第125章 Paradiso: Canto XXIV(1)

"O company elect to the great supper Of the Lamb benedight, who feedeth you So that for ever full is your desire, If by the grace of God this man foretaste Something of that which falleth from your table, Or ever death prescribe to him the time, Direct your mind to his immense desire, And him somewhat bedew; ye drinking are For ever at the fount whence comes his thought."

Thus Beatrice; and those souls beatified Transformed themselves to spheres on steadfast poles, Flaming intensely in the guise of comets.

And as the wheels in works of horologes Revolve so that the first to the beholder Motionless seems, and the last one to fly, So in like manner did those carols, dancing In different measure, of their affluence Give me the gauge, as they were swift or slow.

From that one which I noted of most beauty Beheld I issue forth a fire so happy That none it left there of a greater brightness;

And around Beatrice three several times It whirled itself with so divine a song, My fantasy repeats it not to me;

Therefore the pen skips, and I write it not, Since our imagination for such folds, Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring.

"O holy sister mine, who us implorest With such devotion, by thine ardent love Thou dost unbind me from that beautiful sphere!"

Thereafter, having stopped, the blessed fire Unto my Lady did direct its breath, Which spake in fashion as I here have said.

And she: "O light eterne of the great man To whom our Lord delivered up the keys He carried down of this miraculous joy, This one examine on points light and grave, As good beseemeth thee, about the Faith By means of which thou on the sea didst walk.

If he love well, and hope well, and believe, From thee 'tis hid not; for thou hast thy sight There where depicted everything is seen.

But since this kingdom has made citizens By means of the true Faith, to glorify it 'Tis well he have the chance to speak thereof."

As baccalaureate arms himself, and speaks not Until the master doth propose the question, To argue it, and not to terminate it, So did I arm myself with every reason, While she was speaking, that I might be ready For such a questioner and such profession.

"Say, thou good Christian; manifest thyself;

What is the Faith?" Whereat I raised my brow Unto that light wherefrom was this breathed forth.

Then turned I round to Beatrice, and she Prompt signals made to me that I should pour The water forth from my internal fountain.

"May grace, that suffers me to make confession,"

Began I, "to the great centurion, Cause my conceptions all to be explicit!"

And I continued: "As the truthful pen, Father, of thy dear brother wrote of it, Who put with thee Rome into the good way, Faith is the substance of the things we hope for, And evidence of those that are not seen;

And this appears to me its quiddity."

Then heard I: "Very rightly thou perceivest, If well thou understandest why he placed it With substances and then with evidences."

And I thereafterward: "The things profound, That here vouchsafe to me their apparition, Unto all eyes below are so concealed, That they exist there only in belief, Upon the which is founded the high hope, And hence it takes the nature of a substance.

And it behoveth us from this belief To reason without having other sight, And hence it has the nature of evidence."