Paradiso: Canto VII
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"
Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth,
Superillustrans claritate tua
Felices ignes horum malahoth!"
In this wise, to his
melody returning,
This substance, upon which a
double light
Doubles itself, was seen by me to
sing,
And to their
dance this and the others moved,
And in the manner of
swift-hurrying sparks
Veiled 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 over
The 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 smile
Such as would make one happy in the fire:
"
According to
infallible advisement,
After what
manner a just
vengeance justly
Could be
avenged has put thee upon
thinking,
But I will
speedily thy
mind unloose;
And do thou listen, for these words of mine
Of a great
doctrine will a present make thee.
By not enduring on the power that wills
Curb for his good, that man who ne'er was born,
Damning himself damned all his
progeny;
Whereby the human species down below
Lay sick for many
centuries in great error,
Till to descend it pleased the Word of
God
To where the nature, which from
its own Maker
Estranged itself, he joined to him in
person
By 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 forth
From
Paradise, because it turned aside
Out 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
difficult
To thee, when it is said that a just
vengeance
By a
just court was
afterward avenged.
But now do I behold thy mind
entangled
From thought to thought within a
knot, from which
With great
desire it waits to
free itself.
Thou sayest, 'Well discern I what I hear;
But it is hidden from me why
God willed
For our redemption only this one mode.'
Buried
remaineth, brother, this
decree
Unto the eyes of every one whose nature
Is in the
flame of
love not yet
adult.
Verily,
inasmuch as at this mark
One gazes long and little is discerned,
Wherefore this mode was worthiest will I say.
Goodness Divine, which from itself doth
spurn
All
envy, burning in itself so
sparkles
That the
eternal beauties it
unfolds.
Whate'er from this immediately distils
Has afterwards no end, for ne'er removed
Is its
impression when it sets its
seal.
Whate'er from this
immediately rains down
Is wholly free, because it is not subject
Unto the
influences of
novel things.
The more
conformed thereto, the more it
pleases;
For the
blest ardour that irradiates all things
In that most like itself is most
vivacious.
With all of these things has advantaged been
The human creature; and if one be wanting,
From his
nobility he needs must fall.
'Tis
sin alone which doth
disfranchise him,
And render him unlike the
Good Supreme,
So that he little with its light is
blanched,
And to his
dignity no more returns,
Unless he fill up where
transgression empties
With
righteous pains for
criminal delights.
Your nature when it
sinned so
utterly
In its own seed, out of these
dignities
Even as out of
Paradise was driven,
Nor could itself recover, if thou notest
With nicest
subtilty, by any way,
Except by passing one of these two fords:
Either that
God through
clemency alone
Had
pardon granted, or that man himself
Had
satisfaction for his folly made.
Fix now thine eye deep into the
abyss
Of the
eternal counsel, to my
speech
As far as may be
fastened steadfastly!
Man in his
limitations had not power
To satisfy, not having power to sink
In his humility
obeying then,
Far as he
disobeying thought to rise;
And for this reason man has been from
power
Of
satisfying by himself excluded.
Therefore it
God behoved in his own ways
Man to restore unto his perfect life,
I say in one, or else in both of them.
But since the action of the doer is
So much more grateful, as it more
presents
The
goodness of the heart from which it
issues,
Goodness Divine, that
doth imprint the
world,
Has been contented to proceed by each
And all its ways to lift you up again;
Nor 'twixt the first day and the final night
Such high and such
magnificent proceeding
By one or by the other was or shall be;
For
God more
bounteous was himself to give
To make man able to uplift himself,
Than if he only of himself had
pardoned;
And all the other modes were
insufficient
For justice, were it not the
Son of God
Himself had
humbled to become
incarnate.
Now, to fill fully each desire of
thine,
Return I to
elucidate one place,
In order that thou there
mayst see as I do.
Thou sayst: 'I see the air, I see the fire,
The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures
Come to corruption, and short while endure;
And these things
notwithstanding were created;'
Therefore if that which I have said were true,
They should have been secure against
corruption.
The
Angels,
brother, and the land
sincere
In which thou art, created may be called
Just as they are in their entire
existence;
But all the
elements which thou hast named,
And all those things which out of them are made,
By a created
virtue are
informed.
Created was the matter which they have;
Created was the informing influence
Within these stars that round about them go.
The soul of every
brute and of the
plants
By its
potential temperament attracts
The ray and motion of the
holy lights;
But your own life
immediately inspires
Supreme Beneficence, and
enamours it
So with herself, it evermore
desires her.
And thou from this mayst argue
furthermore
Your resurrection, if thou think again
How human flesh was
fashioned at that time
When the first
parents both of them were made."
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