Paradiso Read online

Dante wants to know who this spirit is and why he possesses this degree of beatitude

  130–132

  the “light” grows brighter at this request

  133–139

  simile: as the sun hides itself in its own light once its “vapors” burn away, this soul hid himself in his.

  PARADISO V

  ‘If I flame at you with a heat of love → → → →

  beyond all measure known on earth

  3

  so that I overcome your power of sight,

  ‘do not wonder, for this is the result

  of perfect vision, which, even as it apprehends,

  6

  moves its foot toward the apprehended good. →

  ‘I see clearly how, reflected in your mind, →

  the eternal light that, once beheld,

  9

  alone and always kindles love, is shining.

  ‘And, if anything else beguiles your mortal love, →

  it is nothing but a remnant of that light, which, →

  12

  incompletely understood, still shines in it.

  ‘You want to know if a vow left unfulfilled →

  may be redeemed by some exchange

  15

  that then secures the soul from challenge.’

  Thus did Beatrice begin this canto and, →

  like a man who does not interrupt his speech,

  18

  continued thus her holy discourse:

  ‘The greatest gift that God in His largesse →

  gave to creation, the most attuned

  21

  to His goodness and that He accounts most dear,

  ‘was the freedom of the will:

  all creatures possessed of intellect, →

  24

  all of them and they alone, were and are so endowed.

  ‘Now will be clear to you, reasoning from this, →

  the lofty worth of vows, as long as they are such

  27

  that God consent when you consent.

  ‘For when man makes a pact with God,

  this treasure, as I have suggested, then becomes

  30

  the sacrificial pledge, an action freely chosen.

  ‘What, then, may you render in its place?

  If you think of doing good with what you’ve offered,

  33

  you would do good works with gains ill-gotten.

  ‘Now you may be certain of the major point. →

  Since Holy Church gives dispensations in this matter—

  36

  which seems to contradict the truth I have declared—

  ‘you’ll have to linger longer over dinner,

  for the tough food that you have swallowed

  39

  still requires some aid for your digesting.

  ‘Open your mind to what I now explain

  and fix it in your memory, for to hear

  42

  and not remember does not lead to knowledge.

  ‘Two things compose the essence → →

  of this sacrificial act,

  45

  first that which is promised, then the pact itself.

  ‘This pact can never be annulled →

  until it is fulfilled. It was of this

  48

  I spoke just now with such precision.

  ‘Thus it was incumbent on the Hebrews →

  still to offer sacrifice, even if some offerings

  51

  allowed for substitution, as surely you must know. →

  ‘The first part, as has been explained, is the object →

  of the vow. It may indeed be such there is no fault

  54

  in substituting other objects for it.

  ‘But let no man shift the burden on his shoulders

  at the call of his own will, for such change requires

  57

  that both the white and yellow keys be turned. →

  ‘Let each exchange be reckoned vain

  unless the burden laid aside is found,

  60

  as four is found in six, in the one assumed.

  ‘Whatever, therefore, has such worth

  as would unbalance any scale

  63

  shall not be replaced, no matter what the cost.

  ‘Let not mortals take vows lightly. → →

  Be faithful and, as well, not injudicious,

  66

  as was Jephthah, offering up what first he saw, →

  ‘who had done better had he said “I have done ill”

  than keeping faith and doing worse. And you can find

  69

  this sort of folly in the leader of the Greeks,

  ‘who made Iphigenia lament the beauty of her face →

  and who made all those, whether wise or foolish,

  72

  who heard reports of such a rite lament as well.

  ‘Be more grave, Christians, in your endeavors. →

  Do not resemble feathers in the wind, nor think →

  75

  that any sort of water has the power to wash you clean.

  ‘You have the Testaments, both New and Old, →

  and the shepherd of the Church to guide you.

  78

  Let these suffice for your salvation.

  ‘If wicked greed should call you elsewhere, →

  be men, not maddened sheep, lest the Jew

  81

  there in your midst make mock of you. →

  ‘Be not like the lamb that leaves

  its mother’s milk and, silly and wanton,

  84

  pretends to battle with itself in play.’

  Just as I am writing, thus did Beatrice speak. →

  And then, still filled with longing, she turned

  87

  to where the universe shines brightest. →

  Her falling silent and her transformed look →

  imposed a silence on my eager mind,

  90

  which was already teeming with new questions. →

  And next, like a shaft that strikes its target

  before the cord is still,

  93

  we sped into the second realm.

