Paradiso Read online

  ‘Let the Ghibellines ply them, ply their tricks →

  beneath another standard, for he follows

  105

  this one poorly who severs it from justice.

  ‘And let not this new Charles strive to fell it →

  with his Guelphs, but let him fear its claws,

  108

  which have ripped the hides from greater lions. →

  ‘Many a time have children wept →

  for the father’s sin, and let him not think

  111

  that God will change His ensign for those lilies.

  ‘This little star is ornamented →

  with righteous spirits, those whose deeds were done

  114

  for the honor and the glory that would follow.

  ‘When such errant desires arise down there,

  then the rays of the one true love

  117

  must rise with less intensity.

  ‘But noting how our merit equals our reward →

  is part of our happiness,

  120

  because we see them being neither less nor more.

  ‘So much does living justice sweeten our affection →

  we cannot ever then take on

  123

  the warp of wickedness.

  ‘Differing voices make sweet music.

  Just so our differing ranks in this our life

  126

  create sweet harmony among these wheels.

  ‘Within this very pearl shines →

  the shining light of Romeo,

  129

  whose great and noble work was poorly paid.

  ‘But those of Provence who schemed against him →

  have not had the last laugh—he takes an evil road

  132

  to whom another’s good deed seems a wrong.

  ‘Raymond Berenger had four daughters,

  each of them a queen, and Romeo, a man →

  135

  of little standing and a stranger, made that happen.

  ‘And when malicious tongues moved Raymond

  to go over accounts with this just man, →

  138

  who had rendered him seven plus five for ten, →

  ‘Romeo left there, poor in his old age. →

  And, if the world knew the heart he had within

  when, crust by crust, he begged his bread,

  142

  much as it praises him, it would praise him more.’

  OUTLINE: PARADISO VII

  MERCURY

  1–3

  Justinian’s double-tongued canto opening

  4–6

  his “double light”

  7–9

  the dancing disappearance of the “Mercurians”

  10–12

  Dante’s question and eagerness to share it with Beatrice

  13–18

  he holds it back, yet she divines his thoughts

  19–24

  Beatrice reveals his question (“how can a just vendetta be justly punished?”) and prepares to answer

  (1) Beatrice’s response to Dante’s first question

  25–27

  Adam, not reining in his will, took us down with him

  28–33

  thus the human race was “infirm” until the Incarnation

  34–39

  the flesh of Christ was both pure (like new-made Adam’s) and, because flesh after original sin is what it is, impure in itself;

  40–45

  if one pays attention to Christ’s flesh as flesh, the pain of the Cross was justly felt,

  46–48

  thus a single act had diverse effects, pleasing God and the Jews (for different reasons), earthquake and the opening of heaven the differing signs

  49–51

  and thus let it no longer be difficult for you to acknowledge that a just vengeance (the killing of Jesus) was itself avenged justly (by Titus)

  (2) Dante’s second doubt and Beatrice’s response

  52–57

  I see you are again confused; what you want to know is “Why did God decide to save humankind by agency of the death of Jesus and not in some other way?”

  58–63

  This is hidden, brother, from those who have not been brought up in the flame of divine love

  64–78

  man’s privileged position in the universe

  79–81

  the Fall: man lost most of that privilege

  82–93

  only two ways to recover his position: (1) he himself had to repay or (2) God had to pardon him

  94–105

  since he had no means to accomplish the first of these, it remained to God to ransom him

  106–120

  the Incarnation and death of Jesus

  (3) Dante’s third doubt; Beatrice’s resolution of it

  121–123

  Anticipating a problem Dante may derive from her previous words, Beatrice resolves yet another doubt:

  124–129

  you say, “I see the four elements, and they, created by God, in fact die; they should not do so”;

  130–138

  angels and heavens fully formed by God

  139–141

  souls of beasts and plants drawn forth by the stars

  142–144

  but your life is breathed into you directly by God,

  145–148

  hence you are immortal (as are Adam and Eve).

  PARADISO VII

  ‘Osanna, sanctus Deus sabaoth, → → →

  superillustrans claritate tua

  3

  felices ignes horum malacoth!’— →

  thus, wheeling to the notes of his own melody, →

  I saw that being, in whom a double light

  6

  is twinned, caught up in song, →

  he and the others moving in their dance

  and, like the fastest-flying sparks, →

  9

  veiled from me by their sudden distance.

