# Paradise Canto 29

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Paradise Canto 28  Next: Paradise Canto 30  
> 
> Canto XXIX
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Beatrice beholds, in the mirror of divine truth, some doubts which had
> entered the mind of Dante. These she resolves; and then digresses into a
> vehement reprehension of certain theologians and preachers in those days,
> whose ignorance or avarice induced them to substitute their own inventions for
> the pure word of the Gospel.
> 
> No longer, than what time Latona's twins
> Cover'd of Libra and the fleecy star,
> Together both, girding the horizon hang;
> In even balance, from the zenith poised;
> Till from that verge, each, changing hemisphere,
> Part the nice level; e'en so brief a space
> Did Beatrice's silence hold. A smile
> Sat painted on her cheek; and her fix'd gaze
> Bent on the point, at which my vision fail'd:
> When thus, her words resuming, she began:
> "I speak, nor what thou wouldst inquire demand;
> For I have mark'd it, where all time and place
> Are present. Not for increase to Himself
> Of good, which may not be increased, but forth
> To manifest His glory by its beams;
> Inhabiting His own eternity,
> Beyond time's limit or what bound soe'er
> To circumscribe His being; as He will'd,
> Into new natures, like unto Himself,
> Eternal Love unfolded. Nor before,
> As if in dull inaction, torpid, lay.
> For, not in process of before or aft,
> Upon these waters moved the Spirit of God.
> Simple and mix'd, both form and substance, forth
> To perfect being started, like three darts
> Shot from a bow three - corded. And as ray
> In crystal, glass, and amber, shines entire,
> E'en at the moment of its issuing; thus
> Did, from the eternal Sovran, beam entire
> His threefold operation, at one act
> Produced coeval. Yet, in order, each
> Created his due station knew: those highest,
> Who pure intelligence were made; mere power,
> The lowest; in the midst, bound with strict league,
> Intelligence and power, unsever'd bond.
> Long tract of ages by the Angels past,
> Ere the creating of another world,
> Described on Jerome's pages,[1] thou hast seen.
> But that what I disclose to thee is true,
> Those penmen,[2] whom the Holy Spirit moved
> In many a passage of their sacred book,
> Attest; as thou by diligent search shalt find:
> And reason,[3] in some sort, discerns the same,
> Who scarce would grant the heavenly ministers,
> Of their perfection void, so long a space.
> Thus when and where these spirits of love were made,
> Thou know'st, and how: and, knowing, hast allay'd
> Thy thirst, which from the triple question[4] rose.
> Ere one had reckon'd twenty, e'en so soon,
> Part of the Angels fell: and in their fall,
> Confusion to your elements ensued.
> The others kept their station: and this task,
> Whereon thou look'st, began, with such delight,
> That they surcease not ever, day nor night,
> Their circling. Of that fatal lapse the cause
> Was the curst pride of him, whom thou hast seen
> Pent with the world's incumbrance. Those, whom here
> Thou seest, were lowly to confess themselves
> Of His free bounty, who had made them apt
> For ministeries so high: therefore their views
> Were, by enlightening grace and their own merit,
> Exalted; so that in their will confirm'd
> They stand, nor fear to fall. For do not doubt,
> But to receive the grace, which Heaven vouchsafes,
> 
> [1: Jerome had described the Angels as created long before the rest
> of the universe; an opinion which Thomas Aquinas controverted.]
> 
> [2: As in Gen. i. I, and Eccles. xviii. I.]
> 
> [3: "Reason." The heavenly ministers ("motori") would have existed to
> no purpose if they had been created before the corporeal world, which they
> were to govern.]
> 
> [4: He had wished to know where, when, and how the Angels had been
> created, and these three questions had been resolved.]
> 
> Is meritorious, even as the soul
> With prompt affection welcometh the guest.
