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LA DIVINA COMMEDIA 
 
 The Divine Comedy 
 
 of 
 
 Dante Alighieri 
 
 A line-for-line translation 
 
 in the rime-form of 
 
 the original, by 
 
 Melville Best Anderson 
 
 Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York 
 
 WORLD BOOK COMPANY 
 
 1921 
 

 ABO-l 
 
 Copyright, 1921, by World Book Company 
 
 Copyright in Great Britain 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 PBINTED or U.B.A. 
 
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION 
 
 As to the form and phrasing of this translation, a few- 
 explanations seem desirable. This is a Une-for-line 
 translation retaining the original rime-form, — terza 
 rimay or triple rime. In using the expression "line-for- 
 line translation," it is not meant to imply that every 
 line will be found in the translation in the exact place 
 where it is found in the original. The substance of 
 every sentence or paragraph presents itself to the 
 translator as material to be freely rehandled in accord- 
 ance with the exigencies of the rime and the require- 
 ments of English idiom. It will be found that the 
 number of lines in every canto of the translation 
 corresponds to that of the original. In conformity with 
 the genius of our language and the practice of our poets, 
 the Italian hendecasyllabic line is rendered by the 
 normal English line of ten syllables. As almost every 
 Italian word ends with a vowel sound, the feminine or 
 double rime, involving a line of eleven syllables, is 
 normal in that language. To what issue the attempt to 
 transplant the Italian eleven-syllable line into English 
 leads, has been shown by the experiment of Lee-Hamil- 
 ton with the Inferno. Like other poets of our tongue, I 
 have introduced the eleven-syllable lines here and 
 there, sometimes in considerable numbers, with a view 
 to special expressiveness. 
 
 With respect to the choice of the English triple rime, 
 I will frankly admit that the late Professor Charles 
 EHot Norton very strongly, although very kindly, 
 advised me against it. Certainly there was little to 
 encourage one in the results attained by those who had 
 previously attempted to render the Poem in this form. 
 To argue that because no one had succeeded with terza 
 rima in English, failure was necessarily a foregone con- 
 clusion, seemed to me a plain begging of the question. 
 
 592500 
 
iv Introduction 
 
 There was encouragement in the fact that Rossetti 
 had succeeded beautifully in his translations of the 
 minor poems in the original rime-forms, and that he, 
 as well as Byron, had nobly rendered in triple rime the 
 story of Francesca. In fact, the arguments against the 
 attempt to translate Dante in the corresponding Eng- 
 lish meter were much on a plane with those raised 
 against the attempts at the conquest of the Poles and 
 of the Air. Twenty-one years ago, when I began this 
 delightful labor, those conquests were still to make. 
 
 Twenty-one years is doubtless a long period to look 
 forward to. Looking back, however, the time seems 
 only too short, and I do not regret one hour of it. 
 Should a friendly critic perchance admonish me that 
 I ought to have tarried longer in Jericho, I should be 
 inclined to agree with him. Parsons, a true poet, is 
 said to have given a very much longer time to his 
 brilliant experiment, leaving it after all only half done. 
 Of the shortcomings of the present version I am, of 
 course, more painfully aware than any one else can be. 
 But I do think that in certain passages I have justified 
 the choice of the triple rime as the form in which the 
 translator can come nearest to the spirit and power of 
 the great original. There were moments when I felt 
 near the Master, — ^when he seemed to take the pen 
 out of my hand and show me how the lines should read 
 in English. Moments of happy, stimulating illusion, 
 such as come to the translator as the supreme reward 
 of fideUty ! 
 
 To judge by much recent comment, Dante seems to 
 be popularly known as the poet of the Inferno. In 
 fact, persons who ought to know better have fallen 
 into the loose habit of referring to the Divine Comedy 
 as "Dante's Inferno." The Inferno has perhaps a 
 hundred readers, where the Purgatorio has a score and 
 the Paradiso one or two. Yet the two latter Cantiche 
 
Introduction v 
 
 contain passages transcending in beauty and in moral 
 significance anything in the Inferno. And to sp>eak of 
 my translation, inasmuch as I naturally gained in 
 mastery of my difficult instrument as I proceeded, I 
 believe my rendering of the Paradiso to be both tech- 
 nically and poetically superior to my rendering of the 
 Inferno. I should be sorry, therefore, if any disap- 
 pointed reader should lay down my version without 
 looking at some of the later cantos. If the Divine 
 Comedy be regarded as the Poet's spiritual autobiogra- 
 phy, surely the Inferno must be essentially preliminary. 
 The true center of the Poem, so considered, is found in 
 the thirtieth and thirty-first cantos of Purgatorio. 
 
 With respect to the marginal notes, I wish to say that 
 they of course make no claim to anything like com- 
 pleteness, being intended only as an unobtrusive run- 
 ning commentary to help the reader to slip through, or 
 over, certain perplexing passages, so encouraging him 
 to achieve the rather unusual feat of reading the whole 
 Divine Comedy through at a few sittings. It is believed 
 that this can be comfortably accomplished in the long 
 winter evenings of a single week. I once read my 
 translation of the whole Inferno to a friend at a single 
 unbroken sitting. 
 
 To the longer notes which have been appended to 
 certain cantos, I wish here to add the two following. 
 The first is with respect to the pronoun of direct 
 address. This is throughout the time-honored pronoun 
 of the second person, "thou," with its corresponding 
 forms. By this Dante and Virgil address each other; 
 by this Dante addresses so great a personage as the 
 Lady Matilda. This ordinary use of "thou" sets in 
 marked relief the occasional exceptional use of "you" 
 as the singular pronoun of direct address. The use of 
 •you" is intended as a mark of the ceremonious respect 
 due to royalty or superior rank. This is emphasized 
 
vi Introduction 
 
 by the Poet in the opening hnes of Paradiso xvi. 
 His use of "you" in that place in addressing his great 
 ancestor is a sign of family pride, causing Beatrice to 
 smile at the Poet's weakness. In Purgatorio xxxi, after 
 Beatrice has assumed the remote and impersonal 
 attitude of the judge, he uses this form in addressing 
 her. He uses it out of reverence to Pope Adrian in 
 Purgatorio xix. In the Inferno the Poet so addresses 
 Farinata, the elder Cavalcanti, and Brunetto Latini, 
 but not Pope Nicholas III. Wherever "thou (thy)" and 
 "you (your)" are used in close connection, the reader 
 may properly infer that different persons are thus 
 referred to. For example, in Inferno xix, line 102, 
 "thou" refers to Pope Nicholas, while in the next line 
 but one "your" refers to the whole class to which he 
 belongs. 
 
 The other note is with reference to the first line of 
 the Invocation to the Muses, in the seventh line of the 
 first canto of Purgatorio : 
 
 "Here let dead poesy arise again." 
 
 The commentators generally understand the words 
 "dead poesy" to refer to the spiritual death which has 
 been the subject of the Poem hitherto. But as our 
 Poet teaches us to look in his verses for various phases 
 of meaning (compare the famous letter to Can Grande), 
 the question properly arises whether beside the allegor- 
 ical, or moral, or anagogical meaning, there is not a 
 meaning which, being on the surface, is not seen, for 
 the very reason that we are searching for something 
 deeper. That there is such an unnoted but rather 
 obvious meaning is patent, as soon as one thinks of it. 
 In the thirty-third canto of the Inferno, Poesy is cer- 
 tainly alive, passionately and powerfully alive in the 
 highest degree. In the final canto, however, there is an 
 intentional lowering of the temperature. Poesy seems 
 
Introduction 
 
 vu 
 
 benumbed with the chill of Cocytus. Dante cannot, 
 like Milton, make his Satan a lofty and heroic figure. 
 He is no Baudelaire to suffuse the flowers of evil with 
 sickly grace and unwholesome sentiment. It is a pic- 
 ture of unredeemed ugliness, without the dramatic 
 quality and the charm of imagery and allusion that 
 make us fairly hold our breath while witnessing the 
 horrible transformations in Inferno xxiv and xxv. 
 Even at the very end of the canto the description of 
 the ascent is studiously plain. Done with Hell and 
 glad to banish it from our minds, we hasten forward 
 to the world of light: 
 
 "Tomorrow to fresh woods and pastures new." 
 
 n 
 
 Of special interest to the student of Dante are the 
 handsome armorial shields of Florence and of her 
 Patrician families. Drawings, in which colors are con- 
 ventipnally indicated by the arrangement of the lines, 
 are here given of the arms of the Cavalcanti and of the 
 Portinari; also of the Gianfigliazzi, the first jof the four 
 coats distinctly described in Inferno x's^ii. Of still 
 greater interest are the two colored plates of the old 
 and the new shield of the Comniune of Florence, 
 referred to at the end of Paradiso xvi. The old emblemv 
 the lily argent on a shield gules, was retained by the 
 Ghibellines, while the Guelfs in, the middle of the cen- 
 tury (1251) reversed the colors. These plates serve also 
 as an illustration of the important and sublime passage 
 in Paradiso xviii, where we are told how the bird-like 
 spirits formed the mystic constellated Eagle from the 
 M of the- word TERRAM. Now the fleur-de-lis of 
 Florence might very w^U have served an ancient manu- 
 script illuminator^ as a highly ornate initial letter M. 
 Regarding it as such, the reader will easily imagine the 
 
viii Introduction 
 
 medial point of the letter to be developed, as the Poet 
 describes, into the head and neck of an Eagle. In fact, 
 the resemblance to the heraldic Eagle is striking. The 
 Emblem may also be taken as an illustration of that 
 passage in Purgatorio xxiii in which is recorded the 
 quaint fancy that God stamped the word OMO (homo) 
 on the face of man. 
 
 Inasmuch as my brief marginal notes pass with- 
 out comment hundreds of names and allusions about 
 which the reader may be curious, it is my pleasant 
 duty to refer to a few of the abimdant helps to the 
 study of the Poet which exist in English. In the way 
 of general criticism it hapi>ens that we have two essays 
 worthy of the lofty subject, one by the English Dean, 
 R. W. Church (Macmillan), and one by the American 
 poet-critic, J. R. Lowell (Houghton Mifflin). In the 
 whole wide field of Dante criticism, I have foimd 
 nothing quite equal in their way to these two essays, 
 which admirably supplement each other. Of the 
 somewhat abundant comment that has recently arisen 
 in connection with the commemorations of the Poet in 
 this anniversary year, the most noteworthy essay that 
 I have chanced to see is that of the eminent Italian 
 thinker, Benedetto Croce, in the Yale Review (October, 
 1921). 
 
 Of editions of the Poet, the one published in the 
 series of "Temple Classics" will be found on the whole 
 most useful to the beginner. This contains a transla- 
 tion, facing the text, together with brief notes, useful 
 maps, diagrams, tables, and pictures. The translation 
 of the Inferno is the excellent one by John Carlyle. The 
 other translations are less commendable, and the 
 notes are too often wanting in urbanity. 
 
 In the way of a prose translation of the complete 
 Poem, there is nothing quite equal to that by Charles 
 Eliot Norton; and a whole library of information is 
 
Introduction ix 
 
 packed into his terse notes, which are the fruit of life- 
 long study (Houghton Mifflin). 
 
 The notes to Longfellow's blank-verse translation 
 are of a different character and are even more interest- 
 ing. The progress of Dante studies, which has been very 
 great during the past half century, has made many of 
 Longfellow's interpretations obsolete. But as a body 
 of literary parallels, Longfellow's notes should be in 
 the hands of every reader (Houghton Mifflin). 
 
 The best edition of the text, with notes and argu- 
 ments in Enghsh, is that by Professor C. H. Grandgent 
 (Heath), who has made scholarly use of the works of 
 the most recent ItaUan writers and investigators. 
 
 Fuller comment is given by H. F. Tozer, whose notes 
 are pubHshed separately in three volumes by the Claren- 
 don Press. 
 
 In the way of a handbook of historical and bio- 
 graphical information, there is nothing on the whole 
 so good as the compact "Primer of Dante" by E. G. 
 Gardner (Dent). It contains an analytic accoimt of 
 all the Poet's works, together with tables and dia- 
 grams and other information of value. Inexpensive 
 and handy, it is the one book which I recommend to 
 the reader as almost indispensable. 
 
 Perhaps the most important single book of reference 
 for the student of Dante is the "Dictionary of Proper 
 Names" by Paget Toynbee (Clarendon Press). This 
 work contains some account of every one of the hun- 
 dreds of persons introduced or referred to in the course 
 of Dante's poems. Mr. Toynbee, who is now the most 
 eminent Hving English t)ante scholar, has had in hand 
 for many ye^ars a general Dictionary to the language of 
 Dante, — a work unhappily not yet completed. 
 
 It would give me deep pleasure to record here the 
 names of friends who have helped me with advice and 
 sympathy. As I have mentioned Professor Norton, it 
 
X Introduction 
 
 would be ungracious not to add that, although believing 
 me to be just another "Childe Roland'^ at the Dark 
 Tower, he gave me unstinted assistance, as his notes 
 on the manuscript of some of my earlier cantos bear 
 witness. As I think of other and nearer friends, who 
 encouraged my first crude attempts and who are now 
 with Dante and Beatrice, I recall the pathetic words of 
 Goethe : 
 
 "Sic horen nicht die folgenden Gesange, 
 Die Seelen, denen ich die ersten sang." 
 
 (Those spirits do not hear the present cadence. 
 Who kindled to the song that first I sang.) 
 
 Of the many friends still happily with us to whom I 
 feel deeply indebted, I cannot forbear to mention here 
 Mr. Edward Howard Griggs, without whose timely and 
 active assistance this translation would certainly not 
 have seen the light of this memorial year. 
 
 M. B. A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Inferno 
 
 OAITTO PAOS 
 
 I. Proem: Rescue of Dante by Virgil 1 
 
 II. Virgil Describes the Appeal of Beatrice . . 5 
 
 in. The Dire Inscription and the Dark River . 9 
 
 IV. First Circle: Limbo; the Virtuous Pagans . 13 
 
 V. Second Circle: Francesca da Rimini .... 18 
 
 VI. Third Circle: The Intemperate 22 
 
 VII. Fourth Circle: The Parsimonious and the 
 
 Prodigal 26 
 
 S^III. Fifth Circle: The Wrathful . . . . ._^ . 30 
 IX. Sixth Circle: The Furies and'the Angel . ^~~ 34 
 
 X. Sixth Circle: Farinata of the Uberti .... 38 
 XI. Classes of Sins and Distribution of the 
 
 Damned 42 
 
 XII. Seventh Circle: Ring 1. Those Violent 
 
 against Neighbors 46 
 
 XIII. Seventh Circle: Ring 2. The Suicidal Wood 50 
 
 XIV. Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Defiers of God , . 55 
 XV. Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Brunetto La tini . . 59 
 
 XVL Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Three Great Citizens 
 
 of Florence 63 
 
 XVII. Seventh Circle: Ring 3. The Wonderful 
 
 Flight Downward 67 
 
 XVin. Eighth Circle: Pouch 1. Panders and Se- 
 ducers. Pouch 2. Flatterers 71 
 
 XIX. Eighth Circle: Pouch 3. Simoniacal Popes . 75 
 XX. Eighth Circle: Pouch 4. Diviners. Origin of 
 
 Mantua 79 
 
 XXI. Eighth Circle: Pouch 5. Barrators .... 83 
 XXII. Eighth Circle: Pouch 5. Comedy of the 
 
 Devils 87 
 
 XXm. Eighth Circle: Pouch 6. Hypocrites ... 92 
 
 XXIV. Eighth Circle: Pouch 7. Robbers .... 97 
 
 XXV. Eighth Circle: Pouch 7. Transformations . 102 
 
 XXVI. Eighth Circle: Pouch 8. Ulysses . . . 107 
 XXVn. Eighth Ch-cle: Pouch 8. Guido da Montefel- 
 
 tro and Pope Boniface VIII ...... Ill 
 
 XXVIII. Eighth Circle: Pouch 9. Sowerso f Discord 115 
 
 xi 
 
xii Contents 
 
 CANTO PAGB 
 
 XXIX. Eighth Circle: Pouch 10. Counterfeiters . 119 
 
 XXX. Eighth Circle: Pouch 10. Master Adam of 
 
 Brescia and Sinon of Troy 123 
 
 XXXI. Descent: The Giants around the Pit . . . 128 
 
 XXXII. Ninth Circle: Caina; Antenora 133 
 
 XXXni. Count Ugolino; Ptolomea 137 
 
 XXXrV. Ninth Circle: Judecca. Passage from Luci- 
 fer to the Light 142 
 
 PURGATORIO 
 
 I. The Dawn of Easter 147 
 
 IL The Angel Pilot 151 
 
 m. Antepurgatory 155 
 
 IV. The Ascent of the Mountain Begun .... 159 
 
 V. Tragic Deaths of Three Noble Souls ... 163 
 
 VI. Dante the "Stormy Voice" of Italy .... 167 
 
 VIL The Negligent Princes 172 
 
 VIII. Happy Interview with Departed Shades . . 176 
 
 IX. The Symbolic Gate 180 
 
 X. The Marvelous Carved Walls 185 
 
 XI. The Proud Made Humble 189 
 
 XII. The Pictured Floor 193 
 
 XIIL Sapia of Siena 197 
 
 XIV. Degeneracy of Tuscany and the Romagna . 202 
 
 XV. Treasure in Heaven: Visions of Forbearance 207 
 
 XVI. Temporal Power of the Clergy 212 
 
 XVn. Profitable Discourse: Second Night .... 217 
 
 XVUL Love and Free Will 222 
 
 XIX. A Repentant Pope (Adrian V) 227 
 
 XX. Hugh Capet 232 
 
 XXI. The Poet Statins 237 
 
 XXIL The Three Poets Converse as They Walk . 241 
 
 XXm. ForeseDonati . . 246 
 
 XXrV. Cheerful Abstainers from Good Cheer . . . 250 
 
 XXV. ' The M^lariVsH"6gyof -the Shades ... 255 
 
 XXVI. Dante Meets Two Modern Predecessors . . 259 
 
 XXVn. The Will of the Pilgrim of Eternity is Purified 264 
 
 XXVni. Earthly Paradise Crowning the Mountain . 268 
 
 XXIX. Mystic Procession of the Church .... 273 
 
Contents xiii 
 
 CANTO PAGK 
 
 XXX. The Reproaches of Beatrice 278 
 
 XXXI. Dante's Bitter Confession 285 
 
 XXXII. AUegory of the Evil Days of the Church . 290 
 
 XXXIII. The Poet Made Pure for the Ascent .... 295 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 I. Ascent of Dante with Beatrice 301 
 
 II. Heaven of the Moon 306 
 
 in. Spirits of Women in the Lunar Heaven , . 311 
 
 IV. Solution of Perplexing Questions 315 
 
 V. Vows and Free Will; Heaven of Mercury . 319 
 
 VI. A Philosophy of History 323 
 
 VII. Mystery of the Redemption 327 , 
 
 VIII. The Heaven of Venus 332 
 
 IX. A Great Lady and a Poet Prophesy .... 337 
 
 X. Heaven of the Sun: Starry Garland of Sages 341 
 
 XL The Canto of St. Francis 346 
 
 XII. The Canto of St. Dominic 350 
 
 XIII. St. Thomas Aquinas 355 
 
 XIV. The Spiritual Body. Cross in Mars .... 359 
 XV. Men and Manners of Old Florence .... 363 
 
 X\T. "Old, Unhappy, Far-off Things" 368 
 
 XVII. Dante's Exile and Justification 373 
 
 XVIII. Mystic Symbol of Justice in Star of Jove . 377 
 
 XIX. The Discourse of the Symbolic Eagle ... 381 
 
 XX. The Eagle Continues to Discourse 386 
 
 XXI. Heaven of Contemplation 391 
 
 XXII. St. Benedict; Dante's Natal Constellation . 395 
 
 XXIIL Vision of the Host of the Redeemed ... 400 
 
 XXIV. St. Peter Examines Dante Concerning Faith 404 
 
 XXV. St. James Examines Him Concerning Hope . 409 
 
 XXVI. St. John Examines Him Concerning Love . 413 
 
 XXVn. The Ascent to the Crystalline Heaven . . 417 
 
 XXVHI. The Heavenly Intelligences 422 
 
 XXIX. Creation and Nature of Heavenly Intelligence 426 
 
 XXX. The Celestial Rose 431 
 
 XXXI. Beatrice Sends St. Bernard to Dante ... 436 
 
 XXXn. Order of Places in the Mystic Amphitheater 440 
 
 XXXin. Prayer of St. Bernard. Ultimate Vision . . 445 
 
INFERNO 
 
 Proem: Rescue op Dante by Virgil 
 
 When half the journey of our Hfe was done 
 I found me in a darkling wood astray, 
 Because aside from the straight pathway run. 
 
 Ah me, how hard a thing it is to say 
 
 What was this thorny wildwood intricate 
 Whose memory renews the first dismay ! 
 
 Scarcely in death is bitterness more great: 
 
 But as concerns the good discovered there 
 The other things I saw will I j;elate. 
 
 How there I entered I am unaware. 
 
 So was I at that moment full of sleep 
 When I abandoned the true thoroughfare. 
 
 But when I reacht the bottom of a steep 
 Ending the valley which had overcome 
 My courage, piercing me with fear so deep, -^ 
 
 Lifting mine eyes up, tbeheldj^jdpme 
 
 ^Slready^overed with that planet's light 
 Which along all our pathways leads us home. 
 
 Then was a little quieted the fright 
 
 That had been lurking in the heaiVof me 
 Throughout the passage of ^ie^plfeous night. 
 
 And as the panting castaway, if he 
 
 EscapetEe ^wave a nd on the shore arrive 
 Turns back and gazes on the perilous sea. 
 
 Even so my spirit, still a fugitive. 
 
 Turned back to look again upon the/^Eore^ 
 That never left one person yet alive. 
 
 My weary frame somewhat refresht, once more 
 Along the solitary slope ipHed ^^Z^* 
 So that the firm foot ever was the lower. 
 
 Time: Morning 
 of Good Friday 
 of the Jubilee 
 year, 1300, 
 Dante being 
 midway on the 
 way to three- 
 score and ten. 
 Place: the "wan- 
 dering wood of 
 this life^ where 
 Dante comes to 
 himself from 
 that sleep which 
 is spiritual 
 death 
 
'2' 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Just what sins 
 the three beasts 
 typify is dis- 
 puted. Else- 
 where in the 
 Poem the Wolf 
 is the type of 
 Avarice, by 
 which Dante 
 means all forms 
 of selfish advan- 
 tage at the ex- 
 pense of others. 
 It is the sin 
 which he most 
 frequently stig- 
 matizes; obvi- 
 ously, therefore, 
 the allegory here 
 cannot be merely 
 personal 
 
 I 
 
 "-L 
 
 And lo ! where but begins the mountainside, 
 A leopard Hght and very swifl/Jjp^i?' 
 cSnd 'Covered with a gayly spotted hide. 
 
 NeveTwithdrew she from before my face; 
 Nay, rather blockt she so my going on 
 That oft I turned my footingToTetrace. 
 
 It was about the moment of the dawn ; 
 
 Uprose the sun an dj)aled the Ught ben ign 
 Of those Jair stars which were beside^ him von 
 
 When took they motion first from Love Divine: 
 So the sweet season and the time of cSy ^^/^c 
 Caused me to augur as_a hopeful sign "^^ 
 
 That animal with skinbedappled gay: 
 
 Yet not so much but that I felt dismayed 
 To see a lion intercept my way. .JX^tTtiil. 
 
 It seemed to me that he toward me made 
 
 With head erected and with hunger raving, 
 So that the very air appeared afraid: 
 
 And a she-wolf, made gaunt by every craving 
 
 Wherewith methought she heavy -laden wen t. 
 And much folk hitherto of ioyj^ereaying; ^*-^"- p^ 
 
 She brought on me so much discouragement 
 By terror of her aspect that perforce 
 I forfeited all hope of the ascent. 
 
 And as one, interrupted in his course 
 
 OfjwinninJJ when his fortune is undone 
 Is full of perturbation and remorse, / 
 
 That trucelessTBeast made me^ch malison, ^ 
 
 l;:: 
 
 
 And coming on against me pace Jjy pace 
 Baffled me back where silent is the sun. 
 
 While I was falling back t o that low place, / id^'*^J 
 A certain perso n there appearance made. 
 Whose lengthened silence argued feebleness. 
 
 When him I saw in the deserted glade, 
 
 "Have pity upon me !" I imploring cried, 
 "Whatever thou beest, whether man or shade." 
 
 y - 
 
Virgil Rescues Dante 
 
 "Not man, — a man once was I," he replied, 
 "My parents both were born at Mantua, 
 And were of Lombard blood on either side. 
 
 Sub Julio was I born, though late the day, 
 A . under good Augustus lived at Rome 
 When false and lying deities bore sway. fT' ^*^ J 
 
 I was a poet: that just hero whom 
 
 Anchises $^3? f sang, who came from Troy 
 After the burning of proud Ilium. 
 
 But why dost thou return to such annoy, 
 
 Wherefore ascend not the delightful Mount, 
 Beginning and occasion of all joy?^' — 
 
 "Art thou indeed that Virgil, and that fount 
 
 Whence pours of eloquence so broad a stream?" 
 I made reply to him with bashful front. 
 
 "O of the other poets light supreme, — o^^-^-*-^ * -^m-^ 
 May the long study well avail m e now 
 And the great love that made thy book my theme. 
 
 Thou art my Master and my Author thou. 
 
 And thou alone art he from whom results ^*'** ^ 
 T he goodly style whereto my honors owe. 
 ^•^ Behold the beast that doth my steps repulse : 
 
 Come to my help against her, famous sage, 
 for palpitates my every, vein and pulse." — 
 
 "Another journey must^thy steps engage," 
 When he beheld me weeping, did h e say, 
 "Wouldst from this savage place make pilgrimage ; 
 
 Because this beast whereat thou criest, gives way x 
 Never to any comer, but doth sore 
 Impede and haras^ him yntil she slay. -)a^— — 
 
 Malignant is she soJthaLj ievermore ( *^'*- ^ ) 
 The craving of her appetite is fed. 
 And after food is hungrier than before. 
 
 Many are the animals that with her wed. 
 
 And there shall yet be more, iintil the Hound 
 Shall come and in her misery strike her dead. 
 
 Dante's choice 
 of Virgil as his 
 guide is a nohle 
 instance of that 
 humanity which 
 is above all 
 creeds. The Ro- 
 man poet is 
 made the type of 
 human reason 
 and he therefore 
 retires, in the 
 Earthly Para- 
 dise, in favor of 
 Beatrice who 
 typifies "the 
 good of intel- 
 lect," i.e. the 
 knowledge of 
 God 
 
 'Ac. ^ 
 
4 Inferno 
 
 The Hound is to His food shall not be either pelf or ground 
 \LLrdeUv^er, ^"^ ^^;atjs loving, wise, and valorous : 
 
 such as Dante at Feltro and Feltro shall his nation bound. ? 
 
 Hennrof Lux- '^^^^ humble Italy preserves he thus 
 emburg would For which the maid Camilla bit the dust', 
 
 teeJ^hil in Tumus and Nisus and Euryalus. 
 
 mind Can And out of every city shall he thrust 
 
 ffal^'btfSie That beast, until he drive her back to Hell 
 
 reference is jmr- Whence she was first let loose by envious lust. 
 
 posely vague Wherefore for thee I think and judge it well 
 Thou follow me, and. I will bring about 
 Thy passage thither where the eternal dwell. 
 There shalt thou hearken the despairing shout, 
 Shalt see the souls of yore, eaghjw^oeful guest 
 Who craving for the second death cry out. 
 Shalt see thereafter those who are at rest 
 
 Amid the flame, because their wishes bend 
 To make them, whensoever, of the blest. 
 If then to these thou wishest to ascend. 
 
 For this a worthier soul than I shall wait. 
 And with her will I leave thee at the end : 
 Because that Emperor who there holds state. 
 Seeing I was a rebel to His law, 
 Wills that through me none pass His City-gate. 
 There rules His Love, as everywhere His Awe; 
 There in His Capital He sits on high : 
 Happy His chosen who may nigh Him draw."— 
 "O Poet, I entreat of thee," said I, 
 
 "By that Divinity thou didst not know. 
 So this and greater eyil I may fly. 
 That where thou saidst I may a pilgrim go. 
 And led by thee Saint Peter's portal find, 
 And those thou makest out afiiicted so." — 
 Then moved he on, I following behind. 
 
Dante Distrusts His Worthiness 
 
 II 
 
 Virgil Describes the Appeal of Beatrice 
 
 Day was departing and the dusky air 
 
 Loosing the Hving things on earth that dwell 
 From their fatigues; and I alone was there 
 
 Preparing to sustain the war, as well 
 Of the long way as also of the woe, 
 Which now unerring memory will tell. 
 
 O Muses! O high Genius, aid me now! 
 
 O Memory who wrote down what I did see. 
 Herein all thy nobility will show. 
 
 Now I began : "Poet who guidest me. 
 Look to my worth if it be plenteous. 
 Ere to the hard pass thou confidest me. 
 
 Thou tellest that the Sire of Silvius 
 
 Went to the everlasting world, while still 
 Corruptible, and in the body thus. 
 
 But that the Adversary of every ill 
 
 Should grace him so, viewing the issue high 
 And who he was and what he should fulfill. 
 
 Seems not unfit to the understanding eye: 
 For he was father of imperial Rome 
 Elected in the empyrean sky. 
 
 Founding that city and her masterdom 
 In sooth, for see and sanctuary blest 
 Of those who after greatest Peter come. 
 
 And by that going, which thou honorest. 
 
 He heard of things whereon were consequent 
 His victory and then the Papal Vest. 
 
 There afterward the Chosen Vessel went 
 
 Thence bringing comfort to that Faith supreme 
 Which of salvation is the rudiment. 
 
 But wherefore I? Who grants me such a dream.? 
 iEneas am I not, nor am I Paul, 
 Nor to myself or others worthy seem. 
 
 Time: Evening 
 of Good Friday, 
 1300 
 
 That the Roman 
 Empire is a fun- 
 damental part of 
 the Divine plan 
 for human re- 
 
 principle in 
 Dante s philoso- 
 phy of history, 
 as vyUl be fuUy 
 developed in 
 Cantos vi and 
 xviii qfParadiso 
 
6 Inferno 
 
 Whence, if I dare to yield me to thy call, 
 I tremble lest the going prove insane: 
 My words are to the wise, — thou knowest all."- 
 
 And Hke to those who chop and change again 
 On second thoughts, unwilling former will. 
 And make their fair beginning wholly vain. 
 
 Such became I on that benighted hill: 
 
 Since, taking thought, I canceled the emprise 
 I was before so eager to fulfill. 
 
 "If I have comprehended thy replies,^' 
 
 Returned that shadow of the lofty mind, 
 "Thy soul in caitiff apprehension Ues, 
 
 Which oftentimes so baffles humankind, 
 
 They turn like animal false sight perceiving. 
 Leaving emprise of honor all behind. 
 
 To free thee from this timid misconceiving, 
 
 Let me now tell thee what my coming meant, 
 And what I heard of thee that set me grieving. 
 
 I was with those who are in Limbo pent. 
 When a fair Lady from the blest abode 
 Called me, and her command was my consent. 
 
 More brilKant than the star her glances glowed; 
 And gently and serenely she began 
 With voice angelic, in her own sweet mode: 
 
 *0 courteous shade, soul of the Mantuan 
 
 Whose fame endures today in human ear. 
 And will endure as long as motion can, 
 
 One dear to me and not to fortune dear, 
 Is on the desert hillside in his way 
 So hindered that he has turned back for fear. 
 
 And may, alas ! be now so far astray 
 
 That I am risen for his relief too late. 
 From what I hear the Heavenly voices say. 
 Not mere fine Now go, and with thine eloquence ornate, 
 
 "2i /- -^^^ what may serve for his escape from woe, 
 
 sjdse it more Aid him, lest I should be disconsolate. 
 
The Blessed Spirit Appeals to the Castaway 7 
 
 Myself am Beatrice who bid thee go; 
 
 Thence come I whither to return I sigh; 
 
 Love prompted me and makes me urge thee so. 
 
 When I shall be before my Lord on high 
 
 Often will I invoke for thee His grace.' — 
 Thereat she paused, and I began reply: 
 
 *0 Lady by virtue of whom the human race 
 Doth in nobility all things excel 
 Within the Heaven that rounds the smallest space, 
 
 To do thy bidding pleases me so well 
 
 The deed were laggard if already done : 
 There is no further need thy wish to tell. 
 
 But tell me rather why thou dost not shun 
 Descending to this center from the sphere 
 So wide, whereto thou bumest to be gone.' — 
 
 *Seeing it is thy will so far to peer, 
 
 I will proceed to tell thee,' she replied, 
 *Why I am not afraid to enter here. 
 
 Of those things only fear is justified 
 
 Wherein is power of harming less or much : 
 At nothing else need one be terrified. 
 
 By Grace Divine have I been fashioned such 
 That pangs me not the misery of you, 
 Nor can the flame of all this burning touch. 
 
 In Heaven there is a gentle Lady who 
 
 Berues this barrier whence I bid thee fare, 
 
 So that she bursts on high stern judgment through. 
 
 She summoned Lucy to her in her prayer 
 
 And said : "Thy faithful one now needs thee so 
 That I commend him to thy tender care." — 
 
 Lucy, of every cruelty the foe. 
 
 Arose and came where I had not been long 
 With Rachel, who was set there long ago. 
 
 "Beatrice," she said, "God's very choral song. 
 
 Why help not him who had such love for thee 
 That he forsook for thee the vulgar throng? 
 
 than Dante did. 
 Poetry to him is 
 the perfect utter' 
 ance of the truth: 
 hence the choice 
 of a poet as the 
 organ of human 
 reason 
 
 The Uessed Vir- 
 gin Mary whose 
 nam£, like that 
 of Christy recurs 
 so often in other 
 parts of the 
 Poem, may not 
 be directly men- 
 tioned in Hell. 
 Likewise God is 
 referred to com- 
 monly as '*An- 
 atherP Santa 
 Lucioy who re- 
 appears, nota- 
 bly in Purg. ix, 
 seems to have 
 
8 Inferno 
 
 been a saint to Dost thou not hear him weep in misery? 
 
 whom Dante was j)^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ j^^^ ^^ ^3 combated 
 
 especially de- 
 voted By Death upon a flood wild as the sea?" — 
 
 None ever in the world so swiftly sped 
 Avoiding hurt or questing benefit. 
 As came I, after suchlike words were said, 
 
 Speeding me down from where the blessed sit, 
 Trusting thy noble speech whose modest lore 
 Honors thyself, and others hearing it.' — 
 
 After she this had spoken, she forbore, 
 
 And, weeping, turned her shining eyes away, 
 Wherefore to come she made me hasten more; 
 
 And, coming to thee even as she did pray, 
 
 I drew thee from that beast which up the fair 
 Mountain, bereft thee of the briefer way. 
 
 What ails thee then? ah, why, why tarry there? 
 Why harbor in thy heart such cowardice? 
 Why not take liberty to do and dare. 
 
 When cherish for thee so much care as this 
 
 In Court of Heaven three Ladies benedight. 
 And mine own speaking pledges thee such bliss?"— 
 
 Even as the flowerets by the chill of night 
 
 Bended and closed, when brightens them the sun 
 Uplift both stem and petal to the light, 
 
 So with my drooping courage I had done 
 Already, and began Hke one set free. 
 So much good daring to my heart had run: 
 
 "O deep compassion of her who succored me ! 
 And courteous thou, promptly obedient 
 To the true words that she addressed to thee! 
 
 Thy words have with such ardent longing bent 
 My heart to the adventure that, in troth, 
 I have returned now to my first intent. 
 
 Now go, for one will animates us both : 
 
 Thou leader and thou lord and master mild!" — 
 So said I; and he moving, nothing loath 
 
 I entered on the pathway deep and wild. 
 
The Entrance 
 
 m 
 
 The Dire Inscription and the Dark River 
 
 "Through me the way is to the city of woe; 
 Through me the way unto eternal pain; 
 Through me the way among the lost below. 
 
 Justice commoved my high Creator, when 
 Made me Divine Omnipotence, combined 
 With Primal Love and Wisdom Sovereign. 
 
 Before me nothing was of any kind 
 Except eterne, and I eterne abide: 
 Leave, ye that enter^ in, all „hope..behind T 
 
 On high aHove a gateway I descried. 
 Written in dusky color, this device: 
 Whence I: "The sense is dire to me, O Guide!" 
 
 Then answered he, as of expert advice : 
 
 "Here must thou every fear perforce neglect. 
 Here must perforce be killed all cowardice. 
 
 Now come we where I taught thee to expect 
 To look upon the woeful populace 
 Who have forgone the good of intellect." 
 
 Laying his hand on mine with cheerful face. 
 
 Whence I was comforted, he made me keep 
 Right on and inward to the secret place. 
 
 Here lamentations, sighs, and wailings deep 
 Resounding, so the starless welkin fill 
 That, at the first, I could not choose but weep. 
 
 Strange languages, discoursings horrible. 
 Accents of anger, histories of woes. 
 Smiting of hands, with voices hoarse and shrill, 
 
 Make a tumultuous roar that swirling goes 
 Forever in that air of endless night. 
 Like to the sandblast when the whirlwind blows. 
 
 And I, my temples girded with affright. 
 
 Said: "Master, what is this, and who may be 
 The folk who seem in such a woeful plight,'*" 
 
10 Inferno 
 
 H 
 
 "The melancholy souls/' then answered he, 
 "Of those enduring this condition dire. 
 Lived void of honor and of infamy. 
 
 They are commingled with that caitiff quire 
 Of angels, who nowise rebellious were. 
 Nor leal to God, but all for self -desire. 
 
 The Heavens to keep their beauty from impair. 
 
 Banned them, nor harbors them the deep of Hell, 
 Because the damned some boast of them would 
 bear." 
 
 "Master," said I, "what grievance is so fell 
 
 To these, that their lament should be so great?" 
 He answered: "I will very briefly tell. 
 
 These have no hope of death; and this their state 
 Of blind existence is degraded so. 
 They are envious of every other fate. 
 
 Report of them the world does not allow; 
 Mercy and Justice hold them in disdain : 
 Let us not speak of them, but look, and go.** 
 
 And I beheld, on looking there again, 
 
 A whirling banner running swiftly on. 
 As scorning all delay; and such a train 
 
 Of people in pursuit of it that run. 
 
 Nothing but seeing could belief persuade 
 That ever Death so many had fordone. 
 
 And recognizing some, I saw a shade 
 
 In whom detected I that one of these 
 The Great Re- Who cravenly the Great Refusal made. 
 
 hi'mT^ P^l ^^^ ^^ ^^ sect of caitiffs, who displease,— 
 Cdestine V, As now forthwith I understood and knew, — 
 
 il'M^'^nhn Not God alone but all His enemies. 
 
 itjon was proba- 
 bly managed by Wretches who never were alive, and who 
 
 «co:«r'^t- Were sorely stung upon their bodies nude 
 
 faceVIII,achief By hornets and by wasps that thither llew. 
 
 ^^e'p^ml/'''^ These caused their visages to stream with blood, 
 
 scorn and de- Which, mixed with tears, was gathered at their feet 
 
 By vermin, foul and loathsome multitude. 
 
 nunciaHon 
 
C Charon J 11 
 
 And now my glances, pushing further, meet 
 People upon the marge of a great stream; 
 Whence I: "Now tell me. Master, I entreat. 
 
 What folk are these, and by what rule they seem 
 So eager on the passage to be gone. 
 As I distinguish by the feeble gleam." 
 
 And he to me: "These matters shall be known 
 Unto thee, when we stay from our advance 
 Upon the woeful marge of Acheron." 
 
 Thereon with downcast eyes and modest glance. 
 Fearing my words were irksome to him, I 
 Far as the stream refrained from utterance. 
 
 And lo! upon a bark approaching nigh. 
 
 One white with ancient tresses, passing old: 
 "Woe to .you wicked spirits !" was his cry. 
 
 "Hope nevermore the Heavens to behold: 
 I come to lead you to the other bank. 
 Into eternal darkness, heat, and cold. 
 
 And thou, O living spirit, from the rank 
 
 Dispart thee, of these others who are dead." 
 And when he saw me not as one who shrank: 
 
 "Another way, by other ports," he said, 
 
 "Not here, shalt come for ferriage to the shore: 
 Upon a lighter keel must thou be sped." 
 
 "Vex thee not, Charon," said my Monitor: 
 
 "Thus it is willed where will is one and same 
 With potence to fulfill, — and ask no more." 
 
 Then quieted the shaggy cheeks became. 
 
 Of him, the boatman of the marish dark. 
 Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. 
 
 But all those spirits, so forworn and stark, 
 
 Change color and their teeth are chattering. 
 As soon as they the cruel accents mark. 
 
 God they blaspheme and their own sires, and fling 
 Curses on race and place and time and law 
 Both of their birth and their engendering. 
 
12 Inferno 
 
 Then, flocking all together, they withdraw. 
 
 Bitterly weeping, to the cursed shore ' 
 
 Awaiting each who holds not God in awe. 
 Charon, the demon, with the eyes that glow'r. 
 
 Beckoning to them, every one receives. 
 
 And smites whoever lingers, with the oar. 
 As in the autumn season when the leaves. 
 
 First one and then another, lightly fall, j 
 
 Till all upon the ground the bough perceives; j 
 
 Likewise the evil seed of Adam all i 
 
 Fling them from off that margin one by one \ 
 
 At signals, like the bird at his recall. 
 Thus over the dusk water they are gone, ^ 
 
 And ere they can alight on yonder strand \ 
 
 Forgathers a fresh throng on this anon. 
 "Son,'^ said the courteous Master, "understand 
 
 That those who perish subject to God's ire ^ 
 
 Are all assembled here from every land. 
 And ready are to pass the river dire. 
 
 Because Celestial Justice so doth goad 
 
 That very fear converts into desire. ; 
 
 No righteous spirit ever takes this road: ! 
 
 And hence, though Charon may of thee complain, j 
 
 Thou knowest now the meaning of his mode." — ■ 
 
 When he had ended, all the dreary plain 
 
 So trembled that, but calling it to mind, \ 
 
 The terror bathes me now with sweat again. \ 
 
 The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind ^ 
 
 With lightning flashes of vermilion deep, j 
 
 Whence consciousness I utterly resigned: \ 
 
 Then sank I Hke one overcome with sleep, j 
 
^^Now go we down among the people blind^^ 13 
 
 IV 
 
 First CiRCL]5;,LiMBo; the Virtuous PagaKS 
 
 A pealing burst of thunder loosed my sense 
 
 From chains of heavy sleep, and made me bound 
 Like one who is awakt by violence: 
 
 And, risen erect, on every side around 
 
 I moved my rested eye, and fixed my sight 
 To recognize the features of that ground. 
 
 True is it that I stood upon the height 
 
 Above the valley of the Abyss of Woe, 
 Which gathers roar of wailing infinite. 
 
 It was so dark, deep, cloudy, that although 
 My gaze upon the bottom I confined. 
 Not anything discerned I there below. 
 
 "Now go we down among the people blind," 
 Began the Poet, pallid as the dead: 
 "I will go first, and follow thou behind.^' 
 
 And I, observant of his pallor, said: 
 
 "How shall I come if thou afraid appear. 
 By whom I am wonted to be comforted?" 
 
 "The anguish of the people downward here. 
 Portrays upon my face," said he at this, 
 "That pity which thou deemest to be fear. 
 
 The long way urges: come, be not remiss." 
 
 Thus he set forth, and made me enter thus. 
 The foremost circle that begirds the abyss. 
 
 Here was no sound perceptible to us 
 
 Of wailing, only sighs and sighs again. 
 That made the eternal air all tremulous: 
 
 And this arose from woe unpanged with pain, 
 Felt by the great and thronging multitude 
 Of children and of women and of men. 
 
 "Askest thou not," resumed the Master good, 
 
 "What spirits these may be thou dost behold? 
 Now ere thou go, I wish it understood 
 
14 Inferno 
 
 Though these sinned not, their merit manifold 
 Doth not, for want of Baptism, signify, — 
 The portal of the faith which thou dost hold. 
 
 They worshipt God but through idolatry. 
 Seeing they were to Christian ages prior: 
 And among such as these myself am I. 
 
 Eor such defects, and for no trespass dire. 
 Lost are we, suffering no more but so. 
 That j^thout hope we languish in desire." 
 
 On hearing this, laid hold on me great woe. 
 For very worthy people knew I well. 
 Suspended in that Limbo there below. 
 
 "O tell me. Lord, O Master, speak and tell," 
 Began I, wishing full intelligence 
 About the faith that doth all error quell, 
 
 "Went ever any by self -merit hence. 
 Or by another's, to a blissful fate?" 
 And he, who understood my covert sense. 
 
 Made answer: "I was new unto this state, 
 When I beheld One come omnipotent. 
 With sign of victory incoronate. 
 
 The shade of our first father penitent, 
 
 Abel his son and Noah, hence He drew; 
 Moses the lawgiver obedient; 
 
 Patriarch Abraham, King David too; 
 Israel with his sire, with every son. 
 With Rachel for whose sake such pains he knew, 
 
 And many more, and gave them benison: 
 
 And thou must know that earlier than these. 
 Never a human soul salvation won." 
 
 Not for his speaking, did our going cease. 
 
 But ever through the forest did we fare, — 
 
 The forest, I mean, where spirits were the trees^" 
 
 We had not traveled far as yet from where 
 My sleep befell, when I beheld a blaze 
 Which conquered from the dark a hemisphere. 
 
Dante Received among the Great Poets 15 
 
 We still were distant by a little space. 
 Yet not so far but I discerned in part 
 That honorable people held that place. 
 
 **0 thou who honorest both science and art. 
 
 Who may these be that so great honor claim. 
 Thus set from fashion of the rest apart?" 
 
 And he to me : "The honorable fame 
 
 Concerning them that in thy life doth ring. 
 Wins grace in Heaven that so advances them." 
 
 Hereon I heard a voice thus heralding: 
 "Honor to him of poets loftiest ! 
 His shade returneth home from wandering." 
 
 After the voice had ceast and was at rest. 
 Four mighty shades advancing did I see. 
 In whom nor grief nor joy was manifest. 
 
 The Master good began to say to me: 
 
 "Mark him there, carrying that sword in hand. 
 Who, as their lord, comes on before the three: 
 
 *Tis Homer, sovran bard of every land, 
 Horace next after him, satiric wit. 
 Third Ovid, Lucan last of all the band. 
 
 Since unto each doth, as to me, befit 
 
 The name the one voice sounded, in such wise 
 They do me honor, and do well in it." 
 
 Thus gathered the fair school before mine eyes. 
 Of him, the lord of song the loftiest. 
 Who o*er the others like an eagle flies. 
 
 When they had talkt awhile with him, the rest 
 To me with signs of salutation bent; 
 Whereat my Master's smile his mind exprest. 
 
 They paid me honor far more eminent. 
 
 In that they made me of their brotherhood: 
 So I was sixth of them, the sapient. 
 
 Toward the light we thus our way pursued. 
 Discoursing things whereof fits reticence, 
 Even as there to speak of them was good. 
 
16 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The gates of the 
 CasUe, con- 
 ceived as a mag- 
 nificent Uni- 
 versity, typify 
 the seven liberal 
 arts of the Triv- 
 ium {grammar, 
 logic, rhetoric) 
 and the Quadrir- 
 ium {arithmetic, 
 geometry, as- 
 tronomy, music) . 
 These formed 
 the regular cur- 
 riculum of the 
 schools, as being 
 the avenues to 
 all human 
 knowledge 
 
 We gained a castle's grand circumference, 
 With seven lofty walls encircled round, 
 Bemoated with a brooklet for defense. 
 
 This passed we over as upon dry ground: 
 
 Through seven gates I with those sages went; 
 A meadow of fresh verdure there we found. 
 
 People were there of aspect eminent. 
 
 With eyes that moved majestical and slow: 
 Taciturn-, but with voices sweetly blent. 
 
 A little to one side withdrew we so. 
 
 Into an open place, and high and sheen, 
 Where one and all we might behold and know. 
 
 There opposite, upon the enameled green, 
 
 Were shown to me the mighty souls, whom I 
 Feel inwardly exalted to have seen. 
 
 1 :^aw Electra with much people by. 
 
 Hector among them, and ^Eneas descried, 
 And armored Caesar with the falcon eye. 
 
 Camiir, Penthesilea, I espied; 
 
 Over against them King Latinus dwelled, 
 Lavinia, his daughter, by his side. 
 
 I saw that Brutus Tarquin who expelled; 
 Lucrece, Cornelia, Julia, Marcia; then 
 Alone, apart, great Saladin beheld. 
 
 And when I lifted up my brows again, 
 
 The Master I beheld of those who know. 
 Sitting amid the philosophic train. 
 
 All look to him, to him all honor show: 
 Here saw I Plato, Socrates advance. 
 Who nearer him before the others go; 
 
 Democritus, who puts the world on chance, 
 Anaxagoras and Diogenes I saw; 
 Dioscorides, collector good of plants; 
 
 Thales, and Zeno of the Stoic law; 
 Orpheus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, 
 TuUy, and Linus, and moral Seneca; 
 
"T/ie w(yrd comes short of thought^^ 17 
 
 Euclid, geometer; Hippocrates, 
 
 Ptolemy, Avicen, Galen; him who wrought 
 The Commentary great, Averroes. 
 
 In full concerning all report I not. 
 
 For the long theme impels me forward: thus 
 Many a time the word comes short of thoughL. 
 
 The Band of six gives place to two of us: 
 
 My sage Guide leads me by another way 
 Forth from the still air to the tremulous; 
 
 And now I come where shines no light of day. 
 
18 Inferno 
 
 Second Circle: Francesca da Rimini 
 
 From the first circle thus I made descent 
 
 Down to the second, whose contracted rim 
 Girdles so much more woe it goads lament. 
 
 There Minos stands and snarls with clamor grim, 
 Examines the transgressions at the gate. 
 Judges, and sends as he encircles him. 
 
 Yea, when the spirit born to evil fate 
 
 Before him comes confessing all, that fell 
 Distinguisher among the reprobate. 
 
 Seeing what place belongs to it in Hell, 
 
 Entwines him with his tail such times as show 
 How many circles down he bids it dwell. 
 
 Always before him many wait; they go 
 
 All turn by turn to sentence for their sin: 
 They tell and hear and then are whirled below. 
 
 "O thou that comest to the woeful inn !" 
 As soon as he beheld me, Minos cried. 
 Leaving the act of so great discipline, 
 
 "Beware to enter, beware in whom confide. 
 
 Be not deceived by wideness of the door." — 
 "Why dost thou also clamor?" said my Guide, 
 
 "Bar not his going fated from before: 
 
 Thus it is willed up yonder where is might 
 To bring the will to pass, and ask no more." — 
 
 And now the notes of woe begin to smite 
 The hollow of mine ear; now am I come 
 Where I am pierced by wailings infinite. 
 
 I came into a place of all fight dumb. 
 
 Which bellows fike a sea where thunders roll 
 And counter-winds contend for masterdom. 
 
 The infernal hurricane beyond control 
 
 Sweeps on and on with ravishment malign 
 Whirling and buffeting each hapless soul. 
 
'^Blown toith restless violence^^ 19 
 
 When by the headlong tempest hurled supine, ; 
 
 Here are the shrieks, the moaning, the laments, i 
 
 Here they blaspheme the puissance divine. ! 
 
 I learned that to such sorry recompense 1 
 
 Are damned the sinners of the carnal sting, ' 
 
 Who make the reason thrall to appetence. ] 
 
 And as great flocks of starlings on the wing '] 
 
 In winter time together trooping go, ^ 
 
 So did that blast the wicked spirits fling ■ 
 
 Now here, now there, now up, and now below: \ 
 
 Comfort of hope to them is never known 1 
 
 Either of rest or even less bitter woe. ] 
 
 And as the pilgrim cranes from zone to zone j 
 
 Draw out their aery file and chant the dirge, j 
 
 So saw I, and I heard them making moan, /; 
 
 Shadows who on that storm-blast whirl and surge: ; 
 
 Whence I: "Who, Master, are those tempest-flung, i 
 
 Round whom the black air whistles like a 
 scourge?" — 
 
 "The first," said he, "that multitude among. 
 
 Of whom thou seekest knowledge more precise, \ 
 
 Was empress over many a tribe and tongue. ; 
 
 Abandoned so was she to wanton vice j 
 
 That, her own stigma so to wipe away, , 
 
 Lust was made licit by her law device. ^ 
 
 That is Semiramis, — as annals say I 
 
 Consort of Ninus and successor too; 
 Where governs now the Soldan, she held sway. 
 
 The next one, lo ! herself for love she slew \ 
 
 And to Sichaeus' urn her faith dismissed; 
 Next wanton Cleopatra comes to view; 
 
 Now lookest thou on Helen, whose acquist 
 
 Brought evil years; and great Achilles see 5 
 
 Who found in Love his last antagonist. j 
 
 Look, Paris, Tristan . . ." and he pointed me i 
 
 A thousand shades, and named me every name. 
 Who in our life gave Love the victory, i 
 
20 Inferno 
 
 When I had heard my Teacher many a dame 
 Of eld enumerate, and many a knight, 
 Pity assailed me and almost overcame. 
 
 "Poet,'^ began I, "fain would I invite 
 
 Speech with those twain who go a single way 
 And seem upon the wind to be so Hght." — 
 
 And he made answer: "Thou shalt mark when they 
 Draw near to us, and then adjure them by 
 The Love that leads them, and they will obey."- 
 
 Thereafter when a whirlwind swept them nigh 
 I lifted up my voice: "O souls forsp>ent. 
 Come and have speech with us if none deny." — 
 
 As doves to the heart's call obedient 
 Are borne along to the beloved nest 
 On wide and steady pinions homeward bent. 
 
 So these came tow'rd us through the air unblest. 
 Veering from Dido and her multitude, 
 So tender and so strong was my request. 
 
 "O living creature full of grace and good 
 
 Who goest through the dusk air visiting 
 
 Us who left earth encrimsoned with our blood, 
 
 If friendly were the Universal King 
 
 We would be praying to Him for thy peace. 
 Seeing thou pitiest our suffering. 
 
 Whatever ye to speak and hear may please, 
 Ravenna, where That will we speak and hear you close at hand, 
 
 Dante spent his j£ ^^ j^j^ ^^le wind as now may cease. 
 
 latter years in •^ . i i 
 
 the service or The town where I was born sits on the strand 
 
 under the pro- Beside the water where descends the Po 
 tection of its • • i j 
 
 hrd, Guido In quest of peace, with his companion band. 
 NoDeUo da Po- j^ ^^^^^ j^ ^^^^^ y^^^^ -g ^^^^ j^^ 
 
 lenta, a nephew t-iiiT i- i. ^ f > 
 
 of Francesca. Laid hold on this one for the person fair 
 
 Thern^e of her Bereft me, and the mode is still my woe. 
 
 death is so ' / 
 
 grievous to her Love that doth none beloved from loving spare, 
 because It de- rp^ ^^ j^jj^ pleasure made my heart so fain 
 
 pnved her of a ^ , i . p i 
 
 chance to repent That, as thou seest, not yet doth it forbear. 
 
Francesca 21 
 
 Love led us down to death together: Cain 
 
 Awaits the soul of him who laid us dead." — 
 These words from them to us returned again. 
 
 Hearing those injured souls, I bowed my head 
 And held it for so long dejectedly 
 That, "Whereon thinkest thou?" the Poet said. 
 
 When I could answer, I began: "Ah me, 
 
 How many tender thoughts, what longing drew 
 These lovers to the pass of agony." — 
 
 Thereafter I turned to them, and spoke anew: 
 "Francesca, all thy torments dim mine eyes 
 With tears that flow for sympathy and rue. 
 
 But tell me, in the time of the sweet sighs 
 
 By what, and how did Love to you disclose 
 The vague desires, that ye should realize?" — 
 
 And she to me: "It is the woe of woes x. 
 
 Remembrance of the happy time to keepT 
 In misery, — and that thy Teacher knows. 
 
 But if thy yearning be indeed so deep 
 
 To know the first root of a love so dear, 
 I will do even as they who speak and weep. 
 
 One day together read we for good cheer 
 Of Love, how he laid hold on Launcelot: 
 Alone we were and without any fear. 
 
 Many and many a time that reading brought 
 Our eyes to meet, and blancht our faces o'er. 
 But only one point we resisted not. 
 
 When reading of the smile long-waited-for 
 Being kissed by such a lover chivalrous. 
 He, never now from me divided more. 
 
 Kissed me upon the mouth, all tremulous. . . 
 Gallehaut was the book and writer too: 
 That day there was no reading more for us." — 
 
 And while one soul was saying this, for rue 
 So wept the other, that I fainted all 
 For pity, even as dying persons do. 
 
 And fell, as would a lifeless body fall. 
 
22 Inferno 
 
 VI 
 
 Third Circle: The Intemperate 
 
 On coming to my senses, closed at sight 
 Deplorable of them, the kindred twain, 
 Pity for whom had overwhelmed me quite. 
 
 New souls in torment and new modes of pain 
 Wherever I am moving I behold. 
 Wherever I turn and look about again. 
 
 In the Third Circle am I, where the cold 
 Eternal cursed heavy rain doth flow. 
 In mode and measure ever as of old. 
 
 Thick hail and turbid water-drops and snow 
 Down through the darkling air forever fall; 
 Foul stench receives them on the ground below. 
 
 Cerberus, fierce and monstrous animal. 
 
 With triple gullet barks in currish wise 
 Above the people here submerged withal. 
 
 Greasy and black his beard, and red his eyes. 
 And belly big, and fingers clawed amain: 
 Clutching the spirits, he doth rend and slice. 
 
 Howling like dogs by reason of the rain. 
 
 They shelter one side with the other, — ^thus 
 Turn back and forth the reprobates profane. 
 
 The open-mouthed great dragon Cerberus 
 
 Displayed his fangs, what time he us descried: 
 No limb had he that was not tremulous. 
 
 And, spreading palms and fingers out, my Guide 
 Took earth up and, full-fisted, flung it right 
 Into those gullets ravenous and wide. 
 
 As dog that barks for craving appetite 
 
 Grows quiet setting tooth upon his food. 
 For but to gorge it doth he tug and fight. 
 
 So quiet grew those faces, filth-imbrued, 
 Of Demon Cerberus, who bellows so 
 The spirits would be deaf if they but could. 
 
Prophecy of Ciacco 23 
 
 We passed above the shadows whom below 
 The heavy rain is beating, treading down 
 What seems a body, but is empty show. 
 
 Prone on the bottom lay they every one, 
 Except that sudden sat erect one shade 
 As soon as it perceived us passing on. 
 
 *0 thou who through this Hell art led," it prayed, 
 "Recall me, if thou canst, to memory : 
 Or ever I was unmade, wast thou made." 
 
 **Perchance," said I, "the anguish thou dost dree. 
 Doth from my memory thy form efface 
 So that, it seems, I never looked on thee. 
 
 But tell me who thou art, that in a place 
 So woeful liest, punished in such plight 
 That none, though greater, were so much disgrace." 
 
 "Thy city," he returned, "distended quite 
 
 With envy till the sack no more can hold, 
 Held me as hers, when life to me was bright. 
 
 Ciacco, ye citizens called me of old: 
 
 For the pernicious guilt of gluttony 
 
 The rain subdues me, as thou dost behold. 
 
 And, wretched spirit, not alone am I, 
 
 Since for like guilt these suffer, all and some. 
 Like punishment:" no more he made reply. 
 
 "Ciacco," I answered him, "thy martyrdom 
 
 Doth weigh me down to tears compassionate: 
 But tell me, if thou knowest, to what will come 
 
 The citizens of the divided state.'* 
 
 If any one therein be just? and whence 
 Such mighty discord makes it desolate?" 
 
 And he to me: "After long turbulence 
 
 There will be bloodshed, and the rustics, they 
 Will drive the others forth, with much offense. 
 
 Thereafter it behooves them fall away 
 
 Within three suns, and the others rise again 
 Thanks to a certain one who trims today. 
 
u 
 
 Inferno 
 
 This prophecy 
 refers to inci- 
 dents in the bit- 
 ter, fluctuating, 
 dramatic strug- 
 gle for mastery 
 in Florence be- 
 tween the aris- 
 tocratic Black 
 Guelfs, cap- 
 tained by Corso 
 Donaii, and the 
 Whites, led by 
 the Cerchi, — 
 whose rustic 
 origin is so often 
 referred to as to 
 convince us that 
 they retained 
 some of the 
 faults of breed- 
 ing that stamp 
 in all ages 
 the newly 
 rich— The 
 trimmer is Pope 
 Boniface. Who 
 the two just men 
 are is matier of 
 conjecture. We 
 shall meet all 
 but one of the 
 celebrities re- 
 ferred to by 
 name 
 
 Long while shall they a lofty front maintain, 
 
 Keeping the former, spite of tears and shame, 
 'Neath heavy fardels bended down amain. 
 
 The just are two, but none gives heed to them: 
 Envy and avarice and arrogance 
 Are triple sparks that set all hearts aflame." 
 
 Here ended he the sad deliverance. 
 
 And I : "Pray thee, instruct me further forth, — 
 I crave the guerdon of more utterance. 
 
 Of Tegghiaio and Farinata, men of worth. 
 Of Rusticucci, Arrigo, Mosca, tell. 
 And of the others who brought good to birth. 
 
 Where are they, — cause that I may know them well: 
 For great desire constrains me to descry 
 If Heaven may soothe them, or envenom Hell." 
 
 "They are among the souls of blackest dye. 
 
 Whom sins diverse down to the bottom weigh: 
 Thou mayst behold them, going down where they lie. 
 
 But when thou art in the sweet world, I pray 
 
 That thou wilt bring me back to human mind: 
 No more I answer thee, no more I say." 
 
 His straight eyes thereupon aslant inclined, 
 
 Awhile he scanned me; then did headlong fall 
 Down to the level of the other blind. 
 
 "No more," my Leader said, "he waken shall 
 This side of the angelic trumpet sound. 
 When shall arrive the judge inimical 
 
 Each one shall in his dismal tomb be found. 
 His flesh and outward figure reassume. 
 And hear what shall eternally resound." 
 
 So fared we onward through that filthy scum 
 Of shadows and of sleet, with footing slow. 
 Touching a little on the life to come. 
 
 Wherefore I questioned: "Master, will this woe 
 After the mighty Judgment grow amain. 
 Or less become, or burning be just so?" 
 
Unrelenting Justice 25 
 
 "Turn to thy science," answered he again, 
 
 ** Which holds, the more complete the thing, the more 
 It feels of pleasure, and the hke of pain. 
 
 Though these accursed people nevermore 
 Reach true perfection, after that event 
 They look to be completer than before.** 
 
 A circling course along that road we went. 
 Speaking far more than may repeated be; 
 Then came we to the point of the descent. 
 
 And here found Plutus the arch-enemy. 
 
26 Inferno 
 
 VII I 
 
 Fourth Circle : The Parsimonious and the j 
 Prodigal 
 
 3 
 
 "Pap6 Satan Pape Satan aleppe!" \ 
 
 Thus Plutus' clucking voice beginning went; 
 
 And that benignant Sage, experienced : 
 
 In all things, said for my encouragement: I 
 
 "Fear not, for any war that he may wage 
 
 Shall not prohibit thee the rock's descent.'^ 1 
 
 Then to that bloated visage turned my Sage, ■ 
 
 And said: "Accursed wolf, be not so loud! 
 
 And be thou gnawed within by thine own rage. \ 
 
 Not without cause this going is allowed: \ 
 
 Thus it is willed above where Michael j 
 
 Wrought vengeance for the deed of whoredom 
 
 proud/' — 1 
 
 As ocean-faring sails, which the winds swell, \ 
 
 Would fall entangled should the mainmast crack. 
 
 So to the ground the cruel monster fell. \ 
 
 Descending into the Fourth Gap, we track ] 
 
 Still farther that declivity of woe | 
 
 Which doth our universal guilt ensack. 
 
 Justice Divine! can any there below I 
 
 Heap up such penalties and travail new? \ 
 
 And why does guilt of ours consume us so? * 
 
 As on Charybdis yonder surges do, i 
 
 Each against other shattering its crest, I 
 
 So here the folk their counter-dance pursue. 
 
 Here saw I people more than all the rest ! 
 
 Who from each quarter, with a howling din, ; 
 
 Were trundling burdens by main force of breast. \ 
 
 They clash together, and then both begin \ 
 
 The counter-movement, rolling back again, \ 
 
 Shouting: "Why throw away?'' find "Why hold j 
 in?"— 
 
Transient Farce of Getting and Spending 27 
 
 So on both sides they circle to regain 
 
 The point opposed, along the dismal mew. 
 Still shouting their opprobrious refrain: 
 
 Then as along his semicircle drew 
 
 Each one to the other joust, he wheeled withal. 
 And I, who felt my heart as stricken through. 
 
 Said: "Master mine, now tell me, who may all 
 These people be? and on our left-hand side 
 These shaven crowrffe, — ^were they all clerical?" — 
 
 "All these were in the first life,^^ he replied, 
 
 "Of mind so squinting that the middle route 
 Of measured spending could not be espied. 
 
 With voice exceeding clear they bark this out. 
 When to the two points of the circle come. 
 Where counter-crime compels them turn about. 
 
 These heads bereft of hair were, all and some. 
 Priests, popes, and cardinals, whose practices 
 Show avarice in sovereign masterdom." 
 
 Then said I: "Master, among such as these 
 
 There surely must be some I ought to know. 
 Who were defiled with these iniquities." 
 
 And he to me: "Vain thoughts combinest thou: 
 The purblind hfe that made them sordid there 
 Bedims them to all recognition now. 
 
 To the two buttings will they ever fare; 
 Out of the sepulcher will these arise 
 Close-fisted, even as those with scissored hair. 
 
 Ill-giving and keeping ill have Paradise 
 
 Bereft them, and in such a scuffle joined: 
 No beauteous phrase to grace it I devise. 
 
 How transient is the farce, here mayst thou find. 
 Of goods committed unto Fortune, son. 
 Whence buffet one another humankind. 
 
 For all the gold the moon looks down upon. 
 Or that did ever in the world exist. 
 Could of these weary souls give rest to none.** 
 
 Cro'pt hair is a 
 symbol of lavish- 
 ness. ^He has 
 spent his whole 
 substance, even 
 to the hair of his 
 head" (Italian 
 saying) 
 
Inferno 
 
 Fortune, re- "Master, now tell me more/' did I insist: ! 
 
 InXZm. "This Fortune whereunto thou dost allude, \ 
 
 gence whose What is she, with the world's wealth in her fist?" \ 
 
 t:^ij^ And he to me: "0 fooUsh human brood, ' 
 mighty and exalt What ignorance is this wherein ye pine! 
 
 th^e^of low j^^^ Ig^ j^y judgment of her be thy food :— , 
 
 He whose transcendent wisdom is divine, 1 
 
 Fashioned the skies, and gave them those who \ 
 
 guide j 
 
 That every part to every part may shine, | 
 
 So equally do they the light divide; * 
 
 Likewise for earthly grandeur did ordain < 
 
 A common regent, who, as times betide, ] 
 
 Might work vicissitude of treasures vain, 
 
 That they from people and from kindred pass, \ 
 
 Beyond all human prudence to restrain. ] 
 
 Whence rules one race, another cries *Alas!' ] 
 Obeying her decree, the circumstance 
 Whereof is hidden, like the snake in grass. 
 
 Your wisdom can no counterstand advance: ; 
 
 She looks beforehand, judges, and pursues, ^ 
 
 As do the other gods, her governance. ' 
 
 Her permutations have not any truce: . 
 
 Necessity makes her precipitate, ^ 
 
 With frequent turns of luck at fast and loose. j 
 
 Such is that one against whom people prate '• 
 
 Who rather ought to praise her, doing amiss \ 
 
 To deal in blame and to vitupyerate. J 
 
 But she is blest and takes no heed of this: i 
 
 With other primal creatures jocundly ' 
 
 She rolls her wheel, rejoicing in her bliss. I 
 
 Now go we down to deeper misery: i 
 Already sinks each star that made ascent 
 When I set forth, — ^no loitering may be." 
 
 Across the circle to the bound we went, i 
 Above Bt bubbling fountain that careered 
 Down through a gully where it found a vent. 
 
The Sordid Fen 29 1 
 
 I 
 
 The water far more dark than perse appeared: 
 And as the dusky waves companioned us. 
 
 We entered downward by a pathway weird. : 
 
 A marish, Styx by name, this dolorous 
 
 Rivulet fosters when its waters flow * j 
 
 To foot of the gray slope precipitous. J 
 
 And standing there intently gazing, lo! h 
 
 I saw a folk bemired upon that fen, \ 
 
 All of them naked, and with look of woe. i 
 
 Each smote his fellow with the hand, and then 
 
 With both the feet and with the chest and head, i 
 
 Rending with teeth and rending once again. i 
 
 "Now seest thou, son," the kindly Master said. The Wrathful i 
 
 "The souls of those whom Wrath did overquell : ""^ ^ ^""^ \ 
 
 And I would also have it credited \ 
 
 That underneath the water people dwell i 
 Who sigh, and make it bubble at the brim. 
 
 As wheresoe'er it turn, thine eye may tell. ,* 
 
 Fixt in the ooze, they murmur forth this hymn: ] 
 
 * Sweet sun-rejoicing air did we respire i 
 
 Sullenly, drowned in sluggish vapors grim: ' 
 
 Now lie we sullen here in the black mire.* ^ 
 
 They gurgle in their gullets this refrain, I 
 Because they cannot speak with words entire.^ 
 
 Thus, in wide compass round the filthy fen. 
 
 Between the dry bank and the bog we passed, ] 
 
 Scanning the guzzlers of the puddle: then j 
 
 We reacht the bottom of a tower at last. ^ 
 
30 Inferno 
 
 VIII 
 
 Fifth Circle: The Wrathful 
 
 Long while before (I say continuing) 
 
 We reacht the bottom of that tower so high. 
 Our gaze upon its top was Hngering 
 
 By reason of two hghts we could descry; 
 And other signal gleamed far opposite. 
 So far away it hardly caught the eye. 
 
 Turned to that Sea of Wisdom infinite, 
 
 I said: "What means this? what may answered be 
 By yonder beacon? and who kindled it?" 
 
 "The thing we await thou mayst already see 
 Over the turbid waves," he answered, "so 
 The marish-vapor hide it not from thee." 
 
 Cord never shot an arrow from the bow 
 
 That ran so swift a course athwart the air. 
 As o'er the water at that moment, lo! 
 
 I saw a little bark toward us fare. 
 
 Under a single boatman's pilotage. 
 
 Who shouted: "Now, fell spirit, art thou there?" 
 
 *Phlegyas, Phlegyas," replied to him my Sage, 
 "This time thou shoutest vainly: it is meet 
 Thou have us but to pass the ferriage." 
 
 As one who listens to some foul deceit 
 
 That has been done him, and resents it sore, 
 Such became Phlegyas in his gathered heat. 
 
 Embarking thereupon my Monitor 
 
 Caused me to take my station at his side, — 
 And only then the boat seemed laden more. 
 
 When I was in the wherry with my Guide, 
 The ancient prow upon the passage sped. 
 More than with others furrowing the tide. 
 Filippo Argenii While we were running through the channel dead, 
 house of^he Arose before me one whom mud did steep: 
 
 Adimari, a "Who art thou, coming ere thy time?" he said. 
 
The Poefs Hate of Hate 31 
 
 And I: "Though come, I stay not in the deep: 
 
 But who art thou who art grown filthy so?" tf^L^!: \ 
 
 And he: "Thou seest that I am one who weep." vnih silver \ 
 Then I to him : "With weeping and with woe 
 
 Accursed spirit, tarry here for aye: 
 
 For thee, all filthy as thou art, I know." — / 
 
 Then stretcht he forth both hands, the boat to stay: \ 
 
 But him my wary Master from us pressed, ' 
 
 Crying: "Away, with the other dogs, away!" 
 
 Then said: "Indignant soul!" as he caressed j 
 
 My bosom with embrace, my cheek with kiss, ] 
 
 "Blessed be she that bore thee 'neath her breast! • 
 
 A person arrogant on earth was this; [ 
 
 His memory is graced with nothing kind: \ 
 
 So likewise here his shade in fury is. I 
 
 Up there how many who are in their mind j 
 
 Great kings, shall wallow here in mire like swine, | 
 
 Leaving a horrible report behind." 
 
 "Much should I Hke," said I, "O Master mine, j 
 
 To see him in this hellbroth dipt and dyed, j 
 
 Before we issue from the marsh malign." j 
 
 And he to me: "Thou shalt be satisfied ^ 
 
 Ere comes the shore to view; it is not fit 
 
 That such desire of thine should be denied." ' 
 
 Short while thereafter I beheld him smit ; 
 
 By that bespattered folk with stroke so fell ; 
 
 That still I praise and thank my God for it. j 
 "At Philip Argenti! at him!" all did yell: 
 
 That spirit Florentine exasperate j 
 
 Turned on his very self with tooth and nail. j 
 
 We left him there, nor more do I narrate: \ 
 
 But lamentation smote mine ears upon. 
 
 Whence I look forward with mine eyes dilate. 
 
 And the good Master said: "Now, O my son, I 
 
 The city named of Dis is nigh at hand, s 
 
 With heavy citizens, great garrison." i 
 
32 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The reference to 
 the mosques in 
 the Capital of 
 the Infernal 
 Empire is in 
 harmony with 
 the elaborate 
 poetical parol- 
 lelism between 
 Heaven and 
 Hell, the things 
 of God and those 
 of Lucifer, 
 which is one of 
 the features of 
 Dante's art. To 
 the mind of the 
 medieval Chris- 
 tian the mosque 
 is the temple of a 
 wicked heresy. 
 Thus Hell has 
 "cloisters''; the 
 members of the 
 "college'' of the 
 hypocrites wear 
 "cowls"; Dante 
 goes so far as to 
 parody one of 
 the Latin hymns 
 of the Church to 
 emphasize the 
 contrast between 
 Christ and 
 Satan (begin- 
 ning of Canto 
 xxxiv) 
 
 And I: "Already in the valley stand 
 
 Its mosques, O Master, and to me they show 
 Vermilion, as if issuing from the brand." 
 
 And he made answer: "The eternal glow 
 
 Of inward flame kindles that ruddy glare. 
 As thou perceivest in this Hell below." 
 
 Then came we into the deep fosses, where 
 
 They compass round that town disconsolate : 
 The walls appeared to me of iron there. 
 
 Not without making first a circuit great. 
 
 We came unto a place where loudly cried 
 The boatman: "Get ye out, here is the gate." 
 
 I saw above the portals and beside. 
 
 Thousands rained down from Heaven, who wrath- 
 ful said: 
 "Who is this man that, never having died, 
 
 Is going through the kingdom of the dead.?" 
 
 And my sage Master signaled he would fain 
 Talk with them privately. — Thus they were led 
 
 A little to abate their great disdain. 
 
 And cried: "Come thou alone; let him go back 
 Who has made bold to enter this domain. 
 
 Alone shall he retrace his reckless track: 
 
 Let him attempt it; for thou here shalt stay 
 Who hast revealed to him a land so black." 
 
 Imagine, Reader, w^hat was my dismay 
 
 At hearing that accursed language: for 
 I felt that I could never find the way. 
 
 "O my beloved Leader, thou who more 
 
 Than seven times hast made me safe, and hast 
 Rescued from peril deep," did I implore, 
 
 "Do not forsake me thus undone at last; 
 And if the going farther be denied. 
 Let us retrace our steps together fast." 
 
 And that Lord who had thither been my Guide, 
 Answered: "Fear nothing, for the way we go 
 By Such is given, none turneth us aside. 
 
Repulse of Virgil 
 
 33 
 
 Wait here, and let thy soul, forwearied so. 
 Be fed with better hope and comforted: 
 I will not leave thee in the world below/* 
 
 And thus the gentle Father forth is sped. 
 
 There leaving me who in conjecture dwell; 
 For Yes and No contend within my head. 
 
 What he proposed to them I could not tell; 
 
 But long he had not tarried with them, when 
 Back inwards all went scurrying pell-mell. 
 
 The gates they shut, those enemies of men, 
 
 On my Lord's bosom, who, excluded thence, 
 With tardy steps returned to me again. 
 
 His eyes were on the ground, of confidence 
 
 His forehead shorn, and amid sighs he spake: 
 "Who has denied me the grim tenements?" 
 
 And then to me : "What though my wrath awake. 
 Be not dismayed, for I shall find the way. 
 Whatever obstacle within they make. 
 
 This insolence is nothing new, for they 
 
 Displayed it at less hidden gate of yore. 
 Which stands unbolted to this very day. 
 
 Thou sawest the deadly writ above the door; 
 And now descends the steep upon this side, 
 Passing without a guide the circles o'er. 
 
 One who shall fling the city open wide." 
 
 VirgiTs repulse 
 here seems to 
 shadow forth a 
 spiritual crisis 
 so terrible that 
 the noblest hu- 
 man reason is 
 unavailing. 
 There are dread- 
 ful gates where 
 the wisest can 
 only cast his 
 eyes to the 
 ground. In Uie 
 middle of the 
 next Canio the 
 Poet emphasizes 
 the importance 
 of the allegory 
 in this crudal 
 passage 
 
34 Inferno 
 
 IX 
 
 Sixth Circle: The Furies and the Angel ; 
 
 1 
 
 The cowardice that blancht my outward hue \ 
 
 On seeing my Conductor back repair, | 
 
 The sooner checkt in him his color new. \ 
 
 As Ustening, he stopt attentive there. 
 
 Because the vision not far forth could roam ] 
 
 Through the thick murk and through the darkling j 
 
 air. ] 
 
 "Yet we must gain perforce the masterdom,'^ \ 
 
 Beganhe:"Nay but . . . so great help was sent . . . 
 Oh, long it seems until that Other come!" — 
 
 I plainly saw how what at first he meant, ; 
 
 He sought with after thoughts to cancel through i 
 
 In phrases from the former different. j 
 
 But still his language roused my fear anew, *; 
 
 For in the broken phrase I traced a scope , 
 
 Perchance more harmful than he had in view. j 
 
 "Into this hollow, down the dismal slope ^ 
 
 Comes ever any one from the first grade ] 
 
 Whose only punishment is crippled hope?^ ; 
 
 So questioned I; and this reply he made: { 
 
 "Rarely does any out of our abode 
 Journey, as I am doing, to this glade. j 
 
 Once previously, indeed, I took this road ; 
 
 Conjured by that Erichtho void of grace ^ 
 
 Who erst their bodies to the shades bestowed. 
 
 My flesh was bare of me but little space. 
 
 When she compelled me enter yonder mure. 
 
 To draw a spirit forth from Judas' place. \ 
 
 That is the lowest round, and most obscure, | 
 
 And farthest from the all-circhng Heaven : the path i 
 I know full well: therefore be thou secure. | 
 
 This marish, breathing forth the fetid scath, j 
 
 Begirds the woeful city of the dead, ] 
 
 Where now we cannot enter without wrath.*' ''\ 
 
Coming of the Angel 
 
 35 
 
 I bear not now in mind what more he said. 
 Because so fast were riveted mine eyes 
 To that high tower with summit glowing red. 
 
 Where on a sudden up erect arise 
 
 Infernal Furies three of bloody dye. 
 
 Who have the limbs of women and their guise; 
 
 Bright green the hydras they are girded by; 
 Little horned serpents pleated in a braid 
 Like tresses round their cruel temples lie. 
 
 And recognizing every cruel maid 
 
 Of her, the Queen of everlasting woe, 
 "Behold,*' he bade me, "the Erinyes dread. 
 
 This is Megaera on the left, and lo ! 
 
 Alecto weeping yonder on the right; 
 Tisiphone is between," he ended so. 
 
 Each with her talons rips her breast; they smite 
 Upon themselves with palms, so loudly wailing 
 That close I press the Poet in affright. 
 
 '^Medusa come, with stone his body scaling,'' 
 All shouted looking downward; "to our bane 
 Avenged we not on Theseus his assailing." 
 
 "Turn round, and let thine eyes close shut remain: 
 For should the Gorgon come, and shouldst thou se 
 There would be no returning up again." 
 
 Thus said the Master; and thereafter he 
 
 Turned me, nor trusted to my hands alone. 
 But also with his own blindfolded me. 
 
 ye who hold sane intellect your own. 
 Consider heedfully the hidden lore 
 Whereon the veil of the strange verse is thrown! 
 
 And now there came the troubled waters o'er 
 A crashing clangor of a fearful kind, 
 Whereat were trembling yon and hither shore: 
 
 Not otherwise it was than when the wind, 
 
 By dint of adverse heats grown wild and high. 
 Tosses the forest boughs, and unconfined 
 
 It seems to be 
 agreed that the 
 Furies represent 
 pangs of con- 
 science. Bid 
 what is the Gor 
 gon? Some say. 
 Doubt, which 
 turns the heart to 
 stone; others 
 make it an em- 
 blem of the hard 
 ening effect of 
 Despair. The 
 modem psycho- 
 analyst might 
 term it the 
 Medusa-com- 
 plex, and bring 
 about the open- 
 ing of the gate 
 toithout the in- 
 tervention of the 
 Messenger of 
 Heaven. But his 
 comirvg is one of 
 the high points 
 of the Poem 
 
36 Inferno 5 
 
 Shatters, and dashes down, and sweeps them by: J 
 
 Superbly whirls along in dust and gloom, \ 
 
 Making the wild beasts and the shepherds fly. \ 
 
 He loosed mine eyes: "Across that ancient foam 
 Be now the nerve of sight directed yond,'^ 
 He bade me, "where most pungent is the fume." 
 
 As frogs before their serpent-foe abscond, 1 
 
 All slipping through the water in retreat ; 
 
 Till squatted on the bottom of the pond, \ 
 
 So saw I thousands of lost spirits fleet \ 
 
 Away before a Certain One who plied j 
 Over the Stygian ford with unwet feet. 
 
 He often fanned that fetid air aside. 
 
 By waving the left hand before his face, \ 
 And only with that trouble seemed annoyed. 
 
 Well I perceived him sent from Heavenly place, ; 
 
 And turned me to the Master, who made sign 1 
 
 That I stand quiet and my knees abase. \ 
 
 Ah, how he seemed replete with scorn condign ! \ 
 
 When with a little wand he touched the gate j 
 
 It opened, — ^nor came any to confine. j 
 
 "O abject race, from Heaven how alienate'." 
 
 Began he, standing on the horrible sill, \ 
 
 "How harbor ye this insolence so great? j 
 
 Wherefore recalcitrate against that Will ] 
 Which from its purpose never can be shut. 
 
 And which has many a time increased your ill? \ 
 
 What profits it against the Fates to butt? i 
 
 For this your Cerberus, as well ye ween, j 
 
 Is going yet with chin and gullet cut." \ 
 
 Then he turned back along the way obscene | 
 
 Speaking no word to us, but did advance \ 
 Like one constrained and urged by care more keen 
 
 Than that of him soliciting his glance. ■ 
 
 And we went forward to the City of Dis, \ 
 
 Secure after the holy ordinance. i 
 
Burning Tombs of Heretics 
 
 37 
 
 We entered without arms or armistice: 
 And I, because I had desire to know 
 The state of them lockt in such jail as this. 
 
 Being within, cast round mine eye; and lo! 
 
 On either hand a spacious plain was shown 
 Replete with cruel torment and with woe. 
 
 Even as at Aries, where ponds the river Rhone, 
 Even as at Pola near Quarnaro Bay 
 Which bathes Italians limitary zone, 
 
 Sepulchers strew the ground in rough array: 
 Here upon every hand it was the same. 
 Except that here more bitter was the way: 
 
 For scattered in among the tombs was flame. 
 Whereby such utter heat in them arose 
 That never craft can more from iron claim. 
 
 Their lids were lifted all, and out of those 
 Were issuing such dire lamenting cries. 
 As told of wretched ones and full of woes. 
 
 "Master,'^ said I, "what people on this wise 
 
 Finding within these burial-chests their bed. 
 Make themselves audible with woeful sighs?" 
 
 "Here the arch-heretics," to me he said, 
 
 "With followers of every sect are pent: 
 
 More than thou thinkst the tombs are tenanted. 
 
 Like unto like are here in burial blent. 
 
 And heated more and less the monuments." 
 Then, when he to the right had turned, we went 
 
 Between the tortures and high battlements. 
 
 At Aries the 
 Rhone no longer 
 '^ponds" al- 
 though its tend- 
 ency to do so 
 is manifest in 
 La Camargue, a 
 little behw. A 
 few relics of the 
 ancient ceme- 
 tery are still to 
 be seen there. 
 But in the Great 
 War Italy has 
 finally regained 
 its boundary on 
 the Gvlf of 
 Quarnaro, be- 
 yond Pola 
 
38 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Dante exhibits 
 the great here- 
 tics, as he does 
 the virtnmis pa- 
 gans, with frank 
 admiraiion. The 
 lofty figure of 
 Farinata is jxjr- 
 trayed vnth the 
 same sympathy, 
 not to say par- 
 tiality, vyvth 
 which Milton 
 draws his im- 
 posing Satan. 
 The poet's atti- 
 tude is mu£h the 
 same in the case 
 of Ulysses {Can- 
 to xxvi) 
 
 Sixth Circle; Farinata of the Uberti 
 
 My Master now along a hidden track 
 
 Between the city rampart and the fires. 
 Goes forward, and I follow at his back. 
 
 "O Virtue high, that through these impious gyres 
 Dost wheel me at thy pleasure," began I, 
 "Speak to me, — give content to my desires. 
 
 The people in the sepulchers that lie. 
 
 Might they be seen? With lifted covers burn 
 They ever, and no one keeps guard thereby." 
 
 "All will be shut within, when they return 
 Back from Jehosaphat," thereat he said, 
 "Bringing their bodies from the burial urn. 
 
 Herein with Epiciu-us have their bed 
 
 His followers one and all, who represent 
 The spirit with the body to be dead. 
 
 But soon shalt thou within here have content 
 
 As to the question which thou hast proposed, 
 And to the wish whereof thou'rt reticent." 
 
 And I : "Good Leader, I do not keep closed 
 
 My heart from thee, except that words be few: 
 Nor hast thou me now first thereto disposed." 
 
 "O Tuscan, thou who goest living through 
 The city of fire, speaking becomingly. 
 May it please thee stay thy steps in this purlieu ! 
 
 The fashion of thy speech proclaimeth thee 
 A native of that land of noble pride 
 Which haply suffered too much harm from me." 
 
 Suddenly in such accents some one cried 
 
 From out one of the coffers; startled now, 
 I drew a little closer to my Guide. 
 
 Whereat he said: "Turn round; what doest thou?" 
 "Lo! Farinata, standing at full height: 
 And thou canst see him all from belt to brow." 
 
Tlie Dauntless Gkibelline Chief 
 
 39 
 
 Upon his countenance I fixt my sight; 
 
 And he was hfting up his brow and breast. 
 As looking upon Hell with great despite. 
 
 My Leader pusht me to his burial-chest 
 
 Among the tombs with bold and ready hand, 
 "Be chary of thy words!" was his behest. 
 
 When at the bottom of his tomb I stand. 
 
 Awhile he eyes me; then, with some disdain, 
 Inquires: "Who were thy fathers in the land.^" 
 
 And I, to be compliant wholly fain. 
 
 Conceal it not, revealing to him all. 
 
 He sUghtly lifts his brow, then speaks again : 
 
 "Fiercely to mine were they inimical. 
 
 To me, and to the cause I had at heart. 
 
 And therefore twice I scattered them withal." 
 
 "Though banisht, they came back from every part," 
 I answered him, "both once and yet anew; 
 But yours have never rightly learnt that art." 
 
 Then, alongside of him, arose to view 
 
 A shade uncovered to the chin; and bent 
 Upon the knees, I think it upward drew. 
 
 It peered all round about me, as intent 
 
 To look for some one who escaped its ken; 
 But when expectancy was wholly spent. 
 
 Weeping it said: "If through this sunless den. 
 Thou goest because of lofty genius, 
 Where is my son, and why not with thee then.^*" 
 
 "Of mine own self," said I, "I come not thus: 
 
 He, waiting yonder, leads, of whom perchance 
 Your Guido held regard contemptuous." 
 
 His words, and of his pain the circumstance. 
 Had told his name already: otherwise 
 My answer would have had less relevance. 
 
 Suddenly starting up erect, he cries: 
 
 "How sayst thou, held? — ^And does he live no more.^ 
 Does the sweet Hght not fall upon his eyes.''" 
 
 The personage 
 by the side of 
 Farinata is Hie 
 father of Guido 
 Cavalcanti. Gui- 
 do, who was 
 Dante's intimate 
 friend, seems to 
 have belonged 
 to that Floren- 
 tine type of the 
 lofty-minded, 
 cultivated, able, 
 somewhat skep- 
 tical Patrician, 
 of which Lorenzo 
 U Magnifico is 
 the most con- 
 spicuous exam- 
 ple. The broken 
 spirit of the elder 
 Cavalcardi here 
 sets the superb 
 figure of Fari- 
 nata in relief 
 
40 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The bloody bat- 
 tle of Monta- 
 perti, near 
 Siena, in 1260, 
 where ike Flor- 
 entine Guelfs 
 were utterly put 
 to rout by the 
 Sienese and the 
 Florentine Ghib- 
 eUines under 
 the leadership of 
 Farinata 
 
 Then he, aware of some delay before 
 My answer I returned, incontinent 
 Fell back again, and stood forth nevermore. 
 
 But that great-hearted one for whose content 
 I had remained, no change of aspect made. 
 Neither his neck he moved nor flank he bent. 
 
 "And if, — " resuming what before he said, 
 
 "They ill have learnt that art, — if this be so 
 It more torments me than this fiery bed. 
 
 But fifty times shall not rekindled show 
 The visage of the Lady reigning here. 
 Ere thou the hardness of that art shalt know. 
 
 And so the world may sweet to thee appear. 
 Say why the statute of that people runs 
 So pitiless against my kindred dear?" 
 
 "The havoc and the massacre that once 
 
 Stained," I replied, "the Arbia-water red. 
 Are causing in our fane such orisons." 
 
 And sighing thereupon, he shook his head: 
 "Not I alone in that, and in no case 
 Should causeless with the rest have moved," he said: 
 
 "But I it was, when in that other place 
 
 To wipe out Florence one and all agreed. 
 Alone defended her with open face." 
 
 "Ah! so may ever rest in peace your seed," 
 
 Entreated I, "pray loose that knot for me, 
 Which doth my judgment at this point impede. 
 
 It seems that ye prophetically see 
 
 What time brings with it, if I hear aright. 
 And as to present things act differently." 
 
 "We see, like him who has imperfect sight. 
 
 The things," said he, "that are remote from view. 
 So much still shines for us the Sovran Light: 
 
 When they draw nigh, or are, quite canceled through 
 Our vision is; if others bring it not. 
 Unto your human state we have no clew. 
 
The Poet Disturbed hy Forebodings 
 
 41 
 
 Whence thou canst comprehend that blotted out 
 
 Will be our knowledge, from that moment when 
 The portal of the future shall be shut." 
 
 As conscious of my fault, I said: "Now, then, 
 I wish that you would tell that fallen one 
 His son is still conjoined with living men. 
 
 And if just now I rendered answer none. 
 
 Tell him it was because my thoughts were tied 
 Still by that error which you have undone." 
 
 Already was recalling me my Guide: 
 
 Wherefore more hurriedly did I request 
 That spirit tell who else therein abide. 
 
 "With thousands here," he said to me, "I nest: 
 The Second Frederick herein is pent. 
 And the Cardinal: I speak not of the rest." 
 
 He hid himself; and thereupon I went 
 Toward the ancient Poet, pondering 
 That word which seemed to me maleficent. 
 
 He moved along, and then, thus journeying. 
 
 Inquired of me, "Why art thou so bestirred?" 
 Whereat I satisfied his questioning. 
 
 "Let memory preserve what thou hast heard 
 Against thyself," that Sage adjured me so. 
 Lifting his finger; — ^'^and now mark my word! 
 
 When thou shalt standing be in the sweet glow 
 Of her w hose beauteous eye on all is bent. 
 From her the journey of thy life shalt know." 
 
 Then turned he leftward: from the wall we went. 
 Striking across toward the middle by 
 A pathway leading to a pit that sent 
 
 Its loathsome stench ascending even so high. 
 
 The Emperor, 
 oj whom Dante 
 often speaks and 
 whom he ad- 
 mired greatly; 
 and the Cardinal 
 Ottaviano of the 
 Ubaldiniy who 
 said when ahotU 
 to die: ''If there 
 be a soul, I have 
 lost mine a 
 thousand times 
 for the Ghibd- 
 linesP He had 
 looked at the 
 Gorgon! 
 
