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diff --git a/1997-h/1997-h.htm b/1997-h/1997-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..07df25e --- /dev/null +++ b/1997-h/1997-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7573 @@ +<!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 Aligheri</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; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Divine Comedy, by Dante Aligheri</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Divine Comedy<br /> + Paradise</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Dante Aligheri</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Charles Eliot Norton</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December, 1999 [eBook #1997]<br /> +[Most recently updated: August 19, 2022]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Dianne Bean</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY, PARADISE ***</div> + +<h1>The Divine Comedy of Dante Aligheri</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">Translated by Charles Eliot Norton</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.I">CANTO I.</a><br/> +Proem.—Invocation.—Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Sphere of +Fire.—Beatrice explains the cause of their ascent.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.II">CANTO II.</a><br/> +Proem.—Ascent to the Moon.—The cause of Spots on the +Moon.—Influence of the Heavens.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.III">CANTO III.</a><br/> +The Heaven of the Moon.—Spirits whose vows had been +broken.—Piccarda Donati.—The Empress Constance.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.IV">CANTO IV.</a><br/> +Doubts of Dante, respecting the justice of Heaven and the abode of the blessed, +solved by Beatrice.—Question of Dante as to the possibility of reparation +for broken vows.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.V">CANTO V.</a><br/> +The sanctity of vows, and the seriousness with which they are to be made or +changed.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mercury.—The shade of Justinian.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.VI">CANTO VI.</a><br/> +Justinian tells of his own life.—The story of the Roman +Eagle.—Spirits in the planet Mercury.—Romeo.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.VII">CANTO VII.</a><br/> +Discourse of Beatrice.—The Fall of Man.—The scheme of his +Redemption.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.VIII">CANTO VIII.</a><br/> +Ascent to the Heaven of Venus.—Spirits of Lovers, Source of the order and +the varieties in mortal things.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.IX">CANTO IX.</a><br/> +The Heaven of Venus.—Conversation of Dante with Cunizza da +Romano,—With Folco of Marseilles.—Rahab.—Avarice of the Papal +Court.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.X">CANTO X.</a><br/> +Ascent to the Sun.—Spirits of the wise, and the learned in +theology.—St. Thomas Aquinas.—He names to Dante those who surround +him.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XI">CANTO XI.</a><br/> +The Vanity of worldly desires,—St. Thomas Aquinas undertakes to solve two +doubts perplexing Dante.—He narrates the life of St. Francis of Assisi.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XII">CANTO XII.</a><br/> +Second circle of the spirits of wise religious men, doctors of the Church and +teachers.—St. Bonaventura narrates the life of St. Dominic, and tells the +names of those who form the circle with him.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XIII">CANTO XIII.</a><br/> +St. Thomas Aquinas speaks again, and explains the relation of the wisdom of +Solomon to that of Adam and of Christ, and declares the vanity of human +judgment.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XIV">CANTO XIV.</a><br/> +At the prayer of Beatrice, Solomon tells of the glorified body of the blessed +after the Last Judgment.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mars.—Souls of the +Soldiery of Christ in the form of a Cross with the figure of Christ +thereon.—Hymn of the Spirits.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XV">CANTO XV.</a><br/> +Dante is welcomed by his ancestor, Cacciaguida.—Cacciaguida tells of his +family, and of the simple life of Florence in the old days.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XVI">CANTO XVI.</a><br/> +The boast of blood.—Cacciaguida continues his discourse concerning the +old and the new Florence.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XVII">CANTO XVII.</a><br/> +Dante questions Cacciaguida as to his fortunes.—Cacciaguida replies, +foretelling the exile of Dante, and the renown of his Poem.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XVIII">CANTO XVIII.</a><br/> +The Spirits in the Cross of Mars.—Ascent to the Heaven of +Jupiter.—Words shaped in light upon the planet by the +Spirits.—Denunciation of the avarice of the Popes.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XIX">CANTO XIX.</a><br/> +The voice of the Eagle.—It speaks of the mysteries of Divine justice; of +the necessity of Faith for salvation; of the sins of certain kings.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XX">CANTO XX.</a><br/> +The Song of the Just.—Princes who have loved righteousness, in the eye of +the Eagle.—Spirits, once Pagans, in bliss.—Faith and +Salvation.—Predestination.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXI">CANTO XXI.</a><br/> +Ascent to the Heaven of Saturn.—Spirits of those who had given themselves +to devout contemplation.—The Golden Stairway.—St. Peter +Damian.—Predestination.—The luxury of modern Prelates.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXII">CANTO XXII.</a><br/> +Beatrice reassures Dante.—St. Benedict appears.—He tells of the +founding of his Order, and of the falling away of its brethren. Beatrice and +Dante ascend to the Starry Heaven.—The constellation of the +Twins.—Sight of the Earth.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXIII">CANTO XXIII.</a><br/> +The Triumph of Christ.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXIV">CANTO XXIV.</a><br/> +St. Peter examines Dante concerning Faith, and approves his answer.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXV">CANTO XXV.</a><br/> +St. James examines Dante concerning Hope.—St. John appears,with a +brightness so dazzling as to deprive Dante, for the time, of sight.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXVI">CANTO XXVI.</a><br/> +St. John examines Dante concerning Love.—Dante's sight +restored.—Adam appears, and answers questions put to him by Dante.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXVII">CANTO XXVII.</a><br/> +Denunciation by St. Peter of his degenerate successors.—Dante gazes upon +the Earth.—Ascent of Beatrice and Dante to the Crystalline +Heaven.—Its nature.—Beatrice rebukes the covetousness of mortals.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXVIII">CANTO XXVIII.</a><br/> +The Heavenly Hierarchy.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXIX">CANTO XXIX.</a><br/> +Discourse of Beatrice concerning the creation and nature of the +Angels.—She reproves the presumption and foolishness of preachers.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXX">CANTO XXX.</a><br/> +Ascent to the Empyrean.—The River of Light.—The celestial +Rose.—The seat of Henry VII.—The last words of Beatrice.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXXI">CANTO XXXI.</a><br/> +The Rose of Paradise.—St. Bernard.—Prayer to Beatrice.—The +glory of the Blessed Virgin.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXXII">CANTO XXXII.</a><br/> +St. Bernard describes the order of the Rose, and points out many of the +Saints.—The children in Paradise.—The angelic festival.—The +patricians of the Court of Heaven.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +<a href="#cantoIII.XXXIII">CANTO XXXIII.</a><br/> +Prayer to the Virgin.—The Beatific Vision.—The Ultimate Salvation.<br /><br /> +</p> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>PARADISE</h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.I"></a>CANTO I.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Proem.—Invocation.—Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Sphere of +Fire.—Beatrice explains the cause of their ascent. +</p> + +<p> +The glory of Him who moves everything penetrates through the universe, and +shines in one part more and in another less. In the heaven that receives most +of its light I have been, and have seen things which he who descends from +thereabove neither knows how nor is able to recount; because, drawing near to +its own desire,[1] our understanding enters so deep, that the memory cannot +follow. Truly whatever of the Holy Realm I could treasure up in my mind shall +now be the theme of my song. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The innate desire of the soul is to attain the vision of God. +</p> + +<p> +O good Apollo, for this last labor make me such a vessel of thy power as thou +demandest for the gift of the loved laurel.[1] Thus far one summit of Parnassus +has been enough for me, but now with both[2] I need to enter the remaining, +arena. Enter into my breast, and breathe thou in such wise as when thou drewest +Marsyas from out the sheath of his limbs. O divine Power, if thou lend thyself +to me so that I may make manifest the image of the Blessed Realm imprinted +within my head, thou shalt see me come to thy chosen tree, and crown myself +then with those leaves of which the theme and thou will make me worthy. So +rarely, Father, are they gathered for triumph or of Caesar or of poet (fault +and shame of the human wills), that the Peneian leaf[3] should bring forth joy +unto the joyous Delphic deity, whenever it makes any one to long for it. Great +flame follows a little spark: perhaps after me prayer shall be made with better +voices, whereto Cyrrha[4] may respond. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] So inspire me in this labor that I may deserve the gift of the laurel. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Muses were fabled to dwell on one peak of Parnassus, Apollo on the +other. At the opening of the preceding parts of his poem Dante has invoked the +Muses only. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Daphne, who was changed to the laurel, was the daughter of Peneus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Cyrrha, a city sacred to Apollo, not far from the foot of Parnassus, and +here used for the name of the god himself. +</p> + +<p> +The lamp of the world rises to mortals through different passages, but from +that which joins four circles with three crosses it issues with better course +and conjoined with a better star, and it tempers and seals the mundane wax more +after its own fashion[1] Almost such a passage had made morning there and +evening here;[2] and there all that hemisphere was white, and the other part +black, when I saw Beatrice turned upon the left side, and looking into the sun: +never did eagle so fix himself upon it. And even as a second ray is wont to +issue from the first, and mount upward again, like a pilgrim who wishes to +return; thus of her action, infused through the eyes into my imagination, mine +was made, and I fixed my eyes upon the sun beyond our use. Much is allowed +there which here is not allowed to our faculties, thanks to the place made for +the human race as its proper, abode.[3] Not long did I endure it, nor so little +that I did not see it sparkling round about, like iron that issues boiling from +the fire. And on a sudden,[4] day seemed to be added to day, as if He who is +able had adorned the heaven with another sun. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In the spring the sun rises from a point on the horizon, where the four +great circles, namely, the horizon, the zodiac, theequator, and the equinoctial +colure, meet, and, cutting each other, form three crosses. The sun is in the +sign of Aries, “a better star,” because the influence of this +constellation was supposed to be benignant, and under it the earth reclothes +itself. It was the season assigned to the Creation, and to the Annunciation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] There, in the Earthly Paradise; here, on earth. It is the morning of +Thursday, April 123. The hours from the mid-day preceding to this dawn are +undescribed. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Earthly Paradise, made for man in his original excellence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] So rapid was his ascent to the sphere of fire, drawn upward by the eyes of +Beatrice. +</p> + +<p> +Beatrice was standing with her eyes wholly fixed on the eternal wheels, and on +her I fixed my eyes from thereabove removed. Looking at her I inwardly became +such as Glaucus[1] became on tasting of the herb which made him consort in the +sea of the other gods. Transhumanizing cannot be signified in words; therefore +let the example[2] suffice for him to whom grace reserves experience. If I was +only what of me thou didst the last create,[3] O Love that governest the +heavens, Thou knowest, who with Thy light didst lift me. When the revolution +which Thou, being desired, makest eternal,[4] made me attent unto itself with +the harmony which Thou attunest and modulatest, so much of the heaven then +seemed to me enkindled by the flame of the sun, that rain or river never made +so broad a lake. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] A fisherman changed to a sea-god. The story is in Ovid (Metamorphoses, +xiii.). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Just cited, of Glauens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] In the twenty-fifth Canto of Purgatory, Dante has said that when the +articulation of the brain is perfect God breathes into it a new spirit, the +living soul; and he means here that, like St. Paul caught up into Paradise, he +cannot tell “whether in the body or Out of the body.” (2 +Corinthians, xii. 3). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The desire to be united with God is the source of the eternal revolution of +the heavens. “The Empyrean . . . is the cause of the most swift motion of +the Primum Mobile. because of the most ardent desire of every part of the +latter to be conjoined with every part of that most divine quiet +heaven.”—Convito, 14. +</p> + +<p> +The novelty of the sound and the great light kindled in me a desire concerning +their cause, never before felt with such acuteness. Whereupon she, who saw me +as I see myself, to quiet my perturbed mind opened her mouth, ere I mine to +ask, and began, “Thou thyself makest thyself dull with false imagining, +so that thou seest not what thou wouldst see, if thou hadst shaken it off. Thou +art not on earth, as thou believest; but lightning, flying from its proper +site, never ran as thou who thereunto[1] returnest.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] To thine own proper site,—Heaven, the true home of the soul. +</p> + +<p> +If I was divested of my first doubt by these brief little smiled- out words, +within a new one was I the more enmeshed. And I said, “Already I rested +content concerning a great wonder; but now I wonder how I can transcend these +light bodies.” Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, directed her eyes +toward me, with that look which a mother turns on her delirious son, and she +began, “All things whatsoever have order among themselves; and this is +the form which makes the universe like to God. Here[1] the high creatures[2] +see the imprint of the eternal Goodness, which is the end for which the +aforesaid rule is made. In the order of which I speak, all natures are +arranged, by diverse lots, more or less near to their source;[3] wherefore they +are moved to diverse ports through the great sea of being, and each one with an +instinct given to it which may bear it on. This bears the fire upward toward +the moon; this is the motive force in mortal hearts; this binds together and +unites the earth. Nor does this bow shoot forth.[4] Only the created things +which are outside intelligence, but also those which have understanding and +love. The Providence that adjusts all this, with its own light makes forever +quiet the heaven[5] within which that revolves which hath the greatest speed. +And thither now, as to a site decreed, the virtue of that cord bears us on +which directs to a joyful mark whatever it shoots. True is it, that as the form +often accords not to the intention of the art, because the material is deaf to +respond, so the creature sometimes deviates from this course; for it has power, +though thus impelled, to incline in another direction (even as the fire of a +cloud may be seen to fall[6]), if the first impetus, bent aside by false +pleasure, turn it earthwards. Thou shouldst not, if I deem aright, wonder more +at thy ascent, than at a stream if from a high mountain it descends to the +base. A marvel it would be in thee, if, deprived of hindrance, thou hadst sat +below, even as quiet in living fire on earth would be.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In this order of the universe. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The created beings endowed with souls,—angels and men. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The source of their being, God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] This instinct directs to their proper end animate as well as inanimate +things, as the bow shoots the arrow to its mark. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The Empyrean, within which the Primum Mobile, the first moving heaven, +revolves. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Contrary to its true nature. +</p> + +<p> +Thereon she turned again toward heaven her face. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.II"></a>CANTO II.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Proem.—Ascent to the Moon.—The cause of Spots on the +Moon.—Influence of the Heavens. +</p> + +<p> +O ye, who are in a little bark, desirous to listen, following behind my craft +which singing passes on, turn to see again Your shores; put not out upon the +deep; for haply losing me, ye would remain astray. The water that I sail was +never crossed. Minerva inspires, and Apollo guides me, and nine Muses point out +to me the Bears. +</p> + +<p> +Ye other few, who have lifted tip your necks be. times to the bread of the +Angels, oil which one here subsists, but never becomes sated of it, ye may well +put forth your vessel over the salt deep, keeping my wake before you on the +water which turns smooth again. Those glorious ones who passed over to Colchos +wondered not as ye shall do, when they saw Jason become a ploughman. +</p> + +<p> +The concreate and perpetual thirst for the deiform realm was bearing us on +swift almost as ye see the heavens. Beatrice was looking upward, and I upon +her, and perhaps in such time as a quarrel[1] rests, and flies, and from the +notch is unlocked,[2] I saw myself arrived where a wonderful thing drew my +sight to itself; and therefore she, from whom the working of my mind could not +be hid, turned toward me, glad as beautiful. “Uplift thy grateful mind to +God,” she said to me, “who with the first star[3] has conjoined +us.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The bolt for a cross-bow. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The inverse order indicates the instantaneousness of the act. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The moon. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to me that a cloud had covered us, lucid, dense, solid, and polished, +like a diamond which the sun had struck. Within itself the eternal pearl had +received us, even as water receives a ray of light, remaining unbroken. If I +was body (and here[1] it is not conceivable how one dimension brooked another, +which needs must be if body enter body) the desire ought the more to kindle us +to see that Essence, in which is seen how our nature and God were united. There +will be seen that which we hold by faith, not demonstrated, but it will be +known of itself like the first truth which man believes.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] On earth, by mortal faculties. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Not demonstrated by argument, but known by direct cognition, like the +intuitive perception of first principles, per se notu. +</p> + +<p> +I replied, “My Lady, devoutly to the utmost that I can, do I thank him +who from the mortal world has removed me. But tell me what are the dusky marks +of this body, which there below on earth make people fable about +Cain?”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Fancying the dark spaces on the surface of the moon to represent Cain +carrying a thorn-bush for the fire of his sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +She smiled somewhat, and then she said, “If the opinion of mortals errs +where the key of sense unlocks not, surely the shafts of wonder ought not now +to pierce thee, since thou seest that the reason following the senses has short +wings. But tell me what thou thyself thinkest of it.” And I, “That +which here above appears to us diverse, I believe is caused by rare and dense +bodies.” And she, “Surely enough thou shalt see that thy belief is +submerged in error, if then listenest well to the argument that I shall make +against it. The eighth sphere[1] displays to you many lights, which may be +noted of different aspects in quality and quantity. If rare and dense effected +all this,[2] one single virtue, more or less or equally distributed, would be +in all. Different virtues must needs be fruits of formal principles;[3] and by +thy reckoning, these, all but one, would be destroyed. Further, if rarity were +the cause of that darkness of which you ask, either this planet would be thus +deficient of its matter through and through, or else as a body distributes the +fat and the loan, so this would interchange the leaves in its volume. If the +first were the case, it would be manifest in the eclipses of the sun, by the +shining through of the light, as when it is poured out upon any other rare +body. This is not so; therefore we must look at the other, and if it happen +that I quash this other, thy opinion will be falsified. If it be that this rare +passes not through,[4] there needs must be a limit, beyond which its contrary +allows it not to pass further; and thence the ray from another body is poured +back, just as color returns through a glass which hides lead behind itself. Now +thou wilt say that the ray shows itself dimmer there than in the other parts, +by being there reflected from further back. From this objection experiment, +which is wont to be the fountain to the streams of your arts, may deliver thee, +if ever thou try it. Thou shalt take three mirrors, and set two of them at an +equal distance from thee, and let the other, further removed, meet thine eyes +between the first two. Turning toward them, cause a light to be placed behind +thy back, which may illumine the three mirrors, and return to thee thrown back +front all. Although the more distant image reach thee not so great in quantity, +thou wilt then see how it cannot but be of equal brightness. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The heaven of the fixed stars. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] If all this difference were caused merely by difference in rarity and +density. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The stars exert various influences; hence their differences, from which the +variety of their influence proceeds, must be caused by different formal +principles or intrinsic causes. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Extends not through the whole substance of the moon. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, as beneath the blows of the warm rays that which lies under the +snow remains bare both of the former color[1] and the cold, thee, thus +remaining in thy intellect, will I inform with light so living that it shall +tremble in its aspect to thee.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The color of the snow. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2[My argument has removed the error which covered thy mind, and nov I will +tell thee the true cause of the variety in the surface of the moon. +</p> + +<p> +“Within the heaven of the divine peace revolves a body, in whose virtue +lies the being of all that it contains.[1] The following heaven[2] which has so +many sights, distributes that being through divers essences[3] from it +distinct, and by it contained. The other spheres, by various differences, +dispose the distinctions which they have within themselves unto their ends and +their seeds.[4] These organs of the world thus proceed, as thou now seest, from +grade to grade; for they receivefrom above, and operate below. Observe me well, +how I advance through this place to the truth which thou desirest, so that +hereafter thou mayest know to keep the ford alone. The motion and the virtue of +the holy spheres must needs be inspired by blessed motors, as the work of the +hammer by the smith. And the heaven, which so many lights make beautiful, takes +its image from the deep Mind which revolves it, and makes thereof a seal. And +as the soul within your dust is diffused through different members, and +conformed to divers potencies, so the Intelligence[5] displays its own goodness +multiplied through the stars, itself circling upon its own unity. Divers virtue +makes divers alloy with the precious body that it quickens, in which, even as +life in you, it is bound. Because of the glad nature whence, it flows, the +virtue mingled through the body shines,[6] as gladness through the living +pupil. From this,[7] comes whatso seems different between light and light, not +from dense and rare; this is the formal principle which produces, conformed +unto its goodness, the dark and the bright.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Within the motionless sphere of the Empyrean revolves that of the Primum +Mobile, from whose virtue, communicated to it from the Empyrean, all the +inferior spheres contained within it derive their special mode of being. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The heaven of the Fixed Stars. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Through the planets, called essences because each has a specific mode of +being. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] “The rays of the heavens are the way by which their virtue descends +to the things below.”—Convito, ii. 7. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Which moves the heavens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The brightness of the stars comes from the joy which radiates through them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] From the divers virtue making divers alloy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.III"></a>CANTO III.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Heaven of the Moon.—Spirits whose vows had been +broken.—Piccarda Donati.—The Empress Constance. +</p> + +<p> +That sun which first had heated my breast with love, proving and refuting, had +uncovered to me the sweet aspect of fair truth; and I, in order to confess +myself corrected and assured so far as was needful, raised my head more erect +to speak. But a vision appeared which held me to itself so close in order to be +seen, that of my confession I remembered not. +</p> + +<p> +As through transparent and polished glasses, or through clear and tranquil +waters, not so deep that their bed be lost, the lineaments of our faces return +so feebly that a pearl on a white brow comes not less readily to our eyes, so I +saw many faces eager to speak; wherefore I ran into the error contrary to that +which kindled love between the man and the fountain.[1] Suddenly, even as I +became aware of them, supposing them mirrored semblances, I turned my eyes to +see of whom they were; and I saw nothing; and I turned them forward again, +straight into the light of the sweet guide who, smiling, was glowing in her +holy eyes. “Wonder not because I smile,” she said to me, “at +thy puerile thought, since thy foot trusts itself not yet upon the truth, but +turns thee, as it is wont, to emptiness. True substances are these which thou +seest, here relegated through failure in their vows. Therefore speak with them, +and hear, and believe; for the veracious light which satisfies them allows them +not to turn their feet from itself.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Narcissus conceived the image to be a true face; Dante takes the real faces +to be mirrored semblances. +</p> + +<p> +And I directed me to the shade that seemed most eager to speak, and I began, +even like a man whom too strong wish confuses, “O well-created spirit, +who in the rays of life eternal tastest the sweetness, which untasted never is +understood, it will be gracious to me, if thou contentest me with thy name, and +with your destiny.” Whereon she promptly, and with smiling eyes, +“Our charity locks not its door to a just wish, more than that which +wills that all its court be like itself. I was in the world a virgin sister,[1] +and if thy mind well regards, my being more beautiful will not conceal me from +thee; but thou wilt recognize that I am Piccarda,[2] who, placed here with +these other blessed Ones, am blessed in the slowest sphere. Our affections, +which are inflamed only in the pleasure of the Holy Spirit, rejoice in being +formed according to His order;[3] and this allotment, which appears so low, is +forsooth given to us, because our vows were neglected or void in some +part.” Whereon I to her, In your marvellous aspects there shines I know +not what divine which transmutes you from our first conceptions; therefore I +was not swift in remembering; but now that which you say to me assists me, so +that refiguring is plainer to me. But tell me, ye who are happy here, do ye +desire a highher place, in order to see more, or to make yourselves more +friends?” With those other shades she first smiled a little; then +answered me so glad, that she seemed to burn in the first fire of love, +“Brother, virtue of charity[4] quiets our will, and makes us wish only +for that which we have, and for aught else makes us not thirsty. Should we +desire to be higher up, our desires would be discordant with the will of Him +who assigns us to this place, which thou wilt see is not possible in these +circles, if to be in charity is here necesse,[5] and if its nature thou dost +well consider. Nay, it is essential to this blessed existence to hold ourselves +within the divine will, whereby our very wills are made one. So that as we are, +from stage to stage throughout this realm, to all the realm is pleasing, as to +the King who inwills us with His will. And His will is our peace; it is that +sea whereunto is moving all that which It creates and which nature +makes.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] A nun, of the order of St. Clare. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The sister of Corso Donati and of Forese: see Purgatory, Canto XXIII. It +may not be without intention that the first blessed spirit whom Dante sees in +Paradise is a relative of his own wife, Gemma dei Donati. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Rejoice in whatever grade of bliss is assigned to thern in that order of +the universe which is the form that makes it like unto God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Charity here means love, the love of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Of necessity; the Latin word being used for the rhyme's sake. +“Mansionem Deus haber non potest ubi charitas non est” B. Alberti +Magni, De adhoerendo Deo, c. xii. +</p> + +<p> +Clear was it then to me, how everywhere in Heaven is Paradise, although the +grace of the Supreme Good rains not there in one measure. +</p> + +<p> +But even as it happen, if one food sates, and for another the appetite still +remains, that this is asked for, and that declined with thanks; so did I, with +gesture and with speech, to learn from her, what was the web whereof she did +not draw the shuttle to the head.[1] “Perfect life and high merit +in-heaven a lady higher up,” she said to me, “according to whose +rule, in your world below, there are who vest and veil themselves, so that till +death they may wake and sleep with that Spouse who accepts every vow which love +conforms unto His pleasure. A young girl, I fled from the world to follow her, +and in her garb I shut myself, and pledged me to the pathway of her order. +Afterward men, more used to ill than good, dragged me forth from the sweet +cloister;[2] and God knows what then my life became. And this other splendor, +which shows itself to thee at my right side, and which glows with all the light +of our sphere, that which I say of me understands of herself.[3] A sister was +she; and in like manner from her head the shadow of the sacred veils was taken. +But after she too was returned unto the world against her liking and against +good usage, from the veil of the heart she was never unbound.[4] This is the +light of the great Constance,[5] who from the second wind of Swabia produced +the third and the last power.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] To learn from her what was the vow which she did not fulfil. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] According to the old commentators, her brother Corso forced Piccarda by +violence to leave the convent, in order to make a marriage which he desired for +her. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Her experience was similar to that of Piccarda. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] She remained a nun at heart. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Constance, daughter of the king of Sicily, Roger 1.; married, in 1186, to +the Emperor, Henry VI., the son of Frederick Barbarossa, and father of +Frederick II, who died in 1250, the last Emperor of his line. +</p> + +<p> +Thus she spoke to me, and then began singing “Ave Maria,” and +Singing vanished, like a heavy thing through deep water. My sight, that +followed her so far as was possible, after it lost her turned to the mark of +greater desire, and wholly rendered itself to Beatrice; but she so flashed upon +my gaze that at first the sight endured it not: and this made me more slow in +questioning. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.IV"></a>CANTO IV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Doubts of Dante, respecting the justice of Heaven and the abode of the blessed, +solved by Beatrice.—Question of Dante as to the possibility of reparation +for broken vows. +</p> + +<p> +Between two viands, distant and attractive in like measure, a free man would +die of hunger, before he would bring one of them to his teeth. Thus a lamb +would stand between two ravenings of fierce wolves, fearing equally; thus would +stand a dog between two does. Hence if, urged by my doubts in like measure, I +was silent, I blame not myself; nor, since it was necessary, do I commend. +</p> + +<p> +I was silent, but my desire was depicted on my face, and the questioning with +that far more fervent than by distinct speech. Beatrice did what Daniel did, +delivering Nebuchadnezzar from anger, which had made him unjustly cruel, and +said, “I see clearly how one and the other desire draws thee, so that thy +care so binds itself that it breathes not forth. Thou reasonest, 'If the good +will endure, by what reckoning doth the violence of others lessen for me the +measure of desert?' Further, it gives thee occasion for doubt, that the souls +appear to return to the stars, in accordance with the opinion of Plato.[1] +These are the questions that thrust equally upon thy wish; and therefore I will +treat first of that which hath the most venom.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Plato, in his Timaeus (41, 42), says that the creator of the universe +assigned each soul to a star, whence they were to be sown in the vessels of +time. “ He who lived well during his appointed time was to return to the +star which was his habitation, and there he would have a blessed and suitable +existence.” Dante's doubt has arisen from the words of Piccarda, which +implied that her station was in the sphere of the Moon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The conception that the souls after death had their abode in the stars +would be a definite heresy, and hence far more dangerous than a question +concerning the justice of Heaven, for such a question might be consistent with +entire faith in that justice. +</p> + +<p> +“Of the Seraphim he who is most in God, Moses, Samuel, and whichever John +thou wilt take, I say, and even Mary, have not their seats in another heaven +than those spirits who just now appeared to thee, nor have they more or fewer +years for their existence; but all make beautiful the first circle, and have +sweet life in different measure, through feeling more or less the eternal +breath.[1] They showed themselves here, not because this sphere is allotted to +them, but to afford sign of the celestial condition which is least exalted. To +speak thus is befitting to your mind, since only by objects of the sense doth +it apprehend that which it then makes worthy of the understanding. For this +reason the Scripture condescends to your capacity, and attributes feet and +hands to God, while meaning otherwise; and Holy Church represents to you with +human aspect Gabriel and Michael and the other who made Tobias whole again.[2] +That which Timaeus, reasons of the souls is not like this which is seen here, +since it seems that he thinks as he says. He says that the soul returns to its +own star, believing it to have been severed thence, when nature gave it as the +form.[3] And perchance his opinion is of other guise than his words sound, and +may be of a meaning not to be derided. If he means that the honor of their +influence and the blame returns to these wheels, perhaps his bow hits on some +truth. This principle, ill understood, formerly turned awry almost the whole +world, so that it ran astray in naming Jove, Mercury, and Mars.[4] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The abode of all the blessed is the Empyrean,—the first circle, +counting from above; but there are degrees in blessedness, each spirit enjoying +according to its capacity; no one is conscious of any lack. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The archangel Raphael. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The intellectual soul is united with the body as its substantial form. That +by means of which anything performs its functions (operatur) is its form. The +soul is that by which the body lives, and hence is its form.—Summa +Theol., I. lxxvi. 1, 6, 7. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The belief in the influence of the stars led men to assign to them divine +powers, and to name their gods after them. +</p> + +<p> +The other dubitation which disturbs thee has less venom, for its malice could +not lead thee from me elsewhere. That our justice seems unjust in the eyes of +mortals is argument of faith,[1] and not of heretical iniquity. But in order +that your perception may surely penetrate unto this truth, I will make thee +content, as thou desirest. Though there be violence when he who suffers nowise +consents to him who compels, these souls were not by reason of that excused; +for will, unless it wills, is not quenched,[2] but does as nature does in fire, +though violence a thousand times may wrest it. Wherefore if it bend much or +little, it follows the force; and thus these did, having power to return to the +holy place. If their will had been entire, such as held Lawrence on the +gridiron, and made Mucius severe unto his hand, it would have urged them back, +so soon as they were loosed, along the road on which they had been dragged; but +will so firm is too rare. And by these words, if thou hast gathered them up as +thou shouldst, is the argument quashed that would have given thee annoy yet +many times. