s: CANTO XIX. The voice of the Eagle.--It speaks of the mysteries of


s: CANTO XX. The Song of the Just.--Princes who have loved


s: righteousness, in the eye of the Eagle.--Spirits, once Pagans, in


s: CANTO XXI. Ascent to the Heaven of Saturn.--Spirits of those who


s: had given themselves to devout contemplation.--The Golden


s: Stairway.--St. Peter Damian.--Predestination.--The luxury of


s: CANTO XXII. Beatrice reassures Dante.--St. Benedict appears.--He


s: tells of the founding of his Order, and of the falling away of


s: its brethren. Beatrice and Dante ascend to the Starry Heaven.--


s: The constellation of the Twins.--Sight of the Earth.


s: CANTO XXIV. St. Peter examines Dante concerning Faith, and


s: CANTO XXV. St. James examines Dante concerning Hope.--St. John


s: appears,with a brightness so dazzling as to deprive Dante, for


s: CANTO XXVI. St. John examines Dante concerning Love.--Dante's


s: sight restored.--Adam appears, and answers questions put to him


s: CANTO XXVII. Denunciation by St. Peter of his degenerate


s: successors.--Dante gazes upon the Earth.--Ascent of Beatrice and


s: Dante to the Crystalline Heaven.--Its nature.--Beatrice rebukes


s: CANTO XXIX. Discourse of Beatrice concerning the creation and


s: nature of the Angels.--She reproves the presumption and


s: CANTO XXX. Ascent to the Empyrean.--The River of Light.--The


s: celestial Rose.--The seat of Henry VII.--The last words of


s: CANTO XXXI. The Rose of Paradise.--St. Bernard.--Prayer to


s: Beatrice.--The glory of the Blessed Virgin.


s: CANTO XXXII. St. Bernard describes the order of the Rose, and


s: points out many of the Saints.--The children in Paradise.--The


s: angelic festival.--The patricians of the Court of Heaven.


s: CANTO XXXIII. Prayer to the Virgin.--The Beatific Vision.--The


s: CANTO I. Proem.--Invocation.--Beatrice and Dante ascend to the


s: Sphere of Fire.--Beatrice explains the cause of their ascent.


s: The glory of Him who moves everything penetrates through the


s: universe, and shines in one part more and in another less. In the


s: nor is able to recount; because, drawing near to its own


s: desire, our understanding enters so deep, that the memory


s: cannot follow. Truly whatever of the Holy Realm I could treasure


s: up in my mind shall now be the theme of my song.


s: The innate desire of the soul is to attain the vision of


s: O good Apollo, for this last labor make me such a vessel of thy


s: power as thou demandest for the gift of the loved laurel. Thus


s: far one summit of Parnassus has been enough for me, but now with


s: both I need to enter the remaining, arena. Enter into my


s: breast, and breathe thou in such wise as when thou drewest


s: Marsyas from out the sheath of his limbs. O divine Power, if thou


s: Blessed Realm imprinted within my head, thou shalt see me come to


s: they gathered for triumph or of Caesar or of poet (fault and


s: shame of the human wills), that the Peneian leaf should bring


s: forth joy unto the joyous Delphic deity, whenever it makes any


s: one to long for it. Great flame follows a little spark: perhaps


s: after me prayer shall be made with better voices, whereto


s: So inspire me in this labor that I may deserve the gift of


s: The Muses were fabled to dwell on one peak of Parnassus,


s: Apollo on the other. At the opening of the preceding parts of his


s: Daphne, who was changed to the laurel, was the daughter of


s: Cyrrha, a city sacred to Apollo, not far from the foot of


s: Parnassus, and here used for the name of the god himself.


s: The lamp of the world rises to mortals through different


s: passages, but from that which joins four circles with three


s: crosses it issues with better course and conjoined with a better


s: star, and it tempers and seals the mundane wax more after its own


s: evening here; and there all that hemisphere was white, and the


s: other part black, when I saw Beatrice turned upon the left side,


s: and looking into the sun: never did eagle so fix himself upon it.


s: mount upward again, like a pilgrim who wishes to return; thus of


s: her action, infused through the eyes into my imagination, mine


s: was made, and I fixed my eyes upon the sun beyond our use. Much


s: is allowed there which here is not allowed to our faculties,


s: thanks to the place made for the human race as its proper,


s: abode. Not long did I endure it, nor so little that I did not


s: see it sparkling round about, like iron that issues boiling from


s: the fire. And on a sudden, day seemed to be added to day, as


s: In the spring the sun rises from a point on the horizon,


s: where the four great circles, namely, the horizon, the zodiac,


s: theequator, and the equinoctial colure, meet, and, cutting each


s: other, form three crosses. The sun is in the sign of Aries, "a


s: better star," because the influence of this constellation was


s: supposed to be benignant, and under it the earth reclothes


s: itself. It was the season assigned to the Creation, and to the


s: There, in the Earthly Paradise; here, on earth. It is the


s: morning of Thursday, April 123. The hours from the mid-day


s: The Earthly Paradise, made for man in his original


s: So rapid was his ascent to the sphere of fire, drawn upward


s: Beatrice was standing with her eyes wholly fixed on the eternal


s: wheels, and on her I fixed my eyes from thereabove removed.


s: Looking at her I inwardly became such as Glaucus became on


s: tasting of the herb which made him consort in the sea of the


s: other gods. Transhumanizing cannot be signified in words;


s: therefore let the example suffice for him to whom grace


s: reserves experience. If I was only what of me thou didst the last


s: with Thy light didst lift me. When the revolution which Thou,


s: being desired, makest eternal, made me attent unto itself with


s: the harmony which Thou attunest and modulatest, so much of the


s: heaven then seemed to me enkindled by the flame of the sun, that


s: rain or river never made so broad a lake.


s: A fisherman changed to a sea-god. The story is in Ovid


s: In the twenty-fifth Canto of Purgatory, Dante has said that


s: when the articulation of the brain is perfect God breathes into


s: it a new spirit, the living soul; and he means here that, like


s: St. Paul caught up into Paradise, he cannot tell "whether in the


s: body or Out of the body." (2 Corinthians, xii. 3).


s: The desire to be united with God is the source of the eternal


s: revolution of the heavens. "The Empyrean . . . is the cause of


s: the most swift motion of the Primum Mobile. because of the most


s: ardent desire of every part of the latter to be conjoined with


s: every part of that most divine quiet heaven."--Convito, 14.


s: The novelty of the sound and the great light kindled in me a


s: desire concerning their cause, never before felt with such


s: acuteness. Whereupon she, who saw me as I see myself, to quiet my


s: "Thou thyself makest thyself dull with false imagining, so that


s: thou seest not what thou wouldst see, if thou hadst shaken it


s: off. Thou art not on earth, as thou believest; but lightning,


s: flying from its proper site, never ran as thou who thereunto


s: To thine own proper site,--Heaven, the true home of the soul.


s: If I was divested of my first doubt by these brief little smiled-


s: "Already I rested content concerning a great wonder; but now I


s: wonder how I can transcend these light bodies." Whereupon she,


s: after a pitying sigh, directed her eyes toward me, with that look


s: things whatsoever have order among themselves; and this is the


s: form which makes the universe like to God. Here the high


s: creatures see the imprint of the eternal Goodness, which is


s: the end for which the aforesaid rule is made. In the order of


s: which I speak, all natures are arranged, by diverse lots, more or


s: ports through the great sea of being, and each one with an


s: instinct given to it which may bear it on. This bears the fire


s: upward toward the moon; this is the motive force in mortal


s: hearts; this binds together and unites the earth. Nor does this


s: bow shoot forth. Only the created things which are outside


s: intelligence, but also those which have understanding and love.


s: The Providence that adjusts all this, with its own light makes


s: forever quiet the heaven within which that revolves which hath


s: the greatest speed. And thither now, as to a site decreed, the


s: virtue of that cord bears us on which directs to a joyful mark


s: whatever it shoots. True is it, that as the form often accords


s: not to the intention of the art, because the material is deaf to


s: respond, so the creature sometimes deviates from this course; for


s: direction (even as the fire of a cloud may be seen to fall),


s: if the first impetus, bent aside by false pleasure, turn it


s: earthwards. Thou shouldst not, if I deem aright, wonder more at


s: thy ascent, than at a stream if from a high mountain it descends


s: to the base. A marvel it would be in thee, if, deprived of


s: hindrance, thou hadst sat below, even as quiet in living fire on


s: The created beings endowed with souls,--angels and men.


s: This instinct directs to their proper end animate as well as


s: inanimate things, as the bow shoots the arrow to its mark.


s: The Empyrean, within which the Primum Mobile, the first


s: Thereon she turned again toward heaven her face.


s: CANTO II. Proem.--Ascent to the Moon.--The cause of Spots on the


s: O ye, who are in a little bark, desirous to listen, following


s: behind my craft which singing passes on, turn to see again Your


s: shores; put not out upon the deep; for haply losing me, ye would


s: remain astray. The water that I sail was never crossed. Minerva


s: inspires, and Apollo guides me, and nine Muses point out to me


s: Ye other few, who have lifted tip your necks be. times to the


s: bread of the Angels, oil which one here subsists, but never


s: becomes sated of it, ye may well put forth your vessel over the


s: salt deep, keeping my wake before you on the water which turns


s: smooth again. Those glorious ones who passed over to Colchos


s: wondered not as ye shall do, when they saw Jason become a


s: The concreate and perpetual thirst for the deiform realm was


s: bearing us on swift almost as ye see the heavens. Beatrice was


s: looking upward, and I upon her, and perhaps in such time as a


s: quarrel rests, and flies, and from the notch is unlocked, I


s: saw myself arrived where a wonderful thing drew my sight to


s: itself; and therefore she, from whom the working of my mind could


s: grateful mind to God," she said to me, "who with the first


s: The inverse order indicates the instantaneousness of the act.


s: It seemed to me that a cloud had covered us, lucid, dense, solid,


s: itself the eternal pearl had received us, even as water receives


s: a ray of light, remaining unbroken. If I was body (and here


s: it is not conceivable how one dimension brooked another, which


s: needs must be if body enter body) the desire ought the more to


s: kindle us to see that Essence, in which is seen how our nature


s: and God were united. There will be seen that which we hold by


s: faith, not demonstrated, but it will be known of itself like the


s: Not demonstrated by argument, but known by direct cognition,


s: like the intuitive perception of first principles, per se notu.


