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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Vision of Paradise</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Dante Alighieri</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Henry Francis Cary</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Gustave Doré</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 2, 2004 [eBook #8799]<br /> +[Most recently updated: January 14, 2023]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISION OF PARADISE ***</div> + +<h1>THE VISION OF PARADISE</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">BY DANTE ALIGHIERI</h2> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY GUSTAVE DORÉ</h3> + +<h3>TRANSLATED BY<br/> +THE REV. H. F. CARY, M.A.</h3> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:65%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"> +<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="543" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/titlepage.jpg"> +<img src="images/titlepage.jpg" width="467" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>PARADISE</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>LIST OF CANTOS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.1">Canto 1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.2">Canto 2</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.3">Canto 3</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.4">Canto 4</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.5">Canto 5</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.6">Canto 6</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.7">Canto 7</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.8">Canto 8</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.9">Canto 9</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.10">Canto 10</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.11">Canto 11</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.12">Canto 12</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.13">Canto 13</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.14">Canto 14</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.15">Canto 15</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.16">Canto 16</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.17">Canto 17</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.18">Canto 18</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.19">Canto 19</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.20">Canto 20</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.21">Canto 21</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.22">Canto 22</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.23">Canto 23</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.24">Canto 24</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.25">Canto 25</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.26">Canto 26</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.27">Canto 27</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.28">Canto 28</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.29">Canto 29</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.30">Canto 30</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.31">Canto 31</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.32">Canto 32</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#cantoIII.33">Canto 33</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.1"></a>CANTO I</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.2"></a>CANTO II</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.3"></a>CANTO III</h2> + +<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. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/03-14.jpg"> +<img src="images/03-14.jpg" width="555" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.4"></a>CANTO IV</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.5"></a>CANTO V</h2> + +<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! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/05-99.jpg"> +<img src="images/05-99.jpg" width="545" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.6"></a>CANTO VI</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.7"></a>CANTO VII</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.8"></a>CANTO VIII</h2> + +<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.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/08-60.jpg"> +<img src="images/08-60.jpg" width="530" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +“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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.9"></a>CANTO IX</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.10"></a>CANTO X</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.11"></a>CANTO XI</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.12"></a>CANTO XII</h2> + +<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. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/12-16.jpg"> +<img src="images/12-16.jpg" width="545" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.13"></a>CANTO XIII</h2> + +<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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.14"></a>CANTO XIV</h2> + +<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. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/14-77.jpg"> +<img src="images/14-77.jpg" width="544" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/14-96.jpg"> +<img src="images/14-96.jpg" width="556" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +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> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.15"></a>CANTO XV</h2> + +<p> +True love, that ever shows itself as clear<br/> +In kindness, as loose appetite in wrong,<br/> +Silenced that lyre harmonious, and still’d<br/> +The sacred chords, that are by heav’n’s right hand<br/> +Unwound and tighten’d, flow to righteous prayers<br/> +Should they not hearken, who, to give me will<br/> +For praying, in accordance thus were mute?<br/> +He hath in sooth good cause for endless grief,<br/> +Who, for the love of thing that lasteth not,<br/> +Despoils himself forever of that love.<br/> +<br/> +As oft along the still and pure serene,<br/> +At nightfall, glides a sudden trail of fire,<br/> +Attracting with involuntary heed<br/> +The eye to follow it, erewhile at rest,<br/> +And seems some star that shifted place in heav’n,<br/> +Only that, whence it kindles, none is lost,<br/> +And it is soon extinct; thus from the horn,<br/> +That on the dexter of the cross extends,<br/> +Down to its foot, one luminary ran<br/> +From mid the cluster shone there; yet no gem<br/> +Dropp’d from its foil; and through the beamy list<br/> +Like flame in alabaster, glow’d its course.<br/> +<br/> +So forward stretch’d him (if of credence aught<br/> +Our greater muse may claim) the pious ghost<br/> +Of old Anchises, in the’ Elysian bower,<br/> +When he perceiv’d his son. “O thou, my blood!<br/> +O most exceeding grace divine! to whom,<br/> +As now to thee, hath twice the heav’nly gate<br/> +Been e’er unclos’d?” so spake the light; whence I<br/> +Turn’d me toward him; then unto my dame<br/> +My sight directed, and on either side<br/> +Amazement waited me; for in her eyes<br/> +Was lighted such a smile, I thought that mine<br/> +Had div’d unto the bottom of my grace<br/> +And of my bliss in Paradise. Forthwith<br/> +To hearing and to sight grateful alike,<br/> +The spirit to his proem added things<br/> +I understood not, so profound he spake;<br/> +Yet not of choice but through necessity<br/> +Mysterious; for his high conception scar’d<br/> +Beyond the mark of mortals. When the flight<br/> +Of holy transport had so spent its rage,<br/> +That nearer to the level of our thought<br/> +The speech descended, the first sounds I heard<br/> +Were, “Best he thou, Triunal Deity!<br/> +That hast such favour in my seed vouchsaf’d!”<br/> +Then follow’d: “No unpleasant thirst, tho’ long,<br/> +Which took me reading in the sacred book,<br/> +Whose leaves or white or dusky never change,<br/> +Thou hast allay’d, my son, within this light,<br/> +From whence my voice thou hear’st; more thanks to her.<br/> +Who for such lofty mounting has with plumes<br/> +Begirt thee. Thou dost deem thy thoughts to me<br/> +From him transmitted, who is first of all,<br/> +E’en as all numbers ray from unity;<br/> +And therefore dost not ask me who I am,<br/> +Or why to thee more joyous I appear,<br/> +Than any other in this gladsome throng.<br/> +The truth is as thou deem’st; for in this hue<br/> +Both less and greater in that mirror look,<br/> +In which thy thoughts, or ere thou think’st, are shown.<br/> +But, that the love, which keeps me wakeful ever,<br/> +Urging with sacred thirst of sweet desire,<br/> +May be contended fully, let thy voice,<br/> +Fearless, and frank and jocund, utter forth<br/> +Thy will distinctly, utter forth the wish,<br/> +Whereto my ready answer stands decreed.”<br/> +<br/> +I turn’d me to Beatrice; and she heard<br/> +Ere I had spoken, smiling, an assent,<br/> +That to my will gave wings; and I began<br/> +“To each among your tribe, what time ye kenn’d<br/> +The nature, in whom naught unequal dwells,<br/> +Wisdom and love were in one measure dealt;<br/> +For that they are so equal in the sun,<br/> +From whence ye drew your radiance and your heat,<br/> +As makes all likeness scant. But will and means,<br/> +In mortals, for the cause ye well discern,<br/> +With unlike wings are fledge. A mortal I<br/> +Experience inequality like this,<br/> +And therefore give no thanks, but in the heart,<br/> +For thy paternal greeting. This howe’er<br/> +I pray thee, living topaz! that ingemm’st<br/> +This precious jewel, let me hear thy name.”<br/> +<br/> +“I am thy root, O leaf! whom to expect<br/> +Even, hath pleas’d me:” thus the prompt reply<br/> +Prefacing, next it added: “he, of whom<br/> +Thy kindred appellation comes, and who,<br/> +These hundred years and more, on its first ledge<br/> +Hath circuited the mountain, was my son<br/> +And thy great grandsire. Well befits, his long<br/> +Endurance should be shorten’d by thy deeds.<br/> +<br/> +“Florence, within her ancient limit-mark,<br/> +Which calls her still to matin prayers and noon,<br/> +Was chaste and sober, and abode in peace.<br/> +She had no armlets and no head-tires then,<br/> +No purfled dames, no zone, that caught the eye<br/> +More than the person did. Time was not yet,<br/> +When at his daughter’s birth the sire grew pale.<br/> +For fear the age and dowry should exceed<br/> +On each side just proportion. House was none<br/> +Void of its family; nor yet had come<br/> +Hardanapalus, to exhibit feats<br/> +Of chamber prowess. Montemalo yet<br/> +O’er our suburban turret rose; as much<br/> +To be surpass in fall, as in its rising.<br/> +I saw Bellincione Berti walk abroad<br/> +In leathern girdle and a clasp of bone;<br/> +And, with no artful colouring on her cheeks,<br/> +His lady leave the glass. The sons I saw<br/> +Of Nerli and of Vecchio well content<br/> +With unrob’d jerkin; and their good dames handling<br/> +The spindle and the flax; O happy they!<br/> +Each sure of burial in her native land,<br/> +And none left desolate a-bed for France!<br/> +One wak’d to tend the cradle, hushing it<br/> +With sounds that lull’d the parent’s infancy:<br/> +Another, with her maidens, drawing off<br/> +The tresses from the distaff, lectur’d them<br/> +Old tales of Troy and Fesole and Rome.<br/> +A Salterello and Cianghella we<br/> +Had held as strange a marvel, as ye would<br/> +A Cincinnatus or Cornelia now.<br/> +<br/> +“In such compos’d and seemly fellowship,<br/> +Such faithful and such fair equality,<br/> +In so sweet household, Mary at my birth<br/> +Bestow’d me, call’d on with loud cries; and there<br/> +In your old baptistery, I was made<br/> +Christian at once and Cacciaguida; as were<br/> +My brethren, Eliseo and Moronto.<br/> +<br/> +“From Valdipado came to me my spouse,<br/> +And hence thy surname grew. I follow’d then<br/> +The Emperor Conrad; and his knighthood he<br/> +Did gird on me; in such good part he took<br/> +My valiant service. After him I went<br/> +To testify against that evil law,<br/> +Whose people, by the shepherd’s fault, possess<br/> +Your right, usurping. There, by that foul crew<br/> +Was I releas’d from the deceitful world,<br/> +Whose base affection many a spirit soils,<br/> +And from the martyrdom came to this peace.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.16"></a>CANTO XVI</h2> + +<p> +O slight respect of man’s nobility!<br/> +I never shall account it marvelous,<br/> +That our infirm affection here below<br/> +Thou mov’st to boasting, when I could not choose,<br/> +E’en in that region of unwarp’d desire,<br/> +In heav’n itself, but make my vaunt in thee!<br/> +Yet cloak thou art soon shorten’d, for that time,<br/> +Unless thou be eked out from day to day,<br/> +Goes round thee with his shears. Resuming then<br/> +With greeting such, as Rome, was first to bear,<br/> +But since hath disaccustom’d I began;<br/> +And Beatrice, that a little space<br/> +Was sever’d, smil’d reminding me of her,<br/> +Whose cough embolden’d (as the story holds)<br/> +To first offence the doubting Guenever.<br/> +<br/> +“You are my sire,” said I, “you give me heart<br/> +Freely to speak my thought: above myself<br/> +You raise me. Through so many streams with joy<br/> +My soul is fill’d, that gladness wells from it;<br/> +So that it bears the mighty tide, and bursts not<br/> +Say then, my honour’d stem! what ancestors<br/> +Where those you sprang from, and what years were mark’d<br/> +In your first childhood? Tell me of the fold,<br/> +That hath Saint John for guardian, what was then<br/> +Its state, and who in it were highest seated?”<br/> +<br/> +As embers, at the breathing of the wind,<br/> +Their flame enliven, so that light I saw<br/> +Shine at my blandishments; and, as it grew<br/> +More fair to look on, so with voice more sweet,<br/> +Yet not in this our modern phrase, forthwith<br/> +It answer’d: “From the day, when it was said<br/> +‘Hail Virgin!’ to the throes, by which my mother,<br/> +Who now is sainted, lighten’d her of me<br/> +Whom she was heavy with, this fire had come,<br/> +Five hundred fifty times and thrice, its beams<br/> +To reilumine underneath the foot<br/> +Of its own lion. They, of whom I sprang,<br/> +And I, had there our birth-place, where the last<br/> +Partition of our city first is reach’d<br/> +By him, that runs her annual game. Thus much<br/> +Suffice of my forefathers: who they were,<br/> +And whence they hither came, more honourable<br/> +It is to pass in silence than to tell.<br/> +All those, who in that time were there from Mars<br/> +Until the Baptist, fit to carry arms,<br/> +Were but the fifth of them this day alive.<br/> +But then the citizen’s blood, that now is mix’d<br/> +From Campi and Certaldo and Fighine,<br/> +Ran purely through the last mechanic’s veins.<br/> +O how much better were it, that these people<br/> +Were neighbours to you, and that at Galluzzo<br/> +And at Trespiano, ye should have your bound’ry,<br/> +Than to have them within, and bear the stench<br/> +Of Aguglione’s hind, and Signa’s, him,<br/> +That hath his eye already keen for bart’ring!<br/> +Had not the people, which of all the world<br/> +Degenerates most, been stepdame unto Caesar,<br/> +But, as a mother, gracious to her son;<br/> +Such one, as hath become a Florentine,<br/> +And trades and traffics, had been turn’d adrift<br/> +To Simifonte, where his grandsire ply’d<br/> +The beggar’s craft. The Conti were possess’d<br/> +Of Montemurlo still: the Cerchi still<br/> +Were in Acone’s parish; nor had haply<br/> +From Valdigrieve past the Buondelmonte.<br/> +The city’s malady hath ever source<br/> +In the confusion of its persons, as<br/> +The body’s, in variety of food:<br/> +And the blind bull falls with a steeper plunge,<br/> +Than the blind lamb; and oftentimes one sword<br/> +Doth more and better execution,<br/> +Than five. Mark Luni, Urbisaglia mark,<br/> +How they are gone, and after them how go<br/> +Chiusi and Sinigaglia; and ’t will seem<br/> +No longer new or strange to thee to hear,<br/> +That families fail, when cities have their end.<br/> +All things, that appertain t’ ye, like yourselves,<br/> +Are mortal: but mortality in some<br/> +Ye mark not, they endure so long, and you<br/> +Pass by so suddenly. And as the moon<br/> +Doth, by the rolling of her heav’nly sphere,<br/> +Hide and reveal the strand unceasingly;<br/> +So fortune deals with Florence. Hence admire not<br/> +At what of them I tell thee, whose renown<br/> +Time covers, the first Florentines. I saw<br/> +The Ughi, Catilini and Filippi,<br/> +The Alberichi, Greci and Ormanni,<br/> +Now in their wane, illustrious citizens:<br/> +And great as ancient, of Sannella him,<br/> +With him of Arca saw, and Soldanieri<br/> +And Ardinghi, and Bostichi. At the poop,<br/> +That now is laden with new felony,<br/> +So cumb’rous it may speedily sink the bark,<br/> +The Ravignani sat, of whom is sprung<br/> +The County Guido, and whoso hath since<br/> +His title from the fam’d Bellincione ta’en.<br/> +Fair governance was yet an art well priz’d<br/> +By him of Pressa: Galigaio show’d<br/> +The gilded hilt and pommel, in his house.