Paradiso, Canto 3
Dante Alighieri · Italian original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Paradiso III begins with Dante ready to confess that Beatrice has corrected him after her proof about the Moon, but a new vision interrupts him: faint faces appear in the lunar light, and he mistakes real blessed souls for reflected images. Beatrice smiles at the childish error, tells him they are true substances placed here because their vows fell short, and sends him to speak with them. Dante addresses the eager shade who becomes Piccarda Donati, a former nun among the blessed in the slowest sphere. Piccarda explains that heavenly charity shuts no door to just desire, that the Moon spirits are fully blessed though their vows were in some part void, and that their wills are peaceful because charity makes them want only what God wills. Dante understands that every place in Heaven is Paradise even though grace rains in different measures, but a remaining appetite for knowledge moves him to ask what vow Piccarda failed to complete. She names the rule of Saint Clare, her flight from the world, and the men who dragged her from the cloister. She then points to the splendor of Empress Constance, likewise forced from the veil yet never loosed from the veil of the heart, and names her as mother in the Hohenstaufen line. Piccarda vanishes singing Ave Maria like a heavy thing through deep water. Dante follows her as long as he can, then turns to Beatrice, whose brightness overwhelms his sight and delays the next question.
Narrative arc
- Dante tries to confess his corrected understanding, but faint Moon faces interrupt him and Beatrice corrects his reflection error
- Dante addresses the eager shade, and Piccarda names herself among blessed souls whose vows fell short
- Dante asks whether lower-ranked blessed souls desire more, and Piccarda teaches peaceful will in divine charity
- Dante understands that all Heaven is Paradise, then asks what web Piccarda failed to complete
- Piccarda recalls Saint Clare, her vow, and the violence that tore her from the sweet cloister
- Piccarda names Constance, whose inward veil remained, then vanishes singing Ave Maria
- Dante follows Piccarda as far as he can, then turns back to Beatrice and is dazzled into delayed questioning
Central themes
- vows
- will
- peace
- heavenly order
Dante tries to confess his corrected understanding, but faint Moon faces interrupt him and Beatrice corrects his reflection error III.1–33
1Quel sol che pria d’amor mi scaldò ’l petto,
di bella verità m’avea scoverto,
provando e riprovando, il dolce aspetto;
e io, per confessar corretto e certo
5me stesso, tanto quanto si convenne
leva’ il capo a proferer più erto;
ma visïone apparve che ritenne
a sé me tanto stretto, per vedersi,
che di mia confession non mi sovvenne.
10Quali per vetri trasparenti e tersi,
o ver per acque nitide e tranquille,
non sì profonde che i fondi sien persi,
tornan d’i nostri visi le postille
debili sì, che perla in bianca fronte
15non vien men forte a le nostre pupille;
tali vid’ io più facce a parlar pronte;
per ch’io dentro a l’error contrario corsi
a quel ch’accese amor tra l’omo e ’l fonte.
Sùbito sì com’ io di lor m’accorsi,
20quelle stimando specchiati sembianti,
per veder di cui fosser, li occhi torsi;
e nulla vidi, e ritorsili avanti
dritti nel lume de la dolce guida,
che, sorridendo, ardea ne li occhi santi.
25«Non ti maravigliar perch’ io sorrida»,
mi disse, «appresso il tuo püeril coto,
poi sopra ’l vero ancor lo piè non fida,
ma te rivolve, come suole, a vòto:
vere sustanze son ciò che tu vedi,
30qui rilegate per manco di voto.
Però parla con esse e odi e credi;
ché la verace luce che le appaga
da sé non lascia lor torcer li piedi».
1That sun who first warmed my breast with love
had uncovered for me the sweet face
of lovely truth, by proving and disproving;
and I, to confess myself corrected
5and certain, as much as was fitting,
raised my head, more upright, to speak;
but a vision appeared that held me
so tightly to itself, so it might be seen,
that my confession slipped from memory.
10As through transparent and polished glass,
or through clear and tranquil waters,
not so deep that their bottoms are lost,
the outlines of our faces come back
so faint that a pearl on a white brow
15comes no less strongly to our eyes;
so I saw many faces ready to speak;
therefore I ran into the error opposite
to that which kindled love between the man and the fountain.
