Paradiso, Canto 1
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso opens by naming the glory of the One who moves all things, which penetrates the universe in unequal radiance. Dante has been in the heaven most filled with that light, but memory cannot follow the intellect as it approaches its desire; only what he could treasure in mind will become the matter of his song. He invokes Apollo for the final cantica, asking to become a vessel of divine poetic power, to be drawn like Marsyas from bodily sheath, and to be made worthy of the laurel. At the equinoctial sunrise Beatrice gazes into the sun from the Earthly Paradise, and Dante follows beyond ordinary human power until day seems added to day. Looking from the sun to Beatrice, he is transformed like Glaucus and names the experience as transhumanizing beyond words. The music of the spheres and the great light kindle a new desire for their cause; Beatrice corrects his false imagining by explaining that he is already returning upward faster than lightning. When Dante wonders how he can rise through the light bodies, Beatrice teaches the order of creation: all natures incline toward their source, each with an instinct carrying it across the sea of being, while Providence aims the whole toward its happy mark. Rational creatures can bend aside through false pleasure, but Dante's ascent, now free of impediment, should be no more surprising than water descending or living fire rising. Beatrice turns her face back toward heaven.
Narrative arc
- The glory proem names divine motion, partial radiance, memory failure, and the matter of the song
- The poet invokes Apollo, Marsyas, and the laurel for the final cantica's remaining arena
- The equinoctial sun, Beatrice's gaze, and Dante's strengthened sight open the ascent
- Dante looks to Beatrice, becomes like Glaucus, and names the unsayable transhumanizing
- The harmony and light kindle a new desire, and Beatrice corrects Dante's false imagining
- Beatrice explains the order by which all natures move across the sea of being toward their ends
- Free creatures can bend aside through false pleasure, but Dante's unimpeded rising is natural
Central themes
- transhumanizing
- will
- heavenly order
The glory proem names divine motion, partial radiance, memory failure, and the matter of the song I.1–12
1La gloria di colui che tutto move
per l’universo penetra, e risplende
in una parte più e meno altrove.
Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende
5fu’ io, e vidi cose che ridire
né sa né può chi di là sù discende;
perché appressando sé al suo disire,
nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non può ire.
10Veramente quant’ io del regno santo
ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,
sarà ora materia del mio canto.
1The glory of the One who moves all things
penetrates the universe and shines
in one part more, elsewhere less.
In the heaven that receives the most of his light
5I was, and saw things that whoever descends
from there above neither knows nor can retell,
because, as it draws near to its desire,
our intellect goes so deep
that memory cannot follow after it.
10Yet truly, as much of the holy kingdom
as I could make treasure in my mind
shall now be matter for my song.
Commentary
The opening presents glory diffused through the universe by the One who moves all things, with the Empyrean experience limited by memory and speech rather than by the truth of the vision.
I.1–3 Opening Paradiso with God as mover keeps Aristotelian, biblical, and love-governed motion visible without reducing the line to abstract physics.
I.1–3 Opening Paradiso with God as mover keeps Aristotelian, biblical, and love-governed motion visible without reducing the line to abstract physics. Line 1: Opening Paradiso with God as mover keeps Aristotelian, biblical, and love-governed motion visible without reducing the line to abstract physics.
I.1 Opening Paradiso with God as mover keeps Aristotelian, biblical, and love-governed motion visible without reducing the line to abstract physics. Opening Paradiso with God as mover keeps Aristotelian, biblical, and love-governed motion visible without reducing the line to abstract physics.
I.7–9 Desire here is the intellect's fulfilled approach to God, not the distorted appetite of Inferno or the retrained terrace desires of Purgatorio.
I.7–9 Desire here is the intellect's fulfilled approach to God, not the distorted appetite of Inferno or the retrained terrace desires of Purgatorio. Line 7: Desire here is the intellect's fulfilled approach to God, not the distorted appetite of Inferno or the retrained terrace desires of Purgatorio.
