¶ARGUMENT . — The Poet ascends with Beatrice toward the first heaven; and is, by her, resolved of certain doubts which arise in his mind.
¶HIS glory, by whose might all things are moved,Pierces the universe, and in one partSheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. InThat largeliest of His light partakes, was I, [HeavenWitness of things, which, to relate again,Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence;For that, so near approaching its desire,Our intellect is to such depth absorb'd,That memory cannot follow. Nathless all,That in my thoughts I of that sacred realmCould store, shall now be matter of my song.Benign Apollo! this last labour aid;And make me such a vessel of thy worth,As thy own laurel claims, of me beloved.Thus far' hath one of steep Parnassus' browsSufficed me; henceforth, there is need of bothFor my remaining enterprise. Do thou1Enter into my bosom, and there breatheSo, as when Marsyas by thy hand was dragg'dForth from his limbs, unsheathed. O power divine!If thou to me of thine impart so much,That of that happy realm the shadow'd formTraced in my thoughts I may set forth to view;Thou shalt behold me of thy favour'd treeCome to the foot, and crown myself with leaves:For to that honour thou, and my high theme[286]Will fit me. If but seldom, mighty Sire!To grace his triumph, gathers thence a wreathCaesar, or bard, (more shame for human willsDepraved), joy to the Delphic god must springFrom the Peneian foliage, when one breastIs with such thirst inspired. From a small sparkGreat flame hath risen: after me, perchance,Others with better voice may pray, and gain,From the Cyrrhaean city, answer kind.Through divers passages, the world's bright lampRises to mortals; but through that 3 which joinsFour circles with the threefold cross, in bestCourse, and in happiest constellation 4 set,He comes; and, to the worldly wax, best givesIts temper and impression. Morning there,'Here eve was well-nigh by such passage made;And whiteness had o'erspread that hemisphere,Blackness the other part; when to the left*I saw Beatrice turn'd, and on the sunGazing, as never eagle fix'd his ken.As from the first a second beam is wontTo issue, and reflected upward rise,Even as a pilgrim bent on his return;So of her act, that through the eyesight pass'dInto my fancy, mine was form'd: and straight,Beyond our mortal wont, I fix'd mine eyesUpon the sun. Much is allow'd us there,That here exceeds our power; thanks to the placeMade for the dwelling of the human kind.I suffer'd it not long; and yet so long,That I beheld it bickering sparks around,As iron that comes boiling from the fire.And suddenly upon the day appcar'dA day new-risen; as he, who hath the power,[287]Had with another sun bedeck'd the sky.Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels,Beatrice stood unmoved; and I with kenFix'd upon her, from upward gaze removed,At her aspect, such inwardly becameAs Glaucus, when he tasted of the herbThat made him peer among the ocean gods:Words may not tell of that trans-human change;And therefore let the example serve, though weak,For those whom grace hath better proof in store.If I were only what thou didst create,Then newly, Love! by whom the Heaven is ruled;Thou know'st, who by Thy light didst bear me up.Whcnas the wheel which Thou dost ever guide,Desired Spirit! with its harmony,Temper'd of Thee and measured, charm'd mine ear,Then seem'd to me so much of Heaven to blazeWith the sun's flame, that rain or flood ne'er madeA lake so broad. The newness of the sound,And that great light, inflamed me with desire,Keener than e'er was felt, to know their cause.Whence she, who saw me, clearly as myself,To calm my troubled mind, before I ask'd,Open'd her lips, and gracious thus began:"With false imagination thou thyselfMakest dull; so that thou seest not the thing,Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off.Thou art not on the earth as thou believest;For lightning, scaped from its own proper place,Ne'er ran, as thou hast hither now return'd."Although divested of my first-raised doubtBy those brief words accompanied with smiles,Yet in new doubt was I entangled more,And said: "Already satisfied, I restFrom admiration deep; but now admireHow I above those lighter bodies rise."Whence, after utterance of a piteous sigh,She toward me bent her eyes, with such a look,As on her frenzied child a mother casts;Then thus began: "Among themselves all things[288]Have order; and from hence the form,1 which makesThe universe resemble God. In thisThe higher creatures see the printed stepsOf that eternal worth, which is the endWhither the line is drawn2 All natures lean,In this their order, diversly; some more,Some less approaching to their primal source.Thus they to different havens are moved onThrough the vast sea of being, and each oneWith instinct given, that bears it in its course:This to the lunar sphere directs the fire;This moves the hearts of mortal animals;This the brute earth together knits, and binds.Nor only creatures, void of intellect,Are aim'd at by this bow; but even those,That have intelligence and love, are pierced.That Providence, who so well orders all,With her own light makes ever calm the Heaven,'In which the substance, that hath greatest speed, 10Is turn'd: and thither now, as to our seatPredestined, we are carried by the forceOf that strong cord, that never looses dartBut at fair aim and glad. Yet is it true,That as, oft-times, but ill accords the formTo the design of art, through sluggishnessOr unreplying matter; so this courseIs sometimes quitted by the creature, whoHath power, directed thus, to bend elsewhere;As from a cloud the fire is seen to fall,From its original impulse warp'd, to earth,By viuous fondness. Thou no more admireThy soaring (if I rightly deem) than lapseOf torrent downward from a mountain's height.There would in thee for wonder be more cause,If, free of hindrance, thou hadst stay'd below,[289]As living fire unmoved upon the earth."So said, she turn'd toward the Heaven her face.
¶ARGUMENT . — Dante and his celestial guide enter the moon. The cause ofspots or shadows, which appear in that body, is explained to him.
¶ALL ye, who in small bark have following sail'd,/ % Eager to listen, on the adventurous trackj[ % Of my proud keel, that singing cuts her way,Backward return with speed, and your own shoresRevisit; nor put out to open sea,Where losing me, perchance ye may remainBewilder'd in deep maze. The way I pass,Ne'er yet was run: Minerva breathes the gale;Apollo guides me; and another Nine,To my rapt sight, the arctic beams reveal.Ye other few who have outstretch'd the neckTimely for food of angels, on which hereThey live, yet never know satiety;Through the deep brine ye fearless may put outYour vessel; marking well the furrow broadBefore you in the wave, that on both sidesEqual returns. Those, glorious, who pass'd o'erTo Colchis, wonder'd not as ye will do,When they saw Jason following the plough.The increate perpetual thirst, that drawsToward the realm of God's own form, bore usSwift almost as the Heaven ye behold.Beatrice upward gazed, and I on her;And in such space as on the notch a dartIs placed, then loosen'd flies, I saw myselfArrived, where wonderous thing engaged my sight.Whence she, to whom no care of mine was hid,Turning to me, with aspect glad as fair,Bespake me: "Gratefully direct thy mindTo God, through whom to this first star 1 we come."Meseem'd as if a cloud had cover'd us,1 'This first star." The moon.[290]Translucent, solid, firm, and polish'd bright,Like adamant, which the sun's beam had smit.Within itself the ever-during pearlReceived us; as the wave a ray of lightReceives, and rests unbroken. If I thenWas of corporeal frame, and it transcendOur weaker thought, how one dimension thusAnother could endure, which needs must beIf body enter body; how much moreMust the desire inflame us to beholdThat Essence, which discovers by what meansGod and our nature join'dl There will be seenThat, which we hold through faith; not shown by proof,But in itself intelligibly plain,E'en as the truth that man at first believes.I answer'd: "Lady! I with thoughts devout,Such as I best can frame, give thanks to Him,Who hath removed me from the mortal world.But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spotsUpon this body, which below on earthGive rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?"She somewhat smiled, then spake: "If mortals errIn their opinion, when the key of senseUnlocks not, surely wonder's weapon keenOught not to pierce thee: since thou find'st, the wingsOf reason to pursue the senses' flightAre short. But what thy own thought is, declare."Then I: "What various here above appears,Is caused, I deem, by bodies dense or rare."She then resumed: "Thou certainly wilt seeIn falsehood thy belief o'erwhelm'd, if wellThou listen to the arguments which IShall bring to face it. The eighth sphere displaysNumberless lights, the which, in kind and size,May be remark'd of different aspects:If rare or dense of that were cause alone,One single virtue then would be in all;Alike distributed, or more, or less.Different virtues needs must be the fruitsOf formal principles; and these, save one,[291]Will by thy reasoning be destroy'd. Beside,If rarity were of that dusk the cause,Which thou inquirest, either in some partThat planet must throughout be void, nor fedWith its own matter; or, as bodies shareTheir fat and leanness, in like manner thisMust in its volume change the leaves.1 The first,If it were true, had through the sun's eclipseBeen manifested, by transparencyOf light, as through aught rare beside effused.But this is not. Therefore remains to seeThe other cause: and, if the other fall,Erroneous so must prove what seem'd to thee.If not from side to side this rarityPass through, there needs must be a limit, whenceIts contrary no further lets it pass.And hence the beam, that from without proceeds,Must be pour'd back; as colour comes, through glassReflected, which behind it lead conceals.Now wilt thou say, that there of murkier hue,Than, in the other part, the ray is shown,By being thence refracted farther back.From this perplexity will free thee soonExperience, if thereof thou trial make,The fountain whence your arts derive their streams.Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two removeFrom thee alike; and more remote the third,Betwixt the former pair, shall meet thine eyes:Then turn'd toward them, cause behind thy backA light to stand, that on the three shall shine,And thus reflected come to thee from all.Though that, beheld most distant, do not stretchA space so ample, yet in brightness thouWilt own it equaling the rest. But now,As under snow the ground, if the warm raySmites it, remains dismantled of the hueAnd cold, that cover'd it before; so thee,Oismanded in thy mind, I will inform[292]With light so lively, that the tremulous beamShall quiver where it falls. Within the Heaven,'Where peace divine inhabits, circles roundA body, in whose virtue lies the beingOf all that it contains. The following Heaven,That hath so many lights, this being divides,Through different essences, from it distinct,And yet contain'd within it. The other orbsTheir separate distinctions variouslyDispose, for their own seed and produce apt.Thus do these organs of the world proceed,As thou beholdest now, from step to step;Their influences from above deriving,And thence transmitting downward. Mark me well;How through this passage to the truth I ford,The truth thou lovest; that thou henceforth, alone,Mayst know to keep the shallows, safe, untold."The virtue and motion of the sacred orbs,As mallet by the workman's hand, must needsBy blessed movers 4 be inspired. This Heaven, 5Made beauteous by so many luminaries,From the deep spirit, 8 that moves its circling sphere,Its image takes and impress as a seal:And as the soul, that dwells within your dust,Through members different, yet together form'd,In different powers resolves itself; e'en soThe intellectual efficacy unfoldsIts goodness multiplied throughout the stars;On its own unity revolving still.Different virtue 7 compact differentMakes with the precious body it enlivens,With which it knits, as life in you is knit.[293]From its original nature full of joy,The virtue mingled through the body shines,As joy through pupil of the living eye.From hence proceeds that which from light to lightSeems different, and not from dense or rare.This is the formal cause, that generates,Proportion'd to its power, the dusk or clear."
