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PARADISO CANTO 22
Mandelbaum Tr. and Longfellow Tr.		 NotesAnn. 

	Amazement overwhelming me, I-like
a child who always hurries back to find
that place he trusts the most-turned to my guide;

	OPPRESSED with stupor, I unto my guide
Turned like a little child who always runs
For refuge there where he confideth most;








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	and like a mother quick to reassure
her pale and panting son with the same voice
that she has often used to comfort him,

	And she, even as a mother who straightway
Gives comfort to her pale and breathless boy
With voice whose wont it is to reassure him,








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	she said: "Do you not know you are in Heaven,
not know how holy all of Heaven is,
how righteous zeal moves every action here?

	Said to me: "Knowest thou not thou art in heaven,
And knowest thou not that heaven is holy all
And what is  lone here cometh from good zeal?








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	Now, since this cry has agitated you
so much, you can conceive how-had you seen
me smile and heard song here-you would have been

	After what wise the singing would have changed thee 
And I by smiling, thou canst now imagine,
Since that the cry has startled thee so much,








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	confounded; and if you had understood
the prayer within that cry, by now you would
know the revenge you'll see before your death.

	In which if thou hadst understood its prayers
Already would be known to thee the vengeance
Which thou shalt look upon before thou diest.








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	The sword that strikes from Heaven's height is neither
hasty nor slow, except as it appears
to him who waits for it-who longs or fears.

	The sword above here smiteth not in haste
Nor tardily, howe'er it seem to him
Who fearing or desiring waits for it.








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	But turn now toward the other spirits here;
for if you set your sight as I suggest,
you will see many who are notable."

	But turn thee round towards the others now,
For very illustrious spirits shalt thou see,
If thou thy sight directest as I say."








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	As pleased my guide, I turned my eyes and saw
a hundred little suns; as these together
cast light, each made the other lovelier.

	As it seemed good to her mine eyes I turned,
And saw a hundred spherules that together
With mutual rays each other more embellished.








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	I stood as one who curbs within himself
the goad of longing and, in fear of being
too forward, does not dare to ask a question.

	I stood as one who in himself represses    
The point of his desire, and ventures not
To question, he so feareth the too much.








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	At this, the largest and most radiant
among those pearls moved forward that he might
appease my need to hear who he might be.

	And now the largest and most luculent
Among those pearls came forward, that it might
Make my desire concerning it content.    








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	Then, in that light, I heard: "Were you to see,
even as I do see, the charity
that burns in us, your thoughts would have been uttered.

	Within it then I heard: "If thou couldst see
Even as myself the charity that burns
Among us, thy conceits would be expressed;








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	But lest, by waiting, you be slow to reach
the high goal of your seeking, I shall answer
what you were thinking when you curbed your speech.

	But, that by waiting thou mayst not come late
To the high end, I will make answer even
Unto the thought of which thou art so chary.








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	That mountain on whose flank Cassino lies
was once frequented on its summit by
those who were still deluded, still awry;

	That mountain on whose slope Cassino stands
Was frequented of old upon its summit
By a deluded folk and ill-disposed;








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	and I am he who was the first to carry
up to that peak the name of Him who brought
to earth the truth that lifts us to the heights.

	And I am he who first up thither bore
The name of Him who brought upon the earth
The truth that so much sublimateth us.








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	And such abundant grace had brought me light
that, from corrupted worship that seduced
the world, I won away the nearby sites.

	And such abundant grace upon me shone
That all the neighbouring towns I drew away
From the impious worship that seduced the world.  








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	These other flames were all contemplatives,
men who were kindled by that heat which brings
to birth the blessed flowers and blessed fruits.

	These other fires, each one of them, were men
Contemplative, enkindled by that heat
Which maketh holy flowers and fruits spring up.








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	Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus,
here are my brothers, those who stayed their steps
in cloistered walls, who kept their hearts steadfast."

	Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus,
Here are my brethren, who within the cloisters
Their footsteps stayed and kept a steadfast heart."








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	I answered: "The affection that you show
in speech to me, and kindness that I see
and note within the flaming of your lights,

	And I to him: "The affection which thou showest
Speaking with me, and the good countenance
Which I behold and note in all your ardours,








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	have given me so much more confidence,
just like the sun that makes the rose expand
and reach the fullest flowering it can.

	In me have so my confidence dilated    
As the sun doth the rose, when it becomes
As far unfolded as it hath the power.








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	Therefore I pray you, father-and may you
assure me that I can receive such grace-
to let me see, unveiled, your human face."

	Therefore I pray, and thou assure me, father,
If I may so much grace receive, that I
May thee behold with countenance unveiled."








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	And he: "Brother, your high desire will be
fulfilled within the final sphere, as all
the other souls' and my own longing will.

	He thereupon: "Brother, thy high desire
In the remotest sphere shall be fulfilled,
Where are fulfilled all others and my own.








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	There, each desire is perfect, ripe, intact;
and only there, within that final sphere,
is every part where it has always been.

	There perfect is, and ripened, and complete,
Every desire; within that one alone
Is every part where it has always been;








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	That sphere is not in space and has no poles;
our ladder reaches up to it, and that
is why it now is hidden from your sight.

	For it is not in space, nor turns on poles,
And unto it our stairway reaches up,
Whence thus from out thy sight it steals away.








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	Up to that sphere, Jacob the patriarch
could see that ladder's topmost portion reach,
when it appeared to him so thronged with angels.

	Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it
Extending its supernal part, what time
So thronged with angels it appeared to him.








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	But no one now would lift his feet from earth
to climb that ladder, and my Rule is left
to waste the paper it was written on.

	But to ascend it now no one uplifts
His feet from off the earth, and now my Rule
Below remaineth for mere waste of paper.








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	What once were abbey walls are robbers' dens;
what once were cowls are sacks of rotten meal.
But even heavy usury does not

	The walls that used of old to be an Abbey
Are changed to dens of robbers, and the cowls
Are sacks filled full of miserable flour.








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	offend the will of God as grievously
as the appropriation of that fruit
which makes the hearts of monks go mad with greed;

	But heavy usury is not taken up
So much against God's pleasure as that fruit
Which maketh so insane the heart of monks;








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	for all within the keeping of the Church
belongs to those who ask it in God's name,
and not to relatives or concubines.

	For whatsoever hath the Church in keeping
Is for the folk that ask it in God's name, .
Not for one's kindred or for something worse.








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	The flesh of mortals yields so easily-
on earth a good beginning does not run
from when the oak is born until the acorn.

	The flesh of mortals is so very soft,
That good beginnings down below suffice not
From springing of the oak to bearing acorns.








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	Peter began with neither gold nor silver,
and I with prayer and fasting, and when Francis
began his fellowship, he did it humbly;

	Peter began with neither gold nor silver,
And I with orison and abstinence,
And Francis with humility his convent.








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	if you observe the starting point of each,
and look again to see where it has strayed,
then you will see how white has gone to gray.

	And if thou lookest at each one's beginning,
And then regardest whither he has run,
Thou shalt behold the white changed into brown.








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	And yet, the Jordan in retreat, the sea
in flight when God had willed it so, were sights
more wonderful than His help here will be."

	In verity the Jordan backward turned,
And the sea's fleeing, when God willed were more
A wonder to behold, than succour here."








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	So did he speak to me, and he drew back
to join his company, which closed, compact;
then, like a whirlwind, upward, all were swept.

	Thus unto me he said ; and then withdrew
To his own band, and the band closed together
Then like a whirlwind all was upward rapt.








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	The gentle lady-simply with a sign-
impelled me after them and up that ladder,
so did her power overcome my nature;

	The gentle Lady urged me on behind them
Up o'er that stairway by a single sign,
So did her virtue overcome my nature;








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	and never here below, where our ascent
and descent follow nature's law, was there
motion as swift as mine when I took wing.

