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Authors: Dante

BOOK: Paradiso
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Then he added: ‘Son, these are the glosses   

               
on what was told you, these are the snares

96
           
that lurk behind a few revolving years.

               
‘Yet I would not have you feel envious disdain   

               
for your fellow-townsmen, since your life shall far outlast

99
           
the punishment of their treachery.’

               
After the holy soul, by falling silent,   

               
showed that he had done with putting the woof

102
         
into the web for which I had set the warp,

               
I began, like a man in doubt,   

               
but one filled with great desire for advice

105
         
from someone of clear sight, right will, and love:

               
‘I can see, father, that time is spurring toward me   

               
to deal me such a blow as falls most heavily

108
         
on one proceeding heedless on his way.   

               
‘Thus it is good I arm myself with forethought   

               
so that, if my belovèd town is torn from me,

111
         
I may not lose still others through my songs.   

               
‘Down through the world of endless bitterness,   

               
and upward on the mountain from whose lovely peak

114
         
my lady raised me with her eyes,

               
‘and after, rising through the heavens, light to light,

               
I have learned things that, should I retell them,

117
         
would discomfort many with their bitter taste.

               
‘Yet, should I be a timid friend to truth,   

               
I fear that I shall not live on for those   

120
         
to whom our times will be the ancient days.’

               
The light, in which the treasure that I found there   

               
had been smiling, now became resplendent

123
         
as a mirror, golden in the sun,

               
and then made this reply: ‘A conscience dark,   

               
whether with its own or with a kinsman’s shame,

126
         
is sure to feel your words are harsh.

               
‘Nonetheless, forswear all falsehood,   

               
revealing all that you have seen,

129
         
and then let him who itches scratch.

               
‘For, if your voice is bitter at first taste,   

               
it will later furnish vital nourishment

132
         
once it has been swallowed and digested.

               
‘This cry of yours shall do as does the wind   

   

               
that strikes the highest peaks with greater force—

135
         
this loftiness itself no little sign of honor.

               
‘That is why you have been shown, within these wheels,

               
upon the mountain, and in the woeful valley,

138
         
those souls alone that are well known to fame,

               
‘since the mind of one who listens will not heed   

               
nor fix its faith on an example

               
that has its roots in things unknown or hidden

142
         
or on some other proof not clearly shown.’   

OUTLINE: PARADISO XVIII

MARS; JUPITER

1–3
   
Cacciaguida and Dante with their different thoughts;
4–6
   
Beatrice: “There is no need to be pessimistic here.”
7–12
   
Beatrice, Dante’s “comfort,” showed such love for him in her eyes that he can neither describe nor recall it;
13–18
   
he says he was loving God in the “mirror” of Beatrice;
19–21
   
her third and last speech in Mars is accompanied by her third and last smile in this heaven
22–27
   
simile: here on earth a face shows that all its soul is suffused by love as there Cacciaguida’s flaming glow reveals his desire for further speaking
28–36
   
Cacciaguida’s last (eighth) speech: metaphor of tree
37–48
   
Dante’s
“Nine Worthies”
49–51
   
Cacciaguida’s singing makes him an “artista”
52–57
   
Dante seeks a sign from Beatrice as to what to do next and finds her aspect more joyous than ever before
58–69
   
the ascent to
Jupiter
58–63
   
simile: Dante, like a man improving day by day, finds himself making a greater arc
64–69
   
simile: the change from the red of Mars to the white of Jupiter is like a blush leaving a face
70–72
   
Dante watches as souls in Jupiter spell out five words
73–78
   
simile: waterbirds, rising, like the souls, spelling;
79–81
   
at first they sang, then, forming a letter, fell silent
82–87
   
sixth invocation:
“divine Pegasean”
88–93
   
Dante is shown thirty-five letters, one by one, and
94–96
   
(1) the souls linger on the “m”;
97–99
   
(2) they are joined by new souls that form a lily
100–108
   
(3) simile: sparks flying up from burning logs when they are struck, from which fools make augury, compared to the souls atop the “M” rising higher: the
Eagle
109–111
   
and He who depicts there needs no model as His guide, by the same principle by which birds make their nests
112–114
   
the new souls, who had first formed the lily, now finish their design
115–117
   
apostrophe: “O [Jupiter], I understood that earthly justice is the effect of the heaven that you engem!”
118–123
   
Dante’s prayer to God that He look down with wrath upon the corruption of the
[papacy]
124–126
   
apostrophe: “O heavenly militia, whom I look upon, pray for all those led astray by its example!”
127–129
   
the Church once made war with swords but now by decree
130–136
   
apostrophe: but you who write only to cancel, remember that Peter and Paul, who died for the vineyard that you lay waste, still live.
PARADISO XVIII

               
That blessèd mirror continued to rejoice   

               
in his own thoughts and I was tasting mine,

3
             
tempering the bitter with the sweet,   

               
when that lady, who was leading me to God,

               
said: ‘Change your thoughts. Consider that I dwell   

6
             
with Him who lifts the weight of every wrong.’

               
At the loving sound of my comfort’s voice   

               
I turned, and the great love I saw then,   

   

9
             
in her holy eyes, I have to leave untold,

               
not just because I cannot trust my speech,

               
but because memory cannot retrace its path

12
           
that far unless Another guide it.

               
This much only of that moment can I tell again,

               
that, when I fixed my gaze on her,

15
           
my affections were released from any other longing

               
as long as the eternal Beauty,   

               
shining its light on Beatrice, made me content

18
           
with its reflected glow in her fair eyes.

               
Conquering me with her radiant smile,   

               
she said: ‘Turn now and listen:

21
           
not in my eyes alone is Paradise.’

               
As, on occasion, here on earth, affection   

               
may be read in someone’s face

24
           
if it is strong enough to capture all the soul,

               
so, in the flaming of that holy radiance

               
to which I turned, I recognized his wish

27
           
to share some further thoughts with me.

               
And he began: ‘On this fifth tier of the branches   

               
of the tree that draws its sustenance from above   

30
           
and always is in fruit and never sheds its leaves

               
‘are blessèd spirits who below, on earth,   

               
before they rose to Heaven, were of such renown

33
           
that any poet’s page would be enriched by them.   

               
‘Look, therefore, at the two arms of the cross,   

               
and each one whom I name will, flashing, dart

36
           
as does swift fire from within a cloud.’   

               
I saw a streak of light drawn through the cross   

               
at Joshua’s name as soon as it was spoken,   

39
           
nor could I tell the naming and the deed apart.   

               
And, at the name of valorous Maccabaeus,   

               
I saw shoot by another whirling light—

42
           
and it was joy that whipped that spinning top.   

               
My watchful gaze was fastened   

               
on Charlemagne and Roland there, as well,

45
           
just as the eye pursues the falcon in its flight.

               
William, Renouard, and then Duke Godfrey   

               
next drew my eyes along that cross,   

48
           
and Robert Guiscard also did so.   

               
Then, leaving me to mingle with the other lights,   

               
the soul who’d spoken last with me displayed

51
           
his artistry among the singers of that heaven.   

               
I turned to my right to learn   

               
from Beatrice what I ought to do,

54
           
whether signaled by some word or gesture,

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