Paradiso
Canto VIII
Dante and Beatrice have now arrived in the third heaven, that of Venus. A band of spirits, abandoning their circling movement, come to meet them; and one spirit addresses Dante as one he had known on earth, quoting the first line of a canzone by the poet. This is Charles Martel (d. 1295), King of Hungary; he tells of the several kingdoms to which he was heir; of the “Sicilian Vespers,” the massacre provoked by the misrule of his grandfather; and of the folly of his brother Robert in encouraging the rapacity of his Catalonian mercenaries. His allusion to the degeneracy of the avaricious Robert from his generous father leads Dante to ask about the cause of degeneracy in families. Charles explains that diversity is necessary for social life, variety of function requiring variety of character.
THE world was, to its peril, wont to hold
That the fair Cyprian rayed love’s fever round,[i]2-3. “The fair Cyprian”: Venus.—“Epicycle”: the circuit of a revolving sphere carrying the planet.
Where with her the third epicycle rolled;
Wherefore not only were her rites renowned
With sacrifice and votive ceremony
By the ancient people in ancient error bound:
Dione too was hymned, and Cupid; she
As being her mother, he her son; and how
He sat, they told, fondled on Dido’s knee.
And after her of whom I prelude now [10]
They chose to name the star which woos the sun
Now with the nape turned toward him, now the brow.
All unaware that we had thither flown
I soon had proof that we were there, because
A rarer beauty in my Lady shone.[ii]15. Beatrice, who symbolises Revelation, grows in loveliness as she and Dante rise from sphere to sphere.
And as within a flame a sparkle shows,
And in a voice is caught a voice’s note,
If one holds on and the other comes and goes,
I saw in that light other torches float,
Circling (I deemed) more or less swiftly past, [20]
In measure as interior vision taught.
From freezing cloud never descended blast,
Visible or not, so swiftly, it would not seem
As loitering or obstructed in its haste
To whoso witnessed those divine lights gleam
Toward us, abandoning the circle stirred
To motion first in the high Seraphim.
And among those who most in front appeared
Sounded “Hosanna”; so that envious
I am still, to hear once more what then I heard. [30]
Then one brought himself nearer, and spoke thus[iii]31. “One”: Charles Martel {see the Argument).
Alone: “All we are ready to fulfil
Thy pleasure, that thou may’st have joy of us.
We in one gyre with the Heavenly Princes wheel,
In the one circling, the one thirst of love,
To whom thou from the world didst make the appeal:
Ye who by intellect the third heaven move.
And our love brims so, that for thy content
A little of quiet no less sweet shall prove.”
When my gaze had been offered reverent [40]
Up to my Lady, and she had reassured
And satisfied them with her own consent,
They turned back to that light which had outpoured
Itself so freely; and “Say, who are ye,” impressed
With a profound affection, was my word.
How greatly in splendour and in size increased
I saw it at the new bliss which, when so
I spoke, was added to its blissful feast!
Transfigured thus, it spoke: “The world below
Held me not long; and much would not have happed, [50]
Had it been longer, that now comes in woe.
My bliss concealeth me from thee, enwrapt
Within its beams, that make for me a hood,
Like worm that in its swaddling silk is lapt.
Much didst thou love me, and for reason good;
For had I stayed below, I would have shown
More of my love to thee than leaf and bud.
Of that left bank, washed by the streaming Rhône[iv]58. “Of that left bank . . .”: Provence.
When Sorgue has joined it, I should have been lord
In the due time, and therewithal should own [60]
That horn too of Ausonia which is towered[v]61. “That horn . . . of Ausonia”: (Italy) is the Kingdom of Naples.
With Bari, Gaeta and Catona, down
From where to sea Tronto and Verde are poured.
Upon my brows already flamed the crown
Of all the land by Danube’s water crost[vi]65. “Of all the land . . .”: Hungary.
After its German banks it has outgrown.
And beautiful Trinacria, whose coast[vii]67-69. “Trinacria” is Sicily.—‘Pachynus and Pelorus”: two capes.— “Eurus”: the east wind.
