Part 21

«O frond my own, in whom I took delight while yet but waiting, I was thy root»: such a beginning, answering, made I.

Then said she to me: «He from whom is named thy kindred, and who for a hundred years and more has circled the mount in the first cornice,

my son was he, and thine great-grandsire too: well befits it that thou shouldst shorten for him the long penance by thine own works.

Florence, within the ancient circle whence she still takes terce and nones, abode in peace, sober and chaste.

She had no chain, no crown, no embroidered gowns, no girdle that was fairer to see than was the person.

Not yet at birth did the daughter cause fear to the father, for the time and dowry fled not beyond measure here and there.

She had no houses empty of family; not yet had Sardanapalus come there to show what may be done within the chamber.

Not yet was Montemalo vanquished by your Uccellatoio, which, as it is vanquished in its ascent, so shall it be in its fall.

I saw Bellincion Berti go girt with leather and with bone, and from the mirror come his lady, with face undyed;

and I saw him of the Nerli and him of the Vecchio content with the uncovered skin, and their women at the distaff and the spindle.

Oh fortunate ones! each one was sure of her own burial, and as yet none was deserted in her bed for France.

One watched over the cradle in her study, and, consoling, used the speech that first diverts the fathers and the mothers;

the other, drawing out the thread from the rock, would tell tales to her household of the Trojans, of Fiesole, and of Rome.

Such a Cianghella, a Lapo Salterello would then have been held a marvel, as now would be a Cincinnatus and a Cornelia.

To such repose, to such fair living of citizens, to such loyal citizenship, to such sweet dwelling,

Mary gave me, invoked with loud cries; and in your ancient Baptistery I was at once made Christian and Cacciaguida.

Moronto was my brother and Eliseo; my lady came to me from the vale of Po, and thence was made thy surname.

Then I followed the Emperor Conrad; and he girded me with his knighthood, so much did I come into his grace by well doing.

I went with him against the iniquity of that law whose people, through the fault of the shepherds, usurp your justice.

There was I, by that foul folk, unloosed from the fallacious world, whose love deforms many souls;

and from martyrdom I came to this peace».

Paradiso Canto XVI

O little nobility of our blood, if to glory in thee men are moved here below where our affection languishes,

a marvellous thing it will never be to me: for there where appetite is not distorted, I mean in heaven, I gloried in it.

Surely thou art a mantle that soon shrinks: so that, if it be not pieced day by day, time goes round with the shears.

From the «you» which first offered itself to Rome, in which her family perseveres least, my words began again;

whereby Beatrice, who was somewhat apart, laughing, seemed like her who coughed at the first fault written of Guinevere.

I began: «Thou art my father; thou givest me all boldness to speak; thou dost lift me so that I am more than I.

Through so many streams is filled with gladness my mind, which makes rejoicing of itself because it can endure without breaking.

Tell me then, my dear first-fruit, who were thy ancestors, and what were the years that were marked in thy childhood;

tell me of the flock of Saint John how great it was then, and who were the folk worthy of the highest seats among it».

As coal in flame revives at the breath of winds, so did I see that light shine bright at my blandishments;

and as it became fairer to my eyes, so with voice more sweet and gentle, but not in this modern speech,

it said to me: «From the day that was said ‘Ave’ to the birth wherein my mother, who now is saint, was lightened of me wherewith she was heavy,

to its Lion five hundred fifty and thirty times came this fire to rekindle beneath his plant.

My ancestors and I were born in the place where is found first the last sixth of those who run your annual game.

Enough of my forefathers to have heard this: who they were and whence they came thither is more honest to be silent than to tell.

All those who at that time were there able to bear arms between Mars and the Baptist were the fifth of those now living.

But the citizenry, which now is mixed of Campi, of Certaldo, and of Feghine, was seen pure even in the lowliest artisan.

