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 Canto XVIII
 
 
 Argument
 
 
      Dante sees the souls of many renowned warriors and crusaders in the
 planet Mars; and then ascends with Beatrice to Jupiter, the sixth heaven, in
 which he finds the souls of those who had administered justice rightly in the
 world, so disposed, as to form the figure of an eagle. The Canto concludes
 with an invective against the avarice of the clergy, and especially of the
 pope.
 
 
 Now in his word, sole, ruminating, joy'd
 That blessed spirit  and I fed on mine,
 Tempering the sweet with bitter. She meanwhile,
 Who led me unto God, admonish'd: "Muse
 On other thoughts: bethink thee, that near Him
 I dwell, who recompenseth every wrong."
 
 
 At the sweet sounds of comfort straight I turn'd;
 And, in the saintly eyes what love was seen,
 I leave in silence here, nor through distrust
 Of my words only, but that to such bliss
 The mind remounts not without aid. Thus much
 Yet may I speak; that, as I gazed on her,
 Affection found no room for other wish.
 While the everlasting pleasure, that did full
 On Beatrice shine, with second view
 From her fair countenance my gladden'd soul
 Contended; vanquishing me with a beam
 Of her soft smile, she spake: "Turn thee, and list.
 These eyes are not thy only Paradise."
 
 
 As here, we sometimes in the looks may see
 The affection mark'd, when that its sway hath ta'en
 The spirit wholly; thus the hallow'd light,[1]
 To whom I turn'd, flashing, bewray'd its will
 To talk yet further with me, and began:
 "On this fifth lodgment of the tree,[2] whose life
 Is from its top, whose fruit is ever fair
 And leaf unwithering, blessed spirits abide,
 That were below, ere they arrived in Heaven,
 So mighty in renown, as every muse
 Might grace her triumph with them. On the horns
 Look, therefore, of the cross: he whom I name,
 Shall there enact, as doth in summer cloud
 Its nimble fire." Along the cross I saw,
 At the repeated name of Joshua,
 A splendour gliding; nor, the word was said,
 Ere it was done: then, at the naming, saw,
 Of the great Maccabee,[3] another move
 With whirling speed; and gladness was the scourge
 Unto that top. The next for Charlemain
 And for the peer Orlando, two my gaze
 Pursued, intently, as the eye pursues
 A falcon flying. Last, along the cross,
 William, and Renard,[4] and Duke Godfrey[5] drew
 My ken, and Robert Guiscard.[6] And the soul
 Who spake with me, among the other lights
 Did move away, and mix; and with the quire
 Of heavenly songsters proved his tuneful skill.
 
 
 [1: In which the spirit of Cacciaguida was enclosed.]
 
 
 [2: Mars, the fifth of the heavens.]
 
 
 [3: Judas Maccabaeus.]
 
 
 [4: Probably not William II of Orange, and his kinsman Raimbaud, two
 of the crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon, but rather the two more celebrated
 heroes in the age of Charlemain. The former, William I of Orange, supposed to
 have been the founder of the present illustrious family of that name, died
 about 808. The latter has been celebrated by Ariosto, under the name of
 Rinaldo.]
 
 
 [5: Godfrey of Bouillon.]
 
 
 [6: See Hell, Canto xxviii. 12.]
 
 
 To Beatrice on my right I bent,
 Looking for intimation, or by word
 Or act, what next behoved; and did descry
 Such mere effulgence in her eyes, such joy,
 It pass'd all former wont. And, as by sense
 Of new delight, the man, who perseveres
 In good deeds, doth perceive, from day to day,
 
