Dante: Epistolae

1. Reverendissimo in Christo patri dominorum suorum carissimo domino Nicholao miseratione celesti Ostiensi et Vallatrensi episcopo, Apostolice Sedis legato, necnon in Tuscia Romaniola et Marchia Tervisina et partibus circum adiacentibus paciario per sacrosanctam Ecclesiam ordinato, devotissimi filii A. capitaneus Consilium et Universitas partis Alborum de Florentia semetipsos devotissime at que promptissime recommendant.

1. To the most reverend father in Christ, their most dear lord, Lord Nicholas, by heavenly mercy bishop of Ostia and Velletri, legate of the Apostolic See, and also in Tuscany, Romagna, and the March of Treviso and the parts lying around appointed as paciary by the most holy Church, the most devoted sons A., the captain, the Council and the Universitas of the party of the Whites of Florence most devotedly and most promptly commend themselves.

2. Preceptis salutaribus moniti et Apostolica pietate rogati, sacre vocis contextui, quem misistis post cara nobis consilia, respondemus. Et si negligentie sontes aut ignavie censeremur ob iniuriam tarditatis, citra iudicium discretio sancta vestra preponderet; et quantis qualibusque consiliis et responsis, observata sinceritate consortii, nostra Fraternitas decenter procedendo indigeat, et examinatis que tangimus, ubi forte contra debitam celeritatem defecisse despicimur, ut affluentia vestre Benignitatis indulgeat deprecamur.

2. Admonished by salutary precepts and entreated by Apostolic piety, we respond to the context of the sacred voice which you sent after counsels dear to us. And if we should be deemed guilty of negligence or of sloth on account of the injury of tardiness, without judgment may your holy discretion preponderate; and as to how many and what sorts of counsels and responses, the sincerity of fellowship being observed, our Brotherhood, proceeding decorously, may need; and, the things which we touch upon having been examined, where perhaps we are seen to have failed against due celerity, we beseech that the affluence of your Benignity may indulge us.

3. Ceu filii non ingrati litteras igitur pie vestre Paternitatis aspeximus, que totius nostri desiderii personantes exordia, subito mentes nostras tanta letitia perfuderunt, quantam nemo valeret seu verbo seu cogitatione metiri. 4. Nam quam, fere pre desiderio sompniantes, inhiabamus patrie sanitatem, vestrarum litterarum series plusquam semel sub paterna monitione polluxit. 5. Et ad quid aliud in civile bellum corruimus, quid aliud candida nostra signa petebant, et ad quid aliud enses et tela nostra rubebant, nisi ut qui civilia iura temeraria voluptate truncaverant et iugo pie legis colla submitterent et ad pacem patrie cogerentur?

3. As sons not ungrateful, therefore we beheld the letters of your pious Fatherhood, which, sounding forth the beginnings of our entire desire, suddenly suffused our minds with such joy as no one could measure either by word or by thought. 4. For how we—almost dreaming from desire—yearned after the health of the fatherland, the sequence of your letters has more than once, under paternal monition, promised. 5. And to what else did we rush headlong into a civil war, what else were our white standards seeking, and for what else were our swords and weapons reddening, except that those who had truncated the civil rights by temerarious pleasure might bow their necks to the yoke of the pious law and be compelled to the peace of the fatherland?

6. Quippe nostre intentionis cuspis legiptima de nervo quem tendebamus prorumpens, quietem solam et libertatem populi fiorentini petebat, petit, atque petet in posterum. 7. Quod si tam gratissimo nobis beneficio vigilatis, et adversarios nostros, prout sancta conamina vestra voluerint, ad sulcos bone civilitatis intenditis remeare, quis vobis dignas grates persolvere attentabit? Nec opis est nostre, pater, nec quicquid florentine gentis reperitur in terris.

6. Indeed the legitimate point of our intention, bursting forth from the string which we were stretching, sought only the quiet and the liberty of the Florentine people, seeks, and will seek hereafter. 7. But if you keep watch over so most grateful a benefaction to us, and you aim that our adversaries, as your holy endeavors shall have willed, return to the furrows of good civility, who will attempt to render to you worthy thanks? Nor is it in our power, father, nor in whatever of the Florentine people is found upon the earth.

Sed si qua celo est pietas que talia remuneranda prospiciat, illa vobis premia digna ferat, qui tante urbis misericordiam induistis et ad sedanda civium profana litigia festinatis.

But if there is any piety in heaven which looks to remunerate such things, may it bring to you worthy rewards, you who have assumed the mercy of so great a city and hasten to settle the profane litigations of the citizens.

8. Sane, cum per sancte religionis virum fratrem L. civilitatis persuasorem et pacis premoniti atque requisiti sumus instanter pro vobis, quemadmodum et ipse vestre littere continebant, ut ab omni guerrarum insultu cessaremus et usu, et nos ipsos in paternas manus vestras exhiberemus in totum, nos filii devotissimi vobis et pacis amatores et iusti, exuti iam gladiis, arbitrio vestro spontanea et sincera voluntate subimus, ceu relatu prefati vestri nuntii fratris L. narrabitur, et per publica instrumenta solempniter celebrata liquebit.

8. Truly, when through the man of holy religion, brother L., a persuader of civility and of peace, we were premonished and requisited earnestly on your behalf, as your own letters themselves contained, that we should cease from every assault and exercise of wars, and should present ourselves wholly into your paternal hands, we, your most devoted sons and lovers of peace and of justice, now stripped of swords, submit to your arbitration by spontaneous and sincere will, as will be narrated by the report of the aforesaid envoy of yours, brother L., and it will be clear through public instruments solemnly celebrated.

9. Idcirco pietati clementissime vestre filiali voce affectuosissime supplicamus quatenus illam diu exagitatam Florentiam sopore tranquillitatis et pacis irrigare velitis, eiusque semper populum defensantes nos et qui nostri sunt iuris, ut pius pater, commendatos habere; qui velut a patrie caritate nunquam destitimus, sic de preceptorum vestrorum limitibus nunquam esorbitare intendimus, sed semper tam debite quam devote quibuscunque vestris obedire mandatis.

9. Therefore to your most clement piety we most affectionately supplicate with a filial voice, that you may be willing to irrigate that Florence, long harried, with the sleep of tranquility and peace, and, always defending its people, to have as commended us and those who are of our right, like a pious father; we who, just as we have never ceased from the love of the fatherland, so we do not intend ever to deviate from the limits of your precepts, but always both duly and devoutly to obey whatever your mandates.

II. [Hanc epistolam scripsit Dantes Alagherii Oberto et Guidoni comitibus de Romena post mortem Alexandri comitis de Romena patrui eorum condolens illis de obitu suo]

2. [Dante Alighieri wrote this epistle to Oberto and Guido, counts of Romena, after the death of Alexander, count of Romena, their paternal uncle, condoling with them on his death]

1. Patruus vester Alexander, comes illustris, qui diebus proximis celestem unde venerat secundum spiritum remeavit ad patriam, dominus meus erat et memoria eius usque quo sub tempore vivam dominabitur michi, quando magnificentia sua, que super astra nunc affluenter dignis premis muneratur, me sibi ab annosis temporibus sponte sua fecit esse subiectum. Hec equidem, cunctis aliis virtutibus comitata in illo, suum nomen pre titulis Ytalorum ereum illustrabat. 2. Et quid aliud heroica sua signa dicebant, nisi "scuticam vitiorum fugatricem ostendimus"? Argenteas etenim scuticas in purpureo deferebat extrinsecus, et intrinsecus mentem in amore virtutum vitia repellentem.

1. Your uncle Alexander, an illustrious count, who in recent days returned, according to the spirit, to the celestial fatherland whence he had come, was my lord, and his memory will rule me for as long as I live, since by his magnificence—which now above the stars is abundantly rewarded with worthy prizes—he of his own accord made me subject to himself from years long past. This indeed, accompanied in him by all the other virtues, made his name shine beyond the bronze titles of the Italians. 2. And what else did his heroic signs proclaim, if not “we display a scourge, a driver-away of vices”? For indeed he bore silver scourges on purple outwardly, and inwardly a mind that, in the love of virtues, repelled vices.

3. Doleat ergo, doleat progenies maxima Tuscanorum, que tanto viro fulgebat, et doleant omnes amici eius et subditi, quorum spem mors crudeliter verberavit; inter quos ultimos me miserum dolere oportet, qui a patria pulsus et exul inmeritus infortunia mea rependens continuo cara spe memet consolabar in illo.

3. Let it grieve, therefore—let the very great progeny of the Tuscans, which was shining by so great a man, grieve—and let all his friends and subjects grieve, whose hope death has cruelly scourged; among whom, last of all, it behooves wretched me to grieve, who, driven from my fatherland and an undeserving exile, continually compensating my misfortunes, used to console myself in him with dear hope.

4. Sed quanquam, sensualibus amissis, doloris amaritudo incumbat, si considerentur intellectualia que supersunt, sane mentis oculis lux dulcis consolationis exoritur. 5. Nam qui virtutem honorabat in terris, nunc a Virtutibus honoratur in celis; et qui Romane aule palatinus erat in Tuscia, nuac regie sempiteme aulicus preelectus in superna Ierusalem cum beatorum principibus gloriatur. 6. Quapropter, carissimi domini mei, supplici exhortatione vos deprecor quatenus modice dolere velitis et sensualia postergare, nisi prout vobis exemplaria esse possunt; et quemadmodum ipse iustissimus bonorum sibi vos instituit in heredes, sic ipsi vos, tanquam proximiores ad illum, mores eius egregios induatis.

4. But although, with the sensual things lost, the bitterness of grief presses, if the intellectual things which remain be considered, surely to the eyes of the mind there arises a sweet light of consolation. 5. For he who honored virtue on earth is now honored by the Virtues in heaven; and he who was a palatine of the Roman court in Tuscany, now, a pre‑elected courtier of the everlasting royal court, glories in the supernal Jerusalem with the princes of the blessed. 6. Wherefore, my dearest lords, with a suppliant exhortation I beseech you to be willing to grieve moderately and to postpone the sensual things, except insofar as they can be examples for you; and just as he himself, most just, appointed you as his heirs in goods, so do you, as those nearest to him, put on his distinguished manners.

7. Ego autem, preter hec, me vestrum vestre discretioni excuso de absentia lacrimosis exequiis; quia nec negligentia neve ingratitudo me tenuit, sed inopina paupertas quam fecit exilium. 8. Hec etenim, velut effera persecutrix, equis armisque vacantem iam sue captivitatis me detrusit in antrum, et nitentem cunctis exsurgere viribus, hucusque prevalens, impia retinere molitur.

7. I, moreover, besides these things, as yours, make my excuse to your discretion for my absence from the tearful exequies; for neither negligence nor ingratitude held me, but the unforeseen poverty which exile wrought. 8. For this, like a savage persecutrix, having me now lacking horses and arms, has thrust me into the cavern of her captivity, and, I striving with all my forces to rise up, thus far prevailing, impiously strives to hold me fast.

III.

1. Exulanti Pistoriensi Florentinus exul inmeritus per tempora diuturna salutem et perpetue caritatis ardorem.

1. To the exiled Pistoian, an undeserving Florentine exile, through long-enduring times, greeting and the ardor of perpetual charity.

2. Eructuavit incendium tue dilectionis verbum confidentie vehementis ad me, in quo consuluisti, carissime, utrum de passione in passionem possit anima transformari: de passione in passionem dico secundum eandem potentiam et obiecta diversa numero sed non specie; quod quamvis ex ore tuo iustius prodire debuerat, nichilominus me illius auctorem facere voluisti, ut in declaratione rei nimium dubitate titulum mei nominis ampliares. 3. Hoc etenim, cum cognitum, quam acceptum quamque gratum extiterit, absque importuna diminutione verba non caperent: ideo, causa conticentie huius inspecta, ipse quod non exprimitur metiaris.

2. The blaze of your affection burst forth toward me in the word of vehement confidence, dearest, in which you consulted whether the soul can be transformed from passion into passion: from passion into passion, I say, according to the same potency and objects different in number but not in species; which, although it ought more justly to have proceeded from your mouth, nonetheless you wished to make me its author, so that in the declaration of a matter excessively doubtful you might amplify the title of my name. 3. For how well known this has been, how acceptable and how pleasing it has proved, words could not contain without an importunate diminution: therefore, the cause of this silence being considered, do you yourself measure what is not expressed.

4. Redditur, ecce, sermo Calliopeus inferius, quo sententialiter canitur, quanquam transumptive more poetico signetur intentum, amorem huius posse torpescere atque denique interire, nec non huius, quod corruptio unius generatio sit alterius, in anima reformari.

4. Behold, the Calliopean discourse is rendered below, in which it is sung sententially, although the intent is signified transumptively in poetic manner, that the love of this can grow torpid and finally perish, and likewise that the other—since the corruption of the one is the generation of the other—is re-formed in the soul.

5. Et fides huius, quanquam sit ab experientia persuasum, ratione potest et auctoritate muniri. Omnis namque potentia que post corruptionem unius actus non deperit, naturaliter reservatur in alium: ergo potentie sensitive, manente organo, per corruptionem unius actus non depereunt, et naturaliter reservantur in alium; cum igitur potentia concupiscibilis, que sedes amoris est, sit potentia sensitiva, manifestum est quod post corruptionem unius passionis qua in actum reducitur, in alium reservatur. 6. Maior et minor propositio sillogismi, quarum facilis patet introitus, tue diligentie relinquantur probande.

5. And the faith of this, although it is persuaded by experience, can be fortified by reason and by authority. For every potency which does not perish after the corruption of one act is naturally reserved for another: therefore the sensitive potencies, the organ remaining, do not perish through the corruption of one act, and are naturally reserved for another; since therefore the concupiscible potency, which is the seat of love, is a sensitive potency, it is manifest that after the corruption of one passion by which it is reduced into act, it is reserved for another. 6. Let the major and minor proposition of the syllogism, whose entry is easy, be left to your diligence for proving.

7. Auctoritatem vero Nasonis, quarto De Rerum Transformatione, que directe atque ad litteram propositum respicit, superest ut intueare; scilicet ubi ait, et quidem in fabula trium sororum contemtricium in semine Semeles, ad Solem loquens, qui nymphis aliis derelictis atque neglectis in quas prius exarserat, noviter Leucothoen diligebat: "Quid nunc, Yperione nate", et reliqua.

7. But as for the authority of Naso, in book 4 of the Transformation of Things, which directly and to the letter regards the proposition, it remains that you look upon it; namely, where he says—indeed in the fable of three rivalrous sisters concerning the seed/offspring of Semele—speaking to the Sun, who, the other nymphs abandoned and neglected, upon whom he had formerly burned, was now newly loving Leucothoe: "What now, son of Hyperion," and the rest.

8. Sub hoc, frater carissime, ad prudentiam, qua contra Rhamnusie spicula sis patiens, te exhortor. Perlege, deprecor, Fortuitorum Remedia, que ab inclitissimo phylosophorum Seneca nobis velut a patre filiis ministrantur, et illud de memoria sane tua non defluat: "Si de mundo fuissetis, mundus quod suum erat diligeret".

8. On this, dearest brother, I exhort you to prudence, by which you may be patient against Rhamnusia’s darts. Read through, I beseech you, the Remedies for Fortuitous Events, which by the most illustrious of philosophers, Seneca, are ministered to us as by a father to his sons, and let this indeed not slip from your memory: "If you had been of the world, the world would love what was its own."

[Seguiva il sonetto Io sono stato con Amore insieme]

[There followed the sonnet Io sono stato con Amore insieme]

IV. [Scribit Dantes domino Moroello marchioni Maiaspine]

4. [Dante writes to lord Moroello, marquis of Maiaspina]

1. Ne lateant dominum vincula servi sui, quam affectus gratuitas dominantis, et ne alia relata pro aliis, que falsarum oppinionum seminaria frequentius esse solent, negligentem predicent carceratum, ad conspectum Magnificentie vestre presentis oraculi seriem placuit destinare.

1. Lest the chains of his servant lie hidden from the lord, as well as the gracious affections of the ruler, and lest other things reported in place of other things, which are more often wont to be seedbeds of false opinions, proclaim the incarcerated negligent, it has seemed good to dispatch to the sight of Your Magnificence the series of the present oracle.

2. Igitur michi a limine suspirate postea curie separato, in qua, velut sepe sub admiratione vidistis, fas fuit sequi libertatis officia, cum primum pedes iuxta Sarni fluenta securus et incautus defigerem, subito heu! mulier, ceu fuigur descendens, apparuit, nescio quomodo, meis auspitiis undique moribus et forma conformis. 3. O quam in eius apparitione obstupui!

2. Therefore, after I had been parted from the threshold of the long-sighed-for court, in which, as you have often seen with admiration, it was lawful to follow the offices of liberty, when for the first time I planted my feet by the streams of the Sarnus, secure and unwary, suddenly, alas! a woman, as if descending like lightning, appeared—I know not how—on every side, in manners and in form, conformable to my auspices. 3. O how I was astonished at her apparition!

Sed stupor subsequentis tonitrui terrore cessavit. Nam sicut diurnis coruscationibus illico succedunt tonitrua, sic inspecta fiamma pulcritudinis huius Amor terribilis et imperiosus me tenuit, atque hic ferox, tanquam dominus pulsus a patria post longum exilium sola in sua repatrians, quicquid eius contrarium fuerat intra me, vel occidit vel expulit vel ligavit. 4. Occidit ergo propositum illud laudabile quo a mulieribus suisque cantibus abstinebam; ac meditationes assiduas, quibus tam celestia quam terrestria intuebar, quasi suspectas, impie relegavit; et denique, ne contra se amplius anima rebellaret, liberum meum ligavit arbitrium, ut non quo ego, sed quo ille vult, me verti oporteat.

