Canto X
Canto X
English Edition, translated by Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
| 1 | LOOKING into his Son with all the Love |
| 2 | Which each of them eternally breathes forth |
| 3 | The Primal and unutterable Power |
| 4 | Whate'er before the mind or eye revolves |
| 5 | With so much order made, there can be none |
| 6 | Who this beholds without enjoying Him. |
| 7 | Lift up then, Reader, to the lofty wheels |
| 8 | With me thy vision straight unto that part |
| 9 | Where the one motion on the other strikes, |
| 10 | And there begin to contemplate with joy |
| 11 | 'That Master's art, who in himself so loves it |
| 12 | That never doth his eye depart therefrom. |
| 13 | Behold how from that point goes branching off |
| 14 | The oblique circle, which conveys the planets, |
| 15 | To satisfy the world that calls upon them |
| 16 | And if their pathway were not thus inflected, |
| 17 | Much virtue in the heavens would be in vain, |
| 18 | And almost every power below here dead. |
| 19 | If from the straight line distant more or less |
| 20 | Were the departure, much would wanting be |
| 21 | Above and underneath of mundane order. |
| 22 | Remain now, Reader, still upon thy bench, |
| 23 | in thought pursuing that which is foretasted, |
| 24 | If thou wouldst jocund be instead of weary. |
| 25 | I've set before thee; henceforth feed thyself, |
| 26 | For to itself diverteth all my care |
| 27 | That theme whereof I have been made the scribe. |
| 28 | The greatest of the ministers of nature, |
| 29 | Who with the power of heaven the world imprints |
| 30 | And measures with his light the time for us, |
| 31 | With that part which above is called to mind |
| 32 | Conjoined, along the spirals was revolving, |
| 33 | Where each time earlier he presents himself |
| 34 | And I was with him; but of the ascending |
| 35 | I was not conscious, saving as a man |
| 36 | Of a first thought is conscious ere it come; |
| 37 | And Beatrice, she who is seen to pass |
| 38 | From good to better, and so suddenly |
| 39 | That not by time her action is expressed, |
| 40 | How lucent in herself must she have been! |
| 41 | And what was in the sun, wherein I entered, |
| 42 | Apparent not by colour but by light, |
| 43 | I, though I call on genius, art, and practice, |
| 44 | Cannot so tell that it could be imagined; |
| 45 | Believe one can, and let him long to see it. |
| 46 | And if our fantasies too lowly are |
| 47 | For altitude so great, it is no marvel, |
| 48 | Since o'er the sun was never eye could go. |
| 49 | Such in this place was the fourth family |
| 50 | Of the high Father, who forever sates it, |
| 51 | Showing how he breathes forth and how begets |
| 52 | And Beatrice began: Give thanks, give thanks |
| 53 | Unto the Sun of Angels, who to this |
| 54 | Sensible one has raised thee by his grace! |
| 55 | Never was heart of mortal so disposed |
| 56 | To worship, nor to give itself to God |
| 57 | With all its gratitude was it so ready, |
| 58 | As at those words did I myself become; |
| 59 | And all my love was so absorbed in Him, |
| 60 | That in oblivion Beatrice was eclipsed. |
| 61 | Nor this displeased her; but she smiled at it |
| 62 | So that the splendour of her laughing eyes |
| 63 | My single mind on many things divided. |
| 64 | Lights many saw I, vivid and triumphant, |
| 65 | Make us a centre and themselves a circle, |
| 66 | More sweet in voice than luminous in aspect. |
| 67 | Thus girt about the daughter of Latona |
| 68 | We sometimes see, when pregnant is the air, |
| 69 | So that it holds the thread which makes her zone. |
| 70 | Within the court of Heaven, whence I return, |
| 71 | Are many jewels found, so fair and precious |
| 72 | They cannot be transported from the realm; |
| 73 | And of them was the singing of those lights. |
| 74 | Who takes not wings that he may fly up thither, |
