# Paradise Canto 13

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> 
> Canto XIII
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Thomas Aquinas resumes his speech. He solves the other of those doubts
> which he discerned in the mind of Dante, and warns him earnestly against
> assenting to any proposition without having duly examined it.
> 
> Let him,[1] who would conceive what now I saw,
> Imagine, (and retain the image firm
> As mountain rock, the whilst he hears me speak,)
> Of stars, fifteen, from midst the ethereal host
> Selected that, with lively ray serene,
> O'ercome the massiest air: thereto imagine
> The wain, that, in the bosom of our sky,
> Spins ever on its axle night and day,
> With the bright summit of that horn, which swells
> Due from the pole, round which the first wheel rolls,
> To have ranged themselves in fashion of two signs
> In Heaven, such as Ariadne made,
> When death's chill seized her; and that one of them
> Did compass in the other's beam; and both
> In such sort whirl around, that each should tend
> With opposite motion; and, conceiving thus,
> Of that true constellation, and the dance
> Twofold, that circled me, he shall attain
> As 'twere the shadow; for things there as much
> Surpass our usage, as the swiftest Heaven
> Is swifter than the Chiana.[2] There was sung
> 
> [1: "Let him." "Whoever would conceive the sight that now presented
> itself to me, must imagine to himself fifteen of the brightest stars in
> heaven, together with seven stars of Arcturus Major and two of Arcturus Minor,
> ranged in two circles, one within the other, each resembling the crown of
> Ariadne, and moving round in opposite directions."]
> 
> [2: See Hell, Canto xxix. 45.]
> 
> No Bacchus, and no Io Paean, but
> Three Persons in the Godhead, and in one
> Person that nature and the human join'd.
> 
> The song and round were measured: and to us
> Those saintly lights attended, happier made
> At each new ministering. Then silence brake
> Amid the accordant sons of Deity,
> That luminary,[3] in which the wondrous life
> Of the meek man of God[4] was told to me;
> And thus it spake: "One ear[5] o' the harvest thresh'd,
> And its grain safely stored, sweet charity
> Invites me with the other to like toil.
> 
> [3: Thomas Aquinas.]
> 
> [4: St. Francis. See Canto xi. 25.]
> 
> [5: Having solved one of thy questions, I proceed to answer the
> other. Thou thinkest then that Adam and Christ were both endued with all the
> perfection of which the human nature is capable; and therefore wonderest at
> what has been said concerning Solomon."]
> 
> "Thou know'st, that in the bosom,[6] whence the rib
> Was ta'en to fashion that fair cheek, whose taste
> All the world pays for; and in that, which pierced
> By the keen lance, both after and before
> Such satisfaction offer'd as outweighs
> Each evil in the scale; whate'er of light
> To human nature is allow'd, must all
> Have by His virtue been infused, who form'd
> Both one and other: and thou thence admirest
> In that I told thee, of beatitudes,
> A second there is none to him enclosed
> In the fifth radiance. Open now thine eyes
> To what I answer thee; and thou shalt see
> Thy deeming and my saying meet in truth,
> As centre in the round. That[7] which dies not,
> And that which can die, are but each the beam
> Of that idea, which our Sovereign Sire
> Engendereth loving; for that lively light,[8]
> 
> [6: Thou knowest that in the breast of Adam, whence the rib was taken
> to make that fair cheek of Eve, which, by tasting the apple, brought death
> into the world; and also in the breast of Christ, which, being pierced by the
> lance, made satisfaction for the sins of the whole world; as much wisdom
> resided, as human nature was capable of: and thou dost therefore wonder that I
> should have spoken of Solomon as the wisest." See Canto x. 105.]
> 
> [7: "That." Things, corruptible and incorruptible, are only
> emanations from the archetypal idea residing in the Divine Mind.]
> 
> [8: The Word; the Son of God.]
> 
> Which passeth from His splendour, not disjoin'd
> From Him, nor from His love triune with them,[9]
> Doth, through His bounty, congregate itself,
> Mirror'd, as 'twere, in new existences;[10]
> Itself unalterable, and ever one.
> 
> [9: "His love triune with them." The Holy Ghost.]
> 
> [10: Angels and human souls.]
> 
> "Descending hence unto the lowest powers,[11]
> Its energy so sinks, at last it makes
> But brief contingencies; for so I name
> Things generated, which the heavenly orbs
> Moving, with seed or without seed, produce.
> Their wax, and that which moulds it,[12] differ much:
> And thence with lustre, more or less, it shows
> The ideal stamp imprest: so that one tree,
> According to his kind, hath better fruit,
> And worse: and, at your birth, ye, mortal men,
> Are in your talents various. Were the wax
> Moulded with nice exactness, and the heaven[13]
> In its disposing influence supreme,
> The brightness of the seal[14] should be complete:
> But nature renders it imperfect ever;
> Resembling thus the artist, in his work,
> Whose faltering hand is faithless to his skill.
