Paradiso: Canto XXVIII

When, as against man's life of miseries,
The truth had been unfolded to mine eye
By her who doth my mind imparadise,

As one who in a mirror doth espy
The flame of candle that behind him burns,'
Ere he has it in sight or phantasy.

And then, to see if true the mirror, turns.
And sees that it is with the image wed.
As music that to fit the metre learns.

So in my mind what then I did is read,
As on those beauteous eyes I fixed my gaze.
Whence Love made cords by which my soul was led.

And as I turned me, and mine eyes did raise
To that which meets them in the circling sphere.
Whene'er we have clear vision of its ways,

I saw a point so radiant appear,
So keenly bright, it needs must be the eye
Should shrink and close before its brightness clear.

The smallest star which from the earth we spy
A moon would seem, with it set side by side,
As star may be compared with star on high.

At such a distance as a halo wide
Doth compass round the light that paints its hue.
When mist that forms it is least rarefied.

Thus round the point a circle came in view
Of fire, so swift that it would leave behind
The sphere that swiftest doth its course pursue.

And this within a second was confined.
That by a third, that by a fourth again.
That by a fifth, round which a sixth did wind.

Then came a seventh, so wide in its domain
That Juno's herald, though full span it won,
Would fail its widespread circuit to contain;

So too the eighth and ninth, and each did run
More slowly round as it was far away,
As measured by its number, from the One.

And that had flame the clearest in its ray
Which was least distant from the pure spark's light,
Because, I deem, more in its Truth it lay.

My Lady, who beheld my doubting plight,
Yearning to know, said: " From that point depends
All Heaven, yea, and Nature, depth and height.

That circle see which nearest to it bends.
And know its motion is thus hurried on
By the hot love which spur to impulse lends."

And I to her: " If our world did but run
With order, as I see these wheels go round,
I were content with knowledge I have won;

But in the world of sense we still have found
The circles tending more to grow divine,
The farther they recede from central ground.

Wherefore, to satisfy this wish of mine
In this shrine wondrous and angelical,
Which hath but light and love for boundary line,

I needs must hear how thus it doth befall,
The copy and the pattern differ so;
For to myself 'tis fruitless wonder all."

"If thine own fingers scanty skill shall show
Such knot to loose, it should not wonder wake.
So hard for want of trying doth it grow."

Thus far my Lady; then she said: "Now take
That which I tell, if thou would'st have thy will,
And thereupon thy wits more subtle make.

The spheres corporeal more or less space fill.
According to the more or less of might
Which throughout every portion worketh still.

A greater bliss doth greater good requite,
And greater bliss a greater frame must show,
If all Its parts attain their fullest height.

So this which sweepeth all the spheres below,
As it moves onward, answers to the sphere
Which, loving most, most fully too doth know.

Wherefore, if thou survey with vision clear
The virtue, not the semblance that we see,
Of these substantial forms which round appear,"

Thou'lt see a wondrous correspondency
Of more with greater, less with smaller here,
And every heaven with its Mind agree."

As clear and calm the aerial hemisphere
Shine th, when Boreas from that cheek doth blow
Whence with a gentler force his breezes veer.

So that it clears, and bids the cloud-rack go
Which erst obscured it, and the sky smiles bright
With all the beauties that its regions show.

So was I then, when me to help aright
My Lady thus took thought with her clear speech.
And Truth, like star in heaven, was full in sight.

And when those words of hers their goal did reach,
As molten iron sparkle th all around,
So sparkled then those circles all and each;

And every spark did more and more abound
In fiery light, and so their number grew
Beyond the " chess-board's doubling " problem's bound.

And then from choir to choir Hosannas flew
To that fixed Point which keepeth every one,
And will keep ever, in its Ubi true;

And she, who saw what thoughts of doubt had won
Power o'er my mind, said: "These, the circles prime,
The Seraphim and Cherubim have shown.

As if constrained, they speed in such quick time
To be as like the Point as they may be,
And their power varies with their sight sublime.

Those other Loves, which moving round we see,
Are known as Thrones of God's face manifest,
And so they close the first trine company.

And thou should'st know that all are so far blest
As doth their vision in the abyss descend
Of Truth, wherein each intellect finds rest.

Hence may be seen how bliss attains its end.
Founded on that one single power of sight,"
And not on love, which after doth attend.

And of that power to see, the standard right
Is merit, child of God's grace and good-will;
Thus they advance from step to step of height.

The other Triad, which doth burgeon still"
In this eternal spring, which no blast drear
Despoils when Aries comes with night-frost chill,

For ever warbles forth Hosanna clear,
With triple songs that echo in the three
Great ranks of joy where they intrined appear.

Three hosts divine are in this hierarchy —
Dominions first, then those as Virtues known.
Then Powers, that fill the third place in degree.

Then in the twain whose dance is last but one,
Archangels, Principalities, wheel round,
And sports of Angels have the last place won.

These orders all with upward gaze are found,
And downward so prevail that each doth draw,
And each is drawn, to God in love profound.

And Dionysius with such yearning awe
These orders gave himself to contemplate.
That he, as I, assigned their names and law;

But Gregory from him did separate;
And so when he in Heaven had oped his eyes.
He smiled at that his notion of our state.

And let it not, I pray, thy mind surprise
That mortal man should utter truth so deep;
For he who saw it taught in wondrous wise

Full many a truth which these our circles keep."