Chapter 8

And I heard say: “By human intellect And by authority concordant with it, Of all thy loves reserve for God the highest.

But say again if other cords thou feelest, Draw thee towards Him, that thou mayst proclaim With how many teeth this love is biting thee.”

The holy purpose of the Eagle of Christ Not latent was, nay, rather I perceived Whither he fain would my profession lead.

Therefore I recommenced: “All of those bites Which have the power to turn the heart to God Unto my charity have been concurrent.

The being of the world, and my own being, The death which He endured that I may live, And that which all the faithful hope, as I do,

With the forementioned vivid consciousness Have drawn me from the sea of love perverse, And of the right have placed me on the shore.

The leaves, wherewith embowered is all the garden Of the Eternal Gardener, do I love As much as he has granted them of good.”

As soon as I had ceased, a song most sweet Throughout the heaven resounded, and my Lady Said with the others, “Holy, holy, holy!”

And as at some keen light one wakes from sleep By reason of the visual spirit that runs Unto the splendour passed from coat to coat,

And he who wakes abhorreth what he sees, So all unconscious is his sudden waking, Until the judgment cometh to his aid,

So from before mine eyes did Beatrice Chase every mote with radiance of her own, That cast its light a thousand miles and more.

Whence better after than before I saw, And in a kind of wonderment I asked About a fourth light that I saw with us.

And said my Lady: “There within those rays Gazes upon its Maker the first soul That ever the first virtue did create.”

Even as the bough that downward bends its top At transit of the wind, and then is lifted By its own virtue, which inclines it upward,

Likewise did I, the while that she was speaking, Being amazed, and then I was made bold By a desire to speak wherewith I burned.

And I began: “O apple, that mature Alone hast been produced, O ancient father, To whom each wife is daughter and daughter-in-law,

Devoutly as I can I supplicate thee That thou wouldst speak to me; thou seest my wish; And I, to hear thee quickly, speak it not.”

Sometimes an animal, when covered, struggles So that his impulse needs must be apparent, By reason of the wrappage following it;

And in like manner the primeval soul Made clear to me athwart its covering How jubilant it was to give me pleasure.

Then breathed: “Without thy uttering it to me, Thine inclination better I discern Than thou whatever thing is surest to thee;

For I behold it in the truthful mirror, That of Himself all things parhelion makes, And none makes Him parhelion of itself.

Thou fain wouldst hear how long ago God placed me Within the lofty garden, where this Lady Unto so long a stairway thee disposed.

And how long to mine eyes it was a pleasure, And of the great disdain the proper cause, And the language that I used and that I made.

Now, son of mine, the tasting of the tree Not in itself was cause of so great exile, But solely the o’erstepping of the bounds.

There, whence thy Lady moved Virgilius, Four thousand and three hundred and two circuits Made by the sun, this Council I desired;

And him I saw return to all the lights Of his highway nine hundred times and thirty, Whilst I upon the earth was tarrying.

The language that I spake was quite extinct Before that in the work interminable The people under Nimrod were employed;

For nevermore result of reasoning (Because of human pleasure that doth change, Obedient to the heavens) was durable.

A natural action is it that man speaks; But whether thus or thus, doth nature leave To your own art, as seemeth best to you.

Ere I descended to the infernal anguish, ‘El’ was on earth the name of the Chief Good, From whom comes all the joy that wraps me round

‘Eli’ he then was called, and that is proper, Because the use of men is like a leaf On bough, which goeth and another cometh.

Upon the mount that highest o’er the wave Rises was I, in life or pure or sinful, From the first hour to that which is the second,

As the sun changes quadrant, to the sixth.”

Paradiso: Canto XXVII

“Glory be to the Father, to the Son, And Holy Ghost!” all Paradise began, So that the melody inebriate made me.

What I beheld seemed unto me a smile Of the universe; for my inebriation Found entrance through the hearing and the sight.

O joy! O gladness inexpressible! O perfect life of love and peacefulness! O riches without hankering secure!

Before mine eyes were standing the four torches Enkindled, and the one that first had come Began to make itself more luminous;

And even such in semblance it became As Jupiter would become, if he and Mars Were birds, and they should interchange their feathers.

That Providence, which here distributeth Season and service, in the blessed choir Had silence upon every side imposed.

When I heard say: “If I my colour change, Marvel not at it; for while I am speaking Thou shalt behold all these their colour change.

He who usurps upon the earth my place, My place, my place, which vacant has become Before the presence of the Son of God,

Has of my cemetery made a sewer Of blood and stench, whereby the Perverse One, Who fell from here, below there is appeased!”

With the same colour which, through sun adverse, Painteth the clouds at evening or at morn, Beheld I then the whole of heaven suffused.

