1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
578
579
580
581
582
583
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657
658
659
660
661
662
663
664
665
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707
708
709
710
711
712
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737
738
739
740
741
742
743
744
745
746
747
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819
820
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845
846
847
848
849
850
851
852
853
854
855
856
857
858
859
860
861
862
863
864
865
866
867
868
869
870
871
872
873
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932
933
934
935
936
937
938
939
940
941
942
943
944
945
946
947
948
949
950
951
952
953
954
955
956
957
958
959
960
961
962
963
964
965
966
967
968
969
970
971
972
973
974
975
976
977
978
979
980
981
982
983
984
985
986
987
988
989
990
991
992
993
994
995
996
997
998
999
1000
1001
1002
1003
1004
1005
1006
1007
1008
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056
1057
1058
1059
1060
1061
1062
1063
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
1073
1074
1075
1076
1077
1078
1079
1080
1081
1082
1083
1084
1085
1086
1087
1088
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113
1114
1115
1116
1117
1118
1119
1120
1121
1122
1123
1124
1125
1126
1127
1128
1129
1130
1131
1132
1133
1134
1135
1136
1137
1138
1139
1140
1141
1142
1143
1144
1145
1146
1147
1148
1149
1150
1151
1152
1153
1154
1155
1156
1157
1158
1159
1160
1161
1162
1163
1164
1165
1166
1167
1168
1169
1170
1171
1172
1173
1174
1175
1176
1177
1178
1179
1180
1181
1182
1183
1184
1185
1186
1187
1188
1189
1190
1191
1192
1193
1194
1195
1196
1197
1198
1199
1200
1201
1202
1203
1204
1205
1206
1207
1208
1209
1210
1211
1212
1213
1214
1215
1216
1217
1218
1219
1220
1221
1222
1223
1224
1225
1226
1227
1228
1229
1230
1231
1232
1233
1234
1235
1236
1237
1238
1239
1240
1241
1242
1243
1244
1245
1246
1247
1248
1249
1250
1251
1252
1253
1254
1255
1256
1257
1258
1259
1260
1261
1262
1263
1264
1265
1266
1267
1268
1269
1270
1271
1272
1273
1274
1275
1276
1277
1278
1279
1280
1281
1282
1283
1284
1285
1286
1287
1288
1289
1290
1291
1292
1293
1294
1295
1296
1297
1298
1299
1300
1301
1302
1303
1304
1305
1306
1307
1308
1309
1310
1311
1312
1313
1314
1315
1316
1317
1318
1319
1320
1321
1322
1323
1324
1325
1326
1327
1328
1329
1330
1331
1332
1333
1334
1335
1336
1337
1338
1339
1340
1341
1342
1343
1344
1345
1346
1347
1348
1349
1350
1351
1352
1353
1354
1355
1356
1357
1358
1359
1360
1361
1362
1363
1364
1365
1366
1367
1368
1369
1370
1371
1372
1373
1374
1375
1376
1377
1378
1379
1380
1381
1382
1383
1384
1385
1386
1387
1388
1389
1390
1391
1392
1393
1394
1395
1396
1397
1398
1399
1400
1401
1402
1403
1404
1405
1406
1407
1408
1409
1410
1411
1412
1413
1414
1415
1416
1417
1418
1419
1420
1421
1422
1423
1424
1425
1426
1427
1428
1429
1430
1431
1432
1433
1434
1435
1436
1437
1438
1439
1440
1441
1442
1443
1444
1445
1446
1447
1448
1449
1450
1451
1452
1453
1454
1455
1456
1457
1458
1459
1460
1461
1462
1463
1464
1465
1466
1467
1468
1469
1470
1471
1472
1473
1474
1475
1476
1477
1478
1479
1480
1481
1482
1483
1484
1485
1486
1487
1488
1489
1490
1491
1492
1493
1494
1495
1496
1497
1498
1499
1500
1501
1502
1503
1504
1505
1506
1507
1508
1509
1510
1511
1512
1513
1514
1515
1516
1517
1518
1519
1520
1521
1522
1523
1524
1525
1526
1527
1528
1529
1530
1531
1532
1533
1534
1535
1536
1537
1538
1539
1540
1541
1542
1543
1544
1545
1546
1547
1548
1549
1550
1551
1552
1553
1554
1555
1556
1557
1558
1559
1560
1561
1562
1563
1564
1565
1566
1567
1568
1569
1570
1571
1572
1573
1574
1575
1576
1577
1578
1579
1580
1581
1582
1583
1584
1585
1586
1587
1588
1589
1590
1591
1592
1593
1594
1595
1596
1597
1598
1599
1600
1601
1602
1603
1604
1605
1606
1607
1608
1609
1610
1611
1612
1613
1614
1615
1616
1617
1618
1619
1620
1621
1622
1623
1624
1625
1626
1627
1628
1629
1630
1631
1632
1633
1634
1635
1636
1637
1638
