Paradiso: Canto XXIX

When both the children of Latona old,
In shelter of the Ram and of the Scales,
The zone of the horizon doth enfold.

As is the time when from those balanced scales
They part, both one and other, from their place,"
Till, changing hemisphere, the balance fails.

So long, with look which winning smile did grace,
Was Beatrice silent, looking still
Upon the Point which I was weak to face.

Then she began: "I speak, nor ask thy will
What thou would'st know, for I have seen it there
Wherein each ubi, quando, centres still.

Not that He sought a greater good to share —
That might not be — but that His glory great
Might, as it shines, the name ' I AM ' declare,

In His eternity. His timeless state.
Beyond all grasp of thought, as seemed Him right.
The Eternal Love in new loves did dilate.

Not that He lay before in sleep of night,
For no Before or After did precede
God's moving on the waters in His might.

Matter and form together did proceed,
In purest state to act which could not err,
As three-stringed bow sends forth a triple reed.

And as in amber, glass or crystal clear
So shines a ray, that from its first descent
Till all is bright, no interval is there.

Thus from its Lord the tri-formed effluence sent
Flashed into being once, and once for all,
Nor did, as it began, degrees present.

Order and form as concreate did fall
With substances, and those were as the crown
Which purest act did into being call.

Mere potency is seated lowest down.
And potency and act unite midway,
And how to disunite is known to none.

Angels were made by God, did Jerome say,
Long tract of ages ere in order next
The other world was started on its way;

But this is writ in many a sacred text
Of writers whom the Holy Ghost did teach;
If there thou seek, thou wilt not be perplex'd.

And Reason too the same belief doth reach,
Which scarce could suffer that the powers that move
Should lack completeness that belongs to each.

Now know'st thou when and where these forms of love
Were made, and how; so thus are quenched well
In thy desire three fires that burnt to prove.

Nor could'st thou numbers up to twenty tell
So soon as part of that angelic host
Brought on your lower world disturbance fell.

The other part remained, and took their post
With wondrous joy, as thou hast here beheld,
And never have their circling motion lost.

Through the accursed pride were they expelled"
Of him whom thou hast looked upon below,
By all the weight of all the world fast held.

Those whom thou see'st here did their meekness show.
Acknowledging the Goodness that had made
Them quick and prompt such mysteries to know;

And hence their powers of vision were displayed.
By grace illumined and by merit too.
So that their will in full resolve is stayed.

I would not have thee doubt, but hold as true,
That in receiving grace comes merit high,
E'en as affection opes in measure due.

Now, looking round on this Consistory,
Thou may'st enough contemplate, if my speech
Be grasped, without a further commentary.

But since on earth the schools a doctrine teach
That the angelic nature, in its span.
To thought, and will, and memory doth reach,

More will I speak, that thou may'st clearly scan
The truth below confused through want of skill,
In teachings thus ambiguous in their plan.

These substances, since joy their life did fill
From God's own face, their glance have ne'er let stray
From Him with whom is nothing hidden still;

Hence is their vision never drawn away
By a new object, nor need care to take
Facts to recall, because they do not stay;

So that below men dream, although awake,
Believing, not believing, in their speech:
This last it is more guilt and shame doth make.

Not by one path do ye your wisdom teach,
As ye philosophise; so leads astray
The love of show and fancy swaying each.

Yet e'en on this less weight of scorn we lay,
Here in this Heaven, than when the Sacred Book
Is thrust aside or made false part to play.

They think not there how much of blood it took
To sow it in the world, and what high praise
Is his who humbly turns on it to look.

For outward show each one his wit displays,
His own inventions form the preacher's theme,
And all the Gospel story silent stays.

This saith the moon did intercept the gleam
Of sunlight at the Christ's death-agony,
So that to earth its radiance could not stream;

This, that the light itself was quenched on high,
And so alike in India and in Spain,
As with the Jews, such darkness met the eye.

Nor doth our Florence such a crowd contain
Of Bindi, Lapi, as are tales like these,
Which through the year make pulpits ring again.

So that the lambs, in ignorance, at ease.
Turn from the pasture fed with wind alone,
Yet find in ignorance no excusing pleas.

Christ said not to His primal flock, ' Go on,
And to the world proclaim an idle tale,'
But gave to them the Truth as corner-stone;

And with such might it came from organs frail.
That, in their warring for the Faith's clear light,
As shield and spear the Gospel did avail.

Now is our preaching done with jestings slight
And mockings, and if men but laugh agape,
The cowl puffs out, nor ask men if 'tis right;

Yet such a bird doth nestle in their cape,
That, if the crowd beheld it, they would know
What pardons they rely on for escape.

And thus such madness there on earth doth grow.
That, without proof of any evidence,
To each Indulgence eager crowds will flow.

So grow Antonio's swine in corpulence.
And others plenty who are worse than swine,
Paying their way with false, unminted pence.

But since we thus have wandered from our line,
Now to the straight path turn at last thine eyes,
That so brief way with shortened time combine.

This order far and wide so multiplies
From rank to rank, that never speech might tell,
Nor thought of man unto their number rise.

And if thou dost in Daniel's vision spell,
Thou'lt see that, in his thousands manifold,
No number definite is visible.

The primal Light, whose rays the whole enfold.
In modes as many is received by each
As are the splendours which thereon lay hold.

Hence, as the affection follows — so we teach —
Close on the thought, the sweetness of their love
Is hot or tepid, varying thus in each.

So see'st thou of the Power eterne above
The breadth and height, reflected o'er and o'er
In mirrors where its broken light doth rove,

One in itself remaining as before.""