CANTO XIII. Lhamow I saw, and let I ET him imagine, who would well conceive What now I saw, and let him while I speak Retain the image as a steadfast rock, The fifteen stars, that in their divers regions The sky enliven with a light so great That it transcends all clusters of the air; Let him the Wain imagine unto which Our vault of heaven sufficeth night and day, So that in turning of its pole it fails not; Let him the mouth imagine of the horn That in the point beginneth of the axis Round about which the primal wheel revolves, — To have fashioned of themselves two signs in heaven, Like unto that which Minos' daughter made, The moment when she felt the frost of death; 15 And one to have its rays within the other, And both to whirl themselves in such a manner That one should forward go, the other backward; And he will have some shadowing forth of that True constellation and the double dance That circled round the point at which I was; Because it is as much beyond our wont, As swifter than the motion of the Chiana Moveththe heaven that all the rest outspeeds. 20 There sang they neither Bacchus, nor Apollo, 25 But in the divine nature Persons three, And in one person the divine and human. The singing and the dance fulfilled their measure, And unto us those holy lights gave heed, Growing in happiness from care to care. Then broke the silence of those saints concordant The light in which the admirable life Of God's own mendicant was told to me, And said: "Now that one straw is trodden out, Now that its seed is garnered up already, Sweet love invites me to thresh out the other. Into that bosom, thou believest, whence Was drawn the rib to form the beauteous cheek Whose taste to all the world is costing dear, And into that which, by the lance transfixed, Before and since, such satisfaction made That it weighs down the balance of all sin, Whate'er of light it has to human nature Been lawful to possess, was all infused 30 35 40 By the same power that both of them created; 45 And hence at what I said above dost wonder, When I narrated that no second had The good which in the fifth light is enclosed. Now ope thine eyes to what I answer thee, And thou shalt see thy creed and my discourse 5o Fit in the truth as centre in a circle. That which can die, and that which dieth not, Are nothing but the splendor of the idea Which by his love our Lord brings into being; Because that living Light, which from its fount From Him nor from the Love in them intrined, Through its own goodness reunites its rays In nine subsistences, as in a mirror, 55 60 Things generated, which the heaven produces 65 By its own motion, with seed and without. Neither their wax, nor that which tempers it, Remains immutable, and hence beneath After its kind bears worse and better fruit, But nature gives it evermore deficient, In the like manner working as the artist, 70 75 Who has the skill of art and hand that trembles. If then the fervent Love, the Vision clear, Of primal Virtue do dispose and seal, Perfection absolute is there acquired. Thus was of old the earth created worthy Of all and every animal perfection; And thus the Virgin was impregnate made ; 80 So that thine own opinion I commend, That human nature never yet has been, Nor will be, what it was in those two persons. Now if no farther forth I should proceed, 85 90 'Then in what way was he without a peer?' Would be the first beginning of thy words. But, that may well appear what now appears not, Think who he was, and what occasion moved him To make request, when it was told him, 'Ask.' I've not so spoken that thou canst not see Clearly he was a king who asked for wisdom, 95 That he might be sufficiently a king; 'T was not to know the number in which are The motors here above, or if necesse With a contingent e'er necesse make, Triangle so that it have no right angle. And thus it can consist with thy belief And lead shall this be always to thy feet, To make thee, like a weary man, move slowly Both to the Yes and No thou seest not; 100 105 ΣΙΟ For very low among the fools is he Who affirms without distinction, or denies, As well in one as in the other case; Because it happens that full often bends Current opinion in the false direction, And then the feelings bind the intellect. Far more than uselessly he leaves the shore, (Since he returneth not the same he went,) Who fishes for the truth, and hath no skill ; And in the world proofs manifest thereof Parmenides, Melissus, Brissus are, 115 And many who went on and knew not whither; Thus did Sabellius, Arius, and those fools 120 125 Who have been even as swords unto the Scriptures In judging, even as he is who doth count First show itself intractable and fierce, And I have seen a ship direct and swift Run o'er the sea throughout its course entire, 130 135 140 E |