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diff --git a/old/1996.txt b/old/1996.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 921510b..0000000 --- a/old/1996.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6172 +0,0 @@ -**The Project Gutenberg Etext of Purgatory, by Dante Aligheri** - -Also see our other translations of Dante's Divine Comedy; also, -you may want to look at our Etext #1000 in the original Italian - - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check -the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* - -Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and -further information is included below. 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Invocation to the Muses.--Dawn of Easter on the shore of -Purgatory.--The Four Stars.--Cato.--The cleansing of Dante from -the stains of Hell. - -CANTO II. Sunrise.--The Poets on the shore.--Coming of a boat, -guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory.--Their -landing.--Casella and his song.--Cato hurries the souls to the -mountain. - -CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory.--Souls of those who have died in -contumacy of the Church.--Manfred. - - -CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory.--Ascent to a shelf of the -mountain.--The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last -hour--Belacqua. - -CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory.--Spirits who had delayed repentance, and -met with death by violence, but died repentant.--Jacopo del -Cassero.--Buonconte da Montefeltro.--Via de' Tolomei. - -CANTO VI. Ante-Purgatory.--More spirits who had deferred -repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death.--Efficacy -of prayer.--Sordello.--Apostrophe to Italy. - -CANTO VII. Virgil makes himself known to Sordello.--Sordello -leads the Poets to the Valley of the Princes who have been -negligent of salvation.--He points them out by name. - -CANTO VIII. Valley of the Princes.--Two Guardian Angels.--Nino -Visconti.--The Serpent.--Corrado Malaspina. - -CANTO IX. Slumber and Dream of Dante.--The Eagle.--Lucia.--The -Gate of Purgatory.--The Angelic Gatekeeper.--Seven P's inscribed -on Dante's Forehead.--Entrance to the First Ledge. - -CANTO X. First Ledge the Proud.--Examples of humility sculptured -on the Rock. - -CANTO XI. First Ledge: the Proud.--Prayer.--Omberto -Aldobrandeschi.--Oderisi d' Agubbio.--Provinzan Salvani. - -CANTO XII. First Ledge: the Proud.--Examples of the punishment of -Pride graven on the pavement.--Meeting with an Angel who removes -one of the P's.--Ascent to the Second Ledge. - -CANTO XIII. Second Ledge: the Envious.--Examples of Love.--The -Shades in haircloth, and with sealed eyes.--Sapla of Siena. - -CANTO XIV. Second Ledge: the Envious.--Guido del Duca.--Rinieri -de' Calboli.--Examples of the punishment of Envy. - -CANTO XV. Second Ledge: the Envious.--An Angel removes the second -P from Dante's forehead.--Discourse concerning the Sharing of -Good.--Ascent to the Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Examples of -Forbearance seen in Vision. - -CANTO XVI. Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Marco Lombardo.--His -discourse on Free Will, and the Corruption of the World. - -CANTO XVII. Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Issue from the -Smoke.--Vision of examples of Anger--Ascent to the Fourth Ledge, -where Sloth is purged--Second Nightfall--Virgil explains how Love -is the root of Virtue and of Sin. - -CANTO XVIII. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful.--Discourse of Virgil on -Love and Free Will.---Throng of Spirits running in haste to -redeem their Sin.--The Abbot of San Zeno.--Dante falls asleep. - -CANTO XIX. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful.--Dante dreams of the -Siren--The Angel of the Pass.--Ascent to the Fifth Ledge.--Pope -Adrian V. - -CANTO XX. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--The Spirits celebrate -examples of Poverty and Bounty.--Hugh Capet.--His discourse on -his descendants.--Trembling of the Mountain. - -CANTO XXI. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--Statius.--Cause of the -trembling of the Mountain.--Statius does honor to Virgil. - -CANTO XXII. Ascent to the Sixth Ledge--Discourse of Statius and -Virgil.--Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous.--The Mystic -Tree.--Examples of Temperance. - -CANTO XXIII. Sixth Ledge the Gluttonous.--Forese -Donati.--Nella.--Rebuke of the women of Florence. - -CANTO XXIV. Sixth Ledge: the Gluttonous.--Forese -Donati.--Bonagiunta of Lucca.--Pope Martin IV.--Ubaldin dalla -Pila.--Bonifazio.--Messer Marchese.--Prophecy of Bonagiunta -concerning Gentucca, and of Forese concerning Corso de' -Donati.--Second Mystic Tree.--The Angel of the Pass. - -CANTO XXV. Ascent to the Seventh Ledge.--Discourse of Statius on -generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the -corporeal semblance of Souls after death.--The Seventh Ledge:the -Lustful.--The mode of their Purification. - -CANTO XXVI. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Sinners in the fire, -going in opposite directions.--Guido Guinicelli.--Arnaut Daniel. - -CANTO XXVII. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Passage through the -Flames.--Stairway in the rock.--Night upon the stairs.--Dream of -Dante.--Morning.--Ascent to the Earthly Paradise.--Last words of -Virgil. - -CANTO XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise.--The Forest.--A Lady -gathering flowers on the bank of a little stream.--Discourse with -her concerning the nature of the place. - -CANTO XXIX. The Earthly Paradise.--Mystic Procession or Triumph -of the Church. - -CANTO XXX. The Earthly Paradise.--Beatrice appears.--Departure of -Virgil.--Reproof of Dante by Beatrice. - -CANTO XXXI. The Earthly Paradise.--Reproachful discourse of -Beatrice, and confession of Dante.--Passage of Lethe.--Appeal of -the Virtues to Beatrice.--Her Unveiling. - -CANTO XXXII. The Earthly Paradise.--Return of the Triumphal -procession.--The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree.--Sleep of -Dante.--His waking to find the Triumph departed.--Transformation -of the Chariot.--The Harlot and the Giant. - -CANTO XXXIII. The Earthly Paradise.--Prophecy of Beatrice -concerning one who shall restore the Empire.--Her discourse with -Dante.--The river Eunoe.--Dante drinks of it, and is fit to -ascend to Heaven. - - - - -PURGATORY - -CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses.--Dawn of Easter on the shore of -Purgatory.--The Four Stars.--Cato.--The cleansing of Dante from -the stains of Hell. - - -To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now -hoists its sails, and leaves behind itself a sea so cruel; and I -will sing of that second realm where the human spirit is purified -and becomes worthy to ascend to heaven. - -But here let dead poesy rise again, O holy Muses, since yours I -am, and here let Calliope somewhat mount up, accompanying my song -with that sound of which the wretched Picae felt the stroke such -that they despaired of pardon.[1] - -[1] The nine daughters of Pieros, king of Emathia, who, -contending in song with the Muses, were for their presumption -changed to magpies. - - -A sweet color of oriental sapphire, which was gathering in the -serene aspect of the sky, pure even to the first circle,[1] -renewed delight to my eyes soon as I issued forth from the dead -air that had afflicted my eyes and my breast. The fair planet -which incites to love was making all the Orient to smile, veiling -the Fishes that were in her train.[2] I turned me to the right -hand, and fixed my mind upon the other pole, and saw four stars -never seen save by the first people.[3] The heavens appeared to -rejoice in their flamelets. O widowed northern region, since thou -art deprived of beholding these! - -[1] By "the first circle," Dante seems to mean the horizon. - -[2] At the spring equinox Venus is in the sign of the Pisces, -which immediately precedes that of Aries, in which is the Sun. -The time indicated is therefore an hour or more before sunrise on -Easter morning, April 10. - - -When I had withdrawn from regarding them, turning me a little to -the other pole, there whence the Wain had already disappeared, I -saw close to me an old man alone, worthy in look of so much -reverence that no son owes more unto his father.[1] He wore a -long beard and mingled with white hair, like his locks, of which -a double list fell upon his breast. The rays of the four holy -stars so adorned his face with light, that I saw him, as if the -sun had been in front. - -[1] These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues,-- -Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice,--the virtues of -active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not -to bring them to Paradise. By the first people arc probably meant -Adam and Eve, who from the terrestrial Paradise, on the summit of -the Mount of Purgatory, had seen these stars, visible only from -the Southern hemisphere. According to the geography of the time -Asia and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their -inhabitants these stars were invisible. Possibly the meaning is -that these stars, symbolizing the cardinal virtues, had been -visible only in the golden age. - -This old man, as soon appears, is the younger Cato, and the -office here given to him of warden of the souls in the outer -region of Purgatory was suggested by the position assigned to him -by Virgil in the Aeneid, viii. 670. "Secretosque pios, his dantem -jura Catonem." - -It has been objected to Virgil's thus putting him in Elysium, -that as a suicide his place was in the Mourning Fields. A similar -objection may be made to Dante's separating him from the other -suicides in the seventh circle of Hell (Canto XIII.). "But," says -Conington, "Virgil did not aim at perfect consistency. It was -enough for him that Cato was one who from his character in life -might be justly conceived of as lawgiver to the dead." So Dante, -using Cato as an allegoric figure, regards him as one who, before -the coming of Christ, practised the virtues which are required to -liberate the soul from sin, and who, as be says in the De -Monarchia (ii. 5), "that he might kindle the love of liberty in -the world, showed how precious it was, by preferring death with -liberty to life without it." This liberty is the type of that -spiritual freedom which Dante is seeking, and which, being the -perfect conformity of the human will to the will of God, is the -aim and fruition of nil redeemed souls. - -In the region of Purgatory outside the gate, the souls have not -yet attained this freedom; they are on the way to it, and Cato is -allegorically fit to warn and spur them on. - - -"Who are ye that counter to the blind stream have fled from the -eternal prison?" said he, moving those venerable plumes. "Who has -guided you? Or who was a lamp to you, issuing forth from the deep -night that ever makes the infernal valley black? Are the laws of -the abyss thus broken? or is a new design changed in heaven that, -being damned, ye come unto my rocks?" - -My Leader then took hold of me, and with words, and with hands, -and with signs, made my legs and my brow reverent. Then he -answered him, "Of myself I came not; a Lady descended from -Heaven, through whose prayers I succored this man with my -company. But since it is thy will that more of our condition be -unfolded to thee as it truly is, mine cannot be that to thee this -be denied. This man has not seen his last evening, but through -his folly was so near thereto that very little time there was to -turn. Even as I have said, I was sent to him to rescue him, and -there was no other way than this, along which I have set myself. -I have shown to him all the guilty people; and now I intend to -show him those spirits that purge themselves under thy ward. How -I have led him, it would be long to tell thee; from on high -descends power that aids me to conduct him to see thee and to -hear thee. Now may it please thee to approve his coming. He goes -seeking liberty, which is so dear, as he knows who for her -refuses life. Thou knowest it, for death for her sake was not -hitter to thee in Utica, where thou didst leave the garment that -on the great day shall he so bright. The eternal edicts are not -violated by us, for this one is alive, and Minos does not bind -me; but I am of the circle where are the chaste eyes of thy -Marcia, who in her look still prays thee, O holy breast, that for -thine own thou hold her. For her love, then, incline thyself to -us; let us go on through thy seven realms.[1] Thanks unto thee -will I carry back to her, if to be mentioned there below thou -deign." - -[1] The seven circles of Purgatory. - - -"Marcia so pleased my eyes while I was on earth," said he then, -"that whatsoever grace she wished from me I did it; now, that on -the other side of the evil stream she dwells, she can no more -move me, by that law which was made when thence I issued -forth.[1] But if a Lady of heaven move and direct thee, as thou -sayest, there is no need of flattery; suffice it fully to thee -that for her sake thou askest me. Go then, and see thou gird this -one with a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face so that thou -remove all sully from it, for it were not befitting to go with -eye overcast by any cloud before the first minister that is of -those of Paradise. This little island, round about at its base, -down there yonder where the wave heats it, bears rushes upon its -soft ooze. No plant of other kind, that might put forth leaf or -grow hard, can there have life, because it yields not to the -shocks. Thereafter let not your return be this way; the Sun which -now is rising will show you to take the mountain by easier -ascent." - -[1] The law that the redeemed cannot be touched by other than -heavenly affections. - - -So he disappeared, and I rose up, without speaking, and drew me -close to my Leader, and turned my eyes to him. He began, "Son, -follow my steps; let us turn back, for this plain slopes that way -to its low limits." - -The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour which fled before it, so -that from afar I discerned the trembling of the sea. We set forth -over the solitary plain like a man who turns unto the road which -he has lost, and, till he come to it, seems to himself to go in -vain. When we were where the dew contends with the sun, and, -through being in a place where there is shade, is little -dissipated, my Master softly placed both his hands outspread upon -the grass. Whereon I, who perceived his design, stretched toward -him my tear-stained cheeks. Here he wholly uncovered that color -of mine which hell had hidden on me.[1] - -[1] Allegorically, when the soul has entered upon the way of -purification Reason, with the dew of repentance, washes off the -stain of sin, and girds the spirit with humility. - - -We came, then, to the desert shore that never saw navigate its -waters one who afterwards had experience of return. Here he girt -me, even as pleased the other. O marvel! that such as he plucked -the humble plant, it instantly sprang up again there whence he -tore it.[1] - -[1] The goods of the spirit are not diminished by appropriation. - - - -CANTO II. Sunrise.--The Poets on the shore.--Coming of a boat, -guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory.--Their -landing.--Casella and his song.--Cato hurries the souls to the -mountain. - - -Now had the sun reached the horizon whose meridian circle covers -Jerusalem with its highest point; and the night which circles -opposite to it was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales that -fall from her hand when she exceeds;[1] so that where I was the -white and red cheeks of the beautiful Aurora by too much age were -becoming orange. - -[1] Purgatory and Jerusalem are antipodal, and in one direction -the Ganges or India was arbitrarily assumed to be their common -horizon. The night is here taken as the point of the Heavens -opposite the sun, and the sun being in Aries, the night is in -Libra. When night exceeds, that is, at the autumnal equinox, when -the night becomes longer than the day, the Scales may be said to -drop from her hand, since the sun enters Libra. - - -We were still alongside the sea, like folk who are thinking of -their road, who go in heart and linger in body; and lo! as, at -approach of the morning, through the dense vapors Mars glows -ruddy, down in the west above the ocean floor, such appeared to -me,--so may I again behold it!--a light along the sea coming so -swiftly that no flight equals its motion. From which when I had a -little withdrawn my eye to ask my Leader, again I saw it, -brighter become and larger. Then on each side of it appeared to -me a something, I know not what, white, and beneath, little by -little, another came forth from it. My Master still said not a -word, until the first white things showed themselves wings; then, -When he clearly recognized the pilot, he cried out, "Mind, mind, -thou bend thy knees. Lo! the Angel of God: fold thy hands; -henceforth shalt thou see such officials. See how he scorns human -means, so that he wills not oar, or other sail than his own wings -between such distant shores. See, how he holds them straight -toward heaven, stroking the air with his eternal feathers that -are not changed like mortal hair." - -Then, as nearer and nearer toward us came the Bird Divine, the -brighter he appeared; so that near by my eye endured him not, but -I bent it down: and he came on to the shore with a small vessel, -very swift and light so that the water swallowed naught of it. At -the stern stood the Celestial Pilot, such that if but described -he would make blessed; and more than a hundred spirits sat -within. "In exitu Israel de Egypto"[1] they all were singing -together with one voice, with whatso of that psalm is after -written. Then he made the sign of holy cross upon them; whereon -they all threw themselves upon the strand; and he went away swift -as he had come. - -1 "When Israel went out of Egypt." Psalm cxiv. - - -The crowd which remained there seemed strange to the place, -gazing round about like him who of new things makes essay. On all -sides the Sun, who had with his bright arrows chased from -midheaven the Capricorn,[1] was shooting forth the day, when the -new people raised their brow toward us, saying to us, "If ye -know, show us the way to go unto the mountain." And Virgil -answered, "Ye believe, perchance, that we are acquainted with -this place, but we are pilgrims even as ye are. Just now we came, -a little before you, by another way, which was so rough and -difficult that the ascent henceforth will seem play to us. - -[1] When Aries, in which the Sun was rising, is on the horizon, -Capricorn is at the zenith. - - -The souls who had become aware concerning me by my breathing, -that I was still alive, marvelling became deadly pale. And as to -a messenger who bears an olive branch the folk press to hear -news, and no one shows himself shy of crowding, so, at the sight -of me, those fortunate souls stopped still, all of them, as if -forgetting to go to make themselves fair. - -I saw one of them drawing forward to embrace me with so great -affection that it moved me to do the like. O shades empty save in -aspect! Three times behind it I clasped my hands and as oft -returned with them unto my breast. With marvel, I believe, I -painted me; wherefore the shade smiled and drew back, and I, -following it, pressed forward, Gently it said, that I should -pause; then I knew who it was, and I prayed it that to speak with -me it would stop a little. It replied to me, "So as I loved thee -in the mortal body, so loosed from it I love thee; therefore I -stop; but wherefore goest thou?" - -"Casella mine, in order to return another time to this place -where I am, do I make this journey," said I, "but from thee how -has so much time been taken?"[1] - -[1] "How has thy coming hither been delayed so long since thy -death?" - - -And he to me, "No wrong has been done me if he[1] who takes both -when and whom it pleases him ofttimes hath denied to me this -passage; for of a just will[2] his own is made. Truly for three -months he has taken with all peace whoso has wished to enter. -Wherefore I who was now turned to the seashore where the water of -Tiber grows salt was benignantly received by him.[3] To that -outlet has he now turned his wing, because always those assemble -there who towards Acheron do not descend." - - -[1] The Celestial Pilot. - -[2] That is, of the Divine Will; but there is no explanation of -the motive of the delay. - -[3] The Tiber is the local symbol of the Church of Rome, from -whose bosom those who die at peace with her pass to Purgatory. -The Jubilee, proclaimed by Boniface VIII., had begun at -Christmas, 1299, so that for three months now the Celestial Pilot -had received graciously all who had taken advantage of it to gain -remission of their sins. - - - -And I, "If a new law take not from thee memory or practice of the -song of love which was wont to quiet in me all my longings, may -it please thee therewith somewhat to comfort my soul, which -coming hither with its body is so wearied." - -"Love which in my mind discourseth with me,"[1] began he then so -sweetly that the sweetness still within me sounds.[2] My Master, -and I, and that folk who were with him, appeared so content as if -naught else could touch the mind of any. - -[1] The first verse of a canzone by Dante; the canzone is the -second of those upon which he comments in his Convito. - -[2] Every English reader recalls Milton's Sonnet to Mr. Henry -Lawes:-- -"Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher - Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing, - Met in the milder shades of purgatory." - -Nothing is known of Casella beyond what is implied in Dante's -affectionate record of their meeting. - - -We were all fixed and attentive to his notes; and lo! the -venerable old man crying, "What is this, ye laggard spirits? What -negligence, what stay is this? Run to the mountain to strip off -the slough that lets not God be manifest to you." - -As, when gathering grain or tare, the doves assembled at their -feeding, quiet, without display of their accustomed pride, if -aught appear of which they are afraid, suddenly let the food -alone, because they are assailed by a greater care, so I saw that -fresh troop leave the song, and go towards the hill-side, like -one that goes but knows not where he may come out. Nor was our -departure less speedy. - - - -CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory.--Souls of those who have died in -contumacy of the Church.-- Manfred. - - -Inasmuch as the sudden flight had scattered them over the plain, -turned to the mount whereto reason spurs us, I drew me close to -my trusty companion. And how should I without him have run? Who -would have drawn me up over the mountain? He seemed to me of his -own self remorseful. O conscience, upright and stainless, how -bitter a sting to thee is little fault! - -When his feet left the haste that takes the seemliness from every -act, my mind, which at first had been restrained, let loose its -attention, as though eager, and I turned my face unto the hill -that towards the heaven rises highest from the sea. The sun, -which behind was flaming ruddy, was broken in front of me by the -figure that the staying of its rays upon me formed. When I saw -the ground darkened only in front of me, I turned me to my side -with fear of being abandoned: and my Comfort, wholly turning to -me, began to say, "Why dost thou still distrust? Dost thou not -believe me with thee, and that I guide thee? It is now evening -there where the body is buried within which I cast a shadow; -Naples holds it, and from Brundusium it is taken; if now in front -of me there is no shadow, marvel not more than at the heavens of -which one hinders not the other's radiance. To suffer torments, -both hot and cold, bodies like this the Power ordains, which -wills not that how it acts be revealed to us. Mad is he who hopes -that our reason can traverse the infinite way which One Substance -in Three Persons holds. Be content, human race, with the -quia;[1]; for if ye had been able to see everything, need had not -been for Mary to hear child: and ye have seen desiring -fruitlessly men such [2] that their desire would have been -quieted, which is given them eternally for a grief. I speak of -Aristotle and of Plato, and of many others;" and here he bowed -his front, and said no more, and remained disturbed. - -[1] Quic is used here, as often in mediaeval Latin, for quod. The -meaning is, Be content to know that the thing is, seek not to -know WHY or HOW--propter quid--it is as it is. - -[2] If human knowledge sufficed. - - -We had come, meanwhile, to the foot of the mountain; here we -found the rock so steep, that there the legs would be agile in -vain. Between Lerici and Turbia[1] the most deserted, the most -secluded way is a stair easy and open, compared with that. "Now -who knows on which hand the hillside slopes," said my Master, -staying his step, "so that he can ascend who goeth without -wings?" - -[1] Lerici on the Gulf of Spezzia, and Turbia, just above Monaco, -are at the two ends of the Riviera; between them the mountains -rise steeply from the shore, along which in Dante's time there -was no road. - - -And while he was holding his face low, questioning his mind about -the road, and I was looking up around the rock, on the left hand -appeared to me a company of souls who were moving their feet -towards us, and seemed not, so slowly were they coming. "Lift," -said I to the Master, "thine eyes, lo! on this side who will give -us counsel, if thou from thyself canst not have it." He looked at -them, and with air of relief, answered, "Let us go thither, for -they come slowly, and do thou confirm thy hope, sweet son. - -That people was still as far, I mean after a thousand steps of -ours, as a good thrower would cast with his hand, when they all -pressed up to the hard masses of the high bank, and stood still -and close, as one who goes in doubt stops to look.[1] "O ye who -have made good ends, O spirits already elect," Virgil began, "by -that peace which I believe is awaited by you all, tell us, where -the mountain lies so that the going up is possible; for to lose -time is most displeasing to him who knows most." - -[1] They stopped, surprised, at seeing Virgil and Dante advancing -to the left, against the rule in Purgatory, where the course is -always to the right, symbolizing progress in good. In Hell the -contrary rule holds. - - -As the sheep come forth from the fold by ones, and twos, and -threes, and the others stand timid, holding eye and muzzle to the -ground; and what the first does the others also do, huddling -themselves to her if she stop, silly and quiet, and wherefore -know not; so I saw then moving to approach, the head of that -fortunate flock, modest in face and dignified in gait. - -When those in front saw the light broken on the ground at my -right side, so that the shadow fell from me on the cliff, they -stopped, and drew somewhat back; and all the rest who were coming -behind, not knowing why, did just the same. "Without your -asking, I confess to you that this is a human body which you see, -whereby the light of the sun on the ground is cleft. Marvel not -thereat, but believe that not without power that comes from -heaven he seeks to surmount this wall." Thus the Master:and that -worthy people said, "Turn, enter in advance, then;" with the -backs of their hands making sign. And one of them began, "Whoever -thou art, turn thy face as thou thus goest; consider if in the -world thou didst ever see me?" I turned me toward him, and looked -at him fixedly: blond he was, and beautiful, and of gentle -aspect, but a blow had divided one of his eyebrows. - -When I had humbly disclaimed having ever seen him, he said, "Now -look!" and he showed me a wound at the top of his breast. Then he -said, smiling, "I am Manfred,[1] grandson of the Empress -Constance; wherefore I pray thee, that when thou returnest, thou -go to my beautiful daughter,[2] mother of the honor of Sicily and -of Aragon, and tell to her the truth if aught else be told. After -I had my body broken by two mortal stabs, I rendered myself, -weeping, to Him who pardons willingly. Horrible were my sins, but -the Infinite Goodness has such wide arms that it takes whatever -turns to it. If the Pastor of Cosenza,[3] who was set on the hunt -of me by Clement, had then rightly read this page in God, the -bones of my body would still be at the head of the bridge near -Benevento, under the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain -bathes them, and the wind moves them forth from the kingdom, -almost along the Verde, whither he transferred them with -extinguished light.[4] By their [5] malediction the Eternal Love -is not so lost that it cannot return, while hope hath speck of -green. True is it, that whoso dies in contumacy of Holy Church, -though he repent him at the end, needs must stay outside[6] upon -this bank thirtyfold the whole time that he has been in his -presumption,[7] if such decree become not shorter through good -prayers. See now if thou canst make me glad, revealing to my good -Constance how thou hast seen me, and also this prohibition,[8] -for here through those on earth much is gained." - -[1] The natural son of the Emperor Frederick II. He was born in -1231; in 1258 he was crowned King of Sicily. In 1263 Charles of -Anjou was called by Pope Urban IV. to contend against him, and in -1266 Manfred was killed at the battle of Benevento. - -[2] Constance, the daughter of Manfred, was married to Peter of -Aragon. She had three sons, Alphonso, James, and Frederick. -Alphonso succeeded his father in Aragon, and James in Sicily, but -after the death of Alphonso James became King of Aragon. and -Frederick King of Sicily. Manfred naturally speaks favorably of -them, but Dante himself thought ill of James and Frederick. See -Canto VII., towards the end. - -[3] The Archbishop of Cosenza, at command of the Pope, Clement -IV., took the body of Manfred from his grave near Benevento, and -threw it unburied, as the body of one excommunicated, on the bank -of the Verde. - -[4] Not with candles burning as in proper funeral rites. - -[5] That is, of Pope or Bishop. - -[6] Outside the gate of Purgatory. - -[7] This seems to be a doctrine peculiar to Dante. The value of -the prayers of the good on earth in shortening the period of -suffering of the souls in Purgatory is more than once referred to -by him, as well as the virtue of the intercession of the souls in -Purgatory for the benefit of the living. [8] The prohibition of -entering within Purgatory. - - - -CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory.--Ascent to a shelf of the -mountain.--The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last -hour.--Belacqua. - - -When through delights, or through pains which some power of ours -may experience, the soul is all concentrated thereon, it seems -that to no other faculty it may attend; and this is counter to -the error which believes that one soul above another is kindled -in us.[1] And therefore, when a thing is heard or seen, which may -hold the soul intently turned to it, the time passes, and the man -observes it not: for one faculty is that which listens, and -another is that which keeps the soul entire; the latter is as it -were bound, and the former is loosed. - -[1] Were it true that, as according to the Platonists, there were -more than one soul in man, he might give attention to two things -at once. But when one faculty is free and called into activity, -the rest of the soul is as it were bound in inaction. - - -Of this had I true experience, hearing that spirit and wondering; -for full fifty degrees had the sun ascended,[1] and I had not -noticed it, when we came where those souls all together cried out -to us, "Here is what you ask." - -[1] It was now about nine o'clock A. M. - - -A larger opening the man of the farm often hedges up with a -forkful of his thorns, when the grape grows dark, than was the -passage through which my Leader and I behind ascended alone, when -the troop departed from us. One goes to Sanleo, and descends to -Noli, one mounts up Bismantova[1] to its peak, with only the -feet; but here it behoves that one fly, I mean with the swift -wings and with the feathers of great desire, behind that guide -who gave me hope and made a light for me. We ascended in through -the broken rock, and on each side the border pressed on us, and -the ground beneath required both feet and hands. - -[1] These all are places difficult of access. - - -When we were upon the upper edge of the high bank on the open -slope, "My Master," said I, "what way shall we take?" And he to -me, "Let no step of thine fall back, always win up the mountain -behind me, till some sage guide appear for us." - -The summit was so high it surpassed the sight and the side -steeper far than a line from the mid quadrant to the centre.[1] I -was weary, when I began, "O sweet Father, turn and regard howl -remain alone if thou dost not stop." "My son," said he, "far as -here drag thyself," pointing me to a ledge a little above, which -on that side circles all the hill. His words so spurred me, that -I forced myself, scrambling after him, until the belt was beneath -my feet. There we both sat down, turning to the east, whence we -had ascended, for to look back is wont to encourage one. I first -turned my eyes to the low shores, then I raised them to the sun, -and wondered that on the left we were struck by it. The Poet -perceived clearly that I was standing all bewildered at the -chariot of the light, where between us and Aquilo,[2] it was -entering. Whereupon he to me, "If Castor and Pollux were in -company with that mirror [3] which up and down guides with its -light, thou wouldst see the ruddy Zodiac revolving still closer -to the Bears, if it went not out of its old road.