  I was in doubt, saying to myself, ‘Tell her, →

  tell her,’ saying to myself, ‘tell this to my lady,

  12

  who slakes my thirst with her sweet drops.’ →

  But the reverence that is mistress over me →

  at the mere sound of Be or ice →

  15

  bowed down my head, as when a man nods off.

  Not long did Beatrice leave me in this state

  before she spoke, shining with the rays of such a smile

  18

  as would content a man if he were set on fire: →

  ‘In my infallible opinion this idea, → →

  that just revenge itself perhaps deserves → →

  21

  just punishment, has set you thinking.

  ‘But I will quickly free your mind of doubt.

  Still, you must listen closely, for my words

  24

  shall set before you things of great importance.

  ‘By not enduring, for his own good, a rein →

  upon his will, that man who was not born, →

  27

  damning himself, damned all his offspring.

  ‘As a result, for centuries the human race →

  lay sick in an abyss of error →

  30

  until the Word of God chose to descend, →

  ‘uniting human nature, estranged now →

  from its Maker, with Himself in His own person

  33

  by a single act of His eternal Love.

  ‘Now direct your inner sight on what evolves from that. →

  This nature, united with its Maker,

  36

  was pure and good, even as it was when first created.

  ‘But through the fault of its own doing

  it was expelled from Eden

  39

  because it turned away from truth and life. →

  ‘If, then, the penalty ex
acted by the cross

  is measured by the nature He assumed,

  42

  no other ever stung so justly.

  ‘Yet it is also true that there was never done

  so great an outrage with regard to Him who suffered,

  45

  having taken on that nature.

  ‘From a single act, then, came diverse effects, →

  for the same death delighted God as well as Jews.

  48

  Because of it earth quaked and Heaven opened.

  ‘No longer, from now on, should it seem puzzling →

  when you hear it said that a just vengeance

  51

  was afterward avenged in a just court.

  ‘But now I see your mind entangled, → →

  by one thought and another in a knot

  54

  from which, eager, it waits to be untied:

  ‘You say, “I follow closely what I hear,

  but why God wanted this to be the very way

  57

  for our redemption is obscure to me.” →

  ‘The reason for this decree, brother, lies buried,

  hidden from the eyes of all

  60

  whose minds have not been ripened in the flame of love.

  ‘Nonetheless, since so many strive to hit this mark,

  while so few can even see it, I shall explain

  63

  why this was the most fitting choice.

  ‘Spurning any kind of envy, Divine Goodness, → →

  burning within, so sparkles

  66

  that it unfolds Eternal Beauty.

  ‘That which, unmediated, derives from it →

  is thus without an end, because its imprint, →

  69

  once stamped, can never wear away.

  ‘That which, unmediated, rains down from it

  is wholly free, because it is not subject

  72

  to the influence of things more recent, →

  ‘is more like that Goodness and thus more pleases Him.

  The holy ardor that irradiates all things

  75

  shines brightest in what most resembles it.

  ‘In all these gifts the human creature

  is advantaged, but, if a single gift is lacking,

  78

  he must fall from his exalted state.

  ‘Sin alone is what enslaves him,

  making him unlike the highest good

  81

  so that he is illumined by its light but little,

  ‘never returning to his privilege

  unless he fills the void created by his fault

  84

  with penalties fit for his sinful pleasure.

  ‘Your nature, when it sinned in toto →

  in its seed, was separated

  87

  from these privileges and from its Eden.

  ‘Nor could they be recovered—

  if you consider closely—by any other recourse

  90

  except to ford one of these crossings:

  ‘either that God, in His own clemency,

  had pardoned, or that man, of himself,

  93

  had given satisfaction for his foolish pride.

  ‘Now fix your eyes deep in the abyss

  of the everlasting will of God

  96

  and give your strict attention to my words.

  ‘With his limitations, man could never offer →

  satisfaction, for he could not descend as deep

  99

  into humility, by latter-day obedience,

  ‘as, by disobeying, he had thought to rise.

  And this is the reason for which he was denied

  102

  the power of giving satisfaction on his own.

  ‘Thus it was necessary that God in His own ways →

  restore man to the fullness of his life—

  105

  by the one way, that is, or by both of them.

