth alone,<br> +May'st know to keep the shallows, safe, untold.<br> +<br> "The virtue and motion of the sacred orbs,<br> +As mallet by the workman's hand, must needs<br> +By blessed movers be inspir'd. This heaven,<br> +Made beauteous by so many luminaries,<br> +From the deep spirit, that moves its circling sphere,<br> +Its image takes an impress as a seal:<br> +And as the soul, that dwells within your dust,<br> +Through members different, yet together form'd,<br> +In different pow'rs resolves itself; e'en so<br> +The intellectual efficacy unfolds<br> +Its goodness multiplied throughout the stars;<br> +On its own unity revolving still.<br> +Different virtue compact different<br> +Makes with the precious body it enlivens,<br> +With which it knits, as life in you is knit.<br> +From its original nature full of joy,<br> +The virtue mingled through the body shines,<br> +As joy through pupil of the living eye.<br> +From hence proceeds, that which from light to light<br> +Seems different, and not from dense or rare.<br> +This is the formal cause, that generates<br> +Proportion'd to its power, the dusk or clear."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="3"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO III</h2> +<br> + +<p>That sun, which erst with love my bosom warm'd<br> +Had of fair truth unveil'd the sweet aspect,<br> +By proof of right, and of the false reproof;<br> +And I, to own myself convinc'd and free<br> +Of doubt, as much as needed, rais'd my head<br> +Erect for speech. But soon a sight appear'd,<br> +Which, so intent to mark it, held me fix'd,<br> +That of confession I no longer thought.<br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/03-14.jpg"><img alt="03-14th.jpg (32K)" src="images/03-14th.jpg" height="469" width="433"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br> As through translucent and smooth glass, or wave<br> +Clear and unmov'd, and flowing not so deep<br> +As that its bed is dark, the shape returns<br> +So faint of our impictur'd lineaments,<br> +That on white forehead set a pearl as strong<br> +Comes to the eye: such saw I many a face,<br> +All stretch'd to speak, from whence I straight conceiv'd<br> +Delusion opposite to that, which rais'd<br> +Between the man and fountain, amorous flame.<br> +<br> Sudden, as I perceiv'd them, deeming these<br> +Reflected semblances to see of whom<br> +They were, I turn'd mine eyes, and nothing saw;<br> +Then turn'd them back, directed on the light<br> +Of my sweet guide, who smiling shot forth beams<br> +From her celestial eyes. "Wonder not thou,"<br> +She cry'd, "at this my smiling, when I see<br> +Thy childish judgment; since not yet on truth<br> +It rests the foot, but, as it still is wont,<br> +Makes thee fall back in unsound vacancy.<br> +True substances are these, which thou behold'st,<br> +Hither through failure of their vow exil'd.<br> +But speak thou with them; listen, and believe,<br> +That the true light, which fills them with desire,<br> +Permits not from its beams their feet to stray."<br> +<br> Straight to the shadow which for converse seem'd<br> +Most earnest, I addressed me, and began,<br> +As one by over-eagerness perplex'd:<br> +"O spirit, born for joy! who in the rays<br> +Of life eternal, of that sweetness know'st<br> +The flavour, which, not tasted, passes far<br> +All apprehension, me it well would please,<br> +If thou wouldst tell me of thy name, and this<br> +Your station here." Whence she, with kindness prompt,<br> +And eyes glist'ning with smiles: "Our charity,<br> +To any wish by justice introduc'd,<br> +Bars not the door, no more than she above,<br> +Who would have all her court be like herself.<br> +I was a virgin sister in the earth;<br> +And if thy mind observe me well, this form,<br> +With such addition grac'd of loveliness,<br> +Will not conceal me long, but thou wilt know<br> +Piccarda, in the tardiest sphere thus plac'd,<br> +Here 'mid these other blessed also blest.<br> +Our hearts, whose high affections burn alone<br> +With pleasure, from the Holy Spirit conceiv'd,<br> +Admitted to his order dwell in joy.<br> +And this condition, which appears so low,<br> +Is for this cause assign'd us, that our vows<br> +Were in some part neglected and made void."<br> +<br> Whence I to her replied: "Something divine<br> +Beams in your countenance, wond'rous fair,<br> +From former knowledge quite transmuting you.<br> +Therefore to recollect was I so slow.<br> +But what thou sayst hath to my memory<br> +Given now such aid, that to retrace your forms<br> +Is easier. Yet inform me, ye, who here<br> +Are happy, long ye for a higher place<br> +More to behold, and more in love to dwell?"<br> +<br> She with those other spirits gently smil'd,<br> +Then answer'd with such gladness, that she seem'd<br> +With love's first flame to glow: "Brother! our will<br> +Is in composure settled by the power<br> +Of charity, who makes us will alone<br> +What we possess, and nought beyond desire;<br> +If we should wish to be exalted more,<br> +Then must our wishes jar with the high will<br> +Of him, who sets us here, which in these orbs<br> +Thou wilt confess not possible, if here<br> +To be in charity must needs befall,<br> +And if her nature well thou contemplate.<br> +Rather it is inherent in this state<br> +Of blessedness, to keep ourselves within<br> +The divine will, by which our wills with his<br> +Are one. So that as we from step to step<br> +Are plac'd throughout this kingdom, pleases all,<br> +E'en as our King, who in us plants his will;<br> +And in his will is our tranquillity;<br> +It is the mighty ocean, whither tends<br> +Whatever it creates and nature makes."<br> +<br> Then saw I clearly how each spot in heav'n<br> +Is Paradise, though with like gracious dew<br> +The supreme virtue show'r not over all.<br> +<br> But as it chances, if one sort of food<br> +Hath satiated, and of another still<br> +The appetite remains, that this is ask'd,<br> +And thanks for that return'd; e'en so did I<br> +In word and motion, bent from her to learn<br> +What web it was, through which she had not drawn<br> +The shuttle to its point. She thus began:<br> +"Exalted worth and perfectness of life<br> +The Lady higher up enshrine in heaven,<br> +By whose pure laws upon your nether earth<br> +The robe and veil they wear, to that intent,<br> +That e'en till death they may keep watch or sleep<br> +With their great bridegroom, who accepts each vow,<br> +Which to his gracious pleasure love conforms.<br> +from the world, to follow her, when young<br> +Escap'd; and, in her vesture mantling me,<br> +Made promise of the way her sect enjoins.<br> +Thereafter men, for ill than good more apt,<br> +Forth snatch'd me from the pleasant cloister's pale.<br> +God knows how after that my life was fram'd.<br> +This other splendid shape, which thou beholdst<br> +At my right side, burning with all the light<br> +Of this our orb, what of myself I tell<br> +May to herself apply. From her, like me<br> +A sister, with like violence were torn<br> +The saintly folds, that shaded her fair brows.<br> +E'en when she to the world again was brought<br> +In spite of her own will and better wont,<br> +Yet not for that the bosom's inward veil<br> +Did she renounce. This is the luminary<br> +Of mighty Constance, who from that loud blast,<br> +Which blew the second over Suabia's realm,<br> +That power produc'd, which was the third and last."<br> +<br> She ceas'd from further talk, and then began<br> +"Ave Maria" singing, and with that song<br> +Vanish'd, as heavy substance through deep wave.<br> +<br> Mine eye, that far as it was capable,<br> +Pursued her, when in dimness she was lost,<br> +Turn'd to the mark where greater want impell'd,<br> +And bent on Beatrice all its gaze.<br> +But she as light'ning beam'd upon my looks:<br> +So that the sight sustain'd it not at first.<br> +Whence I to question her became less prompt.</p> + + + +<br><br> +<a name="4"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO IV</h2> +<br> + +<p>Between two kinds of food, both equally<br> +Remote and tempting, first a man might die<br> +Of hunger, ere he one could freely choose.<br> +E'en so would stand a lamb between the maw<br> +Of two fierce wolves, in dread of both alike:<br> +E'en so between two deer a dog would stand,<br> +Wherefore, if I was silent, fault nor praise<br> +I to myself impute, by equal doubts<br> +Held in suspense, since of necessity<br> +It happen'd. Silent was I, yet desire<br> +Was painted in my looks; and thus I spake<br> +My wish more earnestly than language could.<br> +<br> As Daniel, when the haughty king he freed<br> +From ire, that spurr'd him on to deeds unjust<br> +And violent; so look'd Beatrice then.<br> +<br> "Well I discern," she thus her words address'd,<br> +"How contrary desires each way constrain thee,<br> +So that thy anxious thought is in itself<br> +Bound up and stifled, nor breathes freely forth.<br> +Thou arguest; if the good intent remain;<br> +What reason that another's violence<br> +Should stint the measure of my fair desert?<br> +<br> "Cause too thou findst for doubt, in that it seems,<br> +That spirits to the stars, as Plato deem'd,<br> +Return. These are the questions which thy will<br> +Urge equally; and therefore I the first<br> +Of that will treat which hath the more of gall.<br> +Of seraphim he who is most ensky'd,<br> +Moses and Samuel, and either John,<br> +Choose which thou wilt, nor even Mary's self,<br> +Have not in any other heav'n their seats,<br> +Than have those spirits which so late thou saw'st;<br> +Nor more or fewer years exist; but all<br> +Make the first circle beauteous, diversely<br> +Partaking of sweet life, as more or less<br> +Afflation of eternal bliss pervades them.<br> +Here were they shown thee, not that fate assigns<br> +This for their sphere, but for a sign to thee<br> +Of that celestial furthest from the height.<br> +Thus needs, that ye may apprehend, we speak:<br> +Since from things sensible alone ye learn<br> +That, which digested rightly after turns<br> +To intellectual. For no other cause<br> +The scripture, condescending graciously<br> +To your perception, hands and feet to God<br> +Attributes, nor so means: and holy church<br> +Doth represent with human countenance<br> +Gabriel, and Michael, and him who made<br> +Tobias whole. Unlike what here thou seest,<br> +The judgment of Timaeus, who affirms<br> +Each soul restor'd to its particular star,<br> +Believing it to have been taken thence,<br> +When nature gave it to inform her mold:<br> +Since to appearance his intention is<br> +E'en what his words declare: or else to shun<br> +Derision, haply thus he hath disguis'd<br> +His true opinion. If his meaning be,<br> +That to the influencing of these orbs revert<br> +The honour and the blame in human acts,<br> +Perchance he doth not wholly miss the truth.<br> +This principle, not understood aright,<br> +Erewhile perverted well nigh all the world;<br> +So that it fell to fabled names of Jove,<br> +And Mercury, and Mars. That other doubt,<br> +Which moves thee, is less harmful; for it brings<br> +No peril of removing thee from me.<br> +<br> "That, to the eye of man, our justice seems<br> +Unjust, is argument for faith, and not<br> +For heretic declension. To the end<br> +This truth may stand more clearly in your view,<br> +I will content thee even to thy wish<br> +<br> "If violence be, when that which suffers, nought<br> +Consents to that which forceth, not for this<br> +These spirits stood exculpate. For the will,<br> +That will not, still survives unquench'd, and doth<br> +As nature doth in fire, tho' violence<br> +Wrest it a thousand times; for, if it yield<br> +Or more or less, so far it follows force.<br> +And thus did these, whom they had power to seek<br> +The hallow'd place again. In them, had will<br> +Been perfect, such as once upon the bars<br> +Held Laurence firm, or wrought in Scaevola<br> +To his own hand remorseless, to the path,<br> +Whence they were drawn, their steps had hasten'd back,<br> +When liberty return'd: but in too few<br> +Resolve so steadfast dwells. And by these words<br> +If duly weigh'd, that argument is void,<br> +Which oft might have perplex'd thee still. But now<br> +Another question thwarts thee, which to solve<br> +Might try thy patience without better aid.<br> +I have, no doubt, instill'd into thy mind,<br> +That blessed spirit may not lie; since near<br> +The source of primal truth it dwells for aye:<br> +And thou might'st after of Piccarda learn<br> +That Constance held affection to the veil;<br> +So that she seems to contradict me here.<br> +Not seldom, brother, it hath chanc'd for men<br> +To do what they had gladly left undone,<br> +Yet to shun peril they have done amiss:<br> +E'en as Alcmaeon, at his father's suit<br> +Slew his own mother, so made pitiless<br> +Not to lose pity. On this point bethink thee,<br> +That force and will are blended in such wise<br> +As not to make the' offence excusable.<br> +Absolute will agrees not to the wrong,<br> +That inasmuch as there is fear of woe<br> +From non-compliance, it agrees. Of will<br> +Thus absolute Piccarda spake, and I<br> +Of th' other; so that both have truly said."<br> +<br> Such was the flow of that pure rill, that well'd<br> +From forth the fountain of all truth; and such<br> +The rest, that to my wond'ring thoughts I found.<br> +<br> "O thou of primal love the prime delight!<br> +Goddess!" I straight reply'd, "whose lively words<br> +Still shed new heat and vigour through my soul!<br> +Affection fails me to requite thy grace<br> +With equal sum of gratitude: be his<br> +To recompense, who sees and can reward thee.<br> +Well I discern, that by that truth alone<br> +Enlighten'd, beyond which no truth may roam,<br> +Our mind can satisfy her thirst to know:<br> +Therein she resteth, e'en as in his lair<br> +The wild beast, soon as she hath reach'd that bound,<br> +And she hath power to reach it; else desire<br> +Were given to no end. And thence doth doubt<br> +Spring, like a shoot, around the stock of truth;<br> +And it is nature which from height to height<br> +On to the summit prompts us. This invites,<br> +This doth assure me, lady, rev'rently<br> +To ask thee of other truth, that yet<br> +Is dark to me. I fain would know, if man<br> +By other works well done may so supply<br> +The failure of his vows, that in your scale<br> +They lack not weight." I spake; and on me straight<br> +Beatrice look'd with eyes that shot forth sparks<br> +Of love celestial in such copious stream,<br> +That, virtue sinking in me overpower'd,<br> +I turn'd, and downward bent confus'd my sight.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="5"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO V</h2> +<br> + +<p>"If beyond earthly wont, the flame of love<br> +Illume me, so that I o'ercome thy power<br> +Of vision, marvel not: but learn the cause<br> +In that perfection of the sight, which soon<br> +As apprehending, hasteneth on to reach<br> +The good it apprehends. I well discern,<br> +How in thine intellect already shines<br> +The light eternal, which to view alone<br> +Ne'er fails to kindle love; and if aught else<br> +Your love seduces, 't is but that it shows<br> +Some ill-mark'd vestige of that primal beam.<br> +<br> "This would'st thou know, if failure of the vow<br> +By other service may be so supplied,<br> +As from self-question to assure the soul."<br> +<br> Thus she her words, not heedless of my wish,<br> +Began; and thus, as one who breaks not off<br> +Discourse, continued in her saintly strain.<br> +"Supreme of gifts, which God creating gave<br> +Of his free bounty, sign most evident<br> +Of goodness, and in his account most priz'd,<br> +Was liberty of will, the boon wherewith<br> +All intellectual creatures, and them sole<br> +He hath endow'd. Hence now thou mayst infer<br> +Of what high worth the vow, which so is fram'd<br> +That when man offers, God well-pleas'd accepts;<br> +For in the compact between God and him,<br> +This treasure, such as I describe it to thee,<br> +He makes the victim, and of his own act.<br> +What compensation therefore may he find?<br> +If that, whereof thou hast oblation made,<br> +By using well thou think'st to consecrate,<br> +Thou would'st of theft do charitable deed.<br> +Thus I resolve thee of the greater point.<br> +<br> "But forasmuch as holy church, herein<br> +Dispensing, seems to contradict the truth<br> +I have discover'd to thee, yet behooves<br> +Thou rest a little longer at the board,<br> +Ere the crude aliment, which thou hast taken,<br> +Digested fitly to nutrition turn.<br> +Open thy mind to what I now unfold,<br> +And give it inward keeping. Knowledge comes<br> +Of learning well retain'd, unfruitful else.<br> +<br> "This sacrifice in essence of two things<br> +Consisteth; one is that, whereof 't is made,<br> +The covenant the other. For the last,<br> +It ne'er is cancell'd if not kept: and hence<br> +I spake erewhile so strictly of its force.<br> +For this it was enjoin'd the Israelites,<br> +Though leave were giv'n them, as thou know'st, to change<br> +The offering, still to offer. Th' other part,<br> +The matter and the substance of the vow,<br> +May well be such, to that without offence<br> +It may for other substance be exchang'd.<br> +But at his own discretion none may shift<br> +The burden on his shoulders, unreleas'd<br> +By either key, the yellow and the white.<br> +Nor deem of any change, as less than vain,<br> +If the last bond be not within the new<br> +Included, as the quatre in the six.<br> +No satisfaction therefore can be paid<br> +For what so precious in the balance weighs,<br> +That all in counterpoise must kick the beam.<br> +Take then no vow at random: ta'en, with faith<br> +Preserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once,<br> +Blindly to execute a rash resolve,<br> +Whom better it had suited to exclaim,<br> +'I have done ill,' than to redeem his pledge<br> +By doing worse or, not unlike to him<br> +In folly, that great leader of the Greeks:<br> +Whence, on the alter, Iphigenia mourn'd<br> +Her virgin beauty, and hath since made mourn<br> +Both wise and simple, even all, who hear<br> +Of so fell sacrifice. Be ye more staid,<br> +O Christians, not, like feather, by each wind<br> +Removable: nor think to cleanse ourselves<br> +In every water. Either testament,<br> +The old and new, is yours: and for your guide<br> +The shepherd of the church let this suffice<br> +To save you. When by evil lust entic'd,<br> +Remember ye be men, not senseless beasts;<br> +Nor let the Jew, who dwelleth in your streets,<br> +Hold you in mock'ry. Be not, as the lamb,<br> +That, fickle wanton, leaves its mother's milk,<br> +To dally with itself in idle play."<br> +<br> Such were the words that Beatrice spake:<br> +These ended, to that region, where the world<br> +Is liveliest, full of fond desire she turn'd.<br> +<br> Though mainly prompt new question to propose,<br> +Her silence and chang'd look did keep me dumb.<br> +And as the arrow, ere the cord is still,<br> +Leapeth unto its mark; so on we sped<br> +Into the second realm. There I beheld<br> +The dame, so joyous enter, that the orb<br> +Grew brighter at her smiles; and, if the star<br> +Were mov'd to gladness, what then was my cheer,<br> +Whom nature hath made apt for every change!<br> + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/05-99.jpg"><img alt="05-99th.jpg (38K)" src="images/05-99th.jpg" height="475" width="431"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + +<br> As in a quiet and clear lake the fish,<br> +If aught approach them from without, do draw<br> +Towards it, deeming it their food; so drew<br> +Full more than thousand splendours towards us,<br> +And in each one was heard: "Lo! one arriv'd<br> +To multiply our loves!" and as each came<br> +The shadow, streaming forth effulgence new,<br> +Witness'd augmented joy. Here, reader! think,<br> +If thou didst miss the sequel of my tale,<br> +To know the rest how sorely thou wouldst crave;<br> +And thou shalt see what vehement desire<br> +Possess'd me, as soon as these had met my view,<br> +To know their state. "O born in happy hour!<br> +Thou to whom grace vouchsafes, or ere thy close<br> +Of fleshly warfare, to behold the thrones<br> +Of that eternal triumph, know to us<br> +The light communicated, which through heaven<br> +Expatiates without bound. Therefore, if aught<br> +Thou of our beams wouldst borrow for thine aid,<br> +Spare not; and of our radiance take thy fill."<br> +<br> Thus of those piteous spirits one bespake me;<br> +And Beatrice next: "Say on; and trust<br> +As unto gods!"—"How in the light supreme<br> +Thou harbour'st, and from thence the virtue bring'st,<br> +That, sparkling in thine eyes, denotes thy joy,<br> +l mark; but, who thou art, am still to seek;<br> +Or wherefore, worthy spirit! for thy lot<br> +This sphere assign'd, that oft from mortal ken<br> +Is veil'd by others' beams." I said, and turn'd<br> +Toward the lustre, that with greeting, kind<br> +Erewhile had hail'd me. Forthwith brighter far<br> +Than erst, it wax'd: and, as himself the sun<br> +Hides through excess of light, when his warm gaze<br> +Hath on the mantle of thick vapours prey'd;<br> +Within its proper ray the saintly shape<br> +Was, through increase of gladness, thus conceal'd;<br> +And, shrouded so in splendour answer'd me,<br> +E'en as the tenour of my song declares.