<br/> +The column, cloth’d with verrey, still was seen<br/> +Unshaken: the Sacchetti still were great,<br/> +Giouchi, Sifanti, Galli and Barucci,<br/> +With them who blush to hear the bushel nam’d.<br/> +Of the Calfucci still the branchy trunk<br/> +Was in its strength: and to the curule chairs<br/> +Sizii and Arigucci yet were drawn.<br/> +How mighty them I saw, whom since their pride<br/> +Hath undone! and in all her goodly deeds<br/> +Florence was by the bullets of bright gold<br/> +O’erflourish’d. Such the sires of those, who now,<br/> +As surely as your church is vacant, flock<br/> +Into her consistory, and at leisure<br/> +There stall them and grow fat. The o’erweening brood,<br/> +That plays the dragon after him that flees,<br/> +But unto such, as turn and show the tooth,<br/> +Ay or the purse, is gentle as a lamb,<br/> +Was on its rise, but yet so slight esteem’d,<br/> +That Ubertino of Donati grudg’d<br/> +His father-in-law should yoke him to its tribe.<br/> +Already Caponsacco had descended<br/> +Into the mart from Fesole: and Giuda<br/> +And Infangato were good citizens.<br/> +A thing incredible I tell, tho’ true:<br/> +The gateway, named from those of Pera, led<br/> +Into the narrow circuit of your walls.<br/> +Each one, who bears the sightly quarterings<br/> +Of the great Baron (he whose name and worth<br/> +The festival of Thomas still revives)<br/> +His knighthood and his privilege retain’d;<br/> +Albeit one, who borders them With gold,<br/> +This day is mingled with the common herd.<br/> +In Borgo yet the Gualterotti dwelt,<br/> +And Importuni: well for its repose<br/> +Had it still lack’d of newer neighbourhood.<br/> +The house, from whence your tears have had their spring,<br/> +Through the just anger that hath murder’d ye<br/> +And put a period to your gladsome days,<br/> +Was honour’d, it, and those consorted with it.<br/> +O Buondelmonte! what ill counseling<br/> +Prevail’d on thee to break the plighted bond<br/> +Many, who now are weeping, would rejoice,<br/> +Had God to Ema giv’n thee, the first time<br/> +Thou near our city cam’st. But so was doom’d:<br/> +On that maim’d stone set up to guard the bridge,<br/> +At thy last peace, the victim, Florence! fell.<br/> +With these and others like to them, I saw<br/> +Florence in such assur’d tranquility,<br/> +She had no cause at which to grieve: with these<br/> +Saw her so glorious and so just, that ne’er<br/> +The lily from the lance had hung reverse,<br/> +Or through division been with vermeil dyed.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/16-143.jpg"> +<img src="images/16-143.jpg" width="571" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.17"></a>CANTO XVII</h2> + +<p> +Such as the youth, who came to Clymene<br/> +To certify himself of that reproach,<br/> +Which had been fasten’d on him, (he whose end<br/> +Still makes the fathers chary to their sons),<br/> +E’en such was I; nor unobserv’d was such<br/> +Of Beatrice, and that saintly lamp,<br/> +Who had erewhile for me his station mov’d;<br/> +When thus by lady: “Give thy wish free vent,<br/> +That it may issue, bearing true report<br/> +Of the mind’s impress; not that aught thy words<br/> +May to our knowledge add, but to the end,<br/> +That thou mayst use thyself to own thy thirst<br/> +And men may mingle for thee when they hear.”<br/> +<br/> +“O plant! from whence I spring! rever’d and lov’d!<br/> +Who soar’st so high a pitch, thou seest as clear,<br/> +As earthly thought determines two obtuse<br/> +In one triangle not contain’d, so clear<br/> +Dost see contingencies, ere in themselves<br/> +Existent, looking at the point whereto<br/> +All times are present, I, the whilst I scal’d<br/> +With Virgil the soul purifying mount,<br/> +And visited the nether world of woe,<br/> +Touching my future destiny have heard<br/> +Words grievous, though I feel me on all sides<br/> +Well squar’d to fortune’s blows. Therefore my will<br/> +Were satisfied to know the lot awaits me,<br/> +The arrow, seen beforehand, slacks its flight.”<br/> +<br/> +So said I to the brightness, which erewhile<br/> +To me had spoken, and my will declar’d,<br/> +As Beatrice will’d, explicitly.<br/> +Nor with oracular response obscure,<br/> +Such, as or ere the Lamb of God was slain,<br/> +Beguil’d the credulous nations; but, in terms<br/> +Precise and unambiguous lore, replied<br/> +The spirit of paternal love, enshrin’d,<br/> +Yet in his smile apparent; and thus spake:<br/> +“Contingency, unfolded not to view<br/> +Upon the tablet of your mortal mold,<br/> +Is all depictur’d in the’ eternal sight;<br/> +But hence deriveth not necessity,<br/> +More then the tall ship, hurried down the flood,<br/> +Doth from the vision, that reflects the scene.<br/> +From thence, as to the ear sweet harmony<br/> +From organ comes, so comes before mine eye<br/> +The time prepar’d for thee. Such as driv’n out<br/> +From Athens, by his cruel stepdame’s wiles,<br/> +Hippolytus departed, such must thou<br/> +Depart from Florence. This they wish, and this<br/> +Contrive, and will ere long effectuate, there,<br/> +Where gainful merchandize is made of Christ,<br/> +Throughout the livelong day. The common cry,<br/> +Will, as ’t is ever wont, affix the blame<br/> +Unto the party injur’d: but the truth<br/> +Shall, in the vengeance it dispenseth, find<br/> +A faithful witness. Thou shall leave each thing<br/> +Belov’d most dearly: this is the first shaft<br/> +Shot from the bow of exile. Thou shalt prove<br/> +How salt the savour is of other’s bread,<br/> +How hard the passage to descend and climb<br/> +By other’s stairs, But that shall gall thee most<br/> +Will be the worthless and vile company,<br/> +With whom thou must be thrown into these straits.<br/> +For all ungrateful, impious all and mad,<br/> +Shall turn ’gainst thee: but in a little while<br/> +Theirs and not thine shall be the crimson’d brow<br/> +Their course shall so evince their brutishness<br/> +T’ have ta’en thy stand apart shall well become thee.<br/> +<br/> +“First refuge thou must find, first place of rest,<br/> +In the great Lombard’s courtesy, who bears<br/> +Upon the ladder perch’d the sacred bird.<br/> +He shall behold thee with such kind regard,<br/> +That ’twixt ye two, the contrary to that<br/> +Which falls ’twixt other men, the granting shall<br/> +Forerun the asking. With him shalt thou see<br/> +That mortal, who was at his birth impress<br/> +So strongly from this star, that of his deeds<br/> +The nations shall take note. His unripe age<br/> +Yet holds him from observance; for these wheels<br/> +Only nine years have compass him about.<br/> +But, ere the Gascon practice on great Harry,<br/> +Sparkles of virtue shall shoot forth in him,<br/> +In equal scorn of labours and of gold.<br/> +His bounty shall be spread abroad so widely,<br/> +As not to let the tongues e’en of his foes<br/> +Be idle in its praise. Look thou to him<br/> +And his beneficence: for he shall cause<br/> +Reversal of their lot to many people,<br/> +Rich men and beggars interchanging fortunes.<br/> +And thou shalt bear this written in thy soul<br/> +Of him, but tell it not;” and things he told<br/> +Incredible to those who witness them;<br/> +Then added: “So interpret thou, my son,<br/> +What hath been told thee.—Lo! the ambushment<br/> +That a few circling seasons hide for thee!<br/> +Yet envy not thy neighbours: time extends<br/> +Thy span beyond their treason’s chastisement.”<br/> +<br/> +Soon, as the saintly spirit, by his silence,<br/> +Had shown the web, which I had streteh’d for him<br/> +Upon the warp, was woven, I began,<br/> +As one, who in perplexity desires<br/> +Counsel of other, wise, benign and friendly:<br/> +“My father! well I mark how time spurs on<br/> +Toward me, ready to inflict the blow,<br/> +Which falls most heavily on him, who most<br/> +Abandoned himself. Therefore ’t is good<br/> +I should forecast, that driven from the place<br/> +Most dear to me, I may not lose myself<br/> +All others by my song. Down through the world<br/> +Of infinite mourning, and along the mount<br/> +From whose fair height my lady’s eyes did lift me,<br/> +And after through this heav’n from light to light,<br/> +Have I learnt that, which if I tell again,<br/> +It may with many woefully disrelish;<br/> +And, if I am a timid friend to truth,<br/> +I fear my life may perish among those,<br/> +To whom these days shall be of ancient date.”<br/> +<br/> +The brightness, where enclos’d the treasure smil’d,<br/> +Which I had found there, first shone glisteningly,<br/> +Like to a golden mirror in the sun;<br/> +Next answer’d: “Conscience, dimm’d or by its own<br/> +Or other’s shame, will feel thy saying sharp.<br/> +Thou, notwithstanding, all deceit remov’d,<br/> +See the whole vision be made manifest.<br/> +And let them wince who have their withers wrung.<br/> +What though, when tasted first, thy voice shall prove<br/> +Unwelcome, on digestion it will turn<br/> +To vital nourishment. The cry thou raisest,<br/> +Shall, as the wind doth, smite the proudest summits;<br/> +Which is of honour no light argument,<br/> +For this there only have been shown to thee,<br/> +Throughout these orbs, the mountain, and the deep,<br/> +Spirits, whom fame hath note of. For the mind<br/> +Of him, who hears, is loth to acquiesce<br/> +And fix its faith, unless the instance brought<br/> +Be palpable, and proof apparent urge.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.18"></a>CANTO XVIII</h2> + +<p> +Now in his word, sole, ruminating, joy’d<br/> +That blessed spirit; and I fed on mine,<br/> +Tempting the sweet with bitter: she meanwhile,<br/> +Who led me unto God, admonish’d: “Muse<br/> +On other thoughts: bethink thee, that near Him<br/> +I dwell, who recompenseth every wrong.”<br/> +<br/> +At the sweet sounds of comfort straight I turn’d;<br/> +And, in the saintly eyes what love was seen,<br/> +I leave in silence here: nor through distrust<br/> +Of my words only, but that to such bliss<br/> +The mind remounts not without aid. Thus much<br/> +Yet may I speak; that, as I gaz’d on her,<br/> +Affection found no room for other wish.<br/> +While the everlasting pleasure, that did full<br/> +On Beatrice shine, with second view<br/> +From her fair countenance my gladden’d soul<br/> +Contented; vanquishing me with a beam<br/> +Of her soft smile, she spake: “Turn thee, and list.<br/> +These eyes are not thy only Paradise.”<br/> +<br/> +As here we sometimes in the looks may see<br/> +Th’ affection mark’d, when that its sway hath ta’en<br/> +The spirit wholly; thus the hallow’d light,<br/> +To whom I turn’d, flashing, bewray’d its will<br/> +To talk yet further with me, and began:<br/> +“On this fifth lodgment of the tree, whose life<br/> +Is from its top, whose fruit is ever fair<br/> +And leaf unwith’ring, blessed spirits abide,<br/> +That were below, ere they arriv’d in heav’n,<br/> +So mighty in renown, as every muse<br/> +Might grace her triumph with them. On the horns<br/> +Look therefore of the cross: he, whom I name,<br/> +Shall there enact, as doth in summer cloud<br/> +Its nimble fire.” Along the cross I saw,<br/> +At the repeated name of Joshua,<br/> +A splendour gliding; nor, the word was said,<br/> +Ere it was done: then, at the naming saw<br/> +Of the great Maccabee, another move<br/> +With whirling speed; and gladness was the scourge<br/> +Unto that top. The next for Charlemagne<br/> +And for the peer Orlando, two my gaze<br/> +Pursued, intently, as the eye pursues<br/> +A falcon flying. Last, along the cross,<br/> +William, and Renard, and Duke Godfrey drew<br/> +My ken, and Robert Guiscard. And the soul,<br/> +Who spake with me among the other lights<br/> +Did move away, and mix; and with the choir<br/> +Of heav’nly songsters prov’d his tuneful skill.<br/> +<br/> +To Beatrice on my right l bent,<br/> +Looking for intimation or by word<br/> +Or act, what next behoov’d: and did descry<br/> +Such mere effulgence in her eyes, such joy,<br/> +It past all former wont. And, as by sense<br/> +Of new delight, the man, who perseveres<br/> +In good deeds doth perceive from day to day<br/> +His virtue growing; I e’en thus perceiv’d<br/> +Of my ascent, together with the heav’n<br/> +The circuit widen’d, noting the increase<br/> +Of beauty in that wonder. Like the change<br/> +In a brief moment on some maiden’s cheek,<br/> +Which from its fairness doth discharge the weight<br/> +Of pudency, that stain’d it; such in her,<br/> +And to mine eyes so sudden was the change,<br/> +Through silvery whiteness of that temperate star,<br/> +Whose sixth orb now enfolded us. I saw,<br/> +Within that Jovial cresset, the clear sparks<br/> +Of love, that reign’d there, fashion to my view<br/> +Our language. And as birds, from river banks<br/> +Arisen, now in round, now lengthen’d troop,<br/> +Array them in their flight, greeting, as seems,<br/> +Their new-found pastures; so, within the lights,<br/> +The saintly creatures flying, sang, and made<br/> +Now D. now I. now L. figur’d I’ th’ air. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/18-70.jpg"> +<img src="images/18-70.jpg" width="551" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +First, singing, to their notes they mov’d, then one<br/> +Becoming of these signs, a little while<br/> +Did rest them, and were mute. O nymph divine<br/> +Of Pegasean race! whose souls, which thou<br/> +Inspir’st, mak’st glorious and long-liv’d, as they<br/> +Cities and realms by thee! thou with thyself<br/> +Inform me; that I may set forth the shapes,<br/> +As fancy doth present them. Be thy power<br/> +Display’d in this brief song. The characters,<br/> +Vocal and consonant, were five-fold seven.<br/> +In order each, as they appear’d, I mark’d.<br/> +Diligite Justitiam, the first,<br/> +Both verb and noun all blazon’d; and the extreme<br/> +Qui judicatis terram. In the M.<br/> +Of the fifth word they held their station,<br/> +Making the star seem silver streak’d with gold.<br/> +And on the summit of the M. I saw<br/> +Descending other lights, that rested there,<br/> +Singing, methinks, their bliss and primal good.<br/> +Then, as at shaking of a lighted brand,<br/> +Sparkles innumerable on all sides<br/> +Rise scatter’d, source of augury to th’ unwise;<br/> +Thus more than thousand twinkling lustres hence<br/> +Seem’d reascending, and a higher pitch<br/> +Some mounting, and some less; e’en as the sun,<br/> +Which kindleth them, decreed. And when each one<br/> +Had settled in his place, the head and neck<br/> +Then saw I of an eagle, lively<br/> +Grav’d in that streaky fire. Who painteth there,<br/> +Hath none to guide him; of himself he guides;<br/> +And every line and texture of the nest<br/> +Doth own from him the virtue, fashions it.<br/> +The other bright beatitude, that seem’d<br/> +Erewhile, with lilied crowning, well content<br/> +To over-canopy the M. mov’d forth,<br/> +Following gently the impress of the bird.<br/> +<br/> +Sweet star! what glorious and thick-studded gems<br/> +Declar’d to me our justice on the earth<br/> +To be the effluence of that heav’n, which thou,<br/> +Thyself a costly jewel, dost inlay!<br/> +Therefore I pray the Sovran Mind, from whom<br/> +Thy motion and thy virtue are begun,<br/> +That he would look from whence the fog doth rise,<br/> +To vitiate thy beam: so that once more<br/> +He may put forth his hand ’gainst such, as drive<br/> +Their traffic in that sanctuary, whose walls<br/> +With miracles and martyrdoms were built. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/18-120.jpg"> +<img src="images/18-120.jpg" width="549" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Ye host of heaven! whose glory I survey l<br/> +O beg ye grace for those, that are on earth<br/> +All after ill example gone astray.<br/> +War once had for its instrument the sword:<br/> +But now ’t is made, taking the bread away<br/> +Which the good Father locks from none. —And thou,<br/> +That writes but to cancel, think, that they,<br/> +Who for the vineyard, which thou wastest, died,<br/> +Peter and Paul live yet, and mark thy doings.<br/> +Thou hast good cause to cry, “My heart so cleaves<br/> +To him, that liv’d in solitude remote,<br/> +And from the wilds was dragg’d to martyrdom,<br/> +I wist not of the fisherman nor Paul.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.19"></a>CANTO XIX</h2> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/19-1.jpg"> +<img src="images/19-1.jpg" width="547" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Before my sight appear’d, with open wings,<br/> +The beauteous image, in fruition sweet<br/> +Gladdening the thronged spirits. Each did seem<br/> +A little ruby, whereon so intense<br/> +The sun-beam glow’d that to mine eyes it came<br/> +In clear refraction. And that, which next<br/> +Befalls me to portray, voice hath not utter’d,<br/> +Nor hath ink written, nor in fantasy<br/> +Was e’er conceiv’d. For I beheld and heard<br/> +The beak discourse; and, what intention form’d<br/> +Of many, singly as of one express,<br/> +Beginning: “For that I was just and piteous,<br/> +l am exalted to this height of glory,<br/> +The which no wish exceeds: and there on earth<br/> +Have I my memory left, e’en by the bad<br/> +Commended, while they leave its course untrod.”<br/> +<br/> +Thus is one heat from many embers felt,<br/> +As in that image many were the loves,<br/> +And one the voice, that issued from them all.<br/> +Whence I address them: “O perennial flowers<br/> +Of gladness everlasting! that exhale<br/> +In single breath your odours manifold!