Paradiso: Canto VI
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"After that
Constantine the
eagle turned
Against the course of heaven, which it had
followed
Behind the ancient who
Lavinia took,
Two hundred years and more the
bird of God
In the extreme of
Europe held itself,
Near to the
mountains whence it issued first;
And under shadow of the sacred plumes
It 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 was
The
supreme pastor, to the faith sincere
Pointed me out the way by words of his.
Him I believed, and what was his
assertion
I now see
clearly, even as thou seest
Each
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 task
To inspire me, and I gave me wholly to it,
And to my
Belisarius I commended
The arms, to which was heaven's right hand so joined
It was a signal that I should repose.
Now here to the first
question terminates
My answer; but the
character thereof
Constrains me to continue with a
sequel,
In order that thou see with how great reason
Men move against the
standard sacrosanct,
Both who appropriate and who oppose it.
Behold how great a power has made it worthy
Of reverence, beginning from the hour
When
Pallas died to give it
sovereignty.
Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode
Three hundred years and upward, till at last
The three to three fought for it yet again.
Thou knowest what it achieved from
Sabine wrong
Down to
Lucretia's
sorrow, in
seven kings
O'ercoming round about the neighboring nations;
Thou knowest what it achieved, borne by the Romans
Illustrious against
Brennus, against
Pyrrhus,
Against the other
princes and
confederates.
Torquatus thence and
Quinctius, who from
locks
Unkempt 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 across
The
Alpine ridges,
Po, from which thou glidest;
Beneath it triumphed while they yet were young
Pompey and
Scipio, and to the hill
Beneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed;
Then, near unto the time when
heaven had willed
To 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 flight
That neither
tongue nor
pen could follow it.
Round towards
Spain it wheeled its
legions; then
Towards
Durazzo, and
Pharsalia smote
That 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-bearer
Brutus and
Cassius howl in
Hell together,
And
Modena and
Perugia dolent were;
Still doth the mournful
Cleopatra weep
Because 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 speak
Achieved before, and after should achieve
Throughout the
mortal realm that lies
beneath it,
Becometh in
appearance mean and
dim,
If in the hand of the third
Caesar seen
With eye unclouded and affection pure,
Because the living
Justice that inspires me
Granted 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 vengeance
Upon the
vengeance of the
ancient sin.
And when the tooth of Lombardy had bitten
The
Holy Church, then underneath its wings
Did
Charlemagne victorious succor her.
Now hast thou power to judge of such as those
Whom I
accused above, and of their
crimes,
Which are the cause of all your miseries.
To the public standard one the yellow
lilies
Opposes, the other
claims it for a
party,
So that 'tis hard to see which sins the most.
Let, let the
Ghibellines ply their
handicraft
Beneath some other
standard; for this
ever
Ill 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
talons
That from a nobler lion stripped the fell.
Already
oftentimes the
sons have
wept
The father's crime; and let him not believe
That
God will change His
scutcheon for the
lilies.
This little
planet doth adorn itself
With 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 rays
Of the true love less
vividly mount upward.
But in
commensuration of our wages
With our desert is portion of our joy,
Because we see them neither less nor greater.
Herein doth living
Justice sweeten so
Affection in us, that for evermore
It cannot warp to any
iniquity.
Voices diverse make up sweet
melodies;
So in this life of ours the seats diverse
Render sweet harmony among these spheres;
And in the
compass of this present pearl
Shineth the sheen of
Romeo, of whom
The grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded.
But the
Provencals who against him wrought,
They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes he
Who makes his hurt of the good deeds of others.
Four daughters, and each one of them a queen,
Had
Raymond Berenger, and this for him
Did Romeo, a poor man and a
pilgrim;
And then
malicious words
incited him
To 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."
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