flames turned their attention to us,
flames turned their attention to us,
rejoicing as they turned, from one
care to another. Then amongst the
harmonious divinities, the silence
was broken by that light, in which
the wonderful life, of the poor man
of God, had been described to me,
saying: ‘Since the one sheaf has
been threshed, and its seed already
stored, sweet love invites me to
thresh the other.
You know that whatever light
human nature can receive was all
infused, into that chest from which
the rib was taken, to form the lovely
face, for whose taste of the
forbidden fruit all the world pays,
and into that which, pierced by the
781
lance, gave satisfaction for the Past and the Future, so as to weigh the
scales against all Sin, by that same
Power that made them both.
And so you wonder at what I
said before, when I said the good
that was enclosed in the fifth light,
Solomon, never had an equal. Now open your eyes to my answer, and
you will see your belief and my
words, hit the truth, like the centre
of a target.’
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‘That which does not die, and
that which can perish, is nothing but
the glow of that Idea, which our
Father engenders by Loving, since
that living Light, which goes out
782
from its source, in such a way that it does not separate from it, nor from
the Love which makes Trinity with
those two, through its own
goodness, focuses its rays, as though
reflected in nine emanations,
eternally remaining One.
So it descends to the lowest
powers, down from act to act,
becoming what forms the briefest of
contingencies, by which I mean the
things generated from seed, or
seedlessly, by the moving Heavens.
The wax, there, and what moulds it,
is not in only one state, and so is
more, or less, transparent, under the
ideal seal, so that it happens that the
same kind of tree fruits better or
worse, and you are all born with
varying genius. If the wax was
moulded precisely, and the Heaven
at its supreme point of Power, the
783
completely apparent: but nature
always makes it imperfectly, acting
in a similar manner to the artist,
who has the skill of his art, but a
trembling hand.
Then, if warm Love places, and
stamps, a clear vision of the primal
Power, complete perfection is
attained there. So your clay was
once made worthy of utter physical
perfection, and so the Virgin was made pregnant. From this I sanction
your opinion that human nature
never was, or will be, equal to those
two persons. Now if I went no
further’ ‘+RZ WKHQ ZDV KH ZLWKRXW
HTXDO"’ would still be your first
words.’
784
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‘But so that you now see, what is
not obvious, think who Solomon
was, and what the motivation was,
when he was told: ‘Choose’, to
make his request. I have spoken so
that you may see he was a king, who
chose such wisdom as would make
him an adequate king, not
knowledge of the number of moving
spirits here above; nor if a necessary
premise, and a contingent premise,
can ever give a necessary
conclusion; nor whether we must
accept a first movement, a SULPXP
PRWXP; nor whether a triangle
without a right angle in it can be
constructed in a semicircle.
785
everything I have said, it is royal
prudence, worldly wisdom, that is
the unequalled insight that the arrow
of my intent strikes. And if you turn
your clear eyes to DFKLHYHGyou will
see it only applies to kings, of
whom there are many, and the good
ones rare. Take my words,
according to these distinctions, and
then they will agree with what you
hold concerning the first Father, and
And let this always weight your
feet down with lead, and make you
go slowly, like a tired man,
approaching the \HV or QR you do
not grasp, since he is truly down
there among the fools, who affirms
or denies without distinguishing
between cases, so that it often
happens that a quick opinion leans
786
to the wrong side, and then Pride entangles the intellect. He leaves
the shore less than uselessly, since
he does not even return as he went,
fishing for truth without the angler’s
skill, and open proof of this in the
world, are Parmenides, Melissus,
Bryson, and the crowd who still went on, without knowing where.
So did Sabellius and Arius, and those fools who were like gleaming
swords applied to Scripture, in
making straight faces crooked. Do
not let people be too secure in their
judgements, like those who count
the ears of corn in the field before
the crop ripens, since I have seen,
all winter long, the thorn display
itself, sharp and forbidding, and
then on its summit bear the rose;
and before now I have seen a ship
run straight and sure over the sea for
787
her entire course, and sink in the end, entering the harbour mouth. Do
not let Jack and Jill think, that if
they see someone steal or another
make offering they therefore see
them as Divine Wisdom does, since
the one may still rise, and the other
fall.’
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The water in a rounded dish
vibrates from the centre to the rim,
or from the rim to the centre,
depending on how it is struck, from
inside or out. Just as the glorious
spirit of Thomas fell silent, this
thought suddenly came into my
mind, because of the analogy that
sprang from his discourse, and
Beatrice’s, whom it pleased to begin
788
speaking, after him: ‘This man has a need he has not told you, with voice
or thought, namely to track another
truth to its source.
Say if the light, with which your
substance blossoms, will remain
yours as it is now, and if it will, say
whether, when you are visible again,
at the last day, it will not cloud your
vision.’ As if pierced, and drawn out
by excess joy, those who circle in
the dance, immediately lift up their
voices, and gladden their aspect, so,
at this eager and devout request, the
sacred circles revealed new joy in
their whirling, and their marvellous
sound.
Whoever grieves that we must
die here in order to live there, does
not see, here, the refreshment from
the eternal rain. Three times, each of
those spirits sang that One and Two
789
and Three who lives forever, and reigns in Three and Two and One,
not circumscribed, but
circumscribing all things, sang with
such melody as is a just reward for
every kind of merit.
And I heard a modest voice, in
the most divine light of the smaller
circle, perhaps like Gabriel’s voice to Mary, replying: ‘Our Love will cast the rays of such a veil around
us, as long as the festival of
Paradise exists. Its brightness will
match our ardour, our ardour our
vision, as great as the grace of it
exceeds our true worth.
When the cloak of the glorious
and holy flesh shall be taken on
again, our person will be more
pleasing by being fully complete. So
that the undeserved brightness
which the Supreme Good gives us,
790
that light which allows us to see him, will grow: and then the vision
must grow, and the ardour, also,
which is lit by it, and the rays that
leave it. But like the coal that gives
out flame, and, by its own lively
glow, shines through it, so that its
own identity is maintained, so this
glow which already veils us, will be
penetrated by the glow of the flesh,
which now the earth covers: and
such intensity of light will not have
strength to overpower us, since the
body’s faculties will be strong
enough to withstand everything that
delights us.’
The inner and outer choirs
seemed so quick and eager to shout:
‘$PHQ’, that they indeed revealed
desire for their dead bodies, not only
for themselves, perhaps, but for
their fathers, mothers, and others
791
dear to them, before they became eternal flames.
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Look around! A shining dawn, of
equal brightness, beyond what was
there, like a whitening horizon.
And, as at twilight new things to see
begin to appear, in the heavens, so
that the vision seems real, and
unreal, so, there, I began to see
newly arrived beings, making a
third circle, out beyond the other
two rims. O true sparks of the
sacred exhalation, how sudden and
glowing, in front of my eyes, which,
overcome, could not withstand it!
But Beatrice showed herself so
lovely and smiling to me, it must be
left among those sights that my
792
memory cannot follow. From that my eyes recovered their power to
raise themselves, and I saw myself
carried, along with my Lady, to a
higher fortune. I saw clearly that I
was lifted higher, by the burning
smile of that planet, which seemed to me redder than usual.
I made sacrifice to God, of my
heart, and in that speech which is
the same for all of us, as fitted this
newly given grace: and the ardour
of the sacrifice was not yet gone
from my chest, before I knew the
prayer had been accepted, and with
favour, since splendours appeared to
me, inside two rays, so radiant and
red, that I exclaimed: ‘O Helios,
who glorifies them so!’ As the
Milky Way gleams between the
poles of the Universe, decked with
greater and lesser lights, so white as
793
794
to set the very sages questioning, so those constellated rays made the
ancient sign, in the depth of Mars,
that crossing quadrants make in a
circle.
Here my memory outruns my
ability, since Christ flashed out so on that Cross, that I can find no
fitting comparison. But whoever
takes up his cross and follows
Christ, will forgive me for what I
leave unspoken, when he sees Christ
white within that glow. From cusp
to cusp, from summit to base, there
were lights moving, that sparkled
intensely, in meeting one another,
and passing. So we see, here, motes
moving through a ray, that
sometimes penetrates the shadow
people contrive, with art and
ingenuity, against the sunlight,
795
straight, curved, fast or slow, long or short, changing in appearance.
And as harp and viol, tuned in
many-chorded harmony, make a
sweet chime, to one who cannot
separate the notes, so a melody
enraptured me, from the lights that
appeared, gathered along the Cross,
though I could not follow the hymn.
I clearly knew it was of high praise,
since there came to me the words:
‘5LVH DQG FRQTXHU,’ as to one who
hears but does not understand. And I
was so enamoured of it, there, that
there had been nothing, till then,
that tied me in such sweet chains.
Perhaps it may be too bold to say
so, as if it slighted the joy of those
lovely eyes, gazing into which my
longing finds rest, but he who
recognises how those living seals of
all beauty have ever greater effect
796
the higher the region, and that I had not yet turned towards them, may
excuse me from my self-accusation,
and can see I speak the truth: for
that sacred joy is not excluded here,
that as it climbs grows purer.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9 6LOHQFH
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The Benign Will, in which the
Love that truly perfumes always
distils itself, as greed does in the
envious will, imposed silence on
that sweet lyre, and stilled the
sacred strings, that the right hand of
Heaven plucks and loosens.
How can those beings be deaf to
just prayers, who agreed to silence,
so as to give me the will to pray? It
is right that they should mourn
endlessly who deprive themselves
797
of this love, eternally, for the love of what does not endure.
As a meteoric flame flashes
through the pure and tranquil sky,
from time to time, disturbing steady
vision, and seems like a star
changing place, except that no star
is lost from where it flamed, and it
itself does not last, so, from the horn
stretching to the right, a star of the
constellation that shines there darted
to the foot of the cross, and did not
leave the arc but coursed along the
radial line, like fire shining through
alabaster. With such tenderness
Anchises’s shade came forward when he saw his son Aeneas in Elysium, if our greatest Muse is to
be believed.
‘2 VDQJXLV PHXV, O blood of
mine, 2 VXSHULQIXVD JUDWLD 'HL, O
grace of God poured into you, VLFXW
798
WLEL FXL ELV XQTXDP FRHOL LDQXD
UHFOXVD, to whom was Heaven’s
Gate ever opened twice, as to you?’
So the light spoke, at which I
directed my attention to him. Then I
turned my face towards my Lady,
and on this side and on that was
stunned, since such a smile was
blazing in her eyes, I thought with
mine I had reached the end, of my
grace, and my Paradiso.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9 $OO
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Then, gladdening sight and
hearing, the spirit added words to
his commencement that I did not
understand, his speech was so
profound: he hid himself from me,
not out of choice, but of necessity,
since his thought took place beyond
799
the power of mortals. And when the bow of ardent love was so tuned that
his speech descended towards the
power of our intellect, the first
words I understood were: ‘Blessed
be thou, Three and One, who are so
noble in my seed,’ and continued:
‘My son, in this light where I now
speak to you, you have assuaged a
dear, long-cherished hunger,
induced by the reading of that great
volume where black and white
never change: thanks be to her who
clothed you with wings for this high
ascent.
You believe that your thought
finds its way to me, from the Primal
Thought, as the numbers ILYH and VL[
issue from RQH, if seen correctly,
and so you do not ask who I am, or
why I seem to you more joyful than
others in this festive crowd. You
800
believe rightly, since in this life great and lesser spirits, gaze in the
mirror, where, before you think,
your thought is seen. But so that the
sacred love, in which I watch with
uninterrupted vision, setting me
thirsting with sweet longing, can be
better fulfilled, let your voice sound
out your will, your longing, safely,
boldly, and delightedly, to which
my answer is already given.’
I turned to Beatrice, and she
heard me, before I spoke, and
granted a sign to me that increased
the wings of my desire. Then I
began: ‘Love and intelligence
became equal in weight to you, as
soon as the Primal equality was
visible to you, because the Sun,
which warmed and lit you, with its
heat and brightness, has in it such
equality that all comparisons fall
801
short. But for mortals, for reasons obvious to you, will and execution
are unequally feathered wings. So
that I, a mortal, feel the stress of this
imbalance, and therefore only gave
thanks with my heart, for your
paternal greeting. But I can and do,
beg you, living topaz, who are a
gem of this precious jewel, to satisfy
me with your name.’
3DUDGLVR
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‘Oh, I was your root, my leaf,
whom I delighted in, while only
anticipating you,’ such were the
opening words of his reply. Then he
said: ‘He, the first Aligieri, from
whom your family takes it name,
and who has circled the Mount on
the first terrace, for more than a
802
hundred years, was my son, and
your great-grandfather. It is fitting
that you should lessen the long
drawn-out labour, for him, with
your works.
Florence, lived in peace, sober
and chaste, behind the ancient circle
of wall, from which she still hears
the Badia’s WLHUFH and QRQHV. There
were no wreathes and gold-chains,
no dressed-up women, no sash that
set people staring at it, more than at
she who wore it. The birth of a
daughter did not yet dismay fathers.
since dowry and bride’s age were
fitting, the one not too high, the
other not too low. There were no
empty mansions. Sardanapalus had not yet arrived to show what might
be done to make a room luxurious.
The first sight of Florence, from
Ucellatoio, did not yet surpass
803
will be surpassed in the fall, as well
as the rising.
I have seen Bellincion Berti
dressed in leather, clasped with
bone, and have seen his lady come
from her mirror with her face
unpainted. I have seen men of the
Nerlo and Vecchio families, content with only clothing of skins, and
their ladies themselves handling flax
and spindle. Oh fortunate women!