But the stupefaction ceased at the terror of the thunder that followed. For just as to diurnal coruscations thunders immediately succeed, so, the flame of this beauty having been beheld, a terrible and imperious Love held me fast; and this one, fierce, like a lord driven from his fatherland, after a long exile repatriating alone into his own, whatever within me had been contrary to him he either slew or expelled or bound. 4. Therefore he slew that laudable resolution by which I used to abstain from women and their songs; and the assiduous meditations by which I looked upon things both celestial and terrestrial, as though suspect, he impiously relegated; and finally, lest the soul should rebel against him any further, he bound my free will, so that not whither I, but whither he wills, I must be turned.

5. Regnat itaque Amor in me, nulla refragante virtute; qualiterque me regat, inferius extra sinum presentium requiratis.

5. Therefore Love reigns in me, with no virtue gainsaying; and how he rules me, you may inquire below, outside the bosom of the present matters.

[Seguiva la canzone Amor, da che convien pur ch'io mi doglia]

[There followed the canzone 'Love, since it behooves that I should lament']

1. Universis et singulis Ytalie Regibus et Senatoribus alme Urbis nec non Ducibus Marchionibus Comitibus atque Populis, humilis ytalus Dantes Alagherii fiorentinus et exul inmeritus orat pacem.

1. To all and each of the Kings of Italy and the Senators of the Kindly City, and likewise to the Dukes, Marquises, Counts, and Peoples, the humble Italian Dante Alagherii, Florentine and an undeserving exile, prays for peace.

2. "Ecce nunc tempus acceptabile", quo signa surgunt consolationis et pacis. Nam dies nova splendescit ab ortu auroram demonstrans, que iam tenebras diuturne calamitatis attenuat iamque aure orientales crebrescunt; rutilat celum in labiis suis, et auspitia gentium blanda serenitate confortat. 3. Et nos gaudium expectatum videbimus, qui diu pernoctitavimus in deserto, quoniam Titan exorietur pacificus, et iustitia, sine sole quasi eliotropium hebetata, cum primum iubar ille vibraverit, revirescet.

2. "Behold, now the acceptable time", when the signs of consolation and peace rise. For a new day shines from the rising, showing the dawn, which already attenuates the shadows of diuturnal calamity, and now the eastern airs grow frequent; the heaven glows ruddy at its lips, and with winsome serenity it fortifies the auspices of the nations. 3. And we shall behold the expected joy, we who have long kept vigil through the night in the desert, since Titan will rise pacific, and Justice, dulled without the sun like a heliotrope, when that radiance first quivers, will grow green again.

Saturabuntur omnes qui esuriunt et sitiunt iustitiam in lumine radiorum eius, et confundentur qui diligunt iniquitatem a facie coruscantis. 4. Arrexit namque aures misericordes Leo fortis de tribu Iuda; atque ullulatum universalis captivitatis miserans, Moysen alium suscitavit qui de gravaminibus Egiptiorum populum suum eripiet, ad terram lacte ac melle manantem perducens.

All will be satiated who hunger and thirst for justice in the light of his rays, and they who love iniquity will be confounded from the face of the coruscating one. 4. For the strong Lion of the tribe of Judah has pricked up his merciful ears; and, pitying the ululation of universal captivity, he has raised up another Moses who will snatch his people from the burdens of the Egyptians, leading them to a land flowing with milk and honey.

5. Letare iam nunc miseranda Ytalia etiam Saracenis, que statim invidiosa per orbem videberis, quia sponsus tuus, mundi solatium et gloria plebis tue, clementissimus Henricus, divus et Augustus et Cesar, ad nuptias properat. 6. Exsicca lacrimas et meroris vestigia dele, pulcerrima, nam prope est qui liberabit te de carcere impiorum; qui percutiens malignantes in ore gladii perdet eos, et vineam suam aliis locabit agricolis qui fructum iustitie reddant in tempore messis.

5. Rejoice now already, pitiable Italy, even before the Saracens, for you will straightway appear enviable throughout the world, because your bridegroom, the consolation of the world and the glory of your people, most clement Henry, divine and Augustus and Caesar, hastens to the nuptials. 6. Dry your tears and blot out the traces of grief, most beautiful, for near is he who will free you from the prison of the impious; who, smiting the malignants by the edge of the sword, will destroy them, and will lease his vineyard to other husbandmen who may render the fruit of justice at the time of harvest.

7. Sed an non miserebitur cuiquam? Ymo ignoscet omnibus misericordiam implorantibus, cum sit Cesar et maiestas eius de Fonte defluat pietatis. 8. Huius iudicium omnem severitatem abhorret, et semper citra medium plectens, ultra medium premiando se figit.

7. But will he not have mercy on anyone? Nay rather, he will pardon all who implore mercy, since he is Caesar and his majesty flows down from the Fount of piety. 8. His judgment abhors all severity, and always, punishing on this side of the mean, he fixes himself beyond the mean in rewarding.

9. Anne propterea nequam hominum applaudet audacias, et initis presumptionum pocula propinabit? 10. Absit, quoniam Augustus est. Et si Augustus, nonne relapsorum facinora vindicabit, et usque in Thessaliam persequetur, Thessaliam, inquam, finalis deletionis?

9. Or therefore will he applaud the audacities of good-for-nothing men, and proffer cups of presumptions once undertaken? 10. Far be it, since he is Augustus. And if Augustus, will he not avenge the crimes of the relapsed, and pursue them even unto Thessaly—Thessaly, I say, of final destruction?

11. Pone, sanguis Longobardorum, coadductam barbariem; et si quid de Troyanorum Latinorumque semine superest, illli cede, ne cum sublimis aquila fulguris instar descendens adfuerit, abiectos videat pullos eius, et prolis proprie locum corvulis occupatum. 12. Eya, facite, Scandinavie soboles, ut cuius merito trepidatis adventam, quod ex vobis est presentiam sitiatis. 13. Nec seducat alludens cupiditas, more Sirenum nescio qua dulcedine vigiliam rationis mortificans.

11. Put aside, blood of the Longobards, the mustered barbarism; and if anything of the seed of the Trojans and the Latins remains, yield to that, lest, when the lofty eagle, descending like a flash of lightning, shall have been present, he see his chicks cast down, and the place of his own offspring occupied by little crows. 12. Ho, do so, offspring of Scandinavia, that the one at whose coming you tremble by reason of his merit, you, so far as it is from you, may thirst for his presence. 13. And let not a beguiling desire, playing, seduce, after the manner of the Sirens, with I-know-not-what sweetness mortifying the vigilance of reason.

14. Preoccupetis faciem eius in confessione subiectionis, et in psalterio penitentie iubiletis, considerantes quia "potestati resistens Dei ordinationi resistit"; et qui divine ordinationi repugnat, voluntati omnipotentie coequali recalcitrat; et "durum est contra stimulum calcitrare".

14. Come before his face in the confession of subjection, and with the psalter of penitence jubilate, considering that "he who resists authority resists the ordination of God"; and he who opposes the divine ordination recalcitrates against a will coequal with omnipotence; and "it is hard to kick against the goad".

15. Vos autem qui lugetis oppressi "animum sublevate, quoniam prope est vestra salus". Assumite rastrum bone humilitatis, atque glebis exuste animositatis occatis, agellum sternite mentis vestre, ne forte celestis imber, sementem vestram ante iactum preveniens, in vacuum de altissimo cadat. 16. Non resiliat gratia Dei ex vobis tanquam ros quotidianus ex lapide; sed velut fecunda vallis concipite ac viride germinetis, viride dico fructiferum vere pacis; qua quidem viriditate vestra terra vernante, novus agricola Romanorum consilii sui boves ad aratrum affectuosius et confidentius coniugabit. 17. Parcite, parcite iam ex nunc, o carissimi, qui mecum iniuriam passi estis, ut Hectoreus pastor vos oves de ovili suo cognoscat; cui etsi animadversio temporalis divinitus est indulta, tamen, ut eius bonitatem redoleat a quo velut a puncto biffurcatur Petri Cesarisque potestas, voluptuose familiam suam corrigit, sed ei voluptuosius miseretur.

15. But you, who lament as oppressed, "lift up the spirit, for your salvation is near." Take up the rake of good humility, and, the clods of burnt animosity having been harrowed, lay smooth the little field of your mind, lest perhaps the heavenly shower, anticipating your sowing before it is cast, fall in vain from on high. 16. Let not the grace of God rebound from you like the daily dew from a stone; but like a fertile valley conceive and germinate green—green, I say, fruit-bearing with the spring of peace; and with this very verdancy, your land greening in spring, the new husbandman will yoke to the plow the oxen of the Romans’ counsel more affectionately and more confidently. 17. Spare, spare now from this very moment, O dearest ones, you who with me have suffered injury, that the Hectorian shepherd may recognize you, the sheep, from his sheepfold; to whom, although temporal chastisement has been divinely granted, yet, that he may exhale the goodness of Him from whom, as from a point, the power of Peter and of Caesar bifurcates, he corrects his household with delight, but more delightfully has mercy upon it.

18. Itaque, si culpa vetus non obest, que plerunque supinatur ut coluber et vertitur in se ipsam, hinc utrique potestis advertere, pacem unicuique preparari, et insperate letitie iam primitias degustare. 19. Evigilate igitur omnes et assurgite regi vestro, incole Latiales, non solum sibi ad imperium, sed, ut liberi, ad regimen reservati.

18. And so, if the old fault does not hinder, which very often lies supine like a serpent and turns back into itself, from this both sides can notice that peace is being prepared for each one, and already taste the first-fruits of unhoped-for joy. 19. Therefore awake, all of you, and rise up to your king, Latial inhabitants, reserved not only to him for imperium, but, as free men, for regimen.

20. Nec tantum ut assurgatis exhortor, sed ut illius obstupescatis aspectum. Qui bibitis fluenta eius eiusque maria navigatis; qui calcatis arenas littorum et Alpium summitates, que sue sunt; qui publicis quibuscunque gaudetis, et res privatas vinculo sue legis, non aliter, possidetis; nolite, velut ignari, decipere vosmetipsos, tanquam sompniantes, in cordibus et dicentes: "Dominum non habemus". 21. Hortus enim eius et lacus est quod celum circuit; nam "Dei est mare, et ipse fecit illud, et aridam fundaverunt manus eius". 22. Unde Deum romanum Principem predestinasse relucet in miris effectibus; et verbo Verbi confermasse posterius profitetur Ecclesia.

20. Nor do I exhort only that you rise up, but that you be astonished at his aspect. You who drink his streams and navigate his seas; who tread the sands of the shores and the summits of the Alps, which are his; who rejoice in whatever public things, and possess private things by the bond of his law, in no other way; do not, like the ignorant, deceive your very selves, as if dreaming, in your hearts and saying: "We do not have a lord." 21. For what the heaven encircles is his garden and his lake; for "the sea is God's, and he himself made it, and the dry land his hands founded." 22. Whence it shines forth, in wondrous effects, that God predestined the Roman Prince; and the Church later professes that he confirmed it by the word of the Word.

23. Nempe si "a creatura mundi invisibilia Dei, per ea que facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur", et si ex notioribus nobis innotiora; si simpliciter interest humane apprehensioni ut per motum celi Motorem intelligamus et eius velle; facile predestinatio hec etiam leviter intuentibus innotescet. 24. Nam si a prima scintillula huius ignis revolvamus preterita, ex quo scilicet Argis hospitalitas est a Frigibus denegata, et usque ad Octaviani triumphos mundi gesta revisere vacet; nonnulla eorum videbimus humane virtutis omnino culmina transcendisse, et Deum per homines, tanquam per celos novos, aliquid operatum fuisse. 25. Non etenim semper nos agimus, quin interdum utensilia Dei sumus; ac voluntates humane, quibus inest ex natura libertas, etiam inferioris affectus inmunes quandoque aguntur, et obnoxie voluntati eterne sepe illli ancillantur ignare.

23. Indeed, if "from the creation of the world the invisible things of God, through the things that are made, being understood are beheld," and if from things better known to us the less known are made known; if it simply pertains to human apprehension that through the motion of heaven we understand the Mover and his willing; this predestination will easily become evident even to those who glance only lightly. 24. For if, from the first little spark of this fire, we roll back the past—namely from the time when to the Argives hospitality was denied by the Phrygians—and if it is our leisure to revisit the deeds of the world up to the triumphs of Octavian, we shall see that some of them altogether transcended the summits of human virtue, and that God, through men, as it were through new heavens, accomplished something. 25. For we do not always act of ourselves; rather, at times we are instruments of God; and human wills, in which freedom inheres by nature, even when immune from lower affection, are sometimes acted upon, and, being subject to the eternal will, often serve it unawares.

26. Et si hec, que uti principia sunt, ad probandum quod queritur non sufficiunt, quis non ab illata conclusione per talia precedente mecum oppinari cogetur, pace videlicet annorum duodecim orbem totaliter amplexata, que sui sillogizantis faciem Dei filium, sicuti opere patrato, ostendit? 27. Et hic, cum ad revelationem Spiritus, homo factus, evangelizaret in terris, quasi dirimens duo regna, sibi et Cesari universa distribuens, alterutri iussit reddi que sua sunt.

26. And if these things, which serve as principles, do not suffice to prove what is sought, who would not, from the conclusion brought forward, by such a precedent, be compelled to opine with me—namely, that the peace of twelve years, which wholly embraced the world, showed, as the face of its own syllogist, the Son of God, the work accomplished? 27. And here, when at the revelation of the Spirit, made man, he was evangelizing on earth, as if dividing two kingdoms and distributing all things to himself and to Caesar, he ordered that to either be rendered the things that are his.

28. Quod si pertinax animus poscit ulterius, nondum annuens veritati, verba Christi examinet etiam iam ligati; cui cum potestatem suam Pilatus obiceret, Lux nostra de sursum esse asseruit quod ille iactabat qui Cesaris ibi auctoritate vicaria gerebat officium. 29. "Non igitur ambuletis sicut et gentes ambulant in vanitate sensus" tenebris obscurati; sed aperite oculos mentis vestre, ac videte quoniam regem nobis celi ac terre Dominus ordinavit. 30. Hic est quem Petrus, Dei vicarius, honorificare nos monet; quem Clemens, nunc Petri successor luce Apostolice benedictionis illuminat; ut ubi radius spiritualis non sufficit, ibi splendor minoris luminaris illustret.

28. But if a pertinacious spirit demands further, not yet assenting to the truth, let him examine the words of Christ even when already bound; and when Pilate was throwing his power in his face, Our Light asserted that that which he was vaunting was from above—he who there was discharging his office by the vicarious authority of Caesar. 29. “Do not therefore walk as also the Gentiles walk, in the vanity of mind,” obscured by darkness; but open the eyes of your mind, and see that the Lord of heaven and earth has ordained a king for us. 30. This is he whom Peter, the Vicar of God, admonishes us to honor; whom Clement, now Peter’s successor, illumines with the light of Apostolic benediction; so that where the spiritual ray does not suffice, there the splendor of the lesser luminary may enlighten.

VI.

1. Dantes Alagherii florentinus et exul inmeritus scelestissimis Florentinis intrinsecis.

1. Dante Alighieri, a Florentine and undeserving exile, to the most wicked Florentines within.

2. Eterni pia providentia Regis, qui dum celestia sua bonitate perpetuat, infera nostra despiciendo non deserit, sacrosancto Romanorum Imperio res humanas disposuit gubernandas, ut sub tanti serenitate presidii genus mortale quiesceret, et ubique, natura poscente, civiliter degeretur. 3. Hoc etsi divinis comprobatur elogiis, hoc etsi solius podio rationis innixa contestatur antiquitas, non leviter tamen veritati applaudit quod, solio augustali vacante, totus orbis exorbitat, quod nauclerus et remiges in navicula Petri dormitant, et quod Ytalia misera, sola, privatis arbitriis derelicta omnique publico moderamine destituta, quanta ventorum fluentorumve concussione feratur verba non caperent, sed et vix Ytali infelices lacrimis metiuntur. 4. Igitur in hanc Dei manifestissimam voluntatem quicunque temere presumendo tumescunt, si gladius Eius qui dicit "Mea est ultio" de celo non cecidit, ex nunc severi iudicis adventante iudicio pallore notentur.

2. By the pious Providence of the Eternal King, who, while by His goodness He perpetuates the things of heaven, does not, by despising our lower things, abandon them, He has disposed that human affairs be governed by the Most-Sacred Empire of the Romans, so that under the serenity of so great a safeguard the mortal race might rest, and everywhere, nature demanding it, life might be led civilly. 3. Although this is proved by divine encomia, although antiquity, leaning on the sole podium of reason, attests this, nevertheless it not lightly applauds the truth that, the augustal throne being vacant, the whole orb goes out of orbit; that the helmsman and the rowers in Peter’s little ship are sleeping; and that wretched Italy, alone, abandoned to private arbitraments and bereft of every public governance, is borne with such a concussion of winds and of currents that words could not contain it, and indeed the unhappy Italians can scarcely measure it by their tears. 4. Therefore, whoever, by rash presuming, swell against this most manifest will of God—if the sword of Him who says “Vengeance is mine” has not fallen from heaven—let them from now on, with the judgment of the severe Judge approaching, be marked with pallor.

