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Dante Alighieri - Paradiso (English)
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With the forementioned vivid consciousness
  Have drawn me from the sea of love perverse,
  And of the right have placed me on the shore.

The leaves, wherewith embowered is all the garden
  Of the Eternal Gardener, do I love
  As much as he has granted them of good."

As soon as I had ceased, a song most sweet
  Throughout the heaven resounded, and my Lady
  Said with the others, "Holy, holy, holy!"

And as at some keen light one wakes from sleep
  By reason of the visual spirit that runs
  Unto the splendour passed from coat to coat,

And he who wakes abhorreth what he sees,
  So all unconscious is his sudden waking,
  Until the judgment cometh to his aid,

So from before mine eyes did Beatrice
  Chase every mote with radiance of her own,
  That cast its light a thousand miles and more.

Whence better after than before I saw,
  And in a kind of wonderment I asked
  About a fourth light that I saw with us.

And said my Lady: "There within those rays
  Gazes upon its Maker the first soul
  That ever the first virtue did create."

Even as the bough that downward bends its top
  At transit of the wind, and then is lifted
  By its own virtue, which inclines it upward,

Likewise did I, the while that she was speaking,
  Being amazed, and then I was made bold
  By a desire to speak wherewith I burned.

And I began: "O apple, that mature
  Alone hast been produced, O ancient father,
  To whom each wife is daughter and daughter-in-law,

Devoutly as I can I supplicate thee
  That thou wouldst speak to me; thou seest my wish;
  And I, to hear thee quickly, speak it not."

Sometimes an animal, when covered, struggles
  So that his impulse needs must be apparent,
  By reason of the wrappage following it;

And in like manner the primeval soul
  Made clear to me athwart its covering
  How jubilant it was to give me pleasure.

Then breathed: "Without thy uttering it to me,
  Thine inclination better I discern
  Than thou whatever thing is surest to thee;

For I behold it in the truthful mirror,
  That of Himself all things parhelion makes,
  And none makes Him parhelion of itself.

Thou fain wouldst hear how long ago God placed me
  Within the lofty garden, where this Lady
  Unto so long a stairway thee disposed.

And how long to mine eyes it was a pleasure,
  And of the great disdain the proper cause,
  And the language that I used and that I made.

Now, son of mine, the tasting of the tree
  Not in itself was cause of so great exile,
  But solely the o`erstepping of the bounds.

There, whence thy Lady moved Virgilius,
  Four thousand and three hundred and two circuits
  Made by the sun, this Council I desired;

And him I saw return to all the lights
  Of his highway nine hundred times and thirty,
  Whilst I upon the earth was tarrying.

The language that I spake was quite extinct
  Before that in the work interminable
  The people under Nimrod were employed;

For nevermore result of reasoning
  (Because of human pleasure that doth change,
  Obedient to the heavens) was durable.

A natural action is it that man speaks;
  But whether thus or thus, doth nature leave
  To your own art, as seemeth best to you.

Ere I descended to the infernal anguish,
  `El` was on earth the name of the Chief Good,
  From whom comes all the joy that wraps me round

`Eli` he then was called, and that is proper,
  Because the use of men is like a leaf
  On bough, which goeth and another cometh.

Upon the mount that highest o`er the wave
  Rises was I, in life or pure or sinful,
  From the first hour to that which is the second,

As the sun changes quadrant, to the sixth."


Paradiso: Canto XXVII


"Glory be to the Father, to the Son,
  And Holy Ghost!" all Paradise began,
  So that the melody inebriate made me.

What I beheld seemed unto me a smile
  Of the universe; for my inebriation
  Found entrance through the hearing and the sight.

O joy!  O gladness inexpressible!
  O perfect life of love and peacefulness!
  O riches without hankering secure!

Before mine eyes were standing the four torches
  Enkindled, and the one that first had come
  Began to make itself more luminous;

And even such in semblance it became
  As Jupiter would become, if he and Mars
  Were birds, and they should interchange their feathers.

That Providence, which here distributeth
  Season and service, in the blessed choir
  Had silence upon every side imposed.

When I heard say: "If I my colour change,
  Marvel not at it; for while I am speaking
  Thou shalt behold all these their colour change.

He who usurps upon the earth my place,
  My place, my place, which vacant has become
  Before the presence of the Son of God,

Has of my cemetery made a sewer
  Of blood and stench, whereby the Perverse One,
  Who fell from here, below there is appeased!"

With the same colour which, through sun adverse,
  Painteth the clouds at evening or at morn,
  Beheld I then the whole of heaven suffused.