1639
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646
1647
1648
1649
1650
1651
1652
1653
1654
1655
1656
1657
1658
1659
1660
1661
1662
1663
1664
1665
1666
1667
1668
1669
1670
1671
1672
1673
1674
1675
1676
1677
1678
1679
1680
1681
1682
1683
1684
1685
1686
1687
1688
1689
1690
1691
1692
1693
1694
1695
1696
1697
1698
1699
1700
1701
1702
1703
1704
1705
1706
1707
1708
1709
1710
1711
1712
1713
1714
1715
1716
1717
1718
1719
1720
1721
1722
1723
1724
1725
1726
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
1741
1742
1743
1744
1745
1746
1747
1748
1749
1750
1751
1752
1753
1754
1755
1756
1757
1758
1759
1760
1761
1762
1763
1764
1765
1766
1767
1768
1769
1770
1771
1772
1773
1774
1775
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781
1782
1783
1784
1785
1786
1787
1788
1789
1790
1791
1792
1793
1794
1795
1796
1797
1798
1799
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1921
1922
1923
1924
1925
1926
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
2037
2038
2039
2040
2041
2042
2043
2044
2045
2046
2047
2048
2049
2050
2051
2052
2053
2054
2055
2056
2057
2058
2059
2060
2061
2062
2063
2064
2065
2066
2067
2068
2069
2070
2071
2072
2073
2074
2075
2076
2077
2078
2079
2080
2081
2082
2083
2084
2085
2086
2087
2088
2089
2090
2091
2092
2093
2094
2095
2096
2097
2098
2099
2100
2101
2102
2103
2104
2105
2106
2107
2108
2109
2110
2111
2112
2113
2114
2115
2116
2117
2118
2119
2120
2121
2122
2123
2124
2125
2126
2127
2128
2129
2130
2131
2132
2133
2134
2135
2136
2137
2138
2139
2140
2141
2142
2143
2144
2145
2146
2147
2148
2149
2150
2151
2152
2153
2154
2155
2156
2157
2158
2159
2160
2161
2162
2163
2164
2165
2166
2167
2168
2169
2170
2171
2172
2173
2174
2175
2176
2177
2178
2179
2180
2181
2182
2183
2184
2185
2186
2187
2188
2189
2190
2191
2192
2193
2194
2195
2196
2197
2198
2199
2200
2201
2202
2203
2204
2205
2206
2207
2208
2209
2210
2211
2212
2213
2214
2215
2216
2217
2218
2219
2220
2221
2222
2223
2224
2225
2226
2227
2228
2229
2230
2231
2232
2233
2234
2235
2236
2237
2238
2239
2240
2241
2242
2243
2244
2245
2246
2247
2248
2249
2250
2251
2252
2253
2254
2255
2256
2257
2258
2259
2260
2261
2262
2263
2264
2265
2266
2267
2268
2269
2270
2271
2272
2273
2274
2275
2276
2277
2278
2279
2280
2281
2282
2283
2284
2285
2286
2287
2288
2289
2290
2291
2292
2293
2294
2295
2296
2297
2298
2299
2300
2301
2302
2303
2304
2305
2306
2307
2308
2309
2310
2311
2312
2313
2314
2315
2316
2317
2318
2319
2320
2321
2322
2323
2324
2325
2326
2327
2328
2329
2330
2331
2332
2333
2334
2335
2336
2337
2338
2339
2340
2341
2342
2343
2344
2345
2346
2347
2348
2349
2350
2351
2352
2353
2354
2355
2356
2357
2358
2359
2360
2361
2362
2363
2364
2365
2366
2367
2368
2369
2370
2371
2372
2373
2374
2375
2376
2377
2378
2379
2380
2381
2382
2383
2384
2385
2386
2387
2388
2389
2390
2391
2392
2393
2394
2395
2396
2397
2398
2399
2400
2401
2402
2403
2404
2405
2406
2407
2408
2409
2410
2411
2412
2413
2414
2415
2416
2417
2418
2419
2420
2421
2422
2423
2424
2425
2426
2427
2428
2429
2430
2431
2432
2433
2434
2435
2436
2437
2438
2439
2440
2441
2442
2443
2444
2445
2446
2447
2448
2449
2450
2451
2452
2453
2454
2455
2456
2457
2458
2459
2460
2461
2462
2463
2464
2465
2466
2467
2468
2469
2470
2471
2472
2473
2474
2475
2476
2477
2478
2479
2480
2481
2482
2483
2484
2485
2486
2487
2488
2489
2490
2491
2492
2493
2494
2495
2496
2497
2498
2499
2500
2501
2502
2503
2504
2505
2506
2507
2508
2509
2510
2511
2512
2513
2514
2515
2516
2517
2518
2519
2520
2521
2522
2523
2524
2525
2526
2527
2528
2529
2530
2531
2532
2533
2534
2535
2536
2537
2538
2539
2540
2541
2542
2543
2544
2545
2546
2547
2548
2549
2550
2551
2552
2553
2554
2555
2556
2557
2558
2559
2560
2561
2562
2563
2564
2565
2566
2567
2568
2569
2570
2571
2572
2573
2574
2575
2576
2577
2578
2579
2580
2581
2582
2583
2584
2585
2586
2587
2588
2589
2590
2591
2592
2593
2594
2595
2596
2597
2598
2599
2600
2601
2602
2603
2604
2605
2606
2607
2608
2609
2610
2611
2612
