He, having a
prophet's work to do, must speak with all the boldness of a prophet
without fear or dissimulation. The words, while assuring the poet of the
sweetness of everlasting fame, bring to his mind, also, the bitterness
of the injustice of his exile and suffering, and apparently he harbors
the thought of vengeance upon his enemies. Beatrice, however, checks his
resentment, assuring him that she, so near to God, will assist him--a
most beautiful passage showing the relations between her and the poet,
whether the words are taken literally as exhibiting her as his
intercessor before the throne of the Most High, or allegorically
considered as declaring that Revealed Truth takes from man the desire of
vengeance and places his case in the hands of Him who has said:
"Vengeance is mine, I will repay." For Dante's spiritual perfection his
lovely guide bids him not simply look into her her eyes (allegorically
meaning not merely to contemplate theological truth) but follow the
example of men sturdy of faith and valiant of deed. The passage here
follows:
"Now was alone rejoicing in its word
That soul beatified, and I was tasting
My own, the bitter tempering with the sweet,
And the Lady who to God was leading me
Said: 'Change thy thought; consider that I am
Near unto Him who every wrong disburdens.
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