And as a modest woman, who abides Sure of herself, and at another’s failing, From listening only, timorous becomes,

Even thus did Beatrice change countenance; And I believe in heaven was such eclipse, When suffered the supreme Omnipotence;

Thereafterward proceeded forth his words With voice so much transmuted from itself, The very countenance was not more changed.

“The spouse of Christ has never nurtured been On blood of mine, of Linus and of Cletus, To be made use of in acquest of gold;

But in acquest of this delightful life Sixtus and Pius, Urban and Calixtus, After much lamentation, shed their blood.

Our purpose was not, that on the right hand Of our successors should in part be seated The Christian folk, in part upon the other;

Nor that the keys which were to me confided Should e’er become the escutcheon on a banner, That should wage war on those who are baptized;

Nor I be made the figure of a seal To privileges venal and mendacious, Whereat I often redden and flash with fire.

In garb of shepherds the rapacious wolves Are seen from here above o’er all the pastures! O wrath of God, why dost thou slumber still?

To drink our blood the Caorsines and Gascons Are making ready. O thou good beginning, Unto how vile an end must thou needs fall!

But the high Providence, that with Scipio At Rome the glory of the world defended, Will speedily bring aid, as I conceive;

And thou, my son, who by thy mortal weight Shalt down return again, open thy mouth; What I conceal not, do not thou conceal.”

As with its frozen vapours downward falls In flakes our atmosphere, what time the horn Of the celestial Goat doth touch the sun,

Upward in such array saw I the ether Become, and flaked with the triumphant vapours, Which there together with us had remained.

My sight was following up their semblances, And followed till the medium, by excess, The passing farther onward took from it;

Whereat the Lady, who beheld me freed From gazing upward, said to me: “Cast down Thy sight, and see how far thou art turned round.”

Since the first time that I had downward looked, I saw that I had moved through the whole arc Which the first climate makes from midst to end;

So that I saw the mad track of Ulysses Past Gades, and this side, well nigh the shore Whereon became Europa a sweet burden.

And of this threshing-floor the site to me Were more unveiled, but the sun was proceeding Under my feet, a sign and more removed.

My mind enamoured, which is dallying At all times with my Lady, to bring back To her mine eyes was more than ever ardent.

And if or Art or Nature has made bait To catch the eyes and so possess the mind, In human flesh or in its portraiture,

All joined together would appear as nought To the divine delight which shone upon me When to her smiling face I turned me round.

The virtue that her look endowed me with From the fair nest of Leda tore me forth, And up into the swiftest heaven impelled me.

Its parts exceeding full of life and lofty Are all so uniform, I cannot say Which Beatrice selected for my place.

But she, who was aware of my desire, Began, the while she smiled so joyously That God seemed in her countenance to rejoice:

“The nature of that motion, which keeps quiet The centre and all the rest about it moves, From hence begins as from its starting point.

And in this heaven there is no other Where Than in the Mind Divine, wherein is kindled The love that turns it, and the power it rains.

Within a circle light and love embrace it, Even as this doth the others, and that precinct He who encircles it alone controls.

Its motion is not by another meted, But all the others measured are by this, As ten is by the half and by the fifth.

And in what manner time in such a pot May have its roots, and in the rest its leaves, Now unto thee can manifest be made.

O Covetousness, that mortals dost ingulf Beneath thee so, that no one hath the power Of drawing back his eyes from out thy waves!

Full fairly blossoms in mankind the will; But the uninterrupted rain converts Into abortive wildings the true plums.

Fidelity and innocence are found Only in children; afterwards they both Take flight or e’er the cheeks with down are covered.

One, while he prattles still, observes the fasts, Who, when his tongue is loosed, forthwith devours Whatever food under whatever moon;

Another, while he prattles, loves and listens Unto his mother, who when speech is perfect Forthwith desires to see her in her grave.

Even thus is swarthy made the skin so white In its first aspect of the daughter fair Of him who brings the morn, and leaves the night.

Thou, that it may not be a marvel to thee, Think that on earth there is no one who governs; Whence goes astray the human family.

Ere January be unwintered wholly By the centesimal on earth neglected, Shall these supernal circles roar so loud

The tempest that has been so long awaited Shall whirl the poops about where are the prows; So that the fleet shall run its course direct,

And the true fruit shall follow on the flower.”

Paradiso: Canto XXVIII

After the truth against the present life Of miserable mortals was unfolded By her who doth imparadise my mind,

As in a looking-glass a taper’s flame He sees who from behind is lighted by it, Before he has it in his sight or thought,

And turns him round to see if so the glass Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords Therewith as doth a music with its metre,

In similar wise my memory recollecteth That I did, looking into those fair eyes, Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me.

