The glory of Him who moveth everything
Doth penetrate the universe, and shine
In one part more and in another less.
Within that heaven which most his light receives
Was I, and things beheld which to repeat 5
Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends;
Because in drawing near to its desire
Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,
That after it the memory cannot go.
Truly whatever of the holy realm 10
I had the power to treasure in my mind
Shall now become the subject of my song.
O good Apollo, for this last emprise
Make of me such a vessel of thy power
As giving the beloved laurel asks! 15
One summit of Parnassus hitherto
Has been enough for me, but now with both
I needs must enter the arena left.
Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe
As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw 20
Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his.
O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me
So that the shadow of the blessed realm
Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,
Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree, 25
And crown myself thereafter with those leaves
Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.
So seldom, Father, do we gather them
For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet,
(The fault and shame of human inclinations,) 30
That the Peneian foliage should bring forth
Joy to the joyous Delphic deity,
When any one it makes to thirst for it.
A little spark is followed by great flame;
Perchance with better voices after me 35
Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond!
To mortal men by passages diverse
Uprises the world's lamp; but by that one
Which circles four uniteth with three crosses,
With better course and with a better star 40
Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax
Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion.
Almost that passage had made morning there
And evening here, and there was wholly white
That hemisphere, and black the other part, 45
When Beatrice towards the left-hand side
I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun;
Never did eagle fasten so upon it!
And even as a second ray is wont
To issue from the first and reascend, 50
Like to a pilgrim who would fain return,
Thus of her action, through the eyes infused
In my imagination, mine I made,
And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont.
There much is lawful which is here unlawful 55
Unto our powers, by virtue of the place
Made for the human species as its own.
Not long I bore it, nor so little while
But I beheld it sparkle round about
Like iron that comes molten from the fire; 60
And suddenly it seemed that day to day
Was added, as if He who has the power
Had with another sun the heaven adorned.
With eyes upon the everlasting wheels
Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her 65
Fixing my vision from above removed,
Such at her aspect inwardly became
As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him
Peer of the other gods beneath the sea.
To represent transhumanise in words 70
Impossible were; the example, then, suffice
Him for whom Grace the experience reserves.
If I was merely what of me thou newly
Createdst, Love who governest the heaven,
Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light! 75
When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal
Desiring thee, made me attentive to it
By harmony thou dost modulate and measure,
Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled
By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river 80
E'er made a lake so widely spread abroad.
The newness of the sound and the great light
Kindled in me a longing for their cause,
Never before with such acuteness felt;
Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself, 85
To quiet in me my perturbed mind,
Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask,
And she began: "Thou makest thyself so dull
With false imagining, that thou seest not
What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off. 90
Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest;
But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site,
Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest."
If of my former doubt I was divested
By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, 95
I in a new one was the more ensnared;
And said: "Already did I rest content
From great amazement; but am now amazed
In what way I transcend these bodies light."
Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, 100
Her eyes directed tow'rds me with that look
A mother casts on a delirious child;
And she began: "All things whate'er they be
Have order among themselves, and this is form,
That makes the universe resemble God. 105
Here do the higher creatures see the footprints
Of the Eternal Power, which is the end
Whereto is made the law already mentioned.
In the order that I speak of are inclined
All natures, by their destinies diverse, 110
More or less near unto their origin;
Hence they move onward unto ports diverse
O'er the great sea of being; and each one
With instinct given it which bears it on.
This bears away the fire towards the moon; 115
This is in mortal hearts the motive power
This binds together and unites the earth.
Nor only the created things that are
Without intelligence this bow shoots forth,
But those that have both intellect and love. 120
The Providence that regulates all this
Makes with its light the heaven forever quiet,
Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste.
And thither now, as to a site decreed,
Bears us away the virtue of that cord 125
Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark.
True is it, that as oftentimes the form
Accords not with the intention of the art,
Because in answering is matter deaf,
So likewise from this course doth deviate 130
Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses,
Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way,
(In the same wise as one may see the fire
Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus
Earthward is wrested by some false delight. 135
Thou shouldst not wonder more, if well I judge,
At thine ascent, than at a rivulet
From some high mount descending to the lowland.
Marvel it would be in thee, if deprived
Of hindrance, thou wert seated down below, 140
As if on earth the living fire were quiet."
Thereat she heavenward turned again her face.