</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="6"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO VI</h2> +<br> + +<p>"After that Constantine the eagle turn'd<br> +Against the motions of the heav'n, that roll'd<br> +Consenting with its course, when he of yore,<br> +Lavinia's spouse, was leader of the flight,<br> +A hundred years twice told and more, his seat<br> +At Europe's extreme point, the bird of Jove<br> +Held, near the mountains, whence he issued first.<br> +There, under shadow of his sacred plumes<br> +Swaying the world, till through successive hands<br> +To mine he came devolv'd. Caesar I was,<br> +And am Justinian; destin'd by the will<br> +Of that prime love, whose influence I feel,<br> +From vain excess to clear th' encumber'd laws.<br> +Or ere that work engag'd me, I did hold<br> +Christ's nature merely human, with such faith<br> +Contented. But the blessed Agapete,<br> +Who was chief shepherd, he with warning voice<br> +To the true faith recall'd me. I believ'd<br> +His words: and what he taught, now plainly see,<br> +As thou in every contradiction seest<br> +The true and false oppos'd. Soon as my feet<br> +Were to the church reclaim'd, to my great task,<br> +By inspiration of God's grace impell'd,<br> +I gave me wholly, and consign'd mine arms<br> +To Belisarius, with whom heaven's right hand<br> +Was link'd in such conjointment, 't was a sign<br> +That I should rest. To thy first question thus<br> +I shape mine answer, which were ended here,<br> +But that its tendency doth prompt perforce<br> +To some addition; that thou well, mayst mark<br> +What reason on each side they have to plead,<br> +By whom that holiest banner is withstood,<br> +Both who pretend its power and who oppose.<br> + "Beginning from that hour, when Pallas died<br> +To give it rule, behold the valorous deeds<br> +Have made it worthy reverence. Not unknown<br> +To thee, how for three hundred years and more<br> +It dwelt in Alba, up to those fell lists<br> +Where for its sake were met the rival three;<br> +Nor aught unknown to thee, which it achiev'd<br> +Down to the Sabines' wrong to Lucrece' woe,<br> +With its sev'n kings conqu'ring the nation round;<br> +Nor all it wrought, by Roman worthies home<br> +'Gainst Brennus and th' Epirot prince, and hosts<br> +Of single chiefs, or states in league combin'd<br> +Of social warfare; hence Torquatus stern,<br> +And Quintius nam'd of his neglected locks,<br> +The Decii, and the Fabii hence acquir'd<br> +Their fame, which I with duteous zeal embalm.<br> +By it the pride of Arab hordes was quell'd,<br> +When they led on by Hannibal o'erpass'd<br> +The Alpine rocks, whence glide thy currents, Po!<br> +Beneath its guidance, in their prime of days<br> +Scipio and Pompey triumph'd; and that hill,<br> +Under whose summit thou didst see the light,<br> +Rued its stern bearing. After, near the hour,<br> +When heav'n was minded that o'er all the world<br> +His own deep calm should brood, to Caesar's hand<br> +Did Rome consign it; and what then it wrought<br> +From Var unto the Rhine, saw Isere's flood,<br> +Saw Loire and Seine, and every vale, that fills<br> +The torrent Rhone. What after that it wrought,<br> +When from Ravenna it came forth, and leap'd<br> +The Rubicon, was of so bold a flight,<br> +That tongue nor pen may follow it. Tow'rds Spain<br> +It wheel'd its bands, then tow'rd Dyrrachium smote,<br> +And on Pharsalia with so fierce a plunge,<br> +E'en the warm Nile was conscious to the pang;<br> +Its native shores Antandros, and the streams<br> +Of Simois revisited, and there<br> +Where Hector lies; then ill for Ptolemy<br> +His pennons shook again; lightning thence fell<br> +On Juba; and the next upon your west,<br> +At sound of the Pompeian trump, return'd.<br> +<br> "What following and in its next bearer's gripe<br> +It wrought, is now by Cassius and Brutus<br> +Bark'd off in hell, and by Perugia's sons<br> +And Modena's was mourn'd. Hence weepeth still<br> +Sad Cleopatra, who, pursued by it,<br> +Took from the adder black and sudden death.<br> +With him it ran e'en to the Red Sea coast;<br> +With him compos'd the world to such a peace,<br> +That of his temple Janus barr'd the door.<br> +<br> "But all the mighty standard yet had wrought,<br> +And was appointed to perform thereafter,<br> +Throughout the mortal kingdom which it sway'd,<br> +Falls in appearance dwindled and obscur'd,<br> +If one with steady eye and perfect thought<br> +On the third Caesar look; for to his hands,<br> +The living Justice, in whose breath I move,<br> +Committed glory, e'en into his hands,<br> +To execute the vengeance of its wrath.<br> +<br> "Hear now and wonder at what next I tell.<br> +After with Titus it was sent to wreak<br> +Vengeance for vengeance of the ancient sin,<br> +And, when the Lombard tooth, with fangs impure,<br> +Did gore the bosom of the holy church,<br> +Under its wings victorious, Charlemagne<br> +Sped to her rescue. Judge then for thyself<br> +Of those, whom I erewhile accus'd to thee,<br> +What they are, and how grievous their offending,<br> +Who are the cause of all your ills. The one<br> +Against the universal ensign rears<br> +The yellow lilies, and with partial aim<br> +That to himself the other arrogates:<br> +So that 't is hard to see which more offends.<br> +Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your arts<br> +Beneath another standard: ill is this<br> +Follow'd of him, who severs it and justice:<br> +And let not with his Guelphs the new-crown'd Charles<br> +Assail it, but those talons hold in dread,<br> +Which from a lion of more lofty port<br> +Have rent the easing. Many a time ere now<br> +The sons have for the sire's transgression wail'd;<br> +Nor let him trust the fond belief, that heav'n<br> +Will truck its armour for his lilied shield.<br> +<br> "This little star is furnish'd with good spirits,<br> +Whose mortal lives were busied to that end,<br> +That honour and renown might wait on them:<br> +And, when desires thus err in their intention,<br> +True love must needs ascend with slacker beam.<br> +But it is part of our delight, to measure<br> +Our wages with the merit; and admire<br> +The close proportion. Hence doth heav'nly justice<br> +Temper so evenly affection in us,<br> +It ne'er can warp to any wrongfulness.<br> +Of diverse voices is sweet music made:<br> +So in our life the different degrees<br> +Render sweet harmony among these wheels.<br> +<br> "Within the pearl, that now encloseth us,<br> +Shines Romeo's light, whose goodly deed and fair<br> +Met ill acceptance. But the Provencals,<br> +That were his foes, have little cause for mirth.<br> +Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrong<br> +Of other's worth. Four daughters were there born<br> +To Raymond Berenger, and every one<br> +Became a queen; and this for him did Romeo,<br> +Though of mean state and from a foreign land.<br> +Yet envious tongues incited him to ask<br> +A reckoning of that just one, who return'd<br> +Twelve fold to him for ten. Aged and poor<br> +He parted thence: and if the world did know<br> +The heart he had, begging his life by morsels,<br> +'T would deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt."</p> + + +<br><br> +<a name="7"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO VII</h2> +<br> + +<p>"Hosanna Sanctus Deus Sabaoth<br> +Superillustrans claritate tua<br> +Felices ignes horum malahoth!"<br> +Thus chanting saw I turn that substance bright<br> +With fourfold lustre to its orb again,<br> +Revolving; and the rest unto their dance<br> +With it mov'd also; and like swiftest sparks,<br> +In sudden distance from my sight were veil'd.<br> +<br> Me doubt possess'd, and "Speak," it whisper'd me,<br> +"Speak, speak unto thy lady, that she quench<br> +Thy thirst with drops of sweetness." Yet blank awe,<br> +Which lords it o'er me, even at the sound<br> +Of Beatrice's name, did bow me down<br> +As one in slumber held. Not long that mood<br> +Beatrice suffer'd: she, with such a smile,<br> +As might have made one blest amid the flames,<br> +Beaming upon me, thus her words began:<br> +"Thou in thy thought art pond'ring (as I deem),<br> +And what I deem is truth how just revenge<br> +Could be with justice punish'd: from which doubt<br> +I soon will free thee; so thou mark my words;<br> +For they of weighty matter shall possess thee.<br> +<br> "That man, who was unborn, himself condemn'd,<br> +And, in himself, all, who since him have liv'd,<br> +His offspring: whence, below, the human kind<br> +Lay sick in grievous error many an age;<br> +Until it pleas'd the Word of God to come<br> +Amongst them down, to his own person joining<br> +The nature, from its Maker far estrang'd,<br> +By the mere act of his eternal love.<br> +Contemplate here the wonder I unfold.<br> +The nature with its Maker thus conjoin'd,<br> +Created first was blameless, pure and good;<br> +But through itself alone was driven forth<br> +From Paradise, because it had eschew'd<br> +The way of truth and life, to evil turn'd.<br> +Ne'er then was penalty so just as that<br> +Inflicted by the cross, if thou regard<br> +The nature in assumption doom'd: ne'er wrong<br> +So great, in reference to him, who took<br> +Such nature on him, and endur'd the doom.<br> +God therefore and the Jews one sentence pleased:<br> +So different effects flow'd from one act,<br> +And heav'n was open'd, though the earth did quake.<br> +Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hear<br> +That a just vengeance was by righteous court<br> +Justly reveng'd. But yet I see thy mind<br> +By thought on thought arising sore perplex'd,<br> +And with how vehement desire it asks<br> +Solution of the maze. What I have heard,<br> +Is plain, thou sayst: but wherefore God this way<br> +For our redemption chose, eludes my search.<br> +<br> "Brother! no eye of man not perfected,<br> +Nor fully ripen'd in the flame of love,<br> +May fathom this decree. It is a mark,<br> +In sooth, much aim'd at, and but little kenn'd:<br> +And I will therefore show thee why such way<br> +Was worthiest. The celestial love, that spume<br> +All envying in its bounty, in itself<br> +With such effulgence blazeth, as sends forth<br> +All beauteous things eternal. What distils<br> +Immediate thence, no end of being knows,<br> +Bearing its seal immutably impress'd.<br> +Whatever thence immediate falls, is free,<br> +Free wholly, uncontrollable by power<br> +Of each thing new: by such conformity<br> +More grateful to its author, whose bright beams,<br> +Though all partake their shining, yet in those<br> +Are liveliest, which resemble him the most.<br> +These tokens of pre-eminence on man<br> +Largely bestow'd, if any of them fail,<br> +He needs must forfeit his nobility,<br> +No longer stainless. Sin alone is that,<br> +Which doth disfranchise him, and make unlike<br> +To the chief good; for that its light in him<br> +Is darken'd. And to dignity thus lost<br> +Is no return; unless, where guilt makes void,<br> +He for ill pleasure pay with equal pain.<br> +Your nature, which entirely in its seed<br> +Trangress'd, from these distinctions fell, no less<br> +Than from its state in Paradise; nor means<br> +Found of recovery (search all methods out<br> +As strickly as thou may) save one of these,<br> +The only fords were left through which to wade,<br> +Either that God had of his courtesy<br> +Releas'd him merely, or else man himself<br> +For his own folly by himself aton'd.<br> +<br> "Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst,<br> +On th' everlasting counsel, and explore,<br> +Instructed by my words, the dread abyss.<br> +<br> "Man in himself had ever lack'd the means<br> +Of satisfaction, for he could not stoop<br> +Obeying, in humility so low,<br> +As high he, disobeying, thought to soar:<br> +And for this reason he had vainly tried<br> +Out of his own sufficiency to pay<br> +The rigid satisfaction. Then behooved<br> +That God should by his own ways lead him back<br> +Unto the life, from whence he fell, restor'd:<br> +By both his ways, I mean, or one alone.<br> +But since the deed is ever priz'd the more,<br> +The more the doer's good intent appears,<br> +Goodness celestial, whose broad signature<br> +Is on the universe, of all its ways<br> +To raise ye up, was fain to leave out none,<br> +Nor aught so vast or so magnificent,<br> +Either for him who gave or who receiv'd<br> +Between the last night and the primal day,<br> +Was or can be. For God more bounty show'd.<br> +Giving himself to make man capable<br> +Of his return to life, than had the terms<br> +Been mere and unconditional release.<br> +And for his justice, every method else<br> +Were all too scant, had not the Son of God<br> +Humbled himself to put on mortal flesh.<br> +<br> "Now, to fulfil each wish of thine, remains<br> +I somewhat further to thy view unfold.<br> +That thou mayst see as clearly as myself.<br> +<br> "I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see,<br> +The earth and water, and all things of them<br> +Compounded, to corruption turn, and soon<br> +Dissolve. Yet these were also things create,<br> +Because, if what were told me, had been true<br> +They from corruption had been therefore free.<br> +<br> "The angels, O my brother! and this clime<br> +Wherein thou art, impassible and pure,<br> +I call created, as indeed they are<br> +In their whole being. But the elements,<br> +Which thou hast nam'd, and what of them is made,<br> +Are by created virtue' inform'd: create<br> +Their substance, and create the' informing virtue<br> +In these bright stars, that round them circling move<br> +The soul of every brute and of each plant,<br> +The ray and motion of the sacred lights,<br> +With complex potency attract and turn.<br> +But this our life the' eternal good inspires<br> +Immediate, and enamours of itself;<br> +So that our wishes rest for ever here.<br> +<br> "And hence thou mayst by inference conclude<br> +Our resurrection certain, if thy mind<br> +Consider how the human flesh was fram'd,<br> +When both our parents at the first were made."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="8"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO VIII</h2> +<br> + +<p>The world was in its day of peril dark<br> +Wont to believe the dotage of fond love<br> +From the fair Cyprian deity, who rolls<br> +In her third epicycle, shed on men<br> +By stream of potent radiance: therefore they<br> +Of elder time, in their old error blind,<br> +Not her alone with sacrifice ador'd<br> +And invocation, but like honours paid<br> +To Cupid and Dione, deem'd of them<br> +Her mother, and her son, him whom they feign'd<br> +To sit in Dido's bosom: and from her,<br> +Whom I have sung preluding, borrow'd they<br> +The appellation of that star, which views,<br> +Now obvious and now averse, the sun.<br> +<br> I was not ware that I was wafted up<br> +Into its orb; but the new loveliness<br> +That grac'd my lady, gave me ample proof<br> +That we had entered there. And as in flame<br> +A sparkle is distinct, or voice in voice<br> +Discern'd, when one its even tenour keeps,<br> +The other comes and goes; so in that light<br> +I other luminaries saw, that cours'd<br> +In circling motion rapid more or less,<br> +As their eternal phases each impels.<br> +<br> Never was blast from vapour charged with cold,<br> +Whether invisible to eye or no,<br> +Descended with such speed, it had not seem'd<br> +To linger in dull tardiness, compar'd<br> +To those celestial lights, that tow'rds us came,<br> +Leaving the circuit of their joyous ring,<br> +Conducted by the lofty seraphim.<br> +And after them, who in the van appear'd,<br> +Such an hosanna sounded, as hath left<br> +Desire, ne'er since extinct in me, to hear<br> +Renew'd the strain. Then parting from the rest<br> +One near us drew, and sole began: "We all<br> +Are ready at thy pleasure, well dispos'd<br> +To do thee gentle service. We are they,<br> +To whom thou in the world erewhile didst Sing<br> +'O ye! whose intellectual ministry<br> +Moves the third heaven!' and in one orb we roll,<br> +One motion, one impulse, with those who rule<br> +Princedoms in heaven; yet are of love so full,<br> +That to please thee 't will be as sweet to rest."<br> +<br> After mine eyes had with meek reverence<br> +Sought the celestial guide, and were by her<br> +Assur'd, they turn'd again unto the light<br> +Who had so largely promis'd, and with voice<br> +That bare the lively pressure of my zeal,<br> +"Tell who ye are," I cried. Forthwith it grew<br> +In size and splendour, through augmented joy;<br> +And thus it answer'd: "A short date below<br> +The world possess'd me. Had the time been more,<br> +Much evil, that will come, had never chanc'd.<br> +My gladness hides thee from me, which doth shine<br> +Around, and shroud me, as an animal<br> +In its own silk unswath'd. Thou lov'dst me well,<br> +And had'st good cause; for had my sojourning<br> +Been longer on the earth, the love I bare thee<br> +Had put forth more than blossoms. The left bank,<br> +That Rhone, when he hath mix'd with Sorga, laves."<br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/08-60.jpg"><img alt="08-60th.jpg (32K)" src="images/08-60th.jpg" height="470" width="415"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +"In me its lord expected, and that horn<br> +Of fair Ausonia, with its boroughs old,<br> +Bari, and Croton, and Gaeta pil'd,<br> +From where the Trento disembogues his waves,<br> +With Verde mingled, to the salt sea-flood.<br> +Already on my temples beam'd the crown,<br> +Which gave me sov'reignty over the land<br> +By Danube wash'd, whenas he strays beyond<br> +The limits of his German shores. The realm,<br> +Where, on the gulf by stormy Eurus lash'd,<br> +Betwixt Pelorus and Pachynian heights,<br> +The beautiful Trinacria lies in gloom<br> +(Not through Typhaeus, but the vap'ry cloud<br> +Bituminous upsteam'd), THAT too did look<br> +To have its scepter wielded by a race<br> +Of monarchs, sprung through me from Charles and Rodolph;<br> +had not ill lording which doth spirit up<br> +The people ever, in Palermo rais'd<br> +The shout of 'death,' re-echo'd loud and long.<br> +Had but my brother's foresight kenn'd as much,<br> +He had been warier that the greedy want<br> +Of Catalonia might not work his bale.<br> +And truly need there is, that he forecast,<br> +Or other for him, lest more freight be laid<br> +On his already over-laden bark.<br> +Nature in him, from bounty fall'n to thrift,<br> +Would ask the guard of braver arms, than such<br> +As only care to have their coffers fill'd."<br> +<br> "My liege, it doth enhance the joy thy words<br> +Infuse into me, mighty as it is,<br> +To think my gladness manifest to thee,<br> +As to myself, who own it, when thou lookst<br> +Into the source and limit of all good,<br> +There, where thou markest that which thou dost speak,<br> +Thence priz'd of me the more. Glad thou hast made me.<br> +Now make intelligent, clearing the doubt<br> +Thy speech hath raised in me; for much I muse,<br> +How bitter can spring up, when sweet is sown."<br> +<br> I thus inquiring; he forthwith replied:<br> +"If I have power to show one truth, soon that<br> +Shall face thee, which thy questioning declares<br> +Behind thee now conceal'd. The Good, that guides<br> +And blessed makes this realm, which thou dost mount,<br> +Ordains its providence to be the virtue<br> +In these great bodies: nor th' all perfect Mind<br> +Upholds their nature merely, but in them<br> +Their energy to save: for nought, that lies<br> +Within the range of that unerring bow,<br> +But is as level with the destin'd aim,<br> +As ever mark to arrow's point oppos'd.<br> +Were it not thus, these heavens, thou dost visit,<br> +Would their effect so work, it would not be<br> +Art, but destruction; and this may not chance,<br> +If th' intellectual powers, that move these stars,<br> +Fail not, or who, first faulty made them fail.<br> +Wilt thou this truth more clearly evidenc'd?"<br> +<br> To whom I thus: "It is enough: no fear,<br> +I see, lest nature in her part should tire."<br> +<br> He straight rejoin'd: "Say, were it worse for man,<br> +If he liv'd not in fellowship on earth?"<br> +<br> "Yea," answer'd I; "nor here a reason needs."<br> +<br> "And may that be, if different estates<br> +Grow not of different duties in your life?<br> +Consult your teacher, and he tells you 'no."'<br> +<br> Thus did he come, deducing to this point,<br> +And then concluded: "For this cause behooves,<br> +The roots, from whence your operations come,<br> +Must differ. Therefore one is Solon born;<br> +Another, Xerxes; and Melchisidec<br> +A third; and he a fourth, whose airy voyage<br> +Cost him his son. In her circuitous course,<br> +Nature, that is the seal to mortal wax,<br> +Doth well her art, but no distinctions owns<br> +'Twixt one or other household. Hence befalls<br> +That Esau is so wide of Jacob: hence<br> +Quirinus of so base a father springs,<br> +He dates from Mars his lineage. Were it not<br> +That providence celestial overrul'd,<br> +Nature, in generation, must the path<br> +Trac'd by the generator, still pursue<br> +Unswervingly. Thus place I in thy sight<br> +That, which was late behind thee. But, in sign<br> +Of more affection for thee, 't is my will<br> +Thou wear this corollary. Nature ever<br> +Finding discordant fortune, like all seed<br> +Out of its proper climate, thrives but ill.