Paradiso
Canto XXIV
Among the innumerable company of the Blessed (who sing and dance in circles and are here called “Carols”) one spirit detaches itself: it is St. Peter; and at the request of Beatrice he examines Dante on the subject of Faith. Peter is well content with the poet’s answers.
O CHOSEN band, to the great supper called
Of the blessed Lamb who giveth you to feast
So that desire in you is still forestalled,
If by the grace of God this man foretaste
Of that which falleth from your table, ere
The days appointed him of life have ceased,
Think on his boundless longing, and then spare
Some drops for his bedewing from those pools[i]8-9. Give him a few drops from the fount of Truth, upon which his thought is bent.
Ye drink of, whence comes that which is his care.”
Thus Beatrice: forthwith those blissful souls, [10]
Flaming like to a comet in the sky,
Shaped themselves into spheres upon fixt poles;
And as within a clock’s machinery
The wheels so turn that to the observer's sense
The first seems to be still, the last to fly,
Those Carols, dancing in the difference
Of their revolving motion, swift or slow,
Told me the measure of their affluence.[ii]18. “Affluence”: gladness.
And from the one which seemed the most to grow
In beauty I saw so happy a fire shine out, [20]
It left not one there of more dazzling glow.
Three times round Beatrice it twined about,
Accompanied with singing so divine
That fantasy to me re-tells it not.
Therefore my pen must skip, and I resign:
Imagination, and our speech much more,
Is of too vivid hue for shades so fine.
“O sister mine, who dost this boon implore,
Thou hast unbound me from this beauteous sphere
By thy devotion and love’s ardent power.” [30]
Soon as the blessèd flame stayed itself near,
Directed toward my Lady, its breath began
Discoursing, even as I repeat it here.
And she: “Eternal light of that great man
To whom our Lord the keys at parting gave,
Which He brought down, of joy’s supreme domain,
Test thou this man on points both light and grave,
As pleases thee, how he the Faith conceives,
By which thou once didst walk upon the wave.[iii]39. Through faith Peter “walked on the water, to go to Jesus” (Matt.
If rightly he loves, hopes rightly, and believes, [40]
This is not hidden from thee, since thine eye,
Where thou art, each thing true-portrayed perceives;
But since this realm reckons its lieges by
The true faith, now to speak of it he ought,
This chance being given its truth to glorify.”
Just as the bachelor arms him in his thought,[iv]46. “The bachelor’: the candidate for a degree of doctor in theology.
Mute, till the master shall the question pose,
To adduce the proof, but to determine not,
I, while she spoke, armed me with reasonings close
To be prepared for such a questioner [50]
And such profession as I now disclose.
“Speak, O good Christian, and thyself declare!
Faith, what is it?” Whereat my brows inclined
Up to the light which breathed thus on the air.
I turned to Beatrice, and she promptly signed
To me that nothing should I now repress
But pour forth all the fountain in my mind.
“Now may the Grace that grants me to confess,”
I began, “to the Church’s high captain,
Enable me my thoughts well to express.” [60]
And I continued: “As the truthful pen
Of thy dear brother wrote for our behoof,[v]62. St. Peter’s “dear brother” is St. Paul.
Who, with thee, led Rome the good path to gain,
Faith is the substance of things hoped, and proof
Of things invisible to mortal sight;
This seems to me the essential truth thereof.”
Then I heard: “Thou conceiv’st of it aright,
If thou grasp why among the substances[vi]68-69. Why did St. Paul call Faith first a “substance” and then a “proof”?
And then among the proofs he counted it.”
And I thereon: “The profound mysteries, [70][vii]70-78. Faith, from the human point of view, is a belief; and, in theological questions, takes the place of evidence in worldly syllogisms.
Which here to me are by their bounty shown,
Are upon earth so hidden from our eyes
That there their being is in belief alone,
On which is founded the high hope we share;
Therefore as substance is it named and known.
And needs from this belief must we infer,
Deducing without further vision’s aid;
Therefore of proof it has the character.”
Then I heard: “If whatever is purveyed
By teaching were so understood below, [80]
There were no room left for the sophist’s trade.”
This was breathed forth from that love-kindled glow,
Which added: “Needs no further to traverse
This coin’s alloy and weight, examined now;
But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse.”
Then I: “Yes, truly; so bright and so round,
No hint of doubt is in the stamp it bears.”
Thereupon issued from the light profound
That beamed on me: “This gem of heavenly hue,
On which all virtue is builded and enthroned, [90]
Whence came it to thee?” And I: “The abundant dew[viii]91-93. “The abundant dew”: inspiration. “Parchments”: Testaments.
Of the Holy Spirit which is so outpoured
Upon the ancient parchments and the new
Is argument compelling my accord
With such precise proof that, compared with it,
All demonstration else appeareth blurred.”
Then heard I: “The ancient and the newer Writ,
Whose testaments have such conviction brought,
Why dost thou them as word of God admit?”
And I: “The proofs that truth to me have taught [100]
Are the works following, for which Nature ne’er[ix]101. “The works following”: the miracles.
Heated the iron nor on anvil smote.”
The answer came: “Say who, that these works were,
Assureth thee? The same things, and naught else,
That need proof do the proof to thee declare.”
“If the world,” said I, “without miracles
Turned Christian, then a miracle is born
That all the rest a hundred times excels;
For thou didst enter hungry, poor, forlorn,
Into the field, to sow there the good plant [110]
Which, once a vine, is now a bush of thorn.”
This ended, rose through all the spheres the chant
Of the high holy Court: “Praised, God, be thou!”
In music making there its own descant.
And that great Baron, who had drawn me now,[x]115. “That great Baron”: St. Peter.
Examining, from branch to branch, till we
Were coming to the last leaves on the bough,
Resumed: “The Grace which in love’s courtesy
Wooeth thy mind, hath loosed indeed thy tongue
To expound thy thought as it behoveth thee; [120]
Nor find I fault those arguments among
Thus far; but now thou needs must persevere
To tell what thou believ’st and whence ’tis sprung.”
“O holy father, spirit who seèst here
What thou didst so believe as to outrun[xi]125. Faith impelled St. Peter to enter the Sepulchre before John.
More youthful feet, seeking the Sepulchre,”
I began, “thou would’st have me to make known
The essence of my faith, alert and whole,
And askest also what ’tis built upon.
I answer: I believe in one God, sole, [130]
Eternal, that, unmoved, all heaven doth move
With love and with desire to the one goal.
For such belief I hold physical proof
And metaphysical; ’tis given me too
By verity which raineth from above
Through Moses, through the Psalms and Prophets, through
The Gospel, and through you who wrote, I wis,[xii]137. “You”: the Apostles.
When the ardent Spirit fondly adopted you.
In three eternal persons, and in these
One essence, I believe; so one, so trine, [140]
That with it may be joined both are and is.
With the unfathomable state divine
I speak of, often has stamped on me its mark
The evangelic doctrine’s great design.
And this is the beginning; this, the spark
Which, after, into livelier fame shall swell
To shine in me as stars shine in the dark.”
Then as a lord, at news which pleases well,
Taketh his servant to his bosom prest
Rejoicing, soon as he has told his tale, [150]
So blessing me, and singing as it blest,
Thrice circled round me, soon as I had ceased,
The apostolic light at whose behest
I had spoken; so my words its joy increased.