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Deeper into the Truth, wherein rest is
For every mind. Thus happiness hath root
In seeing, not in loving, which of sight
Is aftergrowth. And of the seeing such.
The meed, as unto each, in due degree,

Grace and good-will their measure have assign'd.
The other trine, that with still opening buds
In this eternal springtide blossom fair,
Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram,'
Breathe up in warbled melodies threefold
Hosannas, blending ever; from the three,
Transmitted, hierarchy of gods, for aye
Rejoicing; Dominations first; next them,

Virtues; and Powers the third; the next to whom
Are Princedoms and Archangels, with glad round
To tread their festal ring; and last, the band
Angelical, disporting in their sphere.

All, as they circle in their orders, look

Aloft; and, downward, with such sway prevail,
That all with mutual impulse tend to God.

These once a mortal view beheld. Desire

3

In Dionysius, so intensely wrought,

That he, as I have done, ranged them; and named,
Their orders, marshal'd in his thought. From him,
Dissentient, one refused his sacred read.
But soon as in this Heaven his doubting eyes
Were open'd, Gregory at his error smiled.
Nor marvel, that a denizen of earth

Should scan such secret truth; for he had learnt
Both this and much beside of these our orbs,
Heaven's mysteries."

From an eye-witness to

Not injured, like spring products, by the influence of autumn, when the constellation Aries rises at sunset.

The Areopagite, in his book 66 De Cœlesti Hierarchiâ."

4" Gregory." Gregory the Great. "He had learnt.' Dionysius, he says, had learnt from St. Paul. The book above referred to, which goes under his name, was the production of a later age. In Bishop Bull's seventh sermon, which treats of the different degrees of beatitude

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CANTO XXIX

ARGUMENT.-Beatrice beholds, in the mirror of divine truth, some doubts which had entered the mind of Dante. These she resolves; and then digresses into a vehement reprehension of certain theologians and preachers in those days, whose ignorance or avarice induced them to substitute their own inventions for the pure word of the Gospel.

O longer, than what time Latona's twins

Cover'd of Libra and the fleecy star,

Together both, girding the horizon hang;
In even balance, from the zenith poised;

Till from that verge, each, changing hemisphere,
Part the nice level; e'en so brief a space

Did Beatrice's silence hold. A smile

Sat painted on her cheek; and her fix'd gaze
Bent on the point, at which my vision fail'd:
When thus, her words resuming, she began:
"I speak, nor what thou wouldst inquire demand;
For I have mark'd it, where all time and place
Are present. Not for increase to Himself
Of good, which may not be increased, but forth
To manifest His glory by its beams;
Inhabiting His own eternity,

Beyond time's limit or what bound soe'er
To circumscribe His being; as He will'd,
Into new natures, like unto Himself,
Eternal Love unfolded. Nor before,
As if in dull inaction, torpid, lay;

For, not in process of before or aft,

Upon these waters moved the Spirit of God.

Simple and mix'd both form and substance, forth

To perfect being started, like three darts
Shot from a bow three-corded. And as ray
In crystal, glass, and amber, shines entire,
E'en at the moment of its issuing; thus
Did, from the eternal Sovran, beam entire
His threefold operation, at one act
Produced coeval. Yet, in order, each
Created his due station knew: those highest,

Who pure intelligence were made; mere power,
The lowest; in the midst, bound with strict league,
Intelligence and power, unsever'd bond.

Long tract of ages by the Angels past,
Ere the creating of another world,

Described on Jerome's pages,' thou hast seen.
But that what I disclose to thee is true,

2

Those penmen, whom the Holy Spirit moved
In many a passage of their sacred book,

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Attest; as thou by diligent search shalt find:
And reason, in some sort, discerns the same,
Who scarce would grant the heavenly ministers,
Of their perfection void, so long a space.

