The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (good e books to read txt) š
- Author: Dante Alighieri
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One universal smile it seemād of all things, Joy past compare, gladness unutterable, Imperishable life of peace and love, Exhaustless riches and unmeasurād bliss.
Before mine eyes stood the four torches lit; And that, which first had come, began to wax In brightness, and in semblance such became, As Jove might be, if he and Mars were birds, And interchangād their plumes. Silence ensued, Through the blest quire, by Him, who here appoints Vicissitude of ministry, enjoinād; When thus I heard: āWonder not, if my hue Be changād; for, while I speak, these shalt thou see All in like manner change with me. My place He who usurps on earth (my place, ay, mine, Which in the presence of the Son of God Is void), the same hath made my cemetery A common sewer of puddle and of blood: The more below his triumph, who from hence Malignant fell.ā Such colour, as the sun, At eve or morning, paints and adverse cloud, Then saw I sprinkled over all the sky.
And as thā unblemishād dame, who in herself Secure of censure, yet at bare report Of otherās failing, shrinks with maiden fear; So Beatrice in her semblance changād: And such eclipse in heavān methinks was seen, When the Most Holy sufferād. Then the words Proceeded, with voice, alterād from itself So clean, the semblance did not alter more.
āNot to this end was Christās spouse with my blood, With that of Linus, and of Cletus fed: That she might serve for purchase of base gold: But for the purchase of this happy life Did Sextus, Pius, and Callixtus bleed, And Urban, they, whose doom was not without Much weeping sealād. No purpose was of our That on the right hand of our successors Part of the Christian people should be set, And part upon their left; nor that the keys, Which were vouchsafād me, should for ensign serve Unto the banners, that do levy war On the baptizād: nor I, for sigil-mark Set upon sold and lying privileges; Which makes me oft to bicker and turn red.
In shepherdās clothing greedy wolves below Range wide oāer all the pastures. Arm of God!
Why longer sleepst thou? Caorsines and Gascona Prepare to quaff our blood. O good beginning To what a vile conclusion must thou stoop!
But the high providence, which did defend Through Scipio the worldās glory unto Rome, Will not delay its succour: and thou, son, Who through thy mortal weight shall yet again Return below, open thy lips, nor hide What is by me not hidden.ā As a Hood Of frozen vapours streams adown the air, What time the she-goat with her skiey horn Touches the sun; so saw I there stream wide The vapours, who with us had lingerād late And with glad triumph deck thā ethereal cope.
Onward my sight their semblances pursued; So far pursued, as till the space between From its reach severād them: whereat the guide Celestial, marking me no more intent On upward gazing, said, āLook down and see What circuit thou hast compassād.ā From the hour When I before had cast my view beneath, All the first region overpast I saw, Which from the midmost to the boundāry winds; That onward thence from Gades I beheld The unwise passage of Laertesā son, And hitherward the shore, where thou, Europa!
Madāst thee a joyful burden: and yet more Of this dim spot had seen, but that the sun, A constellation off and more, had taāen His progress in the zodiac underneath.
Then by the spirit, that doth never leave Its amorous dalliance with my ladyās looks, Back with redoubled ardour were mine eyes Led unto her: and from her radiant smiles, Whenas I turnād me, pleasure so divine Did lighten on me, that whatever bait Or art or nature in the human flesh, Or in its limnād resemblance, can combine Through greedy eyes to take the soul withal, Were to her beauty nothing. Its boon influence From the fair nest of Leda rapt me forth, And wafted on into the swiftest heavān.
What place for entrance Beatrice chose, I may not say, so uniform was all, Liveliest and loftiest. She my secret wish Divinād; and with such gladness, that Godās love Seemād from her visage shining, thus began: āHere is the goal, whence motion on his race Starts; motionless the centre, and the rest All movād around. Except the soul divine, Place in this heavān is none, the soul divine, Wherein the love, which ruleth oāer its orb, Is kindled, and the virtue that it sheds; One circle, light and love, enclasping it, As this doth clasp the others; and to Him, Who draws the bound, its limit only known.
Measurād itself by none, it doth divide Motion to all, counted unto them forth, As by the fifth or half ye count forth ten.
The vase, wherein timeās roots are plungād, thou seest, Look elsewhere for the leaves. O mortal lust!
That canst not lift thy head above the waves Which whelm and sink thee down! The will in man Bears goodly blossoms; but its ruddy promise Is, by the dripping of perpetual rain, Made mere abortion: faith and innocence Are met with but in babes, each taking leave Ere cheeks with down are sprinkled; he, that fasts, While yet a stammerer, with his tongue let loose Gluts every food alike in every moon.
One yet a babbler, loves and listens to His mother; but no sooner hath free use Of speech, than he doth wish her in her grave.
So suddenly doth the fair child of him, Whose welcome is the morn and eve his parting, To negro blackness change her virgin white.
