Canto III
CANTO III
As Dante is about to acknowledge his error concerning the spots in the moon and his newfound understanding, faces appear as faint as a reflection in a pane of transparent glass or a shallow stream. The Pilgrim spins around to see the source of what he takes for mirror images, but finds nothing. Smiling radiantly at his mistake, Beatrice explains that these apparitions are of true souls who broke their vows on earth. At his Lady’s urging, the Poet asks the most eager spirit to tell its name and to speak about the fate it shares with the others. She replies with the graciousness of divine charity that she was once Piccarda Donati and that she now shares the lowest position in the celestial hierarchy with those who proved unfaithful to their vows (1–57). Although Dante did not recognize her glorified features at first, he now recalls her with ease and inquires whether she and the others do not covet a higher place. This naïve question provokes a smile among the blessed, and Piccarda responds that their love unites their wills to God’s, so that they themselves desire the rank that He has assigned to them and would not wish for anything contrary to the divinely established order, their unity of wills constituting the peace for which all created things long (58–87). The Pilgrim now realizes that everywhere in Heaven is Paradise such that, though their capacities may differ, each of the blessed is totally filled. Since, tantalized by this first morsel, Dante hungers for more, Piccarda continues that she joined the Order of Poor Clare when still a girl but was shamelessly snatched away and forced into a political marriage by her brother (88–108). She then points out the light of the Empress Constance, from whose head the veil of religious profession was likewise torn away, though it remained forever upon her heart (109–120). Once she has finished, Piccarda slips away, singing the Ave Maria. The Pilgrim follows her with his gaze, and she seems as if she were sinking through deep water, until she disappears from view. As he then turns his eyes to Beatrice, her increased splendor shines so brightly that he can scarcely stand the sight (121–130).
1 The sun whose love had first warmed up my breast[61]
Had made, by proving and refuting too,
The lovely truth’s sweet aspect manifest.[62]
4 And I, in order to confess my true
Correction, and my certainty no less,
Raised up my head for speech as much as due.
7 But there appeared a vision, and I guess
Its sight held me so fast that in this pass
I did not now remember to confess.[63]
10 For just as through a smooth, transparent glass,
Or clear and tranquil streams that do not rise
Quite far enough to lose the bottom’s mass,
13 A face shines back in such a weakened guise
A pearl upon a milk-white forehead brings
Itself yet no less clearly to our eyes,
16 So I saw faces keen to speak of things
And fell in errors counter, I aver,
To that which sparked the man to love the springs.[64]
19 And thinking mirrored faces here occur,
No sooner than I had become aware
Of them, I turned to see just whose they were,
22 But, seeing nothing, turned again to stare
Directly at the light of my sweet Guide,
Who smiled at me, her holy eyes aflare.
25 “There is no need to wonder,” she replied,
“If at your childish thought I smile, my dear,
Which to the truth does not yet trust its stride
28 But turns you to a void, as wont, to peer:
These are true substances that you perceive;[65]
For broken vows they’re relegated here.
31 So speak with them, and listen, and believe;
For that true light which satisfies their kind
Will never let them turn their feet to leave.”
34 Directed to the shadow most inclined
To speak, it seemed, I started off like one
Whom too great eagerness confused in mind:
37 “O well-created soul, who in the sun
Of life eternal feel the sweetest rays,
Which, save by taste, are understood by none,
40 You would content me with your gracious ways
If you would tell your name and all your fates”;
At which she said with prompt and smiling gaze:
43 “Our charity will no more lock its gates
To righteous wills than His would show a dearth
Who wills that all His court should share His traits.
46 I was a virgin sister once on earth;[66]
And if your memory is searched all through,
I won’t be hid by beauty’s greater worth.
49 You’ll recognize me as Piccarda, who,[67]
On being placed among the other blest,
Within this slowest sphere am blessèd too.[68]
52 Our sentiments, enflamed by joy possessed
In but the Holy Spirit, find delight
Conforming to the order here impressed.
55 This lot, which seems to be so low a site,
Is given us because in some respect
Our vows were void when we neglected right.”
58 “Within your wondrous aspects I detect,”[69]
I told her, “something most divine aglow,
Transforming you from what I recollect,
61 And thus my memory of you was slow.
But what you say is of such help to me
It’s easy to recall your features, so,
64 Do tell me, you who dwell here happily,
Do you desire a higher place and yearn
To be more dear and to have more to see?”
67 The others smiled a bit, and she in turn;
And then she answered me with so much bliss
That thus in love’s first flame she seemed to burn.
70 “The strength of love, my brother, lies in this:
It stills our wills and makes them to embrace
That which they have and thirst no more amiss.
73 If our desires were for a higher space,
Then they would be discordant with the bounds
Set by His will, assigning us our place,
76 Which cannot be, you’ll see, within these rounds
If love is by necessity our fate
And if you probe love’s nature to its grounds.
79 It is the essence of this blessèd state
That all within the will of God rest still,
By which the unity of wills is great,
82 So that, in being found from sill to sill
Throughout this reign, with joy the whole must swell
As does its King, who draws us to His will.
85 His will is thus the peace in which we dwell;
It is the sea to which all things repair
That It creates or Nature makes as well.”
88 It now was clear: in Heaven everywhere
Is Paradise, although the Good Most High
Does not rain down Its grace in equal share.
91 As when, although one food may satisfy,
We hunger for another and extend
Our thanks for this, as that we ask to try,
94 I wished by signs and words to apprehend
What her unfinished cloth had been and why
She had not drawn her shuttle to the end.
97 “A perfect life and high desert ensky
A lady up above whose rule will make[70]
Some wear the robe and veil until they die
100 So that within your world they sleep and wake
With that Spouse who accepts each vow,” she said,[71]
“Which for His pleasure charity may take.
103 And from the world, while still a girl, I fled
To follow her, whose habit clothed my frame,
And pledged me to the life her order led.
106 But men, less used to honor than to shame,[72]
Soon snatched me from my cloister’s sweet career;
God only knows what then my life became!
109 The other splendor whom you see appear[73]
Upon my right-hand side, who does not fail
To glow with all the light within our sphere,
112 From her own life can understand my tale;
She was a nun, and from her head they tore
As well the shadow of the sacred veil.
115 When they returned her to the world once more
Against her will and customs that are right,
Her heart still never loosed the veil it wore.
118 The great Costanza is this other light;[74]
And from its second blast she bore a king
For Swabia, its third and final might.”[75]
121 She spoke these words and then began to sing
“Ave Maria,” passing from my view
As through deep water sinks a heavy thing.
124 My sight, as far as it was able to,
Had followed her. When she was lost to me,
It faced the mark of greater want anew
127 And wholly turned to Beatrice, but she
Was flashing on my gaze like lightning so
That at the first I could not bear to see,
130 Which made me with my questioning more slow.