s: I replied, "My Lady, devoutly to the utmost that I can, do I


s: thank him who from the mortal world has removed me. But tell me


s: what are the dusky marks of this body, which there below on earth


s: Fancying the dark spaces on the surface of the moon to


s: represent Cain carrying a thorn-bush for the fire of his


s: She smiled somewhat, and then she said, "If the opinion of


s: mortals errs where the key of sense unlocks not, surely the


s: shafts of wonder ought not now to pierce thee, since thou seest


s: that the reason following the senses has short wings. But tell me


s: appears to us diverse, I believe is caused by rare and dense


s: bodies." And she, "Surely enough thou shalt see that thy belief


s: is submerged in error, if then listenest well to the argument


s: that I shall make against it. The eighth sphere displays to


s: you many lights, which may be noted of different aspects in


s: quality and quantity. If rare and dense effected all this, one


s: single virtue, more or less or equally distributed, would be in


s: all. Different virtues must needs be fruits of formal


s: principles; and by thy reckoning, these, all but one, would


s: be destroyed. Further, if rarity were the cause of that darkness


s: of which you ask, either this planet would be thus deficient of


s: its matter through and through, or else as a body distributes the


s: volume. If the first were the case, it would be manifest in the


s: eclipses of the sun, by the shining through of the light, as when


s: therefore we must look at the other, and if it happen that I


s: quash this other, thy opinion will be falsified. If it be that


s: this rare passes not through, there needs must be a limit,


s: beyond which its contrary allows it not to pass further; and


s: thence the ray from another body is poured back, just as color


s: returns through a glass which hides lead behind itself. Now thou


s: wilt say that the ray shows itself dimmer there than in the other


s: objection experiment, which is wont to be the fountain to the


s: streams of your arts, may deliver thee, if ever thou try it. Thou


s: distance from thee, and let the other, further removed, meet


s: thine eyes between the first two. Turning toward them, cause a


s: light to be placed behind thy back, which may illumine the three


s: mirrors, and return to thee thrown back front all. Although the


s: more distant image reach thee not so great in quantity, thou wilt


s: If all this difference were caused merely by difference in


s: The stars exert various influences; hence their differences,


s: from which the variety of their influence proceeds, must be


s: caused by different formal principles or intrinsic causes.


s: Extends not through the whole substance of the moon.


s: "Now, as beneath the blows of the warm rays that which lies under


s: thee, thus remaining in thy intellect, will I inform with light


s: so living that it shall tremble in its aspect to thee.


s: nov I will tell thee the true cause of the variety in the


s: "Within the heaven of the divine peace revolves a body, in whose


s: virtue lies the being of all that it contains. The following


s: heaven which has so many sights, distributes that being


s: through divers essences from it distinct, and by it


s: contained. The other spheres, by various differences, dispose the


s: and their seeds. These organs of the world thus proceed, as


s: thou now seest, from grade to grade; for they receivefrom above,


s: and operate below. Observe me well, how I advance through this


s: place to the truth which thou desirest, so that hereafter thou


s: mayest know to keep the ford alone. The motion and the virtue of


s: the holy spheres must needs be inspired by blessed motors, as the


s: lights make beautiful, takes its image from the deep Mind which


s: revolves it, and makes thereof a seal. And as the soul within


s: your dust is diffused through different members, and conformed to


s: goodness multiplied through the stars, itself circling upon its


s: own unity. Divers virtue makes divers alloy with the precious


s: body that it quickens, in which, even as life in you, it is


s: bound. Because of the glad nature whence, it flows, the virtue


s: mingled through the body shines, as gladness through the


s: living pupil. From this, comes whatso seems different between


s: light and light, not from dense and rare; this is the formal


s: principle which produces, conformed unto its goodness, the dark


s: Within the motionless sphere of the Empyrean revolves that


s: of the Primum Mobile, from whose virtue, communicated to it from


s: the Empyrean, all the inferior spheres contained within it derive


s: Through the planets, called essences because each has a


s: "The rays of the heavens are the way by which their virtue


s: descends to the things below."--Convito, ii. 7.


s: The brightness of the stars comes from the joy which radiates


s: From the divers virtue making divers alloy.


s: CANTO III. The Heaven of the Moon.--Spirits whose vows had been


s: broken.--Piccarda Donati.--The Empress Constance.


s: That sun which first had heated my breast with love, proving and


s: refuting, had uncovered to me the sweet aspect of fair truth; and


s: appeared which held me to itself so close in order to be seen,


s: As through transparent and polished glasses, or through clear and


s: lineaments of our faces return so feebly that a pearl on a white


s: brow comes not less readily to our eyes, so I saw many faces


s: eager to speak; wherefore I ran into the error contrary to that


s: which kindled love between the man and the fountain. Suddenly,


s: even as I became aware of them, supposing them mirrored


s: semblances, I turned my eyes to see of whom they were; and I saw


s: nothing; and I turned them forward again, straight into the light


s: "Wonder not because I smile," she said to me, "at thy puerile


s: thought, since thy foot trusts itself not yet upon the truth, but


s: these which thou seest, here relegated through failure in their


s: vows. Therefore speak with them, and hear, and believe; for the


s: veracious light which satisfies them allows them not to turn


s: Narcissus conceived the image to be a true face; Dante takes


s: the real faces to be mirrored semblances.


s: And I directed me to the shade that seemed most eager to speak,


s: and I began, even like a man whom too strong wish confuses, "O


s: well-created spirit, who in the rays of life eternal tastest the


s: sweetness, which untasted never is understood, it will be


s: gracious to me, if thou contentest me with thy name, and with


s: your destiny." Whereon she promptly, and with smiling eyes, "Our


s: charity locks not its door to a just wish, more than that which


s: wills that all its court be like itself. I was in the world a


s: virgin sister, and if thy mind well regards, my being more


s: beautiful will not conceal me from thee; but thou wilt recognize


s: that I am Piccarda, who, placed here with these other blessed


s: Ones, am blessed in the slowest sphere. Our affections, which are


s: being formed according to His order; and this allotment, which


s: appears so low, is forsooth given to us, because our vows


s: were neglected or void in some part." Whereon I to her, In your


s: marvellous aspects there shines I know not what divine which


s: transmutes you from our first conceptions; therefore I was not


s: swift in remembering; but now that which you say to


s: me assists me, so that refiguring is plainer to me. But tell


s: me, ye who are happy here, do ye desire a highher place, in


s: order to see more, or to make yourselves more friends?"


s: With those other shades she first smiled a little; then


s: answered me so glad, that she seemed to burn in the first


s: fire of love, "Brother, virtue of charity quiets our will,


s: and makes us wish only for that which we have, and for


s: aught else makes us not thirsty. Should we desire to be


s: higher up, our desires would be discordant with the will of


s: Him who assigns us to this place, which thou wilt see is


s: not possible in these circles, if to be in charity is here


s: necesse, and if its nature thou dost well consider. Nay, it is


s: essential to this blessed existence to hold ourselves within the


s: divine will, whereby our very wills are made one. So that as we


s: are, from stage to stage throughout this realm, to all the realm


s: is pleasing, as to the King who inwills us with His will. And His


s: which It creates and which nature makes."


s: The sister of Corso Donati and of Forese: see Purgatory,


s: Canto XXIII. It may not be without intention that the first


s: blessed spirit whom Dante sees in Paradise is a relative of his


s: Rejoice in whatever grade of bliss is assigned to thern in


s: that order of the universe which is the form that makes it like


s: Charity here means love, the love of God.


s: Of necessity; the Latin word being used for the


s: rhyme's sake. "Mansionem Deus haber non potest ubi


s: charitas non est" B. Alberti Magni, De adhoerendo Deo, c.


s: Clear was it then to me, how everywhere in Heaven is Paradise,


s: although the grace of the Supreme Good rains not there in one


s: But even as it happen, if one food sates, and for another the


s: appetite still remains, that this is asked for, and that declined


s: from her, what was the web whereof she did not draw the shuttle


s: to the head. "Perfect life and high merit in-heaven a lady


s: higher up," she said to me, "according to whose rule, in your


s: world below, there are who vest and veil themselves, so that till


s: vow which love conforms unto His pleasure. A young girl, I fled


s: from the world to follow her, and in her garb I shut myself, and


s: pledged me to the pathway of her order. Afterward men, more used


s: to ill than good, dragged me forth from the sweet cloister;


s: and God knows what then my life became. And this other splendor,


s: which shows itself to thee at my right side, and which glows with


s: of herself. A sister was she; and in like manner from her head


s: the shadow of the sacred veils was taken. But after she too was


s: returned unto the world against her liking and against good


s: usage, from the veil of the heart she was never unbound. This


s: is the light of the great Constance, who from the second


s: wind of Swabia produced the third and the last power."


s: To learn from her what was the vow which she did not


s: According to the old commentators, her brother Corso forced


s: Piccarda by violence to leave the convent, in order to make a


s: Her experience was similar to that of Piccarda.


s: Constance, daughter of the king of Sicily, Roger 1.; married,


s: in 1186, to the Emperor, Henry VI., the son of Frederick


s: Barbarossa, and father of Frederick II, who died in 1250, the


s: Thus she spoke to me, and then began singing "Ave Maria," and


s: Singing vanished, like a heavy thing through deep water. My


s: sight, that followed her so far as was possible, after it lost


s: her turned to the mark of greater desire, and wholly rendered


s: itself to Beatrice; but she so flashed upon my gaze that at first


s: CANTO IV. Doubts of Dante, respecting the justice of Heaven and


s: the abode of the blessed, solved by Beatrice.--Question of Dante


s: as to the possibility of reparation for broken vows.


s: Between two viands, distant and attractive in like measure, a


s: free man would die of hunger, before he would bring one of them


s: to his teeth. Thus a lamb would stand between two ravenings of


s: fierce wolves, fearing equally; thus would stand a dog between


s: two does. Hence if, urged by my doubts in like measure, I was


s: silent, I blame not myself; nor, since it was necessary, do I


s: I was silent, but my desire was depicted on my face, and the


s: questioning with that far more fervent than by distinct speech.


s: Beatrice did what Daniel did, delivering Nebuchadnezzar from


s: anger, which had made him unjustly cruel, and said, "I see


s: clearly how one and the other desire draws thee, so that thy care


s: the good will endure, by what reckoning doth the violence of


s: others lessen for me the measure of desert?' Further, it gives


s: thee occasion for doubt, that the souls appear to return to the


s: stars, in accordance with the opinion of Plato. These are the


s: questions that thrust equally upon thy wish; and therefore I will


s: Plato, in his Timaeus (41, 42), says that the creator of the


s: universe assigned each soul to a star, whence they were to be


s: sown in the vessels of time. " He who lived well during his


s: appointed time was to return to the star which was his


s: habitation, and there he would have a blessed and suitable


s: existence." Dante's doubt has arisen from the words of Piccarda,


s: which implied that her station was in the sphere of the Moon.


