Paradiso Read online

but for love of the true manna,

  ‘he soon became a teacher so renowned

  that he began to travel through the vineyard,

  87

  which quickly withers if the keeper is corrupt. →

  ‘And to the papal seat, not now as benevolent → →

  to the upright poor as it was once—not flawed in itself,

  90

  but degenerate in its occupant—he made appeal,

  ‘not to give away just two or three instead of six, →

  not for his chance at the first vacancy,

  93

  not for the decimas, quae sunt pauperum Dei, →

  ‘but for the privilege of fighting

  against the errors of the world, thus to preserve the seed →

  96

  of the twenty-four plants now wreathing you in light. →

  ‘Then, both with learning and with zeal, →

  secure in apostolic office, he went forth, →

  99

  like a torrent gushing from its lofty source,

  ‘and fell upon the tangled weeds of heresy,

  attacking with his overwhelming force →

  102

  wherever the resistance was most stubborn.

  ‘From him there sprang still other streams →

  from which the Catholic garden draws its moisture,

  105

  so that its saplings grow with greater vigor.

  ‘If such was one of the wheels of the chariot →

  used by Holy Church in self-defense

  108

  to overcome the rebels in the field,

  ‘surely the excellence of that other’

  about whom Thomas spoke so courteously

  111

  before I came, must be well known to you.

  ‘But the track left by the outer rim →

  of its circumference is abandoned,

  114

  so that where once was crust, there now is mold. →

  ‘His family, which started out setting their feet →

  upon his footprints, is now turned backward,

  117

  setting their toes where once they placed their heels. →

  ‘Soon that harvest of bad tillage →

  shall occur, when the tares complain

  120

  that the barn is shut against them.

  ‘I readily admit that, should one search our volume

  leaf by leaf, one still could find some pages →

  123

  where one might read, “What once I was, I am.”

  ‘But these will not come from Casale or Acquasparta, →

  for those from there come to the Rule →

  126

  either to flee it or constrict it further.

  ‘I am the living soul of Bonaventura → →

  from Bagnoregio, who in great office

  129

  ever put last the left-hand care. →

  ‘Here are Illuminato and Augustine, →

  among the first brothers barefoot in poverty,

  132

  who, with the cord, became God’s friends. →

  ‘Here with them is Hugh of St. Victor, →

  Peter the Bookworm, and Peter the Spaniard— → →

  135

  who casts light from his twelve books below,

  ‘Nathan the prophet, Chrysostom → →

  the Metropolitan, Anselm, and that Donatus → →

  138

  who, to the first art, deigned to set his hand.

  ‘Rabanus is here and, shining at my side, →

  abbot Joachim of Calabria, →

  141

  who was endowed with prophetic spirit.

  ‘To sing the praises of so great a champion →

  the ardent courtesy and fitting discourse → →

  of Brother Thomas has inspired me →

  145

  and did the same to my companions.’

  OUTLINE: PARADISO XIII

  THE SUN

  1–24

  the reader is asked to imagine the two circles of souls as belonging to a new constellation, comprised of fifteen stars of the first magnitude, seven from the Great Bear, and two from the Little Bear, that whirls around Dante in the shape of Ariadne’s crown

  25–30

  the souls all sing praises, not of Bacchus nor Apollo, but of the Trinity

  31–36

  Thomas resumes his role as narrator, turning to Dante’s second question:

  37–51

  Thomas says that Dante thinks Thomas has said that Solomon is of superior mind to Adam (Eve was his rib) and to Jesus

  52–87

  Thomas clarifies: (1) Adam and Christ indeed have superior natures because they were made by God directly;

  88–111

  (2) among other mortals, he was discussing only kings, and of these Solomon is the wisest because he asked for wisdom

  112–123

  thus, be slow in coming to judgment, being sure to make necessary distinctions, avoiding erroneous opinions,

  124–129

  unlike Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson; Sabellius, Arius,

  130–142

  and withhold judgment until you really have good grounds, unlike most people, who are fools like Bertha and Martin.

  PARADISO XIII

  Let him, who would fully understand → →

  what I now saw, imagine—and let him, while I speak, →

  3

  hold that image, steady as a rock—

  fifteen stars that light up various regions

  of the sky, and with such brightness

  6

  as to overcome the intervening haze.