  ‘But since the deed more gratifies the doer

  the more it shows the goodness

  108

  of the heart from which it springs,

  ‘divine goodness, which puts its imprint

  on the world, was pleased to proceed

  111

  in both its ways to raise you up again.

  ‘Nor between the last night and the first day →

  was, or will there be, a deed performed—in the first way

  114

  or the second—so sublime or generous.

  ‘More bountiful was God when He gave Himself,

  enabling man to rise again, than if,

  117

  in His sole clemency, he had simply pardoned.

  ‘All other means fell short of justice

  save that the Son of God

  120

  should humble Himself by becoming flesh.

  ‘Now, to satisfy each of your desires,

  I go back to clarify one point,

  123

  that you may understand it just as I do.

  ‘You say: “I see water, I see fire, air, → →

  and earth—and all their combinations—

  126

  become corrupted, lasting only briefly.

  ‘ “And yet these things were created,

  so that, if what was said is true,

  129

  they should be proof against corruption.”

  ‘The angels, brother, and this pure country

  where you are may be said to have been created

  132

  just as they are and in their entire being,

  ‘but those elements that have been named

  and those other things made from them

  135

  take their form from a created power.

  ‘Created was the matter that is in them,

  created, the informing power

  138

  in these stars that wheel about them.

  ‘The soul of every beast and every plant →

  is drawn from a complex of potentials

  141

  by the shining and the motion of the holy lights.

  ‘But supreme goodness breathes life in you,

  unmediated, and He so enamors your soul

  144

  of Himself that it desires Him forever after.

  ‘From this you may, in consequence, deduce →

  your resurrection, if you but recall

  how then your flesh was made

  148

  in the making of the first two parents.’

  OUTLINE: PARADISO VIII

  VENUS

  1–12

  Venereal preamble: what the ancient pagans used to believe about this planet (“veneral trinity”); Dido

  13–15

  the ascent to Venus accomplished without awareness

  16–21

  double simile: as a spark within a flame and as one voice is distinguished from another because it varies its note, so the lights of souls stood out from the light of Venus

  22–27

  pseudo-simile: lightning or windstorm, to one who had seen these movements, would seem slow compared to them;

  28–30

  those in front sing “Osanna” (the first song of the canto)

  31–32

  one of the saved [Charles Martel] approaches to speak:

  33–39

  “We revolve here with the order of angels known as ‘Principalities,’ to whom you once referred as ‘Thrones’

  40–42

  Dante looks reverently at Beatrice; with her permission

  43–48

  he turns his eyes back to Charles: “Who are you?”

  49–84

  Charles’s story:

  49–51

  I died young (twenty-four years old in 1295), and this will cause the world more woe than had I not

  52–54

  the joy th
at swathes me makes me like a silkworm

  55–57

  you (Dante) loved me much; had I lived, you would have enjoyed the rewards of that love

  58–75

  the realms deprived of his guidance by his death: Provence, the kingdom of Naples, Hungary

  76–84

  Charles castigates his brother Robert’s future rule

  85–90

  Dante takes joy in seeing his joy seen by Charles in God

  91–93

  Dante continues by wondering, on the basis of vv. 82–83, how a good father can have a bad son

  94–96

  Charles agrees to deal with Dante’s quandary:

  97–111

  “God’s providence is present in the heavenly bodies”

  112–114

  Charles: “is that clear?” Dante: “Yes”

  115–135

  Charles continues: “humans have diverse dispositions, as [Aristotle] says (thus Solon, Xerxes, Melchizedek, [Daedalus], [Icarus]); but Nature does not favor one family over another: Esau, Jacob; Romulus”;

  136–138

  Charles now offers a corollary as a “cloak”:

  139–148

  the world should not insist on forcing humans to take on roles that do not fit their natures.

  PARADISO VIII

  To its own cost, there was a time the world believed →

  that the fair Cyprian beamed rays of maddened love, →

  3

  revolving in the wheel of the third epicycle, →

  so that the ancient peoples in their ancient error →

  not only did her honor

  6

  with sacrifice and votive cry

  but honored Dïone, and Cupid too, →

  one as her mother, the other as her son,

  9

  and told how once he sat in Dido’s lap. →

  And from her with whom I here begin they took →

  the name of the star that is wooed by the sun,