The Glory of Him who moveth everything,
penetrates all the Universe, and shines
more brightly in one part, and elsewhere less.
Within the Heaven which most receives His Light
I was; and saw what he who thence descends
neither knows how, nor hath the power, to tell;
for as it draweth near to its Desire,
our intellect so deeply sinks therein,
that recollection cannot follow it.
As much, however, of the holy Realm
as in my memory I could treasure up,
shall now become the subject of my song.
O Good Apollo, for my final task
make me as worthy a vessel of Thy Power,
as Thou dost ask for Thy dear laurel’s gift.
One of Parnassus’ peaks hath hitherto
sufficed me; but with both of them I now
must start upon the course which still remains.
Enter my breast, and breathe Thou as of old
Thou didst, when from the scabbard of his limbs
Thou drewest Marsyas forth.

O Power Divine,
if Thou but lend Thyself to me so much,
that I may show the blessèd Kingdom’s shadow
which in my mind is stamped; to Thy dear tree
Thou ’lt see me come, and crown me with the leaves
my theme and Thou shall cause me to deserve.
So seldom, Father, are there any picked,
to grace a Caesar’s or a Poet’s triumph,
(the fault of human wills, and to their shame),
that His Peneian leaf should bring forth joy
within the Joyous Delphic Deity,
when for itself it causes one to thirst.
A great flame follows from a little spark;
perhaps with better voices after me
shall men so pray, that Cyrrha will reply.
For mortal men the lantern of the world
rises through divers passes; but from that
which with three crosses brings four rings together,
it issues on a more propitious course,
and in conjunction with a kinder star,
and more in its own image moulds and seals
the mundane wax. A pass almost like this
had made it morning there and evening here;
and all that hemisphere was white, and black
the other side; when Beatrice I saw
turned toward her left, and looking at the sun;
no eagle ever gazed at it so keenly.

And even as from the first a second ray
is wont to come, and upward start again,
as would a pilgrim longing to return;
even so to her act, by mine eyes infused
through my imagination, mine conformed;
and on the sun I gazed beyond our wont.
Much is permitted there, which is not here
allowed our faculties, thanks to the site
created as the human race’s home.
Not long did I endure it, nor so briefly,
as not to see it sparkle all around,
as molten iron doth, when out of fire
it issues boiling; day then all at once
seemed joined to day, as if the One who can
had with another sun adorned the sky.
With eyes fixed wholly on the eternal wheels
stood Beatrice; and I on her fixed mine,
from there above removed. Looking at her,
I such became within, as Glaucus did
on tasting of the herb, which in the sea
made him a fellow of the other Gods.
Transhumanizing could not be expressed
by words; let this case, therefore, him suffice,
for whom Grace holds experience in reserve.
If I, O Love that rulest Heaven, was only
that part of me, which Thou didst last create,
Thou know’st, that with Thy Light didst raise me up.

When the rotation Thou, by being longed for,
dost make eternal, drew me to itself
by harmonies distributed and tuned
by Thee, it seemed that so much of the sky
was by the sun’s flame set on fire, that rain
nor river ever made so broad a lake.
The newness of the sound, and brilliant light
kindled in me a wish to know their cause,
never with so great keenness felt; whence she,
who saw me ev’n as I behold myself,
opened her mouth to calm my troubled mind,
ere I did mine to question, and began:
“With false imagining dost thou so dull
thyself, that thou perceivest not what else
thou wouldst perceive, if thou hadst thrown it off.
Thou ’rt not on earth, as thou dost think thyself;
but lightning fleeing from its proper place
ne’er ran as thou, that art thereto returning.”
If I was by her little smiled-out words
of my first doubt relieved, within a new one
was I the more ensnared; I therefore said:
“Already sated, I had found repose
from great amazement; but I wonder now
how I can these light elements transcend.”
Heaving, thereat, a pitying sigh, she turned
her eyes upon me with the look a mother
gives her delirious child; and then began:

“All things, whate’er they be, an order have
among themselves; and form this order is,
which makes the Universe resemble God.
Therein exalted creatures see the trace
of that Eternal Worth, which is the end
for which the mentioned order is created.
Within the ordered state whereof I speak,
all natures have their place with different lots,
as nearer to their source they are, or less;
wherefore toward different ports they wend their way
through the vast sea of being, each endowed
with instinct, granted it to bear it on.
This instinct toward the moon impelleth fire;
this is the motive force in mortal hearts;
this binds together and unites the earth;
nor doth this bow impel those creatures only
which lack intelligence, but those that have
intelligence and love. The Providence
which ordereth all this, with Its own Light
e’er calms the heaven, inside of which revolves
the one that moveth with the greatest speed.
And thither now, as to a place ordained,
that bowstring’s power is bearing us along,
which to a glad mark speeds whate’er it shoots.
’T is true that, as a form is frequently
discordant with the intention of an art,
because its matter in response is deaf;

so likewise from this natural course at times
a creature turns away; for power it hath,
though thus impelled, to bend aside elsewhere,
(as one may see fire falling from a cloud),
if, by false pleasure drawn, that primal impulse
turn it aside to earth. If well I judge,
no further shouldst thou wonder at thy rising,
than at a stream thou dost, which to its foot
down from a lofty mountain’s top descends.
As great a marvel would it be in thee,
if, rid of hindrance, thou hadst sat thee down,
as rest, on earth, would in a living flame.”
Then toward the sky she turned her face again.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

O ye who, in a little boat embarked,
have, fain to listen, followed in the wake
of this my ship, which, singing, ploughs ahead,
go back to see your shores again! Start not
upon the ocean; for, if me ye lost,
ye might, perhaps, be left behind astray.
The seas I sail were never crossed before;
Minerva breathes, Apollo is my guide,
and all nine Muses point me out the Bears.
Ye other few, who early raised your necks
for Angels’ bread, on which one here on earth
subsists, but with which none are ever sated,
ye well may start your vessel on the deep
salt sea, if in the furrow of my ship
ye stay, ere smooth again the waves become.
Those glorious ones, who crossed the seas to Colchis,
were not so much amazed, as ye shall be,
when Jason turned a ploughman they beheld.
The innàte and ceaseless thirsting for the Realm
in God’s own image made, was bearing us
as swiftly as ye see the heavens revolve.

On high looked Beatrice, and I on her;
and in the time, perhaps, an arrow takes
to light, and fly, and from the notch be freed,
I saw that I had come to where a marvel
turned to itself my sight; hence she, from whom
the working of my mind could not be hid,
as glad as she was lovely, turned toward me,
and said: “Direct thy grateful mind to God,
who with the first star hath united us.”
Meseemed as if a cloud were covering us,
as luminous and dense, as hard and polished,
as is a diamond smitten by the sun.
Within itself the eternal pearl received us,
as water, though unbroken it remain,
receives within itself a ray of light.
If body I was (nor can one here conceive
how one dimension could endure another,
which needs must be, if body enter body),
the more should we be kindled by the wish
that Essence to behold, wherein is seen
how once with God our nature was conjoined.
Thère will be seen, what here we hold by faith,
not demonstrated, but will self-known be,
as is the primal truth which men believe.
“My Lady,” I replied, “as best I can
do I devoutly render thanks to Him,
who from the mortal world hath severed me.