4% Inferno ' 
 
 XI ^ 
 
 Classes of Sins and Distribution of the 
 Damned 
 
 Upon an eminence with margin steep, ] 
 
 Formed by rock-masses in a circle rent, j 
 
 We came above a still more cruel deep. j 
 
 And here, by reason of the horrible scent ; 
 That was belched forth from the profound abyss. 
 
 Behind the lid of a great monument i 
 
 We stood aside, and saw inscribed on this: J 
 
 "I hold within Pope Anastasius " 
 He whom Photinus led to go amiss/* — 
 
 "We must delay our going down, that thus ' 
 
 A little more familiar to the sense, i 
 
 The dismal blast no longer trouble us." ' 
 
 The Master thus; and I: "Some recompense I 
 Do thou devise to balance this delay. 
 
 Lest time be lost." — ^^My very thought !" he assents. | 
 
 "My son, within these rocks," began he say, ! 
 
 "From grade to grade three lesser circles wind, ' 
 
 Like those above from which we come away. i 
 
 All swarm with cursed souls of humankind: 
 
 But that the sight alone suffice from hence, ^ 
 
 Learn how and wherefore they are thus confined. \ 
 
 Of every malice that gives Heaven offense, 
 
 Injury is the aim; such aim again | 
 
 Grieves others or by Fraud or Violence. ^ 
 
 But because Fraud is man's f>eculiar bane, \ 
 
 God loathes it more; and so the fraudulent ^ 
 
 Are placed beneath, assailed with greater pain. ' 
 
 The whole First Circle is for the violent: 
 
 But since to persons threefold force is done, 1 
 In triple rounds it has apportionment. 
 
 To God, to neighbor, and to self, can one ] 
 
 Do violence: I say, their property \ 
 
 And them, — as thou shalt hear made clearly known . ; 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
Sins of Fraud Most Heinous 
 
 43 
 
 By violence, death and grievous wounds may be 
 Dealt to one's neighbor; to his goods and rights 
 Injury, arson, and rapacity: 
 
 Whence homicides and each who wrongly smites. 
 Marauders and freebooters, all their train 
 The foremost rondure plagues in various plights. 
 
 A man may lay a violent hand again 
 
 On self and on his goods: wherefore below 
 In the second rondure must repent in vain 
 
 Whoso deprives him of your world, whoso 
 Gambles and dissipates his affluence. 
 And comes to grief where he should jocund go. 
 
 The Deity may suffer violence 
 
 With heart's denial and with blasphemies. 
 Which Nature scorn, and His beneficence: 
 
 And hence the smallest rondure signet- wise 
 
 Stamps Sodom and Cahors, and all of those 
 Who, speaking from the heart, their God despise. 
 
 That Fraud whose gnawing every conscience knows, 
 A man may use on others who confide. 
 Or on them who no confidence repose. 
 
 This latter method seems but to divide 
 The link of love that in our nature is: 
 Whence in the Second Circle there reside 
 
 Wizards, hypocrisy, and flatteries. 
 
 Cheating, and simony, and thievishness. 
 Panders, and the like filth, and barratries. 
 
 In the other mode there lies forgetfulness 
 
 Of love which nature makes, and furthermore 
 Of what begets especial trustfulness : 
 
 Whence in the Smallest Circle, at the core 
 Of the whole universe, and seat of Dis, 
 Whoso betrays is wasted evermore.'* 
 
 "Master, thy reasoning of the abyss 
 
 Runs clear," said I, "defining what belongs 
 To place, and to the folk possessing this. 
 
 Cahors, in 
 South Central 
 France, was a 
 noted seat of 
 Usury. The 
 aitittule of 
 Dante toward 
 Usury is the re- 
 sult of a 'preju- 
 dice which is 
 traceable back to 
 Aristotle and 
 which 'propa- 
 gated itself until 
 the middle of the 
 eighteenth cen- 
 tury, when Tur- 
 got gave it the 
 "coup de grdceP 
 Dante, indeed, 
 failed to read 
 correctly some of 
 the economic 
 signs of his own 
 time 
 
44 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The classificor 
 Hon of sins is 
 dear. The sig- 
 nificance of the 
 quite different 
 classification in 
 Purgatorio vnU 
 be jmnted out in 
 a note to Purg. 
 
 But tell me : of the fat lagoon the throngs, 
 
 Those the rain beats upon, those tempest-led. 
 Those who encounter with such bitter tongues, 
 
 Wherefore are they within the City red 
 
 Not punisht, if the wrath of God they bide? 
 If otherwise, then wherefore so bestead ?'' 
 
 "Why wandereth thine intellect so wide 
 
 Beyond the wonted mark?" he said, "or what 
 Hath thine attention elsewhere occupied? 
 
 Hast thou the tenor of those words forgot 
 
 Wherewith thine Ethics thoroughly explain 
 The vices three that Heaven endureth not, — 
 
 Incontinence, and malice, and insane 
 Bestiality? and how incontinence 
 Less angers God, and less doth censure gain? 
 
 If thou consider well this evidence. 
 
 And what they are recall to memory. 
 Who up outside are bearing punishments. 
 
 Thou wilt discern why they divided be 
 
 From all these felons, why God*s hammers smite 
 Upon them somewhat less avengingly." 
 
 ''O Sun! thou healer of all troubled sight, 
 
 So gladdens me thy bringing truth to view. 
 That doubt no less than knowledge is delight. 
 
 Yet turn a little back," said I, "pursue 
 Thy argument that usury offends 
 Divine beneficence, — that knot undo." 
 
 ''Philosophy," said he, "if one attends. 
 
 Not merely in one passage has defined 
 How Nature in her origin descends 
 
 From art Divine, and from the Master Mind; 
 And if unto thy Physics thou refer. 
 After not many pages wilt thou find 
 
 That your art, as it can, pursueth her. 
 As the disciple doth the master; so 
 That your art is Grod's grandchild, as it were. 
 
Usury neither of Nature nor of Art 45 
 
 To these twain, if thy memory backward go 
 To Genesis where it begins, perforce 
 Must men their life and their advantage owe. 
 
 Since usurers adopt another course. 
 
 They Nature and her follower disdain. 
 
 Because they draw their hope from other source. 
 
 But follow, for the journey am I fain: 
 
 The Fishes on the horizon writhe by this. 
 While wholly over Caurus lies the Wain, 
 
 And yonder far descends the precipice." 
 
 This is an elab- 
 orate way of 
 saying that it is 
 an fumr or ttco 
 before sunrise. 
 The Fishes are 
 on the morning 
 horizon, the Ram 
 {with the sun) 
 just below it, the 
 Wain (Septen- 
 trion/'Dipper'^ 
 is wUh the North- 
 west wind (Cau- 
 rus) 
 
46 Inferno | 
 
 XII 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 1. Those Violent ■ 
 
 AGAINST Neighbors \ 
 
 The place we came to that we might descend | 
 
 Was alpine, what beside was on that bank ' 
 
 Was such that it would every eye offend. | 
 
 Such as that rock-fall which upon the flank -\ 
 
 Struck on the Adige, this side of Trent, ' 
 Whether by earthquake or support that sank; 
 
 For, from the summit whence the ruin went, 1 
 
 Down to the plain, the cliff has fallen between, i 
 
 So from above there might be some descent; ' 
 
 The Minotaur, Such was the causeway into that ravine; • 
 
 symbol oj vio- ^^ ^^ |.j^e border of the rugged brow i 
 
 lence, the more m • • • >-i * 
 
 bestial for being The mfamy of Crete was prostrate seen, j 
 
 half human. The rpj^^^. ^^g conceived in the fictitious cow: 
 
 symbdic union u • ir i. i, i • j i 
 
 of Padphae and He bit himself, when eyes on us he laid, i 
 the bvU w twice Subdued within by anger. "Haply thou," 
 
 rejerrea to m it-i««i 
 
 Purg. xxvi. My Master sage toward him shouting said. 
 
 The Minotaur "Believest here the Duke of Athens, who ) 
 
 IS the fit guar- . ,i- ^ ^ ^ ^^ *< 
 
 dian of the en- Up in the world of mortals struck thee dead? 
 
 trance to thu re- Monster, begone ! for guided by no clew 
 
 gtonoflleU, ,>,. , , . , . 11 
 
 where sins of Given by thy sister, comes this man below, \ 
 
 T^^t^^t "^ -^^^ passes by, your punishments to view." j 
 
 punished. Just as the bull that feels the deadly blow, I 
 
 D^kTof'^lSs Breaks from his halter, and not very far ,^ 
 also by Shake- Can move, but merely plunges to and fro: 
 
 So doing I beheld the Minotaur. \ 
 "Run," cried my Master, who the passage showed, 
 
 "While he is raging, hasten down the scar." ^ 
 
 Thus downward we, our way pursuing, trode I 
 
 That dump of stones, which often as I went j 
 
 Moved 'neath my feet, so novel was the load. 1 
 
 I musing passed. And he: "Thou art intent ^ 
 
 Perhaps upon this ruin, sentineled ] 
 
 By that brute wrath, now rendered impotent. ] 
 
 i 
 
TheJUver of Hot Blood 47 
 
 Now I would have thee know, that when I held 
 
 My first course hither to the deep abyss, 
 
 This mass of rock had not as yet been felled. 
 But certainly, discern I not amiss, 
 
 A little ere He came who mighty prey 
 
 From the upper circle levied upon Dis, 
 The deep and loathsome valley every way He who said so 
 
 So trembled, that the Universe, I thought, ^^ Iposs^ly 
 
 Was thrilled with love, whereby there are who say DarUe means to 
 
 rnj 11 j'ii -I li^' hint that love in 
 
 The world was many a time to chaos brought^ g^n ,^j^^i^ j^ 
 
 And in that moment, here and elsewhere, thus locally at least. 
 
 Upon this ancient crag was ruin wrought. , auorgamzing 
 
 But fix thine eyes below; for neareth us ^^ 
 
 The river of blood, wherein all boiling be 
 Who were by force to men injurious." 
 
 wicked, blind, and mad cupidity. 
 
 That in our brief existence spurs us so. 
 And in the eternal steeps so bitterly! 
 
 1 saw a wide moat curved into a bow 
 
 And such that it doth all the plain embrace. 
 
 According as my Guide had let me know. 
 Between it and the precipice did race The Centaurs, 
 
 Centaurs in file with arrows, as of yore ^^r%fbZt 
 
 It was their wont on earth to follow chase. and half human. 
 
 Seeing us coming down, they moved no more: ^^^al 
 
 And three detacht themselves from out the row, watchmen here 
 
 With bows and with long arrows, chosen before. 
 And from afar one shouted : "To what woe 
 
 Descending thus the precipice come ye? 
 
 Tell it from thence; if not, I draw the bow." 
 My Master answered: "Our reply will be 
 
 To Chiron yonder at close quarters made: 
 
 Thus ever rash thy will, the worse for thee!" 
 "That one is Nessus," nudging me he said, 
 
 "Who died because of Dejanira fair, 
 
 And for himself, himself his vengeance paid. 
 
48 Inferno 
 
 And gazing on his breast between the pair. 
 Is mighty Chiron who Achilles taught: 
 Pholus the wrathful is the other there. 
 
 By thousands go they round the fosse about. 
 
 Piercing with darts whatever soul withdraw 
 From out the blood, more than its crime allot." 
 
 Nearing those fleet wild animals, we saw 
 
 Chiron take up a shaft and with the notch 
 He ruffled back his beard behind his jaw. 
 
 When his huge mouth he had uncovered, "Watch! 
 Are ye aware,'' thus to his mates he said, 
 "That he behind moves whatso'er he touch? 
 
 Not so are wont the footfalls of the dead." 
 
 And my good Leader, level with his breast 
 Where the two natures are together wed, 
 
 Replied: "Indeed he lives, and by behest 
 Alone I show him thus the dark defile: 
 Necessity, not choice, imp>els the quest. 
 
 From singing Alleluiah paused awhile 
 
 One who commits to me this office new; 
 He is no robber, I no spirit vile. 
 
 But by that Virtue which gives motion to 
 My feet along so wild a thoroughfare. 
 Give us for escort any one of you, 
 
 That he may show us where to ford, and bear 
 This man upon his back across the tide: 
 For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air." 
 
 "Turn about, Nessus, so to be their guide," 
 
 Said Chiron, round upon his right breast bent: 
 "If other troop encounter, warn aside.'* 
 
 Together with the trusty guide we went 
 Along the boiling of the crimson flood. 
 Wherein the boiled were making loud lament. 
 
 I saw who plunged there to the eyebrows stood: 
 
 "Once these," the Centaur great took up the tale, 
 "Were tyrants steept in pillage and in blood. 
 
Ferocious Tyrants and Outlaws 
 
 49 
 
 The ruthless wrongs they wrought they here bewail: 
 Here Alexander, fell Dionysius who 
 Made woeful years in Sicily prevail; 
 
 And yonder brow with hair so black of hue 
 Is Ezzelin; that other, fair of face, 
 Obizzo of Este, whom his bastard slew 
 
 Up in the world, to truly state the case.'^ — 
 Then turned I to the Poet, and he said: 
 "Give him the first and me the second place." 
 
 A little farther on the Centaur led 
 
 And paused above a folk whose evil fate 
 
 Plmiged them throat-high within that boiling red. 
 
 He showed a shade alone and separate, 
 
 Saying: "That spirit cleft within God's breast 
 The heart that still by Thames they venerate.'' 
 
 Then saw I people who with head and chest 
 Wholly uplifted from the river stood; 
 And many I recognized among the rest. 
 
 Thus evermore grew shallower that blood 
 Until it only cookt the feet: and lo! 
 Here was our passageway across the flood. 
 
 "Just as thou seest the boiling river grow 
 
 Still lower on the farther side, and lower,'' 
 The Centaur said, "so I will have thee know 
 
 That on this other, with a circling shore 
 
 Its bottom sinks, until it makes its way 
 Where tyranny must groan forevermore. 
 
 Justice divine here goads that Attila 
 
 Who was a scourge upon the earth, and stings 
 Pyrrus and Sextus, and milks forth for aye 
 
 From Rinier of Corneto tears, and wrings 
 
 Hot tears from Rinier Pazzo, — ^Riniers twain 
 Who on the highways wrought such plunderings." 
 
 Back then he turned and passed the ford again. 
 
 Of the violent 
 here the two 
 most interesting 
 to us are Ezze- 
 lino da Romano^ 
 called a "fire- 
 brand" by his 
 sister, the blessed 
 Cunizza, whom 
 we shall meet in 
 the Heaven of 
 Venus; and Guy 
 de Montfort, who 
 slew in church at 
 Viterbo the 
 young English 
 prince, Henry of 
 Cornwall, inno- 
 cent victim of 
 vendetta 
 
50 Inferno i 
 
 XIII { 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 2. The Suicidal Wood | 
 
 i 
 
 Not yet had Nessus gained the farther side, \ 
 When we began to pass a forest through. 
 
 Wherein not any path could be descried. i 
 
 Not green the foHage, but of dusky hue; 
 
 Not smooth the boughs, but gnarled and intricate; ■ 
 
 No fruits therein, but thorns with poison grew. ; 
 
 Those fierce wild animals that hold in hate ! 
 
 Tilled lands 'tween Cecina and Corneto, no ] 
 
 Thickets infest so dense and desolate. J 
 
 Hither the loathsome Harpies nesting go. 
 
 Who drove the Trojans from the Strophades, 
 
 With direful prophecy of coming woe. | 
 
 Broad wings, and human face and neck have these, ; 
 
 And feet with claws, huge belly feathered all; ! 
 They utter rueful cries on the weird trees. 
 
 "Ere yet,^' the Master good began withal, j 
 "Thou tread the Second Round, consider well 
 That here thou shalt employ the interval 
 
 Until thou comest to the sand-waste fell. ] 
 
 So look aright, and there shall be descried j 
 
 Things thou wouldst not believe, if I should tell.'* \ 
 
 Thereat I wailings heard, on every side. 
 
 And p)erson who might utter them saw not: 
 
 Whence stood I still, completely mystified. > 
 
 I think now that he thought perhaps I thought 
 
 That through those trunks so many voices came i 
 
 From p>eople who from us concealment sought. j 
 
 Wherefore thus said the Master: "If thou maim | 
 
 Of any of these plants one little spray, i 
 The thoughts thou hast will all be rendered lame." ] 
 
 Lifting my hand a little then, away j 
 A branchlet from a mighty thorn I tore; 
 
 Then did the trunk of it, lamenting, say: i 
 
Pier delle Vigne 51 
 
 "Why rendest thou?" Thereafter, dark with gore. 
 
 Began again to cry: "Why mangle me? 
 
 Hast thou no spirit of pity then? Of yore 
 Men were we, and each now is turned to tree: 
 
 Well might thy hand have shown itself more kind. 
 
 Though souls of veritable serpents we." 
 As out of a green brand, which burns behind. 
 
 And from the other side the drops exude. 
 
 The while it sputters with the escaping wind: 
 So from that broken sliver words and blood 
 
 Were flowing forth together: whence I let 
 
 The tip fall down, and like one frighted stood. 
 "O wounded soul!" my Sage replied, "if yet 
 
 Before he had been able to believe 
 
 What he has only in my numbers met. 
 Thou wouldst not this oflFense from him receive; 
 
 The wonder of the thing made me advise 
 
 His doing that whereat myself I grieve. 
 But tell him who thou wast, so that in guise 
 
 Of some amends, he yet may vindicate 
 
 Thy fame on earth, where he again shall rise.^ 
 The trunk: "Thy honeyed words hold out such bait, 
 
 I cannot choose but speak; then let it be 
 
 Not burdensome if I expatiate. 
 I am that one who held the double key The shade of 
 
 Of Frederick's heart, and, tiu-ning both ways, knew chaLeUor aj!d' 
 
 To lock and loose with such suavity, confidant of the 
 
 His confidence from others I withdrew: ^^.erickTand 
 
 To that high trust fideUty I bore, an aUe and do- 
 
 Losing my vigor and repose therethrough. ^^ "^^ 
 
 The harlot who yet never from the door may still be 
 
 Of Caesar's dwelling turned her wanton eyes, ^^^ *^^ o/yS- 
 
 The curse and bane of courts f orevermore, age to him as a 
 
 Inflamed all minds against me; in such wise ])ante makes 
 
 Inflamed, they made Augustus flame again, him teU his 
 
 So that glad honors turned to dismal sighs. ormtel manner 
 
52 Inferno \ 
 
 My spirit, through her temper of disdain, . 
 
 Deeming by dying from disdain to flee, i 
 
 Made me, though just, to self-injustice fain. i 
 
 I swear by the new rootlets of this tree J 
 
 That to my Lord, whose worth I honored so, j 
 I never forfeited fidelity. 
 
 If one of you to earth returning go. 
 
 Let him the memory of me restore, ] 
 
 Still lying prostrate under Envy's blow." — \ 
 
 When he a little to discourse forbore, \ 
 
 The Poet said: "Let not the moment go, ^ 
 But speak and ask him what thou wouldest more." \ 
 
 And I to him: "Do thou entreat him show 
 
 Whatever thou thinkest may content my will, j 
 
 For I cannot, for pity of his woe." i 
 
 Whence he resumed: "So may the man fulfill i 
 What thou hast prayed for, and full willingly. 
 
 Imprisoned spirit, may it please thee still j 
 
 To tell us in what way the soul may be 
 
 Bound in these knots; and tell, if licit, too, \ 
 
 If ever any from such limbs breaks free." ' 
 
 The trunk a mighty suspiration blew, 1 
 Whereon that wind was changed to voice like this: | 
 
 "Brief the reply that shall be made to you. j 
 
 When the fierce spirit separates amiss 
 
 From out the body whence itself has torn, 
 
 Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. i 
 
 It falls into the forest, where no bourn 
 
 Is chosen for it, but where chance may throw, \ 
 
 Here it sprouts up, as doth a grain of corn; | 
 
 Doth to a sapling and a wild tree grow: \ 
 
 The Harpies, browsing then its leafy crest, | 
 
 Cause woe, and give a window to the woe. : 
 
 We shall go seek our bodies like the rest. 
 But with them never to be re-arrayed: 
 
 For 'tis not just to have what we divest. ] 
 
 \ 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
The Black Dogs of the Wood of Phlegethon 53 
 
 Here shall we drag them, and the forest glade 
 Shall see our bodies hanging dismally. 
 Each on the thomtree of its injured shade/' 
 
 We were attentive still unto the tree, 
 
 Thinking that haply it would tell us more. 
 When a tumult overtook us, so that we 
 
 Were like to one aware of hunt and boar 
 
 Approaching to the place where he had stood. 
 Who hears the branches crash the beasts before. 
 
 And lo! on the left hand, two spirits nude 
 And scratcht, fleeting along so furious 
 They broke through every barrier of the wood. 
 
 The first: "Now hurry, hurry. Death to us!" 
 
 And the next, who thought himself in speed outdone, 
 Was shouting; "Lano, not alertly thus 
 
 Thy legs did at the jousts of Toppo run." 
 
 And haply for his breath too short he found, 
 A thicket and himseK he grouped as one. 
 
 After them, filling all the forest round. 
 
 Were running ravening bitches black, and fleet 
 As, after slipping from the leash, the hound. 
 
 In him who cowered down their tushes meet, 
 All into pieces rending him: again 
 They bear away those limbs dilacerate. 
 
 Taking me by the hand, my Leader then 
 
 Led forward to the bush, with many a sigh 
 Lamenting through its bleeding wounds in vain. 
 
 "O James of Sant' Andrea," was its cry, 
 
 "Of making me thy screen what is the good? 
 For all thy wicked life what blame have I?" 
 
 The Master said when he beside it stood: 
 
 "Who wast thou that, through wounds so numerous 
 Art blowing forth thy woeful words with blood?" 
 
 "O souls that hither come," he said to us, 
 
 "To view the shameful havoc that from me 
 Has rended all away my foliage thus. 
 
54 
 
 Inferno 
 
 It was a char- 
 acteristic popu- 
 lar superstition 
 at Florence that 
 the continual 
 strife that raged 
 there was due to 
 the jealousy of 
 the ancient pa- 
 tron god. Mars. 
 The present 
 Baptistry, the 
 old Cathedral, 
 was pretty cer- 
 tainly built on 
 the foundation 
 of an ancient 
 temple of Mars. 
 Compare the 
 significant ref- 
 erence to the 
 maleficence of 
 the mutilated 
 statu£ of the god 
 on the Ponte 
 Vecchio {Par. 
 rvi, near end 
 of canto) 
 
 Gather it up beneath the wretched tree. 
 
 Mine was the town that her first patron for 
 The Baptist changed: and for this reason he 
 
 Will plague her with his art forevermore. 
 And, were it not that still of him remain 
 Some features where men cross the Arno o'er, 
 
 Those citizens who built the town again 
 Upon the ashes left by Attila, 
 Would have performed the labor all in vdin. 
 
 With mine own house I made myself away.'' 
 
The Steady Rain of Fire 55 
 
 XIV 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Defiers of God 
 
 Because for native country reverent, 
 
 Perforce I gathered up the scattered leaves 
 
 And gave them back to him, whose voice was spent. 
 
 Thence came we to the boimdary which cleaves 
 - The Second Rondure from the Third, where dread 
 Mode of eternal justice one perceives. 
 
 To show the new things clearly, be it said 
 That we arrived upon a desert plain 
 Which banishes all plants from off its bed. 
 
 The woeful wood enwreathes it, as again 
 The dismal moat encloses that around: 
 Here, hard upon the verge, did we remain. 
 
 An arid and dense sand composed the ground. 
 Nor was it formed and fashioned otherhow 
 Than that of old where Cato footing found. 
 
 Vengeance of God! O how much oughtest thou 
 By every person to be held in awe 
 Who reads that which was manifested now! 
 
 Manifold flocks of naked souls I saw 
 
 Who all did woeful lamentations pour. 
 And they seemed subject unto diverse law. 
 
 Supine were lying some upon the floor. 
 
 And some were sitting all together bent. 
 And others went about forevermore. 
 
 The more were those who round about there went. 
 And fewer those who lay in torment low. 
 But had their tongues more loosened to lament. 
 
 Above that waste of sand, descending slow. 
 Rained everywhere dilated flakes of fire. 
 As upon Alps, without a wind, the snow. 
 
 As Alexander, where the heat is dire 
 In India, upon his host beheld 
 Flames fall, as far as to the ground entire; 
 
56 ' Inferno 
 
 Whereat he with his legions was compelled 
 To trample down the soil, for better so 
 The flames, remaining single, could be quelled: 
 Such was descending the eternal glow; 
 
 Whereby, like tinder under steel, the sands 
 Were kindled for redoubling of the woe. 
 Forever tossing were the wretched hands 
 
 Now hither and now thither without rest, 
 Fanning fresh burning off in counter-dance. 
 ''Master," began I, "thou who conquerest 
 
 All things except the stubborn demon train 
 That from the gate against our entering pressed. 
 Who is the mighty one that in disdain 
 
 Lies scowling, nor appears the fire to dread, 
 So that he seems unripened by the rain?" — 
 And that same one, i>erceiving what I said 
 
 In question to my Guide of him, did shout: 
 "What once I was alive, that am I dead. 
 Should Jupiter his blacksmith weary out, 
 
 From whom the sharpened thunderbolt he tore 
 Wrathful, and me upon my last day smote; 
 Or weary out the others o'er and o*er 
 Mongibdlo is In Mongibello at the stithy swart, 
 
 "fm^EtnT where drying, *Help, help, good Vulcan,' as of yore 
 
 the Cyclopes had On Phlegra's battlefield; and should he dart 
 their forge jjjg bolts at me with vigor multiplied. 
 
 That vengeance never should make glad his heart." 
 My Leader then with so much strength replied 
 That I had never heard his voice so great : 
 "O thou Capaneus, just because thy pride 
 Remains unquencht, the woefuUer thy fate: 
 No torment save thy very rage would be 
 Unto thy fury pain proportionate!" 
 Then with a better look he turn'd to me: 
 
 "That one was of the seven monarchs who 
 Laid siege to Thebes; he held and seemingly 
 
The Old Man of Crete 
 
 57 
 
 Holds God in scorn, and gives contempt to view: 
 But, as I said to him, his spiteful mood 
 Is for his breast adornment very due. 
 
 Now follow me, and let thy heed be good 
 Not on the burning sand thy feet to set. 
 But keep them ever back, close to the wood." 
 
 In silence came we where a rivulet 
 
 Gushes from out the wood: a rill so red 
 That thinking of it makes me shudder yet. 
 
 As from the Bulicame there takes head 
 
 A brooklet which the sinful women share. 
 So this ran down across the sandy bed. 
 
 The bottom and both shelving banksides were 
 
 Hardened to stone, and the margins at the side : 
 Whence I perceived our passageway was there. 
 
 "Among all other things by thee descried 
 
 Through me, since entering within the gate 
 Whose threshold unto no one is denied. 
 
 Thine eyes not anything yet contemplate 
 
 Noteworthy as the present stream, which quite 
 Doth all the flames above it suffocate." 
 
 This language of my Leader did incite 
 Petition from me that he let me taste 
 The food for which he lent the appetite. 
 
 "In the mid-sea there lies a country waste," 
 
 Thereon he said, "that bears the name of Crete, 
 Under whose king the world of old was chaste. 
 
 There is a mountain, Ida, once the seat 
 Of laughing waters and of leafy shade; 
 Today it lies deserted and effete. 
 
 Once Rhea in this faithful cradle laid 
 
 Her son; and to conceal him should he raise 
 His voice to weep, caused clamors to be made. 
 
 A tall old man within the mountain stays. 
 Who doth his back to Damietta hold. 
 And upon Rome, as in a mirror, gaze: 
 
 Bulicame: name 
 of a hot mineral 
 spring at Viter- 
 ho, from which 
 water seems to 
 have been con- 
 ducted to the 
 houses of un- 
 fortunate women 
 
58 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The tall old man 
 in the cavern of 
 the Cretan 
 Mount Ida 
 seems to sym- 
 bolize histori- 
 cally the human 
 race facing west- 
 ward, its tears 
 supjdying the 
 rivers of Hell 
 
 His head is fashioned of the finest gold, 
 
 And of pure silver are the arms and breast, 
 Whence to the fork he is of brazen mold; 
 
 Thence downward all is iron, of the best. 
 
 Save the right foot of terra cotta, and more 
 Doth he on that than on the other rest. 
 
 Every part, except the golden ore. 
 
 Is broken by a cleft where tears distill. 
 And, gathering, perforate that cavern floor. 
 
 They fall cascading to this valley, — ^fill » 
 
 And Acheron and Styx and Phlegethon; 
 Then flow along this narrow channel, till 
 
 They come where there is no more going down: 
 
 They form Cocytus, — that pool shalt thou know 
 By seeing: so be here description none." 
 
 And I : "If thus the present brooklet flow 
 
 Down from our world wherein its source is found, 
 Why does it only on this border show.?" 
 
 And he to me: "Thou knowest the place is round; 
 And though thou comest from a distant place, 
 Still to the left toward the bottom bound. 
 
 Thou dost not yet the circle fully trace: 
 
 Wherefore if something novel comes to view. 
 It ought not to bring wonder to thy face." 
 
 "Where found is Phlegethon," said I anew, 
 
 "And Lethe? for of one thou'rt silent. Lord, 
 And sayest the other to this rain is due." 
 
 "Thy questions please," he said, "in every word. 
 Although the crimson brook's ebuUience 
 Might well the answer unto one afford. 
 
 Lethe shalt see, but from this fosse far hence. 
 
 There where to lave themselves the souls repair. 
 When guilt has been removed by penitence." 
 
 Then added he: "The time is come to fare 
 
 Out of the wood: take heed thou follow me: 
 The banks, not burning, form a thoroughfare. 
 
 And all the space above from flame is free." 
 
Brunetto Latini 59 
 
 XV 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Dante Meets 
 A Great Teacher 
 
 Now bears us over one of the hard banks. 
 
 And fumes above the brooklet, shading well, 
 Shelter from fire the water and the flanks. 
 
 As Flemings, who 'twixt Bruges and Wissant dwell. 
 Fearing the floodtides that upon them run. 
 Throw up the dike the ocean to repel. 
 
 And as by Brenta does the Paduan, 
 His villas and his villages to spare 
 Before Carinthia ever feels the sun: 
 
 Of like formation those were fashioned there. 
 Though not so high nor of so broad a base 
 The Master made them, whosoe'er he were. 
 
 We were so distant from the forest chase 
 
 By this, that I could never have descried 
 
 The spot, though backward I had turned my face; 
 
 And now we met along the margin side 
 A company of spirits coming by. 
 Who each peered at us, as at eventide 
 
 Beneath new moon, we one another spy; 
 
 And they were puckering their brows at us 
 Like an old tailor at the needle's eye. 
 
 By such a family inspected thus. 
 
 Well-known I proved to one of them, who caught 
 My garment's hem, and cried: "How marvelous!" 
 
 And when he stretcht his arm, a glance I brought 
 To bear so fixt upon his branded hue. 
 That his scorcht countenance prevented not 
 
 His recognition by my inner view; 
 
 And to his visage bending mine anigh, 
 I answered: "Ser Brunetto, is it you?" 
 
 "My son " he said, "be not displeased if I, 
 
 Brunet' Latini, backward with thee fare 
 A little way, and let the train go by." 
 
60 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Brunetto Laiini 
 was a distin- 
 guished citizen 
 and man of let- 
 ters who had 
 powerfully in- 
 fluenced Dante 
 in the latter' s 
 earlier years. 
 Brunetto s prin- 
 cipal vxrrk was 
 written in 
 French— ""Le 
 lAvre dou 
 Tresor,"—a 
 compilation of 
 encyclopedic 
 character held 
 at that time in 
 high esteem 
 
 "That is/' I said toliim, "my urgent prayer; 
 And if you wish me sit with you, I fain 
 Will do it, if it please my Leader there." 
 
 "O son,'' he said, "whoever of this train 
 
 But pauses, lies thereon a century low. 
 Without a fan when pelts the fiery rain. 
 
 Therefore pass on: I at thy skirts will go. 
 And then rejoin my fellows, who lament, 
 While faring onward, their eternal woe." 
 
 I durst not from the causeway make descent 
 Level to walk beside him, but did bow 
 My head, and walkt as walk the reverent. 
 
 "What fate," began he, "or what fortune now 
 Leads thee down hither ere thy final day? 
 And who may this one be that shows thee how .J"' 
 
 ''Up in the clear life yonder," did I say, 
 "Or ever yet my age was fully come, 
 I went within a valley far astray. 
 
 But yestermorn I turned my face therefrom : 
 This one appeared to me returning there. 
 And leads me now along this pathway home." 
 
 "If following thy star thou onward bear. 
 
 Thou canst not fail of glorious port," he said, 
 "If well discerned I in the life so fair: 
 
 And but that I was far too early dead. 
 
 Beholding Heaven so unto thee benign, 
 I would thee in the work have comforted. 
 
 But that ungrateful populace malign. 
 
 Who came of yore down from Fiesole, 
 And savor still of mountain and of mine. 
 
 For thy good deeds will be thy enemy; 
 
 And rightly: for 'mid crabbed sorbs confined. 
 Befits not the sweet fig to fructify. 
 
 Old rumor in the world proclaims them blind; 
 A people envious, arrogant, and hard: 
 Take heed thou from their manners be refined. 
 
Dante Faces the Future Serenely 61 
 
 Fortune reserves thee honor and reward. 
 
 Such that both parties yet will hungry go 
 
 For thee: but far from goat shall be the sward. 
 
 Let the Fiesolan beasts their litter strow. 
 
 Rending themselves; nor let them touch the blade, 
 If ever any on their dunghill grow. 
 
 Wherein may yet revive the holy seed 
 
 Of Romans, — those therein still resident 
 When it became such nest of evil deed." 
 
 "If all my prayer had found accomplishment," 
 Replied I to him, "not yet would you be 
 From human nature placed in banishment: 
 
 For I have held in loving memory 
 
 Your kind paternal image, and now yearn 
 For you, who in the world instructed me 
 
 From hour to hour how man becomes eterne: 
 And while I am alive, it is but right 
 Men in my words my gratitude discern. 
 
 What you relate about my course, I write. 
 
 And keep — with other text — ^for Lady, who. 
 If I attain her, can the gloss indite. 
 
 Thus much would I have manifest to you. 
 
 That if so be my conscience do not frown, 
 I am ready, whatsoever Fortune do. 
 
 Not newly is such hansel paid me down: 
 
 Therefore let twirling Fortune ply her wheel 
 At pleasure, and his mattock ply the clown." 
 
 Thereat my Master, back upon his heel 
 
 Turning toward the right, upon me bent 
 
 His eyes; then said: "Who notes it, listens well!" 
 
 Nor speaking less on that account, I went 
 
 With Ser Brunetto on, and question made 
 Of his companions known and eminent. 
 
 "To know of some of them is well," he said, 
 "Of others best be silent, for the time 
 With so much speaking were too quickly sped. 
 
62 Inferno 
 
 Know then, in brief, that all were clerks, sublime 
 In their renown, and men of letters great. 
 On earth polluted with the one same crime. 
 
 Priscian goes with yon troop disconsolate, 
 And Francis of Accorso; who observes 
 Such vermin, might have seen that reprobate 
 
 Who, by the Servant of each one who serves. 
 Was banned from Arno to the Bacchiglion', 
 Where he laid by his ill-excited nerves. 
 
 Of more would I relate, but going on 
 
 And speech can be no longer, for I see 
 
 New smoke from the great sand uprising yon. 
 
 A people comes with whom I may not be; 
 
 My 'Treasure' be commended to thy love, — 
 There still I live: more ask I not of thee." 
 
 Then he turned back, and showed the action of 
 Those at Verona who cross-country run 
 To win the cloth of green, and thereabove 
 
 Appeared the winning, not the losing one. 
 
Souls in Torture Concerned for Florence 63 
 
 XVI 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 3. Three Great 
 Citizens of Florence 
 
 I was already where we heard a sound 
 
 Such as the bees make in the hive, a hum 
 Of water falling into the next round; 
 
 Then did three shades together running come. 
 Quitting a passing company that went 
 Beneath the rain of the sharp martyrdom. 
 
 Approaching, in this cry their voices blent: 
 
 "Stop thou, who by thy garb appearst to be 
 Some one from out our city pestilent." 
 
 What sores flame-branded on their limbs, ah me! 
 Still recent ones and ancient, met my view: 
 It grieves me for them yet in memory. 
 
 Their cries attention from my Teacher drew, 
 
 Who turned his face to me and said: "Now stay: 
 To such as these all courtesy is due; 
 
 And if it were not for the fiery spray 
 
 The nature of the place darts, I should feel 
 That thou wert better hurry, and not they." 
 
 They re-began to dance the ancient reel 
 
 Soon as we paused, and, drawing near us so, 
 All three resolved themselves into a wheel. 
 
 As champions stript and oiled are wont to do, 
 
 Who for their grip and for their vantage look. 
 Before they ever bandy thrust and blow: 
 
 Thus, wheeling round, not one of them forsook 
 The sight of me, so that in counterchase 
 The neck and feet continual journey took. 
 
 "Ah ! if the misery of this shifting place 
 
 Make us and our desires contemptible," 
 Began one, "and our black and blistered face. 
 
 Let our renown incline thy mind to tell 
 Who art thou that, with such security, 
 Trailest along thy living feet through Hell.'^ 
 
64 Inferno 
 
 He treading in whose steps thou seest me, i 
 
 Excoriated though he be, and nude, \ 
 
 Was higher than thou thinkest in degree. ; 
 
 The grandson was he of Gualdrada good; 
 
 His name was Guido Guerra: much he planned 
 Astutely, and his sword was likewise shrewd. 
 
 The other who behind me treads the sand, \ 
 
 Tegghaio Aldobrandi is, whose fame \ 
 Ought to be grateful in the upper land. 
 
 And I, thus put upon the cross with them, j 
 
 Was Jacob Rusticucci : that I grieve, '\ 
 
 Truly my savage wife is most to blame.'* ; 
 
 If from the fire I could have had reprieve, 
 
 I should have flung me down to them below, \ 
 And think my Teacher would have given me leave. ' 
 
 But since I should have parcht and burnt me so, j 
 
 Terror availed to check the kindly thought J 
 Which prompted me to their embrace to go. 
 
 "Contempt," then I began, "indeed 'twas not, j 
 
 That your condition thrilled me with, but rue > 
 
 So deep that it will not be soon forgot, i 
 
 When this my Lord spake words to me, wherethrough \ 
 
 The expectation was within me stirred ' 
 
 That people might be coming such as you. j 
 
 I am your fellow-townsman; every word ; 
 
 That told your honored names and actions all, | 
 With love I ever have rehearst and heard. 
 
 I go for the sweet fruit, leaving the gall, — ] 
 
 Fruit by the truthful Leader promised me: ; 
 But to the Center first I needs must fall." 
 
 "So may thy limbs long while directed be j 
 
 By living soul," that one thereon replied, ■ 
 
 "And so may thy renown shine after thee, ] 
 
 Tell whether courtesy and valor abide j 
 
 Within our city as of wont, or thence • 
 
 Banisht and altogether thrust aside? ] 
 
The Crimson Cataract 
 
 65 
 
 For William Borsiere, who laments 
 
 Of late with us, and goes with yonder train, 
 Speaks that which much our misery augments." 
 
 "The upstart people and the sudden gain 
 
 Excess in thee and arrogance have bred, 
 O Florence, as thou findest to thy bane !" — 
 
 Thus cried I out aloud with lifted head: 
 
 And holding this for my reply, the three 
 Lookt at each other, as when truth is said. 
 
 "If otherwhile so little costs it thee 
 
 Others to satisfy," all answered then, 
 "Happy thou, speaking with impunity. 
 
 Whence if, escapt this place of gloom, again 
 Returned to see the starry heavens fair. 
 Thou shalt rejoice to utter, *I have been,' 
 
 Pray speak of us unto the people there." 
 
 Now break they up the wheel, and as they part. 
 Their nimble legs appear to wing the air. 
 
 It is not possible "Amen" could start 
 
 From tongue as quick as their evanishment: 
 Wherefore it pleased my Master to depart. 
 
 I followed, and but little way we went. 
 
 Before so near us was the water's sound, 
 That, for all speaking, scarce were hearing lent. 
 
 Even as that stream which holds its proper ground 
 The first, from Monte Viso to the sea 
 Eastward, upon the Apennine's left bound, — 
 
 Stillwater called above, before it be 
 Precipitated to its lower bed. 
 But of that name is vacant at Forli, — 
 
 Above Saint Benedict from the mountain head 
 Goes bellowing down a single waterfall 
 Where for a thousand there were room instead: 
 
 Thus, leaping downward from a scarped wall. 
 We heard that tinted water make such din. 
 That it would soon have stunned the ear withal. 
 
 Monte Viso 
 {Chaucer's 
 ^Vestihis the 
 colde") is at the 
 head of the Po. 
 The river here 
 referred to, the 
 Montone, was 
 the first river 
 north of the 
 Apennines 
 which had an 
 independent 
 course to the sea. 
 Dante makes his 
 geographical 
 references an 
 element of 
 poetry, as after 
 him did Milton 
 
66 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The cord is sup- 
 posed to be the 
 girdle of St. 
 Francis, who 
 intended it as an 
 emblem of the 
 binding of the 
 vnld beast of ike 
 body. The old 
 commentator, 
 Buti, states that 
 Dante was once 
 a member of that 
 order of Fran- 
 ciscans called 
 from the cord. 
 Cordeliers. So 
 the celebrated 
 Guido da Mon- 
 iefeltro, who 
 tells his dra- 
 matic story in 
 Canto xxvii 
 
 I had a cord that girt my garment in, 
 
 For with it I had once thought requisite 
 To take the leopard of the painted skin. 
 
 As soon as I had loosed it from me quite. 
 
 To the commandment of my Guide submiss, 
 I reacht it to him, coiled and wound up tight. 
 
 Whereon he turned toward the right, and this, 
 A little out beyond the verge, did fling 
 Down into that precipitous abyss. 
 
 "Now surely it must be that some new thing,^' 
 I said within, "answer the signal new 
 Which thus the Master's eye is following." 
 
 Ah me! how cautious should men be and do 
 
 Near those who witness not alone the deeds, 
 
 But with their wisdom to the thoughts look through ! 
 
 He said to me: "What I expect must needs 
 
 Come upward soon, and what thy dreams now ask 
 Must soon be such that very eyesight heeds." — 
 
 Aye to that truth concealed beneath false mask, 
 A man should close his lips, if in him lies. 
 Lest he, though blameless, should be brought to task ; 
 
 But here I cannot: by the harmonies 
 
 Of this my Comedy, Reader, I swear. 
 
 So may their grace be lasting, that mine eyes 
 
 Saw through the gross and gloomy atmosphere 
 A shap)e come swimming up, of such as be 
 To every steadfast heart a thing of fear: 
 
 As he returns who sometime dives, to free 
 
 The anchor-fluke, lest vessel come to harm 
 On reef, or aught else hidden in the sea. 
 
 Who draws his foot in, and flings up his arm. 
 
The Monster Geryon 67 
 
 XVII 
 
 Seventh Circle: Ring 3. The Wonderful 
 Flight Downward 
 
 "Behold the beast with pointed tail, whose guile 
 
 Doth mountains cleave and walls and weapons rend ; 
 Behold him who doth all the world defile." 
 
 So sp)oke to me my Leader and my friend; 
 
 And that it come in shoreward beckoned it. 
 Near where the trodden marbles make an end. 
 
 Then forward came that filthy counterfeit 
 
 Image of Fraud to land its head and bust. 
 But drew not up its tail from out the pit. 
 
 Its face was like the face of person just. 
 So outwardly benignant was its hue. 
 But like a serpent all the rest outthrust. 
 
 Paws shaggy to the armpits it had two; 
 
 And many a painted nooselet, many a quirk 
 
 The back, the breast, and both the flanks bestrew. 
 
 Never was cloth by Tartar woven or Turk, 
 More variously colored, warp and woof. 
 Nor yet such tissue did Arachne work. 
 
 As along shore the wherries lie aloof 
 
 At times, in water part and part on land; 
 And as the beaver in his hunt's behoof 
 
 Doth yonder 'mid the guzzling Germans stand: 
 So lay that worst of beasts along the stone 
 That forms the margin fencing in the sand. 
 
 All quivering in the void the tail was thrown. 
 Twisting aloft the point of it, that bare 
 A venomed fork as in the scorpion. 
 
 "Now," said my Leader, "it behooves us fare 
 Somewhat aside, far as that maledight 
 Wild beast which couches on the border there.** 
 
 So therefore we, descending on the right. 
 Ten steps along the outer border pace. 
 The sand and flakes of fire avoiding quite. 
 
68 
 
 Inferno 
 
 These are the 
 cognizances, 
 respectively, of 
 the Florentine 
 families Gian- 
 figliazzi and 
 Ubriachi, and 
 of the Paduan 
 family, Scrovi- 
 gni, oil degraded 
 by the inordi- 
 nate practice of 
 usury. A draw- 
 ing of the first of 
 these shidds is 
 prefixed to this 
 Cantica 
 
 As soon as ever we have reacht the place, 
 A Uttle farther on the sand I see 
 A f>eople sitting near the empty space. 
 
 " Of this third round," the Master said to me, 
 "That thou mayst carry full experience, 
 Go now, consider what their manners be. 
 
 Out there concise must be thy conference: 
 
 I will persuade this brute his shoulders strong 
 To lend us, against thy returning thence." 
 
 Thus farther yet, and all alone, along 
 
 That seventh circle's utmost head, I go 
 Thither where sit the melancholy throng. 
 
 Out of their eyes is bixrsting forth their woe: 
 
 Now here, now there, with hands they agonize 
 Against the flames, against the soil aglow. 
 
 Dogs in the summer do not otherwise, 
 
 Now with the paw and presently with snout, 
 At bite of fleas, of gadflies, or of flies. 
 
 When I had singled certain faces out 
 
 Of those on whom the woeful fire is shed. 
 Not one of them I knew; but slung about 
 
 Each neck perceived a pouch, emblazoned 
 With certain hue and certain cognizance. 
 And therewithal, it seems, their eye is fed. 
 
 And as, among them looking, I advance. 
 Beheld I Azure on a wallet Or, 
 Bearing a lion's mien and countenance. 
 
 And as the sweep of vision onward bore. 
 Another bag, blood-red, beheld I now 
 Display a goose, as butter white, and more. 
 
 Then one upon whose wallet white a sow, 
 In brood and azure, was in blazon set. 
 Exclaimed: "Here in this ditch what doest thou? 
 
 Now get thee gone: and since thou'rt living yet, 
 Know that my townsman, Vitaliano, here 
 Upon my left-hand side a seat shall get. 
 
Descent astride Oeryon 69 
 
 A Paduan with these Florentines, mine ear 
 
 Ofttimes they deafen, crying in each close, — 
 *Let him come down, the sovran cavalier 
 
 Who with the triple-beaked budget goes!'" 
 
 Here pursing up his mouth, he made display 
 Of tongue, like cattle when they lick the nose. 
 
 And apprehensive lest my longer stay 
 
 Displease him who had bid me little bide, 
 I turned me from those weary souls away. 
 
 On back of that fell beast I found my Guide 
 
 Already mounted, and he said: "Take care 
 That thou be steady and unterrified. 
 
 Now must we needs descend by such a stair: 
 Mount thou in front, for I between will sit. 
 So that the tail do thee no harm whate'er.'^ 
 
 Like one about to have the ague fit 
 
 Of quartan, blue of nail, all shuddering 
 At shadow, catching but the sight of it, — 
 
 Such I became, on hearing such a thing; 
 
 But his monitions wrought in me that shame 
 Which makes brave servant before noble king. 
 
 I set myself upon that monstrous frame: 
 "Clasp me P I tried to say, but utterance 
 Refused to come, though I believed it came. 
 
 But he who otherwhile in other chance 
 
 Assisted, with his arms surrounded me 
 As soon as I had mounted. "Now advance, 
 
 O Geryon ! ample let thy wheelings be," 
 
 He bade, "and slow be thy descending here; 
 Remember the new load that burdens thee." — 
 
 As draws a little vessel from her pier. 
 
 So, backing, backing, thence did Geryon draw; 
 And when he felt that he was wholly clear. 
 
 Turned tail to where before his breast I saw. 
 And tail outstretching, moved it like an eel. 
 And gathered in the air with play of paw. 
 
70 Inferno 
 
 No greater fear, I ween, did any feel. 
 
 When Phaeton, abandoning the rein. 
 Branded the sky, as still the nights reveal; 
 
 Nor when poor Icarus perceived each pen 
 
 Fall from his flank the molten wax withal, — 
 "Thy way is wild!" his father shouted then, — 
 
 Than mine, when I beheld me to be all 
 Adrift in air, and saw extinguisht so 
 Every sight but of the animal. 
 
 He swims along, slow undulating, slow. 
 
 Wheels and descends, — this could I but surmise 
 By wind upon my face, and from below. 
 
 Already on the right I heard arise 
 
 Out of the cataract a frightful roar. 
 
 Whence I outstretcht my head with downward eyes. 
 
 Thereon the precipice dismayed me more. 
 For burning did I see and moaning hear. 
 Whereat my thighs gripped closer than before. 
 
 Now I discerned, what first did not appear. 
 
 The sinking movement and the wheeHng, by 
 Great woes from every quarter drawing near. 
 
 Like falcon, overlong enforced to fly. 
 
 That without spying either bird or bait, 
 
 "Ah me, thou stoopest!" makes the falconer cry. 
 
 Then settles weary whence it sped elate, 
 AUghting, after many a circling round. 
 Far from its lord, aloof, exasperate: 
 
 So Geryon set us down upon the ground. 
 
 Hard by the bottom of the cliff rough-scored. 
 And disencumbered of our weight, did bound 
 
 Off and away, like arrow from the cord. 
 
Maleholge 71 j 
 
 XVIII \ 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 1. Panders and ' 
 
 Seducers. Pouch 2. Flatterers t 
 
 There is in Hell a region all of stone, '\ 
 
 By name Malpouches, of an iron hue ' 
 
 Like the precipitous encircling zone. j 
 
 Right in the middle of the fell purlieu 1 
 
 There yawns, exceeding deep and wide, a Pit - 
 
 Whose structure I shall tell in order due. \ 
 
 A rounding girdle thus remains of it ] 
 Between the Pit and the high rocky steep. 
 
 And in its bed ten vales divided sit. ■ 
 
 Of like configuration was that deep \ 
 
 As otherwhere, for safeguard of the wall, \ 
 
 Several moats begird a castle-keep: ^ 
 
 Such an appearance had these valleys all; 
 
 And as from thresholds of such fortalice ! 
 
 Run to the outer rampart bridges small, ] 
 
 So from the bottom of the precipice { 
 Struck across banks and moats bridgeways of stone, 
 
 Converging and cut short at the abyss. i 
 
 In this place, from the back of Geryon thrown, ■ 
 
 We found ourselves : then did the Poet go i 
 
 Toward the left, and I behind moved on. ^ 
 
 On the right-hand discovered I new woe, ; 
 
 New torments and new wielders of the thong, j 
 
 Full filling the first Malpouch there below. \ 
 
 The sinners naked at the bottom throng: ^ 
 
 This side the middle come they facing me, \ 
 
 Swifter, beyond, they stride with me along. \ 
 
 The Romans thus, in year of Jubilee, 
 
 To make the people pass the bridge devise, ^ 
 
 By reason of the countless company, | 
 
 So that on one side all direct their eyes I 
 
 Toward the Castle and Saint Peter's fane; j 
 
 On the other toward the Hill their passage lies. • 
 
72 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Ghisola (or 
 GhislaheUa) 
 was his sister, 
 whom he per- 
 suaded to he- 
 come the mis- 
 tress of the Esie, 
 the powerful 
 lord of Ferrara 
 
 "Sipa" was the 
 Bolognese form 
 of the present 
 subjunctive of 
 the verb mean- 
 ing "to be." 
 The modern 
 form is said to be 
 "sepa." Bologna 
 lies between the 
 two rivers Reno 
 and Savena 
 
 Hither and yon along the gloomy lane, 
 
 I saw horned demons with great whips, who dealt 
 Behindward on them furious blows amain. 
 
 Ah ! how these made them after the first pelt 
 Lift up their heels! then truly waited none 
 Until the second or the third he felt. 
 
 While I was going on, mine eyes by one 
 
 Encountered were; and instantly I said: 
 "For sight of him I have not hungry gone!" 
 
 Wherefore to make him out my feet I stayed; 
 And my kind Leader, slackening his pace. 
 Consented to some steps I backward made. 
 
 And that scourged spirit, lowering his face. 
 Bethought to hide, but with small benefit; 
 I saying: "Thou that dost thine eyes abase. 
 
 Must, if those features are not counterfeit, 
 Venedico Caccianimico be: 
 But what brings thee to such a smarting pit?" 
 
 "Unwillingly I tell, though forced," said he, 
 
 "By thy explicit speech Vhich brings the old 
 Foregone existence back to memory. 
 
 To do the Marquis pleasure, I cajoled 
 Fair Ghisola, — in whatsoever way 
 The shameful tale be peradventure told. 
 
 No lonely Bolognese I weep here: nay. 
 For rather do we so this region fill. 
 That not so many tongues are taught to say 
 
 Sipa 'twixt Reno and Savena; still 
 
 If thou wouldst have me pledge or proof subjoin. 
 Recall to mind our avaricious will." 
 
 While he spoke thus, a demon on the loin 
 
 Lasht him, exclaiming: "Pander, get thee gone! 
 There are no women here for minting coin." 
 
 I now rejoin mine Escort: whereupon 
 
 With footsteps few we come where we discern 
 A craggy bridge that from the cliff was thrown. 
 
Jason the Seducer 73 
 
 Ascending this full easily, we turn 
 
 Upon its jagged ridgeway to the right. 
 Departing from those circling walls eterne. 
 
 When came we where a gap beneath the height 
 Yawns for the sinners driven by the thong. 
 My Leader said: "Lay hold, until the sight 
 
 Strike on thee of another misbom throng. 
 
 Of whom thou hast not yet beheld the face 
 Because they still have gone with us along." 
 
 From the old bridge we viewed the file, apace 
 Who neared us on the further side below. 
 And whom the scourges in like manner chase. 
 
 Without my asking, the Good Master so 
 
 Addrest me: "Yonder mighty one behold. 
 Who seems to shed no tear for all his woe: 
 
 How kingly in his bearing, as of old! 
 
 'Tis Jason, who by prowess and by guile 
 Despoiled the Colchians of the Fleece of Gold. 
 
 He skirted once the coast of Lemnos isle. 
 After the merciless women unafraid 
 Devoted all their males to death erewhile. 
 
 There, with love-tokens and fair words, the maid 
 Hypsipyle did he betray, that one 
 Who first, herself, had all the rest betrayed. 
 
 And there he left her, pregnant and alone: 
 
 Such guilt condemns him to such martyrdom. 
 And for Medea too is vengeance done. 
 
 With him go such deceivers all and some: 
 Of the first valley let so much suffice. 
 And of those by its vengeance overcome.'* — 
 
 Already had we reacht the place where lies 
 The narrow path across the second dike. 
 Which buttress for another arch supplies. 
 
 Thence heard we people whimper plaintive-like 
 In the next pocket, and with snorting roar 
 Of muzzle, with their palms upon them strike. 
 
74 Inferno 
 
 It is hardly The banks were with a mold encrusted o'er 
 
 miZTJsympa- ^Y vapors from below that on them rest, 
 
 theiic reader With both the eyes and nostrils waging war. 
 
 lonmlS'^be The bottom is so hollowly deprest 
 
 more delicate There is no room to see, except one go 
 
 mivTrthan ^P ^^ere the arching bridge is loftiest. 
 
 Dante. But it is Thither We came, whence in the ditch below 
 
 T^'Thronlh ^ s^^ ^^^^ weltering in excrement 
 
 Hell without That out of human privies seemed to flow. 
 
 m^'aldlVsccri- W^i^^ I was looking down with eye intent, 
 
 ity, as here and I saw one head SO smeared with ordure all, 
 
 at the close of rr i i i >x a • i . 
 
 Canto xxi ^* ^^^^^ ^^ layman twas not evident. 
 
 "Wherefore so greedy art thou," did he bawl, 
 "At me more than the filthy rest to stare.^" 
 "Because," I answered, "if I well recall, 
 
 I have already seen thee with dry hair; 
 Alessio Interminei of Lucca, late 
 Wast thou: whence singled out from others there." 
 
 And thereon he, belaboring his pate: 
 
 "To this has plunged me down the sycophance 
 Wherewith my tongue was never satiate." 
 
 Hereon my Leader said to me: "Advance 
 
 Thy face still further forward, till thou bring ^y \ 
 
 Of that uncleanly and disheveled thing, 
 
 Thine eyesight full up)on the countenance 
 
 ^1 
 
 Who scratches yon with nails smeared filthily, 
 
 And now is standing up, now cowering. ^^ V ^ ^ 
 
 Thus is the harlot Thais seen of thee, ^ ^>^ J 
 
 Who answered once her minion when he said : ^ 
 
 *Dost greatly thank me.'^' — *Nay, stupendously.' 
 
 And herewith let our sight be surfeited." , 
 
More Shameful Prostitution 75 
 
 XIX 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 3. Simoniacal Popes 
 
 Simon Magus, O disciples vile ! 
 
 Ye who the things of God, which ought to be 
 The brides of righteousness, lo! ye defile 
 
 For silver and for gold rapaciously; 
 
 Now it befits the trumpet sound your doom. 
 Because in this third pouch of Hell are ye. 
 
 Already had we on the following tomb 
 
 Mounted, to that part of the bridgeway whence 
 It doth the middle-moat quite overloom. 
 
 Wisdom Supreme! of art what evidence 
 
 In Heaven, Earth, and the Evil World is found. 
 And ah ! how justly doth thy power dispense ! 
 
 1 saw upon the sides and on the ground. 
 
 With many a hole the dark stone drilled, and all 
 Of one dimension, and each one was round. 
 
 None ampler seemed to me, nor yet more small. 
 Than those that in my beautiful St. John 
 Are made to the baptizers for a stall; 
 
 And one of these, not many years agone, 
 
 I broke for one who stifling would have died: 
 Be this a seal to undeceive each one. 
 
 Thrust forth from every opening, I descried 
 A sinner's feet, and saw the ankles twain 
 Far as the calf: the rest remained inside. 
 
 The soles of all were both consumed amain. 
 
 And so with flames the joints were quivering 
 
 No ropes and withies would have stood the strain. 
 
 As flame of oily things is wont to cling 
 Alone upon the face exterior, 
 So here from heel to point 'twas flickering. 
 
 '^Master," said I, "who is that one who more 
 
 Infuriate writhes than his companions there, 
 And whom a redder flame is licking o'er.'^^* 
 
76 
 
 Inferno 
 
 One of the legal 
 'punishments of 
 that implacable 
 period was the 
 ^planting'' thus 
 of the perfidious 
 murderer. 
 Dante's simili- 
 tudes imply, of 
 course, familiar- 
 ity on the part 
 of the reader of 
 his time with the 
 scene referred to. 
 The customs, 
 habits, sports, 
 arts, affairs of 
 all hinds from 
 which he draws 
 images have 
 grecUly changed, 
 so that we have 
 to use more 
 imagination in 
 reading him 
 
 The references 
 to the Church as 
 the Lady, or the 
 Bride of Christ, 
 and by extension 
 of the Pope as 
 the Vicar of 
 Christ, are so 
 frequent that 
 comment is, in 
 most cases, 
 superfluous 
 
 And he to me : "K thou wilt let me bear 
 
 Thee down by yonder cliff that lies more low. 
 From him of him and of his crimes shalt hear." 
 
 "Thy pleasure, lord, is mine, and thou dost know 
 That I depart not from thy will," I said, 
 "And knowest my unspoken thought, I trow." 
 
 Thereon the fourth embankment did we tread. 
 
 Turned, and descended leftward from the bank 
 Down to the narrow, perforated bed. 
 
 The Master good not yet from off his flank 
 
 Deposed me, till he brought me to the hole 
 Of him who so was weeping with his shank. 
 
 "Whoe'er thou art, thus planted like a pole 
 
 Top downward," then began I, "do thou strive 
 To speak out, if thou canst, O wretched soul !" 
 
 My posture was the friar's, at hand to shrive 
 The false assassin, who, when planted, tries 
 To call him back, still to remain alive. 
 
 "Art thou already standing there.^" he cries, 
 "Art standing there already, Boniface .?* 
 By several seasons, then, the writing lies. 
 
 And art thou glutted with that wealth apace, 
 For sake whereof thou didst not fear betray 
 The Lady beautiful, and then disgrace.^" — 
 
 Such I became as people brought to stay 
 
 Because an answer from the mark seems wide. 
 As if bemockt, not knowing what to say. 
 
 "Say to him quickly," hereon Virgil cried, 
 
 " T am not he thou thinkst, I am not he!' " 
 And as enjoined upon me, I replied. 
 
 The spirit writhed his feet exceedingly; 
 
 Then sighing, and with voice disconsolate. 
 Said to me: "What then wan test thou of me? 
 
 If thou desire so much to know my state. 
 
 That for this cause thou hast the bank traversed, 
 Know, I was vested with the Mantle Great. 
 
Dante to a Corrupt Pope 
 
 77 
 
 True son of the She-bear, I had such thirst 
 Insatiate to advance the Cubs, mine own. 
 That wealth above, and here myself, I pursed. 
 
 Beneath my head the others down are thrown, 
 Preceding me in simony, and all 
 Flattened along the fissures of the stone. 
 
 Down thither shall I likewise drop withal. 
 
 When comes that other whom I thought to meet 
 What time I let the sudden question fall. 
 
 But longer now do I already heat 
 
 My footpalms, standing here inverted thus. 
 Than he shall planted stay with ruddy feet: 
 
 For after him a Pastor impious 
 
 Shall come from Westward, fouler in his deed, 
 Such as befits to cover both of us. 
 
 New Jason will he be, of whom we read 
 
 In Maccabees: and pliant as that lord. 
 
 Will he who governs France give this one heed." 
 
 I know not if foolhardy was my word. 
 But I made answer only in this key: 
 "I pray thee tell me now how rich a hoard 
 
 Saint Peter paid into the treasury. 
 
 Ere gave Our Lord the keys to his control? 
 Nothing in truth He askt save Tollow me!' 
 
 Nor Peter nor the rest did levy toll 
 
 Of gold or silver, nor Matthias grant. 
 For the lost oflSce of the guilty soul. 
 
 Then stay, well punisht, and be vigilant 
 In guardianship of the ill-gotten gold 
 That made thee against Charles so arrogant. 
 
 And were I not forbid to be so bold, 
 
 Because of reverence for the Keys Sublime 
 Which in the happy life thou diddest hold. 
 
 Still harsher language would befit my rime: 
 
 Pastors, your greed afflicts the world; it brings 
 Good underfoot, and it uplif teth crime ! 
 
 The ex-Pope 
 Nicholas III 
 who is speaking 
 was an Orsini, 
 whose cogni- 
 zance was the 
 "orsa" {"ursa" 
 she-hear) 
 
 Referring to 
 Ciement V, the 
 Frenchman, 
 tool of Philip 
 the Fair. See 2 
 Maccahees, 
 iv and v 
 
78 Inferno \ 
 
 Of you the Evangelist had prefigurings, \ 
 
 When her that sits the waters did he view 
 Committing fornication with the kings: 
 
 She with the seven heads begotten, who | 
 
 From the ten horns her sign and sanction bore 
 Long as her spouse dehght in virtue knew. ! 
 
 A god of gold and silver ye adore; 
 
 And from the idolaters how differ ye, ^ 
 
 Save where they one, a hundred ye implore? ] 
 
 This donation Ah, Constantine, to what iniquity 
 
 of Constantine q^^^ birth— not thy conversion— that domain 
 
 ivas at a later ^ *' 
 
 time proved to be Which the first wealthy Father took from thee !" \ 
 
 ^^fJ^cTt And while I sang to him in such a strain, \ 
 iorical sources Whether that frenzy or that conscience bit, 
 
 Zd^'^'m- ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ footpalms struggled he amain. i 
 tons translation I think my Leader well applauded it, 
 
 th^i^Z'T He listened still with look of such content ; 
 membered To the clear accents which the truth befit. 
 
 Thereon to take me up, both arms he bent, I 
 
 And when he had me wholly on his breast, • 
 
 Remounted by the way of his descent; ; 
 
 Nor did he tire of holding me thus pressed, j 
 
 Till up the summit of the arch he bare, j 
 
 Which crosses from the fourth to the fifth crest. ; 
 
 Here he laid dowTi his charge with tender care, j 
 
 Tender, for rugged was the crag and steep, ? 
 That goats had found a toilsome passage there : 
 
 Thence was disclosed to me another deep. i 
 
 i 
 
i 
 
 Looking and Walking Backward 70 '. 
 
 XX \ 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 4. Diviners. \ 
 
 Origin of Mantua J 
 
 New punishment must needs by me be dirged, j 
 
 And in a twentieth lay the theme pursued 1 
 Of the first Song, which tells of the submerged. 
 
 I now was wholly in an attitude \ 
 
 To peer down into the disclosed abyss, ! 
 
 Which was with tears of agony bedewed, \ 
 
 And through the circling vale I saw at this j 
 A silent, weeping folk, who onward pressed 
 
 As pace in this our world the litanies. \ 
 
 As lower down en them my sight did rest, j 
 
 Each wondrously distorted seemed between \ 
 
 The chin and the beginning of the chest: ^ 
 
 For every visage had been twisted clean i 
 
 Round to the loins, and backward they must go, \ 
 
 Since looking forward had forbidden been. ' 
 
 Thus utterly distorted by some throe 
 
 Of palsy, some one may have been perchance; ] 
 
 I never saw, nor think it can be so. : 
 
 Imagine, Reader, so God's sufferance 
 
 Permit that, reading, thou be edified, \ 
 
 How I could keep unwet my countenance, j 
 
 When near at hand our image I descried 
 
 Contorted so, the weeping eyes did wet | 
 
 With tears the hinder parts where they divide, \ 
 
 Truly I wept, leaned on the parapet ^ 
 Of the hard bridge, so that mine Escort said: 
 
 "Art thou among the other fools even yet.f^ \ 
 
 Here piety lives on in pity dead. j 
 
 Who is a greater reprobate than one • 
 
 That grieves at doom divine.?* Lift up thy head, j 
 
 Lift up thy head, and do thou look upon ! 
 
 Him earth engulfed before the Theban's sight, = 
 
 Whereat all shouted: * Whither dost thou nm, j 
 
 .It 
 
80 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The soothsayer 
 Amphiardus, 
 in the course of 
 the expedition of 
 the Seven 
 against Thebes, 
 was swallowed 
 up by the earth. 
 Dante gets the 
 tale from the 
 poet Statins, 
 whom we shall 
 meet in Purga- 
 tory 
 
 The Poet's visit 
 to the beautiful 
 Lunigiana 
 {named from the 
 ancient Etrus- 
 can and Roman 
 Luni) at the 
 foot of the mar- 
 ble snow of the 
 Carrara Moun- 
 tains, is com- 
 memorated in 
 the lovely eighth 
 canto of Purga- 
 torio 
 
 This long di- 
 gression, geo- 
 graphically so 
 vind and accu- 
 rate as to the 
 origin and situ- 
 ation of Man- 
 tua, is one of 
 the few passages 
 not vitally — at 
 least not obvi- 
 ously — con- 
 nected with the 
 scheme of the 
 whole. No other 
 long poem has 
 so few such ex- 
 crescences, 
 whose '^ moral is 
 in being fair'^ 
 
 Amphiaraus? Why forsake the fight?' 
 
 From plunging downward he was only stayed 
 By Minos, who lays hold on every wight. 
 
 Mark how his shoulders to a breast are made ! 
 Because he wished to see too far before. 
 Forever backward doth he look and tread. 
 
 Tiresias see, who altered semblance wore 
 
 When from a male he was made feminine. 
 While all his members transformation bore; 
 
 And afterward he had to strike again 
 
 With wand the intertwining serpents two. 
 Ere he regained his plumage masculine. 
 
 With back to this one's belly is Aruns, who 
 
 In mountain land of Luni (on whose height 
 Drudges the Carrarese who dwells below) 
 
 Had once a cavern among marbles white 
 
 For his abode, from which he could behold 
 Ocean and stars with unobstructed sight. 
 
 And she whose locks unfilleted enfold 
 
 Her bosom from thy sight, — the hairy coat 
 O'er all her skin on the other side unrolled, — 
 
 Was Manto, who through many countries sought. 
 And after tarried where I had my birth : 
 Whereof to please me take a Uttle note. 
 
 After her father had from life gone forth. 
 And Bacchus' city came to slavery. 
 This woman for a long time roamed the earth. 
 
 There Ues a lake up in fair Italy, 
 
 At bottom of the Alps that fence Almain, 
 Tyrol above, — Benaco names that sea. 
 
 I think a thousand founts the Pennine drain 
 Of water which within that lake is pent, 
 Garda and Val Camonica between. 
 
 There is a middle place where he of Trent 
 Or Brescia pastor, or the Veronese, 
 Might give his blessing, if that way he went. 
 
Origin of Mantua 
 
 81 
 
 Peschiera, fair and mighty fortalice, 
 
 Sits where lies lowest the surrounding shore. 
 To front the Brescians and the Bergamese. 
 
 There whatsoever cannot tarry more 
 
 In bosom of Benaco, down must flow 
 
 And make a river through green meadow floor. 
 
 The waters gathering head, as Mincio, 
 No longer called Benaco, flow apace 
 Far as Govemo, falling into Po. 
 
 Coursing not far, they find a level place 
 
 Where in a wide lagoon they stagnant spread. 
 And where in summer oft is noisomeness. 
 
 Passing that way, the Virgin, never wed. 
 Perceived a tract of land amid the fen. 
 Wholly untilled and uninhabited; 
 
 And there, to shun all intercourse with men. 
 
 Stayed with her servants, arts of magic plied. 
 Lived, and there left her empty body then. 
 
 The people, who were scattered far and wide. 
 Thereafter gathered in that place, which lay 
 Defended by the marsh on every side. 
 
 O'er those dead bones the city builded they. 
 
 And, after her who first had chosen the place. 
 Called it, without more omen, Mantua. 
 
 Denser therein was once the populace. 
 Ere ever Casalodi witlessly 
 From Pinamonte suffered such disgrace. 
 
 Hence if thou ever hear, I monish thee. 
 My city given foundation different. 
 Let falsehood not defraud the verity." — 
 
 "Master, thy reasons are so evident. 
 
 And so lay hold of my belief,'^ said I, 
 "That others were to me but embers spent. 
 
 But tell me, of the people going by. 
 
 None seest thou worthy of note? for to their woe. 
 Only to that, returns my inner eye.'' — 
 
 Referring to a 
 bloody coup 
 (Titat in the 
 course of which 
 Pinamonte first 
 duped and then 
 expelled the lord 
 of Mantua, 
 Count Casalodi 
 
82 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The Man in the 
 Moon was pop' 
 vlarly Cain car' 
 rying a bundle 
 of thorns, the 
 sorry ^ fruit of 
 the ground^ that 
 he harvested. 
 The sky is of 
 course invisible 
 in Hell, but 
 Dante vnll not 
 forgo his astro- 
 nomical allu- 
 sion. The moon 
 is one day past 
 the full and 
 sinks into the 
 sea south of 
 Seville {taking 
 Jerusalem as 
 the point of 
 observation). 
 Thai is, it is 
 about 6 A.M. 
 
 Whereon he answered : "He whose beard doth flow 
 Down from his cheeks upon his shoulders dun, 
 Was, what time Greece of males was emptied so 
 
 That in the cradles tarried almost none. 
 
 An augur, and with Calchas gave the sign 
 To cut, in Aulis, the first cable, — one 
 
 Eurypylus, — thus in a certain line 
 
 My lofty tragedy records the name: 
 Well knowest it thou who knowest each verse of 
 mine. 
 
 That other, in the flanks so light of frame. 
 
 Was Michael Scott, and of a truth he knew 
 Of magical deceptions well the game. 
 
 Guido Bonatti view; Asdente view. 
 
 Who now would wish his leather and his awl 
 Had held him, — all too late repents he too. 
 
 See wretched hags who let the needle fall. 
 The spool and distaff, for divining fain. 
 With herb and image working spells withal. 
 
 But come, for with his thorns already Cain 
 
 Doth hold of both the hemispheres the bound, 
 And yonder under Seville touch the main, 
 
 And only yesternight the moon was round: 
 
 Thou shouldst recall, for she did thee no wrong 
 One certain time within the wood profound." 
 
 While thus he spake to me, we moved along. 
 
3 
 1 
 
 Bosses and Grafters 83 1 
 
 XXI '\ 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 5. Barrators I 
 
 \ 
 
 Discoursing thus of matters different \ 
 
 Whereto my Comedy cares not to hark, j 
 
 Holding the height, from bridge to bridge we went, \ 
 
 But halted other vain laments to mark ^ 
 
 In Evil-pouches, other cloven den; \ 
 
 And there I saw that it was weirdly dark. 
 
 As in the Arsenal of Venice, men j 
 
 Boil sticky pitch in winter, which they use ! 
 
 To make their vessels water-tight again 
 When unsea worthy; some perhaps may choose 
 
 To build anew, — some make it their concern \ 
 
 To caulk ribs buffeted in many a cruise; \ 
 Some hammer at the prow, some at the stern, 
 
 Some fashion oars and others cordage twine. 
 
 And some to mend the jib or mainsail turn : 
 
 Thus not by fire, but by an art divine, ! 
 
 Boiled clammy pitch down there, which every side j 
 
 Smeared over the embankments that confine. 
 
 I saw it, but naught else therein descried, • 
 
 Except the bubbles which the boiling raised, i 
 
 As all heave up and then comprest subside. 
 
 While thither downward steadfastly I gazed, ' 
 
 "Beware ! beware !" my Leader thus began, ' 
 
 And drew me forth from where I stood amazed. j 
 
 Thereat I turned, like one in haste to scan i 
 
 The very thing which it behooves him flee, , 
 
 And whom incontinently fears unman, , 
 
 So that he puts not off his flight to see: ;; 
 
 And there I saw a demon, black as night, \ 
 
 Run up the bridge behind my Guide and me. ! 
 
 Ah, how ferocious was he to my sight, \ 
 
 And in his action how unpitying, ;| 
 
 With open wings and on his feet so light! : 
 
84 Inferno 
 
 His shoulder, which was high and tapering, 
 A sinner with both haunches sat astride: 
 That fiend the tendons of the feet did wring. 
 Dante here gives "Maltalons !" pausing on OUT bridge, he cried, 
 
 Lucca, as he Down with him, while I go for more beside 
 
 SimaZit'' ""^ Unto that city furnisht with them so: 
 many other Barrators all except Bonturo, — if 
 
 fSrw?" You offer money, make they Yes of No." 
 
 to him, Santa He flung him down, and on the flinty cliff 
 of^tcTthe'' ^^^^ wheeled about : ne'er gave so hot a chase 
 
 Holy Face is an A loosened mastiff, running down a thief. 
 
 TyZ^M^' ^-^ That sinner plunged, and aired his back apace; 
 venerated in the But demons, lurking there the bridge below, 
 
 afst^uX>i Cried: "No invoking here the Holy Pace! 
 
 near the city Here swim ye not as in the Serchio : 
 "^^ep^Twho Therefore take heed, unless thou mean to try 
 
 should say,— ail Our grapples, not above the pitch to show.'' 
 
 Boss^Ti^&i^^ Then, pricking him with hundred prongs, did cry: 
 "Here must thou dance about in covert guise. 
 That, if thou can, thou swindle on the sly !" 
 Cooks make their scullions do not otherwise. 
 
 When with their hooks they plunge the carcass clean 
 Down in the caldron, that it may not rise. 
 Then said the Master good: "Lest it be seen 
 
 That thou art with me, do thou downward cower 
 Behind a block, that thou mayst have some screen; 
 And what though wrong may seem to overpower. 
 Be not afraid, for I these matters know. 
 Having been in such wrangle once before." 
 Beyond the bridge's head then did he go. 
 
 And when he reacht the sixth embankment's crest 
 He had full need a steadfast front to show. 
 With such a stormy fury manifest 
 
 As when dogs rush upon a beggar man, 
 
 Who, where he halts, makes quickly his request: 
 
Among the Demons 85 
 
 Thus from beneath the bridge those demons ran, 
 And turned against him every hook and rake; 
 But, "None of you be felons!" he began: 
 
 "Ere with your forks ye loose upon me break, 
 To listen to me send ye forward one: 
 Then as to tearing me your counsel take." 
 
 All shouted out: "Be Malacoda gone!" 
 
 And halted: whereupon one forward goes, 
 Saying, "What can it skill?" as he came on. 
 
 "And dost thou, Malacoda, then suppose, 
 
 Thou wouldst have found me," said that Lord of 
 
 mine, 
 "Safe hitherto, however ye oppose. 
 
 Without propitious fate and Will Divine? 
 
 Let me pass on, for Heaven has sent behest 
 That I show some one else this road malign." — 
 
 Thereat so faUen was his haughty crest. 
 
 That, letting fall the grapple at his feet, 
 "No striking now!" he shouted to the rest. 
 
 "O thou!" exclaimed my Leader, "from thy seat 
 
 Where crouching on the craggy bridge dost hide. 
 Now unto me securely make retreat." 
 
 Wherefore I moved, and promptly sought his side; 
 But all the devils sprang toward me so 
 I trembled lest the compact were defied. 
 
 Even thus I saw the soldiers long ago. 
 By compact from Caprona issuing. 
 Exhibit fear amid so many a foe. 
 
 With all my body I drew up to cling 
 
 Unto my Leader close, nor turned mine eye 
 From off their look, which was not promising. 
 
 Forks leveled, they kept saying: "Shall I try 
 And touch him up upon the hinder side?" 
 "Yes, nick it into him," was the reply. 
 
 But that one who was talking with my Guide, 
 Turned about quickly and commanded thus: 
 "Bide quiet, Scarmiglione, quiet bide!" 
 
86 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The arch was 
 shattered when 
 Christ after the 
 Crucifixion de- 
 scended into 
 Hell. It is now, 
 therefore, mid- 
 forenoon of the 
 Saturday after 
 Good Friday, 
 1300 
 
 These are hu- 
 morous travesties 
 of names of 
 Florentine fam- 
 ilies which 
 Dante regarded 
 as fair game. 
 To this day 
 Florence is 
 noted for family 
 names which 
 seem humorous 
 or ironical 
 
 Then : "There's no thoroughfare," he said to us, 
 "Across this bridge, because the sixth arch Hes 
 Now on the bottom, wholly ruinous: 
 
 If going forward still to you seem wise, 
 
 Along the present bank ye journey may; 
 Hard by there doth another bridgeway rise. 
 
 Later by five than this hour yesterday, 
 
 Twelve hundred six and sixty years their line 
 Completed since here broken was the way. 
 
 Thither I'm sending some of these of mine 
 To see who airs him in the pitchy den : 
 Go with them, for they will not be malign. 
 
 Alichino and Calcabrina, forward then, 
 
 And thou Cagnazzo," he began to add; 
 "And Barbariccia, do thou lead the ten. 
 
 Libicocco and Draghignazzo come," he bade, 
 "Tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane too. 
 And Farfarello and Rubicante mad. 
 
 Explore all round about the boiling blue; 
 
 Let these be safe to the next bridging way 
 Spanning the dens, a craggy avenue." — 
 
 "Alas, my Lord, what see I.^*" — did I say; 
 "Go we alone and without escort now; 
 If thou art able, none for me, I pray ! 
 
 If with thy wonted heed observest thou. 
 
 Dost thou the gnashing of their tusks not hear, 
 And see them threaten mischief with their brow.''"- 
 
 And he to me: "I would not have thee fear; 
 
 Let them gnash with their tushes at their will. 
 They do it for the parboiled wretches there." — 
 
 Upon the left-hand margin turned they still; 
 
 But each began by thrusting tongue to lump 
 The cheek, as signal to their leader ill. 
 
 Whereat he made a trumpet of his rump. 
 
Swimmers in the Pitch 87 I 
 
 XXII ] 
 
 i 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 5. Comedy of the Devils ^ 
 
 I have seen horsemen into battle go. 
 
 And when on dress parade, and striking tent, > 
 
 And scurrying to anticipate the foe; '} 
 
 And foragers who on you made descent, i 
 
 O Aretines, and many a mounted scout, " 
 Running of tilt and clash of tournament. 
 
 With boom of bell and blare of trumpet shout. 
 
 With castle beacons and with drums of war, ■ 
 
 And instruments from home and from without : i 
 
 But never yet to bugle so bizarre ] 
 
 Did I see horse or foot set forward thus, \ 
 
 Nor ship by any sign of land or star. \ 
 
 On went we, the ten demons guiding us : j 
 
 Ah, the fell company ! but in the fane j 
 With saints, in tavern with the gluttonous. 
 
 Intent upon the pitch did I remain, j 
 
 To see the whole condition of the moat \ 
 
 And of the people in their burning pain. j 
 
 Like dolphins when to sailors they denote, ! 
 
 With arching body bounding into sight, j 
 
 That they look sharp to keep their ship afloat: ! 
 
 So ever and again, for easement slight. 
 
 Some sinner would present his back outside I 
 
 And hide it fleeter than a flash of light. ] 
 
 And as at marge of flooded moat abide 
 
 The frogs, and let the nose alone protrude. 
 
 So that their feet and other bulk they hide: j 
 
 Thus upon either hand the sinners stood; \ 
 
 But fast as Barbariccia came their way, ] 
 
 They disappeared beneath the boiling flood. * 
 
 I saw (whereat my heart quakes to this day) 1 
 
 One lingering thus — as it will often chance j 
 
 That while the frogs are diving, one will stay: 1 
 
88 Inferno 
 
 Him Graffiacane, standing near, with lance 
 
 Hookt in his pitch-entangled locks, updrew. 
 So that he seemed an otter to my glance. 
 
 (The names of all and sundry of that crew, — 
 So had I noted them when they were picked 
 And Ustened when they called, — ^by this I knew.) 
 
 "O Rubicante, see that thou inflict 
 
 Thy talons on his back and soundly flay!" 
 Shouted together all the maledict. 
 
 And I: "Endeavor, Master, if thou may. 
 
 To learn what luckless spirit thus doth lie 
 To clutches of his enemies a prey." 
 
 My Leader up beside him drawing nigh. 
 
 Demanded whence he came, and this his word: 
 "Born in the Kingdom of Navarre was I. 
 
 My mother placed me servant to a lord. 
 
 For she had borne me to a worthless blade. 
 Destroyer of himself and of his hoard. 
 
 Of good King Tybalt then retainer made. 
 In barratry attained I mastership. 
 Wherefore down here hot reckoning is paid." 
 
 And Ciriatto, each way from whose lip 
 A tusk, as of a boar, protruded long, 
 Gave him to feel how one of them could rip. 
 
 The mouse was fallen evil cats among. 
 
 But Barbariccia locked him in embrace. 
 Saying: "Stand off from him, while I emprong!" 
 
 Then to my Master turning round the face, 
 
 Added: "Ask on, if thou wouldst have him show 
 Yet more, before the other fiends deface." 
 
 "Now of the other sinners, dost thou know," 
 My Leader said, "any Itahan here 
 Beneath the pitch?" And he: "Short while ago 
 
 I quitted one who was their neighbor near; 
 Would I were still with him in cover laid. 
 So neither claw nor grapple should I fear." 
 
Cruel Sport 
 
 89 
 
 "We bear too muchP then Libicocco said, 
 
 As with the hook he caught his arm amain, 
 And, rending, bore away a sinew-shred. 
 
 And Draghignazzo for a grip was fain 
 
 Down at the legs; whence their Decurion 
 With grim demeanor turned and turned again. 
 
 When they were somewhat pacified anon. 
 
 My Guide inquired of him, without delay. 
 Who ruefully his wound was gazing on : 
 
 "Who was that soul from whom, as thou dost say, 
 111 parting madest thou to come abroad?" 
 "'Twas Friar Gomita," answered he straightway, 
 
 "He of Gallura, adept in every fraud. 
 
 Who had in hand his master's every foe. 
 And dealt so with them that they all applaud: 
 
 Taking the cash, he suavely let them go. 
 So says he; by no petty standard clever 
 In office jobbery, but hugely so. 
 
 Don Michael Zanche of Logodoro ever 
 
 Keeps him boon compa'ny; Sardinia draws 
 Them on to wag their tongues that weary never. 
 
 But look! I fear that other fiend because 
 
 His teeth are gnashing; I would add a word. 
 But for my scurf he seems to whet his claws.'' — 
 
 To Farf arello turning then, who stirred 
 
 His eyes asquint as if for striking home. 
 
 Their master marshal said: "Off, wicked bird!" — 
 
 "If ye would see or hearken all and some," 
 The frightened spirit re-began thereon, 
 "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. 
 
 But the Maltalons must be well withdrawn 
 Lest my companions their vendetta fear. 
 And I, not stirring from this spot, for one 
 
 That I am, will make seven more appear 
 
 By whistling, which, when one of us gets out. 
 Is customary signal with us here." 
 
 Gallura and 
 Logodoro are 
 two of the Jour 
 provinces into 
 which the Pisans 
 divided Sar- 
 dinia. Michael 
 Zanche was vic- 
 tim of an atro- 
 cious crime re- 
 corded at the 
 dose of Canto 
 xxxiii. We 
 meet a juM and 
 gentle magis- 
 trate of Gallura 
 in Purg. viii 
 
90 Inferno ; 
 
 ■\ 
 
 '\ 
 
 Cagnazzo at these words perked up his snout, i 
 
 Wagging his head, exclaiming: "Hear the thing 
 The knave to fling him down has thought about !" i 
 
 Whence, fertile in device, he answering 
 
 Said: "Over-knavish am I, it is true, ] 
 
 When I procure my friends more suffering." \ 
 
 Ahchino could not hold, but counter to \ 
 
 The others, said to him: "If thou depart, 
 I shall in no wise galloping pursue. 
 
 But shall above the pitch on pinions dart: \ 
 
 Leave we the ridge, a shelter be the shore, j 
 
 And see what match for us alone thou art !" i 
 
 Reader, new sport is presently in store! 
 
 Bended their eyes the other way all these, — 
 He foremost who had been most loath before. 
 
 Selected well his time the Navarrese, 1 
 
 Planted his foot-soles firm, and in a flash 
 
 Leapt, and releast him from their purposes. ■ 
 
 Alichino, Whereat they all with self-reproaches gnash, j 
 
 £r Zm'stion He most who made them so discomfited; : 
 
 had enabled the And he leapt forward, yelling : "Not so rash !" ; 
 
 But little it availed: fear faster fled 
 
 Than wing could follow; down he dove amain. 
 And on, with upturned breast, the demon sped. 
 
 Not other fashion is the wild duck fain 
 
 Dive nimbly down, when draws too nigh the hawk, i 
 Who, ruffled, wrathfuUy flies up again. \ 
 
 But Calcabrina, furious at the mock, ] 
 
 Followed behind him flying, in delight i 
 
 At this escape, the scuffle not to balk. \ 
 
 And when the barrator had vanished quite. 
 
 His claws upon his fellow turned, — whence yond 
 Above the moat they grappled for the fight. 
 
 But the other was a sparrow-hawk full fond 
 
 To claw him well, and both together went \ 
 
 Plump to the middle of the boiling pond. j 
 
 Navarrese to 
 escape 
 
Demons Brought to Grief 91 
 
 The heat caused sudden disentanglement; 
 
 But all the same they had no power to soar. 
 So wholly did the pitch their wings cement. 
 
 Barbariccia, woeful with the rest, made four 
 Incontinently on their pinions glide. 
 With hooks and all, far as the other shore; 
 
 Down to their posts they dart on either side 
 
 And stretch their forks toward the limed pair 
 Who were already cookt within the hide: 
 
 And thus we left them in embroilment there. 
 
92 Inferno 
 
 XXIII 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 6. Hypocrites under 
 Copes of Lead 
 
 Silent, alone, and uncompanioned, so 
 
 Went we, the one before and one behind. 
 As on their way the Minor Friars go. 
 A frog, while Upon the tale of iEsop now my mind 
 ^r ::tfean.. Was to, by reason of the present fray, 
 
 dives; hut seeing Where of the frog and mouse we fabled find: 
 
 Hte^Z^f " " For not ««''e similar are Ay and Yea 
 upon both Than this to that, if with attention due 
 
 The outset and the end we rightly weigh. 
 And even as thoughts on other thoughts ensue. 
 Now out of that was bom another: thus 
 My former terror double in me grew. 
 For I was thinking: "These because of us 
 
 Are flouted, damaged, and at naught are set. 
 So that, methinks, they must be furious. 
 If rancor should their evil purpose whet. 
 They will come after us, more pitiless 
 Than dog when snapping up the leveret." 
 Already did I feel my every tress 
 
 Stiffen with terror, while I backward peer 
 Intently, saying: "Master mine, unless 
 Thou quickly hide thyself and me, I fear 
 Maltalons, for they hard up)on us tread: 
 I so imagine them, I feel them near." 
 "If I were fashioned out of glass and lead, 
 
 I could not catch thine outward lineament 
 More quickly than thine inward now," he said. 
 "Even now thy thoughts among my own were blent, 
 With similar action and with similar face. 
 So that of both I made one sole intent. 
 If but the dexter bank so slope to base 
 
 That we may down to the next pocket go, 
 We shall escape from the imagined chase." 
 
Escape of Virgil with Dante 
 
 93 
 
 He had not yet made end of saying so. 
 
 When I beheld them come with wings spread wide, 
 Not far away, with will to work us woe. 
 
 Then caught me up full suddenly my Guide 
 (Even as a mother wakened by a shout 
 To see the flames enkindled close beside, 
 
 Who snatching up her little son runs out, 
 
 And, having less for self than him regard, 
 Tarries not even to wrap a smock about). 
 
 And from the ridge of the embankment hard 
 Glided face upward down the rocky shore 
 Which on that side the adjacent valley barred. 
 
 So swift through sluice slipt water nevermore 
 The wheel of any bankside mill to run, 
 Even when nearest to the floats, as bore 
 
 My Master me, that border land upon. 
 Lying securely claspt upon his breast. 
 Not merely as his comrade but as son. 
 
 Scarce did his feet upon the bottom rest. 
 Ere our pursuers were upon the hill 
 Above us; but all fear was now supprest: 
 
 Because the Providence Supreme, whose will 
 To the Fifth moat their ministry ordained. 
 Denies all power of leaving it and skill. 
 
 Down here we found a painted folk, who gained 
 
 Their circling ground with steps exceeding slow. 
 Weeping, and weary in aspect, and constrained. 
 
 They had on mantles with the hoods drawn low 
 Before their eyes, and fashioned by such law 
 That in Cologne monastics wear them so. 
 
 Gilded without, they dazzled them who saw; 
 But were within of lead, so loaded down 
 That those of Frederick were light as straw. 
 
 O everlasting mantle, heavy gown! 
 
 We went along in their companionship 
 Leftward once more, hearing their dreary moan: 
 
 Geoffrey, Arch- 
 deacon of Nor- 
 ivich, had a cope 
 of lead put over 
 his head and 
 shoulders, in 
 which he was 
 starved to death 
 for whimpering 
 the news of the 
 excommunica- 
 tion of King 
 John. Evidently 
 thai heavy pen- 
 alty was not 
 invented by 
 Frederick II 
 
94 Inferno j 
 
 But with the weight forspent, that fellowship | 
 
 So slowly came, that overtook we new i 
 
 Pilgrims at every movement of the hip. 1 
 
 Wherefore unto my Leader I: "Now do • 
 
 Find some one not unknown by name or deed ' 
 
 And thus advancing, let thine eyes rove too." 1 
 
 And one who gave the Tuscan accent heed, \ 
 
 Cried to us from behind: "O ye who race 
 Thus through the dusky air, now stay your speed ! \ 
 
 Perchance thou 'It get from me the wished-for grace." — * 
 Whereat my Leader turned and said: "Now stay. 
 And then proceed according to his pace." — 
 
 I stopt, and by their look saw two betray \ 
 
 Great eagerness of spirit to advance; ] 
 
 But the load hindered, and the crowded way. 
 
 Having come up, awhile with eye askance i 
 
 They gaze upon me, but their words control; ' 
 
 Then say between themselves, exchanging glance : j 
 
 "He seems alive by action of his jole: j 
 
 And by what privilege, if they are dead, i 
 
 Go they divested of the heavy stole.?" | 
 
 To me then : "Tuscan, to the college led 
 
 Of the sad hypocrites, do not thou scorn 
 
 To tell us of thy origin," they said. ! 
 
 Then answered I: "In the great city bom, | 
 
 I by the river of fair Arno grew. 
 And have the body I have always worn. \ 
 
 But who are ye whom I behold imbrue j 
 
 With tear-distilling sorrow thus the cheek.'* 
 And what the pain that glitters so on you?" j 
 
 And one replied to me: "Of lead so thick j 
 
 The orange hoods are, that without surcease j 
 
 The weights thus cause their balances to creak. ; 
 
 Jovial Friars were we, and Bolognese, ' 
 
 I Catalan, he Loderingo named, i 
 
 And by thy town together for its peace 
 
Caiaphas and the Pharisees 
 
 95 
 
 Taken, where but a single man is claimed 
 By custom; and it still may be descried 
 Around Gardingo how we should be blamed." 
 
