Paradiso, Canto 23
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso XXIII brings Dante from the fixed-star threshold into the triumph of Christ. Beatrice stands upright and intent like a bird waiting before dawn for the sun and for the faces and food of her young. Dante, seeing her suspended in desire, waits with hopeful longing until Heaven grows brighter and she announces the hosts of Christ's triumph and the whole fruit harvested by the turning of the spheres. Her face and eyes burn with joy beyond description. Dante then sees, above thousands of living lights, one Sun that kindles them all: Christ's living light and lucent substance exceed his sight. Beatrice explains that this is the Wisdom and Power that opened the ways between Heaven and earth, but Dante's mind expands beyond itself and cannot remember what it became. Beatrice, now newly bearable after the vision of Christ, tells him to open his eyes and look at her smile; the poet admits that even all the Muses could not reach a thousandth of the truth of that smile, so the sacred poem must leap over the impossible passage like a traveler whose road is cut off, or like a bold prow on a sea not meant for a little bark. Beatrice then redirects his enamored gaze to the fair garden flowering beneath Christ's rays: Mary is the rose in whom the divine Word became flesh, and the lilies are those whose fragrance made the good way be taken. Dante returns to the battle of his weak eyelids and sees troops of splendors lit from above while the source remains beyond him. The name of Mary's fair flower gathers his mind toward the greater fire; Mary appears as the living star who conquers above as she conquered below. A torch descends in a crownlike circle and wheels around her, singing as angelic love: Gabriel circles the joy breathing from the womb that housed the blessed Desire and will keep circling Mary until she follows her Son into the supreme sphere. All the lights resound the name of Mary. The Primum Mobile, the royal mantle of all the world's turnings, is still too far above for Dante's eyes, so he cannot follow the crowned flame as Mary rises after her offspring. The blessed stretch upward toward her like infants reaching for their mother after milk, then remain singing Regina celi with sweetness that never leaves Dante. The canto closes by praising the abundance stored in the richest arks, the apostolic and saintly sowers who live on the treasure gained while weeping in Babylonian exile and leaving gold behind. Under the high Son of God and Mary, with the old and new councils, Peter triumphs as keeper of the keys, preparing the immediate handoff to the examinations in faith, hope, and love.
Narrative arc
- Beatrice waits like a dawn-expecting bird, Dante's hope rises, and she announces Christ's triumph and the harvested fruit of the spheres
- Beatrice's joy exceeds description, Christ appears as the living Sun, and Dante's mind is overwhelmed by the Wisdom and Power that opened Heaven and earth
- Beatrice offers her smile, Dante half-remembers the vision, and the sacred poem names its own necessary leap and bold voyage
- Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the garden, Mary as rose, the lilies, the good way, and the reflected splendors left visible after Christ rises
- Mary appears as fair flower, living star, and sapphire while Gabriel circles and sings as angelic love and all lights resound her name
- The Primum Mobile remains beyond Dante's sight, Mary ascends after her Son, the blessed reach toward her and sing Regina celi, and Peter's keys close the canto
Central themes
- triumph
- Mary
- faith
- hope
- love
Beatrice waits like a dawn-expecting bird, Dante's hope rises, and she announces Christ's triumph and the harvested fruit of the spheres XXIII.1–21
1Come l’augello, intra l’amate fronde,
posato al nido de’ suoi dolci nati
la notte che le cose ci nasconde,
che, per veder li aspetti disïati
5e per trovar lo cibo onde li pasca,
in che gravi labor li sono aggrati,
previene il tempo in su aperta frasca,
e con ardente affetto il sole aspetta,
fiso guardando pur che l’alba nasca;
10così la donna mïa stava eretta
e attenta, rivolta inver’ la plaga
sotto la quale il sol mostra men fretta:
sì che, veggendola io sospesa e vaga,
fecimi qual è quei che disïando
15altro vorria, e sperando s’appaga.
Ma poco fu tra uno e altro quando,
del mio attender, dico, e del vedere
lo ciel venir più e più rischiarando;
e Bëatrice disse: «Ecco le schiere
20del trïunfo di Cristo e tutto ’l frutto
ricolto del girar di queste spere!».
