We turn around with the celestial Princes,

One gyre and one gyration and one thirst,
To whom thou in the world of old didst say,
Ye who, intelligent, the third heaven are moving;
And are so full of love, to pleasure thee
A little quiet will not be less sweet."
After these eyes of mine themselves had offered '
Unto my Lady reverently, and she

Content and certain of herself had made them,
Back to the light they turned, which so great promise
Made of itself, and "Say, who art thou?" was
My voice, imprinted with a great affection.

O how and how much I beheld it grow

With the new joy that superadded was
Unto its joys, as soon as I had spoken!

Thus changed, it said to me: "The world possessed me
Short time below; and, if it had been more,
Much evil will be which would not have been.
My gladness keepeth me concealed from thee,

Which rayeth round about me, and doth hide me
Like as a creature swathed in its own silk.

Much didst thou love me, and thou hadst good reason;
For had I been below, I should have shown thee
Somewhat beyond the foliage of my love.

That left-hand margin, which doth bathe itself

In Rhone, when it is mingled with the Sorgue,
Me for its lord awaited in due time,

And that horn of Ausonia, which is towned
With Bari, with Gaeta and Catona,
Whence Tronto and Verde in the sea disgorge.
Already flashed upon my brow the crown

Of that dominion which the Danube waters
After the German borders it abandons;

And beautiful Trinacria, that is murky

'Twixt Pachino and Peloro, (on the gulf

Which greatest scath from Eurus doth receive,)

Not through Typhoeus, but through nascent sulphur,
Would have awaited her own monarchs still,

Through me from Charles descended and from Rudolph,

If evil lordship, that exasperates ever

The subject populations, had not moved
Palermo to the outcry of 'Death! death!'
my brother could but this foresee,

And if

The greedy poverty of Catalonia

Straight would he flee, that it might not molest him;

For verily 'tis needful to provide,

Through him or other, so that on his bark Already freighted no more freight be placed. His nature, which from liberal covetous

Descended, such a soldiery would need. As should not care for hoarding in a chest." "Because I do believe the lofty joy

Thy speech infuses into me, my Lord,
Where every good thing doth begin and end
Thou seest as I see it, the more grateful

Is it to me; and this too hold I dear,
That gazing upon God thou dost discern it.
Glad hast thou made me; so make clear to me,
Since speaking thou hast stirred me up to doubt,
How from sweet seed can bitter issue forth."
This I to him; and he to me:

"If I

Can show to thee a truth, to what thou askest
Thy face thou'lt hold as thou dost hold thy back.
The Good which all the realm thou art ascending
Turns and contents, maketh its providence
To be a power within these bodies vast;
And not alone the natures are foreseen

Within the mind that in itself is perfect,
But they together with their preservation.
For whatsoever thing this bow shoots forth

Falls foreordained unto an end foreseen,
Even as a shaft directed to its mark.

If that were not, the heaven which thou dost walk
Would in such manner its effects produce,

That they no longer would be arts, but ruins.

That keep these stars in motion are not maimed,

And maimed the First that has not made them perfect.

Wilt thou this truth have clearer made to thee?"
And I: "Not so; for 'tis impossible

That nature tire, I see, in what is needful."

Whence he again: "Now say, would it be worse
For men on earth were they not citizens?"

Yes," I replied; "and here I ask no reason." "And can they be so, if below they live not Diversely unto offices diverse?

No, if your master writeth well for you."
So came he with deductions to this point;

Then he concluded: "Therefore it behoves
The roots of your effects to be diverse.

Hence one is Solon born, another Xerxes,
Another Melchisedec, and another he
Who, flying through the air, his son did lose.
Revolving Nature, which a signet is

To mortal wax, doth practise well her art,
But not one inn distinguish from another;
Thence happens it that Esau differeth

In seed from Jacob; and Quirinus comes
From sire so vile that he is given to Mars.
A generated nature its own way

Would always make like its progenitors,
If Providence divine were not triumphant.
Now that which was behind thee is before thee;

But that thou know that I with thee am pleased,
With a corollary will I mantle thee.

Evermore nature, if it fortune find

Discordant to it, like each other seed Out of its region, maketh evil thrift ; And if the world below would fix its mind

On the foundation which is laid by nature, Pursuing that, 'twould have the people good. But you unto religion wrench aside

Him who was born to gird him with the sword, And make a king of him who is for sermons; Therefore your footsteps wander from the road."

