Paradiso, Canto 14
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XIV completes the Sun sequence and opens the heaven of Mars. When Thomas falls silent, the center-and-circle motion of water comes to Dante's mind because Beatrice's speech answers Thomas's from the center. She asks the blessed, on Dante's behalf before he has spoken or even fully thought the question, whether the light that flowers their substance will remain after resurrection and how bodily sight could bear it. The two holy circles answer first with heightened dance and song, then hymn the One, Two, and Three. From the divinest light of the lesser circle, traditionally Solomon, a modest voice explains that the blessed will keep their luminous vesture as long as Paradise's feast endures. Radiance follows ardor, ardor follows vision, and vision follows grace beyond merit. When the glorified flesh is put on again, the complete person will be more pleasing; gratuitous light, vision, ardor, and ray will all increase, while the resurrected body will strengthen perception and even outshine the surrounding brilliance like a live coal through flame. Both choirs answer Amen, revealing their desire for their dead bodies and for restored kinship. A third circle then appears outside the two garlands, a true sparkling of the Holy Spirit so bright Dante's eyes fail; Beatrice's beauty restores him and he finds himself translated into Mars. The redder star confirms the ascent, and Dante offers God an inward holocaust that is accepted as splendors form a red cross in Mars. The cross flashes Christ beyond the power of memory and example. Lights move along it like motes in a sunbeam, and a rapturous hymn comes through the cross; Dante only catches Resurgi and Vinci. He closes by defending the claim that nothing had bound him with such sweet bonds, even Beatrice's eyes, because he had not turned to them there and because holy pleasure becomes more pure as he rises.
Narrative arc
- The center-and-circle water image frames Beatrice's question about the blessed light after bodily resurrection
- The two holy circles rejoice in motion and song, and each spirit hymns the triune God
- Solomon explains resurrected completeness, increased vision and charity, and strengthened bodily sight
- The choirs say Amen, desire the body, and a third circle of new subsistences overwhelms Dante's sight
- Beatrice restores Dante's sight, and he ascends into redder Mars with a grateful holocaust
- The Galaxy-like rays form the venerable cross in Mars, where Christ flashes beyond memory and example
- Lights move along the cross, the uncomprehended hymn raptures Dante, and holy pleasure grows purer in ascent
Central themes
- wisdom
The center-and-circle water image frames Beatrice's question about the blessed light after bodily resurrection XIV.1–18
1Dal centro al cerchio, e sì dal cerchio al centro
movesi l’acqua in un ritondo vaso,
secondo ch’è percosso fuori o dentro:
ne la mia mente fé sùbito caso
5questo ch’io dico, sì come si tacque
la glorïosa vita di Tommaso,
per la similitudine che nacque
del suo parlare e di quel di Beatrice,
a cui sì cominciar, dopo lui, piacque:
10«A costui fa mestieri, e nol vi dice
né con la voce né pensando ancora,
d’un altro vero andare a la radice.
Diteli se la luce onde s’infiora
vostra sustanza, rimarrà con voi
15etternalmente sì com’ ell’ è ora;
e se rimane, dite come, poi
che sarete visibili rifatti,
esser porà ch’al veder non vi nòi».
1From center to circle, and so from circle to center,
water moves in a round vessel,
according as it is struck from outside or within:
this that I say suddenly fell into my mind
5just as there fell silent
the glorious life of Thomas,
because of the likeness that arose
between his speaking and that of Beatrice,
whom it pleased, after him, to begin so:
10"This man has need, and he does not tell you
either with voice or even yet in thought,
to go to the root of another truth.
Tell him whether the light with which
your substance flowers will remain with you
15eternally just as it is now;
and if it remains, tell how, after
you are remade visible,
it can be that it not trouble your sight."
Commentary
The opening water image is a center-to-circle and circle-to-center analogy for Thomas's speech followed by Beatrice's question from the center. The translation keeps Beatrice's formulation of Dante's unspoken need and the root of another truth pressure.