1As the bird, among the beloved leaves,
settled at the nest of her sweet offspring
through the night that hides things from us,
who, to see the longed-for faces
5and to find the food with which she feeds them,
where grave labors are pleasing to her,
anticipates the time on an open branch,
and with ardent affection awaits the sun,
gazing fixedly until the dawn is born;
10so my lady stood upright
and attentive, turned toward the region
beneath which the sun shows least haste:
so that, seeing her suspended and eager,
I became like one who, desiring,
15would want something else, and is appeased by hope.
But little lay between one when and the other,
of my waiting, I mean, and of seeing
the sky become brighter and brighter;
and Beatrice said: "Behold the ranks
20of the triumph of Christ, and all the fruit
gathered from the turning of these spheres!"
Commentary
The opening bird simile is Beatrice's dawnlike expectation of Christ while also keeping the noon/meridian pressure of the region where the sun seems slowest.
XXIII.7–9 The dawn expectation opens a canto centered on Christ's triumph as living Sun.
XXIII.7–9 The dawn expectation opens a canto centered on Christ's triumph as living Sun. Line 9: The dawn expectation opens a canto centered on Christ's triumph as living Sun.
XXIII.9 The dawn expectation opens a canto centered on Christ's triumph as living Sun. The dawn expectation opens a canto centered on Christ's triumph as living Sun.
XXIII.10–12 The region where the sun seems slowest is the meridian/noon pressure set against the dawn simile.
XXIII.10–12 The region where the sun seems slowest is the meridian/noon pressure set against the dawn simile. Line 12: The region where the sun seems slowest is the meridian/noon pressure set against the dawn simile.
XXIII.12 The region where the sun seems slowest is the meridian/noon pressure set against the dawn simile. The region where the sun seems slowest is the meridian/noon pressure set against the dawn simile.
XXIII.19–21 Christ's triumph gathers the saved before and after the Incarnation.
XXIII.19–21 Christ's triumph gathers the saved before and after the Incarnation. Line 20: Christ's triumph gathers the saved before and after the Incarnation.
XXIII.20 Christ's triumph gathers the saved before and after the Incarnation. Christ's triumph gathers the saved before and after the Incarnation.
Beatrice's joy exceeds description, Christ appears as the living Sun, and Dante's mind is overwhelmed by the Wisdom and Power that opened Heaven and earth XXIII.22–45
22Pariemi che ’l suo viso ardesse tutto,
e li occhi avea di letizia sì pieni,
che passarmen convien sanza costrutto.
25Quale ne’ plenilunïi sereni
Trivïa ride tra le ninfe etterne
che dipingon lo ciel per tutti i seni,
vid’ i’ sopra migliaia di lucerne
un sol che tutte quante l’accendea,
30come fa ’l nostro le viste superne;
e per la viva luce trasparea
la lucente sustanza tanto chiara
nel viso mio, che non la sostenea.
Oh Bëatrice, dolce guida e cara!
35Ella mi disse: «Quel che ti sobranza
è virtù da cui nulla si ripara.
Quivi è la sapïenza e la possanza
ch’aprì le strade tra ’l cielo e la terra,
onde fu già sì lunga disïanza».
40Come foco di nube si diserra
per dilatarsi sì che non vi cape,
e fuor di sua natura in giù s’atterra,
la mente mia così, tra quelle dape
fatta più grande, di sé stessa uscìo,
45e che si fesse rimembrar non sape.
22It seemed to me that her face burned wholly,
and her eyes were so full of gladness
that I must pass over it without explaining.
25As, in clear nights of the full moon,
Trivia smiles among the eternal nymphs
who paint the sky through all its depths,
I saw above thousands of lamps
one Sun that kindled all of them,
30as our sun does the sights above;
and through the living light there shone
the lucent substance, so intensely clear
within my sight, that I could not sustain it.
O Beatrice, sweet and dear guide!
35She said to me: "What overmasters you
is a power from which nothing is shielded.
There is the Wisdom and the Power
that opened the ways between Heaven and earth,
for which there once had been so long a longing."
40As fire from a cloud unlocks itself,
expanding so that it cannot be contained there,
and, outside its nature, strikes down to earth,
so my mind, amid those feasts,
made greater, went out beyond itself,
45and does not know how to remember what it became.
