Paradiso

Canto XXII

St. Benedict. His Lamentation over the Corruption of Monks. The Eighth Heaven, the Fixed Stars. Oppressed with stupor, I unto my guide Turned like a little child who always runs For refuge

Overwhelmed with wonder, I turned to my guide

like a small child who always runs

for comfort

There where he trusts the most; and she, like a mother

who instantly comforts her pale and breathless child

with a voice that always soothes him,

said to me: "Don't you know you are in heaven?

Don't you know that all of heaven is holy

and everything done here springs from righteous zeal?

You can now imagine how the singing would have transformed you,

and how my smile would have affected you,

since that cry startled you so much—

a cry whose prayers, if you had understood them,

would have already revealed to you the vengeance

you will witness before you die.

The sword of justice here strikes neither hastily nor late,

however it may seem to one

who waits for it in fear or desire.

But turn now toward the others,

for you will see most illustrious spirits

if you direct your gaze as I tell you."

As seemed good to her, I turned my eyes

and saw a hundred small spheres that together

made each other more beautiful with their mingled light.

I stood like one who holds back

the urgency of his desire, not daring

to ask questions, so afraid of going too far.

And the largest and most radiant

among those pearls came forward

to satisfy my curiosity about it.

Then from within it I heard: "If you could see,

as I do, the love that burns

among us, your thoughts would be spoken;

but so that waiting won't delay you

from reaching the highest goal, I will answer

even the thought you're so reluctant to voice.

That mountain on whose slope Cassino stands

was once frequented on its summit

by a deluded and misguided people;

and I am he who first carried up there

the name of Him who brought to earth

the truth that lifts us so high.

Such abundant grace shone upon me

that I drew all the neighboring towns away

from the impious worship that seduced the world.

These other flames were all contemplative men,

kindled by that heat

which makes holy flowers and fruits spring forth.

Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus,

here are my brothers who within the cloisters

kept their steps steady and their hearts constant."

And I replied: "The affection you show

in speaking with me, and the kindness

I see and recognize in all your ardor,

have expanded my confidence

like the sun does the rose when it unfolds

as fully as it has the power to do.

Therefore I beg you, and you must assure me, father,

if I can receive grace enough

to see you with your face unveiled."

Then he: "Brother, your lofty desire

will be fulfilled in the highest sphere,

where all desires are fulfilled, both others' and my own.

There every longing is perfect, mature, and complete;

in that sphere alone

every part exists where it has always been,

for it is not in space, nor turns on axes,

and our ladder reaches up to it,

which is why it steals away from your sight.

Up to that height the Patriarch Jacob saw it

extending its celestial portion,

when it appeared to him so crowded with angels.

But now no one lifts

his feet from earth to climb it, and my Rule

below remains mere waste of paper.

The walls that once were an abbey

have become dens of thieves, and the cowls

are sacks full of rotten flour.

But even heavy usury is not taken up

so much against God's pleasure as that fruit

which drives the hearts of monks insane;

for whatever the Church holds in trust

belongs to those who ask for it in God's name,

not to one's family or something worse.

The flesh of mortals is so weak

that good beginnings down below don't last

from the oak's sprouting to its bearing acorns.

Peter began with neither gold nor silver,

I with prayer and fasting,

and Francis founded his order with humility.

And if you look at each one's beginning

and then see where he has wandered,

you'll see the white has turned to brown.

Truly the Jordan flowing backward

and the sea's parting, when God willed it, were less

miraculous to witness than help here would be."

So he spoke to me; then withdrew

to his company, and the company closed together;

then like a whirlwind all were swept upward.

The gentle Lady urged me up behind them

over that stairway with a single gesture,

so completely did her power overcome my nature;

nor here below, where we go up and down

by natural law, was motion ever so swift

that it could compare to my flight.

Reader, so may I return to that devout

triumph for which I often weep

and beat my breast for my sins—

you could not have thrust your finger in fire

and pulled it out again as quickly as I saw

the sign that follows Taurus and found myself within it.

O glorious stars, O light pregnant

with mighty power, from which I acknowledge

all my genius, whatever it may be!

With you was born and hid himself with you

he who is father of all mortal life,

when I first breathed the Tuscan air;

and then when grace was freely granted me

to enter the great wheel that turns you round,

your region was assigned to me.

To you my soul devoutly sighs

at this moment, that it may gain strength

for the difficult passage that draws it onward.

"You are so close to final salvation,"

Beatrice began, "that you should now

have your eyes clear and sharp;

and therefore, before you go farther in,

look down once more and see how vast a world

you have already placed beneath your feet,

so that your heart, as joyful as it can be,

may present itself to the triumphant throng

that comes rejoicing through this rounded sky."

With my sight I traveled back through each

of the seven spheres, and I saw this globe

so small that I smiled at its humble appearance;

and I approve that judgment as best

which considers it least; he who thinks

of other things may truly be called righteous.

I saw Latona's daughter shining

without that shadow which once made me think

she was both rare and dense in substance.

The face of your son, Hyperion,

I endured here, and saw how Maia and Dione

move themselves around and near him.

Then appeared the tempering influence of Jupiter

between his father and son, and I could clearly see

the changes they make in their positions;

and all seven revealed to me

how large they are, how swift,

and how far apart their dwelling places.

The little threshing floor that makes us so fierce,

revolving with the eternal Twins,

appeared completely to me from mountains to harbors!

Then I turned my eyes back to the beautiful eyes.