Paradiso (33 page)

               
‘O company of the elect chosen to feast   
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at the great supper of the blessèd Lamb,

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who feeds you so that your desire is ever satisfied,

               
‘since by God’s grace this man enjoys a foretaste   
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of whatsoever falls beneath your table,   
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before death sets a limit to his time,

               
‘heed his immeasurable craving and with dewdrops

               
from that fountain where you drink forever,   
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refresh him at the very source of all his thoughts.’

               
Thus Beatrice. And those joyful spirits   
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transformed themselves to rings around fixed poles,

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circling, like blazing comets, in their brightness.

               
And as wheels in the movements of a clock   
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turn in such a way that, to an observer,

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the innermost seems standing still, the outermost to fly,

               
just so those dancers in their circling,   
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moving to a different measure, fast or slow,

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let me gauge their wealth of gladness.

               
From the dancer I made out to be most precious   
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I saw come forth a flame so full of joy   
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that not one there produced a greater brightness.

               
Three times it circled Beatrice,   
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its song so filled with heavenly delight

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my phantasy cannot repeat it.   
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And so my pen skips and I do not write it,   
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for our imagination is too crude, as is our speech,   
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to paint the subtler colors of the folds of bliss.   
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‘O my holy sister, who pray to us

               
with such devotion, by the ardor of your love

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you draw me forth from that fair circle.’

               
Once the blessèd fire had come to rest,   
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for my lady it breathed forth these words,

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just as here I’ve set them down.

               
And she: ‘O everlasting light of that great man   
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with whom our Lord did leave the keys,

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which He brought down from this astounding joy,

               
‘test this man as you see fit on points,   
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both minor and essential, about the faith

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by which you walked upon the sea.   
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‘Whether his love is just, and just his hope and faith,   
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is not concealed from you because your sight

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can reach the place where all things are revealed.

               
‘But since this realm elects its citizens

               
by measure of true faith, it surely is his lot

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to speak of it, that he may praise its glory.’

               
Just as the bachelor arms himself and does not speak   
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while the master is setting forth the question—

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for discussion, not for final disposition—   
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so I armed myself with all my arguments

               
while she was speaking, readying myself

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for such an examiner and such professing.

               
‘Speak up, good Christian, and make your declaration.   
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What is faith?’ At that I lifted up my brow

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to the light from which this breathed,

               
and then I faced Beatrice, who quickly signaled,

               
with a glance, that I should now pour forth   
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the waters welling from the source within me.

               
‘May the grace that allows me to make confession   
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to the great centurion,’ I began,   
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‘grant clear expression to my thoughts.’

               
And I continued: ‘As the truthful pen,   
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father, of your dear brother wrote it,   
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he who, with you, set Rome upon the path to truth,

               
‘faith is the substance of things hoped for,   
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the evidence of things that are not seen.

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And this I take to be its quiddity.’

               
Then I heard: ‘You reason rightly if you understand   
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why he placed it, first, among the substances,

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only then to set it down as evidence.’

               
And I: ‘The profound mysteries   
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that here so richly manifest themselves to me,

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to our eyes below are so concealed

               
‘that they exist there through belief alone,

               
on which is based our hope to rise above.

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And therefore it assumes the name of substance.   
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‘It is from this belief that we must argue,

               
when there is nothing else we can examine.

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And it therefore has the name of evidence.’

               
Then I heard: ‘If all that is acquired below   
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from doctrine taught were this well learned,

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there would be left no room for sophistry.’

               
This breathed forth from that kindled love.

               
And it continued: ‘Now this coin’s alloy

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and weight are well examined,

               
‘but tell me if you have it in your purse.’

               
And I: ‘I do indeed, so bright and round

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that of its coinage I am not in doubt.’

               
Then came forth from the depth of the light

               
refulgent there: ‘This precious gem   
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upon which all the virtues rest,

               
‘what was its origin and how did you obtain it?’

               
And I: ‘The abundant rain of the Holy Ghost,

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poured out onto the parchments old and new,

               
‘is the syllogism that has proven it to me

               
with such great force that any other demonstration,

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compared with it, would seem completely pointless.’

               
Then I heard: ‘The premises, both old and new,   
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that you find so convincing in their truth,

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why do you take them for the word of God?’

               
And I: ‘The proof that revealed the truth to me

               
are the works that followed, for which nature

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neither makes iron red with heat nor smites an anvil.’

               
‘Say,’ came the answer, ‘who assures you that these works   
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all really happened? The very thing requiring proof,

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and nothing else, is your sole warrant of them.’

               
‘For the world to have turned to Christ,’   
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I said, ‘without miracles, that indeed was one

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to outdo all others more than hundredfold.   
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