 "O Friars, your iniquities . . /^ I cried. 
 
 But went no further, for there struck my sight 
 One on the ground with three stakes crucified. 
 
 Beholding me, he writhed with all his might. 
 Blowing into his beard with many a sigh: 
 But Friar Catalan, who saw his plight. 
 
 Said to me: "That staked felon thou dost eye. 
 Counseled the Pharisees that it was meet 
 That one man for the populace should die. 
 
 He is laid naked and across the street. 
 
 As thou beholdest, and has first to note 
 Of all who pass, how heavy weigh their feet. 
 
 His father-in-law is staked within this moat. 
 And so the others of that Pariiament 
 Which for the Jews was seed of evil fruit." 
 
 Virgil thereafter I beheld intent 
 
 With wonder on that spirit crucified 
 So vilely in eternal banishment. 
 
 Then to the Friar: "Be it not denied. 
 So please you, if it be legitimate. 
 To tell if He upon the right-hand side 
 
 Some passage, that we may go out that gate 
 Without constraining any angel swart 
 To come, and from this bottom extricate." 
 
 "Still nearer than thy hope," said he, "doth start 
 A bridgeway from the belt of the abyss. 
 Spanning the cruel valleys overthwart. 
 
 All save that, broken, it bespans not this: 
 
 Ye can ascend the wreck that heaps the ground. 
 And lies aslope, flanking the precipice." 
 
 With bended brow in meditation boimd, 
 
 My Leader stood, then said: "In wicked wise 
 He told the way who hooks the sinners yond!" 
 
 During the year 
 when these two 
 were 'partners in 
 the mayoralty of 
 Florence the 
 palaces of the 
 great Ghibelline 
 family of the 
 Uberti were 
 razed. The 
 Gardingo was 
 anciently a 
 Longobard for- 
 tress, standing 
 about where now 
 is the Palazzo 
 Vecchio and its 
 Square 
 
 Caiaphas and 
 Annas. Virgil, 
 here represent- 
 ing Rome, would 
 not understand 
 
96 Inferno 
 
 The Friar: "At Bologna many a vice 
 
 I heard laid to the Devil, there among 
 That he's a liar and the father of lies." 
 
 Then went my Guide with larger strides along, 
 
 While wrath somewhat perturbed his aspect sweet: 
 Whence I departed from the burdened throng 
 
 After the prints of the beloved feet. 
 
Climbing out of the Canon 97 
 
 XXIV 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 7. The Robbers and 
 THE Serpents 
 
 In that young year-time when the sun his hair 
 Tempers beneath Aquarius, and when 
 The nights already tow*rd the southland fare, — 
 
 The hoarfrost on the greensward copies then 
 His sister's image white, but by and by 
 Abates the dainty temper of his pen, — 
 
 The husbandman, who sees starvation nigh, 
 Rising and looking out, beholds the plain 
 All whitened over, whence he smites his thigh: 
 
 Returning in, doth to and fro complain 
 
 Like one who cannot mend his wretched case; 
 Then out he comes and picks up hope again. 
 
 Beholding how the world has altered face 
 In Httle while, and catching up his crook 
 Drives forth his sheep to pasturage apace: 
 
 Thus when I saw perturbed my Master's look 
 Did I lose heart, and thus the balm applied 
 Suddenly from the wound the ailment took. 
 
 For when we reacht the ruined bridge, my Guide 
 
 Turned round and fixt me with that kindly glance 
 Which first I saw beneath the mountain side. 
 
 He spread his arms out, and, as laying plans 
 
 Within himself, first viewed the ruined fell. 
 Then laid his hold upon me to advance. 
 
 Like one who labors and considers well. 
 Seeming forever to provide anew. 
 My Leader, lifting me toward the swell 
 
 Of one crag, had another rock in view. 
 
 Saying: "Now clamber over that one, but 
 Try first if it be firm to grapple to." 
 
 No way was this for one in mantle shut, — 
 For scarcely we, he light and I pusht on. 
 Were able to ascend from jut to jut. 
 
 This is not the 
 only passage 
 where Dante 
 shows himself 
 familiar with 
 mountain climb-' 
 ing. He had 
 clambered over 
 the weary heights 
 between Lerid 
 and Turbia 
 (Purg. til), 
 and perhaps over 
 the Alps more 
 than once. The 
 allegory here is 
 that of the dif- 
 fictdty of re- 
 nouncing a 
 course of dis- 
 simidation 
 
98 Inferno 
 
 And were it not that in that quarter, one 
 
 Ascent is shorter than the other, I know 
 Nothing of him, but I had been fordone. 
 
 But since upon a slant Malpouches go 
 All to the entrance of the lowest Pit, 
 So must the site of every valley show 
 
 One bank upreared above the opposite: 
 
 We clomb, however, the last craggy stair 
 At length, which from the ruined cliff is split. 
 
 My lungs so utterly were milkt of air 
 
 When I was up, no farther could I get; 
 Nay, sat me down on first arriving there. 
 
 "Thus now behooves that sloth aside be set," 
 The Master said, "to fame we never come 
 Sitting on down nor under coverlet. 
 
 Which wanting, whoso goes to his long home 
 Leaves of himself on earth as little trace 
 As smoke in air or in the water foam. 
 
 Up then, thy panting overcome apace. 
 With spirit that will every battle dare 
 Unless the heavy body deep abase. 
 
 Behooves thee yet to climb a longer stair: 
 
 Suffices not that forth from these we went; 
 If thou hast understood, now forward fare." 
 
 Then up I rose, and showed my breath less spent 
 
 Than 'twas indeed, and said: "Go on once more,- 
 Look, if I be not strong and confident." 
 
 Upward we took our course, the bridgeway o'er, 
 A craggy, difficult, and narrow way, 
 And far, far steeper than the one before. 
 
 Speaking I went, no faintness to betray. 
 
 When out of the next moat a voice I heard 
 111 suited aught articulate to say. 
 
 Of what it said I do not know a word. 
 
 Though now atop the arch that crosses nigh; 
 But he who spake appeared to anger stirred. 
 
Burning of Vanni Fucci 99 i 
 
 I had bent downward, but no living eye 
 
 Could through the darkness to the deep attain: j 
 
 "Master, contrive to come,^^ said therefore I, > 
 
 "To the next dike, the inner wall to gain; ' 
 
 For even as hence I hear, but cannot heed, { 
 
 So peering down I shape out nothing plain." 1 
 
 To this he said: "No answer is of need 
 
 Except the doing, for the fit request j 
 
 Should tacitly be followed by the deed." — ] 
 
 The bridge we now descended from the crest 1 
 Where with the eighth bank it united stood. 
 
 And then to me the pouch was manifest: ■ 
 
 And there I saw so terrible a brood ' 
 
 Of serpents, of diversity so great, > 
 
 That the remembrance still freezes my blood. '■ 
 
 Let Libya with her sand no longer prate : | 
 
 Though Amphisboena, Cenchres, Pharese, \ 
 Chelydri, Jaculi, she generate. 
 
 So many plagues, of such malignity, i 
 
 She never showed, with Ethiopia wide, l 
 
 Nor with the land that borders the Red Sea. I 
 
 Amid these, cruelly that multipHed, j 
 
 Were running naked and affrighted folk \ 
 
 Hopeless of heliotrope or place to hide. Heliotrope, ■■- 
 
 Serpents the hands of these behind them yoke, tr^hh^' ^***" 
 
 With head and tail transfix them through the loin, which so turned ^ 
 
 And into knotted coils before them lock. ^^^ *",'*'* ^^y^ 
 
 All,. 11'. 1 . if^oi the wearer 
 
 And lo! at one who loitered near our coign became innviUe 
 
 Of vantage, sprang a snake and pierct him through | 
 
 Just where the collar and the shoulders join. 
 Never was I so quickly written, or O, • 
 
 As he took fire and burnt, and he was doomed 
 
 All into ashes dropping down to go; j 
 
 And then, when thus upon the ground consumed, i 
 
 The dust drew of itself together there, ! 
 
 And suddenly that former shape resumed. ! 
 
100 Inferno 
 
 And even thus, the sages great declare. 
 The Phoenix dies and then is Hfe astir 
 Again, on reaching her five-hundredth year; 
 
 Lifelong no grain nor grasses pasture her, 
 But tears of incense and amome alone. 
 And her last winding-sheet is nard and myrrh. 
 
 As one who falls, he knows not how, and prone 
 Upon the ground by force of demon lies. 
 Or other stoppage that enfetters one. 
 
 Who, when he rises, looks around, with eyes 
 Wholly bewildered by the mighty throes 
 Which he has undergone, and looking sighs: 
 
 Such was that sinner after he arose. 
 
 Power of God, how just art thou to men, 
 That showerest for vengeance down such blows ! 
 
 "Who mayst thou be?" my Leader askt him then; 
 
 Whence he replied: "I rained from Tuscany 
 
 Short while ago into this cruel glen. 
 Life of the brute, not man, delighted me, 
 
 Mule Vanni Fucci, bestially propense: 
 
 Pistoia was my den, and fittingly." 
 I to my Leader: "Let him not sHp hence. 
 
 And ask what crime here thrust him down so low: 
 
 1 knew him man of blood and insolence." 
 The sinner feigned not, hearing me speak so. 
 
 But full upon me bent his face and thought. 
 And colored with shame's melancholy glow; 
 
 Then said: "It grieves me more that I am caught 
 In misery which I must now display. 
 Than when I from the other Hfe was brought. 
 
 To thy demand I cannot say thee nay: 
 
 I am put down so deep as this because 
 I robbed the Chapel of the Fair Array, — 
 
 And falsely to another imputed 'twas. 
 
 But that thy joy in such a sight abate 
 If ever thou escape these gloomy jaws. 
 
Prophecy of Woe 
 
 101 
 
 Open thine ears and listen to thy fate: 
 
 Pistoia shall be thinned of Blacks at first, 
 Then Florence men and manners renovate. 
 
 Mars out of Magra's vale with thunderburst 
 Arises, in black clouds embosomed round, 
 And with a storm impetuous and curst, 
 
 A battle shall be fought on Picene ground; 
 
 Whence sudden shall the mist be riven, so 
 That every White thereby receives a wound. 
 
 And this I have foretold thee to thy woe.^ 
 
 The thunder- 
 storm of war 
 from the Valley 
 of the Magra 
 (Lunigiana) is 
 Moroello Mala- 
 sfina, whose 
 family received 
 and protected 
 Dante in 1306. 
 There is a noble 
 tribute to this 
 family at the 
 end of Purg. viii 
 
i02 
 
 Inferno 
 
 An insulting 
 gesture called by 
 Ancient Pistol 
 "the fig of 
 Spain" 
 
 The serpents in 
 this and the pre- 
 ceding canto are 
 of course sym- 
 bolic of the 
 stealthy nature 
 of the crime 
 which they 
 punish 
 
 XXV 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 7. Transformations of 
 THE Five Patrician Thieves 
 
 As soon as those his words concluded were, 
 
 His hands with both the figs the thief upbends, 
 Yelling: "Have at thee, God; at thee I square!" 
 
 From that time forth the serpents were my friends. 
 For one of them did then his neck entwist, 
 As who should say, "Herewith thy speaking ends!" 
 
 Another, coiling, riveted each wrist. 
 
 Clinching in front of him to such degree, 
 He could not any longer jerk the fist. 
 
 Ah, why, Pistoia, dost thou not decree 
 To burn thyself to ashes and so fall, 
 Since thy ill deeds outdo thine ancestry? 
 
 Throughout the dark infernal circles all, 
 
 I saw no spirit Godward flaunt such pride. 
 Not him who fell at Thebes down from the wall. 
 
 He fled away, all further word denied; 
 
 Then saw I come a centaur, full of spleen: 
 "Where is, where is the callous wretch.^" he cried. 
 
 Harbors so many serpents not, I ween, 
 Maremma, as he had his back along 
 As far as where our lineaments begin. 
 
 Behind the nape, upon the shoulder clung 
 
 A dragon with his pinions wide outspread: 
 On every one he meets his fire is flung. 
 
 "That one is Cacus,'' then my Master said, 
 "Who in the cavern of Mount Aventine 
 Has made full many a time a pool blood-red. 
 
 He goes not with his brothers in one line, 
 By reason of his wily practice, when 
 He stole the neighboring great herd of kine: 
 
 Wherefore his crooked actions ended then 
 Beneath the blows of Hercules, who plied 
 Perhaps a hundred, — but he felt not ten." 
 
Merging of Snake and Man 
 
 103 
 
 While thus he spake, and that one past ns hied, 
 Lo ! underneath us came there spirits three 
 Whom neither I perceived, nor yet my Guide, 
 
 Until they shouted to us: "Who are ye?" 
 
 Whereby our story to a stand was brought. 
 And them alone thereafter heeded we. 
 
 And now it happened (for I knew them not). 
 As it is wont to happen, that one shade, 
 To name another by some chance took thought. 
 
 Exclaiming: "Where can Cianfa still have stayed?" 
 Whence I, to make my Guide attentive so. 
 Upward from chin to nose my finger laid. 
 
 If thou to credit what I say art slow 
 
 Now, Reader, need there be no wonderment, 
 For I, who saw, can scarce consent thereto. 
 
 The while I raised my brows on them intent. 
 There darted a six-footed serpent out 
 In front of one, and grappling with him blent. 
 
 With middle feet it claspt his paunch about, 
 
 And flimg the forward ones his arms around; 
 Then gashed both cheeks of him the gaping snout. 
 
 With hinder feet outspread the thighs it bound, 
 Thrusting its tail between them, and behind 
 Upward extending it, the loins enwound. 
 
 So never did the barbed ivy bind 
 A tree up, as the reptile hideous 
 Upon another's limbs its own entwined. 
 
 They clave together, — ^hot wax cleaveth thus, — 
 And interfused their colors in such wise 
 That neither now appeared the same to us : 
 
 Just as in burning paper doth uprise 
 
 Along before the flame a color brown 
 
 Which is not black as yet, and the white dies. 
 
 The other two each shouted, looking on, 
 "O me, Agnello, how thou alterest! 
 Lo, thou'rt already neither two nor one!" 
 
 The manner in 
 which Dante 
 gradually gath- 
 ers, by attentive 
 listening to their 
 talk, the names 
 of four of the five 
 Florentine 
 thieves, is an ex- 
 ample of his un- 
 obtrusive art. 
 The gesture with 
 the finger beside 
 chin and nose is 
 frequent in Italy 
 
104 Inferno 
 
 ^Property was Already the two heads had coalesced, 
 ThaHh^Ilfwas ^Vhe^eby two faces seemed to be compelled 
 
 not the same. Into one face, wherein were two supprest. 
 
 ^louhlfname ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ strips quadruple swelled; 
 Neither two nor The thighs and legs, the chest and belly grew 
 
 mlled^'^ ^^ members such as never man beheld. 
 
 {"The Phoenix AH former aspect there was canceled through: 
 mi e ur- "J^^q and yet none the shape perverted showed. 
 
 And such with tardy steps away it drew. 
 As the eye-lizard, under the great goad 
 
 Of dog-day heat, from hedge to hedge again 
 Darts like a flash of light across the road: 
 So, tow'rd the bellies of the other twain 
 Darting, a little fiery serpent went. 
 Livid and tawny like a pepper-grain. 
 And in that part whence first our nourishment 
 We draw, it one of them transfixt, then down 
 In front of him fell back, and lay distent. 
 The pierct one gazed, but language uttered none: 
 Nay, rather yawned and never stirred a limb. 
 As if with fever or with sleep fordone. 
 He eyed the reptile, and the reptile him: 
 
 One from his wound, the other from its snout 
 Smoked fiercely, and the smoke commingled dim. 
 Be still now, Lucan, where thou tellst about 
 Wretched Sabellus and Nasidius, 
 And wait to hear what now shall be shot out ! 
 Of Arethuse be still, Ovidius! 
 
 If, fabling, he converts her to a fount, 
 Cadmus to snake, I am not envious: 
 Because two natures never front to front 
 
 Has he transmuted, so that both forms grew 
 Each o*er the other's substance paramount. 
 In such wise answered each to each the two. 
 That to a fork the serpent cleft his tail. 
 And the stricken one his feet together drew. 
 
Snake and Man Exchange Shapes 105 
 
 The legs compacted, and the thighs as well. 
 In such a manner that in little space 
 The juncture left no mark discernible. 
 
 Now in the cloven tail the form we trace 
 The other forfeited; the former*s skin 
 Elastic grew, the other's hard apace. 
 
 I saw the arms drawn through the armpits in. 
 
 And the reptile's two short feet becoming long 
 By so much as the arms had shortened been. 
 
 Thereafter the hind feet together climg 
 
 To form the member that a man conceals, 
 
 And to the wretch from his, two feet were sprung. 
 
 Now while the smoke with a new color veils 
 
 The one and the other, causing hair to spring 
 On one, which from the other part it peels, 
 
 One rose, and fell the other groveling. 
 
 Though turning not aside the cruel glare 
 Whereunder each his face was altering. 
 
 The erect one drew his where the temples were. 
 And from stuff overmuch that thither went. 
 Ears issued from the cheeks, hitherto bare: 
 
 And what, not running back, remained unspent. 
 Sufficed to form a nose unto the face 
 And give the lips their fit apportionment. 
 
 He that lay prone, thrust forward his grimace. 
 And then his ears into his head are drawn 
 As draws the snail his feelers into place. 
 
 Lastly the tongue, which heretofore was one 
 
 And fit for speech, is cleft, and the cloven kind 
 In the other closes : and the smoke is gone. 
 
 The soul thus with a reptile form combined. 
 Exploding hisses fied the valley through, 
 And the other, sputtering, remains behind: 
 
 Then, turning to the snake his shoulders new. 
 Said to the third : "As I along this way 
 Have crawHng rim, will I have Buoso do." 
 
106 Inferno 
 
 The seventh ballast did I thus survey 
 Shifting, reshifting: here let novelty- 
 Excuse me, if my pen go aught astray. 
 
 And notwithstanding that mine eyes might be 
 
 Somewhat bewildered, and my mind the'^same. 
 Those could not flee away so covertly 
 
 But that I plainly saw Puccio the Lame: 
 
 And of the three companions did he keep 
 His form, alone of those at first who came; 
 
 The other, O Gaville, thou dost weep! 
 
 Note 
 
 The last line refers to the only one noi; named, possibly out of con- 
 sideration for the Cavalcanti family, to which he belonged. The 
 spirited peasantry of the little village of Gaville had killed the 
 scoundrel, and now weep the vendetta wreaked upon them by the 
 family. 
 
Dante Takes to Heart the Lesson 107 > 
 
 XXVI i 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 8. Fraudulent Coun- ] 
 
 sELORs: Ulysses \ 
 
 Rejoice. O Florence, since thou art so great. 
 
 Thy wings are beating land and sea around, ' 
 
 And even in Hell thy name is celebrate. 
 Among the robbers five like these I found, ^ 
 
 Thy citizens, — ^whereat comes shame to me, - 
 
 Nor do thy honors greatly thence abound. 
 But if near dawning dream be verity, j 
 
 Within short while from now shalt thou perceive 
 
 What Prato, if no other, craves for thee. ■ 
 
 If it must be, let come without reprieve; ] 
 
 Serene the mind when of the worst aware : ] 
 
 The older I become, the more 'twill grieve. ! 
 
 We parted thence, and up along the stair \ 
 
 The spur-stones made before for our descent, j 
 
 My Guide remounted now, and drew me there. 
 And as the soHtary way we went i 
 
 Amid the crags and splinters of the span, • 
 
 The foot without the hand had been forspent. 
 Then sorrowed I, and sorrow now again. 
 
 When I direct my thought to what I viewed. 
 
 And curb my genius from the course it ran, • 
 
 Lest it from Virtue turn to truanthood; 
 
 So that if favoring star or higher grace i 
 
 Have given me aught, I forfeit not that good. \ 
 
 During that season when from us his face '\ 
 
 He least conceals whose light the world doth fill. 
 
 What time the fly unto the gnat gives place, ' 
 
 The peasant who is resting on the hill '■ 
 
 Sees many a firefly down along the dale. 
 
 Perhaps where he doth gather grapes and till: 
 With flames so many the eighth pit of Hell 
 
 Was everywhere agleam, as I beheld 
 
 On coming where I saw the bottom well. ■, 
 
108 Inferno 
 
 And even as he whom bears avenged of eld 
 Looked on Elijah's parting chariot 
 When straight the way to Heaven the horses held; 
 
 For with the eyesight could he follow not 
 
 So that aught other than the flame was seen 
 Flitting aloft, a fading cloudy spot: 
 
 Thus moved along the throat of the ravine 
 
 Each flame, for none of them the theft unlock. 
 Though every flame a sinner wraps within. 
 
 I stood to look upon the bridge of rock, 
 Erect, so that, did not a jut prevent, 
 To make me fall had been no need of shock. 
 
 And when my Leader saw me thus intent, 
 He said : "The spirits in the fires abide, 
 Each swathed within the burning element." 
 
 "Through hearing thee, my Master," I rephed, 
 "Am I more certain; but what thou dost say 
 I had surmised and would have asked, O Guide, 
 
 Who is within that flame which comes this way. 
 Whose cloven top seems rising from the pyre 
 Where once Eteocles with his brother lay?" 
 
 "Ulysses pines," he said, "within that fire. 
 And Diomed; thus neither goes alone 
 In punishment, as neither went in ire: 
 
 And in their flame together do they groan 
 
 The ambush of the horse, whence was to come 
 The noble seed by the old Romans sown; 
 
 There weep the guile whereby, though dead and dumb, 
 Deidamia still Achilles wails; 
 And there they pay for the Palladium." 
 It is hard not to "If they within those sparks can tell their tales," 
 fhfZd^ry" ^^^^ ^' "^ Master, much I pray thee, pray 
 
 hearing of Until my prayer a thousandfold avails, 
 
 Dante, despite ji^at thou refuse not unto me to stay 
 
 his yearning, . / 
 
 Jrrnn direct Until the horned flame comes hither nigh : 
 
 8j>eech vnth the rj.^^^ g^^g^ ^j|.jj ^j^^^ ^ggjj,^ j ^^^^ ^YiSit way." 
 
Last Voyage of Ulysses 
 
 109 
 
 "Thy prayer deserves all praise,'' he made reply, 
 "And therefore I accept it; none the less 
 Take heed thou to thy tongue all speech deny : 
 
 Leave me to speak, for I already guess 
 
 What thou desirest. Seeing that these were Greek, 
 Perhaps they might be shy of thine address." 
 
 After the flame with the divided peak 
 
 Had come where time and place to him seemed due, 
 I heard my Leader in this manner speak: 
 
 "O ye, within one fire remaining two, 
 K I deserved of you in life, if I 
 Or much or little merited of you 
 
 When in the world I wrote the verses high, 
 Do not move on, but one of you declare 
 Whither, being lost, he went away to die.'' 
 
 One horn, the mightier of the ancient pair. 
 With murmuring began to quiver then, 
 Even as a flame made weary by the air. 
 
 Waving the summit back and forth again. 
 
 Thereafter, like a speaking tongue, the flame 
 Flung forth a voice and spoke as follows: "When 
 
 Of Circe I had taken leave, — the same 
 
 Who held me near Gaeta a year and more. 
 Ere yet ^Eneas gave it such a name, — 
 
 Nor tender love of son, nor pity for 
 My aged father, nor affection due 
 That should have cheered Penelope, o'erbore 
 
 The ardor that was in me to pursue 
 
 Experience of the world, that I might be 
 In human vices versed and virtue too : 
 
 But I put forth on the deep open sea 
 
 With but one vessel, and that little train 
 Which hitherto had not deserted me. 
 
 Both of the shores I saw as far as Spain, 
 Morocco, and Sardinia's isle, and so 
 The other islands bathing in that main. 
 
 Greeks. Like- 
 wise Petrarch, 
 although a half- 
 century nearer 
 to the Renais- 
 sance, never 
 mastered the 
 language of 
 Homer. Both 
 looked, like 
 Moses from 
 Pisgah, to the 
 land of heart's 
 desire 
 
 The noble tale of 
 Ulysses, as well 
 as the preceding 
 splendid series 
 of images, is in 
 refreshing con- 
 trast to the horri- 
 ble scenes we 
 have witnessed. 
 Dante owes 
 nothing to 
 Homer, whom 
 he could not 
 read. It is in- 
 teresting to con- 
 trast Tennyson's 
 ornate rehan- 
 dling of this 
 plain tale 
 
110 Inferno 
 
 I and my company were old and slow 
 
 When in upon that narrow pass we bore, 
 Where Hercules set up his bounds to show 
 
 That man beyond might venture nevermore. 
 Here left I Seville back upon the right, 
 And had left Ceuta on the other shore. 
 
 *0 brothers,' said I, *who are come despite 
 
 Ten thousand perils to the West, let none, 
 While still our senses hold the vigil slight 
 
 Remaining to us ere our course is run. 
 Be willing to forgo experience 
 Of the unpeopled world beyond the sun. 
 
 Regard your origin, — ^from whom and whence! 
 Not to exist like brutes, but made were ye 
 To follow virtue and intelligence.' 
 
 With this brief speech I made my company 
 So keen to go, that scarce to be denied 
 Would they have been thereafter, even by me. 
 
 And having turned the stern to morning-tide. 
 For the mad flight we plied the winged oar, 
 Steadily gaining on the larboard side. 
 
 Night saw the constellations more and more 
 Of the other pole, and ours at such descent 
 That it rose not above the ocean-floor. 
 
 Five times rekindled and as many spent 
 
 The light beneath the moon did wane away, 
 Since to the passage of the deep we went. 
 The mountain is When there appeared to us a mountain, gray 
 ^pposed to be ^-^Ij distance, and upreared a loftier brow 
 
 that of Purga- t i i -i i i 
 
 lory. The age of Than I had ever seen until that day. 
 
 the great voyag- ^^ joyed, but joy soon turned to weeping now, 
 ers was yet cits- i«i. 
 
 tant, and any- For out of the new land a whirlmg blast 
 
 thing could he p^^^^ ^^^ struck the vessel on the prow— 
 
 imagined, for _,, . . , , ,1 . i • i i i i. 
 
 the other side of Thrice With the waters all, it whirled her fast; 
 
 the world was as rpj^^ fourth upheaved the stern and sunk amain 
 
 unknown as is ^ 1*1 mi 1 
 
 the other side of The prow, as pleased Another, till at last 
 
 the vwon j^^ ^^g^jj jjg^^ ^^^^^ ^g ^l^gg^j again.^* 
 
State of the Romagna 
 
 111 
 
 xxvn 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 8. Guido da Monte- 
 
 FELTRO AND PoPE BoNIFACE VIII 
 
 The flame became erect and quiet now 
 
 To speak no more, and now was passing on. 
 Nor did the gentle Poet disallow; 
 
 When after it there came another one 
 
 Which made us eye its summit, whence found vent 
 A vague and indistinguishable tone. 
 
 As the Sicilian bull, which with lament 
 
 Of him was first to bellow ('twas his due!) 
 Who gave it fashion with his instrument. 
 
 Bellowed with voice of every victim new. 
 So that, for all it was of brazen plate. 
 Yet it appeared with anguish stricken through: 
 
 Thus, having at their source not any gate 
 Nor outlet from the fire, into its mode 
 Of speech were turned the words disconsolate. 
 
 But afterward, when they had found a road 
 
 Up through the point, transmitting it the same 
 Quiver in passing which the tongue bestowed. 
 
 We heard it say: "O thou at whom I aim 
 
 My voice, who spakst the tongue of Lombardy, 
 Saying, — *Now go, no more I urge, O flame !* 
 
 To pause and speak be irksome not to thee. 
 What though I come a little late withal: 
 Thou seest, although I burn, it irks not me. 
 
 If from that sweet ItaKan land thou fall 
 
 But now into this world of blinded souls, — 
 For thence I came with my transgression all, — 
 
 Say, have they peace or war, the Romagnoles? 
 For I was from the mountains there between 
 Urbino and the range whence Tiber rolls." 
 
 Still was I bended down, with eager mien. 
 
 When now my Leader touched me on the side. 
 Saying: "Speak thou, — Italian he has been." 
 
 The brazen bull 
 in which were 
 roasted alive the 
 victims of the 
 tyrant Phalaris, 
 who first tested 
 it upon its 
 maker, — very 
 properly, sub- 
 joins Dante 
 
112 
 
 Inferno 
 
 The Polenta 
 family from 
 which had 
 sprung Fran- 
 cesca, and which 
 was to be 
 Dante's best 
 shield 
 
 Forli, where a 
 French army 
 had suffered 
 Uoody defeat by 
 the person ad- 
 dressed 
 
 The Malatesta 
 of Rimini, the 
 bloody, treacher- 
 071S tyrants to 
 whose fangs poor 
 Francesco had 
 been thrown 
 
 Faenza and 
 Imola, as well 
 as Cesena, are 
 named by their 
 rivers. As in the 
 case of Forli the 
 cognizance of the 
 ruling family is 
 mentioned 
 
 Guido da Mon- 
 tefeltro, the 
 astute Christian, 
 is contrasted to 
 his disadvantage 
 with the noble 
 pagan Ulysses. 
 There is another 
 contrast between 
 Ouido and his 
 son Buonconte 
 in Purgatory 
 (Canto v). 
 These are three 
 of the longer 
 iales in the 
 Poem 
 
 And I, well knowing what should be replied. 
 Began to speak to him with ready mind: 
 "O spirit, thou who there below dost hide, 
 
 Never was thy Romagna uninclined 
 
 Within her tyrants* hearts to battle-play; 
 But now I left no open war behind. 
 
 As many a year, Ravenna stands today: 
 The eagle of Polenta so doth brood 
 That with her wings she covers Cervia. 
 
 The town that gave proof of long fortitude, 
 
 And in a bloody heap the Frenchmen threw, 
 Beneath the Green Paws finds herself again. 
 
 Verruchio's ancient Mastiff and the new, 
 Who ill disposal of Montagna made. 
 Still flesh their fangs where they are wont to do. 
 
 Lamone's and Santerno's towns are swayed 
 Under the Lioncel of the white lair, 
 From summer to winter time a renegade. 
 
 And she whose flank is bathed by Savio fair. 
 
 Even as she lies between the plain and mount, 
 Lives between tyranny and freedom there. 
 
 Now who thou art thyself do thou recount : 
 Be not more stubborn than another, pray. 
 So may thy name long in the world hold front." 
 
 After the fire in its peculiar way 
 
 Had roared awhile, the pointed tip was quaking 
 Hither and thither, and the breath did say : 
 
 "If I supposed myself as answer making 
 To one who ever could return on high 
 Into the world, this flame should stand unshaking: 
 
 But since none from this yawning cavity 
 Ever returned alive, if truth I hear, 
 Fearless of infamy, do I reply. 
 
 I was a man of arms, then Cordelier, 
 
 Hoping to make amends, begirded so: 
 And this my hope was coming true, no fear, 
 
Boniface Absolves Guido 113 j 
 
 But for the Priest Supreme, betide him woe! J 
 
 Who put me back into my sins of old; ; 
 
 And how and wherefore I would have thee know. ^ 
 
 While I was yet a tenant of that mold ' 
 
 Of bone and pulp my mother gave, my bent 
 
 Was ever of the fox, not lion-bold. ^ 
 
 I knew all wiles and ways to circumvent, { 
 
 And plied the craft of them with such avail | 
 
 That to the ends of earth the rumor went. ] 
 
 When I began to feel the years prevail, I 
 
 Arrived that time of life when one had need i 
 
 To coil the tackle up and take in sail, ' 
 What pleased before, now grieved me: so with heed 
 
 To penance and confession I withdrew; 
 
 Ah, hapless! and it had availed indeed. 
 The Prince of the new Pharisees, in view 
 
 Of Lateran, having a war in hand, — < 
 
 And not with Saracen, and not with Jew, \ 
 
 For all his enemies were Christian, and j 
 
 Not one of them at Acre's fall was nigh, 1 
 
 Nor yet a trader in the Soldan's land, — 
 
 Neither his Holy Orders nor his high j 
 
 Office regarded, nor that cord of mine 
 
 Which used to make more lean those girt thereby. 
 
 But as within Soracte, Constantine ; 
 
 Besought Sylvester heal his leprosy. 
 
 Likewise, his fevered pride to medicine, j 
 
 Did this man seek out as physician me : = 
 
 Counsel he craved, and I deemed silence just, ] 
 
 Because his language drunken seemed to be. I 
 
 At length he said : *Let not thy heart mistrust; , 
 
 Henceforward I absolve thee: teach me how 
 
 To level Palestrina with the dust. i 
 
 I have the power to shut, as knowest thou, i 
 
 And open Heaven : whence double are the keys ] 
 
 Which my foregoer held not dear enow.' ] 
 
114 
 
 Inferno 
 
 So the King in 
 Hamlet reasons: 
 "May one be 
 pardoned and 
 retain the 
 offense?" 
 
 Constrained me weighty arguments like these, 
 To such a point that silence seemed unfit: 
 Tather, since thou assurest me release 
 
 From that transgression which I must commit. 
 Long promise with short keeping,* so I said, 
 *Will make thee triumph in thy lofty Seat.* 
 
 Saint Francis came for me, when I was dead; 
 But shouted one of the black Cherubim: 
 *Convey him not, nor wrong me; for instead 
 
 He must go down among my minions grim. 
 Because he gave the counsel fraudulent. 
 From which time forth I have been dogging him. 
 
 For none can be absolved but he repent. 
 Nor can a man repent and will withal. 
 For contradictories do not consent.* 
 
 Alas for me ! O how I trembled all 
 
 What time he took me, saying: *Can it be 
 Thou didst not think that I was logical?' 
 
 Down unto Minos then he carried me. 
 
 Who twined with eightfold tail his stubborn frame. 
 And, after he had gnawed it furiously. 
 
 Said: **Tis a sinner for the thievish flame*: 
 
 Whence, where thou seest me, am I forlorn. 
 And, going thus attired, bemoan my shame." 
 
 When he had thus his testimony borne. 
 
 The flame with anguisht utterance withdrew. 
 Twisting about and tossing the sharp horn. 
 
 We passed along, my Guide and I, up to 
 
 The next arch of the viaduct, whence showed 
 That moat of Hell wherein is paid their due 
 
 To those who, severing, make up their load. 
 
Mohammed 
 
 115 
 
 xxvm 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 9. Sowers of Discord 
 
 Who ever in words released from laws of rime 
 Could fully of the blood and wounds report 
 That now I saw, though telling many a time? 
 
 Every tongue would certainly fall short, 
 
 Because the heart and speech of humankind 
 Have Httle compass to contain such hurt. 
 
 Could ever all the people be combined 
 
 Who in Apulia wept their blood poured out 
 Upon the fateful land time out of mind 
 
 By Trojans, and in that long war, the rout 
 Which issued in the mighty spoil of rings, 
 As Livy writes, whose word we cannot doubt; 
 
 With those who bore the brunt of buffetings 
 Resisting Robert Guiscard; and that horde 
 Whose bones the plowshare to this day upflings 
 
 At Ceperano, where each Apulian lord 
 
 Proved faithless; and at TagUacozzo's field 
 Where aged Erard conquered without sword: 
 
 And all their mutilated Umbs revealed. 
 
 It would be naught to that dismemberment 
 In the ninth pouch obscenely unconcealed. 
 
 No cask that middle board or stave forwent 
 Was ever cleft so wide as one I saw 
 Ript from the chin clean down to fxmdament: 
 
 Between the legs hang down the viscera; 
 
 The pluck appears, the wretched sack I see 
 That turns to ordure what goes in the maw. 
 
 While I am all intent upon him, he 
 
 Observes me, and both hands in breast he plants. 
 Saying: "Behold how I dismember me; 
 
 How mangled is Mohammed ! In advance 
 Of me goes Ah uttering his woe. 
 Cleft chin to forelock in the countenance. 
 
 Trojans for 
 Romans; the 
 rings picked up 
 on the field of 
 CanncB; Robert 
 Guiscard, Nor- 
 man conqueror 
 of Apulia; Ce- 
 perano is per- 
 haps a mistake 
 of the poet, the 
 only great hatde 
 of the campaign 
 referred to is 
 Benevento 
 (Purg. Hi), 
 where Manfred 
 was deserted by 
 the Apulians; 
 Ta^liacozzo, 
 where young 
 Conradin, 
 nephew of Man- 
 fred, was cap- 
 tured, was 
 gained by the 
 prudence of the 
 Frenchman 
 Erard de ValSry 
 
116 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Fra Dolcino 
 loiahed to lead 
 men back to 
 apostolic sim- 
 plicity and was 
 cruelly punished 
 after having 
 made a brave 
 fight 
 
 And all the rest thou se^ here did sow 
 
 Scandal, while living, and schismatic feud. 
 And therefore are they cleft asunder so. 
 
 A devil is behind us, who with crude 
 
 Cleavage is carving, to the edge of sword 
 Putting each member of this multitude. 
 
 When we have circled round the path abhorred; 
 For lo ! the gashes reunited are 
 Ere we revisit that infernal lord. 
 
 But who art thou who musest on the scar. 
 Perchance because reluctant to go hence 
 To punishment, self -sentenced at the bar?" — 
 
 *^Death has not reacht him yet, nor has offense," 
 My Master answered, "to this torment led; 
 But to procure him full experience, 
 
 It is my bounden duty, who am dead. 
 
 To lead him down through Hell from round to round ; 
 As I speak with thee, this is truly said." 
 
 More than a hundred, when they heard this sound, 
 Stood still within the moat at me to peer, 
 Forgetting in their wonder every wound. 
 
 "Well then, to Fra Dolcin this message bear. 
 
 Since thou, perchance, wilt shortly see the sun, 
 That if he would not quickly join me here. 
 
 Let him be armed with food, or be undone 
 
 By the Novarese, because of stress of snow : 
 Else were their victory not so lightly won." 
 
 When he had lifted up one foot to go, 
 
 Mohammed spoke to me such words as those. 
 Then stretcht it to the ground, departing so. 
 
 Another, who with slitted gullet goes. 
 And who withal has but a single ear. 
 And close beneath the eyebrows cleft the nose. 
 
 Stopping for wonder with the rest to stare. 
 Opened before that mutilated throng 
 His gullet, which was crimson everywhere. 
 
Curio, Mosctty Bertran de Born 
 
 117 
 
 And said: "O thou by pangs of guilt unwrung, 
 Whom up in Latin country long ago 
 I saw, unless undue resemblance wrong, 
 
 Remember, Pier da Medicina*s woe 
 
 If thou retiu'n to see the lovely plain 
 That from Vercelli slopes to Marcabo. 
 
 And speaking then to Fano's worthiest twain, 
 Ser Guido and Ser Angiolello, say 
 That, if our foresight here be nothing vain. 
 
 With sack and stone shall they be cast away 
 Out of their ship, by a fell tyrant's guile. 
 And perish hard by La Cattolica. 
 
 From Cyprus westward to Majorca's isle. 
 
 Saw never Neptune so great outrage done 
 By pirates or Argolic folk erewhile. 
 
 That traitor who sees only with the one. 
 
 And lords the city, sight of which one here 
 Would be delighted never to have known, 
 
 Will summon them in parley to appear; 
 
 Then so will deal that neither vow shall be 
 Required against Focara's wind, nor prayer." 
 
 And I to him: "Show and declare to me. 
 
 If thou wouldst fain that word of thee be brought, 
 Him who deplores that sight so bitterly." 
 
 Therewith on a companion's jaw he caught, 
 
 And with rude hand the mouth he open rent. 
 Crying: "This is the wight, and he speaks not; 
 
 This, this is he who, being in banishment, 
 
 Quencht doubt in Csesar, saying: *To men prepared 
 Delay was ever found a detriment.' " 
 
 Oh, how disconsolate to me appeared. 
 
 With tongue asunder in his gullet lopt. 
 Curio, who in his speech so greatly dared! 
 
 And one whose hands from both his wrists were chopt. 
 The stumps uplifting so athwart the gloom 
 That blood upon the face defiling dropt. 
 
 This tyrant who 
 sees but toith one 
 eye is Mala- 
 testino, now 
 tyrant of Rimi- 
 ni, where Curio 
 had advised 
 C(Bsar not to 
 delay his ad- 
 vance on Rome. 
 Focara is a 
 squally headland 
 on the Adriatic 
 near La Catto- 
 lica, between 
 Rimini and 
 Fano 
 
118 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Mosca of the 
 Lamberti clan 
 was he who ad- 
 vised the murder 
 of young Buon- 
 delmonte, to 
 which the origin 
 of the great feud 
 of the Guelfs and 
 Ghibellines was 
 attributed by 
 tradition. See 
 Paradiso xvi 
 
 This Provenqal 
 poet was the 
 friend of Henry, 
 called the young 
 King, eldest son 
 of Henry II of 
 England 
 
 Cried out: "To memory let Mosca come, 
 
 Who said, alas ! *A thing once done is sped !* 
 Which was to Tuscan people seed of doom." 
 
 "And death to all thy kin," I adding said: 
 
 Whereon he went like person crazed with rue, 
 Heaping up sorrow upon sorrow's head. 
 
 But I remained to look upon that crew. 
 And saw a thing I should feel insecure 
 Even to tell without assurance new. 
 
 If Conscience did not wholly reassure. 
 
 That good companion which emboldens man 
 Beneath the conscious helm of being pure. 
 
 I truly saw, and seem to see again 
 
 A headless body going by, as passed 
 The others of that melancholy train; 
 
 And dangled by the tresses holds he fast 
 
 The severed head, which like a lantern shows. 
 And groans, "Woe me!" gazing at us aghast. 
 
 Of self he made himself a lamp, — and those 
 
 Were two in one, and one in two were they; 
 How that can be. Who so ordains. He knows. 
 
 Arriving just below the bridging way. 
 
 The arm with head and all uphfted he. 
 To bring the nearer what he had to say. 
 
 Which was : "Now see the grievous penalty. 
 
 Thou who to view the dead dost breathing go. 
 If any be as great as this one, see ! 
 
 And that thou mayst bear tidings of me, know, 
 Bertran de Born am I, who counsel fell 
 Did craftily on the young king bestow, — 
 
 Made son and father each to each rebel : 
 Not upon Absalom and David more 
 With wicked promptings wrought Ahithophel. 
 
 Because I parted those so bound of yore. 
 
 Woe worth the day, I carry now my brain 
 Cleft from its source within my body's core. 
 
 Thus retribution doth in me obtain." 
 
Vendetta 
 
 119 
 
 Eighth Circle: 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Pouch 10. Counterfeiters 
 OF Metals 
 
 The many people and strange wounds did steep 
 
 Mine eyes with tears, and made them drunken so 
 That they were craving, but to stay and weep. 
 
 But Virgil asked me: "Whereon gazest thou? 
 What may it be that still thy sight beguiles 
 To rest upon sad mangled shades below? 
 
 Thou wast not wont to do so otherwhiles : 
 
 Consider, wouldst thou make the count complete. 
 The valley circles two and twenty miles, 
 
 An^ now the moon is underneath our feet; 
 
 Brief is the time vouchsafed us for the way. 
 And more to see than here thy glances meet." 
 
 "Hadst thou but heeded," did I answering say, 
 "The reason why my gaze was bended there, 
 Perchance thou wouldst have granted longer stay." 
 
 Already did my Leader forward fare, 
 I following while making my reply. 
 Subjoining then thereto: "Within that lair 
 
 Whereon so steadfastly I bent mine eye. 
 
 Me thinks a spirit of- my blood complains 
 About the crime that costs down there so high." 
 
 Then said the Master: "Baffle not thy brains 
 
 Henceforth with anxious thought concerning this; 
 Mind other thing, although he there remains: 
 
 For him I saw beneath the pontifice 
 
 Menacing thee with finger vehement; 
 Geri del Bello named in the abyss. 
 
 But thou wast at that moment all intent 
 
 On him who once held Hautefort, — ^thus the name 
 Thou heardst not, nor didst look, until he went.** 
 
 "Dear Guide, the violent death that on him came. 
 For which," said I, "unpaid remains the score, 
 By any one a partner in the shame, 
 
 The falsifiers of 
 four different 
 kinds {alche- 
 mistSy impostors, 
 debasers of coin, 
 malicious liars) 
 are afflicted with 
 disguising or 
 deforming dis- 
 eases. As every- 
 where, there is 
 some congruity . 
 of punishment 
 and sin. Here, 
 as at the close of 
 the next canto, 
 Virgil takes 
 Dante to task for 
 being too deeply 
 absorbed. Dan- 
 te's apparent 
 adhesion to the 
 un-Christian 
 custom of Ike 
 vendetta is one 
 of the several in- 
 consistencies be- 
 tween creed and 
 sentiment, with- 
 out which he 
 would not be 
 like all the rest 
 of us 
 
no 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Undrained 
 vialorial regions. 
 The Tuscan 
 Maremma, so 
 often referred to, 
 is the wild moor- 
 land country 
 near the sea- 
 board southwest 
 of Siena. The 
 river Chiana 
 stagnated in the 
 region between 
 Tiber and Arno, 
 where Lake 
 Trasimene lies. 
 The Arno, in- 
 deed, once flowed 
 into the Tiber. 
 The region is 
 now drained 
 
 Made him indignant; whence he passed before 
 Getting speech with me, if I guess aright, 
 And so has made me pity him the more." 
 
 Thus we conversed as far as the first height 
 
 Which from the bridge the neighbor valley shows 
 Quite to the bottom, were there but more light. 
 
 When we were over the last cloister-close 
 Of the Malpouches, so that to our view 
 All its lay brothers could themselves disclose, 
 
 Strange lamentations pierced me through and through, 
 Which had their arrows barbed with pity all: 
 Whence with my hands I shut mine ears thereto. 
 
 If from Chiana's every hospital, 
 
 'Twixt July and September, all the sick, 
 Maremma's and Sardinia's withal. 
 
 Were in one trench together crowded thick : 
 So woeful was it here, and such a scent 
 As out of putrid limbs is wont to reek. 
 
 Upon the final bank we made descent 
 
 From the long bridge, and still did leftward fare ; 
 And then my vision, growing keener, went 
 
 Down tow'rd the bottom of the pocket, where 
 The High Lord's handmaid. Equity condign. 
 Punishes falsifiers apportioned there. 
 
 It was no greater sorrow, I opine. 
 
 To see iEgina's people all infirm, — 
 What time the atmosphere was so malign 
 
 That animals, down to the httle worm. 
 
 Fell stricken, and the ancient people then. 
 As poets for a certainty affirm. 
 
 Were from the seed of ants restored again, — 
 
 Than now to see, throughout that dim abode. 
 Languish in ghastly stack the souls of men. 
 
 They lie across the paunch, the shoulders load, 
 Of one another, and some creeping round 
 Shifted their place along the dismal road. 
 
The Leprous Alcliemists 121 : 
 
 Step after step we went without a sound, 5 
 
 Looking, and listening to the sick ones, who | 
 
 Could not lift up their persons from the ground. i 
 
 I saw, on one another leaning, two 
 
 (As pan is propt against a pan to dry) I 
 
 All scab from head to heel: I never knew 
 A stableboy so eagerly to ply 1 
 
 The currycomb because his master watches, ; 
 
 Or one who keeps awake unwillingly, 
 As each of these incontinently scratches 
 
 Himself with biting nails, for frenzy mad \ 
 
 Of itching, which no other succor matches. 
 So was the tetter which their bodies clad 
 
 Flayed from them, as from bream knife scrapes the 
 
 Or other fish, if any larger had. 
 
 "O thou whose every finger thee dismails," 
 So did my Guide to one of them begin, 
 "And sometimes makest pincers of thy nails. 
 
 Say if there be among those here within 
 Any Italian, so suffice thee thus 
 Thy nails forevermore upon thy skin/^ 
 
 "Italians both, whose plight so hideous 
 
 Thou seest,^' weeping, one replied; "But tell. 
 Who art thou that dost ask concerning us?" 
 
 My Leader answered, "Down from fell to fell 
 I with this living man am traveling. 
 And I came purposing to show him Hell." — 
 
 Thereat the mutual trestle simdering. 
 
 That couple turned round to me tremblingly. 
 With others who by echo heard the thing. 
 
 The gentle Master then drew close to me. 
 
 Suggesting: "To thy mind expression give." — 
 And as he willed, began I: "So may be 
 
 Your fame in the first world not fugitive. 
 
 Fading from human mind without a trace. 
 But may it under many a sun still live. 
 
im 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Examples of 
 fashionable, 
 ostentatious 
 spendthrifts. 
 Cloves imported 
 from the far 
 East at enor- 
 mous expense. 
 Siena gay, ele- 
 gant, rich, was 
 the garden in 
 which such seed 
 took root. The 
 club was of 
 young men of 
 fashion who 
 tried to see 
 which one could 
 run through his 
 fortune most 
 swiftly and 
 merrily. They 
 were eminently 
 successful and 
 their fame is still 
 alive in their 
 beautiful city 
 
 It is interesting 
 to find in our 
 Shakespeare an 
 echo of Dante. 
 He calls Julio 
 Romano the ape 
 of nature 
 
 Declare me who ye are and of what race: 
 Do not, I pray, the revelation dread 
 Because of the foul punishment's disgrace." 
 
 "I was an Aretine,'^ one answering said, 
 "Siena's Albert cast me in the fire; 
 But what I died for nowise hither led. 
 
 'Tis true I said, as did the whim inspire. 
 
 That I could wing the air in flight: whereon 
 He, who had little wit, but fond desire. 
 
 Would fain be taught that cunning, and alone 
 For I made him no Daedalus, made me 
 Burn at the stake, through one who called him son 
 
 But Minos damned me down for alchemy. 
 
 Which in the world I practiced, to the clutch 
 Of the tenth pouch and last, nor erreth he." 
 
 Then to the Poet I: "Was ever such 
 A foolish gentry as the Sienese? 
 Surely not so the French, by very much !" 
 
 The other leper, hearing words like these, 
 Spoke up : "Except me Stricca, resolute 
 For temperance in spending, if you please; 
 
 And Niccolo, the first to institute 
 
 The costly application of the clove 
 
 Within the garden where such seed takes root; 
 
 Except the club where Caccia d'Ascian strove 
 To squander his great wood and vinery, 
 And Abbagliato his vast wit to prove. 
 
 But that thou know who thus doth second thee 
 Against the Sienese, now sharpen so 
 Thine eye that well my face responds, and see! 
 
 I am the shadow of Capocchio 
 
 Who did by alchemy false metals shape; 
 And, if I well descry thee, thou shouldst know 
 
 The curious skill that made me Nature's ape." 
 
Examples of Insanity 123 
 
 XXX 
 
 Eighth Circle: Pouch 10. Master Adam of 
 Brescia and Sinon of Troy 
 
 In time when Juno had so angry grown 
 For Semele, against the Theban strain, 
 As she had more than once already shown, 
 
 Then Athamas was stricken so insane 
 That he, his very wife encoimtering, 
 Burdened on either hand with children twain. 
 
 Cried out: "Spread we the nets for capturing 
 The Honess and whelps upon this ground"; 
 Then, stretching forth his claws unpitying. 
 
 He took the one Learchus named, and round 
 
 Whirled him, and round, and dasht him on a stone: 
 Herself, then, with her other charge, she drowned. 
 
 Again when Fortune had so overthrown 
 The arrogance of Trojans all too brave, 
 That king and kingdom were alike undone. 
 
 Poor Hecuba, a wretched captive slave. 
 
 When she had looked on dead Polyxena, 
 And afterward, beside the ocean wave. 
 
 The body of her Polydorus saw. 
 
 Barked like a dog, out of her senses then; 
 So grief had wrung the soul of Hecuba. 
 
 But never furies came to Theban ken. 
 Or Trojan, of so much ferocity 
 In goading brutes, much less the limbs of men. 
 
 As in two pallid, naked shades saw I, 
 
 Running along and biting in such kind 
 
 As does the boar when loosened from the sty. 
 
 One seized upon Capocchio, and behind 
 His neck-joint fixt a fang so murderous 
 It made the solid rock his belly grind. 
 
 Said the Aretine, who stood there tremulous: 
 "That goblin's Gianni Schicchi, and insane 
 He goes about to mangle others thus." 
 
124 Inferno ■ 
 
 1 
 
 "Oh !" said I, "so the other may refrain 
 
 From planting fangs in thee, let me persuade \ 
 
 Thee tell who *tis ere it dart hence again." j 
 
 And he to me: "That is the ancient shade \ 
 
 Of Myrrha, who in her abandoned mood 
 
 Illicit love unto her father made. 
 
 Coming to sin with him, she understood ^ 
 
 To take an alien form; as who withdrew *; 
 
 Yonder, to win the queen mare of the stud, 
 
 Made bold Buoso Donati to indue i 
 
 In counterfeit presentment, making will 5 
 
 And testament in legal order true." ' 
 
 And when the rabid pair had passed, who still < 
 
 Had riveted my gaze, I turning eyed ^ 
 
 The other malefactors starred so ill. 
 
 One fashioned like a lute I then espied, ! 
 
 If only at the groin were amputate i 
 
 The thighs, just at the point ^here they divide. : 
 The heavy dropsy which doth so mismate 
 
 The limbs with ill-concocted humor thin, 
 
 That face and loin are disproportionate. 
 
 Compelled him so to hold his lips atwin I 
 
 As hectics do, for out of thirst he bent , 
 
 Upward the one, the other tow'rd his chin. j 
 Casentitio, "O ye exempted from all punishment 
 tXfof tkf ^^ *^^^ Stim world and why I do not know,"— 
 
 Amo, above So he began, — ^'^Ah! look and be intent i 
 
 Arezzo, shut in ^ ^^le mode of Master Adam's woe: | 
 
 by two chains of *^ ^ ^ , ■ \ 
 
 Apennine and Living, I had enough of what man wills, 
 
 ^il^th t %onie ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ water crave below. 1 
 
 Falterona. See The rivulets to Arno from the hills '< 
 
 aZ^^^ "^ Descending through the Casentino green, i 
 Alvernia, where Cooling and freshening their little rills, 
 
 Tei.S'urZ Ever and not in vain, by me are seen. 1 
 mata, overlooks Because their image is more withering 
 
 the Casentino rj.y^^^ ^j^^ disease that makes my visage lean.— j 
 
 'i 
 \ 
 
Self -Pity and Unrepentant Hate 125 
 
 Rigorous Justice with its goading sting. 
 
 Takes vantage of the very region where 
 I sinned, to give my sighs a nimbler wing. 
 
 There is Romena, where the coin that bare 
 The Baptist's image did I counterfeit: 
 For which I left my body burnt up there. 
 
 But could I Alexander's wretched sprite. 
 
 Or Guido's, or their brothers', down here see, 
 For Fontebranda I would not give the sight. 
 
 One is already in, if truthful be 
 
 What the mad shades that circle round me say, 
 But since my limbs are tied, what steads it me? 
 
 If yet enough of nimbleness had they 
 To carry me an inch a hundred year. 
 Already had I started on the way 
 
 To seek him 'mid this squalid rabble here. 
 Although eleven miles the round deploy. 
 Nor less than half a mile across appear. 
 
 Through them in such a family am I : 
 
 'Twas they who instigated me to stamp 
 The florins with three carats of alloy." 
 
 "What wretched two," said I, "lie, scamp by scamp 
 Together, hard upon thy right confine. 
 Reeking, like to wet hand in winter's damp?" 
 
 And he replied: "I found them here supine. 
 
 When to this trough I rained ; they've moved no more 
 Since then, nor ever will they, I opine. 
 
 She, who false witness against Joseph bore, 
 
 He, Sinon the false Greek from Troy: intense 
 The fever is that makes them reek so sore." 
 
 And one of them, who seemed to take offense 
 At being mentioned in a mode so mean. 
 Fisted forthwith his hidebound corpulence. 
 
 Which rumbled, as it were a tambourine; 
 But Master Adam planted in his face 
 An elbow no less vigorous, I ween. 
 
 The florin liad 
 on one side the 
 image of John 
 the Baptist and 
 on the other the 
 Florentine lily. 
 This and the 
 Venetian ducat 
 were the stand- 
 ard gold coins of 
 those ages. As 
 the credit of the 
 Republic de- 
 pended upon the 
 faith that all the 
 vxrrld had in its 
 money, to tam- 
 per vnth the coin 
 amounted to 
 treason 
 
 Counts of 
 Romena who, 
 being in debt, 
 emj^yed Mas- 
 ter Adam, the 
 famous Brescian 
 expert, to debase 
 the florin. The 
 picturesque ruin 
 of Romena, and 
 the nearly 
 dried-up Fonte- 
 branda that sup- 
 plied it with 
 water, are still 
 there. That re- 
 gion and others, 
 which in Dan- 
 te's time loere 
 well-wooded and 
 well-watered, are 
 now denuded 
 of forest and 
 relatively arid 
 
 In the 9th ditch 
 the circumfer- 
 ence is 22 miles 
 {beginning of 
 Canto xxix). 
 The Pit is 
 
126 Inferno ^ 
 
 therefore a rap- Saying to him : "Though I be held in place 
 
 ^!J:"eZ!" Because of my obesity of loin, | 
 
 mmisly vMe at I have a limber arm for such a case." : 
 
 the top «^Vhen going to the stake," did he rejoin, \ 
 "Thou madest not so free with it, perdj'; 
 
 But so, and more, when thou wast making coin." i 
 
 "Thou sayest true," the dropsied made reply, ; 
 
 "Thou didst not witness to the truth so well ■ 
 
 When of the truth they questioned there at Troy." j 
 
 "Told I false tale, false coinage didst thou tell," '\ 
 
 Said Sinon, "for one fault am I undone, ^ 
 
 But thou for more than other fiend of Hell." j 
 
 "Bethink thee of the horse, thou perjured one," i 
 
 The sinner of inflated belly cries, j 
 
 "That the world knows it, be thy malison." ] 
 
 "Thy malison the thirst that cracks and dries i 
 
 Thy tongue," the Greek said, "and the filthy swill 3 
 
 Which makes that paunch a barrier to thine eyes." \ 
 
 "Thy mouth is gaping open to thine ill \ 
 
 As usual," thereon the coiner said, j 
 
 "For if I thirst and flux my belly fill, ; 
 
 Thou hast the fever and the aching head; 
 
 To lap the mirror of Narcissus, few j 
 
 The words of invitation thou wouldst need." i 
 
 While I was listening absorbed, — ^'^Now do i 
 
 Go staring on !" the Master said to me, ] 
 
 "A Httle more and we shall quarrel too." i 
 
 Now when I heard him speak thus angrily, j 
 
 I turned me round toward him with such shame i 
 
 That still it circles through my memory. j 
 
 And even as he who of his harm doth dream, 1 
 
 And, dreaming, doth to be a dreamer sigh, ! 
 
 Craving what is, as if it did but seem, , 
 
 Such, without power of utterance, grew I : . 
 
 Longing to bring, I brought excuses in, \ 
 
 Yet did not think myself excused thereby. I 
 
Virgil Keeps Dante's Heart Pure 127 
 
 "Less shame would purge away a greater sin 
 
 Than thine has been,^ at this the Master cried, 
 "Therefore disburden thee of all chagrin; 
 
 And count that I am ever at thy side. 
 
 If it fall out again that Fortune place 
 Thee where in such a brabble people bide: 
 
 Because desire to hear the like is base." 
 
128 Inferno 
 
 XXXI 
 
 Descent: The Giants Towering around the Pit 
 
 One selfsame tongue first bit these cheeks of mine, ^ 
 
 Suffusing both of them with bashful blood, \ 
 
 And then held forth to me the medicine. \ 
 
 Achilles* lance, as I have understood ] 
 
 (He had it from his sire), was wonted so i 
 To give first evil guerdon, and then good. 
 
 We turn our backs upon the vale of woe, ] 
 
 Up by the bank that girdles it around, i 
 And without any speech across it go. 
 
 Here less than night and less than day we found, \ 
 
 Whence little way before my vision went; j 
 
 But now I heard a mighty horn resound i 
 
 So that it would have made all thunder faint: \ 
 Whence, running counter to it, on one spot 
 
 Mine eyes were turned, and wholly now intent. i 
 
 After the dolorous defeat was wrought 
 
 That lost to Charlemagne the blest array, j 
 
 A blast so dreadful Roland winded not. | 
 
 Not long I held my head bended that way | 
 When many a lofty tower appeared to rise; 
 
 Whence I: "What is this city. Master, say?'* J 
 
 And he replied to me: "Because thine eyes 
 
 Traverse the darkness through too wide a space. 
 
 Befalls that fancy wanders in such wise. : 
 
 Well shalt thou see, arriving at that place, 
 
 How from afar the sense deceived may be: 
 Whence somewhat forward spur thyself apace." 
 
 Taking me by the hand then tenderly, \ 
 
 "Ere yet," continued he, "we farther go, \ 
 
 So that the truth appear less strange to thee, i 
 
 Not towers are these, but giants, must thou know, i 
 And in the Pit about the bank are they. 
 
 From the navel downward, one and all below." \ 
 
The Giants around the Pit 
 
 129 
 
 As when the mist is vanishing away, 
 
 Little by little through the blotted air 
 The gaze shapes out whatever hidden lay: 
 
 So, through the dense and darksome atmosphere 
 Piercing, while ever nearer to the bound. 
 Forsook I error to encounter fear. 
 
 For, as with circling mural turrets crowned 
 Montereggione stands, from the orifice 
 Emerged half figures, turreting around 
 
 The margin that encircles the abyss. 
 
 The horrible giants whom Jove from the sky 
 Still with his thimder threatens, not amiss. 
 
 I could the face of one by now descry. 
 
 Breast, shoulders, and of belly portion great, 
 And either arm dep>ending by the thigh. 
 
 Certainly Nature, ceasing to create 
 
 Such Uving beings, showed exceeding sense 
 These ministers of Mars to abrogate* 
 
 And if of elephant and whale repents 
 
 She nowise, he who subtly looks will find 
 Of justice and discretion evidence : 
 
 Because where the equipment of the mind 
 Combines with force and mahce criminal. 
 No bulwark can be made by humankind. 
 
 His face appeared to me as huge and tall 
 
 As is Saint Peter's Pine-cone there at Rome, 
 With the other bones in due proportion all: 
 
 So that the bank, which was an apron from 
 
 His middle down, showed upward of his size 
 So much that, boasting to his hair to come. 
 
 Three Frisians would have made it good nowise: 
 For I beheld of him thirty full palms 
 Down from the place where man the mantle ties. 
 
 "Rafel mai amech zabi almi," 
 
 The mouth ferocious began bellowing, 
 To which are not befitting sweeter psalms. 
 
 Montereggione 
 still stands, as 
 here described, 
 a circular iur- 
 reted wall sur- 
 rounding a vil- 
 lage, a few miles 
 north of Siena, 
 of wJiose do- 
 inains it was 
 once a strategic 
 'point 
 
 An enormous 
 antique cone, 
 some ten feet 
 high, of gilded 
 bronze, now in 
 the Garden of 
 the Vatican 
 
130 Inferno 
 
 To him called out my Leader: "Stupid thing! 
 
 Stick to thy horn; contrive to make it serve ; 
 
 Thine anger, or whatever passion sting. \ 
 
 Search at thy neck and there wilt thou observe \ 
 
 The cord that makes it fast, O soul confused ! \ 
 
 And see the horn thy mighty breast becurve.'' \ 
 
 And then to me: "He hath himself accused; \ 
 
 This one is Nimrod, through whose evil mood J 
 
 One language in the world is not still used. I 
 
 Leave him, for empty speaking were not good: ^ 
 Since every language is to him the same 
 As his to others, of none understood.'* 
 
 We therefore journeyed on, with constant aim \ 
 
 Toward the left, and at a crossbow shot j 
 
 We found one far more fierce and huge of frame. ] 
 
 The master smith to bind him know I not. 
 
 But he was holding out his left hand bound \ 
 
 In front of him, the right behind drawn taut ^ 
 
 By a cable chain, which held him so enwound ; 
 
 From the neck down, that on the part displayed i 
 
 As many as five coils begirt him round. \ 
 
 "This arrogant soul was bent," my Leader said, ■', 
 "To try conclusions with almighty Jove, 
 Whence in such fashion is his meed repaid. 
 
 His name is Ephialtes; he did prove, , 
 
 When giants frighted gods, his force immense : j 
 
 The arms he brandisht never will he move.'* i 
 
 And I to him: "I would, if naught prevents, j 
 That of the measureless Briareus 
 
 These eyes of mine might have experience." • 
 
 "Antfieus shalt thou see," he answered thus, j 
 
 "Hard by, articulate, unfettered, — he \ 
 
 To bottom of all bad shall carry us. I 
 
 *Tis a far cry to him thou wouldest see; 
 
 Made fast is he, and fashioned like this one. 
 Save that his features more ferocious be." 
 
AntoBUS Sets Them Down 
 
 131 
 
 Earthquake aforetime there was surely none 
 Of force to rock a turret as when grim 
 Ephialtes sudden shook himseK thereon. 
 
 I feared death never as I did from him. 
 
 Nor need had been of more beyond the dread, 
 Had I not seen his gyres on every Umb. 
 
 Farther along we then our footsteps sped. 
 
 And reached Antseus standing forth ells five 
 Above the rocky verge, without the head. 
 
 "O thou who sawest the fateful valley give 
 Glory to Scipio, and on that day 
 When Hannibal and his host turned fugitive. 
 
 Didst bring a thousand Uons for thy prey; 
 
 And through whom, hadst thou with thy brothers 
 
 been 
 At the high battle, some still seem to say 
 
 The sons of Earth had won the palm therein: 
 Be not disdainful now to carry us 
 Down where the winter locks Cocytus in. 
 
 Make us not look to Typhon nor Tityus; 
 
 This man can give what here ye are craving for: 
 Wherefore stoop down, nor curl thy muzzle thus. 
 
 He in the world can yet thy fame restore: 
 
 For still he Uves and waits long life, unless 
 Grace call him to herself his time before." 
 
 The Master thus; and he in eagerness 
 
 Took up my Leader in those hands outspread 
 Whence Hercules once felt the mighty stress. 
 
 And when he felt their pressure, Virgil said: 
 
 "Come hither, fhat I may enclasp thee quite" ; 
 Then of himself and me one fardel made. 
 
 Such as the Carisenda seems to sight 
 
 Of one beneath its leaning, when a cloud 
 Goes over, and the tower hangs opposite: 
 
 Just so Antseus seemed to me who stood 
 
 Watching to see him lean; and it was then 
 I could have wished to go by other road. 
 
 Carisenda {or 
 Garisenda) is 
 one of a pair of 
 leaning towers 
 standing side by 
 side at Bologna. 
 This is 160 feet 
 high; the other, 
 which slants 
 less, 320. Per- 
 haps the Cari- 
 senda was once 
 as high as its 
 mate. Dante's 
 choice of this, 
 rather than of 
 the more beau- 
 tiful and famous 
 tower at Pisa, is 
 one of many 
 reasons for 
 thinking him to 
 have been a stu- 
 dent at Bologna. 
 The writer has 
 tested the vivid- 
 ness of the com^ 
 parison under 
 the slant both 
 
132 Inferno 
 
 of this tower and But lightly down he laid us in the fen 
 The impression That Lucifer with Judas prisons fast: 
 
 is Strang tliat Nor lingered there thus leaning, but again 
 
 the tower i« t> j • i • .i 
 
 falling Kose up and up, as m a snip the mast. 
 
The Violent against Kindred 133 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Ninth Circle: Caina; Antenora 
 
 Had I such harsh and grating rimes as must 
 
 Be most in keeping with the dismal Pit 
 
 Where all the other crags converging thrust, 
 I would press out the juice of my conceit 
 
 More perfectly: but since 'tis otherwise 
 
 Not without fear I come to speak of it: 
 Because it is no frolic enterprise 
 
 To plot the ground of all the universe, 
 
 Nor for a tongue that Mama and Papa cries. 
 But be those Ladies helpers in my verse, 
 
 Who helpt Amphion Thebes to close and keep. 
 
 That from the fact the word be not diverse. 
 
 dwellers in the unrecorded deep, 
 
 Rabble beyond all others born amiss. 
 Better had ye on earth been goats or sheep! 
 When we were down within the dark abyss 
 Beneath the giant's feet, but far below. 
 And yet I gazed at the high precipice, 
 
 1 heard it said to me: "Look how thou go: 
 
 Let not thy soles betrample as they pass 
 
 The heads of weary brothers full of woe." 
 Whereat I turned, and saw there a morass 
 
 Before and underfoot, and frost thereon 
 
 Made semblance not of water but of glass. 
 The Austrian Danube never laid upon 
 
 Her current in the winter, veil so thick. 
 
 Nor, far beneath the freezing sky, the Don, 
 As here there was: so that if Tambernic Tall, rocky 
 
 Or Pietrapana had tumbled there amain, P^"^* 
 
 Not even the border would have given a creak. 
 And even as frogs, that they may croak, remain 
 
 With muzzle out of water, when in dream 
 
 The peasant-maiden often gleans again : 
 
1S4 Inferno 
 
 Even so, as far up as where blushes stream. 
 
 The woeful shades in the ice were pinched and blue, 
 Setting their teeth in tune to the stork's theme. 
 Each one of them held down the face from view. 
 By chattering teeth their chill may be divined. 
 And by the eyes how bitter is their rue. 
 Now, looking round about awhile, I find 
 
 Down at my feet, two forms so closely pressed 
 The tresses of the head are intertwined. 
 *^Tell, ye who thus together strain the breast," 
 
 Said I, *Vho are ye?" And their necks they bent, 
 And when their faces tow'rd me were addressed. 
 Their eyes, whose humor still within was pent. 
 Brimmed over at the lids, whereon the frost 
 Bound fast the tears between, and lockt the vent. 
 No clamp from board to board yet ever crossed 
 
 That held so firmly: whence, like he-goats twain, 
 Together butted they, in anger lost. 
 One, from whom frostbite both his ears had ta*en, 
 Exclaimed, with visage ever bended down. 
 Sons of Count "Why SO to mirror thee in us art fain.'* 
 
 mevJley^^the ^^ *^®^ wouldst have these two to thee acknown, 
 Bisenzio near The valley whence descends Bisenzio 
 
 ulk^'mJeach Their father Albert's was, and was their own. 
 
 other quarreling They issucd from one body, thou mayst go 
 ZZJ^' '''^'"" Questing Caina through, and find no shade 
 
 •► Deserving more in gelatine to show: 
 
 According to the Not him in breast and shadow open laid 
 
 ^ncelo^^when ^y ®^^ ^^^ *^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ Arthur's hand; 
 
 King Arthur's Focaccia not; nor him who with his head 
 
 ^ZTlf^M^dr^ So hedges me, I can no view command, 
 the sunlight And who was Sassol Mascheroni hight: 
 
 fe!ti^u%. ^ tl^ou be Tuscan, well dost understand. 
 
 as Dante puts But that no further speeches thou invite, 
 uJtdi'^'' ""^ ^«^' I was Camicion de' Pazzi, and here 
 
 Expect Carlino to excuse me quite.'* 
 
The Traitor of Montaperti 
 
 135 
 
 Then I beheld a thousand faces leer 
 
 Curhke with cold: whence shudders o'er me thrill 
 Forevermore, at every frozen mere. 
 
 While we were going tow'rd the Center still. 
 Whereto all gravity converges down. 
 And I was trembling in the eternal chill: 
 
 Whether by will, or fate, or fortune done, 
 
 I know not; but among the heads somehow 
 I struck my foot full in the face of one. 
 
 Wailing he yelled at me: "Why tramplest thou? 
 Unless to double vengeance for the day 
 Of Montaperti, why molest me now?" 
 
 And I : "Now, Master, make a little stay. 
 
 That I through him may rid me of a doubt: 
 Then shalt thou haste me as thou wilt away.** 
 
 My Leader stopt; and I, now turned about 
 To him, still bitterly blaspheming there. 
 Said: "Whp art thou on others crying out?" 
 
 "Nay, who art thou," he answered, "who dost fare 
 Through Antenora, and dost others smite. 
 So that, wert thou alive, 'twere ill to bear?" 
 
 "Alive I am: if fame be thy delight. 
 
 It may be dear to thee," did I respond, 
 "That I with other notes thy name indite." 
 
 "I crave the contrary of those beyond : 
 
 Begone, and pester me no more," he whined; 
 "Small skill hast thou to flatter on this pond." 
 
 Then, laying hold upon his scalp behind, 
 
 "It shall needs be thou name thyself," said I, 
 "Or not a hair upon thee shalt thou find." 
 
 "What though thou strip me bald," he made reply, 
 "I will not tell thee who I am, nor show. 
 Maul thou my head to all eternity." 
 
 I had his hair in hand already, so 
 
 That more than one tuft had been pluckt away. 
 He yelping, with eyes riveted below. 
 
 My kinsman 
 Carlino (o 
 Florentine Bene' 
 diet Arnold) is 
 so much worse 
 thai I shall 
 appear inno- 
 cent. The others, 
 — ^Ut us not 
 speak of them" 
 
 This is Bocca of \ 
 the Abati, who, .^ 
 at the crucial ] 
 
 moment of the 
 battle of Monta- ] 
 perti, the most ; 
 
 cruel defeat j 
 
 Florence suf- ' 
 
 fered in the time 
 of the Republic, 
 cut off the hand 
 of the Florentine 
 standard-bearer. 
 To this choice ; 
 
 example of ] 
 
 traitorhood 
 Dante devotes j 
 
 m^yre than thirty ] 
 dreadful lines i 
 
136 Inferno \ 
 
 When one cried out: "Bocca, what ails thee? nay \ 
 
 Enough ! let jawbones chatter till they burst, ] 
 But must thou bark? what fiend is at thee, pray?" — ■ 
 
 Whereat I said : "Thou traitor thrice accurst, \ 
 
 From this time forth I want no speech of thee, 1 
 For to thy shame true tale shall be rehearst." 
 
 "Begone, and babble what thou wilt," said he, i 
 "But, going hence, fail not discourse to hold 
 Of him who had the tongue just now so free. 
 
 He is lamenting here the Frenchman's gold : 
 
 *I saw him of Duera,' canst thou note, ] 
 
 *There where the sinners he out in the cold.' \ 
 
 And should they ask thee other anecdote, ; 
 
 Him at thy side there name in thy reports, ■ 
 
 The Beccheria, — for Florence cut his throat. i 
 
 Gianni de' Soldanier, I think, consorts ' 
 
 With Ganelon, and Tribaldello yon ] 
 
 Who while men slept unbarred Faenza's ports." I 
 
 Already we away from him were gone j 
 
 When, frozen in one hole, beheld I two 1 
 So that one head was hood to the other one: 
 
 And even as people bread for hunger chew, ] 
 
 The uppermost upon the one below • 
 Set teeth where brain and neck together grew. 
 
 Not otherwise once Tydeus gnawed the brow 
 Of Menalippus, in his rage malign. 
 Than skull and other parts gnawed this one now. 
 
 "O thou who showest by so bestial sign 
 
 Hatred to him whom thou devourst," said I, 
 
 "Tell me the cause, upon this pledge of mine, \ 
 
 If thou complainest with good reason why, \ 
 
 That I, with both acquainted, and his guile, \ 
 
 May yet requite thee in the world on high, \ 
 
 If this my tongue be not dried up erewhile." \ 
 
The Tower of Hunger 137 ; 
 
 XXXIII I 
 
 Ugolino and His Children in the Tower 
 
 That sinner lifted from the foul repast 
 
 His mouth up, wiping it upon the hair 
 Behind the head whereon I looked aghast; 
 
 Then he began : "Thou wilt that I declare 
 
 Desj>erate grief that wrings the heart of me. 
 Even in the thought, before I lay it bare. 
 
 But if my words a seed of infamy 
 
 May sow unto the traitor whom I gnaw. 
 Speaking and tears together shalt thou see. 
 
 I know not who thou art, nor by what law 
 Thou comest down here; but a Florentine, 
 On hearing thee, it seemed to me I saw. 
 
 Thou hast to know I was Count Ugolin, 
 And this Archbishop Roger; why so fell 
 A neighbor am I, let me tell his sin. 
 
 That I, in his good faith confiding well. 
 By his devices was in prison flung 
 And done to death, there is no need to tell. 
 
 But what thou hast not heard from any tongue. 
 That is, how cruelly my life was reft. 
 Shall hear, and know if he have done me wrong. 
 
 A narrow cranny in the dungeon cleft 
 
 Whereto for me the name of Famine clings. 
 And where to languish others shall be left. 
 
 Had shown me already through its openings 
 Many a moon, when the bad dream had I, 
 That tore away the veil of coining things. 
 
 This man seemed master of the hunting cry. 
 
 Hounding the wolf and wolflings tow'rd the mount 
 That shuts out Lucca from the Pisan eye. 
 
 With eager sleuthhounds gaunt and trained to hunt. 
 Had he Gualandi on before him sent, 
 Sismondi with Lanfranchi, to the front. 
 
138 Inferno 
 
 After brief coursing, sire and sons forspent 
 
 Appeared to me, and all the while they fled 
 I saw their flanks with whetted tushes rent. 
 
 When I awoke before the dawn was red, 
 
 I heard my children in their slumber cry. 
 For they were with me there, imploring bread. 
 
 Hard must thy heart be, if thou dost not sigh. 
 Only to think of my forebodings drear; 
 What wouldst thou weep for, if thine eyes are dry? 
 
 The hour that used to bring our food drew near, 
 And now they had awakened from their sleep, 
 And each one from his dream was full of fear: 
 
 When I heard, sounding through the horrible keep, 
 The nailing of the doorway: all for woe 
 I gazed into their face in silence deep. 
 
 I wept not, — stony seemed my heart to grow. 
 
 They wept; and Anselm said, dear little one, 
 Tather, what ails thee? Ah, why looks t thou so?' 
 
 Still shed I not a tear, made answer none 
 
 Through all that day, nor all the following night. 
 Till rose upon the world another sun. 
 
 And when a feeble glimmering of light 
 Was shed into the woeful jail, ah me! 
 And faces four displayed my own to sight, 
 
 I bit on both my hands for agony. 
 
 And, thinking that I did it under stress 
 Of ravenous hunger, rose they suddenly: 
 
 'Father,' they said, *our pain will be far less 
 If thou wilt eat of us; thou hast begot 
 This flesh, — relieve us of its wretchedness.' 
 
 This made me calm, lest they be more distraught; 
 That whole day and the next, none made a sign: 
 Ah, cruel earth! why didst thou open not? 
 
 And after the fourth day began to shine. 
 
 My Gaddo flung him down before my knee. 
 Crying: 'O why not help me, father mine?' 
 
Ptohmea 
 
 139 
 
 And there he died: and there I saw the three. 
 As thou seest me, fall one by one all through 
 The fifth and sixth days: whence betook I me. 
 
 Now blind, to groping on them, and for two 
 
 Whole days called to them, after they were gone: 
 Then hunger did what sorrow could not do." 
 
 Having said this, with eyes askance drawn down. 
 That miserable skull he grappled dumb. 
 With teeth strong as a dog's upon the bone. 
 
 Ah, Pisa ! of the folk opprobrium 
 
 In the fair country where the si doth sound. 
 Since neighbors lag in punishment, let come 
 
 Caprara and Gorgona, shifting ground. 
 
 And choke up Arno*s channel, quite across. 
 That every living soul in thee be drowned. 
 
 For if folk tax Count Ugolin with loss. 
 
 By treachery to thee, of places strong, 
 Shouldst not have put his sons on such a cross. 
 
 Thou modern Thebes! their youth made free from wrong 
 Uguccion and Brigata, and withal 
 The two already mentioned in my song. 
 
 Yet onward went we, where the icy pall. 
 
 Rough swathing, doth another people keep. 
 Not downward bended, but reverted all. 
 
 The very weeping there forbids them weep. 
 And finding on the eyes a barrier, woe 
 Tiu-ns inward to make agony more deep: 
 
 Because the first tears to a cluster grow. 
 And, like a visor crystalline, upfiU 
 The whole concavity beneath the brow. 
 
 And though, as in a callus, through the chill 
 . Prevailing there, all sensibility 
 Had ceased its function in my visage, still 
 
 I felt some wind, so now it seemed to me: 
 
 "Master, who moveth this?" I therefore said, 
 
 "Is not all vapor quencht down here?" Whence he: 
 
 Italian teas Hie 
 ''lingua di si" 
 {language, orig- 
 inally, of "sic" 
 for "yes") just 
 as Provencal 
 was the "langue 
 d'oc" {"hoc" for 
 "yes"), whence 
 the name of the 
 great region of 
 Languedoc 
 
 Caprara and 
 Gorgona, islands 
 off the mouth of 
 Arno. Looking 
 dovm the river 
 from the Leaning 
 Tower on a clear 
 day, they do 
 seem to block the 
 outlet 
 
140 Inferno 
 
 "Speedily art thou thither to be led 
 
 Where shall thine eye to this an answer find, 
 Seeing the cause wherefrom the blast is shed." 
 And of the wretches of the frozen rind 
 One shouted to us : "O ye souls so fell 
 That the last station is to you assigned. 
 Lift from my visage up each rigid veil. 
 That I may vent the sorrow in a trice, 
 Which swells my bosom, ere the tears congeal." 
 "Tell who thou art," I said, "I ask this price: 
 K thee therefore I do not extricate, 
 May I go to the bottom of the ice." 
 This gentleman And he: "Fra Alberigo I of late, 
 to wlwm Dante « jj^ ^f ^^e fruit of the ill garden : so 
 
 had, by an . Ti i ,, 
 
 ambiguous oath, I here am gettmg for my fig a date." 
 
 couH^ had "Akeady," said I, "art thou here below?" 
 
 murdered two of And he made answer: "How my flesh may thrive 
 
 filler M%he ^^^^^ ^^ *^^ ^PP^^ ^^^^^' ^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^• 
 
 signal to the This Ptolomea hath such prerogative 
 
 assofsins being: jj^^^ oftentimes the soul falls to this place 
 
 Bring m the i . i . 
 
 Jruitr Obviously Ere ever Atropos the signal give. 
 
 Dants here ads j^^^ ^^isit more willingly from off my face 
 
 in harmony with ° *' *' 
 
 what he con- Thou now remove away the glazen tears, 
 
 cnves to be the Know that as soon as any soul betrays. 
 
 Divine Justice. .^i ii»i«i ni 
 
 Let the betrayer As I betrayed, forthwith a fiend appears 
 fed m his own ^j^^ takes her body, therein governing 
 
 person wliat \ . - , 
 
 treachery is likel Throughout the revolution of her years. 
 
 Headlong to such a cistern doth she fling; 
 And haply still above the trimk is shown 
 Of yonder shade behind me wintering. \ 
 
 To thee, if just come down, he should be known : \ 
 
 Ser Branca d*Oria: and many a year \ 
 
 Since he was thus lockt up, is come and gone." ] 
 
 "I think," said I, "that thou deceivst me here: j 
 
 For Branca d'Oria not yet is dead, \ 
 
 But eats and drinks and sleeps and dons his gear." 
 
In Hell ivhile Still on Earth 141 
 
 "Into the moat of Maltalons/' he said, J 
 
 "Up there where boils the sticky pitch away, \ 
 
 Had Michael Zanche's spirit not yet sped, ^ 
 
 When this one left a devil in full sway 
 
 In his own body, and one next of blood 
 Who served him as accomplice to betray. 
 
 But now reach here thy hand, as understood, j 
 
 Open mine eyes" : my hand I reacht not forth, \ 
 And courtesy it was to be thus rude. 
 
 Ah, men of Genoa! with aught of worth | 
 
 At variance, and full of vices all, ^ 
 
 Wherefore are ye not scattered from the earth? i 
 
 For with Romagna's soul most criminal I 
 
 I found one such of you, that for his meed j 
 
 His soul bathes in Cocytus, yet withal t 
 
 His body seems alive in very deed. 
 
/ernt" 
 
 142 Inferno 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Ninth Circle: Judecca. Passage from Lucifer 
 TO THE Light 
 
 "VexiUa Regis "Tow*rd US the banner of the King of Hell 
 prodeunt m- Advances; therefore forward bend thine eyes," 
 
 My Master said, "if thou discernest well." 
 
 As, when thick fog upon the landscape lies. 
 
 Or when the night darkens our hemisphere, 
 A turning windmill seems afar to rise. 
 
 Such edifice, methought, did now appear: 
 Whereat, by reason of the wind, I cling 
 Behind my Guide, — ^no other shelter near. 
 
 Already (and it is with fear I sing) 
 
 I found me where the shades all covered show 
 Like straws through crystal faintly glimmering. 
 
 Some stand erect, others are prone below; 
 
 One here head up, soles uppermost one there; 
 Another face to foot bent, Uke a bow. 
 
 When we had made our way along to where 
 I was to see, as pleased my Master good, 
 The Being that once bore the semblance fair. 
 
 He halted me, and from before me stood. 
 
 Saying: "Behold Dis, and the place^behold 
 Where thou must weapon thee with fortitude!" 
 
 How faint I grew thereat, and icy cold. 
 
 Ask me not. Reader, to declare in speech : 
 All language would fall short if it were told. 
 
 Devoid of life, yet death I did not reach : 
 
 Think for thyself, if wit suffice therefor. 
 What my condition was, bereft of each. 
 
 He, of the woeful realm the Emperor, 
 
 Emerged midbreast above the ice-field yon, 
 And liker to a giant I, than bore 
 
 The giants with his arms comparison: 
 
 Consider, with respect to such a limb. 
 
 How huge that whole which it depends upon. 
 
The Worm at the Core of the World 143 
 
 If he were fair once, as he now is grim, 
 
 And raised his brow against That One who made. 
 Well may all woe have fountainhead in him. 
 
 O what a wonder, when upon his head 
 
 Three faces to my sight were manifest! 
 The one in front, and it was fiery red; 
 
 The other two with this one coalesced 
 
 Just o'er the middle of each shoulder, while 
 They all conjoined together at the crest: 
 
 The right-hand face appeared to reconcile 
 
 With yellow, white; the left was such of hue 
 
 As folk who come whence floweth down the Nile. 
 
 Vast wings came forth, beneath each visage two, 
 Such as were fitting to a bird like that: 
 Sails of the sea so broad I never knew. 
 
 They bore no feathers, but as of a bat 
 
 Their fashion was; and flapping them he stood 
 So that three winds proceeded forth thereat, 
 
 Whence frozen over was Cocytus flood. 
 
 The cadent tears were trickling from six eyes 
 Over three chins, to mix with drooling blood. 
 
 At every mouth his tushes heckle-wise 
 Upon a malefactor champ and tear. 
 So that he thus makes three to agonize. 
 
 To him in front the bite could not compare 
 Unto the clawing, for at times the hide 
 Dilacerated, left the shoulders bare. 
 
 "That soul up yon, most sorely crucified. 
 Is Judas the Iscariot,*' said my Lord, 
 "His head within, he plies his legs outside. 
 
 Of the other two, whose heads are netherward, 
 Brutus it is who hangs from the black jole: 
 Look how he writhes and utters not a word! 
 
 The other Cassius, stalwart-seeming soul. — 
 But now another night is darkening; 
 We must depart: for we have seen the whole.'* 
 
144 
 
 Inferno 
 
 Possibly some 
 who are not dull- 
 ards may be 
 ivilling to be told 
 that the Point in 
 question was the 
 Center of the 
 Earth, so that we 
 are now under 
 the southern 
 hemisphere. 
 Purgatory, 
 toward which we 
 are climbing, be- 
 ing opposite 
 Jerusalem, we 
 have gained 
 twelve hours of 
 time. It would 
 now be Saturday 
 morning again, 
 so that twenty- 
 four hours are 
 allowed for the 
 passage from the 
 Center to the 
 foot of the 
 mountain of 
 Purgatory. If 
 we can do it at 
 all, we ought to 
 be able to do it in 
 that time, for we 
 are not, as in 
 descending, to 
 make a thousand 
 st'Ops by the way 
 
 About his neck I, at his bidding, ding : 
 
 And he of time and place advantage takes: 
 And soon as wing is wide apart from wing. 
 
 Lays hold upon the shaggy flanks, and makes 
 His way from shag to shag, descending by 
 The matted hair among the frozen cakes. 
 
 When we were come to that point where the thigh 
 Revolves, exactly where the haunches swell. 
 My Guide, with effort and distressful sigh. 
 
 Turned round his head to where his footing fell. 
 And Hke one mounting, grappled to the hair, 
 So that, methought, we back returned to Hell. 
 
 "Keep fast thy hold, because by such a stair," 
 The Master said, panting like one forspent, 
 "Forsaking so great evil, must we fare." 
 
 Out through the crevice of a rock he went. 
 And set me on its brink; then warily 
 Planting his feet, his steps toward me bent. 
 
 I lifted up mine eyes, thinking to see 
 Lucifer, just as I had seen him last. 
 And saw him with his legs upturned to me. 
 
 And what perplexity now held me fast. 
 
 Let dullards fancy who have notion none 
 What point it was I had already passed. 
 
 "Rise up," the Master said, "thy feet upon : 
 The way is long, and difficult the road, 
 And now to middle tierce returns the sun." 
 
 It was no palace chamber where we stood, 
 But lo ! a natural dungeon vault was this. 
 Wanting in light and without footing good. 
 
 "Before I pluck myself from the Abyss, 
 Master," when risen to my feet I said, 
 "Talk with me somewhat, lest I judge amiss. 
 
 Where is the ice? and how is This One stayed 
 
 Thus upside down and how, in moments few. 
 The sun from even to morning transit made?" 
 
Ascent to the Wwid of Light 
 
 145 
 
 "Thou still believest thee,'* he said thereto, 
 
 "Yon-side the Center, where I gript the hair 
 
 Of the fell Worm that pierces the world through. 
 
 So long as I descended wast thou there: 
 Soon as I turned, the point we overran 
 Whereto all weights from all directions bear: 
 
 Thou'rt come beneath the hemisphere whose span 
 Is counterposed to that which doth embrace 
 The great dry land, beneath whose cope the Man 
 
 Was slain, pure born and without need of grace : 
 Thy feet upon a little disk abide 
 That for Judecca forms the counter face. 
 
 Here it is morn when yonder eventide: 
 
 And still doth This One stand as fixedly 
 As ere he made a ladder with his hide. 
 
 Down out of Heaven upon this side dropt he. 
 And all the land that here of yore arose 
 Was veiled, through terror of him, with the sea. 
 
 And joined our hemisphere; and some suppose 
 Perhaps that land today on this side found 
 Fled up from him, and left this empty close.'* 
 
 There is a place below, whose further bound 
 From Beelzebub far as his tomb extends. 
 By sight unnoted, but betrayed by sound 
 
 Made by a rivulet that here descends 
 
 A crannied rock, which it has gnawed away 
 With gently sloping current, as it wends. 
 
 My Guide and I upon that hidden way 
 
 Entered, returning to the world of Ught: 
 And without caring for repose to stay. 
 
 He first, and I behind him, scaled the height. 
 Till a round opening revealed afar 
 The beauteous things wherewith the heavens are 
 bright: 
 
 Thence came we forth to re-behold each star. 
 
 The land of the 
 southern hemi- 
 sphere shrank 
 away from him 
 as he fell, and, 
 after he was 
 planted in the 
 Center, the 
 ground forming 
 the island and 
 mountain of 
 Purgatory fled 
 up from him, 
 leaving that pas- 
 $age open 
 
 Each Cantica 
 closes with the 
 word "stelle,^ 
 stars. This the 
 stubborn Eng- 
 lish rime cannot 
 always manage 
 to the letter 
 
PURGATORIO 
 
 The Dawn of Easter 
 
 Sets sail the little vessel of my mind 
 
 And henceforth better waters furrowing 
 Leaves such a cruel ocean far behind 
 
 And of that Second Kingdom will I sing 
 
 Wherein the human spirit, purged of stain, 
 Grows worthy to ascend on heavenward wing. 
 
 Here let dead poesy arise again, 
 
 O holy Muses, since I am your own. 
 And here Calliope uplift her strain. 
 
 Companioning my singing with that tone 
 
 Whence the poor Magpies felt so stricken through 
 That they were desperate of pardon grown. — 
 
 The tender oriental sapphire hue 
 
 Suffusing the calm heaven from midmost height 
 To the first circle down, so pure and blue. 
 
 Cheered up mine eyes with long-unfelt delight 
 Soon as I issued forth from the dead blur 
 That had afflicted both my heart and sight. 
 
 The planet fair that is Love*s comforter 
 
 Lit with her smiling all the eastern skies. 
 Veiling the Fishes then escorting her. 
 
 Turning toward the right, I fixed mine eyes 
 
 On the other pole, thereby four stars discerning, 
 Ne*er seen by man save first in Paradise. 
 
 The heaven appeared enraptured with their burning: 
 Clime of the northland, O how widowed thou. 
 Since these have been withholden from thy yearning ! 
 
