Then heard I: "Very rightly thou perceivest, That here vouchsafe to me their apparition, 70 Upon the which is founded the high hope, And hence it takes the nature of a substance. 75 And it behoveth us from this belief To reason without having other sight, And hence it has the nature of evidence." Then heard I: "If whatever is acquired Below by doctrine were thus understood, No sophist's subtlety would there find place." Then added: "Very well has been gone over But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse?" And I: "Yes, both so shining and so round, That in its stamp there is no peradventure.” Thereafter issued from the light profound That there resplendent was : "This precious jewel, 80 85 Whence hadst thou it?" And I: "The large outpouring Of Holy Spirit, which has been diffused Upon the ancient parchments and the new, A syllogism is, which proved it to me With such acuteness, that, compared therewith, All demonstration seems to me obtuse." And then I heard: "The ancient and the new Postulates, that to thee are so conclusive, Why dost thou take them for the word divine?" And I: "The proofs, which show the truth to me, Are the works subsequent, whereunto Nature Ne'er heated iron yet, nor anvil beat." 95 100 'T was answered me: "Say, who assureth thee That those works ever were? the thing itself That must be proved, naught else to thee affirms it." 105 "Were the world to Christianity converted," .I said, "withouten miracles, this one Is such, the rest are not its hundredth part; Because that poor and fasting thou didst enter Into the field to sow there the good plant, Which was a vine and has become a thorn!" This being finished, the high, holy Court 110 Resounded through the spheres, "One God we praise!" And then that Baron, who from branch to branch, Till the extremest leaves we were approaching, Plays with thine intellect thy mouth has opened, But now thou must express what thou believest, "O holy father, spirit who beholdest What thou believedst so that thou o'ercamest, Began I, "thou dost wish me in this place The form to manifest of my prompt belief, 115 120 125 And likewise thou the cause thereof demandest. And I respond: In one God I believe, 130 Sole and eterne, who moveth all the heavens With love and with desire, himself unmoved; And of such faith not only have I proofs Physical and metaphysical, but gives them Likewise the truth that from this place rains down 135 Through Moses, through the Prophets and the Psalms, Through the Evangel, and through you, who wrote After the fiery Spirit sanctified you; In Persons three eterne believe, and these One essence I believe, so one and trine Which now I touch upon, doth stamp my mind This the beginning is, this is the spark Which afterwards dilates to vivid flame, And, like a star in heaven, is sparkling in me." Even as a lord who hears what pleaseth him His servant straight embraces, gratulating Three times encircled me, when I was silent, I spoken had, in speaking I so pleased him. CANTO XXV. IF e'er it happen that the Poem Sacred, To which both heaven and earth have set their hand, O'ercome the cruelty that bars me out From the fair sheepfold, where a lamb I slumbered, s An enemy to the wolves that war upon it, With other voice forthwith, with other fleece Poet will I return, and at my font Baptismal will I take the laurel crown; Because into the Faith that maketh known All souls to God there entered I, and then Out of that band whence issued the first-fruits And then my Lady, full of ecstasy, Said unto me: "Look, look! behold the Baron ΤΟ 15 |