# Paradise Canto  5

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

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> 
> Canto V
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The question proposed in the last Canto is answered. Dante ascends with
> Beatrice to the planet Mercury, which is the second heaven; and here he finds
> a multitude of spirits, one of whom offers to satisfy him of anything he may
> desire to know from them.
> 
> "If beyond earthly wont,[1] the flame of love
> Illume me, so that I o'ercome thy power
> Of vision, marvel not: but learn the cause
> In that perfection of the sight, which, soon
> As apprehending, hasteneth on to reach
> The good it apprehends. I well discern,
> How in thine intellect already shines
> The light eternal, which to view alone
> Ne'er fails to kindle love; and if aught else
> Your love seduces, 'tis but that it shows
> Some ill - mark'd vestige of that primal beam.
> 
> [1: "If beyond earthly wont." Dante having been unable to sustain the
> splendor of Beatrice, as we have seen at the end of the last Canto, she tells
> him to attribute her increase of brightness to the place in which they were.]
> 
> "This wouldst thou know: if failure of the vow
> By other service may be so supplied,
> As from self - question to assure the soul."
> 
> Thus she her words, not heedless of my wish,
> Began; and thus, as one who breaks not off
> 
> Discourse, continued in her saintly strain.
> "Supreme of gifts,[2] which God, creating, gave
> Of His free bounty, sign most evident
> Of goodness, and in His account most prized
> Was liberty of will; the boon, wherewith
> All intellectual creatures, and them sole,
> He hath endow'd. Hence now thou mayst infer
> Of what high worth the vow, which so is framed
> That when man offers, God well - pleased accepts:
> For in the compact between God and him,
> This treasure, such as I describe it to thee,
> He makes the victim; and of his own act.
> What compensation therefore may he find?
> If that, whereof thou hast oblation made,
> By using well thou think'st to consecrate,
> Thou wouldst of theft do charitable deed.
> Thus I resolve thee of the greater point.
> 
> [2: "Supreme of gifts." So in the "De Monarchia," lib. i. pp. 107 and
> 108. "If then the judgment altogether move the appetite, and is in no wise
> prevented by it, it is free. But if the judgment be moved by the appetite in
> any way preventing it, it cannot be free: because it acts not of itself, but
> is led captive by another. And hence it is that brutes cannot have free
> judgment, because their judgments are always prevented by appetite. And hence
> it may also appear manifest that intellectual substances, whose wills are
> immutable, and likewise souls separated from the body, and departing from it
> well and holily, lose not the liberty of choice on account of the immutability
> of the will, but retain it most perfectly and powerfully. This being
> discerned, it is again plain that this liberty, or principle of all our
> liberty, is the greatest good conferred on human nature by God; because by
> this very thing we are here made happy, as men; by this we are elsewhere
> happy, as divine beings."]
> 
> "But forasmuch as holy Church, herein
> Dispensing, seems to contradict the truth
> I have discover'd to thee, yet behoves
> Thou rest a little longer at the board,
> Ere the crude aliment which thou hast ta'en,
> Digested fitly, to nutrition turn.
> Open thy mind to what I now unfold;
> And give it inward keeping. Knowledge comes
> Of learning well retain'd, unfruitful else.
> 
> "This sacrifice, in essence, of two things
> Consisteth: one is that, whereof 'tis made;
> The covenant, the other[3]. For the last,
> 
> [3: The one, the substance of the vow, as of a single life, or of
> keeping fast; the other, the compact.]
> 
> It ne'er is cancel'd, if not kept: and hence
> I spake, erewhile, so strictly of its force.
> For this it was enjoin'd the Israelites[4], [change
> Though leave were given them, as thou know'st, to
> The offering, still to offer. The other part,
> The matter and the substance of the vow,
> May well be such, as that, without offence,
> It may for other substance be exchanged.
> But, at his own discretion, none may shift
> The burden on his shoulders; unreleased
> By either key,[5] the yellow and the white.
> Nor deem of any change, as less than vain,
> If the last bond[6] be not within the new
> Included, as the quatre in the six.