Commentary
The living Sun is Christ in glorified presence: Wisdom and Power open the ways between Heaven and earth, but Dante's sight and memory are overwhelmed.
XXIII.25–27 Trivia is the classical moon name used in the full-moon simile before Christ appears as the greater Sun.
XXIII.25–27 Trivia is the classical moon name used in the full-moon simile before Christ appears as the greater Sun. Line 26: Trivia is the classical moon name used in the full-moon simile before Christ appears as the greater Sun.
XXIII.26 Trivia is the classical moon name used in the full-moon simile before Christ appears as the greater Sun. Trivia is the classical moon name used in the full-moon simile before Christ appears as the greater Sun.
XXIII.28–30 The capitalized Sun marks Christ as the living source of the surrounding blessed lights.
XXIII.28–30 The capitalized Sun marks Christ as the living source of the surrounding blessed lights. Line 29: The capitalized Sun marks Christ as the living source of the surrounding blessed lights.
XXIII.29 The capitalized Sun marks Christ as the living source of the surrounding blessed lights. The capitalized Sun marks Christ as the living source of the surrounding blessed lights.
XXIII.31–33 The lucent substance is kept as Dante's compressed language for Christ's glorified presence.
XXIII.31–33 The lucent substance is kept as Dante's compressed language for Christ's glorified presence. Line 32: The lucent substance is kept as Dante's compressed language for Christ's glorified presence.
XXIII.32 The lucent substance is kept as Dante's compressed language for Christ's glorified presence. The lucent substance is kept as Dante's compressed language for Christ's glorified presence.
XXIII.37–39 The ways opened by Christ keep path language theological rather than merely spatial.
XXIII.37–39 The ways opened by Christ keep path language theological rather than merely spatial. Line 38: The ways opened by Christ keep path language theological rather than merely spatial.
XXIII.38 The ways opened by Christ keep path language theological rather than merely spatial. The ways opened by Christ keep path language theological rather than merely spatial.
XXIII.43–45 The excess of vision is retained as a failure of memory rather than explained away.
XXIII.43–45 The excess of vision is retained as a failure of memory rather than explained away. Line 45: The excess of vision is retained as a failure of memory rather than explained away.
XXIII.45 The excess of vision is retained as a failure of memory rather than explained away. The excess of vision is retained as a failure of memory rather than explained away.
Beatrice offers her smile, Dante half-remembers the vision, and the sacred poem names its own necessary leap and bold voyage XXIII.46–69
46«Apri li occhi e riguarda qual son io;
tu hai vedute cose, che possente
se’ fatto a sostener lo riso mio».
Io era come quei che si risente
50di visïone oblita e che s’ingegna
indarno di ridurlasi a la mente,
quand’ io udi’ questa proferta, degna
di tanto grato, che mai non si stingue
del libro che ’l preterito rassegna.
55Se mo sonasser tutte quelle lingue
che Polimnïa con le suore fero
del latte lor dolcissimo più pingue,
per aiutarmi, al millesmo del vero
non si verria, cantando il santo riso
60e quanto il santo aspetto facea mero;
e così, figurando il paradiso,
convien saltar lo sacrato poema,
come chi trova suo cammin riciso.
Ma chi pensasse il ponderoso tema
65e l’omero mortal che se ne carca,
nol biasmerebbe se sott’ esso trema:
non è pareggio da picciola barca
quel che fendendo va l’ardita prora,
né da nocchier ch’a sé medesmo parca.
46"Open your eyes and look at what I am;
you have seen things by which you have been made
strong enough to sustain my smile."
I was like one who comes back to himself
50from a forgotten vision, and strives
in vain to draw it back into his mind,
when I heard this offer, worthy
of such gratitude that it is never erased
from the book that records the past.
55If now all those tongues were to sound
that Polyhymnia, with her sisters, made
richer with their sweetest milk,
to help me, not to a thousandth of the truth
would one come, singing the holy smile
60and how bright it made the holy face;
and so, in figuring Paradise,
the sacred poem must leap over,
like one who finds his path cut off.