<br> +And were the world below content to mark<br> +And work on the foundation nature lays,<br> +It would not lack supply of excellence.<br> +But ye perversely to religion strain<br> +Him, who was born to gird on him the sword,<br> +And of the fluent phrasemen make your king;<br> +Therefore your steps have wander'd from the paths."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="9"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO IX</h2> +<br> + +<p>After solution of my doubt, thy Charles,<br> +O fair Clemenza, of the treachery spake<br> +That must befall his seed: but, "Tell it not,"<br> +Said he, "and let the destin'd years come round."<br> +Nor may I tell thee more, save that the meed<br> +Of sorrow well-deserv'd shall quit your wrongs.<br> +<br> And now the visage of that saintly light<br> +Was to the sun, that fills it, turn'd again,<br> +As to the good, whose plenitude of bliss<br> +Sufficeth all. O ye misguided souls!<br> +Infatuate, who from such a good estrange<br> +Your hearts, and bend your gaze on vanity,<br> +Alas for you!—And lo! toward me, next,<br> +Another of those splendent forms approach'd,<br> +That, by its outward bright'ning, testified<br> +The will it had to pleasure me. The eyes<br> +Of Beatrice, resting, as before,<br> +Firmly upon me, manifested forth<br> +Approval of my wish. "And O," I cried,<br> +"Blest spirit! quickly be my will perform'd;<br> +And prove thou to me, that my inmost thoughts<br> +I can reflect on thee." Thereat the light,<br> +That yet was new to me, from the recess,<br> +Where it before was singing, thus began,<br> +As one who joys in kindness: "In that part<br> +Of the deprav'd Italian land, which lies<br> +Between Rialto, and the fountain-springs<br> +Of Brenta and of Piava, there doth rise,<br> +But to no lofty eminence, a hill,<br> +From whence erewhile a firebrand did descend,<br> +That sorely sheet the region. From one root<br> +I and it sprang; my name on earth Cunizza:<br> +And here I glitter, for that by its light<br> +This star o'ercame me. Yet I naught repine,<br> +Nor grudge myself the cause of this my lot,<br> +Which haply vulgar hearts can scarce conceive.<br> +<br> "This jewel, that is next me in our heaven,<br> +Lustrous and costly, great renown hath left,<br> +And not to perish, ere these hundred years<br> +Five times absolve their round. Consider thou,<br> +If to excel be worthy man's endeavour,<br> +When such life may attend the first. Yet they<br> +Care not for this, the crowd that now are girt<br> +By Adice and Tagliamento, still<br> +Impenitent, tho' scourg'd. The hour is near,<br> +When for their stubbornness at Padua's marsh<br> +The water shall be chang'd, that laves Vicena<br> +And where Cagnano meets with Sile, one<br> +Lords it, and bears his head aloft, for whom<br> +The web is now a-warping. Feltro too<br> +Shall sorrow for its godless shepherd's fault,<br> +Of so deep stain, that never, for the like,<br> +Was Malta's bar unclos'd. Too large should be<br> +The skillet, that would hold Ferrara's blood,<br> +And wearied he, who ounce by ounce would weight it,<br> +The which this priest, in show of party-zeal,<br> +Courteous will give; nor will the gift ill suit<br> +The country's custom. We descry above,<br> +Mirrors, ye call them thrones, from which to us<br> +Reflected shine the judgments of our God:<br> +Whence these our sayings we avouch for good."<br> +<br> She ended, and appear'd on other thoughts<br> +Intent, re-ent'ring on the wheel she late<br> +Had left. That other joyance meanwhile wax'd<br> +A thing to marvel at, in splendour glowing,<br> +Like choicest ruby stricken by the sun,<br> +For, in that upper clime, effulgence comes<br> +Of gladness, as here laughter: and below,<br> +As the mind saddens, murkier grows the shade.<br> +<br> "God seeth all: and in him is thy sight,"<br> +Said I, "blest Spirit! Therefore will of his<br> +Cannot to thee be dark. Why then delays<br> +Thy voice to satisfy my wish untold,<br> +That voice which joins the inexpressive song,<br> +Pastime of heav'n, the which those ardours sing,<br> +That cowl them with six shadowing wings outspread?<br> +I would not wait thy asking, wert thou known<br> +To me, as thoroughly I to thee am known."<br> +<br> He forthwith answ'ring, thus his words began:<br> +"The valley' of waters, widest next to that<br> +Which doth the earth engarland, shapes its course,<br> +Between discordant shores, against the sun<br> +Inward so far, it makes meridian there,<br> +Where was before th' horizon. Of that vale<br> +Dwelt I upon the shore, 'twixt Ebro's stream<br> +And Macra's, that divides with passage brief<br> +Genoan bounds from Tuscan. East and west<br> +Are nearly one to Begga and my land,<br> +Whose haven erst was with its own blood warm.<br> +Who knew my name were wont to call me Folco:<br> +And I did bear impression of this heav'n,<br> +That now bears mine: for not with fiercer flame<br> +Glow'd Belus' daughter, injuring alike<br> +Sichaeus and Creusa, than did I,<br> +Long as it suited the unripen'd down<br> +That fledg'd my cheek: nor she of Rhodope,<br> +That was beguiled of Demophoon;<br> +Nor Jove's son, when the charms of Iole<br> +Were shrin'd within his heart. And yet there hides<br> +No sorrowful repentance here, but mirth,<br> +Not for the fault (that doth not come to mind),<br> +But for the virtue, whose o'erruling sway<br> +And providence have wrought thus quaintly. Here<br> +The skill is look'd into, that fashioneth<br> +With such effectual working, and the good<br> +Discern'd, accruing to this upper world<br> +From that below. But fully to content<br> +Thy wishes, all that in this sphere have birth,<br> +Demands my further parle. Inquire thou wouldst,<br> +Who of this light is denizen, that here<br> +Beside me sparkles, as the sun-beam doth<br> +On the clear wave. Know then, the soul of Rahab<br> +Is in that gladsome harbour, to our tribe<br> +United, and the foremost rank assign'd.<br> +He to that heav'n, at which the shadow ends<br> +Of your sublunar world, was taken up,<br> +First, in Christ's triumph, of all souls redeem'd:<br> +For well behoov'd, that, in some part of heav'n,<br> +She should remain a trophy, to declare<br> +The mighty contest won with either palm;<br> +For that she favour'd first the high exploit<br> +Of Joshua on the holy land, whereof<br> +The Pope recks little now. Thy city, plant<br> +Of him, that on his Maker turn'd the back,<br> +And of whose envying so much woe hath sprung,<br> +Engenders and expands the cursed flower,<br> +That hath made wander both the sheep and lambs,<br> +Turning the shepherd to a wolf. For this,<br> +The gospel and great teachers laid aside,<br> +The decretals, as their stuft margins show,<br> +Are the sole study. Pope and Cardinals,<br> +Intent on these, ne'er journey but in thought<br> +To Nazareth, where Gabriel op'd his wings.<br> +Yet it may chance, erelong, the Vatican,<br> +And other most selected parts of Rome,<br> +That were the grave of Peter's soldiery,<br> +Shall be deliver'd from the adult'rous bond."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="10"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO X</h2> +<br> + +<p>Looking into his first-born with the love,<br> +Which breathes from both eternal, the first Might<br> +Ineffable, whence eye or mind<br> +Can roam, hath in such order all dispos'd,<br> +As none may see and fail to enjoy. Raise, then,<br> +O reader! to the lofty wheels, with me,<br> +Thy ken directed to the point, whereat<br> +One motion strikes on th' other. There begin<br> +Thy wonder of the mighty Architect,<br> +Who loves his work so inwardly, his eye<br> +Doth ever watch it. See, how thence oblique<br> +Brancheth the circle, where the planets roll<br> +To pour their wished influence on the world;<br> +Whose path not bending thus, in heav'n above<br> +Much virtue would be lost, and here on earth,<br> +All power well nigh extinct: or, from direct<br> +Were its departure distant more or less,<br> +I' th' universal order, great defect<br> +Must, both in heav'n and here beneath, ensue.<br> +<br> Now rest thee, reader! on thy bench, and muse<br> +Anticipative of the feast to come;<br> +So shall delight make thee not feel thy toil.<br> +Lo! I have set before thee, for thyself<br> +Feed now: the matter I indite, henceforth<br> +Demands entire my thought. Join'd with the part,<br> +Which late we told of, the great minister<br> +Of nature, that upon the world imprints<br> +The virtue of the heaven, and doles out<br> +Time for us with his beam, went circling on<br> +Along the spires, where each hour sooner comes;<br> +And I was with him, weetless of ascent,<br> +As one, who till arriv'd, weets not his coming.<br> +<br> For Beatrice, she who passeth on<br> +So suddenly from good to better, time<br> +Counts not the act, oh then how great must needs<br> +Have been her brightness! What she was i' th' sun<br> +(Where I had enter'd), not through change of hue,<br> +But light transparent—did I summon up<br> +Genius, art, practice—I might not so speak,<br> +It should be e'er imagin'd: yet believ'd<br> +It may be, and the sight be justly crav'd.<br> +And if our fantasy fail of such height,<br> +What marvel, since no eye above the sun<br> +Hath ever travel'd? Such are they dwell here,<br> +Fourth family of the Omnipotent Sire,<br> +Who of his spirit and of his offspring shows;<br> +And holds them still enraptur'd with the view.<br> +And thus to me Beatrice: "Thank, oh thank,<br> +The Sun of angels, him, who by his grace<br> +To this perceptible hath lifted thee."<br> +<br> Never was heart in such devotion bound,<br> +And with complacency so absolute<br> +Dispos'd to render up itself to God,<br> +As mine was at those words: and so entire<br> +The love for Him, that held me, it eclips'd<br> +Beatrice in oblivion. Naught displeas'd<br> +Was she, but smil'd thereat so joyously,<br> +That of her laughing eyes the radiance brake<br> +And scatter'd my collected mind abroad.<br> +<br> Then saw I a bright band, in liveliness<br> +Surpassing, who themselves did make the crown,<br> +And us their centre: yet more sweet in voice,<br> +Than in their visage beaming. Cinctur'd thus,<br> +Sometime Latona's daughter we behold,<br> +When the impregnate air retains the thread,<br> +That weaves her zone. In the celestial court,<br> +Whence I return, are many jewels found,<br> +So dear and beautiful, they cannot brook<br> +Transporting from that realm: and of these lights<br> +Such was the song. Who doth not prune his wing<br> +To soar up thither, let him look from thence<br> +For tidings from the dumb. When, singing thus,<br> +Those burning suns that circled round us thrice,<br> +As nearest stars around the fixed pole,<br> +Then seem'd they like to ladies, from the dance<br> +Not ceasing, but suspense, in silent pause,<br> +List'ning, till they have caught the strain anew:<br> +Suspended so they stood: and, from within,<br> +Thus heard I one, who spake: "Since with its beam<br> +The grace, whence true love lighteth first his flame,<br> +That after doth increase by loving, shines<br> +So multiplied in thee, it leads thee up<br> +Along this ladder, down whose hallow'd steps<br> +None e'er descend, and mount them not again,<br> +Who from his phial should refuse thee wine<br> +To slake thy thirst, no less constrained were,<br> +Than water flowing not unto the sea.<br> +Thou fain wouldst hear, what plants are these, that bloom<br> +In the bright garland, which, admiring, girds<br> +This fair dame round, who strengthens thee for heav'n.<br> +I then was of the lambs, that Dominic<br> +Leads, for his saintly flock, along the way,<br> +Where well they thrive, not sworn with vanity.<br> +He, nearest on my right hand, brother was,<br> +And master to me: Albert of Cologne<br> +Is this: and of Aquinum, Thomas I.<br> +If thou of all the rest wouldst be assur'd,<br> +Let thine eye, waiting on the words I speak,<br> +In circuit journey round the blessed wreath.<br> +That next resplendence issues from the smile<br> +Of Gratian, who to either forum lent<br> +Such help, as favour wins in Paradise.<br> +The other, nearest, who adorns our quire,<br> +Was Peter, he that with the widow gave<br> +To holy church his treasure. The fifth light,<br> +Goodliest of all, is by such love inspired,<br> +That all your world craves tidings of its doom:<br> +Within, there is the lofty light, endow'd<br> +With sapience so profound, if truth be truth,<br> +That with a ken of such wide amplitude<br> +No second hath arisen. Next behold<br> +That taper's radiance, to whose view was shown,<br> +Clearliest, the nature and the ministry<br> +Angelical, while yet in flesh it dwelt.<br> +In the other little light serenely smiles<br> +That pleader for the Christian temples, he<br> +Who did provide Augustin of his lore.<br> +Now, if thy mind's eye pass from light to light,<br> +Upon my praises following, of the eighth<br> +Thy thirst is next. The saintly soul, that shows<br> +The world's deceitfulness, to all who hear him,<br> +Is, with the sight of all the good, that is,<br> +Blest there. The limbs, whence it was driven, lie<br> +Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom<br> +And exile came it here. Lo! further on,<br> +Where flames the arduous Spirit of Isidore,<br> +Of Bede, and Richard, more than man, erewhile,<br> +In deep discernment. Lastly this, from whom<br> +Thy look on me reverteth, was the beam<br> +Of one, whose spirit, on high musings bent,<br> +Rebuk'd the ling'ring tardiness of death.<br> +It is the eternal light of Sigebert,<br> +Who 'scap'd not envy, when of truth he argued,<br> +Reading in the straw-litter'd street." Forthwith,<br> +As clock, that calleth up the spouse of God<br> +To win her bridegroom's love at matin's hour,<br> +Each part of other fitly drawn and urg'd,<br> +Sends out a tinkling sound, of note so sweet,<br> +Affection springs in well-disposed breast;<br> +Thus saw I move the glorious wheel, thus heard<br> +Voice answ'ring voice, so musical and soft,<br> +It can be known but where day endless shines.</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="11"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO XI</h2> +<br> + +<p>O fond anxiety of mortal men!<br> +How vain and inconclusive arguments<br> +Are those, which make thee beat thy wings below<br> +For statues one, and one for aphorisms<br> +Was hunting; this the priesthood follow'd, that<br> +By force or sophistry aspir'd to rule;<br> +To rob another, and another sought<br> +By civil business wealth; one moiling lay<br> +Tangled in net of sensual delight,<br> +And one to witless indolence resign'd;<br> +What time from all these empty things escap'd,<br> +With Beatrice, I thus gloriously<br> +Was rais'd aloft, and made the guest of heav'n.<br> +<br> They of the circle to that point, each one.<br> +Where erst it was, had turn'd; and steady glow'd,<br> +As candle in his socket. Then within<br> +The lustre, that erewhile bespake me, smiling<br> +With merer gladness, heard I thus begin:<br> +<br> "E'en as his beam illumes me, so I look<br> +Into the eternal light, and clearly mark<br> +Thy thoughts, from whence they rise. Thou art in doubt,<br> +And wouldst, that I should bolt my words afresh<br> +In such plain open phrase, as may be smooth<br> +To thy perception, where I told thee late<br> +That 'well they thrive;' and that 'no second such<br> +Hath risen,' which no small distinction needs.<br> +<br> "The providence, that governeth the world,<br> +In depth of counsel by created ken<br> +Unfathomable, to the end that she,<br> +Who with loud cries was 'spous'd in precious blood,<br> +Might keep her footing towards her well-belov'd,<br> +Safe in herself and constant unto him,<br> +Hath two ordain'd, who should on either hand<br> +In chief escort her: one seraphic all<br> +In fervency; for wisdom upon earth,<br> +The other splendour of cherubic light.<br> +I but of one will tell: he tells of both,<br> +Who one commendeth which of them so'er<br> +Be taken: for their deeds were to one end.<br> +<br> "Between Tupino, and the wave, that falls<br> +From blest Ubaldo's chosen hill, there hangs<br> +Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold<br> +Are wafted through Perugia's eastern gate:<br> +And Norcera with Gualdo, in its rear<br> +Mourn for their heavy yoke. Upon that side,<br> +Where it doth break its steepness most, arose<br> +A sun upon the world, as duly this<br> +From Ganges doth: therefore let none, who speak<br> +Of that place, say Ascesi; for its name<br> +Were lamely so deliver'd; but the East,<br> +To call things rightly, be it henceforth styl'd.<br> +He was not yet much distant from his rising,<br> +When his good influence 'gan to bless the earth.<br> +A dame to whom none openeth pleasure's gate<br> +More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will,<br> +His stripling choice: and he did make her his,<br> +Before the Spiritual court, by nuptial bonds,<br> +And in his father's sight: from day to day,<br> +Then lov'd her more devoutly. She, bereav'd<br> +Of her first husband, slighted and obscure,<br> +Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd<br> +Without a single suitor, till he came.<br> +Nor aught avail'd, that, with Amyclas, she<br> +Was found unmov'd at rumour of his voice,<br> +Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness<br> +Whereby with Christ she mounted on the cross,<br> +When Mary stay'd beneath. But not to deal<br> +Thus closely with thee longer, take at large<br> +The rovers' titles—Poverty and Francis.<br> +Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love,<br> +And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts,<br> +So much, that venerable Bernard first<br> +Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace<br> +So heavenly, ran, yet deem'd his footing slow.<br> +O hidden riches! O prolific good!<br> +Egidius bares him next, and next Sylvester,<br> +And follow both the bridegroom; so the bride<br> +Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way,<br> +The father and the master, with his spouse,<br> +And with that family, whom now the cord<br> +Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart<br> +Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son<br> +Of Pietro Bernardone, and by men<br> +In wond'rous sort despis'd. But royally<br> +His hard intention he to Innocent<br> +Set forth, and from him first receiv'd the seal<br> +On his religion. Then, when numerous flock'd<br> +The tribe of lowly ones, that trac'd HIS steps,<br> +Whose marvellous life deservedly were sung<br> +In heights empyreal, through Honorius' hand<br> +A second crown, to deck their Guardian's virtues,<br> +Was by the eternal Spirit inwreath'd: and when<br> +He had, through thirst of martyrdom, stood up<br> +In the proud Soldan's presence, and there preach'd<br> +Christ and his followers; but found the race<br> +Unripen'd for conversion: back once more<br> +He hasted (not to intermit his toil),<br> +And reap'd Ausonian lands. On the hard rock,<br> +'Twixt Arno and the Tyber, he from Christ<br> +Took the last Signet, which his limbs two years<br> +Did carry. Then the season come, that he,<br> +Who to such good had destin'd him, was pleas'd<br> +T' advance him to the meed, which he had earn'd<br> +By his self-humbling, to his brotherhood,<br> +As their just heritage, he gave in charge<br> +His dearest lady, and enjoin'd their love<br> +And faith to her: and, from her bosom, will'd<br> +His goodly spirit should move forth, returning<br> +To its appointed kingdom, nor would have<br> +His body laid upon another bier.<br> +<br> "Think now of one, who were a fit colleague,<br> +To keep the bark of Peter in deep sea<br> +Helm'd to right point; and such our Patriarch was.<br> +Therefore who follow him, as he enjoins,<br> +Thou mayst be certain, take good lading in.<br> +But hunger of new viands tempts his flock,<br> +So that they needs into strange pastures wide<br> +Must spread them: and the more remote from him<br> +The stragglers wander, so much mole they come<br> +Home to the sheep-fold, destitute of milk.<br> +There are of them, in truth, who fear their harm,<br> +And to the shepherd cleave; but these so few,<br> +A little stuff may furnish out their cloaks.<br> +<br> "Now, if my words be clear, if thou have ta'en<br> +Good heed, if that, which I have told, recall<br> +To mind, thy wish may be in part fulfill'd:<br> +For thou wilt see the point from whence they split,<br> +Nor miss of the reproof, which that implies,<br> +'That well they thrive not sworn with vanity."'</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="12"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO XII</h2> +<br> + +<p>Soon as its final word the blessed flame<br> +Had rais'd for utterance, straight the holy mill<br> +Began to wheel, nor yet had once revolv'd,<br> +Or ere another, circling, compass'd it,<br> +Motion to motion, song to song, conjoining,<br> +Song, that as much our muses doth excel,<br> +Our Sirens with their tuneful pipes, as ray<br> +Of primal splendour doth its faint reflex.