But tell me what this body’s dark spots are,
which cause the folk down yonder on the earth
to tell each other fables about Cain.”
She smiled a little, then she said: “If mortals’
opinion therein errs, where key of sense
unlocketh not, surely the shafts of wonder
ought not to pierce thee now;
for thou perceivest
that short are Reason’s wings, when following sense.
But tell me what thou think’st thereof thyself.”
And I: “What seems to us diverse up here,
is caused, I think, by bodies thin and dense.”
And she: “Thou ’lt surely see that thy belief
is sunk in error, if but well thou heed
the arguments I ’ll now oppose to it.
The eighth sphere shows you many shining stars,
which both in quality and magnitude,
may be observed to differ in their looks.
If only rarity and density
caused this, among them all one single virtue
would more, and less, and equally be shared.
Virtues that differ needs must be the fruit
of formal principles, and these, save one,
would, by thy way of reasoning, be destroyed.
Again, if thinness caused the dusky spots
which thou dost ask about, this planet would,
in portions, through its bulk its matter lack,

or, as a body what is fat and lean
distributes, so would this one alternate
its volume’s leaves. If true the former were,
’t would in the sun’s eclipses be revealed,
because the latter’s light would then shine through,
as when in other thin things introduced.
This does not happen; hence the other one
must be considered now; and should I chance
to quash it, false will thy opinion prove.
If, therefore, it be so that this thin part
extends not through, a limit there must be,
beyond which what is contrary thereto
allows it not to pass; the other’s ray
is, hence, reflected, as color from a glass
returns, which back of it concealeth lead.
Thou ’lt now say that the ray seems dimmer there
than in the other parts it is, because
from further back reflected. From this retort
experimenting, which is wont to be
the fountain of the rivers of your arts,
can, if thou ever try it, set thee free.
Thou ’lt take three mirrors; two of them removed
at equal distance from thee, let the third,
placed ’tween them, more remotely meet thine eyes.
Then, turning toward them, let a lamp stand so
between them, as to shine upon all three,
and be reflected on thee from them all.

Though the most distant light will not extend
so much in quantity, thou ’lt see thereby
how it must needs with equal brightness shine.
And now, as at the stroke of burning rays,
what lies beneath the snow is wholly bared
of what were previously its cold and color;
thee, thus remaining in thine intellect,
will I inform with such a living light,
that it will quiver when thou seest it.
Within the heaven of Peace Divine revolves
a body, subject to whose influence lies
the being of whatever it contains.
The next, which hath so many eyes, distributes
that being ’mong the different essences,
distinguished from it, and contained by it.
The other spheres, by various differences,
dispose to their effects and causes those
distinctions which within themselves they have.
These organs of the world so go their way,
as thou perceivest now, from grade to grade,
that from above they take, and downward act.
Give me good heed, as through this argument
I seek the truth thou wishest, that henceforth
thou mayst know how to cross the ford alone.
The holy circles’ influence and motion,
as from the blacksmith doth the hammer’s art,
must from the blessèd Motors be inspired;

and that heaven which so many lights adorn,
receives its impress from the Mind profound,
which turneth it, and makes thereof a seal.
And as the soul which lives within your dust
unfolds itself through members, which are different,
and unto different potencies conformed;
so likewise, multiplied among the stars,
doth that Intelligence unfold its goodness,
while on its unity itself revolves.
Each different power a different alloy makes,
mixed with the precious body which it quickens,
and with which it unites, as life in you.
Because of that glad nature whence it flows,
the mingled virtue through the body shines,
as, through a living pupil, joy. From this
comes what ’tween light and light a difference seems,
and not from rarity and density;
this is the formal principle which makes,
according to its strength, things dark and bright.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

That sun which erst had warmed my heart with love,
by proving and refuting, had revealed
to me the pleasing face of lovely truth;
and I, in order to confess myself
corrected and assured, lifted my head
as high as utterance of assent required.
But, that I might behold it, there appeared
a sight, which to itself so closely held me,
that my confession I remembered not.
Even as from polished or transparent glasses,
or waters clear and still, but not so deep,
that wholly lost to vision is their bed,
the features of our faces are returned
so faintly, that upon a pallid brow
a pearl comes no less faintly to our eyes;
thus saw I many a face that longed to speak;
I therefore ran into the fault opposed
to that which kindled love ’tween man and fount.
As soon as I became aware of them,
supposing they were mirrored images,
to find out whose they were, I turned mine eyes;

and seeing nothing, back again I turned them
straight on into the light of my sweet Guide,
whose holy eyes were glowing as she smiled.
“Be not surprised” she said, “that I should smile
at what is childish in thy present thought,
since on the truth it trusts not yet its foot,
but, as its wont is, turneth thee in vain.
Real substances are these whom thou perceivest,
assigned here for a vow not wholly kept.
Speak to them, then, and hear them, and believe;
for from Itself the True Light which contents them,
permits them not to turn their feet away.”
And I addressed me to the shade which seemed
most eager to converse, and I began,
like one confounded by too great desire:
“O well-created spirit, that in rays
of life eternal dost that sweetness taste,
which never is, untasted, understood,
’t will grateful be to me, if thou content me
with thine own name, and thy companions’ lot.”
Hence promptly and with laughing eyes she said:
“Not otherwise doth our love lock its doors
against a just desire, than that Love doth,
who wills that all His court be like Himself.
A virgin sister was I in the world;
and if within itself thy mind look well,
my being fairer will not hide me from thee,

but thou wilt recognize that I ’m Piccarda,
who, placed here with these other blessèd ones,
am happy in the slowest moving sphere.
Our wishes, which are only set on fire
by that which is the Holy Spirit’s pleasure,
rejoice in that our joy was willed by Him.
And this allotment, which appears so low,
is therefore giv’n to us, because our vows
neglected were, and not completely kept.”
Hence I to her: “In these your wondrous faces
there shines I know not what that is divine,
which from your old appearance changes you;
hence in remembering you I was not quick;
but what thou now dost tell me helps me so,
that I more easily recall thy face.
But, tell me, ye who here so happy are,
are ye desirous of a higher place,
that ye may see more friends, or make you more?”
First with those other shades she smiled a little,
and then replied to me so joyously,
that she appeared to burn with love’s first fire:
“Brother, love’s virtue sets our will at rest,
and makes us wish for only what we have,
and doth not make us thirsty for aught else.
If higher we desired to be, our wishes
would be discordant with the will of Him,
who here discerneth us, which, thou wilt see,