<br/> +Breathe now; and let the hunger be appeas’d,<br/> +That with great craving long hath held my soul,<br/> +Finding no food on earth. This well I know,<br/> +That if there be in heav’n a realm, that shows<br/> +In faithful mirror the celestial Justice,<br/> +Yours without veil reflects it. Ye discern<br/> +The heed, wherewith I do prepare myself<br/> +To hearken; ye the doubt that urges me<br/> +With such inveterate craving.” Straight I saw,<br/> +Like to a falcon issuing from the hood,<br/> +That rears his head, and claps him with his wings,<br/> +His beauty and his eagerness bewraying.<br/> +So saw I move that stately sign, with praise<br/> +Of grace divine inwoven and high song<br/> +Of inexpressive joy. “He,” it began,<br/> +“Who turn’d his compass on the world’s extreme,<br/> +And in that space so variously hath wrought,<br/> +Both openly, and in secret, in such wise<br/> +Could not through all the universe display<br/> +Impression of his glory, that the Word<br/> +Of his omniscience should not still remain<br/> +In infinite excess. In proof whereof,<br/> +He first through pride supplanted, who was sum<br/> +Of each created being, waited not<br/> +For light celestial, and abortive fell.<br/> +Whence needs each lesser nature is but scant<br/> +Receptacle unto that Good, which knows<br/> +No limit, measur’d by itself alone.<br/> +Therefore your sight, of th’ omnipresent Mind<br/> +A single beam, its origin must own<br/> +Surpassing far its utmost potency.<br/> +The ken, your world is gifted with, descends<br/> +In th’ everlasting Justice as low down,<br/> +As eye doth in the sea; which though it mark<br/> +The bottom from the shore, in the wide main<br/> +Discerns it not; and ne’ertheless it is,<br/> +But hidden through its deepness. Light is none,<br/> +Save that which cometh from the pure serene<br/> +Of ne’er disturbed ether: for the rest,<br/> +’Tis darkness all, or shadow of the flesh,<br/> +Or else its poison. Here confess reveal’d<br/> +That covert, which hath hidden from thy search<br/> +The living justice, of the which thou mad’st<br/> +Such frequent question; for thou saidst—‘A man<br/> +Is born on Indus’ banks, and none is there<br/> +Who speaks of Christ, nor who doth read nor write,<br/> +And all his inclinations and his acts,<br/> +As far as human reason sees, are good,<br/> +And he offendeth not in word or deed.<br/> +But unbaptiz’d he dies, and void of faith.<br/> +Where is the justice that condemns him? where<br/> +His blame, if he believeth not?’—What then,<br/> +And who art thou, that on the stool wouldst sit<br/> +To judge at distance of a thousand miles<br/> +With the short-sighted vision of a span?<br/> +To him, who subtilizes thus with me,<br/> +There would assuredly be room for doubt<br/> +Even to wonder, did not the safe word<br/> +Of scripture hold supreme authority.<br/> +<br/> +“O animals of clay! O spirits gross I<br/> +The primal will, that in itself is good,<br/> +Hath from itself, the chief Good, ne’er been mov’d.<br/> +Justice consists in consonance with it,<br/> +Derivable by no created good,<br/> +Whose very cause depends upon its beam.”<br/> +<br/> +As on her nest the stork, that turns about<br/> +Unto her young, whom lately she hath fed,<br/> +While they with upward eyes do look on her;<br/> +So lifted I my gaze; and bending so<br/> +The ever-blessed image wav’d its wings,<br/> +Lab’ring with such deep counsel. Wheeling round<br/> +It warbled, and did say: “As are my notes<br/> +To thee, who understand’st them not, such is<br/> +Th’ eternal judgment unto mortal ken.”<br/> +<br/> +Then still abiding in that ensign rang’d,<br/> +Wherewith the Romans over-awed the world,<br/> +Those burning splendours of the Holy Spirit<br/> +Took up the strain; and thus it spake again:<br/> +“None ever hath ascended to this realm,<br/> +Who hath not a believer been in Christ,<br/> +Either before or after the blest limbs<br/> +Were nail’d upon the wood. But lo! of those<br/> +Who call ‘Christ, Christ,’ there shall be many found,<br/> +In judgment, further off from him by far,<br/> +Than such, to whom his name was never known.<br/> +Christians like these the Ethiop shall condemn:<br/> +When that the two assemblages shall part;<br/> +One rich eternally, the other poor.<br/> +<br/> +“What may the Persians say unto your kings,<br/> +When they shall see that volume, in the which<br/> +All their dispraise is written, spread to view?<br/> +There amidst Albert’s works shall that be read,<br/> +Which will give speedy motion to the pen,<br/> +When Prague shall mourn her desolated realm.<br/> +There shall be read the woe, that he doth work<br/> +With his adulterate money on the Seine,<br/> +Who by the tusk will perish: there be read<br/> +The thirsting pride, that maketh fool alike<br/> +The English and Scot, impatient of their bound.<br/> +There shall be seen the Spaniard’s luxury,<br/> +The delicate living there of the Bohemian,<br/> +Who still to worth has been a willing stranger.<br/> +The halter of Jerusalem shall see<br/> +A unit for his virtue, for his vices<br/> +No less a mark than million. He, who guards<br/> +The isle of fire by old Anchises honour’d<br/> +Shall find his avarice there and cowardice;<br/> +And better to denote his littleness,<br/> +The writing must be letters maim’d, that speak<br/> +Much in a narrow space. All there shall know<br/> +His uncle and his brother’s filthy doings,<br/> +Who so renown’d a nation and two crowns<br/> +Have bastardized. And they, of Portugal<br/> +And Norway, there shall be expos’d with him<br/> +Of Ratza, who hath counterfeited ill<br/> +The coin of Venice. O blest Hungary!<br/> +If thou no longer patiently abid’st<br/> +Thy ill-entreating! and, O blest Navarre!<br/> +If with thy mountainous girdle thou wouldst arm thee<br/> +In earnest of that day, e’en now are heard<br/> +Wailings and groans in Famagosta’s streets<br/> +And Nicosia’s, grudging at their beast,<br/> +Who keepeth even footing with the rest.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.20"></a>CANTO XX</h2> + +<p> +When, disappearing, from our hemisphere,<br/> +The world’s enlightener vanishes, and day<br/> +On all sides wasteth, suddenly the sky,<br/> +Erewhile irradiate only with his beam,<br/> +Is yet again unfolded, putting forth<br/> +Innumerable lights wherein one shines.<br/> +Of such vicissitude in heaven I thought,<br/> +As the great sign, that marshaleth the world<br/> +And the world’s leaders, in the blessed beak<br/> +Was silent; for that all those living lights,<br/> +Waxing in splendour, burst forth into songs,<br/> +Such as from memory glide and fall away. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/20-10.jpg"> +<img src="images/20-10.jpg" width="512" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Sweet love! that dost apparel thee in smiles,<br/> +How lustrous was thy semblance in those sparkles,<br/> +Which merely are from holy thoughts inspir’d!<br/> +<br/> +After the precious and bright beaming stones,<br/> +That did ingem the sixth light, ceas’d the chiming<br/> +Of their angelic bells; methought I heard<br/> +The murmuring of a river, that doth fall<br/> +From rock to rock transpicuous, making known<br/> +The richness of his spring-head: and as sound<br/> +Of cistern, at the fret-board, or of pipe,<br/> +Is, at the wind-hole, modulate and tun’d;<br/> +Thus up the neck, as it were hollow, rose<br/> +That murmuring of the eagle, and forthwith<br/> +Voice there assum’d, and thence along the beak<br/> +Issued in form of words, such as my heart<br/> +Did look for, on whose tables I inscrib’d them.<br/> +<br/> +“The part in me, that sees, and bears the sun,,<br/> +In mortal eagles,” it began, “must now<br/> +Be noted steadfastly: for of the fires,<br/> +That figure me, those, glittering in mine eye,<br/> +Are chief of all the greatest. This, that shines<br/> +Midmost for pupil, was the same, who sang<br/> +The Holy Spirit’s song, and bare about<br/> +The ark from town to town; now doth he know<br/> +The merit of his soul-impassion’d strains<br/> +By their well-fitted guerdon. Of the five,<br/> +That make the circle of the vision, he<br/> +Who to the beak is nearest, comforted<br/> +The widow for her son: now doth he know<br/> +How dear he costeth not to follow Christ,<br/> +Both from experience of this pleasant life,<br/> +And of its opposite. He next, who follows<br/> +In the circumference, for the over arch,<br/> +By true repenting slack’d the pace of death:<br/> +Now knoweth he, that the degrees of heav’n<br/> +Alter not, when through pious prayer below<br/> +Today’s is made tomorrow’s destiny.<br/> +The other following, with the laws and me,<br/> +To yield the shepherd room, pass’d o’er to Greece,<br/> +From good intent producing evil fruit:<br/> +Now knoweth he, how all the ill, deriv’d<br/> +From his well doing, doth not helm him aught,<br/> +Though it have brought destruction on the world.<br/> +That, which thou seest in the under bow,<br/> +Was William, whom that land bewails, which weeps<br/> +For Charles and Frederick living: now he knows<br/> +How well is lov’d in heav’n the righteous king,<br/> +Which he betokens by his radiant seeming.<br/> +Who in the erring world beneath would deem,<br/> +That Trojan Ripheus in this round was set<br/> +Fifth of the saintly splendours? now he knows<br/> +Enough of that, which the world cannot see,<br/> +The grace divine, albeit e’en his sight<br/> +Reach not its utmost depth.” Like to the lark,<br/> +That warbling in the air expatiates long,<br/> +Then, trilling out his last sweet melody,<br/> +Drops satiate with the sweetness; such appear’d<br/> +That image stampt by the’ everlasting pleasure,<br/> +Which fashions like itself all lovely things.<br/> +<br/> +I, though my doubting were as manifest,<br/> +As is through glass the hue that mantles it,<br/> +In silence waited not: for to my lips<br/> +“What things are these?” involuntary rush’d,<br/> +And forc’d a passage out: whereat I mark’d<br/> +A sudden lightening and new revelry.<br/> +The eye was kindled: and the blessed sign<br/> +No more to keep me wond’ring and suspense,<br/> +Replied: “I see that thou believ’st these things,<br/> +Because I tell them, but discern’st not how;<br/> +So that thy knowledge waits not on thy faith:<br/> +As one who knows the name of thing by rote,<br/> +But is a stranger to its properties,<br/> +Till other’s tongue reveal them. Fervent love<br/> +And lively hope with violence assail<br/> +The kingdom of the heavens, and overcome<br/> +The will of the Most high; not in such sort<br/> +As man prevails o’er man; but conquers it,<br/> +Because ’t is willing to be conquer’d, still,<br/> +Though conquer’d, by its mercy conquering.<br/> +<br/> +“Those, in the eye who live the first and fifth,<br/> +Cause thee to marvel, in that thou behold’st<br/> +The region of the angels deck’d with them.<br/> +They quitted not their bodies, as thou deem’st,<br/> +Gentiles but Christians, in firm rooted faith,<br/> +This of the feet in future to be pierc’d,<br/> +That of feet nail’d already to the cross.<br/> +One from the barrier of the dark abyss,<br/> +Where never any with good will returns,<br/> +Came back unto his bones. Of lively hope<br/> +Such was the meed; of lively hope, that wing’d<br/> +The prayers sent up to God for his release,<br/> +And put power into them to bend his will.<br/> +The glorious Spirit, of whom I speak to thee,<br/> +A little while returning to the flesh,<br/> +Believ’d in him, who had the means to help,<br/> +And, in believing, nourish’d such a flame<br/> +Of holy love, that at the second death<br/> +He was made sharer in our gamesome mirth.<br/> +The other, through the riches of that grace,<br/> +Which from so deep a fountain doth distil,<br/> +As never eye created saw its rising,<br/> +Plac’d all his love below on just and right:<br/> +Wherefore of grace God op’d in him the eye<br/> +To the redemption of mankind to come;<br/> +Wherein believing, he endur’d no more<br/> +The filth of paganism, and for their ways<br/> +Rebuk’d the stubborn nations. The three nymphs,<br/> +Whom at the right wheel thou beheldst advancing,<br/> +Were sponsors for him more than thousand years<br/> +Before baptizing. O how far remov’d,<br/> +Predestination! is thy root from such<br/> +As see not the First cause entire: and ye,<br/> +O mortal men! be wary how ye judge:<br/> +For we, who see our Maker, know not yet<br/> +The number of the chosen: and esteem<br/> +Such scantiness of knowledge our delight:<br/> +For all our good is in that primal good<br/> +Concentrate, and God’s will and ours are one.”<br/> +<br/> +So, by that form divine, was giv’n to me<br/> +Sweet medicine to clear and strengthen sight,<br/> +And, as one handling skillfully the harp,<br/> +Attendant on some skilful songster’s voice<br/> +Bids the chords vibrate, and therein the song<br/> +Acquires more pleasure; so, the whilst it spake,<br/> +It doth remember me, that I beheld<br/> +The pair of blessed luminaries move.<br/> +Like the accordant twinkling of two eyes,<br/> +Their beamy circlets, dancing to the sounds. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.21"></a>CANTO XXI</h2> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/21-1.jpg"> +<img src="images/21-1.jpg" width="538" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Again mine eyes were fix’d on Beatrice,<br/> +And with mine eyes my soul, that in her looks<br/> +Found all contentment. Yet no smile she wore<br/> +And, “Did I smile,” quoth she, “thou wouldst be straight<br/> +Like Semele when into ashes turn’d:<br/> +For, mounting these eternal palace-stairs,<br/> +My beauty, which the loftier it climbs,<br/> +As thou hast noted, still doth kindle more,<br/> +So shines, that, were no temp’ring interpos’d,<br/> +Thy mortal puissance would from its rays<br/> +Shrink, as the leaf doth from the thunderbolt.<br/> +Into the seventh splendour are we wafted,<br/> +That underneath the burning lion’s breast<br/> +Beams, in this hour, commingled with his might,<br/> +Thy mind be with thine eyes: and in them mirror’d<br/> +The shape, which in this mirror shall be shown.”<br/> +Whoso can deem, how fondly I had fed<br/> +My sight upon her blissful countenance,<br/> +May know, when to new thoughts I chang’d, what joy<br/> +To do the bidding of my heav’nly guide:<br/> +In equal balance poising either weight.<br/> +<br/> +Within the crystal, which records the name,<br/> +(As its remoter circle girds the world)<br/> +Of that lov’d monarch, in whose happy reign<br/> +No ill had power to harm, I saw rear’d up,<br/> +In colour like to sun-illumin’d gold. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/21-28.jpg"> +<img src="images/21-28.jpg" width="529" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +A ladder, which my ken pursued in vain,<br/> +So lofty was the summit; down whose steps<br/> +I saw the splendours in such multitude<br/> +Descending, ev’ry light in heav’n, methought,<br/> +Was shed thence. As the rooks, at dawn of day<br/> +Bestirring them to dry their feathers chill,<br/> +Some speed their way a-field, and homeward some,<br/> +Returning, cross their flight, while some abide<br/> +And wheel around their airy lodge; so seem’d<br/> +That glitterance, wafted on alternate wing,<br/> +As upon certain stair it met, and clash’d<br/> +Its shining. And one ling’ring near us, wax’d<br/> +So bright, that in my thought: said: “The love,<br/> +Which this betokens me, admits no doubt.”<br/> +<br/> +Unwillingly from question I refrain,<br/> +To her, by whom my silence and my speech<br/> +Are order’d, looking for a sign: whence she,<br/> +Who in the sight of Him, that seeth all,<br/> +Saw wherefore I was silent, prompted me<br/> +T’ indulge the fervent wish; and I began:<br/> +“I am not worthy, of my own desert,<br/> +That thou shouldst answer me; but for her sake,<br/> +Who hath vouchsaf’d my asking, spirit blest!<br/> +That in thy joy art shrouded! say the cause,<br/> +Which bringeth thee so near: and wherefore, say,<br/> +Doth the sweet symphony of Paradise<br/> +Keep silence here, pervading with such sounds<br/> +Of rapt devotion ev’ry lower sphere?”<br/> +“Mortal art thou in hearing as in sight;”<br/> +Was the reply: “and what forbade the smile<br/> +Of Beatrice interrupts our song.<br/> +Only to yield thee gladness of my voice,<br/> +And of the light that vests me, I thus far<br/> +Descend these hallow’d steps: not that more love<br/> +Invites me; for lo! there aloft, as much<br/> +Or more of love is witness’d in those flames:<br/> +But such my lot by charity assign’d,<br/> +That makes us ready servants, as thou seest,<br/> +To execute the counsel of the Highest.<br/> +“That in this court,” said I, “O sacred lamp!<br/> +Love no compulsion needs, but follows free<br/> +Th’ eternal Providence, I well discern:<br/> +This harder find to deem, why of thy peers<br/> +Thou only to this office wert foredoom’d.”<br/> +I had not ended, when, like rapid mill,<br/> +Upon its centre whirl’d the light; and then<br/> +The love, that did inhabit there, replied:<br/> +“Splendour eternal, piercing through these folds,<br/> +Its virtue to my vision knits, and thus<br/> +Supported, lifts me so above myself,<br/> +That on the sov’ran essence, which it wells from,<br/> +I have the power to gaze: and hence the joy,<br/> +Wherewith I sparkle, equaling with my blaze<br/> +The keenness of my sight. But not the soul,<br/> +That is in heav’n most lustrous, nor the seraph<br/> +That hath his eyes most fix’d on God, shall solve<br/> +What thou hast ask’d: for in th’ abyss it lies<br/> +Of th’ everlasting statute sunk so low,<br/> +That no created ken may fathom it.