[4] How that may -be, if thou wishest to be able to think, collected in thyself -imagine Zion and this mountain to stand upon the earth so that -both have one sole horizon, and different hemispheres; then thou -wilt see that the road which Phaethon, to his harm, knew not how -to drive, must needs pass on the one side of this mountain, and -on the other side of that, if thy intelligence right clearly -heeds." "Surely, my Master," said I, "never yet saw I so clearly, -as I now discern there where my wit seemed deficient; for the -mid-circle of the supernal motion, which is called Equator in a -certain art,[4] and which always remains between the sun and the -winter, for the reason that thou tellest, from here departs -toward the north, while the Hebrews saw it toward the warm -region. But, if it please thee, willingly I would know how far we -have to go, for the hill rises higher than my eyes can rise." And -he to me, "This mountain is such, that ever at the beginning -below it is hard, and the higher one goes the less it hurts; -therefore when it shall seem so pleasant to thee that the going -up will be easy to thee as going down the current in a vessel, -then wilt thou be at the end of this path; there repose from toil -await: no more I answer, and this I know for true." - -[1] A steeper inclination than that of an angle of forty-five -degrees. - -[2] The North. - -[3] The brightness of the sun is the reflection of the Divine -light. - -[4] If the sun were in the sign of the Gemini instead of being in -Aries it would make the Zodiac ruddy still farther to the north. -In Purgatory the sun being seen from south of the equator is on -the left hand, while at Jerusalem, in the northern hemisphere, it -is seen on the right. - -[5] Astronomy. - - -And when he had said his word, a voice near by sounded, -"Perchance thou wilt be first constrained to sit." At the sound -of it each of us turned, and we saw at the left a great stone -which neither he nor I before had noticed. Thither we drew; and -there were persons who were staying in the shadow behind the -rock, as one through indolence sets himself to stay. And one of -them, who seemed to me weary, was seated, and was clasping his -knees, holding his face down low between them. "O sweet my Lord," -said I, "look at him who shows himself more indolent than if -sloth were his sister." Then that one turned to us and gave heed, -moving his look only up along his thigh, and said, "Now go up -thou, for thou art valiant." I recognized then who he was, and -that effort which was still quickening my breath a little -hindered not my going to him, and after I had reached him, he -scarce raised his head, saying, "Hast thou clearly seen how the -sun over thy left shoulder drives his chariot?" - -His slothful acts and his short words moved my lips a little to a -smile, then I began, "Belacqua,[1] I do not grieve for thee -now,[2] but tell me why just here thou art seated? awaitest thou -a guide, or has only thy wonted mood recaptured thee?" And he, -"Brother, what imports the going up? For the bird of God that -sitteth at the gate would not let me go to the torments. It first -behoves that heaven circle around me outside the gate, as long as -it did in life, because I delayed good sighs until the end; -unless the prayer first aid me which rises up from a heart that -lives in grace: what avails the other which is not heard in -heaven?" - -[1] Belacqua, according to Benvenuto da Imola, was a Florentine, -a maker of citherns and other musical instruments; he carved with -great care the necks and heads of his citherns, and sometimes he -played on them. Dante, because of his love of music, had been -well acquainted with him. - -[2] He had feared lest Belacqua might be in Hell. - - -And now the Poet in front of me was ascending, and he said, "Come -on now: thou seest that the meridian is touched by the sun, and -on the shore the night now covers with her foot Morocco." - - - -CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory.--Spirits who had delayed repentance, and -met with death by violence, but died repentant.--Jacopo del -Cassero.--Buonconte da Montefeltro--Via de' Tolomei. - - -I had now parted from those shades, and was following the -footsteps of my Leader, when behind me, pointing his finger, one -cried out, "Look, the ray seems not to shine on the left hand of -that lower one, and as if alive he seems to hear himself." I -turned my eyes at the sound of these words, and I saw them -watching, for marvel, only me, only me, and the light which was -broken. - -"Why is thy mind so hampered," said the Master, "that thou -slackenest thy going? What matters to thee that which here is -whispered? Come after me, and let the people talk. Stand as a -tower firm, that never wags its top for blowing of the winds; for -always the man in whom thought on thought wells up removes from -himself his aim, for the force of one weakens the other." What -could I answer, save "I come"? I said it, overspread somewhat -with the color, which, at times, makes a man worthy of pardon. - -And meanwhile across upon the mountain side, a little in front of -us, were coming people, singing "Miserere," verse by verse. When -they observed that I gave not place for passage of the rays -through my body, they changed their song into a long and hoarse -"Oh!" and two of them, in form of messengers, ran to meet us, and -asked of us, "Of your condition make us cognizant." And my -Master, "Ye can go back, and report to them who sent you, that -the body of this one is true flesh. If, as I suppose, they -stopped because of seeing his shadow, enough is answered them; -let them do him honor and he may he dear to them." - -Never did I see enkindled vapors at early night so swiftly cleave -the clear sky, nor at set of sun the clouds of August, that these -did not return up in less time; and, arrived there, they, with -the others, gave a turn toward us, like a troop that runs without -curb. "These folk that press to us are many, and they come to -pray thee," said the Poet; "wherefore still go on, and in going -listen." "O soul," they came crying, "that goest to be happy with -those limbs with which thou wast born, a little stay thy step; -look if thou hast ever seen any one of us, so that thou mayest -carry news of him to earth. Ah, why dost thou go on? Ah, why dost -thou not stop? We were of old all done to death by violence, and -sinners up to the last hour; then light from Heaven made us -mindful, so that both penitent and pardoning we issued forth from -life, at peace with God, who fills our hearts with the desire to -see him." And I, "Although I gaze upon your faces, not one I -recognize; but if aught that I can do be pleasing to you, spirits -wellborn,[1] speak ye, and I will do it by that peace which makes -me, following the feet of such a guide, seek for itself from -world to world." And one began, "Each of us trusts in thy good -turn without thy swearing it, provided want of power cut not off -the will; wherefore I, who alone before the others speak, pray -thee, if ever thou see that land that sits between Romagna and -the land of Charles,[2] that thou be courteous to me with thy -prayers in Fano, so that for me good orisons be made, whereby I -may purge away my grave offences. Thence was I; but the deep -wounds, wherefrom issued the blood in which I had my seat,[3] -were given me in the bosom of the Endoneuria,[4] there where I -thought to be most secure; he of Este had it done, who held me in -wrath far beyond what justice willed. But if I had fled toward -Mira,[5] when I was overtaken at Oriaco, I should still be yonder -where men breathe. I ran to the marsh, and the reeds and the mire -hampered me so that I fell, and there I saw a lake made by my -veins upon the ground." - -[1] Elect from birth to the joys of Paradise, in contrast with -the ill-born, the miscreants of Hell. - -[2] The March of Ancona, between the Romagna and the kingdom of -Naples, then held by Charles II. of Anjou. It is Jacopo del -Cassero who speaks. He was a noted and valiant member of the -leading Guelph family in Fano. On his way to take the place of -Podesta of Milan, in 1298, he was assassinated by the minions of -Azzo VIII. of Este, whom he had offended. - -[3] The life of all flesh is the blood thereof." Levit., xvii. -14. Or, according to the Vulgate, "Anima carnis in sanguine est." - -[4] That is to say, in the territory of the Paduans, whose city -was reputed to have been founded by Antenor. - -[5] Mira is a little settlement on the bank of one of the canals -of the Brenta. Why flight thither would have been safe is mere -matter of conjecture. - - -Then said another, "Ah! so may that desire be fulfilled which -draws thee to the high mountain, with good piety help thou mine. -I was of Montefeltro, and am Buonconte.[1] Joan or any other has -no care for me, wherefore I go among these with downcast front." -And I to him, "What violence, or what chance so carried thee -astray from Campaldino,[2] that thy burial place was never -known?" "Oh!" replied he, "at foot of the Casentino crosses a -stream, named the Archiano, which rises in the Apennine above the -Hermitage.[3] Where its proper name becomes vain[4] I arrived, -pierced in the throat, flying on foot, and bloodying the plain. -Here I lost my sight, and I ended my speech with the name of -Mary, and here I fell, and my flesh remained alone. I will tell -the truth, and do thou repeat it among the living. The Angel of -God took me, and he of Hell cried out, "O thou from Heaven, why -dost thou rob me?[5] Thou bearest away for thyself the eternal -part of him for one little tear which takes him from me; but of -the rest I will make other disposal." Thou knowest well how in -the air is condensed that moist vapor which turns to water soon -as it rises where the cold seizes it. He joined that evil will, -which seeketh only evil, with intelligence, and moved the mist -and the wind by the power that his own nature gave. Then when the -day was spent he covered the valley with cloud, from Pratomagno -to the great chain, and made the frost above so intense that the -pregnant air was turned to water. The rain fell, and to the -gullies came of it what the earth did not endure, and as it -gathered in great streams it rushed so swiftly towards the royal -river that nothing held it back. The robust Archiano found my -frozen body near its outlet, and pushed it into the Arno, and -loosed on my breast the cross which I made of myself when the -pain overcame me. It rolled me along its banks, and along its -bottom, then with its spoil it covered and girt me." - -[1] Son of Count Guido da Montefeltro, the treacherous counsellor -who had told his story to Dante in Hell, Canto XXVII. Joan was -his wife. - -[2] The battle of Campaldino, in which Dante himself, perhaps, -took part, was fought on the 11th of June, 1289, between the -Florentine Guelphs and the Ghibellines of Arezzo. Buonconte was -the captain of the Aretines. Campaldino is a little plain in the -upper valley of the Arno. - -[3] The convent of the Calmaldoli, founded by St. Romualdo of -Ravenna, in 1012. - -[4] Being lost at its junction with the Arno. - -[5] St. Francis and one of the black Cherubim had had a similar -contention, as will be remembered, over the soul of Buonconte's -father. - - -"Ah! when thou shalt have returned unto the world, and rested -from the long journey," the third spirit followed on the second, -"be mindful of me, who am Pia.[1] Siena made me, Maremma unmade -me; he knows it who with his gem ringed me, betrothed before." - -[1] This sad Pia is supposed to have belonged to the Sienese -family of the Tolomei, and to have been the wife of Nello or -Paganello de' Pannocchieschi, who was reported to have had her -put to death in his stronghold of Pietra in the Tuscan Maremma. -Her fate seems the more pitiable that she does not pray Dante to -seek for her the prayers of any living person. The last words of -Pia are obscure, and are interpreted variously. Possibly the -"betrothed before" hints at a source of jealousy as the motive of -her murder. - - - -CANTO VI. Ante-Purgatory.--More spirits who had deferred -repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death.--Efficacy -of prayer.--Sordello.--Apostrophe to Italy. - - -When a game of dice is broken up, he who loses remains sorrowful, -repeating the throws, and, saddened, learns; with the other all -the folk go along; one goes before and one plucks him from -behind, and at his side one brings himself to mind. He does not -stop; listens to one and the other the man to whom he reaches -forth his hand presses on him no longer, and thus from the throng -he defends himself. Such was I in that dense crowd, turning my -face to them this way and that; and, promising, I loosed myself -from them. - -Here was the Aretine,[1] who from the fierce arms of Ghin di -Tacco had his death; and the other who was drowned when running -in pursuit. Here Federigo Novello [2] was praying with hands -outstretched, and he of Pisa, who made the good Marzucco seem -strong.[3] I saw Count Orso; and the soul divided from its body -by spite and by envy, as it said, and not for fault committed, -Pierre do la Brosse,[5] I mean; and here let the Lady of Brabant -take forethought, while she is on earth, so that for this she be -not of the worse flock. - -[1] The Aretine was Messer Benincasa da Laterina, a learned -judge, who had condemned to death for their crimes two relatives -of Ghin di Tacco, the most famous freebooter of the day, whose -headquarters were between Siena and Rome. Some time after, Messer -Benincasa sitting as judge in Rome, Ghino entered the city with a -band of his followers, made his way to the tribunal, slew -Benincasa, and escaped unharmed. - -[2] Another Aretine, of the Tarlati family, concerning whose -death the early commentators are at variance. Benvenuto da Imola -says that, hotly pursuing his enemies, his horse carried him into -a marsh, from which he could not extricate himself, so that his -foes turned upon him and slew him with their arrows. - -[3] Federigo, son of the Count Guido Novello, of the -circumstances of whose death, said to have taken place in 1291, -nothing certain is known. Benvenuto says, he was multum probus, a -good youth, and therefore Dante mentions him. - -[4] Of him of Pisa different stories are told. Benvenuto says, "I -have heard from the good Boccaccio, whom I trust more than the -others, that Marzucco was a good man of the city of Pisa, whose -son was beheaded by order of Count Ugolino, the tyrant, who -commanded that his body should remain unburied. In the evening -his father went to the Count, as a stranger unconcerned in the -matter, and, without tears or other sign of grief, said, 'Surely, -my lord, it would be to your honor that that poor body should be -buried, and not left cruelly as food for dogs.' Then the Count, -recognizing him, said astonished, 'Go, your patience overcomes my -obduracy,' and immediately Marzucco went and buried his son." - -[5] Of Count Orso nothing is known with certainty. - -[6] Pierre de is Brosse was chamberlain and confidant of Philip -the Bold of France. He lost the king's favor, and charges of -wrong-doing being brought against him he was hung. It was -reported that his death was brought about through jealousy by -Mary of Brabant, the second wife of Philip. She lived till 1321, -so that Dante's warning may have reached her ears. - - -When I was free from each and all those shades who prayed only -that some one else should pray, so that their becoming holy may -be speeded, I began, "It seems that thou deniest to me, O Light -of mine, expressly, in a certain text, that orison can bend -decree of Heaven, and this folk pray only for this, -- shall then -their hope be vain? or is thy saying not rightly clear to me?[1] - -[1] Virgil represents Palinurus as begging to be allowed to cross -the Styx, while his body was still unburied and without due -funeral rites. To this petition the Sibyl answers:--Desine fata -Deum flecti sperare precando:--Cease to hope that the decrees of -the gods can be changed by prayer."--Aeneid, vi. 376. - - -And he to me, "My writing is plain, and the hope of these is not -fallacious, if well it is regarded with sound mind; for top of -judgment vails not itself because a fire of love may, in one -instant, fulfil that which he who is stationed here must satisfy. -And there where I affirmed this proposition, defect was not -amended by a prayer, because the prayer was disjoined from God. -But truly in regard to so deep a doubt decide thou not, unless -she tell thee who shall be a light between the truth and the -understanding.[1] I know not if thou understandest; I speak of -Beatrice. Thou shalt see her above, smiling and happy, upon the -summit of this mountain." - -[1] The question, being one that relates to the Divine will, -cannot be answered with full assurance by human reason. - - -And I, "My lord, let us go on with greater speed, for now I mu -not weary as before; and behold now how the bill casts its -shadow." "We will go forward with this day," he answered, "as -much further as we shall yet be able; but the fact is of other -form than thou supposest. Before thou art there-above thou wilt -see him return, who is now hidden by the hill-side so that thou -dost not make his rays to break. But see there a soul which -seated all alone is looking toward us; it will point out to us -the speediest way." We came to it. O Lombard soul, how lofty and -scornful wast thou; and in the movement of thine eyes grave and -slow! It said not anything to us, but let us go on, looking only -in manner of a lion when he couches. Virgil, however, drew near -to it, praying that it would show to us the best ascent; and it -answered not to his request, but of our country and life it asked -us. And the sweet Leader began, "Mantua,"--and the shade, all in -itself recluse, rose toward him from the place where erst it was, -saying, "O Mantuan, I am Sordello of thy city,"[1]--and they -embraced each other. - -[1] Sordello, who lived early in the thirteenth century, was of -the family of the Visconti of Mantua. He left his native land and -gave up his native tongue to live and write as a troubadour in -Provence, but his fame belonged to Italy. - - -Ah, servile Italy, hostel of grief! ship without pilot in great -tempest! not lady of provinces, but a brothel! that gentle soul -was so ready, only at the sweet sound of his native land, to give -glad welcome here unto his fellow-citizen: and now in thee thy -living men exist not without war, and of those whom one wall and -one moat shut in one doth gnaw the other. Search, wretched one, -around the shores, thy seaboard, and then look within thy bosom, -if any part in thee enjoyeth peace! What avails it that for thee -Justinian should mend the bridle, if the saddle be empty? Without -this, the shame would be less. Ah folk,[1] that oughtest to be -devout and let Caesar sit in the saddle, if thou rightly -understandest what God notes for thee! Look how fell this wild -beast has become, through not being corrected by the spurs, since -thou didst put thy hand upon the bridle. O German Albert, who -abandonest her who has become untamed and savage, and oughtest to -bestride her saddle-bows, may a just judgment from the stars fall -upon thy blood, and may it be strange and manifest, so that thy -successor may have fear of it! [2] For thou and thy father, -retained up there by greed, have suffered the garden of the -empire to become desert. Come thou to see Montecchi and -Cappelletti, Monaldi and Filippeschi,[3] thou man without care: -those already wretched, and these in dread. Come, cruel one, -come, and see the distress of thy nobility, and cure their hurts; -and thou shalt see Santafiora[4] how safe it is. Come to see thy -Rome, that weeps, widowed and alone, and day and night cries, "My -Caesar, wherefore dost thou not keep me company?" Come to see the -people, how loving it is; and, if no pity for us move thee, come -to be shamed by thine own renown! And if it be lawful for me, O -Supreme Jove that wast on earth crucified for us, are thy just -eyes turned aside elsewhere? Or is it preparation, that in the -abyss of thy counsel thou art making for some good utterly cut -off from our perception? For the cities of Italy are all full of -tyrants, and every churl that comes playing the partisan becomes -a Marcellus?[5] - -[1] The Church-folk, the clergy, for whom God has ordained, -- -"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's." - -[2] Albert of Hapsburg, son of the Emperor Rudolph, was elected -King of the Romans in 1298, but like his father never went to -Italy to he crowned. He was murdered by his nephew, John, called -the parricide, in 1308, at Konigsfelden. The successor of Albert -was Henry VII. of Luxemborg, who came to Italy in 1311, was -crowned at Rome in 1312, and died at Buonconvento the next year. -His death ended the hopes of Dante. - -[3] Famous families, the first two of Verona, the last two of -Orvieto, at enmity with each other in their respective -cities,--types of a common condition. - -[4]The Counts of Santafiora were once the most powerful -Ghibelline nobles in the Sienese territory. Their power had -declined since the Hohenstaufen Emperors had been succeeded by -the Hapsburgs, and they were now subjected to the Guelphs of -Siena. - -[5] That is, a hitter opponent of the empire, as the Consul M. -Claudius Marcellus was of Caesar. - - -My Florence! surely thou mayst be content with this digression, -which toucheth thee not, thanks to thy people that for itself -takes heed. Many have justice at heart but shoot slowly, in order -not to come without counsel to the bow; but thy people has it on -the edge of its lips. Many reject the common burden, but thy -people, eager, replies without being called on, and cries, "I -load myself." Now be thou glad, for thou hast truly wherefore: -thou rich, thou in peace, thou wise. If I speak the truth, the -result hides it not. Athens and Lacedaemon, that made the ancient -laws and were so civilized, made toward living well a little -sign, compared with thee that makest such finespun provisions, -that to mid November reaches not, what thou in October spinnest. -How often in the time that thou rememberest, law, money, office, -and custom, hast thou changed, and renewed thy members! And if -thou mind thee well and see the light, thou wilt see thyself -resembling a sick woman, who cannot find repose upon the -feathers, but with her tossing seeks to relieve her pain. - - - -CANTO VII. Virgil makes himself known to Sordello.--Sordello -leads the Poets to the Valley of the Princes who have been -negligent of salvation.--He points them out by name. - - -After the becoming and glad salutations had been repeated three -and four times, Sordello drew back and said, "Ye, who are ye?" -"Before the souls worthy to ascend to God were turned unto this -mountain, my bones had been buried by Octavian; I am Virgil, and -for no other sin did I lose heaven, but for not having faith," -thus then replied my Leader. - -As is he who suddenly sees a thing before him whereat he marvels, -and doth and doth not believe, saying, "It is, it is not,"--so -seemed that shade, and then he bent down his brow, and humbly -turned again toward him and embraced him where the inferior takes -hold. - -"O glory of the Latins," said he, "through whom our language -showed what it could do, O honor eternal of the place wherefrom I -was, what merit or what grace shows thee to me? If I am worthy to -hear thy words, tell me if thou comest from Hell, and from what -cloister." "Through all the circles of the realm of woe," replied -he to him, "am I come hither; Power of Heaven moved me, and with -it I come. Not by doing, but by not doing have I lost the sight -of the high Sun whom thou desirest, and who by me was known late. -A place there is below not sad with torments but with darkness -only, where the lamentations sound not as wailings, but are -sighs; there stay I with the little innocents bitten by the teeth -of death before they were exempt from human sin; there stay I -with those who were not vested with the three holy virtues, and -without vice knew the others and followed all of them.[1] But if -thou knowest and canst, give us some direction whereby we may -come more speedily there where Purgatory has its true beginning." -He replied, "A certain place is not set for us; it is permitted -me to go upward and around; so far as I can go I join myself to -thee as guide. But see how already the day declines, and to go up -by night is not possible; therefore it is well to think of some -fair sojourn. There are souls here on the right apart; if thou -consentest to me I will lead thee to them, and not without -delight will they be known to thee." "How is this?" was answered, -"he who might wish to ascend by night, would he be hindered by -another, or would he not be able to ascend?" And the good -Sordello drew his finger on the ground, saying, "See, only this -line thou couldst not pass after set of sun; not because aught -else save the nocturnal darkness would give hindrance to going -up; that hampers the will with impotence.[2] One could, indeed, -in it[3] turn downward and walk the hillside wandering around, -while the horizon holds the day shut up." Then my Lord, as if -wondering, said, "Lead us, then, there where thou sayest one may -have delight while waiting." - -[1] The virtuous Heathen did not possess the so-called -theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity; but they -practiced the four cardinal virtues of Prudence, Temperance, -Fortitude and Justice. - -[2] The allegory is plain: the soul can mount the steep of -purification only when illuminated by the Sun of Divine Grace. - -[3] In the darkness. - - -Little way had we gone from that place, when I perceived that the -mountain was hollowed out in like fashion as the valleys hollow -them here on earth. "Yonder," said that shade, "will we go, where -the hillside makes a lap of itself, and there will we await the -new day." Between steep and level was a winding path that led us -into a side of the dale, where more than by half the edge dies -away. Gold and fine silver, and scarlet and white, Indian wood -lucid and clear,[1] fresh emerald at the instant it is split, -would each be vanquished in color by the herbage and by the -flowers set within that valley, as by its greater the less is -vanquished. Nature had not only painted there, but with sweetness -of a thousand odors she made there one unknown and blended. - -[1] The blue of indigo. - - -Upon the green and upon the flowers I saw souls who, because of -the valley, were not visible from without, seated here singing -"Salve regina." [1] "Before the lessening sun sinks to his nest," -began the Mantuan who had turned us thither, "desire not that -among these I guide you. From this bank ye will better become -acquainted with the acts and countenances of all of them, than -received among them on the level below. He who sits highest and -has the semblance of having neglected what he should have done, -and who moves not his mouth to the others' songs, was Rudolph the -Emperor, who might have healed the wounds that have slain Italy, -so that slowly by another she is revived.[2] The next, who in -appearance comforts him, ruled the land where the water rises -that Moldau bears to Elbe, and Elbe to the sea. Ottocar was his -name,[3] and in his swaddling clothes he was better far than -bearded Wenceslaus, his son, whom luxury and idleness feed.[4] -And that small-nosed one, who seems close in counsel with him who -has so benign an aspect, died in flight and disflowering the -lily;[5] look there how he beats his breast. See the next who, -sighing, has made a bed for his cheek with his hand.[6] Father -and father-in-law are they of the harm of France; they know his -vicious and foul life, and thence comes the grief that so pierces -them. He who looks so large-limbed,[7] and who accords in singing -with him of the masculine nose,[8] wore girt the cord of every -worth, and if the youth that is sitting behind him had followed -him as king, truly had worth gone from vase to vase, which cannot -be said of the other heirs: James and Frederick hold the realms; -[9] the better heritage no one possesses. Rarely doth human -goodness rise through the branches, and this He wills who gives -it, in order that it may be asked from Him. To the large-nosed -one also my words apply not less than to the other, Peter, who is -singing with him; wherefore Apulia and Provence are grieving -now.[10] The plant is as inferior to its seed, as, more than -Beatrice and Margaret, Constance still boasts of her husband.[11] -See the King of the simple life sitting there alone, Henry of -England; he in his branches hath a better issue.[12] That one who -lowest among them sits on the ground, looking upward, is William -the marquis,[13] for whom Alessandria and her war make Montferrat -and the Canavese mourn." - -[1] The beginning of a Church hymn to the Virgin, sung after -vespers, of which the first verses are:-- - Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae! - Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve! - Ad te clamamus exsules filii Hevae; - Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes - In hac lacrymarum valle. - -[2] The neglect of Italy by the Emperor Rudolph (see the -preceding Canto) was not to be repaired by the vain efforts of -Henry VII. - -[3] Ottocar, King of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, had been slain -in battle against Rudolph, on the Marchfeld by the Donau, in -1278; "whereby Austria fell to Rudolph." See Carlyle's Frederick -the Great, book ii. ch. 7. - -[4] Dante repeats his harsh judgment of Wenceslaus in the -nineteenth Canto of Paradise. His first wife was the daughter of -Rudolph of Hapsburg. He died in 1305. - -[5] This is Philip the Bold of France, 1270-1285. Having invaded -Catalonia, in a war with Peter the Third of Aragon, he was driven -back, and died on the retreat at Perpignan. - -[6] Henry of Navarre, the brother of Thibault, the poet-king -(Hell, Canto XXII.). His daughter Joan married Philip the Fair, -"the harm of France," the son of Philip the Bold. - -[7] Peter of Aragon (died 1285), the husband of Constance, -daughter of Manfred (see Canto III.); the youth who is seated -behind him is his son Alphonso, who died in 1291. - -[8] Charles of Anjou. - -[9] The kingdoms of Aragon and Sicily; both James and Frederick -were living when Dante thus wrote of them. The "better heritage" -was the virtue of their father. - -[10] Apulia and Provence were grieving under the rule of Charles -II., the degenerate son of Charles of Anjou, who died in 1309. - -[11] The meaning is doubtful; perhaps it is, that the children of -Charles of Anjou and of Peter of Aragon are as inferior to their -fathers, as Charles himself, the husband first of Beatrice of -Provence and then of Margaret of Nevers, was inferior to Peter, -the husband of Constance. - -[12] Henry III., father of Edward I. - -[13] William Spadalunga was Marquis of Montferrat and Canavese, -the Piedmontese highlands and plain north of the Po. He was -Imperial vicar, and the bead of the Ghibellines in this region. -In a war with the Guelphs, who had risen in revolt in 1290, he -was taken captive at Alessandria, and for two years, till his -death, was kept in an iron cage. Dante refers to him in the -Convito, iv. 11, as "the good marquis of Montferrat." - - - -CANTO VIII. Valley of the Princes.--Two Guardian Angels.--Kino -Visconti.--The Serpent.--Corrado Malaspina. - - -It was now the hour that turns back desire in those that sail the -sea, and softens their hearts, the day when they have said to -their sweet friends farewell, and which pierces the new pilgrim -with love, if he hears from afar a bell that seems to deplore the -dying day,--when I began to render hearing vain, and to look at -one of the souls who, uprisen, besought attention with its hand. -It joined and raised both its palms, fixing its eyes toward the -orient, as if it said to God, "For aught else I care not." "Te -lucis ante"[1] so devoutly issued from his mouth and with such -sweet notes that it made me issue forth from my own mind. And -then the others sweetly and devoutly accompanied it through all -the hymn to the end, having their eyes upon the supernal wheels. -Here, reader, sharpen well thine eyes for the truth, for the veil -is now indeed so thin that surely passing through within is -easy.[2] - -[1] The opening words of a hymn sung at Complines, the last -service of the day: - - Te locis ante terminum, - Rerom Creator poscimus, - Ut tus pro clementia - Sis presul et custodia:-- - -"Before the close of light, we pray thee, O Creator, that through -thy clemency, thou be our watch and guard." - -[2] The allegory seems to be, that the soul which has entered -upon the way of repentance and purification, but which is not yet -securely advanced therein, is still exposed to temptation, -especially when the light of the supernal grace does not shine -directly upon it. But if the soul have steadfast purpose to -resist temptation, and seek aid from God, that aid will not be -wanting. The prayer of the Church which is recited after the hymn -just cited has these words: "Visit, we pray thee, O Lord, this -abode, and drive far from it the snares of the enemy. Let thy -holy Angels bide in it, and guard us in peace." Pallid with self -distrust, humble with the sense of need, the soul awaits the -fulfilment of its prayer. The angels are clad in green, the -symbolic color of hope. Their swords are truncated, because -needed only for defence. - - -I saw that army of the gentle-born silently thereafter gazing -upward as if in expectation, pallid and humble; and I saw issuing -from on high and descending two angels, with two fiery swords -truncated and deprived of their points. Green as leaflets just -now born were their garments, which, beaten and blown by their -green pinions, they trailed behind. One came to stand a little -above us, and the other descended on the opposite bank, so that -the people were contained between them. I clearly discerned in -them their blond heads, but on their faces the eye was dazzled, -as a faculty which is confounded by excess. "Both come from the -bosom of Mary," said Sordello, "for guard of the valley, because -of the serpent that will come straightway." Whereat I, who knew -not by what path, turned me round, and all chilled drew me close -to the trusty shoulders. - -And Sordello again, "Now let us go down into the valley among the -great shades, and we will speak to them; well pleasing will it be -to them to see you." Only three steps I think I had descended and -I was below; and I saw one who was gazing only at me as if he -wished to know me. It was now the time when the air was -darkening, but not so that between his eyes and mine it did not -reveal that which it locked up before.[1] Towards me he moved, -and I moved towards him. Gentle Judge Nino,[2] how much it -pleased me when I saw that thou wast not among the damned! No -fair salutation was silent between us; then he asked, "How long -is it since thou camest to the foot of the mountain across the -far waters?" - -[1] It was not yet so dark that recognition of one near at hand -was difficult, though at a distance it had been impossible. - -[2] Nino (Ugolino) de' Visconti of Pisa was the grandson of Count -Ugolino, and as the leader of the Pisan Guelphs became his bitter -opponent. Sardinia was under the dominion of Pisa, and was -divided into four districts, each of which was governed by one of -the Pisan nobles, under the title of Judge. Nino had held the -judicature of Gallura, where Frate Gomita (see Hell, Canto XXII.) -had been his vicar. Nino died in 1296. - - -"Oh," said I to him, "from within the dismal places I came this -morning, and I am in the first life, albeit in going thus, I may -gain the other." And when my answer was heard, Sordello[1] and he -drew themselves back like folk suddenly bewildered, the one to -Virgil, and the other turned to one who was seated there, crying, -"Up, Corrado,[2] come to see what God through grace hath willed." -Then, turning to me, "By that singular gratitude thou owest unto -Him who so hides His own first wherefore[3] that there is no ford -to it, when thou shalt be beyond the wide waves, say to my Joan, -that for me she cry there where answer is given to the innocent. -I do not think her mother[4] loves me longer, since she changed -her white wimples,[5] which she, wretched, needs must desire -again. Through her easily enough is comprehended how long the -fire of love lasts in woman, if eye or touch does not often -rekindle it. The viper[6] which leads afield the Milanese will -not make for her so fair a sepulture as the cock of Gallura would -have done." Thus he said, marked in his aspect with the stamp of -that upright zeal which in due measure glows in the heart. - -[1] The sun was already hidden behind the mountain when Virgil -and Dante came upon Sordello. Sordello had not therefore seen -that Dante cast a shadow, and being absorbed in discourse with -Virgil had not observed that Dante breathed as a living man. - -[2] Corrado, of the great Guelph family of the Malaspina, lords -of the Lunigiana, a wide district between Genoa and Pisa. - -[3] The reason of that which He wills. - -[4] Her mother was Beatrice d' Este, who, in 1300, married -Galeazzo de' Visconti of Milan. - -[5] The white veil or wimple and black garments were worn by -widows. The prophecy that she must needs wish for her white -wimple again seems merely to rest on Nino's disapproval of her -second marriage. - -[6] The viper was the cognizance of the Visconti of Milan. - - -My greedy eyes were going ever to the sky, ever there where the -stars are slowest, even as a wheel nearest the axle. And my -Leader, "Son, at what lookest thou up there?" And I to him, "At -those three torches with which the pole on this side is all -aflame." [1] And he to me, "The four bright stars which thou -sawest this morning are low on the other side, and these are -risen where those were." - -[1] These three stars are supposed to symbolize the theological -virtues, -- faith. hope, and charity, whose light shines when the -four virtues of active life grow dim in night. - - -As he was speaking, lo! Sordello drew him to himself, saying, -"See there our adversary," and pointed his finger that he should -look thither. At that part where the little valley has no barrier -was a snake, perhaps such as gave to Eve the bitter food. Through -the grass and the flowers came the evil trail, turning from time -to time its head to its back, licking like a beast that sleeks -itself. I did not see, and therefore cannot tell how the -celestial falcons moved, but I saw well both one and the other in -motion. Hearing the air cleft by their green wings the serpent -fled, and the angels wheeled about, up to their stations flying -back alike. - -The shade which had drawn close to the Judge when he exclaimed, -through all that assault had not for a moment loosed its gaze -from me. "So may the light that leadeth thee on high find in -thine own free-will so much wax as is needed up to the enamelled -summit,"[1] it began, "if thou knowest true news of Valdimacra[2] -or of the neighboring region, tell it to me, for formerly I was -great there. I was called Corrado Malaspina; I am not the -ancient,[3] but from him I am descended; to mine own I bore the -love which here is refined." "Oh," said I to him, "through your -lands I have never been, but where doth man dwell in all Europe -that they are not renowned? The fame that honoreth your house -proclaims its lords, proclaims its district, so that he knows of -them who never yet was there; and I swear to you, so may I go -above, that your honored race doth not despoil itself of the -praise of the purse and of the sword. Custom and nature so -privilege it that though the guilty head turn the world awry, -alone it goes right and scorns the evil road."