5. Vos autem divina iura et humana transgredientes, quos dira cupiditatis ingluvies paratos in omne nefas illexit, nonne terror secunde mortis exagitat, ex quo, primi et soli iugum libertatis horrentes, in romani Principis, mundi regis et Dei ministri, gloriam fremuistis, atque iure prescriptionis utentes, debite subiectionis officium denegando, in rebellionis vesaniam maluistis insurgere? 6. An ignoratis, amentes et discoli, publica iura cum sola temporis terminatione finiri, et nullius prescriptionis calculo fore obnoxia? 7. Nempe legum sanctiones alme declarant, et humana ratio percontando decernit, publica rerum dominia, quantalibet diuturnitate neglecta, nunquam posse vanescere vel abstenuata conquiri; nam quod ad omnium cedit utilitatem, sine omnium detrimento interire non potest, vel etiam infirmari; et hoc Deus et natura non vult, et mortalium penitus abhorreret adsensus.

5. But you, transgressing divine and human laws, whom the dire gluttony of cupidity has enticed, prepared for every nefarious deed, does not the terror of the second death harry you, since you—first and alone—shuddering at the yoke of liberty, have snarled against the glory of the Roman Prince, the king of the world and minister of God, and, making use of the law of prescription, by denying the duty of due subjection, have preferred to rise into the insanity of rebellion? 6. Or are you ignorant, demented and unruly, that public rights are ended only by the termination of time, and are liable to the reckoning of no prescription? 7. Indeed the sanctions of the laws benignly declare, and human reason by inquiring decrees, that the public dominions over things, neglected for however great a length of time, can never vanish or be acquired through abstention; for that which cedes to the utility of all cannot perish without the detriment of all, nor even be weakened; and this both God and nature do not will, and the assent of mortals would utterly abhor.

8. Quid, fatua tali oppinione summota, tanquam alteri Babilonii, pium deserentes imperium nova regna temptatis, ut alia sit Florentina civilitas, alia sit Romana? Cur apostolice monarchie similiter invidere non libet, ut si Delia geminatur in celo, geminetur et Delius? 9. Atqui si male ausa rependere vobis terrori non est, territet saltim obstinata precordia quod non modo sapientia, sed initium eius ad penam culpe vobis ablatum est.

8. Why, with such a fatuous opinion set aside, like other Babylonians, do you, deserting the pious empire, attempt new kingdoms, so that the Florentine civil polity be one thing and the Roman another? Why does it not please you likewise to envy the apostolic monarchy, as though, if Delia is twinned in heaven, Delius should be twinned too? 9. But if it is no terror to you to have your evil ventures repaid, let at least your obstinate inmost hearts be terrified that not only wisdom, but its beginning, has been taken from you as a penalty for guilt.

10. Nulla etenim conditio delinquentis formidolosior, quam impudenter et sine Dei timore quicquid libet agentis. Hac nimirum persepe animadversione percutitur impius, ut moriens obliviscatur sui qui dum viveret oblitus est Dei.

10. For indeed no condition of the delinquent is more formidable than that of one acting impudently and, without the fear of God, doing whatever he pleases. By this, to be sure, very-often animadversion the impious man is struck: so that, dying, he forgets himself—he who, while he lived, forgot God.

11. Sin prorsus arrogantia vestra insolens adeo roris altissimi, ceu cacumina Gelboe, vos fecit exsortes, ut Senatus eterni consulto restitisse timori non fuerit, nec etiam non timuisse timetis; nunquid timor ille perniciosus, humanus videlicet atque mundanus, abesse poterit, superbissimi vestri sanguinis vestreque multum lacrimande rapine inevitabili naufragio properante? 12. An septi vallo ridiculo cuiquam defensioni confiditis? O male concordes!

11. But if your insolent arrogance has so made you bereft of the Most High’s dew, like the summits of Gilboa, that by the decree of the Eternal Senate it has not been that you stood in fear, nor do you even fear that you have not feared; will that pernicious fear—human, namely, and mundane—be able to be absent, as the inevitable shipwreck of your most super-proud blood and of your much-to-be-lamented rapine hastens on? 12. Or, hedged in by a ridiculous rampart, do you trust to any defense? O ill-concordant ones!

o mira cupidine obcecati! Quid vallo sepsisse, quid propugnaculis et pinnis urbem armasse iuvabit, cum advolaverit aquila in auro terribilis, que nunc Pirenen, nunc Caucason, nunc Athlanta supervolans, militie celi magis confortata sufflamine, vasta maria quondam transvolando despexit? quid, cum adfore stupescetis, miserrimi hominum, delirantis Hesperie domitorem?

O, blinded by wondrous cupidity! What will it profit to have hedged yourselves with a rampart, what to have armed the city with bulwarks and pinnacles, when the eagle, terrible in gold, has swooped in—she who, now overflying the Pyrenees, now the Caucasus, now Atlas, further emboldened by the reinforcement of the militia of heaven, once by flying across looked down upon the vast seas? what, when you, most wretched of men, will be aghast at the subduer of raving Hesperia being at hand?

13. Non equidem spes, quam frustra sine more fovetis, reluctantia ista iuvabitur, sed hac obice iusti regis adventus inflammabitur amplius, ac, indignata, misericordia semper concomitans eius exercitum avolabit; et quo false libertatis trabeam tueri existimatis, eo vere servitutis in ergastula concidetis. 14. Miro namque Dei iudicio quandoque agi credendum est, ut unde digna supplicia impius declinare arbitratur, inde in ea gravius precipitetur; et qui divine voluntati reluctatus est et sciens et volens, eidem militet nesciens atque nolens.

13. Not, to be sure, will the hope which you vainly foster without due measure be helped by this reluctance, but by this obstacle the advent of the just king will be the more inflamed, and, indignant, the mercy that always accompanies his army will fly away; and where you think to guard the trabea of false liberty, there truly you will fall into the ergastula of servitude. 14. For by a wondrous judgment of God it must sometimes be believed to be so arranged, that whence the impious man thinks to dodge punishments worthy of him, thence into them he is more grievously hurled; and he who has resisted the divine will both knowing and willing will for the same will soldier, unknowing and unwilling.

15. Videbitis edificia vestra non necessitati prudenter instructa sed delitiis inconsulte mutata, que Pergama rediviva non cingunt, tam ariete ruere, tristes, quam igne cremari. 16. Videbitis plebem circunquaque furentem nunc in contraria, pro et contra, deinde in idem adversus vos horrenda clamantem, quoniam simul et ieiuna et timida nescit esse. Templa quoque spoliata, cotidie matronarum frequentata concursu, parvulosque admirantes et inscios peccata patrum luere destinatos videre pigebit.

15. You will see your edifices not prudently equipped for necessity but injudiciously altered for delights, which do not gird a revived Pergama, tumble as much by the battering‑ram, sadly, as be consumed by fire. 16. You will see the populace raging on every side, now into opposites, pro and contra, then alike shouting dreadful things against you, since it does not know how to be both famished and fearful at the same time. The temples too despoiled, daily frequented by the concourse of matrons, and the little ones admiring and unknowing, destined to pay for the sins of their fathers—it will vex you to behold.

17. Et si presaga mens mea non fallitur, sic signis veridicis sicut inexpugnabilibus argumentis instructa prenuntians, urbem diutino merore confectam in manus alienorum tradi finaliter, plurima vestri parte seu nece seu captivitate deperdita, perpessuri exilium pauci cum fletu cernetis. 18. Utque breviter colligam, quas tulit calamitates illa civitas gloriosa in fide pro libertate Saguntum, ignominiose vos eas in perfidia pro servitute subire necesse est.

17. And if my presaging mind does not deceive me—thus, equipped with veridical signs as with inexpugnable arguments, foretelling—the city, worn out by long-continued sorrow, will finally be handed over into the hands of foreigners; with a very great part of you lost either by slaughter or by captivity, you will behold, with weeping, a few destined to endure exile. 18. And, to gather it briefly, the calamities which that city, Saguntum, glorious in loyalty, bore for liberty, you must ignominiously undergo in perfidy for servitude.

19. Nec ab inopina Parmensium fortuna sumatis audaciam, qui malesuada fame urgente murmurantes invicem "prius moriamur et in media arma ruamus", in castra Cesaris, absente Cesare, proruperunt; nam et hii, quanquam de Victoria victoriam sint adepti, nichilominus ibi sunt de dolore dolorem memorabiliter consecuti. 20. Sed recensete fulmina Federici prioris, et Mediolanum consulite pariter et Spoletum; quoniam ipsorum perversione simul et evasione discussa viscera vestra nimium dilatata frigescent, et corda vestra nimium ferventia contrahentur. 21. A, Tuscorum vanissimi, tam natura quam vitio insensati!

19. Nor should you take audacity from the unlooked-for fortune of the Parmesans, who, with ill-counseling hunger urging them, murmuring to one another “let us die first and rush into the midst of arms,” burst into Caesar’s camp, Caesar being absent; for these too, although they obtained a victory from Victory, nonetheless there they no less memorably incurred grief from grief. 20. But review the thunderbolts of the former Frederick, and consult Milan likewise and Spoleto; because, when their overthrow and their escape have been sifted, your vitals, over-much dilated, will grow cold, and your hearts, over-much fervent, will be contracted. 21. Ah, most vainglorious of Tuscans, insensate as much by nature as by vice!

Quam in noctis tenebris malesane mentis pedes oberrent *** ante oculos pennatorum, nec perpenditis nec figuratis ignari. Vident namque vos pennati et inmaculati in via, quasi stantes in limine carceris, et miserantem quempiam, ne forte vos liberet captivatos et in compedibus astrictos et manicis, propulsantes. 22. Nec advertitis dominantem cupidinem, quia ceci estis, venenoso susurrio blandientem, minis frustatoriis cohibentem, nec non captivantem vos in lege peccati, ac sacratissimis legibus que iustitie naturalis imitantur ymaginem, parere vetantem; observantia quarum, si leta, si libera, non tantum non servitus esse probatur, quin ymo perspicaciter intuenti liquet ut est ipsa summa libertas.

How, in the darkness of night, the feet of an unsound mind wander, *** before the eyes of the winged and immaculate upon the way, as though standing on the threshold of a prison, and you repulse some compassionate person, lest perhaps he free you—captives bound in fetters and in manacles. 22. Nor do you notice the domineering cupidity, because you are blind, coaxing with a venomous whisper, restraining with delusory threats, and even taking you captive under the law of sin, and forbidding you to obey the most sacrosanct laws which imitate the image of natural justice; the observance of which, if glad, if free, is proved not only not to be servitude, but indeed, to one looking perspicaciously, it is clear that it is supreme liberty itself.

23. Nam quid aliud hec nisi liber cursus voluntatis in actum quem suis leges mansuetis expediunt? Itaque solis existentibus liberis qui volontarie legi obediunt, quos vos esse censebitis qui, dum pretenditis libertatis affectum, contra leges universas in legum principem conspiratis?

23. For what else are these things than the free course of the will into the act which the laws, gentle to their own, expedite? Therefore, with only those existing as free who voluntarily obey the law, whom will you deem to be such—you who, while you pretend an affection for liberty, conspire against all laws and against the prince of laws?

24. O miserrima Fesulanorum propago, et iterum iam punita barbaries! An parum timoris prelibata incutiunt? Omnino vos tremere arbitror vigilantes, quanquam spem simuletis in facie verboque mendaci, atque in somniis expergisci plerunque, sive pavescentes infusa presagia, sive diurna consila recolentes.

24. O most wretched progeny of the Fesulans, and barbarity now punished again! Do the pre-tasted portions of fear strike too little? Altogether I judge you to tremble while awake, although you simulate hope in your face and with a mendacious word, and for the most part to start up in your dreams, whether cowering at the infused presages, or recollecting the diurnal counsels.

25. Verum si merito trepidantes insanisse penitet non dolentes, ut in amaritudinem penitentie metus dolorisque rivuli confluant, vestris animis infigenda supersunt, quod Romane rei baiulus hic divus et triumphator Henricus, non sua privata sed publica mundi commoda sitiens, ardua queque pro nobis aggressus est sua sponte penas nostras participans, tanquam ad ipsum, post Christum, digitum prophetie propheta direxerit Ysaias, cum, spiritu Dei revelante, predixit: "Vere languores nostros ipse tulit et dolores nostros ipse portavit". 26. Igitur tempus amarissime penitendi vos temere presumptorum, si dissimulare non vultis, adesse conspicitis. Et sera penitentia hoc a modo venie genitiva non erit, quin potius tempestive animadversionis exordium. Est enim: quoniam peccator percutitur, ut 'sine retractatione moriatur'.

25. But if, rightly trembling, you repent of having raved, not grieving, so that into the bitterness of penitence the rivulets of fear and of pain may flow together, there yet remain things to be stamped into your souls: that the bearer of the Roman commonwealth, this sacred and triumphing Henry, thirsting not for his private but for the public advantages of the world, has of his own will undertaken every arduous thing for us, sharing our penalties, as though Isaiah the prophet, after Christ, had directed the finger of prophecy to him, when, with the Spirit of God revealing, he foretold: "Truly he himself bore our infirmities and he himself carried our sorrows." 26. Therefore you perceive that the time of most bitter repenting of the things rashly presumed by you, if you do not wish to dissemble, has arrived. And late penitence from this point will not be generative of pardon, but rather the beginning of timely animadversion. For it is: since the sinner is smitten, that he may "die without appeal."

27. Scriptum pridie Kalendas Apriles in finibus Tuscie sub fontem Sarni, faustissimi cursus Henrici Cesaris ad Ytaliam anno primo.

27. Written on the day before the Kalends of April (March 31), within the bounds of Tuscany at the source of the Sarno, in the 1st year of the most auspicious course of Henry Caesar to Italy.

VII.

1. Sanctissimo gloriosissimo atque felicissimo triumphatori et domino singulari domino Henrico divina providentia Romanorum Regi et semper Augusto, devotissimi sui Dantes Alagherii Florentinus et exul inmeritus ac universaliter omnes Tusci qui pacem desiderant, terre osculum ante pedes.

1. To the most holy, most glorious, and most fortunate triumphator and singular lord, Lord Henry, by divine providence King of the Romans and ever Augustus, his most devoted Dante Alighieri, Florentine and an undeserving exile, and universally all the Tuscans who desire peace, a kiss of the earth before [your] feet.

2. Inmensa Dei dilectione restante, relicta nobis est pacis hereditas, ut in sua mira dulcedine militie nostre dura mitescerent, et in usu eius patrie triumphantis gaudia mereremur. 3. At livor antiqui et implacabilis hostis, humane prosperitati semper et latenter insidians, nonnullos exheredando volentes, ob tutoris absentiam nos alios impius denudavit invitos. 4. Hinc diu super flumina confusionis deflevimus, et patrocinia iusti regis incessanter implorabamus, qui satellitium sevi tyranni disperderet et nos in nostra iustitia reformaret.

2. With the immense love of God remaining, a heritage of peace has been left to us, so that in its wondrous sweetness the hardships of our soldiery might grow mild, and through its use we might merit the joys of a triumphant fatherland. 3. But the envy of the ancient and implacable enemy, ever and covertly lying in wait for human prosperity, wishing to disinherit some, on account of the guardian’s absence impiously stripped us others against our will. 4. Hence for a long time we wept upon the rivers of confusion, and we unceasingly implored the patronages of the just king, who would disperse the retinue of the savage tyrant and reform us in our justice.

5. Cumque tu, Cesaris et Augusti successor, Apennini iuga transiliens veneranda signa Tarpeia retulisti, protinus longa substiterunt suspiria lacrimarumque diluvia desierunt; et, ceu Titan preoptatus exoriens, nova spes Latio seculi melioris effulsit. 6. Tunc plerique vota sua prevenientes in iubilo tam Saturnia regna quam Virginem redeuntem cum Marone cantabant.

5. And when you, successor of Caesar and Augustus, leaping across the ridges of the Apennines, brought back the venerable standards to the Tarpeian, straightway the long sighs halted and the deluges of tears ceased; and, like the much-desired Titan rising, a new hope of a better age shone forth for Latium. 6. Then many, anticipating their vows, in jubilation were singing with Maro both the Saturnian realms and the returning Virgin.

7. Verum quia sol noster, sive desiderii fervor hoc submoneat sive facies veritatis, aut morari iam creditur aut retrocedere supputatur, quasi Iosue denuo vel Amos filius imperaret, incertitudine dubitare compellimur et in vocem Precursoris irrompere sic: "Tu es qui venturus es, an alium expectamus?". 8. Et quamvis longa sitis in dubium que sunt certa propter esse propinqua, ut adsolet, furibunda deflectat, nichilominus in te credimus et speramus, asseverantes te Dei ministrum et Ecclesie filium et Romane glorie promotorem. 9. Nam et ego qui scribo tam pro me quam pro aliis, velut decet imperatoriam maiestatem benignissimum vidi et clementissimum te audivi, cum pedes tuos manus mee tractarunt et labia mea debitum persolverunt. 10. Tunc exultavit in te spiritus meus, cum tacitus dixi mecum: "Ecce Agnus Dei, ecce qui tollit peccata mundi".

7. But since our sun—whether the fervor of desire suggests this or the face of truth—either is now believed to linger or is reckoned to be going backward, as if Joshua anew or the son of Amoz were commanding, we are compelled by uncertainty to doubt and to burst forth into the voice of the Forerunner thus: "Are you the one who is to come, or are we expecting another?". 8. And although long thirst, as it is wont, furiously deflects into doubt the things which are certain because they are near at hand, nonetheless we believe and hope in you, asseverating you to be the minister of God and son of the Church and promoter of Roman glory. 9. For I also, who write as much for myself as for others, as befits imperial majesty, saw you most benign and heard you most clement, when my hands handled your feet and my lips paid the due. 10. Then my spirit exulted in you, when silently I said with myself: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold the one who takes away the sins of the world".