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Mortals would not trouble themselves concerning the justice of God, unless +they had faith in it. These perplexities are then arguments or proofs of faith; +as St. Thomas Aquinas says, “The merit of faith consists in believing +what one does not see.” But in this case, as Beatrice goes on to show, +mere human intelligence if Sufficient to see that the injustice is only +apparent. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Violence has no power over the will; the original will may, however, by act +of will, be changed. +</p> + +<p> +“But now another path runs traverse before thine eyes, such that by +thyself thou wouldst not issue forth therefrom ere thou wert weary. I have put +it in thy mind for certain, that a soul in bliss cannot lie, since it is always +near to the Primal Truth; and then thou hast heard from Piccarda that Constance +retained affection for the veil; so that she seems in this to contradict me. +Often ere now, brother, has it happened that, in order to escape peril, that +which it was not meet to do has been done against one's liking; even as +Alcmaeon (who thereto entreated by his father, slew his own mother), not to +lose piety, pitiless became. On this point, I wish thee to think that the +violence is mingled with the will, and they so act that the offences cannot be +excused. Absolute will consents not to the wrong; but the will in so far +consents thereto, as it fears, if it draw back, to fall into greater trouble. +Therefore when Piccarda says that, she means it of the absolute will; and I of +the other so that we both speak truth alike.” +</p> + +<p> +Such was the current of the holy stream which issued from the fount whence +every truth flows forth; and such it set at rest one and the other desire. +</p> + +<p> +“O beloved of the First Lover, O divine one,” said I then, +“whose speech inundates me, and warms me so that more and more it +quickens me, my affection is not so profound that it can suffice to render to +you grace for grace, but may He who sees and can, respond for this. I clearly +see that our intellect is never satisfied unless the Truth illume it, outside +of which no truth extends. In that it reposes, as a wild beast in his lair, +soon as it has reached it: and it can reach it; otherwise every desire would be +in vain. Because of this,[1] the doubt, in likeness of a shoot, springs up at +the foot of the truth; and it is nature which urges us to the summit from +height to height. This[2] invites me, this gives me assurance, Lady, with +reverence to ask you of another truth which is obscure to me. I wish to know if +man can make satisfaction to you[3] for defective vows with other goods, so +that in your scales they may not be light?” looked at we with such divine +eyes, full of the sparks of love, that my power, vanquished, turned its back, +and almost I lost myself with eyes cast down. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Of this constant desire for truth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] This natural impulse. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] To you, that is, to the court of Heaven. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.V"></a>CANTO V.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The sanctity of vows, and the seriousness with which they are to be made or +changed.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mercury.—The shade of Justinian. +</p> + +<p> +“If I flame upon thee in the heat of love, beyond the fashion that on +earth is seen, go that I vanquish the valor of thine eyes, marvel not, for it +proceeds from perfect vision,[1] which according as it apprehends, so moves its +feet to the apprehended good. I see clearly how already shines in thy intellect +the eternal light, which, being seen, alone ever enkindles love. And if any +other thing seduce your love, it is naught but some vestige of that, +illrecognized, which therein shines through. Thou wishest to know if for a +defective vow so much can be rendered with other service as may secure the soul +from suit.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From the brightness of my eyes illuminated by the divine light. +</p> + +<p> +Thus Beatrice began this canto, and even as one who breaks not off his speech, +she thus continued her holy discourse. “The greatest gift which God in +His largess bestowed in creating, and the most conformed unto His goodness and +that which He esteems the most, was the freedom of the will, with which all the +creatures of intelligence, and they alone, were and are endowed. Now will +appear to thee, if from this thou reasonest, the high worth of the vow, if it +be such that God consent when thou consentest;[1] for, in closing the compact +between God and man, sacrifice is made of this treasure, which is such as I +say, and it is made by its own act. What then can be rendered in compensation? +If thou thinkest to make good use of that which thou hast offered, with +illgotten gain thou wouldst do good work.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] If the vow be valid through its acceptance by God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The intent to put what had been vowed to another (though good) use, affords +no excuse for breaking a vow. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art now assured of the greater point; but since Holy Church in this +gives dispensation, which seems contrary to the truth which I have disclosed to +thee, it behoves thee still to sit a little at table, because the tough food +which thou hast taken requires still some aid for thy digestion. Open thy mind +to that which I reveal to thee, and enclose it therewithin; for to have heard +without retaining doth not make knowledge. +</p> + +<p> +“Two things combine in the essence of this sacrifice; the one is that of +which it consists, the other is the covenant. This last is never cancelled if +it be not kept; and concerning this has my preceding speech been so precise. On +this account it was necessary for the Hebrews still to make offering, although +some part of the offering might be changed, as thou shouldst know.[1] The +other, which as the matter[2] is known to thee, may truly be such that one errs +not if for some other matter it be changed. But let not any one shift the load +upon his shoulder at his own will, without the turning both of the white and of +the yellow key.[3] And let him deem every permutation foolish, if the thing +laid down be not included in the thing taken up, as four in six.[4] Therefore +whatever thing is, through its own worth, of such great weight that it can draw +down every balance, cannot be made good with other spending. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See Leviticus, xxvii., in respect to commutation allowed. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] That is, as the subject matter of the vow, the thing of which sacrifice is +made. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Without the turning of the keys of St. Peter, that is, without clerical +dispensation; the key of gold signifying authority, that of silver, knowledge. +Cf. Purgatory, Canto IX. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The matter substituted must exceed in worth that of the original vow, but +not necessarily in a definite proportion. +</p> + +<p> +“Let not mortals take a vow in jest; be faithful, and not squint-eyed in +doing this, as Jephthah was in his first. offering;[1] to whom it better +behoved to say, 'I have done ill,' than, by keeping his vow, to do worse. And +thou mayest find the great leader of the Greeks in like manner foolish; +wherefore Iphigenia wept for her fair face, and made weep for her both the +simple and the wise, who heard speak of such like observance. Be, ye +Christians, more grave in moving; be not like a feather on every wind, and +think not that every water can wash you. Ye have the Old and the New Testament, +and the Shepherd of the Church, who guides you; let this suffice you for your +salvation. If evil covetousness cry aught else to you, be ye men, and not silly +sheep, so that the Jew among you may not laugh at you. Act not like the lamb, +that leaves the milk of his mother, and, simple and wanton, at its own pleasure +combats with itself.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] See Judges, xi. +</p> + +<p> +Thus Beatrice to me, even as I write; then all desireful turned herself again +to that region where the world is most alive.[1] Her silence, and her +transmuted countenance imposed silence on my eager mind, which already had new +questions in advance. And even as an arrow, that hits the mark before the +bowstring is quiet, so we ran into the second realm.[2] Here I saw my lady so +joyous as she entered into the light of that heaven, that thereby the planet +became more lucent. And if the star war, changed and smiled, what did I become, +who even by my nature am transmutable in every wise! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Looking upward, toward the Empyrean. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Heaven of Mercury, where blessed spirits who have been active in the +pursuit of honor and fame show themselves. +</p> + +<p> +As in a fishpond, which is tranquil and pure, the fish draw to that which comes +from without in such manner that they deem. it their food, so indeed I saw more +than a thousand splendors drawing toward. us, and in each one was +heard,—“Lo, one who shall increase our loves!”[1] And as each +came to us, the shade was seen full of joy in the bright effulgence that issued +from it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] By giving us occasion to manifest our love. +</p> + +<p> +Think, Reader, if that which is here begun should not proceed, how thou wouldst +have distressful want of knowing more; and by thyself thou wilt see how +desirous I was to hear from these of their conditions, as they became manifest +to mine eyes. “O well-born,[1] to whom Grace concedes to see the thrones +of the eternal triumph ere the warfare is abandoned,[2] with the light which +spreads through the whole heaven we are enkindled, and therefore if thou +desirest to make thyself clear concerning us, at thine own pleasure sate +thyself.” Thus was said to me by one of those pious spirits; and by +Beatrice, “Speak, speak securely, and trust even as to gods.” +“I see clearly, how thou dost nest thyself in thine ownlight, and that by +thine eyes thou drawest it, because they sparkle when thou smilest; but I know +not who thou art, nor why thou hast, O worthy soul, thy station in the sphere +which is veiled to mortals by another's rays.”[3] This I said, addressed +unto the light which first had spoken to me; whereon it became more lucent far +than it had been. Even as the sun, which, when the heat has consumed the +tempering of dense vapors, conceals itself by excess of light, so, through +greater joy, the holy shape bid itself from me within its own radiance, and +thus close enclosed, it answered me in the fashion that the following canto +sings. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] That is, born to good, to attain blessedness. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Ere thy life on earth, as a member of the Church Militant, is ended. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Mercury is veiled by the Sun. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.VI"></a>CANTO VI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Justinian tells of his own life.—The story of the Roman +Eagle.—Spirits in the planet Mercury.—Romeo. +</p> + +<p> +After Constantine turned the Eagle counter to the course of the heavens which +it had followed behind the ancient who took to wife Lavinia,[1] a hundred and a +hundred years and more[2] the bird of God held itself on the verge of Europe, +near to the Mountains[3] from which it first came forth, and there governed the +world beneath the shadow of the sacred wings, from hand to hand, and thus +changing, unto mine own arrived. Caesar I was,[4] and am Justinian, who, +through will of the primal Love which I feel, drew out from among the laws what +was superfluous and vain.[5] And before I was intent on this work, I believed +one nature to be in Christ, not more,[6] and with such faith was content. But +the blessed Agapetus, who was the supreme pastor, directed me to the pure faith +with his words. I believed him; and that which was in his faith I now see +clearly, even as thou seest every contradiction to be both false and true.[7] +Soon as with the Church I moved my feet, it pleased God, through grace, to +inspire me with the high labor, and I gave myself wholly to it. And I entrusted +my armies to my Belisarius, to whom the right hand of Heaven was so joined that +it was a sign that I should take repose. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Constantine, transferring the seat of Empire from Rome to Byzantium, +carried the Eagle from West to East, counter to the course along which Aeneas +had borne it when he went from Troy to found the Roman Empire. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] From A. D. 324, when the transfer was begun, to 527, when Justinian became +Emperor. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Of the Troad, opposite Byzantium. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] On earth Emperor, but in Heaven earthly dignities exist no longer. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The allusion is to Justinian's codification of the Roman Law. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The divine nature only. Dante here follows Brunetto Latini (Li Tresor, I. +ii. 87) in an historical error. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Of the two terms of a contradictory proposition one is true, the other +false. +</p> + +<p> +“Now here to the first question my answer comes to the stop; but its +nature constrains me to add a sequel to it, in order that thou mayst see with +how much reason[1] move against the ensign sacrosanct, both he who appropriates +it to himself,[2] and he who opposes himself to it.[3] See how great virtue has +made it worthy of reverence,” and he began from the hour when Pallas[4] +died to give it a kingdom. “Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode for +three hundred years and move, till at the end the three fought with the +three[4] for its sake still. And thou knowest what it did, from the wrong of +the Sabine women clown to the sorrow of Lucretia, in seven kings, conquering +the neighboring peoples round about. Thou knowest what it did when borne by the +illustrious Romans against Brennus, against Pyrrhus, and against the other +chiefs and allies; whereby Torquatus, and Quinctius who was named from his +neglected locks, the Decii and the Fabii acquired the fame which willingly I +embalm. It struck to earth the pride of the Arabs, who, following Hannibal, +passed the Alpine rocks from which thou, Po, glidest. Beneath it, in their +youth, Scipio and Pompey triumphed, and to that hill beneath which thou wast +born, it seemed bitter.[5] Then, near the time when all Heaven willed to bring +the world to its own serene mood, Caesar by the will of Rome took it: and what +it did from the Var even to the Rhine, the Isere beheld, and the Saone, and the +Seine beheld, and every valley whence the Rhone is filled. What afterward it +did when it came forth from Ravenna, and leaped the Rubicon, was of such flight +that neither tongue nor pen could follow it. Toward Spain it wheeled its troop; +then toward Dyrrachium, and smote Pharsalia so that to the warm Nile the pain +was felt. It saw again Antandros and Simois, whence it set forth, and there +where Hector lies; and ill for Ptolemy then it shook itself. Thence it swooped +flashing down on Juba; then wheeled again unto your west, where it heard the +Pompeian trumpet. Of what it did with the next standard-bearer,[7] Bruttis and +Cassius are barking in Hell; and it made Modena and Perugia woful. Still does +the sad Cleopatra weep therefor, who, fleeing before it, took from the asp +sudden and black death. With him it ran far as the Red Sea shore; with him it +set the world in peace so great that on Janus his temple was locked up. But +what the ensign which makes me speak had done before, and after was to do, +through the mortal realm that is subject to it, becomes in appearance little +and obscure, if in the hand of the third Caesar[8] it be looked at with clear +eye, and with pure affection. For the living Justice which inspires me granted +to it, in the hand of him of whom I speak, the glory of doing vengeance for Its +own ire[9]—now marvel here at that which I unfold to thee,—then +with Titus it ran to do vengeance for the avenging of the ancient sin.[2] And +when the Lombard tooth bit the Holy Church, under its wings Charlemagne, +conquering, succored her. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Ironical. The meaning is, “how wrongly.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Ghibelline. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Guelph. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Son of Evander, King of Latium, sent by his father to aid Aeneas. His death +in battle against Turnus led to that of Turnus himself, and to the possession +of the Latian kingdom by Aeneas. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The Horatii and Curiatii. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] According to popular tradition Fiesole was destroyed by the Romans after +the defeat of Catiline. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Augustus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Tiberius. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] It was under the authority of Rome that Christ was crucified, whereby the +sin of Adam. was avenged. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] Vengeance was taken on the Jews, because although the death of Christ was +divinely ordained, their crime in it was none the less. +</p> + +<p> +“Now canst thou judge of such as those whom I accused above, and of their +crimes, which are the cause of all your ills. To the public ensign one opposes +the yellow lilies,[1] and the other appropriates it to a party, so that it is +hard to see which is most at fault. Let the Ghibellines practice, let them +practice their art under another ensign, for he ever follows it ill who parts +justice and it. And let not this new Charles[2] strike it down with his +Guelphs, but let him fear its talons, which from a loftier lion have stripped +the fell. Often ere now the sons have wept for the sin of the father; and let +him not believe that for his lilies Goa win change His arms. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The fleur-de-lys of France. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Charles II., King of Apulia, son of Charles of Anjou. +</p> + +<p> +“This little star is furnished with good spirits who have been active in +order that honor and fame may follow them. And when the desires thus straying +mount here, it must needs be that the rays of the true love mount upward less +living.[1] But in the commeasuring of our wages with our desert is part of our +joy, because we see them neither less nor greater. Hereby the living Justice so +sweetens the affection in us, that it can never be bent aside to any wrong. +Diverse voices make sweet notes; thus in our life diverse benches[2] render +sweet harmony among these wheels. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The desire for fame interferes with, though it may not wholly prevent, the +true love of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The different grades of the blessed. +</p> + +<p> +“And within the present pearl shines the light of Romeo, whose great and +beautiful work was ill rewarded. But the Provencals who wrought against him are +not smiling; and forsooth he goes an ill road who makes harm for himself of +another's good deed.[1] Four daughters, and each a queen, had Raymond Berenger, +and Romeo, a humble person and a pilgrim, did this[2] for him. And then crooked +words moved him to demand a reckoning of this just man, who rendered to him +seven and five for ten. Then he departed, poor and old, and if the world but +knew the heart he had, while begging his livelihood bit by bit, much as it +lauds him it would laud him more.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] According to Giovanni Villani (vi. 90), one Romeo, a pilgrim, came to the +court of Raymond Berenger IV., Count of Provence (who died, in 1245), and +winning the count's favor, served him with such wisdom and fidelity that by his +means his master's revenues were greatly increased, and his four daughters +married to four kings,—Margaret, to Louis IX. of France, St. Louis; +Eleanor, to Henry III. of England; Sanzia, to Richard, Earl of Cornwall +(brother of Henry III.), elected King of the Romans; and Beatrice, to Charles +of Anjou (brother of Louis IX.), King of Apulia and Sicily. The Provencal +nobles, jealous of Romeo, procured his dismissal, and he departed, with his +mule and his pilgrim's staff and scrip, and was never seen more. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The making each a queen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.VII"></a>CANTO VII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Discourse of Beatrice.—The Fall of Man.—The scheme of his +Redemption. +</p> + +<p> +“Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth, superillustrans claritate tua felices ignes +horum malacoth!”[1]—thus, turning to its own melody, this +substance,[2] upon which a double light is twinned,[3] was seen by me to sing. +And it and the others moved with their dance, and like swiftest sparks veiled +themselves to me with sudden distance. I was in doubt, and was saying to +myself, “Tell her, tell her,” I was saying, “tell her, my +Lady, who slakes my thirst with her sweet distillings;” but that +reverence which lords it altogether over me, only by BE and by ICE,[4] bowed me +again like one who drowses. Little did Beatrice endure me thus, and she began, +irradiating me with a smile such as would make a man in the fire happy, +“According to my infallible advisement, how a just vengeance could be +justly avenged has set thee thinking. But I will quickly loose thy mind: and do +thou listen, for my words will make thee a present of a great doctrine. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Hosanna! Holy God of Sabaoth, beaming with thy brightness upon the +blessed fires of these realms.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Substance, as a scholastic term, signifies a being subsisting by itself +with a quality of its own. “Substantiae nomen significat essentiam cui +competit sic esse, id est per se esse; quod tamen esse non est ipsa ejus +essentia.”—Summa Theol. I. iii. 5. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The double light of Emperor and compiler of the Laws. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Only by the sound of her name. +</p> + +<p> +“By not enduring for his own good a curb upon the power which wills, that +man who was not born,—damning himself, damned all his offspring; +wherefore the human race lay sick below for many centuries, in great error, +till it pleased the Word of God to descend where He, by the sole act of His +eternal love, united with Himself in person the nature which had. removed +itself from its Maker. +</p> + +<p> +“Now direct thy sight to the discourse which follows. This nature, united +with its Maker, became sincere and good, as it had been created; but by itself +it had been banished from Paradise, because it turned aside from the way of +truth and from its own life. The punishment therefore which the cross afforded, +if it be measured by the nature assumed, none ever so justly stung; and, +likewise, none was ever of such great wrong, regarding the Person who suffered, +with whom this nature was united. Therefore from one act issued things diverse; +for unto God and unto the Jews one death was pleasing: by it earth trembled and +the heavens were opened. No more henceforth ought it to seem perplexing to +thee, when it is said that a just vengeance was afterward avenged by a just +court, +</p> + +<p> +“But I see now thy mind tied up, from thought to thought, within a knot +the loosing of which is awaited with great desire, Thou sayest, 'I discern +clearly that which I bear; but it is occult to we why God should will only this +mode for our redemption.' This decree, brother, stands buried to the eyes of +every one whose wit is not full grown in the flame of love. Truly, inasmuch as +on this mark there is much gazing, and little is discerned, I will tell why +such mode was most worthy. The Divine Goodness, which from Itself spurns all +rancor, burning in Itself so sparkles that It displays the eternal beauties. +That which distils immediately[1] from It, thereafter has no end, for when It +seals, Its imprint is not removed. That which from It immediately rains down is +wholly free, because it is not subject unto the power of the new things.[2] It +is the most conformed to It, and therefore pleases It the most; for the Holy +Ardor which irradiates every thing is most living in what is most resemblance +to Itself. With all these things[3] the human creature is advantaged, and if +one fail, he needs must fall from his nobility. Sin alone is that which +disfranchises him, and makes him unlike the Supreme Good, so that by Its light +he is little illumined. And to his dignity he never returns, unless, where sin +makes void, he fill up for evil pleasures with just penalties. Your nature, +when it sinned totally in its seed,[4] was removed from these dignities, even +as from Paradise; nor could they be recovered, if thou considerest full subtly, +by any way, without passing by one of these fords:—either that God alone +by His courtesy should forgive, or that man by himself should make satisfaction +for his folly. Fix now thine eye within the abyss of the eternal counsel, fixed +as closely on my speech as thou art able. Man within his own limits could never +make satisfaction, through not being able to descend so far with humility in +subsequent obedience, as disobeying he intended to ascend; and this is the +reason why man was excluded from power to make satisfaction by himself. +Therefore it behoved God by His own paths[5] to restore man to his entire life, +I mean by one, or else by both. But because the work of the workman is so much +the more pleasing, the more it represents of the goodness of the heart whence +it issues, the Divine Goodness which imprints the world was content to proceed +by all Its paths to lift you up again; nor between the last night and the first +day has there been or will there be so lofty and so magnificent a procedure +either by one or by the other; for God was more liberal in giving Himself to +make man sufficient to lift himself up again, than if only of Himself He had +pardoned him. And all the other modes were scanty in respect to justice, if the +Son of God had not humbled himself to become incarnate. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Without the intervention of a second cause. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] That is, of the heavens, new as compared with the First Cause. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] That is, with immediate creation, with immortality, with free will, with +likeness to God, and the love of God for it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Adam. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”—Psalm +xxv. 10. Truth may be here interpreted, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, as +justice. +</p> + +<p> +“Now to fill completely every desire of thine, I return to a certain +place to clear it up, in order that thou mayest see there even, as I do. Thou +sayest, 'I see the water, I see the fire, the air; and the earth, and all their +mixtures come to corruption, and endure short while, and yet these things were +created;' so that, if what I have said has been true, they ought to be secure +against corruption. The Angels, brother, and the sincere[1] country in which +thou art, may be called created, even as they are, in their entire being; but +the elements which thou hast named, and those things which are made of them, +are informed by a created power.[2] The matter of which they consist was +created; the informing power in these stars which go round about them was +created. The ray and the motion of the holy lights draw out from its potential +elements[3] the soul of every brute and of the plants; but the Supreme +Benignity inspires your life without intermediary, and enamors it of Itself so +that ever after it desires It. And hence[4] thou canst argue further your +resurrection, if thou refleetest bow the human flesh was made when the first +parents were both made.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Sincere is here used in the sense of incorruptible, or perhaps +unspoiled,—the quality of the Heavens as contrasted with the Earth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The elements axe informed, that is, receive their specific being not +immediately from Goa, but mediately through the informing Intelligences. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Literally, “from the potentiate mingling,” that is, from the +matter endowed with the potentiality of becoming informed by the vegetative and +the sensitive soul. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] From the principle that what proceeds immediately from Goa is immortal. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.VIII"></a>CANTO VIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Ascent to the Heaven of Venus.—Spirits of Lovers, Source of the order and +the varieties in mortal things. +</p> + +<p> +The world in its peril[1] was wont to believe that the beautiful Cypriote[2] +revolving in the third epicycle rayed out mad love; wherefore the ancient +people in their ancient error not only unto her did honor with sacrifice and +with votive cry, but they honored Dione[3] also and Cupid, the one as her +mother, the other as her son, and they said that he had sat in Dido's lap[4] +And from her, from whom I take my beginning, they took the name of the star +which the sun wooes, now at her back now at her front.[5] I was not aware of +the ascent to it; but of being in it, my Lady, whom I saw become more +beautiful, gave me full assurance. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In heathen times. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Venus, so called from her birth in Cyprus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Dione, daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, mother of Venus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Under the form of Ascanius, as Virgil tells in the first book of the +Aeneid. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] According as it is morning or evening star. +</p> + +<p> +And even as in a flame a spark is seen, and as voice from voice is +distinguished when one is steady and the other goes and returns, I saw in that +light other lamps moving in a circle more and less rapidly, in the measure, I +believe, of their inward vision. From a cold cloud winds never descended, or +visible or not, go swift, that they would not seem impeded and slow to him who +had seen these divine lights coming to us, leaving the circling begun first +among the high Seraphim. And within those who appeared most in front was +sounding HOSANNA, so that never since have I been without desire of hearing it +again. Then one came nearer to us, and alone began, “We all are ready to +thy pleasure, that thou mayest joy in us. With one circle, with one circling, +and with one thirst,[1] we revolve with the celestial Princes,[2] to whom thou +in the world once said: 'Ye who intelligent move the third heaven;' and we are +so full of love that, to please thee, a little quiet will not be less sweet to +us.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] One circle in space, one circling in eternity, one thirst for the vision of +God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The third in ascending order of the hierarchy of the Angels, corresponding +with the heaven of Venus. +</p> + +<p> +After my eyes had offered themselves reverently to my Lady, and she had of +herself made them contented and assured, they turned again to the light which +had promised so much; and, “Tell who ye are,” was my utterance, +stamped with great affection. And how much greater alike in quantity and +quality did I see it become, through the new gladness which was added to its +gladnesses when I spoke! Become thus, it said to me,[1] “The world had me +below short while; and had it been longer much evil had not been which will be. +My joy which rays around me, and hides me like a creature swathed in its own +silk, holds me concealed from thee. Much didst thou love me, and thou hadst +good reason; for had I stayed below I had showed thee of my love far more than +the leaves. That left bank which is bathed by the Rhone, after it has mingled +with the Sorgue, awaited me in due time for its lord;[2] and that born of +Ansonia[3] which is towned with Bari, with Gaeta, and with Catona,[4] whence +the Tronto and the Verde disgorge into the sea. Already was shining on my brow +the crown of that land which the Danube waters after it abandons its German +banks;[5] and the fair Trinacria[6] (which is darkened, not by Typhoeus but by +nascent sulphur, on the gulf between Pachynus and Pelorus which receives +greatest annoy from Eurus[7]) would be still awaiting its kings descended +through me from Charles and Rudolph,[8] if evil rule, which always embitters +the subject people, had not moved Palermo to shout, 'Die! Die!'[9] And if my +brother had taken note of this,[10] he would already put to flight the greedy +poverty of Catalonia, in order that it might not do him harm: for truly there +is need for him or for some other to look to it, so that on his laden bark more +load be not put. His own nature, which descended niggardly from a liberal one, +would have need of such a soldiery as should not care to put into a +chest.”[11] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] It is Charles Martel, son of Charles II. of Naples, who speaks. He was born +about 1270, and in 1294 he was at Florence for more than twenty days, and at +this time may have become acquainted with Dante. Great honor was done him by +the Florentines, and he showed great love to them, so that he won favor from +everybody, says Villani. He died in 1295. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Charles of Anjou, grandfather of Charles Martel, had received this part of +Provence as dowry of his wife Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Raymond +Berenger. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] A name for Italy, used only by the poets. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Bari on the Adriatic, Gaeta on the Mediterranean, and Catons at the too of +Italy, together with the two rivers named, give roughly the boundaries of the +Kingdom of Naples. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The mother of Charles Martel was sister of Ladislaus IV., King of Hungary. +He died without offspring, and Charles II. claimed the kingdom by right of his +wife. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Sicily; the gulf darkened by sulphurous fumes is the Bay of Calabria, which +lies exposed to Eurus, that is, to winds from the south-east. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The sea between Cape Pachynus, the extreme southeastern point of the +island, and Cape Pelorus, the extreme northeastern, lies exposed to the +violence of Eurus or the East wind. Clouds of smoke from Etna sometimes darken +it. The eruptions of Etna were ascribed by Ovid (Metam. v., 346-353) to the +struggles of Typhoeus, one of the rebellious Giants. Ovid's verses suggested +this description. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] From his father, Charles H., or his grandfather, Charles of Anjou, and from +the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg, who was the father of Clemence, Charles +Martel's wife. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] By the insurrection which began at Palermo in 1282,—the famous +Sicilian Vespers,—the French were driven from the island. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] This brother was Robert, the third son of Charles II. He had been kept as +a hostage in Catalonia from 1288 to 1295, and when he became King of Naples in +1309 he introduced into his service many Catalonian officials. The words of +Charles Martel are prophetic of the evils wrought by their greed. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Officials who would not, by oppression of the subjects, seek their private +gain. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I believe that the deep joy which thy speech, my lord, infuses +in me is seen by thee there where every good ends and begins[1] even as I see +it in myself, it is the more grateful to me; and this also I hold dear, that +thou discernest it, gazing upon God.[2] Thou hast made me glad; and in like +wise do thou make clear to me (since in speaking thou bast moved me to doubt) +how bitter can issue from sweet seed.” This I to him; and he to me, +“If I am able to show to thee a truth, thou wilt hold thy face to that +which thou askest, as thou dost hold thy back. The Good which turns and +contents all the realm which thou ascendest, makes its providence to be a power +in these great bodies.[3] And not the natures only are foreseen in the Mind +which by itself is perfect, but they together with their salvation.[4] For +whatsoever this bow shoots falls disposed to its foreseen end, even as a thing +directed to its aim. Were this not so, the heavens through which thou +journeyest would produce their effects in such wise that they would not be +works of art but ruins; and that cannot be, if the Intelligences which move +these stars are not defective, and defective also the prime Intelligence which +has not made them perfect.[5] Dost thou wish that this truth be made still +clearer to thee?” And I, “No, truly; because I see it to be +impossible that Nature should weary in that which is needful.”[6] +Whereupon he again, “Now say, would it be worse for man on earth if he +were not a citizen?”[7] “Yes,” answered I, “and here I +ask not the reason.”[8] “And can he be so, unless he live there +below in divers manner through divers offices?[9] No; if your master[10] writes +well of this.” So he went on deducing far as here; then he concluded, +“Hence it behoves that the roots of your works must be diverse.[11] +Wherefore one is born Solon, and another Xerxes, another Melchisedech, and +another he who, flying through the air, lost his son. The revolving nature, +which is the seal of the mortal wax, performs its art well, but does not +distinguish one inn from another.[12] Hence it happens that Esau differs in +seed from Jacob, and Quirinus comes from so mean a father that he is ascribed +to Mars. The generated nature would always make its path like its progenitors, +if the divine foresight did not conquer. Now that which was behind thee is +before thee, but that thou mayest know that I have joy in thee, I wish that +thou cloak thee with a corollary.