menu_book Chapter 69

chapter sixty nine of jerusalem to revelations a quartet of spiritual experience by william blake and others this the seventh heaven saturn the happiness of contemplation the golden ladder predestination saint peter damien and now mine eyes upon my lady's face were fixed again and therewithal my mind which from all other objects had withdrawn nor was she smiling then but should i smile she said addressing me

like semele wouldst thou become when she to ashes turned because my beauty which along the stairs of this eternal palace brighter burns as thou hast seen the higher we ascend is so resplendent that thy mortal strength at its effulgence were it not restrained would be as is a bough which lightning grins up to the seventh splendour we are raised which now beneath the burning lion's breast is raying downward mingled with his strength intently fix thy mind behind thine eyes and cause them to be mirrors of the figure which in this mirror will appear to thee he that should know what in the blessed face the nature of my vision's pasture was when i transferred me to another care

would know since one was outweighed by the other how gladly i obeyed my heavenly guide within the crystal which as round the world it whirls bears its illustrious leader's name under whose rule all wickedness lay dead coloured like gold whereon a sunbeam shone a ladder i beheld which so high up ascended that my eye pursued it not i saw moreover coming down its steps so many glowing splendours that i thought that every star seen shining in the sky had been poured out of it and even as doors as is their natural wont when day begins together move to warm their chilly plumes and then without returning some fly off and some go back to whence they started first while others whirling in a circle stay

such was it seemed to me the fashion here within the sparkling throng which came together whene'er they met upon a certain round and that which nearest to me there remained became so bright that in my thoughts i said i clearly see the love thou showest me but she whence i await the how and when of silence and of speech keep still hence i against my will do well by asking naught she thereupon who in the sight of him who seeth everything my silence saw said unto me appease thy warm desire and i began my merit doth not make me worthy of thy reply but for the sake of her who granteth me the right to ask make known to me blessed life that art concealed in thine own joy

the cause which draweth thee so closely to my side and tell me why that gentle symphony of paradise is silent in this wheel which down below sounds so devoutly through the other spheres thy hearing is as mortal as thy sight it answered me there is no singing here because of that which hinders beatrice from smiling down the holy ladder steps have i so far descended but to give thee a welcome with my words and with the light which mantles me nor hath a greater love caused me to be more ready for as much or more love burns up yonder as those flames revealed to thee but that great charity which makes us ready servants of the council which rules the world allots here as thou seest

i well perceive o holy lamp said i how that free love is in this court enough for following the eternal providence but this is what seems hard for me to see why thou alone among thy consorts here predestinated wert for just this task no sooner had i come to my last word than like a rapid millstone whirling ground the light had of its middle made its centre and then the love within it answered me piercing the light wherein i'm here embosomed a ray of light divine upon me falls whose virtue as it mingles with my sight so lifts me o'er myself that i behold that highest essence whence it emanates hence comes the joy with which i am flaming now for with my sight as far as it is clear i equalise the clearness of my flame and yet the most enlightened soul in heaven the seraph who hath eyes most fixed on god

would not avail to satisfy thy question for what thou askest plummeth so the depths of god's eternal statute that from all created vision it is cut away and to the mortal world on thy return carry this charge that it presume no more to move its feet toward such a distant goal the mind which shineth here on earth is smoky consider hence how it can do down there what though assumed to heaven it cannot do so all conclusive were his words to me that giving up the question i confined me to asking humbly of him who he was tween italy's two seashores cliffs arise not very far from thine own native place so high that thunders peal much lower dern and form a lofty ridge called

neath which a hermitage is consecrate whose wont to worship only gives it up he thus began for me his third address and then continuing said to serving god i there became so steadfastly devoted that feeding upon olive-juice alone i readily endured both heat and cold and was with thought's contemplative content that cloister's wont it was to yield these heavens abundant fruit but it hath now become so empty that its state must soon be known in that place i was known as peter damian and shining peter in our lady's house i was upon the adriatic shore but little mortal life remained to me when i was sought and forced to take the hat which always passes on from bad to worse lean and barefooted cephas came and then the holy spirit's mighty vessel came eating the food of any hostelry

our modern shepherds now on either side need help to prop them help they weigh so much to guide and help to hold them up behind they cover so their pulperies with their cloaks that two beasts walk beneath a single hide o patience that doth tolerate so much more flamelets at these words i saw descend from step to step and whirl and every whirl caused each of them to grow more beautiful and round this flame they came and having stopped uttered so deep a cry that none could here resemble it nor did i understand its words its thunder overcame me so paradiso twenty two the seventh heaven saturn saint benedict the eighth or starry heaven the twins oppressed with stupor