And as I turned me round, and mine were touched By that which is apparent in that volume, Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent,

A point beheld I, that was raying out Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles Must close perforce before such great acuteness.

And whatsoever star seems smallest here Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it. As one star with another star is placed.

Perhaps at such a distance as appears A halo cincturing the light that paints it, When densest is the vapour that sustains it,

Thus distant round the point a circle of fire So swiftly whirled, that it would have surpassed Whatever motion soonest girds the world;

And this was by another circumcinct, That by a third, the third then by a fourth, By a fifth the fourth, and then by a sixth the fifth;

The seventh followed thereupon in width So ample now, that Juno’s messenger Entire would be too narrow to contain it.

Even so the eighth and ninth; and every one More slowly moved, according as it was In number distant farther from the first.

And that one had its flame most crystalline From which less distant was the stainless spark, I think because more with its truth imbued.

My Lady, who in my anxiety Beheld me much perplexed, said: “From that point Dependent is the heaven and nature all.

Behold that circle most conjoined to it, And know thou, that its motion is so swift Through burning love whereby it is spurred on.”

And I to her: “If the world were arranged In the order which I see in yonder wheels, What’s set before me would have satisfied me;

But in the world of sense we can perceive That evermore the circles are diviner As they are from the centre more remote

Wherefore if my desire is to be ended In this miraculous and angelic temple, That has for confines only love and light,

To hear behoves me still how the example And the exemplar go not in one fashion, Since for myself in vain I contemplate it.”

“If thine own fingers unto such a knot Be insufficient, it is no great wonder, So hard hath it become for want of trying.”

My Lady thus; then said she: “Do thou take What I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated, And exercise on that thy subtlety.

The circles corporal are wide and narrow According to the more or less of virtue Which is distributed through all their parts.

The greater goodness works the greater weal, The greater weal the greater body holds, If perfect equally are all its parts.

Therefore this one which sweeps along with it The universe sublime, doth correspond Unto the circle which most loves and knows.

On which account, if thou unto the virtue Apply thy measure, not to the appearance Of substances that unto thee seem round,

Thou wilt behold a marvellous agreement, Of more to greater, and of less to smaller, In every heaven, with its Intelligence.”

Even as remaineth splendid and serene The hemisphere of air, when Boreas Is blowing from that cheek where he is mildest,

Because is purified and resolved the rack That erst disturbed it, till the welkin laughs With all the beauties of its pageantry;

Thus did I likewise, after that my Lady Had me provided with her clear response, And like a star in heaven the truth was seen.

And soon as to a stop her words had come, Not otherwise does iron scintillate When molten, than those circles scintillated.

Their coruscation all the sparks repeated, And they so many were, their number makes More millions than the doubling of the chess.

I heard them sing hosanna choir by choir To the fixed point which holds them at the ‘Ubi,’ And ever will, where they have ever been.

And she, who saw the dubious meditations Within my mind, “The primal circles,” said, “Have shown thee Seraphim and Cherubim.

Thus rapidly they follow their own bonds, To be as like the point as most they can, And can as far as they are high in vision.

Those other Loves, that round about them go, Thrones of the countenance divine are called, Because they terminate the primal Triad.

And thou shouldst know that they all have delight As much as their own vision penetrates The Truth, in which all intellect finds rest.

From this it may be seen how blessedness Is founded in the faculty which sees, And not in that which loves, and follows next;

And of this seeing merit is the measure, Which is brought forth by grace, and by good will; Thus on from grade to grade doth it proceed.

The second Triad, which is germinating In such wise in this sempiternal spring, That no nocturnal Aries despoils,

Perpetually hosanna warbles forth With threefold melody, that sounds in three Orders of joy, with which it is intrined.

The three Divine are in this hierarchy, First the Dominions, and the Virtues next; And the third order is that of the Powers.

Then in the dances twain penultimate The Principalities and Archangels wheel; The last is wholly of angelic sports.

These orders upward all of them are gazing, And downward so prevail, that unto God They all attracted are and all attract.

And Dionysius with so great desire To contemplate these Orders set himself, He named them and distinguished them as I do.

But Gregory afterwards dissented from him; Wherefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes Within this heaven, he at himself did smile.

And if so much of secret truth a mortal Proffered on earth, I would not have thee marvel, For he who saw it here revealed it to him,

With much more of the truth about these circles.”

Paradiso: Canto XXIX

At what time both the children of Latona, Surmounted by the Ram and by the Scales, Together make a zone of the horizon,

As long as from the time the zenith holds them In equipoise, till from that girdle both Changing their hemisphere disturb the balance,

So long, her face depicted with a smile, Did Beatrice keep silence while she gazed Fixedly at the point which had o’ercome me.

