Notes.
46 Lucifer was the first proud angel to fall
from heaven.
106 "Not everyone who
says to me, 'Lord, Lord.' shall enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew
7:21).
115 Albert I of Hapsburg, king of Austria and
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, invaded Bohemia in 1304 (see note to Purgatorio
V, l. 97).
118 Philip IV of France debased the coinage
to finance his Flemish campaigns (1297-1304). He died accidently
while boar hunting in
1314 (see note to Purgatorio VII, l. 109).
122 A reference to the Scottish-English
border wars.
125 Wenceslaus II, king of Bohemia
(1278-1305), and Ferdinand IV, king of Castile (1295-1312), are examples of intemperate
rulers.
127 Charles II of Anjou, king of Naples
(1285-1309), called the Lame, took the title of King of Jerusalem without any claims to it
(see Purgatorio VII, l 126).
131 Frederick II of Aragon, king of Sicily
(1286-1337), abandoned the Ghibelline cause after the death of Henry VII (see Purgatorio
VII, l. 119). Sicily, where Anchises, Aeneas’ father, died, is an island with many
volcanoes, most famous of which is Mount Etna.
136 James, king of Majorca and the Balearic
Islands (1276-125), and James II, king of Aragon (1291-1327) engaged in numerous wars.
139 Diniz, king of Portugal (1279-1325), and
Haakon V, king of Norway (1299-1319), extend the list of contemporary kings preoccupied
with conflicts.
140 Stephen Urosh II, king of Rascia (old
Serbia) from 1275 to 1321, counterfeited Venetian coins.
142 The kingdom of Hungary, once held by
Charles Martel, was ruled by Andrew III in 1300, but within the year his death issued in a
period of struggle. Navarre could not maintain her isolation either and became part of
France in 1305.
146 Nicosia and Famagosta, towns in Cyprus,
labor under the heavy rule of Henry II of Lusignan (d. 1324). |
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-
Before me now with outspread wings appeared
- The
gorgeous image which those weaving souls,
-
Delighting in their sweet enjoyment, made.
-
- Each
one of them seemed like a little ruby
- 5
In which the sun’s rays burst with such bright flame
- That
it reflected light straight to my eyes.
-
- And
what I now am called on to recount
- Never
has voice spoken nor ink written,
- Nor
has imagination ever grasped it.
-
- 10
For I saw and I heard the beak speak up
- And
sound out with its voice both I and Mine
- When
really it intended We and Our.
-
-
"For being just and dutiful," it began,
-
"I am exalted to that height of glory
- 15
Which no desire is able to outreach,
-
-
"While, there on earth, I left a memory
- Which
even evildoers wish to praise,
-
Although they do not follow its example."
-
- As
many embers make one single heat,
- 20
So many loves sound out one single voice
- Which
issues from one image of them all.
-
- Then
I addressed them, "O perennial flowers
- Of
everlasting happiness! you cause
- All
your perfumes to seem to me one scent!
-
- 25
"Breathe out and free me from the mighty fast
- That
for too long has kept me hungering,
-
Finding no food on earth to ease the pain.
-
-
"I know well that if there are other kingdoms
- Which
here in heaven mirror God’s high justice,
- 30
Yours does not reflect it through a veil.
-
-
"You know how eagerly I ready myself
- To
listen, and you know the question which
- From
days of old has made me fast with doubt."
-
- Just
as a falcon, slipping from its hood,
- 35
Rears and shakes its head and flaps its wings,
-
Showing its spirit, making itself handsome,
-
- So I
saw move that banner which was woven
- With
praises for the grace of God, with songs
- Such
as they know who there rejoice on high.
-
- 40
The voice began then, "He who turned his compass
-
Around the limits of the world, and in it
-
Marked out much that is hidden and revealed,
-
-
"Could not so stamp his power on the whole
-
Universe, but that his Word must still
- 45
Remain in infinite superiority.
-
-
"The proof of this is in that first proud angel
- Who
was the pinnacle of every creature
- And
who fell unripe, not waiting for the light:
-
-
"So we can see that every lesser nature
- 50
Is too slight a container for that Good
- Which
is self-measuring and limitless.
-
-
"Your vision, then, which of necessity
- Is
only one of the rays of the Mind
- Which
permeates all things with plenitude,
-
- 55
"Can never, by its nature, lack the power
- But
that it should perceive its origin
- Is
far beyond all that occurs to it.
