Paradiso, Canto 21
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XXI leaves Jupiter for Saturn, the contemplative heaven, by first fastening Dante back on Beatrice's face and then withholding the smile that would overwhelm his mortal power. Beatrice compares the danger to Semele consumed by untempered divine presence, explains that her beauty grows brighter with each stair of the eternal palace, and directs Dante to make his eyes mirrors for what will appear in Saturn's crystal. Dante, though nourished by her blessed face, obeys his heavenly guide and turns toward a golden ladder rising beyond his sight. From its steps descend countless splendors, moving like rooks at dawn: some depart, some return, and some circle in place. The nearest light grows clear enough to signal love, but Dante waits for Beatrice to govern speech and silence; she sees his restraint in God's all-seeing sight and releases his warm desire. Dante asks why this blessed life has come so near and why the sweet symphony of Paradise is silent in this wheel. The spirit answers that Dante's hearing is mortal just as his sight is, so no song sounds here for the same reason Beatrice did not smile. He descended only to welcome Dante with speech and mantling light, not because he loves more than the others, for high charity allots each soul's office according to the counsel that governs the world. Dante understands free love following providence, but asks why this one soul was predestined to this office. The light wheels like a millstone and explains that divine light lifts its vision to the supreme essence, from which comes its flaming joy, yet even the clearest soul or God-fixed seraph could not answer Dante's question. Predestination lies in the abyss of the eternal statute, cut off from every created sight; Dante must report this to the mortal world so it will not presume to walk toward such a mark. The mind that shines in Heaven smokes on earth, and cannot do below what it cannot do even when Heaven raises it. Curbed by this answer, Dante humbly asks the spirit's identity. The spirit names Catria, the hermitage below it, and his own life of monastic firmness: in God's service he passed heat and frost on simple olive fare, content in contemplative thoughts. The cloister once bore fruitful souls to Heaven, but is now barren and soon must be exposed. There he was Peter Damian, and at Our Lady's house on the Adriatic shore he was Peter the Sinner. Near the end of mortal life he was drawn to the cardinal's hat, which keeps passing from bad to worse. Against Cephas and Paul, lean, barefoot, and dependent on common lodging, he sets the modern shepherds, so heavy they need props, guides, and hoisting, while their mantles cover their palfreys so that two beasts go beneath one hide. His cry to patience summons many flames down the ladder; they circle him, grow more beautiful with every turn, and raise a thunderous cry too high to be likened or understood by Dante.
Narrative arc
- Beatrice restrains her smile, explains mortal incapacity through Semele and thunder, and directs Dante from her face toward Saturn's mirror
- Dante weighs obedience against Beatrice's face, sees Saturn's golden ladder rise beyond sight, and watches rooks-like splendors gather and move on its steps
- The nearest light signals love, Beatrice releases Dante's desire, and the spirit explains Saturn's silence by Dante's mortal hearing and divine allotment
- Dante asks why this spirit alone was predestined to the office, and the light teaches that divine election lies beyond every created sight
- Dante abandons the predestination question and Peter Damian identifies Catria, the hermitage, contemplation, the barren cloister, and his name as Peter the Sinner
- Peter Damian denounces the declining cardinalate and fat modern shepherds before many flames descend and thunder out a cry Dante cannot understand
Central themes
- contemplation
- silence
- monastic vocation
- reform
Beatrice restrains her smile, explains mortal incapacity through Semele and thunder, and directs Dante from her face toward Saturn's mirror XXI.1–18
1Già eran li occhi miei rifissi al volto
de la mia donna, e l’animo con essi,
e da ogne altro intento s’era tolto.
E quella non ridea; ma «S’io ridessi»,
5mi cominciò, «tu ti faresti quale
fu Semelè quando di cener fessi:
ché la bellezza mia, che per le scale
de l’etterno palazzo più s’accende,
com’ hai veduto, quanto più si sale,
10se non si temperasse, tanto splende,
che ’l tuo mortal podere, al suo fulgore,
sarebbe fronda che trono scoscende.
Noi sem levati al settimo splendore,
che sotto ’l petto del Leone ardente
15raggia mo misto giù del suo valore.
Ficca di retro a li occhi tuoi la mente,
e fa di quelli specchi a la figura
che ’n questo specchio ti sarà parvente».
