Paradiso: Canto XV
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A will
benign, in which
reveals itself
Ever the love that
righteously inspires,
As in the
iniquitous,
cupidity,
Silence
imposed upon that
dulcet lyre,
And quieted the
consecrated chords,
That Heaven's
right hand doth
tighten and
relax.
How unto just
entreaties shall be deaf
Those
substances, which, to give me desire
Of
praying them, with one accord grew
silent?
'Tis well that without end he should
lament,
Who for the love of thing that doth not last
Eternally despoils him of that love!
As through the
pure and tranquil evening air
There shoots from time to time a
sudden fire,
Moving the eyes that
steadfast were
before,
And seems to be a star that
changeth place,
Except that in the part where it is
kindled
Nothing is missed, and this
endureth little;
So from the horn that to the
right extends
Unto that
cross's foot there ran a
star
Out of the
constellation shining there;
Nor was the
gem dissevered from its
ribbon,
But down the radiant fillet ran along,
So that fire seemed it behind
alabaster.
Thus piteous did
Anchises' shade reach forward,
If any faith our greatest
Muse deserve,
When in Elysium he his son perceived.
"
O sanguis meus, O superinfusa
Gratia Dei, sicut tibi, cui
Bis unquam Coeli janua reclusa?"
Thus that
effulgence; whence I gave it heed;
Then round unto my Lady turned my
sight,
And on this side and that was
stupefied;
For in her eyes was
burning such a smile
That with mine own
methought I touched the bottom
Both of
my grace and of my
Paradise!
Then,
pleasant to the hearing and the sight,
The spirit joined to its beginning things
I understood not, so profound it
spake;
Nor did it hide itself from me by choice,
But by necessity; for its conception
Above the mark of mortals set itself.
And when the bow of
burning sympathy
Was so far slackened, that its
speech descended
Towards the mark of our
intelligence,
The first thing that was understood by me
Was "
Benedight be Thou, O
Trine and
One,
Who hast unto my seed so
courteous been!"
And it
continued: "
Hunger long and
grateful,
Drawn from the reading of the mighty
volume
Wherein is never changed the white nor dark,
Thou hast
appeased, my son, within this light
In which I speak to thee, by grace of her
Who to this lofty flight with
plumage clothed thee.
Thou
thinkest that to me thy thought doth pass
From
Him who is the first, as from the unit,
If that be known, ray out the five and six;
And therefore who I am thou askest not,
And why I seem more joyous unto thee
Than any other of this
gladsome crowd.
Thou think'st the truth; because the small and great
Of this existence look into the
mirror
Wherein, before thou think'st, thy thought thou showest.
But that the
sacred love, in which I watch
With sight
perpetual, and which makes me thirst
With sweet desire, may better be
fulfilled,
Now let thy voice secure and frank and glad
Proclaim the wishes, the desire proclaim,
To which my answer is decreed already."
To
Beatrice I turned me, and she heard
Before I spake, and smiled to me a sign,
That made the wings of my desire
increase;
Then in this wise began I: "Love and knowledge,
When on you dawned the first
Equality,
Of the same weight for each of you became;
For in the Sun, which lighted you and burned
With heat and
radiance, they so equal are,
That all
similitudes are
insufficient.
But among mortals will and argument,
For reason that to you is manifest,
Diversely feathered in their pinions are.
Whence I, who
mortal am, feel in myself
This
inequality; so give not thanks,
Save in my heart, for this
paternal welcome.
Truly do I entreat thee, living
topaz!
Set in this
precious jewel as a
gem,
That thou wilt satisfy me with thy name."
"O leaf of mine, in whom I pleasure took
E'en while
awaiting, I was thine own
root!"
Such a beginning he in answer made me.
Then said to me: "That one from whom is named
Thy race, and who a
hundred years and more
Has circled round the mount on the first
cornice,
A son of mine and thy
great-grandsire was;
Well it
behoves thee that the long fatigue
Thou shouldst for him make shorter with thy works.
Florence, within the ancient boundary
From which she taketh still her
tierce and
nones,
Abode in quiet,
temperate and
chaste.
No golden chain she had, nor
coronal,
Nor
ladies shod with
sandal shoon, nor
girdle
That caught the eye more than the
person did.
Not yet the
daughter at her birth struck
fear
Into the
father, for the time and dower
Did not o'errun this side or that the measure.
No houses had she void of
families,
Not yet had
thither come
Sardanapalus
To show what in a chamber can be done;
Not yet surpassed had
Montemalo been
By your
Uccellatojo, which
surpassed
Shall in its downfall be as in its rise.
Bellincion Berti saw I go begirt
With
leather and with
bone, and from the mirror
His dame depart without a painted face;
And him of
Nerli saw, and him of
Vecchio,
Contented with their
simple suits of buff
And with the
spindle and the
flax their
dames.
O fortunate women! and each one was certain
Of her own burial-place, and none as yet
For sake of
France was in
her bed deserted.
One o'er the
cradle kept her studious watch,
And in her
lullaby the language used
That first delights the fathers and the mothers;
Another, drawing tresses from her distaff,
Told o'er among her family the tales
Of
Trojans and of
Fesole and
Rome.
As great a marvel then would have been held
A Lapo Salterello,
a Cianghella,
As
Cincinnatus or
Cornelia now.
To such a quiet, such a beautiful
Life of the citizen, to such a safe
Community, and to so sweet an inn,
Did Mary give me, with loud cries invoked,
And in your ancient
Baptistery at once
Christian and
Cacciaguida I became.
Moronto was my brother, and
Eliseo;
From
Val di Pado came to me my wife,
And from that place thy surname was derived.
I followed afterward the
Emperor Conrad,
And he begirt me of his
chivalry,
So much I pleased him with my noble deeds.
I followed in his train against that law's
Iniquity, whose people doth usurp
Your just
possession, through your
Pastor's fault.
There by that
execrable race was I
Released from
bonds of the
fallacious world,
The love of which
defileth many
souls,
And came from
martyrdom unto this
peace."
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