Paradiso (13 page)
Authors: Dante
To its own cost, there was a time the world believed
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that the fair Cyprian beamed rays of maddened love,
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so that the ancient peoples in their ancient error
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not only did her honor
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with sacrifice and votive cry
but honored Dïone, and Cupid too,
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one as her mother, the other as her son,
And from her with whom I here begin they took
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the name of the star that is wooed by the sun,
I had not been aware of rising to that star,
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but was assured of being in it
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when I observed my lady turn more beautiful.
And, as one sees a spark within a flame
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or hears, within a song, a second voice,
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holding its note while the other comes and goes,
so I saw within that light still other lights,
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swifter and slower in their circling motions,
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it seemed in measure to their inner sight.
Winds racing down from a cold cloud,
in their swift motion, whether visible or not,
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would seem impeded, slow,
to one who had seen these heavenly lights
come toward us, pausing in the dance
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begun among the lofty Seraphim.
And from among the closest that appeared
rang out
Hosanna
so that ever since
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I have not been without the wish to hear it.
Then one, alone, drew nearer and began:
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‘All of us desire to bring you pleasure
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so that you may in turn delight in us.
‘In one orbit we revolve with these celestial princes—
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in one circle, with one circling, and with a single thirst—
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to whom, from the world, you addressed these words:
‘ “You who, by understanding, move the third heaven.”
We are filled with love but, to give you pleasure,
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After I had raised my reverent eyes
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to my lady and she had made them glad
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and made them sure of her consent,
I turned them back to the light that had made
such a promise, and ‘Oh, who are you?’
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Thus changed, it said to me: ‘The world kept me
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but a little while below, and, had that time been longer,
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much evil that shall be would not have been.
‘It is my happiness that hides me from you,
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as it enfolds and hides me in its shining rays,
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like the creature that is sheathed in its own silk.
‘You loved me well, and with good reason.
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Had I remained below, to you I would have shown
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much more than the mere fronds of my affection.
‘The left bank that is moistened by the Rhone
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once it mingles waters with the Sorgue
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awaited me as sovereign at a time to come,
‘as did Ausonia’s horn, from where it borders Bari,
Gaeta, and Catona, to the place
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where the Tronto and the Verde flow into the sea.
‘On my brow already shone the crown
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of the country furrowed by the Danube
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once it leaves behind its German banks.
‘And fair Trinacria, overcast and murky
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between Pachynus and Pelorus,
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above the bay most vexed by the Sirocco,
‘darkened not by Typhon but by rising sulphur—
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would still have waited for its kings,
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born through me of Charles and Rudolph,
‘had not bad governance, which ever grieves the hearts
of subject peoples, impelled Palermo
‘And if my brother but foresaw this
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he would shun the greedy poverty of Catalonia
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so that it not afflict him.
‘For truly there is need that he or someone else
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should look to it, lest on his overloaded bark
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be laid a load of even greater weight.
‘His stingy nature, though he came from worthy stock,
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would require officials who do not set their hearts
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on filling up their coffers.’
‘Since I sense that the deep joy
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your words have filled me with, my lord,
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is seen by you as clearly as it’s seen by me
‘there where every good begins and ends,
my joy is greater. And I also hold it dear
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that you discern this as you gaze on God.
‘You have made me glad, now bring me light,
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for, listening to your words, I am confused:
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How from sweet seed may come a bitter fruit?’
Thus I to him, and he: ‘If I can prove a truth to you,
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then you will have before your eyes
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an answer to the question on which you turn your back.
‘The Good, which revolves and gladdens
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all the realm you now are climbing,
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puts its plan to work through these great bodies.
‘Not only are the natures of the souls foreseen
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within the Mind that in Itself is perfect,
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but, along with their natures, their well-being,
‘and thus whatsoever this bow shoots
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falls predisposed to a determined end,
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as a shaft directed to its target.
‘Were this not so, the heavens you traverse
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would engender such effects
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as would not seem crafted but chaotic,
‘and such cannot be, unless the intellects that impel
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the spheres here were defective and defective, too,
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the primal Intellect, for failing to perfect them.
‘Would you like to have this truth made clearer?’
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And I: ‘No, for I understand it cannot be
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that nature should weary in her necessary chores.’
And he continued: ‘Now tell me, would it be worse
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for man on earth if he were not a social being?’
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‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘and here I ask no proof.’
‘And can he be such if men down there on earth
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live not in different ways for different tasks?
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Not if your master is correct in this.’
Thus he brought his thesis to its point
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and then concluded, ‘The roots of your activities,
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therefore, are necessarily diverse:
‘Thus one is born Solon and another Xerxes,
one Melchizedek, another one the man
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who flew up through the air and lost his son.
‘Circling nature, which sets its seal
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on mortal wax, plies its craft with skill,
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but does not distinguish one house from another.
‘Thus it happens that Esau differs even in the seed
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from Jacob, and Quirinus is born
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of so rude a father he is ascribed to Mars.