Authors: Dante
‘From this, it may be seen, beatitude itself
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is based upon the act of seeing,
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not on that of love, which follows after,
‘and the measure of their sight reveals their worth,
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which grace and proper will beget in them.
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Such, then, is the process, step by step.
‘The second triad thus blossoming
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in this eternity of spring
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which no nocturnal Ram cuts short
‘ever sings hosannas, the threefold strain
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resounding in the threefold ranks
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of bliss by which they are intrined.
‘In this hierarchy are found the next divinities—
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Dominions first, then Virtues,
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and the third are Powers.
‘The penultimate two of these festive throngs
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are whirling Principalities and Archangels,
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while the last one is all Angels at their play.
‘All these orders gaze in ecstasy above.
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The highest there are linked with those below,
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so that the rest are drawn, and also draw, to God.
‘Dionysius with such passion set his mind
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to contemplate these orders
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that he named them and arranged them as do I.
‘But later Gregory took a different view,
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so that, opening his eyes here in this heaven,
‘And if a mortal man on earth set forth
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such hidden truth, you need not wonder,
for he who saw it here above revealed it then to him,
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along with many other truths about these circlings.’
CRYSTALLINE SPHERE
Beatrice explains God’s creation of the angels:
When the two offspring of Latona,
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one covered by the Ram, one by the Scales,
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together make a belt of the horizon
for the moment that the zenith
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holds them balanced, until each of them,
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in changing hemispheres, now leaves that belt,
for just that long, her face lit by a smile,
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Beatrice was silent, staring intently
Then she began: ‘I tell, I do not ask,
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what you would like to hear. For I have seen it there
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where every
ubi
and every
quando
has its center.
‘Not to increase His store of goodness,
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a thing impossible, but that His splendor,
‘in His eternity, beyond time, beyond
any other limit, as it pleased Him,
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in these new loves, Eternal Love unfolded.
‘Nor, before then, did He rest in torpor,
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for until God moved upon these waters
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there existed no “before,” there was no “after.”
‘Form and matter, conjoined and separate,
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came into being without defect,
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shot like three arrows from a three-stringed bow.
‘And, as a ray shines right through glass, amber,
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or crystal, so that between its presence
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and its shining there is no lapse of time,
‘just so did the threefold creation flash—
with no intervals in its beginning—
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from its Lord into being, all at once.
‘With it, order was created and ordained
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for the angels, and these were the summit
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of the universe, for in them God produced pure act.
‘Pure potential held the lowest place.
Between them, potential and act were held together
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by such a bond as may not be unbound.
‘Jerome’s writing tells you all the angels
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were created many centuries before
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the rest of the universe came into being.
‘Yet the scribes of the Holy Ghost declare
the truth on many pages,
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as you shall find on searching with some care.
‘And even reason sees it, in some measure,
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for it would not grant that the movers of the heavens
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should remain so long without becoming perfect.
‘Now you know both where and when these loving spirits
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were created, and you know how, as well.
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And thus three flames of your desire have been quenched.
‘The other band remained and gave itself
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with such abandon to this task, which you behold,
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that never does it cease its circling motion.
‘The cause accounting for the fall
was the accursèd pride of him you saw
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crushed beneath the weight of all the world.
‘These whom you observe here all were humble,
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acknowledging the Goodness that had made them fit
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to be endowed with an intelligence so vast.
‘Thus their vision was exalted
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by illuminating grace, along with their own merit,
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so that theirs is a will both whole and steadfast.
‘And I would not have you doubt, but rather be assured,
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that there is merit in receiving grace
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in measure as the heart inclines to it.
‘Henceforth, if you have understood my words,
you may examine anything you like
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in this assembly without need of aid.
‘But since in schools on earth you still are taught
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that the angelic nature is possessed
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of understanding, memory, and will,
‘I will continue, so that you clearly see
how truth is made unclear down there
‘These angelic beings, since they first rejoiced
in the face of God, from which nothing may be hidden,
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have never turned their eyes away from it,