Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete · Dante Alighieri
PARADISO
And tell me why is silent in this wheel The dulcet symphony of Paradise, That through the rest below sounds so devoutly.” “Thou hast thy hearing mortal as thy sight,” It answer made to me; “they sing not here, For the same cause that Beatrice has not smiled. Thus far adown the holy stairway’s steps Have I descended but to give thee welcome With words, and with the light that mantles me; Nor did more love cause me to be more ready, For love as much and more up there is burning, As doth the flaming manifest to thee. But the high charity, that makes us servants Prompt to the counsel which controls the world, Allotteth here, even as thou dost observe.” “I see full well,” said I, “O sacred lamp! How love unfettered in this court sufficeth To follow the eternal Providence; But this is what seems hard for me to see, Wherefore predestinate wast thou alone Unto this office from among thy consorts.” No sooner had I come to the last word, Than of its middle made the light a centre, Whirling itself about like a swift millstone. When answer made the love that was therein: “On me directed is a light divine, Piercing through this in which I am embosomed, Of which the virtue with my sight conjoined Lifts me above myself so far, I see The supreme essence from which this is drawn.
Hence comes the joyfulness with which I flame, For to my sight, as far as it is clear, The clearness of the flame I equal make. But that soul in the heaven which is most pure, That seraph which his eye on God most fixes, Could this demand of thine not satisfy; Because so deeply sinks in the abyss Of the eternal statute what thou askest, From all created sight it is cut off. And to the mortal world, when thou returnest, This carry back, that it may not presume Longer tow’rd such a goal to move its feet. The mind, that shineth here, on earth doth smoke; From this observe how can it do below That which it cannot though the heaven assume it?” Such limit did its words prescribe to me, The question I relinquished, and restricted Myself to ask it humbly who it was. “Between two shores of Italy rise cliffs, And not far distant from thy native place, So high, the thunders far below them sound, And form a ridge that Catria is called, ’Neath which is consecrate a hermitage Wont to be dedicate to worship only.” Thus unto me the third speech recommenced, And then, continuing, it said: “Therein Unto God’s service I became so steadfast, That feeding only on the juice of olives Lightly I passed away the heats and frosts, Contented in my thoughts contemplative.
Said to me: “Knowest thou not thou art in heaven, And knowest thou not that heaven is holy all And what is done here cometh from good zeal? After what wise the singing would have changed thee And I by smiling, thou canst now imagine, Since that the cry has startled thee so much, In which if thou hadst understood its prayers Already would be known to thee the vengeance Which thou shalt look upon before thou diest. The sword above here smiteth not in haste Nor tardily, howe’er it seem to him Who fearing or desiring waits for it. But turn thee round towards the others now, For very illustrious spirits shalt thou see, If thou thy sight directest as I say.” As it seemed good to her mine eyes I turned, And saw a hundred spherules that together With mutual rays each other more embellished. I stood as one who in himself represses The point of his desire, and ventures not To question, he so feareth the too much. And now the largest and most luculent Among those pearls came forward, that it might Make my desire concerning it content. Within it then I heard: “If thou couldst see Even as myself the charity that burns Among us, thy conceits would be expressed; But, that by waiting thou mayst not come late To the high end, I will make answer even Unto the thought of which thou art so chary.
For it is not in space, nor turns on poles, And unto it our stairway reaches up, Whence thus from out thy sight it steals away. Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it Extending its supernal part, what time So thronged with angels it appeared to him. But to ascend it now no one uplifts His feet from off the earth, and now my Rule Below remaineth for mere waste of paper. The walls that used of old to be an Abbey Are changed to dens of robbers, and the cowls Are sacks filled full of miserable flour. But heavy usury is not taken up So much against God’s pleasure as that fruit Which maketh so insane the heart of monks; For whatsoever hath the Church in keeping Is for the folk that ask it in God’s name, Not for one’s kindred or for something worse. The flesh of mortals is so very soft, That good beginnings down below suffice not From springing of the oak to bearing acorns. Peter began with neither gold nor silver, And I with orison and abstinence, And Francis with humility his convent. And if thou lookest at each one’s beginning, And then regardest whither he has run, Thou shalt behold the white changed into brown. In verity the Jordan backward turned, And the sea’s fleeing, when God willed were more A wonder to behold, than succour here.”
And therefore, ere thou enter farther in, Look down once more, and see how vast a world Thou hast already put beneath thy feet; So that thy heart, as jocund as it may, Present itself to the triumphant throng That comes rejoicing through this rounded ether.” I with my sight returned through one and all The sevenfold spheres, and I beheld this globe Such that I smiled at its ignoble semblance; And that opinion I approve as best Which doth account it least; and he who thinks Of something else may truly be called just. I saw the daughter of Latona shining Without that shadow, which to me was cause That once I had believed her rare and dense. The aspect of thy son, Hyperion, Here I sustained, and saw how move themselves Around and near him Maia and Dione. Thence there appeared the temperateness of Jove ’Twixt son and father, and to me was clear The change that of their whereabout they make; And all the seven made manifest to me How great they are, and eke how swift they are, And how they are in distant habitations. The threshing-floor that maketh us so proud, To me revolving with the eternal Twins, Was all apparent made from hill to harbour! Then to the beauteous eyes mine eyes I turned.
