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Paradiso
Canto 29
Translated by Robert Hollander
1 When the two offspring of Latona,
2 one covered by the Ram, one by the Scales,
3 together make a belt of the horizon
4 for the moment that the zenith
5 holds them balanced, until each of them,
6 in changing hemispheres, unbalances that belt,
7 for just that long, her face lit by a smile,
8 Beatrice was silent, staring intently
9 at the point that overcame me.
10 Then she began: 'I tell, I do not ask,
11 what you would like to hear. For I have seen it there
12 where every ubi and every quando has its center.
13 'Not to increase His store of goodness,
14 a thing impossible, but that His splendor,
15 shining back, might say Subsisto,
16 'in His eternity, beyond time, beyond
17 any other limit, as it pleased Him,
18 in these new loves, Eternal Love unfolded.
19 'Nor, before then, did He rest in torpor,
20 for until God moved upon these waters
21 there existed no "before," there was no "after."
22 'Form and matter, conjoined and separate,
23 came into being without defect,
24 shot like three arrows from a three-stringed bow.
25 'And, as a ray shines right through glass, amber,
26 or crystal, so that between its presence
27 and its shining there is no lapse of time,
28 'just so did the threefold creation flash --
29 with no intervals in its beginning --
30 from its Lord into being, all at once.
31 'With it, order was created and ordained
32 for the angels, and these were the summit
33 of the universe, for in them God produced pure act.
34 'Pure potential held the lowest place.
35 Between them, potential and act were held together
36 by such a bond as may not be unbound.
37 'Jerome's writing tells you all the angels
38 were created many centuries before
39 the rest of the universe came into being.
40 'Yet the scribes of the Holy Ghost declare
41 the truth on many pages,
42 as you shall find on searching with some care.
43 'And even reason sees it, in some measure,
44 for it would not grant that the movers of the heavens
45 should remain so long without becoming perfect.
46 'Now you know both where and when these loving spirits
47 were created, and you know how, as well.
48 And thus three flames of your desire have been quenched.
49 'Then, sooner than one might count to twenty,
50 one band of angels had disturbed
51 the lowest of your elements.
52 'The other band remained and gave itself
53 with such abandon to this task, which you behold,
54 that never does it cease its circling motion.
55 'The cause accounting for the fall
56 was the accursèd pride of him you saw
57 crushed beneath the weight of all the world.
58 'These whom you observe here all were humble,
59 acknowledging the Goodness that had made them fit
60 to be endowed with an intelligence so vast.
61 'Thus their vision was exalted
62 by illuminating grace, along with their own merit,
63 so that theirs is a will both whole and steadfast.
64 'And I would not have you doubt, but rather be assured,
65 that there is merit in receiving grace
66 in measure as the heart inclines to it.
67 'Henceforth, if you have understood my words,
68 you may examine anything you like
69 in this assembly without need of aid.
70 'But since in schools on earth you still are taught
71 that the angelic nature is possessed
72 of understanding, memory, and will,
73 'I will continue, so that you clearly see
74 how truth is made unclear down there
75 by such equivocation in its teaching.
76 'These angelic beings, since they first rejoiced
77 in the face of God, from which nothing may be hidden,
78 have never turned their eyes away from it,
79 'so that their sight is never interrupted
80 by some new object. And thus they have no need
81 to search the past for some forgotten construct.
82 'Thus down there men are dreaming while they wake,
83 believing that they speak the truth. And those
84 who don't believe so share the greater guilt and shame.
85 'Down there, when you philosophize, you fail
86 to follow one true path, so does the love of show
87 preoccupy your mind and carry you away,
88 'and even this is tolerated here
89 with less wrath than when holy Scripture
90 is neglected or its doctrines are mistaught.
91 'There is no thought among you of the blood it costs
92 to sow the world with it, or how acceptable he is
93 who humbly makes his way to it.
94 'Each strives to gain attention by inventing new ideas,
95 expounded by the preachers at some length --
96 but the Gospel remains silent.
97 'One says that at Christ's passion the moon turned back
98 and interposed itself in such a way
99 the sun's light did not reach below.
100 'He lies, for the light chose to hide itself.
101 And therefore Spaniards and Indians,
102 as well as Jews, could all see that eclipse take place.
103 'Florence has not as many named Lapo and Bindo
104 as it has tales like these that are proclaimed
105 from the pulpit, here and there, throughout the year,
106 'so that the ignorant flocks return from feeding
107 fed on wind. And that they fail
108 to see their loss does not excuse them.
109 'Christ did not say to His first congregation:
110 "Go preach idle nonsense to the world,"
111 but gave to them a sound foundation.
112 'And that alone resounded from their lips,
113 so that, in their warfare to ignite the faith,
114 they used the Gospel as their shield and lance.
115 'Now preachers ply their trade with buffoonery and jokes,
116 their cowls inflating if they get a laugh,
117 and the people ask for nothing more.
118 'But such a bird nests in their hoods
119 that, if the people saw it, they would see
120 the kind of pardoning to which they give their trust.
121 'Because of these such foolishness has grown on earth
122 that, with no warrant vouching for its truth,
123 they still would flock to any promise.
124 'On this Saint Anthony fattens his swine,
125 along with many others who are still more swinish,
126 repaying them with unstamped coin.
127 'But, since we have digressed enough,
128 now turn your eyes to the true road again,
129 that the way may be made shorter -- and the time.
130 'The angelic host mounts by degrees
131 to such high numbers, no mortal speech or thought
132 could ever count so far,
133 'and, if you consider what Daniel reveals,
134 you shall see that in his many thousands
135 a finite number stays concealed.
136 'The Primal Light that irradiates them all
137 is received by them in just as many ways
138 as there are splendors joined with It.
139 'Therefore, since affection follows
140 the act of conceiving, love's sweetness glows
141 with differing radiance, more brightly or subdued.
142 'See now the height and breadth of the Eternal Worth,
143 one light, which shines dispersed among
144 so many mirrors yet remains
145 in Itself one, just as It was before.'
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