Canto XIX of Paradise
image Gustave Moreau

The beautiful image of Love and the sermon of the blessed ones.
Whom who is the architect of the Kingdom of the Empyree.

Parea dinanzi a me con l'ali aperte la bella image che nel dolce frui liete facevan l'anime conserte; parea ciascuna rubinetto in cui raggio di sole ardesse sì acceso, che ne' miei occhi rifrangesse lui. E quel che mi convien ritrar testeso, non portò voce mai, né scrisse incostro, né fu per fantasia già mai compreso; ch'io vidi e anche udi' parlar lo rostro, e sonar ne la voce e «io» e «mio», quand'era nel concetto e 'noi' e 'nostro'.


RETURN TO THE PORTAL OF HELL


She was standing in front of me, the beautiful image of Love, her wings largely open, letting see the thousand merry souls that composed it. Each one seemed to me as a ruby on which a sunbeam shone, so burning that it was reflecting in my eyes. What I will depict to you, dear reader, no other tried to do it before me, neither in his writings, neither in his voice, nor while using his imagination; because I saw and I heard the bird open the nozzle and speak as follows: "Because I was just and pious, I am now exalted in this glory that, even with the largest of desires, you could not reach it; I left on earth, many works which the perverts admire but do not condescend to follow." From this image made of as many souls in love and happy, was released such a heat as in a ardent blazing inferno, but she spokes with only one voice. And I answered to this voice: "Oh, perpetual flowers of the eternal joy, I recognize your single perfume; alleviate my desire after this great terrestrial fasting who left me without carnal nourrishment. I know that if the divine justice is reflected in the mirror of a kingdom which is unknown to me, yours will however be able to recognize me. See how I am ready to listen to you, you who know the doubt which dwells, since such a long time, my spirit." Then, I saw the emblem agitating itself; like does a falcon delivered of its hat, it moves the head and it is delighted by beating its wings, then it shows its desire to fly away by beating its wings; from a chorus formed of thousands of souls, I then heard a song which seemed to praise the divine grace and which is only possible up there. Then she says, this radiant image: "Whom who is the architect of the Kingdom of the Empyree and who regulated, there, what is seen and what is hidden, could not install all His virtue without His verb reigning there well above. The proof is that Lucifer, who was the highest of the creatures, could not reach the light, not having reached the perfection in His being; from that we should understand, that a lower being is a too narrow receptacle to contain the Good which is without limits. Your sight is only one negligible ray of the supreme Intelligence, and from its nature, it is not powerful enough to distinguish the Spirit of God beyond his appearances. Your glance cannot penetrate in the eternal justice, as your eye which sees swimming the fish close to the shore and which suddenly loses the sight in the abyssals zone of the open sea, however, all at the bottom, the life exists as much. You are blinded by the demon, the concupiscence of the flesh, the terrestrial pleasures, these venoms which are only darkness; there is no other light than the revelation that nothing never disturbs. Now, you see more clearly from the divine justice, all these questions, which for you, were without answer. See whom who is born at the extreme limits of the world, there, where no one speaks about Love, where nothing is read nor is written on the subject; whom whose desires and actions are without sin, as much in her flesh then in her spirit; if she suddenly died without baptism and without having the faith, what preme justice then, allows Herself to condemn her if she did not sin and that she does not have the faith? Who is this avenger God who believes to judge her and who only has a short sight? How the justice of God could be so unjust and hold for those in which she appears, the exclusive joy of the supreme Beatitud? Do you wrongly believe that the supreme Good is only reserved to you, you the Gentille with your eyes of fire, who reveals your breast and refuses giving birth, or you the virtuous Abyssinian who distributes the pagan charity, or you the prudish Iranian, with your glance veiled by the outmoded dogmas of Allah, or you the Asiatic, greedy to love, who seeks the supreme happiness in the laws of the hazard, or you the American indian outraged by the Conquistador, or you the spouse of your Master the Hindoustan, or you the girl, dispenser of the carnal Charity? You who received the good of the Scriptures to guide you, coarse spirit, too attached to the matters of the earth, but how do you believe that the justice of God can be so unjust? Such are my words, you mortal, clumsy individual, who hardly hear them." Then these glaring fires of the Holy Spirit stopped, remaining in the emblem, and the voice began again as follows: "To this kingdom, will not only go up those, who will have received the forgiveness of the confessional, or these others who go to the pagan ones shouting as follows: "Christ! Christ!" because they will be, at the last judgement, damned, or less close to God that those who did not know Christ but practice His works and His grace. What won't you say, and will you shout to injustice, missionnaries and preachers, canons and patronesses, prophets of Christ or Mahomet, fornicators and sodomites, when you will see open, the book where all your dishonouring acts are registered?"



Marco Polo ou le voyage imaginaire (La tragédie humaine, janvier 2000) © 1999 Jean-Pierre Lapointe
Theme musical: The deer hunter de Myers Stanley, emprunté aux Archives du Web.
Important Notice: any photos or fragments of photos subject to copyright will be removed on notice.


CANTO XX OF PARADISE