Paradiso (39 page)

               
‘From this, it may be seen, beatitude itself   
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is based upon the act of seeing,

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not on that of love, which follows after,

               
‘and the measure of their sight reveals their worth,   
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which grace and proper will beget in them.

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Such, then, is the process, step by step.

               
‘The second triad thus blossoming   
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in this eternity of spring   
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which no nocturnal Ram cuts short

               
‘ever sings hosannas, the threefold strain   
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resounding in the threefold ranks

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of bliss by which they are intrined.

               
‘In this hierarchy are found the next divinities—   
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Dominions first, then Virtues,

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and the third are Powers.

               
‘The penultimate two of these festive throngs   
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are whirling Principalities and Archangels,

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while the last one is all Angels at their play.

               
‘All these orders gaze in ecstasy above.   
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The highest there are linked with those below,   
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so that the rest are drawn, and also draw, to God.

               
‘Dionysius with such passion set his mind   
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to contemplate these orders   
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that he named them and arranged them as do I.

               
‘But later Gregory took a different view,   
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so that, opening his eyes here in this heaven,

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he saw his errors, laughing at himself.   
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‘And if a mortal man on earth set forth   
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such hidden truth, you need not wonder,

               
for he who saw it here above revealed it then to him,

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along with many other truths about these circlings.’

               
When the two offspring of Latona,   
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one covered by the Ram, one by the Scales,

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together make a belt of the horizon

               
for the moment that the zenith   
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holds them balanced, until each of them,

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in changing hemispheres, now leaves that belt,

               
for just that long, her face lit by a smile,   
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Beatrice was silent, staring intently

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at the point that overcame me.   
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Then she began: ‘I tell, I do not ask,   
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what you would like to hear. For I have seen it there

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where every
ubi
and every
quando
has its center.

               
‘Not to increase His store of goodness,   
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a thing impossible, but that His splendor,

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shining back, might say
Subsisto
,   
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‘in His eternity, beyond time, beyond

               
any other limit, as it pleased Him,   
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in these new loves, Eternal Love unfolded.

               
‘Nor, before then, did He rest in torpor,   
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for until God moved upon these waters

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there existed no “before,” there was no “after.”

               
‘Form and matter, conjoined and separate,   
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came into being without defect,

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shot like three arrows from a three-stringed bow.

               
‘And, as a ray shines right through glass, amber,   
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or crystal, so that between its presence   
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and its shining there is no lapse of time,

               
‘just so did the threefold creation flash—

               
with no intervals in its beginning—

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from its Lord into being, all at once.

               
‘With it, order was created and ordained   
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for the angels, and these were the summit

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of the universe, for in them God produced pure act.

               
‘Pure potential held the lowest place.

               
Between them, potential and act were held together

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by such a bond as may not be unbound.

               
‘Jerome’s writing tells you all the angels   
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were created many centuries before

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the rest of the universe came into being.

               
‘Yet the scribes of the Holy Ghost declare

               
the truth on many pages,

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as you shall find on searching with some care.

               
‘And even reason sees it, in some measure,   
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for it would not grant that the movers of the heavens

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should remain so long without becoming perfect.

               
‘Now you know both where and when these loving spirits   
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were created, and you know how, as well.

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And thus three flames of your desire have been quenched.

               
‘Then, sooner than one might count to twenty,   
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one band of angels had disturbed   
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the lowest of your elements.   
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‘The other band remained and gave itself   
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with such abandon to this task, which you behold,

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that never does it cease its circling motion.

               
‘The cause accounting for the fall

               
was the accursèd pride of him you saw

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crushed beneath the weight of all the world.

               
‘These whom you observe here all were humble,   
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acknowledging the Goodness that had made them fit

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to be endowed with an intelligence so vast.

               
‘Thus their vision was exalted   
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by illuminating grace, along with their own merit,

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so that theirs is a will both whole and steadfast.

               
‘And I would not have you doubt, but rather be assured,   
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that there is merit in receiving grace   
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in measure as the heart inclines to it.

               
‘Henceforth, if you have understood my words,

               
you may examine anything you like

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in this assembly without need of aid.

               
‘But since in schools on earth you still are taught   
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that the angelic nature is possessed

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of understanding, memory, and will,

               
‘I will continue, so that you clearly see

               
how truth is made unclear down there

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by such equivocation in its teaching.   
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‘These angelic beings, since they first rejoiced

               
in the face of God, from which nothing may be hidden,

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have never turned their eyes away from it,

               
‘so that their sight is never interrupted   
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by some new object. And thus they have no need

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to search the past for some forgotten construct.