NOTES
1 - 1
Dante's theory of the universe is the old one, which made the earth a stationery central point, around which all the heavenly bodies revolved; a theory, that, according to Milton, Par. Lost, VIII. 15, astonished even Adam in Paradise: –
“When I behold this goodly frame, this world,
Of heaven and earth consisting, and compute
Their magnitudes; this earth, a spot, a grain,
An atom, with the firmament compared
And all her numbered stars, that seem to roll
Spaces incomprehensible (for such
Their distance argues, and their swift return
Diurnal), merely to officiate light
Round this opacous earth, this punctual spot,
One day and night; in all their vast survey
Useless besides; reasoning I oft admire,
How Nature, wise and frugal, could commit
Such disproportions, with superfluous hand
So many nobler bodies to create,
Greater so manifold, to this one use,
For aught appears, and on their orbs impose
Such restless revolution day by day
Repeated; while the sedentary earth,
That better might with far less compass mov
Served by more noble than herself, attains
Her end without least motion, and receives,
As tribute, such a sumless journey brought
Of incorporeal speed, her warmth and light, –
Speed, to describe whose swiftness number fails.”
The reply that Raphael makes to “our general ancestor,” may be addressed to every reader of the Paradiso: –
“Whether the sun, predominant in heaven,
Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun;
He from the east his flaming road begin,
Or she from west her silent course advance,
With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps
On her soft axle; while she paces even,
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along;
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid.”
Thus, taking the earth as the central point, and speaking of the order of the Ten Heavens, Dante says, Convito, II. 4:
“The first is that where the Moon is; the second is that where Mercury is; the third is that where Venus is; the fourth is that where the Sun is; the fifth is that where Mars is; the sixth is that where Jupiter is; the seventh is that where Saturn is; the eighth is that of the Stars; the ninth is not visible, save by the motion mentioned above, and is called by many the Crystalline; that is, diaphanous, or wholly transparent. Beyond all these, indeed, the Catholics place the Empyrean Heaven; that is to say, the Heaven of flame, or luminous; and this they suppose to be immovable, from having within itself, in every part, that which its matter demands. And this is the cause why the Primum Mobile has a very swift motion; from the fervent longing which each part of that ninth heaven has to be conjoined with that Divinest Heaven, the Heaven of Rest, which is next to it, it revolves therein with so great desire, that its velocity is almost incomprehensible; and quiet and peaceful is the place of that supreme Deity, who alone doth perfectly see himself.”
Of the symbolism of these Heavens he says, Convito, II 14:
“As narrated above, the seven Heavens nearest to us are those of
the Planets; and above these are two movable Heavens, and one
motionless over all. To the fist seven correspond the seven
sciences of the Trivium and Quadrivium; that is, Grammer,
Dialectics, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, and Astrology.
To the eighth, that is, to the starry sphere, Natural Science,
called Physics, corresponds, and the first science, which is
called Metaphysics; and to the ninth sphere corresponds Moral
Science; and to the Heaven of Rest, the Divine Science, which is
called Theology.”
The details of these correspondences will be given later in their appropriate places.
These Ten Heavens are the heavens of the Paradiso; nine of them revolving about the earth as a central point, and the motionless Empyrean encircling and containing all.
In the fist Heaven, or that of the Moon, are seen the spirits of those who, having taken monastic vows, were forced to violate them. In the second, or that of Mercury, the spirits of those whom desire of fame incited to noble deeds. In the third, or that of Venus, the spirits of Lovers. In the fourth, or that of the Sun, the spirits of Theologians and Fathers of the Church. In the fifth, or that of Mars, the spirits of Crusaders and those who died for the true Faith. In the sixth, or that of Jupiter, the spirits of righteous Kings and Rulers. In the seventh, or that of Saturn, the spirits of the Conteplative. In the eighth, or that of the Fixed Stars, the Triumph of Christ. In the ninth, or Primum Mobile, the Angelic Hierarchies. In the tenth, or the Empyrean, is the Visible Presence of God.
It must be observed, however, that the lower spheres, in which the spirits appear, are not assigned them as their places or dwellings. They show themselves in these different places only to indicate to Dante the different degrees of glory which they enjoy, and to show that while on earth they were under the influence of the planets in which they here appear. Dante expressly says, in Canto IV. 28: –
“He of the Seraphim most absorbed in God,
Moses, and Samuel, and whichever John
Thou mayst select, I say, and even Mary,
Have not in any other heaven their thrones
Than have those spirits that just appeared to thee,
Nor of existence more or fewer years;
But all make beautiful the primal circle,
And have sweet life in different degrees,
By feeling more or less the eternal breath.
They showed themselves here, not because allotted
This sphere has been to them, but to give sign
Of the celestial which is least exalted.”
The threefold main division of the Paradiso, indicated by a longer prelude, or by a natural pause in the action of the poem, is: – (1. From Canto I. to Canto X. (2. From canto X. to Canto XXIII. (3. From Canto XXIII. to the end.
2 - 2
Wisdom of Solomon, i. 7: “For the spirit of the Lord filleth the world”; and Ecclesiasticus, xlii. 16: “ The sun that giveth light looketh upon all things, and the work thereof is full of the glory of the Lord.”