But whoever considered the ponderous theme
65and the mortal shoulder that takes it on,
would not blame it if it trembles beneath it:
it is no crossing for a little bark,
that which the daring prow goes cleaving through,
nor for a helmsman who spares himself.
Commentary
The Beatrice-smile passage is one syntactic and rhetorical arc: invitation, half-remembered vision, memory-book, Muse insufficiency, sacred poem's leap, and the bold sea-voyage image.
XXIII.46–48 Beatrice's Saturn-withheld smile can now be endured after Dante's vision of Christ.
XXIII.46–48 Beatrice's Saturn-withheld smile can now be endured after Dante's vision of Christ. Line 48: Beatrice's Saturn-withheld smile can now be endured after Dante's vision of Christ.
XXIII.48 Beatrice's Saturn-withheld smile can now be endured after Dante's vision of Christ. Beatrice's Saturn-withheld smile can now be endured after Dante's vision of Christ.
XXIII.52–54 The book of memory pressure links Beatrice's smile to Dante's poetic vocation.
XXIII.52–54 The book of memory pressure links Beatrice's smile to Dante's poetic vocation. Line 54: The book of memory pressure links Beatrice's smile to Dante's poetic vocation.
XXIII.54 The book of memory pressure links Beatrice's smile to Dante's poetic vocation. The book of memory pressure links Beatrice's smile to Dante's poetic vocation.
XXIII.55–57 Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song, is retained for Dante's explicit poetic insufficiency.
XXIII.55–57 Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song, is retained for Dante's explicit poetic insufficiency. Line 56: Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song, is retained for Dante's explicit poetic insufficiency.
XXIII.56 Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song, is retained for Dante's explicit poetic insufficiency. Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song, is retained for Dante's explicit poetic insufficiency.
XXIII.61–63 The poem's necessary leap is kept in path language rather than smoothed into a generic omission.
XXIII.61–63 The poem's necessary leap is kept in path language rather than smoothed into a generic omission. Line 63: The poem's necessary leap is kept in path language rather than smoothed into a generic omission.
XXIII.63 The poem's necessary leap is kept in path language rather than smoothed into a generic omission. The poem's necessary leap is kept in path language rather than smoothed into a generic omission.
XXIII.67–69 The sea-voyage image recalls the Paradiso proem while defending the poem's leap.
XXIII.67–69 The sea-voyage image recalls the Paradiso proem while defending the poem's leap. Line 69: The sea-voyage image recalls the Paradiso proem while defending the poem's leap.
XXIII.69 The sea-voyage image recalls the Paradiso proem while defending the poem's leap. The sea-voyage image recalls the Paradiso proem while defending the poem's leap.
Beatrice redirects Dante from her face to the garden, Mary as rose, the lilies, the good way, and the reflected splendors left visible after Christ rises XXIII.70–87
70«Perché la faccia mia sì t’innamora,
che tu non ti rivolgi al bel giardino
che sotto i raggi di Cristo s’infiora?
Quivi è la rosa in che ’l verbo divino
carne si fece; quivi son li gigli
75al cui odor si prese il buon cammino».
Così Beatrice; e io, che a’ suoi consigli
tutto era pronto, ancora mi rendei
a la battaglia de’ debili cigli.
Come a raggio di sol, che puro mei
80per fratta nube, già prato di fiori
vider, coverti d’ombra, li occhi miei;
vid’ io così più turbe di splendori,
folgorate di sù da raggi ardenti,
sanza veder principio di folgóri.
85O benigna vertù che sì li ’mprenti,
sù t’essaltasti, per largirmi loco
a li occhi lì che non t’eran possenti.
70"Why does my face so enamor you,
that you do not turn to the fair garden
that flowers beneath the rays of Christ?
There is the rose in which the divine Word
became flesh; there are the lilies
75by whose fragrance one took the good way."
Thus Beatrice; and I, who to her counsels
was wholly ready, again gave myself
to the battle of the weak eyelids.
As by a ray of sun, which purely streams
80through a broken cloud, a field of flowers
my eyes, covered with shadow, once saw;
so I saw many troops of splendors,
lightning-struck from above by burning rays,
without seeing the source of those flashes.
85O benign Power that so imprints them,
you rose on high, to grant space there
to eyes that were not strong enough for you.