 When from their view I could avert my brow. 
 
 Glancing a little toward the north, that shone 
 Where the bright Wain had sunk from sight ere now. 
 
 Scene: An 
 island in tke 
 Southern Ocean, 
 at foot of a 
 loftier Teneriffe 
 
 Time: The ac- 
 tion begins be- 
 fore dawn 
 Easter Sunday, 
 A.D. 1300 
 
 Characters: All, 
 save the pilgrim- 
 poet, shades of 
 the dead 
 Virgil and 
 Dante appear on 
 the plain slop- 
 ing from sea- 
 shore to moun- 
 tain-cliff 
 
 As he is facing 
 toward the dawn- 
 star, the four 
 symbolic stars 
 are near the 
 South Pole. 
 These "sacred 
 stars" which 
 appear again in 
 Canto xxxi 
 probably sym- 
 bolize ^e four 
 Pagan or Car- 
 dinal virtues of 
 Prudence, Jus- 
 tice, Fortitude, 
 Temperance 
 
148 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The shade of 
 Caio of Utica, 
 warden of this 
 region outside of 
 Purgatory. Ex- 
 amples of other 
 just Pagans, 
 who appear 
 among the re- 
 deemed, are 
 given in Parof 
 diso XX 
 
 Near me appeared an elder all alone. 
 
 Worthy of so great reverence by his mien 
 That more to father owes not any son. 
 
 Long was his beard, with grizzled streaks between, 
 And like thereto the crown of hair he wore 
 Fell to his breast in double tresses sheen. 
 
 Beams of the holy luminaries four 
 
 Adorned his face and so great luster shed, 
 I saw him as though the sun had been before. 
 
 **Who are ye, against the darkling river fled 
 
 From out the eternal prison void of day.f^^ — 
 Moving those venerable plumes, he said. 
 
 "Who was your lantern or who led the way 
 Issuing forth from the abysmal gloom 
 That makes the infernal valley black for aye? 
 
 Are broken thus below the laws of doom? 
 
 Or has in Heaven gone forth some new decree 
 That ye, being damned, to my rock-caverns come?" 
 
 Straightway my Leader laid his hold on me, 
 
 And what with word and hand and signal, brought 
 To posture reverent my brow and knee; 
 
 And then replied: "Of myself came I not: 
 A Lady has descended from the sky. 
 And I assist this man as she besought. 
 
 But seeing that thy questions signify 
 
 The will for further truth about us twain, 
 I could not find it in me to deny. 
 
 This man saw not his final evening wane. 
 But by his folly was so near thereto 
 That httle time was left to turn again. 
 
 I was sent thither where he lay i>erdue 
 
 In rescue, as I said, nor was there road 
 But this which I am striving to pursue. 
 
 To him all circles of the lost I showed; 
 And now I am intending to display 
 Those spirits who are purged beneath thy code. 
 
VirgiVs Appeal to Cato 
 
 149 
 
 How I have brought him would be long to say: 
 Comes Virtue from aloft, enabling me 
 To give him sight and speech of thee today. 
 
 Now look upon his coming graciously; 
 
 He goes in quest of freedom, boon how dear 
 Knows that man who with life has paid her fee. 
 
 Thou knowest it, for death did not appear 
 Bitter to thee in Utica, there leaving 
 The vesture that great day to be so clear. 
 
 No law eternal by our act is cleaving, 
 
 For this man lives, nor Minos is my lord; 
 But I am of the circle where are grieving 
 
 Marcia's pure eyes, as though they still implored 
 
 That thou wouldst hold her thine, O holy breast: 
 For her love, then, thy grace to us accord. 
 
 Let us throughout thy seven kingdoms quest: 
 Thee by report to her will I requite. 
 If word of thee below thou sanctionest." — 
 
 "Marcia was aye so winsome in my sight 
 Long as I tarried yonder ,'' he repKed, 
 "That doing all her will was my delight. 
 
 Now can she, from beyond the baleful tide. 
 
 Move me no more, by law which took effect 
 When I passed over from the further side. 
 
 But if a Lady of Heaven prompt and direct 
 
 As thou hast said, thy bland persuasion hush. 
 Sufficient answer for her sake expect. 
 
 Go then and see that with a simple rush 
 
 Thou gird this mortal, washing in such wise 
 His face that for no soilure it may blush: 
 
 For it were unbecoming that with eyes 
 
 Beclouded, he appear before the Prime 
 Angel who is of those of Paradise. 
 
 This islet, ere the slope begins to cHmb, 
 
 About the margin where the billow heaves. 
 Is fringed with rushes in the oozy slime. 
 
 Symbolic cleans- 
 ing and girding 
 of Dante. The 
 reed is symbol 
 of humility: 
 Dante's beset- 
 ting sin, as we 
 shall see, is 
 igride 
 
150 Purgatorio \ 
 
 . No other plant, of such as put forth leaves ' 
 
 Or harden, could survive there, since not bent ) 
 
 To every buffet that the stalk receives. \ 
 
 Put all returning here from your intent; \ 
 
 The sun, now rising, will instruct you how \ 
 
 To take the Mount by easier gradient." — I 
 
 So vanisht he; and I, uprising now 
 
 Without a word, and firmly taking stand ^ 
 Close to my Leader, bent on him my brow. 
 
 "Follow my footsteps, son," was his command, 
 
 "Let us turn backward, for from here this lea i 
 
 Slopes to the lower limit of the land." — \ 
 
 Now did the shadowy hour of morning flee \ 
 
 Before the dawn, so that from far away ; 
 
 I caught the gusty ripple of the sea. i 
 
 We walked the lonely plain as wander they j 
 Who turn back to the pathway lost, and who 
 Until they find it seem to go astray. 
 
 When we had reached that region low where dew 
 Contends with sun, nor in the chilly air 
 Disperses while the beams are faint and few, 
 
 Softly upon the tender herbage there 
 
 Both of his outspread palms my Master placed; \ 
 
 Whence I, who of his purpose was aware, ^ 
 
 Lifted my grimy cheeks, with tear-stains laced; j 
 
 There to my features he restored that hue | 
 
 Which by the spume of Hell had been effaced. i 
 
 Cf. the fate of Then to the lonely seashore came we two, i 
 
 t%5se«. Inf. Which never yet upon its waters found | 
 
 One mariner who afterward withdrew. 1 
 
 Here as that other bade, he girt me round: 
 
 O miracle ! that such as from the earth j 
 He culled the humble plant, quick from the ground 
 
 Wlience it was pluckt, it came again to birth. "■ 
 
 < 
 
 xxn 
 
Before Sunrise 
 
 151 
 
 II 
 
 The Angel Pilot 
 
 The sun by now to that horizon came 
 
 The arc of whose meridian is at height 
 Just at the point above Jerusalem: 
 
 And, circling opposite to him, the Night 
 
 Was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales 
 Which fail her hand when she exceeds in might; 
 
 So, where I was, the cheek that glows and pales 
 Of fair Aurora, sallowed with the ray 
 Of orange, because age on her prevails. 
 
 Beside the sea we pondered on the way 
 
 Like folk who, lingering still along the shore. 
 Hasten in heart and in the body stay; 
 
 And as, a little while the dawn before, 
 
 Mars reddens through the vapor baleful-bright 
 Low in the west above the ocean-floor, 
 
 I saw, — O may it bless again my sight ! — 
 A luster coming on across the main 
 With speed unparalleled by any flight. 
 
 And when I let mine eye awhile remain 
 
 Detached from it, to question of my Guide, 
 Larger and brighter now it showed again. 
 
 Then there emerged to view on either side 
 A whiteness indistinct, and down below 
 Little by little another I descried. 
 
 My Master uttered not a word, till lo ! 
 
 The first white spots appeared as wings to shine. 
 Then, when he surely did the Pilot know. 
 
 He cried: "Make haste, make haste, the knee incline. 
 Fold hands, — it is God*s Angel! thou shalt use 
 Henceforth to see such ministers divine. 
 
 Look, how doth he all human means refuse. 
 Scorning device of sail or oar, nor drew 
 Aught but his wings npon so far a cruise; 
 
 CorUrctst the 
 opening of Inf. 
 
 a 
 
 The sun is 
 rising here at 
 Purgatory, night 
 is falling at 
 Jerusalem, it is 
 midnight on the 
 Ganges. Cf. the 
 diagram, Terrv- 
 fie Primer of 
 Dante, p. 1^7, 
 And cf. the be- 
 ginning of 
 Canto xxvii 
 
152 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Psalm lU. This 
 passage re^ers^ 
 says Dante, by 
 allegory to Re~ 
 demption, 
 morally to Con- 
 version, anagog- 
 ically to the 
 departure from 
 earthly slavery 
 to eternal free- 
 dom. Cf. letter 
 to Can Grande, 
 §7 
 
 The Ram being 
 wUh the Sun on 
 the horizon, the 
 Sky-goat vyill be 
 in the Zenith 
 
 Look, look how heavenward he holds them true, 
 Fanning the welkin with those plumes eterne 
 Which do not molt as mortal feathers do!^' — 
 
 Then, near and nearer come, might I discern 
 The Bird of God more dazzling than before. 
 Until mine eyes that with the blaze now burn 
 
 Fall down undone. But he drew near the shore 
 On pinnace light and rapid, — such an one 
 The water swallowed nothing of the prore. 
 
 Astem the Pilot stood, and benison 
 
 Celestial showed upon his face devout: 
 A hundred and more spirits sat thereon. 
 
 "When Israel from Egypt issued out," 
 
 They chanted as with single voice the lay. 
 With what there afterward the Psalmist wrote. 
 
 When sign of holy cross he made them, they 
 
 Flung themselves one and all upon the strand, 
 And swiftly as he came he swept away. 
 
 There huddled they together close at hand 
 Gazing about, like strangers to the place 
 Endeavoring new things to understand. 
 
 The sun was shedding everywhere his rays. 
 And with the arrows of his radiance now 
 Did Capricorn from middle-heaven chase. 
 
 When the new people Ufted up their brow 
 Toward us, saying: "If expert ye be 
 In faring up the Mountain, show us how." — 
 
 And Virgil said: "Ye deem perchance that we 
 Have some experience to guide us here. 
 But we are also pilgrims as are ye. 
 
 We came before you, and not long whilere. 
 
 By road so rough and hard that the ascent 
 But sport henceforward will to us appear." — 
 
 The spirits, among whom the whisper went 
 
 That I was still a living and breathing one. 
 Turned deadly pale for very wonderment. 
 
Casella 153 
 
 And as, to hear good tidings, people run 
 
 To reach the olive-bearing messenger. 
 
 And not a man appears the throng to shun, 
 So one and all the happy spirits there 
 
 Fastened upon me hungrily their view, 
 
 As if forgot the quest to make them fair. 
 And I saw one of them who forward drew 
 
 To my embrace with love so manifest 
 
 That I was influenced the Hke to do. 
 O insubstantial souls in shadowy vest! 
 
 Thrice did I clasp my hands behind that shade 
 
 And drew them back as often to my breast. 
 Wonder, I think, was on my face portrayed; 
 
 Whereat it only smiled and drew away 
 
 While I pursued in hopes it would have stayed. 
 In mellow tones he gently said me nay, 
 
 And knowing him thereby, did I implore 
 
 That he for speech a little while would stay. 
 "As loved I in the mortal flesh of yore. 
 
 So loosed I love thee still,'' he answered clear, 
 
 "I stay then; but why pacest thou the shore?" — 
 *'To this place where we are, Casella dear. Of this friend 
 
 To come once more I make this pilgrimage; ^^"i!^d7!i 
 
 But why is so much time bereft thee here?" — the milder 
 
 And he: "No injuiy can I allege, '^/iM^l 
 
 If he who takes up when and whom he please knoion nwre 
 
 Somewhile denied to me the ferriage, ^^ ^^f J^ 
 
 For of right will his own is made. Yet these Three months 
 
 Three happy months accepts he verily *»«^ 2^^bih^ 
 
 Whoever longs to enter, with all peace; Year of peace 
 
 Whence I, who had just now betaken me TH^.?^^^^ ^^ 
 
 Where Tiber water savors of the brine, 
 
 Have been received by him benignantly. 
 That is the goal where now his wings inchne; 
 
 For at that outlet ever gathers what 
 
 Falls not perdue to punishment condign.** — 
 
 begun 
 
154 Purgatorio \ 
 
 And I : "If novel law abolish not >i 
 
 Practice or memory of the song of love ■ 
 
 That used to solace all my yearning thought, | 
 
 I pray thee grace me with the comfort of ] 
 
 Thy song, for in the body travehng ■ 
 
 So far, my heart is weary here above." — j 
 
 The first line of "Love, deep within the spirit reasoning," j 
 
 ^"0^2 So sweetly he began to sing it thus | 
 
 analyzes in his That still the dulcet tones within me ring. j 
 
 rre^^' ^'""^^ ^y Master and I and that unanimous ] 
 
 Company with him drew such rapture thence 5 
 
 As if no other care encumbered us. i 
 
 Still hung we on that music in suspense. 
 
 When lo! that stately elder: "Laggard crew ] 
 
 Of spirits, what portends this negligence? i 
 
 Think what, delaying, ye neglect to do! 
 
 Speed to the Mount to slough the film," he cried, 
 "That lets not God be manifest to you." — 
 
 As pigeons that are feeding side by side 
 
 And pecking at the darnel or the ear, I 
 
 Quiet and strutting not with wonted pride, .\ 
 
 U aught whereof they are afraid appear | 
 
 All of a sudden let alone their food j 
 
 Because of being assailed by greater care, j 
 
 So saw I that newly-landed multitude 
 
 Forsake the song and scurry tow'rd the height 
 
 Like them who go but wot not where they would: ; 
 
 Nor any less precipitate our flight. 
 
Bodies of the Shades 155 
 
 m 
 
 Antepurgatory 
 
 While sudden flight was all dispersing thus 
 
 That flock of spirits through the countryside 
 Toward the Mount where reason searches us, 
 I drew up close to my Companion tried; 
 
 And how without him had I kept the course? 
 Who up the mountain would have been my guide? 
 He seemed to me disturbed with self -remorse: 
 O soul of honor, tender conscience good. 
 How little fault to have such bitter force! 
 After his feet the hurry had subdued. 
 That of all action mars the dignity. 
 My mind, which hitherto in durance stood. 
 Eagerly rendered its attention free; 
 
 Then turned my sight toward the Hill, supreme 
 Of peaks emerging skyward from the sea. 
 Behind us flamed the Sun, whose ruddy gleam 
 Before me broke in the configurement 
 Formed on me by the stopping of its beam. 
 I turned, in terror of abandonment Dante for the 
 
 Sidewise and half around, become aware 'ki^sh^^^ 
 
 The ground was shadowed only where I went. 
 Then turning round to me, my Comforter 
 
 Began: "Why givest thou suspicion room? 
 Dost thou not think I, guiding, with thee fare? 
 Already it is evening at the tomb 
 
 Where lies the body of me that cast a shade: 
 Naples received it from Brundusium. 
 Now if no shadow is before me made, 
 
 Like wonder in the heavens dost thou behold. 
 Whose rays are not by one another stayed. 
 The Power who will his workings not unfold 
 Makes bodies apt to suffer, as we do, 
 Torments arising both from heat and cold. 
 
156 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The Riviera 
 from Turbia 
 (near Nice) to 
 the Gulf of 
 Spezia was 
 traversed by a 
 mountain-path 
 
 One Substance, in Three Persons, travels through 
 Illimitable ways, where it were wild 
 To deem that human reason might pursue. 
 
 Be to the fact, O mortals, reconciled, 
 
 For, had ye power to see all things and learn, 
 No need had been for Mary to bear child. 
 
 And ye have seen without fulfillment yearn 
 
 Those whose desire would have been satisfied, 
 Which now is given to them for grief eterne. 
 
 Of Aristotle and Plato I speak, — beside 
 
 Many another.'^ — Here his brow he bent, 
 Deeply perturbed, and further speech denied. 
 
 Meanwhile toward the mountain-foot we went: 
 A cliff so steep that nimble legs would be 
 Of small avail attempting such ascent. 
 
 The way between Turbia and Lerici 
 
 Most lonely and deserted were a stair. 
 Compared with that, accessible and free. 
 
 "Where slojjes the mountain, who can tell me where," 
 The Master murmured, staying his advance, 
 "So that the wingless foot may clamber there.'*" — 
 
 And while he, casting down his countenance. 
 Was questioning his mind about the way, 
 And up along the rock I ran my glance. 
 
 Behold, off to the leftward, an array 
 
 Of spirits all in our direction bound. 
 
 Though seeming not, so slow of pace were they. 
 
 "Lift up thine eyes, good Master, and look round," — 
 Said I, "some who may help are coming yon. 
 If yet thy wisdom at a loss be found." — 
 
 We moved along a thousand steps or so. 
 Finding that company as far by this 
 As a good thrower with his hand could throw. 
 
 When at the foot of the high precipice 
 
 Gathered they all, compact and circumspect. 
 Gazing like men who fear to go amiss. 
 
Manfred 157 
 
 "O ye who ended well, O souls elect !^ 
 
 Virgil began, "in name of that sublime 
 
 Peace which, I think, ye one and all expect, 
 Tell us if it be possible to climb 
 
 The Mountain somewhere by a slope less bold : 
 
 For irksome to the wise is loss of time." — 
 As sheep are wont to issue from the fold 
 
 By one and two and three, the rest pursue 
 
 Meekly, and eye and muzzle downward hold. 
 And what the first one does the others do, 
 
 And if she stop all huddle at her side. 
 
 Nor question why, the quiet silly crew: 
 So moving now toward us I descried 
 
 The column-leaders of that happy flock. 
 
 Modest in face, in action dignified. 
 When those in front beheld my body block By the shadow 
 
 The light upon my dexter hand, whereby ^^Xtdy 
 
 The shadow stretched from me toward the rock, 
 They halted and withdrew somewhat more nigh 
 
 Those following behind, and all the rest 
 
 Did in like manner, without knowing why. 
 "I frankly tell you, without your request, 
 
 This is a human body that ye see. 
 
 As by the broken light is manifest. 
 Then do not wonder, but persuaded be 
 
 That not by heavenly Power unwarranted 
 
 To mount this barrier endeavors he." — 
 The Master thus; and that good people said: 
 
 "Then turn about and enter in before," 
 
 And with the backs of hands the signal made. 
 "Whoever thou mayst be," did one implore. The pregnani 
 
 "While pressing forward, hither turn anew: ^'^U'^ 
 
 Consider if thou sawst me there of yore." — deal vnth the 
 
 I turned to scan him, and there met my view ^"Slit 
 
 Fair features and of gentle mien and blond, fen who reigned 
 
 Although one eyebrow had been cloven through. ch^UV,T 
 
158 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 sequiotis to the 
 conqueror. To 
 feel its full sig- 
 nificance the 
 reader should 
 know much 
 more of the fads, 
 both political 
 and ecclesiasti- 
 cal, than can he 
 told in a note 
 
 Treating the 
 body as that of 
 an excommunir 
 cated nder 
 
 And when I ventured humbly to respond 
 
 With a denial, "Look !" — and he laid bare 
 Above his breast a sanguinary wound. 
 
 "Manfred am I," said he with smiling air, 
 
 "Grandson of Empress Constance: whence I pray 
 Thee go, returning, to my daughter fair. 
 
 Mother of both the monarchs who bear sway. 
 One in Sicilia, one in Aragon, 
 And tell her truth, whatever else they say. 
 
 When these two mortal stabs had quite undone 
 My body, yielded I with tears contrite 
 To Him who willingly gives benison. 
 
 Horrible were my sins, but Infinite 
 
 Bounty has arms of an embrace so broad 
 That it accepts whoever turn to it. 
 
 And if Cosenza*s Pastor, who at nod 
 
 Of Clement went to hunt me down, had known 
 How to peruse aright this page in God, 
 
 Even now were of my body every bone 
 
 At the bridgehead near Benevento trenched. 
 Beneath the safeguard of the heavy stone. 
 
 Now scattered by the wind, by the rain drenched. 
 Beyond the kingdom hard by Verde's flow. 
 Whither he carried them with taj>ers quenched. 
 
 By curse of theirs no soul can perish so 
 
 But that Eternal Love for them may bloom 
 While hope one particle of green can show. 
 
 True is that such as die beneath the doom 
 
 Of Holy Church, though they at last repent, 
 Must here outside the precipice find room. 
 
 Full thirtyfold the time that they have spent 
 In their presumption, if to briefer span 
 Good prayers do not reduce such banishment. 
 
 Hereafter pray rejoice me, if thou can. 
 
 Revealing to my gracious Constance dear 
 How thou hast seen me and alas! this ban: 
 
 For much those yonder may advance us here." — 
 
A Problem in Psychology 159 
 
 IV 
 
 The Ascent op the Mountain Begun 
 
 When an impression of delight or dole 
 
 Works on some faculty of ours, and thus 
 Wholly that faculty absorbs the soul. 
 
 It seems of other force oblivious; 
 
 And this is counter to that erring thought 
 Which would enkindle soul on soul in us. 
 
 Therefore, when hearing or when seeing aught 
 That draws the soul's attention potently. 
 Time passes by, and one perceives it not; 
 
 For that which notes it is one faculty. 
 
 Another that which holds the soul intent: 
 This is preoccupied, and that is free. 
 
 Hereof I made a true experiment 
 
 Listening in wonder to that spirit fair; 
 For now the Sun had fully made ascent 
 
 Fifty degrees, and I was not aware. 
 
 When came we where those spirits to us cried 
 With one accord: "Look, your desire is there!" — 
 
 The hedger oft an opening more wide 
 
 Blocks with a forkful of his brambles, when 
 Toward the vintage grapes are purple-dyed. 
 
 Than was the passage where ascended then 
 My Leader and I after, we alone. 
 While all that flock of souls were lost to ken. 
 
 You mount San Leo, drop to Noli down. 
 And of Bismantova you scale the height 
 With only feet; but here must wings be grown, — 
 
 I mean swift pinions that are fledged for flight 
 With great desire, behind that Leader, who 
 Was giving me hope and holding out a light. 
 
 Hemmed in on either hand we mounted through 
 The cloven rock; the ground whereon we trode 
 Made work enough for feet and hands to do. 
 
 The TimcBus of 
 Plato expounds 
 the theory of a 
 mortal and an 
 immortal soid 
 in man 
 
 So that it is now 
 about nine 
 o'clock 
 
 So he does in 
 Italy today 
 
160 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 More than ^5° 
 
 Looking easU 
 ward in the 
 southern 
 hemisphere 
 
 When at the verge of the high bank we stood 
 Aloft upon the open mountainside, 
 I asked: "Which way pursue we. Master good?"- 
 
 "Be wary of thy foothold," he replied; 
 
 "Win with me up the mountain till we find 
 One who may prove to be a skillful guide/^ — 
 
 So soared the peak, it left the sight behind. 
 And steeper far the slope than line away 
 From middle quadrant unto center inclined. 
 
 Weary was I when I began to pray: 
 
 "Dear Father, O turn hitherward and see 
 How I am left alone unless thou stay !" — 
 
 "My son, draw up as far as here," said He, 
 Pointing me to a ledge just overhead 
 Circling on that side all the acclivity. 
 
 So sharply spurred me on the words he said. 
 
 That I crept after him with might and main 
 Until the terrace was beneath my tread. 
 
 There to sit down awhile we both were fain. 
 
 Facing the East whence we had made ascent; 
 For, looking back, a man takes heart again. 
 
 Mine eyes at first to the low shores were bent. 
 Thereafter lifted to the Sun, whose glow 
 Struck us from leftward, to my wonderment. 
 
 The Poet well perceived me gazing so 
 
 Upon the Car of Light with wonder, where 
 It entered between us and Aquilo. 
 
 Whence he : "If Castor and if Pollux were 
 
 Companions with that mirror which sheds back 
 The hght divine to either hemisphere. 
 
 Thou wouldst behold him blaze in Zodiac, 
 Unto the Bears revolving still more nigh. 
 Unless the sun should quit his ancient track. 
 
 If thou wouldst imderstand the reason why. 
 With centered thought imagine Zion-hill 
 On earth set over against this mountain high, 
 
Belacqua Chaffs Dante 
 
 161 
 
 So that they both have one horizon still 
 
 And hemispheres diverse; then wilt thou see, 
 If to take heed thine intellect have skill, 
 
 How the highway that Phaeton, ah me! 
 
 KJiew not to course, must pass upon that side 
 This mountain, and this side of Zion be.^ — 
 
 **Truly, my Master, never yet,'' I cried, 
 "Saw I so clearly as I now discern. 
 Since of the mark my wit seemed ever wide. 
 
 That the mid-circle of the heaven supern. 
 Equator in a certain science known. 
 And which doth still 'twixt sun and winter turn. 
 
 Is distant, for the reason thou hast shown. 
 
 Northward from here as far as once the Jews 
 Beheld it looking tow'rd the torrid zone. 
 
 But if it please thee well, I fain would choose 
 To know how far we clamber; for so high 
 Rises the Hill, that sight in vain pursues " — 
 
 "This mountain slope is such," he made reply, 
 "That low beginnings ever painful seem; 
 The toil decreases climbing tow'rd the sky. 
 
 But when it comes about that thou shalt deem 
 CUmbing as easy as to ship and crew 
 Seems gliding with the current down the stream, 
 
 Then is the end of this hard road in view; 
 
 There may thy weary Umbs expect repose; 
 More I reply not, knowing this for true." — 
 
 No sooner had he said such words as those, 
 
 Than sounded out a voice near by : "Perchance 
 He'll have to sit before so far he goes!" — 
 
 Both of us, turning at this utterance. 
 
 Saw at the left a stone of massive size 
 
 Which neither had perceived at the first glance. 
 
 Thither we drew apace, till met our eyes 
 
 Persons behind the rock, with shadow blent. 
 Lying along as one in idlesse lies. 
 
 Jerusalem is 
 conceived as at 
 the antipodes of 
 Purgatory. The 
 course of the sun 
 must therefore be 
 north of Purga- 
 tory and south 
 of Jerusalem. 
 See the begin- 
 ning of Canto ii 
 
162 Purgatorio I 
 
 And one of them, who seemed to me forspent. 
 
 Was sitting, and was clasping both his knees, | 
 
 Holding his face deep down between them bent. 
 
 **Look, Master mine,'' said I, "if one of these ■ 
 
 Seems not more overcome with lassitude : 
 
 Than if his sister had been slothful Ease.'' — \ 
 
 At this he bent to us, and understood. 
 
 Moving his visage up along his thigh, ' ] 
 
 And said: "Now up, for thou hast hardihood!" — 
 
 Then showed he features that I knew him by. 
 And my still panting breath impeded not 
 My going to him; and as soon as I I 
 
 The soul of Had reached him, he uplifted but a jot 
 
 wat7r^!^andt' ^'^ ^^<^^' ^^^ murmured : "Seest thou how the Sun \ 
 
 friend of O'er thy left shoulder drives his chariot?" — 
 
 ^ugh'iMent ^^^ ^^^^ ^'^^ ^"^. P^^^^^ compactly spun , 
 
 of temperament. Relaxed my lips to show a little glee; ; 
 
 ^iJ^ftr "Belacqua," I began, "from this time on i 
 
 tine shrewdness I grieve no more for thee; but answer me, i 
 ^■^ "'*' Why sitst thou here? Awaitest thou a Guide? 
 Or has thy wonted mood recaptured thee?" — 
 '^Brother, what use in cHmbing?" he replied; 
 
 "The Bird of God, at threshold of the gate, \ 
 
 Would not admit me to be purified. \ 
 
 First Heaven must needs as often circulate | 
 
 Round me outside, as it in life had done, I 
 
 Since I delayed repentance till too late; 1 
 
 It is noon in If earlier aid me not some orison | 
 
 ^herefme^ihe Breathed forth from soul with living grace at core; 1 
 
 other hemi" What boot is other prayer, unheard up yon?" — I 
 
 ^^ j^ the Already went the Poet up before, \ 
 
 Morocco, is in Saying: "Come on now: look, the Sun is bright j 
 
 niu'^A- On the meridian, and at the shore j 
 
 ning in Morocco Morocco lies beneath the foot of Night.'*— 
 
Dante's Shadow Startles the Shades 163 
 
 Tragic Deaths of Three Noble Souls 
 
 Now from those shades departing, I betook 
 Myself my Leader's footmarks to pursue, 
 When one behind me, pointing, shouted: "Look, 
 
 The sunbeam seems not to be shining through 
 
 Leftward from him below; and more by token 
 He seems to bear him as the living do !" — 
 
 I turned about to look when this was spoken, 
 And saw them gaze at me for marvel — yea 
 At me, and at the sunbeam that was broken. 
 
 "Why is thy mind diverted from the way 
 
 To make thee loiter ?^^ said my Master kind; 
 "What carest thou up here how whisper they? 
 
 Come after me and let them speak their mind; 
 Stand like a tower unwavering and stout 
 Against whatever buffets of the wind. 
 
 For he who thinks about it and about 
 
 Falls short, forever thwarted of his aim. 
 Since one thought by the next is canceled out." 
 
 I said, "I come!" — how answer else for shame? 
 
 And said it with that flush which may restore us 
 To pardon, if we worthily lay claim. 
 
 Behold now people who, short way before us 
 Across the Mountain passing, as they go 
 Sing Miserere verse about in chorus. 
 
 Seeing my body interrupt the flow 
 
 Of sunlight, and enshadowing the plain, 
 They changed the singing to a long hoarse Oh! 
 
 And in the form of messengers came twain 
 Running toward us from that multitude. 
 Desiring knowledge of om* state to gain. 
 
 "Ye can go back," rephed my Master good, 
 "To those who sent you forth, and certify 
 That this man's body is true flesh and blood. 
 
 A lower slope of 
 the mountain. 
 Early afternoon 
 of the first day 
 
 Implying, per- 
 haps, that these 
 souls had neg- 
 lected action 
 through "some 
 craven scruple of 
 thinking too pre- 
 cisely on the 
 evenf 
 
164 Purgatorio 
 
 And if to see his shadow made them shy 
 As I suppose, let this reply suffice: 
 Him let them honor, profiting thereby." — 
 
 So swift-enkindled vapors to mine eyes 
 
 Never the sunset clouds of August clove 
 Nor flasht at fall of night across the skies. 
 
 But these in briefer time returned above; 
 
 And, there arrived, with the others tow'rd us wheeled 
 Like squadron without rein that forward drove. 
 
 "Many are these who crowd on us afield," 
 
 The Poet said, "to make thee one request; 
 Yet go right on and, going, hearing yield." — 
 
 "O pilgrim soul who goest to be blest 
 
 With those Hmbs fashioned in thy mother's mold. 
 Stay but a moment !" — cried they as they pressed. 
 
 "Look if thou sawest one of us of old, 
 
 That thou to earth mayst tidings of him bear : 
 Pray why dost thou go on? pray why not hold? 
 
 We all were slain by violence whilere. 
 
 And sinners till the final hour of grace; 
 
 Then light from Heaven made us so well aware 
 
 That, penitent and pardoning, apace 
 
 We quitted life at peace with the Most High, 
 Wlio heartens us with yearning for his face." — 
 
 "Although I scan your lineaments," said I, 
 "Not one do I recall; but pray ye speak. 
 If aught to please you in my power there lie, 
 
 And I will do it, happy spirits meek. 
 
 By hope of peace which, following up the Hill 
 Jacopo del Cos- Behind such Guide, from world to world I seek." — 
 
 ^S^itw:: And one began: "We aU are trusting stiU 
 man of Fano, In thy good service, nor need oath attest, 
 
 7£^b^Zas. ^ o^ly weakness do not cancel will; 
 
 sins in the pay Whence I, who speak alone before the rest, — 
 AztjoTm^oj -^ \^\oVi shalt look upon that land one day, 
 
 Ferrara Between Romagna and that of Charles, — ^request 
 
Buonconte and la Pia 165 
 
 That thou of courtesy for me wilt pray- 
 In Fano, so that there be orisons 
 
 To help me purge my heavy sins away. 
 Thence came I; but the gashes wherethrough once 
 
 Issued the blood wherein I had my seat. 
 
 Were dealt to me among Antenor's sons. 
 There where I fancied safest my retreat: 
 
 The Este had it done, who held me then 
 
 In anger more by far than justly meet. 
 But had I fled toward La Mira, when 
 
 At Oriaco by pursuers found, 
 
 Still were I yonder among breathing men. 
 I ran to the marsh; the mud and reeds around 
 
 So hampered me I fell, and there saw I 
 
 My blood become a pool upon the ground." — 
 "Ah, by that yearning,'' did another sigh, 
 
 "Whereby to the High Mountain drawest thou. 
 
 Do thou aid mine with pious sympathy. 
 I was of Montefeltro, merely now Buonconte da 
 
 Buonconte; heeds me none, not even Joan, Montefeltro, son 
 
 . . . of the renovmed 
 
 Whence among these I go with downcast brow. — captain who 
 
 And I: "From Campaldino lost alone 'P^^' t !"•^• 
 
 ^ xxmt. Dante 
 
 By chance wast thou, or violence malign, himself fought 
 
 So that thy burial place was never known?''— *> '^** ^f^^ ""f 
 
 "Un," said he, "runs athwart the Casentine {1289) 
 
 A stream called Archiano, rising o'er ??^ contrast 
 
 . 1 (. . A r between the story 
 
 Ihe Hermitage, aloft m Apennme. of the son and 
 
 There where it answers to that name no more ^!^ ^^ the father 
 
 • 1 T rt 1 ** marked vntn 
 
 Came I with throat empierced, as I fled artistic intention 
 
 On foot along the plain, marked with my gore. 
 There eyesight failed me, and the prayer I said 
 
 Paused on the name of Mary; there I fell. 
 
 And there my flesh remained untenanted. 
 The truth I speak among the living tell: 
 
 God's Angel took me : * Why wilt thou be stealing 
 
 Mine own, thou son of Heaven.'*' cried he of Hell; 
 
166 Purgatorio 
 
 *Witli his immortal art thou skyward wheehng; j 
 
 That part I forfeit for one Uttle tear; \ 
 
 But with the other use I other dealing/ — i 
 
 Thou knowest how gathers in the atmosphere j 
 
 That vaporous moisture, soon to water turning I 
 
 By the chill pressure of the upper sphere. ' 
 
 That Evil Will, for evil only yearning, ; 
 
 Endowed with native power intelligent, '! 
 
 Joined and moved cloud and wind with fell dis- ? 
 
 cerning. ^ 
 
 Thereafter, when the day was fully spent, ] 
 From Pratomagno to the Great Yoke fills 
 With fog the valley and veils the firmament 
 
 And into water the teeming air distills; 
 
 Down through the gullies comes the fallen rain, — ■ 
 
 All thirsty earth could drink not, — and the rills : 
 
 Into great torrents gathering amain, j 
 
 Headlong toward the royal river bore | 
 
 With such a rush that weir and dike were vain. 1 
 
 Wild Archiano found my body frore j 
 
 Hard by his outlet, sweeping it inert I 
 
 Into the Arno, and from my bosom tore i 
 
 The cross I made me, conquered by the hurt; j 
 Whelmed me along by many a bank and shoal. 
 Then with his shingle covered me and girt." — 
 Pia, of the great "Ah, when thou turnest to an earthly goal, 
 
 Tohmd flung ^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^*^^ ^^^^ *^^ ^^^^^ way,"— ] 
 
 by a faithless The second ceasing, followed a third soul, — ^ 
 
 Ilif'^'^tltZg "Remember me, who am Pia, when thou pray; i 
 
 in the wilds of Siena made me, by Maremma undone : j 
 
 ^larJ^ma ^^ knows who ringed me, ringless till that day, | 
 
 Espousing me with gem and benison." — ,1 
 
Can Prayer Alter God's Decree? 167 
 
 VI 
 Dante the "Stormy Voice" of Italy 
 
 When breaks the game of hazard, he who lost First day, mid- 
 
 Remains behind in sorrow, and essays tTZZ flank 
 
 The throws again, thus learning to his cost; oj the mountain 
 
 With the winner all the others go their ways : 
 
 One in advance, one plucks him from the rear. 
 
 And for reminder one beside him stays. 
 He hastens, — all soliciting his ear, — 
 
 His hand goes out to some, who leave him free, — 
 
 And from the pressure of the crowd gets clear. 
 So I, amid that thronging company. 
 
 Was turning to them here and there my face, 
 
 And making promise, extricated me. 
 The Aretine who in the grim embrace 
 
 Of Ghin di Tacco perisht, with them stood. 
 
 And the other who was drowned while giving chase. 
 There prayed, with hands in suppliant attitude, 
 
 Frederick Novello, and that Pisan son 
 
 Who proved the good Marzucco's fortitude. 
 I saw Count Orso, and the soul of one 
 
 Bereft of life by spite, as he averred, 
 
 And envy, not for any trespass done, — 
 Pier de la Brosse, I mean : and by this word 
 
 Be warned the Dame of Brabant to take heed 
 
 Lest she for this consort with baser herd. 
 As soon as I was from these shadows freed, 
 
 Whose one prayer was that other prayer benign 
 
 Them on the way to holiness might speed, 
 Thus I began : "It seems, O light of mine, Mneid vi, 376 
 
 In one text thou expressly questionest 
 
 That orison may bend decree divine; 
 And yet these people only this request: 
 
 Can it be possible their hope is vain? 
 
 Or is to me thy word not manifest?" — 
 
Paradise 
 
 168 Purgatorio 
 
 And he responded: "What I wrote is plain, 
 And not fallacious is the hope of these 
 K one consider it with reason sane, 
 
 For Top of Judgment stoops not when the pleas 
 Of burning love do in a moment what 
 These do who here await the slow decrees. 
 
 And in the instance where I tied that knot. 
 Prayer did not counterbalance the defect. 
 Since, from God disunited, prayer was not. 
 
 Howbeit, waive decision in respect 
 
 To doubt so deep, till she interpret this. 
 Who shall be light 'twixt truth and intellect. ^ 
 
 In the Earthly Be assured that here I speak of Beatrice: i 
 
 Her shalt thou see above, upon the crown ] 
 
 Of this same Mountain, smiling and in bliss." — 1 
 
 And I : "Lord, let us hasten to be gone, .\ 
 
 For I am not as hitherto forspent, \ 
 
 And look, the hill now casts a shadow down.'^ — 
 
 **As much as possible of the ascent. 
 
 Will we perform today,'' responded he, 1 
 
 "But other than thou thinkest is the event. i 
 
 Ere thou canst climb up yonder, thou wilt see 
 
 Return that light so hidden that its ray ] 
 
 Is interrupted now no more by thee. j 
 
 But see ! there is a spirit making stay ; 
 
 All, all alone, and looking tow'rd this side; i 
 
 It will point out to us the speediest way.'* — j 
 
 We thither came. O Lombard soul, what pride ; 
 
 And lofty scorn thine attitude exprest. 
 And thy slow-moving eyes how dignified! 
 
 As we came on he proffered no request, '] 
 
 But let us go our way, calmly surveying 
 In manner of a lion when at rest. 
 
 Steadily drew up Virgil tow*rd him, praying 
 
 Direction where ascent might best be made; I 
 
 But he, no word by way of answer saying, ! 
 
'^Ahi serva Italia! " 
 
 169 
 
 News of our life and of our country prayed. 
 
 And when thereto the gentle Guide began, — 
 "Mantua — " upleaped that all-secluded shade 
 
 From where before he stood : "O Mantuan, 
 I am Sordello of thy cityP — said he. 
 And to embrace of each the other ran. — 
 
 Hostel of woe, ah, servile Italy, 
 
 Vessel unpiloted in a great storm. 
 No Lady of provinces, but harlotry! 
 
 Eager that noble spirit was and warm 
 
 To welcome there his own compatriot. 
 So did the sweet name of his city charm! 
 
 While now in civil tumult are distraught 
 Thy living citizens, — at daggers drawn 
 Those whom one wall incloses, and one moat. 
 
 Make search aroimd thy seaboard, wretched one. 
 And after in thy bosom look again. 
 If anywhere within be unison ! 
 
 What boots Justinian adjust the rein 
 
 If ever empty be the saddle.^ Without 
 Such bridle not so black would be the stain. 
 
 Ah, gentry, ye that ought to be devout 
 And let but Caesar in the saddle sit. 
 Nor leave unheeded what God pointed out, 
 
 Ix)ok well to this wild beast, consider it, 
 Ungoaded by the spur how fell it grows 
 Since ye laid hand up)on the bridle-bit ! 
 
 O German Albert, who to such as those 
 Yieldest this wild unruly animal. 
 And oughtest to bestride her saddlebows. 
 
 May from the stars upon thy issue fall 
 
 Just judgment, and be it strange and manifest 
 Such that it may thy follower appall! 
 
 Thy father suffered, and thou sufferest. 
 
 Held back up yonder by the greed of you. 
 The garden of the Empire go to waste. 
 
 Political chaos 
 of that age 
 
 Of what avail 
 the Law without 
 a 'power to en- 
 force? 
 
 The claim of the 
 clergy to tem- 
 jKnral power 
 
 Albert, son of 
 the Emperor 
 Rudolph, absen- 
 tee King of the 
 Romans 
 
170 Purgatorio ^ 
 
 Warring f ami- Come look at Capulet and Montague, \ 
 
 GMiSiS'/IS'f Monaldi and Filippeschi, careless prince, ! 
 
 These dreading that which those already rue. \ 
 
 The counts of Come, cruel man, and see thy nobles wince j 
 
 Santafiora of the tj j • ii_ • i . 
 
 great Aldobran- Under oppression, cure their hurts, — nay come = 
 
 desco family. See Santafiora how secure long since ! • 
 
 press^ by Sa ^ome hear the outcries of thy weeping Rome j 
 
 (c/. Canto xi) By day and night, a widow and alone: i 
 
 "My Caesar, why forsakest thou thy home?'* 
 
 Come, see thy people, how their love is grown; 
 And if for us thou have no sympathy. 
 Come and take shame to thee for thy renown. ; 
 
 And if it be allowed me, Jove most High, 
 
 Thou who for us on earth wast crucified, j 
 
 Is otherwhere averted thy just eye? I 
 
 Or is it discipline thou dost provide < 
 
 In thy deep counsel, for some useful plan ^ 
 
 To our perception utterly denied? ^ 
 
 Swarm in Italian towns the tyrant clan, j 
 
 And a Marcellus comes incipient \ 
 
 In every churl who plays the partisan. \ 
 
 My Florence, thou indeed mayst be content \ 
 
 With this aside, — thy withers are unwrung. 
 Thanks to thy people all so provident. i 
 
 The bow of justice is but slowly strung ■ 
 
 By many, who let no random arrow fly: ] 
 
 Thy people have justice pat upon the tongue. i 
 
 Many would put the pubhc burden by. 
 
 But answers eagerly thy populace ! 
 
 Unbidden: "Shoulder to the wheel !^ they cry. I 
 
 Good reason hast thou to take heart of grace : \ 
 
 If sooth I say the facts do not conceal, '\ 
 
 Thou wealthy and thou wise and thou at peace! j 
 
 The Athenian and the Spartan commonweal, ; 
 
 Long famed for art and law, gave feeble proof \ 
 
 Of civil life to what thy deeds reveal, j 
 
Fickleness of Florence 171 
 
 Who with such foresight weave in that behoof, 
 That reach not to the middle of November 
 The filmy threadlets of October's woof. 
 
 How often hast thou changed (canst thou remember?) 
 Law, coinage, offices, time out of mind. 
 And usage, renovating every member. 
 
 And were thy memory not so short or blind. 
 
 Thou wouldst see thyself in that sick woman, fain 
 A little rest upon her couch to find. 
 
 Who would by tossing ward away her pain. 
 
172 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Late afternoon 
 of the first day. 
 Same place on 
 the mouniain- 
 side 
 
 Cf. the eulogy 
 upon VirgU, 
 Inf.i 
 
 VII 
 
 The Negligent Princes 
 
 After the courtly and glad greetings now 
 Again a third time and a fourth began, 
 Sordello drew back saying: "Who art thou?" — 
 
 "Ere to this Mount turned any soul of man 
 Worthy to rise with God to be enskied. 
 My bones were buried by Octavian. 
 
 Virgil am I; and for no crime beside 
 
 Not having faith, went I from Heaven astray." — 
 So forthwith made reply to him my Guide. 
 
 Like one encountering upon his way 
 
 Some sudden wonder which he stands before, 
 Doubting, believing, saying yea and nay, 
 
 Sordello stood; then bowed his forehead lower. 
 Turning to greet my Leader with embrace 
 More humble, where lays hold the inferior. 
 
 "O glory," exclaimed he, "of the Latin race. 
 
 Through whom our language showed its worth so 
 
 well, 
 O praise eternal of my native place. 
 
 What merit shows thee or what miracle? 
 If I be worthy held thy news to know, 
 Say from what cloister comst thou, if from Hell?" — 
 
 "Through all the circles of the world of woe 
 Am I come hither," — so he made reply, 
 "Moved by a power of Heaven whereby I go. 
 
 Omitting, not committing, forfeit I 
 
 Sight of the Dayspring where thy longings rise, 
 And which was known by me too tardily. 
 
 There is a place below not otherwise 
 
 Tormented save with gloom, where the laments 
 Are uttered not in wailing but in sighs; 
 
 There I abide with little innocents 
 
 Bitten by fangs of Death and all undone 
 Ere yet exempt from man's maleficence; 
 
No Ascent by Night 173 \ 
 
 i 
 
 There I abide with those who put on none j 
 
 Of the three holy virtues, yet who knew 
 
 The others, following guiltless every one. 
 
 But if thou know and can, afford some clew '. 
 
 To us, whereby we may arrive apace ] 
 
 Where Purgatory has beginning true.^ — 
 
 He answered: "We are bound to no fixed place; i 
 
 I lawfully may wander up and round, • 
 
 And join you as guide for my allotted space. j 
 
 But look ! the day declining to the bound, ^ 
 
 And we are powerless to ascend by night; I 
 
 Then let us think of pleasant resting-ground. I 
 Souls dwell secluded yonder to the right: 
 
 Unto them will I lead if thou consent. 
 
 Nor will acquaintance be without delight." — \ 
 "How so.^" was askt, "if any made ascent 
 
 By night, would he be then inhibited 
 
 By another, or would want of power prevent.^" — 
 
 "Look!" and the good Sordello's finger sped < 
 
 Along the ground, — "the sun being parted hence 
 
 Thou couldst not even cross this fine," — he said; ', 
 "l^ot that there else would be impediments 
 
 To going up save shades nocturnal, — they 
 
 Would trammel up the will with impotence. 'I 
 
 One might indeed in darkness downward stray, ^ 
 
 And make the tour of the whole mountain-ring, i 
 
 While the horizon prisons up the day." — i 
 
 Then said my Master, as if wondering: I 
 
 "Now lead us on whither, by thy report, i 
 
 We may have some delight while tarrying." — < 
 
 Thence on the Mountain was the distance short ! 
 
 When of a hollow I became aware, — | 
 
 Valleys down here are hollowed in such sort. 
 
 "Yonder," proposed that shade, "let us repair i 
 
 Where inward-curving slopes a dell surround, j 
 
 And dawning of new day await we there." — j 
 
 i 
 
 } 
 'I 
 i 
 
 1 
 
174 Purgatorio 
 
 Now level and now steep, a pathway wound 
 That led us to a margin where the height 
 Half falls away before that hollow ground. 
 
 Gold, silver fine, scarlet and pearly white, 
 Clear Indian wood of azure loveliness, 
 Or fresh-flaked emerald would be less bright 
 
 Than were the grass and flowers in that recess : 
 In color each of these would be outdone 
 As by the greater is outdone the less. 
 
 Nor yet was Nature a mere painter yon. 
 
 But did from thousand odors sweet distill 
 A subtly blended fragrance known to none. 
 
 Salve Regina^ with such chanting thrill 
 
 The souls on bloom and greensward there at rest. 
 Concealed before by hollow of the hill. 
 
 '^Before the faint sun settle to his nest," 
 
 The Mantuan said who made us thither swerve, 
 "Do not my guidance among these request. 
 
 From vantage of this bank ye will observe 
 The features and the acts of all and some. 
 Better than down among them in the curve. 
 
 He highest placed, to whom seems burdensome 
 That he neglected what he ought, for song 
 Upon the lips of others finds him dumb. 
 
 Was Rudolph, Emperor, who feels the prong 
 In unhealed wounds, fatal to Italy, 
 While healing through another tarries long. 
 Philip III of The next, who seems his comforter to be, 
 Henry I of Governed the country whence the waters spring 
 
 Navarre; the Moldau bears Elbe, Elbe to the sea, — 
 
 France'' w ^is name was Ottocar, far better king 
 
 PhUip the Fair; As babe, than bearded Wenceslaus, his child, 
 
 the stalwart t i i 'ji i xi • 
 
 King is Peter ^ luxury and idlesse battenmg. 
 
 of Aragon, hus- That small-nosed one, with him of aspect mild 
 
 band of the c i • i *i? i. 
 
 Constance of ^ close m counsel, as seems manifest. 
 
 Canto Hi Died fleeing and left the fleur-de-Us defiled: 
 
The Company of Princes 
 
 175 
 
 Look there, how he is beating at his breast ! 
 And yonder at his sighing partner glance 
 Who on his palm has laid his cheek at rest. 
 
 Father and father-in-law of the plague of France 
 
 Are these, — they know his vicious life and lewd. 
 And hence the grief that pierces like a lance. 
 
 He who so stalwart seems, whose song in mood 
 Accords with that of him of virile nose. 
 Wore girt the cord of every manly good; 
 
 And if the youth who yonder doth repose 
 
 Behind him had long governed in his stead. 
 Worth would have passed from vase to vase in 
 those; 
 
 This of the other heirs cannot be said : 
 
 While James and Frederick the kingdoms sway. 
 None has the better share inherited. 
 
 Not often rises up through branch and spray 
 Prowess of man; it is the Will Divine 
 In order that from Him the gift we pray. 
 
 My words apply as well to the aquiline 
 As to his fellow-singer, Peter : this 
 Do now Apulia and Provence repine. 
 
 Matcht with the seed the scion goes amiss. 
 
 By how much Constance still her spouse may 
 
 praise 
 More than can Margaret and Beatrice. 
 
 Look at the monarch of the simple ways, 
 Harry of England, sitting there alone : 
 Better the issue that his branches raise. 
 
 That one of them whose eyes are upward thrown 
 Is Marquis William, humblest among these, 
 For whom Alessandria and her war make moan 
 
 Both Monferrato and the Canavese." — 
 
 He of the virile 
 7iose is Charles I 
 of Anjou, who 
 defeated Man- 
 fred at Bene- 
 vento 
 
 Dante rates 
 Peter, husband 
 of Constance, 
 far above 
 Charles of 
 Anjou, husband 
 of Margaret, 
 and Beatrice, — 
 whose children 
 are mvxih worse 
 than he. These 
 degenerate sons 
 of Peter and 
 Charles are men- 
 tioned again 
 notably in Par. 
 xix. Harry of 
 England is 
 Henry III, 
 father of Edward 
 I, one of the 
 greatest of medi- 
 eval Kings. 
 Marquis Wil- 
 liam is the good 
 but unfortunate 
 rider of Mont- 
 ferrai {in Pied- 
 mont) 
 
176 Purgatorio 
 
 VIII 
 
 Happy Interview with Departed Shades 
 
 Nightfall in the Now was the hour that melts the heart anew 
 S'^klZ'e I"^ ^°y^g«'« with yearning for the shore 
 
 wait the prince* The day beloved friends have said adieu. 
 
 And the new pilgrim feels the pang once more 
 Of love, on hearing from the far-off land 
 Bells that belike the parting day deplore. 
 When I began no more to understand 
 
 His words, on seeing a soul among them there 
 Uprisen, who craved a hearing with its hand. 
 It joined both palms and lifted them in air. 
 Fixing its eyes toward the orient, 
 As saying to God, — "I have no other care!" — 
 '^Before the close Te lucis ante in notes so sweetly blent 
 kncmm'to au"^ Came from those lips devout, all my concern 
 
 good Catholics, Lapsed and was lost in rapturous content. 
 
 Thelast'^fof ^ ^^^ t^^t soul, the others in their turn 
 ^he day With sweet devotion did the hymn pursue. 
 
 Holding their eyes upon the wheels super n. 
 To truth here. Reader, sharpen well thy view. 
 For verily so thin becomes the veil 
 That it is easy passing inward through. 
 I saw that gentle army in the dale 
 Silently gazing afterward on high 
 As if in expectation, meek and pale: 
 Then issuing and descending from the sky 
 
 Two angels with two swords whence flames were 
 
 gleaming, 
 But broken and deprived of points, saw I. 
 As green as tender leaflets freshly teeming, 
 
 Their raiment, beaten and blown by pinions green. 
 In airy wafture was behind them streaming. 
 Above us one took post with guardian mien. 
 The other aUghted on the further marge 
 So that the people were contained between. 
 
Judge Nino Visconti 
 
 177 
 
 Their blond heads saw I clearly, but surcharge 
 Of radiance concealed each glorious face 
 Baffling my vision with a Kght so large. 
 
 "From their embosoming in Mary's grace/' 
 
 Sordello said, "to guard the vale these two 
 Come, for the Serpent will arrive apace/' — 
 
 Whence I, because nowise the way I knew. 
 Strove by the trusty shoulders to remain 
 Close sheltered, for I felt me frozen through. 
 
 "Now go we down,'' Sordello said again, 
 
 "And with the mighty shades exchange replies: 
 To bid you welcome will they all be fain." — 
 
 Three paces peradventure might suffice 
 
 For my descent; and one did gazing pore 
 Upon me, as in hope to recognize. 
 
 Already was the air endarkened more. 
 
 But not so that between his eye and mine 
 It failed to show what it had lockt before. 
 
 Tow'rd me he comes and I to him inchne : 
 Noble Judge Nino, happy was my case 
 When I beheld thee not of the mahgn ! 
 
 Silent between us was no word of grace; 
 
 Whereon he askt: "How long since camest thou 
 Through the far waters to the Mountain's base,^" 
 
 "Oh!" said I, "out of dismal caves below 
 
 This morning come, in the JSrst life am I, 
 But hope to gain the other, going so." — 
 
 As soon as ever heard they my reply, 
 
 Sordello and that spirit backward drew 
 Like startled folk whose impulse is to fly. 
 
 One turned to Virgil, and the other to 
 
 A soul there seated: "Conrad, look, the Lord 
 Has willed through Grace a wondrous thing to do !"- 
 
 Then turned to me: "By thanks thou must accord 
 To Him for special grace, who doth so hide 
 His own first motive that it has no ford, 
 
 Jvdge Nino 
 Visconti, Pisan 
 governor of the 
 Province of Gal- 
 luroy Sardinia 
 
 Sordello has 
 been preoccu- 
 pied vnth Virgil, 
 and, the sun be- 
 ing behind the 
 Mountain, 
 Dante's shadow 
 was not visible 
 
178 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 His tindow had 
 married one of 
 the Visconti cf 
 Milan, whose 
 cognizance was 
 the Viper 
 
 Symbolizing the 
 Christian vir- 
 tues, as the four 
 mentioned in 
 Canto i sym- 
 bolize the Pagan 
 virtues oj every- 
 day life 
 
 This incursion 
 of the Serpent 
 into the abode of 
 the dead is 
 purely allegori- 
 cal 
 
 When thou shalt be beyond the billows wide, 
 Say to my Joan that she for me implore 
 Where answer to the pure is not denied. 
 
 I think her mother cares for me no more. 
 
 Since she has laid aside her wimples white 
 Which she, poor thing, shall yet be craving for. 
 
 By her example may be seen aright 
 
 How brief the fire of love in woman's breast 
 Unless rekindled oft by touch or sight. 
 
 Less fair an emblem for her burial chest 
 The Viper leading Milan to the field. 
 Than would have been the Cock, Gallura's crest !^'- 
 
 While he was speaking thus, his face revealed 
 
 That upright zeal wherewith the heart may be 
 Aflame, and in due measure stampt and sealed. 
 
 Ranging the heavens my eager eyes could see 
 
 Only the place where most the stars are slow. 
 As in a wheel nearest the axletree. 
 
 "Son," said my Guide, "at what art gazing so?" 
 "At those three starry torches," I replied, 
 "Wherewith the hither Pole is all aglow."- 
 
 *Low are the splendid stars on yonder side. 
 
 Those four thou sawst at early dawn today. 
 And in their places these are now enskied." — 
 
 Sordello seized him as he thus did say. 
 
 Exclaiming: "See our enemy advance!" 
 With finger guiding him to look that way. 
 
 At that part where the little valley slants 
 
 Devoid of barrier, crept a Snake along, — 
 Such offered Eve the bitter food, perchance. 
 
 The evil streak the grass and flowers among. 
 
 With head reversed like beast that licks its fell. 
 Came undulating on with dartling tongue. 
 
 I did not see and cannot therefore tell 
 
 How the celestial hawks their stations left. 
 But saw the motion of each sentinel. 
 
Praise of the Malaspina Family 179 
 
 Feeling the air by their green pinions cleft. 
 The Serpent fled; both wheeling up as one 
 The angels hghted, having barred the theft. 
 
 The shade, that close beside the Judge had drawn 
 When he exclaimed, had not removed its eyes 
 Cleaving to me till that assault was done. 
 
 "So in the taper hghting to the skies 
 
 The wax of thy free will may not abate 
 Until thou reach the flowery Paradise,^ 
 
 Began he, "canst thou tidings true relate 
 Of Valdimagra, or of region nigh. 
 Tell it to me, for there I once was great. 
 
 Conrad the Malaspina called was I; 
 
 The elder not, although from him descended; 
 My love of kindred here I purify.^ — 
 
 "Oh," cried I, "through your land I never wended. 
 But where in Europe dwells one so forlorn 
 As never to have heard their fame commended? 
 
 Renown and honor that your house adorn 
 
 Proclaim the land, proclaim her every lord, 
 So that he knows who never reacht that bourn. 
 
 And by my pilgrim hope I give my word 
 
 Your honored kindred do not strip away 
 The virtue of the purse and of the sword. 
 
 Chartered by custom and by nature, they 
 
 Though the bad leader warp the world aside, 
 Alone go straight, and scorn the evil way." — 
 
 And he: "Now look, — ^seven times shall not abide 
 The sun, returning back within the bed 
 The Ram's four feet now cover and bestride. 
 
 Ere this opinion, courteously said. 
 
 With better nails than hearsay hammered home. 
 Shall pierce the very middle of thy head, 
 
 Unless arrested be the course of doom.^ — 
 
 Dante was the 
 honored guest 
 of the Mala- 
 spina in the 
 Lunigiana in 
 1306 
 
180 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The lunar 
 Aurora appears 
 around the con- 
 stellation of the 
 Scorpion 
 
 The other four, 
 having cast off 
 the inheritarwe 
 from Adam, ap- 
 parently do not 
 sleep. Dreams 
 just before dawn 
 are deemed pro- 
 phetic or in some 
 way true 
 
 The reference to 
 the woes of the 
 swallow recalls 
 the tragic story 
 of Procne {the 
 nightingale) and 
 Philomela {the 
 swallow). Cf. 
 Canto ocvii, 
 19-21 
 
 IX 
 
 The Symbolic Gate 
 
 Now did the mistress of Tithonus hoar 
 
 Show at the eastern window, clad in white, 
 Forth from the arms of her dear paramour; 
 
 Her brow was ghttering with jewels bright 
 Set in the figure of that monster cold 
 Which strikes at people with his tail; and Night 
 
 Had two already of the paces told 
 
 Wherewith she rises where our steps were stayed, 
 And the third hour began her wings to fold, 
 
 When I, on whom something of Adam weighed. 
 Conquered by slumber, sank upon the lawn 
 Where all we five the nightly vigil made. 
 
 Upon the hour when, very near to dawn, 
 Begins the twittering swallow to repine, 
 Perchance in memory of her woes foregone. 
 
 When anxious thoughts less narrowly confine, 
 
 And when the pilgrim soul, from flesh more free. 
 Is in her visions very near divine. 
 
 Then poised aloft did I apjjear to see 
 
 An eagle, with gold plumage, in my dream, 
 With open wings, intent to swoop at me; 
 
 And I was in that place, or so did seem. 
 
 Where Ganymede was torn from friends away. 
 Up to the synod of the gods supreme. 
 
 "Perchance this bird strikes here," I seemed to say, 
 "Only by habit, and from otherwhere 
 Scorns with his claws to carry up the prey." — 
 
 Methought then, having wheeled a Kttle there, 
 He, terrible as thunderbolt, descended 
 And snatcht me upward to the fiery sphere. 
 
 There he and I seemed with the burning blended. 
 And so the imagined fire seemed scorching me 
 That of necessity my sleep was ended. 
 
Santa Lucia Carries Dante Up 
 
 181 
 
 Even as Achilles shuddered once, when he 
 
 Found himself gazing round with wakened eyes, 
 Not knowing in what quarter he might be. 
 
 What time his mother him, her sleeping prize. 
 From Chiron in her arms to Scyros bore. 
 Whence later the Greeks took him, — in such wise 
 
 I shuddered when fled sleep away before 
 The face of me; and palhd did I stand. 
 Even as a man with terror stricken frore. 
 
 My Comforter alone was near at hand; 
 
 The sun above two hours had made ascent. 
 And I was facing now toward the strand. 
 
 "Fear nothing,'* was my Lord's admonishment, 
 "Be reassured, for we are in good state; 
 Relax not, but be every sinew bent. 
 
 Now art thou come to Purgatory-gate: 
 
 Lo there the cHff that closes round it, lo 
 The entrance where it seems to penetrate. 
 
 At dawn of day a little while ago. 
 
 As slept thy soul within thee on the bed 
 
 Of flowers that deck the meadow down below, 
 
 A Lady came, and T am Lucy,' said; 
 
 'Let me take up this sleeper; it is meet 
 That so he be upon his journey sped.' 
 
 With the other noble forms in that retreat 
 
 Sordello stayed; she took thee, and with day 
 Came upward, and I came where fell her feet. 
 
 She laid thee here; that open entrance- way 
 With her fair eyes first having pointed out. 
 Together then with sleep she went away." — 
 
 Like one who wins assurance after doubt. 
 And into confidence converts his fear 
 When truth is known, so did I change about ; 
 
 And when my Leader saw me free from care. 
 He started up along the cHff again 
 Toward the height, and I pursued him there. 
 
 Awakening two 
 hours after sun- 
 rise, Dante 
 learns that his 
 dream was in- 
 deed symboli- 
 cally true 
 
182 Purgatorio 1 
 
 ! 
 
 Reader, thou seest how I exalt my strain, \ 
 
 And therefore do not hold it strange if by ' 
 
 More cunning art I now the theme sustain. \ 
 
 We reached a point, as we were drawing nigh, j 
 
 Whence what first seemed a wall that had incurred ] 
 
 A fissure, now threw open to the eye '> 
 
 The Door of A door, and steps beneath, first, second, third, i 
 
 Ward^aJ'the ^or access to it, all diverse of hue, | 
 
 three symbolic And a gate-keeper who yet spoke no word. ■ 
 
 caUy, the steps' ^^^ ^^ ^ Opened more mine eye thereto, i 
 
 are Confession, I saw him sitting on the upper stair, ' 
 
 Anagogically Such in the face I could not bear the view. 
 
 they may repre- He held a sword whereof the blade was bare, \ 
 
 white jmrity of Which shed a sheen so dazzHng to our viewing \ 
 
 Christ; second. That oft in vain I raised my glances there. \ 
 
 Christ breaJcing "Stand there and tell what aim ye are pursuing; \ 
 
 and making con- Where is the escort!^^' — he began to say, j 
 
 trite the black //t» i . • i i • .« 
 
 heart; third, the Beware lest commg up be your undomg!"— j 
 
 redeeming blood My Master answered him: "This very day i 
 
 of Christ. The . T . CTT i.^i i 
 
 Adamant: the ^ -Lady of Heaven, aware how to proceed, ] 
 
 sure fouridation Bade, *Thither go, there is the entrance-way!'" — j 
 
 111). The Angel "And may she all your steps with blessing speed," ' 
 
 is the priest.^ Rejoined the Gate-keeper in courteous tone, ' 
 
 the mortal sins. "Come to our stair then, as it is decreed." — '■ 
 
 The Keys, those Thither we Came: a great white marble stone I 
 
 ^^^^" ^ * Was the first stair, so polisht and so terse I 
 
 That in it was my very image shown. \ 
 
 The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse, j 
 
 Was rugged rock, scorcht with corrosive stain, i 
 
 And cloven through both lengthwise and traverse. : 
 
 The third, which from above thrusts down amain, \ 
 
 Seemed to me porphyry, as luminant 
 
 As red blood spirting from a master- vein. < 
 
 Upon this last one both his feet did plant I 
 
 Th' Angel of God, who sat the threshold warding. 
 
 Which seemed to me of stone of adamant. ■ 
 
The Two Keys 
 
 183 
 
 Up the three steps, mine own good will according, 
 Drew me my Guide, and said : "Humbly request 
 That he unlock, admittance thus affording." — 
 
 Devoutly fell I at the footpalms blest; 
 For mercy craved the opening to me; 
 But first I smote me thrice upon the breast. 
 
 With sword-point he inscribed the letter P 
 
 Sevenfold upon my forehead : "Once inside. 
 Take heed to wash away these wounds," — said he. 
 
 Ashes, or earth which has been digged and dried. 
 Would match the hue of his habiliment, 
 And, drawn from underneath it, I descried 
 
 Two keys, one gold, one silver instrument; 
 
 Now with the white, then with the yellow too. 
 He plied the gate until I was content. 
 
 "Should either key the fastening not undo, 
 Within the wards inadequately plying," 
 Said he to us, "blockt is the passage through. 
 
 More dear is one, the other one relying. 
 
 Ere it unlock, on passing craft and wit. 
 For this one brings the knot to its untying. 
 
 Peter, who gave them, said 'twere better fit. 
 
 When people at my feet were prostrate lain, 
 To err by opening than shutting it." — 
 
 He pusht the portal of the holy fane : 
 
 "Enter," said he, "this knowledge with you bring- 
 ing,— 
 Whoso looks backward goes outside again." — 
 
 And when upon their sockets were set swinging 
 The pivots of that consecrated door. 
 Hinges of metal stout, sonorous ringing, 
 
 Not so discordant seemed, nor did so roar 
 Tarpeia, when away from her was rended 
 The good Metellus, whence grew lean her store. 
 
 I turned away, and the first note attended : 
 
 Te Deum laudamus on mine ear was stealing 
 In voices with sweet music interblended. 
 
 The silver sym- 
 bolizes the 
 knowledge of 
 human nature 
 which enables 
 the priest to 
 judge of the 
 genuine nature 
 of the penitence; 
 the golden, the 
 power of abso- 
 lution 
 
 According to the 
 poet Lucan, the 
 Tarpeian rock 
 bellowed when 
 CoBsar put aside 
 the Tribune and 
 violated the 
 treasury. The 
 reason why the 
 door of Purga- 
 tory creuks is 
 merdioned at the 
 beginning of the 
 next canto 
 
184 Purgatorio 
 
 Then listened I with such a raptured feeling 
 As often overcomes the soul down here. 
 When sing the people to the organ pealing, 
 
 And now the words are muffled, now ring clear. 
 
 Note to first line page 182 
 
 The sensitive reader will not fail to feel the singular loftiness o! 
 the style. The scenery wherein the falling asleep and the awakening 
 of the Poet are framed; the imagery of the lunar aurora in the great 
 constellation of the Scorpion; the dim imaginations of his dream and 
 the contrast between its seeming violence and the placid action 
 which it shadows; then the effect of Virgil's narrative upon Dante's 
 mind and mood, — all these circumstances form a symmetrical avenue 
 of approach, flanked by the converging lines of the dream and its 
 answering reality. Hitherto we have been delayed outside the 
 Christian Acropolis, first in the plain by the seaside, then upon the 
 lower slopes of the Mountain; now we draw near to the mystic 
 Propylseum. Invited by the courteous Gatekeeper, we are drawn 
 with our good will up the three symbolic steps. The first of these 
 may be taken as an emblem of the white purity of Christ wherein we 
 behold, as in an accusing mirror, the stains which we have come to 
 purge away. The second step, dark and rough and scorched, of mas- 
 sive stone cracked lengthwise and across, brings the broken and 
 contrite heart in contact with the Cross of Christ; while perhaps 
 the third, which seemed porphyry flaming like blood from a master 
 vein, denotes acceptance on the part of the pilgrim of the redeeming 
 blood of Christ. The Bird of God who sits above the threshold of 
 adamant typifies the Priest receiving confession by authority of the 
 Church. Here should be borne in mind the Poet's explanation in his 
 letter to Can Grande of the various ways in which his poem may be 
 read: it has meanings literal, moral, allegorical, anagogical, — now 
 this meaning and now that one shining out, and sometimes two or 
 three different meanings dazzling the reader with their iridescence. 
 Thus here the threshold of adamant is a member of an architectm*al 
 structure, while allegorically it refers to the .solid foundation upon 
 which Christ built the Church, morally to the steadfastness appro- 
 priate to the confessor, and anagogically (as Torraca suggests) to the 
 light of Grace. 
 
 The purpose of the invocation is, in the light of theseconsiderations, 
 clear. The reader will not have failed to note how habitually Dante 
 descends at the close of a canto to some moral exhortation, some 
 bitter invective, some piece of satire; and the loftier the theme of 
 the canto the more studiously homely is the phrasing of such descent 
 to earth. There is such a descent to the language and needs of little 
 people (mulierculse) at the close of the preceding and of the succeeding 
 canto. Such descents are more frequent as we go up and on. But in 
 this canto there is no descent, and the Poet challenges the reader not 
 to wonder if he uses more art to support the exalted matter of his song. 
 
Terrace of the Proud 
 
 185 
 
 The Marvelous Carved Walls 
 
 When once within the threshold of the gate, 
 Which souls disuse through evil inclination 
 To make the crooked pathway appear straight, 
 
 I felt it closed by its reverberation : 
 
 And if I had turned back mine eyes thereto, 
 What for the fault were fitting exculpation? 
 
 A fissured rock were we ascending through, 
 Which did to this side and the other sway 
 As waves advancing and receding do. 
 
 "Now must a little skill come into play, 
 
 In keeping close, now here,^^ my Leader said, 
 "Now yonder, to the side that curves away/* — 
 
 So scantily our steps were making head 
 
 That the moon's waning disk had time thereby 
 To settle down to rest within her bed. 
 
 Before we issued from that needle's eye. 
 
 But when we reached a free and open land 
 Above, where gathers back the mountain, I 
 
 Being weary, both uncertain on which hand 
 The way led, stopped we, not to go amiss 
 By roads more lonely than through desert sand. 
 
 From where the void borders the precipice 
 To base of the high cHff ascending sheer. 
 The human form thrice told would measure this; 
 
 And, as I winged my glances far and near. 
 
 Now to the leftward, now toward the right, 
 Still did this cornice such to me appear. 
 
 Our feet had not yet moved upon the height. 
 
 When that sheer cliff around us, there become 
 Too steep for climbing, proved of marble white 
 
 And decked with carvings past the masterdom 
 Not only of cunning Polycletus, — nay. 
 Nature herself had there been overcome. 
 
 Second day: 
 middle of the 
 forenoon. On 
 the first of the 
 seven terraces, 
 that where the 
 Sin of Pride is 
 expiated 
 
 The hinges 
 creak, therefore, 
 because "strait is 
 the gate, and few 
 there be that find 
 if; and the sym- 
 bolism is sus- 
 tained by the 
 loneliness of the 
 way upon which 
 they enter. In 
 the narrow pass 
 where the waMs 
 undulate, the 
 poets are careful 
 to go straight 
 ahead. ""The 
 evil love of souls 
 which makes the 
 crooked way 
 seem straight," 
 implies famil- 
 iarity ivith the 
 poets belief, to 
 be fully devel- 
 oped later, that 
 cdl actions, good 
 or bad, are 
 prompted by 
 love of the good 
 
186 Purgatorio 
 
 This first suh- The Angel who proclaimed on earth the sway 
 
 tlhTfit'^tat Of P^"^^ '°"g ^^'^ ^'?>>«d to constitute, 
 
 ter of the gospel Which swept the ancient ban of Heaven away, 
 
 Itttl Before us stood with truth so absolute 
 the time of Carved in the acting of the gracious theme, 
 
 t"':uVp:t That it appeared to be no image mute. 
 
 ers. Almost You'd swear that he cried "Hail !" for how misdeem 
 TrZ TaXrT When there was imaged forth that Lady dear 
 
 has made a Who turned the key to open Love supreme? 
 
 ttnnum-r-^ "Behold the handmaid of the Lord is here!"— 
 ti^n Such was the language by her mien attested. 
 
 Clearly as figure stampt in wax is clear. 
 "Attend not to one part alone," — ^requested 
 The kindly Master who was holding me 
 On that side where the human heart is nested; 
 Whereat, my glance removing, did I see 
 
 Next beyond Mary, and toward the Guide 
 Who urged me on, another history 
 Set in the rock; whence, turning to that side, 
 I passed by Virgil and drew nigh alone. 
 So that it might the better be descried. 
 2 Samuel vi. There in the living marble carved, were shown 
 *~^ The cart and kine the holy ark that drew. 
 
 Whereby we fear an oflSce not our own. 
 People were grouped about the foreground, who. 
 In seven choirs, made my two senses say. 
 One, "They sing not," the other, "Yes, they do." 
 And likewise, where the marble did portray 
 
 The smoke of incense, eyes and nostrils bore 
 Discordant witness both of yea and nay. 
 2 Samuel vi. The lowly Psalmist, high-girt, on before 
 ^~ The sacred vessel, bounded in the dance. 
 
 And, doing so, was less than king and more. 
 Michal was figured, looking on askance 
 
 From window of great palace opposite. 
 Perturbed and scornful in her countenance. 
 
Visible Speech 
 
 187 
 
 !b rom there the movement of my feet was slight 
 Till I could scan another tale anigh. 
 Which, beyond Michal, gleamed upon me white. 
 
 Herein was historied the glory high 
 
 Of the princely Roman who, beneficent. 
 Moved Gregory to his great victory: 
 
 Trajan, the emperor, hereby is meant; 
 And a poor widow to his bridle clung 
 In attitude of grief and of lament. 
 
 He seemed to ride with many a knight, among 
 A trampling throng; eagles of golden hue 
 Above him streaming to the wind seemed flung. 
 
 "Avenge me, Sire !" — amid that retinue 
 
 Appeared that wretched mother to implore, 
 "For my slain son my heart is stricken through." 
 
 "Be patient," answered her the Emperor, 
 
 "Till my return." — And she, with urgent moan 
 Replied: "How, Sire, if thou return no more?" — 
 
 Then he: "Whoso shall sit upon my throne 
 
 Will do it."— And she: "What boot shall be to thee 
 Another's bounty, if thou stint thine own?" — 
 
 "Now be thou comforted," consented he, 
 "For ere I go my duty must I do. 
 So Justice wills, pity restraining me." — 
 
 That Being who can look on nothing new 
 
 Produced that visible speech engraven yon. 
 Unknown here, therefore novel to our view. 
 
 While I dehghted me to look upon 
 These portraits of humility so fair 
 And dear, considering Who this had done, 
 
 "Lo, many people, but with footsteps rare," 
 Murmured the Poet, "on this side of us; 
 These will direct us to the lofty stair." — 
 
 Mine eyes, that were intent on gazing thus. 
 
 Turned round toward him, loath to be delayed. 
 To see new objects still solicitous. 
 
 It was believed 
 that Trajan wa^ 
 removed from 
 Hell and re- 
 deemed in 
 answer to the 
 prayers of 
 Gregory the 
 Great. Cf. the 
 great place given 
 to the just 
 Emperor in 
 Paradiso xx 
 
188 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Dante attributes 
 to the reader 
 that Sin of Pride 
 which he ac- 
 knowledges to 
 have been his 
 own (as vnll 
 appear later) 
 
 I would not have thee. Reader, shrink dismayed 
 
 From thy good purpose, though thou come to know 
 How God ordains it that the debt be paid. 
 
 Take heed not to the fashion of the woe; 
 
 Think on what follows; at the worst take thought 
 Beyond the Judgment Day it cannot go. 
 
 "Master," began I, "what I see seems not 
 
 Persons approaching us with motion slight, 
 But sight is so at fault, I know not what.'' — 
 
 And he repUed to me : "So dire a plight 
 
 Doubles them down with punishment condign, 
 That I could not at first believe my sight. 
 
 But closely look till vision disentwine 
 
 What yonder comes beneath those bowlders ben I: 
 Already canst thou see how all repine.'' — 
 
 O ye proud Christians, wretched and forspent. 
 Infirm in vision of your inward eyes. 
 Who in backshding steps are confident. 
 
 Perceive ye not how we from worms arise 
 To form the fair angelic butterfly 
 Which unto judgment undefended flies? 
 
 Why is the spirit in you puft on high. 
 
 Since ye are ungrown insects at your best. 
 Defective grubs that undeveloped die! 
 
 As ceiling or roof timbers often rest 
 
 On corbels, carved to indicate the strain 
 
 In figure quaint, contorting knee to breast, — 
 
 Whence out of the unreal, real pain 
 
 Is bred in him who looks, — beneath such stress 
 Did I see these, on giving heed again. 
 
 True is it, they were bowed down more and less 
 As more or less upon their backs they bore. 
 And he whose look seemed most to acquiesce. 
 
 Weeping, did seem to say: "I can no more!" — 
 
The Lord's Prayer 
 
 189 
 
 XI 
 
 The Proud Made Humble 
 
 "Our Father, Thou who dwellest high in Heaven, 
 Not cu*cumscribed, save by the Love immense 
 That to Thy first creation Thou hast given, 
 
 Praised be Thy name and Thy onmipotence 
 By all created beings, emulous 
 To render thanks to Thy sweet effluence. 
 
 Let peace from Thine own kingdom come to us, 
 For with all reach of soul that in us lies 
 We cannot win it, if it come not thus. 
 
 As Thine own holy angels sacrifice 
 
 Their will to Thee, while they Hosannah sing. 
 So let men do with penitential sighs. 
 
 This day to us our daily manna bring, 
 
 For in this desert rough, in utter dearth. 
 We backward go when most endeavoring. 
 
 As we forgive to every one on earth 
 
 The wrongs we bore, so graciously do Thou 
 Forgive us, and look not upon our worth. 
 
 Put not to proof before our ancient foe 
 Our power of will, so easily undone. 
 But liberate from him who spurs it so. 
 
 We make, dear Lord, this final orison 
 
 Not for ourselves, because there is no need, 
 But all for dear ones left behind us yon." — 
 
 Beseeching for themselves and us good speed. 
 
 Those heavy-laden shades went their slow way 
 Under such loads as oft from dreams proceed, 
 
 And with unequal anguish circled they 
 Wearily that first cornice of the Hill, 
 Purging the soilure of the world away. 
 
 If good for us be spoken yonder still. 
 
 What may be done and said for them down here 
 By those who have a good root to their will? 
 
 Morning of the 
 second day 
 
 The prayer 
 "Deliver us from 
 the Evil One'' 
 is no longer 
 needed, bid is 
 made for us who 
 are still subject 
 to fall. How 
 then should we 
 remember them 
 when we pray! 
 
190 Purgatorio 
 
 Surely we ought to give them aid to clear 
 
 The stains they carried hence, that light and chaste 
 They issue forth upon the starry sphere. 
 
 "Ah, so may justice and may pity haste 
 
 To disemburden you and speed your wing 
 Whither your heart *s desire is wholly graced, 
 
 Tell us which passage to the stair may bring 
 Us soonest, and if more than one there be, 
 Show that where least is need of clambering: 
 
 For in the flesh of Adam comes with me 
 This person, by the burden so opprest 
 That, although willing, he mounts charily." — 
 
 The answer to these words, wherewith addrest 
 Those weary souls my Leader and my Friend, 
 Came back, from whom was yet not manifest; 
 
 But it was said : "If to the right ye wend 
 
 With us along the cliff, ye shall be shown 
 A passage where the living could ascend. 
 
 And if I were not hampered by the stone 
 Taming my neck, erewhile imperious. 
 So that perforce I hold my visage down. 
 
 Then would I scan that one, not named to us 
 But still alive, to see if him I knew. 
 And make him of this burden piteous. 
 Once one of To a great Tuscan Sire my birth is due, 
 ih)se great William Aldobrandesco: I know not 
 
 counts of banta 
 
 Flora mentioned Whether his name was ever known to you. 
 
 ^fhe^^M of ^y ancient blood, and prowesses that wrought 
 hamng a casUe My forebears, so my vanity beguiled, 
 
 ^ Zar ^""^ *'' '^^^*' ^^ ^^^ common mother losing thought. 
 
 At all men with high arrogance I smiled. 
 So that I died, as know the Sienese, 
 Where he was And knows in Campagnatico each child. 
 
 Humbert am I; nor harmed my haughtiness 
 Me only, but all those my kinsmen bred 
 Are dragged in consequence to deep distress. 
 
 killed 
 
Vanity of Artistic and Literary Fame 191 
 
 And here I cannot choose but bow my head 
 Beneath this load till satisfied be Grace, — 
 Since not alive I did it, with the dead." — 
 
 Listening to him, I bended down my face; 
 
 And one of them beneath the weight they brook 
 (Not he who spoke) twisted himself apace 
 
 And saw me and recognized and called, his look. 
 Albeit with effort, at my figure aimed 
 Which going withal their crouching posture took. 
 
 '^Art thou not Oderisi," — I exclaimed, 
 
 "Glory of Gubbio for that art of thine 
 In Paris now ^illuminating* named?" — 
 
 "Brother," said he, "the leaves more smiling shine 
 By Franco of Bologna's brush made fair: 
 His now is all the boast, eclipsing mine. 
 
 I had not been so courteous over there 
 
 While Hving, for the yearning strong in me 
 For excellence, which was my utmost care. 
 
 Here of such pride is paid the penalty; 
 
 And had I not, while free to sin, been fain 
 To turn to God, even here I should not be. 
 
 O glory of the human powers, how vain ! 
 
 Brief seasons to the summit verdure yield 
 If no beclouded era supervene. 
 
 Thought Cimabue to possess the field 
 In painting; now is Giotto in request 
 So that the elder glory is concealed. 
 
 So did one Guido from the other wrest 
 
 The palm in language; there may be, who knows? 
 One born to drive both eagles from the nest. 
 
 Worldly renown is windy breath that goes 
 
 Now hither and now yon, and changes name 
 According to the quarter whence it blows. 
 
 If old thou strip thy flesh, shall then thy fame 
 Be much more glorious than hadst thou died 
 While pap and prattle still thy lips became. 
 
 The pride of 
 the artist 
 
 Guido Guini- 
 ceUi, whom we 
 shall meet in 
 Canto xxviy 
 and Guido 
 Cavalcantit 
 whose father we 
 met in Inferno x. 
 The third poet 
 is doubtless 
 Dante himself. 
 With delicate 
 sdf-hetrayal he 
 thv^ illustrates 
 that he was not 
 exempt from 
 ""thai last in- 
 firmity of noUe 
 mind" 
 
192 Purgatorio i 
 
 A thousand years to come? a briefer tide ; 
 
 To all eternity, than wink of eye i 
 
 To circle round the Heaven most slowly plied. j 
 
 The lord of the With him who little road doth occupy I 
 
 fi^^ "'^^ ""^ ^^fo'*^ ^^> ra^g aU Tuscany of yore, | 
 Though few for him now in Siena sigh 
 
 Where he was master once, and overbore { 
 The rabidness of Florence, prostitute 
 
 At present, even as she was proud before. i 
 
 As color of the grass is your repute j 
 
 Which comes and goes ; He makes it yellow and sere i 
 
 Who summons from the earth the greening fruit."— \ 
 
 And I: "Thy truthful words make lowher ] 
 My spirit, and abate my swelhng pride: 
 
 But who is he of whom thou spokest here?'* — , 
 
 "That? Provenzan Salvani," he rephed, 
 
 "Put here because presumptuous to hold i 
 All Siena underfoot. So since he died 
 
 Has he been going, and ever as of old ; 
 
 Unresting goes; with such coin he atones) j 
 
 Who in the other hfe has been too bold.^ — j 
 
 And I : "K every spirit who postpones 
 
 Repentance till he reach life*s utmost rim \ 
 
 Cannot, unaided by good orisons, ] 
 
 Ascend the Mount, but must an interim ' 
 
 Equal to all his life remain below, — j 
 
 How has the coming been vouchsafed to him?" — ] 
 
 And he: "When living in the greatest show, j 
 
 Upon the Camjx) of Siena fain j 
 
 Was he to stand and all respect forgo: ^ 
 
 For, wishing to dehver from the pain ^ 
 Of Charles's prison house, a friend, he there 
 Compelled himself to quake in every vein. 
 
 Dante is also to I say no more, of darkling words aware; ; 
 
 '^n.tde^ B"t -I'ortly Will thy neighbors bring about ! 
 
 upon the charity That thou the pregnant comment canst prepare. 1 
 
 ci strangers rphis action from those limits let him out."— ' 
 
 J 
 
Examples of Pride Brought Low 
 
 193 
 
 XII 
 
 The Pictured Floor 
 
 Abreast, like oxen going in a yoke, 
 
 I with that heavy-laden soul went on. 
 
 By the kind Teacher's leave. But when he spoke : 
 
 **Now it behooves us leave him and be gone; 
 To ply the bark with sail and oar is best 
 Here, far as possible, for every one," 
 
 Upright, prepared for walking, I redressed 
 My body, howsoever inwardly 
 My thoughts remained both lowly and depressed. 
 
 I had moved on, and followed willingly 
 
 The footsteps of my Master, and so fleet 
 We went as showed us light of foot to be. 
 
 When said he: "Cast thine eyes down; it is meet, 
 In order well the pathway to beguile. 
 To look upon the bed beneath thy feet.^ 
 
 As, that their memory remain awhile. 
 
 Earth-level tombs above the buried show 
 The carven traces of their former style. 
 
 Whence tears for them there often freshly flow 
 Through pricking of remembrances, that stir 
 Only the tender-hearted : even so 
 
 Beheld I, but of semblance goodher 
 
 There, in accordance with the Workman's worth. 
 Figured the way along that mountain-spur. 
 
 I saw on one side him of nobler birth 
 
 Than any other creature, swift as light 
 
 Fall Hke a thunderbolt from Heaven to Earth. 
 
 I saw Briareus, smitten by the bright 
 
 Celestial dart, with chiU of death subdued. 
 Heavy up)on the ground there opposite. 
 
 I saw Thymbraeus, Pallas, Mars, who stood 
 
 In armor round their Father, and they were 
 Gazing at members of the giants strewed. 
 
 The time is near 
 noon of the 
 second day: 
 the place further 
 to the right 
 around the Ter- 
 race of the 
 Proud. The 
 symmetrical 
 rhetoric corre- 
 sponds with the 
 formal arrange- 
 ment of the pic- 
 tures. Carven 
 tombs in the 
 pavement of the 
 church are com- 
 mon in Italy; 
 but the most 
 notable example 
 of a pictured 
 floor is in the 
 Cathedral of 
 Siena (the "graf- 
 fiti"). Any 
 reader with a 
 Bible and a 
 dictionary can 
 look up the 
 examples 
 
 Series of 
 stanzas begin- 
 ning alike are 
 frequent: e.g., 
 the three begin- 
 ning with the 
 word ""Lovi* in 
 FrancesccCs 
 story (Inf. v), 
 and the more 
 elaborated series 
 in Paradiso 
 
194 Purgatorio 
 
 I saw, at foot of his great labor, stare \ 
 
 Bewildered Nimrod, where on Shinar plain i 
 
 Lay those who with him had been haughty there. , 
 
 O Niobe, with eyes how full of pain, i 
 Portrayed upon the path I saw thee too, 
 
 Between thy seven and seven children slain ! j 
 
 O Saul, how on your proj>er sword did you \ 
 
 There Hfeless upon Mount Gilboa show, ; 
 
 That felt thereafter neither rain nor dew! \ 
 
 O mad Arachne, I beheld thee so, I 
 
 Half spider, wretched on the ruin wrought ] 
 
 Upon the web thou wo vest to thy woe ! i 
 
 Rehoboam, here thy form does not | 
 
 Appear to threaten, but fulfilled with fear, 
 
 Snatcht from pursuers by a chariot ! | 
 
 Showed the hard pavement, too, what guerdon dear 1 
 
 Alcmseon made unto his mother once j 
 The ill-predestined ornaments appear; 
 
 Showed how upon Sennacherib the sons { 
 
 Fell in the temple, where, when he was slain, ] 
 
 They left him without any orisons; | 
 
 Showed how great ruin and what cruel pain ) 
 
 Wrought Tomyris, when she to Cyrus said: j 
 
 "Thy thirst for blood with blood I slake again"; \ 
 
 Showed how in panic the Assyrians fled j 
 
 As soon as Holofernes was undone, i 
 And showed the remnants of that victim dead. 
 
 1 saw in caves and ashes IHon : 
 
 O Troy, thy state how low and pitiful ! 
 
 Showed in the sculptured imagery yon ! 
 
 What Master could with brush or graving-tool : 
 
 Those lines and shades so deftly have bestowed, \ 
 
 To make the cleverest wit cry "wonderful"? i 
 
 The dead seemed dead, alive the living showed: 
 Better than I, saw not who saw the true. 
 All that I trod while bent above my road. ; 
 
T(mch of the Angel-wing 
 
 195 
 
 Now lift your haughty looks, insolent crew 
 
 Of sons of Eve, nor glance ye at the ground 
 To see the wicked way that ye pursue ! 
 
 More of the mount by us was circled round. 
 
 And the sun's course now far more nearly spent. 
 Than deemed my spirit, which was not unbound, 
 
 When he who ever vigilantly went 
 
 Before me, "Lift thy head," began to say, 
 "The time is past for going thus intent. 
 
 Lo ! yonder is an Angel in array 
 
 To come toward us : lo ! returning seen 
 
 The sixth handmaid from service of the day. 
 
 Adorn with reverence thine act and mien. 
 
 That he may gladly speed our way on high : 
 Think that this day will never dawn again." 
 
 Well wonted to his monishing was I, 
 
 On no account to squander time; and thus 
 He could not on that theme speak covertly. 
 
 Toward us came the being beauteous. 
 
 Vested in raiment white, and in his face 
 Such as appears the dawn -star tremulous. 
 
 His wings he opened, opened his embrace. 
 
 Bidding: "Approach, for hard by is the stair. 
 And from henceforward ye ascend apace. 
 
 To these glad tidings the response is rare: 
 Born to soar up, why are ye overthrown, 
 O human race, at every puff of air?" 
 
 He led us to where cloven was the stone; 
 
 Here with his wings did on my forehead smite. 
 Then promised me secure the going on. 
 
 As beyond Rubaconte, to the right. 
 
 Where sits the temple built to overlook 
 The well-directed city, the sharp flight 
 
 Of that ascent less pantingly we brook 
 
 By means of stairways fashioned in the days 
 Safe for the bushel and the audit-book; 
 
 The sixth hour, 
 — so that noon 
 is near 
 
 Ruhaconie is the 
 upper bridge at 
 Florence. The 
 steep flight of 
 steps leading to 
 San Miniato, — 
 built before the 
 public accounts 
 and standards of 
 measure were 
 tampered loith 
 
196 Purgatorio 
 
 So here the mountainside a little stays 
 
 Its dizzy drop from the succeeding round, 
 But high rocks either side the pathway graze. 
 
 As we are turning thither, voices sound, 
 
 "Blessed the poor in spirit!" — sweet concent 
 Such that to tell it words could not be found. 
 
 Ah me, these entrances how diflFerent 
 
 From that Infernal! for with anthems here 
 One enters, — there below with wild lament. 
 
 We were ascending now the holy stair. 
 
 And now I seemed to walk with lighter spring 
 Than even on the level plain whilere: 
 
 Wherefore I questioned him: "What heavy thing 
 Has been uplifted from me. Master, say. 
 That now I go almost unwearying.^^" 
 
 He answered: "When the other P*s that stay. 
 Though indistinctly, on thy forehead still. 
 Shall, like the one, be canceled quite away, 
 
 Thy feet will be so subject to good will, 
 Not only will they not be wearied out. 
 But feel delight to be urged up the hill.** 
 
 Then did I as do those who go about 
 
 Hooded they know not how, till by and by 
 The beckonings of others make them doubt; 
 The touch of the Wherefore the hand is raised to verify, 
 
 h^'l^JITLe ^^ ^^^^ *^^ *^^^S ^^ ^^^^' ^^^^ lending aid 
 
 gymbolic P from To supplement the oflBce of the eye; 
 
 ihe Tpoet't brow ^^ ^^^^ ^^Le fingers of my right outspread. 
 Six only of the letters that erewhile 
 He of the Keys had graven on my head: 
 And this my gesture made the Leader smile. 
 
