Paradiso (6 page)
Authors: Dante
The innate and never-ending thirst for God
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in His own kingdom drew us up,
Beatrice was gazing upward, my gaze fixed on her,
when, perhaps as quickly as a bolt strikes,
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flies, and releases from its catch,
suddenly I found myself there
where my eyes were drawn to an astounding sight.
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And she, from whom my thoughts could not be kept
turned to me, as full of joy as she was fair,
to say: ‘Direct your grateful mind to God,
It seemed to me that we were in a cloud,
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shining, dense, solid, and unmarred,
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like a diamond struck by sunlight.
The eternal pearl received us in itself,
as water does a ray of light
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and yet remains unsundered and serene.
If I was there in flesh—on earth we can’t conceive
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how matter may admit another matter to it,
that, all the more, should kindle our desire
to see the very One who lets us see
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the way our nature was conjoined with God.
What now we take on faith will then be seen,
not demonstrated but made manifest,
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like
a priori
truths, which we accept.
I replied: ‘My Lady, with absolute devotion
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I offer thanks to Him
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who has removed me from the world of death.
‘But tell me, what are the dark spots
on this body that make those down on earth
She smiled a little, then: ‘If the understanding
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of mortals errs,’ she said, ‘there where the key
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of the senses fails in its unlocking,
‘surely the shafts of wonder should no longer
strike you, since you see that, dependent
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on the senses, reason’s wings fall short.
‘But tell me what you make of this yourself.’
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And I: ‘The different shadings here
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are caused, I think, by bodies rare or dense.’
And she: ‘No doubt but you shall see that this belief
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lies deep in error—if you consider well
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the arguments that I shall lodge against it.
‘The eighth sphere shows you many lights,
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which, both in magnitude and luminosity,
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may be seen as having different aspects.
‘If this were caused by
rare
and
dense
alone,
a single power would be in them all:
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here more, there less—or equally.
‘Different powers must be the fruit resulting from
formative principles, but these, except for one,
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according to your reasoning, would be annulled.
‘What is more, if that dark of which you ask
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had rareness as its cause, this planet
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would be lacking matter in some parts,
‘or else, just as fat and lean
alternate in mass upon a body, this planet
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would alternate the pages of its volume.
Were the first case true, this would be shown
in the sun’s eclipse, when light showed through,
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as when it shines through any rarer medium.
‘But such is not the case: therefore, let us consider
your other argument and, if I show it to be false,
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then your opinion will be proven wrong.
‘If this rarer substance does not go all the way,
there must be a point at which its denser opposite
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would not allow the light to pass on through
‘and thus a ray of light would be thrown back
just as color is reflected from the glass
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by the hidden layer of lead that lies beneath.
‘Now, you will object, the ray shows dark there
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more than in the other parts
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because it is reflected from a farther source.
‘From this objection, an experiment—
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should you ever try it—may set you free, experiment,
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the source that feeds the streams of all your arts.
‘Take three mirrors, placing two at equal distance
from you, letting the third, from farther off,
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also meet your eyes, between the other two.
‘Still turned to them, have someone set,
well back of you, a light that, shining out,
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returns as bright reflection from all three.
‘Although the light seen farthest off
seems smaller in its size, still you will observe
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that it must shine with equal brightness.
‘Now, as the substantial form of snow,
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if struck by warming rays, is then deprived
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both of its former color and its cold,
‘I shall now reshape your intellect,
thus deprived, with a light so vibrant
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that your mind will quiver at the sight.
‘Beneath the heaven of divine repose
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revolves a body in whose power resides
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the being of all things contained in it.
‘The next heaven, which holds so many sights,
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distributes its being among various forms,
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contained in it and yet distinct from it.
‘All the other spheres, in varying ways,
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direct their distinctive qualities
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to their own purposes and influence.
‘Thus do these organs of the universe proceed,
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as now you see, step by step,
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rendering below what they take from above.
‘Observe well how I pass along this way
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to the truth you seek, so that in time
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you may know how to ford the stream alone.
‘The motion and the power of the holy wheels
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must be derived from the blessèd movers,
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as the work of the hammer from the smith.
‘And the heaven made fair by all these lights
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takes its stamp from the intellect that makes it turn,
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making of itself the very seal of that imprinting.
‘And as the soul within your dust
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is distributed through the different members,
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conforming to their various faculties,
‘so angelic intelligence unfolds its bounty,
multiplied down through the stars,
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while revolving in its separate oneness.
‘Each differentiated power makes a different alloy
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with each precious body that it quickens,
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with which, even as does life in you, it binds.
‘From the joyous nature whence it springs,
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the mingled potency shines through its star,
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as joy shines in the living pupil of an eye.
‘From this power is derived the difference seen
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from light to light, and not from dense and rare.
This is the formative principle that creates,
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according to its worth, the dark and bright.’
MOON (continues)
Narcissus,
looking away
Piccarda:
Costanza