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PARADISO CANTO 07
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn. 

	"Hosanna, sanctus Deus sabaoth,
superillustrans claritate tua
felices ignes horum malacoth!"

	"OSANNA  sanctus Deus Sabaoth,
Superillustrans claritate tua
Felices ignes horum malahoth!"








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	Thus, even as he wheeled to his own music,
I saw that substance sing, that spirit-flame
above whom double lights were twinned; and he

	In this wise, to his melody returning,
This substance, upon which a double light
Doubles itself, was seen by me to sing,








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	and his companions moved within their dance,
and as if they were swiftest sparks, they sped
out of my sight because of sudden distance.

	And to their dance this and the others moved,
And in the manner of swift-hurrying sparks
Veiled themselves from me with a sudden distance.








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	I was perplexed, and to myself, I said:
"Tell her! Tell her! Tell her, the lady who
can slake my thirst with her sweet drops"; and yet

	Doubting was I, and saying, "Tell her, tell her,"
Within me, "tell her," saying, "tell my Lady,"
Who slakes my thirst with her sweet effluences; 








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	the reverence that possesses all of me,
even on hearing only Be and ice,
had bowed my head-I seemed a man asleep.

	And yet that reverence which doth lord it over
The whole of me only by B and ICE,
Bowed me again like unto one who drowses.








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	But Beatrice soon ended that; for she
began to smile at me so brightly that, 
even in fire, a man would still feel glad.

	Short while did Beatrice endure me thus;
And she began, lighting me with a smile
Such as would make one happy in the fire:








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	"According to my never-erring judgment,
the question that perplexes you is how
just vengeance can deserve just punishment;

	According to infallible advisement,
After what manner a just vengeance justly
Could be avenged has put thee upon thinking,








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	but I shall quickly free your mind from doubt;
and listen carefully; the words I speak
will bring the gift of a great truth in reach.

	But I will speedily thy mind unloose;
And do thou listen, for these words of mine
Of a great doctrine will a present make thee.








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	Since he could not endure the helpful curb
on his willpower, the man who was not born,
damning himself, damned all his progeny.

	By not enduring on the power that wills
Curb for his good, that man who ne'er was born,
Damning himself damned all his progeny;








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	For this, mankind lay sick, in the abyss
of a great error, for long centuries,
until the Word of God willed to descend

	Whereby the human species down below
Lay sick for many centuries in great error,
Till to descend it pleased the Word of God








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	to where the nature that was sundered from
its Maker was united to His person
by the sole act of His eternal Love.

	To where the nature, which from its own Maker
Estranged itself, he joined to him in person
By the sole act of his eternal love.








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	Now set your sight on what derives from that.
This nature, thus united to its Maker,
was good and pure, even as when created;

	Now unto what is said direct thy sight;
This nature when united to its Maker,
Such as created, was sincere and good;








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	but in itself, this nature had been banished
from paradise, because it turned aside
from its own path, from truth, from its own life.

	But by itself alone was banished forth
From Paradise, because it turned aside
Out of the way of truth and of its life.








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	Thus, if the penalty the Cross inflicted
is measured by the nature He assumed,
no one has ever been so justly stung;

	Therefore the penalty the cross held out,
If measured by the nature thus assumed,
None ever yet with so great justice stung,








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	yet none was ever done so great a wrong,
if we regard the Person made to suffer,
He who had gathered in Himself that nature.

	And none was ever of so great injustice,
Considering who the Person was that suffered,
Within whom such a nature was contracted. 








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	Thus, from one action, issued differing things:
God and the Jews were pleased by one same death;
earth trembled for that death and Heaven opened.

	From one act therefore issued things diverse;
To God and to the Jews one death was pleasing;
Earth trembled at it and the Heaven was opened.








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	You need no longer find it difficult
to understand when it is said that just
vengeance was then avenged by a just court.

	It should no longer now seem difficult
To thee, when it is said that a just vengeance  
By a just court was afterward avenged.








07.051
 






	But I now see your understanding tangled
by thought on thought into a knot, from which,
with much desire, your mind awaits release.

	But now do I behold thy mind entangled
From thought to thought within a knot, from which
With great desire it waits to free itself








07.054
 






	You say: 'What I have heard is clear to me;
but this is hidden from me-why God willed
precisely this pathway for our redemption.'

	Thou sayest, ' Well discern I what I hear;
But it is hidden from me why God willed
For our redemption only this one mode.'








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	Brother, this ordinance is buried from
the eyes of everyone whose intellect
has not matured within the flame of love.

	Buried remaineth, brother, this decree
Unto the eyes of every one whose nature
Is in the flame of love not yet adult.








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	Nevertheless, since there is much attempting
to find this point, but little understanding,
I shall tell why that way was the most fitting.

	Verily, inasmuch as at this mark
One gazes long and little is discerned,
Wherefore this mode was worthiest will I say.








07.063
 






	The Godly Goodness that has banished every
envy from Its own Self, burns in Itself;
and sparkling so, It shows eternal beauties.

	Goodness Divine, which from itself doth spurn
All envy, burning in itself so sparkles
That the eternal beauties it unfolds.








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	All that derives directly from this Goodness
is everlasting, since the seal of Goodness
impresses an imprint that never alters.

	Whate'er from this immediately distils
Has afterwards no end, for ne'er removed
Is its impression when it sets its seal.








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	Whatever rains from It immediately
is fully free, for it is not constrained
by any influence of other things.