2613
2614
2615
2616
2617
2618
2619
2620
2621
2622
2623
2624
2625
2626
2627
2628
2629
2630
2631
2632
2633
2634
2635
2636
2637
2638
2639
2640
2641
2642
2643
2644
2645
2646
2647
2648
2649
2650
2651
2652
2653
2654
2655
2656
2657
2658
2659
2660
2661
2662
2663
2664
2665
2666
2667
2668
2669
2670
2671
2672
2673
2674
2675
2676
2677
2678
2679
2680
2681
2682
2683
2684
2685
2686
2687
2688
2689
2690
2691
2692
2693
2694
2695
2696
2697
2698
2699
2700
2701
2702
2703
2704
2705
2706
2707
2708
2709
2710
2711
2712
2713
2714
2715
2716
2717
2718
2719
2720
2721
2722
2723
2724
2725
2726
2727
2728
2729
2730
2731
2732
2733
2734
2735
2736
2737
2738
2739
2740
2741
2742
2743
2744
2745
2746
2747
2748
2749
2750
2751
2752
2753
2754
2755
2756
2757
2758
2759
2760
2761
2762
2763
2764
2765
2766
2767
2768
2769
2770
2771
2772
2773
2774
2775
2776
2777
2778
2779
2780
2781
2782
2783
2784
2785
2786
2787
2788
2789
2790
2791
2792
2793
2794
2795
2796
2797
2798
2799
2800
2801
2802
2803
2804
2805
2806
2807
2808
2809
2810
2811
2812
2813
2814
2815
2816
2817
2818
2819
2820
2821
2822
2823
2824
2825
2826
2827
2828
2829
2830
2831
2832
2833
2834
2835
2836
2837
2838
2839
2840
2841
2842
2843
2844
2845
2846
2847
2848
2849
2850
2851
2852
2853
2854
2855
2856
2857
2858
2859
2860
2861
2862
2863
2864
2865
2866
2867
2868
2869
2870
2871
2872
2873
2874
2875
2876
2877
2878
2879
2880
2881
2882
2883
2884
2885
2886
2887
2888
2889
2890
2891
2892
2893
2894
2895
2896
2897
2898
2899
2900
2901
2902
2903
2904
2905
2906
2907
2908
2909
2910
2911
2912
2913
2914
2915
2916
2917
2918
2919
2920
2921
2922
2923
2924
2925
2926
2927
2928
2929
2930
2931
2932
2933
2934
2935
2936
2937
2938
2939
2940
2941
2942
2943
2944
2945
2946
2947
2948
2949
2950
2951
2952
2953
2954
2955
2956
2957
2958
2959
2960
2961
2962
2963
2964
2965
2966
2967
2968
2969
2970
2971
2972
2973
2974
2975
2976
2977
2978
2979
2980
2981
2982
2983
2984
2985
2986
2987
2988
2989
2990
2991
2992
2993
2994
2995
2996
2997
2998
2999
3000
3001
3002
3003
3004
3005
3006
3007
3008
3009
3010
3011
3012
3013
3014
3015
3016
3017
3018
3019
3020
3021
3022
3023
3024
3025
3026
3027
3028
3029
3030
3031
3032
3033
3034
3035
3036
3037
3038
3039
3040
3041
3042
3043
3044
3045
3046
3047
3048
3049
3050
3051
3052
3053
3054
3055
3056
3057
3058
3059
3060
3061
3062
3063
3064
3065
3066
3067
3068
3069
3070
3071
3072
3073
3074
3075
3076
3077
3078
3079
3080
3081
3082
3083
3084
3085
3086
3087
3088
3089
3090
3091
3092
3093
3094
3095
3096
3097
3098
3099
3100
3101
3102
3103
3104
3105
3106
3107
3108
3109
3110
3111
3112
3113
3114
3115
3116
3117
3118
3119
3120
3121
3122
3123
3124
3125
3126
3127
3128
3129
3130
3131
3132
3133
3134
3135
3136
3137
3138
3139
3140
3141
3142
3143
3144
3145
3146
3147
3148
3149
3150
3151
3152
3153
3154
3155
3156
3157
3158
3159
3160
3161
3162
3163
3164
3165
3166
3167
3168
3169
3170
3171
3172
3173
3174
3175
3176
3177
3178
3179
3180
3181
3182
3183
3184
3185
3186
3187
3188
3189
3190
3191
3192
3193
3194
3195
3196
3197
3198
3199
3200
3201
3202
3203
3204
3205
3206
3207
3208
3209
3210
3211
3212
3213
3214
3215
3216
3217
3218
3219
3220
3221
3222
3223
3224
3225
3226
3227
3228
3229
3230
3231
3232
3233
3234
3235
3236
3237
3238
3239
3240
3241
3242
3243
3244
3245
3246
3247
3248
3249
3250
3251
3252
3253
3254
3255
3256
3257
3258
3259
3260
3261
3262
3263
3264
3265
3266
3267
3268
3269
3270
3271
3272
3273
3274
3275
3276
3277
3278
3279
3280
3281
3282
3283
3284
3285
3286
3287
3288
3289
3290
3291
3292
3293
3294
3295
3296
3297
3298
3299
3300
3301
3302
3303
3304
3305
3306
3307
3308
3309
3310
3311
3312
3313
3314
3315
3316
3317
3318
3319
3320
3321
3322
3323
3324
3325
3326
3327
3328
3329
3330
3331
3332
3333
3334
3335
3336
3337
3338
3339
3340
3341
3342
3343
3344
3345
3346
3347
3348
3349
3350
3351
3352
3353
3354
3355
3356
3357
3358
3359
3360
3361
3362
3363
3364
3365
3366
3367
3368
3369
3370
3371
3372
3373
3374
3375
3376
3377
3378
3379
3380
3381
3382
