And afterward through heaven from light to light,

I have learned that which, if I tell again, Will be a savor of strong herbs to many. And if I am a timid friend to truth,

I fear lest I may lose my life with those

Who will hereafter call this time the olden." The light in which was smiling my own treasure

Which there I had discovered, flashed at first As in the sunshine doth a golden mirror; Then made reply: "A conscience overcast

Or with its own or with another's shame, Will taste forsooth the tartness of thy word; But ne'ertheless, all falsehood laid aside,

Make manifest thy vision utterly,

And let them scratch wherever is the itch;

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For if thine utterance shall offensive be

At the first taste, a vital nutriment

"T will leave thereafter, when it is digested. This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind,

Which smiteth most the most exalted summits, And that is no slight argument of honor. Therefore are shown to thee within these wheels, Upon the mount and in the dolorous valley, Only the souls that unto fame are known;

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Because the spirit of the hearer rests not,

Nor doth confirm its faith by an example

Which has the root of it unknown and hidden,

Or other reason that is not apparent."

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CANTO XVIII.

OW was alone rejoicing in its word

Now

That soul beatified, and I was tasting

My own, the bitter tempering with the sweet,
And the Lady who to God was leading me

Said: "Change thy thought; consider that I am 5
Near unto Him who every wrong disburdens."

Unto the loving accents of my comfort

I turned me round, and then what love I saw
Within those holy eyes I here relinquish;

Not only that my language I distrust,

But that my mind cannot return so far
Above itself, unless another guide it.
Thus much upon that point can I repeat,
That, her again beholding, my affection
From
every other longing was released.
While the eternal pleasure, which direct
Rayed upon Beatrice, from her fair face
Contented me with its reflected aspect,

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Conquering me with the radiance of a smile,
She said to me, "Turn thee about and listen;
Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise."

Even as sometimes here do we behold

The affection in the look, if it be such
That all the soul is rapt away by it,

So, by the flaming of the effulgence holy

To which I turned, I recognized therein

The wish of speaking to me somewhat farther.

And it began: "In this fifth resting-place

Upon the tree that liveth by its summit,

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And aye bears fruit, and never loses leaf,

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Are blessed spirits that below, ere yet

They came to Heaven, were of such great renown

Therefore look thou upon the cross's horns;

That every Muse therewith would affluent be.

He whom I now shall name will there enact

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What doth within a cloud its own swift fire."

I saw athwart the Cross a splendor drawn

By naming Joshua, (even as he did it,)
Nor noted I the word before the deed;

And at the name of the great Maccabee

I saw another move itself revolving,
And gladness was the whip unto that top.

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Likewise for Charlemagne and for Orlando,
Two of them my regard attentive followed
As followeth the eye its falcon flying.
William thereafterward, and Renouard,

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And the Duke Godfrey, did attract my sight Along upon that Cross, and Robert Guiscard. Then, moved and mingled with the other lights, The soul that had addressed me showed how great 50 An artist 't was among the heavenly singers.

To my right side I turned myself around,

My duty to behold in Beatrice

Either by words or gesture signified; And so translucent I beheld her eyes,

So full of pleasure, that her countenance
Surpassed its other and its latest wont.
And as, by feeling greater delectation,

A man in doing good from day to day
Becomes aware his virtue is increasing,

So I became aware that my gyration

With heaven together had increased its arc,
That miracle beholding more adorned.
And such as is the change, in little lapse

Of time, in a pale woman, when her face
Is from the load of bashfulness unladen,

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