s: The conception that the souls after death had their abode in


s: the stars would be a definite heresy, and hence far more


s: dangerous than a question concerning the justice of Heaven, for


s: such a question might be consistent with entire faith in that


s: "Of the Seraphim he who is most in God, Moses, Samuel, and


s: whichever John thou wilt take, I say, and even Mary, have not


s: their seats in another heaven than those spirits who just now


s: appeared to thee, nor have they more or fewer years for their


s: existence; but all make beautiful the first circle, and have


s: sweet life in different measure, through feeling more or less the


s: sphere is allotted to them, but to afford sign of the celestial


s: condition which is least exalted. To speak thus is befitting to


s: your mind, since only by objects of the sense doth it apprehend


s: that which it then makes worthy of the understanding. For this


s: reason the Scripture condescends to your capacity, and attributes


s: represents to you with human aspect Gabriel and Michael and the


s: other who made Tobias whole again. That which Timaeus, reasons


s: of the souls is not like this which is seen here, since it seems


s: that he thinks as he says. He says that the soul returns to its


s: own star, believing it to have been severed thence, when nature


s: gave it as the form. And perchance his opinion is of other


s: guise than his words sound, and may be of a meaning not to be


s: derided. If he means that the honor of their influence and the


s: blame returns to these wheels, perhaps his bow hits on some


s: truth. This principle, ill understood, formerly turned awry


s: almost the whole world, so that it ran astray in naming Jove,


s: The abode of all the blessed is the Empyrean,--the first


s: circle, counting from above; but there are degrees in


s: blessedness, each spirit enjoying according to its capacity; no


s: The intellectual soul is united with the body as its


s: substantial form. That by means of which anything performs its


s: functions (operatur) is its form. The soul is that by which the


s: body lives, and hence is its form.--Summa Theol., I. lxxvi. 1,


s: The belief in the influence of the stars led men to assign


s: to them divine powers, and to name their gods after them.


s: The other dubitation which disturbs thee has less venom, for


s: its malice could not lead thee from me elsewhere. That our


s: justice seems unjust in the eyes of mortals is argument of


s: faith, and not of heretical iniquity. But in order that your


s: perception may surely penetrate unto this truth, I will make thee


s: suffers nowise consents to him who compels, these souls were not


s: by reason of that excused; for will, unless it wills, is not


s: quenched, but does as nature does in fire, though violence a


s: thousand times may wrest it. Wherefore if it bend much or little,


s: to the holy place. If their will had been entire, such as held


s: Lawrence on the gridiron, and made Mucius severe unto his hand,


s: it would have urged them back, so soon as they were loosed, along


s: rare. And by these words, if thou hast gathered them up as thou


s: shouldst, is the argument quashed that would have given thee


s: Mortals would not trouble themselves concerning the justice


s: of God, unless they had faith in it. These perplexities are then


s: arguments or proofs of faith; as St. Thomas Aquinas says, "The


s: merit of faith consists in believing what one does not see." But


s: in this case, as Beatrice goes on to show, mere human


s: intelligence if Sufficient to see that the injustice is only


s: Violence has no power over the will; the original will may,


s: "But now another path runs traverse before thine eyes, such that


s: by thyself thou wouldst not issue forth therefrom ere thou wert


s: weary. I have put it in thy mind for certain, that a soul in


s: bliss cannot lie, since it is always near to the Primal Truth;


s: and then thou hast heard from Piccarda that Constance retained


s: affection for the veil; so that she seems in this to contradict


s: me. Often ere now, brother, has it happened that, in order to


s: escape peril, that which it was not meet to do has been done


s: against one's liking; even as Alcmaeon (who thereto entreated by


s: his father, slew his own mother), not to lose piety, pitiless


s: became. On this point, I wish thee to think that the violence is


s: mingled with the will, and they so act that the offences cannot


s: be excused. Absolute will consents not to the wrong; but the will


s: means it of the absolute will; and I of the other so that we both


s: Such was the current of the holy stream which issued from the


s: fount whence every truth flows forth; and such it set at rest one


s: "O beloved of the First Lover, O divine one," said I then, "whose


s: quickens me, my affection is not so profound that it can suffice


s: to render to you grace for grace, but may He who sees and can,


s: respond for this. I clearly see that our intellect is never


s: satisfied unless the Truth illume it, outside of which no truth


s: extends. In that it reposes, as a wild beast in his lair, soon as


s: would be in vain. Because of this, the doubt, in likeness of a


s: shoot, springs up at the foot of the truth; and it is nature


s: which urges us to the summit from height to height. This


s: invites me, this gives me assurance, Lady, with reverence to ask


s: you of another truth which is obscure to me. I wish to know if


s: man can make satisfaction to you for defective vows with other


s: goods, so that in your scales they may not be light?" looked at


s: we with such divine eyes, full of the sparks of love, that my


s: power, vanquished, turned its back, and almost I lost myself with


s: To you, that is, to the court of Heaven.


s: CANTO V. The sanctity of vows, and the seriousness with which


s: they are to be made or changed.--Ascent to the Heaven of


s: "If I flame upon thee in the heat of love, beyond the fashion


s: that on earth is seen, go that I vanquish the valor of thine


s: eyes, marvel not, for it proceeds from perfect vision, which


s: according as it apprehends, so moves its feet to the apprehended


s: good. I see clearly how already shines in thy intellect the


s: eternal light, which, being seen, alone ever enkindles love. And


s: if any other thing seduce your love, it is naught but some


s: vestige of that, illrecognized, which therein shines through.


s: Thou wishest to know if for a defective vow so much can be


s: rendered with other service as may secure the soul from suit."


s: From the brightness of my eyes illuminated by the divine


s: Thus Beatrice began this canto, and even as one who breaks not


s: off his speech, she thus continued her holy discourse. "The


s: greatest gift which God in His largess bestowed in creating, and


s: the most conformed unto His goodness and that which He esteems


s: the most, was the freedom of the will, with which all the


s: creatures of intelligence, and they alone, were and are endowed.


s: Now will appear to thee, if from this thou reasonest, the high


s: worth of the vow, if it be such that God consent when thou


s: consentest; for, in closing the compact between God and man,


s: sacrifice is made of this treasure, which is such as I say, and


s: it is made by its own act. What then can be rendered in


s: compensation? If thou thinkest to make good use of that which


s: thou hast offered, with illgotten gain thou wouldst do good


s: If the vow be valid through its acceptance by God.


s: The intent to put what had been vowed to another (though


s: good) use, affords no excuse for breaking a vow.


s: "Thou art now assured of the greater point; but since Holy Church


s: which I have disclosed to thee, it behoves thee still to sit a


s: little at table, because the tough food which thou hast taken


s: requires still some aid for thy digestion. Open thy mind to that


s: which I reveal to thee, and enclose it therewithin; for to have


s: heard without retaining doth not make knowledge.


s: "Two things combine in the essence of this sacrifice; the one is


s: that of which it consists, the other is the covenant. This last


s: is never cancelled if it be not kept; and concerning this has


s: my preceding speech been so precise. On this account it was


s: necessary for the Hebrews still to make offering, although some


s: part of the offering might be changed, as thou shouldst know.


s: The other, which as the matter is known to thee, may truly be


s: such that one errs not if for some other matter it be changed.


s: But let not any one shift the load upon his shoulder at his own


s: will, without the turning both of the white and of the yellow


s: key. And let him deem every permutation foolish, if the thing


s: laid down be not included in the thing taken up, as four in


s: six. Therefore whatever thing is, through its own worth, of


s: such great weight that it can draw down every balance, cannot be


s: See Leviticus, xxvii., in respect to commutation allowed.


s: That is, as the subject matter of the vow, the thing of which


s: Without the turning of the keys of St. Peter, that is,


s: without clerical dispensation; the key of gold signifying


s: authority, that of silver, knowledge. Cf. Purgatory, Canto IX.


s: The matter substituted must exceed in worth that of the


s: original vow, but not necessarily in a definite proportion.


s: "Let not mortals take a vow in jest; be faithful, and not


s: squint-eyed in doing this, as Jephthah was in his first.


s: offering; to whom it better behoved to say, 'I have done ill,'


s: than, by keeping his vow, to do worse. And thou mayest find the


s: great leader of the Greeks in like manner foolish; wherefore


s: Iphigenia wept for her fair face, and made weep for her both the


s: simple and the wise, who heard speak of such like observance. Be,


s: every wind, and think not that every water can wash you. Ye have


s: who guides you; let this suffice you for your salvation. If evil


s: covetousness cry aught else to you, be ye men, and not silly


s: like the lamb, that leaves the milk of his mother, and, simple


s: and wanton, at its own pleasure combats with itself."


s: Thus Beatrice to me, even as I write; then all desireful turned


s: herself again to that region where the world is most alive.


s: Her silence, and her transmuted countenance imposed silence on my


s: as an arrow, that hits the mark before the bowstring is quiet, so


s: she entered into the light of that heaven, that thereby the


s: planet became more lucent. And if the star war, changed and


s: smiled, what did I become, who even by my nature am transmutable


s: The Heaven of Mercury, where blessed spirits who have been


s: active in the pursuit of honor and fame show themselves.


s: As in a fishpond, which is tranquil and pure, the fish draw to


s: that which comes from without in such manner that they deem. it


s: their food, so indeed I saw more than a thousand splendors


s: drawing toward. us, and in each one was heard,--"Lo, one who


s: shall increase our loves!" And as each came to us, the shade


s: was seen full of joy in the bright effulgence that issued from


s: By giving us occasion to manifest our love.


s: Think, Reader, if that which is here begun should not proceed,


s: how thou wouldst have distressful want of knowing more; and by


s: thyself thou wilt see how desirous I was to hear from these of


s: their conditions, as they became manifest to mine eyes. "O


s: well-born, to whom Grace concedes to see the thrones of the


s: eternal triumph ere the warfare is abandoned, with the light


s: which spreads through the whole heaven we are enkindled, and


s: therefore if thou desirest to make thyself clear concerning us,


s: at thine own pleasure sate thyself." Thus was said to me by one


s: of those pious spirits; and by Beatrice, "Speak, speak securely,


s: and trust even as to gods." "I see clearly, how thou dost nest


s: thyself in thine ownlight, and that by thine eyes thou drawest


s: it, because they sparkle when thou smilest; but I know not who


s: thou art, nor why thou hast, O worthy soul, thy station in the


s: sphere which is veiled to mortals by another's rays." This I


s: said, addressed unto the light which first had spoken to me;


s: whereon it became more lucent far than it had been. Even as the


s: sun, which, when the heat has consumed the tempering of dense


s: vapors, conceals itself by excess of light, so, through greater


s: joy, the holy shape bid itself from me within its own radiance,


s: and thus close enclosed, it answered me in the fashion that the


s: That is, born to good, to attain blessedness.


