Returning to their melody,
this radiant substance crowned with double light
began to sing, dancing with the others,
and like swift sparks hurrying through darkness
they veiled themselves from me with sudden distance.
5
I hesitated, saying within myself,
"Ask her, ask her—tell my Lady
who quenches my thirst with her sweet wisdom."
But that reverence which masters all of me
through her very being
bowed my head like one drowsing.
11
Beatrice endured my silence only briefly,
then began, illuminating me with a smile
that could make one blessed even in fire:
14
"According to infallible wisdom,
the question of how just vengeance
could itself be justly punished troubles your mind.
But I will quickly untangle your thoughts—
listen carefully, for my words
will give you a great teaching.
20
By refusing to accept the limits
placed on his will for his own good,
that man who was never born
damned himself and all his children.
So the human race below
lay sick for many centuries in great error,
until it pleased the Word of God to descend
to where our nature, estranged from its Maker,
could be joined to him in one person
by the sole act of his eternal love.
30
Now direct your attention to what I say:
this nature, when united with its Creator,
was pure and good as when first made.
But by itself alone it was banished
from Paradise, because it turned away
from the path of truth and life.
36
Therefore the penalty the cross offered,
measured against the nature Christ assumed,
never struck with such perfect justice—
yet none was ever so unjust,
considering the Person who suffered,
in whom that nature was contained.
42
From one act came opposite results:
one death pleased both God and the Jews,
made earth tremble and heaven open.
45
It should no longer seem difficult
when you hear that a just vengeance
was later justly avenged by a just court.
48
But now I see your mind entangled
in thought after thought, knotted tight,
desperately wanting to free itself.
You say, 'I understand what I hear clearly,
but why did God choose
only this method for our redemption?'
54
This decree remains buried, brother,
from the eyes of everyone whose nature
has not yet matured in love's flame.
Since one can gaze long at this mystery
and perceive little, I will explain
why this way was most worthy.
60
Divine Goodness, which spurns all envy,
burns so brightly within itself
that it unfolds eternal beauties.
Whatever flows directly from this source
has no end, for its seal
can never be removed once set.
Whatever rains down directly from this
is completely free, not subject
to the influence of created things.
The more something conforms to this,
the more it pleases, for the blessed fire
that illuminates all things
is most alive in what most resembles it.
73
The human creature was advantaged
with all these gifts, and lacking any one,
must fall from nobility.
Sin alone strips away this franchise,
makes us unlike the Supreme Good,
so we are barely touched by its light
and cannot return to our dignity
unless we fill transgression's emptiness
with just suffering for criminal pleasures.
82
Your nature, when it sinned completely
in its very seed, was driven
from these dignities as from Paradise,
nor could it recover by any path—
if you examine this with subtle care—
except by crossing one of two fords:
either God through mercy alone
grants forgiveness, or humanity itself
makes satisfaction for its folly.
91
Fix your gaze now deep into the abyss
of eternal counsel, listening
to my words with all attention.
94
Humanity in its limitations had no power
to make satisfaction, unable to descend
in humble obedience as far
as it had thought to rise in disobedience.
For this reason humanity was excluded
from the power of self-satisfaction.
100
Therefore it was necessary for God
to restore humanity to perfect life
by his own ways—one or both of them.
But since the doer's action is more pleasing
the more it displays the goodness
of the heart from which it springs,
Divine Goodness that imprints the world
was content to proceed by all its ways
to lift you up again.
109
Never between first day and final night
was there or will there be such high
and magnificent proceeding by either path.
God was more generous giving himself
to make humanity able to rise again
than if he had simply pardoned.
All other methods would have been insufficient
for justice, had not the Son of God
humbled himself to become incarnate.
118
Now, to satisfy completely every desire of yours,
I return to clarify one point
so you may see as I do.
You say: 'I see air, fire,
water, earth, and all their combinations
come to corruption and endure briefly,
yet these things too were created.'
If what I have said were true,
they should be secure from corruption.
127
The Angels, brother, and this pure realm
where you now stand can be called created
exactly as they exist in their complete being.
But all the elements you have named
and everything made from them
are informed by created power.
133
Created was the matter they possess,
created was the shaping influence
within these stars that circle them.
The soul of every animal and plant
draws from the ray and motion
of the holy lights through its natural temperament.
139
But your life is breathed directly
by Supreme Beneficence, who so enamors it
with herself that it desires her forever.
From this you can further conclude
your resurrection, if you remember again
how human flesh was first fashioned
when both our first parents were made."
146