XIV.1–3 The water motion becomes an image for Thomas speaking from the circle and Beatrice answering from the center.
XIV.1–3 The water motion becomes an image for Thomas speaking from the circle and Beatrice answering from the center. Line 1: The water motion becomes an image for Thomas speaking from the circle and Beatrice answering from the center.
XIV.1 The water motion becomes an image for Thomas speaking from the circle and Beatrice answering from the center. The water motion becomes an image for Thomas speaking from the circle and Beatrice answering from the center.
XIV.10–12 The root image keeps Beatrice's exact pressure: Dante needs the cause of a truth, not only its result.
XIV.10–12 The root image keeps Beatrice's exact pressure: Dante needs the cause of a truth, not only its result. Line 12: The root image keeps Beatrice's exact pressure: Dante needs the cause of a truth, not only its result.
XIV.12 The root image keeps Beatrice's exact pressure: Dante needs the cause of a truth, not only its result. The root image keeps Beatrice's exact pressure: Dante needs the cause of a truth, not only its result.
XIV.13–15 S'infiora is kept as flowering, joining light and blessed substance rather than making the light merely external.
XIV.13–15 S'infiora is kept as flowering, joining light and blessed substance rather than making the light merely external. Line 14: S'infiora is kept as flowering, joining light and blessed substance rather than making the light merely external.
XIV.14 S'infiora is kept as flowering, joining light and blessed substance rather than making the light merely external. S'infiora is kept as flowering, joining light and blessed substance rather than making the light merely external.
XIV.16–18 The resurrected visibility question is about bodily perception after souls are reunited with glorified flesh.
XIV.16–18 The resurrected visibility question is about bodily perception after souls are reunited with glorified flesh. Line 17: The resurrected visibility question is about bodily perception after souls are reunited with glorified flesh.
XIV.17 The resurrected visibility question is about bodily perception after souls are reunited with glorified flesh. The resurrected visibility question is about bodily perception after souls are reunited with glorified flesh.
The two holy circles rejoice in motion and song, and each spirit hymns the triune God XIV.19–33
19Come, da più letizia pinti e tratti,
20a la fïata quei che vanno a rota
levan la voce e rallegrano li atti,
così, a l’orazion pronta e divota,
li santi cerchi mostrar nova gioia
nel torneare e ne la mira nota.
25Qual si lamenta perché qui si moia
per viver colà sù, non vide quive
lo refrigerio de l’etterna ploia.
Quell’ uno e due e tre che sempre vive
e regna sempre in tre e ’n due e ’n uno,
30non circunscritto, e tutto circunscrive,
tre volte era cantato da ciascuno
di quelli spirti con tal melodia,
ch’ad ogne merto saria giusto muno.
19As, driven and drawn by greater gladness,
20at times those who go in a ring
lift the voice and make their gestures glad,
so, at the ready and devout prayer,
the holy circles showed new joy
in their wheeling and in the wondrous note.
25Whoever laments because here one dies
in order to live up there has not seen here
the refreshment of the eternal rain.
That One and Two and Three who ever lives
and always reigns in Three and Two and One,
30uncircumscribed, and circumscribing all,
was sung three times by each
of those spirits with such melody
that for every merit it would be a just reward.
Commentary
The blessed circles respond to Beatrice's prompt prayer with heightened dance and song before the Trinitarian hymn. The translation keeps death-for-higher-life and eternal rain as beatitude language rather than consolation detached from resurrection doctrine.
XIV.22–24 Torneare keeps the courtly tournament/dance pressure in the circles' intensified movement.
XIV.22–24 Torneare keeps the courtly tournament/dance pressure in the circles' intensified movement. Line 24: Torneare keeps the courtly tournament/dance pressure in the circles' intensified movement.
XIV.24 Torneare keeps the courtly tournament/dance pressure in the circles' intensified movement. Torneare keeps the courtly tournament/dance pressure in the circles' intensified movement.