  Let him imagine the Wain, nestling →

  in the bosom of our sky both night and day

  9

  so that its wheeling shaft is never out of sight.

  Let him imagine the mouth of that horn →

  descending from the axle’s endpoint

  12

  around which the first wheel revolves,

  and all these seen together to have formed, up in the sky, →

  a double constellation, like the ring once formed

  15

  of Minos’ daughter when she felt the chill of death,

  the rays of one reflected in the other, →

  with both revolving in such manner

  18

  that one went first and then the other followed.

  Then he will have, as it were, the shadow →

  of the true constellation and the double dance

  21

  that wheeled around the point where I now was,

  for it is as far beyond our understanding →

  as the speed of the heaven that exceeds all others

  24

  outstrips the muddy stirrings of the Chiana.

  There they sang the praises not of Bacchus nor of Paean →

  but praised the divine nature in three Persons,

  27

  and in one Person sang that nature joined with man.

  Having done the measure of their song and circling dance, →

  these holy lights turned toward us,

  30

  rejoicing as they passed from task to task.

  The silence among those holy souls in harmony → →

  was broken by the light that had told me

  33

  the wondrous life of the poor man of God.

  He said: ‘Now that one sheaf is threshed →

  and its grain now gathered,

  36

  sweet charity bids me thresh the other.

  ‘You believe that, into the side from which → →

  the rib was drawn to form the lovely features

  39

  of her whose palate costs the world so dear,

  ‘and into His, pierced by the spear, which gave →

  such satisfaction for sins, both done or yet to be,

  42


  as outweighs any fault found in the balance,

  ‘all the light that is allowed to human nature →

  was infused by the very Power

  45

  which made the one and made the other.

  ‘And thus you marvel at what I said before,

  when I told you that the goodness

  48

  contained in the fifth light never had an equal.

  ‘Open your eyes to the answer I shall give →

  and you shall find your thoughts and what I say →

  51

  meet at the truth as in the center of a circle.

  ‘That which does not die and that which must → →

  are nothing but a bright reflection of that Idea →

  54

  which our Lord, in loving, brings to birth.

  ‘For that living Light, which so streams forth →

  from its shining Source that it neither parts from it

  57

  nor from the Love that is intrined with them, →

  ‘of its own goodness gathers its own shining,

  as though it were a mirror, in nine subsistences, →

  60

  and yet eternally endures as one. →

  ‘From that height light descends to the lowest elements, →

  passing down from act to act, becoming such

  63

  that it produces nothing more than brief contingencies.

  ‘By these contingent things I mean

  things generated, with seed or without,

  66

  produced by the movements of the heavens.

  ‘Their wax and that which molds it vary so →

  that, beneath the Idea’s imprint,

  69

  light shines in varying degrees.

  ‘And so it happens that trees of the very same kind

  bear fruit, some of it better and some of it worse,

  72

  and that you are born with differing talents.

  ‘If the wax were perfectly prepared

  and the heaven at the height of its power,

  75

  in all its brightness would the seal be seen.

  ‘But nature always fashions it defective,

  working like the craftsman who, to the practice →

  78

  of his craft, brings an unsteady hand.

  ‘However, if the clear vision of the primal Power →

  is moved by burning Love and makes of that its seal,

  81

  then all perfection is attained in it.

  ‘In that way was the dust made ready to receive—

  once—perfection in a living creature,

  84

  in that way was the Virgin made to be with child.

  ‘Thus do I agree with your opinion

  that human nature never was—nor shall it be—

  87

  what it was in these two creatures.

  ‘Now, if I went no farther, →

  “How, then, was that other without equal?”

  90

  would be the first words from your mouth.

  ‘But, to make quite clear what still remains obscure,

  think who he was and what it was that moved him

  93

  to his request when he was bidden “Ask.”

  ‘I did not speak so darkly that you cannot see

  he was a king and asked for wisdom

  96

  that he might become a worthy king.

  ‘He did not ask to know the number of the angels → →

  here above, nor if necesse →

  99

  with a contingent ever made necesse,

  ‘nor si est dare primum motum esse, →

  nor if in a semicircle a triangle can be formed →

  102

  without its having one right angle.

  ‘Therefore, if you reflect on this and what I said, →

  kingly prudence is that peerless vision

  105

  on which the arrow of my purpose strikes.

