60 65 70 As far unfolded as it hath the power. Therefore I pray, and thou assure me, father, If I may so much grace receive, that I May thee behold with countenance unveiled.” He thereupon : “Brother, thy high desire In the remotest sphere shall be fulfilled, Where are fulfilled all others and my own.' There perfect is, and ripened, and complete, Every desire; within that one alone Is every part where it has always been ; For it is not in space, nor turns on poles, And unto it our stairway reaches up, Whence thus from out thy sight it steals away. Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it Extending its supernal part, what time So thronged with angels it appeared to him. But to ascend it now no one uplifts His feet from off the earth, and now my Rule Below remaineth for mere waste of paper. The walls that used of old to be an Abbey Are changed to dens of robbers, and the cowls Are sacks filled full of miserable four. But heavy usury is not taken up So much against God's pleasure as that fruit Which maketh so insane the heart of monks; For whatsoever hath the Church in keeping Is for the folk that ask it in God's name, Not for one's kindred or for something worse. The flesh of mortals is so very soft, That good beginnings down below suffice not From springing of the oak to bearing acorns. Peter began with neither gold nor silver, 90 And I with orison and abstinence, And Francis with humility his convent. And if thou lookest at each one's beginning, And then regardest whither he has run, Thou shalt behold the white changed into brown. In verity the Jordan backward turned, And the sea's Aeeing, when God willed, were more 95 A wonder to behold, than succor here.” Thus unto me he said ; and then withdrew To his own band, and the band closed together; Then like a whirlwind all was upward rapt. The gentle Lady urged me on behind them Up o'er that stairway by a single sign, So did her virtue overcome my nature; By natural law, was motion e'er so swift That it could be compared unto my wing. Reader, as I may unto that devout Triumph return, on whose account I often For my transgressions weep and beat my breast, Thou hadst not thrust thy finger in the fire And drawn it out again, before I saw The sign that follows Taurus, and was in it. O glorious stars, O light impregnated With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge All of my genius, whatsoe'er it be, With you was born, and hid himself with you, He who is father of all mortal life, When first I tasted of the Tuscan air ; And then when grace was freely given to me To enter the high wheel which turns you round, IIO 115 120 125 130 135 Your region was allotted unto me. To you devoutly at this hour my soul Is sighing, that it virtue may acquire For the stern pass that draws it to itself. “ Thou art so near unto the last salvation,” Thus Beatrice began, “thou oughtest now eyes unclouded and acute; And therefore, ere thou enter farther in, Look down once more, and see how vast a world Thou hast already put beneath thy feet; So that thy heart, as jocund as it may, Present itself to the triumphant throng That comes rejoicing through this rounded ether.” I with my sight returned through one and all The sevenfold spheres, and I beheld this globe Such that I smiled at its ignoble semblance ; And that opinion I approve as best Which doth account it least; and he who thinks Of something else may truly be called just. I saw the daughter of Latona shining Without that shadow, which to me was cause That once I had believed her rare and dense. The aspect of thy son, Hyperion, Here I sustained, and saw how move themselves Around and near him Maia and Dione. Thence there appeared the temperateness of Jove 145 'Twixt son and father, and to me was clear The change that of their whereabout they make ; And all the seven made manifest to me How great they are, and eke how swift they are, And how they are in distant habitations. 140 150 The threshing-floor that maketh us so proud, To me revolving with the eternal Twins, Was all apparent made from hill to harbor ! Then to the beauteous eyes mine eyes I turned. CANTO XXIII 5 10 Even as a bird, 'mid the beloved leaves, Quiet upon the nest of her sweet brood Throughout the night, that hideth all things from us, Who, that she may behold their longed-for looks And find the food wherewith to nourish them, In which, to her, grave labors grateful are, Anticipates the time on open spray And with an ardent longing waits the sun, Gazing intent as soon as breaks the dawn : Even thus my Lady standing was, erect And vigilant, turned round towards the zone Underneath which the sun displays less haste ; So that beholding her suspense and wistful, Such I became as he is who desiring For something yearns, and hoping is appeased. But brief the space from one When to the other; Of my awaiting, say I, and the seeing The welkin grow resplendent more and more. And Beatrice exclaimed : Behold the hosts Of Christ's triumphal march, and all the fruit Harvested by the rolling of these spheres !” It seemed to me her face was all aflame; And eyes she had so full of ecstasy That I must needs pass on without describing. Smiles Trivia among the nymphs eternal 15 20 25 |