<br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/12-16.jpg"><img alt="12-16th.jpg (37K)" src="images/12-16th.jpg" height="476" width="432"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br> As when, if Juno bid her handmaid forth,<br> +Two arches parallel, and trick'd alike,<br> +Span the thin cloud, the outer taking birth<br> +From that within (in manner of that voice<br> +Whom love did melt away, as sun the mist),<br> +And they who gaze, presageful call to mind<br> +The compact, made with Noah, of the world<br> +No more to be o'erflow'd; about us thus<br> +Of sempiternal roses, bending, wreath'd<br> +Those garlands twain, and to the innermost<br> +E'en thus th' external answered. When the footing,<br> +And other great festivity, of song,<br> +And radiance, light with light accordant, each<br> +Jocund and blythe, had at their pleasure still'd<br> +(E'en as the eyes by quick volition mov'd,<br> +Are shut and rais'd together), from the heart<br> +Of one amongst the new lights mov'd a voice,<br> +That made me seem like needle to the star,<br> +In turning to its whereabout, and thus<br> +Began: "The love, that makes me beautiful,<br> +Prompts me to tell of th' other guide, for whom<br> +Such good of mine is spoken. Where one is,<br> +The other worthily should also be;<br> +That as their warfare was alike, alike<br> +Should be their glory. Slow, and full of doubt,<br> +And with thin ranks, after its banner mov'd<br> +The army of Christ (which it so clearly cost<br> +To reappoint), when its imperial Head,<br> +Who reigneth ever, for the drooping host<br> +Did make provision, thorough grace alone,<br> +And not through its deserving. As thou heard'st,<br> +Two champions to the succour of his spouse<br> +He sent, who by their deeds and words might join<br> +Again his scatter'd people. In that clime,<br> +Where springs the pleasant west-wind to unfold<br> +The fresh leaves, with which Europe sees herself<br> +New-garmented; nor from those billows far,<br> +Beyond whose chiding, after weary course,<br> +The sun doth sometimes hide him, safe abides<br> +The happy Callaroga, under guard<br> +Of the great shield, wherein the lion lies<br> +Subjected and supreme. And there was born<br> +The loving million of the Christian faith,<br> +The hollow'd wrestler, gentle to his own,<br> +And to his enemies terrible. So replete<br> +His soul with lively virtue, that when first<br> +Created, even in the mother's womb,<br> +It prophesied. When, at the sacred font,<br> +The spousals were complete 'twixt faith and him,<br> +Where pledge of mutual safety was exchang'd,<br> +The dame, who was his surety, in her sleep<br> +Beheld the wondrous fruit, that was from him<br> +And from his heirs to issue. And that such<br> +He might be construed, as indeed he was,<br> +She was inspir'd to name him of his owner,<br> +Whose he was wholly, and so call'd him Dominic.<br> +And I speak of him, as the labourer,<br> +Whom Christ in his own garden chose to be<br> +His help-mate. Messenger he seem'd, and friend<br> +Fast-knit to Christ; and the first love he show'd,<br> +Was after the first counsel that Christ gave.<br> +Many a time his nurse, at entering found<br> +That he had ris'n in silence, and was prostrate,<br> +As who should say, "My errand was for this."<br> +O happy father! Felix rightly nam'd!<br> +O favour'd mother! rightly nam'd Joanna!<br> +If that do mean, as men interpret it.<br> +Not for the world's sake, for which now they pore<br> +Upon Ostiense and Taddeo's page,<br> +But for the real manna, soon he grew<br> +Mighty in learning, and did set himself<br> +To go about the vineyard, that soon turns<br> +To wan and wither'd, if not tended well:<br> +And from the see (whose bounty to the just<br> +And needy is gone by, not through its fault,<br> +But his who fills it basely, he besought,<br> +No dispensation for commuted wrong,<br> +Nor the first vacant fortune, nor the tenth),<br> +That to God's paupers rightly appertain,<br> +But, 'gainst an erring and degenerate world,<br> +Licence to fight, in favour of that seed,<br> +From which the twice twelve cions gird thee round.<br> +Then, with sage doctrine and good will to help,<br> +Forth on his great apostleship he far'd,<br> +Like torrent bursting from a lofty vein;<br> +And, dashing 'gainst the stocks of heresy,<br> +Smote fiercest, where resistance was most stout.<br> +Thence many rivulets have since been turn'd,<br> +Over the garden Catholic to lead<br> +Their living waters, and have fed its plants.<br> +<br> "If such one wheel of that two-yoked car,<br> +Wherein the holy church defended her,<br> +And rode triumphant through the civil broil.<br> +Thou canst not doubt its fellow's excellence,<br> +Which Thomas, ere my coming, hath declar'd<br> +So courteously unto thee. But the track,<br> +Which its smooth fellies made, is now deserted:<br> +That mouldy mother is where late were lees.<br> +His family, that wont to trace his path,<br> +Turn backward, and invert their steps; erelong<br> +To rue the gathering in of their ill crop,<br> +When the rejected tares in vain shall ask<br> +Admittance to the barn. I question not<br> +But he, who search'd our volume, leaf by leaf,<br> +Might still find page with this inscription on't,<br> +'I am as I was wont.' Yet such were not<br> +From Acquasparta nor Casale, whence<br> +Of those, who come to meddle with the text,<br> +One stretches and another cramps its rule.<br> +Bonaventura's life in me behold,<br> +From Bagnororegio, one, who in discharge<br> +Of my great offices still laid aside<br> +All sinister aim. Illuminato here,<br> +And Agostino join me: two they were,<br> +Among the first of those barefooted meek ones,<br> +Who sought God's friendship in the cord: with them<br> +Hugues of Saint Victor, Pietro Mangiadore,<br> +And he of Spain in his twelve volumes shining,<br> +Nathan the prophet, Metropolitan<br> +Chrysostom, and Anselmo, and, who deign'd<br> +To put his hand to the first art, Donatus.<br> +Raban is here: and at my side there shines<br> +Calabria's abbot, Joachim, endow'd<br> +With soul prophetic. The bright courtesy<br> +Of friar Thomas, and his goodly lore,<br> +Have mov'd me to the blazon of a peer<br> +So worthy, and with me have mov'd this throng."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="13"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO XIII</h2> +<br> + +<p>Let him, who would conceive what now I saw,<br> +Imagine (and retain the image firm,<br> +As mountain rock, the whilst he hears me speak),<br> +Of stars fifteen, from midst the ethereal host<br> +Selected, that, with lively ray serene,<br> +O'ercome the massiest air: thereto imagine<br> +The wain, that, in the bosom of our sky,<br> +Spins ever on its axle night and day,<br> +With the bright summit of that horn which swells<br> +Due from the pole, round which the first wheel rolls,<br> +T' have rang'd themselves in fashion of two signs<br> +In heav'n, such as Ariadne made,<br> +When death's chill seized her; and that one of them<br> +Did compass in the other's beam; and both<br> +In such sort whirl around, that each should tend<br> +With opposite motion and, conceiving thus,<br> +Of that true constellation, and the dance<br> +Twofold, that circled me, he shall attain<br> +As 't were the shadow; for things there as much<br> +Surpass our usage, as the swiftest heav'n<br> +Is swifter than the Chiana. There was sung<br> +No Bacchus, and no Io Paean, but<br> +Three Persons in the Godhead, and in one<br> +Substance that nature and the human join'd.<br> +<br> The song fulfill'd its measure; and to us<br> +Those saintly lights attended, happier made<br> +At each new minist'ring. Then silence brake,<br> +Amid th' accordant sons of Deity,<br> +That luminary, in which the wondrous life<br> +Of the meek man of God was told to me;<br> +And thus it spake: "One ear o' th' harvest thresh'd,<br> +And its grain safely stor'd, sweet charity<br> +Invites me with the other to like toil.<br> +<br> "Thou know'st, that in the bosom, whence the rib<br> +Was ta'en to fashion that fair cheek, whose taste<br> +All the world pays for, and in that, which pierc'd<br> +By the keen lance, both after and before<br> +Such satisfaction offer'd, as outweighs<br> +Each evil in the scale, whate'er of light<br> +To human nature is allow'd, must all<br> +Have by his virtue been infus'd, who form'd<br> +Both one and other: and thou thence admir'st<br> +In that I told thee, of beatitudes<br> +A second, there is none, to his enclos'd<br> +In the fifth radiance. Open now thine eyes<br> +To what I answer thee; and thou shalt see<br> +Thy deeming and my saying meet in truth,<br> +As centre in the round. That which dies not,<br> +And that which can die, are but each the beam<br> +Of that idea, which our Soverign Sire<br> +Engendereth loving; for that lively light,<br> +Which passeth from his brightness; not disjoin'd<br> +From him, nor from his love triune with them,<br> +Doth, through his bounty, congregate itself,<br> +Mirror'd, as 't were in new existences,<br> +Itself unalterable and ever one.<br> +<br> "Descending hence unto the lowest powers,<br> +Its energy so sinks, at last it makes<br> +But brief contingencies: for so I name<br> +Things generated, which the heav'nly orbs<br> +Moving, with seed or without seed, produce.<br> +Their wax, and that which molds it, differ much:<br> +And thence with lustre, more or less, it shows<br> +Th' ideal stamp impress: so that one tree<br> +According to his kind, hath better fruit,<br> +And worse: and, at your birth, ye, mortal men,<br> +Are in your talents various. Were the wax<br> +Molded with nice exactness, and the heav'n<br> +In its disposing influence supreme,<br> +The lustre of the seal should be complete:<br> +But nature renders it imperfect ever,<br> +Resembling thus the artist in her work,<br> +Whose faultering hand is faithless to his skill.<br> +Howe'er, if love itself dispose, and mark<br> +The primal virtue, kindling with bright view,<br> +There all perfection is vouchsafed; and such<br> +The clay was made, accomplish'd with each gift,<br> +That life can teem with; such the burden fill'd<br> +The virgin's bosom: so that I commend<br> +Thy judgment, that the human nature ne'er<br> +Was or can be, such as in them it was.<br> +<br> "Did I advance no further than this point,<br> +'How then had he no peer?' thou might'st reply.<br> +But, that what now appears not, may appear<br> +Right plainly, ponder, who he was, and what<br> +(When he was bidden 'Ask' ), the motive sway'd<br> +To his requesting. I have spoken thus,<br> +That thou mayst see, he was a king, who ask'd<br> +For wisdom, to the end he might be king<br> +Sufficient: not the number to search out<br> +Of the celestial movers; or to know,<br> +If necessary with contingent e'er<br> +Have made necessity; or whether that<br> +Be granted, that first motion is; or if<br> +Of the mid circle can, by art, be made<br> +Triangle with each corner, blunt or sharp.<br> +<br> "Whence, noting that, which I have said, and this,<br> +Thou kingly prudence and that ken mayst learn,<br> +At which the dart of my intention aims.<br> +And, marking clearly, that I told thee, 'Risen,'<br> +Thou shalt discern it only hath respect<br> +To kings, of whom are many, and the good<br> +Are rare. With this distinction take my words;<br> +And they may well consist with that which thou<br> +Of the first human father dost believe,<br> +And of our well-beloved. And let this<br> +Henceforth be led unto thy feet, to make<br> +Thee slow in motion, as a weary man,<br> +Both to the 'yea' and to the 'nay' thou seest not.<br> +For he among the fools is down full low,<br> +Whose affirmation, or denial, is<br> +Without distinction, in each case alike<br> +Since it befalls, that in most instances<br> +Current opinion leads to false: and then<br> +Affection bends the judgment to her ply.<br> +<br> "Much more than vainly doth he loose from shore,<br> +Since he returns not such as he set forth,<br> +Who fishes for the truth and wanteth skill.<br> +And open proofs of this unto the world<br> +Have been afforded in Parmenides,<br> +Melissus, Bryso, and the crowd beside,<br> +Who journey'd on, and knew not whither: so did<br> +Sabellius, Arius, and the other fools,<br> +Who, like to scymitars, reflected back<br> +The scripture-image, by distortion marr'd.<br> +<br> "Let not the people be too swift to judge,<br> +As one who reckons on the blades in field,<br> +Or ere the crop be ripe. For I have seen<br> +The thorn frown rudely all the winter long<br> +And after bear the rose upon its top;<br> +And bark, that all the way across the sea<br> +Ran straight and speedy, perish at the last,<br> +E'en in the haven's mouth seeing one steal,<br> +Another brine, his offering to the priest,<br> +Let not Dame Birtha and Sir Martin thence<br> +Into heav'n's counsels deem that they can pry:<br> +For one of these may rise, the other fall."</p> + +<br><br> +<a name="14"></a> +<br><br> +<h2>CANTO XIV</h2> +<br> + +<p>From centre to the circle, and so back<br> +From circle to the centre, water moves<br> +In the round chalice, even as the blow<br> +Impels it, inwardly, or from without.<br> +Such was the image glanc'd into my mind,<br> +As the great spirit of Aquinum ceas'd;<br> +And Beatrice after him her words<br> +Resum'd alternate: "Need there is (tho' yet<br> +He tells it to you not in words, nor e'en<br> +In thought) that he should fathom to its depth<br> +Another mystery. Tell him, if the light,<br> +Wherewith your substance blooms, shall stay with you<br> +Eternally, as now: and, if it doth,<br> +How, when ye shall regain your visible forms,<br> +The sight may without harm endure the change,<br> +That also tell." As those, who in a ring<br> +Tread the light measure, in their fitful mirth<br> +Raise loud the voice, and spring with gladder bound;<br> +Thus, at the hearing of that pious suit,<br> +The saintly circles in their tourneying<br> +And wond'rous note attested new delight.<br> +<br> Whoso laments, that we must doff this garb<br> +Of frail mortality, thenceforth to live<br> +Immortally above, he hath not seen<br> +The sweet refreshing, of that heav'nly shower.<br> +<br> Him, who lives ever, and for ever reigns<br> +In mystic union of the Three in One,<br> +Unbounded, bounding all, each spirit thrice<br> +Sang, with such melody, as but to hear<br> +For highest merit were an ample meed.<br> +And from the lesser orb the goodliest light,<br> +With gentle voice and mild, such as perhaps<br> +The angel's once to Mary, thus replied:<br> +"Long as the joy of Paradise shall last,<br> +Our love shall shine around that raiment, bright,<br> +As fervent; fervent, as in vision blest;<br> +And that as far in blessedness exceeding,<br> +As it hath grave beyond its virtue great.<br> +Our shape, regarmented with glorious weeds<br> +Of saintly flesh, must, being thus entire,<br> +Show yet more gracious. Therefore shall increase,<br> +Whate'er of light, gratuitous, imparts<br> +The Supreme Good; light, ministering aid,<br> +The better disclose his glory: whence<br> +The vision needs increasing, much increase<br> +The fervour, which it kindles; and that too<br> +The ray, that comes from it. But as the greed<br> +Which gives out flame, yet it its whiteness shines<br> +More lively than that, and so preserves<br> +Its proper semblance; thus this circling sphere<br> +Of splendour, shall to view less radiant seem,<br> +Than shall our fleshly robe, which yonder earth<br> +Now covers. Nor will such excess of light<br> +O'erpower us, in corporeal organs made<br> +Firm, and susceptible of all delight."<br> +<br> So ready and so cordial an "Amen,"<br> +Followed from either choir, as plainly spoke<br> +Desire of their dead bodies; yet perchance<br> +Not for themselves, but for their kindred dear,<br> +Mothers and sires, and those whom best they lov'd,<br> +Ere they were made imperishable flame.<br> +<br> And lo! forthwith there rose up round about<br> +A lustre over that already there,<br> +Of equal clearness, like the brightening up<br> +Of the horizon. As at an evening hour<br> +Of twilight, new appearances through heav'n<br> +Peer with faint glimmer, doubtfully descried;<br> +So there new substances, methought began<br> +To rise in view; and round the other twain<br> +Enwheeling, sweep their ampler circuit wide.<br> +<br> O gentle glitter of eternal beam!<br> +With what a such whiteness did it flow,<br> +O'erpowering vision in me! But so fair,<br> +So passing lovely, Beatrice show'd,<br> +Mind cannot follow it, nor words express<br> +Her infinite sweetness. Thence mine eyes regain'd<br> +Power to look up, and I beheld myself,<br> +Sole with my lady, to more lofty bliss<br> +Translated: for the star, with warmer smile<br> +Impurpled, well denoted our ascent.<br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/14-77.jpg"><img alt="14-77th.jpg (33K)" src="images/14-77th.jpg" height="478" width="433"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br> With all the heart, and with that tongue which speaks<br> +The same in all, an holocaust I made<br> +To God, befitting the new grace vouchsaf'd.<br> +And from my bosom had not yet upsteam'd<br> +The fuming of that incense, when I knew<br> +The rite accepted. With such mighty sheen<br> +And mantling crimson, in two listed rays<br> +The splendours shot before me, that I cried,<br> +"God of Sabaoth! that does prank them thus!"<br> + + +<br><br><br><br> +<a href="images/14-96.jpg"><img alt="14-96th.jpg (38K)" src="images/14-96th.jpg" height="475" width="439"></a> +<br><br><br><br> + + +<br> As leads the galaxy from pole to pole,<br> +Distinguish'd into greater lights and less,<br> +Its pathway, which the wisest fail to spell;<br> +So thickly studded, in the depth of Mars,<br> +Those rays describ'd the venerable sign,<br> +That quadrants in the round conjoining frame.<br> +Here memory mocks the toil of genius. Christ<br> +Beam'd on that cross; and pattern fails me now.<br> +But whoso takes his cross, and follows Christ<br> +Will pardon me for that I leave untold,<br> +When in the flecker'd dawning he shall spy<br> +The glitterance of Christ. From horn to horn,<br> +And 'tween the summit and the base did move<br> +Lights, scintillating, as they met and pass'd.<br> +Thus oft are seen, with ever-changeful glance,<br> +Straight or athwart, now rapid and now slow,<br> +The atomies of bodies, long or short,<br> +To move along the sunbeam, whose slant line<br> +Checkers the shadow, interpos'd by art<br> +Against the noontide heat. And as the chime<br> +Of minstrel music, dulcimer, and help<br> +With many strings, a pleasant dining makes<br> +To him, who heareth not distinct the note;<br> +So from the lights, which there appear'd to me,<br> +Gather'd along the cross a melody,<br> +That, indistinctly heard, with ravishment<br> +Possess'd me. Yet I mark'd it was a hymn<br> +Of lofty praises; for there came to me<br> +"Arise and conquer," as to one who hears<br> +And comprehends not. Me such ecstasy<br> +O'ercame, that never till that hour was thing<br> +That held me in so sweet imprisonment.<br> +<br> Perhaps my saying over bold appears,<br> +Accounting less the pleasure of those eyes,<br> +Whereon to look fulfilleth all desire.<br> +But he, who is aware those living seals<br> +Of every beauty work with quicker force,<br> +The higher they are ris'n; and that there<br> +I had not turn'd me to them; he may well<br> +Excuse me that, whereof in my excuse<br> +I do accuse me, and may own my truth;<br> +That holy pleasure here not yet reveal'd,<br> +Which grows in transport as we mount aloof.