# Paradise Canto 15

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> Christianity Index  Divine Comedy Index  Previous: Paradise Canto 14  Next: Paradise Canto 16  
> 
> Canto XV
> 
> Argument
> 
>      The spirit of Cacciaguida, our Poet's ancestor, glides rapidly to the
> foot of the cross; tells who he is; and speaks of the simplicity of the
> Florentines in his days, since then much corrupted.
> 
> True love, that ever shows itself as clear
> In kindness, as loose appetite in wrong,
> Silenced that lyre harmonious, and still'd
> The sacred cords, that are by Heaven's right hand
> Unwound and tighten'd. How to righteous prayers
> Should they not hearken, who, to give me will
> For praying, in accordance thus were mute?
> He hath in sooth good cause for endless grief,
> Who, for the love of thing that lasteth not,
> Despoils himself forever of that love.
> 
> As oft along the still and pure serene,
> At nightfall, glides a sudden trail of fire,
> Attracting with involuntary heed
> The eye to follow it, erewhile at rest;
> And seems some star that shifted place in Heaven,
> Only that, whence it kindles, none is lost,
> And it is soon extinct: thus from the horn,
> That on the dexter of the cross extends,
> Down to its foot, one luminary ran
> From mid the cluster shone there; yet no gem
> Dropp'd from its foil: and through the beamy list,
> Like flame in alabaster, glow'd its course.
> 
> So forward stretch'd him (if of credence aught
> Our greater muse may claim) the pious ghost
> Of old Anchises, in the Elysian bower,
> When he perceived his son. "O thou, my blood!
> O most exceeding grace divine! to whom,
> As now to thee, hath twice the heavenly gate
> Been e'er unclosed?" So spake the light: whence I
> Turn'd me toward him; then unto my dame
> My sight directed: and on either side
> Amazement waited me; for in her eyes
> Was lighted such a smile, I thought that mine
> Had dived unto the bottom of my grace
> And of my bliss in Paradise. Forthwith,
> To hearing and to sight grateful alike,
> The spirit to his proem added things
> I understood not, so profound he spake:
> Yet not of choice, but through necessity,
> Mysterious; for his high conception soar'd
> Beyond the mark of mortals. When the flight
> Of holy transport had so spent its rage,
> That nearer to the level of our thought
> The speech descended; the first sounds I heard
> Were, "Blest be thou, Triunal Deity!
> That hast such favour in my seed vouchsafed."
> Then follow'd. "No unpleasant thirst, though long,
> Which took me reading in the sacred book,
> Whose leaves or white or dusky never change,
> Thou hast allay'd, my son! within this light,
> From whence my voice thou hear'st: more thanks to her,
> Who, for such lofty mounting, has with plumes
> Begirt thee. Thou dost deem thy thoughts to me
> From Him transmitted, who is first of all,
> E'en as all numbers ray from unity;
> And therefore dost not ask me who I am,
> Or why to thee more joyous I appear,
> Than any other in this gladsome throng.
> The truth is as thou deem'st; for in this life
> Both less and greater in that Mirror look,
> In which thy thoughts, or e'er thou think'st, are shown.
> But, that the love, which keeps me wakeful ever,
> Urging with sacred thirst of sweet desire,
> May be contented fully; let thy voice,
> Fearless, and frank, and jocund, utter forth
> Thy will distinctly, utter forth the wish,
> Whereto my ready answer stands decreed."
> 
> I turn'd me to Beatrice; and she heard
> Ere I had spoken, smiling an assent,
> That to my will gave wings; and I began:
> "To each among your tribe, what time ye kenn'd
> The nature, in whom naught unequal dwells,
> Wisdom and love were in one measure dealt;
> For that they are so equal in the Sun,
> From whence ye drew your radiance and your heat,
> As makes all likeness scant. But will and means,
> In mortals, for the cause ye well discern,
> With unlike wings are fledged. A mortal, I
> Experience inequality like this;
> And therefore give no thanks, but in the heart,
> For thy paternal greeting. This howe'er
> I pray thee, living topaz! that ingemm'st
> This precious jewel; let me hear thy name."
> 
> "I am thy root,[1] O leaf! whom to expect
> Even, hath pleased me." Thus the prompt reply
> Prefacing, next it added: "He, of whom[2]
> 
> [1: "I am thy root." Cacciaguida, father to Alighieri, of whom our
> Poet was the great - grandson.]
> 
> [2: "He, of whom." "Thy great - grandfather, Alighieri, has been in
> the first round of Purgatory more than a hundred years; and it is fit that
> thou by thy good deserts shouldst endeavor to shorten the time of his
> remaining there." His son Bellincione was living in 1266; and of him was born
> the father of our Poet, whom Benvenuto da Imola calls a lawyer by profession.]
> 
> Thy kindred appellation comes, and who,
> These hundred years and more, on its first ledge
> Hath circuited the mountain, was my son,
> And thy great - grandsire. Well befits, his long
> Endurance should he shorten'd by thy deeds.
