Canto XXIV
CANTO XXIV
Beatrice prays that the souls of the blessed allow Dante to partake of divine knowledge, letting him taste of the crumbs that fall from the table of their feast and sprinkling him from the fountain of which they drink. On hearing this, the spirits form dancing rings, spinning around harmoniously in many circles, like the wheels of a clock. Then the brightest fire from the most richly burning sphere comes forth and thrice enwreathes Beatrice with a song so divine that the Poet has not the memory, nor the imagination, nor the words to depict its depths (1–33). This spirit is St. Peter, and Beatrice invites him to examine the Pilgrim on his belief so that he may fittingly glorify the faith by speaking of it. Accordingly, Dante prepares himself for the master’s question, like a doctoral candidate in an oral examination. To St. Peter’s query concerning the definition of faith, the Pilgrim answers with the Epistle to the Hebrews that it is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen (34–66). Asked about the meaning of these terms, the Poet replies that faith qualifies as “sub-stance” insofar as hope builds upon it and as evidence because all theological reasoning proceeds from it (67–78). St. Peter approves of the alloy and weight that Dante has given to the coin of faith and wishes to know if he holds it in his purse, at which the Pilgrim emphatically asserts that he does possess a mintage so round and bright that he entertains no doubt about it (79–96). When the Saint inquires how the Poet came to the faith, the latter responds that it was through the divinely inspired Scriptures. Questioned why he believes the Sacred Writ, he appeals to its confirmation through miracles. And challenged as to how he knows of the miracles, when the only works that report them are the very ones they supposedly authenticate, Dante retorts that if the world has put its faith in Christ without such signs and wonders, that fact itself constitutes the greatest miracle of all (79–108). At this point the heavenly court rings out a Te Deum, and St. Peter expresses his approbation. He then probes the content and the origin of the Pilgrim’s faith. The latter professes his belief first in the one God, for whose existence he has the proofs of physics and metaphysics and the revelation of the Old and New Covenants, and second in three Divine Persons in one Divine Essence made known only in the New Testament (109–147). Then, as a lord embraces a servant announcing good news, St. Peter blesses Dante and circles around him three times (148–154).
1 “O brethren chosen for the greatest fare
Of God’s blest Lamb, who so has nourished you[566]
As always to fulfill your every prayer,
4 That by God’s grace this man may taste anew
What’s fallen from your table as a crumb,
Before the time that death prescribes falls due,
7 Give heed to his great thirst, bedew him some,
For you are ever drinking from the bowls
That fountain fills where all his thoughts come from.”
10 Thus Beatrice; and those delighted souls,
As flaming comets do, went whirling by
When they had turned to spheres upon fixed poles.
13 As in a clockwork structure, to the eye
Of him who pays it mind, the wheels turn so
The first seems quiet while the last will fly,
16 So did those carols likewise, all aglow,[567]
Allow me to appraise the wealth they bear,
While dancing differently, one fast, one slow.
19 The sphere I noted as the richest flare
Shot forth a fire, I saw, so full of glee
That it left none of greater brightness there.
22 The times it turned round Beatrice were three,
While singing songs of so divine a sweep
My fancy can’t repeat them all for me.
25 I write no more of this; my pen must leap,
For fancies, not to mention words, appear
Of far too light a hue for folds so deep.
28 “My holy sister, praying to us here
Devoutly, by the warm affection shed,
You have released me from that lovely sphere.”
31 The blessèd flame stopped circling overhead
And to my Lady breathed these words, which ran
Exactly in the way that I have said.
34 “O you, eternal light of that great man
With whom our Lord would leave the keys that He
Brought down of wondrous joy,” so she began,[568]
37 “Test him on points as is your pleasure, be
They light or grave, and on that Faith do quiz
By means of which you walked upon the sea.[569]
40 If love and hope and faith are truly his,
They cannot hide, for you have vision of
That place where there is seen each thing that is.[570]
43 But since this reign makes citizens above
By one true faith, for him it is most fit
To glorify it as he tells thereof.”
46 As bachelors speak not but arm their wit
Till masters pose the question that they need
For them to argue, not deciding it,[571]
49 So, as she spoke, I armed myself indeed
With every reason so as to prepare
For such a questioner and such a creed.