[4] And he, "Now -go, for the sun shall not lie seven times in the bed that the Ram -covers and bestrides with all four feet,[5] before this courteous -opinion will be nailed in the middle of thy head with greater -nails than the speech of another, if course of judgment be not -arrested." - -[1] So may illuminating grace find the disposition in thee -requisite for the support of its light, until thou shalt arrive -at the summit of the Mountain, the earthly Paradise enamelled -with perpetual flowers. - -[2] A part of the Lunigiana. - -[3] The old Corrado Malaspina was the husband of Constance, the -sister of King Manfred. He died about the middle of the -thirteenth century. The second Corrado was his grandson. - -[4] This magnificent eulogy of the land and the family of -Malaspina is Dante's return for the hospitality which, in 1306, -he received from the Marquis Moroello and other members of the -house. - -[5] Seven years shall not pass, the sun being at this time in the -sign of the Ram. - - - -CANTO IX. Slumber and Dream of Dante.--The Eagle.--Lucia.--The -Gate of Purgatory.--The Angelic Gatekeeper.--Seven P's inscribed -on Dante's Forehead.--Entrance to the First Ledge. - - -The concubine of old Tithonus was now gleaming white on the -balcony of the orient, forth from the arms of her sweet friend; -her forehead was lucent with gems set in the shape of the cold -animal that strikes people with its tail.[1] And in the place -where we were the night had taken two of the steps with which she -ascends, and the third was already bending down its wings, when -I, who had somewhat of Adam with me, overcome by sleep, reclined -upon the grass, there where all five of us were seated. - -[1] By the concubine of old Tithonus, Dante seems to have -intended the lunar Aurora, in distinction from the proper wife of -Tithonus, Aurora, who precedes the rising Sun, and the meaning of -these verses is that " the Aurora before moonrise was lighting up -the eastern sky, the brilliant stars of the sign Scorpio were on -the horizon, and, finally, it was shortly after 8.30 P.M." -(Moore.) "The steps with which the night ascends" are the six -hours of the first half of the night, from 6 P.M. to midnight. - - -At the hour near the morning when the little swallow begins her -sad lays,[1] perchance in memory of her former woes, and when our -mind, more a wanderer from the flesh and less captive to the -thought, is in its visions almost divine,[2] in dream it seemed -to me that I saw poised in the sky an eagle with feathers of -gold, with wings widespread, and intent to stoop. And it seemed -to me that I was there[3] where his own people were abandoned by -Ganymede, when he was rapt to the supreme consistory. In myself I -thought, "Perhaps this bird strikes only here through wont, and -perhaps from other place disdains to carry anyone upward in his -feet." Then it seemed to me that, having wheeled a little, it -descended terrible as a thunderbolt, and snatched me upwards far -as the fire.[4] There it seemed that it and I burned, and the -imagined fire so scorched that of necessity the sleep was broken. - -[1] The allusion is to the tragic story of Progne and Philomela, -turned the one into a swallow, the other into a nightingale. -Dante found the tale in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book vi. - -[2] Dante passes three nights in Purgatory, and each night his -sleep is terminated by a dream towards the hour of dawn, the time -when, according to the belief of classical antiquity, the visions -of dreams are symbolic and prophetic. (Moore.) - -[3] Mt. Ida. - -[4] The sphere of fire by which, according to the mediaeval -cosmography, the sphere of the air was surrounded. - - -Not otherwise Achilles shook himself,--turning around his -awakened eyes, and not knowing where he was, when his mother from -Chiron to Scyros stole him away, sleeping in her arms, thither -whence afterwards the Greeks withdrew him,[1]--than I started, -as from my face sleep fled away; and I became pale, even as a man -frightened turns to ice. At my side was my Comforter only, and -the sun was now more than two hours high,[2] and my face was -turned toward the sea. "Have no fear," said my Lord; "be -reassured, for we are at a good point; restrain not, but increase -all thy force. Thou art now arrived at Purgatory; see there the -cliff that closes it around; see the entrance, there where it -appears divided. A while ago in the dawn that precedes the day, -when thy soul was sleeping within thee, upon the flowers -wherewith the place down yonder is adorned, came a lady, and -said, "I am Lucia; let me take this one who is sleeping; thus -will I assist him along his way.' Sordello remained, and the -other gentle forms: she took thee, and when the day was bright, -she came upward, and I along her footprints. Here she laid thee -down: and first her beautiful eyes showed me that open entrance; -then she and slumber went away together." Like a man that in -perplexity is reassured, and that alters his fear to confidence -after the truth is disclosed to him, did I change; and when my -Leader saw me without solicitude, up along the cliff he moved on, -and I behind, toward the height. - -[1] Statius, in the first book of the Achilleid, tells how -Thetis, to prevent Achilles from going to the siege of Troy, bore -him sleeping away from his instructor, the centaur Chiron, and -carried him to the court of King Lycomedes, on the Island of -Scyros, where, though concealed in women's garments, Ulysses and -Diomed discovered him. Statius relates how wonderstruck Achilles -was when on awaking he found himself at Scyros: - Quae loca? qui fluctus? ubi Pelion? onmia versa - Atque ignota videt, dubitatque agnoscere matrem--249-50. - -[2] The morning of Easter Monday. - -[3] Lucia seems to be here the symbol of assisting grace, the -gratia operans of the school-men. It was she who was called upon -by the Virgin (Hell, Canto II.) to aid Dante when he was astray -in the wood, and who had moved Beatrice to go to his succor. - - -Reader, thou seest well how I exalt my theme, and therefore -marvel not if with more art I reenforce it.[1] - -[1] These words may be intended to call attention to the doctrine -which underlies the imagery of the verse. - -The entrance within the gate of Purgatory is the assurance of -justification, which is the change of the soul from a state of -sin to a state of justice or righteousness. Justification itself -consists, according to St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, -Prima Secundae, quaest. cxiii. art. 6 and 8), of four parts: -first, the infusion of grace; second, the turning of the free -will to God through faith; third, the turning of the free will -against sin; fourth, the remission of sin. It must be accompanied -by the sacrament of penance, which consists of contrition, -confession, and satisfaction by works of righteousness. - -Outside the gate of Purgatory justification cannot be complete. -The souls in the Ante-Purgatory typify those who have entered on -the way towards justification, but have not yet attained it. They -undergo a period of mortification to sin, of deliberation, as St. -Thomas Aquinas says: "Contingit autem quandoque quod praecedit -aliqua deliberatio quae non est do substantia justificationis sed -via in justificationem." Summa Theol., l. c. art. 7. - - -We drew near to it, and reached such place that there, where at -first there seemed to me a rift, like a cleft which divides a -wall, I saw a gate, and three steps beneath for going to it of -divers colors, and a gatekeeper who as yet said not a word. And -as I opened my eye there more and more, I saw him sitting on the -upper step, such in his face that I endured it not.[1] And he had -in his hand a naked sword, which so reflected the rays toward us -that I often raised my sight in vain. "Tell it from there, what -would ye?" began he to say; "where is the guide? Beware lest the -coming up be harmful to you." [2] "A lady from Heaven with these -things acquainted," replied my Master to him, "only just now said -to us, 'Go thither, here is the gate.'" "And may she speed your -progress in good," began again the courteous gatekeeper, "come -forward then unto our steps." - -[1] The angel at the gate appears to be the type of the priest -who administers absolution. - -[2] Unless grace has been infused into the heart it is a sin to -present one's self as ready for the sacrament. - - -Thither we came to the first great stair; it was of white marble -so polished and smooth that I mirrored myself in it as I appear. -The second, of deeper hue than perse, was of a rough and scorched -stone, cracked lengthwise and athwart. The third, which above -lies massy, seemed to me of porphyry as flaming red as blood that -spirts forth from a vein. Upon this the Angel of God held both -his feet, seated upon the threshold that seemed to me stone of -adamant.[1] Up over the three steps my Leader drew me with good -will, saying, "Beg humbly that he undo the lock." Devoutly I -threw myself at the holy feet; I besought for mercy's sake that -he would open for me; but first upon my breast I struck three -times.[2] Seven P's upon my forehead he inscribed with the point -of his sword,[3] and "See that thou wash these wounds when thou -art within," he said. - -[1] The first step is the symbol of confession, the second of -contrition, the third of satisfaction; the threshold of adamant -may perhaps signify the authority of the Church. - -[2] Three times, in penitence for sins in thought, in word, and -in deed. - -[3] The seven P's stand for the seven so-called mortal sins,-- -Peccati, not specific acts, but the evil dispositions of the soul -from which all evil deeds spring,--pride, envy, anger, sloth -(accidia), avarice, gluttony, and lust. After justification these -dispositions which already have been overcome, must be utterly -removed from the soul. - - -Ashes or earth dug out dry would be of one color with his -vestment, and from beneath that he drew two keys. One was of gold -and the other was of silver; first with the white and then with -the yellow he so did to the door, that I was content.[1] -"Whenever one of these keys fails, and turns not rightly in the -lock," said he to us, "this passage doth not open. More precious -is one[2] but the other requires much art and wit before it -unlocks, because it is the one that disentangles the knot. From -Peter I hold them; and he told me to err rather in opening than -in keeping shut, if but the people prostrate themselves at my -feet." Then he pushed the valve of the sacred gate, saying, -"Enter, but I give you warning that whoso looks behind returns -outside."[3] And when the pivots of that sacred portal, which are -of metal, sonorous and strong, were turned within their hinges, -Tarpeia roared not so loud nor showed herself so harsh, when the -good Metellus was taken from her, whereby she afterwards remained -lean.[4] - -[1] The golden key is typical of the power to open, and the -silver of the knowledge to whom to open. - -[2] The gold, more precious because the power of absolution was -purchased by the death of the Saviour. - -[3] For he who returns to his sins loses the Divine Grace. - -[4] This roaring of the gate may, perhaps, be intended to enforce -the last words of the angel, and may symbolize the voices of his -own sins as the sinner turns his back on them. When Caesar forced -the doors of the temple of Saturn on the Tarpeian rock, in order -to lay hands on the sacred treasure of Rome, he was resisted by -the tribune Metellus. - - -I turned away attentive to the first tone,[1] and it seemed to me -I heard "Te Deum laudamus"[2] in voices mingled with sweet sound. -That which I heard gave me just such an impression as we are wont -to receive when people stand singing with an organ, and the words -now are, now are not caught. - -[1] The first sound within Purgatory. - -[2] Words appropriate to the entrance of a sinner that repenteth. - - - -CANTO X. First Ledge: the Proud.--Examples of Humility sculptured -on the Rock. - -When we were within the threshold of the gate, which the souls' -wrong love[1] disuses, because it makes the crooked way seem -straight, I heard by its resounding that it was closed again. -And, if I had turned my eyes to it, what excuse would have been -befitting for the fault? - -[1] It is Dante's doctrine that love is the motive of every act; -rightly directed, of good deeds; perverted, of evil. See Canto -XVII. - - -We were ascending through a cloven rock, which moved on one side -and on the other, even as the wave retreats and approaches. "Here -must be used a little art," began my Leader, "in keeping close, -now here, now there to the side which recedes."[1] And this made -our progress so slow that the waning disk of the moon regained -its bed to go to rest, before we had come forth from that -needle's eye. But when we were free and open above, where the -mountain backward withdraws,[2] I weary, and both uncertain of -our way, we stopped upon a level more solitary than roads through -deserts. The space from its edge, where it borders the void, to -the foot of the high bank which rises only, a human body would -measure in three lengths; and as far as my eye could stretch its -wings, now on the left and now on the right side, such did this -cornice seem to me. Thereon our feet had not yet moved when I -perceived that bank round about, which, being perpendicular, -allowed no ascent, to be of white marble and adorned with such -carvings, that not Polycletus merely but Nature would be put to -shame there. - -[1] The path was a narrow, steep zigzag, which, as it receded on -one side and the other, afforded the better foothold. - -[2] Leaving an open space, the first ledge of Purgatory. - - -The Angel who came to earth with the announcement of the peace, -wept for for many years, which opened Heaven from its long -interdict, appeared before us here carved in a sweet attitude so -truly that he did not seem an image that is silent. One would -have sworn that he was saying "Ave;" for there was she imaged who -turned the key to open the exalted love. And in her action she -had these words impressed, "Ecce ancilla Dei!"[1] as exactly as a -shape is sealed in wax. - -[1] "Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" - - -"Keep not thy mind only on one place," said the sweet Master, who -had me on that side where people have their heart. Wherefore I -moved my eyes and saw behind Mary, upon that side where he was -who was moving me, another story displayed upon the rock; -whereupon I passed Virgil and drew near so that it might be set -before my eyes. There in the very marble was carved the cart and -the oxen drawing the holy ark, because of which men fear an -office not given in charge.[1] In front appeared people; and all -of them, divided in seven choirs, of two of my senses made the -one say "NO," the other "YES, THEY ARE SINGING."[2] In like -manner, by the smoke of the incense that was imaged there, mine -eyes and nose were made in YES and NO discordant. There, -preceding the blessed vessel, dancing, girt up, was the humble -Psalmist, and more and less than king was he in that proceeding. -Opposite, figured at a window of a great palace, Michal was -looking on even as a lady scornful and troubled.[3] - -[1] "And they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it -out of the house.. . and Uzzah and Ahio drave the new cart....and -when they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth his -hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook -it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God -smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of -God." 2 Samuel, vi. 4-7. - -[2] The hearing said "No," the sight said "Yes." - -[3] "So David went and brought up the ark of God... into the city -of David with gladness. And when they that bare the ark of the -Lord had gone six paces he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And -David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was -girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel -brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound -of the trumpet. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of -David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window, and saw -King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised -him in her heart." 2 Samuel, vi. 12-16. - - -I moved my feet from the place where I was standing to look from -near at another story which behind Michal was shining white on -me. Here was storied the high glory of the Roman prince, whose -worth incited Gregory to his great victory:[1] I speak of Trajan -the emperor; and a poor widow was at his bridle in attitude of -weeping and of grief. Round about him there seemed a press and -throng of knights, and the eagles in the gold above him to the -sight were moving in the wind. The wretched woman among all these -seemed to be saying, "Lord, do vengeance for me for my son who is -slain, whereat I am broken-hearted." And he to answer her, "Now -wait till I return;" and she, "My Lord,"--like one in whom grief -is hasty,--"if thou return not?" And he, "He who shall be where I -am will do it for thee." And she, "What will the good deed of -another be to thee if thou art mindless of thine own?" Whereon -he, "Now comfort thee; for it behoves that I discharge my own -duty ere I go; justice requires it, and pity constrains me." He -who hath never seen new thing [2] had produced that visible -speech, novel to us, since on earth it is not found. - -[1] This legend of Trajan had great vogue during the Middle Ages. -It was believed that Pope Gregory the Great interceded for him, -praying that he might be delivered from Hell; "then God because -of these prayers drew that soul from pain and put it into glory." -This was Gregory's great victory. See Paradise, XX., p. 131. - -[2] God, to whom nothing can be new. - - -While I was delighting me with regarding the images of such great -humilities, and for their Maker's sake dear to behold, "Lo, on -this side many people, but they make few steps," murmured the -Poet. "They will put us on the way to the high stairs." My eyes -that were intent on looking in order to see novelties whereof -they are fain, in turning toward him were not slow. - -I would not, indeed, Reader, that thou be dismayed at thy good -purpose, through hearing how God wills that the debt be paid. -Attend not to the form of the suffering; think on what follows; -think that at worst beyond the Great Judgment it cannot go! - -I began, "Master, that which I see moving toward us, seems to me -not persons, but what I know not, my look is so in vain." And he -to me, "The heavy condition of their torment so presses them to -earth, that mine own eyes at first had contention with it. But -look fixedly there, and disentangle with thy sight that which -cometh beneath those stones; now thou canst discern how each is -smitten." - -O proud Christians, wretched weary ones, who, diseased in vision -of the mind, have confidence in backward steps, are ye not aware -that we are worms born to form the angelic butterfly which flies -unto judgment without defence? Why doth your mind float up aloft, -since ye are as it were defective insects, even as a worm in -which formation fails? - -As sometimes for support of ceiling or roof, by way of corbel, a -figure is seen joining its knees to its breast, which out of its -unreality makes a real pang rise in him who sees it, thus -fashioned saw I these when I gave good heed. True it is that they -were more or less contracted according as they had more or less -upon their backs; and he who had most patience in his looks, -weeping, appeared to say, "I can no more." - - - -CANTO XI. First Ledge: the Proud.--Prayer.--Omberto -Aldobrandeschi.--Oderisi d' Agubbio.--Provinzan Salvani. - - -"O our Father who art in Heaven, not circumscribed, but through -the greater love which to the first effects on high Thou hast,[1] -praised be Thy name and Thy power by every creature, even as it -is befitting to render thanks to Thy sweet effluence. May the -peace of Thy Kingdom come towards us, for we to it cannot of -ourselves, if it come not, with all our striving. As of their -will Thine angels, singing Hosanna, make sacrifice to Thee, so -may men make of theirs. Give us this day the daily manna, without -which through this rough desert he backward goes, who toils most -to go on. And as we pardon every one for the wrong that we have -suffered, even do Thou, benignant, pardon and regard not our -desert. Our virtue which is easily overcome put not to proof with -the old adversary, but deliver from him who so spurs it. This -last prayer, dear Lord, truly is not made for ourselves, for it -is not needful, but for those who behind us have remained." - -[1] Not circumscribed by Heaven, but having Thy seat there -because of the love Thou bearest to the first effects --the -angels, and the heavens--of Thyself the First Cause. - - -Thus praying for themselves and us good speed, those souls were -going under the weight, like that of which one sometimes dreams, -unequally in anguish, all of them round and round, and weary, -along the first cornice, purging away the mists of the world. If -good they ask for us always there, what can here be said and done -for them by those who have a good root for their will? Truly we -ought to aid them to wash away the marks which they bore hence, -so that pure and light they may go forth unto the starry wheels. - -"Ah! so may justice and pity unburden you speedily that ye may be -able to move the wing, which according to your desire may lift -you, show on which hand is the shortest way towards the stair; -and if there is more than one pass, point out to us that which -least steeply slopes; for this man who comes with me, because of -the load of the flesh of Adam wherewith he is clothed, is chary -against his will of mounting up." It was not manifest from whom -came the words which they returned to these that he whom I was -following had spoken, but it was said, "To the right hand along -the bank come ye with us, and ye will find the pass possible for -a living person to ascend. And if I were not hindered by the -stone which tames my proud neck, wherefore I needs must carry my -face low, I would look at that one who is still alive and is not -named, to see if I know him, and to make him pitiful of this -burden. I was Italian, and born of a great Tuscan; Guglielmo -Aldobrandesco was my father: I know not if his name was ever with -you.[1] The ancient blood and the gallant deeds of my ancestors -made me so arrogant that, not thinking on the common mother, I -held every man in scorn to such extreme that I died therefor, as -the Sienese know, and every child in Campagnatico knows it. I am -Omberto: and not only unto me Pride doth harm, for all my -kinsfolk bath she dragged with her into calamity; and here must I -heap this weight on her account till God be satisfied,--here -among the dead, since I did it not among the living." - -[1] The Aldobrandeschi were the counts of Santa Fiore (see Canto -VI.) in the Sienese Maremma. Little is known of them, but that -they were in constant feud with Siena. The one who speaks was -murdered in his own stronghold of Campagnatico, in 1259. - - -Listening, I bent down my face; and one of them, not he who was -speaking, twisted himself under the weight that hampers him; and -he saw me, and recognized me and called out, keeping his eyes -with effort fixed on me, who was going along all stooping with -him.[1] "Oh," said I to him, "art thou not Oderisi, the honor of -Gubbio, and the honor of that art which in Paris is called -illumination?" "Brother," said he, "more smiling are the leaves -that Franco of Bologna pencils; the honor is now all his, and -mine in part.[2] Truly I should not have been so courteous while -I lived, because of the great desire of excelling whereon my -heart was intent. Of such pride here is paid the fee; and yet I -should not be here, were it not that, still having power to sin, -I turned me unto God. Oh vainglory of human powers! how little -lasts the green upon the top, if it be not followed by dull -ages.[3] Cimabue thought to hold the field in painting, and now -Giotto has the cry, so that the fame of him is obscured. In like -manner one Guido hath taken from the other the glory of the -language; and he perhaps is born who shall drive both one and the -other from the nest.[4] Worldly renown is naught but a breath of -wind, which now comes hence and now comes thence, and changes -name because it changes quarter. What more fame shalt thou have, -if thou strippest old flesh from thee, than if thou hadst died -ere thou hadst left the pap and the chink,[5] before a thousand -years have passed?--which is a shorter space compared to the -eternal than a movement of the eyelids to the circle that is -slowest turned in Heaven. With him who takes so little of the -road in front of me, all Tuscany resounded, and now he scarce is -lisped of in Siena, where he was lord when the Florentine rage -was destroyed,[6] which at that time was proud, as now it is -prostitute. Your reputation is color of grass that comes and -goes, and he[7] discolors it through whom it came up fresh from -the earth." And I to him, "Thy true speech brings good humility -to my heart, and thou allayest a great swelling in me; but who is -he of whom thou now wast speaking?" "He is," he answered, -"Provinzan Salvani;[8] and he is here, because he was -presumptuous in bringing all Siena to his hands. He has gone -thus--and he goes without repose--ever since he died: such money -doth he pay in satisfaction, who is on earth too daring." And I, -"If that spirit who awaits the verge of life ere he repents -abides there below, and unless good prayer further him ascends -not hither, ere as much time pass us he lived, how has this -coining been granted unto him?" "When he was living most -renowned," said he, "laying aside all shame, of his own accord he -planted himself in the Campo of Siena,[9] and there, to draw his -friend from the punishment he was enduring in the prison of -Charles, brought himself to tremble in every vein. More I will -not say, and I know that I speak darkly; but little time will -pass, before thy neighbors will so act that thou wilt he able to -gloss it.[10] This deed released him from those limits."[11] - -[1] This stooping is the symbol of Dante's consciousness of pride -as his own besetting sin. - -[2] Oderisi of Gubbio and Franco of Bologna were both eminent in -the art called miniare in Italian, enluminer in French. - -[3] Ages in which no progress is made. - -[4] The first Guido is doubtless Guido Guinicelli, whom Dante -calls (see Canto XXVI.) his master; the other probably Dante's -friend, Guido Cavalcanti. - -[5] Dante's words are pappo and dindi, childish terms for "bread" -and "money." - -[6] The mad Florentine people were utterly cast down in 1260, at -the battle of Montaperti. - -[7] The sun. - -[8] Provinzano Salvani was one of the chief supporters of the -Ghibelline cause in Tuscany. He was a man of great qualities and -capacity, but proud and presumptuous. Defeated and taken prisoner -at the battle of Colle, in 1269, he was beheaded. - -[9] The Campo of Siena is her chief public square and -marketplace, set round with palaces. The friend of Provinzano is -said by the old commentators to have fought for Conradin against -Charles of Anjou, and, being taken captive, to have been -condemned to death. His ransom was fixed at ten thousand florins. -Provinzano, not being able to pay this sum from his own means, -took his seat in the Campo and humiliated himself to beg of the -passers-by. - -[10] The meaning of the dark words seems to be: Exile and poverty -will compel thee to beg, and begging to tremble in every vein. - -[11] This deed of humility and charity released him from the -necessity of tarrying outside the gate of Purgatory. - - - -CANTO XII. First Ledge: the Proud.--Examples of the punishment of -Pride graven on the pavement.--Meeting with an Angel who removes -one of the P's.--Ascent to the Second Ledge. - - -Side by side, like oxen who go yoked, I went on with that -burdened spirit so long as the sweet Pedagogue allowed it; but -when he said, "Leave him, and come on, for here it is well that, -both with sail and oars, each as much as he can should urge his -bark," I straitened up my body again, as is required for walking, -although my thoughts remained both bowed down and abated. - -I was moving on, and following willingly the steps of my Master, -and both now were showing how light we were, when he said to me, -"Turn thine eyes downward; it will be well for thee, in order to -solace the way, to look upon the bed of thy footprints." As above -the buried, so that there may be memory of them, their tombs in -earth bear inscribed that which they were before,--whence -oftentimes is weeping for them there, through the pricking of -remembrance, which only to the pious gives the spur,--so saw I -figured there, but of better semblance in respect of skill, all -that for pathway juts out from the mountain. - -I saw him who was created more noble than any other creature,[1] -down from heaven with lightning flash descending, at one side. - -[1] Lucifer. - - -I saw Briareus[1] transfixed by the celestial bolt, lying at the -other side, heavy upon the earth in mortal chill. I saw -Thymbraeus,[2] I saw Pallas and Mars, still armed, around their -father, gazing at the scattered limbs of the giants. - -[1] Examples from classic and biblical mythology alternate. - -[2] Apollo, so called from his temple at Thymbra, not far from -Troy, where Achilles is said to have slain Paris. Virgil -(Georgics, iv. 323) uses this epithet. - - -I saw Nimrod at the foot of his great toil, as if bewildered, and -gazing at the people who in Shinar had with him been proud. - -O Niobe! with what grieving eyes did I see thee portrayed upon -the road between thy seven and seven children slain! - -O Saul! how on thine own sword here didst thou appear dead on -Gilboa, that after felt not rain or dew![1] - -[1] I Samuel, xxxi. 4, and 2 Samuel, i. 24. - - -O mad Arachne,[1] so I saw thee already half spider, wretched on -the shreds of the work that to thy harm by thee was made! - -[1] Changed to a spider by Athena, whom she had challenged to a -trial of skill at the loom. - - -O Rehoboam! here thine image seems not now to threaten, but full -of fear, a chariot bears it away before any one pursues it.[1] - -[1] 1 Kings, xii. 13-18. - - -The hard pavement showed also how Alcmaeon made the ill-fated -ornament seem costly to his mother.[1] - -[1] Amphiaraus, the soothsayer, foreseeing his own death if he -went to the Theban war, hid himself to avoid being forced to go. -His wife, Eriphyle, bribed by a golden necklace, betrayed his -hiding-place, and was killed by her son Alcmaeon, for thus -bringing about his father's death. - - -It showed how his sons threw themselves upon Sennacherib within -the temple, and how they left him there dead.[1] - -[1] 2 Kings, xix. 37. - - -It showed the ruin and the cruel slaughter that Tomyris wrought, -when she said to Cyrus, "For blood thou hast thirsted, and with -blood I fill thee." - -[1] Herodotus (i. 214) tells how Tomyris, Queen of the -Massagetae, having defeated and slain Cyrus, filled a skin full -of human blood, and plunged his head in it with words such as -Dante reports, and which he derived from Orosius, Histor. ii. 7. - - -It showed how the Assyrians fled in rout after Holofernes was -killed, and also the remainder of the punishment.[1] - -[1] Judith, xv. 1. - - -I saw Troy in ashes, and in caverns. O Ilion! how cast down and -abject the image which is there discerned showed thee! - -What master has there been of pencil or of style that could draw -the shadows and the lines which there would make every subtile -genius wonder? Dead the dead, and the living seemed alive. He who -saw the truth saw not better than I all that I trod on while I -went bent down.--Now be ye proud, and go with haughty look, ye -sons of Eve, and bend not down your face so that ye may see your -evil path! - -More of the mountain had now been circled by us, and of the sun's -course far more spent, than my mind, not disengaged, was aware, -when he, who always in advance attent was going on, began, "Lift -up thy head; there is no more time for going thus abstracted. See -there an Angel, who is hastening to come toward us: see how from -the service of the day the sixth hand-maiden returns.[1] With -reverence adorn thine acts and thy face so that he may delight to -direct us upward. Think that this day never dawns again." - -[1] The sixth hour of the day is coming to its end, near noon. - - -I was well used to his admonition ever to lose no time, so that -on that theme he could not speak to me obscurely. - -To us came the beautiful creature, clothed in white, and in his -face such as seems the tremulous morning star. Its arms it -opened, and then it opened its wings; it said, "Come: here at -hand are the steps, and easily henceforth one ascends. To this -invitation very few come. O human race, born to fly upward, why -before a little wind dost thou so fall?" - -He led us to where the rock was cut; here he struck his wings -across my forehead,[1] then promised me secure progress. - -[1] Removing the first P that the Angel of the Gate had incised -on Dante's brow. - - -As on the right hand, in going up the mountain,[1] where sits the -church that dominates her the well-guided[2] city above -Rubaconte,[3] the bold flight of the ascent is broken by the -stairs, which were made in an age when the record and the stave -were secure,[4] in like manner, the bank which falls here very -steeply from the next round is slackened; but on this side and -that the high rock grazes.