Lashes of the Scourge of the Envious 197 
 
 XIII 1 
 
 Sapia of Siena \ 
 
 ■J 
 
 We now were at the summit of the stair, j^^^y afternoon 1 
 
 There where the mount that heals as one ascends «/ second day. \ 
 
 Is cut away the second time. — ^And there Envious ^ ' 
 
 A terrace round about the hillside trends j 
 
 In the same manner as the former one, \ 
 
 Save that more suddenly its contour bends. j 
 
 Shaded or graven form appeared there none: 
 
 So bare the bank, and so the pathway showed 
 
 With but the livid color of the stone. \ 
 
 "If to inquire of people we abode I 
 
 Still here," the Poet said, "I fear perchance i 
 
 It would too much delay our choice of road." 
 Then fixing on the sun a steady glance. 
 
 And centering his movement on the right. 
 
 He caused his left side round it to advance. I 
 
 "O Thou, confiding in whose kindly light ; 
 
 I enter the new pathway, lead," he said, : 
 
 **For leading here within is requisite. 
 The world thou warmest, lamping overhead; j 
 
 If other reason urge not, by thy smile .; 
 
 We ought forever to be onward led." i 
 
 As far as here we reckon for a mile. 
 
 So far there did we on our journey move 
 
 By dint of ready will, in little while; 
 And tow'rd us were heard fiying thereabove *j 
 
 Spirits invisible, with courteous I •! 
 
 Persuasion, bidding to the board of Love. 
 The first voice that went flying onward thus, 1^ 
 
 With loud proclaim cried out : "No wine have they," Uary at the 
 
 Repeating it long after passing us. marriage at 
 
 And ere, far ofiF, it wholly died away, 
 
 I heard another that was flying by, Pylades, wish- 
 
 "I am Orestes," — nor did this one stay. T^ friend 
 
198 Purgatorio 
 
 "O Father mine, what voices these?" said I; 
 
 And while I questioned, did a third one urge, 
 "Love him that uses you despitefully." 
 The Envious are And he : "This round doth castigating purge 
 scourged by rpj^ ^^ f ^ ^ j £ L are ta'en 
 
 voices of unself- •' ' 
 
 ish love. The On that account the lashes of the scourge. 
 
 ^nvyisfotd Another sound must have the bridle rein, 
 voiced at the And thou wilt hear it, if I well surmise, 
 
 closeof Canto xiv Qj. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ p^^^ ^f p^^.^^^^ ^^^^^ 
 
 But through the air intently fix thine eyes, 
 And thou shalt see along this avenue 
 People, all sitting where the rocks arise." 
 
 Then opened wider than before my view, 
 
 Taking in shades in front, with mantles on 
 That did not differ from the stone in hue. 
 
 And when we had a little farther gone, 
 
 I heard a moaning: "Mary, for us pray!" 
 
 To Michael and Peter and all the saints a moan. 
 
 I cannot think there walks the earth today 
 A man so hard as not to have been stung 
 With pity at what I saw beside the way: 
 
 For when I drew so nearly them among 
 That all their actions became manifest. 
 Out through mine eyes full bitter tears were wrung. 
 
 In haircloth mean I seemed to see them drest; 
 Each lent his shoulder unto him behind. 
 And all supported by the chff did rest. 
 
 Thus at indulgences the poor and blind 
 
 To crave their needment by the portal wait, 
 Each with his head upon the next reclined. 
 
 That others may be made compassionate 
 
 Not by the sound of words alone so soon 
 As by their looks that no less supplicate. 
 
 As profits not the blind the sun at noon. 
 
 So to the shades who sat where I have said. 
 The light of Heaven will not confer its boon; 
 
Brotherly Kindness for Envy 
 
 199 
 
 For pierces all their lids an iron thread. 
 
 And sews them up, as to a savage hawk 
 Is done, since it will not be quieted. 
 
 Methought it unbecoming so to walk 
 
 Beholding others while concealed from view; 
 Whence turned I, with my counsel sage to talk. 
 
 What the mute wished to utter, well he knew, 
 Whence did he not my questioning abide. 
 But said: "Speak to the point; let words be few." 
 
 Virgil was walking with me on that side 
 
 Whence one may fall, because a parapet 
 To girdle round the terrace is denied. 
 
 Upon the other side of me were set 
 
 The pious shades, who through the suture dread 
 Strained forth the tears until their cheeks were wet. 
 
 To them I turned me, and, beginning, said: 
 "O people sure to see the lofty Glow 
 Whereto your longing thoughts are wholly led. 
 
 May Grace soon loosen all the soilure so 
 
 From off your conscience, that descending clear 
 Through it the stream of memory may flow, 
 
 Tell me, — for welcome will it be and dear, — 
 If soul Italian here among you be; 
 It might be well for him that I should hear." 
 
 "Citizens all, O brother mine, are we 
 
 Of one true city; but be this thy word, — 
 One who a pilgrim dwelt in Italy." 
 
 By way of answer, this, methought, I heard 
 A little farther on than where I stood; 
 Whence I directed me yet thitherward. 
 
 Among the others there, one shadow showed 
 A waiting look; should any ask "How so?" 
 It lifted up its chin in blindman's mode. 
 
 "O soul, subdued that thou mayst upward go," 
 Said I, "if thou it be that answerest. 
 Vouchsafe that I \hy name or country know." 
 
 No dividing 
 lines of race or 
 tongue or laiid 
 or color 
 
200 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Hie d^eat of 
 theSienese Ghib- 
 ellines under 
 Provenzano Scd- 
 vani {Canto xi) 
 by the Floren- 
 tines 
 
 Peter the comb- 
 maker, so unu- 
 sually honest as 
 to be still remem- 
 bered in Siena 
 
 Dante confesses 
 that his besetting 
 sin is pride 
 
 "I was a Sienese, and with the rest," 
 
 She answered, "here I cleanse my life unfit, 
 Weeping to Him to come and make us blest. 
 
 Sapient was I not, though named of it 
 Sapia; greeting with far greater glee 
 Another*s bane than mine own benefit. 
 
 And that thou think me not deceiving thee. 
 Hear whether I was foolish as I tell 
 What time the years were sloping down with me. 
 
 One day the men who in my country dwell 
 Joined battle near to Colle with their foes. 
 While I was praying God for what befell. 
 
 Routed were they, and felt the bitter woes 
 Of fugitives; beyond comparison 
 My joy, on witnessing the chase, arose: 
 
 So that, uplifting my bold face thereon, 
 
 I cried to God, *Henceforth I fear Thee not !' 
 As doth the blackbird for a little sun. 
 
 Upon the utmost verge of fife I sought 
 
 For peace with God; and e*en yet would I be 
 Nowise by penitence of debt disfraught. 
 
 Had it not been that, out of charity 
 
 Grieving, with supphcations holiest, 
 Pier Pettinagno still remembered me. 
 
 But who art thou that comest making quest 
 About our state, with unimpeded eye 
 As I believe, and breathing reasonest?" 
 
 "Mine eyes will be withheld," I made reply, 
 
 "But briefly here, for small offense done when 
 With Envy they were yonder turned awry. 
 
 My spirit, too expectant of the pain 
 
 They suffer underneath, is terrified; 
 That load already weighs on me amain." 
 
 And she to me : "Who then hath been thy guide 
 Up here among us, if return is meet.'*" 
 "He with me who is silent," I replied; 
 
Desire for Good Report on Earth 201 
 
 "And living am I; whence do thou entreat 
 
 Of me, O chosen soul, wouldst have me yon 
 Yet move in thy behalf my mortal feet/' 
 
 "O strange is this to hearP — she said thereon, 
 "And of God's love to thee a happy sign; 
 Whence aid me sometime with thine orison. 
 
 And I implore by most desire of thine. 
 
 If thou shalt tread the Tuscan earth anew, 
 
 That thou make good my fame with kindred mine. 
 
 Seek them among that futile people, who 
 Place hope in Talamone, forfeiting 
 More hope than when the Dian they pursue; 
 
 But the admirals will lose a greater thing.'' 
 
 Talamone was a 
 malarial sea- 
 port which the 
 Sienese tried to 
 develop; the 
 Dian an under- 
 ground stream 
 they tried to tap. 
 The Sienese 
 "admirals" are 
 like those of 
 Switzerland. For 
 other references 
 to this fascinaP 
 ing city, see 
 Cantos V and 
 xi, and Inf. 
 xxix 
 
202 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The Terrace of 
 the Envious; 
 mid-afternoon, 
 second day 
 
 Speakers: Guido 
 del Duca, 
 Rinieri da 
 Cdboli 
 
 Course of the 
 Amo from its 
 mountain source 
 to the sea 
 
 XIV 
 
 Degeneracy of Tuscany and the Romagna 
 
 "Who is this that, ere Death have given him wing. 
 Doth circUng round about our mountain go. 
 Shutting his eyes at will, and opening?" 
 
 "I know not who he is, but he, I know. 
 
 Is not alone : ask thou, who art more nigh. 
 And greet him gently, that he answer so." 
 
 Thus, leaning each to each, held colloquy 
 
 Two spirits, sitting on the right hand there; 
 Then, to address me, with the face on high. 
 
 One said : "O soul, that dost already fare 
 
 Tow'rd Heaven, yet planted in the body thus. 
 For charity console us, and declare 
 
 Whence and who art thou; for so marvelous 
 This grace of thine appears unto our eyes. 
 As must a thing yet never known to us." 
 
 And I : "In Falterona there doth rise 
 A brook, mid-Tuscany meandering. 
 Whose course a hundred miles do not suflSce. 
 
 From thereupon do I this body bring: 
 
 To tell you who I am were speech in vain. 
 Because my name does not yet widely ring." 
 
 Then he who first had spoken said again : 
 "Thou speakst of Arno, if I picture well 
 The meaning of thy words within my brain." 
 
 Whereto the other: "Why did he not tell 
 The very word we know that river by. 
 But keep it back as something horrible?" 
 
 And the shadow that was questioned made reply: 
 "I know not, but indeed 'tis fitting for 
 The very name of such a vale to die. 
 
 For from its fountain, — ^where the waters pour 
 So amply from that rugged mountain chain 
 Tom from Pelorus, seldom teeming more. 
 
Course of the Arno 
 
 203 
 
 As far as where it renders up again 
 
 That which the heaven absorbs from out the flood, 
 
 Wherefrom the rivers have their flowing train, — 
 Virtue is driven Hke a serpent brood, 
 
 The enemy of all, or through mischance 
 
 Of place, or scourge of evil habitude. 
 Whence so disnatured are the habitants 
 
 Of that unhappy vale, it would appear 
 
 That Circe had them in her maintenance. 
 Among foul hogs, of acorns worthier 
 
 Than other viands made for use of men. 
 
 It first directs its puny thoroughfare; 
 Curs it encounters, coming downward then. 
 
 More snarling than their power gives warranty. 
 
 And turns from them its muzzle in disdain; 
 The more it flows on downward swellingly. 
 
 The more the dogs grown wolves discovers this 
 
 Accursed ditch of evil destiny; 
 Finds then, descending many a deep abyss. 
 
 Foxes so fraudulent they never fear 
 
 To be entrapt by any artifice. 
 Nor do I curb my tongue lest others hear: 
 
 And good for this man to remember well 
 
 The things true prophecy is making clear. 
 I see thy grandson, who becomes a fell 
 
 Hunter of those wolf-creatures, and dismays 
 
 All who along the cruel river dwell. 
 He "fends their fiesh while it is living, — slays 
 
 Them afterwards, as would a wild-beast hoar; 
 
 Many of life deprives, himself of praise. 
 From the grim wood he issues red with gore. 
 
 Leaving it such not thousand years will show 
 
 That river-bank rewooded as before." 
 As at announcement of impending woe. 
 
 The hearer's face betrays his troubled mood. 
 
 From wheresoever peril threaten; so 
 
 Porciano 
 
 Florence 
 
 Pisa 
 
 The ferocious 
 Podesta (chief 
 magistrate) of 
 Florence in the 
 first year of 
 Dante s exUe 
 
204 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The Romagna, 
 bounded by Po, 
 Reno, Apen- 
 nine, Adriatic 
 
 I saw that other soul, in attitude 
 
 To listen, grow perturbed and full of teen, 
 When that prophetic word he understood. 
 
 The language of the one, the other's mien 
 
 Made me desire to know the names they bore; 
 Whereof I made request, with prayers between. 
 
 Thereat the spirit that spoke to me before. 
 Began again: "Thou wilt not do the same 
 Favor to me that thou art craving for; 
 
 But if God will that forth in thee should flame 
 Such grace, I will not as a niggard do : 
 Know then, Guido del Duca is my name. 
 
 So Envy did the blood of me imbue. 
 
 That, had I seen a man grow joyful there, 
 
 Thou wouldst have seen me tinged with livid hue. 
 
 From my own sowing reap I such a tare: 
 Why set your hearts, O human progeny, 
 On what ye are permitted not to share? 
 
 This is Rinier, of the house of Calboli 
 
 The glory and the honor; from their blood 
 Has sprung no heir of his nobility. 
 
 'Twixt Po and mountain, Reno and the flood. 
 His family is not the only race 
 Stript of integrity and gentlehood; 
 
 For in these bounds replete is every place 
 
 With poisonous scions, so that late and slow 
 Could ever tilth eradicate their trace. 
 
 Henry Mainardi and good Lizio, ♦ 
 
 Pier Traversar*, Guy di Carpigna, where 
 Be they, O Romagnoles, who bastard grow? 
 
 When will Bologna now a Fabbro bear? 
 Faenza a Bernardin di Fosco when? — 
 Of humble family the noble heir. 
 
 Tuscan, let not my tears amaze thee then, 
 When Guy da Prata I recall to mind. 
 With Hugh of Azzo as he lived with men. 
 
Degenerate Houses of the Romagna 205 
 
 And Frederick Tignoso and his kind. 
 
 The Traversara, the Anastagi (those 
 Two houses in their Hneage decHned!), 
 
 The knights and ladies, labor and repose. 
 That kindled in us love and coiu-tesy. 
 Where every human heart so wicked grows. 
 
 O Brettinoro, why dost thou not flee, 
 Seeing that, not to be corrupted, go 
 Many to exile with thy family? 
 
 Well does Bagnacaval being barren so. 
 But Castrocaro ill, and bent to spawn 
 Such breed of counts, still worse does Conio. 
 
 Will do well the Pagani, when is gone 
 
 Their Demon from them; but not so that pure 
 Can ever the report of them live on. 
 
 O Hugh of Fantolini, now secure 
 
 Thy name is, which no fear may entertain 
 Of sons degenerating to obscure ! 
 
 Now, Tuscan, go thy way, for I am fain 
 
 Rather to weep than our discourse pursue. 
 So has it left my spirit wrung with pain." 
 
 That those dear souls could hear when we withdrew, 
 We were aware; and therefore confident 
 Their silence made us of the avenue. 
 
 When we became alone, as on we went, 
 
 A voice came counter to us that did say. 
 Even as when lightning cleaves the firmament: 
 
 "Every one that findeth me, shall slay;" 
 All of a sudden thereupon it passed. 
 As thunder with the storm-rack rolls away. 
 
 Soon as our ears had truce from such a blast. 
 Behold another of so loud a tone. 
 It seemed the thunderclap that follows fast: 
 
 "I am Aglauros, who became a stone!" 
 
 Backward instead of forward, at that sound 
 I stepped, and pressed the Poet hard upon. 
 
 The studious 
 reader vnll look 
 up these for- 
 gotten great in 
 Toynbee's en- 
 tertaining 
 Dante Diction- 
 ary 
 
 This Devil 
 ought to be re- 
 membered far 
 his sonorous 
 name: Ma^hi- 
 nardo Pagani 
 da Su^inana. 
 He was lord of 
 Faenza and 
 Imola. Dante 
 gives him three 
 lines in Inferno 
 xxvii (^9-51) 
 
 Cain 
 
 Apparently for 
 coveting her 
 sister's hand- 
 some lover 
 
206 Purgatorio ] 
 
 The bridle-bit or Now was the air grown quiet all around; ^ 
 
 cZt%io And he to me: "That was the galling bit ; 
 
 Which ought to keep a man within his bound. ] 
 
 But ye accept the baited hook, and it i 
 
 Draws you toward the Adversary old, j 
 
 Whence curb or call doth little benefit. 1 
 
 The Heavens are calling to you, and unfold 
 
 Their never-fading beauties to your view \ 
 
 Which ever fixt upon the earth ye hold; j 
 
 Whence the All-seeing One is scourging you." ; 
 
Ascent to the Terrace where Wrath is Purged 207 
 
 XV 
 
 Treasure in Heaven: Visions of Forbearance 
 
 As much as shows, between the dawn of day 
 
 And when the third hour closes, of the sphere 
 That Hke a child is evermore at play. 
 
 So much seemed left the sun of his career 
 Toward the night, remaining to be run: 
 There it was vespers, and 'twas midnight here. 
 
 The rays were striking full our face upon. 
 
 For so we circling round the mountain went 
 That we were going toward the setting sun; 
 
 When yet far more I felt my forehead bent 
 Beneath the splendor that did on it smite. 
 And the strange matters were my wonderment: 
 
 Wherefore I made a visor to my sight. 
 
 Lifting my hands above these brows of mine 
 So as to temper the excess of light. 
 
 As when on glass or water sunbeams shine. 
 Then in the opposite direction dart. 
 Ascending in a corresponding line 
 
 To that of their descent, and so depart 
 Equally from the plummet line away. 
 As demonstrate experiment and art; 
 
 So I felt smitten by a flashing ray 
 
 That seemed reflected full in front of me. 
 Wherefore mine eyes could not endure to stay. 
 
 "What is it. Father dear, whence cannot be 
 Suflicient shelter for my sight,^' said I, 
 "And coming on toward us seemingly?" 
 
 "Marvel thou not if dazzle yet thine eye 
 
 The family of Heaven," he answered. "Tis 
 A messenger inviting us on high. 
 
 In short while to behold such things as this 
 Will not be irksome to thee, but delight 
 So deep that Nature holds no sweeter bliss." 
 
 Late afternoon 
 of second day. 
 The sphere is 
 surely not the 
 Ecliptic but the 
 visible heavens, 
 our sky, con- 
 ceived as always 
 in happy, inno- 
 cent activity 
 
 Vespers is the 
 time from 3 to 6 
 P.M. At 3 in 
 Purgatory it 
 would be mid- 
 night in Italy 
 
^08 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Ascent to the 
 Terrace of the 
 Wraihfid 
 
 Guido del Duca: 
 lines 86, 87 
 of Canto xiv 
 
 When we had reacht the Angel benedight, 
 
 His glad voice said: "From here thou enterest 
 A stair than others far less steep of flight/^ 
 
 Departing thence, we mounted now, and Blest 
 Are the compassionate y did it intone 
 Behind us, and Rejoice, thou conquerest! 
 
 My Master and myself, we two alone, 
 
 Were going up, and, going, I took thought 
 How from his words to gain some benison; 
 
 And turned me to him, thus inquiring: "What 
 Could he have meant, the spirit Romagnole, 
 Speaking of sharing as permitted not?" 
 
 Then he : "Of his own greatest sin, that soul 
 
 Conceives the harm; whence let it not surprise 
 If he rebuke it, that there be less dole. 
 
 For inasmuch as your heart's treasure lies 
 
 Where through companionship ye lose a share, 
 Doth Envy work the bellows for your sighs. 
 
 But if love for the most exalted sphere 
 
 Should make your aspiration upward turn, 
 Ye would not harbor in your breast that fear; 
 
 Because the more there yonder be who yearn 
 
 To murmur *Ours,' the more has each, and more 
 Of charity doth in that cloister burn." 
 
 "I am further from contentment than before 
 I ceased from being silent," then I said, 
 "And more of doubt within my mind I store. 
 
 How can a single boon, distributed. 
 
 Give many holders wealth more unconfined. 
 Than if it be by few inherited.'^" 
 
 And he: "Because thou centerest thy mind 
 Only on earthly things, thy inward sight 
 Is, in the plenitude of brightness, blind. 
 
 That inexpressible and infinite 
 
 Boon up above there, so to love outflows. 
 As to a lucid body runs the light. 
 
Partnership in Spiritual Goods 209 
 
 Much as it finds of ardor, it bestows; 
 
 So that, however spread the flame of love, j 
 
 Above it the Eternal Bounty grows. ; 
 
 And the more people set their hearts above, ^ 
 
 The more love well there, and more love is wrought, ^ 
 
 And mirrors each to each the bliss thereof. ' 
 
 And if my reasoning appease thee not, i 
 
 Thou shalt have Beatrice to cancel through I 
 
 Both this and every other craving thought. ^ 
 
 Obliterated of thy wounds are two : | 
 Only endeavor that, the same as these. 
 
 The five may soon be healed by feeling rue.** ^ 
 
 As I was fain to say, "Thou dost appease," :; 
 
 Behold! another Circle did I gain, j 
 And eager eyes compelled me hold my peace. 
 
 There suddenly I felt me overtaken Three visions of ; 
 
 By an ecstatic vision, whence beguiled, kTsJ^^^to^tL 
 
 I saw a crowd of people in a fane; Wrathful 
 
 And at the door a Lady, with the mild The Virgin 
 
 Mien of a mother, seemed to say this thing: Mother 
 
 "Ah, why hast thou so dealt with us, my child? i 
 
 Thy father and myself, lo ! sorrowing ^ 
 
 Were seeking thee.'' — ^As here she ceased to speak, \ 
 
 That which had first appeared was vanishing. } 
 
 Another then appeared, adown whose cheek >. 
 
 Those waters coursed that grief distills, when great ■ 
 
 Resentment upon others it would wreak : ' 
 
 "If Master of the town that such debate ] 
 
 Caused to the gods about its name,'' said she, i 
 "And whence doth every science scintillate, 
 
 Up)on that bold embrace avenge thou thee, ; 
 
 That clasped our daughter, O Pisistratus !" Pisistratus, 
 
 Her lord benign and gentle seemed to me ^ ^-^ ^^^^ ] 
 
 To answer her with temperate manner thus: j 
 
 "What shall we do to them who wish us ill, j 
 
 K they who love us are condemned by us?" ' 
 
210 Purgatorio 
 
 The stoning of Then I saw angry folk aflame with will 
 St. Stephen rp^ gj^y ^ youth by stoning, raising cries 
 
 Hoarsely to one another: "Kill him, kill!" 
 
 And saw him bowed to earth, and now he lies 
 
 Under the weight of Death, yet, thus undone. 
 Still making gates to Heaven with his eyes; 
 
 Lifting to the High Lord his orison, 
 
 With look such as unlocks our sympathy, 
 For pardon to his slayers every one. 
 
 Soon as returned my spirit outwardly 
 
 To things external to it, which are true. 
 Did I my not erroneous errors see. 
 
 Thereon my Leader, who could see me do 
 Like one disputing slumber's masterdom, 
 Exclaimed : "What ails thee? canst not stand? go to ! 
 
 For half a league and farther art thou come 
 
 With eyes veiled over, and with legs that sway. 
 Like one with wine or slumber overcome." 
 
 Then said I: "O my gentle Father, pray 
 Listen to me, and I will tell thee what 
 I saw, when thus my legs were ta'en away 1" 
 
 "A hundred masks upon thy face would not 
 Avail to shut thy mind from me," he said, 
 "However trivial might be thy thought. 
 
 What thou hast seen was that thou mayst be led 
 To ope thy heart to waters of repose 
 That pour from the eternal fountainhead. 
 
 I did not ask *What ails thee?' as do those 
 Who only look with inattentive glance 
 When reft of consciousness the body shows. 
 
 But asked that vigorous thy foot advance : 
 
 Thus it behooves to spur the laggard, slow 
 To put to proof returning vigilance." 
 
 Still forward through the vesper did we go, 
 Straining as far as possible the eye 
 Against the late and shining rays; and lo! 
 
Benighting Effect of Wrath 211 
 
 By slow degrees toward us coining nigh The symbolic 
 
 A cloud of smoke, as gloomy as the night, *^*^ ^^ ^^'^ 
 
 Nor was there any place of shelter by: 
 
 This of pure air bereft us and of sight. 
 
212 Purgatorio 
 
 XVI 
 
 Lawlessness of the Temporal Power of the 
 Clergy 
 
 Terrace of tlie The gloom of Hades and of shades that shroud 
 7^n o/S Every star beneath a barren sky, 
 
 second day As much as can be overcast with cloud. 
 
 Made never veil so thick unto mine eye 
 Nor of so rough a tissue to the feeling, 
 As did that smoke we there were covered by, 
 
 From the closed eye all vision quite concealing; 
 Whereat mine Escort sapient and tried 
 Offered me help, his shoulder tow'rd me wheeling. 
 
 Even as a bhnd man goes behind his guide. 
 And lest he haply stumble against aught 
 Might hurt or kill him, does not go aside. 
 
 So faring through that bitter fume, I caught 
 The accents of my Guide, who did but say: 
 "Take care that we be separated not !" — 
 
 Voices I heard, and each appeared to pray 
 
 That might in peace and in compassion come 
 The Lamb of God who takes our sins away. 
 
 Just Agnus Dei was their exordium: 
 
 One measure was for all, and one desire. 
 So that in harmony seemed all and some. 
 
 "Master, can what I hear," did I inquire, 
 
 "Be spirits .f*" — "Thou hast said it," he replied, 
 "And they go loosening the knot of ire." — 
 
 "Now who art thou cleaving our smoke aside. 
 Who art discoursing of us even as though 
 Thou didst by calends still the time divide?" — 
 
 Speech by a single voice was uttered so: 
 
 Whereat the Master said: "Thy answer be 
 To ask if here the pathway upward go." — 
 
 And I: "O creature that art cleansing thee. 
 To return beautiful to Him who made, 
 Shalt hear a wonder if thou follow me." — 
 
The Good Marco Lomhardo 
 
 213 
 
 "I'll follow thee far as I may/' it said, 
 
 "And if the smoke still make our seeing vain, 
 To keep us joined shall hearing serve instead." — 
 
 "Swathed in the bands that Death unbinds again," 
 Began I, "do I go the upward road. 
 And hither came I through the eternal pain; 
 
 And since enfolds me so the grace of God, 
 Showing His will that I behold His court 
 By way quite other than our modern mode. 
 
 What man thou wast ere death do thou report. 
 Concealing naught, and tell me if I go 
 Right for the pass; and let thy words escort." 
 
 "Lombard was I, called Marco; and did know 
 The world's concerning, and that virtue love 
 Whereat each one has now unbent the bow: 
 
 For mounting up do thou straight forward move." — 
 Thus answering, "I pray thee," added he, 
 "To pray for me when thou shalt be above." — 
 
 And I to him : "I pledge my faith to thee 
 
 To do that which thou era vest; but I burst 
 With inward doubt till from it I am free. 
 
 Elsewhere suggested, it was simple first. 
 
 But now confirmed by words which thou hast said. 
 Redoubled, and to know the cause I thirst. 
 
 The world in very deed is forfeited 
 
 To vice by virtue all, as thou dost say. 
 And is with evil big and overspread: 
 
 But put thy finger on the cause, I pray. 
 That I, discerning it, let others know 
 Whether the blame to heaven or earth to lay." — 
 
 Voicing his deep sighs in a cry by woe 
 
 Wrung from him, he began: "The world is blind. 
 Brother, and sooth thou comst from there below. 
 
 All causes are by you who live assigned 
 To Heaven above, as if its motion still 
 Did of necessity all natures bind. 
 
 Marco Lom- 
 bardo: a great 
 figure in his day, I 
 who left a repu- j 
 tation for sagac- i 
 iiy, vyit, brusque \ 
 candor, liber- 
 ality, honor. If \ 
 he was prone to 
 ire, he probably \ 
 had good reason i 
 
214 Purgatorio 
 
 If this were true, your freedom of the will 
 
 Would be destroyed, and it would not be right 
 To have or joy for good, or grief for ill. 
 The Heavens do your first impulses excite, — 
 I say not all; but grant that this I said. 
 For good or evil there is given you light 
 And free volition; which to battle led 
 
 Against the stars, though weary it commence. 
 Finally conquers all, if rightly fed. 
 Though free, ye are subject to omnipotence 
 
 And better nature, which doth in you mold 
 The mind, exempt from starry influence. 
 Hence if the present world go uncontrolled. 
 In you the cause, let it be sought in you : 
 And true intelligence I now unfold. 
 Forth from the hand of her Creator, who 
 
 Loves her before she be, in maiden guise, 
 With gleeful laughter and with tears of rue. 
 Issues the innocent soul, in nothing wise 
 
 Save that from her blithe Maker, she again 
 BKthely turns thither where her pleasure lies. 
 Cheated at first, she tastes the savor vain 
 Of trivial good, and runs to that desire. 
 Her love by guide unbended or by rein. 
 Hence law by way of bridle we require; 
 Require a king discerning from aloof 
 Of the true city of God at least the spire. 
 Chewing the cud Laws are, — but who to put them to the proof? 
 ^^^^nm V* ^one: since the shepherd, he who goes before, 
 
 the Pastor. The Can chew the cud but cleaveth not the hoof. 
 
 It ^r^t'e^^^ Whence folk who see their leader striking for 
 slip, symbolizes That having which they greedily pursue, 
 
 MmoAhe ^"^g f^^ ^t^ that, hunger for nothing more. 
 
 magistraie. But Well canst thou see that governance untrue 
 
 tsI^tihT ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ t^^t ^^*^ ^^^^ t^^ ^^^^^ malign, 
 
 functions of the And not that nature is corrupt in you. 
 
The Church of Rome Falls in the Mire 215 
 
 Rome, that redeemed the world, once gave to shine 
 Two suns, which both the one and the other course 
 Made manifest, — the worldly, the divine. 
 
 The one hath quencht the other; and perforce, 
 The sword together with the crozier wed, 
 111 can but come of it till they divorce. 
 
 Since, joined, the one doth not the other dread. 
 Consider well, if thou beheve not so. 
 The fruit, for every plant is known by seed. 
 
 In the land laved by Adige and Po, 
 
 Valor was once in vogue, and courtesy. 
 Ere Frederick had quarreled with his foe; 
 
 Now can fare through it with security 
 
 Any whom sense of shame may set at strife 
 From speaking with the good or drawing nigh. 
 
 Survive still, to rebuke the manners rife, 
 
 Three veterans, and long appears the road 
 To them, till God conduct to better life: 
 
 Conrad, named of Palazzo, Gerard good. 
 And Guido of Castello, — better say 
 The loyal Lombard, after the French mode. 
 
 The Church of Rome, declare thou from this day. 
 That would in double government engage. 
 Falls with its burden in the miry way.'' — 
 
 "O Marco mine," said I, "thy words are sage; 
 And now I see why Levi's children should 
 Have been excluded from the heritage. 
 
 But who is Gerard, that example good. 
 Thou sayest, of a generation spent. 
 Who lives to upbraid our barbarous period?" — 
 
 "Cheat me thy words, or make experiment. 
 
 In that thou, speaking Tuscan," he replied, 
 "Seemst of good Gerard unintelligent. 
 
 I know him not by any name beside, 
 
 Unless 'twere from his daughter Gaia drawn. — 
 I come no farther; so be God your guide. 
 
 This somewhat 
 indejinite allu- 
 sion doubtiess 
 involves a com- 
 jdiment to a 
 great lady who 
 inherited and 
 increased the 
 honor of a stain- 
 less name. Any 
 other interpre- 
 tation is both 
 baseless and 
 graceless 
 
216 Purgatorio 
 
 Already through the smoke the splendor yon 
 Is whitening, — the Angel is there, — before 
 He has perceived me, I must needs be gone." — 
 
 So he turned back, and would not hear me more. 
 
Three Lifelike Visions 
 XVII 
 
 217 
 
 Profitable Discourse during the Second Night 
 
 Recall to mind if ever shut thee in, 
 
 Reader, a cloud upon the Apennine, 
 Wherethrough thou sawest but as mole through 
 skin; 
 
 How, when the dank, dense vapors discombine. 
 And slowly fall away, the solar sphere 
 Comes struggling in again with feeble shine; 
 
 And to thy fantasy it will be clear 
 
 Immediately, how I saw once more 
 The sun, that was already setting here. 
 
 To the sure footsteps of my Counselor 
 
 Matching my own, from such a cloud I thus 
 Emerged to rays now dead on the low shore. 
 
 O power of fancy, oft withdrawing us 
 
 So from without, we show indifference 
 
 Though a thousand trumpets round are clamorous. 
 
 Who moves thee if impel thee not the sense? 
 Moves thee a heaven-informed illumining. 
 Led down by will or starry influence. 
 
 Appeared the trace in my imagining 
 
 Of her, the pitiless, who changed, some say. 
 Into the bird that most delights to sing; 
 
 And here my intellect in such a way 
 
 Was lockt within, that nothing was descried 
 Of any object that outside it lay. 
 
 In my raised fantasy, one crucified 
 
 Rained down thereafterward, of scornful mood 
 And rancorous in mien, and so he died. 
 
 Around him great Ahasuerus stood, 
 
 Esther his wife, just Mordecai, he who 
 In word and deed was of such rectitude. 
 
 And as this image of itself withdrew. 
 
 Collapsing like a bubble when it wants 
 The film of water it was fashioned through, 
 
 Sunset of secona 
 day. Terrace 
 of the Wrathfi.' 
 
 Procne {or 
 Progne), see 
 Canto ix, 15. 
 Dante follows 
 Ovid. There is a 
 more common 
 version of the 
 myth that makes 
 Philomela the 
 nightingale 
 
 Haman (Book of 
 Esther). TheVuU 
 gate in one 'place 
 terms the scaf- 
 fold a ^cross^ 
 
218 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Lavinia, whose 
 mother had 
 kiUed herself at 
 a false report of 
 the death of 
 Turnus. Mneid 
 
 Ascent to the 
 Terrace of the 
 SloOifvl 
 
 Uprose a youthful maiden in my trance. 
 
 Bitterly weeping, and she cried: "O Queen, 
 Why wouldest thou be naught in petulance? 
 
 To lose Lavinia not, thyself hast slain: 
 
 Now thou hast lost me; she who mourns am I, 
 Mother, for thee, ere for another's teen.'* — 
 
 And even as slumber breaks, when suddenly 
 
 Upon closed eyelids strikes the morning light, 
 And, broken, wavers ere it wholly die. 
 
 So fell away from me this fancied sight. 
 
 Soon as there struck upon my face a glare 
 
 That, matched with what we know, seemed infinite. 
 
 When I had turned to see the way to fare, 
 
 I heard: "Here go ye up!" in accents blest 
 Withdrawing me from every other care. 
 
 Making my will so eager in request 
 
 To know the speaker, and to look and see. 
 That, until face to face, it cannot rest. 
 
 But as before the sun, excessively 
 
 Resplendent, veiling so its form from sight, 
 Thus was the power deficient here in me. 
 
 '^This is a spirit divine, who tow'rd the height. 
 
 Without our prayer, points where we should be 
 
 hieing. 
 And wraps himself about with his own fight. 
 
 He deals with us as self to self replying; 
 
 For who awaits the prayer, and feels the need, 
 Mafignly leans already to denying. 
 
 To such inviting let our feet be sped: 
 
 Now press we up ere darkness round us be, 
 For else we cannot until dawn is red." — 
 
 When so had said my Leader, I and he 
 
 Together toward a stairway turned our feet; 
 And soon as I had reacht the first degree. 
 
 My face was fanned as by a pinion's beat. 
 
 And I heard say: "Blest the Peacemakers are, 
 Because by evil anger not beset." — 
 
The Seven Roots of Sin 
 
 219 
 
 Now were uplifted over us so far 
 
 The parting beams whereon the night pursues. 
 
 That upon every side shone forth a star. 
 "Alas, why are my sinews grown so loose?" 
 
 Within me I began to murmur, for 
 
 I felt my power of limb was put in truce. 
 Come were we where ascended now no more 
 
 The stairway up, and there we fast were stayed, 
 
 Even as a vessel moored upon the shore; 
 And for a little while I gave full heed 
 
 If aught were heard within the circle new; 
 
 Then to my Master turned about, and said: 
 "Inform me here, beloved Father true. 
 
 What fault is in this circle purified? 
 
 Though pause the feet, let not thy word so do." — 
 And he to me: "The love of good, denied 
 
 Its due activity, is here restored; 
 
 Here the ill-slackened oar again is plied. 
 Wouldst thou more clearly comprehend my word. 
 
 Be but attentive and, although we wait, 
 
 Thou shalt derive some profit and reward. 
 Neither Creator, no, nor thing create. 
 
 Son," he began, "was ever void of love, — 
 
 Thou knowest it, — or of spirit, or innate. 
 Innative love doth ever faultless prove; 
 
 But the other, by ill aim, or little might. 
 
 Or by excessive might, is prone to rove. 
 While tends to primal goods the appetite. 
 
 In secondary things self -moderator. 
 
 It cannot be the cause of ill delight; 
 But when it turns to evil, or with greater 
 
 Or less than proper zeal, on good is bent. 
 
 The creature works against its own Creator. 
 As seed in you of all that's excellent. 
 
 Thou mayest infer that Love must needs have 
 served, 
 
 And of each act that merits punishment. 
 
 Second nightr 
 faU 
 
 ''Accidiar {cf. 
 Inf. vii, last 
 few lines) : 
 Spiritual indif- 
 ference or torpor 
 (not, of course, 
 physical sloth) 
 
 Two hinds of 
 love: innate and 
 self-directed 
 
 When love of 
 worldly goods is 
 not rnoderated, 
 or when love of 
 spiritual good is 
 torpid 
 
220 
 
 Piirgatorio 
 
 Pride 
 
 Envy 
 
 Wrath 
 
 These three 
 affections 
 purged in the 
 lower terraces 
 
 Sloth 
 
 Sensual enjoy- 
 ment takes three 
 forms, as will he 
 seen later 
 
 Now, since there never was a love that swerved 
 From goods that proper to its person be. 
 From their own hatred are all things preserved; 
 
 And since no being independently 
 
 Can be conceived, cut from the First away, 
 From hating Him is all affection free. 
 
 Hence if, distinguishing, I rightly say 
 
 It is your neighbor's harm you love, takes root 
 This love in triple fashion in your clay. 
 
 There are who, seeing their neighbor underfoot, 
 Hope to excel, and for this reason, down 
 From his high pinnacle would have him put. 
 
 There are who power, grace, honor, or renown 
 Fearing to forfeit, if another rise. 
 Crave the reverse, and on his fortune frown; 
 
 Then those who seem to chafe at injuries. 
 
 Greedy for vengeance, so that it behooves 
 Them evil to another to devise. 
 
 Yonder below are wept these threefold loves: 
 Now of the other do I thee to wit. 
 That to the good in faulty measure moves. 
 
 Vaguely each one conceives a benefit 
 
 Wherein the mind may rest, and yearns thereto; 
 Whence each endeavors to attain to it. 
 
 If languid be the love inciting you 
 
 To look upon it, or to make pursuit. 
 This Cornice pains you on repentance due. 
 
 There's other good wherein there is no boot: 
 It is not happiness, is not the good 
 Essence, of every good the fruit and root. 
 
 The love that yields unduly to such mood 
 Is up above be wept in circles three; 
 But how it were tripartite understood, 
 
 I leave unspoken, to be sought by thee." — 
 
Here the Will to Sin Is Purified 221 
 
 Note 
 
 The discourses of Love and Free Will explain the radical difference 
 between the classification of sins in Hell and that which is set forth 
 here (cf. Inferno xi). In Hell specific sinful deeds are punished; here 
 the Will is purified. Thus the generic vice which Dante calls Avarice 
 may be the occasion of a great variety of specific sins. To repent of a 
 given sin is one thing; to have the crooked Will so straightened that 
 Love is awakened for the corresponding virtue, is quite another. The 
 avaricious, for example, desires to continue his cleansing and straight- 
 ening process until unselfish generosity becomes a passion in him. 
 
222 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Second night- 
 Terrace of the 
 Slothful 
 
 Philosophical 
 discourse con- 
 tinned 
 
 ^Form^ — i.e., 
 nature: fire 
 tends to rise to 
 the sphere of fire 
 {cf. dose of 
 Par. i) 
 
 XVIII 
 
 Love and Free Will 
 
 Having made end now to his argument. 
 Into my face the lofty Teacher flung 
 A searching look, if I appeared content. 
 
 And I, with a new thirst already stung, 
 
 Was mute without, and said within: "Perchance 
 I trouble him by questioning too long." — 
 
 But that true Father, who took cognizance 
 
 Of the shy wish that would no word afford. 
 By speaking, heartened me to utterance. 
 
 Whence I: "My vision is so well restored 
 In thy light. Master, that I clearly see 
 The whole scoi>e and the import of thy word. 
 
 I pray thee, therefore, to expound to me 
 
 The Love whereto thou tracest, Father kind. 
 Every good action and its contrary." — 
 
 "Direct to me the keen eyes of the mind, 
 And the error will be manifest to thee. 
 Of those who would be leaders, being blind. 
 
 The soul, to love created prone and free, 
 Is mobile to all objects of delight. 
 When roused by pleasure to activity. 
 
 From something real your perceptive sight 
 
 Shapes forth an image and displays in you. 
 So as to make the spirit turn to it; 
 
 And if, so turning, she incline thereto. 
 
 That inclination is Love, is Nature's bent 
 Through pleasure striking root in you anew. 
 
 Then, even as fire has motion of ascent, 
 
 By virtue of its form which makes it wing 
 To where it dwells more in its element: 
 
 So the rapt soul doth into longing spring, 
 A spiritual motion, never still 
 Till she rejoice in the beloved thing. 
 
Ethics Based on Freedom of Will 223 
 
 Now may be evident how very ill 
 
 They view the truth, who would aver to thee 
 That all love in itself is laudable. 
 
 Because its matter may ideally 
 
 Appear good always: but not every seal 
 Is good, however good the wax may be." — 
 
 "Thy words, and my wit following, reveal 
 Love and its nature to me,'' answered I, 
 "But therefore all the greater doubt I feel; 
 
 For if Love offer from without, and by 
 Another foot the spirit travel not. 
 She has no merit, go she straight or wry." — 
 
 And he to me : "As far as pierces thought, 
 
 Myself can tell: beyond that fix thy mind 
 On Beatrice, that faith in thee be wrought. 
 
 Every substantial form that is conjoined 
 With matter, and yet from it cut away, 
 Holds inward virtue of specific kind, 
 
 Which, save in act, is not brought into play, 
 By its effect alone in evidence. 
 Like life in plant evinced by the green spray. 
 
 Thus, whence originates intelligence 
 Of first ideas, is unknown to thee. 
 And bent of the primordial appetence. 
 
 Which are in you as study in the bee 
 
 To make its honey; and such primal bent 
 Of neither praise nor blame receives the fee. 
 
 Now, that with this may all desires consent. 
 The power that counsels is innate in you, 
 And ought to hold the threshold of assent. 
 
 This is the principle wherefrom accrue 
 
 The grounds of your desert, as gathering 
 And winnowing the false loves from the true. 
 
 Who to the bottom went in reasoning. 
 Took notice of this inborn liberty. 
 Thus morals to the world delivering. 
 
 The Ejncureans 
 
 ''Footr-^.e. 
 motive 
 
 Virgil stands 
 merely for 
 human reason 
 
 Scholastic 
 phrasing: sauly 
 although joined 
 with matter, is 
 yet distinct 
 from it 
 
 Reason watches 
 at the threshold 
 between this in- 
 stinct and free 
 desires 
 
 Aristotle and 
 Plato recognized 
 free will as the 
 cornerstone of 
 Ethics 
 
^24 Purgatorio ] 
 
 Assuming, then, that from necessity i 
 
 All love is kindled rightly or amiss. 
 
 To hinder it ye have ability. j 
 
 This noble virtue is called by Beatrice | 
 
 The Freedom of the Will; take heed aright 
 
 If she begin to speak to thee of this." — } 
 
 For this compli- The slow moon tow'rd the middle of the night, ■ 
 
 cated series of Shaped like a bucket all ablaze, more wan , 
 
 aUusions I must ^^-r i i n • • i ' 
 
 refer the curious Now made the constellations to our sight, j 
 
 reader to ^j^^j counter to the heavens that pathway ran ' 
 
 Moore s 'Stud- tt , i i • i • i i p t» 
 
 ies in Dante," Fired by the setting sun, which he ot Home 
 
 ill, 71-73 gggg 'twixt Sardinian and Corsican; i 
 
 The modem When he, that noble shade by fame of whom i 
 
 U^ iLr^^^'^'^ Pietola every Mantuan town outwent, ' 
 
 Had put aside my fardel burdensome: 
 
 So that I, who explicit argument j 
 
 And lucid to my questioning had found, j 
 
 Remained like one who rambles somnolent. ^ 
 
 The purgation But from this somnolence I was unbound j 
 
 of the Slothful ^1 of a sudden by a multitude ; 
 
 Toward us from behind now coining round. 
 Of old Ismenus and Asopus viewed 
 
 Such hurrying throng at night their banks beside. 
 
 Their patron god If Thebans but in need of Bacchus stood, 1 
 As these who round that Cornice curve their stride. 
 
 From what I saw of those approaching me, j 
 
 On whom good will and right affection ride. | 
 The voices in the They were soon upon us, for that great company 
 
 airthat^scourge" ^^^ coming at a run; and with lament ; 
 
 the indifferent rr» . i • i i i ' 
 
 Two in advance cried out alternately: - 
 
 "Mary with haste to the hill country went," j 
 
 And "Caesar, that he might Ilerda gain, \ 
 Struck at Marseilles, then sweeping Spainward 
 
 bent."— ^ 
 
 "Quick, quickly, lest the time be spent in vain \ 
 Through little love!" — then cried the others, — "So 
 Well-doing zeal may make grace green again." — ; 
 
Scourges of the Slothful 
 
 225 
 
 "O people, in whom keen zeal redeemeth now. 
 Perchance, delay and negligence in you 
 By lukewarmth in well-doing shown below, 
 
 This man who Hves (I surely tell you true!) 
 Would fain go up, if shine again the sun; 
 So tell us where is nearest passage through." — 
 
 These words were spoken by my Guide; and one 
 Among those spirits answered: "Follow us. 
 And thou shalt find the opening anon. 
 
 We are so full of zeal for running thus. 
 
 We cannot stay; pardon, we therefore cry. 
 If this our duty seem discourteous. 
 
 San Zeno's abbot at Verona I, 
 
 Beneath good Barbarossa's empire, whom 
 Yet Milan cannot name without a sigh. 
 
 And one has foot already in the tomb 
 
 Who shall erelong that monastery rue. 
 And rue the having had there masterdom. 
 
 Because his son, in body lame, thereto 
 
 Mind lamer still, and who was born amiss, 
 He put in office of its pastor true." — 
 
 I know not whether yet he held his peace, 
 So far beyond us he was hurrying. 
 But gladly I remember hearing this. 
 
 And he who was my help in everything 
 
 Now said: "Turn hitherward and look, — ^two more 
 Are coming onward, giving sloth a sting." 
 
 ^'Dead were the folk whom ocean op>ened for," 
 
 They, bringing up the rear, were crying thus, 
 "Ere Jordan lookt on its inheritor," — 
 
 And, — ^^Those who found it too laborious 
 To bide the issue with Anchises' son. 
 Gave themselves up to life inglorious." — 
 
 Then, when so distant were those shades that none 
 Could more be seen of all that multitude. 
 My mind began upon new thoughts to run. 
 
 Albert, lord of 
 Verona^ had 
 made the prior- 
 ate a berth for 
 his lame natural 
 
 Those lukewarm 
 Children of 
 Israel who were 
 left in the urU- 
 demess, and 
 those followers 
 of Mneas wlio 
 chose to stay in 
 Sicily 
 
226 Purgatorio 
 
 The medley of Whence many more were born, a motley brood; 
 ^Iti^rean, ^nd so did one upon another teem, 
 
 I lapsed with closed eyes into drowsihood. 
 Transmuting meditation into dream. 
 
Dream of the Siren 
 
 %<m 
 
 XIX 
 
 A Repentant Pope (Adrian V) 
 
 It was the hour wherein the heat of noon. 
 By Saturn haply, or by earth undone. 
 Can warm no more the coldness of the moon; 
 
 When geomancers see before the dawn 
 
 Their Greater Fortune rising eastward through 
 A course she will not long go darkling on; 
 
 I saw in dream a stammering woman, who 
 Was squint of eye, and of distorted feet. 
 Bereft of hands, and sallow in her hue. 
 
 I gazed at her: as from the sun streams heat 
 Into the limbs made chilly by the night. 
 Even so my gazing served to liberate 
 
 Her tongue, and erelong wholly set her right. 
 And with the pallor of her features blent 
 The flushes that to love are requisite. 
 
 Thereon her speech became so eloquent. 
 
 And so her song began to charm mine ear. 
 That scarce could I away from her have bent: 
 
 "Sweet Siren I, who witch the mariner 
 Amid the billows,'' she began to sing, 
 "So full of pleasantness am I to hear; 
 
 I turned Ulysses from his wandering 
 
 By power of song; who listen to my strain 
 Seldom depart from me, all-solacing." — 
 
 Her parted lips had not yet closed again. 
 Ere for her quick confusion, at my side, 
 A Lady holy and alert was seen. 
 
 "O Virgil, Virgil, who is this!" — she cried 
 Indignantly; and he was drawing near 
 With looks but to that modest Virtue tied. 
 
 He seized the other one and laid her bare. 
 Rending her garb, the belly to display; 
 This waked me with the stench arising there. 
 
 Before dawn of 
 the third day: 
 Dante's Dream 
 
 This vxyman, 
 whatever her 
 name, is the 
 original of her 
 who is ^of so 
 frightful mien as 
 to be hated needs 
 but to be seen" 
 
 Dante, who 
 knew Homer 
 only by tradition 
 and comment, 
 confuses the 
 Siren loith 
 
 There is dror 
 malic contrast 
 between this 
 dream of Vir- 
 giTs negligence 
 and his real 
 watchfulness 
 
228 Purgatorio 
 
 Eying the Master good, I heard him say: 
 
 "Thrice have I called thee; rise and come, to find 
 The opening where goes thy passageway." — 
 
 I rise: lo! round the sacred mountain wind 
 The Cornices in open day; and now 
 We go our way with the new sun behind. 
 
 Following after him, I bore my brow 
 
 Like one who makes himself, o 'erborne with thought. 
 Into the half -arch of a bridge to bow; 
 The voice of an When "Come, here is the passage!" — this I caught 
 ^^ In accents mild, of such benignity 
 
 As in this mortal region hear we not. 
 
 With open wings that seemed of swan*s-down, he 
 Upward directed who had spoken thus. 
 Between two walls of solid masonry. 
 
 Thereon with moving pinions fanned he us, 
 AflSrming that the mourners shall be blest. 
 Their souls endowed with solace plenteous. 
 
 "What ails thee that thou earthward rivetest 
 
 Thy glance?" — began to say to me my Guide, 
 When somewhat past the Angel we had pressed. 
 
 And I: "With such misgiving am I plied 
 By novel vision of compulsive stress. 
 So that my thoughts as by a spell are tied." — 
 
 "Hast seen," said he, "that ancient sorceress? 
 She who alone is now bewept up yond. 
 And seen how man is loosed from her duress? 
 
 Be it enough, — beat heels upon the ground, — 
 Lift eyes toward the lure up, that with vast 
 Circles, the Eternal King is whirling round." — 
 
 Like hawk that, eying first his feet, at last 
 
 Turns to the call and spreads his pinions out, 
 By longing yonder drawn to break his fast; 
 
 Such I, and such, far as affords a route 
 
 The cloven rock to them who upward go, 
 I went where starts the circling round about. 
 
A Worldly Prelate, a Repentant Pope 229 1 
 
 When opened to me the Fifth Cornice, lo ! Fifth Terrace: 
 
 People who wept upon it there, nor stirred Amrice^^ J 
 
 From lying prone, with faces turned below. 
 
 "My soul hath to the pavement cleaved !" I heard ' 
 
 Their voices uttering with such deep sighs, ! 
 
 That one could hardly understand the word. 
 
 "O ye elect of God, whose agonies ^ 
 
 Are made by justice and by hope less grim, - 
 
 Direct us where the lofty stairs uprise." — = 
 "Come ye exempt from lying prone of limb. 
 
 And would mount upward by the quickest way, i 
 
 Let your right hand be ever tow*rd the rim." — 
 Reply was made thus from not far away 
 
 To this prayer of the Poet; wherefore I ■ 
 
 Marked something which the speaker failed to say, i 
 And thereon to my Master turned mine eye; 
 
 WTierefore with cheerful sign he gave assent '. 
 
 To what my looks were craving wistfully. \ 
 
 When I could act according to my bent, ! 
 
 I said, and stood above that being there, ! 
 
 Whose words already rendered me intent: , 
 
 "Spirit, whose weeping ripens thee to bear \ 
 
 Fruit without which to God is no returning, | 
 
 Suspend awhile for me thy greater care. j 
 
 Who wast thou.'* Why your backs thus upward turning? ; 
 
 When I go yon whence moved my living feet, j 
 
 Can I do aught to satisfy thy yearning?" — : 
 "Shalt learn," said he, "why Heaven esteems it meet 
 
 We turn our backs to it; but meanwhile know I 
 
 I was successor to Saint Peter's seat. 
 'Twixt Sestri and Chiavari doth flow 
 
 A river fair, whose title of renown i 
 
 Springs from my race. A month sufficed to show | 
 How heavy the Great Mantle weighs on one Mournful xoords \ 
 
 Who seeks to guard it from the miry sty, p^^ ^^^^ " j 
 
 So that all other burdens seem but down. " 
 
230 Purgatorio 
 
 Ah me! too late conversion here I sigh: 
 
 But when I gained the Pastorate of Rome, 
 Then learned I life for what it is, a lie. 
 
 There for the longing heart I found no home. 
 Nor in that life a loftier ascent; 
 So love of this sprang up in me therefrom. 
 
 Till then I was a spirit malcontent. 
 
 Alien from God, devoted all to gain. 
 Whence thou beholdest here my punishment. 
 
 The effect of avarice is here made plain 
 In purging of converted souls: upon 
 The Mountain nowhere is more bitter pain. 
 
 Even as our eye was not uplifted yon 
 
 To Heaven, but fixed upon the things of earth, 
 So Justice here has sunk it earthward down. 
 
 As avarice quenched our love to all of worth 
 So that our power of doing good was spent, 
 So Justice binds us here in utter dearth 
 
 Of freedom on this ledge, thus impotent: 
 
 So long as please our Father just and good, 
 So long we stay immobile and distent.^' — 
 
 I had knelt down, and would have fain pursued 
 The conversation, but he seemed to know 
 ^ By hearing, of my reverent attitude: 
 
 "What cause," said he, "has bowed thee downward 
 so?"— 
 And I : "By reason of your Dignity 
 My upright conscience urged the posture low." — 
 He is no longer "Make straight thy legs; rise, brother!" — answered he, 
 Spomrof li^' "^"" ^^^' because I feUow-service hold 
 
 Bride Under one Power with others and with thee. 
 
 If thou that holy Gospel word of old 
 
 Which saith, *They neither marry,' ever weighed, 
 Why thus I speak thou mayst full well behold. 
 
 Now go : I would not have thee longer stayed. 
 For while thou tarriest my tears I stay. 
 Whereby I ripen that which thou hast said. 
 
Only Alagia Left to Pray for Him 231 
 
 I have a niece there named Alagia, Wife of the 
 
 Good in herself, if but our family Mdaspina who 
 
 T, .„ 1111 o^nended the 
 
 J5y ill example lead her not astray: Poet in 1306. 
 
 And she alone on earth is left to me."^ — T^ speaker 
 
 leaves Dante to 
 infer why the 
 lady is men- 
 tioned. See 
 dose of Canto 
 via 
 
232 Purgatorio 
 
 XX 
 
 The Founder of a Great Royal House 
 
 Third day: Counter to better will strives will in vain : 
 
 "F^ih'rJZl!' Whence I, for his content, with discontent 
 
 where Avarice is Dry from the water drew the sponge again. 
 
 ^^^ I moved, and with my Leader onward went 
 
 Along the cliff through gaps none occupy, 
 As by a wall hugging the battlement; 
 Because that folk distilling through the eye 
 The ill wherewith the world is all possest. 
 On the other side too near the margin lie. 
 This terrible Thou old She-Wolf, may curses on thee rest, 
 H pZZiie That more than aU the other beasts hast prey, 
 
 beginning {Inf. i) Because thy hungry maw gap)es hoUowest! 
 
 O Heaven, in whose revolving, p)eople say. 
 Conditions are transmuted here below, 
 When comes he who shall drive this wolf away? 
 We went along with paces few and slow. 
 And I attentive to the utterance 
 Of shadows weeping and lamenting so; 
 Examples of the When on in front of us I heard, by chance, 
 ZtuT^'"'^ "O blessed Mary !"— even as makes her moan 
 
 A childing woman; and in continuance, 
 "What poverty was thine may well be known 
 By thy poor entertainment at the inn 
 Where thou didst lay thy holy burden down." — 
 Reused the Then: "Good Fabricius, who wouldest win 
 P^ynhui ^^^ "^^^^ ^^ virtue linkt with poor estate, 
 
 ' Far rather than great opulence with sin !" — 
 
 These words were of delight to me so great. 
 
 That I pushed on, more knowledge to possess 
 thrJ^'d^L ^ *^^* ^^"^ whence they seemed to emanate. 
 
 into their tdn- It went on speaking of the largesses 
 1Z "frTdis, pf Ni'^holf to the girk, their maidenhood 
 
 honor Thus leading in the path of righteousness. 
 
A Sweeping Historical Survey 
 
 233 
 
 "O soul abounding in report so good. 
 
 Tell who thou wast, and why alone,** I said, 
 "By thee these worthy praises are renewed? 
 
 Thy words shall have a meed well merited. 
 If I return to finish the brief race 
 Of mortal life that tow'rd the end is sped/* — 
 
 "I'll tell thee, not that I from yonder place 
 
 May hope relief," he said, "but since there shoot 
 Forth from thee ere thy death such gleams of grace. 
 
 I was of that malignant plant the root. 
 
 Shadowing so all Christian lands that they 
 Yield niggard harvesting of wholesome fruit. 
 
 But ah ! if Bruges and Ghent and Lille and Douay 
 W^re potent, there would light on it swift doom; 
 And this of Him who judges all I pray. 
 
 I was called there Hugh Capet : from me come 
 The Louises and Philips every one 
 Who recently in France hold masterdom. 
 
 A mere Parisian butcher called me son. 
 
 When ceased the ancient monarchs to exist. 
 Save one, betaken unto orders dun, 
 
 Then found I tightly clenched within my fist 
 
 The bridle of the realm, with power that goes 
 With multitude of friends, and new acquist; 
 
 So to the widowed diadem arose 
 
 The head of mine own son; from whom took birtli 
 The consecrated bones of all of those. 
 
 Till the Great Dowry of Provence caused dearth 
 Of shame among the kith and kin of me, 
 They did no harm, although of little worth. 
 
 Began by fraud and by rapacity 
 
 Their rapine then; and after, for amends. 
 Took Ponthieu, Normandy, and Gascony. 
 
 Charles came to Italy, and, for amends. 
 Made Conradin a victim; then a prey 
 Of Thomas, thrust to Heaven, for amends. 
 
 Hugh Capet: 
 founder of the 
 dynasty now the 
 bane of France, 
 Flanders, Italy 
 
 Wotdd be called 
 today a great 
 rancher or 
 *^packer" 
 
 Charles of 
 Anjou did to 
 death the last of 
 the HohenstaU" 
 fen and St. 
 Thomas Aquinas 
 
^4 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Charles of 
 Vakns 
 
 Charles, the 
 second king in 
 Naples of the 
 house of Anjou 
 (caUed "the 
 cripj^e of Jeru- 
 salem" Par. xix) 
 
 The outrage 
 done to Pope 
 Boniface by 
 agents of Philip 
 the Fair (JVth) 
 
 The destruction 
 of the Order of 
 ^ Temple hy 
 Philip. Cf. 
 Brovming's 
 ''The Heretic's 
 Tragedy" 
 
 In the daytime 
 they praise the 
 virtue; at night 
 they stigmatize 
 the vice 
 
 I see a time, not distant from this day, 
 
 That shall lead forth another Charles from France, 
 Both him and his the better to betray. 
 
 Unarmed he goes alone, but with the lance 
 
 Wherewith Iscariot jousted, and that same 
 Within the bursting paunch of Florence plants. 
 
 He thence not any land, but sin and shame 
 
 Shall win, so much the heavier therethrough 
 That he the lighter reckons all such blame. 
 
 The other, pluckt once from his ship, I view 
 Vending his daughter in the market place, 
 As corsairs with the other bondmaids do. 
 
 Avarice, since thou hast brought my race 
 
 To hold its issue at so cheap a rate. 
 What further canst thou do for our disgrace? 
 That past and future ill appear less great, 
 I see the Fleur-de-Lis Alagna gain, 
 And in His Vicar Christ incarcerate. 
 
 1 see how there they mock Him yet again, 
 
 I see the vinegar and gall renew, 
 
 And between Hving thieves I see Him slain. 
 
 I see so pitiless the Pilate new 
 
 That, yet unsated, he without decree 
 Into the Temple steers his greedy crew. 
 
 When, O my Lord, shall I rejoice to see 
 
 The vengeance that doth in thy counsels hide, 
 Calming thine anger in thy secrecy.'* — 
 
 What I was saying of that only bride 
 
 Of the Holy Spirit, prompting thee to pray 
 Some comment of me, that is still replied 
 
 To all our orisons while lasts the day; 
 
 But in the place thereof, when night comes on 
 We ring the changes on a counter-lay: 
 
 We tell the tale then of Pygmalion 
 
 Who traitor, thief, and parricide was made 
 By gluttony for gold; and harp upon 
 
The Mountain Quakes 
 
 235 
 
 Poor Midas, how he covetously prayed, 
 
 And what fulfillment followed to his bane. 
 Wherefore men laugh forever at his greed 
 
 We all record then Achan the insane, 
 
 Who seems, because he took the accursed thing, 
 Wrung by the wrath of Joshua again; 
 
 Sapphira with her spouse to judgment bring; 
 Then praise the hoof -beats Heliodorus bore; 
 And Polymnestor's shame doth all enring 
 
 The Mountain, for the murdered Polydore; 
 
 Lastly we cry: *Tell us, for thou dost know, 
 Crassus, the savor of the golden ore !' — 
 
 Sometimes we speak, one loud, another low, 
 According as affection may be spurred 
 To make the pace of speaking fast or slow; 
 
 Wherefore, if I alone erewhile was heard 
 Citing the good whereof we tell by day, 
 None else at hand was lifting up the word." — 
 
 Departed from him, we had gone our way. 
 
 And on the thoroughfare I spent my breath 
 To overcome it far as in me lay. 
 
 When now behold! the Mountain shuddereth 
 As to its fall; whence over me is driven 
 A chill, as over him who goes to death. 
 
 Such shock was surely not to Delos given 
 Before Latona coucht therein, to be 
 Dehvered there of the twin eyes of Heaven. 
 
 Uprose a paean simultaneously 
 
 Such that the Master nearer to me trod. 
 Saying: "Fear not while I am guiding thee." — 
 
 All shouted: "Glory in the highest to God!" 
 For so the neighbor voices seemed to say. 
 From whom the paean might be understood. 
 
 Like to the shepherds who first heard that lay. 
 We stood there without motion, all intent. 
 Till ceased the trembling, and it died away. 
 
 2 Maccabees Hi, 
 25 {The other 
 examples can 
 readily be 
 found) 
 
 Apollo and 
 Diana 
 
236 Purgaiorio 
 
 Again we on our holy journey went, 
 
 Eying the shades upon the ground below. 
 Returned now to their ritual lament. 
 
 No ignorance with eagerness to know 
 
 Ever within me such a battle fought. 
 Unless my memory err, as to and fro 
 
 Appeared then to be struggling in my thought: 
 Nor did I, for our haste, to question dare. 
 Nor of myself could I discover aught; 
 
 So faint and pensive did I onward fare. 
 
The Earthquake Explained 
 
 237 
 
 XXI 
 
 The Poet Statius 
 
 The natural thirst unsatisfied for aye 
 
 Save with that water for whose boon was fain 
 The lowly woman of Samaria, 
 
 Tormented me, and by the encumbered lane. 
 Haste goaded me behind my Leader on. 
 And I was grieving for that righteous pain; 
 
 When lo ! in manner even as Luke sets down 
 
 That in the way to twain did Christ appear, 
 From the tomb's mouth of late arisen and gone, 
 
 A shade appeared and came behind us where 
 We were intent the prostrate crowd to view. 
 And spoke to us before we were aware. 
 
 Saying: "My brothers, peace be unto you." — 
 And Virgil, turning with me suddenly. 
 Gave back the word of greeting that is due. 
 
 "May the true court in peace establish thee 
 In council of the blest," then Virgil said, 
 "Though to eternal exile dooming me." — 
 
 "How?" said that spirit, while we onward sped, 
 "If ye are shades God will on high not deign. 
 Who has so far up by His stairway led.^^" — 
 
 "But note the marks," my Teacher said again, 
 
 "Which the Angel traces and this man displays, 
 Well shalt thou see he with the good must reign. 
 
 But because she who spins through nights and days 
 Had not yet from the distaff drawn the twine 
 That Clotho there for each, compacting, lays. 
 
 The soul of him, thy sister-soul and mine. 
 
 In coming upward, could not come alone. 
 Not seeing in the fashion of our eyne. 
 
 I, therefore, from wide-throated Hell was drawn 
 To show him the way onward, and shall show 
 As far as by my school it can be done. 
 
 Terrace of the 
 Avaricious: 
 forenoon of the 
 third day 
 
Purgatorio 
 
 Iris, the rain- 
 bow 
 
 Dry vapor, 
 according to 
 Aristotie, caused 
 uoind, lightning, 
 thunder, earth- 
 quakes 
 
 The soul desires 
 its punishment 
 until wholly 
 purified of its 
 sinful disposi- 
 tion. (See note 
 after Canto 
 xvii) 
 
 But tell us why the mountain, if thou know. 
 So quakt erewhile, and all appeared to cry 
 With one voice, to its wave-washt foot below?^' — 
 
 So questioning, he hit the needle's eye 
 Of my desire, and by the hope withal 
 My thirst was made less hard to satisfy. 
 
 The spirit began: "There is nothing here at all 
 That were not subject to the holy grace 
 Of the mountain, or that were exceptional. 
 
 Exempt from i>ermutation is this place; 
 
 In what from Heaven back to itself doth flow, 
 And naught beside, may we causation trace: 
 
 Because not any rain, nor hail, nor snow. 
 
 Nor dew, nor frost can fall, or do offense, 
 Above the little triple stairway; no 
 
 Clouds there appear, or rarefied or dense. 
 
 No lightning, nor the daughter of Thaumas fleet. 
 Who often, yonder, changes residence; 
 
 Parcht vapor does not rise aloft one whit 
 
 Beyond the aforesaid triple stairway forth. 
 Whereon the Vicar of Peter hath his feet. 
 
 More or less quaking may perchance have birth 
 Down yonder; but up here it never could 
 By wind, I know not how, enwombed in earth. 
 
 It quakes when any spirit feels its mood 
 Made pure for setting forward, or aloof 
 Moves to ascend, by such a cry pursued. 
 
 Of purity the will alone gives proof; 
 
 Quite free for change of cloister, this intent 
 Takes by surprise the soul to her behoof. 
 
 She first wills well, but divine government 
 Sets will against desire, which, as before 
 It craved for sinning, craves for punishment. 
 
 And I, who have five hundred years and more 
 
 Beneath this torment lain, but now could trace 
 Free will for threshold of a better door. 
 
Three Laving Poets 239 
 
 Hence didst thou feel the quake, and spirits of grace 
 
 Didst hear along the Mountain celebrate 
 
 The Lord, — ah ! may He send them up apace." — 
 He said; and since joy is proportionate 
 
 In drinking, with the thirst to be allayed. 
 
 My gain by him I could not say how great. 
 "I see the net now," my wise Leader said, 
 
 "That snares you here, and how ye are set free. 
 
 Wherefore it quakes, and whereat glad ye are made. 
 Now tell me who thou wast, I beg of thee. 
 
 And in thy words I pray thee be it told 
 
 Why thou layest here so many a century." — 
 "When the good Titus in the time of old, Paradiso vi, 
 
 Helpt by the King Supreme, avenged each wound ?^rf* ^^' 
 
 Whence issued forth the blood by Judas sold. 
 With name most durable and most renowned The name of 
 
 I yonder lived," that spirit answering said, ^^^ 
 
 "And passing fame, but not yet faith had found. 
 So sweet a music from my soul was shed 
 
 That from Toulouse Rome beckoned me away. 
 
 Where I deserved brows myrtle-garlanded. 
 There people call me Statins to this day: The Poem about 
 
 Of Thebes I sang, and great Achilles' might, ^s^rSloa£^^ 
 
 But with my second load fell by the way. 
 The seeds that raised my genius to its height 
 
 Were sparks from that celestial flame shot forth, 
 
 Whence more than a thousand have been set alight: 
 The iEneid, I mean, that mothered me from birth. 
 
 The nurse that suckled me in poesy; 
 
 Without it were I not a drachma worth. 
 To have lived when Virgil Hved, would I agree 
 
 To penance of one sun more than I owe. 
 
 Ere from my place of banishment set free." — 
 Turned Virgil to me, he discoursing so. 
 
 With "Be thou silent," in his tacit glance; 
 
 But there are hmits to what will can do : 
 
240 Purgatorio ^ 
 
 The sweet and For tears and laughter are such pursuivants ] 
 "t^ZZZee' Upon the passions out of which they rise, 
 
 Poets That truest will has weakest vigilance. < 
 
 I could but smile, with meaning in mine eyes; ^ 
 
 Whereat the shadow paused, and lookt me straight j 
 
 Into the eye, where most expression lies. \ 
 
 "So mayst thou well such labor consummate,^' > 
 
 It said, "tell wherefore I but now descried 
 
 A laughter-flash thy face irradiate?" — : 
 Now am I caught on this and the other side : 
 
 One bids "Be still," and the other "Speak to me!" I 
 
 Whence I was comprehended when I sighed. • 
 "Thou needst," my Master said, "not fearful be 
 
 To speak, but tell, and let thy words attest ^ 
 
 What he besought with such anxiety." — j 
 
 "O ancient soul," said I, "thou marvelest ; 
 
 Perchance, because my smile thou sawest shine; 
 
 But I will move more wonder in thy breast ! I 
 
 This one who guides on high these eyes of mme, * 
 
 That very Virgil is, from whom you drew j 
 
 The power to sing of men and the divine. : 
 If else thou thoughtest of my smiling, eschew 
 
 That thought as false; those words thou spakst j 
 
 but now ! 
 
 Of him, believe me, were the reason true." — j 
 
 To kiss my Teacher *s feet he bent his brow; ] 
 
 "Brother," the Master urged with tenderness, ; 
 
 "Do not; thou seest me shadow, even as thou." — • 
 Then Statins rising said : "Now canst thou guess 
 
 The sum of love that burns in me for thee, i 
 
 AVhen I can so forget our emptiness. 
 Treating a shadow as reality." — 
 
Sin of Statins the Reverse of Avarice 241 
 
 XXII 
 
 The Three Poets Converse as They Walk 
 
 Behind us had we left the Angel now Third day, late 
 
 Who up to the sixth round had turned our quest, ^ntl^ihe *" \ 
 
 Having erased a stigma from my brow; ^^\ Terrace: \ 
 
 And had announced to us that they are Blest Staiius^wiih I 
 
 Who long for righteousness in all they do, — ^«w'« 
 
 But saying it with "thirst" without the rest. P^ '^ j;f < qf- 
 
 And, lighter than at other passes through, xxiv '< 
 
 Following those swift spirits up above, ] 
 
 I went without fatigue. Then did renew | 
 
 Virgil his speaking: "Worth-enkindled love i 
 Can kindle in us love reciprocal. 
 Its ardor being revealed. In proof w^hereof, 
 
 Among us when descended Juvenal \ 
 
 Down into the Infernal Limbo, where ] 
 
 He made thy feeling known to me withal, \ 
 
 Never did man to unseen person bear \ 
 
 More love than did my heart toward thee bend, ] 
 
 So that now short to me will seem the stair. i 
 
 But tell me, and forgive me as a friend i 
 
 If I give rein to overconfidence, j 
 And talk we heart to heart now to the end ; 
 
 Oh, how could Avarice find residence ■ 
 
 Possibly, in a bosom such as thine, \ 
 
 Replete with wisdom through thy diligence?" — j 
 
 These words made Statins at first incline j 
 
 To smile a little; then replied he thus: | 
 
 "Each word of thine to me is Love's dear sign. | 
 
 Often indeed do things appear to us : 
 That offer for suspicion grounds deceiving, 
 
 Since their real causes are not obvious. \ 
 
 Thy question proves it to be thy believing \ 
 
 That Greed in th'other life had been my curse, \ 
 
 Perchance because of the round where I was griev- ; 
 
 ing. ; 
 
242 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Among the 
 prodigals; Inf. 
 Canto vii; also 
 for their sym- 
 bolic short hair 
 
 St. Peter, as at 
 end of Par. 
 xviii 
 
 Know, then, that my offense was the reverse 
 Of Avarice; my prodigality 
 Thousands of courses of the moon amerce. 
 
 And if I had not, pondering upon thee, 
 
 Set right my conduct, misdirected first. 
 Where thou exclaimst against humanity 
 
 Almost in wrath: *To what, accursed thirst 
 
 For gold, dost thou not mortal longing guide?' 
 I should be rolling in the tilts accurst. 
 
 Then saw I that the hands might be too wide 
 Of wing in spending, and repented thence 
 Of that and of my every sin beside. 
 
 Because of ignorance of this offense. 
 
 How many shall arise devoid of hair. 
 In life and death bereft of p)enitence ! 
 
 And know that sin, in opposition square 
 Rebutting other sin, dries up its green 
 Together with the opposing trespass there. 
 
 Wherefore if I, to purge myself, have been 
 
 With those who weep their Avarice in throngs, 
 I suffered it for contradictory sin." — 
 
 "Now when thou sangest of the cruel wrongs 
 Of war that wrought Jocasta's double woe," 
 The Singer said of the Bucolic Songs, 
 
 "The chords there toucht with Clio do not show 
 Thee yet as of that Faith a devotee. 
 For want whereof good works are not enow. 
 
 What candles or what sim, if so it be, 
 
 So pierced thy darkness that thy sails were spread 
 After the Fisher of the eternal sea.'^" — 
 
 "Thou first directedst me," he answering said, 
 "Parnassus-ward, to drink upon its height. 
 Then on my way to God thy light was shed 
 
 Thou diddest like to him who walks by night. 
 Bearing the torch, not for his proper good, 
 But to the after-comers giving light. 
 
Virgil the Cause of Salvation of Statins 243 ; 
 
 I 
 When saidest thou: *The world is all renewed; The Cumcean ^ 
 
 Justice returns, and man's primeval spring, E^gne v> ^ 
 
 And out of Heaven descends another brood.' • 
 
 Poet was I, then Christian, following 
 
 Thy guidance; but that thou the better view 
 
 My sketch, I set my hand at coloring. 
 The world by now was teeming with the true 
 
 ReHgion, by the sowers of the Lord j 
 
 Eternal, scattered every country through; « 
 
 And thy words, toucht upon above, concurred < 
 
 With the new gospelers in such a wise ' 
 
 That I became a hearer of the Word. 
 They came to seem so holy in mine eyes 
 
 Then, when Domitian persecuted sore, i 
 
 That tears of mine accompanied their cries; ] 
 
 And while I lingered upon yonder shore ' 
 
 I succored them, whose upright manners made 
 
 All other sects seem worthless; and before j 
 
 I, poetizing, yet the Greeks had led i 
 
 Far as the Theban streams, baptized was I; 
 
 But hid my Christian faith, because afraid, ,' 
 
 Long while appearing Pagan outwardly; ,! 
 
 And for that lukewarmth did I circling fare ' 
 
 The fourth round more than the fourth century. 
 Do therefore thou, who unto me laid bare ' 
 
 That good wherein, I say, is great reward, ] 
 
 While for ascending time is yet to spare. 
 Tell me where Terence is, our elder bard, 
 
 Cecilius, Plautus, Varro, if thou know: ■ 
 
 Tell if they are condemned, and in what ward." — j 
 
 "These, Persius, and I, and many moe," 
 
 My Leader said, "are with that Greek confined, 
 
 Prime nursling of the Muses, there below 
 In the first girdle of the prison blind. { 
 
 Still oftentimes do we discourse upon 1 
 
 The mountain, haunt of nurses of our mind. 
 
S44 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The fifth Hour 
 is now driving 
 the chariot of 
 the Sun: it is 
 about 11 o'clock 
 
 The emblematic 
 fruitr-tree which 
 the gluttons can- 
 not climb 
 
 Euripides is ours there, Antiphon, 
 
 And Agathon, Simonides, and more 
 
 Of Greeks whose foreheads once the laurel won. 
 
 There see we people sung by thee of yore, 
 Antigone, Deiphile, Argeia, 
 And there Ismene, mournful evermore. 
 
 There see we her who pointed out Langeia; 
 There is Tiresias' daughter, Thetis there. 
 And with her sisters there Deidameia." — 
 
 By this time silent both the poets were. 
 
 Eager to gaze about them far and wide. 
 From the walls liberated, and the stair; 
 
 And four of the Day's handmaids now abide 
 Behind, the fifth still pointing up the bright 
 Horn of the chariot-pole; whereon my Guide: 
 
 "Methinks it now behooves us turn the right 
 Shoulder toward the outer verge, intent 
 To round, as we are wont to do, the height." — 
 
 By custom in such manner led, we went 
 
 Our way with the less fear of going wrong. 
 Because that noble spirit gave assent. 
 
 In front they, and alone went I along 
 
 Behind, hearing their words, which gave to me 
 Intelligence about the craft of song. 
 
 But their kind talk was broken by a tree 
 
 That midway in the road we encountered now. 
 With fruitage smelling sweet and gratefully. 
 
 As fir-tree tapers upward, bough on bough. 
 So this one appeared downward tapering, 
 Methinks that none thereon might climbing go. 
 
 There where our way was closed, a water spring 
 Down from the lofty cHff was falling clear. 
 And on the upper foliage scattering. 
 
 The poets twain unto the tree drew near, 
 
 \Miereon a voice cried out the branches through: 
 "Dearth of this viand ye shall have to bear." — 
 
Examples of Abstemious Living 245 
 
 "Mary was more concerned," it said anew, 
 
 "To grace the wedding feast with plenitude, 
 Than for her mouth which now entreats for you. 
 
 Of water the old Roman womanhood 
 
 Were satisfied to drink; and Daniel nurst 
 Wisdom within him by despising food. 
 
 Golden in beauty was the world at first; 
 To appetite it made the acorn sweet. 
 And every brook like nectar to the thirst. 
 
 Honey and locusts were the only meat 
 
 That John the Baptist in the desert knew; 
 Whence now he is in glory, and so great 
 
 As by the Gospel is revealed to you." — 
 
U6 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Terrace of the 
 gluttonous: 
 about noon of 
 the third day 
 
 This phrase of 
 the Miserere 
 (Psalm li, 15) 
 is appropriate 
 to those whose 
 sin has been in- 
 temperance in 
 food and drink 
 
 The dreadful 
 tale is told by 
 Josephus 
 
 The Latin for 
 man is printed 
 on the human 
 
 XXIII 
 Dante Meets an Old Boon Companion 
 
 Because these eyes of mine yet never stirred 
 From the green foHage, Hke such an one 
 As wastes his Hfe to hunt the Httle bird, 
 
 My more than Father said to me: "My son. 
 
 Come on now; for the time assigned had need 
 To be allotted for more benison." — 
 
 Then turned I face and foot with equal speed 
 After those speakers sage, so eloquent 
 As made it cost me nothing to proceed. 
 
 And hark! now singing heard, with weeping blent: 
 "Lord, open thou my lips!" — Such intonation 
 As must beget both rapture and lament. 
 
 "What hear I, Father?" was my exclamation; 
 
 And he : "Shades who are hastening, perchance. 
 So as to cancel out their obligation." — 
 
 As pilgrims rapt in thought, by travel-chance 
 Meeting an unknown face along their ways, 
 Cast, without lingering, a backward glance, 
 
 So came behind us at a swifter pace 
 
 And passed, a crowd of souls as if in flight. 
 Devout and tacit and of eager gaze. 
 
 The cavern of the eye disclosed no light, 
 Pallid each visage, and so hunger-pined 
 Over the bone the skin was fashioned tight. 
 
 I cannot think that such an utter rind 
 Was dried on Erisichthon's skeleton 
 By fasting, when it most appalled his mind. 
 
 "Behold !" my thoughts within were running on, 
 "This is the folk who lost Jerusalem, 
 When Mary struck her beak into her son." — 
 
 Each eyepit seemed a ring without the gem : 
 
 Who OMO reads in face of man, might well 
 Here in each countenance make out the M. 
 
Forese Donati 
 
 247 
 
 Who ever could believe that from the smell 
 Of apples or of water there could grow 
 Such craving, knowing not how this befell? 
 
 I still was wondering what pined them so. 
 The cause that rendered them so scurvily 
 Withered and meager being yet to know. 
 
 When, look now, from its deep skull cavity 
 A spirit made its eye upon me keen. 
 Then cried aloud: "What grace is this to me!" 
 
 Never should I have known him by his mien. 
 But something lingered in his utterance 
 That in his lineament had canceled been. 
 
 This spark enkindled to my inward glance 
 Something familiar in his altered look. 
 And I recalled Foresees countenance. 
 
 "Ah, do not mind," he prayed, "the scurf that took 
 The fresh complexion of my skin away. 
 Nor yet the lack of flesh I have to brook. 
 
 But tell me truth of thee, and who are they. 
 
 Yon spirits twain by whom thou'rt hither led? 
 Ah, tarry not, speak, speak to me, I pray !" — 
 
 "Thy face, bewept by me when thou wast dead, 
 Gives me for weeping now no lesser rue 
 Beholding it disfigured so," I said. 
 
 "By hope of Heaven, then tell what withers you: 
 Bid me not speak while marveHng, for ill 
 One speaks, by other craving stricken through !" — 
 
 And he to me: "By the Eternal Will 
 
 Falls virtue to the water and the plant 
 Behind us, that emaciates me still. 
 
 All of these people who lamenting chant. 
 For being out of measure gluttonous. 
 Grow holy here through thirst and hunger gaunt. 
 
 Craving for food and drink is stirred in us 
 
 By fragrance from the fruit, and from the spray 
 That sprinkles over all the verdure thus. 
 
 face. The limbs 
 of the M are 
 clearer for the 
 disappearance 
 of the eyes (cf. 
 Par. xviii) 
 
 Cf. Virgil's 
 reference to this 
 shadovyy "Jlesh" 
 of the spirits. 
 Canto Hi, 31- 
 33. Also the 
 recognition of 
 Ser BrunettOf 
 Inf. XV 
 
248 Purgatorio 
 
 And not once, as we circle round this way, 
 But many times our penance is renewed. 
 Penance I say, who solace ought to say: 
 For to the tree that same solicitude 
 
 Leads us, that prompted the glad Christ to cry 
 *Eli,' when he redeemed us with His blood." — 
 "Not yet five years from that day forth," said I, 
 "When for a better world thou tookest flight, 
 Forese mine, have imtil now rolled by. 
 If you repented If sooner ended were in thee the might 
 only when too qj ginning, than the hour had supervened 
 
 weak to sin . . 
 
 more. See That weds again to God the heart contrite, 
 
 f/Sto. ^^^ *^^^ ^^* ^^^^ arrived up hither, friend? 
 Canto to I thought to find thee on the slope below. 
 
 Where time doth dissipated time amend." — 
 "My Nella, with her tears that overflow. 
 
 Hath brought me," he repUed, "so speedily 
 To drink of the sweet wormwood of this woe. 
 The stormy voice With pious prayers and tears withdrawing me 
 ^^ o^hJ^s^eaks ^P ^^^^ ^^^ hillside where the people wait, 
 
 through Forese And from the other circles setting free. 
 
 Dearer to Grod, and of more estimate. 
 
 My widow whom so well I loved, as there 
 She more alone to good is dedicate. 
 More modest in its dames beyond compare 
 Is the Barbagia of Sardinia, 
 Than the Barbagia where I left her. 
 O brother dear, what wilt thou have me say? 
 My foresight by a future is possest, 
 When not yet very old shall be this day, 
 When warning from the pulpit is addrest 
 To the unblushing women Florentine, 
 Who go about displaying paps and breast. 
 What Pagan women, aye, or Saracen, 
 
 Have stood in need, to make them covered go, 
 Of spiritual or other discipline? 
 
The Mount That Straightens Crooked Sticks 249 
 
 But if these unabashed ones did but know 
 
 What holds in store for them the hastening sky. 
 For howling would their jaws be open now; 
 
 For if herein my foresight do not lie. 
 
 They will be sad ere yet his cheek have down 
 Who now is quieted with lullaby. 
 
 Now brother, pray, be more concealment none: 
 Look, not I only, but these people all 
 Are gazing there where veilest thou the sun." — 
 
 Whence I to him : "If thou to mind recall 
 What once to one another were we two. 
 The present memory will yet appall. 
 
 That one who goes in front of me withdrew 
 
 Me from that life the other day, when round 
 The sister of him yonder appeared to you 
 
 (I pointed to the sun). Through the profound 
 Midnight he led me from the dead apart. 
 With this real flesh that after him is bound. 
 
 Thence having drawn me, comforts he my heart 
 To circle up the Mountain, that again 
 Straightens you whom the world had wrencht 
 athwart. 
 
 He speaks of going with me until when 
 
 I shall be there where will be Beatrice; 
 Without him there must I perforce remain. 
 
 He Virgil is who sayeth to me this 
 
 (And him I showed) ; that other shadow, know. 
 Is he for whom shook every precipice 
 
 Recently, when your Kingdom let him go.'' — 
 
250 Purgatorio 
 
 XXIV 
 
 1 
 
 Cheerful Abstainers from Good Cheer ^ 
 
 I 
 
 Third day: Neither for talking did we lag behind, i 
 
 T^LfTthT Nor lagged our talk, but stoutly on we went, | 
 
 Intemperate Like vessel urged along by favoring wind. ] 
 
 And shades that seemed by double death forspent, ; 
 Beholding me alive, were all betraying 
 
 Deep in their eyepits their astonishment. \ 
 
 We shall nwet j^ going on with what I had been saying, ] 
 
 en of the Moon Said : "Perad venture he doth upward go, ', 
 (Par, ttt) Pqj. jgake of some one else, with more delaying. 
 But tell, where is Piccarda, if thou know; 
 
 And mention any in this multitude ] 
 
 Of note, among those gazing at me so.^' — 
 
 '^^^J^^Jd "^^ sister, — if most beautiful or good • 
 
 Longfellow's I know not, — in her crown is triumphing i 
 
 notes on this On high Olympus in beatitude." — ] 
 
 lovely canto ^ • i ^ n ^ «-».t I. 1 • 1 1 1 . 
 
 DO said he first, then : "No forbidden thing ; 
 Is giving names here, so obliterate 
 
 Is our resemblance by the dieting. ^ 
 
 This," pointed he, "is Bonagiunta, late j 
 
 Bonagiunta of Lucca; and farther out, i 
 
 That face more than the rest emaciate, 1 
 
 Once put his arms the Holy Church about; i 
 He was from Tours, and atones the Vernage wine 
 
 And Lake Bolsena's eels, by doing without." ! 
 
 And many another name did he assign; ! 
 
 And all seemed pleased, for not one somber look, 
 
 Despite the naming, saw these eyes of mine. : 
 
 ^L • u -r There saw I bite the void and hunger brook \ 
 
 This Boniface tti i t <» t t»m i t» •«. 
 
 was an arch- Ubaldm of La Pila, and Boniface \ 
 
 bishop of Ra- ^yYho shepherded much people with his crook. i 
 
 venna, — not, of t. ^ e ^ ^ \ 
 
 course, to he con- I saw Lord Marquess who of old had space \ 
 
 ^Po^ r^o/<m ^^^ drinking with less dryness at Forli, j 
 
 mentioned With CTEving still unsated ne*ertheless. ■ 
 
Secret of Dante^s Art 
 
 251 
 
 But as he does who scans selectingly, 
 
 So did my choice on him of Lucca fall. 
 
 Who seemed most eager to have speech with me. 
 
 I heard him murmur, what I know not all. 
 
 About Gentucca, where he most was wrung 
 By Justice that so withers them withal. 
 
 "O soul,^' said I, "that seemest so to long 
 
 To speak with me, give pleasure to my ears 
 And to thy heart by loosening thy tongue." — 
 
 "A maid is born, nor yet the wimple wears. 
 
 Who shall make pleasant to thee,'' did he say, 
 "My city, whatsoever blame it bears. 
 
 With this my presage shalt thou go thy way; 
 And did my murmur error in thee move. 
 Facts will explain it at some future day. 
 
 But tell me, do I speak with him who wove 
 The rimes in the new manner, that begin, 
 *Ladies who have intelligence of love*?" — 
 
 "I am of those who, when Love breathes within. 
 Take note," I answered, "and shape heedfuUy 
 My cadences to those he dictates in." — 
 
 "O brother mine," exclaimed he, "now I see 
 
 What bar held back from the sweet manner new 
 Guittone, and the Notary, and me. 
 
 I see distinctly how your pens pursue 
 
 The one who dictates, following his bent; 
 The which was certainly of ours untrue. 
 
 And who most looks to find them different, 
 
 Can naught else trace 'twixt one and the other 
 
 style;" — 
 And holding here his peace, he seemed content. 
 
 Even as the birds that winter by the Nile 
 
 Go flocking through the welkin now, then fly 
 With quicker wing that they may go in file, 
 
 Thus all that multitude of people I 
 
 Saw turn their faces, while their steps they pressed. 
 And, light by will and leanness, hastened by. 
 
 In his throat 
 
 Referring prob- 
 ably to a lady 
 named Gen- 
 tucca, who had 
 shovm some 
 kindness to the 
 Poet in his exile 
 
 A canzone of 
 Dante's ^New 
 Lifer toell trans- 
 lated by Rossetti 
 
 Because we did 
 noty like you, 
 pen the dictates 
 of the heart. Gf. 
 the conversation 
 toith Oderisi, 
 Canto xi 
 
252 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Prophecy of the 
 violent death of 
 his brother J Hie 
 famous Corso 
 Donaii 
 
 And, as a weary runner lets the rest 
 
 Of his companions go, that he may walk 
 Until abate the panting of his chest. 
 
 So did Forese let the holy flock 
 
 Pass by, and, pausing with me, said: "When more 
 May we thus face to face together talk?** — 
 
 "I know not,'^ said I, "when my life is o'er, 
 Though not so speedily can I arrive 
 But that my heart is sooner on the shore; 
 
 Because the place where I was made alive. 
 
 More stript of good from day to day, I wiss. 
 To utter ruin is foredoomed to drive." — 
 
 "Take heart; I see him most to blame for this 
 Dragged at a horse's tail along," said he, 
 "Toward the never pardoning abyss. 
 
 At each bound goes the beast more rapidly. 
 Ever increasing, till it strikes amain 
 The body, and leaves it mangled hideously. 
 
 Not often shall those wheels revolve again," 
 
 He raised his eyes to heaven, "ere is made clear 
 To thee, that which my words cannot explain. 
 
 Now stay behind, because the time so dear 
 Is in this kingdom, that too much I lose 
 Going at even pace thus with thee here." — 
 
 As sometimes cavalier at gallop goes 
 
 Forth from a troop of horse, to make his worth 
 Renowned by first encounter with the foes. 
 
 So he with longer strides departed forth; 
 
 And I remained there with those two behind. 
 Who were such mighty marshals here on earth. 
 
 And when he had passed on so far that blind 
 To follow him mine eyes grew, as, I trow, 
 To follow on his words had been my mind. 
 
 Appeared, with many a laden and living bough. 
 Another tree, not very far away. 
 Because my road curved round on it but now. 
 
Warnings against Self-indulgence 253 ■ 
 
 Beneath were folk with lifted hands, and they I 
 
 Cried out toward the leaves, I know not what, 3 
 
 Like fond and eager little ones who pray, j 
 
 And that one whom they pray to answers not, ' 
 
 But holds aloft and does not hide their boon, ] 
 
 That it may be more longingly besought. i 
 
 Then, as if disappointed, they were gone: ] 
 
 So reacht we the great tree that doth deny i 
 
 So many a tear and many an orison. \ 
 
 "Go your way onward without drawing nigh; ] 
 
 The tree is higher up whence Eve devoured j 
 
 The fruit, and whence this plant was reared on ] 
 high."— 
 
 Thus spoke some one amid the fronds embowered; 
 
 Whence Virgil, Statins, and I, close pressed j 
 
 Together, moved along the cliff that towered. | 
 
 "Recall those cloud-begotten ones unblest. The Centaurs 
 
 Who being drunken,'^ so it re-began, ^^^ ^^- ^*) \ 
 
 "Strove against Theseus with their double breast; 
 
 Those Jews the draught proved weaklings, man for man. Judges mi, 4.-7 ] 
 Whence Gideon did their company disdain. 
 