can in these circles not occur, if love
be necessary to existence here,
and if love’s nature thou consider well.
Nay more, essential to this blessèd life
it is, that we should be within the Will
Divine, whereby our wills become one will;
and so, even as we are, from grade to grade
throughout this Realm, to all the Realm is pleasing,
as to its King, who in His Will in-wills us;
and His Will is our Peace; and that
the Ocean is, whereunto moveth all
that It creates, and all that Nature makes.”
Clear was it then to me that every where
in Heaven is Paradise, and yet the Grace
of Good Supreme rains there in many ways.
But as it happens that, if one food sate,
and longing for another still remain,
for one we ask, and one decline with thanks;
even thus with word and act did I, to learn
from her what was the nature of the web,
whose shuttle she drew not unto its end.
“High worth and perfect life in-heaven” she said,
“a lady higher up here, in whose rule
the robe and veil are worn, that, till death come,
both watch and sleep they may beside that Spouse,
who every vow accepts, which love conforms
to that which pleases Him. To follow her,

when I was but a girl I fled the world,
and in her habit clothing me, I promised
that I would keep within her order’s path.
Thereafter men more used to ill than good,
out of that pleasant cloister dragged me forth,
and God knows what my life was after that.
This other splendor also, which reveals
itself to thee upon my right, and glows
with all the radiance of this sphere of ours,
takes to herself what of myself I say;
a nun she was, and likewise from her head
the shadow of the sacred veils was torn.
But when she, too, was brought back to the world
against her wishes and against good usage,
she never from the heart’s veil freed herself.
This is the splendor of the great Costanza,
who by the second Wind of Swabia gave
the third and final Power birth.” She thus
addressed me, and thereat ‘Ave, Maria’
began to sing, and, singing, disappeared,
as through deep water heavy objects do.
Mine eyes which followed after her as far
as it was possible, on losing her,
back to the mark of greater longing turned,
and unto Beatrice reverted wholly;
but she so flashed upon me, as I gazed,
that first my sight endured it not; and this
the slower made me in my questioning.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

A free man, ’tween two viands equally
attractive and removed, would die of hunger,
before he carried either to his teeth;
thus would a lamb, between the ravenings
of two fierce wolves, keep fearing each alike;
thus would a dog remain between two does.
Hence, by my doubts impelled in equal measure,
if I was silent, I reproach me not,
nor do I praise, since thus it had to be.
I held my peace; but my desire was painted
upon my face, and far more warmly thus
I asked, than had it been by uttered speech.
Hence Beatrice did ev’n as Daniel once,
when in Nebuchadnezzar he appeased
the wrath, which had unjustly made him cruel;
and “Clearly do I see” she said, “how both
thy wishes so attract thee, that thy thought
is so self-bound, that it is not expressed.
Thou arguest thus: ‘If my good will endure,
why doth the violence of others cause
the measure of my merit to be less?’

Again it gives thee cause for doubt, that souls
seem to return unto the stars again,
according to the opinion Plato held.
These are the questions which upon thy will
are thrusting equally; I’ll hence deal first
with that one which hath most of venom for thee.
Of all the Seraphs he who most in-Gods
himself, or Moses, Samuel, or, I say,
whichever John thou choose, or even Mary,
have in no other heaven their seats, than have
those spirits which appeared to thee just now,
nor for their being more or fewer years;
but all make beautiful the highest sphere,
and each in different ways enjoys sweet life,
through feeling more and less the Eternal Breath.
They did not here reveal themselves, because
this special sphere had been allotted them,
but to express the lowest heavenly state.
Thus must one speak to your intelligence,
since only from sense-objects can it learn
what it thereafter fits for understanding.
Because of this the Scriptures condescend
to your capacity, and feet and hands
ascribe to God, and yet mean something else;
and Holy Church in human form presents
Gabriel and Michael to you, and the other,
who to Tobias once restored his health.

That which Timaeus teaches of the soul
is not like that which one up here beholds,
for, as he says it, so he seems to mean.
He says that each soul to its star returns,
because he thinks that it was severed thence,
when Nature granted it as form; and yet
his doctrine is, perhaps, of other guise,
than what his words imply, and may possess
a meaning which is not to be despised.
In case he mean that to these wheel-like spheres
returns their influence’s praise or blame,
his bow may hit, perhaps, upon a truth.
This principle, ill understood, once turned
nigh all the world awry, so that, in naming
Jove, Mercury and Mars, it went astray.
The other doubt whereby thy mind is stirred,
less venom hath, because its harmfulness
could not conduct thee elsewhere from my side.
That this our Justice should appear to be
unjust in the eyes of mortals, argues faith,
and not heretical depravity.
But here, because your human understanding
can penetrate this truth with ease, I’ll now,
as thou desirest, render thee content.
If violence it be, when he who suffers
contributes naught to him who uses force,
these souls were not excused because of that;

for will, unless it willeth, is not quenched,
but acts as Nature acts in fire, though turned
a thousand times aside by violence;
for, whether it be bent or much or little,
it yieldeth to the force; and so did these,
when able to regain the holy place.
For if their will had been as absolute
as that which held Lorenzo on his grate,
or that which to his hand made Mutius cruel,
it would, as soon as freed, have urged them back
along the road o’er which they once were dragged;
but wills as firm as that are very rare!
And by these words, if thou hast gathered them,
as it behooved thee to, that doubt is quashed,
which often would have troubled thee again.
But now athwart thine eyes another pass
appears, one such, that from it by thyself
thou wouldst not issue, but wouldst weary first.
I surely have instilled this in thy mind,
that spirits who are happy could not lie,
since such are always near the Primal Truth;
yet from Piccarda thou mayst next have heard
that Constance for the veil retained her love;
she, therefore, seems to contradict me here.
Oft hath it happened, brother, heretofore,
that, to escape from danger, one has done,
against one’s will, what was not right to do;

as, at his father’s hest, Alcmaeon did,
who impious made himself, his mother killing,
in order not to fail in piety.
In such a case I’d have thee think that force
mingles with will, and that they so behave,
that sinful actions cannot be excused.
Absolute will consenteth not to wrong,
but in so far consenteth, as it fears,
unless it yield, to be more greatly harmed.
Hence, when Piccarda puts the matter thus,
she means it of the will that ’s absolute,
and of the other I; hence both speak true.
Such was the rippling of the holy stream,
which issued from the Fount whence every truth
derives; and such, it set both doubts at rest.
“O thou belovèd of the Primal Lover,
O goddess,” said I then, “whose speech both warms
and inundates me so, that more and more
it quickens me with life, not deep enough
is mỳ love to return thee grace for grace;
but let Who sees and can, provide for this.
I well see that our mind is never sated,
unless it be illumined by the Truth,
outside of which no truth extends. Therein
it rests, as doth a wild beast in its lair,
as soon as it attains it; and it can
attain it; else would all desires be vain.