¶ARGUMENT . — In the moon Dante meets with Piccarda, the sister of Forese, who tells him that this planet is allotted to those, who, after having made profession of chastity and a religious life, had been compelled to violate their vows; and she then poults out to him the spirit of the Empress Costanza.
¶THAT sun,1 which erst with love my bosomwarmed,Had of fair truth unveil'd the sweet aspect,By proof of right, and of the false reproof;And I, to own myself convinced and freeOf doubt, as much as needed, raised my headErect for speech. But soon a sight appear'd,Which, so intent to mark it, held me fix'dThat of confession I no longer thought.As through translucent and smooth glass, or waveClear and unmoved, and flowing not so deepAs that its bed is dark, the shape returnsSo faint of our impictured lineaments,That, on white forehead set, a pearl as strongComes to the eye; such saw I many a face,All stretch'd to speak; from whence I straight conceived,Delusion2 opposite to that, which raised,Between the man and fountain, amorous flame.Sudden, as I perceived them, deeming theseReflected semblances, to see of whomThey were, I turn'd mine eyes, and nothing saw;Then turn'd them back, directed on the lightOf my sweet guide, who, smiling, shot forth beamsFrom her celestial eyes. "Wonder not thou,"[294]She cried, "at this my smiling, when I seeThy childish judgment; since not yet on truthIt rests the foot, but, as it still is wont,Makes thee fall back in unsound vacancy.True substances are these, which thou behold'st,Hither through failure of their vow exiled.But speak thou with them; listen, and believe,That the true light, which fills them with desire,Permits not from its beams their feet to stray."Straight to the shadow, which for converse seem'dMost earnest, I address'd me; and beganAs one by over-eagerness perplex'd:"O spirit, born for joy! who in the raysOf life eternal, of that sweetness know'stThe flavour, which, not tasted, passes farAll apprehension; me it well would please,If thou wouldst tell me of thy name, and thisYour station here." Whence she with kindness promptAnd eyes glist'ring with smiles: "Our charity,To any wish by justice introduced,Bars not the door; no more than She above,Who would have all her court be like herself.I was a virgin sister in the earth;And if thy mind observe me well, this form,With such addition graced of loveliness,Will not conceal me long; but thou wilt knowPiccarda,' in the tardiest sphere thus placed,Here 'mid these other blessed also blest.Our hearts, whose high affections burn aloneWith pleasure from the Holy Spirit conceived,Admitted to His order, dwell in joy.And this condition, which appears so low,Is for this cause assign'd us, that our vowsWere, in some part, neglected and made void."Whence I to her replied: "Something divineBeams in your countenances wondrous fair;From former knowledge quite transmuting you.
p. 294¶' "Piccarda." The sister of Corso Petrarch has been supposed to allude to Donati, and of Forese, whom we have this lady in his "Triumph of Chastity," seen in the Purgatory, Canto xxiv. v. 160, etc.
p. 295¶Therefore to recollect was I so slow.But what thou say'st hath to my memoryGiven now such aid, that to retrace your formsIs easier. Yet inform me, ye, who hereAre happy; long ye for a higher place,More to behold, and more in love to dwell?"She with those other spirits gently smiled;Then answer'd with such gladness, that she seem'dWith love's first flame to glow: "Brother! our willIs, in composure, settled by the powerOf charity, who makes us will aloneWhat we possess, and naught beyond desire:If we should wish to be exalted more,Then must our wishes jar with the high willOf Him, who sets us here; which in these orbsThou wilt confess not possible, if hereTo be in charity must needs befall,And if her nature well thou contemplate.Rather it is inherent in this stateOf blessedness, to keep ourselves withinThe Divine Will, by which our wills with HisAre one. So that as we, from step to step,Are placed throughout this kingdom, pleases all,Even as our King, who in us plants His will;And in His will is our tranquillity:It is the mighty ocean, whither tendsWhatever it creates and Nature makes."Then saw I clearly how each spot in Heaven1 • Paradise, though with like gracious dewThe supreme virtue shower not over all.But as it chances, if one sort of foodHath satiated, and of another stillThe appetite remains, that this is ask'd,And thanks for that return'd; e'en so did I,In word and motion, bent from her to learnWhat web it was, 4 through which she had not drawnThe shuttle to its point. She thus began:"Exalted worth and perfectness of life
¶'What vow of religious life it was that she had been hindered from completing,
The Lady 5 higher up inshrine in Heaven,By whose pure laws upon your nether earthThe robe and veil they wear; to that intent,That e'en till death they may keep watch, or sleep,With their great Bridegroom, who accepts each vow,Which to His gracious pleasure love conforms.I from the world, to follow her, when youngEscaped; and, in her vesture mantling me,Made promise of the way her sect enjoins.Thereafter men, for ill than good more apt,Forth snatch'd me from the pleasant cloister's pale.God knows 8 how, after that, my life was framed.This other splendid shape, which thou bchold'stAt my right side, burning with all the lightOf this our orb, what of myself I tellMay to herself apply. From her, like meA sister, with like violence were tornThe saintly folds, that shaded her fair brows.E'en when she to the world again was broughtIn spite of her own will and better wont,Yet not for that the bosom's inward veilDid she renounce. This is the luminaryOf mighty Constance,' who from that loud blast,Which blew the second 8 over Suabia's realm,That power produced, which was the third and last."She ceased from further talk, and then began
¶* St. Clare, the foundress of the order body was smitten with leprosy; in a few called after her. She was born at Assisi, days, through the divine disposal, she in 1193, and died in 1253. passed with a palm of virginity to the
¶Relig., relates the following legend of 7 Daughter of Ruggicri, King of Sicily, Piccarda: "Her brother Corso, inflamed who being taken by force out of a monwith rage against his virgin sister, having astery was married to the Emperor Henry joined with him Farinata, an infamous VI and by him was mother of Frederick assassin, and twelve other abandoned II. She was fiftv years old or more at the ruffians, entered the monastery by a lad time, and "because it was not credited der, and carried away his sister forcibly that she could have a child at that age, to his own house; and then tearing off she was delivered in a pavilion, and it her religious habit, compelled her to go was given out that any lady, who pleased, in a secular garment to her nuptials. was at liberty to see her."
