Divine Comedy: Paradise | Page 3

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THE VISION
OR,
HELL, PURGATORY, AND PARADISE

OF
DANTE ALIGHIERI
TRANSLATED BY
THE REV. H.
F. CARY, A.M.
PARADISE
CANTO I
His glory, by whose might all things are mov'd,
Pierces the universe,
and in one part
Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In heav'n,

That largeliest of his light partakes, was I,
Witness of things, which to
relate again
Surpasseth power of him who comes from thence;
For
that, so near approaching its desire
Our intellect is to such depth
absorb'd,
That memory cannot follow. Nathless all,
That in my
thoughts I of that sacred realm
Could store, shall now be matter of
my song.
Benign Apollo! this last labour aid,
And make me such a vessel of
thy worth,
As thy own laurel claims of me belov'd.
Thus far hath
one of steep Parnassus' brows
Suffic'd me; henceforth there is need of
both
For my remaining enterprise Do thou
Enter into my bosom,
and there breathe
So, as when Marsyas by thy hand was dragg'd


Forth from his limbs unsheath'd. O power divine!
If thou to me of
shine impart so much,
That of that happy realm the shadow'd form

Trac'd in my thoughts I may set forth to view,
Thou shalt behold me
of thy favour'd tree
Come to the foot, and crown myself with leaves;

For to that honour thou, and my high theme
Will fit me. If but
seldom, mighty Sire!
To grace his triumph gathers thence a wreath

Caesar or bard (more shame for human wills
Deprav'd) joy to the
Delphic god must spring
From the Pierian foliage, when one breast

Is with such thirst inspir'd. From a small spark
Great flame hath risen:
after me perchance
Others with better voice may pray, and gain

From the Cirrhaean city answer kind.
Through diver passages, the world's bright lamp
Rises to mortals, but
through that which joins
Four circles with the threefold cross, in best

Course, and in happiest constellation set
He comes, and to the
worldly wax best gives
Its temper and impression. Morning there,

Here eve was by almost such passage made;
And whiteness had
o'erspread that hemisphere,
Blackness the other part; when to the left

I saw Beatrice turn'd, and on the sun
Gazing, as never eagle fix'd
his ken.
As from the first a second beam is wont
To issue, and
reflected upwards rise,
E'en as a pilgrim bent on his return,
So of
her act, that through the eyesight pass'd
Into my fancy, mine was
form'd; and straight,
Beyond our mortal wont, I fix'd mine eyes

Upon the sun. Much is allowed us there,
That here exceeds our pow'r;
thanks to the place
Made for the dwelling of the human kind
I suffer'd it not long, and yet so long
That I beheld it bick'ring sparks
around,
As iron that comes boiling from the fire.
And suddenly
upon the day appear'd
A day new-ris'n, as he, who hath the power,

Had with another sun bedeck'd the sky.
Her eyes fast fix'd on the eternal wheels,
Beatrice stood unmov'd; and
I with ken

Fix'd upon her, from upward gaze remov'd
At her aspect,
such inwardly became
As Glaucus, when he tasted of the herb,
That

made him peer among the ocean gods;
Words may not tell of that
transhuman change:
And therefore let the example serve, though
weak,
For those whom grace hath better proof in store
If I were only what thou didst create,
Then newly, Love! by whom
the heav'n is rul'd,
Thou know'st, who by thy light didst bear me up.

Whenas the wheel which thou dost ever guide,
Desired Spirit! with
its harmony
Temper'd of thee and measur'd, charm'd mine ear,
Then
seem'd to me so much of heav'n to blaze
With the sun's flame, that
rain or flood ne'er made
A lake so broad. The newness of the sound,

And that great light, inflam'd me with desire,
Keener than e'er was
felt, to know their cause.
Whence she who saw me, clearly as myself,
To calm my troubled
mind, before I ask'd,
Open'd her lips, and gracious thus began:

"With false imagination thou thyself
Mak'st dull, so that thou seest
not the thing,
Which thou hadst seen, had that been shaken off.

Thou art not on the earth as thou believ'st;
For light'ning scap'd from
its own proper place
Ne'er ran, as thou hast hither now return'd."
Although divested of my first-rais'd doubt,
By those brief words,
accompanied with smiles,
Yet in new doubt was I entangled more,

And said: "Already satisfied, I rest
From admiration deep, but now
admire
How I above those lighter bodies rise."
Whence, after utt'rance of a piteous sigh,
She tow'rds