CANTO IIAll ye, who in small bark have following sail’d,Eager to listen, on the advent’rous trackOf my proud keel, that singing cuts its way,Backward return with speed, and your own shoresRevisit, nor put out to open sea,Where losing me, perchance ye may remainBewilder’d in deep maze. The way I passNe’er yet was run: Minerva breathes the gale,Apollo guides me, and another NineTo my rapt sight the arctic beams reveal.Ye other few, who have outstretch’d the neck.Timely for food of angels, on which hereThey live, yet never know satiety,Through the deep brine ye fearless may put outYour vessel, marking, well the furrow broadBefore you in the wave, that on both sidesEqual returns. Those, glorious, who pass’d o’erTo Colchos, wonder’d not as ye will do,When they saw Jason following the plough.The increate perpetual thirst, that drawsToward the realm of God’s own form, bore usSwift almost as the heaven ye behold.Beatrice upward gaz’d, and I on her,And in such space as on the notch a dartIs plac’d, then loosen’d flies, I saw myselfArriv’d, where wond’rous thing engag’d my sight.Whence she, to whom no work of mine was hid,Turning to me, with aspect glad as fair,Bespake me: “Gratefully direct thy mindTo God, through whom to this first star we come.”Me seem’d as if a cloud had cover’d us,Translucent, solid, firm, and polish’d bright,Like adamant, which the sun’s beam had smitWithin itself the ever-during pearlReceiv’d us, as the wave a ray of lightReceives, and rests unbroken. If I thenWas of corporeal frame, and it transcendOur weaker thought, how one dimension thusAnother could endure, which needs must beIf body enter body, how much moreMust the desire inflame us to beholdThat essence, which discovers by what meansGod and our nature join’d! There will be seenThat which we hold through faith, not shown by proof,But in itself intelligibly plain,E’en as the truth that man at first believes.I answered: “Lady! I with thoughts devout,Such as I best can frame, give thanks to Him,Who hath remov’d me from the mortal world.But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spotsUpon this body, which below on earthGive rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?”She somewhat smil’d, then spake: “If mortals errIn their opinion, when the key of senseUnlocks not, surely wonder’s weapon keenOught not to pierce thee; since thou find’st, the wingsOf reason to pursue the senses’ flightAre short. But what thy own thought is, declare.”Then I: “What various here above appears,Is caus’d, I deem, by bodies dense or rare.”She then resum’d: “Thou certainly wilt seeIn falsehood thy belief o’erwhelm’d, if wellThou listen to the arguments, which IShall bring to face it. The eighth sphere displaysNumberless lights, the which in kind and sizeMay be remark’d of different aspects;If rare or dense of that were cause alone,One single virtue then would be in all,Alike distributed, or more, or less.Different virtues needs must be the fruitsOf formal principles, and these, save one,Will by thy reasoning be destroy’d. Beside,If rarity were of that dusk the cause,Which thou inquirest, either in some partThat planet must throughout be void, nor fedWith its own matter; or, as bodies shareTheir fat and leanness, in like manner thisMust in its volume change the leaves. The first,If it were true, had through the sun’s eclipseBeen manifested, by transparencyOf light, as through aught rare beside effus’d.But this is not. Therefore remains to seeThe other cause: and if the other fall,Erroneous so must prove what seem’d to thee.If not from side to side this rarityPass through, there needs must be a limit, whenceIts contrary no further lets it pass.And hence the beam, that from without proceeds,Must be pour’d back, as colour comes, through glassReflected, which behind it lead conceals.Now wilt thou say, that there of murkier hueThan in the other part the ray is shown,By being thence refracted farther back.From this perplexity will free thee soonExperience, if thereof thou trial make,The fountain whence your arts derive their streame.Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two removeFrom thee alike, and more remote the third.Betwixt the former pair, shall meet thine eyes;Then turn’d toward them, cause behind thy backA light to stand, that on the three shall shine,And thus reflected come to thee from all.Though that beheld most distant do not stretchA space so ample, yet in brightness thouWill own it equaling the rest. But now,As under snow the ground, if the warm raySmites it, remains dismantled of the hueAnd cold, that cover’d it before, so thee,Dismantled in thy mind, I will informWith light so lively, that the tremulous beamShall quiver where it falls. Within the heaven,Where peace divine inhabits, circles roundA body, in whose virtue dies the beingOf all that it contains. The following heaven,That hath so many lights, this being divides,Through different essences, from it distinct,And yet contain’d within it. The other orbsTheir separate distinctions variouslyDispose, for their own seed and produce apt.Thus do these organs of the world proceed,As thou beholdest now, from step to step,Their influences from above deriving,And thence transmitting downwards. Mark me well,How through this passage to the truth I ford,The truth thou lov’st, that thou henceforth alone,May’st know to keep the shallows, safe, untold.“The virtue and motion of the sacred orbs,As mallet by the workman’s hand, must needsBy blessed movers be inspir’d. This heaven,Made beauteous by so many luminaries,From the deep spirit, that moves its circling sphere,Its image takes an impress as a seal:And as the soul, that dwells within your dust,Through members different, yet together form’d,In different pow’rs resolves itself; e’en soThe intellectual efficacy unfoldsIts goodness multiplied throughout the stars;On its own unity revolving still.Different virtue compact differentMakes with the precious body it enlivens,With which it knits, as life in you is knit.From its original nature full of joy,The virtue mingled through the body shines,As joy through pupil of the living eye.From hence proceeds, that which from light to lightSeems different, and not from dense or rare.This is the formal cause, that generatesProportion’d to its power, the dusk or clear.”