Thus when and where these spirits of love were made,
Thou know'st, and how: and, knowing, hast allay'd
Thy thirst, which from the triple question* rose.
Ere one had reckon'd twenty, e'en so soon,
Part of the Angels fell: and in their fall,
Confusion to your elements ensued.
The others kept their station: and this task,
Whereon thou look'st, began, with such delight,
That they surcease not ever, day nor night,
Their circling. Of that fatal lapse the cause
Was the curst pride of him, whom thou hast seen
Pent with the world's incumbrance. Those, whom here
Thou seest, were lowly to confess themselves

Of His free bounty, who had made them apt
For ministries so high: therefore their views

Were, by enlightening grace and their own merit,
Exalted; so that in their will confirm'd
They stand, nor fear to fall. For do not doubt,
But to receive the grace, which Heaven vouchsafes,
Is meritorious, even as the soul

With prompt affection welcometh the guest.
Now, without further help, if with good heed

1 St. Jerome had described the Angels as created long before the rest of the universe; an opinion which Thomas Aquinas controverted.

2 As in Gen. i. 1, and Eccles. xviii. 1. 8" Reason." The heavenly ministers ("motori") would have

ex

isted to no purpose if they had been created before the corporeal world, which they were to govern.

4 He had wished to know where, when, and how the Angels had been created, and these three questions had been resolved.

My words thy mind have treasured, thou henceforth
This consistory round about mayst scan,

And gaze thy fill. But, since thou hast on earth
Heard vain disputers, reasoners in the schools,
Canvass the angelic nature, and dispute

Its powers of apprehension, memory, choice;
Therefore, 'tis well thou take from me the truth,
Pure and without disguise; which they below,
Equivocating, darken and perplex.

"Know thou, that, from the first, these substances, Rejoicing in the countenance of God, Have held unceasingly their view, intent Upon the glorious vision, from the which Nought absent is nor hid: where then no change Of newness, with succession, interrupts, Remembrance, there, needs none to gather up Divided thought and images remote.

66

So that men, thus at variance with the truth, Dream, though their eyes be open; reckless some Of error; others well aware they err,

To whom more guilt and shame are justly due.
Each the known track of sage philosophy
Deserts, and has a bye-way of his own:
So much the restless eagerness to shine,
And love of singularity, prevail.

Yet this, offensive as it is, provokes

Heaven's anger less, than when the Book of God
Is forced to yield to man's authority,

Or from its straightness warp'd: no reckoning made
What blood the sowing of it in the world
Has cost; what favour for himself he wins,
Who meekly clings to it. The aim of all
Is how to shine: e'en they, whose office is
To preach the Gospel, let the Gospel sleep,
And pass their own inventions off instead.
One tells, how at Christ's suffering the wan moon
Bent back her steps, and shadow'd o'er the sun
With intervenient disk, as she withdrew:

Another, how the light shrouded itself

Within its tabernacle, and left dark

The Spaniard, and the Indian, with the Jew.
Such fables Florence in her pulpit hears,
Bandied about more frequent, than the names
Of Bindi and of Lapi in her streets.

The sheep, meanwhile, poor witless ones, return
From pasture, fed with wind: and what avails
For their excuse, they do not see their harm?
Christ said not to His first conventicle,
'Go forth and preach impostures to the world,'
But gave them truth to build on; and the sound
Was mighty on their lips: nor needed they,
Beside the Gosepl, other spear or shield,
To aid them in their warfare for the faith.
The preacher now provides himself with store
Of jests and gibes; and, so there be no lack
Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl
Distends, and he has won the meed he sought:
Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while
Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood,
They scarce would wait to hear the blessing said,
Which now the dotards hold in such esteem,
That every counterfeit, who spreads abroad
The hands of holy promise, finds a throng
Of credulous fools beneath. Saint Anthony
Fattens with this his swine, and others worse
Than swine, who diet at his lazy board,
Paying with unstampt metal' for their fare,

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'But (for we far have wander'd) let us seek
The forward path again; so as the way

Be shorten'd with the time. No mortal tongue,
Nor thought of man, hath ever reach'd so far,
That of these natures he might count the tribes.
What Daniels of their thousands hath reveal'd,

With finite number, infinite conceals.

The fountain, at whose source these drink their beams,

5 Common names at Florence.

6 On the sale of these blessings, the brothers of St. Anthony supported themselves and their

paramours.

From behind the swine of St. Anthony, our Poet levels a blow at Boniface VIII, from whom, in 1297,

they obtained the privileges of an
independent congregation.
7 With false indulgences.
8" Daniel."

Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him."-Dan. vii. 10.

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