Paradiso (35 page)
Authors: Dante
‘Two other points regarding which you asked—
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not for your enlightenment, but for him to tell
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how much this virtue means to you—
‘I leave to him. For they will not be difficult,
nor offer grounds for boasting of himself.
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Now let him answer, and may God’s grace be his aid!’
Like the student answering his teacher,
ready and eager in the subject he prepared,
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intending to display his worth,
‘Hope,’ I said, ‘is the certain expectation
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of future glory, springing
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from heavenly grace and merit we have won.
‘This light comes down to me from many stars,
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but he who first instilled it in my heart
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was that exalted singer of our exalted Lord.
‘ “Let them have hope in you,” he declares
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in his god-song, “those who know your name.”
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Among those who share my faith, who does not know it?
‘After he had imbued me with his song,
you poured your epistle down on me so that I,
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overflowing, now rain your rain on others.’
While I spoke, within the living core
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of fire appeared a flare, quivering
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like lightning in sudden and repeated flashes.
Then it breathed forth: ‘The love with which I burn,
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for the Virtue that was my companion,
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even to the palm and my departing from the field,
‘bids me breathe words again to you who take delight
in Hope. And I would like to hear you say
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what promise Hope holds out to you.’
And I: ‘The new and the ancient Scriptures
set forth the goal for souls that God has made his friends
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and this directs me to that promise.
‘Isaiah says that each in his own land
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shall be vested in a double garment,
‘And then your brother, turning his attention
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to the shining robes, explains to us
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this revelation with still greater clarity.’
At once, as soon as these words ended,
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Sperent in te
was heard above us,
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to which all circles of the blessed responded.
Then one light, among them all, shone out so bright
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that, if the Crab held such a gem,
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to winter would belong a month of endless day.
As a happy maiden rises and comes forward,
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joining the dancers only to show honor
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to the bride, not prompted by desire for display,
so I saw that now brighter splendor gliding
toward the two already whirling to the notes
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most fitted to the ardent burning of their love.
He joined them there in singing and in dance,
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and my lady, her gaze fixed on them, stood
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as a bride stands, silent and motionless.
‘This is he who lay upon the breast
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of our Pelican, who from the cross
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elected him to bear the heavy charge.’
These were my lady’s words, nor did her gaze
waver after she had spoken, but stayed intent
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and fixed as it had been before.
As one who strains his eyes in his attempt to see
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the sun when it is partly in eclipse,
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and, his seeing overwhelmed, has lost his sight,
such did I become before that final flaming
until I heard these words: ‘Why do you blind your eyes
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trying to behold what is not here to see?
‘In earth, earth is my body and there shall it lie
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among the others until our number
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shall be equal to the eternal purpose.
‘With the two robes in the blessèd cloister
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are the two lights alone who have ascended,
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and let this be the news you bring back to your world.’
At these words, the fiery dance was ended,
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together with the sweetly mingled notes
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that issued from the blended threefold breath,
just as, to avoid fatigue or danger,
oars until that moment driven through the water
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stop all at once when the whistle sounds.
Ah, how troubled was my mind
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when I looked back for Beatrice
and could not see her, even though I was
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so near to her and in that happy world!
STARRY SPHERE
Ananias
;
: love as the cause of all celestial movement;
the answers:
While I was still bewildered at my loss of sight,
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from the resplendent flame that blinded me
‘Until you have regained the sight
you have consumed on me, you will do well
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‘Begin, and tell what goal your soul has set.
And be assured your power of sight
‘for the lady who guides you through
this holy place possesses in her glance
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the power the hand of Ananias had.’
And I said: ‘As soon or as late as she wishes,
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may the cure come to eyes that were the portals
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she entered with the fire in which I always burn.
‘The good that satisfies this court
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is alpha and omega of whatever scripture
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Love teaches me in loud or gentle tones.’
The same voice that had set me free
from fear at my sudden blindness