ly, others heroically operate, that one learns not to
fear death, suffers not pain of body, feels not the hindrances of
pleasures: wherefore the hope, the joy, and the delight of the superior
spirit are of so intense a kind that they extinguish all those passions
which may have their origin in doubt, in pain and all kinds of sadness.

CES. But what is that, of which he requests that it consider those
thoughts which it has rendered so uncertain, fulfil those desires which
it has made so ardent, and listen to those discourses which it has
rendered so vague?

MAR. He means the Object, which he beholds when it makes itself present;
for to see the Divine is to be seen by it, as to see the sun concurs
with the being seen of the sun. Equally, to be heard by the Divine, is
precisely to listen to it, and to be favoured by it, is the same as to
offer to it; for from the one immoveable and the same, proceed thoughts
uncertain and certain, desires ardent and appeased, and reasonings valid
and vain, according as the man worthily or unworthily puts them before
himself, with the intellect, the affections and actions. As that same
pilot may be said to be the cause of the sinking or of the safety of the
ship, according as he is present in it or absent from it; with this
difference, that the pilot through his defectiveness or his efficiency
ruins or saves the ship; but the Divine potency which is all in all does
not proffer or withhold except through assimilation or rejection by
oneself.[H]

[H] Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock,
and it shall be opened unto you.--("St. Matthew.")

VII.

MAR. It seems to me that the following figure is closely connected and
linked with the above; there are two stars in the form of two radiant
eyes, with the legend: Mors et vita.

CES. Read the sonnet!

MAR. I will do so:

47.

Writ by the hand of Love may each behold
Upon my face the story of my woes.
But thou, so that thy pride no curb may know,
And I, unhappy one, eternally might rest,
Thou dost torment, by hiding from my view
Those lovely lights beneath the beauteous lids.
Therefore the troubled sky's no more serene,
Nor hostile baleful shadows fall away.
By thine own beauty, by this love of mine
(So great that e'en with this it may compare),
Render thyself, oh Goddess, unto pity!
Prolong no more this all-unmeasured woe,
Ill-timed reward for such