# Paradise Canto 21

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Paradise Canto 20  Next: Paradise Canto 22  
> 
> Canto XXI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Dante ascends with Beatrice to the seventh heaven, which is the planet
> Saturn; wherein is placed a ladder, so lofty, that the top of it is out of his
> sight. Here are the souls of those who had passed their life in holy
> retirement and contemplation. Piero Damiano comes near them, and answers
> questions put to him by Dante; then declares who he was on earth; and ends by
> declaiming against the luxury of pastors and prelates in those times.
> 
> Again mine eyes were fix'd on Beatrice;
> And, with mine eyes, my soul that in her looks
> Found all contentment. Yet no smile she wore:
> And, "Did I smile," quoth she, "thou wouldst be straight
> Like Semele when into ashes turn'd;
> For, mounting these eternal palace - stairs,
> My beauty, which the loftier it climbs,
> As thou hast noted, still doth kindle more,
> So shines, that, were no tempering interposed,
> Thy mortal puissance would from its rays
> Shrink, as the leaf doth from the thunderbolt.
> Into the seventh splendour[1] are we wafted,
> That, underneath the burning lion's breast,[2]
> Beams, in this hour, commingled with his might.
> Thy mind be with thine eyes; and, in them, mirror'd[3]
> The shape, which in this mirror shall be shown."
> 
> [1: The planet Saturn.]
> 
> [2: The constellation Leo.]
> 
> [3: "In them, mirror'd." "Let the form which thou shalt now behold in
> this mirror," the planet, that is, of Saturn (soon after, v. 22, called the
> crystal), "be reflected in the mirror of thy sight.")]
> 
> Whoso can deem, how fondly I had fed
> My sight upon her blissful countenance,
> May know, when to new thoughts I changed, what joy
> To do the bidding of my heavenly guide;
> In equal balance,[4] poising either weight.
> 
> [4: "My pleasure was as great in complying with her will, as in
> beholding her countenance."]
> 
> Within the crystal, which records the name
> (As its remoter circle girds the world)
> Of that loved monarch,[5] in whose happy reign
> No ill had power to harm, I saw rear'd up,
> In colour like to sun - illumined gold,
> A ladder, which my ken pursued in vain,
> So lofty was the summit; down whose steps
> I saw the splendours in such multitude
> Descending, every light in Heaven, methought,
> Was shed thence. As the rooks, at dawn of day,
> Bestirring them to dry their feathers chill,
> Some speed their way a - field; and homeward some,
> Returning, cross their flight; while some abide,
> And wheel around their airy lodge: so seem'd
> That glitterance,[6] wafted on alternate wing,
> As upon certain stair it came, and clash'd
> Its shining. And one, lingering near us, wax'd
> So bright, that in my thought I said: "The love,
> Which this betokens me, admits no doubt."
> 
> [5: Saturn. Compare Hell, Canto xiv. 91.]
> 
> [6: That multitude of shining spirits, who, coming to a certain point
> of the ladder, made those different movements, as of birds.]
> 
> Unwillingly from question I refrain;
> To her, by whom my silence and my speech
> Are order'd, looking for a sign: whence she,
> Who in the sight of Him, that seeth all,
> Saw wherefore I was silent, prompted me
> To indulge the fervent wish; and I began:
> "I am not worthy, of my own desert,
> That thou shouldst answer me: but for her sake,
> Who hath vouchsafed my asking, spirit blest,
> That in thy joy art shrouded! say the cause,
> Which bringeth thee so near: and wherefore, say,
> Doth the sweet symphony of Paradise
> Keep silence here, pervading with such sounds
> Of rapt devotion every lower sphere?"
> "Mortal art thou in hearing, as in sight;"
> Was the reply: "and what forbade the smile[7]
> Of Beatrice interrupts our song.
> Only to yield thee gladness of my voice,
> And of the light that vests me, I thus far
> Descend these hallow'd steps; not that more love
> 
> [7: Because it would have overcome thee.]
> 
> Invites me; for, lo! there aloft,[8] as much
> Or more of love is witness'd in those flames:
> But such my lot by charity assign'd,
> That makes us ready servants, as thou seest,
> To execute the counsel of the Highest."
> 
> [8: "There aloft." Where the other souls were.]
> 
> "That in this court," said I, "O sacred lamp!
> Love no compulsion needs, but follows free
> The eternal Providence, I well discern:
> This harder find to deem: why, of thy peers,
> Thou only, to this office wert foredoom'd."
