Canto XXIX

At what time both the children of Latona,¹Surmounted by the Ram and by the Scales,²Together make a zone of the horizon,³As long as from the time the zenith holds themIn equipoise, till from that girdle bothChanging their hemisphere disturb the balance,So long, her face depicted with a smile,Did Beatrice keep silence while she gazedFixedly at the point which had o’ercome me.⁴Then she began: “I say, and I ask notWhat thou dost wish to hear, for I have seen it⁵Where centres every When and every Ubi.⁶Not to acquire some good unto himself,Which is impossible, but that his splendor⁷In its resplendency may say, ‘Subsisto,’In his eternity outside of time,⁸Outside all other limits, as it pleased him,Into new Loves the Eternal Love unfolded.⁹Nor as if torpid did he lie before;For neither after nor before proceededThe going forth of God upon these waters.¹⁰Matter and Form unmingled and conjoined¹¹Came into being that had no defect,¹²E’en as three arrows from a three-stringed bow.And as in glass, in amber, or in crystalA sunbeam flashes so, that from its comingTo its full being is no interval,So from its Lord did the triform effectRay forth into its being all together,Without discrimination of beginning.Order was con-created and constructedIn substances, and summit of the worldWere those wherein the pure act was produced.¹³Pure potentiality held the lowest part;¹⁴Midway bound potentiality with act¹⁵Such bond that it shall never be unbound.¹⁶Jerome has written unto you of angels¹⁷Created a long lapse of centuriesOr ever yet the other world was made;But written is this truth in many places¹⁸By writers of the Holy Ghost, and thou¹⁹Shalt see it, if thou lookest well thereat.And even reason seeth it somewhat,For it would not concede that for so longCould be the motors without their perfection.²⁰Now dost thou know both where and when these LovesCreated were, and how; so that extinctIn thy desire already are three fires.Nor could one reach, in counting, unto twentySo swiftly, as a portion of these angelsDisturbed the subject of your elements.²¹The rest remained, and they began this artWhich thou discernest, with so great delightThat never from their circling do they cease.The occasion of the fall was the accursedPresumption of that One, whom thou hast seen²²By all the burden of the world constrained.Those whom thou here beholdest modest wereTo recognise themselves as of that goodnessWhich made them apt for so much understanding;On which account their vision was exaltedBy the enlightening grace and their own merit,So that they have a full and steadfast will.I would not have thee doubt, but certain be,’Tis meritorious to receive this grace,²³According as the affection opens to it.Now round about in this consistoryMuch mayst thou contemplate, if these my wordsBe gathered up, without all further aid.But since upon the earth, throughout your schools,They teach that such is the angelic natureThat it doth hear, and recollect, and will,More will I say, that thou mayst see unmixedThe truth that is confounded there below,Equivocating in suchlike prelections.These substances, since in God’s countenanceThey jocund were, turned not away their sightFrom that wherefrom not anything is hidden;Hence they have not their vision interceptedBy object new, and hence they do not needTo recollect, through interrupted thought.So that below, not sleeping, people dream,Believing they speak truth, and not believing;And in the last is greater sin and shame.Below you do not journey by one pathPhilosophising; so transporteth youLove of appearance and the thought thereof.And even this above here is enduredWith less disdain, than when is set asideThe Holy Writ, or when it is distorted.They think not there how much of blood it costsTo sow it in the world, and how he pleasesWho in humility keeps close to it.Each striveth for appearance, and doth makeHis own inventions; and these treated are²⁴By preachers, and the Evangel holds its peace.One sayeth that the moon did backward turn,In the Passion of Christ, and interpose herselfSo that the sunlight reached not down below;And lies; for of its own accord the lightHid itself; whence to Spaniards and to Indians,As to the Jews, did such eclipse respond.Florence has not so many Lapi and Bindi²⁵As fables such as these, that every yearAre shouted from the pulpit back and forth,In such wise that the lambs, who do not know,Come back from pasture fed upon the wind,²⁶And not to see the harm doth not excuse them.Christ did not to his first disciples say,‘Go forth, and to the world preach idle tales,’But unto them a true foundation gave;And this so loudly sounded from their lips,That, in the warfare to enkindle Faith,They made of the Evangel shields and lances.Now men go forth with jests and drolleries²⁷To preach, and if but well the people laugh,The hood puffs out, and nothing more is asked.But in the cowl there nestles such a bird,²⁸That, if the common people were to see it,They would perceive what pardons they confide in,For which so great on earth has grown the folly,That, without proof of any testimony,To each indulgence they would flock together.By this Saint Anthony his pig doth fatten,²⁹And many others, who are worse than pigs,Paying in money without mark of coinage.³⁰But since we have digressed abundantly,Turn back thine eyes forthwith to the right path,So that the way be shortened with the time.This nature doth so multiply itself³¹In numbers, that there never yet was speechNor mortal fancy that can go so far.And if thou notest that which is revealedBy Daniel, thou wilt see that in his thousands³²Number determinate is kept concealed.The primal light, that all irradiates it,³³By modes as many is received therein,As are the splendors wherewith it is mated.³⁴Hence, inasmuch as on the act conceptiveThe affection followeth, of love the sweetness³⁵Therein diversely fervid is or tepid.The height behold now and the amplitudeOf the eternal power, since it hath madeItself so many mirrors, where ’tis broken,One in itself remaining as before.”