The Divine Comedy Paradise Author:Dante Alighieri Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CANTO IV. Doubts of Dante, respecting the justice of Heaven and the abode of the blessed, solved by Beatrice. — Question of Dante as to the possibility of rep... more »aration for broken vows. Between two viands, distant and attractive in like measure, a free man would die of hunger, before he would bring one of them to his teeth. Thus a lamb would stand between two ravenings of fierce wolves, fearing equally ; thus would stand a dog between two does. Hence if, urged by my doubts in like measure, I was silent, I blame not myself; nor, since it was necessary, do I commend. I was silent, but my desire was depicted on my face, and the questioning with that far more fervent than by distinct speech. Beatrice did what Daniel did, delivering Nebuchadnezzar from anger, which had made him unjustly cruel, and said, " I see clearly how one and the other desire draws thee, so that thy care so binds itself that it breathes not forth. Thou reasonest, ' If the goodwill endure, by what reckoning doth the violence of others lessen for me the measure of desert ?' Further, it gives thee occasion for doubt, that the souls appear to return to the stars, in accordance with the opinion of Plato.1 These are the questions that thrust equally upon thy wish; and therefore I will treat first of that which hath the most venom.2 " Of the Seraphim he who is most in God, Moses, Samuel, and whichever John thou wilt take, I say, and even Mary, have not their seats in another heaven than those spirits who just now appeared to thee, nor have they more or fewer years for their existence; but all make beautiful the first circle, - and have sweet life in different measure, through feeling more or less the eternal breath.3 They showed themselves here, not because this sphere is allotted to them, but to give sign of...« less