 When he went down the hills tow'rd Midian." — ] 
 
 Hugging the inner of the margins twain, \ 
 
 Concerning sins of appetite we heard, ; 
 Followed of old by miserable gain. 
 
 Then, to a solitary path transferred, ' j 
 
 A thousand steps and more had each of us j 
 
 Wandered immerst in thought without a word. ! 
 
 "Ye three alone, what go ye thinking thus?" — " 
 
 I started when a sudden voice so said, ] 
 
 As starts from rest a creature timorous. J 
 
 To see who this might be, I raised my head; ; 
 
 And never yet in furnace was the hue i 
 
 Of glass or metal such a glowing red, • 
 
 As one I saw who spoke: "So please it you : 
 
 To mount aloft, here must ye turn aside: \ 
 
 This way goes he who would his peace pursue." — ] 
 
254 Purgatorio i 
 
 j 
 
 To look on him was sight to me denied: J 
 
 Whence turned I in my Teacher's steps to fare, ; 
 
 Like one who goes with hearing for his guide. 
 And as, from herbs and flowers, the harbinger 
 
 Of early dawn, the zephyr of the May i 
 
 Steals odors that make balmy all the air. 
 Even such a breeze I felt directly play 
 
 Upon my brow, and felt myself caressed ] 
 
 By plumage breathing of ambrosia. ] 
 
 And heard proclaimed thereafter: "They are blest ^ 
 
 Whom Grace so much illumes, that appetite ' 
 
 Kindles not overmuch within their breast. 
 
 Hungering ever in accord with right." — \ 
 
How Can Shades Pine for Food? ^55 
 
 XXV 
 
 The Mental Physiology of the Shades 
 
 Now since the Sun had left the circle of noon Third day: 
 
 To Taurus, and the Night to Scorpio, mid-afternoon. 
 
 __ - - - '^ , 11.! Ascent to the ] 
 
 Henceforward the ascent brookt hmdrance none. Seventh Terrace, \ 
 
 Wherefore, as people on their journey go '^/^^ theh^ of • 
 
 And tarry not, whate'er beholding, while aioay I 
 
 The spur of need is urgent on them; so j 
 
 Now one by one we entered the defile, j 
 
 Taking the stairway where the narrow lane j 
 
 Compels the climbers to go single file. 
 And, like the little stork, for flying fain, '. 
 
 Lifting its wing, and, daring not to fly I 
 
 From off the nest, letting it droop again; 
 Such, with desire kindled and quencht, was I, 
 
 And nothing further than the movement made 
 
 That will to speak is indicated by. 
 "Do thou discharge" — my gentle Father said. 
 
 Forbearing not, although we swiftly went, 
 
 "The bow of speech bent to the arrowhead." — 
 Then opened I my mouth, made confident. 
 
 Beginning: "How can there be withering 
 
 Of bodies with no need of nourishment.'^" — 
 "Wouldst Meleager's plight to memory bring. 
 
 How by a wasting brand he wasted was. 
 
 This would not seem," said he, "so hard a thing; 
 And wouldst thou call to mind how in the glass 
 
 Tremble your forms whenever tremble ye. 
 
 What seems hard would seem lightly brought to | 
 
 pass; ; 
 
 But that thy will be satined in thee, 
 
 Lo ! here is Statins, whom I call and pray ^ 
 
 That of thy wounds he now the healer be." — ^ 
 
 "If here where thou art present I display 
 
 The eternal view," responded Statins, I 
 
 "Be my excuse I cannot say thee nay. — I 
 
256 Purgatorio t 
 
 Son, if thou well receive,^ — began he thus, i 
 
 "And if thy mind consider this my word, i 
 
 'Twill make the *How' thou askest, luminous. i 
 
 Ne'er drunk up by the thirsty veins, but stored \ 
 
 The purest essence of the blood remains, *■ 
 
 Like viands that thou takest from the board; ■ 
 
 And power informing in the heart obtains 
 
 To shape all human organs, being that flood ; 
 
 Which, to become them, courses through the veins ; ■ 
 
 Digested still, descends where it is good \ 
 
 To leave unsaid; thereafter trickles thence 
 
 In natural vessel on another's blood, i 
 
 The blood of the Where both together have their confluence. 
 
 bf^ite'^'^atlf Passive is one,— but the other active, through < 
 
 the female. The j>erfect place whence p)ours its influence, 
 
 passive Begins to operate when joined thereto, I 
 
 Coagulating, quickening the whole I 
 
 That it for shaping to consistence drew. \ 
 
 The vegetative This active principle, become a soul 
 
 Ti^Xltt As of a plant (but so far different i 
 
 only an incident That it halfway and that is at the goal), 
 
 tJ^^'"'"^ Begins to move and to be sentient ' 
 
 embryo Like the sea fungus, then to organize 
 
 The powers whereof it is the rudiment, [ 
 
 Dilates, my son, and spreads the force that lies ! 
 
 Within the heart of the begetter now, 
 
 Wliere Nature would the organs all devise. 
 
 But how grow child from animal .^^ — ^That 'How' ; 
 
 Seest thou not yet; that is the problem great ! 
 
 Which once misled a wiser man than thou, ^ 
 
 Averroes Who by his teaching thought to separate 
 
 Soul from potential intellect, for no < 
 
 Organ he saw thereto appropriate. 
 
 The Prime Open thy breast to coming truth, and know ; 
 
 Mover (God) That when the organizing of the brain i 
 
 breaihes a sotu tx i i i • i i ' 
 
 into the embryo Has been completed m the embryo, \ 
 
The Shade an Emanation from the Will 257 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 Toward it turns the Primal Motor then, ^ 
 
 By Nature's so great art made debonair, i 
 
 Breathing new spirit full of power to drain I 
 
 Whatever virtue it finds active there ! 
 Into its substance, and one soul there grows. 
 
 Living, and feeUng, and of itself aware. \ 
 
 To make less marvelous what I disclose, ^ 
 
 Consider how the Sun*s heat becomes wine, ; 
 Joined to the juice that from the vine outflows. 
 
 This soul from out the flesh doth disentwine 
 
 Whenever Lachesis hath thread no more, \ 
 
 And latent bears the human and divine: \ 
 
 So voiceless each and every other power. The faculties of 
 
 But will and memory and intelligence '^^ ^"^ i 
 
 Far keener in their working than before. i 
 
 Incontinent the spirit falls propense ! 
 
 To one or the other shore in wondrous wise, j 
 
 And first takes knowledge of its pathway thence. ] 
 
 Soon as the region round about it lies. 
 
 Virtue informative beams round it there. 
 
 As in the Uving limbs in shape and size. i 
 
 And as, when saturate with rain, the air 
 
 By the refraction of the solar rays i 
 
 Is deckt with variegated colors fair, \ 
 
 Even so upon the circumjacent haze 
 
 A wraithlike form is printed by control j 
 
 Of shaping soul that in the region stays; ' 
 
 And as the flamelet*s little aureole i 
 
 Follows the fire upon its shifting flight, \ 
 
 So its new form accompanies the soul. ^ 
 
 Because thus rendered visible, the sprite ^ 
 
 Is called a shade; and organs of each sense ] 
 
 Fashions thereafter, even to that of sight. \ 
 
 So thence proceed our words, our laughter thence. 
 
 Thence do we fashion forth the tears and sighs j 
 
 Whereof the Mount may give thee evidence. \ 
 
258 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 First iDorda of a 
 hymn contain- 
 ing a prayer for 
 purity 
 
 Words of Mary 
 to the Angel, 
 Luke i, 3Ik 
 
 Ovid, Met. ii. 
 Cf. Par. xxxi, 
 32-33 
 
 According as desires within us rise 
 
 Or feeling, takes the shade configurement: 
 And this is what occasions thy surprise." — 
 
 Now were we come to the last punishment, 
 
 And now toward the right-hand were we starting. 
 And were upon another care intent. 
 
 There from the cliffside arrowy flames are darting. 
 And from the shelf breathes up a blast thereon, 
 Hurling them back, a pathway thus disparting; 
 
 Whence it was needful to go one by one 
 On the open side, so that I felt dismay 
 Of burning there, and here of falling down. 
 
 "To rein the eyes tight up, along this way," 
 
 My Leader said, "must now be our concern, 
 Because for little one might go astray." — 
 
 Then from among those flames that hotly burn. 
 Came singing: "God of clemency supreme!" — 
 Which filled me with no less desire to turn; 
 
 Then saw I spirits walking through the flame: 
 Wherefore apportioning my sight I go, 
 Now looking to my steps, and now at them. 
 
 They cried aloud: "A man I do not know!" — 
 As soon as they had to the end pursued 
 That hymn; then recommenced, with voices low. 
 
 This done, anew they shouted: "In the wood 
 Diana stayed and banished Helice, 
 For Venus had deflowered her maidenhood." — 
 
 Then recommenced the song; then would it be 
 
 The praise of wives and husbands who were pure. 
 As virtue bids, and married chastity. 
 
 And in like mode, methinks, they must endure 
 The while they burn within the fiery blast: 
 With diet such as this, with such a cure. 
 
 The wound of sin must be healed up at last. 
 
Dante's Shadow Amazes the Shades 259 j 
 
 XXVI 
 
 Dante Meets Two Modern Predecessors J 
 
 While, one before the other, thus we paced Terrace of the 
 
 The border, often the good Master said: ^^^^ \ 
 
 "Take heed; let not my warning go to wasted — afternoon l 
 
 Smote me the Sun on the right shoulder-blade, \ 
 
 Now gUttering throughout the Occident 
 
 And whitening the azure; and I made , 
 The flame seem ruddier where with it blent 
 
 My shadow; and of such a token I 
 
 Saw many a shade take notice, as they went. 
 Such an occasion did they profit by Not the mere 1 
 
 For speech of me; and they began to say: tcZ^'Z'^ i 
 
 "His body seems the fiction to belie." — ' 
 
 Then certain of them, far as in them lay, • 
 
 Were making tow*rd me, always with concern • 
 
 Never to issue from the fiery way. 
 
 "O pilgrim, who no less, perchance, dost yearn 'I 
 
 To go, though reverent the rest behind, { 
 
 Answer me, for in thirst and fire I burn: 
 
 Nor but to me be thy reply confined; j 
 
 For greater thirst for it must these beset, \ 
 
 Than for cold water Ethiope or Ind. 1 
 
 Tell us how formest thou a barrier yet i 
 
 Against the Sun, as if thou haddest not . 
 
 There entered where the toils of Death benet?** — i 
 
 So hailed me one of them; and I, no doubt, . 
 
 Had made me known, but that I was intent | 
 
 Upon a novel thing that came about: ] 
 For, midway through the burning element. 
 
 Facing this company, a people hied ; 
 
 Who made me stop to gaze for wonderment. \ 
 
 I saw there hasten up from either side \ 
 
 Each shade to kiss a shade, for dalliance ] 
 
 Unresting, with brief greeting satisfied. 
 
260 Purgatorio \ 
 
 So pausing, as their dusky troops advance, j 
 
 Emmet encounters emmet, nose to nose, \ 
 Their road and fortune to espy, perchance. 
 
 No sooner does the friendly greeting close, 
 
 Or ever the first footstep passes by, ] 
 
 Strive these to lift up louder cries than those: « 
 
 "Sodom and Gomorrah!" the newcomers cry; ; 
 
 Thejalsavacca" The rest: "Pasiphae enters the cow, j 
 
 of Inf. xii, 13 g^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ j^gj. i^g^. j^^y \,{Qr— \ 
 
 As cranes to the Riphaean mountain brow ! 
 
 Might fly in part, part to the sandy plain, ] 
 
 These shunning frost and those the sun, so now \ 
 
 One people goes and one comes on amain, ] 
 
 And weeping they return to their first chants ' 
 
 And to their more appropriate refrain; ; 
 
 And close about me as before advance 
 
 The very same who had entreated me, ■ 
 
 With will to listen in their countenance. j 
 
 I, who now twice had seen their urgency, \ 
 
 Began to speak: "O spirit brotherhood | 
 
 Secure of peace, whenever it may be, , 
 
 These limbs of mine, neither mature nor crude, 
 
 Left I down yonder on the earth behind, 1 
 But bring them here with all their joints and blood. 
 
 I go hence up to be no longer bhnd : 1 
 
 A Lady is on high who wins us grace ' 
 
 Whence through your world I bring my mortal rind. \ 
 
 But so may be your fond desire apace ; 
 Fulfilled, so harbor you the heavenly height 
 
 Most ample, which is Love's full dwelling place, i 
 
 Tell me, that yet on paper I may write, | 
 Who may ye be and what that multitude 
 
 Behind your backs, and going opposite?" — \ 
 
 More stupefied, of more bewildered mood, \ 
 Is never the hill peasant, if perchance 
 He enter town in rustic garb and rude. 
 
Cleansing from Secret Sin 
 
 261 
 
 Than every shade became in countenance; 
 
 But when they did their wonder well restrain 
 (Which in high heart has brief predominance). 
 
 That one who questioned first, began again : 
 
 "Blest thou who, that the better thou mayst die, 
 Winnest exi>erience of our domain ! 
 
 That people who went hence, offended by 
 
 That wherefore Caesar suffered once the blame 
 When *Queen!' amidst his triumph rose the cry; 
 
 Whence in their parting from us, they exclaim 
 *Sodom !* as thou hast heard, in self -despite. 
 And make the burning hotter with their shame. 
 
 Our own transgression was hermaphrodite; 
 But since we heeded not the human code. 
 Following like the brutes our appetite. 
 
 Departing, we, in self -reproachful mode. 
 
 Ourselves pronounce the name of her who so 
 Did bestialize herself in beastlike wood. 
 
 Our deeds now, how far guilty, knowest thou : 
 
 Wouldst thou, perchance, by name know who we be. 
 There is no time to tell, nor should I know. 
 
 I grant, indeed, thy wish concerning me : 
 I'm Guido Guinizelli, purged by fire 
 Through penitence before th* extremity.'* — 
 
 As, in the frenzy of Lycurgus' ire 
 
 Against their mother, the two sons became. 
 Such became I (but do not so aspire). 
 
 When I had heard himself the father name 
 Of me, and other better men than I, 
 Who sweet and gracious love-rimes used to frame: 
 
 And reft of hearing I went thoughtfully. 
 
 Long while agaze at him, and nothing said. 
 Nor for the fire did I approach more nigh. 
 
 As soon as of beholding I was fed, 
 
 I offered myself all to do him grace, 
 With such a vow as makes one credited. 
 
 Taunted by his 
 ribald soldiery 
 
 I.e., immoderate 
 but not unnatu- 
 ral self-indul- 
 gence 
 
 Cf. zt, 97-99 
 
 He felt as the 
 sons felt on 
 recognizing their 
 mother, but re- 
 strained him- 
 self more 
 
262 Purgatorio 
 
 And he to me: "Thy words have left a trace 
 
 Upon my spirit charactered so clear ] 
 That Lethe cannot dim it nor efface. 
 
 But if it be a true avouch I hear, \ 
 
 What is the cause of thy avowal, pray, ] 
 
 By word and look that thou dost hold me dear?" — j 
 
 And I to him: "Your every dulcet lay. 
 
 Which, if our modern use endure so long. 
 Will render dear their very ink for aye." — 
 
 "He yonder, brother," back to me he flung i 
 
 With finger pointing to a spirit before, ^ 
 
 "Was a better shaper of his mother tongue. ' 
 
 In love-rimes and romantic tales of yore l 
 
 Surpassed he all, and let fools prate who view ^ 
 Him of Limoges as the superior. 
 
 They hold by rumor more than by the true, j 
 
 And in that way their fixt opinion mold, j 
 
 Ere art or reason have been listened to. ; 
 
 Thus with Guittone many did of old, i 
 
 Basing his praise upon they say, they say, j 
 Until at length with most the truth controlled. — 
 
 Now if thou have such charter that the way * 
 
 Lito that cloister is vouchsafed to thee j 
 
 Where Christ is abbot of the college, pray ' 
 
 A Paternoster unto him for me, j 
 
 As far as here may boot the utterance, \ 
 
 Where will to sin remains no longer free." — 1 
 
 Then to give place to others who perchance 
 
 Fast followed him, he vanisht in the fire, i 
 As fishes bottomward through water glance. 
 
 Thereafter I drew forward somewhat nigher i 
 
 To him who had been pointed out, to pray ; 
 
 That he vouchsafe his name to my desire. j 
 
 And thus he graciously began to say: | 
 
 "Your courteous request delights me so, 1 
 
 I cannot from you, will not, hide away. ] 
 
A Sweet Strain of Provence 263 
 
 I am Arnaut who weep and singing go; Arnaut Daniel, 
 
 Contritely for past folly I repine. o/n&u, 
 
 And blithely see the hoped-for morning glow. by Dante, who 
 
 I pray you now by Influence Divine tZ%Z^al 
 
 That guides you to the summit of the stair, tongue, preserv- 
 
 Be timely mindful of this pain of mine."- ^ tftt^wt 
 
 Then hid he in the fire that makes them fair. and cadence 
 
264 Purgatorio 
 
 XXVII 
 
 The Will of the Pilgrim of Eternity Is 
 Purified 
 
 Third and lad As when the earliest rays of dawning quiver 
 7ounZn%. Where shed His blood the Maker of the light, 
 
 beginning of High Libra lamping over Ebro-river, 
 
 an M) ^^^ Ganges-wave at noontide burning bright, 
 
 So hung the sun; and day being nearly o'er, 
 Appeared to us God's Angel benedight. 
 
 Standing without the flame upon the shore, 
 
 He sang: "Blest they who pure in heart abide !"- 
 In voice melodious, than ours far more. 
 
 Then: "No one farther goes, souls sanctified, 
 Unbitten by the fire; be thither sped, 
 Not deaf to chanting from the farther side." — 
 
 As we drew nearer to him, this he said : 
 And, listening, I such became in mien 
 As he who in the burial pit is laid. 
 
 Up started I, with clasping hands, and keen 
 Glance at the fire, and vivid memory 
 Of burning human bodies erewhile seen. 
 
 My kindly Escorts turned about to me. 
 
 And Virgil thus addrest me: "Son of mine, 
 Here is no death, though well may torment be. 
 
 Recall, recall ! when layest thou supine 
 
 On Geryon's shoulders, still I safely led; 
 And how then now, less far from the Divine.^ 
 
 What though a thousand years within the bed 
 Of this same fire thou didst abide, believe 
 It could not hurt a hair upon thy head. 
 
 And if perchance thou deem that I deceive, 
 Draw nigh it, and with proper hands assay 
 Upon the border of thy garments. Give 
 
 Fear to the wind, — ^put every doubt away; 
 Turn and come hither with security .** — 
 Yet against conscience did I rooted stay. 
 
Dante Passes through the Purging Fire 265 
 
 Seeing me stand yet rooted stubbornly, 
 
 "Now look, my son,'' exclaimed he with a sigh, 
 "There is this wall 'twixt Beatrice and thee.'' — 
 
 As opened Pyramus his dying eye 
 
 At name of Thisbe, and gazed at her, while flew 
 Over the mulberry the purple dye; 
 
 So turned I, when my stubbornness withdrew. 
 To my wise Leader, by the name beguiled 
 That ever wells in memory anew. 
 
 Whereon he shook his head at me, and smiled: 
 
 "What, would we tarry here?" — as when we win 
 With proffered apple an unwilling child. 
 
 Then in advance of me he entered in 
 
 The fire, entreating Statins to come last. 
 Who for a long way back had been between. 
 
 When I was in, I would have gladly cast 
 Myself in molten glass for solacement. 
 So beyond measure was the burning blast. 
 
 To comfort me, my kindly Father went 
 Ever discoursing but of Beatrice, 
 Saying: "Her eyes seem now upon us bent.** — 
 
 Beyond, a voice was singing, and by this 
 Conducted, and to this attentive quite. 
 We issued forth where mounts the precipice. 
 
 "Come, all ye of my Father benedight!" — 
 Rang from within a light there manifest 
 So that I could not look, it was so bright. 
 
 "Night comes," it added, "and goes the sun to rest; 
 Then quicken up your pace and do not stay, 
 While yet not wholly darkened is the west." — 
 
 Straight upward through the rock mounted the way. 
 Directed so that I, before me there. 
 Cut off the sinking sim's last level ray. 
 
 And both I and my Sages grew aware 
 
 Of sunset, by my shadow vanisht thence. 
 When we had made brief trial of the stair. 
 
266 Purgatorio 
 
 And ere within one dim circumference 
 
 The wide horizon mingled sea and shore, 
 And Night held sway with all her influence. 
 
 Each of us on a stair was bedded; for 
 
 The mountain-law deprived us of the will 
 And of the power of there ascending more. 
 
 Just as, while ruminating, goats grow still. 
 However bold and nimble they had run 
 Over the heights before they browsed their fill, 
 
 Husht in the shade while blazes hot the sun, 
 
 Watcht by the herdsman leaning on his rod. 
 Who, leaning thus, attends them every one; 
 
 And as the shepherd, stretcht upon the sod. 
 Watches by night his quiet flock beside. 
 That no wild beast may scatter it abroad: 
 
 Even so did we at such an hour abide, 
 
 I like the goat, they shepherdUke, all three 
 Hemmed in by lofty rock on either side. 
 
 Little without could there be seen by me; 
 But in that little saw I more intense 
 The stars, and larger than their wont to be. 
 
 So musing and so gazing, somnolence 
 
 Fell on me, such as oftentimes before 
 They come about, gives tidings of events. 
 
 That hour, I think, when through the eastern door 
 First on the mountain Cytherea beams, — 
 Who fired with love seems burning evermore,— 
 Dante's third A Lady young and fair I saw, in dreams, 
 ^''Tl.eL^ai^ ^^^ through a meadow land appeared to go 
 
 Rachd, — the Gathering flowers, and singing said, meseems: 
 
 fffc(J^pl^ "If any ask my name, then let him know 
 tive That I am Leah, and I move alway 
 
 Fair hands to wreathe myself a garland so. 
 
 Here at my glass I joy in my array; 
 
 But never does my sister Rachel rise 
 
 Up from her mirror where she sits all day. 
 
Lcyrd of Thyself! 267 \ 
 
 % 
 
 She yearns to look in her own lovely eyes, ; 
 
 As I to deck me with my hands am yearning; 
 
 Her, seeing, and me, doing satisfies." — \ 
 
 Through splendors of the dawn already burning < 
 
 (That rise to pilgrim hearts so much more sweet 
 
 As less remote their hostel, home returning), 1 
 
 The shades of night were now departing fleet; \ 
 
 And slumber having with them fled away, a 
 
 I rose, seeing my great Masters on their feet. i 
 
 "That sweet fruit which, through many a branching spray, \ 
 
 Ye mortals go seeking with little ease, j 
 
 Shall set at peace thy hungerings today." — 
 
 Virgil began to me in words like these, \ 
 
 And never were there guerdons that could cope 
 
 With suchlike rapture-giving largesses. 
 
 Such longing up)on longing for the slope l 
 
 Came over me, at every step I could 1 
 
 Perceive my wings becoming fledged with hope. j 
 
 When all the stairs were traversed, and we stood • 
 
 Upon the uppermost, did Virgil turn 
 
 His eyes on me with wistful fatherhood; 
 
 "Son, thou hast lookt upon the fire eteme ■ 
 
 And temporal, and comest to a place \ 
 
 Where, of myself, no further I discern. s 
 
 I brought thee here by intellect and grace; j 
 
 Henceforth let thy good pleasure guide thy going: 
 
 Thou art beyond the steep, the narrow ways. h 
 
 Look how the sun is on thy forehead glowing, i 
 
 Look at the grass, the tender shrubs, the bloom \ 
 
 That here the soil is willingly bestowing. ^ 
 Until the lovely eyes rejoicing come. 
 
 Which weeping made me come to lead thee thence, :\ 
 
 Here canst thou sit and canst among them roam. j 
 
 Await no more my word or influence: = 
 
 Upright is now thy will, and sound, and free. 
 
 And wrong to disobey its bidding: whence \ 
 
 Lord of thyself I crown and miter thee." — \ 
 
268 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Soon after sun- 
 rise on the 
 fourth day. 
 Dante, no longer 
 guided but fid- 
 lowed by the tux) 
 great Masters, 
 is walking on 
 the level wpland 
 
 Now Classe, 
 from the Roman 
 name of the -port 
 of Ravenna 
 (Classis) 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 The Earthly Paradise Crowning the Mountain 
 
 Now eager for exploring the divine 
 
 Evergreen forest dense, that screened the day, 
 So newly-risen, for these eyes of mine, 
 
 I leave the mountain-brow without more stay. 
 
 And slowly, slowly through the plain advance, 
 That everywhere breathes fragrance of the May. 
 
 A soft air, subject to no variance. 
 
 Continually stroked me on the brow 
 As lightly as when gentle zephyr fans; 
 
 And tremblingly responsive, every bough 
 Was bending all its foliage what way 
 The Holy Moimt cast the first shadow now; 
 
 Yet did they not so violently sway 
 
 That any little bird on topmost limb 
 Was fain forsake the practice of his lay. 
 
 But might, while chanting the full joy in him. 
 
 Welcome the breath of morn the leaves among» 
 That ever bore a burden to his hymn : 
 
 From bough to bough goes gathering such song 
 Through the pine forest on Chiassi's shore. 
 When forth by ^Eolus Scirocco is flung. 
 
 So far already through the woodland hoar 
 
 My lingering feet had borne me, that I knew 
 Where I had entered into it, no more; 
 
 When lo! a brooklet cut my pathway through. 
 Rippling along toward my left, and bending 
 The grasses that along the margin grew. 
 
 All waters here in purity transcending. 
 
 Would seem commingled in comparison 
 
 With this whose limpid wave conceals no blending, 
 
 Although it darkly, very darkly run 
 
 Beneath perpetual shade, unpenetrated 
 Ever by radiance of moon or sun. 
 
Matilda Gathering Flowers 269 
 
 My footsteps tarried, but mine eyes elated 
 
 Passed to alight beyond the rivulet 
 
 On the fresh May profusely variegated; 
 And there appeared (as when a thing is met The Lady 
 
 All of a sudden, leading thought to stray presaged by the 
 
 For the great wonder, and all else forget) as Rachd prea- 
 
 A Lady, who went her solitary way *^^^ Beatrice 
 
 Singing and cuUing flower from flower, whereof 
 
 The coloring made all her pathway gay. 
 I said : "Pray, Lady fair, in rays of love 
 
 Basking, if I may trust thy countenance. 
 
 Which mirror of the heart is wont to prove. 
 Now be it thy good pleasure to advance 
 
 Toward the margin of this brook, and sing. 
 
 So that I better understand thy chants. 
 In place and mode thou dost to memory bring 
 
 Proserpina, that time when forfeited 
 
 Her mother her, and she herself, the spring.^ — 
 As turns upon the floor with even tread 
 
 A lady in the dance who hardly sets 
 
 Foot before foot, even so above the bed 
 Of scarlet and of yellow flowerets. 
 
 She turned to me with maidhke innocence 
 
 And drooping eyes, and to the rivulet's 
 Border approaching, did so recompense 
 
 My praying, that the dulcet melody 
 
 Was borne to me, together with the sense. 
 When she was where the grass begins to be 
 
 Bathed by the ripples of the beauteous river. 
 
 She raised the guerdon of her eyes on me. 
 I think there glowed so bright a luster never 
 
 Beneath the lids of Venus, by her son 
 
 Empierct with dart from his unwilling quiver. 
 She smiled, erect upon the margin yon. 
 
 Trailing manifold colors with her hands 
 
 Of flowers upon the highland never sown. 
 
270 Purgatorio 
 
 Three steps of river hindered more advance; 
 
 But Hellespont, where Xerxes passed of yore 
 (A bridle still to all human arrogance). 
 
 Was never by Leander hated more 
 
 Because *twixt Sestos and Abydos swelling, 
 Than that by me for barring passage o'er. 
 
 "Ye are newcomers," she began her teUing, 
 "And so my smihng in this place elect 
 For human nature as a native dwelling. 
 Psalm xcii, 4, Perchance awakens in you some suspect; 
 Domine infac- "^^^ *^® Psalm Delectosti sheds a ray 
 
 turaTuaP {Thou, Of Hght that may discloud your intellect. 
 
 ^%^1k!^h And thou in front, who didst entreat me, say, 
 Thy work) Wouldst thou hear more? — By thy solicitude 
 
 Prompted, I came to do it quite away." — 
 See the long note "The water," said I, "and the murmuring wood 
 at end of canto Impugn within me new belief, thereto 
 
 In contradiction, as I understood." — 
 
 Whence she : "How from their proper cause ensue 
 The things occasioning thy wonderment. 
 Will I declare and purge thy inward view. 
 
 The Good Supreme, sole in itself content. 
 Created man for good, and peace eteme 
 Pledged him by giving him this tenement. 
 
 Here, by his fault, short while did he sojourn; 
 By his own fault, to travail and to woe 
 Did innocent joy and pleasant pastime turn. 
 
 That the disturbances produced below 
 By exhalations of the land and sea 
 (That after heat, as far as may be, go) 
 
 Might wage no war upon humanity. 
 
 Rose heavenward up so high this mountain here, 
 And is above the guarded gateway free. 
 
 Now since, in circuit with the primal sphere. 
 The universal air is rolling round. 
 While it remains unbroken anywhere. 
 
Streams of Oblivion and Remembrance 271 
 
 This motion strikes the summit, disembound 
 In living ether all, and makes the dense 
 Forest, being a thicket, to resound. 
 
 Within the smitten plant has residence 
 
 Power to impregn the breeze, and this henceforth. 
 In whirling, sheds abroad that influence. 
 
 Conceived and childed so on yonder earth 
 Are various trees of virtue various. 
 According as its clime and soil have worth. 
 
 Rightly considering the matter thus. 
 
 That without visible seed some plants take root 
 In yonder earth, should not seem marvelous. 
 
 And thou must know that where thou setst thy foot 
 The holy upland every seed contains. 
 And never yonder can ye pluck such fruit. 
 
 The water that thou seest wells not from veins 
 Which vapors, by the cold condensed, restore. 
 Like river that now loses breath, now gains, 
 
 But from a fountain constant evermore; 
 And will divine replenishes that source 
 By all that forth its double rivers pour. 
 
 On this side, it flows downward with the force 
 That takes man*s memory of sin away; 
 The other, that of all good done, restores. 
 
 It is called Lethe here, as Eunoe 
 
 On the other side, nor doth the working speed 
 Till of the taste of both ye make assay. 
 
 This every other savor doth exceed. 
 
 Now, though thy thirst may be so satisfied 
 That of more telling there be little need, 
 
 A corollary will I grant beside. 
 
 Nor deem I the less dear to thee my granting. 
 If it beyond the pact be amplified. 
 
 Who anciently the golden age were chanting. 
 And its fehcity, about this place 
 Dreamt peradventure, while Parnassus haunting. 
 
 The Poet must 
 sometime have 
 dwelt by a 
 torrent near its 
 source in the 
 mmintain snow, 
 which, melting 
 in the sun and 
 freezing at 
 night, keeps 
 the breast of 
 the stream 
 summer-long 
 swelling and 
 subsiding 
 
272 Purgatorio 
 
 Here without guile took root the human race; 
 
 Here is all fruitage, here the prime unbroken; 
 
 This is the nectar they unite to praise." — 
 Then looking to my Poets for a token, 
 
 I noted how with smiling mien they brooked 
 
 The parable that lastly had been spoken; 
 Then to the Lady fair again I looked. 
 
 Note 
 
 This is one of the many cantos wherein Dante tries to rib his 
 poetry with positive science, — unscientific as much of it proves to be. 
 
 In Canto xxi, 11. 40-57, Statius had explained to Dante that above 
 the Gateway of Purgatorio proper, — the uppermost of the three 
 mystic steps whereon the Vicar of Peter has his feet, — there is no 
 earthquake, nor rain nor hail nor mist, in short, no climatic alter- 
 ation or meteorological change, such as the lower parts of the moun- 
 tain, being purely natural, are subject to. Here, however, Dante 
 sees a running stream, feels a breeze upon his brow, hears a soughing 
 in the forest whose leaves and sprays are all bent toward the west 
 under the steady stress of the eastern tradewind. AU this appears 
 to contradict what Statius had told him, so that he is full of doubt 
 and wonder. Accordingly when the beautiful Lady (Matilda, Canto 
 xxxiii, 1. 119) invites him to ask questions, he begs her to ex- 
 plain this contradiction. — ^The substance of her explanation is as 
 follows: "My smiling is explained by the Ninety-second Psalm, 
 'For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work.' " As to the 
 wind (11. 97-99), "this passage," says Moore, "describes the exemption 
 of the Earthly Paradise from the storms generated on the lower earth 
 by the exhalations which, proceeding from the water and the earth, 
 rise as far as they can, following the heat by which such exhalations 
 are drawn up." (Studies in Dante, I, 131.) Here, as everywhere, 
 Dante followed the science of hb time, which itself followed Aristotle's 
 Meteorologica. But the wind here on the upper mountain is due to a 
 very different cause: the revolution of the Primum Mobile (Milton's 
 "that first moved," Par. Lost, B. iii, 483), la prima volta, or first 
 moving sphere. It is this that, carrying with it the upper air from east 
 to west around the stationary earth, causes the steady current or 
 tradewind which bends the leaves all one way and makes the forest 
 murmur like that on Classe's shore (la Pineta di Ravenna). As to 
 the water: — In many places (e.g., Purg. Canto v, 11. 109-123; Canto 
 xiv, 11. 31-36) Dante deals with the action of the moisture in the air, 
 forever replenishing the rivers at their sources in the mountains. But 
 here the two streams, Lethe and Eunoe, issue at two sides from a 
 fountain, steady and sure, that is constantly fed by direct inter- 
 position of the Will of God. Thus Dante's doubts are solved, but the 
 Lady volunteers a "corollary," identifying the Earthly Paradise with 
 the Age of Gold of the Poets, two of whom are present and are pleased. 
 
The Forest Full of Light and Melody 273 ^ 
 
 XXIX I 
 
 The Mystic Procession of the Church ^ 
 Triumphant 
 
 The Lady, in the manner of a lover, Vulgate Psalm 
 
 Resumed her singing, when her words were done: f^' ^quorum j 
 
 «-r»i 111* 1 M tecta sunt « 
 
 "Blessed are they whose sms are covered over." — peccata" i 
 
 And as the nymphs were wont to go alone \ 
 
 Among the woodland shadows, with endeavor 
 
 Some to behold, some to avoid the sun. 
 
 She then, against the current of the river, \ 
 
 Followed the bank, and I with her abreast. 
 
 Brief paces with brief paces matching ever. j 
 
 Between us not a hundred steps were paced, j 
 
 When both alike the margins made a bend, ■ 
 
 So that toward the East again I faced. { 
 
 Nor yet, so going, had we far to wend ^ 
 
 Before the Lady fully turned about I 
 
 Toward me, saying: "Look, brother, and attend." — I 
 
 And lo ! a sudden luster ran throughout i 
 
 Every quarter of the forest vast, i 
 
 So that of hghtning I was put in doubt. 
 But since the lightning, as it comes, is past. 
 
 And this still brightened more and more the wood, ] 
 
 "What thing is this?" — within my thought I cast. j 
 
 Then did a melody delightful flood zi 
 
 The illumined air, whence holy ardor made '[ 
 
 Me fain to reprobate Eve's hardihood; 
 For there, where both the Earth and Heaven obeyed. 
 
 The woman only, and but just created, ' 
 
 Would underneath not any veil be stayed; 5 
 
 Whereunder, had she but devoutly waited, ■ 
 
 So should I that ineffable content 1 
 
 Have sooner had, and had it unabated. i 
 
 While I amid so many first-fruits went, j 
 
 Of the eternal joy, and all upstrung, ] 
 
 And evermore on greater joyance bent, ^ 
 
274 Purgatorio ^ 
 
 4 
 
 In front of us, the verdant boughs among, : 
 The air as if by fire enkindled grew. 
 
 And the sweet sound was now perceived as song. j 
 
 O holy Virgins ! now did I for you \ 
 
 Hunger or cold or vigils never shun, ] 
 
 Need goads me to implore the guerdon due. * 
 
 Pour forth for me thy waters, Helicon, I 
 Urania sustain me with thy chorus. 
 
 To put in rime things hard to think upon! | 
 
 The wide tract of the middle distance bore us i 
 
 The show of seven trees of gold, not far ' 
 Beyond, in false presentment there before us; 
 
 But when so near approacht to them we are, 
 
 That common traits which lead the senses wrong 
 
 Forfeit by distance no particular, i 
 
 The force that makes discourse of reason strong \ 
 
 Perceived at length that candlesticks were they, ■ 
 And heard "Hosannah" in voices of the song. 
 
 Aloft was flaming now the fair array. 
 
 Far brighter than the Moon who lamps the skies ^ 
 
 At midnight in her monthly course midway. i 
 
 Thereon I turned about with wild surmise \ 
 To the good Virgil, who thereto replied 
 
 With like amazement in his startled eyes. I 
 
 Thence turning back my vision, I descried j 
 
 Those high things moving on to us so slow ] 
 They would have been outstript by the new bride. 
 
 The Lady chided me: "Why yearning so ! 
 
 Only to gaze upon each Hving light, i 
 
 That what comes after them thou dost forgo?" : 
 
 Then, as behind their leaders, came to sight j 
 
 A people in white raiment, — ^never seen ] 
 
 Was here up)on the earth so pure a white. \ 
 
 The water on my left was full of sheen, j 
 
 Reflecting back the left-hand side of me j 
 
 As in a mirror, when I lookt therein. j 
 
Pageant of the Sacred Books 
 
 275 
 
 When I had gained such place upon the lea 
 That separated me the brook alone, 
 I stayed my steps, the better thus to see. 
 
 And saw the flamelets forward move, a zone 
 Of painted air behind them leaving, so 
 That they appeared like painters' brushes drawn; 
 
 And thus the air above remained aglow 
 
 With seven stripes, containing every hue 
 Of DeHa's girdle and Apollo's bow. 
 
 These pennons farther than my range of view 
 Were streaming rearward; by my estimate 
 Ten steps asunder were the outer two. 
 
 Under so fair a sky as I relate, 
 
 By two and two came Elders twenty-four. 
 Their brows with flower-de-luce incoronate. 
 
 They all were singing: "Blessed thou before 
 The daughters all of Adam; blessed be 
 Thy loveliness forever and evermore." — 
 
 Now when no more the chosen company 
 
 Footed the flowers and tender herbage seen 
 Upon the margin opposite to me. 
 
 As follows hght on Hght in the serene 
 
 Heaven, came after them four hving things. 
 Each one incoronate with frondage green. 
 
 Every one was feathered with six wings 
 
 Studded with eyes; the eyes of Argus thus, 
 If living, might be full of visionings. 
 
 I lavish no more verses to discuss 
 
 Their form, O Reader! other charges bind 
 So, that perforce I am penurious. 
 
 But read Ezekiel, and call to mind 
 
 How he beheld them from the quarter cold 
 With cloud approaching, and with fire and wind; 
 
 As thou shalt find it in his pages told. 
 
 Such were they, — save as to their pinions, John 
 Varies from him, and with the saint I hold. 
 
 The lunar and 
 solar spectrum 
 
 Books of the 
 Old Testament 
 
 The Gospels 
 
276 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 The Gryphon 
 who draws the 
 Car of the 
 Church typifies 
 the union of the 
 Divine and the 
 human in the 
 Saviour. The 
 middle stripe of 
 the seven colors 
 is between his 
 wings 
 
 Love 
 Hope 
 Faith 
 
 Guided by Pru- 
 dence, who sees 
 past, present, 
 future 
 
 The beloved 
 physician, 
 St. Luke 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 Within the space among those four came on, 
 Triumphal, roUing on two wheels, a Wain 
 That forward by a Gryphon's neck was drawn. 
 
 Up he extended both his wings between 
 
 The middle striping and the three and three, 
 That none took hurt from being cleft amain. 
 
 How high they rose no human eye could see; 
 
 Where he is bird his limbs of gold are wrought, 
 The others white, but mingled ruddily. 
 
 With car so beautiful Rome honored not 
 Or Scipio or even Augustus, — ^nay. 
 Poor were the Sun's to such a chariot. 
 
 The chariot of the Sun which, driven astray. 
 Was burnt at Earth's devoted orison. 
 When Jove was just in his mysterious way. 
 
 At the right wheel, in dance came whirling on 
 Three ladies : one of such a ruddy glow 
 As haply in the fire were seen of none; 
 
 Such flesh and frame the second one did show 
 As out of emerald she had been made; 
 The third appeared like freshly fallen snow. 
 
 Now by the white appeared they to be led. 
 Now by the ruddy lady, by whose lay 
 The others timed their swift or tardy tread. 
 
 Beside the left wheel four made holiday 
 In purple raiment, following as guide 
 One in whose head three eyes lookt every way. 
 
 Behind all those described thus, I descried 
 Two aged men clad with a difference. 
 But like in bearing grave and dignified. 
 
 One seemed adept in the experiments 
 
 Of high Hippocrates, whom Nature made 
 For th' animals she holds in preference; 
 
 The other, who was carrying a blade 
 
 Gleaming and sharp, showed care so opposite 
 That, though this side the stream, I was afraid. 
 
Crowned with Crimson and Rose 
 
 ^11 
 
 Thereafter saw I four of humble plight; 
 And behind all an aged man alone 
 Walking in trance, but yet acute of sight. 
 
 These seven, like the company first shown. 
 Were habited in white; yet not Kke those 
 Around the forehead wore a Uly crown. 
 
 But rather flowers of crimson, and the rose: 
 
 Onlooker would have sworn, if near them not. 
 That they were all aflame above their brows. 
 
 When over against me was the Chariot, 
 
 Thunder was heard; whereby that worthy band 
 Was interdicted further march, methought. 
 
 There with the vanward ensigns brought to stand. 
 
 Minor Epistles 
 and Apoca- 
 lypse {Revelor 
 tion of St. 
 John the 
 Divine) 
 
278 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 See the long 
 note at the end 
 of this canto 
 
 The symbolical 
 Seven Candle- 
 sticks guided as 
 Charles's Wain 
 here guides the 
 mariner 
 
 XXX 
 
 The Reproaches of Beatrice 
 
 When the Septentrion of highest Heaven 
 That set or rising never knew, nor pall 
 Of any cloud save that of sin, had given 
 
 To every creature there processional 
 Such due direction as is ever sought 
 From that below by homing pilots all, — 
 
 When that stood still, the people true of thought 
 First come *twixt Gryphon and Septentrion, 
 As to their peace turned to the Chariot. 
 
 "Come with me, with me. Bride, from Lebanon," 
 Cried one like Messenger from Heaven, in song 
 Thrice over, and so the others every one. 
 
 And as the blest, when the last trump has rung. 
 Shall each rise lightly from the funeral urn 
 With Hallelujah on requickened tongue. 
 
 So on the Car Divine did I discern 
 
 A hundred at such Elder's call upstand. 
 Angels and ministers of Hfe eterne. 
 
 **Blessed be thou that comest !" cried that band, 
 FilUng the air with flowers along the way, 
 "O give ye lihes all with Hberal hand !" — 
 
 How often have I seen at break of day 
 The region of the East all roseate. 
 And else the limpid sky in fair array. 
 
 While overshadowing mists so mitigate 
 
 The rising splendor that these eyes of ours 
 Encounter it awhile with gaze sedate, — 
 
 So in the bosom of a cloud of flowers 
 
 Flung in the air and drifting to the ground 
 From the angehc hands in blossom showers. 
 
 In veil of white, with olive fillet crowned, 
 Appeared to me a Lady in mantle green. 
 With color of living flame invested roimd. 
 
Vanishing of Virgil 279 ] 
 
 And to my spirit that so long had been ] 
 
 Out of her presence, which did ever move j 
 
 Me to stand trembling and abasht of mien, ; 
 
 Virtue descending through her from above } 
 Attested, without witness of the eye. 
 
 The great tenacity of early love. ] 
 
 No sooner smote my sight the virtue high ; 
 
 Which had already pierct me through the breast ; 
 
 Before my early boyhood had gone by, i 
 
 Than to the left as trustfully I pressed ; 
 
 As to the mother does the child, distraught j 
 
 By terror or by grief, to manifest j 
 
 To Virgil: "In my pulses beats no jot i 
 Of blood that does not quiver; I perceive 
 
 The early flame beneath the ashes hot/^ — ] 
 
 But gone was Virgil, leaving me to grieve, ' 
 
 Virgil, to me a father passing dear, i 
 
 Virgil from whom salvation I retrieve, ■ 
 
 Nor all that lost our ancient mother here \ 
 
 Availed to keep my cheeks, though cleansed with dew, \ 
 
 From being stained again with many a tear. ■. 
 
 ^'Dante, because Virgilius withdrew, | 
 
 Do not weep yet, not yet a-weeping fall: ; 
 
 Another sword has yet to pierce thee through." — \ 
 
 As stands at stern or prow an admiral *: 
 
 To inspect the service, and to cheer the men i 
 
 Upon the other ships to prowess all, ] 
 
 At the left margin of the chariot, — when ( 
 I turned about on hearing mine own name 
 Which here indeed I cannot choose but pen, — 
 
 I saw the Lady, she before who came \ 
 
 Veiled underneath the angelic festival, i 
 
 Direct her eyes to me across the stream. i 
 
 Though, circled with Minerva's coronal. 
 
 The ample veil descending from her head ] 
 
 Gave forth but faint glimpse of her form, withal -j 
 
280 Purgatorio 
 
 Austerely, and with queenly bearing dread \ 
 Continued she, as who in saying this 
 
 Still left the hottest utterance unsaid: \ 
 
 ''Look at us well, we are, we are Beatrice; i 
 How didst thou deign to come unto the Mount? 
 
 Knewest thou not that man is here in bliss?" — j 
 
 Mine eyes fell down into the limpid fount, j 
 
 But seeing myself reflected, did I turn \ 
 
 Back to the lawn again with bashful front. \ 
 
 As to the child appears the mother stern, 
 
 So she appeared to me; for bitter food . 
 
 Is pity, and tart in flavor, though it yearn. - 
 
 She held her peace, and the angel multitude j 
 
 Pmlm XXX, 1-8^^ >— Chanted: "In Thee, Lord, do I put my trust,"* i 
 
 But beyond "set my feet" did not conclude. | 
 
 As, on the back of Italy, the gust \ 
 
 Slavonic doth the living rafters sheathe i 
 
 With drifted snow soon frozen to a crust, j 
 
 Which melts and trickles down if only breathe 1 
 
 The land where shrink the shadows, and ap(>ears j 
 Like wax that liquefies the flame beneath, — 
 
 So I remained with neither sighs nor tears 
 Before the song of them who chanting go 
 
 After the notes of the eternal spheres. \ 
 
 But when I heard their timeful pity flow \ 
 More sweetly than as if it were exprest: 
 
 "Lady, why dost thou break his spirit so?" — I 
 7 y— The ice that was about my heart comprest, 
 
 To breath and water changing, gusht forth hot 
 
 Through lips and eyes with anguish from my breast. \ 
 
 Still from the same side of the Chariot, ; 
 Turned she to that compassionate array 
 Her words, her attitude yet moving not: 
 
 "Ye keep your watch through the eternal day ■ 
 
 So that nor night nor slumber robs from you | 
 
 One step the world may walk along its way; \ 
 
Dante Accused before Angels 281 
 
 Thus to my answer greater heed is due 
 
 That yonder weeper understand me, whence 
 Of equal measure may be guilt and rue. 
 
 By work not only of the wheels immense 
 
 Guiding all seeds toward their destined places 
 According as the stars rain influence, 
 
 But by the guerdon of celestial graces. 
 
 Which have so lofty vapors for their showers 
 That nevermore our sight their fountain traces. 
 
 Such, virtually, was this friend of ours 
 In his new life, that issue marvelous 
 Was to be lookt for from his native powers. 
 
 But all the wilder and more mischievous 
 Is an unweeded garden grown to seed. 
 The more the soil is rank and vigorous. 
 
 Whiles I sustained him with my face indeed. 
 
 The hght of my young eyes upon him turning; 
 And tow'rd right issues followed he my lead. 
 ?v5 .^(Vhen I had crossed my second threshold, spurning 
 That earthly life, the heavenly to inherit. 
 Then he forsook me for another yearning^ 
 
 So, when arisen out of flesh to spirit. 
 
 Waxing in beauty and in worth, I grew 
 Less precious to his mind, and of less merit; 
 
 And his feet wandered by a way not true 
 After false images of good, pursuing 
 Promises unredeemed with payment due. 
 
 To summon him away from his undoing. 
 The invocation of no dream or vision 
 Availed to me, — so little was he ruing. 
 
 He fell so low, no means for the remission 
 Of sin in him yet in my power was lying. 
 Save showing him the people of perdition. 
 
 For this I gained the portal of the dying. 
 
 And to that one who led him here were spoken 
 My supplications mingled with my sighing. 
 
282 Purgatorio 
 
 High j&at of the Almighty would be broken 
 
 Were he to traverse Lethe without scoring 
 Due payment of such viand, certain token 
 
 Of deep repentance with hot tears outpouring."— 
 
 Note 
 
 No sooner has the divine Chariot come to a standstill, than there 
 arise upon it a hundred ministers and messengers of eternal life, 
 singing and flinging up a cloud of flowers, in the midst of which appears 
 to the poet a Lady clad in the tricolor of the Christian virtues. Her 
 robe is of the hue of living flame, and her mantle green, but of these 
 the poet seems only to have a glimpse, for she is all shrouded in a 
 white veil flowing down from the head where it is filleted with the" 
 frond of Minerva, — the olive garland, symbol of wisdom and peace. 
 His pulses all astir with the tokens of the old^ame (veteris vesti^a 
 flammae), the poet turns to share the transport with his wise guide, 
 his beloved father; but Virgil, who has never failed him in distress, is 
 not permitted to be a partaker of his joy. With a subtle suggestion 
 of man's first forfeiture of Paradise, the poet betrays a pathetic 
 weakness, making us aware that even in this supreme moment of 
 revelation and attainment, his strongest sentiment is that of regret 
 for his lost master. A great flood of human feehng rolls over him, the 
 "light of higher eyes" is darkened, and he yearns backward even as 
 Orpheus did after the vanishing shade of his Eurydice. 
 
 This is the most humanly significant moment in the poem. Virgil 
 signifies for him all grace of art, all serenity of reason, all human 
 amenity, — all that the Parthenon typifies in contradistinction from 
 the Cathedral of the Christian. It is not without a pang that the 
 poet can give up all this, even at the moment of the fulfillment of 
 his unexampled quest, even now when he stands at last in the presence 
 of Beatrice. Probably many readers will share Dante's sense of 
 bereavement in the loss of the gentlie Pagan Sage. 
 
 At this moment when his face is darkened with tears of vain regret, 
 in the hush of song, in the lull of the angelic festival, a woman's 
 voice, terrible in its sweetness, stabs him with his name, as with 
 premonitory sting of the sword by which his tears are yet to flow: 
 
 "Dante, because Virgilius withdrew. 
 Do not weep yet, not yet a-weeping fall: 
 Another sword has yet to pierce thee through."— 
 
 Henceforth, in this and the following canto, images of war pre- 
 dominate. The Lady's attitude is one of command, — like an admiral 
 she stands on the left or Old-Testament side of the Chariot. The, 
 warm color of her inner vestment is now wholly shrouded by the 
 long flowing white veil, through which he can divine her form as 
 through a glass darkly. There is some cheer in the touch of green 
 (fior del verde) in the olive garland; love being hidden, he must make 
 the best of faith and hope. With queenly sternness, like one who 
 
Structural Imagery of Poem 283 
 
 keeps back her hottest words, she bids him look well at her as she 
 declares herself by name: 
 
 ' "I am indeed Beatrice!" 
 
 Dante! Beatrice! It was not thus he had dreamed in the New Life 
 that her name should be linked with his!-:— With superb irony, 
 referring to his besetting sin of pride, she demands: 
 
 "How didst thou deign to come imto the Mount ?^ 
 
 Instead of looking at her as she bids, he lets fall his eyes, but seeing 
 his shamefast features reflected in the clear brook, he is fain to turn 
 them to the grassy margin, where they rest upon the color of Hope. 
 
 Taking advantage of a pause, the Angels now intone the Psalm, 
 "In Te, Domine, speravi," — "In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust" 
 (Ps. xxxi), or in the Catholic version of^he Vulgate (Ps. xxx), "In 
 Thee, O Lord, have I hoped." 
 
 The divine compassion of the angel voices melts all the ice which 
 had congealed about the heart of Dante, who is seized with an agony 
 of contrite tears. This passion of tears is emphasized by the sublime 
 similitude of the freshet from the snowy Apennines. It is a narrow 
 criticism which has pronounced this similitude to be "too elaborate." 
 Its elaboration is calculated, likd everything else in this poem, to 
 support the design. Perhaps this is the only long poem in literature 
 in which all the decoration subserves a structural purpose. The 
 mMter is so important that it must here be dwelt upon for a moment. 
 v-'^Dante, Virgil, Beatrice^ each one alongside of the personal and the 
 '"'^ human, symbolizes a whole system of ideas. Virgil represents that 
 partial vision of truth which it may be given to human philosophy to 
 attain. Beatrice represents that seeing of God face to face, that 
 perfect revelation of truth, which to the thought of the poet is 
 summed up in tfie word Theology. The nebula of ideas of which the 
 man Dante is the type is nothing less than the whole sinful but aspir- 
 ing nature of man stumbling on the altar steps that lead frond Nature 
 up to the highest possible knowledge. From his brow the seven 
 P's, each emblematic of a whole category of sins, have been erased 
 one by one by the angels who guard the successive cornices by which 
 he has climbed the mountain that straightens those whom the world 
 made crooked (Canto xxiii, 1. 126). But the merely formal cancellation 
 of sin typified by this action does not satisfy the conscience. Divine 
 Justice requires a deeper participation, — a breaking up of the ice 
 about the heart, — ^what Protestant Theology was afterward to 
 emphasize as Conversion. Hence before the final rite of immersion 
 in Lethe, which is to blot out, not sin merely, but the very remem- 
 brance of sin, Beatrice must sharply recall to Dante's mind his 
 offenses against her, in order that he may make confession before 
 men and angels with every evidence of contrition. The confession 
 which Dante so solemnly makes is by no means merely symbolic, 
 but truly personal: hence the necessity of recording his own name. 
 He is about to partake of that "sweet oblivious antidote" which shall 
 
 "Purge the stufft bosom of that perilous stuff 
 Which weighs upon the heart," 
 
284 Purgatorio 
 
 and in making this pathetic confession he is performing the most 
 spiritually consoling act of his life. The importance then of the 
 inward breaking up as preliminary to all outward, formal absolution 
 cannot be too strongly emphasized. 
 
 It was Dante's purpose, as is shown by his letter to Can Grande, 
 to blend in his poem the personal and human experience with the 
 universal. Nowhere more than in this canto is the allegory fused 
 with the personal fact. All is personal and all is symbol. This canto 
 and the next form together a personal record of thrilling spiritual 
 significance. Here the allegorical mode in art reaches its utmost 
 height. One may perhaps feel that the delineation of Virgil is on the 
 whole more sympathetic than his delineation, after this point and 
 throughout the Paradiso, of Beatrice. So one may prefer the marble 
 splendor and pure symmetry of the Parthenon to the pinnacles and 
 dim religious light of the Cathedral. A liberal criticism will recognize 
 in each an ultimate outreach of human faculty. Dante's art is 
 incomparably more ample than that of the Cathedral builders, who 
 render perfectly the terrors and mysteries of religion, but in the 
 matter of human interest fall into the grotesque. Dante's classic 
 taste keeps the grotesque within bounds, so that he is able more than 
 they, and more than any other artist, to render the beauty of holiness, 
 whUe never getting away too far-^rom human nature and experience, 
 necessarily the subjects of all acceptable art. 
 
The Poet Humble and Contrite 
 
 285 
 
 XXXI 
 
 Dante's Bitter Confession 
 
 "O thou who art yon side the sacred river/' 
 
 Aiming her speech at me by thrust, that through 
 The cutting edge alone had made me quiver, 
 
 Pursuing without truce began she anew, — 
 "To such a heavy charge is requisite 
 Thine own confession: speak, speak, is it true?" — 
 
 So great the p)erturbation of my wit. 
 
 Though my tongue moved, it was with such delay 
 That first my voice had died away on it. 
 
 Granting short shrift, she urged: "What dost thou say? 
 Answer me, for the memories that gnaw 
 Are not yet by the water purged away.**- 
 
 Together intermingled sham^e and awe 
 
 Constrained my Hps to shape forth such a " Yes^ 
 As could be heard only by her who saw. 
 
 As crossbow, tightened up with too great stress. 
 Is shattered when the arrow forth is flung. 
 Which strengthless from the target falls, no less 
 
 Was I- beneath this heavy charge unstrung. 
 
 Pouring forth tears and sighs, and so undone 
 The faltering voice was slow upon my tongue. 
 
 "In thy desires of me that led thee on 
 
 To love the Good Supreme,'^ then did she say, 
 "Beyond which aspiration there is none, 
 
 What thwarting trenches or what cables lay 
 Across the avenue of thy advance. 
 That thou hadst need to strip thy hope away? 
 
 And what allurements in the countenance 
 
 Of others, or what advantage didst thou spy 
 That thou shouldst linger for their dalliance ?** — 
 
 After the heaving of a bitter sigh 
 
 My lips for utterance were almost sealed 
 And with great effort shaped out a reply. 
 
 The cutting edge 
 thai made Dante 
 quiver is the 
 intolerably sweet 
 and unsparing 
 review of his 
 life in the fore- 
 going address of 
 Beatrice to the 
 angels 
 
 y2- 
 
 V 
 
286 Purgatorio 
 
 Weeping I murmured: "Present things that yield 
 Fallacious joy, allured my steps aside 
 ^ (0 - Soon as your countenance became concealed." — 
 
 And she : "Hadst thou been silent, or denied 
 What is confest, the record would allege 
 Thy guilt no less, by such a Judge descried. 
 
 But when the sinner's scarlet cheeks are pledge 
 Of self -accusal, in our Court and Fane 
 The grindstone is whirled back to blunt the edge. 
 
 Howbeit, in order that thou now sustain 
 
 Shame for thy fault, and be of stouter soul 
 When thou shalt hear the Sirens sing again, 
 
 Awhile the sowing of thy tears control. 
 
 And hearken how my flesh when laid away 
 Ho '^ -Ought to have led thee to the counter-goal. 
 
 Never did Nature, never Art convey 
 
 Such rapture to thee as those features fair 
 That held me, and are scattered in decay. 
 
 And if my dying left thy soul so bare 
 
 Of joy supreme, what mortal hankerings 
 Ought ever have allured to baser care? 
 
 At the first shaft of perishable things 
 
 Thou oughtest truly to have soared aloof 
 
 With me from such concern; nor should thy wings 
 
 Have been weighed downward to abide the proof 
 Of further strokes, whether of dainty maid 
 (ff O Or other vanity of brief behoof. 
 
 For two or three the fledgling may be stayed. 
 But in the sight of the full-plumaged bird 
 Vainly the bolt is sp)ed or net is laid." — 
 
 As children stand abasht without a word. 
 But Hstening with eyes upon the ground. 
 Conscious and sorry for the fault incurred, 
 
 So stood I; and she said: "Since thou hast found 
 Pain in the hearing, lift thy beard, — ^thou must 
 Receive, by looking, yet more grievous wound." — 
 
72^ 
 
 Drinks Forgetfulness of Fault 287 
 
 With less reluctance is an oak robust 
 
 Wrencht up by gale that scours across the sprays 
 
 From Libia, or stricken by our Alpine gust. 
 
 Than did I at her word my chin upraise; 
 
 And when by "beard'' invited to the viewing. 
 
 Full well I felt the venom of the phrase. 
 And my uplifted eyes, their gaze renewing, 
 
 Plainly distinguisht those primordial creatures 
 
 How they were pausing from their blossom-strewing ; 
 And these mine eyes, as yet uncertain teachers. 
 
 Showed Beatrice turned to the Animal 
 
 That is one single Person in two natures. 
 Beneath her veil, beyond the stream withal. 
 
 She seemed beyond her ancient seK to go 
 
 More than outwent she here the others all. 
 The nettle of remorse there prickt me so 
 
 That what once most with love seductive drew 
 
 Now most of all things seemed to be my foe. 
 Such self -conviction gnawed my conscience through, 
 
 I fell undone; what then upon me passed. 
 
 That knows she best who gave me cause thereto. 
 When heart revived my outward sense at last, 
 
 Appeared the Lady whom I had found alone, Matilda draws 
 
 Above me, saying: "Hold fast to me, hold fast !"— fZVwMct 
 Me throat-high in the river had she drawn, takes away 
 
 And, haling me behind her, was she light ^rZZb^ln^of 
 
 As any shuttle o'er the water gone. personal sin 
 
 When I drew nigh the margin benedight, 
 
 "Purge me," so sweetly did I hear the soimd. 
 
 Remember it I cannot, much less write. 
 The Lady fair then put her arms around 
 
 My head, and plunged me under, so embraced. 
 
 Till fain to drink the water; then she crowned 
 The whole by leading me, thus rendered chaste, 
 
 Within the measure of the lovely Four, 
 
 Who each with guarding arm my shoulder graced. 
 
288 Purgatorio 
 
 "Here we are nymphs, and stars in Heaven; before 
 Beatrice down to life on earth had gone, 
 We were ordained each one her servitor. 
 /XO We lead thee to her eyes; but those three yon, 
 
 Whose vision searches with profounder quest. 
 Will sharpen to their jocund light thine own." — 
 
 So first they sang; then to the Gryphon's breast 
 
 Led me along with them; and at that spot 
 
 Toward us turned, was Beatrice at rest. 
 
 Dante sees the **Take heed," said they, "to spare thy gazing not; 
 
 Z^r.fl!.''' Thou art before the emeralds at last, 
 
 union of the ' 
 
 human with the ^ Whence Love of yore his arrows at thee shot/'- 
 
 reflected in the Held mine eyes fixed upon the eyes ashine 
 
 S^/^^' ""^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ *"^^ "P^^ ^^^ Gryphon cast. 
 
 The Animal wherein two natures twine 
 
 Was gleaming there, — so in mirror gleams the sun,- 
 Now in the human, now in the divine. 
 
 Think, Reader, how I marveled, seeing yon 
 The Creature standing, as if inanimate, 
 . Yet being transmuted in its eidolon! 
 
 / tO While yet both full of wonder and elate. 
 
 My soul was breaking fast upon the food 
 That quenching causes thirst insatiate, 
 
 The other Three came forth, their attitude 
 In dancing their angelic roundelay 
 Approving them to be of nobler brood. 
 
 "Turn, Beatrice, O turn," so ran their lay, 
 "Thy holy eyes upon thy servant leal 
 Who moved his steps to thee from far away. 
 lb uOf thy grace to us, graciously reveal 
 
 Thy smile to him, so that he may discern 
 
 The second beauty which thou dost conceal." — 
 
 O splendor of the living light eterne. 
 
 What dreaming poet ever has so paled 
 In shadow of Parnassus, or at its urn 
 
Revelation of Heavenly Beauty 289 
 
 So drunken, that his heart would not have failed 
 Endeavoring to render thee, how fair. 
 Beneath the harmony of heaven unveiled 
 /^O When opening thy beauty to the air? 
 
£90 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Vision seen in 
 the Earthly 
 Paradise on the 
 morning of the 
 fourth day 
 
 Too intense 
 personal vision 
 reproved by the 
 Church. Possi- 
 ble reference to 
 the traces of the 
 early jlame 
 (xxx, U8) 
 
 Behind the right 
 wheel of the Car 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Allegory of the Evil Days of the Church 
 
 So steadfast and attentive was my eye 
 To satisfy my thirst decennial. 
 All other sense did in abeyance lie; 
 
 And so her holy smiling made me fall 
 In the old toils, that my indifference 
 Inclosed me on every side as with a wall; 
 
 When force perforce my sight was shifted thence 
 Tow*rd my left hand by those Divinities, 
 Because I heard from them a "Too intense !" — 
 
 And that condition of the sight, which is 
 In eyes but lately smitten by the sun. 
 Canceled awhile my vision after this. 
 
 But when my sight was for the less re won 
 (The less compared with that superior 
 Splendor from which perforce I had withdrawn). 
 
 Turned on the right flank face about, once more 
 The glorious army stood to me revealed 
 With sun and with the seven flames before. 
 
 As changes front, 'neath cover of the shield, 
 
 A squadron with the standard, while yet not 
 The body of the army can have wheeled, 
 
 The knighthood of the heavenly realm that brought 
 The van up, all had wheeled and passed us by 
 Ere the front beam had turned the Chariot. 
 
 Back to the wheels did then the damsels hie. 
 
 Whereat the Gryphon moved his blessed charge 
 So that no feather of him shook thereby, ' 
 
 The Lady fair who drew me to the marge. 
 And Statins and I fell in withal 
 Behind the wheel that curved with arc less large; 
 
 And thus, while passing through the forest tall. 
 
 Void by her fault who pledged the Snake amiss, 
 Our feet to angel music timed their fall. 
 
Car of Church Bound to Tree of Empire 291 
 
 Three flights might carry along as far as this 
 An arrow, haply, loosened from the string: 
 At such remove alighted Beatrice. 
 
 I heard them one and all there murmuring 
 "Adam ^P — ^then circled they about a tree 
 Bare on each bough of bloom and burgeoning. 
 
 Its fohage, which spreads accordingly 
 
 As it is towering upward, would for height 
 To Indians in their woods a marvel be. 
 
 ''Blest art thou Gryphon, that thou dost not smite 
 With beak this tree that to the taste is sweet. 
 For anguish follows on such appetite.^' — 
 
 So round the sturdy tree the rest repeat; 
 Whereat the Animal of natures two: 
 "Thus to fulfill all justice it is meet.'* — 
 
 And, turning to the wagon-pole, he drew 
 
 It up beneath the widowed trunk, — ^whereon 
 That which came from it left he bound thereto. 
 
 Even as, when falls the great light of the sun 
 
 Downward, commingled with that radiance far 
 Which beams behind the heavenly Carp, anon 
 
 Burgeon our trees, and each its singular 
 Color renews, before the sun has set 
 Yoke on his coursers under other star: 
 
 So did the tree, of fronds so naked yet. 
 Revive and open out into a hue 
 Less than of rose and more than violet. 
 
 What hynm that throng then sang, I never knew, — 
 A matter not intoned in human chants, — 
 Nor could I bear the melody all through. 
 
 O could I picture sinking into trance 
 
 Those cruel eyes, of Syrinx hearing tell. 
 Those eyes that paid so dear long vigilance. 
 
 Into what drowsihood hereon I fell. 
 
 Like painter from the life would I portray: 
 Who would, must know to image slumber well. 
 
 Tree of Knowl- 
 edge. The cross, 
 whereof the 
 wain-pole is 
 symbol, was 
 fabled to be of 
 the wood of this 
 tree 
 
 This tree, 
 grafted with the 
 cross, blossoms 
 anew, as in 
 spririg when the 
 sun is in the 
 Ram just be- 
 hind the sign of 
 the Fishes, our 
 trees renew 
 verdure and 
 bloom 
 
 The tale with 
 which Hermes 
 lulled Argua 
 
292 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Matilda 
 
 Theology left to 
 guard the 
 Church, sur- 
 rounded by the 
 Seven Virtues 
 
 Whence pass I to my waking, and I say 
 
 A dazzling splendor rent the veil from me 
 
 Of slumber, and a calling: "Rise, why stay?" — 
 
 As, to see blossoms of the apple tree 
 
 That makes the angels eager to be fed, 
 And marriage feasts in Heaven eternally, 
 
 Peter and James and John were upward led. 
 And, overcome, recovered at the word 
 Of Him who broke the slumbers of the dead. 
 
 And saw their band to what it was restored 
 By loss of Moses and EHas too, 
 And changed again the raiment of the Lord; 
 
 So I recovered, and so did I view 
 
 Above me standing that compassionate Guide, 
 Who my first steps along the river drew. 
 
 "And where is Beatrice?'' — ^perplext I cried; 
 "Sitting beneath the foliage freshly sprung, 
 Upon its root behold her," she replied. 
 
 "Behold around her the companion throng; 
 
 The others with the Gryphon upward speeding, 
 Singing a sweeter and a deeper song." — 
 
 And if she spoke more words than the preceding 
 I know not, so mine eyes were fixt upon 
 Her who had shut me off from other heeding. 
 
 Alone upon the bare earth sat she down. 
 Left there as warder of the Chariot 
 I saw made fast by Creature two-in-one. 
 
 The seven nymphs a ring around her wrought. 
 And in their hands the seven lampads lay 
 That Aquilo and Auster extinguish not. 
 
 "Here art thou forester but a brief day, 
 
 And of that Rome where Christ is Roman, then 
 Shalt thou a burgess with me be for aye. 
 
 Whence, for the benefit of erring men, 
 
 Observe the Car, and what thou canst descry, 
 Having returned to earth, take heed to pen." — 
 
Vidssitvdes of the Church 293 
 
 So Beatrice commanded, and so I, Allegorical view \ 
 
 To very foot of her commands devote, t^h^dP^ "^ \ 
 
 Whither she willed gave all my mind and eye. 
 
 Never with fall so swift the Hghtning smote \ 
 
 Out of a heavy cloud-bank, when it showers • 
 
 Down from that bourn which stretches most re- \ 
 
 mote, i 
 
 As now beheld I through the leafy bowers \ 
 
 Swoop down the bird of Jupiter amain, The Roman ' 
 
 Rending the bark and the fresh leaves and flowers, °^ \ 
 
 Thereon with all his might smiting the Wain; J 
 
 Whereat it reeled, Uke ship storm-buffeted, I 
 
 Wave-tost to starboard and to port again. 
 
 I saw a she-fox glide with stealthy tread Heresy 
 
 Quite into the triumphal Car thereon, j 
 
 And she appeared with wholesome food unfed. \ 
 
 But for so foul a fault, with malison. 
 
 My Lady put her to such flight as bore j 
 
 The fleshless framework of her skeleton. 
 
 Then, by the course that he had come before, ] 
 
 I saw the eagle swoop into the ark Donation of 
 
 Of the Chariot, and leave it feathered o'er. ^^T^ns- ^ 
 
 And out of Heaven a voice of sighing, hark! us ' 1 
 
 Such sighs as from a grieving bosom steal : \ 
 
 "How badly art thou fraught, my Kttle bark!" — \ 
 
 Thereon the earth seemed cleft twixt wheel and wheel, \ 
 
 And thence I saw a dragon issuing. The schism he- ' 
 
 That upward through the Chariot thrust his tail; ^^^churdt 
 
 And like the wasp withdrawing forth the sting, or perhaps I 
 
 He with mahgnant tail drew forth amain Idamism \ 
 
 Part of the floor, and went off wandering. i 
 
 As fertile soil takes grass, the rest again Corrupting ; 
 
 Took on the plumage, given to satisfy ^•' \ 
 
 Intent perchance benevolent and sane, \ 
 
 And both the wheels were overrun thereby 
 So quickly, and the chariot-pole overrun. 
 The lips are longer parted with a sigh. \ 
 
^94 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 Corrupt rela- 
 tions of Papacy 
 and French 
 Monarchy. The 
 scourging of the 
 whore doubtless 
 refers to the 
 outrage upon 
 the person of 
 Pope Boniface 
 {Canto XX, 85- 
 90). Dante per- 
 haps here per- 
 sonifies in him- 
 self the enemies 
 of Philip the 
 Fair 
 
 Removal of 
 Papal See to 
 Avignon. The 
 strange animal 
 must be the Car 
 bestialized by 
 the heads, 
 representing the 
 mortal sin* 
 
 The holy structure, thus transformed, anon 
 Heads over all its different portions bore. 
 Three on the pole, at every corner one. 
 
 The three were horned Uke bullocks, but the four 
 
 With single horn had each the forehead crowned : 
 Monster like this was never seen before. 
 
 Secure as citadel on lofty mound, 
 
 Sitting up)on the Car appeared to me 
 
 A wanton whore, darting her oglings round. 
 
 And, as her warder, lest she taken be, 
 
 Was standing at her side a giant brute. 
 And now and then their kissing did I see. 
 
 But since her roving eye and dissolute 
 
 Was turned on me, that savage paramour 
 Did scourge her from her head unto her foot. 
 
 Then jealously and fierce with anger, tore 
 
 The Monster loose, and dragged so far withal 
 That with the forest shielded he the whore 
 
 From me, and shielded the strange Animal. 
 
Beatrice Prophesies a Better Day 295 
 
 xxxin 
 
 The Poet Made Pure for the Ascent to the Stars 
 
 "O God, the heathen are come into Thine own!" 
 
 So did the weeping maids, now three, now four 
 Alternately, sweet psalmody intone; 
 
 And heavily sighed Beatrice, and wore 
 
 A listening look of such a plaintive grace 
 That Mary at the Cross changed little more. 
 
 But when the other virgins had given place 
 For her to speak, now upright on her feet. 
 She made reply to them with blazing face : 
 
 "A little while and me ye shall not meet; 
 And yet a little while," again she said, 
 "And ye shall look upon me, sisters sweet." — 
 
 Then sent she all the seven on, and made 
 To follow after, merely by a sign. 
 Me and the Lady and the Sage who stayed. 
 
 So went she, and had taken, I opine. 
 
 Scarcely ten paces, through the woodland faring. 
 When with her piercing eyes she smote on mine : 
 
 "Approach," commanded she, sedate of bearing, 
 "In order that, if I discourse with thee. 
 Thou mayst remain within an easy hearing." — 
 
 When I was with her, as I ought to be, 
 
 "Brother," said she, "why art thou diffident 
 
 To question, seeing that thou walkst with me?" — 
 
 As befalls people over-reverent 
 
 In speaking in the presence of the great. 
 
 Whose chattering teeth the living voice prevent. 
 
 So I, inapt for sound articulate. 
 
 Began: "You know, my Lady, what beseems 
 To me, because you know my poor estate." — 
 
 "I would not have thee henceforth by extremes 
 
 Of fear and shame," she answered, "made to quail. 
 Nor would I have thee speak like one in dreams. 
 
 Seventy-ninth 
 Psalm 
 
 Gospel of John 
 xvi, 16. AUe- 
 gorically, the 
 restoration of 
 the Church 
 
 The Lady 
 Matilda; the 
 sage Statins 
 
 Dante addresses 
 her as if she 
 were a royal 
 personage: 
 Canto XXX, 70, 
 Par. xvi, be- 
 ginning 
 
296 
 
 Purgatorio 
 
 {Following the 
 reading of 
 Torraca) 
 So the ardent 
 prayer of Canto 
 vi shall he 
 answered; the 
 Hound of Inf. i 
 shall come. 
 The DXV, 
 whatever be the 
 date foretold, 
 may be an ana- 
 gram for DUX, 
 leader, or it may 
 be the emblem of 
 Christ 
 
 Do not let the 
 fear of the 
 mighty hinder 
 thee from telling 
 men that the 
 deed of Philip 
 the Fair is such 
 another cnme as 
 that of the dis- 
 obedience of our 
 first parents 
 
 First by the 
 Devil, now by 
 Philip the Fair 
 {the giant) 
 
 Worldly joys 
 stain, a^ did 
 the blood of 
 Pyramus the 
 mulberry 
 
 Know that the vessel rent by dragon-tail. 
 Was and is not: but be the guilty aware 
 That Divine Vengeance fears no coat of mail. 
 
 Not always shall remain without an heir 
 
 The Eagle that emplumed the Chariot, whence 
 It grew a monster and then a prey: I bear 
 
 Sure witness, and foretell an influence 
 
 Of stars already close at hand to give 
 An era free from all impediments. 
 
 Wherein One, a Five-hundred Ten and Five, 
 God-sent, shall with the harlot do to death 
 That giant who doth now with her connive. 
 
 Perchance in cloudy talk I waste my breath. 
 
 Like Sphynx and Themis, unpersuasive thus. 
 Since in their mode the mind it darkeneth; 
 
 But fact erelong will be the (Edipus 
 
 Of this enigma, the hard knot untying. 
 Nor be to fold or field injurious. 
 
 Mark thou : and even as I am prophesying, 
 So do thou teach to those who run the race 
 Of life, which is a hastening to dying; 
 
 And bear in mind, when thou the writing trace. 
 Not to conceal how thou hast seen undone 
 The Plant, that twice was pillaged in this place. 
 
 Whoever robs or rends it, malison 
 
 Of very deed upon High God is casting, 
 Who hallowed it to purpose of His own. 
 
 For tasting it, in pain and longing wasting 
 
 Five thousand years and more, the first soul sighed 
 For Him who punisht on Himself that tasting. 
 
 Thy wit must slumber, having not descried 
 How for a special reason passing high 
 Rises the Tree, and has the top so wide. 
 
 And did thy vain conceits not petrify 
 
 Like Elsa water round thy mind, were not 
 Their joy a Pyramus to the mulberry. 
 
Dante Has Forgotten His Estrangement 297 
 
 So many circumstances would have taught 
 The justice of the interdict Divine 
 Upon the Tree, symboUcally wrought. 
 
 But though I see that intellect of thine 
 
 Grown stony, and so windowless and bUnd 
 To radiance wherewith my teachings shine. 
 
 Yet, if unwritten, painted on the mind. 
 
 Pray bear them, by what token palmers do 
 Their staves with frondage of the palm en- 
 twined/' — 
 
 And I: "As to the seal the wax is true, 
 
 Holding the form and pressure evermore. 
 So is my memory now stampt by you. 
 
 But why do your desired words outsoar 
 The utmost pinion of my sight, that so 
 I fail of them, the more I strive therefor?" — 
 
 "It is," she said, "to enable thee to know 
 
 The school that thou hast followed, — to display 
 How lamely it can follow where I go; 
 
 And that thou mayst perceive your human way 
 As far from the Divine, as is remote 
 From Earth the Heaven that highest speeds 
 away." — 
 
 Whereat I answered her: "I have forgot 
 That ever I estranged myself from you; 
 And qualms of conscience for it have I not.** — 
 
 "And if it has been blotted from thy view. 
 
 Now recollect," her smiling answer went, 
 "How thou hast drunk of Lethe but anew; 
 
 So that, if smoke of fire is argument. 
 
 Thus to forget affords clear evidence 
 Of error in thy will elsewhere intent. 
 
 Be that as may, my oracles from hence 
 
 Shall be unveiled, far as to lay them bare 
 May be not unbefitting thy rude sense." — 
 
 Par. xxvi, 
 115-123 
 
 In remembrance 
 of the pil- 
 grimage 
 
 The penetrating 
 intellect of 
 Dante must have 
 more than dis- 
 trusted the 
 jejune scholas- 
 tic philosophy 
 
298 Purgatorio 
 
 With slower paces and with greater glare 
 The sun in the meridian circle glowed, 
 That with the point of view shifts here and there. 
 When, — as is wont to halt upon his road 
 Whoever as a Leader goes before. 
 Finding strange thing or vestige, — so abode 
 The seven ladies by a shadowy shore: 
 
 Green foliage and glooming branches throw 
 Such shadow over mountain torrents frore. 
 In front, methought I saw Euphrates flow 
 And Tigris, from a single starting-place. 
 And separate, like friends at parting slow. 
 "O Ught, O glory of the human race ! 
 
 What flood is this that gushes here away 
 Out of one fount, and separates apace?" — 
 To such a prayer reply was made me: "Pray 
 
 Matilda that she tell." — As one who scatters 
 Suspicion of some fault imputed: "Nay," 
 Canto xxviii. Said the fair Lady, — ^'^this and other matters 
 ing lines ^ Were told him by myseK, and sure am I 
 
 That they were not concealed by Lethe waters " — 
 And Beatrice:* "Perchance some care more high, 
 Which often renders inward vision dim. 
 May have bereft him of his memory. 
 But lo! where Eunoe doth overbrim; 
 
 Lead thither, and with wonted aid of thine, 
 Let fainting virtue be revived in him." — 
 Like gentle spirit that would not decline. 
 But willingly makes other will her care. 
 Whenever that is manifest by sign. 
 So, laying hold on me, the Lady fair 
 Evidentiy the Moved forward, and with grace all womanly 
 
 fhrfe'Puotihe ^o Statius said: "Do thou come with him there."— 
 
 Poem to be of Were ampler space, O Reader, left to me 
 ZfJ^dighay Fo"- siting, I would sing in partial strain 
 
 gone beyond the Sweet draughts whereof I ne'er would sated be; 
 
Dante Drinks Remembrance of Good 299 
 
 But since all sheets are full that I ordain HmU set by the 
 
 This Second Canticle of mine unto, incomparably 
 
 mi 1. • 1- I. 1 1 . terse Inferno 
 
 The discipline of art now draws the rem. 
 
 From that most holy water I withdrew 
 
 Reanimated, like new plants that are 
 
 Renewed again with leafage ever new. 
 Pure and prepared to mount from star to star. — 
 
PARADISO 
 
 Ascent of Dante with Beatrice 
 
 Pervades the universe the glory of Him Prologue, \ 
 
 Who moveth all, and shineth more intense '*"''* ^*^^^ \ 
 
 In one part, in another region dim. \ 
 
 Within the Heaven that of his effluence 
 
 Partaketh most, I found myself, discerning : 
 
 Things which no tongue can tell, descending thence; \ 
 
 Because the mind, approaching its own yearning. 
 
 Plunges engulfed in so profound a sea, ] 
 
 That for the memory is no returning. \ 
 
 Nathless, whatever in my memory The maMer of \ 
 
 I could entreasure of the Kingdom blest, ^^ '^ \ 
 
 Henceforth the matter of my song shall be. i 
 
 O good Apollo! for the final quest Invocation to \ 
 
 Inform me with thy power, till I be found ^ ' 
 
 Fit for the laurel which thou lovest best. ^ 
 
 So far one summit of Parnassus bound ! 
 All my desire, but now the twain beneath. 
 
 Needs must I enter the last wrestling-ground. ; 
 
 Into my bosom enter thou, and breathe ■ 
 
 As when thou didst pluck Marsyas amain i 
 
 And from the scabbard of his limbs unsheathe. 1 
 
 O Power Divine, if thou wilt lend me a strain - 
 
 Such as may body forth the Realm above ] 
 Whose shadowy vestige lingers in my brain, 
 
 Shalt see me to the laurel of thy love j 
 To crown me with those leaves, a pilgrim come, 
 
 Wreath which thy theme shall make me worthy of. j 
 
 So seldom. Father, do we gather some 
 
 For triumph or of bard or emperor, — 
 
 Of human wills fault and opprobrium, — ; 
 301 
 
302 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Influence of 
 the sun at the 
 Vernal Equi- 
 nox, when the 
 circles of the 
 Equator, the 
 Zodiac, the 
 Equinoctial 
 Colure cross the 
 circle of the 
 Horizon 
 
 "Here^ refers 
 to Italy: 
 "yonder'^ to 
 the Summit of 
 Purgatory 
 
 Earthly 
 Paradise 
 
 Ascent through 
 the Sphere of 
 Fire 
 
 That the Peneian frond should all the more 
 In the glad Delphic God enkindle joy. 
 When it sets any one athirst therefor. 
 
 From little spark beacons great flame on high: 
 Perchance for me with voices more elate 
 Shall prayer arise, that Cyrrha may reply. — 
 
 Rises to mortals up through many a gate 
 
 The lantern of the world; but from that line 
 Wherein four circles with three crosses meet, 
 
 With better course and in a better sign 
 
 It issues forth, and stamps with imprint clear 
 And tempers the world's wax to its design. 
 
 Almost this gate had made it evening here 
 And morning yonder; there was all aglow 
 And darkness covered this our hemisphere. 
 
 When, turned about toward the left-hand, lo! 
 Beatrice who was gazing on the sun: 
 Never did eagle fasten on it so. 
 
 And just as ever from the former one 
 
 Issues a second ray and upward flies. 
 
 Like pilgrim turning homeward, journey done. 
 
 So did her act, informing through the eyes 
 Mine own imagination, give me grace 
 To fix the sun beyond our wonted wise. 
 
 Much is permitted yonder, in this place 
 
 Debarred our powers, thanks to the spot, of yore 
 Fashioned and fitted for the human race. 
 
 This not so long nor little yet I bore, 
 
 But that I saw it sparkling round me nigh 
 As iron pours molten from the furnace door; 
 
 And of a sudden day to day thereby 
 
 Seemed to be added, as if He who can 
 Had with another sun adorned the sky. 
 
 Fixed where the everlasting circles ran 
 
 Were the rapt eyes of Beatrice, and mine 
 Withdrawn from Heaven were turned her own to 
 scan. 
 
Music in Sphere of Fire 303 
 
 •i 
 
 Gazing at her, I grew within divine 
 
 Like Glaucus, tasting of the herb and thence ^ 
 
 Peer of the other gods beneath the brine. < 
 
 No word transhumanizing represents : ] 
 
 The example then to him sufficient be 
 
 Whom Grace reserves for hke experience. 
 If I was merely what Thou recently \ 
 
 Createdst, Love, who governest the skies, ' 
 
 Thou knowest, who with Thy light upliftedst me! ] 
 
 Now when the wheel Thou dost eternalize J 
 
 By being desired, made me on it intent t 
 
 By music Thou dost tune and harmonize. 
 So kindled then appeared the firmament The Spheral 
 
 By the sun*s flame, that never rain nor stream ^usic 
 
 Flowed over into a lake of such extent. j 
 
 The newness of the sound and the great gleam ^ 
 
 Kindled my wish their causes to assign ] 
 
 To poignant longing, never so extreme. , 
 
 Whence she, who could my question well divine. 
 
 The perturbation of my mind to lull. 
 
 Parted her lips and took the words from mine, i 
 
 Beginning thus : "How dost thou make thee dull First words • 
 
 With false imagination, not perceiving ^■' ^^'^^ j 
 
 What would be clear wert thou less fanciful. j 
 
 No longer art thou on earth, though so believing, J 
 
 But lightning from its region never flew ] 
 
 Such flight as thou, thy proper home retrieving." — i 
 
 If disencumbered of my first doubt through ] 
 
 Such little words as these, more smiled than phrased, 1 
 
 I was the more benetted with a new, I 
 
 And said: "I almost ceased to be amazed; ^ 
 
 But now is wonder upon wonder piled ! 
 
 How through these lightsome bodies I am raised." — \ 
 
 Then she began, with sigh of pity mild, I 
 
 Bending her eyes upon me with such glance j 
 
 As mother casts on her delirious child: 
 
304 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The harmony 
 of the universe 
 
 '^Descent and 
 fall to lis is 
 adverse" 
 
 "All things whatever observe ordinance 
 
 Among themselves; here doth that form prevail 
 Which keeps the world with God in consonance. 
 
 Here creatures high are hot upon the trail 
 Of the Eternal Worth, which is the goal 
 Whereto the rule fore-mentioned doth impel. 
 
 The ordinance in question doth control 
 
 All natures, which through fates of different sorts 
 Neighbor, both near and far, their Primal Soul; 
 
 Wherefore they shape their course to different ports 
 Of the vast sea of being, — each with boon 
 Of instinct that informs it and supports. 
 
 This bears away the fire toward the moon. 
 
 This force doth mortal hearts forever move. 
 This bind the earth together and attune. 
 
 Not merely things created empty of 
 
 Intelligence, this mighty crossbow hurls. 
 But those endowed with intellect and love. 
 
 The Providence that shapes all ends, enfurls 
 
 That Heaven in dateless quiet with its light, 
 Wherein that sphere which is most speedy, whirls. 
 
 And thither now, as to appointed site. 
 Bears us along the vigor of that cord 
 Which aims at happy mark its arrow-flight. 
 
 As character does not indeed accord 
 
 At all times with the artisan's intent, 
 The stuff being deaf to the creative word. 
 
 So may the creature from the course he went. 
 
 Though thus impelled, as free will may inspire, 
 IncUne sometimes to follow other bent 
 
 (In the same manner as we see the fire 
 
 Fall from the cloud), if down to earth amiss 
 
 Be wrenched the primal thrust through false desire. 
 
 Thou shouldst not wonder, judge I well of this. 
 At thy ascending, more than at a rill 
 Plunging to foot of lofty precipice. 
 
All Natures Tend Godward 305 
 
 A marvel it would be if with thy will 
 
 Unclogged, thou wert to settle to the base, 
 As if on earth a living fire were still." — 
 
 Thereon tow'rd heaven she turned again her face. 
 
306 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The warning 
 
 The promise 
 
 Order of verbs 
 reversed to 
 suggest 
 instantaneous 
 action 
 
 Heaven of the 
 Moon 
 
 II 
 
 Heaven of the Moon 
 
 ye who in your little bark till now, 
 
 Eager for listening, have made your way 
 Behind my vessel with the singing prow. 
 
 Turn to your native shore while yet ye may: 
 Do not put out to sea, lest haply there 
 By losing me, ye should remain astray. 
 
 None ever coursed the water where I fare : 
 Minerva breathes, Apollo pilots me. 
 And all nine Muses point me to the Bear. 
 
 Ye other few, with neck stretcht yearningly 
 For bread of angels whereon ye are fain 
 To live while here, nor ever sated be, — 
 
 Your ship may well put out upon the main, 
 Following close upon my wake before 
 The salt-sea water returns smooth again. 
 
 Those glorious ones at Colchis who of yore 
 
 Saw Jason made a plowman, no such burning 
 Amazement felt, that ye shall not feel more. 
 
 The concreate and everlasting yearning 
 
 For the Realm Deiform bore us well-nigh 
 
 As swiftly as moves heaven to your discerning. 
 
 1 gazed on Beatrice, and she on high : 
 
 And in such time perchance as crossbow shot 
 Alights and is unloosened and let fly, 
 
 I found myself arrived where sight was caught 
 Compulsively by something marvelous: 
 Whence, since my doing could be hidden not 
 
 From her, she faced me, blithe as beauteous : 
 
 "Lift up thy grateful mind to God !" she said, 
 "Who with the prime star has united us." — 
 
 Around us there appeared to me to spread 
 
 A cloud smooth, dense, consolidate, and bright 
 Like diamond whereon the sun is shed. 
 
S^ots in the Moon 
 
 307 
 
 Into the pearl of everlasting white 
 
 We glided, even as water though unstirred 
 Is penetrated by a ray of light. 
 
 If I was body (and here it seems absurd 
 
 That one bulk brookt another, as must be 
 If body into body glide !) more spurred 
 
 Should be the longing of our hearts to see 
 
 That Essence where we shall behold the plan 
 Of our own nature blent with Deity. 
 
 There shall be seen what now by faith we scan. 
 Not proved, but primal truth self-evident 
 And by direct cognition held by man. 
 
 I answered: "Lady, with devout intent 
 
 I render thanks to Him who did ordain 
 That from the mortal world I should be sent. 
 
 But tell me, what those dusky marks which stain 
 This body, whereby on earth below the while 
 People are prone to fable about Cain?" — 
 
 "And if," she answered with a little smile, 
 "Where key of sense effects no opening 
 Mortal opinion may so far beguile. 
 
 Surely the shafts of wonder should not sting 
 Thee longer, since even following the sense 
 Thou seest that reason has too short a wing. 
 
 But tell me, what is thine own inference?" — 
 
 And I: "Me thinks what here seems different 
 Is brought about by bodies rare and dense." — 
 
 "Well shalt thou see what credence thou hast lent 
 To error," she answered, "giving heed unto 
 What I adduce in counter-argument. 
 
 The Eighth sphere shows forth many a Kght to you 
 Which in their quantity and in their kind 
 May be observed from different points of view. 
 
 If only rare and dense herein combined. 
 One single virtue in all were absolute. 
 Now more, now less, now equally assigned. 
 
 Mystery of the 
 union of the 
 human with the 
 Divine 
 
 Spots in the 
 Moon 
 
 The smile of 
 Beatrice 
 
 Dante's former 
 ojnnion 
 
 The correct view \ 
 
 {scholastic rea- j 
 
 soning) \ 
 
 For the argu- \ 
 
 ment here see \ 
 note at end of 
 
 this canto \ 
 
308 Paradiso 
 
 But Virtue different must needs be fruit 
 
 Of fundamental forms, and these, save one, 
 Thy reasoning would pluck up by the root. 
 
 Besides, if rarity produced that dun 
 
 Thou mootest, or this planet through and through 
 Is perforated, leaving matter none. 
 
 Or otherwise, as fleshly bodies do 
 
 The fat and lean apportion, so would this 
 Alternate leaves within its book renew. 
 
 Supposing true the first hypothesis. 
 
 The sunlight in eclipse would be descried 
 Right through, as through whatever orifice. 
 
 This false, consider we the other side. 
 
