Paradiso
Canto X
Dante and Beatrice are borne aloft to the fourth heaven, that of the sun. Here are the theologians. The Canto begins with an exhortation to the reader to admire the beauty and precision of the order of the universe; the first lines referring to the three Persons of the Trinity. A band of twelve spirits make themselves into a circle or garland round Dante and Beatrice in the centre. One of these, Thomas Aquinas, names the others, one by one. They are Albertus Magnus of Cologne, Gratian, Peter Lombard, Solomon, Dionysius the Areopagite, Orosius, Boethius, Isidore of Seville, the Venerable Bede, Richard of St. Victor, and Sigier of Brabant.
ON His Son gazing, with the Love that still
From one and from the other's breath proceeds,
The Power primordial and ineffable
Made with such order all that circling speeds
Through mind or space, that he who looks on it
Cannot but taste Him, as thereon he feeds.
With me, then, Reader, lift thou up thy sight
To the high spheres, directed to that part
Where the two motions on each other smite.[i]9. “The two motions”: the diurnal and the annual revolutions of the sun.
Rejoice there to adore that Master’s art [10]
Who inly holds it in so dear esteem
That never will his eye from it depart.
See how diverges there, as branch from stem,[ii]13. “Diverges”: at Aries the ecliptic slants across the equator.
The oblique circle which the planets tread
To minister to the world invoking them.
And were their path not bent, the heaven would shed
Much of its influence idly, and well-nigh
Would every potency on earth be dead.[iii]18. There would be no seasons, and hence no generation.
If from the straight farther or less awry
Were the diverging, many a flaw would strain [20]
The world’s whole order, down here and on high.
Now on thy bench, Reader, do thou remain,
Thinking on what thou hast foretasted there
If thou would’st banquet ere thou tire thy brain.
I have set before thee: feed now on this fare;
For that matter to which my pen I vow
Now wresteth to itself all of my care.
The greatest minister of Nature, who[iv]28. “The greatest minister”: The sun.
Imprinteth on the world the heavens’ power
And whose light measures time for us below. [30]
Conjoined with that sign spoken of before,[v]31. “That sign”: Aries.
Was circling through the spirals whereupon
He, day by day, shows at an earlier hour.[vi]33. “Shows at an earlier hour”: in the spring.
I was with him; yet had awareness none
Of the ascent more than a man is made
Aware of his first thought ere ’tis begun.
’Tis Beatrice by whom I thus am sped
From good to better, in such instant flight
That over time her action is not spread.[vii]39. Revelation (Beatrice) enlightens us instantaneously.
How must those spirits be in their nature bright, [40]
Which in the sun, where I had entered thus,
Were visible not by colour but by light!
Vainly invoked were art, lore, genius,
Things unimaginable here to show:
But faith believes, and longing kindles us.
And if imagination be too low
For such heights, ’tis no wonder: never yet
Did eye conceive what could the sun out-glow.
So lucent the Fourth Household there was set[viii]49. “The Fourth Household”: is the fourth order of the blest, the theologians.
Where their High Father feasts them all their days, [50]
Showing how he breathes and how he doth beget.
And Beatrice began: “Give thanks, give praise
To the angels’ Sun, who to this sun of sense
Hath by His favour deigned thy feet to raise.”
Never was heart of mortal so propense
To all devotion and to render glad
Itself to God with impulse so intense
As at those words the heart of me was made;
And so entire was my love given Him, that
Beatrice, eclipsed, passed to oblivion’s shade. [60]
Her it displeased not; but she smiled thereat,
So that the splendour of her smiling eyes
Split my absorbed mind on things separate.
Then saw I living, dazzling flames devise
In us a centre and in themselves a crown,
Sweeter in voice than radiant in their guise.
So girdled is Latona’s daughter shown[ix]67. “Latona’s daughter” is Diana, the moon.
Sometimes, when vapour has so charged the air
That it retains the thread that makes her zone.
Many a jewel beautiful and rare [70]
Is in the court of Heaven from which I come,
Such that they may not be transferred elsewhere.
Such was the song those lights sang in their home.
Who is not fledged that he may fly at last
Up thither, may expect news from the dumb.