11. Sed quid tam sera moretur segnities admiramur, quando iamdudum in valle victor Eridani non secus Tusciam derelinquis, pretermittis et negligis, quam si iura tutanda Imperii circumscribi Ligurum finibus arbitreris; non prorsus, ut suspicamur, advertens, quoniam Romanorum gloriosa potestas nec metis Ytalie nec tricornis Europe margine coarctatur. 12. Nam etsi vim passa in angustum gubernacula sua contraxerit, undique tamen de inviolabili iure fluctus Amphitritis attingens vix ab inutili unda Oceani se circumcingi dignatur. 13. Scriptum etenim nobis est:

11. But why we marvel that such late sloth should delay, when already, victorious in the valley of the Eridanus, you abandon Tuscany all the same, you pass it by and you neglect it, as if you supposed that the rights of the Empire to be safeguarded were circumscribed by the borders of the Ligurians; not at all, as we suspect, noticing that the glorious power of the Romans is confined neither by the bounds of Italy nor by the margin of three-horned Europe. 12. For although, having suffered force, it has contracted its helm into a narrow strait, yet on all sides, touching the waves of Amphitrite by its inviolable right, it scarcely deigns to be encircled by the unprofitable wave of Ocean. 13. For it is written for us:

Nascetur pulcra Troyanus origine Cesar, imperium Occeano, famam qui terminet astris. 14. Et cum universaliter orbem describi edixisset Augustus, ut bos noster evangelizans accensus Ignis eterni fiamma remugit, si non de iustissimi principatus aula prodiisset edictum, unigenitus Dei Filius homo factus ad profitendum secundum naturam assumptam edicto se subditum, nequaquam tunc nasci de Virgine voluisset; non enim suasisset iniustum, quem "omnem iustitiam implere" decebat.

A fair Caesar, Trojan in origin, will be born,
who will bound his empire by the Ocean, his fame by the stars.
14. And when Augustus had decreed that the world be enrolled universally, our Ox, evangelizing, lowed back, kindled by the flame of the Eternal Fire, that if the edict had not proceeded from the hall of a most just principate, the Only-Begotten Son of God, made man, in order to profess, according to the nature assumed, that he was subject to the edict, would by no means then have willed to be born of the Virgin; for he would not have recommended what was unjust, he whom it befitted to “fulfill all justice.”

15. Pudeat itaque in angustissima mundi area irretiri tam diu quem mundus omnis expectat; et ab Augusti circumspectione non defluat quod Tuscana tyrannis in dilationis fiducia confortatur, et cotidie malignantium cohortando superbiam vires novas accumulat, temeritatem temeritati adiciens. 16. Intonet iterum vox illa Curionis in Cesarem:

15. Let it be shameful, therefore, that he whom the whole world awaits is for so long entangled in the most narrow area of the world; and let it not escape the circumspection of Augustus that the Tuscan tyranny, in a confidence of delay, is strengthened, and daily, by exhorting the pride of malignant men, accumulates new forces, adding recklessness to recklessness. 16. Let that voice of Curio against Caesar thunder again:

Dum trepidant nullo firmate robore partes,
tolle moras; semper nocuit differre paratis:,
par labor atque metus pretio maiore petuntur.

While the sides, made firm by no strength, are in a panic,
remove the delays; it has always harmed to defer when ready:,
equal labor and fear are exacted at a greater price.

17. Intonet illa vox increpitantis Anubis iterum in Eneam:

17. Let that voice of rebuking Anubis thunder again against Aeneas:

Si te nulla movet tantarum gloria rerum,,
nec super ipse tua moliris laude laborem,,
Ascanium surgentem et spes heredis Iuli,
respice, cui regnum Ytalie Romanaque tellus debentur.

If no glory of such great things moves you,,
nor moreover do you yourself undertake labor upon your own praise,,
look upon Ascanius rising and the hopes of the heir Iulus,
look back, to whom the realm of Italy and the Roman land
are owed.

18. Iohannes namque, regius primogenitus tuus et rex, quem, post diei orientis occasum, mundi successiva posteritas prestolatur, nobis est alter Ascanius, qui vestigia magni genitoris observans, in Turnos ubique sicut leo deseviet et in Latinos velut agnus mitescet. 19. Precaveant sacratissimi regis alta consilia, ne celeste iudicium Samuelis illa verba reasperent: "Nonne cum parvulus esses in oculis tuis, caput in tribubus Israel factus es, unxitque te Dominus in regem super Israel, et misit te Deus in via et ait: Vade et interfice peccatores Amalech?". Nam et tu in regem sacratus es ut Amalech percutias et Agag non parcas, atque ulciscaris Illum qui misit te de gente brutali et de festina sua sollempnitate; que quidem et Amalech et Agag sonare dicuntur.

18. For John, your royal firstborn and king, whom, after the setting of the day of the East, the successive posterity of the world awaits, is for us another Ascanius, who, observing the footsteps of his great begetter, will everywhere rage like a lion against the Turnuses, and toward the Latins will grow mild like a lamb. 19. Let the high counsels of the most sacred king beware beforehand, lest the heavenly judgment of Samuel render those words harsh again: "Was it not when you were little in your own eyes, you were made head among the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel, and God sent you on the way and said: Go and slay the sinners Amalek?" For you too have been consecrated as king that you strike Amalek and spare not Agag, and that you avenge Him who sent you upon the brutal nation and upon its hasty solemnity; which indeed both Amalek and Agag are said to signify by their sound.

20. Tu Mediolani tam vernando quam hiemando moraris et hydram pestiferam per capitum amputationem reris extinguere? Quod si magnalia gloriosi Alcide recensuisses, te ut illum falli cognosceres, cui pestilens animal, capite repullulante multiplici, per damnum crescebat, donec instanter magnanimus vite principium impetivit. 21. Non etenim ad arbores extirpandas valet ipsa ramorum incisio quin iterum multiplicius virulenter ramificent, quousque radices incolumes fuerint ut prebeant alimentum.

20. Do you linger at Milan both by summering and wintering, and suppose you will extinguish the pestiferous Hydra by amputation of its heads? If you had recounted the great deeds of glorious Alcides, you would recognize that you are being deceived as he was, since the pestilent animal, with its head sprouting back in multiple fashion, grew through the damage, until the great-souled one resolutely assailed the principle of its life. 21. For indeed, the mere incision of the branches does not avail for extirpating trees, but they ramify again more manifoldly and virulently, so long as the roots remain unharmed to provide aliment.

22. Quid, preses unice mundi, peregisse preconicis cum cervicem Cremone deflexeris contumacis? nonne tunc vel Brixie vel Papie rabies inopina turgescet? Ymo, que cum etiam flagellata resederit, mox alia Vercellis vel Pergami vel alibi returgebit, donec huius scatescentie causa radicalis tollatur, et radice tanti erroris avulsa, cum trunco rami pungitivi arescant.

22. What, sole preses of the world, will you have accomplished by proclamations when you shall have bent the neck of contumacious Cremona? Will not then either at Brescia or at Pavia an unlooked-for rabies swell? Nay rather, though that, even when scourged, should subside, soon another will swell back at Vercelli or at Bergamo or elsewhere, until the radical cause of this bubbling-over is removed, and, the root of so great an error torn out, both the trunk and the prickly branches may wither.

23. An ignoras, excellentissime principum, nec de specula summe celsitudinis deprehendis ubi vulpecula fetoris istius, venantium secura, recumbat? Quippe nec Pado precipiti, nec Tiberi tuo criminosa potatur, verum Sarni fluenta torrentis adhuc rictus eius inficiunt, et Florentia, forte nescis?, dira hec pernicies nuncupatar. 24. Hec est vipera versa in viscera genitricis; hec est languida pecus gregem domini sui sua contagione commaculans; hec Myrrha scelestis et impia in Cinyre patris amplexus exestuans; hec Amata illa impatiens, que, repulso fatali connubio, quem fata negabant generum sibi adscire non timuit, sed in bella furialiter provocavit, et demum, male ausa luendo, laqueo se suspendit.

23. Do you not know, most excellent of princes, nor from the watchtower of supreme loftiness do you detect where the little fox of this stench, secure from hunters, reclines? For neither from the headlong Po nor from your Tiber does the guilty one drink; rather the streams of the torrential Sarno still infect her jaws, and Florence, perhaps you do not know?, this dire perniciousness is named. 24. This is the viper turned against the viscera of its genitrix; this is the languid beast maculating the flock of its lord by its contagion; this is Myrrha, wicked and impious, seething for the embraces of her father Cinyras; this is that Amata, impatient, who, the fated connubium repulsed, did not fear to admit to herself as son‑in‑law him whom the fates denied, but furiously provoked to wars, and at last, paying for her ill‑dared deed, hung herself with a noose.

25. Vere matrem viperea feritate dilaniare contendit, dum contra Romam cornua rebellionis exacuit, que ad ymaginem suam atque similitudinem fecit illam. 26. Vere fumos, evaporante sanie, vitiantes exhalat, et inde vicine pecudes et inscie contabescunt, dum falsis illiciendo blanditiis et figmentis aggregat sibi finitimos et infatuat aggregatos. Vere in paternos ardet ipsa concubitus, dum improba procacitate conatur summi Pontificis, qui pater est patrum, adversum te violare assensum.

25. Truly she strives to tear her mother to pieces with viperine ferocity, while she sharpens the horns of rebellion against Rome, who made her after its own image and likeness. 26. Truly she exhales fumes, with sanies evaporating, that vitiate, and from that the neighboring flocks, unwitting, waste away, while by enticing with false blandishments and figments she aggregates to herself those adjacent and infatuates the aggregated. Truly she herself burns for paternal couplings, while with shameless impudence she endeavors to violate, against you, the assent of the Supreme Pontiff, who is the father of fathers.

27. Vere Dei ordinationi resistit, proprie voluntatis ydolum venerando, dum regem aspernata legiptimum non erubescit insana regi non suo iura non sua pro male agendi potestate pacisci. Sed attendat ad laqueum mulier furiata quo se innectit. 28. Nam sepe quis in reprobum sensum traditur, ut traditus faciat ea que non conveniunt; que quamvis iniusta sint opera, iusta tamen supplicia esse noscuntur.

27. Truly she resists the ordination of God, venerating the idol of her own will, while, having spurned the legitimate king, the madwoman is not ashamed to bargain to a king not her own rights not her own, in exchange for a power of doing ill. But let the frenzied woman attend to the noose with which she entangles herself. 28. For often one is delivered over into a reprobate sense, so that, being delivered over, he does the things that are not fitting; and although the works are unjust, nevertheless the punishments are known to be just.

29. Eia itaque, rumpe moras, proles altera Isai, sume tibi fiduciam de oculis Domini Dei Sabaoth coram quo agis, et Goliam hunc in funda sapientie tue atque in lapide virium tuarum prosterne; quoniam in eius occasu nox et umbra timoris castra Philistinorum operiet: fugient Philistei et liberabitur Israel. 30. Tunc hereditas nostra, quam sine intermissione deflemus ablatam, nobis erit in integrum restituta; ac quemadmodum, sacrosancte Ierusalem memores, exules in Babilone gemiscimus, ita tunc cives et respirantes in pace, confusionis miserias in gaudio recolemus.

29. Up then, break off delays, another offspring of Jesse, take for yourself confidence from the eyes of the Lord God of Hosts before whom you act, and lay low this Goliath with the sling of your wisdom and with the stone of your strength; for at his fall night and the shadow of fear will cover the camp of the Philistines: the Philistines will flee and Israel will be freed. 30. Then our inheritance, which without intermission we bewail as taken away, will be restored to us in full; and just as, mindful of most holy Jerusalem, we groan as exiles in Babylon, so then, citizens and respiring in peace, we will recollect the miseries of confusion in joy.

31. Scriptum in Tuscia sub fonte Sarni xv Kalendas Maias, divi Henrici faustissimi cursus ad Ytaliam anno primo.

31. Written in Tuscany at the source of the Sarnus, on the 15th day before the Kalends of May, in the first year of the most auspicious expedition of the divine Henry to Italy.

VIII.

1. Gloriosissime atque clementissime domine domine Margarite divina providentia Romanorum regine et semper Auguste, G. de Batifolle Dei et adiuvalis Magnificentie gratia comitissa in Tuscia palatina, tam debite quam devote subiectionis officium ante pedes.

1. Most glorious and most clement lady Lady Margaret, by divine providence queen of the Romans and ever Augusta, G. de Batifolle, by the grace of God and of your helpful Magnificence, countess palatine in Tuscany, the office of subjection as much due as devout before your feet.

2. Gratissima regie Benignitatis epistola et meis oculis visa letanter et manibus fuit assumpta reverenter, ut decuit. Cumque significata per illam mentis aciem penetrando dulcescerent, adeo spiritus lectitantis fervore devotionis incaluit, ut nunquam possint superare oblivia nec memoria sine gaudio memorare. 3. Nam quanti vel qualis ego, ut ad enarrandum michi de sospitate consortis et sua, utinam diuturna!, coniunx fortissima Cesaris condescendat?

2. The most welcome epistle of royal Benignity, seen by my eyes gladly and by my hands was reverently assumed, as was fitting. And as the things signified through it, penetrating the keen edge of the mind, were becoming sweet, to such a degree did the spirit of the peruser grow warm with the fervor of devotion that oblivion can never overcome them, nor can memory recall them without joy. 3. For of what worth or of what sort am I, that the most valiant spouse of Caesar should condescend to set forth to me about the well-being of her consort and her own—would that it be long-lasting!

Quippe tanti pondus honoris neque merita gratulantis neque dignitas postulabat; sed nec etiam inclinari humanorum graduum dedecuit apicem, unde, velut a vivo fonte, sancte civilitatis exempla debent inferioribus emanare.

Indeed, neither the merits of the congratulator nor her dignity demanded the weight of so great an honor; but nor was it unbecoming that the apex of human grades be inclined, whence, as from a living font, exemplars of holy civility ought to emanate to those below.

4. Dignas itaque persolvere grates non opis est hominis; verum ab homine alienum esse non reor pro insufficiente supplemento Deum exorare quandoque. 5. Nunc ideo regni siderii iustis precibus atque piis aula pulsetur, et impetret supplicantis affectus quatenus mundi gubernator eternus condescensui tanto premia coequata retribuat, et ad auspitia Cesaris et Auguste dexteram gratie coadiutricis extendat; ut qui romani principatus imperio barbaras nationes et cives in mortalium tutamenta subegit, delirantis evi familiam sub triumphis et gloria sui Henrici reformet in melius.

4. Therefore to render worthy thanks is not within the power of man; yet I do not think it alien to man, as an insufficient supplement, to beseech God sometimes. 5. Now therefore let the court of the sidereal kingdom be knocked at with just and pious prayers, and let the affection of the suppliant obtain this: that the eternal governor of the world may repay rewards commensurate with so great a condescension, and may extend to the auspices of the Caesar and the Augusta the right hand of coadjutant grace; so that he who by the imperium of the Roman principate has subjected barbarous nations and citizens into the safeguards of mortals, may refashion for the better the household of a delirious age under the triumphs and the glory of his Henry.

IX.

1. Serenissime atque piissime domine domine Margarite celestis miserationis intuitu Romanorum regine et semper Auguste, devotissima sua G. de Batifolle Dei et Imperii gratia largiente comitissa in Tuscia palatina, flexis humiliter genibus reverentie debitum exhibet.

1. Most serene and most pious lady, lady Margaret, in view of heavenly compassion, queen of the Romans and ever augusta, her most devoted G. de Batifolle, by the largess of the grace of God and of the Empire palatine countess in Tuscany, with knees humbly bent, renders the due of reverence.

2. Regalis epistole documenta gratuita ea qua potui venerazione recepi, intellexi devote. Sed cum de prosperitate successuum vestri felicissimi cursus familiariter intimata concepi, quanto libens animus concipientis arriserit, placet potius commendare silentio tanquam nuntio meliori; non enim verba significando sufficiunt ubi mens ipsa quasi debria superatur. 3. Itaque suppleat regie Celsitudinis apprehensio que scribentis humilitas esplicare non potest.

2. The gracious documents of the royal epistle I received with such veneration as I could, and I understood them devoutly. But when I conceived from the intimations, familiarly conveyed, about the prosperity of the successes of your most felicitous course, how gladly the recipient’s spirit smiled, it pleases me rather to commend it to silence as the better messenger; for words do not suffice in signifying where the mind itself is overcome as if inebriate. 3. And so let the apprehension of Royal Highness supply what the humility of the writer cannot explicate.

4. At quamvis insinuata per litteras ineffabiliter grata fuerint et iocunda, spes amplior tamen et letandi causas accumulat et simul vota iusta confectat. Spero equidem, de celesti previsione confidens quam nunquam falli vel prepediri posse non dubito et que humane civilitati de Principe singolari providit, quod exordia vestri regni felicia semper in melius prosperata procedent. 5. Sic igitur in presentibus et futuris exultans, ad Auguste clementiam sine ulla hesitatione recurro, et suppliciter tempestiva deposco quatenus me sub umbra tutissima vestri Culminis taliter collocare dignemini, ut cuiusque sinistrationis ab estu sim semper et videar esse secura.

4. Yet although the things insinuated through letters were ineffably grateful and jocund, a larger hope nonetheless both accumulates causes of rejoicing and at the same time accomplishes just vows. I hope indeed, confiding in the celestial prevision which I do not doubt can ever be deceived or hindered, and which has provided for human civility a singular Prince, that the happy exordia of your reign will always proceed, having prospered, into the better. 5. Thus therefore, exulting in present and future things, I run back to the August clemency without any hesitation, and I humbly and in timely fashion beseech that you deign to place me under the most safeguarded shade of your Culmination in such a way that from the heat of any sinistration I may always be and seem to be secure.

10.