-
-
"The sight, then, that is granted to your world
- May
penetrate within eternal justice
- 60
No further than the eye into the sea.
-
-
"Though from the shore the eye can see the bottom,
- It
does not see it on the open sea;
- Yet
it is there, but hidden in the depths.
-
-
"Light is not light unless it come from that
- 65
Serene and cloudless Source: else it is darkness,
- The
shadow and the poison of our flesh.
-
-
"Now then, the hiding-place, which has concealed
- From
you the living justice you so often
-
Called into question, lies well open to you.
-
- 70
"For you would say, ‘A man’s born on the bank
- Along
the Indus, and no one is there
- Who
ever speaks or reads or writes of Christ.
-
-
" ‘Yet everything he wills or does is good,
- So
far as human reason can perceive,
- 75
Without a sin in living or in speaking.
-
-
" ‘Unbaptized he dies, and without faith.
- Where
is the justice that condemns this man?
- What
is his fault if he does not believe?’
-
-
"Now who are you to sit upon the seat
- 80
Of judgment at a thousand miles away
- When
your short sight sees just a foot ahead?
-
-
"Surely, were Scriptures not set over you
- As
guide, for him who would split hairs with me
- There
would be wondrous chance for questioning.
-
- 85
"O animals of earth, O gross of mind!
- Good
in itself, the primal Will has never
- Moved
from itself which is the highest Good.
-
-
"All in accord with it is just, and no
-
Created good draws this Will to itself
- 90
Unless, by raying down, the Will directs it."
-
- Just
as the stork wheels round above her nest
- After
she has fed her young their food,
- And
as each bird she fed looks up at her,
-
- So
did the blessed emblem turn, and so
- 95
I lifted up my eyes, while it, impelled
- By
many inspirations, moved its wings.
-
-
Wheeling it sang, and said, "As are my notes
- To
you who do not comprehend them, such
- Is
the eternal judgment to you mortals."
-
- 100
After the Holy Spirit’s glowing flames
- Had
quieted, the voice still in the ensign
- Which
made the Romans awesome to the world
-
- Began
again, "None ever mounted to
- This
kingdom who did not believe in Christ,
- 105
Before or since he was nailed to the tree.
-
-
"But mark this: many who cry out ‘Christ, Christ,’
- Will
be less close to him on Judgment Day
- Than
someone who may not have known of Christ.
-
-
"The Ethiopian shall damn such Christians
- 110
When the two companies shall be divided,
- One
rich forever and the other poor.
-
-
"What will the Persian then say to your kings
- When
they shall see the volume opened wide
- In
which their infamies are all recorded?
-
- 115
"There shall be seen among the deeds of Albert
- One
act which soon will set the pen in motion,
- By
which the realm of Prague will turn a desert.
-
-
"There shall be seen the grief brought on the Seine
- By
that man who will counterfeit the coinage
- 120
And whom the blow of a wild boar will kill.
-
-
"There shall be seen the pride that sharpens thirst
- And
makes the Scot and Englishman so mad
- That
neither one can stay within his borders.
-
-
"Seen too shall be the lusting and soft living
- 125
Of both kings of Bohemia and Spain,
- Who
never knew courageousness or wished to.
-
-
"Seen too the Cripple of Jerusalem
- Whose
goodness is enough to dot an i,
- While
his misdeeds would fill an alphabet.
-
- 130
"Seen too shall be the greed and cowardice
- Of
him who was the ward of Fire Island
- On
which Anchises ended his long life.
-
-
"And to help you discern his paltriness,
- His
record shall be written with few letters
- 135
Which will note down a great deal in small space.
-
-
"And the foul acts of his uncle and his brother,
- Which
heaped shame on so famed a lineage
- And
on two crowns, shall be made plain to all.
-
-
"And both kings of Norway and of Portugal
- 140
Shall be known there, and seen the lord of Rascia
- Who
conned the coins of Venice to his loss.
-
-
"O happy Hungary, if she can preserve
-
Herself from more mishandling! O happy Navarre,
- If
she can make herself a mountain stronghold!
-
- 145
"And all should credit that, in pledge of this,
-
Already Nicosia and Famagosta
-
Complain and wail because their beast of burden
-
-
"Will not break off from the rest of the herd."
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