Hence like a shoot doubt rises at the foot
of truth; and this is Nature, which from height
to height impels us toward the mountain’s top.
This biddeth me, and this assurance gives me,
Lady, with reverence to inquire of you
about another truth that ’s dark to me.
I wish to know if one can so content you
for broken vows by means of other things,
that these shall not prove light upon your scales.”
Then Beatrice looked at me with her eyes
filled so divinely with the sparks of love,
that, overcome, my vision turned in flight,
and I with bowed eyes almost lost myself.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

“If in the heat of love I flame on thee
beyond the measure which is seen on earth,
and vanquish thus the power of thine eyes,
wonder thou not thereat, for this proceeds
from perfect sight, which, as it sees, directs
its feet to penetrate the good perceived.
I clearly see that in thine intellect
the Light Eternal is already shining,
which, if but seen, always enkindles love;
and if aught else seduce the love of men,
’t is nothing but some vestige of that Light,
which there, ill-recognized, is shining through.
Thou now wouldst know if for an unkept vow,
one could with other service pay enough,
’gainst prosecution to ensure the soul.”
’T was thus that Beatrice began this canto;
and ev’n as one who cuts not short his speech,
her holy argument continued thus:
“The greatest gift which, of His bounty, God
bestowed, when He created, and the nearest
like His own Goodness, and the one most prized

by Him, was Freedom of the Will,
wherewith all creatures with intelligence,
and they alone, both were and are endowed.
Now, if from this thou argue, thou ’lt perceive
a vow’s high value, if so made it be,
that God gives His consent, when thou giv’st thine;
for when this pact is closed ’tween God and man
a sacrifice is made of this great treasure,
whereof I speak, and made by its own act.
What, then, in compensation can be given?
In thinking thou canst use thine offering well,
good wouldst thou do with wrongly gotten gain.
On the chief question thou art now informed;
but since in this thing Holy Church exempts,
which seems against the truth I showed to thee,
a little longer must thou sit at table,
because the solid food which thou hast taken,
requires for thy digestion further help.
Open thy mind to what I now reveal,
and fix it therewithin; for having heard
without retaining doth not knowledge make.
In the essence of this sacrifice two things
combine; one, that whereof the sacrifice
is made; the other is the pact itself.
This last can never cancelled be, except
by being kept; and very definite
concerning this is what was said above.

The Hebrews, therefore, were alone compelled
to make an offering, though their offer might,
in some events, be changed, as thou must know.
The other, which thou knowest as its matter,
may well be such, that there will be no sin,
if for some other matter it be changed.
But at his own free will let no one shift
the burden he has placed upon his back,
unless the white and yellow Keys are turned;
and let him deem all permutations foolish,
unless the thing abandoned be contained
in that which is assumed, as four in six.
Whatever, then, weighs by its worth so much,
that it can cause all scales to tip, can not,
by any other spending, be made good.
Let mortals not act lightly with their vows!
Be faithful, and in this thing be not thoughtless,
as Jephthah was, when offering up ‘the first,’
who should have said: ‘I wrongly did,’ than keep
his vow, and so do worse; and thou mayst deem
as impious that great leader of the Greeks,
because of whom Iphigenìa mourned
for her fair face, and for herself made fools
and wise men weep, who heard of such a rite.
Ye Christians, be more serious when ye act!
Be not like feathers in all winds, nor think
that any water will avail to cleanse you!

Ye have the Testaments, both Old and New,
to guide you, and the Shepherd of the Church;
let this for your salvation be enough.
If evil greed should teach you otherwise,
be men, and not like undiscerning sheep,
that in your midst no Jew may laugh at you.
Nor do as doth a little lamb, that leaves
its mother’s milk, and like a wanton fool,
against itself for its own pleasure fights.”
Thus Beatrice to me, even as I write;
then full of eagerness she turned in that
direction, where the world is most alive.
Her silence and her change of countenance
silence imposed upon my eager mind,
which had ahead of it new questions now.
Then as an arrow doth, which strikes the mark,
before the bowstring is at rest, even so
did we speed on into the second realm.
So joyous did I see my Lady there,
as into that heaven’s light she entered, that,
because of it, the planet brighter grew.
And if the star was changed and smiled, what, then,
did I become, who, by my very nature,
in all ways am susceptible of change!
As in a fishpond which is still and clear,
the fish draw near to that which from without
so cometh, that they take it for their food;

I thus saw far more than a thousand splendors
approaching us, and there was heard in each:
“Lo, here is one, who shall increase our loves.”
And as each one came up to me, the shade
was seen replete with joy within the bright
effulgence issuing from its midst.
Think, Reader, if what here is entered on
should not proceed, how full of pain would be
thy craving to know more; and by thyself
thou ’lt see how great was my desire to hear
from these, about the state of their existence,
as soon as to mine eyes they were revealed.
“O well-born spirit, to whom Grace permits
to see the thrones of Heaven’s eternal triumph,
ère thy life militant be left behind,
we by the light throughout all Heaven diffused
are kindled; hence, wouldst thou inform thyself
respecting us, be sated at thy will.”
Thus was it said to me by one of those
kind spirits; and by Beatrice: “Speak, speak,
with freedom, and, as thou wouldst gods, believe!”
“I clearly see how thou in thine own light
dost nest thyself, and from thine eyes dost flash it,
they beam so radiantly, when thou dost smile;
but who thou art I know not, nor why thou,
deserving soul, hast that sphere’s grade, which veils
itself from mortals with another’s rays.”

Thus I, when I had turned me toward the light
which had addressed me first; far brighter then
it made itself than it had been before.
As doth the sun, which by exceeding splendor
itself conceals itself, whene’er its heat
has gnawed away the tempering of dense mists;
so by increase of joy that holy form
in its own radiance hid itself from me;
and, wholly thus wrapped up, in such a way
replied to me, as sings the following song.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

When Constantine had turned the Eagle back,
counter the course of heaven its flight pursued
behind the Ancient who Lavinia wedded,
a hundred and a hundred years and more
the Bird of God on Europe’s verge abode,
hard by the mountains whence it issued first;
and ’neath the shadow of its sacred plumes
it governed there the world from hand to hand,
and, changing thus, reached mine. Caesar I was,
and am Justinian, he, who by the will
of that First Love which now I feel, withdrew
the useless and excessive from the laws.
And I, before attending to this work,
believed that Christ one only nature had,
not more, and was with such a faith content;
but blessèd Agapètus, who was then
the highest Shepherd, set me by his words
upon the pathway of the genuine faith.
Him I believed, and what was in his faith
I now see clearly, even as thou dost see
that contradictions are both false and true.

