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.Wherefore, if it bends little ormuch, it follows the force; and so did these when they might have returned to the sacredplace.If their will had remained whole, as it held Laurence on the gridiron and made Mutiusstern to his own hand, so it would have hurried them back by the way whence they weredragged, as soon as they were loosed; but so stout a will is too rare.And by these words, ifthou hast gathered them up as thou oughtest, is the argument quashed, which would haveannoyed thee many times yet. But now another strait is in the way, before thy eyes, such that by thyself thou wouldestnot issue from it, before thou shouldst be weary.I have put it for certain into thy mind thata soul in bliss could not lie, inasmuch as it is ever near to the primal truth.And then it waspossible for thee to hear from Piccarda that Constance retained her love for the veil; so thatshe appears in this to be at variance with me.Many times already, brother, has it befallen thatin order to shun danger, against his will a man has done that which it behoved not to do: likeAlcmaeon, who when entreated on that behalf by his father, slew his own mother; not to lackpiety, he made himself pitiless.In regard to this point I wish thee to think that the forcemingles itself with the will, and they act so that the offences cannot be excused.Will absoluteconsents not to the wrong, but it does consent to it in so far as it fears if it draws back, to fallinto a greater distress.Wherefore, when Piccarda uses that expression, she means it of thewill absolute, and I of the other, so that we both say true together.Such was the rippling of the sacred stream, which issued from the fount whence all truthflows down; such set at rest one and the other desire. O love of the primal Lover, O goddess,said I thereafter,  whose speaking bathes and warms me so that more and more it quickensme, my affection has no such depth that it may suffice to render to you grace for grace; butmay He who sees and can, reply to this.I see well that our intellect is never sated, if the Trueilluminate it not, outside of whom no truth has space.In that it reposes, as a creature in aden, so soon as it has reached it; and it can reach it else each desire would be in vain.Forthat reason is born, in fashion of a scion, the doubt at the foot of the truth; and it is naturewhich urges us to the summit from ridge to ridge.This invites me, this makes me bold, withreverence, Lady, to ask you of another truth which is obscure to me.I would know if one canso make satisfaction for broken vows with other good deeds, that they shall not be wantingin your balance.Beatrice regarded me with her eyes full of love s sparks, so divine that my powersovercome I turned my back, and as it were lost myself with downcast eyes.C A N T O VARGUMENTBeatrice shows how no other service can compensate for the breach of religious vows, because the freedom of the willis the greatest of God s gifts.Afterwards they rise to the second heaven, of M ercury. IF I blaze upon thee in the heat of love beyond the fashion which is seen upon earth, so thatI surpass the strength of thine eyes, marvel thou not, for this proceeds from perfect vision,which as it apprehends so moves its foot towards the apprehended good.I see well howalready shines in thy intellect the eternal light, which when seen, alone ever kindles love; andif aught else leads your love astray, it is nought but some vestige of that, ill-recognized, whichthere shines through.Thou wouldst know if with other service one may repay so much fora broken vow as may secure the soul from controversy. So Beatrice began this chant; and justas one who breaks not up his speech, she thus continued her sacred argument: The greatest gift which God of His bounty made in creating, and the most conformedto His goodness, and that which He most values, was the freedom of the will, wherewith thecreatures that have intelligence all, and they only, were and are endowed.Now will appearto thee, if thou argue from this, the high worth of the vow, if it is so made that God consentwhen thou consentest; because, in the confirming of the pact between God and the man, asacrifice is made of this treasure, being such as I say, and it is made by its own operation.Therefore what can be rendered for recompense? If thou thinkest to make a good use of thatwhich has been offered, thou art desiring to make a good work of a bad gain [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]