Paradiso: Canto IX

The Heaven of Venus.—Conversation of Dante with Cunizza da Romano,—With Folco of Marseilles.—Rahab.—Avarice of the Papal Court.

After thy Charles, O beautiful Clemence, had enlightened me, he told to me of the treasons which his seed must suffer. But he said, “Be silent, and let the years revolve:” so that I can tell nothing, save that just lament shall follow on your wrongs.

And now the life of that holy light had turned again unto the Sun which fills it, as that Good which suffices for every thing. Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious, who from such Good turn away your hearts, directing your foreheads unto vanity!

And lo! another of those splendors made towards me, and in brightening outwardly was signifying its will to please me. The eyes of Beatrice, which were fixed upon me, as before, made me assured of dear assent to my desire. “I pray thee give swift quittance to my wish, blessed spirit,” I said, “and afford me proof that what think I can reflect on thee.” Whereon the light which was still new to me, from out its depth, wherein erst it was singing, proceeded, as one whom doing good delights, “In that part of the wicked Italian land, which lies between Rialto and the founts of the Brenta and the Piave, rises a hill, and mounts not very high, whence a torch descended which made a great assault upon that district. From one root both I and it were born; Cunizza was I called; and I am refulgent here because the light of this star overcame me. But gladly do I pardon to myself the cause of my lot, and it gives me no annoy; which perhaps would seem difficult to your vulgar. Of this resplendent and dear jewel of our kingdom, who is nearest to me, great fame has remained, and ere it die away this hundredth year shall yet come round five times. See if man ought to make himself excellent, so that the first may leave another life! And this the present crowd, which the Tagliameuto and the Adige shut in, considers not; nor yet by being scourged doth it repent. But it will soon come to pass that at the marsh Padua will discolor the water which bathes Vicenza, because her people are stubborn against duty. And where the Sile and the Cagnano unite, one lords it, and goes with his head high, for catching whom the web is already spun. Feltro will yet weep the crime of its impious shepherd, which will be so shameful, that, for a like, none ever entered Malta. Too large would be the vat which would hold the Ferrarese blood, and weary he who should weigh it, ounce by ounce, which this courteous priest will give to show himself a partisan; and such gifts will be conformed to the living of the country. Above are mirrors, ye call them Thrones, wherefrom God shines on us in his judgments, so that these words seem good to us.” Here she was silent, and had to me the semblance of being turned elsewhither by the wheel in which she set herself as she was before.

The next joy, which was already known to me as an illustrious thing, became to my sight like a fine ruby whereon the sun should strike. Through joy effulgence is gained there on high, even as a smile here; but below the shade darkens outwardly, as the mind is sad.

“God sees everything, and thy vision, blessed spirit, is in Him,” said I, “so that no wish can steal itself away from thee. Thy voice, then, that ever charms the heavens, with the song of those pious fires which make a cowl for themselves with their six wings, why does it not satisfy my desires? Surely I should not wait for thy request if I in-theed myself, as thou thyself in-meest.” “The greatest deep in which the water spreads,” began then his words, “except of that sea which garlands the earth, between its discordant shores stretches so far counter to the sun, that it makes a meridian where first it was wont to make the horizon. I was a dweller on the shore of that deep, between the Ebro and the Magra, which, for a short way, divides the Genoese from the Tuscan. With almost the same sunset and the same sunrise sit Buggea and the city whence I was, which once made its harbor warm with its own blood. That people to whom my name was known called me Folco, and this heaven is imprinted by me, as I was by it. For the daughter of Belus, harmful alike to Sichaeus and Creusa, burned not more than I, so long as it befitted my hair; nor she of Rhodopea who was deluded by Demophoon; nor Alcides when he had enclosed Iole in his heart. Yet one repents not here, but smiles, not for the fault which returns not to the memory, but for the power which ordained and foresaw. Here one gazes upon the art which adorns so great a work, and the good is discerned whereby the world above turns that below.

“But in order that thou mayst bear away satisfied all thy wishes which have been born in this sphere, it behoves me to proceed still further. Thou wouldst know who is in this light, which beside me here so sparkles, as a sunbeam on clear water. Now know that therewithin Rahab is at rest, and being joined with our order it is sealed by her in the supreme degree. By this heaven in which the shadow that your world makes comes to a point she was taken up before any other soul at the triumph of Christ. It was well befitting to leave her in some heaven, as a palm of the high victory which was won with the two hands, because she aided the first glory of Joshua within the Holy Land, which little touches the memory of the Pope.

“Thy city, which is plant of him who first turned his back on his Maker, and whose envy has been so bewept, produces and scatters the accursed flower which has led astray the sheep and the lambs, because it has made a wolf of the shepherd. For this the Gospel and the great Doctors are deserted, and there is study only of the Decretals, as is apparent by their margins. On this the Pope and the Cardinals are intent; their thoughts go not to Nazareth, there where Gabriel spread his wings. But the Vatican, and the other elect parts of Rome, which have been the burial place for the soldiery that followed Peter, shall soon be free from this adultery.”