52 “Well now, speak up, good Christian, and declare
Yourself! First, what is faith?” And to that glow
Which breathed these words I raised my brow, and there
55 I turned to Beatrice, who let me know
By signing promptly that I now should press
The waters from my inner fountain’s flow.
58 “Oh, may the Grace that grants me to confess
To this high captain,” so I started then,
“Let me say well the thoughts I shall express”;
61 There followed: “Father, as the truthful pen
Of your dear brother, who with you would see[572]
Rome set on righteous pathways, wrote to men,
64 Faith is the substance of things hoped to be
And evidence of things unseen as well;
Its quiddity is this, it seems to me.”[573]
67 I heard: “Your thinking’s right if you can tell
Why, when he placed it in such classes, though,
To substance first, then evidence, it fell.”
70 I answered: “Such deep things as here bestow
Their semblances on me to be perceived
Are yet so hidden to the eyes below
73 Their being there can only be believed;
Upon this base our lofty hopes arise,
From which the name of substance is received.
76 From this belief we have to syllogize
Without our having seen a further trace;
In this the name of evidence, then, lies.”
79 I heard: “If all below that men embrace
As doctrine were thus understood to date,
The sophist’s subtlety would have no place.”
82 That kindled love breathed this, then came to state,
Continuing: “Quite well do you rehearse
This coin’s true composition and its weight.
85 But tell me, do you have it in your purse?”
I said: “I do, and it’s so round and bright
Its stamp has given me no doubts to nurse.”
88 While shining forth, there came from that deep light:
“This precious gem, on which all virtues lie,
How is it that you came to hold it tight?”
91 “The lavish rains,” I answered in reply,
“The Holy Spirit has poured out, profuse,
On old and on new parchments qualify[574]
94 As syllogisms for it that adduce
Proofs so acute, compared to them, a slew
Of other demonstrations seems obtuse.”
97 I heard: “These propositions, old and new,
That prove conclusively, why do you hold
That God through them is speaking unto you?”
100 And I: “The works that followed them unfold
Their truth, for Nature heats no irons nor
Smites anvils for such things.” “I must be told
103 Just who assures you of such works of yore”
Came his reply; “the very thing you’d start
To prove swears this to you, and nothing more.”
106 “But if the world has turned to Christ apart
From miracles,” I said, “such proof is born
That others are not worth its hundredth part.
109 For you went in the field, both poor and worn
With hunger, sowing a good plant, which sprung
Up as a vine, but now is made a thorn.”
112 This done, from that high, holy court was rung
A “God We Praise” once more throughout each sphere,[575]
And in the melody that there is sung.
115 The Baron who from branch to branch had here[576]
Examined me and drawn me up the wood
So to the final leaves we now drew near
118 Began to speak again: “The gracious Good
That woos the mind in you has made, up to
This point, your mouth to open as it should.
121 So I approve what has come forth; but do
Express the doctrine you believe, and treat
From where belief was offered unto you.”
124 “O holy father, soul whose eyes now meet
The things you so believed that you would best,
In entering the tomb, much younger feet,”[577]
127 I started, “you would have me manifest
The form of my prompt faith; for knowledge of
Its cause in me you also make request.
130 I answer: I believe in God above
—One, sole, eternal—he who moves the spheres
(Himself unmoved) by both desire and love.
133 For this belief I have the proofs one hears
In physics and in metaphysics too
And in the truth that rains down and appears
136 Through Moses, Prophets, Psalms, and also through[578]
The Gospels, with the writ you were to leave,[579]
When God’s own blazing Spirit hallowed you.
139 In three Eternal Persons I believe
And in one essence too, both one and trine,
Allowing is and are to interweave.[580]
142 The state I touch on, depthless and divine,
Has by the Gospel teaching set its mark
So many times upon this mind of mine.
145 This is the origin and this the spark
That to a living flame then soon upflares
And, like a star in Heaven, lights my dark.”
148 As lords who listen when a servant shares
What pleases them embrace him when he’s still,
Rejoicing in the happy news he bears,
151 So too on me he sang his blessings till
He’d circled me three times when I had paused,
That apostolic lantern at whose will
154 I’d spoken first—such joy my words had caused!