I.7 Desire here is the intellect's fulfilled approach to God, not the distorted appetite of Inferno or the retrained terrace desires of Purgatorio. Desire here is the intellect's fulfilled approach to God, not the distorted appetite of Inferno or the retrained terrace desires of Purgatorio.
I.10–12 The treasure image keeps memory as a storehouse for what can be carried back from the blessed kingdom.
I.10–12 The treasure image keeps memory as a storehouse for what can be carried back from the blessed kingdom. Line 11: The treasure image keeps memory as a storehouse for what can be carried back from the blessed kingdom.
I.11 The treasure image keeps memory as a storehouse for what can be carried back from the blessed kingdom. The treasure image keeps memory as a storehouse for what can be carried back from the blessed kingdom.
The poet invokes Apollo, Marsyas, and the laurel for the final cantica's remaining arena I.13–36
13O buono Appollo, a l’ultimo lavoro
fammi del tuo valor sì fatto vaso,
15come dimandi a dar l’amato alloro.
Infino a qui l’un giogo di Parnaso
assai mi fu; ma or con amendue
m’è uopo intrar ne l’aringo rimaso.
Entra nel petto mio, e spira tue
20sì come quando Marsïa traesti
de la vagina de le membra sue.
O divina virtù, se mi ti presti
tanto che l’ombra del beato regno
segnata nel mio capo io manifesti,
25vedra’mi al piè del tuo diletto legno
venire, e coronarmi de le foglie
che la materia e tu mi farai degno.
Sì rade volte, padre, se ne coglie
per trïunfare o cesare o poeta,
30colpa e vergogna de l’umane voglie,
che parturir letizia in su la lieta
delfica deïtà dovria la fronda
peneia, quando alcun di sé asseta.
Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda:
35forse di retro a me con miglior voci
si pregherà perché Cirra risponda.
13O good Apollo, for this final labor
make me such a vessel of your power
15as you require to give the beloved laurel.
Up to this point one peak of Parnassus
was enough for me; but now with both
I must enter the arena that remains.
Enter into my breast, and breathe there
20as when you drew Marsyas
from the sheath of his limbs.
O divine power, if you lend yourself to me
enough that the shadow of the blessed kingdom,
stamped within my head, I may make manifest,
25you will see me come to the foot
of your beloved tree, and crown myself with leaves
of which the matter and you will make me worthy.
So rarely, Father, is it gathered
for triumph of Caesar or poet,
30the fault and shame of human desires,
that the Peneian branch should bring forth
gladness in the glad Delphic deity
when it makes anyone thirst for itself.
A little spark: a great flame follows.
35Perhaps after me, with better voices,
prayer will be made that Cyrrha answer.
Commentary
The invocation gathers Apollo, the double peak of Parnassus, Marsyas, laurel, Daphne/Peneian pressure, and Cyrrha. The translation keeps the classical invocation literal while letting the Christian ascent govern the canto arc.
I.13–15 The Apollo invocation raises the classical poetic machinery at the final cantica threshold; the governing source remains Dante's Christian ascent.
I.13–15 The Apollo invocation raises the classical poetic machinery at the final cantica threshold; the governing source remains Dante's Christian ascent. Line 13: The Apollo invocation raises the classical poetic machinery at the final cantica threshold; the governing source remains Dante's Christian ascent.
I.13 The Apollo invocation raises the classical poetic machinery at the final cantica threshold; the governing source remains Dante's Christian ascent. The Apollo invocation raises the classical poetic machinery at the final cantica threshold; the governing source remains Dante's Christian ascent.
I.19–21 Marsyas gives a violent image of divine poetic possession and release from bodily sheath; the line leaves the myth concrete.
I.19–21 Marsyas gives a violent image of divine poetic possession and release from bodily sheath; the line leaves the myth concrete. Line 19: Marsyas gives a violent image of divine poetic possession and release from bodily sheath; the line leaves the myth concrete.