And through the living light transparent shone The lucent substance so intensely clear Into my sight, that I sustained it not. O Beatrice, thou gentle guide and dear! To me she said: “What overmasters thee A virtue is from which naught shields itself. There are the wisdom and the omnipotence That oped the thoroughfares ’twixt heaven and earth, For which there erst had been so long a yearning.” As fire from out a cloud unlocks itself, Dilating so it finds not room therein, And down, against its nature, falls to earth, So did my mind, among those aliments Becoming larger, issue from itself, And that which it became cannot remember. “Open thine eyes, and look at what I am: Thou hast beheld such things, that strong enough Hast thou become to tolerate my smile.” I was as one who still retains the feeling Of a forgotten vision, and endeavours In vain to bring it back into his mind, When I this invitation heard, deserving Of so much gratitude, it never fades Out of the book that chronicles the past. If at this moment sounded all the tongues That Polyhymnia and her sisters made Most lubrical with their delicious milk, To aid me, to a thousandth of the truth It would not reach, singing the holy smile And how the holy aspect it illumed.
And therefore, representing Paradise, The sacred poem must perforce leap over, Even as a man who finds his way cut off; But whoso thinketh of the ponderous theme, And of the mortal shoulder laden with it, Should blame it not, if under this it tremble. It is no passage for a little boat This which goes cleaving the audacious prow, Nor for a pilot who would spare himself. “Why doth my face so much enamour thee, That to the garden fair thou turnest not, Which under the rays of Christ is blossoming? There is the Rose in which the Word Divine Became incarnate; there the lilies are By whose perfume the good way was discovered.” Thus Beatrice; and I, who to her counsels Was wholly ready, once again betook me Unto the battle of the feeble brows. As in the sunshine, that unsullied streams Through fractured cloud, ere now a meadow of flowers Mine eyes with shadow covered o’er have seen, So troops of splendours manifold I saw Illumined from above with burning rays, Beholding not the source of the effulgence. O power benignant that dost so imprint them! Thou didst exalt thyself to give more scope There to mine eyes, that were not strong enough. The name of that fair flower I e’er invoke Morning and evening utterly enthralled My soul to gaze upon the greater fire.
And when in both mine eyes depicted were The glory and greatness of the living star Which there excelleth, as it here excelled, Athwart the heavens a little torch descended Formed in a circle like a coronal, And cinctured it, and whirled itself about it. Whatever melody most sweetly soundeth On earth, and to itself most draws the soul, Would seem a cloud that, rent asunder, thunders, Compared unto the sounding of that lyre Wherewith was crowned the sapphire beautiful, Which gives the clearest heaven its sapphire hue. “I am Angelic Love, that circle round The joy sublime which breathes from out the womb That was the hostelry of our Desire; And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while Thou followest thy Son, and mak’st diviner The sphere supreme, because thou enterest there.” Thus did the circulated melody Seal itself up; and all the other lights Were making to resound the name of Mary. The regal mantle of the volumes all Of that world, which most fervid is and living With breath of God and with his works and ways, Extended over us its inner border, So very distant, that the semblance of it There where I was not yet appeared to me. Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power Of following the incoronated flame, Which mounted upward near to its own seed.
And as a little child, that towards its mother Stretches its arms, when it the milk has taken, Through impulse kindled into outward flame, Each of those gleams of whiteness upward reached So with its summit, that the deep affection They had for Mary was revealed to me. Thereafter they remained there in my sight, ‘Regina coeli’ singing with such sweetness, That ne’er from me has the delight departed. O, what exuberance is garnered up Within those richest coffers, which had been Good husbandmen for sowing here below! There they enjoy and live upon the treasure Which was acquired while weeping in the exile Of Babylon, wherein the gold was left. There triumpheth, beneath the exalted Son Of God and Mary, in his victory, Both with the ancient council and the new, He who doth keep the keys of such a glory. Paradiso: Canto XXIV “O company elect to the great supper Of the Lamb benedight, who feedeth you So that for ever full is your desire, If by the grace of God this man foretaste Something of that which falleth from your table, Or ever death prescribe to him the time, Direct your mind to his immense desire, And him somewhat bedew; ye drinking are For ever at the fount whence comes his thought.” Thus Beatrice; and those souls beatified Transformed themselves to spheres on steadfast poles, Flaming intensely in the guise of comets.