Each one certain of her burial place,
and none deserted in their beds
because of France. One kept watch
over the cradle, and spoke in that
soothing way, that is the first delight
of fathers and mothers: another as
she drew thread from the distaff,
would tell her family about Troy,
Rome, and Fiesole.
804
Then a shrew like Cianghella, or
a corrupt lawyer like
Lapo Salterello, would have been as amazing then as a Cornelia or a
Cincinnatus now. Mary, called on, with deep moans, gave me to such a
restful, lovely life among the
citizens, to such faithful citizenship,
such sweet being, and in your
ancient Baptistery, I became, in the
one, moment, Cacciaguida and a Christian.
Moronto and Eliseo were my brothers: my wife came to me from
the valley of the River Po, and your
surname was derived from hers,
Alighiera. Then I followed the Emperor Conrad the Third, who made me a knight, since I advanced
myself so greatly in his grace. I
marched in his ranks, against the
infamy of that religion whose infidel
805
pastors, that which is yours by right.
There, by those wretched folk, I was
disrobed of that deceitful world,
whose love corrupts many a spirit,
and came, from martyrdom, to this
peace.’
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O our little nobility of the blood!
If you make people glory in you
down here, where our affection
languishes, it will never make me
wonder again, since I gloried in it
there where appetite is uncorrupted,
I mean in Heaven. Yet, you are
indeed a cloak that shrinks, so that if
nothing is added, day by day, time
circles it with its shears. I began
again with that YRL, for \RX, that
806
Rome first allowed for Julius, which her families persevere with least, at
which Beatrice, who was a little
apart from us, smiled and seemed
like the Lady of Malehaut who coughed at Guinevere’s first indiscretion, as it is written.
I began: ‘You are my father, you
give me full authority to speak, you
lift me so that I am greater than
myself. My Mind is filled with joy
from so many springs, it delights in
itself that it can suffer it and not be
destroyed. Tell me then, dear source
of me, what was your ancestry, and
what did the years record in your
youth. Tell me about the sheepfold
of Saint John, how great Florence was then, and who were the people
worthy of highest places there.’
As a coal bursts into flame at a
breath of wind, so I saw that light
807
shine out at my flattering words, and even as it grew more beautiful to my
sight, so, in a voice sweeter and
gentler, but not in this current
dialect of ours, he said: ‘From the
day that $YH was first spoken, to the
day of my birth, when my mother,
now a saint, unburdened herself of
my weight, this burning planet
returned to his own constellation of
the Lion, five hundred and eighty
times, to relight itself under his feet.
My predecessors and I were born
in the place where he who runs in
the Corso, your annual race, first encounters the last VHVWR of Saint
Peter. Let that be enough about my
ancestors, silence about who they
were and where they came from is
more fitting than speech.’
808
809
JURZWKRI)ORUHQFH
‘At that time, between the statue,
of Mars at the Ponte Vecchio, and
the Baptistery, all who were capable
of bearing arms were only a fifth of
those living now. But the citizenship
saw itself as pure in blood, down to
the humblest worker, that is now
contaminated by the blood of
Campi, Certaldo and Fighine, the
towns of the Contado.
O how much better it would be
to have these people as your
neighbours, and your boundary
south at Galuzzo, and north at
Trespiano, than to have them inside,
and bear the foulness of that villain
Baldo from Aguglion, or him of Signa, Fazio, whose eye is keen for abuse of office! Had that race, the
810
most degenerate on earth, been
benign, like a mother to her son, and
not been a hostile stepmother to
Caesar, one of those who is a
Florentine now,
merchant and
moneychanger, would have been
sent back to Simifonte, where his
grandfather was a beggar.
Montemurlo would still house the
Conti, the Cerchi would still be in Acone’s parish, and the
Buondelmonti perhaps still in Val di Greve.
Confusion of people was always
the source of the city’s sorrows, as
mixed food is of the body’s. And a
blind bull falls more heavily than a
blind lamb, and one sword often
cuts keener, and deeper, than five. If
you look how the cities of
Luni and Urbisaglia, are done for, and Chiusi and Sinaglia following
811
them, it will not seem strange or difficult to understand how families
destroy themselves, since even cities
have an end.
Everything of yours comes to an
end, as you will, but in things which
last a while, it is not noticed,
because your lives are short. And as
the turning of the lunar sphere
covers and uncovers the shoreline,
endlessly, so Fortune handles
Florence, so that it should not seem
remarkable when I speak of the
noble Florentines, whose fame is
buried by time.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9, 7KH
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‘I have seen the Ughi, seen the
Catellini, the Filippi, Grechi,
Ormanni and Alberichi, illustrious 812
families already on the wane. And with Sannella, as great as ancient, I have seen Arca, Soldanieri,
Over the gate of Porta San Piero, which is now heavy with the
Cerchi’s new crimes, that will soon lead to shipwreck, the Ravignani
lived, from whom the Conti Guidi
are descended, and those who have
since taken noble Bellincioni’s name.
The Della Pressa already knew how to govern, and Galigaio, in his house, already had the gilded hilt
and pommel of knighthood. The
vair column of the Pigh was already great, the Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti
and Barucci, the Galli, and the
who blush for
falsifying the measure.
813
The stock the Calfucci sprang from was great already, and the Sizii
and Arrigucci were already civic dignitaries. Oh how great I have
seen them, those Uberti, now
destroyed by pride! And the
Lamberti’s device of the golden balls adorned Florence in all her
great actions. So did their fathers,
who, now, whenever the Bishop’s
See is vacant stand guzzling in the
consistory.
The outrageous race, the house
of Adimari, that is a dragon to those who flee it, and is as quiet as a lamb
to those who show their teeth, or
purse, was rising already, but from
humble people, so that Ubertino
Donati was not pleased when
Bellincion his father-in-law made him a relative of them by marriage.
814
Caponsacco had already come down from Fiesole to the
marketplace, and Giuda
and
were already good
citizens. I will tell you something
unbelievable but true, the little
circle of walls was entered by a
gate, named after the Della Pera.
Everyone who carries any of the
fair device of the great Baron,
Hugo of Brandenburg, whose name and worth is kept alive by the
festival of Saint Thomas, derived knighthood and privilege from him,
though the Della Bella who fringes it with gold, has now joined the
party of the people.
There were Gualterotti
and
Importuni already, and the Borgo Santi Apostoli would be a quieter
place if they did not have the
Buondelmonti for new neighbours.
815
The house, the Amidei, from which,
O Buondelmonte, your grief sprang, because of righteous anger which
murdered you and put an end to
your joyful life, was honoured, it,
and its associates. How wrong you
were to reject its marriage-rite at
another’s prompting! Many would
have been happy who are now
saddened, if God had committed
you to the small stream, the Ema,
the first time you crossed it to reach
the city. But it was fitting that
Florence should sacrifice a victim to
that mutilated stone of Mars, that guards the bridge, in her last time of
peace.
I saw Florence in such calm
repose, with these men and others
like them, that she had no reason for
grief. I saw her people, so glorious
and just, with these men to serve
816
them, that her arms of the white lily were never reversed on the standard,
nor the lily dyed red by division.’
3DUDGLVR
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As Phaethon, he who still makes father’s give grudgingly to their
sons, came to his mother, Clymene, to receive reassurance, of what he
had heard thrown back at him, so I:
and so did I seem to Beatrice, and
that sacred flame, who had already
changed his position for my sake. At
which my Lady said: ‘Emit the heat
of your desire, so that it may flow,
truly stamped with the internal seal,
not so that our knowledge increases
by your speaking, but so that you
817
may learn how to speak of your
thirst, so that men may quench it.’
‘Dear ground of myself, in which
I am rooted, who are lifted up so
high, that, gazing on that point, to
which all time is present, you see
contingent things, before they
themselves exist, as earthbound minds
see that two obtuse angles cannot
exist in one triangle, heavy words
were said to me, about my future,
while Virgil accompanied me,
descending through the dead world,
and around the Mount that purifies
souls: though I feel well set to resist
Fortune’s blows, so that my mind
would be content to hear what fate
comes towards to me, since the
arrow seen in advance arrives less
suddenly.’ So I spoke, to that same
light who had addressed me
818
previously, and confessed my wish, as Beatrice wanted.
That paternal love, revealed or
hidden by its own smile, did not
reply in dark prophecies that misled
the foolish ancients, before the
Lamb of God who takes away sin,
was killed, but in clear words, and
with precise statements: ‘Contingent
things, which do not extend beyond
your world of matter, are all
outhned in the eternal gaze, though
pre-determination does not follow
from this, no more than a boat
slipping downstream is driven by
the eye in which it is reflected.
From that, what is in store for you is visible to me, as a sweet harmony
comes from an organ.
You must be exiled from
Florence, as Hippolytus was exiled from Athens, through the spite and
819
lies of Phaedra, his stepmother. It is already willed so, and already
planned, and will be accomplished
soon, by Boniface who ponders it, in that place where, every day,
Christ is sold. The cry will put the
blame on the injured party, as is
usual, but truth will bear witness to
itself, by the revenge it takes.
You will lose everything you
love most dearly: that is the arrow
that Exile’s bow will fire. You will
prove how bitter the taste of another
man’s bread is, and how hard it is to
descend, and climb, another man’s
stair. And what will bow your
shoulders down will be the vicious
and worthless company with whom
you will fall into this abyss, since
they will all be ungrateful, fierce
and disrespectful to you: but not
long after, their cheeks, not yours
820
will blush for it. Their fate will demonstrate their brutishness, so
that it will be to your credit to have
formed a party of one.
Your first refuge and first
lodging will be by courtesy of the
great Lombard, Bartolomeo della Scala, whose arms are the sacred
eagle atop a ladder, since he will
cast such a friendly gaze on you,
that, between you, in request and
fulfilment, that will be first, which
between others comes last. With
him will be Can Grande, the one who was so marked at birth by this
potent planet that his actions will be
notable.
People have not yet taken due
regard of him, because of his age,
since these spheres have only
revolved round him for nine years.
But before Pope Clement the Fifth,
821
Emperor, Henry the Seventh, the gleam of his virtue will be apparent
in his indifference to money or to
hard labour. His generous actions
will eventually be known, so that
even his enemies will not be able to
stay silent about them. Look to him
and to his gifts. Many people will be
changed by him their conditions
altered, the wealthy and the poor:
and you will carry it inscribed in
your memory of him, but will not
speak it’: and he told me many
things incredible even to those who
shall see them.
Then he added: ‘Son, these are
my comments on what has been said
to you: see the difficulties hidden by
a few rotations. But I would not
want you to be envious of your
neighbours, since you will live far
822
beyond the punishment that will fall on their infamies.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9,, +H
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When the sacred soul, by his
silence, showed that he had finished
passing the weft through the warp I
had stretched out ready for him, I
began, like a man who, doubting,
longs for advice from one who sees
straight, wills the right, and loves:
‘My father, I see clearly how time
comes spurring at me, to give me
such a blow, one heaviest to those
who lose themselves, so that it is
best for me to arm myself with
foresight, so that if the dearest place
is denied me, I do not lose all other
refuge because of my writings.
823
bitter, and around the Mount from
whose summit my Lady’s eyes
raised me, and, afterwards, through
the Heavens from light to light, I
have learnt things, that if I tell them
again, will savour of acrid pungency
to many: and if I am a shrinking
friend to truth, I fear to lose life
among those who will call this time
ancient.’
That light, in which my treasure,
that I had found there, was smiling,
first coruscated like a golden mirror
in the sun’s rays, then answered: ‘A
conscience darkened by its own
shame, or another’s, will truly find
your words harsh, but reveal all
your Vision nonetheless, avoid all
lies, and let them scratch if they find
a scab, since though your words
may be bitter at first tasting, they
824
will still be vital food afterwards when they digest them.
This outcry of yours, will do as
the wind does, that strikes the
highest summits hardest, and that
will be no small cause of honour.
So, only spirits known for their
fame have been shown to you, in
these spheres, along the Mount, and
in the sad depths, since the souls of
those who hear will not be content
with, or truly believe in, examples
that have unknown and hidden
roots, nor any other obscure
argument.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9,,, 7KH
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That mirror of the blessed was
already joying only in his own
discourse, and I was tasting mine,
825
tempering the sweet with the bitter: and that Lady who was leading me
to God said: Change your thoughts,
remember that I am near to Him,
who disburdens us of every wrong.’
I turned to the beloved voice of
my comfort, and I forgo speaking
here of what love I saw, in those
sacred eyes: not merely because I
am diffident about my words, but
because of my memory which
cannot climb again, so far beyond
itself, unless another guides it. I can
only say this much, about that
moment, that as I gazed at her, my
affections were free of any other
desire, while the eternal joy that
shone directly on to Beatrice,
contented me with its reflection
from her lovely face.
Overcoming me with the light of
her smile, she said to me: ‘Turn
826
now, and listen, for not only in my eyes is Paradise.’ Just as we
sometimes read affection, here, in a
face, if it is so great that the whole
mind is seized by it, so in the
flaming of his sacred glow to which
I turned, I knew the desire in him to
speak to me still. He started: ‘In this
fifth canopy of the tree, which takes
life from its crown, and is always in
fruit, never shedding leaves, are
spirits, who are blessed, who had
great names below, before they
came to Heaven, so that every Muse
would be made richer by them. So
look at the horns of the cross, and he
whom I will name, will there enact
the lightning in a cloud.’
