Canto XI
CANTO XI
From his position in the sun among the wise, lifted high above the vain strivings of mortals, Dante reproves all those below who senselessly seek earthly wealth, in whatever profession or walk of life (1–12). As the circling lights come to a halt, like candles in a round chandelier, St. Thomas Aquinas addresses Dante’s perplexity concerning his statements about the flock of Dominic that “one is fattened if one never strays” and about the figure of Solomon that “none other rising to its sight is found” (13–27). Before taking up the first question, however, the Angelic Doctor declares that Divine Providence ordained two princes to escort His Bride, the Church, to Christ, her Groom: St. Francis, imbued with the seraphic ardor of charity, and St. Dominic, illumined by the cherubic light of wisdom. Although different in their missions to the Church and the world, they both ordered their works to the same end (28–42). St. Thomas tells how Francis rose in Assisi like a sun shining on a world lost in darkness (43–54); how as a young man he forsook his father’s wealth and took Lady Poverty as his bride, a widow for more than eleven hundred years since she was first espoused by Christ (55–75); how he saw Bernard, Giles, and Sylvester bare their feet to follow the Church’s Spouse with him (76–84); how he set out for Rome girt with a humble cord to reveal his stern resolve to Pope Innocent III, who gave a first seal of approval to the young order (85–93); how he then received from Pope Honorius III a second seal of approval upon the order, as it grew (94–99); how he boldly preached before the sultan in Egypt (100–105); and how he was granted by Christ himself the final seal, the stigmata, two years before his death (106–117). Having set out the example of St. Francis and his Lady Poverty, St. Thomas now turns his attention to St. Dominic, a worthy helmsman of the ship of the Church, such that those who follow his commands will carry a good cargo within their souls. But his sheep have grown so greedy that they spread through distant pasture lands in search of material gain, though the farther they roam, the less their spiritual milk when they return. It is in this sense, then, that those who adhere to the Rule of St. Dominic “will fatten if they do not stray” (118–139).
1 O senseless cares of mortal appetite!
What so defective syllogisms, these,
Which make you beat your wings in downward flight.
4 One followed laws, and one Hippocrates,[263]
And one pursued the priestly life of late;
One sought to rule by force or sophistries,
7 One set on theft, and one affairs of state;
One toiled, entrapped in fleshly pleasures, he,
And one was given to an idler’s fate.
10 And I, who now from all these things was free,
Was there with Beatrice in Heaven’s land,
So glorious a welcome given me.
13 As in the circle each one of the band
Regained the point that was its former site,
It halted like a candle in a stand.
16 I heard these words begin within the light[264]
That first had spoken to me all ablaze,
While smiling and becoming yet more bright:
19 “Just as I shine resplendent with Its rays,
I look on Light Eternal and attain
To all the causes of the thoughts you raise.
22 You are perplexed and want me to explain
My words to suit your level and retell
In language made explicit and quite plain
25 What I had said just now: ‘One fattens well,’
And then again: ‘Another never rose’;
But here on clear distinctions we must dwell.
28 The Providence that rules the world and shows
Its Counsel forth, in which the creature’s eyes
Are lost before they gain such depths as those
31 —So that the spouse of Him who, with loud cries,[265]
Shed sacred blood to take her as His bride
Might go to her Belovèd One and rise[266]
34 More faithful unto Him, secure inside—
Ordained two princes for her sake to go[267]
On either side of her, each one her guide.
37 The one was all seraphic zeal below;[268]
The other was on earth through wisdom won
A splendor of cherubic light. And so,[269]
40 I’ll treat the first because to praise the one,[270]
No matter which of them, is still to speak
Of both for to one end their works were done.
43 Between Tupino and the streams that streak[271]
Down from the hill Ubaldo chose of old,
A fertile slope hangs from a lofty peak,
46 From which Perugia feels the heat and cold
Through Porta Sol’; behind must Gualdo weep,
Nocera too, beneath its yoke’s harsh hold.
49 And from this slope, where most there breaks the steep,
A sun arose upon the world’s dark night
As ours is wont to rise from Ganges’ deep.
52 Let him who talks of it not call this site
Ascesi—that falls short of such a worth—
But ‘Orient’ if he would name it right.[272]
55 He was not yet far distant from his birth
When he began to make men feel once more
From his great virtue some new strength on earth.
58 For even as a youth he ran to war
Against his father for a maid to whom,[273]
Like death, none willingly unlocks the door.
61 Before the bishop’s court he stood as groom
And joined with her, et coram patre too;[274]
And more each day his love for her would bloom.
64 And she, deprived of her first Husband through[275]
Eleven hundred years and more, stood round
Obscure, despised, unsought, till he would woo.
67 It did not help to hear how she was found
—With Amyclas—safe from a voice that could[276]
Have made the world all tremble at its sound.
70 Nor did it help that even Mary stood
Below, while she, so fiercely constant, sped
To mount with Christ upon the cross’s wood.
73 But, lest too darkly I should go ahead,
Take Francis and his Lady Poverty[277]
To be the lovers meant in all I’ve said.
76 Their joyous faces and their harmony
Made love and wonder and regards so sweet
The cause of holy thoughts, to the degree
79 That venerable Bernard bared his feet[278]
The first to run for such great peace, and though
He ran, he thought himself more slow than fleet.
82 O wealth unknown! How fertile good will grow!
Giles and Sylvester bare their feet, as they[279]
Pursue the Spouse, the Bride delights them so![280]
85 That father then, that master, went his way[281]
With both his Lady and his family;
The humble cord would gird them from that day.
88 No coward’s heart weighed down his brow, though he
Was only Peter Bernardone’s lad
And though he seemed despised most wondrously.
91 Instead of that he royally unclad
To Innocent his purpose stern and strong,[282]
Who gave his order the first seal it had.
94 Then with the poor increasing to a throng[283]
Behind his wondrous life, whose praise would sound
Much better yet in Heaven’s glory-song,[284]
97 The archimandrite’s holy will was crowned
With one more wreath Honorius supplied[285]
By the Eternal Spirit. Then he found
100 So great a thirst for martyrdom he tried
To preach of Christ and those within His train
When in the presence of the Sultan’s pride.[286]
103 But that he might not stay too long in vain,
None found yet ripened for conversion there,
He came straight back to reap Italian grain.
106 Between the Tiber and the Arno where
There lies hard rock, Christ gave the final seal,
Which for two years his limbs were still to bear.[287]
109 When He who chose him for so great a weal
Was pleased to draw him up to that reward
Which he had merited through humble zeal,
112 To rightful heirs, his brothers in accord,
Did he commend the Lady held so dear
And wished their faithful love on her outpoured.
115 And when he chose to leave her bosom here,
That noble soul, returning to his reign,
Would for his body have no other bier.[288]
118 Think now what kind of helmsman would maintain[289]
—Himself a worthy colleague—Peter’s bark
Upon the proper course on the high main.
121 And such a captain was our Patriarch;
Whoever follows him as he commands
Will bear good merchandise, as you may mark.
124 His flock, though, has grown greedy and demands[290]
New nourishment, and nothing can withhold[291]
Its sheep from roaming through wild pasture lands.
127 The farther that they wander from his hold
And stay remote and vagabond with greed,
The less their milk when they rejoin the fold.
130 Though there are some who, fearing harm indeed,
Embrace their shepherd, yet they are so few
That little cloth will make the cowls they need.
133 Now if my words were not too dim for you
And if your listening has been intent,
Then, should you call my speech to mind anew,
136 The wish you had will be in part content;
For you will see the plant they strip away,[292]
And you will see what that correction meant:
139 ‘Where they will fatten if they do not stray.’”