Oh how much better it were to have near these folk that I speak of, and at Galluzzo and at Trespiano to have your boundary,

than to have them within and to endure the stench of the boor of Aguglione, of him of Signa, who already for barter has his eye sharp!

If the people that most degenerates in the world had not been stepmother to Caesar, but, like a mother, kind to her son,

such a one would have been Florentine and changed and traded, who would have turned to Simifonti, where his grandfather went a-seeking;

Montemurlo would still be of the Counts; the Cerchi would be in the parish of Acone, and perhaps the Buondelmonti in Valdigrieve.

Ever the mingling of peoples was the beginning of the city’s ill, as of your body the food that is added;

and a blind bull falls faster than a blind lamb; and many times one cuts more and better than five swords.

If thou regard Luni and Orbisaglia how they have gone, and how there follow them Chiusi and Sinigaglia,

to hear how the races are undone will not seem to thee new nor hard, since cities have their term.

All your things have their death, even as ye; but it is hidden in some that lasts long, and lives are short.

And as the turning of the lunar heaven covers and uncovers the shores without rest, so does Fortune with Florence:

wherefore it ought not seem a marvellous thing that which I shall say of the high Florentines whose fame is hidden in time.

I saw the Ughi and saw the Catellini, Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, and Alberichi, already in decline, illustrious citizens;

and I saw as great as ancient, with him of the Sannella, him of the Arca, and Soldanieri and Ardinghi and Bostichi.

Above the gate that now is laden with new treason of such weight that soon will be the wreck of the bark,

were the Ravignani, from whom descended Count Guido and whosoever since has taken the name of the high Bellincione.

He of the Pressa already knew how one should rule, and Galigaio had already golden in his house the hilt and pommel.

Already great was the column of the Vaio, Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti and Barucci and Galli and those who redden for the bushel.

The stock from which the Calfucci were born was already great, and already drawn to the curule chairs were Sizii and Arrigucci.

Oh what ones I saw those who are undone for their pride! and the balls of gold made Florence flourish in all her great deeds.

Thus did the fathers of those who, whenever your church is vacant, make themselves fat sitting in consistory.

The insolent race that dragons itself behind who flees, and to who shows tooth or purse, placates itself like a lamb,

already came up, but of small folk; so that it pleased not Ubertin Donati that afterward his father-in-law made them his kin.

Already was Caponsacco in the market descended down from Fiesole, and already was Judas and Infangato good citizens.

I shall say a thing incredible and true: into the little circle one entered by a gate that was named from those of the Pera.

Each one who bears the fair ensign of the great baron whose name and whose worth the feast of Thomas renews,

from him had knighthood and privilege; although he now joins with the populace who girds himself with the fringe.

Already were Gualterotti and Importuni; and still Borgo would be more quiet, if it were fasting from new neighbors.

The house from which was born your weeping, through the just disdain that has slain you and put an end to your happy life,

was honored, it and its consorts: o Buondelmonte, how ill didst thou flee her marriage at the urging of others!

Many would be glad, who now are sad, if God had granted thee to the Ema the first time that thou camest to the city.

But it behooved that stone, broken, which guards the bridge, that Florence should make a victim in her last peace.

With these folk, and with others with them, I saw Florence in such repose that she had no cause whence to weep.

With these folk I saw her glorious and just people, so that the lily was never set reversed upon the staff,

nor, through division, made vermilion».

Paradiso Canto XVII

Even as he came to Clymene, to certify himself of that which he had heard against him, he who still makes fathers scarce to sons;

such was I, and such was I felt both by Beatrice and by the holy lamp which first had changed its place for me.

Wherefore my lady «Send forth the flame of thy desire», said to me, «so that it issue well marked with the inward stamp:

not that our knowledge may increase by thy speech, but that thou mayst accustom to tell thy thirst, that man may give thee drink».

