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 XXIV

• “O Fellowship elected to the banquet
• of that Blest Lamb, who feedeth you so well,
• that ever sated is your appetite;
• since, by the grace of God, this man enjoys
• a foretaste of what falleth from your table,
• or ever death have set his time for him,
• heed his immense desire, and on him shed
• a little of your dew! Ye from the Source
• forever drink, whence cometh what he thinks.”

• Thus Beatrice; thereat those happy spirits
• arranged themselves in spheres on steady poles,
• emitting brilliant flames, as comets do.
• And ev’n as wheels within the works of clocks
• so turn, for one who heeds them, that the first
• seems quiet, while the last appears to fly;
• even so, since at a different speed they whirled,
• those carol-dances, whether swift or slow,
• permitted me to estimate their wealth.

• From that one which I deemed of greatest beauty,
• I saw a fire so happy issue forth,
• that none it left of greater brightness there;

• then around Beatrice it turned three times
• with so divine a song, that even my fancy
• repeats it not for me; and so my pen
• takes a leap forward, and I write it not;
• for our imagination, much more speech,
• too bright a color is to paint such folds.

• “O holy sister mine, who so devoutly
• dost pray to us, thou, by thine ardent love,
• withdrawest me from yonder lovely sphere.”
• When once at rest again, that blessèd fire
• turned toward my Lady with his voice, which spoke
• as I have said. And she replied to him:

• “O thou eternal life of that great man,
• to whom of this great joy our Lord bequeathed
• the Keys which He brought down; test thou this man
• as pleases thee, on questions light and grave
• pertaining to the Faith, which formerly
• enabled thee to walk upon the sea.
• If well he love, well hope, and well believe,
• is not concealed from thee, because thy sight
• is thither turned where all is seen depicted;
• but since this Realm hath through the true Faith won
• its citizens, ’t is well that, to its glory,
• it should befall him now to speak of it.”

• Even as a bachelor equips himself
• — nor speaks, until the master states the question —
• to furnish proofs, but not decide the same;

• so I, while she was speaking, armed myself,
• with every proof, that I might ready be
• for such a questioner, and such confession.

• “Speak now, good Christian, and declare thyself;
• What, then, is Faith?” Thereat I raised my brow
• toward the bright light from which these words were breathed;
• and then I turned around toward Beatrice,
• and she by rapid signals bade me pour
• the water forth from my internal fount.

• “The Grace which grants that I confess myself
• before the first Centurion,” I began,
• “cause my conceptions to be well expressed.”
• And I continued: “As the truthful pen
• of thy dear brother, Father, who with thee
• set Rome upon the right way, wrote of it,
• Faith is the substance of the hoped for things,
• and the evidence of those that are not seen;
• this seems to me its essence.” Then I heard:

• “Thou thinkest right, if well thou understand
• why with the substances he placed it first,
• and with the evidences afterward.”

• Thereat I answered: “Those deep truths which here
• are freely making themselves known to me,
• from eyes down yonder are so far concealed,
• that their existence lies in Faith alone,
• and thereupon the lofty Hope is based;
• it, therefore, takes the nature of a substance;

• and from this Faith one needs must syllogize
• without the help of any other sight; it, therefore,
• assumes the nature of an evidence.”

• And then I heard: “If thus were understood
• all that for doctrine is acquired below,
• there ’d be no room there for the sophist’s mind.”

• These words were breathed from that enkindled love,
• which added then: “Already have this coin’s
• alloy and weight been very well examined;
• but tell me if thou hast it in thy purse.”

• I, therefore: “Yes, so shining and so round,
• that nothing in its coinage makes me doubt.”

• Then issued from the deep light shining there:
• “Whence did this precious jewel come to thee,
• whereon all virtues else are based?” And I:

• “The abundant showers of the Holy Spirit,
• outpoured upon the parchments old and new,
• a syllogism have formed,
• which prove it true
• so clearly to me, that, all other proofs
• seem inconclusive when compared with it.

• “The Ancient Premise and the New,” I then
• heard asked, “which so conclusive are to thee,
• why dost thou take them for the word of God?”

• And I: “The proof which showeth me the truth,
• are those great works which followed, works for which
• Nature ne’er heated iron, nor anvil smote.”

• Then I was answered: “Say what makes thee sure
• that those works e’er occurred? The very thing
• which calls for proof, none other, tells thee so.”

• “If to Christianity the world was turned,”
• I said, “unhelped by miracles, then this
• is such, that not a hundredth are the rest;
• for thou didst poor and fasting go afield,
• to sow the goodly plant, which was of old
• a vine, and now has turned into a thorn.”

• This ending thus, the high and holy Court
• resounded through the spheres a “God we praise!”
• sung to the melody they sing up there.

• That Baron then, who thus from branch to branch
• had tested me, and now had led me on,
• until the final leaves were drawing near,
• began again: “The Grace which with thy mind
• holds loving converse, hitherto hath oped
• thy mouth as it should be; hence I approve
• of that which it hath uttered; but it now
• behooves thee say what thou believest in,
• and whence it has been offered to thy faith.”

• “O holy father, spirit that dost now
• behold what thou didst so believe, that thou
• didst outrun toward the tomb far younger feet,”
• I thus began, “thou ’dst have me now reveal
• the essential part of my sincere belief,
• and thou dost also ask the cause of it.

• And I reply: In One God I believe,
• Sole and Eternal, who, Himself unmoved,
• moves all the heavens with Love and with Desire;
• and I, for so believing, have not only
• proofs physical and metaphysical,
• but that truth also yieldeth me its proof,
• which hence rains down through Moses, psalms and prophets,
• and through the Gospel, and through you, who wrote
• after the Flaming Spirit made you shepherds.

• And I believe in three Eternal Persons,
• and these to be one Essence, so both one
• and trine, that they can be conjoined by are and is.

• Of the divine profound estate whereto
• I now refer, the teaching of the Gospel
• sets many times the seal upon my mind.
• This is the fountain-head, and this the spark,
• which after spreads into a living flame,
• and in me glows, as stars do in the sky.”

• As when a lord, hearing what pleases him,
• rejoices in the news his servant brings,
• and takes him to his arms, when he is silent;
• so, giving me his blessing as he sang,
• that Apostolic light, at whose command
• I spoke, when I had ceased, thrice girdled me;
• so greatly had I pleased him by my words.