Part 49

Ere January be unwintered wholly By the centesimal on earth neglected, Shall these supernal circles roar so loud

The tempest that has been so long awaited Shall whirl the poops about where are the prows; So that the fleet shall run its course direct,

And the true fruit shall follow on the flower.”

Paradiso: Canto XXVIII

After the truth against the present life Of miserable mortals was unfolded By her who doth imparadise my mind,

As in a looking-glass a taper’s flame He sees who from behind is lighted by it, Before he has it in his sight or thought,

And turns him round to see if so the glass Tell him the truth, and sees that it accords Therewith as doth a music with its metre,

In similar wise my memory recollecteth That I did, looking into those fair eyes, Of which Love made the springes to ensnare me.

And as I turned me round, and mine were touched By that which is apparent in that volume, Whenever on its gyre we gaze intent,

A point beheld I, that was raying out Light so acute, the sight which it enkindles Must close perforce before such great acuteness.

And whatsoever star seems smallest here Would seem to be a moon, if placed beside it. As one star with another star is placed.

Perhaps at such a distance as appears A halo cincturing the light that paints it, When densest is the vapour that sustains it,

Thus distant round the point a circle of fire So swiftly whirled, that it would have surpassed Whatever motion soonest girds the world;

And this was by another circumcinct, That by a third, the third then by a fourth, By a fifth the fourth, and then by a sixth the fifth;

The seventh followed thereupon in width So ample now, that Juno’s messenger Entire would be too narrow to contain it.

Even so the eighth and ninth; and every one More slowly moved, according as it was In number distant farther from the first.

And that one had its flame most crystalline From which less distant was the stainless spark, I think because more with its truth imbued.

My Lady, who in my anxiety Beheld me much perplexed, said: “From that point Dependent is the heaven and nature all.

Behold that circle most conjoined to it, And know thou, that its motion is so swift Through burning love whereby it is spurred on.”

And I to her: “If the world were arranged In the order which I see in yonder wheels, What’s set before me would have satisfied me;

But in the world of sense we can perceive That evermore the circles are diviner As they are from the centre more remote

Wherefore if my desire is to be ended In this miraculous and angelic temple, That has for confines only love and light,

To hear behoves me still how the example And the exemplar go not in one fashion, Since for myself in vain I contemplate it.”

“If thine own fingers unto such a knot Be insufficient, it is no great wonder, So hard hath it become for want of trying.”

My Lady thus; then said she: “Do thou take What I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated, And exercise on that thy subtlety.

The circles corporal are wide and narrow According to the more or less of virtue Which is distributed through all their parts.

The greater goodness works the greater weal, The greater weal the greater body holds, If perfect equally are all its parts.

Therefore this one which sweeps along with it The universe sublime, doth correspond Unto the circle which most loves and knows.