  There I saw my lady so radiant with joy →

  as she passed into that heaven’s brightness

  96

  that the planet shone the brighter for it.

  And if even that star then changed and smiled,

  what did I become who by my very nature

  99

  am subject to each and every kind of change?

  As to the surface of a fishpond, calm and clear, →

  the fish draw close to what they see above them,

  102

  believing it to be their food,

  so I saw more than a thousand splendors

  drawing toward us, and from each was heard:

  105

  ‘Oh, here is one who will increase our loves!’ →

  And as these shades approached,

  each one of them seemed filled with joy, →

  108

  so brilliant was the light that shone from them.

  Merely consider, reader, if what I here begin →

  went on no farther, how keen would be

  111

  your anguished craving to know more.

  But you shall see for yourself what great desire

  I felt to hear about their state from them

  114

  as soon as they appeared to me.

  ‘O spirit born for bliss, whom grace allows →

  to see the thrones of the eternal triumph →

  117

  before you leave the battlefield,

  ‘we are on fire with the light that fills all Heaven. →

  And so, if you would like us to enlighten you,

  120

  content yourself as you desire.’

  This came to me from one of those good spiri
ts.

  And Beatrice began: ‘Speak, speak with confidence, →

  123

  having faith in them as you would trust in gods.’

  ‘I clearly see you nest in your own light, →

  and that you flash it from your eyes,

  126

  because it sparkles when you smile.

  ‘But I know not who you are, nor why, →

  worthy soul, you take your rank here from the sphere

  129

  most veiled from mortals in another’s rays,’ →

  I said, addressing myself to the radiance →

  that had been first to speak,

  132

  which then became more brilliant than before.

  As the sun, once its heat has gnawed away

  the dense and tempering vapors,

  135

  hides itself in its own excess of light,

  so, with increasing joy, the holy form

  concealed itself from me within its rays

  and, thus concealed, it made response →

  139

  in the very manner that the next song sings.

  OUTLINE: PARADISO VI

  MERCURY

  1–27

  Justinian answers Dante’s first question: his involvement in the Empire; his identity; his former heresy; Belisarius; his inspired reform of Roman law

  28–33

  Giustinian justifies what will follow (vv. 34–96), a history of Rome, by saying that it will explain the failures of both Guelphs and Ghibellines:

  34–36

  death of Pallas: the Eagle “takes flight”

  37–39

  from Ascanius to the Horatii and Curiatii

  40–42

  from Romulus to Tarquin (rapes of Sabines and Lucrece)

  43–54

  the republican period and its military triumphs

  55–96

  empire [Benvenuto da Imola’s list:

  55–72 (1) Julius Caesar Julius

  73–81 (2) Augustus Augustus

  82–90 (3) Tiberius [!] Trajan

  91–93 (4) Titus [!] Constantine

  (5) Justinian Justinian

  94–96 (6) Charlemagne Theodosius Charlemagne]

  97–111

  Justinian returns to Guelphs and Ghibellines:

  97–102

  it is they who cause Italy’s unhappiness

  103–105

  Ghibellines remove justice from the ensign

  106–111

  but let not Charles II oppose it with his Guelphs

  112–126

  Response to Dante’s second question: the spirits here

  112–117

  seekers of honor and fame fell short in charity,

  118–123

  but they now may rejoice as though they had not

  124–126

  the heavenly polyphony made by their lesser merit

  127–142

  Romeo di Villanova:

  127–132

  his worthiness and Provençal envy

  133–138

  Raimondo’s four daughters queens; his gratitude?

  139–142

  Romeo’s graceful, Dante-like exile.

  PARADISO VI

  ‘Once Constantine reversed the eagle’s flight, → →

  counter to the course of heaven it had followed →

  3

  behind that ancient who took Lavinia to wife,

  ‘for two hundred years and more the bird of God → →

  remained at Europe’s borders,

  6

  near the mountains from which it first came forth.

  ‘There it ruled the world beneath the shadow →

  of its sacred wings, passing from hand to hand →

  9

  and, changing in this way, at last came into mine.

  ‘Caesar I was and am Justinian, →

  who, by will of the Primal Love I feel, →

  12

  pruned from the laws what was superfluous and vain.