3383
3384
3385
3386
3387
3388
3389
3390
3391
3392
3393
3394
3395
3396
3397
3398
3399
3400
3401
3402
3403
3404
3405
3406
3407
3408
3409
3410
3411
3412
3413
3414
3415
3416
3417
3418
3419
3420
3421
3422
3423
3424
3425
3426
3427
3428
3429
3430
3431
3432
3433
3434
3435
3436
3437
3438
3439
3440
3441
3442
3443
3444
3445
3446
3447
3448
3449
3450
3451
3452
3453
3454
3455
3456
3457
3458
3459
3460
3461
3462
3463
3464
3465
3466
3467
3468
3469
3470
3471
3472
3473
3474
3475
3476
3477
3478
3479
3480
3481
3482
3483
3484
3485
3486
3487
3488
3489
3490
3491
3492
3493
3494
3495
3496
3497
3498
3499
3500
3501
3502
3503
3504
3505
3506
3507
3508
3509
3510
3511
3512
3513
3514
3515
3516
3517
3518
3519
3520
3521
3522
3523
3524
3525
3526
3527
3528
3529
3530
3531
3532
3533
3534
3535
3536
3537
3538
3539
3540
3541
3542
3543
3544
3545
3546
3547
3548
3549
3550
3551
3552
3553
3554
3555
3556
3557
3558
3559
3560
3561
3562
3563
3564
3565
3566
3567
3568
3569
3570
3571
3572
3573
3574
3575
3576
3577
3578
3579
3580
3581
3582
3583
3584
3585
3586
3587
3588
3589
3590
3591
3592
3593
3594
3595
3596
3597
3598
3599
3600
3601
3602
3603
3604
3605
3606
3607
3608
3609
3610
3611
3612
3613
3614
3615
3616
3617
3618
3619
3620
3621
3622
3623
3624
3625
3626
3627
3628
3629
3630
3631
3632
3633
3634
3635
3636
3637
3638
3639
3640
3641
3642
3643
3644
3645
3646
3647
3648
3649
3650
3651
3652
3653
3654
3655
3656
3657
3658
3659
3660
3661
3662
3663
3664
3665
3666
3667
3668
3669
3670
3671
3672
3673
3674
3675
3676
3677
3678
3679
3680
3681
3682
3683
3684
3685
3686
3687
3688
3689
3690
3691
3692
3693
3694
3695
3696
3697
3698
3699
3700
3701
3702
3703
3704
3705
3706
3707
3708
3709
3710
3711
3712
3713
3714
3715
3716
3717
3718
3719
3720
3721
3722
3723
3724
3725
3726
3727
3728
3729
3730
3731
3732
3733
3734
3735
3736
3737
3738
3739
3740
3741
3742
3743
3744
3745
3746
3747
3748
3749
3750
3751
3752
3753
3754
3755
3756
3757
3758
3759
3760
3761
3762
3763
3764
3765
3766
3767
3768
3769
3770
3771
3772
3773
3774
3775
3776
3777
3778
3779
3780
3781
3782
3783
3784
3785
3786
3787
3788
3789
3790
3791
3792
3793
3794
3795
3796
3797
3798
3799
3800
3801
3802
3803
3804
3805
3806
3807
3808
3809
3810
3811
3812
3813
3814
3815
3816
3817
3818
3819
3820
3821
3822
3823
3824
3825
3826
3827
3828
3829
3830
3831
3832
3833
3834
3835
3836
3837
3838
3839
3840
3841
3842
3843
3844
3845
3846
3847
3848
3849
3850
3851
3852
3853
3854
3855
3856
3857
3858
3859
3860
3861
3862
3863
3864
3865
3866
3867
3868
3869
3870
3871
3872
3873
3874
3875
3876
3877
3878
3879
3880
3881
3882
3883
3884
3885
3886
3887
3888
3889
3890
3891
3892
3893
3894
3895
3896
3897
3898
3899
3900
3901
3902
3903
3904
3905
3906
3907
3908
3909
3910
3911
3912
3913
3914
3915
3916
3917
3918
3919
3920
3921
3922
3923
3924
3925
3926
3927
3928
3929
3930
3931
3932
3933
3934
3935
3936
3937
3938
3939
3940
3941
3942
3943
3944
3945
3946
3947
3948
3949
3950
3951
3952
3953
3954
3955
3956
3957
3958
3959
3960
3961
3962
3963
3964
3965
3966
3967
3968
3969
3970
3971
3972
3973
3974
3975
3976
3977
3978
3979
3980
3981
3982
3983
3984
3985
3986
3987
3988
3989
3990
3991
3992
3993
3994
3995
3996
3997
3998
3999
4000
4001
4002
4003
4004
4005
4006
4007
4008
4009
4010
4011
4012
4013
4014
4015
4016
4017
4018
4019
4020
4021
4022
4023
4024
4025
4026
4027
4028
4029
4030
4031
4032
4033
4034
4035
4036
4037
4038
4039
4040
4041
4042
4043
4044
4045
4046
4047
4048
4049
4050
4051
4052
4053
4054
4055
4056
4057
4058
4059
4060
4061
4062
4063
4064
4065
4066
4067
4068
4069
4070
4071
4072
4073
4074
4075
4076
4077
4078
4079
4080
4081
4082
4083
4084
4085
4086
4087
4088
4089
4090
4091
4092
4093
4094
4095
4096
4097
4098
4099
4100
4101
4102
4103
4104
4105
4106
4107
4108
4109
4110
4111
4112
4113
4114
4115
4116
4117
4118
4119
4120
4121
4122
4123
4124
4125
4126
4127
4128
4129
4130
4131
4132
4133
4134
4135
4136
4137
4138
4139
4140
4141
4142
4143
4144
4145
4146
4147
4148
4149
4150
4151
4152
