The Portable Dante by Dante Alighieri
And such a transformation as is seen upon a fair-skinned lady’s face when shame recedes, and blushes vanish instantly,
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I saw when I turned round: before my eyes there was the pure white of the temperate star, the sixth, that had received me in its glow;
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I saw within that Jovial torch the light of all the sparkling love rejoicing there and forming words of speech before my eyes.
72
As birds just risen from the water’s edge, as if in celebration for their food, flock now in circles, now in drawn-out lines,
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so there, within those lights the blessed beings were circling as they sang, turning themselves first to a D, then I, then into L.
78
49-51. Just as the Cacciaguida episode opened with the notes of the hymn “Arise” and “Conquer” (Paradise XIV, 125), so here in line 51 it comes to its close with the old warrior returning to the glowing choir of the cross and to the singing of the same hymn. Dante dedicates 550 lines to his illustrious ancestor, which is the most given to any character (with the exception of Virgil and Beatrice) in the Comedy.
They first flew, singing, to their music’s rhythm, then having made a letter of themselves, they held their form and stopped their song a while.
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O sacred Muse of Pegasus who gives glory to men of genius and long life, as they, through you, give it to realms and towns—
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let your light shine on me that I may show these letter-shapes of souls fixed in my mind; let your power show through these few lines of mine!
87
They showed themselves to me in five times seven vowels and consonants, and I was able to understand the written words they formed.
90
The first words of the message, verb and noun: DILIGITE IUSTITIAM; then came QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM after them.
93
And in the final letter, in the M of the fifth word they stayed aligned—and Jove’s silver became the background of their gold.
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I saw more lights descend, and they alighted upon the M, and from its peak they sang, I think, about the Good that summons them.
99
Just as one sees innumerable sparks go flying up when smoldering logs are poked (which once encouraged fools to prophesy),
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so, there I seemed to see more than a thousand lights rising up, mounting to different heights, as chosen by the Sun that kindles them;
105
and once each spark had found its place of rest, I saw the crest and neck of a great eagle now patterned in the fire of those sparks.
108
91-93. The message, “Love justice, you who judge the earth, ” comes from the first verse of the Book of Wisdom of Solomon in the Apocrypha. The souls in Jupiter are those of the just, and justice is the project of this sphere.
(The One who paints there has no one to guide his hand. He guides Himself. It is from Him that skill in birds to build their nests is born.)
111
The other blessèd ones who seemed at first content to lilify themselves into the M with a slight shift completed the design.
114
O lovely star, how many and what jewels shone there declaring that justice on earth comes from that Heaven which you yourself begem.
117
Therefore, I pray the Mind—for there begins your movement and your power—to examine the place whence comes the smoke that dims your rays,
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so that its wrath descend upon, once more, all those who buy and sell within the temple whose walls were built with miracles and martyrs.
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O Heaven’s army to whom my mind returns, pray for those souls on earth who are misled by bad example and have gone astray.
126
It used to be that wars were waged with swords, but now one fights withholding here and there the bread our Father’s love denies to none.
129
And you who write only to nullify, remember that Peter and Paul, who died to save the vineyard you despoil, still live.
132
But you will answer: “I, who have my heart so set on him who chose to live alone and for a martyr’s crown was danced away,
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know nothing of your Fisherman or Paul. ”
120. The avarice of the popes is the smoke that blocks imperial authority and prevents the clear administration of justice on earth.
130-132. Pope John XXII was supposed to have issued and rescinded many orders of excommunication. The cancellation of excommunications was a source of revenue for the papacy.
CANTO XIX
THE EAGLE NOW appears to the Pilgrim with open wings and as if composed of countless sparkling rubies. The lights of the souls who form the beak of the eagle move, and a voice that speaks for all of those composing the sacred emblem informs the Pilgrim that it is exalted in this sphere as the symbol for Divine Justice, and that, although its memory is preserved on earth, its example is not followed. He then asks the eagle to elucidate the meaning of Divine Justice and to help him to resolve a doubt he has had for some time: what justice is there in damning a good soul who, through no fault of his own, has not heard of Christ and has not been baptized? Before he has the chance to express this doubt the eagle goes into a long discourse on the unfathomable nature of God and the inability of His creatures to understand His infinite wisdom. The eagle, showing displeasure, circles above Dante as its souls sing an incomprehensible song which the eagle likens to the mystery of Eternal Judgment which cannot be understood by mortals. Finally, the eagle condemns all those rulers of the times who governed without justice.
And there before my eyes with wings spread wide that splendid image shone, shaped by the souls rejoicing in their interwoven joy.