<br/> +And, to the mortal world when thou return’st,<br/> +Be this reported; that none henceforth dare<br/> +Direct his footsteps to so dread a bourn.<br/> +The mind, that here is radiant, on the earth<br/> +Is wrapt in mist. Look then if she may do,<br/> +Below, what passeth her ability,<br/> +When she is ta’en to heav’n.” By words like these<br/> +Admonish’d, I the question urg’d no more;<br/> +And of the spirit humbly sued alone<br/> +T’ instruct me of its state. “’Twixt either shore<br/> +Of Italy, nor distant from thy land,<br/> +A stony ridge ariseth, in such sort,<br/> +The thunder doth not lift his voice so high,<br/> +They call it Catria: at whose foot a cell<br/> +Is sacred to the lonely Eremite,<br/> +For worship set apart and holy rites.”<br/> +A third time thus it spake; then added: “There<br/> +So firmly to God’s service I adher’d,<br/> +That with no costlier viands than the juice<br/> +Of olives, easily I pass’d the heats<br/> +Of summer and the winter frosts, content<br/> +In heav’n-ward musings. Rich were the returns<br/> +And fertile, which that cloister once was us’d<br/> +To render to these heavens: now ’t is fall’n<br/> +Into a waste so empty, that ere long<br/> +Detection must lay bare its vanity<br/> +Pietro Damiano there was I yclept:<br/> +Pietro the sinner, when before I dwelt<br/> +Beside the Adriatic, in the house<br/> +Of our blest Lady. Near upon my close<br/> +Of mortal life, through much importuning<br/> +I was constrain’d to wear the hat that still<br/> +From bad to worse it shifted.—Cephas came;<br/> +He came, who was the Holy Spirit’s vessel,<br/> +Barefoot and lean, eating their bread, as chanc’d,<br/> +At the first table. Modern Shepherd’s need<br/> +Those who on either hand may prop and lead them,<br/> +So burly are they grown: and from behind<br/> +Others to hoist them. Down the palfrey’s sides<br/> +Spread their broad mantles, so as both the beasts<br/> +Are cover’d with one skin. O patience! thou<br/> +That lookst on this and doth endure so long.”<br/> +I at those accents saw the splendours down<br/> +From step to step alight, and wheel, and wax,<br/> +Each circuiting, more beautiful. Round this<br/> +They came, and stay’d them; uttered them a shout<br/> +So loud, it hath no likeness here: nor I<br/> +Wist what it spake, so deaf’ning was the thunder.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.22"></a>CANTO XXII</h2> + +<p> +Astounded, to the guardian of my steps<br/> +I turn’d me, like the chill, who always runs<br/> +Thither for succour, where he trusteth most,<br/> +And she was like the mother, who her son<br/> +Beholding pale and breathless, with her voice<br/> +Soothes him, and he is cheer’d; for thus she spake,<br/> +Soothing me: “Know’st not thou, thou art in heav’n?<br/> +And know’st not thou, whatever is in heav’n,<br/> +Is holy, and that nothing there is done<br/> +But is done zealously and well? Deem now,<br/> +What change in thee the song, and what my smile<br/> +had wrought, since thus the shout had pow’r to move thee.<br/> +In which couldst thou have understood their prayers,<br/> +The vengeance were already known to thee,<br/> +Which thou must witness ere thy mortal hour,<br/> +The sword of heav’n is not in haste to smite,<br/> +Nor yet doth linger, save unto his seeming,<br/> +Who in desire or fear doth look for it.<br/> +But elsewhere now l bid thee turn thy view;<br/> +So shalt thou many a famous spirit behold.”<br/> +Mine eyes directing, as she will’d, I saw<br/> +A hundred little spheres, that fairer grew<br/> +By interchange of splendour. I remain’d,<br/> +As one, who fearful of o’er-much presuming,<br/> +Abates in him the keenness of desire,<br/> +Nor dares to question, when amid those pearls,<br/> +One largest and most lustrous onward drew,<br/> +That it might yield contentment to my wish;<br/> +And from within it these the sounds I heard.<br/> +<br/> +“If thou, like me, beheldst the charity<br/> +That burns amongst us, what thy mind conceives,<br/> +Were utter’d. But that, ere the lofty bound<br/> +Thou reach, expectance may not weary thee,<br/> +I will make answer even to the thought,<br/> +Which thou hast such respect of. In old days,<br/> +That mountain, at whose side Cassino rests,<br/> +Was on its height frequented by a race<br/> +Deceived and ill dispos’d: and I it was,<br/> +Who thither carried first the name of Him,<br/> +Who brought the soul-subliming truth to man.<br/> +And such a speeding grace shone over me,<br/> +That from their impious worship I reclaim’d<br/> +The dwellers round about, who with the world<br/> +Were in delusion lost. These other flames,<br/> +The spirits of men contemplative, were all<br/> +Enliven’d by that warmth, whose kindly force<br/> +Gives birth to flowers and fruits of holiness.<br/> +Here is Macarius; Romoaldo here:<br/> +And here my brethren, who their steps refrain’d<br/> +Within the cloisters, and held firm their heart.”<br/> +<br/> +I answ’ring, thus; “Thy gentle words and kind,<br/> +And this the cheerful semblance, I behold<br/> +Not unobservant, beaming in ye all,<br/> +Have rais’d assurance in me, wakening it<br/> +Full-blossom’d in my bosom, as a rose<br/> +Before the sun, when the consummate flower<br/> +Has spread to utmost amplitude. Of thee<br/> +Therefore entreat I, father! to declare<br/> +If I may gain such favour, as to gaze<br/> +Upon thine image, by no covering veil’d.”<br/> +<br/> +“Brother!” he thus rejoin’d, “in the last sphere<br/> +Expect completion of thy lofty aim,<br/> +For there on each desire completion waits,<br/> +And there on mine: where every aim is found<br/> +Perfect, entire, and for fulfillment ripe.<br/> +There all things are as they have ever been:<br/> +For space is none to bound, nor pole divides,<br/> +Our ladder reaches even to that clime,<br/> +And so at giddy distance mocks thy view.<br/> +Thither the Patriarch Jacob saw it stretch<br/> +Its topmost round, when it appear’d to him<br/> +With angels laden. But to mount it now<br/> +None lifts his foot from earth: and hence my rule<br/> +Is left a profitless stain upon the leaves;<br/> +The walls, for abbey rear’d, turned into dens,<br/> +The cowls to sacks choak’d up with musty meal.<br/> +Foul usury doth not more lift itself<br/> +Against God’s pleasure, than that fruit which makes<br/> +The hearts of monks so wanton: for whate’er<br/> +Is in the church’s keeping, all pertains.<br/> +To such, as sue for heav’n’s sweet sake, and not<br/> +To those who in respect of kindred claim,<br/> +Or on more vile allowance. Mortal flesh<br/> +Is grown so dainty, good beginnings last not<br/> +From the oak’s birth, unto the acorn’s setting.<br/> +His convent Peter founded without gold<br/> +Or silver; I with pray’rs and fasting mine;<br/> +And Francis his in meek humility.<br/> +And if thou note the point, whence each proceeds,<br/> +Then look what it hath err’d to, thou shalt find<br/> +The white grown murky. Jordan was turn’d back;<br/> +And a less wonder, then the refluent sea,<br/> +May at God’s pleasure work amendment here.”<br/> +<br/> +So saying, to his assembly back he drew:<br/> +And they together cluster’d into one,<br/> +Then all roll’d upward like an eddying wind.<br/> +<br/> +The sweet dame beckon’d me to follow them:<br/> +And, by that influence only, so prevail’d<br/> +Over my nature, that no natural motion,<br/> +Ascending or descending here below,<br/> +Had, as I mounted, with my pennon vied.<br/> +<br/> +So, reader, as my hope is to return<br/> +Unto the holy triumph, for the which<br/> +I ofttimes wail my sins, and smite my breast,<br/> +Thou hadst been longer drawing out and thrusting<br/> +Thy finger in the fire, than I was, ere<br/> +The sign, that followeth Taurus, I beheld,<br/> +And enter’d its precinct. O glorious stars!<br/> +O light impregnate with exceeding virtue!<br/> +To whom whate’er of genius lifteth me<br/> +Above the vulgar, grateful I refer;<br/> +With ye the parent of all mortal life<br/> +Arose and set, when I did first inhale<br/> +The Tuscan air; and afterward, when grace<br/> +Vouchsaf’d me entrance to the lofty wheel<br/> +That in its orb impels ye, fate decreed<br/> +My passage at your clime. To you my soul<br/> +Devoutly sighs, for virtue even now<br/> +To meet the hard emprize that draws me on.<br/> +<br/> +“Thou art so near the sum of blessedness,”<br/> +Said Beatrice, “that behooves thy ken<br/> +Be vigilant and clear. And, to this end,<br/> +Or even thou advance thee further, hence<br/> +Look downward, and contemplate, what a world<br/> +Already stretched under our feet there lies:<br/> +So as thy heart may, in its blithest mood,<br/> +Present itself to the triumphal throng,<br/> +Which through the’ etherial concave comes rejoicing.”<br/> +<br/> +I straight obey’d; and with mine eye return’d<br/> +Through all the seven spheres, and saw this globe<br/> +So pitiful of semblance, that perforce<br/> +It moved my smiles: and him in truth I hold<br/> +For wisest, who esteems it least: whose thoughts<br/> +Elsewhere are fix’d, him worthiest call and best.<br/> +I saw the daughter of Latona shine<br/> +Without the shadow, whereof late I deem’d<br/> +That dense and rare were cause. Here I sustain’d<br/> +The visage, Hyperion! of thy sun;<br/> +And mark’d, how near him with their circle, round<br/> +Move Maia and Dione; here discern’d<br/> +Jove’s tempering ’twixt his sire and son; and hence<br/> +Their changes and their various aspects<br/> +Distinctly scann’d. Nor might I not descry<br/> +Of all the seven, how bulky each, how swift;<br/> +Nor of their several distances not learn.<br/> +This petty area (o’er the which we stride<br/> +So fiercely), as along the eternal twins<br/> +I wound my way, appear’d before me all,<br/> +Forth from the havens stretch’d unto the hills.<br/> +Then to the beauteous eyes mine eyes return’d. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.23"></a>CANTO XXIII</h2> + +<p> +E’en as the bird, who midst the leafy bower<br/> +Has, in her nest, sat darkling through the night,<br/> +With her sweet brood, impatient to descry<br/> +Their wished looks, and to bring home their food,<br/> +In the fond quest unconscious of her toil:<br/> +She, of the time prevenient, on the spray,<br/> +That overhangs their couch, with wakeful gaze<br/> +Expects the sun; nor ever, till the dawn,<br/> +Removeth from the east her eager ken;<br/> +So stood the dame erect, and bent her glance<br/> +Wistfully on that region, where the sun<br/> +Abateth most his speed; that, seeing her<br/> +Suspense and wand’ring, I became as one,<br/> +In whom desire is waken’d, and the hope<br/> +Of somewhat new to come fills with delight.<br/> +<br/> +Short space ensued; I was not held, I say,<br/> +Long in expectance, when I saw the heav’n<br/> +Wax more and more resplendent; and, “Behold,”<br/> +Cried Beatrice, “the triumphal hosts<br/> +Of Christ, and all the harvest reap’d at length<br/> +Of thy ascending up these spheres.” Meseem’d,<br/> +That, while she spake her image all did burn,<br/> +And in her eyes such fullness was of joy,<br/> +And I am fain to pass unconstrued by.<br/> +<br/> +As in the calm full moon, when Trivia smiles,<br/> +In peerless beauty, ’mid th’ eternal nympus,<br/> +That paint through all its gulfs the blue profound<br/> +In bright pre-eminence so saw I there,<br/> +O’er million lamps a sun, from whom all drew<br/> +Their radiance as from ours the starry train:<br/> +And through the living light so lustrous glow’d<br/> +The substance, that my ken endur’d it not.<br/> +<br/> +O Beatrice! sweet and precious guide!<br/> +Who cheer’d me with her comfortable words!<br/> +“Against the virtue, that o’erpow’reth thee,<br/> +Avails not to resist. Here is the might,<br/> +And here the wisdom, which did open lay<br/> +The path, that had been yearned for so long,<br/> +Betwixt the heav’n and earth.” Like to the fire,<br/> +That, in a cloud imprison’d doth break out<br/> +Expansive, so that from its womb enlarg’d,<br/> +It falleth against nature to the ground;<br/> +Thus in that heav’nly banqueting my soul<br/> +Outgrew herself; and, in the transport lost.<br/> +Holds now remembrance none of what she was.<br/> +<br/> +“Ope thou thine eyes, and mark me: thou hast seen<br/> +Things, that empower thee to sustain my smile.”<br/> +<br/> +I was as one, when a forgotten dream<br/> +Doth come across him, and he strives in vain<br/> +To shape it in his fantasy again,<br/> +Whenas that gracious boon was proffer’d me,<br/> +Which never may be cancel’d from the book,<br/> +Wherein the past is written. Now were all<br/> +Those tongues to sound, that have on sweetest milk<br/> +Of Polyhymnia and her sisters fed<br/> +And fatten’d, not with all their help to boot,<br/> +Unto the thousandth parcel of the truth,<br/> +My song might shadow forth that saintly smile,<br/> +flow merely in her saintly looks it wrought.<br/> +And with such figuring of Paradise<br/> +The sacred strain must leap, like one, that meets<br/> +A sudden interruption to his road.<br/> +But he, who thinks how ponderous the theme,<br/> +And that ’t is lain upon a mortal shoulder,<br/> +May pardon, if it tremble with the burden.<br/> +The track, our ventrous keel must furrow, brooks<br/> +No unribb’d pinnace, no self-sparing pilot.<br/> +<br/> +“Why doth my face,” said Beatrice, “thus<br/> +Enamour thee, as that thou dost not turn<br/> +Unto the beautiful garden, blossoming<br/> +Beneath the rays of Christ? Here is the rose,<br/> +Wherein the word divine was made incarnate;<br/> +And here the lilies, by whose odour known<br/> +The way of life was follow’d.” Prompt I heard<br/> +Her bidding, and encounter once again<br/> +The strife of aching vision. As erewhile,<br/> +Through glance of sunlight, stream’d through broken cloud,<br/> +Mine eyes a flower-besprinkled mead have seen,<br/> +Though veil’d themselves in shade; so saw I there<br/> +Legions of splendours, on whom burning rays<br/> +Shed lightnings from above, yet saw I not<br/> +The fountain whence they flow’d. O gracious virtue!<br/> +Thou, whose broad stamp is on them, higher up<br/> +Thou didst exalt thy glory to give room<br/> +To my o’erlabour’d sight: when at the name<br/> +Of that fair flower, whom duly I invoke<br/> +Both morn and eve, my soul, with all her might<br/> +Collected, on the goodliest ardour fix’d.<br/> +And, as the bright dimensions of the star<br/> +In heav’n excelling, as once here on earth<br/> +Were, in my eyeballs lively portray’d,<br/> +Lo! from within the sky a cresset fell,<br/> +Circling in fashion of a diadem,<br/> +And girt the star, and hov’ring round it wheel’d.<br/> +<br/> +Whatever melody sounds sweetest here,<br/> +And draws the spirit most unto itself,<br/> +Might seem a rent cloud when it grates the thunder,<br/> +Compar’d unto the sounding of that lyre,<br/> +Wherewith the goodliest sapphire, that inlays<br/> +The floor of heav’n, was crown’d. “Angelic Love,<br/> +I am, who thus with hov’ring flight enwheel<br/> +The lofty rapture from that womb inspir’d,<br/> +Where our desire did dwell: and round thee so,<br/> +Lady of Heav’n! will hover; long as thou<br/> +Thy Son shalt follow, and diviner joy<br/> +Shall from thy presence gild the highest sphere.”<br/> +<br/> +Such close was to the circling melody:<br/> +And, as it ended, all the other lights<br/> +Took up the strain, and echoed Mary’s name.<br/> +<br/> +The robe, that with its regal folds enwraps<br/> +The world, and with the nearer breath of God<br/> +Doth burn and quiver, held so far retir’d<br/> +Its inner hem and skirting over us,<br/> +That yet no glimmer of its majesty<br/> +Had stream’d unto me: therefore were mine eyes<br/> +Unequal to pursue the crowned flame,<br/> +That rose and sought its natal seed of fire;<br/> +And like to babe, that stretches forth its arms<br/> +For very eagerness towards the breast,<br/> +After the milk is taken; so outstretch’d<br/> +Their wavy summits all the fervent band,<br/> +Through zealous love to Mary: then in view<br/> +There halted, and “Regina Coeli” sang<br/> +So sweetly, the delight hath left me never.<br/> +<br/> +O what o’erflowing plenty is up-pil’d<br/> +In those rich-laden coffers, which below<br/> +Sow’d the good seed, whose harvest now they keep.<br/> +<br/> +Here are the treasures tasted, that with tears<br/> +Were in the Babylonian exile won,<br/> +When gold had fail’d them. Here in synod high<br/> +Of ancient council with the new conven’d,<br/> +Under the Son of Mary and of God,<br/> +Victorious he his mighty triumph holds,<br/> +To whom the keys of glory were assign’d. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.24"></a>CANTO XXIV</h2> + +<p> +“O ye! in chosen fellowship advanc’d<br/> +To the great supper of the blessed Lamb,<br/> +Whereon who feeds hath every wish fulfill’d!<br/> +If to this man through God’s grace be vouchsaf’d<br/> +Foretaste of that, which from your table falls,<br/> +Or ever death his fated term prescribe;<br/> +Be ye not heedless of his urgent will;<br/> +But may some influence of your sacred dews<br/> +Sprinkle him. Of the fount ye alway drink,<br/> +Whence flows what most he craves.” Beatrice spake,<br/> +And the rejoicing spirits, like to spheres<br/> +On firm-set poles revolving, trail’d a blaze<br/> +Of comet splendour; and as wheels, that wind<br/> +Their circles in the horologe, so work<br/> +The stated rounds, that to th’ observant eye<br/> +The first seems still, and, as it flew, the last;<br/> +E’en thus their carols weaving variously,<br/> +They by the measure pac’d, or swift, or slow,<br/> +Made me to rate the riches of their joy.