PARADISE(XXX) of THE DIVINE COMEDY BY DANTE ALIGHIERI

Directory:THE DIVINE COMEDY

CANTO XXX

ARGUMENT.—Dante is taken up with Beatrice into the empyrean; and there having his sight strengthened by her aid, and by the virtue derived from looking on the river of light, he sees the triumph of the Angels and of the souls of the blessed.

NOON'S fervid hour perchance six thousand miles〖He compares the vanishing of the vision to the fading away of the stars at dawn, when it is noonday 6,000 miles off, and the shadow, formed by the earth over the part of it inhabited by the Poet, is about to disappear.〗

From hence is distant; and the shadowy cone

Almost to level on our earth declines;

When, from the midmost of this blue abyss,

By turns some star is to our vision lost.

And straightway as the handmaid of the sun

Puts forth her radiant brow, all, light by light,

Fade; and the spangled firmament shuts in,

E'en to the loveliest of the glittering throng.

Thus vanish'd gradually from my sight

The triumph, which plays ever round the point,

That overcame me, seeming (for it did)

Engirt〖“Appearing to be encompassed by these angelic bands, which are in reality encompassed by it.”〗 by that it girdeth. Wherefore love,

With loss of other object, forced me bend

Mine eyes on Beatrice once again.

If all, that hitherto is told of her,

Were in one praise concluded, 'twere too weak

To furnish out this turn. Mine eyes did look

On beauty, such, as I believe in sooth,

Not merely to exceed our human; but,

That save its Maker, none can to the full

Enjoy it. At this point o'erpower'd I fail;

Unequal to my theme; as never bard

Of buskin or of sock hath fail'd before.

For as the sun doth to the feeblest sight,

E'en so remembrance of that witching smile

Hath dispossest my spirit of itself.

Not from that day, when on this earth I first

Beheld her charms, up to that view of them,

Have I with song applausive ever ceased

To follow; but now follow them no more;

My course here bounded, as each artist's is,

When it doth touch the limit of his skill.

She (such as I bequeath her to the bruit

Of louder trump than mine, which hasteneth on

Urging its arduous matter to the close)

Her words resumed, in gesture and in voice

Resembling one accustom'd to command:

“Forth〖From the ninth sphere to the empyrean, which is mere light.〗 from the last corporeal are we come

Into the Heaven, that is unbodied light;

Light intellectual, replete with love;

Love of true happiness, replete with joy;

Joy, that transcends all sweetness of delight.

Here shalt thou look on either mighty host〖Of Angels, that remained faithful, and of beatified souls; the latter in the form they will have at the last day.〗

Of Paradise; and one in that array,

Which in the final judgment thou shalt see.”

As when the lightning, in a sudden spleen

Unfolded, dashes from the blinding eyes

The visive spirits, dazzled and bedimm'd;

So, round about me, fulminating streams

Of living radiance play'd, and left me swathed

And veiled in dense impenetrable blaze.

Such weal is in the love, that stills this heaven;

For its own flame〖Thus disposing the spirits to receive its own beatific light.〗 the torch thus fitting ever.

No sooner to my listening ear had come

The brief assurance, than I understood

New virtue into me infused, and sight

Kindled afresh, with vigour to sustain

Excess of light however pure. I look'd;

And, in the likeness of a river, saw

Light flowing, from whose amber-seeming waves

Flash'd up effulgence, as they glided on

'Twixt banks, on either side, painted with spring,

Incredible how fair: and, from the tide,

There ever and anon, outstarting, flew

Sparkles instinct with life; and in the flowers

Did set them, like to rubies, chased in gold:

Then, as if drunk with odours, plunged again

Into the wondrous flood; from which, as one

Re-enter'd, still another rose. “The thirst

Of knowledge high, whereby thou art inflamed,

To search the meaning of what here thou seest,

The more it warms thee, pleases me the more,

But first behoves thee of this water drink,

Or e'er that longing be allay'd.” So spake

The day-star of mine eyes: then thus subjoin'd:

“This stream; and these, forth issuing from its gulf,

And diving back, a living topaz each;

With all this laughter on its bloomy shores;

Are but a preface, shadowy of the truth

They emblem: not that, in themselves, the things

Are crude; but on thy part is the defect,

For that thy views not yet aspire so high.”

Never did babe, that had outslept his wont,

Rush, which such eager straining, to the milk,

As I toward the water; bending me,

To make the better mirrors of mine eyes

In the refining wave: and as the eaves

Of mine eyelids did drink of it, forthwith

Seem'd it unto me turn'd from length to round.

Then as a troop of maskers, when they put

Their vizors off, look other than before;

The counterfeited semblance thrown aside:

So into greater jubilee were changed

Those flowers and sparkles; and distinct I saw,

Before me, either court of Heaven display'd.

O prime enlightener! thou who gavest me strength

On the high triumph of Thy realm to gaze;

Grant virtue not to utter what I kenn'd.

There is in Heaven a light, whose goodly shine

Makes the Creator visible to all

Created, that in seeing Him alone

Have peace; and in a circle spreads so far,

That the circumference were too loose a zone

To girdle in the sun. All is one beam,

Reflected from the summit of the first,

That moves, which being hence and vigour takes.

And as some cliff, that from the bottom eyes

His image mirror'd in the crystal flood,

As if to admire his brave apparelling

Of verdure and of flowers; so, round about,

Eying the light, on more than million thrones,

Stood, eminent, whatever from our earth

Has to the skies return'd. How wide the leaves,

Extended to their utmost, of this rose,

Whose lowest step embosoms such a space

Of ample radiance! Yet, nor amplitude

Nor height impeded, but my view with ease

Took in the full dimensions of that joy.

Near or remote, what there avails, where God

Immediate rules, and Nature, awed, suspends

Her sway? Into the yellow of the rose

Perennial, which, in bright expansiveness,

Lays forth its gradual blooming, redolent

Of praises to the never-wintering sun,

As one, who fain would speak yet holds his peace,

Beatrice led me; and, “Behold,” she said,

“This fair assemblage; stoles of snowy white,

How numberless. The city, where we dwell,

Behold how vast; and these our seats so throng'd,

Few now are wanting here. In that proud stall,

On which, the crown, already o'er its state

Suspended, holds thine eyes—or e'er thyself

Mayst at the wedding sup—shall rest the soul

Of the great Harry,〖“Of the great Harry.” The Emperor Henry VII, who died in 1313. “Henry, Count of Luxemburg, held the imperial power three years, seven months and eighteen days from his first coronation to his death. He was a man wise, and just, and gracious; brave and intrepid in arms; a man of honor and a good catholic; and although by his lineage he was of no great condition, yet he was of a magnanimous heart, much feared and held in awe; and if he had lived longer, would have done the greatest things.” G. Villani.〗 he who, by the world

Augustus hail'd, to Italy must come,

Before her day be ripe. But ye are sick,

And in your tetchy wantonness as blind,

As is the bantling, that of hunger dies,

And drives away the nurse. Nor may it be,

That he,〖Clement V. See Canto xxvii. 53.〗 who in the sacred forum sways,

Openly or in secret, shall with him

Accordant walk: whom God will not endure

I' the holy office long; but thrust him down

To Simon Magus, where Alagna's priest〖“Alagna's priest.” Pope Boniface VIII. Hell, Canto xix. 79.〗

Will sink beneath him: such will be his meed.”

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