Notes.
1 Dante compares his ascent to the Empyrean
to dawn on earth. An hour before sunrise, it is noon six thousand miles to the east and
already the stars begin to fade. The handmaid of the sun is dawn (l. 7).
43 The pilgrim will see the
host of angels and the host of the redeemed in their glorified bodies. They are
first pictured as sparks (angels) and flowers (saints).
106 One ray of God's eternal
light strikes the round surface of the Primum Mobile and sets the whole
universal cycle in motion.
117 For the image of the
circular rose where all the blessed are seated, see the Introduction to
Paradiso.
137 Henry VII of Luxemburg, emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire (1303-1313), embodied before his death the hopes that Dante fostered for
a united Italy and peace-abiding Europe.
142 Clement V encouraged Henry VII to
settle affairs in Italy and in 1312 shifted his support to Henry’s enemies. Clement
died in 1314, and the poet predicts that he shall fall to the pocket of the simoniacal
popes to cram down his predecessor Boniface VIII who came from the town of Anagni
(l.
148). |
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- Six
thousand miles or so away from us
- Noon
blazes, and this world already slopes
- Its
shadow to an almost level bed,
-
- When
the midheaven high above us starts
- 5 To change in such a way that here and there
- A
star fades out of view from this abyss.
-
- And
as the brightest handmaid of the sun
- Comes
closer, heaven then puts out its lights
- One
by one, till the loveliest has faded:
-
- 10 No differently, the triumph that forever
- Plays
round the Point that overmastered me
- And
seems enclosed by that which it encloses
-
- Little
by little vanished from my sight,
- So
that my loving and my seeing nothing
- 15 Forced me to turn my eyes once more to Beatrice.
-
- If
what I have said up to now about her
- Were
all rolled in a single hymn of praise,
- It
would not serve to take this final turn.
-
- The
beauty that I saw transcends all measure
- 20 Not only past our reach, but I believe
- Only
its Maker can enjoy it all.
-
- At
this pass I admit myself defeated
- More
than all comic or all tragic poets
- Were
ever quelled by some point of their theme.
-
- 25 For as the sun confounds the feeblest sight,
- So
the remembrance of her fresh sweet smile
- Severs
my memory from my sense of self.
-
- From
the first day on which I saw her face
- In
this lifetime, until that sight of her,
- 30 My song has never stopped from following her.
-
- But
now must my pursuit cease following
- Her
beauty further in my poetry,
- Like
any artist come to his full limit.
-
- So I
leave her to nobler heralding
- 35 Than the sounding of my trumpet which here draws
- Its
arduous subject-matter to a close.
-
- With
gesture and voice of an accomplished leader
- She
began again, "Out from the largest body
- We
have come to this heaven of pure light:
-
- 40 "Light of the intellect, light full of love,
- Love
of true good, love full of joyousness,
- Joyfulness
surpassing every sweetness.
-
- "Here
you shall see both hosts of paradise,
- The
one arrayed in that embodiment
- 45 Which you shall witness on the judgment day."
-
- Just
like a sudden lightning flash that scatters
- The
power of vision so that it deprives
- The
eye of its sight of the sharpest objects,
-
- So
round about me shone a living light
- 50 Which left me wrapped in such a dazzling veil
- That
nothing else was visible to me.
-
- "Always
the love which makes this heaven restful
- Receives
all to itself with a like welcome,
- To
hold the candle ready for the flame."
-
- 55 No
sooner did I take in these few words
- Than
inwardly I understood that I
- Was
rising high above my human powers.
-
- And I
was so inflamed with the new vision
- That
— however luminous the light —
- 60 My eyes could have withstood the sight of it.
-
- And I
saw a light flowing like a river
- Glowing
with amber waves between two banks
- Brilliantly
painted by spellbinding spring.
-
- From
out this river shot up living sparks
- 65 That dropped on every side into the blossoms,
- Like
rubies in a setting of pure gold.
-
- Then,
as if intoxicated by the fragrance,
- They
dove once more into the wondrous flood,
- And
as one sank, another spark shot out.
-
- 70 "The
flame of high desire driving you
- To
gain more knowledge of what you see here
- Pleases
me the more the more it surges.
-
- "But
first you are required to drink this water
- Before
your burning thirst can be relieved."
- 75
These words the sun of my eyes said to me,
-
- Then
added, "The river and the topazes
- Streaming
in and out the smiling flowers
- Are
shadow-prelude of their reality.
-
- "Not
that these blooms are unripe in themselves,
- 80 But the defect comes from within yourself
- That
you do not yet have sight set so high."
-
- No
baby, after waking later than
- The
usual hour, ever makes a rush
- So
sudden with its face toward mother’s milk,
-
- 85 As I made then when I bent down to drink
- The
wave that flows there for our betterment,
- To
make still better mirrors of my eyes.
-
- And
even as the eaves that edge my eyelids
- Drank
of it, so it seemed to change its shape
- 90 From running lengthwise to revolving round.
-
- Then,
as the people hidden under masks
- Look
different from the way they looked before
- When
they doff the disguises that concealed them,
-
- Just
so the flowers and the sparks now changed
- 95 Before me into grander festivals,
- So
that I saw both courts of heaven open.
-
- O
splendor of God through which I saw the high
- Triumph
of the true kingdom, grant me the power
- To
tell how I was witness to this vision!
-
- 100 Light shines above which renders visible
- The
Creator to the creature who discovers
- The
peace found only in our seeing Him.
-
- And
this light stretches out into a circle
- Which
spreads so wide that its circumference
- 105 Would make too large a cincture for the sun.
-
- The
whole expanse is fashioned by the ray
- Reflected
from the top of the first-moved
- Sphere
from which it takes its might and motion.
-
- And
as a hillside is mirrored in a lake
- 110 Below, as if to look on its own beauty
- When
it is lush with flowers and fresh grass,
-
- Just
so, above the light and round and round,
- Reflected
from more than a thousand tiers,
- I saw
all those of us who have returned there.
-
- 115 And if the lowest rank holds in its row
- So
large a light, how vast is the expanse
- Of
this rose in its farthest-reaching petals!
-
- My
sight was not lost in its breadth and height,
- But
grasped the fullness of that happiness
- 120 In all its distance and intensity.
-
- There
near and far add nothing, nor subtract,
- For
where God governs without mediation
- The
laws of nature have no further bearing.
-
- Into
the yellow of that timeless rose
- 125 Which rises row on row and spreads and breathes
- Perfumes
of praise to the spring-renewing Sun,
-
- Beatrice
drew me, hushed and bent on speaking,
- And
told me, "Look with wonder on those robed
- In
white — how countless is that congregation!
-
- 130 "See how wide is the circuit of our city!
- See
how filled are our seats that so few people
- From
now on are expected to come here!
-
- "And
on that proud chair where you fix your eyes
- To
glimpse the crown already placed above it,
- 135 Before you partake of this wedding feast,
-
- "Shall
sit the soul — an emperor’s on earth —
- Of
lofty Henry, who will come to set
- Italy
straight before her time is ready.
-
- "Blind
greed which grips you all within its spell
- 140 Has made you like the little child who dies
- Of
hunger while he drives away his nurse.
-
- "And
then the pontiff of the Holy See
- Shall,
openly and secretly, be someone
- Who
will not walk with him along one road.
-
- 145 "But God won’t keep him in the sacred office
- For
long, because he shall be shoved below
- Where
Simon Magus squirms for his deserts,
-
- "To
cram still deeper that man from Anagni."
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