 
 His virtue growing; I e'en thus perceived,
 Of my ascent, together with the Heaven,
 The circuit widen'd; noting the increase
 Of beauty in that wonder. Like the change
 In a brief moment on some maiden's cheek,
 Which, from its fairness, doth discharge the weight
 Of pudency, that stain'd it; such in her,
 And to mine eyes so sudden was the change,
 Through silvery whiteness of that temperate star,
 Whose sixth orb now enfolded us. I saw,
 Within that Jovial cresset, the clear sparks
 Of love, that reign'd there, fashion to my view
 Our language. And as birds, from river banks
 Arisen, now in round, now lengthen'd troop,
 Array them in their flight, greeting, as seems
 Their new - found pastures; so, within the lights,
 The saintly creatures flying, sang; and made
 Now D, now I, now L, figured i' the air
 First singing to their notes they moved; then, one
 Becoming of these signs, a little while
 Did rest them, and were mute. O nymph divine
 Of Pegasean race! who souls, which thou
 Inspirest, makest glorious and long - lived, as they
 Cities and realms by thee; thou with thyself
 Inform me; that I may set forth the shapes,
 As fancy doth present them: be thy power
 Display'd in this brief song. The characters,
 Vocal and consonant, were five - fold seven.
 In order, each, as they appear'd, I mark'd.
 Diligite Justitiam, the first,
 Both verb and noun all blazon'd; and the extreme,
 Qui judicatis terram. In the M
 Of the fifth word they held their station;
 Making the star seem silver streak'd with gold.
 And on the summit of the M, I saw
 Descending other lights, that rested there,
 Singing, methinks, their bliss and primal good.
 Then, as at shaking of a lighted brand,
 Sparkles innumerable on all sides
 Rise scatter'd, source of augury to the unwise;
 Thus more than thousand twinkling lustres hence
 Seem'd reascending; and a higher pitch
 Some mounting, and some less, e'en as the sun,
 Which kindleth them, decreed. And when each one
 Had settled in his place; the head and neck
 Then saw I of an eagle, livelily
 Graved in that streaky fire. Who painteth there,[7]
 Hath none to guide Him: of Himself He guides:
 And every line and texture of the nest
 Doth own from Him the virtue fashions it.
 The other bright beatitude,[8] that seem'd
 Erewhile, with lilied crowning, well content
 To over-canopy the M, moved forth,
 Following gently the impress of the bird.
 
 
 [7: "Who painteth there." The Deity himself.]
 
 
 [8: The band of spirits.]
 
 
 Sweet star; what glorious and thick - studded gems
 Declared to me our justice on the earth
 To be the effluence of that Heaven, which thou,
 Thyself a costly jewel, dost inlay.
 Therefore I pray the Sovran Mind, from whom
 Thy motion and thy virtue are begun,
 That He would look from whence the fog doth rise,
 To vitiate thy beam; so that once more[9]
 He may put forth his hand 'gainst such, as drive
 Their traffic in that sanctuary, whose walls
 With miracles and martyrdoms were built.
 
 
 [9: That he may again drive out those who buy and sell in the
 temple.]
 
 
 Ye host of Heaven, whose glory I survey!
 O beg ye grace for those, that are, on earth,
 All after ill example gone astray.
 War once had for his instrument the sword:
 But now 'tis made, taking the bread away,[10]
 Which the good Father locks from none. - And thou,
 That writest but to cancel,[11] think, that they,
 Who for the vineyard, which thou wastest, died,
 Peter and Paul, live yet, and mark thy doings.
 
 
 [10: "Taking the bread away." Excommunication, or interdiction of the
 Eucharist, is now employed as a weapon of warfare.]
 
 
 [11: "That writest but to cancel." "And thou, Pope Boniface, who
 writest thy ecclesiastical censures for no other purpose than to be paid for
 revoking them."]
 
 
 Thou hast good cause to cry, "My heart so cleaves
 To him,[12] that lived in solitude remote,
 And for a dance was dragg'd to martyrdom,
 I wist not of the Fisherman nor Paul."
 
 
 [12: "To him." The coin of Florence was stamped with the impression
 of John the Baptist; and, for this, the avaricious Pope is made to declare
 that he felt more devotion, than either for Peter or Paul.]