And as the wheels in works of horologes Revolve so that the first to the beholder Motionless seems, and the last one to fly, So in like manner did those carols, dancing In different measure, of their affluence Give me the gauge, as they were swift or slow. From that one which I noted of most beauty Beheld I issue forth a fire so happy That none it left there of a greater brightness; And around Beatrice three several times It whirled itself with so divine a song, My fantasy repeats it not to me; Therefore the pen skips, and I write it not, Since our imagination for such folds, Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring. “O holy sister mine, who us implorest With such devotion, by thine ardent love Thou dost unbind me from that beautiful sphere!” Thereafter, having stopped, the blessed fire Unto my Lady did direct its breath, Which spake in fashion as I here have said. And she: “O light eterne of the great man To whom our Lord delivered up the keys He carried down of this miraculous joy, This one examine on points light and grave, As good beseemeth thee, about the Faith By means of which thou on the sea didst walk. If he love well, and hope well, and believe, From thee ’tis hid not; for thou hast thy sight There where depicted everything is seen.
That they exist there only in belief, Upon the which is founded the high hope, And hence it takes the nature of a substance. And it behoveth us from this belief To reason without having other sight, And hence it has the nature of evidence.” Then heard I: “If whatever is acquired Below by doctrine were thus understood, No sophist’s subtlety would there find place.” Thus was breathed forth from that enkindled love; Then added: “Very well has been gone over Already of this coin the alloy and weight; But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse?” And I: “Yes, both so shining and so round That in its stamp there is no peradventure.” Thereafter issued from the light profound That there resplendent was: “This precious jewel, Upon the which is every virtue founded, Whence hadst thou it?” And I: “The large outpouring Of Holy Spirit, which has been diffused Upon the ancient parchments and the new, A syllogism is, which proved it to me With such acuteness, that, compared therewith, All demonstration seems to me obtuse.” And then I heard: “The ancient and the new Postulates, that to thee are so conclusive, Why dost thou take them for the word divine?” And I: “The proofs, which show the truth to me, Are the works subsequent, whereunto Nature Ne’er heated iron yet, nor anvil beat.”
With other voice forthwith, with other fleece Poet will I return, and at my font Baptismal will I take the laurel crown; Because into the Faith that maketh known All souls to God there entered I, and then Peter for her sake thus my brow encircled. Thereafterward towards us moved a light Out of that band whence issued the first-fruits Which of his vicars Christ behind him left, And then my Lady, full of ecstasy, Said unto me: “Look, look! behold the Baron For whom below Galicia is frequented.” In the same way as, when a dove alights Near his companion, both of them pour forth, Circling about and murmuring, their affection, So one beheld I by the other grand Prince glorified to be with welcome greeted, Lauding the food that there above is eaten. But when their gratulations were complete, Silently ‘coram me’ each one stood still, So incandescent it o’ercame my sight. Smiling thereafterwards, said Beatrice: “Illustrious life, by whom the benefactions Of our Basilica have been described, Make Hope resound within this altitude; Thou knowest as oft thou dost personify it As Jesus to the three gave greater clearness.”— “Lift up thy head, and make thyself assured; For what comes hither from the mortal world Must needs be ripened in our radiance.” This comfort came to me from the second fire; Wherefore mine eyes I lifted to the hills, Which bent them down before with too great weight.
“Since, through his grace, our Emperor wills that thou Shouldst find thee face to face, before thy death, In the most secret chamber, with his Counts, So that, the truth beholden of this court, Hope, which below there rightfully enamours, Thereby thou strengthen in thyself and others, Say what it is, and how is flowering with it Thy mind, and say from whence it came to thee.” Thus did the second light again continue. And the Compassionate, who piloted The plumage of my wings in such high flight, Did in reply anticipate me thus: “No child whatever the Church Militant Of greater hope possesses, as is written In that Sun which irradiates all our band; Therefore it is conceded him from Egypt To come into Jerusalem to see, Or ever yet his warfare be completed. The two remaining points, that not for knowledge Have been demanded, but that he report How much this virtue unto thee is pleasing, To him I leave; for hard he will not find them, Nor of self-praise; and let him answer them; And may the grace of God in this assist him!” As a disciple, who his teacher follows, Ready and willing, where he is expert, That his proficiency may be displayed, “Hope,” said I, “is the certain expectation Of future glory, which is the effect Of grace divine and merit precedent.