	Nor here below, where one goes up and down
By natural law, was motion e'er so swift
That it could be compared unto my wing.








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	So, reader, may I once again return
to those triumphant ranks-an end for which
I often beat my breast, weep for my sins-

	Reader, as I may unto that devout
Triumph return, on whose account I often
For my transgressions weep and beat my breast, --








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	more quickly than your finger can withdraw
from flame and be thrust into it, I saw,
and was within, the sign that follows Taurus.

	Thou hadst not thrust thy finger in the fire
And drawn it out again, before I saw
The sign that follows Taurus, and was in it.








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	O stars of glory, constellation steeped
in mighty force, all of my genius-
whatever be its worth-has you as source:

	O glorious stars, O light impregnated
With mighty virtue, from which I acknowledge
All of my genius, whatsoe'er it be,








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	with you was born and under you was hidden
he who is father of all mortal lives,
when I first felt the air of Tuscany;

	you was born, and hid himself with you,
He who is father of all mortal life,
When first I tasted of the Tuscan air;








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	and then, when grace was granted me to enter
the high wheel that impels your revolutions,
your region was my fated point of entry.

	then when grace was freely given to me
To enter the high wheel which turns you round,
Your region was allotted unto me.








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	To you my soul now sighs devotedly,
that it may gain the force for this attempt,
hard trial that now demands its every strength.

	To you devoutly at this hour my soul
Is sighing, that it virtue may acquire
For the stern pass that draws it to itself.








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	"You are so near the final blessedness,"
so Beatrice began, "that you have need
of vision clear and keen; and thus, before

	"Thou art so near unto the last salvation,"
Thus Beatrice began, "thou oughtest now
To have thine eves unclouded and acute








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	you enter farther, do look downward, see
what I have set beneath your feet already:
much of the world is there. If you see that,

	And therefore, ere thou enter farther in,
Look down once more, and see how vast a world
Thou hast already put beneath thy feet;








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	your heart may then present itself with all
the joy it can to the triumphant throng
that comes in gladness through this ether's rounds."

	So that thy heart, as jocund as it may,
Present itself to the triumphant throng
That comes rejoicing through this rounded ether."








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	My eyes returned through all the seven spheres
and saw this globe in such a way that I
smiled at its scrawny image: I approve

	with my sight returned through one and all
The sevenfold spheres, and I beheld this globe
Such that I smiled at its ignoble semblance








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	that judgment as the best, which holds this earth
to be the least; and he whose thoughts are set
elsewhere, can truly be called virtuous.

	And that opinion I approve as best
Which doth account it least; and he who thinks
Of something else may truly be called just.








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	I saw Latona's daughter radiant,
without the shadow that had made me once
believe that she contained both rare and dense.

	I saw the daughter of Latona shining
Without that shadow, which to me was cause
That once I had believed her rare and dense.








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	And there, Hyperion, I could sustain
the vision of your son, and saw Dione
and Maia as they circled nearby him.

	The aspect of thy son, Hyperion,
Here I sustained, and saw how move themselves
Around and near him Maia and Dione.








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	The temperate Jupiter appeared to me
between his father and his son; and I
saw clearly how they vary their positions.

	Thence there appeared the temperateness of Jove
'Twixt son and father, and to me was clear
The change that of their whereabout they make








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	And all the seven heavens showed to me
their magnitudes, their speeds, the distances
of each from each. The little threshing floor

	And all the seven made manifest to me
How great they are, and eke how swift they are,
And how they are in distant habitations.








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	that so incites our savagery was all-
from hills to river mouths-revealed to me
while I wheeled with eternal Gemini.

	The threshing-floor that maketh us so proud,
To me revolving with the eternal Twins,
Was all apparent made from hill to harbour!








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	My eyes then turned again to the fair eyes.

	Then to the beauteous eyes mine eyes I turned.




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