Paradiso: Canto IIO Ye, who in some pretty little boat,Eager to listen, have been followingBehind my ship, that singing sails along,Turn back to look again upon your shores;Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.The sea I sail has never yet been passed;Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.Ye other few who have the neck upliftedBetimes to th’ bread of Angels upon whichOne liveth here and grows not sated by it,Well may you launch upon the deep salt-seaYour vessel, keeping still my wake before youUpon the water that grows smooth again.Those glorious ones who unto Colchos passedWere not so wonder-struck as you shall be,When Jason they beheld a ploughman made!The con-created and perpetual thirstFor the realm deiform did bear us on,As swift almost as ye the heavens behold.Upward gazed Beatrice, and I at her;And in such space perchance as strikes a boltAnd flies, and from the notch unlocks itself,Arrived I saw me where a wondrous thingDrew to itself my sight; and therefore sheFrom whom no care of mine could be concealed,Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful,Said unto me: “Fix gratefully thy mindOn God, who unto the first star has brought us.”It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us,Luminous, dense, consolidate and brightAs adamant on which the sun is striking.Into itself did the eternal pearlReceive us, even as water doth receiveA ray of light, remaining still unbroken.If I was body, (and we here conceive notHow one dimension tolerates another,Which needs must be if body enter body,)More the desire should be enkindled in usThat essence to behold, wherein is seenHow God and our own nature were united.There will be seen what we receive by faith,Not demonstrated, but self-evidentIn guise of the first truth that man believes.I made reply: “Madonna, as devoutlyAs most I can do I give thanks to HimWho has removed me from the mortal world.But tell me what the dusky spots may beUpon this body, which below on earthMake people tell that fabulous tale of Cain?”Somewhat she smiled; and then, “If the opinionOf mortals be erroneous,” she said,“Where’er the key of sense doth not unlock,Certes, the shafts of wonder should not pierce theeNow, forasmuch as, following the senses,Thou seest that the reason has short wings.But tell me what thou think’st of it thyself.”And I: “What seems to us up here diverse,Is caused, I think, by bodies rare and dense.”And she: “Right truly shalt thou see immersedIn error thy belief, if well thou hearestThe argument that I shall make against it.Lights many the eighth sphere displays to youWhich in their quality and quantityMay noted be of aspects different.If this were caused by rare and dense alone,One only virtue would there be in allOr more or less diffused, or equally.Virtues diverse must be perforce the fruitsOf formal principles; and these, save one,Of course would by thy reasoning be destroyed.Besides, if rarity were of this dimnessThe cause thou askest, either through and throughThis planet thus attenuate were of matter,Or else, as in a body is apportionedThe fat and lean, so in like manner thisWould in its volume interchange the leaves.Were it the former, in the sun’s eclipseIt would be manifest by the shining throughOf light, as through aught tenuous interfused.This is not so; hence we must scan the other,And if it chance the other I demolish,Then falsified will thy opinion be.But if this rarity go not through and through,There needs must be a limit, beyond whichIts contrary prevents the further passing,And thence the foreign radiance is reflected,Even as a colour cometh back from glass,The which behind itself concealeth lead.Now thou wilt say the sunbeam shows itselfMore dimly there than in the other parts,By being there reflected farther back.From this reply experiment will free theeIf e’er thou try it, which is wont to beThe fountain to the rivers of your arts.Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two removeAlike from thee, the other more remoteBetween the former two shall meet thine eyes.Turned towards these, cause that behind thy backBe placed a light, illuming the three mirrorsAnd coming back to thee by all reflected.Though in its quantity be not so ampleThe image most remote, there shalt thou seeHow it perforce is equally resplendent.Now, as beneath the touches of warm raysNaked the subject of the snow remainsBoth of its former colour and its cold,Thee thus remaining in thy intellect,Will I inform with such a living light,That it shall tremble in its aspect to thee.Within the heaven of the divine reposeRevolves a body, in whose virtue liesThe being of whatever it contains.The following heaven, that has so many eyes,Divides this being by essences diverse,Distinguished from it, and by it contained.The other spheres, by various differences,All the distinctions which they have within themDispose unto their ends and their effects.Thus do these organs of the world proceed,As thou perceivest now, from grade to grade;Since from above they take, and act beneath.Observe me well, how through this place I comeUnto the truth thou wishest, that hereafterThou mayst alone know how to keep the fordThe power and motion of the holy spheres,As from the artisan the hammer’s craft,Forth from the blessed motors must proceed.The heaven, which lights so manifold make fair,From the Intelligence profound, which turns it,The image takes, and makes of it a seal.And even as the soul within your dustThrough members different and accommodatedTo faculties diverse expands itself,So likewise this Intelligence diffusesIts virtue multiplied among the stars.Itself revolving on its unity.Virtue diverse doth a diverse alloyageMake with the precious body that it quickens,In which, as life in you, it is combined.From the glad nature whence it is derived,The mingled virtue through the body shines,Even as gladness through the living pupil.From this proceeds whate’er from light to lightAppeareth different, not from dense and rare:This is the formal principle that produces,According to its goodness, dark and bright.”
O Ye, who in some pretty little boat,Eager to listen, have been followingBehind my ship, that singing sails along,
Turn back to look again upon your shores;Do not put out to sea, lest peradventure,In losing me, you might yourselves be lost.