At once, as soon as I perceived them,
20judging them mirrored semblances,
I turned my eyes to see whose they were;
and I saw nothing, and turned them forward again,
straight into the light of the sweet guide,
who, smiling, burned in her holy eyes.
25Do not marvel because I smile,
she said to me, at your childish thought,
since it does not yet trust its foot upon the truth,
but turns you, as it tends to do, toward emptiness:
true substances are what you see,
30set apart here because their vows fell short.
Therefore speak with them, and hear, and believe;
for the true light that satisfies them
does not let them turn their feet away from itself.
Commentary
The canto opens as an interrupted confession after Beatrice's Paradiso II proof. The reflection simile and Narcissus reversal require keeping Dante's error precise: he takes real blessed souls for mirrored images, then is redirected to Beatrice's light.
III.1–3 Beatrice is treated as a sun of wisdom and love, continuing the Paradiso light field without making the image merely optical. The line keeps both proof and disproof because Paradiso II corrected Dante by testing false a.
III.1–3 Beatrice is treated as a sun of wisdom and love, continuing the Paradiso light field without making the image merely optical. Line 1: Beatrice is treated as a sun of wisdom and love, continuing the Paradiso light field without making the image merely optical. Line 3: The line keeps both proof and disproof because Paradiso II corrected Dante by testing false and true accounts of the Moon.
III.1 Beatrice is treated as a sun of wisdom and love, continuing the Paradiso light field without making the image merely optical. Beatrice is treated as a sun of wisdom and love, continuing the Paradiso light field without making the image merely optical.
III.3 The line keeps both proof and disproof because Paradiso II corrected Dante by testing false and true accounts of the Moon. The line keeps both proof and disproof because Paradiso II corrected Dante by testing false and true accounts of the Moon.
III.16–18 The faces are real souls but visually faint against the Moon; the translation preserves the readiness to speak that pulls Dante out of his planned confession. The Narcissus allusion is kept as the man and the fountain: Dante.
III.16–18 The faces are real souls but visually faint against the Moon; the translation preserves the readiness to speak that pulls Dante out of his planned confession. Line 16: The faces are real souls but visually faint against the Moon; the translation preserves the readiness to speak that pulls Dante out of his planned confession. Line 18: The Narcissus allusion is kept as the man and the fountain: Dante makes the opposite mistake, taking real souls for reflections.
III.16 The faces are real souls but visually faint against the Moon; the translation preserves the readiness to speak that pulls Dante out of his planned confession. The faces are real souls but visually faint against the Moon; the translation preserves the readiness to speak that pulls Dante out of his planned confession.
III.18 The Narcissus allusion is kept as the man and the fountain: Dante makes the opposite mistake, taking real souls for reflections. The Narcissus allusion is kept as the man and the fountain: Dante makes the opposite mistake, taking real souls for reflections.
III.25–27 Footing on truth continues Paradiso I-II language of natural motion, reason, and corrected perception.
III.25–27 Footing on truth continues Paradiso I-II language of natural motion, reason, and corrected perception. Line 27: Footing on truth continues Paradiso I-II language of natural motion, reason, and corrected perception.
III.27 Footing on truth continues Paradiso I-II language of natural motion, reason, and corrected perception. Footing on truth continues Paradiso I-II language of natural motion, reason, and corrected perception.
III.28–30 The phrasing keeps the sense of vows falling short without deciding the detailed voluntariness question before Beatrice resolves it in Paradiso IV.
III.28–30 The phrasing keeps the sense of vows falling short without deciding the detailed voluntariness question before Beatrice resolves it in Paradiso IV. Line 30: The phrasing keeps the sense of vows falling short without deciding the detailed voluntariness question before Beatrice resolves it in Paradiso IV.
III.30 The phrasing keeps the sense of vows falling short without deciding the detailed voluntariness question before Beatrice resolves it in Paradiso IV. The phrasing keeps the sense of vows falling short without deciding the detailed voluntariness question before Beatrice resolves it in Paradiso IV.
III.31–33 The true light both satisfies the blessed and fixes their motion in God, preparing Piccarda's doctrine of peaceful will.
