"I CANTO V. F in the heat of love I flame upon thee Beyond the measure that on earth is seen, So that the valor of thine eyes I vanquish, Marvel thou not thereat; for this proceeds From perfect sight, which as it apprehends To the good apprehended moves its feet. Well I perceive how is already shining Into thine intellect the eternal light, That only seen enkindles always love; And if some other thing your love seduce, 'T is nothing but a vestige of the same, Ill understood, which there is shining through. Thou fain wouldst know if with another service For broken vow can such return be made As to secure the soul from further claim." This Canto thus did Beatrice begin ; And, as a man who breaks not off his speech, Continued thus her holy argument: "The greatest gift that in his largess God 5 ΤΟ 15 Creating made, and unto his own goodness 20 Nearest conformed, and that which he doth prize Most highly, is the freedom of the will, Wherewith the creatures of intelligence Now wilt thou see, if thence thou reasonest, So that when thou consentest God consents; For, closing between God and man the compact, A sacrifice is of this treasure made, 25 30 Such as I say, and made by its own act. What can be rendered then as compensation? [offered, Think'st thou to make good use of what thou 'st With gains ill gotten thou wouldst do good deed. Now art thou certain of the greater point; But because Holy Church in this dispenses, 35 Which seems against the truth which I have shown Behoves thee still to sit awhile at table, [thee, Because the solid food which thou hast taken Open thy mind to that which I reveal, And fix it there within; for 't is not knowledge, In the essence of this sacrifice two things 40 Of which 't is made, the other is the agreement. 45 This last forevermore is cancelled not Unless complied with, and concerning this With such precision has above been spoken. Therefore it was enjoined upon the Hebrews To offer still, though sometimes what was offered 50 Might be commuted, as thou ought'st to know. The other, which is known to thee as matter, May well indeed be such that one errs not If it for other matter be exchanged. But let none shift the burden on his shoulder If in the substitute the thing relinquished, Be faithful and not blind in doing that, As Jephthah was in his first offering, Whom more beseemed to say, 'I have done wrong,' Than to do worse by keeping; and as foolish Thou the great leader of the Greeks wilt find, Whence wept Iphigenia her fair face, 70 And made for her both wise and simple weep, Who heard such kind of worship spoken of. Christians, be ye more serious in your movements; Be ye not like a feather at each wind, And think not every water washes you. Ye have the Old and the New Testament, 75 And the Pastor of the Church who guideth you; salvation. Let this suffice you unto your If evil appetite cry aught else to you, Be ye as men, and not as silly sheep, So that the Jew among you may not mock you. Be ye not as the lamb that doth abandon Its mother's milk, and frolicsome and simple Combats at its own pleasure with itself." 80 Thus Beatrice to me even as I write it ; Silence imposed upon my eager mind, Strikes ere the bowstring quiet hath become, My Lady there so joyful I beheld, 85 90 As into the brightness of that heaven she entered, 95 More luminous thereat the planet grew; And if the star itself was changed and smiled, What became I, who by my nature am Exceeding mutable in every guise ! As, in a fish-pond which is pure and tranquil, The fishes draw to that which from without Comes in such fashion that their food they deem it; So I beheld more than a thousand splendors Drawing towards us, and in each was heard: "Lo, this is she who shall increase our love." 105 And as each one was coming unto us, Full of beatitude the shade was seen, III By the effulgence clear that issued from it. Think, Reader, if what here is just beginning No farther should proceed, how thou wouldst have An agonizing need of knowing more; And of thyself thou 'lt see how I from these Was in desire of hearing their conditions, As they unto mine eyes were manifest. 115 120 "O thou well-born, unto whom Grace concedes That veils itself to men in alien rays." This said I in direction of the light 130 Which first had spoken to me; whence it became By far more lucent than it was before. Even as the sun, that doth conceal himself By too much light, when heat has worn away The tempering influence of the vapors dense, 135 By greater rapture thus concealed itself In its own radiance the figure saintly, And thus close, close enfolded answered me In fashion as the following Canto sings. |