The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 75, January, 1864

Flaming intensely in the guise of comets.
And as the wheels in works of horologes
Revolve so that the first to the beholder
Motionless seems, and the last one to fly,
So in like manner did those carols, dancing [16] (#x5_x_5_i160)
In different measure, by their affluence
Make me esteem them either swift or slow.
From that one which I noted of most beauty
Beheld I issue forth a fire so happy
That none it left there of a greater splendor;
And around Beatrice three several times [22] (#x5_x_5_i161)
It whirled itself with so divine a song,
My fantasy repeats it not to me;
Therefore the pen skips, and I write it not,
Since our imagination for such folds,
Much more our speech, is of a tint too glaring. [27] (#x5_x_5_i162)
"O holy sister mine, who us implorest [28] (#x5_x_5_i163)
With such devotion, by thine ardent love
Thou dost unbind me from that beautiful sphere!"
Thus, having stopped, the beatific fire
Unto my Lady did direct its breath,
Which spake in fashion as I here have said.
And she: "O light eterne of the great man
To whom our Lord delivered up the keys
He carried down of this miraculous joy,
This one examine on points light and grave,
As good beseemeth thee, about the Faith
By means of which thou on the sea didst walk.
If he loves well, and hopes well, and believes,
Is hid not from thee; for thou hast thy sight
Where everything beholds itself depicted. [42] (#x5_x_5_i164)
But since this kingdom has made citizens
By means of the true Faith, to glorify it
'Tis well he have the chance to speak thereof."

As baccalaureate arms himself, and speaks not
Until the master doth propose the question,
To argue it, and not to terminate it,
So did I arm myself with every reason,
While she was speaking, that I might be ready
For such a questioner and such profession.
"Speak on, good Christian; manifest thyself; [52] (#x5_x_5_i165)
Say, what is Faith?" Whereat I raised my brow
Unto that light from which this was breathed forth.
Then turned I round to Beatrice, and she
Prompt signals made to me that I should pour
The water forth from my internal fountain.
"May grace, that suffers me to make confession,"
Began I, "to the great Centurion, [59] (#x5_x_5_i166)
Cause my conceptions all to be explicit!"
And I continued: "As the truthful pen,
Father, of thy dear brother wrote of it,
Who put with thee Rome into the good way,
Faith is the substance of the things we hope for,
And evidence of those that are not seen;
And this appears to me its quiddity." [66] (#x5_x_5_i167)
Then heard I: "Very rightly thou perceivest,
If well thou understandest why he placed it
With substances and then with evidences."
And I thereafterward: "The things profound,
That here vouchsafe to me their outward show,
Unto all eyes below are so concealed,
That they exist there only in belief,
Upon the which is founded the high hope,
And therefore take the nature of a substance.
And it behooveth us from this belief
To reason without having other views,
And hence it has the nature of evidence."
Then heard I: "If whatever is acquired
Below as doctrine were thus understood,
No sophist's subtlety would there find place."
Thus was breathed forth from that enkindled love;
Then added: "Thoroughly has been gone over
Already of this coin the alloy and weight;
But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse?"
And I: "Yes, both so shining and so round,
That in its stamp there is no peradventure."
Thereafter issued from the light profound
That there resplendent was: "This precious jewel,
Upon the which is every virtue founded,
Whence hadst thou it?" And I: "The large outpouring
Of the Holy Spirit, which has been diffused
Upon the ancient parchments and the new, [93] (#x5_x_5_i168)
A syllogism is, which demonstrates it
With such acuteness, that, compared therewith,
All demonstration seems to me obtuse."

And then I heard: "The ancient and the new
Postulates, that to thee are so conclusive,
Why dost thou take them for the word divine?"
And I: "The proof, which shows the truth to me,
Are the works subsequent, whereunto Nature
Ne'er heated iron yet, nor anvil beat."
'Twas answered me: "Say, who assureth thee
That those works ever were? the thing itself
We wish to prove, nought else to thee affirms it."
"Were the world to Christianity converted,"
I said, "withouten miracles, this one
Is such, the rest are not its hundredth part;
For thou didst enter destitute and fasting