XIV.25–27 The rain image keeps death-to-life consolation inside Paradiso's embodied beatitude rather than reducing it to abstraction.
XIV.25–27 The rain image keeps death-to-life consolation inside Paradiso's embodied beatitude rather than reducing it to abstraction. Line 27: The rain image keeps death-to-life consolation inside Paradiso's embodied beatitude rather than reducing it to abstraction.
XIV.27 The rain image keeps death-to-life consolation inside Paradiso's embodied beatitude rather than reducing it to abstraction. The rain image keeps death-to-life consolation inside Paradiso's embodied beatitude rather than reducing it to abstraction.
XIV.28–30 The line keeps Dante's Trinitarian arithmetic and spatial paradox.
XIV.28–30 The line keeps Dante's Trinitarian arithmetic and spatial paradox. Line 30: The line keeps Dante's Trinitarian arithmetic and spatial paradox.
XIV.30 The line keeps Dante's Trinitarian arithmetic and spatial paradox. The line keeps Dante's Trinitarian arithmetic and spatial paradox.
Solomon explains resurrected completeness, increased vision and charity, and strengthened bodily sight XIV.34–60
34E io udi’ ne la luce più dia
35del minor cerchio una voce modesta,
forse qual fu da l’angelo a Maria,
risponder: «Quanto fia lunga la festa
di paradiso, tanto il nostro amore
si raggerà dintorno cotal vesta.
40La sua chiarezza séguita l’ardore;
l’ardor la visïone, e quella è tanta,
quant’ ha di grazia sovra suo valore.
Come la carne glorïosa e santa
fia rivestita, la nostra persona
45più grata fia per esser tutta quanta;
per che s’accrescerà ciò che ne dona
di gratüito lume il sommo bene,
lume ch’a lui veder ne condiziona;
onde la visïon crescer convene,
50crescer l’ardor che di quella s’accende,
crescer lo raggio che da esso vene.
Ma sì come carbon che fiamma rende,
e per vivo candor quella soverchia,
sì che la sua parvenza si difende;
55così questo folgór che già ne cerchia
fia vinto in apparenza da la carne
che tutto dì la terra ricoperchia;
né potrà tanta luce affaticarne:
ché li organi del corpo saran forti
60a tutto ciò che potrà dilettarne».
34And I heard in the most divine light
35of the lesser circle a modest voice,
perhaps like the angel's to Mary,
answer: "As long as shall last the feast
of Paradise, so long our love
will ray around itself such a vesture.
40Its brightness follows ardor;
ardor follows vision, and that is as great
as it has of grace beyond its worth.
When the glorious and holy flesh
is put on again, our person
45will be more pleasing because it is wholly complete;
therefore what the highest Good gives us
of gratuitous light will increase,
light that conditions us to see him;
wherefore vision must increase,
50increase the ardor kindled from that,
increase the ray that comes from it.
But just as coal that gives forth flame
and by living whiteness overcomes it,
so that its own appearance is defended,
55so this lightning-brightness that already circles us
will be overcome in appearance by the flesh
which all this time the earth covers;
nor will so much light be able to weary us:
for the body's organs will be strong
60for all that can delight us."
Commentary
The answer comes from the divinest light of the lesser circle, traditionally Solomon. The translation preserves the theological chain: radiance follows ardor, ardor follows vision, vision follows grace, and the resurrected body strengthens perception because the complete person is more pleasing.
XIV.34–36 The speaker is traditionally identified as Solomon, the central voice of the previous wisdom question.
XIV.34–36 The speaker is traditionally identified as Solomon, the central voice of the previous wisdom question. Line 34: The speaker is traditionally identified as Solomon, the central voice of the previous wisdom question.
XIV.34 The speaker is traditionally identified as Solomon, the central voice of the previous wisdom question. The speaker is traditionally identified as Solomon, the central voice of the previous wisdom question.
XIV.37–39 Raggerà keeps love's active radiating, while vesta keeps light as a garment around the soul.
