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 XXII

• Oppressed with stupor, to my Guide I turned,
• as would a little child who always runs
• for help to where he most confides; and she,
• as doth a mother who at once assists
• her pale and breathless offspring with her voice,
• whose wont is to assure him, said to me:

• “Knowest thou not that thou art now in Heaven?
• and know’st thou not that all of Heaven is holy,
• and that of good zeal cometh all done here?
• To what extent the song, as well as I
• by smiling, would have changed thee, thou canst now
• imagine, since the cry has shocked thee so;
• in it, if thou hadst understood its prayers,
• already were that vengeance known to thee,
• which thou shalt see before thou die. Our sword
• up here cuts nor in haste nor tardily,
• save as to one it seems, who waits for it
• with either apprehension or desire.

• But turn thyself around toward others now;
• for many illustrious spirits shalt thou see,
• if, as I tell thee, thou direct thine eyes.

• Mine eyes I then directed as she pleased,
• and saw a hundred little spheres which, gathering,
• by mutual rays each other fairer made.
• Like one I was, who checks within himself
• the goad of his desire, and dares not ask,
• so great his fear lest he may ask too much.

• The largest and most lustrous of those pearls
• came forward thereupon, to sate my wish
• concerning it.
• Within it then I heard:
• “If thou, as I do, couldst behold the love
• which burns among us here, thy thoughts would be
• expressed; but lest, by waiting, thou delay
• thy lofty aim, I’ll answer now the thought
• which causes thee to so restrain thyself.

• That mountain on whose slope Casino stands,
• was once frequented on its top by folk,
• who both deluded were and ill-disposed.
• And he am I, who first up yonder bore
• the name of Him, who carried down to earth
• the truth which here exalteth us so much;
• and such abundant grace upon me shone,
• that I withdrew the neighboring villages
• from that vain worship which seduced the world.
• These other fires were all contemplatives,
• men who were kindled by the heat which brings
• the flowers and fruits of holiness to birth.

• Here is Macarius, Romuald is here,
• and here are those my brethren, who remained
• in cloisters, and who steadfast kept their hearts.”

• And I to him: “The affection shown by thee,
• in talking with me, and the kindliness
• I see and note in all your burning flames,
• have opened wide my trust, even as the sun
• dilates the rose, whene’er its petals ope
• as widely as they can. Because of this
• I pray thee, father; do thou, then, inform me
• if I am worthy to receive such grace,
• as to behold thee with thy face unveiled.”

• Then “Brother,” he replied, “thy great desire
• in the last sphere above shall be fulfilled,
• where all thine others are, and mine as well.
• Every desire is perfect there, mature
• and whole; in that sphere only is each part
• where it has always been; for it is not
• in space, nor turns on poles, and up to it
• our Ladder reaches; and because of this
• it steals itself away beyond thy ken.
• Jacob, the patriarch, beheld it stretch
• thus far its upper portion, when of old
• laden with Angels it appeared to him.
• But from the earth, to climb it, no one now
• removes his feet, and my monastic rule
• remains but as a means of wasting paper.

• Walls which of old an abbey used to be,
• have now become the dens of thieves, and cowls
• are sacks now, filled with naught but wretched meal.
• But heavy usury doth not rebel
• against God’s will, as much as doth the fruit
• which renders so insane the hearts of monks;
• for, whatsoe’er the Church may hold in trust,
• is all for those that ask it in God’s name,
• and not for relatives, or what is worse.
• So soft the flesh of mortals is, that good
• beginnings do not last as long below,
• as from an oak’s until its acorn’s birth.
• Peter began with neither gold nor silver,
• and I, with prayers and fasts began my convent,
• as Francis, with humility, did his.
• And if thou look at each of these beginnings,
• and then consider whither each hath run,
• thou ’lt see that what was white hath turned to brown.
• Jordan turned backward, and the water fleeing
• when God so willed, were much more wonderful
• to see, in fact, than succor would be here.”

• He thus addressed me; to his company
• thereat returning, they together closed;
• then, like a whirlwind, all were upward rapt.

• The gentle Lady up that Ladder’s rounds
• urged me behind them by a sign alone,
• her virtue so o’ercame my natural weight;

• nor here below, where one goes up and down
• by natural law, was motion e’er so swift,
• as to be equal to my pinions’ flight.

• So may I, Reader, once again return
• to that celestial triumph, for whose sake
• I oft bewail my sins and smite my breast;
• thou hadst not drawn away and put thy finger
• as quickly into fire, as I beheld
• the sign which follows Taurus, and was in it.

• O glorious stars, O light, that pregnant art
• with mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge
• all of my genius, whatsoe’er it be;
• with you was born, and in your midst was hiding
• he who is father of all mortal life,
• when first I breathed the Tuscan air; and then,
• when grace had been bestowed upon me here
• to enter that high wheel which turns you round,
• your region was the one allotted me.
• To you my sighing soul devoutly prays,
• that it may now acquire the power it needs
• for that hard task, which draws her to itself.”

• “To Ultimate Salvation thou art now
• so near,” in answer Beatrice began,
• “that clear should be thine eyes, and keen their sight.
• Therefore, ere further thou in-it thyself,
• look downward, and behold how great a world
• I have already set beneath thy feet;

• so that thy heart, as joyous as it can,
• may show itself to that triumphant throng
• which happy comes through this ethereal sphere.”

• Then with my vision I returned through one
• and all seven spheres, and this globe I beheld
• such that its mean appearance made me smile;
• hence that opinion I approve as best
• which deems it least; and just may he
• be called, who sets his thought on something else.

• Latona’s daughter I enkindled saw
• without the shadow which was once the cause
• of my believing her both rare and dense.
• The countenance, Hyperion, of thy son
• I here sustained; and saw how near to him
• both Maia and Diòne round him move.
• And after this, the temperance of Jove
• appeared to me, between his son and sire;
• and clear the reason for their change of place.
• All seven of them were thus revealed to me,
• how great they are, how swift, and far apart
• in their abodes. The little threshing-floor
• which maketh us so fierce, was as a whole
• revealed to me, from hills to river-mouths,
• while I was circling with the eternal Twins.

• Back to the lovely eyes I then turned mine.