«O my dear plant, who so dost root thyself that, as earthly minds cannot comprehend two obtuse angles in a triangle,

so thou seest contingent things before they are in themselves, beholding the point to which all times are present;

while I was joined to Virgil up the mount that cures the souls and descending into the dead world,

grave words were given me of my future life, although I feel myself well square against the blows of fortune;

wherefore my will would be content to understand what fortune approaches me: for a foreshot arrow comes more slowly».

Thus said I to that very light which first had spoken to me; and as Beatrice willed, my will was confessed.

Nor by ambiguities, in which the foolish folk used to entangle themselves before the Lamb of God was slain, who takes away the sins,

but by clear words and with precise Latin, answered that paternal love, hidden and apparent in his own smile:

«Contingency, which extends not out of the ledger of your matter,

is all depicted in the eternal sight; whence it takes necessity no otherwise than the ship in the mirror wherein it is reflected, that descends down the stream.

Thence, as sweet harmony comes to the ear from an organ, comes to my sight the time that is preparing for thee.

Even as Hippolytus departed from Athens because of the pitiless and perfidious stepmother, so must thou depart from Florence.

This is willed, and this is already sought, and soon shall be done by him who thinks thereon where Christ is sold all day.

The blame shall follow the offended party in outcry, as is wont; but the vengeance shall be witness to the truth that dispenses it.

Thou shalt leave every thing most beloved; and this is that arrow which the bow of exile shoots first.

Thou shalt prove how salt is the taste of another’s bread, and how hard a path it is to go down and up another’s stairs.

And that which shall weigh most on thy shoulders will be the wicked and foolish company with which thou shalt fall into this vale;

which, all ungrateful, all mad and impious, shall become hostile to thee; but shortly after, it, not thou, shall have the brow red.

Of its bestiality its own course shall make proof; so that it shall be fair for thee to have made party for thyself alone.

Thy first refuge and first hostel shall be the courtesy of the great Lombard who bears on the ladder the holy bird;

who shall have such benign regard for thee, that of doing and asking, between you two, shall be first that which with others is last.

With him shalt thou see him who was imprinted, being born, so by this strong star, that his works shall be notable.

The people are not yet aware thereof by reason of his new age, for only nine years have these wheels turned about him;

but, before the Gascon shall deceive the high Henry, shall appear sparks of his virtue in caring naught for silver nor for toils.

His magnificences shall be known yet, so that his enemies shall not be able to keep their tongues silent.

On him and on his benefits do thou wait; through him shall many folk be changed, changing condition, rich and beggars;

and thou shalt bear written in thy mind of him, and shalt not tell»; and he said things incredible to those who shall be present.

Then he added: «Son, these are the glosses of that which was said to thee; behold the snares that are hidden behind a few revolutions.

I would not, however, that thou envy thy neighbors, since thy life is foretold far beyond the punishing of their perfidies».

When, falling silent, the holy soul showed itself ready to put the weft into that web which I had offered warped,

I began, like one who craves, doubting, counsel from a person who sees and would speak rightly and loves:

«Well I see, my father, how time spurs against me, to give me such a blow as is heavier to him who more abandons himself;

wherefore it is good that I arm me with foresight, so that, if a place more dear be taken from me, I lose not the others through my songs.

Down through the world without end bitter, and up the mount whose fair summit the eyes of my lady lifted me to,

and thereafter through the heaven, from light to light, have I learned that which, if I retell, to many shall be savor of strong sourness;

and if I am a timid friend to truth, I fear to lose living among those who shall call this time ancient».

The light wherein smiled my treasure which I found there, became first coruscant, like a mirror of gold to a ray of sun;

then answered: «Conscience dark with thine own or another’s shame shall feel thy word harsh.

But nevertheless, removed all falsehood, make all thy vision manifest; and let them scratch where the itch is.

For if thy voice shall be unpleasant at the first taste, it shall leave vital nourishment afterward, when it is digested.

This thy cry shall be like the wind, which strikes the highest summits most; and this shall be no small argument of honor.

