Canto XXI
CANTO XXI
Beatrice’s beauty now absorbs Dante’s gaze and every thought. But, in order to avoid consuming the Pilgrim as Jupiter did Semele when she beheld his unadorned majesty, she does not smile, for her comeliness increases with each higher sphere, and they have now risen to that of Saturn, where her untempered splendor would shatter the Poet like a branch struck by lightning. Dante’s Lady directs him to turn his view to the figure about to appear, and the Pilgrim’s joy in obeying her equals that of looking upon her face (1–24). Then the Poet sees a golden ladder rising out of sight, as shining souls descend it to a rung near him and then disperse like a flock of jackdaws. One soul in particular comes to welcome Dante, and, at Beatrice’s encouragement, he asks why this spirit performs such a hospitable office and why this sphere produces no sweet symphony like the others in Paradise (25–60). Answering the second and easier question first, the soul replies that just as the Pilgrim’s eyes would not bear Beatrice’s smile, so his ears could not withstand their music. Then, turning to the first and more difficult question, he explains that he was not sent because of his greater charity but because of the decision of Divine Counsel. When the Poet questions why God’s Providence assigned this spirit rather than another, the soul spins with joy at the prospect of replying and responds that though he gazes upon the Divine Essence, he cannot provide an answer, nor could the highest of the Seraphim, for no created sight can penetrate the unfathomable depths of the Divine Election. He then instructs Dante to warn mankind not to seek to learn in the haziness of earthly knowledge what not even the blessed can discover in the brightness of heavenly cognition (61–102). Humbled by this injunction, the Pilgrim asks to know the spirit’s name. He identifies himself as Peter Damian, a contemplative monk who led an ascetical life, accepting the dignity of cardinal only out of a sense of duty, and bitterly contrasts the opulence of present ecclesiastical officials with the simplicity of the apostles Peter and Paul (103–135). As he finishes, other glowing, whirling souls descend to encircle him and raise their voices so loudly that Dante is overwhelmed by their thunderous cries (103–142).
1 My eyes were fixed again once they had caught
My Lady’s face; with them my mind was turned
As it withdrew from every other thought.
4 She was not smiling; but, “Had you discerned
A smile,” she started, “you would have been spent,
Reduced to ash, like Semele, who burned.[488]
7 My beauty—which upon the stairs’ extent
To the eternal palace is more lit
(As you have seen) the higher the ascent—
10 Is shining so, if nothing tempered it,
Your mortal power at its blazing light
Would seem a branch a thunderbolt had split.
13 We’ve risen to the seventh splendor’s height,[489]
Which now beneath the burning Lion’s breast[490]
Is raying downwards, mingled with its might.[491]
16 Your mind must follow where your eyes find rest
And make them mirrors to the shape outspread,
Which in this mirror shall be manifest.”[492]
19 That man who knows just how my vision fed
Upon her blessèd aspect would have spied,
When I had turned to other cares instead,
22 Just how obeying my celestial Guide
Had likewise to such great enjoyment led
By weighing one against the other side.[493]
25 Around the earth a crystal sphere is sped,
Which bears that famous leader’s name in flight
Beneath whose rule all wickedness lay dead;[494]
28 And, hued like gold on which the sun shines bright,
I saw a ladder in it rise so far[495]
That I could not have followed it by sight.
31 I saw such splendors coming down each bar[496]
That I believed the heavens had poured out
In it the light that shines in every star.
34 And as the daws together move about
By nature’s custom at the break of day
To warm their feathers, putting cold to rout,
37 Then some, without returning, fly away,
And some turn back from where they had upsprung,
While others, wheeling round about, will stay,
40 Such movements seemed to me to flow among
Those sparkling souls, who came in throngs below
As soon as they had struck a certain rung.
43 One who had stopped most near us came to glow
So that I said within me, thinking then:
“I clearly see the signs of love you show.