¶Before the spouse of Christ came together 8 Henry VI, son of Frederick I, was the with her new husband, she knelt down second emperor of the house of Suabia; before a crucifix and recommended her and his son Frederick II "the third and virginity to Christ. Soon after her whole last,"
p. 297¶"Ave Maria" singing; and with that songVanish'd, as heavy substance through deep wave.Mine eye, that, far as it was capable,Pursued her, when in dimness she was lost,Turn'd to the mark where greater want impell'dAnd bent on Beatrice all its gaze.But she, as lightning, beam'd upon my looks;So that the sight sustain'd it not at first.Whence I to question her became less prompt.
Canto IV
¶ARGUMENT . — While they still continue in the moon, Beatrice removes certain doubts which Dante had conceived respecting the place assigned to the blessed, and respecting the will absolute or conditional. He inquires whether it is possible to make satisfaction for a vow broken.
¶ETWEEN two kinds of food, both equallyBRemote and tempting, first a man might dieOf hunger, ere he one could freely chuse.E'en so would stand a lamb between the mawOf two fierce wolves, in dread of both alike:E'en so between two deer a dog would stand.Wherefore, if I was silent, fault nor praiseI to myself impute; by equal doubtsHeld in suspense; since of necessityIt happen'd. Silent was I, yet desireWas painted in my looks; and thus I spakeMy wish more earnestly than language could.As Daniel, 1 when the haughty king he freedFrom ire, that spurr'd him on to deeds unjustAnd violent; so did Beatrice then."Well I discern," she thus her words address'd,"How thou art drawn by each of these desires; 1So that thy anxious thought is in itselfBound up and stifled, nor breathes freely forth.Thou arguest: if the good intent remain;What reason that another's violence[298]Should stint the measure of my fair desert?"Cause too thou find'st for doubt, in that it seems,That spirits to the stars, as Plato 1 deem'd,Return. These are the questions which thy willUrge equally; and therefore I, the first,Of that 4 will treat which hath the more of gall*Of Seraphim 6 he who is most enskied,Moses and Samuel, and either JohnChuse which thou wilt, nor even Mary's self,Have not in any other Heaven their seats,Than have those spirits which so late thou saw'st;Nor more or fewer years exist; but allMake the first circle 7 beauteous, diverselyPartaking of sweet life, as more or lessAfflation of eternal bliss pervades them.Here were they shown thee, not that fate assignsThis for their sphere, but for a sign to theeOf that celestial furthest from the height.Thus needs, that ye may apprehend, we speak:Since from things sensible alone ye learnThat, which, digested rightly, after turnsTo intellectual. For no other causeThe Scripture, condescending graciouslyTo your perception, hands and feet to GodAttributes, nor so means: and holy ChurchDoth represent with human countenanceGabriel, and Michael, and him who madeTobias whole. Unlike what here thou seest,The judgment of Timaeus, who affirmsEach soul restored to its particular star;Believing it to have been taken thence,When nature gave it to inform her mold:Yet to appearance his intention is[299]Not what his words declare: and so to shunDerision, haply thus he hath disguisedHis true opinion. If his meaning be,That to the influencing of these orbs revertThe honour and the blame in human acts,Perchance he doth not wholly miss the truth.This principle, not understood aright,Erewhile perverted well-nigh all the world;So that it fell to fabled names of Jove,And Mercury, and Mars. That other doubt,Which moves thee, is less harmful; for it bringsNo peril of removing thee from me."That, to the eye of man,1 our justice seemsUnjust, is argument for faith, and notFor heretic declension. But, to the endThis truth2 may stand more clearly in your view,I will content thee even to thy wish."If violence be, when that which suffers, noughtConsents to that which forceth, not for thisThese spirits stood exculpate. For the will,That wills not, still survives, unquench'd, and doth,As nature doth in fire, though violenceWrest it a thousand times; for, if it yieldOr more or less, so far it follows force.And thus did these, when they had power to seekThe hallow'd place again. In them, had willBeen perfect, such as once upon the barsHeld Laurence 10 firm, or wrought in ScscvolaTo his own hand remorseless; to the path,Whence they were drawn, their steps had hasten'd back,When liberty return'd: but in too few,Resolve, so stedfast, dwells. And by these words,If duly weigh'd, that argument is void,Which oft might have perplex'd thee still. But now[300]Another question thwarts thee, which, to solve,Might try thy patience without better aid.I have, no doubt, instill'd into thy mind,That blessed spirit may not lie; since nearThe source of primal truth it dwells for aye:And thou mightst after of Piccarda learnThat Constance held affection to the veil;So that she seems to contradict me here.Not seldom, brother, it hath chanced for menTo do what they had gladly left undone;Yet, to shun peril, they have done amiss:E'en as Alcmxon, at his father's" suitSlew his own mother; 12 so made pitiless,Not to lose pity. On this point bethink thee,That force and will are blended in such wiseAs not to make the offence excusable.Absolute will agrees not to the wrong;But inasmuch as there is fear of woeFrom non-compliance, it agrees. Of will 1*Thus absolute, Piccarda spake, and IOf the other; so that both have truly said."Such was the flow of that pure rill, that well'dFrom forth the fountain of all truth; and suchThe rest, that to my wandering thoughts I found."O thou, of primal love the prime delight,Goddess!" I straight replied, "whose lively wordsStill shed new heat and vigour through my soul;Affection fails me to requite thy graceWith equal sum of gratitude: be HisTo recompense, who sees and can reward thee.Well I discern, that by that Truth 14 aloneEnlighten'd, beyond which no truth may roam,Our mind can satisfy her thirst to know:Therein she resteth, e'en as in his lairThe wild beast, soon as she hath reach'd that bound.And she hath power to reach it; else desire[301]Were given to no end. And thence doth doubtSpring, like a shoot, around the stock of truth;And it is nature which, from height to height,On to the summit prompts us. This invites,This doth assure me, Lady! reverentlyTo ask thee of another truth, that yetIs dark to me. I fain would know, if manBy other works well done may so supplyThe failure of his vows, that in your scaleThey lack not weight." I spake; and on me straightBeatrice look'd, with eyes that shot forth sparksOf love celestial, in such copious stream,That, virtue sinking in me overpower'd,I turn'd; and downward bent, confused, my sight.
¶ARGUMENT . — The question proposed in the last Canto is answered. Dante ascends with Beatrice to the planet Mercury, which is the second heaven; and here he finds a multitude of spirits, one of whom offers to satisfy him of anything he may desire to know from them.
¶" TT F beyond earthly wont,1 the flame of loveI Illume me, so that I o'ercome thy powerM Of vision, marvel not: but learn the causeIn that perfection of the sight, which, soonAs apprehending, hasteneth on to reachThe good it apprehends. I well discern,How in thine intellect already shinesThe light eternal, which to view aloneNe'er fails to kindle love; and if aught elseYour love seduces, 'tis but that it showsSome ill-mark'd vestige of that primal beam."This wouldst thou know: if failure of the vowBy other service may be so supplied,As from self-question to assure the soul."Thus she her words, not heedless of my wish,Began; and thus, as one who breaks not off[302]Discourse, continued in her saintly strain."Supreme of gifts,1 which God, creating, gaveOf His free bounty, sign most evidentOf goodness, and in His account most prizedWas liberty of will; the boon, wherewithAll intellectual creatures, and them sole,He hath endow'd. Hence now thou mayst inferOf what high worth the vow, which so is framedThat when man offers, God well-pleased accepts:For in the compact between God and him,This treasure, such as I describe it to thee,He makes the victim; and of his own act.What compensation therefore may he find?If that, whereof thou hast oblation made,By using well thou think'st to consecrate,Thou wouldst of theft do charitable deed.Thus I resolve thee of the greater point."But forasmuch as holy Church, hereinDispensing, seems to contradict the truthI have discover'd to thee, yet behovesThou rest a little longer at the board,Ere the crude aliment which thou hast ta'en,Digested fitly, to nutrition turn.Open thy mind to what I now unfold;And give it inward keeping. Knowledge comesOf learning well retain'd, unfruitful else."This sacrifice, in essence, of two thingsConsisteth: one is that, whereof 'tis made;The covenant, the other.' For the last,[303]It ne'er is cancel'd, if not kept: and henceI spake, erewhile, so strictly of its force.For this it was enjoin'd the Israelites, 4 [changeThough leave were given them, as thou know'st, toThe offering, still to offer. The other part,The matter and the substance of the vow,May well be such, as that, without offence,It may for other substance be exchanged.But, at his own discretion, none may shiftThe burden on his shoulders; unreleasedBy either key, 5 the yellow and the white.Nor deem of any change, as less than vain,If the last bond 6 be not within the newIncluded, as the quatre in the six.No satisfaction therefore can be paidFor what so precious in the balance weighs,That all in counterpoise must kick the beam.Take then no vow at random: ta'en, with faithPreserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once,Blindly to execute a rash resolve,Whom better it had suited to exclaim,'I have done ill,' than to redeem his pledgeBy doing worse: or, not unlike to himIn folly, that great leader of the Greeks;Whence, on the altar, Iphigenia mourn'dHer virgin beauty, and hath since made mournBoth wise and simple, even all, who hearOf so fell sacrifice. Be ye more staid,O Christians! not, like feather, by each windRemovable; nor think to cleanse yourselvesIn every water. Either testament,The old and new, is yours: and for your guide,The shepherd of the Church. Let this sufficeTo save you. When by evil lust enticed,Remember ye be men, not senseless beasts;Nor let the Jew, who dwelleth in your streets,Hold you in mockery. Be not, as the lamb,That, fickle wanton, leaves its mother's milk,
p. 303¶*See Lev. c. xii. and xxvii. *If the thing substituted be not more 'Purgatory, Canto ix. 108. precious than the thing released.