III.31–33 The true light both satisfies the blessed and fixes their motion in God, preparing Piccarda's doctrine of peaceful will. Line 33: The true light both satisfies the blessed and fixes their motion in God, preparing Piccarda's doctrine of peaceful will.
III.33 The true light both satisfies the blessed and fixes their motion in God, preparing Piccarda's doctrine of peaceful will. The true light both satisfies the blessed and fixes their motion in God, preparing Piccarda's doctrine of peaceful will.
Dante addresses the eager shade, and Piccarda names herself among blessed souls whose vows fell short III.34–57
34E io a l’ombra che parea più vaga
35di ragionar, drizza’mi, e cominciai,
quasi com’ uom cui troppa voglia smaga:
«O ben creato spirito, che a’ rai
di vita etterna la dolcezza senti
che, non gustata, non s’intende mai,
40grazïoso mi fia se mi contenti
del nome tuo e de la vostra sorte».
Ond’ ella, pronta e con occhi ridenti:
«La nostra carità non serra porte
a giusta voglia, se non come quella
45che vuol simile a sé tutta sua corte.
I’ fui nel mondo vergine sorella;
e se la mente tua ben sé riguarda,
non mi ti celerà l’esser più bella,
ma riconoscerai ch’i’ son Piccarda,
50che, posta qui con questi altri beati,
beata sono in la spera più tarda.
Li nostri affetti, che solo infiammati
son nel piacer de lo Spirito Santo,
letizian del suo ordine formati.
55E questa sorte che par giù cotanto,
però n’è data, perché fuor negletti
li nostri voti, e vòti in alcun canto».
34And I turned to the shade that seemed most eager
35to speak, and began,
almost like a man whom too much longing bewilders:
O well-created spirit, who in the rays
of eternal life feel the sweetness
that, untasted, is never understood,
40it will be gracious to me if you content me
with your name and with your lot.
Then she, ready and with laughing eyes:
Our charity shuts no doors
to just desire, being like the charity
45that wills all its court to be like itself.
In the world I was a virgin sister;
and if your mind looks well within itself,
my being more beautiful will not hide me from you,
but you will recognize that I am Piccarda,
50who, placed here with these other blessed souls,
am blessed in the slowest sphere.
Our affections, which are inflamed
only in the pleasure of the Holy Spirit,
rejoice to be formed by his order.
55And this lot, which seems so low,
is given us because, outside, our vows
were neglected and in some part void.
Commentary
Piccarda's introduction is both personal recognition and a general Moon-sphere explanation. The translation keeps virgin sister, slowest sphere, and the vow/void pun visible without resolving the violence-and-will question before Paradiso IV.
III.37–39 The tasted sweetness line keeps experiential knowledge explicit; it recalls scriptural and lyric registers without loading the line with explanation.
III.37–39 The tasted sweetness line keeps experiential knowledge explicit; it recalls scriptural and lyric registers without loading the line with explanation. Line 39: The tasted sweetness line keeps experiential knowledge explicit; it recalls scriptural and lyric registers without loading the line with explanation.
III.39 The tasted sweetness line keeps experiential knowledge explicit; it recalls scriptural and lyric registers without loading the line with explanation. The tasted sweetness line keeps experiential knowledge explicit; it recalls scriptural and lyric registers without loading the line with explanation.
III.43–45 Charity is described by resemblance to the divine court: just desire is welcomed because Heaven wills likeness to itself.
III.43–45 Charity is described by resemblance to the divine court: just desire is welcomed because Heaven wills likeness to itself. Line 45: Charity is described by resemblance to the divine court: just desire is welcomed because Heaven wills likeness to itself.
III.45 Charity is described by resemblance to the divine court: just desire is welcomed because Heaven wills likeness to itself. Charity is described by resemblance to the divine court: just desire is welcomed because Heaven wills likeness to itself.
III.49–51 Piccarda Donati is named directly after recognition has been delayed by transfigured beauty. Slowest sphere names the Moon as the lowest planetary heaven and the canto's field for inconstancy and vows.
