Paradiso by Dante Alighieri
translated by Robert & Jean Hollander
(New York: Anchor/Penguin, 1320/2007), 938
Paradiso Canto 1
The glory of Him who moves all things1
pervades the universe and shines
in one part more and in another less.
–Paradiso Canto 1. 1-3
As I gazed on her, I was changed within
–Paradiso Canto 1. 67
Paradiso Canto 2
to reach for angels' bread, which gives us life on earth,
yet never leaves us satisfied
–Paradiso Canto 2. 11-12
I shall now reshape your intellect,
thus deprived, with a light so vibrant
that your mind will quiver at the sight.
–Paradiso Canto 2. 109-111
Observe well how I pass along this way
to the truth you seek, so that in time
you may know how to ford the stream alone.
–Paradiso Canto 2. 124-126
Paradiso Canto 3
for the true light that brings them peace
does not allow their steps to stray
–Paradiso Canto 3. 32-33
Heavenly satisfaction:
Brother, the power of love subdues our will
so that we long for only what we have
and thirst for nothing else
...
And in His will is our peace.2
–Paradiso Canto 3. 70-72, 85
Paradiso Canto 4
Assuredly I have set it firmly in your mind
that a soul in bliss could never tell a lie,
since it is always near the primal Truth.
–Paradiso Canto 4. 94-96
I now see clearly that our intellect
cannot be satisfied until that truth enlighten it
beyond whose boundary no further truth extends.
–Paradiso Canto 4. 124-126
Paradiso Canto 5
fix it in your memory, for to hear
and not remember does not lead to knowledge
–Paradiso Canto 5. 41-42
Scripture and Tradition:
You have the Testaments, both New and Old,
and the shepherd of the Church to guide you.
Let these suffice for your salvation.
–Paradiso Canto 5. 76-78
Paradiso Canto 6
Historical revisionism:
Many a time have children wept
for the father's sin, and let him not think
that God will change His ensign for those lilies.
–Paradiso Canto 6. 109-111
Diversity of thought:
Differing voices make sweet music.
Just so our differing ranks in this our life
create sweet harmony among these wheels.
–Paradiso Canto 6. 124-126
Paradiso Canto 7
Sin alone is what enslaves him
–Paradiso Canto 7. 79
Paradiso Canto 8
Now what was behind you is before you.
–Paradiso Canto 8. 136
Paradiso Canto 9
God sees all, and your sight is so in-Himmed
–Paradiso Canto 9. 73
Paradiso Canto 10
Interpretability of Nature:
[God] made with such order all things that revolve
that he who studies it, in mind and in space,
cannot but taste of Him.
–Paradiso Canto 10. 4-6
Paradiso Canto 11
Now think what kind of man it took
to be a fit companion to maintain
the steadfast course of Peter's bark upon the sea
–Paradiso Canto 11. 118-120
Paradiso Canto 12
Nothing is worthy to rhyme with Christ:
He seemed indeed a messenger and intimate of Christ,
since the first love made manifest in him
was for the initial precept taught by Christ
–Paradiso Canto 12. 73-75
Paradiso Canto 13
Let the people, then, not be too certain
in their judgments, like those that harvest in their minds
corn still in the field before it ripens.
–Paradiso Canto 13. 130-132
Paradiso Canto 14
He seeks the root of still another truth
–Paradiso Canto 14. 12
The Trinity (single Substance, two Natures, three Persons):
That ever-living One and Two and Three
who reigns forever in Three and Two and One
–Paradiso Canto 14. 28-29
Paradiso Canto 15
words so profound I could not understand them
–Paradiso Canto 15. 39
Paradiso Canto 16
Our affections are ephemeral
–Paradiso Canto 16. 3
Silence:
It is more modest to be silent than to speak
–Paradiso Canto 16. 45
Paradiso Canto 17
The point that holds all time
–Paradiso Canto 17. 16
The arrow one expects comes slower
–Paradiso Canto 17. 27
Paradiso Canto 18
Beatrice, but also Mary:
That lady, who was leading me to God
–Paradiso Canto 18. 4
From feeling more delight in doing good
a man becomes aware from day to day
of his increasing virtue.