[13] Nature, if she find fortune discordant +with herself, like every other seed out of its region, always makes bad result. +And if the world down there would fix attention on the foundation which nature +lays, following that, it would have its people good. But ye wrest to religion +one who shall be born to gird on the sword, and ye make a king of one who is +for preaching; wherefore your track is out of the road.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Is seen in the mind of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] My own joy is the dearer in that thou seest that it is more grateful to me +because known by thee. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The providence of God is fulfilled through the influences of the Heavens +acting upon the natures subject to them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] That is, together with the good ends for which they are created and +ordained. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Defect in the subordinate Intelligences would imply defect in God, which is +impossible. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] It is impossible that the order of nature should fail, that order being the +design of God in creation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] That is, united with other men in society. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Because man is by nature a social animal, and cannot attain his true end +except as a member of a community. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Society cannot exist without diversity in the functions of its members. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] Aristotle, “the master of human reason, who treats of this in many +places, for instance in his Ethics, i. 7, where he speaks of man as “by +nature social,” so that his end is accomplished only in society. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Human dispositions, the roots of human works, must be diverse in order to +produce diverse effects. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] The spheres pour down their various influences without discrimination in +the choice of the individual upon whom they fall. Hence sons may differ in +their dispositions from their fathers. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] This additional statement completes the instruction, as a cloak completes +the clothing of a body. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.IX"></a>CANTO IX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Heaven of Venus.—Conversation of Dante with Cunizza da +Romano,—With Folco of Marseilles.—Rahab.—Avarice of the Papal +Court. +</p> + +<p> +After thy Charles, O beautiful Clemence,[1] had enlightened me, he told to me +of the treasons which his seed must suffer. But he said, “Be silent, and +let the years revolve:” so that I can tell nothing, save that just lament +shall follow on your wrongs.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The widow of Charles Martel. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Those who have done the wrong shall justly lament therefor. +</p> + +<p> +And now the life of that holy light had turned again unto the Sun which fills +it, as that Good which suffices for every thing. Ah, souls deceived, and +creatures impious, who from such Good turn away your hearts, directing your +foreheads unto vanity! +</p> + +<p> +And lo! another of those splendors made towards me, and in brightening +outwardly was signifying its will to please me. The eyes of Beatrice, which +were fixed upon me, as before, made me assured of dear assent to my desire. +“I pray thee give swift quittance to my wish, blessed spirit,” I +said, “and afford me proof that what think I can reflect on +thee.”[1] Whereon the light which was still new[2] to me, from out its +depth, wherein erst it was singing, proceeded, as one whom doing good delights, +“In that part[3] of the wicked Italian land, which lies between Rialto +and the founts of the Brenta and the Piave, rises a hill,[4] and mounts not +very high, whence a torch descended which made a great assault upon that +district. From one root both I and it were born; Cunizza was I called; and I am +refulgent here because the light of this star overcame me. But gladly do I +pardon to myself the cause of my lot, and it gives me no annoy;[5] which +perhaps would seem difficult to your vulgar. Of this resplendent and dear jewel +of our kingdom,[6] who is nearest to me, great fame has remained, and ere it +die away this hundredth year shall yet come round five times. See if man ought +to make himself excellent, so that the first may leave another life! And this +the present crowd, which the Tagliameuto and the Adige shut in,[7] considers +not; nor yet by being scourged doth it repent. But it will soon come to pass +that at the marsh Padua will discolor the water which bathes Vicenza, because +her people are stubborn against duty.[8] And where the Sile and the Cagnano +unite, one lords it, and goes with his head high, for catching whom the web is +already spun.[9] Feltro will yet weep the crime of its impious shepherd, which +will be so shameful, that, for a like, none ever entered Malta.[10] Too large +would be the vat which would hold the Ferrarese blood, and weary he who should +weigh it, ounce by ounce, which this courteous priest will give to show himself +a partisan;[11] and such gifts will be conformed to the living of the country. +Above are mirrors, ye call them Thrones,[12] wherefrom God shines on us in his +judgments, so that these words seem good to us.”[13] Here she was silent, +and had to me the semblance of being turned elsewhither by the wheel in which +she set herself as she was before.[14] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] That thou, gazing on the mind of God, seest therein my thoughts. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Still unknown by name. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The March of Treviso, lying between Venice (Rialto) and the Alps. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The hill on which stood the little stronghold of Romano, the birthplace of +the tyrant Azzolino, or Ezzolino, whom Dante had seen in Hell (Canto XII.) +punished for his cruel misdeeds, in the river of boiling blood. Cunizza was his +sister. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The sin which has limited the capacity of bliss, the sin which has +determined the low grade in Paradise of Cunizza, is forgiven and forgotten, and +she, like Piccarda, wishes only for that blessedness which she has. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Folco, or Foulquet, of Marseilles, once a famous singer of songs of love, +then a bishop. He died in 1213. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The people of the region where Cunizza lived. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] The Paduan Guelphs, resisting the Emperor, to whom they owed duty, were +defeated more than once, near Vicenza, by Can Grande, during the years in which +Dante was writing his poem. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] The Sile and the Cagnano unite at Treviso, whose lord, Ricciardo da Camino, +was assassinated in 1312. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] An act of treachery on the part of the Bishop and Lord of Feltro, +Alessandro Novello, in delivering up Ghibelline exiles from Ferrara, of whom +thirty were beheaded; a treason so vile that in the tower called Malta, where +ecclesiastics who committed capital crimes were imprisoned, no such crime as +his was ever punished. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] That is, of the Guelphs, by whom the designation of The Party was +appropriated. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] The Thrones were, according to St. Gregory, that order of Angels through +whom God executes his judgments. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] Because we see reflected from the Thrones the judgment of God above to +fall on the guilty. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[14] See Canto VIII., near the beginning. +</p> + +<p> +The next joy, which was already known to me as an illustrious thing,[1] became +to my sight like a fine ruby whereon the sun should strike. Through joy +effulgence is gained there on high, even as a smile here; but below[2] the +shade darkens outwardly, as the mind is sad. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] By the words of Cunizza. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] In Hell. +</p> + +<p> +“God sees everything, and thy vision, blessed spirit, is in Him,” +said I, “so that no wish can steal itself away from thee. Thy voice, +then, that ever charms the heavens, with the song of those pious fires which +make a cowl for themselves with their six wings,[1] why does it not satisfy my +desires? Surely I should not wait for thy request if I in-theed myself, as thou +thyself in-meest.”[2] “The greatest deep in which the water +spreads,”[3] began then his words, “except of that sea which +garlands the earth, between its discordant shores stretches so far counter to +the sun, that it makes a meridian where first it was wont to make the +horizon.[4] I was a dweller on the shore of that deep, between the Ebro and the +Magra,[5] which, for a short way, divides the Genoese from the Tuscan. With +almost the same sunset and the same sunrise sit Buggea and the city whence I +was, which once made its harbor warm with its own blood.[6] That people to whom +my name was known called me Folco, and this heaven is imprinted by me, as I was +by it. For the daughter of Belus,[7] harmful alike to Sichaeus and Creusa, +burned not more than I, so long as it befitted my hair;[8] nor she of Rhodopea +who was deluded by Demophoon;[9] nor Alcides when he had enclosed Iole in his +heart.[10] Yet one repents not here, but smiles, not for the fault which +returns not to the memory, but for the power which ordained and foresaw. Here +one gazes upon the art which adorns so great a work, and the good is discerned +whereby the world above turns that below. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Seraphim, who with their wings cover their faces. See Isaiah, vi. 2. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] If I saw thee inwardly as thou seest me. Dante invents the words he uses +here, and they are no less unfamiliar in Italian than in English. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Mediterranean. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] According to the geography of the time the Mediterranean stretched from +east to west ninety degrees of longitude. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Between the Ebro in Spain and the Magra in Italy lies Marseilles, under +almost the same meridian as Buggea (now Bougie) on the African coast. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] When the fleet of Caesar defeated that of Pompey with its contingent of +vessels and soldiers of Marseilles, B. C. 49. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Dido. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Till my hair grew thin and gray. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Phyllis, daughter of the king of Thrace, who hung herself when deserted by +Demophoon, the son of Theseus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] The excess of the love of Hercules for Iole led to his death. +</p> + +<p> +“But in order that thou mayst bear away satisfied all thy wishes which +have been born in this sphere, it behoves me to proceed still further. Thou +wouldst know who is in this light, which beside me here so sparkles, as a +sunbeam on clear water. Now know that therewithin Rahab[1] is at rest, and +being joined with our order it is sealed by her in the supreme degree. By this +heaven in which the shadow that your world makes comes to a point[2] she was +taken up before any other soul at the triumph of Christ. It was well befitting +to leave her in some heaven, as a palm of the high victory which was won with +the two hands,[3] because she aided the first glory of Joshua within the Holy +Land, which little touches the memory of the Pope. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “By faith the harlot Rabab perished not with them that believed +not.”—Hebrews, xi. 31. See Joshua, ii. 1-21; vi. 17; James, ii. 25. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The conical shadow of the earth ended, according to Ptolemy, at the heaven +of Venus. Philalethes suggests that there may be here an allegorical meaning, +the shadow of the earth being shown in feebleness of will, worldly ambition, +and inordinate love, which have allotted the souls who appear in these first +heavens to the lowest grades in Paradise. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Nailed to the cross. The glory of Joshua was the winning of the Holy Land +for the inheritance of the children of Israel. +</p> + +<p> +“Thy city, which is plant of him who first turned his back on his Maker, +and whose envy[1] has been so bewept, produces and scatters the accursed +flower[2] which has led astray the sheep and the lambs, because it has made a +wolf of the shepherd. For this the Gospel and the great Doctors are deserted, +and there is study only of the Decretals,[3] as is apparent by their margins. +On this the Pope and the Cardinals are intent; their thoughts go not to +Nazareth, there where Gabriel spread his wings. But the Vatican, and the other +elect parts of Rome, which have been the burial place for the soldiery that +followed Peter, shall soon be free from this adultery.”[4] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Through envy of the devil came death into the +world.”—Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 24. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The lily on its florin. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The books of the Ecclesiastical Law. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] By the removal in 1305 of the Papal Court to Avignon. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.X"></a>CANTO X.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Ascent to the Sun.—Spirits of the wise, and the learned in +theology.—St. Thomas Aquinas.—He names to Dante those who surround +him. +</p> + +<p> +Looking upon His Son with the Love which the one and the other eternally +breathe forth, the Primal and Ineffable Power made everything which revolves +through the mind or through space with such order that he who contemplates it +cannot be without taste of Him.[1] Lift then thy sight, Reader, with me to the +lofty wheels, straight to that region where the one motion strikes on the +other;[2] and there begin to gaze with delight on the art of that Master who +within Himself so loves it that His eye never departs from it. See how from +that point the oblique circle which bears the planets[3] branches off, to +satisfy the world which calls on them;[4] and if their road had not been bent, +much virtue in the heavens would be in vain, and well-nigh every potency dead +here below.[5] And if from the straight line its departure had been more or +less distant, much of the order of the world, both below and above, would be +defective. Now do thou remain, Reader, upon thy bench,[6] following in thought +that which is fore. tasted, if thou wouldst be glad far sooner than weary. I +have set before thee; henceforth feed thee by thyself, for that theme whereof I +have been made scribe wrests all my care unto itself. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] All things, as well the spiritual and invisible objects of the intelligence +as the corporal and visible objects of sense, were made by God the Father, +operating through the Son, with the love of the Holy Spirit, and made in such +order that he who contemplates the creation beholds the partial image of the +Creator. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] At the equinox, the season of Dante's journey, the sun in Aries is at the +intersection of the ecliptic and the equator of the celestial sphere, and his +apparent motion in his annual revolution cuts the apparent diurnal motion of +the fixed stars, which is performed in circles parallel to the equator. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The ecliptic. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Which invokes their influence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Because on the obliquity of their path depends the variety of their +influence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] As a scholar. +</p> + +<p> +The greatest minister of nature, which imprints the world with the power of the +heavens, and with its light measures the time for us, in conjunction with that +region called to mind above, was circling through the spirals in which from day +to day he earlier presents himself.[1] And I was with him; but of the ascent I +was not aware, otherwise than as a man is aware, before his first thought, of +its coming. Beatrice is she who thus conducts from good to better so swiftly +that her act extends not through time. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In that spiral course in which, according to the Ptolemaic system, the sun +passes from the equator to the tropic of Cancer, rising earlier every day. +</p> + +<p> +How lucent of itself must that have been which, within the sun where I entered, +was appareiit not by color but by light! Though I should call on genius, art, +and use, I could not tell it so that it could ever be imagined; but it may be +believed, and sight of it longed for. And if our fancies are low for such +loftiness, it is no marvel, for beyond the sun was never eye could go. Such[1] +was here the fourth family of the High Father, who always satisfies it, showing +how He breathes forth, and how He begets.[2] And Beatrice began, “Thank, +thank thou the Sun of the Angels, who to this visible one has raised thee by +His grace.” Heart of mortal was never so disposed to devotion, and so +ready, with its own entire pleasure, to give itself to God, as I became at +those words; and all my love was so set on Him that Beatrice was eclipsed in +oblivion. It displeased her not; but she so smiled thereat that the splendor of +her smiling eyes divided upon many things my singly intent mind. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] So lucent, brighter than the sun. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Showing himself in the Holy Spirit and in the Son. +</p> + +<p> +I saw many living and surpassing effulgences make a centre of us, and make a +crown of themselves, more sweet in voice than shining in aspect. Thus girt we +sometimes see the daughter of Latona, when the air is pregnant so that it holds +the thread which makes the girdle.[1] In the court of Heaven, wherefrom I +return, are found many jewels so precious and beautiful that they cannot be +brought from the kingdom, and of these was the song of those lights. Who wings +not himself so that he may fly up thither, let him await the tidings thence +from the dumb. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] When the air is so full of vapor that it forms a halo. +</p> + +<p> +After those burning suns, thus singing, had circled three times round about us, +like stars near fixed poles, they seemed to me as ladies not loosed from a +dance, but who stop silent, listening till they have caught the new notes. And +within one I heard begin, “Since the ray of grace, whereby true love is +kindled, and which thereafter grows multiplied in loving, so shines on thee +that it conducts thee upward by that stair upon which, without reascending, no +one descends, he who should deny to thee the wine of his flask for thy thirst, +would not be more at liberty than water which descends not to the sea.[1] Thou +wishest to know with what plants this garland is enflowered, which, round about +her, gazes with delight upon the, beautiful Lady who strengthens thee for +heaven. I was of the lambs of the holy flock[2] which Dominic leads along the +way where one fattens well if he stray not.[3] This one who is nearest to me on +the right was my brother and master; and he was Albert of Cologne,[4] and I +Thomas of Aquino. If thus of all the rest thou wishest to be informed, come, +following my speech, with thy sight circling around upon the blessed chaplet. +That next flaming issues from the smile of Gratian, who so assisted one court +and the other that it pleases in Paradise.[5] The next, who at his side adorns +our choir, was that Peter who, like the poor woman, offered his treasure to +Holy Church.[6] The fifth light, which is most beautiful among us,[7] breathes +from such love, that all the world there below is greedy to know tidings of +it.[8] Within it is the lofty mind, wherein wisdom so profound was put, that, +if the truth is true, to see so much no second has arisen.[9] At his side thou +seest the light of that candle, which, below in the flesh, saw most inwardly +the angelic nature, and its ministry.[10] In the next little light smiles that +advocate of the Christian times, with whose discourse Augustine provided +himself.[11] Now if thou leadest the eye of the mind, following my praises, +from light to light, thou remainest already thirsting for the eighth. +Therewithin, through seeing every good, the holy soul rejoices which makes the +deceit of the world manifest to whoso hears him well.[12] The body whence it +was hunted out lies below in Cieldauro,[13] and from martyrdom and from exile +it came unto this peace. Beyond thou seest flaming the burning breath of +Isidore, of Bede, and of Richard who in contemplation was more than man.[14] +The one from whom thy look returns to me is the light of a spirit to whom in +grave thoughts death seemed to come slow. It is the eternal light of +Sigier,[15] who reading in the Street of Straw syllogized truths which were +hated.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] He would be restrained against his nature, as water prevented from flowing +down to the sea. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Of the Order of St. Dominic. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Where one acquires spiritual good, if he be not distracted by the +allurement of worldly things. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The learned Doctor, Albertus Magnus. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Gratian was an Italian Benedictine monk, who lived in the 12th century, and +compiled the famous work known as the Decretum Gratiani, composed of texts of +Scripture, of the Canons of the Church, of Decretals of the Popes, and of +extracts from the Fathers, designed to show the agreement of the civil and +ecclesiastical law,—a work pleasing in Paradise because promoting concord +between the two authorities. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Peter Lombard, a theologian of the 12th century, known as Magister +Sententiarum, from his compilation of extracts relating to the doctrines of the +Church, under the title of Sententiarum Libri IV. In the proem to his work he +says that he desired, “like the poor widow, to cast something from his +penury into the treasury of the Lord.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Solomon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] It was matter of debate whether Solomon was among the blessed or the +damned. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] “Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that +there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like +unto thee.”—1 Kings, iii. 12. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] Dionysius the Areopagite, the disciple of St. Paul (Acts, xvii. 34), to +whom was falsely ascribed a book of great repute, written in the fourth +century, “ On the Celestial Hierarchy.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Paulus Orosius, who wrote his History against the Pagans, at the request +of St. Augustine, to defend Christianity from the charge brought against it by +the Gentiles of being the source of the calamities which had befallen the Roman +world. His work might be regarded as a supplement to St. Augustine's De +Civitate Dei. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] Boethins, statesman and philosopher. whose work, De Consolatione +Philosophiae, was one of the books held in highest esteem by Dante. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] Boethius, who was put to death in Pavia, in 524, was buried in the church +of S. Pietro in Ciel d' Oro—St. Peter's of the Golden Ceiling. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[14] Isidore, bishop of Seville, died 636; the Venerable Bede, died 735; +Richard, prior of the Monastery of St. Victor, at Paris, a mystic of the 12th +century; all eminent theologians. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[15] Sigier of Brabant, who lectured, applying logic to questions in theology, +at Paris, in the 13th century, in the Rue du Fouarre. +</p> + +<p> +Then, as a horologe which calls us at the hour when the Bride of God[1] rises +to sing matins to her Bridegroom that he may love her, in which the one part +draws and urges the other, sounding ting! ting! with such sweet note that the +well-disposed spirit swells with love, so saw I the glorious wheel move, and +render voice to voice in concord and in sweetness which cannot be known save +there where joy becomes eternal. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Church. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XI"></a>CANTO XI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Vanity of worldly desires,—St. Thomas Aquinas undertakes to solve two +doubts perplexing Dante.—He narrates the life of St. Francis of Assisi. +</p> + +<p> +O insensate care of mortals, how defective are those syllogisms which make thee +downward beat thy wings! One was going after the Laws, and one after the +Aphorisms,[1] and one following the priesthood, and one to reign by force or by +sophisms, and one to rob, and one to civic business; one, involved in pleasure +of the flesh, was wearying himself, and one was giving himself to idleness, +when I, loosed from all these things, with Beatrice, was thus gloriously +received on high in Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, meaning here, the study of medicine. +</p> + +<p> +When each[1] had returned unto that point of the circle at which it was at +first, it stayed, as a candle in a candlestick. And within that light which +first had spoken to me I heard, as smiling it began, making itself more clear, +“Even as I am resplendent with its radiance, so, looking into the Eternal +Light, I apprehend whence thou drawest the occasion of thy thoughts. Thou art +perplexed, and hast the wish that my speech be bolted again in language so open +and so plain that it may be level to thy sense, where just now I said, 'where +well one fattens,' and there where I said, 'the second has not been born;' and +here is need that one distinguish well. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Each of the lights which had encircled. Beatrice and Dante. +</p> + +<p> +“The Providence which governs the world with that counsel, in which every +created vision is vanquished ere it reach the depth, in order that the bride[1] +of Him, who with loud cries espoused her with His blessed blood, might go +toward her beloved, secure in herself and also more faithful to Him, ordained +two princes in her favor, who on this side and that should be to her for +guides. The one was all seraphic in ardor,[2] the other, through wisdom, was a +splendor of cherubic light[3] on earth. Of the one I will speak, because both +are spoken of in praising one, whichever be taken, for unto one end were their +works. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Church. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] St. Francis of Assisi +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] St. Dominic. +</p> + +<p> +“Between the Tupino and the water[1] which descends from the hill chosen +by the blessed Ubaldo, hangs the fertile slope of a high mountain, wherefrom +Perugia at Porta Sole[2] feeleth cold and heat, while behind it Nocera and +Gualdo weep because of their heavy yoke.[3] On that slope, where it most breaks +its steepness, rose a Sun upon the world, as this one sometimes does from the +Ganges. Therefore let him who talks of that place not say Ascesi,[4] for he +would speak short, but Orient,[5] if be would speak properly. He was not yet +very far from his rising when he began to make the earth feel some comfort from +his great virtue. For, still a youth, he ran to strife[6] with his father for a +lady such as unto whom, even as unto death, no one unlocks the gate of +pleasure; and before his spiritual court et coram patre[7] to her he had +himself united; thereafter from day to day he loved her more ardently. She, +deprived of her first husband,[8] for one thousand and one hundred years and +more, despised and obscure, had stood without wooing till he came;[9] nor had +it availed[10] to hear, that he, who caused fear to all the world, found her at +the sound of his voice secure with Amyclas;[11] nor had it availed to have been +constant and bold, so that where Mary remained below, she wept with Christ upon +the cross. But that I may not proceed too obscurely, take henceforth in my +diffuse speech Francis and Poverty for these lovers. Their concord and their +glad semblances made love, and wonder, and sweet regard to be the cause of holy +thoughts;[12] so that the venerable Bernard first bared his feet,[13] and ran +following such great peace, and, running, it seemed to him that he was slow. Oh +unknown riches! oh fertile good! Egidius bares his feet and Sylvester bares his +feet, following the bridegroom; so pleasing is the bride. Then that father and +that master goes on his way with his lady, and with that family which the +humble cord was now girding.[14] Nor did baseness of heart weigh down his brow +at being son of Pietro Bernardone,[15] nor at appearing marvellously despised; +but royally he opened his bard intention to Innocent, and received from bim the +first seal for his Order.[16] After the poor people had increased behind him, +whose marvellous life would be better sung in glory of the heavens, the holy +purpose of this archimandrite[17] was adorned with a second crown by the +Eternal Spirit, through Honorius.[18] And when, through thirst for martyrdom, +he had preached Christ and the rest who followed him in the proud presence of +the Sultan,[19] and because he found the people too unripe for conversion, and +in order not to stay in vain, had returned to the fruit of the Italian +grass,[20] on the rude rock,[21] between the Tiber and the Arno, he took from +Christ the last seal,[22] which his limbs bore for two years. When it pleased +Him, who had allotted him to such great good, to draw him up to the reward +which he had gained in making himself abject, he commended his most dear lady +to his brethren as to rightful heirs, and commanded them to love her +faithfully; and from her lap, his illustrious soul willed to depart, returning +to its realm, and for his body he willed no other bier.[23] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Chiassi, which flows from the hill chosen for his hermitage by St. +Ubaldo. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The gate of Perugia, which fronts Monte Subasio, on which Assisi lies, some +fifteen miles to the south. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Towns, southeast of Assisi, oppressed by their rulers. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] So the name Assisi was sometimes spelled, and here with a play on ascesi (I +have risen). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] As the sun at the vernal equinox, the sacred season of the Creation and the +Resurrection, rises in the due east or orient, represented in the geographical +system of the time by the Ganges, so the place where this new Sun of +righteousness arose should be called Orient. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Devoting himself to poverty against his father's will. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Before the Bishop of Assisi, and “in presence of his father,” +he renounced his worldly possessions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Christ. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] St. Francis was born in 1182. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] To procure suitors for her, +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] When Caesar knocked at the door of Amyclas his voice caused no alarm, +because Poverty made the fisherman secure.—Lucan, Pharsalia, V. 515 ff. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] In the hearts of those who behold them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] The followers of Francis imitated him in going barefoot. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[14] The cord for their only girdle. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[15] Perhaps, because his father was neither noble nor famous. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[16] In or about 1210 Pope Innocent III. approved the Rule of St. Francis. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[17] “The head of the fold:” a term of the Greek Church, +designating the head of one or more monasteries. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[18] In 1223, Honorius III. confirmed the sanction of the Order. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[19] Probably the Sultan of Egypt, at the time of the Fifth Crusade, in 1219. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[20] To the harvest of good grain in Italy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[21] Mount Alvernia. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[22] The Stigmata. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[23] St. Francis died in 1226. +</p> + +<p> +“Think now of what sort was he,[1] who was a worthy colleague to keep the +bark of Peter on the deep sea to its right aim; and this was our Patriarch:[2] +wherefore thou canst see that whoever follows him as he commands loads good +merchandise. But his flock has become so greedy of strange food that. it cannot +but be scattered over diverse meadows; and as his sheep, remote and vagabond, +go farther from him, the emptier of milk they return to the fold. Truly there +are some of them who fear the harm, and keep close to the shepherd; but they +are so few that little cloth suffices for their cowls. Now if my words are not +obscure, if thy hearing has been attentive, if thou recallest to mind that +which I have said, thy wish will be content in part, because thou wilt see the +plant wherefrom they are hewn,[3] and thou wilt see how the wearer of the thong +reasons—'Where well one fattens if one does not stray.' +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] How holy he must have been. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] St. Dominic. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The plant of which the words are splinters or chips; in other terms, +“thou wilt understand the whole ground of my assertion, and thou wilt see +what a Dominican, wearer of the leather thong of the Order, means, when he says +that the flock of Dominic fatten, if they stray not from the road on which he +leads them.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XII"></a>CANTO XII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Second circle of the spirits of wise religious men, doctors of the Church and +teachers.—St. Bonaventura narrates the life of St. Dominic, and tells the +names of those who form the circle with him. +</p> + +<p> +Soon as the blessed flame uttered the last word of its speech the holy +mill-stone[1] began to rotate, and had not wholly turned in its gyration before +another enclosed it with a circle, and matched motion with motion, song with +song; song which in those sweet pipes so surpasses our Muses, our Sirens, as a +primal splendor that which it reflects.[2] As two bows parallel and of like +colors are turned across a thin cloud when Juno gives the order to her +handmaid[3] (the outer one born of that within, after the manner of the speech +of that wandering one[4] whom love consumed, as the sun does vapors), and make +the people here presageful, because of the covenant which God established with +Noah concerning the world, that it is nevermore to be flooded; so the two +garlands of those sempiternal roses turned around us, and so the outer +responded to the inner. After the dance and the other great festivity, alike of +the singing and of the flaming, light with light joyous and courteous, had +become quiet together at an instant and with one will (just as the eyes which +must needs together close and open to the pleasure that moves them), from the +heart of one of the new lights a voice proceeded, which made me seem as the +needle to the star in turning me to its place and it began,[5] “The love +which makes me beautiful draws me to speak of the other leader by whom[6] so +well has been spoken here of mine. It is fit that where one is the other be led +in, so that as they served in war with one another, together likewise may their +glory shine. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The garland of spirits encircling Beatrice and Dante. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] As an original ray is brighter than one reflected. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Iris. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Echo. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] It is St. Bonaventura, the biographer of St. Francis, who speaks. He became +General of the Order in 1256, and died in 1276. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] By whom, through one of his brethren. +</p> + +<p> +“The army of Christ, which it had cost so dear to arm afresh,[1] was +moving slow, mistrustful, and scattered, behind the standard,[2] when the +Emperor who forever reigns provided for the soldiery that was in peril, through +grace alone, not because it was worthy, and, as has been said, succored his +Bride with two champions, by whose deed, by whose word, the people gone astray +were rallied. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The elect, who had lost grace through Adam's sin, were armed afresh by the +costly sacirifice of the Son of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Cross. +</p> + +<p> +“In that region where the sweet west wind rises to open the new leaves +wherewith Europe is seen to reclothe herself, not very far from the beating of +the waves behind which, over their long course, the sun sometimes bides himself +to all men, sits the fortunate Callaroga, under the protection of the great +shield on which the Lion is subject and subjugates.[1] Therein was born the +amorous lover of the Christian faith, the holy athlete, benignant to his own, +and to his enemies harsh.[2] And when it was created, his mind was so replete +with living virtue, that in his mother it made her a prophetess.[3] After the +espousals between him and the faith were completed at the sacred font, where +they dowered each other with mutual safety, the lady who gave the assent for +him saw in a dream the marvellous fruit which was to proceed from him and from +his heirs;[4] and in order that he might be spoken of as he was,[5] a spirit +went forth from here[6] to name him with the possessive of Him whose he wholly +was. Dominic[7] he was called; and I speak of him as of the husbandman whom +Christ elected to his garden to assist him. Truly he seemed the messenger and +familiar of Christ; for the first love that was manifest in him was for the +first counsel that Christ gave.