Therefore to thee are shown in these wheels, on the mount and in the dolorous valley, only the souls that are of noted fame,

that the mind of him who hears rests not nor fixes faith by example that has its root unknown and hidden,

nor by other argument that seems not».

Paradiso Canto XVIII

Already was that blessed mirror enjoying only his own word, and I was tasting mine, tempering the bitter with the sweet;

and that lady who was leading me to God said: «Change thought; think that I am near to him who unloads every wrong».

I turned me to the loving sound of my comfort; and what I then saw in the holy eyes of love, here I abandon:

not because I distrust my speech alone, but because the mind cannot return so far upon itself, unless another guide it.

So much can I tell of that point, that, gazing on her, my affection was freed from every other desire,

until the eternal pleasure, which directly beamed in Beatrice, from her fair face contented me with its second aspect.

Vanquishing me with the light of a smile, she said to me: «Turn and listen; for not only in my eyes is paradise».

As here is sometimes seen the affection in the look, if it be so great that from it all the soul is taken,

so in the flaming of the holy lightning, to which I turned, I knew the will in him to speak yet a while with me.

He began: «In this fifth ledge of the tree that lives by its top and ever fruits and never loses leaf,

are blessed spirits, who below, before coming to heaven, were of loud voice, so that every Muse would be enriched by them.

Wherefore look on the horns of the cross: that which I shall name shall do there the act that its swift fire does in cloud».

I saw drawn across the cross a light by the naming of Joshua, as it came to be; nor was the saying known to me before the deed.

And at the name of the high Maccabee I saw another move in wheels, and joy was the whip of the pole.

Thus, for Charlemagne and for Orlando, two followed my attentive gaze, as the eye follows its falcon flying.

Then drew William and Renard and Duke Godfrey my sight across that cross, and Robert Guiscard.

Then, among the other lights moved and mingled, showed me the soul that had spoken to me what it was among the singers of heaven as artist.

I turned from my right side to see in Beatrice my duty, marked by speech or act;

and I saw her eyes so dark, so joyous, that her semblance surpassed the others and the latest wont.

And as, to feel more delight in well doing, man from day to day perceives that his virtue advances,

so was I aware that my circling with the heaven together had increased the arc, seeing that miracle more adorned.

And as is the change in little space of time in a white lady, when her face unloads the burden of shame,

such was it in my eyes, when I was turned, by the whiteness of the tempered sixth star, which had enclosed me within itself.

I saw in that jovial torch the sparkling of the love that was there marking to my eyes our speech.

And as birds risen from the shore, as if congratulating their pasture, make of themselves now round now other squadron,

so within the lights holy creatures flying about sang, and made themselves now D, now I, now L in their figures.

First, singing, they moved to their note; then, becoming one of these signs, they rested a little and were silent.

O divine Pegasus, who makest the wits glorious and renderest them long-lived, and with thee the cities and the kingdoms,

illumine me of thee, so that I may lift up their figures as I have conceived them: let thy power appear in these brief verses!

They showed themselves then in five times seven vowels and consonants; and I noted the parts even as they seemed spoken to me.

‘DILIGITE IUSTITIAM’, first were verb and noun of all the picture; ‘QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM’, were the last.

Then in the M of the fifth word they remained ordered; so that Jove seemed there silver distinguished from gold.

And I saw descend other lights where was the top of the M, and there quiet them singing, I believe, the good that moves them to itself.

Then, as from the striking of burning logs rise innumerable sparks, whereof fools are wont to take augury,

to rise thence seemed more than a thousand lights and ascend, some much and some little, as the sun that kindles them allotted them;

and each quieted in its place, the head and neck of an eagle I saw represented by that distinguished fire.

He who paints there has no one to guide him; but he guides, and from him is recalled that virtue which is form through the nests.

The other blessedness, which seemed first content to ingem itself on the M, with little motion followed the imprint.