All ye, who in small bark have following sail’d,Eager to listen, on the advent’rous trackOf my proud keel, that singing cuts its way,Backward return with speed, and your own shoresRevisit, nor put out to open sea,Where losing me, perchance ye may remainBewilder’d in deep maze. The way I passNe’er yet was run: Minerva breathes the gale,Apollo guides me, and another NineTo my rapt sight the arctic beams reveal.Ye other few, who have outstretch’d the neck.Timely for food of angels, on which hereThey live, yet never know satiety,Through the deep brine ye fearless may put outYour vessel, marking, well the furrow broadBefore you in the wave, that on both sidesEqual returns. Those, glorious, who pass’d o’erTo Colchos, wonder’d not as ye will do,When they saw Jason following the plough.The increate perpetual thirst, that drawsToward the realm of God’s own form, bore usSwift almost as the heaven ye behold.Beatrice upward gaz’d, and I on her,And in such space as on the notch a dartIs plac’d, then loosen’d flies, I saw myselfArriv’d, where wond’rous thing engag’d my sight.Whence she, to whom no work of mine was hid,Turning to me, with aspect glad as fair,Bespake me: “Gratefully direct thy mindTo God, through whom to this first star we come.”Me seem’d as if a cloud had cover’d us,Translucent, solid, firm, and polish’d bright,Like adamant, which the sun’s beam had smitWithin itself the ever-during pearlReceiv’d us, as the wave a ray of lightReceives, and rests unbroken. If I thenWas of corporeal frame, and it transcendOur weaker thought, how one dimension thusAnother could endure, which needs must beIf body enter body, how much moreMust the desire inflame us to beholdThat essence, which discovers by what meansGod and our nature join’d! There will be seenThat which we hold through faith, not shown by proof,But in itself intelligibly plain,E’en as the truth that man at first believes.I answered: “Lady! I with thoughts devout,Such as I best can frame, give thanks to Him,Who hath remov’d me from the mortal world.But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spotsUpon this body, which below on earthGive rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?”She somewhat smil’d, then spake: “If mortals errIn their opinion, when the key of senseUnlocks not, surely wonder’s weapon keenOught not to pierce thee; since thou find’st, the wingsOf reason to pursue the senses’ flightAre short. But what thy own thought is, declare.”Then I: “What various here above appears,Is caus’d, I deem, by bodies dense or rare.”She then resum’d: “Thou certainly wilt seeIn falsehood thy belief o’erwhelm’d, if wellThou listen to the arguments, which IShall bring to face it. The eighth sphere displaysNumberless lights, the which in kind and sizeMay be remark’d of different aspects;If rare or dense of that were cause alone,One single virtue then would be in all,Alike distributed, or more, or less.Different virtues needs must be the fruitsOf formal principles, and these, save one,Will by thy reasoning be destroy’d. Beside,If rarity were of that dusk the cause,Which thou inquirest, either in some partThat planet must throughout be void, nor fedWith its own matter; or, as bodies shareTheir fat and leanness, in like manner thisMust in its volume change the leaves. The first,If it were true, had through the sun’s eclipseBeen manifested, by transparencyOf light, as through aught rare beside effus’d.But this is not. Therefore remains to seeThe other cause: and if the other fall,Erroneous so must prove what seem’d to thee.If not from side to side this rarityPass through, there needs must be a limit, whenceIts contrary no further lets it pass.And hence the beam, that from without proceeds,Must be pour’d back, as colour comes, through glassReflected, which behind it lead conceals.Now wilt thou say, that there of murkier hueThan in the other part the ray is shown,By being thence refracted farther back.From this perplexity will free thee soonExperience, if thereof thou trial make,The fountain whence your arts derive their streame.Three mirrors shalt thou take, and two removeFrom thee alike, and more remote the third.Betwixt the former pair, shall meet thine eyes;Then turn’d toward them, cause behind thy backA light to stand, that on the three shall shine,And thus reflected come to thee from all.Though that beheld most distant do not stretchA space so ample, yet in brightness thouWill own it equaling the rest. But now,As under snow the ground, if the warm raySmites it, remains dismantled of the hueAnd cold, that cover’d it before, so thee,Dismantled in thy mind, I will informWith light so lively, that the tremulous beamShall quiver where it falls. Within the heaven,Where peace divine inhabits, circles roundA body, in whose virtue dies the beingOf all that it contains. The following heaven,That hath so many lights, this being divides,Through different essences, from it distinct,And yet contain’d within it. The other orbsTheir separate distinctions variouslyDispose, for their own seed and produce apt.Thus do these organs of the world proceed,As thou beholdest now, from step to step,Their influences from above deriving,And thence transmitting downwards. Mark me well,How through this passage to the truth I ford,The truth thou lov’st, that thou henceforth alone,May’st know to keep the shallows, safe, untold.“The virtue and motion of the sacred orbs,As mallet by the workman’s hand, must needsBy blessed movers be inspir’d. This heaven,Made beauteous by so many luminaries,From the deep spirit, that moves its circling sphere,Its image takes an impress as a seal:And as the soul, that dwells within your dust,Through members different, yet together form’d,In different pow’rs resolves itself; e’en soThe intellectual efficacy unfoldsIts goodness multiplied throughout the stars;On its own unity revolving still.Different virtue compact differentMakes with the precious body it enlivens,With which it knits, as life in you is knit.From its original nature full of joy,The virtue mingled through the body shines,As joy through pupil of the living eye.From hence proceeds, that which from light to lightSeems different, and not from dense or rare.This is the formal cause, that generatesProportion’d to its power, the dusk or clear.”