46 But she who teaches me the how and when
Of speech and silence pauses so that I,
Against desire, should well not ask again.”
49 Hence she, who saw my silence in the eye
Of Him who keeps all things within His view,
Said: “Loose your warm desire.” And in reply
52 I started up: “I know that by my due
I am not worthy of an answer; yet,
For her who gives me leave to question you,
55 O blessèd life, remaining hid and set
In your own happiness, I pray, reveal
Just why you’ve drawn so near me that we’ve met.
58 And tell me also why within this wheel
Sweet symphonies of Paradise are still,
Which through the others so devoutly peal.”
61 “Your mortal eyes and ears would suffer ill,
So here there is no singing,” answered he,
“And Beatrice has not yet smiled at will.
64 I’ve come this far to welcome you with glee,
Down by the sacred steps, possessed both of
The words and of the light that mantles me;
67 Nor was I made more swift by greater love:
For, manifested by its flaming verve,
Such love, as much and more, burns bright above.
70 High Charity, which makes us keen to serve
The Counsel governing the world’s each need,
Allots our actions here, as you observe.”
73 “O sacred lamp,” I said, “ I see indeed
Just how free love suffices in this court
For what Eternal Providence decreed.
76 But it is difficult to see, in short,
Why to this office you have been alone
Predestined of all those who here consort.”
79 My words unfinished still, that light which shone
Then pivoted upon its midst to spin
Around just like a rapid milling stone.
82 And thus replied the love that dwelt within
Its glow: “On me are focused rays divine
Which pierce the light that I’m embosomed in
85 So that their power and my sight combine
To raise me from myself enough to gaze
Upon the Lofty Source from which they shine.
88 Hence comes the joy with which I am ablaze
For to my sight, as far as it is clear,
I match the clearness of my flaming rays.
91 Yet even Heaven’s most illumined peer,
The Seraph with his eyes most fixed on high[497]
Towards God, won’t satisfy your question here.
94 For what you ask about is hidden by
The depths of the Eternal Law’s abyss,
Which cuts it off from each created eye.
97 Returning to the mortal world, take this,
So that the earth no longer may presume
To move its feet to such a goal amiss.
100 The mind, bright here, on earth is hazy brume;
Could they do there what here they cannot do,
Those souls which Heaven chooses to assume?”
103 His words restrained me so that I withdrew
And left behind the questioning at hand
To ask him who he was, and humbly too.
106 “Crags rise, not distant from your native land,[498]
So high between both shores of Italy[499]
It thunders lower than their summits stand.
109 These form a ridge called Catrïa; you see[500]
A sacred cloister under it whose song[501]
Was given just to praise of Deity.”
112 So his third speech began; before too long
He said to me, continuing: “And there
Within God’s service I was made so strong
115 That with but olive oil on simple fare
I passed with ease through heat and cold, annealed,
Content with contemplation’s thoughts in prayer.
118 A fertile crop that cloister used to yield
To Heaven’s spheres, but now it is so bare
That soon its decadence must be revealed.
121 As Peter Damian they knew me there,[502]
Once sinner on the Adriatic shore,[503]
Within the house beneath Our Lady’s care.[504]
124 Of mortal life I had but little more
When I was sought and dragged to wear the hat[505]
That’s always passed from bad to worse before.
127 Unshod and lean came Cephas, and, like that,[506]
The Holy Ghost’s great vessel was to come;[507]
They ate at any hostel where they sat.
130 To prop them up your modern priests need some
On either side, and more to guide, or bear
Their trains behind, so fat have they become.
133 They cloak their mounts with mantles that they wear,
So two beasts go beneath one pelt arrayed.[508]
O Patience, you who must so long forbear!”
136 And at these words, I saw from grade to grade
More little flames descend and, whirling, flit,
With greater beauty at each whirl displayed.
139 When round about this one they came and lit,
They cried aloud to such a high degree
That nothing here compares, nor was I fit
142 To understand for thunder vanquished me.[509]