Paradiso (The Divine Comedy series Book 3)
Page 20
shall be equal to the eternal purpose.
‘With the two robes in the blessèd cloister →
are the two lights alone who have ascended,
129
and let this be the news you bring back to your world.’
At these words, the fiery dance was ended, →
together with the sweetly mingled notes →
132
that issued from the blended threefold breath,
just as, to avoid fatigue or danger,
oars until that moment driven through the water
135
stop all at once when the whistle sounds.
Ah, how troubled was my mind →
when I looked back for Beatrice
and could not see her, even though I was
139
so near to her and in that happy world!
OUTLINE: PARADISO XXVI
STARRY SPHERE
1–6
Dante, blinded, hears the voice of John as a breath, posing his first question: “What is your soul’s goal?”
7–12
and then offering his reassurance: Beatrice his Ananias;
13–18
Dante answers (1): “the good that makes you happy”;
19–24
John’s second question: “Who made you aim at that target?”
25–27
Dante answers (2): “rational examination and authority”;
28–36
reason: the greater good draws the greater love:
37–39
[Aristotle]: love as the cause of all celestial movement;
40–45
authority: John himself revealed God in the Bible;
46–48
John summarizes and accepts Dante’s answer
49–51
John’s third question: “But what are the cords that draw you? the teeth that bite you?”
52–54
John’s intention is clear (he wants Dante to tell of the role of love in leading him to understanding):
55–66
Dante answers (3): the “bites” are Creation, Redemption, and promise of eternal Glory—these have “drawn” him from the sea of perverse love to the shore of good love;
67–69
the blessed (the host, not only the apostles) and Beatrice sing the “Sanctus”—in Italian;
70–78
simile: a man, awakened from sleep by a light, who does not know what he is looking at until he can decipher it: just so were Dante’s eyes cleared by Beatrice’s;
79–81
Dante’s stupefaction at the presence of a fourth light;
82–84
Beatrice: “This is Adam”;
85–90
simile: as the tip of a tree bent down by wind snaps back on its own, so Dante, silenced by her words, now wants to speak:
91–96
Dante addresses Adam as God’s direct creation and as the father of humankind;
97–102
simile: cloth covering an animal reveals its feelings, as Adam’s inner gladness was visible within his glowing form
103–108
Adam: I read your thoughts in God, the mirror that reflects all things, while nothing can mirror it
109–142
Adam states and then answers Dante’s four questions:
109–114
(1) how long has it been since God put him in Eden? (2) how long did he stay there? (3) what was the reason for God’s anger? (4) what were the languages (a) that he used and (b) that he made?
the answers:
115–117
(3) not the eating itself, but the transgression;
118–123
(1) 930 years on earth, 4,302 years in Limbo;
124–138
(4) the language he spoke was extinct before Nimrod’s attempt to build Babel; language is mortal;
139–142
(2) he lived in Eden, sinless, then guilty, into the seventh hour after he was created.
PARADISO XXVI
While I was still bewildered at my loss of sight, →
from the resplendent flame that blinded me
3
there breathed a voice that caught my ear: →
‘Until you have regained the sight
you have consumed on me, you will do well →
6
to make good for its loss with speech. →
‘Begin, and tell what goal your soul has set.
And be assured your power of sight
9
is but confounded, not forever lost, → →
‘for the lady who guides you through
this holy place possesses in her glance
12
the power the hand of Ananias had.’
And I said: ‘As soon or as late as she wishes, →
may the cure come to eyes that were the portals
15
she entered with the fire in which I always burn.
‘The good that satisfies this court → →
is alpha and omega of whatever scripture →
18
Love teaches me in loud or gentle tones.’
The same voice that had set me free
from fear at my sudden blindness
21
made me hesitate before I spoke again, →
when it said: ‘It is clear you need to sift →
with a finer sieve, for you must reveal
24
who made you aim your bow at such a target.’
And I: ‘Both philosophic reasoning →
and the authority that descends from here
27
made me receive the imprint of such love,
‘for the good, by measure of its goodness, kindles →
love as soon as it is known, and so much more
30
the more of goodness it contains.