1Already my eyes were fixed again on the face
of my lady, and my mind along with them,
and from every other aim had drawn away.
And she did not smile; but, "If I smiled,"
5she began to me, "you would become such
as Semele was when she burst into ashes:
for my beauty, which, along the stairs
of the eternal palace, kindles more,
as you have seen, the higher one ascends,
10if it were not tempered, shines so much
that your mortal power, at its blaze,
would be a leaf that thunder shatters.
We have been lifted to the seventh splendor,
which beneath the breast of the burning Lion
15beams now downward, mingled with his power.
Fix your mind behind your eyes,
and make of them mirrors for the figure
that will appear to you in this mirror."
Commentary
Beatrice's withheld smile, Semele, mortal faculty, thunder-shattered leaf, Saturn under Leo, and the mirror command form one restraint-of-vision passage.
XXI.4–6 Semele preserves the mythic example of mortal incapacity before untempered divine radiance.
XXI.4–6 Semele preserves the mythic example of mortal incapacity before untempered divine radiance. Line 6: Semele preserves the mythic example of mortal incapacity before untempered divine radiance.
XXI.6 Semele preserves the mythic example of mortal incapacity before untempered divine radiance. Semele preserves the mythic example of mortal incapacity before untempered divine radiance.
XXI.10–12 The leaf/thunder image keeps the fragile mortal faculty under Beatrice's restrained glory.
XXI.10–12 The leaf/thunder image keeps the fragile mortal faculty under Beatrice's restrained glory. Line 12: The leaf/thunder image keeps the fragile mortal faculty under Beatrice's restrained glory.
XXI.12 The leaf/thunder image keeps the fragile mortal faculty under Beatrice's restrained glory. The leaf/thunder image keeps the fragile mortal faculty under Beatrice's restrained glory.
XXI.13–15 The seventh splendor is Saturn, the contemplative heaven. Saturn is under Leo, so the planetary ray is mixed with the sign's force.
XXI.13–15 The seventh splendor is Saturn, the contemplative heaven. Line 13: The seventh splendor is Saturn, the contemplative heaven. Line 15: Saturn is under Leo, so the planetary ray is mixed with the sign's force.
XXI.13 The seventh splendor is Saturn, the contemplative heaven. The seventh splendor is Saturn, the contemplative heaven.
XXI.15 Saturn is under Leo, so the planetary ray is mixed with the sign's force. Saturn is under Leo, so the planetary ray is mixed with the sign's force.
XXI.16–18 Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the heavenly mirror; sight and intellect must be ordered together.
XXI.16–18 Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the heavenly mirror; sight and intellect must be ordered together. Line 16: Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the heavenly mirror; sight and intellect must be ordered together.
XXI.16 Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the heavenly mirror; sight and intellect must be ordered together. Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the heavenly mirror; sight and intellect must be ordered together.
Dante weighs obedience against Beatrice's face, sees Saturn's golden ladder rise beyond sight, and watches rooks-like splendors gather and move on its steps XXI.19–42
19Qual savesse qual era la pastura
20del viso mio ne l’aspetto beato
quand’ io mi trasmutai ad altra cura,
conoscerebbe quanto m’era a grato
ubidire a la mia celeste scorta,
contrapesando l’un con l’altro lato.
25Dentro al cristallo che ’l vocabol porta,
cerchiando il mondo, del suo caro duce
sotto cui giacque ogne malizia morta,
di color d’oro in che raggio traluce
vid’ io uno scaleo eretto in suso
30tanto, che nol seguiva la mia luce.
Vidi anche per li gradi scender giuso
tanti splendor, ch’io pensai ch’ogne lume
che par nel ciel, quindi fosse diffuso.
E come, per lo natural costume,
35le pole insieme, al cominciar del giorno,
si movono a scaldar le fredde piume;
poi altre vanno via sanza ritorno,
altre rivolgon sé onde son mosse,
e altre roteando fan soggiorno;
40tal modo parve me che quivi fosse
in quello sfavillar che ’nsieme venne,
sì come in certo grado si percosse.
19Whoever knew what pasture
20my sight had in that blessed look
when I turned myself to another care,
would know how pleasing to me it was
to obey my heavenly escort,
weighing one side against the other.