to my guide i turned as would a little child who always runs for help to where he most confides and she as doth a mother who at once assists her pale and breathless offspring with her voice whose wont is to assure him said to me knowest thou not that thou art now in heaven and knowest thou not that all of heaven is holy and that of good zeal cometh all done here to what extent the song as well as i by smiling would have changed thee thou canst now imagine since the cry has shocked thee so in it if thou hadst understood its prayers already were that vengeance known to thee which thou shalt see before thou die our sword which thou shalt see before thou die our sword up here

cuts nor in haste nor tardily save as to one it seems who waits for it with either apprehension or desire but turn thyself around toward others now for many illustrious spirits shalt thou see if as i tell thee thou direct thine eyes mine eyes i then directed as she pleased and saw a hundred little spheres which gathering by mutual rays each other fairer made like one i was who checks within himself the gold of his desire and dares not ask so great his fear lest he may ask too much the largest and most lustrous of those pearls came forward thereupon to sate my wish concerning it within it then i heard

if thou as i do couldst behold the love which burns among us here thy thoughts would be expressed but lest by waiting thou delay thy lofty aim i'll answer now the thought which causes thee to so restrain thyself that mountain on whose slope cassino stands was once frequented on its top by folk who both deluded were and ill-disposed and he am i who first up yonder bore the name of him who carried down to earth the truth which here exalteth us so much and such abundant grace upon me shun that i withdrew the neighbouring villages from that vain worship which seduced the world these other fires were all contemplatives men who were kindled by the heat which brings the flowers and fruits of holiness to birth here is macarius romweild is here

and here are those my brethren who remained in cloisters and who steadfast kept their hearts and i to him the affection shown by thee in talking with me and the kindliness i see and note in all your burning flames have opened wide my trust even as the sun dilates the rose whene'er its petals ope as widely as they can because of this i pray thee father do thou then inform me if i am worthy to receive such grace as to behold thee with thy face unveiled then brother he replied thy great desire in the last sphere above shall be fulfilled where all thine others are and mine as well every desire is perfect there mature and whole in that sphere only is each part where it has always been for it is not in space nor turns on poles and up to it our ladder reaches

and because of this it steals itself away beyond thy ken jacob the patriarch beheld its stretch thus far its upper portion when of old laden with angels it appeared to him but from the earth to climb it no one now removes his feet and my monastic rule remains but as a means of wasting paper walls which of old an abbey used to be have now become the dens of thebes and cows are sacks now filled with naught but wretched meal but heavy usury doth not rebel against god's will as much as doth the fruit which renders so insane the hearts of monks for whatsoe'er the church may hold in trust is all for those that ask it in god's name and not for relatives or what is worse so soft the flesh of mortals is that good beginnings do not last as long below as from an oak's until its acorns birth

peter began with neither gold nor silver and i with prayers and fasts began my convent as francis with humility did his and if thou look at each of these beginnings and then consider whither each hath run thou see that what was white hath turned to brown jordan turned backward and the water fleeing when god so willed were much more wonderful to see in fact than succour would be here he thus addressed me to his company thereat returning they together closed then like a whirlwind all were upward wrapped the gentle lady up that ladder's rounds urged me behind them by a sign alone her virtue so overcame my natural weight nor here below where one goes up and down by natural law was motion ere so swift

as to be equal to my pinion's flight so may i reader once again return to that celestial triumph for whose sake i oft bewail my sins and smite my breast thou hadst not drawn away and put thy finger as quickly into fire as i beheld the sign which follows taurus and was in it o glorious stars o life that pregnant art with mighty virtue from which i acknowledge all of my genius whatsoe'er it be with you was born and in your midst was hiding he who was father of all mortal life when first i breathed the tuscan air and then when grace had been bestowed upon me here to enter that high wheel which turns you round your region was the one allotted me to you my sighing soul devoutly prays that it may now acquire the power it needs for that hard task which draws her to itself to ultimate salvation thou art now so near in answer beatrice began

that clear should be thine eyes and keen their sight therefore ere further thou in it thyself look downward and behold how great a world i have already set beneath thy feet so that thy heart as joyous as it can may show itself to that triumphant throng which happy comes through this ethereal sphere then with my vision i returned through one and all seven spheres and this globe i beheld such that its mean appearance made me smile hence that opinion i approve as best which deems it least and just may he be called who sets his thought on something else latona's daughter i enkindled saw without the shadow which was once the cause of my believing her both rare and dense the countenance hyperion of thy son i here sustained and saw how near to him both maya and dione round him move

and after this the temperance of jove appeared to me between his son and sire and clear the reason for their change of place all seven of them were thus revealed to me how great they are how swift and far apart in their abodes the little threshing-floor which maketh us so fierce was as a whole revealed to me from hills to river mouths while i was circling with the eternal twins back to the lovely eyes i then turned mine paradiso twenty three the eighth heaven the fixed stars the twins triumphant spirit the son of god the mother of christ