III.49–51 Piccarda Donati is named directly after recognition has been delayed by transfigured beauty. Line 49: Piccarda Donati is named directly after recognition has been delayed by transfigured beauty. Line 51: Slowest sphere names the Moon as the lowest planetary heaven and the canto's field for inconstancy and vows.
III.49 Piccarda Donati is named directly after recognition has been delayed by transfigured beauty. Piccarda Donati is named directly after recognition has been delayed by transfigured beauty.
III.51 Slowest sphere names the Moon as the lowest planetary heaven and the canto's field for inconstancy and vows. Slowest sphere names the Moon as the lowest planetary heaven and the canto's field for inconstancy and vows.
III.55–57 Void preserves the voti/voti pressure: vows were both neglected and in some respect emptied.
III.55–57 Void preserves the voti/voti pressure: vows were both neglected and in some respect emptied. Line 57: Void preserves the voti/voti pressure: vows were both neglected and in some respect emptied.
III.57 Void preserves the voti/voti pressure: vows were both neglected and in some respect emptied. Void preserves the voti/voti pressure: vows were both neglected and in some respect emptied.
Dante asks whether lower-ranked blessed souls desire more, and Piccarda teaches peaceful will in divine charity III.58–87
58Ond’ io a lei: «Ne’ mirabili aspetti
vostri risplende non so che divino
60che vi trasmuta da’ primi concetti:
però non fui a rimembrar festino;
ma or m’aiuta ciò che tu mi dici,
sì che raffigurar m’è più latino.
Ma dimmi: voi che siete qui felici,
65disiderate voi più alto loco
per più vedere e per più farvi amici?».
Con quelle altr’ ombre pria sorrise un poco;
da indi mi rispuose tanto lieta,
ch’arder parea d’amor nel primo foco:
70«Frate, la nostra volontà quïeta
virtù di carità, che fa volerne
sol quel ch’avemo, e d’altro non ci asseta.
Se disïassimo esser più superne,
foran discordi li nostri disiri
75dal voler di colui che qui ne cerne;
che vedrai non capere in questi giri,
s’essere in carità è qui necesse,
e se la sua natura ben rimiri.
Anzi è formale ad esto beato esse
80tenersi dentro a la divina voglia,
per ch’una fansi nostre voglie stesse;
sì che, come noi sem di soglia in soglia
per questo regno, a tutto il regno piace
com’ a lo re che ’n suo voler ne ’nvoglia.
85E ’n la sua volontade è nostra pace:
ell’ è quel mare al qual tutto si move
ciò ch’ella crïa o che natura face».
58Then I to her: In your wondrous aspects
there shines I know not what divine
60that transforms you from first conceptions:
therefore I was not quick to remember;
but now what you tell me helps me,
so that recognizing you is plainer to me.
But tell me: you who are happy here,
65do you desire a higher place
to see more and grow more in friendship?
With those other shades she first smiled a little;
then answered me so joyfully
that she seemed to burn with love in the first fire:
70Brother, the power of charity quiets
our will, making us will
only what we have, and thirst for nothing else.
If we desired to be higher up,
our desires would be discordant
75with the will of him who assigns us here;
and you will see that cannot fit within these rounds,
if being in charity is here necesse,
and if you look well at its nature.
Rather, formal to this blessed esse
80is to hold ourselves within the divine will,
through which our own wills become one;
so that, as we are from threshold to threshold
through this kingdom, it pleases the whole kingdom
as it pleases the king who makes us will in his will.
85And in his will is our peace:
it is that sea toward which all moves
that his will creates or nature makes.
Commentary
This is the doctrinal center: blessed will is quieted by charity, so different rank does not create envy or loss. The translation retains will/desire/thirst language and the marked Latin terms necesse and esse.
III.64–66 Grow more in friendship keeps Dante's question about greater nearness and love without overdefining the object before Piccarda answers.
III.64–66 Grow more in friendship keeps Dante's question about greater nearness and love without overdefining the object before Piccarda answers. Line 66: Grow more in friendship keeps Dante's question about greater nearness and love without overdefining the object before Piccarda answers.
III.66 Grow more in friendship keeps Dante's question about greater nearness and love without overdefining the object before Piccarda answers. Grow more in friendship keeps Dante's question about greater nearness and love without overdefining the object before Piccarda answers.