–Paradiso Canto 18. 58-60
Paradiso Canto 19
And thus it is clear that every lesser nature
is too small a vessel for that goodness
which has no limit, which is measured by itself alone.
–Paradiso Canto 19. 49-51
There they shall see the sorrow brought upon the Seine
by one who falsifies his country's coin
and who will die assaulted by a boar.
–Paradiso Canto 19. 118-120
Paradiso Canto 20
The sky, lit up before by him alone,
suddenly sparkles with a multitude of lights
which all reflect as single one.
–Paradiso Canto 20. 4-6
Such did that image seem to me, the very imprint
of the eternal Beauty, by whose will
all things become that which they truly are
–Paradiso Canto 20. 76-78
In this good is our good perfected,
for that which God wills we will too
–Paradiso Canto 20. 137-138
Paradiso Canto 21
O patience, what a heavy load you bear!
–Paradiso Canto 21. 135
Paradiso Canto 22
The flesh of mortals is so weak and dissolute
that good beginnings go astray down there, undone
before the newly planted oak can bring forth acorns
–Paradiso Canto 22. 85-87
Paradiso Canto 23
Open your eyes and see me as I am
–Paradiso Canto 23. 46
Then they remained there in my sight,
singing Regina celi with such sweetness
that my feeling of delight has never left me.
–Paradiso Canto 23. 127-129
Paradiso Canto 24
For the world to have turned to Christ,
I said, without miracles, that indeed was one
to outdo all others more than hundredfold.
–Paradiso Canto 24. 106-108
Paradiso Canto 25
Video: "Virtue forges a certain and sure connection between us and our final end"
Hope, I said, is the certain expectation
of future glory, springing
from heavenly grace and merit we have won.
–Paradiso Canto 25. 67-69
Paradiso Canto 26
I love the leaves with which the garden
of the eternal Gardener is in leaf
in measure of the good He has bestowed on them.
–Paradiso Canto 26. 64-66
Paradiso Canto 27
To the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
glory, cried all the souls of Paradise,
and I became drunk on the sweetness of their song.
–Paradiso Canto 27. 1-3
Corrupt popes, cf. Mt-07:
Ravenous wolves in shepherds' clothing
can be seen, from here above, in every pasture.
O God our defender, why do you not act?
–Paradiso Canto 27. 55-57
Paradiso Canto 28
Understand its motion is so swift
because it is spurred on by flaming love.
–Paradiso Canto 28. 44-45
Paradiso Canto 29
See now the height and breadth of the Eternal Worth,
one light, which shines dispersed among
so many mirrors yet remains
in Itself one, just as It was before.
–Paradiso Canto 29. 142-145
Paradiso Canto 30
The beauty that I saw transcends
all thought of beauty, and I must believe
that only its maker may savor it all.
–Paradiso Canto 30. 19-21
Paradiso Canto 31
Let your sight fly through this garden,
for seeing it will help prepare your eyes
to rise, along the beam of holy light.
...
Rather to the highest circles raise your eyes
so that you may behold the queen enthroned,
her to whom this realm is subject and devout.
–Paradiso Canto 31. 97-99, 115-117
Paradiso Canto 32
In this case, let the fact suffice
–Paradiso Canto 32. 66
Paradiso Canto 33
Your womb relit the flame of love
–Paradiso Canto 33. 7
Here my exalted vision lost its power.
But now my will and my desire, like wheels revolving
with an even motion, were turning with
the Love that moves the sun and all the other stars.
–Paradiso Canto 33. 143-145
Source: 100 Days of Dante
New Words
- appurtenance: That which belongs to something else; an adjunct; an appendage; an accessory (12)
- otoise: Lazy; indolent (101)
- viands: choice or delicious dish (101)
- munificence: Means of defense; fortification (459, 855)
- effulgence: extreme brilliancy; a flood of light (547)
Created: 2022-02-16-Wed
Updated: 2023-01-07-Sat
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cf. ~Confessions XIII.9: "Our peace lies in willing the good." ↩