Then made reply: "A conscience overcast Make manifest thy vision utterly, And let them scratch wherever is the itch; For if thine utterance shall offensive be At the first taste, a vital nutriment "Twill leave thereafter, when it is digested. This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind, Which smiteth most the most exalted summits, And that is no slight argument of honour. Therefore are shown to thee within these wheels, Upon the mount and in the dolorous valley, Only the souls that unto fame are known; Because the spirit of the hearer rests not, Nor doth confirm its faith by an example Which has the root of it unknown and hidden, Or other reason that is not apparent." CANTO XVIII. Now was alone rejoicing in its word My own, the bitter tempering with the sweet, Said: "Change thy thought; consider that I am Unto the loving accents of my comfort I turned me round, and then what love I saw Not only that my language I distrust, But that my mind cannot return so far Above itself, unless another guide it. Thus much upon that point can I repeat, That, her again beholding, my affection From every other longing was released While the eternal pleasure, which direct Rayed upon Beatrice, from her fair face She said to me, “Turn thee about and listen; 30 155 Even as sometimes here do we behold To which I turned, I recognized therein Upon the tree that liveth by its summit, They came to Heaven, were of such great renown He whom I now shall name will there enact I saw athwart the Cross a splendour drawn Two of them my regard attentive followed And the Duke Godfrey, did attract my sight The soul that had addressed me showed how great To my right side I turned myself around, So full of pleasure, that her countenance A man in doing good from day to day With heaven together had increased its arc, Of time, in a pale woman, when her face Such was it in mine eyes, when I had turned, Within that Jovial torch aid I behold The sparkling of the love which was therein And even as birds uprisen from the shore, As in congratulation o'er their food, Make squadrons of themselves, now round, now long, So from within those lights the holy creatures O divine Pegasea, thou who genius Dost glorious make, and render it long-lived, And this through thee the cities and the kingdoms, Illume me with thyself, that I may bring Their figures out as I have them conceived! First verb and noun of all that was depicted; Thereafter in the M of the fifth word Remained they so arranged, that Jupiter The summit of the M, and pause there singing Then, as in striking upon burning logs Upward there fly innumerable sparks, Even as the Sun that lights them had allotted; And, each one being quiet in its place, The head and neck beheld I of an eagle He who there paints has none to be his guide; But Himself guides; and is from Him remembered The other beatitude, that contented seemed Did demonstrate to me, that all our justice Thy motion and thy virtue, to regard So that a second time it now be wroth With buying and with selling in the temple O soldiery of heaven, whom I contemplate, Implore for those who are upon the earth Yet thou, who writest but to cancel, think That Peter and that Paul, who for this vineyard 115 195 130 135 CANTO XIX. APPEARED before me with its wings outspread Appeared a little ruby each, wherein Ray of the sun was burning so enkindled And what it now behoves me to retrace Nor voice has e'er reported, nor ink written, For speak I saw, and likewise heard, the beak, Am I exalted here unto that glory 10 15 And upon earth I left my memory Such, that the evil-minded people there Commend it, but continue not the story." So doth a single heat from many embers Make itself felt, even as from many loves Issued a single sound from out that image. Whence I thereafter: O perpetual flowers Of the eternal joy, that only one Make me perceive your odours manifold, Which a long season has in hunger held me, To listen; and you know what is the doubt Even as a falcon, issuing from his hood, Doth move his head, and with his wings applaud him, 35 Saw I become that standard, which of lauds With such songs as he knows who there rejoices. On the world's outer verge, and who within it Could not the impress of his power so make And this makes certain that the first proud being, And hence appears it, that each minor nature Is scant receptacle unto that good Which has no end, and by itself is measured. In consequence our vision, which perforce Must be some ray of that intelligence With which all things whatever are replete, Cannot in its own nature be so potent, That it shall not its origin discern Far beyond that which is apparent to it. The power of vision that your world receives, |