As soon as with the Church I moved my feet,
God, of His Grace, with that great task was pleased
to inspire me, and thereto I gave me wholly;
war to my Belisarius I entrusted,
to whom Heaven’s right hand was so well conjoined,
it seemed a sign that from it I should rest.
Here, then, to thy first question ends my answer;
its nature, though, constrains me to go on
with something more,
that thou mayst see how rightly
against the holy Standard moves both who
appropriates, and who opposes, it.
See what great virtue caused it to deserve
respect; for from that moment it began,
when Pallas died to give it sovereignty.
Thou knowest that in Alba it sojourned
three hundred years and more, till finally
three against three fought for its sake again;
thou knowest, too, what from the Sabines’ wrong,
through seven kings, till Lucretia’s grief, it did,
conquering the neighboring peoples all around.
Thou knowest what it did, ’gainst Brennus borne,
and Pyrrhus, and against the other Kings
and self-ruled States, by Rome’s elect, whereby
Torquatus, Quinctius, for his unkempt locks
surnamed, the Decii and Fabii,
acquired the fame which gladly I embalm.

It brought the pride of those Arabians low,
who traversed, in the wake of Hannibal,
those Alpine rocks, whence thou, Po, glidest down.
Scipio and Pompey triumphed under it
when young; and bitter to that hill it seemed,
beneath which thou wast born. Then, near the time
when willed it was by Heaven, that all the world
should be reduced to its own peaceful state,
Caesar assumes it at the hest of Rome.
And that which from the Var unto the Rhine
it did, the Saône, Isère and Seine perceived,
and every valley whence the Rhone is filled.
What next it did, when, issuing from Ravenna,
it leaped the Rubicon, was such a flight,
that neither tongue nor pen could follow it.
Toward Spain it wheeled its host around; then turned
Durazzo-ward; and smote Pharsalia so,
that to the torrid Nile the pain was felt.
Antandros and the Sìmois, whence it started,
it saw again, and there where Hector lies;
then, ill for Ptolemy, it roused itself.
Thence with the speed of lightning it swooped down
on Juba: toward your West it next turned back,
for there it heard Pompeian trumpets blow.
For what it did with its next Standard-bearer,
Brutus, and Cassius with him, barks in Hell;
Mòdena and Perugia, too, it grieved.

Sad Cleopatra, who, before it fleeing,
took from the asp a dark and sudden death,
is weeping still for what with him it did.
With him it reached the distant Red Sea’s shore;
with him it brought the world to such a state
of peace, that Janus had his temple closed.
But what the Sign which causes me to speak,
had done before, and after was to do,
throughout the mortal world which owns its sway,
comes to seem small and dark, if in the hand
of its third Caesar it be looked upon
with clearly seeing eyes and spirit pure;
because the Living Justice which inspires me,
granted that Sign, when in the latter’s hand,
the glory of carrying out its wrath’s revenge.
Now wonder here at what I further tell thee:
when this was done, with Titus it ran on
to avenge the avenging of the ancient sin.
And later, when the tooth of Lombardy
the Holy Church had bitten, Charles the Great
came to her help by conquering ’neath its wings.
Thou now canst judge of those I charged above,
and of their sins, which all your woes produced.
Against the public Standard one sets up
the yellow Fleur-de-lys, while yet another
appropriates it to a party’s use;
hence hard it is to see which sinneth most.

Let, then, the Ghibellines their tricks perform
under some other sign; for this one he
e’er follows ill, who it from justice parts!
Nor let this new Charles smite it with his Guelfs,
but let him rather fear the taloned claws,
which from a greater lion once stripped off
his hide! Often have sons ere now bewailed
their father’s guilt; hence let none think that God
will for his Lilies change His Coat-of-arms!
This little star of ours adorns itself
with those good spirits who have active been,
that fame and honor might live after them;
and when, thus deviating, one’s desires
tend thitherward, the rays of true love needs
must upward mount with less intensity.
But in the balancing of our rewards
with our deserts, part of our joy consists,
because we see them as nor more nor less.
Hereby the Living Justice sweetens so
our love in us, that it can nevermore
be turned aside to any kind of wrong.
Voices that differ make on earth sweet music;
so in this life of ours its different grades
produce sweet harmony among these spheres.
And in the present pearl there shines the light
of Romeo, he whose beautiful and great
performance was ungratefully repaid.

And yet the Provençals who ’gainst him worked,
laugh not; he, therefore, takes an evil path,
who to his harm another’s good deeds turns.
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen,
had Raymond Berenger; and, though low-born
and alien, Romeo ’t was did this for him;
then slandering words led Raymond to demand
a reckoning of this upright man, who five
and seven had rendered him for every ten.
Thereat, though poor and old, he went his way;
and if the world but knew the heart he had,
while crust by crust he begged his livelihood,
much as it praises, it would praise him more!”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

“Hosanna, O Thou Holy God of Hosts,
that with Thy Clarity dost brighter make
the happy fires of these celestial realms!”
As thus to his own song he turned himself,
by me that substance was seen singing now,
o’er which a double light two-folds itself;
and to their dance both that one and the rest
addressed themselves; and then, like swiftest sparks,
with sudden distance veiled themselves from me.
In doubt I was, and to myself kept saying:
“Tell, tell it to her; tell” I said, “my Lady,
who with her sweet distillings slakes my thirst!”
That reverence, though, which masters all of me
by the mere syllables of be and ìce,
bowed me like one that ’s overcome by sleep.
A short while Beatrice endured me thus;
then, lighting up my face with such a smile,
as, even in fire, would bless one, she began:
“As I am unmistakably aware,
how a just vengeance could have been avenged
with justice, hath occasioned thee to doubt;

but I shall quickly liberate thy mind;
hence listen, for my words will now bestow
on thee the present of a mighty truth.
By not accepting for the power that wills
a helpful curb, the man who was not born,
damning himself, damned all his progeny;
wherefore the human race lay sick below
in serious sin for many centuries,
until the Word of God was pleased descend
to where the nature, which had wandered far
from its Creator, to His Self He joined,
by the mere act of His Eternal Love.
Now turn thy sight to what is argued now!
This nature, thus united to its Maker,
was, as when first created, pure and good;
but through its own fault was in banishment
exiled from Paradise, because it turned
out of the path of truth and its own life.
As to the suffering, therefore, which the cross
afforded, none so justly ever bit,
if measured by the nature thus assumed;
and likewise none was ever so unjust,
considering who the person was that suffered,
within whom such a nature was conjoined.
From one act, therefore, issued things diverse;
for one same death pleased both the Jews, and God;
it caused the earth to quake, and opened Heaven.