’Twixt Pachynus and Pelorus is o’erhung
(Beside the gulf that Eurus vexes most)
Not from Typhoeus’ breath but fume up-flung [70][viii]70. The darkness from Aetna is not due to the struggles of the giant Typhoeus, but to the effect of the sun’s heat.
Of sulphur, would still look to have its kings[ix]71. Sicily would now be awaiting a line of kings descended from the grandfather and the father-in-law of Charles Martel, if the revolution of 1282, called the Sicilian Vespers, had not driven Charles's people from the island.
Through me from seed of Charles and Rudolf sprung,
Had not ill rule, which chafes so the heart-strings
Of subject-peoples, moved Palermo in chime
To cry Death! Death! with eager clamourings.
And if my brother had foresight in time,[x]76. “My brother”: Robert, who is represented as having adopted the traditional miserliness of Catalonia.
Ere now he had rebuffed the starveling greed
Of Catalonia, lest it injure him.
And verily should provision now be made
By him or another, lest upon his ship, [80]
Already o’erladen, heavier load be laid.
His nature, liberal stem’s too niggard slip,
Has need of soldiery of such a brood
As lusteth not its coffers to equip.”
“Since I believe that the beatitude
Which thy words flood me with, my liege, complete,
There where indeed begins and ends all good,
Is seen by thee as I see it, more sweet
It is to me; and this too I hold dear
That contemplating God thou seèst it. [90]
Thou hast made me glad; make then this one thing clear,
For with thy speech a question is entwined,
How a sweet seed a bitter fruit may bear.”
Thus I: and he to me: “If to thy mind
I show a truth, thou'lt have before thine eyes,
All manifest, what now thou hast behind.
The Good which moves and, moving, satisfies
The realm thou climbest, by its foresight still
On these vast bodies works in wondrous wise.[xi]99. God has embodied his providence in the stars.
Nor for the natures only is there skill [100]
To make provision, but along with them
The all-perfect mind provideth too their weal.
Wherefore whatever this bow shoots, the same
Alights ordained to a provided end,
Even as a thing directed to its aim.
Were this not so, the heaven thou dost ascend
Would so produce its own effects, that these
Were ruins and not works that art has planned.
This cannot be, unless the Intelligences,
That move these stars, from imperfection ail [110]
And ail, too, the first cause of their disease.[xii]111. A defect in the work of the stars would imply a fault in their Maker.
Would’st thou that I more of this truth unveil?”
And I: “Not so; it is impossible,
I see, that Nature, where the need is, fail.”
Whence he again: “Would it be worse now, tell,
For man on earth were he no citizen?”
“Yes,” I replied; “here in no doubt I dwell.”
“And can that be, unless it be that men
Diversely live with diverse offices?
No, if aright your master guides his pen.” [120]
Thus far he went deducing by degrees,
And then concluded: “Therefore must we own
Your effects rooted in diversities.
One is born Solon, and a Xerxes one,[xiii]124-126. One is born a legislator, another a general, another a priest, another a mechanic (Daedalus, who lost his son Icarus while they were flying through the air).
Melchisedec another, or he who flew
Soaring into the sky, and lost his son.
The circling nature, which imprinteth true[xiv]127. “The circling nature”: the spheres.
The mortal wax, plieth its art with heed,
But careth not what inn it cometh to:
Whence Esau is found separate in seed [130]
From Jacob, and Quirinus comes from so[xv]131. “Quirinus,” or Romulus, was the son of such a poor father that a paternity was ascribed to the god Mars.
Base father that from Mars is claimed his breed.
And the begotten nature would but go
The way of its begetter, if the power
Of providence o’erruled it not below.
Now that which was behind thee is before,
But that thou may’st know that thou pleasurest me,
With a corollary will I wrap thee o’er.
Nature, if she find fortune not agree
With her intents, like any other seed [140]
Moved from its own soil, fails her destiny;
And if the world beneath us took but heed
And followed the foundation Nature lays,
Its people would from misery be freed.
But ye perversely in religion place
Him born to gird the sword upon his side,
And make him king who should a pulpit grace;
Wherefore from the right road ye wander wide.”