1. Illustrissime atque piissime domine domine Margarite divina providentia Romanorum regine et semper Auguste, fidelissima sua G. de Batifolle Dei et imperialis indulgentie gratia comitissa in Tuscia palatina, cum promptissima recommendatione se ipsam et voluntarium ad obsequia famulatum.

1. Most illustrious and most pious lady, Lady Margaret, by divine providence Queen of the Romans and ever Augusta, her most faithful G. of Batifolle, by the grace of God and of imperial indulgence countess palatine in Tuscany, with the most prompt recommendation, commends herself and a voluntary service to your obediences.

2. Cum pagina vestre Serenitatis apparuit ante scribentis et gratulantis aspectum, experta est mea pura fidelitas quam in dominorum successibus corda subditorum fidelium colletentur. Nam per ea que continebantur in ipsa, cum tota cordis hilaritate concepi qualiter dextera summi Regis vota Cesaris et Auguste feliciter adimplebat. Proinde gradum mee fidelitatis experta, petentis audeo iam inire officium.

2. When the page of your Serenity appeared before the sight of the one writing and congratulating, my pure fidelity experienced how, at the successes of lords, the hearts of faithful subjects are gladdened. For through the things that were contained in it, with all cheerfulness of heart I perceived how the right hand of the supreme King was happily fulfilling the vows of the Caesar and the Augusta. Accordingly, my degree of fidelity having been proved, I now dare to enter upon the office of a petitioner.

3. Ergo ad audientiam vestre Sublimitatis exorans et suppliciter precor et devote deposco quatenus mentis oculis intueri dignemini prelibate interdum fidei puritatem. 4. Verum quia nonnulla regalium clausularum videbatur hortari ut, si quando nuntiorum facultas adesset, Celsitudini regie aliquid peroptando de status mei condizione referrem, quamvis quedam presumptionis facies interdicat, obedientie tamen suadente virtute obediam. 5. Audiat, ex quo iubet, Romanorum pia et serena Maiestas, quoniam tempore missionis presentium coniunx predilectus et ego, Dei dono, vigebamus incolumes, liberorum sospitate gaudentes, tanto solito letiores quanto signa resurgentis Imperii meliora iam secula promittebant.

3. Therefore, imploring audience of your Sublimity, I supplicatingly pray and devoutly request that you deign with the eyes of the mind to behold at times the purity of the aforementioned faith. 4. But because certain royal clauses seemed to exhort that, if ever the opportunity of messengers were at hand, I should report to the royal Celsitude something, most earnestly, about the condition of my state, although a certain appearance of presumption forbids, yet, the virtue of obedience persuading, I will obey. 5. Let the pious and serene Majesty of the Romans hear, since it commands, that at the time of the dispatch of the present [letters] my beloved spouse and I, by the gift of God, were thriving unharmed, rejoicing in the safety of our children, so much more than usual gladdened as the signs of the resurging Empire were already promising better ages.

6. Missum de Castro Poppii xv Kalendas Iunias, faustissimi cursus Henrici Cesaris ad Ytaliam anno primo.

6. Sent from the Castle of Poppi, on May 18, in the 1st year of the most auspicious course of Henry Caesar to Italy.

XI.[Cardinalibus ytalicis Dantes de Florentia, etc.]

11.[To the Italian Cardinals, Dante of Florence, etc.]

1. "Quomodo sola sedet civitas plena populo! facta est quasi vidua domina gentium". Principum quondam Phariseorum cupiditas que sacerdotium vetus abominabile fecit, non modo levitice prolis ministerium transtulit, quin et preelecte civitati David obsidionem peperit et ruinam. 2. Quod quidem de specula punctali eternitatis intuens qui solus eternus est, mentem Deo dignam viri prophetici per Spiritum Sanctum sua iussione impressit, et is sanctam Ierusalem velut exstinctam per verba presignata et nimium, proh dolor!, iterata deflevit.

1. "How the city sits solitary, full of people! she has become as a widow, the mistress of the nations." The cupidity of the once princes of the Pharisees, which made the old priesthood abominable, not only transferred the ministry of the Levitical progeny, but even brought upon the pre-elected city of David a siege and a ruin. 2. Which indeed, from the watchtower of the point of eternity beholding, He who alone is eternal impressed, by His command through the Holy Spirit, upon the mind worthy of God of the prophetic man; and he bewailed holy Jerusalem as though extinguished, through pre-designated words and, alas!, too-often repeated.

3. Nos quoque eundem Patrem et Filium, eundem Deum et hominem, nec non eandem Matrem et Virginem profitentes, propter quos et propter quorum salutem ter de caritate interrogatum et dictum est: Petre, pasce sacrosanctum ovile; Romam - cui, post tot triumphorum pompas, et verbo et opere Christus orbis confirmavit imperium, quam etiam illle Petrus, et Paulus gentium predicator, in apostolicam sedem aspergine proprii sanguinis consecravit -, cum Ieremia, non lugenda prevenientes, sed post ipsa dolentes, viduam et desertam lugere compellimur.

3. We also, professing the same Father and Son, the same God and man, and likewise the same Mother and Virgin, for whose sake and for whose salvation it was thrice asked concerning charity and it was said: Peter, feed the sacrosanct sheepfold; Rome - to which, after so many pomps of triumphs, both by word and by work Christ confirmed the empire of the world, which also that Peter, and Paul the preacher of the nations, consecrated into the apostolic see by the aspersion of their own blood -, with Jeremiah, not anticipating things-to-be-lamented, but grieving after the things themselves, we are compelled to mourn as widowed and forsaken.

4. Piget, heu!, non minus quam plagam lamentabilem cernere heresium, quod impietatis fautores, Iudei, Saraceni et gentes, sabbata nostra rident, et, ut fertur, conclamant: "Ubi est Deus eorum?"; et quod forsan suis insidiis apostate Potestates contra defensantes Angelos hoc adscribunt; et, quod horribilius est, quod astronomi quidam et crude prophetantes necessarium asserunt quod, male usi libertate arbitrii, eligere maluistis.

4. It irks, alas!, no less than to behold the lamentable plague of heresies, that the fautors of impiety, the Jews, the Saracens and the nations, laugh at our Sabbaths, and, as it is said, cry out together: "Where is their God?"; and that perhaps the apostate Powers ascribe this to their own plots against the defending Angels; and, what is more horrible, that certain astronomers and crude prophesiers assert as necessary that which, having ill used the liberty of free choice, you preferred to choose.

5. Vos equidem, Ecclesie militantis veluti primi prepositi pili, per manifestam orbitam Crucifixi currum Sponse regere negligentes, non aliter quam falsus auriga Pheton exorbitastis; et quorum sequentem gregem per saltus peregrinationis huius illustrare intererat, ipsum una vobiscum ad precipitium traduxistis. 6. Nec adimitanda recenseo - cum dorsa non vultus, ad Sponse vehiculum habeatis, et vere dici possetis, qui Prophete ostensi sunt, male versi ad templum - vobis ignem de celo missum despicientibus, ubi nunc are ab alieno calescunt; vobis columbas in templo vendentibus, ubi que pretio mensurari non possunt, in detrimentum hinc inde commorantium venalia facta sunt. 7. Sed attendatis ad funiculum, attendatis ad ignem, neque patientiam contemnatis Illius qui ad penitentiam vos expectat.

5. You indeed, as the foremost prefects of the spear of the Church militant, neglecting to steer along the manifest orbit of the Crucified the Spouse’s chariot, have gone off-course no otherwise than the false charioteer Phaethon; and you, whose duty it was to illuminate the following flock through the passes of this pilgrimage, have led it, together with yourselves, to the precipice. 6. Nor do I reckon you to be imitated - since you have backs, not faces, toward the Spouse’s vehicle, and you could truly be called those who are shown by the Prophet, ill-turned toward the temple - to you who despise the fire sent from heaven, where now the altars grow hot from alien fire; to you who sell doves in the temple, where things that cannot be measured by a price have been made vendible, to the detriment of those dwelling here and there. 7. But pay heed to the little cord, pay heed to the fire, and do not despise the patience of Him who awaits you unto penance.

8. Quod si de prelibato precipitio dubitatur, quid aliud declarando respondeam, nisi quod in Alcimum cum Demetrio consensistis?

8. But if there is doubt about the aforementioned precipice, what else shall I answer by declaring, except that you have consented to Alcimus along with Demetrius?

9. Forsitan 'et quis iste, qui Oze repentinum supplicium non formidans, ad arcam, quamvis labantem, se erigit?' indignanter obiurgabitis. Quippe de ovibus pascue Iesu Christi minima una sum; quippe nulla pastorali auctoritate abutens, quoniam divitie mecum non sunt. Non ergo divitiarum, sed gratia Dei sum id quod sum, et "zelus domus eius comedit me". 10. Nam etiam "in ore lactentium et infantium" sonuit iam Deo placita veritas, et cecus natus veritatem confessus est, quam Pharisei non modo tacebant, sed et maligne reflectere conabantur.

9. Perhaps you will indignantly objurgate, 'and who is this, who, not fearing Oze’s sudden punishment, lifts himself to the Ark, although tottering?' Indeed, I am one of the least among the sheep of the pasture of Jesus Christ; indeed, abusing no pastoral authority, since riches are not with me. Not therefore by riches, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and "the zeal of his house has consumed me." 10. For even "out of the mouth of sucklings and infants" the truth pleasing to God has already sounded forth, and the man born blind confessed the truth, which the Pharisees not only were keeping silent about, but also were trying malignly to deflect.

11. Hiis habeo persuasum quod audeo. Habeo preter hec preceptorem Phylosophum qui, cuncta moralia dogmatizans, amicis omnibus veritatem docuit preferendam. 12. Nec Oze presumptio quam obiectandam quis crederet, quasi temere prorumpentem me inficit sui tabe reatus; quia ille ad arcam, ego ad boves calcitrantes et per abvia distrahentes attendo.

11. By these things I am persuaded of what I dare. Besides these I have as a preceptor a Philosopher who, dogmatizing about all moral matters, taught that truth is to be preferred to all friends. 12. Nor does the presumption of Oze—which someone might think fit to be objected—infect me, as if I were bursting forth rashly, with the taint of his guilt; for he had regard to the ark, but I to the oxen kicking and dragging it through byways.

Ille ad arcam proficiat qui salutiferos oculos ad naviculam fluctuantem aperuit.

Let him advance to the Ark who has opened salutiferous eyes upon the tossing little ship.

13. Non itaque videor quemquam esacerbasse ad iurgia; quin potius confusionis ruborem et in vobis et aliis, nomine solo archimandritis, per orbem dumtaxat pudor eradicatus non sit totaliter, accendisse; cum de tot pastoris officium usurpantibus, de tot ovibus, et si non abactis, neglectis tamen et incustoditis in pascuis, una sola vox, sola pia, et hec privata, in matris Ecclesie quasi funere audiatur.

13. Thus I do not seem to have exacerbated anyone into wranglings; rather, to have kindled the blush of confusion both in you and in others, archimandrites in name only, at least so long as modesty has not been totally eradicated throughout the world; since, with so many usurping the office of pastor, with so many sheep, and, if not driven off, yet neglected and unguarded in the pastures, one single voice, the only pious one—and this a private one—is heard, as it were, at the funeral of Mother Church.

14. Quidni? Cupiditatem unusquisque sibi duxit in uxorem, quemadmodum et vos, que nunquam pietatis et equitatis, ut caritas, sed semper impietatis et iniquitatis est genitrix. 15. A, mater piissima, sponsa Christi, que in aqua et Spiritu generas tibi filios ad ruborem!

14. Why not? Each person has led Desire to wife for himself, just as you too, which is never the genitrix of piety and equity, as Charity is, but is always the genitrix of impiety and iniquity. 15. Ah, most pious mother, Bride of Christ, who in water and Spirit you beget sons for yourself to blush!

Non caritas, non Astrea, sed filie sanguisuge facte sunt tibi nurus; que quales pariant tibi fetus, preter Lunensem pontificem omnes alii contestantur. 16. Iacet Gregorius tuus in telis aranearum; iacet Ambrosius in neglectis clericorum latibulis; iacet Augustinus abiectus, Dionysius, Damascenus et Beda; et nescio quod Speculum, Innocentium, et Ostiensem declamant. Cur non?

Not charity, not Astraea, but leech-daughters have been made your daughters-in-law; and what sort of offspring they bear for you, all the others—except the bishop of Luni—attest. 16. Your Gregory lies in spiders’ webs; Ambrose lies in the neglected hiding-places of the clerics; Augustine lies cast aside, and so do Dionysius, the Damascene, and Bede; and they declaim some I-know-not-what Speculum, Innocent, and the Ostian. Why not?

Illi Deum querebant, ut finem et optimum; isti census et beneficia consecuntur.

Those sought God as the end and the highest good; these acquire revenues and benefices.

17. Sed, o patres, ne me phenicem extimetis in orbe terrarum; omnes enim que garrio murmurant aut mussant aut cogitant aut somniant, et que inventa non attestantur. 18. Nonnulli sunt in admiratione suspensi: an semper et hoc silebunt, neque Factori suo testimonium reddent? Vivit Dominus, quia qui movit linguam in asina Balaam, Dominus est etiam modernorum brutorum.

17. But, O fathers, do not esteem me a phoenix in the world; for all the things that I chatter they murmur or mutter or cogitate or dream, and the things discovered they do not attest. 18. Some are held suspended in admiration: will they always even this keep silent, nor render testimony to their Maker? The Lord lives, for he who moved the tongue in Balaam’s she-ass is Lord also of modern brutes.

19. Iam garrulus factus sum: vos me coegistis. Pudeat ergo tam ab infra, non de celo ut absolvat, argui vel moneri. 20. Recte quidem nobiscum agitur, cum ex ea parte pulsatur ad nos ad quam cum ceteris sensibus inflet auditum, ac pariat pudor in nobis penitudinem, primogenitam suam, et hec propositum emendationis aggeneret.

19. I have now been made garrulous: you have compelled me. Be ashamed, then, to be arraigned or admonished from so far beneath, not by heaven so as to absolve. 20. We are indeed dealt with rightly, when from that side it is knocked at toward us—to which, along with the other senses, hearing blows in—and shame bears in us penitence, its firstborn, and this engenders a purpose of emendation.

21. Quod ut gloriosa longanimitas foveat et defendat, Romam urbem, nunc utroque lumine destitutam, nunc Annibali nedum alii miserandam, solam sedentem et viduam prout superius proclamatur, qualis est, pro modulo vestre ymaginis ante mentales oculos affigatis oportet. 22. Et ad vos hec sunt maxime qui sacrum Tiberim parvuli cognovistis. Nam etsi Latiale caput pie cunctis est Ytalis diligendum tanquam comune sue civilitatis principium, vestrum iuste censetur accuratissime colere ipsum, cum sit vobis principium ipsius quoque esse.

21. That a glorious long-suffering may cherish and defend this, you ought to fix before the mental eyes, as she is, the city of Rome—now deprived of both lights, now pitiable even to Hannibal, not to say to others, sitting solitary and widowed as was proclaimed above—according to the measure of your imagination. 22. And to you most of all are these things directed, you who as little ones knew the sacred Tiber. For although the Latial head ought piously to be loved by all Italians as the common principle of their civility, it is judged to be yours, most justly, to cultivate it with the greatest care, since it is for you the principle of your very being as well.

23. Et si ceteros Ytalos in presens miseria dolore confecit et rubore confudit, erubescendum esse vobis dolendumque quis dubitet, qui tam insolite sui vel Solis eclipsis causa fuistis? 24. Tu pre omnibus, Urse, ne degradati college perpetuo remanerent inglorii; et illi, ut militantis Ecclesie veneranda insignia que forsan non emeriti sed inmeriti coacti posuerant, apostolici culminis auctoritate resumerent. 25. Tu quoque, transtiberine sectator factionis alterius, ut ira defuncti Antistitis in te velut ramus insitionis in trunco non suo frondesceret, quasi triumphatam Carthaginem nondum exueras, illustrium Scipionum patrie potuisti hunc animum sine ulla tui iudicii contradictione preferre.

23. And if the present misery has worn out the other Italians with pain and has confounded them with blush-shame, who would doubt that it is for you to blush and to grieve, you who were the cause of so unusual an eclipse of herself, or even of the Sun? 24. You before all, Urse, lest the degraded colleagues should remain forever inglorious; and they, that they might resume, by the authority of the Apostolic summit, the venerable insignia of the Church Militant which perhaps, not as meriting but as unmeriting, compelled, they had laid down. 25. You also, Trans-Tiberine follower of the other faction, so that the wrath of the deceased Prelate might leaf forth in you like a graft-branch on a trunk not its own, as though you had not yet cast off Carthage though triumphed over, you were able to put forward this spirit, of the fatherland of the illustrious Scipios, without any contradiction of your own judgment.

26. Emendabitur quidem - quanquam non sit quin nota cicatrix infamis Apostolicam Sedem usque ad ignem, cui celi qui nunc sunt et terra sunt reservati, deturpet -, si unanimes omnes qui huiusmodi exorbitationis fuistis auctores, pro Sponsa Christi, pro sede Sponse que Roma est, pro Ytalia nostra, et ut plenius dicam, pro tota civitate peregrinante in terris, viriliter propugnetis, ut de palestra iam cepti certaminis undique ab Occeani margine circumspecta, vosmetipsos cum gloria offerentes, audire possitis: "Gloria in excelsis"; et ut Vasconum obprobrium qui tam dira cupidine conflagrantes Latinorum gloriam sibi usurpare contendunt, per secula cuncta futura sit posteris in exemplum.