From many stars this light comes unto me; But he instilled it first into my heart Who was chief singer unto the chief captain. ‘Sperent in te,’ in the high Theody He sayeth, ‘those who know thy name;’ and who Knoweth it not, if he my faith possess? Thou didst instil me, then, with his instilling In the Epistle, so that I am full, And upon others rain again your rain.” While I was speaking, in the living bosom Of that combustion quivered an effulgence, Sudden and frequent, in the guise of lightning; Then breathed: “The love wherewith I am inflamed Towards the virtue still which followed me Unto the palm and issue of the field, Wills that I breathe to thee that thou delight In her; and grateful to me is thy telling Whatever things Hope promises to thee.” And I: “The ancient Scriptures and the new The mark establish, and this shows it me, Of all the souls whom God hath made his friends. Isaiah saith, that each one garmented In his own land shall be with twofold garments, And his own land is this delightful life. Thy brother, too, far more explicitly, There where he treateth of the robes of white, This revelation manifests to us.” And first, and near the ending of these words, “Sperent in te” from over us was heard, To which responsive answered all the carols.
Thereafterward a light among them brightened, So that, if Cancer one such crystal had, Winter would have a month of one sole day. And as uprises, goes, and enters the dance A winsome maiden, only to do honour To the new bride, and not from any failing, Even thus did I behold the brightened splendour Approach the two, who in a wheel revolved As was beseeming to their ardent love. Into the song and music there it entered; And fixed on them my Lady kept her look, Even as a bride silent and motionless. “This is the one who lay upon the breast Of him our Pelican; and this is he To the great office from the cross elected.” My Lady thus; but therefore none the more Did move her sight from its attentive gaze Before or afterward these words of hers. Even as a man who gazes, and endeavours To see the eclipsing of the sun a little, And who, by seeing, sightless doth become, So I became before that latest fire, While it was said, “Why dost thou daze thyself To see a thing which here hath no existence? Earth in the earth my body is, and shall be With all the others there, until our number With the eternal proposition tallies. With the two garments in the blessed cloister Are the two lights alone that have ascended: And this shalt thou take back into your world.”
And at this utterance the flaming circle Grew quiet, with the dulcet intermingling Of sound that by the trinal breath was made, As to escape from danger or fatigue The oars that erst were in the water beaten Are all suspended at a whistle’s sound. Ah, how much in my mind was I disturbed, When I turned round to look on Beatrice, That her I could not see, although I was Close at her side and in the Happy World! Paradiso: Canto XXVI While I was doubting for my vision quenched, Out of the flame refulgent that had quenched it Issued a breathing, that attentive made me, Saying: “While thou recoverest the sense Of seeing which in me thou hast consumed, ’Tis well that speaking thou shouldst compensate it. Begin then, and declare to what thy soul Is aimed, and count it for a certainty, Sight is in thee bewildered and not dead; Because the Lady, who through this divine Region conducteth thee, has in her look The power the hand of Ananias had.” I said: “As pleaseth her, or soon or late Let the cure come to eyes that portals were When she with fire I ever burn with entered. The Good, that gives contentment to this Court, The Alpha and Omega is of all The writing that love reads me low or loud.”
The selfsame voice, that taken had from me The terror of the sudden dazzlement, To speak still farther put it in my thought; And said: “In verity with finer sieve Behoveth thee to sift; thee it behoveth To say who aimed thy bow at such a target.” And I: “By philosophic arguments, And by authority that hence descends, Such love must needs imprint itself in me; For Good, so far as good, when comprehended Doth straight enkindle love, and so much greater As more of goodness in itself it holds; Then to that Essence (whose is such advantage That every good which out of it is found Is nothing but a ray of its own light) More than elsewhither must the mind be moved Of every one, in loving, who discerns The truth in which this evidence is founded. Such truth he to my intellect reveals Who demonstrates to me the primal love Of all the sempiternal substances. The voice reveals it of the truthful Author, Who says to Moses, speaking of Himself, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before thee.’ Thou too revealest it to me, beginning The loud Evangel, that proclaims the secret Of heaven to earth above all other edict.” And I heard say: “By human intellect And by authority concordant with it, Of all thy loves reserve for God the highest.
But say again if other cords thou feelest, Draw thee towards Him, that thou mayst proclaim With how many teeth this love is biting thee.” The holy purpose of the Eagle of Christ Not latent was, nay, rather I perceived Whither he fain would my profession lead. Therefore I recommenced: “All of those bites Which have the power to turn the heart to God Unto my charity have been concurrent. The being of the world, and my own being, The death which He endured that I may live, And that which all the faithful hope, as I do, With the forementioned vivid consciousness Have drawn me from the sea of love perverse, And of the right have placed me on the shore. The leaves, wherewith embowered is all the garden Of the Eternal Gardener, do I love As much as he has granted them of good.” As soon as I had ceased, a song most sweet Throughout the heaven resounded, and my Lady Said with the others, “Holy, holy, holy!” And as at some keen light one wakes from sleep By reason of the visual spirit that runs Unto the splendour passed from coat to coat, And he who wakes abhorreth what he sees, So all unconscious is his sudden waking, Until the judgment cometh to his aid, So from before mine eyes did Beatrice Chase every mote with radiance of her own, That cast its light a thousand miles and more.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.