(1) "It came to pass then, when I saw the mystery of all these words in the vesture which was sent me, that straightway I clothed myself therewith, and I shone most exceedingly and soared into the height.

(3) "And all rulers and all authorities and all angels therein were thrown all together into agitation because of the great light which was on me. And they gazed at the radiant vesture of light with which I was clad, and they saw the mystery which contains their names, and they feared most exceedingly. And all their bonds with which they were bound, were unloosed and every one left his order, and they all fell down before me, adored and said: 'How hath the lord of the universe passed through us without our knowing?' And they all sang praises together to the interiors of the interiors; but me they saw not, but they saw only the light. And they were in great fear and were exceedingly agitated and sang praises to the interiors of the interiors.

(2) "I entered into the houses of the sphere, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure to the light that was about me. And all the rulers and all those who are in that sphere, fell into agitation one against another. And they saw the great light that was about me, and they gazed upon my vesture and saw thereon the mystery of their name. And they fell into still greater agitation, and were in great fear, saying: 'How hath the lord of the universe passed through us without our knowing?' And all their bonds were unloosed and their regions and their orders; and every one left his order, and they fell down all together, adored before me, or before my vesture, and all sang praises together to the interiors of the interiors, being in great fear and great agitation.

(1) "And I left that region behind me and ascended to the first sphere, shining most exceedingly, forty-and-nine-times more brightly than I had shone in the firmament. It came to pass then, when I had reached the gate of the first sphere, that its gates were shaken and opened of themselves at once.

(1) AFTER this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the Spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

(2) As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered: his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, and glistering, shining as snow, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can white them. And, behold, two men, Moses and Elias: who appeared in glory: talking with Jesus [they] spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.

(33) I fly up to heaven and I alight upon the earth; and mine eye turneth back there towards the traces of my footsteps

(1) "And I left that region behind me and ascended to the great æons of the rulers and came before their veils and their gates, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for the light which was about me. It came to pass then, when I arrived at the twelve æons, that their veils and their gates were shaken one over against the other. Their veils drew themselves apart of their own accord, and their gates opened one over against the other. And I entered into the æons, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for the light that was about me, forty-and-nine times more than the light with which I shone in the houses of the Fate.

(4) It seemed to me that new subsistences Began there to be seen, and make a circle Outside the other two circumferences. O very sparkling of the Holy Spirit, How sudden and incandescent it became Unto mine eyes, that vanquished bore it not! But Beatrice so beautiful and smiling Appeared to me, that with the other sights That followed not my memory I must leave her. Then to uplift themselves mine eyes resumed The power, and I beheld myself translated To higher salvation with my Lady only. Well was I ware that I was more uplifted By the enkindled smiling of the star, That seemed to me more ruddy than its wont. With all my heart, and in that dialect Which is the same in all, such holocaust To God I made as the new grace beseemed; And not yet from my bosom was exhausted The ardour of sacrifice, before I knew This offering was accepted and auspicious; For with so great a lustre and so red Splendours appeared to me in twofold rays, I said: "O Helios who dost so adorn them!"

(5) And they raised their eyes and saw a great, exceedingly mighty light, which no man in the world can describe. He said unto them anew: "Look away out of the light and see what ye may see." They said: "We see fire, water, wine and blood."

(2) "And all the angels of the æons and their archangels and their rulers and their gods and their lords and their authorities and their tyrants and their powers and their light-sparks and their light-givers and their unpaired and their invisibles and their forefathers and their triple-powers saw me, shining most exceedingly, and there was no measure for the light which was about me. And they were thrown into agitation the one over against the other and great fear fell upon them, when they saw the great light that was about me. And in their great agitation and their great fear they withdrew as far as the region of the great invisible Forefather, and of the three great triple-powers. And because of the great fear of their agitation, the great Forefather, he and the three triple-powers, kept on running hither and thither in his region, and they could not close all their regions because of the great fear in which they were. And they agitated all their æons together and all their spheres and all their orders, fearing and being greatly agitated because of the great light which was about me--not of the former quality that it was about me when I was on the earth of man-kind, when the light-vesture came over me,--for the world could not bear the light such as it was in its truth, else would the world at once be destroyed and all upon it,--but the light which was about me in the twelve æons was eight-thousand-and-seven-hundred-myriad times greater than that which was about me in the world among you.

(7) In the midst of heaven he beheld it come forth