Unto the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, →
glory!”—all Paradise began, so that
the sweetness of the singing held me rapt.
4 What I saw seemed to me to be a smile
the universe had smiled; my rapture had
entered by way of hearing and of sight.
7 O joy! O gladness words can never speak!
O life perfected by both love and peace!
O richness so assured, that knows no longing!
10 Before my eyes, there stood, aflame, the four →
torches, and that which had been first to come
began to glow with greater radiance,
13 and what its image then became was like →
what Jupiter’s would be if Mars and he
were birds and had exchanged their plumages.
16 After the Providence that there assigns
to every office its appointed time
had, to those holy choirs, on every side,
19 commanded silence, I then heard: “If I
change color, do not be amazed, for as
I speak, you will see change in all these flames.
22 He who on earth usurps my place, my place, →
my place that in the sight of God’s own Son
is vacant now, has made my burial ground
25 a sewer of blood, a sewer of stench, so that
the perverse one who fell from Heaven, here →
above, can find contentment there below.”
28 Then I saw all the heaven colored by
the hue that paints the clouds at morning and
at evening, with the sun confronting them.
31 And like a woman who, although secure
in her own honesty, will pale on even
hearing about another woman’s failing,
34 just so did Beatrice change in appearance; →
and I believe that such eclipse was in
the sky when He, the Highest Power, suffered.
37 Then his words followed with a voice so altered
from what it was before—even his likeness
did not display a greater change than that.
40 “The Bride of Christ was never nurtured by →
my blood, and blood of Linus and of Cletus,
to be employed in gaining greater riches;
43 but to acquire this life of joyousness,
Sixtus and Pius, Urban and Calixtus, →
after much lamentation, shed their blood.
46 We did not want one portion of Christ’s people →
to sit at the right side of our successors,
while, on the left, the other portion sat,
49 nor did we want the keys that were consigned →
to me, to serve as an escutcheon on
a banner that waged war against the baptized;
52 nor did we want my form upon a seal
for trafficking in lying privileges—
for which I often blush and flash with anger.
55 From here on high one sees rapacious wolves
clothed in the cloaks of shepherds. You, the vengeance →
of God, oh, why do you still lie concealed?
58 The Gascons and the Cahorsines—they both →
prepare to drink our blood: o good beginning,
to what a miserable end you fall!
61 But that high Providence which once preserved, →
with Scipio, the glory of the world
for Rome, will soon bring help, as I conceive;
64 and you, my son, who through your mortal weight →
will yet return below, speak plainly there,
and do not hide that which I do not hide.”
67 As, when the horn of heaven’s Goat abuts →
the sun, our sky flakes frozen vapors downward,
so did I see that ether there adorned;
70 for from that sphere, triumphant vapors now
were flaking up to the Empyrean—
returning after dwelling here with us.
73 My sight was following their semblances—
until the space between us grew so great
as to deny my eyes all farther reach.
76 At this, my lady, seeing me set free
from gazing upward, told me: “Let your eyes
look down and see how far you have revolved.”
79 I saw that, from the time when I looked down →
before, I had traversed all of the arc
of the first clime, from its midpoint to end,
82 so that, beyond Cadiz, I saw Ulysses’
mad course and, to the east, could almost see
that shoreline where Europa was sweet burden.
85 I should have seen more of this threshing floor →
but for the motion of the sun beneath
my feet: it was a sign and more away.
88 My mind, enraptured, always longing for
my lady gallantly, was burning more
than ever for my eyes’ return to her;
91 and if—by means of human flesh or portraits—
nature or art has fashioned lures to draw
the eye so as to grip the mind, all these
94 would seem nothing if set beside the godly
beauty that shone upon me when I turned
to see the smiling face of Beatrice.
97 The powers that her gaze now granted me →
drew me out of the lovely nest of Leda
and thrust me into heaven’s swiftest sphere.
100 Its parts were all so equally alive
and excellent, that I cannot say which
place Beatrice selected for my entry.
103 But she, who saw what my desire was—
her smile had so much gladness that within
her face there seemed to be God’s joy—began:
106 “The nature of the universe, which holds
the center still and moves all else around it,
begins here as if from its turning-post.
109 This heaven has no other where than this:
the mind of God, in which are kindled both
the love that turns it and the force it rains.
112 As in a circle, light and love enclose it,
as it surrounds the rest—and that enclosing,
only He who encloses understands.
115 No other heaven measures this sphere’s motion, →
but it serves as the measure for the rest,
even as half and fifth determine ten;
118 and now it can be evident to you
how time has roots within this vessel and,
within the other vessels, has its leaves.
121 O greediness, you who—within your depths— →
cause mortals to sink so, that none is left
able to lift his eyes above your waves!
124 The will has a good blossoming in men;
but then the never-ending downpours turn
the sound plums into rotten, empty skins.
127 For innocence and trust are to be found
only in little children; then they flee
even before a full beard cloaks the cheeks.
130 One, for as long as he still lisps, will fast,
but when his tongue is free at last, he gorges,
devouring any food through any month;
133 and one, while he still lisps, will love and heed
his mother, but when he acquires speech
more fully, he will long to see her buried.
136 Just so, white skin turns black when it is struck
by direct light—the lovely daughter of
the one who brings us dawn and leaves us evening.
139 That you not be amazed at what I say,
consider this: on earth no king holds sway; →
therefore, the family of humans strays.
142 But well before a thousand years have passed →
(and January is unwintered by
day’s hundredth part, which they neglect below),
145 this high sphere shall shine so, that Providence,
long waited for, will turn the sterns to where
the prows now are, so that the fleet runs straight;