I.19 Marsyas gives a violent image of divine poetic possession and release from bodily sheath; the line leaves the myth concrete. Marsyas gives a violent image of divine poetic possession and release from bodily sheath; the line leaves the myth concrete.
I.25–27 The laurel remains Apollo's beloved tree and the poet's crown, with Daphne/Peneian pressure still present.
I.25–27 The laurel remains Apollo's beloved tree and the poet's crown, with Daphne/Peneian pressure still present. Line 25: The laurel remains Apollo's beloved tree and the poet's crown, with Daphne/Peneian pressure still present.
I.25 The laurel remains Apollo's beloved tree and the poet's crown, with Daphne/Peneian pressure still present. The laurel remains Apollo's beloved tree and the poet's crown, with Daphne/Peneian pressure still present.
The equinoctial sun, Beatrice's gaze, and Dante's strengthened sight open the ascent I.37–63
37Surge ai mortali per diverse foci
la lucerna del mondo; ma da quella
che quattro cerchi giugne con tre croci,
40con miglior corso e con migliore stella
esce congiunta, e la mondana cera
più a suo modo tempera e suggella.
Fatto avea di là mane e di qua sera
tal foce, e quasi tutto era là bianco
45quello emisperio, e l’altra parte nera,
quando Beatrice in sul sinistro fianco
vidi rivolta e riguardar nel sole:
aguglia sì non li s’affisse unquanco.
E sì come secondo raggio suole
50uscir del primo e risalire in suso,
pur come pelegrin che tornar vuole,
così de l’atto suo, per li occhi infuso
ne l’imagine mia, il mio si fece,
e fissi li occhi al sole oltre nostr’ uso.
55Molto è licito là, che qui non lece
a le nostre virtù, mercé del loco
fatto per proprio de l’umana spece.
Io nol soffersi molto, né sì poco,
ch’io nol vedessi sfavillar dintorno,
60com’ ferro che bogliente esce del foco;
e di sùbito parve giorno a giorno
essere aggiunto, come quei che puote
avesse il ciel d’un altro sole addorno.
37The lamp of the world rises to mortals
through different mouths; but from that one
which joins four circles with three crosses,
40with better course and with better star
it comes forth conjoined, and the worldly wax
it tempers and seals more after its own mode.
Such an opening had made morning there
and evening here, and almost all white
45was that hemisphere, the other part black,
when I saw Beatrice on the left side
turned and gazing into the sun:
never did eagle fix itself there so.
And as a second ray is wont
50to issue from the first and climb back upward,
just like a pilgrim who wants to return,
so from her act, through the eyes poured
into my image-making power, my own was made,
and I fixed my eyes on the sun beyond our use.
55Much is permitted there that is not allowed
to our powers here, thanks to the place
made as proper to the human race.
I did not endure it long, nor so briefly
that I did not see it spark all around,
60like iron that comes boiling from fire;
and suddenly it seemed that day
had been added to day, as if He who can
had adorned the sky with another sun.
Commentary
Comparison clarified the solar geometry, the leftward turn of Beatrice, the reflected-ray simile, and the strengthened Edenic human power to gaze toward the sun before the sudden second-day image.
I.37–39 The sun as lamp of the world begins the canto's astronomical and theological light sequence. The four circles and three crosses mark the equinoctial/ecliptic geometry; the line preserves the technical image.
I.37–39 The sun as lamp of the world begins the canto's astronomical and theological light sequence. Line 37: The sun as lamp of the world begins the canto's astronomical and theological light sequence. Line 39: The four circles and three crosses mark the equinoctial/ecliptic geometry; the line preserves the technical image.
I.37 The sun as lamp of the world begins the canto's astronomical and theological light sequence. The sun as lamp of the world begins the canto's astronomical and theological light sequence.