‘To that essence, then, which holds such store of goodness
that every good outside of it is nothing
33
but a light reflected of its rays,
‘the mind of everyone who sees the truth
on which this argument is based
36
must, more than anything, be moved by love.
‘This truth is set forth to my understanding →
by him who demonstrates to me the primal love
39
of all eternal substances.
‘And the voice of the truthful Author sets it forth →
when, speaking of Himself, He says to Moses:
42
“I will make all My goodness pass before you.” →
‘You also set it forth to me in the beginning
of your great message, which, more than any other herald, →
45
proclaims the mystery of this high place on earth.’
And I heard: ‘In accord with human reason →
and with the authorities concordant with it,
48
the highest of your loves is turned to God.
‘Say further if you feel still other cords →
that draw you to Him, so that you may declare
51
the many teeth with which this love does bite.’
The holy purpose of Christ’s Eagle was not hidden.
Indeed, I readily perceived the road →
54
on which he set my declaration on its way.
Thus I began again: ‘All those things →
the bite of which can make hearts turn to God
57
converge with one another in my love.
‘The world’s existence and my own,
the death He bore that I might live,
60
and that which all believers hope for as do I,
‘all these—and the certain knowledge of which I spoke—
have drawn me from the sea of twisted love →
63
and brought me to the shor
e where love is just.
‘I love the leaves with which the garden →
of the eternal Gardener is in leaf
66
in measure of the good He has bestowed on them.’
As soon as I was silent, the sweetest song →
resounded through that heaven, and my lady
69
chanted with the others: ‘Holy, holy, holy!’
As sleep is broken by a piercing light → →
when the spirit of sight runs to meet the brightness
72
that passes through its filmy membranes,
and the awakened man recoils from what he sees, →
his senses stunned in that abrupt awakening
75
until his judgment rushes to his aid—
exactly thus did Beatrice drive away each mote →
from my eyes with the radiance of her own,
78
which could be seen a thousand miles away,
so that I then saw better than I had before.
And almost dazed with wonder I inquired → →
81
about a fourth light shining there among us.
My lady answered: ‘Within these rays →
the first soul ever made by the First Power
84
looks with love upon his Maker.’
As the tree that bends its highest branches →
in a gust of wind and then springs back,
87
raised up by natural inclination,
so was I overcome while she was speaking—
awestruck—and then restored to confidence
90
by the words that burned in me to be expressed.
I began: ‘O fruit who alone were brought forth ripe, →
O ancient father, of whom each bride
93
is at once daughter and daughter-in-law, →
‘as humbly as I am able, I make supplication
for you to speak with me. You know what I long for. →
96
To have your answer sooner I leave that unsaid.’
Sometimes, beneath its covering, an animal →
stirs, thus making its desire clear
99
by how its wrappings follow and reveal its movement.
In just this manner the very first soul
revealed to me, through its covering,
102
how joyously it came to do me pleasure.
Then it breathed forth: ‘Without your telling me, →
I can discern your wishes even better →
105
than you can picture anything you know as certain.
‘For I can see them in that truthful mirror
which makes itself reflective of all else →
108
but which can be reflected nowhere else.
‘You wish to know how long it is since God →
placed me in the lofty garden where this lady →
111
prepared you for so long a stairway,
‘and how long it was a pleasure to my eyes,
and the true cause of the great wrath,
114
and the language that I used and that I shaped. →
‘Know then, my son, that in itself the tasting of the tree → →
was not the cause of such long exile— →
117
it lay in trespassing the boundary line.
‘In the place from which your lady sent down Virgil → →
I longed for this assembly more than four thousand
120
three hundred and two revolutions of the sun,
‘and I saw it return to all the lights →
along its track nine hundred thirty times
123
while I was living on the earth.
‘The tongue I spoke was utterly extinct →
before the followers of Nimrod turned their minds
126
to their unattainable ambition.
‘For nothing ever produced by reason—
since human tastes reflect the motion
129
of the moving stars—can last forever.