III.70–72 Piccarda's fraternal address marks corrected desire rather than reproach.
III.70–72 Piccarda's fraternal address marks corrected desire rather than reproach. Line 70: Piccarda's fraternal address marks corrected desire rather than reproach.
III.70 Piccarda's fraternal address marks corrected desire rather than reproach. Piccarda's fraternal address marks corrected desire rather than reproach.
III.76–78 Necesse is retained as a scholastic Latin term inside the canto's lyric-theological argument.
III.76–78 Necesse is retained as a scholastic Latin term inside the canto's lyric-theological argument. Line 77: Necesse is retained as a scholastic Latin term inside the canto's lyric-theological argument.
III.77 Necesse is retained as a scholastic Latin term inside the canto's lyric-theological argument. Necesse is retained as a scholastic Latin term inside the canto's lyric-theological argument.
III.79–81 Esse is retained with necesse; the technical language matters because Piccarda defines blessed being itself as conformity to divine will.
III.79–81 Esse is retained with necesse; the technical language matters because Piccarda defines blessed being itself as conformity to divine will. Line 79: Esse is retained with necesse; the technical language matters because Piccarda defines blessed being itself as conformity to divine will.
III.79 Esse is retained with necesse; the technical language matters because Piccarda defines blessed being itself as conformity to divine will. Esse is retained with necesse; the technical language matters because Piccarda defines blessed being itself as conformity to divine will.
III.82–84 The awkward willing-in-God wording is deliberate: the Italian presses will, willing, and desire into one doctrine of heavenly concord.
III.82–84 The awkward willing-in-God wording is deliberate: the Italian presses will, willing, and desire into one doctrine of heavenly concord. Line 84: The awkward willing-in-God wording is deliberate: the Italian presses will, willing, and desire into one doctrine of heavenly concord.
III.84 The awkward willing-in-God wording is deliberate: the Italian presses will, willing, and desire into one doctrine of heavenly concord. The awkward willing-in-God wording is deliberate: the Italian presses will, willing, and desire into one doctrine of heavenly concord.
III.85–87 This central line states the canto's doctrine of peace as conformity to God's will. The sea image continues Paradiso's cosmic-order field: all created and natural motion returns to God's will.
III.85–87 This central line states the canto's doctrine of peace as conformity to God's will. Line 85: This central line states the canto's doctrine of peace as conformity to God's will. Line 87: The sea image continues Paradiso's cosmic-order field: all created and natural motion returns to God's will.
III.85 This central line states the canto's doctrine of peace as conformity to God's will. This central line states the canto's doctrine of peace as conformity to God's will.
III.87 The sea image continues Paradiso's cosmic-order field: all created and natural motion returns to God's will. The sea image continues Paradiso's cosmic-order field: all created and natural motion returns to God's will.
Dante understands that all Heaven is Paradise, then asks what web Piccarda failed to complete III.88–96
88Chiaro mi fu allor come ogne dove
in cielo è paradiso, etsi la grazia
90del sommo ben d’un modo non vi piove.
Ma sì com’ elli avvien, s’un cibo sazia
e d’un altro rimane ancor la gola,
che quel si chere e di quel si ringrazia,
così fec’ io con atto e con parola,
95per apprender da lei qual fu la tela
onde non trasse infino a co la spuola.
88Then it was clear to me how every place
in heaven is Paradise, etsi the grace
90of the highest Good does not rain there in one measure.
But as it happens, if one food satisfies,
and appetite for another still remains,
the one is asked for, and thanks are given for the other,
so I did with gesture and word,
95to learn from her what was the web
of which she did not draw the shuttle to the end.
Commentary
The food-and-appetite simile turns from satisfied knowledge to remaining desire for explanation. The web and shuttle image is kept concrete as the transition to Piccarda's unfinished vow.
III.88–90 Etsi is retained as a marked Latin hinge: every place in Heaven is Paradise although grace is not equal in measure.
III.88–90 Etsi is retained as a marked Latin hinge: every place in Heaven is Paradise although grace is not equal in measure. Line 89: Etsi is retained as a marked Latin hinge: every place in Heaven is Paradise although grace is not equal in measure.
