Paradiso: Canto VI
"After that
Constantine the eagle turned
Against
the course of heaven, which it had followed
Behind the ancient who Lavinia took,
Two hundred years
and more the bird of God
In
the extreme of Europe held itself,
Near to the mountains whence it issued first;
And under shadow of
the sacred plumes
It
governed there the world from hand to hand,
And, changing thus, upon mine own alighted.
Caesar I was, and
am Justinian,
Who,
by the will of primal Love I feel,
Took from the laws the useless and redundant;
And ere unto the
work I was attent,
One
nature to exist in Christ, not more,
Believed, and with such faith was I contented.
But blessed
Agapetus, he who was
The
supreme pastor, to the faith sincere
Pointed me out the way by words of his.
Him I believed, and
what was his assertion
I
now see clearly, even as thou seest
Each contradiction to be false and true.
As soon as with the
Church I moved my feet,
God
in his grace it pleased with this high task
To inspire me, and I gave me wholly to it,
And to my
Belisarius I commended
The
arms, to which was heaven's right hand so joined
It was a signal that I should repose.
Now here to the
first question terminates
My
answer; but the character thereof
Constrains me to continue with a sequel,
In order that thou
see with how great reason
Men
move against the standard sacrosanct,
Both who appropriate and who oppose it.
Behold how great a
power has made it worthy
Of
reverence, beginning from the hour
When Pallas died to give it sovereignty.
Thou knowest it
made in Alba its abode
Three
hundred years and upward, till at last
The three to three fought for it yet again.
Thou knowest what
it achieved from Sabine wrong
Down
to Lucretia's sorrow, in seven kings
O'ercoming round about the neighboring nations;
Thou knowest what
it achieved, borne by the Romans
Illustrious
against Brennus, against Pyrrhus,
Against the other princes and confederates.
Torquatus thence
and Quinctius, who from locks
Unkempt
was named, Decii and Fabii,
Received the fame I willingly embalm;
It struck to earth
the pride of the Arabians,
Who,
following Hannibal, had passed across
The Alpine ridges, Po, from which thou glidest;
Beneath it
triumphed while they yet were young
Pompey
and Scipio, and to the hill
Beneath which thou wast born it bitter seemed;
Then, near unto the
time when heaven had willed
To
bring the whole world to its mood serene,
Did Caesar by the will of Rome assume it.
What it achieved
from Var unto the Rhine,
Isere
beheld and Saone, beheld the Seine,
And every valley whence the Rhone is filled;
What it achieved
when it had left Ravenna,
And
leaped the Rubicon, was such a flight
That neither tongue nor pen could follow it.
Round towards Spain
it wheeled its legions; then
Towards
Durazzo, and Pharsalia smote
That to the calid Nile was felt the pain.
Antandros and the
Simois, whence it started,
It
saw again, and there where Hector lies,
And ill for Ptolemy then roused itself.
From thence it came
like lightning upon Juba;
Then
wheeled itself again into your West,
Where the Pompeian clarion it heard.
From what it
wrought with the next standard-bearer
Brutus
and Cassius howl in Hell together,
And Modena and Perugia dolent were;
Still doth the
mournful Cleopatra weep
Because
thereof, who, fleeing from before it,
Took from the adder sudden and black death.
With him it ran
even to the Red Sea shore;
With
him it placed the world in so great peace,
That unto Janus was his temple closed.
But what the
standard that has made me speak
Achieved
before, and after should achieve
Throughout the mortal realm that lies beneath it,
Becometh in
appearance mean and dim,
If
in the hand of the third Caesar seen
With eye unclouded and affection pure,
Because the living
Justice that inspires me
Granted
it, in the hand of him I speak of,
The glory of doing vengeance for its wrath.
Now here attend to
what I answer thee;
Later
it ran with Titus to do vengeance
Upon the vengeance of the ancient sin.
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."
This document (last modifiedJanuary 08, 1998) from Believerscafe.com
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