Between two viands, equally removed
And tempting, a free man would die of hungerEre either he could bring unto his teeth.
So would a lamb between the raveningsOf two fierce wolves stand fearing both alike;And so would stand a dog between two does.
Hence, if I held my peace, myself I blame not,Impelled in equal measure by my doubts,Since it must be so, nor do I commend.
I held my peace; but my desire was paintedUpon my face, and questioning with thatMore fervent far than by articulate speech.
Beatrice did as Daniel had doneRelieving Nebuchadnezzar from the wrathWhich rendered him unjustly merciless,
And said: “Well see I how attracteth theeOne and the other wish, so that thy careBinds itself so that forth it does not breathe.
Thou arguest, if good will be permanent,The violence of others, for what reasonDoth it decrease the measure of my merit?
Again for doubting furnish thee occasionSouls seeming to return unto the stars,According to the sentiment of Plato.
These are the questions which upon thy wishAre thrusting equally; and therefore firstWill I treat that which hath the most of gall.
He of the Seraphim most absorbed in God,Moses, and Samuel, and whichever JohnThou mayst select, I say, and even Mary,
Have not in any other heaven their seats,Than have those spirits that just appeared to thee,Nor of existence more or fewer years;
But all make beautiful the primal circle,And have sweet life in different degrees,By feeling more or less the eternal breath.
They showed themselves here, not because allottedThis sphere has been to them, but to give signOf the celestial which is least exalted.
To speak thus is adapted to your mind,Since only through the sense it apprehendethWhat then it worthy makes of intellect.
On this account the Scripture condescendsUnto your faculties, and feet and handsTo God attributes, and means something else;
And Holy Church under an aspect humanGabriel and Michael represent to you,And him who made Tobias whole again.
That which Timaeus argues of the soulDoth not resemble that which here is seen,Because it seems that as he speaks he thinks.
He says the soul unto its star returns,Believing it to have been severed thenceWhenever nature gave it as a form.
Perhaps his doctrine is of other guiseThan the words sound, and possibly may beWith meaning that is not to be derided.
If he doth mean that to these wheels returnThe honour of their influence and the blame,Perhaps his bow doth hit upon some truth.
This principle ill understood once warpedThe whole world nearly, till it went astrayInvoking Jove and Mercury and Mars.
The other doubt which doth disquiet theeLess venom has, for its malevolenceCould never lead thee otherwhere from me.
That as unjust our justice should appearIn eyes of mortals, is an argumentOf faith, and not of sin heretical.
But still, that your perception may be ableTo thoroughly penetrate this verity,As thou desirest, I will satisfy thee.
If it be violence when he who suffersCo-operates not with him who uses force,These souls were not on that account excused;
For will is never quenched unless it will,But operates as nature doth in fireIf violence a thousand times distort it.
Hence, if it yieldeth more or less, it secondsThe force; and these have done so, having powerOf turning back unto the holy place.
If their will had been perfect, like to thatWhich Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held,And Mutius made severe to his own hand,
It would have urged them back along the roadWhence they were dragged, as soon as they were free;But such a solid will is all too rare.
And by these words, if thou hast gathered themAs thou shouldst do, the argument is refutedThat would have still annoyed thee many times.
But now another passage runs acrossBefore thine eyes, and such that by thyselfThou couldst not thread it ere thou wouldst be weary.
I have for certain put into thy mindThat soul beatified could never lie,For it is near the primal Truth,
And then thou from Piccarda might’st have heardCostanza kept affection for the veil,So that she seemeth here to contradict me.
Many times, brother, has it come to pass,That, to escape from peril, with reluctanceThat has been done it was not right to do,
E’en as Alcmaeon (who, being by his fatherThereto entreated, his own mother slew)Not to lose pity pitiless became.
At this point I desire thee to rememberThat force with will commingles, and they causeThat the offences cannot be excused.
Will absolute consenteth not to evil;But in so far consenteth as it fears,If it refrain, to fall into more harm.
Hence when Piccarda uses this expression,She meaneth the will absolute, and IThe other, so that both of us speak truth.”
Such was the flowing of the holy riverThat issued from the fount whence springs all truth;This put to rest my wishes one and all.
“O love of the first lover, O divine,”Said I forthwith, “whose speech inundates meAnd warms me so, it more and more revives me,
My own affection is not so profoundAs to suffice in rendering grace for grace;Let Him, who sees and can, thereto respond.