[8] Oftentimes was he found by his nurse upon +the ground silent and awake, as though he said, 'I am come for this.' O father +of him truly Felix! Omother of him truly Joan, if this, being interpreted, +means as is said![9] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The shield of Castile, on which two lions and two castles are quartered, +one lion below and one above. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] St. Dominic, born in 1170. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] His mother dreamed that she gave birth to a dog, black and white in color, +with a lighted torch in its mouth, which set the world on fire; symbols of the +black and white robe of the Order, and of the flaming zeal of its brethren. +Hence arose a play of words on their name, Domini cani, “the dogs of the +Lord.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The godmother of Dominic saw in dream a star on the forehead and another on +the back of the head of the child, signifying the light that should stream from +him over East and West. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] That his name might express his nature. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] From heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Dominicus, the possessive of Dominus, “Belonging to the Lord.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] “Sell that thou hast and give to the poor.”—Matthew, xix. +21. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Felix, signifying “happy,” and Joanna, “full of +grace.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not for the world,[1] for which men now toil, following him of Ostia and +Thaddeus,[2] but for the love of the true manna, be became in short time a +great teacher, such that he set himself to go about the vineyard, which quickly +fades if the vinedresser is bad; and of the Seat[3] which was formerly more +benign unto the righteous poor (not through itself but through him who sits +there and degenerates[4]), he asked not to dispense or two or three for six,[5] +not the fortune of the first vacancy, non decimas, quae sunt pauperum Dei,[6] +but leave to fight against the errant world for that seed[7] of which four and +twenty plants are girding thee. Then with doctrine and with will, together with +the apostolic office,[8] he went forth like a torrent which a lofty vein pours +out, and on the heretical stocks his onset smote with most vigor there where +the resistance was the greatest. From him proceeded thereafter divers streams +wherewith the catholic garden is watered, so that its bushes stand more living. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The goods of this world. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Henry of Susa, cardinal of Ostia, who wrote a much studied commentary on +the Decretals, and Thaddeus of Bologna, who, says Giovanni Villani, “was +the greatest physician in Christendom.” The thought is the same as that +at the beginning of Canto XI, where Dante speaks of “one following the +Laws, and one the Aphorisms.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Papal chair. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The grammatical construction is imperfect; the meaning is that the change +in the temper of the see of Rome is due not to the fault of the Church itself, +but to that of the Pope. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Not for license to compound for unjust acquisitions by de. voting a part of +them to pious uses. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] “Not the tithes which belong to God's poor.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The true faith; “the seed is the word of God.”—Luke, +viii. 11. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] The authority conferred on him by Innocent III. +</p> + +<p> +If such was one wheel of the chariot on which the Holy Church defended itself +and vanquished in the field its civil strife,[1] surely the excellence of the +other should be very plain to thee, concerning which Thomas before my coming +was so courteous. But the track which the highest part of its circumference +made is derelict;[2] So that the mould is where the crust was.[3] His +household, which set forth straight with their feet upon his footprints, are so +turned round that they set the forward foot on that behind;[4] and soon the +quality of the barvest of this bad culture shall be seen, when the tare will +complain that the chest is taken from it.[5] Yet I say, he who should search +our volume leaf by leaf might still find a page where he would read, 'I am that +which I am wont:' but it will not be from Casale nor from Acquasparta,[6] +whence such come unto the Written Rule that one flies from it, and the other +contracts it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The heresies within its own borders. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The track made by St. Francis is deserted. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The change of metaphor is sudden; good wine makes a crust, bad wine mould +in the cask. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] They go in an opposite direction from that followed by the saint. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] That it is taken from the chest in the granary to be burned. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Frate Ubertino of Casale, the leader of a party of zealots among the +Franciscans, enforced the Rule of the Order with excessive strictness; Matteo, +of Acquasparta, general of the Franciscans in 1257, relaxed it. +</p> + +<p> +“I am the life of Bonaventura of Bagnoregio, who in great offices always +set sinister[1] care behind me. Illuminato and Augustin are here, who were +among the first barefoot poor that in the cord made themselves friends to God. +Hugh of St. Victor[2] is here with them, and Peter Mangiadore, and Peter of +Spain,[3] who down below shines in twelve books; Nathan the prophet, and the +Metropolitan Chrysostom,[4] and Anselm,[5] and that Donatus[6] who deigned to +set his hand to the first art; Raban[7] is here, and at my side shines the +Calabrian abbot Joachim,[8] endowed with prophetic spirit. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Sinister, that is, temporal. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Hugh (1097-1141), a noted schoolman, of the famous monastery of St. Victor +at Paris. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Peter Mangiador, or Comestor, “the Eater,” so called as being a +devourer of books. He himself wrote books famous in their time. He was +chancellor of the University at Paris, and died in 1198. The Summae logicales +of Peter of Spain, in twelve books, was long held in high repute. He was made +Cardinal Bishop of Tusculum in 1273, and was elected Pope in 1276, taking the +name of John XXI. He was killed in May, 1277, by the fall of the ceiling of the +chamber in which he was sleeping in the Papal palace at Viterbo. He is the only +Pope of recent times whom Dante meets in Paradise. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The famous doctor of the Church, patriarch of Constantinople. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Born about 1033 at Aosta in Piedmont, consecrated Arch. bishop of +Canterbury in 1093, died 1109; magnus et subtilis doctor in theologia.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The compiler of the treatise on grammar (the first of the seven arts of the +Trivium. and the Quadrivium), which was in use throughout the Middle Ages. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, in the ninth century; a great scholar +and teacher, “cui similem suo tempore non habuit Ecelesia.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Joachim, Abbot of Flora, whose mystic prophecies had great vogue. +</p> + +<p> +“The flaming courtesy of Brother Thomas, and his discreet discourse, +moved me to celebrate[1] so great a paladin; and with me moved this +company.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Literally, “to envy;” hence, perhaps, “to admire,” +“to praise,” “to celebrate;” but the meaning is +doubtful. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XIII"></a>CANTO XIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +St. Thomas Aquinas speaks again, and explains the relation of the wisdom of +Solomon to that of Adam and of Christ, and declares the vanity of human +judgment. +</p> + +<p> +Let him imagine,[1] who desires to understand well that which I now saw (and +let him retain the image like a firm rock, while I am speaking), fifteen stars +which in different regions vivify the heaven with brightness so great that it +overcomes all thickness of the air; let him imagine that Wain[2] for which the +bosom of our heaven suffices both night and day, so that in the turning of its +pole it disappears not; let him imagine the mouth of that horn[3] which begins +at the point of the axle on which the primal wheel goes round,—to have +made of themselves two signs in the heavens, like that which the daughter of +Minos made, when she felt the frost of death,[4] and one to have its rays +within the other, and both to revolve in such manner that one should go first +and the other after; and he will have as it were the shadow of the true +constellation, and of the double dance, which was circling the point where I +was; because it is as much beyond our wont as the motion of the heaven which +outspeeds all the rest is swifter than the movement of the Chiana.[5] There was +sung riot Bacchus, not Paean, but three Persons in a divine nature, and it and +the human in one Person. The singing and the revolving completed each its +measure, and those holy lights gave attention to us, making themselves happy +from care to care.[6] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] To form an idea of the brightness of the two circles of spirits, let the +reader imagine fifteen of the brightest separate stars, joined with the seven +stars of the Great Bear, and with the two brightest of the Lesser Bear, to form +two constellations like Ariadne's Crown, and to revolve one within the other, +one following the movement of the other. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Charles's Wain, the Great Bear, which never sets. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Lesser Bear may be imagined as having the shape of a horn, of which the +small end is near the pole of the heavens around which the Primum Mobile +revolves. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] When Ariadne died of grief because of her desertion by Theseus, her garland +was changed into the constellation known as Ariadne's Crown. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The Chiana is one of the most sluggish of the streams of Tuscany. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Rejoicing in the change from dance and song to tranquillity for the sake of +giving satisfaction to Dante. +</p> + +<p> +Then the light in which the marvellous life of the poor man of God had been +narrated to me broke the silence among those concordant deities, and said, +“Since one straw is threshed, since its seed is now garnered, sweet love +invites me to beat out the other. Thou believest that in the breast, wherefrom +the rib was drawn to form the beautiful cheek whose taste costs dear to all the +world, and in that which, pierced. by the lance, both after and before made +such satisfaction that it overcomes the balance of all sin, whatever of light +it is allowed to human nature to have was all infused. by that Power which made +one and the other; and therefore thou wonderest at that which I said above, +when I told that the good which in the fifth light is inclosed had no second. +Now open thine eyes to that which I answer to thee, and thou wilt see thy +belief and my speech become in the truth as the centre in a circle. +</p> + +<p> +“That which dies not and that which can die are naught but the splendor +of that idea which in His love our Lord God brings to birth;[1] for that living +Light which so proceeds from its Lucent Source that It is not disunited from +It, nor from the Love which with them is intrined, through Its own bounty +collects Its radiance, as it were mirrored, in nine subsistences, Itself +eternally remaining one. Thence It descends to the ultimate potentialities, +downward from act to act, becoming such that finally It makes naught save brief +contingencies: and these contingencies I understand. to be the generated things +which the heavens in their motion produce with seed and without.[2] The wax of +these, and that which moulds it, are not of one mode, and therefore under the +ideal stamp it shines now more now less;[3] whence it comes to pass that one +same plant in respect to species bears better or worse fruit, and that ye are +born with diverse dispositions. If the wax were exactly worked,[4] and the +heavens were supreme in their power, the whole light of the seal would be +apparent. But nature always gives it defective,[5] working like the artist who +has the practice of his art and a hand that trembles. Nevertheless if the +fervent Love disposes and imprints the clear Light of the primal Power, +complete perfection is acquired here.[6] Thus of old the earth was made worthy +of the complete perfection of the living being;[7] thus was the Virgin made +impregnate;[8] so that I commend thy opinion that human nature never was, nor +will be, what it was in those two persons. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The creation of things eternal and things temporal alike is the splendid +manifestation of the idea which the triune God, in His love, generated. The +living light in the Son, emanating from its lucent source in the Father, in +union with the love of the Holy Spirit, the three remaining always one, pours +out its radiance through the nine orders of the Angelic Hierarchy, who +distribute it by means of the Heavens of which they axe the Intelligences. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Through the various movements and conjunctions of the Heavens, the creative +light descends to the lowest elements, producing all the varieties of +contingent things. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The material of contingent or temporal things, and the influences which +shape them, are of various sort, so that the splendor of the Divine idea is +visible in them in different degree. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] If the material were always fit to receive the impression. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Nature, the second Cause, never transmits the whole of the Creative light. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] If, however, the first Cause acts directly,—the fervent Love +imprinting the clear Light of the primal Power,—there can be no +imperfection in the created thing; it answers to the Divine idea. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Thus, by the immediate operation of the Creator, the earth of which Adam +was formed was made the perfect material for the f ormation of the creature +with a living soul. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] In like manner, by the direct act of the Creator. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, if I should not proceed further, 'Then how was this man without +peer?' would thy words begin. But, in order that that which is not apparent may +clearly appear, consider who he was, and the occasion which moved him to +request, when it was said to him, 'Ask.' I have not so spoken that thou canst +not clearly see that he was a king, who asked for wisdom, in order that he +might be a worthy king; not to know the number of the motors here on high, or +if necesse with a contingent ever made necesse;[1] non si est dare primum motum +esse,[2] or if in the semicircle a triangle can be made so that it should not +have one right angle.[3] Wherefore if thou notest this and what I said, a +kingly prudence is that peerless seeing, on which the arrow of ray intention +strikes.[4] And if thou directest clear eyes to the 'has arisen' thou wilt see +it has respect only to kings, who are many, and the good are few. With this +distinction[5] take thou my saying, and thus it can stand with that which thou +believest of the first father, and of our Delight.[6] And let this be ever as +lead to thy feet, to make thee move slow as a weary man, both to the YES and to +the NO which thou seest not; for he is very low among the fools who affirms or +denies without distinction, alike in the one and in the other case: because it +happens, that oftentimes the current opinion bends in false direction, and then +the inclination binds the understanding. Far more than vainly does he leave the +bank, since he returns not such as be sets out, who fishes for the truth, and +has not the art;[7] and of this are manifest proofs to the world Parmenides, +Melissus, Bryson,[8] and many others who went on and knew not whither. So did +Sabellius, and Arius,[9] and those fools who were as swords unto the Scriptures +in making their straight faces crooked. Let not the people still be too secure +in judgment, like him who reckons up the blades in the field ere they are ripe. +For I have seen the briar first show itself stiff and wild all winter long, +then bear the rose upon its top. And I have seen a bark ere now ran straight +and swift across the sea through all its course, to perish at last at entrance +of the harbor. Let not dame Bertha and master Martin, seeing one rob, and +another make offering, believe to see them within the Divine counsel:[10] for +the one may rise and the other may fall.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] If from two premises, one necessary and one contingent, a necessary +conclusion is to be deduced. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “If a prime motion is to be assumed,” that is, a motion not the +effect of another. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] He did not ask through idle curiosity to know the number of the Angels; nor +for the solution of a logical puzzle, nor for that of a question in +metaphysics, or of a problem in geometry. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] If thou understandest this comment on my former words, to see so much no +second has arisen,” my meaning will be clear that his vision was +unmatched in respect to the wisdom which it behoves a king to possess. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Thus distinguishing, it is apparent that Solomon is not brought into +comparison, in respect to perfection of wisdom, with Adam or with Christ. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Christ. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Because he returns not only empty-handed, but with his mind perverted. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Heathen philosophers who went astray in seeking for the truth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Sabellius denied the Trinity, Arius denied the Consubstantiality of the +word. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] To understand the mystery of predestination. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XIV"></a>CANTO XIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +At the prayer of Beatrice, Solomon tells of the glorified body of the blessed +after the Last Judgment.—Ascent to the Heaven of Mars.—Souls of the +Soldiery of Christ in the form of a Cross with the figure of Christ +thereon.—Hymn of the Spirits. +</p> + +<p> +From the centre to the rim, and so from the rim to the centre, the water in a +round vessel moves, according as it is struck from without or within. This +which I say fell suddenly into my mind when the glorious life of Thomas became +silent, because of the similitude which was born of his speech and that of +Beatrice, whom after him it pleased thus to begin,[1] “This man has need, +and he tells it not to you, neither with his voice nor as yet in thought, of +going to the root of another truth. Tell him if the light wherewith your +substance blossoms will remain with you eternally even as it is now; and if it +remain, tell how, after you shall be again made visible, it will be possible +that it hurt not your sight.”[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] St. Thomas had spoken from his place in the ring which formed a circle +around Beatrice and Dante; Beatrice now was speaking from the centre where she +stood. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The souls of the blessed are hidden in the light which emanates from them; +after the resurrection of the body they will become visible, but then how will +the bodily eyes endure such brightness? +</p> + +<p> +As, when urged and drawn by greater pleasure, those who are dancing in a ring +with one accord lift their voice and gladden their motions, so, at that prompt +and devout petition, the holy circles showed new joy in their turning and in +their marvellous melody. Whoso laments because man dies here in order to live +thereabove, has not seen here the refreshment of the eternal rain. +</p> + +<p> +That One and Two and Three which ever lives, and ever reigns in Three and Two +and One, uncircumscribed, and circumscribing everything, was thrice sung by +each of those spirits with such a melody that for every merit it would be a +just reward. And I heard in the divinest light of the small circle a modest +voice,[1] perhaps such as was that of the Angel to Mary, make answer, “As +long as the festival of Paradise shall be, so long will our love radiate around +us such a garment. Its brightness follows our ardor, the ardor our vision, and +that is great in proportion as it receives of grace above its own worth. When +the glorious and sanctified flesh shall be put on us again, our persons will be +more pleasing through being all complete; wherefore whatever of gratuitous +light the Supreme Good gives us will be increased,—light which enables us +to see him; so that our vision needs must increase, our ardor increase which by +that is kindled, our radiance increase which comes from this. But even as a +coal which gives forth flame, and by a vivid glow surpasses it, so that it +defends its own aspect,[2] thus this effulgence, which already encircles us, +will be vanquished in appearance by the flesh which all this while the earth +covers. Nor will so great a light be able to fatigue us, for the organs of the +body will be strong for everything which shall have power to delight us.” +So sudden and ready both one and the other choir seemed to me in saying +“Amen,” that truly they showed desire for their dead bodies, +perhaps not only for themselves, but also for their mothers, for their fathers, +and for the others who were dear before they became sempiternal flames. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Probably that of Solomon, who in the tenth Canto is said to be “the +light which is the most beautiful among us.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The coal is seen glowing through the flame. +</p> + +<p> +And lo! round about, of a uniform brightness, arose a lustre, outside that +which was there, like an horizon which is growing bright. And even as at rise +of early evening new appearances begin in the heavens, so that the sight seems +and seems not true, it seemed to me that there I began to see new subsistences, +and a circle forming outside the other two circumferences. O true sparkling of +the Holy Spirit, how sudden and glowing it became to mine eyes, which, +vanquished, endured it not! But Beatrice showed herself to me so beautiful and +smiling that she must be left among those sights which have not followed my +memory. +</p> + +<p> +Thence my eyes regained power to raise themselves again, and I saw myself alone +with my Lady transferred to higher salvation.[1] +</p> + +<p> +That I was more uplifted I perceived clearly by the fiery smile of the star, +which seemed to me ruddier than its wont. With all my heart and with that +speech which is one in all men,[2] I made to God a holocaust such as was +befitting to the new grace; and the ardor of the sacrifice was not yet +exhausted in my breast when I knew that offering had been accepted and +propitious; for with such great glow and such great ruddiness splendors +appeared to me within two rays, that I said, “O Helios,[3] who dost so +array them!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] To a higher grade of blessedness, that of the Fifth Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The unuttered voice of the soul. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Whether Dante forms this word from the Hebrew Eli (my God), or adopts the +Greek {Greek here} (sun), is uncertain. +</p> + +<p> +Even as, marked out by less and greater lights, the Galaxy so whitens between +the poles of the world that it indeed makes the wise to doubt,[1] thus, +constellated in the depth of Mars, those rays made the venerable sign which +joinings of quadrants in a circle make. Here my memory overcomes my genius, for +that Cross was flashing forth Christ, so that I know not to find worthy +comparison. But be who takes his cross and follows Christ will yet excuse me +for that which I omit, when in that brightness he beholds Christ gleaming. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Concerning the GaJaxy philosophers have held different +opinions.”—Convito, 115. +</p> + +<p> +From horn to horn[1] and between the top and the base lights were moving, +brightly scintillating as they met together and in their passing by. Thus +here[2] are seen, straight and athwart, swift and slow, changing appearance, +the atoms of bodies, long and short, moving through the sunbeam, wherewith +sometimes the shade is striped which people contrive with skill and art for +their protection. And as a viol or harp, strung in harmony of many strings, +makes a sweet tinkling to one by whom the tune is not caught, thus from the +lights which there appeared to me a melody was gathered through the Cross, +which rapt me without understanding of the hymn. Truly was I aware that it was +of holy praise, because there came to me “Arise and conquer!” as +unto one who understands not, and yet bears. I was so enamoured therewith that +until then had not been anything which had fettered me with such sweet bonds. +Perchance my word appears too daring, in setting lower the pleasure from the +beautiful eyes, gazing into which my desire has repose. But he who considers +that the living seals[3] of every beauty have more effect the higher they are, +and that I there had not turned round to those eyes, can excuse me for that +whereof I accuse myself in order to excuse myself, and see that I speak truth; +for the holy pleasure is not here excluded, because it becomes the purer as it +mounts. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From arm to arm of the cross. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] On earth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Heavens, which are “the seal of mortal wax” (Canto VIII.), +increase in power as they are respectively nearer the Empyrean, so that the joy +in each, as it is higher up, is greater than in the heavens below. To this time +Dante had felt no joy equal to that afforded him by this song. But a still +greater joy awaited him in the eyes of Beatrice, to which, since he entered the +Fifth Heaven, he had not turned, but which there, as elsewhere, were to afford +the supreme delight. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XV"></a>CANTO XV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Dante is welcomed by his ancestor, Cacciaguida.—Cacciaguida tells of his +family, and of the simple life of Florence in the old days. +</p> + +<p> +A benign will, wherein the love which righteously inspires always manifests +itself, as cupidity does in the evil will, imposed silence on that sweet lyre, +and quieted the holy strings which the right hand of heaven slackens and draws +tight. How unto just petitions shall those substances be deaf, who, in order to +give me wish to pray unto them, were concordant in silence? Well is it that be +endlessly should grieve who, for the love of thing which endures not eternally, +despoils him of that love. +</p> + +<p> +As, through the tranquil and pure evening skies, a sudden fire shoots from time +to time, moving the eyes which were at rest, and seems to be a star which +changes place, except that from the region where it is kindled nothing is lost, +and it lasts short while, so, from the arm which extends on the right, to the +foot of that Cross, ran a star of the constellation which is resplendent there. +Nor from its ribbon did the gem depart, but through the radial strip it ran +along and seemed like fire behind alabaster. Thus did the pious shade of +Anchises advance (if our greatest Muse merits belief), when in Elysium he +perceived. his son.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “And he (Anchises), when he saw Aeneas advancing to meet him over the +grass, stretched forth both hands eagerly, and the tears poured down his +cheeks, and he cried out, 'Art thou come at length?”—Aeneid, vi. +684-7. +</p> + +<p> +“O sanguis meus! o superinfusa gratia Dei! sicut tibi, cui bis unquam +coeli janua reclusa?”[1] Thus that light; whereat I gave heed to it; then +I turned my sight to my Lady, and on this side and that I was wonderstruck; for +within her eyes was glowing such a smile, that with my own I thought to touch +the depth of my grace and of my Paradise. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “O blood of mine! O grace of God poured from above! To whom, as to +thee, was ever the gate of Heaven twice opened?” +</p> + +<p> +Then, gladsome to hear and to see, the spirit joined to his beginning things +which I understood not, he spoke so profoundly. Nor did he hide himself to me +by choice, but by necessity, for his conception was set above the mark of +mortals. And when the bow of his ardent affection was so relaxed that his +speech descended towards the mark of our understanding, the first thing that +was understood by me was, “Blessed be Thou, Trinal, and One who in my +offspring art so courteous.” And he went on, “Grateful and long +hunger, derived from reading in the great vouime where white or dark is never +changed,[1] thou hast relieved, my son, within this light in which I speak to +thee, thanks to Her who clothed thee with plumes for the lofty flight. Thou +believest that thy thought flows to me from that which is first; even as from +the unit, if that be known, ray out the five and six. And therefore who I am, +and why I appear to thee more joyous than any other in this glad crowd, thou +askest me not. Thou believest the truth; for the less and the great of this +life gaze upon the mirror in which, before thou thinkest, thou dost display thy +thought. But in order that the sacred Love, in which I watch with perpetual +sight, and which makes me thirst with sweet desire, may be fulfilled the +better, let thy voice, secure, bold, and glad, utter the wish, utter the +desire, to which my answer is already decreed.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In the mind of God, in which there is no change. +</p> + +<p> +I turned me to Beatrice, and she heard before I spoke, and smiled to me a sign +which made the wings to my desire grow: and I began thus: “When the first +Equality appeared to you, the affection and the intelligence became of one +weight for each of you; because the Sun which illumined and warmed you is of +such equality in its heat and in its light that all similitudes are defective. +But will and discourse in mortals, for the reason which is manifest to you, are +diversely feathered in their wings.[1] Wherefore I, who am mortal, feel myself +in this inequality,[2] and therefore I give not thanks, save with my heart, for +thy paternal welcome. Truly I beseech thee, living topaz that dost ingem this +precious jewel, that thou make me content with thy name?” “O leaf +of mine, in whom, while only awaiting, I took pleasure, I was thy root.” +Such a beginning he, answering, made to me. Then he said to me: “He from +whom thy family is named,[3] and who for a hundred years and more has circled +the mountain on the first ledge, was my son and was thy great-grandsire. Truly +it behoves that thou shorten for him his long fatigue with thy works. Florence, +within the ancient circle wherefrom she still takes both tierce and nones,[4] +was abiding in sober and modest peace. She had not necklace nor coronal, nor +dames with ornamented shoes, nor girdle which was more to be looked at than the +person. Not yet did the daughter at her birth cause fear to the father, for the +time and dowry did not evade measure on this side and that.[5] She had not +houses void of families;[6] Sardanapalus had not yet arrived[7] there to show +what can be done in a chamber. Not yet by your Uccellatoio was Montemalo +surpassed, which, as it has been surpassed in its rise, shall be so in its +fall.[8] I saw Bellineoin Berti[9] go girt with leather and bone,[10] and his +dame come from her mirror without a painted face. And I saw them of the Nerli, +and them of the Vecchio,[11] contented with the uncovered skin,[12] and their +dames with the spindle and the distaff. O fortunate women! Every one was sure +of her burial place;[13] and as yet no one was deserted in her bed for +France.[14] One over the cradle kept her careful watch, and, comforting, she +used the idiom which first amuses fathers and mothers. Another, drawing the +tresses from her distaff, told tales to her household of the Trojans, and of +Fiesole, and of Rome.[15] A Cianghella,[16] a Lapo Salterello would then have +been held as great a marvel as Cincinnatus or Cornelia would be now. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] But will and the discourse of reason, corresponding to affection and +intelligence, are unequal in mortals, owing to their imperfection. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Which makes it impossible for me to give full expression to my gratitude +and affection. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Alighiero, from whom, it would appear from his station in Purgatory, Dante +inherited the sin of pride, as well as his name. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The bell of the church called the Badia, or Abbey, which stood within the +old walls of Florence, rang daily the hours for worship, and measured the time +for the Florentines. Tierce is the first division of the canonical hours of the +day, from six to nine; nones, the third, from twelve to three. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] They were not married so young as now, nor were such great dowries required +for them. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Palaces too large for their occupants, built for ostentation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The luxury and effeminacy of Sardanapalus were proverbial. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Not yet was the view from Montemalo, or Monte Mario, of Rome in its +splendor surpassed by that of Florence from the height of Uccellatoio; and the +fall of Florence shall be greater even than that of Rome. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Bellincion Berti was “an honorable citizen of Florence,” says +Giovanni Villani; “a noble soldier,” adds Benvenuto da Imola. He +was father of the “good Gualdrada.” See Hell, XVI. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] With a plain leathern belt fastened with a clasp of bone. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Two ancient and honored families. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] Clothed in garments of plain dressed skin not covered with cloth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] Not fearing to die in exile. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[14] Left by her husband seeking fortune in France, or other for. eign lands. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[15] These old tales may be read in the first book of Villani's Chronicle. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[16] “Mulier arrogantissima et intolerabilis . . . multum lubrice +vixit,” says Benvenuto da Imola, who describes Lapo Salterello as +temerarius et pravus civis, vir litigiosus et linguosus.” +</p> + +<p> +“To such a tranquil, to such a beautiful life of citizens, to such a +trusty citizenship, to such a sweet inn, Mary, called on with loud cries,[1] +gave me; and in your ancient Baptistery I became at once a Christian and +Cacciaguida. Moronto was my brother, and Eliseo; my dame came to me from the +valley of the Po, and thence was thy surname. Afterward I followed the emperor +Conrad.[2] and he belted me of his soldiery,[3] so much by good deeds did I +come into his favor. Following him I went against the iniquity of that law[4] +whose people usurp your right,[5] though fault of the shepherd. There by that +base folk was I released from the deceitful world, the love of which pollutes +many souls, and I came from martyrdom to this peace.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Virgin, called on in the pains of childbirth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Conrad III. of Suabia. In 1143 he joined in the second Crusade. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Made me a belted knight. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The law of Mahomet. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The Holy Land, by right belonging to the Christians. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XVI"></a>CANTO XVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The boast of blood.—Cacciaguida continues his discourse concerning the +old and the new Florence. +</p> + +<p> +O thou small nobleness of our blood! If thou makest folk glory in thee down +here, where our affection languishes, it will nevermore be a marvel to me; for +there, where appetite is not perverted, I mean in Heaven, I myself gloried in +thee. Truly art thou a cloak which quickly shortens, so that, if day by day it +be not pieced, Time goeth round about it with his shears. +</p> + +<p> +With the YOU,[1] which Rome first tolerated, in which her family least +perseveres,[2] my words began again. Whereat Beatrice, who was a little +withdrawn,[3] smiling, seemed like her[4] who coughed at the first fault that +is written of Guenever. I began, “You are my father, you give me all +confidence to speak; you lift me so that I am more than I. Through so many +streams is my mind filled with gladness that it makes of itself a joy, in that +it can bear this and not burst.[5] Tell me then, beloved first source of me, +who were your ancestors, and what were the years that were numbered in your +boyhood. Tell me of the sheepfold of St. John,[6] how large it was then, and +who were the people within it worthy of the highest seats.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The plural pronoun, used as a mark of respect. This usage was introduced in +the later Roman Empire. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Romans no longer show respect to those worthy of it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Beatrice stands a little aside, theology having no part in this colloquy. +She smiles, not reproachfully, at Dante's vainglory. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The Dame de Malehault, who coughed at seeing the first kiss given by +Lancelot to Guenever. The incident is not told in any of the printed versions +of the Romance of Lancelot, but it has been found by Mr. Paget Toynbee in +several of the manuscripts. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Rejoices that it has capacity to endure such great joy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Florence, whose patron saint was St. John the Baptist. +</p> + +<p> +As a coal quickens to flame at the blowing of the winds, so I saw that light +become resplendent at my blandishments, and as it became more beautiful to my +eyes, so with voice more dulcet and soft, but not with this modern speech, it +said to me, “From that clay on which Ave was said, unto the birth in +which my mother, who. now is sainted, was lightened of me with whom she was +burdened, this fire had come to its Lion[1] five hundred, fifty, and thirty +times to reinflame itself beneath his paw.