<br/> +<br/> +From that, which I did note in beauty most<br/> +Excelling, saw I issue forth a flame<br/> +So bright, as none was left more goodly there.<br/> +Round Beatrice thrice it wheel’d about,<br/> +With so divine a song, that fancy’s ear<br/> +Records it not; and the pen passeth on<br/> +And leaves a blank: for that our mortal speech,<br/> +Nor e’en the inward shaping of the brain,<br/> +Hath colours fine enough to trace such folds.<br/> +<br/> +“O saintly sister mine! thy prayer devout<br/> +Is with so vehement affection urg’d,<br/> +Thou dost unbind me from that beauteous sphere.”<br/> +<br/> +Such were the accents towards my lady breath’d<br/> +From that blest ardour, soon as it was stay’d:<br/> +To whom she thus: “O everlasting light<br/> +Of him, within whose mighty grasp our Lord<br/> +Did leave the keys, which of this wondrous bliss<br/> +He bare below! tent this man, as thou wilt,<br/> +With lighter probe or deep, touching the faith,<br/> +By the which thou didst on the billows walk.<br/> +If he in love, in hope, and in belief,<br/> +Be steadfast, is not hid from thee: for thou<br/> +Hast there thy ken, where all things are beheld<br/> +In liveliest portraiture. But since true faith<br/> +Has peopled this fair realm with citizens,<br/> +Meet is, that to exalt its glory more,<br/> +Thou in his audience shouldst thereof discourse.”<br/> +<br/> +Like to the bachelor, who arms himself,<br/> +And speaks not, till the master have propos’d<br/> +The question, to approve, and not to end it;<br/> +So I, in silence, arm’d me, while she spake,<br/> +Summoning up each argument to aid;<br/> +As was behooveful for such questioner,<br/> +And such profession: “As good Christian ought,<br/> +Declare thee, What is faith?” Whereat I rais’d<br/> +My forehead to the light, whence this had breath’d,<br/> +Then turn’d to Beatrice, and in her looks<br/> +Approval met, that from their inmost fount<br/> +I should unlock the waters. “May the grace,<br/> +That giveth me the captain of the church<br/> +For confessor,” said I, “vouchsafe to me<br/> +Apt utterance for my thoughts!” then added: “Sire!<br/> +E’en as set down by the unerring style<br/> +Of thy dear brother, who with thee conspir’d<br/> +To bring Rome in unto the way of life,<br/> +Faith of things hop’d is substance, and the proof<br/> +Of things not seen; and herein doth consist<br/> +Methinks its essence,”—“Rightly hast thou deem’d,”<br/> +Was answer’d: “if thou well discern, why first<br/> +He hath defin’d it, substance, and then proof.”<br/> +<br/> +“The deep things,” I replied, “which here I scan<br/> +Distinctly, are below from mortal eye<br/> +So hidden, they have in belief alone<br/> +Their being, on which credence hope sublime<br/> +Is built; and therefore substance it intends.<br/> +And inasmuch as we must needs infer<br/> +From such belief our reasoning, all respect<br/> +To other view excluded, hence of proof<br/> +Th’ intention is deriv’d.” Forthwith I heard:<br/> +“If thus, whate’er by learning men attain,<br/> +Were understood, the sophist would want room<br/> +To exercise his wit.” So breath’d the flame<br/> +Of love: then added: “Current is the coin<br/> +Thou utter’st, both in weight and in alloy.<br/> +But tell me, if thou hast it in thy purse.”<br/> +<br/> +“Even so glittering and so round,” said I,<br/> +“I not a whit misdoubt of its assay.”<br/> +<br/> +Next issued from the deep imbosom’d splendour:<br/> +“Say, whence the costly jewel, on the which<br/> +Is founded every virtue, came to thee.”<br/> +“The flood,” I answer’d, “from the Spirit of God<br/> +Rain’d down upon the ancient bond and new,—<br/> +Here is the reas’ning, that convinceth me<br/> +So feelingly, each argument beside<br/> +Seems blunt and forceless in comparison.”<br/> +Then heard I: “Wherefore holdest thou that each,<br/> +The elder proposition and the new,<br/> +Which so persuade thee, are the voice of heav’n?”<br/> +<br/> +“The works, that follow’d, evidence their truth;”<br/> +I answer’d: “Nature did not make for these<br/> +The iron hot, or on her anvil mould them.”<br/> +“Who voucheth to thee of the works themselves,”<br/> +Was the reply, “that they in very deed<br/> +Are that they purport? None hath sworn so to thee.”<br/> +<br/> +“That all the world,” said I, “should have been turn’d<br/> +To Christian, and no miracle been wrought,<br/> +Would in itself be such a miracle,<br/> +The rest were not an hundredth part so great.<br/> +E’en thou wentst forth in poverty and hunger<br/> +To set the goodly plant, that from the vine,<br/> +It once was, now is grown unsightly bramble.”<br/> +That ended, through the high celestial court<br/> +Resounded all the spheres. “Praise we one God!”<br/> +In song of most unearthly melody.<br/> +And when that Worthy thus, from branch to branch,<br/> +Examining, had led me, that we now<br/> +Approach’d the topmost bough, he straight resum’d;<br/> +“The grace, that holds sweet dalliance with thy soul,<br/> +So far discreetly hath thy lips unclos’d<br/> +That, whatsoe’er has past them, I commend.<br/> +Behooves thee to express, what thou believ’st,<br/> +The next, and whereon thy belief hath grown.”<br/> +<br/> +“O saintly sire and spirit!” I began,<br/> +“Who seest that, which thou didst so believe,<br/> +As to outstrip feet younger than thine own,<br/> +Toward the sepulchre? thy will is here,<br/> +That I the tenour of my creed unfold;<br/> +And thou the cause of it hast likewise ask’d.<br/> +And I reply: I in one God believe,<br/> +One sole eternal Godhead, of whose love<br/> +All heav’n is mov’d, himself unmov’d the while.<br/> +Nor demonstration physical alone,<br/> +Or more intelligential and abstruse,<br/> +Persuades me to this faith; but from that truth<br/> +It cometh to me rather, which is shed<br/> +Through Moses, the rapt Prophets, and the Psalms.<br/> +The Gospel, and that ye yourselves did write,<br/> +When ye were gifted of the Holy Ghost.<br/> +In three eternal Persons I believe,<br/> +Essence threefold and one, mysterious league<br/> +Of union absolute, which, many a time,<br/> +The word of gospel lore upon my mind<br/> +Imprints: and from this germ, this firstling spark,<br/> +The lively flame dilates, and like heav’n’s star<br/> +Doth glitter in me.” As the master hears,<br/> +Well pleas’d, and then enfoldeth in his arms<br/> +The servant, who hath joyful tidings brought,<br/> +And having told the errand keeps his peace;<br/> +Thus benediction uttering with song<br/> +Soon as my peace I held, compass’d me thrice<br/> +The apostolic radiance, whose behest<br/> +Had op’d lips; so well their answer pleas’d. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.25"></a>CANTO XXV</h2> + +<p> +If e’er the sacred poem that hath made<br/> +Both heav’n and earth copartners in its toil,<br/> +And with lean abstinence, through many a year,<br/> +Faded my brow, be destin’d to prevail<br/> +Over the cruelty, which bars me forth<br/> +Of the fair sheep-fold, where a sleeping lamb<br/> +The wolves set on and fain had worried me,<br/> +With other voice and fleece of other grain<br/> +I shall forthwith return, and, standing up<br/> +At my baptismal font, shall claim the wreath<br/> +Due to the poet’s temples: for I there<br/> +First enter’d on the faith which maketh souls<br/> +Acceptable to God: and, for its sake,<br/> +Peter had then circled my forehead thus.<br/> +<br/> +Next from the squadron, whence had issued forth<br/> +The first fruit of Christ’s vicars on the earth,<br/> +Toward us mov’d a light, at view whereof<br/> +My Lady, full of gladness, spake to me:<br/> +“Lo! lo! behold the peer of mickle might,<br/> +That makes Falicia throng’d with visitants!”<br/> +<br/> +As when the ring-dove by his mate alights,<br/> +In circles each about the other wheels,<br/> +And murmuring cooes his fondness; thus saw I<br/> +One, of the other great and glorious prince,<br/> +With kindly greeting hail’d, extolling both<br/> +Their heavenly banqueting; but when an end<br/> +Was to their gratulation, silent, each,<br/> +Before me sat they down, so burning bright,<br/> +I could not look upon them. Smiling then,<br/> +Beatrice spake: “O life in glory shrin’d!”<br/> +Who didst the largess of our kingly court<br/> +Set down with faithful pen! let now thy voice<br/> +Of hope the praises in this height resound.<br/> +For thou, who figur’st them in shapes, as clear,<br/> +As Jesus stood before thee, well can’st speak them.”<br/> +<br/> +“Lift up thy head, and be thou strong in trust:<br/> +For that, which hither from the mortal world<br/> +Arriveth, must be ripen’d in our beam.”<br/> +<br/> +Such cheering accents from the second flame<br/> +Assur’d me; and mine eyes I lifted up<br/> +Unto the mountains that had bow’d them late<br/> +With over-heavy burden. “Sith our Liege<br/> +Wills of his grace that thou, or ere thy death,<br/> +In the most secret council, with his lords<br/> +Shouldst be confronted, so that having view’d<br/> +The glories of our court, thou mayst therewith<br/> +Thyself, and all who hear, invigorate<br/> +With hope, that leads to blissful end; declare,<br/> +What is that hope, how it doth flourish in thee,<br/> +And whence thou hadst it?” Thus proceeding still,<br/> +The second light: and she, whose gentle love<br/> +My soaring pennons in that lofty flight<br/> +Escorted, thus preventing me, rejoin’d:<br/> +Among her sons, not one more full of hope,<br/> +Hath the church militant: so ’t is of him<br/> +Recorded in the sun, whose liberal orb<br/> +Enlighteneth all our tribe: and ere his term<br/> +Of warfare, hence permitted he is come,<br/> +From Egypt to Jerusalem, to see.<br/> +The other points, both which thou hast inquir’d,<br/> +Not for more knowledge, but that he may tell<br/> +How dear thou holdst the virtue, these to him<br/> +Leave I; for he may answer thee with ease,<br/> +And without boasting, so God give him grace.”<br/> +Like to the scholar, practis’d in his task,<br/> +Who, willing to give proof of diligence,<br/> +Seconds his teacher gladly, “Hope,” said I,<br/> +“Is of the joy to come a sure expectance,<br/> +Th’ effect of grace divine and merit preceding.<br/> +This light from many a star visits my heart,<br/> +But flow’d to me the first from him, who sang<br/> +The songs of the Supreme, himself supreme<br/> +Among his tuneful brethren. ‘Let all hope<br/> +In thee,’ so speak his anthem, ‘who have known<br/> +Thy name;’ and with my faith who know not that?<br/> +From thee, the next, distilling from his spring,<br/> +In thine epistle, fell on me the drops<br/> +So plenteously, that I on others shower<br/> +The influence of their dew.” Whileas I spake,<br/> +A lamping, as of quick and vollied lightning,<br/> +Within the bosom of that mighty sheen,<br/> +Play’d tremulous; then forth these accents breath’d:<br/> +“Love for the virtue which attended me<br/> +E’en to the palm, and issuing from the field,<br/> +Glows vigorous yet within me, and inspires<br/> +To ask of thee, whom also it delights;<br/> +What promise thou from hope in chief dost win.”<br/> +<br/> +“Both scriptures, new and ancient,” I reply’d;<br/> +“Propose the mark (which even now I view)<br/> +For souls belov’d of God. Isaias saith,<br/> +<br/> +‘That, in their own land, each one must be clad<br/> +In twofold vesture; and their proper lands this delicious life.’<br/> +In terms more full,<br/> +And clearer far, thy brother hath set forth<br/> +This revelation to us, where he tells<br/> +Of the white raiment destin’d to the saints.”<br/> +And, as the words were ending, from above,<br/> +“They hope in thee,” first heard we cried: whereto<br/> +Answer’d the carols all. Amidst them next,<br/> +A light of so clear amplitude emerg’d,<br/> +That winter’s month were but a single day,<br/> +Were such a crystal in the Cancer’s sign.<br/> +<br/> +Like as a virgin riseth up, and goes,<br/> +And enters on the mazes of the dance,<br/> +Though gay, yet innocent of worse intent,<br/> +Than to do fitting honour to the bride;<br/> +So I beheld the new effulgence come<br/> +Unto the other two, who in a ring<br/> +Wheel’d, as became their rapture. In the dance<br/> +And in the song it mingled. And the dame<br/> +Held on them fix’d her looks: e’en as the spouse<br/> +Silent and moveless. “This is he, who lay<br/> +Upon the bosom of our pelican:<br/> +This he, into whose keeping from the cross<br/> +The mighty charge was given.” Thus she spake,<br/> +Yet therefore naught the more remov’d her Sight<br/> +From marking them, or ere her words began,<br/> +Or when they clos’d. As he, who looks intent,<br/> +And strives with searching ken, how he may see<br/> +The sun in his eclipse, and, through desire<br/> +Of seeing, loseth power of sight: so I<br/> +Peer’d on that last resplendence, while I heard:<br/> +“Why dazzlest thou thine eyes in seeking that,<br/> +Which here abides not? Earth my body is,<br/> +In earth: and shall be, with the rest, so long,<br/> +As till our number equal the decree<br/> +Of the Most High. The two that have ascended,<br/> +In this our blessed cloister, shine alone<br/> +With the two garments. So report below.”<br/> +<br/> +As when, for ease of labour, or to shun<br/> +Suspected peril at a whistle’s breath,<br/> +The oars, erewhile dash’d frequent in the wave,<br/> +All rest; the flamy circle at that voice<br/> +So rested, and the mingling sound was still,<br/> +Which from the trinal band soft-breathing rose.<br/> +I turn’d, but ah! how trembled in my thought,<br/> +When, looking at my side again to see<br/> +Beatrice, I descried her not, although<br/> +Not distant, on the happy coast she stood. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.26"></a>CANTO XXVI</h2> + +<p> +With dazzled eyes, whilst wond’ring I remain’d,<br/> +Forth of the beamy flame which dazzled me,<br/> +Issued a breath, that in attention mute<br/> +Detain’d me; and these words it spake: “’T were well,<br/> +That, long as till thy vision, on my form<br/> +O’erspent, regain its virtue, with discourse<br/> +Thou compensate the brief delay. Say then,<br/> +Beginning, to what point thy soul aspires:” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/26-7.jpg"> +<img src="images/26-7.jpg" width="517" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +“And meanwhile rest assur’d, that sight in thee<br/> +Is but o’erpowered a space, not wholly quench’d:<br/> +Since thy fair guide and lovely, in her look<br/> +Hath potency, the like to that which dwelt<br/> +In Ananias’ hand.” I answering thus:<br/> +“Be to mine eyes the remedy or late<br/> +Or early, at her pleasure; for they were<br/> +The gates, at which she enter’d, and did light<br/> +Her never dying fire. My wishes here<br/> +Are centered; in this palace is the weal,<br/> +That Alpha and Omega, is to all<br/> +The lessons love can read me.” Yet again<br/> +The voice which had dispers’d my fear, when daz’d<br/> +With that excess, to converse urg’d, and spake:<br/> +“Behooves thee sift more narrowly thy terms,<br/> +And say, who level’d at this scope thy bow.”<br/> +<br/> +“Philosophy,” said I, “hath arguments,<br/> +And this place hath authority enough<br/> +T’ imprint in me such love: for, of constraint,<br/> +Good, inasmuch as we perceive the good,<br/> +Kindles our love, and in degree the more,<br/> +As it comprises more of goodness in ’t.<br/> +The essence then, where such advantage is,<br/> +That each good, found without it, is naught else<br/> +But of his light the beam, must needs attract<br/> +The soul of each one, loving, who the truth<br/> +Discerns, on which this proof is built. Such truth<br/> +Learn I from him, who shows me the first love<br/> +Of all intelligential substances<br/> +Eternal: from his voice I learn, whose word<br/> +Is truth, that of himself to Moses saith,<br/> +‘I will make all my good before thee pass.’<br/> +Lastly from thee I learn, who chief proclaim’st,<br/> +E’en at the outset of thy heralding,<br/> +In mortal ears the mystery of heav’n.”<br/> +<br/> +“Through human wisdom, and th’ authority<br/> +Therewith agreeing,” heard I answer’d, “keep<br/> +The choicest of thy love for God. But say,<br/> +If thou yet other cords within thee feel’st<br/> +That draw thee towards him; so that thou report<br/> +How many are the fangs, with which this love<br/> +Is grappled to thy soul.” I did not miss,<br/> +To what intent the eagle of our Lord<br/> +Had pointed his demand; yea noted well<br/> +Th’ avowal, which he led to; and resum’d:<br/> +“All grappling bonds, that knit the heart to God,<br/> +Confederate to make fast our clarity.<br/> +The being of the world, and mine own being,<br/> +The death which he endur’d that I should live,<br/> +And that, which all the faithful hope, as I do,<br/> +To the foremention’d lively knowledge join’d,<br/> +Have from the sea of ill love sav’d my bark,<br/> +And on the coast secur’d it of the right.<br/> +As for the leaves, that in the garden bloom,<br/> +My love for them is great, as is the good<br/> +Dealt by th’ eternal hand, that tends them all.”<br/> +<br/> +I ended, and therewith a song most sweet<br/> +Rang through the spheres; and “Holy, holy, holy,”<br/> +Accordant with the rest my lady sang.