I saw a light traced along the
cross, as Joshua was named, and the word was not complete for me
before the action. And at the name
827
828
of the great Maccabeus, I saw another light move, revolving, and
delight was like the whip to the
spinning-top. So for Charlemagne
and Roland, two more, followed by my keen gaze, as the eye follows a
hawk in flight. Then William of
Orange, Renard his brother-in-law, Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, and
Robert Guiscard. At that the soul,
Cacciaguida, who had spoken with me, moving, to mingle there, with
the other lights, displayed the
quality of his art to me, among
Heaven’s singers.
I turned to my right to know my
duty, from Beatrice, indicated either
by speech or sign, and I saw her
eyes, so clear, so glad, that her
appearance exceeded all previous
form, even the last.
829
6L[WK6SKHUH-XSLWHU-XVWLFH
As a man sees that, day by day,
by feeling more delight in achieving
good things, his virtue increases, so
I saw that my circling, with the
Heavens, had increased its orbit,
while I watched the miraculous
vision becoming more adorned. And
the change that quickly crosses a
lady’s white face, when she throws
off a weight of shame, was offered
to my eyes, when I turned, because
of the white radiance of Jupiter, the
sixth, temperate planet, that had
received me. In that joyous torch I
saw the sparkle of the love inside it,
signing letters, of our language, to
my eyes.
And, as birds, rising from the
river-bank, make flock in wheeling
830
or extended shapes, as if they were delighted by their pastures, so the
sacred beings in the lights sang,
flying, and formed now G or L or O.
First they moved to the note they
were singing, then, as they shaped
one of these letters, would stop for a
moment and stay silent. O Muse, Goddess of the fount of Pegasus,
who makes intellect glorious, and
gives it enduring life, as it, with
your help, does cities and countries,
illuminate me with yourself, so that
I can show their figures in relief, as
I hold them in mind: let your power
be shown in these brief words.
Then they showed themselves in
thirty-five vowels and consonants,
and I took note of the letters, as they
appeared one by one to me: GLOLJLWH
MXVWLWLDP: love righteousness, was
the first verb and noun, of the whole
831
vision: TXL MXGLFDWLV WHUUDP: you judges over earth, was the last.
Then they remained, ordered, in
the P of the fifth word, so that
Jupiter seemed silver in that region,
pricked out with gold: and I saw
other lights descending where the
summit of the P was, and come to
rest there, singing, I think, of the
good that moves them towards
Himself.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;9,,,
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Then, as innumerable sparks rise
from a blow to a burning log, from
which foolish people make auguries,
more than a thousand lights rose, it
seemed to me, and some ascended
steeply, some a little, just as the
Sun, that lit them, ordained: and
832
833
when each one had come to rest in place, I saw an eagle’s neck and
head outhned by that pricked out
fire.
He who depicts it, has no one to
guide him, but he himself guides,
and from him that power flows into
the mind, that builds the eagle’s
nest: the other beatitudes, who
seemed at first content to entwine
the P with lilies, by a slight motion,
in-filled the outhne. O sweet planet,
how great the quality and quantity
of jewels, which made clear to me,
that our justice is an effect, of that
Heaven you bejewel!
So that I beg the Mind in which
your motion and your power has
source, to gaze at the place from
which smoke rises to vitiate your
light: and that the anger be roused
once more, against the buying and
834
selling, in the Temple, whose walls were built by miracle and
martyrdom. O soldiers of Heaven,
whom I see, pray for those who
have gone awry on earth, following
bad examples. It was custom once to
war with the sword, now it is done
by holding back spiritual bread, here
and there, that the tender Father
denies to no one: but you, Boniface, who only write in order to cancel
out the lines, think that Paul and
Peter are living still, who died for the vineyard you destroy. Though
indeed, you may say: ‘I have so
fixed my desires on him, en-coined,
the Baptist, who lived a solitary life, and was dragged to martyrdom to
serve Salome’s dance, that I do not know Paul or the Fisherman.’
835
-XVWLFH
The marvellous image, which
those entwined spirits made, joying
in their sweet fruition, appeared in
front of me, with outstretched
wings. Each soul appeared like a
ruby, in which the sun’s rays burn,
so lit as to refract light to my eyes.
And what I must tell now, pen never
wrote, voice never spoke, nor was it
ever known by imagination, since I
saw and heard the eagle’s beak
speaking, saying in its voice, , and
0LQH, when, in its form, it was :H
and 2XUV.
And it began: ‘I am exalted here
to this glory, which does not allow
itself to be overcome by longing,
through being just and pious, and I
have left a memory on Earth, so
836
constituted that even the evil
approve it, though they do not
follow its path.’ As we feel one
glow from many coals, so there
came a single sound, out of the
image, from those many points of
love.
At which I said quickly: ‘O
perpetual flowers of eternal delight,
you who make all your perfumes
seem like a single one to me,
relieve, as you breathe, the great fast
which has held me hungering, for a
long time, because I found no food
to eat on Earth. I know, in truth, that
whatever other realm, of Heaven,
Divine Justice takes as its mirror,
your realm comprehends it without
a veil. You know how eagerly I
ready myself to listen: you know
what the question is, which has
caused my fast to be so enduring.’
837
As the hawk divested of its hood shakes itself and claps its wings,
demonstrating its will and
beautifying itself, so I saw that
symbolic eagle, woven from the
praise of Divine Grace, with the
songs that are known to whoever
rejoices there. Then it began: ‘He
who drew the compass round the
edges of the Universe, and marked
out, inside it, so much that is shown
and hidden, could not impress his
greatness on all the Universe
without his Word being infinitely
beyond us. And this is attested by
Lucifer, that first proud being, who was a pinnacle of creation, falling
abortive, because he could not wait
for enlightenment: and so it appears
that every minor nature is too small
a vessel to hold that Good which is
838
endless, and measures itself by itself.
So our vision which must be one
of the rays of that Mind by which all
things are filled, cannot have such
great power, without its origin
seeing far beyond that which it itself
can see. Therefore such perception
as your world has, is lost with depth
as our vision is in the ocean, since
though it sees the seafloor by the
shore, it cannot reach it in the open
water, even though it is there, and
the depth has hidden it. There is no
light unless it comes from that
Serenity which is never troubled:
the rest is darkness, or the shadow
of the flesh, or its poison.
Now the labyrinth is open
enough for you, that labyrinth that
hid the living justice from you,
which you have questioned so
839
incessantly: since you said: “A man is born, on the banks of the Indus,
and there is no one to speak to him
about Christ, or read or write of
Him, and all that man’s will and
action are good, as far as human
reason can tell, without sin in
speech or life. He dies un-baptised,
and without the faith. Where is the
justice, in condemning him? Why is
it his fault, that he is void of faith?”
Now, who are you, to sit on the
judge’s seat, a thousand miles away,
with sight that sees a short span?
Certainly, to him who trades
subtleties with me, it would be
wonderful if there were no doubts, if
the Scriptures were not set above
them. O earthly creatures, O coarse
minds! The Primal Will, which is
goodness itself, never abandons its
own self, which is the supreme
840
good. All that is in harmony with it is Just: no created goodness draws
It, to itself, but It, by shining out,
gives rise to it.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;,; 7KH
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As the stork sweeps over her nest
when she has fed her chicks, and as
the ones she fed look up at her, so
did that eagle-form of the blessed,
which moved its wings powered by
so much wisdom, and so I raised my
forehead. Wheeling it cried, and
said: ‘As my cries are to you, who
do not understand them, such is
eternal judgement to you mortals.’
When those glowing lights of the
Holy Spirit were still, though still in
the form of that insignia which
gained the Romans the world’s
841
reverence, it began again: ‘No one ever rose to this region, who did not
believe in Christ, not before he was
nailed to the tree, nor after. But see,
many call out: “Christ, Christ” who
shall be further from Him at the
Judgement, than those who do not
know of Christ: and the Ethiopians
will condemn such Christians when
the two crowds part, the one rich in
eternity, the other naked. What
would the Persians say to your
kings, when they see that volume
opened in which all their ill deeds
are recorded?
Amongst the actions of the
Emperor Albert, that one will soon set the pen in motion, that will make
Prague’s kingdom of Bohemia a
desert. There will be read the sorrow
that Philip the Fair is bringing to the Seine, by falsifying the coinage, he
842
wound.
There the pride will be seen that
parches, and makes the Scots and
Edward’s English mad, so that they cannot keep the proper borders. The
lechery and effeminate life of
Ferdinand of Spain, will be seen, and that of Wenceslaus of Bohemia, who never knew or willed anything
of worth. For Charles the Second,
‘the Cripple’, King of Jerusalem
will be seen marked with a ‘One: ,’
against virtue, whereas a ‘Thousand:
0’ sins will score the contrary
charge.
The baseness and avarice of
Frederick who holds Sicily, the Isle of Fire, where Anchises ended his long life, will be visible, and in
order to understand the magnitude
of his baseness, his record will be
843
kept in tiny writing, to fit a great deal in a little space. And the foul
deeds of his uncle, James of the Balearic Isles, and his brother,
James of Aragon, will be shown clearly to all, who have bastardised
a great nation and two crowns.
And Dionysius of Portugal, and
Hakon of Norway, shall be recorded there, and Stephen of Serbia, who sadly saw the coin of Venice only to
counterfeit it. O happy Hungary if
she no longer allows Andrew to maul her! And happy Navarre, if she
could protect herself, with the
Pyrenees, that border her! And all
should know, as a warning to her,
that Nicosia and Famagusta already
moan, and cry, by reason of their
beast, Henry of Lusignan, who cannot be separated from the rest.’
844
(DJOHFHOHEUDWHVWKH-XVW
When the Sun, that illumines all
the world, descends so far below our
hemisphere that day vanishes on
every side, the sky, that was only lit
by him before, now reappears in
many lights, in which the one light
shines. And this effect in Heaven
came to mind when the insignia of
the world and its leaders, closed its
eagle’s beak: because all those
living lights, shining far brighter,
began to sing things which must slip
and fall from my memory.
O sweet Love, mantled in a
smile, how ardent you seemed in
those flutings, breathed out only in
sacred thoughts!
When the dear, lucid stones with
which I saw the sixth Heaven
845
gemmed, had rendered silent those angelic chimes, I seemed to hear the
murmuring of a river which falls
from rock to rock, and reveals the
copiousness of its source. And as
the sound takes form from the lute’s
neck, or the wind that enters from
the unstopped pipe, so, the delay of
anticipation over, the eagle’s
murmur rose through its neck, as if
it were hollow. There it became a
voice and issued out of its beak, in
the form of words, that the heart
waited for, on which I wrote them.
It began to speak to me: ‘That
part of me that sees and in mortal
eagles endures the sun, must now be
gazed at intensely, since the fires
with which the eye in my head
sparkles, are the most important, of
all the crowd of those from which I
construct my shape. He who shines
846
in the middle, as the pupil does in the eye, was David, the singer of the Holy Spirit, who carried the ark
from city to city. Now he knows the
value of his song, in as much as it
was produced by his own
judgement, through the reward that
matches it.
Of the five who make the arch of
the profiled eyebrow, he who is
closest to the beak is Trajan who consoled the widow for her son.
Now he knows how dearly it costs
not to follow Christ, from his
experience of this sweet life and its
opposite. And he who follows on
the arch I speak of, on its upper arc,
is Hezekiah who delayed death by his true penitence. Now he knows
that the eternal judgement is not
altered, when a pious prayer seems
to delay today’s event until
847
tomorrow. Constantine, the next who follows, with a good intention
that produced evil consequences,
made himself, the laws, and my
Imperial self, Greek, in order to give
way to the Shepherd. Now he knows
that the evil flowing from his good
action does not harm him, even
though the world is destroyed by it.
And him you see on the
downward slope of the arc, is
William, of Sicily and Naples, which countries deplore his loss,
while grieving that Charles and
Frederick are alive. Now he knows how Heaven loves a righteous king,
and he makes it visible still, by the
appearance of his radiance.
Who would believe, down in the
world of error, that the Trojan
Ripheus is in this sphere, fifth of these holy lights? Now he knows
848
much about the Divine Grace, that the world cannot see, although his
sight does not reach the end of it.’
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Like to the lark ascending, in the
air, first singing and then silent,
content with the final sweetness that
sates her, so that image of the
imprint of eternal pleasure, seemed
to me, by which, in longing for it,
each thing becomes what it is. And
though I was to my doubt, like the
transparent glass is to the colour it
surrounds, it would still not wait and
bide its time in silence, but it thrust
‘What are these things?’ from my
mouth by its own pressure, at which
I saw great sparkles of joy. Then
immediately, the insignia, blessed
849
and with its kindling eye, replied to me, so that it would not keep me in
amazed suspense: ‘I see you believe
in these things because I tell you,
but do not see the KRZ so that they
are obscure, though still believed in.
You are like him who knows the
thing by name, but cannot see its
TXLGGLW\, its ZKDWQHVV, unless
someone else brings it to light.
5HJQXP&RHORUXP, the Kingdom
of Heaven, suffers the force of hot
love and living hope, which
overcomes the Divine Will, not in
the sense in which man overcomes
man, but overcomes that Will,
because it wishes to be overcome,
and once overcome, in turn
overcomes, with its own kindness.
The lives of the first and fifth lights,
along the eyebrow, cause you to
marvel, because you see them
850
decking this region of the Angels.
They did not leave their bodies as
Gentiles, but as Christians, with
firm belief in those pierced feet, that
to the first ZRXOG suffer, and to the
other KDG DOUHDG\ suffered. Since
the first, Trajan, came back to his bones from Hell, where no one ever
returns to the true will, and this was
the reward for living +RSH: the
living Hope which added power to
Gregory’s prayers to raise him, so that His will might have the power
to be moved. That glorious soul, of
which we speak, returning to the
flesh where it lived a while,
believed in Him who had the power
to help, and, believing, kindled so
great a flame of true Love, that it
was worthy of coming here, to this
rejoicing, on its second death.