</p> + + + + + + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br><br> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Paradise, Part 1., by Dante Alighieri + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISION OF PARADISE, PART 1. *** + +***** This file should be named 8796-h.htm or 8796-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/8/7/9/8796/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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H. F. Cary, Illustrated by Gustave Dore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vision of Paradise, Part 1. + Translated By The Rev. H. F. Cary, Illustrated by Gustave Dore + +Author: Dante Alighieri + +Release Date: August 1, 2004 [EBook #8796] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISION OF PARADISE, PART 1. *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +THE VISION + +OF + +HELL, PURGATORY, AND PARADISE + + +BY DANTE ALIGHIERI + + + +TRANSLATED BY + +THE REV. H. F. CARY, M.A. + + + +PARADISE + +Part 1 + + +LIST OF CANTOS +Canto 1 +Canto 2 +Canto 3 +Canto 4 +Canto 5 +Canto 6 +Canto 7 +Canto 8 +Canto 9 +Canto 10 +Canto 11 +Canto 12 +Canto 13 +Canto 14 +Canto 15 +Canto 16 +Canto 17 +Canto 18 +Canto 19 +Canto 20 +Canto 21 +Canto 22 +Canto 23 +Canto 24 +Canto 25 +Canto 26 +Canto 27 +Canto 28 +Canto 29 +Canto 30 +Canto 31 +Canto 32 +Canto 33 + + + + +CANTO I + +His glory, by whose might all things are mov'd, +Pierces the universe, and in one part +Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In heav'n, +That largeliest of his light partakes, was I, +Witness of things, which to relate again +Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence; +For that, so near approaching its desire +Our intellect is to such depth absorb'd, +That memory cannot follow. Nathless all, +That in my thoughts I of that sacred realm +Could store, shall now be matter of my song. + +Benign Apollo! this last labour aid, +And make me such a vessel of thy worth, +As thy own laurel claims of me belov'd. +Thus far hath one of steep Parnassus' brows +Suffic'd me; henceforth there is need of both +For my remaining enterprise Do thou +Enter into my bosom, and there breathe +So, as when Marsyas by thy hand was dragg'd +Forth from his limbs unsheath'd. O power divine! +If thou to me of shine impart so much, +That of that happy realm the shadow'd form +Trac'd in my thoughts I may set forth to view, +Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd tree +Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves; +For to that honour thou, and my high theme +Will fit me. If but seldom, mighty Sire! +To grace his triumph gathers thence a wreath +Caesar or bard (more shame for human wills +Deprav'd) joy to the Delphic god must spring +From the Pierian foliage, when one breast +Is with such thirst inspir'd. From a small spark +Great flame hath risen: after me perchance +Others with better voice may pray, and gain +From the Cirrhaean city answer kind. + +Through diver passages, the world's bright lamp +Rises to mortals, but through that which joins +Four circles with the threefold cross, in best +Course, and in happiest constellation set +He comes, and to the worldly wax best gives +Its temper and impression. Morning there, +Here eve was by almost such passage made; +And whiteness had o'erspread that hemisphere, +Blackness the other part; when to the left +I saw Beatrice turn'd, and on the sun +Gazing, as never eagle fix'd his ken. +As from the first a second beam is wont +To issue, and reflected upwards rise, +E'en as a pilgrim bent on his return, +So of her act, that through the eyesight pass'd +Into my fancy, mine was form'd; and straight, +Beyond our mortal wont, I fix'd mine eyes +Upon the sun. Much is allowed us there, +That here exceeds our pow'r; thanks to the place +Made for the dwelling of the human kind + +I suffer'd it not long, and yet so long +That I beheld it bick'ring sparks around, +As iron that comes boiling from the fire. +And suddenly upon the day appear'd +A day new-ris'n, as he, who hath the power, +Had with another sun bedeck'd the sky. + +Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels, +Beatrice stood unmov'd; and I with ken +Fix'd upon her, from upward gaze remov'd +At her aspect, such inwardly became +As Glaucus, when he tasted of the herb, +That made him peer among the ocean gods; +Words may not tell of that transhuman change: +And therefore let the example serve, though weak, +For those whom grace hath better proof in store + +If I were only what thou didst create, +Then newly, Love! by whom the heav'n is rul'd, +Thou know'st, who by thy light didst bear me up. +Whenas the wheel which thou dost ever guide, +Desired Spirit! with its harmony +Temper'd of thee and measur'd, charm'd mine ear, +Then seem'd to me so much of heav'n to blaze +With the sun's flame, that rain or flood ne'er made +A lake so broad. The newness of the sound, +And that great light, inflam'd me with desire, +Keener than e'er was felt, to know their cause. + +Whence she who saw me, clearly as myself, +To calm my troubled mind, before I ask'd, +Open'd her lips, and gracious thus began: +"With false imagination thou thyself +Mak'st dull, so that thou seest not the thing, +Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off. +Thou art not on the earth as thou believ'st; +For light'ning scap'd from its own proper place +Ne'er ran, as thou hast hither now return'd." + +Although divested of my first-rais'd doubt, +By those brief words, accompanied with smiles, +Yet in new doubt was I entangled more, +And said: "Already satisfied, I rest +From admiration deep, but now admire +How I above those lighter bodies rise." + +Whence, after utt'rance of a piteous sigh, +She tow'rds me bent her eyes, with such a look, +As on her frenzied child a mother casts; +Then thus began: "Among themselves all things +Have order; and from hence the form, which makes +The universe resemble God. In this +The higher creatures see the printed steps +Of that eternal worth, which is the end +Whither the line is drawn. All natures lean, +In this their order, diversely, some more, +Some less approaching to their primal source. +Thus they to different havens are mov'd on +Through the vast sea of being, and each one +With instinct giv'n, that bears it in its course; +This to the lunar sphere directs the fire, +This prompts the hearts of mortal animals, +This the brute earth together knits, and binds. +Nor only creatures, void of intellect, +Are aim'd at by this bow; but even those, +That have intelligence and love, are pierc'd. +That Providence, who so well orders all, +With her own light makes ever calm the heaven, +In which the substance, that hath greatest speed, +Is turn'd: and thither now, as to our seat +Predestin'd, we are carried by the force +Of that strong cord, that never looses dart, +But at fair aim and glad. Yet is it true, +That as ofttimes but ill accords the form +To the design of art, through sluggishness +Of unreplying matter, so this course +Is sometimes quitted by the creature, who +Hath power, directed thus, to bend elsewhere; +As from a cloud the fire is seen to fall, +From its original impulse warp'd, to earth, +By vicious fondness. Thou no more admire +Thy soaring, (if I rightly deem,) than lapse +Of torrent downwards from a mountain's height. +There would in thee for wonder be more cause, +If, free of hind'rance, thou hadst fix'd thyself +Below, like fire unmoving on the earth." + +So said, she turn'd toward the heav'n her face. + + + + +CANTO II + +All ye, who in small bark have following sail'd, +Eager to listen, on the advent'rous track +Of my proud keel, that singing cuts its way, +Backward return with speed, and your own shores +Revisit, nor put out to open sea, +Where losing me, perchance ye may remain +Bewilder'd in deep maze. The way I pass +Ne'er yet was run: Minerva breathes the gale, +Apollo guides me, and another Nine +To my rapt sight the arctic beams reveal. +Ye other few, who have outstretch'd the neck. +Timely for food of angels, on which here +They live, yet never know satiety, +Through the deep brine ye fearless may put out +Your vessel, marking, well the furrow broad +Before you in the wave, that on both sides +Equal returns. Those, glorious, who pass'd o'er +To Colchos, wonder'd not as ye will do, +When they saw Jason following the plough. + +The increate perpetual thirst, that draws +Toward the realm of God's own form, bore us +Swift almost as the heaven ye behold. + +Beatrice upward gaz'd, and I on her, +And in such space as on the notch a dart +Is plac'd, then loosen'd flies, I saw myself +Arriv'd, where wond'rous thing engag'd my sight. +Whence she, to whom no work of mine was hid, +Turning to me, with aspect glad as fair, +Bespake me: "Gratefully direct thy mind +To God, through whom to this first star we come." + +Me seem'd as if a cloud had cover'd us, +Translucent, solid, firm, and polish'd bright, +Like adamant, which the sun's beam had smit +Within itself the ever-during pearl +Receiv'd us, as the wave a ray of light +Receives, and rests unbroken. If I then +Was of corporeal frame, and it transcend +Our weaker thought, how one dimension thus +Another could endure, which needs must be +If body enter body, how much more +Must the desire inflame us to behold +That essence, which discovers by what means +God and our nature join'd! There will be seen +That which we hold through faith, not shown by proof, +But in itself intelligibly plain, +E'en as the truth that man at first believes. + +I answered: "Lady! I with thoughts devout, +Such as I best can frame, give thanks to Him, +Who hath remov'd me from the mortal world. +But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots +Upon this body, which below on earth +Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?" + +She somewhat smil'd, then spake: "If mortals err +In their opinion, when the key of sense +Unlocks not, surely wonder's weapon keen +Ought not to pierce thee; since thou find'st, the wings +Of reason to pursue the senses' flight +Are short. But what thy own thought is, declare." + +Then I: "What various here above appears, +Is caus'd, I deem, by bodies dense or rare." + +She then resum'd: "Thou certainly wilt see +In falsehood thy belief o'erwhelm'd, if well +Thou listen to the arguments, which I +Shall bring to face it. The eighth sphere displays +Numberless lights, the which in kind and size +May be remark'd of different aspects; +If rare or dense of that were cause alone, +One single virtue then would be in all, +Alike distributed, or more, or less. +Different virtues needs must be the fruits +Of formal principles, and these, save one, +Will by thy reasoning be destroy'd. Beside, +If rarity were of that dusk the cause, +Which thou inquirest, either in some part +That planet must throughout be void, nor fed +With its own matter; or, as bodies share +Their fat and leanness, in like manner this +Must in its volume change the leaves. The first, +If it were true, had through the sun's eclipse +Been manifested, by transparency +Of light, as through aught rare beside effus'd. +But this is not. Therefore remains to see +The other cause: and if the other fall, +Erroneous so must prove what seem'd to thee. +If not from side to side this rarity +Pass through, there needs must be a limit, whence +Its contrary no further lets it pass. +And hence the beam, that from without proceeds, +Must be pour'd back, as colour comes, through glass +Reflected, which behind it lead conceals. +Now wilt thou say, that there of murkier hue +Than in the other part the ray is shown, +By being thence refracted farther back. +From this perplexity will free thee soon +Experience, if thereof thou trial make, +The fountain whence your arts derive their streame. +Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two remove +From thee alike, and more remote the third. +Betwixt the former pair, shall meet thine eyes; +Then turn'd toward them, cause behind thy back +A light to stand, that on the three shall shine, +And thus reflected come to thee from all. +Though that beheld most distant do not stretch +A space so ample, yet in brightness thou +Will own it equaling the rest. But now, +As under snow the ground, if the warm ray +Smites it, remains dismantled of the hue +And cold, that cover'd it before, so thee, +Dismantled in thy mind, I will inform +With light so lively, that the tremulous beam +Shall quiver where it falls. Within the heaven, +Where peace divine inhabits, circles round +A body, in whose virtue dies the being +Of all that it contains. The following heaven, +That hath so many lights, this being divides, +Through different essences, from it distinct, +And yet contain'd within it. The other orbs +Their separate distinctions variously +Dispose, for their own seed and produce apt. +Thus do these organs of the world proceed, +As thou beholdest now, from step to step, +Their influences from above deriving, +And thence transmitting downwards. Mark me well, +How through this passage to the truth I ford, +The truth thou lov'st, that thou henceforth alone, +May'st know to keep the shallows, safe, untold. + +"The virtue and motion of the sacred orbs, +As mallet by the workman's hand, must needs +By blessed movers be inspir'd. This heaven, +Made beauteous by so many luminaries, +From the deep spirit, that moves its circling sphere, +Its image takes an impress as a seal: +And as the soul, that dwells within your dust, +Through members different, yet together form'd, +In different pow'rs resolves itself; e'en so +The intellectual efficacy unfolds +Its goodness multiplied throughout the stars; +On its own unity revolving still. +Different virtue compact different +Makes with the precious body it enlivens, +With which it knits, as life in you is knit. +From its original nature full of joy, +The virtue mingled through the body shines, +As joy through pupil of the living eye. +From hence proceeds, that which from light to light +Seems different, and not from dense or rare. +This is the formal cause, that generates +Proportion'd to its power, the dusk or clear." + + + + +CANTO III + +That sun, which erst with love my bosom warm'd +Had of fair truth unveil'd the sweet aspect, +By proof of right, and of the false reproof; +And I, to own myself convinc'd and free +Of doubt, as much as needed, rais'd my head +Erect for speech. But soon a sight appear'd, +Which, so intent to mark it, held me fix'd, +That of confession I no longer thought. + +As through translucent and smooth glass, or wave +Clear and unmov'd, and flowing not so deep +As that its bed is dark, the shape returns +So faint of our impictur'd lineaments, +That on white forehead set a pearl as strong +Comes to the eye: such saw I many a face, +All stretch'd to speak, from whence I straight conceiv'd +Delusion opposite to that, which rais'd +Between the man and fountain, amorous flame. + +Sudden, as I perceiv'd them, deeming these +Reflected semblances to see of whom +They were, I turn'd mine eyes, and nothing saw; +Then turn'd them back, directed on the light +Of my sweet guide, who smiling shot forth beams +From her celestial eyes. "Wonder not thou," +She cry'd, "at this my smiling, when I see +Thy childish judgment; since not yet on truth +It rests the foot, but, as it still is wont, +Makes thee fall back in unsound vacancy. +True substances are these, which thou behold'st, +Hither through failure of their vow exil'd. +But speak thou with them; listen, and believe, +That the true light, which fills them with desire, +Permits not from its beams their feet to stray." + +Straight to the shadow which for converse seem'd +Most earnest, I addressed me, and began, +As one by over-eagerness perplex'd: +"O spirit, born for joy! who in the rays +Of life eternal, of that sweetness know'st +The flavour, which, not tasted, passes far +All apprehension, me it well would please, +If thou wouldst tell me of thy name, and this +Your station here." Whence she, with kindness prompt, +And eyes glist'ning with smiles: "Our charity, +To any wish by justice introduc'd, +Bars not the door, no more than she above, +Who would have all her court be like herself. +I was a virgin sister in the earth; +And if thy mind observe me well, this form, +With such addition grac'd of loveliness, +Will not conceal me long, but thou wilt know +Piccarda, in the tardiest sphere thus plac'd, +Here 'mid these other blessed also blest. +Our hearts, whose high affections burn alone +With pleasure, from the Holy Spirit conceiv'd, +Admitted to his order dwell in joy. +And this condition, which appears so low, +Is for this cause assign'd us, that our vows +Were in some part neglected and made void." + +Whence I to her replied: "Something divine +Beams in your countenance, wond'rous fair, +From former knowledge quite transmuting you. +Therefore to recollect was I so slow. +But what thou sayst hath to my memory +Given now such aid, that to retrace your forms +Is easier. Yet inform me, ye, who here +Are happy, long ye for a higher place +More to behold, and more in love to dwell?" + +She with those other spirits gently smil'd, +Then answer'd with such gladness, that she seem'd +With love's first flame to glow: "Brother! our will +Is in composure settled by the power +Of charity, who makes us will alone +What we possess, and nought beyond desire; +If we should wish to be exalted more, +Then must our wishes jar with the high will +Of him, who sets us here, which in these orbs +Thou wilt confess not possible, if here +To be in charity must needs befall, +And if her nature well thou contemplate. +Rather it is inherent in this state +Of blessedness, to keep ourselves within +The divine will, by which our wills with his +Are one. So that as we from step to step +Are plac'd throughout this kingdom, pleases all, +E'en as our King, who in us plants his will; +And in his will is our tranquillity; +It is the mighty ocean, whither tends +Whatever it creates and nature makes." + +Then saw I clearly how each spot in heav'n +Is Paradise, though with like gracious dew +The supreme virtue show'r not over all. + +But as it chances, if one sort of food +Hath satiated, and of another still +The appetite remains, that this is ask'd, +And thanks for that return'd; e'en so did I +In word and motion, bent from her to learn +What web it was, through which she had not drawn +The shuttle to its point. She thus began: +"Exalted worth and perfectness of life +The Lady higher up enshrine in heaven, +By whose pure laws upon your nether earth +The robe and veil they wear, to that intent, +That e'en till death they may keep watch or sleep +With their great bridegroom, who accepts each vow, +Which to his gracious pleasure love conforms. +from the world, to follow her, when young +Escap'd; and, in her vesture mantling me, +Made promise of the way her sect enjoins. +Thereafter men, for ill than good more apt, +Forth snatch'd me from the pleasant cloister's pale. +God knows how after that my life was fram'd. +This other splendid shape, which thou beholdst +At my right side, burning with all the light +Of this our orb, what of myself I tell +May to herself apply. From her, like me +A sister, with like violence were torn +The saintly folds, that shaded her fair brows. +E'en when she to the world again was brought +In spite of her own will and better wont, +Yet not for that the bosom's inward veil +Did she renounce. This is the luminary +Of mighty Constance, who from that loud blast, +Which blew the second over Suabia's realm, +That power produc'd, which was the third and last." + +She ceas'd from further talk, and then began +"Ave Maria" singing, and with that song +Vanish'd, as heavy substance through deep wave. + +Mine eye, that far as it was capable, +Pursued her, when in dimness she was lost, +Turn'd to the mark where greater want impell'd, +And bent on Beatrice all its gaze. +But she as light'ning beam'd upon my looks: +So that the sight sustain'd it not at first. +Whence I to question her became less prompt. + + + + +CANTO IV + +Between two kinds of food, both equally +Remote and tempting, first a man might die +Of hunger, ere he one could freely choose. +E'en so would stand a lamb between the maw +Of two fierce wolves, in dread of both alike: +E'en so between two deer a dog would stand, +Wherefore, if I was silent, fault nor praise +I to myself impute, by equal doubts +Held in suspense, since of necessity +It happen'd. Silent was I, yet desire +Was painted in my looks; and thus I spake +My wish more earnestly than language could. + +As Daniel, when the haughty king he freed +From ire, that spurr'd him on to deeds unjust +And violent; so look'd Beatrice then. + +"Well I discern," she thus her words address'd, +"How contrary desires each way constrain thee, +So that thy anxious thought is in itself +Bound up and stifled, nor breathes freely forth. +Thou arguest; if the good intent remain; +What reason that another's violence +Should stint the measure of my fair desert? + +"Cause too thou findst for doubt, in that it seems, +That spirits to the stars, as Plato deem'd, +Return. These are the questions which thy will +Urge equally; and therefore I the first +Of that will treat which hath the more of gall. +Of seraphim he who is most ensky'd, +Moses and Samuel, and either John, +Choose which thou wilt, nor even Mary's self, +Have not in any other heav'n their seats, +Than have those spirits which so late thou saw'st; +Nor more or fewer years exist; but all +Make the first circle beauteous, diversely +Partaking of sweet life, as more or less +Afflation of eternal bliss pervades them. +Here were they shown thee, not that fate assigns +This for their sphere, but for a sign to thee +Of that celestial furthest from the height. +Thus needs, that ye may apprehend, we speak: +Since from things sensible alone ye learn +That, which digested rightly after turns +To intellectual. For no other cause +The scripture, condescending graciously +To your perception, hands and feet to God +Attributes, nor so means: and holy church +Doth represent with human countenance +Gabriel, and Michael, and him who made +Tobias whole. Unlike what here thou seest, +The judgment of Timaeus, who affirms +Each soul restor'd to its particular star, +Believing it to have been taken thence, +When nature gave it to inform her mold: +Since to appearance his intention is +E'en what his words declare: or else to shun +Derision, haply thus he hath disguis'd +His true opinion. If his meaning be, +That to the influencing of these orbs revert +The honour and the blame in human acts, +Perchance he doth not wholly miss the truth. +This principle, not understood aright, +Erewhile perverted well nigh all the world; +So that it fell to fabled names of Jove, +And Mercury, and Mars. That other doubt, +Which moves thee, is less harmful; for it brings +No peril of removing thee from me. + +"That, to the eye of man, our justice seems +Unjust, is argument for faith, and not +For heretic declension. To the end +This truth may stand more clearly in your view, +I will content thee even to thy wish + +"If violence be, when that which suffers, nought +Consents to that which forceth, not for this +These spirits stood exculpate. For the will, +That will not, still survives unquench'd, and doth +As nature doth in fire, tho' violence +Wrest it a thousand times; for, if