When, singing so, three times those suns had passed
In circle around us, burning as before,
Like stars next to the poles that stay stedfast,
They seemed like ladies whom the dancing-floor
Still detains, silent, listening in the pause [80]
Until they catch the sound of strings once more.
And within one I heard a voice: “Because
The ray of grace, whereby true love in men
Is kindled and thereon with loving grows,
Multiplied in thee shineth out so plain
That it conducts thee up the stair divine
Which none goes down save to mount up again,
Whoso refused thee of his vial’s wine
For quenching of thy thirst were no more free
Than water that descends not to the brine. [90]
Thou would’st learn what flowers on this garland be[x]91. “This garland”: the ring of shining spirits.
The blossom, ringing with enraptured gaze
The lady who for Heaven emboldens thee.
A lamb once of the sacred flock I was,[xi]94. The speaker, St. Thomas Aquinas, belonged to the Dominican order.
Which Dominic leadeth on the path whereby
He thriveth well who from the path not strays.
See on the right the one to me most nigh,
My brother and master; Albert of Cologne
Was he, and Thomas of Aquino I.[xii]99. Albert Magnus of Cologne was the greatest scholar of the Middle Ages.
If thou would’st have the rest likewise be known, [100]
Do thou behind my words come with thine eyes
Circling around the blessed garland’s zone.
The next flame issues smiling from the wise
Gratian, who so aided with his lore[xiii]104. Gratian, in the first half of the twelfth century, did much to establish an agreement between religious and civil law.
Both courts, that it well pleases Paradise.
The other who at his side adorns our choir
Was that Peter, who with the poor widow[xiv]107. “Peter” Lombard, who wrote famous doctrinal excerpts, compared his work to the widow’s mite.
Offered his mite for Holy Church to store.
The fifth light which in beauty excelleth so[xv]109. “The fifth light”: of Solomon.
Breathes from such love, that all on earth beseech, [110]
With hungry longing, news of it to know.
Within there is the lofty mind to which
Was given such wisdom that, if truth be true,
A second never could that vision reach.
Next shines the candle coming into view[xvi]115. “The candle” is Dionysius the Areopagite, the great authority on the orders of the angels.
Which in the body saw most deep within
The angels’ nature and the work they do.
In the next little radiance smiles serene
That pleader for the Christian times, from whose[xvii]119. “That pleader”: Paulus Orosius, whose work supplements St. Augustine’s City of God.
Fine-wrought discourse Augustine chose to glean. [120]
Now if from light to light thy mind’s eye goes,
Attending on the praises I record,
Already for the eighth thy thirsting grows.
There in the vision of all good outpoured
The sainted soul rejoices, that strips bare[xviii]125. “The sainted soul” is Boethius.
The world’s deceit to whoso hears his word.
The body it was hunted from down there
Lies in Cieldauro, and, released, it came[xix]128. St. Peter in “Cieldauro”: a church in Pavia.
From torture and exile to this peace by prayer.
Further thou canst behold the breathing flame [130]
Of Isidore, of Bede, of Richard burn,[xx]131. St. Isidore wrote a very useful encyclopaedia. The Venerable Bede was the author of an important historical work. Richard of St. Victor composed a treatise On Contemplation.
Who in contemplation more than man became.
The one from whom thine eyes to me return
Is the illumined spirit in whose grave thought
Slow seemed to come the death he hoped to earn.
’Tis Sigier’s eternal light, who taught[xxi]136. “Sigier” of Brabant, a daring philosopher of the thirteenth century, was condemned for heresy.
In the Straw Street, and there for all to hear
Syllogised truths that hatred on him brought.”
Then as a clock, which calleth to us clear
At the hour when God’s bride, having risen to tell [140][xxii]140. “God’s bride”: the Church.
Her love, sings matins in her bridegroom’s ear,
Where one part pulls the other and strikes the bell,
Sounding its ding-ding in so sweet a tone
As makes love in the attunèd spirit swell,
So did I see the glorious wheel roll on[xxiii]145. “The glorious wheel”: of twelve counseling prophets.
And render voice to voice, in harmony
And in a sweetness never to be known
Save where joy tastes its own eternity.