Paradiso
The Sixth Heaven, Jupiter: Righteous Kings and Rulers. The Celestial Eagle. Dante's Invectives against ecclesiastical Avarice.
Now that blessed soul rejoiced alone in its words,
while I savored my own thoughts—
the bitter mingled with the sweet.
The Lady who was leading me to God said:
"Change your thinking. Remember that I am
close to Him who lifts the burden of every wrong."
I turned toward the loving voice of my comfort,
and what love I saw blazing in those holy eyes
I cannot tell you here—
not only because I distrust my words,
but because memory cannot climb back so high
above itself without another to guide it.
This much I can say about that moment:
when I looked at her again, my heart
was freed from every other longing.
The eternal joy that streamed directly
onto Beatrice satisfied me completely
with its reflection from her radiant face.
Conquering me with the brightness of her smile,
she said: "Turn around and listen—
Paradise exists not only in my eyes."
Just as we sometimes see emotion
written so clearly in a person's expression
that it captures the whole soul,
so in the flaming of that holy radiance
I turned toward, I recognized
the desire to speak with me further.
And it began: "In this fifth resting place,
high on the tree that draws life from its crown
and always bears fruit, never losing leaves,
dwell blessed spirits who below on earth,
before they came to Heaven, won such fame
that any poem would be enriched by their stories.
Look now upon the arms of the cross—
each one I name will flash like lightning
streaking swift fire through a cloud."
I saw a splendor sweep across the Cross
when Joshua's name was spoken—
the deed happened even as the word was said.
At the name of the great Maccabee
I saw another spirit spinning with joy,
gladness itself the whip driving that top.
Charlemagne and Roland claimed my attention next—
my gaze followed them both intently
as the eye tracks its falcon's flight.
Then William, Renouard, Duke Godfrey,
and Robert Guiscard drew my sight
along the length of that bright Cross.
The soul that had been speaking to me
moved and mingled with the other lights,
showing what artistry it possessed
among the heavenly choir.
I turned to my right side
to see what duty Beatrice might signal
through word or gesture.
Her eyes were so clear, so full of joy,
that her expression surpassed
all its previous radiance.
As a person doing good from day to day
becomes aware through growing delight
that virtue is increasing within,
so I realized that my circling path
with heaven had widened its arc
when I beheld that miracle made more beautiful.
Like the swift change in a pale woman's face
when it's suddenly freed
from the weight of bashfulness—
such was the change my eyes witnessed
when I turned, caused by the white light
of the temperate sixth star that gathered me in.
Within that torch of Jupiter I saw
the sparkling of the love dwelling there
trace out our human language before my eyes.
Like birds rising from the riverbank,
seeming to celebrate their feeding,
forming flocks now round, now stretched long,
so the holy creatures sang
as they flew back and forth within those lights.
In their formations they spelled out
now D, now I, now L.
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JUPITER
“forming flocks now round, now stretched long, / so the holy creatures sang”
First they moved singing to their own music,
then becoming one of these letters,
they paused briefly in silence.
O divine Pegasus, you who make genius
glorious and grant it long life,
and through you do the same for cities and kingdoms—
illuminate me with your light so I may capture
these shapes as I have conceived them!
Let your power shine through these few verses!
The spirits arranged themselves
in five times seven vowels and consonants,
and I observed each part
as it seemed to speak to me.
"DILIGITE JUSTITIAM" appeared first—
verb and noun of all that was depicted.
"QUI JUDICATIS TERRAM" came last.
Then in the M of the fifth word
they remained so perfectly arranged
that Jupiter seemed silver inlaid with gold.
I saw other lights descend
to the summit of the M and pause there,
singing of the good that draws them to itself.
Then, like countless sparks
flying upward when burning logs are struck—
sparks that fools read as omens—
more than a thousand lights seemed to rise
and ascend, some higher, others lower,
as the Sun that kindles them decreed.
When each had settled in its place,
I saw outlined in that inlaid fire
the head and neck of an eagle.
He who paints there needs no guide
but guides Himself, and from Him flows
that power which shapes the nest.
The other blessed spirits, who at first
seemed content to bloom like lilies on the M,
completed the design with a slight movement.
O gentle star! What gems and how many
showed me that all our justice
flows from that heaven you adorn with light!
So I pray to the Mind in which
your motion and power begin—
look down at the source of smoke
that dims your rays,
so that once more divine anger may strike
the buying and selling in the temple
whose walls were built with miracles and martyrdoms!
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JUPITER
“that dims your rays, / so that once more divine anger may strike / the buying and selling in the temple”
O army of heaven that I contemplate,
pray for those on earth
who have all gone astray following bad example!
Once wars were fought with swords,
but now they're waged by withholding
the bread that our merciful Father denies no one.
But you who write only to cross out—remember
that Peter and Paul, who died
for this vineyard you're destroying, still live!
You may well say: "My desire is so fixed
on him who chose to live as a hermit
and was led to martyrdom through dancing
that I know neither the Fisherman nor Paul."