it yield +Or more or less, so far it follows force. +And thus did these, whom they had power to seek +The hallow'd place again. In them, had will +Been perfect, such as once upon the bars +Held Laurence firm, or wrought in Scaevola +To his own hand remorseless, to the path, +Whence they were drawn, their steps had hasten'd back, +When liberty return'd: but in too few +Resolve so steadfast dwells. And by these words +If duly weigh'd, that argument is void, +Which oft might have perplex'd thee still. But now +Another question thwarts thee, which to solve +Might try thy patience without better aid. +I have, no doubt, instill'd into thy mind, +That blessed spirit may not lie; since near +The source of primal truth it dwells for aye: +And thou might'st after of Piccarda learn +That Constance held affection to the veil; +So that she seems to contradict me here. +Not seldom, brother, it hath chanc'd for men +To do what they had gladly left undone, +Yet to shun peril they have done amiss: +E'en as Alcmaeon, at his father's suit +Slew his own mother, so made pitiless +Not to lose pity. On this point bethink thee, +That force and will are blended in such wise +As not to make the' offence excusable. +Absolute will agrees not to the wrong, +That inasmuch as there is fear of woe +From non-compliance, it agrees. Of will +Thus absolute Piccarda spake, and I +Of th' other; so that both have truly said." + +Such was the flow of that pure rill, that well'd +From forth the fountain of all truth; and such +The rest, that to my wond'ring thoughts I found. + +"O thou of primal love the prime delight! +Goddess!" I straight reply'd, "whose lively words +Still shed new heat and vigour through my soul! +Affection fails me to requite thy grace +With equal sum of gratitude: be his +To recompense, who sees and can reward thee. +Well I discern, that by that truth alone +Enlighten'd, beyond which no truth may roam, +Our mind can satisfy her thirst to know: +Therein she resteth, e'en as in his lair +The wild beast, soon as she hath reach'd that bound, +And she hath power to reach it; else desire +Were given to no end. And thence doth doubt +Spring, like a shoot, around the stock of truth; +And it is nature which from height to height +On to the summit prompts us. This invites, +This doth assure me, lady, rev'rently +To ask thee of other truth, that yet +Is dark to me. I fain would know, if man +By other works well done may so supply +The failure of his vows, that in your scale +They lack not weight." I spake; and on me straight +Beatrice look'd with eyes that shot forth sparks +Of love celestial in such copious stream, +That, virtue sinking in me overpower'd, +I turn'd, and downward bent confus'd my sight. + + + + +CANTO V + +"If beyond earthly wont, the flame of love +Illume me, so that I o'ercome thy power +Of vision, marvel not: but learn the cause +In that perfection of the sight, which soon +As apprehending, hasteneth on to reach +The good it apprehends. I well discern, +How in thine intellect already shines +The light eternal, which to view alone +Ne'er fails to kindle love; and if aught else +Your love seduces, 't is but that it shows +Some ill-mark'd vestige of that primal beam. + +"This would'st thou know, if failure of the vow +By other service may be so supplied, +As from self-question to assure the soul." + +Thus she her words, not heedless of my wish, +Began; and thus, as one who breaks not off +Discourse, continued in her saintly strain. +"Supreme of gifts, which God creating gave +Of his free bounty, sign most evident +Of goodness, and in his account most priz'd, +Was liberty of will, the boon wherewith +All intellectual creatures, and them sole +He hath endow'd. Hence now thou mayst infer +Of what high worth the vow, which so is fram'd +That when man offers, God well-pleas'd accepts; +For in the compact between God and him, +This treasure, such as I describe it to thee, +He makes the victim, and of his own act. +What compensation therefore may he find? +If that, whereof thou hast oblation made, +By using well thou think'st to consecrate, +Thou would'st of theft do charitable deed. +Thus I resolve thee of the greater point. + +"But forasmuch as holy church, herein +Dispensing, seems to contradict the truth +I have discover'd to thee, yet behooves +Thou rest a little longer at the board, +Ere the crude aliment, which thou hast taken, +Digested fitly to nutrition turn. +Open thy mind to what I now unfold, +And give it inward keeping. Knowledge comes +Of learning well retain'd, unfruitful else. + +"This sacrifice in essence of two things +Consisteth; one is that, whereof 't is made, +The covenant the other. For the last, +It ne'er is cancell'd if not kept: and hence +I spake erewhile so strictly of its force. +For this it was enjoin'd the Israelites, +Though leave were giv'n them, as thou know'st, to change +The offering, still to offer. Th' other part, +The matter and the substance of the vow, +May well be such, to that without offence +It may for other substance be exchang'd. +But at his own discretion none may shift +The burden on his shoulders, unreleas'd +By either key, the yellow and the white. +Nor deem of any change, as less than vain, +If the last bond be not within the new +Included, as the quatre in the six. +No satisfaction therefore can be paid +For what so precious in the balance weighs, +That all in counterpoise must kick the beam. +Take then no vow at random: ta'en, with faith +Preserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once, +Blindly to execute a rash resolve, +Whom better it had suited to exclaim, +'I have done ill,' than to redeem his pledge +By doing worse or, not unlike to him +In folly, that great leader of the Greeks: +Whence, on the alter, Iphigenia mourn'd +Her virgin beauty, and hath since made mourn +Both wise and simple, even all, who hear +Of so fell sacrifice. Be ye more staid, +O Christians, not, like feather, by each wind +Removable: nor think to cleanse ourselves +In every water. Either testament, +The old and new, is yours: and for your guide +The shepherd of the church let this suffice +To save you. When by evil lust entic'd, +Remember ye be men, not senseless beasts; +Nor let the Jew, who dwelleth in your streets, +Hold you in mock'ry. Be not, as the lamb, +That, fickle wanton, leaves its mother's milk, +To dally with itself in idle play." + +Such were the words that Beatrice spake: +These ended, to that region, where the world +Is liveliest, full of fond desire she turn'd. + +Though mainly prompt new question to propose, +Her silence and chang'd look did keep me dumb. +And as the arrow, ere the cord is still, +Leapeth unto its mark; so on we sped +Into the second realm. There I beheld +The dame, so joyous enter, that the orb +Grew brighter at her smiles; and, if the star +Were mov'd to gladness, what then was my cheer, +Whom nature hath made apt for every change! + +As in a quiet and clear lake the fish, +If aught approach them from without, do draw +Towards it, deeming it their food; so drew +Full more than thousand splendours towards us, +And in each one was heard: "Lo! one arriv'd +To multiply our loves!" and as each came +The shadow, streaming forth effulgence new, +Witness'd augmented joy. Here, reader! think, +If thou didst miss the sequel of my tale, +To know the rest how sorely thou wouldst crave; +And thou shalt see what vehement desire +Possess'd me, as soon as these had met my view, +To know their state. "O born in happy hour! +Thou to whom grace vouchsafes, or ere thy close +Of fleshly warfare, to behold the thrones +Of that eternal triumph, know to us +The light communicated, which through heaven +Expatiates without bound. Therefore, if aught +Thou of our beams wouldst borrow for thine aid, +Spare not; and of our radiance take thy fill." + +Thus of those piteous spirits one bespake me; +And Beatrice next: "Say on; and trust +As unto gods!"--"How in the light supreme +Thou harbour'st, and from thence the virtue bring'st, +That, sparkling in thine eyes, denotes thy joy, +I mark; but, who thou art, am still to seek; +Or wherefore, worthy spirit! for thy lot +This sphere assign'd, that oft from mortal ken +Is veil'd by others' beams." I said, and turn'd +Toward the lustre, that with greeting, kind +Erewhile had hail'd me. Forthwith brighter far +Than erst, it wax'd: and, as himself the sun +Hides through excess of light, when his warm gaze +Hath on the mantle of thick vapours prey'd; +Within its proper ray the saintly shape +Was, through increase of gladness, thus conceal'd; +And, shrouded so in splendour answer'd me, +E'en as the tenour of my song declares. + + + + +CANTO VI + +"After that Constantine the eagle turn'd +Against the motions of the heav'n, that roll'd +Consenting with its course, when he of yore, +Lavinia's spouse, was leader of the flight, +A hundred years twice told and more, his seat +At Europe's extreme point, the bird of Jove +Held, near the mountains, whence he issued first. +There, under shadow of his sacred plumes +Swaying the world, till through successive hands +To mine he came devolv'd. Caesar I was, +And am Justinian; destin'd by the will +Of that prime love, whose influence I feel, +From vain excess to clear th' encumber'd laws. +Or ere that work engag'd me, I did hold +Christ's nature merely human, with such faith +Contented. But the blessed Agapete, +Who was chief shepherd, he with warning voice +To the true faith recall'd me. I believ'd +His words: and what he taught, now plainly see, +As thou in every contradiction seest +The true and false oppos'd. Soon as my feet +Were to the church reclaim'd, to my great task, +By inspiration of God's grace impell'd, +I gave me wholly, and consign'd mine arms +To Belisarius, with whom heaven's right hand +Was link'd in such conjointment, 't was a sign +That I should rest. To thy first question thus +I shape mine answer, which were ended here, +But that its tendency doth prompt perforce +To some addition; that thou well, mayst mark +What reason on each side they have to plead, +By whom that holiest banner is withstood, +Both who pretend its power and who oppose. + +"Beginning from that hour, when Pallas died +To give it rule, behold the valorous deeds +Have made it worthy reverence. Not unknown +To thee, how for three hundred years and more +It dwelt in Alba, up to those fell lists +Where for its sake were met the rival three; +Nor aught unknown to thee, which it achiev'd +Down to the Sabines' wrong to Lucrece' woe, +With its sev'n kings conqu'ring the nation round; +Nor all it wrought, by Roman worthies home +'Gainst Brennus and th' Epirot prince, and hosts +Of single chiefs, or states in league combin'd +Of social warfare; hence Torquatus stern, +And Quintius nam'd of his neglected locks, +The Decii, and the Fabii hence acquir'd +Their fame, which I with duteous zeal embalm. +By it the pride of Arab hordes was quell'd, +When they led on by Hannibal o'erpass'd +The Alpine rocks, whence glide thy currents, Po! +Beneath its guidance, in their prime of days +Scipio and Pompey triumph'd; and that hill, +Under whose summit thou didst see the light, +Rued its stern bearing. After, near the hour, +When heav'n was minded that o'er all the world +His own deep calm should brood, to Caesar's hand +Did Rome consign it; and what then it wrought +From Var unto the Rhine, saw Isere's flood, +Saw Loire and Seine, and every vale, that fills +The torrent Rhone. What after that it wrought, +When from Ravenna it came forth, and leap'd +The Rubicon, was of so bold a flight, +That tongue nor pen may follow it. Tow'rds Spain +It wheel'd its bands, then tow'rd Dyrrachium smote, +And on Pharsalia with so fierce a plunge, +E'en the warm Nile was conscious to the pang; +Its native shores Antandros, and the streams +Of Simois revisited, and there +Where Hector lies; then ill for Ptolemy +His pennons shook again; lightning thence fell +On Juba; and the next upon your west, +At sound of the Pompeian trump, return'd. + +"What following and in its next bearer's gripe +It wrought, is now by Cassius and Brutus +Bark'd off in hell, and by Perugia's sons +And Modena's was mourn'd. Hence weepeth still +Sad Cleopatra, who, pursued by it, +Took from the adder black and sudden death. +With him it ran e'en to the Red Sea coast; +With him compos'd the world to such a peace, +That of his temple Janus barr'd the door. + +"But all the mighty standard yet had wrought, +And was appointed to perform thereafter, +Throughout the mortal kingdom which it sway'd, +Falls in appearance dwindled and obscur'd, +If one with steady eye and perfect thought +On the third Caesar look; for to his hands, +The living Justice, in whose breath I move, +Committed glory, e'en into his hands, +To execute the vengeance of its wrath. + +"Hear now and wonder at what next I tell. +After with Titus it was sent to wreak +Vengeance for vengeance of the ancient sin, +And, when the Lombard tooth, with fangs impure, +Did gore the bosom of the holy church, +Under its wings victorious, Charlemagne +Sped to her rescue. Judge then for thyself +Of those, whom I erewhile accus'd to thee, +What they are, and how grievous their offending, +Who are the cause of all your ills. The one +Against the universal ensign rears +The yellow lilies, and with partial aim +That to himself the other arrogates: +So that 't is hard to see which more offends. +Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your arts +Beneath another standard: ill is this +Follow'd of him, who severs it and justice: +And let not with his Guelphs the new-crown'd Charles +Assail it, but those talons hold in dread, +Which from a lion of more lofty port +Have rent the easing. Many a time ere now +The sons have for the sire's transgression wail'd; +Nor let him trust the fond belief, that heav'n +Will truck its armour for his lilied shield. + +"This little star is furnish'd with good spirits, +Whose mortal lives were busied to that end, +That honour and renown might wait on them: +And, when desires thus err in their intention, +True love must needs ascend with slacker beam. +But it is part of our delight, to measure +Our wages with the merit; and admire +The close proportion. Hence doth heav'nly justice +Temper so evenly affection in us, +It ne'er can warp to any wrongfulness. +Of diverse voices is sweet music made: +So in our life the different degrees +Render sweet harmony among these wheels. + +"Within the pearl, that now encloseth us, +Shines Romeo's light, whose goodly deed and fair +Met ill acceptance. But the Provencals, +That were his foes, have little cause for mirth. +Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrong +Of other's worth. Four daughters were there born +To Raymond Berenger, and every one +Became a queen; and this for him did Romeo, +Though of mean state and from a foreign land. +Yet envious tongues incited him to ask +A reckoning of that just one, who return'd +Twelve fold to him for ten. Aged and poor +He parted thence: and if the world did know +The heart he had, begging his life by morsels, +'T would deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt." + + + + +CANTO VII + +"Hosanna Sanctus Deus Sabaoth +Superillustrans claritate tua +Felices ignes horum malahoth!" +Thus chanting saw I turn that substance bright +With fourfold lustre to its orb again, +Revolving; and the rest unto their dance +With it mov'd also; and like swiftest sparks, +In sudden distance from my sight were veil'd. + +Me doubt possess'd, and "Speak," it whisper'd me, +"Speak, speak unto thy lady, that she quench +Thy thirst with drops of sweetness." Yet blank awe, +Which lords it o'er me, even at the sound +Of Beatrice's name, did bow me down +As one in slumber held. Not long that mood +Beatrice suffer'd: she, with such a smile, +As might have made one blest amid the flames, +Beaming upon me, thus her words began: +"Thou in thy thought art pond'ring (as I deem), +And what I deem is truth how just revenge +Could be with justice punish'd: from which doubt +I soon will free thee; so thou mark my words; +For they of weighty matter shall possess thee. + +"That man, who was unborn, himself condemn'd, +And, in himself, all, who since him have liv'd, +His offspring: whence, below, the human kind +Lay sick in grievous error many an age; +Until it pleas'd the Word of God to come +Amongst them down, to his own person joining +The nature, from its Maker far estrang'd, +By the mere act of his eternal love. +Contemplate here the wonder I unfold. +The nature with its Maker thus conjoin'd, +Created first was blameless, pure and good; +But through itself alone was driven forth +From Paradise, because it had eschew'd +The way of truth and life, to evil turn'd. +Ne'er then was penalty so just as that +Inflicted by the cross, if thou regard +The nature in assumption doom'd: ne'er wrong +So great, in reference to him, who took +Such nature on him, and endur'd the doom. +God therefore and the Jews one sentence pleased: +So different effects flow'd from one act, +And heav'n was open'd, though the earth did quake. +Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hear +That a just vengeance was by righteous court +Justly reveng'd. But yet I see thy mind +By thought on thought arising sore perplex'd, +And with how vehement desire it asks +Solution of the maze. What I have heard, +Is plain, thou sayst: but wherefore God this way +For our redemption chose, eludes my search. + +"Brother! no eye of man not perfected, +Nor fully ripen'd in the flame of love, +May fathom this decree. It is a mark, +In sooth, much aim'd at, and but little kenn'd: +And I will therefore show thee why such way +Was worthiest. The celestial love, that spume +All envying in its bounty, in itself +With such effulgence blazeth, as sends forth +All beauteous things eternal. What distils +Immediate thence, no end of being knows, +Bearing its seal immutably impress'd. +Whatever thence immediate falls, is free, +Free wholly, uncontrollable by power +Of each thing new: by such conformity +More grateful to its author, whose bright beams, +Though all partake their shining, yet in those +Are liveliest, which resemble him the most. +These tokens of pre-eminence on man +Largely bestow'd, if any of them fail, +He needs must forfeit his nobility, +No longer stainless. Sin alone is that, +Which doth disfranchise him, and make unlike +To the chief good; for that its light in him +Is darken'd. And to dignity thus lost +Is no return; unless, where guilt makes void, +He for ill pleasure pay with equal pain. +Your nature, which entirely in its seed +Trangress'd, from these distinctions fell, no less +Than from its state in Paradise; nor means +Found of recovery (search all methods out +As strickly as thou may) save one of these, +The only fords were left through which to wade, +Either that God had of his courtesy +Releas'd him merely, or else man himself +For his own folly by himself aton'd. + +"Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst, +On th' everlasting counsel, and explore, +Instructed by my words, the dread abyss. + +"Man in himself had ever lack'd the means +Of satisfaction, for he could not stoop +Obeying, in humility so low, +As high he, disobeying, thought to soar: +And for this reason he had vainly tried +Out of his own sufficiency to pay +The rigid satisfaction. Then behooved +That God should by his own ways lead him back +Unto the life, from whence he fell, restor'd: +By both his ways, I mean, or one alone. +But since the deed is ever priz'd the more, +The more the doer's good intent appears, +Goodness celestial, whose broad signature +Is on the universe, of all its ways +To raise ye up, was fain to leave out none, +Nor aught so vast or so magnificent, +Either for him who gave or who receiv'd +Between the last night and the primal day, +Was or can be. For God more bounty show'd. +Giving himself to make man capable +Of his return to life, than had the terms +Been mere and unconditional release. +And for his justice, every method else +Were all too scant, had not the Son of God +Humbled himself to put on mortal flesh. + +"Now, to fulfil each wish of thine, remains +I somewhat further to thy view unfold. +That thou mayst see as clearly as myself. + +"I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see, +The earth and water, and all things of them +Compounded, to corruption turn, and soon +Dissolve. Yet these were also things create, +Because, if what were told me, had been true +They from corruption had been therefore free. + +"The angels, O my brother! and this clime +Wherein thou art, impassible and pure, +I call created, as indeed they are +In their whole being. But the elements, +Which thou hast nam'd, and what of them is made, +Are by created virtue' inform'd: create +Their substance, and create the' informing virtue +In these bright stars, that round them circling move +The soul of every brute and of each plant, +The ray and motion of the sacred lights, +With complex potency attract and turn. +But this our life the' eternal good inspires +Immediate, and enamours of itself; +So that our wishes rest for ever here. + +"And hence thou mayst by inference conclude +Our resurrection certain, if thy mind +Consider how the human flesh was fram'd, +When both our parents at the first were made." + + + + +CANTO VIII + +The world was in its day of peril dark +Wont to believe the dotage of fond love +From the fair Cyprian deity, who rolls +In her third epicycle, shed on men +By stream of potent radiance: therefore they +Of elder time, in their old error blind, +Not her alone with sacrifice ador'd +And invocation, but like honours paid +To Cupid and Dione, deem'd of them +Her mother, and her son, him whom they feign'd +To sit in Dido's bosom: and from her, +Whom I have sung preluding, borrow'd they +The appellation of that star, which views, +Now obvious and now averse, the sun. + +I was not ware that I was wafted up +Into its orb; but the new loveliness +That grac'd my lady, gave me ample proof +That we had entered there. And as in flame +A sparkle is distinct, or voice in voice +Discern'd, when one its even tenour keeps, +The other comes and goes; so in that light +I other luminaries saw, that cours'd +In circling motion, rapid more or less, +As their eternal phases each impels. + +Never was blast from vapour charged with cold, +Whether invisible to eye or no, +Descended with such speed, it had not seem'd +To linger in dull tardiness, compar'd +To those celestial lights, that tow'rds us came, +Leaving the circuit of their joyous ring, +Conducted by the lofty seraphim. +And after them, who in the van appear'd, +Such an hosanna sounded, as hath left +Desire, ne'er since extinct in me, to hear +Renew'd the strain. Then parting from the rest +One near us drew, and sole began: "We all +Are ready at thy pleasure, well dispos'd +To do thee gentle service. We are they, +To whom thou in the world erewhile didst Sing +'O ye! whose intellectual ministry +Moves the third heaven!' and in one orb we roll, +One motion, one impulse, with those who rule +Princedoms in heaven; yet are of love so full, +That to please thee 't will be as sweet to rest." + +After mine eyes had with meek reverence +Sought the celestial guide, and were by her +Assur'd, they turn'd again unto the light +Who had so largely promis'd, and with voice +That bare the lively pressure of my zeal, +"Tell who ye are," I cried. Forthwith it grew +In size and splendour, through augmented joy; +And thus it answer'd: "A short date below +The world possess'd me. Had the time been more, +Much evil, that will come, had never chanc'd. +My gladness hides thee from me, which doth shine +Around, and shroud me, as an animal +In its own silk unswath'd. Thou lov'dst me well, +And had'st good cause; for had my sojourning +Been longer on the earth, the love I bare thee +Had put forth more than blossoms. The left bank, +That Rhone, when he hath mix'd with Sorga, laves. + +"In me its lord expected, and that horn +Of fair Ausonia, with its boroughs old, +Bari, and Croton, and Gaeta pil'd, +From where the Trento disembogues his waves, +With Verde mingled, to the salt sea-flood. +Already on my temples beam'd the crown, +Which gave me sov'reignty over the land +By Danube wash'd, whenas he strays beyond +The limits of his German shores. The realm, +Where, on the gulf by stormy Eurus lash'd, +Betwixt Pelorus and Pachynian heights, +The beautiful Trinacria lies in gloom +(Not through Typhaeus, but the vap'ry cloud +Bituminous upsteam'd), THAT too did look +To have its scepter wielded by a race +Of monarchs, sprung through me from Charles and Rodolph; +had not ill lording which doth spirit up +The people ever, in Palermo rais'd +The shout of 'death,' re-echo'd loud and long. +Had but my brother's foresight kenn'd as much, +He had been warier that the greedy want +Of Catalonia might not work his bale. +And truly need there is, that he forecast, +Or other for him, lest more freight be laid +On his already over-laden bark. +Nature in him, from bounty fall'n to thrift, +Would ask the guard of braver arms, than such +As only care to have their coffers fill'd." + +"My liege, it doth enhance the joy thy words +Infuse into me, mighty as it is, +To think my gladness manifest to thee, +As to myself, who own it, when thou lookst +Into the source and limit of all good, +There, where thou markest that which thou dost speak, +Thence priz'd of me the more. Glad thou hast made me. +Now make intelligent, clearing the doubt +Thy speech hath raised in me; for much I muse, +How bitter can spring up, when sweet is sown." + +I thus inquiring; he forthwith replied: +"If I have power to show one truth, soon that +Shall face thee, which thy questioning declares +Behind thee now conceal'd. The Good, that guides +And blessed makes this realm, which thou dost mount, +Ordains its providence to be the virtue +In these great bodies: nor th' all perfect Mind +Upholds their nature merely, but in them +Their energy to save: for nought, that lies +Within the range of that unerring bow, +But is as level with the destin'd aim, +As ever mark to arrow's point oppos'd. +Were it not thus, these heavens, thou dost visit, +Would their effect so work, it would not be +Art, but destruction; and this may not chance, +If th' intellectual powers, that move these stars, +Fail not, or who, first faulty made them fail. +Wilt thou this truth more clearly evidenc'd?" + +To whom I thus: "It is enough: no fear, +I see, lest nature in her part should tire." + +He straight rejoin'd: "Say, were it worse for man, +If he liv'd not in fellowship on earth?" + +"Yea," answer'd I; "nor here a reason needs." + +"And may that be, if different estates +Grow not of different duties in your life? +Consult your teacher, and he tells you 'no."' + +Thus did he come, deducing to this point, +And then concluded: "For this cause behooves, +The roots, from whence your operations come, +Must differ. Therefore one is Solon born; +Another, Xerxes; and Melchisidec +A third; and he a fourth, whose airy voyage +Cost him his son. In her circuitous course, +Nature, that is the seal to mortal wax, +Doth well her art, but no distinctions owns +'Twixt one or other household. Hence befalls +That Esau is so wide of Jacob: hence +Quirinus of so base a father springs, +He dates from Mars his lineage. Were it not +That providence celestial overrul'd, +Nature, in generation, must the path +Trac'd by the generator, still pursue +Unswervingly. Thus place I in thy sight +That, which was late behind thee. But, in sign +Of more affection for thee, 't is my will +Thou wear this corollary. Nature ever +Finding discordant fortune, like all seed +Out of its proper climate, thrives but ill. +And were the world below content to mark +And work on the foundation nature lays, +It would not lack supply of excellence. +But ye perversely to religion strain +Him, who was born to gird on him the sword, +And of the fluent phrasemen make your king; +Therefore your steps have wander'd from the paths." + + + + +CANTO IX + +After solution of my doubt, thy Charles, +O fair Clemenza, of the treachery spake +That must befall his seed: but, "Tell it not," +Said he, "and let the destin'd years come round." +Nor may I tell thee more, save that the meed +Of sorrow well-deserv'd shall quit your wrongs. + +And now the visage of that saintly light +Was to the sun, that fills it, turn'd again, +As to the good, whose plenitude of bliss +Sufficeth all. O ye misguided souls! +Infatuate, who from such a good estrange +Your hearts, and bend your gaze on vanity, +Alas for you!--And lo! toward me, next, +Another of those splendent forms approach'd, +That, by its outward bright'ning, testified +The will it had to pleasure me. The eyes +Of Beatrice, resting, as before, +Firmly upon me, manifested forth +Approval of my wish. "And O," I cried, +"Blest spirit! quickly be my will perform'd; +And prove thou to me, that my inmost thoughts +I can reflect on thee." Thereat the light, +That yet was new to me, from the recess, +Where it before was singing, thus began, +As one who joys in kindness: "In that part +Of the deprav'd Italian land, which lies +Between Rialto, and the fountain-springs +Of Brenta and of Piava, there doth rise, +But to no lofty eminence, a hill, +From whence erewhile a firebrand did descend, +That sorely sheet the region. From one root +I and it sprang; my name on earth Cunizza: +And here I glitter, for that by its light +This star o'ercame me. Yet I naught repine, +Nor grudge myself the cause of this my lot, +Which haply vulgar hearts can scarce conceive. + +"This jewel, that is next me in our heaven, +Lustrous and costly, great renown hath left, +And not to perish, ere these hundred years +Five times absolve their round. Consider thou, +If to excel be worthy man's endeavour, +When such life may attend the first. Yet they +Care not for this, the crowd that now are girt +By Adice and Tagliamento, still +Impenitent, tho' scourg'd. The hour is near, +When for their stubbornness at Padua's marsh +The water shall be chang'd, that laves Vicena +And where Cagnano meets with Sile, one +Lords it, and bears his head aloft, for whom +The web is now a-warping. Feltro too +Shall sorrow for its godless shepherd's fault, +Of so deep stain, that never, for the like, +Was Malta's bar unclos'd. Too large should be +The skillet, that would hold Ferrara's blood, +And wearied he, who ounce by ounce would weight it, +The which this priest, in show of party-zeal, +Courteous will give; nor will the gift ill suit +The country's custom. We descry above, +Mirrors, ye call them thrones, from which to us +Reflected shine the judgments of our God: +Whence these our sayings we avouch for good." + +She ended, and appear'd on other thoughts +Intent, re-ent'ring on the wheel she late +Had left. That other joyance meanwhile wax'd +A thing to marvel at, in splendour glowing, +Like choicest ruby stricken by the sun, +For, in that upper clime, effulgence comes +Of gladness, as here laughter: and below, +As the mind saddens, murkier grows the shade. + +"God seeth all: and in him is thy sight," +Said I, "blest Spirit! Therefore will of his +Cannot to thee be dark. Why then delays +Thy voice to satisfy my wish untold, +That voice which joins the inexpressive song, +Pastime of heav'n, the which those ardours sing, +That cowl them with six shadowing wings outspread? +I would not wait thy asking, wert thou known +To me, as thoroughly I to thee am known." + +He forthwith answ'ring, thus his words began: +"The valley' of waters, widest next to that +Which doth the earth engarland, shapes its course, +Between discordant shores, against the sun +Inward so far, it makes meridian there, +Where was before th' horizon. Of that vale +Dwelt I upon the shore, 'twixt Ebro's stream +And Macra's, that divides with passage brief +Genoan bounds from Tuscan. East and west +Are nearly one to Begga and my land, +Whose haven erst was with its own blood warm. +Who knew my name were wont to call me Folco: +And I did bear impression of this heav'n, +That now bears mine: for not with fiercer flame +Glow'd Belus' daughter, injuring alike +Sichaeus and Creusa, than did I, +Long as it suited the unripen'd down +That fledg'd my cheek: nor she of Rhodope, +That was beguiled of Demophoon; +Nor Jove's son, when the charms of Iole +Were shrin'd within his heart. And yet there hides +No sorrowful repentance here, but mirth, +Not for the fault (that doth not come to mind), +But for the virtue, whose o'erruling sway +And providence have wrought thus quaintly. Here +The skill is look'd into, that fashioneth +With such effectual working, and the good +Discern'd, accruing to this upper world +From that below. But fully to content +Thy wishes, all that in this sphere have birth, +Demands my further parle. Inquire thou wouldst, +Who of this light is denizen, that here +Beside me sparkles, as the sun-beam doth +On the clear wave. Know then, the soul of Rahab +Is in that gladsome harbour, to our tribe +United, and the foremost rank assign'd. +He to that heav'n, at which the shadow ends +Of your sublunar world, was taken up, +First, in Christ's triumph, of all souls redeem'd: +For well behoov'd, that, in some part of heav'n, +She should remain a trophy, to declare +The mighty contest won with either palm; +For that she favour'd first the high exploit +Of Joshua on the holy land, whereof +The Pope recks little now. Thy city, plant +Of him, that on his Maker turn'd the back, +And of whose envying so much woe hath sprung, +Engenders and expands the cursed flower, +That hath made wander both the sheep and lambs, +Turning the shepherd to a wolf. For this, +The gospel and great teachers laid aside, +The decretals, as their stuft margins show, +Are the sole study. Pope and Cardinals, +Intent on these, ne'er journey but in thought +To Nazareth, where Gabriel op'd his wings. +Yet it may chance, erelong, the Vatican, +And other most selected parts of Rome, +That were the grave of Peter's soldiery, +Shall be deliver'd from the adult'rous bond." + + + + +CANTO X + +Looking into his first-born with the love, +Which breathes from both eternal, the first Might +Ineffable, whence eye or mind +Can roam, hath in such order all dispos'd, +As none may see and fail to enjoy. Raise, then, +O reader! to the lofty wheels, with me, +Thy ken directed to the point, whereat +One motion strikes on th' other. There begin +Thy wonder of the mighty Architect, +Who loves his work so inwardly, his eye +Doth ever watch it. See, how thence oblique +Brancheth the circle, where the planets roll +To pour their wished influence on the world; +Whose path not bending thus, in heav'n above +Much virtue would be lost, and here on earth, +All power well nigh extinct: or, from direct +Were its departure distant more or less, +I' th' universal order, great defect +Must, both in heav'n and here beneath, ensue. + +Now rest thee, reader! on thy bench, and muse +Anticipative of the feast to come; +So shall delight make thee not feel thy toil. +Lo! I have set before thee, for thyself +Feed now: the matter I indite, henceforth +Demands entire my thought. Join'd with the part, +Which late we told of, the great minister +Of nature, that upon the world imprints +The virtue of the heaven, and doles out +Time for us with his beam, went circling on +Along the spires, where each hour sooner comes; +And I was with him, weetless of ascent, +As one, who till arriv'd, weets not his coming. + +For Beatrice, she who passeth on +So suddenly from good to better, time +Counts not the act, oh then how great must needs +Have been her brightness! What she was i' th' sun +(Where I had enter'd), not through change of hue, +But light transparent--did I summon up +Genius, art, practice--I might not so speak, +It should be e'er imagin'd: yet believ'd +It may be, and the sight be justly crav'd. +And if our fantasy fail of such height, +What marvel, since no eye above the sun +Hath ever travel'd? Such are they dwell here, +Fourth family of the Omnipotent Sire, +Who of his spirit and of his offspring shows; +And holds them still enraptur'd with the view. +And thus to me Beatrice: "Thank, oh thank, +The Sun of angels, him, who by his grace +To this perceptible hath lifted thee." + +Never was heart in such devotion bound, +And with complacency so absolute +Dispos'd to render up itself to God, +As mine was at those words: and so entire +The love for Him, that held me, it eclips'd +Beatrice in oblivion. Naught displeas'd +Was she, but smil'd thereat so joyously, +That of her laughing eyes the radiance brake +And scatter'd my collected mind abroad. + +Then saw I a bright band, in liveliness +Surpassing, who themselves did make the crown, +And us their centre: yet more sweet in voice, +Than in their visage beaming. Cinctur'd thus, +Sometime Latona's daughter we behold, +When the impregnate air retains the thread, +That weaves her zone. In the celestial court, +Whence I return, are many jewels found, +So dear and beautiful, they cannot brook +Transporting from that realm: and of these lights +Such was the song. Who doth not prune his wing +To soar up thither, let him look from thence +For tidings from the dumb. When, singing thus, +Those burning suns that circled round us thrice, +As nearest stars around the fixed pole, +Then seem'd they like to ladies, from the dance +Not ceasing, but suspense, in silent pause, +List'ning, till they have caught the strain anew: +Suspended so they stood: and, from within, +Thus heard I one, who spake: "Since with its beam +The grace, whence true love lighteth first his flame, +That after doth increase by loving, shines +So multiplied in thee, it leads thee up +Along this ladder, down whose hallow'd steps +None e'er descend, and mount them not again, +Who from his phial should refuse thee wine +To slake thy thirst, no less constrained were, +Than water flowing not unto the sea. +Thou fain wouldst hear, what plants are these, that bloom +In the bright garland, which, admiring, girds +This fair dame round, who strengthens thee for heav'n. +I then was of the lambs, that Dominic +Leads, for his saintly flock, along the way, +Where well they thrive, not sworn with vanity. +He, nearest on my right hand, brother was, +And master to me: Albert of Cologne +Is this: and of Aquinum, Thomas I. +If thou of all the rest wouldst be assur'd, +Let thine eye, waiting on the words I speak, +In circuit journey round the blessed wreath. +That next resplendence issues from the smile +Of Gratian, who to either forum lent +Such help, as favour wins in Paradise. +The other, nearest, who adorns our quire, +Was Peter, he that with the widow gave +To holy church his treasure. The fifth light, +Goodliest of all, is by such love inspired, +That all your world craves tidings of its doom: +Within, there is the lofty light, endow'd +With sapience so profound, if truth be truth, +That with a ken of such wide amplitude +No second hath arisen. Next behold +That taper's radiance, to whose view was shown, +Clearliest, the nature and the ministry +Angelical, while yet in flesh it dwelt. +In the other little light serenely smiles +That pleader for the Christian temples, he +Who did provide Augustin of his lore. +Now, if thy mind's eye pass from light to light, +Upon my praises following, of the eighth +Thy thirst is next. The saintly soul, that shows +The world's deceitfulness, to all who hear him, +Is, with the sight of all the good, that is, +Blest there. The limbs, whence it was driven, lie +Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom +And exile came it here. Lo! further on, +Where flames the arduous Spirit of Isidore, +Of Bede, and Richard, more than man, erewhile, +In deep discernment. Lastly this, from whom +Thy look on me reverteth, was the beam +Of one, whose spirit, on high musings bent, +Rebuk'd the ling'ring tardiness of death. +It is the eternal light of Sigebert, +Who 'scap'd not envy, when of truth he argued, +Reading in the straw-litter'd street." Forthwith, +As clock, that calleth up the spouse of God +To win her bridegroom's love at matin's hour, +Each part of other fitly drawn and urg'd, +Sends out a tinkling sound, of note so sweet, +Affection springs in well-disposed breast; +Thus saw I move the glorious wheel, thus heard +Voice answ'ring voice, so musical and soft, +It can be known but where day endless shines. + + + + +CANTO XI + +O fond anxiety of mortal men! +How vain and inconclusive arguments +Are those, which make thee beat thy wings below +For statues one, and one for aphorisms +Was hunting; this the priesthood follow'd, that +By force or sophistry aspir'd to rule; +To rob another, and another sought +By civil business wealth; one moiling lay +Tangled in net of sensual delight, +And one to witless indolence resign'd; +What time from all these empty things escap'd, +With Beatrice, I thus gloriously +Was rais'd aloft, and made the guest of heav'n. + +They of the circle to that point, each one. +Where erst it was, had turn'd; and steady glow'd, +As candle in his socket. Then within +The lustre, that erewhile bespake me, smiling +With merer gladness, heard I thus begin: + +"E'en as his beam illumes me, so I look +Into the eternal light, and clearly mark +Thy thoughts, from whence they rise. Thou art in doubt, +And wouldst, that I should bolt my words afresh +In such plain open phrase, as may be smooth +To thy perception, where I told thee late +That 'well they thrive;' and that 'no second such +Hath risen,' which no small distinction needs. + +"The providence, that governeth the world, +In depth of counsel by created ken +Unfathomable, to the end that she, +Who with loud cries was 'spous'd in precious blood, +Might keep her footing towards her well-belov'd, +Safe in herself and constant unto him, +Hath two ordain'd, who should on either hand +In chief escort her: one seraphic all +In fervency; for wisdom upon earth, +The other splendour of cherubic light. +I but of one will tell: he tells of both, +Who one commendeth which of them so'er +Be taken: for their deeds were to one end. + +"Between Tupino, and the wave, that falls +From blest Ubaldo's chosen hill, there hangs +Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold +Are wafted through Perugia's eastern gate: +And Norcera with Gualdo, in its rear +Mourn for their heavy yoke. Upon that side, +Where it doth break its steepness most, arose +A sun upon the world, as duly this +From Ganges doth: therefore let none, who speak +Of that place, say Ascesi; for its name +Were lamely so deliver'd; but the East, +To call things rightly, be it henceforth styl'd. +He was not yet much distant from his rising, +When his good influence 'gan to bless the