Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Paradise

Part 1

The Divine Comedy

of Dante Alighieri

Translated by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

PARADISO

Contents

I. The Ascent to the First Heaven. The Sphere of Fire. II. The First Heaven, the Moon: Spirits who, having taken Sacred Vows, were forced to violate them. The Lunar Spots. III. Piccarda Donati and the Empress Constance. IV. Questionings of the Soul and of Broken Vows. V. Discourse of Beatrice on Vows and Compensations. Ascent to the Second Heaven, Mercury: Spirits who for the Love of Fame achieved great Deeds. VI. Justinian. The Roman Eagle. The Empire. Romeo. VII. Beatrice’s Discourse of the Crucifixion, the Incarnation, the Immortality of the Soul, and the Resurrection of the Body. VIII. Ascent to the Third Heaven, Venus: Lovers. Charles Martel. Discourse on diverse Natures. IX. Cunizza da Romano, Folco of Marseilles, and Rahab. Neglect of the Holy Land. X. The Fourth Heaven, the Sun: Theologians and Fathers of the Church. The First Circle. St. Thomas of Aquinas. XI. St. Thomas recounts the Life of St. Francis. Lament over the State of the Dominican Order. XII. St. Buonaventura recounts the Life of St. Dominic. Lament over the State of the Franciscan Order. The Second Circle. XIII. Of the Wisdom of Solomon. St. Thomas reproaches Dante’s Judgement. XIV. The Third Circle. Discourse on the Resurrection of the Flesh. The Fifth Heaven, Mars: Martyrs and Crusaders who died fighting for the true Faith. The Celestial Cross. XV. Cacciaguida. Florence in the Olden Time. XVI. Dante’s Noble Ancestry. Cacciaguida’s Discourse of the Great Florentines. XVII. Cacciaguida’s Prophecy of Dante’s Banishment. XVIII. The Sixth Heaven, Jupiter: Righteous Kings and Rulers. The Celestial Eagle. Dante’s Invectives against ecclesiastical Avarice. XIX. The Eagle discourses of Salvation, Faith, and Virtue. Condemnation of the vile Kings of A.D. 1300. XX. The Eagle praises the Righteous Kings of old. Benevolence of the Divine Will. XXI. The Seventh Heaven, Saturn: The Contemplative. The Celestial Stairway. St. Peter Damiano. His Invectives against the Luxury of the Prelates. XXII. St. Benedict. His Lamentation over the Corruption of Monks. The Eighth Heaven, the Fixed Stars. XXIII. The Triumph of Christ. The Virgin Mary. The Apostles. Gabriel. XXIV. The Radiant Wheel. St. Peter examines Dante on Faith. XXV. The Laurel Crown. St. James examines Dante on Hope. Dante’s Blindness. XXVI. St. John examines Dante on Charity. Dante’s Sight. Adam. XXVII. St. Peter’s reproof of bad Popes. The Ascent to the Ninth Heaven, the ‘Primum Mobile.’ XXVIII. God and the Angelic Hierarchies. XXIX. Beatrice’s Discourse of the Creation of the Angels, and of the Fall of Lucifer. Her Reproof of Foolish and Avaricious Preachers. XXX. The Tenth Heaven, or Empyrean. The River of Light. The Two Courts of Heaven. The White Rose of Paradise. The great Throne. XXXI. The Glory of Paradise. Departure of Beatrice. St. Bernard. XXXII. St. Bernard points out the Saints in the White Rose. XXXIII. Prayer to the Virgin. The Threefold Circle of the Trinity. Mystery of the Divine and Human Nature. APPENDIX

Paradiso: Canto I

The glory of Him who moveth everything Doth penetrate the universe, and shine In one part more and in another less.

Within that heaven which most his light receives Was I, and things beheld which to repeat Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends;

Because in drawing near to its desire Our intellect ingulphs itself so far, That after it the memory cannot go.

Truly whatever of the holy realm I had the power to treasure in my mind Shall now become the subject of my song.

O good Apollo, for this last emprise Make of me such a vessel of thy power As giving the beloved laurel asks!

One summit of Parnassus hitherto Has been enough for me, but now with both I needs must enter the arena left.

Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his.

O power divine, lend’st thou thyself to me So that the shadow of the blessed realm Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,

Thou’lt see me come unto thy darling tree, And crown myself thereafter with those leaves Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.

So seldom, Father, do we gather them For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet, (The fault and shame of human inclinations,)

That the Peneian foliage should bring forth Joy to the joyous Delphic deity, When any one it makes to thirst for it.

A little spark is followed by great flame; Perchance with better voices after me Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond!

To mortal men by passages diverse Uprises the world’s lamp; but by that one Which circles four uniteth with three crosses,

With better course and with a better star Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion.

Almost that passage had made morning there And evening here, and there was wholly white That hemisphere, and black the other part,

When Beatrice towards the left-hand side I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun; Never did eagle fasten so upon it!

And even as a second ray is wont To issue from the first and reascend, Like to a pilgrim who would fain return,

Thus of her action, through the eyes infused In my imagination, mine I made, And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont.

There much is lawful which is here unlawful Unto our powers, by virtue of the place Made for the human species as its own.

Not long I bore it, nor so little while But I beheld it sparkle round about Like iron that comes molten from the fire;

And suddenly it seemed that day to day Was added, as if He who has the power Had with another sun the heaven adorned.

Part 2

With eyes upon the everlasting wheels Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her Fixing my vision from above removed,

Such at her aspect inwardly became As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him Peer of the other gods beneath the sea.

To represent transhumanise in words Impossible were; the example, then, suffice Him for whom Grace the experience reserves.

If I was merely what of me thou newly Createdst, Love who governest the heaven, Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light!

When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal Desiring thee, made me attentive to it By harmony thou dost modulate and measure,

Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled By the sun’s flame, that neither rain nor river E’er made a lake so widely spread abroad.

The newness of the sound and the great light Kindled in me a longing for their cause, Never before with such acuteness felt;

Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself, To quiet in me my perturbed mind, Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask,

And she began: “Thou makest thyself so dull With false imagining, that thou seest not What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.

Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest; But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site, Ne’er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest.”

If of my former doubt I was divested By these brief little words more smiled than spoken, I in a new one was the more ensnared;

And said: “Already did I rest content From great amazement; but am now amazed In what way I transcend these bodies light.”

Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh, Her eyes directed tow’rds me with that look A mother casts on a delirious child;

And she began: “All things whate’er they be Have order among themselves, and this is form, That makes the universe resemble God.

Here do the higher creatures see the footprints Of the Eternal Power, which is the end Whereto is made the law already mentioned.

In the order that I speak of are inclined All natures, by their destinies diverse, More or less near unto their origin;

Hence they move onward unto ports diverse O’er the great sea of being; and each one With instinct given it which bears it on.

This bears away the fire towards the moon; This is in mortal hearts the motive power This binds together and unites the earth.

Nor only the created things that are Without intelligence this bow shoots forth, But those that have both intellect and love.

The Providence that regulates all this Makes with its light the heaven forever quiet, Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste.

And thither now, as to a site decreed, Bears us away the virtue of that cord Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark.

True is it, that as oftentimes the form Accords not with the intention of the art, Because in answering is matter deaf,

So likewise from this course doth deviate Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses, Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way,

(In the same wise as one may see the fire Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus Earthward is wrested by some false delight.

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