by Dante
shines forth a divinity I do not know,
60
and it transforms the images I can recall.
‘That is why my memory worked so slowly,
but now what you have said has helped me
63
and I more readily recall your features.
‘But tell me, do you, who are here content, →
desire to achieve a higher place, where you
66
might see still more and make yourselves more dear?’
Along with the other shades, she smiled, →
then answered me with so much gladness
69
she seemed alight with love’s first fire: →
‘Brother, the power of love subdues our will →
so that we long for only what we have
72
and thirst for nothing else.
‘If we desired to be more exalted, →
our desires would be discordant
75
with His will, which assigns us to this place.
‘That, as you will see, would not befit these circles
if to be ruled by love is here required
78
and if you consider well the nature of that love.
‘No, it is the very essence of this blessèd state →
that we remain within the will of God,
81
so that our wills combine in unity.
‘Therefore our rank, from height to height,
throughout this kingdom pleases all the kingdom,
84
as it delights the King who wills us to His will.
‘And in His will is our peace. →
It is to that sea all things move, →
87
both what His will creates and that which nature makes.’
Then it was clear to me that everywhere in heaven →
is Paradise, even if the grace of the highest Good
90
does not rain down in equal measure.
But, as happens, when one food may satisfy →
while still we crave another, we give thanks
93
for the one we have, while asking for the other,
so did I with both word and gesture,
to learn from her about the web through which →
96
she had not drawn her shuttle to completion.
‘Perfect life and high desert,’ she said to me, → →
‘set in a higher sphere a lady by whose rule
99
down in your world they take the robe and veil
‘so that till death they wake and sleep →
in union with that Bridegroom who accepts each vow
102
that love makes fitting for His pleasure.
‘To follow her, still young, I fled the world
and, cloaking myself in her habit,
105
I promised to follow the rule of her order.
‘Then men more used to evil than to good →
carried me off, away from the sweet cloister.
108
God knows what after that my life became.
‘And this other splendor who appears to you → →
upon my right, who blazes up
111
with all the brightness of this sphere:
‘What I told of myself applies to her as well.
She was a sister and, like me, she had the shadow
114
of the holy veil torn from her head.
‘But, even after she was cast into the world
against her will and against all proper custom,
117
the veil was never loosened from her heart.
‘This is the light of the great Constance, →
who bore to the second blast of Swabia
120
the third and final emperor.’ →
Thus she spoke to me, and then began to sing → →
Ave Maria, and, still singing, vanished,
123
like something heavy through deep water.
My eyes, which watched her as long as they could, →
turned, once she was lost to view,
126
to the goal of their greater desire
and were wholly bent on Beatrice.
But she so blazed upon my sight
at first my gaze could not sustain her light
130
and that delayed my plying her with questions.
OUTLINE: PARADISO IV
MOON (continues)
[a canto devoted to three questions of Dante]
1–63
(1) do our [saved] souls return to our birth star?
1–9
triple simile: man between two foods; lamb between two wolves; hound between two does: all compared to Dante between his first two questions
10–18
Beatrice (Daniel) comforts Dante (Nebuchadnezzar)
19–27
treating first the question that has more venom:
28–48
“accommodative metaphor” is her answer to it
49–63
hedging Plato’s wrongness (did he use metaphor?)
64–117
(2) distinction between absolute and conditional will?
64–72
Beatrice: this question has less of harm in it
73–90
Beatrice: Lawrence and Mucius Scaevola: wills firm
91–114
Beatrice: Piccarda’s view does not contradict mine
115–117
coda: Dante’s two questions now are fully answered
118–142
(3) can broken vows be made good?
118–132
Dante’s gratitude for Beatrice’s responses
133–138
her willingness to be of help and his curiosity urge another query: can a broken vow be made good?
139–142
Beatrice is so pleased by this question that her splendor overpowers Dante.
PARADISO IV
Between two foods, equally near at hand and tempting, → →
left free to choose, a man would die of hunger
3
before he could bring either to his teeth—
so would a lamb stand still, caught between the cravings →
of two ferocious wolves, in equal fear of both,
6
so would a hound, stock-still between two does: →
just so, if I kept silent, urged in equal measure
by my doubts, I merit neither praise nor blame,
9
since my silence was forced, not freely chosen.
I kept silent, but my longing
and my questions all were painted on my face
12
more ardently than words could have expressed.
Beatrice did what Daniel did →
when he freed Nebuchadnezzar from his wrath,
15
which had made him cruel unjustly,
by her words: ‘It is clear to me you feel the pull →
of two desires, so that your divided craving
18
binds itself so tight it can’t breathe out.
‘You reason: “If the will does not even waver → →
in devotion to the good, how can the violence
21
of another reduce my measure of reward?”
‘Still another cause for your perplexity
is that you think, in accord with Plato’s teaching,
24
the souls return to their own stars. →
‘These are the questions that weigh equally → →
upon your will. First I shall deal
27
with the one that has more venom in it.
‘Not the Seraph that most ingods himself, → →
not Moses, Samuel, or whichever John you please— → →
none of these, I say, not even Mary,
‘have their seats in another heaven →
than do these spirits you have just now seen,
33
nor does their bliss last fewer years or more. →
‘No, all adorn the highest circle— →
but they enjoy sweet life in differing measure →
36
as they feel less or more of God’s eternal breath. →
‘Those souls put themselves on view here →
not because they are allotted to this sphere
39
but as a sign of less exalted rank in Heaven. →
‘It is necessary thus to address your faculties, → →
since only in perceiving through the senses can they grasp
42
that which they then make fit for intellect.