The sea I sail has never yet been passed;Minerva breathes, and pilots me Apollo,And Muses nine point out to me the Bears.
Ye other few who have the neck upliftedBetimes to th’ bread of Angels upon whichOne liveth here and grows not sated by it,
Well may you launch upon the deep salt-seaYour vessel, keeping still my wake before youUpon the water that grows smooth again.
Those glorious ones who unto Colchos passedWere not so wonder-struck as you shall be,When Jason they beheld a ploughman made!
The con-created and perpetual thirstFor the realm deiform did bear us on,As swift almost as ye the heavens behold.
Upward gazed Beatrice, and I at her;And in such space perchance as strikes a boltAnd flies, and from the notch unlocks itself,
Arrived I saw me where a wondrous thingDrew to itself my sight; and therefore sheFrom whom no care of mine could be concealed,
Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful,Said unto me: “Fix gratefully thy mindOn God, who unto the first star has brought us.”
It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us,Luminous, dense, consolidate and brightAs adamant on which the sun is striking.
Into itself did the eternal pearlReceive us, even as water doth receiveA ray of light, remaining still unbroken.
If I was body, (and we here conceive notHow one dimension tolerates another,Which needs must be if body enter body,)
More the desire should be enkindled in usThat essence to behold, wherein is seenHow God and our own nature were united.
There will be seen what we receive by faith,Not demonstrated, but self-evidentIn guise of the first truth that man believes.
I made reply: “Madonna, as devoutlyAs most I can do I give thanks to HimWho has removed me from the mortal world.
But tell me what the dusky spots may beUpon this body, which below on earthMake people tell that fabulous tale of Cain?”
Somewhat she smiled; and then, “If the opinionOf mortals be erroneous,” she said,“Where’er the key of sense doth not unlock,
Certes, the shafts of wonder should not pierce theeNow, forasmuch as, following the senses,Thou seest that the reason has short wings.
But tell me what thou think’st of it thyself.”And I: “What seems to us up here diverse,Is caused, I think, by bodies rare and dense.”
And she: “Right truly shalt thou see immersedIn error thy belief, if well thou hearestThe argument that I shall make against it.
Lights many the eighth sphere displays to youWhich in their quality and quantityMay noted be of aspects different.
If this were caused by rare and dense alone,One only virtue would there be in allOr more or less diffused, or equally.
Virtues diverse must be perforce the fruitsOf formal principles; and these, save one,Of course would by thy reasoning be destroyed.
Besides, if rarity were of this dimnessThe cause thou askest, either through and throughThis planet thus attenuate were of matter,
Or else, as in a body is apportionedThe fat and lean, so in like manner thisWould in its volume interchange the leaves.
Were it the former, in the sun’s eclipseIt would be manifest by the shining throughOf light, as through aught tenuous interfused.
This is not so; hence we must scan the other,And if it chance the other I demolish,Then falsified will thy opinion be.
But if this rarity go not through and through,There needs must be a limit, beyond whichIts contrary prevents the further passing,
And thence the foreign radiance is reflected,Even as a colour cometh back from glass,The which behind itself concealeth lead.
Now thou wilt say the sunbeam shows itselfMore dimly there than in the other parts,By being there reflected farther back.
From this reply experiment will free theeIf e’er thou try it, which is wont to beThe fountain to the rivers of your arts.
Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two removeAlike from thee, the other more remoteBetween the former two shall meet thine eyes.
Turned towards these, cause that behind thy backBe placed a light, illuming the three mirrorsAnd coming back to thee by all reflected.
Though in its quantity be not so ampleThe image most remote, there shalt thou seeHow it perforce is equally resplendent.
Now, as beneath the touches of warm raysNaked the subject of the snow remainsBoth of its former colour and its cold,
Thee thus remaining in thy intellect,Will I inform with such a living light,That it shall tremble in its aspect to thee.
Within the heaven of the divine reposeRevolves a body, in whose virtue liesThe being of whatever it contains.
The following heaven, that has so many eyes,Divides this being by essences diverse,Distinguished from it, and by it contained.
The other spheres, by various differences,All the distinctions which they have within themDispose unto their ends and their effects.
Thus do these organs of the world proceed,As thou perceivest now, from grade to grade;Since from above they take, and act beneath.
Observe me well, how through this place I comeUnto the truth thou wishest, that hereafterThou mayst alone know how to keep the ford
The power and motion of the holy spheres,As from the artisan the hammer’s craft,Forth from the blessed motors must proceed.
The heaven, which lights so manifold make fair,From the Intelligence profound, which turns it,The image takes, and makes of it a seal.
And even as the soul within your dustThrough members different and accommodatedTo faculties diverse expands itself,
So likewise this Intelligence diffusesIts virtue multiplied among the stars.Itself revolving on its unity.
Virtue diverse doth a diverse alloyageMake with the precious body that it quickens,In which, as life in you, it is combined.
From the glad nature whence it is derived,The mingled virtue through the body shines,Even as gladness through the living pupil.
From this proceeds whate’er from light to lightAppeareth different, not from dense and rare:This is the formal principle that produces,
According to its goodness, dark and bright.”