25Within the crystal that bears the name,
as it circles the world, of its dear leader
under whom every malice lay dead,
golden in color, with a ray shining through,
I saw a stairway raised upward
30so high that my light did not follow it.
I also saw down along its steps descend
so many splendors that I thought every light
that appears in heaven was poured from there.
And as, by natural custom,
35the rooks together, at the start of day,
move to warm their cold feathers;
then some go off without return,
others turn themselves back where they set out,
and others, circling, make a stay;
40such a manner seemed to me to be there
in that sparkling which came together
as soon as it struck a certain step.
Commentary
Saturn appears as crystal, Golden Age ruler, golden ladder, light beyond sight, and the bird-swarm movement of contemplative splendors on the ladder steps.
XXI.25–27 The crystal is Saturn; the dear leader is the Saturn of the Golden Age. The Golden Age tradition makes Saturn's rule the time under which malice lay dead.
XXI.25–27 The crystal is Saturn; the dear leader is the Saturn of the Golden Age. Line 25: The crystal is Saturn; the dear leader is the Saturn of the Golden Age. Line 27: The Golden Age tradition makes Saturn's rule the time under which malice lay dead.
XXI.25 The crystal is Saturn; the dear leader is the Saturn of the Golden Age. The crystal is Saturn; the dear leader is the Saturn of the Golden Age.
XXI.27 The Golden Age tradition makes Saturn's rule the time under which malice lay dead. The Golden Age tradition makes Saturn's rule the time under which malice lay dead.
XXI.28–30 Dante's light, meaning his sight, cannot follow the ladder past its visible reach.
XXI.28–30 Dante's light, meaning his sight, cannot follow the ladder past its visible reach. Line 30: Dante's light, meaning his sight, cannot follow the ladder past its visible reach.
XXI.30 Dante's light, meaning his sight, cannot follow the ladder past its visible reach. Dante's light, meaning his sight, cannot follow the ladder past its visible reach.
XXI.34–36 Pole is rendered as rooks, keeping the morning bird-swarm simile.
XXI.34–36 Pole is rendered as rooks, keeping the morning bird-swarm simile. Line 35: Pole is rendered as rooks, keeping the morning bird-swarm simile.
XXI.35 Pole is rendered as rooks, keeping the morning bird-swarm simile. Pole is rendered as rooks, keeping the morning bird-swarm simile.
The nearest light signals love, Beatrice releases Dante's desire, and the spirit explains Saturn's silence by Dante's mortal hearing and divine allotment XXI.43–72
43E quel che presso più ci si ritenne,
si fé sì chiaro, ch’io dicea pensando:
45‘Io veggio ben l’amor che tu m’accenne.
Ma quella ond’ io aspetto il come e ’l quando
del dire e del tacer, si sta; ond’ io,
contra ’l disio, fo ben ch’io non dimando’.
Per ch’ella, che vedëa il tacer mio
50nel veder di colui che tutto vede,
mi disse: «Solvi il tuo caldo disio».
E io incominciai: «La mia mercede
non mi fa degno de la tua risposta;
ma per colei che ’l chieder mi concede,
55vita beata che ti stai nascosta
dentro a la tua letizia, fammi nota
la cagion che sì presso mi t’ha posta;
e dì perché si tace in questa rota
la dolce sinfonia di paradiso,
60che giù per l’altre suona sì divota».
«Tu hai l’udir mortal sì come il viso»,
rispuose a me; «onde qui non si canta
per quel che Bëatrice non ha riso.
Giù per li gradi de la scala santa
65discesi tanto sol per farti festa
col dire e con la luce che mi ammanta;
né più amor mi fece esser più presta,
ché più e tanto amor quinci sù ferve,
sì come il fiammeggiar ti manifesta.
70Ma l’alta carità, che ci fa serve
pronte al consiglio che ’l mondo governa,
sorteggia qui sì come tu osserve».
43And the one that held nearest to us
made itself so clear that I said in thought:
45"I see well the love you signal to me.
But she from whom I await the how and when
of speaking and of silence stands still; so I,
against desire, do well not to ask."
Whereupon she, who saw my silence
50in the seeing of him who sees all things,
said to me: "Release your warm desire."
