CANTO XXVIII.
Argument.
Vision of the Divine Essence, surrounded by the celestial hierarchy.
W HEN , turning from the mournful life which lies
Within our mortal earth, I saw the bright
True joy in her, my spirit's paradise,
As in a mirror the reflected light
Ye see, if one a torch behind you bears,
Ere ye are 'ware of it by thought or sight,
And turn, to know if what the glass declares
Be true; and ye behold it thus agree,
As music with the song whose notes it wears;
Even thus, my memory brings back to me,
I did, when on the lovely eyes I gazed,
From whose bright beams are ta'en the cords which be
Cast round my heart by love. As, sore amazed,
I now look'd round on that which in this sphere
Is seen whene'er the eye thereto is raised,
A point of glory I beheld, whose clear
Resplendence closed with sharply dazzling beam
My shrinking eyes. The star that doth appear
Smallest, when gazed on from our earth, should seem
As when the moon's most rounded sphere doth rise,
Compared with this, if of those orbs ye deem
As measured each with each. As, to our eyes,
A halo seems to girdle round the light
Which paints it when the vapour densest lies,
Even at like distance, there, a garland bright
Of fires around that point so swiftly sped,
As wholly vanquish'd the most rapid flight
Which girds the world; and round the first was led
A second, and a third, a fourth, and then
A fifth and sixth their circling glory spread.
Now did the seventh such ample space contain,
That Juno's messenger could scarce embrace
So wide a field upon the heavenly plain;
And thus the eighth and ninth: and all do trace
Their course more slowly, as their orbits turn
More distant from the point of central space;
And ever did the flame more clearly burn,
When nearest to that spark of purest fire:
I think, since more its truth therein is worn.
And Beatrice, who saw my strong desire,
Thus spake: " Behold the Point from which depends
The heavens, and whence all nature doth respire.
Gaze on the circle which most near it tends,
And know that its swift motion aye hath been
Impell'd by love's warm glow, which ever sends
It onward. " I replied: " If there were seen
In all the universe the order here
Beheld, I then were satisfied, I ween.
But in the world of sense do still appear
The heavenly vaults in beauty more divine,
As they are further from the central sphere;
Thus, if my longing should in this benign
And wondrous angel-temple be fulfill'd,
Where only love and light its bounds confine,
The knowledge yet in me must be instill'd,
Why the example and exemplified
Be diverse; vainly would my mind be skill'd
This thing to look on. " " If thy hands have tried,
In vain, to loose this knot, yet should it leave.
In thee no marvel; therefore is it tied
So hard, that none attempt it. But receive
That which I say, if thou wouldst be content,
And round it all thy subtle fancies weave. "
My Lady spake; then added: " The extent
Of those material spheres is less and more,
As more or less of virtue, there, is blent
A greater goodness gives a greater store;
A greater store in greater space abides,
If full perfection be dispensid o'er
Each part: even so this sphere, which, as it glides,
Bears the vast universe, doth image those
Whose love and knowledge flow in amplest tides.
Thus he who o'er the inward essence throws
His measuring-line, regarding not alone
The outward semblance which around it grows,
Shall know the wondrous fitness in each zone,
Of much to more, of few to less, still seen
Within each heaven, to the angelic throne
Which rules it. " As, resplendent and serene,
Ye see the blue airial hemisphere,
When Boreas breathes softly, and the sheen
No more is dim with vapour, and the clear
Bright Ether smiles with all its retinue:
Even thus was I, as soon as to mine ear
The words of Beatrice were borne which drew
Aside the veil that o'er my heart was spread;
And, as a star in heaven, the truth I knew.
Then, when no more her speech continuid,
None otherwise than seething iron flings
The sparks around, those flying circles shed
A glittering shower, which join'd the whirling rings:
So many were those sparkles of keen fire,
That, more than on the doubled chess-board, springs
Their number thousand fold. From choir to choir,
I heard Hosanna chanted to the lone
And fixid Point from whence they all respire,
And shall for aye, as in the ages gone.
She spake, who saw my doubt: " First, unto thee
The Cherubim and Seraphim are shown.
Their wreathid course so rapidly doth flee,
To bear more likeness to yon Point of Light;
And still the greater glory which ye see
In them, they more resemble it. Those bright
And loving Ones, who next them are beheld,
Are Thrones of God's own aspect: thus aright
Ends the first triple quire. And all are fill'd
With joy, the more they see the depths profound
Of truth, wherein all intellects are still'd.
Here may be plainly seen that the true ground
Of bliss is in the act of vision stay'd,
And not in love, which afterward is found:
And of this vision is just measure made
By deeds which grace brings forth and righteous will;
And thus doth it proceed, from grade to grade.
This other triple zone, whose bloom doth fill
With freshest fragrance the eternal spring,
Where Aries by night doth ne'er distil
The spoiling blight, for aye Hosanna sing,
In threefold melody, whose strain doth sound
In triple gladness from their threefold ring.
For in this hierarchy three hosts are found
First, Dominations; Virtues next ye see;
Then the third zone, of Powers. While, circling round,
In the two bands penultimate there be,
First, Principalities; Archangels then:
The last is wholly Angel-melody.
On high their gaze do all those legions strain;
Downwards they rule: and to the Eternal Sire
All are impell'd, and all impel again.
And Dionysius with such strong desire
Their ranks contemplated, that he, as I,
Distinguish'd by its name each heavenly quire.
But Gregory a different path did try;
And thus he smiled, at last, at his own thought,
When he awoke upon this shore on high
And if, on earth, a mortal mind was fraught
With such deep secrets, marvel not; for he
Who saw them once in Heaven that lesson taught
To him, with other truths which in these zones there be. "
Argument.
