The Divine Comedy — Dante Alighieri

Camto XXIV. PARADISE. 353 Try this man on the points that pleaseth thee, Or light or hard, concerning that true Faith By which of old thou walkedst on the sea. If he loves well, and hopeth well, and hath *® Belief, is hid not to thee, since thou'st seen There, where one everything depicted seeth.

But since this realm hath made each citizen Through the true Faith to make its glories shine, 'Twere good to speak of it within his ken." ** Just as a sdiolar doth his thoughts combine And speaks not, till the master hath laid bare The question, to approve it, not define, So every argument did I prepare The while she spake, that I might ready be '^^ For such profession and such questioner.

" Speak, O good Christian : make it clear to see What is this Faith ?" on which I raised my front Towards the light whence this was breathed on me. Then turned to Beatrix, whose cheering wont Encouraged me, that I should outwards pour The water stored in my eternal fount. " May grace, which granteth to confess me o'er To the high leader of our Church, assoil With clear expression my thought's inmost lore !

Then I continued : " As the truthful style Of thy dear brother, father, writes it clear, Who, with thee, to the truth won Rome erewhile, Faith is the substance of things hoped for here, And argument of things that are not seen ; ^^ And this to me its essence doth appear. Then heard I : " Thou dost feel it right I ween, If thou well understand* st why Faith he brings. The substances and arguments between.

And quickly I : " The deep mysterious things Whose sight is granted to me here as boon, Are so concealed from mortal conmiunings, That there their being is in Faith alone. Upon the which is built Hope's soaring height : And therefore as a substance is it shown : Aind from this Faith, without all other sight, . 'Tis fit that man his reasoning powers should ply. And therefore as an argument 'tis hight.

354 PARA.DISE. Cahto XXIV. Then heard I : "If whate'er by leai*ning high Is gained below were but thus understood, ^ No place would be for sophist's casuistry. Thus breathed from out that love, which kindling glowed : Thereto was joined : " In metal and in print The coin is current, and I own it good.

But tell me of thy purse, dost bear it in't ?" ** And I : " I have it there so bright and round That nought can make me doubtful of its mint.'' Quickly there issued from the light profound Which there was beaming bright, ** This jewel good. Built upon which all virtue must be found, ** Whence did it come to thee ? " The bounteous flood O' the Holy Spirit, which upon the Old And the New Testament is shed abroad.

Is argument, so subtle in its fold Conclusive, that beside it to the view •* All demonstration as obtuse I hold. " The ancient proposition, and the new," After I heard, " which thee do so persuade. Why dost thou hold them for Divine and true ? And I : " The proof, which hath that truth displayed, *"* Is in the miracles, which Nature ne'er Wrought with her steel, nor on her anvil laid.

Was answered to me 2 " Say who makes thee 'ware Those miracles in truth to be the same Which they would vouch for ? others do not swear." ^^ " Had the world grown to Christian," I exclaim, " Without those miracles, this very one More power than all a hundredfold would claim. That thou didst enter poor and fasting, on The field, in which thou sowedst the holy plant, "* Which erst was vine, and now a briar has grown.

This finished, in that loffcy court each saint Shouted along their spheres, " One Qod we praise," In melody the which m Heaven they chaunt. And that high peer, whose questions me did raise, "* Examining, thus on from bough to bough, So that we neared unto the highest sprays. Began again : " The grace which courteth now With thy own mind, hath made thee ope thy mouth.

Just as it should have opened, until now ; ^ That I approve the whole that it avoweth ; But now thy credence to express were meet, And to what cause thy soul that credence oweth."

Canto XXV. PARADISE. 355 " O holy father, who in Gtod dost greet What thou believedst, so that thou didst go "* Within the sepulchre, ere younger feet," Thus I began : " thou wouldst that I should show The form of the belief to which I cleave, And also of its motive thou wouldst know. And I reply : I in one God believe, "^ Sole and eteme, who moveth all the Heaven With love, nor His own nature ere doth leave : And to such faith not only proofs are given. Both physical and metaphysical, But rather proves that truth the rained leaven "* Through Moses and the Psalms and Prophets all, The Gospel, and yourselves who wrote in turn, Because the Holy Ghost on ye did fall. And I believe in Persons Three Eteme, These I believe an Essence, One and Trine, ^** Where Singular and Plural I discern. Of that profoundest nature so Divine Which now I touch, my mind has caught the mark Beading so many a time the Gospel line. This is the source : this is the little spark *** Which broadens after to such living flame, And shines on me, like star in Heaven's high arc." As when a master hears some pleasing theme, His servant thence embraces, who doth stand Silent, once told the errand whence he came. So singing o'er me benediction bland, Girt me three times as I to silence drew The Apostolic light, at whose command I'd spoken : so I pleased with parlance true. Line 126. St. John zx. 4, 5, 6. In the origpnal Dante writes, " towa/rds the sepnlchre," which Yenturi considers a sHp, as John outran Peter : the slight alteration I have adopted reconciles the poem with John's account of the fact.

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