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 XXI

• And now mine eyes upon my Lady’s face
• were fixed again, and therewithal my mind,
• which from all other objects had withdrawn.
• Nor was she smiling then; but: “Should I smile,”
• she said, addressing me, “like Sèmelë
• wouldst thou become, when she to ashes turned;
• because my beauty, which along the stairs
• of this eternal palace brighter burns,
• as thou hast seen, the higher we ascend,
• is so resplendent that thy mortal strength
• at its effulgence, were it not restrained,
• would be as is a bough which lightning rends.

• Up to the seventh splendor we are raised,
• which now beneath the burning Lion’s breast
• is raying downward mingled with his strength.
• Intently fix thy mind behind thine eyes,
• and cause them to be mirrors of the figure
• which in this mirror will appear to thee.”

• He that should know what, in the blessèd face,
• the nature of my vision’s pasture was,
• when I transferred me to another care,

• would know, since one
• was outweighed by the other,
• how gladly I obeyed my heavenly Guide.

• Within the crystal which, as round the world
• it whirls, bears its illustrious leader’s name,
• under whose rule all wickedness lay dead,
• colored like gold whereon a sun-beam shone,
• a Ladder I beheld, which so high up
• ascended, that my eye pursued it not.

• I saw, moreover, coming down its steps
• so many glowing splendors, that I thought
• that every star seen shining in the sky
• had been poured out of it. And even as daws,
• as is their natural wont, when day begins,
• together move to warm their chilly plumes;
• and then without returning some fly off,
• and some go back to whence they started first,
• while others, whirling in a circle, stay;
• such was, it seemed to me, the fashion here
• within the sparkling throng which came together,
• whene’er they met upon a certain round;
• and that which nearest to me there remained,
• became so bright, that in my thoughts I said:
• “I clearly see the love thou showest me.”

• But she, whence I await the how and when
• of silence and of speech, keeps still; hence I,
• against my will, do well by asking naught.

• She, thereupon, who in the sight of Him
• who seeth everything, my silence saw,
• said unto me: “Appease thy warm desire!”

• And I began: “My merit doth not make me
• worthy of thy reply; but, for the sake
• of her who granteth me the right to ask,
• make known to me, blest life that art concealed
• in thine own joy, the cause which draweth thee
• so closely to my side; and tell me why
• that gentle symphony of Paradise
• is silent in this wheel, which down below
• sounds so devoutly through the other spheres.”

• “Thy hearing is as mortal as thy sight;”
• it answered me; “there is no singing here
• because of that which hinders Beatrice
• from smiling. Down the holy Ladder’s steps
• have I so far descended, but to give thee
• a welcome with my words and with the light
• which mantles me; nor hath a greater love
• caused me to be more ready; for as much
• or more love burns up yonder, as those flames
• reveal to thee; but that great charity
• which makes us ready servants of the Counsel
• which rules the world, allots here, as thou seest.”

• “I well perceive, O holy lamp,” said I,
• “hòw that free love is in this court enough
• for following the Eternal Providence;

• but this is what seems hard for me to see,
• why thou alone among thy consorts here
• predestinated wert for just this task.”

• No sooner had I come to my last word,
• than, like a rapid millstone whirling round,
• the light had of its middle made its center;
• and then the love within it answered me:

• “Piercing the light wherein I’m here embosomed,
• a ray of light divine upon me falls,
• whose virtue, as it mingles with my sight,
• so lifts me o’er myself, that I behold
• that Highest Essence whence it emanates.
• Hence comes the joy with which I’m flaming now,
• for with my sight, as far as it is clear,
• I equalize the clearness of my flame.

• And yet the most enlightened soul in Heaven,
• the Seraph who hath eyes most fixed on God,
• would not avail to satisfy thy question;
• for what thou askest plumbeth so the depths
• of God’s eternal statute, that from all
• created vision it is cut away.

• And to the mortal world, on thy return,
• carry this charge, that it presume no more
• to move its feet toward such a distant goal.
• The mind which shineth here, on earth is smoky;
• consider, hence, how it can do down there
• what, though assumed to Heaven, it cannot do.”

• So all-conclusive were his words to me,
• that, giving up the question, I confined me
• to asking humbly of him who he was.

• “’Tween Italy’s two seashores cliffs arise,
• not very far from thine own native place,
• so high, that thunders peal much lower down;
• and form a lofty ridge called Càtria,
• ’neath which a hermitage is consecrate,
• whose wont to worship only gives it up.”

• He thus began for me his third address,
• and then, continuing, said: “To serving God
• I there became so steadfastly devoted,
• that, feeding upon olive juice alone,
• I readily endured both heat and cold,
• and was with thoughts contemplative content.

• That cloister’s wont it was to yield these heavens
• abundant fruit; but it hath now become
• so empty, that its state must soon be known.
• In that place I was known as Peter Damian;
• and Sinning Peter in Our Lady’s House
• I was, upon the Adriatic shore.
• But little mortal life remained to me,
• when I was sought, and forced to take the hat,
• which always passes on from bad to worse.

• Lean and barefooted Cephas came, and then,
• the Holy Spirit’s mighty Vessel came,
• eating the food of any hostelry;

• our modern shepherds now on either side
• need help to prop them, help — they weigh so much! —
• to guide, and help to hold them up behind.
• They cover so their palfreys with their cloaks,
• that two beasts walk beneath a single hide.
• O Patience, that dost tolerate so much!”

• More flamelets at these words I saw descend
• from step to step, and whirl; and every whirl
• caused each of them to grow more beautiful;
• and round this flame they came, and having stopped,
• uttered so deep a cry, that none could here
• resemble it; nor did I understand
• its words; its thunder overcame me so.