Paradiso: Canto XXX
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Perchance six
thousand miles remote from us
Is glowing the sixth hour, and now this world
Inclines its shadow almost to a level,
When the
mid-heaven begins to make
itself
So deep to us, that here and there a star
Ceases to shine so far down as this depth,
And as advances bright
exceedingly
The
handmaid of
the sun, the
heaven is
closed
Light after light to the most
beautiful;
Not
otherwise the
Triumph, which for ever
Plays round about the point that
vanquished me,
Seeming enclosed by what itself encloses,
Little by little from my
vision faded;
Whereat to turn mine eyes on
Beatrice
My seeing nothing and my love
constrained me.
If what has hitherto been said of her
Were all
concluded in a single
praise,
Scant
would it be to serve the
present turn.
Not
only does the
beauty I beheld
Transcend ourselves, but truly I believe
Its Maker only may enjoy it all.
Vanquished do I
confess me by this
passage
More than by
problem of his theme was ever
O'ercome the
comic or the
tragic poet;
For as the sun the sight that trembles most,
Even so the
memory of that sweet
smile
My mind
depriveth of its
very self.
From the first day that I beheld her face
In this life, to the
moment of this look,
The
sequence of my song has ne'er been
severed;
But now
perforce this
sequence must desist
From following her beauty with my verse,
As every artist at his
uttermost.
Such as I leave her to a
greater fame
Than any of my trumpet,
which is
bringing
Its
arduous matter to a final close,
With voice and
gesture of a perfect leader
She
recommenced: "We from the
greatest body
Have issued to the heaven that is pure light;
Light
intellectual replete with
love,
Love of true good
replete with ecstasy,
Ecstasy that
transcendeth every
sweetness.
Here shalt thou see the one host and the other
Of Paradise, and one in the same aspects
Which at the final
judgment thou shalt see."
Even as a sudden lightning that
disperses
The visual spirits, so that it deprives
The eye of impress from the
strongest objects,
Thus round about me flashed a
living light,
And left me swathed around with such a veil
Of its
effulgence, that I nothing saw.
"Ever the
Love which
quieteth this heaven
Welcomes into itself with such salute,
To make the candle ready for its flame."
No sooner had within me these brief words
An entrance found, than I perceived myself
To be uplifted over my own power,
And I with vision new
rekindled me,
Such that no light whatever is so pure
But that mine eyes
were fortified against it.
And light I saw in
fashion of a river
Fulvid with its
effulgence, 'twixt two
banks
Depicted with an
admirable Spring.
Out of this river issued
living sparks,
And on all sides sank down into the flowers,
Like unto rubies that are set in gold;
And then, as if
inebriate with the odours,
They plunged again into the
wondrous torrent,
And as one entered issued forth another.
"The high desire, that now inflames and moves thee
To have intellqigence of what thou seest,
Pleaseth me all the more, the more it swells.
But of this water it
behoves thee drink
Before so great a thirst in thee be slaked."
Thus said to me the
sunshine of mine eyes;
And added: "The
river and the
topazes
Going in and out, and the laughing of the
herbage,
Are of their truth
foreshadowing prefaces;
Not that these things are
difficult in
themselves,
But the
deficiency is on thy side,
For yet thou hast not vision so exalted."
There is no babe that leaps so
suddenly
With face towards the milk, if he
awake
Much later than his usual custom is,
As I did, that I might make
better mirrors
Still of mine eyes, down
stooping to the wave
Which flows that we therein be better made.
And even as the
penthouse of mine
eyelids
Drank of it, it forthwith appeared to me
Out of its length to be
transformed to round.
Then as a folk who have been under
masks
Seem other than before, if they divest
The
semblance not their own they disappeared in,
Thus into greater pomp were changed for me
The
flowerets and the sparks, so that I saw
Both of the
Courts of Heaven made
manifest.
O
splendour of
God! by means of which I saw
The lofty triumph of the realm veracious,
Give me the power to say how it I saw!
There is a light above, which
visible
Makes the
Creator unto every
creature,
Who only in beholding
Him has
peace,
And it expands itself in circular form
To such extent, that its
circumference
Would be too large a
girdle for the sun.
The
semblance of it is all made of rays
Reflected from the top of
Primal Motion,
Which takes therefrom
vitality and power.
And as a hill in water at its base
Mirrors itself, as if to see its beauty
When affluent most in
verdure and in flowers,
So, ranged aloft all round about the light,
Mirrored I saw in more ranks than a
thousand
All who above there have from us
returned.
And if the lowest row collect within it
So great a light, how vast the amplitude
Is of this Rose in its
extremest leaves!
My vision in the
vastness and the height
Lost not itself, but comprehended all
The quantity and quality of that
gladness.
There near and far nor add nor take away;
For there where
God immediately doth
govern,
The natural law in naught is relevant.
Into the yellow of the
Rose Eternal
That
spreads, and multiplies, and breathes an
odour
Of praise unto the ever-vernal Sun,
As one who
silent is and
fain would speak,
Me
Beatrice drew on, and said: "
Behold
Of the white stoles how vast the convent is!
Behold how vast the circuit of our city!
Behold our seats so filled to
overflowing,
That here
henceforward are few people
wanting!
On that great throne
whereon thine eyes are
fixed
For the crown's sake already placed upon it,
Before thou suppest at this wedding feast
Shall sit the soul (that is to be
Augustus
On
earth) of noble
Henry, who shall come
To redress
Italy ere she
be ready.
Blind covetousness, that casts its spell upon you,
Has made you like unto the little child,
Who
dies of hunger and
drives off the nurse.
And in the sacred
forum then shall be
A
Prefect such, that openly or
covert
On the same road he will not walk with him.
But long of
God he will not be endured
In holy
office; he shall be
thrust down
Where
Simon Magus is for his deserts,
And make him of
Alagna lower go!"
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