by Dante
just so did Beatrice change in her appearance,
and just such an eclipse, I think, there was above
36
when the Omnipotent felt pain.
Then he added these words to his first →
with voice so altered from its former state
39
that even his looks were not more changed:
‘The Bride of Christ was not nurtured with my blood— →
nor that of Linus and of Cletus—
42
to serve the cause of gaining gold.
‘Rather, to gain this joyous way of life
Sixtus, Pius, Calixtus, and Urban
45
shed their blood after many tears.
‘It was never our intention that the one part →
of Christ’s fold should be seated on the right
48
of our successors, and the other on the left,
‘nor that the keys entrusted to my keeping →
should become devices on the standards
51
borne in battles waged against the baptized,
‘nor that I become the imprint in a seal →
on sale for fraudulence and bribes
54
so that I blush, in turn, with rage and shame.
‘Ravenous wolves in shepherds’ clothing →
can be seen, from here above, in every pasture.
57
O God our defender, why do you not act?
‘Cahorsines and Gascons prepare to drink our blood. →
O lofty promise,
60
to what base end are you condemned to fall?
‘But Providence on high, which by the deeds of Scipio →
preserved in Rome the glory of the world,
63
shall, as I can clearly see, soon bring assistance.
‘And you, my son, who, for your mortal burden, →
must return below, make sure they hear this
66
from your mouth, not hiding what I do not hide.’
As when the sun touches the horn →
of the heavenly Goat and the air
69
lets its frozen vapors fall in flakes,
so I saw the celestial sphere adorned →
with triumphant flakes of vapor soaring upward, →
72
souls who had now been with us for some time.
My eyes were following their forms →
and followed them until the wider intervening space
75
made me unable to pursue them higher.
My lady, therefore, who saw that I was freed →
from staring upward, said: ‘Cast your sight below
78
and see how wide a circle you have traveled.’
Since the last time I looked down → →
I saw I had traversed all of the arc
81
from the midpoint of the first clime to its end,
so that on the one side I could see, beyond Gades, →
the mad track of Ulysses, on the other, nearly →
84
to the shore where Europa made sweet burden of herself.
More space of this small patch of earth →
could I have seen, had not the sun, beneath my feet, →
87
now moved a sign and more away.
My loving mind, which always lingers lovingly →
on my lady, ardently longed, still more than ever,
90
to let my eyes once more be fixed on her.
And if nature or art have fashioned lures
of human flesh, or of paintings done of it,
93
to catch the eyes and thus possess the mind,
all these combined would seem as nothing
compared to that divine beauty that shone on me
96
when I turned back and saw her smiling face.
And the power that her look bestowed on me
drew me from the fair nest of Leda →
99
and thrust me into heaven’s swiftest sphere.
Its most rapid and its most exalted parts → →
are so alike I cannot tell
102
which of them Beatrice chose to set me in.
But she, who knew my wish, began to speak, →
smiling with such gladness that her face
105
seemed to express the very joy of God.
‘The nature of the universe, which holds →
the center still and moves all else around it, →
108
starts here as from its boundary line.
‘This heaven has no other where →
but in the mind of God, in which is kindled
111
the love that turns it and the power it pours down.
‘Light and love enclose it in a circle,
as it contains the others. Of that girding
114
He that girds it is the sole Intelligence.
‘Its motion is not measured by another’s, →
but from it all the rest receive their measures,
117
even as does ten from its half and from its fifth.
‘How time should have its roots in a single flowerpot
and its foliage in all the others
120
may now become quite clear to you.
‘O greed, it is you who plunge all mortals →
so deep into your depths that not one has the power
123
to lift his eyes above your waves!
‘The will of man bursts into blossom
but the never-ceasing rain reduces
126
the ripening plums to blighted rot. →
‘Loyalty and innocence are found →
in little children only. Then, before
129
their cheeks are bearded, both are fled.
‘One, still babbling, observes the fastdays, → →
who later, once his tongue is free,
132
devours any kind of food no matter what the month.
‘Another, babbling, loves and heeds his mother,
who later, once his speech has been developed,
135
longs to see her buried in her grave.
‘Thus does the white skin turn to black →
in the first aspect of the lovely daughter
138
of him who brings the day and leaves behind the night.
‘Lest you wonder at this, consider →
that, on earth, there is no one to govern
141
and, in consequence, the human family strays.
‘But, before all January leaves the winter → →
for the hundredth part neglected there below,
144
rays from these lofty circles shall shine forth →
‘so that the long-awaited tempest turn the ships, →
setting their poops where now they have their prows. →
Then shall the fleet run its true course
148
and the blossom shall be followed by good fruit.’ →
OUTLINE: PARADISO XXVIII
CRYSTALLINE SPHERE
1–3
retrospective attention to Beatrice’s prophecy;
4–12
simile: as a man, seeing a torch in a mirror, looks back to see if it is actually behind him, so Dante turned back to see the reflection in Beatrice’s eyes;
13–21
he sees [reflected?] in the sphere itself a tiny point
22–42
and then nine concentric circles of light [nine orders of angels] revolving around that point, which is God
43–45
Beatrice on the Seraphim, the order closest to God
46–57
Dante’s question about the
inverse relations between speed and distance in these two “universes”
58–63
Beatrice’s first response: “If you cannot undo this knot, it is no wonder, since no one else has tried to”
64–78
and her second: the “astronomy” of the Empyrean
79–87
similes: Boreas clears out the night sky just as Beatrice explains these things; her truthful words resemble a star in the heavens
88–90
the angels’ response to her explanation:
91–96
myriads of them emit Hosannahs to God
97–139
Beatrice explains the hierarchy of the angels:
97–114
the first triad: Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones;
115–126
the next two triads: Dominions, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels;
127–129
all angelic orders look up but interact below
130–135
Dionysius had the order right, but not Gregory
136–139
and Dionysius was informed directly by St. Paul.