I.39 The four circles and three crosses mark the equinoctial/ecliptic geometry; the line preserves the technical image. The four circles and three crosses mark the equinoctial/ecliptic geometry; the line preserves the technical image.
I.55–57 The place is the Earthly Paradise, proper to humanity before the fall; Dante's powers are strengthened there.
I.55–57 The place is the Earthly Paradise, proper to humanity before the fall; Dante's powers are strengthened there. Line 55: The place is the Earthly Paradise, proper to humanity before the fall; Dante's powers are strengthened there.
I.55 The place is the Earthly Paradise, proper to humanity before the fall; Dante's powers are strengthened there. The place is the Earthly Paradise, proper to humanity before the fall; Dante's powers are strengthened there.
Dante looks to Beatrice, becomes like Glaucus, and names the unsayable transhumanizing I.64–75
64Beatrice tutta ne l’etterne rote
65fissa con li occhi stava; e io in lei
le luci fissi, di là sù rimote.
Nel suo aspetto tal dentro mi fei,
qual si fé Glauco nel gustar de l’erba
che ’l fé consorto in mar de li altri dèi.
70Trasumanar significar per verba
non si poria; però l’essemplo basti
a cui esperïenza grazia serba.
S’i’ era sol di me quel che creasti
novellamente, amor che ’l ciel governi,
75tu ’l sai, che col tuo lume mi levasti.
64Beatrice stood wholly fixed with her eyes
65on the eternal wheels; and I, on her,
fixed my eyes, withdrawn from there above.
In her aspect I became within
such as Glaucus became in tasting the herb
that made him consort in the sea with the other gods.
70To signify transhumanizing through words
would not be possible; therefore let the example suffice
for one to whom grace reserves experience.
If I was only of myself what you
created last, Love who governs heaven,
75you know, who lifted me with your light.
Commentary
Glaucus and the transhumanizing coinage remain strange and compressed. The translation keeps Love as divine address and leaves the body/soul ambiguity open.
I.67–69 The Glaucus comparison frames transformation through sight and taste without fully explaining the ascent.
I.67–69 The Glaucus comparison frames transformation through sight and taste without fully explaining the ascent. Line 67: The Glaucus comparison frames transformation through sight and taste without fully explaining the ascent.
I.67 The Glaucus comparison frames transformation through sight and taste without fully explaining the ascent. The Glaucus comparison frames transformation through sight and taste without fully explaining the ascent.
I.70–72 Dante's coinage is kept as transhumanizing, with its theological and poetic pressure left unsmoothed.
I.70–72 Dante's coinage is kept as transhumanizing, with its theological and poetic pressure left unsmoothed. Line 70: Dante's coinage is kept as transhumanizing, with its theological and poetic pressure left unsmoothed.
I.70 Dante's coinage is kept as transhumanizing, with its theological and poetic pressure left unsmoothed. Dante's coinage is kept as transhumanizing, with its theological and poetic pressure left unsmoothed.
I.73–75 The body/soul ambiguity recalls Paul's rapture and Purgatorio XXV's doctrine of the rational soul created last. Love is capitalized because the address is to the divine Love governing heaven, not merely a human inclinat.
I.73–75 The body/soul ambiguity recalls Paul's rapture and Purgatorio XXV's doctrine of the rational soul created last. Line 73: The body/soul ambiguity recalls Paul's rapture and Purgatorio XXV's doctrine of the rational soul created last. Line 74: Love is capitalized because the address is to the divine Love governing heaven, not merely a human inclination.
I.73 The body/soul ambiguity recalls Paul's rapture and Purgatorio XXV's doctrine of the rational soul created last. The body/soul ambiguity recalls Paul's rapture and Purgatorio XXV's doctrine of the rational soul created last.
I.74 Love is capitalized because the address is to the divine Love governing heaven, not merely a human inclination. Love is capitalized because the address is to the divine Love governing heaven, not merely a human inclination.
