Paradiso (27 page)
Authors: Dante
‘On earth I left behind such vestiges
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as even wicked people there commend,
Just as from many coals we feel a single heat,
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so from that image there came forth
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the undivided sound of many loves.
And I then answered: ‘O everlasting blossoms
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of eternal bliss, you make all odors
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blend into what seems a single fragrance,
‘breathe forth and free me from this endless fast
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that ever keeps me famished,
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since I can find no food for it on earth.
‘It is clear to me that, even though God’s Justice
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has its mirror in another realm of heaven,
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in yours it also shines without a veil.
‘You know with what care I prepare myself
to listen, and you know the nature of the doubt
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that now has kept me fasting for so long.’
As the falcon, freed from its encumbering hood,
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raises its head, and flapping, as in winged applause,
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displays its beauty and its eagerness,
just so I witnessed that emblem, made with strands
of praise for God’s own grace, surge into songs
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known but to those who live above in bliss.
Then it began: ‘He who with His compass
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drew the boundaries of the world and then, within them,
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created distinctions, both hidden and quite clear,
‘did not imprint His power so deep
throughout the universe that His Word
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would not with infinite excess surpass His making.
‘In proof of this, the first and prideful being,
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who was created highest of all creatures,
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by not waiting for the light, plummeted unripe.
‘And thus it is clear that every lesser nature
is too small a vessel for that goodness
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which has no limit, which is measured by itself alone.
‘Thus your vision, which must be
but a single ray of many in the mind
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of Him of whom all things are full,
‘by its nature must not have such power
that it should not perceive its source
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as lying far beyond all it can see.
‘Thus, the vision granted to your world
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may make its way into eternal justice
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as deep as eyes may penetrate the sea.
‘From shore they well may glimpse the bottom,
but not once out upon the open sea,
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and yet it is there, hidden in the depths.
‘No light is never overcast unless it comes
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from that clear sky which always shines. All others
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darken in the shadow or the bane of flesh.
‘Now the hiding-place has been laid bare
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that concealed from you the living justice
‘For you have often asked: “A man is born
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upon the bank along the Indus, with no one there
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to speak, or read, or write of Christ,
‘ “and all that he desires, everything he does, is good.
As far as human reason can discern,
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he is sinless in his deeds and in his words.
‘ “He dies unbaptized, dies outside the faith.
Wherein lies the justice that condemns him?
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Wherein lies his fault if he does not believe?”
‘To be sure, for one who wanted to debate this,
had the Scripture not been set above you,
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there might be ample room for question.
‘Oh, earthly creatures! oh, gross minds!
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The primal Will, good in Itself,
‘Only what accords with It is just: It is not drawn
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to a created good but, sending forth Its rays,
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It is the source of every good.’
As a stork will circle above her nest
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after she has fed her young,
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and as the one just fed looks up at her,
so, lifting up my brow, I watched
as over me the blessèd image flew on wings
Wheeling, it sang, then spoke:
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‘As my notes exceed your understanding,
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such is eternal judgment to all mortals.’
When these, the Holy Spirit’s fiery lights,
grew quiet, still shaped into the sign
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that made the world revere the Romans,
the eagle once again began: ‘To this kingdom
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no one ever rose without belief in Christ,
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whether before or after He was nailed up on the tree.
‘But observe that many shout out “Christ, O Christ!”
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who shall be farther off from Him,
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on Judgment Day, than such as know not Christ.
‘The Ethiopian shall condemn such Christians
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when the two assemblies go their separate ways,
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the one forever rich, the other poor.
‘There they shall see, among the deeds of Albert,
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the deed—now soon to move the pen—
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through which the realm of Prague shall suffer desolation.
‘There they shall see the pride that makes men thirst
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and so drives both the Englishman and Scot to fury
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that neither will remain within his borders.
‘Of him from Spain, and of Bohemia’s king,
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the text will show their wanton luxury and lazy ways
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and that they never knew nor searched for valor.
‘Of the Cripple of Jerusalem the text will show
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an
I
to mark his only generous act,
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while an
M
will mark the other traits in him.
‘Of him who rules the isle of fire,
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where the long life of Anchises had its end,
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the text will show the greed and cowardice.
‘Displayed will be his utter worthlessness,
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requiring the use of shorthand
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that will note much in little space.
‘Displayed for all to see will be the wicked deeds
by which his uncle and his brother brought disgrace
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to so renowned a line and both their kingdoms.
‘Displayed will be the kings of Portugal and Norway,
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and he of Rascia, who, to his own hurt,
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laid his eyes upon Venetian coinage.
‘O happy Hungary, if only she no longer lets
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herself be poorly led! Happy Navarre, if she but takes
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protection from the mountains that surround her!
‘And, in proof of this, all men should know
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that Nicosia and Famagosta
lament and complain of their own beast,
JUPITER