  ‘And if you examine my use of “rose” with open eyes, →

  you will see that it referred alone to kings—

  108

  of whom there are so many, but the good ones rare.

  ‘Take my words, along with this distinction, →

  and they can stand alongside your beliefs

  111

  concerning the first father and the One we love.

  ‘And let this always be as lead upon your feet → →

  to make you slow, just like a weary man, in moving,

  114

  whether to yes or no, unless you see both clearly.

  ‘For he ranks low among the fools →

  who, without making clear distinctions,

  117

  affirms or denies in one case or another,

  ‘since it often happens that a hasty opinion

  inclines one to the erring side, and then

  120

  fondness for it fetters the working of the mind.

  ‘He who casts off from shore to fish for truth → →

  without the necessary skill does not return the same

  123

  as he sets out, but worse, and all in vain.

  ‘Clear proof of this was given to the world

  by Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson, and others, →

  126

  who went to sea without a port in mind.

  ‘Such were Sabellius and Arius and the fools →

  who misread Scripture as a sword reflecting →

  129

  the distorted image of a face upon its blade.

  ‘Let the people, then, not be too certain →

  in their judgments, like those that harvest in their minds

  132

  corn still in the field before it ripens.

  ‘For I have seen the briar first look dry and thorny →

  right through all the winter’s cold,

  135

  then later wear the bloom of roses at its tip, →

  ‘and once I saw a ship, which had sailed straight →

  and swift upon the sea through all its voyage,

  138

  sinking at the end as it made its way to port.

  ‘Let not Dame Bertha and Master Martin, →

  when they see one steal and another offer alms, →

  think that they behold them with God’s wisdom,

  142

  for the first may still rise up, the other fall.’ →

  OUTLINE: PARADISO XIV

  THE SUN; MARS

  1–9

  the canto begins with an “implicit simile”: water in a bowl that moves in waves from outer rim to center (or the obverse) and Thomas’s voice at “perimeter” (and Beatrice’s at “center”) of the circle made by theologians

  10–18

  Beatrice intuits Dante’s two questions: (1) Will the bodies of the saints shine eternally? (2) If so, how will onlookers’ eyes endure so brilliant a light?

  19–24

  simile (2): as dancers in a circle become more excited in their singing and gestures as the dance continues, so did the holy circle react to Dante’s question

  25–27

  and no one witnessing this could lament its price, death

  28–33

  this trinitarian sphere (of the Sun—see Par. X.1f.) is thrice marked again by the souls’ trinitarian song.

  34–36

  The voice of the most divine member of the inner circle [Solomon] is compared to the voice of [Gabriel] to Mary:

  37–42

  [Solomon]: “our brightness corresponds to our ardor, our ardor to our power of sight, and that power to our grace

  43–45

  “once we are in flesh again, we will be more acceptable to God for being more complete

  46–51

  “when this is true, God’s gift of grace will be increased as must our vision of Him, as must the ardor
of our love, as must the brightness of our light

  52–57

  [simile (3)] “a glowing coal seen within the flame that it produces resembles the glowing body that will be added to the shining presences of these souls

  58–60

  “our bodily organs will be strong enough to sustain the sight of the glorified body.”

  61–66

  The two circles of saints make Solomon’s prayer their own

  67–69

  simile (4): the main “event,” the third circle of lights

  70–75

  simile (5): evening stars compared to newly visible souls

  76–78

  the poet’s apostrophe: true sparkling of the Holy Spirit!

  79–81

  Beatrice’s smiling beauty too affecting to be remembered

  82–87

  the ascent to Mars, the smiling, reddening star

  88–96

  Dante’s prayer of thanksgiving to God; the star’s warm reaction; Dante’s mixed-language response

  97–102

  simile (6): Milky Way seen as cross of crusading saints

  103–108

  the poet remembers the moment but cannot express it

  109–117

  simile (7): souls moving along the limbs of the cross and motes in rays of sunlight passing through slats of shades

  118–123

  simile (8): harmonies (not melody) of bowed instruments and harps compared to melody sung from cross (not words)

  124–129

  Dante heard “Risurgi” and “Vinci” but not the rest and is moved to love more than he has ever been before

  130–132

  perhaps that goes too far for seeming to slight Beatrice

  133–139

  the poet’s complicated self-exculpation.

  PARADISO XIV

  From center to rim, as from rim to center, →

  the water in a rounded vessel moves