Then she began: “I say, and I ask not What thou dost wish to hear, for I have seen it Where centres every When and every ‘Ubi.’

Not to acquire some good unto himself, Which is impossible, but that his splendour In its resplendency may say, ‘Subsisto,’

In his eternity outside of time, Outside all other limits, as it pleased him, Into new Loves the Eternal Love unfolded.

Nor as if torpid did he lie before; For neither after nor before proceeded The going forth of God upon these waters.

Matter and Form unmingled and conjoined Came into being that had no defect, E’en as three arrows from a three-stringed bow.

And as in glass, in amber, or in crystal A sunbeam flashes so, that from its coming To its full being is no interval,

So from its Lord did the triform effect Ray forth into its being all together, Without discrimination of beginning.

Order was con-created and constructed In substances, and summit of the world Were those wherein the pure act was produced.

Pure potentiality held the lowest part; Midway bound potentiality with act Such bond that it shall never be unbound.

Jerome has written unto you of angels Created a long lapse of centuries Or ever yet the other world was made;

But written is this truth in many places By writers of the Holy Ghost, and thou Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat.

And even reason seeth it somewhat, For it would not concede that for so long Could be the motors without their perfection.

Now dost thou know both where and when these Loves Created were, and how; so that extinct In thy desire already are three fires.

Nor could one reach, in counting, unto twenty So swiftly, as a portion of these angels Disturbed the subject of your elements.

The rest remained, and they began this art Which thou discernest, with so great delight That never from their circling do they cease.

The occasion of the fall was the accursed Presumption of that One, whom thou hast seen By all the burden of the world constrained.

Those whom thou here beholdest modest were To recognise themselves as of that goodness Which made them apt for so much understanding;

On which account their vision was exalted By the enlightening grace and their own merit, So that they have a full and steadfast will.

I would not have thee doubt, but certain be, ’Tis meritorious to receive this grace, According as the affection opens to it.

Now round about in this consistory Much mayst thou contemplate, if these my words Be gathered up, without all further aid.

But since upon the earth, throughout your schools, They teach that such is the angelic nature That it doth hear, and recollect, and will,

More will I say, that thou mayst see unmixed The truth that is confounded there below, Equivocating in such like prelections.

These substances, since in God’s countenance They jocund were, turned not away their sight From that wherefrom not anything is hidden;

Hence they have not their vision intercepted By object new, and hence they do not need To recollect, through interrupted thought.

So that below, not sleeping, people dream, Believing they speak truth, and not believing; And in the last is greater sin and shame.

Below you do not journey by one path Philosophising; so transporteth you Love of appearance and the thought thereof.

And even this above here is endured With less disdain, than when is set aside The Holy Writ, or when it is distorted.

They think not there how much of blood it costs To sow it in the world, and how he pleases Who in humility keeps close to it.

Each striveth for appearance, and doth make His own inventions; and these treated are By preachers, and the Evangel holds its peace.

One sayeth that the moon did backward turn, In the Passion of Christ, and interpose herself So that the sunlight reached not down below;

And lies; for of its own accord the light Hid itself; whence to Spaniards and to Indians, As to the Jews, did such eclipse respond.

Florence has not so many Lapi and Bindi As fables such as these, that every year Are shouted from the pulpit back and forth,

In such wise that the lambs, who do not know, Come back from pasture fed upon the wind, And not to see the harm doth not excuse them.

Christ did not to his first disciples say, ‘Go forth, and to the world preach idle tales,’ But unto them a true foundation gave;

And this so loudly sounded from their lips, That, in the warfare to enkindle Faith, They made of the Evangel shields and lances.

Now men go forth with jests and drolleries To preach, and if but well the people laugh, The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.

But in the cowl there nestles such a bird, That, if the common people were to see it, They would perceive what pardons they confide in,

For which so great on earth has grown the folly, That, without proof of any testimony, To each indulgence they would flock together.

By this Saint Anthony his pig doth fatten, And many others, who are worse than pigs, Paying in money without mark of coinage.

But since we have digressed abundantly, Turn back thine eyes forthwith to the right path, So that the way be shortened with the time.

This nature doth so multiply itself In numbers, that there never yet was speech Nor mortal fancy that can go so far.

And if thou notest that which is revealed By Daniel, thou wilt see that in his thousands Number determinate is kept concealed.

The primal light, that all irradiates it, By modes as many is received therein, As are the splendours wherewith it is mated.

Hence, inasmuch as on the act conceptive The affection followeth, of love the sweetness Therein diversely fervid is or tepid.

The height behold now and the amplitude Of the eternal power, since it hath made Itself so many mirrors, where ’tis broken,

One in itself remaining as before.”

Paradiso: Canto XXX