‘For this reason Scripture condescends →
to your capacity when it attributes hands and feet
45
to God, but has another meaning,
‘and for your sake Holy Church portrays →
Gabriel and Michael with the faces of men
48
and that other angel who made Tobit well again. →
‘What Timaeus has to say about the souls →
does not resemble what one here observes
51
because he seems to take his words for facts. →
‘He claims the soul returns to its own star,
from which he thinks that it was drawn
54
when nature gave it bodily form. →
‘But perhaps his meaning differs → → →
from what his words seem to express
57
and may have an intention not lightly mocked.
‘If he intends to assign to these wheels →
the honor of their influence and the blame,
60
then his shaft may strike a certain truth.
‘This principle, wrongly understood, once misled →
nearly all the world so that it went astray →
63
and named stars Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars.
‘The other doubt that troubles you → →
contains less venom because its harm
66
could not lead you away from me.
‘For divine justice to appear unjust →
in mortal eyes is evidence of faith,
69
not of heretical iniquity.
‘Since your human understanding is quite able →
to penetrate this truth,
72
I shall content you as you wish.
‘Even if violence is done when the one who bears it →
in no way consents to the one who deals it out,
75
these souls were not excused on that account.
‘For the will, except by its own willing, is not spent,
but does as by its nature fire does in flame, →
78
though violence may force it down one thousand times.
‘Thus, if it stays bent, whether much or little,
it then accepts that force, as indeed did these,
81
since they could have retreated to their holy place.
‘Had their will remained unbroken, →
as did the will that fastened Lawrence to the grate
84
and which made Mucius harsh to his own hand,
‘then, once freed, it would have drawn them back
along the path from which they had been dragged.
87
But will so firm is all too rare.
‘And these words, if you have correctly understood them,
have destroyed an argument →
90
that would have often troubled you again.
‘But now before your eyes you find →
another obstacle, so vast that your attempt
93
to overcome it on your own would leave you spent.
‘Assuredly I have set it firmly in your mind →
that a soul in bliss could never tell a lie,
96
since it is always near the primal Truth.
‘But then you may have heard Piccarda say
that Constance kept her true love for the veil,
99
so that in this she seems to contradict me.
‘Many times, brother, has it occurred →
that, if unwillingly, to escape from harm,
102
one does a thing that had better not been done,
‘as Alcmaeon, exhorted by his father,
slew his own mother: so as not to fail
105
in piety, he steeled himself to pity.
‘At this point, I would ask you to reflect,
the threat of violence so mingles with the will
108
that these offenses cannot be excused.
‘An absolute will consents not to the wrong, →
but the will does consent to the extent it fears,
111
if it draws back, to fall into still greater harm.
‘Piccarda, thus, in that which she affirms,
speaks of the absolute will, while I refer
114
to the other, so that we both maintain a truth.’
Such was the rippling of the holy stream, →
issuing from the source from which all truth derives,
117
that put each one of my desires at peace.
‘O belovèd of the first Lover,’ I said then, →
‘divine creature whose speech so floods and scalds me
120
that I am more and more alive,
‘not all the depth of my affection
is enough to requite You grace for grace. →
123
But may He who sees, and has the power, reward You.
‘I now see clearly that our intellect
cannot be satisfied until that truth enlighten it
126
beyond whose boundary no further truth extends.
‘In that truth, like a wild beast in its den, it rests
once it has made its way there—and it can do that,
129
or else its every wish would be in vain.
‘Like a shoot, doubt springs →
from the root of truth, and its nature
132
urges us toward the summit, from ridge to ridge.
‘It is this, lady, that invites and assures me
to ask You, with reverence, about another truth
135
that still remains obscure to me.
‘I would like to know if one can satisfy your court →
with such other works for vows left unfulfilled
138
that in your scale their weight would not be scant.’
Beatrice looked at me with eyes so full →
of the radiance of love and so divine
that, overcome, my power of sight faded and fled,
142
and, eyes cast down, I almost lost my senses.
OUTLINE: PARADISO V
MOON and MERCURY
(1) Dante’s third question (from Canto IV)
1–12
Beatrice: Dante’s inability to look at her is only to be expected, given the divine love that she reflects
13–15
Beatrice rephrases Dante’s question (see IV. 136–138)
16–18
the poet’s interruption: the beginning of this canto
19–33
her answer: free will God’s greatest gift to angels and humans; thus the importance of vows taken freely
34–42
she adds: but the Church does allow substitution (she apparently contradicts herself but will soon clarify)
43–45
; two things are essential to this sacrifice: that which is promised and the form of the promise:
46–51
the second (the “form”) can never be “canceled” short of fulfillment (see vv. 32–33);
52–54
as for what is offered, some change is possible—
55–60
but only with sacerdotal permission and if the thing substituted is of greater value;
61–63
if the original vow is “heavier,” the substitution is not permitted.
64–72
Beatrice (indirectly) addresses mortals: do not take vows lightly, as did Jephthah and Agamemnon
73–84
she now addresses Christians directly: given their authorities (Bible and pope), they have no excuses
(2) The ascent to Mercury
85–87
Dante as “scribe” of Beatrice, who looks upward
88–90
her silence and new appearance quell several questions in Dante as they speed upward
91–93
simile: arrow striking target before bowstring stops vibrating: that’s how quickly they arrive in Mercury;
94–96
Beatrice’s increased joy makes the planet brighter,
97–99
and if the planet changed, think how Dante changed
(3) The saved who appear in Mercury
100–108
simile: fish in pond thinking they’ll be fed compared to spirits approaching Dante, joyfully effulgent
109–114
address to reader: “if you would like to hear more, only think how much more I wanted to hear!”
115–120
Dante is welcomed by a heavenly soul who promises to satisfy him (this is Justinian, as we shall learn)
121–123
Dante is urged by Beatrice to speak and believe
124–129