Notes.
37 King David was the author of the book of
Psalms, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
44 For an account of the Emperor Trajan, see Purgatorio
X, l. 73, and note.
51 Hezekiah, king of Israel,
prayed and had his life prolonged for fifteen years (see 2 Kings 20:1-6).
55 Another reference to the "Donation of
Constantine" to Pope Sylvester I. See Inferno
XIX, note 115
61 William II, king of Naples and Sicily
(1166-1189), was Norman and known as the Good for his just reign.
63 Charles II of Anjou and Frederick II of
Sicily are again rebuked (see Canto XIX, l. 127 and l. 131, with notes).
68 Ripheus is a Trojan hero killed in the
sack of Troy whom Virgil praises in the Aeneid II (426-428).
100-108 Trajan and Ripheus are the fifth and
sixth spirits. Ripheus is said by Dante to have believed in Christ to come as Trajan
(brought back to life) believed in Christ after the crucifixion.
127 The three ladies are Faith,
Hope, and
Charity. |
|
- When
he who lights up our whole world comes down
- Out
of our hemisphere, so that the day
- In
all directions fades away to dark,
-
- The
sky, which he alone inflamed before,
- 5
All of a sudden shows itself once more
- With
many lights lit by his single blaze:
-
- So
this shift in the sky came to my mind
- When
the sign of the world and of its leaders
- Fell
back to silence with its blessed beak,
-
- 10
Because, of all those living luminaries,
-
Shining more brightly, each began to sing
- Hymns
that have slipped out of my memory.
-
- O
dulcet love, whose mantle is a smile,
- How
glowingly you sounded in those flutes,
- 15
Filled only with the breath of saintly thoughts!
-
- When
all the precious and pellucid stones
- With
which I saw the sixth star all bejeweled
- Had
stilled the chiming of those angelic bells,
-
- I
seemed to hear the murmuring of a river
- 20
Clearly coursing down from rock to rock,
-
Attesting to the richness of its source.
-
- And
as the notes resounding from the lute
- Take
shape within its neck, and as the wind
-
Sounds at the opening of the bagpipe it inflates,
-
- 25
So, with no further time spent idly waiting,
- That
murmuring whisper of the eagle rose
- Up
through the neck, as if the neck were hollow.
-
- There
it turned to a voice, and through the beak
- It
issued in the form of words, such words
- 30
As the heart on which I wrote them waited for.
-
-
"That part in me which can see in earthly eagles
- And
can endure the sun," the voice began,
-
"There steadfastly you must now fix your gaze.
-
-
"For of the fires from which I take shape,
- 35
Those with which the eye glitters in my head
- Are
the chief souls within all of their ranks.
-
-
"The one shining in the middle as the pupil
- Was
the singer of the Holy Spirit,
- Who
took the ark about from town to town.
-
- 40
"Now he knows here the merit of his song:
- How
much of it resulted from his talent,
- By
the reward proportionate to it.
-
-
"Of those five that make up my eyebrow’s arch,
- The
one who is the nearest to my beak
- 45
Gave comfort to the widow for her son.
-
-
"Now he knows the dear price men have to pay
- Not
to follow Christ, by his experience
- Of
this sweet life and of its opposite.
-
-
"And he who follows on the upper arc
- 50
Of the circumference of which I speak
- Has
put off death by his true penitence.
-
-
"Now he knows that the everlasting judgment
-
Remains unchanged, when worthy prayer on earth
- Makes
what should be today take place tomorrow.
-
- 55
"The next who follows, to give way to the shepherd,
- With
good intentions that bore rotten fruit,
-
Removed to Greece, taking the laws and me.
-
-
"Now he knows how the evil that arose
- From
his good action does not harm him here,
- 60
Although the world be devastated by it.
-
-
"The fourth you see within the lower arc
- Was
William, for whom that land goes in mourning
- That
weeps for Charles and Frederick yet alive.
-
-
"Now he knows how an upright king is loved
- 65
In heaven, as he still makes evident
- By
the effulgent likeness of his glory.
-
-
"Who would believe down in the erring world
- That
Ripheus the Trojan was the fifth
- Of
the saintly splendors in that circle?
-
- 70
"Now he knows much about the grace of God
- That
your world cannot see, although his sight
- May
not make out the bottom of the sea."
-
- Just
like the lark that soars into the air,
- First
singing and then silent in contentment
- 75
With the last sweetness sated by its song,
-
- So
seemed to me the image stamped out sharply
- By
the eternal Pleasure, through whose will
- All
things become what they are in their being.
-
- And
though my questioning showed through me there
- 80
Like colors shining through the coated glass,
- I
could not bear to wait in silence longer,
-
- But
from my lips burst, "How can these things be?"
-
Forced out by the sheer pressure of its weight.
- At
that I saw a feast of flashing lights.
-
- 85
And right then, not to hold me in suspense
- And
wonder, its eye burning ever brighter,
- The
blessed emblem answered me again:
-
-
"I see that you believe these things because
- I
tell you about them, but you do not see how,
- 90
So that they stay concealed while still believed.
-
-
"You act like one who clearly apprehends
- A
thing by name, but cannot grasp its essence
-
Unless it is explained by someone else.
-
-
"The kingdom of heaven suffers violence
- 95
From all the fervent love and living hope
- Which
vanquishes the will of the Most High:
-
-
"Not in the way men vanquish other men;
- It
conquers because His will lets it conquer,
- And,
vanquished, vanquishes with its own kindness.
-
- 100
"The first and the fifth spirits of my brow
- Make
you amazed, since you perceive the region
- Of
the angels here adorned with them.
-
-
"They quit their bodies not as you think, pagans,
- But
Christians with firm faith, one in the feet
- 105
To be pierced, the other, that were pierced.
-
-
"For one returned to flesh and bones from hell
- Where
no one ever can regain goodwill,
- And
that was the reward of living hope:
-
-
"Of living hope that rendered powerful
- 110
Prayers offered up to God to raise him new
- So
that his will be able to be moved.
-
-
"The glorious soul of whom I speak, come back
- For a
short period to his own body,
-
Believed in Him who has the power to help:
-
- 115
"Believing, he burst out in such a blaze
- Of
the true love that at his second death
- He
was worthy to be welcomed to this mirth.
-
-
"The other, by the grace that wells up from
- So
deep a fountain that no creature yet
- 120
Has ever cast eyes down to its first wave,
-
-
"Placed all his love on earth in doing right;
- And
God, from grace to grace, so opened up
- His
eyes to our redemption still to come
-
-
"That he believed in Christ, and from then on
- 125
Would not endure the stench of paganism,
- And
for it he reproved those perverse people.
-
-
"The three ladies at the chariot’s right wheel
- (You
saw them) sponsored him in baptism
- A
thousand years before baptismal rites.
-
- 130
"O predestination, how far removed
- Your
root lies from the eyesight of those people
- Who
do not see the First Cause as a whole!
-
-
"And, mortals, show restraint in making judgments,
- For
even we who look on God himself
- 135
Do not yet know all those who are elect.
-
-
"And such a failing is a sweet thing to us,
- Since
in this good is our own good refined,
- That
what God wills is what we will as well."
-
- So,
thanks to that divine emblazoned form,
- 140
There I received this soothing medicine
- To
clear my eyes of their shortsightedness.
-
- And
as a skillful lutanist can make
- The
strings vibrate in tune with a skilled singer
- And
in this way add pleasure to the song,
-
- 145
So, I remember, while the eagle spoke,
- I saw
the two blest lights together move,
- Just
as the eyelids blink with one accord,
-
-
Causing their flames to quiver to the words.
|
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