Paradiso (44 page)

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Authors: Dante

BOOK: Paradiso
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‘O holy father, who on my behalf   

               
deign to be here below, leaving the sweet place

102
         
where by eternal lot you have your seat,

               
‘who is the angel gazing with such joy   

               
upon the eyes of her our Queen,

105
         
so much in love he seems to be a flame?’

               
Thus I tried once more to gain instruction

               
from him who glowed in Mary’s beauty   

108
         
as the morning star reflects the sun.

               
And he: ‘All confidence and grace of movement   

               
that can be found in angel or in any blessèd soul

111
         
are found in him—and we would have it so,

               
‘for it is he who brought the palm to Mary

               
when the Son of God elected to take on

114
         
the burden of our flesh.

               
‘But let your eyes follow my words, as I continue,   

               
noting the eminent patricians   

117
         
of this most just and pious empire.

               
‘These two who are seated there above us,   

               
most happy for being so near the Empress,   

120
         
are, as it were, the two roots of this rose:

               
‘He who sits beside her to her left   

   

               
is that father for whose reckless tasting

123
         
mankind still tastes such bitterness.

               
‘To her right behold that ancient father

               
of Holy Church to whose care Christ entrusted

126
         
the keys to this, the fairest flower.

               
‘And he who was doomed to see before he died   

               
the years of grief of the beautiful bride,

129
         
she who was won with the lance and the nails,

               
‘sits next to him and, next to the other, rests   

               
that leader under whose rule that stiff-necked people,

132
         
fickle and ungrateful, lived on manna.

               
‘Look at Anna, where she sits across from Peter,   

               
so content merely to gaze upon her daughter

135
         
she does not move her eyes as she sings hosanna.

               
‘And opposite the greatest father of a family   

               
sits Lucy, who urged on your lady, when

138
         
with lowered gaze, you headed on your path to ruin.

               
‘But since the time runs short that readies you for sleep,   

               
let us stop here, as a good tailor would,   

141
         
who cuts the cloak as he is stocked with cloth.

               
‘And let us fix our eyes on Primal Love,   

               
so that, looking up toward Him, you penetrate,

144
         
as far as may be done, His brilliance.

               
‘But, lest by any chance, beating your wings   

   

               
and thinking to advance, you should fall back,   

147
         
you must gain your grace through prayer,

               
‘grace from her who has the power to help you.

               
You shall follow me with your devotion   

               
so your heart does not stray from my words.’

151
         
He then began this holy supplication:   

OUTLINE: PARADISO XXXIII

THE EMPYREAN

1–39
   
Bernard’s prayer:
1–12
   
salutatio
1–6
   
“[
Mary
defined in terms of four paradoxes];
7–9
   
in your womb was rekindled love that made the Rose
10–12
   
here you are torch of love; below, torch of hope
13–21
   
exordium
13–15
   
grace comes only through your intercession,
16–18
   
love for those who ask it (even before the asking)
19–21
   
your mercy, pity, and munificence account for whatever goodness exists in us
22–27
   
narratio
22–27
   
this man begs, by your grace, to see God
28–33
   
repetitio
28–33
   
and I pray for this, too
34–39
   
peroratio
34–37
   
finally, preserve his affections after such vision
38–39
   
see how
Beatrice
, other saved souls pray for this”
40–45
   
Mary accepts his prayer, then turns her eyes to God.
46–51
   
Dante’s ardor anticipates Bernard’s signal to look up
52–54
   
Dante’s sight entering the ray of light
55–57
   
what he saw exceeds his speech and his memory
58–63
   
simile: feelings of dreamer after dream and the sweet remnant of Dante’s vision
64
   
simile: what he saw as pattern in snow melted by sun,
65–66
   
simile: as leaves of
Sibyl
’s prophecies in the wind;
67–75
   
ninth invocation: to God as Light to grant humans power to conceive, if only a little, the nature of His being
76–81
   
danger of losing vision and thus his clasping of it
82–84
   
apostrophe: grace that allowed his sight into the Light
85–93
   
his vision of all things as unity
94–96
   
his momentary vision is more forgotten than
Neptune
’s vision of the
Argo
2,500 years ago
97–99
   
simile: Dante as Neptune
100–105
   
perfection of Dante’s intellect and will
106–108
   
his words will fall shorter, even of what he remembers, than those of a nursing infant
109–120
   
his view of the changing Godhead in its three circles
121–123
   
Dante’s speech falls short of his conception
124–126
   
apostrophe: Light that loves and knows Itself
127–132
   
the second circling bears our likeness
133–139
   
simile: Dante as geometer trying to square the circle
140–141
   
the flash that makes all plain at last;
142–145
   
his vision failed, but his intellect and will rotate, both spun by the love that moves the heavens.
PARADISO XXXIII

               
‘Virgin Mother, daughter of your Son,   

   

               
more humble and exalted than any other creature,   

3
             
fixed goal of the eternal plan,   

               
‘you are the one who so ennobled human nature   

               
that He, who made it first, did not disdain

6
             
to make Himself of its own making.

               
‘Your womb relit the flame of love—   

               
its heat has made this blossom seed   

9
             
and flower in eternal peace.

               
‘To us you are a noonday torch of charity,   

               
while down below, among those still in flesh,   

12
           
you are the living fountainhead of hope.

               
‘Lady, you are so great and so prevail above,

               
should he who longs for grace not turn to you,   

15
           
his longing would be doomed to wingless flight.   

               
‘Your loving kindness does not only aid

               
whoever seeks it, but many times   

18
           
gives freely what has yet to be implored.

               
‘In you clemency, in you compassion,   

               
in you munificence, in you are joined

21
           
all virtues found in any creature.

               
‘This man who, from within the deepest pit   

               
the universe contains up to these heights

24
           
has seen the disembodied spirits, one by one,

               
‘now begs you, by your grace, to grant such power

               
that, by lifting up his eyes,

27
           
he may rise higher toward his ultimate salvation.

               
‘And I, who never burned for my own seeing   

               
more than now I burn for his, offer all my prayers,   

30
           
and pray that they may not fall short,

               
‘so that your prayers disperse on his behalf

               
all clouds of his mortality and let

33
           
the highest beauty be displayed to him.   

               
’This too, my Queen, I ask of you, who can achieve   

               
whatever you desire, that you help him preserve,

36
           
after such vision, the purity of his affections.

               
‘Let your protection rule his mortal passions.

               
See Beatrice, with so many of the blessed,

39
           
palms pressed together, joining me in prayer.’

               
Those eyes belovèd and revered by God,   

               
fixed on him who prayed, made clear to us

42
           
how dear to her all true devotion is.

               
Then she turned her gaze to the eternal Light.

               
It is incorrect to think that any living being

45
           
can penetrate that brightness with such unblinking eyes.

               
And, as I neared the end of all desire,   

               
I extended to its limit, as was right,

48
           
the ardor of the longing in my soul.   

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