Paradiso: A Verse Translation by Allen Mandelbaum

The Paradiso\ \ By Dante Alighieri \ Signet Classics\ Copyright © 2001 Dante Alighieri\ All right reserved.\ ISBN: 0451528050 \ \ \ Chapter One\ CANTO\ \ ILa gloria di colui che tutto move\ per l'universo penetra, e risplende\ in una parte piu e meno altrove.\ Nel ciel che piu de la sua luce prende4\ fu' io, e vidi cose che ridire\ ne sa ne puo chi di la su discende;\ perche appressando se al suo disire,7\ nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,\ che dietro la memoria non puo ire.\ Veramente quant' io del regno santo10\ ne la mia mente potei far tesoro,\ sara ora materia del mio canto.\ O buono Appollo, a l'ultimo lavoro13\ fammi del tuo valor si fatto vaso,\ come dimandi a dar l'amato alloro.\ Infino a qui l'un giogo di Parnaso16\ assai mi fu; ma or con amendue\ m'e uopo intrar ne l'aringo rimaso.\ Entra nel petto mio, e spira tue19\ si come quando Marsia traesti\ de la vagina de le membra sue.\ O divina virtu, se mi ti presti22\ tanto che l'ombra del beato regno\ segnata nel mio capo io manifesti,\ vedra'mi al pie del tuo diletto legno25\ venire, e coronarmi de le foglie\ che la materia e tu mi farai degno.\ Si rade volte, padre, se ne coglie28\ per triunfare o cesare o poeta,\ colpa e vergogna de l'umane voglie,\ \ Proem and Invocation to Apollo. Dante's passing beyond the human, beyond the earth, in heavenward ascent with Beatrice. His wonder. Beatrice on the Empyrean and the order of the universe.\ \ The glory of the One who moves all things\ permeates the universe and glows\ in one part more and in another less.\ I was within the heaven that receives4\ more of His light; and I saw things that he\ who from that height descends, forgets or can\ not speak; for nearing its desired end,7\ our intellect sinks into an abyss\ so deep that memory fails to follow it.\ Nevertheless, as much as I, within10\ my mind, could treasure of the holy kingdom\ shall now become the matter of my song.\ O good Apollo, for this final task\ make me the vessel of your excellence,\ what you, to merit your loved laurel, ask.\ Until this point, one of Parnassus' peaks16\ sufficed for me; but now I face the test,\ the agon that is left; I need both crests.\ Enter into my breast; within me breathe19\ the very power you made manifest\ when you drew Marsyas out from his limbs' sheath.\ O godly force, if you so lend yourself22\ to me, that I might show the shadow of\ the blessed realm inscribed within my mind,\ then you would see me underneath the tree25\ you love; there I shall take as crown the leaves\ of which my theme and you shall make me worthy.\ So seldom, father, are those garlands gathered28\ for triumph of a ruler or a poet--\ a sign of fault or shame in human wills--\ \ che parturir letizia in su la lieta31\ delfica deita dovria la fronda\ peneia, quando alcun di se asseta.\ Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda:34\ forse di retro a me con miglior voci\ si preghera perche Cirra risponda.\ Surge ai mortali per diverse foci37\ la lucerna del mondo; ma da quella\ che quattro cerchi giugne con tre croci,\ con miglior corso e con migliore stella40\ esce congiunta, e la mondana cera\ piu a suo modo tempera e suggella.\ Fatto avea di la mane e di qua sera43\ tal foce, e quasi tutto era la bianco\ quello emisperio, e l'altra parte nera,\ quando Beatrice in sul sinistro fianco46\ vidi rivolta e riguardar nel sole:\ aguglia si non li s'affisse unquanco.\ E si come secondo raggio suole49\ uscir del primo e risalire in suso,\ pur come pelegrin che tornar vuole,\ cosi de l'atto suo, per li occhi infuso52\ ne l'imagine mia, il mio si fece,\ e fissi li occhi al sole oltre nostr' uso.\ Molto e licito la, che qui non lece55\ a le nostre virtu, merce del loco\ fatto per proprio de l'umana spece.\ Io nol soffersi molto, ne si poco,58\ ch'io nol vedessi sfavillar dintorno,\ com' ferro che bogliente esce del foco;\ e di subito parve giorno a giorno61\ essere aggiunto, come quei che puote\ avesse il ciel d'un altro sole addorno.