Binyon's Dante

Laurence Binyon's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy.

Hover over the green Roman numerals for Charles Hall Grandgent's annotations.

The PDF version, with more assured formatting, can be found here.

Paradiso

Canto XIII

In two concentric circles the twenty-four theologians dance, singing, round Dante and Beatrice. When their chant and movement are completed, the spirit of St. Thomas again addresses Dante. He has solved one of Dante’s difficulties and now undertakes to solve the other, which arose from. his having said that Solomon had no peer in wisdom. He is aware of Dante’s objection that Adam and Christ in His human nature were supreme in wisdom, being directly created by God; but he explains that the wisdom Solomon asked for and obtained was not the speculative wisdom of a philosopher but the practical wisdom necessary to the office of a king. He closes with a warning against hasty judgments and rashly adopted opinions.


LET him imagine, who desires to grasp

What now I saw (and let him, while I speak,

Hold the image like a rock firm in his clasp),

Fifteen stars, which in divers regions prick

The dark with lustre of such vividness

That it wins through the air, however thick;

Imagine, too, that Wain, for which the embrace[i]7. “That Wain”: the Great Bear or Dipper.

Of our heaven so sufficeth, night and morn,

That, turning on its pole, it shows not less;

Imagine, too, the mouth of that bright horn [10][ii]10. “That bright horn”: the Little Bear.

Which starteth from the central axle-spike

Round which the prime revolving wheel is borne,

To have made themselves two constellations, like

What Minos’ daughter hung in heaven to blaze[iii]14. “Minos’ daughter”: Ariadne, whose crown was turned into a constellation.

When she felt death’s cold frost upon her strike;

And one within the other to have its rays,

And both in such a manner to spin past

That they should circle upon opposing ways;

And he will have as in a shadow traced

The real constellations, the two rings, [20]

Dancing around the point where I was placed,

Since it as much transcends our happenings

As the most swift of all the heavens whirled round[iv]23-24. “The most swift . . .”: the Primum Mobile. The “Chiana” is a sluggish stream in Tuscany.

Is swifter than Chiana’s oozy springs.

Bacchus nor Paean did their chanting sound,[v]25. “Paean”: Apollo.

But three persons in the divine nature

And it and the human in one person found.

Circling and song by now completed were;

And the hallowed flames their heed on us bestowed,

Rejoicing to alternate care with care. [30]

Broke then the hush of divine spirits who glowed

In concert, that flame which had told about[vi]32-33. “That flame”: St. Thomas. “The poor man”: St. Francis.

The wondrous life of the poor man of God.

It said: “Now that the one sheaf of thy doubt

Is threshed and garnered up, sweet love anew

Inviteth me to beat the other out.

Thou hold’st that in the breast wherefrom God drew[vii]37-38. “The breast” of Adam, whence was taken the “rib” to form Eve.

The rib to mould that lovely cheek and chin

Whose palate cost the world unending rue,

And in that breast which, when the spear drove in, [40][viii]40. “That breast”: of Christ.

Made satisfaction, after and before,

Such as to dip the scale against all sin,

Such light as human nature skills to store

Was by that Virtue all infused, which made

One and the other human by its power.

Therefore thou wonderest at the thing I said

When I declared the wisdom which hath seat[ix]47. “The wisdom”: of Solomon.

In the fifth light no second to have had.

Open thine eyes to the answer I now complete.

Thou shalt see thy belief and my reply [50]

In truth, as in the circle’s centre, meet.

That which not dieth and that which can die

Reflect but that idea in their gleam[x]53. “That idea”: “In the beginning was the Word.”

Which in His love our Sire begets on high.

That living radiance which so sends its beam

From its bright source, that it parts not from it

Nor from the Love that is en-threed with them,

Doth of its bounty its own rays unite,

As though in a mirror, in nine subsistences,[xi]59. The “nine subsistences” are the nine orders of angels.

Itself remaining one eternal light. [60]

Thence it descends to the least potencies[xii]61-63. “To the least potencies”: to the elements. “Brief contingencies”: perishable things.