And I began: "My own merit
does not make me worthy of your answer;
but for her who grants me the asking,
55blessed life who keep yourself hidden
inside your gladness, make known to me
the cause that has placed you so near me;
and say why, in this wheel,
the sweet symphony of Paradise is silent,
60which below through the others sounds so devout."
"You have mortal hearing as you have sight,"
he answered me; "therefore here there is no singing
for the same reason Beatrice has not smiled.
Down through the steps of the holy ladder
65I descended this far only to welcome you
with speech and with the light that mantles me;
nor did more love make me more ready,
for equal and greater love burns up here,
as the flaming makes manifest to you.
70But the high charity that makes us servants
ready for the counsel that governs the world
allots here just as you observe."
Commentary
The question sequence keeps Dante waiting for Beatrice's rule of speech and silence, then joins the silent symphony to mortal hearing and to the same tempering that withheld Beatrice's smile.
XXI.43–45 The brightening soul signals love before speech, matching Paradiso's joy-as-light motif.
XXI.43–45 The brightening soul signals love before speech, matching Paradiso's joy-as-light motif. Line 45: The brightening soul signals love before speech, matching Paradiso's joy-as-light motif.
XXI.45 The brightening soul signals love before speech, matching Paradiso's joy-as-light motif. The brightening soul signals love before speech, matching Paradiso's joy-as-light motif.
XXI.49–51 Beatrice authorizes the question after reading Dante's silence in divine sight.
XXI.49–51 Beatrice authorizes the question after reading Dante's silence in divine sight. Line 51: Beatrice authorizes the question after reading Dante's silence in divine sight.
XXI.51 Beatrice authorizes the question after reading Dante's silence in divine sight. Beatrice authorizes the question after reading Dante's silence in divine sight.
XXI.58–60 The sweet symphony is absent in Saturn because Dante's mortal hearing is as limited as his sight.
XXI.58–60 The sweet symphony is absent in Saturn because Dante's mortal hearing is as limited as his sight. Line 59: The sweet symphony is absent in Saturn because Dante's mortal hearing is as limited as his sight.
XXI.59 The sweet symphony is absent in Saturn because Dante's mortal hearing is as limited as his sight. The sweet symphony is absent in Saturn because Dante's mortal hearing is as limited as his sight.
XXI.64–66 The holy ladder repeats the visual ladder as a contemplative descent toward Dante.
XXI.64–66 The holy ladder repeats the visual ladder as a contemplative descent toward Dante. Line 64: The holy ladder repeats the visual ladder as a contemplative descent toward Dante.
XXI.64 The holy ladder repeats the visual ladder as a contemplative descent toward Dante. The holy ladder repeats the visual ladder as a contemplative descent toward Dante.
XXI.70–72 Sorteggia is rendered as allotment: charity freely serves the divine counsel that governs the world.
XXI.70–72 Sorteggia is rendered as allotment: charity freely serves the divine counsel that governs the world. Line 72: Sorteggia is rendered as allotment: charity freely serves the divine counsel that governs the world.
XXI.72 Sorteggia is rendered as allotment: charity freely serves the divine counsel that governs the world. Sorteggia is rendered as allotment: charity freely serves the divine counsel that governs the world.
Dante asks why this spirit alone was predestined to the office, and the light teaches that divine election lies beyond every created sight XXI.73–102
73«Io veggio ben», diss’ io, «sacra lucerna,
come libero amore in questa corte
75basta a seguir la provedenza etterna;
ma questo è quel ch’a cerner mi par forte,
perché predestinata fosti sola
a questo officio tra le tue consorte».
Né venni prima a l’ultima parola,
80che del suo mezzo fece il lume centro,
girando sé come veloce mola;
poi rispuose l’amor che v’era dentro:
«Luce divina sopra me s’appunta,
penetrando per questa in ch’io m’inventro,
85la cui virtù, col mio veder congiunta,
mi leva sopra me tanto, ch’i’ veggio
la somma essenza de la quale è munta.
Quinci vien l’allegrezza ond’ io fiammeggio;
per ch’a la vista mia, quant’ ella è chiara,
90la chiarità de la fiamma pareggio.