3
They were set there like splendid rubies lit each of them by a gleaming ray of sun which was reflected straight into my eyes.
6
And what I have to tell you here and now no tongue has told or ink has written down, nor any fantasy imagined it,
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for I could hear the beak and see it move; I heard its voice use words like I and Mine when in conception it was We and Ours.
12
11-12. The eagle, representing Justice, is composed of a multitude of souls, but it speaks with one voice and as one being.
“Because of my justice and piety, ” it said, “I have been raised up to this glory, the highest our desires can conceive,
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and I have left on earth a memory which even wicked men are wont to praise, though they refuse to follow in my course. ”
18
Just as from many burning coals will come one glow of heat, so from that image came a single sound composed of many loves.
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And I exclaimed: “O everlasting flowers of the eternal bliss who concentrate all of your many fragrances in one,
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breathe forth your words now, breaking at long last the fasting that has kept me hungering for food that I could never find on earth.
27
I know that though God’s justice is beheld within some other mirror in these spheres, your kingdom apprehends its light unveiled.
30
You know my eagerness to hear you speak, you also know the nature of the question whose answer I have hungered for so long. ”
33
Then as the falcon, now freed from its hood, stretches its neck and starts to beat its wings, and preens itself—to show its eagerness—
36
so moved the ensign made of woven voices in exaltation of God’s grace with song known only to the souls who dwell in bliss.
39
Then it said: “He Who with His compass drew the limits of the world and out of chaos brought order to things hidden and revealed,
42
28-30. The “other mirror” is the sacred mirror of God’s justice. The
could not impress his quality so much upon the universe but that His Word should not remain in infinite excess.
45
The proof of this is in that first proud one, the highest of all creatures, who plunged down unripe because he would not wait for light;
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hence, clearly, every lesser nature is too small a vessel to contain that Good which knows no bounds, whose measure is Itself.
51
Therefore, our vision which can only be one of the rays that come from that prime Mind which penetrates every created thing,
54
cannot of its own nature be so weak as not to see that its own Principle is far beyond what our eyes can perceive.
57
And so the vision granted to your world can no more fathom Justice Everlasting than eyes can see down to the ocean floor:
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while you can see the bottom near the shore, you cannot out at sea; but nonetheless it is still there, concealed by depths too deep.
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There is no light except from that clear sky forever cloudless—darkness is the rest, the shadow or the poison of the flesh.
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Now you can see what hiding place it was concealed from you the truth of living Justice concerning which you were so plagued with doubts;
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for you would say: ‘Consider that man born along the Indus where you will not find a soul who speaks or reads or writes of Christ,
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and all of his desires, all his acts are good, as far as human reason sees; not ever having sinned in deed or word,
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he dies unbaptized, dies without the faith. What is this justice that condemns his soul? What is his guilt if he does not believe?’
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Now who are you to sit in judgment’s seat and pass on things a thousand miles away, when you can hardly see beyond your nose?
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The man who would argue fine points with me, if holy Scripture were not there to guide us, surely would have serious grounds for doubt.
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O earthbound creatures! O thick-headed men! The Primal Will, which of Itself is good, never moves from Itself, the Good Supreme.
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Only that which accords with it is just. It is not drawn to any finite good, but sending forth its rays creates that good. ”
90
Just as the stork once it has fed its young will fly around the nest, and as the chick she fed will raise its head to look at her,
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so did that sacred image circle me, those many wills joined there to move its wings, and so did I lift up my head to it.
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Circling, it sang, then spoke: “Even as my notes are too high for your mind to comprehend, so is Eternal Judgment for mankind. ”
99
Those blazing fires of the Holy Spirit stopped still, and then still in that ensign shape which had brought Rome the reverence of the world,
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it raised its voice again: “And to this realm none ever rose who had not faith in Christ, before or after he was crucified.
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But then there are all those who cry, ‘Christ, Christ!’ and at the Judgment Day will be less close to Him than will be those who know not Christ.
108
Such Christians shall the Ethiop condemn the Day those two assemblies separate, one rich, the other poor forevermore.
111
What will the Persians say, then, to your kings when they shall see God’s open Book and read what has been written of their infamies?
114
There they will read, where Albert’s deeds are found, that act already trembling on the pen, which shall lay waste to all the realm of Prague.
117
There they will read about the Seine’s distress provoked by that debaser of the coin whose death will wear the hide of a wild boar;
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there they will read about the thirsting pride by which the Scot and Englishman are maddened, neither content to stay within his bounds.
