Authors: Dante
‘And that your arrival at the lofty goal
be not delayed by waiting, I shall answer
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your guarded thoughts, which you dare not express.
‘The summit of the mountain on whose slope
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Cassino lies was once much frequented
‘I am he who first brought up the slope
the name of Him who carried down to earth
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the truth that so exalts us to the heights.
‘And such abundant grace shone down on me
I led the neighboring towns away
‘All these other flames spent their lives in contemplation,
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kindled by that warmth which brings
‘Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus,
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here are my brothers whose feet never strayed
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beyond their cloisters and whose hearts were firm.’
And I to him: ‘The affection you display
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when you speak with me and the signs of kindness
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that I see and mark in all your fires
‘Therefore, I pray you, father, reassure me—
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if I may hope to gain so great a favor—
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that I may see you with your face unveiled.’
And he: ‘Brother, your lofty wish
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shall find fulfillment in the highest sphere,
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where all desires are fulfilled, and mine as well.
‘There only all we long for is perfected,
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ripe, and entire. It is there alone
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each element remains forever in its place,
‘for it is not in space and does not turn
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on poles. Our ladder mounts right up to it
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and thus its top is hidden from your sight.
‘Jacob the patriarch saw the ladder’s highest rungs
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attain that height when, teeming with
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a throng of angels, it appeared to him.
‘But no one bothers now to raise his foot
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up from the earth to climb those rungs,
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and my Rule is but a waste of paper.
‘The walls that were constructed for an abbey
have been converted into dens for thieves, and sacks,
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now filled with rotten flour, once served as cowls.
‘But the highest rates of usury are not exacted
against God’s will so much as is the harvest
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that turns the hearts of monks to madness.
‘For whatever the Church has in its keeping
is reserved for those who ask it in God’s name,
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and not for kindred or more vile relations.
‘The flesh of mortals is so weak and dissolute
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that good beginnings go astray down there, undone
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before the newly planted oak can bring forth acorns.
‘Peter started his community with neither gold
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nor silver, and I mine with fasting and with prayer,
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while Francis with humility established his.
‘If you consider where each started out,
and then consider how far it now has strayed,
‘Still, the sight of Jordan driven back and of the sea
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that opened at the will of God were greater wonders
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to behold than would be His intervention here.’
This he said to me, and then withdrew
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to his companions, who, drawing close together,
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now swirled up as in a whirlwind.
My sweet lady, with but a single gesture, urged me on
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to follow right behind them up that stairway,
And never once down here below,
where we mount and descend by natural law,
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was there motion swift enough to match my flight.
So may I, reader, once again return
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there to that holy triumph for whose sake
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I frequently bewail my sins and beat my breast,
you could not have withdrawn and thrust your finger
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into the fire faster than I saw the sign
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that follows on the Bull and was within.
O glorious stars, O light made pregnant
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with a mighty power, all my talent,
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whatever it may be, has you as source.
From you was risen and within you hidden
he who is the father of all mortal life
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when first I breathed the Tuscan air.
And afterward, when I was granted grace
to enter the high wheel that keeps you turning,
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it was your zone to which I was assigned.
To you now, with devotion, my soul sighs
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that it gain strength for the next daunting task
‘You are so near the final blessedness,’
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Beatrice then began,
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‘your eyes from now on shall be clear and keen.
‘Thus, before you become more one with it,
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look down once more and see how many heavens
‘so that your heart, filled with joy,
may greet the triumphant throng that comes
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With my eyes I returned through every one
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of the seven spheres below, and saw this globe of ours
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to be such that I smiled, so mean did it appear.
That opinion which judges it as least
I now approve as best, and he whose thoughts
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are fixed on other things may truly be called just.
I saw Latona’s daughter shining bright,
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without that shadow for which I once believed
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she was both dense and rare.
The visage of your son, Hyperion, I endured
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and saw how Maia and Dïone move
Then I saw the tempering of Jove between his father
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and his son, and the changes that they make
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in their positions were now clear.
All seven planets there revealed
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their sizes, their velocities,
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and how distant from each other their abodes.
The little patch of earth that makes us here so fierce,
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from hills to rivermouths, I saw it all
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while I was being wheeled with the eternal Twins.
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Then I turned my eyes once more to those fair eyes.
STARRY SPHERE