No longer strange should it appear to thee
henceforth, when it is said a just revenge
was by a just court afterward avenged.
But I perceive that now, from thought to thought,
thy mind is in a knot tied up, from which
with great desire it seeks to free itself.
Thou sayest: ‘What I hear I clearly see;
but from me hidden is why God should will
for our redemption just this way alone.’
Buried, my brother, lieth this decree
from all men’s eyesight, whose intelligence
hath not in love’s flame reached maturity.
However, inasmuch as on this mark
great is the gazing, and but little seen,
I ’ll say why this one was the worthiest way.
Goodness Divine, which spurneth from Itself
all envy, burning in Itself, so sparkles,
that Its eternal beauties It displays.
Whatever from It is immediately
distilled, hath afterward no end; for when
It sets Its seal, Its stamp is not removed.
Whatever from It is immediately
rained down, is wholly free, for that lies not
under the power of secondary things.
Since most like It, it gives It greatest pleasure;
because the Holy Fire which lighteth all things,
is brightest in what most resembles It.

The human creature is by all these things
advantaged; hence, if one of them be lacking,
it needs must fall from its nobility.
Nothing but sin deprives it of its freedom,
and maketh it unlike the Highest Good,
hence little is it whitened by Its Light;
and to its dignity it ne’er returns,
unless, where sin has emptied, it fill up,
for evil pleasures, with just penalties.
When in its seed your nature wholly sinned,
it was of all these dignities deprived,
as well as banished far from Paradise;
nor could they be regained by any path,
if with due subtlety thou pay attention,
except by crossing one of these two fords:
either that of His courtesy alone,
God should forgive it, or that by itself
mankind should for its folly make amends.
Fixed as attentively upon my words
as thou art able, thrust thou now thine eye
within the Eternal Counsel’s deep abyss!
Since finite, man could never make amends,
because unable in humility,
by new obedience, to descend as far,
as, disobeying, he had meant to mount;
and this the reason is why man was barred
from making satisfaction by himself.

It, hence, behooved that God by His own ways
should reinstate man in his perfect life,
by one, I mean, or else by both at once.
But since so much more grateful is the work
a workman does, the more it represents
the goodness of the heart from which it comes,
Goodness Divine, which on the world imprints
Its seal, was pleased to move by all Its paths
to raise you up again. Nor hath there been,
nor will there ever be, by either way,
between the first of days and last of nights,
so high and so magnificent a plan;
for God was far more bountiful in giving
Himself, to make man fit to raise himself,
than had He only of Himself forgiven;
therefore all other means had fallen short
of Justice, if the Son of God had not
humbled Himself, incarnate to become.
But, wholly to fulfill thine every wish,
I ’ll now go back to clarify one point,
that thou mayst see as plainly there as I.
Thou say’st: ‘I see that water, nay, I see
that fire and air and earth, and all their mixtures
become corrupt, and but a little while
endure; and yet created things were these!
If, therefore, what was said above were true,
safe from corruption ought these things to be.’

The Angels, brother, and the perfect world,
in which thou now art, may be called created,
such as they are, in their perfected state;
the elements, however, thou hast named,
and those things which by means of them are made,
by a created virtue are informed.
Created was the matter which they have;
created was the informing influence
in all these stars, which round about them move.
The rays and motion of the holy lights
draw from pure matter’s potentiality
the soul of every brute and every plant.
But without agency doth Kindliness
Supreme breathe your life forth, and with Itself
enamors it so greatly, that thereafter
it always longs for It. And, furthermore,
thou canst from this infer your resurrection,
if thou recall how human flesh was made,
when both of man’s first parents were created.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

The world was at its peril wont to think
that, in the third of epicycles circling,
fair Cypria beamed her sensual love abroad;
the ancient peoples, therefore, in their ancient
error, with sacrifice and votive cry,
honored not her alone, but with Diòne
Cupid as well, the former as her mother,
the latter as her son; and used to say
that he had sat of old in Dido’s lap;
and took from her, from whom I here begin,
the name-word of the star, at which the sun
looks fondly, now behind, and now in front.
Of our ascending to it I was not
aware; but that we in it were, my Lady,
whom grown more fair I saw, assured me fully.
And then, as in a flame a spark is seen,
and as within a voice a voice is heard,
when one remains and the other goes and comes;
so I in that light other lamps beheld,
whirling with greater speed or less, I think,
according to each lamp’s eternal vision.

Out of cold clouds there ne’er descended winds,
or visible or not, so swiftly moving,
that they would not appear restrained and slow
to one who had perceived those lights divine
draw near to us, when they had ceased the circling,
among the exalted Seraphs first begun.
And in the foremost to appear, “Hosanna”
resounded so, that I have never since
lacked the desire of hearing it again.
One then drew nearer to us, and alone
began: “We all are ready at thy pleasure,
that thou mayst have thy joy of all of us.
In one ring, with one circling and one thirst,
we with the heavenly Principalities
revolve, to whom once from the world thou saidst:
‘Ye who the third heaven by your knowledge move;’
and we ’re so full of love, that, thee to please,
a little quiet will not seem less sweet.”
After mine eyes had toward my Lady turned
with reverent questioning, and she herself
had with herself contented and assured them,
back toward the light they turned, which of itself
had made such promise, and “Who are ye, say?”
was what I voiced with great affection toned.
And how much greater did I see it grow,
in size and quality, with that new joy,
which, when I spoke, was added to its joys!

Grown thus, it said to me: “The world below
had me not long; but had it done so longer,
much evil that will be, would not have been.
The gladness which around me radiates,
and, like a creature by its own silk swathed,
conceals me here, now keeps me hidden from thee.
Much didst thou love me, and good cause hadst thou
therefor; since, had I been on earth, much more
would I have shown thee than the leaves of love.
That left-hand bank, which by the Rhone is washed,
just after it has mingled with the Sorgue,
looked in due time to have me as its lord;
as did the Ausonian horn, which is with Bari,
Gaèta and Crotona towned, and whence
the Tronto and Verde pour into the sea.
Upon my brow already blazed the crown
of that land which the Danube irrigates,
when it abandons its Germanic banks;
and fair Trinacria, which grows dark with smoke
between Pachynus’ and Pelorus’ capes
over the gulf which Eurus vexes most,
not through Typhoèus, but through nascent sulphur,
would still be waiting for its kings, through me
from Charles and Rudolph sprung,
had not ill rule,
which always angers subject peoples, stirred
Palermo to the point of shouting: “Die!”