The harmony and light kindle a new desire, and Beatrice corrects Dante's false imagining I.76–99
76Quando la rota che tu sempiterni
desiderato, a sé mi fece atteso
con l’armonia che temperi e discerni,
parvemi tanto allor del cielo acceso
80de la fiamma del sol, che pioggia o fiume
lago non fece alcun tanto disteso.
La novità del suono e ’l grande lume
di lor cagion m’accesero un disio
mai non sentito di cotanto acume.
85Ond’ ella, che vedea me sì com’ io,
a quïetarmi l’animo commosso,
pria ch’io a dimandar, la bocca aprio
e cominciò: «Tu stesso ti fai grosso
col falso imaginar, sì che non vedi
90ciò che vedresti se l’avessi scosso.
Tu non se’ in terra, sì come tu credi;
ma folgore, fuggendo il proprio sito,
non corse come tu ch’ad esso riedi».
S’io fui del primo dubbio disvestito
95per le sorrise parolette brevi,
dentro ad un nuovo più fu’ inretito
e dissi: «Già contento requïevi
di grande ammirazion; ma ora ammiro
com’ io trascenda questi corpi levi».
76When the wheel that you make eternal
by being desired drew me to attend to itself
with the harmony you temper and distinguish,
so much of the sky then seemed to me kindled
80by the flame of the sun, that rain or river
never made a lake so broad.
The newness of the sound and the great light
kindled in me a desire for their cause,
never before felt with such sharpness.
85Therefore she, who saw me as I see myself,
to quiet my troubled spirit,
before I opened mine to ask, opened her mouth
and began: "You yourself make yourself dense
with false imagining, so that you do not see
90what you would see if you had shaken it off.
You are not on earth, as you believe;
but lightning, fleeing its proper place,
never ran as you do, who return to it."
If I was stripped of the first doubt
95by her brief little smiling words,
within a new one I was more entangled,
and I said: "Already content, I rested
from great wonder; but now I wonder
how I transcend these light bodies."
Commentary
The comparison pass sharpened the harmony of the spheres, the new desire for causes, Beatrice reading Dante directly, and grosso as cognitive density under false imagining rather than a generic mistake.
I.76–78 The wheel is the heavens made eternal by desire for God; the harmony of the spheres draws Dante's attention.
I.76–78 The wheel is the heavens made eternal by desire for God; the harmony of the spheres draws Dante's attention. Line 76: The wheel is the heavens made eternal by desire for God; the harmony of the spheres draws Dante's attention.
I.76 The wheel is the heavens made eternal by desire for God; the harmony of the spheres draws Dante's attention. The wheel is the heavens made eternal by desire for God; the harmony of the spheres draws Dante's attention.
I.88–90 Grosso is rendered as dense to preserve both cognitive dullness and weight under false imagining.
I.88–90 Grosso is rendered as dense to preserve both cognitive dullness and weight under false imagining. Line 88: Grosso is rendered as dense to preserve both cognitive dullness and weight under false imagining.
I.88 Grosso is rendered as dense to preserve both cognitive dullness and weight under false imagining. Grosso is rendered as dense to preserve both cognitive dullness and weight under false imagining.
I.97–99 Requievi is rendered with rested to preserve the Augustinian/Boethian pressure of repose in satisfied desire.
I.97–99 Requievi is rendered with rested to preserve the Augustinian/Boethian pressure of repose in satisfied desire. Line 97: Requievi is rendered with rested to preserve the Augustinian/Boethian pressure of repose in satisfied desire.
I.97 Requievi is rendered with rested to preserve the Augustinian/Boethian pressure of repose in satisfied desire. Requievi is rendered with rested to preserve the Augustinian/Boethian pressure of repose in satisfied desire.
Beatrice explains the order by which all natures move across the sea of being toward their ends I.100–126
100Ond’ ella, appresso d’un pïo sospiro,
li occhi drizzò ver’ me con quel sembiante
che madre fa sovra figlio deliro,
e cominciò: «Le cose tutte quante
hanno ordine tra loro, e questo è forma
105che l’universo a Dio fa simigliante.
