Notes.
20 The flame is Saint Peter. His
role, with that of Saint James and Saint John, is to examine Dante on his assimilation of
the three theological virtues.
52 From here to the end of the
canto is Dante’s profession of faith. Saint Peter will examine the pilgrim on faith:
its nature, possession, sources, proof in miracles, and content. Faith is the first of the
three theological virtues. Hope and love, the other two, are the subject of the next two
cantos.
61 Dante refers to Saint
Paul and the Letter to the Hebrews 11:1.
125 See John 20:1-6. Actually
John outran Peter to the tomb on Easter morning and waited for Peter to enter first. |
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-
"O fellowship called to the lavish supper
- Of
the blest Lamb who feeds you with such food
- That
you are always filled with what you want,
-
-
"Since by the grace of God this man receives
- 5
A foretaste of what falls from your full table
-
Before death sets a limit to his lifetime,
-
-
"Open your mind to his tremendous craving
- And
sprinkle him with dew: you drink forever
- Out
of the fountain from which his thinking flows."
-
- 10
So Beatrice; and those elated spirits
-
Formed themselves in spheres around fixed poles,
-
Flashing out like comets while they whirled.
-
- And
as wheels turn within the works of clocks,
- So
that the largest seems, to the observer,
- 15
To stand still while the smallest seems to fly,
-
- Just
so those singing rings, to different measures
-
Dancing in swift circles and in slow,
-
Enabled me to judge their wealth of joy.
-
- From
the one I observed to be the richest
- 20
I saw burst out a flame so joyful that
- None
ever shone with sharper brilliancy.
-
- And
three times it revolved around Beatrice
- With
so divine a song, there is no way
- For
my imagination to record it:
-
- 25
So my pen leaps ahead and shall write nothing,
- Since
our imagining, as well as speech,
- Is
much too bright to color in such shades.
-
-
"O my holy sister who so devoutly
- Do
pray to us, by your own burning love
- 30
You loosen me from out that lovely sphere!"
-
- When
it had stopped, that fire of blessedness
-
Breathed out these words directly to my lady,
-
Exactly as I have repeated them.
-
- And
she: "O eternal light of the great man
- 35
To whom Our Lord entrusted the same keys
- Of
wondrous gladness that he brought below,
-
-
"Examine this man on the main and minor
-
Points of the faith, just as it pleases you:
- That
faith which let you walk upon the sea.
-
- 40
"If he loves well and hopes well and believes,
- It is
not hidden from you, since you set
- Your
sights on where all things are seen reflected.
-
-
"But as this kingdom gained its citizens
- By
the true faith, it is good for its glory
- 45
That he should have the chance to tell of it."
-
- Much
as the graduate readies his defense
- And
keeps still till his mentor puts the question,
- To
offer proof and not to settle it:
-
- So I
made myself ready with every reason
- 50
While she was speaking, that I be prepared
- For
such a questioner and such profession.
-
-
"Tell me, good Christian, give your declaration:
- What
is faith?" With that I raised my forehead
- Up to
the light from which these words breathed out.
-
- 55
I turned to Beatrice then, and she straightway
-
Showed me a sign that I should pour the water
- Out
of the inward spring that welled up in me.
-
-
"May the grace which grants me," I began,
-
"To make confession to the chief commander
- 60
Result in my thoughts being rightly stated!"
-
- And I
went on, "Just as the truthful pen
- Of
your dear brother wrote about it, father,
- Who,
with you, once put Rome on the right road:
-
-
"Faith is the substance of things that are hoped for
- 65
And the evidence of things that are not seen,
- And
this appears to me to be its essence."
-
- Then
I heard, "Your perception is correct,
- If
you clearly follow why he placed it first
- With
substance and then with evidence."
-
- 70
And I in my response: "The profound things
- That
here permit me to catch sight of them
- Are
so concealed away from eyes down there
-
-
"That they exist there only in belief,
- On
which the height of hope is firmly founded;
- 75
And therefore it is called a basic substance.
-
-
"And we must start our reasoning with belief,
-
Without our seeing any more than that;
- And
therefore it is known as evidence."
-
- Then
I heard, "If all that is held below
- 80
As doctrine were so understood by others,
- There
would be no place left for clever sophists."
-
- Those
words were breathed out from the burning love
- That
then continued, "You have studied soundly,
- For
now, the weight and content of this coinage,
-
- 85
"But tell me: have you such coin in your purse?"
- To
that I: "Yes, I do: so round, so shining,
- That
I do not have doubts about its minting."
-
- Then
from the deep light that was blazing there
- These
words rang out to me: "This precious jewel
- 90
And this foundation stone of every virtue,
-
-
"Whence did it come to you?" And I: "The streaming
- Rain
of the Holy Spirit that pours down
- On
pages of the ancient and new Book
-
-
"Makes such a sharp conclusive syllogism,
- 95
It proved to me that, by comparison,
- All
other demonstrations seem abstruse."
-
- Then
I heard, "These ancient and new propositions
- Which
draw you in this way to your conclusion,
- Why
do you take them as divinely written?"
-
- 100
And I: "The proof that shows the truth to me
- Is in
the works that followed: nature never
- For
such wonders heated iron nor beat anvil."
-
- In
answer to me: "Tell me, who assures you
- There
are such works? The Truth that must be proved
- 105
— And nothing else — asserts that they were so."
-
-
"If without miracles the whole world turned
- To
Christianity," I said, "that miracle
- A
hundred times is greater than the rest:
-
-
"For poor and fasting you went in the field
- 110
To sow the good seed of the plant that once
- Had
been a vine and now’s become a bramble."
-
- This
ended, through the spheres the saintly court
- On
high resounded "Te Deum," praising God
- With
melodies such as they sing up there.
-
- 115
And that lord-baron, who examining me
- From
branch to branch had drawn me on until
-
Already we approached the topmost leaves,
-
- Again
began, "The Grace, which with your mind
- Keeps
up a dialogue of love, till now
- 120
Has opened so your lips to right responses
-
-
"That I approve what has poured out of them;
- But
now you must proclaim what you believe,
- And
whence these truths came to you for belief."
-
-
"O holy father, spirit who now sees
- 125
What you believed so strongly, you outran
- Up to
the tomb feet younger than your own,"
-
- I
then began, "you want me here to show
- The
form of my unhesitating faith,
- And
you have also asked to know its cause.
-
- 130
"And I reply: I believe in one God,
- Sole
and eternal, who, himself unmoving,
- Moves
all the heavens by love and desire.
-
-
"And for this faith I have not only proofs
- From
physics and from metaphysic theory,
- 135
But also from the truth that rains down to me
-
-
"Through Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms,
-
Through the Evangelists and through all of you
- Who
wrote inspired by the Spirit’s fire.
-
- 140
"And I believe in three eternal Persons:
- These
I believe one essence, one and three,
- So
that at once both are and is agree.
-
-
"So many times the teaching of the Gospels
-
Stamps upon my mind the mystery
- Of
the divinity I now describe.
-
- 145
"This is the beginning, this the spark
- That
then spreads out into a living flame
- And
shines within me like a star in heaven."
-
- Just
as a master, hearing a report
- That
pleases him and gladdened by the news,
- 150
Embraces his servant as soon as he falls silent,
-
- So,
singing joyous blessings down on me,
- The
apostolic light, at whose command
- I had
confessed, three times wound around me
-
- When
I grew still, my speech had pleased him so!
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