26. It will indeed be amended - although it cannot but be that the marked infamous scar disfigures the Apostolic See down to the fire, for which the heavens that now are and the earth are reserved -, if you all, of one mind, who were the authors of such an exorbitation, will virilely champion on behalf of the Spouse of Christ, on behalf of the seat of the Spouse which is Rome, on behalf of our Italy, and, to speak more fully, on behalf of the whole City peregrinating upon the earth, so that, with the palestra of the contest already begun surveyed on every side from the margin of the Ocean, offering yourselves with glory, you may be able to hear: "Glory in the highest"; and so that the opprobrium of the Vascones, who, aflame with so dire a cupidity, strive to usurp to themselves the glory of the Latins, may, through all the ages, be for posterity as an example.

XII. [Amico Florentino]

12. [To a Florentine Friend]

1. In litteris vestris et reverentia debita et affectione receptis, quam repatriatio mea cure sit vobis et animo, grata mente ac diligenti animadversione concepi; et inde tanto me districtius obligastis, quanto rarius exules invenire amicos contingit. 2. Ad illarum vero significata responsio, etsi non erit qualem forsan pusillanimitas appeteret aliquorum, ut suo examine vestri consilii ante iudicium ventiletur, affectuose deposco.

1. In your letters, received with the due reverence and affection, I conceived with grateful mind and diligent observation how much my repatriation is a care to you and to your spirit; and thereby you have bound me the more strictly, in proportion as it more rarely befalls exiles to find friends. 2. But as for a response to the significations of those letters, although it will not be such as perhaps the pusillanimity of some would desire—that, by its own examine, your counsel be ventilated before judgment—I affectionately request.

3. Ecce igitur quod per litteras vestras meique nepotis nec non aliorum quamplurium amicorum, significatum est michi per ordinamentum nuper factum Florentie super absolutione bannitorum quod si solvere vellem certam pecunie quantitatem vellemque pati notam oblationis, et absolvi possem et redire ad presens. 4. In qua quidem duo ridenda et male preconsiliata sunt, pater; dico male preconsiliata per illos qui talia expresserunt, nam vestre littere discretius et consultius clausulate nichil de talibus continebant.

3. Behold therefore that through your letters and those of my nephew and likewise of very many other friends, it has been signified to me, by an ordinance recently made in Florence concerning the absolution of the banished, that if I were willing to pay a certain quantity of money and were willing to endure the mark of an oblation, I both could be absolved and could return at present. 4. In which indeed two things are laughable and ill pre-advised, father; I say ill pre-advised by those who expressed such things, for your letters, more discreetly and more advisedly couched, contained nothing of such matters.

5. Estne ista revocatio gratiosa qua Dantes Alagherii revocatur ad patriam, per trilustrium fere perpessus exilium ? Hocne meruit innocentia manifesta quibuslibet? hoc sudor et labor continuatus in studio ? 6. Absit a viro phylosophie domestico temeraria tantum cordis humilitas, ut more cuiusdam Cioli et aliorum infamium quasi vinctus ipse se patiatur offerri! 7. Absit a viro predicante iustitiam ut perpessus iniurias, iniuriam inferentibus, velut benemerentibus, pecuniam suam solvat!

5. Is this that gracious recall by which Dante Alighieri is recalled to the fatherland, after having endured exile for almost fifteen years? Is this what innocence, manifest to anyone, has deserved? is this what sweat and continuous labor in study has earned? 6. Far be there in a man domestic to philosophy so rash a lowness of heart that, after the manner of a certain Ciolo and other infamous men, he should allow himself to be offered up as though bound! 7. Far be it from a man preaching justice that, having suffered injuries, he should pay his own money to those inflicting the injury, as if to well-deservers!

8. Non est hec via redeundi ad patriam, pater mi; sed si alia per vos ante aut deinde per alios invenitur que fame Dantisque honori non deroget, illam non lentis passibus acceptabo; quod si per nullam talem Florentia introitur, nunquam Florentiam introibo. 9. Quidni? nonne solis astrorumque specula ubique conspiciam?

8. This is not the way of returning to the fatherland, my father; but if another is found through you first, or then through others, which does not derogate from my fame and from the honor of Dante, that one I will accept not with slow steps; but if by no such way Florence is entered, I will never enter Florence. 9. Why not? shall I not everywhere behold the mirrors of the sun and of the stars?

nonne dulcissimas veritates potero speculari ubique suo celo, ni prius inglorium ymo ignominiosum populo Florentineque civitati me reddam ? Quippe nec panis deficiet.

Shall I not be able to speculate upon the sweetest truths everywhere in their own heaven, unless first I render myself inglorious, nay ignominious, to the people and to the Florentine city ? For indeed, bread will not be lacking.

XIII.

13.

1. Magnifico atque victoriosissimo Domino, Domino Kani Grandi de la Scala, sacratissimi Cesarei Principatus in urbe Verona et civitate Vicentie Vicario Generali, devotissimus suus Dantes Alagherii, Florentinus natione non moribus, vitam orat per tempora diuturna felicem, et gloriosi nominis perpetuum incrementum.

1. To the most magnificent and most victorious Lord, Lord Cangrande della Scala, Vicar General of the most sacred Caesarean Principate in the city of Verona and in the city of Vicenza, his most devoted Dante Alighieri, Florentine by nation not by manners, prays for a life happy through long times, and the perpetual increment of a glorious name.

2. Inclyta vestre Magnificente laus, quam fama vigil volitando disseminat, sic distrahit in diversa diversos, ut hos in spem sue prosperitatis attollat, hos exterminii deiciat in terrorem. Huius quidem preconium, facta modernorum exsuperans, tanquam veri existentia latius, arbitrabar aliquando superfluum. 3. Verum ne diuturna me nimis incertitudo suspenderet, velut Austri regina Hierusalem petiit, velut Pallas petiit Helicona, Veronam petii fidis oculis discursurus audita.

2. The renowned praise of your Magnificence, which vigilant Fame, flitting about, disseminates, so draws different men in different directions that it uplifts these into hope of their prosperity, and casts those down into the terror of banishment. The proclamation of this, surpassing the deeds of the moderns and spreading, as it were, more broadly than the existence of the true, I sometimes judged superfluous. 3. But lest prolonged incertitude keep me too much in suspense, as the queen of the South sought Jerusalem, as Pallas sought Helicon, I sought Verona, to survey with trusty eyes the things heard.

Ibique magnalia vestra vidi, vidi beneficia simul et tetigi; et quemadmodum prius dictorum ex parte suspicabar excessum, sic posterius ipsa facta excessiva cognovi. Quo factum est, ut ex auditu solo cum quadam animi subiectione benevolus prius exstiterim; sed ex visu postmodum devotissimus et amicus.

And there I saw your great works; I saw the benefactions as well and even touched them; and just as earlier I partly suspected an excess in the things said, so later I recognized the deeds themselves as exceeding. Whence it came about that from hearing alone, with a certain submission of mind, I had previously shown myself well-disposed; but from sight afterward, most devoted and a friend.

4. Nec reor, amici nomen assumens, ut nonnulli forsitan obiectarent, reatum presumptionis incurrere, cum non minus dispares connectantur quam pares amicitie sacramento. Nam si delectabiles et utiles amicitias inspicere libeat, illis persepius inspicienti patebit, preeminentes inferioribus coniugari personas. 5. Et si ad veram ac per se amicitiam torqueatur intuitus, nonne summorum illustriumque principum plerumque viros fortuna obscuros, honestate preclaros, amicos fuisse constabit?

4. Nor do I think, in assuming the name of friend—though some perhaps might object it—that I incur the charge of presumption, since by the sacrament of friendship no less are unequals connected than equals. For if it should please us to inspect agreeable and useful friendships, it will be apparent to one looking more frequently into them that preeminent persons are joined to inferiors. 5. And if the gaze be turned to true friendship in and of itself, will it not be evident that, for the most part, the friends of the highest and most illustrious princes have been men obscure in fortune, renowned in honesty?

Quidni? Cum etiam Dei et hominis amicitia nequaquam impediatur excessu! 6. Quod si cuiquam, quod asseritur, nunc videretur indignum, Spiritum Sanctum audiat, amicitie sue participes quosdam homines profitentem.

Why not? Since even the friendship of God and man is by no means impeded by excess! 6. But if to anyone what is asserted should now seem unworthy, let him hear the Holy Spirit, professing that certain men are participants of his friendship.

Nam in Sapientia de sapientia legitur, quoniam infinitus thesaurus est hominibus, quo usi sunt, participes facti sunt amicitie Dei. 7. Sed habet imperitia vulgi sine discretione iudicium; et quemadmodum solem pedalis magnitudinis arbitratur, sic et circa mores vana credulitate decipitur. Nos autem quibus optimum quod est in nobis noscere datum est, gregum vestigia sectari non decet, quin ymo suis erroribus obviare tenemur.

For in Wisdom it is read about wisdom, that it is an infinite treasure for human beings; by the use of which they have been made participants in the friendship of God. 7. But the inexperience of the vulgar crowd has a judgment without discretion; and just as it judges the sun to be of a foot’s magnitude, so also concerning morals it is deceived by vain credulity. But we, to whom it has been given to know what is best in us, it is not fitting to follow the footprints of the herds, nay rather we are bound to obviate their errors.

Nam intellectu ac ratione degentes, divina quadam libertate dotati, nullis consuetudinibus adstringuntur. Nec mirum, cum non ipsi legibus sed ipsis leges potius dirigantur. 8. Liquet igitur, quod superius dixi, me scilicet esse devotissimum et amicum, nullatenus esse presumptum.

For those living by intellect and reason, endowed with a certain divine liberty, are constrained by no customs. Nor is it a wonder, since they are not themselves directed by laws, but rather laws are directed by them. 8. It is clear, therefore, what I said above: namely, that I am most devoted and a friend, by no means presumptuous.

9. Preferens ergo amicitiam vestram quasi thesaurum carissimum, providentia diligenti et accurata sollicitudine illam servare desidero. 10. Itaque, cum in dogmatibus moralis negotii amicitiam adequari et salvari analogo doceatur, ad retribuendum pro collatis beneficiis plus quam semel analogiam se mihi votivum est; et propter hoc munuscula mea sepe multum conspexi et ab invicem segregavi, nec non segregata percensui, digniusque gratiusque vobis inquirens. 11. Neque ipsi preheminentie vestre congruum comperi magis quam Comedie sublimem canticam, que decoratur titulo Paradisi; et illam sub presenti epistola, tanquam sub epigrammate proprio dedicatam, vobis adscribo, vobis offero, vobis denique recommendo.

9. Therefore preferring your friendship as a most dear treasure, with providence, diligent and accurate solicitude I desire to preserve it. 10. And so, since in the dogmas of moral business it is taught that friendship is made equal and preserved by analogy, to render retribution for the benefits conferred it has been my votive purpose more than once to have recourse to analogy; and on account of this I have often looked over my little gifts and segregated them from one another, and, the segregated, I have also per-counted, seeking what might be more worthy and more grateful to you. 11. Nor have I found anything more congruent to your very preeminence than the sublime cantica of the Comedy, which is adorned with the title of Paradise; and that, under the present epistle—as under its own epigram—dedicated, I ascribe to you, I offer to you, and finally I commend to you.

12. Illud quoque preterire silentio simpliciter inardescens non sinit affectus, quod in hac donatione plus dono quam domino honoris et fame conferri videri potest; quin ymo, cum eius titulo iam presagium de gloria vestri nominis amplianda, satis attentis videar expressisse; quod de proposito. 13. Sed zelus gratie vestre, quam sitio, vitam parvipendens, a primordio metam prefixam urgebit ulterius. Itaque, formula consummata epistole, ad introductionem oblati operis aliquid sub lectoris officio compendiose aggrediar.

12. The affection, simply burning, does not allow me to pass this over in silence, namely that in this donation more honor and fame may seem to be conferred upon the gift than upon the lord; nay rather, since by its title I seem already to have expressed to the sufficiently attentive a presage about the enlarging of the glory of your name; so much for the plan. 13. But the zeal for your grace, which I thirst for, slighting life, will urge further beyond the goal prefixed from the beginning. Therefore, with the form of the epistle consummated, I will compendiously set about something, under the office of a reader, as an introduction to the proffered work.

14. Sicut dicit Philosophus in secundo Metaphysicorum: "Sicut res se habet ad esse, sic se habet ad veritatem"; cuius ratio est, quia veritas de re, que in veritate consistit tanquam in subiecto, est similitudo perfecta rei sicut est. 15. Eorum vero que sunt, quedam sic sunt, ut habeant esse absolutum in se; quedam sunt ita, ut habeant esse dependens ab alio per relationem quandam, ut eodem tempore esse, et ad aliud se habere, ut relativa, sicut pater et filius, dominus et servus, duplum et dimidium, totum et pars, et huiusmodi, in quantum talia. 16. Propterea quod esse talium dependet ab alio, consequens est quod eorum veritas ab alio dependeat: ignorato enim dimidio, nunquam cognoscitur duplum; et sic de aliis.

14. As the Philosopher says in the second of the Metaphysics: "As a thing stands to being, so it stands to truth"; the rationale of which is that truth about a thing, which is in truth as in a subject, is the perfect similitude of the thing as it is. 15. But of the things that are, some are such as to have absolute being in themselves; some are such that they have being dependent upon another through a certain relation, so that at the same time they have being and are referred to another, as relatives, such as father and son, lord and servant, the double and the half, whole and part, and the like, insofar as such. 16. Therefore, because the being of such depends upon another, it follows that their truth depends upon another: for with the half unknown, the double is never known; and so with the others.

17. Volentes igitur aliqualem introductionem tradere de parte operis alicuius, oportet aliquam notitiam tradere de toto cuius est pars. Quapropter et ego, volens de parte supra nominata totius Comedie aliquid tradere per modum introductionis, aliquid de toto opere premittendum existimavi, ut facilior et perfectior sit ad partem introitus. 18. Sex igitur sunt que in principio cuiusque doctrinalis operis inquirenda sunt, videlicet subiectum, agens, forma, finis, libri titulus, et genus philosophie.

17. Wishing therefore to hand down some introduction concerning a part of some work, it is fitting to hand down some knowledge of the whole of which it is a part. Wherefore I too, wishing to hand down something by way of introduction about the above-named part of the whole Comedy, have judged that something ought to be premised about the whole work, so that the entrance to the part may be easier and more perfect. 18. Six therefore are the things which at the beginning of every doctrinal work must be inquired, namely the subject, the agent, the form, the end, the book’s title, and the genus of philosophy.

De istis tria sunt in quibus pars ista, quam vobis destinare proposui, variatur a toto, scilicet subiectum, forma et titulus; in aliis vero non variatur, sicut apparet inspicienti; et ideo, circa considerationem de toto, ista tria inquirenda seorsum sunt: quo facto, satis patebit ad introductionem partis. 19. Deinde inquiremus alia tria, non solum per respectum ad totum, sed etiam per respectum ad ipsam partem oblatam.

Concerning these, there are three in which this part, which I have proposed to dedicate to you, is varied from the whole, namely the subject, the form, and the title; but in the others it is not varied, as appears to one inspecting; and therefore, in the consideration of the whole, these three must be inquired separately: which having been done, it will be sufficiently evident for the introduction of the part. 19. Then we shall inquire the other three, not only with respect to the whole, but also with respect to the part itself proffered.

20. Ad evidentiam itaque dicendorum, sciendum est quod istius operis non est simplex sensus, ymo dici potest polysemos, hoc est plurium sensuum; nam primus sensus est qui habetur per litteram, alius est qui habetur per significata per litteram. Et primus dicitur litteralis, secundus vero allegoricus, sive moralis, sive anagogicus. 21. Qui modus tractandi, ut melius pateat, potest considerari in his versibus: "In exitu Israel de Egypto, domus Iacob de populo barbaro, facta est Iudea sanctificatio eius, Israel potestas eius". Nam si ad litteram solam inspiciemus, significatur nobis exitus filiorum Israel de Egypto, tempore Moysi; si ad allegoriam, nobis significatur nostra redemptio facta per Christum; si ad moralem sensum, significatur nobis conversio anime de luctu et miseria peccati ad statum gratie; si ad anagogicum, significatur exitus anime sancte ab huius corruptionis servitute ad eterne glorie libertatem.

20. For the clarity of the things to be said, therefore, it must be known that this work is not of a simple sense; rather, it can be called polysemous, that is, of multiple senses; for the first sense is that which is had through the letter, another is that which is had through the things signified by the letter. And the first is called the literal; the second, however, the allegorical, or the moral, or the anagogical. 21. Which mode of treating, that it may be more plainly evident, can be considered in these verses: "At the going-forth of Israel from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, Judea was made his sanctification, Israel his power." For if we look to the letter alone, the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt, in the time of Moses, is signified to us; if to the allegory, our redemption accomplished through Christ is signified to us; if to the moral sense, the conversion of the soul from the grief and misery of sin to the state of grace is signified to us; if to the anagogical, the going-forth of the holy soul from the servitude of this corruption to the freedom of eternal glory is signified.

22. Et quamquam isti sensus mystici variis appellentur nominibus, generaliter omnes dici possunt allegorici, cum sint a litterali sive historiali diversi. Nam allegoria dicitur ab 'alleon' grece, quod in latinum dicitur 'alienum', sive 'diversum'.

22. And although these mystical senses are called by various names, generally all can be called allegorical, since they are different from the literal or historical. For 'allegory' is said from the Greek 'alleon', which in Latin is said 'alienum', or 'diversum'.

23. Hiis visis, manifestum est quod duplex oportet esse subiectum circa quod currant alterni sensus. Et ideo videndum est de subiecto huius operis, prout ad litteram accipitur; deinde de subiecto, prout allegorice sententiatur. 24. Est ergo subiectum totius operis, litteraliter tantum accepti, status animarum post mortem simpliciter sumptus.