And did my brother but foresee this now,
the greedy poverty would he avoid
of Catalonia, that it harm him not;
for verily provision must be made
by him, or by another, that no load
be further laid upon his burdened bark.
His nature, which descended mean from one
which liberal was, would such retainers need,
as would not care to fill their coffers up.
“Since I, my lord, believe the joy profound
thy speech infuses in me, is by thee
perceived, where every good thing both begins
and ends, as I perceive it, all the more
grateful it is; and I am also glad
that this thou see’st by looking up at God.
As thou hast made me happy, make it clear,
for thou hast moved me by thy words to doubt,
how out of sweet seed bitter seed can spring.”
This I to him; and he: “If I can show
a truth to thee, to that which thou dost ask
thou ’lt hold thy face, as thou dost now thy back.
The Good which turns and sateth all the Realm
through which thou mountest, makes His providence
a power within these mighty bodies here;
and not alone are natures in that Mind
foreseen, which of Its own self perfect is,
but they themselves, and with them their well-being;

hence, all this bow shoots forth falls predisposed
unto an end foreseen, as would an arrow
aimed at its destined mark. Were this not so,
the heaven through which thou now art journeying,
in such a way would its effects produce,
that ruins they would be, not works of art;
nor can this be, unless the Intellects
which move these stars are faulty, and the First,
who failed to make them perfect, faulty, too.
Wouldst have this truth become more white for thee?”
And I: “No, truly, for I see that Nature,
in what is needful, cannot get fatigued.”
Then he: “Now say: would it be worse on earth
for man, if he were not a citizen?”
“Yes,” I replied, “nor do I here ask why.”
“And can he be, unless men there below
in different ways for different functions live?
No, if thereon your teacher writeth well.”
So far he came, deducing thus; then closed:
“Because of this the roots of your effects
must different be; hence one is Solon born,
Xerxes another, and Melchisedech
another, and another he, who lost his son
while flying through the air. Revolving Nature,
which is a seal to mortal wax, performs
her function well, but no distinction makes
’tween one and any other dwelling-place.

It hence results that Esau in his seed
differs from Jacob, while Quirinus comes
from such a common father, that ascribed
to Mars he is. A generated nature,
unless divine foresight prevailed, would always
follow along its generators’ path.
Now that which was behind thee is before;
but that thou know that thou dost give me pleasure,
I ’d have a corollary mantle thee.
Nature, whene’er she finds a destiny
discordant with her, like all other seed
in soil unsuited to it, always fails;
and if the world down there but set its mind
upon the basal plan which Nature lays,
and followed it, ’t would have its people good.
But to religion ye now wrest aside
one that is born to gird him with a sword;
and make a king of one that ’s fit to preach;
the course ye take is, therefore, off the road.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

After thy Charles, fair Clemence, had resolved
my doubts, he told me of the treacheries,
his offspring were to undergo; and said:
“Be silent now, and let the years roll by!”
Hence I can only say to you that tears
will justly follow on your people’s wrongs.
And now the spirit of that holy light
back to the Sun, which filleth it, had turned,
as to the Good which sateth everything.
Alas, ye souls deceived and impious creatures,
who from such goodness tear your hearts away,
and turn your temples unto vanity!
And hereupon, another of those splendors
in my direction came, and signified,
by brightening outwardly, its wish to please me.
The eyes of Beatrice, which, as before,
were fixed upon me, gave me full assurance
of her beloved assent to my desire.
“Prithee, blest spirit, satisfy my wish
at once,” I therefore said, “and give me proof
that what I think, I can reflect in thee.”

Whereat the light which still was new to me,
out of its depths, whence it had sung before,
went on, like one whom doing good delights:
“In that part of Italia’s evil land,
which ’tween Rialto’s island and the Brenta’s
and Piave’s fountain-heads is situated,
a hill ascends, nor rises very high,
whence once a torch came down, which terribly
assaulted all the country round about.
From one same root both I and it were born;
Cunizza called, I here refulgent am,
because the light of this star vanquished me.
But gladly I forgive myself the cause
of my allotment here, which grieves me not;
which to your common people might seem strange.
Of this dear brilliant jewel of our heaven,
which nearest is to me, a mighty fame
remains behind; and, ere it die away,
this hundredth year will yet quintupled be.
See whether one should excellent become,
so that the first may leave another life!
But thus the present mob, the Adige’s
and Tagliamento’s streams enclose, thinks not;
nor doth it yet, though scourged by wars, repent.
But at the Marsh ’t will happen soon that Padua
will change the waters which Vicenza bathe,
because its folk were restive to their duty.

And where the Sile and Cagnano mate,
one lordeth it and goes with head erect,
for trapping whom even now the net is made.
Feltro will yet bewail the faithlessness
of its bad shepherd, which will be so foul,
that Malta was not entered for the like.
Too large would be the wine-vat which could hold
all the Ferrara blood — and weary one
who tried to weigh it ounce by ounce —
which shall this courteous priest’s donation be,
to prove his party loyalty; and gifts
like this will with the country’s life conform.
Mirrors there are above, (ye call them Thrones),
whence on us God as Judge reflects His light;
so that these words of ours seem good to us.”
She here ceased speaking; then intent she seemed
on something else, because she set herself
to wheel around, as previously she did.
The other joy, already known to me
as something noble, in my sight became
a perfect ruby smitten by the sun.
Splendor up yonder is by joy acquired,
as smiles are here; but down below a shade
outwardly darkens, when the mind grows sad.
“God seeth all,” I said, “and thy will so
in-Hims itself, blest spirit, that no wish
can rob thee of itself. Therefore thy voice,

which, with the song of those devoted fires,
who with their six wings make themselves a cowl,
is always charming Heaven, why gives it not
contentment to my wishes? I, indeed,
would not await thy asking me, if I
in-thee’d myself as thou in-me’est thee.”
“The greatest valley o’er which water spreads”
thereat his words began, “except the sea
which forms a garland round the earth, extends
counter the sun so far ’tween alien shores,
that it can make meridian of a place,
where it is wont to make horizon first.
On that sea’s shore I dwelt, ’tween Ebro’s mouth
and Magra’s, which, for but a short way, parts
the Tuscan region from the Genoese.
With almost equal set and rise of sun
sits both Buggèa and the city whence
I was, which with its blood once warmed its port.
Folco that people called me, unto whom
my name was known; and this heaven is by me
impressed, as I was formerly by it;
for Belus’ daughter, when she troubled both
Sichaeus and Creùsa, burned no more
than I, as long as it beseemed my hair;
nor did that Rhodopean maid, whose love
Demòphoön deceived, nor yet Alcides,
while in his heart he kept Iole locked.

