The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• The Trinity of Love
• Preface
• Paradiso I
• Paradiso Ii
• Paradiso Iii
• Paradiso Iv
• Paradiso V
• Paradiso Vi
• Paradiso Vii
• Paradiso Viii
• Paradiso Ix
• Paradiso X
• Paradiso Xi
• Paradiso Xii
• Paradiso Xiii
• Paradiso Xiv
• Paradiso Xv
• Paradiso Xvi
• Paradiso Xvii
• Paradiso Xviii
• Paradiso Xix
• Paradiso Xx
• Paradiso Xxi
• Paradiso Xxii
• Paradiso Xxiii
• Paradiso Xxiv
• Paradiso Xxv
• Paradiso Xxvi
• Paradiso Xxvii
• Paradiso Xxviii
• Paradiso Xxix
• Paradiso Xxx
• Paradiso Xxxi
• Paradiso Xxxii
• Paradiso Xxxiii

PARADISO XVIII

• That blessèd mirror was enjoying now
• its thoughts alone, and I was tasting mine,
• tempering their sweetness with their bitterness;
• when that same Lady who was leading me
• to God, said: “Change thy thought; recall that near
• I am to Who unburdens every wrong.”

• I turned me at my Comfort’s loving voice;
• and in her holy eyes what kind of love
• I then beheld, I here refrain from saying;
• not only since mine own words I distrust,
• but since my mind can not return so far
• above itself, unless Another guide it.

• This only of that moment can I tell,
• that my affection, while I gazed at her,
• was freed from longing for all other things,
• as long as Joy Eternal, which directly shone
• on Beatrice, with its reflected aspect
• was from her lovely face contenting me.

• Conquering me with the splendor of a smile,
• she said: “Turn round and hark; for Paradise
• is not exclusively within my eyes.”

• As our affection here is seen at times
• upon our countenance, if such it be
• that our whole spirit is thereby absorbed;
• so, in the flaming of the blest effulgence
• to whom I turned, I recognized his wish
• to have a little further talk with me.

• “In this fifth threshold of the Tree,” it then
• began, “which from its summit draws its life,
• always bears fruit, and never loses leaves,
• are blessèd spirits, who, before they came
• to Heaven, enjoyed so great a fame below,
• that every Muse would be thereby enriched.
• Gaze, therefore, at the Cross’s arms; and he,
• whom I shall name, will there perform the act,
• which in a cloud its own swift fire performs.”

• I saw a splendor drawn along the Cross
• at Joshua’s name, the moment it was uttered,
• nor did I note the name before the deed.
• And at great Maccabaeus’ name, I saw
• another spirit whirling as he moved;
• and gladness was the whip that turned the top.
• Likewise, at Charlemagne’s and Roland’s names,
• my gaze intently followed two of them,
• as doth a falconer’s eye his flying bird.
• Then William afterward, and Renoart,
• Duke Godfrey next, and Robert Guiscard drew
• my sight along that Cross. And then,

• moving and mingling with the other lights,
• the soul which had addressed me, showed how great
• an artist ’mong Heaven’s choristers he was.

• Round to my right I turned me to behold
• in Beatrice my duty, signified
• by speech or act;
• and I beheld her eyes
• so joyous and so clear, that what she seemed
• surpassed her other and her latest wont.

• And as, because of feeling more delight
• in doing good, a man from day to day
• perceiveth that his virtue is increasing;
• ev’n so, on seeing that that miracle
• was fairer now, I noticed that the arc
• of my revolving with the heavens had grown.

• And as within a little space of time
• a lady turneth white, whene’er her face
• rids itself of the burden of its shame;
• such to mine eyes the change, when I had turned,
• through the white color of the temperate
• sixth star, which had received me in itself.

• I saw within that Jovial torch of light
• the sparkling of the love contained in it,
• shaping our language forth before mine eyes;
• and even as birds on rising from the shore,
• as if in gratulation at the food they’ve found,
• form groups, now round, and now of other shapes;

• thus holy creatures in those lights were singing,
• as here and there they flew, and with their forms
• made of themselves now D, now I, now L.
• Each singing to its note, they moved at first;
• then, on becoming one of these same letters,
• they stopped a little while, and silent kept.

• O thou divine Pegàsean Muse, that glorious
• dost make men’s genius, and dost render it
• long-lived, as it through thee doth towns and realms,
• so shed thy light on me, that I may here
• describe their figures ev’n as I perceived them;
• in these brief verses let thy power appear!

• They then displayed themselves in consonants
• and vowels five times seven; and as their parts
• seemed to be said to me, I noted them.

• Diligite Justitiam were first verb
• and noun of all that was depicted there;
• Qui Judicatis Terram were the last.

• Then in the fifth word’s M they so remained
• arranged, that Jupiter seemed silver there
• pricked out with gold.
• And other lights I saw
• descend upon the summit of the M,
• and rest there, singing, I believe, the Good
• which draws them to Itself. Then, as when logs
• are struck while burning, endless sparks fly up,
• whence fools are wont to draw their auguries;

• more than a thousand lights appeared to rise,
• and upward move, some much, and some a little,
• even as the Sun, which setteth them on fire,
• allotted them; and when they quiet were,
• each in its place, an Eagle’s head and neck
• I saw portrayed by that outstanding fire.

• He who paints there hath none to be His guide,
• but is His own guide; and from Him derives
• the instinct which is formative in nests.

• The other blest ones, who at first appeared
• content to form a Lily on the M,
• went slowly on to shape the Eagle’s form.

• O gentle star, what and how many gems
• proved to me that our justice here results
• from that heaven’s influence which is gemmed by thee!
• I therefore pray the Mind, wherein thy motion
• and virtue start, that It may so regard
• the source, whence comes the smoke which spoils thy rays,
• that It may now a second time be wroth
• with sale and purchase in that temple’s court,
• whose walls were built with blood and martyrdom.

• O soldiers of the heaven I contemplate,
• pray ye for those that are on earth, all gone
• astray behind the bad example there!
• War was once carried on with swords; but now
• by taking here and there that bread away,
• the Pitying Father keepeth locked from none.

• But thou, that writest but to cancel, think
• that Peter and Paul, who for that vineyard died,
• which thou art laying waste, are still alive!
• Well mayst thou say: “So set is my desire
• on him, whose will it was to live alone,
• and for a dance was led to martyrdom,
• that I know neither Fisherman nor Paul.”