4153
4154
4155
4156
4157
4158
4159
4160
4161
4162
4163
4164
4165
4166
4167
4168
4169
4170
4171
4172
4173
4174
4175
4176
4177
4178
4179
4180
4181
4182
4183
4184
4185
4186
4187
4188
4189
4190
4191
4192
4193
4194
4195
4196
4197
4198
4199
4200
4201
4202
4203
4204
4205
4206
4207
4208
4209
4210
4211
4212
4213
4214
4215
4216
4217
4218
4219
4220
4221
4222
4223
4224
4225
4226
4227
4228
4229
4230
4231
4232
4233
4234
4235
4236
4237
4238
4239
4240
4241
4242
4243
4244
4245
4246
4247
4248
4249
4250
4251
4252
4253
4254
4255
4256
4257
4258
4259
4260
4261
4262
4263
4264
4265
4266
4267
4268
4269
4270
4271
4272
4273
4274
4275
4276
4277
4278
4279
4280
4281
4282
4283
4284
4285
4286
4287
4288
4289
4290
4291
4292
4293
4294
4295
4296
4297
4298
4299
4300
4301
4302
4303
4304
4305
4306
4307
4308
4309
4310
4311
4312
4313
4314
4315
4316
4317
4318
4319
4320
4321
4322
4323
4324
4325
4326
4327
4328
4329
4330
4331
4332
4333
4334
4335
4336
4337
4338
4339
4340
4341
4342
4343
4344
4345
4346
4347
4348
4349
4350
4351
4352
4353
4354
4355
4356
4357
4358
4359
4360
4361
4362
4363
4364
4365
4366
4367
4368
4369
4370
4371
4372
4373
4374
4375
4376
4377
4378
4379
4380
4381
4382
4383
4384
4385
4386
4387
4388
4389
4390
4391
4392
4393
4394
4395
4396
4397
4398
4399
4400
4401
4402
4403
4404
4405
4406
4407
4408
4409
4410
4411
4412
4413
4414
4415
4416
4417
4418
4419
4420
4421
4422
4423
4424
4425
4426
4427
4428
4429
4430
4431
4432
4433
4434
4435
4436
4437
4438
4439
4440
4441
4442
4443
4444
4445
4446
4447
4448
4449
4450
4451
4452
4453
4454
4455
4456
4457
4458
4459
4460
4461
4462
4463
4464
4465
4466
4467
4468
4469
4470
4471
4472
4473
4474
4475
4476
4477
4478
4479
4480
4481
4482
4483
4484
4485
4486
4487
4488
4489
4490
4491
4492
4493
4494
4495
4496
4497
4498
4499
4500
4501
4502
4503
4504
4505
4506
4507
4508
4509
4510
4511
4512
4513
4514
4515
4516
4517
4518
4519
4520
4521
4522
4523
4524
4525
4526
4527
4528
4529
4530
4531
4532
4533
4534
4535
4536
4537
4538
4539
4540
4541
4542
4543
4544
4545
4546
4547
4548
4549
4550
4551
4552
4553
4554
4555
4556
4557
4558
4559
4560
4561
4562
4563
4564
4565
4566
4567
4568
4569
4570
4571
4572
4573
4574
4575
4576
4577
4578
4579
4580
4581
4582
4583
4584
4585
4586
4587
4588
4589
4590
4591
4592
4593
4594
4595
4596
4597
4598
4599
4600
4601
4602
4603
4604
4605
4606
4607
4608
4609
4610
4611
4612
4613
4614
4615
4616
4617
4618
4619
4620
4621
4622
4623
4624
4625
4626
4627
4628
4629
4630
4631
4632
4633
4634
4635
4636
4637
4638
4639
4640
4641
4642
4643
4644
4645
4646
4647
4648
4649
4650
4651
4652
4653
4654
4655
4656
4657
4658
4659
4660
4661
4662
4663
4664
4665
4666
4667
4668
4669
4670
4671
4672
4673
4674
4675
4676
4677
4678
4679
4680
4681
4682
4683
4684
4685
4686
4687
4688
4689
4690
4691
4692
4693
4694
4695
4696
4697
4698
4699
4700
4701
4702
4703
4704
4705
4706
4707
4708
4709
4710
4711
4712
4713
4714
4715
4716
4717
4718
4719
4720
4721
4722
4723
4724
4725
4726
4727
4728
4729
4730
4731
4732
4733
4734
4735
4736
4737
4738
4739
4740
4741
4742
4743
4744
4745
4746
4747
4748
4749
4750
4751
4752
4753
4754
4755
4756
4757
4758
4759
4760
4761
4762
4763
4764
4765
4766
4767
4768
4769
4770
4771
4772
4773
4774
4775
4776
4777
4778
4779
4780
4781
4782
4783
4784
4785
4786
4787
4788
4789
4790
4791
4792
4793
4794
4795
4796
4797
4798
4799
4800
4801
4802
4803
4804
4805
4806
4807
4808
4809
4810
4811
4812
4813
4814
4815
4816
4817
4818
4819
4820
4821
4822
4823
4824
4825
4826
4827
4828
4829
4830
4831
4832
4833
4834
4835
4836
4837
4838
4839
4840
4841
4842
4843
4844
4845
4846
4847
4848
4849
4850
4851
4852
4853
4854
4855
4856
4857
4858
4859
4860
4861
4862
4863
4864
4865
4866
4867
4868
4869
4870
4871
4872
4873
4874
4875
4876
4877
4878
4879
4880
4881
4882
4883
4884
4885
4886
4887
4888
4889
4890
4891
4892
4893
4894
4895
4896
4897
4898
4899
4900
4901
4902
4903
4904
4905
4906
4907
4908
4909
4910
4911
4912
4913
4914
4915
4916
4917
4918
4919
4920
4921
4922
4923