851
Ripheus, the fifth light, set all his
/RYH below on righteousness, by
that grace which wells from so deep
a fount that no creature ever set eyes
on its last depth, so that God, going
from grace to grace, opened his eyes
to our redemption yet to come: and
he believed in that, and from that
time did not suffer the mire of
Paganism, and reproved the
stubborn peoples. Those three
ladies, the Virtues, whom you saw at the right wheel, of the chariot,
stood as sponsors at his baptising,
more than a thousand years before
baptism.
O Predestination, how remote
your roots are from our vision that
cannot see the First Cause WRWDOO\!
And you mortal creatures, keep
yourselves from judging, since we
who see God do not yet know all
852
those who will be elected, and such defective sight is sweet for us,
because our good is refined by this
good, that what God wills we also
will.’
So sweet medicine was given
me, by this divine image, to correct
my short sight. And as a good
harpist matches the quivering chord
to a good singer, so that the song
gives added pleasure, so, while he
spoke, I remember that I saw those
two sacred lights, make their fires
quiver at the words, just as two eyes
blink, together.
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My eyes were already fixed on
my Lady’s face once more, and my
853
mind with them, free of every other intent, and she did not smile, but
said: Were I to smile, you would be
like Semele, turned to ashes, since my beauty which burns more
brightly, as you have seen, on the
steps of the eternal palace, the
higher we climb, if it were not
moderated, glows so much, that
your human powers, at its lightning
flash, would be like the leaves the
thunder shatters.
We have risen to Saturn, the seventh planet, which beams
downwards, in the breast of Leo, the
fiery Lion, mingling with its power.
Fix your mind in your eyes, and
make them mirrors, to the figure
that will be shown to you, in this
mirror.’ Whoever knows how my
sight was fed by her blessed aspect
when I changed to a different
854
concern, would know how great a joy it was to me to obey my
heavenly guide, weighing
contemplation’s joy against the joy
of obedience.
Inside the crystal planet,
coloured like gold that reflects the
ray, which, as it circles the world,
carries the name of Saturn, its
illustrious ruler, in whose Age every
wickedness died, I saw a ladder
erected so far upward my sight
could not follow it. And I saw so
many splendours descending the
rungs that I thought every light that
shines in Heaven had been poured
downwards there. And as, according
to their nature, the rooks set out in a
flock, at dawn, to warm their cold
feathers, and then some flap away,
without returning, others come back
to where they started, and the rest
855
856
wheel in flight, it seemed to me that was also the way among that
glittering of spirits, that came in a
crowd, as soon as they reached a
particular rung, and the spirit that
landed nearest to me, became so
bright in my thoughts, that I said: ‘I
clearly see the Love you signal to
me. But She from whom I wait for
the how, and when, of speech and
silence, pauses, and therefore I ask
no questions, counter to my own
wishes.’ At which She who sees
everything, saw my silence in his
look, and said: ‘Let free your
burning desire.’
3DUDGLVR&DQWR;;,3HWHU
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And I began: ‘My lack of worth
does not make me worthy of a reply,
857
except for her sake who allows me to make the request: O life, blessed,
who live, hidden in gladness, tell me
the reason why I am placed near
you, and say why the sweet
symphony of Paradise is silent here,
when it sounded below through the
other spheres, so devotedly.’ He
replied: ‘You have mortal hearing,
as you have mortal sight: there is no
song here for the same reason that
Beatrice does not smile. I have
descended so far, on the steps of
the sacred ladder, only to give you joy with words, and with the light,
which mantles me: nor did greater
love make me swifter: since more
and greater love burns higher there,
as the flaming made clear to you,
but the deep love, that keeps us, as
ready servants to the wisdom that
858
controls the world, assigns me here, as you see.’
I said: ‘Yes I see how love,
freely, in this court, is sufficient to
make you follow the eternal
providence, but it is this which
seems hard to me to understand:
why you alone among your peers
was predestined to this role.’ I had
not reached the last word before the
light made a centre of its mid-point,
and whirled itself around like a
rapid millstone. Then the love that
was inside it answered: ‘Divine
Light focuses itself on me from
above, penetrating that in which I
am involved: which power, joined
to my vision, lifts me so far beyond
myself, that I see the supreme
essence from which it is extracted.
From there comes the joy I flame
with, equalling the clarity of my
859
sight with the brightness of my flame. But neither the most
illuminated soul in Heaven, nor the
Seraph with eyes most fixed on
God, can satisfy you as to your
question, because the thing you ask
lies so deep in the abyss of the
eternal law that it is hidden from
created sight. And, when you return
to the mortal world, report this: that
it should no longer presume to set
its feet towards so great a goal.
The Mind, that shines here, on
earth is clouded, so think if it could
have that power there, below, if it
does not when Heaven takes it to
itself.’ His words put such
constraint on me I left the question,
and restricted myself to asking,
humbly, who he was himself.
‘Between Italy’s two coasts, the
Apennine mountains rise, not far
860
from your native place, and so high that the thunder sounds far lower
down, and make a hump called
Catria, beneath which a monastery
was consecrated, which used only to
be given over to prayer.’ So he
began his third speech to me, and
then continued: ‘There I became so
rooted in God’s service that I treated
heat and cold lightly, ate Lenten-
fare cooked with olive-oil, was
satisfied with contemplative
thought. That hermitage once
yielded fruitfully to Heaven, and
now is barren, so that before long it
must be exposed.
I was Peter Damian in that place, and was Peter the Sinner, in the
house of Our Lady on the Adriatic
shore. Little of mortal life was left
to me, when I was called and drawn
to the cardinal’s hat, which passes
861
Saint Peter, Cephas, came, and
Saint Paul, the great vessel of the Holy Spirit, lean and unshod, taking
their food from any place. Now the
modern shepherds have to be
buttressed on both sides, and have
someone to lead them, they are so
fat and heavy, and someone to
support them from behind. They
cover their ponies with cloaks, so
that two creatures go under one
hide: O patience that endures so
much!’
At his voice, I saw more flames
descend, gyring, from rung to rung,
and every gyration made them more
beautiful. They came and rested,
and made a sound so deep, that
there is nothing here to compare it
to, and I did not understand its
862
meaning: its thunder overcame me so.
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I turned, oppressed by stupor, to
my guide, like a little child who
always goes for help where he has
most confidence, and She, like a
mother who, with her voice, which
sets him right, quickly aids her pale
and breathless child, said, to me:
‘Do you not know you are in
Heaven? And do you not know that
Heaven is wholly sacred, and that
which is done here is done from
righteous zeal? Now you can
understand how the song, and my
smiling, have transmuted you, since,
that cry has so moved you, in which
the vengeance you shall see taken,
863
before you die, would already be known to you, had you understood
their prayers.
The sword from above does not
strike hastily, or reluctantly, except
to his perception, who waits for it
with longing, or in fear. But turn
now to the others: since you will see
many renowned spirits, if you direct
your look according to my words.’ I
turned my eyes, as her wish
commanded, and saw a hundred
smaller spheres, which were made
more beautiful by their collective
rays.
I stood, like someone who
represses the stirrings of desire in
himself, who does not presume to
ask, because he fears to exceed due
bounds. And the greatest and most
lustrous of these pearls came
forward, to satisfy my wish about
864
him, Then I heard, inside there: ‘If you could see, as I can, the love
which burns among us, your thought
would have been spoken, but so that
you do not miss the goal, by delay, I
will answer only the thought which
you were so cautious about.
That mountain, Monte Cairo, on
whose slopes lies Monte Cassino,
was once thronged by deceived and
wrongly-directed worshippers of the
Pagan gods. And I am Benedict,
who first carried His name up there,
He who brought that Truth, which
raises us up so high, and such great
grace shone over me, that I weaned
the surrounding villages from the
impious cults that seduced the
world.
These other flames were all
contemplatives, lit by the warmth
that bears sacred fruits and flowers.
865
Here is Maccarius, here is
Romoaldus, here are the brothers who stayed inside the cloisters and
kept their hearts intact.’ And I to
him: ‘The love you show, by
speaking with me, and the benign
aspect I see, and note, in all your
fires, has increased my confidence
as the Sun expands the rose, when it
opens as far as is within its power,
so that I beg to know, assure me
father, as to whether I might receive
such grace as to see your unveiled
form.’
At which he said: ‘Brother, your
noble desire, will be fulfilled in the
last sphere, the Empyrean, where I,
and all the rest, find fulfilment.
There every desire is perfect, full
and ripe: in it alone every part is
where it always was, since it is not
in space, and has no poles, and our
866
ladder reaches it at last, vanishing out of sight. The patriarch Jacob
saw its upper rungs stretch up there,
when he saw it filled with Angels.
But no one leaves Earth to climb it
now, and my rule, down there,
remains a waste of parchment. The
walls, that used to be a House of
Prayer, are dens, and the cowls are
sacks full of mouldy grain.
But even gross usury is not as
contrary to God’s wishes as the
fruit, which maddens the monks’
hearts. Since what the Church holds,
in its keeping, belongs to the people
who pray to God, not to kin, or to
other viler uses. The flesh of mortals
is so easily seduced, that down
there, a good beginning does not last
the time from the oak’s sprouting to
the acorn harvest. Peter began his flock, without gold or silver, I mine
867
Francis his with humility. And if you gaze at the start of each order,
and look again at where it has
failed, you will see the white
darken.
But Jordan being rolled back,
and the Red Sea separating when
God willed, would be a less
marvellous sight than alteration
here.’ So he spoke to me, and then
returned to his companions, and the
companions drew close together,
then were all gathered upwards in a
whirlwind.
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The sweet Lady drove me,
behind them, up the ladder, merely
with a gesture, her power so
868
conquered my nature: and motion was never so quick down here,
where we climb and fall by nature’s
law, as to match my flight.
O Reader, I swear by my hopes
of ever returning to that sacred
triumph, for which I, many a time,
regret my sins, and beat my breast,
you would not have put your finger
in the fire, and drawn it back, in so
short a time as it took me to see
the sign of Gemini, that follows Taurus, and to be inside it.
O glorious stars, O light pregnant
with great power, from which I
derive all my genius, whatever of it
there is, He who is father of every
human life, was rising and setting in
your sign, when I first felt the air of
Tuscany: and then, when grace was
granted me, to enter the distant
869
sphere where you revolve, your
region was assigned to me.
To you my soul breathes,
devoutly, to gain the strength for the
difficult passage, which draws her
towards itself. Beatrice began to
say: ‘You are so near the highest
blessedness, that your eyes should
be sharp and clear. So, before you
make your way deeper into it, look
down, and see how great a world I
have placed under your feet: in
order that your heart may be
presented, as joyfully as it can to the
triumphant crowd which comes,
delightedly, through this ethereal
sphere.’
I turned my gaze back through
each and every one of the seven
spheres, and saw this globe, so that I
smiled at its pitiful semblance, and I
approve that wisdom greatest which
870
considers it least: since he whose thoughts are directed elsewhere may
be called truly noble.
I saw the Moon, Artemis,
daughter of Latona, lit without that shadow which gave me reason
before to consider her rare or dense.
I endured the face of Helios, your
son Hyperion, and saw how
Mercury, son of Maia, and Venus, daughter of Dione, move around and near him. Next, Jupiter
appeared, moderate between Saturn
his father’s cold, and Mars’s his son’s heat, and the changes in their
position were clear to me. And all
the seven were revealed to me, how
large, how fast they are, and how
distant from each other in orbit.
The threshing-floor that makes
us so fierce, appeared to me from
mountains to river-mouth, as I
871
revolved with the eternal Twins: then I turned my eyes to the lovely
eyes again.
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Like a bird among the beloved
leaves, who has brooded over the
nest of her sweet chicks, in the night
that hides all things from us, and
who, prematurely, takes to the open
branch, eager to see their longed-for
aspect, and to find food to feed
them, waiting the sun with ardent
love, watching fixedly for the dawn
to break, so was my Lady, standing,
erect and ready, turned towards the
region of the south where the sun
moves slowest, so that as I looked at
her in her anticipation and longing, I
became like him, desiring, who
872
wishes something new, and delights in hope.
But the time between one ZKHQ
and the next, for fixing my attention
I mean, and for seeing the Heavens
grow brighter and brighter, was
short. And Beatrice said: ‘See the
procession of Christ’s triumph, and
all the fruits gathered by the
wheeling of these spheres.’ Her face
seemed alight, and her eyes so full
of joy, that I have to pass it by,
without description.
As Diana Trivia in the calm of full moons, smiles among the
eternal nymphs who clothe the
Heavens in every space, I saw one
Sun, above a thousands lights, firing
each and all, as our own sun does
the things we see above: and the
glowing substance shone so brightly
through the living light that my
873
Beatrice, sweet, dear guide! She
said to me: ‘Nothing has defence
against what overpowers you. Inside
are the wisdom and the power that
opened the path between Heaven
and Earth, for which there had been
such great desire before.’
Even as fire is released from
cloud, because it expands so that
there is no space inside, and rushes
down to earth against its nature, so
my mind, expanded by these feasts,
issued out of itself, and cannot
remember what it became.... ‘Open
your eyes, and look at what I am:
you have seen things that have made
you strong enough to endure my
smile.’
874
9LUJLQDQGWKH$SRVWOHV
When I heard that gift, worthy of
great thanks, that can never be
erased from the book that records
the past, I was like someone who
returns to himself, from an
unremembered dream, and tries
vainly to recall it to mind. If all of
those tongues that Polyhymnia, and
her sister Muses, enriched with their sweetest milk, sounded, the sound
would not reach, to a thousandth
part of the truth, in helping my
singing of the sacred smile, and how
it brightened her sacred face.
