LITMIR.BIZ

      XVIII. The Sixth Heaven, Jupiter: Righteous Kings and Rulers. The Celestial Eagle. Dante's Invectives against ecclesiastical Avarice.

       Table of Contents

      Now was alone rejoicing in its word

       That soul beatified, and I was tasting

       My own, the bitter tempering with the sweet,

      And the Lady who to God was leading me

       Said: "Change thy thought; consider that I am

       Near unto Him who every wrong disburdens."

      Unto the loving accents of my comfort

       I turned me round, and then what love I saw

       Within those holy eyes I here relinquish;

      Not only that my language I distrust,

       But that my mind cannot return so far

       Above itself, unless another guide it.

      Thus much upon that point can I repeat,

       That, her again beholding, my affection

       From every other longing was released.

      While the eternal pleasure, which direct

       Rayed upon Beatrice, from her fair face

       Contented me with its reflected aspect,

      Conquering me with the radiance of a smile,

       She said to me, "Turn thee about and listen;

       Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise."

      Even as sometimes here do we behold

       The affection in the look, if it be such

       That all the soul is wrapt away by it,

      So, by the flaming of the effulgence holy

       To which I turned, I recognized therein

       The wish of speaking to me somewhat farther.

      And it began: "In this fifth resting-place

       Upon the tree that liveth by its summit,

       And aye bears fruit, and never loses leaf,

      Are blessed spirits that below, ere yet

       They came to Heaven, were of such great renown

       That every Muse therewith would affluent be.

      Therefore look thou upon the cross's horns;

       He whom I now shall name will there enact

       What doth within a cloud its own swift fire."

      I saw athwart the Cross a splendour drawn

       By naming Joshua, (even as he did it,)

       Nor noted I the word before the deed;

      And at the name of the great Maccabee

       I saw another move itself revolving,

       And gladness was the whip unto that top.

      Likewise for Charlemagne and for Orlando,

       Two of them my regard attentive followed

       As followeth the eye its falcon flying.

      William thereafterward, and Renouard,

       And the Duke Godfrey, did attract my sight

       Along upon that Cross, and Robert Guiscard.

      Then, moved and mingled with the other lights,

       The soul that had addressed me showed how great

       An artist 'twas among the heavenly singers.

      To my right side I turned myself around,

       My duty to behold in Beatrice

       Either by words or gesture signified;

      And so translucent I beheld her eyes,

       So full of pleasure, that her countenance

       Surpassed its other and its latest wont.

      And as, by feeling greater delectation,

       A man in doing good from day to day

       Becomes aware his virtue is increasing,

      So I became aware that my gyration

       With heaven together had increased its arc,

       That miracle beholding more adorned.

      And such as is the change, in little lapse

       Of time, in a pale woman, when her face

       Is from the load of bashfulness unladen,

      Such was it in mine eyes, when I had turned,

       Caused by the whiteness of the temperate star,

       The sixth, which to itself had gathered me.

      Within that Jovial torch did I behold

       The sparkling of the love which was therein

       Delineate our language to mine eyes.

      And even as birds uprisen from the shore,

       As in congratulation o'er their food,

       Make squadrons of themselves, now round, now long,

      So from within those lights the holy creatures

       Sang flying to and fro, and in their figures

       Made of themselves now D, now I, now L.

      First singing they to their own music moved;

       Then one becoming of these characters,

       A little while they rested and were silent.

      O divine Pegasea, thou who genius

       Dost glorious make, and render it long-lived,

       And this through thee the cities and the kingdoms,

      Illume me with thyself, that I may bring

       Their figures out as I have them conceived!

       Apparent be thy power in these brief verses!

      Themselves then they displayed in five times seven

       Vowels and consonants; and I observed

       The parts as they seemed spoken unto me.

      'Diligite justitiam,' these were

       First verb and noun of all that was depicted;

       'Qui judicatis terram' were the last.

      Thereafter in the M of the fifth word

       Remained they so arranged, that Jupiter

       Seemed to be silver there with gold inlaid.

      And other lights I saw descend where was

       The summit of the M, and pause there singing

       The good, I think, that draws them to itself.

      Then, as in striking upon burning logs

       Upward there fly innumerable sparks,

       Whence fools are wont to look for auguries,

      More than a thousand lights seemed

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