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The book will show the lecherous, soft life of him of Spain, and the Bohemian who knew no valor nor had wish to know;
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109-111. The Ethiop (i. e., heathens in general) will condemn these “Christians” on Judgment Day, when the saved (“rich”) and the damned (“poor”) shall be separated. (Cf. Matthew 25:31-46; also 8:11-12.)
112. Like “Ethiop” in line 107, “Persians” here stands for heathens in general.
113. The book is that of God’s judgment.
118. The “Seine’s distress” is the grief that the French people were made to suffer. The Seine River stands for all of France.
119-120. The “debaser of the coin” is Philip the Fair, who, to pay for the wars against Flanders, inflated French currency, resulting in economic ruin for many.
121-123. In the early fourteenth century Edward I and Edward II were at war with Scotland under Wallace and Bruce. The “thirsting pride” is their desire for dominion.
125. Ferdinand IV, king of Castile and Leon (1295-1312), is “him of Spain. ” The king of Bohemia is Wenceslaus IV (1270-1305).
the book will mark an I for all the good the Cripple of Jerusalem has done, and M for all of his perversities;
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the book will show the cowardice and greed of him who guards the island of the fire on which Anchises ended his long life,
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and just to show how little he was worth, he will be written up in bits of words which will say much in very little space;
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and clear to all will be the filthy deeds of his brother and uncle, who cuckold a splendid lineage, a double crown;
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and Norway’s king and Portugal’s shall be recorded there, and Rascia’s, who debased the coin of Venice and disgraced himself.
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127-129. The “Cripple” is Charles II of Naples, titular king of Jerusalem. Charles is characterized here as having one (I) virtue as opposed to one thousand (M) vices. His one good quality was said to have been his liberality.
131. Frederick II of Sicily had at one time supported the Imperial cause, but on the death of Emperor Henry VII, he abandoned it. Sicily is “the island of the fire. ”
132. The father of Aeneas, Anchises died in Sicily after the arrival of the Trojans.
137. Frederick’s brother was James II of Aragon. His uncle was James, king of the Balearic Islands.
138. The “double crown” refers to the kingdoms of Aragon and Mallorca.
139. Norway’s king was Haakon V (1270-1319), who engaged in wars with Denmark. Diniz (or Dionysius), the king of Portugal (1279-1325), is thought to have been one of the better rulers of the time. The reason for his inclusion here is unclear.
140. The capital of Serbia, Rascia, was commonly used to refer to that country. Stephen Urosh II (1275-1321), Rascia’s king, counterfeited the Venetian coinage by issuing coins of debased metal in imitation of the Venetian grosso.
Oh happy Hungary, if she escapes further abuse! Happy Navarre if she but make a rampart of her mountain-chain!
144
In proof of this let everyone pay heed to Nicosia’s and Famagosta’s lot whose own beast makes them wail and shriek as he
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keeps pace with all the others in this pack. ”
CANTO XX
WHEN THE INDIVIDUAL souls composing the eagle have finished singing, the eagle tells the Pilgrim to watch its eye closely as it points out six famous souls who were champions of justice on earth. First the eagle introduces King David, who is the pupil of the eye, after which come the five lights that form the eyebrow of the great bird: the Emperor Trajan, who is the soul closest to the eagle’s beak, then Hezekiah followed by the Emperor Constantine, then King William II of Naples and Sicily, and
142-143. The throne of Hungary, which had belonged to Charles Martel (see Paradise VIII, 64-66), was usurped by Andrew III.
143-144. The kingdom of Navarre, if she could use the Western Pyrenees Mountains to protect her from French annexation, might remain happy as she is.
145-148. Navarre (and any who are at peace) should take the examples of Nicosia and Famagosta as representative of the evils that may befall them. These towns of Cyprus were suffering under the corruption of the rule of Henry II of Lusignan, a Frenchman.
When he who floods the whole world with his light has sunk so far beneath our hemisphere that day on every side has disappeared,
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the sky which he, the sun, alone had lit before, now suddenly is lit again by many lights, reflections of the one;
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I was reminded of this heavenly change the moment that the emblem of the world and of its lords was silent in its beak,
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for all those living lights were now ablaze with brighter light as they began their songs, whose fleeting sweetness fades from memory.
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O sweetest love which wraps you in its smiles, how ardent was your music from those flutes played with the breath of holy thoughts alone!
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And when those precious, light-reflecting jewels with which I saw the sixth planet begemmed imposed silence upon their angel tones,
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I seemed to hear the murmur of a stream as its clear waters flow from rock to rock revealing the abundance of its source.
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And as at the lute’s neck the sound of notes take form, as does the breath that fills a flute escape as music through an opening,
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just so without a moment of delay, the murmur of the eagle seemed to climb up through its neck, as through a hollow space,