23. With these things seen, it is manifest that the subject must be twofold, around which the alternating senses run. And therefore it is to be considered concerning the subject of this work, in so far as it is taken according to the letter; then concerning the subject, in so far as it is allegorically construed. 24. Therefore the subject of the whole work, taken only literally, is the state of souls after death, taken simply.

Nam de illo et circa illum totius operis versatur processus.

For upon that and around that the process of the whole work revolves.

25. Si vero accipiatur opus allegorice, subiectum est homo, prout merendo et demerendo per arbitrii libertatem iustitie premiandi et puniendi obnoxius est.

25. If, however, the work be taken allegorically, the subject is man, inasmuch as by meriting and demeriting through the liberty of arbitrium he is liable to justice for rewarding and punishing.

26. Forma vero est duplex, forma tractatus et forma tractandi. Forma tractatus est triplex, secundum triplicem divisionem. Prima divisio est, qua totum opus dividitur in tres canticas.

26. The form, moreover, is twofold, the form of the treatise and the form of treating. The form of the treatise is threefold, according to a triple division. The first division is that by which the whole work is divided into three canticles.

Secunda, qua quelibet cantica dividitur in cantus. Tertia, qua libet cantus dividitur in rithimos. 27. Forma sive modus tractandi est poeticus, fictivus, descriptivus, digressivus, transumptivus; et cum hoc diffinitivus, divisivus, probativus, improbativus, et exemplorum positivus.

Second, whereby each cantica is divided into cantos. Third, whereby each canto is divided into rhythms. 27. The form or mode of treating is poetic, fictive, descriptive, digressive, transumptive; and along with this definitive, divisive, probative, improbative, and the positing of examples.

28. Libri titulus est: 'Incipit Comedia Dantis Alagherii, Florentini natione, non moribus'. Ad cuius notitiam sciendum est, quod comedia dicitur a 'comos', villa, et 'oda', quod est cantus, unde comedia quasi 'villanus cantus'. 29. Et est comedia genus quoddam poetice narrationis, ab omnibus aliis differens. Differt ergo a tragedia, in materia per hoc, quod tragedia in principio est admirabilis et quieta, in fine seu exitu est fetida et horribilis; et dicitur propter hoc a 'tragos', quod est hircus, et oda, quasi 'cantus hircinus', idest fetidus ad modum hirci, ut patet per Senecam in suis tragediis. Comedia vero inchoat asperitatem alicuius rei, sed eius materia prospere terminatur, ut patet per Terentium in suis comediis.

28. The title of the book is: 'Here begins the Comedy of Dante Alagherii, Florentine by birth, not by morals.' For the understanding of which it must be known that comedy is said from 'comos', villa, and 'oda', which is song, whence comedy is, as it were, 'rustic song'. 29. And comedy is a certain genus of poetic narration, differing from all others. It differs therefore from tragedy, in its matter in this respect: that tragedy at the beginning is admirable and quiet, at the end or exit is fetid and horrible; and it is called for this from 'tragos', which is goat, and 'oda', as it were 'goatish song', that is, stinking after the manner of a goat, as is clear from Seneca in his tragedies. Comedy, however, begins with the asperity of some matter, but its subject is terminated prosperously, as is clear from Terence in his comedies.

Et hinc consueverunt dictatores quidam in suis salutationibus dicere loco salutis, 'tragicum principium, et comicum finem'. 30. Similiter differunt in modo loquendi: elate et sublime tragedia; comedia vero remisse et humiliter; sicut vult Oratius in sua Poetria, ubi licentiat aliquando comicos ut tragedos loqui, et sic e converso:

And hence certain dictatores have been accustomed in their salutations to say, in place of a greeting, 'a tragic beginning, and a comic end'. 30. Similarly they differ in the mode of speaking: loftily and sublimely, tragedy; but comedy remissly and humbly; as Horace wills in his Poetria, where he grants license sometimes for the comics to speak as the tragedians, and thus conversely:

Interdum tamen et vocem comedia tollit,
Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore;
Et tragicus plerunque dolet sermone pedestri
Telephus et Peleus etc.

Sometimes, however, comedy too lifts its voice,
and Chremes, angered, rails with a tumid mouth;
and for the most part the tragic Telephus and Peleus grieve in pedestrian speech
etc.

31. Et per hoc patet, quod comedia dicitur presens opus. Nam si ad materiam respiciamus, a principio horribilis et fetida est, quia Infernus; in fine prospera, desiderabilis et grata, quia Paradisus; ad modum loquendi, remissus est modus et humilis, quia locutio vulgaris, in qua et muliercule communicant. 32. Et sic patet quare Comedia dicitur.

31. And through this it is evident that the present work is called comedy. For if we look to the matter, at the beginning it is horrible and fetid, because Hell; at the end prosperous, desirable, and pleasing, because Paradise; as to the manner of speaking, the mode is relaxed and humble, because it is vulgar (vernacular) speech, in which even womenfolk converse. 32. And thus it is evident why it is called Comedy.

Sunt et alia genera narrationum poeticarum, scilicet carmen bucolicum, elegia, satira, et sententia votiva, ut etiam per Oratium patere potest in sua Poetria; sed de istis ad presens nihil dicendum est.

There are also other kinds of poetical narrations, namely the bucolic song, the elegy, the satire, and the votive sententia, as can also be evident through Horace in his Poetria; but about these at present nothing is to be said.

33. Potest amodo patere quomodo assignandum sit subiectum partis oblate. Nam, si totius operis litteraliter sumpti sic est subiectum: status animarum post mortem, non contractus sed simpliciter acceptus, manifestum est quod hac in parte talis status est subiectum, sed contractus, scilicet status animarum beatarum post mortem. 34. Et si totius operis allegorice sumpti subiectum est homo, prout merendo et demerendo per arbitrii libertatem est iustitie premiandi et puniendi obnoxius, manifestum est in hac parte hoc subiectum contrahi, et est homo, prout merendo obnoxius est iustitie premiandi.

33. It can from now be clear how the subject of the offered part is to be assigned. For, if of the whole work taken literally the subject is thus: the status of souls after death, not contracted but taken simply, it is manifest that in this part such a status is the subject, but contracted, namely the status of blessed souls after death. 34. And if of the whole work taken allegorically the subject is man, inasmuch as by meriting and demeriting through the liberty of choice he is liable to the justice of rewarding and punishing, it is manifest that in this part this subject is contracted, and it is man, inasmuch as by meriting he is liable to the justice of rewarding.

35. Et sic patet de forma partis per formam adsignatam totius. Nam, si forma tractatus in toto est triplex, in hac parte tantum est duplex, scilicet divisio cantice et cantuum. 36. Non eius potest esse propria forma divisio prima, cum ista pars sit prime divisionis.

35. And thus it is clear about the form of the part through the form assigned to the whole. For, if the form of the treatise in its entirety is threefold, in this part it is only twofold, namely the division of the cantica and of the cantos. 36. The first division cannot be its proper form, since this part belongs to the first division.

37. Patet etiam libri titulus. Nam si titulus totius libri est: 'Incipit Comedia etc.', ut supra; titulus autem huius partis est: 'Incipit cantica tertia Comedie Dantis etc., que dicitur Paradisus'.

37. The title of the book is evident as well. For if the title of the whole book is: 'Here begins the Comedy etc.', as above; the title, however, of this part is: 'Here begins the third canticle of Dante’s Comedy etc., which is called Paradise'.

38. Inquisitis his tribus in quibus variatur pars a toto, videndum est de aliis tribus in quibus nulla variatio est a toto. Agens igitur totius et partis est ille qui dictus est, et totaliter videtur esse.

38. These three having been inquired into, in which the part varies from the whole, it must be considered concerning the other three in which there is no variation from the whole. The agent therefore of the whole and of the part is he who has been said, and he seems to be so totally.

39. Finis totius et partis esse posset et multiplex, scilicet propinquus et remotus. Sed omissa subtili investigatione, dicendum est breviter quod finis totius et partis est, removere viventes in hac vita de statu miserie et perducere ad statum felicitatis.

39. The end of the whole and of the part could also be manifold, namely proximate and remote. But, setting aside subtle investigation, it must be said briefly that the end of the whole and of the part is to remove those living in this life from the state of misery and to lead them to the state of felicity.

40. Genus vero philosophie, sub quo hic in toto et parte proceditur, est morale negotium, sive ethica; quia non ad speculandum, sed ad opus inventum est totum et pars. 41. Nam si in aliquo loco vel passu pertractatur ad modum speculativi negotii, hoc non est gratia speculativi negotii, sed gratia operis; quia, ut ait Philosophus in secundo Methaphysicorum, "ad aliquid et nunc speculantur practici aliquando".

40. But the genus of philosophy, under which here one proceeds in the whole and in the part, is the moral business, or ethics; because both the whole and the part were devised not for speculation, but for work. 41. For if in some place or passage it is handled in the manner of a speculative undertaking, this is not for the sake of a speculative undertaking, but for the sake of the work; for, as the Philosopher says in the second of the Metaphysics, "for some end and for the present practical men sometimes speculate."

42. Hiis itaque premissis, ad expositionem littere secundum quandam prelibationem accedendum est; et illud prenunciandum, quod expositio littere nihil aliud est quam forme operis manifestatio. 43. Dividitur ergo ista pars, seu tertia cantica, que Paradisus dicitur, principaliter in duas partes, scilicet in prologum et partem executivam. Pars secunda incipit ibi: 'Surgit mortalibus per diversas fauces'.

42. With these things therefore premised, one must approach the exposition of the letter according to a certain prelibation; and this must be fore-announced, that the exposition of the letter is nothing other than the manifestation of the form of the work. 43. Therefore this part, or the third cantica, which is called Paradise, is principally divided into two parts, namely into the prologue and the executive part. The second part begins there: 'Surgit mortalibus per diversas fauces'.

44. De parte prima est sciendum quod, quamvis communi ratione dici posset exordium, proprie autem loquendo non debet dici nisi prologus; quod Philosophus in tertio Rhetoricorum videtur innuere, ubi dicit quod "proemium est in oratione rhetorica, sicut prologus in poetica, et preludium in fistulatione". 45. Est etiam prenotandum quod previatio ista, que communiter exordium dici potest, aliter fit a poetis, aliter a rhetoribus. 46. Rhetores enim concessere prelibare dicenda, ut animum comparent auditoris. Sed poete non solum hoc faciunt, quin ymo post hec invocationem quandam emittunt.

44. About the first part it must be known that, although by common reckoning it could be called an exordium, properly speaking it ought not to be called anything except a prologue; which the Philosopher in the third of the Rhetorics seems to intimate, where he says that "the proem is in rhetorical oration, as the prologue in poetry, and the prelude in pipe‑playing." 45. It is also to be noted beforehand that this pre‑approach, which can commonly be called an exordium, is fashioned one way by poets, another by rhetors. 46. For rhetors have granted to give a foretaste of the things to be said, so that they may prepare the hearer’s mind. But poets not only do this, nay rather after these things they send forth a certain invocation.

47. Et hoc est eis conveniens, quia multa invocatione opus est eis, cum aliquid contra communem modum hominum a superioribus substantiis petendum sit, quasi divinum quoddam munus. 48. Ergo presens prologus dividitur in partes duas: in prima premittitur quid dicendum sit, in secunda invocatur Apollo; et incipit secunda pars ibi: 'O bone Apollo, ad ultimum laborem'.

47. And this is fitting for them, because they have need of much invocation, since something contrary to the common mode of men must be asked from higher substances, as if a certain divine gift. 48. Therefore the present prologue is divided into two parts: in the first it is premised what is to be said; in the second Apollo is invoked; and the second part begins there: 'O good Apollo, to the last labor'.

49. Propter primam partem notandum quod ad bene exordiendum tria requiruntur, ut dicit Tullius in Nova Rhetorica, scilicet ut benevolum et attentum et docilem reddat alis auditorem; et hoc maxime in admirabili genere cause, ut ipsemet Tullius dicit. 50. Cum ergo materia circa quam versatur presens tractatus sit admirabilis, et propterea ad admirabile reducenda ista tria intenduntur in principio exordii, sive prologi. Nam dicit se dicturam ea, que vidit in primo celo et retinere mente potuit.

49. On account of the first part it should be noted that, for a good exordium, three things are required, as Tullius says in the New Rhetoric, namely, that it render the hearer benevolent, attentive, and docile; and this especially in the admirable kind of cause, as Tullius himself says. 50. Therefore, since the matter around which the present tractate turns is admirable, for that reason at the beginning of the exordium, or prologue, these three are intended to be referred to the admirable. For she says that she will tell those things which she saw in the first heaven and was able to retain in mind.

51. In quo dicto omnia illa tria comprehenduntur; nam in utilitate dicendorum benevolentia paratur; in admirabilitate attentio; in possibilitate docilitas. Utilitatem innuit, cum recitaturum se dicit ea que maxime allectiva sunt desiderii humani, scilicet gaudia Paradisi; admirabilitatem tangit, cum promittit se tam ardua, tam sublimia dicere, scilicet conditiones regni celestis; possibilitatem ostendit, cum dicit se dicturum ea que mente retinere potuit; si enim ipse, et alii poterunt. 52. Hec omnia tanguntur in verbis illis, ubi dicit se fuisse in primo celo, et quod dicere vult de regno celesti quidquid in mente sua, quasi thesaurum, potuit retinere.

51. In which statement all those three are comprehended; for in the utility of the things to be said benevolence is prepared; in admirability, attention; in possibility, docility. He intimates utility when he says he will recite those things that are most alluring to human desire, namely, the joys of Paradise; he touches admirability when he promises to say things so arduous, so sublime, namely, the conditions of the heavenly kingdom; he shows possibility when he says he will tell those things which he was able to retain in mind; for if he could, others also will be able. 52. All these are touched in those words, where he says that he was in the first heaven, and that he wishes to speak about the heavenly kingdom whatever he could retain in his mind, as if a treasure.

Viso igitur de bonitate ac perfectione prime partis prologi, ad litteram accedatur.

Therefore, with the goodness and perfection of the first part of the prologue having been seen, let us proceed to the letter.

53. Dicit ergo quod 'gloria primi Motoris', qui Deus est, 'in omnibus partibus universi resplendet', sed ita ut 'in aliqua parte magis, et in aliqua minus'. 54. Quod autem ubique resplendeat, ratio et auctoritas manifestat. Ratio sic: Omne quod est, aut habet esse a se, aut ab alio. Sed constat quod habere esse a se non convenit nisi uni, scilicet primo, seu principio, qui Deus est; cum habere esse non arguat per se necesse esse, et per se necesse esse non competat nisi uni, scilicet primo, seu principio, quod est causa omnium; ergo omnia que sunt, preter unum ipsum, habent esse ab alio.

53. He says, therefore, that 'the glory of the Prime Mover', who is God, 'resplends in all the parts of the universe', but in such a way that 'in some part more, and in some less'. 54. But that it resplends everywhere, reason and authority make manifest. Reason thus: Everything that is either has being from itself, or from another. But it is established that to have being from oneself befits only one, namely the first, or the principle, who is God; since to have being does not of itself argue to be necessary in itself, and to be necessary in itself befits only one, namely the first, or the principle, which is the cause of all things; therefore all things that are, except that one itself, have being from another.

55. Si ergo accipiatur ultimum in universo, non quodcumque, manifestum est quod id habet esse ab aliquo; et illud a quo habet, a se, vel ab aliquo. Si a se, sic est primum; si ab aliquo, et illud similiter vel a se, vel ab aliquo. Et esset sic procedere in infinitum in causis agentibus, ut probatur in secundo Metaphysicorum.

55. If, therefore, one were to take an ultimate in the universe—not just any—it is manifest that it has being from something; and that from which it has it, either from itself or from another. If from itself, thus it is first; if from another, then that likewise either from itself or from another. And so it would proceed to infinity in efficient causes, as is proved in the second of the Metaphysics.

56. Et sic erit devenire ad primum, qui Deus est. Et sic, mediate vel immediate, omne quod habet esse, habet esse ab eo; quia ex eo quod causa secunda recipit a prima, influit super causatum ad modum recipientis et repercutientis radium, propter quod causa prima est magis causa. 57. Et hoc dicitur in libro De Causis, quod "omnis causa primaria plus influit super suum causatum quam causa universalis secunda". Sed hoc quantum ad esse.

56. And thus one must arrive at the first, who is God. And thus, mediately or immediately, everything that has being has being from him; because from that which the second cause receives from the first, it flows upon the caused thing in the manner of one receiving and reflecting a ray, on account of which the first cause is more a cause. 57. And this is said in the book On Causes, that “every primary cause exerts more influx upon its caused thing than does a universal second cause.” But this as to being.

58. Quantum vero ad essentiam, probo sic: Omnis essentia, preter primam, est causata, aliter essent plura que essent per se necesse esse, quod est impossibile: quod causatum, vel a natura vel ab intellectu; et quod a natura est, per consequens causatum est ab intellectu, cum natura sit opus intelligentie. Omne ergo quod est causatum, est causatum ab aliquo intellectu mediate vel immediate. 59. Cum ergo virtus sequatur essentiam cuius est virtus, si essentia intellectiva, est tota et unius que causat.

58. However as to essence, I prove thus: Every essence, except the first, is caused; otherwise there would be several things which would be per se necessary to be, which is impossible: that which is caused, either by nature or by intellect; and that which is by nature is, consequently, caused by intellect, since nature is a work of intelligence. Therefore everything which is caused is caused by some intellect, mediately or immediately. 59. Therefore, since a virtue follows the essence of which it is the virtue, if the essence is intellective, the virtue is entire and of one that causes.