[2] My ancestors and I were born in +the place where the last ward is first found by him who runs in your annual +game.[3] Let it suffice to hear this of my elders. Who they were, and whence +they came thither, it is more becoming to leave untold than to recount. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1]—Mars<br/> + +As he glow'd like a ruddy shield on the Lion's breast.—Maud, part III. +The Lion is the sign Leo in the Zodiac, appropriate to Mars by supposed +conformity of disposition. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Five hundred and eighty revolutions of Mars are accomplished in a little +more than ten hundred and ninety years. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The place designated was the boundary of the division of the city called +that of “the Gate of St. Peter,” where the Corso passes by the +Mercato Vecchio or Old Market. The races were run along the Corso on the 24th +June, the festival of St. John the Baptist. +</p> + +<p> +“All those able to bear arms who at that time were there, between Mars +and the Baptist,[1] were the fifth of them who are living. But the citizenship, +which is now mixed with Campi and with Certaldo and with Figghine,[2] was to be +seen pure in the lowest artisan. Oh, how much better it would be that those +folk of whom I speak were neighbors, and to have your confine at Galluzzo and +at Trespiano,[3] than to have them within, and to endure the stench of the +churl of Aguglione,[4] and of him of Signa, who already has his eye sharp for +barratry! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Between the Ponte Vecchio, at the head of which stood the statue of Mars, +and the Baptistery,—two points marking the circuit of the ancient walls. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Small towns not far from Florence, from which, as from many others, there +had been emigration to the thriving city, to the harm of its own people. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] It would have been better to keep these people at a distance, as neighbors, +and to have narrow bounds for the territory of the city. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The churl of Aguglione was, according to Benvenuto da Imola, a lawyer named +Baldo, “qui fuit magnus canis.” He became one of the priors of +Florence in 1311. He of Signa is supposed to have been one Bonifazio, who, says +Buti, “sold his favors and offices.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the people which most degenerates in the world[1] had not been as a +stepdame unto Caesar, but like a mother benignant to her son, there is one now +a Florentine[2] who changes money and traffics, who would have returned to +Simifonti, there where his grandsire used to go begging. Montemurlo would still +belong to its Counts, the Cerchi would be in the parish of Acone, and perhaps +the Buondelmonti in Valdigreve.[3] The confusion of persons has always been the +beginning of the harm of the city, as in the body the food which is added.[4] +And a blind bull falls more headlong than the blind lamb; and oftentimes one +sword cuts more and better than five. If thou regardest Luni and Urbisaglia,[5] +how they have gone, and how Chiusi and Sinigaglia are going their way after +them, to hear how families are undone will not appear to thee a strange thing +or a bard, since cities have their term.[6] Your things all have their death +even as ye; but it is concealed in some that last long, while lives are short. +And as the revolution of the heaven of the Moon covers and uncovers the shores +without a pause, so fortune does with Florence. Wherefore what I shall tell of +the high Florentines, whose fame is hidden by time, should not appear to thee a +marvellous thing. I saw the Ughi, and I saw the Catellini, Filippi, Greci, +Ormanni, and Alberichi, even in their decline, illustrious citizens; and I saw, +as great as they were old, with those of the Sannella, those of the Area, and +Soldanieri, and Ardinghi, and Bostiebi.[7] Over the gate which at present is +laden with new felony[8] of such weight that soon there will be jettison from +the bark,[9] were the Ravignani, from whom the Count Guido is descended,[10] +and whosoever since has taken the name of the high Bellincione. He of the +Pressa knew already bow one needs to rule, and Galigaio already had in his +house the gilded hilt and pummel.[11] Great were already the column of the +Vair,[12] the Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, and Barucci, and Galli, and they who +blush for the bushel.[13] The stock from which the Calfucci sprang was already +great, and already the Sizii. and Arrigucci had been drawn to curule +chairs.[14] Oh how great did I see those who have been undone by their +pride![15] and the balls of gold[16] made Florence flourish with all their +great deeds. So did the fathers of those who always,when your church is vacant, +become fat, staying in consistory.[17] The overweening race which is as a +dragon behind him who flies, and to him who shows tooth or purse is gentle as a +lamb,[18] already was coming up, but from small folk, so that it pleased not +Ubertin Donato that his father-in-law should afterwards make him their +relation.[19] Already had Caponsacco descended into the market place down from +Fiesole, and already was Giuda a good citizen, and Infangato.[20] I will tell a +thing incredible and true: into the little circle one entered by a gate which +was named for those of the Pear.[21] Every one who bears the beautiful ensign +of the great baron[22] whose name and whose praise the feast of Thomas revives, +from him had knighthood and privilege; although to-day he who binds it with a +border unites himself with the populace.[23] Already there were Gualterotti and +Importuni; and Borgo[24] would now be more quiet, if they had gone hung for new +neighbors. The house of which was born your weeping,[25] through its just +indignation which has slain you, and put an end to your glad living, was +honored, both itself and its consorts. O Buondelmonte, how ill didst thou flee +its nuptials through the persuasions of another! [26] Many would be glad who +now are sorrowful, if God had conceded thee to the Ema[27] the first time that +thou camest to the city. But it behoved that Florence in her last peace should +offer a victim to that broken stone which guards the bridge.[28] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] If the clergy had not quarrelled with the Emperor, bringing about factions +and disturbances in the world. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “I have not discovered who this is,” says Buti. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Conti Guidi had been compelled to sell to the Florentines their +stronghold of Montemurlo, because they could not defend it from the Pistoians. +The Cerchi and the Buondelmonti had been forced by the Florentine Commune to +give up their fortresses and to take up their abode in the city, where they +became powerful, and where the bitterness of intestine discord and party strife +had been greatly enhanced by their quarrels. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Food added to that already in process of digestion. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Cities once great, now fallen. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Cities longer-lived than families. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] All once great families, but now extinct, or fallen. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Above the gate of St. Peter rose the walls of the abode of the Cerchi, the +head of the White faction. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] The casting overboard was the driving out of the leaders of the Whites in +1302. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] The Count Guido married Gualdrada, the daughter of Bellincione Berti. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Symbols of knighthood; the use of gold in their accoutrements being +reserved for knights. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] The family of the Pigli, whose scatcheon was, in heraldic terms, gules, a +pale, vair; in other words, a red shield divided longitudinally by a stripe of +the heraldic representation of the fur called vair. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] The Chiaramontesi, one of whom in the old days, being the officer in +charge of the sale of salt for the Commune, had cheated both the Commune and +the people by using a false measure. See Purgatory, Canto XII. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[14] To high civic office. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[15] The Uberti, the great family of which Farinata was the most renowned +member. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[16] The Lamberti, who bore golden balls on their shields. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[17] The Visdomini, patrons of the Bishopric of Florence, who, after the death +of a bishop, by deferring the appointment of his successor grew fat on the +episcopal revenues. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[18] The Adimari. Benvenuto da Imola reports that one Boccacino Adimari, after +Dante's banishment, got possession of his property, and always afterward was +his bitter enemy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[19] Ubertin Donato married a daughter of Bellincion Berti, and was displeased +that her sister should afterwards be given to one of the Adimari. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[20] There seems to be a touch of humor in these three names of “Head in +bag,” “Judas,” and “Bemired.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[21] The Peruzzi, who bore the pear as a charge upon their scutcheon. The +incredible thing may have been that the people were so simple and free from +jealousy as to allow a public gate to bear the name of a private family. The +“little circle” was the circle of the old walls. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[22] Hugh, imperial vicar of Tuscany in the time of Otho II. and Otho III. He +died on St. Thomas's Day, December 21st, 1006, and was buried in the Badia, the +foundation of which is ascribed to him; there his monument is still to be seen, +and there of old, on the anniversary of his death, a discourse in his praise +was delivered. Several families, whose heads were knighted by him, adopted his +arms, with some distinctive addlition. His scutcheon was paly of four, argent +and gules. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[23] Giano della Bella, the great leader of the Florentine commonalty in the +latter years of the 13th century. He bore the arms of Hugh with a border of +gold. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[24] The Borgo Sant' Apostolo, the quarter of the city in which these families +lived, would have been more tranquil if the Buondelmonti had not come to take +up their abode in it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[25] The Amidei, who were the source of much of the misery of Florence, through +their long and bitter feud with the Buondelmonti, by which the whole city was +divided. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[26] The quarrel between the Amidei and the Buondelmonti arose from the +slighting by Buondelmonto dei Buondelmonti of a daughter of the former house, +to whom he was betrothed, for a daughter of the Donati, induced thereto by her +mother. This was in 1215. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[27] The Ema, a little stream that has to be crossed in coming from Montebuono, +the home of the Buondelmonti, to Florence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[28] That victim was Buondelmonte himself, slain by the outraged Amidei, at the +foot of the mutilated statue of Mars, which stood at the end of the Ponte +Vecchio. +</p> + +<p> +“With these families, and with others with them, I saw Florence in such +repose that she had no occasion why she should weep. With these families I saw +her people so glorious and so just, that the lily was never set reversed upon +the staff, nor had it been made blood-red by division.”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The banner of Florence had never fallen into the hands of her enemies, to +be reversed by them in scoff. Of old it had borne a white lily in a red field, +but in 1250, when the Ghibellines were expelled, the Guelphs adopted a red lily +in a white field, and this became the ensign of the Commune. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XVII"></a>CANTO XVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Dante questions Cacciaguida as to his fortunes.—Cacciaguida replies, +foretelling the exile of Dante, and the renown of his Poem. +</p> + +<p> +As he who still makes fathers chary toward their sons[1] came to Clymene, to +ascertain concerning that which he had heard against himself; such was I, and +such was I perceived to be both by Beatrice, and by the holy lamp which first +for my sake had changed its station. Whereon my Lady said to me, “Send +forth the flame of thy desire so that it may issue sealed well by the internal +stamp; not in order that our knowledge may increase through thy speech, but +that thou accustom thyself to tell thy thirst, so that one may give thee +drink.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Phaethon, son of Clymene by Apollo, having been told that Apollo was not +his father, went to his mother to ascertain the truth. +</p> + +<p> +“O dear plant of me, who so upliftest thyself that, even as earthly minds +see that two obtuse angles are not contained in a triangle, so thou, gazing +upon the point to which all times are present, seest contingent things, ere in +themselves they are; while I was conjoined with Virgil up over the mountain +which cures the souls, and while descending in the world of the dead, grave +words were said to me of my future life; although I feel myself truly +four-square against the blows of chance. Wherefore my wish would be content by +hearing what sort of fortune is drawing near me; for arrow foreseen comes more +slack.” Thus said I unto that same light which before had spoken to me, +and as Beatrice willed was my wish confessed. +</p> + +<p> +Not with ambiguous terms in which the foolish folk erst were entangled,[1] ere +yet the Lamb of God which taketh away sins had been slain, but with clear words +and with distinct speech that paternal love, hid and apparent by his own proper +smile, made answer: “Contingency, which extends not outside the volume of +your matter, is all depicted in the eternal aspect. Therefrom, however, it +takes not necessity, more than from the eye in which it is mirrored does a ship +which descends with the downward current. Thence, even as sweet harmony comes +to the ear from an organ, comes to my sight the time that is preparing for +thee. As Hippolytus departed from Athens, by reason of his pitiless and +perfidious stepmother, so out from Florence thou must needs depart. This is +willed, this is already sought for, and soon it shall be brought to pass, by +him I who designs it there where every day Christ is bought and sold. The blame +will follow the injured party, in outcry, as it is wont; but the vengeance will +be testimony to the truth which dispenses it. Thou shalt leave everything +beloved most dearly; and this is the arrow which the bow of exile first shoots. +Thou shalt prove how the bread of others savors of salt, and how the descending +and the mounting of another's stairs is a hard path. And that which will +heaviest weigh upon thy shoulders will be the evil and foolish company[2] with +which into this valley thou shalt fall; which all ungrateful, all senseless, +and impious will turn against thee; but short while after, it, not thou, shall +have the forehead red therefor. Of its bestiality, its own procedure will give +the proof; so that it will be seemly for thee to have made thyself a party by +thyself. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Not with riddles such as the oracles gave out before they fell silent at +the coming of Christ. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Boniface VIII. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The other Florentine exiles of the party of the Whites. +</p> + +<p> +“Thy first refuge and first inn shall be the courtesy of the great +Lombard,[1] who upon the ladder bears the holy bird, who will turn such benign +regard on thee that, in doing and in asking, between you two, that will be +first, which between others is the slowest. With him shalt thou see one,[2] who +was so impressed, at his birth, by this strong star, that his deeds will be +notable. Not yet are the people aware of him, because of his young age; for +only nine years have these wheels revolved around him. But ere the Gascon cheat +the lofty Henry[3] some sparkles of his virtue shall appear, in caring not for +silver nor for toils. His magnificences shall hereafter be so known, that his +enemies shall not be able to keep their tongues mute about them. Await thou for +him, and for his benefits; by him shall many people be transformed, rich and +mendicant changing condition. And thou shalt bear hence written of him in thy +mind, but thou shalt not tell it;” and he said things incredible to those +who shall be present. Then he added, “Son, these are the glosses on what +was said to thee; behold the ambushes which are bidden behind few revolutions. +Yet would I not that thou bate thy neighbors, because thy life hath a future +far beyond the punishment of their perfidies.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[[1] Bartolommeo della Scala, lord of Verona, whose armorial bearings were the +imperial eagle upon a ladder (scala). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Can Grande della Scala, the youngest brother of Bartolommeo, and finally +his successor as lord of Verona. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Before Pope Clement V., under whom the Papal seat was established at +Avignon, shall deceive the Emperor, Henry VIL, by professions of support, while +secretly promoting opposition to his expedition to Italy in 1310. +</p> + +<p> +When by its silence that holy soul showed it had finished putting the woof into +that web which I had given it warped, I began, as he who, in doubt, longs for +counsel from a person who sees, and uprightly wills, and loves: “I see +well, my Father, how the time spurs on toward me to give me such a blow as is +heaviest to him who most deserts himself; wherefore it is good that I arm me +with foresight, so that if the place most dear be taken from me, I should not +lose the others by my songs. Down through the world of endless bitterness, and +over the mountain from whose fair summit the eyes of my Lady have lifted me, +and afterward through the heavens from light to light, I have learned that +which, if I repeat it, shall be to many a savor keenly sour; and if I am a +timid friend to the truth I fear to lose life among those who will call this +time the olden.” The light, in which my treasure which I had found there +was smiling, first became flashing as a mirror of gold in the sunbeam; then it +replied, “A conscience dark, either with its own or with another's shame, +will indeed feel thy speech as harsh; but nevertheless, all falsehood laid +aside, make thy whole vision manifest, and let the scratching be even where the +itch is; for if at the first taste thy voice shall be molestful, afterwards, +when it shall be digested, it will leave vital nourishment. This cry of thine +shall do as the wind, which heaviest strikes the loftiest summits; and that +will be no little argument of honor. Therefore to thee have been shown within +these wheels, upon the mountain, and in the woeful valley, only the souls which +are known of fame. For the mind of him who bears rests not, nor confirms its +faith, through an example which has its root unknown and hidden, nor by other +argument which is not apparent.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XVIII"></a>CANTO XVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Spirits in the Cross of Mars.—Ascent to the Heaven of +Jupiter.—Words shaped in light upon the planet by the +Spirits.—Denunciation of the avarice of the Popes. +</p> + +<p> +Now was that blessed mirror enjoying alone its own word,[1] and I was tasting +mine, tempering the bitter with the sweet. and that Lady who to God was leading +me said, “Change thy thought; think that I am near to Him who lifts the +burden of every wrong.” I turned me round at the loving sound of my +Comfort, and what love I then saw in the holy eyes, I here leave it; not only +because I distrust my own speech, but because of the memory which cannot return +so far above itself, unless another guide it. Thus much of that moment can I +recount, that, again beholding her, my affection was free from every other +desire. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Its own thoughts in contemplation. +</p> + +<p> +While the eternal pleasure, which was raying directly upon Beatrice, from her +fair face was contenting me with its second aspect,[1] vanquishing me with the +light of a smile, she said to me, “Turn thee, and listen, for not only in +my eyes is Paradise.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Its aspect reflected from the eyes of Beatrice. +</p> + +<p> +As sometimes here one sees the affection in the countenance, if it be so great +that by it the whole soul is occupied, so in the flaming of the holy effulgence +to which I turned me, I recognized the will in it still to speak somewhat with +me. It began, “In this fifth threshold of the tree, which lives from its +top, and always bears fruit, and never loses leaf, are blessed spirits, who +below, before they came to heaven, were of great renown, so that every Muse +would be rich with them. Therefore gaze upon the arms of the Cross; he, whom I +shall name, will there do that which within a cloud its own swift fire +does.” At the naming of Joshua, even as he did it, I saw a light drawn +over the Cross; nor was the word noted by me before the act. And at the name of +the lofty Maccabeus[1] I saw another move revolving, and gladness was the whip +of the top. Thus for Charlemagne and for Roland my attentive gaze followed two +of them, as the eye follows its falcon as be flies. Afterward William, and +Renouard,[2] and the duke Godfrey,[3] and Robert Guiscard[4] drew my sight over +that Cross. Then, moving, and mingling among the other lights, the soul which +had spoken with me showed me how great an artist it was among the singers of +heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Judas Maccabeus, who “ was renowned to the utmost part of the +earth.” See I Maccabees, ii-ix. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Two heroes of romance, paladins of Charlemagne. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the first crusade. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The founder of the Norman kingdom of Naples. +</p> + +<p> +I turned me round to my right side to see my duty signified in Beatrice either +by speech or by act, and I saw her eyes so clear, so joyous, that her semblance +surpassed her other and her latest wont. And even as, through feeling more +delight in doing good, a man from day to day becomes aware that his virtue is +advancing, so I became aware that my circling round together with the heaven +had increased its are, seeing that miracle more adorned. And such as is the +change, in brief passage of time, in a pale lady, when her countenance is +unlading the load of bashfulness, such was there in my eyes, when I had turned, +because of the whiteness of the temperate sixth star which had received, me +within itself.[1] I saw, within that torch of Jove, the sparkling of the love +which was there shape out our speech to my eyes. And as birds, risen from the +river-bank, as if rejoicing together over their food, make of themselves a +troop now round, now of some other shape, so within the lights[2] holy +creatures were singing as they flew, and made of themselves now D, now I, now +L, in their proper shapes.[3] First, singing, they moved to their melody, then +becoming one of these characters, they stopped a little, and were silent. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The change is from the red light of Mars to the white light of Jupiter, a +planet called by astrologers the “temperate” star, as lying between +the heat of Mars and the coldness of Saturn. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The sparkles of the love which was there. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The first letters of Diligite, as shortly appears. +</p> + +<p> +O divine Pegasea,[1] who makest the wits of men glorious, and renderest them +long-lived, as they, through thee, the cities and the kingdoms, illume me with +thyself that I may set in relief their shapes, as I have conceived them I let +thy power appear in these brief verses! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] An appellation appropriate to any one of the Muses (whose fountain +Hippocrene sprang at the stamp of Pegasus); here probably applied to Urania, +already once invoked by the poet (Purgatory, XXIX.). +</p> + +<p> +They showed themselves then in five times seven vowels and consonants; and I +noted the parts as they seemed spoken to me. Diligite justitiam were first verb +and noun of all the picture; qui judicatis terram[1] were the last. Then in the +M of the fifth word they remained arranged, so that Jove seemed silver +patterned there with gold. And I saw other lights descending where the top of +the M was, and become quiet there, singing, I believe, the Good which moves +them to itself. Then, as on the striking of burnt logs rise innumerable sparks, +wherefrom the foolish are wont to draw auguries, there seemed to rise again +thence more than a thousand lights, and mount, one much and one little, +according as the Sun which kindles them allotted them; and, each having become +quiet in its place, I saw the head and the neck of an eagle represented by that +patterned fire. He who paints there, has none who may guide Him, but Himself +guides, and by Him is inspired that virtue which is form for the nests.[2] The +rest of the blessed spirits, which at first seemed content to be enlilied[3] on +the M, with a slight motion followed out the imprint. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the +earth.”—Wisdom of Solomon, i. 1. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The words are obscure; they may mean that a virtue, or instinct, similar to +that which teaches the bird to build its nest, directed the shaping of these +letters. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Ingigliare, a word invented by Dante, and used only by him. The meaning is +that these spirits seemed first to form a lily on the M. +</p> + +<p> +O sweet star, how great gems and how many showed to me that our justice is the +effect of that heaven which thou ingemmest! Wherefore I pray the Mind, in which +thy motion and thy virtue have their source, that It regard whence issues the +smoke which spoils thy radiance, so that now a second time It may be wroth at +the buying and selling within the temple which was walled with signs and +martyrdoms. O soldiery of the Heaven on which I gaze, pray ye for those who are +on earth all gone astray after the bad example! Of old it was the wont to make +war with swords, but now it is made by taking, now here now there, the bread +which the piteous Father locks up from none. +</p> + +<p> +But thou that writest only in order to cancel,[1] bethink thee that Peter and +Paul, who died for the vineyard which thou art laying waste, are still alive. +Thou mayest indeed say, “I have my desire set so on him who willed to +live alone, and for a dance was dragged to martyrdom[2] that I know not the +Fisherman nor Paul.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Pope, who writes censures, excommunications, and the like, only that he +may be paid to cancel thorn. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The image of St. John Baptist was on the florin, which was the chief object +of desire of the Pope. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XIX"></a>CANTO XIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The voice of the Eagle.—It speaks of the mysteries of Divine justice; of +the necessity of Faith for salvation; of the sins of certain kings. +</p> + +<p> +The beautiful image, which in its sweet fruition was making joyful the +interwoven souls, appeared before me with outspread wings. Each soul appeared a +little ruby on which a ray of the sun glowed so enkindled that it reflected him +into My eyes. And that which it now behoves me to describe, no voice ever +reported, nor ink wrote, nor was it ever conceived by the fancy; for I saw, and +also heard the beak speaking, and uttering with the voice both I and MY, when +in conception it was WE and OUR.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] An image of the concordant will of the Just, and of the unity of Justice +under the Empire. +</p> + +<p> +And it began, “Through being just and pious am I here exalted to that +glory which lets not itself be conquered by desire; and on earth I left my +memory such that the evil people there commend it, but continue not its +story.” Thus a single heat makes itself felt from many embers, even as +from many loves a single sound issued from that image. Wherefore I thereon, +“O perpetual flowers of the eternal gladness, which make all your odors +seem to me as only one, deliver me, by your breath, from the great fast which +has held me long in hunger, not finding for it any food on earth. Well I know +that if the Divine Justice makes any realm in heaven its mirror, yours does not +apprehend it through a veil.[1] Ye know how intently I address myself to +listen; ye know what is that doubt[2] which is so old a fast to me.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Here, if anywhere, the Divine Justice is reflected. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Concerning the Divine justice. +</p> + +<p> +As a falcon which, issuing from his hood, moves his head, and claps his wings, +showing desire, and making himself fine; so I saw this ensign, which was woven +of praise of the Divine Grace, become, with songs such as he knows who +thereabove rejoices. Then it began, “He who turned the compasses at the +verge of the world, and distributed within it so much occult and manifest, +could not so imprint His Power on all the universe that His Word should not +remain in infinite excess.[1] And this makes certain that the first proud one, +who was the top of every creature, through not awaiting light, fell +immature.[2] And hence it appears, that every lesser nature is a scant +receptacle for that Good which has no end and measures Itself by Itself. +Wherefore our vision, which needs must be some ray of the Mind with which all +things are full, cannot in its own nature be so potent that it may not discern +its origin to be far beyond that which is apparent to it.[3] Therefore the +sight which your world receives[4] penetrates into the eternal justice as the +eye into the sea; which, though from the shore it can see the bottom, on the +ocean sees it not, and nevertheless it is there, but the depth conceals it. +There is no light but that which comes from the serene which is never clouded; +nay, there is darkness, either shadow of the flesh, or its poison.[5] The +hiding place is now open enough to thee, which concealed from thee the living +Justice concerning which thou madest such frequent question;[6] for thou +saidest,—'A man is born on the bank of the Indus, and no one is there who +may speak of Christ, nor who may read, nor who may write; and all his wishes +and acts are good so far as human reason sees, without sin in life or in +speech. He dies unbaptized, and without faith: where is this Justice which +condemns him? where is his sin if he does not believe?' Now who art thou, that +wouldst sit upon a bench to judge a thousand miles away with the short vision +of a single span? Assuredly, for him who subtilizes with me,[7] if the +Scripture were not above you, there would be occasion for doubting to a marvel. +Oh earthly animals! oh gross minds![8] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Word, that is, the thought or wisdom of God, infinitely exceeds the +expression of it in the creation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Lucifer fell through pride, fancying himself, though a created being, equal +to his Creator. Had he awaited the full light of Divine grace, he would have +recognized his own inferiority. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Our vision is not powerful enough to reach the source from which it +proceeds. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] It is the gift of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] There is no light but that which proceeds from God, the light of +Revelation. Lacking this, man is in the darkness of ignorance, which is in the +shadow of the flesh, or of sin, which is its poison. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The hiding place is the depth of the Divine decrees, which man cannot +penetrate, but the justice of which in his self- confidence he undertakes to +question. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] With me, the symbol of justice. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] The Scriptures teach you that “the judgments of God are unsearchable, +and His ways past finding out;” why, foolish, do ye disregard them? +</p> + +<p> +“The primal Will, which of Itself is good, never is moved from Itself, +which is the Supreme Good. So much is just as is accordant to It; no created +good draws It to itself, but It, raying forth, is the cause of that +good.” +</p> + +<p> +As above her nest the stork circles, after she has fed her brood, and as he who +has been fed looks up at her, such became (and I so raised my brows) the +blessed image, which moved its wings urged by so many counsels. Wheeling it +sang, and said, “As are my notes to thee who understandest them not, so +is the eternal judgment to you mortals.” +</p> + +<p> +After those shining flames of the Holy Spirit became quiet, still in the sign +which made the Romans reverend to the world, it began again, “To this +kingdom no one ever ascended, who had not believed in Christ either before or +after he was nailed to the tree. But behold, many cry Christ, Christ, who, at +the Judgment, shall be far less near to him, than such an one who knew not +Christ; and the Ethiop will condemn such Christians when the two companies +shall be divided, the one forever rich, and the other poor. What will the +Persians be able to say to your kings, when they shall see that volume open in +which are written all their dispraises?[1] There among the deeds of Albert +shall be seen that which will soon set the pen in motion, by which the kingdom +of Prague shall be made desert.[2] There shall be seen the woe which he who +shall die by the blow of a wild boar is bringing upon the Seine by falsifying +the coin.[3] There shall be seen the pride that quickens thirst, which makes +the Scot and the Englishman mad, so that neither can keep within his own +bounds.[4] The luxury shall be seen, and the effeminate living of him of Spain, +and of him of Bohemia, who never knew valor, nor wished it.[5] The goodness of +the Cripple of Jerusalem shall be seen marked with a I, while an M shall mark +the contrary.[6] The avarice and the cowardice shall be seen of him[7] who +guards the island of the fire, where Anchises ended his long life; and, to give +to understand how little worth he is, the writing for him shall be in +contracted letters which shall note much in small space. And to every one shall +be apparent the foul deeds of his uncle and of his brother[8] who have +dishonored so famous a nation and two crowns. And he of Portugal,[9] and he of +Norway[10] shall be known there; and he of Rascia,[11] who, to his harm, has +seen the coin of Venice. O happy Hungary, if she allow herself no longer to be +maltreated! and happy Navarre, if she would arm herself with the mountains +which bind her round![12] And every one must believe that now, for earnest of +this, Nicosia and Famagosta are lamenting and complaining because of their +beast which departs not from the flank of the others.[13] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Persians, who know not Christ, will rebuke the sins of kings +professedly Christians, when the book of life shall be opened at the last +Judgment. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The devastation of Bohemia in 1303, by Albert of Austria (the “German +Albert” of the sixth canto of Purgatory), will soon set in motion the pen +of the recording angel. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] After his terrible defeat at Courtray in 1302, Philip the Fair, to provide +himself with means, debased. the coin of the realm. He died in 1314 from the +effects of a fall from his horse, oven thrown by a wild boar in the forest of +Fontainebleau. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The wars of Edward I. and Edward II. with the Scotch under Wallace and +Bruce were carried on with little intermission during the first twenty years of +the fourteenth century. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] By “him of Spain,” Ferdinand IV. of Castile (1295-1312) seems +to be intended; and by “him of Bohemia,” Wenceslaus IV., +“whom luxury and idleness feed.” (Purgatory, Canto VII.). +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The virtues of the lame Charles II. of Apulia, titular king of Jerusalem, +shall be marked with one, but his vices with a thousand. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Frederick of Aragon, King of Sicily, too worthless to have his deeds +written out in full. Dante's scorn of Frederick was enhanced by his desertion +of the Ghibellines after the death of Henry VII. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] James, King of Majorca and Minorca, and James, King of Aragon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Denis, King of Portugal, 1279-1325. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] Perhaps Hakon Haleggr (Longlegs), 1299-1319. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] Rascia, so called from a Slavonic tribe, which occupied a region south of +the Danube, embracing a part of the modern Servia and Bosnia. The kingdom was +established in 1170. One of its kings, Stephen Ouros, who died in 1307, +imitated the coin of Venice with a debased coinage. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] If she would make the Pyrenees her defence against France, into the hands +of whose kings Navarre fell in 1304. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[13] The lot of these cities in Cyprus, which are now lamenting under the rule +of Henry II. of the Lusignani, a beast who goes along with the rest, is a +pledge in advance of what sort of fate falls to those who do not defend +themselves. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XX"></a>CANTO XX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Song of the Just.—Princes who have loved righteousness, in the eye of +the Eagle.—Spirits, once Pagans, in bliss.—Faith and +Salvation.—Predestination. +</p> + +<p> +When he who illumines all the world, descends from our hemisphere so that the +day on every side is spent, the heavens which erst by him alone are enkindled, +suddenly become again conspicuous with many lights, on which one is shining.