And so the sacred Poem must
take a leap, in describing Paradise,
like someone finding his way
obstructed. But whoever thinks
about the weighty theme, and the
875
human shoulder that has burdened itself with it, will not cast blame if
the shoulder trembles beneath it. It
is not a path for a little boat, that my
bold keel cuts as it goes, nor a pilot
who spares himself.
Beatrice spoke: ‘Why does my
face so entrance you that you do not
turn to the lovely Garden that
flowers below the rays of Christ?
There is the Rose, in which the Divine Word made itself flesh: there
are the Lilies within whose perfume
the good way was taken.’ And I,
who was eager for her wisdom,
surrendered again to the struggle of
my weak vision.
As I have seen, before now, a
meadow filled with flowers, under
the sun’s rays, shining pure through
broken cloud, themselves covered in
shadow, so I saw many crowds of
876
splendours, shone on from above by ardent rays, not seeing the source
from which the glow came. O
benign Power that so forms them!
You had risen yourself, to make
space for my vision that lacked
strength.
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The name of that lovely flower
which I invoke, always, morning
and night, drew my mind to gaze at
the greatest flame, And when the
quality and might of the living star,
that overcomes there as it did down
here, had been pictured in both my
eyes, an encircled flame, formed
like a coronet, fell from the Heavens
and clothed her, and surrounded her.
877
sweetest here, and draws the spirit
most towards itself, would seem the
thunder from a torn cloud,
compared to that lyre, to whose
sound the lovely sapphire was
crowned, who en-sapphires the
brightest Heaven. The circling
melody named itself: ‘I am Gabriel,
the Angelic Love, who circles the
noble joy, that takes breathes from
the womb, that was the Inn of our
Longing: and Lady of Heaven, I will
circle, until you follow your Son,
and render the Highest Sphere more
divine, by entering it.’ Then all the
other lights rang out with the name
The 3ULPXP 0RELOH, that royal
mantle of all the folds of the
Universe, that burns brightest, and is
most alive, with the breath and
878
manner of God, had its inner shore so far above us that its appearance
was not yet visible to me. So my
eyes had not the power to follow the
crowned flame as She climbed after
her own Child. And like the babe,
who stretches his arms up towards
his mother, when he has suckled,
because his mind flames out in
external gesture, so each of those
fires tapered its flame, so that the
deep love they had for Mary was
made clear to me. Then they rested
there, in my sight, singing 5HJLQD
&RHOL: Queen of Heaven, so sweetly,
that the delight has never left me.
O how great the wealth is, filling
those rich coffers, spirits, which, on
earth, were good sowers of its seed!
Here they have life and joy, even
from that treasure that was earned,
weeping, in Exile, in Babylon,
879
where gold was rejected. Here he triumphs, with the ancient and the
new synod, under the noble Son of
God, and Mary, that Peter who holds the keys to such great glory.
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O company, elected to the great
feast of the Blessed Lamb, who
feeds you in such manner that your
hunger is always sated, if, by the
grace of God, this man tastes what
falls from your table before death
has determined his time, take heed
of his immeasurable yearning, and
sprinkle him a little, you who
always drink at the fountain, from
which flows that on which his
thought is fixed.’ So Beatrice spoke:
and those joyful souls, made
880
spheres, of themselves, with fixed axes, flaming out like comets.
And as wheels, in harmonious
clockwork, turn so that the first
seems still, to whoever inspects it,
but the last to fly, so these dancers
with their various gyres, fast or
slow, made me consider their riches.
I saw a blissful flame shoot from the
one I thought most beautiful, such
that none brighter remained: and it
swept three times round Beatrice,
with a song so divine that my
imagination cannot repeat it, and my
pen passes on, and I do not write,
since our thought, and speech, is too
grossly coloured to trace such folds.
‘O my holy sister, who begs us,
so devotedly, you free me from this
lovely sphere by your glowing
love.’ As soon as the blessed flame
had rested, the breath that spoke the
881
words I wrote, turned to my Lady.
And she replied: ‘O eternal light of
that great man to whom our Lord
left the keys of this marvellous joy,
which he brought to earth, test this
man here on the points of faith,
lesser or greater, as you choose, the
faith that enabled you to walk the
waves. Whether he loves well, and
hopes truly, and believes, is not
hidden from you, since you have
sight of that place where everything
is brought to light. But since this
kingdom has made its citizens from
those of true faith, it is fitting that he
should be allowed to speak of it, to
give it glory.’
Even as the student equips
himself, but does not speak until the
master sets out the question, to
sanction it, and not decide it, so I
armed myself with every thought,
882
while she spoke, so that I might be ready for such questioning and
response.
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‘Speak, good Christian, reveal
yourself: what is Faith?’ At which I
raised my forehead to the light that
breathed those words: then turned to
Beatrice, and she eagerly signed to
me to pour out the water of my
inner fountain. I began: ‘May the
grace that allows me to confess
myself to the noble fore-runner,
make my thought achieve
expression!’ And I went on: ‘As the
true pen of your dear brother, Paul,
who with you set Rome on the
better path, wrote for us: Faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the
883
evidence of things not seen: and this I take to be its essence.’ Then I
heard: ‘You understand it truly, if
you understand why he placed it
among the substances, and then
cited it as evidence.’ And I to that:
‘The deep things which grant me the
privilege of appearing, in front of
me, here, are hidden from the sight
of those below, so that their
existence is only a belief, down
there, on which is built a high hope:
and so it justifies the meaning of
substance. And from this belief we
need to reason, without any further
insight: so it satisfies the meaning of
evidence.’
Then I heard: ‘If everything that
is learnt down there by teaching,
were understood so clearly, there
would be no room left for
sophistry.’ So it breathed out from
884
that burning love: then it added:
‘This coin’s weight and alloy has
been well tried: but tell me if you
have it in your purse.’ At which I
said: ‘Yes, I have it there, so bright
and round, that there is no SHUKDSV
for me in its stamp.’
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Then this issued from the deep
light that was burning there: ‘From
where did that dear gem, on which
all virtue is founded, come to you?’
And I: ‘The profuse rain of the Holy
Spirit which is poured over the Old
and the New pages, is the reasoning
that brought it to so clear a
conclusion for me, so that compared
with it, all argument seems coarse to
me.’ Then I heard: That Old and
885
New proposition, which leads to your conclusion, why do you take it
for Divine discourse?’ And I: ‘The
proof which reveals the truth to me,
is in the miracles that followed,
which nature never heated the iron
for, or struck the anvil.’
The answer was: ‘Tell me, who
assures you that these miracles took
place? The writing, that seeks to be
the proof of itself, no other, attests
to them.’ I answered: ‘If the world turned to Christianity, without
miracles, that would be such a
miracle that the others would not
rate a hundredth of it, since you
entered, poor and hungry, on the
field, to sow the plant that was once
a vine, and is now a thorn.’
So ending, the high sacred court
rang out a 'LRODXGDPR: :HSUDLVH
886
*RG, through the spheres, with that melody that is sung up there.
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That spirit, who had drawn me
from branch to branch with his
questioning, now we were near to
the topmost leaves, began again:
‘The grace, which holds loving
speech with your mind, has opened
your mouth, till now, as was
appropriate, so that I sanction what
emerged: but now you must say
what you believe, and how it was
offered to your belief.’
I began: ‘O holy father, you
spirit, who see now, what you once
so believed, that you outstripped
younger feet in entering the
sepulchre, you would have me
887
declare the form of my eager faith, and also ask the source of it: to
which I answer: I believe in one God, sole and eternal, who moves
all the Heavens with love and
desire, Himself unmoving. And I do
not merely have physical and
metaphysical proofs for such belief,
but it is shown me also by the truth
that flows from it, through Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms,
through the Gospel, and through
you, who wrote, when the ardent
Spirit had made you holy. And I
believe in three Persons, eternal, and
I believe they are One essence, and
Threefold, in such a way as to allow
DUH and LV to be joined.
My mind is stamped more than once, by the evangelic teaching,
with the profound Divine condition
of which I speak. This is the Source:
888
this is the spark which then expands to living flame, and shines in me
like a star in Heaven.’ Like the
Master who hears what please him,
and so clasps the servant, thanking
him for his news, when he falls
silent: so the apostolic light at
whose command I had spoken
circled me three times, blessing me
as it sang, as soon as I had ceased, I
pleased him so with my words.
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If it should ever come to pass,
that the sacred poem, to which
Heaven and Earth have set their
hand, so that it has made me lean
through many a year, conquers the
cruelty that bars me from the lovely
fold, where I used to sleep as a lamb,
889
enemy of the wolves that war on it, I will return a poet, now, with altered
voice and fleece, and will assume the
wreath at my baptismal font, since it was there I entered the faith which
makes souls visible to God, and
afterwards Peter, for its sake, so
encircled my brow. After which a
light moved towards us, from the
sphere out of which the first fruits of
the vicars left by Christ on earth
came. And my Lady, full of joy, said
to me: ‘See! See! Behold James, the Saint for whose sake, down there,
they search out Galicia.’
As a dove, taking his perch next
to his companion, pours out his love
for the other, billing and cooing, so I
saw one great and glorious prince
received by the other, praising the
food that feasts them there. But when
the greeting was over, each one
890
rested, silently, FRUDP PHin my presence, so fiery, that they
overcame my gaze. Then Beatrice,
smiling, said: Noble life, by whom
the generous gifts of our court were
recorded, let Hope be sounded in this
altitude: you know it, who described
it all those times, when Jesus gave greater light to you three.’
‘Lift your head, and reassure
yourself, since whatever comes here
from the mortal world must ripen in
our rays.’ Such comfort came to me
from the second flame, at which I
lifted up ‘mine eyes unto the hills’,
which had been bowed before with
excessive weight. The second light
continued: ‘Since our Emperor, by
his grace, wishes you to be
confronted with his Saints, in his
most secret court, before you die, so
that having seen its truth, you might
891
increase the hope in yourself and others, which makes people on earth
love the good, say what Hope is, and
how your mind is en-flowered by it,
and say from where it comes to you.’
And that gentle one, Beatrice,
who guided my feathered wings to so
high a soaring, anticipated me in
speaking, saying: ‘The Church
militant does not have a child more
full of hope, as it is written in the
Sun who shines on all our host, so it
was granted to him to come out of
Egypt to Jerusalem, to gaze on her,
before the proper end of his struggle.
Those two points, of hope and love,
asked about not so that you might
learn anything, but so that he can
take back word of how much they
give pleasure to you, I leave to him,
since they will not be difficult for
him, or a matter of boast: so let him
892
grace allow him this.’
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Like a pupil following after his
teacher, in what he is expert in,
pleased and eager, for his
knowledge to be shown, I said:
‘Hope is the certain expectation of
future glory, the product of Divine
Grace and previous worth. This
light comes to me from many stars:
but David, the highest singer of the highest leader, first distilled it in my
heart. Let those who know your
name, hope in you, he says in his
divine song, and who does not know
it, if they have my faith? You then
rained it on me, with his rain, in
your Epistle, so that I am drenched 893
and pour your shower again over others.’
While I was speaking, a sudden
flash like lightning trembled in the
living heart of that flame. Then it
breathed out: ‘The love, with which
I am still on fire for virtue, that
followed me to the palm of
martyrdom and the leaving of the
field of life, wills me to breathe on
you who delight in her, and it is my
further wish that you tell of what it
is hope promises to you.’ And I:
‘The Old and the New scriptures
display the sign, that points me once
more to the thing itself. Isaiah says that, of the souls that God has made
his friends, each one will be robed
with double robes, in its own land,
and its own land is this sweet life.
And your brother John sets out this revelation for us, more clearly
894
worked through, where he treats of the white robes.
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And not long after the ending of
these words, 7KH\KRSHLQ\RX rang
out above us, to which all the
singers responded: then a light
flashed out from among them, so
that if Cancer, the sign of the Crab,
contained a star like it, winter would
have one month with unbroken
daylight. And as a joyful virgin
rises, and goes to join the dance, not
from wrong motives, but only to
honour the bride, so I saw that
illumined splendour join the other
two, who were turning in a ring, in
such a manner as fitted their ardent
love.
895
There it entered their song and its words, and my Lady fixed her gaze
on them like a bride, silent and
motionless, and my Lady said: ‘This
is John, who at the last supper leaned on the breast of Christ, the Pelican, who chose him from the
cross, and committed Mary to his care.’ So she spoke, but no more
moved her eyes, from their fixed
intent, afterwards than before.
Like one who strains and gazes
at the sun’s brief eclipse, who loses
his sight by looking, so was I at this
last flame, until a word came: ‘Why
does it dazzle you to see that which
has no place here? My body is earth
in the earth, and there it will be with
the others, until our time suits the
eternal purpose. Only the two lights
which rose, Christ and the Virgin,
wear both robes in this blessed
896
897
cloister, and this you can take back to your world.’
The inflamed circle quieted itself
at this voice, together with the sweet
harmony made by the sound of that
triple breath, as oars, striking the
water until then, all pause at the
whistle’s sound, so as to stave off
weariness or danger.
O, how I was stirred in my mind,
turning to search for Beatrice,
whom I was blind to, though I was
near her, and in the world of bliss!