> 
> I had not ended, when, like rapid mill,
> Upon its centre whirl'd the light; and then
> The love that did inhabit there, replied:
> "Splendour eternal, piercing through these folds,
> Its virtue to my vision knits; and thus
> Supported, lifts me so above myself,
> That on the sovran Essence, which it wells from,
> I have the power to gaze: and hence the joy,
> Wherewith I sparkle, equaling with my blaze
> The keenness of my sight. But not the soul,[9]
> That is in Heaven most lustrous, nor the Seraph,
> That hath his eyes most fix'd on God, shall solve
> What thou hast ask'd: for in the abyss it lies
> Of th' everlasting statute sunks so low,
> That no created ken may fathom it.
> And, to the mortal world when thou return'st,
> Be this reported: that none henceforth dare
> Direct his footsteps to so dread a bourn.
> The mind, that here is radiant, on the earth
> Is wrapt in mist. Look then if she may do
> Below, what passeth her ability
> When she is ta'en to Heaven." By words like these
> Admonish'd, I the question urged no more;
> And of the spirit humbly sued alone
> To instruct me of its state. "'Twixt either shore[10]
> Of Italy, nor distant from thy land,
> A stony ridge[11] ariseth; in such sort,
> 
> [9: "Not the soul." The particular ends of Providence being concealed
> from the very Angels themselves.]
> 
> [10: Between the Adriatic Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.]
> 
> [11: A part of the Apennines.]
> 
> The thunder doth not lift his voice so high.
> They call it Catria:[12] at whose foot, a cell
> Is sacred to the lonely Eremite;
> For worship set apart and holy rites."
> A third time thus it spake; then added: "There
> So firmly to God's service I adhered,
> That with no costlier viands than the juice
> Of olives, easily I pass'd the heats
> Of summer and the winter frosts; content
> In heaven - ward musings. Rich were the returns
> And fertile, which that cloister once was used
> To render to these Heavens: now 'tis fallen
> Into a waste so empty, that ere long
> Detection must lay bare its vanity.
> Pietro Damiano[13] there was I y - clept:
> Pietro the sinner, when before I dwelt,
> Beside the Adriatic,[14] in the house
> Of our blest Lady. Near upon my close
> Of mortal life, through much importuning
> I was constrain'd to weat the hat,[15] that still
> From bad to worse is shifted. - Cephas[16] came:
> He came, who was the Holy Spirit's vessel;[17]
> Barefoot and lean; eating their bread, as chanced,
> At the first table. Modern Shepherds need
> 
> [12: Now the Abbey of Santa Croce, in the Duchy of Urbino, about half
> way between Gubbio and La Pergola. Here Dante is said to have resided for some
> time.]
> 
> [13: "Pietro Damiano." "S. Pietro Damiano obtained a great and well -
> merited reputation by the pains he took to correct the abuses among the
> clergy. Ravenna is supposed to have been the place of his birth, about 1007.
> He was employed in several important missions, and rewarded by Stephen IX with
> the dignity of cardinal, and the bishopric of Ostia, to which, however, he
> preferred his former retreat in the monastery of Fonte Avellana, and prevailed
> on Alexander II to permit him to retire thither. Yet he did not long continue
> in this seclusion, before he was sent on other embassies. He died at Faenza in
> 1072. His letters throw much light on the obscure history of these times.
> Besides them, he has left several treatises on sacred and ecclesiastical
> subjects. His eloquence is worthy of a better age." Tiraboschi, Storia della
> Lett. Ital.]
> 
> [14: Some editions and manuscripts have "fu," instead of "fui."
> According to the former of these readings, S. Pietro Damiano is made to
> distinguish himself from S. Pietro degli Onesti, surnamed "Il Peccator,"
> founder of the monastery of S. Maria del Porto, on the Adriatic coast, near
> Ravenna, who died in 1119, at about eighty years of age.]
> 
> [15: "The hat." The cardinal's hat.]
> 
> [16: "Cephas." St. Peter.]
> 
> [17: St. Paul. See Hell, Canto ii. 30.]
> 
> Those who on either hand may prop and lead them,
> So burly are they grown; and from behind,
> Others to hoist them. Down the palfrey's sides
> Spread their broad mantles, so as both the beasts
> Are cover'd with one skin. O patience! thou
> That look'st on this, and dost endure so long."
> 
> I at those accents saw the splendours down
> From step to step alight, and wheel, and wax,
> Each circuiting, more beautiful. Round this[18]
> They came, and stay'd them; utter'd then a shout
> So loud, it hath no likeness here: nor I
> Wist what it spake, so deafening was the thunder.
> 
> [18: "Round this." Round the spirit of Pietro Damiano.]
>
> — *Paradise Canto 21*