Paradiso: Canto IV

Between two dainties, distant equally
And tempting, a free man would waste away
Ere he his teeth to either could apply;

So would a lamb stand that should chance to stray
Twixt two fierce wolves that each caused equal fear;
So would a dog between two does at bay.

Wherefore my silence, as bewildered there
I stood in doubt's suspense, I do not blame.
Since " needs must " ruled it so, and praise I spare.

Silent I stood, but my desire became
In my looks painted, and thus my request
More fervent was than clearest speech could frame.

And Beatrice did as, at the hest
Of Nabuchodonosor, Daniel,
Taming the rage that filled the tyrant's breast;"

And said: " I see how draweth thee the spell
Now of this wish, now that, and so thy pain
Is smothered, and thy care thou canst not tell.

Thou arguest, ' If good-will yet remain,
On what ground can another's violence
Make less the measure of my merit's gain?'

Also thou findest cause for doubting hence.
That spirits seem unto the stars to go,
As Plato's judgment deemed the soundest sense.

These are the questions which thou seek'st to know
In equal measure, therefore first will I
Treat of the one that doth most venom show.

The Seraph who most dwells in Deity,
Moses and Samuel, and the blest St. John —
Take which thou wilt, and pass not Mary by —

Have in no other sphere of Heaven their throne
Than those same spirits that thou look'st on here.
Nor years or more or less hath any one:

But all make beautiful the primal sphere,
And have their joyous life in varied guise,
As more or less the Breath eterne is there.

Here they appeared, not that in this sphere lies
The lot assigned them, but in token true
Of life celestial which doth lowest rise.

This speech to thy mind bears proportion due,
Since through the senses it doth apprehend
What then is meet for intellect to view.

Wherefore the 'Scripture thus doth condescend
Unto your weakness, and both hands and feet
Assigns to God, yet doth not so intend;

And Holy Church in human figure meet
Gabriel and Michael to you doth present.
And him who made Tobias' cure complete.

That which Timaeus states in argument
Is no wise like to that thou saw'st of late,
Since what he says, 'twould seem, is his intent.

He saith that for each soul its star doth wait.
Deeming that it from that clime hither fell,
When Nature gave it as a form innate.

And yet, perchance, his words a meaning tell
Beyond their sound, and so the thought may be
Not such as men may laugh and mock at well.

If he but means in these same orbs to see
The honour of their influence, or their blame,
Perchance his bow hath hit some verity.

Ill understood, this doctrine was the same
As that which well-nigh drew the world, or Jove
Or Mars or Mercury as gods to name.

The other doubt which doth thy spirit move
Hath less of poison, since no evil lust
Therefrom could lead thy steps from me to rove.

That this our Justice should appear unjust
In mortal eyes is but an argument,
Not for vile heresy, but faith and trust.

But since to this truth and its high intent
Thy understanding well may penetrate,
I, as thou seekest, will thy soul content.

If 'tis constraint when he who bears his fate
No wise allows what twists his deeds awry,
Then doth it not these spirits liberate:"

For will, unless it wills, can never die.
But works as Nature worketh in the fire.
Though force a thousand times to twist it try.

If more or less it yieldeth to desire.
It seconds the constraint; and thus did they,
Being able to the cloister to retire.

If then their will had trod the perfect way,
As Laurence did, upon the hot bars laid,
Or Mucius, stern to make his hand obey.

Back on that road it would have them conveyed
Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free:
But all too rare is will so firmly stayed.

And by these words, if they are stored by thee.
As thou should'st store them, is the objection met
Which else would oft have caused perplexity.

But now another passage hard is set
Before thine eyes, whence of thyself alone,
Thou could'st not 'scape ere thou should'st weary get.

I, as a certain truth, to thee have shown
That blessed spirits know not how to lie,
Since to the First Truth they are nearer grown;

And so Piccarda this might certify.
That Constance kept her fondness for the veil.
Seeming to speak another thing than I.

And often, brother mine — so runs the tale —
We, to flee danger, 'gainst our better will.
Do that which makes us from our duty fail.

E'en as Alcmaeon did his mother kill,
Obedient to his father's urgent prayer.
And in his impious deed was pious still.

And at this point I wish thee to compare
How force with will doth blend itself, and make
The sin to be of all excuses bare.

Absolute will consents not law to break;
But it consents, so far as it feels fear,"
If it refrain, for greater danger's sake.

So when Piccarda's utterance met thine ear,
She spoke of that will absolute and I
Of the other; so we both the truth speak here."

With such calm course the holy stream flowed by,
Which sprang from fount whence flows each truth divine,
And both my cravings thus did satisfy.

O loved of Love supreme, O goddess mine,"
I said, approaching, "whose words o'er me flow.
And to a warmer, fuller life incline;"

Not all my feeling to such depth can go
As to requite thee fully, grace for grace:
Let Him do that who all doth see and know.

I see that nought can fill the mind's vast space,
Unless Truth's light dwell there as denizen,
Beyond which nothing true can find a place.

In that it rests, like wild best in its den.
When it attains it; and it can attain,
Else frustrate would be all desires of men.

And thence springs, like a scion, doubt again
Hard by Truth's stem, and such is Nature's law,
Which, height on height, leads upward from the plain.

This gives assurance, this my mind doth draw
With reverence, Lady, yet to ask of thee
Of other truth which as obscure I saw.

I wish to know if man, for vows that he
Breaks, may with other good deeds satisfy,
That in your scales they not too light may be.'

And Beatrice looked on me with eye
So full of glow of love and so divine,
That, my strength failing, then my back turned I,

And, almost fainting, did mine eyes incline.