4924
4925
4926
4927
4928
4929
4930
4931
4932
4933
4934
4935
4936
4937
4938
4939
4940
4941
4942
4943
4944
4945
4946
4947
4948
4949
4950
4951
4952
4953
4954
4955
4956
4957
4958
4959
4960
4961
4962
4963
4964
4965
4966
4967
4968
4969
4970
4971
4972
4973
4974
4975
4976
4977
4978
4979
4980
4981
4982
4983
4984
4985
4986
4987
4988
4989
4990
4991
4992
4993
4994
4995
4996
4997
4998
4999
5000
5001
5002
5003
5004
5005
5006
5007
5008
5009
5010
5011
5012
5013
5014
5015
5016
5017
5018
5019
5020
5021
5022
5023
5024
5025
5026
5027
5028
5029
5030
5031
5032
5033
5034
5035
5036
5037
5038
5039
5040
5041
5042
5043
5044
5045
5046
5047
5048
5049
5050
5051
5052
5053
5054
5055
5056
5057
5058
5059
5060
5061
5062
5063
5064
5065
5066
5067
5068
5069
5070
5071
5072
5073
5074
5075
5076
5077
5078
5079
5080
5081
5082
5083
5084
5085
5086
5087
5088
5089
5090
5091
5092
5093
5094
5095
5096
5097
5098
5099
5100
5101
5102
5103
5104
5105
5106
5107
5108
5109
5110
5111
5112
5113
5114
5115
5116
5117
5118
5119
5120
5121
5122
5123
5124
5125
5126
5127
5128
5129
5130
5131
5132
5133
5134
5135
5136
5137
5138
5139
5140
5141
5142
5143
5144
5145
5146
5147
5148
5149
5150
5151
5152
5153
5154
5155
5156
5157
5158
5159
5160
5161
5162
5163
5164
5165
5166
5167
5168
5169
5170
5171
5172
5173
5174
5175
5176
5177
5178
5179
5180
5181
5182
5183
5184
5185
5186
5187
5188
5189
5190
5191
5192
5193
5194
5195
5196
5197
5198
5199
5200
5201
5202
5203
5204
5205
5206
5207
5208
5209
5210
5211
5212
5213
5214
5215
5216
5217
5218
5219
5220
5221
5222
5223
5224
5225
5226
5227
5228
5229
5230
5231
5232
5233
5234
5235
5236
5237
5238
5239
5240
5241
5242
5243
5244
5245
5246
5247
5248
5249
5250
5251
5252
5253
5254
5255
5256
5257
5258
5259
5260
5261
5262
5263
5264
5265
5266
5267
5268
5269
5270
5271
5272
5273
5274
5275
5276
5277
5278
5279
5280
5281
5282
5283
5284
5285
5286
5287
5288
5289
5290
5291
5292
5293
5294
5295
5296
5297
5298
5299
5300
5301
5302
5303
5304
5305
5306
5307
5308
5309
5310
5311
5312
5313
5314
5315
5316
5317
5318
5319
5320
5321
5322
5323
5324
5325
5326
5327
5328
5329
5330
5331
5332
5333
5334
5335
5336
5337
5338
5339
5340
5341
5342
5343
5344
5345
5346
5347
5348
5349
5350
5351
5352
5353
5354
5355
5356
5357
5358
5359
5360
5361
5362
5363
5364
5365
5366
5367
5368
5369
5370
5371
5372
5373
5374
5375
5376
5377
5378
5379
5380
5381
5382
5383
5384
5385
5386
5387
5388
5389
5390
5391
5392
5393
5394
5395
5396
5397
5398
5399
5400
5401
5402
5403
5404
5405
5406
5407
5408
5409
5410
5411
5412
5413
5414
5415
5416
5417
5418
5419
5420
5421
5422
5423
5424
5425
5426
5427
5428
5429
5430
5431
5432
5433
5434
5435
5436
5437
5438
5439
5440
5441
5442
5443
5444
5445
5446
5447
5448
5449
5450
5451
5452
5453
5454
5455
5456
5457
5458
5459
5460
5461
5462
5463
5464
5465
5466
5467
5468
5469
5470
5471
5472
5473
5474
5475
5476
5477
5478
5479
5480
5481
5482
5483
5484
5485
5486
5487
5488
5489
5490
5491
5492
5493
5494
5495
5496
5497
5498
5499
5500
5501
5502
5503
5504
5505
5506
5507
5508
5509
5510
5511
5512
5513
5514
5515
5516
5517
5518
5519
5520
5521
5522
5523
5524
5525
5526
5527
5528
5529
5530
5531
5532
5533
5534
5535
5536
5537
5538
5539
5540
5541
5542
5543
5544
5545
5546
5547
5548
5549
5550
5551
5552
5553
5554
5555
5556
5557
5558
5559
5560
5561
5562
5563
5564
5565
5566
5567
5568
5569
5570
5571
5572
5573
5574
5575
5576
5577
5578
5579
5580
5581
5582
5583
5584
5585
5586
5587
5588
5589
5590
5591
5592
5593
5594
5595
5596
5597
5598
5599
5600
5601
5602
5603
5604
5605
5606
5607
5608
5609
5610
5611
5612
5613
5614
5615
5616
5617
5618
5619
5620
5621
5622
5623
5624
5625
5626
5627
5628
5629
5630
5631
5632
5633
5634
5635
5636
5637
5638
5639
5640
5641
5642
5643
5644
5645
5646
5647
5648
5649
5650
5651
5652
5653
5654
5655
5656
5657
5658
5659
5660
5661
5662
5663
5664
5665
5666
5667
5668
5669
5670
5671
5672
5673
5674
5675
5676
5677
5678
5679
5680
5681
5682
5683
5684
5685
5686
5687
5688
5689
5690
5691
5692
5693
