# Paradise Canto 11

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-21 — 1 clipping.*

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> 
> Canto XI
> 
> Argument
> 
>      Thomas Aquinas enters at large into the life and character of St.
> Francis; and then solves one of two difficulties, which he perceived to have
> risen in Dante's mind from what he had heard in the last Canto.
> 
> O fond anxiety of mortal men!
> How vain and inconclusive arguments
> Are those, which make thee beat thy wings below.
> For statutes one, and one for aphorisms[1]
> 
> [1: The study of medicine.]
> 
> Was hunting; this the priesthood follow'd; that,
> By force or sophistry, aspired to rule;
> To rob, another; and another sought,
> By civil business, wealth; one, moiling, lay
> Tangled in net of sensual delight;
> And one to wistless indolence resign'd;
> What time from all these empty things escaped,
> With Beatrice, I thus gloriously
> Was raised aloft, and made the guest of Heaven.
> 
> They of the circle to that point, each one,
> Where erst it was, had turn'd; and steady glow'd,
> As candle in his socket. Then within
> The lustre,[2] that erewhile bespake me, smiling
> With merer gladness, heard I thus begin:
> 
> [2: The spirit of Thomas Aquinas.]
> 
> "E'en as His beam illumes me, so I look
> Into the Eternal Light, and clearly mark
> Thy thoughts, from whence they rise. Thou art in doubt,
> And wouldst, that I should bolt my words afresh
> In such plain open phrase, as may be smooth
> To thy perception, where I told thee late
> That 'well they thrive';[3] and that 'no second such[4]
> Hath risen,' which no small distinction needs.
> 
> [3: See the last Canto, v. 93.]
> 
> [4: See the last Canto, v. III.]
> 
> "The Providence, that governeth the world,
> In depth of counsel by created ken
> Unfathomable, to the end that she,[5]
> Who with loud cries was 'spoused in precious blood,
> Might keep her footing toward her well - beloved,[6]
> Safe in herself and constant unto Him,
> Hath two ordain'd, who should on either hand
> In chief escort her: one,[7] seraphic all
> In fervency; for wisdom upon earth,
> The other,[8] splendour of cherubic light.
> I but of one will tell: he tells of both,
> Who one commendeth, which of them soe'er
> Be taken: for their deeds were to one end.
> 
> [5: "She." The Church.]
> 
> [6: Jesus Christ.]
> 
> [7: "One." St. Francis.]
> 
> [8: "The other." St. Dominic.]
> 
> "Between Tupino,[9] and the wave that falls
> From blest Ubaldo's chosen hill, there hangs
> Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold[10]
> Are wafted through Perugia's eastern gate:
> And Nocera with Gualdo, in its rear,
> Mourn for their heavy yoke.[11] Upon that side,
> Where it doth break its steepness most, arose
> A sun upon the world, as duly this
> From Ganges doth: therefore let none, who speak
> Of that place, say Ascesi; for its name
> Were lamely so deliver'd; but the East,
> To call things rightly, be it henceforth styled.
> He was not yet much distant from his rising,
> When his good influence 'gan to bless the earth.
> A dame,[12] to whom none openeth pleasure's gate
> More than to death, was, 'gainst his father's will,[13]
> His stripling choice: and he did make her his,
> Before the spiritual court,[14] by nuptial bonds,
> And in his father's sight: from day to day,
> Then loved her more devoutly. She, bereaved
> Of her first Husband,[15] slighted and obscure,
> Thousand and hundred years and more, remain'd
> Without a single suitor, till he came.
> Nor aught avail'd, that, with Amyclas,[16] she
> Was found unmoved at rumour of his voice,
> Who shook the world: nor aught her constant boldness,
> Whereby with Christ she mounted on the Cross,
> When Mary stay'd beneath. But not to deal
> 
> [9: Thomas Aquinas describes the birthplace of St. Francis, between
> Tupino, a rivulet near Assisi, or Ascesi, where the saint was born in 1182,
> and Chiascio, a stream that rises in a mountain near Agobbio, chosen by St.
> Ubaldo for his retirement.]
> 
> [10: Cold from the snow, and heart from the reflection of the sun.]
> 
> [11: Vellutello understands this of the vicinity of the "mountain" to
> Nocera and Gualdo; and Venturi of the heavy impositions laid on those places
> by the Perugians.]
> 
> [12: In the under church of St. Francis, Assisi, is a picture painted
> by Giotto from this subject. It is considered one of the artist's best works.
> See Kugler's "Handbook of the History of Painting, translated by a lady."
> Lond. 1842, p. 48.]
> 
> [13: In opposition to the wishes of his natural father.]
> 
> [14: He made a vow of poverty in the presence of the bishop and of
> his natural father.]
