Canto V of Paradise

The gift of free will.
See in them as in goddesses, not yet ready to let themselves loved.

 «S'io ti fiammeggio nel caldo d'amore
di là dal modo che 'n terra si vede,
sì che del viso tuo vinco il valore,

  non ti maravigliar; ché ciò procede
da perfetto veder, che, come apprende,
così nel bene appreso move il piede.

  Io veggio ben sì come già resplende
ne l'intelletto tuo l'etterna luce,
che, vista, sola e sempre amore accende

  e s'altra cosa vostro amor seduce,
non è se non di quella alcun vestigio,
mal conosciuto, che quivi traluce.

"If I appear to you sparkling with love, beyond what you see on earth, to the point that 
your eyes do not believe it, do not be surprised by this, it is due to my vision which is such that
I perceive the Good as much as I conceive the idea of it. I see very well that the eternal Flame 
fills all your carnal desires which, to see it only, lights up in you, a perpetual love; 
and if some other flame allures your love, it is only the illusion in your mind 
of this Flame which appears in him. 

You want to know if for wishes that you disavow, you can, by other goods, 
clear yourself, so that your soul will be safe from any remorse?" 


And Jeanne continued as follows: 
"The greatest gift that God gave at the creation was the free will; 
only the intelligent creatures were and are equipped with it. 
In the establishment of the pact between God and man, between  the man and the government of  men, 
between the wife and the husband, one sacrifies by a deliberated act, this invaluable treasure 
that nothing can compensate, which can have equal values to that of its own freedom. 

Then, do not take your wish so lightly! Be faithful but not as a blind man; it is better to admit having 
acted badly than doing worse by holding your word, as Agamemnon did by sacrificing 
his daughter Iphigenie, to obtain favorable winds from Aulis. If a bad woman calls you 
and invites you, be a man rather than a stupid sheep, do not imitate the lamb who leaves there the milk 
of its mother and, in its simplicity and its petulancy, play at fighting against its own shadow."


So, Jeanne spoke to me as I write it here; then She turned all ardent with desire, 
to this side where the world is most brilliant. Her silence and the transformation of Her spirit
imposed silence to my salacious mind, which already fed to other chimeras. 

So, we arrived at the second kingdom, as quickly as the time to say it. 
There, I saw such a joy in my lady as soon as She had penetrated in the light of this sky, 
that the planet became more brilliant. I saw more than a thousand splendours coming towards us, 
and we could hear from each one of them: 


"Here is, what finally brings us closer to the meaning of love." 

As each one approached us, one could see their souls
 filled with joy in the fulgurant clearness that emanated from them. 

Imagine reader, if I stopped my tale here, how anxious would you be to know more about it, 
and thus, you will understand my desire to see in these spirits, beyond their condition, 
as soon as they appeared to my eyes; but I beg you reader, do not judge me, 
there are on earth too many judges and not enough lovers. 


"Ho! well born soul, who has the privilege to visit us before having quit the earth, 
speak to us about you, or look at us, or come and play with us, or remain with us, 
or do what you will want as it will please you to do!" 


It is so, that spoke to me, one and each one of these souls as naive as they where pure, 
and Jeanne add to that as follows:
 
 "Speaks, speaks with insurance, and see in them 
as in goddesses, not yet ready to let themselves loved!" 


"I see how your frail body of young girl dress itself of its own light which spouts out from your tender eyes, 
since they scintillate as your smile bursts; but I do not know whom you are, nor why you occupy this place in heaven?" 


The young girl and her companions also, who now laughed all in joyfulness, increased thus, their radiation,
 and all wrapped up with this aura, they were satisfied to smile at me and to look at me with curiosity, and to turn 
around me, and to scrutinize me with their deep eyes, and to  pretend to love me without doing no more then laughing. 

And Jeanne seeing my disconfort, says to me: 

"I understand the shivering in your body; these young girls, adorable and naive, who do not yet,
 possess the attributes of my body but who transcends it in them, wake up in you an unquestionable disorder 
not due to the affection of the father. Do not react like the brute  who obeys the animal instinct in him,
 but consults your art in you, which only can make you forget  your bad inclinations
  and thus violate, the purity of these vulnerable virgins." 


And I answered to Jeanne:  
"I have never been a father so that I cannot recognize the shivering that runs 
through my body like so, but my soul says to me and I hear it very well, 
who call you Jeanne to come to my assistance and to melt yourself in me." 
 

And one of the virgins says to me:  
"We lived too young and knew too early the assaults of the fathers, 
of the clergymen, of the satyrs, and we left too early the earth without knowing 
all the Love that Heaven now gives us.
Do not be sad, beautiful foreigner, rejoice yourself rather and accompany our laughs." 


And they left in the light, my shivering was transformed into a prayer.