CANTO VII“Hosanna Sanctus Deus SabaothSuperillustrans claritate tuaFelices ignes horum malahoth!”Thus chanting saw I turn that substance brightWith fourfold lustre to its orb again,Revolving; and the rest unto their danceWith it mov’d also; and like swiftest sparks,In sudden distance from my sight were veil’d.Me doubt possess’d, and “Speak,” it whisper’d me,“Speak, speak unto thy lady, that she quenchThy thirst with drops of sweetness.” Yet blank awe,Which lords it o’er me, even at the soundOf Beatrice’s name, did bow me downAs one in slumber held. Not long that moodBeatrice suffer’d: she, with such a smile,As might have made one blest amid the flames,Beaming upon me, thus her words began:“Thou in thy thought art pond’ring (as I deem,And what I deem is truth how just revengeCould be with justice punish’d: from which doubtI soon will free thee; so thou mark my words;For they of weighty matter shall possess thee.“That man, who was unborn, himself condemn’d,And, in himself, all, who since him have liv’d,His offspring: whence, below, the human kindLay sick in grievous error many an age;Until it pleas’d the Word of God to comeAmongst them down, to his own person joiningThe nature, from its Maker far estrang’d,By the mere act of his eternal love.Contemplate here the wonder I unfold.The nature with its Maker thus conjoin’d,Created first was blameless, pure and good;But through itself alone was driven forthFrom Paradise, because it had eschew’dThe way of truth and life, to evil turn’d.Ne’er then was penalty so just as thatInflicted by the cross, if thou regardThe nature in assumption doom’d: ne’er wrongSo great, in reference to him, who tookSuch nature on him, and endur’d the doom.God therefore and the Jews one sentence pleased:So different effects flow’d from one act,And heav’n was open’d, though the earth did quake.Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hearThat a just vengeance was by righteous courtJustly reveng’d. But yet I see thy mindBy thought on thought arising sore perplex’d,And with how vehement desire it asksSolution of the maze. What I have heard,Is plain, thou sayst: but wherefore God this wayFor our redemption chose, eludes my search.“Brother! no eye of man not perfected,Nor fully ripen’d in the flame of love,May fathom this decree. It is a mark,In sooth, much aim’d at, and but little kenn’d:And I will therefore show thee why such wayWas worthiest. The celestial love, that spumeAll envying in its bounty, in itselfWith such effulgence blazeth, as sends forthAll beauteous things eternal. What distilsImmediate thence, no end of being knows,Bearing its seal immutably impress’d.Whatever thence immediate falls, is free,Free wholly, uncontrollable by powerOf each thing new: by such conformityMore grateful to its author, whose bright beams,Though all partake their shining, yet in thoseAre liveliest, which resemble him the most.These tokens of pre-eminence on manLargely bestow’d, if any of them fail,He needs must forfeit his nobility,No longer stainless. Sin alone is that,Which doth disfranchise him, and make unlikeTo the chief good; for that its light in himIs darken’d. And to dignity thus lostIs no return; unless, where guilt makes void,He for ill pleasure pay with equal pain.Your nature, which entirely in its seedTrangress’d, from these distinctions fell, no lessThan from its state in Paradise; nor meansFound of recovery (search all methods outAs strickly as thou may) save one of these,The only fords were left through which to wade,Either that God had of his courtesyReleas’d him merely, or else man himselfFor his own folly by himself aton’d.“Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst,On th’ everlasting counsel, and explore,Instructed by my words, the dread abyss.“Man in himself had ever lack’d the meansOf satisfaction, for he could not stoopObeying, in humility so low,As high he, disobeying, thought to soar:And for this reason he had vainly triedOut of his own sufficiency to payThe rigid satisfaction. Then behoovedThat God should by his own ways lead him backUnto the life, from whence he fell, restor’d:By both his ways, I mean, or one alone.But since the deed is ever priz’d the more,The more the doer’s good intent appears,Goodness celestial, whose broad signatureIs on the universe, of all its waysTo raise ye up, was fain to leave out none,Nor aught so vast or so magnificent,Either for him who gave or who receiv’dBetween the last night and the primal day,Was or can be. For God more bounty show’d.Giving himself to make man capableOf his return to life, than had the termsBeen mere and unconditional release.And for his justice, every method elseWere all too scant, had not the Son of GodHumbled himself to put on mortal flesh.“Now, to fulfil each wish of thine, remainsI somewhat further to thy view unfold.That thou mayst see as clearly as myself.“I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see,The earth and water, and all things of themCompounded, to corruption turn, and soonDissolve. Yet these were also things create,Because, if what were told me, had been trueThey from corruption had been therefore free.“The angels, O my brother! and this climeWherein thou art, impassible and pure,I call created, as indeed they areIn their whole being. But the elements,Which thou hast nam’d, and what of them is made,Are by created virtue’ inform’d: createTheir substance, and create the’ informing virtueIn these bright stars, that round them circling moveThe soul of every brute and of each plant,The ray and motion of the sacred lights,With complex potency attract and turn.But this our life the’ eternal good inspiresImmediate, and enamours of itself;So that our wishes rest for ever here.“And hence thou mayst by inference concludeOur resurrection certain, if thy mindConsider how the human flesh was fram’d,When both our parents at the first were made.”
