Paradiso (11 page)

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Authors: Dante

BOOK: Paradiso
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‘For what it wrought with the one who bore it next   

               
Brutus and Cassius bark in Hell,   

75
           
and both Modena and Perugia were aggrieved.   

               
‘Wretched Cleopatra still weeps because of it.   

               
She, fleeing before its advancing front,

78
           
took from the asp her quick and baleful death.

               
‘With him it raced to the shore of the Red Sea.   

               
With him it brought the world such peace   

81
           
that the doors of Janus’s shrine were locked.   

               
‘But what the standard that promotes my speech   

               
had done before and had yet to do

84
           
in the mortal realm where it holds sway

               
‘comes to seem both small and dim

               
if we observe it, with clear eyes and pure affection,

87
           
when it was held in the third Caesar’s hand.

               
‘For the living justice that inspires me   

   

               
allowed it, in the hand of him of whom I speak,

90
           
the glory of the vengeance for His wrath.

               
‘And now marvel at what I unfold for you:

               
Afterward it raced with Titus, doing vengeance   

93
           
upon the vengeance for the ancient sin.

               
‘Then, beneath its wings,   

               
when Lombard tooth bit Holy Church,

96
           
Charlemagne, in victory, gave her comfort.

               
‘Now you may judge such men as I accused before   

   

               
and consider their offenses,

99
           
the very cause of all your ills.

               
‘One sets against the universal standard   

               
yellow lilies, while the other claims it for a party,

102
         
so that it’s hard to see which one offends the more.

               
‘Let the Ghibellines ply them, ply their tricks   

               
beneath another standard, for he follows

105
         
this one poorly who severs it from justice.

               
‘And let not this new Charles strive to fell it   

               
with his Guelphs, but let him fear its claws,

108
         
which have ripped the hides from greater lions.   

               
‘Many a time have children wept   

               
for the father’s sin, and let him not think

111
         
that God will change His ensign for those lilies.

               
‘This little star is ornamented   

               
with righteous spirits, those whose deeds were done

114
         
for the honor and the glory that would follow.

               
‘When such errant desires arise down there,

               
then the rays of the one true love

117
         
must rise with less intensity.

               
‘But noting how our merit equals our reward   

               
is part of our happiness,

120
         
because we see them being neither less nor more.

               
‘So much does living justice sweeten our affection   

               
we cannot ever then take on

123
         
the warp of wickedness.

               
‘Differing voices make sweet music.

               
Just so our differing ranks in this our life

126
         
create sweet harmony among these wheels.

               
‘Within this very pearl shines   

               
the shining light of Romeo,

129
         
whose great and noble work was poorly paid.

               
‘But those of Provence who schemed against him   

               
have not had the last laugh—he takes an evil road

132
         
to whom another’s good deed seems a wrong.

               
‘Raymond Berenger had four daughters,

               
each of them a queen, and Romeo, a man   

135
         
of little standing and a stranger, made that happen.

               
‘And when malicious tongues moved Raymond

               
to go over accounts with this just man,   

138
         
who had rendered him seven plus five for ten,   

               
‘Romeo left there, poor in his old age.   

               
And, if the world knew the heart he had within

               
when, crust by crust, he begged his bread,

142
         
much as it praises him, it would praise him more.’

OUTLINE: PARADISO VII

MERCURY

1–3
   
Justinian
’s double-tongued canto opening
4–6
   
his “double light”
7–9
   
the dancing disappearance of the “Mercurians”
10–12
   
Dante’s question and eagerness to share it with Beatrice
13–18
   
he holds it back, yet she divines his thoughts
19–24
   
Beatrice reveals his question (“how can a just vendetta be justly punished?”) and prepares to answer

(1)  Beatrice’s response to Dante’s first question

25–27
   
Adam
, not reining in his will, took us down with him
28–33
   
thus the human race was “infirm” until the Incarnation
34–39
   
the flesh of
Christ
was both pure (like new-made Adam’s) and, because flesh after original sin is what it is, impure in itself;
40–45
   
if one pays attention to Christ’s flesh as flesh, the pain of the Cross was justly felt,
46–48
   
thus a single act had diverse effects, pleasing God and the Jews (for different reasons), earthquake and the opening of heaven the differing signs
49–51
   
and thus let it no longer be difficult for you to acknowledge that a just vengeance (the killing of Jesus) was itself avenged justly (by Titus)

(2)  Dante’s second doubt and Beatrice’s response

52–57
   
I see you are again confused; what you want to know is “Why did God decide to save humankind by agency of the death of Jesus and not in some other way?”
58–63
   
This is hidden, brother, from those who have not been brought up in the flame of divine love
64–78
   
man’s privileged position in the universe
79–81
   
the Fall: man lost most of that privilege
82–93
   
only two ways to recover his position: (1) he himself had to repay or (2) God had to pardon him
94–105
   
since he had no means to accomplish the first of these, it remained to God to ransom him
106–120
   
the Incarnation and death of Jesus

(3)  Dante’s third doubt; Beatrice’s resolution of it

121–123
   
Anticipating a problem Dante may derive from her previous words, Beatrice resolves yet another doubt:
124–129
   
you say, “I see the four elements, and they, created by God, in fact die; they should not do so”;
130–138
   
angels and heavens fully formed by God
139–141
   
souls of beasts and plants drawn forth by the stars
142–144
   
but your life is breathed into you directly by God,
145–148
   
hence you are immortal (as are Adam and
Eve
).
PARADISO VII

               
‘Osanna, sanctus Deus sabaoth,
   

   

   

               
superillustrans claritate tua

3
             
felices ignes horum malacoth!’—
   

               
thus, wheeling to the notes of his own melody,   

               
I saw that being, in whom a double light

6
             
is twinned, caught up in song,   

               
he and the others moving in their dance

               
and, like the fastest-flying sparks,   

9
             
veiled from me by their sudden distance.

               
I was in doubt, saying to myself, ‘Tell her,   

               
tell her,’ saying to myself, ‘tell this to my lady,

12
           
who slakes my thirst with her sweet drops.’   

               
But the reverence that is mistress over me   

               
at the mere sound of
Be
or
ice
   

15
           
bowed down my head, as when a man nods off.

               
Not long did Beatrice leave me in this state

               
before she spoke, shining with the rays of such a smile

18
           
as would content a man if he were set on fire:   

               
‘In my infallible opinion this idea,   

   

               
that just revenge itself perhaps deserves   

   

21
           
just punishment, has set you thinking.

               
‘But I will quickly free your mind of doubt.

               
Still, you must listen closely, for my words

24
           
shall set before you things of great importance.

               
‘By not enduring, for his own good, a rein   

               
upon his will, that man who was not born,   

27
           
damning himself, damned all his offspring.

               
‘As a result, for centuries the human race   

               
lay sick in an abyss of error   

30
           
until the Word of God chose to descend,   

               
‘uniting human nature, estranged now   

               
from its Maker, with Himself in His own person

33
           
by a single act of His eternal Love.

               
‘Now direct your inner sight on what evolves from that.   

               
This nature, united with its Maker,

36
           
was pure and good, even as it was when first created.

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