And as a modest woman, who abides
  Sure of herself, and at another`s failing,
  From listening only, timorous becomes,

Even thus did Beatrice change countenance;
  And I believe in heaven was such eclipse,
  When suffered the supreme Omnipotence;

Thereafterward proceeded forth his words
  With voice so much transmuted from itself,
  The very countenance was not more changed.

"The spouse of Christ has never nurtured been
  On blood of mine, of Linus and of Cletus,
  To be made use of in acquest of gold;

But in acquest of this delightful life
  Sixtus and Pius, Urban and Calixtus,
  After much lamentation, shed their blood.

Our purpose was not, that on the right hand
  Of our successors should in part be seated
  The Christian folk, in part upon the other;

Nor that the keys which were to me confided
  Should e`er become the escutcheon on a banner,
  That should wage war on those who are baptized;

Nor I be made the figure of a seal
  To privileges venal and mendacious,
  Whereat I often redden and flash with fire.

In garb of shepherds the rapacious wolves
  Are seen from here above o`er all the pastures!
  O wrath of God, why dost thou slumber still?

To drink our blood the Caorsines and Gascons
  Are making ready.  O thou good beginning,
  Unto how vile an end must thou needs fall!

But the high Providence, that with Scipio
  At Rome the glory of the world defended,
  Will speedily bring aid, as I conceive;

And thou, my son, who by thy mortal weight
  Shalt down return again, open thy mouth;
  What I conceal not, do not thou conceal."

As with its frozen vapours downward falls
  In flakes our atmosphere, what time the horn
  Of the celestial Goat doth touch the sun,

Upward in such array saw I the ether
  Become, and flaked with the triumphant vapours,
  Which there together with us had remained.

My sight was following up their semblances,
  And followed till the medium, by excess,
  The passing farther onward took from it;

Whereat the Lady, who beheld me freed
  From gazing upward, said to me: "Cast down
  Thy sight, and see how far thou art turned round."

Since the first time that I had downward looked,
  I saw that I had moved through the whole arc
  Which the first climate makes from midst to end;

So that I saw the mad track of Ulysses
  Past Gades, and this side, well nigh the shore
  Whereon became Europa a sweet burden.

And of this threshing-floor the site to me
  Were more unveiled, but the sun was proceeding
  Under my feet, a sign and more removed.

My mind enamoured, which is dallying
  At all times with my Lady, to bring back
  To her mine eyes was more than ever ardent.

And if or Art or Nature has made bait
  To catch the eyes and so possess the mind,
  In human flesh or in its portraiture,

All joined together would appear as nought
  To the divine delight which shone upon me
  When to her smiling face I turned me round.

The virtue that her look endowed me with
  From the fair nest of Leda tore me forth,
  And up into the swiftest heaven impelled me.

Its parts exceeding full of life and lofty
  Are all so uniform, I cannot say
  Which Beatrice selected for my place.

But she, who was aware of my desire,
  Began, the while she smiled so joyously
  That God seemed in her countenance to rejoice:

"The nature of that motion, which keeps quiet
  The centre and all the rest about it moves,
  From hence begins as from its starting point.

And in this heaven there is no other Where
  Than in the Mind Divine, wherein is kindled
  The love that turns it, and the power it rains.

Within a circle light and love embrace it,
  Even as this doth the others, and that precinct
  He who encircles it alone controls.

Its motion is not by another meted,
  But all the others measured are by this,
  As ten is by the half and by the fifth.

And in what manner time in such a pot
  May have its roots, and in the rest its leaves,
  Now unto thee can manifest be made.

O Covetousness, that mortals dost ingulf
  Beneath thee so, that no one hath the power
  Of drawing back his eyes from out thy waves!

Full fairly blossoms in mankind the will;
  But the uninterrupted rain converts
  Into abortive wildings the true plums.

Fidelity and innocence are found
  Only in children; afterwards they both
  Take flight or e`er the cheeks with down are covered.

One, while he prattles still, observes the fasts,
  Who, when his tongue is loosed, forthwith devours
  Whatever food under whatever moon;

Another, while he prattles, loves and listens
  Unto his mother, who when speech is perfect
  Forthwith desires to see her in her grave.

Even thus is swarthy made the skin so white
  In its first aspect of the daughter fair
  Of him who brings the morn, and leaves the night.

Thou, that it may not be a marvel to thee,
  Think that on earth there is no one who governs;
  Whence goes astray the human family.