s: Ere thy life on earth, as a member of the Church Militant, is


s: CANTO VI. Justinian tells of his own life.--The story of the


s: Roman Eagle.--Spirits in the planet Mercury.--Romeo.


s: After Constantine turned the Eagle counter to the course of the


s: heavens which it had followed behind the ancient who took to wife


s: God held itself on the verge of Europe, near to the Mountains


s: from which it first came forth, and there governed the world


s: beneath the shadow of the sacred wings, from hand to hand, and


s: thus changing, unto mine own arrived. Caesar I was, and am


s: Justinian, who, through will of the primal Love which I feel,


s: drew out from among the laws what was superfluous and vain.


s: And before I was intent on this work, I believed one nature to be


s: blessed Agapetus, who was the supreme pastor, directed me to the


s: pure faith with his words. I believed him; and that which was in


s: his faith I now see clearly, even as thou seest every


s: contradiction to be both false and true. Soon as with the


s: Church I moved my feet, it pleased God, through grace, to inspire


s: entrusted my armies to my Belisarius, to whom the right hand of


s: Heaven was so joined that it was a sign that I should take


s: Constantine, transferring the seat of Empire from Rome to


s: Byzantium, carried the Eagle from West to East, counter to the


s: course along which Aeneas had borne it when he went from Troy to


s: From A. D. 324, when the transfer was begun, to 527, when


s: On earth Emperor, but in Heaven earthly dignities exist no


s: The allusion is to Justinian's codification of the Roman Law.


s: The divine nature only. Dante here follows Brunetto Latini


s: (Li Tresor, I. ii. 87) in an historical error.


s: Of the two terms of a contradictory proposition one is true,


s: "Now here to the first question my answer comes to the stop; but


s: its nature constrains me to add a sequel to it, in order that


s: thou mayst see with how much reason move against the ensign


s: sacrosanct, both he who appropriates it to himself, and he who


s: opposes himself to it. See how great virtue has made it worthy


s: of reverence," and he began from the hour when Pallas died to


s: give it a kingdom. "Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode for


s: three hundred years and move, till at the end the three fought


s: with the three for its sake still. And thou knowest what it


s: did, from the wrong of the Sabine women clown to the sorrow of


s: Lucretia, in seven kings, conquering the neighboring


s: peoples round about. Thou knowest what it did when borne by the


s: illustrious Romans against Brennus, against Pyrrhus, and against


s: the other chiefs and allies; whereby Torquatus, and Quinctius who


s: acquired the fame which willingly I embalm. It struck to earth


s: the pride of the Arabs, who, following Hannibal, passed the


s: Alpine rocks from which thou, Po, glidest. Beneath it, in their


s: youth, Scipio and Pompey triumphed, and to that hill beneath


s: which thou wast born, it seemed bitter. Then, near the time


s: when all Heaven willed to bring the world to its own serene


s: mood, Caesar by the will of Rome took it: and what it did from


s: the Var even to the Rhine, the Isere beheld, and the Saone, and


s: the Seine beheld, and every valley whence the Rhone is filled.


s: What afterward it did when it came forth from Ravenna, and leaped


s: could follow it. Toward Spain it wheeled its troop; then


s: toward Dyrrachium, and smote Pharsalia so that to the


s: warm Nile the pain was felt. It saw again Antandros and


s: Simois, whence it set forth, and there where Hector lies; and


s: ill for Ptolemy then it shook itself. Thence it swooped


s: flashing down on Juba; then wheeled again unto your west,


s: where it heard the Pompeian trumpet. Of what it did with the


s: next standard-bearer, Bruttis and Cassius are barking in


s: Hell; and it made Modena and Perugia woful. Still does the


s: sad Cleopatra weep therefor, who, fleeing before it, took


s: from the asp sudden and black death. With him it ran far as


s: the Red Sea shore; with him it set the world in peace so


s: great that on Janus his temple was locked up. But what the


s: ensign which makes me speak had done before, and after


s: was to do, through the mortal realm that is subject to it,


s: becomes in appearance little and obscure, if in the hand of


s: the third Caesar it be looked at with clear eye, and with


s: pure affection. For the living Justice which inspires me


s: granted to it, in the hand of him of whom I speak, the glory


s: of doing vengeance for Its own ire--now marvel here at that


s: which I unfold to thee,--then with Titus it ran to do vengeance


s: for the avenging of the ancient sin. And when the Lombard


s: tooth bit the Holy Church, under its wings Charlemagne,


s: Ironical. The meaning is, "how wrongly."


s: Son of Evander, King of Latium, sent by his father to aid


s: Aeneas. His death in battle against Turnus led to that of Turnus


s: himself, and to the possession of the Latian kingdom by Aeneas.


s: According to popular tradition Fiesole was destroyed by the


s: It was under the authority of Rome that Christ was crucified,


s: of Christ was divinely ordained, their crime in it was none the


s: "Now canst thou judge of such as those whom I accused above, and


s: of their crimes, which are the cause of all your ills. To the


s: public ensign one opposes the yellow lilies, and the other


s: appropriates it to a party, so that it is hard to see which is


s: most at fault. Let the Ghibellines practice, let them practice


s: their art under another ensign, for he ever follows it ill who


s: parts justice and it. And let not this new Charles strike it


s: down with his Guelphs, but let him fear its talons, which from a


s: loftier lion have stripped the fell. Often ere now the sons have


s: wept for the sin of the father; and let him not believe that for


s: Charles II., King of Apulia, son of Charles of Anjou.


s: "This little star is furnished with good spirits who have been


s: active in order that honor and fame may follow them. And when the


s: of the true love mount upward less living. But in the


s: commeasuring of our wages with our desert is part of our joy,


s: because we see them neither less nor greater. Hereby the living


s: Justice so sweetens the affection in us, that it can never


s: be bent aside to any wrong. Diverse voices make sweet notes; thus


s: The desire for fame interferes with, though it may not wholly


s: "And within the present pearl shines the light of Romeo, whose


s: great and beautiful work was ill rewarded. But the Provencals who


s: road who makes harm for himself of another's good deed. Four


s: daughters, and each a queen, had Raymond Berenger, and Romeo, a


s: humble person and a pilgrim, did this for him. And then


s: crooked words moved him to demand a reckoning of this just man,


s: who rendered to him seven and five for ten. Then he departed,


s: poor and old, and if the world but knew the heart he had, while


s: begging his livelihood bit by bit, much as it lauds him it would


s: According to Giovanni Villani (vi. 90), one Romeo, a pilgrim,


s: came to the court of Raymond Berenger IV., Count of Provence (who


s: such wisdom and fidelity that by his means his master's revenues


s: were greatly increased, and his four daughters married to four


s: kings,--Margaret, to Louis IX. of France, St. Louis; Eleanor, to


s: Henry III. of England; Sanzia, to Richard, Earl of Cornwall


s: (brother of Henry III.), elected King of the Romans; and


s: Beatrice, to Charles of Anjou (brother of Louis IX.), King of


s: Apulia and Sicily. The Provencal nobles, jealous of Romeo,


s: procured his dismissal, and he departed, with his mule and his


s: pilgrim's staff and scrip, and was never seen more.


s: CANTO VII. Discourse of Beatrice.--The Fall of Man.--The scheme


s: "Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth, superillustrans claritate tua


s: felices ignes horum malacoth!"--thus, turning to its own


s: melody, this substance, upon which a double light is


s: twinned, was seen by me to sing. And it and the others moved


s: with their dance, and like swiftest sparks veiled themselves to


s: me with sudden distance. I was in doubt, and was saying to


s: myself, "Tell her, tell her," I was saying, "tell her, my Lady,


s: who slakes my thirst with her sweet distillings;" but that


s: reverence which lords it altogether over me, only by BE and by


s: ICE, bowed me again like one who drowses. Little did Beatrice


s: endure me thus, and she began, irradiating me with a smile such


s: as would make a man in the fire happy, "According to my


s: infallible advisement, how a just vengeance could be justly


s: avenged has set thee thinking. But I will quickly loose thy mind:


s: "Hosanna! Holy God of Sabaoth, beaming with thy brightness


s: upon the blessed fires of these realms."


s: Substance, as a scholastic term, signifies a being subsisting


s: by itself with a quality of its own. "Substantiae nomen


s: significat essentiam cui competit sic esse, id est per se esse;


s: quod tamen esse non est ipsa ejus essentia."--Summa Theol. I.


s: The double light of Emperor and compiler of the Laws.


s: "By not enduring for his own good a curb upon the power which


s: wills, that man who was not born,--damning himself, damned all


s: his offspring; wherefore the human race lay sick below for many


s: centuries, in great error, till it pleased the Word of God to


s: descend where He, by the sole act of His eternal love, united


s: with Himself in person the nature which had. removed itself from


s: "Now direct thy sight to the discourse which follows. This


s: nature, united with its Maker, became sincere and good, as it had


s: because it turned aside from the way of truth and from its own


s: life. The punishment therefore which the cross afforded, if it be


s: likewise, none was ever of such great wrong, regarding the Person


s: opened. No more henceforth ought it to seem perplexing to thee,


s: when it is said that a just vengeance was afterward avenged by a


s: "But I see now thy mind tied up, from thought to thought, within


s: a knot the loosing of which is awaited with great desire, Thou


s: sayest, 'I discern clearly that which I bear; but it is occult to


s: decree, brother, stands buried to the eyes of every one whose wit


s: this mark there is much gazing, and little is discerned, I will


s: tell why such mode was most worthy. The Divine Goodness, which


s: from Itself spurns all rancor, burning in Itself so sparkles that


s: immediately from It, thereafter has no end, for when It


s: seals, Its imprint is not removed. That which from It immediately


s: power of the new things. It is the most conformed to It, and


s: therefore pleases It the most; for the Holy Ardor which


s: irradiates every thing is most living in what is most resemblance


s: advantaged, and if one fail, he needs must fall from his


s: nobility. Sin alone is that which disfranchises him, and makes


s: him unlike the Supreme Good, so that by Its light he is little


s: illumined. And to his dignity he never returns, unless, where sin


s: Your nature, when it sinned totally in its seed, was removed


s: from these dignities, even as from Paradise; nor could they be


s: recovered, if thou considerest full subtly, by any way, without


s: passing by one of these fords:--either that God alone by His


s: courtesy should forgive, or that man by himself


s: should make satisfaction for his folly. Fix now thine eye within


s: the abyss of the eternal counsel, fixed as closely on my speech


s: as thou art able. Man within his own limits could never make


s: satisfaction, through not being able to descend so far with


s: humility in subsequent obedience, as disobeying he intended to


s: ascend; and this is the reason why man was excluded from power


s: to make satisfaction by himself. Therefore it behoved God by His


s: own paths to restore man to his entire life, I mean by one, or


s: else by both. But because the work of the workman is so much the


s: more pleasing, the more it represents of the goodness of the


s: heart whence it issues, the Divine Goodness which imprints the


s: world was content to proceed by all Its paths to lift you up


s: again; nor between the last night and the first day has there


s: been or will there be so lofty and so magnificent a procedure


s: either by one or by the other; for God was more liberal in giving


s: only of Himself He had pardoned him. And all the other modes were


s: Without the intervention of a second cause.


