The honor of their influence and the blame, Perhaps his bow doth hit upon some truth. This principle ill understood once warped The whole world nearly, till it went astray Invoking Jove and Mercury and Mars. The other doubt which doth disquiet thee Less venom has, for its malevolence Could never lead thee otherwhere from me. Coöperates not with him who uses force, These souls were not on that account excused; 75 For will is never quenched unless it will, But operates as nature doth in fire, If violence a thousand times distort it. Hence, if it yieldeth more or less, it seconds The force; and these have done so, having power Of turning back unto the holy place. If their will had been perfect, like to that Which Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held, 81 85 It would have urged them back along the road Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free; But such a solid will is all too rare. And by these words, if thou hast gathered them That would have still annoyed thee many times. But now another passage runs across Before thine eyes, and such that by thyself 91 Thou couldst not thread it ere thou wouldst be weary. I have for certain put into thy mind So that she seemeth here to contradict me. At this point I desire thee to remember That force with will commingles, and they cause That the offences cannot be excused. Will absolute consenteth not to evil; But in so far consenteth as it fears, The other, so that both of us speak truth." Such was the flowing of the holy river 95 100 105 110 115 That issued from the fount whence springs all truth; This put to rest my wishes one and all. "O love of the first lover, O divine," Said I forthwith, "whose speech inundates me And warms me so, it more and more revives me, My own affection is not so profound As to suffice in rendering grace for grace; Let Him, who sees and can, thereto respond. Well I perceive that never sated is Our intellect unless the Truth illume it, When it attains it; and it can attain it; 121 Doubt at the foot of truth; and this is nature, Which to the top from height to height impels us. This doth invite me, this assurance give me you With reverence, Lady, to inquire of Another truth, which is obscure to me. I wish to know if man can satisfy you For broken vows with other good deeds, so That in your balance they will not be light.' Beatrice gazed upon me with her eyes Full of the sparks of love, and so divine, 125 130 135 140 CANTO V "IF in the heat of love I flame upon thee This Canto thus did Beatrice begin; And, as a man who breaks not off his speech, "The greatest gift that in his largess God Wherewith the creatures of intelligence ΙΟ 15 20 25 For, closing between God and man the compact, Such as I say, and made by its own act. 30 Think'st thou to make good use of what thou 'st offered, With gains ill gotten thou wouldst do good deed. Now art thou certain of the greater point; But because Holy Church in this dispenses, 35 Which seems against the truth which I have shown thee, Behoves thee still to sit awhile at table, Because the solid food which thou hast taken Open thy mind to that which I reveal, And fix it there within; for 't is not knowledge, The having heard without retaining it. In the essence of this sacrifice two things Convene together; and the one is that 40 Of which 't is made, the other is the agreement. 45 This last for evermore is cancelled not Unless complied with, and concerning this With such precision has above been spoken. Therefore it was enjoined upon the Hebrews To offer still, though sometimes what was offered Might be commuted, as thou ought'st to know. The other, which is known to thee as matter, May well indeed be such that one errs not But let none shift the burden on his shoulder 51 55 |