Ere January be unwintered wholly
  By the centesimal on earth neglected,
  Shall these supernal circles roar so loud

The tempest that has been so long awaited
  Shall whirl the poops about where are the prows;
  So that the fleet shall run its course direct,

And the true fruit shall follow on the flower."


Paradiso: Canto XXVIII


After the truth against the present life
  Of miserable mortals was unfolded
  By her who doth imparadise my mind,

As in a looking-glass a taper`s flame
  He sees who from behind is lighted by it,
  Before he has it in his sight or thought,

And turns him round to see if so the glass
  Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords
  Therewith as doth a music with its metre,

In similar wise my memory recollecteth
  That I did, looking into those fair eyes,
  Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me.

And as I turned me round, and mine were touched
  By that which is apparent in that volume,
  Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent,

A point beheld I, that was raying out
  Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles
  Must close perforce before such great acuteness.

And whatsoever star seems smallest here
  Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it.
  As one star with another star is placed.

Perhaps at such a distance as appears
  A halo cincturing the light that paints it,
  When densest is the vapour that sustains it,

Thus distant round the point a circle of fire
  So swiftly whirled, that it would have surpassed
  Whatever motion soonest girds the world;

And this was by another circumcinct,
  That by a third, the third then by a fourth,
  By a fifth the fourth, and then by a sixth the fifth;

The seventh followed thereupon in width
  So ample now, that Juno`s messenger
  Entire would be too narrow to contain it.

Even so the eighth and ninth; and every one
  More slowly moved, according as it was
  In number distant farther from the first.

And that one had its flame most crystalline
  From which less distant was the stainless spark,
  I think because more with its truth imbued.

My Lady, who in my anxiety
  Beheld me much perplexed, said: "From that point
  Dependent is the heaven and nature all.

Behold that circle most conjoined to it,
  And know thou, that its motion is so swift
  Through burning love whereby it is spurred on."

And I to her: "If the world were arranged
  In the order which I see in yonder wheels,
  What`s set before me would have satisfied me;

But in the world of sense we can perceive
  That evermore the circles are diviner
  As they are from the centre more remote

Wherefore if my desire is to be ended
  In this miraculous and angelic temple,
  That has for confines only love and light,

To hear behoves me still how the example
  And the exemplar go not in one fashion,
  Since for myself in vain I contemplate it."

"If thine own fingers unto such a knot
  Be insufficient, it is no great wonder,
  So hard hath it become for want of trying."

My Lady thus; then said she: "Do thou take
  What I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated,
  And exercise on that thy subtlety.

The circles corporal are wide and narrow
  According to the more or less of virtue
  Which is distributed through all their parts.

The greater goodness works the greater weal,
  The greater weal the greater body holds,
  If perfect equally are all its parts.

Therefore this one which sweeps along with it
  The universe sublime, doth correspond
  Unto the circle which most loves and knows.

On which account, if thou unto the virtue
  Apply thy measure, not to the appearance
  Of substances that unto thee seem round,

Thou wilt behold a marvellous agreement,
  Of more to greater, and of less to smaller,
  In every heaven, with its Intelligence."

Even as remaineth splendid and serene
  The hemisphere of air, when Boreas
  Is blowing from that cheek where he is mildest,

Because is purified and resolved the rack
  That erst disturbed it, till the welkin laughs
  With all the beauties of its pageantry;

Thus did I likewise, after that my Lady
  Had me provided with her clear response,
  And like a star in heaven the truth was seen.

And soon as to a stop her words had come,
  Not otherwise does iron scintillate
  When molten, than those circles scintillated.

Their coruscation all the sparks repeated,
  And they so many were, their number makes
  More millions than the doubling of the chess.

I heard them sing hosanna choir by choir
  To the fixed point which holds them at the `Ubi,`
  And ever will, where they have ever been.

And she, who saw the dubious meditations
  Within my mind, "The primal circles," said,
  "Have shown thee Seraphim and Cherubim.

Thus rapidly they follow their own bonds,
  To be as like the point as most they can,
  And can as far as they are high in vision.

Those other Loves, that round about them go,
  Thrones of the countenance divine are called,
  Because they terminate the primal Triad.

And thou shouldst know that they all have delight
  As much as their own vision penetrates
  The Truth, in which all intellect finds rest.

From this it may be seen how blessedness
  Is founded in the faculty which sees,
  And not in that which loves, and follows next;

And of this seeing merit is the measure,
  Which is brought forth by grace, and by good will;
  Thus on from grade to grade doth it proceed.

The second Triad, which is germinating
  In such wise in this sempiternal spring,
  That no nocturnal Aries despoils,

Perpetually hosanna warbles forth
  With threefold melody, that sounds in three
  Orders of joy, with which it is intrined.