Qui veggion l’alte creature l’orma
de l’etterno valore, il qual è fine
al quale è fatta la toccata norma.
Ne l’ordine ch’io dico sono accline
110tutte nature, per diverse sorti,
più al principio loro e men vicine;
onde si muovono a diversi porti
per lo gran mar de l’essere, e ciascuna
con istinto a lei dato che la porti.
115Questi ne porta il foco inver’ la luna;
questi ne’ cor mortali è permotore;
questi la terra in sé stringe e aduna;
né pur le creature che son fore
d’intelligenza quest’ arco saetta,
120ma quelle c’hanno intelletto e amore.
La provedenza, che cotanto assetta,
del suo lume fa ’l ciel sempre quïeto
nel qual si volge quel c’ha maggior fretta;
e ora lì, come a sito decreto,
125cen porta la virtù di quella corda
che ciò che scocca drizza in segno lieto.
100Then she, after a pitying sigh,
directed her eyes toward me with that look
a mother has over a raving child,
and began: "All things, all together,
have order among themselves; and this is the form
105that makes the universe resemble God.
Here the high creatures see the trace
of the eternal Worth, which is the end
for which the rule just touched on was made.
Within the order of which I speak, all natures
110are inclined, by different lots,
nearer to their source and less near;
therefore they move toward different ports
across the great sea of being, each one
with an instinct given it to carry it.
115This carries fire toward the moon;
this is the mover in mortal hearts;
this binds and gathers the earth into itself;
nor does this bow shoot only creatures
that are outside intelligence,
120but those that have intellect and love.
Providence, which orders so much,
with its light makes the heaven always quiet
within which turns what has the greatest haste;
and now there, as to a decreed site,
125the power of that cord carries us,
which aims all it shoots at a glad target.
Commentary
Beatrice's speech is a compact doctrine of cosmic order: all natures move by given instinct toward their ends across the sea of being, while Providence directs the whole toward the quiet heaven.
I.103–105 Beatrice's doctrinal speech begins from cosmic order: creatures are intelligible by their ordained relations to God.
I.103–105 Beatrice's doctrinal speech begins from cosmic order: creatures are intelligible by their ordained relations to God. Line 103: Beatrice's doctrinal speech begins from cosmic order: creatures are intelligible by their ordained relations to God.
I.103 Beatrice's doctrinal speech begins from cosmic order: creatures are intelligible by their ordained relations to God. Beatrice's doctrinal speech begins from cosmic order: creatures are intelligible by their ordained relations to God.
I.112–114 Ports and sea of being join journey language to metaphysical return toward each creature's proper end.
I.112–114 Ports and sea of being join journey language to metaphysical return toward each creature's proper end. Line 112: Ports and sea of being join journey language to metaphysical return toward each creature's proper end.
I.112 Ports and sea of being join journey language to metaphysical return toward each creature's proper end. Ports and sea of being join journey language to metaphysical return toward each creature's proper end.
I.118–120 The bow image includes beings without intelligence and beings with intellect and love, setting up free creaturely deviation.
I.118–120 The bow image includes beings without intelligence and beings with intellect and love, setting up free creaturely deviation. Line 118: The bow image includes beings without intelligence and beings with intellect and love, setting up free creaturely deviation.
I.118 The bow image includes beings without intelligence and beings with intellect and love, setting up free creaturely deviation. The bow image includes beings without intelligence and beings with intellect and love, setting up free creaturely deviation.
I.121–123 Providence and the quiet heaven point to the Empyrean and the ordered motion of the swiftest sphere.
I.121–123 Providence and the quiet heaven point to the Empyrean and the ordered motion of the swiftest sphere. Line 121: Providence and the quiet heaven point to the Empyrean and the ordered motion of the swiftest sphere.
