PARADISE. Alasdair Gray
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Agamemnon too,
46 who slaughtered daughters rather than revoke
the hasty, cruel vows that proved them fools.
O Christians, learn to be a steadier folk.
We have both Testaments, the Old and New, 49
and further guidance, for our Holy Church
has shepherds known to every one of you.
These should be all we need to save our souls. 52
Don’t leave your mothers’ milk like silly lambs
who think the world is made for fretful play.
Do not be led astray by wicked greed 55
so any Jew who keeps his rabbi’s laws
can point to you in scornful mockery.”
I write these words as Beatrice spoke them 58
before she looked up longingly to where
the universe was sending down most light.
Her silence and her ardent face imposed 61
a quietness upon my eager will
as, like an arrow striking the bull’s eye
before the string impelling it is still, 64
we sped up to the second sphere, and here
her bliss increased and Heaven brightened too.
What did this greater brightness do to me 67
who am so liable to change? New bliss
left me no words to say more than I saw.
As in a calm clear pool the fishes come 70
expecting food from one upon the rim
I saw a thousand splendours drawing near
and heard from each, “Here’s one who brings more love!” 73
As these souls neared us they appeared more full,
more radiant with shining happiness.
76 Dear reader, if my story ended here,
how eagerly you’d want to know the rest.
I say so to make plain how much I wished
79 to hear about the state these souls possessed.
This happened when a voice addressed me straight.
“O you who, born for virtue, travel here
82 before the warfare of your life is done,
since it is given you to view the thrones
which the eternally triumphant won,
85 ask what you wish and I will answer you.”
“Ask anything you want,” Beatrice cried,
“and trust the answers as if gods replied.”
88 The speaker nestled finely in a glow
that shone from his serenely smiling eyes.
I thanked him for his courtesy then said,
91 “Please tell me of yourself and Mercury,
smallest of spheres between the moon and sun,
planet least known because the rays least strong.”
94 Then, like the sun seen through dissolving mist
joy made him brighten till excess of light
prevented seeing him. I heard his words
97 which sound in the next chapter of my song.
6: Justinian
“Three hundred years after the birth of Christ 1
Constantine led the Roman Eagle east
near ruined Troy from which Aeneas fled
and built its nest on Europe’s farthest coast. 4
This new Rome was the Empire’s capital
while old Rome stayed the home of Papacy.
When Goths invading Italy destroyed 7
Rome’s earthly strength, they did not harm the Pope.
That was before I wore the Empire’s crown
and hailed as Caesar – am Justinian. 10
God’s love led me to unify Rome’s laws
into one useful code, weeding out words
that might pervert the justice of a cause. 13
I was unfit for this great task at first.
My faith was still impure, for I believed
Christ was the Holy Ghost in manlike shape, 16
not flesh and blood. A letter from the Pope
corrected me, then Heaven gave me peace.
Count Belisarius, my general, 19
drove Goths from Italy, and so again
around Earth’s Middle Sea one emperor
22 ruled all, and there my legal code was used,
and thus Rome’s Empire worked at giving birth
to what Augustine said all should create:
25 God’s Citadel on Earth. My peaceful rule
made Church and State supreme yet separate.
You know me now, but I have more to tell
28 of how the Roman Empire got renown
and used it well centuries after me
before the Whigs and Tories broke it down.
31 Aeneas toiled for years on lands and seas
before his wedding to a Latin queen
gave a new home to Trojan refugees,
34 the ancestors of Rome. For centuries
their fighting royalty, wise senators
conquered kingdoms and communes. Rome’s Eagle
37 flew through Europe, Africa, Asia,
forcing far-flung nations into one vaster,
longer-lasting state than in his brief life
40 the great Alexander could create.
The time arrived when Heaven wanted peace.
The Roman Eagle perched on Caesar’s fist,
43 none being fit to manage it but he.
No tongue, no pen does justice to his deeds,
quelling revolting principalities,
46 crossing the Rubicon, then putting down
the civil war in Gaul, Spain, Egypt, Greece.
Satan in Hell chews those who murdered him.
There Cleopatra weeps. She chose to die 49
by snakebite to escape the Eagle’s beak.
Augustus Caesar was its master next.
He spread the Empire to the Red Sea shore, 52
declared the Pax Romana everywhere,
and needed to support it by a tax,
so ordered men back to their place of birth 55
for registration. Thus in Bethlehem
our Prince of Peace was born. Now listen