[5] As we turned our persons thither, -voices sang "Beati pauperes spiritu"[6] in such wise that speech -could not tell it. Ah, how different are these passes from those -of Hell! for here through songs one enters, and there below -through fierce lamentings. - -[1] The hill of San Miniato, above Florence. - -[2] Ironical. - -[3] The upper bridge at Florence across the Arno, named after -Messer Rubaconte di Mandella, podesta of Florence, who laid the -first stone of it in 1237; now called the Ponte alle Grazie, -after a little chapel built upon it in 1471, and dedicated to Our -Lady of Grace. - -[4] In the good old time when men were honest. In 1299 one -Messer Niccola Acciaioli, in order to conceal a fraudulent -transaction, had a leaf torn out from the public notorial record; -and about the same time an officer in charge of the revenue from -salt, for the sake of private gain, measured the salt he received -with an honest measure, but that which he sold with a measure -diminished by the removal of a stave. - -[5] The stairway is so narrow. - -[6] "Blessed are the poor in spirit." As Dante passes from each -round of Purgatory, an angel removes the P which denotes the -special sin there purged away. And the removal is accompanied -with the words of one of the Beatitudes. - - -Now we were mounting up over the holy stairs, and it seemed to me -I was far more light than I had seemed on the plain before. -Whereon I, "Master, say, what heavy thing has been lifted from -me, so that almost no weariness is felt by me as I go on?" He -answered, "When the P's that almost extinct[1] still remain on -thy countenance shall be, as one is, quite erased, thy feet will -be so conquered by good will that not only they will not feel -fatigue, but it will be delight to them to be urged up." Then I -did like those who are going with something on their head, -unknown by them unless the signs of others make them suspect; -wherefore the hand assists to ascertain, and seeks and finds, and -performs that office which cannot be accomplished by the sight; -and with the fingers of my right hand outspread, I found only six -those letters which he of the keys had encised upon my temples: -looking at which my Leader smiled. - -[1] Almost extinct, because, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, "Pride -by which we are chiefly turned from God is the first and the -origin of all sins." He adds, "Pride is said to be the beginning -of every sin, not because every single sin has its source in -pride, but because every kind of sin is born of pride." Summa -Theol., II. 2, quaest. 162, art. 7. - - - -CANTO XIII. Second Ledge the Envious.--Examples of Love.--The -Shades in haircloth, and with sealed eyes.--Sapia of Siena. - - -We were at the top of the stairway, where the mountain, ascent of -which frees one from ill, is the second time cut back. There a -cornice binds the hill round about, in like manner as the first, -except that its arc bends more quickly. No shadow is there, nor -mark which is apparent [1] so that the bank appears smooth and so -the path, with the livid color of the stone. - -[1] No sculptured or engraved scenes. - - -"If to enquire one waits here for people," said the Poet, "I fear -that perhaps our choice will have too much delay." Then he set -his eyes fixedly upon the sun, made of his right side the centre -for his movement, and turned the left part of himself. "O sweet -light, with confidence in which I enter on the new road, do thou -lead us on it," he said, "as there is need for leading here -within. Thou warmest the world, thou shinest upon it; if other -reason prompt not to the contrary, thy rays ought ever to be -guides." - -As far as here on earth is counted for a mile, so far had we now -gone there, in little time because of ready will; and towards us -were heard to fly, not however seen, spirits uttering courteous -invitations to the table of love. The first voice that passed -flying, "Virum non habent,"[1] loudly said, and went on behind -us reiterating it. And before it had become quite inaudible -through distance, another passed by, crying, "I am Orestes," [2] -and also did not stay. "O Father," said I, "what voices are -these?" and even as I was asking, lo! the third, saying, "Love -them from whom ye have had wrong." And the good Master: "This -circle scourges the sin of envy, and therefore from love are -drawn the cords of the scourge. The curb must be of the opposite -sound; I think that thou wilt hear it before thou arrivest at the -pass of pardon.[3] But fix thine eyes very fixedly through the -air, and thou wilt see in front of us people sitting, and each is -seated against the rock." Then more than before I opened my eyes; -I looked in front of me, and saw shades with cloaks in color not -different from the stone. And when we were a little further -forward, I heard them crying, "Mary, pray for us!" crying, -"Michael," and "Peter," and all the Saints. - -[1] "They have no wine."--John ii. 3. The words of Mary at the -wedding feast of Cana, symbolic of a kindness that is a rebuke of -envy. - -[2] The words of Pylades, before Aegisthus, when contending with -Orestes to be put to death in his stead. - -[3] At the stair to the third ledge, at the foot of which stands -the angel who cancels the sin of envy. - - - -I do not believe there goes on earth to-day a man so hard that he -had not been pricked by compassion at that which I then saw. For -when I had approached so near to them that their actions came -surely to me, tears were drawn from my eyes by heavy grief. They -seemed to me covered with coarse haircloth, and one supported the -other with his shoulders, and all were supported by the bank. -Thus the blind, who lack subsistence, stand at pardons[1] to beg -for what they need, and one bows his head upon another, so that -pity may quickly be moved in others, not only by the sound of the -words, but by the sight which implores no less. And as to the -blind the sun profits not, so to the shades, there where I was -now speaking, the light of Heaven wills not to make largess of -itself; for a wire of iron pierces and sews up the eyelids of -all; even as is done to a wild sparrow-hawk, because it stays not -quiet. - -[1] On occasion of special indulgences the beggars gather at the -door of churches frequented by those who seek the pardons to be -obtained within. - - -It seemed to me I was doing outrage as I went on, seeing others, -not myself being seen, wherefore I turned me to my sage Counsel; -well did he know what the dumb wished to say, and therefore -waited not my asking, but said, "Speak, and be brief and to the -point." - -Virgil was coming with me on that side of the cornice from which -one may fall, because it is encircled by no rim. On the other -side of me were the devout shades, that through the horrible -stitches were pressing out the tears so that they bathed their -cheeks. I turned me to them, and, "O folk secure," I began, "of -seeing the lofty light which alone your desire holds in its care, -may grace speedily dissolve the scum of your consciences so that -the stream of memory through them may descend clear,[1] tell me, -for it will be gracious and dear to me, if there be a soul here -among you that is Latin, and perhaps it will be good for him if I -learn it." "O my brother, each is a citizen of one true city,[2] -but thou meanest, who lived in Italy while a pilgrim."[3] This it -seemed to me to hear for answer somewhat further on than where I -was standing; wherefore I made myself heard still more that way. -Among the others I saw a shade that was expectant in look; and, -if any one should wish to ask, How?--like a blind man it was -lifting up its chin. "Spirit," said I, "that humblest thyself in -order to ascend, if thou art that one which answered me, make -thyself known to me either by place or by name." "I was a -Sienese," it answered, "and with these others I cleanse here my -guilty life, weeping to Him that He grant Himself to us. Sapient -I was not, although I was called Sapia, and I was far more glad -of others' harm than of my own good fortune. And that thou mayst -not believe that I deceive thee, bear if I was foolish as I tell -thee. The arch of my years already descending, my fellow-citizens -were joined in battle near to Colle[4] with their adversaries, -and I prayed God for that which He willed. They were routed -there, and turned into the bitter passes of flight; and I, seeing -the pursuit, experienced a joy unmatched by any other; so much -that I turned upward my audacious face, crying out to God, 'Now -no more I fear thee;' as the blackbird doth because of a little -fair weather. At the very end of my life I desired peace with -God; and even yet my debt would not be lessened by penitence,[5] -had it not been that Pier Pettinagno,[6] who out of charity was -sorry for me, held me in memory in his holy prayers. But thou, -who art thou that goest asking of our conditions, and bearest -thine eyes loose as I think, and breathing dost speak?" "My -eyes," said I, "will yet be taken from me here but a little time, -for small is the offence committed through their being turned -with envy. Far greater is the fear, with which my soul is in -suspense, of the torment beneath, and already the load down there -weighs upon me. And she to me, "Who then hath led thee here up -among us, if thou thinkest to return below?" And I, "This one who -is with me, and says not a word: and I am alive; and therefore -ask of me, spirit elect, if thou wouldst that I should yet move -for thee on earth my mortal feet." "Oh, this is so strange a -thing to hear," she replied, "that it is great sign that God -loves thee; therefore assist me sometimes with thy prayer. And I -beseech thee, by that which thou most desirest, if ever thou -tread the earth of Tuscany, that with my kindred thou restore my -fame. Thou wilt see them among that vain people which hopes in -Talamone,[7] and will waste more hope there, than in finding the -Diana[8] but the admirals will stake the most there.[9] - -[1] Being purified from sin they will retain no memory of it. - -[2] "Fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of -God."--Ephesians, ii. 19. - -[3] "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to -come."--Hebrews, xiii. 14. - -[4] This was the battle in 1259, in which the Florentines routed -die Sienese Ghibellines, at whose head was Provenzan Salvani. who -was slain. See Canto XI. - -[5] I should not yet within Purgatory have diminished my debt of -expiation, but, because I delayed repentance till the hour of -Death, I should still be outside the gate. - -[6] A poor comb-dealer, a man of kind heart, honest dealings, and -good deeds, and still remembered for them in Siena. He died in -1289. - -[7] A little port on the coast of Tuscany, on which the Sienese -wasted toil and money in the vain hope that by strengthening and -enlarging it they could make themselves rivals at sea of the -Pisans and Genoese. - -[8] A subterranean stream supposed to flow beneath the city. - -[9] Of these last words the meaning is obscure. - - - -CANTO XIV. Second Ledge: the Envious--Guido del Duca.--Rinieri -de' Calboli.--Examples of the punishment of Envy. - - -"Who is this that circles our mountain ere death have given him -flight, and opens and shuts his eyes at his own will?"[1] "I know -not who he is, but I know that he is not alone. Do thou, who art -nearer to him, ask him; and sweetly, so that he may speak, accost -him." Thus two spirits, leaning one to the other, discoursed of -me there on the right hand, then turned up their faces to speak -to me. And one of them said, "O soul that still fixed in thy body -goest on toward heaven, for charity console us, and tell us -whence thou comest, and who thou art; for thou makest us so -marvel at this thy grace, as needs must a thing that never was -before." And I, "Through mid Tuscany there wanders a little -stream, that has its rise on Falterona,[2] and a hundred miles of -coarse does not suffice it. From thereupon I bring this body. -To tell you who I am would be to speak in vain, for my name as -yet makes no great sound." "If I grasp aright thy meaning with my -understanding," then replied to me he who had spoken first, "thou -speakest of the Arno." And the other said to him, "Why did he -conceal the name of that river, even as one does of horrible -things?" And the shade of whom this was asked, delivered itself -thus, "I know not, but truly it is fit that the name of such a -valley perish, for from its source (where the rugged mountain -chain, from which Pelorus[3] is cut off, is so teeming that in -few places it passes beyond that mark), far as there where it -gives back in restoration that which heaven dries up of the sea -(wherefrom the rivers have what flows in them), virtue is driven -away as an enemy by all men, like a snake, either through -misfortune of the place, or through evil habit that incites them. -Wherefore the inhabitants of the wretched valley have so changed -their nature that it seems as though Circe had had them in her -feeding. Among foul hogs,[4] more fit for acorns than for other -food made for human use, it first directs its poor path. Then, -coming down, it finds curs more snarling, than their power -warrants,[5] and at them disdainfully it twists its -muzzle.[6] It goes on falling, and the more it swells so much the -more the accursed and ill-fated ditch finds the dogs becoming -wolves.[7] Descending then through many hollow gulfs, it finds -foxes[8] so full of fraud, that they fear not that wit may entrap -them. Nor will I leave to speak though another hear me: and well -it will be for this one if hereafter he mind him of that which a -true spirit discloses to me. - -[1] These words are spoken by Guido del Duca, who is answered by -Rinieri de' Calboli; both of them from the Romagna. - -[2] One of the highest of the Tuscan Apennines. - -[3] The north-eastern promontory of Sicily. - -[4] The people of the Casentino, the upper valley of the Arno. - -[5] The Aretines. - -[6] Turning westward. - -[7] The wolves of Florence. - -[8] The Pisans. - - -"I see thy grandson,[1] who becomes hunter of those wolves upon -the bank of the fierce stream, and terrifies them all. He sells -their flesh,[2] it being yet alive; then he slays them, like an -old wild beast; many of life, himself of honor he deprives. -Bloody he comes forth from the dismal wood;[3] he leaves it such, -that from now for a thousand years, in its primal state it is not -rewooded." As at the announcement of grievous ills, the face of -him who listens is disturbed, from whatsoever side the danger may -assail him, so I saw the other soul, that was turned to hear, -become disturbed and sad, when it had gathered to itself the -words. - -[1] Fulcieri da Calvoli, so named by Villani (viii. 69), "a -fierce and cruel man," was made podesta of Florence in 1302. He -put to death many of the White Guelphs, and banished more of -them. - -[2] Bribed by the opposite party. - -[3] Florence, spoiled and undone. - - -The speech of one and the look of the other made me wishful to -know their names, and I made request for it, mixed with prayers. -Wherefore the spirit which first had spoken to me began again, -"Thou wishest that I abase myself in doing that for thee which -thou wilt not do for me; but since God wills that such great -grace of His shine through in thee, I will not be chary to thee; -therefore know that I am Guido del Duca. My blood was so inflamed -with envy, that had I seen a man becoming joyful, thou wouldst -have seen me overspread with livid hue. Of my sowing I reap this -straw. O human race, why dost thou set thy heart there where is -need of exclusion of companionship? - -"This one is Rinier; this is the glory and the honor of the house -of Calboli,[1] where no one since has made himself heir of his -worth. And between the Po and the mountain,[2] and the sea[3] and -the Reno,[4] not his blood alone has become stripped of the good -required for truth and for delight; for within these limits the -ground is so full of poisonous stocks, that slowly would they now -die out through cultivation. Where is the good Lizio, and Arrigo -Manardi, Pier Traversaro, and Guido di Carpigna? O men of Romagna -turned to bastards! When in Bologna will a Fabbro take root -again? When in Faenza a Bernardin di Fosco, the noble scion of a -mean plant? Marvel not, Tuscan, if I weep, when I remember with -Guido da Prata, Ugolin d' Azzo who lived with us, Federico -Tignoso and his company, the house of Traversara, and the -Anastagi, (both the one race and the other is without heir), the -ladies and the cavaliers, the toils and the pleasures for which -love and courtesy inspired our will, there where hearts have -become so wicked. O Brettinoro! why dost thou not flee away, -since thy family hath gone, and many people, in order not to be -guilty? Well doth Bagnacaval that gets no more sons; and ill doth -Castrocaro, and worse Conio that takes most trouble to beget such -counts. Well will the Pagani do when their Demon shall go from -them;[6] yet not so that a pure report of them can ever remain. O -Ugolin de' Fantolin! thy name is secure, since one who, -degenerating, can make it dark is no longer awaited. But go thy -way, Tuscan, now; for now it pleases me far more to weep than to -speak, so much hath our discourse wrung my mind." - -[1] A noble Guelph family of Forli. - -[2] The Apennines. - -[3] The Adriatic. - -[4] Near Bologna. - -[5] These and the others named afterwards were well-born, -honorable, and courteous men in Romagna in the thirteenth -century. What is known of them may be found in Benvenuto da -Imola's comment, and in that of Scartazzini. - -[6] The Pagani were lords of Faenza and Imola (see Hell, Canto -XXVII); the Demon was Mainardo, who died in 1302. - - -We knew that those dear souls heard us go; therefore by silence -they made us confident of the road. After we had become alone by -going on, a voice that seemed like lightning when it cleaves the -air, came counter to us, saying, "Everyone that findeth me shall -slay me," [1] and fled like thunder which rolls away, if suddenly -the cloud is rent. Soon as our hearing had a truce from it, lo! -now another with so great a crash that it resembled thunderings -in swift succession: "I am Aglauros who became a stone."[2] And -then to draw me close to the Poet, I backward and not forward -took a step. Now was the air quiet on every side, and he said to -me, "That was the hard curb[3] which ought to hold man within his -bound; but ye take the bait, so that the hook of the old -adversary draws you to him, and therefore little avails bridle or -lure. Heaven calls you, and around you circles, displaying to you -its eternal beauties, and your eye looks only on the ground; -wherefore He who discerns everything scourges you. - -[1] The words of Cain--Genesis, iv. 14. - -[2] Daughter of Cecrops, changed to stone because of envy of her -sister. - -[3] These examples of the fatal consequences of the sin. - - - -CANTO XV. Second Ledge: the Envious.--An Angel removes the second -P from Dante's forehead.--Discourse concerning the Sharing of -Good.--Ascent to the Third Ledge: the Wrathful.--Examples of -Forbearance seen in Vision. - - -As much as appears, between the beginning of the day and the -close of the third hour, of the sphere that ever in manner of a -child is sporting, so much now, toward the evening, appeared to -be remaining of his course for the sun.[1] It was vespers[2] -there,[3] and here midnight; and the rays struck us across the -nose,[4] because the mountain had been so circled by us that we -were now going straight toward the sunset, when I felt my -forehead weighed down by the splendor far more than at first, and -the things not known were a wonder to me.[5] Wherefore I lifted -my hands toward the top of my brows, and made for myself the -visor that lessens the excess of what is seen. - -[1] The sun was still some three hours from his setting. The -sphere that ever is sportive like a child has been variously -interpreted; perhaps Dante only meant the sphere of the heavens -which by its ever varying aspect suggests the image of a playful -spirit. - -[2] Dante uses "vespers" as the term for the last of the four -canonical divisions of the day; that is, from three to six P.M. -See Convito, iv. 23. Three o'clock in Purgatory corresponds with -midnight in Italy. - -[3] In Italy. - -[4] Full in the face. - -[5] The source of this increase of brightness being unknown, it -caused him astonishment. - - -As when from water, or from the mirror, the ray leaps to the -opposite quarter, and, mounting up in like manner to that in -which it descends, at equal distance departs as much from the -falling of the stone,[1] as experiment and art show; so it seemed -to me that I was struck by light reflected there in front of me, -from which my sight was swift to fly. "What is that, sweet -Father, from which I cannot screen my sight so that it avails -me," said I, "and which seems to be moving toward us?" "Marvel -not if the family of Heaven still dazzle thee," he replied to me; -"it is a messenger that comes to invite men to ascend. Soon will -it be that to see these things will not be grievous to thee, but -will be delight to thee as great as nature fitted thee to feel." - -[1] I.e., the perpendicular, at the point of incidence. - - -When we had reached the blessed Angel, with a glad voice he said, -"Enter ye here to a stairway far less steep than the others." - -We were mounting, already departed thence, and "Beati -misericordes"[1] had been sung behind us, and "Rejoice thou that -overcomest." [2] My Master and I, we two alone, were going on -upward, and I was thinking to win profit as we went from his -words; and I addressed me to him, thus enquiring, "What did the -spirit from Romagna mean, mentioning exclusion and -companionship?"[3] Wherefore he to me, "Of his own greatest fault -he knows the harm, and therefore it is not to be wondered at if -he reprove it, in order that there may be less lamenting on -account of it. Because your desires are directed there, where, -through companionship, a share is lessened, envy moves the -bellows for your sighs. But if the love of the highest sphere[4] -had turned your desire on high, that fear would not be in your -breast; for the more there are who there say 'ours,' so much the -more of good doth each possess, and the more of charity burns in -that cloister."[5] "I am more hungering to be contented," said I, -"than if I had at first been silent, and more of doubt I assemble -in my mind. How can it be that a good distributed makes more -possessors richer with itself, than if by few it is -possessed?"[6] And he to me, "Because thou fastenest thy mind -only on earthly things, from true light thou gatherest darkness. -That infinite and ineffable Good which is on high, runs to love -even as the sunbeam comes to a lucid body. As much of itself it -gives as it finds of ardor; so that how far soever charity -extends, beyond it doth the eternal bounty increase. And the more -the people who are intent on high the more there are for loving -well, and the more love is there, and like a mirror one reflects -to the other. And if my discourse appease not thy hunger, thou -shalt see Beatrice, and she will fully take from thee this and -every other longing. Strive only that soon may be extinct, as two -already are, the five wounds that are closed up by being -painful."[7] - -[1] "Blessed are the merciful." - -[2] At the passage from each round, the Angel at the foot of the -stairs repeats words from the Beatitudes adapted to those -purified from the sin punished upon the ledge which is being -left. - -[3] In the last canto, Guido del Duca had exclaimed, "O human -race, why dost thou set thy heart there where companionship must -needs be excluded!" - -[4] The Empyrean. - -[5] "Since good, the more -Communicated, the more abundant grows." -Milton, Paradise Lost, v. 73. - -[6] "True love in this differs from gold and clay, - That to divide is not to take away."--Shelley, Epipsychidion. - -[7] The pain of contrition. - - -As I was about to say "Thou satisfiest me," I saw myself arrived -on the next round,[1] so that my eager eyes made me silent. There -it seemed to me I was of a sudden rapt in an ecstatic vision, and -saw many persons in a temple, and a lady at the entrance, with -the sweet action of a mother, saying, "My son, why hast thou done -thus toward us? Lo, sorrowing, thy father and I were seeking -thee;" and when here she was silent, that which first appeared, -disappeared. - -[1] Where the sin of anger is expiated. - - -Then appeared to me another, with those waters down along her -cheeks which grief distils when it springs from great despite -toward others, and she was saying, "If thou art lord of the city -about whose name was such great strife among the gods, and whence -every science sparkles forth, avenge thyself on those audacious -arms, that have embraced our daughter, O Pisistratus." And the -lord appeared to me, benign and mild, to answer her, with -temperate look, "What shall we do to him who desires ill for us, -if he who loves us is by us condemned?"[1] - -[1] Dante translated this story from Valerius Maximus, Facta et -dicta mem., vi. 1. - - -Then I saw people kindled with fire of wrath, killing a youth -with stones, loudly crying to each other only, "Slay, slay." And -I saw him bowed by death, which now was weighing on him, toward -the ground, but in such great strife he ever made of his eyes -gates for heaven, praying to the high Lord, that He would pardon -his persecutors, with that aspect which unlocks pity.[1] - -[1] See Acts, vii. 55-60. - - -When my mind returned outwardly to the things which outside of it -are true, I recognized my not false errors. My Leader, who could -see me do like a man who looses himself from slumber, said, -"What ails thee, that thou canst not support thyself? but art -come more than a half league veiling thine eyes, and with thy -legs staggering like one whom wine or slumber bends." "O sweet -Father mine, if thou harkenest to me I will tell thee," said I, -"what appeared to me when my legs were thus taken from me." And -he, "If thou hadst a hundred masks upon thy face, thy thoughts -howsoever small would not be hidden from me. That which thou hast -seen was in order that thou excuse not thyself from opening thy -heart to the waters of peace which are poured forth from the -eternal fountain. I did not ask, 'What ails thee?' for the reason -that he does who looks only with the eye which hath no seeing -when the body lies inanimate; but I asked, in order to give vigor -to the foot; thus it behoves to spur the sluggards, slow to use -their wakefulness when it returns." - -We were going on through the vesper time, forward intent so far -as the eyes could reach against the bright evening rays; when, -lo, little by little, a smoke came toward us, dark as night; iior -was there place to shelter ourselves from it. This took from us -our eyes and the pure air. - - - -CANTO XVI. Third Ledge the Wrathful.--Marco Lombardo.--His -discourse on Free Will, and the Corruption of the World. - - -Gloom of hell, or of night deprived of every planet, under a -barren sky, obscured by clouds as much as it can be, never made -so thick a veil to my sight nor to my feeling so harsh of tissue -as that smoke which covered us there; so that my eye endured not -to stay open[1] wherefore my sage and trusty Escort drew to my -side and offered me his shoulder. Even as a blind man goes behind -his guide, in order not to stray, and not to butt against -anything that may hurt or perhaps kill him, I went along, through -the bitter and foul air, listening to my Leader, who was ever -saying, "Take care that thou be not cut off from me." - -[1] The gloom and the smoke symbolize the effects of anger on the -soul. - - -I heard voices, and each appeared to be praying for peace and -mercy to the Lamb of God that taketh sins away. Only "Agnus -Dei[1] were their exordiums: one word there was in all, and one -measure; so that among them seemed entire concord. "Are these -spirits, Master, that I hear?" said I. And he to me, "Thou -apprehendest truly; and they go loosening the knot of anger." -"Now who art thou that cleavest our smoke, and yet dost speak of -us even as if thou didst still divide the time by calends?" [2] -Thus by one voice was said: whereon my Master said, "Reply, and -ask if by this way one goeth up." And I, "O creature, that -cleansest thyself in order to return beautiful unto Him who made -thee, a marvel shalt thou hear if thou accompanyest me." "I will -follow thee, so far as is permitted me," it replied, "and if the -smoke allows not seeing, in its stead hearing shall keep us -joined." Then I began, "With that swathing band which death -unbinds I go upward, and I came hither through the infernal -anguish. And if God bath so enclosed me in His grace that He -wills that I should see His court by a mode wholly out of modern -usage, conceal not from me who thou wert before thy death, but -tell it to me, and tell me if I am going rightly to the pass; and -let thy words be our guides." "Lombard I was, and was called -Marco; the world I knew, and that worth I loved, toward which -every one hath now unbent his bow. For mounting thou art going -rightly." Thus he replied, and added, "I pray thee that thou pray -for me when thou shalt he above." And I to him, "I pledge my -faith to thee to do that which thou askest of me; but I am -bursting inwardly with a doubt, if I free not myself of it; at -first it was simple, and now it is made double by thy words which -make certain to me, here as elsewhere, that wherewith I couple -it.[3] The world is indeed as utterly deserted by every virtue as -thou declarest to me, and with iniquity is big and covered; but I -pray that thou point out to me the cause, so that I may see it, -and that I may show it to others; for one sets it in the heavens, -and one here below." - -[1] "The Lamb of God." - -[2] By those in the eternal world dine is not reckoned by earth -divisions. - -[3] The doubt was occasioned by Guido del Duca's words (Canto -XV.), in regard to the prevalence of evil in Tuscany, arising -either from misfortune of the place, or through the bad habits of -men. The fact of the iniquity of men was now reaffirmed by Marco -Lombardo; Dante accepts the fact as certain, and his doubt is -coupled with it. - - -A deep sigh that grief wrung into "Ay me!" he first sent forth, -and then began, "Brother, the world is blind, and thou forsooth -comest from it. Ye who are living refer every cause upward to the -heavens only, as if they of necessity moved all things with -themselves. If this were so, free will would be destroyed in you, -and there would be no justice in having joy for good, and grief -for evil. The heavens initiate your movements: I do not say all -of them; but, supposing that I said it, light for good and for -evil is given to you; and free will, which, if it endure fatigue -in the first battles with the heavens, afterwards, if it be well -nurtured, conquers everything. To a greater force, and to a -better nature, ye, free, are subjected, and that creates the mind -in you, which the heavens have not in their charge.' Therefore if -the present world goes astray, in you is the cause, in you let it -be sought; and of this I will now be a true informant for thee. - -[1] The soul of man is the direct creation of God, and is in -immediate subjection to His power; it is not in charge of the -Heavens, and its will is free to resist their mingled and -imperfect influences. - - -"Forth from the hand of Him who delights in it ere it exist, like -to a little maid who, weeping and smiling, wantons childishly, -issues the simple little soul, which knows nothing, save that, -proceeding from a glad Maker, it willingly turns to that which -allures it. Of trivial good at first it tastes the savor; by this -it is deceived and runs after it, if guide or bridle bend not its -love. Wherefore it was needful to impose law as a bridle; needful -to have a king who could discern at least the tower of the true -city. The laws exist, but who set hand to them? Not one: because -the shepherd who is in advance can ruminate, but has not his -hoofs divided?[1] Wherefore the people, who see their guide only -at that good[2] whereof they are greedy, feed upon that, and seek -no further. Well canst thou see that the evil leading is the -cause that has made the world guilty, and not nature which in you -may be corrupted. Rome, which made the world good, was wont to -have two Suns,[3] which made visible both one road and the other, -that of the world and that of God. One has extinguished the -other; and the sword is joined to the crozier; and the two -together must of necessity go ill, because, being joined, one -feareth not the other. If thou believest rue not, consider the -grain,[4] for every herb is known by its seed. - -[1] The shepherd who precedes the flock, and should lead it -aright, is the Pope. A mystical interpretation of the injunction -upon the children of Israel (Leviticus, xi.) in regard to clean -and unclean beasts was familiar to the schoolmen. St. Augustine -expounds the cloven hoof as symbolic of right conduct, because it -does not easily slip, and the chewing of the cud as signifying -the meditation of wisdom. Dante seems here to mean that the Pope -has the true doctrine, but makes not the true use of it for his -own guidance and the government of the world. - -[2] Material good. - -[3] Pope and Emperor. - -[4] The results that follow this forced union. - - -"Within the land which the Adige and the Po water, valor and -courtesy were wont to be found before Frederick had his -quarrel;[1] now safely anyone may pass there who out of shame -would cease discoursing with the good, or drawing near them. -Truly three old men are still there in whom the antique age -rebukes the new, and it seems late to them ere God restore them -to the better life; Currado da Palazzo, and the good Gherardo,[2] -and Guido da Castel, who is better named, after the manner of the -French, the simple Lombard.[3] - -[1] Before the Emperor Frederick II. had his quarrel with the -Pope; that is, before Emperor and Pope had failed in their -respective duties to each other. - -[2] Gherardo da Camino, "who was noble in his life, and whose -memory will always be noble," says Dante in the Convito, iv. 14. - -[3] "The French," says Benvenuto da Linda, "call all Italians -Lombards, and repute them very astute." - - -"Say thou henceforth, that the Church of Rome, through -confounding in itself two modes of rule,[1] falls in the mire, -and defiles itself and its burden." - -[1] The spiritual and the temporal. - - -"O Marco mine," said I, "thou reasonest well; and now I discern -why the sons of Levi were excluded from the heritage;[1] but what -Gherardo is that, who, thou sayest, remains for sample of the -extinct folk, in reproach of the barbarous age?" "Either thy -speech deceives me, or it is making trial of me," he replied to -me, "in that, speaking Tuscan to me, it seems that of the good -Gherardo thou knowest naught. By other added name I know him not, -unless I should take it from his daughter Gaia.