Paradiso: Canto XXIV
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"O company elect to the great
supper
Of the
Lamb benedight, who feedeth you
So that for ever full is your
desire,
If by the grace of
God this man foretaste
Something of that which falleth from your table,
Or ever death prescribe to him the time,
Direct your mind to his immense desire,
And him somewhat
bedew; ye drinking are
For ever at the fount whence comes his thought."
Thus
Beatrice; and those souls beatified
Transformed themselves to spheres on
steadfast poles,
Flaming intensely in the guise of
comets.
And as the wheels in works of
horologes
Revolve so that the first to the
beholder
Motionless seems, and the last one to
fly,
So in like manner did those
carols, dancing
In different measure, of their
affluence
Give me the gauge, as they were swift or slow.
From that one which I noted of most beauty
Beheld I issue forth a fire so happy
That none it left there of a greater brightness;
And around
Beatrice three several times
It whirled itself with so divine a song,
My fantasy repeats it not to me;
Therefore the pen skips, and I write it not,
Since our
imagination for such
folds,
Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring.
"O holy
sister mine, who us
implorest
With such
devotion, by thine
ardent love
Thou dost unbind me from that
beautiful sphere!"
Thereafter, having stopped, the blessed fire
Unto my Lady did
direct its breath,
Which spake in
fashion as I here have said.
And she: "O light
eterne of the great man
To whom our Lord delivered up the keys
He carried down of this
miraculous joy,
This one examine on points light and
grave,
As good
beseemeth thee, about the
Faith
By means of which thou on the sea didst walk.
If he love well, and hope well, and
believe,
From thee 'tis hid not; for thou hast thy sight
There where
depicted everything is seen.
But since this kingdom has made
citizens
By means of the true
Faith, to glorify it
'Tis well he have the chance to speak thereof."
As baccalaureate arms himself, and speaks not
Until the master doth propose the
question,
To argue it, and not to terminate it,
So did I arm myself with every
reason,
While she was speaking, that I
might be ready
For such a
questioneqr and such
profession.
"Say, thou good
Christian;
manifest thyself;
What is the
Faith?" Whereat I raised my brow
Unto that light
wherefrom was this breathed forth.
Then turned I round to
Beatrice, and she
Prompt signals made to me that I should pour
The
water forth from my
internal fountain.
"May grace, that suffers me to make
confession,"
Began I, "to the great
centurion,
Cause my
conceptions all to be
explicit!"
And I
continued: "As the
truthful pen,
Father, of thy dear brother
wrote of it,
Who put with thee
Rome into the good way,
Faith is the
substance of the things we hope for,
And evidence of those that are not seen;
And this appears to me its quiddity."
Then heard I: "Very
rightly thou perceivest,
If well thou
understandest why he placed it
With
substances and then with evidences."
And I
thereafterward: "The things
profound,
That here
vouchsafe to me their
apparition,
Unto all eyes below are so concealed,
That they exist there only in
belief,
Upon the which is
founded the high hope,
And hence it takes the nature of a
substance.
And it
behoveth us from this
belief
To
reason without having other sight,
And hence it has the nature of
evidence."
Then heard I: "If
whatever is
acquired
Below by doctrine were thus
understood,
No
sophist's
subtlety would there
find place."
Thus was breathed forth from that
enkindled love;
Then
added: "Very
well has been gone over
Already of this coin the alloy and weight;
But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse?"
And I: "Yes, both so shining and so round
That in its stamp there is no
peradventure."
Thereafter issued from the light
profound
That there
resplendent was: "This
precious jewel,
Upon the which is every virtue
founded,
Whence hadst thou it?" And I: "The large
outpouring
Of Holy Spirit, which has been
diffused
Upon the ancient parchments and the new,
A syllogism is, which proved it to me
With such acuteness, that
, compared therewith,
All demonstration seems to me obtuse."
And then I heard: "The ancient and the new
Postulates, that to thee are so
conclusive,
Why dost thou take them for the word
divine?"
And I: "The proofs, which show the truth to me,
Are the works
subsequent, whereunto
Nature
Ne'er heated iron yet, nor
anvil beat."
'Twas answered me: "Say, who assureth thee
That
those works ever were? the thing itself
That must be proved,
nought else to thee affirms it."
"Were the
world to
Christianity converted,"
I said, "
withouten miracles, this one
Is such, the rest are not its hundredth part;
Because that poor and fasting thou didst enter
Into the field to sow there the good
plant,
Which was a vine and has become a
thorn!"
This being
finished, the high,
holy Court
Resounded through the spheres, "One
God we praise!"
In melody that there above is chanted.
And then that
Baron,
who from
branch to
branch,
Examining, had thus
conducted me,
Till the extremest
leaves we were approaching,
Again began: "The
Grace that
dallying
Plays with thine
intellect thy mouth has opened,
Up to this point, as it should
opened be,
So that I do approve what forth
emerged;
But now thou must express what thou
believest,
And whence to thy belief it was
presented."
"O holy
father, spirit who
beholdest
What thou
believedst so that thou o'ercamest,
Towards the
sepulchre, more youthful feet,"
Began I, "thou
dost wish me in this place
The form to
manifest of my prompt belief,
And likewise thou the cause thereof demandest.
And I respond: In one
God I believe,
Sole and eterne, who
moveth all the
heavens
With love and with
desire, himself
unmoved;
And of such faith not
only have I
proofs
Physical and
metaphysical, but gives them
Likewise the truth that from this
place rains down
Through
Moses, through the
Prophets and the
Psalms,
Through the
Evangel, and through you, who wrote
After the fiery
Spirit sanctified you;
In
Persons three
eterne believe, and these
One
essence I believe, so one and
trine
They bear
conjunction both with '
sunt' and '
est.'
With the
profound condition and divine
Which now I touch upon, doth
stamp my mind
Ofttimes the
doctrine evangelical.
This the beginning is, this is the spark
Which
afterwards dilates to
vivid flame,
And, like a star in heaven, is
sparkling in me."
Even as a lord who hears what pleaseth him
His servant straight embraces,
gratulating
For the good news as soon as he is
silent;
So, giving me its
benediction, singing,
Three times
encircled me, when I was
silent,
The
apostolic light, at whose command
I spoken had, in
speaking I so
pleased him.
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