> 
> [15: "Her first Husband." Christ.]
> 
> [16: Lucan makes Caesar exclaim, on witnessing the secure poverty of
> the fisherman Amyclas: -
> 
> "O happy poverty! thou greatest good
> Bestow'd by Heaven, but seldom understood!
> Here nor the cruel spoiler seeks his prey,
> Nor ruthless armies take their dreadful way." etc. - Rowe.]
> 
> Thus closely with thee longer, take at large
> The lovers' titles - Poverty and Francis.
> Their concord and glad looks, wonder and love,
> And sweet regard gave birth to holy thoughts,
> So much, that venerable Bernard[17] first
> Did bare his feet, and, in pursuit of peace
> So heavenly, ran, yet deem'd his footing slow.
> O hidden riches! O prolific good!
> Egidius[18] bares him next, and next Sylvester,[19]
> And follow, both, the bridegroom: so the bride
> Can please them. Thenceforth goes he on his way,
> The father and the master, with his spouse,
> And with that family, whom now the cord[20]
> Girt humbly: nor did abjectness of heart
> Weigh down his eyelids, for that he was son
> Of Pietro Bernardone,[21] and by men
> In wondrous sort despised. But royally
> His hard intention he to Innocent[22]
> Set forth; and, from him, first received the seal
> On his religion. Then, when numerous flock'd
> The tribe of lowly ones, that traced his steps,
> Whose marvellous life deservedly were sung
> In heights empyreal; through Honorius'[23] hand
> A second crown, to deck their Guardian's virtues,
> Was by the eternal Spirit inwreathed: and when
> He had, through thirst of martyrdom, stood up
> In the proud Soldan's presence,[24] and there preach'd
> Christ and His followers, but found the race
> Unripen'd for conversion; back once more
> He hasted (not to intermit his toil)
> And reap'd Ausonian lands. On the hard rock,[25]
> 
> [17: Of Quintavalle; one of the first followers of the saint.]
> 
> [18: "Egidius." The third of his disciples, who died in 1262. His
> work, entitled "Verba Aurea," was published in 1534, at Antwerp.]
> 
> [19: Another of his earliest associates.]
> 
> [20: "Whom now the cord." St. Francis bound his body with a cord, in
> sign that it required, like a beast, to be led by a halter.]
> 
> [21: A man in an humble station of life at Assisi.]
> 
> [22: Pope Innocent III.]
> 
> [23: "Honorius." His successor Honorius III, who granted certain
> privileges to the Franciscans.]
> 
> [24: The Soldan of Egypt, before whom St. Francis is said to have
> preached.]
> 
> [25: Mt. Alverna in the Apennines.]
> 
> 'Twixt Arno and the Tiber, he from Christ
> Took the last signet,[26] which his limbs two years
> Did carry. Then, the season come that He,
> Who to such good had destined him, was pleased
> To advanced him to the meed, which he had earn'd
> By his self - humbling; to his brotherhood,
> As their just heritage, he gave in charge
> His dearest lady:[27] and enjoin'd their love
> And faith to her; and, from her bosom, will'd
> His goodly spirit should move forth, returning
> To its appointed kingdom; nor would have
> His body[28] laid upon another bier.
> 
> [26: "The last signet." Alluding to the stigmata, or marks resembling
> the wounds of Christ, said to have been found on the saint's body.]
> 
> [27: "His dearest lady." Poverty.]
> 
> [28: He forbade any funeral pomp to be observed at his burial; and,
> as it is said, ordered that his remains should be deposited in a place where
> criminals were executed and interred.]
> 
> "Think now of one, who were a fit colleague
> To keep the bark of Peter, in deep sea,
> Helm'd to right point; and such our Patriarch[29] was.
> Therefore who follow him as he enjoins,
> Thou mayst be certain, take good lading in.
> But hunger of new viands tempts his flock;[30]
> So that they needs into strange pastures wide
> Must spread them: and the more remote from him
> The stragglers wander, so much more they come
> Home, to the sheep - fold, destitute of milk.
> There are of them, in truth, who fear their harm,
> And to the shepherd cleave; but these so few,
> A little stuff may furnish out their cloaks.
> 
> [29: St. Dominic, to whose order Thomas Aquinas belonged.]
> 
> [30: "His flock." The Dominicans.]
> 
> "Now, if my words be clear; if thou have ta'en
> Good heed; if that, which I have told, recall
> To mind; thy wish may be in part fulfill'd:
> For thou wilt see the plant from whence they split;[31]
> And he shall see, who girds him, what that means,
> 'That well they thrive, not swoln with vanity.'"
> 
> [31: "The rule of their order, which the Dominicans neglect to
> observe."]
>
> — *Paradise Canto 11*