III.89 Etsi is retained as a marked Latin hinge: every place in Heaven is Paradise although grace is not equal in measure. Etsi is retained as a marked Latin hinge: every place in Heaven is Paradise although grace is not equal in measure.
III.94–96 The web and shuttle image asks why Piccarda did not complete the vow she began.
III.94–96 The web and shuttle image asks why Piccarda did not complete the vow she began. Line 96: The web and shuttle image asks why Piccarda did not complete the vow she began.
III.96 The web and shuttle image asks why Piccarda did not complete the vow she began. The web and shuttle image asks why Piccarda did not complete the vow she began.
Piccarda recalls Saint Clare, her vow, and the violence that tore her from the sweet cloister III.97–108
97«Perfetta vita e alto merto inciela
donna più sù», mi disse, «a la cui norma
nel vostro mondo giù si veste e vela,
100perché fino al morir si vegghi e dorma
con quello sposo ch’ogne voto accetta
che caritate a suo piacer conforma.
Dal mondo, per seguirla, giovinetta
fuggi’mi, e nel suo abito mi chiusi
105e promisi la via de la sua setta.
Uomini poi, a mal più ch’a bene usi,
fuor mi rapiron de la dolce chiostra:
Iddio si sa qual poi mia vita fusi.
97A perfect life and high merit set a lady
higher in heaven, she said, by whose rule
down in your world women dress and veil themselves,
100so that until death they wake and sleep
with that spouse who accepts every vow
that charity conforms to his pleasure.
To follow her, as a young girl, from the world
I fled, and in her habit enclosed myself
105and promised the way of her order.
Then men more used to evil than to good
dragged me out of the sweet cloister:
God knows what my life then became.
Commentary
Saint Clare is the unnamed higher lady, and Piccarda was forcibly removed from the cloister. The translation preserves Piccarda's reticence about her later life rather than expanding it inside the line.
III.97–99 Set a lady higher in heaven avoids a flat paraphrase of inciela while keeping the upward verb pressure around Clare.
III.97–99 Set a lady higher in heaven avoids a flat paraphrase of inciela while keeping the upward verb pressure around Clare. Line 97: Set a lady higher in heaven avoids a flat paraphrase of inciela while keeping the upward verb pressure around Clare.
III.97 Set a lady higher in heaven avoids a flat paraphrase of inciela while keeping the upward verb pressure around Clare. Set a lady higher in heaven avoids a flat paraphrase of inciela while keeping the upward verb pressure around Clare.
III.103–105 Order is used for setta to keep the Poor Clares concrete without importing modern sectarian overtones.
III.103–105 Order is used for setta to keep the Poor Clares concrete without importing modern sectarian overtones. Line 105: Order is used for setta to keep the Poor Clares concrete without importing modern sectarian overtones.
III.105 Order is used for setta to keep the Poor Clares concrete without importing modern sectarian overtones. Order is used for setta to keep the Poor Clares concrete without importing modern sectarian overtones.
III.106–108 Piccarda's reticence about her later life is preserved rather than explained in the line.
III.106–108 Piccarda's reticence about her later life is preserved rather than explained in the line. Line 108: Piccarda's reticence about her later life is preserved rather than explained in the line.
III.108 Piccarda's reticence about her later life is preserved rather than explained in the line. Piccarda's reticence about her later life is preserved rather than explained in the line.
Piccarda names Constance, whose inward veil remained, then vanishes singing Ave Maria III.109–123
109E quest’ altro splendor che ti si mostra
110da la mia destra parte e che s’accende
di tutto il lume de la spera nostra,
ciò ch’io dico di me, di sé intende;
sorella fu, e così le fu tolta
di capo l’ombra de le sacre bende.
115Ma poi che pur al mondo fu rivolta
contra suo grado e contra buona usanza,
non fu dal vel del cor già mai disciolta.
Quest’ è la luce de la gran Costanza
che del secondo vento di Soave
120generò ’l terzo e l’ultima possanza».
Così parlommi, e poi cominciò ‘Ave,
Maria’ cantando, e cantando vanio
come per acqua cupa cosa grave.
