road Where well one fattens if he strayeth not. He who is nearest to me on the right My brother and master was; and he Albertus Is of Cologne, I Thomas of Aquinum. If thou of all the others wouldst be certain, Follow behind my speaking with thy sight Upward along the blessed garland turning. That next effulgence issues from the smile Of Gratian, who assisted both the courts In such wise that it pleased in Paradise. The other which near by adorns our choir That Peter was who, e’en as the poor widow, Offered his treasure unto Holy Church. The fifth light, that among us is the fairest, Breathes forth from such a love, that all the world Below is greedy to learn tidings of it. Within it is the lofty mind, where knowledge So deep was put, that, if the true be true, To see so much there never rose a second. Thou seest next the lustre of that taper, Which in the flesh below looked most within The angelic nature and its ministry. Within that other little light is smiling The advocate of the Christian centuries, Out of whose rhetoric Augustine was furnished. Now if thou trainest thy mind’s eye along From light to light pursuant of my praise, With thirst already of the eighth thou waitest. By seeing every good therein exults The sainted soul, which the fallacious world Makes manifest to him who listeneth well; The body whence ’twas hunted forth is lying Down in Cieldauro, and from martyrdom And banishment it came unto this peace. See farther onward flame the burning breath Of Isidore, of Beda, and of Richard Who was in contemplation more than man. This, whence to me returneth thy regard, The light is of a spirit unto whom In his grave meditations death seemed slow. It is the light eternal of Sigier, Who, reading lectures in the Street of Straw, Did syllogize invidious verities.” Then, as a horologe that calleth us What time the Bride of God is rising up With matins to her Spouse that he may love her, Wherein one part the other draws and urges, Ting! ting! resounding with so sweet a note, That swells with love the spirit well disposed, Thus I beheld the glorious wheel move round, And render voice to voice, in modulation And sweetness that can not be comprehended, Excepting there where joy is made eternal.
Table of Contents
Canto X
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