# Paradise Canto 26

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

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> 
> Canto XXVI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      St. John examines our Poet touching Charity. Afterward Adam tells when he
> was created, and placed in the terrestrial Paradise; how long he remained in
> that state; what was the occasion of his fall; when he was admitted into
> Heaven; and what language he spake.
> 
> With dazzled eyes, whilst wondering I remain'd;
> Forth of the beamy flame,[1] which dazzled me,
> Issued a breath, that in attention mute
> Detain'd me; and these words it spake: "'Twere well
> That, long as till thy vision, on my form
> O'erspent, regain its virtue, with discourse
> Thou compensate the brief delay. Say then,
> Beginning, to what point thy soul aspires:
> And meanwhile rest assured, that sight in thee
> Is but o'erpower'd a space, not wholly quench'd;
> Since thy fair guide and lovely, in her look
> Hath potency, the like to that, which dwelt
> In Ananias' hand."[2] I answering thus:
> "Be to mine eyes the remedy, or late
> Or early, at her pleasure; for they were
> The gates, at which she enter'd, and did light
> Her never - dying fire. My wishes here
> Are centred: in this palace is the weal,
> That Alpha and Omega is, to all
> 
> [1: "The beamy flame." St. John.]
> 
> [2: "Ananias' hand." Who, by putting his hand on St. Paul, restored
> his sight. Acts, ix. 17.]
> 
> The lessons love can read me." Yet again
> The voice, which had dispersed my fear when dazed
> With that excess, to converse urged, and spake:
> "Behoves thee sift more narrowly thy terms;
> And say, who level'd at this scope thy bow."
> "Philosophy," said I, "hath arguments,
> And this place hath authority enough,
> To imprint in me such love: for, of constraint,
> Good, inasmuch as we perceive the good,
> Kindles our love; and in degree the more,
> As it comprises more of goodness in 't.
> The essence then, where such advantage is,
> That each good, found without it, is naught else
> But of His light the beam, must needs attract
> The soul of each one, loving, who the truth
> Discerns, on which this proof is built. Such truth
> Learn I from Him, who shows me the first love
> Of all intelligential substances
> Eternal: from His voice I learn, whose word
> Is truth; that of Himself to Moses saith,
> 'I will make all My good before thee pass:'
> Lastly, from thee I learn, who chief proclaim'st,
> E'en at the outset[3] of thy heralding,
> In mortal ears the mystery of Heaven."
> 
> [3: "At the outset." John i. I, etc.]
> 
> "Through human wisdom, and the authority
> Therewith agreeing," heard I answer'd, "keep
> The choicest of thy love for God. But say,
> If thou yet other cords within thee feel'st,
> That draw thee towards Him; so that thou report
> How many are the fangs, with which this love
> Is grappled to thy soul." I did not miss,
> To what intent the eagle of our Lord[4]
> Had pointed his demand; yea, noted well
> The avowal which he led to; and resumed:
> "All grappling bonds, that knit the heart to God,
> Confederate to make fast our charity.
> The being of the world; and mine own being;
> The death which He endured, that I should live;
> And that, which all the faithful hope, as I do;
> 
> [4: "The eagle of our Lord." St. John.]
> 
> To the foremention'd lively knowledge join'd;
> Have from the sea of ill love saved my bark,
> And on the coast secured it of the right.
> As for the leaves,[5] that in the garden bloom,
> My love for them is great, as is the good
> Dealt by the eternal hand, that tends them all."
> 
> [5: "The leaves." Created beings.]
> 
> I ended: and therewith a song most sweet
> Rang through the spheres; and "Holy, holy, holy,"
> Accordant with the rest, my lady sang.
> And as a sleep is broken and dispersed
> Through sharp encounter of the nimble light,
> With the eye's spirit running forth to meet
> The ray, from membrane on to membrane urged;
> And the upstartled wight loathes that he sees;
> So, at his sudden waking, he misdeems
> Of all around him, till assurance waits
> On better judgment: thus the saintly dame
> Drove from before mine eyes the motes away,
> With the resplendence of her own, that cast
> Their brightness downward, thousand miles below.
> Whence I my vision, clearer than before,
> Recover'd; and well nigh astounded, ask'd
> Of a fourth light, that now with us I saw.
> 
> And Beatrice: "The first living soul,[6]
> That ever the first Virtue framed, admires
> Within these rays his Maker." Like the leaf,
> That bows its lithe top till the blast is blown;
> By its own virtue rear'd, then stands aloof:
> So I, the whilst she said, awe - stricken bow'd.
> Then eagerness to speak embolden'd me;
> And I began: "O fruit! that wast alone
> Mature, when first engender'd; ancient father!
> That doubly seest in every wedded bride
> Thy daughter, by affinity and blood;
> Devoutly as I may, I pray thee hold
> Converse with me: my will thou seest: and I,
> More speedily to hear thee, tell it not."
> 
> [6: "The first living soul." Adam.]
> 
> It chanceth oft some animal bewrays,
> Through the sleek covering of his furry coat,
> 
> The fondness, that stirs in him, and conforms
> His outside seeming to the cheer within:
> And in like guise was Adam's spirit moved
> To joyous mood, that through the covering shone,
> Transparent, when to pleasure me it spake:
> "No need thy will be told, which I untold
> Better discern, than thou whatever thing
> Thou hold'st most certain: for that will I see
> In Him, who is truth's mirror; and Himself,
> Parhelion unto all things, and naught else,
> To Him. This wouldst thou hear: how long since, God
> Placed me in that high garden, from whose bounds
> She led thee up this ladder, steep and long;
> What space endured my season of delight;
> Whence truly sprang the wrath that banish'd me;
> And what the language, which I spake and framed.
> Not that I tasted of the tree, my son,
> Was in itself the cause of that exile,
> But only my transgressing of the mark
> Assign'd me. There, whence[7] at thy lady's hest
> The Mantuan moved him, still was I debarr'd
> This council, till the sun had made complete,
> Four thousand and three hundred rounds and twice,
> His annual journey; and, through every light
> In his broad pathway, saw I him return,
> Thousand save seventy times, the whilst I dwelt
> Upon the earth. The language I did use
> Was worn away, or ever Nimrod's race
> Their unaccomplishable work began.
> For naught, that man inclines to, e'er was lasting;
> Left by his reason free, and variable
> As is the sky that sways him. That he speaks,
> Is nature's prompting: whether thus, or thus,
> She leaves to you, as ye do most affect it.
> Ere I descended into Hell's abyss,
> El was the name on earth of the Chief Good,
> Whose joy enfolds me: Eli then 'twas call'd.
> 
> [7: "Whence." That is, from Limbo. See Hell, Canto ii. 53. Adam says
> that 5,232 years elapsed from his creation to the time of his deliverance,
> which followed the death of Christ.]
> 
> And so beseemeth: for, in mortals, use
> Is as the leaf upon the bough: that goes,
> And other comes instead. Upon the mount
> Most high above the waters, all my life,
> Both innocent and guilty, did but reach
> From the first hour, to that which cometh next
> (As the sun changes quarter) to the sixth."
>
> — *Paradise Canto 26*