XIV.37–39 Raggerà keeps love's active radiating, while vesta keeps light as a garment around the soul. Line 39: Raggerà keeps love's active radiating, while vesta keeps light as a garment around the soul.
XIV.39 Raggerà keeps love's active radiating, while vesta keeps light as a garment around the soul. Raggerà keeps love's active radiating, while vesta keeps light as a garment around the soul.
XIV.40–42 The chain of brightness, ardor, vision, and grace is the canto's core theological mechanism.
XIV.40–42 The chain of brightness, ardor, vision, and grace is the canto's core theological mechanism. Line 42: The chain of brightness, ardor, vision, and grace is the canto's core theological mechanism.
XIV.42 The chain of brightness, ardor, vision, and grace is the canto's core theological mechanism. The chain of brightness, ardor, vision, and grace is the canto's core theological mechanism.
XIV.43–45 The answer insists on resurrected flesh, not a disembodied final blessedness.
XIV.43–45 The answer insists on resurrected flesh, not a disembodied final blessedness. Line 43: The answer insists on resurrected flesh, not a disembodied final blessedness.
XIV.43 The answer insists on resurrected flesh, not a disembodied final blessedness. The answer insists on resurrected flesh, not a disembodied final blessedness.
XIV.46–48 Condiziona is kept as conditioning/capacitating sight rather than merely allowing it.
XIV.46–48 Condiziona is kept as conditioning/capacitating sight rather than merely allowing it. Line 48: Condiziona is kept as conditioning/capacitating sight rather than merely allowing it.
XIV.48 Condiziona is kept as conditioning/capacitating sight rather than merely allowing it. Condiziona is kept as conditioning/capacitating sight rather than merely allowing it.
XIV.52–54 The coal simile explains why resurrected flesh can appear through and beyond the surrounding brightness.
XIV.52–54 The coal simile explains why resurrected flesh can appear through and beyond the surrounding brightness. Line 52: The coal simile explains why resurrected flesh can appear through and beyond the surrounding brightness.
XIV.52 The coal simile explains why resurrected flesh can appear through and beyond the surrounding brightness. The coal simile explains why resurrected flesh can appear through and beyond the surrounding brightness.
XIV.58–60 The resurrected body's organs are strengthened for delight, answering Beatrice's concern about sight.
XIV.58–60 The resurrected body's organs are strengthened for delight, answering Beatrice's concern about sight. Line 59: The resurrected body's organs are strengthened for delight, answering Beatrice's concern about sight.
XIV.59 The resurrected body's organs are strengthened for delight, answering Beatrice's concern about sight. The resurrected body's organs are strengthened for delight, answering Beatrice's concern about sight.
The choirs say Amen, desire the body, and a third circle of new subsistences overwhelms Dante's sight XIV.61–81
61Tanto mi parver sùbiti e accorti
e l’uno e l’altro coro a dicer «Amme!»,
che ben mostrar disio d’i corpi morti:
forse non pur per lor, ma per le mamme,
65per li padri e per li altri che fuor cari
anzi che fosser sempiterne fiamme.
Ed ecco intorno, di chiarezza pari,
nascere un lustro sopra quel che v’era,
per guisa d’orizzonte che rischiari.
70E sì come al salir di prima sera
comincian per lo ciel nove parvenze,
sì che la vista pare e non par vera,
parvemi lì novelle sussistenze
cominciare a vedere, e fare un giro
75di fuor da l’altre due circunferenze.
Oh vero sfavillar del Santo Spiro!
come si fece sùbito e candente
a li occhi miei che, vinti, nol soffriro!
Ma Bëatrice sì bella e ridente
80mi si mostrò, che tra quelle vedute
si vuol lasciar che non seguir la mente.
61So sudden and alert did they seem to me,
both the one and the other choir, to say "Amen!"
that they clearly showed desire for their dead bodies:
perhaps not only for themselves, but for their mothers,
65for their fathers and for the others who were dear
before they were sempiternal flames.