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While I was doubtful of my
darkened sight, I was made attentive
by a breath that came from the
glowing flame that had darkened it,
898
saying: ‘Until you regain the sense of sight you have spent on me, it
would be well to compensate for it
by speaking. Begin then, and say on
what your mind is focused, and be
assured that your vision is dazzled,
and not destroyed: since the Lady
who leads you through this divine
region has the power to heal it, in
her gaze, that Ananias had in his hands.’
I said: ‘Let help come sooner or
later, at her wish, to these eyes that
were the gates where she entered
with the fire I always burn with.
Love, the good, that satisfies this
court, is the Alpha and Omega of all
the scriptures which Amor reads to
me, shallowly or deeply.’ That same
voice which had erased my fear at
the sudden dazzling, set my mind
again to speech, and said: ‘Truly,
899
you must strain through a finer sieve: you must tell me what it was
that aimed your bow at such a
target.’
And I replied: ‘Such love must
stamp itself on me, by philosophical
arguments, and by authority that
descends from them, since good, as
good, in my understanding, lights
the fire of love, and the more so, the
more excellence it finds in itself. So
the mind, of whoever sees the truth,
on which this proof depends, must
move, in love, towards that Essence,
which has such advantage, that
whatever is found good outside it, is
nothing but a ray of its own light.
And this same truth is made known,
to my intellect, by Aristotle, who shows me the primal love, of all
eternal beings. It is made known to
me by the voice of that true Author
900
who says to Moses, speaking of himself: , ZLOO FDXVH WKHH WR VHH DOO
ZRUWK. It is made known to me by
you as well, where you open the noble Revelation, that cries out the
secrets of this place, to Earth,
beyond all other speech.
And I heard: ‘Keep the highest of
your loves for God, as urged by
human reason, and by the
authorities that concur with it, but
tell me if you feel other strings
drawing you towards Him, and say
how many teeth this love grips you
with.’ The sacred purpose of
Christ’s eagle was not hidden but rather I saw in which direction he
wished to lead my statements. So
that I began again: ‘All those bitings
that have power to make the heart
turn towards God, work together on
my love, since the world’s being
901
and my own being, the death that He suffered so that I might live, and
what each believer hopes, as do I,
together with the living
consciousness I spoke of, have
drawn me out of the sea of the
perverse, and set me on the shore of
true love. I love the leaves with
which the whole Garden of the
eternal Gardener is leafed, as greatly
as good has been offered to them,
by Him.’
As soon as I fell silent, the
sweetest song resounded through
the Heavens, and my Lady cried:
‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ with them all.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;9,
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And as a man wakes from sleep
at a bright light, because his spirit of
902
sight runs to meet the glow, that pierces veil after veil of the eye, and
he, waking, confuses what he sees,
his sudden vision being so clouded,
until thought comes to its aid, so
Beatrice made the scales fall from
my eyes, with the rays from hers,
that would cast their glow a
thousand miles, so that I saw more
clearly afterwards than before, and,
almost stupefied, I questioned as to
a fourth light that I saw with us.
And my Lady said: ‘In those rays,
Adam, the first soul that the primal Power ever made, holds loving
converse with his Maker.’
As the branch bows its head
when the wind passes over it, and
then lifts itself by its own strength
that holds it up, so I did, all dazed,
while she was speaking, and then
was re-collected by a desire to
903
speak, with which I burned, and I began: ‘O ancient Father, who has a
daughter and a daughter-in-law in
every bride, you, the only fruit of
the harvest created fully mature, I
beg you, devoutly as I can, to speak
to me: you see my wish, and I do
not say it, so that I can hear you
sooner.’
Sometimes a creature struggles
under a cloth, so that its intent is
visible, because what covers it
follows its movement: and similarly
that primal soul made the joy, with
which it came to serve my pleasure,
apparent through its surface. And
from it breathed: ‘Though you do
not say it, I see your will, more
clearly than you see what you are
most certain of, because I view it in
the true Glass, who makes Himself
the Mirror of all things, and makes
904
nothing which completely reflects Him.
You wish to know how much
time has passed since God set me in
the exalted Garden in which She
prepared you for this long stairway,
and for how long its delights
endured my presence, and the true
cause of the great wrath, and about
the language that I used, and made
myself.
Know, my son, that it was not
the eating of the Tree that was the
cause, in itself, of such harsh exile,
but solely the going beyond the
bounds set. In that place, Limbo,
from which your Lady sent Virgil to
you, my longing for these courts
lasted four thousand three hundred
and two revolutions of the sun, and I
had seen him pass through all the
stars along his track nine hundred
905
and thirty times, while I was on Earth. The language, I spoke, was
spent, long before the tower, that
was never completed, was built, by
Nimrod’s people: since the products
of Reason never last forever,
because of human taste, that alters
with the movement of the skies. It is
nature’s doing that Man should
speak, but nature allows you to do it
this way or that, as seems best to
you.
Before I went down to infernal
anguish, -DK was the name on earth
of that Supreme Good, from which
the delight comes, that clothes me:
He was called (O thereafter, and that
is fitting, since mortal usage is like
the leaf on the twig, that falls, and
another opens.
In life, pure, and then disgraced,
I was on the Mount, rising furthest
906
from the sea, from the first hour to that which follows the sixth hour,
when the sun changes quadrant.’
3DUDGLVR&DQWR;;9,,6DLQW
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‘Glory, to the Father, to the Son,
to the Holy Spirit,’ began through
all of Paradise, so that the sweet
song intoxicated me. I seemed to
see the Universe’s smile: so that my
drunkenness entered sight and
hearing.
O joy! O ineffable happiness! O
life of love and peace combined! O
safest riches that are beyond
longing! The four torches stood
burning in front of my eyes, and the
first one, that had neared me, began
to grow more intense: and became
like Jupiter, if he and Mars were
907
birds, and exchanged plumage, his silver-white for Mars’s warlike red.
The Providence which assigns
roles and offices there, had imposed
silence on the choir of the blessed,
on every side, when I heard: ‘Do not
wonder if I transform the colour of
my light, since you will see all these
others do the same, as I speak.
He who, on Earth, usurps my place, my place, my place, vacant in
the presence of the Son of God, has
made my burial-ground a sewer for
that blood and filth whereby the
perverse Angel who fell from
above, is placated down there.’
Then I saw Heaven tinged with that
colour which paints the clouds at
dawn or evening, from the opposing
sun, and like a modest woman, who
is certain of herself, but feels fear
only at the hearing of another’s
908
appearance, and such, I take it, was
the eclipse in Heaven, when the
Supreme Power suffered.
Then his speech continued, in a
voice so far altered from itself, that
even his appearance had not altered
more greatly, saying: ‘The Church,
the spouse of Christ, was not fed on
my blood, and that of Saints Linus
and Cletus, so that she might be used to acquire gold: but it was to
gain this joyful life that Sixtus, Pius,
Calixtus and Urban gave their blood after many tears.
It was not our purpose for one
part of Christianity to sit on the right
side, and the other on the left of our
successors; or that the keys given in
trust to me should become the
insignia on a banner making war on
the baptised; or that I should
909
become the head on that seal which stamps false and mercenary
privileges, at which I often blush
and shoot out flames. From above,
here, the ravening wolves are seen,
dressed as shepherds, in all the
pastures. O Help to God, why are
you down? Gascons and Cahorsines
prepare to drink our blood. O good
beginning, what evil end must you
fall to! But the high Providence, that
defended the glory of the world for
Rome, in Scipio, will soon bring
aid, I think. And you, my son, who
will return below, because of your
mortal heaviness, open your mouth,
and do not hide the things I do not
hide.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;9,,
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910
moisture in flakes when the horn of
Capricorn, the heavenly Goat, is
touched by the sun, so I saw the
ether clothe itself and snow the
flakes, of the triumphant lights that
had rested with us, upwards. My
vision was tracing their form, and
followed them, until excess of space
inhibited its power to see further. At
which the Lady who saw me free
now of straining upwards, said to
me: ‘Look down, and see how you
have orbited.’
I saw that, since the hour when I
had first looked down, I had moved
through the whole quadrant, which
Gemini, in the upper part of the first
FOLPD, or division of latitude, makes
from noon to evening, so that I
could see beyond Cadiz that foolish
track Ulysses took, and, on this side, 911
at evening, the near shore where
Europa became the bull’s sweet burden.
And the site of the threshing-
floor would have been unfolded
further to me, except that the sun
was in advance under my feet,
separated by a sign, Taurus, and
more from me. My enamoured
mind, which always held loving
speech with my Lady, burned, more
than ever, to bring my eyes back to
her, and whatever food art, or
nature, makes, to captivate the eyes,
and so possess the mind, whether in
human form, or in paintings, all
brought together would seem
nothing, compared to the divine
delight which shone on me, when I
turned towards her smiling face.
912
7KH 3ULPXP 0RELOH 7LPH
'HJHQHUDF\
And the power which that look
gifted me with, plucked me out of
Leda’s fair nest, of the Twins, and thrust me into the swiftest Heaven.
Its regions, highest and most alive,
are so alike, that I cannot say in
which one Beatrice chose to place
me. But She, who saw my longing,
began to speak, smiling, so
delightedly that God seemed shining
in her face: ‘The nature of the
universe which keeps the centre
fixed and moves the rest around it,
begins here, as if from its goal.
And this heaven has no other
place than in the Divine Mind, in
which the Love that moves it is
fired, and the Power that it
913
disperses. Light and Love clasp it in one circle, as it does all the other
spheres, and only He who embraces
it, understands this embrace. Its
movement is not measured by any
other: but all the rest are measured
by it, as ten by halves and fifths.
And it may now be clear to you how
Time has its roots in this same
sphere, and its leaves in the rest.
O Greed, that so corrupts mortals
below, that not one of them has
strength enough to draw his eyes
away from your depths! It is true
that human will is still strong: but
the continuous rain turns ripe plums
to cancerous growths. Faith and
innocence are only found in little
children: then both vanish before the
cheeks are downy. Many a lisping
babe keeps the fast, who when his
tongue is free, afterwards, eats any
914
food, in any month: and many a
lisping babe loves and listens to its
mother, who when his speech is
entire, afterwards, longs to see her
buried.
So, at the first appearance, the
white skin blackens, of the lovely
daughter, of Him who brings the
dawn, and leaves us evening. And
you, lest you wonder at it, consider:
there is no one governing on earth,
so the human household wanders
from the path.
But before January is all un-
wintered, by that hundredth of a day
in the calendar year, ignored on
earth, these upper spheres shall roar,
so that the fated season, long
awaited, will reverse stem to stern,
so that the fleet can sail true: and
ripe fruit will follow the flower.’
915
$QJHOLF&LUFOHV
When the truth had been
revealed, by her who emparadises
my mind, a truth in opposition to the
present life of miserable humanity,
my memory recalls that, gazing on
the lovely eyes, from which Love
made the noose to capture me, I
saw, as a candle flame lit behind a
man, is seen by him in a mirror,
before it is, itself, in his vision or
thought, so that he turns round, to
see if the glass spoke true, and sees
them agreeing, as song-words to
their metre: and when I turned, and
my own eyes were struck by what
appears in that space, whenever the
eyes are correctly fixed on its
orbiting, I saw a point that beamed
out a light so intense, that the eye it
916
blazes on, must be closed to its fierce brightness, and whatever star
seems smallest from down here,
would be a moon if it were placed
alongside it, as star is placed
alongside star.
Perhaps as near as a halo
appears to be to the light that
generates it, when the vapour in
which it glows is thickest, at such a
distance as that, round that point, a
circle of fire revolved so quickly, it
exceeded the speed of the fastest
sphere, that surrounds the universe,
and this circle was surrounded by
another, that by a third, the third by
a fourth, the fourth a fifth, the fifth a
sixth.
After it the seventh followed,
already so broad in its reach that if
Juno’s rainbow messenger were complete it would be too small to
917
contain it. And so the eighth and ninth, and each one moved more
slowly as its number was further
from unity: and the one from which
the pure light source was least
distant, had the clearest flame,
because, I believe, it is more
embedded in the light’s truth.
My Lady, who saw me labouring
in profound anticipation, said;
‘Heaven and all Nature hangs from
that point. Look at the circle which
is most nearly joined to it, and learn
that its movement is so fast because
of the burning love which it is
pierced by.’ And I to her: ‘If the
universe was ordered in the
sequence I see in these circlings,
then I would be content with what I
see in front of me. But, in the
universe of the senses, we see the
spheres as more divine the further
918
they are distant from Earth, the centre. So, if my desire is to find its
goal in this marvellous, angelic
Temple, that only has love and light
as its limits, I must hear why the
copy and the pattern are not
identical in form, since, myself, I
cannot see it.’
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‘And if your fingers are not
skilled in untying such a knot, it is
no wonder, it has become so
difficult to achieve, from never
being tried.’ So my Lady spoke, and
said: ‘If you wish to be satisfied on
this, take what I tell you, and wrap
your mind around it.
The earth-centred circles are
wide or narrow, according to how
919
much virtue spreads through their region. Greater excellence has
power to work greater benefit: and
greater benefit is conferred, by the
largest sphere, if all parts of it are
equally perfect. So the sphere, that
sweeps with it all the rest of the
universe, corresponds to the circle
that loves and knows most.
Therefore, if you take your measure
from the virtue, not the appearance,
of the substances which appear to
you in these circles, you will see a
marvellous correspondence between
greater and more, smaller and less,
between every Heaven and its
angelic Intelligence.’
As the hemisphere of air, shines
serenely when Boreas blows a north-easterly, from his gentler
cheek, so that the layer that covered
it is purged and dissolved, and the
920
sky laughs with the beauties of all its regions, so I, when my Lady had
replied to me with her clear answer,
and the truth was seen as a star is in
the sky.