Ma quell’ alma nel ciel che più si schiara,
quel serafin che ’n Dio più l’occhio ha fisso,
a la dimanda tua non satisfara,
però che sì s’innoltra ne lo abisso
95de l’etterno statuto quel che chiedi,
che da ogne creata vista è scisso.
E al mondo mortal, quando tu riedi,
questo rapporta, sì che non presumma
a tanto segno più mover li piedi.
100La mente, che qui luce, in terra fumma;
onde riguarda come può là giùe
quel che non pote perché ’l ciel l’assumma».
73"I see well," I said, "sacred lamp,
how free love in this court
75is enough to follow eternal providence;
but this is what seems hard for me to discern:
why you alone were predestined
to this office among your companions."
Nor had I reached the last word
80before the light made its middle a center,
turning itself like a swift millstone;
then the love that was inside it answered:
"Divine light is fixed upon me,
penetrating through this light in which I am enwombed;
85its power, joined with my seeing,
lifts me so far above myself that I see
the supreme essence from which it is drawn.
From this comes the gladness with which I flame;
therefore to my sight, as clear as it is,
90I match the clearness of the flame.
But that soul in Heaven which grows clearest,
that seraph who fixes his eye most in God,
could not satisfy your question,
because what you ask presses so far
95into the abyss of the eternal statute
that it is cut off from every created sight.
And to the mortal world, when you return,
report this, so that it not presume
to move its feet any more toward such a mark.
100The mind that shines here smokes on earth;
so consider how it can do down there
what it cannot do though Heaven take it up."
Commentary
The predestination answer preserves free love following providence while refusing creaturely access to the eternal statute; light, seeing, flame, mark, shining mind, and smoky earthly mind remain linked.
XXI.76–78 The predestination question remains unanswered because it lies beyond created vision.
XXI.76–78 The predestination question remains unanswered because it lies beyond created vision. Line 77: The predestination question remains unanswered because it lies beyond created vision.
XXI.77 The predestination question remains unanswered because it lies beyond created vision. The predestination question remains unanswered because it lies beyond created vision.
XXI.82–84 M'inventro is kept with an enwombing image rather than flattened into simple enclosure.
XXI.82–84 M'inventro is kept with an enwombing image rather than flattened into simple enclosure. Line 84: M'inventro is kept with an enwombing image rather than flattened into simple enclosure.
XXI.84 M'inventro is kept with an enwombing image rather than flattened into simple enclosure. M'inventro is kept with an enwombing image rather than flattened into simple enclosure.
XXI.85–87 Munta is rendered as drawn, preserving derivation from the supreme essence without overstraining the milking metaphor.
XXI.85–87 Munta is rendered as drawn, preserving derivation from the supreme essence without overstraining the milking metaphor. Line 87: Munta is rendered as drawn, preserving derivation from the supreme essence without overstraining the milking metaphor.
XXI.87 Munta is rendered as drawn, preserving derivation from the supreme essence without overstraining the milking metaphor. Munta is rendered as drawn, preserving derivation from the supreme essence without overstraining the milking metaphor.
XXI.94–96 The eternal statute is cut off from every created sight, continuing the restrained-judgment field from Paradiso XIX-XX.
XXI.94–96 The eternal statute is cut off from every created sight, continuing the restrained-judgment field from Paradiso XIX-XX. Line 96: The eternal statute is cut off from every created sight, continuing the restrained-judgment field from Paradiso XIX-XX.
XXI.96 The eternal statute is cut off from every created sight, continuing the restrained-judgment field from Paradiso XIX-XX. The eternal statute is cut off from every created sight, continuing the restrained-judgment field from Paradiso XIX-XX.
XXI.97–99 Segno is rendered as mark: a boundary for mortal speculation rather than a visible emblem.
XXI.97–99 Segno is rendered as mark: a boundary for mortal speculation rather than a visible emblem. Line 99: Segno is rendered as mark: a boundary for mortal speculation rather than a visible emblem.
XXI.99 Segno is rendered as mark: a boundary for mortal speculation rather than a visible emblem. Segno is rendered as mark: a boundary for mortal speculation rather than a visible emblem.
XXI.100–102 The bright/smoky contrast gives a compact rule for intellect in Heaven versus on earth.