p. 304¶To dally with itself in idle play."Such were the words that Beatrice spake:These ended, to that region, where the worldIs liveliest, full of fond desire she turn'd.Though mainly prompt new question to propose,Her silence and changed look did keep me dumb.And as the arrow, ere the cord is still,Leapeth unto its mark; so on we spedInto the second realm. There I beheldThe dame, so joyous, enter, that the orbGrew brighter at her smiles; and, if the starWere moved to gladness, what then was my cheer,Whom nature hath made apt for every change!As in a quiet and clear lake the fish,If aught approach them from without, do drawToward it, deeming it their food; so drewFull more than thousand splendours toward us;And in each one was heard: "Lo! one arrivedTo multiply our loves!" and as each came,The shadow, streaming forth effulgence new,Witness'd augmented joy. Here, Reader! think,If thou didst miss the sequel of my tale,To know the rest how sorely thou wouldst crave;And thou shalt see what vehement desirePossess'd me, soon as these had met my view,To know their state. "O born in happy hour!Thou, to whom grace vouchsafes, or e'er thy closeOf fleshly warfare, to behold the thronesOf that eternal triumph; know, to usThe light communicated, which through HeavenExpatiates without bound. Therefore, if aughtThou of our beams wouldst borrow for thine aid,Spare not; and, of our radiance, take thy fill."Thus of those piteous spirits one bespake me;And Beatrice next: "Say on; and trustAs unto gods."—"How in the light supremeThou harbour'st, and from thence the virtue bring'st,That, sparkling in thine eyes, denotes thy joy,I mark; but, who thou art, am still to seek;Or wherefore, worthy spirit! for thy lot
This sphere 7 assign'd, that oft from mortal kenIs veil'd by other's beams." I said; and turn'dToward the lustre, that with greeting kindErewhile had hail'd me. Forthwith, brighter farThan erst, it wax'd: and, as himself the sunHides through excess of light, when his warm gaze'Hath on the mantle of thick vapours prey'd;Within its proper ray the saindy shapeWas, through increase of gladness, thus conceal'd;And, shrouded so in splendour, answer'd me,E'en as the tenour of my song declares.Canto VI
¶ARGUMENT . — The spirit, who had offered to satisfy the inquiries of Dante, declares himself to be the Emperor Justinian; and after speaking of his own actions, recounts the victories, before him, obtained under the Roman Eagle. He then informs our Poet that the soul of Romeo the pilgrim is in the same star.
" A ^ ^ R that Constantine the eagle turn'd 1
¶/ % Against the motions of the Heaven, that roll'd
£ % Consenting with its course, when he of yore,Lavinia's spouse, was leader of the flight;A hundred years twice told and more, 2 his seatAt Europe's extreme point, 3 the bird of JoveHeld, near the mountains, whence he issued first;There under shadow of his sacred plumesSwaying the world, till through successive handsTo mine he came devolved. Caesar I wasAnd am Justinian; destined by the willOf that prime love, whose influence I feel,
¶7 "This sphere." The planet Mercury, along with the sun's course, when he which being nearest to the sun, is oftcnest passed from Troy to Italy.
¶hidden by that luminary. 1 " A hundred years twice told and
¶* "When his warm gaze." When the more." The Emperor Constantine ensun has dried up the vapors that shaded tered Byzantium in 324; and Justinian his brightness. began his reign in 527.
p. 306¶From vain excess to clear the incumber'd laws. 4Or e'er that work engaged me, I did holdIn Christ one nature only; 5 with such faithContented. But the blessed Agapete, 6Who was chief shepherd, he with warning voiceTo the true faith recall'd me. I believedHis words: and what he taught, now plainly see,As thou in every contradiction seestThe true and false opposed. Soon as my feetWere to the Church reclaim'd, to my great task,By inspiration of God's grace impell'd,I gave me wholly; and consign'd mine armsTo Belisarius, with whom Heaven's right handWas link'd in such conjointment, 'twas a signThat I should rest. To thy first question thusI shape mine answer, which were ended here,But that its tendency doth prompt perforceTo some addition; that thou well mayst mark,What reason on each side they have to plead,By whom that holiest banner is withstood,Both who pretend its power 7 and who oppose.""Beginning from that hour, when Pallas diedTo give it rule, behold the valorous deedsHave made it worthy reverence. Not unknownTo thee, how for three hundred years and moreIt dwelt in Alba, up to those fell listsWhere, for its sake, were met the rival three; 9Nor aught unknown to thee, which it achievedDown 1 0 from the Sabines' wrong to Lucrece' woe,With its seven kings conquering the nations round;Nor all it wrought, by Roman worthies borne'Gainst Brennus and the Epirot prince, 11 and hostsOf single chiefs, or states in league combined[307]Of social warfare: hence, Torquatus stern,And Quintius 12 named of his neglected locks,The Decii, and the Fabii hence acquiredTheir fame, which I with duteous zeal embalm.By it the pride of Arab hordes 13 was quell'd,When they, led on by Hannibal, o'erpass'dThe Alpine rocks, whence glide thy currents, Po!Beneath its guidance, in their prime of daysScipio and Pompey triumph'd; and that hill 14Under whose summit 15 thou didst see the light,Rued its stern bearing. After, near the hour, 18When Heaven was minded that o'er all the worldHis own deep calm should brood, to Caesar's handDid Rome consign it; and what then it wrought 17From Var unto the Rhine, saw Isere's flood,Saw Loire and Seine, and every vale, that fillsThe torrent Rhone. What after that it wrought,When from Ravenna it came forth, and leap'dThe Rubicon, was of so bold a flight,That tongue nor pen may follow it. Toward SpainIt wheel'd its bands, then toward Dyrrachium smote,And on Pharsalia, with so fierce a plunge,E'en the warm Nile was conscious to the pang;Its native shores Antandros, and the streamsOf Simois revisited, and thereWhere Hector lies; then ill for PtolemyHis pennons shook again; lightening thence fellOn Juba, and the next, upon your west,At sound of the Pompeian trump, return'd."What following, and in its next bearer's gripe, 1*It wrought, is now by Cassius and BrutusBark'd of in Hell; and by Perugia's sons,And Modena's, was mourn'd. Hence wcepeth still[308]Sad Cleopatra, who, pursued by it,Took from the adder black and sudden death.With him it ran e'en to the Red Sea coast;With him composed the world to such a peace,That of his temple Janus barr'd the door."But all the mighty standard yet had wrought,And was appointed to perform thereafter,Throughout the mortal kingdom which it sway'd,Falls in appearance dwindled and obscured,If one with steady eye and perfect thoughtOn the third Caesar 19 look; for to his hands,The living Justice, in whose breath I move,Committed glory, e'en into his hands,To execute the vengeance of its wrath."Hear now, and wonder at, what next I tell.After with Titus it was sent to wreakVengeance for vengeance of the ancient sin.And, when the Lombard tooth, with fang impure,Did gore the bosom of the holy Church,Under its wings, victorious Charlemain 20Sped to her rescue. Judge then for thyselfOf those, whom I erewhile accused to thee,What they are, and how grievous their offending,Who are the cause of all your ills. The one 21Against the universal ensign rearsThe yellow lilies; 22 and with partial aim,That, to himself, the other" arrogates:So that 'tis hard to see who most offends.Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your heartsBeneath another standard: ill is thisFollow'd of him, who severs it and justice:And let not with his Guelfs the new-crown'd Charles
p. 308¶'*. "The third Caesar." The eagle in long prior to that of Charlemagne; but the hand of Tiberius, the third of the the spirit of the former emperor is repreCarsars, outdid all its achievements, both sented, both in this instance and in what past and future, by becoming the instru follows, as conscious of the events that ment of that mighty and mysterious act had taken place after his own time.
¶of satisfaction made to the divine justice 1 1 "The one." The Guelf party.