5694
5695
5696
5697
5698
5699
5700
5701
5702
5703
5704
5705
5706
5707
5708
5709
5710
5711
5712
5713
5714
5715
5716
5717
5718
5719
5720
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Divine Comedy, Paradise, by Dante Alighieri</title>
<style type="text/css">
body { margin-left: 20%;
margin-right: 20%;
text-align: justify; }
h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight:
normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;}
h1 {font-size: 300%;
margin-top: 0.6em;
margin-bottom: 0.6em;
letter-spacing: 0.12em;
word-spacing: 0.2em;
text-indent: 0em;}
h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;}
h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;}
h4 {font-size: 120%;}
h5 {font-size: 110%;}
.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */
div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;}
hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;}
p {text-indent: 1em;
margin-top: 0.25em;
margin-bottom: 0.25em; }
a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none}
a:hover {color:red}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1007 ***</div>
<h1>PARADISE</h1>
<h5>FROM THE DIVINE COMEDY</h5>
<h5>BY</h5>
<h2 class="no-break">Dante Alighieri</h2>
<h3>Translated by<br />THE REV. H. F. CARY, M.A.</h3>
<hr />
<h2>Contents</h2>
<table summary="" style="">
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.I">CANTO I.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.II">CANTO II.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.III">CANTO III.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.IV">CANTO IV.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.V">CANTO V.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.VI">CANTO VI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.VII">CANTO VII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.VIII">CANTO VIII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.IX">CANTO IX.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.X">CANTO X.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XI">CANTO XI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XII">CANTO XII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XIII">CANTO XIII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XIV">CANTO XIV.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XV">CANTO XV.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XVI">CANTO XVI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XVII">CANTO XVII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XVIII">CANTO XVIII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XIX">CANTO XIX.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XX">CANTO XX.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXI">CANTO XXI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXII">CANTO XXII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXIII">CANTO XXIII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXIV">CANTO XXIV.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXV">CANTO XXV.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXVI">CANTO XXVI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXVII">CANTO XXVII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXVIII">CANTO XXVIII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXIX">CANTO XXIX.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXX">CANTO XXX.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXXI">CANTO XXXI.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXXII">CANTO XXXII.</a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <a href="#cantoIII.XXXIII">CANTO XXXIII.</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="chapter">
<h2>PARADISE</h2>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="cantoIII.I"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
So said, she turn’d toward the heav’n her face.