[1] +And this act of the heavens came to my mind when the ensign of the world and of +its leaders became silent in its blessed beak; because all those living lights, +far more shining, began songs which lapse and fall from out my memory. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] One, that is, the sun, supposed to be the source of the light of the stars. +</p> + +<p> +O sweet love, that cloakest thee with a smile, how ardent didst thou appear in +those pipes[1] which had the breath alone of holy thoughts! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] That is, in those singers. +</p> + +<p> +After the precious and lucent stones, wherewith I saw the sixth luminary +ingemmed, imposed silence on their angelic bells, I seemed to hear the murmur +of a stream which falls pellucid down from rock to rock, showing the abundance +of its mountain source. And as the sound takes its form at the cithern's neck, +and in like manner at the vent of the bagpipe the air which enters it, thus, +without pause of waiting, that murmur of the Eagle rose up through its neck, as +if it were hollow. There it became voice, and thence it issued through its beak +in form of words, such as the heart whereon I wrote them was awaiting. +</p> + +<p> +“The part in me which in mortal eagles sees and endures the sun,” +it began to me, “must now be fixedly looked upon, because of the fires +whereof I make my shape, those wherewith the eye in my head sparkles are the +highest of all their grades. He who shineth in the middle, as the pupil, was +the, singer of the Holy Spirit, who, bore about the ark from town to town.[1] +Now he knows the merit of his song, so far as it was the effect of his own +counsel,[2] by the recompense which is equal to it. Of the five which make a +circle for the brow, be who is nearest to my beak consoled the poor widow for +her son.[3] Now he knows, by the experience of this sweet life and of the +opposite, how dear it costs not to follow Christ. And he who follows along the +top of the are in the circumference of which I speak, by true penitence +postponed death.[4] Now he knows that the eternal judgment is not altered, when +worthy prayer there below makes to-morrow's what is of to-day. The next who +follows,[5] under a good intention which bore bad fruit, by ceding to the +Pastor[6] made himself Greek, together with the laws and me. Now he knows how +the ill derived from his good action is not hurtful to him, although thereby +the world may be destroyed. And he whom thou seest in the down-bent are was +William,[7] whom that land deplores which weeps for Charles and Frederick +living.[8] Now he knows how heaven is enamoured of a just king, and even by the +aspect of his effulgence makes it seen. Who, down in the erring world, would +believe that Rhipeus the Trojan[9] was the fifth in this circle of the holy +lights? Now he knows much of what the world cannot see of the divine grace, +although his sight cannot discern its depth.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] David. See 2 Samuel, vi. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] So far as it proceeded from his own free will, open to the inspiration of +grace. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Trajan. See Purgatory, Canto X. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] King Hezekiah. See 2 Kings, xx. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The Emperor Constantine. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] By his so-called “Donation,” Constantine was believed to have +ceded Rome to the Pope, and by transferring the seat of empire to +Constantinople, he made the laws and the eagle Greek. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] William H., son of Robert Guiscard, King of Sicily and Apulia, called +“the Good.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Charles H. of Apulia, and Frederick of Aragon, King of Sicily. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9]—Rhipeus,iustissimus unus Qui fuit in Teucris et servantissimus +aequi.—Aeneid, ii, 426-7. +</p> + +<p> +“Rhipeus, the one justest man, and heedfullest of right among the +Trojans.” +</p> + +<p> +Like as a little lark that in the air expatiates first singing, and then is +silent, content with the last sweetness which satisfies her, such seemed to me +the image of the imprint of the Eternal Plea, sure, according to whose desire +everything becomes that which it is.[1] And though I was there, in respect to +my doubt,[2] like glass to the color which cloaks it; it[3] endured not to +await the time in silence, but with the force of its own weight urged from my +mouth, “What things are these?” whereat I saw great festival of +sparkling. Thereupon, with its eye more enkindled, the blessed ensign answered +me , in order not to keep me in wondering suspense: “I see that thou +believest these things because I say them, but thou seest not how; so that, +although believed in, they are hidden. Thou dost as one who fully apprehends a +thing by name, but cannot see its quiddity unless another explain it. Regnum +coelorum[4] suffers violence from fervent love, and from a living hope which +vanquishes the divine will; not in such wise as man overcomes man, but +vanquishes it, because it wills to be vanquished, and, vanquished, vanquishes +with its own benignity. The first life of the eyebrow and the fifth make thee +marvel, because thou seest the region of the Angels painted with them. From +their bodies they did not issue Gentiles, as thou believest, but Christians, in +firm faith, one in the Feet that were to suffer, one in the Feet that had +suffered.[5] For the one from Hell, where there is never return to righteous +will, came back to his bones; and that was the reward of living hope; of living +hope, which put its power in prayers made to God to raise him up, so that it +might be possible his will should be moved.[6] The glorious soul, whereof I +speak, returning to the flesh, in which it remained short while, believed in +Him who was able to aid it; and in believing was kindled to such fire of true +love, that at the second death it was worthy to come to this sport. The other, +through grace which distils from a fount so deep that creature never pushed the +eye far as its primal wave, there below set all his love on righteousness; +wherefore from grace to grace God opened his eye to our future redemption, so +that he believed in it, and thenceforth endured no more the stench of paganism, +and reproved therefor the perverse folk. More than a thousand years before +baptizing,[7] those three ladies whom thou sawest at the right wheel[8] were to +him for baptism. O predestination, how remote is thy root from the sight of +those who see not the entire First Cause! And ye, mortals, keep yourselves +restrained in judging; for we who see God know not yet all the elect. And unto +us such want is sweet, for our good is perfected in this good, that what God +wills we also will.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] So, seemed the image (that is, the eagle), satiated with its bliss, whether +in the speech or the silence imposed upon it by the Eternal Pleasure, in +accordance with which all things fulfil their ends. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] How Trajan and Rhipeus could be in Paradise, since none but those who had +believed in Christ were there. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] My doubt. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The kingdom of Heaven.”—Matthew, xi. 12. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Rhipeus died before the coming of Christ; Trajan after. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] According to the legend, St. Gregory the Great prayed that Trajan, because +of his great worth, might be restored to life long enough for his will to +return to righteousness, and for him to profess his faith in Christ. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Before the divine institution of the rite of baptism his faith, hope, and +charity served him in lieu thereof. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Of the Chariot of the Church. See Purgatory, Canto XXIX. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, to make my short sight clear, sweet medicine was given to me by that +divine image. And as a good lutanist makes the vibration of the string +accompany a good singer, whereby the song acquires more pleasantness, so it +comes back to my mind that, while it spake, I saw the two blessed lights moving +their flamelets to the words, just as the winking of the eyes concords. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXI"></a>CANTO XXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Ascent to the Heaven of Saturn.—Spirits of those who had given themselves +to devout contemplation.—The Golden Stairway.—St. Peter +Damian.—Predestination.—The luxury of modern Prelates. +</p> + +<p> +Now were my eyes fixed again upon the countenance of my Lady, and my mind with +them, and from every other intent it was withdrawn; and she was not smiling, +but, “If I should smile,” she began to me, “thou wouldst +become such as Semele was when she became ashes; for my beauty, which along the +stairs of the eternal palace is kindled the more, as thou hast seen, the higher +it ascends, is so resplendent that, if it were not tempered, at its effulgence +thy mortal power would be as a bough shattered by thunder. We are lifted to the +seventh splendor which beneath the breast of the burning Lion now radiates +downward mingled with his strength.[1] Fix thy mind behind thine eyes, and make +of them mirrors for the shape which in this mirror shall be apparent to +thee.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The seventh splendor is Saturn, which was in the sign of the Lion, whence +its rays fell to earth, mingled with the strong influences of the sign. +</p> + +<p> +He who should know what was the pasture of my sight in her blessed aspect, when +I transferred me to another care, would recognize, by counterposing one side +with the other, how pleasing it was to me to obey my celestial escort. +</p> + +<p> +Within the crystal which, circling round the world, bears the name of its +shining leader, under whom all wickedness lay dead,[1] I saw, of the color of +gold through which a sunbeam is shining,[2] a stairway rising up so high that +my eye followed it not. I saw, moreover, so many splendors descending, along +the steps, that I thought every light which appears in heaven was there +diffused. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Saturn, in the golden age. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] As in a painted window. +</p> + +<p> +And as, according to their natural custom, the rooks, at the beginning of the +day, move about together, in order to warm their cold feathers; then some go +away without return, others wheel round to whence they had set forth, and +others, circling, make a stay; such fashion it seemed to me was here in that +sparkling which came together, so soon as it struck on a certain step; and that +which stopped nearest to us became so bright that I said in my thought, +“I clearly see the love which thou signifiest to me. But she, from whom I +await the how and the when of speech and of silence, stays still; wherefore I, +contrary to desire, do well that I ask not.” Whereupon she, who saw my +silence, in the sight of Him who sees everything, said to me, “Let loose +thy warm desire.” +</p> + +<p> +And I began, “My own merit makes me not worthy of thy answer; but for her +sake who concedes to me the asking, O blessed life, that keepest thyself hidden +within thine own joy, make known to me the cause which has placed thee so near +me; and tell why in this wheel the sweet symphony of Paradise is silent, which +below through the others so devoutly sounds.” “Thou hast thy +hearing mortal, as thy sight,” it replied to me; “therefore no song +is here for the same reason that Beatrice has no smile. Down along the steps of +the holy stairway I have thus far descended, only to give thee glad welcome +with my speech and with the light that mantles me; nor has more love made me to +be more ready, for as much and more love is burning here above, even as the +flaming manifests to thee; but the high charity, which makes us ready servants +to the counsel that governs the world, allots here,[1] even as thou +observest.” “I see well,” said I, “O sacred lamp, how +the free will of love suffices in this Court for following the eternal +Providence. But this is what seems to me hard to discern, why thou alone wert +predestined to this office among thy consorts.” I had not come to the +last word before the light made a centre of its middle, whirling like a swift +milestone. Then the love that was within it answered, “A divine light +strikes upon me, penetrating through this wherein I embosom me: the virtue of +which, conjoined with my vision, lifts me above myself so far that I see the +Supreme Essence from which it emanates. Thence comes the joy wherewith I flame, +because to my vision, in proportion as it is clear, I match the clearness of my +flame. But that soul in Heaven which is most enlightened,[2] that Seraph who +has his eye most fixed on God, could not satisfy thy demand; because that which +thou askest lies so deep within the abyss of the eternal statute, that from +every created sight it is cut off. And when thou retumest to the mortal world, +carry this back, so that it may no more presume to move its feet toward such a +goal. The mind which shines here, on earth is smoky; wherefore consider how +there below it can do that which it cannot do though Heaven assume it.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Assigns its part to each spirit. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] With the Divine light. +</p> + +<p> +So did its words prescribe to me, that I left the question, and drew me back to +ask it humbly who it was. “Between the two shores of Italy, and not very +distant from thy native land, rise rocks so lofty that the thunders sound far +lower down, and they make a height which is called Catria, beneath which a +hermitage is consecrated which is wont to be devoted to worship only.”[1] +Thus it began again to me with its third speech, and then, continuing, it said, +“Here in the service of God I became so steadfast, that, with food of +olive juice alone, lightly I used to pass the heats and frosts, content in +contemplative thoughts. That cloister was wont to render in abundance to these +heavens; and now it is become so empty as needs must soon be revealed. In that +place I was Peter Damian,[2] and Peter a sinner had I been in the house of Our +Lady on the Adriatic shore.[3] Little of mortal life was remaining for me, when +I was sought for and dragged to that hat[4] which ever is passed down from bad +to worse. Cephas[5] came, and the great vessel of the Holy Spirit[6] came, lean +and barefoot, taking the food of whatsoever inn. Now the modern pastors require +one to hold them up on this side and that, and one to lead them, so heavy are +they, and one to support them behind. They cover their palfreys with their +mantles, so that two beasts go under one skin. O Patience, that endurest so +much!” At this voice I saw more flamelets from step to step descending +and revolving, and each revolution made them more beautiful. Round about this +one they came, and stopped, and uttered a cry of such deep sound that here +could be none like it, nor did I understand it, the thunder so overcame me. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Catria is a high offshoot to the east from the chain of the Apennines, +between Urbino and Gubbio. Far up on its side lies the monastery of Santa Croce +di Fouts Avellana, belonging to the order of the Camaldulensians. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] A famous doctor of the Church in the eleventh century. He was for many +years abbot of the Monastery of Fonte Avellana. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] These last words are obscure, and have given occasion to much discussion, +after which they remain no clearer than before. The house of Our Lady on the +Adriatic shore is supposed to be the monastery of Santa Maria in Porto, near +Ravenna. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] He was made cardinal in 1058, and died in 1072. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] St. Peter. See John, i. 42. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] St. Paul. “He is a chosen vessel unto me.”—Acts, ix. 15. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXII"></a>CANTO XXII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Beatrice reassures Dante.—St. Benedict appears.—He tells of the +founding of his Order, and of the falling away of its brethren. Beatrice and +Dante ascend to the Starry Heaven.—The constellation of the +Twins.—Sight of the Earth. +</p> + +<p> +Oppressed with amazement, I turned me to my Guide, like a little child who runs +back always thither where he most confides. And she, like a mother who quickly +succors her pale and breathless son with her voice, which is wont to reassure +him, said to me, 11 Knowest thou not, that thou art in Heaven? and knowest thou +not that Heaven is all holy, and whatever is done here comes from good zeal? +How the song would have transformed thee, and I by smiling, thou canst now +conceive, since the cry has moved thee so much; in which, if thou hadst +understood its prayers, already would be known to thee the vengeance which thou +shalt see before thou diest. The sword of here on high cuts not in haste, nor +slow, save to the seeming of him who, desiring, or fearing, awaits it. But turn +thee round now toward the others, for many illustrious spirits thou shalt see, +if, as I say, thou dost lead back thy look.” +</p> + +<p> +As it pleased her I directed my eyes, and saw a hundred little spheres, which +together were becoming more beautiful with mutual rays. I was standing as one +who within himself represses the point of his desire, and attempts not to ask, +he so fears the too-much. And the largest and the most luculent of those pearls +came forward to make of its own accord my wish content. Then within it I heard, +“If thou couldst see, as I do, the charity which burns among us, thy +thoughts would be expressed. But that thou through waiting mayst not delay thy +high end, I will make answer to thee, even to the thought concerning which thou +art so regardful. +</p> + +<p> +“That mountain[1] on whose slope Cassino is, was of old frequented on its +summit by the deluded and illdisposed people, and I am be who first carried up +thither the name of Him who brought to earth the truth which so high exalts us: +and such grace shone upon me that I drew away the surrounding villages from the +impious worship which seduced the world. These other fires were all +contemplative men, kindled by that heat which brings to birth holy flowers and +fruits. Here is Macarius,[2] here is Romuald,[3] here are my brothers, who +within the cloisters fixed their feet, and held a steadfast heart.” And I +to him, “The affection which thou displayest in speaking with me, and the +good semblance which I see and note in all your ardors, have so expanded my +confidence as the sun does the rose, when she becomes open so much as she has +power to be. Therefore I pray thee, and do thou, father, assure me if I have +power to receive so much grace, that I may see thee with uncovered +shape.” Whereon he, “Brother, thy high desire shall be fulfilled in +the last sphere, where are fulfilled all others and my own. There perfect, +mature, and whole is every desire; in that alone is every part there where it +always was: for it is not in space, and hath not poles; and our stairway +reaches up to it, wherefore thus from thy sight it conceals itself. Far up as +there the patriarch Jacob saw it stretch its topmost part when it appeared to +him so laden with Angels. But now no one lifts his feet from earth to ascend +it; and my Rule is remaining as waste of paper. The walls, which used to be an +abbey, have become caves; and the cowls are sacks full of bad meal. But heavy +usury is not gathered in so greatly against the pleasure of God, as that fruit +which makes the heart of monks so foolish. For whatsoever the Church guards is +all for the folk that ask it in God's name, not for one's kindred, or for +another more vile. The flesh of mortals is so soft that a good beginning +suffices not below from the springing of the oak to the forming of the acorn. +Peter began without gold and without silver, and I with prayers and with +fasting, and Francis in humility his convent; and if thou lookest at the source +of each, and then lookest again whither it has run, thou wilt see dark made of +the white. Truly, Jordan turned back, and the sea fleeing when God willed, were +more marvellous to behold than succor here.”[4] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Monte Cassino, in the Kingdom of Naples, on which a temple of Apollo had +stood, was chosen by St. Benedict (480-543) as his abode, and became the site +of the most famous monastery of his Order. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Egyptian anchorite of the fourth century. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The founder of the order of Camaldoli; he died in 1027. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Were God now to interpose to correct the evils of the Church, the marvel +would be less than that of the miracles of old, and therefore his interposition +may be hoped for. +</p> + +<p> +Thus he said to me, and then drew back to his company, and the company closed +up; then like a whirlwind all gathered itself upward. +</p> + +<p> +The sweet Lady urged me behind them, with only a sign, up over that stairway; +so did her virtue overcome my nature. But never here below, where one mounts +and descends naturally, was there motion so rapid that it could be compared +unto my wing. So may I return, Reader, to that devout triumph, for the sake of +which I often bewail my sins and beat my breast, thou hadst not so quickly +drawn out and put thy finger in the fire as I saw the sign which follows the +Bull,[1] and was within it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The sign of the Gemini, or Twins, in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars. +</p> + +<p> +O glorious stars, O light impregnate with great virtue, from which I +acknowledge all my genius, whatever it may be; with you was born and with you +was hiding himself he who is father of every mortal life, when I first felt the +Tuscan air;[1] and then, when the grace was bestowed on me of entrance within +the lofty wheel which turns you, your region was allotted to me. To you my soul +now devoutly sighs to acquire virtue for the difficult pass which draws her to +itself. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] At the time of Dante's birth the sun was in the sign of the Twins. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art so near the ultimate salvation,” began Beatrice, +“that thou oughtest to have thine eyes clear and sharp. And therefore ere +thou further enterest it, look back downward, and see how great a world I have +already set beneath thy feet, in order that thy heart, so far as it is able, +may present itself joyous to the triumphant crowd which comes glad through this +round aether.” With my sight I returned through each and all the seven +spheres, and saw this globe such that I smiled at its mean semblance; and that +counsel I approve as best which holds it of least account; and he who thinks of +other things may be called truly worthy. I saw the daughter of Latona enkindled +without that shadow which had been the cause why I once believed her rare and +dense. The aspect of thy son, Hyperion, here I endured, and I saw how Maia and +Dione[1] move around and near him. Then appeared to me the temperateness of +Jove, between his father and his son,[2] and then was clear to me the variation +which they make in their places. And all the seven were displayed to me,[[how +great they are and how swift they are, and how they are in distant houses. +While I was revolving with the eternal Twins, the little threshing-floor[3] +which makes us so fierce all appeared to me, from its hills to its harbors. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The mothers of Venus and Mercury, by whose names these planets are +designated. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Saturn and Mars. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The inhabited earth. +</p> + +<p> +Then I turned back my eyes to the beautiful eyes. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXIII"></a>CANTO XXIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Triumph of Christ. +</p> + +<p> +As the bird, among the beloved leaves, reposing on the nest of her sweet brood +through the night which hides things from us, who, in order to see their +longed-for looks and to find the food wherewith she may feed them, in which +heavy toils are pleasing to her, anticipates the time upon the open twig, and +with ardent affection awaits the sun, fixedly looking till the dawn may break; +thus my Lady was standing erect and attentive, turned toward the region beneath +which the sun shows least haste;[1] so that I, seeing her rapt and eager, +became such as he who in desire should wish for something, and in hope is +satisfied. But short while was there between one and the other WHEN: that of my +awaiting, I mean, and of my seeing the heavens become brighter and brighter. +And Beatrice said, “Behold the hosts of the triumph of Christ, and all +the fruit harvested by the revolution of these spheres.”[2] It seemed to +me her face was all aflame, and her eyes were so full of joy that I must needs +pass it over without description. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The meridian. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] By the beneficent influences of the planets. +</p> + +<p> +As in the clear skies at the full moon Trivia[1] smiles among the eternal +nymphs who paint the heaven through all its depths, I saw, above myriads of +lights, a Sun that was enkindling each and all of them, as ours kindles the +supernal shows;[2] and through its living light the lucent Substance[3] shone +so bright upon my face that I sustained it not. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] An appellation of Diana, and hence of the moon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] According to the belief, referred to at the opening of the twentieth Canto, +that the sun was the source of the light of the stars. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Christ in his glorified body. +</p> + +<p> +O Beatrice, sweet guide and dear! +</p> + +<p> +She said to me, “That which overcomes thee is a power from which naught +defends itself. Here is the Wisdom and the Power that opened the roads between +heaven and earth, for which there had already been such long desire.” +</p> + +<p> +As fire from a cloud unlocks itself by dilating, so that it is not contained +therein, and against its own nature falls down to earth, so my mind, becoming +greater amid those feasts, issued from itself; and what it became cannot +remember. +</p> + +<p> +“Open thine eyes and look at what I am; thou hast seen things such that +thou art become able to sustain my smile.” I was as one who awakes from a +forgotten dream and endeavors in vain to bring it back again to memory, when I +heard this invitation, worthy of such gratitude that it is never effaced from +the book which records the past. If now all those tongues which Polyhymnia and +her sisters made most fat with their sweetest milk should sound to aid me, one +would not come to a thousandth of the truth in singing the holy smile and how +it made the holy face resplendent. And thus in depicting Paradise the +consecrated poem needs must make a leap, even as one who finds his way cut off. +But whoso should consider the ponderous theme and the mortal shoulder which +therewith is laden would not blame it if under this it tremble. It is no +coasting voyage for a little barque, this which the intrepid prow goes +cleaving, nor for a pilot who would spare himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Why doth my face so enamour thee that thou turnest not to the fair +garden which beneath the rays of Christ is blossoming? Here is the rose,[1] in +which the Divine Word became flesh: here are the lilies[2] by whose odor the +good way was taken.” Thus Beatrice, and I, who to her counsel was wholly +prompt, again betook me unto the battle of the feeble brows. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Virgin. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Apostles and Saints. The image is derived from St. Paul (2 Corinthians, +ii. 14): “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in +Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every +place.” In the Vulgate the words are, “odorem notitiae suae +manifestat per nos.” +</p> + +<p> +As my eyes, covered with a shadow, have ere now seen a meadow of flowers in a +sunbeam which streamed bright through a rifted cloud, so saw I many throngs of +splendors flashed-upon from above with burning rays, without seeing the source +of the gleams. O benignant Power which so dost impress them, upwards didst thou +exalt thyself to bestow space there for my eyes, which were powerless.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The eyes of Dante, powerless to endure the sight of the glorified body of +Christ, when that is withdrawn on high, are able to look upon those whom the +light of Christ illumines. +</p> + +<p> +The name of the fair flower which I ever invoke both morning and evening, +wholly constrained my mind to gaze upon the greater fire.[1] And when the form +and the glory of the living star, which up. there surpasses as here below it +surpassed, were depicted in both my eyes, through the mid heavens a torch, +formed in a circle in fashion of a crown, descended, and engirt it, and +revolved around it. Whatever melody sounds sweetest here below, and to itself +most draws the soul, would seem a cloud which, rent apart, thunders, compared +with the sound of that lyre wherewith was crowned the beauteous sapphire by +which the brightest Heaven is ensapphired. “I am angelic Love, and I +circle round the lofty joy which breathes from the bosom which was the hostelry +of our desire; and I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while thou shalt follow thy +Son and make the supreme sphere more divine because thou enterest it.” +Thus the circling melody sealed itself up, and all the other lights made +resound the name of Mary. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Virgin,—Rosa mistica,—the brightest of all the host that +remained. +</p> + +<p> +The royal mantle[1] of all the volumes[2] of the world, which is most fervid +and most quickened in the breath of God and in His ways, had its inner shore so +distant above us that sight of it, there where I was, did not yet appear to me. +Therefore my eyes had not the power to follow the incoronate flame, which +mounted upward following her own seed. And as a little child which, when it has +taken the milk, stretches its arms toward its mother, through the spirit that +flames up outwardly, each of these white splendors stretched upward with its +summit, so that the deep aflection which they had for Mary was manifest to me. +Then they remained there in ray sight, singing “Regina coeli “ so +sweetly that never has the delight departed from me. Oh how great is the plenty +that is heaped up in those most rich chests which were good laborers in sowing +here below! Here they live and enjoy the treasure that was acquired while +weeping in the exile of Babylon, where the gold was left aside.[3] Here +triumphs, under the high Son of God and of Mary, in his victory, both with the +ancient and with the new council, he who holds the keys of such glory.[4] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[l] The Primum Mobile, the ninth Heaven, which revolves around all the others. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The revolving spheres. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Despising the treasures of the world, in the Babylonish exile of this life, +they laid up for themselves treasures in Heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] St. Peter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXIV"></a>CANTO XXIV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +St. Peter examines Dante concerning Faith, and approves his answer. +</p> + +<p> +“O company elect to the great supper of the blessed Lamb, who feeds you +so that your desire is always full, since by grace of God this man foretastes +of that which falls from your table, before death prescribes the time for him, +give heed to his immense longing, and bedew him a little; ye drink ever of the +fount whence comes that which he ponders.” Thus Beatrice; and those glad +souls made themselves spheres upon fixed poles, flaming brightly in manner of +comets. And as wheels within the fittings of clocks revolve, so that to him who +gives heed the first seems quiet, and the last to fly, so these carols,[1] +differently dancing, swift and slow, enabled me to estimate their riches. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] A carol was a dance with song; here used for the souls who composed the +carols, the difference in whose speed gave to Dante the gauge of their +respective blessedness. +</p> + +<p> +From that which I noted of greatest beauty, I saw issue a fire so happy that it +left there none of greater brightness; and three times it revolved round +Beatrice with a song so divine that my fancy repeats it not to me; therefore +the pen makes a leap, and I write it not, for our imagination, much more our +speech, is of too vivid color[1] for such folds. “O holy sister mine, who +so devoutly prayest to us, by thy ardent affection thou unbindest me from that +beautiful sphere:” after it had stopped, the blessed fire directed to my +Lady its breath, which spoke thus as I have said. And she, “O light +eternal of the great man to whom our Lord left the keys, which he bore below, +of this marvellous joy, test this man on points light and grave, as pleases +thee, concerning the Faith, through which thou didst walk upon the sea. If he +loves rightly, and hopes rightly, and believes, it is hidden not from thee, for +thou hast thy sight there where everything—@is seen depicted. But since +this realm has made citizens by the true faith, it is well that to glorify it +speech of it should fall to him.”[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The figure is a little obscure; pieghe, “folds,” is a +rhyme-word; the meaning seems to be that as folds cannot be painted properly +with bright hues, so our imagination and our speech are not delicate enough for +conceiving and depicting such exquisite delights. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The meaning seems to be,—Thou knowest that he has true faith, but +because by its means one becomes a citizen of this realm, it is well that he +should celebrate it. +</p> + +<p> +Even as, until the master propounds the question, the bachelor speaks not, and +arms himself in order to adduce the proof, not to decide it, so, while she was +speaking, I was arming me with every reason, in order to be ready for such a +questioner, and for such a profession. +</p> + +<p> +“Say thou, good Christian, declare thyself; Faith,—what is +it?” Whereon I raised my brow to that light whence this was breathed out. +Then I turned to Beatrice, and she made prompt signals to me that I should pour +the water forth from my internal fount. “May the Grace,” began I, +“which grants to me that I confess myself to the high captain, cause my +conceptions to be expressed.”[1] And I went on, “As the veracious +pen, Father, of thy dear brother (who with thee set Rome on the good track) +wrote of it, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and evidence of things +not seen:[2] and this appears to me its essence.” Then I heard, +“Rightly dost thou think, if thou understandest well why he placed it +among the substances, and then among the evidences.” And I thereon: +“The deep things which grant unto me here the sight of themselves, are so +hidden to eyes below that there their existence is in belief alone, upon which +the high hope is founded, and therefore it takes the designation of substance; +and from this belief we needs must syllogize, without having other sight, +wherefore it receives the designation of evidence.”[3] Then I heard, +“If whatever is acquired below for doctrine, were so understood, the wit +of sophist would have no place there.” Thus was breathed forth from that +enkindled love; then it added, “Very well have the alloy and the weight +of this coin been now run through, but tell me if thou hast it in thy +purse?” And I, “Yes, I have it so shining and so round that in its +stamp nothing is uncertain to me.” Then issued from the deep light which +was shining there, “This precious jewel, whereon every virtue is founded, +whence came it to thee?” And I, “The abundant rain of the Heavenly +Spirit, which is diffused over the Old and over the New parchments, is a +syllogism[4] which has proved it to me so acutely that in comparison with it +every demonstration seems to me obtuse.” I heard then, “The Old and +the New proposition[5] which are so conclusive to thee,—why dost thou +hold them for divine speech?” And I, “The proofs which disclose the +truth to me are the works[6] that followed, for which nature never heated iron, +nor beat anvil.” It was replied to me, “Say, what assures thee that +these works were? The very thing itself which requires to be proved, naught +else, affirms it to thee.” “If the world were converted to +Christianity,” said I, “without miracles, this alone is such that +the others are not the hundredth part; for thou didst enter poor and fasting +into the field to sow the good plant, which once was a vine and now has become +a thornbush.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] May it enable me to express clearly my conceptions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Hebrews, xi, 1. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The argument is as follows: The things of the spiritual world having no +visible existence upon earth, the hope of blessedness rests only on belief +unsupported by material proof; this belief is Faith, and since on it alone are +the high hopes founded, it is properly called their substance, that is, their +essential quality. And since all our reasoning concerning spiritual things must +be drawn not from visible things, but from the convictions of Faith, our faith +is also properly called evidence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The evidence afforded by the Old and the New Testament that they are +inspired by the Holy Spirit, makes their teachings in regard to matters of +faith conclusive. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The two premises of the syllogism. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The miracles. +</p> + +<p> +This ended, the high holy Court resounded through the spheres a “We +praise God,” in the melody which thereabove is sung. +</p> + +<p> +And that Baron who thus from branch to branch, examining, had now drawn me on, +so that to the last leaves we were approaching, began again: “The Grace +that dallies with thy mind has opened thy mouth up to this point as it should +be opened, so that I approve that which has issued forth, but now there is need +to express what thou believest, and wbence it has been offered to thy +belief.” “O holy father, spirit who seest that which thou so +believedst that thou, toward the sepulchre, didst outdo younger feet,”[1] +began I, “thou wishest that I should declare here the form of my ready +belief, and also thou inquirest the cause of it. And I answer: I believe in one +God, sole and eternal, who, unmoved, moves all the Heavens with love and with +desire; and for such belief have I not only proofs physical and metaphysical, +but that truth also gives it to me which hence rains down through Moses, +through Prophets, and through Psalms, through the Gospel, and through you who +wrote after the fiery Spirit made you holy. And I believe in three Eternal +Persons, and these I believe one essence, so one and so threefold that it will +admit to be conjoined with ARE and IS. Of the profound divine condition on +which I touch, the evangelic doctrine ofttimes sets the seal upon my mind. This +is the beginning; this is the spark which afterwards dilates to vivid flame, +and like a star in heaven scintillates within me.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “The other disciple did outrun Peter,” but Peter first +“went into the sepulchre.” See John, xx. 4-6. +</p> + +<p> +Even as a lord who hears what pleases him, thereon, rejoicing in the news, +embraces his servant, soon as he is silent, thus, blessing me as he sang, the +apostolic light, at whose command I had spoken, thrice encircled me when I was +silent; so had I pleased him in my speech. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXV"></a>CANTO XXV.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +St. James examines Dante concerning Hope.—St. John appears,with a +brightness so dazzling as to deprive Dante, for the time, of sight. +</p> + +<p> +If it ever happen that the sacred poem to which both heaven and earth have set +their hand, so that it has made me lean for many years, sbould overcome the +cruelty which bars me out of the fair sheep-fold, where a lamb I slept, an +enemy to the wolves that give it war, then with other voice, with other fleece, +Poet will I return, and on the font of my baptism will I take the crown; +because there I entered into the faith which makes the souls known to God, and +afterward. Peter, for its sake, thus encircled my brow. +</p> + +<p> +Then a light moved toward us from that sphere whence the first-fruit which +Christ left of His vicars had issued. And my Lady, full of gladness, said to +me, “Look, look! behold the Baron for whose sake Galicia is visited there +below.”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] It was believed that St. James, the brother of St. John, was buried at +Compostella, in the Spanish province of Galicia. His shrine was one of the +chief objects of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. +</p> + +<p> +Even as when the dove alights near his companion, and one, turning and cooing, +displays its affection to the other, so by the one great Prince glorious I saw +the other greeted, praising the food which feasts them thereabove. But after +their gratulation was completed, silent coram me,[1] each stopped, so ignited +that it overcame my sight. Smiling, then Beatrice said, “Illustrious +life, by whom the largess of our basilica has been written,[2] do thou make +Hope resound upon this height; thou knowest that thou dost represent it as many +times as Jesus to the three displayed most brightness.”[3] “Lift up +thy head and make thyself assured; for that which comes up here from the mortal +world needs must be ripened in our rays.” This comfort from the second +fire came to me; whereon I lifted up my eyes unto the mountains which bent them +down before with too great weight. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Before me.” Here, as sometimes elsewhere, it is not evident +why Dante uses Latin words. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The reference is to the Epistle of James, which Dante, falling into a +common error, attributes to St. James the Greater. The special words be had in +mind may have been: “ God, that giveth to all men liberally,” i. 5; +and “ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh +down from the Father of lights,” i. 17. By “basilica” is +meant the court or church of heaven. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Peter, James, and John, were chosen by their Master to be present at the +raising of the daughter of Jairus, and to witness his Transfiguration. Peter +personifying Faith, John personifying Love, it was natural to take James as the +personification of Hope. +</p> + +<p> +“Since, through grace, our Emperor wills that thou, before thy death, +come face to face with his Counts in the most secret hall, so that, having seen +the truth of this Court, thou mayest therewith confirm in thyself and others +the Hope which there below rightly enamours, say what it is, and how thy mind +is flowering with it, and say whence it came to thee;” thus further did +the second light proceed. And that compassionate one, who guided the feathers +of my wings to such high flight, thus in the reply anticipated me.[1] +“The Church militant has not any son with more hope, as is written in the +Sun which irradiates all our band; therefore it is conceded to him, that from +Egypt be should come to Jerusalem to see, ere the warfare be at end for him. +The other two points which are asked not for sake of knowing, but that he may +report how greatly this virtue is pleasing to thee, to him I leave, for they +will not be difficult to him, nor of vainglory, and let him answer to this, and +may the grace of God accord this to him.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Beatrice answers the question to which the reply, had it been left to +Dante, might seem to involve self-praise. +</p> + +<p> +As a disciple who follows his teacher, prompt and willing, in that wherein he +is expert, so that his worth may be disclosed: “Hope,” said I, +“is a sure expectation of future glory, which divine grace produces, and +preceding merit.[1] From many stars this light comes to me, but be instilled it +first into my heart who was the supreme singer[2] of the supreme Leader. +Sperent in te,[3] 'who know thy name,' he says in his Theody,[4] and who knows +it not, if he has my faith? Thou afterwards didst instil it into me with his +instillation in thy Epistle, so that I am full, and upon others shower down +again your rain.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] These words are taken directly from Peter Lombard (Liber Sententiarum, iii. +26). Love is the merit which precedes Hope. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] David. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] “They will hope in thee.” See Psalm ix. 10. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Divine song. +</p> + +<p> +While I was speaking, within the living bosom of that burning a flash was +trembling, sudden and intense, in the manner of lightning. Then it breathed, +“The love wherewith I still glow toward the virtue which followed me far +as the palm, and to the issue of the field, wills that breathe anew to thee, +that thou delight in it; and it is my pleasure, that thou tell that which Hope +promises to thee.” And I, “The new and the old Scriptures set up +the sign, and it points this out to me. Of the souls whom God hath made his +friends, Isaiah says that each shall be clothed in his own land with a double +garment,[1] and his own land is this sweet life. And thy brother, far more +explicitly, there where he treats of the white robes, makes manifest to us this +revelation.”[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “Therefore in their land they shall possess the +double”—(Isaiah, 1xi. 7); the double vesture of the glorified +natural body and of the spiritual body. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Revelation, vii. +</p> + +<p> +And first, close on the end of these words, “Sperent in te” was +heard from above us, to which all the carols made answer. Then among them a +light became so bright that, if the Crab had one such crystal, winter would +have a month of one sole day.[1] And as a glad maiden rises and goes and enters +in the dance, only to do honor to the new bride, and not for any fault,[2] so +saw I the brightened splendor come to the two who were turning in a wheel, such +as was befitting to their ardent love. It set itself there into the song and +into the measure, and my Lady kept her gaze upon them, even as a bride, silent +and motionless. “This is he who lay upon the breast of our Pelican,[3] +and from upon the cross this one was chosen to the great office.”[4] Thus +my Lady, nor yet moved she her look from its fixed attention after than before +these words of hers. As is he who gazes and endeavors to see the sun eclipsed a +little, who through seeing becomes sightless, so did I become in respect to +that last fire, till it was said, “Why dost thou dazzle thyself in order +to see a thing which has no place here?[5] On earth my body is earth; and it +will be there with the others until our number corresponds with the eternal +purpose.[6] With their two garments in the blessed cloister are those two +lights alone which ascended:[7] and this thou shalt carry back unto your +world.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] If Cancer, which rises at sunset in early winter, had a star as bright as +this, the night would be light as day. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Not for vanity, or love of, display. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] A common type of Christ during the Middle Ages, because of the popular +belief that the pelican killed its brood, and then revived them with its blood. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] “Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!”—John, +xix. 27. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Dante seeks to see whether St. John is present in body as well as soul; his +curiosity having its source in the words of the Gospel: “Jesus saith unto +him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? . . . Then went +this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not +die.”—John, xxi. 22, 23. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] Till the predestined number of the elect is complete. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] Jesus and Mary, who had been seen to ascend. See Canto XXIII. +</p> + +<p> +At this word the flaming gyre became quiet, together with the sweet mingling +that was made of the sound of the trinal breath, even as, at ceasing of fatigue +or danger, the oars, erst driven through the water, all stop at the sound of a +whistle. Ah! how greatly was I disturbed in mind, when I turned to see +Beatrice, at not being able to see her, although I was near her, and in the +happy world. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXVI"></a>CANTO XXVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +St. John examines Dante concerning Love.—Dante's sight +restored.—Adam appears, and answers questions put to him by Dante. +</p> + +<p> +While I was apprehensive because of my quenched sight, a breath which made me +attentive issued from the effulgent flame that quenched it, saying, +“While thou art regaining the sense of sight which thou hast consumed on +me, it is well that thou make up for it by discourse. Begin then, and tell +whereto thy soul is aimed, and make thy reckoning that sight is in thee +bewildered and not dead; because the Lady who conducts thee through this divine +region has in her look the virtue which the band of Ananias had.”[1] I +said, “According to her pleasure, or soon or late, let the cure come to +the eyes which were gates when she entered with the fire wherewith I ever burn! +The Good which makes this court content is Alpha and Omega of whatsoever +writing Love reads to me, either low or loud.” That same voice which had +taken from me fear of the sudden dazzling, laid on me the charge to speak +further, and said, “Surely with a finer sieve it behoves thee to clarify; +it behoves thee to tell who directed thy bow to such a target.” And I, +“By philosophic arguments and by authority that hence descends, such love +must needs be impressed on me; for the good, so far as it is good, in +proportion as it is understood, kindles love; and so much the greater as the +more of goodness it includes within itself. Therefore, to the Essence (wherein +is such supremacy that every good which is found outside of It is naught else +than a beam of Its own radiance), more than to any other, the mind of every one +who discerns the truth on which this argument is founded must needs be moved in +love.[2] Such truth to my intelligence he makes plain, who demonstrates to me +the first love of all the sempiternal substances.[3] The voice of the true +Author makes it plain who, speaking of Himself, says to Moses, 'I will make +thee see all goodness.'[4] Thou, too, makest it plain to me, beginning the +lofty proclamation which there below, above all other trump, declares the +secret of this place on high.”[5] And I heard, “By human +understanding, and by authorities concordant with it, thy sovran love looks +unto God; but say, further, if thou feelest other cords draw thee towards Him, +so that thou mayest declare with how many teeth this love bites thee.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Acts ix. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The argument is,—Whatever is good kindles love for itself; the +greater the good the greater the love; God is the supreme good and therefore +the chief object of love. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] It is doubtful to whom Dante here refers. The first love of immortal +creatures is for their own First Cause. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.”—Exodus, +xxxiii, 19. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God +in him.”—1 John, iv. 16. +</p> + +<p> +The holy intention of the Eagle of Christ was not latent to me; nay, rather I +perceived whither he wished to lead my profession; therefore, I began again: +“All those bitings which can make the heart turn to God have been +concurrent unto my charity;[1] for the existence of the world, and my own +existence, the death that He endured that I may live, and that which all the +faithful hope even as I do, together with the aforesaid living knowledge, have +drawn me from the sea of perverted love, and have set me on the shore of the +right. The leaves, wherewith all the garden of the Eternal Gardener is +enleaved, I love in proportion as good is borne unto them from Him.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Have concurred to inspire me with love of God. +</p> + +<p> +Soon as I was silent a most sweet song resounded through the heavens, and my +Lady said with the rest, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” +</p> + +<p> +And as at a keen light sleep is broken by the spirit of sight, which runs to +the splendor that goes from coat to coat,[1] and he who awakes shrinks from +what he sees, so confused is his sudden wakening, until his judgment comes to +his aid; thus Beatrice chased away every mote from my eyes with the radiance of +her own, which were resplendent more than a thousand miles; so that I then saw +better than before; and, as it were amazed, I asked about a fourth light which +I saw with us. And my Lady, “Within those rays the first soul which the +First Power ever created gazes with joy upon its creator.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The spirit of the sight runs to meet the light which flashes through the +successive coats of the eye. +</p> + +<p> +As the bough that bends its top at passing of the wind, and then lifts itself +by its own virtue which raises it, so did I, in amazement, the while she was +speaking; and then a desire to speak, wherewith I was burning, gave me again +assurance, and I began, “O Apple, that alone wast produced mature, O +ancient Father, to whom every bride is daughter and daughter-in-law, devoutly +as I can, I supplicate thee that thou speak to me; thou seest my wish, and in +order to hear thee quickly, I do not tell it.” +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes an animal, which is covered up, so stirs, that his desire must needs +become apparent through the corresponding movement which that which wraps him +makes; and in like manner the first soul made evident to me, through its +covering, how gladly it came to do me pleasure. Then it breathed, +“Without its being uttered to me by thee, I better discern thy wish, than +thou whatever thing is most certain to thee; because I see it in the truthful +mirror which makes of Itself a likeness of other tbings, while nothing makes +for It a likeness of Itself.[1] Thou wouldst hear how long it is since God +placed me in the lofty garden where this Lady disposed thee for so long a +stairway; and how long it was a delight to my eyes; and the proper cause of the +great wrath; and the idiom which I used and which I made. Now, my son, the +tasting of the tree was not by itself the cause of so long an exile, but only +the overpassing of the bound. There whence thy Lady moved Virgil, I longed for +this assembly during four thousand three hundred and two revolutions of the +sun; and while I was on earth I saw him return to all the lights of his path +nine hundred and thirty times. The tongue which I spoke was all extinct long +before the people of Nimrod attempted their unaccomplishable work; for never +was any product of the reason (because of human liking, which alters, following +the heavens) durable for ever.[2] A natural action it is for man to speak; but, +thus or thus, nature then leaves for you to do according as it pleases you. +Before I descended to the infernal anguish, the Supreme Good, whence comes the +gladness that swathes me, was on earth called I; EL it was called +afterwards;[3] and that must needs be,[4] for the custom of mortals is as a +leaf on a branch, which goes away and another comes. On the mountain which +rises highest from the wave I was, with pure life and sinful, from the first +hour to that which, when the sun changes quadrant, follows the sixth +hour.”[5] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] All things are seen in God as if reflected in a mirror; but nothing can +reflect an image of God. “In the eternal Idea, as in a glass, the works +of God are more perfectly seen than in themselves. . . . But it is impossible +for a thing created to represent that which is increated.”—John +Norton, The Orthodox Evangelist, 1554, p. 332. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Speech, a product of human reason, changes according to the pleasure of +main, which alters from time to time under the influence of the heavens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] God was known in the primitive language by the sacred and mystical symbol I +or J, the Hebrew letter Jod; afterwards by the term El: the first answering to +Jehovah, the second to Elohim. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Such change in the name was inevitable, because of the changing customs of +thought and speech. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Adam's stay in the Earthly Paradise on the summit of the mount of Purgatory +was thus a little more than six hours; the sun changes quadrant with every six +hours. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXVII"></a>CANTO XXVII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Denunciation by St. Peter of his degenerate successors.—Dante gazes upon +the Earth.—Ascent of Beatrice and Dante to the Crystalline +Heaven.—Its nature.—Beatrice rebukes the covetousness of mortals. +</p> + +<p> +“To the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit be glory,” all +Paradise began, so that the sweet song was inebriating me. That which I was +seeing seemed to me a smile of the Universe; for my inebriation was entering +through the hearing and through the sight. O joy! O ineffable gladness! O life +entire of love and of peace! O riches secure, without longing![1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Which leave nothing for desire. +</p> + +<p> +Before my eyes the four torches were standing enkindled, and that which had +come first began to make itself more vivid, and in its semblance be came such +as Jove would become, if be and Mars were birds, and should interchange +feathers.[1] The Providence which here apportions turn and office, had imposed +silence on the blessed choir on every side, when I heard, “If I change +color, marvel not; for, while I speak, thou shalt see all these change color. +He who on earth usurps my place, my place, my place, which is vacant in the +presence of the Son of God, has made of my burial-place a sewer of blood and of +stench, wherewith the Perverse One who fell from here above, below there is +placated.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The pure white light becoming red. +</p> + +<p> +With that color which, by reason of the opposite sun, paints the cloud at +evening and at morning, I then saw the whole Heaven overspread. And like a +modest lady who abides sure of herself, and at the fault of another, in bearing +of it only, becomes timid, even thus did Beatrice change countenance; and such +eclipse I believe there was in heaven when the Supreme Power suffered. +</p> + +<p> +Then his words proceeded, in a voice so transmuted from itself that his +countenance was not more changed; “The Bride of Christ was not nurtured +on my blood, on that of Linus and of Cletus, to be employed for acquist of +gold; but for acquist of this glad life Sixtus and Pius and Calixtus and +Urban[1] shed their blood after much weeping. It was not our intention that +part of the Christian people should sit on the right hand of our successors, +and part on the other; nor that the keys which were conceded to me should +become a sign upon a banner which should fight against those who are +baptized;[2] nor that I should be a figure on a seal to venal and mendacious +privileges, whereat I often redden and flash. In garb of shepherd, rapacious +wolves are seen from here-above over all the pastures: O defence of God, why +dost thou yet lie still! To drink our blood Cahorsines and Gascons are making +ready:[3] O good beginning, to what vile end behoves it that thou fall! But the +high Providence which with Scipio defended for Rome the glory of the world, +will succor speedily, as I conceive. And thou, son, who because of thy mortal +weight wilt again return below, open thy mouth, and conceal not that which I +conceal not.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Early Popes martyred for the faith. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] A reference to the war which Boniface VIII. waged against the Colonnesi. +See Inferno, Canto XXVII. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] John XXII., who came to the Papacy in 1316, was a native of Cahors; his +immediate predecessor, Clement V., 1305-1314, was a Gascon. The passage is one +of those which shows that this portion of the poem was in hand during the last +years of Dante's life. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] In midwinter, when the sun is in Capricorn. +</p> + +<p> +Even as our air snows down flakes of frozen vapors, when the horn of the Goat +of heaven touches the sun,[1] so, upward, I saw the aether become adorned, and +flaked with the triumphant vapors[2] that had made sojourn there with us. My +sight was following their semblances, and followed, till the intermediate space +by its greatness pre. vented it from passing further onward. Whereon my Lady, +who saw me disengaged from upward heeding, said to me, “Cast down thy +sight, and look how thou hast revolved.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The spirits. +</p> + +<p> +Since the hour when I had first looked, I saw that I had moved through the +whole are which the first climate makes from its middle to its end;[1] so that +I saw beyond Cadiz the mad track of Ulysses, and near on this side the shore[2] +on which Europa became a sweet burden. And more of the site of this little +threshing-floor would have been discovered to me, but the sun was proceeding +beneath my feet, a sign and more removed.[3] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From Dante's first look downward from the Heavens, at the end of Canto +XXII, to the present moment, he had moved over the arc which the first climate +describes from its middle to its end. The old geographers divided the earth +into seven zones, called climates, by circles parallel to the equator. The +first climate extended twenty degrees to the north of the equator. The sign of +the Gemini, in which Dante was revolving in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars, is +in the zone of the Heavens corresponding to the first climate. As each climate +extended on the habitable hemisphere for one hundred and eighty degrees, the +arc from its middle to its end would be of ninety degrees, comprised between +Jerusalem and Cadiz, and the time required for passing through it would be six +hours, one fourth of the diurnal revolution of the Heavens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The shore of Phoenicia, whence Europa was carried off by Jupiter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Sun in Aries was separated by Taurus from Gemini; hence not all of the +hemisphere of the earth seen from Gemini was illuminated by the sun, which was +some three hours in advance. +</p> + +<p> +My enamoured mind, that ever dallies with my Lady, was more than ever burning +to bring back my eyes to her. And if nature has made bait in human flesh, or +art in its paintings, to catch the eyes in order to possess the mind, all +united would seem naught compared to the divine pleasure which shone upon me +when I turned me to her smiling face. And the virtue with which the look +indulged me, tore me from the fair nest of Leda,[1] and impelled me to the +swiftest heaven.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From Gemini, the constellation of Castor and Pollux, the twin sons of Leda. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Primum Mobile, or Crystalline Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +Its parts, most living and lofty, are so uniform that I cannot tell which of +them Beatrice chose for a place for me. But she, who saw my desire, began, +smiling so glad that God seemed to rejoice in her countenance, “The +nature of the world[1] which quiets the centre, and moves all the rest around +it, begins here as from its, starting-point. And this heaven has no other Where +than the Divine Mind, in which the love that revolves it is kindled, and the +virtue which it rains down. Light and love enclose it with one circle, even as +this does the others, and of that cincture He who girds it is the sole +Intelligence.[2] The motion of this heaven is not marked out by another, but +the others are measured by this, even as ten by a half and by a fifth.[3] And +how time can hold its roots in such a flower-pot, and in the others its leaves, +may now be manifest to thee. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The world of the revolving Heavens. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Angelic Intelligences move the lower Heavens, but of the Empyrean God +himself is the immediate governor. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The reversal of magnitudes makes this image obscure. The motion of the +Crystalline Heaven, the swiftest of all, determines the slower motions of the +Heavens below it, and divides them; as five and two divide ten. The fixed unit +of time is the day which is established by the revolution of the Primum Mobile. +</p> + +<p> +“O covetousness,[1] which whelms mortals beneath thee, so that no one has +power to withdraw his eyes from out thy waves! Well. blossoms the will in men, +but the continual rain converts the true plums into wildings. Faith and +innocence are found only in children; then both fly away ere yet the cheeks are +covered. One, so long as he stammers, fasts, who afterward, when his tongue is +loosed, devours whatever food under whatever moon; and one, while stammering, +loves his mother and listens to her, who, when speech is perfect, desires then +to see her buried. So the skin of the fair daughter of him who brings morning +and leaves evening, white in its first aspect, becomes black.[2] Do thou, in +order that thou make not marvel, reflect that on earth there is no one who +governs; wherefore the human family is gone astray. But ere January be all +un-wintered by that hundredth part which is down there neglected,[3] these +supernal circles shall so roar that the storm which is so long awaited shall +turn the sterns round to where the prows are, so that the fleet shall run +straight, and true fruit shall come after the flower.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The connection of the ideas presented in what precedes with this +denunciation of covetousness, or selfishness, is not at first apparent. But the +transition is not unnatural, from the consideration of the Heaven which pours +down Divine influence, to the thought of the engrossment of men in the pursuit +of their selfish and transitory ends, in which they are blinded to heavenly and +eternal good. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Both the order of the words and the meaning of this sentence axe obscure. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Before January falls in spring, owing to the lack of correctness in the +calendar, by which the year is lengthened by about a day in each century. It is +as if the poet said,—Before a thousand years shall pass; +meaning,—Within short while. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXVIII"></a>CANTO XXVIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Heavenly Hierarchy. +</p> + +<p> +After she who imparadises my mind had disclosed the truth counter to the +present life of wretched mortals, as he, who is lighted by a candle from +behind, sees its flame in a mirror before he has it in sight or in thought, and +turns round to see if the glass tell him the truth, and sees that it accords +with it as the note with its measure;[1] I thus my memory recollects that I +did, looking into the beautiful eyes, wherewith Love made the cord to ensnare +me.[2] And when I turned, and mine were touched by that which is apparent in +that revolving sphere whenever one gazes fixedly on its gyration, I saw a Point +which was raying out light so keen that the sight on which it blazes must needs +close because of its intense keenness. And whatso star seems smallest here +would seem a moon if placed beside it, as star with star is placed. Perhaps as +near as a halo seems to girdle the light which paints it, when the vapor that +bears it is most dense, at such distance round the Point a circle of fire was +whirling so swiftly that it would have surpassed that motion which with most +speed girds the world; and this was by another circumcinct, and that by the +third, and the third then by the fourth, by the fifth the fourth, and then by +the sixth the fifth. Thereon the seventh followed, so spread now in compass +that the messenger of Juno entire[3] would be narrow to contain it. So the +eighth and the ninth; and each was moving more slowly, according as it was in +number more distant from the first.[4] And that one had the clearest flame from +which the Pure Spark was least distant; I believe because it partakes more of +It. My Lady, who saw me deeply suspense in doubt, said, “On that Point +Heaven and all nature are dependent. Gaze on that circle which is most +conjoined to It, and know that its motion is so swift because of the burning +love whereby it is spurred.” And I to her, “If the world were set +in the order which I see in those wheels, that which is propounded to me would +have satisfied me; but in the world of sense the revolutions may be seen so +much the more divine as they are more remote from the centre.[5] Wherefore if +my desire is to have end in this marvellous and angelic temple, which has for +confine only love and light, I need yet to hear why the example and the +exemplar go not in one fashion, because I by myself contemplate this in +vain.” “If thy fingers are insufficient for such a knot, it is no +wonder, so hard has it become through not being tried.” Thus my Lady; +then she said, “Take that which I shall tell thee, if thou wouldest be +satisfied, and make subtle thy wit about it. The corporeal circles[6] are wide +and narrow according to the more or less of virtue which is spread through all +their parts. Greater goodness must make greater welfare; the greater body, if +it has its parts equally complete, contains greater welfare. Hence this one,[7] +which sweeps along with itself all the rest of the universe, corresponds to the +circle[8] which loves most, and knows most. Therefore, if thou compassest thy +measure round the virtue, not round the seeming of the substances which appear +circular to thee, thou wilt see in each heaven a marvellous agreement with its +Intelligence, of greater to more and of smaller to less.”[9] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] As the note of the song with the measure of the verse. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The eyes of Beatrice reflected, as a mirror, the light which shone from +God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The full circle of Iris, or the rainbow. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] These circles of fire are the nine orders of Angels. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The planetary spheres partake more of the divine nature, and move more +swiftly, in proportion to their distance from the earth, their centre. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The planetary spheres. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The ninth sphere. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Of the angelic hierarchy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] The greater heaven corresponds to the angelic circle of the Intelligences +which love God most and know most of Him; the smaller to that of those which +love and know least. +</p> + +<p> +As the hemisphere of the air remains splendid and serene when Boreas blows from +that cheek wherewith he is mildest,[1] whereby the mist which first troubled it +is cleared and dissolved, so that the heaven smiles to us with the beauties of +all its flock, so I became after my Lady had provided me with her clear answer, +and, like a star in heaven, the truth was seen. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] When Boreas blows the north wind more from the west than from the east. +</p> + +<p> +And after her words had stopped, not otherwise does molten iron throw out +sparks than the circles sparkled. Every scintillation followed its flame,[1] +and they were so many that their number, was of more thousands than the +doubling of the chess. I heard Hosaimah sung from choir to choir to the fixed +Point that holds them, and will forever hold them, at the Ubi[2] in which they +have ever been. And she, who saw the dubious thoughts within my mind, said, +“The first circles have shown to thee the Seraphim and the Cherubim. Thus +swiftly they follow their own bonds,[3] in order to liken themselves to the +Point so far as they can, and they can so far as they are exalted to see. Those +other loves, which go round about them, are called Thrones of the divine +aspect, because they terminated the first triad.[4] And thou shouldst know that +all have delight in proportion as their vision penetrates into the True in +which every understanding is at rest. Hence may be seen how beatitude is +founded on the act which sees, not on that which loves, which follows after. +And merit, which grace and good will bring forth, is the measure of this +seeing; thus is the progress from grade to grade. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The innumerable sparks each moved in accord with the gyration of its +flaming circle. The doubling of the chess alludes to the story that the +inventor of the game asked, as his reward from the King of Persia, a grain of +wheat for the first square of the board, two for the second, and so on to the +last or sixty-fourth square. The number reached by this process of duplication +extends to twenty figures. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The WHERE, the appointed place. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The course of their respective circles to which they are bound. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] “Throni elevantur ad hoc quod Deum familiariter in seipsis +recipiant.”—Summa Theol., I, cviii. 6. +</p> + +<p> +“The next triad that thus buds in this sempiternal spring which the +nightly Aries despoils not,[1] perpetually sing their spring song of Hosannah +with three melodies, which sound in the three orders of joy wherewith it is +threefold. In this hierarchy are the three Divinities, first Dominations, and +then the Virtues; the third order is of Powers. Then, in the two penultimate +dances, the Principalities and Archangels circle; the last is wholly of Angelic +sports. These orders are all upward gazing, and downward prevail, so that +toward God they all are drawn, and they all draw. And Dionysius[2] with such +great desire set himself to contemplate these orders, that he named and divided +them, as I. But Gregory[3] afterward separated from him; wherefore, so soon as +he opened his eyes in this Heaven, he smiled at himself. And if a mortal +proffered on earth so much of secret truth, I would not have thee wonder, for +he who saw it hereabove[4] disclosed it to him, with much else of the truth of +these circles.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] At the autumnal equinox, the time of frosts, Aries is the sign in which the +night rises. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Areopagite. See Canto X. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Pope, St. Gregory, who differs slightly from Dionysius in his +arrangement of the Heavenly host. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] St. Paul, supposed to have communicated to his disciple the knowledge which +he gained when caught up to Heaven. See 2 Cor., xii. 2. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXIX"></a>CANTO XXIX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Discourse of Beatrice concerning the creation and nature of the +Angels.—She reproves the presumption and foolishness of preachers. +</p> + +<p> +When both the children of Latona, covered by the Ram and by the Scales, +together make a zone of the horizon,[1] as long as from the moment the zenith +holds them in balance, till one and the other, changing their hemisphere, are +unbalanced from that girdle, soloing, with her countenance painted with a +smile, was Beatrice silent, looking fixedly upon the Point which had overcome +me. Then she began: “I speak, and I ask not what thou wishest to hear, +for I have seen it where every WHERE and every WHEN are centred. Not for the +gain of good unto Himself, which cannot be, but that His splendor might, in +resplendence, say, Subsisto; in His own eternity, outside of time, outside of +every other limit, as pleased Him, the Eternal Love disclosed Himself in new +loves. Nor before, as if inert, did He lie; for the going forth of God upon +these waters had proceeded neither before nor after.[2] Form and matter, +conjoined and simple, came forth to existence which had no defect, as three +arrows from a three-stringed bow; and as in glass, in amber, or in crystal a +ray shines so that there is no interval between its coining and its complete +existence, so the triform effect[3] rayed forth from its Lord into its. +existence all at once, without discrimination of beginning. Order was +concreate, and established for the substances, and those were top of the world +in which pure act was produced.