And behold, around us, of equal brightness,
a luster was born over what was there,
in the manner of a horizon that grows bright.
70And as, at the rising of early evening,
new appearances begin through the sky,
so that sight seems and does not seem true,
so there it seemed to me that new subsistences
began to appear, and to make a ring
75outside the other two circumferences.
O true sparkling of the Holy Spirit!
how sudden and incandescent it became
to my eyes, which, overcome, could not bear it!
But Beatrice, so beautiful and smiling,
80showed herself to me, that among those sights
she must be left, where the mind cannot follow.
Commentary
The double choir's Amen shows desire for dead bodies and also for restored bodily kinship. The third circle appears as new subsistences outside the two circumferences, and Beatrice's beauty is intentionally left among sights memory cannot follow.
XIV.61–63 Amme is rendered as Amen while preserving the strong communal assent to resurrection.
XIV.61–63 Amme is rendered as Amen while preserving the strong communal assent to resurrection. Line 62: Amme is rendered as Amen while preserving the strong communal assent to resurrection.
XIV.62 Amme is rendered as Amen while preserving the strong communal assent to resurrection. Amme is rendered as Amen while preserving the strong communal assent to resurrection.
XIV.64–66 The familial desire keeps resurrection as restored personhood and kinship, not merely individual completion.
XIV.64–66 The familial desire keeps resurrection as restored personhood and kinship, not merely individual completion. Line 66: The familial desire keeps resurrection as restored personhood and kinship, not merely individual completion.
XIV.66 The familial desire keeps resurrection as restored personhood and kinship, not merely individual completion. The familial desire keeps resurrection as restored personhood and kinship, not merely individual completion.
XIV.67–69 The new light introduces the third circle without erasing the equality of brightness.
XIV.67–69 The new light introduces the third circle without erasing the equality of brightness. Line 68: The new light introduces the third circle without erasing the equality of brightness.
XIV.68 The new light introduces the third circle without erasing the equality of brightness. The new light introduces the third circle without erasing the equality of brightness.
XIV.73–75 Sussistenze keeps the technical person/substance pressure from the Sun sequence.
XIV.73–75 Sussistenze keeps the technical person/substance pressure from the Sun sequence. Line 73: Sussistenze keeps the technical person/substance pressure from the Sun sequence.
XIV.73 Sussistenze keeps the technical person/substance pressure from the Sun sequence. Sussistenze keeps the technical person/substance pressure from the Sun sequence.
XIV.76–78 The sight failure prepares Beatrice's restorative beauty and the ascent out of the Sun.
XIV.76–78 The sight failure prepares Beatrice's restorative beauty and the ascent out of the Sun. Line 78: The sight failure prepares Beatrice's restorative beauty and the ascent out of the Sun.
XIV.78 The sight failure prepares Beatrice's restorative beauty and the ascent out of the Sun. The sight failure prepares Beatrice's restorative beauty and the ascent out of the Sun.
XIV.79–81 The line deliberately marks the memory/intellect limit rather than describing Beatrice's beauty.
XIV.79–81 The line deliberately marks the memory/intellect limit rather than describing Beatrice's beauty. Line 81: The line deliberately marks the memory/intellect limit rather than describing Beatrice's beauty.
XIV.81 The line deliberately marks the memory/intellect limit rather than describing Beatrice's beauty. The line deliberately marks the memory/intellect limit rather than describing Beatrice's beauty.
Beatrice restores Dante's sight, and he ascends into redder Mars with a grateful holocaust XIV.82–96
82Quindi ripreser li occhi miei virtute
a rilevarsi; e vidimi translato
sol con mia donna in più alta salute.
85Ben m’accors’ io ch’io era più levato,
per l’affocato riso de la stella,
che mi parea più roggio che l’usato.
Con tutto ’l core e con quella favella
ch’è una in tutti, a Dio feci olocausto,
90qual conveniesi a la grazia novella.