> Therefore,[15] if fervent Love dispose, and mark
> The lustrous Image of the primal Virtue,
> There all perfection is vouchsafed; and such
> The clay[16] was made, accomplish'd with each gift,
> That life can teem with; such the burden fill'd
> The Virgin's bosom: so that I commend
> Thy judgment, that the human nature ne'er
> Was, or can be, such as in them it was.
> 
> [11: Irrational life and brute matter.]
> 
> [12: "Their wax, and that which moulds it." Matter, and the virtue or
> energy that acts on it.]
> 
> [13: "The heaven." The influence of the planetary bodies.]
> 
> [14: The brightness of the Divine idea before spoken of.]
> 
> [15: "Therefore." Daniello remarks that our Poet intends this for a
> brief description of the Trinity: the primal virtue signifying the Father; the
> lustrous image, the Son; the fervent love, the Holy Ghost.]
> 
> [16: "The clay." Adam.]
> 
> "Did I advance no further than this point;
> 'How then had he no peer?' thou might'st reply.
> But, that what now appears not, may appear
> 
> Right plainly, ponder, who he was, and what
> (When he was bidden 'Ask') the motive, sway'd
> To his requesting. I have spoken thus,
> That thou mayst see, he was a king, who ask'd[17]
> For wisdom, to the end he might be king
> Sufficient: not, the number to search out
> Of the celestial movers; or to know,
> If necessary with contingent e'er
> Have made necessity; or whether that
> Be granted, that first motion[18] is; or if,
> Of the mid - circle,[19] can by art be made
> Triangle, with its corner blunt or sharp.
> 
> [17: "Who ask'd." "He did not desire to know the number of the
> celestial intelligences, or to pry into the subtleties of logical,
> metaphysical, or mathematical science: but asked for that wisdom which might
> fit him for his kingly office."]
> 
> [18: "That first motion." "If we must allow one first motion, which
> is not caused by other motion; a question resolved affirmatively by
> metaphysics, according to that principle, repugnant in causis processus in
> infinitum." Lombardi.]
> 
> [19: "Of the mid - circle." "If in the half of the circle a
> rectilinear triangle can be described, one side of which shall be the diameter
> of the same circle, without its forming a right angle with the other two
> sides; which geometry shows to be impossible." Lombardi.]
> 
> "Whence, noting that, which I have said, and this,
> Thou kingly prudence and that ken mayst learn,
> At which the dart of my intention aims.
> And, marking clearly, that I told thee, 'Risen,'
> Thou shalt discern it only hath respect
> To kings, of whom are many, and the good
> Are rare. With this distinction take my words;
> And they may well consist with that which thou
> Of the first human father dost believe,
> And of our well - beloved. And let this
> Henceforth be lead unto thy feet, to make
> Thee slow in motion, as a weary man,
> Both to the 'yea' and to the 'nay' thou seest not.
> For he among the fools is down full low,
> Whose affirmation, or denial, is
> Without distinction, in each case alike.
> Since it befalls, that in most instances
> Current opinion leans to false: and then
> Affection bends the judgment to her ply.
> 
> "Much more than vainly doth he loose from shore,
> 
> Since he returns not such as he set forth,
> Who fishes for the truth and wanteth skill.
> And open proofs of this unto the world
> Have been afforded in Parmenides,
> Melissus, Bryso,[20] and the crowd beside,
> Who journey'd on, and knew not whither: so did
> Sabellius, Arius,[21] and the other fools,
> Who, like to scimitars,[22] reflected back
> The scripture - image by distortion marr'd.
> 
> [20: "_____ Parmenides, Melissus, Bryso." For the singular opinions
> entertained by the two former of these heathen philosophers, see Diogenes
> Laertius, lib. ix.]
> 
> [21: "Sabellius, Arius." Well - known heretics.]
> 
> [22: "Scrimitars." Bertradon de la Brocquiere, who wrote before
> Dante, informs us that the wandering Arabs used their scimitars as mirrors.]
> 
> "Let not the people be too swift to judge;
> As one who reckons on the blades in field,
> Or e'er the crop be ripe. For I have seen
> The thorn frown rudely all the winter long,
> And after bear the rose upon its top;
> And bark, that all her way across the sea
> Ran straight and speedy, perish at the last
> E'en in the haven's mouth. Seeing one steal,
> Another bring his offering to the priest,
> Let not[23] Dame Birtha and Sir Martin[24] thence
> Into Heaven's counsels deem that they can pry;
> For one of these may rise, the other fall."
> 
> [23: "Let not." "Let not shortsighted mortals presume to decide on
> the future doom of any man, from a consideration of his present character and
> actions." This is meant as an answer to the doubts entertained respecting the
> salvation of Solomon. See Canto x. 107.]
> 
> [24: "Dame Birtha and Sir Martin." Names put generally for persons
> who have more curiosity than discretion.]
>
> — *Paradise Canto 13*