# Paradise Canto 19

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Paradise Canto 18  Next: Paradise Canto 20  
> 
> Canto XIX
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The eagle speaks as with one voice proceeding from a multitude of
> spirits, that compose it; and declares the cause for which it is exalted to
> that state of glory. It then solves a doubt, which our Poet had entertained,
> respecting the possibility of salvation without belief in Christ; exposes the
> inefficacy of a mere profession of such belief; and prophesies the evil
> appearance that many Christian potentates will make at the day of judgment.
> 
> Before my sight appear'd, with open wings,
> The beauteous image; in fruition sweet,
> Gladdening the thronged spirits. Each did seem
> A little ruby, whereon so intense
> The sun - beam glow'd, that to mine eyes it came
> In clear refraction. And that, which next
> Befalls me to portray, voice hath not utter'd,
> Nor hath ink written, nor in fantasy
> Was e'er conceived. For I beheld and heard
> The beak discourse; and, what intention form'd
> Of many, singly as of one express,
> Beginning: "For that I was just and piteous,
> I am exalted to this height of glory,
> The which no wish exceeds: and there on earth
> Have I my memory left, e'en by the bad
> Commended, while they leave its course untrod."
> 
> Thus is one heat from many embers felt;
> As in that image many were the loves,
> And one the voice, that issued from them all:
> Whence I address'd them: "O perennial flowers
> Of gladness everlasting! that exhale
> In single breath your odours manifold;
> Breathe now: and let the hunger be appeased,
> That with great craving long hath held my soul,
> Finding no food on earth. This well I know;
> 
> That if there be in Heaven a realm, that shows
> In faithful mirror the celestial Justice,
> Yours without veil reflects it. Ye discern
> The heed, wherewith I do prepare myself
> To hearken; ye, the doubt, that urges me
> With such inveterate craving." Straight I saw,
> Like to a falcon issuing from the hood,
> That rears his head, and claps him with his wings,
> His beauty and his eagerness bewraying;
> So saw I move that stately sign, with praise
> Of grace divine inwoven, and high song
> Of inexpressive joy. "He," it began,
> "Who turn'd His compass on the world's extreme,
> And in that space so variously hath wrought,
> Both openly and in secret; in such wise
> Could not, through all the universe, display
> Impression of His glory, that the Word
> Of His omniscience should not still remain
> In infinite excess. In proof whereof,
> He first through pride supplanted, who was sum
> Of each created being, waited not
> For light celestial; and abortive fell.
> Whence needs each lesser nature is but scant
> Receptacle unto that God, which knows
> No limit, measured by itself alone.
> Therefore your sight, of the omnipresent Mind
> A single beam, its orgin must own
> Surpassing far its utmost potency.
> The ken, your world is gifted with, descends
> In the everlasting Justice as low down,
> As eye doth in the sea; which, though it mark
> The bottom from the shore, in the wide main
> Discerns it not; and ne'ertheless it is;
> But hidden through its deepness. Light is none,
> Save that which cometh from the pure serene
> Of ne'er disturbed ether: for the rest,
> 'Tis darkness all; or shadow of the flesh,
> Or else its poison. Here confess reveal'd
> That covert, which hath hidden from thy search
> The living justice, of the which thou madest
> Such frequent question; for thou said'st - 'A man
> Is born on Indus' banks, and none is there
> Who speaks of Christ, nor who doth read nor write;
> And all his inclinations and his acts,
> As far as human reason sees, are good;
> And he offendeth not in word or deed:
> But unbaptized he dies, and void of faith.
> Where is the justice that condemns him? where
> His blame, if he believeth not?' - What then,
> And who art thou, that on the stool wouldst sit
> To judge at distance of a thousand miles
> With the short - sighted vision of a span?
> To him, who subtilizes thus with me,
> There would assuredly be room for doubt
> Even to wonder, did not the safe word
> Of Scripture hold supreme authority.
> 
> "O animals of clay! O spirits gross!
> The Primal Will,[1] that in itself is good,
> Hath from itself, the chief Good, ne'er been moved.
> Justice consists in consonance with it,
> Derivable by no created good,
> Whose very cause depends upon its beam."
> 
> [1: The divine will.]
> 
> As on her nest the stork, that turns about
> Unto her young, whom lately she hath fed,
> Whiles they with upward eyes do look on her;
> So lifted I my gaze; and, bending so,
> The ever - blessed image waved its wings,
> Labouring with such deep counsel. Wheeling round
> It warbled, and did say: "As are my notes
> To thee, who understand'st them not; such is
> The eternal judgment unto mortal ken."
> 
> Then still abiding in that ensign ranged,
> Wherewith the Romans overawed the world,
> Those burning splendours of the Holy Spirit
> Took up the strain; and thus it spake again:
> "None ever hath ascended to this realm,
> Who hath not a believer been in Christ,
> Either before or after the blest limbs
> Were nail'd upon the wood. But lo! of those
> 
> Who call 'Christ, Christ,'[2] there shall be many found,
> In judgment, further off from Him by far,
> Than such to whom His name was never known.
> Christians like these the Aethiop[3] shall condemn:
> When that the two assemblages shall part;
> One rich eternally, the other poor.