125

130

135

140

145

CANTO IX.

BEAUTIFUL Clemence, after that thy Charles
Had me enlightened, he narrated to me
The treacheries his seed should undergo;
But said: "Be still and let the years roll round;"
So I can only say, that lamentation
Legitimate shall follow on your wrongs.

And of that holy light the life already

Had to the Sun which fills it turned again,
As to that good which for each thing sufficeth.
Ah, souls deceived, and creatures impious,

Who from such good do turn away your hearts,
Directing upon vanity your foreheads !
And now, behold, another of those splendours
Approached me, and its will to pleasure me
It signified by brightening outwardly.

The

eyes of Beatrice, that fastened were Upon me, as before, of dear assent To my desire assurance gave to me. "Ah, bring swift compensation to my wish,

Thou blessed spirit," I said, " and give me proof That what I think in thee I can reflect!" Whereat the light, that still was new to me,

Out of its depths, whence it before was singing, As one delighted to do good, continued: "Within that region of the land depraved

Of Italy, that lies between Rialto

And fountain-heads of Brenta and of Piava, Rises a hill, and mounts not very high,

Wherefrom descended formerly a torch That made upon that region great assault. Out of one root were born both I and it;

Cunizza was I called, and here I shine

20

30

Because the splendour of this star o'ercame me.

But gladly to myself the cause I pardon

Of this so luculent and precious jewel,

Of my allotment, and it does not grieve me ;
Which would perhaps seem strong unto your vulgar.

Which of our heaven is nearest unto me,
Great fame remained; and ere it die away
This hundredth year shall yet quintupled be.
See if man ought to make him excellent,
So that another life the first may leave!
And thus thinks not the present multitude
Shut in by Adige and Tagliamento,
Nor yet for being scourged is penitent.
But soon 'twill be that Padua in the marsh

Will change the water that Vicenza bathes,
Because the folk are stubborn against duty;

And where the Sile and Cagnano join

One lordeth it, and goes with lofty head,

For catching whom e'en now the net is making.

Feltro moreover of her impious pastor

Shall weep the crime, which shall so monstrous be
That for the like none ever entered Malta.

55

Ample exceedingly would be the vat

That of the Ferrarese could hold the blood,
And weary who should weigh it ounce by ounce,
Of which this courteous priest shall make a gift
To show himself a partisan; and such gifts
Will to the living of the land conform.

64

Above us there are mirrors, Thrones you call them,
From which shines out on us God Judicant,
So that this utterance seems good to us."
Here it was silent, and it had the semblance
Of being turned elsewhither, by the wheel
On which it entered as it was before.
The other joy, already known to me,

Became a thing transplendent in my sight,
As a fine ruby smitten by the sun.
Through joy effulgence is acquired above,

As here a smile; but down below, the shade
Outwardly darkens, as the mind is sad.
"God seeth all things, and in Him, blest spirit,

Thy sight is," said I," so that never will
Of his can possibly from thee be hidden;
Thy voice, then, that for ever makes the heavens
Glad, with the singing of those holy fires
Which of their six wings make themselves a cowl,
Wherefore does it not satisfy my longings?

Indeed, I would not wait thy questioning
If I in thee were as thou art in me."
"The greatest of the valleys where the water

Expands itself," forthwith its words began, "That sea excepted which the earth engarlands, Between discordant shores against the sun

Extends so far, that it meridian makes

Where it was wont before to make the horizon.

I was a dweller on that valley's shore

"Twixt Ebro and Magra that with journey short
Doth from the Tuscan part the Genoese.
With the same sunset and same sunrise nearly
Sit Buggia and the city whence I was,

That with its blood once made the harbour hot.

Folco that people called me unto whom

My name was known; and now with me this heaven
Imprints itself, as I did once with it;

For more the daughter of Belus never burned,
Offending both Sichæus and Creusa,
Than I, so long as it became my locks,

Nor yet that Rodophean, who deluded

Was by Demophoön, nor yet Alcides,
When Iole he in his heart had locked.

Yet here is no repenting, but we smile,

Not at the fault, which comes not back to mind,
But at the power which ordered and foresaw.