Commentary
The garden, rose, lilies, good way, weak eyelids, and Christ's withdrawal are kept in order to preserve the flower and sight logic without making the line translation explanatory.
XXIII.73–75 The rose is Mary and anticipates the Empyrean rose while remaining local to this garden image. The lilies are kept as the apostolic/saintly witnesses whose fragrance draws souls onto the good way.
XXIII.73–75 The rose is Mary and anticipates the Empyrean rose while remaining local to this garden image. Line 73: The rose is Mary and anticipates the Empyrean rose while remaining local to this garden image. Line 75: The lilies are kept as the apostolic/saintly witnesses whose fragrance draws souls onto the good way.
XXIII.73 The rose is Mary and anticipates the Empyrean rose while remaining local to this garden image. The rose is Mary and anticipates the Empyrean rose while remaining local to this garden image.
XXIII.75 The lilies are kept as the apostolic/saintly witnesses whose fragrance draws souls onto the good way. The lilies are kept as the apostolic/saintly witnesses whose fragrance draws souls onto the good way.
XXIII.76–78 The eyelids protect and limit Dante's strengthened but still mortal sight.
XXIII.76–78 The eyelids protect and limit Dante's strengthened but still mortal sight. Line 78: The eyelids protect and limit Dante's strengthened but still mortal sight.
XXIII.78 The eyelids protect and limit Dante's strengthened but still mortal sight. The eyelids protect and limit Dante's strengthened but still mortal sight.
XXIII.85–87 Christ's withdrawal allows Dante to see the illuminated blessed without directly bearing the source.
XXIII.85–87 Christ's withdrawal allows Dante to see the illuminated blessed without directly bearing the source. Line 87: Christ's withdrawal allows Dante to see the illuminated blessed without directly bearing the source.
XXIII.87 Christ's withdrawal allows Dante to see the illuminated blessed without directly bearing the source. Christ's withdrawal allows Dante to see the illuminated blessed without directly bearing the source.
Mary appears as fair flower, living star, and sapphire while Gabriel circles and sings as angelic love and all lights resound her name XXIII.88–111
88Il nome del bel fior ch’io sempre invoco
e mane e sera, tutto mi ristrinse
90l’animo ad avvisar lo maggior foco;
e come ambo le luci mi dipinse
il quale e il quanto de la viva stella
che là sù vince come qua giù vinse,
per entro il cielo scese una facella,
95formata in cerchio a guisa di corona,
e cinsela e girossi intorno ad ella.
Qualunque melodia più dolce suona
qua giù e più a sé l’anima tira,
parrebbe nube che squarciata tona,
100comparata al sonar di quella lira
onde si coronava il bel zaffiro
del quale il ciel più chiaro s’inzaffira.
«Io sono amore angelico, che giro
l’alta letizia che spira del ventre
105che fu albergo del nostro disiro;
e girerommi, donna del ciel, mentre
che seguirai tuo figlio, e farai dia
più la spera suprema perché lì entre».
Così la circulata melodia
110si sigillava, e tutti li altri lumi
facean sonare il nome di Maria.
88The name of the fair flower whom I always invoke
morning and evening, wholly gathered
90my mind to gaze upon the greater fire;
and when my two eyes painted for me
the nature and measure of the living star
that conquers up there as she conquered down here,
through the midst of Heaven a torch descended,
95formed in a circle in the manner of a crown,
and it girded her and wheeled around her.
Whatever melody sounds sweetest
down here and most draws the soul to itself,
would seem a cloud that, split apart, thunders,
100compared with the sounding of that lyre
with which the fair sapphire was being crowned,
by which the clearest Heaven is ensapphired.
"I am angelic love, who circle
the high joy that breathes from the womb
105that was the dwelling of our Desire;
and I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while
you follow your Son, and make more divine
the supreme sphere, because you enter there."
Thus the circling melody
110sealed itself, and all the other lights
made the name of Mary resound.
Commentary
Mary is kept as fair flower, living star, sapphire, and Lady of Heaven; Gabriel's circling song remains the Annunciation and Assumption pressure without naming him in the line where Dante does not.
XXIII.88–90 The fair flower is Mary; the morning and evening invocation suggests devotional Marian prayer.