even as a bird among the leaves she loves settles upon the nest of her sweet brood throughout the night which hides things from our eyes and them that she may see their longed-for looks and find the food wherewith to nourish them in doing which she deems hard work a pleasure comes forth betimes upon an outer branch and gazing steadfastly with burning love waits for the sun till break of dawn so stood my lady toward that region turned intent neath which the sun appears to show least haste hence i on seeing her absorbed in thought became like one who yearning with desire for other things contents himself with hope

but little time elapsed between each when i mean from when i waited till the sky i saw grow more and more suffused with light then beatrice exclaimed behold the hosts of christ's victorious triumph and all the fruit ingathered by the circling of these spheres to me her countenance seemed all on fire and so replete with happiness her eyes that i must pass without describing them as when in cloudless skies the moon is full trivia among those nymphs eternal smiles who deck with light the whole expanse of heaven so i above a thousand thousand lamps beheld a sun which kindled one and all as our sun kindles all the stars on high and through the living light the shining substance was so transparent and so brightly shone upon my face that i endured it not

o beatrice thou dear and gentle guide that which overwhelms thee is a power she said against which nothing can defend itself this is the wisdom this the virtue is which opened wide the road tween heaven and earth which was in olden times so long desired as fire is liberated from a cloud when so dilating that it finds no room and falls against its nature to the earth even so my mind as it became enlarged among those biens issued from itself but what it then became cannot recall open thine eyes and see what now i am such things hast thou perceived that thou art now equipped with power to look upon my smile

i was like one who when aroused from sleep is of a dream aware which he forgets and tries in vain to bring it back to mind when i had heard a bidding which deserves such gratitude that never from the book which holds past records will it be effaced if now to help me all those tongues should speak which polyhymnia and her sisters fed most richly with the sweetest of their milk the thousandth portion of the truth would not be reached even though they sang the holy smile and how it lighted up the holy face hence painting paradise the sacred poem must leap like one who finds his path cut off but none who to its weighty theme gave thought

and to the mortal shoulder bearing it would blame it should it tremble neath its load no waters for a little boat are these my daring plough goes cleaving on its way nor for a pilot who would spare himself why doth my countenance enamour thee so much that to the garden beautiful thou turn'st not which blooms beneath christ's rays here is the rose in which the word divine became incarnate here the lilies are who sent led men to take the righteous part thus beatrice and i who for her counsels was wholly ready gave myself again to fight the battle of the feeble brows as once my overshadowed eyes beheld a field of flowers in a ray of sunlight which through a riven cloud was shining clear

thus many a throng of splendours saw i now illumined from on high by burning rays but not the source of their refulgent light o kindly virtue who dost thus impress them thou didst uplift thyself to give mine eyes which were not strong yet greater room to see the name of that fair flower which i invoke each morn and evening too forced all my mind to turn its gaze upon the greatest fire but when in both mine eyes the magnitude and splendour of that living star was painted which vanquishes up there as one stand here a torch formed ringwise like a crown descended from midmost heaven and girdling her about around her world whatever melody sounds sweetest here on earth and to itself most strongly draws the soul

would seem a peal of thunder breaking from a cloud if measured by the music of the lyre with which that lovely sapphire crowned itself whereby n sapphired glows the brightest heaven angelic love am i encircle round the exalted gladness breathing from the womb which was the hostelry of our desire and i shall whirl around it lady of heaven until thy son thou follow and diviner render the loftiest sphere by entering it the circling melody thus closed itself as with a seal and all the other lights make mary's name resound the royal robe of all the convolutions of the world which burneth most and by the breath and ways of god is quickened with the greatest life had its internal shore so far above us that where i was its semblance was not yet revealed to me mine eyes hence could not follow the flame which crammed behind its offspring rose

and as a child who having had its milk stretches its little arms up toward its mother urged by the love which outwardly flames forth thus each of those white spirits with its flame stretched up in such a way that its deep love for mary was made manifest to me thereafter they remained there in my presence singing o queen of heaven so tenderly that its delight hath never left me since oh how abundant is the store heaped up in those most wealthy coffers which were once good husbandmen for sowing seed below here living on it they enjoy the treasure which weeping in their exile they acquired in babylon where gold was left untouched here triumph

subject to the exalted son of god and mary in his victory together with the councils old and new he who of such great glory holds the keys paradiso twenty four the eighth or starry heaven the twins saint peter examines dante on faith o fellowship elected to the banquet of that blessed lamb who feedeth you so well that ever sated is your appetite since by the grace of god this man enjoys a foretaste of what falleth from your table or ever death have set his time for him heed his immense desire and on him shed a little of your dew ye from the source for ever drink whence cometh what he think thus beatrice thereat those happy spirits arrange themselves in spheres on steady poles emitting brilliant flames as comets do

