Paradiso -- Canto XIX
The Eagle on Divine Justice
Before me now with outspread wings appeared
The gorgeous image which those weaving souls,
Delighting in their sweet enjoyment, made.
Each one of them seemed like a little ruby
5 In which the sun’s rays burst with such bright flame
That it reflected light straight to my eyes.
And what I now am called on to recount
Never has voice spoken nor ink written,
Nor has imagination ever grasped it.
10 For I saw and I heard the beak speak up
And sound out with its voice both I and Mine
When really it intended We and Our.
"For being just and dutiful," it began,
"I am exalted to that height of glory
15 Which no desire is able to outreach,
"While, there on earth, I left a memory
Which even evildoers wish to praise,
Although they do not follow its example."
As many embers make one single heat,
20 So many loves sound out one single voice
Which issues from one image of them all.
Then I addressed them, "O perennial flowers
Of everlasting happiness! you cause
All your perfumes to seem to me one scent!
25 "Breathe out and free me from the mighty fast
That for too long has kept me hungering,
Finding no food on earth to ease the pain.
"I know well that if there are other kingdoms
Which here in heaven mirror God’s high justice,
30 Yours does not reflect it through a veil.
"You know how eagerly I ready myself
To listen, and you know the question which
From days of old has made me fast with doubt."
Just as a falcon, slipping from its hood,
35 Rears and shakes its head and flaps its wings,
Showing its spirit, making itself handsome,
So I saw move that banner which was woven
With praises for the grace of God, with songs
Such as they know who there rejoice on high.
40 The voice began then, "He who turned his compass
Around the limits of the world, and in it
Marked out much that is hidden and revealed,
"Could not so stamp his power on the whole
Universe, but that his Word must still
45 Remain in infinite superiority.
"The proof of this is in that first proud angel
Who was the pinnacle of every creature
And who fell unripe, not waiting for the light:
"So we can see that every lesser nature
50 Is too slight a container for that Good
Which is self-measuring and limitless.
"Your vision, then, which of necessity
Is only one of the rays of the Mind
Which permeates all things with plenitude,
55 "Can never, by its nature, lack the power
But that it should perceive its origin
Is far beyond all that occurs to it.
"The sight, then, that is granted to your world
May penetrate within eternal justice
60 No further than the eye into the sea.
"Though from the shore the eye can see the bottom,
It does not see it on the open sea;
Yet it is there, but hidden in the depths.
"Light is not light unless it come from that
65 Serene and cloudless Source: else it is darkness,
The shadow and the poison of our flesh.
"Now then, the hiding-place, which has concealed
From you the living justice you so often
Called into question, lies well open to you.
70 "For you would say, ‘A man’s born on the bank
Along the Indus, and no one is there
Who ever speaks or reads or writes of Christ.
" ‘Yet everything he wills or does is good,
So far as human reason can perceive,
75 Without a sin in living or in speaking.
" ‘Unbaptized he dies, and without faith.
Where is the justice that condemns this man?
What is his fault if he does not believe?’
"Now who are you to sit upon the seat
80 Of judgment at a thousand miles away
When your short sight sees just a foot ahead?
"Surely, were Scriptures not set over you
As guide, for him who would split hairs with me
There would be wondrous chance for questioning.
85 "O animals of earth, O gross of mind!
Good in itself, the primal Will has never
Moved from itself which is the highest Good.
"All in accord with it is just, and no
Created good draws this Will to itself
90 Unless, by raying down, the Will directs it."
Just as the stork wheels round above her nest
After she has fed her young their food,
And as each bird she fed looks up at her,
So did the blessed emblem turn, and so
95 I lifted up my eyes, while it, impelled
By many inspirations, moved its wings.
Wheeling it sang, and said, "As are my notes
To you who do not comprehend them, such
Is the eternal judgment to you mortals."
100 After the Holy Spirit’s glowing flames
Had quieted, the voice still in the ensign
Which made the Romans awesome to the world
Began again, "None ever mounted to
This kingdom who did not believe in Christ,
105 Before or since he was nailed to the tree.
"But mark this: many who cry out ‘Christ, Christ,’
Will be less close to him on Judgment Day
Than someone who may not have known of Christ.
"The Ethiopian shall damn such Christians
110 When the two companies shall be divided,
One rich forever and the other poor.
"What will the Persian then say to your kings
When they shall see the volume opened wide
In which their infamies are all recorded?
115 "There shall be seen among the deeds of Albert
One act which soon will set the pen in motion,
By which the realm of Prague will turn a desert.
"There shall be seen the grief brought on the Seine
By that man who will counterfeit the coinage
120 And whom the blow of a wild boar will kill.
"There shall be seen the pride that sharpens thirst
And makes the Scot and Englishman so mad
That neither one can stay within his borders.
"Seen too shall be the lusting and soft living
125 Of both kings of Bohemia and Spain,
Who never knew courageousness or wished to.
"Seen too the Cripple of Jerusalem
Whose goodness is enough to dot an i,
While his misdeeds would fill an alphabet.
130 "Seen too shall be the greed and cowardice
Of him who was the ward of Fire Island
On which Anchises ended his long life.
"And to help you discern his paltriness,
His record shall be written with few letters
135 Which will note down a great deal in small space.
"And the foul acts of his uncle and his brother,
Which heaped shame on so famed a lineage
And on two crowns, shall be made plain to all.
"And both kings of Norway and of Portugal
140 Shall be known there, and seen the lord of Rascia
Who conned the coins of Venice to his loss.
"O happy Hungary, if she can preserve
Herself from more mishandling! O happy Navarre,
If she can make herself a mountain stronghold!
145 "And all should credit that, in pledge of this,
Already Nicosia and Famagosta
Complain and wail because their beast of burden
"Will not break off from the rest of the herd."
