by neufer » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:40 am
Do not look directly at St. Benedict without proper eye protection:
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Paradise Canto XXII <<ARGUMENT.— [Dante] beholds
many other spirits of the devout and contemplative; and among these is addressed by St. Benedict, who, after disclosing his own name and the names of certain of his companions in bliss, replies to the request made by our Poet that he might look on the form of the saint, without that covering of splendor, which then invested it;>>
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Paradise Canto XXII
Mine eyes directing, as she will’d, I saw
A hundred little spheres, that fairer grew
By interchange of splendour. I remain’d,
As one, who fearful of o’er-much presuming,
Abates in him the keenness of desire,
Nor dares to question; when, amid those pearls,
One largest and most lustrous onward drew,
That it might yield contentment to my wish;
And, from within it, these the sounds I heard.
.....................
I answering thus: “Thy gentle words and kind,
And this the cheerful semblance I behold,
Not unobservant, beaming in ye all,
Have raised assurance in me; wakening it
Full-blossom’d in my bosom, as a rose
Before the sun, when the consummate flower
Has spread to utmost amplitude. Of thee
Therefore intreat I, father, to declare
If I may gain such favour, as to gaze
Upon thine image by no covering veil’d.”
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Do not look directly at St. Benedict without proper eye protection:
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Paradise Canto XXII <<ARGUMENT.— [Dante] beholds [url=http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/paradiso/gallery/0705spirits.jpg]many other spirits[/url] of the devout and contemplative; and among these is addressed by St. Benedict, who, after disclosing his own name and the names of certain of his companions in bliss, replies to the request made by our Poet that he might look on the form of the saint, without that covering of splendor, which then invested it;>>
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Paradise Canto XXII
Mine eyes directing, as she will’d, I saw
[url=http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/paradiso/gallery/0705spirits.jpg]A hundred little spheres[/url], that fairer grew
By interchange of splendour. I remain’d,
As one, who fearful of o’er-much presuming,
Abates in him the keenness of desire,
Nor dares to question; when, amid those pearls,
One largest and most lustrous onward drew,
That it might yield contentment to my wish;
And, from within it, these the sounds I heard.
.....................
I answering thus: “Thy gentle words and kind,
And this the cheerful semblance I behold,
Not unobservant, beaming in ye all,
Have raised assurance in me; wakening it
Full-blossom’d in my bosom, as a rose
[url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Paradiso_Canto_31.jpg]Before the sun[/url], when the consummate flower
Has spread to utmost amplitude. Of thee
Therefore intreat I, father, to declare
If I may gain such favour, as to gaze
Upon thine image by no covering veil’d.”
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