XXI.100–102 The bright/smoky contrast gives a compact rule for intellect in Heaven versus on earth. Line 100: The bright/smoky contrast gives a compact rule for intellect in Heaven versus on earth.
XXI.100 The bright/smoky contrast gives a compact rule for intellect in Heaven versus on earth. The bright/smoky contrast gives a compact rule for intellect in Heaven versus on earth.
Dante abandons the predestination question and Peter Damian identifies Catria, the hermitage, contemplation, the barren cloister, and his name as Peter the Sinner XXI.103–123
103Sì mi prescrisser le parole sue,
ch’io lasciai la quistione e mi ritrassi
105a dimandarla umilmente chi fue.
«Tra ’ due liti d’Italia surgon sassi,
e non molto distanti a la tua patria,
tanto che ’ troni assai suonan più bassi,
e fanno un gibbo che si chiama Catria,
110di sotto al quale è consecrato un ermo,
che suole esser disposto a sola latria».
Così ricominciommi il terzo sermo;
e poi, continüando, disse: «Quivi
al servigio di Dio mi fe’ sì fermo,
115che pur con cibi di liquor d’ulivi
lievemente passava caldi e geli,
contento ne’ pensier contemplativi.
Render solea quel chiostro a questi cieli
fertilemente; e ora è fatto vano,
120sì che tosto convien che si riveli.
In quel loco fu’ io Pietro Damiano,
e Pietro Peccator fu’ ne la casa
di Nostra Donna in sul lito adriano.
103His words set bounds for me so firmly
that I left the question and drew myself back
105to ask humbly who he was.
"Between the two shores of Italy rise rocks,
and not very distant from your homeland,
so high that thunders sound far lower,
and they make a hump that is called Catria,
110beneath which a hermitage is consecrated
which used to be ordered to latria alone."
Thus he began his third speech to me;
and then, continuing, said: "There
in God's service I made myself so firm
115that, with food only of olive oil,
I lightly passed through heat and frost,
content in contemplative thoughts.
That cloister used to yield to these heavens
fruitfully; and now it has become barren,
120so that soon it must be laid bare.
In that place I was Peter Damian,
and Peter the Sinner I was in the house
of Our Lady on the Adriatic shore.
Commentary
The passage gives the Catria and hermitage identification, Peter Damian/Peter the Sinner, latria, olive-fare austerity, contemplative thoughts, and the barren-cloister reform pressure.
XXI.109–111 Catria locates Peter Damian in the Apennine monastic landscape near Fonte Avellana. Latria is retained for worship due to God alone, a technical theological term.
XXI.109–111 Catria locates Peter Damian in the Apennine monastic landscape near Fonte Avellana. Line 109: Catria locates Peter Damian in the Apennine monastic landscape near Fonte Avellana. Line 111: Latria is retained for worship due to God alone, a technical theological term.
XXI.109 Catria locates Peter Damian in the Apennine monastic landscape near Fonte Avellana. Catria locates Peter Damian in the Apennine monastic landscape near Fonte Avellana.
XXI.111 Latria is retained for worship due to God alone, a technical theological term. Latria is retained for worship due to God alone, a technical theological term.
XXI.115–117 Contemplative thought defines Saturn's heaven and Peter Damian's vocation.
XXI.115–117 Contemplative thought defines Saturn's heaven and Peter Damian's vocation. Line 117: Contemplative thought defines Saturn's heaven and Peter Damian's vocation.
XXI.117 Contemplative thought defines Saturn's heaven and Peter Damian's vocation. Contemplative thought defines Saturn's heaven and Peter Damian's vocation.
XXI.118–120 The barren cloister anticipates the denunciation of monastic and ecclesial corruption.
XXI.118–120 The barren cloister anticipates the denunciation of monastic and ecclesial corruption. Line 120: The barren cloister anticipates the denunciation of monastic and ecclesial corruption.
XXI.120 The barren cloister anticipates the denunciation of monastic and ecclesial corruption. The barren cloister anticipates the denunciation of monastic and ecclesial corruption.
XXI.121–123 The spirit identifies himself as Peter Damian. Peter the Sinner records his humility and the Adriatic monastic identity.
XXI.121–123 The spirit identifies himself as Peter Damian. Line 121: The spirit identifies himself as Peter Damian. Line 122: Peter the Sinner records his humility and the Adriatic monastic identity.
