If in the fire of love I seem to flame →
beyond the measure visible on earth,
so that I overcome your vision’s force,
4 you need not wonder; I am so because
of my perfected vision—as I grasp →
the good, so I approach the good in act.
7 Indeed I see that in your intellect
now shines the never-ending light; once seen, →
that light, alone and always, kindles love;
10 and if a lesser thing allure your love, →
it is a vestige of that light which—though
imperfectly—gleams through that lesser thing.
13 You wish to know if, through a righteous act, →
one can repair a promise unfulfilled,
so that the soul and God are reconciled.”
16 So Beatrice began this canto, and
as one who does not interrupt her speech,
so did her holy reasoning proceed:
19 “The greatest gift the magnanimity →
of God, as He created, gave, the gift
most suited to His goodness, gift that He
22 most prizes, was the freedom of the will;
those beings that have intellect—all these →
and none but these—received and do receive
25 this gift: thus you may draw, as consequence, →
the high worth of a vow, when what is pledged
with your consent encounters God’s consent;
28 for when a pact is drawn between a man
and God, then through free will, a man gives up
what I have called his treasure, his free will.
31 What, then, can be a fitting compensation?
To use again what you had offered, would →
mean seeking to do good with ill-got gains.
34 By now you understand the major point;
but since the Holy Church gives dispensations— →
which seems in contrast with the truth I stated—
37 you need to sit at table somewhat longer: →
the food that you have taken was tough food—
it still needs help, if you are to digest it.
40 Open your mind to what I shall disclose,
and hold it fast within you; he who hears,
but does not hold what he has heard, learns nothing.
43 Two things are of the essence when one vows
a sacrifice: the matter of the pledge →
and then the formal compact one accepts. →
46 This last can never be annulled until
the compact is fulfilled: it is of this
that I have spoken to you so precisely.
49 Therefore, the Hebrews found it necessary →
to bring their offerings, although—as you
must know—some of their offerings might be altered.
52 As for the matter of the vow—discussed
above—it may be such that if one shifts
to other matter, one commits no sin.
55 But let none shift the burden on his shoulder →
through his own judgment, without waiting for
the turning of the white and yellow keys;
58 and let him see that any change is senseless, →
unless the thing one sets aside can be
contained in one’s new weight, as four in six.
61 Thus, when the matter of a vow has so →
much weight and worth that it tips every scale,
no other weight can serve as substitute.
64 Let mortals never take a vow in jest;
be faithful and yet circumspect, not rash →
as Jephthah was, in offering his first gift;
67 he should have said, ‘I did amiss,’ and not →
done worse by keeping faith. And you can find
that same stupidity in the Greeks’ chief— →
70 when her fair face made Iphigenia grieve
and made the wise and made the foolish weep →
for her when they heard tell of such a rite.
73 Christians, proceed with greater gravity: →
do not be like a feather at each wind,
nor think that all immersions wash you clean. →
76 You have both Testaments, the Old and New,
you have the shepherd of the Church to guide you; →
you need no more than this for your salvation.
79 If evil greed would summon you elsewhere,
be men, and not like sheep gone mad, so that →
the Jew who lives among you not deride you! →
82 Do not act like the foolish, wanton lamb →
that leaves its mother’s milk and, heedless, wants
to war against—and harm—its very self!”
85 These words of Beatrice I here transcribe;
and then she turned—her longing at the full—
to where the world is more alive with light. →
88 Her silence and the change in her appearance
imposed a silence on my avid mind,
which now was ready to address new questions;
91 and even as an arrow that has struck
the mark before the bow-cord comes to rest,
so did we race to reach the second realm. →
94 When she had passed into that heaven’s light,
I saw my lady filled with so much gladness
that, at her joy, the planet grew more bright. →
97 And if the planet changed and smiled, what then
did I—who by my very nature am
given to every sort of change—become?
100 As in a fish-pool that is calm and clear,
the fish draw close to anything that nears
from outside, if it seems to be their fare,
103 such were the far more than a thousand splendors
I saw approaching us, and each declared:
“Here now is one who will increase our loves.” →
106 And even as each shade approached, one saw, →
because of the bright radiance it sent forth,
the joyousness with which that shade was filled.
109 Consider, reader, what your misery
and need to know still more would be if, at
this point, what I began did not go on;
112 and you will—unassisted—feel how I
longed so to hear those shades narrate their state
as soon as they appeared before my eyes.
115 “O you born unto gladness, whom God’s grace →
allows to see the thrones of the eternal →
triumph before your war of life is ended, →
118 the light that kindles us is that same light →
which spreads through all of heaven; thus, if you
would know us, sate yourself as you may please.”
121 So did one of those pious spirits speak
to me. And Beatrice then urged: “Speak, speak
confidently; trust them as you trust gods.” →
124 “I see—plainly—how you have nested in →
your own light; see—you draw it from your eyes—
because it glistens even as you smile;
127 but I do not know who you are or why,
good soul, your rank is in a sphere concealed →
from mortals by another planet’s rays.” →
130 I said this as I stood turned toward the light
that first addressed me; and at this, it glowed
more radiantly than it had before.
133 Just as the sun, when heat has worn away
thick mists that moderate its rays, conceals
itself from sight through an excess of light,