Paradiso (21 page)
Authors: Dante
it seemed to me that I began to see
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new subsistences there that formed a ring
75
beyond the other two circumferences.
Ah, true incandescence of the Holy Breath!
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How suddenly its glowing shone before me,
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so bright my eyes could not endure it!
But Beatrice showed herself to me so fair
and smiling, this vision of her must remain
81
among those sights that have escaped my memory.
At this my eyes regained their sight and, raising them,
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I saw myself translated, alone now with my lady,
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to a more exalted state of bliss.
I was assured that I had risen higher
by the planet’s fiery smile. It seemed to me
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to glow more red than usual.
With all my heart and in that tongue
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which is the same for all, I made
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burnt-offering to God befitting the new grace.
And the burning of the sacrifice
had not yet finished in my breast before I knew
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my offering was propitious and accepted,
for splendors of such brightness, glowing red,
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appeared to me within two beams that I cried out:
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As the Milky Way, arrayed with greater and lesser lights,
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glows white between the universal poles,
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making even sages wonder how and why,
these rays, thus constellated, made, deep within Mars,
the venerable sign that the crossing
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of its quadrants fixes in a circle.
Here my memory outstrips my skill,
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for that cross so flamed forth Christ
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that I can find no fit comparison.
But he who takes his cross and follows Christ
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shall yet forgive me what I leave untold,
From arm to arm, and between the head
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and foot, moved brilliant lights
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that scintillated as they met and passed.
Just so we see on earth, straight and slanting,
swift and slow, changing in appearance,
move through the beam of light that sometimes streaks
the shades that men devise for their protection
And as viol and harp strung with many strings
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in their harmony will sound sweet
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even to one who fails to catch their tune,
so from the lights that there appeared to me
a melody gathered and came from the cross,
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enchanting me, though I could not make out the hymn.
I could tell that it contained high praise,
for the words ‘Arise’ and ‘Conquer’ came to me
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as to one who hears but does not understand.
I was moved to such great love by this
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that up until that moment I had not been bound
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by chains so sweet and gentle.
My words, perhaps, may seem too bold,
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slighting the beauty of those lovely eyes—
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gazing into them my longing finds repose.
But one who understands that the living seals
of all that’s beautiful gain potency with each ascent
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and that I had not turned to her eyes there
may excuse me for that of which, accusing myself,
I make my excuse and see that I speak the truth:
for holy beauty may not be excluded here
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because, as it ascends, it gains in purity.
MARS
Cacciaguida
compared to
Anchises
(Alighiero)
from Cacciaguida’s son, Dante’s great-grandfather; Dante should pray for him, since he’s in Purgatory
was not yet bested in show by
Florence
:
and his family lived modestly
de’ Nerli
and
del Vecchio
families
(Cianghella
or
Lapo Salterello)
would have been as surprising as good ones
(Cincinnatus
or
Cornelia)
today
vita
: his birth, baptism
(Baptistry)
, family (
Moronto
,
Eliseo
[brothers]), wife, warfare (under emperor,
Conrad
), martyr’s death, salvation.
Benevolent will, in which a righteous love
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whose breath is true must always show itself,
3
as does cupidity within an evil will,
had silenced the sweet-sounding lyre
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and hushed the sacred strings that Heaven’s right hand
6
loosens and draws taut.
How can they be deaf to righteous prayers,
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the very spirits who, to prompt my prayers,
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9
fell silent as with one accord?
It is well that endless be his grief
who, for love of things that do not last,
As through the clear and tranquil evening sky
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from time to time a sudden fire will shoot,
15
drawing the eyes that just before had calmly gazed,
and seems a star escaping from its place—
except from where it first was kindled
18
no star is missing and it lasts but a brief while—
so from the arm of that great cross
extending on the right a star raced to the foot
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of the resplendent constellation there.
Nor did this jewel leave its ribbon,
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but ran along the shining band so that
With such affection did Anchises’ shade reach out,
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if our greatest muse is owed belief,
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when in Elysium he knew his son.
