For his own folly by himself aton'd."Fix now thine eye, intently as thou canst, On th' everlasting counsel, and explore, Instructed by my words, the dread abyss.
"Man in himself had ever lack'd the means Of satisfaction, for he could not stoop Obeying, in humility so low,
As high he, disobeying, thought to soar: And for this reason he had vainly tried Out of his own sufficiency to pay
The rigid satisfaction. Then behooved
That God should by his own ways lead him back
Unto the life, from whence he fell, restor'd: By both his ways, I mean, or one alone.
But since the deed is ever priz'd the more,
The more the doer's good intent appears,
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Goodness celestial, whose broad signature
Is on the universe, of all its ways
To raise ye up, was fain to leave out none, Nor aught so vast or so magnificent, Either for him who gave or who receiv'd Between the last night and the primal day,
Was or can be. For God more bounty show'd. Giving himself to make man capable
Of his return to life, than had the terms Been mere and unconditional release. And for his justice, every method else
Were all too scant, had not the Son of God
Humbled himself to put on mortal flesh.
"Now, to fulfil each wish of thine, remains I somewhat further to thy view unfold. That thou mayst see as clearly as myself.
"I see, thou sayst, the air, the fire I see,
The earth and water, and all things of them Compounded, to corruption turn, and soon Dissolve. Yet these were also things create, Because, if what were told me, had been true They from corruption had been therefore free.
"The angels, O my brother! and this clime
Wherein thou art, impassible and pure, I call created, as indeed they are
In their whole being. But the elements,
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Which thou hast nam'd, and what of them is made, Are by created virtue' inform'd: create
Their substance, and create the' informing virtue
In these bright stars, that round them circling move
The soul of every brute and of each plant, The ray and motion of the sacred lights, With complex potency attract and turn.
But this our life the' eternal good inspires
Immediate, and enamours of itself; So that our wishes rest for ever here.
"And hence thou mayst by inference conclude
Our resurrection certain, if thy mind Consider how the human flesh was fram'd, When both our parents at the first were made."
CANTO VIII
The world was in its day of peril dark Wont to believe the dotage of fond love From the fair Cyprian deity, who rolls
In her third epicycle, shed on men
By stream of potent radiance: therefore they
Of elder time, in their old error blind,
Not her alone with sacrifice ador'd
And invocation, but like honours paid
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To Cupid and Dione, deem'd of them
Her mother, and her son, him whom they feign'd
To sit in Dido's bosom: and from her,
Whom I have sung preluding, borrow'd they The appellation of that star, which views, Now obvious and now averse, the sun.
I was not ware that I was wafted up
Into its orb; but the new loveliness
That grac'd my lady, gave me ample proof That we had entered there. And as in flame A sparkle is distinct, or voice in voice Discern'd, when one its even tenour keeps, The other comes and goes; so in that light
I other luminaries saw, that cours'd
In circling motion, rapid more or less, As their eternal phases each impels.
Never was blast from vapour charged with cold, Whether invisible to eye or no,
Descended with such speed, it had not seem'd
To linger in dull tardiness, compar'd
To those celestial lights, that tow'rds us came, Leaving the circuit of their joyous ring, Conducted by the lofty seraphim.
And after them, who in the van appear'd, Such an hosanna sounded, as hath left
Desire, ne'er since extinct in me, to hear
Renew'd the strain. Then parting from the rest
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One near us drew, and sole began: "We all
Are ready at thy pleasure, well dispos'd
To do thee gentle service. We are they,
To whom thou in the world erewhile didst Sing
'O ye! whose intellectual ministry
Moves the third heaven!' and in one orb we roll, One motion, one impulse, with those who rule Princedoms in heaven; yet are of love so full, That to please thee 't will be as sweet to rest."
After mine eyes had with meek reverence Sought the celestial guide, and were by her Assur'd, they turn'd again unto the light
Who had so largely promis'd, and with voice That bare the lively pressure of my zeal, "Tell who ye are," I cried. Forthwith it grew
In size and splendour, through augmented joy; And thus it answer'd: "A short date below
The world possess'd me. Had the time been more, Much evil, that will come, had never chanc'd.
My gladness hides thee from me, which doth shine
Around, and shroud me, as an animal
In its own silk unswath'd. Thou lov'dst me well, And had'st good cause; for had my sojourning Been longer on the earth, the love I bare thee
Had put forth more than blossoms. The left bank,
That Rhone, when he hath mix'd with Sorga, laves.
"In me its lord expected, and that horn
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Of fair Ausonia, with its boroughs