	Whate'er from this immediately rains down
Is wholly free, because it is not subject
Unto the influences of novel things.








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	Even as it conforms to that Goodness,
so does it please It more; the Sacred Ardor
that gleams in all things is most bright within

	The more conformed thereto, the more it pleases;
For the blest ardour that irradiates all things
In that most like itself is most vivacious.








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	those things most like Itself. The human being
has all these gifts, but if it loses one,
then its nobility has been undone.

	With all of these things has advantaged been
The human creature; and if one be wanting,
From his nobility he needs must fall.








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	Only man's sin annuls man's liberty,
makes him unlike the Highest Good, so that,
in him, the brightness of Its light is dimmed;

	'Tis sin alone which doth disfranchise him,
And render him unlike the Good Supreme,
So that he little with its light is blanched,








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	and man cannot regain his dignity
unless, where sin left emptiness, man fills
that void with just amends for evil pleasure.

	And to his dignity no more returns,
Unless he fill up where transgression empties
With righteous pains for criminal delights.








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	For when your nature sinned so totally
within its seed, then, from these dignities,
just as from Paradise, that nature parted;

	Your nature when it sinned so utterly
In its own seed, out of these dignities
Even as out of Paradise was driven,








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	and they could never be regained-if you
consider carefully-by any way
that did not pass across one of these fords:

	Nor could itself recover, if thou notest
With nicest subtilty, by any way,
Except by passing one of these two fords:








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	either through nothing other than His mercy,
God had to pardon man, or of himself
man had to proffer payment for his folly.

	Either that God through clemency alone
Had pardon granted, or that man himself
Had satisfaction for his folly made.








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	Now fix your eyes on the profundity
of the Eternal Counsel; heed as closely
as you are able to, my reasoning.

	Fix now thine eye deep into the abyss
Of the eternal counsel, to my speech
As far as may be fastened steadfastly!








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	Man, in his limits, could not recompense;
for no obedience, no humility,
he offered later could have been so deep

	Man in his limitations had not power
To satisfy, not having power to sink
In his humility obeying then,








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	that it could match the heights he meant to reach
through disobedience; man lacked the power
to offer satisfaction by himself.

	Far as he disobeying thought to rise;
And for this reason man has been from power
Of satisfying by himself excluded.








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	Thus there was need for God, through His own ways,
to bring man back to life intact-I mean
by one way or by both. But since a deed

	Therefore it God behoved in his own ways
Man to restore unto his perfect life
I say in one, or else in both of them.








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	pleases its doer more, the more it shows
the goodness of the heart from which it springs,
the Godly Goodness that imprints the world

	But since the action of the doer is
So much more grateful, as it more presents
The goodness of the heart from which it issues,








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	was happy to proceed through both Its ways
to raise you up again. Nor has there been,
nor will there be, between the final night

	Goodness Divine, that doth imprint the world,
Has been contented to proceed by each
And all its ways to lift you up again;








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	and the first day, a chain of actions so
lofty and so magnificent as He
enacted when He followed His two ways;

	Nor 'twixt the first day and the final night
Such high and such magnificent proceeding
By one or by the other was or shall be;








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	for God showed greater generosity
in giving His own self that man might be
able to rise, than if He simply pardoned;

	For God more bounteous was himself to give
To make man able to uplift himself,
Than if he only of himself had pardoned;








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	for every other means fell short of justice,
except the way whereby the Son of God
humbled Himself when He became incarnate.

	And all the other modes were insufficient
For justice, were it not the Son of God
Himself had humbled to become incarnate.








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	Now to give all your wishes full content,
I go back to explain one point, so that
you, too, may see it plainly, as I do.

	Now, to fill fully each desire of thine,
Return I to elucidate one place,
In order that thou there mayst see as I do.








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	You say: 'I see that water, see that fire
and air and earth and all that they compose
come to corruption, and endure so briefly;

	Thou sayst: ' I see the air, I see the fire,
The water, and the earth, and all their mixtures
Come to corruption, and short while endure;








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	and yet these, too, were things created; if
what has been said above is true, then these
things never should be subject to corruption.'

	And these things notwithstanding were created;
Therefore if that which I have said were true,
They should have been secure against corruption.








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	Brother, the angels and the pure country
where you are now-these may be said to be
created, as they are, in all their being;

	The Angels, brother, and the land sincere  
In which thou art, created may be called
Just as they are in their entire existence;








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	whereas the elements that you have mentioned,
as well as those things that are made from them,
receive their form from a created power.

	But all the elements which thou hast named,
And all those things which out of them are made,
By a created virtue are informed.    








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	The matter they contain had been created,
just as within the stars that wheel about them,
the power to give form had been created.

	Created was the matter which they have;
Created was the informing influence
Within these stars that round about them go.








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	The rays and motion of the holy lights
draw forth the soul of every animal
and plant from matter able to take form;

	The soul of every brute and of the plants
By its potential temperament attracts
The ray and motion of the holy lights;








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	but your life is breathed forth immediately
by the Chief Good, who so enamors it
of His own Self that it desires Him always.

	But your own life immediately inspires
Supreme Beneficence, and enamours it
So with herself, it evermore desires her.








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	So reasoning, you also can deduce
your resurrection; you need but remember
the way in which your human flesh was fashioned

	And thou from this mayst argue furthermore
Your resurrection, if thou think again
How human flesh was fashioned at that time








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	when both of the first parents were created."

	When the first parents both of them were made."




07.148

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