Paradiso
Canto XXXI
Further description of the Rose of Paradise, into and out of which the angels flit like bees about a flower. Dante, having taken in its general form, turns to Beatrice to inquire more particularly about it. But Beatrice has disappeared, and in her place is an old man, who proves to be St. Bernard, and who points out Beatrice, now in her appointed seat above. Next, he bids Dante contemplate the beauty of the Virgin.
IN FORM, then, of a radiant white rose
That sacred soldiery before mine eyes[i]2-4. “That sacred soldiery”: the Redeemed.—‘‘The other host’: the angels.
Appeared, which in His blood Christ made His spouse.
But the other host which seèth and, as it flies,
Singeth His glory who enamours it
And the goodness which its greatness magnifies,
Like bees, which deep into the flowers retreat
One while, and at another winging come
Back thither where their toil is turned to sweet,
Descended into the great flower, a-bloom [10]
With petal on petal, and re-ascended thence
To where its love forever hath its home.
Their faces all were as a flame intense,
Their wings of gold, the rest so pure a white
That never snow could dazzle so the sense.
Into the flower descending from the height
Through rank on rank they breathed the peace, the glow,
They gathered as they fanned their sides in flight.
And, spite of the interposing to and fro
Of such a throng ’twixt high heaven and the flower, [20]
Vision and splendour none had to forgo;
For the divine light pierceth with such power
The world, in measure of its complement
Of worth, that naught against it may endure.
This realm of unimperilled ravishment
With spirits thronged from near times and from far
Had look and love all on the one mark bent.
O triple Light, which in a single star
Shining on them their joy can so expand,
Look down upon this storm wherein we are! [30]
If the barbarian, coming from such land[ii]31-33. “Such land”: the North. “Helice” and “her . . . son” Arcas are the Great and the Little Bear.
As every day by wheeling Helice
And her belovèd son with her, is spanned,
Seeing Rome and her stupendous works,—if he
Was dazed, in that age when the Lateran[iii]35. “The Lateran”: the old Papal palace in Rome.
Rose, builded to outsoar mortality,
I, who was come to the divine from man,
To the eternal out of time, and from
Florence unto a people just and sane,
How dazed past measure must I needs become! [40]
Between this and my joy I found it good,
Truly, to hear naught and myself be dumb.
And as the pilgrim quickens in his blood
Within the temple of his vow at gaze,
Already in hope to re-tell how it stood,
So traversing the light of living rays
My eyes along the ranks, now up I led,
Now down, and now wandered in circling ways.
I saw faces, such as to love persuade,
Adorned by their own smile and Other’s light [50]
And gestures that all dignity displayed.
The general form of Paradise my sight
Had apprehended in its ambience,
But upon no part had it rested quite;
I turned then with a wish re-kindled thence
To ask my Lady and to be satisfied
Concerning things which held me in suspense.
One thing I thought, another one replied:
I thought to have seen Beatrice, and behold!
An elder, robed like to those glorified. [60][iv]60. “An elder”: St. Bernard, a great mystic of the twelfth century, famous for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin.
His eyes and cheeks of benign gladness told,
And in his bearing was a kindliness
Such as befits a father tender-souled:
“Where is she?” I cried on a sudden in my distress.
“To end thy longing, Beatrice was stirred,”
He answered then, “to bring me from my place.
Her shalt thou see, if to the circle third[v]67. The first circle is that of Mary, the second that of Eve, the third that of Rachel, beside whom Beatrice sits.
From the highest rank thine eyes thou wilt up-raise,
There on the throne whereto she hath been preferred.”
Without reply I lifted up my gaze [70]
And saw her making for herself a crown
Of the reflection from the eternal rays.
From the highest sky which rolls the thunder down
No mortal eye is stationed so remote,
Though in the deepest of the seas it drown,
As then from Beatrice was my sight; but naught
It was to me; for without any veil
Her image down to me undimmed was brought.
“O Lady, in whom my hopes all prosper well,
And who for my salvation didst endure [80]
To leave the printing of thy feet in Hell,
Of all that I have seen, now and before,
By virtue of what thy might and goodness gave,
I recognise the grace and sovereign power.
Thou hast drawn me up to freedom from a slave
By all those paths, all those ways known to thee
Through which thou had’st such potency to save.
Continue thy magnificence in me,
So that my soul, which thou hast healed of scar,
May please thy sight when from the body free.” [90]
So did I pray; and she, removed so far
As she appeared, looked on me smiling-faced;
Then to the eternal fountain turned her there.
Whereon the holy Elder: “That thou may’st
Consummate this thy journey, whereunto
Prayer and a holy love made me to haste,[vi]96. The “prayer and a holy love” are Beatrice’s.
Fly with thine eyes this heavenly garden through!
Gazing on it shall better qualify
Thy vision, the light upward to pursue.
The Queen of Heaven, for whom continually [100]
I burn with love, will grant us every grace
Since Bernard, her own faithful one, am I.”
Like one, some Croat perhaps, who comes to gaze
On our Veronica with eyes devout,[vii]104. The “Veronica” is the true image of the Saviour, left on a kerchief. It was shown at St. Peter’s in Rome.
Nor sates the inveterate hunger that he has,
So long as it is shown, but says in thought,
“My Lord Christ Jesus, very God, is this
Indeed Thy likeness in such fashion wrought?”
Such was I, gazing on the impassioned bliss
Of love in him who even in this world’s woe [110]
By contemplation tasted of that peace.[viii]111. St. Bernard in his meditations had a foretaste of the peace of Heaven.
“Child of Grace,” he began, “thou wilt not know
This joyous being in its felicity
If thine eyes rest but on the base below.
Look on the farthest circles thou canst see,
Till thou perceive enthroned the Queen, to whom
This realm devoteth its whole fealty.”
I raised my eyes; and as in morning bloom
The horizon’s eastern part becometh bright
And that where the sun sinks is overcome, [120]
So with my eyes climbing a mountain’s height,
As from a valley, I saw on the utmost verge
What outshone all else fronting me in light.
As that point where the car is to emerge,[ix]124. “The car”: of the sun.
Which Phaëthon drove ill, glows fieriest
And softens down its flame on either marge,
So did that oriflamme of peace attest[x]127. “That oriflamme,” i.e., golden pennant, is the streak of light on Mary’s side.
The midmost glory, and on either side
In equal measure did its rays arrest.
And at that mid-point, with wings opened wide, [130]
A myriad angels moved in festive play,
In brilliance and in art diversified.
There, smiling upon dance and roundelay,
I saw a Beauty, that was happiness
In the eyes of all the other saints’ array.
And if in speaking I had wealth not less
Than in imagining, I would not dare
To attempt the least part of her loveliness,
When of my fixt look Bernard was aware,
So fastened on his own devotion’s flame, [140]
He turned his eyes with so much love to her[xi]141. “To her”: on Mary.
That mine more ardent and absorbed became.