“Hosanna Sanctus Deus SabaothSuperillustrans claritate tuaFelices ignes horum malahoth!”Thus chanting saw I turn that substance brightWith fourfold lustre to its orb again,Revolving; and the rest unto their danceWith it mov’d also; and like swiftest sparks,In sudden distance from my sight were veil’d.
Me doubt possess’d, and “Speak,” it whisper’d me,“Speak, speak unto thy lady, that she quenchThy thirst with drops of sweetness.” Yet blank awe,Which lords it o’er me, even at the soundOf Beatrice’s name, did bow me downAs one in slumber held. Not long that moodBeatrice suffer’d: she, with such a smile,As might have made one blest amid the flames,Beaming upon me, thus her words began:“Thou in thy thought art pond’ring (as I deem,And what I deem is truth how just revengeCould be with justice punish’d: from which doubtI soon will free thee; so thou mark my words;For they of weighty matter shall possess thee.
“That man, who was unborn, himself condemn’d,And, in himself, all, who since him have liv’d,His offspring: whence, below, the human kindLay sick in grievous error many an age;Until it pleas’d the Word of God to comeAmongst them down, to his own person joiningThe nature, from its Maker far estrang’d,By the mere act of his eternal love.Contemplate here the wonder I unfold.The nature with its Maker thus conjoin’d,Created first was blameless, pure and good;But through itself alone was driven forthFrom Paradise, because it had eschew’dThe way of truth and life, to evil turn’d.Ne’er then was penalty so just as thatInflicted by the cross, if thou regardThe nature in assumption doom’d: ne’er wrongSo great, in reference to him, who tookSuch nature on him, and endur’d the doom.God therefore and the Jews one sentence pleased:So different effects flow’d from one act,And heav’n was open’d, though the earth did quake.Count it not hard henceforth, when thou dost hearThat a just vengeance was by righteous courtJustly reveng’d. But yet I see thy mindBy thought on thought arising sore perplex’d,And with how vehement desire it asksSolution of the maze. What I have heard,Is plain, thou sayst: but wherefore God this wayFor our redemption chose, eludes my search.
“Brother! no eye of man not perfected,Nor fully ripen’d in the flame of love,May fathom this decree. It is a mark,In sooth, much aim’d at, and but little kenn’d:And I will therefore show thee why such wayWas worthiest. The celestial love, that spumeAll envying in its bounty, in itselfWith such effulgence blazeth, as sends forthAll beauteous things eternal. What distilsImmediate thence, no end of being knows,Bearing its seal immutably impress’d.Whatever thence immediate falls, is free,Free wholly, uncontrollable by powerOf each thing new: by such conformityMore grateful to its author, whose bright beams,Though all partake their shining, yet in thoseAre liveliest, which resemble him the most.These tokens of pre-eminence on manLargely bestow’d, if any of them fail,He needs must forfeit his nobility,No longer stainless. Sin alone is that,Which doth disfranchise him, and make unlikeTo the chief good; for that its light in himIs darken’d. And to dignity thus lostIs no return; unless, where guilt makes void,He for ill pleasure pay with equal pain.Your nature, which entirely in its seedTrangress’d, from these distinctions fell, no lessThan from its state in Paradise; nor meansFound of recovery (search all methods outAs strickly as thou may) save one of these,The only fords were left through which to wade,Either that God had of his courtesyReleas’d him merely, or else man himselfFor his own folly by himself aton’d.
“Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst,On th’ everlasting counsel, and explore,Instructed by my words, the dread abyss.
“Man in himself had ever lack’d the meansOf satisfaction, for he could not stoopObeying, in humility so low,As high he, disobeying, thought to soar:And for this reason he had vainly triedOut of his own sufficiency to payThe rigid satisfaction. Then behoovedThat God should by his own ways lead him backUnto the life, from whence he fell, restor’d:By both his ways, I mean, or one alone.But since the deed is ever priz’d the more,The more the doer’s good intent appears,Goodness celestial, whose broad signatureIs on the universe, of all its waysTo raise ye up, was fain to leave out none,Nor aught so vast or so magnificent,Either for him who gave or who receiv’dBetween the last night and the primal day,Was or can be. For God more bounty show’d.Giving himself to make man capableOf his return to life, than had the termsBeen mere and unconditional release.And for his justice, every method elseWere all too scant, had not the Son of GodHumbled himself to put on mortal flesh.
“Now, to fulfil each wish of thine, remainsI somewhat further to thy view unfold.That thou mayst see as clearly as myself.
“I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see,The earth and water, and all things of themCompounded, to corruption turn, and soonDissolve. Yet these were also things create,Because, if what were told me, had been trueThey from corruption had been therefore free.
“The angels, O my brother! and this climeWherein thou art, impassible and pure,I call created, as indeed they areIn their whole being. But the elements,Which thou hast nam’d, and what of them is made,Are by created virtue’ inform’d: createTheir substance, and create the’ informing virtueIn these bright stars, that round them circling moveThe soul of every brute and of each plant,The ray and motion of the sacred lights,With complex potency attract and turn.But this our life the’ eternal good inspiresImmediate, and enamours of itself;So that our wishes rest for ever here.
“And hence thou mayst by inference concludeOur resurrection certain, if thy mindConsider how the human flesh was fram’d,When both our parents at the first were made.”