> No satisfaction therefore can be paid
> For what so precious in the balance weighs,
> That all in counterpoise must kick the beam.
> Take then no vow at random: ta'en, with faith
> Preserve it; yet not bent, as Jephthah once,
> Blindly to execute a rash resolve,
> Whom better it had suited to exclaim,
> 'I have done ill,' than to redeem his pledge
> By doing worse: or, not unlike to him
> In folly, that great leader of the Greeks;
> Whence, on the altar, Iphigenia mourn'd
> Her virgin beauty, and hath since made mourn
> Both wise and simple, even all, who hear
> Of so fell sacrifice. Be ye more staid,
> O Christians! not, like feather, by each wind
> Removable; nor think to cleanse yourselves
> In every water. Either testament,
> The old and new, is yours: and for your guide,
> The shepherd of the Church. Let this suffice
> To save you. When by evil lust enticed,
> Remember ye be men, not senseless beasts;
> Nor let the Jew, who dwelleth in your streets,
> Hold you in mockery. Be not, as the lamb,
> That, fickle wanton, leaves its mother's milk,
> 
> [4: See Lev. c. xii. and xxvii.]
> 
> [5: Purgatory, Canto ix. 108.]
> 
> [6: If the thing substituted be not more precious than the thing
> released.]
> 
> To dally with itself in idle play."
> 
> Such were the words that Beatrice spake:
> These ended, to that region, where the world
> Is liveliest, full of fond desire she turn'd.
> 
> Though mainly prompt new question to propose,
> Her silence and changed look did keep me dumb.
> And as the arrow, ere the cord is still,
> Leapeth unto its mark; so on we sped
> Into the second realm. There I beheld
> The dame, so joyous, enter, that the orb
> Grew brighter at her smiles; and, if the star
> Were moved to gladness, what then was my cheer,
> Whom nature hath made apt for every change!
> 
> As in a quiet and clear lake the fish,
> If aught approach them from without, do draw
> Toward it, deeming it their food; so drew
> Full more than thousand splendours toward us;
> And in each one was heard: "Lo! one arrived
> To multiply our loves!" and as each came,
> The shadow, streaming forth effulgence new,
> Witness'd augmented joy. Here, Reader! think,
> If thou didst miss the sequel of my tale,
> To know the rest how sorely thou wouldst crave;
> And thou shalt see what vehement desire
> Possess'd me, soon as these had met my view,
> To know their state. "O born in happy hour!
> Thou, to whom grace vouchsafes, or e'er thy close
> Of fleshly warfare, to behold the thrones
> Of that eternal triumph; know, to us
> The light communicated, which through Heaven
> Expatiates without bound. Therefore, if aught
> Thou of our beams wouldst borrow for thine aid,
> Spare not; and, of our radiance, take thy fill."
> 
> Thus of those piteous spirits one bespake me;
> And Beatrice next: "Say on; and trust
> As unto gods." - "How in the light supreme
> Thou harbour'st, and from thence the virtue bring'st,
> That, sparkling in thine eyes, denotes thy joy,
> I mark; but, who thou art, am still to seek;
> Or wherefore, worthy spirit! for thy lot
> This sphere[7] assign'd, that oft from mortal ken
> Is veil'd by other's beams." I said; and turn'd
> Toward the lustre, that with greeting kind
> Erewhile had hail'd me. Forthwith, brighter far
> Than erst, it wax'd: and, as himself the sun
> Hides through excess of light, when his warm gaze[8]
> Hath on the mantle of thick vapours prey'd;
> Within its proper ray the saintly shape
> Was, through increase of gladness, thus conceal'd;
> And, shrouded so in splendour, answer'd me,
> E'en as the tenour of my song declares.
> 
> [7: "This sphere." The planet Mercury, which being nearest to the
> sun, is oftenest hidden by that luminary.]
> 
> [8: "When his warm gaze." When the sun has dried up the vapors that
> shaded his brightness.]
>
> — *Paradise Canto  5*