Bernard, as soon as he beheld mine eyes
Fixed and intent upon its fervid fervor,
His own with such affection turned to her
That it made mine more ardent to behold.

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CANTO XXXII.

ABSORBED in his delight, that contemplator

Assumed the willing office of a teacher,

And gave beginning to these holy words: "The wound that Mary closed up and anointed,

She at her feet who is so beautiful,

She is the one who opened it and pierced it. Within that order which the third seats make

Is seated Rachel, lower than the other,
With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.
Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was

Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole
Of the misdeed said, 'Miserere mei,'
Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending

Down in gradation, as with each one's name
I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.

And downward from the seventh row, even as

Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women,
Dividing all the tresses of the flower;

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Because, according to the view which Faith
In Christ had taken, these are the partition
By which the sacred stairways are divided.
Upon this side, where perfect is the flower

With each one of its petals, seated are
Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

Upon the other side, where intersected

With vacant spaces are the semicircles,

Are those who looked to Christ already come.

And as, upon

this side, the glorious seat

Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats

Below it, such a great division make, So opposite doth that of the great John,

Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom

Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell.

And under him thus to divide were chosen

Francis, and Benedict, and Augustine,

And down to us the rest from round to round.

Behold now the high providence divine;

For one and other aspect of the Faith

In equal measure shall this garden fill.

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And know that downward from that rank which cleaves 40

Midway the sequence of the two divisions,

Not by their proper merit are they seated;

But by another's under fixed conditions ;
For these are spirits one and all assoiled
Before they any true election had.

Well canst thou recognize it in their faces,
And also in their voices puerile,

If thou regard them well and hearken to them.
Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;

But I will loosen for thee the strong bond
In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.

Within the amplitude of this domain

No casual point can possibly find place,

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No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;

For by eternal law has been established

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Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely

The ring is fitted to the finger here.

And therefore are these people, festinate
Unto true life, not sine causa here

More and less excellent among themselves.

The King, by means of whom this realm

reposes

In so great love and in so great delight
That no will ventureth to ask for more,

In his own joyous aspect every mind

Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace
Diversely; and let here the effect suffice.

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And this is clearly and expressly noted

For

you in Holy Scripture, in those twins Who in their mother had their anger roused. According to the color of the hair,

Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme

Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.

Without, then, any merit of their deeds,

Stationed are they in different gradations,

Differing only in their first acuteness.

'Tis true that in the early centuries,

With innocence, to work out their salvation
Sufficient was the faith of parents only.

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After the earlier ages were completed,

Behoved it that the males by circumcision

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Unto their innocent wings should virtue add;

But after that the time of grace had come

Without the baptism absolute of Christ,

Such innocence below there was retained.

Look now into the face that unto Christ

Hath most resemblance; for its brightness only

Is able to prepare thee to see Christ."

On her did I behold so great a gladness

Rain down, borne onward in the holy minds
Created through that altitude to fly,

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