s: That is, of the heavens, new as compared with the First


s: That is, with immediate creation, with immortality, with free


s: will, with likeness to God, and the love of God for it.


s: "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth."--Psalm


s: xxv. 10. Truth may be here interpreted, according to St. Thomas


s: "Now to fill completely every desire of thine, I return to a


s: certain place to clear it up, in order that thou mayest see there


s: the air; and the earth, and all their mixtures come to


s: corruption, and endure short while, and yet these things were


s: created;' so that, if what I have said has been true, they ought


s: to be secure against corruption. The Angels, brother, and the


s: sincere country in which thou art, may be called created, even


s: as they are, in their entire being; but the elements which thou


s: hast named, and those things which are made of them, are informed


s: created; the informing power in these stars which go round about


s: them was created. The ray and the motion of the holy lights draw


s: out from its potential elements the soul of every brute and of


s: the plants; but the Supreme Benignity inspires your life without


s: intermediary, and enamors it of Itself so that ever after it


s: desires It. And hence thou canst argue further your


s: resurrection, if thou refleetest bow the human flesh was made


s: Sincere is here used in the sense of incorruptible, or


s: perhaps unspoiled,--the quality of the Heavens as contrasted with


s: The elements axe informed, that is, receive their specific


s: being not immediately from Goa, but mediately through the


s: Literally, "from the potentiate mingling," that is, from the


s: matter endowed with the potentiality of becoming informed by the


s: From the principle that what proceeds immediately from Goa is


s: CANTO VIII. Ascent to the Heaven of Venus.--Spirits of Lovers,


s: Source of the order and the varieties in mortal things.


s: The world in its peril was wont to believe that the beautiful


s: Cypriote revolving in the third epicycle rayed out mad love;


s: wherefore the ancient people in their ancient error not only unto


s: honored Dione also and Cupid, the one as her mother, the other


s: as her son, and they said that he had sat in Dido's lap And


s: from her, from whom I take my beginning, they took the name of


s: the star which the sun wooes, now at her back now at her


s: front. I was not aware of the ascent to it; but of being in


s: it, my Lady, whom I saw become more beautiful, gave me full


s: Venus, so called from her birth in Cyprus.


s: Dione, daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, mother of Venus.


s: Under the form of Ascanius, as Virgil tells in the first book


s: According as it is morning or evening star.


s: And even as in a flame a spark is seen, and as voice from voice


s: is distinguished when one is steady and the other goes and


s: returns, I saw in that light other lamps moving in a circle more


s: and less rapidly, in the measure, I believe, of their inward


s: vision. From a cold cloud winds never descended, or visible or


s: not, go swift, that they would not seem impeded and slow to him


s: who had seen these divine lights coming to us, leaving the


s: circling begun first among the high Seraphim. And within those


s: who appeared most in front was sounding HOSANNA, so that never


s: since have I been without desire of hearing it again. Then one


s: came nearer to us, and alone began, "We all are ready to thy


s: pleasure, that thou mayest joy in us. With one circle, with one


s: circling, and with one thirst, we revolve with the celestial


s: Princes, to whom thou in the world once said: 'Ye who


s: intelligent move the third heaven;' and we are so full of love


s: that, to please thee, a little quiet will not be less sweet to


s: One circle in space, one circling in eternity, one thirst for


s: The third in ascending order of the hierarchy of the Angels,


s: After my eyes had offered themselves reverently to my Lady, and


s: she had of herself made them contented and assured, they turned


s: again to the light which had promised so much; and, "Tell who ye


s: are," was my utterance, stamped with great affection. And how


s: much greater alike in quantity and quality did I see it become,


s: through the new gladness which was added to its gladnesses when I


s: short while; and had it been longer much evil had not been which


s: will be. My joy which rays around me, and hides me like a


s: creature swathed in its own silk, holds me concealed from thee.


s: Much didst thou love me, and thou hadst good reason; for had I


s: stayed below I had showed thee of my love far more than the


s: leaves. That left bank which is bathed by the Rhone, after it has


s: and that born of Ansonia which is towned with Bari, with


s: Gaeta, and with Catona, whence the Tronto and the Verde


s: disgorge into the sea. Already was shining on my brow the crown


s: of that land which the Danube waters after it abandons its German


s: Typhoeus but by nascent sulphur, on the gulf between Pachynus and


s: still awaiting its kings descended through me from Charles and


s: Rudolph, if evil rule, which always embitters the subject


s: people, had not moved Palermo to shout, 'Die! Die!' And if my


s: brother had taken note of this, he would already put to


s: flight the greedy poverty of Catalonia, in order that it might


s: not do him harm: for truly there is need for him or for some


s: other to look to it, so that on his laden bark more load be not


s: one, would have need of such a soldiery as should not care to put


s: speaks. He was born about 1270, and in 1294 he was at Florence


s: for more than twenty days, and at this time may have become


s: acquainted with Dante. Great honor was done him by the


s: Florentines, and he showed great love to them, so that he won


s: favor from everybody, says Villani. He died in 1295.


s: Charles of Anjou, grandfather of Charles Martel, had received


s: this part of Provence as dowry of his wife Beatrice, the youngest


s: A name for Italy, used only by the poets.


s: at the too of Italy, together with the two rivers named, give


s: roughly the boundaries of the Kingdom of Naples.


s: The mother of Charles Martel was sister of Ladislaus IV.,


s: King of Hungary. He died without offspring, and Charles II.


s: claimed the kingdom by right of his wife.


s: Sicily; the gulf darkened by sulphurous fumes is the Bay of


s: Calabria, which lies exposed to Eurus, that is, to winds from the


s: The sea between Cape Pachynus, the extreme southeastern


s: point of the island, and Cape Pelorus, the extreme northeastern,


s: lies exposed to the violence of Eurus or the East wind. Clouds of


s: ascribed by Ovid (Metam. v., 346-353) to the struggles of


s: Typhoeus, one of the rebellious Giants. Ovid's verses suggested


s: From his father, Charles H., or his grandfather, Charles of


s: Anjou, and from the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg, who was the


s: father of Clemence, Charles Martel's wife.


s: By the insurrection which began at Palermo in 1282,--the


s: famous Sicilian Vespers,--the French were driven from the island.


s: This brother was Robert, the third son of Charles II. He had


s: been kept as a hostage in Catalonia from 1288 to 1295, and when


s: he became King of Naples in 1309 he introduced into his service


s: many Catalonian officials. The words of Charles Martel are


s: prophetic of the evils wrought by their greed.


s: Officials who would not, by oppression of the subjects, seek


s: "Because I believe that the deep joy which thy speech, my lord,


s: infuses in me is seen by thee there where every good ends and


s: begins even as I see it in myself, it is the more grateful to


s: me; and this also I hold dear, that thou discernest it, gazing


s: upon God. Thou hast made me glad; and in like wise do thou


s: make clear to me (since in speaking thou bast moved me to doubt)


s: how bitter can issue from sweet seed." This I to him; and he to


s: me, "If I am able to show to thee a truth, thou wilt hold thy


s: face to that which thou askest, as thou dost hold thy back. The


s: Good which turns and contents all the realm which thou ascendest,


s: not the natures only are foreseen in the Mind which by itself is


s: perfect, but they together with their salvation. For


s: whatsoever this bow shoots falls disposed to its foreseen end,


s: even as a thing directed to its aim. Were this not so, the


s: heavens through which thou journeyest would produce


s: their effects in such wise that they would not be works of art


s: but ruins; and that cannot be, if the Intelligences which move


s: these stars are not defective, and defective also the prime


s: Intelligence which has not made them perfect. Dost thou wish


s: that this truth be made still clearer to thee?" And I, "No,


s: truly; because I see it to be impossible that Nature should weary


s: it be worse for man on earth if he were not a citizen?" "Yes,"


s: answered I, "and here I ask not the reason." "And can he be


s: so, unless he live there below in divers manner through divers


s: offices? No; if your master writes well of this." So he


s: went on deducing far as here; then he concluded, "Hence it


s: behoves that the roots of your works must be diverse.


s: Wherefore one is born Solon, and another Xerxes, another


s: Melchisedech, and another he who, flying through the air, lost


s: his son. The revolving nature, which is the seal of the mortal


s: wax, performs its art well, but does not distinguish one inn from


s: Jacob, and Quirinus comes from so mean a father that he is


s: ascribed to Mars. The generated nature would always make its path


s: Now that which was behind thee is before thee, but that


s: thou mayest know that I have joy in thee, I wish that thou cloak


s: thee with a corollary. Nature, if she find fortune discordant


s: with herself, like every other seed out of its region, always


s: makes bad result. And if the world down there would fix attention


s: have its people good. But ye wrest to religion one who shall be


s: born to gird on the sword, and ye make a king of one who is for


s: preaching; wherefore your track is out of the road."


s: My own joy is the dearer in that thou seest that it is more


s: The providence of God is fulfilled through the influences of


s: the Heavens acting upon the natures subject to them.


s: That is, together with the good ends for which they are


s: Defect in the subordinate Intelligences would imply defect in


s: It is impossible that the order of nature should fail, that


s: order being the design of God in creation.


s: That is, united with other men in society.


s: Because man is by nature a social animal, and cannot attain


s: his true end except as a member of a community.


s: Society cannot exist without diversity in the functions of


s: Aristotle, "the master of human reason, who treats of this


s: in many places, for instance in his Ethics, i. 7, where he speaks


s: Human dispositions, the roots of human works, must be


s: diverse in order to produce diverse effects.


s: The spheres pour down their various influences without


s: discrimination in the choice of the individual upon whom they


s: fall. Hence sons may differ in their dispositions from their


s: This additional statement completes the instruction, as a


s: CANTO IX. The Heaven of Venus.--Conversation of Dante with


s: After thy Charles, O beautiful Clemence, had enlightened me,


s: he told to me of the treasons which his seed must suffer. But he


s: said, "Be silent, and let the years revolve:" so that I can tell


s: nothing, save that just lament shall follow on your wrongs.


s: Those who have done the wrong shall justly lament therefor.


s: And now the life of that holy light had turned again unto the Sun


s: souls deceived, and creatures impious, who from such Good turn


s: away your hearts, directing your foreheads unto vanity!


