Paradiso: Canto XXXII
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Absorbed in his delight, that
contemplator
Assumed the
willing office of a
teacher,
And gave
beginning to these
holy words:
"The wound that
Mary closed up and
anointed,
She at her feet who is so
beautiful,
She is the one who opened it and
pierced it.
Within that order which the third seats make
Is seated
Rachel, lower than the other,
With
Beatrice, in
manner as thou seest.
Sarah,
Rebecca,
Judith, and her who was
Ancestress of the
Singer, who for
dole
Of the
misdeed said, '
Miserere mei,'
Canst thou behold from seat to seat
descending
Down in
gradation, as with each one's name
I through
the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.
And
downward from the seventh row, even as
Above the same, succeed the
Hebrew women,
Dividing all the tresses of the flower;
Because,
according to the view which
Faith
In
Christ had taken, these are the
partition
By which the sacred stairways are
divided.
Upon this side, where perfect is the flower
With each one of its
petals, seated are
Those who believed in
Christ who was to come.
Upon the other side, where intersected
With vacant spaces are the semicircles,
Are those who looked to
Christ already come.
And as, upon this side, the glorious seat
Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats
Below it, such a great
division make,
So
opposite doth that of the great
John,
Who, ever
holy,
desert and
martyrdom
Endured, and afterwards
two years in Hell.
And under him thus to divide were chosen
Francis, and
Benedict, and
Augustine,
And down to us the rest from round to round.
Behold now the high providence divine;
For one and other aspect of the
Faith
In equal measure shall this garden fill.
And know that downward from that rank which cleaves
Midway the sequence of the two divisions,
Not by their proper merit are they seated;
But by another's under fixed conditions;
For these are spirits one and all assoiled
Before they any true
election had.
Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,
And also in their
voices puerile,
If thou regard them well and
hearken to them.
Now
doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;
But I will loosen for thee the strong bond
In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.
Within the amplitude of this domain
No casual
point can possibly find place,
No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;
For by
eternal law has been established
Whatever thou
beholdest, so that closely
The ring is fitted to the
finger here.
And therefore are these people, festinate
Unto true life, not '
sine causa' here
More and less
excellent among
themselves.
The King, by means of whom this realm reposes
In so great love and in so great delight
That no will
ventureth to ask for more,
In his own
joyous aspect every mind
Creating, at his
pleasure dowers with
grace
Diversely; and let here the effect
suffice.
And this is clearly and expressly noted
For you in
Holy Scripture, in those twins
Who in their
mother had their
anger roused.
According to the colour of the hair,
Therefore, with such a
grace the light supreme
Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.
Without, then, any merit of their deeds,
Stationed are they in
different gradations,
Differing only in their first
acuteness.
'Tis
true that in the
early centuries,
With
innocence, to work out their
salvation
Sufficient was the
faith of
parents only.
After the
earlier ages were
completed,
Behoved it that the
males by
circumcision
Unto their
innocent wings should
virtue add;
But after that the time of grace had
come
Without the
baptism absolute of
Christ,
Such
innocence below there was retained.
Look now into the face that unto
Christ
Hath most
resemblance; for its brightness only
Is able to prepare thee to see
Christ."
On her did I behold so great a
gladness
Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds
Created through that altitude to fly,
That
whatsoever I had seen before
Did not suspend me in such
admiration,
Nor show me such similitude of
God.
And the same
Love that first descen
ded there,
"
Ave Maria, gratia plena,"
singing,
In front of her his wings
expanded wide.
Unto the canticle divine
responded
From every part the
court beatified,
So that each sight became
serener for it.
"O holy father, who for me
endurest
To be below here, leaving the sweet place
In which thou
sittest by
eternal lot,
Who is the Angel that with so
much joy
Into the eyes is looking of our
Queen,
Enamoured so that he seems made of fire?"
Thus I again recourse had to the
teaching
Of that one who delighted him in
Mary
As doth the star of
morning in the
sun.
And he to me: "Such
gallantry and grace
As there can be in Angel and in soul,
All is in him; and thus we fain would have it;
Because he is the one who bore the palm
Down unto
Mary, when the
Son of God
To take our burden on himself decreed.
But now come onward with thine eyes, as I
Speaking shall go, and note the great
patricians
Of this most just and
merciful of
empires.
Those two that sit above there most
enrapture
As being very near unto
Augusta,
Are as it were the two roots of this Rose.
He who upon the left is near her placed
The father is, by whose
audacious taste
The
human species so much
bitter tastes.
Upon the right thou seest that ancient father
Of Holy Church, into whose keeping
Christ
The keys committed of this
lovely flower.
And he who all the evil days beheld,
Before his death, of her the
beauteous bride
Who with the
spear and with the nails was won,
Beside him sits, and by the other rests
That leader under whom on manna lived
The people
ingrate,
fickle, and
stiff-necked.
Opposite Peter seest thou
Anna seated,
So well content to look upon her
daughter,
Her eyes she moves not while she sings
Hosanna.
And opposite the eldest household
father
Lucia sits, she who thy
Lady moved
When to rush downward thou didst bend thy brows.
But since the moments of thy vision fly,
Here will we make full stop, as a good tailor
Who makes the gown according to his cloth,
And unto the first Love will turn our eyes,
That looking upon Him thou penetrate
As far as
possible through his
effulgence.
Truly, lest
peradventure thou recede,
Moving thy wings
believing to advance,
By prayer behoves it that grace be
obtained;
Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee;
And thou shalt follow me with thy
affection
That from my words thy heart turn not
aside."
And he began this
holy orison.
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