earth. +A dame to whom none openeth pleasure's gate +More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will, +His stripling choice: and he did make her his, +Before the Spiritual court, by nuptial bonds, +And in his father's sight: from day to day, +Then lov'd her more devoutly. She, bereav'd +Of her first husband, slighted and obscure, +Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd +Without a single suitor, till he came. +Nor aught avail'd, that, with Amyclas, she +Was found unmov'd at rumour of his voice, +Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness +Whereby with Christ she mounted on the cross, +When Mary stay'd beneath. But not to deal +Thus closely with thee longer, take at large +The rovers' titles--Poverty and Francis. +Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love, +And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts, +So much, that venerable Bernard first +Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace +So heavenly, ran, yet deem'd his footing slow. +O hidden riches! O prolific good! +Egidius bares him next, and next Sylvester, +And follow both the bridegroom; so the bride +Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way, +The father and the master, with his spouse, +And with that family, whom now the cord +Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart +Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son +Of Pietro Bernardone, and by men +In wond'rous sort despis'd. But royally +His hard intention he to Innocent +Set forth, and from him first receiv'd the seal +On his religion. Then, when numerous flock'd +The tribe of lowly ones, that trac'd HIS steps, +Whose marvellous life deservedly were sung +In heights empyreal, through Honorius' hand +A second crown, to deck their Guardian's virtues, +Was by the eternal Spirit inwreath'd: and when +He had, through thirst of martyrdom, stood up +In the proud Soldan's presence, and there preach'd +Christ and his followers; but found the race +Unripen'd for conversion: back once more +He hasted (not to intermit his toil), +And reap'd Ausonian lands. On the hard rock, +'Twixt Arno and the Tyber, he from Christ +Took the last Signet, which his limbs two years +Did carry. Then the season come, that he, +Who to such good had destin'd him, was pleas'd +T' advance him to the meed, which he had earn'd +By his self-humbling, to his brotherhood, +As their just heritage, he gave in charge +His dearest lady, and enjoin'd their love +And faith to her: and, from her bosom, will'd +His goodly spirit should move forth, returning +To its appointed kingdom, nor would have +His body laid upon another bier. + +"Think now of one, who were a fit colleague, +To keep the bark of Peter in deep sea +Helm'd to right point; and such our Patriarch was. +Therefore who follow him, as he enjoins, +Thou mayst be certain, take good lading in. +But hunger of new viands tempts his flock, +So that they needs into strange pastures wide +Must spread them: and the more remote from him +The stragglers wander, so much mole they come +Home to the sheep-fold, destitute of milk. +There are of them, in truth, who fear their harm, +And to the shepherd cleave; but these so few, +A little stuff may furnish out their cloaks. + +"Now, if my words be clear, if thou have ta'en +Good heed, if that, which I have told, recall +To mind, thy wish may be in part fulfill'd: +For thou wilt see the point from whence they split, +Nor miss of the reproof, which that implies, +'That well they thrive not sworn with vanity."' + + + + +CANTO XII + +Soon as its final word the blessed flame +Had rais'd for utterance, straight the holy mill +Began to wheel, nor yet had once revolv'd, +Or ere another, circling, compass'd it, +Motion to motion, song to song, conjoining, +Song, that as much our muses doth excel, +Our Sirens with their tuneful pipes, as ray +Of primal splendour doth its faint reflex. + +As when, if Juno bid her handmaid forth, +Two arches parallel, and trick'd alike, +Span the thin cloud, the outer taking birth +From that within (in manner of that voice +Whom love did melt away, as sun the mist), +And they who gaze, presageful call to mind +The compact, made with Noah, of the world +No more to be o'erflow'd; about us thus +Of sempiternal roses, bending, wreath'd +Those garlands twain, and to the innermost +E'en thus th' external answered. When the footing, +And other great festivity, of song, +And radiance, light with light accordant, each +Jocund and blythe, had at their pleasure still'd +(E'en as the eyes by quick volition mov'd, +Are shut and rais'd together), from the heart +Of one amongst the new lights mov'd a voice, +That made me seem like needle to the star, +In turning to its whereabout, and thus +Began: "The love, that makes me beautiful, +Prompts me to tell of th' other guide, for whom +Such good of mine is spoken. Where one is, +The other worthily should also be; +That as their warfare was alike, alike +Should be their glory. Slow, and full of doubt, +And with thin ranks, after its banner mov'd +The army of Christ (which it so clearly cost +To reappoint), when its imperial Head, +Who reigneth ever, for the drooping host +Did make provision, thorough grace alone, +And not through its deserving. As thou heard'st, +Two champions to the succour of his spouse +He sent, who by their deeds and words might join +Again his scatter'd people. In that clime, +Where springs the pleasant west-wind to unfold +The fresh leaves, with which Europe sees herself +New-garmented; nor from those billows far, +Beyond whose chiding, after weary course, +The sun doth sometimes hide him, safe abides +The happy Callaroga, under guard +Of the great shield, wherein the lion lies +Subjected and supreme. And there was born +The loving million of the Christian faith, +The hollow'd wrestler, gentle to his own, +And to his enemies terrible. So replete +His soul with lively virtue, that when first +Created, even in the mother's womb, +It prophesied. When, at the sacred font, +The spousals were complete 'twixt faith and him, +Where pledge of mutual safety was exchang'd, +The dame, who was his surety, in her sleep +Beheld the wondrous fruit, that was from him +And from his heirs to issue. And that such +He might be construed, as indeed he was, +She was inspir'd to name him of his owner, +Whose he was wholly, and so call'd him Dominic. +And I speak of him, as the labourer, +Whom Christ in his own garden chose to be +His help-mate. Messenger he seem'd, and friend +Fast-knit to Christ; and the first love he show'd, +Was after the first counsel that Christ gave. +Many a time his nurse, at entering found +That he had ris'n in silence, and was prostrate, +As who should say, "My errand was for this." +O happy father! Felix rightly nam'd! +O favour'd mother! rightly nam'd Joanna! +If that do mean, as men interpret it. +Not for the world's sake, for which now they pore +Upon Ostiense and Taddeo's page, +But for the real manna, soon he grew +Mighty in learning, and did set himself +To go about the vineyard, that soon turns +To wan and wither'd, if not tended well: +And from the see (whose bounty to the just +And needy is gone by, not through its fault, +But his who fills it basely, he besought, +No dispensation for commuted wrong, +Nor the first vacant fortune, nor the tenth), +That to God's paupers rightly appertain, +But, 'gainst an erring and degenerate world, +Licence to fight, in favour of that seed, +From which the twice twelve cions gird thee round. +Then, with sage doctrine and good will to help, +Forth on his great apostleship he far'd, +Like torrent bursting from a lofty vein; +And, dashing 'gainst the stocks of heresy, +Smote fiercest, where resistance was most stout. +Thence many rivulets have since been turn'd, +Over the garden Catholic to lead +Their living waters, and have fed its plants. + +"If such one wheel of that two-yoked car, +Wherein the holy church defended her, +And rode triumphant through the civil broil. +Thou canst not doubt its fellow's excellence, +Which Thomas, ere my coming, hath declar'd +So courteously unto thee. But the track, +Which its smooth fellies made, is now deserted: +That mouldy mother is where late were lees. +His family, that wont to trace his path, +Turn backward, and invert their steps; erelong +To rue the gathering in of their ill crop, +When the rejected tares in vain shall ask +Admittance to the barn. I question not +But he, who search'd our volume, leaf by leaf, +Might still find page with this inscription on't, +'I am as I was wont.' Yet such were not +From Acquasparta nor Casale, whence +Of those, who come to meddle with the text, +One stretches and another cramps its rule. +Bonaventura's life in me behold, +From Bagnororegio, one, who in discharge +Of my great offices still laid aside +All sinister aim. Illuminato here, +And Agostino join me: two they were, +Among the first of those barefooted meek ones, +Who sought God's friendship in the cord: with them +Hugues of Saint Victor, Pietro Mangiadore, +And he of Spain in his twelve volumes shining, +Nathan the prophet, Metropolitan +Chrysostom, and Anselmo, and, who deign'd +To put his hand to the first art, Donatus. +Raban is here: and at my side there shines +Calabria's abbot, Joachim, endow'd +With soul prophetic. The bright courtesy +Of friar Thomas, and his goodly lore, +Have mov'd me to the blazon of a peer +So worthy, and with me have mov'd this throng." + + + + +CANTO XIII + +Let him, who would conceive what now I saw, +Imagine (and retain the image firm, +As mountain rock, the whilst he hears me speak), +Of stars fifteen, from midst the ethereal host +Selected, that, with lively ray serene, +O'ercome the massiest air: thereto imagine +The wain, that, in the bosom of our sky, +Spins ever on its axle night and day, +With the bright summit of that horn which swells +Due from the pole, round which the first wheel rolls, +T' have rang'd themselves in fashion of two signs +In heav'n, such as Ariadne made, +When death's chill seized her; and that one of them +Did compass in the other's beam; and both +In such sort whirl around, that each should tend +With opposite motion and, conceiving thus, +Of that true constellation, and the dance +Twofold, that circled me, he shall attain +As 't were the shadow; for things there as much +Surpass our usage, as the swiftest heav'n +Is swifter than the Chiana. There was sung +No Bacchus, and no Io Paean, but +Three Persons in the Godhead, and in one +Substance that nature and the human join'd. + +The song fulfill'd its measure; and to us +Those saintly lights attended, happier made +At each new minist'ring. Then silence brake, +Amid th' accordant sons of Deity, +That luminary, in which the wondrous life +Of the meek man of God was told to me; +And thus it spake: "One ear o' th' harvest thresh'd, +And its grain safely stor'd, sweet charity +Invites me with the other to like toil. + +"Thou know'st, that in the bosom, whence the rib +Was ta'en to fashion that fair cheek, whose taste +All the world pays for, and in that, which pierc'd +By the keen lance, both after and before +Such satisfaction offer'd, as outweighs +Each evil in the scale, whate'er of light +To human nature is allow'd, must all +Have by his virtue been infus'd, who form'd +Both one and other: and thou thence admir'st +In that I told thee, of beatitudes +A second, there is none, to his enclos'd +In the fifth radiance. Open now thine eyes +To what I answer thee; and thou shalt see +Thy deeming and my saying meet in truth, +As centre in the round. That which dies not, +And that which can die, are but each the beam +Of that idea, which our Soverign Sire +Engendereth loving; for that lively light, +Which passeth from his brightness; not disjoin'd +From him, nor from his love triune with them, +Doth, through his bounty, congregate itself, +Mirror'd, as 't were in new existences, +Itself unalterable and ever one. + +"Descending hence unto the lowest powers, +Its energy so sinks, at last it makes +But brief contingencies: for so I name +Things generated, which the heav'nly orbs +Moving, with seed or without seed, produce. +Their wax, and that which molds it, differ much: +And thence with lustre, more or less, it shows +Th' ideal stamp impress: so that one tree +According to his kind, hath better fruit, +And worse: and, at your birth, ye, mortal men, +Are in your talents various. Were the wax +Molded with nice exactness, and the heav'n +In its disposing influence supreme, +The lustre of the seal should be complete: +But nature renders it imperfect ever, +Resembling thus the artist in her work, +Whose faultering hand is faithless to his skill. +Howe'er, if love itself dispose, and mark +The primal virtue, kindling with bright view, +There all perfection is vouchsafed; and such +The clay was made, accomplish'd with each gift, +That life can teem with; such the burden fill'd +The virgin's bosom: so that I commend +Thy judgment, that the human nature ne'er +Was or can be, such as in them it was. + +"Did I advance no further than this point, +'How then had he no peer?' thou might'st reply. +But, that what now appears not, may appear +Right plainly, ponder, who he was, and what +(When he was bidden 'Ask' ), the motive sway'd +To his requesting. I have spoken thus, +That thou mayst see, he was a king, who ask'd +For wisdom, to the end he might be king +Sufficient: not the number to search out +Of the celestial movers; or to know, +If necessary with contingent e'er +Have made necessity; or whether that +Be granted, that first motion is; or if +Of the mid circle can, by art, be made +Triangle with each corner, blunt or sharp. + +"Whence, noting that, which I have said, and this, +Thou kingly prudence and that ken mayst learn, +At which the dart of my intention aims. +And, marking clearly, that I told thee, 'Risen,' +Thou shalt discern it only hath respect +To kings, of whom are many, and the good +Are rare. With this distinction take my words; +And they may well consist with that which thou +Of the first human father dost believe, +And of our well-beloved. And let this +Henceforth be led unto thy feet, to make +Thee slow in motion, as a weary man, +Both to the 'yea' and to the 'nay' thou seest not. +For he among the fools is down full low, +Whose affirmation, or denial, is +Without distinction, in each case alike +Since it befalls, that in most instances +Current opinion leads to false: and then +Affection bends the judgment to her ply. + +"Much more than vainly doth he loose from shore, +Since he returns not such as he set forth, +Who fishes for the truth and wanteth skill. +And open proofs of this unto the world +Have been afforded in Parmenides, +Melissus, Bryso, and the crowd beside, +Who journey'd on, and knew not whither: so did +Sabellius, Arius, and the other fools, +Who, like to scymitars, reflected back +The scripture-image, by distortion marr'd. + +"Let not the people be too swift to judge, +As one who reckons on the blades in field, +Or ere the crop be ripe. For I have seen +The thorn frown rudely all the winter long +And after bear the rose upon its top; +And bark, that all the way across the sea +Ran straight and speedy, perish at the last, +E'en in the haven's mouth seeing one steal, +Another brine, his offering to the priest, +Let not Dame Birtha and Sir Martin thence +Into heav'n's counsels deem that they can pry: +For one of these may rise, the other fall." + + + + +CANTO XIV + +From centre to the circle, and so back +From circle to the centre, water moves +In the round chalice, even as the blow +Impels it, inwardly, or from without. +Such was the image glanc'd into my mind, +As the great spirit of Aquinum ceas'd; +And Beatrice after him her words +Resum'd alternate: "Need there is (tho' yet +He tells it to you not in words, nor e'en +In thought) that he should fathom to its depth +Another mystery. Tell him, if the light, +Wherewith your substance blooms, shall stay with you +Eternally, as now: and, if it doth, +How, when ye shall regain your visible forms, +The sight may without harm endure the change, +That also tell." As those, who in a ring +Tread the light measure, in their fitful mirth +Raise loud the voice, and spring with gladder bound; +Thus, at the hearing of that pious suit, +The saintly circles in their tourneying +And wond'rous note attested new delight. + +Whoso laments, that we must doff this garb +Of frail mortality, thenceforth to live +Immortally above, he hath not seen +The sweet refreshing, of that heav'nly shower. + +Him, who lives ever, and for ever reigns +In mystic union of the Three in One, +Unbounded, bounding all, each spirit thrice +Sang, with such melody, as but to hear +For highest merit were an ample meed. +And from the lesser orb the goodliest light, +With gentle voice and mild, such as perhaps +The angel's once to Mary, thus replied: +"Long as the joy of Paradise shall last, +Our love shall shine around that raiment, bright, +As fervent; fervent, as in vision blest; +And that as far in blessedness exceeding, +As it hath grave beyond its virtue great. +Our shape, regarmented with glorious weeds +Of saintly flesh, must, being thus entire, +Show yet more gracious. Therefore shall increase, +Whate'er of light, gratuitous, imparts +The Supreme Good; light, ministering aid, +The better disclose his glory: whence +The vision needs increasing, much increase +The fervour, which it kindles; and that too +The ray, that comes from it. But as the greed +Which gives out flame, yet it its whiteness shines +More lively than that, and so preserves +Its proper semblance; thus this circling sphere +Of splendour, shall to view less radiant seem, +Than shall our fleshly robe, which yonder earth +Now covers. Nor will such excess of light +O'erpower us, in corporeal organs made +Firm, and susceptible of all delight." + +So ready and so cordial an "Amen," +Followed from either choir, as plainly spoke +Desire of their dead bodies; yet perchance +Not for themselves, but for their kindred dear, +Mothers and sires, and those whom best they lov'd, +Ere they were made imperishable flame. + +And lo! forthwith there rose up round about +A lustre over that already there, +Of equal clearness, like the brightening up +Of the horizon. As at an evening hour +Of twilight, new appearances through heav'n +Peer with faint glimmer, doubtfully descried; +So there new substances, methought began +To rise in view; and round the other twain +Enwheeling, sweep their ampler circuit wide. + +O gentle glitter of eternal beam! +With what a such whiteness did it flow, +O'erpowering vision in me! But so fair, +So passing lovely, Beatrice show'd, +Mind cannot follow it, nor words express +Her infinite sweetness. Thence mine eyes regain'd +Power to look up, and I beheld myself, +Sole with my lady, to more lofty bliss +Translated: for the star, with warmer smile +Impurpled, well denoted our ascent. + +With all the heart, and with that tongue which speaks +The same in all, an holocaust I made +To God, befitting the new grace vouchsaf'd. +And from my bosom had not yet upsteam'd +The fuming of that incense, when I knew +The rite accepted. With such mighty sheen +And mantling crimson, in two listed rays +The splendours shot before me, that I cried, +"God of Sabaoth! that does prank them thus!" + +As leads the galaxy from pole to pole, +Distinguish'd into greater lights and less, +Its pathway, which the wisest fail to spell; +So thickly studded, in the depth of Mars, +Those rays describ'd the venerable sign, +That quadrants in the round conjoining frame. +Here memory mocks the toil of genius. Christ +Beam'd on that cross; and pattern fails me now. +But whoso takes his cross, and follows Christ +Will pardon me for that I leave untold, +When in the flecker'd dawning he shall spy +The glitterance of Christ. From horn to horn, +And 'tween the summit and the base did move +Lights, scintillating, as they met and pass'd. +Thus oft are seen, with ever-changeful glance, +Straight or athwart, now rapid and now slow, +The atomies of bodies, long or short, +To move along the sunbeam, whose slant line +Checkers the shadow, interpos'd by art +Against the noontide heat. And as the chime +Of minstrel music, dulcimer, and help +With many strings, a pleasant dining makes +To him, who heareth not distinct the note; +So from the lights, which there appear'd to me, +Gather'd along the cross a melody, +That, indistinctly heard, with ravishment +Possess'd me. Yet I mark'd it was a hymn +Of lofty praises; for there came to me +"Arise and conquer," as to one who hears +And comprehends not. Me such ecstasy +O'ercame, that never till that hour was thing +That held me in so sweet imprisonment. + +Perhaps my saying over bold appears, +Accounting less the pleasure of those eyes, +Whereon to look fulfilleth all desire. +But he, who is aware those living seals +Of every beauty work with quicker force, +The higher they are ris'n; and that there +I had not turn'd me to them; he may well +Excuse me that, whereof in my excuse +I do accuse me, and may own my truth; +That holy pleasure here not yet reveal'd, +Which grows in transport as we mount aloof. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vision of Paradise, Part 1., by Dante Alighieri +Translated By The Rev. H. F. 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