And when her words ceased, the
circles glittered as iron shoots outs
sparks when it is poured, and every
scintillation followed their fire, and
the quantity of sparks were
thousands more than the doubling of
the chessboard at every square.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;9,,,
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I heard Hosanna sung from choir
to choir, towards the fixed point,
which holds, and will hold them
forever, to the ZKHUH, in which they
have ever been: and She who saw
the questions in my mind, said: ‘The
921
first circles have shown you the
Seraphs and the Cherubs. They follow their loops so fast so that
they can identify themselves as
closely with the point as possible,
and they succeed according to their
sublimity of vision.
Those other Loves which circle
round them are called Thrones of the Divine Aspect, because they
bring the first triplet of circles to
completion. And you must know
that they all take delight, according
as their vision sinks more deeply
into the truth where every mind is
stilled. So you can see how being
blessed is founded on the act of
seeing, not of loving, which follows
from it: and the extent of vision is
measured, by the merit that grace,
and the right will, create: and so it
goes from rank to rank.
922
The second triplet which flowers like this, in this eternal Spring, that
Aries, by night, does not despoil, as
it does in our autumnal and wintry
skies, perpetually sing Spring’s
Hosannas, with three melodies that
sound in the three ranks of joy, by
which it is triply formed. In that
hierarchy are the three divinities, the
Dominations and Virtues, and the third order, Powers.
Then in the two penultimate
dance-circles the Principalities and
Archangels whirl: and the last consists all of Angelic play. These orders all gaze upwards, and have
such all-conquering power
downwards, that all are drawn
towards God, and in turn draw. And
set himself to
contemplate these orders with such
longing, that he named them and
923
separated them as I do. But Gregory
afterwards differed from him, such
that when he opened his eyes in this
Heaven, he smiled at himself.
And if such hidden truth was
uttered by a man, on Earth, do not
wonder at it, since Paul, who saw it here, revealed it to him, with other
truths about these circles.
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;,; 7KH
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When Apollo and Artemis, the Sun and Moon, the children of
Latona, one in Aries the Ram, the other in Libra the Scales, make the
horizon their circle, and the zenith is
the point from which both hang, till
one rises, the other sets, removing
themselves from that zone’s scales,
both changing hemispheres, so long
924
as that did Beatrice keep silent, with a smile pictured on her face, gazing
intensely at the point whose light
overcame me. Then she began to
speak: ‘I do not ask, I say, what you
wish to hear of, since I have seen
the point of Creation, on which
every ZKHUH and ZKHQ is focused.
In his Eternity beyond time, past
all others’ understanding, the eternal
Love showed himself, in new love,
as he desired: not to gain any good
for Himself, since that cannot be,
but so that his reflected light,
shining, might say: ,DP. He did not
lie there, as if sleeping, before
Creation: God’s movement over
these waters was not a process of
before or after. Form and matter,
pure and conjoined, issued into
being without flaw, like three
arrows from a triple-strung bow,
925
and as a ray of light shines in glass, amber or crystal, so that no time
passes between its entry and the
illumination, so the triple effect of
the Lord shone out instantly into
being, without a separate beginning.
Order was co-created, and
interwoven with substance: and they
were the crown of the universe, in
whom pure act was produced:
potentiality held the lowest place: in
the middle potentiality formed such
a knot with act, as can never be
untied. Jerome wrote for you about the vast stretch of time in which the
created Angels existed, before the
rest of the Universe was formed: but
the contrary truth I speak is written
on many pages of the writers of the
Holy Spirit, and you will become
aware of it if you look closely: and
Reason also sees it in some degree,
926
which cannot allow that the movers of the spheres should exist so long
without their spheres’ perfection.
Now you know where and when
these Loves were elected, and how,
so that three flames of your longing
are quenched already. Before one
could count twenty, some of the
Angels fell, stirring the foundation
of your elements. The rest remained,
and began the art you see, with such
delight, that they never leave their
circling. The source of the fall was
the cursed pride of Satan, him you saw imprisoned by the whole weight
of the universe. Those you see here
were humble, recognising
themselves as being from that same
excellence that made them so quick
in understanding: so that their vision
was exalted by illuminating grace,
and their own virtue, so that they
927
have their will free and entire. And I want you to be certain, and not
doubtful, that it is a virtue to receive
grace, by opening the affections to
it.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;,; 7KH
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‘Now, if my words have been
absorbed, you can contemplate
much of this court without further
help. But I will go on, because, in
your schools, it is taught, that the
Angelic nature is such as
understands, remembers and wills,
and I wish you to see, in its purity,
the truth that is confused down
there, by the equivocations in such
lectures.
These Angelic substances, since
they first gathered joy from God’s
928
face, have never turned their eyes from that, from which nothing is
hidden, so that their vision is never
disturbed by any new object, and
there is no need to recall anything to
memory, because of divided
thoughts. So humans dream, down
there, when not asleep: certain that
they speak the truth, or uncertain:
and there is greater error and shame
in the latter.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;,;
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‘You do not follow a single track
when you philosophise down there:
love of display, and the thought it
produces, delights you so. But even
this is tolerated here with less
indignation than when Divine
Scripture is twisted or discarded.
929
They forget how great the cost was in blood to sow its seed in the
world, and how much he pleases,
who keeps it by him, in humility.
Everyone strains his wits to
make a display and show his
inventiveness: the priests discuss
these things, and the scriptures are
left silent. One says the moon
reversed when Christ suffered, and
blocked the sun’s light from shining
below, and others that the light
vanished by itself: so that the same
eclipse occurred for Spain and
India, as it did for the Jews.
Florence does not have as many
Tom, Dick, and Harry’s as this sort
of story, proclaimed, each year,
from the pulpits here and there: so
that the sheep , knowing nothing,
return from the pasture fed on air,
930
and not to know their loss is no excuse.
Christ did not say: ‘*R DQG
SUHDFK QRQVHQVH WR WKH ZRUOG,’ to
his first gathering, but gave them the
true foundation: that, and only that,
was on their lips: so that they made
the Gospels lance and shield in their
fight to light the faith. Now a man
goes to preach with jokes and
grimaces, and if there is loud
laughter, his cowl swells, and
nothing else is needed. But such a
devil is nesting in the hood, that if
the crowd could see it, they would
know what remission they were
trusting in: and from this the
foolishness has increased so much,
on earth, that people would go with
any promise, without proof of
evidence. So that the pigs of
Saint Anthony, and others more 931
swinish than they, are fattened, by the gains of this false coinage.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;,;
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$QJHOV
‘But, since we have wandered
enough, turn your eyes back, now,
to the true path, so that our time and
journey may shorten. This Angelic
nature has such deep-numbered
ranks, that mortal speech and
thought have never extended so far:
and if you look at what Daniel
reveals, you will see that
determinate number is lost among
his thousands.
The primal light that shines,
above it all, is received by it in as
many ways as the reflected
splendours, with which it pairs. And
932
since affection follows the act of conception, the sweetness of Love is
warm, or hotter in them, in various
ways. See, now, the breadth and
height of Eternal Value, since it has
made so many mirrors of itself, in
which it is reflected, remaining
itself One, as it was before.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;; 'DQWH
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Noon blazes, perhaps six
thousand miles from us, and this
world’s shadows already slope to a
level field, when the centre of
Heaven, high above, begins to alter,
so that, here and there, a star lacks
the power to shine to this depth: and
as the brightest handmaiden of the
sun advances, so Heaven quenches
star after star, till even the loveliest
933
are gone. In the same way, that Triumph, which always plays
around the point that overcame me,
appearing to be embraced by that
which it embraces, faded, little by
little, from my vision: so that my
seeing nothing, and my love, forced
me to turn my eyes towards
Beatrice. If that which is said of her,
above, were all condensed into one
act of praise, it would be too little to
answer to this case. The beauty I
saw is beyond measure, not only
past our reach, but I truly believe
that only He, who made it, joys in it
completely.
At this time, I hold myself more
utterly vanquished, than ever his
theme’s weight overcame comic, or,
tragic poet. Since, like the sun, in
trembling vision, so the memory of
the sweet smile, cuts off my
934
From the first day, in this life, when
I saw her face, until this sight, my
song has never failed to follow, but
now my way must cease the
tracking of her beauty through
poetry, as every artist must at his
furthest reach.
So, as I leave her, to a greater
fanfare than my sounding brass,
which sounds the close of its
arduous subject, she began again to
speak, with a leader’s alert gestures
and voice, saying: ‘We have issued
from the largest sphere, into the
Heaven that is pure Light,
intellectual Light, filled with Love,
Love of true Goodness, filled with
Joy, Joy that transcends every
Sweetness. Here you will see the
Redeemed, and the Angelic, soldiers
of Paradise, and the former in their
935
forms that you will see at the Last Judgement.’
3DUDGLVR &DQWR ;;; 7KH
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As a sudden flash of lightning
destroys the visual powers, so as to
rob the eye of strength to realise
even the clearest objects, so a living
light shone round me, leaving me
bathed in such a veil of its
brightness, that nothing was visible
to me. ‘The Love, that stills Heaven,
always accepts spirits, into itself,
with such a greeting, to fit the
candle for its flame.’
As soon as these few words
entered me, I felt I surmounted my
normal powers, and blazed with
such new-created sight that there is
no unalloyed light that my eyes
936
could not hold their own with. And I saw brightness, in the form of a
river, shining, amber, between
banks pricked out with miraculous
Spring. Living sparks flashed from
this river, and fell into the blossoms
on all sides, like gold-set rubies.
Then they plunged themselves,
again, into the marvellous vortex, as
if drunk with the perfumes, and as
one entered, another issued out.
‘The high desire that burns and
urges you now to acquire
knowledge of the things you see,
pleases me more the more it
intensifies. But you must first drink
of this water, before so great a thirst
in you can be satisfied.’ So my
eyes’ sun spoke to me, then added:
‘The river and the topazes that enter
it and exit, and the smile of the
grasses, are the shadowy preface to
937
their reality. Not because the things are crude in themselves, but the
defect is in you, because you do not
have such exalted vision yet.’
Never did infant turn so quickly
towards the milk, waking much later
than usual, as I did then, bending to
the waters that are formed so that
we may better ourselves, to make
still truer mirrors of my eyes. And
my eyelids’ rims no sooner felt it,
than their length seemed to alter into
roundness. Then the flowers and the
sparks changed in front of me into a
fuller joyousness, as people,
masked, seem other than before if
they remove the image that hid
them, not their own, and I saw both
courts of Heaven, made manifest.
938
5DQNVRIWKH%OHVW
O splendour of God, through
which I saw the high Triumph of the
kingdom of truth: give me the
power to say what I saw.
There is a light, up there, that
makes the Creator visible to the
creature, who only in seeing him
finds its peace: and it extends so far
in a circle, that its rim would loosely
contain the sun’s light. It whole
appearance is formed of rays
reflected from the surface of the
3ULPXP0RELOH, which draws its life
and power from them. And as a
hillside reflects itself in the water at
its foot, as if to view its own beauty,
rich in grass and flowers, so, rising
above the light, around, around, I
saw all of us who have won their
939
way back up there, casting their reflection in more than a thousand
ranks.
And if the lowest level attracts so
great a light inside it, what of the
intensity of the rose’s outer petals?
My sight was not lost itself in the
height and breadth, but grasped the
quality and quantity of joy. Near
and far do not add or subtract there,
since where God rules without
mediation the laws of nature have
no relevance.
Beatrice drew me, a man silent,
who would speak, into the yellow
glow of the eternal Rose, that rises
layer on layer, and exudes the
perfume of praise, towards the Sun,
that makes eternal Spring, saying:
‘Marvel at the vastness of the white-
robed gathering! Our City, see how
wide its circle! See our thrones,
940
filled, so that few spirits are still awaited there.
The soul, an imperial one on
earth, of Henry the Seventh, shall sit on that high seat, that you fix your
eyes on because of the crown you
already see placed over it, before
you yourself dine at this wedding
feast: he, who will come to set Italy
straight before she is ready for it.
Blind greed that mazes you has
made you like a little child that
chases away its nurse while dying of
hunger: and he, Clement, who will be Pope then in the court of divine
things, will be such as will not tread
the same path as him, openly or in
secret. But God will not suffer him
long in that sacred office, since he
will be forced down where Simon
Magus is, for his reward, and push
941
Boniface, him of Anagna lower still.’
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That sacred army, that Christ
espoused with his blood, displayed
itself in the form of a white rose, but
the Angel other, that sees and sings
the glory, of him who inspires it
with love, as it flies, and sings the
excellence that has made it as it is,
descended continually into the great
flower, lovely with so many petals,
and climbed again to where its love
lives ever, like a swarm of bees, that
now plunges into the flowers, and
now returns, to where their labour is
turned to sweetness.
Their faces were all of living
flame, their wings of gold, and the
942
943
rest of them so white that snow never reached that limit. When they
dropped into the flower, they
offered, to tier on tier, the peace and
ardour that they acquired with
beating wings: and the presence of
such a vast flying swarm between
the flower and what was beyond it,
did not dilute the vision or the
splendour: because the Divine Light
so penetrates the Universe, to the
measure of its Value, that nothing
has the power to prevent it. This
kingdom, safe and happy, crowded
with ancient peoples and the new,
had sight and Love all turned
towards one point.
3DUDGLVR&DQWR;;;,6DLQW
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944
O triple Light that glitters in their sight, a single star, and so contents
them: look down on our tempest! If
the Barbarians, coming from those
countries that Callisto, the Bear, spans every day, orbiting with her
son, Arcas, the little Bear, whom she longs for, if they were stupefied
on seeing Rome and her great
works, at the time when her palaces
exceeded mortal things, what then
of me, who had gone to the divine,
from the human, to the eternal, from
time, and from Florence to a true
and just people? With what stupor
must I be filled! Truly, what with it,
and with my joy, my wish was to
hear nothing, and be dumb.