E non er’ anco del mio petto essausto
l’ardor del sacrificio, ch’io conobbi
esso litare stato accetto e fausto;
ché con tanto lucore e tanto robbi
95m’apparvero splendor dentro a due raggi,
ch’io dissi: «O Elïòs che sì li addobbi!».
82From there my eyes regained power
to lift themselves again; and I saw myself translated
alone with my lady into higher salvation.
85I clearly knew that I was raised higher,
by the fiery smile of the star,
which seemed to me redder than usual.
With all my heart and with that speech
which is one in all, I made to God a holocaust
90such as befitted the new grace.
And not yet was the ardor of the sacrifice
exhausted from my breast, when I knew
that very offering had been accepted and auspicious;
for with so much brightness and so much ruby-red
95splendors appeared to me within two rays,
that I said: "O Helios, who so arrays them!"
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: Beatrice restores Dante's sight, and he ascends into redder Mars with a grateful holocaust.
XIV.82–84 The ascent is both spatially higher and beatitudinally higher.
XIV.82–84 The ascent is both spatially higher and beatitudinally higher. Line 84: The ascent is both spatially higher and beatitudinally higher.
XIV.84 The ascent is both spatially higher and beatitudinally higher. The ascent is both spatially higher and beatitudinally higher.
XIV.85–87 The redder star identifies Mars and shifts the canto toward martial sainthood and Cacciaguida.
XIV.85–87 The redder star identifies Mars and shifts the canto toward martial sainthood and Cacciaguida. Line 86: The redder star identifies Mars and shifts the canto toward martial sainthood and Cacciaguida.
XIV.86 The redder star identifies Mars and shifts the canto toward martial sainthood and Cacciaguida. The redder star identifies Mars and shifts the canto toward martial sainthood and Cacciaguida.
XIV.88–90 Favella here is the inward language common to all; holocaust keeps the sacrificial register.
XIV.88–90 Favella here is the inward language common to all; holocaust keeps the sacrificial register. Line 89: Favella here is the inward language common to all; holocaust keeps the sacrificial register.
XIV.89 Favella here is the inward language common to all; holocaust keeps the sacrificial register. Favella here is the inward language common to all; holocaust keeps the sacrificial register.
XIV.94–96 The Helios/Elios crux is left as Helios in the line; the name carries Greek and Hebrew pressure.
XIV.94–96 The Helios/Elios crux is left as Helios in the line; the name carries Greek and Hebrew pressure. Line 96: The Helios/Elios crux is left as Helios in the line; the name carries Greek and Hebrew pressure.
XIV.96 The Helios/Elios crux is left as Helios in the line; the name carries Greek and Hebrew pressure. The Helios/Elios crux is left as Helios in the line; the name carries Greek and Hebrew pressure.
The Galaxy-like rays form the venerable cross in Mars, where Christ flashes beyond memory and example XIV.97–108
97Come distinta da minori e maggi
lumi biancheggia tra ’ poli del mondo
Galassia sì, che fa dubbiar ben saggi;
100sì costellati facean nel profondo
Marte quei raggi il venerabil segno
che fan giunture di quadranti in tondo.
Qui vince la memoria mia lo ’ngegno;
ché quella croce lampeggiava Cristo,
105sì ch’io non so trovare essempro degno;
ma chi prende sua croce e segue Cristo,
ancor mi scuserà di quel ch’io lasso,
vedendo in quell’ albor balenar Cristo.
97As, distinguished by lesser and greater
lights, the Galaxy whitens between the world's poles
so as to make even wise men doubt;
100so, constellated in the depth
of Mars, those rays made the venerable sign
that quadrant-joinings make in a circle.
Here my memory overcomes my genius;
for that cross flashed Christ
105so that I cannot find a worthy example;
but whoever takes his cross and follows Christ
will still excuse me for what I leave unsaid,
seeing Christ flash in that whiteness.
Commentary
This passage covers this sequence: The Galaxy-like rays form the venerable cross in Mars, where Christ flashes beyond memory and example.