XXI.121 The spirit identifies himself as Peter Damian. The spirit identifies himself as Peter Damian.
XXI.122 Peter the Sinner records his humility and the Adriatic monastic identity. Peter the Sinner records his humility and the Adriatic monastic identity.
Peter Damian denounces the declining cardinalate and fat modern shepherds before many flames descend and thunder out a cry Dante cannot understand XXI.124–142
124Poca vita mortal m’era rimasa,
125quando fui chiesto e tratto a quel cappello,
che pur di male in peggio si travasa.
Venne Cefàs e venne il gran vasello
de lo Spirito Santo, magri e scalzi,
prendendo il cibo da qualunque ostello.
130Or voglion quinci e quindi chi rincalzi
li moderni pastori e chi li meni,
tanto son gravi, e chi di rietro li alzi.
Cuopron d’i manti loro i palafreni,
sì che due bestie van sott’ una pelle:
135oh pazïenza che tanto sostieni!».
A questa voce vid’ io più fiammelle
di grado in grado scendere e girarsi,
e ogne giro le facea più belle.
Dintorno a questa vennero e fermarsi,
140e fero un grido di sì alto suono,
che non potrebbe qui assomigliarsi;
né io lo ’ntesi, sì mi vinse il tuono.
124Little mortal life remained to me
125when I was sought out and dragged to that hat
which always passes from bad to worse.
Cephas came, and the great vessel
of the Holy Spirit came, lean and barefoot,
taking food from whatever inn.
130Now modern shepherds need one here and one there to prop them
and one to lead them,
so heavy are they, and someone behind to hoist them.
They cover their palfreys with their mantles,
so that two beasts go beneath one hide:
135O patience, that you endure so much!"
At this voice I saw many little flames
descend from step to step and whirl around,
and every turning made them more beautiful.
Around this one they came and stopped,
140and made a cry of so high a sound
that here it could not be likened;
nor did I understand it, so the thunder overcame me.
Commentary
The closing invective keeps the unwanted cardinal hat, Cephas and Paul as lean apostolic models, the grotesque heaviness of modern shepherds, covered palfreys, the patience apostrophe, and the thunderous outcry.
XXI.124–126 The hat is the cardinalate, framed as an unwanted office in decline.
XXI.124–126 The hat is the cardinalate, framed as an unwanted office in decline. Line 125: The hat is the cardinalate, framed as an unwanted office in decline.
XXI.125 The hat is the cardinalate, framed as an unwanted office in decline. The hat is the cardinalate, framed as an unwanted office in decline.
XXI.127–129 Cephas is Saint Peter; the great vessel of the Holy Spirit is Saint Paul.
XXI.127–129 Cephas is Saint Peter; the great vessel of the Holy Spirit is Saint Paul. Line 127: Cephas is Saint Peter; the great vessel of the Holy Spirit is Saint Paul.
XXI.127 Cephas is Saint Peter; the great vessel of the Holy Spirit is Saint Paul. Cephas is Saint Peter; the great vessel of the Holy Spirit is Saint Paul.
XXI.130–132 The bodily heaviness of modern shepherds makes ecclesial corruption grotesquely material.
XXI.130–132 The bodily heaviness of modern shepherds makes ecclesial corruption grotesquely material. Line 132: The bodily heaviness of modern shepherds makes ecclesial corruption grotesquely material.
XXI.132 The bodily heaviness of modern shepherds makes ecclesial corruption grotesquely material. The bodily heaviness of modern shepherds makes ecclesial corruption grotesquely material.
XXI.133–135 The apostrophe to patience sharpens the anti-prelate invective without modernizing it.
XXI.133–135 The apostrophe to patience sharpens the anti-prelate invective without modernizing it. Line 135: The apostrophe to patience sharpens the anti-prelate invective without modernizing it.
XXI.135 The apostrophe to patience sharpens the anti-prelate invective without modernizing it. The apostrophe to patience sharpens the anti-prelate invective without modernizing it.
XXI.142 The unassimilable thunder closes the canto by overwhelming Dante's mortal hearing. The unassimilable thunder closes the canto by overwhelming Dante's mortal hearing.