Canto I
Canto I
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | The glory of Him who moveth everything |
| 2 | Doth penetrate the universe, and shine |
| 3 | In one part more and in another less. |
| 4 | Within that heaven which most his light receives |
| 5 | Was I, and things beheld which to repeat |
| 6 | Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends; |
| 7 | Because in drawing near to its desire |
| 8 | Our intellect ingulphs itself so far, |
| 9 | That after it the memory cannot go. |
| 10 | Truly whatever of the holy realm |
| 11 | I had the power to treasure in my mind |
| 12 | Shall now become the subject of my song. |
| 13 | O good Apollo, for this last emprise |
| 14 | Make of me such a vessel of thy power |
| 15 | As giving the beloved laurel asks! |
| 16 | One summit of Parnassus hitherto |
| 17 | Has been enough for me, but now with both |
| 18 | I needs must enter the arena left. |
| 19 | Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe |
| 20 | As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw |
| 21 | Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his. |
| 22 | O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me |
| 23 | So that the shadow of the blessed realm |
| 24 | Stamped in my brain I can make manifest, |
| 25 | 'Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree, |
| 26 | And crown myself thereafter with those leaves |
| 27 | Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy. |
| 28 | So seldom, Father, do we gather them |
| 29 | For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet, |
| 30 | (The fault and shame of human inclinations,) |
| 31 | That the Peneian foliage should bring forth |
| 32 | Joy to the joyous Delphic deity, |
| 33 | When any one it makes to thirst for it. |
| 34 | A little spark is followed by great flame; |
| 35 | Perchance with better voices after me |
| 36 | Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond! |
| 37 | To mortal men by passages diverse |
| 38 | Uprises the world's lamp; but by that one |
| 39 | Which circles four uniteth with three crosses, |
| 40 | With better course and with a better star |
| 41 | Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax |
| 42 | Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion. |
| 43 | Almost that passage had made morning there |
| 44 | And evening here, and there was wholly white |
| 45 | That hemisphere, and black the other part, |
| 46 | When Beatrice towards the left-hand side |
| 47 | I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun; |
| 48 | Never did eagle fasten so upon it! |
| 49 | And even as a second ray is wont |
| 50 | To issue from the first and reascend, |
| 51 | Like to a pilgrim who would fain return, |
| 52 | Thus of her action, through the eyes infused |
| 53 | In my imagination, mine I made, |
| 54 | And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont. |
| 55 | There much is lawful which is here unlawful |
| 56 | Unto our powers, by virtue of the place |
| 57 | Made for the human species as its own. |
| 58 | Not long I bore it, nor so little while |
| 59 | But I beheld it sparkle round about |
| 60 | Like iron that comes molten from the fire; |
| 61 | And suddenly it seemed that day to day |
| 62 | Was added, as if He who has the power |
| 63 | Had with another sun the heaven adorned. |
| 64 | With eyes upon the everlasting wheels |
| 65 | Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her |
| 66 | Fixing my vision from above removed, |
| 67 | Such at her aspect inwardly became |
| 68 | As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him |
| 69 | Peer of the other gods beneath the sea. |
| 70 | To represent transhumanise in words |
| 71 | Impossible were; the example, then, suffice |
| 72 | Him for whom Grace the experience reserves. |
| 73 | If I was merely what of me thou newly |
| 74 | Createdst, Love who governest the heaven, |
| 75 | Thou knowest. who didst lift me with thy light! |
| 76 | When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal |
| 77 | Desiring thee, made me attentive to it |
| 78 | By harmony thou dost modulate and measure, |
| 79 | Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled |
| 80 | By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river |
| 81 | E'er made a lake so widely spread abroad. |
| 82 | The newness of the sound and the great light |
| 83 | Kindled in me a longing for their cause, |
| 84 | Never before with such acuteness felt; |
| 85 | Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself, |
| 86 | To quiet in me my perturbed mind, |
| 87 | Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask, |
| 88 | And she began: Thou makest thyself so dull |
| 89 | With false imagining, that thou seest not |
| 90 | What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it |
| 91 | Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest; |
| 92 | But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site, |
| 93 | Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest. |
| 94 | If of my former doubt I was divested |
| 95 | By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, |
| 96 | I in a new one was the more ensnared; |
| 97 | And said: Already did I rest content |
| 98 | From great amazement; but am now amazed |
| 99 | In what way I transcend these bodies light. |
| 100 | Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, |
| 101 | Her eyes directed tow'rds me with that look |
| 102 | A mother casts on a delirious child; |
| 103 | And she began: All things whate'er they be |
| 104 | Have order among themselves, and this is form, |
| 105 | That makes the universe resemble God. |
| 106 | Here do the higher creatures see the footprints |
| 107 | Of the Eternal Power, which is the end |
| 108 | Whereto is made the law already mentioned. |
| 109 | In the order that I speak of are inclined |
| 110 | All natures, by their destinies diverse, |
| 111 | More or less near unto their origin; |
| 112 | Hence they move onward unto ports diverse |
| 113 | O'er the great sea of being; and each one |
| 114 | With instinct given it which bears it on. |
| 115 | This bears away the fire towards the moon; |
| 116 | This is in mortal hearts the motive power |
| 117 | This binds together and unites the earth. |
| 118 | Nor only the created things that are |
| 119 | Without intelligence this bow shoots forth, |
| 120 | But those that have both intellect and love. |
| 121 | The Providence that regulates all this |
| 122 | Makes with its light the heaven forever quiet, |
| 123 | Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste. |
| 124 | And thither now, as to a site decreed, |
| 125 | Bears us away the virtue of that cord |
| 126 | Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark. |
| 127 | True is it, that as oftentimes the form |
| 128 | Accords not with the intention of the art, |
| 129 | Because in answering is matter deaf, |
| 130 | So likewise from this course doth deviate |
| 131 | Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses, |
| 132 | -Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way, |
| 133 | (In the same wise as one may see the fire |
| 134 | Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus |
| 135 | Earthward is wrested by some false delight. |
| 136 | Thou shouldst not wonder more, if well I judge, |
| 137 | At thine ascent. than at a rivulet |
| 138 | From some high mount descending to the lowland. |
| 139 | Marvel it would be in thee, if deprived |
| 140 | Of hindrance, thou wert seated down below, |
| 141 | As if on earth the living fire were quiet. |
| 142 | Thereat she heavenward turned again her face. |