Paradiso: Canto XXIV
"O company elect to
the great supper
Of
the Lamb benedight, who feedeth you
So that for ever full is your desire,
If by the grace of
God this man foretaste
Something
of that which falleth from your table,
Or ever death prescribe to him the time,
Direct your mind to
his immense desire,
And
him somewhat bedew; ye drinking are
For ever at the fount whence comes his thought."
Thus Beatrice; and
those souls beatified
Transformed
themselves to spheres on steadfast poles,
Flaming intensely in the guise of comets.
And as the wheels
in works of horologes
Revolve
so that the first to the beholder
Motionless seems, and the last one to fly,
So in like manner
did those carols, dancing
In
different measure, of their affluence
Give me the gauge, as they were swift or slow.
From that one which
I noted of most beauty
Beheld
I issue forth a fire so happy
That none it left there of a greater brightness;
And around Beatrice
three several times
It
whirled itself with so divine a song,
My fantasy repeats it not to me;
Therefore the pen
skips, and I write it not,
Since
our imagination for such folds,
Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring.
"O holy sister
mine, who us implorest
With
such devotion, by thine ardent love
Thou dost unbind me from that beautiful sphere!"
Thereafter, having
stopped, the blessed fire
Unto
my Lady did direct its breath,
Which spake in fashion as I here have said.
And she: "O light
eterne of the great man
To
whom our Lord delivered up the keys
He carried down of this miraculous joy,
This one examine on
points light and grave,
As
good beseemeth thee, about the Faith
By means of which thou on the sea didst walk.
If he love well,
and hope well, and believe,
From
thee 'tis hid not; for thou hast thy sight
There where depicted everything is seen.
But since this
kingdom has made citizens
By
means of the true Faith, to glorify it
'Tis well he have the chance to speak thereof."
As baccalaureate
arms himself, and speaks not
Until
the master doth propose the question,
To argue it, and not to terminate it,
So did I arm myself
with every reason,
While
she was speaking, that I might be ready
For such a questioner and such profession.
"Say, thou good
Christian; manifest thyself;
What
is the Faith?" Whereat I raised my brow
Unto that light wherefrom was this breathed forth.
Then turned I round
to Beatrice, and she
Prompt
signals made to me that I should pour
The water forth from my internal fountain.
"May grace, that
suffers me to make confession,"
Began
I, "to the great centurion,
Cause my conceptions all to be explicit!"
And I continued:
"As the truthful pen,
Father,
of thy dear brother wrote of it,
Who put with thee Rome into the good way,
Faith is the
substance of the things we hope for,
And
evidence of those that are not seen;
And this appears to me its quiddity."
Then heard I: "Very
rightly thou perceivest,
If
well thou understandest why he placed it
With substances and then with evidences."
And I
thereafterward: "The things profound,
That
here vouchsafe to me their apparition,
Unto all eyes below are so concealed,
That they exist
there only in belief,
Upon
the which is founded the high hope,
And hence it takes the nature of a substance.
And it behoveth us
from this belief
To
reason without having other sight,
And hence it has the nature of evidence."
Then heard I: "If
whatever is acquired
Below
by doctrine were thus understood,
No sophist's subtlety would there find place."
Thus was breathed
forth from that enkindled love;
Then
added: "Very well has been gone over
Already of this coin the alloy and weight;
But tell me if thou
hast it in thy purse?"
And
I: "Yes, both so shining and so round
That in its stamp there is no peradventure."
Thereafter issued
from the light profound
That
there resplendent was: "This precious jewel,
Upon the which is every virtue founded,
Whence hadst thou
it?" And I: "The large outpouring
Of
Holy Spirit, which has been diffused
Upon the ancient parchments and the new,
A syllogism is,
which proved it to me
With
such acuteness, that, compared therewith,
All demonstration seems to me obtuse."
And then I heard:
"The ancient and the new
Postulates,
that to thee are so conclusive,
Why dost thou take them for the word divine?"
And I: "The proofs,
which show the truth to me,
Are
the works subsequent, whereunto Nature
Ne'er heated iron yet, nor anvil beat."
'Twas answered me:
"Say, who assureth thee
That
those works ever were? the thing itself
That must be proved, nought else to thee affirms it."
"Were the world to
Christianity converted,"
I
said, "withouten miracles, this one
Is such, the rest are not its hundredth part;
Because that poor
and fasting thou didst enter
Into
the field to sow there the good plant,
Which was a vine and has become a thorn!"
This being
finished, the high, holy Court
Resounded
through the spheres, "One God we praise!"
In melody that there above is chanted.
And then that
Baron, who from branch to branch,
Examining,
had thus conducted me,
Till the extremest leaves we were approaching,
Again began: "The
Grace that dallying
Plays
with thine intellect thy mouth has opened,
Up to this point, as it should opened be,
So that I do
approve what forth emerged;
But
now thou must express what thou believest,
And whence to thy belief it was presented."
"O holy father,
spirit who beholdest
What
thou believedst so that thou o'ercamest,
Towards the sepulchre, more youthful feet,"
Began I, "thou dost
wish me in this place
The
form to manifest of my prompt belief,
And likewise thou the cause thereof demandest.
And I respond: In
one God I believe,
Sole
and eterne, who moveth all the heavens
With love and with desire, himself unmoved;
And of such faith
not only have I proofs
Physical
and metaphysical, but gives them
Likewise the truth that from this place rains down
Through Moses,
through the Prophets and the Psalms,
Through
the Evangel, and through you, who wrote
After the fiery Spirit sanctified you;
In Persons three
eterne believe, and these
One
essence I believe, so one and trine
They bear conjunction both with 'sunt' and 'est.'
With the profound
condition and divine
Which
now I touch upon, doth stamp my mind
Ofttimes the doctrine evangelical.
This the beginning
is, this is the spark
Which
afterwards dilates to vivid flame,
And, like a star in heaven, is sparkling in me."
Even as a lord who
hears what pleaseth him
His
servant straight embraces, gratulating
For the good news as soon as he is silent;
So, giving me its
benediction, singing,
Three
times encircled me, when I was silent,
The apostolic light, at whose command
I spoken had, in
speaking I so pleased him.
This document (last modifiedJanuary 08, 1998) from Believerscafe.com
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