LITMIR.BIZ

      XI. St. Thomas recounts the Life of St. Francis. Lament over the State of the Dominican Order.

       Table of Contents

      O Thou insensate care of mortal men,

       How inconclusive are the syllogisms

       That make thee beat thy wings in downward flight!

      One after laws and one to aphorisms

       Was going, and one following the priesthood,

       And one to reign by force or sophistry,

      And one in theft, and one in state affairs,

       One in the pleasures of the flesh involved

       Wearied himself, one gave himself to ease;

      When I, from all these things emancipate,

       With Beatrice above there in the Heavens

       With such exceeding glory was received!

      When each one had returned unto that point

       Within the circle where it was before,

       It stood as in a candlestick a candle;

      And from within the effulgence which at first

       Had spoken unto me, I heard begin

       Smiling while it more luminous became:

      "Even as I am kindled in its ray,

       So, looking into the Eternal Light,

       The occasion of thy thoughts I apprehend.

      Thou doubtest, and wouldst have me to resift

       In language so extended and so open

       My speech, that to thy sense it may be plain,

      Where just before I said, 'where well one fattens,'

       And where I said, 'there never rose a second;'

       And here 'tis needful we distinguish well.

      The Providence, which governeth the world

       With counsel, wherein all created vision

       Is vanquished ere it reach unto the bottom,

      (So that towards her own Beloved might go

       The bride of Him who, uttering a loud cry,

       Espoused her with his consecrated blood,

      Self-confident and unto Him more faithful,)

       Two Princes did ordain in her behoof,

       Which on this side and that might be her guide.

      The one was all seraphical in ardour;

       The other by his wisdom upon earth

       A splendour was of light cherubical.

      One will I speak of, for of both is spoken

       In praising one, whichever may be taken,

       Because unto one end their labours were.

      Between Tupino and the stream that falls

       Down from the hill elect of blessed Ubald,

       A fertile slope of lofty mountain hangs,

      From which Perugia feels the cold and heat

       Through Porta Sole, and behind it weep

       Gualdo and Nocera their grievous yoke.

      From out that slope, there where it breaketh most

       Its steepness, rose upon the world a sun

       As this one does sometimes from out the Ganges;

      Therefore let him who speaketh of that place,

       Say not Ascesi, for he would say little,

       But Orient, if he properly would speak.

      He was not yet far distant from his rising

       Before he had begun to make the earth

       Some comfort from his mighty virtue feel.

      For he in youth his father's wrath incurred

       For certain Dame, to whom, as unto death,

       The gate of pleasure no one doth unlock;

      And was before his spiritual court

       'Et coram patre' unto her united;

       Then day by day more fervently he loved her.

      She, reft of her first husband, scorned, obscure,

       One thousand and one hundred years and more,

       Waited without a suitor till he came.

      Naught it availed to hear, that with Amyclas

       Found her unmoved at sounding of his voice

       He who struck terror into all the world;

      Naught it availed being constant and undaunted,

       So that, when Mary still remained below,

       She mounted up with Christ upon the cross.

      But that too darkly I may not proceed,

       Francis and Poverty for these two lovers

       Take thou henceforward in my speech diffuse.

      Their concord and their joyous semblances,

       The love, the wonder, and the sweet regard,

       They made to be the cause of holy thoughts;

      So much so that the venerable Bernard

       First bared his feet, and after so great peace

       Ran, and, in running, thought himself too slow.

      O wealth unknown! O veritable good!

       Giles bares his feet, and bares his feet Sylvester

       Behind the bridegroom, so doth please the bride!

      Then goes his way that father and that master,

       He and his Lady and that family

       Which now was girding on the humble cord;

      Nor cowardice of heart weighed down his brow

       At being son of Peter Bernardone,

       Nor for appearing marvellously scorned;

      But regally his hard determination

       To Innocent he opened, and from him

       Received the primal seal upon his Order.

      After the people mendicant increased

       Behind this man, whose admirable life

       Better in glory of the heavens were sung,

      Incoronated with a second crown

       Was through Honorius by the Eternal Spirit

       The holy purpose of this Archimandrite.

      And when he had,

Скачать книгу