The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri (good e books to read txt) š
- Author: Dante Alighieri
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Near or remote, what there avails, where God Immediate rules, and Nature, awed, suspends Her sway? Into the yellow of the rose Perennial, which in bright expansiveness, Lays forth its gradual blooming, redolent Of praises to the never-wintāring sun, As one, who fain would speak yet holds his peace, Beatrice led me; and, āBehold,ā she said, āThis fair assemblage! stoles of snowy white How numberless! The city, where we dwell, Behold how vast! and these our seats so throngād Few now are wanting here! In that proud stall, On which, the crown, already oāer its state Suspended, holds thine eyesāor ere thyself Mayst at the wedding sup,āshall rest the soul Of the great Harry, he who, by the world Augustas hailād, to Italy must come, Before her day be ripe. But ye are sick, And in your tetchy wantonness as blind, As is the bantling, that of hunger dies, And drives away the nurse. Nor may it be, That he, who in the sacred forum sways, Openly or in secret, shall with him Accordant walk: Whom God will not endure Iā thā holy office long; but thrust him down To Simon Magus, where Magnaās priest Will sink beneath him: such will be his meed.ā
CANTO XXXI
In fashion, as a snow-white rose, lay then Before my view the saintly multitude, Which in his own blood Christ espousād. Meanwhile That other host, that soar aloft to gaze And celebrate his glory, whom they love, Hoverād around; and, like a troop of bees, Amid the vernal sweets alighting now, Now, clustering, where their fragrant labour glows, Flew downward to the mighty flowār, or rose From the redundant petals, streaming back Unto the steadfast dwelling of their joy.
Faces had they of flame, and wings of gold; The rest was whiter than the driven snow.
And as they flitted down into the flower, From range to range, fanning their plumy loins, Whisperād the peace and ardour, which they won From that soft winnowing. Shadow none, the vast Interposition of such numerous flight Cast, from above, upon the flower, or view Obstructed aught. For, through the universe, Wherever merited, celestial light
Glides freely, and no obstacle prevents.
All there, who reign in safety and in bliss, Ages long past or new, on one sole mark Their love and vision fixād. O trinal beam Of individual star, that charmst them thus, Vouchsafe one glance to gild our storm below!
If the grim brood, from Arctic shores that roamād, (Where helice, forever, as she wheels, Sparkles a motherās fondness on her son) Stood in mute wonder āmid the works of Rome, When to their view the Lateran arose In greatness more than earthly; I, who then From human to divine had past, from time Unto eternity, and out of Florence To justice and to truth, how might I choose But marvel too? āTwixt gladness and amaze, In sooth no will had I to utter aught, Or hear. And, as a pilgrim, when he rests Within the temple of his vow, looks round In breathless awe, and hopes some time to tell Of all its goodly state: eāen so mine eyes Coursād up and down along the living light, Now low, and now aloft, and now around, Visiting every step. Looks I beheld, Where charity in soft persuasion sat, Smiles from within and radiance from above, And in each gesture grace and honour high.
So rovād my ken, and its general form All Paradise surveyād: when round I turnād With purpose of my lady to inquire Once more of things, that held my thought suspense, But answer found from other than I weenād; For, Beatrice, when I thought to see, I saw instead a senior, at my side, Robād, as the rest, in glory. Joy benign Glowād in his eye, and oāer his cheek diffusād, With gestures such as spake a fatherās love.
And, āWhither is she vanishād?ā straight I askād.
āBy Beatrice summonād,ā he replied, āI come to aid thy wish. Looking aloft To the third circle from the highest, there Behold her on the throne, wherein her merit Hath placād her.ā Answering not, mine eyes I raisād, And saw her, where aloof she sat, her brow A wreath reflecting of eternal beams.
Not from the centre of the sea so far Unto the region of the highest thunder, As was my ken from hers; and yet the form Came through that medium down, unmixād and pure, āO Lady! thou in whom my hopes have rest!
Who, for my safety, hast not scornād, in hell To leave the traces of thy footsteps markād!
For all mine eyes have seen, I, to thy power And goodness, virtue owe and grace. Of slave, Thou hast to freedom brought me; and no means, For my deliverance apt, hast left untried.
Thy liberal bounty still toward me keep.
That, when my spirit, which thou madest whole, Is loosenād from this body, it may find Favour with thee.ā So I my suit preferrād: And she, so distant, as appearād, lookād down, And smilād; then towārds thā eternal fountain turnād.
And thus the senior, holy and reverād: āThat thou at length mayst happily conclude Thy voyage (to which end I was dispatchād, By supplication movād and holy love) Let thy upsoaring vision range, at large, This garden through: for so, by ray divine Kindled, thy ken a higher flight shall mount; And from heavānās queen, whom fervent I adore, All gracious aid befriend us; for that I Am her own faithful Bernard.ā Like a wight, Who haply from Croatia wends to see Our Veronica, and the while āt is shown, Hangs over it with never-sated gaze, And, all that he hath heard revolving, saith Unto himself in thought: āAnd didst thou look Eāen thus, O Jesus, my true Lord and God?