‘It is the work of nature man should speak →
but, if in this way or in that, nature leaves to you,
132
allowing you to choose at your own pleasure. →
‘Before I descended to anguish of Hell, →
I was the name on earth of the Sovereign Good, →
135
whose joyous rays envelop and surround me. →
‘Later El became His name, and that is as it should be, →
for mortal custom is like a leaf upon a branch, →
138
which goes and then another comes.
‘On the mountain that rises highest →
from the sea, I lived, pure, then guilty,
from the first hour until the sun changed quadrant,
142
in the hour that follows on the sixth.’
OUTLINE: PARADISO XXVII
STARRY SPHERE; CRYSTALLINE SPHERE
1–3
the “Gloria” sung by all the saints makes Dante drunk;
4–6
they seemed to be smiling, so that his “drunkenness” was brought about by both his hearing and his sight;
7–9
the poet apostrophizes joy, gladness, a life of love and peace, and wealth.
10–18
Peter, Luke, John, and Adam flame before Dante, Peter more than the other three; God has quieted the rest.
19–21
Peter: “If you think I changed color, wait until you see the rest of these souls!”
22–27
Peter’s denunciation of Boniface VIII, Christ’s vicar
28–30
the redness promised by Peter overspreads the host;
31–36
double simile: chaste lady blushing at another’s fault, Beatrice’s shame (the eclipse at the Crucifixion);
37–39
Peter’s voice now as changed as his color:
40–45
(1) amassing wealth not the aim of Peter or of his martyred successors,
46–48
(2) nor that the pope should divide his flock into two,
49–51
(3) nor that the Guelphs should bear the papal keys as their military insignia;
52–54
(4) nor that the popes should sell indulgences under the seal bearing Peter’s likeness;
55–57
the corrupt clergy: why does God delay His vengeance?
58–60
foreign [popes] drink Peter’s and his followers’ blood
61–63
but Providence, which sided with Scipio, will act soon;
64–66
Peter to Dante: “When you return, tell them the truth!”
67–72
Simile: as in winter, under Capricorn, snowflakes fall downward, so the souls of the blessed “fall” upward
73–78
Dante follows their upward flight as long as he can, at which point Beatrice invites him to look down:
79–87
Dante’s second look down into the revolving universe;
88–96
ascent to the ninth sphere: Beatrice’s smiling face;
97–99
as Dante gazes, he is transported out of Gemini in the sphere of the fixed stars and into the Primum Mobile;
100–102
this sphere has no recognizable “landmarks,” all its “parts” being uniform;
103–105
smiling, Beatrice explains to Dante where they are:
106–120
Beatrice on the Primum Mobile as imparting motion to the rest of the universe and thus as the source of time
121–141
Beatrice’s apostrophe of greed;
142–148
> Beatrice’s prophecy: the coming “storm at sea.”
PARADISO XXVII
‘To the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, →
glory,’ cried all the souls of Paradise,
3
and I became drunk on the sweetness of their song.
It seemed to me I saw the universe →
smile, so that my drunkenness
6
came now through hearing and through sight.
O happiness! O joy beyond description! →
O life fulfilled in love and peace!
9
O riches held in store, exempt from craving! →
Before my eyes four torches were aflame. →
The one who, luminous, had come forth first
12
began to glow more brilliantly,
his aspect changing, as would Jupiter’s
if he and Mars were birds
15
and had exchanged their plumage.
The providence that there assigns →
both time and duty had imposed silence
18
on every member of the holy choir,
when I heard: ‘If my color changes, do not be amazed, →
for while I am speaking you shall see
21
the color of each soul here change as well.
‘He who on earth usurps my place, →
my place, my place, which in the eyes
24
of God’s own Son is vacant,
‘has made my tomb a sewer of blood and filth, →
so that the Evil One, who fell from here above,
27
takes satisfaction there below.’
Then I saw that all this heaven was suffused →
with the very color painted on those clouds
30
that face the sun at dawn or dusk.
As a chaste woman, certain of her virtue, →
merely on hearing of another’s fault,
33
makes evident the shame she feels for it, →