Part 11

And when the tooth of Lombardy had bitten The Holy Church, then underneath its wings Did Charlemagne victorious succor her.

Now hast thou power to judge of such as those Whom I accused above, and of their crimes, Which are the cause of all your miseries.

To the public standard one the yellow lilies Opposes, the other claims it for a party, So that ’tis hard to see which sins the most.

Let, let the Ghibellines ply their handicraft Beneath some other standard; for this ever Ill follows he who it and justice parts.

And let not this new Charles e’er strike it down, He and his Guelfs, but let him fear the talons That from a nobler lion stripped the fell.

Already oftentimes the sons have wept The father’s crime; and let him not believe That God will change His scutcheon for the lilies.

This little planet doth adorn itself With the good spirits that have active been, That fame and honour might come after them;

And whensoever the desires mount thither, Thus deviating, must perforce the rays Of the true love less vividly mount upward.

But in commensuration of our wages With our desert is portion of our joy, Because we see them neither less nor greater.

Herein doth living Justice sweeten so Affection in us, that for evermore It cannot warp to any iniquity.

Voices diverse make up sweet melodies; So in this life of ours the seats diverse Render sweet harmony among these spheres;

And in the compass of this present pearl Shineth the sheen of Romeo, of whom The grand and beauteous work was ill rewarded.

But the Provencals who against him wrought, They have not laughed, and therefore ill goes he Who makes his hurt of the good deeds of others.

Four daughters, and each one of them a queen, Had Raymond Berenger, and this for him Did Romeo, a poor man and a pilgrim;

And then malicious words incited him To summon to a reckoning this just man, Who rendered to him seven and five for ten.

Then he departed poor and stricken in years, And if the world could know the heart he had, In begging bit by bit his livelihood,

Though much it laud him, it would laud him more.”

Paradiso: Canto VII

“Osanna sanctus Deus Sabaoth, Superillustrans claritate tua Felices ignes horum malahoth!”

In this wise, to his melody returning, This substance, upon which a double light Doubles itself, was seen by me to sing,

And to their dance this and the others moved, And in the manner of swift-hurrying sparks Veiled themselves from me with a sudden distance.

Doubting was I, and saying, “Tell her, tell her,” Within me, “tell her,” saying, “tell my Lady,” Who slakes my thirst with her sweet effluences;

And yet that reverence which doth lord it over The whole of me only by B and ICE, Bowed me again like unto one who drowses.

Short while did Beatrice endure me thus; And she began, lighting me with a smile Such as would make one happy in the fire:

“According to infallible advisement, After what manner a just vengeance justly Could be avenged has put thee upon thinking,

But I will speedily thy mind unloose; And do thou listen, for these words of mine Of a great doctrine will a present make thee.

By not enduring on the power that wills Curb for his good, that man who ne’er was born, Damning himself damned all his progeny;

Whereby the human species down below Lay sick for many centuries in great error, Till to descend it pleased the Word of God