> 
> "Florence, within her ancient limit - mark,
> Which calls her still[3] to matin prayers and noon,
> Was chaste and sober, and abode in peace.
> She had no armlets and no head - tires then;
> No purfled dames; no zone, the caught the eye
> More than the person did. Time was not yet,
> When[4] at his daughter's birth the sire grew pale,
> For fear the age and dowry should exceed,
> On each side, just proportion. House was none
> Void[5] of its family: nor yet had come
> Sardanapalus,[6] to exhibit feats
> Of chamber prowess. Montemalo[7] yet
> O'er our suburban turret[8] rose; as much
> To be surpass in fall, as in its rising.
> I saw Bellincion Berti[9] walk abroad
> In leathern girdle, and a clasp of bone;
> And, with no artful colouring on her cheeks,
> 
> [3: The public clock being still within the circuit of the ancient
> walls.]
> 
> [4: When the women were not married at too early an age, and did not
> expect too large a portion.]
> 
> [5: Through the civil wars and banishments. Or he may mean that
> houses were not formerly built merely for show, nor of greater size than was
> necessary for containing the families that inhabited them.]
> 
> [6: The luxurious monarch of Assyria.]
> 
> [7: Either an elevated spot between Rome and Viterbo; or Monte Mario,
> the site of the villa Mellini, commanding a view of Rome.]
> 
> [8: Uccellatojo, near Florence, whence that city was discovered.
> Florence had not yet vied with Rome in the grandeur of her public buildings.]
> 
> [9: "Bellincion Berti." Hell, Canto xvi. 38, and notes. "And observe
> that in the time of the said people (A. D. 1259), and before and for a long
> time after, the citizens of Florence lived soberly, on coarse viands, and at
> little cost, and in many customs and courtesies of life were rude and
> unpolished; and dressed themselves and their women in coarse cloths: many wore
> plain leather, without cloth over it; bonnets on their heads; and all, boots
> on the feet; and the Florentine women were without ornament; the better sort
> content with a close gown of scarlet cloth of Ypres or of camlet, bound with a
> girdle in the ancient mode, and a mantle lined with fur, and a hood to it,
> which was worn on the head; the common sort of women were clad in a coarse
> gown of Cambrai in like manner . . . and with their coarse way of living and
> poverty [the Florentines] did greater and more virtuous deeds than have been
> done in our times with greater refinement and wealth." - G. Villani, lib. vi.
> c. lxxi.]
> 
> His lady leave the glass. The sons I saw
> Of Nerli, and of Vecchio,[10] well content
> With unrobed jerkin; and their good dames handling
> The spindle and the flax: O happy they!
> Each[11] sure of burial in her native land,
> And none left desolate a - bed for France.
> One waked to tend the cradle, hushing it
> With sounds that lull'd the parent's infancy:
> Another, with her maidens, drawing off
> The tresses from the distaff, lectured them
> Old tales of Troy, and Fesole, and Rome.
> A Salterello and Cianghella[12] we
> Had held a strange a marvel, as ye would
> A Cincinnatus or Cornelia now.
> 
> [10: Two opulent families in Florence.]
> 
> [11: "Each." "None fearful either of dying in banishment, or of being
> deserted by her husband on a scheme of traffic in France."]
> 
> [12: The latter of shameless woman of the family of Tosa, married to
> Lito degli Alidosi of Imola: the former Lapo Salterello, a lawyer, with whom
> Dante was at variance. "We should have held an abandoned character, like
> these, as a great wonder, as ye would the contrary now."]
> 
> "In such composed and seemly fellowship,
> Such faithful and such fair equality,
> In so sweet household, Mary[13] at my birth
> Bestow'd me, call'd on with loud cries; and there,
> In your old baptistery, I was made
> Christian at once and Cacciaguida; as were
> My brethren, Eliseo and Moronto.
> 
> [13: "Mary." The Virgin was invoked in the pains of child - birth.
> Purgatory, Canto xx.21.]
> 
> "From Valdipado[14] came to me my spouse;
> And hence thy surname grew. I follow'd then
> The Emperor Conrad:[15] and his knighthood he
> Did gird on me; in such a good part he took
> My valiant service. After him I went
> To testify against that evil law,
> Whose people,[16] by the Shepherd's fault, possess
> Your right usurp'd. There I by that foul crew
> Was disentangled from the treacherous world
> 
> [14: Cacciaguida's wife, whose family name was Alighieri, came from
> Ferrara, called Val di Pado, from its being watered by the Po.]
> 
> [15: "Conrad." The Emperor Conrad III, who died in 1152.]
> 
> [16: The Mohammedans, who were left in the possession of the Holy
> Land, through the supineness of the Pope. See Canto iv. 123.]
> 
> Whose base affection many a spirit soils;
> And from the martyrdom came to this peace."
>
> — *Paradise Canto 15*