Paradiso (23 page)
Authors: Dante
I will not ever think it strange,
for there, where appetite is never warped—
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in, I mean, the heavens themselves—I gloried in you too.
You are indeed a cloak that quickly shrinks,
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so that, if we do not add to it day by day,
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time trims the edges with its shears.
With that
You
which had its origin in Rome
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and which her offspring least preserve by use,
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I once again began to speak,
and Beatrice, who stood somewhat apart,
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smiled, like the lady who discreetly coughed
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at the first fault inscribed of Guinevere.
I began: ‘You are my father,
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You prompt me to speak with bold assurance.
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You raise me up, so I am more than I.
‘My mind is flooded by such rivers of delight
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that it exults it has not burst
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with so much happiness and joy.
‘Tell me then, belovèd stock from which I spring,
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who were Your ancestors, and say what were the years
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written in the record of Your childhood.
‘Tell me of the sheepfold of Saint John,
how many people lived there and who among them
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were worthy of its highest offices.’
As embers leap to flame on a puff of wind,
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I watched that light become resplendent
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at my respectful and persuasive words.
And as it became more pleasing to my sight,
so, with a voice more sweet and gentle,
he said: ‘From the day
Ave
was first spoken
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until the birthpangs by which my mother,
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now blessed, was lightened of me, her burden,
‘this fiery star came to its Lion
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five hundred fifty times and thirty more
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to be rekindled underneath its paw.
‘My ancestors and I were born just where
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the horsemen in your yearly race
‘Let that be enough for you about my forebears.
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As to who they were and where they came from,
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it is more modest to be silent than to speak.
‘All who lived there then, fit to bear arms,
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and who dwelt between Mars and the Baptist,
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amounted to a fifth of those who live there now,
‘but the city’s bloodline, now mixed
with that of Campi, of Certaldo, and Figline,
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‘Ah, how much better would it be
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had those cities which I name remained but neighbors,
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had you kept your borders at Galluzzo and Trespiano,
‘than to have them in your midst and bear the stench
of the lout from Aguglion and of him from Signa
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who already has so sharp an eye for graft!
‘If that tribe, which is the most degenerate
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in all the world, had not been like a stepmother
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to Caesar, but kind as a mother to her son,
‘there is one, become a Florentine, who is in trade
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and changes money, who would be sent straight back
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to Semifonte, where his granddad scoured the country.
‘Montemurlo would still owe fealty to the Conti,
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the Cerchi would be in the parish of Acone,
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and the Buondelmonti might remain in Valdigreve.
‘Intermingling of peoples has ever been
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the source of all the city’s ills,
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as eating in excess is to the body.
‘A blind bull is more prone to fall
than a blind lamb, and frequently a single sword
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cuts deeper and more sharp than five.
‘If you consider Luni, Urbisaglia—
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how they’ve ceased to be—and how Chiusi
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and Senigallia soon will join them,
‘then to hear how families come to nothing
will not seem strange or difficult to grasp,
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since even cities cease to be.
‘All your concerns are mortal, even as are you,
but in some things that are more lasting
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this lies hidden, because all lives are brief.
‘And, as the turning of the lunar sphere covers
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and endlessly uncovers the edges of the shore,
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thus does fortune deal with Florence.
‘Then it should not seem strange or marvelous to you
to hear me talk of noble Florentines,
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whose fame is buried in the depth of time.
‘I saw the Ughi, I saw the Catellini,
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Filippi, Greci, Ormanni and Alberichi,
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illustrious citizens already in decline,
‘and I saw, as great as they were ancient,
dell’Arca alongside della Sannella,
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and Soldanieri and Ardinghi and Bostichi.
‘Over the gate, which today is weighed down
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with such burden of new and unspeakable treachery
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that some cargo soon shall be hurled from the ship,
‘lived the Ravignani, from whom Count Guido
and all those who since have taken their name
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from the noble Bellincione are descended.
‘The Della Pressa already knew the way to rule,
and in their house the Galigaio already had
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the gilded hilt and pommel.
‘Great already was the stripe of fur,
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great were the Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, Barucci,
‘The stock from which the Calfucci sprang
was already great, and already called
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to the seats of power were Sizii and Arrigucci.
‘Ah, in what glory I saw those,
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now quite undone by pride! And the golden balls
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made Florence flower with all their glorious deeds.
‘Thus did the fathers of those who now,
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whenever your church needs to fill the bishop’s seat,
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fatten themselves by sitting long in council.
‘The proud and insolent race, playing the dragon
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at the back of him who flees, but mild as a lamb
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to him who shows his teeth—or else his purse,
‘was already on the rise, but of mean stock,
so that it gave no joy to Ubertin Donato
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when his father-in-law made him their kinsman.
‘The Caponsacchi had already made their way
from Fiesole to the marketplace, and both Giuda
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and Infangato were already citizens of note.
‘I will tell a thing incredible but true:
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The old city walls were entered through a gate
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that took its name from the della Pera.
‘Everyone bearing the noble coat of arms
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of the great baron whose name and praise
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are celebrated at the feast of Thomas
‘had from him their knighthood and their privilege,
although he that decks it with a golden fringe
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today takes the side of the common folk.
‘Gualterotti and Importuni were already there,
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and the Borgo would even now be more at peace
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had they been left hungry for new neighbors.
‘The house that is the wellspring of your tears,
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whose just disdain brought death among you
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and put an end to your lighthearted life,