[2] May God be -with you! for further I come not with you. Behold the brightness -which rays already glimmering through the smoke, and it behoves -me to depart--the Angel is there--ere I appear to him."[3] So he -turned, and would not hear me more. - -[1] "The Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the -covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister unto -him, and to bless in his name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath -no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his -inheritance."--Deuteronomy, x. 8-9. - -[2] Famed for her virtues, says Buti; for her vices, say the -Ottimo and Benvenuto. - -[3] His time of purgation is not yet finished; not yet is he -ready to meet the Angel of the Pass. - - - -CANTO XVII. Third Ledge the Wrathful.--Issue from the -Smoke.--Vision of examples of Anger.--Ascent to the Fourth Ledge, -where Sloth is purged.--Second Nightfall.--Virgil explains how -Love is the root of Virtue and of Sin. - - -Recall to mind, reader, if ever on the alps a cloud closed round -thee, through which thou couldst not see otherwise than the mole -through its skin, how, when the humid and dense vapors begin to -dissipate, the ball of the sun enters feebly through them: and -thy imagination will easily come to see, how at first I saw again -the sun, which was already at its setting. So, matching mine to -the trusty steps of my Master, I issued forth from such a cloud -to rays already dead on the low shores. - -O power imaginative, that dost sometimes so steal us from outward -things that a man heeds it not, although around him a thousand -trumpets sound, who moveth thee if the sense afford thee naught? -A light, that in the heavens is formed, moveth thee by itself, or -by a will that downward guides it? - -[1] If the imagination is not stirred by some object of sense, it -is moved by the influence of the stars, or directly by the Divine -will. - - -In my imagination appeared the impress of the impiety of her[1] -who changed her form into the bird that most delights in singing. -And here was my mind so shut up within itself that from without -came nothing which then might he received by it. Then rained down -within my high fantasy, one crucified,[2] scornful and fierce in -his look, and thus was dying. Around him were the great -Ahasuerus, Esther his wife, and the just Mordecai, who was in -speech and action so blameless. And when this imagination burst -of itself, like a bubble for which the water fails, beneath which -it was made, there rose in my vision a maiden,[3] weeping -bitterly, and she was saying, "O queen, wherefore through anger -hast thou willed to be naught? Thou hast killed thyself in order -not to lose Lavinia: now thou hast lost me: I am she who mourns, -mother, at thine, before another's ruin. - -[1] Progne or Philomela, according to one or the other version of -the tragic myth, was changed into the nightingale, after her -anger had led her to take cruel vengeance on Tereus. - -[2] Haman, who, according to the English version, was hanged, but -according to the Vulgate, was crucified--Esther, vii. - -[3] Lavinia, whose mother, Amata, killed herself in a rage at -hearing premature report of the death of Turnus, to whom she -desired that Lavinia should be married.--Aeneid, xii. 595-607. - - -As sleep is broken, when of a sudden the new light strikes the -closed eyes, and, broken, quivers ere it wholly dies, so my -imagining fell down, soon as a light, greater by far than that to -which we are accustomed, struck my face. I turned me to see where -I was, when a voice said, "Here is the ascent;" which from every -other object of attention removed me, and made my will so eager -to behold who it was that was, speaking that it never rests till -it is face to face. But, as before the sun which weighs down our -sight, and by excess veils its own shape, so here my power -failed. "This is a divine spirit who directs us, without our -asking, on the way to go up, and with his own light conceals -himself. He does for us as a man doth for himself; for he who -sees the need and waits for asking, malignly sets himself already -to denial. Now let us grant our feet to such an invitation; let -us hasten to ascend ere it grows dark, for after, it would not be -possible until the day returns." Thus said my Guide; and I and he -turned our steps to a stairway. And soon as I was on the first -step, near use I felt a motion as of wings, and a fanning on my -face,[1] and I heard said, "Beati pacifici,'[2] who are without -ill anger." - -[1] By which the angel removes the third P from Dante's brow. - -[2] "Blessed are the peacemakers." - - -Now were the last sunbeams on which the night follows so lifted -above us, that the stars were appearing on many sides. "O my -virtue, why dost thou so melt away?" to myself I said, for I felt -the power of my legs put in truce. We had come where the stair no -farther ascends, and we were stayed fast even as a ship that -arrives at the shore. And I listened a little, if I might hear -anything in the new circle. Then I turned to my Master, and said, -"My sweet Father, say what offence is purged here in the circle -where we are: if the feet are stopped, let not thy discourse -stop." And he to me, "The love of good, less than it should have -been, is here restored;[1] here is plied again the ill-slackened -oar. But that thou mayst still more clearly understand, turn thy -mind to me, and thou shalt gather some good fruit from our delay. - -[1] It is the round on which the sin of acedie, sloth, is purged -away. - - -"Neither Creator nor creature," began he, "son, ever was without -love, either natural, or of the mind,[1] and this thou knowest. -The natural is always without error; but the other may err either -through an evil object, or through too much or through too little -vigor. While love is directed on the primal goods, and on the -second moderates itself, it cannot be the cause of ill delight. -But when it is bent to evil,[2] or runs to good with more zeal, -or with less, than it ought, against the Creator works his own -creature. Hence thou canst comprehend that love needs must be the -seed in you of every virtue, and of every action that deserves -punishment. - -[1] Either native in the soul, as the love of God, or determined -by the choice, through free will, of some object of desire in the -mind. - -[2] A wrong object of desire. - - -"Now since love can never bend its sight from the welfare of its -subject,[1] all things are safe from hatred of themselves; and -since no being can be conceived of divided from the First,[2] and -standing by itself, from hating Him[3] every affection is cut -off. It follows, if, distinguishing, I rightly judge, that the -evil which is loved is that of one s neighbor; and in three modes -is this love born within your clay. There is he who hopes to -excel through the abasement of his neighbor, and only longs that -from his greatness he may be brought low.[4] There is he who -fears loss of power, favor, honor, fame, because another rises; -whereat he is so saddened that he loves the opposite.[5] And -there is he who seems so outraged by injury that it makes him -gluttonous of vengeance, and such a one must needs coin evil for -others.[6] This triform love is lamented down below.[7] - - -[1] To however wrong an object love may be directed, the person -always believes it to be for his own good. - -[2]The source of being. - -[3] God, the First Cause. - -[4] This is the nature of Pride. - -[5] Envy. - -[6] Anger. - -[7] In the three lower rounds of Purgatory. - - -"Now I would that thou hear of the other,--that which runs to the -good in faulty measure. Every one confusedly apprehends a good[1] -in which the mind may be at rest, and which it desires; wherefore -every one strives to attain it. If the love be slack that draws -you to see this, or to acquire it, this cornice, after just -repentance, torments you therefor. Another good there is,[2] -which doth not make man happy, is not happiness, is not the good -essence, the root of every good fruit. The love which abandons -itself too much to this[3] is lamented above us in three circles, -but how it is reckoned tripartite, I am silent, in order that -thou seek it for thyself." - -[1] The supreme Good. - -[2] Sensual enjoyment. - -[2] Resulting in the sins of avarice, gluttony, and lust. - - - -CANTO XVIII. Fourth Ledge The Slothful.--Discourse of Virgil on -Love and Free Will.--Throng of Spirits running in haste to redeem -their Sin.--The Abbot of San Zone.--Dante falls asleep. - - -The lofty Teacher had put an end to his discourse, and looked -attentive on my face to see if I appeared content; and I, whom a -fresh thirst already was goading, was silent outwardly, and -within was saying, "Perhaps the too much questioning I make -annoys him." But that true Father, who perceived the timid wish -which did not disclose itself, by speaking gave me hardihood to -speak. Then I, "My sight is so vivified in thy light that I -discern clearly all that thy discourse may imply or declare: -therefore I pray thee, sweet Father dear, that thou demonstrate -to me the love to which thou referrest every good action and its -contrary." "Direct," he said, "toward me the keen eyes of the -understanding, and the error of the blind who make themselves -leaders will be manifest to thee. The mind, which is created apt -to love, is mobile unto everything that pleases, soon as by -pleasure it is roused to action. Your faculty of apprehension -draws an image from a real existence, and within you displays it, -so that it makes the mind turn to it; and if, thus turned, the -mind incline toward it, that inclination is love, that -inclination is nature which is bound anew in you by pleasure.[1] -Then, as the fire moveth upward by its own form,[2] which is born -to ascend thither where it lasts longest in its material, so the -captive mind enters into longing, which is a spiritual motion, -and never rests until the thing beloved makes it rejoice. Now it -may be apparent to thee, how far the truth is hidden from the -people who aver that every love is in itself a laudable thing; -because perchance its matter appears always to be good;[3] but -not every seal is good although the wax be good." - -[1] In his discourse in the preceding canto, Virgil has declared -that neither the Creator nor his creatures are ever without love, -either native in the soul, or proceeding from the mind. Here he -explains how the mind is disposed to love by inclination to an -image within itself of some object which gives it pleasure. This -inclination is natural to it; or in his phrase, nature is bound -anew in man by the pleasure which arouses the love. All this is a -doctrine derived directly from St. Thomas Aquinas. "It is the -property of every nature to have some inclination, which is a -natural appetite, or love."--Summa Theol., 1, lxxvi. i. - -[2] Form is here used in its scholastic meaning. " The active -power of anything depends on its form, which is the principle of -its action. Fur the form is either the nature itself of the -thing, as in those which are pure form; or it is a constituent of -the nature of the thing, as in those which are composed of matter -and form."--Summa Theol., 3, xiii. i. Fire by its form, or -nature, seeks the sphere of fire between the ether and the moon. - -[3] The object may seem desirable to the mind, without being a -fit object of desire. - - -"Thy words, and my understanding which follows," replied I to -him, "have revealed love to me; but that has made me more full of -doubt. For if love is offered to us from without, and if with -other foot the soul go not, if strait or crooked she go is not -her own merit."[1] And he to me, "So much as reason seeth here -can I tell thee; beyond that await still for Beatrice; for it is -a work of faith. Every substantial form that is separate from -matter, and is united with it,[2] has a specific virtue residing -in itself which without action is not perceived, nor shows itself -save by its effect, as by green leaves the life in a plant. Yet, -whence the intelligence of the first cognitions comes man doth -not know, nor whence the affection for the first objects of -desire, which exist in you even as zeal in the bee for making -honey: and this first will admits not desert of praise or blame. -Now in order that to this every other may be gathered,[3] the -virtue that counsels [4] is innate in you, and ought to keep the -threshold of assent. This is the principle wherefrom is derived -the reason of desert in you, according as it gathers in and -winnows good and evil loves. Those who in reasoning went to the -foundation took note of this innate liberty, wherefore they -bequeathed morals[5] to the world. Assuming then that every love -which is kindled within you arises of necessity, the power exists -in you to restrain it. This noble virtue Beatrice calls the free -will, and therefore see that thou have it in mind, if she take to -speaking of it with thee." - -[1] If love be aroused in the soul by an external object, and if -it be natural to the soul to love, how does she deserve praise or -blame for loving? - -[2] The substantial form is the soul, which is separate from -matter but united with it. - -[3] In order that every other will may conform with the first, -that is, with the affection natural to man for the primal objects -of desire. - -[4] The faculty of reason, the virtue which counsels and on which -free will depends, is "the specific virtue" of the soul. - -[5] The rules of that morality which would have no existence were -it not for freedom of the will. - - -The moon, belated[1] almost to midnight, shaped[2] like a bucket -that is all ablaze, was making the stars appear fewer to us, and -was running counter to the heavens[3] along those paths which the -sun inflames, when the man of Rome sees it between Sardinia and -Corsica at its setting;[4] and that gentle shade, for whom -Pietola[5] is more famed than the Mantuan city, had laid down the -burden of my loading:[6] wherefore I, who had harvested his open -and plain discourse upon my questions, was standing like a man -who, drowsy, rambles. But this drowsiness was taken from me -suddenly by folk, who, behind our backs, had now come round to -us. And such as was the rage and throng, which of old Ismenus and -Asopus saw at night along their banks, in case the Thebans were -in need of Bacchus, so, according to what I saw of them as they -came, those who by good will and right love are ridden curve -their steps along that circle. Soon they were upon us; because, -running, all that great crowd was moving on; and two in front, -weeping, were crying out, "Mary ran with haste unto the mountain -[7] and Caesar, to subdue Ilerda, thrust at Marseilles, and then -ran on to Spain."[8] "Swift, swift, that time be not lost by -little love," cried the others following, "for zeal in doing well -may refreshen grace." "O people, in whom keen fervor now perhaps -redeems your negligence and delay, through lukewarmness, in -well-doing, this one who is alive (and surely I lie not to you) -wishes to go up, soon as the sun may shine again for us; -therefore tell us where is the opening near." These words were of -my Guide; and one of those spirits said: "Come thou behind us, -and thou shalt find the gap. We are so filled with desire to move -on that we cannot stay; therefore pardon, if thou holdest our -obligation for churlishness. I was Abbot[9] of San Zeno at -Verona, under the empire of the good Barbarossa, of whom Milan, -still grieving, doth discourse. And he has one foot already in -the grave,[10] who soon will lament on account of that monastery, -and will be sorry for having had power there; because in place of -its true shepherd he has put his son, ill in his whole body and -worse in mind, and who was evil-born." I know not if more he -said, or if he were silent, so far beyond us he had already run -by; but this I heard, and to retain it pleased me. - -[1] In its rising. - -[2] Gibbous, like certain buckets still in use in Italy. - -[3] "These words describe the daily backing of the moon through -the signs from west to east."--Moore. - -[4] These islands are invisible from Rome, but the line that runs -from Rome between them is a little south of east. - -[5] The modern name of Andes, the birthplace of Virgil, and -therefore more famous than Mautua itself. - -[6] With which I had laden him. - -[7] Luke, i. 36. - -[8] Examples of zeal. - -[9] Unknown, save for this mention of him. - -[10] Alberto della Scala, lord of Verona; he died in 1301. He had -forced upon the monastery for its abbot his deformed and depraved -illegitimate son. - - -And he who was at every need my succor said: "Turn thee this way; -see two of them coming, giving a bite to sloth." In rear of all -they were saying: "The people for whom the sea was opened were -dead before their heirs beheld the Jordan;[1] and those who -endured not the toil even to the end with the son of Anchises,[2] -offered themselves to life without glory." - -[1] Numbers, xiv. 28. - -[2] But left him, to remain with Acestes in Sicily--Aeneid, v. -751. - - -Then when those shades were so far parted from us that they could -no more be seen, a new thought set itself within me, from which -many others and diverse were born; and I so strayed from one unto -another that, thus wandering, I closed my eyes, and transmuted my -meditation into dream. - - - -CANTO XIX. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful--Dante dreams of the -Siren.--The Angel of the Pass.--Ascent to the Fifth Ledge.--Pope -Adrian V. - - -At the hour when the diurnal heat, vanquished by the Earth or -sometimes by Saturn,[1] can warm no more the coldness of the -moon,--when the geomancers see their Greater Fortune[2] in the -east, rising before the dawn along a path which short while stays -dark for it,--there came to me in dream[3] a woman stammering, -with eyes asquint, and crooked on her feet, with hands lopped -off, and pallid in her color. I gazed at her; and as the sun -comforts the cold limbs which the night bennmbs, so my look made -her tongue nimble, and then set her wholly straight in little -while, and so colored her wan face as love requires. Then, when -she had her speech thus unloosed, she began to sing, so that with -difficulty should I have turned my attention from her. "I am," -she sang, "I am the sweet Siren, and the mariners in mid sea -I bewitch, so full am I of pleasantness to hear. I turned Ulysses -from his wandering way by my song; and whoso abides with me -seldom departs, so wholly I content him." - -[1] Toward dawn, when the warmth of the preceding day is -exhausted, Saturn was supposed to exert a frigid influence. - -[2] "Geomancy is divination by points in the ground, or pebbles -arranged in certain figures, which have peculiar names. Among -these is the figure called the Fortuna Major, which by an effort -of imagination can also be formed out of some of the last stars -of Aquarius and some of the first of Pisces." These are the signs -that immediately precede Aries, in which the Sun now was, and -the stars forming the figure of the Greater Fortune would be in -the east about two hours before sunrise. - -[3] The hour when this dream comes to Dante is "post mediam -noctem ... cum somnia vera,"--the hour in which it was -commonly believed that dreams have a true meaning. The woman seen -by Dante is the deceitful Siren, who symbolizes the temptation to -those sins of sense from which the spirits are purified in the -three upper rounds of Purgatory. - - -Not yet was her mouth closed when at my side a Lady[1] appeared, -holy, and ready to make her confused. "O Virgil, Virgil, who is -this?" she sternly said; and he came with his eyes fixed only on -that modest one. She took hold of the other, and in front she -opened her, rending her garments, and showed me her belly; this -waked me with the stench that issued from it. I turned my eyes, -and the good Virgil said, "At least three calls have I given -thee; arise and come; let us find the opening through which thou -mayst enter." - -[1] This lady seems to be the type of the conscience, virtus -intellectualis, that calls reason to rescue the tempted soul. - - -Up I rose, and now were all the circles of the sacred mountain -full of the high day, and we went on with the new sun at our -backs. Following him, I bore my forehead like one who has it -laden with thought, and makes of himself the half arch of a -bridge, when I heard, "Come ye! here is the passage," spoken in a -mode soft and benign, such as is not heard in this mortal region. -With open wings, which seemed of a swan, he who thus had spoken -to us turned us upward between the two walls of the hard rock. He -moved his feathers then, and fanned us, affirming qui lugent[1] -to be blessed, for they shall have their souls mistresses of -consolation.[2] "What ails thee that ever on the ground thou -lookest?" my Guide began to say to me, both of us having mounted -up a little from the Angel. "With such apprehension a recent -vision makes me go, which bends me to itself so that I cannot -from the thought withdraw me." "Hast thou seen," said he, "that -ancient sorceress who above us henceforth is alone lamented? Hast -thou seen how from her man is unbound? Let it suffice thee, and -strike thy heels on the ground;[3] turn thine eyes to the lure -that the eternal King whirls with the great circles." - -[1] "They that mourn." - -[2] The meaning seems to be, "they shall be possessed of -comfort." Donne (i.e."mistresses ) is a rhyme-word, and affords -an instance of a straining of the meaning compelled by the rhyme. - -[3] Hasten thy steps. - - -Like the falcon that first looks down, then turns at the cry, and -stretches forward, through desire of the food that draws him -thither; such I became, and such, so far as the rock is cleft to -afford a way to him who goeth up, did I go on as far as where the -circling[1] is begun. When I was come forth on the fifth round, I -saw people upon it who were weeping, lying upon the earth all -turned downward. "Adhoesit pavimento anima mea,"[2] I heard them -saying with such deep sighs that the words were hardly -understood. "O elect of God, whose sufferings both justice and -hope make less hard, direct us toward the high ascents." "If ye -come secure from the lying down, and wish to find the speediest -way, let your right hands always be outside." So prayed the Poet, -and so a little in front was replied to us by them; wherefore I, -in his speaking, marked the hidden one;[3] and then turned my -eyes to my Lord, whereon he granted me, with cheerful sign, that -which the look of my desire was asking for. Then when I could do -with myself according to my will, I drew me above that creature -whose words had first made me note him, saying, "Spirit in whom -weeping matures that without which no one can turn to God, -suspend a little for me thy greater care. Tell me who thou wast; -and why ye have your backs turned upward; and if thou wishest -that I obtain aught for thee there whence I alive set forth." And -he to me, "Thy heaven turns to itself our hinder parts thou shalt -know; but first, scias quod ego fui successor Petri.[4] Between -Sestri and Chiaveri[5] descends a beautiful stream,[6] and of its -name the title of my race makes its top.[7] One month and little -more I proved how the great mantle weighs on him who guards it -from the mire, so that all other burdens seem a feather. My -conversion, ah me! was tardy; but when I had become the Roman -Shepherd, then I found out the lying life. I saw that there the -heart was not at rest; nor was it possible to, mount higher in -that life; wherefore the love of this was kindled in me. Up to -that time a wretched soul and parted from God had I been, -avaricious of everything; now, as thou seest, I am punished for -it here. That which avarice doth is displayed here in the -purgation of these converted souls, and the Mountain has no more -bitter penalty.[8] Even as our eye, fixed upon earthly things, -was not lifted on high, so justice here to earth has depressed -it. As avarice, in which labor is lost, quenched our love for -every good, so justice here holds us close, bound and captive in -feet and hands; and, so long as it shall be the pleasure of the -just Lord, so long shall we stay immovable and outstretched." - -[1] The level of the fifth round. - -[2] "My soul cleaveth to the dust."-- Psalm cxix. 25. - -[3] The face of the speaker, turned to the ground, was concealed. - -[4] "Know that I was a successor of Peter." This was the Pope -Adrian V., Ottobono de' Fieschi, who died in 1276, having been -Pope for thirty-eight days. - -[5] Little towns on the Genoese sea-coast. - -[6] The Lavagna, from which stream the Fieschi derived their -title of Counts of Lavagna. - -[7] Its chief boast. - -[8] Others may be greater, but none more humiliating. - - -I had knelt down and wished to speak; but when I began, and he -became aware, only by listening, of my reverence, "What cause," -said he, "hath bent thee thus downward?" And I to him, "Because -of your dignity my conscience stung me for standing." "Straighten -thy legs, and lift thee up, brother," he replied; "err not, -fellow servant of one power am I with thee and with the rest.[1] -If ever thou hast understood that holy gospel sound which says -neque nubent,[2] thou mayst well see why I speak thus. Now go thy -way. I will not that thou longer stop; for thy stay hinders my -weeping, with which I ripen that which thou hast said. A -grandchild I have on earth who is named Alagia,[3] good in -herself, if only our house make her not wicked by example; and -she alone remains to me yonder."[4] - -[1] And I fell at His feet to worship him. And He said unto me, -See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant."--Revelation xix. -10. - -[2] They neither marry."--Matthew, xxii. 80. The distinctions of -earths do not exist in the spiritual world. - -[3] Alagia was the wife of the Marquis Moroello Malaspina. See -the close of Canto VIII. Dante had probably seen her in 1306, -when he was a guest of the house, in the Lunigiana. - -[4] Not that she was his only living relative, but the only one -whose prayers, coming from a good heart, would avail him. - - - -CANTO XX. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--The Spirits celebrate -examples of Poverty and Bounty.--Hugh Capet.--His discourse on -his descendants.--Trembling of the Mountain. - -Against a better will the will fights ill: wherefore against my -own pleasure, in order to please him, I drew from the water the -sponge not full. - -I moved on, and my Leader moved on through the space vacant only -alongside of the rock, as upon a wall one goes close to the -battlements. For on the other side the people, that through their -eyes are pouring drop by drop the evil that possesses all the -world, approach too near the edge.[1] - -[1]Too close to leave a space for walking. - - -Accursed be thou, old she-wolf, who more than all the other -beasts hast prey, because of thy hunger hollow without end! O -Heaven! by whose revolution it seems that men believe conditions -here below are transmuted, when will he come through whom she -shall depart?[1] We were going on with slow and scanty steps, and -I attentive to the shades whom I heard piteously lamenting and -bewailing; and peradventure I heard in front of us one crying -out, "Sweet Mary," in his lament, even as a woman does who is in -travail; and continuing, "So poor wast thou as may be seen by -that inn where thou didst lay down thy holy burden." And -following this I heard, "O good Fabricius,[2] thou didst rather -wish for virtue with poverty than to possess great riches with -vice." These words were so pleasing to me that I drew myself -further on to have acquaintance with that spirit from whom they -seemed to come. He was speaking furthermore of the largess which -Nicholas[3] made to the damsels in order to conduct their youth -to honor. "O soul that discoursest so well," said I, "tell me who -thou wast, and why thou alone renewest these worthy praises. Not -without meed will be thy words, if I return to complete the short -journey of that life which flies towards its end." And he, "I -will tell thee, not for comfort that I may expect from yonder,[4] -but because such grace shineth on thee ere thou art dead. I was -the root of the evil plant which so overshadows all the Christian -land[5] that good fruit is rarely plucked therefrom. But if -Douai, Lille, Ghent, and Bruges had power, soon would there be -vengeance on it;[6] and I implore it from him who judges -everything. Yonder I was called Hugh Capet: of me are born the -Philips and the Louises, by whom of late times France is ruled. I -was the son of a butcher of Paris.[7] When the ancient kings had -all died out, save one, who had assumed the grey garb,[8] I found -me with the bridle of the government of the realm fast in my -hands, and with so much power recently acquired, and so full of -friends, that to the widowed crown the head of my son was -promoted, from whom the consecrated bones[9] of these began. - -[1] The old she-wolf is avarice, the same who at the outset -(Hell, Canto I.) had driven Dante back and made him lose hope of -the height. The likeness of the two passages is striking. - -[2] Caius Fabricius, the famous poor and incorruptible Roman -consul, who refused the bribes of Pyrrhus, King of Epirus. Dante -extols his worth also in the Convito, iv. 5. - -[3] St. Nicholas, Bishop of Mira, who, according to the legend, -knowing that owing to the poverty of their father, three maidens -were exposed to the risk of leading lives of dishonor, secretly, -at night, threw into the window of their house money enough to -provide each with a dowry. - -[4] The earth. - -[5] In 1300 the descendants of Hugh Capet were ruling France, -Spain, and Naples. - -[6] Phillip the Fair gained possession of Flanders, by force and -fraud, in 1299; but in 1802 the French were driven out of the -country, after a fatal defeat at Courtrai, here dimly prophesied. - -[7] Dante here follows the incorrect popular tradition. - -[8] Who had become a monk. The historical reference is obscure. - -[9] An ironical reference to the ceremony of consecration at the -coronation of the kings. - - -"So long as the great dowry of Provence[1] took not the sense of -shame from my race, it was little worth, but still it did not -ill. Then it began its rapine with force and with falsehood; and, -after, for amends,[2] Ponthieu and Normandy it took, and Gascony; -Charles[3] came to Italy, and, for amends, made a victim of -Conradin,[4] and then thrust Thomas[5] back to heaven for amends. -A time I see, not long after this day, that draws forth another -Charles[6] from France to make both himself and his the better -known. Without arms he goes forth thence alone, but with the -lance with which Judas jousted;[7] and that he thrusts so that he -makes the paunch of Florence burst. Therefrom he will gain not -land,[8] but sin and shame so much the heavier for himself, as he -the lighter reckons such harm. The other,[9] who has already gone -out a prisoner from his ship, I see selling his daughter, and -bargaining over her, as do the corsairs with other female slaves. -O Avarice, what more canst thou do with us, since thou hast so -drawn my race unto thyself that it cares not for its own flesh? -In order that the ill to come and that already done may seem the -less, I see the fleur-de-lis entering Anagna, and in his Vicar -Christ made a captive.[10] I see him being mocked a second time; -I see the vinegar and the gall renewed, and between living -thieves him put to death. I see the new Pilate so cruel that this -does not sate him, but, without decretal, he bears his covetous -sails into the Temple.[11] O my Lord, when shall I be glad in -seeing thy vengeance which, concealed, makes sweet thine anger in -thy secrecy? - -[1] Through the marriage in 1245 of Charles of Anjou, brother of -St. Louis (Louis IX.), with Beatrice, the heiress of the Count -of Provence. - -[2] The bitterness of Dante's irony is explained by the part -which France had played in Italian affairs. - -[3] Of Anjou. - -[4] The youthful grandson of Frederick II., who, striving to -wrest Naples and Sicily, his hereditary possessions, from the -hands of Charles of Anjou, was defeated and taken prisoner by him -in 1267, and put to deaths by him in 1268. His fate excited great -compassion. - -[5] Charles was believed to have had St. Thomas Aquinas poisoned. - -[6] Charles of Valois, brother of Philip the Fair, sent by -Boniface VIII., in 1301, to Florence as peacemaker. But there he -wrought great harm, and siding with the Black party, the Whites, -including Dante, were driven into exile. - -[7] The lance of treachery. - -[8] A reference to his nickname of Senza terra, or Lackland. - -[9] Charles II., son of Charles of Anjou. In 1283 he was made -captive in a sea fight, by Ruggieri de Loria, the Admiral of -Peter II. of Aragon. In 1300, according to common report, he sold -his young daughter in marriage to the old Marquis of Este. - -[10] Spite of his hostility to Boniface VIII., the worst crime of -the house of France was, in Dante's eyes, the seizure of the Pope -at Anagni, in 1303, by the emissaries of Philip the Fair. - -[11] The destruction of the Order of the Temple. - - -"What I was saying of that only bride of the Holy Spirit, and -which made thee turn toward me for some gloss, is ordained for -all our prayers so long as the day lasts, but when the night -comes, we take up a contrary sound instead. Then we rehearse -Pygmalion,[1] whom his gluttonous longing for gold made a traitor -and thief and parricide; and the wretchedness of the avaricious -Midas which followed on his greedy demand, at which men must -always laugh. Then of the foolish Achan each one recalls how he -stole the spoils, so that the anger of Joshua seems still to -sting him, here.[2] Then we accuse Sapphira with her husband; we -praise the kicks that Heliodorus received,[3] and in infamy -Polymnestor who slew Polydorus[4] circles the Whole mountain. -Finally our cry here is, 'Crassus, tell us, for thou knowest, -what is the taste of gold?'[5] At times one speaks loud, and -another low, according to the affection which spurs us to speak -now at a greater, now at a less pace. Therefore in the good which -by day is here discoursed of, of late I was not alone, but here -near by no other person lifted up his voice." - -[1] The brother of Dido, and the murderer of her husband for the -sake of his riches--Aeneid, i. 353-4. - -[2] Joshua, vii. - -[3] For his attempt to plunder the treasury of the Temple.--2 -Maccabees, iii. 25. - -[4] Priam had entrusted Polydorus, his youngest son, to -Polymnestor, King of Thrace, who, when the fortunes of Troy -declined, slew Polydorus, that he might take possession of the -treasure sent with him. - -[5] Having been slain in battle with the Parthians, their king -poured molten gold down his throat in derision, because of his -fame as the richest of men. - - -We had already parted from him, and were striving to advance -along the road so far as was permitted to our power, when I felt -the Mountain tremble, like a thing that is falling; whereupon a -chill seized me such as is wont to seize him who goes to death. -Surely Delos shook not so violently, before Latona made her nest -therein to give birth to the two eyes of heaven.