XIV.97–99 The Galaxy analogy prepares the cross of Mars as a luminous, interpreted sign rather than decorative astronomy.
XIV.97–99 The Galaxy analogy prepares the cross of Mars as a luminous, interpreted sign rather than decorative astronomy. Line 99: The Galaxy analogy prepares the cross of Mars as a luminous, interpreted sign rather than decorative astronomy.
XIV.99 The Galaxy analogy prepares the cross of Mars as a luminous, interpreted sign rather than decorative astronomy. The Galaxy analogy prepares the cross of Mars as a luminous, interpreted sign rather than decorative astronomy.
XIV.100–102 The venerable sign is the cross formed in Mars and introduces the soldiers of Christ sequence.
XIV.100–102 The venerable sign is the cross formed in Mars and introduces the soldiers of Christ sequence. Line 101: The venerable sign is the cross formed in Mars and introduces the soldiers of Christ sequence.
XIV.101 The venerable sign is the cross formed in Mars and introduces the soldiers of Christ sequence. The venerable sign is the cross formed in Mars and introduces the soldiers of Christ sequence.
XIV.103–105 Lampeggiava Cristo is kept as a verbal flash of Christ from the cross, with no explanatory padding.
XIV.103–105 Lampeggiava Cristo is kept as a verbal flash of Christ from the cross, with no explanatory padding. Line 104: Lampeggiava Cristo is kept as a verbal flash of Christ from the cross, with no explanatory padding.
XIV.104 Lampeggiava Cristo is kept as a verbal flash of Christ from the cross, with no explanatory padding. Lampeggiava Cristo is kept as a verbal flash of Christ from the cross, with no explanatory padding.
XIV.106–108 Albor keeps the white radiance of the cross; the following cantos can decide whether dawn-pressure matters.
XIV.106–108 Albor keeps the white radiance of the cross; the following cantos can decide whether dawn-pressure matters. Line 108: Albor keeps the white radiance of the cross; the following cantos can decide whether dawn-pressure matters.
XIV.108 Albor keeps the white radiance of the cross; the following cantos can decide whether dawn-pressure matters. Albor keeps the white radiance of the cross; the following cantos can decide whether dawn-pressure matters.
Lights move along the cross, the uncomprehended hymn raptures Dante, and holy pleasure grows purer in ascent XIV.109–139
109Di corno in corno e tra la cima e ’l basso
110si movien lumi, scintillando forte
nel congiugnersi insieme e nel trapasso:
così si veggion qui diritte e torte,
veloci e tarde, rinovando vista,
le minuzie d’i corpi, lunghe e corte,
115moversi per lo raggio onde si lista
talvolta l’ombra che, per sua difesa,
la gente con ingegno e arte acquista.
E come giga e arpa, in tempra tesa
di molte corde, fa dolce tintinno
120a tal da cui la nota non è intesa,
così da’ lumi che lì m’apparinno
s’accogliea per la croce una melode
che mi rapiva, sanza intender l’inno.
Ben m’accors’ io ch’elli era d’alte lode,
125però ch’a me venìa «Resurgi» e «Vinci»
come a colui che non intende e ode.
Ïo m’innamorava tanto quinci,
che ’nfino a lì non fu alcuna cosa
che mi legasse con sì dolci vinci.
130Forse la mia parola par troppo osa,
posponendo il piacer de li occhi belli,
ne’ quai mirando mio disio ha posa;
ma chi s’avvede che i vivi suggelli
d’ogne bellezza più fanno più suso,
135e ch’io non m’era lì rivolto a quelli,
escusar puommi di quel ch’io m’accuso
per escusarmi, e vedermi dir vero:
ché ’l piacer santo non è qui dischiuso,
perché si fa, montando, più sincero.
109From horn to horn and between the top and bottom
110lights were moving, strongly scintillating
as they joined together and passed across:
so here one sees, straight and bent,
swift and slow, renewing sight,
the tiny motes of bodies, long and short,
115moving through the ray by which is striped
at times the shade that, for their defense,
people gain by ingenuity and art.