PARADISO XXVIII
When she who does imparadise my mind →
had revealed the truth against →
3
the present life of wretched mortals, →
then, as one whose way is lit by a double-candled lamp → →
held at his back, who suddenly in a mirror sees
6
the flame before he has seen or even thought of it
and turns to see if the glass is telling him the truth,
and then sees that it reflects things as they are— →
9
as notes reflect the score when they are sung—
just so do I remember having done, →
gazing into the beautiful eyes
12
which Love had made into the snare that caught me. →
When I turned back and my eyes were struck →
by what appears on that revolving sphere— →
15
if one but contemplates its circling— →
I saw a point that flashed a beam of light →
so sharp the eye on which it burns
18
must close against its piercing brightness.
The star that, seen from here below, seems smallest
would seem a moon if put beside it,
21
as when one star is set beside another.
As near, perhaps, as a halo seems to be → →
when it encircles the light that colors it,
24
where the vapor that forms it is most dense,
there whirled about that point a ring of fire →
so quick it would have easily outsped
27
the swiftest sphere circling the universe. →
This ring was encircled by another ring, →
and that by the third, the third by the fourth,
30
the fourth by the fifth, and the fifth by the sixth.
Higher there followed the seventh, now spread so wide →
that the messenger of Juno, in full circle,
33
would be unable to contain its size.
And so, too, the eighth and ninth, →
each one revolving with diminished speed
36
the farther it was wheeling from the first.
And that one least removed from the blazing point of light →
possessed the clearest flame, because, I think,
39
it was the one that is the most intruthed by it.
My lady, who saw me in grave doubt
yet eager to know and comprehend, said: → →
42
‘From that point depend the heavens and all nature.
‘Observe that circle nearest it, →
and understand its motion is so swift
45
because it is spurred on by flaming love.’
And I to her: ‘If the universe were arranged →
in the order I see here among these wheels
48
I would be content with what you’ve set before me.
‘However, in the world of sense we see
the farther from the center they revolve
51
the more divinity is in their orbits.
‘And so, if my desire to know shall gain its end →
in this rare temple of the angels,
54
which has but light and love for boundaries,
‘then I still need to learn exactly why →
the model and copy fail to follow the same plan,
57
for, using my own powers, I reflect on this in vain.’
‘That your fingers are not fit to undo this knot →
is not surprising, so entangled
60
has it become from never being tried.’
My lady said this, then went on: ‘Take
what I shall tell you if you would be fed,
63
and see you sharpen your wits on it.
‘The material heavens are wide or narrow →
according as power, greater or less,
66
is diffused through all their parts.
‘Greater goodness makes for greater bliss,
and greater bliss takes on a greater body
69
when all its parts are equal in perfection.
‘This sphere, therefore, which sweeps into its motion
the rest of the universe, must correspond
72
to the ring that loves and knows the most, →
‘so that, if you apply your measure,
not to their appearances but to the powers themselves
75
of the angels that appear to you as circles,
‘you will see a marvelous congruence,
larger with more, smaller with less, in each sphere
78
according to its celestial Intelligence.’
As the vault of our air is left →
serene and shining when Boreas
81
blows from his gentler cheek
and the dark refuse of the sky is cleared
and purged away so that the heavens smile
84
as all their quarters fill with loveliness,
just so did I feel when my lady
bestowed on me her lucid answer,
87
and, like a star in heaven, the truth shone clear. →
And, when she paused in her speech, →
as boiling iron shoots out sparks
90
so did these circles sparkle,
each spark keeping to its flaming ring. They were →
so many that their number ran to thousands more
93
than the successive doubling of a chessboard’s squares.
From choir to choir I heard Hosanna sung →
to the fixed point, which holds them—and forever shall— →
96
in those ubi that have always been theirs.
And she, who understood the puzzled thoughts →
now present in my mind, said: ‘The closer rings →
99
reveal to you both Seraphim and Cherubim.
‘They seek their bonds so swiftly, hoping they may gain
as much as they can hold of likeness to the point,
102
and this they can attain, the loftier their vision.
‘These other loving spirits circling them → →
are called the Thrones of God, →
105
and with them the first triad was complete. →
‘And you should know that all of them delight →
in measure of the depth to which their sight
108
; can penetrate the truth, where every intellect finds rest.
‘From this, it may be seen, beatitude itself →
is based upon the act of seeing,
111
not on that of love, which follows after,
‘and the measure of their sight reveals their worth, →
which grace and proper will beget in them.
114
Such, then, is the process, step by step.
‘The second triad thus blossoming → →
in this eternity of spring →
117
which no nocturnal Ram cuts short
‘ever sings hosannas, the threefold strain → →
resounding in the threefold ranks
120
of bliss by which they are intrined.
‘In this hierarchy are found the next divinities— →
Dominions first, then Virtues,
123
and the third are Powers.
‘The penultimate two of these festive throngs →
are whirling Principalities and Archangels,
126
while the last one is all Angels at their play.
‘All these orders gaze in ecstasy above. →
The highest there are linked with those below, →
129
so that the rest are drawn, and also draw, to God.
‘Dionysius with such passion set his mind →
to contemplate these orders →
132
that he named them and arranged them as do I.
‘But later Gregory took a different view, →
so that, opening his eyes here in this heaven,
135
he saw his errors, laughing at himself. →
‘And if a mortal man on earth set forth →
such hidden truth, you need not wonder,