[1] Then began on -all sides such a cry that the Master drew towards me, saying: -"Distrust not, while I guide thee." "Gloria in excelsis Deo,"[2] -all were saying, according to what I gathered from those near at -hand whose cry it was possible to understand. We stopped, -motionless and in suspense, like the shepherds who first heard -that song, until the trembling ceased, and it was ended. Then we -took up again our holy journey, looking at the shades that were -lying on the ground, returned already to their wonted plaint. No -ignorance ever with so sharp attack made me desirous of -knowing--if my memory err not in this--as it seemed to me I then -experienced in thought. Nor, for our haste, did I dare to ask, -nor of myself could I see aught there. So I went on timid and -thoughtful. - -[1] Apollo and Diana, the divinities of Sun and Moon. - -[2] "Glory to God in the highest." - - - -CANTO XXI. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious.--Statius.--Cause of the -trembling of the Mountain.--Statius does honor to Virgil. - - -The natural thirst,[1] which is never satisfied save with the -water[2] whereof the poor woman of Samaria besought the grace, -was tormenting me, and haste was goading me along the encumbered -way behind my Leader, and I was grieving at the just vengeance; -and lo,--as Luke writes for us that Christ, now risen forth from -the sepulchral cave, appeared to the two who were on the way,--a -shade appeared to us; and it was coming behind us looking at the -crowd that lay at its feet: nor did we perceive it, so it spoke -first saying, "My Brothers, may God give you peace!" We turned -suddenly, and Virgil gave back to it the greeting which answers -to that;[3] then he began: "In the assembly of the blest may the -true court, which relegates me into eternal exile, place thee in -peace." "How," said it,--and meanwhile we went on steadily,--"if -ye are shades that God deigns not on high, who hath guided you so -far along his stairs?" And my Teacher, "If thou regardest the -marks which this one bears, and which the Angel traces, thou wilt -clearly see it behoves that with the good he reign. But, because -she who spinneth day and night[4] had not for him yet drawn the -distaff off, which Clotho loads for each one and compacts, his -soul, which is thy sister and mine, coming upwards could not -come alone, because it sees not after our fashion. Wherefore I -was drawn from out the ample throat of Hell to show him, and I -shall show him so far on as my teaching can lead him. But tell -us, if thou knowest, why just now the mountain gave such shocks, -and why all seemed to cry together, even down to its moist feet." -Thus asking he shot for me through the needle's eye of my desire, -so that only with the hope my thirst became less craving. - -[1] "According to that buoyant and immortal sentence with which -Aristotle begins his Metaphysics, 'All mankind naturally desire -knowledge.'" Matthew Arnold, God and the Bible, cli. iv. This -sentence of Aristotle is cited by Dante in the first chapter of -the Convito. - -[2] The living water of truth. - -[3] To the salutation, "Peace be with you," the due answer is, -"And with thy spirit." - -[4] Lachesis. - - -The shade began: "There is nothing which without order the -religion of the mountain can feel, or which can be outside its -wont.[1] Free is this place from every alteration; of that which -heaven receives from itself within itself there may be effect -here, but of naught else;[2] because nor rain, nor hail, nor -snow, nor dew, nor frost, falls higher up than the little -stairway of the three short steps; clouds appear not, or thick or -thin; nor lightning, nor the daughter of Thaumas[3] who yonder -often changes her quarter; dry vapor[4] rises not farther up than -the top of the three steps of which I spoke, where the vicar of -Peter has his feet. It trembles perhaps lower down little or -much; but up here it never trembles because of wind that is -hidden, I know not how, in the earth. It trembles here when some -soul feels itself pure, so that it rises or moves to ascend; and -such a cry seconds it. Of the purity the will alone makes proof, -which surprises the soul, wholly free to change its company, and -helps it with the will. The soul wills at first indeed, but the -inclination,--which, contrary to the will, Divine Justice sets to -the torment, as erst to the sin,--allows it not.[5] And I who -have lain in this pain five hundred years and more, only just now -felt a free volition for a better seat. Wherefore thou didst feel -the earthquake, and hear the pious spirits through the Mountain -giving praise to that Lord, who--may He speed them upward soon!" - -[1] The religion, the sacred rule, of the Mountain admits nothing -that is not ordained and customary. - -[2] Whatever happens here is occasioned only by the direct -influences of the heavens. - -[3] Iris = the rainbow, seen now to the west, now to the east. - -[4] Dry vapor, according to Aristotle, was the source of wind and -of earthquake. - -[5] Until the soul is wholly purified from its sinful -disposition,it desires the punishment through; which its -purification is accomplished, as it had originally desired the -object of its sin. But when it becomes pure, then the will -possesses it to mount to Heaven, and becomes effective. - - -Thus he said to us, and since one enjoys drinking in proportion -as the thirst is great, I could not say how much he did me good. -And the sage Leader, "Now I see the net which snares you here, -and how it is unmeshed; wherefore it trembles here; and for what -ye rejoice together. Now who thou wast may it please thee that I -know, and that from thy words I learn why for so many centuries -thou hast lain here?" "At the time when the good Titus, with the -aid of the Most High King, avenged the wounds wherefrom issued -the blood sold by Judas, I was fatuous enough on earth with the -name which lasts longest, and honors most,"[1] replied that -spirit, "but not as yet with faith. So sweet was my vocal spirit, -that me of Toulouse Rome drew to itself, where I deserved to -adorn my temples with myrtle. Statius the people still on earth -name me. I sang of Thebes, and then of the great Achilles, but I -fell on the way with my second load.[2] Seed of my ardor were the -sparks that warmed me of the divine flame whereby more than a -thousand have been kindled; I speak of the Aeneid, which was -mother to me, and was my nurse in poesy: without it I balanced -not the weight of a drachm; and to have lived yonder, when Virgil -lived, I would agree to one sun more than I owe for my issue from -ban."[3] - -[1] The name of Poet. - -[2] Statius died before completing his Achilleid. - -[3] A year more in Purgatory than is due for my punishment. - - -These words turned Virgil to me with a look which, silent, said, -"Be silent:" but the power that wills cannot do everything; for -smiles and tears are such followers on the emotion from which -each springs, that in the most truthful they least follow the -will. I merely smiled, like a man who makes a sign; whereat the -shade became silent, and looked at me in the eyes where the -expression is most fixed. And it said, "So mayst thou in good -complete so great a labor, why aid thy face just now display to -me a flash of a smile?" Now am I caught on one side and the -other: one bids me be silent, the other conjures me to speak; -wherefore I sigh and am understood by my Master, and "Have no -fear to speak," he said to me, "but speak, and tell him what he -asks so earnestly." Whereon I, "Perhaps thou marvellest, ancient -spirit, at the smile I gave; but I would have more wonder seize -thee. This one who guides my eyes on high is that Virgil from -whom thou didst derive the strength to sing of men and of the -gods. If thou didst believe other cause for my smile, dismiss it -as untrue, and believe it to be those words which thou saidst of -him." Already he was stooping to embrace the feet of my Leader, -but he said to him, "Brother, do it not, for thou art a shade, -and thou seest a shade." And he rising, "Now canst thou -comprehend the sum of the love that warms me to thee when I -forget our vanity, treating the shades as if a solid thing."[1] - -[1] Sordello and Virgil (Canto VI.) embraced each other. The -shades could thus express their mutual affection. Perhaps it is -out of modesty that Virgil here represses Statius, and possibly -there may be the under meaning that an act of reverence is not -becoming from a soul redeemed, to one banned in eternal exile. - - - -CANTO XXII. Ascent to the Sixth Ledge.--Discourse of Statius and -Virgil.--Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous.--The Mystic -Tree.--Examples of Temperance. - - -Already was the Angel left behind us,--the Angel who had turned -us to the sixth round,--having erased a stroke[1] from my face; -and he had said to us that those who have their desire set on -justice are Beati, and his words ended with sitiunt, without the -rest.[2] And I, more light than through the other passes, was -going on so that without any labor I was following upward the -swift spirits, when Virgil began, "Love kindled by virtue always -kindles another, provided that its flame appear outwardly; -wherefore from the hour when amid us Juvenal descended into the -limbo of Hell, and made known to me thy affection, my own good -will toward thee was such that more never bound one to an unseen -person; so that these stairs will now seem short to me. But tell -me (and as a friend pardon me, if too great confidence let loose -my rein, and as a friend now talk with me) boxy avarice could -find a place within thy breast, amid wisdom so great as that -wherewith through thy diligence thou wast filled?" - -[1] The fifth P. - -[2] The Angel had not recited all the words of the Beatitude, but -only, "Blessed are they which do thirst after righteousness," -contrasting this thirst with the thirst for riches. - - -These words first moved Statius a little to smiling; then he -replied, "Every word of thine is a dear sign to me of love. Truly -oftentimes things have such appearance that they give false -material for suspicion, because the true reasons lie hid. Thy -question assures me of thy belief, perhaps because of that circle -where I was, that I was avaricious in the other life; know then -that avarice was too far removed from me, and this want of -measure thousands of courses of the moon have punished. And had -it not been that I set right my care, when I understood the -passage where thou dost exclaim, as if indignant with human -nature, "O cursed hunger of gold, to what dost thou not impel the -appetite of mortals?"[1] I, rolling, should share the dismal -jousts.[2] Then I perceived that the bands could spread their -wings too much in spending; and I repented as well of that as of -my other sins. How many shall rise with cropped hair[3] through -ignorance, which during life and in the last hours prevents -repentance for this sin! And know, that the vice which rebuts any -sin with direct opposition,[4] together with it here dries up its -verdure. Wherefore if to purify myself I have been among the -people who lament their avarice, because of its contrary this has -befallen me." "Now when thou wast singing[5]the cruel strife of -the twofold affliction[6] of Jocasta," said the Singer of the -Bucolic songs, "it does not appear from that which Clio -touches[7] with thee there,[8] that the faith, without which good -works suffice not, had yet made thee faithful. If this be so, -what sun, or what candles dispersed thy darkness so that thou -didst thereafter set thy sails behind the Fisherman?"[9] And he -to him, "Thou first directedst me toward Parnassus to drink in -its grots, and then, on the way to God, thou enlightenedst me. -Thou didst like him, who goes by night, and carries the light -behind him, and helps not himself, but makes the persons -following him wise, when thou saidst, 'The ages are renewed; -Justice returns, and the primeval time of man, and a new progeny -descends from heaven.'[10] Through thee I became a poet, through -thee a Christian. But in order that thou mayst better see that -which I sketch, I will stretch out my hand to color it. Already -was the whole world teeming with the true belief, sown by the -messengers of the eternal realm; and these words of thine touched -upon just now were in harmony with the new preachers, wherefore I -adopted the practice of visiting them. They came to me then -appearing so holy, that, when Domitian persecuted them, not -without my tears were their lamentings. And so long as I -remained on earth I succored them; and their upright customs -made me scorn all other sects. And before I had led the Greeks to -the rivers of Thebes in my verse, I received baptism; but out of -fear I was a secret Christian, for a long while making show of -paganism: and this lukewarmness made me circle round the fourth -circle,[11] longer than to the fourth century. Thou, therefore, -that didst lift for me the covering that was hiding from me such -great good as I say, while we have remainder of ascent, tell me -where is our ancient Terence, Caecilius, Plautus, and Varro, if -thou knowest it; tell me if they are damned, and in what region?" -"They, and Persius, and I, and many others," replied my Leader, -"are with that Greek whom the Muses suckled more than any other -ever, in the first girdle of the blind prison. Oftentimes we -discourse of the mountain[12] that hath our nurses[13] always -with itself. Euripides is there with us, and Antiphon, Simonides, -Agathon, and many other Greeks who of old adorned their brows -with laurel. There of thine own people[14] are seen Antigone, -Deiphile, and Argia, and Ismene sad[15] even as she was. There -she is seen who showed Langia;[16] there is the daughter of -Tiresias and Thetis,[17] and Deidamia with her sisters." - -[1] Quid non mortalia peetora yogis, - Auri sacra fames? - Aeneid. iii. 56-57. - -[2] I should be in Hell among the prodigals rolling heavy weights -and striking them against those rolled by the avaricious. See -Hell, Canto VII. - -[3] A reference to the symbolic short hair of prodigals in Hell. - -[4] As, for instance, avarice and prodigality. - -[5] In the Thebaid. - -[6] Eteocles and Polynices, the two sons of Jocasta. See Hell, -Canto XXVI. - -[7] On her lyre. - -[8] From the general course of thy poems. - -[9] St. Peter. - -[10] The famous prophecy of the Cumaean Sibyl, very early applied -to the coming of Christ:-- -Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo. -Jam redit et virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna: -Jam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto.--Ecloga, iv. 5-7. - -[11] Where love too slack is punished. - -[12] Parnassus. - -[13] The Muses. - -[14] The people celebrated in thy poems. - -[15] Two pairs of sisters, and, of the four, Ismene, sister of -Antigone, had the hardest lot. - -[16] Hypsipyle, who showed the fountain Langia to Adrastus, and -the other kings, when their army was perishing with thirst. - -[17] Manto is the only daughter of Tiresias, who is mentioned by -Statius; but Manto is in the eighth circle in Hell. See Canto XX. - - -Now both the poets became silent, once more intent on looking -around, free from the ascent and from the walls; and four of the -handmaids of the day were now remaining behind,[1] and the fifth -was at the pole,[2] directing still upward its burning horn, when -my Leader, "I think that it behoves us to turn our right -shoulders to the outer edge, circling the Mount as we are wont to -do." Thus usage was there our guide, and we took the way with -less doubt because of the assent of that worthy soul. - -[1] The first four hours of the day were spent. It was between -ten and eleven o'clock. - -[2] Of the car. - - -They were going on in front, and I solitary behind, and I was -listening to their speech which gave me understanding in poesy. -But soon the pleasant discourse was interrupted by a tree which -we found in the mid road, with apples sweet and pleasant to the -smell. And as a fir-tree tapers upward from branch to branch, so -downwardly did that, I think in order that no one may go up. On -the side on which our way was closed, a clear water fell from -the high rock and spread itself over the heaves above. The two -poets approached the tree, and a voice from within the heaves -cried: "Of this food ye shall have want." Then it said, "Mary -thought more, how the wedding[1] should be honorable and -complete, than of her mouth,[2] which answers now for you; and -the ancient Roman women were content with water for their drink; -and Daniel despised food and gained wisdom. The primal age, which -was beautiful as gold, with hunger made acorns savory, and with -thirst every streamlet nectar. Honey and locusts were the viands -that nourished the Baptist in the desert, wherefore he is in -glory, and so great as by the Gospel is revealed to you. - -[1] At Cana. - -[2] Than of gratifying her appetite. - - - -CANTO XXIII. Sixth Ledge: the Gluttonous.--Forese -Donati.--Nella.--Rebuke of the women of Florence. - -While I was fixing my eyes upon the green leafage, just as he who -wastes his life following the little bird is wont to do, my more -than Father said to me, "Son, come on now, for the time that is -assigned to us must be parcelled out more usefully." I turned my -face, and no less quickly my step after the Sages, who were -speaking so that they made the going of no cost to me; and ho! a -lament and song were heard, "Labia mea, Domine,"[1] in such -fashion that it gave birth to delight and pain. "O sweet Father, -what is that which I hear?" I began, and he, "Shades which go, -perhaps loosing the knot of their debt." - -[1] "Lord, open thou my lips." -- Psalm li. 15. - - -Even as do pilgrims rapt in thought, who, overtaking on the road -unknown folk, turn themselves to them, and stay not; so behind -us, moving more quickly, coming up and passing by, a crowd of -souls, silent and devout, gazed at us. Each was dark and hollow -in the eyes, pallid in the face, and so wasted that the skin took -its shape from the bones. I do not think that Erisichthon[1] was -so dried up to utter rind by hunger, when he had most fear of it. -I said to myself in thought, "Behold the people who lost -Jerusalem, when Mary struck her beak into her son."[2] The -sockets of their eyes seemed rings without gems. Whoso in the -face of men reads OMO,[3] would surely there have recognized the -M. Who would believe that the scent of an apple, begetting -longing, and that of a water, could have such mastery, if he -knew not how? - -[1] Punished for sacrilege by Ceres with insatiable hunger, so -that at last he turned his teeth upon himself. See Ovid, -Metam.,viii. 738 sqq. - -[2] The story of this wretched woman is told by Josephus in -his narrative of the siege of Jerusalem by Titus: De Bello Jud., -vi. 3. - -[3] Finding in each eye an O, and an M in the lines of the brows -and nose, making the word for "man." - - -I was now wondering what so famished them, the cause of their -meagreness and of their wretched husk not yet being manifest, -and lo! from the depths of its head, a shade turned his eyes on -me, and looked fixedly, then cried out loudly, "What grace to me -is this!" Never should I have recognized him by his face; but in -his voice that was disclosed to me which his aspect in itself had -suppressed.[1] This spark rekindled in me all my knowledge of the -altered visage, and I recognized the face of Forese.[2] - -[1] His voice revealed who he was, which his actual aspect -concealed. - -[2] Brother of the famous Corso Donati, and related to Dante, -whose wife was Gemma de' Donati. - - -"Ah, strive not [1] with the dry scab that discolors my skin," he -prayed, "nor with my lack of flesh, but tell me the truth about -thyself; and who are these two souls, who yonder make an escort -for thee: stay not thou from speaking to me." "Thy face, which -once I wept for dead, now gives me for weeping no less a grief," -replied I, "seeing it so disfigured; therefore, tell me, for -God's sake, what so despoils you; make me not speak while I am -marvelling; for ill can he speak who is full of another wish." -And he to me, "From the eternal council falls a power into the -water and into the plant, now left behind, whereby I become so -thin. All this folk who sing weeping, because of following their -appetite beyond measure, here in hunger and in thirst make -themselves holy again. The odour which issues from the apple and -from the spray that spreads over the verdure kindles in us desire -to eat and drink. And not once only as we circle this floor is -our pain renewed; I say pain, and ought to say solace, for that -will leads us to the tree which led Christ gladly to say, -'Eli,'[2] when with his blood he delivered us." And I to him, -"Forese, from that day on which thou didst change world to a -better life, up to this time five years have not rolled round. If -the power of sinning further had ended in thee, ere the hour -supervened of the good grief that to God reweds us, how hast thou -come up hither?[3] I thought to find thee still down there below, -where time is made good by time." And he to me, "My Nella with -her bursting tears has brought me thus quickly to drink of the -sweet wormwood of these torments. With her devout prayers and -with sighs has she drawn me from the shore where one waits, and -has delivered me from the other circles. So much the more dear -and more beloved of God is my little widow, whom I loved so much, -as she is the more solitary in good works; for the Barbagia[4] of -Sardinia is far more modest in its women than the Barbagia where -I left her. O sweet brother, what wouldst thou that I say? A -future time is already in my sight, to which this hour will not -be very old, in which from the pulpit it shall be forbidden to -the brazen-faced dames of Florence to go displaying the bosom -with the paps. What Barbarian, what Saracen women were there ever -who required either spiritual or other discipline to make them go -covered? But if the shameless ones were aware of that which the -swift heaven is preparing for them, already would they have their -mouths open for howling. For if foresight here deceives me not, -they will be sad ere he who is now consoled with the lullaby -covers his cheeks with hair. Ak brother, now no longer conceal -thyself from me; thou seest that not only I but all these people -are gazing there where thou dost veil the sun." Whereon I to him: -"If thou bring back to mind what thou wast with me, and what I -was with thee, the present remembrance will even now be grievous. -From that life he who goes before me turned me the other day, -when the sister of him yonder," and I pointed to the sun, "showed -herself round. Through the deep night, from the truly dead, he -has led me, with this true flesh which follows him. Thence his -counsels have drawn me up, ascending and circling the mountain -that sets you straight whom the world made crooked. So long he -says that he will bear me company till I shall be there where -Beatrice will be; there it behoves that I remain without him. -Virgil is he who says thus to me," and I pointed to him, "and -this other is that shade for whom just now your realm, which from -itself releases him, shook every slope." - -[1] Do not, for striving to see me through my changed look, delay -to speak. - -[2] Willingly to accept his suffering, even when he exclaimed, -"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"--Matthew, xxvii. 46. - -[3] If thou didst delay repentance until thou couldst sin no -more, how is it that so speedily thou hast arrived here? - -[4] A mountainous district in Sardinia, inhabited by people of -barbarous customs. - - - -CANTO XXIV. Sixth Ledge: the Gluttonous.--Forese -Donati.--Bonagiunta of Lucca--Pope Martin IV--Ubaldin dalla Pila. ---Bonifazio.--Messer Marchese.--Prophecy of Bonagiunta concerning -Gentucca, and of Forese concerning Corso de' Donati.--Second -Mystic Tree.--The Angel of the Pass. - - -Speech made not the going, nor the going made that more slow; -but, talking, we went on apace even as a ship urged by good wind. -And the shades, that seemed things doubly dead, through the pits -of their eyes drew in wonder at me, perceiving that I was alive. - -And I, continuing my discourse, said, "He[1] goeth up perchance -for another's sake more slowly than he would do. But, tell me, if -thou knowest, where is Piccarda[2] tell me if I see person of -note among this folk that so gazes at me." "My sister, who, -between fair and good, was I know not which the most, triumphs -rejoicing in her crown already on high Olympus." So he said -first, and then, "Here it is not forbidden to name each other, -since our semblance is so milked away by the diet.[3] This," and -he pointed with his finger, "is Bonagiunta,[4] Bonagiunta of -Lucca; and that face beyond him, more sharpened than the others, -had the Holy Church in his arms:[5]from Tours he was; and by -fasting he purges the eels of Bolsena, and the Vernaccia wine." -Many others he named to me, one by one, and at their naming all -appeared content; so that for this I saw not one dark mien. For -hunger using their teeth on emptiness, I saw Ubaldin dalla Pila, -and Boniface,[6] who shepherded many people with his crook. I saw -Messer Marchese, who once had leisure to drink at Forum with less -thirst, and even so was such that he felt not sated. But as one -does who looks, and then makes account more of one than of -another, did I of him of Lucca, who seemed to have most -cognizance of me. He was murmuring; and I know not what, save -that I heard "Gentucca" there[7] where he felt the chastisement -of the justice which so strips them. "O soul," said I, "who -seemest so desirous to speak with me, do so that I may hear thee, -and satisfy both thyself and me by thy speech." "A woman is born, -and wears not yet the veil,"[8] he began, "who will make my city -pleasant to thee, however men may blame it.[9] Thou shalt go on -with this prevision: if from my murmuring thou hast received -error, the true things will yet clear it up for thee. But say, if -I here see him, who drew forth the new rhymes, beginning, 'Ladies -who have intelligence of Love'?"[10] And I to him, "I am one, -who, when Love inspires me, notes, and in that measure which he -dictates within, I go revealing." "O brother, now I see," said -he, "the knot which held back the Notary,[11] and Guittone,[12] -and me short of the sweet new style that I hear. I see clearly -how your pens go on close following the dictator, which surely -befell not with ours. And he who most sets himself to look -further sees nothing more between one style and the other." [13] -And, as if contented, he was silent. - -[1]Statius; more slowly, for the sake of remaining with Virgil. - -[2] The sister of Forese, whom Dante meets in Paradise (Canto -III.). - -[3] Recognition by the looks being thus impossible. - -[4] Bonagiunta Urbiciani; he lived and wrote in the last half of -the thirteenth century. - -[5] Martin IV., Pope from 1281 to 1284. - -[6] Archbishop of Ravenna. - -[7] Upon his lips. - -[8] Of a married woman. - -[9] This honorable and delightful reference to the otherwise -unknown maiden, Gentucca of Lucca, has given occasion to -much worthless and base comment. Dante was at Lucca during -his exile, in 1314. He himself was one of those who blamed the -city; see Hell, Canto XXI. - -[10] The first verse of the first canzone of The New Life. - -[11] The Sicilian poet, Jacopo da Lentino. - -[12] Guittone d' Arezzo, commonly called Fra Guittone, as one of -the order of the Frati Gaudenti. Dante refers to him again in -Canto XXVI. - -[13] He who seeks for other reason does not find it. - - -As the birds that winter along the Nile sometimes make a flock in -the air, then fly in greater haste, and go in file, so all the -folk that were there, light both through leanness and through -will, turning away their faces, quickened again their pace. And -as the man who is weary of running lets his companions go on, and -himself walks, until he vents the panting of his chest, so Forese -let the holy flock pass on and came along behind, with me, -saying, "When shall it be that I see thee again?" "I know not," I -replied to him, "how long I may live; but truly my return will -not be so speedy, that I shall not in desire he sooner at the -shore;[1] because the place where I was set to live, denudes -itself more of good from day to day, and seems ordained to -wretched ruin." "Now go," said he, "for I see him who hath most -fault for this[2] dragged at the tail of a beast, toward the -valley where there is no disculpation ever. The beast at every -step goes faster, increasing always till it strikes him, and -leaves his body vilely undone. Those wheels have not far to -turn," and he raised his eyes to heaven, "for that to become -clear to thee which my speech cannot further declare. Now do thou -stay behind, for time is so precious in this kingdom, that I lose -too much coming thus at even pace with thee." - -[1] Of Purgatory. - -[2] Corso de' Donati, the leader of the Black Guelphs and chief -cause of the evils of the city. On the 15th September, 1308, his -enemies having risen against him, he was compelled to fly from -Florence. Near the city he was thrown from his horse and dragged -along, till he was overtaken and killed by his pursuers. - - -As a cavalier sometimes sets forth at a gallop from a troop which -rides, and goes to win the honor of the first encounter, so he -went away from us with greater strides; and I remained on the way -with only those two who were such great marshals of the world.[1] -And when he had entered so far before us that my eyes became such -followers on him as my mind was on his words,[2] there appeared -to me the laden and lusty branches of another apple-tree, and not -far distant, because only then had I turned thitherward.[3] I saw -people beneath it raising their hands and crying, I know not -what, toward the leaves, like eager and fond little children who -pray, and he they pray to answers not, hut, to make their longing -very keen, holds aloft their desire, and conceals it not. Then -they departed as if undeceived:[4] and now we came to the great -tree that rejects so many prayers and tears. "Pass further -onward, without drawing near; the tree[5] is higher up which was -eaten of by Eve, and this plant has been raised from that." Thus -among the branches I know not who was speaking; wherefore Virgil -and Statius and I, drawing close together, went onward along the -side that rises.[6] "Be mindful," the voice was saying, "of the -accursed ones,[7] formed in the clouds, who, when glutted, strove -against Theseus with their double breasts; and of the Hebrews, -who, at the drinking, showed themselves soft,[8] wherefore Gideon -wished them not for companions, when he went down the hills -toward Midian." - -[1] "A marshal is a ruler of the court and of the army under the -emperor, and should know how to command what ought to be done, as -those two poets knew what it was befitting to do in the world in -respect to moral and civil life."--Buti. - -[2] Could no longer follow him distinctly. - -[3] In the circling course around the mountain. - -[4] Having found vain the hope of reaching the fruit. - -[5] The tree of knowledge, in the Earthly Paradise: Canto XXXII. - -[6] On the inner side, by the wall of the mountain. - -[7] The centaurs. - -[8] Judges, vii. 4-7. - - -Thus keeping close to one of the two borders, we passed by, -hearing of sins of gluttony followed, in sooth, by wretched -gains. Then going at large along the lonely road, full a thousand -steps and more had borne us onward, each of us in meditation -without a word. "Why go ye thus in thought, ye three alone?" said -a sudden voice; whereat I started as do terrified and timid -beasts. I lifted up my head to see who it might be, and never -were glass or metals seen so shining and ruddy in a furnace as -one I saw who said, "If it please you to mount up, here must a -turn be taken; this way he goes who wishes to go for peace." His -aspect had taken my sight from me, wherefore I turned me behind -my teachers like one who goes according as he hears.[1] And as, -harbinger of the dawn, the breeze of May stirs and smells sweet, -all impregnate with the herbage and with the flowers, such a wind -I felt strike upon the middle of my forehead, and clearly felt -the motion of the plumes which made mime perceive the odor of -ambrosia. And I heard said, "Blessed are they whom so much grace -illumines, that the love of taste inspires not in their breasts -too great desire, hungering always so far as is just."[2] - -[1] Blinded for the instant by the dazzling brightness of the -angel,Dante drops behind his teachers, to follow them as one -guided by hearing only. - -[2] "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after -righteousness."--Matthew, v.6. - -Dante has already cited this Beatitude (Canto XXII.), applying it -to those who are purging themselves from the inordinate desire -for riches; he there omits the word "hunger," as here he omits -the "and thirst." - - - -CANTO XXV. Ascent to the Seventh Ledge.--Discourse of Statius on -generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the -corporeal semblance of Souls after death.--The Seventh Ledge: the -Lustful.--The mode of their Purification. - - -It was the hour in which the ascent allowed no delay; for the -meridian circle had been left by the Sun to the Bull, and by the -Night to the Scorpion;[1] wherefore as the man doth who, whatever -may appear to him, stops not, but goes on his way, if the goad of -necessity prick him, so did we enter through the gap, one before -the other, taking the stairway which by its narrowness unpairs -the climbers. - -[1] Taurus follows on Aries, so that the hour indicated is about -2 P.M. The Night here means the part of the Heavens opposite to -the Sun. - - -And as the little stork that lifts its wing through will to fly, -and dares not abandon the nest, and down it drops, so was I, with -will to ask, kindled and quenched, coming even to the motion that -he makes who proposes to speak. Nor, though our going was swift, -did my sweet Father forbear, but he said, Discharge the bow of -speech which up to the iron thou hast drawn." Then I opened my -mouth confidently, and began, "How can one become thin, where the -need of nourishment is not felt?" "If thou hadst called to mind -how Meleager was consumed by time consuming of a brand this would -not be," he said, " so difficult to thee; and if thou hadst -thought, how at your quivering your image quivers within the -mirror, that which seems hard would seem easy to thee. But that -thou mayst to thy pleasure be inwardly at ease, lo, here is -Statius, and I call on him and pray that he be now the healer of -thy wounds." "If I explain to him the eternal view," replied -Statius, "where thou art present, let it excuse me that to thee I -cannot snake denial."[1] - -[1] Here and elsewhere Statius seems to represent allegorically -human philosophy enlightened by Christian teaching, dealing with -questions of knowledge, not of faith. - - -Then he began, "If, son, thy mind regards and receives my words, -they will be. for thee a light unto the 'how,' which thou -askest.[1] The perfect blood which is never drunk by the thirsty -veins, but remains like the food which thou removest from time -table, takes in time heart virtue informative of all the human -members; even as that blood does, which passes through the veins -to become those members.[2] Digested yet again, it descends to -the part whereof it is more becoming to be silent than to speak; -and thence, afterwards, it drops upon another's blood in the -natural vessel. There one and the other meet together; the one -ordained to be passive, and the other to be active because of the -perfect place[3] wherefrom it is pressed out; and, conjoined with -the former, the latter begins to operate, first by coagulating, -and then by quickening that to which it gives consistency for its -own material. The active virtue having become a soul, like that -of a plant (in so far different that this is on the way, and that -already arrived),[4] so worketh then, that now it moves and -feels, as a sea-fungus doth; and then it proceeds to organize the -powers of which it is the germ. Now, son, the virtue is -displayed, now it is diffused, which issues from the heart of the -begetter, where nature is intent on all the members.