</p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="cantoIII.II"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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?”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
Then I: “What various here above appears,<br/>
Is caus’d, I deem, by bodies dense or rare.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.III"></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>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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?”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.IV"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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?
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.V"></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, ’tis but that it shows<br/>
Some ill-mark’d vestige of that primal beam.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“This sacrifice in essence of two things<br/>
Consisteth; one is that, whereof ’tis 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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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>
<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.”
</p>
<p>
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/>
I 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.VI"></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, ’twas 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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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 ’tis 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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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/>
’Twould deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt.”
</p>
</div><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="cantoIII.VII"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst,<br/>
On th’ everlasting counsel, and explore,<br/>
Instructed by my words, the dread abyss.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.VIII"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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 ’twill be as sweet to rest.”
</p>
<p>
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 enswath’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>
<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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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?”
</p>
<p>
To whom I thus: “It is enough: no fear,<br/>
I see, lest nature in her part should tire.”
</p>
<p>
He straight rejoin’d: “Say, were it worse for man,<br/>
If he liv’d not in fellowship on earth?”
</p>
<p>
“Yea,” answer’d I; “nor here a reason needs.”
</p>
<p>
“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.’”
</p>
<p>
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, ’tis 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.IX"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.X"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.XI"></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.
</p>
<p>
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:
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XII"></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>
<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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XIII"></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 ’twere 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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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 ’twere in new existences,<br/>
Itself unalterable and ever one.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XIV"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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>
<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>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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.XV"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XVI"></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.
</p>
<p>
“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?”
</p>
<p>
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 ’twill 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><!--end chapter-->
<div class="chapter">
<h2><a name="cantoIII.XVII"></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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.”
</p>
<p>
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.XVIII"></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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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>
<p>
Ye host of heaven! whose glory I survey!<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 ’tis 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.XIX"></a>CANTO XIX</h2>
<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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XX"></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>
<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!
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis willing to be conquer’d, still,<br/>
Though conquer’d, by its mercy conquering.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.XXI"></a>CANTO XXI</h2>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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>
<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.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.XXII"></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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.XXIII"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“Ope thou thine eyes, and mark me: thou hast seen<br/>
Things, that empower thee to sustain my smile.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.XXIV"></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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“O saintly sister mine! thy prayer devout<br/>
Is with so vehement affection urg’d,<br/>
Thou dost unbind me from that beauteous sphere.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
“Even so glittering and so round,” said I,<br/>
“I not a whit misdoubt of its assay.”
</p>
<p>
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?”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.XXV"></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.
</p>
<p>
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!”
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.”
</p>
<p>
“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/>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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.XXVI"></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: “’Twere 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>
<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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
“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.”
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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 ’twas 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.XXVII"></a>CANTO XXVII</h2>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XXVIII"></a>CANTO XXVII</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.”
</p>
<p>
“It is no marvel, if thy fingers foil’d<br/>
Do leave the knot untied: so hard ’tis 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.”
</p>
<p>
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>
<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.XXIX"></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, ’tis well thou take from me the truth,<br/>
Pure and without disguise, which they below,<br/>
Equivocating, darken and perplex.
</p>
<p>
“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
</p>
<p>
“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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XXX"></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.
</p>
<p>
If all, that hitherto is told of her,<br/>
Were in one praise concluded, ’twere 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.
</p>
<p>
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.”
</p>
<p>
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!
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.XXXI"></a>CANTO XXXI</h2>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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!
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
“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>
<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.
</p>
<p>
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 ’tis 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.
</p>
<p>
Had I a tongue in eloquence as rich,<br/>
As is the colouring in fancy’s loom,<br/>
’Twere 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.XXXII"></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.
</p>
<p>
“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 ’tis 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.
</p>
<p>
“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.XXXIII"></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!”
</p>
<p>
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 ’twere, 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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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.
</p>
<p>
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>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1007 ***</div>
</body>
</html>
|