The three Divine are in this hierarchy,
  First the Dominions, and the Virtues next;
  And the third order is that of the Powers.

Then in the dances twain penultimate
  The Principalities and Archangels wheel;
  The last is wholly of angelic sports.

These orders upward all of them are gazing,
  And downward so prevail, that unto God
  They all attracted are and all attract.

And Dionysius with so great desire
  To contemplate these Orders set himself,
  He named them and distinguished them as I do.

But Gregory afterwards dissented from him;
  Wherefore, as soon as he unclosed his eyes
  Within this heaven, he at himself did smile.

And if so much of secret truth a mortal
  Proffered on earth, I would not have thee marvel,
  For he who saw it here revealed it to him,

With much more of the truth about these circles."


Paradiso: Canto XXIX


At what time both the children of Latona,
  Surmounted by the Ram and by the Scales,
  Together make a zone of the horizon,

As long as from the time the zenith holds them
  In equipoise, till from that girdle both
  Changing their hemisphere disturb the balance,

So long, her face depicted with a smile,
  Did Beatrice keep silence while she gazed
  Fixedly at the point which had o`ercome me.

Then she began: "I say, and I ask not
  What thou dost wish to hear, for I have seen it
  Where centres every When and every `Ubi.`

Not to acquire some good unto himself,
  Which is impossible, but that his splendour
  In its resplendency may say, `Subsisto,`

In his eternity outside of time,
  Outside all other limits, as it pleased him,
  Into new Loves the Eternal Love unfolded.

Nor as if torpid did he lie before;
  For neither after nor before proceeded
  The going forth of God upon these waters.

Matter and Form unmingled and conjoined
  Came into being that had no defect,
  E`en as three arrows from a three-stringed bow.

And as in glass, in amber, or in crystal
  A sunbeam flashes so, that from its coming
  To its full being is no interval,

So from its Lord did the triform effect
  Ray forth into its being all together,
  Without discrimination of beginning.

Order was con-created and constructed
  In substances, and summit of the world
  Were those wherein the pure act was produced.

Pure potentiality held the lowest part;
  Midway bound potentiality with act
  Such bond that it shall never be unbound.

Jerome has written unto you of angels
  Created a long lapse of centuries
  Or ever yet the other world was made;

But written is this truth in many places
  By writers of the Holy Ghost, and thou
  Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat.

And even reason seeth it somewhat,
  For it would not concede that for so long
  Could be the motors without their perfection.

Now dost thou know both where and when these Loves
  Created were, and how; so that extinct
  In thy desire already are three fires.

Nor could one reach, in counting, unto twenty
  So swiftly, as a portion of these angels
  Disturbed the subject of your elements.

The rest remained, and they began this art
  Which thou discernest, with so great delight
  That never from their circling do they cease.

The occasion of the fall was the accursed
  Presumption of that One, whom thou hast seen
  By all the burden of the world constrained.

Those whom thou here beholdest modest were
  To recognise themselves as of that goodness
  Which made them apt for so much understanding;

On which account their vision was exalted
  By the enlightening grace and their own merit,
  So that they have a full and steadfast will.

I would not have thee doubt, but certain be,
  `Tis meritorious to receive this grace,
  According as the affection opens to it.

Now round about in this consistory
  Much mayst thou contemplate, if these my words
  Be gathered up, without all further aid.

But since upon the earth, throughout your schools,
  They teach that such is the angelic nature
  That it doth hear, and recollect, and will,

More will I say, that thou mayst see unmixed
  The truth that is confounded there below,
  Equivocating in such like prelections.

These substances, since in God`s countenance
  They jocund were, turned not away their sight
  From that wherefrom not anything is hidden;

Hence they have not their vision intercepted
  By object new, and hence they do not need
  To recollect, through interrupted thought.

So that below, not sleeping, people dream,
  Believing they speak truth, and not believing;
  And in the last is greater sin and shame.

Below you do not journey by one path
  Philosophising; so transporteth you
  Love of appearance and the thought thereof.

And even this above here is endured
  With less disdain, than when is set aside
  The Holy Writ, or when it is distorted.

They think not there how much of blood it costs
  To sow it in the world, and how he pleases
  Who in humility keeps close to it.

Each striveth for appearance, and doth make
  His own inventions; and these treated are
  By preachers, and the Evangel holds its peace.

One sayeth that the moon did backward turn,
  In the Passion of Christ, and interpose herself
  So that the sunlight reached not down below;

And lies; for of its own accord the light
  Hid itself; whence to Spaniards and to Indians,
  As to the Jews, did such eclipse respond.