And as viol and harp, in taut tuning
of many strings, make a sweet tinkle
120for one by whom the note is not understood,
so from the lights that there appeared to me
there gathered through the cross a melody
that rapt me, without my understanding the hymn.
I knew well that it was of high praise,
125because there came to me "Rise" and "Conquer"
as to one who hears and does not understand.
I was so enamored from there
that until then there had been no thing
that bound me with such sweet bonds.
130Perhaps my word seems too bold,
setting after it the pleasure of the beautiful eyes
in which, by gazing, my desire has rest;
but whoever considers that the living seals
of every beauty act more the higher up,
135and that I had not there turned toward those,
can excuse me for what I accuse myself of
in order to excuse myself, and see me tell truth:
for the holy pleasure is not disclosed here,
because, in mounting, it becomes more pure.
Commentary
The cross passage keeps the moving lights, dust-mote sunbeam image, uncomprehended hymn, Resurgi and Vinci, Dante's rapture, and the careful apology for seeming to prefer the cross-song to Beatrice's eyes because holy pleasure grows more pure as he rises.
XIV.112–114 The dust-mote simile makes the cross's motion visible through an ordinary beam of light.
XIV.112–114 The dust-mote simile makes the cross's motion visible through an ordinary beam of light. Line 114: The dust-mote simile makes the cross's motion visible through an ordinary beam of light.
XIV.114 The dust-mote simile makes the cross's motion visible through an ordinary beam of light. The dust-mote simile makes the cross's motion visible through an ordinary beam of light.
XIV.115–117 Ingegno e arte keeps human craft in the sunbeam/shade image.
XIV.115–117 Ingegno e arte keeps human craft in the sunbeam/shade image. Line 117: Ingegno e arte keeps human craft in the sunbeam/shade image.
XIV.117 Ingegno e arte keeps human craft in the sunbeam/shade image. Ingegno e arte keeps human craft in the sunbeam/shade image.
XIV.121–123 The melody is experientially overwhelming before it is semantically understood.
XIV.121–123 The melody is experientially overwhelming before it is semantically understood. Line 123: The melody is experientially overwhelming before it is semantically understood.
XIV.123 The melody is experientially overwhelming before it is semantically understood. The melody is experientially overwhelming before it is semantically understood.
XIV.124–126 Resurgi and Vinci are translated in the line but remain marked as Latin keywords.
XIV.124–126 Resurgi and Vinci are translated in the line but remain marked as Latin keywords. Line 125: Resurgi and Vinci are translated in the line but remain marked as Latin keywords.
XIV.125 Resurgi and Vinci are translated in the line but remain marked as Latin keywords. Resurgi and Vinci are translated in the line but remain marked as Latin keywords.
XIV.127–129 The love language marks rapture through the cross before Dante's self-correction about Beatrice's eyes.
XIV.127–129 The love language marks rapture through the cross before Dante's self-correction about Beatrice's eyes. Line 129: The love language marks rapture through the cross before Dante's self-correction about Beatrice's eyes.
XIV.129 The love language marks rapture through the cross before Dante's self-correction about Beatrice's eyes. The love language marks rapture through the cross before Dante's self-correction about Beatrice's eyes.
XIV.133–135 Living seals keeps Beatrice's eyes/beauty as active heavenly impressions rather than static ornament.
XIV.133–135 Living seals keeps Beatrice's eyes/beauty as active heavenly impressions rather than static ornament. Line 133: Living seals keeps Beatrice's eyes/beauty as active heavenly impressions rather than static ornament.
XIV.133 Living seals keeps Beatrice's eyes/beauty as active heavenly impressions rather than static ornament. Living seals keeps Beatrice's eyes/beauty as active heavenly impressions rather than static ornament.
XIV.139 Sincero is rendered as pure here, tied to the increasing clarity of holy pleasure as Dante rises. Sincero is rendered as pure here, tied to the increasing clarity of holy pleasure as Dante rises.