CANTO VI“After that Constantine the eagle turn’dAgainst the motions of the heav’n, that roll’dConsenting with its course, when he of yore,Lavinia’s spouse, was leader of the flight,A hundred years twice told and more, his seatAt Europe’s extreme point, the bird of JoveHeld, near the mountains, whence he issued first.There, under shadow of his sacred plumesSwaying the world, till through successive handsTo mine he came devolv’d. Caesar I was,And am Justinian; destin’d by the willOf that prime love, whose influence I feel,From vain excess to clear th’ encumber’d laws.Or ere that work engag’d me, I did holdChrist’s nature merely human, with such faithContented. But the blessed Agapete,Who was chief shepherd, he with warning voiceTo the true faith recall’d me. I believ’dHis words: and what he taught, now plainly see,As thou in every contradiction seestThe true and false oppos’d. Soon as my feetWere to the church reclaim’d, to my great task,By inspiration of God’s grace impell’d,I gave me wholly, and consign’d mine armsTo Belisarius, with whom heaven’s right handWas link’d in such conjointment, ’twas a signThat I should rest. To thy first question thusI shape mine answer, which were ended here,But that its tendency doth prompt perforceTo some addition; that thou well, mayst markWhat reason on each side they have to plead,By whom that holiest banner is withstood,Both who pretend its power and who oppose.“Beginning from that hour, when Pallas diedTo give it rule, behold the valorous deedsHave made it worthy reverence. Not unknownTo thee, how for three hundred years and moreIt dwelt in Alba, up to those fell listsWhere for its sake were met the rival three;Nor aught unknown to thee, which it achiev’dDown to the Sabines’ wrong to Lucrece’ woe,With its sev’n kings conqu’ring the nation round;Nor all it wrought, by Roman worthies home’Gainst Brennus and th’ Epirot prince, and hostsOf single chiefs, or states in league combin’dOf social warfare; hence Torquatus stern,And Quintius nam’d of his neglected locks,The Decii, and the Fabii hence acquir’dTheir fame, which I with duteous zeal embalm.By it the pride of Arab hordes was quell’d,When they led on by Hannibal o’erpass’dThe Alpine rocks, whence glide thy currents, Po!Beneath its guidance, in their prime of daysScipio and Pompey triumph’d; and that hill,Under whose summit thou didst see the light,Rued its stern bearing. After, near the hour,When heav’n was minded that o’er all the worldHis own deep calm should brood, to Caesar’s handDid Rome consign it; and what then it wroughtFrom Var unto the Rhine, saw Isere’s flood,Saw Loire and Seine, and every vale, that fillsThe torrent Rhone. What after that it wrought,When from Ravenna it came forth, and leap’dThe Rubicon, was of so bold a flight,That tongue nor pen may follow it. Tow’rds SpainIt wheel’d its bands, then tow’rd Dyrrachium smote,And on Pharsalia with so fierce a plunge,E’en the warm Nile was conscious to the pang;Its native shores Antandros, and the streamsOf Simois revisited, and thereWhere Hector lies; then ill for PtolemyHis pennons shook again; lightning thence fellOn Juba; and the next upon your west,At sound of the Pompeian trump, return’d.“What following and in its next bearer’s gripeIt wrought, is now by Cassius and BrutusBark’d off in hell, and by Perugia’s sonsAnd Modena’s was mourn’d. Hence weepeth stillSad Cleopatra, who, pursued by it,Took from the adder black and sudden death.With him it ran e’en to the Red Sea coast;With him compos’d the world to such a peace,That of his temple Janus barr’d the door.“But all the mighty standard yet had wrought,And was appointed to perform thereafter,Throughout the mortal kingdom which it sway’d,Falls in appearance dwindled and obscur’d,If one with steady eye and perfect thoughtOn the third Caesar look; for to his hands,The living Justice, in whose breath I move,Committed glory, e’en into his hands,To execute the vengeance of its wrath.“Hear now and wonder at what next I tell.After with Titus it was sent to wreakVengeance for vengeance of the ancient sin,And, when the Lombard tooth, with fangs impure,Did gore the bosom of the holy church,Under its wings victorious, CharlemagneSped to her rescue. Judge then for thyselfOf those, whom I erewhile accus’d to thee,What they are, and how grievous their offending,Who are the cause of all your ills. The oneAgainst the universal ensign rearsThe yellow lilies, and with partial aimThat to himself the other arrogates:So that ’tis hard to see which more offends.Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your artsBeneath another standard: ill is thisFollow’d of him, who severs it and justice:And let not with his Guelphs the new-crown’d CharlesAssail it, but those talons hold in dread,Which from a lion of more lofty portHave rent the easing. Many a time ere nowThe sons have for the sire’s transgression wail’d;Nor let him trust the fond belief, that heav’nWill truck its armour for his lilied shield.“This little star is furnish’d with good spirits,Whose mortal lives were busied to that end,That honour and renown might wait on them:And, when desires thus err in their intention,True love must needs ascend with slacker beam.But it is part of our delight, to measureOur wages with the merit; and admireThe close proportion. Hence doth heav’nly justiceTemper so evenly affection in us,It ne’er can warp to any wrongfulness.Of diverse voices is sweet music made:So in our life the different degreesRender sweet harmony among these wheels.“Within the pearl, that now encloseth us,Shines Romeo’s light, whose goodly deed and fairMet ill acceptance. But the Provencals,That were his foes, have little cause for mirth.Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrongOf other’s worth. Four daughters were there bornTo Raymond Berenger, and every oneBecame a queen; and this for him did Romeo,Though of mean state and from a foreign land.Yet envious tongues incited him to askA reckoning of that just one, who return’dTwelve fold to him for ten. Aged and poorHe parted thence: and if the world did knowThe heart he had, begging his life by morsels,’Twould deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt.”
“After that Constantine the eagle turn’dAgainst the motions of the heav’n, that roll’dConsenting with its course, when he of yore,Lavinia’s spouse, was leader of the flight,A hundred years twice told and more, his seatAt Europe’s extreme point, the bird of JoveHeld, near the mountains, whence he issued first.There, under shadow of his sacred plumesSwaying the world, till through successive handsTo mine he came devolv’d. Caesar I was,And am Justinian; destin’d by the willOf that prime love, whose influence I feel,From vain excess to clear th’ encumber’d laws.Or ere that work engag’d me, I did holdChrist’s nature merely human, with such faithContented. But the blessed Agapete,Who was chief shepherd, he with warning voiceTo the true faith recall’d me. I believ’dHis words: and what he taught, now plainly see,As thou in every contradiction seestThe true and false oppos’d. Soon as my feetWere to the church reclaim’d, to my great task,By inspiration of God’s grace impell’d,I gave me wholly, and consign’d mine armsTo Belisarius, with whom heaven’s right handWas link’d in such conjointment, ’twas a signThat I should rest. To thy first question thusI shape mine answer, which were ended here,But that its tendency doth prompt perforceTo some addition; that thou well, mayst markWhat reason on each side they have to plead,By whom that holiest banner is withstood,Both who pretend its power and who oppose.“Beginning from that hour, when Pallas diedTo give it rule, behold the valorous deedsHave made it worthy reverence. Not unknownTo thee, how for three hundred years and moreIt dwelt in Alba, up to those fell listsWhere for its sake were met the rival three;Nor aught unknown to thee, which it achiev’dDown to the Sabines’ wrong to Lucrece’ woe,With its sev’n kings conqu’ring the nation round;Nor all it wrought, by Roman worthies home’Gainst Brennus and th’ Epirot prince, and hostsOf single chiefs, or states in league combin’dOf social warfare; hence Torquatus stern,And Quintius nam’d of his neglected locks,The Decii, and the Fabii hence acquir’dTheir fame, which I with duteous zeal embalm.By it the pride of Arab hordes was quell’d,When they led on by Hannibal o’erpass’dThe Alpine rocks, whence glide thy currents, Po!Beneath its guidance, in their prime of daysScipio and Pompey triumph’d; and that hill,Under whose summit thou didst see the light,Rued its stern bearing. After, near the hour,When heav’n was minded that o’er all the worldHis own deep calm should brood, to Caesar’s handDid Rome consign it; and what then it wroughtFrom Var unto the Rhine, saw Isere’s flood,Saw Loire and Seine, and every vale, that fillsThe torrent Rhone. What after that it wrought,When from Ravenna it came forth, and leap’dThe Rubicon, was of so bold a flight,That tongue nor pen may follow it. Tow’rds SpainIt wheel’d its bands, then tow’rd Dyrrachium smote,And on Pharsalia with so fierce a plunge,E’en the warm Nile was conscious to the pang;Its native shores Antandros, and the streamsOf Simois revisited, and thereWhere Hector lies; then ill for PtolemyHis pennons shook again; lightning thence fellOn Juba; and the next upon your west,At sound of the Pompeian trump, return’d.