<br/> +And as a sleep is broken and dispers’d<br/> +Through sharp encounter of the nimble light,<br/> +With the eye’s spirit running forth to meet<br/> +The ray, from membrane on to the membrane urg’d;<br/> +And the upstartled wight loathes that he sees;<br/> +So, at his sudden waking, he misdeems<br/> +Of all around him, till assurance waits<br/> +On better judgment: thus the saintly came<br/> +Drove from before mine eyes the motes away,<br/> +With the resplendence of her own, that cast<br/> +Their brightness downward, thousand miles below.<br/> +Whence I my vision, clearer shall before,<br/> +Recover’d; and, well nigh astounded, ask’d<br/> +Of a fourth light, that now with us I saw.<br/> +<br/> +And Beatrice: “The first diving soul,<br/> +That ever the first virtue fram’d, admires<br/> +Within these rays his Maker.” Like the leaf,<br/> +That bows its lithe top till the blast is blown;<br/> +By its own virtue rear’d then stands aloof;<br/> +So I, the whilst she said, awe-stricken bow’d.<br/> +Then eagerness to speak embolden’d me;<br/> +And I began: “O fruit! that wast alone<br/> +Mature, when first engender’d! Ancient father!<br/> +That doubly seest in every wedded bride<br/> +Thy daughter by affinity and blood!<br/> +Devoutly as I may, I pray thee hold<br/> +Converse with me: my will thou seest; and I,<br/> +More speedily to hear thee, tell it not.”<br/> +<br/> +It chanceth oft some animal bewrays,<br/> +Through the sleek cov’ring of his furry coat.<br/> +The fondness, that stirs in him and conforms<br/> +His outside seeming to the cheer within:<br/> +And in like guise was Adam’s spirit mov’d<br/> +To joyous mood, that through the covering shone,<br/> +Transparent, when to pleasure me it spake:<br/> +“No need thy will be told, which I untold<br/> +Better discern, than thou whatever thing<br/> +Thou holdst most certain: for that will I see<br/> +In Him, who is truth’s mirror, and Himself<br/> +Parhelion unto all things, and naught else<br/> +To him. This wouldst thou hear; how long since God<br/> +Plac’d me high garden, from whose hounds<br/> +She led me up in this ladder, steep and long;<br/> +What space endur’d my season of delight;<br/> +Whence truly sprang the wrath that banish’d me;<br/> +And what the language, which I spake and fram’d<br/> +Not that I tasted of the tree, my son,<br/> +Was in itself the cause of that exile,<br/> +But only my transgressing of the mark<br/> +Assign’d me. There, whence at thy lady’s hest<br/> +The Mantuan mov’d him, still was I debarr’d<br/> +This council, till the sun had made complete,<br/> +Four thousand and three hundred rounds and twice,<br/> +His annual journey; and, through every light<br/> +In his broad pathway, saw I him return,<br/> +Thousand save sev’nty times, the whilst I dwelt<br/> +Upon the earth. The language I did use<br/> +Was worn away, or ever Nimrod’s race<br/> +Their unaccomplishable work began.<br/> +For naught, that man inclines to, ere was lasting,<br/> +Left by his reason free, and variable,<br/> +As is the sky that sways him. That he speaks,<br/> +Is nature’s prompting: whether thus or thus,<br/> +She leaves to you, as ye do most affect it.<br/> +Ere I descended into hell’s abyss,<br/> +El was the name on earth of the Chief Good,<br/> +Whose joy enfolds me: Eli then ’t was call’d<br/> +And so beseemeth: for, in mortals, use<br/> +Is as the leaf upon the bough; that goes,<br/> +And other comes instead. Upon the mount<br/> +Most high above the waters, all my life,<br/> +Both innocent and guilty, did but reach<br/> +From the first hour, to that which cometh next<br/> +(As the sun changes quarter), to the sixth.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.27"></a>CANTO XXVII</h2> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/27-1.jpg"> +<img src="images/27-1.jpg" width="511" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Then “Glory to the Father, to the Son,<br/> +And to the Holy Spirit,” rang aloud<br/> +Throughout all Paradise, that with the song<br/> +My spirit reel’d, so passing sweet the strain:<br/> +And what I saw was equal ecstasy;<br/> +One universal smile it seem’d of all things,<br/> +Joy past compare, gladness unutterable,<br/> +Imperishable life of peace and love,<br/> +Exhaustless riches and unmeasur’d bliss.<br/> +<br/> +Before mine eyes stood the four torches lit;<br/> +And that, which first had come, began to wax<br/> +In brightness, and in semblance such became,<br/> +As Jove might be, if he and Mars were birds,<br/> +And interchang’d their plumes. Silence ensued,<br/> +Through the blest quire, by Him, who here appoints<br/> +Vicissitude of ministry, enjoin’d;<br/> +When thus I heard: “Wonder not, if my hue<br/> +Be chang’d; for, while I speak, these shalt thou see<br/> +All in like manner change with me. My place<br/> +He who usurps on earth (my place, ay, mine,<br/> +Which in the presence of the Son of God<br/> +Is void), the same hath made my cemetery<br/> +A common sewer of puddle and of blood:<br/> +The more below his triumph, who from hence<br/> +Malignant fell.” Such colour, as the sun,<br/> +At eve or morning, paints an adverse cloud,<br/> +Then saw I sprinkled over all the sky.<br/> +And as th’ unblemish’d dame, who in herself<br/> +Secure of censure, yet at bare report<br/> +Of other’s failing, shrinks with maiden fear;<br/> +So Beatrice in her semblance chang’d:<br/> +And such eclipse in heav’n methinks was seen,<br/> +When the Most Holy suffer’d. Then the words<br/> +Proceeded, with voice, alter’d from itself<br/> +So clean, the semblance did not alter more.<br/> +“Not to this end was Christ’s spouse with my blood,<br/> +With that of Linus, and of Cletus fed:<br/> +That she might serve for purchase of base gold:<br/> +But for the purchase of this happy life<br/> +Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed,<br/> +And Urban, they, whose doom was not without<br/> +Much weeping seal’d. No purpose was of our<br/> +That on the right hand of our successors<br/> +Part of the Christian people should be set,<br/> +And part upon their left; nor that the keys,<br/> +Which were vouchsaf’d me, should for ensign serve<br/> +Unto the banners, that do levy war<br/> +On the baptiz’d: nor I, for sigil-mark<br/> +Set upon sold and lying privileges;<br/> +Which makes me oft to bicker and turn red.<br/> +In shepherd’s clothing greedy wolves below<br/> +Range wide o’er all the pastures. Arm of God!<br/> +Why longer sleepst thou? Caorsines and Gascona<br/> +Prepare to quaff our blood. O good beginning<br/> +To what a vile conclusion must thou stoop!<br/> +But the high providence, which did defend<br/> +Through Scipio the world’s glory unto Rome,<br/> +Will not delay its succour: and thou, son,<br/> +Who through thy mortal weight shall yet again<br/> +Return below, open thy lips, nor hide<br/> +What is by me not hidden.” As a Hood<br/> +Of frozen vapours streams adown the air,<br/> +What time the she-goat with her skiey horn<br/> +Touches the sun; so saw I there stream wide<br/> +The vapours, who with us had linger’d late<br/> +And with glad triumph deck th’ ethereal cope.<br/> +Onward my sight their semblances pursued;<br/> +So far pursued, as till the space between<br/> +From its reach sever’d them: whereat the guide<br/> +Celestial, marking me no more intent<br/> +On upward gazing, said, “Look down and see<br/> +What circuit thou hast compass’d.” From the hour<br/> +When I before had cast my view beneath,<br/> +All the first region overpast I saw,<br/> +Which from the midmost to the bound’ry winds;<br/> +That onward thence from Gades I beheld<br/> +The unwise passage of Laertes’ son,<br/> +And hitherward the shore, where thou, Europa!<br/> +Mad’st thee a joyful burden: and yet more<br/> +Of this dim spot had seen, but that the sun,<br/> +A constellation off and more, had ta’en<br/> +His progress in the zodiac underneath.<br/> +<br/> +Then by the spirit, that doth never leave<br/> +Its amorous dalliance with my lady’s looks,<br/> +Back with redoubled ardour were mine eyes<br/> +Led unto her: and from her radiant smiles,<br/> +Whenas I turn’d me, pleasure so divine<br/> +Did lighten on me, that whatever bait<br/> +Or art or nature in the human flesh,<br/> +Or in its limn’d resemblance, can combine<br/> +Through greedy eyes to take the soul withal,<br/> +Were to her beauty nothing. Its boon influence<br/> +From the fair nest of Leda rapt me forth,<br/> +And wafted on into the swiftest heav’n.<br/> +<br/> +What place for entrance Beatrice chose,<br/> +I may not say, so uniform was all,<br/> +Liveliest and loftiest. She my secret wish<br/> +Divin’d; and with such gladness, that God’s love<br/> +Seem’d from her visage shining, thus began:<br/> +“Here is the goal, whence motion on his race<br/> +Starts; motionless the centre, and the rest<br/> +All mov’d around. Except the soul divine,<br/> +Place in this heav’n is none, the soul divine,<br/> +Wherein the love, which ruleth o’er its orb,<br/> +Is kindled, and the virtue that it sheds;<br/> +One circle, light and love, enclasping it,<br/> +As this doth clasp the others; and to Him,<br/> +Who draws the bound, its limit only known.<br/> +Measur’d itself by none, it doth divide<br/> +Motion to all, counted unto them forth,<br/> +As by the fifth or half ye count forth ten.<br/> +The vase, wherein time’s roots are plung’d, thou seest,<br/> +Look elsewhere for the leaves. O mortal lust!<br/> +That canst not lift thy head above the waves<br/> +Which whelm and sink thee down! The will in man<br/> +Bears goodly blossoms; but its ruddy promise<br/> +Is, by the dripping of perpetual rain,<br/> +Made mere abortion: faith and innocence<br/> +Are met with but in babes, each taking leave<br/> +Ere cheeks with down are sprinkled; he, that fasts,<br/> +While yet a stammerer, with his tongue let loose<br/> +Gluts every food alike in every moon.<br/> +One yet a babbler, loves and listens to<br/> +His mother; but no sooner hath free use<br/> +Of speech, than he doth wish her in her grave.<br/> +So suddenly doth the fair child of him,<br/> +Whose welcome is the morn and eve his parting,<br/> +To negro blackness change her virgin white.<br/> +<br/> +“Thou, to abate thy wonder, note that none<br/> +Bears rule in earth, and its frail family<br/> +Are therefore wand’rers. Yet before the date,<br/> +When through the hundredth in his reck’ning drops<br/> +Pale January must be shor’d aside<br/> +From winter’s calendar, these heav’nly spheres<br/> +Shall roar so loud, that fortune shall be fain<br/> +To turn the poop, where she hath now the prow;<br/> +So that the fleet run onward; and true fruit,<br/> +Expected long, shall crown at last the bloom!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.28"></a>CANTO XXVIII</h2> + +<p> +So she who doth imparadise my soul,<br/> +Had drawn the veil from off our pleasant life,<br/> +And bar’d the truth of poor mortality;<br/> +When lo! as one who, in a mirror, spies<br/> +The shining of a flambeau at his back,<br/> +Lit sudden ore he deem of its approach,<br/> +And turneth to resolve him, if the glass<br/> +Have told him true, and sees the record faithful<br/> +As note is to its metre; even thus,<br/> +I well remember, did befall to me,<br/> +Looking upon the beauteous eyes, whence love<br/> +Had made the leash to take me. As I turn’d;<br/> +And that, which, in their circles, none who spies,<br/> +Can miss of, in itself apparent, struck<br/> +On mine; a point I saw, that darted light<br/> +So sharp, no lid, unclosing, may bear up<br/> +Against its keenness. The least star we view<br/> +From hence, had seem’d a moon, set by its side,<br/> +As star by side of star. And so far off,<br/> +Perchance, as is the halo from the light<br/> +Which paints it, when most dense the vapour spreads,<br/> +There wheel’d about the point a circle of fire,<br/> +More rapid than the motion, which first girds<br/> +The world. Then, circle after circle, round<br/> +Enring’d each other; till the seventh reach’d<br/> +Circumference so ample, that its bow,<br/> +Within the span of Juno’s messenger,<br/> +lied scarce been held entire. Beyond the sev’nth,<br/> +Follow’d yet other two. And every one,<br/> +As more in number distant from the first,<br/> +Was tardier in motion; and that glow’d<br/> +With flame most pure, that to the sparkle’ of truth<br/> +Was nearest, as partaking most, methinks,<br/> +Of its reality. The guide belov’d<br/> +Saw me in anxious thought suspense, and spake:<br/> +“Heav’n, and all nature, hangs upon that point.<br/> +The circle thereto most conjoin’d observe;<br/> +And know, that by intenser love its course<br/> +Is to this swiftness wing’d.” To whom I thus:<br/> +“It were enough; nor should I further seek,<br/> +Had I but witness’d order, in the world<br/> +Appointed, such as in these wheels is seen.<br/> +But in the sensible world such diff’rence is,<br/> +That is each round shows more divinity,<br/> +As each is wider from the centre. Hence,<br/> +If in this wondrous and angelic temple,<br/> +That hath for confine only light and love,<br/> +My wish may have completion I must know,<br/> +Wherefore such disagreement is between<br/> +Th’ exemplar and its copy: for myself,<br/> +Contemplating, I fail to pierce the cause.”<br/> +<br/> +“It is no marvel, if thy fingers foil’d<br/> +Do leave the knot untied: so hard ’t is grown<br/> +For want of tenting.” Thus she said: “But take,”<br/> +She added, “if thou wish thy cure, my words,<br/> +And entertain them subtly. Every orb<br/> +Corporeal, doth proportion its extent<br/> +Unto the virtue through its parts diffus’d.<br/> +The greater blessedness preserves the more.<br/> +The greater is the body (if all parts<br/> +Share equally) the more is to preserve.<br/> +Therefore the circle, whose swift course enwheels<br/> +The universal frame answers to that,<br/> +Which is supreme in knowledge and in love<br/> +Thus by the virtue, not the seeming, breadth<br/> +Of substance, measure, thou shalt see the heav’ns,<br/> +Each to the’ intelligence that ruleth it,<br/> +Greater to more, and smaller unto less,<br/> +Suited in strict and wondrous harmony.”<br/> +<br/> +As when the sturdy north blows from his cheek<br/> +A blast, that scours the sky, forthwith our air,<br/> +Clear’d of the rack, that hung on it before,<br/> +Glitters; and, With his beauties all unveil’d,<br/> +The firmament looks forth serene, and smiles;<br/> +Such was my cheer, when Beatrice drove<br/> +With clear reply the shadows back, and truth<br/> +Was manifested, as a star in heaven.<br/> +And when the words were ended, not unlike<br/> +To iron in the furnace, every cirque<br/> +Ebullient shot forth scintillating fires:<br/> +And every sparkle shivering to new blaze,<br/> +In number did outmillion the account<br/> +Reduplicate upon the chequer’d board.<br/> +Then heard I echoing on from choir to choir,<br/> +“Hosanna,” to the fixed point, that holds,<br/> +And shall for ever hold them to their place,<br/> +From everlasting, irremovable. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/28-80.jpg"> +<img src="images/28-80.jpg" width="547" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +Musing awhile I stood: and she, who saw<br/> +by inward meditations, thus began:<br/> +“In the first circles, they, whom thou beheldst,<br/> +Are seraphim and cherubim. Thus swift<br/> +Follow their hoops, in likeness to the point,<br/> +Near as they can, approaching; and they can<br/> +The more, the loftier their vision. Those,<br/> +That round them fleet, gazing the Godhead next,<br/> +Are thrones; in whom the first trine ends. And all<br/> +Are blessed, even as their sight descends<br/> +Deeper into the truth, wherein rest is<br/> +For every mind. Thus happiness hath root<br/> +In seeing, not in loving, which of sight<br/> +Is aftergrowth. And of the seeing such<br/> +The meed, as unto each in due degree<br/> +Grace and good-will their measure have assign’d.<br/> +The other trine, that with still opening buds<br/> +In this eternal springtide blossom fair,<br/> +Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram,<br/> +Breathe up in warbled melodies threefold<br/> +Hosannas blending ever, from the three<br/> +Transmitted. hierarchy of gods, for aye<br/> +Rejoicing, dominations first, next then<br/> +Virtues, and powers the third. The next to whom<br/> +Are princedoms and archangels, with glad round<br/> +To tread their festal ring; and last the band<br/> +Angelical, disporting in their sphere.<br/> +All, as they circle in their orders, look<br/> +Aloft, and downward with such sway prevail,<br/> +That all with mutual impulse tend to God.<br/> +These once a mortal view beheld. Desire<br/> +In Dionysius so intently wrought,<br/> +That he, as I have done rang’d them; and nam’d<br/> +Their orders, marshal’d in his thought. From him<br/> +Dissentient, one refus’d his sacred read.<br/> +But soon as in this heav’n his doubting eyes<br/> +Were open’d, Gregory at his error smil’d<br/> +Nor marvel, that a denizen of earth<br/> +Should scan such secret truth; for he had learnt<br/> +Both this and much beside of these our orbs,<br/> +From an eye-witness to heav’n’s mysteries.