Paradiso: Canto XXIX
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At what time both the children of
Latona,
Surmounted by the
Ram and by the
Scales,
Together make a zone of the horizon,
As long
as from the time the
zenith holds them
In equipoise, till from that girdle both
Changing their
hemisphere disturb the
balance,
So long, her face
depicted with a
smile,
Did
Beatrice keep
silence while she gazed
Fixedly at the point which had o'ercome me.
Then she began: "I
say, and I
ask not
What thou
dost wish to hear, for I have
seen it
Where
centres every
When and every '
Ubi.'
Not to acquire some good unto himself,
Which is
impossible, but that his splendour
In its
resplendency may say, 'Subsisto,'
In his eternity
outside of time,
Outside all
other limits, as it pleased him,
Into new
Loves the
Eternal Love unfolded.
Nor as if
torpid did he lie
before;
For neither after nor before
proceeded
The going forth of
God upon these
waters.
Matter and
Form unmingled and
conjoined
Came into being that had no defect,
E'en as three
arrows from a
three-stringed bow.
And as in
glass, in amber, or in
crystal
A
sunbeam flashes so, that from its coming
To its full being is no interval,
So from its Lord did the
triform effect
Ray forth into its being all together,
Without
discrimination of beginning.
Order was
con-created and
constructed
In
substances, and summit of the world
Were those wherein the pure act was
produced.
Pure
potentiality held the
lowest part;
Midqway bound
potentiality with act
Such bond that it shall never be
unbound.
Jerome has written unto you of
angels
Created a long
lapse of
centuries
Or ever yet the other world was made;
But written is this truth in many
places
By writers of the
Holy Ghost, and thou
Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat.
And even reason seeth it somewhat,
For it would not concede that for so long
Could be the
motors without their perfection.
Now dost thou know both where and when these Loves
Created were, and how; so that extinct
In thy desire already are three fires.
Nor could one reach, in
counting, unto
twenty
So swiftly, as a
portion of
these angels
Disturbed the subject of your
elements.
The rest
remained, and they began this art
Which thou
discernest, with so great delight
That never from their circling do they cease.
The occasion of the fall was the
accursed
Presumption of that
One, whom thou hast seen
By all the burden of the world
constrained.
Those whom thou here beholdest modest were
To
recognise themselves as of that goodness
Which made them apt for so much
understanding;
On which
account their vision was exalted
By the enlightening
grace and their own
merit,
So that they have a
full and steadfast will.
I would not have thee doubt, but certain be,
'Tis
meritorious to
receive this grace,
According as the
affection opens to it.
Now round about in this
consistory
Much mayst thou
contemplate, if these my words
Be gathered up, without all further aid.
But since upon the earth, throughout your
schools,
They
teach that such is the
angelic nature
That it doth hear, and
recollect, and will,
More will I say, that thou mayst see unmixed
The truth that is
confounded there below,
Equivocating in such like
prelections.
These
substances, since in
God's countenance
They
jocund were, turned not away their sight
From that wherefrom not anything is
hidden;
Hence they have not their vision intercepted
By object new, and hence they do not need
To recollect, through
interrupted thought.
So that below, not
sleeping, people dream,
Believing they
speak truth, and not
believing;
And in the
last is greater sin and shame.
Below you do not
journey by one path
Philosophising; so
transporteth you
Love of appearance and the thought thereof.
And even this above here is
endured
With less disdain, than when is set aside
The
Holy Writ, or when it is
distorted.
They think not there how much of blood it costs
To sow it in the world, and how he pleases
Who in humility keeps close to it.
Each striveth for
appearance, and
doth make
His own inventions; and these treated are
By
preachers, and the
Evangel holds its peace.
One sayeth that the
moon did backward turn,
In the
Passion of Christ, and
interpose herself
So that the sunlight reached not down below;
And lies; for of its own accord the light
Hid itself; whence to
Spaniards and to
Indians,
As to the
Jews, did such
eclipse respond.
Florence has not so many
Lapi and Bindi
As
fables such as these, that every year
Are shouted from the
pulpit back and forth,
In such wise that the
lambs, who do not know,
Come back from
pasture fed upon the wind,
And not to see the harm doth not excuse them.
Christ did not to his first
disciples say,
'Go forth, and to the world preach idle tales,'
But unto them a true
foundation gave;
And this so
loudly sounded from their lips,
That, in the warfare to enkindle Faith,
They made of the
Evangel shields and
lances.
Now men go forth with
jests and
drolleries
To preach, and if but well the people laugh,
The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.
But in the cowl there nestles such a bird,
That, if the common people were to see it,
They would
perceive what pardons
they confide in,
For which so great on earth has grown the folly,
That, without proof of any testimony,
To each indulgence they would flock
together.
By this
Saint Anthony his
pig doth
fatten,
And many others, who are worse than pigs,
Paying in
money without mark of
coinage.
But since we have digressed
abundantly,
Turn back thine eyes
forthwith to the right path,
So that the way be shortened with the time.
This
nature doth so
multiply itself
In
numbers, that there never yet was speech
Nor mortal fancy that can go so far.
And if thou notest that which is revealed
By
Daniel, thou wilt see that in his
thousands
Number
determinate is kept
concealed.
The primal light, that all
irradiates it,
By modes as many is
received therein,
As are the
splendours wherewith it is mated.
Hence,
inasmuch as on the act
conceptive
The
affection followeth, of love the
sweetness
Therein diversely
fervid is or tepid.
The height behold now and the
amplitude
Of the
eternal power, since it hath made
Itself so many mirrors, where 'tis
broken,
One in itself
remaining as before."
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