¶in the crucifixion of our Lord. M The French ensign.
p. 309¶Assail it; 14 but those talons hold in dread,Which from a lion of more lofty portHave rent the casing. Many a time ere nowThe sons have for the sire's transgression wail'd:Nor let him trust the fond belief, that HeavenWill truck its armour for his lilied shield."This little star is furnish'd with good spirits,Whose mortal lives were busied to that end,That honour and renown might wait on them:And, when desires" thus err in their intention,True love must needs ascend with slacker beam.But it is part of our delight, to measureOur wages with the merit; and admireThe close proportion. Hence doth heavenly justiceTemper so evenly affection in us,It ne'er can warp to any wrongfulness.Of diverse voices is sweet music made:So in our life the different degreesRender sweet harmony among these wheels."Within the pearl, that now encloseth us,Shines Romeo's light, 26 whose goodly deed and fairMet ill acceptance. But the Provencals,That were his foes, have little cause for mirth.Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrongOf other's worth. Four daughters 27 were there bornTo Raymond Berenger; and every oneBecame a queen: and this for him did Romeo,Though of mean state and from a foreign land.[310]Yet envious tongues incited him to askA reckoning of that just one, who return'dTwelve fold to him for ten. Aged and poorHe parted thence: and if the world did knowThe heart he had, begging his life by morsels,Twould deem the praise, it yields him, scandy dealt."
¶ARGUMENT . — In consequence of what had been said by Justinian, who together with the other spirits has now disappeared, some doubts arise in the mind of Dante respecting the human redemption. These difficulties are fully explained by Beatrice.
¶" ~W~ JOSANNA 1 Sanctus Deus Sabaoth,M m Supertllustrans claritate tud•M- JL Felices ignes horum malahoth"Thus chanting saw I turn that substance bright, 1With fourfold lustre to its orb again,Revolving; and the rest, unto their dance,With it, moved also; and, like swiftest sparks,In sudden distance from my sight were veil'd.Me doubt possess'd; and "Speak," it whisper'd me,"Speak, speak unto thy lady; that she quenchThy thirst with drops of sweetness." Yet blank awe,Which lords it o'er me, even at the soundOf Beatrice's name, did bow me downAs one in slumber held. Not long that moodBeatrice suffer'd: she, with such a smile,As might have made one blest amid the flames,*Beaming upon me, thus her words began:"Thou in thy thought art pondering (as I deem,And what I deem is truth) how just revengeCould be with justice punish'd: from which doubtI soon will free thee; so thou mark my words;For they of weighty matter shall possess thee.Through suffering not a curb upon the powerThat will'd in him, to his own profiting,That man, who was unborn, 4 condemn'd himself;[311]And, in himself, all, who since him have lived,His offspring: whence, below, the human kindLay sick in grievous error many an age;Until it pleased the Word of God to comeAmongst them down, to His own person joiningThe nature from its Maker far estranged,By the mere act of His eternal love.Contemplate here the wonder I unfold:The nature with its Maker thus conjoin'd,Created first was blameless, pure and good;But, through itself alone, was driven forthFrom Paradise, because it had eschew'dThe way of truth and life, to evil turn'd.Ne'er then was penalty so just as thatInflicted by the Cross, if thou regardThe nature in assumption doom'd; ne'er wrongSo great, in reference to Him, who tookSuch nature on Him, and endured the doom.So different effects 5 flow'd from one act:For by one death God and the Jews were pleased;And Heaven was open'd, though the earth did quake.Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hearThat a just vengeance 6 was, by righteous court,Justly revenged. But yet I see thy mind,By thought on thought arising, sore perplex'd;And, with how vehement desire, it asksSolution of the maze. What I have heard,Is plain, thou sayst: but wherefore God this wayFor our redemption chose, eludes my search."Brother! no eye of man not perfected,Nor fully ripen'd in the flame of love,May fathom this decree. It is a mark,In sooth, much aim'd at, and but little kenn'd:And I will therefore show thee why such way[312]Was worthiest. The celestial Love, that spurnsAll envying in its bounty, in itselfWith such effulgence blazeth, as sends forthAll beauteous things eternal. What distilsImmediate thence, no end of being knows;Bearing its seal immutably imprest.Whatever thence immediate falls, is free,Free wholly, uncontrollable by powerOf each thing new: by such conformityMore grateful to its Author, whose bright beams,Though all partake their shining, yet in thoseAre liveliest, which resemble Him the most.These tokens of pre-eminence1 on manLargely bestow'd, if any of them fail,He needs must forfeit his nobility,No longer stainless. Sin alone is that,Which doth disfranchise him, and make unlikeTo the Chief Good; for that its light in himIs darken'd. And to dignity thus lostIs no return; unless, where guilt makes void,He for ill pleasure pay with equal pain.Your nature, which entirely in its seedTransgress'd, from these distinctions fell, no lessThan from its state in Paradise; nor meansFound of recovery (search all methods outAs strictly as thou may) save one of these,The only fords were left through which to wade:Either, that God had of His courtesyReleased him merely; or else, man himselfFor his own folly by himself atoned."Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst,On the everlasting counsel; and explore,Instructed by my words, the dread abyss."Man in himself had ever lack'd the meansOf satisfaction, for he could not stoopObeying, in humility so low,As high, he, disobeying, thought to soar:[313]And, for this reason, he had vainly tried,Out of his own sufficiency to payThe rigid satisfaction. Then behovedThat God should by His own ways lead him backUnto the life, from whence he fell, restored;By both His ways, I mean, or one alone."But since the deed is ever prized the more,The more the doer's good intent appears;Goodness celestial, whose broad signatureIs on the universe, of all its waysTo raise ye up, was fain to leave out none.Nor aught so vast or so magnificent,Either for Him who gave or who received,Between the last night and the primal day,Was or can be. For God more bounty show'd,Giving Himself to make man capableOf his return to life, than had the termsBeen mere and unconditional release.And for His justice, every method elseWere all too scant, had not the Son of GodHumbled Himself to put on mortal flesh."Now, to content thee fully, I revert;And further in some part1 unfold my speech,That thou mayst see it clearly as myself."I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see,The earth and water, and all things of themCompounded, to corruption turn, and soonDissolve. Yet these were also things create.Because, if what were told me, had been true,They from corruption had been therefore free."The Angels, O my brother! and this climeWherein thou art, impassable and pure,I call created, even as they are
p. 313¶•Either by mercy and justice united ately from God, but from a virtue or or by mercy alone. power created by God; that the soul of
p. 314¶In their whole being. But the elements,Which thou hast named, and what of them is made,Are by created virtue inform'd: create,Their substance; and create, the informing virtueIn these bright stars, that round them circling move.The soul of every brute and of each plant,The ray and motion of the sacred lights,Draw from complexion with meet power endued.But this our life the Eternal Good inspiresImmediate, and enamours of itself;So that our wishes rest for ever here."And hence thou mayst by inference concludeOur resurrection certain, if thy mindConsider how the human flesh was framed,When both our parents at the first were made."
Canto VIII
¶ARGUMENT . — The Poet ascends with Beatrice to the third heaven, the planet Venus; and here finds the soul of Charles Martel, King of Hungary, who had been Dante's friend on earth, and who now, after speaking of the realms to which he was heir, unfolds the cause why children differ in disposition from their parents.
¶HE world 1 was, in its day of peril dark,TWont to believe the dotage of fond love,From the fair Cyprian deity, who rollsIn her third epicycle, shed on menBy stream of potent radiance: therefore theyOf elder time, in their old error blind,Not her alone with sacrifice adoredAnd invocation, but like honours paidTo Cupid and Dione, deem'd of themHer mother, and her son, him whom they feign'dTo sit in Dido's bosom: and from her,Whom I have sung preluding, borrow'd theyThe appellation of that star, which views
¶' The Poet, on his arrival at the third Venus, they paid divine honors; as they Heaven, tells us that the world, in its worshipped the supposed mother and son days of heathen darkness, believed the of Venus, under the names of Dione and influence of sensual love to proceed from Cupid.
