Divine Comedy: Paradise | Page 8

been perfect, like to that?Which Lawrence fast upon his gridiron held,?And Mutius made severe to his own hand,
It would have urged them back along the road?Whence they were dragged, as soon as they were free;?But such a solid will is all too rare.
And by these words, if thou hast gathered them?As thou shouldst do, the argument is refuted?That would have still annoyed thee many times.
But now another passage runs across?Before thine eyes, and such that by thyself?Thou couldst not thread it ere thou wouldst be weary.
I have for certain put into thy mind?That soul beatified could never lie,?For it is near the primal Truth,
And then thou from Piccarda might'st have heard?Costanza kept affection for the veil,?So that she seemeth here to contradict me.
Many times, brother, has it come to pass,?That, to escape from peril, with reluctance?That has been done it was not right to do,
E'en as Alcmaeon (who, being by his father?Thereto entreated, his own mother slew)?Not to lose pity pitiless became.
At this point I desire thee to remember?That force with will commingles, and they cause?That the offences cannot be excused.
Will absolute consenteth not to evil;?But in so far consenteth as it fears,?If it refrain, to fall into more harm.
Hence when Piccarda uses this expression,?She meaneth the will absolute, and I?The other, so that both of us speak truth."
Such was the flowing of the holy river?That issued from the fount whence springs all truth;?This put to rest my wishes one and all.
"O love of the first lover, O divine,"?Said I forthwith, "whose speech inundates me?And warms me so, it more and more revives me,
My own affection is not so profound?As to suffice in rendering grace for grace;?Let Him, who sees and can, thereto respond.
Well I perceive that never sated is?Our intellect unless the Truth illume it,?Beyond which nothing true expands itself.
It rests therein, as wild beast in his lair,?When it attains it; and it can attain it;?If not, then each desire would frustrate be.
Therefore springs up, in fashion of a shoot,?Doubt at the foot of truth; and this is nature,?Which to the top from height to height impels us.
This doth invite me, this assurance give me?With reverence, Lady, to inquire of you?Another truth, which is obscure to me.
I wish to know if man can satisfy you?For broken vows with other good deeds, so?That in your balance they will not be light."
Beatrice gazed upon me with her eyes?Full of the sparks of love, and so divine,?That, overcome my power, I turned my back
And almost lost myself with eyes downcast.
Paradiso: Canto V
"If in the heat of love I flame upon thee?Beyond the measure that on earth is seen,?So that the valour of thine eyes I vanquish,
Marvel thou not thereat; for this proceeds?From perfect sight, which as it apprehends?To the good apprehended moves its feet.
Well I perceive how is already shining?Into thine intellect the eternal light,?That only seen enkindles always love;
And if some other thing your love seduce,?'Tis nothing but a vestige of the same,?Ill understood, which there is shining through.
Thou fain wouldst know if with another service?For broken vow can such return be made?As to secure the soul from further claim."
This Canto thus did Beatrice begin;?And, as a man who breaks not off his speech,?Continued thus her holy argument:
"The greatest gift that in his largess God?Creating made, and unto his own goodness?Nearest conformed, and that which he doth prize
Most highly, is the freedom of the will,?Wherewith the creatures of intelligence?Both all and only were and are endowed.
Now wilt thou see, if thence thou reasonest,?The high worth of a vow, if it he made?So that when thou consentest God consents:
For, closing between God and man the compact,?A sacrifice is of this treasure made,?Such as I say, and made by its own act.
What can be rendered then as compensation??Think'st thou to make good use of what thou'st offered,?With gains ill gotten thou wouldst do good deed.
Now art thou certain of the greater point;?But because Holy Church in this dispenses,?Which seems against the truth which I have shown thee,
Behoves thee still to sit awhile at table,?Because the solid food which thou hast taken?Requireth further aid for thy digestion.
Open thy mind to that which I reveal,?And fix it there within; for 'tis not knowledge,?The having heard without retaining it.
In the essence of this sacrifice two things?Convene together; and the one is that?Of which 'tis made, the other is the agreement.
This last for evermore is cancelled not?Unless complied with, and concerning this?With such precision has above been spoken.
Therefore it was enjoined upon the Hebrews?To offer still, though sometimes what was offered?Might be commuted, as thou ought'st to know.
The other, which is known to thee as matter,?May well indeed be such that one errs not?If it for other matter be exchanged.
But let none shift the burden on his shoulder?At his arbitrament, without the turning?Both of the white and