[4] Pure potency held the lowest part;[5] in the +middle such a bond unites potency with act, that it is never unbound.[6] Jerome +has written to you of the Angels, created a long tract of centuries before the +rest of the world was made. But this truth[7] is written on many pages by the +writers of the that Holy Spirit: and thou wilt thyself discover it, if thou +watchest well for it; and even the reason sees it somewhat, for it would not +admit that the motors could be so long without their perfection.[8] Now thou +knowest where and when these loves were elected, and how; so that three flames +of thy desire are already quenched. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] When at the spring equinox, the sun being in the sign of Aries or the Ram, +and the moon in that of Libra or the Scales, opposite to each other on the +horizon, the one just rising and the other setting, they seem as if held for a +moment in a balance which hangs from the zenith. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] In eternity there is no before or after; time had no existence till the +creation, and has relevancy only to created things. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Pure form, pure matter, and form conjoined with matter. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The substances created purely active, to exercise action upon others, were +the angels. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] The substances purely passive, capable potentially only of submitting to +the action of others, are the material things without intelligence. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The substances in which potency and act are united are the creatures +endowed with bodies and souls. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] The truth here set forth (contrary to Jerome's assertion), the creation of +the Angels was contemporaneous with that of the creation of the rest of the +Universe of which they were the Intelligences. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] Without scope for their action as movers of the spheres. +</p> + +<p> +One would not reach to twenty, in counting, so quickly as a part of the Angels +disturbed the subject of your elements.[1] The rest remained and began this art +which thou beboldest, with such great delight that they never cease from +circling. The origin of the fall was the accursed pride of him whom thou hast +seen opprest by all the weights of the world. Those whom thou seest here were +modest in grateful recognition of the goodness which had made them ready for +intelligence so great; wherefore their vision was exalted with illuminant grace +and with their merit, so that they have full and steadfast will. And I wish +that thou doubt not, but be certain, that to receive grace is meritorious in +proportion as the affection is open to it. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The earth. +</p> + +<p> +“Henceforth, if my words have been harvested, thou canst contemplate +sufficiently round about this consistory without other assistance. But because +on earth it is taught in your schools that the angelic nature is such that it +understands, and remembers, and wills, I will speak further, in order that thou +mayest see the truth pure, which there below is mixed, through the equivocation +in such like teaching. These substances, from the time that they were glad in +the face of God, have not turned their sight from it, from which nothing is +concealed. Therefore they have not their vision interrupted by a new object, +and therefore do not need because of divided thought to recollect.[1] So that +there below men dream when not asleep, believing and not believing to speak +truth; but in the one is more fault and more shame.[2] Ye below go not along +one path in philosophizing; so much do the love of appearance[3] and the +thought of it transport you; and yet this is endured hereabove with less +indignation than when the divine Scripture is set aside, or when it is +perverted. Men think not there how much blood it costs to sow it in the world, +and how much he pleases who humbly keeps close to its side. Every one strives +for appearance, and makes his own inventions, and those are discoursed of by +the preachers, and the Gospel is silent. One says that the moon turned back at +the passion of Christ and interposed herself, so that the light of the sun +reached not down; and others that the light hid itself of its own accord, so +that this eclipse answered for the Spaniards and for the Indians as well as for +the Jews. Florence hath not so many Lapi and Bindi[4] as there are fables such +as these shouted the year long from the pulpits, on every side; so that the +poor flocks, who have no knowledge, return from the pasture fed with wind; and +not seeing the harm does not excuse them. Christ did not say to his first +company, 'Go, and preach idle stories to the world,' but he gave to them the +true foundation; and that alone sounded in their cheeks, so that in the battle +for kindling of the faith they made shield and lance of the Gospel. Now men go +forth to preach with jests and with buffooneries, and provided only there is a +good laugh the cowl puffs up, and nothing more is required. But such a bird is +nesting in the tail of the hood, that if the crowd should see it, they would +see the pardon in which they confide; through which such great folly has grown +on earth, that, without proof of any testimony, men would flock to every +indulgence. On this the pig of St. Antony fattens, and others also, who are far +more pigs, paying with money that has no stamp of coinage. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The angels, looking always upon God, to whom all things are present, have +no need of memory. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Many of the doctrines of men on earth axe like dreams, because they have no +foundation in truth; and while some honestly believe in them, there are others, +who, though not believing, still teach these doctrines as truth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] Of making a good show. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Common nicknames in Florence; Lapo is from Jacopo, Bindo from Ildebrando. +</p> + +<p> +“But because we have digressed enough, turn back thine eyes now toward +the straight path, so that the way be shortened with the time. This nature[1] +so extends in number, that never was there speech or mortal concept that could +go so far. And if thou considerest that which is revealed by Daniel thou wilt +see that in his thousands[2] a determinate number is concealed. The primal +light that irradiates it all is received in it by as many modes as are the +splendors with which the light pairs itself.[3] Wherefore, since the affection +follows upon the act[4] that conceives, in this nature the sweetness of love +diversely glows and warms. Behold now the height and the breadth of the Eternal +Goodness, since it has made for itself so many mirrors on which it is broken, +One in itself remaining as before.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Angels. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten +thousand stood before him.”—Daniel, vii. 10. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] No two angels are precisely alike in their vision of God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] Since love follows on knowledge through vision. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXX"></a>CANTO XXX.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Ascent to the Empyrean.—The River of Light.—The celestial +Rose.—The seat of Henry VII.—The last words of Beatrice. +</p> + +<p> +The sixth hour is glowing perhaps six thousand miles distant from us, and this +world now inclines its shadow almost to a level bed, when the mid heaven, deep +above us, begins to become such that some one star loses its show so far as to +this depth;[1] and as the brightest handmaid of the sun comes farther on, so +the heaven is closed from light to light, even to the most beautiful. Not +otherwise the Triumph, that plays forever round the Point which vanquished me, +seeming enclosed by that which it encloses, little by little to my sight was +extinguished;[2] wherefore my seeing nothing, and my love constrained me to +turn with my eyes to Beatrice. If what has been said of her so far as here were +all included in a single praise, it would be little to furnish out this turn. +The beauty which I saw transcends measure not only by us, but truly I believe +that its Maker alone can enjoy it all. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] When it is noon,—the sixth hour,—six thousand miles away from +us to the east, it is about daybreak where we are; the shadow of the earth lies +in the plane of vision, and with the growing light the stars one after another +become invisible at this depth, that is, to one on earth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Losing itself in the light which streams from the Divine point. +</p> + +<p> +By this pass I concede myself vanquished more than ever comic or tragic poet +was overcome by crisis of his theme. For as the sun does to the sight which +trembles most, even so remembrance of the sweet smile deprives my mind of its +very self. From the first day that I saw her face in this life, even to this +look, the following with my song has not been interrupted for me, but now needs +must my pursuit desist from further following her beauty in my verse, as at his +utmost every artist. +</p> + +<p> +Such, as I leave her to a greater heralding than that of my trumpet, which is +bringing its arduous theme to a close, with act and voice of a trusty leader +she began again. “We have issued forth from the greatest body[1] to the +Heaven[2] which is pure light: light intellectual full of love, love of true +good, full of joy; joy which transcends every sweetness. Here thou shalt see +one and the other host of Paradise;[3] and the one in those aspects which thou +shalt see at the Last Judgment.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Primum Mobile, the greatest of the material spheres of the universe. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Empyrean. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The spirits of the redeemed who fought against the temptations of the +world, and the good angels who fought against the rebellious; and here the +souls in bliss will be seen in their bodily shapes. +</p> + +<p> +As a sudden flash which scatters the spirits of the sight so that it deprives +the eye of the action of the strongest objects,[1] thus a vivid light shone +round about me, and left me swathed with such a veil of its own effulgence that +nothing was visible to me. +</p> + +<p> + 1] So that the clearest objects produce no effect upon the eye. +</p> + +<p> +“The Love which quieteth this Heaven always welcomes to itself with such +a salutation, in order to make the candle ready for its flame.” No sooner +had these brief words come within me than I comprehended that I was surmounting +above my own power; and I rekindled me with a new vision, such that no light is +so pure that my eyes had not sustained it. And I saw light in form of a river, +bright with effulgence, between two banks painted with a marvellous spring. Out +of this stream were issuing living sparks, and on every side were setting +themselves in the flowers, like rubies which gold encompasses. Then, as if +inebriated by the odors, they plunged again into the wonderful flood, and as +one was entering another was issuing forth. +</p> + +<p> +“The high desire which now inflames and urges thee to have knowledge +concerning that which thou seest, Pleases me the more the more it swells, but +thou must needs drink of this water before so great a thirst, in thee be +slaked.” Thus the Sun of my eyes said to me; thereon she added, +“The stream, and the topazes which enter and issue, and the smiling of +the herbage, are foreshadowing prefaces of their truth;[1] not that these +things are in themselves immature,[2] but there is defect on thy part who hast +not yet vision so lofty.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The stream, the sparks, the flowers are not such in reality as they seem to +be; they are but images foreshadowing the truth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The things show themselves as they are, but the eyes cannot yet see them +correctly. +</p> + +<p> +There is no babe who so hastily springs with face toward the milk, if he awake +much later than his wont, as I did, to make better mirrors yet of my eyes, +stooping to the wave which flows in order that one may be bettered in it. And +even as the eaves of my eyelids drank of it, so it seemed to me from its length +to become round. Then as folk who have been under masks, who seem other than +before, if they divest themselves of the semblance not their own in which they +disappeared, thus for me the flowers and the sparks were changed into greater +festival, so that I saw both the Courts of Heaven manifest. +</p> + +<p> +O splendor of God, by means of which I saw the high triumph of the true +kingdom, give me power to tell how I saw it! +</p> + +<p> +Light is thereabove which makes the Creator visible to that creature which has +its peace only in seeing Him; and it is extended in a circular figure so far +that its circumference would be too wide a girdle for the sun. Its whole +appearance is made of a ray reflected from the summit of the First Moving +Heaven,[1] which therefrom takes its life and potency. And as a hill mirrors +itself in water at its base, as if to see itself adorned, rich as it is with +verdure and with flowers, so ranged above the light, round and round about, on +more than a thousand seats, I saw mirrored all who of us have returned on high. +And if the lowest row gather within itself so great a light, how vast is the +spread of this rose in its outermost leaves! My sight lost not itself in the +breadth and in the height, but took in all the quantity and the quality of that +joy. There near and far nor add nor take away; for where God immediately +governs the natural law is of no relevancy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The Primum Mobile. +</p> + +<p> +Into the yellow of the sempiternal rose, which spreads wide, rises in steps, +and is redolent with odor of praise unto the Sun that makes perpetual spring, +Beatrice, like one who is silent and wishes to speak, drew me, and said, +“Behold, how vast is the convent of the white stoles![1] See our city, +how wide its circuit! See our benches so full that few people are now awaited +here. On that great seat, on which thou holdest thine eye because of the crown +which already is set above it, ere thou suppest at this wedding feast will sit +the soul (which below will be imperial) of the high Henry who, to set Italy +straight, will come ere she is ready.[2] The blind cupidity which bewitches you +has made you like the little child who dies of hunger, and drives away his +nurse. And such a one will then be prefect in the divine forum that openly or +covertly he will not go with him along one road;[3] but short while thereafter +shall he be endured by God in the holy office; for he shall be thrust down for +his deserts, there where Simon Magus is, and shall make him of Anagna go +lower.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white +raiment.”—Revelation, iii. 5. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] Henry VII., Emperor 1308, crowned at Milan 1311, died 1313. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The Pope Clement V. ostensibly supported the Emperor Henry VII. in his +Italian expedition, but secretly manoeuvred against him. He died in 1314, eight +months after the death of Henry. Beatrice here condemns him to the third bolgia +of the eighth circle of Hell, whither he was to follow Boniface +VIII.,—him of Anagna,—and push him deeper in the hole where the +simoniacal Popes were punished, Cf. Hell, XIX. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXXI"></a>CANTO XXXI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +The Rose of Paradise.—St. Bernard.—Prayer to Beatrice.—The +glory of the Blessed Virgin. +</p> + +<p> +In form then of a pure white rose the holy host was shown to me, which, in His +own blood, Christ made His bride. But the other,[1] which, flying, sees and +sings the glory of Him who enamours it, and the goodness which made it so +great, like a swarm of bees which one while are among the flowers and anon +return to the place where their work gets its savor, were descending into the +great flower which is adorned with so many leaves, and thence rising up again +to where their love always abides. Their faces all were of living flame, and +their wings of gold, and the rest so white that no snow reaches that extreme. +When they descended into the flower, from bench to bench, they imparted +somewhat of the peace and of the ardor which they acquired as they fanned their +sides. Nor did the interposing of such a flying plenitude between what was +above and the flower impede the sight and the splendor; for the divine light +penetrates through the universe, according as it is worthy, so that naught can +be an obstacle to it. This secure and joyous realm, thronged with aneient and +with modern folk, had all its look and love upon one mark. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The angelic host. +</p> + +<p> +O Trinal Light, which in a single star, scintillating on their sight, so +satisfies them, look down here upon our tempest! +</p> + +<p> +If the Barbarians, coming from a region such that every day it is covered by +Helice,[1] revolving with her son of whom she is fond, when they beheld Rome +and her arduous work, were wonderstruck, what time Lateran rose above mortal +things,[2] I, who to the divine from the human, to the eternal from the +temporal, had come, and from Florence to a people just and sane, with what +amazement must I have been full! Surely what with it and the joy I was well +pleased not to hear, and to stand mute. And as a pilgrim who is refreshed in +the temple of his vow in looking round, and hopes now to report how it was, so, +journeying through the living light, I carried my eyes over the ranks, now up, +now down, and now circling about. I saw faces persuasive to love, beautified by +the light of Another and by their own smile, and actions ornate with every +dignity. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The nymph Callisto or Helice bore to Zeus a son, Arcas; she was +metamorphosed by Hera into a bear, and then transferred to Heaven by Jupiter as +the constellation of the Great Bear, while her son was changed into the +constellation of Aretophylax or Bootes. In the far north these constellations +remain always above the horizon. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] When Rome was mistress of the world, and the Lateran the seat of imperial +or papal power. +</p> + +<p> +My look had now comprehended the general form of Paradise as a whole, and on no +part yet my sight was fixed; and I turned me with re-enkindled wish to ask my +Lady about things concerning which my mind was in suspense. One thing I was +meaning, and another answered me; I was thinking to see Beatrice, and I saw an +old man, robed like the people in glory. His eyes and his cheeks were +overspread with benignant joy, in pious mien such as befits a tender father. +And, “Where is she?” on a sudden said I. Whereon he, “To +terminate thy desire, Beatrice urged me from my place, and if thou lookest up +to the third circle from the highest step, thou wilt again see her upon the +throne which her merits have allotted to her.” Without answering I lifted +up my eyes, and saw her as she made for herself a crown, reflecting from +herself the eternal rays. From that region which thunders highest up no mortal +eye is so far distant, in whatsoever sea it loses itself the lowest,[1] as +there from Beatrice was my sight. But this was naught to me, for her image did +not descend to me blurred by aught between. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] From the highest region of the air to the lowest depth of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +“O Lady, in whom my hope is strong, and who, for my salvation, didst +endure to leave thy footprints in Hell, of all those things which I have seen, +I recognize by thy power and by thy goodness the grace and the virtue. Thou +hast drawn me from servitude to liberty by all those ways, by all the modes +whereby thou hadst the power to do this. Guard thou in me thine own +magnificence so that my soul, which thou hast made whole, may, pleasing to +thee, be unloosed from the body.” Thus I prayed; and she, so distant, +smiled, as it seemed, and looked at me; then turned to the eternal fountain. +</p> + +<p> +And the holy old man, “In order that thou mayest complete +perfectly,” he said, “thy journey, whereto prayer and holy love +sent me, fly with thy eyes through this garden; for seeing it will prepare thy +look to mount further through the divine radiance. And the Queen of Heaven, for +whom I burn wholly with love, will grant us every grace, because I am her +faithful Bernard.”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] St. Bernard, to whom, because of his fervent devotion to her, the Blessed +Virgin had deigned to show herself during his life. +</p> + +<p> +As is he who comes perchance from Croatia to see our Veronica,[1] who is not +satisfied by its ancient fame, but says in thought, while it is shown, +“My Lord Jesus Christ, true God, now was your semblance like to +this?” such was I, gazing on the living charity of him who, in this +world, in contemplation, tasted of that peace. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The likeness of the Saviour miraculously impressed upon the kerchief +presented to him by a holy woman, on his way to Calvary, wherewith to wipe the +sweat and dust from his face, and now religiously preserved at Rome, and shown +at St. Peter's, on certain holydays. +</p> + +<p> +“Son of Grace, this glad existence,” began he, “will not be +known to thee holding thine eyes only below here at the bottom, but look on the +circles even to the most remote, until thou seest upon her seat the Queen to +whom this realm is subject and devoted.” I lifted up my eyes; and as at +morning the eastern parts of the horizon surpass that where the sun declines, +thus, as if going with my eyes from valley to mountain, I saw a part on the +extreme verge vanquishing in light all the other front. And even as there where +the pole which Phaeton guided ill is awaited,[1] the flame is brighter, and on +this side and that the light grows less, so that pacific oriflamme was vivid at +the middle, and on each side in equal measure the flame slackened. And at that +mid part I saw more than a thousand jubilant Angels with wings outspread, each +distinct both in brightness and in act. I saw there, smiling at their sports +and at their songs, a Beauty[2] which was joy in the eyes of all the other +saints. And if I had such wealth in speech as in imagining, I should. not dare +to attempt the least of its delightfulness. Bernard, when he saw my eyes fixed +and intent upon its warm glow, turned his own with such affection to it, that +he made mine more ardent to gaze anew. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Where the chariot of the sun is about to rise. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The Virgin. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXXII"></a>CANTO XXXII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +St. Bernard describes the order of the Rose, and points out many of the +Saints.—The children in Paradise.—The angelic festival.—The +patricians of the Court of Heaven. +</p> + +<p> +Fixed in affection upon his Delight, that contemplator freely assumed the +office of a teacher, and began these holy words: “The wound which Mary +closed up and anointed, she who is so beautiful at her feet is she who opened +it and who pierced it. Beneath her, in the order which the third seats make, +sits Rachel with Beatrice, as thou seest. Sara, Rebecca, Judith, and she[1] who +was great-grandmother of the singer who, through sorrow for his sin, said +Miserere mei,[2] thou mayest see thus from step to step in gradation downward, +as with the name of each I go downward through the rose from leaf to leaf. And +from the seventh row downwards, even as down to it, Hebrew women follow in +succession, dividing all the tresses of the flower; because these are the wall +by which the sacred stairways are separated according to the look which faith +turned on Christ. On this side, where the flower is mature with all its leaves, +are seated those who believed in Christ about to come. On the other side, where +the semicircles are broken by empty spaces, are those who turned their faces on +Christ already come.[3] And as on this side the glorious seat of the Lady of +Heaven, and the other seats below it, make so great a division, thus, opposite, +does that of the great John, who, ever holy, endured the desert and martyrdom, +and then Hell for two years;[4] and beneath him Francis and Benedict and +Augustine and others are allotted thfis to divide, far down as here from circle +to circle. Now behold the high divine foresight; for one and the other aspect +of the faith will fill this garden equally. And know that downwards from the +row which midway cleaves[5] the two divisions, they are seated for no merit of +their own, but for that of others, under certain conditions; for all these are +spirits absolved ere they had true election. Well canst thou perceive it by +their looks, and also by their childish voices, if thou lookest well upon them +and if thou listenest to them. Now thou art perplexed, and in perplexity art +silent; but I will loose for thee the strong bond in which thy subtile thoughts +fetter thee.[6] Within the amplitude of this realm a casual point can have no +place,[7] any more than sadness, or thirst, or hunger; for whatever thou seest +is established by eternal law, so that here the ring answers exactly to the +finger. And therefore this folk,[8] hastened to true life, is not sine causa +more and less excellent here among itself. The King through whom this realm +reposes in such great love and in such great delight that no will is +venturesome for more, creating all the minds in His own glad aspect, diversely +endows with grace according to His own pleasure; and here let the fact +suffice.[9] And this is expressly and clearly noted for you in the Holy +Scripture in those twins who, while within their mother, had their anger +roused.[10] Therefore, according to the color of the hair of such grace,[11] it +behoves the highest light befittingly to crown them. Without, then, merit from +their modes of Efe, they are placed in different grades, differing only in +their primary keenness of vision.[12] Thus in the fresh centuries the faith of +parents alone sufficed, together with innocence, to secure salvation. After the +first ages were, complete, it was needful for males with their innocent plumage +to acquire virtue through circumcision. But after the time of grace had come, +without perfect baptism in Christ, such minocence was kept there below. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Ruth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] “Have mercy upon me.”—Psalm li. 1. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[3] The circle of the Rose is divided in two equal parts. In the one half, the +saints of the Old Dispensation, who believed in Christ about to come, are +seated. The benches of this half are full. In the other half, the benches of +which are not yet quite full, sit the redeemed of the New Dispensation who have +believed on Christ already come. On one side the line of division between the +semicircles is made by the Hebrew women from the Virgin Mary downwards; on the +opposite side the line is made by St. John Baptist and other saints who had +rendered special service to Christ and his Church. The lower tiers of seats all +round are occupied by children elect to bliss. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[4] The two years from the death of John to the death of Christ and his descent +to Hell, to draw from the limbus patrum the souls predestined to salvation. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[5] Horizontally. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[6] The perplexity was, How can there be difference of merit in the innocent, +assigning them to different seats in Paradise? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[7] No least thing can here be matter of chance. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[8] This childish folk. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[9] Without attempt to account for it, to seek the wherefore of the will of +God. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[10] Jacob and Esau. See Genesis, xxv. 22. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[11] The crown of light and the station in Paradise axe allotted according to +the diversity in the endowment of grace, which is like the diversity in the +color of the hair of men. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[12] In capacity to see God. +</p> + +<p> +“Look now upon the face which most resembles Christ, for only its +brightness can prepare thee to see Christ.” +</p> + +<p> +I saw raining upon her such great joy borne in the holy minds created to fly +across through that height, that whatsoever I had seen before had not rapt me +with such great admiration, nor shown to me such likeness to God. And that love +which had first descended there, in front of her spread wide his wings, singing +“Ave, Maria, gratia plena.” The blessed Court responded to the +divine song from all parts, so that every countenance became thereby serener. +</p> + +<p> +“O holy Father, who for me submittest to be below here, leaving the sweet +place in which thou sittest through eternal allotment, who is that Angel who +with such jubilee looks into the eyes of our Queen, so enamoured that he seems +of fire?” Thus I again had recourse to the teaching of him who was made +beautiful by Mary, as the morning star by the sun. And he to me, +“Confidence and grace as much as there can be in Angel and in soul, axe +all in him, and so we would have it be, for he it is who bore the palm down to +Mary, when the Son of God willed to load Himself with our burden. +</p> + +<p> +“But come now with thine eyes, as I shall go on speaking, and note the +great patricians of this most just and pious empire. Those two who sit there +above, most happy through being nearest to the Empress, are, as it were, the +two roots of this rose. He who on the left is close to her is the Father +through whose rash taste the human race tastes so much bitterness. On the right +thou seest that ancient Father of Holy Church, to whom Christ entrusted the +keys of this lovely flower. And he who saw before his death all the heavy times +of the beautiful bride, who was won with the lance and with the nails, sits at +his side; and alongside the other rests that leader, under whom the ingrate, +fickle and stubborn people lived on manna. Opposite Peter thou seest Anna +sitting, so content to gaze upon her daughter, that she moves not her eyes +while singing Hosannah; and opposite the eldest father of a family sits Lucia, +who moved thy Lady, when thou didst bend thy brow to rush downward. +</p> + +<p> +“But because the time flies which holds thee slumbering,[1] here will we +make a stop, like a good tailor who makes the gown according as he has cloth, +and we will direct our eyes to the First Love, so that, looking towards Him, +thou mayst penetrate so far as is possible through His effulgence. Truly, lest +perchance, moving thy wings, thou go backward, believing to advance, it is +needful that grace be obtained by prayer; grace from her who has the power to +aid thee; and do thou follow me with thy affection so that thy heart depart not +from my speech.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] This is the single passage in which Dante implies that his vision is of the +nature of a dream. +</p> + +<p> +And he began this holy supplication. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="cantoIII.XXXIII"></a>CANTO XXXIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +Prayer to the Virgin.—The Beatific Vision.—The Ultimate Salvation. +</p> + +<p> +“Virgin Mother, daughter of thine own Son, humble and exalted more than +any creature, fixed term of the eternal counsel, thou art she who didst so +ennoble human nature that its own Maker disdained not to become His own making. +Within thy womb was rekindled the Love through whose warmth this flower has +thus blossomed in the eternal peace. Here thou art to us the noonday torch of +charity, and below, among mortals, thou art the living fount of hope. Lady, +thou art so great, and so availest, that whoso wishes grace, and has not +recourse to thee, wishes his desire to fly without wings. Thy benignity not +only succors him who asks, but oftentimes freely foreruns the asking. In thee +mercy, in thee pity, in thee magnificence, in thee whatever of goodness is in +any creature, are united. Now doth this man, who, from the lowest abyss of the +universe, far even as here, has seen one by one the lives of spirits, +supplicate thee, through grace, for virtue such that he may be able with his +eyes to uplift himself higher toward the Ultimate Salvation. And I, who never +for my own vision burned more than I do for his, proffer to thee all my +prayers, and pray that they be not scant, that with thy prayers thou wouldest +dissipate for him every cloud of his mortality, so that the Supreme Pleasure +may be displayed to him. Further I pray thee, Queen, who canst whatso thou +wilt, that, after so great a vision, thou wouldest preserve his affections +sound. May thy guardianship vanquish human impulses. Behold Beatrice with all +the Blessed for my prayers clasp their hands to thee.”[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] In the Second Nun's Tale Chaucer has rendered, with great beauty, the +larger part of this prayer. +</p> + +<p> +The eyes beloved and revered by God, fixed on the speaker, showed to us how +pleasing unto her are devout prayers. Then to the Eternal Light were they +directed, on which it is not to be believed that eye so clear is turned by any +creature. +</p> + +<p> +And I, who to the end of all desires was approaching, even as I ought, ended +within myself the ardor of my longing.[1] Bernard was beckoning to me, and was +smiling, that I should look upward; but I was already, of my own accord, such +as he wished; for my sight, becoming pure, was entering more and more through +the radiance of the lofty Light which of itself is true. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] The ardor of longing ceased, as was natural, in the consummation and +enjoyment of desire. +</p> + +<p> +Thenceforward my vision was greater than our speech, which yields to such a +sight, and the memory yields to such excess.[1] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] Vague words! but ah, how hard to frame<br/> + +In matter-moulded forms of speech,<br/> + +Or ev'n for intellect to reach<br/> + +Thro' memory that which I became.”<br/> + +—In Memoriam, XCV. +</p> + +<p> +As is he who dreaming sees, and after the dream the passion remains imprinted, +and the rest returns not to the mind, such am I; for my vision almost wholly +fails, while the sweetness that was born of it yet distils within my heart. +Thus the snow is by the sun unsealed; thus on the wind, in the light leaves, +was lost the saying of the Sibyl. +</p> + +<p> +O Supreme Light, that so high upliftest Thyself from mortal conceptions, +re-lend a little to my mind of what Thou didst appear, and make my tongue so +powerful that it may be able to leave one single spark of Thy glory for the +future people; for, by returning somewhat to my memory and by sounding a little +in these verses, more of Thy victory shall be conceived. +</p> + +<p> +I think that by the keenness of the living ray which I endured, I should have +been bewildered if my eyes had been averted from it. And it comes to my mind +that for this reason I was the more hardy to sustain so much, that I joined my +look unto the Infinite Goodness. +</p> + +<p> +O abundant Grace, whereby I presumed to fix my eyes through the Eternal Light +so far that there I consumed my sight! +</p> + +<p> +In its depth I saw that whatsoever is dispersed through the universe is there +included, bound with love in one volume; substance and accidents and their +modes, fused together, as it were, in such wise, that that of which I speak is +one simple Light. The universal form of this knot[1] I believe that I saw, +because in saying this I feel that I more at large rejoice. One instant only is +greater oblivion for me than five and twenty centuries to the emprise which +made Neptune wonder at the shadow of Argo.[2] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] This union of substance and accident and their modes; the unity of creation +in the Creator. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[2] The mysteries of God vanish in an instant from memory, but the larger joy +felt in recording them is proof that they were seen. +</p> + +<p> +Thus my mind, wholly rapt, was gazing fixed, motionless, and intent, and ever +with gazing grew enkindled. In that Light one becomes such that it is +impossible he should ever consent to turn himself from it for other sight; +because the Good which is the object of the will is all collected in it, and +outside of it that is defective which is perfect there. +</p> + +<p> +Now will my speech be shorter, even in respect to that which I remember, than +an infant's who still bathes his tongue at the breast. Not because more than +one simple semblance was in the Living Light wherein I was gazing, which is +always such as it was before; but through my sight, which was growing strong in +me as I looked, one sole appearance, as I myself changed, was altering itself +to me. +</p> + +<p> +Within the profound and clear subsistence of the lofty Light appeared to me +three circles of three colors and of one dimension; and one appeared reflected +by the other, as Iris by Iris,[1] and the third appeared fire which from the +one and from the other is equally breathed forth. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +[1] As one arch of the rainbow by the other. +</p> + +<p> +O how short is the telling, and how feeble toward my conception! and this +toward what I saw is such that it suffices not to call it little. +</p> + +<p> +O Light Eternal, that sole dwellest in Thyself, sole understandest Thyself, +and, by Thyself understood and understanding, lovest and smilest on Thyself! +That circle, which, thus conceived, appeared in Thee as a reflected light, +being somewhile regarded by my eyes, seemed to me depicted within itself, of +its own very color, by our effigy, wherefore my sight was wholly set upon it. +As is the geometer who wholly applies himself to measure the circle, and finds +not by thinking that principle of which he is in need, such was I at that new +sight. I wished to see how the image accorded with the circle, and how it has +its place therein; but my own wings were not for this, had it not been that my +mind was smitten by a flash in which its wish came. +</p> + +<p> +To my high fantasy here power failed; but now my desire and my will, like a +wheel which evenly is moved, the Lovee was turning which moves the Sun and the +other stars. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DIVINE COMEDY, PARADISE ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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