\ Beatrice tutta ne l'etterne rote64\ fissa con li occhi stava; e io in lei\ le luci fissi, di la su rimote.\ Nel suo aspetto tal dentro mi fei,67\ qual si fe Glauco nel gustar de l'erba\ che 'l fe consorto in mar de li altri dei.\ \ that when Peneian branches can incite31\ someone to long and thirst for them, delight\ must fill the happy Delphic deity.\ Great fire can follow a small spark: there may34\ be better voices after me to pray\ to Cyrrha's god for aid-that he may answer.\ The lantern of the world approaches mortals37\ by varied paths: but on that way which links\ four circles with three crosses, it emerges\ joined to a better constellation and40\ along a better course, and it can temper\ and stamp the world's wax more in its own manner.\ Its entry from that point of the horizon43\ brought morning there and evening here;\ almost all of that hemisphere was white-while ours\ was dark-when I saw Beatrice turn round46\ and left, that she might see the sun: no eagle\ has ever stared so steadily at it.\ And as a second ray will issue from49\ the first and reascend, much like a pilgrim\ who seeks his home again, so on her action,\ fed by my eyes to my imagination,52\ my action drew, and on the sun I set\ my sight more than we usually do.\ More is permitted to our powers there55\ than is permitted here, by virtue of\ that place, made for mankind as its true home.\ I did not bear it long, but not so briefly58\ as not to see it sparkling round about,\ like molten iron emerging from the fire;\ and suddenly it seemed that day had been61\ added to day, as if the One who can\ had graced the heavens with a second sun.\ The eyes of Beatrice were all intent64\ on the eternal circles; from the sun,\ I turned aside: I set my eyes on her.\ In watching her, within me I was changed67\ as Glaucus changed, tasting the herb that made\ him a companion of the other sea gods.\ \ Trasumanar significar per verba70\ non si poria; pero l'essemplo basti\ a cui esperienza grazia serba.\ S'i' era sol di me quel che creasti73\ novellamente, amor che 'l ciel governi,\ tu 'l sai, che col tuo lume mi levasti.\ Quando la rota che tu sempiterni76\ desiderato, a se mi fece atteso\ con l'armonia che temperi e discerni,\ parvemi tanto allor del cielo acceso79\ de la fiamma del sol, che pioggia o fiume\ lago non fece alcun tanto disteso.\ La novita del suono e 'l grande lume82\ di lor cagion m'accesero un disio\ mai non sentito di cotanto acume.\ Ond' ella, che vedea me si com' io,85\ a quietarmi l'animo commosso,\ pria ch'io a dimandar, la bocca aprio\ e comincio: "Tu stesso ti fai grosso88\ col falso imaginar, si che non vedi\ cio che vedresti se l'avessi scosso.\ Tu non se' in terra, si come tu credi;91\ ma folgore, fuggendo il proprio sito,\ non corse come tu ch'ad esso riedi.\ "S'io fui del primo dubbio disvestito94\ per le sorrise parolette brevi,\ dentro ad un nuovo piu fu' inretitoe\ dissi: "Gia contento requievi97\ di grande ammirazion; ma ora ammiro\ com' io trascenda questi corpi levi.\ "Ond' ella, appresso d'un pio sospiro,100\ li occhi drizzo ver' me con quel sembiante\ che madre fa sovra figlio deliro,\ e comincio: "Le cose tutte quante103\ hanno ordine tra loro, e questo e forma\ che l'universo a Dio fa simigliante.\ Qui veggion l'alte creature l'orma106\ de l'etterno valore, il qual e fine\ al quale e fatta la toccata norma.\ \ Passing beyond the human cannot be70\ worded: let Glaucus serve as simile--\ until grace grant you the experience.\ Whether I only was the part of me73\ that You created last, You--governing\ the heavens-know: it was Your light that raised me.\ When that wheel which You make eternal through76\ the heavens' longing for You drew me with\ the harmony You temper and distinguish,\ the fire of the sun then seemed to me79\ to kindle so much of the sky, that rain\ or river never formed so broad a lake.\ The newness of the sound and the great light82\ incited me to learn their cause-I was\ more keen than I had ever been before.\ And she who read me as I read myself,85\ to quiet the commotion in my mind,\ opened her lips before I opened mine\ to ask, and she began: "You make yourself88\ obtuse with false imagining; you can\ not see what you would see if you dispelled it.