> Now, without further help, if with good heed
> My words thy mind have treasured, thou henceforth
> This consistory round about mayst scan,
> And gaze thy fill. But, since thou hast on earth
> Heard vain disputers, reasoners in the schools,
> Canvass the angelic nature, and dispute
> Its powers of apprehension, memory, choice;
> Therefore, 'tis well thou take from me the truth,
> Pure and without disguise; which they below,
> Equivocating, darken and perplex.
> 
> "Know thou, that, from the first, these substances,
> Rejoicing in the countenance of God,
> Have held unceasingly their view, intent
> Upon the glorious vision, from the which
> Nought absent is nor hid: where then no change
> Of newness, with succession, interrupts,
> Remembrance, there, needs none to gather up
> Divided thought and images remote.
> 
> "So that men, thus at variance with the truth,
> Dream, though their eyes be open; reckless some
> Of error; others well aware they err,
> To whom more guilt and shame are justly due.
> Each the known track of sage philosophy
> Deserts, and has a bye - way of his own:
> So much the restless eagerness to shine,
> And love of singularity prevail.
> Yet this, offensive as it is, provokes
> Heaven's anger less, than when the Book of God
> Is forced to yield to man's authority,
> Or from its straightness warp'd: no reckoning made
> What blood the sowing of it in the world
> Has cost; what favour for himself he wins,
> Who meekly clings to it. The aim of all
> Is how to shine: e'en they, whose office is
> To preach the Gospel, let the Gospel sleep,
> And pass their own inventions off instead.
> One tells, how at Christ's suffering the wan moon
> Bent back her steps, and shadow'd o'er the sun
> With intervenient disk, as she withdrew:
> Another, how the light shrouded itself
> Within its tabernacle, and left dark
> The Spaniard, and the Indian, with the Jew.
> Such fables Florence in her pulpit hears,
> Bandied about more frequent, than the names
> Of Bindi and of Lapi[5] in her streets.
> The sheep, meanwhile, poor witless ones, return
> From pasture, fed with wind: and what avails
> For their excuse, they do not see their harm?
> Christ said not to His first conventicle,
> 'Go forth and preach impostures to the world,'
> But gave them truth to build on; and the sound
> Was mighty on their lips: nor needed they,
> Beside the Gospel, other spear or shield,
> To aid them in their warfare for the faith.
> The preacher now provides himself with store
> Of jests and gibes; and, so there be no lack
> Of laughter, while he vents them, his big cowl
> Distends, and he has won the meed he sought:
> Could but the vulgar catch a glimpse the while
> Of that dark bird which nestles in his hood,
> They scarce would wait to hear the blessing said,
> Which now the dotards hold in such esteem,
> That every counterfeit, who spreads abroad
> The hands of holy promise, finds a throng
> Of credulous fools beneath. Saint Anthony
> Fattens with this his swine,[6] and others worse
> Than swine, who diet at his lazy board,
> Paying with unstampt metal[7] for their fare,
> 
> [5: Common names at Florence.]
> 
> [6: On the sale of these blessings, the brothers of St. Anthony
> supported themselves and their paramours. From behind the swine of St.
> Anthony, our Poet levels a blow at Boniface VIII, from whom, in 1297, they
> obtained the privileges of an independent congregation.]
> 
> [7: With false indulgences.]
> 
> "But (for we far have wander'd) let us seek
> The forward path again; so as the way
> Be shorten'd with the time. No mortal tongue,
> Nor thought of man, hath ever reach'd so far,
> That of these natures he might count the tribes.
> What Daniel[8] of their thousands hath reveal'd,
> 
> [8: "Daniel." "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten
> thousand times ten thousand stood before him" - Dan. vii. 10.]
> 
> With finite number, infinite conceals.
> The fountain, at whose source these drink their beams,
> With light supplies them in as many modes,
> As there are splendours that it shines on: each
> According to the virtue it conceives,
> Differing in love and sweet affection.
> Look then how lofty and how huge in breadth
> The eternal Might, which, broken and dispersed
> Over such countless mirrors, yet remains
> Whole in itself and one, as at the first."
>
> — *Paradise Canto 29*