Vision of the Divine Essence, surrounded by the celestial hierarchy.
W HEN , turning from the mournful life which lies
Within our mortal earth, I saw the bright
True joy in her, my spirit's paradise,
As in a mirror the reflected light
Ye see, if one a torch behind you bears,
Ere ye are 'ware of it by thought or sight,
And turn, to know if what the glass declares
Be true; and ye behold it thus agree,
As music with the song whose notes it wears;
Even thus, my memory brings back to me,
I did, when on the lovely eyes I gazed,
From whose bright beams are ta'en the cords which be
Cast round my heart by love. As, sore amazed,
I now look'd round on that which in this sphere
Is seen whene'er the eye thereto is raised,
A point of glory I beheld, whose clear
Resplendence closed with sharply dazzling beam
My shrinking eyes. The star that doth appear
Smallest, when gazed on from our earth, should seem
As when the moon's most rounded sphere doth rise,
Compared with this, if of those orbs ye deem
As measured each with each. As, to our eyes,
A halo seems to girdle round the light
Which paints it when the vapour densest lies,
Even at like distance, there, a garland bright
Of fires around that point so swiftly sped,
As wholly vanquish'd the most rapid flight
Which girds the world; and round the first was led
A second, and a third, a fourth, and then
A fifth and sixth their circling glory spread.
Now did the seventh such ample space contain,
That Juno's messenger could scarce embrace
So wide a field upon the heavenly plain;
And thus the eighth and ninth: and all do trace
Their course more slowly, as their orbits turn
More distant from the point of central space;
And ever did the flame more clearly burn,
When nearest to that spark of purest fire:
I think, since more its truth therein is worn.
And Beatrice, who saw my strong desire,
Thus spake: " Behold the Point from which depends
The heavens, and whence all nature doth respire.
Gaze on the circle which most near it tends,
And know that its swift motion aye hath been
Impell'd by love's warm glow, which ever sends
It onward. " I replied: " If there were seen
In all the universe the order here
Beheld, I then were satisfied, I ween.
But in the world of sense do still appear
The heavenly vaults in beauty more divine,
As they are further from the central sphere;
Thus, if my longing should in this benign
And wondrous angel-temple be fulfill'd,
Where only love and light its bounds confine,
The knowledge yet in me must be instill'd,
Why the example and exemplified
Be diverse; vainly would my mind be skill'd
This thing to look on. " " If thy hands have tried,
In vain, to loose this knot, yet should it leave.
In thee no marvel; therefore is it tied
So hard, that none attempt it. But receive
That which I say, if thou wouldst be content,
And round it all thy subtle fancies weave. "
My Lady spake; then added: " The extent
Of those material spheres is less and more,
As more or less of virtue, there, is blent
A greater goodness gives a greater store;
A greater store in greater space abides,
If full perfection be dispensid o'er
Each part: even so this sphere, which, as it glides,
Bears the vast universe, doth image those
Whose love and knowledge flow in amplest tides.
Thus he who o'er the inward essence throws
His measuring-line, regarding not alone
The outward semblance which around it grows,
Shall know the wondrous fitness in each zone,
Of much to more, of few to less, still seen
Within each heaven, to the angelic throne
Which rules it. " As, resplendent and serene,
Ye see the blue airial hemisphere,
When Boreas breathes softly, and the sheen
No more is dim with vapour, and the clear
Bright Ether smiles with all its retinue:
Even thus was I, as soon as to mine ear
The words of Beatrice were borne which drew
Aside the veil that o'er my heart was spread;
And, as a star in heaven, the truth I knew.
Then, when no more her speech continuid,
None otherwise than seething iron flings
The sparks around, those flying circles shed
A glittering shower, which join'd the whirling rings:
So many were those sparkles of keen fire,
That, more than on the doubled chess-board, springs
Their number thousand fold. From choir to choir,
I heard Hosanna chanted to the lone
And fixid Point from whence they all respire,
And shall for aye, as in the ages gone.
She spake, who saw my doubt: " First, unto thee
The Cherubim and Seraphim are shown.
Their wreathid course so rapidly doth flee,
To bear more likeness to yon Point of Light;
And still the greater glory which ye see
In them, they more resemble it. Those bright
And loving Ones, who next them are beheld,
Are Thrones of God's own aspect: thus aright
Ends the first triple quire. And all are fill'd
With joy, the more they see the depths profound
Of truth, wherein all intellects are still'd.
Here may be plainly seen that the true ground
Of bliss is in the act of vision stay'd,
And not in love, which afterward is found:
And of this vision is just measure made
By deeds which grace brings forth and righteous will;
And thus doth it proceed, from grade to grade.
This other triple zone, whose bloom doth fill
With freshest fragrance the eternal spring,
Where Aries by night doth ne'er distil
The spoiling blight, for aye Hosanna sing,
In threefold melody, whose strain doth sound
In triple gladness from their threefold ring.
For in this hierarchy three hosts are found
First, Dominations; Virtues next ye see;
Then the third zone, of Powers. While, circling round,
In the two bands penultimate there be,
First, Principalities; Archangels then:
The last is wholly Angel-melody.
On high their gaze do all those legions strain;
Downwards they rule: and to the Eternal Sire
All are impell'd, and all impel again.
And Dionysius with such strong desire
Their ranks contemplated, that he, as I,
Distinguish'd by its name each heavenly quire.
But Gregory a different path did try;
And thus he smiled, at last, at his own thought,
When he awoke upon this shore on high
And if, on earth, a mortal mind was fraught
With such deep secrets, marvel not; for he
Who saw them once in Heaven that lesson taught
To him, with other truths which in these zones there be. "