Canto I

by Dante

　　The glory of Him who moveth everything

　　   Doth penetrate the universe, and shine

　　   In one part more and in another less.

　　Within that heaven which most his light receives

　　   Was I, and things beheld which to repeat

　　   Nor knows, nor can, who from above descends;

　　Because in drawing near to its desire

　　   Our intellect ingulphs itself so far,

　　   That after it the memory cannot go.

　　Truly whatever of the holy realm

　　   I had the power to treasure in my mind

　　   Shall now become the subject of my song.

　　O good Apollo, for this last emprise

　　   Make of me such a vessel of thy power

　　   As giving the beloved laurel asks!

　　One summit of Parnassus hitherto

　　   Has been enough for me, but now with both

　　   I needs must enter the arena left.

　　Enter into my bosom, thou, and breathe

　　   As at the time when Marsyas thou didst draw

　　   Out of the scabbard of those limbs of his.

　　O power divine, lend'st thou thyself to me

　　   So that the shadow of the blessed realm

　　   Stamped in my brain I can make manifest,

　　Thou'lt see me come unto thy darling tree,

　　   And crown myself thereafter with those leaves

　　   Of which the theme and thou shall make me worthy.

　　So seldom, Father, do we gather them

　　   For triumph or of Caesar or of Poet,

　　   (The fault and shame of human inclinations,)

　　That the Peneian foliage should bring forth

　　   Joy to the joyous Delphic deity,

　　   When any one it makes to thirst for it.

　　A little spark is followed by great flame;

　　   Perchance with better voices after me

　　   Shall prayer be made that Cyrrha may respond!

　　To mortal men by passages diverse

　　   Uprises the world's lamp; but by that one

　　   Which circles four uniteth with three crosses,

　　With better course and with a better star

　　   Conjoined it issues, and the mundane wax

　　   Tempers and stamps more after its own fashion.

　　Almost that passage had made morning there

　　   And evening here, and there was wholly white

　　   That hemisphere, and black the other part,

　　When Beatrice towards the left-hand side

　　   I saw turned round, and gazing at the sun;

　　   Never did eagle fasten so upon it!

　　And even as a second ray is wont

　　   To issue from the first and reascend,

　　   Like to a pilgrim who would fain return,

　　Thus of her action, through the eyes infused

　　   In my imagination, mine I made,

　　   And sunward fixed mine eyes beyond our wont.

　　There much is lawful which is here unlawful

　　   Unto our powers, by virtue of the place

　　   Made for the human species as its own.

　　Not long I bore it, nor so little while

　　   But I beheld it sparkle round about

　　   Like iron that comes molten from the fire;

　　And suddenly it seemed that day to day

　　   Was added, as if He who has the power

　　   Had with another sun the heaven adorned.

　　With eyes upon the everlasting wheels

　　   Stood Beatrice all intent, and I, on her

　　   Fixing my vision from above removed,

　　Such at her aspect inwardly became

　　   As Glaucus, tasting of the herb that made him

　　   Peer of the other gods beneath the sea.

　　To represent transhumanise in words

　　   Impossible were; the example, then, suffice

　　   Him for whom Grace the experience reserves.

　　If I was merely what of me thou newly

　　   Createdst, Love who governest the heaven,

　　   Thou knowest, who didst lift me with thy light!

　　When now the wheel, which thou dost make eternal

　　   Desiring thee, made me attentive to it

　　   By harmony thou dost modulate and measure,

　　Then seemed to me so much of heaven enkindled

　　   By the sun's flame, that neither rain nor river

　　   E'er made a lake so widely spread abroad.

　　The newness of the sound and the great light

　　   Kindled in me a longing for their cause,

　　   Never before with such acuteness felt;

　　Whence she, who saw me as I saw myself,

　　   To quiet in me my perturbed mind,

　　   Opened her mouth, ere I did mine to ask,

　　And she began: "Thou makest thyself so dull

　　   With false imagining, that thou seest not

　　   What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.

　　Thou art not upon earth, as thou believest;

　　   But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site,

　　   Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest."

　　If of my former doubt I was divested

　　   By these brief little words more smiled than spoken,

　　   I in a new one was the more ensnared;

　　And said: "Already did I rest content

　　   From great amazement; but am now amazed

　　   In what way I transcend these bodies light."

　　Whereupon she, after a pitying sigh,

　　   Her eyes directed tow'rds me with that look

　　   A mother casts on a delirious child;

　　And she began: "All things whate'er they be

　　   Have order among themselves, and this is form,

　　   That makes the universe resemble God.

　　Here do the higher creatures see the footprints

　　   Of the Eternal Power, which is the end

　　   Whereto is made the law already mentioned.

　　In the order that I speak of are inclined

　　   All natures, by their destinies diverse,

　　   More or less near unto their origin;

　　Hence they move onward unto ports diverse

　　   O'er the great sea of being; and each one

　　   With instinct given it which bears it on.

　　This bears away the fire towards the moon;

　　   This is in mortal hearts the motive power

　　   This binds together and unites the earth.

　　Nor only the created things that are

　　   Without intelligence this bow shoots forth,

　　   But those that have both intellect and love.

　　The Providence that regulates all this

　　   Makes with its light the heaven forever quiet,

　　   Wherein that turns which has the greatest haste.

　　And thither now, as to a site decreed,

　　   Bears us away the virtue of that cord

　　   Which aims its arrows at a joyous mark.

　　True is it, that as oftentimes the form

　　   Accords not with the intention of the art,

　　   Because in answering is matter deaf,

　　So likewise from this course doth deviate

　　   Sometimes the creature, who the power possesses,

　　   Though thus impelled, to swerve some other way,

　　(In the same wise as one may see the fire

　　   Fall from a cloud,) if the first impetus

　　   Earthward is wrested by some false delight.

　　Thou shouldst not wonder more, if well I judge,

　　   At thine ascent, than at a rivulet

　　   From some high mount descending to the lowland.

　　Marvel it would be in thee, if deprived

　　   Of hindrance, thou wert seated down below,

　　   As if on earth the living fire were quiet."

　　Thereat she heavenward turned again her face.