Canto XIII of Paradise
How do you believe that the Virgin became pregnant?
Such they will be at the Last Judgement.
Imagini, chi bene intender cupe quel ch'i' or vidi - e ritegna l'image, mentre ch'io dico, come ferma rupe -, quindici stelle che 'n diverse plage lo ciel avvivan di tanto sereno che soperchia de l'aere ogne compage; imagini quel carro a cu' il seno basta del nostro cielo e notte e giorno, sì ch'al volger del temo non vien meno; imagini la bocca di quel corno che si comincia in punta de lo stelo a cui la prima rota va dintorno,
Imagine reader, if you want well , to understand what I then saw, and, while I speak, retain this image like an obviousness. Fifteen stars resplendent, in various areas of the sky, a clearness such as they eclipsed the density of the air; imagine a Carriage which becomes animated day and night in the field of the sky, so that it does not disappear even when it is at rest; also imagine, the beauty of these bodies which are born with the point from an axis, around which turns the first star, and that all these stars had released wires in the sky, such as did the girl of Minos, when she felt death coming, and that the rays of one placed itself on those of the other, they turn together but in opposite direction, and you will at most see a little of the true constellation, and of the double dance which turned around the point where I was; it exceeded as much what we usually see, that the escapade of your imagination is exceeded by the movement of the fastest sky. There, one did not pray Bacchus, but three female Divinities, whose dance and song were gracious, and these holy lights turned to us, already amused to speak to us. Then, the silence of these goddesses was broken by the light, which had told me the admirable life of the saint little brother Andre, the yound poor one God; he says to me: "When I completed my celestial works, a soft Love invited me to achieve another one. You believe that in the chest of Whom from where the rib of Adam was drawn, and who formed the beautiful face of Eve, whose curiosity is so unworthy to you today; and this Other rib which was bored by the lance, and which thus achieves the redemption of the sins of men; all the light contained in human nature was infused by this Power, who did one and the other, and consequently you are astonished by what I have previously said, when I declared that the Blessed Light, who shines in the fifth light, was equalized by no other virgin. Listen well to my matter and you will see that what you believe and what I say agree in the truth, like two and two makes four. All the human beings are the splendour of the Verb who generated the Mother, by the seed of Love which formed between them the Trinity. The perfection of this Trinity is reflected like a mirror, in the nine choruses of the angels, then it goes down from there while weakening until more not creating but lower and corruptible substances. The matter which composes the substances and their form, are not always identical: this is why the matter shines more or less according to the perfection of the forms from which it receives. Thus two trees of the same species will produce more or less good fruits. It is also the same for men then their intelligence, which are born with different geniuses. Nature is never perfect, it acts according to whether the artist, in possession of his art, has a precise hand or thathe trembles in front of the beauty of the model. However it arrives, some time, that the Holy Ghost, by the Love of the Verb and the Mother, prints in the creature the Idea of purity, of the First Virtue; the being thus created, reached all its perfection. It is such that was formely created the earth, worthy of all the perfection in the flesh of Adam, and it is from Adam that all the cruel beauty of Eve was created, who does your member tremble. How do you believe that the Virgin became pregnant? It is also that which made that the Virgin engendered Jesus-Christ; so that I approve your opinion, that never nature was not nor will not be what it was, in these two persons. However, if I stopped here, you could say to me: "How thus, this Blessed did not have any equal?" But so that appears well what does not appear, considers who she was and the cause which carried her to require, when it was told to her: "Asks it to me and I will be yours!" I did not say anything which can prevent you from understanding me well, that this one was a free man, and that he developed his reason to be worthy of his freedom, and not to know the geography of Heaven, or to know if, of what is necessary and contingent for him, he can never deduce that the necessity, or if it is advisable to admit that there is a First Motor who directs it, or if one can say that he knows for himself, that two and two make four. Therefore, if you put together what I said and what I add, reason is the incomparable science, in the free man, where will strike the stroke of my intention; and if you look with perspicacity the matter "He is above all men", you will see that they referred only to the human ones, which are numerous, whereas the free men are rare. Take them my words with this distinction, and thus they can agree with what you believe of the Creator, and of our Beloved Virgin. And that this be to you, a heavy burden to carry, in order to go slowly, like a tired man, towards the yes and the no that you do not see; because that one is most stupid among the stupid ones, which affirms or denies without making any distinction, in one as much as in the other case, this why it occurs that, the hasty opinion is often on a fast track, and that passion stops then the understanding. It is well unnecessarily to leave the shore to invent the truth, if you do not know the art of swimming, because one does not return from such a journey such as one left, and I have quite clear evidence of what I say, because so much philosophers and how many others, who went thus without knowing where, like theologists, preachers and missionnaries and these stupids who were to Freedom as swords which deformed the Truth. One cannot show no confidence when one judge of mathers, as whom who estimate his fortune before it came; because I saw well at the end of the deserts without limits, oases to distribute water, freshness and love; and I saw the proud and beautiful male at the beginning, deflower the virgins at every corner, then aging alone without ever having found the woman at the end of the journey. Let, soothsayers, women soothsayers, celebrities and coaxers, not believe, to have seen one sympathizing and the other indifferent, seeing them, thus, such as they will be at the Last Judgement; because one can be true and the other factitious, one a sinner and the other not."
Marco Polo ou le voyage imaginaire (La tragédie humaine, janvier 2000) © 1999 Jean-Pierre Lapointe
Theme musical: musique New Age (Muaj9c0f), empruntée aux Archives du Web.
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