s: And lo! another of those splendors made towards me, and in


s: brightening outwardly was signifying its will to please me. The


s: eyes of Beatrice, which were fixed upon me, as before, made me


s: assured of dear assent to my desire. "I pray thee give swift


s: quittance to my wish, blessed spirit," I said, "and afford me


s: proof that what think I can reflect on thee." Whereon the


s: light which was still new to me, from out its depth, wherein


s: erst it was singing, proceeded, as one whom doing good delights,


s: "In that part of the wicked Italian land, which lies between


s: Rialto and the founts of the Brenta and the Piave, rises a


s: hill, and mounts not very high, whence a torch descended which


s: made a great assault upon that district. From one root both I and


s: because the light of this star overcame me. But gladly do I


s: pardon to myself the cause of my lot, and it gives me no


s: annoy; which perhaps would seem difficult to your vulgar. Of


s: to me, great fame has remained, and ere it die away this


s: hundredth year shall yet come round five times. See if man ought


s: to make himself excellent, so that the first may leave another


s: life! And this the present crowd, which the Tagliameuto and the


s: Adige shut in, considers not; nor yet by being scourged doth


s: it repent. But it will soon come to pass that at the marsh Padua


s: will discolor the water which bathes Vicenza, because her people


s: are stubborn against duty. And where the Sile and the Cagnano


s: unite, one lords it, and goes with his head high, for catching


s: whom the web is already spun. Feltro will yet weep the crime


s: of its impious shepherd, which will be so shameful, that, for a


s: like, none ever entered Malta. Too large would be the vat


s: which would hold the Ferrarese blood, and weary he who should


s: weigh it, ounce by ounce, which this courteous priest will give


s: to show himself a partisan; and such gifts will be conformed


s: to the living of the country. Above are mirrors, ye call them


s: Thrones, wherefrom God shines on us in his judgments, so


s: that these words seem good to us." Here she was silent, and


s: had to me the semblance of being turned elsewhither by the wheel


s: in which she set herself as she was before.


s: That thou, gazing on the mind of God, seest therein my


s: The March of Treviso, lying between Venice (Rialto) and the


s: The hill on which stood the little stronghold of Romano, the


s: birthplace of the tyrant Azzolino, or Ezzolino, whom Dante had


s: seen in Hell (Canto XII.) punished for his cruel misdeeds, in the


s: The sin which has limited the capacity of bliss, the sin


s: which has determined the low grade in Paradise of Cunizza, is


s: forgiven and forgotten, and she, like Piccarda, wishes only for


s: Folco, or Foulquet, of Marseilles, once a famous singer of


s: songs of love, then a bishop. He died in 1213.


s: The people of the region where Cunizza lived.


s: The Paduan Guelphs, resisting the Emperor, to whom they owed


s: duty, were defeated more than once, near Vicenza, by Can Grande,


s: during the years in which Dante was writing his poem.


s: The Sile and the Cagnano unite at Treviso, whose lord,


s: Ricciardo da Camino, was assassinated in 1312.


s: An act of treachery on the part of the Bishop and Lord of


s: Feltro, Alessandro Novello, in delivering up Ghibelline exiles


s: from Ferrara, of whom thirty were beheaded; a treason so vile


s: that in the tower called Malta, where ecclesiastics who committed


s: That is, of the Guelphs, by whom the designation of The


s: The Thrones were, according to St. Gregory, that order of


s: Angels through whom God executes his judgments.


s: Because we see reflected from the Thrones the judgment of


s: The next joy, which was already known to me as an illustrious


s: thing, became to my sight like a fine ruby whereon the sun


s: should strike. Through joy effulgence is gained there on high,


s: even as a smile here; but below the shade darkens outwardly,


s: "God sees everything, and thy vision, blessed spirit, is in Him,"


s: voice, then, that ever charms the heavens, with the song of those


s: wings, why does it not satisfy my desires? Surely I should not


s: wait for thy request if I in-theed myself, as thou thyself


s: in-meest." "The greatest deep in which the water spreads,"


s: began then his words, "except of that sea which garlands the


s: earth, between its discordant shores stretches so far counter to


s: the sun, that it makes a meridian where first it was wont to make


s: between the Ebro and the Magra, which, for a short way,


s: divides the Genoese from the Tuscan. With almost the same sunset


s: and the same sunrise sit Buggea and the city whence I was, which


s: once made its harbor warm with its own blood. That people to


s: whom my name was known called me Folco, and this heaven is


s: imprinted by me, as I was by it. For the daughter of Belus,


s: harmful alike to Sichaeus and Creusa, burned not more than I, so


s: long as it befitted my hair; nor she of Rhodopea who was


s: deluded by Demophoon; nor Alcides when he had enclosed Iole in


s: his heart. Yet one repents not here, but smiles, not for the


s: fault which returns not to the memory, but for the power which


s: ordained and foresaw. Here one gazes upon the art which adorns so


s: The Seraphim, who with their wings cover their faces. See


s: If I saw thee inwardly as thou seest me. Dante invents the


s: words he uses here, and they are no less unfamiliar in Italian


s: According to the geography of the time the Mediterranean


s: stretched from east to west ninety degrees of longitude.


s: Between the Ebro in Spain and the Magra in Italy lies


s: Marseilles, under almost the same meridian as Buggea (now Bougie)


s: When the fleet of Caesar defeated that of Pompey with its


s: contingent of vessels and soldiers of Marseilles, B. C. 49.


s: Phyllis, daughter of the king of Thrace, who hung herself


s: when deserted by Demophoon, the son of Theseus.


s: The excess of the love of Hercules for Iole led to his


s: "But in order that thou mayst bear away satisfied all thy wishes


s: which have been born in this sphere, it behoves me to proceed


s: still further. Thou wouldst know who is in this light, which


s: beside me here so sparkles, as a sunbeam on clear water. Now know


s: order it is sealed by her in the supreme degree. By this heaven


s: in which the shadow that your world makes comes to a point she


s: was taken up before any other soul at the triumph of Christ. It


s: was well befitting to leave her in some heaven, as a palm of the


s: high victory which was won with the two hands, because she


s: aided the first glory of Joshua within the Holy Land, which


s: "By faith the harlot Rabab perished not with them that


s: The conical shadow of the earth ended, according to Ptolemy,


s: at the heaven of Venus. Philalethes suggests that there may be


s: here an allegorical meaning, the shadow of the earth being shown


s: in feebleness of will, worldly ambition, and inordinate love,


s: which have allotted the souls who appear in these first heavens


s: Nailed to the cross. The glory of Joshua was the winning of


s: the Holy Land for the inheritance of the children of Israel.


s: "Thy city, which is plant of him who first turned his back on his


s: scatters the accursed flower which has led astray the sheep


s: and the lambs, because it has made a wolf of the shepherd. For


s: this the Gospel and the great Doctors are deserted, and there is


s: study only of the Decretals, as is apparent by their margins.


s: On this the Pope and the Cardinals are intent; their thoughts go


s: not to Nazareth, there where Gabriel spread his wings. But the


s: Vatican, and the other elect parts of Rome, which have been the


s: burial place for the soldiery that followed Peter, shall soon be


s: "Through envy of the devil came death into the world."--


s: By the removal in 1305 of the Papal Court to Avignon.


s: CANTO X. Ascent to the Sun.--Spirits of the wise, and the learned


s: Looking upon His Son with the Love which the one and the other


s: eternally breathe forth, the Primal and Ineffable Power made


s: everything which revolves through the mind or through space with


s: such order that he who contemplates it cannot be without taste of


s: straight to that region where the one motion strikes on the


s: other; and there begin to gaze with delight on the art of that


s: Master who within Himself so loves it that His eye never departs


s: from it. See how from that point the oblique circle which bears


s: the planets branches off, to satisfy the world which calls on


s: them; and if their road had not been bent, much virtue in the


s: heavens would be in vain, and well-nigh every potency dead here


s: below. And if from the straight line its departure had been


s: more or less distant, much of the order of the world, both below


s: and above, would be defective. Now do thou remain, Reader, upon


s: thy bench, following in thought that which is fore. tasted, if


s: thou wouldst be glad far sooner than weary. I have set before


s: thee; henceforth feed thee by thyself, for that theme whereof I


s: have been made scribe wrests all my care unto itself.


s: All things, as well the spiritual and invisible objects of


s: the intelligence as the corporal and visible objects of sense,


s: were made by God the Father, operating through the Son, with the


s: love of the Holy Spirit, and made in such order that he who


s: contemplates the creation beholds the partial image of the


s: At the equinox, the season of Dante's journey, the sun in


s: Aries is at the intersection of the ecliptic and the equator of


s: the celestial sphere, and his apparent motion in his annual


s: revolution cuts the apparent diurnal motion of the fixed stars,


s: which is performed in circles parallel to the equator.


s: Because on the obliquity of their path depends the variety of


s: The greatest minister of nature, which imprints the world with


s: the power of the heavens, and with its light measures the time


s: for us, in conjunction with that region called to mind above, was


s: presents himself. And I was with him; but of the ascent I was


s: not aware, otherwise than as a man is aware, before his first


s: thought, of its coming. Beatrice is she who thus conducts from


s: good to better so swiftly that her act extends not through time.


s: In that spiral course in which, according to the Ptolemaic


s: system, the sun passes from the equator to the tropic of Cancer,


s: How lucent of itself must that have been which, within the sun


s: where I entered, was appareiit not by color but by light! Though


s: I should call on genius, art, and use, I could not tell it so


s: that it could ever be imagined; but it may be believed, and sight


s: it is no marvel, for beyond the sun was never eye could go.


s: Such was here the fourth family of the High Father, who always


s: satisfies it, showing how He breathes forth, and how He


s: begets. And Beatrice began, "Thank, thank thou the Sun of


s: the Angels, who to this visible one has raised thee by His


s: grace." Heart of mortal was never so disposed to devotion, and so


s: became at those words; and all my love was so set on Him that


s: Beatrice was eclipsed in oblivion. It displeased her not; but she


s: Showing himself in the Holy Spirit and in the Son.


s: I saw many living and surpassing effulgences make a centre of


s: us, and make a crown of themselves, more sweet in voice than


s: shining in aspect. Thus girt we sometimes see the daughter of


s: Latona, when the air is pregnant so that it holds the thread


s: which makes the girdle. In the court of Heaven, wherefrom I


s: those lights. Who wings not himself so that he may fly up


s: When the air is so full of vapor that it forms a halo.