p. 315¶Now obvious, and now averse, the sun.I was not ware that I was wafted upInto its orb; but the new loveliness,That graced my lady, gave me ample proofThat we had enter'd there. And as in flameA sparkle is distinct, or voice in voiceDiscern'd, when one its even tenour keeps,The other comes and goes; so in that lightI other luminaries saw, that coursedIn circling motion, rapid more or less,As their eternal vision each impels.Never was blast from vapour charged with cold,Whether invisible to eye or no,Descended with such speed, it had not seem'dTo linger in dull tardiness, comparedTo those celestial lights, that toward us came,Leaving the circuit of their joyous ring,Conducted by the lofty Seraphim.And after them, who in the van appear'd,Such an Hosanna sounded as hath leftDesire, ne'er since extinct in me, to hearRenew'd the strain. Then, parting from the rest,One near us drew, and sole began: "We allAre ready at thy pleasure, well disposedTo do thee gentle service. We are theyTo whom thou in the world erewhile didst sing;'O yel whose intellectual ministryMoves the third Heaven:' and in one orb we roll,One motion, one impulse, with those who rulePrincedoms in Heaven; yet are of love so full,That to please thee 'twill be as sweet to rest."After mine eyes had with meek reverenceSought the celestial guide, and were by herAssured, they turn'd again unto the light,Who had so largely promised; and with voiceThat bare the lively pressure of my zeal,"Tell who ye are," I cried. Forthwith it grewIn size and splendour, through augmented joy;And thus it answer'd: "A short date, below,
The world possess'd me. 2 Had the time been more,Much evil, that will come, had never chanced.My gladness hides thee from me, which doth shineAround, and shroud me, as an animalIn its own silk enswathed. Thou lovedst me well,*And hadst good cause; for had my sojourningBeen longer on the earth, the love I bare theeHad put forth more than blossoms. The left bank, 4That Rhone, when he hath mix'd with Sorga, laves,In me its lord expected, and that hornOf fair Ausonia, 5 with its boroughs old,Bari, and Croton, and Gaeta piled,From where the Trento disembogues his wavesWith Verde mingled, to the salt-sea flood.Already on my temples beam'd the crown,Which gave me sovereignty over the land'By Danube wash'd, whenas he strays beyondThe limits of his German shores. The realm,Where, on the gulf by stormy Eurus lash'd,Betwixt Pelorus and Pachynian heights,The beautiful Trinacria 7 lies in gloom,(Not through Typhceus," but the vapoury cloudBituminous upsteam'd), that too did lookTo have its sceptre wielded by a race [ Rodolph,*Of monarchs, sprung through me from Charles andHad not ill-lording, 10 which doth desperate make
¶1 The spirit now speaking is Charles 4 " The left bank." Provence.
¶Martel, crowned King of Hungary, and 5 The kingdom of Naples,
¶son of Charles II, King of Naples and * "The land." Hungary.
¶Sicily, to which throne, dying in his 7 Sicily; so called from its three prom-father's lifetime, he did not succeed. The ontories of which Pachynus and Peloevil, that would have been prevented by rus, here mentioned, are two.
¶the longer life of Charles Martel, was 8 The giant, whom Jupiter ovcrthat resistance which his brother Robert, whelmed under Mount ;£tna, whence he King of Sicily, who succeeded him, made vomited forth smoke and flame,
¶to the Emperor Henry VII. 9 "Sicily would be still ruled by mon-
¶1 Charles Martel might have been archs, descended through me from known to our Poet at Florence, whither Charles I and Rodolph I, the former my he came to meet his father in 1259, the grandfather. King of Naples and Sicily; year of his death. G. Villani says that the latter, Emperor of Germany, my "he remained more than twenty days in father-in-law;" both celebrated in the Florence, waiting for his father, King "Purgatory," Canto vii.
¶Charles, and his brothers." Lib. vii. cap. 1 0 If the ill-conduct of our governors xiii. His brother Robert, King of Naples, in Sicily had not excited the people to that was the friend of Petrarch. dreadful massacre at the Sicilian vespers
The people ever, in Palermo raisedThe shout of 'death,' re-echoed loud and long.Had but my brother's foresight" kenn'd as much,He had been warier, that the greedy wantOf Catalonia might not work his bale.And truly need there is that he forecast,Or other for him, lest more freight be laid
Nature in him, from bounty fallen to thrift,Would ask the guard of braver arms, than suchAs only care to have their coffers fill'd.""My liege! it doth enhance the joy thy words
To think my gladness manifest to thee,As to myself, who own it, when thou look'stInto the source and limit of all good,There, where thou markest that which thou dost speak,Thence prized of me the more. Glad thou hast made
Thy speech hath raised in me; for much I muse,How bitter can spring up, 12 when sweet is sown."I thus inquiring; he forthwith replied:"If I have power to show one truth, soon thatShall face thee, which thy questioning declaresBehind thee now conceal'd. The Good," that guides
¶in consequence of which ihe kingdom fell first, or the Creator of them should fail. into the hands of Peter III of Arragon, To this Dante replies, that Nature, he in 1282. is satisfied, thus directed must do her
¶" He seems to tax his brother Robert part. Charles Martel then reminds him with employing necessitous and greedy that he had learned from Aristotle that Catalonians to administer the affairs of his human society requires a variety of conkingdom. ditions, and consequently a variety of
¶" " How a covetous son can spring qualifications in its members. Accordfrom a liberal father." Yet that father ingly, men are born with different powers has himself been accused of avarice in the and capacities, caused by the influence of "Purgatory," Canto xx. 78; though his the heavenly bodies at the time of their general character was that of a boun nativity; on which influence, and not on teous prince. their parents, those powers and capacities
¶" The Supreme Being uses these depend. Charles Martel adds, by way of spheres as the intelligent instruments of corollary, that the want of observing their His providence in the conduct of ter n.itural bent, in the destination of men to restrial natures; so that these natures can their several offices in life, is the occasion not but be conducted aright, unless these of much of the disorder that prevails in heavenly bodies should themselves fail the world.
p. 318¶And blessed makes this realm which thou dost mount,Ordains its providence to be the virtueIn these great bodies: nor the natures onlyThe all-perfect Mind provides for, but with themThat which preserves them too; for naught, that liesWithin the range of that unerring bow,But is as level with the destined aim,As ever mark to arrow's point opposed.Were it not thus, these Heavens, thou dost visit,Would their effect so work, it would not beArt, but destruction; and this may not chance,If the intellectual powers, that move these stars,Fail not, and who, first faulty made them, fail.Wilt thou this truth more clearly evidenced?"To whom I thus: "It is enough: no fear,I see, lest nature in her part should tire."He straight rejoin'd: "Say, were it worse for man,If he lived not in fellowship on earth?""Yea," answer'd I; "nor here a reason needs.""And may that be, if different estatesGrow not of different duties in your life?Consult your teacher, 1* and he tells you 'no.'"Thus did he come, deducing to this point,And then concluded: "For this cause behoves,The roots, from whence your operations come,Must differ. Therefore one is Solon born;Another, Xerxes; and MelchisedecA third; and he a fourth, whose airy voyageCost him his son." In her circuitous course,Nature, that is the seal to mortal wax,Doth well her art, but no distinction owns'Twixt one or other household. Hence befalsThat Esau is so wide of Jacob: henceQuirinus" of so base a father springs,
¶M Aristotle, De Rep., lib. iii. cap. 4: of all these, and besides these of other Since a state is made up of members dissimilar kinds); it necessarily follows differing from one another (for even as that the excellence of all the members of an animal, in the first instance, consists the state cannot be one and the same,
¶of soul and body; and the soul, of reason " Daedalus.
¶and desire; and a family, of man and 1 6 "Quirinus." Romulus, born of so woman; and property, of master and obscure a father that his parentage was slave; in like manner a state consists both attributed to Mars.
p. 319¶He dates from Mars his lineage. Were it notThat Providence celestial overruled,Nature, in generation, must the pathTraced by the generator still pursueUnswervingly. Thus place I in thy sightThat, which was late behind thee. But, in signOf more affection for thee, 'tis my willThou wear this corollary. Nature ever,Finding discordant fortune, like all seedOut of its proper climate, thrives but ill.And were the world below content to markAnd work on the foundation nature lays,I would not lack supply of excellence.But ye perversely to religion strainHim, who was born to gird on him the sword,And of the fluent phraseman make your king:Therefore your steps have wander'd from the path."
Canto IX
¶ARGUMENT . — The next spirit who converses with our Poet in the planet Venus is the amorous Cunizza. To her succeeds Folco, or Folques, the Provencal bard, who declares that the soul of Rahab the harlot is there also; and then, blaming the Pope for his neglect of the Holy Land, prognosticates some reverse to the papal power.