 And if I chance to find an error there 
 Then thy opinion will be falsified. 
 
 Now if this rareness find no thoroughfare. 
 
 There needs must be some limit hindering 
 The counter-penetration of the rare; 
 
 Thence will the ray of other body spring 
 Reverberated backward, in such kind 
 As back from leaded glass comes coloring. 
 
 But thou wilt say that here appears more blind 
 The radiance than in regions othersome. 
 From being reflected further from behind. 
 The Experi- Such an objection may be overcome 
 ZdJtmeihod) ExperimentaUy, if thou wouldst try 
 
 That fountain of all human masterdom. 
 
 Take mirrors three, and two of them set by 
 At equal distance, and between the twain 
 The other further off, before thine eye. 
 
 Turning toward them, let a light remain 
 
 Behind thy back, kindling the mirrors three 
 And smitten by them all to thee again. 
 
 Whereas the further light will seem to thee 
 Less ample as to size, yet will it show 
 An equal luster, of necessity. 
 
Heavenly Influences Modified 309 
 
 Now, even as the ground beneath the snow 
 
 Is stript of previous color and of cold 
 
 Beneath the beating of the warm rays, so 
 
 Thy mind, being stript of error fold on fold. Influences of < 
 
 Will I inform with light so crystalline ^^« *P^^«* ; 
 
 That it shall quiver now thou canst behold. j 
 
 Within the Heaven that harbors Peace Divine Primum mobile ] 
 
 Circles a body in whose virtue lies j 
 
 The being of whatever it enshrine. i 
 
 The following heaven, which has so many eyes. Fixed stars I 
 
 Imparts that being through various types, and these ] 
 
 Distinct from it, which yet it doth comprise. \ 
 
 The other spheres in different degrees ] 
 
 Dispose of their distinctive elements j 
 
 According to their seeds and purposes. 
 Thou seest these universal instruments 
 
 Thus drawing from above, while raining down i 
 
 From grade to lower grade their influence. '< 
 
 Look at me finding pathway for thine own ; 
 
 Arrival at the truth thou art fain to scan, ^ 
 
 And know henceforth to keep the ford alone ! ' 
 
 The breath of blessed Movers needs must fan Celestial in- j 
 
 Motion and influence of holy sphere, telhgences ^ 
 
 As craft of hammer moves by artisan. > 
 
 And that same Heaven the many Ughts make fair, j 
 
 From the Deep Mind that?gives it whirl and thrust '^ 
 
 So takes the image and so seals it there. j 
 
 And as the soul within your human dust - 
 
 Makes different members work in unison, \ 
 
 Distributed through each in measure just, 
 
 So doth the Mind deploy its benison j 
 
 Multiplied through the starry firmament, - 
 
 But turns upon Itself, remaining One. 
 
 Each different power makes mixture different -^ 
 
 With precious body rendered quick thereby, 1 
 
 Wherewith, like life within you, it is blent. j 
 
310 Paradiso 
 
 By glad endowment of the Nature High, 
 
 This mingled virtue through the body glows, 
 As gladness Hghts the pupil of the eye. 
 
 From this proceeds whatever difference shows 
 
 'Twixt light and light, and not from rare and dense ; 
 This is the intrinsic principle whence flows 
 
 The dark and bright, as by its excellence." — 
 
 Note 
 
 The astrological theory of the time was that the starry heavens, 
 although of one substance, vary in quantity and kind, and to these 
 differences correspond the diverse influences they are supposed to 
 exercise on the earth and on human affairs. The same principle, 
 it is argued, must apply to the spots in the moon. These appear- 
 ances proceed from causes much deeper than mere rarity and density. 
 
Glimmering Faces 
 
 311 
 
 III 
 
 Spirits of Women in the Lunar Heaven 
 
 The sun that erst with love had warmed my breast 
 Had now the fair sweet face of truth, by proof 
 And refutation, rendered manifest; 
 
 And to confess, so far as was behoof, 
 
 Myself corrected thus and confident. 
 My head for speech was lifted more aloof. 
 
 But something gleamed on me, whence so intent 
 To gaze thereon my baffled vision grew, 
 That my confession out of memory went. 
 
 As through transparent polisht glass, or through 
 Still and pellucid waters, of too mean 
 A depth to have the bottom lost to view. 
 
 Come back the contours of our faces, seen 
 So pallidly that pearl on forehead white 
 Is caught as quickly if the eye is keen, — 
 
 Such faces, fain for speaking, came to sight; 
 Whence I in counter-error fell thereby 
 To what befell the fount-enamored wight. 
 
 The instant that aware of them was I, — 
 Reflected images by my surmise, — 
 To see of whom they were, I turned mine eye; 
 
 But, seeing nothing, went with my surprise 
 
 Straight to the light of her, my Leader sweet. 
 Whence smiling kindled in her holy eyes. 
 
 She said: "No wonder if with smiles I meet 
 This exhibition of thy childish mind 
 Unwilling yet to truth to trust its feet. 
 
 But turns thee back in vain, after its kind. 
 
 True substances are what thou dost perceive. 
 Here for some forfeiture of vows assigned. 
 
 WTience talk with them, and listen, and believe; 
 
 For that which gives them peace, the one true Fire, 
 Suffers their feet its purlieu not to leave." 
 
 Heaven of the 
 Moon 
 
 Marvelous 
 vision: Dante 
 mistakes spirits 
 for reflected 
 images 
 
 The smile of 
 Beatrice 
 
312 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Dante addresses 
 the spirit 
 
 Piccarda Donati 
 {see Purgatorio 
 xxiv, near the 
 beginning; also 
 the prediction of 
 the fate of Corso 
 Donati in same 
 canto) 
 
 Remiss in exe- 
 cution of vows 
 
 Degrees of 
 beatitude 
 
 And to that shade who seemed most to require 
 Question with me, began I, tow*rd it bended 
 Like one bewildered by too great desire: 
 
 "O spirit born to bUss, with radiance blended 
 Of life eterne in sweet felicity 
 That, tasted not, is never comprehended, 
 
 Thou wilt be gracious to content in me 
 
 The craving for thy name, and for your lot." — 
 Whereon with smiling eyes and promptly, she : 
 
 "To just desire our charity doth not 
 
 Deny the door, more than His love doth so 
 Who wills His Court all in His image wrought. 
 
 I was a virgin sister there below; 
 
 And if thou recollect, it will appear 
 
 That greater beauty doth not hide me: know 
 
 I am Piccarda, relegated here 
 
 Together with these others who are blest, 
 And myself blessed in the slowest sphere. 
 
 All our affections, kindled as may best 
 
 Conform to pleasure of the Holy Spirit, 
 Rejoice being fashioned after His behest. 
 
 And this low-seeming lot that we inherit, 
 Is given to us because we did our vow 
 Make in some manner void, or did defer it." — 
 
 "Your wondrous faces shine, I know not how," 
 Was my reply, "with some diviner grace. 
 Transmuting them from what we knew ere now; 
 
 Whence was my memory of laggard pace; 
 
 But what thou tellest helps me to make clear 
 Thy features which now better I retrace. 
 
 But tell me, ye whose blessedness is here. 
 Do ye desire a loftier place above 
 To grow in vision or become more dear?" — 
 
 Her flitting smile lit up the faces of 
 
 Those others; then she spoke so blithesomely 
 She seemed to kindle with first fire of love: 
 
Piccarda 
 
 313 
 
 "Brother, the influence of charity- 
 Contents our will, alone solicitous 
 For what we have, — ^no craving else have we. 
 
 Did we desire a place more glorious. 
 
 Then our desires would be at variance 
 With will of Him who here assigneth us; 
 
 These circles have no room for dissonance. 
 As thou shalt see, for herein love is fate. 
 If thou behold its nature not askance. 
 
 Nay, 'tis the essence of this blessed state 
 To dwell within the Will Divine alone. 
 Whereby our wills with His participate. 
 
 So that throughout this realm, from zone to zone. 
 We pleasure the whole realm without surcease. 
 And please the King who in wills us with His Own; 
 
 His will is consummation of our peace; 
 
 And everything is moving to that sea, — 
 All it creates as nature gives increase.'' — 
 
 Then only was the truth made clear to me 
 That everywhere in Heaven is Paradise 
 Where Grace Supreme rains not in one degree. 
 
 But, as will happen, should one food entice. 
 
 Other than that wherewith we have been fed. 
 Returning thanks for that, we crave for this. 
 
 Such was my case in what I did and said 
 
 Seeking to learn what web it was whereof 
 She had not drawn the shuttle to the head. 
 
 "Life perfect and high worth enheaven above," 
 She said thereto, "a Lady among the blest. 
 Under whose rule in your world women love 
 
 To robe and veil, till death to watch and rest 
 Beside that Spouse, accepter and rewarder 
 Of vows which love conforms to His request. 
 
 To follow her, of maiden weeds discarder. 
 
 Fleeing the world and in her habit dressing, 
 I pledged me to the pathway of her Order. 
 
 "La sua volon- 
 fate e nostra 
 
 Santa Clara 
 qf Assisi 
 
314 Paradiso 
 
 Violence done to Thereafter men more used to ban than blessing 
 ctl7%nlti Ravisht me from the cloister sweet: God knoweth 
 
 What my life then, without mine own confessing. 
 This other splendor on my right who showeth 
 Her beauty to thee, luminously burning 
 With all the hght that in our circle gloweth. 
 The great Con- Takes to herself these words myself concerning: 
 telreT^^'' ^-^ A sister she, and so from her was riven 
 
 Frederick The Veil by hands its holy shadow spurning. 
 
 But when she back into the world was driven 
 Despite her wish and wont legitimate. 
 She never from her heart the veil had given. 
 The three blasts This is the radiance of Constance great, 
 Fr^eMBar^ Who to the Second Blast of Swabia 
 
 barossa, Henry Bore the Third Puissance, and ultimate." — 
 
 ick II (one Zf ^° spake she, and in chant began to say 
 the most inter- Ave Maria, and chanting from me stole 
 
 hiTlMurx^{ As through deep water sinks a weight away. 
 
 For the fate of My vision, straining to pursue that soul 
 Manfred! see ^^ ^^ Utmost, when she vanish t into bliss, 
 
 P^^9- *" Turned to the mark of a more longed-for goal. 
 
 Reverting wholly round to Beatrice; 
 
 But such a lightning flasht she on my look 
 That first my sight endured it not; and this 
 So gave me pause that question I forsook. 
 
Perplexing Questions 
 
 315 
 
 IV 
 
 Solution of Perplexing Questions 
 
 Between two foods alike to appetite 
 
 And like afar, a free man, I suppose. 
 Would starve before of either he would bite; 
 
 So would a lamb, between the hungry throes 
 Of two fierce wolves, feel equipoise of dread. 
 So hesitate a hound between two does. 
 
 Whence by my doubts alike solicited 
 
 By sheer necessity, blame can be none 
 Nor commendation, if I nothing said. 
 
 And I said nothing; but desire upon 
 
 My face was pictured, questioning as well. 
 Set forth more fervently than words had done. 
 
 Beatrice did as once did Daniel 
 
 Taking Nebuchadnezzar's wrath away. 
 Which first had rendered him unjustly fell. 
 
 And said: "I see how two desires have play. 
 Each so compelhng that the eagerness 
 Stifles the very breath of what 'twould say. 
 
 Thou urgest: *By what justice can duress 
 Imposed by others, if persist good will. 
 Render the measure of my merit less.?' 
 
 Perplexes thee another question still: 
 
 'Do souls rejoin the stars, as it would seem. 
 And the idea of Plato thus fulfill?' 
 
 These questions balance equally the beam 
 Of thy desire; and therefore will I first 
 Treat that which is in venom most extreme. 
 
 Not he of Seraphs most in God immerst. 
 Not Moses, Samuel, nor either John 
 Thou choosest, nor yet Mary, I say, can thirst 
 
 In any other heaven to have their throne 
 
 Than do these spirits whom thou didst discern. 
 Nor more nor fewer years of being own. 
 
 A canto of 
 scholastic rea- 
 soning 
 
 Dilemma of 
 Buridan's ass 
 
 Beatrice reads 
 in Dante's face 
 the two ques- 
 tions 
 
 AU in the 
 same Heaven 
 
316 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The appear- 
 ances in the 
 various spheres 
 emblematic 
 
 Plato' 
 
 All make the Primal Circle fair, and earn 
 
 Life of sweet bliss in different measure here. 
 Through feeling more or less the breath eteme. 
 
 Not as allotted here did they appear 
 
 Within this heaven, but as a sign intending 
 The least exalted though celestial sphere. 
 
 My words perforce unto your wit are bending, 
 Which grasps but by perception of the sense 
 What then it worthy makes for comprehending. 
 
 The Holy Scriptures, condescending hence 
 
 To your conceit, with foot and hand endue 
 The Deity, with mystic difference; 
 
 And Holy Church so represents to you 
 
 Michael and Gabriel with human traits. 
 And the other who gave Tobit health anew. 
 
 That which Timaeus of the soul debates 
 
 Is different from that seen here so far, — 
 For seemingly he thinks it as he states. 
 
 He says the soul returns to its own star. 
 Whence nature actuated its descent. 
 Giving it in the flesh an avatar. 
 
 And in his doctrine haply more is meant 
 
 Than meets the ear, and may have sense whereto 
 Befits it not to be irreverent. 
 
 If, for the influence they rain on you, 
 
 He means one must approve and disapprove 
 These wheels, perchance his bow hits something true. 
 
 This principle, ill comprehended, drove 
 
 Almost the whole world formerly astray 
 In naming Mars and Mercury and Jove. 
 
 The other dubitance that gives thee stay 
 Empoisons less, for its malignity 
 Could never lead thee from myself away. 
 
 That Justice here should seem unjust to be 
 In mortal vision, is an argument 
 Of faith, not heretic iniquity. 
 
Can the Will be Forced? 317 
 
 But that ye, humanly intelHgent, 
 
 May penetrate into this truth the more. 
 
 As thou desirest, make I thee content. 
 If it were violence that he who bore Violence done 
 
 In no ^nse aided him who used the might, ^ ^"^'^^ ^ 
 
 These souls could claim no pardon on that score; 
 
 For will is never quencht in will's despite. Due to laxity 
 
 -n • 1 . 1 ■ J .1 • n which abets 
 
 But doth as nature ever doth m fire. 
 
 Though hundred tempests buffet left and right. 
 For, little or much as it may yield, desire 
 
 Abets the violence: and these did thus. 
 
 Free to their sanctuary to retire. 
 Had but their will been whole and vigorous. 
 
 Like that which fastened Lawrence to his grill 
 
 And ruthless to his hand made Mucins, 
 Then up the road whence they were dragged, their will Not all the 
 
 Would have impelled them, soon as they were free; martvrs 
 
 But all too rare is will so inflexible. 
 And by these words, if thou hast duteously 
 
 Gathered them up, is quasht the argument 
 
 That would yet many a time have troubled thee. 
 But now another cross-entanglement 
 
 Puzzles thine eyes, wherethrough thou couldst not 
 find 
 
 An issue for thyself, until forspent. 
 I have for certain put into thy mind 
 
 That never could speak false a soul in bliss. 
 
 Since to the source of truth forever joined; 
 Then mayst have understood Piccarda amiss Analysis of the 
 
 That Constance to the veil was ever true: Piccardlabout 
 
 So that she seems to contradict me in this. Constance 
 
 Many a time, my brother, urged thereto 
 
 By hope of scaping peril, under stress. 
 
 Men have done what they ought not, would not do; 
 Even as Alcmseon, — ^who by prayer express 
 
 Of his own sire, his mother life refused, — 
 
 Not to lose piety, grew pitiless. 
 
318 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Two kinds 
 of toill 
 
 Now the poet 
 speaks 
 
 Note the 
 ^yourP But 
 to a being really 
 divine "thou 
 (thy)." Com- 
 pare St. 
 Bernard's 
 prayer to the 
 Virgin Mary 
 (final canto) 
 
 Can good deeds 
 make amends 
 for broken vows? 
 
 Think, pray, when come to this, that force is fused 
 With will together, and so the two are blent 
 That the offenses cannot be excused. 
 
 Will absolute doth not to ill consent: 
 
 Consenting just so far as it may rue. 
 If it resist, some greater detriment. 
 
 Therefore Piccarda, saying what is true. 
 Means absolute volition; I, however. 
 The other, — ^whence in truth agree we two." — 
 
 Such was the rippling of the holy river 
 
 Out of the fountain whence all truth flows over, 
 Setting at rest both my desires forever. 
 
 "Divine one, O belov'd of the First Lover," 
 
 I straightway said, "whose words are in me burning 
 And flooding till I life on life recover. 
 
 Not deep enough the channel of my yearning 
 For thanks of mine coequal with your favor; 
 Let Him reply who can and is discerning! 
 
 I see our mind unsated still with savor 
 Of any truth, till of that truth aware 
 Beyond which is no light that doth not waver. 
 
 Therein it rests, like animal in lair 
 
 When it attaineth; and it can attain. 
 Else frustrate every craving for it were. 
 
 Whence like a shoot doubt ever springs again 
 
 At foot of truth; and so from height to height 
 Doth nature urge us summitward amain. 
 
 This doth assurance give me, this invite 
 
 To ask with reverence of another theme, 
 O Lady, wherein truth is dark to sight. 
 
 Fain would I know if man may ever dream 
 With good to so amend vows forfeited. 
 They shall not in your balance kick the beam." — 
 
 Beatrice gazed at me with eyes that sped 
 Flashes of love, divine of radiance. 
 So that my vanquisht force of vision fled. 
 
 And I became as lost, with bended glance. 
 
Sacrifice of the Will Absolute 319 
 
 V 
 
 Vows AND Free Will; Ascent to the Heaven of 
 Mercury 
 
 "If my love beam upon thee blazing hot 
 
 Beyond the measure that is absolute 
 
 On earth regarded, do thou marvel not. 
 Seeing that such intensity has root 
 
 In perfect vision, which doth ever move 
 
 Toward the good apprehended, sure of foot. 
 I see how shines already from above 
 
 Into thine intellect the Eternal Light 
 
 That needs but to be seen to kindle love; 
 And if some other thing your love delight, 
 
 Naught is it but some vestige of that same 
 
 Effulgence, comprehended not aright. 
 Thou askest whether men for vows they maim Commutation of 
 
 May pay such other service as to gain ' ^ ^^^ 
 
 Exemption of the soul from any claim?" — 
 So Beatrice began this further strain; 
 
 And even as one discoursing, who would not 
 
 Break off, took up the holy theme again : 
 "The gift most precious to Creative Thought, 
 
 Most signal of God*s bounties, and the one 
 
 After the pattern of his goodness wrought. 
 Was Freedom of the Will, — a benison Free will 
 
 Wherewith all creatures of intelligence 
 
 Both were and are endowed, and they alone. 
 Now will appear to thee by inference 
 
 The high worth of the vow so framed, supposing 
 
 That with thine own consenting, Grod consents; 
 For, between God and man the bargain closing, The vow sacri- 
 
 Of what I call this treasure an oblation ^''' ^^ ^'" 
 
 Is made in sooth, made by its own proposmg. 
 What may be offered then in compensation? 
 
 Weening to use well what thou offerest. 
 
 Thou seekest for thy plunder consecration. 
 
320 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Tvx> dements 
 of the vow 
 
 Cf. Purg. ix, 
 117 
 
 Cases ojf 
 Jephthah and 
 Agamemnon 
 
 Now art thou assured concerning the main quest: 
 But since herein doth Holy Church acquit. 
 Which seems against the truth I manifest. 
 
 Thou canst not choose but still at table sit 
 
 Awhile, for the tough viand thou hast chewed 
 Wants further aid for thy digesting it. 
 
 Take what I tell thee in receptive mood 
 And hold it fast; it is the very vice 
 Of wit to lose what has been understood. 
 
 Pertain to essence of this sacrifice 
 
 Two elements: one what it treats about. 
 The other from the covenant takes rise. 
 
 The latter never can be canceled out 
 Save by fulfillment; and already so 
 I spoke about it as to banish doubt; 
 
 Hence had the Hebrews still to offer, though 
 Some thing whereof the sacrifice was made 
 Might be commuted, as thou shouldest know. 
 
 The former, which as matter I portrayed. 
 
 May well be such that no offense is done 
 If with some other matter counterweighed. 
 
 But willfully let on his shoulder none 
 
 Shift burden, without sanction of the Power 
 That turns the white key and the yellow one. 
 
 And folly all commuting deem, before 
 
 The thing remitted in the thing ye essay 
 Shall be contained, as in the six the four. 
 
 Therefore whatever by its worth may weigh 
 So much as can make every balance swing, 
 Can never be redeemed with other pay. 
 
 Let men deem not the vow a trifling thing: 
 Be loyal, and in being so not blind 
 As Jephthah was in his first offering, 
 
 Who did worse honoring the vow unkind, 
 
 But should have said: *I sinned'; like foolish plight 
 The mighty leader of the Greeks entwined, 
 
Heaven of Mercury 321 ■ 
 
 Whence rued Iphigenia her beauty bright, \ 
 
 And made for her both wise and simple rue, \ 
 
 So many as hear report of such a rite! j 
 
 Christians, be graver in your moving; do Applicatum of 'i 
 
 Not featherUke to every wind consent, ^^ ^^'^ ] 
 
 And ween not every water washes you. 5 
 
 Ye have the Old and the New Testament, , 
 
 The Shepherd of the Church to shape your aim: '^ 
 
 Therewith for your salvation be content. ] 
 
 If sorry greed aught else to you proclaim, I 
 
 Be men, and be not silly sheep, that so < 
 
 The Jew among you laugh you not to shame. \ 
 
 Behave not like the lamb who doth forgo : 
 
 The mother's milk, and wantonly delight ; 
 In making of himself a mimic foe.^' — 
 
 Thus Beatrice to me, just as I write; \ 
 
 Then all in longing up to that expanse 1 
 
 Where most the world is quickened, turned her sight. i 
 
 Her silence and transfigured countenance i 
 Imposed like silence on my eager wit. 
 
 Though ready with new questions to advance. ' 
 
 And as the mark is by the arrow smit SUpjnng into 
 
 Before the cord forgets to quiver, thus mJ^c^^ ""^ 
 
 Into the Second Kingdom did we flit. ^ 
 
 I saw my Lady there so rapturous I 
 
 As to the luster of that heaven she drew *■ 
 That even the planet grew more luminous. 
 
 And if the laughing star was altered too, ' 
 
 What then became I, by my native mood i 
 
 Ever susceptible to something new! ] 
 
 As in clear pool where the still fishes brood. The approach ^ 
 
 Aught dropping in impels the finny drove ^-^ '*"^ *^"^ ^ 
 
 To dart toward it, deeming it their food, | 
 
 So saw I there a thousand splendors move 1 
 To meet our coming, and every one was hymning: 
 
 "Behold one who will multiply our love." — \ 
 
322 Paradiso 
 
 And every shade of them, now nearer swimming. 
 Appeared as with effulgent glory fraught 
 Streaming out of its rapture overbrimming. 
 
 If what is here begun proceeded not, 
 
 Think, Reader, what an agonizing dearth 
 
 Of knowing more would be within thee wrought; 
 
 And from thyseK infer how these gave birth 
 
 To yearning in me to hear each circumstance 
 Concerning them, when they revealed their worth. 
 Danie is "O happy-born, whom sovran Grace thus grants 
 
 5piw/ ^ ^ '^^ ^^^ ^^^ thrones triumphant and eterne 
 
 Ere thou abandonest thy militance, 
 
 By light that ranges through all heaven we burn 
 Enkindled so; and therefore, if thou please. 
 Content thy heart with light from out our urn." — 
 
 One of the souls devout spoke words like these 
 To me; and Beatrice: "Speak, speak out free 
 And trust to them as to divinities." — 
 The poet does "Well I perceive how thou art nesting thee 
 *^^" In thine own light, and drawing it again 
 
 Through eyes that coruscate so laughingly. 
 
 But who thou art, blest soul, I cannot ken. 
 
 Nor wherefore thou art graded in the sphere 
 That is in alien radiance veiled to men." — 
 
 Thus spoke I straight toward the luster fair 
 That first addrest me; whereupon it grew 
 By far more radiant than it was whilere. 
 
 Then like the sun concealing himseK through 
 
 Excess of light, when heat has gnawed away 
 The tempering shade to heavy vapors due. 
 
 Concealed himself from me in his own ray 
 The holy shape for very jubilance; 
 And thus fast folded did in answer say 
 
 In fashion as the following canto chants. 
 
Justinian Speaks 323 ^ 
 
 VI 
 
 A Philosophy of History: The Function of Rome ; 
 
 IN Human Redemption \ 
 
 "When Constantine had wheeled the Eagle away The soul of \ 
 
 Against Heaven's course, where it was following ^aw^i^^^ ^^^l I 
 
 That ancient who espoused Lavinia, j 
 
 Two centuries and more saw hovering i 
 
 The Bird of God at Europe's border line, 1 
 
 Near to the mountains whence it first took wing; I 
 
 And, overshadowing with wings divine, ] 
 
 Governed from hand to hand the world of man, \ 
 
 And in due turn alighted upon mine. i 
 
 Caesar was I, and am Justinian, Conversion and j 
 
 Who, to the primal Love obedient, Ju^UnLn J 
 
 Winnowed the laws, and bolted to the bran. ] 
 
 And ere yet wholly on that labor bent 
 
 Did I a single nature in Christ misdeem, | 
 Not more, and with such faith remained content; 
 
 But blessed Agapetus, the supreme ' 
 
 Shepherd of souls, directed me and drew \ 
 
 To the pure faith, discoursing of the theme. j 
 
 Him I believed, and what by faith he knew j 
 
 Now clearly see, as seest thou every pair j 
 
 Of contradictories both false and true. | 
 
 When with the Church my footsteps moving were, \ 
 
 I gave me single-minded to the laws, \ 
 Inspired by Grace Divine to that high care; 
 
 Committing weapons in the imperial cause j 
 
 To Belisarius mine, so comforted ] 
 By Heaven's right hand that I had leave to pause. 
 
 Here then to thy first question comes to head 
 
 My answer; but its terms make apposite 1 
 
 That something as a sequel should be said, rr- . • ^. ,. 
 
 rr^i . 1 . 1 , I. . 1 i Vtdonous flight I 
 
 1 hat thou mayest see with what amount of right of the Roman 
 
 Against the hallowed ensign move both they eagle from the i 
 
 Who make it theirs and who against it ngnt. an - 
 
324 Paradiso 
 
 Think what large reverence we ought to pay 
 
 Its prowess, starting from the moment when 
 Died Pallas to secure it sovereign sway. 
 
 In Alba 'twas, thou knowest, a denizen 
 
 Three hundred years and more, imtil the close 
 When fought the three to three for it again. 
 
 From Sabine rape down to Lucretia*s woes 
 
 Thou knowest how with seven kings it went 
 Subduing round about the neighbor foes. 
 
 Thou knowest how, borne by Romans eminent, 
 'Gainst Brennus, against Pyrrhus it overcame. 
 And against others, prince or government; 
 
 Torquatus, and that Quinctius who took name 
 From hair unkempt, Decii and Fabii so 
 Wrought deeds that gladly I embalm their fame. 
 
 It laid the pride of the Arabians low, 
 
 Who passed in train of Hannibal among 
 The rocky Alpine peaks whence pours the Po. 
 
 It led to triumph while they yet were yoimg 
 Pompey and Scipio, and bitterly 
 Wrought to that hill beneath which thou art sprung. 
 
 Then near the time when heavenly harmony 
 
 Would tune the world to concord with its own, 
 Caesar laid hold of it at Rome's decree; 
 
 And what it wrought from Var to Rhine is known 
 To Isere, to the Saone, and to the Seine, 
 And every valley brimming up the Rhone. 
 
 Its prowess, issuing from Ravenna, when 
 It leapt the Rubicon, so swiftly flew 
 That follow it could neither tongue nor pen. 
 
 It wheeled the legions back to Spain ; then threw 
 Them on Durazzo; and smote Pharsalia 
 So that to torrid Nile was felt the rue. 
 
 Antandros and the Simois it saw. 
 
 Its starting point, where Hector sleeps so fast; 
 Then, woe to Ptolemy, roused beak and claw; 
 
Flight of the Roman Eagle 
 
 325 
 
 Thence fell, like thunderbolt on Juba cast; 
 
 Then wheeling back into your West it came 
 On hearing the Pompeian trumpet-blast. 
 
 What the next bearer with it did, proclaim 
 Brutus and Cassius in the hellish deep. 
 And Modena and Perugia wail the same. 
 
 Ever doth wretched Cleopatra weep 
 
 Because of it, — she, fleeing on before. 
 Took from the adder suddenly black sleep. 
 
 With him it coursed far as the Red-sea shore; 
 
 With him composed the world in peace so great 
 That barred on Janus was his temple door. 
 
 But what the standard that I celebrate 
 Had done before and was about to do 
 For mortal man in every subject state. 
 
 Dwindles away, beclouded to the view. 
 If one in hand of the third Caesar seek 
 With vision clear and with affection true; 
 
 For Living Justice, moving me to speak. 
 Gave it, in person of that emperor. 
 The glory vengeance for just wrath to wreak. 
 
 Now marvel here at what I tell thee more: 
 Later it flew with Titus, doing again 
 Vengeance on vengeance for the sin of yore. 
 
 And after, when the Lombard fang would fain 
 Bite Holy Church, beneath those eagle wings 
 Came to her aid victorious Charlemagne. 
 
 Now mayst thou judge of their endeavorings 
 Accused above; the people I accuse 
 Have been the cause of all your sufferings. 
 
 Against the public standard one would use 
 The yellow lilies; one to party Hues 
 Confine it, — ^hard the criminal to choose. 
 
 Under another ensign GhibelUnes 
 
 May ply and ply devices, — for amiss 
 Follow it who from justice discombines. 
 
 The Eagle exe- 
 cutes Divine 
 Justice for 
 man's sin, and 
 does vengeance 
 on the Jews 
 
 Applicaiion of 
 the lesson to 
 Dante's time 
 
326 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 "That last in- 
 firmity of noble 
 mind'^ 
 
 Noble unselfish' 
 ness of Romeo, 
 minister of 
 Count Berenger 
 of Provence 
 
 And let that younger Charles not trample this. 
 
 He and his Guelfs, but fear the claws that wield 
 Force to flay tougher lion-fell than his. 
 
 Children have oft bewailed by flood and field 
 The father's fault, nor let him ever ween 
 His lilies to be quartered in God's shield. 
 
 This little planet is made passing sheen 
 
 With the good spirits who have striven that fame 
 And honor follow them; whenever lean 
 
 The truant wishes toward such an aim, 
 
 Then true affection needs must radiate 
 Upward to Heaven less vividly aflame. 
 
 But that our guerdon is commensurate 
 With worth, is part of our beatitude, 
 Seeing it nor too little nor too great. 
 
 Whence Living Justice sweetens so the mood 
 Of love in us that no perversity 
 Can tangle it in any turpitude. 
 
 Voices' diverse below make melody; 
 
 So in this life of ours each various grade 
 Renders among these wheels sweet harmony. 
 
 And from within the present pearl is rayed 
 The light of Romeo, whose labors great 
 And generous were shabbily repaid. 
 
 But those of Provence cannot gratulate 
 
 Who wrought against that noble minister: 
 Evil to them who other's good abate ! 
 
 Four daughters. Queens, had Raymond Berenger, 
 And he who crowned them was no citizen 
 But Romeo, a lowly pilgrimer. 
 
 By crooked counsel moved, the Master then 
 
 Calls to account the servant just, who clears 
 His credit, — seven and five for every ten. 
 
 Then he departed poor and stricken in years; 
 
 But if the world could know the heart he bore 
 Begging his bread and eating it with tears. 
 
 Much as it praises, it would praise him more." — 
 
August Reasoning 
 
 327 
 
 VII 
 
 Mystery of the Redemption 
 
 "Hosannah, holy God of Hosts, Thou who 
 Dost all the blessed fires that are burning 
 Within the Kingdom with Thy light outdo !" — 
 
 Even so, in time to its own music turning, 
 
 That being on whom two splendors form a crest. 
 Chanted, as well I saw, the while discerning 
 
 How he began to dance with all the rest. 
 And like swift sparklets with velocity 
 And sudden distance veiled them from my quest. 
 
 Within me I was saying doubtfully : 
 
 "Tell it to her, tell it my Lady, whose 
 Distillments are so sweetly slaking me;" 
 
 But reverence, whereby I cannot choose 
 
 But mastered be at sound of "Be" or "Iss," 
 Bowed me again like one whom slumber sues. 
 
 But little while so left me Beatrice 
 
 Till, with a radiant smile of such a kind 
 As would have put a burning man in bliss, 
 
 She said : "By my unfailing sight I find 
 
 The question how a vengeance that was just 
 Could justly be avenged, perturbs thy mind; 
 
 But if I speed to thy release, so must 
 
 Thou hsten well, because these words of mine 
 Will guerdon thee with reasoning august. 
 
 By not submitting to a curb benign 
 
 Upon his power of will, that man ne'er born 
 Damning himself, condemned thus all his line. 
 
 Whereby the human race below forlorn 
 Lay many a century in error great. 
 Until the Word Almighty did not scorn 
 
 Going down to join in Person increate, 
 By the sole act of His eternal love, 
 That nature from its Maker alienate. 
 
 He reverences 
 the very sylla- 
 bles of her 
 name 
 
 The smile of 
 Beatrice 
 
 His question 
 stated 
 
 Fall of Man 
 
 ''For God so 
 loved the loorld" 
 
328 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The just 
 penalty 
 
 Why did not 
 God let man 
 ransom him- 
 
 Thai which dis- 
 tills from God 
 is permanent, 
 free, and in the 
 divine likeness 
 
 Now turn thy look to what I reason of: 
 
 This nature, which its Maker made His own, 
 Did as created pure and sinless prove. 
 
 But it was exiled by its fault alone 
 
 From Paradise, for that it wandering 
 From way of truth and life astray had gone. 
 
 Thus, by the adopted nature measuring. 
 The penalty upon the cross exacted 
 Did never any yet so justly sting; 
 
 And likewise never was such wrong enacted, 
 Considering Who suffered, and the worth 
 Of Him in whom this nature was contracted. 
 
 Thus from one act diverse effects took birth; 
 
 The same death pleased the Hebrews and the Lord : 
 Opened the Heavens thereat, and shuddered earth. 
 
 No longer deem then diflBcult the word 
 
 When it asseverates that vengeance just 
 Was afterward avenged by a just sword. 
 
 But now I see how thought on thought is thrust 
 Upon thy mind, entangled in a skein 
 Whence it awaits release with eager trust. 
 
 Thou sayest within : *Yea, what I hear is plain. 
 But it is hidden from me why God chose 
 This only way our ransom to attain.' 
 
 My brother, this decree from eyes of those 
 Lies buried deep, whose wit is not mature 
 Within the flame of love that ripening glows. 
 
 Nevertheless as at this cynosure 
 
 Mortals long gaze, though little they discern, 
 Will I declare why this way was the truer. 
 
 Bounty Divine, that doth all envy spurn 
 
 Away from Him, sends burning sparks therefrom, 
 So lighting up the loveliness eterne. 
 
 That which distills without a medium 
 
 From Him, has then no end, for permanence 
 Gives form and pressure where His seal has come. 
 
Human Atonement Inadequate 
 
 329 
 
 That which rains down without a medium thence 
 Is wholly free, since not beneath the bar 
 Of changing secondary influence. 
 
 Things please Him most that in His likeness are. 
 For the AU-irradiant sacred glow must be 
 Most living in the things most similar. 
 
 These coigns of vantage all humanity 
 Inherits, and if one of these it wants 
 Falls force perforce from its nobiUty. 
 
 Sin only is man's disinheritance. 
 
 Rendering him unlike the Highest Good 
 And less blancht therefore by its radiance, 
 
 And never he gains his former altitude 
 Except he fill the guilty void again. 
 Just penalty for pleasure ill-pursued. 
 
 Your nature, sinning in your Sire amain. 
 
 From such advantages as these was barred 
 Even as from Paradise; and such the stain 
 
 That in no manner could they be restored. 
 If thou with subtle wit the matter heed. 
 Except by passing one or the other ford: 
 
 Either that God's sole clemency concede 
 Redemption, or that human foolishness 
 Should expiated be by human deed. 
 
 Now let thine eye pierce into the abyss 
 Of the eternal counsel, close intent 
 As possible to my discourse of this. 
 
 Man could, within his finite limits pent. 
 
 Never atone, his pinions downward weighing 
 With meekness and thereafter obedient. 
 
 Far as he planned to soar by disobeying; 
 
 And this is why, though man himself would pay 
 His own atonement, he was barred from paying. 
 
 Whence Deity must needs in His own way 
 
 Bring man in perfect life again to birth, — 
 In one way, or indeed in both, I say. 
 
 By thefaU man 
 lost his freedom 
 and divine like- 
 ness, thus be- 
 coming subject 
 to death 
 
 Why human 
 atonement 
 might not suffice 
 
 Necessity of the 
 Incarnation 
 
330 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The elements 
 not distilled 
 directly from 
 the divine, but 
 through the 
 secondary influ- 
 ences of the stars 
 
 But since the doer's deed is graced with worth 
 The more in measure as it more infers 
 The heart of bounty whence it issued forth, 
 
 Bounty Divine that stamps the universe. 
 Was fain to put in force His every mode 
 To liberate you from the primal curse; 
 
 Nor was nor shall be, since the first day glowed 
 Till the last night, so high and glorious 
 A progress on the one or the other road: 
 
 For, giving Self, was God more bounteous. 
 So making man suflScient up to rise. 
 Than if He simply had forgiven us; 
 
 Nor any other method might suffice 
 
 For justice, had the Son of the Most High 
 Not humbled Him, assuming mortal guise. 
 
 And now, with all thy yearning to comply. 
 
 Let me turn back to make one matter clear. 
 That we may see it together, eye to eye. 
 
 Thou sayest: T see the water, I see the air. 
 
 The fire, the earth and all their mixtures stay 
 But little while, then to corruption fare. 
 
 Yet nothing but created things were they;' 
 Wherefore, if what I have averred is sure. 
 They ought to be secure against decay. 
 
 The angels, brother, and the country pure 
 
 Wherein thou art, may be called generated 
 In all their being, as they are, mature; 
 
 But the elements whose names thou hast related, 
 
 And all the things that from their minglings flow. 
 Informed with power that was itself created. 
 
 Created was the matter in them so. 
 Created the informing influence 
 Within these stars that sweeping round them go. 
 
 Pluckt out from their potential elements 
 By light and motion of the holy fires 
 Are souls of every brute and of the plants. 
 
Direct and Indirect Creation 331 \ 
 
 I 
 
 But the Supreme Benignity inspires i 
 
 Your soul directly, and enamors her i 
 
 With Him, whom she forever then desires. i 
 
 And furthermore thou mayest hence infer j 
 
 Your resurrection, if thou think once more \ 
 
 How human frames divinely fashioned were ; 
 
 When our first parents both were framed of yore." 
 
332 Paradiso 
 
 VIII 
 
 The Heaven of Venus 
 
 The world was in its peril wont to hold 
 That the fair Cyprian was raying out 
 Wild love, in her third epicycle rolled; 
 
 Wherefore the ancient people went about 
 In antique error, not alone to pay 
 To her the sacrifice and votive shout. 
 
 But Cupid and Dione honored they. 
 
 This as her mother, that one as her son. 
 Telling how he in Dido's bosom lay; 
 
 And named from her with whom I have begun 
 Morning and That planetary star which, now at brow 
 
 evening star ^^^ ^^^ behind the shoulder, woos the Sun. 
 
 Evidence of I had no sense of rising there till now, 
 the ascent j^^^ ^f ^^^ being there my Lady's favor 
 
 Gave proof, because I saw her fairer grow. 
 
 And as in flame we see the sparkles waver. 
 Or as within a voice a voice discern 
 One holding note, one shaking out a quaver. 
 
 So in that radiance other torches burn 
 In circle speeding variably fast, 
 Methinks in measiu*e of their sight eteme. 
 
 Never from icy cloud so swift a blast 
 
 Swept, seen or unseen, that the interim 
 
 Would not have seemed long-drawn before it passed. 
 
 To one who should have seen approaching him 
 Those lights divine as they forsook the gyre 
 Begun among the lofty Seraphim. 
 
 And from among the foremost of that quire 
 Rang forth Hosannah, so harmonious 
 That ever to rehear it I desire. 
 
 Then one of them drew near alone, and thus 
 Began: "We all with eagerness are burning 
 At thy good will to give thee joy of us. 
 
Charles M artel 
 
 333 
 
 Of one orb, of one circling, of one yearning 
 With the Celestial Princes are we rolling 
 To whom once thou, from worldly matters turning: 
 
 *Ye the third Heaven by intellect controlling;* 
 And to delight thee shall a quiet space 
 Be no less sweet, our love is so ensouling/* — 
 
 After mine eyes had sought my Lady's face 
 With reverence, and she of her assent 
 Had satisfied them, and assured her grace, 
 
 Then to the hght which did such hope present, 
 
 I turned about, and, — ^''Tell me, who are you?^ 
 Inquired in tone of tender sentiment. 
 
 Ah, when I so had spoken, how it grew 
 
 Transfigured to my vision, and enhanced 
 In size and brilliance, joy and joy thereto! 
 
 "The world," he answered, thus enradianced, 
 
 "Held me short while, and had it longer been 
 Much harm that will befall had never chanced. 
 
 I am concealed from thee behind a screen 
 Of gladness that irradiates me round. 
 As swathes a creature its own silken sheen. 
 
 Much didst thou love me, with good reason fond; 
 For had I stayed below I would have shown 
 More of my love to thee than in the frond. 
 
 That left bank which is watered by the Rhone 
 
 When it has drunk the Sorgue up, would have held 
 Me in good time the master of its own; 
 
 And that horn of Ausonia, citadeled 
 
 By Bari, Gaeta, and Catona, and where 
 Tronto and Verde in the sea are quelled. 
 
 Already gleamed the crown above my hair 
 
 Of that dominion which the Danube purges 
 Abandoning its German banks; and fair 
 
 Trinacria, which on occasion merges 
 Pachynus and Pelorus in one gloom 
 Over the gulf that Eurus chiefly scourges 
 
 The courteous 
 sjnrit quotes 
 the first line 
 of a canzone 
 of Dante 
 
 Charles Martel., 
 heir presump- 
 tive to many 
 kingdoms 
 
 The poetry of 
 the map 
 
334 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The Sicilian 
 Vespers (a.d. 
 1282) 
 
 The father 
 Charles, the 
 Cripple of Jeru- 
 salem, had but 
 the one virtue 
 (cf. Canto xixy 
 127-129) 
 
 How can a had 
 son descend 
 from a good 
 father? 
 
 Arguing in the 
 manner of a 
 professor at 
 Paris or 
 Bologna 
 
 (Not through Typhoeus, but through sulphur fume), 
 Would for her sovereigns be looking still, 
 Who should through me from Charles and Rudolph 
 come. 
 
 Had not the subject folk, by lordship ill 
 Exasperated, been provokt to cry 
 Insurgent in Palermo: *Kill them, kill!' 
 
 And had my brother been forewarned thereby. 
 He now were fleeing, lest it work him woe, 
 The greedy Catalonian poverty. 
 
 For he or his must make provision so. 
 Forsooth, his overladen bark aboard. 
 That none shall further lading seek to stow. 
 
 His nature, niggard from a generous lord. 
 Should be supported by such retinue 
 As would give little heed to till or hoard." — 
 
 "Since I beUeve the lofty joy that through 
 
 Me courses from your words, my lord and friend. 
 As to my own is patent to your view 
 
 Where all good has beginning and has end. 
 
 The gladder I; glad also that my wish, you 
 By looking into God can apprehend. 
 
 You make me blithe; but put aside the tissue 
 
 Of doubt whereby your words have veiled my mind : 
 How from sweet seed can bitter fruitage issue?" — 
 
 So I; and he to me: "If I can find 
 
 An answer setting truth in evidence, 
 Thou'lt have before thee what is now behind. 
 
 The Good that turns the whole and that contents 
 The Realm thou mountest, in these bodies vast 
 Makes active virtue of its Providence; 
 
 And Mind in Itself perfect has forecast 
 
 The natures not alone, but has in charge 
 Along with them their welfare first and last. 
 
 WTience whatsoever thing this bow discharge 
 Alights to predetermined end, like dart 
 Unerringly directed to the targe. 
 
Diversity of Family Traits 
 
 335 
 
 If not, the Heaven where thou a pilgrim art 
 Would so in its effects come short of goal 
 That they would not be beautiful, but thwart, 
 
 WTiich could not be unless the minds that roll 
 These stars were in default, defaulting too 
 For leaving them at fault, the Primal Soul. 
 
 Dost thou require more proof that this is true?" — 
 "Not so; it is impossible, I see. 
 That Nature weary in aught of need to do." — 
 
 "Now say, were't worse for man," continued he, 
 "Were he on earth unsocial.?" — ^"It were so," 
 I answered; "that is obvious to me." — 
 
 "And can he be so if he live below 
 Without diversity of offices? 
 If well your master write about it, — ^No !" — 
 
 So he by inference drew up to this: 
 
 "Therefore perforce the roots of what is done 
 Among you are diverse; whence not amiss 
 
 Is one born Solon, Xerxes one, and one 
 Melchisedech, another who would fly 
 Fanning the welkin, losing thus his son. 
 
 Revolving Nature well her craft doth ply 
 
 Stamping her seal on wax of mortal clay. 
 Nor takes account of hostel, low or high. 
 
 Whence it occurs that Esau falls away 
 
 At birth from Jacob, and Quirinus rose 
 
 From Sire so mean that sired him Mars, they say. 
 
 Careers of children w^ould conform to those 
 Of their begetters, hke to like in kind. 
 But that Divine prevision overthrows. 
 
 Now frontest thou the truth that was behind; 
 But that thou know my joy in thy behoof. 
 With corollary will I cloak thy mind. 
 
 If she find Fortune from herself aloof. 
 Ever will Nature, Uke another seed 
 Out of its region, come to evil proof. 
 
 Uniformity of 
 son with father 
 would make 
 social life 
 impossible 
 
 The corollary: 
 an application 
 of the lesson 
 
336 Paradiso 
 
 And if the world down yonder would take heed 
 To what the rudiments of nature teach. 
 Following these, well would her people speed. 
 
 But ye pervert him to a priest, whose reach 
 Of nature fitted him for a belted knight. 
 And make a king of him who fain would preach : 
 
 Therefore ye wander from the way of right." — 
 
Cunizza 337 
 
 "i 
 
 IX I 
 
 A Great Lady and a Poet Prophesy ■ 
 
 After thy Charles had thus, O Clemence fair, Clemence ike \ 
 
 Enlightened me, he told the frauds, he said ^^^' /^^^ '** J 
 
 That his posterity would have to bear; speaker ' 
 
 Adding: "Be silent till the years are sped;" \ 
 
 Bo that I naught can say, save that of right 1 
 
 Tears for these wrongs of yours shall yet be shed. -i 
 
 And now the spirit of that holy light 
 
 Had turned toward the Sun, that plenteous : 
 
 Fountain of good to all things requisite. • 
 
 Ah, souls deluded, creatures impious, • \ 
 
 To wrench your hearts from such a blessed state, J 
 Your brows tow'rd vanity directing thus ! 
 
 And lo ! another of those splendors great Cunizza da | 
 
 Drew nearer, while its will for my content Romano 
 Seemed from its features forth to radiate. 
 
 The eyes of Beatrice were on me bent \ 
 
 As heretofore, and to the thing I sought ^; 
 Gave me assurance of her sweet assent. 
 
 "Soon be thy longing to fulfillment brought, \ 
 
 Blest spirit," said I, "and give me certitude ] 
 
 That in thyself I can reflect my thought." — j 
 
 Whence the new light, from deep beatitude j 
 
 Wherein it had before been singing, said '1 
 
 In manner of one delighting to do good: I 
 
 "In that depraved Italian region spread The March of i 
 
 Between Rialto sitting by the sea ^'■^''"' j 
 
 And where the Brenta and Piava head, I 
 
 Rises a hill, not very loftily, ] 
 
 Whence there came down a flaming brand of yore, | 
 
 Of that fair countryside the enemy. Ezzdino (Inf. 
 
 From one root with it I arose, and bore ^*' ^^^^ 
 The name Cunizza, and here am overbowed 
 
 With splendor, since this star prevailed the more. i 
 
338 Paradiso 
 
 Remorse for sin But gladly conscience has to me allowed : 
 
 LeS7{pZt ^^^ '^^''^^ ""^ ^^'^ ^y ^^^' without dismay, \ 
 
 xxxi) Though hard the saying, haply, to your crowd. i 
 
 Folco (or Foul- This precious jewel of pellucid ray ] 
 
 ^sdlks, firsT' ^^^ heaven adorning and to me most near, j 
 
 troubadour, then Left great renown, and ere it fade away ; 
 
 Ushop Shall be quintupled this centennial year. J 
 
 Ah, let man look to make him excellent ( 
 
 That the first life bequeath a second here! I 
 
 So reason not the rabble turbulent j 
 
 Which Tagliamento and Adige include, ! 
 
 Nor yet for being scourged are penitent. \ 
 
 But at the pool shall Padua with her blood 1 
 
 Soon stain the water of Vicenza red, ; 
 
 Since against duty harden they their mood. j 
 
 One plays the lord and struts with lifted head \ 
 
 Where Sile and Cagnano lately met, 1 
 
 For trapping whom the snare is being spread. \ 
 
 A treacherous Feltro shall weep with bitter wailing yet \ 
 
 '* ^^ For treason of her impious pastor, — ^nay ] 
 
 Such caitiff never was in Malta set! ' 
 
 Capacious must the bucket be that day j 
 
 Which of the Ferrarese shall hold the gore, — ' 
 
 And weary he who ounce by ounce should weigh, — 
 
 That this obliging priest will have to pour 
 
 To prove him factious; gifts like this are due I 
 To match the life that land is noted for ! 
 
 Above are mirrors — thrones as called by you — J 
 
 WTience God in judgment doth upon us shine j 
 
 So that seem good to us these sayings true." — j 
 Herewith she held her peace, and gave me sign 
 
 Of being turned to other heed, whirled on | 
 
 As heretofore along the dance divine. \ 
 
 The other joy, already known as one, \ 
 
 Swam into vision as a thing illumed, i 
 Like a choice ruby smitten by the sun. 
 
Folco of Marseilles 339 
 
 Brightness up there by rapture is assumed 
 
 Like laughter here on earth; but they who Uve 
 Below are shadowed as the soul is gloomed. 
 
 "All-seeing God," said I, "to thee doth give Dante prays the 
 
 Vision so inwardly with Him imbued, *^^f «{ ^/'/^^ ^ 
 
 , . . , , - . . ^^Ph io his un- 
 
 Can no desire from thee be fugitive. spoken question 
 
 Therefore thy voice that gives beatitude 
 
 To Heaven, in concert with those fires divine 
 
 Who with their six wings make themselves a hood. 
 Why does it leave me in desire to pine? 
 
 Surely I would not wait thy questioning 
 
 Could I indwell thy spirit as thou mineP — 
 "The widest vale of waters issuing," The poetry of 
 
 With these words his discourse to me began, * *^^ 
 
 "Out of that sea the earth engarlanding, 
 Between contrasting shores so wide a span 
 
 Spreads to the sun, that what was just before 
 
 Horizon, soon appears meridian, 
 I was a dweller midway on that shore 
 
 'Twixt Ebro and Magra which, with passage short 
 
 Bars to the Genoese the Tuscan door. 
 For rise and set of sun of one report 
 
 Would be Buggea and my native town. 
 
 Whose blood once warmed the waters of the port. 
 Folco they called me where my name's renown 
 
 Was noted, and this heaven is stampt by me 
 
 As on me once its influence rained down. 
 More burned not Belus's daughter, balefully 
 
 Both to Sichseus and Creiisa too. 
 
 Than I while it became my locks; nor she. 
 The Rhodopeian maid who had to rue 
 
 Demophodn's deceit; Alcides not 
 
 When lole into his heart he drew. He can speak 
 
 Yet nowise grieve, but smile we in this spot, ^I^^^of his 
 
 Not at the fault which ne'er returns to mind, lime of sin 
 
 But at the Worth that ordered and forethought. (^^^^- ^^'^ 
 
340 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Here ends the 
 shadow cast by 
 Earth 
 
 The golden 
 florin with the 
 stamp of the 
 lily 
 
 Profitable study 
 of ecclesiastical 
 law 
 
 Here we behold the skill which has assigned 
 Itself so fair result, — discern the Good 
 Which with the world above atones mankind. 
 
 But that thou bear away in plenitude 
 
 Fulfilled those wishes native to this sphere, 
 With something further I perforce conclude. 
 
 Thou wouldest know who in this radiance here 
 Beside me scintillates, as in pure stream 
 A sunbeam tremulous in water clear. 
 
 Now learn that rests at peace within that beam 
 Rahab, and that our order, made her own, 
 ijears signet of her in degree supreme. 
 
 Into this heaven, where ends the shadowy cone 
 Cast by your earth, all other souls before. 
 She, in Christ's triumph, was received alone. 
 
 Meet was it in some heaven forevermore 
 
 Leave her as palm of the victorious hope 
 Achieved with one palm and the other; for 
 
 She lent her aid to the first glorious scope 
 Of tJo^^ a upon the Holy Land, 
 That little stirs the memory of the Pope. 
 
 Thy City, the plantation of his hand 
 
 Who turned his back on his Creator first. 
 
 And from whose envy spring your woes, doth brand 
 
 And scatter far and wide that flower accurst 
 Whereby the shepherd into wolf is turned, 
 So that the sheep and lambs are all disperst. 
 
 The Gospel and the doctors great are spurned. 
 And only the Decretals studied well 
 For this, — as by their margin is discerned. 
 
 On this the Pope and cardinals do dwell : 
 Never on Nazareth is fixt their scan. 
 Where opened once his pinions Gabriel. 
 
 But holy parts of Rome, both Vatican 
 And other, chosen as the burial spot 
 Of the army whereof Peter led the van. 
 
 Soon shall be purged of the adulterous blot.^ — 
 
The Devout Astronomer 341 
 
 X 
 
 Heaven op the Sun: Starry Garland of Sages 
 
 The primal and unutterable Worth 
 
 Gazing upon His Son's benignant face '\ 
 
 With Love which both eternally breathe forth, \ 
 
 Made all things that revolve through mind or space \ 
 
 With so much order that whoso looks aright j 
 
 Can never want some image of His Grace. ] 
 
 Then, Reader, lift straight up with me thy sight The intersection 
 
 To the high wheels, where the two motions come «/ the Equator '. 
 
 To that pomt where they each on other smite, tic {cf. Canto i, \ 
 
 And there begin to enjoy His masterdom 37-39) \ 
 Who loves His work within Him with such love 
 As never to withdraw His eye therefrom. 
 
 Look, how that circle oblique, the bearer of 
 
 The planets, is at present branching thence " 
 To appease the world that calls them from above; 
 
 And were their road not bent, much influence 
 
 In Heaven would be unfruitful, and down here ■ 
 
 Almost all virtue drained to impotence; ' 
 
 Did it at less or greater angle veer ; 
 From the right line, deficiency were dire 
 
 Both up and down, in either hemisphere. ; 
 
 Now on this foretaste of the heart's desire, i 
 
 Remain, O Reader, on thy seat to brood, | 
 
 For it will charm thee long before thou tire; i 
 
 I set it forth; do thou partake the food; i 
 
 For I have made me scribe of such a theme ] 
 
 As claims the whole of my solicitude. \ 
 
 The Minister of Nature all-supreme. The Sun, to ; 
 
 Who with the worth of Heaven the world is sealing V;^'^'^ ^««^ 
 
 had impercep- ■] 
 And measurmg our time out with his beam, tibly arisen 
 
 Joined with that region named above, was wheeling 
 
 Along the spirals of that thoroughfare I 
 
 Where daily earlier is his revealing; [ 
 
342 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The smile of 
 Beatrice 
 
 The garland of 
 souls is like the 
 halo around the 
 moon 
 
 And I along with him, but unaware 
 
 Of the ascending, more than one perceives 
 Thought in the mind before its advent there. 
 
 'Tis Beatrice herself who leading gives 
 From good to better, so immediately 
 Her act no vestige of duration leaves. 
 
 Within the sun where I had entered, see 
 How brighten spirits into recognition. 
 By light, not color, manifest to me ! 
 
 What though I summon genius, art, tradition. 
 That splendor could be imaged nevermore, 
 But faith may see, — ah, let us crave the vision ! 
 
 No wonder our low fancy cannot soar 
 To such an altitude, for never yet 
 Was eye that did not quail the sun before. 
 
 So bright was the fourth family, here set 
 
 By the High Sire, imbuing them with bliss. 
 Showing how He doth breathe, and how beget. 
 
 "Give thanks to Him,^' began now Beatrice, 
 "Thank Him who of the angels is the Sun, 
 Who by His Grace has lifted thee to this!" — 
 
 So ardently subdued to orison 
 
 Devoted, heart of mortal yet was not. 
 So eager for divine surrender none. 
 
 As at these words my own desire was hot; 
 
 And so my love to Him was wholly plighted 
 That Beatrice was in eclipse forgot. 
 
 Nor this displeased her; but her eyes so lighted 
 With laughter, that the splendor of her mien 
 Drew off to other things my mind united. 
 
 For other living lusters, passing keen. 
 
 Centered upon us like a chaplet round. 
 
 Still sweeter in their voice than bright in sheen. 
 
 The daughter of Latona thus enwound 
 
 Is seen at moments when so teems the air 
 
 It holds the thread wherewith her zone is bound. 
 
The Garland of Lusters 
 
 343 
 
 Manifold are the jewels dear and fair 
 
 In Court of Heaven, whence I returning come. 
 And none to carry them away could dare; 
 
 Of these the carols of those light were some: 
 Who takes not wing up thitherward to fly 
 May better ask for tidings of the dumb ! 
 
 WTien, chanting so, those blazing suns on high 
 Had wheeled about us thrice, in radiance 
 Like stars the steadfast pole forever nigh, 
 
 Ladies they seemed, who break not from the dance. 
 But stop in silence Hstening for the chord 
 Whereto their tripping steps again advance. 
 
 And from within one light came forth this word: 
 "Since radiance of Grace, enkindling so 
 True love to be the multiplied reward 
 
 Of loving, doth in thee so brightly glow. 
 
 Leading thee up that stairway where none save 
 To reascend can ever go below, — 
 
 Whoever should deny thee if thou crave 
 
 Wine from his flagon, would be free no more 
 Than water seeking not the level wave. 
 
 Thou wouldest know what blossoms now enflower 
 This garland, circling with blithe roundelay 
 The Lady beautiful, thy heavenly dower. 
 
 Lamb of the holy flock was I, whose way 
 Is shepherded by Dominic, and here 
 Fair is the fattening if they do not stray. 
 
 The brother to my dexter hand most near 
 Was Albert oJ[ Cologne, my master best. 
 And I was Thomas of Aquino there. 
 
 And if to name and number all the rest 
 
 Thou era vest of me, let thy look awhile 
 Circle up here along the garland blest. 
 
 That other splendor issues from the smile 
 
 Of Gratian, — one and the other court he lent 
 Such aid as Heaven with rapture to beguile. 
 
 Dancing the 
 successive 
 stanzas of the 
 ballaia 
 
 Speaks the great 
 Dominican 
 theologian, 
 Thomas Aqui- 
 
 Alhertus 
 nus 
 
 Oraiian 
 
344 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Peter Lombard 
 
 Solomon 
 
 Dionysius 
 
 Orosius 
 
 Boethius 
 
 Siger of Bra- 
 bant, who lec- 
 tured at Paris 
 on Theology 
 
 The Bride is 
 throughout the 
 Poem, of course f 
 the Church 
 
 And of our chorus the next ornament 
 
 WasPeter^ who gave Holy Church his mite 
 Like the poor woman of the Testament. 
 
 The fifth and lovehest of our circle bright 
 
 Breathes from such love that all the world below 
 Looks eagerly for tidings of its plight: 
 rithin it is the lofty spirit, so 
 
 Imbued with wisdom that, if truth be true. 
 No second rose so much to see and know. 
 
 Next it the radiance of that taper view 
 
 Which, still in mortal flesh, did best divine 
 The angelic nature, and its service due. 
 
 Next in that little light see, smiling, shine 
 That advocate of Christian ages whose 
 Fair Latin edified Saint Augustine. 
 
 Now, if in sequence as my praise pursues 
 
 From light to light, thy mental eye is veering. 
 Thou cravest for the eighth, and canst not choose. 
 
 Therein the sight of Good Supreme is cheering 
 The holy soul who renders evident 
 The world's deceit to whoso well give hearing. 
 
 The body whence on earth it hunted went 
 
 Lies in Cieldauro, and from torture came 
 Into this peace and out of banishment. 
 
 And yonder see the fervent spirits flame 
 Of Isidore, of Bede^ of Richard who 
 In contemplation more than man became. 
 
 This one, wherefrom to me returns thy view, 
 Shines from a soul to thought so dedicate 
 That death, he thought, too slowly on him drew: 
 
 This is the light of Siger , beyond date. 
 
 Who in the Street of Straw once lecturing. 
 Had enviable truths to demonstrate." — 
 
 Then as a chiming horologe doth ring 
 
 To rouse the Bride of God to matin-song 
 Unto the Spouse, His love soliciting. 
 
The Holy Chime 345 
 
 Where one part draws another and thrusts along 
 
 With tintinnating note harmonious 
 
 Whence love in well-tuned spirit waxes strong, — 
 The glorious wheel I saw revolving thus 
 
 And render voice to voice, in concord blending 
 
 With sweetness never to be known of us. 
 Save in that place where joy is never-ending. 
 
346 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 To follow 
 Hippocrates 
 meant the prac- 
 tice of medicine 
 
 St. Thmias 
 Aquinas, Doc- 
 tor angelicns 
 
 Canto X, 96 
 Canto X, 11^ 
 
 XI 
 
 The Canto of St. Francis 
 
 O mad solicitude for mortal things, 
 
 Alas, how all the reasonings are vain 
 
 That make thee heavily beat down thy wings ! 
 
 One played the clergyman, one followed gain. 
 One aphorisms of Hippocrates, 
 One strove by violence or craft to reign. 
 
 One throve by theft, one by juristic pleas. 
 One in the pleasures of the flesh enwound 
 Was wearing out, and one gave up to ease. 
 
 While I, set free from all that dreary round. 
 Aloft in Heaven, with Beatrice at hand. 
 So passing glorious a welcome found. 
 
 When every member of that circling band 
 
 Had gained the point where he had been before. 
 He stayed, as stays the taper in the stand. 
 
 And now I heard the former voice once more 
 Within that luster, while yet more intense 
 Became the brilliance of the smile it wore: 
 
 "As I am kindled in His efiluence, 
 
 So, gazing into the Eternal Light, 
 
 I trace thy thoughts back to their rudiments. 
 
 Thou doubtest, and wouldst have me sift aright 
 My utterance, and in plain language bring 
 The matter to the level of thy sight 
 
 Where lately I said, — * Where is good fattening,' 
 And where I said, *No second ever was,' 
 And here is need of clear distinguishing. 
 
 The Providence which rules the world with laws 
 Mysterious, so that every mortal eye 
 Is baffled ere it to the bottom draws 
 
 (So that to wed with Him who espous^- her by 
 
 The blessed blood with loud proclaim, the Bride 
 Might go with greater nuptial loyalty. 
 
 y 
 
Life of Francis 
 
 347 
 
 And with more self -security beside), — 
 
 Ordained two princes who should both attend her. 
 One upon either hand to be her guide. 
 
 All fire seraphical was one defender; 
 
 The other one with wisdom all aflame, 
 Light to the world cherubic in its splendor. 
 
 Of one I mean to speak, for both may claim 
 Our praises, whichsoever one intending, 
 Because their labors had a single aim. 
 
 Between Topino and the stream descending 
 The hill that blest Ubaldo erewhile chose, 
 A fertile slope is from the mountain bending. 
 
 Whence hot and cold upon Perugia blows 
 
 Through Porta Sole; while behind it groan 
 Gualdo and Nocera their heavy woes. 
 
 Where drops the highland less abruptly prone, 
 A sun upon the world began ascent. 
 As somewhiles out of Ganges dawns our own. 
 
 Wherefore let any, when this place is meant. 
 Say not *Ascesi,' which were short to say. 
 But, fitlier to speak, say 'Orient' ! 
 
 He, from his rising not yet far away. 
 
 Began to give the world some handsel of 
 The comfort-giving virtue of his ray; 
 
 And, still a boy against his father strove 
 For such a Lady, men unbar the door 
 As willingly to death as to her love; 
 
 And in the spiritual court, before 
 
 His father's face, united with her stood. 
 Whereon from day to day he loved her more. 
 
 Reft of first husband she in widowhood 
 Till after the eleven hundredth year. 
 Contemned, obscure, awaited him unwooed; 
 
 Nor aught availed that men of her should hear 
 As with Amyclas found unterrified 
 By voice of him who struck the world with fear; 
 
 Francis 
 Dominic 
 
 One of the geo- 
 graphical de- 
 scriptions which 
 the Poet loves 
 (cf. ix, 82-93) 
 
 Assist, sup- 
 posed to he de- 
 rived from 
 "Ascesi" I rose 
 
 He loved the 
 Lady Poverty, 
 but the father 
 opposed the 
 match 
 
348 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Sealed by the 
 Church 
 
 Sealed by the 
 Holy Spirit 
 
 Nor aught availed her faith and courage tried. 
 So that, let Mary at the foot remain. 
 She mounted up where Christ was crucified. 
 
 But lest too enigmatic be my strain, 
 
 From my long parable shalt thou infer 
 That Poverty and Francis are these twain. 
 
 So blithe and so harmonious they were. 
 
 Their love, their wonder, their communion sweet 
 In all around set holy thoughts astir; 
 
 Whence venerable Bernard first thought meet 
 To go unshod, and after so great peace 
 He ran, and running blamed his lagging feet. 
 
 O wealth untold, good fruitful of increase ! 
 Giles bares his feet, Sylvester his behind 
 The Bridegroom, such the Bride's peculiar grace. 
 
 Then with his Lady and with the house assigned. 
 All with the humble cord begirded now. 
 Went forth that Father and that Master kind; 
 
 Nor did he cravenly abase his brow 
 As son of Peter Bernardone, or feel 
 Cast down by strange contempt. But his stern vow 
 
 With regal dignity did he reveal 
 
 To Innocent the Pope, by whom was granted 
 For his religious order the first seal. 
 
 As multiphed the poor folk who had panted 
 To follow him whose life-work marvelous 
 Were better in the glory of Heaven chanted, 
 
 This Master-shepherd's holy zeal for us 
 
 Was sealed with crown of the Eternal Spirit 
 A second time through Pope Honorius. 
 
 Then preached he to the Soldan proud (to merit 
 The palm of martyrdom he would have borne) 
 Christ and his followers ; but since to hear it 
 
 He found unripe that folk, who put to scorn 
 
 Salvation, and lest vain should be the quest, 
 Returned to harvest of the Italian corn; 
 
Degenerate Dominicans 
 
 349 
 
 'Twixt Tiber and Arno on the rocky crest 
 
 From Christ's own hand the final seal he won, 
 Borne for two years upon his limbs imprest. 
 
 When God, allotting him such benison. 
 
 Vouchsafed to draw him to the meed above 
 That he had gained by being a lowly one. 
 
 Unto his brethren, as right heirs thereof. 
 
 Bequeathed he all his wealth, his Lady dear. 
 Bidding them hold fidelity in love; 
 
 And from her breast the lofty spirit clear 
 Desired to pass to its own realm divine. 
 And for its body willed no other bier. 
 
 Judge now the worth of one who could combine 
 With him to pilot over the high seas 
 The Bark of Peter by the starry sign ! 
 
 Such was our Patriarch; and they who please 
 To follow him, obeying his command. 
 Take on such freight of good commodities. 
 
 But now so greedy is become his band 
 
 For novel fodder, nothing can withhold 
 
 The sheep from roaming through wild pasture-land; 
 
 And these, the more by distant lure cajoled. 
 
 And truant more from him in field and wood. 
 Emptier of milk return they to the fold. 
 
 Some truly, boding evil likelihood, 
 
 Cleave closely to the Shepherd, but so few 
 That scanty cloth would furnish every hood. 
 
 Now, if I fail not of my meaning true. 
 If an attentive listener thou art. 
 And if thy memory the words review. 
 
 Will thy desire be satisfied in part. 
 
 For thou wilt see what plant they chip away. 
 And thou wilt take the reprimand to heart : 
 
 'Where is good fattening, if they do not stray.* " — 
 
 Sealed with the 
 stigmata of the 
 Crucified God 
 
 Judge of the 
 worth of my 
 master Dominic^ 
 icorthy colleague 
 of such a saint 
 
 Degenerate 
 
 Jr 
 
350 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The greed Doc- 
 Una of the 
 Divine forming 
 a double halo of 
 circling and 
 singing flames 
 
 Speaks the 
 Franciscan 
 Doctor Sera- 
 phicus, St. 
 Bonaventura, 
 in praise of 
 Dominic 
 
 XII 
 
 The Canto of St. Dominic 
 
 Before the final cadence ceased to sound 
 Forth from the blessed spirits radiant. 
 Began the holy millstone to whirl round. 
 
 But of full circling something yet did want. 
 When now another ring around it fuses 
 And matches dance with dancing, chant with chant. 
 
 Chant that as passing far excels our muses. 
 Our sirens, in those mellow flutings blew, 
 As the first sunbeam by reflection loses. 
 
 As curve two bows the filmy cloud-rack through. 
 Both parallel in line and color, done 
 As Juno bids her maid the picture do. 
 
 The outer taking birth from the inner one 
 
 In hues reechoed like that wandering voice 
 Consumed by love, as vapor by the sun. 
 
 Giving mankind a signal to rejoice 
 
 That what God promised Noah shall abide. 
 Whence deluge nevermore the world destroys: 
 
 So the two garlands bright about us pUed 
 Of roses an eternal coronal. 
 And the cuter to the inner so replied. 
 
 Then, when the dance and lofty festival 
 
 Both of the flaming lights and of the quires 
 Light beside light jocund and blithesome, all 
 
 Of one accord grew quiet, song and fires 
 
 (Even as the eyelids cannot choose but shut 
 Or lift themselves again as will requires). 
 
 From one of the new lights a voice came out. 
 Which made me, needle to that pole, incline 
 My body roimd toward its whereabout; 
 
 And it began : "The Love that makes me shine 
 Prompts me to laud the other Leader great, 
 For whose sake here is spoken fair of mine. 
 
Life of Dominic 351 \ 
 
 Each with the other should be celebrate 
 That, as united they were miUtant, 
 
 Their glory may together radiate. \ 
 
 The army of Christ, at cost exorbitant ] 
 
 Equipt anew, was moving slow of pace i 
 
 Mistrustful, and too few the flag to plant, \ 
 
 When He who kings it over time and space \ 
 
 Provided for His knighthood jeopardied, ] 
 
 Not for their worth, but only of His Grace; 1 
 
 Coming, as said, to succor of His Bride 
 
 With champions twain, whose prowess and behest 
 RalHed the stragglers who had turned aside. 
 
 Where first the winds breathe gently from the west : 
 
 To open the fresh foliage of spring, j 
 
 Whence smiles Europa being newly drest, \ 
 
 Not far from where the waves are thundering 
 
 Wherein the sun, because his course is great, \ 
 
 Somewhile from man concealed is slumbering, j 
 
 There Calahorra sits, the fortunate, ] 
 
 Protected by the great escutcheon where ] 
 
 The Hon doth succumb and subjugate. Bxyyal arms \ 
 
 Therein was brought to birth the lover dear ^/ Castile v 
 
 Of Christian Faith, athlete in holiness, ] 
 
 Kind to his own, to enemies severe. 1 
 
 Such life-power in his mother did possess 
 
 The infant spirit at its first creation ] 
 As to transform her to a prophetess. 
 
 Fulfilled at holy font the declaration \ 
 
 Between him and the Faith, of sacrament i 
 
 Wherein each pledged the other with salvation, ; 
 
 The woman who for him had given assent \ 
 
 Beheld the admirable fruit, in dream, 1 
 
 Of him and of his heirs; and with intent \ 
 
 That what he was he might in grammar seem, 
 A spirit went bearing the possessive word 
 
 Of his Possessor hence to christen him, ; 
 
352 Paradiso ] 
 
 And called him Dominic: for I record 
 
 The story of the husbandman whom Christ | 
 
 No other word Chose for his aid in vineyard of the Lord. j 
 
 H^M^thf True messenger he seemed and friend of Christ, ! 
 
 name of Christ For the first love obtaining masterdom 
 
 aid ^eMe^l) . ^^ ^^^\ ^as the first counsel given by Christ. | 
 
 His nurse discovered him, awake and dumb, i 
 
 Many a time recumbent on the ground, ' 
 
 As who should say, *To this end am I come!* ; 
 
 O thou, his father, Felix truly found ! \ 
 
 And thou, his mother, verily art Joan, j 
 
 If that interpretation be the sound. ] 
 
 Not as men now are spent for worldly boon ■] 
 
 AutJiarities in Following Thaddeus and the Ostian, ; 
 
 medicine and g^^ loving the true manna, very soon i 
 
 canon law {the . 'J ' 
 
 Decretals). Cf. He grew a mighty teacher, and began ^ 
 
 Tclnto^'''^^ About the vineyard to be vigilant, I 
 Where bleach the vines if bad the husbandman; 
 
 And of the Seat that once to righteous want < 
 
 Benigner was (not by her own offense | 
 
 ^ow«f«^« the But that of her degenerate occupant!), l 
 
 He begged, — not two or three for six dispense. 
 
 Not income of first vacant benefice | 
 
 Not tithes, of God's own pKX)r the competence, — ] 
 
 But leave against the world, that goes amiss, j 
 
 To battle for the Faith, from seed whereof i 
 
 Sprang twice twelve plants that garland thee with ] 
 
 bliss. ; 
 
 Then, both with learning and with zealous love, j 
 By apostolical authority. 
 
 Like torrent urged by fountain up above, j 
 
 Dasht in among the shoots of heresy, j 
 
 Smiting with greater vehemence, the more j 
 
 Resistance proved to be refractory. J 
 
 From him thenceforward various runnels pour ^ 
 
 To irrigate the Catholic garden spot, j 
 Making its bushes greener than before. 
 
 Eighth 
 
The Outer Garland of Lusters 
 
 353 
 
 If such was one wheel of the Chariot 
 
 Wherein rode Holy Church for her defense 
 Over the field where civil strife was hot, 
 
 Clearly shouldst thou perceive the excellence 
 
 Of the other wheel, which Thomas had discussed 
 Before I came, with courteous eloquence. 
 
 But where the outmost rim was wont to thrust 
 Its pressure, is the track deserted, — so 
 That now there is the mold where was the crust. 
 
 His household, who set forward straight to go 
 With feet upon his prints, are turned again 
 So that they set the heel upon the toe; 
 
 And by the harvesting will soon be seen 
 
 How bad the tillage, when the tare will rue 
 Because it is excluded from the bin. 
 
 Yet, whosoever search our volume through 
 
 Leaf after leaf, might chance some page upon, 
 Reading, *To what I was remain I true!' 
 
 But from Casal or Acquasparta none. 
 
 Whence come they who the writing so apply 
 That one lets loose, and draws it tighter one. 
 
 The effluence of Bonaventura am I, 
 From Bagnorea, who did evermore 
 Put last the left-hand care in office high. 
 
 Here, of the earliest of the barefoot poor, 
 Illuminato and Augustin, made dear 
 To God while circled with the cord of yore. 
 
 Hugh of Saint Victor is among them here, 
 
 And Peter Mangiadore, and Peter of Spain 
 Who in twelve books down there is shining clear. 
 
 The Prophet Nathan, Metropolitan 
 
 Chrysostom, Anselm, that Donatus who 
 Stooped to the first art, a grammarian; 
 
 Here is Rabanus, here beside me too 
 
 Shines the Calabrian abbot Joachim, 
 Gifted with spirit of prophetic view. 
 
 The two wheels 
 of the Chariot 
 of the Church 
 
 A violent shift 
 of metaphar! 
 Dante, like 
 Shakespeare, 
 often defies the 
 rules of the 
 rhetoricians 
 
 The houseJiold of 
 Francis going 
 back on their 
 tracks 
 
 Acquasparta re- 
 laxed the Rule of 
 the order; Casale 
 vx)uld have 
 made it more 
 rigid 
 
 The other lights 
 of the outer 
 wreath of saints 
 
354 Paradiso 
 
 In rivaby such Paladin to hymn. 
 
 Moved me with courtesy-enkindled mood 
 Friar Thomas, by the fair discourse of him. 
 
 And with me prompted all this Brotherhood." — 
 
How the Double Garland Looked 
 
 355 
 
 XIII 
 
 St. Thomas Aquinas Gives a Lesson in Relativity 
 
 Let any fancy, who would fain not balk 
 
 At what I now beheld, and hold the sign 
 Firm as a rock before him while I talk. 
 
 Fifteen stars that in various quarters shine 
 And so the sky with their effulgence steep, 
 They pierce the densest cloud-rack vespertine; 
 
 Fancy that Wain whereto the bosom deep 
 
 Gf our own Heaven suffices night and morn. 
 Punctual to the wain-pole's mighty sweep; 
 
 Fancy thereto the opening of that horn 
 
 Commencing at the axle's point, whereby 
 The Primal Wheel is still revolving borne; 
 
 Fancy these made two clusters in the sky 
 
 Like that one which the daughter of Minos made 
 When, chilled, she felt herself about to die, — 
 
 One cluster with the other garlanded 
 
 And in such fashion whirling both the two 
 That one was leader and the other led : 
 
 Then will he have some shadow of the true 
 
 Star clusters, as in counter-dance they gleam. 
 Circling the point that I was rooted to. 
 
 Since these outstrip the things we see or dream. 
 
 As does that Heaven which is the swiftest o*er us 
 The moving of Chiana's oozy stream. 
 
 Not Bacchus, not Apollo was their chorus. 
 But Persons three in being all divine. 
 In one, divine and human, to restore us. 
 
 The song and circle measured, turned in fine 
 To us those holy lusters, more by token 
 Passing from heed to heed with joy benign. 
 
 'Mid those concordant powers was silence broken 
 Then by that light whence the achievements of 
 The marvelous mendicant of God were spoken: 
 
 The double gar' 
 land of saints; 
 agronomical 
 comparison (cf. 
 the comparison 
 beginning 
 Canto xii) 
 
 The horn is the 
 constellation of 
 the LitHe Bear 
 
 See note about 
 the Chiana, 
 Inf. xxix 
 
356 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 St. Thomas 
 Aquinas now 
 explains his 
 attribution of 
 highest laisdom 
 to Solomon 
 
 (x, m) 
 
 Adam and 
 Christ, both 
 direct creations 
 of the Divine, 
 must have been 
 superior in 
 vyisdom to 
 Solomon 
 
 "A religious 
 hymn breathing 
 the sense of 
 mystery that 
 surrounds the 
 Divine^ 
 (Torraca) 
 
 "One sheaf being thrasht/' the words fell from above, 
 "And that its grain is to the garner gone. 
 To beat the other beckons me dear love. 
 
 Thou thinkest of the bosom whence was drawn 
 The rib wherewith to fashion the fair face 
 Whose palate cost the world so dear a pawn, — 
 
 And of that lance-pierct bosom, by whose grace 
 Sin past and future was so compensated 
 That the atonement in the scale outweighs, — 
 
 Thou thinkest man may be illuminated 
 
 By no more light than was infused in those 
 By that same Power who both of them created: 
 
 And hence thy wonder when my story goes 
 
 That the Fifth Light with knowledge so profound 
 Was gifted, that *No second ever rose.' 
 
 Open thine eyes now and behold how bound 
 Is thy belief with what I shall reply. 
 Both in the truth like center in the round. 
 
 That which can die, and that which cannot die, 
 Are nothing save the splendor of that Word 
 In love begotten by our Father High; 
 
 Because that Living Light which is transferred 
 So from its Source, it may not be undone 
 From it or from that Love which is their third. 
 
 Its mirrored rays by its own benison 
 
 In nine subsistencies together brings. 
 Itself eternally abiding One. 
 
 Thence passes through successive lowerings 
 To the ultimate potential elements, 
 Producing naught but brief contingent things; 
 
 And these contingent things I take in sense 
 Of things from seed engendered animal. 
 Or void of seed, through heavenly influence. 
 
 The wax of these, and that which molds it all, 
 Are variable, since less and more hath shined 
 Beneath the stamp the idea original; 
 
Wisdom of Solomon 
 
 357 
 
 Whence comes about that, after its own kind, 
 
 The selfsame tree bears worse and better fruit. 
 And ye are born endowed with various mind. 
 
 Now were the wax exactly worked to suit. 
 
 Did stars supreme their influence assemble. 
 The luster of the seal were absolute; 
 
 But Nature mars, — wherein she doth resemble 
 The craftsman who about his labor goes 
 And keeps the knack, although his fingers tremble. 
 
 Yet if the fervent Love seal and dispose 
 
 Clear insight of the Primal Power, achieved 
 Perfection on that substance fully shows. 
 
 Dust of the ground, made worthy thus, received 
 Full animal perfection once therethrough; 
 Thus wrought upon, the Virgin once conceived. 
 
 So that I give my sanction to thy view 
 
 That human nature never yet has been. 
 Nor can be, such as in those persons two. 
 
 Now if no farther forward should I win, 
 
 *How then consider him without a peer?' 
 Upon this question would thy words begin. 
 
 But to see clearly what is not yet clear, 
 
 Think who he was and why petitioning 
 ^Vhen he was bidden ask the guerdon dear. 
 
 Thus have I spoken but exhibiting 
 
 That he was king, and asked for plenitude 
 Of wisdom to become a worthy king, — 
 
 Not for the number of the multitude 
 
 Moving these spheres, nor if necesse chained 
 With a contingent ever could conclude. 
 
 Nor if prime motion is to be maintained. 
 Nor if in semicircle could be drawn 
 Triangle, save right angle be retained. 
 
 Whence, taking this with my discourse foregone, 
 A kingly prudence is that peerless prize 
 The shaft of my intention hits upon. 
 
 St Thomas 
 now "dis- 
 tinguishss'^ 
 
 The four high- 
 est branches of 
 knowledge, as 
 taught at the 
 University then: 
 theology, logic, 
 metaphysic, 
 geometry 
 
 Solomon asked 
 and got prac- 
 tical wisdom for 
 his trade of king 
 
358 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The applica- 
 iion: warning 
 against igno- 
 tant reading and 
 snap judgments 
 
 *Donna Berta o 
 Ser Mariino" 
 
 And if on *rose* thou turnst discerning eyes, 
 Thou wilt perceive that it is spoken of 
 Kings, — who are many, and but few the wise. 
 
 Thus qualified, in what I said above 
 
 Agreement with thy view is found complete 
 As to our primal Sire and Him we love. 
 
 Let this be ever lead upon thy feet 
 
 To make thee like a weary man move slow 
 When Yes and No the inner vision cheat; 
 
 For he among the fools is very low 
 
 Who affirms or who denies in either kind 
 Without distinction of the Yes and No, 
 
 Since often to false bias are inclined 
 Opinions men too hastily attain, 
 And mere conceit then trammels up the mind. 
 
 His putting forth from shore is worse than vain 
 Who wanting skill goes fishing for the true, 
 Since as he went returns he not again; 
 
 Melissus gives the proof of this to view, 
 
 And Bryson and Parmenides, who reckt 
 Not of their goal, however fast they flew. 
 
 So with Sabellius, Arius, and each sect 
 
 Of fools who were as swords to Scripture pure, 
 Distorting features otherwise correct. 
 
 I^t folk in judgment never be too sure, 
 
 As when into the field the peasant goes 
 To reckon up the ears not yet mature; 
 
 For I have seen beneath the winter snows 
 
 The wild brier rugged seem, and troublesome. 
 And then upon its summit bear the rose; 
 
 And once I saw a gallant vessel come 
 
 Straight over-seas, completing her emprise, 
 To perish entering the port at home. 
 
 Seeing one thieve, another sacrifice. 
 
 Let not Dame Joan and Gaffer John presume 
 To penetrate them with divining eyes. 
 
 For one may rise, the other fall to doom." — 
 
The Glorified Body 
 
 359 
 
 XIV 
 
 The Spiritual Body. Galaxy of the Cross in Mars 
 
 From center unto rim, or back about. 
 
 Vibrates the water in a rounded vase. 
 As smitten from within or from without. 
 
 Into my mind came suddenly the case 
 
 That here I moot, soon as the effluence 
 Of glorious Saint Thomas held his peace, 
 
 Because of hkeness in the incidence 
 
 Of his discourse and that of Beatrice, 
 Whom it pleased after him thus to commence: 
 
 "This man has need (yet does not tell you this 
 Either by voice or thinking) to pursue 
 Another truth to where it rooted is. 
 
 Inform him if the light which doth endue 
 
 Your substance with its blossom, will remain 
 As now it is forevermore with you; 
 
 And if it shall remain with you, explain 
 
 How ye can bear it and conserve your sight 
 When ye shall be made visible again." — 
 
 Just as, impelled by urgence of delight. 
 
 They who are wheeling in the dance as one, 
 Lift up the voice and make the movement light. 
 
 So at the prompt devoted orison 
 
 The holy rings gave proof of rapture new, 
 Turning in wondrous choral unison. 
 
 Whoso laments our death down here, therethrough 
 To win new life above, did never see 
 Refreshment here of the eternal dew. 
 
 That ever-living One and Two and Three 
 
 Reigning in Three Two One beyond all date. 
 Unbounded and all-bounding Trinity, 
 
 Did each among those spirits celebrate 
 
 Three times, with such melodious utterance 
 As were fit meed for merit passing great. 
 
 The voice of 
 Thomas had 
 c&mefrom the 
 rim; that of 
 Beatrice flows 
 back from the 
 center 
 
360 Paradiso ] 
 
 i 
 
 And where divinest was the radiance \ 
 
 Of the inner ring, a quiet voice replies j 
 
 (To Mary such the Angel's voice perchance !) : ; 
 
 The mystery of "Long as the festival of Paradise i 
 
 todf^fifthe ^^^^^ ^^^^ continuance, so long our love i 
 
 resurrection Engarments us with such a radiant guise. "\ 
 
 Its brightness will keep pace with movement of i 
 
 Our zeal, and zeal with vision, which is full 1 
 
 As it has grace its proper worth above. ] 
 
 When with the glorious holy flesh the soul 1 
 
 Shall be reclothed, our personality i 
 
 WiU dearer grow, since wholly beautiful. ', 
 
 Thereby will wax the light, that largess free ' 
 
 Vouchsafed us by Supremest Excellence, ; 
 
 Light which enables us His Face to see; \ 
 
 Wherefore the vision needs must wax intense, ] 
 
 The fervor wax that from the vision came, ■ 
 And wax the radiance proceeding thence. 
 
 But even as a firebrand, darting flame, : 
 
 Is by its living glow victorious ; 
 So that its visible form remains the same. 
 
 So will this luster now enswathing us i 
 
 Be vanquisht by the flesh, that now from sight j 
 
 This many a day by earth is covered thus. i 
 
 Nor can we weary of so great a light; ] 
 
 Strong shall the bodily organs be concerning j 
 
 All that may minister to our delight." — ] 
 
 So ready and with such an eager burning I 
 
 To cry "Amen" appeared to me both quires, .- 
 
 As for the mortal body showed their yearning, \ 
 
 Not for themselves alone, but for their sires j 
 
 And mothers and perchance for others dear i 
 
 Ere they became imperishable fires. ' 
 
 And lo ! a luster all around, of sheer , 
 
 Surpassing splendor dawned upon the view, ' 
 
 Like an horizon that is growing clear. - 
 
Tlie Cross in Mars 
 
 361 
 
 And even as at early nightfall, new 
 
 Gleamings begin to spot the sky again, 
 While true appears the vision, yet not true, 
 
 Methought up there, beginning to grow plain. 
 Novel existences, a circling host 
 Outside of those circumferences twain. 
 
 O very sparkling of the Holy Ghost, 
 
 Smiting mine eyes with such an instant flare 
 They might not brook it, in the luster lost! 
 
 But Beatrice showed so smiling and so fair. 
 It must be left with visions that elude 
 The memory, which cannot follow there. 
 
 Therefrom mine eyes, resuming aptitude 
 
 To lift their lids, showed me with her alone 
 Lifted to loftier beatitude. 
 
 That I was lifted to a higher zone 
 
 Was told me by that star's enkindled smile 
 Which ruddily beyond the common shone. 
 
 In that deep language of the heart whose style 
 Is one in all, to God I here addrest 
 Oblation for the gift bestowed the w^hile; 
 
 Nor yet was consummated in my breast 
 The sacrifice, before I knew the prayer 
 To be propitious and with favor blest. 
 
 For with a rubeate glory past compare 
 
 Showed splendors forth, within two rays of light. 
 Such that I cried : "O Sun that makes them fair !" 
 
 As, 'twixt the two poles of the world, gleams white 
 The Galaxy with less and greater stars. 
 Putting in doubt the very erudite, 
 
 Thus, constellated in the depth of Mars, 
 
 Fashioned those rays the venerated sign 
 Formed in a round by crossing quadrant bars. 
 
 Here conquers memory all wit of mine: 
 
 Because that Cross was lamping so with Christ 
 I cannot find similitude condign; 
 
 The 9mile of 
 Beatrice always 
 marks the rise 
 into a higher 
 sphere 
 
 The ruddy 
 Heaven of Mars 
 
 Imagine the 
 "Milky Wa7f 
 in the form of 
 a Cross 
 
 For the rime 
 cf. Canto xii 
 
362 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Hymn cf the 
 Warrior-Saints 
 
 Because Ihe 
 eyes of Beatrice 
 reflect the 
 Divine {cf. 
 Purg. xxxi, 
 ihe closing 
 strain) 
 
 But whoso takes his cross and follows Christ 
 Shall yet forgive me what I leave unsaid. 
 Seeing that dawnlight flashing with the Christ. 
 
 From arm to arm, and between base and head, 
 Lights were in motion, brightly scintillant. 
 Passing and counterchanging as they sped. 
 
 So swift and slow and level and aslant 
 
 Are seen here, ever altering their mien. 
 The atomies of bodies long or scant 
 
 Adance upon the ray that cleaves the screen 
 Of shadow often, which for their defending 
 Men cause by handicraft to intervene. 
 
 And, as the harp or violin, with blending 
 
 Of many chords, sweet tinkling makes to him 
 Who hears the music without comprehending. 
 
 So from the hghts there shining bright or dim 
 Gathered along the Cross a melody 
 That raptured me, obHvious of the hymn. 
 
 High laud it was, — so much was clear to me. 
 Because "Arise and conquer^' was the strain 
 Which still I heard uncomprehendingly. 
 
 So charmed was I therewith that until then 
 
 Naught had there ever been that could impose 
 On me the fetters of so sweet a chain. — 
 
 Perchance too bold appear such words as those, 
 Disparaging the charm of those fair eyes 
 Gazing wherein my longing has repose. 
 
 But whoso comprehends how as they rise 
 Those living seals of all things loveliest 
 Augment, nor had I turned to that emprise, 
 
 May excuse me from the accusation, stressed. 
 But to excuse me, thus my truth approving; 
 For here is not cast out the rapture blest. 
 
 Becoming ever purer upward moving. 
 
Cacciaguida 
 
 XV 
 
 Dante's Ancestor Begins the Sketch of the Men 
 AND Manners of Old Florence 
 
 Benignant will, resolved into the blest 
 
 Love whence forever benefactions flow. 
 As greed in wicked will is manifest. 
 
 Laid silence on that tuneful lyre, and so 
 
 Withheld those holy chords from sounding on. 
 That Heaven's right hand now twitches, now lets go. 
 
 How can be deaf to righteous orison 
 
 Those Beings who, to open wide the door 
 For my petition, paused in unison? 
 
 'Tis right he should eternally deplore 
 
 Who, out of love for what does not abide, 
 Forfeits that other love forevermore. 
 
 As through the pure and tranquil eventide 
 A flash is seen from time to time to race. 
 Setting the calmest eyelids staring wide. 
 
 Appearing like a star that changes place. 
 
 Save that, where first enkindled is its light 
 Nothing is missed, and it goes out apace, — 
 
 So shot from the arm extending to the right 
 To bottom of the cross, a star of them 
 That make the constellation there so bright; 
 
 Downward it ran along the radiant stem 
 Like fire in alabaster shining through. 
 Nor from the fillet once broke forth the gem. 
 
 Such love the shade of old Anchises drew. 
 If credit we our poet passing great. 
 When in Elysium his son he knew. 
 