[5] But how -from an animal it becomes a speaking being,[6] thou as yet -seest not; this is such a point that once it made one wiser than -thee to err, so that in his teaching he separated from the soul -the potential intellect, because he saw no organ assumed by -it.[7] Open thy heart unto the truth that is coming, and know -that, so soon as in the foitus the articulation of the brain is -perfect, the Primal Motor turns to it with joy over such art of -nature, and inspires a new spirit replete with virtue, which -draws that which it finds active there into its own substance, -and makes one single soul which lives and feels and circles on -itself. And that thou mayst the less wonder at this doctrine, -consider the warmth of the sun which, combining with the juice -that flows from the vine, becomes wine. And when Lachesis has no -more thread, this soul is loosed from the flesh, and virtually -bears away with itself both the human and the divine; the other -faculties all of them mute,[8] but memory, understanding, and -will[9] far more acute in action than before. Without staying, it -falls of itself, marvelously to one of the banks.[10] Here it -first knows its own roads. Soon as the place there circumscribes -it, the formative virtue rays out around it in like manner, and -as much as in the living members.[11] And as the air when it is -full of rain becomes adorned with divers colors by another's rays -which are reflected in it, so here the neighboring air shapes -itself in that form which is virtually imprinted upon it by the -soul that hath stopped.[12] And then like the flamelet which -follows the fire wherever it shifts, so its new form follows the -spirit. Since thereafter from this it has its aspect, it is -called a shade; and by this it shapes the organ for every sense -even to the sight; by this we speak, and by this we laugh, by -this we make the tears and the sighs, which on the mountain thou -mayst have perceived. According as the desires and the other -affections impress us the shade is shaped; and this is the cause -of that at which thou wonderest." - -[1] The doctrine set forth by Statius in the following discourse -is derived from St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., i. 118, 119, -who, in his turn, derived it from Aristotle. It is to be found, -more briefly stated, in the Convito, iv. 21. - -[2] A portion of the blood remains after the veins are supplied; -in the heart all the blood receives the virtue by which it gives -form to the various organs of the body. - -[3] The heart. - -[4] The vegetative soul in the plant has attained its full -development, "has arrived;" in the animal is "on the way" to -perfection. - -[5] From the vegetative, the soul has become sensitive,--anima -sensitiva. - -[6] A being possessed of intellect,--the last stage in the -progress of the soul, when it becomes came intellective. - -[7] Averroes asserted the intellect to be impersonal and -undivided in essence; not formally, but instrumentally only, -united with the individual. Hence there was no personal -immortality. - -[8] The faculties of sense mute because their organs no longer -exist. - -[9]The spiritual faculties. - -[10] Of Acheron or of Tiber, according as the soul is damned or -saved. - -[11] In this account of the formation of the bodily semblance in -the spiritual realms, Statius no longer follows the doctrine of -Aquinas. The conception is derived from Plato; but the form -given to it is peculiar to Dante. - -[12] Stopped in the place allotted to it. - - -And now we had come to the last circuit,[1] and turning to the -right hand, we were intent upon another care. Here the bank -shoots forth flame, and the ledge breathes a blast upward which -drives it back, and sequesters a path from it.[2] Wherefore it -was needful to go one by one along the unenclosed side; and on -the one hand I was afraid of the fire, and on the other I was -afraid of falling off. My Leader said, "Through this place, one -must keep tight the rein upon the eyes, because for little one -might go astray." "Summae Deus clementiae,"[3] in the bosom of -the great burning then I heard singing, which made me care not -less to turn. And I saw spirits going through the flame; -wherefore I looked at them and at my own steps, apportioning to -each my sight from moment to moment. After the end of that hymn, -they loudly cried: "Virum non cognosco;"[4] then began again the -hymn with low voice; this finished, they cried anew, "To the wood -Diana kept herself, and drove therefrom Helice,[5] who had felt -the poison of Venus." Then they turned to singing; then wives -they cried out, and husbands who were chaste, as virtue and -marriage enjoin upon us. And I believe this mode suffices them -through all the time the fire burns them. With such cure it is -needful, and with such food, that the last wound of all should be -closed up. - -[1] The word in the original is tortura. Benvenuto's comment is, -"nunc incipiebant torquere et flectere viam, ideo talem -deflectionem appellat torturam." Buti, on the contrary, says, -"tortura cioe tormento." - -[2] Secures a safe pathway along the ledge. - -[3] "God of clemency supreme," the beginning of a hymn, sung at -Matins, containing a prayer for purity. - -[4] "I know not a man," the words of Mary to the angel--Luke, i. -34. - -[5] Helice, or Callisto, the nymph who bore a son to Jupiter, -and, having been changed to a bear by Juno, was by Jove -transferred with her child to the heavens, where they are seen as -the Great and Little Bear. - - - -CANTO XXVI. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Sinners in the fire, -going in opposite directions.--Guido Guinicelli.--Arnaut Daniel. - - -While we were going on thus along the edge, one before the other, -and the good Master was often saying, "Take heed! let it avail -that I warn thee," the sun was striking me on the right shoulder, -and now, raying out, was changing all the west from azure to a -white aspect; and with my shadow I was making the flame appear -more ruddy, and only at such an indication[1] I saw many shades, -as they went on, give attention. This was the occasion which gave -them a beginning to speak of me, and they began to say, "He seems -not a fictitious body;" then toward me, so far as they could do -so, certain of them canine, always with regard not to come out -where they would not be burned. - -[1] At this sign that Dante's body was that of a living man. - - -"O thou! who goest, not from being slower, but perhaps from -reverence, behind the others, reply to me who in thirst and fire -am burning. Nor to me only is thy reply of need, for all these -have a greater thirst for it than Indian or Ethiop of cold water. -Tell us how it is that thou makest of thyself a wall to the sun, -as if thou hadst not yet entered within the net of death." Thus -spoke to me one of them; and I should now have disclosed myself, -if I had not been intent on another new thing which then -appeared; for through the middle of the burning road were coming -people with their faces opposite to these, who made me gaze in -suspense. There I see, on every side, all the shades making haste -and kissing each other, without stopping, content with brief -greeting. Thus within their brown band one ant touches muzzle -with another, perchance to enquire their way and their fortune. - -Soon as they end the friendly salutation, before the first step -runs on beyond, each strives to outcry the other; the new-come -folk: "Sodom and Gomorrah," and the other, "Into the cow enters -Pasiphae, that the bull may run to her lust." Then like cranes, -of whom part should fly to the Riphaean mountains,[1] and part -toward the sands,[2] these shunning the frost and those the sun, -one folk goes, the other comes on, and weeping they return to -their first chants, and to the cry which most befits them. - -[1] Mountains vaguely placed by the early geographers in the far -North. - -[2] The deserts of the South. - - -And those same who had prayed me drew near to me as before, -intent in their looks to listen. I, who twice had seen their -desire, began, "O souls secure of having, whenever it may he, a -state of peace, neither unripe nor mature have my limbs remained -yonder, but they are here with me with their blood, and with -their joints. I go up in order to be no longer blind. A Lady is -on high who winneth grace for us, whereby I bring my mortal part -through your world. But so may your greater will soon become -satisfied, in such wise that the heaven may harbor you which is -full of love, and most amply spreads, tell me, in order that I -may yet rule the paper for it, who are ye, and who are that crowd -which goes its way behind your backs." - -Not otherwise stupefied, the mountaineer is confused, and gazing -round is dumb, when rough and savage he enters the town, than -each shade became in his appearance; but, after they were -unburdened of their bewilderment, which in high hearts is -quickly assuaged, "Blessed thou," began again that one who first -had asked me, "who of our regions dost ship experience for dying -better. The people who do not come with us offended in that for -which once Caesar in his triumph heard 'Queen' cried out against -him; therefore they go off shouting 'Sodom,' reproving -themselves as thou hast heard, and aid the burning by their -shame. Our sin was hermaphrodite; but because we observed not -human law, following our appetite like beasts, when we part from -them, the name of her who bestialized herself in the beast-shaped -planks is uttered by us, in opprobrium of ourselves. Now thou -knowest our deeds, and of what we were guilty; if, perchance, -thou wishest to know by name who we are, there is not time to -tell, and I could not do it. I will indeed make thee short of -wish about myself; I am Guido Guinicelli;[1] and now I purify -myself, because I truly repented before my last hour." - -[1] Of Bologna; he was living after the middle of the thirteenth -century. Of his life little is known, but some of his verses -survive and justify Dante's words concerning them. - - -Such as in the sorrow of Lycurgus her two sons became at seeing -again their mother,[1] such I became, but I rise not so far,[2] -when I heard name himself the father of me, and of my betters -who ever used sweet and gracious rhymes of love; and without -hearing or speaking, full of thought I went on, gazing a long -time upon him; nor, for the fire, did I draw nearer to him. After -I was fed with looking, I offered myself wholly ready for his -service, with the affirmation that makes another believe. And he -to me, "By what I hear thou leavest such trace in me, and so -bright, that Lethe cannot take it away nor make it dim. But if -thy words have now sworn truth, tell me what is time cause why in -speech and look thou showest that thou dost hold me dear?" And I -to him, "The sweet ditties of yours, which, so long as the modern -fashion shall endure, will still make dear their ink." "O -brother," said he, "this one whom I distinguish for thee with my -finger," and he pointed to a spirit in advance,[3] "was a better -smith of the maternal speech. In verses of love, and prose of -romances, he excelled all, and let the foolish talk who think -that he of Limoges[4] surpasses him; to rumor more than to truth -they turn their faces, and thus confirm their own opinion, before -art or reason is listened to by them. Thus did many of old -concerning Guittone,[5] from cry to cry only to him giving the -prize, until the truth has prevailed with more persons. Now if -thou hast such ample privilege that it he permitted thee to go -unto the cloister in which Christ is abbot of the college, say -for me to him one paternoster, so far as needs for us in this -world where power to sin is no longer ours."[6] - -[1] "Lycurgus, King of Nemaea, enraged with Hypsipyle for leaving -his infant child, who was killed by a serpent, while she was -showing the river Langia to the Argives (see Canto XXII.), was -about to kill her, when she was found and rescued by her own -suns."--Statius, Thebaid, v. 721 (Pollock). - -[2] I was more restrained than they. - -[3] Arnaut Daniel, a famous troubadour. - -[4] Gerault de Berneil. - -[5] Guittone d' Arezzo (see Canto XXIV.). - -[6] The words in the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from temptation," -are not needed for the spirits in Purgatory. - - -Then, perhaps to give place to the other who was near behind him, -he disappeared through the fire, even as through the water a fish -going to the bottom. I moved forward a little to him who had been -pointed out to me, and said, that for his name my desire was -making ready a gracious place. He began graciously to say,[1] "So -pleaseth me your courteous demand that I cannot, and I will not, -hide me from you. I am Arnaut who weep and go singing; contrite I -see my past folly, and joyful I see before me the day I hope for. -Now I pray you by that virtue which guides you to the summit of -the stair, at times be mindful of my pain." Then he hid himself -in the fire that refines them. - -[1] The words of Daniel are in the Provencal tongue. - - - -CANTO XXVII. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Passage through the -Flames.--Stairway in the rock.--Night upon the stairs.--Dream of -Dante.--Morning.--Ascent to the Earthly Paradise.--Last words of -Virgil. - -As when he darts forth his first rays there where his Maker shed -His blood (Ebro falling under the lofty Scales, and the waves in -the Ganges scorched by noon) so the sun was now standing;[1] so -that the day was departing, when the glad Angel of God appeared -to us. Outside the flame he was standing on the bank, and was -singing, "Beati mundo corde,"[2] in a voice far more living than -ours: then, "No one goes further, ye holy souls, if first the -fire sting not; enter into it, and to the song beyond be ye not -deaf," he said to us, when we were near him. Whereat I became -such, when I heard him, as is he who in the pit is put.[3] With -hands clasped upwards, I stretched forward, looking at the fire, -and imagining vividly human bodies I had once seen burnt. The -good Escorts turned toward me, and Virgil said to me, "My son, -here may be torment, but not death. Bethink thee! bethink thee! -and if I even upon Geryon guided thee safe, what shall I do now -that I am nearer God? Believe for certain that if within the -belly of this flame thou shouldst stand full a thousand years, it -could not make thee bald of one hair. And if thou perchance -believest that I deceive thee, draw near to it, and make trial -for thyself with fine own hands on the hem of thy garments. Put -aside now, put aside every fear; turn hitherward, and come on -secure." - -[1] It was near sunrise at Jerusalem, and consequently near -sunset in Purgatory, midnight in Spain, and midday at the Ganges. - -[2] "Blessed are the pure in heart." - -[3] Who is condemned to be buried alive. - - -And I still motionless and against conscience! - -When he saw me still stand motionless and obdurate, he said, -disturbed a little, "Now see, son, between Beatrice and thee is -this wall." - -As at the name of Thisbe, Pyramus, at point of death, opened his -eyelids and looked at her, what time the mulberry became -vermilion, so, my obduracy becoming softened, I turned me to the -wise Leader, hearing the name that in my memory is ever welling -up. Whereat he nodded his head, amid said, "How! do we want to -stay on this side?" then he smiled as one doth at a child who is -conquered by an apple. - -Then within the fire he set himself before me, praying Statius, -that he would come behind, who previously, on the long road, had -divided us. When I was in, into boiling glass I would have thrown -myself to cool me, so without measure was the burning there. My -sweet Father, to encourage me, went talking ever of Beatrice, -saying, "I seem already to see her eyes. A voice was guiding us, -which was singing on the other side, and we, ever attentive to -it, came forth there where was the ascent. "Venite, benedicti -patris mei,"[1] sounded within a light that was there such that -it overcame me, and I could not look on it. "The sun departs," it -added, "and the evening comes; tarry not, but hasten your steps -so long as the west grows not dark." - -[1] "Come, ye blessed of my Father."--Matthew, xxv. 34. - - -The way mounted straight, through the rock, in such direction[1] -that I cut off in front of me the rays of the sun which was -already low. And of few stairs had we made essay ere, by the -vanishing of the shadow, both I and my Sages perceived behind us -the setting of the sun. And before the horizon in all its immense -regions had become of one aspect, and night had all her -dispensations, each of us made of a stair his bed; for the nature -of the mountain took from us the power more than the delight of -ascending. - -[1] Toward the east. - - -As goats, who have been swift and wayward on the peaks ere they -are fed, become tranquil as they ruminate, silent in the shade -while the sun is hot, guarded by the herdsman, who on his staff -is leaning and, leaning, watches them; and as the shepherd, who -lodges out of doors, passes the night beside his quiet flock, -watching that the wild beast may not scatter it: such were we all -three then, I like a goat, and they hike shepherds, hemmed in on -this side and on that by the high rock. Little of the outside -could there appear, but through that little I saw the stars both -brighter and larger than their wont. Thus ruminating, and thus -gazing upon them, sleep overcame me, sleep which oft before a -deed be done knows news thereof. - -At the hour, I think, when from the east on the mountain first -beamed Cytherea, who with fire of love seems always burning, I -seemed in dream to see a lady, young and beautiful, going through -a meadow gathering flowers, and singing she was saying, "Let him -know, whoso asks my name, that I am Leah, and I go moving my -fair hands around to make myself a garland. To please me at the -glass here I adorn me, but my sister Rachel never withdraws from -her mirror, and sits all day. She is as fain to look with her -fair eyes as I to adorn me with my hands. Her seeing, and me -doing, satisfies."[1] - -[1] Leah and Rachel are the types of the active and the -contemplative life. - - -And now before the splendors which precede the dawn, and rise the -more grateful unto pilgrims as in returning they lodge less -remote,[1] the shadows fled away on every side, and my sleep with -them; whereupon I rose, seeing my great Masters already risen. -That pleasant apple which through so many branches the care of -mortals goes seeking, to-day shall put in peace thy hungerings." -Virgil used words such as these toward me, and never were there -gifts which could be equal in pleasure to these. Such wish upon -wish came to me to be above, that at every step thereafter I felt -the feathers growing for my flight. - -[1] As they come nearer home. - - -When beneath us all the stairway had been run, and we were on the -topmost step, Virgil fixed his eyes on me, and said, "The -temporal fire and the eternal thou hast seen, son, and art come -to a place where of myself no further onward I discern. I have -brought thee here with understanding and with art; thine own -pleasure now take thou for guide: forth art thou from the steep -ways, forth art thou from the narrow. See there the sun, which on -thy front doth shine; see the young grass, the flowers, the -shrubs, which here the earth of itself alone produces. Until -rejoicing come the beautiful eyes which weeping made me come to -thee, thou canst sit down and thou canst go among them. Expect no -more or word or sign from me. Free, upright, and sane is thine -own free will, and it would be wrong not to act according to its -pleasure; wherefore thee over thyself I crown and mitre." - - - -CANTO XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise.--The Forest.--A Lady -gathering flowers on the bank of a little stream.--Discourse with -her concerning the nature of the place. - - -Fain now to search within and round about the divine forest dense -and living, which tempered the new day to my eyes, without longer -waiting I left the bank, taking the level ground very slowly, -over the soil that everywhere breathes fragrance. A sweet breeze -that had no variation in itself struck me on the brow, not with -heavier blow than a soft wind; at which the branches, readily -trembling, all of them were bending to the quarter where the holy -mountain casts its first shadow; yet not so far parted from their -straightness, that the little birds among the tops would leave -the practice of their every art; but with full joy singing they -received the early breezes among the leaves, which kept a burden -to their rhymes, such as gathers from bough to bough through the -pine forest upon the shore of Chiassi, when Aeolus lets forth -Sirocco.[1] - -[1] The south-east wind. - - -Now had my show steps carried me within the ancient wood so far -that I could not see back to where I had entered it: and lo, a -stream took from me further progress, which toward the left with -its little waves was bending the grass that sprang upon its bank. -All the waters, that are purest on the earth, would seem to have -some mixture in them, compared with that which hides nothing, -although it moves along dusky under the perpetual shadow, which -never lets the sun or moon shine there. - -With feet I stayed, and with my eyes I passed to the other side -of the streamlet, to gaze at the great variety of the fresh may; -and there appeared to me, even as a thing appears suddenly which -turns aside through wonder every other thought, a solitary lady, -who was going along, singing, and culling flower from flower, -wherewith all her path was painted. "Ah, fair Lady,[1] who -warmest thyself in the rays of love, if I may trust to looks -which are wont to be witnesses of the heart, may the will come to -thee," said I to her, "to draw forward toward this stream, so far -that I can understand what thou art singing. Thou makest me -remember where and what was Proserpine, at the time when her -mother lost her, and she the spring." - -[1] This lady is the type of the life of virtuous activity. Her -name, as appears later, is Matilda. Why this name was chosen for -her, and whether she stands for any earthly personage, has been -the subject of vast and still open debate. - - -As a lady who is dancing turns with feet close to the ground and -to each other, and hardly sets foot before foot, she turned -herself on the red and on the yellow flowerets toward me, not -otherwise than a virgin who lowers her modest eyes, and made my -prayers content, approaching so that the sweet sound came to me -with its meaning. Soon as she was there where the grasses are now -bathed by the waves of the fair stream, she bestowed on me the -gift of lifting her eyes. I do not believe that so great a light -shone beneath the lids of Venus, transfixed by her son, beyond -all his custom. She was smiling upon the opposite right bank, -gathering with her hands more colors which that high land brings -forth without seed. The stream made us three paces apart; but the -Hellespont where Xerxes passed it--a curb still on all human -pride--endured not more hatred from Leander for swelling between -Sestos and Abydos, than that from me because it opened not then. -"Ye are new come," she began, "and, perchance, why I smile mu -this place chosen for human nature as its nest, some doubt holds -you marvelling; but the psalm 'Delectasti'[1] affords light which -may uncloud your understanding.And thou who art in front, and -didst pray to me, say, if else thou wouldst hear, for I came -ready for every question of thine, so far as may suffice." "The -water," said I, "and the sound of the forest, impugn within me -recent faith in something that I heard contrary to this." Whereon -she, "I will tell, how from its own cause proceeds that which -makes thee wonder; and I will clear away the mist which strikes -thee. - -[1] Psalm xcii. 4. "Delectasti me, Domine, in factura tua, et in -operibus mannuum tuarum exultabo." "For thou, Lord, hast made me -glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands." - - -"The supreme Good, which itself alone is pleasing to itself, made -man good, and for good, and gave this place for earnest to him of -eternal peace. Through his own default he dwelt here little -while; through his own default to tears and to toil he changed -honest laughter and sweet play. In order that the disturbance, -which the exhalations of the water and of the earth (which follow -so far as they can the heat) produce below, might not make any -war on man, this mountain rose so high toward heaven, and is free -from them from the point where it is locked in.[1] Now because -the whole air revolves in circuit with the primal revolution,[2] -if its circle be not broken by some projection, upon this height, -which is wholly disengaged in the living air, this motion -strikes, and makes the wood, since it is dense, resound; and the -plant being struck hath such power that with its virtue it -impregnates the breeze, and this then in its whirling scatters it -around: and the rest of the earth, according as it is fit in -itself, or through its sky, conceives and brings forth divers -trees of divers virtues. It should not seem a marvel then on -earth, this being heard, when some plant, without manifest seed, -there takes hold. And thou must know that the holy plain where -thou art is full of every seed, and has fruit in it which yonder -is not gathered. The water which thou seest rises not from a vein -restored by vapor which the frost condenses, like a stream that -gains and loses breath, but it issues from a fountain constant -and sure, which by the will of God regains as much as, open on -two sides, it pours forth. On this side it descends with virtue -that takes from one the memory of sin; on the other it restores -that of every good deed. Here Lethe, so on the other side Eunoe -it is called; and it works not if first it be not tasted on this -side and on that. To all other savors this is superior. - -[1] Above the level of the gate through which Purgatory is -entered, as Statius has already explained (Canto XXI), the vapors -of earth do not rise. - -[2] With the movement given to it by the motions of the heavens. - - -"And, though thy thirst may be fully sated even if I disclose no -more to thee, I will yet give thee a corollary for grace; nor do -I think my speech may be less dear to thee, if beyond promise -it enlarge itself with thee. Those who in ancient time told in -poesy of the Age of Gold, and of its happy state, perchance upon -Parnassus dreamed of this place: here was the root of mankind -innocent; here is always spring, and every fruit; this is the -nectar of which each tells." - -I turned me back then wholly to my Poets, and saw that with a -smile they had heard the last sentence; then to the beautiful -Lady I turned my face. - - -CANTO XXIX. The Earthly Paradise.--Mystic Procession or Triumph -of the Church. - -Singing like a lady enamored, she, at the ending of her words, -continued: "Beati, quorum tecta sunt peccata;"[1] and, like -nymphs who were wont to go solitary through the sylvan shades, -this one desiring to see and that to avoid the sun, she moved on -then counter to the stream, going up along the bank, and I at -even pace with her, following her little step with little. Of her -steps and mine were not a hundred, when the banks both like gave -a turn, in such wise that toward the east I faced again. Nor thus -had our way been long, when the lady wholly turned round to me, -saying, "My brother, look and listen." And lo! a sudden lustre -ran from all quarters through the great forest, so that it put me -in suspect of lightning. But because the lightning ceases even as -it comes, and this, hasting, became more and more resplendent, in -my thought I said, "What thing is this?" And a sweet melody ran -through the luminous air; whereupon a righteous zeal caused me to -blame the temerity of Eve, that, there, where time earth and the -heavens were obedient, the woman only, and but just now formed, -did not endure to stay under any veil; under which if she had -devoutly stayed I should have tasted those ineffable delights -before, and for a longer time. While I was going on and such -first fruits of the eternal pleasure, all enrapt, and still -desirous of more joys, in front of us the air under the green -branches became like a blazing fire, and the sweet sound was now -heard as a song. - -[1] "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven."--Psalm -xxxii. 1. - - -O Virgins sacrosanct, if ever hunger, cold, or vigils I have -endured for you, time occasion spurs me that I claim reward -therefor. Now it behoves that Helicon pour forth for me, and -Urania aid me with her choir to put in verse things difficult to -think. - -A little further on, the long tract of space which was still -between us and them presented falsely what seemed seven trees of -gold. But when I had come so near to them that the common object, -which deceives the sense,[1] lost not through distance any of its -attributes, the power which supplies discourse to reason -distinguished them as candlesticks,[2] and in the voices of the -song, "Hosanna." From above the fair array was flaming, brighter -by far than the Moon in the serene of midnight, in the middle of -her month. I turned me round full of wonder to the good Virgil, -and he replied to me with a look charged not less with amazement. -Then I turned back my face to the high things that were moving -toward us so slowly they would have been outstripped by new-made -brides. The lady cried to me, "Why burnest thou only thus with -affection for the living lights, and lookest not at that which -comes behind them?" Then saw I folk coming behind, as if after -their leaders, clothed in white, and such purity there never was -on earth. The water was resplendent on the left flank, and -reflected to me my left side, if I looked in it, even as a -mirror. When on my bank I had such position that only the stream -separated me, in order to see better, I gave halt to my steps. -And I saw the flamelets go forward heaving the air behind them -painted, and they had the semblance of streaming pennons, so that -there above it remained divided by seven stripes all in those -colors whereof the sun makes his bow, and Delia her girdle.[3] -These banners to the rear were longer than my sight, and -according to my judgment the outermost were ten paces apart. -Under so fair a sky as I describe, twenty-four elders,[4] two by -two, were coming crowned with flower-de-luce. All were singing, -"Blessed thou among the daughters of Adam, and blessed forever be -thy beauties." - -[1] An object which has properties common to many things, so that -at a distance the sight cannot distinguish its specific nature. - -[2] The imagery of the Triumph of the Church here described is -largely taken from this Apocalypse. "And I turned to see the -voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden -candlesticks."--Revelation, i. 12. "And there were seven lamps -of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of -God."--Id., iv. 5. "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon -him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of -counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the -Lord."--Isiah xi. 2. - -[3] Delia, the moon, and her girdle the halo. - -[4] "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and -upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in -white raiment."--Revelation, iv. 4. These four and twenty elders -in white raiment, and crowned with white lilies, white being the -color of faith, symbolize the books of the Old Testament. - - -After the flowers, and the other fresh herbage opposite to me on -the other bank, were free from those folk elect, even as light -followeth light in heaven, came behind them four living -creatures, crowned each one with green leaves. Every one was -feathered with six wings, the feathers full of eyes; and the eyes -of Argus were they living would be such. To describe their forms -I scatter rhymes no more, Reader; for other spending constrains -me so that in this I cannot be liberal. But read Ezekiel, who -depicts them as he saw them coming from the cold region with -wind, with cloud, and with fire; and such as thou wilt find them -in his pages such were they here, save that as to the wings John -is with me, and differs from him.[1] - -[1] These four living creatures symbolize the Gospels. Ezekiel -(i.6) describes the creatures with four wings, but in the -Revelation (iv. 8) John assigns to each of them six wings: "and -they were full of eyes within." They are crowned with green, as -the color of hope. - - -The space between these four contained a triumphal chariot upon -two wheels, which by the neck of a griffon[1] came drawn along. -And he stretched up one and the other of his wings between the -midmost stripe, and the three and three, so that he did harm to -no one of them by cleaving it. So far they rose that they were -not seen. His members were of gold so far as he was bird, and the -rest were white mixed with red. Not Africanus, or indeed -Augustus, gladdened Rome with so beautiful a chariot; but even -that of the Sun would be poor to it,--that of the Sun which, -going astray,[2] was consumed at the prayer of the devout Earth, -when Jove in his secrecy was just. Three ladies,[3] at the right -wheel, came dancing in a circle; one so ruddy that hardly would -she have been noted in the fire; the next was as if her flesh and -bones had been made of emerald; the third seemed snow just -fallen. And now they seemed led by the white, now by the red, and -from her song the others took their step both slow and swift. On -the left four[4] robed in purple made festival, following the -measure of one of them who had three eyes in her head. - - -[1] The griffon, half eagle and half lion, represents Christ in -his double nature, divine and human. The car which he draws is -the Church. - -[2] When driven by Phaethon. - -[3] The theological virtues, Faith, Hope, and Charity, of the -colors respectively appropriate to them. - -[4] The four cardinal Virtues, in purple, the imperial color, -typifying their rule over human conduct. Prudence has three eyes, -as looking at the past, the present, and the future. - - -Next after all the group described, I saw two old men, unlike in -dress, but like in action, both dignified and staid. The one -showed himself one of the familiars of that supreme Hippocrates -whom Nature made for the creatures that she holds most dear[1] -the other showed the contrary care,[2] with a shining and sharp -sword, such that it caused me fear on the hither side of the -stream. Then I saw four humble in appearance, and behind all an -old man solitary coming asleep with lively countenance.[3] And -these seven were robed like the first band; but they made not a -thicket of lilies round their heads, rather of roses, and of -other red flowers. The sight at little distance would have sworn -that all were aflame above their brows. And when the chariot was -opposite to me thunder was heard, and those worthy people seemed -to have further progress interdicted, stopping there with the -first ensigns. - -[1] The book of Acts, represented under rho type of its author, -St. Luke, "the beloved physician." Colossians, iv. 14. Man is the -creature whom Nature holds dearest. - -[2] The Pauline Epistles, typified by their writer, whose sword -is the symbol of war and martyrdom, a contrary care to the -healing of men. - -[3] The four humble in appearance are personifications of the -writers of the minor Epistles, followed by St. John, as the -writer of the Revelation, asleep, and yet with lively -countenance, because he was "in the Spirit" when he beheld his -vision. - - - -CANTO XXX. The Earthly Paradise.