Et sic quemadmodum prius devenire erat ad primam causam ipsius esse, sic nunc essentie et virtutis. 60. Propter quod patet quod omnis essentia et virtus procedat a prima, et intelligentie inferiores recipiant quasi a radiante, et reddant radios superioris ad suum inferius, ad modum speculorum. Quod satis aperte tangere videtur Dionysius de Celesti Hierarchia loquens.

And thus, just as before it was to come to the first cause of its very being, so now to that of essence and of virtue. 60. For which reason it is evident that every essence and virtue proceeds from the First, and the lower intelligences receive, as from a radiating source, and render the rays of the superior to their own inferior, after the manner of mirrors. Which Dionysius seems to touch quite plainly, speaking On the Celestial Hierarchy.

61. Et propter hoc dicitur in libro De Causis quod "omnis intelligentia est plena formis". Patet ergo quomodo ratio manifestat divinum lumen, idest divinam bonitatem, sapientiam et virtutem, resplendere ubique.

61. And on account of this it is said in the book On Causes that “every intelligence is full of forms.” Therefore it is clear how reason manifests that the divine light, that is, the divine goodness, wisdom, and virtue, shines forth everywhere.

62. Similiter etiam at scientius facit auctoritas. Dicit enim Spiritus Sanctus per Hieremiam: "Celum et terram ego impleo"; et in Psalmo: "Quo ibo a spiritu tuo? et quo a facie tua fugiam?

62. Similarly also, yet more knowingly, authority does so. For the Holy Spirit says through Jeremiah: "I fill heaven and earth"; and in the Psalm: "Where shall I go from your Spirit? and where shall I flee from your face?"

Si ascendero in celum, tu illic es; si descendero in infernum, ades. Si sumpsero pennas meas etc." Et Sapientia dicit quod "Spiritus Domini replevit orbem terrarum". Et Ecclesiasticus in quadragesimo secundo: "Gloria Domini plenum est opus eius". 63. Quod etiam scriptura paganorum contestatur; nam Lucanus in nono: "Iuppiter est quodcumque vides, quocumque moveris".

If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I go down into hell, you are present. If I take my wings, etc." And Wisdom says that "the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world." And Ecclesiasticus in 42: "The glory of the Lord—his work is full." 63. Which the writing of the pagans also attests; for Lucan in 9: "Jupiter is whatever you see, wheresoever you move."

64. Bene ergo dictum est, cum dicit quod divinus radius, seu divina gloria, 'per universum penetrat et resplendet': penetrat, quantum ad essentiam; resplendet, quantum ad esse. 65. Quod autem subicit de magis et minus, habet veritatem in manifesto; quoniam videmus in aliquo excellentiori gradu essentiam aliquam, aliquam vero in inferiori; ut patet de celo et elementis, quorum quidem illud incorruptibile, illa vero corruptibilia sunt.

64. Well then it is said, when it says that the divine ray, or the divine glory, ‘penetrates through the universe and shines’: it penetrates, with respect to essence; it shines, with respect to being. 65. But what he subjoins about more and less is manifestly true; for we see some essence in a more excellent degree, and some indeed in a lower; as is clear in the case of the heaven and the elements, of which the former is incorruptible, whereas the latter are corruptible.

66. Et postquam premisit hanc veritatem, prosequitur ab ea, circumloquens Paradisum; et dicit quod fuit in celo illo quod de gloria Dei, sive de luce, recipit affluentius. 67. Propter quod sciendum quod illud celum est celum supremum, continens corpora universa, et a nullo contentum, intra quod omnia corpora moventur, ipso in sempiterna quiete permanente *** et a nulla corporali substantia virtutem recipiens.

66. And after he has premised this truth, he proceeds from it, circumlocuting Paradise; and he says that he was in that heaven which of the glory of God, or of the light, receives more abundantly. 67. Wherefore it must be known that that heaven is the supreme heaven, containing all bodies, and by none contained, within which all bodies are moved, it itself remaining in sempiternal rest *** and receiving power from no corporeal substance.

68. Et dicitur empyreum, quod est idem quod celum igne sive ardore flagrans; non quod in eo sit ignis vel ardor materialis, sed spiritualis, quod est amor sanctus, sive caritas.

68. And it is called the empyrean, which is the same as the heaven blazing with fire or ardor; not that there is in it material fire or ardor, but spiritual, which is holy love, or charity.

69. Quod autem de divina luce plus recipiat, potest probari per duo. Primo, per suum omnia continere et a nullo contineri; secundo, per sempiternam suam quietem sive pacem. 70. Quantum ad primum probatur sic: Continens se habet ad contentum in naturali situ, sicut formativum ad formabile, ut habetur in quarto Physicorum.

69. But that it receives more from the divine light can be proved by two. First, through its containing all things and being contained by none; second, through its sempiternal rest or peace. 70. As to the first, it is proved thus: the container stands to the contained in natural situation, as the formative to the formable, as is held in the fourth book of the Physics.

Sed in naturali situ totius universi primum celum est omnia continens; ergo se habet ad omnia sicut formativum ad formabile; quod est se habere per modum cause. Et cum omnis vis causandi sit radius quidam profluens a prima causa, que Deus est, manifestum est quod illud celum quod magis habet rationem cause, magis de luce divina recipit.

But in the natural situation of the whole universe the first heaven is the container of all things; therefore it stands toward all things as the formative toward the formable, which is to stand by the mode of cause. And since every power of causing is a certain ray flowing forth from the First Cause, who is God, it is manifest that that heaven which more has the rationale of cause, receives more of the divine light.

71. Quantum ad secundum, probatur sic: Omne quod movetur, movetur propter aliquid quod non habet, quod est terminus sui motus; sicut celum lune movetur propter aliquam partem sui, que non habet illud ubi ad quod movetur; et quia sui pars quelibet non adepto quolibet ubi (quod est impossibile) movetur ad aliud, inde est quod semper movetur et nunquam quiescit, et est eius appetitus. Et quod dico de celo lune, intelligendum est de omnibus preter primum. Omne ergo quod movetur est in aliquo defectu, et non habet totum suum esse simul.

71. As to the second, it is proved thus: Every thing that is moved, is moved on account of something which it does not have, which is the terminus of its motion; just as the heaven of the Moon is moved on account of some part of itself which does not have that place to which it is moved; and because any part whatsoever of it, not having attained any place whatsoever (which is impossible), is moved to another, from this it is that it is always moved and never rests, and this is its appetite. And what I say of the heaven of the Moon is to be understood of all except the first. Therefore every thing that is moved is in some defect, and does not have the whole of its being at once.

72. Illud igitur celum quod a nullo movetur, in se et in qualibet sui parte habet quicquid potest modo perfecto, ita quod motu non indiget ad suam perfectionem. Et cum omnis perfectio sit radius Primi, quod est in summo gradu perfectionis, manifestum est quod celum primum magis recipit de luce Primi, qui est Deus. 73. Ista tamen ratio videtur arguere ad destructionem antecedentis, ita quod simpliciter et secundum formam arguendi non probat.

72. That heaven, therefore, which is moved by none, has within itself and in each of its parts whatever it can in a perfect mode, such that it has no need of motion for its perfection. And since every perfection is a radius of the First, which is in the highest grade of perfection, it is manifest that the first heaven receives more from the light of the First, who is God. 73. Yet this reasoning seems to argue to the destruction of the antecedent, such that, taken simply and according to the form of arguing, it does not prove.

Sed si consideremus materiam eius, bene probat, quia de quodam sempiterno, in quo posset defectus sempiternari: ita quod, si Deus non dedit sibi motum, patet quod non dedit sibi materiam in aliquo egentem. 74. Et per hanc suppositionem tenet argumentum ratione materie; et similis modus arguendi est ac si dicerem: Si homo est, est risibile; nam in omnibus convertibilibus tenet similis ratio gratia materie. Sic ergo patet quod cum dicit 'in illo celo quod plus de luce Dei recipit', intelligit circumloqui Paradisum, sive celum empyreum.

But if we consider its matter, it proves well, because [the discussion is] about a certain sempiternal thing, in which a defect could be made sempiternal: such that, if God did not give to it motion, it is clear that He did not give to it matter in any way needy. 74. And by this supposition the argument holds by reason of the matter; and a similar way of arguing is as if I were to say: If there is a man, he is risible; for in all convertibles a like rationale holds by grace of the matter. Thus therefore it is clear that when he says 'in that heaven which receives more of the light of God,' he means, by circumlocution, Paradise, or the empyrean heaven.

75. Premissis quoque rationibus consonanter dicit Philosophus in primo De Celo quod celum "tanto habet honorabiliorem materiam istis inferioribus, quanto magis elongatum est ab hiis que hic". 76. Ad hoc etiam posset adduci quod dicit Apostolus ad Ephesios de Christo: "Qui ascendit super omnes celos, ut impleret omnia". Hoc est celum deliciarum Domini; de quibus deliciis dicitur contra Luciferum per Ezechielem: "Tu signaculum similitudinis, sapientia plenus et perfectione decorus, in deliciis Paradisi Dei fuisti".

75. With the foregoing reasons consonant, the Philosopher says in the first book of On the Heavens that the heaven "has matter so much the more honorable than these lower things, the more it is removed from the things that are here." 76. To this there could also be adduced what the Apostle to the Ephesians says of Christ: "He who ascended above all the heavens, that he might fill all things." This is the heaven of the Lord’s delights; concerning which delights it is said against Lucifer through Ezekiel: "You the seal of similitude, full of wisdom and adorned with perfection, you were in the delights of the Paradise of God."

77. Et postquam dixit quod fuit in loco illo Paradisi per suam circumlocutionem, prosequitur dicens se vidisse aliqua que recitare non potest qui descendit. Et reddit causam, dicens 'quod intellectus in tantum profundat se in ipsum desiderium suum', quod est Deus, 'quod memoria se non potest'. 78. Ad que intelligenda sciendum est quod intellectus humanus in hac vita, propter connaturalitatem et affinitatem quam habet ad substantiam intellectualem separatam, quando elevatur, in tantum elevatur ut memoria post reditum deficiat, propter transcendisse humanum modum. 79. Et hoc insinuatur nobis per Apostolum ad Corinthios loquentem, ubi dicit: "Scio hominem (sive in corpore, sive extra corpus, nescio, Deus scit), raptum usque ad tertium celum, et vidit arcana Dei, que non licet homini loqui". Ecce, postquam humanam rationem intellectus ascensione transierat, quid extra se ageretur non recordabatur.

77. And after he said that he was in that place of Paradise by his circumlocution, he proceeds, saying that he saw certain things which he who descended cannot recount. And he renders the cause, saying "that the intellect so far plunges itself into its very desiderium," which is God, "that memory cannot do so." 78. To understand which, it must be known that the human intellect in this life, on account of the connaturality and affinity which it has to the separated intellectual substance, when it is elevated, is so elevated that memory, after the return, fails, because it has transcended the human mode. 79. And this is intimated to us by the Apostle speaking to the Corinthians, where he says: "I know a man (whether in the body, or outside the body, I know not, God knows), caught up as far as the third heaven, and he saw the arcana of God, which it is not permitted for a man to speak." Behold, after he had passed beyond human reason by the ascension of the intellect, he did not remember what was being done outside himself.

80. Et hoc etiam est insinuatum nobis in Matheo, ubi tres discipuli ceciderunt in faciem suam, nihil postea recitantes, quasi obliti. Et in Ezechiele scribitur: "Vidi et cecidi in faciem meam". Et ubi ista invidis non sufficiant, legant Richardum de Sancto Victore in libro De Contemplatione; legant Bernardum in libro De Consideratione; legant Augustinum in libro De Quantitate Anime, et non invidebunt. 81. Si vero in dispositionem elevationis tante propter peccatum loquentis oblatrarent, legant Danielem, ubi et Nabuchodonosor invenient contra peccatores aliqua vidisse divinitus, oblivionique mandasse.

80. And this too is insinuated to us in Matthew, where the three disciples fell upon their face, afterward recounting nothing, as if forgetful. And in Ezekiel it is written: "I saw and I fell upon my face." And where these things do not suffice for the envious, let them read Richard of Saint Victor in the book On Contemplation; let them read Bernard in the book On Consideration; let them read Augustine in the book On the Quantity of the Soul, and they will not envy. 81. But if they should bark against the disposition for so great an elevation on account of the speaker’s sin, let them read Daniel, where they will find that Nebuchadnezzar, though a sinner, saw certain things by divine agency, and consigned them to oblivion.

82. Nam "qui oriri solem suum facit super bonos et malos, et pluit super iustos et iniustos", aliquando misericorditer ad conversionem, aliquando severe ad punitionem, plus et minus, ut vult, gloriam suam quantumcunque male viventibus manifestat.

82. For "he who makes his sun rise upon the good and the bad, and rains upon the just and the unjust," sometimes mercifully unto conversion, sometimes severely unto punishment, more and less, as he wills, manifests his glory, to whatever extent, to those living badly.

83. Vidit ergo, ut dicit, aliqua 'que referre nescit et nequit rediens'. Diligenter quippe notandum est quod dicit 'nescit et nequit'. Nescit quia oblitus, nequit quia, si recordatur et contentum tenet, sermo tamen deficit. 84. Multa namque per intellectum videmus quibus signa vocalia desunt; quod satis Plato insinuat in suis libris per assumptionem metaphorismorum, multa enim per lumen intellectuale vidit que sermone proprio nequivit exprimere.

83. He saw therefore, as he says, some things 'which on returning he does not know how to report and cannot.' It must indeed be noted diligently that he says 'he does not know and he cannot.' He does not know because he has forgotten; he cannot because, even if he remembers and holds the content, nevertheless speech fails. 84. For we see many things through the intellect for which vocal signs are lacking; which Plato sufficiently insinuates in his books by the assumption of metaphorisms, for he saw many things by an intellectual light which he could not express by proper speech.

85. Postea dicit se dicturum illa que de regno celesti retinere potuit; et hoc dicit esse 'materiam' sui operis; que qualia sint et quanta, in parte executiva patebit.

85. Afterwards he says he will tell those things which he was able to retain from the celestial kingdom; and he says this is the ‘material’ of his work; of what sort they are and how many, will be evident in the executive part.

86. Deinde cum dicit: 'O bone Apollo', etc., facit invocationem suam. Et dividitur ista pars in partes duas: in prima invocando petit; in secunda suadet Apollini petitionem factam, remunerationem quandam prenuntians; et incipit secunda pars ibi: 'O divina virtus'. 87. Prima pars dividitur in partes duas: in prima petit divinum auxilium; in secunda tangit necessitatem sue petitionis, quod est iustificare ipsam, ibi: 'Hucusque alterum iugum Parnassi', etc.

86. Then, when he says, 'O good Apollo,' etc., he makes his invocation. And this part is divided into two parts: in the first, by invoking, he asks; in the second, he urges upon Apollo the petition made, pre-announcing a certain remuneration; and the second part begins there: 'O divine virtue'. 87. The first part is divided into two parts: in the first he asks for divine aid; in the second he touches upon the necessity of his petition, which is to justify it, there: 'Thus far the other yoke of Parnassus', etc.

88. Hec est sententia secunde partis prologi in generali. In speciali vero non exponam ad presens; urget enim me rei familiaris angustia, ut hec et alia utilia rei publice derelinquere oporteat. Sed spero de Magnificentia vestra, ut alias habeatur procedendi ad utilem expositionem facultas.

88. This is the sentence of the second part of the prologue in general. In particular, however, I will not expound at present; for the straitness of my household affairs presses me, so that it is necessary to leave this and other things useful to the republic. But I hope from Your Magnificence that at another time the faculty may be had of proceeding to a useful exposition.

89. In parte vero executiva, que fuit divisa iuxta totum prologum, nec dividendo nec sententiando quicquam dicetur ad presens, nisi hoc, quod ubique procedetur ascendendo de celo in celum, et recitabitur de animabus beatis inventis in quolibet orbe, et quod vera illa beatitudo in sentiendo veritatis principium consistit; ut patet per Iohannem ibi: "Hec est vita eterna, ut cognoscant te Deum verum", etc.; et per Boetium in tertio De Consolatione ibi: "Te cernere finis". Inde est quod ad ostendendum gloriam beatitudinis in illis animabus, ab eis, tanquam videntibus omnem veritatem, multa querentur que magnam habent utilitatem et delectationem. 90. Et quia, invento principio seu primo, videlicet Deo, nihil est quod ulterius queratur, cum sit Alpha et O, idest principium et finis, ut visio Iohannis designat, in ipso Deo terminatur tractatus, qui est benedictus in secula seculorum.

89. But in the executive part, which was divided according to the entire prologue, neither by dividing nor by giving its sentence (meaning) will anything be said at present, except this: that everywhere the procedure will go forward by ascending from heaven to heaven, and it will be recited concerning the blessed souls found in each sphere, and that that true beatitude consists in sensing the principle of Truth; as is clear through John there: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the true God,” etc.; and through Boethius in the third of the Consolation there: “To behold Thee is the end.” Hence it is that, to show the glory of beatitude in those souls, from them, as from those seeing all truth, many things will be asked which have great utility and delectation. 90. And because, the principle or the first having been found—namely God—there is nothing that ought further to be sought, since He is Alpha and O, that is, the beginning and the end, as the Vision of John designates, in God Himself the treatise is terminated, who is blessed unto the ages of ages.

[Secondo il testo curato da Ermenegildo Pistelli per l'edizione della Societè Dantesca Italiana, 1921. Scannerizzato e corretto da Roberto Gagliardi, gennaio-maggio 1997. Riformattato da Carlo Alberto Furia, aprile 1998.]

[According to the text curated by Ermenegildo Pistelli for the edition of the Società Dantesca Italiana, 1921. Scanned and corrected by Roberto Gagliardi, January–May 1997. Reformatted by Carlo Alberto Furia, April 1998.]