XXIII.88–90 The fair flower is Mary; the morning and evening invocation suggests devotional Marian prayer. Line 88: The fair flower is Mary; the morning and evening invocation suggests devotional Marian prayer.
XXIII.88 The fair flower is Mary; the morning and evening invocation suggests devotional Marian prayer. The fair flower is Mary; the morning and evening invocation suggests devotional Marian prayer.
XXIII.91–93 Mary's living-star language keeps the star motif devotional and cosmological.
XXIII.91–93 Mary's living-star language keeps the star motif devotional and cosmological. Line 92: Mary's living-star language keeps the star motif devotional and cosmological.
XXIII.92 Mary's living-star language keeps the star motif devotional and cosmological. Mary's living-star language keeps the star motif devotional and cosmological.
XXIII.94–96 The torch is not named in Dante's line; the context is Gabriel's.
XXIII.94–96 The torch is not named in Dante's line; the context is Gabriel's. Line 94: The torch is not named in Dante's line; the context is Gabriel's.
XXIII.94 The torch is not named in Dante's line; the context is Gabriel's. The torch is not named in Dante's line; the context is Gabriel's.
XXIII.100–102 The coined s'inzaffira is rendered with a matching English coinage to keep Mary's sapphire effect active.
XXIII.100–102 The coined s'inzaffira is rendered with a matching English coinage to keep Mary's sapphire effect active. Line 102: The coined s'inzaffira is rendered with a matching English coinage to keep Mary's sapphire effect active.
XXIII.102 The coined s'inzaffira is rendered with a matching English coinage to keep Mary's sapphire effect active. The coined s'inzaffira is rendered with a matching English coinage to keep Mary's sapphire effect active.
XXIII.103–105 Desire is capitalized because the angel's object is Christ housed in Mary's womb.
XXIII.103–105 Desire is capitalized because the angel's object is Christ housed in Mary's womb. Line 105: Desire is capitalized because the angel's object is Christ housed in Mary's womb.
XXIII.105 Desire is capitalized because the angel's object is Christ housed in Mary's womb. Desire is capitalized because the angel's object is Christ housed in Mary's womb.
XXIII.106–108 Mary's entry into the supreme sphere coordinates Assumption pressure with the Empyrean destination.
XXIII.106–108 Mary's entry into the supreme sphere coordinates Assumption pressure with the Empyrean destination. Line 108: Mary's entry into the supreme sphere coordinates Assumption pressure with the Empyrean destination.
XXIII.108 Mary's entry into the supreme sphere coordinates Assumption pressure with the Empyrean destination. Mary's entry into the supreme sphere coordinates Assumption pressure with the Empyrean destination.
The Primum Mobile remains beyond Dante's sight, Mary ascends after her Son, the blessed reach toward her and sing Regina celi, and Peter's keys close the canto XXIII.112–139
112Lo real manto di tutti i volumi
del mondo, che più ferve e più s’avviva
ne l’alito di Dio e nei costumi,
115avea sopra di noi l’interna riva
tanto distante, che la sua parvenza,
là dov’ io era, ancor non appariva:
però non ebber li occhi miei potenza
di seguitar la coronata fiamma
120che si levò appresso sua semenza.
E come fantolin che ’nver’ la mamma
tende le braccia, poi che ’l latte prese,
per l’animo che ’nfin di fuor s’infiamma;
ciascun di quei candori in sù si stese
125con la sua cima, sì che l’alto affetto
ch’elli avieno a Maria mi fu palese.
Indi rimaser lì nel mio cospetto,
‘Regina celi’ cantando sì dolce,
che mai da me non si partì ’l diletto.
130Oh quanta è l’ubertà che si soffolce
in quelle arche ricchissime che fuoro
a seminar qua giù buone bobolce!
Quivi si vive e gode del tesoro
che s’acquistò piangendo ne lo essilio
135di Babillòn, ove si lasciò l’oro.
Quivi trïunfa, sotto l’alto Filio
di Dio e di Maria, di sua vittoria,
e con l’antico e col novo concilio,
colui che tien le chiavi di tal gloria.