Florence has not so many Lapi and Bindi
  As fables such as these, that every year
  Are shouted from the pulpit back and forth,

In such wise that the lambs, who do not know,
  Come back from pasture fed upon the wind,
  And not to see the harm doth not excuse them.

Christ did not to his first disciples say,
  `Go forth, and to the world preach idle tales,`
  But unto them a true foundation gave;

And this so loudly sounded from their lips,
  That, in the warfare to enkindle Faith,
  They made of the Evangel shields and lances.

Now men go forth with jests and drolleries
  To preach, and if but well the people laugh,
  The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.

But in the cowl there nestles such a bird,
  That, if the common people were to see it,
  They would perceive what pardons they confide in,

For which so great on earth has grown the folly,
  That, without proof of any testimony,
  To each indulgence they would flock together.

By this Saint Anthony his pig doth fatten,
  And many others, who are worse than pigs,
  Paying in money without mark of coinage.

But since we have digressed abundantly,
  Turn back thine eyes forthwith to the right path,
  So that the way be shortened with the time.

This nature doth so multiply itself
  In numbers, that there never yet was speech
  Nor mortal fancy that can go so far.

And if thou notest that which is revealed
  By Daniel, thou wilt see that in his thousands
  Number determinate is kept concealed.

The primal light, that all irradiates it,
  By modes as many is received therein,
  As are the splendours wherewith it is mated.

Hence, inasmuch as on the act conceptive
  The affection followeth, of love the sweetness
  Therein diversely fervid is or tepid.

The height behold now and the amplitude
  Of the eternal power, since it hath made
  Itself so many mirrors, where `tis broken,

One in itself remaining as before."


Paradiso: Canto XXX


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 intelligence 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!"


Paradiso: Canto XXXI


In fashion then as of a snow-white rose
  Displayed itself to me the saintly host,
  Whom Christ in his own blood had made his bride,

But the other host, that flying sees and sings
  The glory of Him who doth enamour it,
  And the goodness that created it so noble,

Even as a swarm of bees, that sinks in flowers
  One moment, and the next returns again
  To where its labour is to sweetness turned,

Sank into the great flower, that is adorned
  With leaves so many, and thence reascended
  To where its love abideth evermore.

Their faces had they all of living flame,
  And wings of gold, and all the rest so white
  No snow unto that limit doth attain.

From bench to bench, into the flower descending,
  They carried something of the peace and ardour
  Which by the fanning of their flanks they won.

Nor did the interposing `twixt the flower
  And what was o`er it of such plenitude
  Of flying shapes impede the sight and splendour;

Because the light divine so penetrates
  The universe, according to its merit,
  That naught can be an obstacle against it.

This realm secure and full of gladsomeness,
  Crowded with ancient people and with modern,
  Unto one mark had all its look and love.

O Trinal Light, that in a single star
  Sparkling upon their sight so satisfies them,
  Look down upon our tempest here below!

If the barbarians, coming from some region
  That every day by Helice is covered,
  Revolving with her son whom she delights in,

Beholding Rome and all her noble works,
  Were wonder-struck, what time the Lateran
  Above all mortal things was eminent,--

I who to the divine had from the human,
  From time unto eternity, had come,
  From Florence to a people just and sane,

With what amazement must I have been filled!
  Truly between this and the joy, it was
  My pleasure not to hear, and to be mute.

And as a pilgrim who delighteth him
  In gazing round the temple of his vow,
  And hopes some day to retell how it was,

So through the living light my way pursuing
  Directed I mine eyes o`er all the ranks,
  Now up, now down, and now all round about.

Faces I saw of charity persuasive,
  Embellished by His light and their own smile,
  And attitudes adorned with every grace.

The general form of Paradise already
  My glance had comprehended as a whole,
  In no part hitherto remaining fixed,

And round I turned me with rekindled wish
  My Lady to interrogate of things
  Concerning which my mind was in suspense.

One thing I meant, another answered me;
  I thought I should see Beatrice, and saw
  An Old Man habited like the glorious people.

O`erflowing was he in his eyes and cheeks
  With joy benign, in attitude of pity
  As to a tender father is becoming.

And "She, where is she?" instantly I said;
  Whence he: "To put an end to thy desire,
  Me Beatrice hath sent from mine own place.

And if thou lookest up to the third round
  Of the first rank, again shalt thou behold her
  Upon the throne her merits have assigned her."

Without reply I lifted up mine eyes,
  And saw her, as she made herself a crown
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