I.121 Providence and the quiet heaven point to the Empyrean and the ordered motion of the swiftest sphere. Providence and the quiet heaven point to the Empyrean and the ordered motion of the swiftest sphere.
Free creatures can bend aside through false pleasure, but Dante's unimpeded rising is natural I.127–142
127Vero è che, come forma non s’accorda
molte fïate a l’intenzion de l’arte,
perch’ a risponder la materia è sorda,
130così da questo corso si diparte
talor la creatura, c’ha podere
di piegar, così pinta, in altra parte;
e sì come veder si può cadere
foco di nube, sì l’impeto primo
135l’atterra torto da falso piacere.
Non dei più ammirar, se bene stimo,
lo tuo salir, se non come d’un rivo
se d’alto monte scende giuso ad imo.
Maraviglia sarebbe in te se, privo
140d’impedimento, giù ti fossi assiso,
com’ a terra quïete in foco vivo».
Quinci rivolse inver’ lo cielo il viso.
127It is true that, as form does not accord
many times with the intention of art,
because matter is deaf to answering,
130so from this course there sometimes departs
the creature that has power to bend,
though driven so, toward another side;
and as one can see fire fall
from a cloud, so the first impulse
135strikes it earthward, bent by false pleasure.
You should not wonder, if I judge well,
at your rising more than at a stream
when from a high mountain it descends to the bottom.
It would be cause for wonder in you if, deprived
140of impediment, you had sat below,
as still on earth as living fire."
Then she turned her face back toward heaven.
Commentary
Comparison confirmed the art/form/matter analogy, rational freedom to bend aside, false pleasure as downward deflection, and Dante's unimpeded ascent as natural as water descending or living fire rising.
I.127–129 The art/form/matter analogy preserves the local contract: resistance comes from matter, then Beatrice turns to the free creature's possible deviation.
I.127–129 The art/form/matter analogy preserves the local contract: resistance comes from matter, then Beatrice turns to the free creature's possible deviation. Line 127: The art/form/matter analogy preserves the local contract: resistance comes from matter, then Beatrice turns to the free creature's possible deviation.
I.127 The art/form/matter analogy preserves the local contract: resistance comes from matter, then Beatrice turns to the free creature's possible deviation. The art/form/matter analogy preserves the local contract: resistance comes from matter, then Beatrice turns to the free creature's possible deviation.
I.130–132 The creature with power to bend elsewhere is the free rational creature; this keeps the will/love frame active without modernizing it.
I.130–132 The creature with power to bend elsewhere is the free rational creature; this keeps the will/love frame active without modernizing it. Line 130: The creature with power to bend elsewhere is the free rational creature; this keeps the will/love frame active without modernizing it.
I.130 The creature with power to bend elsewhere is the free rational creature; this keeps the will/love frame active without modernizing it. The creature with power to bend elsewhere is the free rational creature; this keeps the will/love frame active without modernizing it.
I.133–135 False pleasure bends the first impulse earthward; this is Paradiso's first explicit statement of rightly ordered natural motion corrupted by misdirected desire.
I.133–135 False pleasure bends the first impulse earthward; this is Paradiso's first explicit statement of rightly ordered natural motion corrupted by misdirected desire. Line 135: False pleasure bends the first impulse earthward; this is Paradiso's first explicit statement of rightly ordered natural motion corrupted by misdirected desire.
I.135 False pleasure bends the first impulse earthward; this is Paradiso's first explicit statement of rightly ordered natural motion corrupted by misdirected desire. False pleasure bends the first impulse earthward; this is Paradiso's first explicit statement of rightly ordered natural motion corrupted by misdirected desire.
I.142 The canto closes by returning Beatrice's gaze to heaven, completing the movement from glory flowing outward to human return toward God. The canto closes by returning Beatrice's gaze to heaven, completing the movement from glory flowing outward to human return toward God.