112The royal mantle of all the turnings
of the world, which burns most and lives most
in the breath of God and in his ordinances,
115had its inner shore above us
so distant that its appearance,
where I was, did not yet appear:
therefore my eyes had no power
to follow the crowned flame
120that rose up after her own offspring.
And as a little child toward its mother
stretches its arms, after taking milk,
with inward feeling flaming all the way out;
each of those white lights stretched upward
125with its peak, so that the high affection
they had for Mary became plain to me.
Then they remained there before my sight,
singing "Regina celi" so sweetly
that the delight never departed from me.
130Oh, how great is the abundance stored up
in those richest coffers that were
good plowmen for sowing here below!
There one lives and rejoices in the treasure
that was won while weeping in the exile
135of Babylon, where gold was left behind.
There triumphs, beneath the high Son
of God and Mary, in his victory,
and with the ancient and the new council,
he who holds the keys of such glory.
Commentary
The close preserves the Primum Mobile as royal mantle, Mary's ascent after her offspring, the blessed reaching toward her, the Easter Marian antiphon, Babylonian exile, and Peter's keys as the handoff to the theological-virtues examinations.
XXIII.112–114 The royal mantle is the Primum Mobile; volumi keeps sphere-turning and book/scroll pressure in the background.
XXIII.112–114 The royal mantle is the Primum Mobile; volumi keeps sphere-turning and book/scroll pressure in the background. Line 112: The royal mantle is the Primum Mobile; volumi keeps sphere-turning and book/scroll pressure in the background.
XXIII.112 The royal mantle is the Primum Mobile; volumi keeps sphere-turning and book/scroll pressure in the background. The royal mantle is the Primum Mobile; volumi keeps sphere-turning and book/scroll pressure in the background.
XXIII.118–120 Semenza refers to Mary's offspring, Christ, while preserving Dante's seed/offspring compression.
XXIII.118–120 Semenza refers to Mary's offspring, Christ, while preserving Dante's seed/offspring compression. Line 120: Semenza refers to Mary's offspring, Christ, while preserving Dante's seed/offspring compression.
XXIII.120 Semenza refers to Mary's offspring, Christ, while preserving Dante's seed/offspring compression. Semenza refers to Mary's offspring, Christ, while preserving Dante's seed/offspring compression.
XXIII.127–129 The Latin incipit is retained as the Easter Marian antiphon sung after Mary's ascent.
XXIII.127–129 The Latin incipit is retained as the Easter Marian antiphon sung after Mary's ascent. Line 128: The Latin incipit is retained as the Easter Marian antiphon sung after Mary's ascent.
XXIII.128 The Latin incipit is retained as the Easter Marian antiphon sung after Mary's ascent. The Latin incipit is retained as the Easter Marian antiphon sung after Mary's ascent.
XXIII.130–132 The coffers/plowmen compression is preserved for the apostolic and saintly sowing image.
XXIII.130–132 The coffers/plowmen compression is preserved for the apostolic and saintly sowing image. Line 132: The coffers/plowmen compression is preserved for the apostolic and saintly sowing image.
XXIII.132 The coffers/plowmen compression is preserved for the apostolic and saintly sowing image. The coffers/plowmen compression is preserved for the apostolic and saintly sowing image.
XXIII.133–135 Babylon carries Israel's exile and fallen earthly life as a place where treasure is gained by leaving gold behind.
XXIII.133–135 Babylon carries Israel's exile and fallen earthly life as a place where treasure is gained by leaving gold behind. Line 135: Babylon carries Israel's exile and fallen earthly life as a place where treasure is gained by leaving gold behind.
XXIII.135 Babylon carries Israel's exile and fallen earthly life as a place where treasure is gained by leaving gold behind. Babylon carries Israel's exile and fallen earthly life as a place where treasure is gained by leaving gold behind.
XXIII.136–138 The old and new councils are the saved of the old and new covenants.
XXIII.136–138 The old and new councils are the saved of the old and new covenants. Line 138: The old and new councils are the saved of the old and new covenants.
XXIII.138 The old and new councils are the saved of the old and new covenants. The old and new councils are the saved of the old and new covenants.
XXIII.139 Peter's keys close the canto and prepare his examination of faith in Paradiso XXIV. Peter's keys close the canto and prepare his examination of faith in Paradiso XXIV.