Like a pilgrim who renews
himself, by gazing, in the Temple of
his vows, and already hopes to retell
how it looks, so I led my eyes,
945
crossing the living light, along the levels, up and down, and then
around them, circling. I saw faces
persuasive of Love, graced by
another’s light and their own smile,
and with gestures adorned with all
honour. My gaze had already taken
in the general form of Paradise in its
completeness, and my sight had not
rested on any one part, and I turned,
with re-illumined will, to ask my
Lady about things with which my
mind was concerned. I intended
that, but another sight answered
mine: I thought that I would see
Beatrice, but I saw an old man
dressed like the glorious folk. His
eyes and cheeks were full of gentle
joy, with kindly gestures as fits a
tender father.
946
%HDWULFHFURZQHGLQ+HDYHQ
And I suddenly said: ‘Where is
She?’ at which he replied: ‘Beatrice
brought me from my place to lead
your desire to its goal: and if you
look up at the third circle from the
highest level, you will see her again,
on that throne her merit has marked
out for her.’ I raised my eyes
without answering, and saw her,
making a crown for herself, by
reflecting the eternal light from her
person.
No human eye is further from the
highest vaults of the thunder, though
plunged to the sea’s depths, as my
sight was from Beatrice, but that did
not affect me, since her image came
to me undiluted by any medium.
947
life, and who, for my salvation,
suffered to leave your footprints in
Hell, I recognise the grace and
virtue of all I have seen, through
your power and your goodness. You
have brought me from slavery to
freedom, by all those paths, by all
those ways that you had power over.
Guard your grace, in me, so that my
spirit, which you have made whole,
may be acceptable to you when it
leaves my body.’ So I prayed: and
she, far off though she appeared,
smiled, and gazed at me, then turned
towards the Eternal Fountain.
3DUDGLVR&DQWR;;;,7KH
9LUJLQ
And the holy man said: ‘Let your
eyes fly around this Garden, so as to
948
consummate your journey perfectly, the mission for which prayer and
sacred love sent me: since gazing at
it will better fit your sight to climb
through the divine light. And the
Queen of Heaven, for whom I burn
wholly with love, will grant us all
grace, because I am her loyal
Like one who comes from
Croatia perhaps to see our cloth of
Veronica, and is not sated with looking because of its ancient fame,
but, as long as it is visible, says, in
thought: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, true
God, was this then your face?’ such
was I gazing at the living love of
him, who in this world tasted of that
peace in contemplation.
He began: ‘Son of grace, this
joyful being will not become known
to you, merely by keeping your gaze
949
down here at the foot, but look at the circles, to the very farthest, until
you see the enthroned Queen of Heaven, to whom this kingdom is
subject, and devoted.’
I lifted my eyes, and as, at dawn,
the eastern space of the horizon
conquers that space where the sun
declines, so, as if raising my eyes,
from a valley to the mountain, I saw
a space, at the edge, exceed all the
rest of the ridge in light. And as
down here that place where we
expect the chariot, that Phaethon
failed to guide, is most glowing, and
the light is cut away on either side,
so was She, that flame of peace, quickened in the centre, tempering
the blaze on all sides. And at the
mid-point I saw more than a
thousand Angels, joying, with
950
outstretched wings, each Angel
distinct, in glow and function.
I saw there, a Beauty that was
delight, in the eyes of all the other
saints, smiling at their dances and
their songs. And if I had words as
rich as my imagination, I would still
not dare to attempt the smallest part
of her delightfulness.
Bernard turned his eyes to her,
with so much love, when he saw my
eyes fixed and attentive gazing
towards the source of his own light,
that he made mine more eager to
gaze again.
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He, the contemplative, with his
Love fixed on his Delight, freely
assumed the office of a teacher, and
951
began these sacred words: ‘The
wound, that Mary sealed and anointed, is that which Eve, who is so lovely, at her feet, opened and
pierced. In the order, made by the
third level, Rachel with Beatrice, sits below her, as you see. Even as I
go down the rose, petal by petal,
naming their proper names, you can
see, descending from level to level,
Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and Ruth, her from whom came David the singer, third in descent, who cried
out, from grief at his sin: “0LVHUHUH
PHL 3LW\ PH.’ And down from the
seventh, and beyond, again the
Hebrew women, separating the
flower’s tresses, since they are the
wall, that parts the sacred stairway,
according to how faith in Christ was
realised.
952
On this side, where the flower is full-blown, in all its petals, those,
who believed in Christ to come, are
sitting. On the other side, where
there are empty seats among them,
are the semi-circles of those whose
eyes were turned towards the Christ
who had come. And as the glorious
throne of Heaven’s Lady, and the
seats below her, make such a
partition, so, next to her, does that
of the great Baptist, John, who, ever holy, suffered the desert and a
martyr’s death, and then Limbo, for
two years space, until Christ came
there: and, below him, the
separating line, assigned to Francis,
Benedict, Augustine, and the others from circle to circle, down to here.’
953
&KLOGUHQ
‘Now marvel at the depth of
Divine provision, since both aspects
of the faith will fill this Garden
equally. And know that, down from
the level that cuts across the two
divisions, the spirits have their
places not because of their own
merit, but another’s, given certain
conditions, since these are all souls
freed before they had exercised true
choice.
You can see it by their faces, and
their voices, those of children, if
you look carefully and listen. Now
you doubt, and are silent in your
doubting: but I will untie the
difficult knot for you, in which your
subtle thoughts are entangling you.
No chance point has place in all this
954
kingdom, no more than sadness,
thirst, or hunger do, because what
you see is established by Eternal
Law, so that the ring corresponds
exactly to the finger.
The ordering of these children,
swiftly come to the true life,
according to greater or lesser
excellence, is not VLQD FDXVD:
without reason. The King, by whom
this kingdom rests in such great
love, such great delight that the will
dares nothing more, when he creates
minds, in his joyous sight, of his
grace and at his pleasure, grants
them diversity: and let the effect
suffice as proof. And this is marked,
clearly and expressly, in Holy Writ,
concerning those twins who
struggled in anger in Rebeccah’s womb.
955
wreathe them worthily, according to
the colour of the tresses of such
grace. Therefore they are placed at
different levels, without regard for
the externals, differentiated only by
their primal keenness in seeing Him.
So, in ancient times, the parents’
faith alone, combined with
innocence, was enough to reach
salvation. When those first ages
were complete, males needed to
gain power in their innocent wings,
through the rite of circumcision. But
when the time of grace came, then,
lacking Christ’s perfect baptism,
such innocence was held,
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956
‘Now see the face that is most
like Christ’s, since its brightness,
and no other, has the power to equip
you to see Christ.’
I saw such gladness, borne in the
sacred Angelic minds created to fly
through that altitude, rain down on
that face that nothing, I had seen
before, seized me with such dumb
admiration, or so revealed the
semblance of God. And that Love
which first came down to Her,
singing: ‘Ave, Maria, gratia plena:
Hail, Mary, full of grace,’ now spread his wings in front of her. The
Divine Canticle was responded to
on every side by the court of the
blest, so that every face found peace
in it.
‘O holy Father, you who accept
being here below for my sake,
leaving that sweet place, where you
957
sit by eternal sanction, who is that Angel who looks our Queen in the
eyes with such joy, so enamoured he
seems all on fire?’ So I turned again
to his teaching, he who gathered
beauty from Mary, as the morning
star does from the sun. And he to
me: ‘The greatest exultation and
chivalry that exists in Angel or in
spirit, is all in him: and we would
wish it so, since it is Gabriel who brought the palm down to Mary,
when the Son of God willed that He
should take on our burden.’
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‘But now let your eyes come
travel, even as I speak, and note the
great noble souls, of this most just
and pious empire. Those two who
958
sit up there, most blest by being nearest to the Empress, are like two
roots of this Rose. Her neighbour on
the left is Adam, that father, through whose audacity in tasting the fruit,
the human race tastes such
bitterness. On the right is Peter, that ancient father of Holy Church to
whom Christ entrusted the keys of
this beloved flower. And John, sits by his side, who, before he died,
saw all the dark prophetic seasons
of that fair Bride, who was won
with lance and nails: and by Adam’s
side, Moses, that leader, rests, under whom the ungrateful, fickle, and
mutinous people were fed with
manna.
See Saint Anne, sitting opposite Peter, so content to look at her
daughter, that she does not remove
her gaze to sing Hosanna. And
959
opposite Adam, the greatest father of our family, sits Lucy, who stirred your Lady, when you were bending
your brow downwards to ruin.
But since the time of your vision
flees, here let us stop, like the
careful tailor who cuts the garment
according to the cloth, and let us
turn our eyes towards the Primal
Love, so that gazing at Him, you
might penetrate as far as possible
into his brightness. Truly grace
needs to be acquired by prayer (so
that you do not by chance fall back
as you beat your wings), grace from
Her who has power to help you: and
follow me with such affection that
your heart is not separated from my
words.’ And he began this sacred
prayer.
960
3UD\HUWRWKH9LUJLQ
‘Virgin mother, daughter of your
Son, humbled, and exalted, more
than any other creature, fixed goal
of the Eternal Wisdom; you are She
who made human nature so noble,
that its own Maker did not scorn to
become of its making. The Love,
beneath whose warmth this flower
has grown, in eternal peace, flamed
again in your womb. Here you are
the noonday torch of Love to us,
and down there, among mortal
beings, you are a living spring of
hope.
Lady you are so great, and of
such value, that if any who wishes
for grace fails to resort to you, his
longing tries to fly without wings.
Your kindness not only helps those
961
who ask it, it often freely anticipates the request. In you is tenderness: in
you is pity: in you is generosity: in
you whatever excellences exist in
the creature, combined together.
Now he, who has seen the lives
of souls, one by one, from the
deepest pool of the universe, even to
here, begs you, of your grace, for
enough strength to lift his eyes,
higher, towards the final bliss: and I,
who was never so on fire for my
own vision, as I am for his, offer
you all my prayers, and pray they
may not be wanting, asking that, for
him, you might scatter every cloud
of his mortality, with your prayers,
so that supreme joy might be
revealed to him.
And more I beg you, Queen, who
can do the things you will: after he
has seen so deeply, keep his
962
protection overcome human
weakness: see Beatrice, with so many saints, folding her hands to
pray with me.’
Those eyes, loved by God, and
venerated, fixed on the speaker,
showed us how greatly devout
prayers please her. Then they turned
themselves towards the Eternal
Light, into which, we must believe,
no other creature’s eye finds its way
so clearly. And I, who was drawing
near the goal of all my longing,
quenched as was fitting the ardour
of my desire, inside me.
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Bernard made a sign to me, and
smiled, telling me to look higher,
963
but I was already doing as he asked me, because my sight, as it was
purged, was penetrating deeper and
deeper, into the beam of the Highest
Light, that in itself is Truth.
My vision then was greater than
our speech, which fails at such a
sight, and memory fails at such an
assault. I am like one, who sees in
dream, and when the dream is gone
an impression, set there, remains,
but nothing else comes to mind
again, since my vision almost
entirely fails me, but the sweetness,
born from it, still distils, inside my
heart. So the snow loses its impress
to the sun: so the Sibyl’s prophecies were lost, on light leaves, in the
wind.
O Supreme Light, who lifts so
far above mortal thought, lend to my
mind again a little of what you
964
seemed then, and give my tongue such power, that it might leave even
a single spark of your glory, to those
to come: since by returning to my
memory, in part, and by sounding in
these verses, more of your triumph
can be conceived.
I think that I would have been
lost, through the keenness of the
living ray that I suffered, if my eyes
had turned away from it. And so, I
remember, I dared to endure it
longer, that my gaze might be joined
with the Infinite Value. O abundant
grace, where I presumed to fix my
sight on the Eternal Light, so long,
that my sight was wearied!
In its depths, I saw in-gathered,
and bound by Love, into one
volume, all things that are scattered
through the universe, substance and
accident and their relations, as if
965
joined in such a manner, that what I speak of is One, simplicity of Light.
I think I saw the universal form, of
that bond, because, in saying it, I
feel my heart leap, in greater
intensity of joy. A single moment
plunged me into deeper stillness,
than twenty-five centuries have the
enterprise, that made Neptune
wonder at Argo’s shadow.
So my mind gazed, fixed, wholly
stilled, immoveable, intent, and
continually inflamed, by its gazing.
Man becomes such in that Light,
that to turn away to any other sight
is beyond the bounds of possibility.
Because the Good, which is the
object of the will, is wholly
concentrated there, and outside it,
what is perfect within it, is
defective.
966
Now my speech will fall further short, of what I remember, than a
babe’s, who still moistens his
tongue at the breast. Not that there
was more than a single form in the
Living Light where I gazed, that is
always such as it was before, but by
means of the faculty of sight that
gained strength in me, even as it
altered, one sole image quickened to
my gaze.
In the profound and shining
Being of the deep Light, three
circles appeared, of three colours,
and one magnitude: one seemed
refracted by the other, like Iris’s
rainbows, and the third seemed fire
breathed equally from both. O how
the words fall short, and how feeble
compared with my conceiving! And
they are such, compared to what I
967
saw, that it is inadequate to call them merely feeble.
O Eternal Light, who only rest in
yourself, and know only yourself,
who, understood by yourself, and
knowing yourself, love and smile!
Those circles, that seemed to be