¶A" Said he, "and let the destined years come round." L FTER solution of my doubt, thy Charles, _That must befal his seed; but, "Tell it not,"O fair Clemenza, 1 of the treachery 2 spake,
¶Nor may I tell thee more, save that the meedOf sorrow well-deserved shall quit your wrongs.And now the visage of that saindy light 5Was to the sun, that fills it, turn'd again,As to the good, whose plenitude of blissSufficeth all. O ye misguided souls!Infatuate, who from such a good estrangeYour hearts, and bend your gaze on vanity,Alas for you!—And lo! toward me, next,
Firmly upon me, manifested forthApproval of my wish. "And O," I cried,"Blest spirit! quickly be my will perform'd;And prove thou to me, 4 that my inmost thoughtsI can reflect on thee." Thereat the light,That yet was new to me, from the recess,Where it before was singing, thus began,As one who joys in kindness: "In that part 5Of the depraved Italian land, which liesBetween Rialto and the fountain springsOf Brenta and of Piava, there doth rise,
From whence erewhile a firebrand did descend,That sorely shent the region. From one rootI and it sprang; my name on earth Cunizza: 8And here I glitter, for that by its lightThis star o'ercame me. Yet I naught repine, 7Nor grudge myself the cause of this my lot:Which haply vulgar hearts can scarce conceive."This 8 jewel, that is next me in our Heaven,Lustrous and costly, great renown hath left,And not to perish, ere these hundred years
¶4 The thoughts of all created minds of Padua. She eloped from her first husbeing seen by the Deity, and all that is in band, Richard of St. Boniface, in the the Deity being the object of vision to company of Sordello, with whom she is beatified spirits, such spirits must con- supposed to have cohabited before her sequcntly see the thoughts of all created marriage: then lived with a soldier of minds. Dante, therefore, requests of the Trcvigi, whose wife was living at the spirit, who now approaches him, a proof same time in the same city; and, on his of this truth with regard to his own being murdered by her brother the tyrant, thoughts. See v. 70. was by her brother married to a noble-
¶8 Between Rialto in the Venetian terri- man of Braganzo: lastly, when he also tory, and the sources of the rivers Brenta had fallen by the same hand, she after and Piava, is situated a castle called her brother's death, was again wedded Romano, the birthplace of the famous in Verona.
¶tyrant F.zzolino or Azzolino, the brother 7 "I am not dissatisfied that I am not of Cunizza, who is now speaking. See allotted a higher place."
¶Hell, Canto xii. v. 110. 8 "This." Folco of Genoa, a celebrated
¶8 "Cunizza." The adventures of Cuniz- Provencal poet, commonly termed Folques za, overcome by the influence of her star, of Marseilles, of which place he was per-are related by the chronicler Rolandino, haps bishop.
Five times* absolve their round. Consider thou,If to excel be worthy man's endeavour,When such life may attend the first. 10 Yet theyCare not for this, the crowd" that now are girt
Impenitent, though scourged. The hour is near 1*When for their stubbornness, at Padua's marshThe water shall be changed, that laves Vicenza.And where Cagnano meets with Sile, one 13Lords it, and bears his head aloft, for whomThe web 14 is now a-warping. Feltro 15 tooShall sorrow for its godless shepherd's fault,Of so deep stain, that never, for the like,Was Malta's 16 bar unclosed. Too large should beThe skillet' 7 that would hold Ferrara's blood,And wearied he, who ounce by ounce would weigh it,The which this priest, 18 in show of party-zeal,Courteous will give; nor will the gift ill suitThe country's custom. We descry aboveMirrors, ye call them Thrones, from which to usReflected shine the judgments of our God:Whence these our sayings we avouch for good."She ended; and appear'd on other thoughts
¶• The 500 years arc elapsed. them up; so that they were reconducted
¶' " When the mortal life of man may to that city, and the greater part of be attended by so lasting and glorious a them there put to death.
¶memory, which is a kind of second life. 1 8 "Malta's." A tower, either in the
¶1 1 The people who inhabited the coun citadel of Padua, which, under the try bounded by the Tagliamento to the tyranny of Ezzolino, had been "with cast and Adice to the west. many a foul and midnight murder fed";
¶" Cunizza foretells the defeat of Gia- or (as some say) near a river of the same copo da Carrara and the Paduans, by Can name, that falls into the Lake of Bolsena, Grande, at Vicenza, on September 18, in which the Pope was accustomed to im1314. prison such as had been guilty of an
¶1 3 "One." She predicts also the fate of irremissiblc sin.
¶Riccardo da Camino, who is said to have 1 7 "The skillet." The blood shed could been murdered at Trcvigi (where the not be contained in such a vessel, if it rivers Sile and Cagnano meet) where he were of the usual size.
¶was engaged in playing at chess. " The bishop,who, to show himself a
¶1 4 "The web." The net, or snare, into zealous partisan of the Pope, had comwhich he is destined to fall. mitted the above-mentioned act of treach
¶" The Bishop of Feltro having received ery. The commentators are not agreed a number of fugitives from Ferrara, who as to his name. Troya calls him Aleswere in opposition to the Pope, under a sand ro Novello, and relates the circumpromise of protection, afterward gave stances at full.
p. 322¶Intent, re-entering on the wheel she lateHad left. That other joyance meanwhile wax'dA thing to marvel at, in splendour glowing,Like choicest ruby stricken by the sun.For, in that upper clime, effulgence 13 comesOf gladness, as here laughter: and below,As the mind saddens, murkier grows the shade."God seeth all: and in Him is thy sight,"Said I, "blest spirit! Therefore will of HisCannot to thee be dark. Why then delaysThy voice to satisfy my wish untold;That voice, which joins the inexpressive song,Pastime of Heaven, the which those Ardours sing,That cowl them with six shadowing wings 20 outspread?I would not wait thy asking, wert thou knownTo me, as throughly I to thee am known."He, forthwith answering, thus his words began:"The valley of waters, 21 widest next to that 22Which doth the earth engarland, shapes its course,Between discordant shores, 23 against the sunInward so far, it makes meridian 24 there,Where was before the horizon. Of that valeDwelt I upon the shore, 'twixt Ebro's streamAnd Macra's, 21 that divides with passage briefGenoan bounds from Tuscan. East and westAre nearly one to Begga 28 and my landWhose haven 27 erst was with its own blood warm.Who knew my name, were wont to call me Folco;And I did bear impression of this Heaven, 2"
¶" As joy is expressed by laughter on when it enters the Straits of Gibraltar. earth, so is it by an increase of splendor 2 8 Ebro, a river to the west, and Macra, in Paradise; and, on the contrary, grief a river to the east, of Genoa, where Folco is betokened in Hell by augmented dark was born; others think that Marseilles, ness. and not Genoa, is here described; and
p. 323¶That now bears mine: for not with fiercer flameGlow'd Belus' daughter, 28 injuring alikeSichzus and Creusa, than did I,Long as it suited the unripen'd downThat fledged my cheek; nor she of Rhodope, 80That was beguiled of Demophoon;Nor Jove's son," when the charms of IoleWere shrined within his heart. And yet there bidesNo sorrowful repentance here, but mirth,Not for the fault, (that doth not come to mind,)But for the virtue, whose o'erruling swayAnd providence have wrought thus quaindy. HereThe skill is look'd into, that fashionethWith such effectual working, and the goodDiscern'd, accruing to the lower worldFrom this above. But fully to contentThy wishes all that in this sphere have birth,Demands my further parle. Inquire thou wouldst,Who of this light is denizen, that hereBeside me sparkles, as the sunbeam dothOn the clear wave. Know then, the soul of Rahab**Is in that gladsome harbour; to our tribeUnited, and the foremost rank assign'd.She to this Heaven, 33 at which the shadow endsOf your sublunar world, was taken up,First, in Christ's triumph, of all souls redeem'd:For well behoved, that, in some part of Heaven,She should remain a trophy, to declareThe mighty conquest won with either palm; 34For that she favour'd first the high exploitOf Joshua on the Holy Land, whereofThe Pope 31 recks little now. Thy city, plantOf him, 36 that on his Maker turn'd the back,And of whose envying so much woe hath sprung,
¶** "Belus' daughter." Dido. shadow of the earth ends (Almagest)
Engenders and expands the cursed flower,' 7That hath made wander both the sheep and lambs,Turning the shepherd to a wolf. For this,The Gospel and great teachers laid aside,The decretals," as their stuft margins show,Are the sole study. Pope and Cardinals,Intent on these, ne'er journey but in thoughtTo Nazareth, where Gabriel oped his wings.Yet it may chance, ere long, the Vatican,"And other most selected parts of Rome,That were the grave of Peter's soldiery,Shall be deliver'd from the adulterous bond."Canto X
¶ARGUMENT . — Their next ascent carries them into the sun, which is the fourth heaven. Here they are encompassed with a wreath of blessed spirits, twelve in number. Thomas Aquinas, who is one of these, declares the names and endowments of the rest. I Can roam, hath in such order all disposed, OOKING into His First-Born with the Love, J Which breathes from both eternal, the first Might Ineffable, wherever eye or mind
As none may see and fail to enjoy. Raise, then,O reader! to the lofty wheels, with me,Thy ken directed to the point, 1 whereatOne motion strikes on the other. There beginThy wonder of the mighty Architect,
¶, 7 The coin of Florence, the florin; the ** He alludes either to the death of covetous desire of which has excited the Pope Boniface VIII or to the coming of Pope to so much evil. the Emperor Henry VII into Italy; or else
¶M " The decretals." The canon law. So to the transfer of the Holy See from in the " D e Monarchil," lib. iii. p. 1 3 7 : Rome to Avignon, which took place in "There are also a third set, whom they the pontificate of Clement V .