--Beatrice appears.--Departure of -Virgil.--Reproof of Dante by Beatrice. - - -When the septentrion of the first heaven[1] which never setting -knew, nor rising, nor veil of other cloud than sin,--and which -was making every one there acquainted with his duty, as the -lower[2] makes whoever turns the helm to come to port,--stopped -still, the truthful people[3] who had come first between the -griffon and it,[4] turned to the chariot as to their peace, and -one of them, as if sent from heaven, singing, cried thrice, -"Veni, sponsa, de Libano,"[5] and all the others after. - -[1] The seven candlesticks, symbols of the sevenfold spirit of -the Lord. - -[2] The lower septentrion, or the seven stars of the Great Bear. - -[3] The personifications of the truthful books of the Old -Testament. - -[4] The septentrion of candlesticks. - -[5] "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse."--The Song of -Solomon, iv. 8. - - -As time blessed at the last trump will arise swiftly, each from -his tomb, singing hallelujah with recovered voice,[1] so upon the -divine chariot, ad vocem tanti senis,[2] rose up a hundred -ministers and messengers of life eternal. All were saying, -"Benedictus, qui venis,"[3] and, scattering flowers above and -around, "Manibus o date lilia plenis."[4] - -[1] "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people -in Heaven, saying, Alleluia-" -- Revelation, xix. 1. - -[2] "At the voice of so great an elder;" these words are in Latin -apparently only for the sake of the rhyme. - -[3] "Blessed thou that comest." - -[4] "Oh, give lilies with full hands;" words from the Aeneid, -vi. 884, sung by the angels. - - -I have seen ere now at the beginning of the day the eastern -region all rosy, while the rest of heaven was beautiful with fair -clear sky; and the face of the sun rise shaded, so that through -the tempering of vapors the eye sustained it a long while. Thus -within a cloud of flowers, which from the angelic hands was -ascending, and falling down again within and without, a lady, -with olive wreath above a white veil, appeared to me, robed with -the color of living flame beneath a green mantle.[1] And my -spirit that now for so long a time had not been broken down, -trembling with amazement at her presence, without having more -knowledge by the eyes, through occult virtue that proceeded from -her, felt the great potency of ancient love. - -[1] The olive is the symbol of wisdom and of peace the three -colors are those of Faith, Charity, and Hope. - - -Soon as upon my sight the lofty virtue smote, which already had -transfixed me ere I was out of boyhood, I turned me to the left -with the confidence with which the little child runs to his -mother when he is frightened, or when he is troubled, to say to -Virgil, "Less than a drachm of blood remains in me that doth not -tremble; I recognize the signals of the ancient flame,"[1]--but -Virgil had left us deprived of himself; Virgil, sweetest Father, -Virgil to whom I for my salvation gave me. Nor did all which the -ancient mother lost[2] avail unto my cheeks, cleansed with -dew,[3] that they should not turn dark again with tears. - -[1] "Agnosco veteris vestigia flammae."--Aeneid, iv. 23. - -[2] All the beauty of Paradise which Eve lost. - -[3] See Canto I. - - -"Dante, though Virgil be gone away, weep not yet, weep not yet, -for it behoves thee to weep by another sword." - -Like an admiral who, on poop or on prow, comes to see the people -that are serving on the other ships, and encourages them to do -well, upon the left border of the chariot,--when I turned me at -the sound of my own name, which of necessity is registered -here,--I saw the Lady, who had first appeared to me veiled -beneath the angelic festival, directing her eyes toward me across -the stream although the veil, which descended from her head, -circled by the leaf of Minerva, did not allow her to appear -distinctly. Royally, still haughty in her mien, she went on, as -one who speaks, and keeps back his warmest speech: "Look at me -well: I am, indeed, I am, indeed, Beatrice. How hast thou deigned -to approach the mountain? Didst thou know that man is happy -here?" My eyes fell down into the clear fount; but seeing myself -in it I drew them to the grass, such great shame burdened my -brow. As to the son the mother seems proud, so she seemed to me; -for somewhat bitter tasteth the savor of stern pity. She was -silent, and the angels sang of a sudden, "In te, Domine, -speravi;" but beyond "pedes meos"[1] they did not pass. Even as -the snow, among the living rafters upon the back of Italy, is -congealed, blown and packed by Sclavonian winds, then melting -trickles through itself, if only the land that loses shadow -breathe,[2] so that it seems a fire that melts the candle: so was -I without tears and sighs before the song of those who time their -notes after the notes of the eternal circles. But when I heard in -their sweet accords their compassion for me, more than if they -had said, "Lady, why dost thou so confound him?" the ice that was -bound tight around my heart became breath and water, and with -anguish poured from my breast through my mouth and eyes. - -[1] "In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: -deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; -deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of -defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress; -therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out -of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my -strength. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed -me, O Lord God of truth. I have hated them that regard lying -vanities: but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and rejoice in -thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known -my soul in adversities. And hast not shut me up into the hand of -the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room."--Psalm xxxi. -1-8. - -[2] If the wind blow from Africa. - - -She, still standing motionless on the aforesaid side of the -chariot, then turned her words to those pious[1] beings thus: "Ye -watch in the eternal day, so that nor night nor slumber robs from -you one step the world may make along its ways; wherefore my -reply is with greater care, that he who is weeping yonder may -understand me, so that fault and grief may be of one measure. Not -only through the working of the great wheels,[2] which direct -every seed to some end according as the stars are its companions, -but through largess of divine graces, which have for their rain -vapors so lofty that our sight goes not near thereto,--this man -was such in his new life, virtually, that every right habit would -have made admirable proof in him. But so much the more malign -and more savage becomes the land ill-sown and untilled, as it -has more of good terrestrial vigor. Some time did I sustain him -with my face; showing my youthful eyes to him I led him with me -turned in right direction. So soon as I was upon the threshold of -my second age, and had changed life, this one took himself from -me, and gave himself to others. When from flesh to spirit I had -ascended, and beauty and virtue were increased in me, I was less -dear and less pleasing to him; and he turned his steps along a -way not true, following false images of good, which pay no -promise in full. Nor did it avail me to obtain[3] inspirations -with which, both in dream and otherwise, I called him back; so -little did he heed them. So low he fell that all means for his -salvation were already short, save showing him the lost people. -For this I visited the gate of the dead, and to him, who has -conducted him up hither, my prayers were borne with weeping. The -high decree of God would be broken, if Lethe should be passed, -and such viands should be tasted without any scot of repentance -which may pour forth tears." - -[1] Both devout and piteous. - -[2] The circling heavens. - -[3] Through the grace of God. - - - -CANTO XXXI. The Earthly Paradise.--Reproachful discourse of -Beatrice, amid confession of Dante.--Passage of Lethe.--Appeal of -the Virtues to Beatrice.--Her Unveiling. - - -"O thou who art on the further side of the sacred river," turning -her speech with the point to me, which only by the edge had -seemed to me keen, she began anew, going on without delay, "say, -say, if this is true: to so great an accusation it behoves that -thine own confession be conjoined." My power was so confused, -that the voice moved, and became extinct before it could be -released by its organs. A little she bore it; then she said, -"What thinkest thou? Reply to me; for the sad memories in thee -are not yet injured by the water."[1] Confusion and fear together -mingled forced such a "Yes" from out my mouth, that the eyes were -needed for the understanding of it. - -[1] Are still vivid, not yet obliterated by the water of Lethe. - - -As a cross-bow breaks its cord and its bow when it shoots with -too great tension, and with less force the shaft hits the mark, -so did I burst under that heavy load, pouring forth tears and -sighs, and the voice slackened along its passage. Whereupon she -to me, "Within those desires of mine[1] that were leading thee to -love the Good beyond which there is nothing whereto man may -aspire, what trenches running traverse, or what chains didst thou -find, for which thou wert obliged thus to abandon the hope of -passing onward? And what enticements, or what advantages on the -brow of the others were displayed,[2] for which thou wert obliged -to court them?" After the drawing of a bitter sigh, hardly had I -the voice that answered, and the lips with difficulty gave it -form. Weeping, I said, "The present things with their false -pleasure turned my steps, soon as your face was hidden." And she: -"Hadst thou been silent, or hadst thou denied that which thou -dost confess, thy fault would be not less noted, by such a Judge -is it known. But when the accusation of the sin, bursts from -one's own cheek, in our court the wheel turns itself back against -the edge. But yet, that thou mayst now bear shame for thy error, -and that another time, hearing the Sirens, thou mayst be -stronger, hay aside the seed of weeping, and listen; so shalt -thou hear how in opposite direction my buried flesh ought to have -moved thee. Never did nature or art present to thee pleasure such -as the fair limbs wherein I was enclosed; and they are scattered -in earth. And if the supreme pleasure thus failed thee through -my death, what mortal thing ought then to have drawn thee into -its desire? Forsooth thou oughtest, at the first arrow of things -deceitful, to have risen up, following me who was no longer such. -Nor should thy wings have weighed thee downward to await more -blows, either girl or other vanity of so brief a use. The young -little bird awaits two or three; but before the eyes of the -full-fledged, the net is spread in vain, the arrow shot." - -[1] Inspired by me. - -[2] The false pleasures of the world. - - -As children, ashamed, dumb, with eyes upon the ground, stand -listening and conscience-stricken and repentant, so was I -standing. And she said, "Since through hearing thou art grieved, -lift up thy beard, and thou shalt receive more grief in seeing." -With less resistance is a sturdy oak uprooted by a native wind, -or by one from the land of Iarbas,[1] than I raised up my chin at -her command; and when by the beard she asked for my eyes, truly I -recognized the venom of the argument.[2] And as my face stretched -upward, my sight perceived that those primal creatures were -resting from their strewing, and my eyes, still little assured, -saw Beatrice turned toward the animal that is only one person in -two natures.[3] Beneath her veil and beyond the stream she seemed -to me more to surpass her ancient self, than she surpassed the -others here when she was here. So pricked me there the nettle of -repentance, that of all other things the one which most turned me -aside unto its love became most hostile to me.[4] - -[1] From Numidia, of which Iarbas was king. - -[2] Because indicating the lack of that wisdom which should -pertain to manhood. - -[3] The griffon. - -[4] That object which had most seduced me from the love of -Beatrice was now the most hateful to me. - - -Such contrition stung my heart that I fell overcome; and what I -then became she knows who afforded me the cause. - -Then, when my heart restored my outward faculties, I saw above me -the lady whom I had found alone,[1] and she was saying, "Hold me, -hold me." She had drawn me into the stream up to the throat, and -dragging me behind was moving upon the water light as a shuttle. -When I was near the blessed shore, "Asperges me"[2] I heard so -sweetly that I cannot remember it, far less can write it. The -beautiful lady opened her arms, clasped my head, and plunged me -in where it behoved that I should swallow the water.[3] Then she -took me, and, thus bathed, brought me within the dance of the -four beautiful ones,[4] and each of them covered me with her arm. -"Here we are nymphs, and in heaven we are stars: ere Beatrice had -descended to the world we were ordained unto her for her -handmaids. We will head thee to her eyes; but in the joyous light -which is within them, the three yonder who deeper gaze shall make -keen thine own."[5] Thus singing, they began; and then to the -breast of the griffon they led me with them, where Beatrice was -standing turned toward us. They said, "See that thou sparest not -thy sight: we have placed thee before the emeralds whence Love of -old drew his arrows upon thee." A thousand desires hotter than -flame bound my eyes to the relucent eyes which only upon the -griffon were standing fixed. As the sun in a mirror, not -otherwise the twofold animal was gleaming therewithin, now with -one, now with another mode.[6] Think, Reader, if I marvelled when -I saw the thing stand quiet in itself, while in its image it was -transmuting itself. - -[1] Matilda. - -[2] The first words of the seventh verse of the fifty-first -Psalm: "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and -I shall be whiter than snow." - -[3] The drinking of the waters of Lethe which obliterate the -memory of sin. - -[4] The four Cardinal Virtues. - -[5] The Cardinal Virtues lead up to Theology, or the knowledge of -Divine things, but the Evangelic Virtues are needed to penetrate -within them. - -[6] Mode of being,--the divine and the human. - - -While, full of amazement and glad, my soul was tasting that food -which, sating of itself, causes hunger for itself, the other -three, showing themselves in their bearing of loftier order, -came forward dancing to their angelic melody. "Turn, Beatrice, -turn thy holy eyes," was their song, "upon thy faithful one, who -to see thee has taken so many steps. For grace do us the grace -that thou unveil to hum thy mouth, so that he may discern the -second beauty which thou concealest."[1] - -[1] "The eyes of Wisdom are her demonstrations by which one sees -the truth most surely; and her smile is her persuasions in which -the interior light of Wisdom is displayed without any veil; and -in these two is felt that loftiest pleasure of Beatitude, which -is the chief good in Paradise."--Convito, iii 15. - - -Oh splendor of living light eternal! Who hath become so pallid -under the shadow of Parnassus, or hath so drunk at its cistern, -that he would not seem to have his mind encumbered, trying to -represent thee as thou didst appear there where in harmony the -heaven overshadows thee when in the open air thou didst thyself -disclose? - - - -CANTO XXXII. The Earthly Paradise.--Return of the Triumphal -procession.--The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree.--Sleep of -Dante.--His waking to find the Triumph departed.--Transformation -of the Chariot.--The Harlot and the Giant. - - -So fixed and intent were mine eyes to relieve their ten years' -thirst, that my other senses were all extinct: and they -themselves, on one side and the other, had a wall of disregard, -so did the holy smile draw them to itself with the old net; when -perforce my sight was turned toward my left by those -goddesses,[1] because I heard from them a "Too fixedly."[2] And -the condition which exists for seeing in eyes but just now -smitten by the sun caused me to be some time without sight. But -when the sight reshaped itself to the little (I say to the -little, in respect to the great object of the sense wherefrom by -force I had removed myself), I saw that the glorious army had -wheeled upon its right flank, and was returning with the sun and -with the seven flames in its face. - -[1] The three heavenly Virtues. - -[2] "Thou lookest too fixedly; thou hast yet other duties than -contemplation." - - -As under its shields to save itself a troop turns and wheels with -its banner, before it all can change about, that soldiery of the -celestial realm which was in advance had wholly gone past us -before its front beam[1] had bent the chariot round. Then to the -wheels the ladies returned, and the griffon moved his blessed -burden, in such wise however that no feather of him shook. The -beautiful lady who had drawn me at the ford, and Statius and I -were following the wheel which made its orbit with the smaller -arc. So walking through the lofty wood, empty through fault of -her who trusted to the serpent, an angelic song set the time to -our steps. Perhaps an arrow loosed from the bow had in three -flights reached such a distance as we had advanced, when Beatrice -descended. I heard "Adam!" murmured by all:[2] then they circled -a plant despoiled of flowers and of other leafage on every -bough.[3] Its branches, which so much the wider spread the higher -up they are,[4] would be wondered at for height by the Indians in -their woods. - -[1] Its pole. - -[2] In reproach of him who had in disobedience tasted of the -fruit of this tree. - -[3] After the sin of Adam the plant was despoiled of virtue till -the coming of Christ. - -[4] The branches of the tree of knowledge spread widest as they -are nearest to the Divine Source of truth. - - -"Blessed art thou, Griffon, that thou dost not break off with thy -beak of this wood sweet to the taste, since the belly is ill -racked thereby."[1] Thus around the sturdy tree the others cried; -and the animal of two natures: "So is preserved the seed of all -righteousness."[2] And turning to the pole that he had drawn, he -dragged it to the foot of the widowed trunk, and that which was -of it[3] he left bound to it. - -[1] "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so -by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."--Romans, -v. 19. - -[2] "That as sin had reigned unto deaths, even so might grace -reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ, -our Lord."--Id., v. 21. - -[3] This pole, the mystic type of the cross of Christ, supposed -to have been made of the wood of this tree. - - -As our plants, when the great light falls downward mingled with -that which shines behind the celestial Carp,[1] become swollen, -and then renew themselves, each in its own color, ere the sun -yoke his coursers under another star, so disclosing a color less -than of roses and more than of violets, the plant renewed itself, -which first had its boughs so bare.[2] I did not understand the -hymn, and it is not sung here,[3] which that folk then sang, nor -did I hear the melody to the end. - -[1] In this spring, when the Sun is in Aries, the sign which -follows that of the Pisces here termed the Carp. - -[2] This tree, after the death of Christ, still remains this -symbol of the knowledge of good and of evil, as well as this sign -of obedience to the Divine Will. Its renewal with flowers and -foliage seems to he the image at once of the revelation of Divine -truth through Christ, and of his obedience unto death. - -[3] On earth. - - -If I could portray how the pitiless eyes[1] sank to slumber, -while hearing of Syrinx, the eyes to which too much watching cost -so dear, hike a painter who paints from a model I would depict -how I fell asleep; but whoso would, let him be one who can -picture slumber well.[2] Therefore I pass on to when I awoke, and -say that a splendor rent for me the veil of sleep, and a call, -"Arise, what doest thou?" - -[1] The hundred eyes of Argus, who, when watching Io, fell asleep -while listening to the tale of the loves of Pan and Syrinx, and -was then slain by Mercury. - -[2] The sleep of Dante may signify the impotency of human reason -to explain the mysteries of redemption. - - -As, to see some of the flowerets of the apple-tree[1] which makes -the Angels greedy of its fruit,[2] and makes perpetual bridal -feasts in Heaven,[3] Peter and John and James were led,[4] and -being overcome, came to themselves at the word by which greater -slumbers[5] were broken, and saw their band diminished alike by -Moses and Elias, and the raiment of their Master changed, so I -came to myself, and saw that compassionate one standing above me, -who first had been conductress of my steps along the stream; and -all in doubt I said, "Where is Beatrice?" And she, "Behold her -under the new leafage sitting upon its root. Behold the company -that surrounds her; the rest are going on high behind the -griffon, with sweeter song and more profound."[6] And if her -speech was more diffuse I know not, because already in my eyes -was she who from attending to aught else had closed me in. Alone -she was sitting upon the bare ground, like a guard left there of -the chariot which I had seen bound by the biform animal. In a -circle the seven Nymphs were making of themselves an enclosure -for her, with those lights in their hands that are secure from -Aquilo and from Auster.[7] - -[1] "As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my -beloved among the suns."--The Song of Solomon, ii. 3. - -[2] The full glory of Christ in Heaven. - -[3] The marriage supper of the Lamb--Revelation, xix. 9. - -[4] The transfiguration--Matthew, xvii. 1-8. - -[5] Those of the dead called back to life by Jesus. - -[6] Christ having ascended, Beatrice, this type of Theology, is -left by the chariot, the type of the Church on earth. - -[7] From the north wind or the south; that is, from any earthly -blast. - - -"Here shalt thou be short time a forester; and thou shalt be with -me without end a citizen of that Rome whereof Christ is a Roman. -Therefore for profit of the world that lives ill, keep now thine -eyes upon the chariot; amid what thou seest, having returned to -earth, mind that thou write." Thus Beatrice; and I, who at the -feet of her commands was all devout, gave my mind and my eyes -where she willed. - -Never with so swift a motion did fire descend from a dense cloud, -when it is raining from that region which stretches most remote, -as I saw the bird of Jove stoop downward through the tree, -breaking the bark, as well as the flowers and new leaves; and he -struck the chariot with all his force, whereat it reeled, like a -ship in a tempest beaten by the waves now to starboard, now to -larboard.[1] Then I saw leap into the body of the triumphal -vehicle a she fox,[2] which seemed fasting from all good food; -but rebuking her for her foul sins my Lady turned her to such -flight as her fleshless bones allowed. Then, from there whence he -had first come, I saw the eagle descend down into the ark of the -chariot and leave it feathered from himself.[3] And a voice such -as issues from a heart that is afflicted issued from Heaven, and -thus spake, "O little bark of mine, how ill art thou laden!" Then -it seemed to me that the earth opened between the two wheels, and -I saw a dragon issue from it, which through the chariot upward -fixed his tail: and, like a wasp that retracts its sting, drawing -to himself his malign tail, drew out part of the bottom, and went -wandering away.[4] That which remained covered itself again, as -lively soil with grass, with the plumage, offered perhaps with -sane and benign intention; and both one and the other wheel and -the pole were again covered with it in such time that a sigh -holds the mouth open longer.[5] Thus transformed, the holy -structure put forth heads upon its parts, three upon the pole, -and one on each corner. The first were horned like oxen, but the -four had a single horn upon the forehead.[6] A like prodigy was -never seen before. Secure, as fortress on a high mountain, there -appeared to me a loose harlot sitting upon it, with eyes roving -around. And, as if in order that she should not be taken from -him, I saw standing at her side a giant, and some while they -kissed each other. But because she turned her lustful and -wandering eye on me that fierce paramour scourged her from head -to foot. Then full of jealousy, and cruel with anger, he loosed -the monster, and drew it through the wood so far that only of -that he made a shield from me for the harlot and for the strange -beast.[7] - -[1] The descent and the attack of the eagle symbolize the -rejection of Christianity and the persecution of the Church by -the emperors. - -[2] The fox denotes the early heresies. - -[3] The feathering of the car is the type of the donation of -Constantine,--the temporal endowment of the Church. - -[4] The dragging off by the dragon of a part of the car probably -figures the schism of the Greek Church in the 9th century. - -[5] This new feathering signifies the fresh and growing -endowments of the Church. - -[6] The seven heads have been interpreted as the seven mortal -sins, which grew up in the transformed church, the result of its -wealth and temporal power. - -[7] The harlot and the giant stand respectively for the Pope -(both Boniface VIII. and him successor Clement V.) and the kings -of France, especially Philip the Fair. The turning of the eyes of -the harlot upon Dante seems to signify the dealings of Boniface -with the Italians, which awakened the jealousy of Philip; and the -dragging of the car, transformed into a monster, through the -wood, so far as to hide it from the poet, may be taken as -typifying the removal of the seat of the Papacy from Rome to -Avignon, in 1305. - - - -CANTO XXXIII. The Earthly Paradise.--Prophecy of Beatrice -concerning one who shall restore the Empire.--Her discourse with -Dante.--The river Eunoe.--Dante drinks of it, and is fit to -ascend to Heaven. - - -"Deus, venerunt gentes,"[1] the ladies began, alternating, now -three now four, a sweet psalmody, and weeping. And Beatrice, -sighing and compassionate, was listening to them so moved that -scarce more changed was Mary at the cross. But when the other -virgins gave place to her to speak, risen upright upon her feet, -she answered, colored like fire: "Modicum, et non videbitis me, -et iterum, my beloved Sisters, Modicum, et vos videbitis me."[2] -Then she set all the seven in front of her; and behind her, by a -sign only, she placed me, and the Lady, and the Sage who had -stayed.[3] So she moved on; and I do not think her tenth step had -been set upon the ground, when with her eyes my eyes she smote, -and with tranquil aspect said to me, "Come more quickly, so that -if I speak with thee, to listen to me thou mayst be well placed." -So soon as I was with her as I should be, she said to me, -"Brother, why dost thou not venture to ask of me, now thou art -coming with me?" - -[1] Thus first words of the seventy-ninth Psalm: "O God, the -heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have -they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps." The whole -Psalm, picturing the actual desolation of the Church, but closing -with confident prayer to the Lord to restore his people, is sung -by the holy ladies. - -[2] "A little while and ye shall not see me: and again, A little -while and ye shall see me."--John, xvi. 16. An answer and promise -corresponding to the complaint and petition of the Psalm. - -[3] The lady, Matilda, and the sage, Statius. - - -Even as befalls those who with excess of reverence are speaking -in presence of their superiors, and drag not their voice living -to the teeth,[1] it befell me that without perfect sound I began, -"My Lady, you know my need, and that which is good for it." And -site to me, "From fear and from shame I wish that thou henceforth -divest thyself, so that thou speak no more like a man who dreams. -Know thou, that the vessel which the serpent[2] broke was, and -is not;[3] but let him who is to blame therefor believe that the -vengeance of God fears not sops.[4] Not for all time shall be -without an heir the eagle that left its feathers on the car, -whereby it became a monster, and then a prey.[5] For I see -surely, and therefore I tell it, stars already close at hand, -secure from every obstacle and from every hindrance, to give to -us a time in which a Five hundred, Ten, and Five sent by God[6] -shall slay the thievish woman[7] and that giant who with her is -delinquent. And perchance my narration, dark as Themis and the -Sphinx,[8] less persuades thee, because after their fashion it -clouds the understanding. But soon the facts will be the -Naiades[9] that shall solve this difficult enigma, without harm -of flocks or of harvest. Do thou note; and even as they are borne -from me, do thou so report these words to those alive with that -life which is a running unto death; and have in mind when thou -writest them, not to conceal what thou hast seen the plant, which -now has been twice plundered here. Whoso robs that, or breaks -it,[10] with blasphemy in act offends God, who only for His own -use created it holy. For biting that, the first soul, in pain and -in desire, five thousand years and more, longed for Him who -punished on Himself the bite. Thy wit sleeps, if it deem not that -for a special reason it is so high and so inverted at its top. -And if thy vain thoughts had not been as water of Elsa[11] round -about thy mind, and their pleasantness as Pyramus to the -mulberry,[12] by so many circumstances only thou hadst recognized -morally the justice of God in the interdict upon the tree. But -since I see thee in thy understanding made of stone, and thus -stony, dark, so that the light of my speech dazzles thee, I would -yet that thou bear it hence within thee,--and if not written, at -least depicted,--for the reason that the pilgrim's staff is -carried wreathed with palm."[13] And I, "Even as by a seal wax -which alters not the imprinted figure, is my brain now stamped by -you. But why does your desired word fly so far above my sight, -that the more it strives the more it loses it?" "In order that -thou mayst know," she said, "that school which thou hast -followed, and mayst see how its doctrine can follow my word [14] -and mayst see your path distant so far from the divine, as the -heaven which highest hastens is remote from earth." Whereon I -replied to her, "I do not remember that I ever estranged myself -from you, nor have I conscience of it that may sting me." "And if -thou canst not remember it," smiling she replied, "now bethink -thee how this day thou hast drunk of Lethe. And if from smoke -fire be inferred, such oblivion clearly proves fault in thy will -elsewhere intent.[15] Truly my words shall henceforth be naked so -far as it shall be befitting to uncover them to thy rude sight." - - -[1] Are unable to speak with distinct words. - -[2] The dragon. - -[3] "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not."--Revelation, -xvii. 8. - -[4] According to a belief, which the old commentators report as -commonly held by the Florentines, if a murderer could contrive -within nine days of the murder to eat a sop of bread dipped in -wine, above the grave of his victim, he would escape from the -vengeance of the family of the murdered man. - -[5] The meaning is that an Emperor shall come, who shall restore -the Church from its captivity, and reestablish the Divine order -upon earth, in rise mutually dependent and severally independent -authority of Church and Empire. - -[6] This prophecy is too obscure to admit of a sure -interpretation. Five hundred, ten, and five, in Roman numerals, -give the letters D X V; which by transposition form the word Dux, -a leader. - -[7] The harlot, who had no right in the car, but had stolen her -place there, or, in plain words, the Popes who by corruption had -secured this papal throne. - -[8] Obscure as the oracles of Thiemis or the enigmas of the -Sphinx. - -[9] According to a misreading of a verse in Ovid's Metam., vii. -759, the Naiades solved the riddles of the oracles, at which -Themis, offended, sent forth a wild beast to ravage the flocks -and fields. - -[10] Robs it as Adam did, splinters it as the Emperors did. - -[11] A river of Tuscany, whose waters have a petrifying quality. - -[12] Darkening thy mind as the blood of Pyramus dyed the -mulberry. - -[13] If not clearly inscribed, at least so imprinted on the mind, -that, like the palm on the pilgrim's staff, it may be a sign of -where thou hast been and of what thou hast seen. - -[14] How far its doctrine is from my teaching. - -[15] The having been obliged to drink of Lethe is the proof that -thou hadst sin to he forgotten, and that thy will had turned thee -to other things than me. - - -And more coruscant, and with slower steps, the sun was holding -the circle of the meridian, which is set here or there according -to the aspect,[1] when even as he, who goes before a troop as -guide, stops if he find some strange thing on his track, the -seven ladies stopped at the edge of a pale shade, such as beneath -green leaves and black boughs the Alp casts over its cold -streams. In front of them, it seemed to me I saw Euphrates and -Tigris issue from one fountain, and, like friends, part slow from -one another. - -[1] Which shifts as seen from one place or another. - - -"O light, O glory of the human race, what water is this which -here spreads from one source, and from itself withdraws itself?" -To this prayer it was said to me, "Pray Matilda[1] that she tell -it to thee;" and here the beautiful Lady answered, as one does -who frees himself from blame, "This and other things have been -told him by me; and I am sure that the water of Lethe has not -hidden them from him." And Beatrice, "Perhaps a greater care -which oftentimes deprives the memory has darkened the eyes of his -mind. But see Eunoe,[2] which flows forth yonder, lead him to it, -and, as thou art accustomed, revive his extinct power." As a -gentle soul which makes not excuse, but makes its own will of -another's will, soon as by a sign it is outwardly disclosed, even -so, when I was taken by her, the beautiful Lady moved on, and to -Statius said, with manner of a lady, "Come with him." - -[1] Here for the first and only time is the beautiful Lady called -by name. - -[2] Eunoe, "the memory of good," which its waters restore to the -purified soul. The poetic conception of this fair stream is -exclusively Dante's own. - - -If I had, Reader, longer space for writing I would yet partly -sing the sweet draught which never would have sated me. But, -because all the leaves destined for this second canticle are -full, the curb of my art lets me go no further. I returned from -the most holy wave, renovated as new plants renewed with new -foliage, pure and disposed to mount unto the stars. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg etext of The Divine Comedy of Dante, -Volume 2, Purgatory, translated by Norton. - |