  ‘Before I had set my mind to that hard task →

  I believed Christ had but a single nature,

  15

  and not a second, and was content in that belief.

  ‘But the blessèd Agapetus,

  the most exalted of our shepherds,

  18

  brought me to the true faith with his words.

  ‘I believed him. What he held by faith →

  I now see just as clearly as you understand

  21

  that any contradiction is both false and true.

  ‘As soon as my footsteps moved at the Church’s side, →

  it pleased God, in His grace, to grant me inspiration

  24

  in the noble task to which I wholly gave myself,

  ‘entrusting my weapons to Belisarius, →

  with whom Heaven’s right hand was so conjoined

  27

  it was a sign for me to give them up.

  ‘Here, then, ends my reply to your first question,

  but its nature still constrains me

  30

  to follow up with something further →

  ‘so that you may consider if with reason some rebel →

  against that sacred standard, both those opposed

  33

  and those who take it as their own.

  ‘Consider how much valor has made it worthy → →

  of reverence, beginning with the hour →

  36

  when Pallas gave his life to give it sway.

  ‘You know it made its home in Alba →

  for three hundred years and more until, at last,

  39

  again for its sake, three made war on three.

  ‘And you know what it accomplished under seven kings, →

  from the wrongs done Sabine women to Lucretia’s woes,

  42

  conquering the nearby people all around.

  ‘You know what it accomplished when it was held aloft →

  by the noble Romans against Brennus, against Pyrrhus,

  45

  against the other kingdoms and republics, →

  ‘so that Torquatus, Quintius—named →

  for his unkempt locks—the Decii, the Fabii: →

  48

  all achieved the fame that I am glad to keep. →

  ‘It brought the pride of Arabs low →

  when they followed Hannibal along the Alpine crags

  51

  from which, O river Po, you fall.

  ‘Under it triumphed youthful Scipio and Pompey, →

  and to that hill beneath which you were born

  54

  it seemed indeed a bitter sight. →

  ‘Then, as the time approached when Heaven willed → →

  to bring the world to its own state of peace,

  57

  Caesar, by the will of Rome, laid hold on it.

  ‘And what it accomplished, from the Var to the Rhine,

  the Isère and the Loire and the Seine beheld,

  60

  as did all the valleys that supply the Rhone.

  ‘What it accomplished when it issued from Ravenna →

  and leapt the Rubicon was such a flight

  63

  that neither tongue nor pen could follow it.

  ‘Toward Spain it wheeled in arms,

  then toward Durazzo, and smote Pharsalia, →

  66

  thus bringing grief to the tepid waters of the Nile.

  ‘Antandros and the Simois, where it had set out,

  it saw again, and the place where Hector lies.

  69

  Then it roused itself—at Ptolemy’s expense. →

  ‘From there, like lightning, it fell on Juba,

  then turned toward the region to your west,

  72

  where it heard the sound of Pompey’s trumpet.

  ‘For what it wrought with the one who bore it n
ext →

  Brutus and Cassius bark in Hell, →

  75

  and both Modena and Perugia were aggrieved. →

  ‘Wretched Cleopatra still weeps because of it. →

  She, fleeing before its advancing front,

  78

  took from the asp her quick and baleful death.

  ‘With him it raced to the shore of the Red Sea. →

  With him it brought the world such peace →

  81

  that the doors of Janus’s shrine were locked. →

  ‘But what the standard that promotes my speech →

  had done before and had yet to do

  84

  in the mortal realm where it holds sway

  ‘comes to seem both small and dim

  if we observe it, with clear eyes and pure affection,

  87

  when it was held in the third Caesar’s hand.

  ‘For the living justice that inspires me → →

  allowed it, in the hand of him of whom I speak,

  90

  the glory of the vengeance for His wrath.

  ‘And now marvel at what I unfold for you:

  Afterward it raced with Titus, doing vengeance →

  93

  upon the vengeance for the ancient sin.

  ‘Then, beneath its wings, →

  when Lombard tooth bit Holy Church,

  96

  Charlemagne, in victory, gave her comfort.

  ‘Now you may judge such men as I accused before → →

  and consider their offenses,

  99

  the very cause of all your ills.

  ‘One sets against the universal standard →

  yellow lilies, while the other claims it for a party,

  102

  so that it’s hard to see which one offends the more.