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
To where the
nature, which from its own Maker
Estranged
itself, he joined to him in person
By the sole act of his eternal love.
Now unto what is
said direct thy sight;
This
nature when united to its Maker,
Such as created, was sincere and good;
But by itself alone
was banished forth
From
Paradise, because it turned aside
Out of the way of truth and of its life.
Therefore the
penalty the cross held out,
If
measured by the nature thus assumed,
None ever yet with so great justice stung,
And none was ever
of so great injustice,
Considering
who the Person was that suffered,
Within whom such a nature was contracted.
From one act
therefore issued things diverse;
To
God and to the Jews one death was pleasing;
Earth trembled at it and the Heaven was opened.
It should no longer
now seem difficult
To
thee, when it is said that a just vengeance
By a just court was afterward avenged.
But now do I behold
thy mind entangled
From
thought to thought within a knot, from which
With great desire it waits to free itself.
Thou sayest, 'Well
discern I what I hear;
But
it is hidden from me why God willed
For our redemption only this one mode.'
Buried remaineth,
brother, this decree
Unto
the eyes of every one whose nature
Is in the flame of love not yet adult.
Verily, inasmuch as
at this mark
One
gazes long and little is discerned,
Wherefore this mode was worthiest will I say.
Goodness Divine,
which from itself doth spurn
All
envy, burning in itself so sparkles
That the eternal beauties it unfolds.
Whate'er from this
immediately distils
Has
afterwards no end, for ne'er removed
Is its impression when it sets its seal.
Whate'er from this
immediately rains down
Is
wholly free, because it is not subject
Unto the influences of novel things.
The more conformed
thereto, the more it pleases;
For
the blest ardour that irradiates all things
In that most like itself is most vivacious.
With all of these
things has advantaged been
The
human creature; and if one be wanting,
From his nobility he needs must fall.
'Tis sin alone
which doth disfranchise him,
And
render him unlike the Good Supreme,
So that he little with its light is blanched,
And to his dignity
no more returns,
Unless
he fill up where transgression empties
With righteous pains for criminal delights.
Your nature when it
sinned so utterly
In
its own seed, out of these dignities
Even as out of Paradise was driven,
Nor could itself
recover, if thou notest
With
nicest subtilty, by any way,
Except by passing one of these two fords:
Either that God
through clemency alone
Had
pardon granted, or that man himself
Had satisfaction for his folly made.
Fix now thine eye
deep into the abyss
Of
the eternal counsel, to my speech
As far as may be fastened steadfastly!
Man in his
limitations had not power
To
satisfy, not having power to sink
In his humility obeying then,
Far as he
disobeying thought to rise;
And
for this reason man has been from power
Of satisfying by himself excluded.
Therefore it God
behoved in his own ways
Man
to restore unto his perfect life,
I say in one, or else in both of them.
But since the
action of the doer is
So
much more grateful, as it more presents
The goodness of the heart from which it issues,
Goodness Divine,
that doth imprint the world,
Has
been contented to proceed by each
And all its ways to lift you up again;
Nor 'twixt the
first day and the final night
Such
high and such magnificent proceeding
By one or by the other was or shall be;
For God more
bounteous was himself to give
To
make man able to uplift himself,
Than if he only of himself had pardoned;
And all the other
modes were insufficient
For
justice, were it not the Son of God
Himself had humbled to become incarnate.
Now, to fill fully
each desire of thine,
Return
I to elucidate one place,
In order that thou there mayst see as I do.
Thou sayst: 'I see
the air, I see the fire,
The
water, and the earth, and all their mixtures
Come to corruption, and short while endure;
And these things
notwithstanding were created;'
Therefore
if that which I have said were true,
They should have been secure against corruption.
The Angels,
brother, and the land sincere
In
which thou art, created may be called
Just as they are in their entire existence;
But all the
elements which thou hast named,
And
all those things which out of them are made,
By a created virtue are informed.
Created was the
matter which they have;
Created
was the informing influence
Within these stars that round about them go.
The soul of every
brute and of the plants
By
its potential temperament attracts
The ray and motion of the holy lights;
But your own life
immediately inspires
Supreme
Beneficence, and enamours it
So with herself, it evermore desires her.
And thou from this
mayst argue furthermore
Your
resurrection, if thou think again
How human flesh was fashioned at that time
When the first
parents both of them were made."
This document (last modifiedJanuary 08, 1998) from Believerscafe.com
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