Yet we are not repenting here, but smiling,
not for the sin, which to our minds returns not,
but for the Worth which ordered and foresaw.
Here at the art we gaze which beautifies
so great a work, and only see the Goodness
whereby the world above turns that below.
But so that thou mayst bear away with thee
thy wishes all fulfilled, which in this sphere
were born, still further must I needs proceed.
Who is within this light, thou fain wouldst know,
which right here at my very side is sparkling,
as rays of sunlight shine in limpid water.
Know, then, that Rahab finds her rest therein;
and, to our order being joined, with her
it stamps itself in a supreme degree.
By this heaven, where the shadow your world makes
ends in a point, before all other souls
was she received, that triumph with the Christ.
It well behooved to leave her in some heaven
to be a palm of that great victory,
which by both hands was won,
because she favored
Joshua’s first glory in the Holy Land,
which little stirs the memory of the Pope.
Thy town, which is a plant once sowed by him,
who first against his Maker turned his back,
and through whose envy many tears are shed,

brings forth and spreads abroad the cursèd flower,
which, having of the shepherd made a wolf,
hath caused both sheep and lambs to go astray.
The Gospels and great Doctors are for this
despised; and only the Decretals conned,
as is apparent by their margins’ state.
On this are Pope and Cardinals intent;
their thoughts turn not toward Nazareth, where Gabriel
once oped his wings. But both the Vatican
and all the other chosen parts of Rome,
of old the burial place of that militia,
which followed in the path which Peter trod,
will soon be freed from this adultery.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Looking upon His Son with all the Love,
which both of them eternally breathe forth,
the Primal and Unutterable Power
with so great order made whate’er revolves
through mind or space, that none who look at it
can ever be without a taste of Him.
Lift, therefore, Reader, to the heavenly wheels
thine eyes with me, directly to the region,
where one of their two motions strikes the other;
and there begin to contemplate with love
that Master’s art, who in Himself so loves it,
that never doth His eye abandon it.
And now see how from thence the oblique ring,
which bears the planets with it, branches off,
to please the world which calls upon them; how,
in case their path were not thus bent aside,
in vain would be much virtue in the heavens,
and dead well nigh all potencies down here;
and how, if from the straight line, more or less
removed, it swerved, much in the mundane order
would lacking be below and up above.

Now, Reader, on thy bench remain, and what
is here foretasted, follow out in thought,
if thou, e’er weary, wouldst be very glad.
Food have I set before thee; feed thou now
thyself; because the theme, whose scribe I ’m made,
unto itself is wresting all my care!
The greatest of the ministers of Nature,
which with the power of Heaven imprints the world,
and with its light measures our time for us,
joined with the section touched upon above,
was circling now around the spiral rings,
wherein it earlier shows itself each day;
and I was in it, but was not aware
of my ascent, except as one, before
a thought has come, is conscious of its coming.
’T is Beatrice, who thus from good to better
conducts one with such swiftness, that her act
extendeth not through time. In its own self
how bright must that have been, which in the Sun,
which I had entered, was not visible
by color, but by light! Though I on genius,
practice and art should call, I could not so
describe it, that it e’er could be imagined;
but it can be believed, and sight of it
should be desired! And for such heights if low
be our imagination, is no wonder;
for no eye ever reached beyond the sun.

Such the fourth family here of that Exalted
Father, who ever states it by revealing
how He breathes forth, and how He generates.
And Beatrice began: “Give thanks, give thanks
unto the Angels’ Sun, who, of His Grace,
hath raised thee up to this material one!”
No mortal heart was ever so disposed
to be devoted, and with all its pleasure
give itself up to God, as I became
at those last words of hers; hence all my love
set itself so on Him, that Beatrice
in my forgetting mind became eclipsed.
And she disliked it not, but smiled at it,
so that the splendor of her laughing eyes
shared with more things my undivided mind.
I many keen and dazzling splendors saw,
who, sweeter voiced than in appearance bright,
made us a center and themselves a crown.
Latona’s daughter we behold at times
thus girded, when so pregnant is the air,
that it retains the thread that forms her zone.
Within the court of Heaven, whence I return,
are many jewels found, so fair and precious,
that from the Kingdom they may not be moved;
and of these was the singing of those lights.
Let him who doth not feather him to fly
up there, await the dumb for news from thence.

And then, when singing thus, those burning suns
had all around us whirled themselves three times,
like stars, that near unmoving poles revolve,
ladies they seemed to me, who though not through
with dancing, yet in silence stop a while, and list
till they have caught the music’s coming notes.
In one I heard beginning: “Since the ray
of Grace, whereby true love is set on fire,
and afterward, by dint of loving, grows
and multiplies, is shining in thee so,
that it conducts thee upward o’er the stairs
which none without remounting e’er descends;
he who thy thirst the wine within his flask
refused, would be no more at liberty,
than water is which falls not to the sea.
Thou fain wouldst know what blooms this wreath enflowers
itself withal, which, circling round her, woos
the Lady fair who makes thee strong for Heaven.
One of that holy flock’s young lambs was I,
which Dominic leads along the path, whereon
one thriveth well, if one go not astray.
The nearest on my right here was my brother
and teacher; he was Albert of Cologne,
and Thomas of Aquinum I. If thus
of all the other lights thou wouldst be sure,
follow behind my speaking with thy face
revolving upward round the blessèd wreath.

That other flaming issues from the smile
of Gratian, who to both the courts of law
was such a help, that Paradise is pleased.
The next, who at his side adorns our choir,
that Peter was, who, like the needy widow,
offered his treasure up to Holy Church.
The fifth light, which is fairest in our midst,
is with such love inspired, that all the world
down there is hungry to have news of it.
In it is that great mind, wherein was placed
wisdom so deep, that if the truth be true,
no second hath arisen to see so much.
See next to it that candle’s light which saw
most inwardly, when in the flesh below,
the Angels’ nature and their ministry.
In the next little light that advocate
of Christian times is smiling, of whose work
in Latin Augustine availed himself.
If now thy mind’s eye thou art moving on,
from light to light, behind my words of praise,
thou now remainest thirsting for the eighth.
Because it sees all good things, therewithin
that holy soul rejoices, which reveals
the cheating world to one who hears him well.
Down yonder in Cieldauro lies the body,
from which this soul was driv’n; and to this peace
from martyrdom and banishment it came.

Flaming beyond it see the burning breath
of Isidore, of Bede, and of Riccardo,
who was in speculation more than man.
And this, from whom thy glance returns to me,
the light is of a spirit, unto whom,
in deep thoughts lost, it seemed that death came slowly.
This is the light eternal of Sigièri,
who, when he lectured in the Street of Straw,
proved by his syllogisms displeasing truths.
Then like a clock, which calls us at the hour,
at which the Bride of God awakes to sing
her Spouse a morning-song, and win His love,
and as one part or draws or drives the other,
and sounds ‘Ting, ting’ with such delightful notes,
that spirits well disposed are filled with love;
even so I saw that glorious circle move,
and fuse its voices in a harmony,
and with a sweetness, which can not be known,
except where joy is self-eternalized.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.