> 
> [2: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
> the kingdom of heaven." - Matt. vii. 21.]
> 
> [3: "The Aethiop." "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with
> this generation, and shall condemn it." - Matt. xii. 41.]
> 
> "What may the Persians say unto your kings,
> When they shall see that volume,[4] in the which
> All their dispraise is written, spread to view?
> There amidst Albert's[5] works shall that be read,
> Which will give speedy motion to the pen,
> When Prague[6] shall mourn her desolated realm.
> There shall be read the woe, that he[7] doth work
> With his adulterate money on the Seine,
> Who by the tusk will perish; there be read
> The thirsting pride, that maketh fool alike
> The English and Scot,[8] impatient of their bound.
> There shall be seen the Spaniard's luxury;[9]
> The delicate living there of the Bohemian,[10]
> Who still to worth has been a willing stranger.
> The halter of Jerusalem[11] shall see
> A unit for his virtue; for his vices,
> No less a mark than million. He,[12] who guards
> 
> [4: "That volume." "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before
> God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book
> of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in
> the books, according to their works." - Rev. xx. 12.]
> 
> [5: "Albert." Purgatory, Canto vi. 98.]
> 
> [6: "Prague." The eagle predicts the devastation of Bohemia by
> Albert, which happened soon after this time, when that Emperor obtained the
> kingdom for his eldest son Rodolph.]
> 
> [7: "He." Philip IV of France, after the battle of Courtrai, 1302, in
> which the French were defeated by the Flemings, raised the nominal value of
> the coin. This King died in consequence of his horse being thrown to the
> ground by a wild boar, in 1314.]
> 
> [8: "The English and Scot." He adverts to the disputes between John
> Baliol and Edward I, the latter of whom is commended in the Purgatory, Canto
> vii. 130.]
> 
> [9: "The Spaniard's luxury." It seems probable that the allusion is
> to Ferdinand IV, who came to the crown in 1295, and died in 1312, at the age
> of twenty - four, in consequence, as it was supposed, of his extreme
> intemperance.]
> 
> [10: "The Bohemian." Wenceslaus II. Purgatory, Canto vii. 99.]
> 
> [11: "The halter of Jerusalem." Charles II of Naples and Jerusalem,
> who was lame.]
> 
> [12: "He." Frederick of Sicily, son of Peter III of Arragon.
> Purgatory, Canto vii. 117. The isle of fire is Sicily, where was the tomb of
> Anchises.]
> 
> The isle of fire by old Anchises honour'd,
> Shall find his avarice there and cowardice;
> And better to denote his littleness,
> The writing must be letters maim'd, that speak
> Much in a narrow space. All there shall know
> His uncle[13] and his brother's[14] filthy doings,
> Who so renown'd a nation and two crowns
> Have bastardized. And they, of Portugal[15]
> And Norway,[16] there shall be exposed, with him
> Of Ratza,[17] who hath counterfeited ill
> The coin of Venice. O blest Hungary![18]
> If thou no longer patiently abidest
> Thy ill - entreating: and, O blest Navarre![19]
> If with thy mountainous girdle[20] thou wouldst arm thee.
> In earnest of that day, e'en now are heard
> Wailings and groans in Famagosta's streets
> And Nicosia's,[21] grudging at their beast,
> Who keepeth even footing with the rest."
> 
> [13: "His uncle." James, King of Majorca and Minorca, brother to
> Peter III.]
> 
> [14: "His brother." James II of Arragon, who died in 1327. See
> Purgatory, Canto vii. 117.]
> 
> [15: "Of Portugal." In the time of Dante, Dionysius was King of
> Portugal. He died in 1325, after a reign of nearly forty - six years, and does
> not seem to have deserved the stigma here fastened on him. Perhaps the
> rebellious son of Dionysius may be alluded to.]
> 
> [16: "Norway." Haquin, King of Norway, is probably meant; who having
> given refuge to the murderers of Eric VII, King of Denmark, A. D. 1288,
> commenced a war against his successor, Eric VIII, "which continued for nine
> years, almost to the utter ruin and destruction of both kingdoms."]
> 
> [17: "_____ him Of Ratza." One of the dynasty of the house of
> Nemagna, which ruled the Kingdom of Rassia or Ratza, in Sclavonia, from 1161
> to 1371, and whose history may be found in Mauro Orbino. Uladislaus appears to
> have been the sovereign in Dante's time; but the disgraceful forgery, adverted
> to in the text, is not recorded by the historian.]
> 
> [18: "Hungary." The kingdom of Hungary was about this time disputed
> by Carobert, son of Charles Martel, and Wenceslaus, prince of Bohemia, son of
> Wenceslaus II.]
> 
> [19: "Navarre." Navarre was now under the yoke of France. It soon
> after (in 1328) followed the advice of Dante, and had a monarch of its own.]
> 
> [20: "Mountainous girdle." The Pyrenees.]
> 
> [21: "_____ Famagosta's streets And Nicosia's." Cities in the Kingdom
> of Cyprus, at that time ruled by Henry VII, a pusillanimous prince. The
> meaning appears to be, that the complaints made by those cities of their weak
> and worthless governor may be regarded as an earnest of his condemnation at
> the last doom.]
>
> — *Paradise Canto 19*