Downward from act to act, becoming soon

Such as makes only brief contingencies.

And these contingencies may well be shown

To be the things engendered by the stress

Of moving heaven, from seed or else unsown.[xiii]66. “Moving heaven”: Nature. Animals and vegetables “from seed,” minerals without seed.

Their wax and that which doth the wax impress

Vary; beneath the ideal stamp we find,

Therefore, a brilliance now more and now less;

Whence comes it that, though of the self-same kind, [70]

Trees in their fruiting better are or worse;

And ye are born with diverse gifts of mind.

Were the heavens operant in propitious course,

And perfect and precise the moulded wax,

The seals full brilliance would shine out perforce;

But Nature’s rendering ever something lacks,

Working as the artist who hath skill by dint

Of his art’s practice but a hand that shakes.

Yet if the fervent Love dispose and print

The lucent vision of the primal Power, [80]

There is perfection without flaw or stint.

So the dust of the earth was made worthy of yore[xiv]82-84. This happened when God formed Adam, and when Christ was conceived.

Of all perfection breathing flesh can win;

And thus the Virgin’s womb its burden bore.

Thy opinion therefore I commend; I mean,

That the human nature never was nor can

Be such as was in those two persons seen.

Now here if my discourse no further ran,

‘How comes it then, that this one had no peer?”

Would be the words with which thy speech began, [90]

But, that what still is not clear may be clear,

Think who he was and what cause moved him (when

He was commanded Ask!) to make his prayer.

I have not argued so that ’tis not plain

He was a king, who therefore wisdom chose,[xv]95. The gift which Solomon obtained was not general intelligence but kingly prudence.

That equal to his office he might reign.

Twas not to know what numbers may compose

Heaven’s movers here; nor if necesse could[xvi]98. “Nor if necesse . . .”: a scholastic problem in logic.

With a contingent in necesse close;

Nor whether a primus motus be allowed; [100][xvii]100. “A primus motus”: a motion independent of any cause.

Nor if in a half-circle could be made

A triangle that no right angle showed.

Hence, if thou note all that I say and said,

Royal prudence is that vision without peer

To which the arrow of my intention sped.

And if on ‘rose’ thy gaze be fastened clear,[xviii]106. “On ‘rose’”: “A second never could that vision reach” (Par. X, line 114).

Thou'lt see that it hath solely in regard

Kings, which are many and the good kings rare.

With this distinction then, accept my word,

Which thus consists with what faith bids thee say [110]

Of the first father and our Delight adored.

Ever let this, like lead, thy feet down-weigh

To make thee, where thou see’st not clear, move slow,

Like one who is weary, both to Yea and Nay.

For he among the foolish stands right low

Who affirms without distinction or denies,

With whichsoever case he has to do;

Since often it haps that rashness of surmise

Leadeth the judgment on false roads to start;

Then fond desire the understanding ties. [120]

On voyage worse than vain doth he depart

(Since he returns not such as he sets out),

Who fishes for the truth and lacks the art.

Of this are proofs the world hath not forgot,

Parmenides, Melissus, Bryson—great[xix]125. Greek philosophers criticised by Aristotle.

Multitudes going, who where they went knew not.

Such was Sabellius’ and such Arius’ fate,[xx]127. “Sabellius” and “Arius” are heretical theologians.

And fools who were to Scripture as a sword

Reflecting crooked, faces that are straight.

Let not the people be too self-assured [130]

In judging early, as who should count the rows

Of green blades in the field ere they matured.

For I have seen how first the wild-brier shows

Her sprays, all winter through, thorny and stark,

And then upon the topmost bears the rose;

And I have seen ere now a speeding barque

Run all her sea-course with unswerving stem

And close on harbour go down to the dark.

Let no Dame Bertha or Sir Martin deem,[xxi]139. “Dame Bertha or Sir Martin”: “Tom, Dick, and Harry.”

Because they see one steal and one give all, [140]

They see as divine forethought seèth them;

For the one yet may rise and the other fall.”


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