Well I perceive that never sated isOur intellect unless the Truth illume it,Beyond which nothing true expands itself.
It rests therein, as wild beast in his lair,When it attains it; and it can attain it;If not, then each desire would frustrate be.
Therefore springs up, in fashion of a shoot,Doubt at the foot of truth; and this is nature,Which to the top from height to height impels us.
This doth invite me, this assurance give meWith reverence, Lady, to inquire of youAnother truth, which is obscure to me.
I wish to know if man can satisfy youFor broken vows with other good deeds, soThat in your balance they will not be light.”
Beatrice gazed upon me with her eyesFull of the sparks of love, and so divine,That, overcome my power, I turned my back
And almost lost myself with eyes downcast.
Paradiso: Canto V
“If in the heat of love I flame upon theeBeyond the measure that on earth is seen,So that the valour of thine eyes I vanquish,
Marvel thou not thereat; for this proceedsFrom perfect sight, which as it apprehendsTo the good apprehended moves its feet.
Well I perceive how is already shiningInto thine intellect the eternal light,That only seen enkindles always love;
And if some other thing your love seduce,’Tis nothing but a vestige of the same,Ill understood, which there is shining through.
Thou fain wouldst know if with another serviceFor broken vow can such return be madeAs to secure the soul from further claim.”
This Canto thus did Beatrice begin;And, as a man who breaks not off his speech,Continued thus her holy argument:
“The greatest gift that in his largess GodCreating made, and unto his own goodnessNearest conformed, and that which he doth prize
Most highly, is the freedom of the will,Wherewith the creatures of intelligenceBoth all and only were and are endowed.
Now wilt thou see, if thence thou reasonest,The high worth of a vow, if it he madeSo that when thou consentest God consents:
For, closing between God and man the compact,A sacrifice is of this treasure made,Such as I say, and made by its own act.
What can be rendered then as compensation?Think’st thou to make good use of what thou’st offered,With gains ill gotten thou wouldst do good deed.
Now art thou certain of the greater point;But because Holy Church in this dispenses,Which seems against the truth which I have shown thee,
Behoves thee still to sit awhile at table,Because the solid food which thou hast takenRequireth further aid for thy digestion.
Open thy mind to that which I reveal,And fix it there within; for ’tis not knowledge,The having heard without retaining it.
In the essence of this sacrifice two thingsConvene together; and the one is thatOf which ’tis made, the other is the agreement.
This last for evermore is cancelled notUnless complied with, and concerning thisWith such precision has above been spoken.
Therefore it was enjoined upon the HebrewsTo offer still, though sometimes what was offeredMight be commuted, as thou ought’st to know.
The other, which is known to thee as matter,May well indeed be such that one errs notIf it for other matter be exchanged.
But let none shift the burden on his shoulderAt his arbitrament, without the turningBoth of the white and of the yellow key;
And every permutation deem as foolish,If in the substitute the thing relinquished,As the four is in six, be not contained.
Therefore whatever thing has so great weightIn value that it drags down every balance,Cannot be satisfied with other spending.
Let mortals never take a vow in jest;Be faithful and not blind in doing that,As Jephthah was in his first offering,
Whom more beseemed to say, ‘I have done wrong,Than to do worse by keeping; and as foolishThou the great leader of the Greeks wilt find,
Whence wept Iphigenia her fair face,And made for her both wise and simple weep,Who heard such kind of worship spoken of.’
Christians, be ye more serious in your movements;Be ye not like a feather at each wind,And think not every water washes you.
Ye have the Old and the New Testament,And the Pastor of the Church who guideth youLet this suffice you unto your salvation.
If evil appetite cry aught else to you,Be ye as men, and not as silly sheep,So that the Jew among you may not mock you.
Be ye not as the lamb that doth abandonIts mother’s milk, and frolicsome and simpleCombats at its own pleasure with itself.”
Thus Beatrice to me even as I write it;Then all desireful turned herself againTo that part where the world is most alive.
Her silence and her change of countenanceSilence imposed upon my eager mind,That had already in advance new questions;
And as an arrow that upon the markStrikes ere the bowstring quiet hath become,So did we speed into the second realm.
My Lady there so joyful I beheld,As into the brightness of that heaven she entered,More luminous thereat the planet grew;
And if the star itself was changed and smiled,What became I, who by my nature amExceeding mutable in every guise!