And was this semblance thine?ā So gazād I then Adoring; for the charity of him,
Who musing, in the world that peace enjoyād, Stood lively before me. āChild of grace!ā
Thus he began: āthou shalt not knowledge gain Of this glad being, if thine eyes are held Still in this depth below. But search around The circles, to the furthest, till thou spy Seated in state, the queen, that of this realm Is sovran.ā Straight mine eyes I raisād; and bright, As, at the birth of morn, the eastern clime Above thā horizon, where the sun declines; To mine eyes, that upward, as from vale To mountain sped, at thā extreme bound, a part Excellād in lustre all the front opposād.
And as the glow burns ruddiest oāer the wave, That waits the sloping beam, which Phaeton Ill knew to guide, and on each part the light Diminishād fades, intensest in the midst; So burnād the peaceful oriflamb, and slackād On every side the living flame decayād.
And in that midst their sportive pennons wavād Thousands of angels; in resplendence each Distinct, and quaint adornment. At their glee And carol, smilād the Lovely One of heavān, That joy was in the eyes of all the blest.
Had I a tongue in eloquence as rich, As is the colouring in fancyās loom, āT were all too poor to utter the least part Of that enchantment. When he saw mine eyes Intent on her, that charmād him, Bernard gazād With so exceeding fondness, as infusād Ardour into my breast, unfelt before.
CANTO XXXII
Freely the sage, though wrapt in musings high, Assumād the teacherās part, and mild began: āThe wound, that Mary closād, she openād first, Who sits so beautiful at Maryās feet.
The third in order, underneath her, lo!
Rachel with Beatrice. Sarah next,
Judith, Rebecca, and the gleaner maid, Meek ancestress of him, who sang the songs Of sore repentance in his sorrowful mood.
All, as I name them, down from deaf to leaf, Are in gradation throned on the rose.
And from the seventh step, successively, Adown the breathing tresses of the flowār Still doth the file of Hebrew dames proceed.
For these are a partition wall, whereby The sacred stairs are severād, as the faith In Christ divides them. On this part, where blooms Each leaf in full maturity, are set Such as in Christ, or ere he came, believād.
On thā other, where an intersected space Yet shows the semicircle void, abide All they, who lookād to Christ already come.
And as our Lady on her glorious stool, And they who on their stools beneath her sit, This way distinction make: eāen so on his, The mighty Baptist that way marks the line (He who endurād the desert and the pains Of martyrdom, and for two years of hell, Yet still continued holy), and beneath, Augustin, Francis, Benedict, and the rest, Thus far from round to round. So heavānās decree Forecasts, this garden equally to fill.
With faith in either view, past or to come, Learn too, that downward from the step, which cleaves Midway the twain compartments, none there are Who place obtain for merit of their own, But have through othersā merit been advancād, On set conditions: spirits all releasād, Ere for themselves they had the power to choose.
And, if thou mark and listen to them well, Their childish looks and voice declare as much.
āHere, silent as thou art, I know thy doubt; And gladly will I loose the knot, wherein Thy subtle thoughts have bound thee. From this realm Excluded, chalice no entrance here may find, No more shall hunger, thirst, or sorrow can.
A law immutable hath establishād all; Nor is there aught thou seest, that doth not fit, Exactly, as the finger to the ring.
It is not therefore without cause, that these, Oāerspeedy comers to immortal life, Are different in their shares of excellence.
Our Sovran Lordāthat settleth this estate In love and in delight so absolute, That wish can dare no furtherāevery soul, Created in his joyous sight to dwell, With grace at pleasure variously endows.
And for a proof thā effect may well suffice.
And āt is moreover most expressly markād In holy scripture, where the twins are said To, have struggled in the womb. Therefore, as grace Inweaves the coronet, so every brow Weareth its proper hue of orient light.
And merely in respect to his prime gift, Not in reward of meritorious deed, Hath each his several degree assignād.
In early times with their own innocence More was not wanting, than the parentsā faith, To save them: those first ages past, behoovād That circumcision in the males should imp The flight of innocent wings: but since the day Of grace hath come, without baptismal rites In Christ accomplishād, innocence herself Must linger yet below. Now raise thy view Unto the visage most resembling Christ: For, in her splendour only, shalt thou win The powār to look on him.ā Forthwith I saw Such floods of gladness on her visage showerād, From holy spirits, winging that profound; That, whatsoever I had yet beheld, Had not so much suspended me with wonder, Or shown me such similitude of God.
And he, who had to her descended, once, On earth, now hailād in heavān; and on poisād wing.
āAve, Maria, Gratia Plena,ā sang:
To whose sweet anthem all the blissful court, From all parts answāring, rang: that holier joy Brooded the deep serene. āFather reverād: Who deignāst, for me, to quit the pleasant place, Wherein thou sittest, by eternal lot!
Say, who that angel is, that with such glee Beholds our queen, and so enamourād glows Of her high beauty, that all fire he seems.ā
So I again resorted to the lore
Of my wise
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