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.29"></a>CANTO XXIX</h2> + +<p> +No longer than what time Latona’s twins<br/> +Cover’d of Libra and the fleecy star,<br/> +Together both, girding the’ horizon hang,<br/> +In even balance from the zenith pois’d,<br/> +Till from that verge, each, changing hemisphere,<br/> +Part the nice level; e’en so brief a space<br/> +Did Beatrice’s silence hold. A smile<br/> +Bat painted on her cheek; and her fix’d gaze<br/> +Bent on the point, at which my vision fail’d:<br/> +When thus her words resuming she began:<br/> +“I speak, nor what thou wouldst inquire demand;<br/> +For I have mark’d it, where all time and place<br/> +Are present. Not for increase to himself<br/> +Of good, which may not be increas’d, but forth<br/> +To manifest his glory by its beams,<br/> +Inhabiting his own eternity,<br/> +Beyond time’s limit or what bound soe’er<br/> +To circumscribe his being, as he will’d,<br/> +Into new natures, like unto himself,<br/> +Eternal Love unfolded. Nor before,<br/> +As if in dull inaction torpid lay.<br/> +For not in process of before or aft<br/> +Upon these waters mov’d the Spirit of God.<br/> +Simple and mix’d, both form and substance, forth<br/> +To perfect being started, like three darts<br/> +Shot from a bow three-corded. And as ray<br/> +In crystal, glass, and amber, shines entire,<br/> +E’en at the moment of its issuing; thus<br/> +Did, from th’ eternal Sovran, beam entire<br/> +His threefold operation, at one act<br/> +Produc’d coeval. Yet in order each<br/> +Created his due station knew: those highest,<br/> +Who pure intelligence were made: mere power<br/> +The lowest: in the midst, bound with strict league,<br/> +Intelligence and power, unsever’d bond.<br/> +Long tract of ages by the angels past,<br/> +Ere the creating of another world,<br/> +Describ’d on Jerome’s pages thou hast seen.<br/> +But that what I disclose to thee is true,<br/> +Those penmen, whom the Holy Spirit mov’d<br/> +In many a passage of their sacred book<br/> +Attest; as thou by diligent search shalt find<br/> +And reason in some sort discerns the same,<br/> +Who scarce would grant the heav’nly ministers<br/> +Of their perfection void, so long a space.<br/> +Thus when and where these spirits of love were made,<br/> +Thou know’st, and how: and knowing hast allay’d<br/> +Thy thirst, which from the triple question rose.<br/> +Ere one had reckon’d twenty, e’en so soon<br/> +Part of the angels fell: and in their fall<br/> +Confusion to your elements ensued.<br/> +The others kept their station: and this task,<br/> +Whereon thou lookst, began with such delight,<br/> +That they surcease not ever, day nor night,<br/> +Their circling. Of that fatal lapse the cause<br/> +Was the curst pride of him, whom thou hast seen<br/> +Pent with the world’s incumbrance. Those, whom here<br/> +Thou seest, were lowly to confess themselves<br/> +Of his free bounty, who had made them apt<br/> +For ministries so high: therefore their views<br/> +Were by enlight’ning grace and their own merit<br/> +Exalted; so that in their will confirm’d<br/> +They stand, nor feel to fall. For do not doubt,<br/> +But to receive the grace, which heav’n vouchsafes,<br/> +Is meritorious, even as the soul<br/> +With prompt affection welcometh the guest.<br/> +Now, without further help, if with good heed<br/> +My words thy mind have treasur’d, thou henceforth<br/> +This consistory round about mayst scan,<br/> +And gaze thy fill. But since thou hast on earth<br/> +Heard vain disputers, reasoners in the schools,<br/> +Canvas the’ angelic nature, and dispute<br/> +Its powers of apprehension, memory, choice;<br/> +Therefore, ’t is well thou take from me the truth,<br/> +Pure and without disguise, which they below,<br/> +Equivocating, darken and perplex.<br/> +<br/> +“Know thou, that, from the first, these substances,<br/> +Rejoicing in the countenance of God,<br/> +Have held unceasingly their view, intent<br/> +Upon the glorious vision, from the which<br/> +Naught absent is nor hid: where then no change<br/> +Of newness with succession interrupts,<br/> +Remembrance there needs none to gather up<br/> +Divided thought and images remote<br/> +<br/> +“So that men, thus at variance with the truth<br/> +Dream, though their eyes be open; reckless some<br/> +Of error; others well aware they err,<br/> +To whom more guilt and shame are justly due.<br/> +Each the known track of sage philosophy<br/> +Deserts, and has a byway of his own:<br/> +So much the restless eagerness to shine<br/> +And love of singularity prevail.<br/> +Yet this, offensive as it is, provokes<br/> +Heav’n’s anger less, than when the book of God<br/> +Is forc’d to yield to man’s authority,<br/> +Or from its straightness warp’d: no reck’ning made<br/> +What blood the sowing of it in the world<br/> +Has cost; what favour for himself he wins,<br/> +Who meekly clings to it. The aim of all<br/> +Is how to shine: e’en they, whose office is<br/> +To preach the Gospel, let the gospel sleep,<br/> +And pass their own inventions off instead.<br/> +One tells, how at Christ’s suffering the wan moon<br/> +Bent back her steps, and shadow’d o’er the sun<br/> +With intervenient disk, as she withdrew:<br/> +Another, how the light shrouded itself<br/> +Within its tabernacle, and left dark<br/> +The Spaniard and the Indian, with the Jew.<br/> +Such fables Florence in her pulpit hears,<br/> +Bandied about more frequent, than the names<br/> +Of Bindi and of Lapi in her streets.<br/> +The sheep, meanwhile, poor witless ones, return<br/> +From pasture, fed with wind: and what avails<br/> +For their excuse, they do not see their harm?<br/> +Christ said not to his first conventicle,<br/> +‘Go forth and preach impostures to the world,’<br/> +But gave them truth to build on; and the sound<br/> +Was mighty on their lips; nor needed they,<br/> +Beside the gospel, other spear or shield,<br/> +To aid them in their warfare for the faith.<br/> +The preacher now provides himself with store<br/> +Of jests and gibes; and, so there be no lack<br/> +Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl<br/> +Distends, and he has won the meed he sought:<br/> +Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while<br/> +Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood,<br/> +They scarce would wait to hear the blessing said.<br/> +Which now the dotards hold in such esteem,<br/> +That every counterfeit, who spreads abroad<br/> +The hands of holy promise, finds a throng<br/> +Of credulous fools beneath. Saint Anthony<br/> +Fattens with this his swine, and others worse<br/> +Than swine, who diet at his lazy board,<br/> +Paying with unstamp’d metal for their fare.<br/> +<br/> +“But (for we far have wander’d) let us seek<br/> +The forward path again; so as the way<br/> +Be shorten’d with the time. No mortal tongue<br/> +Nor thought of man hath ever reach’d so far,<br/> +That of these natures he might count the tribes.<br/> +What Daniel of their thousands hath reveal’d<br/> +With finite number infinite conceals.<br/> +The fountain at whose source these drink their beams,<br/> +With light supplies them in as many modes,<br/> +As there are splendours, that it shines on: each<br/> +According to the virtue it conceives,<br/> +Differing in love and sweet affection.<br/> +Look then how lofty and how huge in breadth<br/> +The’ eternal might, which, broken and dispers’d<br/> +Over such countless mirrors, yet remains<br/> +Whole in itself and one, as at the first.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.30"></a>CANTO XXX</h2> + +<p> +Noon’s fervid hour perchance six thousand miles<br/> +From hence is distant; and the shadowy cone<br/> +Almost to level on our earth declines;<br/> +When from the midmost of this blue abyss<br/> +By turns some star is to our vision lost.<br/> +And straightway as the handmaid of the sun<br/> +Puts forth her radiant brow, all, light by light,<br/> +Fade, and the spangled firmament shuts in,<br/> +E’en to the loveliest of the glittering throng.<br/> +Thus vanish’d gradually from my sight<br/> +The triumph, which plays ever round the point,<br/> +That overcame me, seeming (for it did)<br/> +Engirt by that it girdeth. Wherefore love,<br/> +With loss of other object, forc’d me bend<br/> +Mine eyes on Beatrice once again.<br/> +<br/> +If all, that hitherto is told of her,<br/> +Were in one praise concluded, ’t were too weak<br/> +To furnish out this turn. Mine eyes did look<br/> +On beauty, such, as I believe in sooth,<br/> +Not merely to exceed our human, but,<br/> +That save its Maker, none can to the full<br/> +Enjoy it. At this point o’erpower’d I fail,<br/> +Unequal to my theme, as never bard<br/> +Of buskin or of sock hath fail’d before.<br/> +For, as the sun doth to the feeblest sight,<br/> +E’en so remembrance of that witching smile<br/> +Hath dispossess my spirit of itself.<br/> +Not from that day, when on this earth I first<br/> +Beheld her charms, up to that view of them,<br/> +Have I with song applausive ever ceas’d<br/> +To follow, but not follow them no more;<br/> +My course here bounded, as each artist’s is,<br/> +When it doth touch the limit of his skill.<br/> +<br/> +She (such as I bequeath her to the bruit<br/> +Of louder trump than mine, which hasteneth on,<br/> +Urging its arduous matter to the close),<br/> +Her words resum’d, in gesture and in voice<br/> +Resembling one accustom’d to command:<br/> +“Forth from the last corporeal are we come<br/> +Into the heav’n, that is unbodied light,<br/> +Light intellectual replete with love,<br/> +Love of true happiness replete with joy,<br/> +Joy, that transcends all sweetness of delight.<br/> +Here shalt thou look on either mighty host<br/> +Of Paradise; and one in that array,<br/> +Which in the final judgment thou shalt see.”<br/> +<br/> +As when the lightning, in a sudden spleen<br/> +Unfolded, dashes from the blinding eyes<br/> +The visive spirits dazzled and bedimm’d;<br/> +So, round about me, fulminating streams<br/> +Of living radiance play’d, and left me swath’d<br/> +And veil’d in dense impenetrable blaze.<br/> +Such weal is in the love, that stills this heav’n;<br/> +For its own flame the torch this fitting ever!<br/> +<br/> +No sooner to my list’ning ear had come<br/> +The brief assurance, than I understood<br/> +New virtue into me infus’d, and sight<br/> +Kindled afresh, with vigour to sustain<br/> +Excess of light, however pure. I look’d;<br/> +And in the likeness of a river saw<br/> +Light flowing, from whose amber-seeming waves<br/> +Flash’d up effulgence, as they glided on<br/> +’Twixt banks, on either side, painted with spring,<br/> +Incredible how fair; and, from the tide,<br/> +There ever and anon, outstarting, flew<br/> +Sparkles instinct with life; and in the flow’rs<br/> +Did set them, like to rubies chas’d in gold;<br/> +Then, as if drunk with odors, plung’d again<br/> +Into the wondrous flood; from which, as one<br/> +Re’enter’d, still another rose. “The thirst<br/> +Of knowledge high, whereby thou art inflam’d,<br/> +To search the meaning of what here thou seest,<br/> +The more it warms thee, pleases me the more.<br/> +But first behooves thee of this water drink,<br/> +Or ere that longing be allay’d.” So spake<br/> +The day-star of mine eyes; then thus subjoin’d:<br/> +“This stream, and these, forth issuing from its gulf,<br/> +And diving back, a living topaz each,<br/> +With all this laughter on its bloomy shores,<br/> +Are but a preface, shadowy of the truth<br/> +They emblem: not that, in themselves, the things<br/> +Are crude; but on thy part is the defect,<br/> +For that thy views not yet aspire so high.”<br/> +Never did babe, that had outslept his wont,<br/> +Rush, with such eager straining, to the milk,<br/> +As I toward the water, bending me,<br/> +To make the better mirrors of mine eyes<br/> +In the refining wave; and, as the eaves<br/> +Of mine eyelids did drink of it, forthwith<br/> +Seem’d it unto me turn’d from length to round,<br/> +Then as a troop of maskers, when they put<br/> +Their vizors off, look other than before,<br/> +The counterfeited semblance thrown aside;<br/> +So into greater jubilee were chang’d<br/> +Those flowers and sparkles, and distinct I saw<br/> +Before me either court of heav’n displac’d.<br/> +<br/> +O prime enlightener! thou who crav’st me strength<br/> +On the high triumph of thy realm to gaze!<br/> +Grant virtue now to utter what I kenn’d,<br/> +There is in heav’n a light, whose goodly shine<br/> +Makes the Creator visible to all<br/> +Created, that in seeing him alone<br/> +Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,<br/> +That the circumference were too loose a zone<br/> +To girdle in the sun. All is one beam,<br/> +Reflected from the summit of the first,<br/> +That moves, which being hence and vigour takes,<br/> +And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes<br/> +Its image mirror’d in the crystal flood,<br/> +As if t’ admire its brave appareling<br/> +Of verdure and of flowers: so, round about,<br/> +Eyeing the light, on more than million thrones,<br/> +Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth<br/> +Has to the skies return’d. How wide the leaves<br/> +Extended to their utmost of this rose,<br/> +Whose lowest step embosoms such a space<br/> +Of ample radiance! Yet, nor amplitude<br/> +Nor height impeded, but my view with ease<br/> +Took in the full dimensions of that joy.<br/> +Near or remote, what there avails, where God<br/> +Immediate rules, and Nature, awed, suspends<br/> +Her sway? Into the yellow of the rose<br/> +Perennial, which in bright expansiveness,<br/> +Lays forth its gradual blooming, redolent<br/> +Of praises to the never-wint’ring sun,<br/> +As one, who fain would speak yet holds his peace,<br/> +Beatrice led me; and, “Behold,” she said,<br/> +“This fair assemblage! stoles of snowy white<br/> +How numberless! The city, where we dwell,<br/> +Behold how vast! and these our seats so throng’d<br/> +Few now are wanting here! In that proud stall,<br/> +On which, the crown, already o’er its state<br/> +Suspended, holds thine eyes—or ere thyself<br/> +Mayst at the wedding sup,—shall rest the soul<br/> +Of the great Harry, he who, by the world<br/> +Augustas hail’d, to Italy must come,<br/> +Before her day be ripe. But ye are sick,<br/> +And in your tetchy wantonness as blind,<br/> +As is the bantling, that of hunger dies,<br/> +And drives away the nurse. Nor may it be,<br/> +That he, who in the sacred forum sways,<br/> +Openly or in secret, shall with him<br/> +Accordant walk: Whom God will not endure<br/> +I’ th’ holy office long; but thrust him down<br/> +To Simon Magus, where Magna’s priest<br/> +Will sink beneath him: such will be his meed.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.31"></a>CANTO XXXI</h2> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/31-1.jpg"> +<img src="images/31-1.jpg" width="541" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then<br/> +Before my view the saintly multitude,<br/> +Which in his own blood Christ espous’d. Meanwhile<br/> +That other host, that soar aloft to gaze<br/> +And celebrate his glory, whom they love,<br/> +Hover’d around; and, like a troop of bees,<br/> +Amid the vernal sweets alighting now,<br/> +Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows,<br/> +Flew downward to the mighty flow’r, or rose<br/> +From the redundant petals, streaming back<br/> +Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy.<br/> +Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold;<br/> +The rest was whiter than the driven snow.<br/> +And as they flitted down into the flower,<br/> +From range to range, fanning their plumy loins,<br/> +Whisper’d the peace and ardour, which they won<br/> +From that soft winnowing. Shadow none, the vast<br/> +Interposition of such numerous flight<br/> +Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view<br/> +Obstructed aught. For, through the universe,<br/> +Wherever merited, celestial light<br/> +Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.<br/> +<br/> +All there, who reign in safety and in bliss,<br/> +Ages long past or new, on one sole mark<br/> +Their love and vision fix’d. O trinal beam<br/> +Of individual star, that charmst them thus,<br/> +Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below!<br/> +<br/> +If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roam’d,<br/> +(Where helice, forever, as she wheels,<br/> +Sparkles a mother’s fondness on her son)<br/> +Stood in mute wonder ’mid the works of Rome,<br/> +When to their view the Lateran arose<br/> +In greatness more than earthly; I, who then<br/> +From human to divine had past, from time<br/> +Unto eternity, and out of Florence<br/> +To justice and to truth, how might I choose<br/> +But marvel too? ’Twixt gladness and amaze,<br/> +In sooth no will had I to utter aught,<br/> +Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests<br/> +Within the temple of his vow, looks round<br/> +In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell<br/> +Of all its goodly state: e’en so mine eyes<br/> +Cours’d up and down along the living light,<br/> +Now low, and now aloft, and now around,<br/> +Visiting every step. Looks I beheld,<br/> +Where charity in soft persuasion sat,<br/> +Smiles from within and radiance from above,<br/> +And in each gesture grace and honour high.<br/> +<br/> +So rov’d my ken, and its general form<br/> +All Paradise survey’d: when round I turn’d<br/> +With purpose of my lady to inquire<br/> +Once more of things, that held my thought suspense,<br/> +But answer found from other than I ween’d;<br/> +For, Beatrice, when I thought to see,<br/> +I saw instead a senior, at my side,<br/> +Rob’d, as the rest, in glory. Joy benign<br/> +Glow’d in his eye, and o’er his cheek diffus’d,<br/> +With gestures such as spake a father’s love.