of Dante Alighieri
The third cantica of the Divine Comedy, translated into English triple rhyme by Laurence Binyon
A reading in six parts
Produced by Peter Duval Smith

PART 6 (Cantos 28-33): Dante and Beatrice are in the Primum Mobile, the Ninth and Uppermost of the Heavens; there is revealed to Dante the Divine Essence, which he sees as an intensely shining point of light; Beatrice explains to him the disposition of the nine angelic orders which surround the Divine Essence; she clears up some of Dante's misconceptions about the nature of the Creation; Dante and Beatrice are now transported from the Primum Mobile into the Empyrean, which is beyond the Heavens proper; the Empyrean is revealed symbolically to Dante as a river of light which strengthens his eyes when he looks on it, whereupon he is able to distinguish Paradise above him which he sees as a vast white rose; this is the Celestial Rose, within which the Court of Heaven is assembled; Beatrice disappears and St. Bernard takes her place at Dante's side: he points her out to Dante where she shines once again in her ordained place at the Court; St. Bernard explains the conformation of the Celestial Rose; he then prays to the Virgin Mary that Dante may receive a vision of God Himself; the prayer is granted; Dante prays to God that some notion of his wondrous glimpse of the divine mystery may be communicated to men in his poem.
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