from Dante's Inferno: Canto 11
"Turn back again, " I asked, "to where you said
that usury offends the Power Divine,
And pray explain to me this knotty point."
"Philosophy," my master answered me,
"To him who understands it, demonstrates
How nature takes her course, not only from
Wisdom divine, but from its art as well.
And if you read with care your book of physics,
After the first few pages, you will find
That art, as best it can, doth follow nature,
As pupil follows master; industry,
Or art is, so to speak, grandchild to God.
From these two sources (if you call to mind
That passage in the Book of Genesis)
Mankind must take its sustenance and progress.
"Turn back again, " I asked, "to where you said
that usury offends the Power Divine,
And pray explain to me this knotty point."
"Philosophy," my master answered me,
"To him who understands it, demonstrates
How nature takes her course, not only from
Wisdom divine, but from its art as well.
And if you read with care your book of physics,
After the first few pages, you will find
That art, as best it can, doth follow nature,
As pupil follows master; industry,
Or art is, so to speak, grandchild to God.
From these two sources (if you call to mind
That passage in the Book of Genesis)
Mankind must take its sustenance and progress.
The moneylender takes another course,
Despising nature and her follower,
Because he sets his hope for gain elsewhere."
Despising nature and her follower,
Because he sets his hope for gain elsewhere."
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