Paradiso
Canto XV
A star detaches itself from the right arm of the cross and descends to the foot of it. It is the soul of Dante’s ancestor Cacciaguida. After he has welcomed Dante with affection, Dante excuses himself from thanking Cacciaguida in words, because, unlike the spirits in Paradise, he is conscious of a disparity between his feeling and the power to express it. His ancestor then describes the Florence of his own time, its simple manners and familiar life, and contrasts with it the extravagance and dissipation of the present.
A GRACIOUS will whereinto is distilled
Forever love that righteous thoughts inspire,
As base greed in the bad will is fulfilled,
Imposed a silence upon that sweet lyre,[i]4. “Lyre”: the spirits of the Cross.
And made the sound of sacred strings to cease
Whereof Heaven’s right hand pulls and slacks the wire.
How shall those beings honest prayers dismiss
Who, to encourage me to make my prayer
To them, of one accord now held their peace?
'Tis well that he without end should despair [10]
Who for the love of what cannot endure
Eternally, of this love strips him bare.
As through the evening sky, serene and pure,
Will trail from time to time a sudden blaze[ii]14. “A sudden blaze”: a meteor.
And the idle eyes from their repose allure,
Seeming a star that from its region strays,
Save that from that place, where it seemed to ignite,
No star is lost, and it but short time stays,
So from the arm that stretches on the right
Down that cross to its foot a star began [20]
To glide from the full cluster, blazing bright,
Nor swerved the jewel from its ribbon’s span,[iii]22. The bright spirit did not go outside the Cross.
But shooting down the radiant strip it shone
Like fire behind an alabaster pane.
So fondly, if trust our greatest Muse hath won,[iv]25-27. “Our greatest Muse”: Virgil, who, in the Aeneid, describes the meeting of Aeneas and the shade of his father, Anchises.
Anchises’ shade proffered his arms’ embrace,
When in Elysium he perceived his son.
“O my own blood! O brimming with God’s grace!
To whom was ever twice, as unto thee,
The gate thrown open of Heaven's holy place?” [30]
So that light spoke: I hearkened heedfully:
Then to my lady turned again mine eyes;
And on both sides amazement mastered me.
For such a smile was glowing in her eyes,
Methought with mine the deepest depth to sound
Both of my grace and of my paradise:
Then, joy to hear and see, the spirit crowned
His proem with things added, which my mind
Understood not, his speech was so profound.
Neither was this obscurity designed, [40]
But of necessity; for his thought I know
Ranged high above the mark of mortal kind.
And when the bow of ardent love was so
Unbent, that his discourse descended toward
The target of our intellect below,
What first I comprehended was this word:
“Blessed be thou, O Three and One, that hast
Such courtesy upon my seed outpoured!”
Then followed: “A dear hunger from long past
Drawn from the great Book’s reading, wherein white [50][v]50. “The great Book”: of Fate.
Nor black is ever changed from first to last,
Thou hast assuaged, my son, within this light
Wherein I speak to thee: thanks be to her
Who with wings plumed thee for the lofty flight.
Thou deem’st that thy thought passeth to me clear
From him who is First, as five and six expand
From one, provided this is known for sure.
Who I am, therefore, thou dost not demand,
Nor why I seem more full of happiness
Than any other in this rejoicing band: [60]
Rightly thou thinkest; for both great and less
In this life on the mirror gaze, wherein,
Before thou think’st, thou dost thy thought express.
But that the sacred love I watch within
With constant gaze, and which doth in me breed
Sweet longing, may the more fruition win,
Let thy voice firm, joyous and bold proceed;
Utter the will, utter the wish whereto
My answer hath already been decreed.”
I turned me round to Beatrice; and she knew [70]
Before I spoke, and smiled me a signal, whence
The wings of my desire more urgent grew.
I began: “Feeling and Intelligence,
When the Prime Equality was to you made known,
For you were poised, equal in influence,[vi]75. The blest have no wish which they have not intelligence to fulfill.
Because the sun that warmed you and on you shone
With heat and light hath such an equal might
That it makes beggary of comparison.
But reason and feeling in our mortal plight
(And well ye know the impediments that thwart) [80]
Unequally are feathered for their flight.
Hence I, who am mortal, feel that I have part
In this disparity, and must thank thee for
Thy fatherly welcome only in my heart.
Yet, living topaz, thee I may implore,
Who dost this jewel beyond price begem,
That with thy name thou gladden me yet more.”
“O leaf of mine!” thus he commenced his theme,
“In whose arrival happiness I knew,
Merely awaiting thee, I was thy stem.” [90]
Continuing: “He from whom thy kindred drew
Their name, and who hath passed the hundredth year[vii]92-93. “He from whom . . .”: Alighiero, son of Cacciaguida. “The Mount’s first cornice”: the circle of Pride, in Purgatory.
Circling the Mount’s first cornice for his rue,
Was my son, father to thy grandfather;
And fit it is that thy good works abate
The weariness that he hath yet to bear.
Florence within the ancient cincture sate[viii]97-98. “The ancient cincture”: the old city walls, beside which stood the ancient Abbey, whose bell marked the hours (“tierce and nones”) for the Florentines.
Wherefrom she still hears daily tierce and nones,
Dwelling in peace, modest and temperate.
She wore no chain or crownet set with stones, [100]
No gaudy skirt nor broidered belt, to gather
All eyes with more charm than the wearer owns.
Nor yet did daughter’s birth dismay the father;
For dowry and nuptial-age did not exceed
The measure, upon one side or the other.
There was no house too vast for household need;
Sardanapalus was not come to show[ix]107. “Sardanapalus,” king of Assyria, was notorious for his luxury.
What wanton feats could in the chamber speed.
Nor yet could over Montemalo crow[x]109-111. Rome was not yet surpassed in splendour by Florence.
Your Uccellatoio, which, as it hath been [110]
Passed in its rise, shall in its fall be so.
Bellincion Berti girdled have I seen[xi]112. “Berti”: a worthy citizen.
With leather and bone: and from her looking-glass
His lady come with cheeks of raddle clean.
I have seen a Nerli and a Vecchio pass
In jerkin of bare hide, and hour by hour
Their wives the flax upon the spindle mass.
O fortunate! for each one was secure
Of her own burial-place; none in her bed
Deserted yet because of France’s lure. [120]
One would keep watch over the cradle’s head,
And, soothing, babble in that fond idiom
Which maketh each new father and mother glad.
One, as the tresses off the distaff come,
Would tell the story in her children’s ear
Of Trojans, of Fiesole, and Rome.
Cianghella or Lapo Salterello there[xii]127. “Cianghella” and “Lapo” were notorious for their immodesty.
As singular a portent would have been
As now Cornelia, Cincinnatus, were.
To so comely a life and so serene [130]
Of citizens that to their city’s claim
Replied with loyalty, a so pleasant inn,
Mary, invoked with cryings on her name,
Gave me; and in your ancient Baptistery
Christian and Cacciaguida I became.
Moronto and Eliseo brothered me;
My wife came to me from the vale of Po:
It was from her thy surname was to be.
Then in the train of Conrad did I go,[xiii]139. “Conrad” III, of Swabia, leader of the crusade of 1147.
The emperor, who belted me his knight; [140]
Such honour my good service raised me to.
With him I went, the iniquity to fight
Of those usurping infidels who rule
(Fault of the Pastors) what is yours by right.
There was I stript free by that people foul
Of the world’s swathing of deceitfulness,
The love of which corrupteth many a soul,
And came from martyrdom into this peace.”