Canto XXXII

by Dante

　　Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator

　　   Assumed the willing office of a teacher,

　　   And gave beginning to these holy words:

　　"The wound that Mary closed up and anointed,

　　   She at her feet who is so beautiful,

　　   She is the one who opened it and pierced it.

　　Within that order which the third seats make

　　   Is seated Rachel, lower than the other,

　　   With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.

　　Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was

　　   Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole

　　   Of the misdeed said, 'Miserere mei,'

　　Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending

　　   Down in gradation, as with each one's name

　　   I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.

　　And downward from the seventh row, even as

　　   Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women,

　　   Dividing all the tresses of the flower;

　　Because, according to the view which Faith

　　   In Christ had taken, these are the partition

　　   By which the sacred stairways are divided.

　　Upon this side, where perfect is the flower

　　   With each one of its petals, seated are

　　   Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

　　Upon the other side, where intersected

　　   With vacant spaces are the semicircles,

　　   Are those who looked to Christ already come.

　　And as, upon this side, the glorious seat

　　   Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats

　　   Below it, such a great division make,

　　So opposite doth that of the great John,

　　   Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom

　　   Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell.

　　And under him thus to divide were chosen

　　   Francis, and Benedict, and Augustine,

　　   And down to us the rest from round to round.

　　Behold now the high providence divine;

　　   For one and other aspect of the Faith

　　   In equal measure shall this garden fill.

　　And know that downward from that rank which cleaves

　　   Midway the sequence of the two divisions,

　　   Not by their proper merit are they seated;

　　But by another's under fixed conditions;

　　   For these are spirits one and all assoiled

　　   Before they any true election had.

　　Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,

　　   And also in their voices puerile,

　　   If thou regard them well and hearken to them.

　　Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;

　　   But I will loosen for thee the strong bond

　　   In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.

　　Within the amplitude of this domain

　　   No casual point can possibly find place,

　　   No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;

　　For by eternal law has been established

　　   Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely

　　   The ring is fitted to the finger here.

　　And therefore are these people, festinate

　　   Unto true life, not 'sine causa' here

　　   More and less excellent among themselves.

　　The King, by means of whom this realm reposes

　　   In so great love and in so great delight

　　   That no will ventureth to ask for more,

　　In his own joyous aspect every mind

　　   Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace

　　   Diversely; and let here the effect suffice.

　　And this is clearly and expressly noted

　　   For you in Holy Scripture, in those twins

　　   Who in their mother had their anger roused.

　　According to the colour of the hair,

　　   Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme

　　   Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.

　　Without, then, any merit of their deeds,

　　   Stationed are they in different gradations,

　　   Differing only in their first acuteness.

　　'Tis true that in the early centuries,

　　   With innocence, to work out their salvation

　　   Sufficient was the faith of parents only.

　　After the earlier ages were completed,

　　   Behoved it that the males by circumcision

　　   Unto their innocent wings should virtue add;

　　But after that the time of grace had come

　　   Without the baptism absolute of Christ,

　　   Such innocence below there was retained.

　　Look now into the face that unto Christ

　　   Hath most resemblance; for its brightness only

　　   Is able to prepare thee to see Christ."

　　On her did I behold so great a gladness

　　   Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds

　　   Created through that altitude to fly,

　　That whatsoever I had seen before

　　   Did not suspend me in such admiration,

　　   Nor show me such similitude of God.

　　And the same Love that first descended there,

　　   "Ave Maria, gratia plena," singing,

　　   In front of her his wings expanded wide.

　　Unto the canticle divine responded

　　   From every part the court beatified,

　　   So that each sight became serener for it.

　　"O holy father, who for me endurest

　　   To be below here, leaving the sweet place

　　   In which thou sittest by eternal lot,

　　Who is the Angel that with so much joy

　　   Into the eyes is looking of our Queen,

　　   Enamoured so that he seems made of fire?"

　　Thus I again recourse had to the teaching

　　   Of that one who delighted him in Mary

　　   As doth the star of morning in the sun.

　　And he to me: "Such gallantry and grace

　　   As there can be in Angel and in soul,

　　   All is in him; and thus we fain would have it;

　　Because he is the one who bore the palm

　　   Down unto Mary, when the Son of God

　　   To take our burden on himself decreed.

　　But now come onward with thine eyes, as I

　　   Speaking shall go, and note the great patricians

　　   Of this most just and merciful of empires.

　　Those two that sit above there most enrapture

　　   As being very near unto Augusta,

　　   Are as it were the two roots of this Rose.

　　He who upon the left is near her placed

　　   The father is, by whose audacious taste

　　   The human species so much bitter tastes.

　　Upon the right thou seest that ancient father

　　   Of Holy Church, into whose keeping Christ

　　   The keys committed of this lovely flower.

　　And he who all the evil days beheld,

　　   Before his death, of her the beauteous bride

　　   Who with the spear and with the nails was won,

　　Beside him sits, and by the other rests

　　   That leader under whom on manna lived

　　   The people ingrate, fickle, and stiff-necked.

　　Opposite Peter seest thou Anna seated,

　　   So well content to look upon her daughter,

　　   Her eyes she moves not while she sings Hosanna.

　　And opposite the eldest household father

　　   Lucia sits, she who thy Lady moved

　　   When to rush downward thou didst bend thy brows.

　　But since the moments of thy vision fly,

　　   Here will we make full stop, as a good tailor

　　   Who makes the gown according to his cloth,

　　And unto the first Love will turn our eyes,

　　   That looking upon Him thou penetrate

　　   As far as possible through his effulgence.

　　Truly, lest peradventure thou recede,

　　   Moving thy wings believing to advance,

　　   By prayer behoves it that grace be obtained;

　　Grace from that one who has the power to aid thee;

　　   And thou shalt follow me with thy affection

　　   That from my words thy heart turn not aside."

　　And he began this holy orison.