| 75 | The tidings thence may from the dumb await! |
| 76 | As soon as singing thus those burning suns |
| 77 | Had round about us whirled themselves three times, |
| 78 | Like unto stars neighbouring the steadfast poles, |
| 79 | Ladies they seemed, not from the dance released, |
| 80 | But who stop short, in silence listening |
| 81 | Till they have gathered the new melody. |
| 82 | And within one I heard beginning: When |
| 83 | The radiance of grace, by which is kindled |
| 84 | True love, and which thereafter grows by loving, |
| 85 | Within thee multiplied is so resplendent |
| 86 | That it conducts thee upward by that stair, |
| 87 | Where without reascending none descends, |
| 88 | Who should deny the wine out of his vial |
| 89 | Unto thy thirst, in liberty were not |
| 90 | Except as water which descends not seaward. |
| 91 | Fain wouldst thou know with what plants is enflowered |
| 92 | This garland that encircles with delight |
| 93 | The Lady fair who makes thee strong for heaven. |
| 94 | Of the lambs was I of the holy flock |
| 95 | Which Dominic conducteth by a road |
| 96 | Where well one fattens if he strayeth not. |
| 97 | He who is nearest to me on the right |
| 98 | My brother and master was; and he Albertus |
| 99 | Is of Cologne, I Thomas of Aquinum. |
| 100 | If thou of all the others wouldst be certain, |
| 101 | Follow behind my speaking with thy sight |
| 102 | Upward along the blessed garland turning. |
| 103 | That next effulgence issues from the smile |
| 104 | Of Gratian, who assisted both the courts |
| 105 | In such wise that it pleased in Paradise. |
| 106 | The other which near by adorns our choir |
| 107 | That Peter was who, e'en as the poor widow, |
| 108 | Offered his treasure unto Holy Church. |
| 109 | The fifth light, that among us is the fairest, |
| 110 | Breathes forth from such a love, that all the world |
| 111 | Below is greedy to learn tidings of it. |
| 112 | Within it is the lofty mind, where knowledge |
| 113 | So deep was put, that, if the true be true, |
| 114 | To see so much there never rose a second. |
| 115 | Thou seest next the lustre of that taper, |
| 116 | Which in the flesh below looked most within |
| 117 | The angelic nature and its ministry. |
| 118 | Within that other little light is smiling |
| 119 | The advocate of the Christian centuries, |
| 120 | Out of whose rhetoric Augustine was furnished. |
| 121 | Now if thou trainest thy mind's eye along |
| 122 | From light to light pursuant of my praise, |
| 123 | With thirst already of the eighth thou waitest. |
| 124 | By seeing every good therein exults |
| 125 | The sainted soul, which the fallacious world |
| 126 | Makes manifest to him who listeneth well; |
| 127 | The body whence 'twas hunted forth is Iying |
| 128 | Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom |
| 129 | And banishment it came unto this peace. |
| 130 | See farther onward flame the burning breath |
| 131 | Of Isidore, of Beda, and of Richard |
| 132 | Who was in contemplation more than man. |
| 133 | This, whence to me returneth thy regard, |
| 134 | The light is of a spirit unto whom |
| 135 | In his grave meditations death seemed slow. |
| 136 | It is the light eternal of Sigier, |
| 137 | Who, reading lectures in the Street of Straw, |
| 138 | Did syllogize invidious verities. |
| 139 | Then, as a horologe that calleth us |
| 140 | What time the Bride of God is rising up |
| 141 | With matins to her Spouse that he may love her, |
| 142 | Wherein one part the other draws and urges, |
| 143 | Ting ! ting ! resounding with so sweet a note, |
| 144 | That swells with love the spirit well disposed, |
| 145 | Thus I beheld the glorious wheel move round, |
| 146 | And render voice to voice, in modulation |
| 147 | And sweetness that can not be comprehended, |
| 148 | Excepting there where joy is made eternal. |