109And this other splendor that shows itself to you
110on my right side, and that is kindled
with all the light of our sphere,
understands of herself what I say of myself;
she was a sister, and so from her head
the shadow of the sacred bands was taken.
115But after she was nevertheless turned back to the world
against her will and against good custom,
she was never loosed from the veil of the heart.
This is the light of the great Constance,
who from the second wind of Swabia
120begot the third and final power.
So she spoke to me, and then began "Ave,"
"Maria," singing, and singing vanished
like a heavy thing through deep water.
Commentary
The comparison pass supports treating Constance as a parallel forced-vow figure whose inward veil remained, while the Swabian wind lines identify the Hohenstaufen imperial succession. Ave Maria and the deep-water vanishing close the Moon imagery and Marian frame.
III.112–114 Sacred bands keeps the head-covering image concrete: veil, wimple, and religious profession.
III.112–114 Sacred bands keeps the head-covering image concrete: veil, wimple, and religious profession. Line 114: Sacred bands keeps the head-covering image concrete: veil, wimple, and religious profession.
III.114 Sacred bands keeps the head-covering image concrete: veil, wimple, and religious profession. Sacred bands keeps the head-covering image concrete: veil, wimple, and religious profession.
III.115–117 Veil of the heart marks Constance's inward constancy despite forced outward return.
III.115–117 Veil of the heart marks Constance's inward constancy despite forced outward return. Line 117: Veil of the heart marks Constance's inward constancy despite forced outward return.
III.117 Veil of the heart marks Constance's inward constancy despite forced outward return. Veil of the heart marks Constance's inward constancy despite forced outward return.
III.118–120 The Swabian wind names the Hohenstaufen imperial line: Henry VI as second wind and Frederick II as third and final power.
III.118–120 The Swabian wind names the Hohenstaufen imperial line: Henry VI as second wind and Frederick II as third and final power. Line 120: The Swabian wind names the Hohenstaufen imperial line: Henry VI as second wind and Frederick II as third and final power.
III.120 The Swabian wind names the Hohenstaufen imperial line: Henry VI as second wind and Frederick II as third and final power. The Swabian wind names the Hohenstaufen imperial line: Henry VI as second wind and Frederick II as third and final power.
III.121–123 The disappearance through deep water returns the Moon to its watery, reflective imagery.
III.121–123 The disappearance through deep water returns the Moon to its watery, reflective imagery. Line 123: The disappearance through deep water returns the Moon to its watery, reflective imagery.
III.123 The disappearance through deep water returns the Moon to its watery, reflective imagery. The disappearance through deep water returns the Moon to its watery, reflective imagery.
Dante follows Piccarda as far as he can, then turns back to Beatrice and is dazzled into delayed questioning III.124–130
124La vista mia, che tanto lei seguio
125quanto possibil fu, poi che la perse,
volsesi al segno di maggior disio,
e a Beatrice tutta si converse;
ma quella folgorò nel mïo sguardo
sì che da prima il viso non sofferse;
130e ciò mi fece a dimandar più tardo.
124My sight, which followed her
125as far as it could, when it lost her,
turned to the mark of greater desire,
and wholly turned itself to Beatrice;
but she flashed lightning into my gaze
so that at first my sight could not bear it;
130and this made me slower to ask.
Commentary
Dante's sight follows Piccarda, then turns toward the greater desire marked by Beatrice. Her overwhelming brightness delays the question that opens Paradiso IV, keeping Paradiso's repeated turn-back-to-Beatrice structure active.
III.124–126 Greater desire turns the sight back to Beatrice and sets up the questions of Paradiso IV.
III.124–126 Greater desire turns the sight back to Beatrice and sets up the questions of Paradiso IV. Line 126: Greater desire turns the sight back to Beatrice and sets up the questions of Paradiso IV.
III.126 Greater desire turns the sight back to Beatrice and sets up the questions of Paradiso IV. Greater desire turns the sight back to Beatrice and sets up the questions of Paradiso IV.
III.130 The canto ends with delayed questioning rather than resolution, handing off to Beatrice's next doctrinal answer. The canto ends with delayed questioning rather than resolution, handing off to Beatrice's next doctrinal answer.