4 - 4
The Empyrean. Milton, Par. Lost, III. 57: –
“From the pure Empyrean where he sits
High throned above all highth.”
5 - 5
2 Corinthians, xii. 2: “I knew a man in Christ about fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such as one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth:) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
7 - 7
Convito, III. 2: “Hence the human soul, which is the noblest form of those created under heaven, receiveth more of the divine nature than any other.....And inasmuch as its being depends upon God, and is preserved by him, it naturally desires and wishes to be united with God, in order to strengthen its being.”
And again, Convito, III. 6: “Each thing chiefly desireth its own perfection, and in it quieteth every desire, and for it is each thing desired. And this is the desire which always maketh each delight seem insufficient; for in this life is no delight so great that it can satisfy the thirst of the soul, so that the desire I speak of shall not remain in our thoughts.”
13 - 13
Chaucer, House of Fame, III. I: –
“God of science and of light,
Apollo! thorough thy grete might
This litel last boke now thou gye.
.....
And if that divine virtue thou
Wilte helpen me to showen now
That in my hed ymarked is,
.....
Thou shalt yse me go as blive
Unto the next laurer I se,
And kysse it for it is thy tre.
Nowe entre in my brest anone.”
19 - 19
Chaucer, Ballade in Commendacion of Our Ladie, 12: –
“O winde of grace! now blowe unto my saile;
O auriate licour of Clio! to write
My penne enspire, of that I woll indite.”
20 - 20
Ovid, Met., VI., Croxal's Tr.: –
“When straight another pictures to their view
The Satyr's fate, whom angry Phoebus slew;
Who, raised with high conceit, and puffed
with pride,
At his own pipe the skilful god defied.
Why do you tear me from myself, he cries?
Ah, cruel! must my skin be made the prize?
This for a silly pipe? he roaring said,
Meanwhile the skin from off his limbs was
flayed.”
And Chaucer, House of Fame, 139, changing the sex of Marsyas: –
“And Mercia that lost hire skinne,
Bothe in the face, bodie and chinne,
For that she would envyen, lo!
To pipen bette than Apollo.”
36 - 36
A town at the foot of Parnassus, dedicated to Apollo, and here used for Apollo.
Chaucer, Quene Annelida and False Arcite, 15: –
“Be favorable eke thou, Polymnia!
On Parnassus that, with thy susters glade
By Helicon, and not ferre from Cirrha,
Singled, with voice memoriall, in the shade
Under the laurer, which that maie not fade.”
39 - 39
That point of the horizon where the sun rises at the equinox; and where the Equator, the Zodiac, and the equinoctial colure meet, and form each cross with the Horizon.
41 - 41
The world is as wax, which the sun softens and stamps with his seal.
44 - 44
“This word almost,” says Buti, “gives us to understand that it was not the exact moment when the sun enters Aries.”
60 - 60
Milton, Parad. Lost, III. 593: –
“Not all parts like, but all alike informed
With radiant light, as glowing iron with fire.”
61 - 61
Milton. Parad Lost, V. 310: –
“Seems another morn
Risen on mid-noon.”
68 - 68
Glaucus, changed to a sea-god by eating of the salt-meadow grass. Ovid, Met., XIII., Rowe's Tr.: –
“Restless I grew, and every place forsook,
And still upon the seas I bent my look.
Farewell forever! Farewell, land! I said;
And plunged amidst the waves my sinking head.
The gentle powers, who that low empire keep,
Received me as a brother of the deep;
To Tethys, and to Ocean old, they pray
To purge my mortal earth parts away.”
“As Glaucus,” says Buti, “was changed from a fisherman to a sea-god by tasting of the grass that had that power, so the human soul, tasting of things divine, becomes divine.”
73 - 73
Whether I were spirit only. 2 Corinthians, xii. 3: “Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth.”
One of the questions which exercised the minds of the Fathers and the Schoolmen was, whether the soul were created before the body or after it. Origen, following Plato, supposes all souls to have been created at once, and to await their bodies. Thomas Aquinas combats this opinion, Sum. Theol., I. Quaest. CXCIII. 3, and maintains, that “creation and infusion are simultaneous in regard to the soul.” This seems also to be Dante's belief. See Purg. XXV. 70: –
“The primal Motor turns to it well pleased
At so great art of nature, and inspires
A spirit new, with virtue all replete.”
76 - 76
It is a doctrine of Plato that the heavens are always in motion, seeking the Soul of the World, which has no determinate place, but is everywhere diffused. See also Note 1.
78 - 78
The music of the spheres.
Shakespear, Merchant of Venice, V. 1: –
“Look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins:
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.”
