They passed not from their bodies, as thou thinkest,
Gentiles, but Christians in the steadfast faith
Of feet that were to suffer and had suffered. 105
For one from Hell, where no one e'er turns back
Unto good will, returned unto his bones,
And that of living hope was the reward,
Of living hope, that placed its efficacy

In prayers to God made to resuscitate him,
So that 't were possible to move his will.
The glorious soul concerning which I speak,
Returning to the flesh, where brief its stay,
Believed in Him who had the power to aid it;
And, in believing, kindled to such fire

Of genuine love, that at the second death
Worthy it was to come unto this joy.

The other one, through grace, that from so deep
A fountain wells that never hath the eye
Of creature reached its primal wave,
Set all his love below on righteousness;

any

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Wherefore from grace to grace did God unclose His eye to our redemption yet to be,

Whence he believed therein, and suffered not

From that day forth the stench of Paganism, 125 And he reproved therefor the folk perverse. Those Maidens three, whom at the right-hand wheel

Thou didst behold, were unto him for baptism More than a thousand years before baptizing.

O thou predestination, how remote

Thy root is from the aspect of all those Who the First Cause do not behold entire ! And you, O mortals! hold yourselves restrained In judging; for ourselves, who look on God,

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We do not know as yet all the elect; And sweet to us is such a deprivation,

Because our good in this good is made perfect, That whatsoe'er God wills, we also will." After this manner by that shape divine, To make clear in me my short-sightedness, Was given to me a pleasant medicine; And as good singer a good lutanist

Accompanies with vibrations of the chords, Whereby more pleasantness the song acquires, So, while it spake, do I remember me

That I beheld both of those blessed lights, Even as the winking of the eyes concords, Moving unto the words their little flames.

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CANTO XXI.

Already on my Lady's face mine eyes

Again were fastened, and with these my mind, And from all other purpose was withdrawn ; And she smiled not; but "If I were to smile," She unto me began, "thou wouldst become Like Semele, when she was turned to ashes. Because my beauty, that along the stairs

Of the eternal palace more enkindles,
As thou hast seen, the farther we ascend,

If it were tempered not, is so resplendent

That all thy mortal power in its effulgence Would seem a leaflet that the thunder crushes.

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We are uplifted to the seventh splendor,

That underneath the burning Lion's breast Now radiates downward mingled with his power.

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Fix in direction of thine eyes the mind,

And make of them a mirror for the figure
That in this mirror shall appear to thee."
He who could know what was the pasturage

My sight had in that blessed countenance,
When I transferred me to another care,
Would recognize how grateful was to me
Obedience unto my celestial escort,
By counterposing one side with the other.
Within the crystal which, around the world

Revolving, bears the name of its dear leader,
Under whom every wickedness lay dead,
Colored like gold, on which the sunshine gleams,
A stairway I beheld to such a height
Uplifted, that mine eye pursued it not.
Likewise beheld I down the steps descending
So many splendors, that I thought each light
That in the heaven appears was there diffused.
And as accordant with their natural custom

The rooks together at the break of day Bestir themselves to warm their feathers cold; Then some of them fly off without return,

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Others come back to where they started from, And others, wheeling round, still keep at home; Such fashion it appeared to me was there

Within the sparkling that together came, As soon as on a certain step it struck, And that which nearest unto us remained Became so clear, that in my thought I said, "Well I perceive the love thou showest me; But she, from whom I wait the how and when Of speech and silence, standeth still; whence I Against desire do well if I ask not." She thereupon, who saw my silentness

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In the sight of Him who seeth everything, Said unto me, "Let loose thy warm desire." And I began: "No merit of my own

Renders me worthy of response from thee But for her sake who granteth me the asking, Thou blessed life that dost remain concealed In thy beatitude, make known to me. The cause which draweth thee so near my And tell me why is silent in this wheel The dulcet symphony of Paradise,

side;

That through the rest below sounds so devoutly.' "Thou hast thy hearing mortal as thy sight,'

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It answer made to me; "they sing not here, For the same cause that Beatrice hath not smiled. Thus far adown the holy stairway's steps

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Have I descended but to give thee welcome
With words, and with the light that mantles me;
Nor did more love cause me to be more ready,
For love as much and more up there is burning,
As doth the flaming manifest to thee.
But the high charity, that makes us servants
Prompt to the counsel which controls the world,
Allotteth here, even as thou dost observe."

"I see full well," said I, "O sacred lamp!
How love unfettered in this court sufficeth
To follow the eternal Providence ;
But this is what seems hard for me to see,
Wherefore predestinate wast thou alone
Unto this office from among thy consorts."
No sooner had I come to the last word,

Than of its middle made the light a centre,
Whirling itself about like a swift millstone.

Line 63. For the same cause that Beatrice has not smiled.

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Then answer made the love that was therein:

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"On me directed is a light divine,

Piercing through this in which I am embosomed, Of which the virtue with my sight conjoined Lifts me above myself so far, I see

The supreme essence from which this is drawn. Hence comes the joyfulness with which I flame, For to my sight, as far as it is clear, The clearness of the flame I equal make. But that soul in the heaven which is most pure, That Seraph which his eye on God most fixes, Could this demand of thine not satisfy; Because so deeply sinks in the abyss

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Of the eternal statute what thou askest,
From all created sight it is cut off.
And to the mortal world, when thou returnest,
This carry back, that it may not presume
Longer tow'rd such a goal to move its feet.
The mind, that shineth here, on earth doth smoke;
From this observe how can it do below
That which it cannot though the heaven assume
it?"

Such limit did its words prescribe to me,
The question I relinquished, and restricted
Myself to ask it humbly who it was.
"Between two shores of Italy rise cliffs,

And not far distant from thy native place,
So high, the thunders far below them sound,
And form a ridge that Catria is called,

'Neath which is consecrate a hermitage Wont to be dedicate to worship only." Thus unto me the third speech recommenced, And then, continuing, it said: "Therein

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