<br/> +And, “Whither is she vanish’d?” straight I ask’d.<br/> +<br/> +“By Beatrice summon’d,” he replied,<br/> +“I come to aid thy wish. Looking aloft<br/> +To the third circle from the highest, there<br/> +Behold her on the throne, wherein her merit<br/> +Hath plac’d her.” Answering not, mine eyes I rais’d,<br/> +And saw her, where aloof she sat, her brow<br/> +A wreath reflecting of eternal beams.<br/> +Not from the centre of the sea so far<br/> +Unto the region of the highest thunder,<br/> +As was my ken from hers; and yet the form<br/> +Came through that medium down, unmix’d and pure, +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/31-64.jpg"> +<img src="images/31-64.jpg" width="549" height="600" alt="" /></a> +</div> + +<p> +“O Lady! thou in whom my hopes have rest!<br/> +Who, for my safety, hast not scorn’d, in hell<br/> +To leave the traces of thy footsteps mark’d!<br/> +For all mine eyes have seen, I, to thy power<br/> +And goodness, virtue owe and grace. Of slave,<br/> +Thou hast to freedom brought me; and no means,<br/> +For my deliverance apt, hast left untried.<br/> +Thy liberal bounty still toward me keep.<br/> +That, when my spirit, which thou madest whole,<br/> +Is loosen’d from this body, it may find<br/> +Favour with thee.” So I my suit preferr’d:<br/> +And she, so distant, as appear’d, look’d down,<br/> +And smil’d; then tow’rds th’ eternal fountain turn’d.<br/> +<br/> +And thus the senior, holy and rever’d:<br/> +“That thou at length mayst happily conclude<br/> +Thy voyage (to which end I was dispatch’d,<br/> +By supplication mov’d and holy love)<br/> +Let thy upsoaring vision range, at large,<br/> +This garden through: for so, by ray divine<br/> +Kindled, thy ken a higher flight shall mount;<br/> +And from heav’n’s queen, whom fervent I adore,<br/> +All gracious aid befriend us; for that I<br/> +Am her own faithful Bernard.” Like a wight,<br/> +Who haply from Croatia wends to see<br/> +Our Veronica, and the while ’t is shown,<br/> +Hangs over it with never-sated gaze,<br/> +And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith<br/> +Unto himself in thought: “And didst thou look<br/> +E’en thus, O Jesus, my true Lord and God?<br/> +And was this semblance thine?” So gaz’d I then<br/> +Adoring; for the charity of him,<br/> +Who musing, in the world that peace enjoy’d,<br/> +Stood lively before me. “Child of grace!”<br/> +Thus he began: “thou shalt not knowledge gain<br/> +Of this glad being, if thine eyes are held<br/> +Still in this depth below. But search around<br/> +The circles, to the furthest, till thou spy<br/> +Seated in state, the queen, that of this realm<br/> +Is sovran.” Straight mine eyes I rais’d; and bright,<br/> +As, at the birth of morn, the eastern clime<br/> +Above th’ horizon, where the sun declines;<br/> +To mine eyes, that upward, as from vale<br/> +To mountain sped, at th’ extreme bound, a part<br/> +Excell’d in lustre all the front oppos’d.<br/> +And as the glow burns ruddiest o’er the wave,<br/> +That waits the sloping beam, which Phaeton<br/> +Ill knew to guide, and on each part the light<br/> +Diminish’d fades, intensest in the midst;<br/> +So burn’d the peaceful oriflame, and slack’d<br/> +On every side the living flame decay’d.<br/> +And in that midst their sportive pennons wav’d<br/> +Thousands of angels; in resplendence each<br/> +Distinct, and quaint adornment. At their glee<br/> +And carol, smil’d the Lovely One of heav’n,<br/> +That joy was in the eyes of all the blest.<br/> +<br/> +Had I a tongue in eloquence as rich,<br/> +As is the colouring in fancy’s loom,<br/> +’T were all too poor to utter the least part<br/> +Of that enchantment. When he saw mine eyes<br/> +Intent on her, that charm’d him, Bernard gaz’d<br/> +With so exceeding fondness, as infus’d<br/> +Ardour into my breast, unfelt before. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.32"></a>CANTO XXXII</h2> + +<p> +Freely the sage, though wrapt in musings high,<br/> +Assum’d the teacher’s part, and mild began:<br/> +“The wound, that Mary clos’d, she open’d first,<br/> +Who sits so beautiful at Mary’s feet.<br/> +The third in order, underneath her, lo!<br/> +Rachel with Beatrice. Sarah next,<br/> +Judith, Rebecca, and the gleaner maid,<br/> +Meek ancestress of him, who sang the songs<br/> +Of sore repentance in his sorrowful mood.<br/> +All, as I name them, down from deaf to leaf,<br/> +Are in gradation throned on the rose.<br/> +And from the seventh step, successively,<br/> +Adown the breathing tresses of the flow’r<br/> +Still doth the file of Hebrew dames proceed.<br/> +For these are a partition wall, whereby<br/> +The sacred stairs are sever’d, as the faith<br/> +In Christ divides them. On this part, where blooms<br/> +Each leaf in full maturity, are set<br/> +Such as in Christ, or ere he came, believ’d.<br/> +On th’ other, where an intersected space<br/> +Yet shows the semicircle void, abide<br/> +All they, who look’d to Christ already come.<br/> +And as our Lady on her glorious stool,<br/> +And they who on their stools beneath her sit,<br/> +This way distinction make: e’en so on his,<br/> +The mighty Baptist that way marks the line<br/> +(He who endur’d the desert and the pains<br/> +Of martyrdom, and for two years of hell,<br/> +Yet still continued holy), and beneath,<br/> +Augustin, Francis, Benedict, and the rest,<br/> +Thus far from round to round. So heav’n’s decree<br/> +Forecasts, this garden equally to fill.<br/> +With faith in either view, past or to come,<br/> +Learn too, that downward from the step, which cleaves<br/> +Midway the twain compartments, none there are<br/> +Who place obtain for merit of their own,<br/> +But have through others’ merit been advanc’d,<br/> +On set conditions: spirits all releas’d,<br/> +Ere for themselves they had the power to choose.<br/> +And, if thou mark and listen to them well,<br/> +Their childish looks and voice declare as much.<br/> +<br/> +“Here, silent as thou art, I know thy doubt;<br/> +And gladly will I loose the knot, wherein<br/> +Thy subtle thoughts have bound thee. From this realm<br/> +Excluded, chalice no entrance here may find,<br/> +No more shall hunger, thirst, or sorrow can.<br/> +A law immutable hath establish’d all;<br/> +Nor is there aught thou seest, that doth not fit,<br/> +Exactly, as the finger to the ring.<br/> +It is not therefore without cause, that these,<br/> +O’erspeedy comers to immortal life,<br/> +Are different in their shares of excellence.<br/> +Our Sovran Lord—that settleth this estate<br/> +In love and in delight so absolute,<br/> +That wish can dare no further—every soul,<br/> +Created in his joyous sight to dwell,<br/> +With grace at pleasure variously endows.<br/> +And for a proof th’ effect may well suffice.<br/> +And ’t is moreover most expressly mark’d<br/> +In holy scripture, where the twins are said<br/> +To, have struggled in the womb. Therefore, as grace<br/> +Inweaves the coronet, so every brow<br/> +Weareth its proper hue of orient light.<br/> +And merely in respect to his prime gift,<br/> +Not in reward of meritorious deed,<br/> +Hath each his several degree assign’d.<br/> +In early times with their own innocence<br/> +More was not wanting, than the parents’ faith,<br/> +To save them: those first ages past, behoov’d<br/> +That circumcision in the males should imp<br/> +The flight of innocent wings: but since the day<br/> +Of grace hath come, without baptismal rites<br/> +In Christ accomplish’d, innocence herself<br/> +Must linger yet below. Now raise thy view<br/> +Unto the visage most resembling Christ:<br/> +For, in her splendour only, shalt thou win<br/> +The pow’r to look on him.” Forthwith I saw<br/> +Such floods of gladness on her visage shower’d,<br/> +From holy spirits, winging that profound;<br/> +That, whatsoever I had yet beheld,<br/> +Had not so much suspended me with wonder,<br/> +Or shown me such similitude of God.<br/> +And he, who had to her descended, once,<br/> +On earth, now hail’d in heav’n; and on pois’d wing.<br/> +“Ave, Maria, Gratia Plena,” sang:<br/> +To whose sweet anthem all the blissful court,<br/> +From all parts answ’ring, rang: that holier joy<br/> +Brooded the deep serene. “Father rever’d:<br/> +Who deign’st, for me, to quit the pleasant place,<br/> +Wherein thou sittest, by eternal lot!<br/> +Say, who that angel is, that with such glee<br/> +Beholds our queen, and so enamour’d glows<br/> +Of her high beauty, that all fire he seems.”<br/> +So I again resorted to the lore<br/> +Of my wise teacher, he, whom Mary’s charms<br/> +Embellish’d, as the sun the morning star;<br/> +Who thus in answer spake: “In him are summ’d,<br/> +Whatever of buxomness and free delight<br/> +May be in Spirit, or in angel, met:<br/> +And so beseems: for that he bare the palm<br/> +Down unto Mary, when the Son of God<br/> +Vouchsaf’d to clothe him in terrestrial weeds.<br/> +Now let thine eyes wait heedful on my words,<br/> +And note thou of this just and pious realm<br/> +The chiefest nobles. Those, highest in bliss,<br/> +The twain, on each hand next our empress thron’d,<br/> +Are as it were two roots unto this rose.<br/> +He to the left, the parent, whose rash taste<br/> +Proves bitter to his seed; and, on the right,<br/> +That ancient father of the holy church,<br/> +Into whose keeping Christ did give the keys<br/> +Of this sweet flow’r: near whom behold the seer,<br/> +That, ere he died, saw all the grievous times<br/> +Of the fair bride, who with the lance and nails<br/> +Was won. And, near unto the other, rests<br/> +The leader, under whom on manna fed<br/> +Th’ ungrateful nation, fickle and perverse.<br/> +On th’ other part, facing to Peter, lo!<br/> +Where Anna sits, so well content to look<br/> +On her lov’d daughter, that with moveless eye<br/> +She chants the loud hosanna: while, oppos’d<br/> +To the first father of your mortal kind,<br/> +Is Lucia, at whose hest thy lady sped,<br/> +When on the edge of ruin clos’d thine eye.<br/> +<br/> +“But (for the vision hasteneth so an end)<br/> +Here break we off, as the good workman doth,<br/> +That shapes the cloak according to the cloth:<br/> +And to the primal love our ken shall rise;<br/> +That thou mayst penetrate the brightness, far<br/> +As sight can bear thee. Yet, alas! in sooth<br/> +Beating thy pennons, thinking to advance,<br/> +Thou backward fall’st. Grace then must first be gain’d;<br/> +Her grace, whose might can help thee. Thou in prayer<br/> +Seek her: and, with affection, whilst I sue,<br/> +Attend, and yield me all thy heart.” He said,<br/> +And thus the saintly orison began. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.33"></a>CANTO XXXIII</h2> + +<p> +“O virgin mother, daughter of thy Son,<br/> +Created beings all in lowliness<br/> +Surpassing, as in height, above them all,<br/> +Term by th’ eternal counsel pre-ordain’d,<br/> +Ennobler of thy nature, so advanc’d<br/> +In thee, that its great Maker did not scorn,<br/> +Himself, in his own work enclos’d to dwell!<br/> +For in thy womb rekindling shone the love<br/> +Reveal’d, whose genial influence makes now<br/> +This flower to germin in eternal peace!<br/> +Here thou to us, of charity and love,<br/> +Art, as the noon-day torch: and art, beneath,<br/> +To mortal men, of hope a living spring.<br/> +So mighty art thou, lady! and so great,<br/> +That he who grace desireth, and comes not<br/> +To thee for aidance, fain would have desire<br/> +Fly without wings. Nor only him who asks,<br/> +Thy bounty succours, but doth freely oft<br/> +Forerun the asking. Whatsoe’er may be<br/> +Of excellence in creature, pity mild,<br/> +Relenting mercy, large munificence,<br/> +Are all combin’d in thee. Here kneeleth one,<br/> +Who of all spirits hath review’d the state,<br/> +From the world’s lowest gap unto this height.<br/> +Suppliant to thee he kneels, imploring grace<br/> +For virtue, yet more high to lift his ken<br/> +Toward the bliss supreme. And I, who ne’er<br/> +Coveted sight, more fondly, for myself,<br/> +Than now for him, my prayers to thee prefer,<br/> +(And pray they be not scant) that thou wouldst drive<br/> +Each cloud of his mortality away;<br/> +That on the sovran pleasure he may gaze.<br/> +This also I entreat of thee, O queen!<br/> +Who canst do what thou wilt! that in him thou<br/> +Wouldst after all he hath beheld, preserve<br/> +Affection sound, and human passions quell.<br/> +Lo! Where, with Beatrice, many a saint<br/> +Stretch their clasp’d hands, in furtherance of my suit!”<br/> +<br/> +The eyes, that heav’n with love and awe regards,<br/> +Fix’d on the suitor, witness’d, how benign<br/> +She looks on pious pray’rs: then fasten’d they<br/> +On th’ everlasting light, wherein no eye<br/> +Of creature, as may well be thought, so far<br/> +Can travel inward. I, meanwhile, who drew<br/> +Near to the limit, where all wishes end,<br/> +The ardour of my wish (for so behooved),<br/> +Ended within me. Beck’ning smil’d the sage,<br/> +That I should look aloft: but, ere he bade,<br/> +Already of myself aloft I look’d;<br/> +For visual strength, refining more and more,<br/> +Bare me into the ray authentical<br/> +Of sovran light. Thenceforward, what I saw,<br/> +Was not for words to speak, nor memory’s self<br/> +To stand against such outrage on her skill.<br/> +As one, who from a dream awaken’d, straight,<br/> +All he hath seen forgets; yet still retains<br/> +Impression of the feeling in his dream;<br/> +E’en such am I: for all the vision dies,<br/> +As ’t were, away; and yet the sense of sweet,<br/> +That sprang from it, still trickles in my heart.<br/> +Thus in the sun-thaw is the snow unseal’d;<br/> +Thus in the winds on flitting leaves was lost<br/> +The Sybil’s sentence. O eternal beam!<br/> +(Whose height what reach of mortal thought may soar?)<br/> +Yield me again some little particle<br/> +Of what thou then appearedst, give my tongue<br/> +Power, but to leave one sparkle of thy glory,<br/> +Unto the race to come, that shall not lose<br/> +Thy triumph wholly, if thou waken aught<br/> +Of memory in me, and endure to hear<br/> +The record sound in this unequal strain.<br/> +<br/> +Such keenness from the living ray I met,<br/> +That, if mine eyes had turn’d away, methinks,<br/> +I had been lost; but, so embolden’d, on<br/> +I pass’d, as I remember, till my view<br/> +Hover’d the brink of dread infinitude.<br/> +<br/> +O grace! unenvying of thy boon! that gav’st<br/> +Boldness to fix so earnestly my ken<br/> +On th’ everlasting splendour, that I look’d,<br/> +While sight was unconsum’d, and, in that depth,<br/> +Saw in one volume clasp’d of love, whatever<br/> +The universe unfolds; all properties<br/> +Of substance and of accident, beheld,<br/> +Compounded, yet one individual light<br/> +The whole. And of such bond methinks I saw<br/> +The universal form: for that whenever<br/> +I do but speak of it, my soul dilates<br/> +Beyond her proper self; and, till I speak,<br/> +One moment seems a longer lethargy,<br/> +Than five-and-twenty ages had appear’d<br/> +To that emprize, that first made Neptune wonder<br/> +At Argo’s shadow darkening on his flood.<br/> +<br/> +With fixed heed, suspense and motionless,<br/> +Wond’ring I gaz’d; and admiration still<br/> +Was kindled, as I gaz’d. It may not be,<br/> +That one, who looks upon that light, can turn<br/> +To other object, willingly, his view.<br/> +For all the good, that will may covet, there<br/> +Is summ’d; and all, elsewhere defective found,<br/> +Complete. My tongue shall utter now, no more<br/> +E’en what remembrance keeps, than could the babe’s<br/> +That yet is moisten’d at his mother’s breast.<br/> +Not that the semblance of the living light<br/> +Was chang’d (that ever as at first remain’d)<br/> +But that my vision quickening, in that sole<br/> +Appearance, still new miracles descry’d,<br/> +And toil’d me with the change. In that abyss<br/> +Of radiance, clear and lofty, seem’d methought,<br/> +Three orbs of triple hue clipt in one bound:<br/> +And, from another, one reflected seem’d,<br/> +As rainbow is from rainbow: and the third<br/> +Seem’d fire, breath’d equally from both. Oh speech<br/> +How feeble and how faint art thou, to give<br/> +Conception birth! Yet this to what I saw<br/> +Is less than little. Oh eternal light!<br/> +Sole in thyself that dwellst; and of thyself<br/> +Sole understood, past, present, or to come!<br/> +Thou smiledst; on that circling, which in thee<br/> +Seem’d as reflected splendour, while I mus’d;<br/> +For I therein, methought, in its own hue<br/> +Beheld our image painted: steadfastly<br/> +I therefore por’d upon the view. As one<br/> +Who vers’d in geometric lore, would fain<br/> +Measure the circle; and, though pondering long<br/> +And deeply, that beginning, which he needs,<br/> +Finds not; e’en such was I, intent to scan<br/> +The novel wonder, and trace out the form,<br/> +How to the circle fitted, and therein<br/> +How plac’d: but the flight was not for my wing;<br/> +Had not a flash darted athwart my mind,<br/> +And in the spleen unfolded what it sought.<br/> +<br/> +Here vigour fail’d the tow’ring fantasy:<br/> +But yet the will roll’d onward, like a wheel<br/> +In even motion, by the Love impell’d,<br/> +That moves the sun in heav’n and all the stars. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARADISE ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law 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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