As, in a fish-pond which is pure and tranquil,The fishes draw to that which from withoutComes in such fashion that their food they deem it;
So I beheld more than a thousand splendoursDrawing towards us, and in each was heard:“Lo, this is she who shall increase our love.”
And as each one was coming unto us,Full of beatitude the shade was seen,By the effulgence clear that issued from it.
Think, Reader, if what here is just beginningNo farther should proceed, how thou wouldst haveAn agonizing need of knowing more;
And of thyself thou’lt see how I from theseWas in desire of hearing their conditions,As they unto mine eyes were manifest.
“O thou well-born, unto whom Grace concedesTo see the thrones of the eternal triumph,Or ever yet the warfare be abandoned
With light that through the whole of heaven is spreadKindled are we, and hence if thou desirestTo know of us, at thine own pleasure sate thee.”
Thus by some one among those holy spiritsWas spoken, and by Beatrice: “Speak, speakSecurely, and believe them even as Gods.”
“Well I perceive how thou dost nest thyselfIn thine own light, and drawest it from thine eyes,Because they coruscate when thou dost smile,
But know not who thou art, nor why thou hast,Spirit august, thy station in the sphereThat veils itself to men in alien rays.”
This said I in direction of the lightWhich first had spoken to me; whence it becameBy far more lucent than it was before.
Even as the sun, that doth conceal himselfBy too much light, when heat has worn awayThe tempering influence of the vapours dense,
By greater rapture thus concealed itselfIn its own radiance the figure saintly,And thus close, close enfolded answered me
In fashion as the following Canto sings.
Paradiso: Canto VI
“After that Constantine the eagle turnedAgainst the course of heaven, which it had followedBehind the ancient who Lavinia took,
Two hundred years and more the bird of GodIn the extreme of Europe held itself,Near to the mountains whence it issued first;
And under shadow of the sacred plumesIt governed there the world from hand to hand,And, changing thus, upon mine own alighted.
Caesar I was, and am Justinian,Who, by the will of primal Love I feel,Took from the laws the useless and redundant;
And ere unto the work I was attent,One nature to exist in Christ, not more,Believed, and with such faith was I contented.
But blessed Agapetus, he who wasThe supreme pastor, to the faith sincerePointed me out the way by words of his.
Him I believed, and what was his assertionI now see clearly, even as thou seestEach contradiction to be false and true.
As soon as with the Church I moved my feet,God in his grace it pleased with this high taskTo inspire me, and I gave me wholly to it,
And to my Belisarius I commendedThe arms, to which was heaven’s right hand so joinedIt was a signal that I should repose.
Now here to the first question terminatesMy answer; but the character thereofConstrains me to continue with a sequel,
In order that thou see with how great reasonMen move against the standard sacrosanct,Both who appropriate and who oppose it.
Behold how great a power has made it worthyOf reverence, beginning from the hourWhen Pallas died to give it sovereignty.
Thou knowest it made in Alba its abodeThree hundred years and upward, till at lastThe three to three fought for it yet again.
Thou knowest what it achieved from Sabine wrongDown to Lucretia’s sorrow, in seven kingsO’ercoming round about the neighboring nations;
Thou knowest what it achieved, borne by the RomansIllustrious against Brennus, against Pyrrhus,Against the other princes and confederates.
Torquatus thence and Quinctius, who from locksUnkempt was named, Decii and Fabii,Received the fame I willingly embalm;
It struck to earth the pride of the Arabians,Who, following Hannibal, had passed acrossThe Alpine ridges, Po, from which thou glidest;
Beneath it triumphed while they yet were youngPompey and Scipio, and to the hillBeneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed;
Then, near unto the time when heaven had willedTo bring the whole world to its mood serene,Did Caesar by the will of Rome assume it.
What it achieved from Var unto the Rhine,Isere beheld and Saone, beheld the Seine,And every valley whence the Rhone is filled;
What it achieved when it had left Ravenna,And leaped the Rubicon, was such a flightThat neither tongue nor pen could follow it.
Round towards Spain it wheeled its legions; thenTowards Durazzo, and Pharsalia smoteThat to the calid Nile was felt the pain.
Antandros and the Simois, whence it started,It saw again, and there where Hector lies,And ill for Ptolemy then roused itself.
From thence it came like lightning upon Juba;Then wheeled itself again into your West,Where the Pompeian clarion it heard.
From what it wrought with the next standard-bearerBrutus and Cassius howl in Hell together,And Modena and Perugia dolent were;
Still doth the mournful Cleopatra weepBecause thereof, who, fleeing from before it,Took from the adder sudden and black death.
