Absorbed in his delight, that contemplator
  Assumed the willing office of a teacher,
  And gave beginning to these holy words:

"The wound that Mary closed up and anointed,
  She at her feet who is so beautiful,
  She is the one who opened it and pierced it.

Within that order which the third seats make
  Is seated Rachel, lower than the other,
  With Beatrice, in manner as thou seest.

Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and her who was
  Ancestress of the Singer, who for dole
  Of the misdeed said, 'Miserere mei,'

Canst thou behold from seat to seat descending
  Down in gradation, as with each one's name
  I through the Rose go down from leaf to leaf.

And downward from the seventh row, even as
  Above the same, succeed the Hebrew women,
  Dividing all the tresses of the flower;

Because, according to the view which Faith
  In Christ had taken, these are the partition
  By which the sacred stairways are divided.

Upon this side, where perfect is the flower
  With each one of its petals, seated are
  Those who believed in Christ who was to come.

Upon the other side, where intersected
  With vacant spaces are the semicircles,
  Are those who looked to Christ already come.

And as, upon this side, the glorious seat
  Of the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats
  Below it, such a great division make,

So opposite doth that of the great John,
  Who, ever holy, desert and martyrdom
  Endured, and afterwards two years in Hell.

And under him thus to divide were chosen
  Francis, and Benedict, and Augustine,
  And down to us the rest from round to round.

Behold now the high providence divine;
  For one and other aspect of the Faith
  In equal measure shall this garden fill.

And know that downward from that rank which cleaves
  Midway the sequence of the two divisions,
  Not by their proper merit are they seated;

But by another's under fixed conditions;
  For these are spirits one and all assoiled
  Before they any true election had.

Well canst thou recognise it in their faces,
  And also in their voices puerile,
  If thou regard them well and hearken to them.

Now doubtest thou, and doubting thou art silent;
  But I will loosen for thee the strong bond
  In which thy subtile fancies hold thee fast.

Within the amplitude of this domain
  No casual point can possibly find place,
  No more than sadness can, or thirst, or hunger;

For by eternal law has been established
  Whatever thou beholdest, so that closely
  The ring is fitted to the finger here.

And therefore are these people, festinate
  Unto true life, not 'sine causa' here
  More and less excellent among themselves.

The King, by means of whom this realm reposes
  In so great love and in so great delight
  That no will ventureth to ask for more,

In his own joyous aspect every mind
  Creating, at his pleasure dowers with grace
  Diversely; and let here the effect suffice.

And this is clearly and expressly noted
  For you in Holy Scripture, in those twins
  Who in their mother had their anger roused.

According to the colour of the hair,
  Therefore, with such a grace the light supreme
  Consenteth that they worthily be crowned.

Without, then, any merit of their deeds,
  Stationed are they in different gradations,
  Differing only in their first acuteness.

'Tis true that in the early centuries,
  With innocence, to work out their salvation
  Sufficient was the faith of parents only.