And Milton, Hymn on Christ's Nativity: –
“Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
Once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time;
And let the bass of Heaven's deep organ blow;
And, with your ninefold harmony,
Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.”
Rixner, Handbuch der Geschichte der Philosphie, I. 100, speaking of the ten heavens, or the Lyre of Pythagoras, says: “These ten celestial spheres are arranged among themselves in an order so mathematical and musical, that is so harmonious, that the sphere of the fixed stars, which is above the sphere of Saturn, gives forth the deepest tone in the music of the universe (the World-Lyre strung with ten strings), and that of the Moon the highest.”
Cicero, in his Vision of Scipio, inverts the tones. He says, Edmonds's Tr.: –
“Which as I was gazing in amazement, I said, as I recovered
myself, from whence proceed these sounds so strong, and yet so
sweet, that fill my ears? 'The melody,' replies he, 'which you
hear, and which, though composed in unequal time, is nevertheless
divided into regular harmony, is effected by the impulse and
motion of the spheres themselves, which by a happy temper of sharp
and grave notes, regularly produces various harmonic effects. Now
it is impossible that such prodigious movements should pass in
silence; and nature teaches that the sounds which the spheres at
one extremity utter must be sharp, and those on the other
extremity must be grave; on which account, that highest revolution
of the star-studded heaven, whose motion is more rapid, is carried
on with a sharp and quick sound; whereas this of the moon, which
is situated the lowest, and at the other extremity, moves with the
gravest sound. For the earth, the ninth sphere, remaining
motionless, abides invariably in the innermost position, occupyiny
the central spot in the universe.
”'Now these eight directions, two of which have the same
powers, effect seven sounds, differing in their modulations, which
number is the connecting principle of almost all things. Some
learned men, by imitating this harmony with strings and vocal
melodies, have opened a way for their return to this place; as all
others have done, who, endued with pre-eminent qualities, have
cultivated in their mortal life the pursuits of heaven.
“'The ears of mankind, filled with these sounds, have
become deaf, for of all your senses it is the most blunted. Thus,
the people who live near the place where the Nile rushes down from
very high mountains to the parts which are called Catadupa, are
destitute of the sense of hearing, by reason of the greatness of
the noise. Now this sound, which is effected by the rapid
rotation of the whole system of nature, is so powerful that human
hearing cannot comprehend it, just as you cannot look directly
upon the sun, because your sight and sense are overcome by his
beams.'”
92 - 92
The region of fire. Brunetto Latini, Tresor, Ch. CVIII.: “After the zone of the air is placed the fourth element. This is an orb of fire without any moisture, which extends as far as the moon, and surrounds this atmosphere in which we are. And know that above the fire is first the moon, and the other stars, which are all of the nature of fire.”
109 - 109
Milton, Parad. Lost, V. 469: –
“One Almighty is, from whom
All things proceed, and up to him return,
If not depraved from good; created all
Such to perfection, one first matter all,
Endued with various forms, various degrees
Of substance, and, in things that live, of life;
But more refined, more spiritous, and pure,
As nearer to him placed, or nearer tending
Each in their several active spheres assigned,
Till body up to spirit work, in bounds
Proportioned to each kind. So from the root
Springs lighter the green stalk; from thence the leaves
More aery; last, the bright consummate flower
Spirits odórous breathes: flowers and their fruit,
Man's nourishment, by gradual scale sublimed,
To vital spirits aspire, to animal,
To intellectual; give both life and sense,
Fancy and understanding: whence the soul
Reason receives, and reason is her being,
Discursive or intuitive.”
121 - 121
Filicaja's beautiful sonnet on Providence is thus translated by Leigh Hunt: –
“Just as a mother, with sweet, pious face,
Yearns towards her little children from her seat,
Gives one a kiss, another an embrace,
Takes this upon her knees, that on her feet;
And while from actions, looks, complaints, pretences,
She learns their feelings and their various will,
To this a look, to that a word, dispenses,
And, whether stern of smiling, loves them still; –
So Providence for us, high, infinite,
Makes our necessities its watchful task,
Hearkens to all our prayers, helps all our wants,
And even if it denies what seems our right
Either denies because 't would have us ask,
Or seems but to deny, or in denying grants.”
122 - 122
The Empyrean, within which the Primum Mobile revolves “with so great desire that its velocity is almost incomprehensible.”
141 - 141
Convito, III. 2: “The human soul, ennobled by the highest power, that is by reason, partakes of the divine nature in the manner of an eternal Intelligence; because the soul is so ennobled by that sovereign power, and denuded of matter, that the divine light shines in it as in an angel; and therefore man has been called by the philosophers a divine animal.”
Great! Thanks Flynn.