and even as wheels within the works of clocks so turn for one who heeds them that the first seems quiet while the last appears to fly even so since at a different speed they whirled those carol dances whether swift or slow permitted me to estimate their wealth from that one which i deemed of greatest beauty i saw a fire so happy issue for that none it left of greater brightness there then around beatrice it turned three times with so divine a song that even my fancy repeats it not for me and so my pen takes a leap forward and i write it not for our imagination much more speech too bright a colour is to paint such folds

o holy sister mine who so devoutly dost pray to us that by thine ardent love withdrawest me from yonder's lovely sphere when once at rest again that blessed fire turned toward my lady with his voice which spoke as i have said and she replied to him o thou eternal life of that great man to whom of this great joy our lord bequeath the keys which he brought down test thou this man as pleases thee on questions light and grave pertaining to the fate which formerly enabled thee to walk upon the sea if well he love well hope and well believe is not conceded from thee because thy sight is thither turned where all is seen depicted

but since this realm hath through the true faith won its citizens tis well that to its glory it should befall him now to speak of it even as a bachelor equips himself nor speaks until the master states the question to furnish proofs but not decide the same so i while she was speaking armed myself with every proof that i might ready be for such a questioner and such confession speak now good christian and declare thyself what then is faith thereat i raised my brow toward the bright light from which these words were breathed and then i turned around toward beatrice and she by rapid signals bade me pour the water forth from my internal fount the grace which grants that i confess myself before the first centurion i began cause my conceptions to be well expressed and i continued as the truthful pen of thy dear brother father who with thee set rome upon the right way wrote of it

faith is the substance of the hoped-for things and the evidence of those that are not seen this seems to me its essence then i heard thou thinkest right if well thou understand why with the substances he placed it first and with the evidences afterward thereat i answered those deep truths which here are freely making themselves known to me from eyes down yonder are so far concealed that their existence lies in faith alone and thereupon the lofty hope is based it therefore takes the nature of a substance and from this faith one needs must syllogise without the help of any other sight it therefore assumes the nature of an evidence and then i heard if thus were understood all that for doctrine is acquired below there'd be no room there for the sophist's mind

these words were breathed from that enkindled love which added them already have this coin's alloy and weight been very well examined but tell me if thou hast it in thy purse i therefore yes so shining and so round that nothing in its coinage makes me debt then issued from the deep light shining there whence did this precious jewel come to thee whereon all virtues else are based and i the abundant showers of the holy spirit outpoured upon the parchments old and new a syllogism have formed which prove it true so clearly to me that all other proofs seem inconclusive when compared with it the ancient premise and the new i then heard asked which so conclusive are to thee why dost thou take them for the word of god and i the proof which sheweth me the truth are those great works which followed works for which nature ne'er heated iron nor anvil

then i was answered say what makes thee sure that these works e'er occurred the very thing which calls for proof none other tells thee so if to christianity the world was turned i said unhelped by miracles then this is such that not a hundredth of the rest for thou didst pour and fasting go afield to sow the goodly plant which was of old a vine and now has turned into a thorn this ending thus the high and holy court resounded through the spheres a god we pray sung to the melody they sing up there that barren then who thus from branch to branch had tested me and now had led me on until the final leaves were drawing near began again the grace which with thy mind holds loving converts hitherto hath oped thy mouth as it should be hence i approve of that which it hath uttered

but it now behooves thee say what thou believ'st in and whence it has been offered to thy faith o holy father spirit thou dost now behold what thou didst so believe that thou didst outrun toward the tomb far younger feet i thus began thou dost have me now reveal the essential part of my sincere belief and thou dost also ask the cause of it and i reply in one god i believe soul and eternal who himself unmoved moves all the heavens with love and with desire and i for so believing have not only proofs physical and metaphysical but that truth also yieldeth me its proof which hence rains down through moses psalms and prophets and through the gospel and through you who wrote after the flaming spirit made you shepherds and i believe in three eternal persons and these to be one essence so both one and trine that they can be conjoined by are and is

of the divine profound estate whereto i now refer the teaching of the gospel sets many times the seal upon my mind this is the fountain-head and this the spark which after spreads into a living flame and in me glows as stars do in the sky as when a lord hearing what pleases him rejoices in the news his servant brings and takes him to his arms when he is silent so giving me his blessing as he sang that apostolic light at whose command i spoke when i had ceased thrice girdled me so greatly had i pleased him by my word chapter sixty nine