With him it ran even to the Red Sea shore;With him it placed the world in so great peace,That unto Janus was his temple closed.
But what the standard that has made me speakAchieved before, and after should achieveThroughout the mortal realm that lies beneath it,
Becometh in appearance mean and dim,If in the hand of the third Caesar seenWith eye unclouded and affection pure,
Because the living Justice that inspires meGranted it, in the hand of him I speak of,The glory of doing vengeance for its wrath.
Now here attend to what I answer thee;Later it ran with Titus to do vengeanceUpon the vengeance of the ancient sin.
And when the tooth of Lombardy had bittenThe Holy Church, then underneath its wingsDid Charlemagne victorious succor her.
Now hast thou power to judge of such as thoseWhom I accused above, and of their crimes,Which are the cause of all your miseries.
To the public standard one the yellow liliesOpposes, the other claims it for a party,So that ’tis hard to see which sins the most.
Let, let the Ghibellines ply their handicraftBeneath some other standard; for this everIll follows he who it and justice parts.
And let not this new Charles e’er strike it down,He and his Guelfs, but let him fear the talonsThat from a nobler lion stripped the fell.
Already oftentimes the sons have weptThe father’s crime; and let him not believeThat God will change His scutcheon for the lilies.
This little planet doth adorn itselfWith the good spirits that have active been,That fame and honour might come after them;
And whensoever the desires mount thither,Thus deviating, must perforce the raysOf the true love less vividly mount upward.
But in commensuration of our wagesWith our desert is portion of our joy,Because we see them neither less nor greater.
Herein doth living Justice sweeten soAffection in us, that for evermoreIt cannot warp to any iniquity.
Voices diverse make up sweet melodies;So in this life of ours the seats diverseRender sweet harmony among these spheres;
And in the compass of this present pearlShineth the sheen of Romeo, of whomThe grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded.
But the Provencals who against him wrought,They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes heWho makes his hurt of the good deeds of others.
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen,Had Raymond Berenger, and this for himDid Romeo, a poor man and a pilgrim;
And then malicious words incited himTo summon to a reckoning this just man,Who rendered to him seven and five for ten.
Then he departed poor and stricken in years,And if the world could know the heart he had,In begging bit by bit his livelihood,
Though much it laud him, it would laud him more.”
Paradiso: Canto VII
“Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth,Superillustrans claritate tuaFelices ignes horum malahoth!”
In this wise, to his melody returning,This substance, upon which a double lightDoubles itself, was seen by me to sing,
And to their dance this and the others moved,And in the manner of swift-hurrying sparksVeiled themselves from me with a sudden distance.
Doubting was I, and saying, “Tell her, tell her,”Within me, “tell her,” saying, “tell my Lady,”Who slakes my thirst with her sweet effluences;
And yet that reverence which doth lord it overThe whole of me only by B and ICE,Bowed me again like unto one who drowses.
Short while did Beatrice endure me thus;And she began, lighting me with a smileSuch as would make one happy in the fire:
“According to infallible advisement,After what manner a just vengeance justlyCould be avenged has put thee upon thinking,
But I will speedily thy mind unloose;And do thou listen, for these words of mineOf a great doctrine will a present make thee.
By not enduring on the power that willsCurb for his good, that man who ne’er was born,Damning himself damned all his progeny;
Whereby the human species down belowLay sick for many centuries in great error,Till to descend it pleased the Word of God
To where the nature, which from its own MakerEstranged itself, he joined to him in personBy the sole act of his eternal love.
Now unto what is said direct thy sight;This nature when united to its Maker,Such as created, was sincere and good;
But by itself alone was banished forthFrom Paradise, because it turned asideOut of the way of truth and of its life.
Therefore the penalty the cross held out,If measured by the nature thus assumed,None ever yet with so great justice stung,
And none was ever of so great injustice,Considering who the Person was that suffered,Within whom such a nature was contracted.
From one act therefore issued things diverse;To God and to the Jews one death was pleasing;Earth trembled at it and the Heaven was opened.
It should no longer now seem difficultTo thee, when it is said that a just vengeanceBy a just court was afterward avenged.
But now do I behold thy mind entangledFrom thought to thought within a knot, from whichWith great desire it waits to free itself.
Thou sayest, ‘Well discern I what I hear;But it is hidden from me why God willedFor our redemption only this one mode.’