s: After those burning suns, thus singing, had circled three times


s: round about us, like stars near fixed poles, they seemed to me as


s: till they have caught the new notes. And within one I heard


s: begin, "Since the ray of grace, whereby true love is kindled, and


s: that it conducts thee upward by that stair upon which, without


s: reascending, no one descends, he who should deny to thee the wine


s: water which descends not to the sea. Thou wishest to know with


s: what plants this garland is enflowered, which, round about her,


s: gazes with delight upon the, beautiful Lady who strengthens thee


s: for heaven. I was of the lambs of the holy flock which Dominic


s: leads along the way where one fattens well if he stray not.


s: This one who is nearest to me on the right was my brother and


s: master; and he was Albert of Cologne, and I Thomas of Aquino.


s: If thus of all the rest thou wishest to be informed, come,


s: following my speech, with thy sight circling around upon the


s: blessed chaplet. That next flaming issues from the smile of


s: Gratian, who so assisted one court and the other that it pleases


s: in Paradise. The next, who at his side adorns our choir, was


s: that Peter who, like the poor woman, offered his treasure to Holy


s: breathes from such love, that all the world there below is greedy


s: wisdom so profound was put, that, if the truth is true, to see so


s: that candle, which, below in the flesh, saw most inwardly the


s: angelic nature, and its ministry. In the next little light


s: smiles that advocate of the Christian times, with whose discourse


s: the mind, following my praises, from light to light, thou


s: remainest already thirsting for the eighth. Therewithin, through


s: seeing every good, the holy soul rejoices which makes the deceit


s: of the world manifest to whoso hears him well. The body


s: whence it was hunted out lies below in Cieldauro, and from


s: martyrdom and from exile it came unto this peace. Beyond thou


s: seest flaming the burning breath of Isidore, of Bede, and of


s: Richard who in contemplation was more than man. The one from


s: whom thy look returns to me is the light of a spirit to whom in


s: grave thoughts death seemed to come slow. It is the eternal light


s: He would be restrained against his nature, as water prevented


s: Where one acquires spiritual good, if he be not


s: distracted by the allurement of worldly things.


s: Gratian was an Italian Benedictine monk, who lived in


s: the 12th century, and compiled the famous work known


s: as the Decretum Gratiani, composed of texts of Scripture,


s: and of extracts from the Fathers, designed to show the


s: agreement of the civil and ecclesiastical law,--a work


s: pleasing in Paradise because promoting concord between


s: Peter Lombard, a theologian of the 12th century,


s: known as Magister Sententiarum, from his compilation of


s: extracts relating to the doctrines of the Church, under the


s: title of Sententiarum Libri IV. In the proem to his work he


s: says that he desired, "like the poor widow, to cast


s: something from his penury into the treasury of the Lord."


s: It was matter of debate whether Solomon was among


s: "Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding


s: heart; so that there was none like thee before thee,


s: neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee."--1 Kings,


s: Dionysius the Areopagite, the disciple of St. Paul


s: (Acts, xvii. 34), to whom was falsely ascribed a book of


s: great repute, written in the fourth century, " On the


s: Paulus Orosius, who wrote his History against the


s: Pagans, at the request of St. Augustine, to defend


s: Christianity from the charge brought against it by the


s: Gentiles of being the source of the calamities which had


s: befallen the Roman world. His work might be regarded as


s: a supplement to St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei.


s: Boethins, statesman and philosopher. whose work,


s: De Consolatione Philosophiae, was one of the books held in


s: Boethius, who was put to death in Pavia, in 524, was buried


s: in the church of S. Pietro in Ciel d' Oro--St. Peter's of the


s: Isidore, bishop of Seville, died 636; the Venerable Bede,


s: died 735; Richard, prior of the Monastery of St. Victor, at


s: Paris, a mystic of the 12th century; all eminent theologians.


s: Sigier of Brabant, who lectured, applying logic to questions


s: in theology, at Paris, in the 13th century, in the Rue du


s: Then, as a horologe which calls us at the hour when the


s: Bride of God rises to sing matins to her Bridegroom


s: that he may love her, in which the one part draws and


s: urges the other, sounding ting! ting! with such sweet


s: note that the well-disposed spirit swells with love, so saw


s: I the glorious wheel move, and render voice to voice in


s: concord and in sweetness which cannot be known save


s: CANTO XI. The Vanity of worldly desires,--St. Thomas Aquinas


s: undertakes to solve two doubts perplexing Dante.--He narrates the


s: O insensate care of mortals, how defective are those syllogisms


s: which make thee downward beat thy wings! One was going after the


s: Laws, and one after the Aphorisms, and one following the


s: priesthood, and one to reign by force or by sophisms, and one to


s: rob, and one to civic business; one, involved in pleasure of the


s: flesh, was wearying himself, and one was giving himself to


s: idleness, when I, loosed from all these things, with Beatrice,


s: was thus gloriously received on high in Heaven.


s: The Aphorisms of Hippocrates, meaning here, the study of


s: When each had returned unto that point of the circle at which


s: it was at first, it stayed, as a candle in a candlestick. And


s: within that light which first had spoken to me I heard, as


s: smiling it began, making itself more clear, "Even as I am


s: resplendent with its radiance, so, looking into the Eternal


s: Light, I apprehend whence thou drawest the occasion of thy


s: thoughts. Thou art perplexed, and hast the wish that my speech be


s: level to thy sense, where just now I said, 'where well one


s: fattens,' and there where I said, 'the second has not been born;'


s: Each of the lights which had encircled. Beatrice and Dante.


s: "The Providence which governs the world with that counsel, in


s: which every created vision is vanquished ere it reach the depth,


s: in order that the bride of Him, who with loud cries espoused


s: her with His blessed blood, might go toward her beloved, secure


s: in herself and also more faithful to Him, ordained two princes in


s: was a splendor of cherubic light on earth. Of the one I will


s: speak, because both are spoken of in praising one, whichever be


s: taken, for unto one end were their works.


s: "Between the Tupino and the water which descends from the


s: hill chosen by the blessed Ubaldo, hangs the fertile slope of a


s: high mountain, wherefrom Perugia at Porta Sole feeleth cold


s: and heat, while behind it Nocera and Gualdo weep because of their


s: rose a Sun upon the world, as this one sometimes does from the


s: Ganges. Therefore let him who talks of that place not say


s: Ascesi, for he would speak short, but Orient, if be would


s: speak properly. He was not yet very far from his rising when he


s: began to make the earth feel some comfort from his great virtue.


s: For, still a youth, he ran to strife with his father for a


s: lady such as unto whom, even as unto death, no one unlocks the


s: gate of pleasure; and before his spiritual court et coram


s: patre to her he had himself united; thereafter from day to day


s: he loved her more ardently. She, deprived of her first


s: husband, for one thousand and one hundred years and more,


s: despised and obscure, had stood without wooing till he came;


s: nor had it availed to hear, that he, who caused fear to all


s: the world, found her at the sound of his voice secure with


s: Amyclas; nor had it availed to have been constant and bold,


s: so that where Mary remained below, she wept with Christ upon the


s: cross. But that I may not proceed too obscurely, take henceforth


s: in my diffuse speech Francis and Poverty for these lovers. Their


s: concord and their glad semblances made love, and wonder, and


s: sweet regard to be the cause of holy thoughts; so that the


s: venerable Bernard first bared his feet, and ran following


s: such great peace, and, running, it seemed to him that he was


s: slow. Oh unknown riches! oh fertile good! Egidius bares his feet


s: and Sylvester bares his feet, following the bridegroom; so


s: pleasing is the bride. Then that father and that master goes on


s: his way with his lady, and with that family which the humble cord


s: brow at being son of Pietro Bernardone, nor at appearing


s: marvellously despised; but royally he opened his bard intention


s: to Innocent, and received from bim the first seal for his


s: Order. After the poor people had increased behind him, whose


s: marvellous life would be better sung in glory of the heavens, the


s: crown by the Eternal Spirit, through Honorius. And when,


s: through thirst for martyrdom, he had preached Christ and the rest


s: because he found the people too unripe for conversion, and in


s: order not to stay in vain, had returned to the fruit of the


s: Italian grass, on the rude rock, between the Tiber and


s: the Arno, he took from Christ the last seal, which his limbs


s: bore for two years. When it pleased Him, who had allotted him to


s: such great good, to draw him up to the reward which he had gained


s: brethren as to rightful heirs, and commanded them to love her


s: faithfully; and from her lap, his illustrious soul willed to


s: depart, returning to its realm, and for his body he willed no


s: The Chiassi, which flows from the hill chosen for his


s: The gate of Perugia, which fronts Monte Subasio, on which


s: Assisi lies, some fifteen miles to the south.


s: Towns, southeast of Assisi, oppressed by their rulers.


s: So the name Assisi was sometimes spelled, and here with a


s: As the sun at the vernal equinox, the sacred season of the


s: Creation and the Resurrection, rises in the due east or orient,


s: represented in the geographical system of the time by the Ganges,


s: Devoting himself to poverty against his father's will.


s: Before the Bishop of Assisi, and "in presence of his


s: father," he renounced his worldly possessions.


s: When Caesar knocked at the door of Amyclas his voice caused


s: no alarm, because Poverty made the fisherman secure.--Lucan,


s: The followers of Francis imitated him in going barefoot.


s: Perhaps, because his father was neither noble nor famous.


s: In or about 1210 Pope Innocent III. approved the Rule of St.


s: "The head of the fold:" a term of the Greek Church,


s: designating the head of one or more monasteries.


s: In 1223, Honorius III. confirmed the sanction of the Order.


s: "Think now of what sort was he, who was a worthy colleague to


s: keep the bark of Peter on the deep sea to its right aim; and this


s: follows him as he commands loads good merchandise. But his flock


s: has become so greedy of strange food that. it cannot but be


s: scattered over diverse meadows; and as his sheep, remote and


s: vagabond, go farther from him, the emptier of milk they return to


s: keep close to the shepherd; but they are so few that little cloth


s: I have said, thy wish will be content in part, because thou wilt


s: see the plant wherefrom they are hewn, and thou wilt see how


s: the wearer of the thong reasons--'Where well one fattens if one


s: The plant of which the words are splinters or chips; in other


s: terms, "thou wilt understand the whole ground of my assertion,


s: and thou wilt see what a Dominican, wearer of the leather thong


s: of the Order, means, when he says that the flock of Dominic


s: fatten, if they stray not from the road on which he leads them."