\ You are not on the earth as you believe;91\ but lightning, flying from its own abode,\ is less swift than you are, returning home.\ "While I was freed from my first doubt by these94\ brief words she smiled to me, I was yet caught\ in new perplexity. I said: "I was\ content already; after such great wonder,97\ I rested. But again I wonder how\ my body rises past these lighter bodies.\ "At which, after a sigh of pity, she100\ settled her eyes on me with the same look\ a mother casts upon a raving child,\ and she began: "All things, among themselves,103\ possess an order; and this order is\ the form that makes the universe like God.\ Here do the higher beings see the imprint106\ of the Eternal Worth, which is the end\ to which the pattern I have mentioned tends.\ \ Ne l'ordine ch'io dico sono accline109\ tutte nature, per diverse sorti,\ piu al principio loro e men vicine;\ onde si muovono a diversi porti112\ per lo gran mar de l'essere, e ciascuna\ con istinto a lei dato che la porti.\ Questi ne porta il foco inver' la luna;115\ questi ne' cor mortali e permotore;\ questi la terra in se stringe e aduna;\ ne pur le creature che son fore118\ d'intelligenza quest' arco saetta,\ ma quelle c'hanno intelletto e amore.\ La provedenza, che cotanto assetta,121\ del suo lume fa 'l ciel sempre quieto\ nel qual si volge quel c'ha maggior fretta;\ e ora li, come a sito decreto,124\ cen porta la virtu di quella corda\ che cio che scocca drizza in segno lieto.\ Vero e che, come forma non s'accorda127\ molte fiate a l'intenzion de l'arte,\ perch' a risponder la materia e sorda,\ cosi da qesto corso si diparte130\ talor la creatura, c'ha podere\ di piegar, cosi pinta, in altra parte;\ e si come veder si puo cadere133\ foco di nube, si l'impeto primo\ l'atterra torto da falso piacere.\ Non dei piu ammirar, se bene stimo,136\ lo tuo salir, se non come d'un rivo\ se d'alto monte scende giuso ad imo.\ Maraviglia sarebbe in te se, privo139\ d'impedimento, giu ti fossi assiso,\ com' a terra quiete in foco vivo."\ Quinci rivolse inver' lo cielo il viso.142\ \ Within that order, every nature has109\ its bent, according to a different station,\ nearer or less near to its origin.\ Therefore, these natures move to different ports112\ across the mighty sea of being, each\ given the impulse that will bear it on.\ This impulse carries fire to the moon:115\ this is the motive force in mortal creatures:\ this binds the earth together, makes it one.\ Not only does the shaft shot from this bow118\ strike creatures lacking intellect, but those\ who have intelligence, and who can love.\ The Providence that has arrayed all this121\ forever quiets-with Its light-that heaven\ in which the swiftest of the spheres revolves;\ to there, as toward a destined place, we now124\ are carried by the power of the bow\ that always aims its shaft at a glad mark.\ Yet it is true that, even as a shape127\ may, often, not accord with art's intent,\ since matter may be unresponsive, deaf,\ so, from this course, the creature strays at times130\ because he has the power, once impelled,\ to swerve elsewhere; as lightning from a cloud\ is seen to fall, so does the first impulse,133\ when man has been diverted by false pleasure,\ turn him toward earth. You should-if I am right--\ not feel more marvel at your climbing than136\ you would were you considering a stream\ that from a mountain's height falls to its base.\ It would be cause for wonder in you if,139\ no longer hindered, you remained below,\ as if, on earth, a living flame stood still."\ Then she again turned her gaze heavenward. 142\ \ Continues... \ \ \ \ Excerpted from The Paradiso by Dante Alighieri Copyright © 2001 by Dante Alighieri. Excerpted by permission.\ All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.\ Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. \ \

\ Christian Science MonitorTough and supple, tender and violent…vigorous, vernacular…Mandelbaum's Dante will stand high among modern translations.\ \