Paradiso: Canto XVII

As he who came to ask of Clymene
If what against himself he heard were true,
He through whom sires to sons so grudging be.

So was I, and e'en thus I stood in view
Of Beatrice and of that blest light,
That for ray sake had changed its station due.

Wherefore my Lady spake: "Give vent outright
To thy desire's strong flame, that it may be
Stamped with the mark of all thine inner might.

Not that through any speech of thine do we
Gain greater knowledge, but that thou may'st learn
To tell thy thirst, that we give drink to thee."

"O my dear Root, who such high place dost earn.
That, as our minds, to earthly senses tied.
That angles twain obtuse can't be, discern

In one triangle, thus thou hast espied
Contingent things ere they in being are.
Gazing where all times in one Now abide.

While I did Virgil's welcome presence share
Up on the mount which heals the souls that fall,
Or through the dead world's lowest depths did fare.

Of what may me in future years befall
Grave words were spoken to me, though I feel
Set firm, four square, 'gainst fate's blows one and all.

Wherefore I fain would learn the woe or weal
That Fortune brings me in the coming day;
A dart foreseen a weaker stroke doth deal."

Thus spake I then to that same shining ray
Which with me spake before, and so my mind.
As Beatrice willed, did I display.

Not in dark speech, as when the nations blind
Were snared ere yet the Lamb of God was slain
That takes away the sin of all mankind.

But in clear utterance, open speech and tone.
Made answer to me that paternal love,
Close hidden, yet by smiling radiance known.

"Contingency, which doth not pass above
The book of sensuous knowledge, all doth lie
Before His gaze in whom the ages move.

But not from thence it takes necessity,
No more than from the eye by which 'tis seen,
A ship that on strong current sweepeth by.

Thence, as the ear a concord sweet doth glean
From organ-notes, there comes within my sight
The future that for thee prepared hath been.

As Hippolyt from Athens took his flight,
Through step-dame's cruel hate and perfidy,
So thou must Florence leave in thy despite;

Thus men have willed, for this their arts they ply:
And soon the end will come which now they seek,"
Where even Christ men daily sell and buy.

And blame, as it is wont, its rage doth wreak
On those who suffer wrong, but Vengeance high
Shall to the Truth Who sends it witness speak.

Thou shalt leave all things that most tenderly
Are loved by thee; and this is from the bow
Of exile the first arrow that doth fly.

How salt that bread doth taste thou then shalt know
That others give thee, and how hard the way
Or up or down another's stairs to go.

And that which most upon thy back shall weigh
Will be the mad and evil company
Which in that dreary vale with thee shall stay;

For they ungrateful, impious, base to thee
Shall prove; yet but a little while attend,
And they, not thou, shall blush for infamy.

And of that brute stupidity their end
Shall furnish proof, and well with thee 'twill fare
Apart from them thy lonely path to wend.

Thy first home, first asylum, shall be there
Found in the great Lombard's kind courtesy,
Whose ladder doth the holy eagle bear.

He shall cast on thee so benign an eye
That, 'twixt you twain, to ask and act shall take
Far other place than elsewhere men descry.

One too thou'lt see on whom this star did make
Such impress when his birth was nigh at hand
That his great deeds shall soon men's wonder wake.

Not yet his worth the nations understand
By reason of his youth, for scarce nine years
These spheres have round him their full circuit spanned.

But ere the Gascon's fraud great Henry nears.
Some sparks of valour shall their brightness show,
In that he gold contemns nor labour fears.

And soon so well shall men his greatness know,
Excelling all, that e'en from enemies,
Their silence breaking, shall his praises flow.

Wait thou for him and for his charities;
Through him shall many a nation changes see.
The rich brought low, the poor to honour rise.

And written in thy mind this too shall be.
Yet tell it not; " and then he spake of things
Which men shall see with incredulity.

Then added he, " My son, this issue brings
The key to what was told thee: see the snares
Which a few years shall bear upon their wings.

Yet look not on thy mates with envious cares;
Thy life projects itself through many a year
Beyond the vengeance which their guilt prepares."

When that blest soul by silence showed full clear
That he had worked with woof the web to fill
Which I with warp had set before him there,

I then began as one who, doubting still,
Desireth counsel for his doubts from one
Who sees things justly, loves with heart and will:

"Well see I, O my sire, how spurreth on
Time's course against me, to strike such a blow
As heaviest falls on him whose strength is gone,

Wherefore 'tis well foreknowledge arm me so.
That, if from home most dear I fain must flee,
I may not others through my rhymes forego.

Down in the world of endless misery.
And on the mountain from whose summit bright
The eyes of my dear Lady lifted me.

And afterwards in Heaven from light to light,
I have learnt that which, if again I tell.
Like herbs of pungent taste, 'twill many bite.

Yet if to truth a timid friend I dwell,
I fear lest I should lose my life with those
Who shall this age as ancient chronicle."

The light — where, smiling, my own treasure rose
New-found — flashed forth at first all glorified.
As in the sun's ray golden mirror glows;

Then answer made: " Only a conscience dyed,
Or with its own or with another's blame,
Will feel thy speech grate harshly on its pride;

Yet not the less, all falsehood put to shame,
Make thou thy vision fully manifest,
And where the sore is let each scratch the same.

For if thy voice and speech do much molest,
When tasted first, a vital nutriment
'Twill leave behind when men thy words digest.

And this thy cry shall like the wind be sent.
That most wrecks heights that tower most loftily,
Which is of honour no small argument.

Hence in these spheres there only meet thine eye.
As on the Mount and in the dolorous Vale,
The souls that have acquired celebrity;

For still the mind of him who hears a tale
Rests not, nor gives firm faith to things that rise
From roots unknown and hid beneath a veil.

Nor other proof that non-apparent lies."