O sweet star, what and how many gems didst thou show me, that our justice is effect of the heaven that thou ingemmest!

Wherefore I pray the mind in which begins thy motion and thy virtue, that it regard whence issues the smoke that taints thy ray;

so that another time now it be angered at the buying and selling within the temple which was built of signs and of martyrs.

O soldiery of heaven whom I contemplate, pray for those who are on earth all gone astray after the evil example!

Once war was made with swords; but now it is made by taking away now here now there the bread which the pious Father shuts from none.

But thou who writest only to cancel, think that Peter and Paul, who died for the vineyard that thou layest waste, are still alive.

Well canst thou say: «I have fixed my desire on him who would live alone and who for leaps was drawn to martyrdom,

that I know not the fisherman nor Polo».

Paradiso Canto XIX

There appeared before me with open wings the fair image which in the sweet fruition the united souls made joyful;

each appeared a ruby in which a ray of sun were burning so enkindled, that it refracted him in my eyes.

And that which I must relate drawn out, never bore voice, nor wrote in ink, nor was ever comprehended by fantasy;

for I saw and also heard the beak speak, and sound in the voice both «I» and «mine», when in the concept it was «we» and «ours».

And it began: «For being just and pious am I exalted here to that glory which is not suffered to be vanquished by desire;

and on earth I left my memory such that the evil folk there commend it, but follow not its story».

As one heat is felt from many brands, so from many loves issued alone one sound of that image.

Wherefore I next: «O perpetual flowers of the eternal joy, who alone seem to make all your odors one to me,

solve me, breathing, the great fast that has long held me in hunger, finding on earth no food at all.

Well know I that, if in another realm the divine justice makes its mirror, yours apprehends it without veil.

Ye know how attentive I prepare to listen; ye know which is that doubt that has fasted me so long.

Almost as a falcon that issues from the hood, moves the head and plumes itself with the wings, showing will and making itself fair,

I saw that sign make itself, which was woven of praise of the divine grace, with songs such as he knows who rejoices up there.

Then it began: «He who turned the sixth to the utmost of the world, and within it distinguished so much hidden and manifest,

could not make his valor so impressed in all the universe, that his Word remained not in infinite excess.

And this is certain because the first proud one, who was the sum of every creature, through not awaiting light, fell bitter;

and thence appears that every lesser nature is a short receptacle for that good which has no end and measures itself with itself.

Therefore your sight, which must be some of the rays of the Mind wherewith all things are filled,

cannot from its nature be so potent that it discern its principle far beyond that which is apparent to it.

Wherefore in the sempiternal justice the view that your world receives, like the eye through the sea, sinks within;

for, though from the shore it see the bottom, in the deep it sees it not; and yet it is there, but the depth hides it.

There is no light, unless it come from the serene that is never troubled; rather it is darkness or shadow of the flesh or its poison.

Enough is now opened to thee the covert that hid from thee the living justice, of which I made question so frequent;

for thou saidst: ‘A man is born on the shore of the Indus, and there is none to reason of Christ nor who reads nor who writes;

and all his wishes and good acts are, as far as human reason sees, without sin in life or in speech.

He dies unbaptized and without faith: where is this justice that condemns him? where is his fault, if he believes not?’.

Now who art thou, that wouldst sit on the bench, to judge a thousand miles away with the short sight of a span?

Surely to him who reasons with me, if the Scripture were not above you, it would be a marvel to doubt.

O earthly animals! O gross minds! The primal Will, which of itself is good, of itself, which is the sovereign good, never moved.

So much is just as is consonant with it: no created good draws it to itself, but it, radiating, causes it».

As above the nest turns herself after the stork has fed her young, and as he who is fed gazes at her;

such became, and so lifted I my brows, the blessed image, which moved the wings driven by so many counsels.

Wheeling, it sang, and said: «Such as are my notes to thee, who understandest them not, such is the eternal judgment to you mortals».

“Stories of the world, in your language.”