āThou, to abate thy wonder, note that none Bears rule in earth, and its frail family Are therefore wandārers. Yet before the date, When through the hundredth in his reckāning drops Pale January must be shorād aside
From winterās calendar, these heavānly spheres Shall roar so loud, that fortune shall be fain To turn the poop, where she hath now the prow; So that the fleet run onward; and true fruit, Expected long, shall crown at last the bloom!ā
CANTO XXVIII
So she who doth imparadise my soul, Had drawn the veil from off our pleasant life, And barād the truth of poor mortality; When lo! as one who, in a mirror, spies The shining of a flambeau at his back, Lit sudden ore he deem of its approach, And turneth to resolve him, if the glass Have told him true, and sees the record faithful As note is to its metre; even thus, I well remember, did befall to me, Looking upon the beauteous eyes, whence love Had made the leash to take me. As I turnād; And that, which, in their circles, none who spies, Can miss of, in itself apparent, struck On mine; a point I saw, that darted light So sharp, no lid, unclosing, may bear up Against its keenness. The least star we view From hence, had seemād a moon, set by its side, As star by side of star. And so far off, Perchance, as is the halo from the light Which paints it, when most dense the vapour spreads, There wheelād about the point a circle of fire, More rapid than the motion, which first girds The world. Then, circle after circle, round Enringād each other; till the seventh reachād Circumference so ample, that its bow, Within the span of Junoās messenger, lied scarce been held entire. Beyond the sevānth, Followād yet other two. And every one, As more in number distant from the first, Was tardier in motion; and that glowād With flame most pure, that to the sparkleā of truth Was nearest, as partaking most, methinks, Of its reality. The guide belovād Saw me in anxious thought suspense, and spake: āHeavān, and all nature, hangs upon that point.
The circle thereto most conjoinād observe; And know, that by intenser love its course Is to this swiftness wingād. āTo whom I thus: āIt were enough; nor should I further seek, Had I but witnessād order, in the world Appointed, such as in these wheels is seen.
But in the sensible world such diffārence is, That is each round shows more divinity, As each is wider from the centre. Hence, If in this wondrous and angelic temple, That hath for confine only light and love, My wish may have completion I must know, Wherefore such disagreement is between Thā exemplar and its copy: for myself, Contemplating, I fail to pierce the cause.ā
āIt is no marvel, if thy fingers foilād Do leave the knot untied: so hard āt is grown For want of tenting.ā Thus she said: āBut take,ā
She added, āif thou wish thy cure, my words, And entertain them subtly. Every orb Corporeal, doth proportion its extent Unto the virtue through its parts diffusād.
The greater blessedness preserves the more.
The greater is the body (if all parts Share equally) the more is to preserve.
Therefore the circle, whose swift course enwheels The universal frame answers to that, Which is supreme in knowledge and in love Thus by the virtue, not the seeming, breadth Of substance, measure, thou shalt see the heavāns, Each to theā intelligence that ruleth it, Greater to more, and smaller unto less, Suited in strict and wondrous harmony.ā
As when the sturdy north blows from his cheek A blast, that scours the sky, forthwith our air, Clearād of the rack, that hung on it before, Glitters; and, With his beauties all unveilād, The firmament looks forth serene, and smiles; Such was my cheer, when Beatrice drove With clear reply the shadows back, and truth Was manifested, as a star in heaven.
And when the words were ended, not unlike To iron in the furnace, every cirque Ebullient shot forth scintillating fires: And every sparkle shivering to new blaze, In number did outmillion the account Reduplicate upon the chequerād board.
Then heard I echoing on from choir to choir, āHosanna,ā to the fixed point, that holds, And shall for ever hold them to their place, From everlasting, irremovable.
Musing awhile I stood: and she, who saw by inward meditations, thus began: āIn the first circles, they, whom thou beheldst, Are seraphim and cherubim. Thus swift Follow their hoops, in likeness to the point, Near as they can, approaching; and they can The more, the loftier their vision. Those, That round them fleet, gazing the Godhead next, Are thrones; in whom the first trine ends. And all Are blessed, even as their sight descends Deeper into the truth, wherein rest is For every mind. Thus happiness hath root In seeing, not in loving, which of sight Is aftergrowth. And of the seeing such The meed, as unto each in due degree Grace and good-will their measure have assignād.
The other trine, that with still opening buds In this eternal springtide blossom fair, Fearless of bruising from the nightly ram, Breathe up in warbled melodies threefold Hosannas blending ever, from the three Transmitted. hierarchy of gods, for aye Rejoicing, dominations first, next then Virtues, and powers the third. The next to whom Are princedoms and archangels, with glad round To tread their festal ring; and last the band Angelical, disporting in their sphere.
All, as they circle in their orders, look Aloft, and downward with such sway prevail, That all with mutual impulse tend to God.
These once a mortal view beheld. Desire In Dionysius so intently wrought,
That he, as I have done rangād them; and namād Their orders, marshalād in his thought. From him Dissentient, one refusād his sacred read.
But soon as in this heavān his doubting eyes Were openād, Gregory at his error smilād Nor marvel, that a denizen of earth Should scan such secret truth; for he had learnt Both this and much beside of these our orbs, From
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