¶call Decretalists. These, alike ignorant of 1 To that part of heaven where the theology and philosophy, relying wholly equinoctial circle and the Zodiac intersect on their decretals (which I indeed esteem each other, where the common motion of not unworthy of reverence), in the hope the heavens from cast to west may be I suppose of obtaining for them a para said to strike with greatest force against mount influence, derogate from the the motion proper to the planets, and authority of the empire. Nor is this to this repercussion, as it were, is here the be wondered at, when I have heard one strongest, because the velocity of each is of them impudently maintaining, that increased to the utmost by their respectraditions are the foundation of the faith tive distances from the poles.
p. 325¶Who loves His work so inwardly, His eyeDoth ever watch it. See, how thence oblique*Brancheth the circle, where the planets rollTo pour their wished influence on the world;Whose path not bending thus, in Heaven above*Much virtue would be lost, and here on earthAll power well-nigh extinct: or, from directWere its departure distant more or less,I' the universal order, great defectMust, both in Heaven and here beneath, ensue.Now rest thee, reader! on thy bench, and museAnticipative of the feast to come;So shall delight make thee not feel thy toil.Lo! I have set before thee; for thyselfFeed now: the matter I indite, henceforthDemands entire my thought. Join'd with the part, 4Which late we told of, the great minister 5Of nature, that upon the world imprintsThe virtue of the Heaven, and doles outTime for us with his beam, went circling onAlong the spires, 6 where 7 each hour sooner comes;And I was with him, weetless of ascent,But as a man, 6 that weets his thought, ere thinking.For Beatrice, she who passeth onSo suddenly from good to better, timeCounts not the act, oh then how great must needsHave been her brightness! What there was i' th' sun,(Where I had enter'd,) not through change of hue,But light transparent—did I summon upGenius, art, practice—I might not so speak,It should be e'er imagined: yet believed
¶' " Oblique . " The Zodiac. 4 The intersection of the equinoctial
p. 326¶It may be, and the sight be justly craved.And if our fantasy fail of such height,What marvel, since no eye above the sunHath ever travel'd? Such are they dwell here,Fourth family 9 of the Omnipotent Sire,Who of His Spirit and of His Offspring 10 shows;And holds them still enraptured with the view.And thus to me Beatrice: "Thank, oh thankThe Sun of Angels, Him, who by His graceTo this perceptible hath lifted thee."Never was heart in such devotion bound,And with complacency so absoluteDisposed to render up itself to God,As mine was at those words: and so entireThe love for Him, that held me, it eclipsedBeatrice in oblivion. Nought displeasedWas she, but smiled thereat so joyously,That of her laughing eyes the radiance brakeAnd scatter'd my collected mind abroad.Then saw I a bright band, in livelinessSurpassing, who themselves did make the crown,And us their centre: yet more sweet in voice,Than, in their visage, beaming. Cinctured thus,Sometime Latona's daughter we behold,When the impregnate air retains the threadThat weaves her zone. In the celestial court,Whence I return, are many jewels found,So dear and beautiful, they cannot brookTransporting from that realm: and of these lightsSuch was the song." Who doth not prune his wingTo soar up thither, let him 12 look from thenceFor tidings from the dumb. When, singing thus,Those burning suns had circled round us thrice,As nearest stars around the fixed pole;Then seem'd they like to ladies, from the danceNot ceasing, but suspense, in silent pause,
¶• " Fourth family." The inhabitants of 1 1 The song of these spirits was like a the sun, the fourth planet. jewel so highly prized that the exporta
Listening, till they have caught the strain anew:Suspended so they stood: and, from within,Thus heard I one, who spake: "Since with its beamThe Grace, whence true love lighteth first his flame,That after doth increase by loving, shinesSo multiplied in thee, it leads thee upAlong this ladder, down whose hallow'd stepsNone e'er descend, and mount them not again;Who from his phial should refuse thee wineTo slake thy thirst, no less constrained 13 were,Than water flowing not unto the sea.
¶Thou fain wouldst hear, what plants are these, that bloom
In the bright garland, which, admiring, girds
¶This fair dame round, who strengthens thee for Heaven.
I, then," was of the lambs, that DominicLeads, for his saintly flock, along the wayWhere well they thrive, not swoln with vanity.He, nearest on my right hand, brother was,And master to me: Albert of Cologne 15Is this; and, of Aquinum, Thomas 16 I.If thou of all the rest wouldst be assured,Let thine eye, waiting on the words I speak,In circuit journey round the blessed wreath.That next resplendence issues from the smileOf Gratian, 17 who to either forum 18 lent
¶1 3 " The rivers might as easily cease to reported to have said, " Take but Thomas flow toward the sea, as we could deny away, and I will overturn the Church of thee thy request." Rome"; and whom Hooker terms "the 1 4 "I was of the Dominican order." greatest among the school divines"—
¶1 4 Albertus Magnus was born at Laugin- ( " E c d . Pol." b. iii. § 9 ) , was born of gen, in Thuringia, in 1193. and studied noble parents, who anxiously but vainly at Paris and at Padua; at the latter place endeavored to divert him from a life of he entered into the Dominican order. He celibacy and study. He died in 1274, at then taught theology in various parts of the age of forty-seven.
¶Germany, and particularly at Cologne. 1 7 "Gratian." Gratian, a Benedictine Thomas Aquinas was his favorite pupil. monk belonging to the convent of St, In 1260 he reluctantly accepted the Felix and Nabor, at Bologna, and by birth bishopric of Ratisbon, and in two years a Tuscan, composed, about the year 1130, after resigned it, and returned to his cell for the use of the schools, an abridgement in Cologne, where the remainder of his or epitome of canon law, drawn from the life was passed in superintending the letters of the pontiffs, the decrees of counschool, and in composing his voluminous cils and the writings of the ancient works on divinity and natural science. He doctors.
¶died in 1280. 1 8 "To either forum." By reconciling
¶1 6 Thomas Aquinas, of whom Bucer is the civil with the canon law.
Such help, as favour wins in Paradise.The other, nearest, who adorns our quire,Was Peter, 19 he that with the widow gaveTo holy Church his treasure. The fifth light, 10Goodliest of all, is by such love inspired,That all your world craves tidings of his doom:"Within, there is a lofty light, endow'dWith sapience so profound, if truth be truth,That with a ken of such wide amplitudeNo second hath arisen. Next beholdThat taper's radiance, 22 to whose view was shown,Clearliest, the nature and the ministryAngelical, while yet in flesh it dwelt.In the other little light serenely smilesThat pleader 2 J for the Christian temples, he,Who did provide Augustin of his lore.Now, if thy mind's eye pass from light to light,Upon my praises following, of the eighth 2'Thy thirst is next. The saindy soul, that showsThe world's deceitfulness, to all who hear him,Is, with the sight of all the good that is,Blest there. The limbs, whence it was driven, lie
¶1 8 "Peter." Pietro Lombardo was of ob out for Dionysius the Areopagite, disciple scure origin, nor is the place of his birth of St. Paul, and who, under the protecin Lombardy ascertained. With a recom tion of this venerable name, gave laws mendation from the Bishop of Lucca to and instructions to those that were deSt. Bernard, he went into France to con sirous of raising their souls above all tinue his studies; and for that purpose re human things, in order to unite them to mained some time at Rheims, whence he their great source by sublime contemplaproceeded to Paris. Here his reputation tion, lived most probably in the fourth was so great that Philip, brother of Louis century." Maclainc's Moshcim.
¶VII, being chosen Bishop of Paris, re 2 5 "That pleader." In the fifth century, signed that dignity to Pietro, whose pupil Paulus Orosius "acquired a considerable he had been. He held his bishopric only degree of reputation by the history he one year, and died 1160. His "Liber wrote to refute the cavils of the Pagans Sententiarum" is highly esteemed. It con against Christianity, and by his books tains a system of scholastic theology, against the Pelagians and Priscillianists." much more complete than any which had Ibid.
¶been yet seen. 2 4 Boetius, whose book "de Conso- 1 0 " The fifth light." Solomon. latione Philosophiar," excited so much at
¶"His doom." It was a common ques tention during the Middle Ages, was born tion, it seems, whether Solomon were about 470. "In 524 he was cruelly put saved or no. to death by Thcodoric, cither on real or
¶2 2 St. Dionysius, the Areopagite. " The pretended suspicion of his being engaged famous Grecian fanatic, who gave himself in a conspiracy." Delia Lett. Ital.