s: CANTO XII. Second circle of the spirits of wise religious men,


s: doctors of the Church and teachers.--St. Bonaventura narrates the


s: Soon as the blessed flame uttered the last word of its speech the


s: its gyration before another enclosed it with a circle, and


s: matched motion with motion, song with song; song which in those


s: sweet pipes so surpasses our Muses, our Sirens, as a primal


s: splendor that which it reflects. As two bows parallel and of


s: like colors are turned across a thin cloud when Juno gives the


s: order to her handmaid (the outer one born of that within,


s: after the manner of the speech of that wandering one whom love


s: consumed, as the sun does vapors), and make the people here


s: presageful, because of the covenant which God established with


s: Noah concerning the world, that it is nevermore to be flooded; so


s: other great festivity, alike of the singing and of the flaming,


s: light with light joyous and courteous, had become quiet together


s: at an instant and with one will (just as the eyes which must


s: needs together close and open to the pleasure that moves them),


s: from the heart of one of the new lights a voice proceeded, which


s: made me seem as the needle to the star in turning me to its place


s: speak of the other leader by whom so well has been spoken here


s: of mine. It is fit that where one is the other be led in, so that


s: The garland of spirits encircling Beatrice and Dante.


s: As an original ray is brighter than one reflected.


s: It is St. Bonaventura, the biographer of St. Francis, who


s: speaks. He became General of the Order in 1256, and died in 1276.


s: "The army of Christ, which it had cost so dear to arm afresh,


s: was moving slow, mistrustful, and scattered, behind the


s: standard, when the Emperor who forever reigns provided for the


s: soldiery that was in peril, through grace alone, not because it


s: was worthy, and, as has been said, succored his Bride with two


s: champions, by whose deed, by whose word, the people gone astray


s: The elect, who had lost grace through Adam's sin, were armed


s: afresh by the costly sacirifice of the Son of God.


s: "In that region where the sweet west wind rises to open the new


s: leaves wherewith Europe is seen to reclothe herself, not very far


s: course, the sun sometimes bides himself to all men, sits the


s: fortunate Callaroga, under the protection of the great shield on


s: which the Lion is subject and subjugates. Therein was born the


s: amorous lover of the Christian faith, the holy athlete, benignant


s: his mind was so replete with living virtue, that in his mother it


s: faith were completed at the sacred font, where they dowered each


s: other with mutual safety, the lady who gave the assent for him


s: saw in a dream the marvellous fruit which was to proceed from him


s: as he was, a spirit went forth from here to name him with


s: the possessive of Him whose he wholly was. Dominic he was


s: called; and I speak of him as of the husbandman whom Christ


s: elected to his garden to assist him. Truly he seemed the


s: messenger and familiar of Christ; for the first love that was


s: manifest in him was for the first counsel that Christ gave.


s: Oftentimes was he found by his nurse upon the ground silent and


s: awake, as though he said, 'I am come for this.' O father of him


s: truly Felix! Omother of him truly Joan, if this, being


s: The shield of Castile, on which two lions and two castles are


s: quartered, one lion below and one above.


s: His mother dreamed that she gave birth to a dog, black and


s: white in color, with a lighted torch in its mouth, which set the


s: world on fire; symbols of the black and white robe of the Order,


s: and of the flaming zeal of its brethren. Hence arose a play of


s: words on their name, Domini cani, "the dogs of the Lord."


s: The godmother of Dominic saw in dream a star on the forehead


s: and another on the back of the head of the child, signifying the


s: light that should stream from him over East and West.


s: Dominicus, the possessive of Dominus, "Belonging to the


s: "Sell that thou hast and give to the poor."--Matthew, xix.


s: Felix, signifying "happy," and Joanna, "full of grace."


s: "Not for the world, for which men now toil, following him


s: of Ostia and Thaddeus, but for the love of the true manna, be


s: became in short time a great teacher, such that he set himself to


s: bad; and of the Seat which was formerly more benign unto the


s: righteous poor (not through itself but through him who sits there


s: for six, not the fortune of the first vacancy, non decimas,


s: quae sunt pauperum Dei, but leave to fight against the errant


s: world for that seed of which four and twenty plants are


s: girding thee. Then with doctrine and with will, together with the


s: vein pours out, and on the heretical stocks his onset smote with


s: most vigor there where the resistance was the greatest. From him


s: proceeded thereafter divers streams wherewith the catholic garden


s: Henry of Susa, cardinal of Ostia, who wrote a much studied


s: commentary on the Decretals, and Thaddeus of Bologna, who, says


s: Giovanni Villani, "was the greatest physician in Christendom."


s: The thought is the same as that at the beginning of Canto XI,


s: where Dante speaks of "one following the Laws, and one the


s: The grammatical construction is imperfect; the meaning is


s: that the change in the temper of the see of Rome is due not to


s: the fault of the Church itself, but to that of the Pope.


s: Not for license to compound for unjust acquisitions by de.


s: "Not the tithes which belong to God's poor."


s: The true faith; "the seed is the word of God."--Luke, viii.


s: The authority conferred on him by Innocent III.


s: If such was one wheel of the chariot on which the Holy Church


s: defended itself and vanquished in the field its civil strife,


s: surely the excellence of the other should be very plain to thee,


s: concerning which Thomas before my coming was so courteous. But


s: the track which the highest part of its circumference made is


s: derelict; So that the mould is where the crust was. His


s: household, which set forth straight with their feet upon his


s: footprints, are so turned round that they set the forward foot on


s: culture shall be seen, when the tare will complain that the chest


s: leaf by leaf might still find a page where he would read, 'I am


s: that which I am wont:' but it will not be from Casale nor from


s: Acquasparta, whence such come unto the Written Rule that one


s: flies from it, and the other contracts it.


s: The track made by St. Francis is deserted.


s: The change of metaphor is sudden; good wine makes a crust,


s: They go in an opposite direction from that followed by the


s: That it is taken from the chest in the granary to be burned.


s: Frate Ubertino of Casale, the leader of a party of zealots


s: among the Franciscans, enforced the Rule of the Order with


s: excessive strictness; Matteo, of Acquasparta, general of the


s: "I am the life of Bonaventura of Bagnoregio, who in great offices


s: set sinister care behind me. Illuminato and Augustin are here,


s: were among the first barefoot poor that in the cord made


s: friends to God. Hugh of St. Victor is here with them, and


s: Mangiadore, and Peter of Spain, who down below shines in


s: Nathan the prophet, and the Metropolitan Chrysostom, and


s: Anselm, and that Donatus who deigned to set his hand to the


s: first art; Raban is here, and at my side shines the Calabrian


s: abbot Joachim, endowed with prophetic spirit.


s: Hugh (1097-1141), a noted schoolman, of the famous monastery


s: Peter Mangiador, or Comestor, "the Eater," so called as being


s: a devourer of books. He himself wrote books famous in their time.


s: The Summae logicales of Peter of Spain, in twelve books, was long


s: He was killed in May, 1277, by the fall of the ceiling of the


s: chamber in which he was sleeping in the Papal palace at Viterbo.


s: He is the only Pope of recent times whom Dante meets in Paradise.


s: The famous doctor of the Church, patriarch of Constantinople.


s: Born about 1033 at Aosta in Piedmont, consecrated Arch.


s: bishop of Canterbury in 1093, died 1109; magnus et subtilis


s: The compiler of the treatise on grammar (the first of the


s: seven arts of the Trivium. and the Quadrivium), which was in use


s: Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz, in the ninth century; a


s: great scholar and teacher, "cui similem suo tempore non habuit


s: Joachim, Abbot of Flora, whose mystic prophecies had great


s: "The flaming courtesy of Brother Thomas, and his discreet


s: discourse, moved me to celebrate so great a paladin; and with


s: Literally, "to envy;" hence, perhaps, "to admire," "to


s: praise," "to celebrate;" but the meaning is doubtful.


s: CANTO XIII. St. Thomas Aquinas speaks again, and explains the


s: relation of the wisdom of Solomon to that of Adam and of Christ,


s: and declares the vanity of human judgment.


s: Let him imagine, who desires to understand well that which I


s: now saw (and let him retain the image like a firm rock, while I


s: am speaking), fifteen stars which in different regions vivify the


s: of the air; let him imagine that Wain for which the bosom of


s: our heaven suffices both night and day, so that in the turning of


s: horn which begins at the point of the axle on which the primal


s: wheel goes round,--to have made of themselves two signs in the


s: heavens, like that which the daughter of Minos made, when she


s: felt the frost of death, and one to have its rays within the


s: other, and both to revolve in such manner that one should go


s: first and the other after; and he will have as it were the shadow


s: circling the point where I was; because it is as much beyond our


s: wont as the motion of the heaven which outspeeds all the rest is


s: swifter than the movement of the Chiana. There was sung riot


s: Bacchus, not Paean, but three Persons in a divine nature, and it


s: and the human in one Person. The singing and the revolving


s: completed each its measure, and those holy lights gave attention


s: to us, making themselves happy from care to care.


s: To form an idea of the brightness of the two circles of


s: spirits, let the reader imagine fifteen of the brightest separate


s: the two brightest of the Lesser Bear, to form two constellations


s: like Ariadne's Crown, and to revolve one within the other, one


s: Charles's Wain, the Great Bear, which never sets.


s: The Lesser Bear may be imagined as having the shape of a


s: horn, of which the small end is near the pole of the heavens


s: around which the Primum Mobile revolves.


s: When Ariadne died of grief because of her desertion by


s: Theseus, her garland was changed into the constellation known as


s: The Chiana is one of the most sluggish of the streams of


s: Rejoicing in the change from dance and song to tranquillity


s: for the sake of giving satisfaction to Dante.


s: Then the light in which the marvellous life of the poor man of


s: God had been narrated to me broke the silence among those


s: concordant deities, and said, "Since one straw is threshed, since


s: seed is now garnered, sweet love invites me to beat out the


s: other. Thou believest that in the breast, wherefrom the rib was


s: drawn to form the beautiful cheek whose taste costs dear to all


s: the world, and in that which, pierced. by the lance, both after


s: and before made such satisfaction that it overcomes the balance


s: of all sin, whatever of light it is allowed to human nature to


s: have was all infused. by that Power which made one and the other;


s: told that the good which in the fifth light is inclosed had no


s: second. Now open thine eyes to that which I answer to thee, and


s: thou wilt see thy belief and my speech become in the truth as the


s: "That which dies not and that which can die are naught but the


s: splendor of that idea which in His love our Lord God brings to


s: birth; for that living Light which so proceeds from its Lucent


s: Source that It is not disunited from It, nor from the Love which


s: with them is intrined, through Its own bounty collects Its


s: radiance, as it were mirrored, in nine subsistences, Itself


s: eternally remaining one. Thence It descends to the ultimate


s: potentialities, downward from act to act, becoming such that


s: finally It makes naught save brief contingencies: and these


s: contingencies I understand. to be the generated things which the


s: heavens in their motion produce with seed and without. The wax


s: of these, and that which moulds it, are not of one mode, and


s: therefore under the ideal stamp it shines now more now less;


s: whence it comes to pass that one same plant in respect to species


s: dispositions. If the wax were exactly worked, and the heavens


s: were supreme in their power, the whole light of the seal would be