“What following and in its next bearer’s gripeIt wrought, is now by Cassius and BrutusBark’d off in hell, and by Perugia’s sonsAnd Modena’s was mourn’d. Hence weepeth stillSad Cleopatra, who, pursued by it,Took from the adder black and sudden death.With him it ran e’en to the Red Sea coast;With him compos’d the world to such a peace,That of his temple Janus barr’d the door.
“But all the mighty standard yet had wrought,And was appointed to perform thereafter,Throughout the mortal kingdom which it sway’d,Falls in appearance dwindled and obscur’d,If one with steady eye and perfect thoughtOn the third Caesar look; for to his hands,The living Justice, in whose breath I move,Committed glory, e’en into his hands,To execute the vengeance of its wrath.
“Hear now and wonder at what next I tell.After with Titus it was sent to wreakVengeance for vengeance of the ancient sin,And, when the Lombard tooth, with fangs impure,Did gore the bosom of the holy church,Under its wings victorious, CharlemagneSped to her rescue. Judge then for thyselfOf those, whom I erewhile accus’d to thee,What they are, and how grievous their offending,Who are the cause of all your ills. The oneAgainst the universal ensign rearsThe yellow lilies, and with partial aimThat to himself the other arrogates:So that ’tis hard to see which more offends.Be yours, ye Ghibellines, to veil your artsBeneath another standard: ill is thisFollow’d of him, who severs it and justice:And let not with his Guelphs the new-crown’d CharlesAssail it, but those talons hold in dread,Which from a lion of more lofty portHave rent the easing. Many a time ere nowThe sons have for the sire’s transgression wail’d;Nor let him trust the fond belief, that heav’nWill truck its armour for his lilied shield.
“This little star is furnish’d with good spirits,Whose mortal lives were busied to that end,That honour and renown might wait on them:And, when desires thus err in their intention,True love must needs ascend with slacker beam.But it is part of our delight, to measureOur wages with the merit; and admireThe close proportion. Hence doth heav’nly justiceTemper so evenly affection in us,It ne’er can warp to any wrongfulness.Of diverse voices is sweet music made:So in our life the different degreesRender sweet harmony among these wheels.
“Within the pearl, that now encloseth us,Shines Romeo’s light, whose goodly deed and fairMet ill acceptance. But the Provencals,That were his foes, have little cause for mirth.Ill shapes that man his course, who makes his wrongOf other’s worth. Four daughters were there bornTo Raymond Berenger, and every oneBecame a queen; and this for him did Romeo,Though of mean state and from a foreign land.Yet envious tongues incited him to askA reckoning of that just one, who return’dTwelve fold to him for ten. Aged and poorHe parted thence: and if the world did knowThe heart he had, begging his life by morsels,’Twould deem the praise, it yields him, scantly dealt.”