 "O kinsman mine! Grace incommensurate 
 Upon thee shed ! to whom, as unto thee. 
 Was ever opened twice the Heavenly gate?" — 
 
 So spake that light; whence thereto eagerly 
 
 I turned, — then to my Lady, — in such wise 
 That from both quarters awe came over me; 
 
 The light of 
 Dante s greatest 
 ancestor falls 
 down the shaft 
 of the mystic 
 cross like a 
 "shooting star^ 
 
364 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The Great Book 
 in which he 
 reads, the Mir- 
 ror in which 
 they gaze, are 
 images of the 
 Divine Mind 
 
 For such a smile was glowing in her eyes 
 
 That, with mine own, methought I touched the 
 
 bound 
 Both of my grace and of my Paradise. 
 
 Thereafter, blithe of look and blithe of sound. 
 That soul to salutation added speech 
 Past my conception, it was so profound; 
 
 Of choice concealed he not what he would teach, 
 But force perforce, because the lofty sense 
 So overshot the mark of mortal reach. 
 
 But when the bow of burning love less tense 
 
 Became, and his discourse came down and stood 
 Upon the plane of our intelligence. 
 
 The first expression that I imderstood 
 
 Was: "Benediction on Thee, Trine and One, 
 For guerdoning my kinsman with such good !" — 
 
 "A grateful and long fast," he followed on, 
 
 "From reading the Great Book where black on white 
 Is set down ineffaceably, my son. 
 
 Hast thou now satisfied within this light 
 
 I hail thee from, thanks to her favor who 
 Clad thee with plumage for the lofty flight. 
 
 Thou deemest that thy thought to me flows through 
 From the First Cause, even as from unity. 
 If that be known, the five and six to you, 
 
 Not asking who I am, nor why in me 
 Appears a gratulation more elate 
 Than elsewhere in this jocund company. 
 
 Thou deemest true: in this life small and great 
 Are gazing in that Mirror whence, before 
 Thou thinkest, thy reflections emanate. 
 
 But that the Holy Love mine eyes adore 
 In vigil never broken, hunger-spent 
 With sweet desire, may be fulfilled the more, 
 
 O let thy voice, secure, glad, confident. 
 
 For will and yearning find the fitting word 
 Whereto is predetermined my consent." — 
 
Florence in tJie Good Old Time 
 
 365 
 
 Thereon I turned to Beatrice, who heard 
 
 Before I spake and gave assent, whereby 
 The growing wings of my desire were stirred. 
 
 "When dawned on you the Prime Equahty, 
 Love and intelHgence for each of you 
 Became of equal poise," — so answered I; 
 
 "Because the Sun that lit and warmed you through 
 Holds in its heat and light such balance fit 
 That all comparison falls short of true. 
 
 But mortal wing of wiU and wing of wit, 
 For reason well apparent to your sight. 
 Fail of the balanced pinions requisite. 
 
 Whence I, who with the heart alone requite 
 Thy dear paternal welcome, feel my lame 
 Mortal disparity of will and might. 
 
 I do entreat thee, living topaz-flame. 
 Set as a gem upon this jewel choice. 
 To satisfy my craving with thy name." — 
 
 "O leaf of mine, who made me even rejoice 
 
 Expecting thee, thy root behold in me !" — 
 Beginning thus, replied to me the voice; 
 
 Then said : "That soul who gave thy family 
 
 The surname, and has round the Mountain gone 
 On the first terrace, a long century. 
 
 Was thy great-grandfather, and was my son : 
 Befits that respite thou for him bespeak 
 From his long travail, with thy orison. 
 
 Florence, encircled by her wall antique. 
 
 Whence tierce and nones are tolling evermore. 
 Lived peaceable and temperate and meek. 
 
 Her arm no clasp, no crown her forehead bore, 
 No silken petticoat, with girdle gay 
 More tempting to the eye than she who wore. 
 
 Not yet did little daughter's birth dismay 
 The father; not too early did they mate. 
 Nor yet was dowry ruinous to pay. 
 
 Dante humbly 
 urges the inade- 
 quacy of mortal 
 vrit to discourse 
 vyith a being in 
 whom deed bal- 
 ances desire 
 
 The father of 
 Dante s great- 
 grandfather tells 
 of the social 
 condition of 
 Florence in the 
 eleventh century 
 
366 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Hills from 
 which travelers 
 from the north 
 got the first view 
 of Rome and of 
 Florence 
 Great citizens in 
 their day (cf. 
 Inf. xvi, 37, 
 and next canto) 
 
 A woman of 
 doubtful repu- 
 tation, and a 
 man whom 
 Dante detested 
 
 No house was then of children desolate; 
 Not yet Sardanapalus came to show 
 What in a chamber he can perpetrate. 
 
 Not yet outflown was Monte Mario 
 
 By your Uccelatoio, — ^which as outflown 
 In soaring up, shall be in falling low. 
 
 I saw in belt of skin and clasp of bone 
 Bellincion Berti, and his lady quit 
 The mirror with complexion still her own; 
 
 I saw the Nerh and the Vecchio fit 
 
 The leathern jerkin with good countenance, 
 With spindle and with flax their ladies sit. 
 
 happy women ! each yet in advance 
 
 Siu-e of her burial, and none beguiled 
 Of comfort in her bed because of France. 
 
 One, keeping watch above her cradled child, 
 Would soothe it with the babbling idiom 
 Whereto the fathers and the mothers smiled; 
 
 And one, the thread from distaff drawing home. 
 Gathered her brood and prattled fables how 
 Came Trojans to Fiesole and Rome. 
 
 A marvel then Cianghella's brazen brow. 
 Or Lapo Salterello, as complete 
 As Cincinnatus and Cornelia now. 
 
 To life of citizen in house and street 
 
 So fair and quiet, to so great a fame 
 For neighbor loyalty, to home so sweet. 
 
 My mother gave me, caUing Mary's name; 
 And so, within your ancient Baptistry, 
 Christian and Cacciaguida I became. 
 
 Moronto and Eliseo brothered me; 
 
 My Lady came from Valley of the Po, 
 Whence was thy surname handed down to thee. 
 
 1 followed Kaiser Conrad then, with so 
 
 Good service that he belted me a knight. 
 So much my prowess made his favor grow. 
 
A Crusader 367 
 
 Beneath his banner followed I to fight Second Crusade, 
 
 That m-famed law whose folk usurp control, B^rdmh 
 
 To pastors' shame, of what is yours by right. 
 There disentangled by those caitiffs foul 
 
 Was I from the delusive world, whose quest 
 
 Infatuate debases many a soul. 
 And came from martyrdom unto this rest " — 
 
368 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Dante addresses 
 his ancestor as 
 if he were royal 
 {"you" instead 
 of'ihou'') 
 
 Modern Flor- 
 ence is the city 
 of the Baptist, 
 as the ancient 
 was the city of 
 Mars 
 
 XVI 
 
 "Old, Unhappy, Far-off Things" 
 
 O petty our nobility of blood ! 
 
 If thou prompt men to make their boast of thee 
 
 Down here, where faints our yearning for the good. 
 Never shall this seem wonderful to me, 
 
 For where desire is not perverted, yea 
 
 In Heaven itself, I felt such vanity. 
 In truth, thy cloak so quicldy shrinks away. 
 
 That, add we not a frequent piece thereto, 
 
 Time with the shears goes round it day by day. 
 With YoUy which Rome at first permitted, YoUy 
 
 Wherein her children now least persevere, 
 
 Proudly began I my discourse anew, 
 Whence Beatrice, a Httle distant here. 
 
 By smiling called to mind that dame who coughed 
 
 At first recorded fault of Guenevere. 
 "You are my Father," so began I soft, 
 
 "You fill me for discourse with courage high, 
 
 You lift me far above myself aloft. 
 So many rivulets are pouring joy 
 
 Into my heart that happy is my tongue 
 
 Seeing I can bear and not be rent thereby. 
 Tell then, beloved root whence I am sprung, 
 
 Who were your forebears, what the years foregone 
 
 That signaHzed themselves when you were young. 
 Tell me about the sheepfold of Saint John, 
 
 What were the numbers and who were the folk 
 
 Within it who the highest places won?" — 
 As if by breathing of the wind awoke 
 
 Flame in a coal, so did I see that blaze 
 
 Kindle at the caressing words I spoke. 
 And growing ever fairer to my gaze. 
 
 With sweeter accent gentlier it said. 
 
 But in no dialect of nowadays: 
 
Causes of Moral Decline of Florence 369 
 
 "From the first Ave to that childing-bed 
 
 Whereon my mother, now ensainted, through 
 Dehvering of me was comforted, 
 
 Five hundred times and fifty and thirty drew 
 ' This circling fire to its own Lion apace. 
 Beneath his paw to kindle up anew. 
 
 My sires and I were native to that place 
 
 Where the last ward first intersects the course 
 Of the hot runner in your annual race. 
 
 Enough about my elders this perforce: 
 
 For as to whence they came and who they were, 
 Silence is more becoming than discourse. 
 
 All those at that time competent to bear 
 
 Weapons, the Baptistry and Mars between. 
 Numbered a fifth of them now living there. 
 
 But the community, where intervene 
 Campi, Certaldo, and Figline now. 
 Pure to the humblest artisan was seen. 
 
 O how much better let such neighbors plow 
 Around Galluzzo, and let your border lie 
 At Trespiano, rather than allow 
 
 Their entrance, so to be offended by 
 
 The stench of Aguglion, and Signals clown. 
 Who has for jobbery so sharp an eye. 
 
 Were folk who most on earth have fallen down 
 Not stepmother to Caesar, but instead 
 Benignant, like true mother to her son. 
 
 One, made a Florentine by truck and trade. 
 
 Would have turned back to Semifonte again. 
 Where went about his grandsire begging bread. 
 
 Still would the Counts on Montemurlo reign. 
 The Cerchi be in Acone's parish still, 
 Perchance the Buondelmonte on Greve's plain. 
 
 When mingled populations overfill 
 
 The city, evermore begins its woe, 
 As added victual makes the body ill. 
 
 580 X 686+ 
 {the number of 
 our days re- 
 quired for the 
 revolution of the 
 planet Mars) 
 gives about 1091 
 as the birth-year 
 of Cacciaguida 
 
 The city lay be- 
 tween the 
 Church of St. 
 John and the 
 Ponte Vecchio 
 vyith the muti- 
 lated statue of 
 Mars 
 
 That is to say, j 
 
 if the clergy < 
 
 had kept hands ] 
 off 
 
5 
 
 1 
 
 .i 
 
 370 Paradiso \ 
 
 And the blind bullock falls more headlong low 
 
 Than the blind lamb, and more one sword will cleave. 
 
 And often deeper than the five will go. j 
 
 K Luni and UrbisagUa thou perceive, ! 
 
 How they have gone, and likewise pass away \ 
 Chiusi and SenigaUia, to believe 
 
 That in Uke fashion families decay j 
 
 Will seem opinion neither strange nor new, i 
 
 Seeing that even cities have their day. i 
 
 All your affairs are mortal, even as you, i 
 
 The very brevity of life concealing ; 
 
 In some the creeping steps of death from view; ] 
 
 And as the lunar heaven, forever wheeling, j 
 
 Covers and bares incessantly the shore, i 
 
 So fickle Fortune is with Florence dealing. j 
 
 Hence what I tell should seem no fable-lore j 
 
 Concerning the renowned Florentines ' 
 Whose fame through lapse of time is known no more. j 
 
 I saw the Hugos, saw the Catellines, ] 
 
 Filippi, Greci, Ormanni, Alberichi there, I 
 
 Illustrious citizens in their decHnes, i 
 
 And saw, as mighty as they ancient were, ] 
 
 With one of La Sannella, of Area one, j 
 
 Ardinghi and Bostichi and Soldanier. j 
 
 Above the gateway newly weighed upon j 
 By felony so heavy in its shame 
 
 That from the bark shall soon be jettison, ] 
 
 The Ravignani Dwelt then the Ravignani, from whom came \ 
 
 Ihl^c^hthe good Count Guido down, and whoso to this hour ] 
 
 Gualdrada from Has taken lofty Bellincione's name. \ 
 
 BMinoume jj^ ^f L^ p^.^^^^ ^j^^jy ^^Ided power ; 
 
 Already, and the GaHgaio claimed J 
 Sword-hilt and pummel gilt in hall and bower. 
 Greatly the pale of Minever was famed, 
 
 Sacchetti, Giuochi, Fifanti, and Barucci, \ 
 
 And Galli, — ^and others by the bushel shamed. j 
 
Origin of the Factions 371 : 
 
 The parent stock whence budded the Calf ucci I 
 
 Was great already, and to curule chair j 
 
 Already draT\Ti Sizii and Arrigucci. / 
 
 Ah, mighty did I see them who despair t 
 
 Because of their own pride ! and the Balls of Gold I 
 
 In all her prowess made our Florence fair. 
 
 So likewise did the ancestors of old ' 
 
 Of those who, when your see is vacant, find ' 
 
 Fat profit by abiding in the fold. ! 
 
 That haughty breed, so dragon-fierce behind \ 
 
 The fugitive, but let your teeth be seen \ 
 
 Or purse belike, seem lambs, they grow so kind, ] 
 
 Was on the rise, although from people mean, — ! 
 
 Whence Ubertin Donato felt disgrace 1 
 
 When his wife's father made them kith and kin. 
 Down from Fiesole to market-place 
 
 Had gone now Caponsacco, — ^Judah there ; 
 
 And Infangato, burghers in good grace. ' 
 
 Incredible, yet true, what I declare : ] 
 
 The little circuit had an entrance way 
 
 Called after them whose emblem is the Pear. \ 
 
 All wearers of the fair insignia - 
 
 Of the great Peer, whose name and valor grim 
 
 The feast of Thomas calls to mind today, ': 
 
 Knighthood received and privilege from him; ; 
 
 Though with the populace today unite j 
 
 That man who guards the scutcheon with a rim. Giano della j 
 
 HI? 
 
 Gualterotti and Importuni were at height; " ^ 
 
 And had they for new neighbors suffered dearth ^Ae Amidei ' 
 
 More tranquil would the Borgo be tonight. whose murder ^ 
 
 The house from which your tears have had their birth, Buonddmorde 
 
 Because its just resentment killed your joyance for slighting 
 
 And with the blood of many stained the earth, ^^^ fj.^^_ ! 
 
 Was honored in itself and its alhance : tional origin of J 
 
 O Buondelmonte, by what evil daring GuelT^T ; 
 
 Didst flee at others' prompting its affiance ! GhiheUine » 
 
372 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The old banner 
 showed a white 
 lily in a red 
 field; the Guelfs 
 reversed the 
 colors. See the 
 plates of the 
 two shields 
 
 Glad would be many who are now despairing, 
 If God had to the Ema relegated 
 Thyself, when first toward the City faring. 
 
 But meet it was that Florence consecrated 
 
 A victim, while her last peace was prevailing. 
 To that bridge-warding marble mutilated. 
 
 With folk like these, nor yet were others failing. 
 Did I see Florence in such deep repose 
 That she had no occasion yet for wailing; 
 
 I saw her people glorious with those. 
 
 And just, so that the Lily never stood 
 Reversed upon the lances of her foes. 
 
 Nor dyed vermilion yet by party feud.'^ — 
 
 Note 
 
 It has not seemed desirable to fill the margins with references and 
 explanations. Those interested in the history of old Florence will 
 know where to look. For biographical information and anecdote 
 Toynbee's Dictionary is the obvious repertory. The reader will find 
 profit in looking up Bellincion Berti and his daughter, the good Gual- 
 drada (Inf. xvi, 37). The historical student soon perceives that the 
 viewpoint in these cantos is very much that of an old Tory. The new 
 families, like the Cerchi, were often useful citizens. And the institu- 
 tion of the guilds is nowhere here referred to, although economically, 
 pKjIitically, socially, even intellectually, of primary importance ami 
 immeasurable influence. 
 
Autobiography of Dante 373 j 
 
 XVII \ 
 
 Dante*s Exile and Justification 
 
 As who makes fathers chary of undue 
 
 Promise to children, questioned Clymene 
 
 If what he heard against himself was true. 
 Even such was I, and such perceived to be 
 
 By Beatrice and by the Holy Lamp 
 
 Who previously had changed his place for me. 
 Then said my Lady to me: "Do not damp I 
 
 The flame of thy desire, but let it soar | 
 
 Well making manifest the inward stamp; 
 Not that thy words may make our knowledge more. 
 
 But that thou mayst acquire the habitude 
 
 To tell thy thirst that we for thee may pour." — ^ 
 
 "Dear parent stock, raised to such altitude 
 
 That, as to earthly minds is evident ! 
 
 No triangle may two obtuse include, j 
 
 Thus do contingent things before the event 
 
 Exist for thee, still gazing where take head i 
 
 All times together with the present blent; ] 
 
 While in the company of Virgil led I 
 
 Up and along the spirit-healing slope ' 
 
 And down throughout the region of the dead, 
 I heard discourses grievous in their scope 
 
 Touching the remnant of my life, although j 
 
 Well squared against the blows of Chance by Hope : j 
 
 Wherefore my will were well content to know ; 
 
 What fortune is approaching to molest; j 
 
 For bolt foreshadowed strikes a lighter blow." — \ 
 
 So to that selfsame light that had addrest \ 
 
 Beforehand me, I said as willed to say ^ 
 
 By Beatrice, and mine own will confest. i 
 
 Not with blind riddles which in former day r^ 
 
 Ensnared the credulous, ere yet was slain | 
 
 The Lamb of God who takes our sins away, 
 
374 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Pope Boniface 
 Eighth 
 
 Dante's felUyw- 
 exiles, so un- 
 worthy that he 
 shakes them off 
 
 But with clear utterance and language plain 
 That fatherly affection made reply, 
 In his own smile withdrawn and shown again: 
 
 "Contingency, which is embounded by 
 The volume of your matter, is beheld 
 All pictured forth before the Eternal Eye, 
 
 Yet not thence of necessity compelled, 
 
 More than the vessel down the current steering 
 Is by the mirror in the eye propelled. 
 
 Therefrom comes, even as comes upon the hearing 
 Sweet organ music, to my sight the course 
 Of time already now for thee preparing. 
 
 As through stepmother proof to all remorse 
 Hippolytus from Athens fled of old, 
 So out of Florence shalt thou go perforce. 
 
 Already this is willed and sought, — nay hold 
 It good as done by him who plans thy fall 
 Where every day the Christ is bought and sold. 
 
 The hue and cry will hound as usual 
 
 The party wronged; and yet shall vengeance give 
 A witness to the truth disj>ensing all. 
 
 Thou art to forfeit as a fugitive 
 
 All held most dear: of arrows thou must bear. 
 This first the bow of banishment lets drive. 
 
 Thou shalt make proof what salt and bitter fare 
 Is bread of others, and what toils attend 
 The going up and down another's stair. 
 
 But what will heaviest thy shoulders bend 
 Will be the senseless company malign 
 With whom thou wilt to such a pass descend. 
 
 Who, ingrate all and maddened, will combine 
 In fury against thee; but thereafter soon 
 Their forehead will be red for it, not thine. 
 
 Their brutishness will in their very own 
 
 Deeds be avoucht, nor will thy fame be blurred 
 In having made a party all alone. 
 
Dante in Exile 375 
 
 First hospitality shall be conferred 
 
 On thee by kindness of the Lombard great, Barthohmew 
 
 Who on the ladder bears the sacred bird, Sofv^ona 
 
 Who will to thee be so considerate and Can 
 
 That of the wish and boon between you two, f^^ ^^ 
 
 First will come that which else is granted late. 
 Beside him shalt thou see that hero who 
 
 Took from this mighty star at birth such mold 
 
 That his emprise will be renowned therethrough. 
 His worth the nations do not yet behold 
 
 Because his age is tender, — ^years but nine 
 
 These wheeling spheres have round about him rolled. 
 But ere the Gascon cunning undermine Clement V and 
 
 The noble Henry, sparkles of his worth ^^"^ ^^' 
 
 In scorn of lucre and of toil shall shine. 
 So his magnificence shall yet show forth, 
 
 His foes will not be so predominant 
 
 That they could keep report of it from birth. 
 On him and on his favors do thou plant 
 
 Thy trust; through him shall many change degree. 
 
 Altering state, both rich and mendicant. 
 And bear thou written in thy memory 
 
 Of him, but tell it not," — ^and he revealed 
 
 Things past beheving, even of those who see. 
 Then added : "Son, these glosses may be sealed 
 
 To what was told thee; snares are waiting thus 
 
 Behind few circles of the spheres concealed. 
 Yet be not of thy neighbors envious. 
 
 Seeing thy futiu-e life will long outlast Dante's fame 
 
 The forfeit of their deeds perfidious."— predicted 
 
 Soon as that holy soul to silence passed, 
 
 Showing the pattern had been woven above 
 
 The web whereof myself the warp had cast, 
 Did I begin like one misdoubting of 
 
 His course, who craves advice from one of those 
 
 That, seeing, do correctly will, and love: 
 
376 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Were it not 
 'prudent to he 
 a timid friend 
 oj truth"? 
 
 ^'lascia pur 
 grattar dov^h 
 la rogna" 
 
 Dante must 
 speak out 
 
 "Well see I, Father, how my time of woes 
 To deal me such a buffet spurs along 
 As is the heavier when one heedless goes; 
 
 Whence it is good with foresight to be strong. 
 That, though bereft me be the dearest prize, 
 I forfeit not the others by my song. 
 
 Down through the world of bitter tears and cries, 
 
 And up the mountain side from whose fair height 
 Uplifted me my Lady with her eyes. 
 
 And afterward through Heaven from Hght to hght. 
 Have I learned that which will, if I respeak. 
 For many have disrelish infinite; 
 
 And if to truth I prove a friend but weak, 
 I tremble lest my fame the forfeit pay 
 With those who are to call this time antique." — 
 
 At this the light wherein the treasure lay 
 
 Which I had found there, fiasht with such suffusion 
 As golden mirror in the solar ray. 
 
 ''A conscience darkened," — then he made conclusion, — 
 "With self -shame, or another's, this being sung 
 Will wince indeed at every harsh allusion. 
 
 Nathless away be all dissembling flung. 
 And be thy vision wholly manifested. 
 And let them wince who feel their withers wrung; 
 
 For though thy word be grievous when first tasted. 
 It will forever after leave behind 
 A vital nourishment, if well digested. 
 
 This cry of thine shall do as doth the wind 
 
 That buffets most the topmost mountain crown : 
 Which no small pledge of honor wilt thou find. 
 
 For this among these Wheels, and up and down 
 The Mountain, and within the Vale of Woe, 
 Are shown thee spirits only of renown; 
 
 For restive is the hearer's mind, and so 
 Recalcitrant to faith, it holds aloof 
 From instances buried its ken below. 
 
 And from all else except explicit proof." — 
 
Illustrious Souls in the Cross of Mars 377 I 
 
 XVIII 
 
 >, 
 
 How THE Souls Form the Mystic Symbol of Justice \ 
 
 IN THE Temperate Star of Jove ; 
 
 Now in his inward thought with joy replete 
 
 Was that blest Mirror, and I savored mine 
 
 By seasoning the bitter with the sweet; I 
 
 And the Lady leading me to the Divine t 
 
 Said : "Shift thy thought to see my link unbroken i 
 
 With him who lightens every load mahgn." — j 
 
 Thereat I turned to look at the fond token The consoling 
 
 Of my Consoler, and what love I viewed ^^ "^ BeatHce j 
 
 In the holy eyes is here perforce unspoken. 
 Partly that words would be misunderstood, \ 
 
 Partly that memory is unreturning 
 
 If others guide not to such altitude. ■ 
 
 This only can I tell that point concerning. 
 
 That, rebeholding her, my own affection j 
 
 Grew fetterless and free from other yearning. \ 
 
 While the Eternal Joy without deflection \ 
 
 Rayed upon Beatrice, and mirror-wise ! 
 
 From her fair face appeased me by reflection. 
 Subduing me with light of smiling eyes, ; 
 
 "Turn round and hearken," thus to me she said, 
 
 "Not in mine eyes alone is Paradise!" — 
 As sometimes in the visage here is read j 
 
 The inclination, if of so much force \ 
 
 That the whole soul thereby is riveted, j 
 
 So turning to my great progenitor's ! 
 
 Sanctified radiance, the wish I found I 
 
 Yet somewhat further with me to discourse. 
 Then he began to speak: "In this fifth round \ 
 
 Of branches on the Tree that from the crest 
 
 Sends life-sap down and never sheds a frond, ■ 
 
 Are souls who, ere they came among the blest, ^ 
 
 Were in the world below of so great fame \ 
 
 Could noble Muse no richer theme request. < 
 
378 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The smile of 
 Beatrice mark- 
 ing ascent to 
 the Heaven of 
 Jupiter 
 
 Observe the arms o* the Cross, and those I name 
 Will at the signal in such mode proceed 
 As in the cloud its fulminating flame/' — 
 
 I saw along the Cross a luster speed 
 At name of Joshua : to ear and eye 
 The word did not anticipate the deed. 
 
 And at the name of Maccabaeus high 
 
 Another spiral whirling flash t amain, 
 
 And that which whipt the top was holy joy. 
 
 Likewise for Roland and for Charlemain 
 
 Did my enraptured gaze two lights pursue. 
 As eye doth after flying falcon strain. 
 
 Afterward William drew, and Renouard drew. 
 
 And great Duke Godfrey drew mine eye by fire 
 Along that Cross, and Robert Guiscard too. 
 
 Then mingling with the other lights, the Sire 
 
 Whose spirit had discoursed with me made known 
 His artistry among the heavenly quire. 
 
 To my right hand I turned me at that tone. 
 My duty to behold in Beatrice 
 Either by language or by gesture shown. 
 
 And all her past and recent wont at this 
 
 Her look outrivaled, with so bright a ray 
 Her eyes were shining, and so full of bliss. 
 
 And as by greater comfort in essay 
 
 Of righteous doing, man becomes aware 
 Of virtue waxing in him day by day. 
 
 So, wheeling in a wider circle there, 
 
 A heaven of more extended scope I knew. 
 Seeing that miracle become more fair. 
 
 For now a shift of color met my view. 
 
 As when a woman's countenance, opprest 
 With blushful shame, resumes its palHd hue, 
 
 Such, when I turned about was manifest 
 
 Dawning in the white star of temperance. 
 The sixth that had received me to its breast. 
 
The Heaven of Jupiter 379 
 
 I saw within that Jovial radiance 
 
 The flying sparks of love that there abound 
 
 Shaping our language out before my glance. 
 As birds, rejoicing in their pasture ground. 
 
 Start up together from a river dell 
 
 And gather in a flock, now long, now round. 
 So holy creatures in the lights that dwell, 
 
 Were flitting and were chanting, fashioning 
 
 Their flock to figures, — D and I and L. 
 First sang they, to their own notes fluttering. 
 
 Then, having fashioned one or the other sign, 
 
 Would hold their peace awhile and stay their wing. 
 O Pegasea, glorifier divine 
 
 Of human wits, their life to render long. 
 
 As towns and kingdoms they, by aid of thine, 
 Brighten me with thyself to tell in song 
 
 Their shapes as I deciphered them in Heaven, 
 
 In these brief verses let thy breath be strong! 
 These then displayed themselves in five times seven 
 
 Vowels and consonants : I noted down 
 
 The members as they seemed by utterance given. 
 DILIGITE JUSTITIAM, first noun "Love Justice, 
 
 And verb of all the figure were enscroUed, ^Z^^uL 
 
 QUI JUDICATIS TERRAM, followed on. S^ 
 
 These in the M of the fifth word did hold 
 
 Such settled order there, that Jupiter 
 
 Seemed to be silver patterned out with gold. 
 And other lights I saw descending where 
 
 The apex of the M appeared their goal. 
 
 Chanting, I think, the Good that draws them there. The medieval 
 Then, as by stirring of a burning coal TmLV'~ 
 
 Innumerable sparks are upward sped, Florentine lily. 
 
 Prophetic omens to the simple soul, f^Jl ^^^ 
 
 So thence thousands of lights seemed spirited tohich, slightly 
 
 To mount aloft, some lower and some higher, a^']^;fifZn 
 
 By their enkindling Sun distributed; heraldic Eagle 
 
380 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The stormy 
 voice of Dante 
 (cf. xvii, 133- 
 135) 
 
 The florin, wUh 
 the lily on one 
 side and ike 
 image of the 
 Baptist on the 
 other, prompts 
 Boniface to 
 neglect Peter 
 aiid Paid 
 
 And lo ! when settled into place each flier, 
 I saw an Eagle as to head and breast 
 Delineated by that patterned fire. 
 
 He there who paints has none to guide, but best 
 Guideth Himself, and from Him we divine 
 The secret of the molding of the nest. 
 
 The other blessed flock, content to twine 
 A lily flower at first upon the M, 
 With a shght flutter filled out the design. 
 
 Sweet star, what jewels, and how many of them. 
 Informed me that our Justice is the birth 
 Of that sixth heaven whereof thou art the gem ! 
 
 Wherefore I pray the Mind wherein thy worth 
 
 And motion start, that He take note whence come 
 The fumes that dim thy radiance on earth; 
 
 That he once more be wroth with all and some 
 Who buy and sell within the Temple-door 
 Built round with miracles and martyrdom. 
 
 O heavenly host on whom I gaze, implore 
 
 For them who still are here on earth, each one 
 Misled by ill example ! — War of yore 
 
 Was waged by dint of sword, but now 'tis done 
 Merely withholding, now here, and now there. 
 The bread the pitying Father grudges none. 
 
 But thou whose writ is only made to tear. 
 
 Reflect that Peter and Paul are living yet, 
 
 Who died for the vineyard thou art stripping bare. 
 
 Well mayst thou urge: "I have my heart so set 
 On that ascetic who in royal hall 
 AVas danced into the martyr's coronet. 
 
 That I know not the fisherman nor Paul." — 
 
Yearning to Probe Divine Justice 381 
 
 XIX 
 
 The Discourse of the Symbolic Eagle 
 
 The image fashioned by the engarlanding 
 
 Souls who in sweet fruition took delight, 
 
 Stood fair before me, spreading either wing. 
 Each seemed a little ruby where a bright 
 
 Sunbeam appeared so burningly to sink 
 
 As to flame back again upon my sight. 
 And what I now am bound to tell, by ink 
 
 Was never traced, by ear was never heard. 
 
 Nor entered into heart of man to think: 
 For lo ! I heard and saw that beaked Bird 
 
 Give voice to / and MY, though understood 
 
 Were we and our as men conceive the word. 
 So it began : "Through being just and good 
 
 Raised am I to that glory far transcending 
 
 All mortal yearning for beatitude. 
 And left remembrance of my great intending 
 
 Upon the earth, but wicked people there 
 
 Follow the story not, although commending." — 
 As many an ember makes us feel the glare 
 
 Of one sole heat, so rang one melody 
 
 From many loves out of that image fair: 
 Whereon I prayed: "O flowers perpetually Dante prays 
 
 Blooming from Joy eternal, breathing forth j^' hehJokln 
 
 Your odors that one fragrance seem to me, 
 So breathing, banish from me the great dearth 
 
 Which makes me for so long in hunger pine. 
 
 Finding not any food for it on earth. 
 Well know I that, though Justice the divine 
 
 Be in another Heavenly kingdom glassed. 
 
 Yours looks without a veil on the design. 
 Ye know how eagerly do I forecast 
 
 The hearing, and ye know what is that doubt 
 
 Which is within me such a long-drawn fast." — 
 
382 Paradiso 
 
 As from the hood the falcon issuing out 
 
 Conceals not her desire, but makes her fair. 
 Lifting her head and fluttering about. 
 
 So in my sight became that emblem, where 
 Praises of Grace Divine were interwound 
 With songs familiar to the happy there. 
 
 Then it began : "Who turned the compass round 
 The world, and Who in its circumference 
 Set much both clear to sight and too profound. 
 
 Could not in all the Universe condense 
 His Worth so far but that His infinite 
 Wisdom remained in overplus immense. 
 
 In proof whereof, behold that first proud Wight 
 Among all creatures supereminent. 
 Falling unripe, through not awaiting light; 
 
 Therefore too scanty a recipient 
 
 Appears each lesser nature for that Good 
 Which has no bound but by self -measurement. 
 
 From this it follows that our sight, which should 
 Out of that Mind supernal radiate 
 Wherewith all things whatever are imbued. 
 
 Can by its nature have no power so great 
 But that its origin sees far afield 
 Beyond the narrow limit of your date. 
 
 Therefore no vision to your world revealed 
 Can plumb eternal Justice to the ground. 
 Just as the ocean to your eye is sealed; 
 
 Awhile from shore ye may the bottom soimd. 
 And out of soundings in the unplumbed sea 
 We know it still is there, though never found. 
 
 Save from the never-clouded Source, may be 
 No light, but rather everywhere is shade, 
 Venom and shadow of carnality. 
 
 Now amply is the covert open laid 
 
 That kept the living Justice from thy sight. 
 Whereof thou hast so frequent question made. 
 
Virtuous Heathen 383 I 
 
 Tor,' saidest thou, *on Indus-bank a wight The problem: : 
 
 Is brought to birth, where none is to direct ^Z^^l^hen ' 
 
 To Christ, nor who may read of Him, nor write, be condemned? 
 
 And all his acts and wishes are correct 
 
 As far as human reason may perceive, • 
 Whether in word or life without defect; 
 
 Faithless he dies, nor baptism can receive : j 
 
 What is this justice which condemns the man? j 
 
 What is his fault if he do not believe?* ; 
 
 Now who art thou to mount the bench and scan, j 
 
 A thousand miles from what thou wouldst discuss, ] 
 
 With thy short vision reaching but a span? I 
 
 Surely for him who cavils with me thus, \ 
 Were not the Scripture over you, the food 
 For subtle questioning were marvelous. 
 
 O earthly animals ! O spirits rude ! ; 
 Never the Primal Will was self -betraying. 
 
 Nor altered from Itself the Supreme Good. ] 
 
 Weighed is yoiu* human justice with Its weighing. 
 
 By no created goodness is It led, ' 
 Rather from It created good is raying." — 
 
 As wheels the mother-stork just overhead ] 
 
 When she has given her nestlings all their fill, j 
 
 And they look up toward her comforted, * 
 
 So thither was my brow uplifted still, t 
 
 And circling so the blessed image flew \ 
 
 On wings propelled by force of many a will. J 
 
 WheeUng it chanted, adding thereunto : \ 
 
 "My notes thou hearest heeding not their sense, 1 
 
 So mortals by Eternal Justice do." — j 
 
 When quiet was that glowing effluence ; 
 
 Of Holy Ghost, still in the heraldry \ 
 
 That gained the Romans world-wide reverence, '^¥ *^"?y 
 
 . , votce again i 
 
 "Up to this Kingdom," it resumed to me, strikes the high- i 
 
 "Rose never one who had not faith in Christ ff P?«^* ('"''^ 
 
 . the nms on \ 
 
 Before or smce they nailed Him to the tree. Christ) ^ 
 
 j 
 
384 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Philip the 
 Fair 
 
 Charles of 
 Naples. Evi- 
 dently the Book 
 kept in Roman 
 numerals 
 
 Frederick, King 
 of Sicily, whose 
 misdeeds toill 
 crowd the page 
 
 The Venetian 
 ducat and the 
 florin were the 
 standard coins 
 everywhere 
 
 But many, mark, who cry aloud Christ! Christ! 
 Shall be less near Him at the Great Assize, 
 By very far, than some who know not Christ. 
 
 The Ethiop shall such Christians stigmatize 
 When the two colleges apart are led. 
 One poor, the other with the eternal prize. 
 
 To Christian monarchs what will not be said 
 By Persians, when the Book is open placed 
 Upon whose page their evil deeds are spread? 
 
 There *mid the deeds of Albert shall be traced 
 
 That which will start the moving pen once more 
 To show the Realm of Prague become a waste; 
 
 There seen how men along the Seine deplore 
 The doing of that counterfeiter accurst 
 To perish by the bristle of the boar; 
 
 There seen the arrogance that sets athirst. 
 
 Driving both Scot and Englishman insane. 
 Whence both anon across the border burst; 
 
 There the soft life and lust of him of Spain 
 
 And the Bohemian, — ^never known to them 
 Was prowess, or held ever in disdain. 
 
 There to the Cripple of Jerusalem 
 
 Shall with an / the good be credited. 
 While the reverse is rated at an M. 
 
 There shall the greed and cowardice be read 
 Of him who wards the fiery Island, — tomb 
 Where the long journey of Anchises led; 
 
 And to denote him paltry, let the doom 
 In curt abbreviations be set down. 
 Infinite matter in a little room. 
 
 And foul to all be noted the renown 
 
 Of uncle and of brother, who deflower 
 Illustrious lineage, and each a crown. 
 
 And he who holds in Portugal the power. 
 
 And Norway shall be shown; and Rascia there 
 Who saw Venetian coin in evil hour. 
 
Wicked Christian Kings 385 
 
 O blest were Hungary, if she would bear 
 
 No buffets longer; and Navarre in bliss 
 
 If her own mountain but a rampart were ! Henry of Lusi- 
 
 And let each one recall, in proof of this, im^'xin^wko 
 
 How Nicosia and Famagosta groan iceepa pace toith 
 
 Already for their beast, and take it amiss powS-^in evU 
 
 That he beside the others hold his own." — doing 
 
386 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 XX 
 
 The Eagle Continues to Discourse 
 
 The voices of 
 the Just, blend- 
 ing in the neck 
 of the Eagle, 
 issue like the 
 sound of falling 
 water, or of 
 musical notes 
 
 When he who sheds through all the world his ray- 
 Is from our hemisphere descending so 
 That everywhere the dayUght fades away. 
 
 The sky, ablaze with him short while ago. 
 Is suddenly rekindled to our ken 
 By many lights that answer to one glow: 
 
 And I recalled this heavenly action when 
 The ensign of the world and of its head 
 Grew silent in the blessed beak again; 
 
 For all those Uving luminaries, made 
 
 Brighter than ever, were beginning chants 
 Out of my memory to lapse and fade. 
 
 O sweet Love, veiled in smiling radiance. 
 
 How ardent didst thou seem in those canorous 
 Flutes that breathed only holy meditance ! 
 
 After the bright and precious brilhants o*er us. 
 Wherewith I saw the sixth heaven glittering, 
 Had made an end of their angelic chorus. 
 
 It seemed to me I heard a murmuring 
 
 Stream that runs Kmpid down from stone to stone 
 Showing the plenty of its mountain spring. 
 
 And as upon the cittern's neck the tone 
 
 Assumes its form, and in reed instrument 
 
 The vent-holes mold the breathing through it blown. 
 
 Thus, brooking no delay, incontinent 
 
 Did that soft murmur of the Eagle float 
 Up through the neck, as if it were a vent; 
 
 There became voice, and issued from the throat 
 Out through the beak, with words in unison 
 With longing of the heart whereon I wrote. 
 
 "That part in me which sees, and braves the sun 
 In mortal eagles," it prelusive said, 
 "Should now attentively be gazed upon; 
 
The New Knowledge 
 
 387 
 
 For of the fires whereof my form is made, 
 
 Those are in all their grades of most renown 
 Wherewith the eye is sparkling in my head. 
 
 Who midmost as the pupil glitters down, 
 He was the Holy Spirit's laureate 
 Who bore about the Ark from town to town; 
 
 Now knows he his song's merit adequate, 
 So far as subject to his will's control. 
 By the reward which is proportionate. 
 
 Of five who curve along my brow, that soul 
 Neighboring nearest to the beak of me 
 Did the poor widow for her son console; 
 
 Now knows he dear the ransom is if we 
 Follow not Christ, by the experience 
 Of this sweet life, and of the contrary. 
 
 Who next, along on the circumference 
 
 In question, follows on the upward way 
 Delayed his death by very penitence; 
 
 Now knows he that Eternal Judgment may 
 Be altered never, though a worthy prayer 
 On earth below tomorrows the today. 
 
 The next, to set the Pastor in the chair, 
 
 111 fruitage gathering from good intents, 
 
 Made Greek himself, the laws, and me down there; 
 
 Now knows he that the evil consequence 
 
 Of his good deed gives him no cause to grieve. 
 Although the world go all to ruin thence. 
 
 Next in the downward curve dost thou perceive 
 
 Him who was William, whom those lands regret 
 Which weep that Charles and Frederick still live; 
 
 Now knows he how the love of Heaven is set 
 On a just king, and the effulgency 
 Of his appearance makes it patent yet. 
 
 Down in the erring world who would agree 
 
 That Trojan Rhip)eus in this round were fit 
 The fifth among the holy lights to be? 
 
 David 
 
 Trajan 
 
 Hezekiah 
 
 Constantine 
 
 William the 
 Oood of Sicily 
 and Ajndia 
 
 Rhipeus the 
 Trojan (Mneid 
 ii. 
 
388 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Dante's loonder 
 that Rhipeus 
 and Trajan are 
 redeemed 
 
 Now knows he much whereof our human wit 
 In Grace Divine can catch not any gleam. 
 Although his vision cannot fathom it." — 
 
 Like to the lark that in the morning beam 
 Upsoars, first singing and thereafter still. 
 Rapt with the sweetness of her song supreme. 
 
 Such seemed the imaged Emblem of the Will 
 Eternal, in accordance with whose bent 
 Created things their final ends fulfill. 
 
 And notwithstanding that my wonderment 
 
 Showed through me Hke the color through the glaze, 
 Yet could it not abide the time content, 
 
 But forced by virtue of its weight the phrase 
 
 Forth from my lips, — ^'What wonders these!" Oh 
 
 thence 
 I saw great revelry of flashing rays ! 
 
 Thereon with kindling eye still more intense. 
 To me the Blessed Emblem made reply. 
 To hold me not in wondering suspense: 
 
 "I see that thou behev'st these things, since I 
 Report them to thee, but dar'st not avow, 
 For, though believed, they are hidden from the eye. 
 
 Thou doest like that one who may well allow 
 A thing in name, but who cannot define 
 Its essence if another show not how. 
 
 The Kingdom of Heaven suffers force benign 
 From living hope and loving fervency. 
 Able to overcome the Will Divine; 
 
 Not as man over man wins victory. 
 
 That which is craving to be quelled they quell. 
 And, conquered, conquer through benignity. 
 
 The brow's first living soul and fifth may well 
 Astonish thee, because thou seest with those 
 Adorned the region where the angels dwell. 
 
 These left their bodies not, as men suppose, 
 
 Grentile, but Christian, each in firm faith cleaving 
 To crucifixion's past or future throes. 
 
Exceptional Cases of Redemption 389 
 
 For one from Hell, whence none returns retrieving 
 Good will again, did yet his bones resume, — 
 And living hope this guerdon was receiving, — 
 
 The living hope whence vital power should bloom 
 Through prayer to God for his upraising made. 
 So that his will could move to change his doom. 
 
 The glorious spirit whereof this is said. 
 
 Short while abiding in the flesh on earth. 
 Put faith in Him who had the power to aid. 
 
 And so belief enkindled on his hearth 
 
 True love, that when returned he to the grave 
 He was found fit to come unto this mirth. 
 
 So deep a fountain yielded grace to save 
 The other soul, no eye, however bright, 
 Of any creature pierced its primal wave; 
 
 And so in righteousness was his delight 
 
 That our redemption in the future, more 
 And more by Grace was opened to his sight: 
 
 AVherefore he put his trust therein, nor bore 
 
 Thenceforth the stench from heathendom arising. 
 Reproving the perverted folk therefor. 
 
 To him, a thousand years ere solemnizing 
 
 Of baptism, those three maids thou sawst, who 
 
 wheeled 
 Beside the dexter wheel, stood for baptizing. 
 
 Predestination! Ah, how far afield 
 
 Thy root from vision of their intellect 
 
 To whom the First Cause is not all revealed ! 
 
 And be ye, mortals, closely circumspect 
 In judging, forasmuch as we, who see 
 The very God, know not yet all the elect; 
 
 And in such lack is our felicity. 
 
 For in this good our own good we refine 
 So that with Will Divine our wills agree.'* 
 
 Thus by that emblematic form divine. 
 
 To make me feel the limits of my vision. 
 Was dealt to me delightful medicine. 
 
 St. Gregory 
 made ^ectual 
 fervent prayer 
 for Trajan 
 
 Purg. xxix, 
 121-129 
 
390 Paradiso ^ 
 
 As on the chorded lute the good musician ' 
 Pinching the strings supports the singer good, 
 
 Thus making more dehghtful the rendition, ] 
 
 So I remember, while he thus pursued, ] 
 
 Beholding those two blessed lusters dance ^ 
 
 Accordant, as the eyes in winking would, ; 
 
 Moving their flamelets with that utterance. ^ 
 
Ladder of Contemplation 391 J 
 
 XXI \ 
 
 Heaven of Saturn ] 
 
 Already on my Lady's countenance ^ 
 
 Mine eyes were bended, and my mind withdrew ] 
 
 With them from every other circumstance; 
 Nor was she smiUng, but began thereto : Ascending to 
 
 "Were I to smile thou wouldst become hke fair fatui^'sea^ ] 
 
 Semele, when she dust and ashes grew; trice withholds 
 
 Because my beauty on the Palace stair t esmie , 
 
 Eternal, shining in more bright relief ^ 
 
 As thou hast seen, with our ascending there, ^ 
 
 If not attempered, would be past belief \ 
 
 Effulgent, so that thy poor mortal sense ] 
 
 Would be but as the thunder-blasted leaf. ^ 
 
 Raised are we to the Seventh Splendor, whence, ' 
 
 Now warmed beneath the Lion's burning breast, ; 
 
 Rains down its mitigated influence. | 
 
 Let thy mind follow where thine eyes request. 
 
 And let them mirrors be for that reflection 1 
 
 Which in this mirror shall be manifest." — 
 Whoso could know how great was the refection \ 
 
 Mine eyes found in her features sanctified. 
 
 When drawn away perforce in new direction, 
 Might comprehend, by weighing the one side \ 
 
 With the other, how delighted I became ; 
 
 To do the bidding of my heavenly Guide. ! 
 
 Within the crystal that doth bear the name ^ 
 
 The world around of its bright Leader, who \ 
 
 So ruled that perished every deed of blame, \ 
 
 I saw a Ladder all of golden hue The Golden 
 
 Burnished with light, and lifted up so high 
 
 Mine eyes were unavaihng to pursue; 
 Then saw so many splendors downward fly 
 
 Along its rungs, all light the stars distill 
 
 Had, it appeared to me, been shed thereby. 
 
 Ladder 
 
392 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Dante humbly 
 asks two 
 questions of the 
 spirit 
 
 The eyes of 
 Dante could not 
 hear the smile; 
 his muddy 
 vesture of decay 
 is impervious U) 
 the music 
 
 And as, at bidding of their nature's will, 
 
 Jackdaws together flock at break of day. 
 Bestirring them to warm their plumage chill; 
 
 Thereafter there are some who fly away 
 Without returning, others fly off where 
 They started from, and others, wheeling, stay: 
 
 In such a fashion came together there, 
 
 Methought, that scintillating company. 
 Soon as it lighted on a certain stair; 
 
 And one, which nearest us appeared to be. 
 
 Became so bright, I murmured in my thought: 
 "Well I perceive thy love that signals me." — 
 
 But she, by whom the How and Where is taught 
 Of speech and silence, pauses, whence aright 
 I do, against desire, inquiring not. 
 
 Whence she who saw my silence in the sight 
 Of That One to whose seeing all is shown. 
 Bade me, — ^''Appease thy yearning appetite !" — 
 
 And I began: "No merit of mine own 
 
 Renders me worthy that thou make reply, 
 
 But for her sake who bids me ask, made known, 
 
 O soul in blessedness, enshrouded by 
 
 The joyance that doth round about thee glow, 
 What places thee so near me; and tell why 
 
 Within this wheeling sphere keeps silence so 
 The dulcet symphony of Paradise 
 Devoutly sounding through the rest below." — 
 
 "Thy mortal eye and ear are both amiss," 
 
 He answered, "here aloft no songs are sung 
 For the same cause that smiles not Beatrice. 
 
 Down on the sacred ladder rung by rung 
 So far descended I to make thee graced 
 With words, and with the radiance round me flung; 
 
 Nor was it greater love that made me haste. 
 For equal love, or more, burns up above, 
 As makes the flaming clearly manifest; 
 
*S/. Peter Damian 393 
 
 But we, as prompted by Exalted Love, 
 
 To serve the purpose of the world so burn : 
 
 'Tis love allots, — ^thou seest the mode thereof." — i 
 
 "Full well, O holy lamp, do I discern • 
 
 How love, left free, may in this Court suffice \ 
 
 For following the Providence eterne; 
 
 But ever this is baffling to mine eyes : \ 
 
 Wherefore among thy consorts thou alone 
 
 Hast been predestinate to this emprise?" — 
 
 Before I uttered forth the final tone, \ 
 
 The light an axis of its middle made. 
 
 Rapidly whirling as in mill the stone. ; 
 
 Thereon the loving spirit in it said : • 
 
 "Focused on me is radiance divine j 
 
 Piercing the mesh of that around me shed, '\ 
 
 Whereof the virtue and my sight combine " 
 
 To lift me so above myself, I see ■ 
 
 The Fount Supreme whence doth this luster shine. ; 
 
 Thence comes the rapture all aflame in me, ' J 
 
 For to my vision as it grows more bright ■ 
 
 I match a flame of equal clarity. ' 
 But soul in Heaven with most access of light. The mystery of 
 
 Seraph whose eye is most on God intent. Predestination \ 
 
 Could to thy question not reply aright, ] 
 
 For it is gulfed in the arbitrament 1 
 
 Unf athomed, of eternal law's control, \ 
 
 Where all created sight is vainly bent. j 
 
 Carry this back to every mortal soul .] 
 
 On thy return, that men no more presume i 
 
 To lift their feet toward so high a goal. i: 
 
 The mind that here is flame, on earth is fume; ] 
 
 Consider then if it below can do 
 
 That which it cannot do, though Heaven assume." — 
 
 His language such a limit round me drew, \ 
 
 From every further question I forbore, > 
 
 Except to humbly ask him, "Who were you?" — : 
 
394 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The beautiful 
 site of the 
 monastery of 
 Fonte Avellana 
 on Monte 
 Catria 
 
 St. Peter 
 Damian 
 
 The gtormy 
 voice 
 
 Astounds the 
 Poet himself 
 
 "Crags rise in Italy 'twixt shore and shore, 
 And from thy fatherland not far away, 
 So high, the thunderstorms below them roar, 
 
 Making a hump whose name is Catria, 
 And there a hermitage was consecrate 
 Which used to be a place for men to pray/' — 
 
 With words like these did he inaugurate 
 
 The third discourse : "On Godly service bent, 
 I grew so used to feed on lenten cate 
 
 Which had but olive juice for condiment. 
 
 That here I passed the seasons hot and cold 
 Lightly, in thoughts contemplative content. 
 
 That cloister once bore fruitage manifold 
 
 Unto these heavens, but now it yields no more. 
 As must perforce hereafter soon unfold. 
 
 There Peter Damian was the name I bore; 
 Peter the Sinner was I in the fane 
 Of Our own Lady on the Adrian shore. 
 
 To me did little mortal Hfe remain. 
 
 When called to take, against my own accord, 
 That Hat which shifts from bad to worse again. 
 
 Came Cephas, the great Vessel of the Lord 
 
 Came lean and barefoot, taking bit and sup 
 From whatsoever hospitable board. 
 
 Now serving-men are needed to hold up 
 Fat modern pastors, one on either side 
 And one before and one behind to prop. 
 
 Their furs overflow the palfreys which they ride 
 
 (How much, O Patience, hast thou yet to bear !) 
 So that two beasts go underneath one hide." — 
 
 Flames saw I at such cry from stair to stair 
 
 Descending and whirling round in multitude. 
 At every whirl becoming still more fair. 
 
 Around this soul they flocking came, and stood. 
 And lifted up such a resounding shout 
 That here there could be no similitude. 
 
 Nor, thunderstricken, could I make it out. 
 
St Benedict 395 ] 
 
 XXII I 
 
 St. Benedict; Dante's Natal Constellation 
 
 Plunged in bewilderment I turned me thence Stricken imth j 
 
 Round to my Guide, even as a little child hewMermerU, I 
 
 , the Poet IS ! 
 
 Runs ever where he feels most confidence; reassured by 
 
 And promptly as a mother's cadence mild Beatrice ^ 
 Is wonted to give courage to her son 
 
 Pallid and gasping, — so her words beguiled ^ 
 
 My fear : "Enfolds thee not the benison ; 
 
 Of Heaven where all is holy? and canst thou doubt ^ 
 
 That zeal for good prompts what in Heaven is done ? \ 
 
 WhoX perturbation had been brought about 
 Both by the singing and my smiling eye. 
 When thou hast been so startled by the shout? 
 
 Wherein, if thou hadst understood their cry 
 
 Which is a prayer, already would be clear [ 
 
 The vengeance thou shalt see before thou die. | 
 
 Smites never down in haste the sword from here, ; 
 
 Nor tardily, excepting in his view I 
 Who waits for it in longing or in fear. 
 
 But look about thee now to something new; j 
 
 Thou shalt see spirits most illustrious, ! 
 
 Turning thy face round as I bid thee do." — ' 
 
 Compliant to her wish, I turned me thus, ] 
 
 And saw a hundred little globes of fire < 
 
 By interchange of light more beauteous. j 
 
 Like one who blunts the edge of his desire | 
 
 Within himself, became I, diffident j 
 
 Of question, lest I overmuch aspire. i 
 
 And the most lustrous and preeminent \ 
 
 Among those i>early lights began to advance, j 
 
 To make my wish concerning it content. j 
 
 Within it then I heard: "Could but thy glance Sveaks St. \ 
 
 Like mine perceive our interflaming Love, *^ " 
 
 Thy tacit thought would have found utterance; \ 
 
Monte Casstno, 
 one of the most 
 venerable mon- 
 uments of the 
 Christian vxyrld 
 
 Dante s prayer 
 to Benedict 
 
 The Heavenly 
 Ladder 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 But lest thou linger from the goal above 
 I will make answer even to the scope 
 Of the request thou art so chary of. 
 
 Where lies Cassino on the mountain slope, 
 Up to the very summit dwelt of yore 
 The folk perverse who in delusion grope; 
 
 And I am he who first up thither bore 
 
 The name of Him who brought the human race 
 The Truth enabling us so high to soar: 
 
 Then shone upon me so abounding Grace 
 
 That from the impious worship which misled 
 The world, I drew each neighbor dwelling place. 
 
 These other fires were men whose spirits fed 
 On Contemplation, kindled by that heat 
 Whence holy flowers and holy fruits are bred. 
 
 Here Romuald and here Macarius meet 
 
 All my good brethren of the cloister who 
 
 Kept steadfast heart and stayed their truant feet."- 
 
 And now I spoke: "The love thou givest to view 
 Talking with me, and the benevolence 
 Which I perceive aglow in all of you. 
 
 Dilate as genially my confidence 
 
 As the sun doth the rose, till she uncase 
 Her petals and exhale her perfume thence. 
 
 Wherefore I pray, — ^and tell me if such grace, 
 O Father, may perchance upon me shine, — 
 That I may see thee with uncovered face." — 
 
 "Brother, up in the final sphere divine," 
 
 Said he, "shall thy exalted wish be granted. 
 Where all the others are fulfilled, and mine. 
 
 There is mature and perfect and unscanted 
 Every desire; and in that realm of day 
 Alone all parts eternally are planted; 
 
 For it is not in space, nor doth it sway 
 
 On jx)les; and thither doth our ladder go, 
 Whence it is fading from thy sight away. 
 
Degenerate Religious Orders 397 
 
 The Patriarch Jacob saw it long ago 
 
 Extend its upper reaches Heavenward yon, 
 
 When angels up and down seemed thronging so. 
 But now to clamber thither raises none The ''dread 
 
 His feet from earth, and, though my Rule remain, *^^" '^"*" 
 
 Waste is the paper it is written on. 
 The abbey walls, that used to be a fane. 
 
 Are become robber dens, and every cowl 
 
 A sack that doth corrupted meal contain. 
 But heavy usance levies smaller toll 
 
 Counter to will Divine, than fruits that curse 
 
 With such insanity the monkish soul. 
 What Holy Church may have to disemburse 
 
 Belongs to them who in God's name invoke; 
 
 Not to one's kindred, nor to others worse. 
 The flesh of mortals is so frail that folk 
 
 Make good beginnings there, which do not hold 
 
 Till acorns ripen on the sapling oak. 
 Peter made his beginning without gold 
 
 Or silver, I with fast and orison. 
 
 And Francis humbly set about his fold. 
 And scanning the beginning of each one. 
 
 And then where it has wandered, thou wilt see 
 
 How white has been converted into dun. 
 But Jordan backward turned, in verity. 
 
 And ocean at God's will in flight perdue, 
 
 More wondrous were than rescue here would be." — 
 He spoke, and turned to his companions, who 
 
 Surrounding him, together closed their throng. 
 
 Then upward like a whirlwind all withdrew. 
 My gentle Lady urged me then along Ascent to the 
 
 With a mere waf ture up that mystic stair, f^^^^ ""^ *^' 
 
 So was her power upon my nature strong; 
 Nor in our rising and descending here 
 
 By natural law, has ever been a flight 
 
 So swift as with my pinion to compare. 
 
398 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 S-pLendid invo- 
 cation to his 
 natal consteUor 
 tion, — The 
 Eternal Twins 
 
 In the year 
 1265 the Sun 
 was in Gemini 
 from 18th May 
 to 17th June. 
 The exact day 
 of Dante's birth 
 is not recorded 
 
 Speaks 
 Beatrice 
 
 Survey of the 
 Solar System 
 
 Reader, as I to that devout delight 
 
 Hope to return, for whose sake I deplore 
 Ofttimes my sins, and on my bosom smite, 
 
 Thou wouldst have pluckt thy finger nevermore 
 Out of the fire, ere I beheld the Sign 
 After the Bull, and was within its core! 
 
 O glorious stars, whose influences shine 
 
 Pregnant with poWer, to whom is honor due 
 For whatsoever genius may be mine. 
 
 With you was dawning, darkening with you 
 He who is Sire of all mortality. 
 When my first breath of Tuscan air I drew; 
 
 And then, when gift of Grace had made me free 
 Of the high wheeling sphere wherein ye roll, 
 Your very region was assigned to me. 
 
 To you devoutly now suspires my soul. 
 Virtue soliciting and consecration 
 For the hard passage to the final goal. 
 
 "Thou art so near the Ultimate Salvation," 
 So Beatrice began, "that it is meet 
 To have eyes keen and purified from passion. 
 
 Hence, before deeplier immerst in it. 
 
 Look down below and see what world expanse 
 I have already put beneath thy feet; 
 
 So that thy heart with utmost jubilance 
 Confront the Triumph of the multitude 
 Who through this ether-sphere blithely advance ."- 
 
 Then one and all the Seven Spheres I viewed 
 
 With backward gaze, and saw this globe of dust 
 Such that I smiled at its poor likelihood; 
 
 And to his counsel I most largely trust 
 
 Who holds it cheapest; and who turns him thence 
 To other thoughts may well be reckoned just. 
 
 Latona's daughter kindled on my sense 
 
 Without that shadow making her appear 
 Such that I held her once both rare and dense. 
 
The Seven Planets 399 
 
 Hyperion, I could endure up here 
 
 The radiance of thy son, and markt how move 
 
 Maia and Dione round about him near. 
 Thence I perceived the tempering of Jove 
 
 Father and son between, and thence the mode 
 
 Of all their variations as they rove. 
 Thence to me all the seven planets showed 
 
 How vast they are, how swift they are, and how 
 
 Far. far apart they are in their abode. 
 With the Eternal Twins revolving now, 
 
 I saw our madding little threshing floor "Vaiuola che d 
 
 Spread out from river mouth to mountain brow: ^^ tantoferon" 
 Then turned I to the beauteous eyes once more. 
 
400 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Beatrice 
 expectant 
 
 The Harvest 
 of Christ 
 
 XXIII 
 
 Vision of the Host of the Redeemed 
 
 As birdling the beloved leaves among 
 
 Having reposed with her sweet nestling brood 
 While night has over all her mantle flung, 
 
 Who, that she may adventure for their food. 
 Delighting in hard toil, and that she may 
 See the loved pledges of her motherhood. 
 
 Anticipates the hour on open spray, 
 
 And fired with eagerness awaits the light. 
 Vigilant ever until break of day : 
 
 So was my Lady standing at full height 
 Alert and watchful, lifting up her face 
 Thither where most the sun retards his flight; 
 
 Whence I, observant of her eagerness. 
 
 Became like one who wistfully doth pant 
 For his desire, and so takes heart of grace. 
 
 But now the interval of time was scant, — 
 I mean of my susp)ense until aware 
 That more and more the heaven grew radiant. 
 
 And Beatrice said : "Behold the army fair 
 
 Of Christ Triumphant, — ^all the harvest raised 
 By whirUng influence of every sphere." — 
 
 It seemed to me that all her features blazed 
 And such a flood of rapture filled her eye 
 That I must pass it by perforce unphrased. 
 
 As at still midnight when the moon is high 
 Trivia smiles among the nymphs eterne 
 Who brighten every quarter of the sky. 
 
 Above a thousand lusters saw I burn 
 
 One Sun, enkindling round it all and some. 
 As does our sun the other Ughts supern. 
 
 And that illuminating Masterdom 
 
 Shot down a living splendor so intense 
 Into mine eyes that they were overcome. 
 
^^Hymning the holy smile^ 
 
 401 
 
 Oh, Beatrice, dear gentle influence! 
 
 Now said she to me : "Thou art here controlled 
 By force wherefrom there can be no defense. 
 
 Herein the Wisdom, here the Power behold. 
 
 That frayed from Heaven to Earth a thoroughfare 
 For which the yearning was so long of old/' — 
 
 As fire, expanding beyond boimd, doth tear 
 
 The cloud asunder, and swiftly earthward fall 
 Against its proper nature, through the air. 
 
 So found my spirit in that festival 
 
 Enlargement, and the bound of self forsook. 
 Nor what it then became can now recall. 
 
 "Open thine eyes," resumed she then, "and look 
 Upon my very nature; thou hast seen 
 Things that enable thee my smile to brook.'* — 
 
 I was Uke one who feels the spell again 
 Of a forgotten vision, and doth try 
 To bring it back to memory, in vain. 
 
 When I received this proffer, worth so high 
 Tribute of thanks as could not be effaced 
 Out of the chronicle of time gone by. 
 
 Not all the tongues by Polyhymnia graced, 
 
 That both from her and from her sisters drew 
 Their lyric milk most honied to the taste, 
 
 Could tell a thousandth part of what is true. 
 Hymning the holy smile of Beatrice 
 And on her holy face what light it threw. 
 
 Whence, in depicting Paradise, at this 
 
 The sacred Poem leaps perforce the theme. 
 Like one whose way is cut by an abyss. 
 
 But whoso notes its weight will never deem 
 Me blamable if mortal shoulder bear 
 But tremblingly a burden so supreme. 
 
 For little bark can be no passage where 
 
 The wave is cleft by my adventurous prow, 
 Nor yet for pilot who would labor spare. 
 
 Dante s eyes 
 given virtue to 
 see the smile of 
 Beatrice 
 
 Cf. beginning of 
 Canto ii 
 
402 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The Sun of 
 Heaven shows 
 just so much 
 light as the 
 mortal eye can 
 bear 
 
 The Virgin 
 
 Mary 
 
 Mother 
 
 The splendor 
 and music of 
 Gabriel 
 
 "Why so enamored of my face art thou, 
 
 And tm*nest not to the fair garden-close 
 Blooming beneath the rays of Christus now? 
 
 The Word Divine became in yonder Rose 
 Incarnate; yonder are the lilies white 
 Whose fragrance did the way of life disclose." — 
 
 So Beatrice: and I, submitting quite 
 
 To what she urged, again free scope allowed 
 To the contention of my feeble sight. 
 
 Just as mine eyes, themselves beneath a shroud 
 Of shadow, have beheld a flowery lea 
 Laughing in light that streamed through rifted cloud. 
 
 So many a splendid throng now seemed to be 
 Lit from above by burning radiance, though 
 No fountain of those flashings could I see. 
 
 O Power benignant who dost mark them so, 
 
 Thou hadst withdrawn thee upward to give way 
 Before mine eyesight baffled by the glow! 
 
 The mention of the Rose whereto I pray 
 Morning and evening, utterly subdued 
 My soul to contemplate her greater ray. 
 
 When with her quality and magnitude 
 
 As she transcended here up there transcending. 
 That living star had both mine eyes imbued. 
 
 Behold athwart the heaven a torch descending, 
 
 Formed like a coronet, wherewith it crowned her. 
 About her in a fiery circle bending. 
 
 Whatever melody is sweet hereunder 
 
 Most wooingly to wake the heart's desire. 
 Would seem a cloud-bank rended by the thunder 
 
 Compared to the resoimding of that lyre 
 Engarlanding the Sapphire beauteous 
 Whose holy azure tints the Heaven of Fire. 
 
 "I am the Love angelic circling thus 
 
 The lofty rapture of the womb, that blest 
 Hostel of Him who was desired of us; 
 
The Assumption of Mary 
 
 403 
 
 And I shall circle until thou foUowest 
 
 Thy son, O Lady of Heaven, diviner making 
 The Sphere supreme because thou enterest." — 
 
 So now the circling melody was taking 
 
 The seal, and all the other lights in fine 
 With name of Mary into song were breaking. 
 
 That regal mantle which doth all entwine 
 The rolling worlds, and hath its appetite 
 Most quickened in the breath and deeds divine. 
 
 Held far remote from us and at such height 
 Above my standing place its inner shore. 
 That vision of it dawned not on my sight. 
 
 Therefore mine eyes did not have power to soar 
 After the flame incoronate, who rose 
 Up to her Son where He had risen before. 
 
 As little child toward the mother throws 
 Its arms up, soon as it with milk is fed. 
 And grateful love in such a transport shows. 
 
 When each and all of those fair splendors shed 
 Their hght upstretching, so an infinite 
 Love toward Mary in the act I read. 
 
 Before me still remained those splendors white. 
 
 And "Queen of Heaven" they all so sweetly chanted 
 That present with me yet is the delight. 
 
 Oh, how great plenty is laid up unscanted 
 In those abounding coffers that of old 
 Were husbandmen upon the ground they planted! 
 
 There live they, glad in treasure manifold 
 Which in captivity at Babylon 
 They gathered up with tears, forsaking gold. 
 
 There triumphs, under the exalted Son 
 Of God and Mary, now victorious 
 And with the council old and new, that one 
 
 Who holds the keys of gate so glorious. 
 
 Probably the 
 ninth sphere, 
 "that first 
 moved" (Pri- 
 mum mobile) 
 
 They had re- 
 ceived "the 
 Kingdom of 
 God as a lUtlg 
 child" 
 
 St. Peter 
 
404 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Beatrice praya 
 for Dante 
 
 Cf. the com- 
 parison at end 
 of Canto X 
 
 The fairest carol 
 sweeps around 
 Beatrice 
 
 XXIV 
 
 St. Peter Examines Dante Concerning Faith 
 
 "O chosen fellowship of the Lamb Blest 
 
 At the great supper where He feeds you so 
 That your desire is ever set at rest, 
 
 Since Grace Divine doth on this man bestow 
 Foretaste of viands from your feast above. 
 Or ever death cut short his time below. 
 
 Give heed to his immeasurable love. 
 
 Bedew him somewhat: ye are quaffing bowls 
 Brimmed from the fount that he is dreaming of ."- 
 
 So Beatrice besought; and those blithe souls 
 
 Flasht out like comets streaming in the sky, 
 Whirling in circles round determined poles. 
 
 And even as wheels in clock escap>ement ply 
 In such a fashion geared that motionless 
 Appears the first one, and the last to fly. 
 
 Likewise those wheeling carols let me guess. 
 By variable measure of the dance 
 Or swift or slow, their wealth of blessedness. 
 
 The carol that seemed fairest to my glance 
 Was flaming forth such plenitude of bliss 
 That none was left of greater radiance. 
 
 And swept three times encircling Beatrice 
 Accompanied with singing so divine 
 That fantasy in me falls short of this: 
 
 I write it not, my pen must skip the fine. 
 
 For hues of fancy would too coarsely glare. 
 Let alone words, on drapery so fine. 
 
 "O holy sister, thy compelling prayer 
 
 Devout, and with so fervent feeling made, 
 Detaches me from yonder circle fair." — 
 
 After the blessed fire its motion stayed. 
 Did it directly to my Lady turn 
 Breathing forth what I have already said. 
 
Examination on Faith 
 
 405 
 
 And she replied to it: "O light eterne 
 
 Of the great peer to whom our Master gave 
 Keys he brought down of this delight supem, 
 
 Invite this man, on questions light or grave 
 As pleases thee, about the Faith to tell 
 Wherethrough thou once didst walk upon the wave. 
 
 If loves he, hopes he, and believes he well, 
 
 Is hidden not from thee who hast thine eye 
 Where all things seen as in a picture dwell. 
 
 But it becomes him thus to testify 
 
 For the true Faith, that it be glorified, 
 Seeing this Realm is citizened thereby." — 
 
 As arms the bachelor, whose tongue is tied 
 Until the Master doth the question stir. 
 To sanction it with proof, not to decide. 
 
 Even so did I, hearing these words from her, 
 Equip me all with answer in advance 
 In such a shrift to such examiner. 
 
 "Speak up, good Christian, give it utterance, 
 
 What thing is Faith?" — Whereat I raised my brow 
 Whither was breathing forth that radiance. 
 
 And then turned roimd to Beatrice, who now 
 Wafted prompt signals to me that I lift 
 The inward sluice gate and my creed avow. 
 
 "May Grace, which is vouchsafing to me shrift 
 In presence of the chief Centurion," 
 Began I, "mold the expression of my drift. 
 
 Father, as wrote the truthful pen thereon 
 
 Of thy dear brother who set the feet of Rome 
 In the right path with thee. Faith's benison 
 
 Is substance of the things we hope will come. 
 And of invisible things the evidence: 
 Its essence such appears to me in sum." — 
 
 Then heard I : "Rightly dost thou catch the sense. 
 If comprehending why he classed it now 
 With substances and now with arguments." — 
 
 The light of 
 St. Peter 
 
 Picture of an 
 examination 
 such as the 
 Poet had under- 
 gone at the 
 University 
 
 Definition of 
 Faith drawn 
 from St. Paid 
 
406 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Faith is the 
 substance, — 
 that which 
 stands under 
 and supports 
 Hope 
 
 Faith based on 
 Scripture 
 
 Divine because 
 attested by 
 miracle 
 
 ^^ This is arguing 
 in a circle,^ 
 objects the 
 examiner 
 
 And I thereon : "The deep things which allow 
 
 That ghmpses of themselves should here be shown 
 Are so concealed from mortal eye below 
 
 As to exist there in belief alone. 
 
 Whereon our hope sits, founded high aloof. 
 Whence Faith is by the name of substance known; 
 
 From which belief is laid on us behoof 
 
 To argue without seeing more than it, 
 Wherefore it takes the notion on of proof." — 
 
 Then heard I : "If whatever men admit 
 
 For doctrine were so understood on earth, 
 
 No room would there remain for sophist wit." — 
 
 This was from that enkindled Love breathed forth, 
 Subjoining then : "Right well dost thou rehearse 
 The carats of this coinage and the worth : 
 
 But tell me if thou hast it in thy purse?" — 
 
 And I : "That have I, both so bright and round 
 That of its stamp to me no doubt occurs." — 
 
 Thereafter issued from the light profound 
 Glowing above, this utterance thereto: 
 "This precious gem, wherein all worth we found. 
 
 Came to thee whence?" — And I: "The ample dew 
 Of the Celestial Spirit, which is shed 
 Over the Ancient Parchments and the New, 
 
 Is argument that hath within me bred 
 
 Belief so strong that, set against its force. 
 All demonstration seems to me but dead." — 
 
 I heard thereon : "The old and the new course 
 Of argument with such conclusion fraught. 
 Why dost thou hold it for divine discourse?" — 
 
 And I : "The very proof is to be sought 
 
 In th* after-works, whereto might never be 
 Hot iron yet on Nature's anvil wrought." — 
 
 "Who vouches, pray," it was replied to me, 
 
 "That 'these works were performed? — ^Thou wouldst 
 
 attest 
 The very text aflSrming it to thee." — 
 
^ 
 
 Grounds of Dante s Faith 
 
 407 
 
 *^Though without miracles the world confest 
 Christianity, this were a hundredfold 
 More wonderful," I answered, "than the rest; 
 
 For poor and hungry once into the wold 
 
 Didst thou go forth to sow there the good plant, 
 A bramble now, which was a vine of old." — 
 
 The high and holy Court, then celebrant. 
 
 Made a "Praise God" throughout those circles ring 
 In such a melody as there they chant. 
 
 And that great Lord who, thus examining. 
 
 Had so far drawn me now from spray to spray 
 That near the topmost frondage poised our wing. 
 
 Resumed: "The Grace whose dalliance doth so play 
 Upon thy soul, thus far to conference 
 Hath opened thy lips duly; and I pay 
 
 My commendation to what issued thence; 
 But now to tell thine own belief is meet, 
 And why it captured thine intelligence." — 
 
 "O holy Father, soul with so complete 
 
 Discernment of thy faith, thou didst outfare, 
 Anigh the Sepulcher, more youthful feet," — 
 
 Began I, — ^"thou wouldst have me here declare 
 The very essence of my prompt believing. 
 And also have the grounds of it laid bare. 
 
 And I reply : by faith am I receiving 
 
 One God, sole and eterne, the Heavens all 
 . Who moves (Himself unmoved) by love and craving. 
 
 And for such faith have I proofs physical 
 And metaphysical, nor am denied 
 The verity that showers from here withal 
 
 Through Moses, Psalms, and prophecies, beside 
 The Evangel, and what you Apostles writ 
 When by the fiery Spirit sanctified. 
 
 In three Eternal Persons, and to wit 
 
 One Essence I believe, so One and Trine 
 That are and is the syntax must admit. 
 
 The conversion 
 of the world 
 through the 
 agency of a few 
 humble men 
 would have 
 been more won- 
 derful than a 
 miracle 
 
 Dante's own 
 belief and its 
 grounds 
 
408 Paradiso 
 
 This, the mysterious state of the Divine, 
 
 Doth many a time the Gospel teaching leaven, 
 Which stamps upon my mind its seal and sign. 
 This is the focus whence the spark is driven 
 Which then doth into Kving flame dilate 
 And shine within me Hke a star in Heaven." — 
 Even as a lord who hears good tidings, straight 
 The story ended, presses to his breast 
 The servant whom he would congratulate, 
 The light of St. So, by his singing rendering me blest, 
 ^Wdes^Dante as Three times encircled me, when ceased my voice. 
 
 it had first en- That apostoUc Light at whose behest 
 
 cirded Beatrice j spoke: SO did he in my words rejoice. 
 
"<Se mai continga che it poema sacro^^ 409 
 
 XXV 
 
 St. James Examines the Poet Concerning Hope 
 
 If ever it happen that the Sacred Song, 
 
 Whereto both Heaven and Earth have so set hand 
 That it has made me lean for seasons long. 
 
 Should foil the cruelty that keeps me banned 
 
 From the fair sheepfold where, a lamb, I lay. 
 Hated of wolves that harry all the land. 
 
 With other voice, with other fleece, that day 
 Returning Poet, will I from mine own 
 Baptismal font accept the wreath of bay; 
 
 There entered I the Faith that renders known 
 The soul to God; and after, by her worth. 
 Did Peter, as I said, my brow enzone. 
 
 Then usward moved a radiance that took birth 
 
 Out of that sphere whence issued the first Head 
 Of those Christ left, his vicars here on earth. 
 
 And my own Lady, full of rapture, said : 
 
 "Look, look, behold the Baron for whose grace 
 Galicia below is visited." — 
 
 As, circling nearer to the nesting place 
 
 And cooing to his mate, ahghts the dove, 
 And both pour forth affection, in like case 
 
 I saw one great and glorious Prince with love 
 
 And welcome by that other grandeur greeted. 
 Praising the food which feeds them thereabove. 
 
 But when the gratulation was completed. 
 
 Silent in front of me they both stopt short. 
 Enkindled so, mine eyes fell down defeated. 
 
 Then Beatrice smiled forth what I report: 
 
 "Illustrious Life, who didst in boimty write 
 The perfect gifts of our Imperial Court, 
 
 Do thou make Hope resound upon this height. 
 For thou dost hope as often typify 
 As Jesus granted to the three most light.'* — 
 
 These lines, too 
 few, express the 
 Poet's hope 
 deferred i 
 
 Froissard also 
 terms St. 
 James a 
 "Baron." He 
 was believed to 
 be buried at 
 Santiago de 
 Compostela, 
 "The Jerusalem 
 of the West" 
 
 Beatrice, smil- 
 ing, addresses 
 the light of St. 
 James 
 
410 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Cheering words 
 of the Apostle 
 to the Poet 
 
 Beatrice 
 answers for 
 Dante as to the 
 second ques- 
 tion, that he 
 might not 
 appear to boast 
 
 Definition of 
 Hope 
 
 "Be of good cheer and lift thy head on high. 
 For all ascending here from mortal stress 
 Must in our mellowing rays to ripen lie.'^ — 
 
 The Second Fire did with this comfort bless; 
 
 Whence to the hills I raised mine eyes, before 
 Bowed heavily by radiant excess. 
 
 "Since of his grace desires our Emperor 
 
 That thou meet face to face before thy death 
 His baronage within the secret door, 
 
 That, seeing this Court truly, thou draw breath 
 Till in thyself and others thou relume 
 The Hope which well below enamoreth, — 
 
 Tell what hope is, and how therewith abloom 
 Thy spirit, and tell whence it came to thee:" 
 So speaking, did the Second Light resume. 
 
 And she who with compassionate sympathy 
 To so high flight my fledgy wings beguiled, 
 With answer thus anticipated me : 
 
 "Church militant has not a single child 
 Richer in hope, as read we in the fire 
 Of that Sun which throughout our host has smiled; 
 
 And hence it was vouchsafed to his desire 
 To come from Egypt to Jerusalem 
 To see, before the limit of his hire. 
 
 The other two points, — since thou askest them 
 Not for thy knowing, but that he report 
 To men this virtue as thy dearest gem, — 
 
 To him I leave; he will not find them thwart 
 Nor matter of boast; let him reply thereto. 
 Nor may the grace of Grod in him come short." — 
 
 I answered even as willing pupils do 
 
 The Master, who are glad, when competent, 
 That their proficiency be brought to view: 
 
 "Hope is the expectation confident 
 
 Of future glory, fountain that doth stream 
 From Grace divine and merit that forewent. 
 
Coming of St. John 
 
 411 
 
 Stars many cause this light on me to beam. 
 
 But who first made it through my bosom shine 
 Was supreme singer of the Guide Supreme. 
 
 So speaks he in his Psalmody divine: 
 
 *Hope they in Thee who know thy name, — * and who 
 Can know it not, having like faith with mine? 
 
 Thou then didst so bedew me with his dew 
 In thine Epistle that I am full, and pour 
 On others rain that showers from both of you." — 
 
 While thus I spoke, within that living core 
 
 Of fire there quivered forth a flash of light 
 Quick as chain lightning. Whereupon once more 
 
 It breathed: "The love wherewith I flame so bright 
 For that same Virtue still my comforter 
 Unto the palm and issue of the fight. 
 
 Again on thee whose joy abides in her 
 
 Moves me to breathe; and I would fain be told 
 What is it Hope gives promise to confer?" 
 
 And I: "The Scriptures, new as well as old. 
 Set forth the emblem whence I understand 
 The bliss of souls, God's friends, the double-stoled: 
 
 Isaiah promises that all shall stand 
 
 In their own land with double raiment on, — 
 And this sweet life is their own fatherland; 
 
 Far more distinctly does thy brother John, 
 Where he is treating of the robes of white, 
 Make manifest to us this benison." — 
 
 Now first, my words being ended, from the height 
 "Hope they in Thee" a voice was heard to say. 
 The carols all responding; then a light 
 
 Among them shot forth so intense a ray 
 
 That, if the Crab held one such diamond. 
 Winter would have a month of one sole day. 
 
 As winsome maiden rises with a bound 
 
 To go and join the dancing, honor due 
 Giving the bride, and from no motive fond. 
 
 Dante first 
 drew it from 
 the Psalms; 
 next from the 
 Epistle of 
 James 
 
 If the Sign of 
 Cancer had a 
 star as bright 
 as the light of 
 St. John, the 
 winter night 
 would be abol- 
 ished 
 
412 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The pelican, 
 supposed to feed 
 her brood with 
 her own blood, 
 is an emblem 
 of Christ in 
 medieval art 
 
 Compare 
 Dante's desire 
 to see the glori- 
 fied body of St. 
 Benedict, Canto 
 
 The Poet can- 
 not see Beatrice 
 
 So saw I drawing near the other two 
 
 The brightened splendor, where they wheeled along 
 As it became their burning love to do. 
 
 It mingled with their measure and their song; 
 And gazing on them did my Lady rest 
 Even as a bride unmoved and still of tongue. 
 
 "This, this is he who lay upon the breast 
 Of our own Pelican; to him the award 
 Of the great trust was from the cross addrest." — 
 
 My Lady thus; not more was her regard 
 
 Moved to withdraw itself from its delight 
 Before these words of hers, or afterward. 
 
 Like one endeavoring to view aright 
 
 The eclipsing of the sun a little space. 
 
 Who through long gazing grows bereft of sight, 
 
 Such, by that latest fire, became my case. 
 
 While it was said: "Why dost thou dazzle thee 
 To see a thing that here can have no place? 
 
 My body is on earth, and there will be 
 
 With all the rest, until our number grow 
 Such as to tally with the eterne decree. 
 
 With the two robes in blessed cloister glow 
 
 Only those two great Splendors who ascended; 
 Bear this report back to your world below." — 
 
 And at this voice the flaming whirl was ended. 
 And therewithal was brought to quiet close 
 The trinal breath harmoniously blended, 
 
 As when, avoiding risk, or for repose. 
 
 The oars, that smote till now upon the wave, 
 All pause together when a whistle blows. 
 
 Alas! how much the mind in me misgave 
 
 When I turned round to look on Beatrice, 
 
 At having no power to see her, although I clave 
 
 Close to her side, and in the world of bliss. 
 
Dante Blinded by the Light of the Saint 413 
 
 XXVI 
 
 St. John Examines Him Concerning Love 
 
 While I was trembling for my sight, forspent 
 By the effulgent flame, there issued thence 
 A breathing voice that made my heed intent. 
 
 Saying: "While thou recoverest the sense 
 
 Of vision which thou hast burnt out on me. 
 Let conversation serve for recompense. 
 
 Begin then, and declare where centered be 
 
 Thy heart's desires; and let assurance stand 
 That dazzled and not dead is sight in thee. 
 
 Because the eyes of the Lady, through this land 
 Divine conducting thee, irradiate 
 The power that was in Ananias' hand.'' — 
 
 I said: "To these mine eyes, which were her gate 
 To enter with fire that ever burns me so. 
 Let balm come at her pleasure, soon or late. 
 
 The Good whereto these courts contentment owe 
 Is Alpha and Omega of the scroll 
 That Love is reading me, or loud or low." — 
 
 The selfsame voice, first lifted to control 
 
 My fear when dazzled suddenly, to large 
 Discourse of reason called again my soul: 
 
 "Nay, but thy sieve more finely must discharge," 
 So it resumed, "and needs must thou reply. 
 Who aimed thy arrows at so high a targe?" — 
 
 "By teachings of Philosophy," said I, 
 
 "And by authority descending hence 
 I bear perforce the print of love so high. 
 
 For Good, as such, when brought in evidence, 
 Makes love flow forth to it in fuller stream 
 As it embraces more of excellence. 
 
 Hence to the Essence which is so supreme 
 That every good outside it to be traced 
 Is but an emanation from its beam, 
 
 St. John 
 assures the 
 Poet that 
 Beatrice vnU 
 do for him what 
 Ananias did 
 for Paid 
 
 Primal good 
 necessarily en- 
 kindles Love 
 
 Aristotle taught 
 that the world 
 is moved by the 
 desire of aU 
 things for God 
 
414 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 "cmne bonum," 
 "all good" in 
 the Vulgate 
 
 The Apocalypse 
 
 The homely 
 words "teeth" 
 "biting," are in 
 accordance with 
 the Poet's pro- 
 posed intention 
 to vyrite in 
 everyday lan- 
 guage such as 
 even mere 
 women of the 
 people use 
 (mulierculoB) 
 
 More than to any other needs must haste 
 In love the soul of every one not blind 
 To truth whereon this argument is based. 
 
 This truth has been unfolded to my mind 
 
 By him who demonstrates to me what drew 
 The primal love of all the eternal kind. 
 
 It is unfolded by the Author true 
 
 To Moses, speaking of His proper worth: 
 *A11 goodness will I set before thy view.' 
 
 Thou too unfoldest it at setting forth 
 
 To cry Heaven's secret in that herald word, 
 The loftiest of all heralding to earth." — 
 
 "By human understanding," then I heard, 
 "In concord with authoritative writing, 
 Thy sovran love is looking Heavenward. 
 
 But further, if thou feelest other plighting 
 
 That draws thee Godward, by thy words attest 
 With just how many teeth this love is biting." — 
 
 Not hidden from me was the purpose blest 
 
 Of the Eagle of Christ; nay, whither he would guide 
 My declaration became manifest. 
 
 "All of those bitings," therefore I replied, 
 
 "Of force to turn the heart to God alone. 
 Combine to make such love in me abide: 
 
 Because the world's existence and mine own. 
 His death that I might live forevermore. 
 And what I hope with every faithful one. 
 
 As well as the aforesaid living lore. 
 
 Drew me from love perverse wherein I drowned. 
 And of right love have set me on the shore. 
 
 My love for blooms embowering the ground 
 Of the eternal Gardener, is strong 
 In measure as His gifts in them abound." — 
 
 Soon as I paused, a strain of sweetest song 
 
 Rang through the Heaven, and my Lady said, 
 "O Holy, Holy, Holy!" with the throng. 
 
Speaks the Father of Our Race 
 
 415 
 
 As slumber breaks when vivid light is shed. 
 
 So runs the spirit of sight to meet the burning 
 Splendor, through tunic after tunic sped 
 
 Until the waker flinch, — ^for undiscerning 
 Is consciousness before the sudden day 
 Till judgment to his succor is returning, — 
 
 Thus from mine eyes drove Beatrice away 
 All motes with luster of her own so bright 
 That myriads of miles was shed the ray; 
 
 Whence better than beforehand was my sight: 
 And I made question like one in a maze. 
 Perceiving there before us a Fourth Light. 
 
 My Lady answered: "Shrouded in those rays 
 
 The first soul that was made by Virtue Prime 
 On his Creator doth in rapture gaze." — 
 
 Even as the treetop bows from time to time 
 Beneath the passing breeze, then rises slow 
 To place again through native power to climb. 
 
 While she was sp)eaking did I waver so, 
 
 And then grew confident, though struck with awe. 
 Such will to question set me all aglow. 
 
 And I began: "O fruit that ripe, not raw. 
 
 Alone hast been produced, O Father of yore 
 
 To whom each bride is daughter and daughter-in-law. 
 
 Devoutly as I may do I implore 
 
 Thy speech with me; thou seest that I have stayed 
 My utterance to speed thy speaking more." — 
 
 Sometimes a covered animal is swayed 
 So that its feeling necessarily 
 Is by its undulating wrap betrayed; 
 
 And so the primal soul gave me to see. 
 
 Transpiring through his screen of radiance, 
 How blithesome he became to pleasure me. 
 
 Then he breathed forth: "Without thine utterance 
 Can I more readily detect thy yearning. 
 Than canst thou any surest circumstance. 
 
 The return of 
 the Poet's eye- 
 sight scientifi- 
 cally described^ 
 as science was 
 then understood 
 
 The light of the 
 first created 
 human soul 
 
 How the Poet 
 detected the 
 joy of Adam 
 
416 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Dante's four 
 questions, his- 
 torical, theo- 
 logical, philo- 
 logical 
 
 The third ques- 
 tion is first 
 answered: be- 
 cause our First 
 Parents wished 
 to be ^^ as gods, 
 knowing good 
 and evil" (So 
 the Vulgate) 
 
 Adam states 
 that he re- 
 mained in Par- 
 adise but seven 
 hours! This 
 voas tradition 
 
 Because in the True Mirror this discerning, 
 Which forms of all things images sublime, 
 And naught such mirror unto Him is turning. 
 
 Thou wouldest know what ages since the time 
 God placed me in the lofty Paradise, 
 Where taught thy Lady so long stair to climb. 
 
 And how long it was pleasant to mine eyes, 
 And the true reason of the scorn divine. 
 And the idiom I used and did devise. 
 
 Now, not the tasted tree, O son of mine. 
 
 Was solely cause of so great banishment. 
 But only overstepping of the line. 
 
 Down there, whence by thy Lady Virgil went, 
 
 Four thousand and three hundred circles and two 
 Of sun, I yearned for this high Parliament; 
 
 And on the solar pathway to my view 
 
 Nine hundred times the lights all reawoke. 
 And fifty, and still breath on earth I drew. 
 
 Long silent were the accents that I spoke 
 Before the work not to be consummated 
 Was undertaken first by Nimrod's folk; 
 
 For never aught by reason fabricated 
 
 Endured, because of human choice renewing 
 As heavenly influences operated. 
 
 The use of speech by man is nature's doing; 
 But nature lets you shape it thus or so 
 As suits the fashion you may be pursuing. 
 
 Before I sank down to the Eternal Woe, 
 
 Men gave the name of *Jah* to the Chief Good 
 Whence comes the rapture round me all aglow; 
 
 Then called Him *Er as fitted to their mood; 
 
 For mortal fashions are like leaves that cling 
 To branch, and fall in swift vicissitude. 
 
 The Mount above the wave most towering 
 
 Held me, with life first pure, and then undone, 
 From the first hour to that next following 
 
 The sixth, at altered quadrant of the sun." — 
 
Indignation of St Peter 417 '^ 
 
 XXVII \ 
 
 Ascent to the Crystalline Heaven: A Splendid j 
 Vision, Set between Two Rebukes to Men 
 
 "To Father, Son, and to the Holy Ghost ; 
 
 Glory," began with sweetness exquisite ' 
 
 Intoxicating me, the Heavenly Host. '\ 
 
 Seemed what I witnessed with so deep deUght I 
 
 A laughter of the Universe; for this i 
 
 Elation entered through both ear and sight. J 
 
 O Joy supreme! O inexpressive bliss ! ] 
 
 O life of love and peace in ample store ! 
 
 O wealth secure exempt from avarice ! 
 
 Above my enraptured eyes the torches four j 
 
 Stood kindled, and the one that first had come : 
 
 Began to grow more vivid than before, ■■ 
 And to take on such look as might assume 
 
 Bright Jupiter were he and ruddy Mars 
 
 Transformed to birds, with interchange of plume. The light of \ 
 
 The Providence allotting to the stars ^^- ^^% . 
 
 , . . . grows ruddy 
 Of heaven their function and their oflSce due, 
 
 Had stilled the quiring of the blessed cars, ■ 
 
 When I heard say: "If I transform my hue, \ 
 
 Marvel not, for behold incarnadine ; 
 
 While yet I speak will grow the others too! ; 
 
 He who on earth usurps that place of mine, | 
 
 That place of mine, that place which now doth lie St Peter de- ■ 
 
 Vacant in presence of the Son Divine, T""^.^ ^^^^ ] 
 
 rr ' Boniface as an ! 
 
 Has turned my sepulcher into a sty umrper ■ 
 
 Of blood and filth, so that the Evil One | 
 
 Who fell from here is comforted thereby." — 
 With such a crimson as the adverse sun 
 
 Paints on the cloud at morn or eventide, • 
 
 Did I behold all heaven suffused thereon. 
 
 And as a modest lady doth abide ^ 
 
 Sure of herself, but through another's shame ( 
 
 At the mere hearing becomes mortified. 
 
418 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The same 
 "dread voice" 
 that speaks in 
 Milton's 
 "Lycidas" 
 
 Clement V was 
 a Gascon; John 
 XXII from 
 Cahors 
 
 As Cacciaguida 
 had done (Can- 
 to xvii, final 
 lines), so Peter 
 commands the 
 Poet to speak 
 
 So Beatrice changed semblance; and I deem 
 
 That such eclipse took place in Heaven perchance 
 When suffered the Omnipotence Supreme. 
 
 Thereon proceeded forth his utterance 
 
 With voice so greatly altered that behold! 
 Was not more changed his very countenance: 
 
 "The Bride of Christ was nurtured not of old 
 On blood of mine and that of Linus good 
 And Cletus, to be used for acquist of gold; 
 
 But for acquist of this beatitude 
 
 Did Sixtus, Pius, and Calixtus weep. 
 
 And Urban, and thereafter shed their blood. 
 
 Nor purposed we the Christian folk to keep 
 To right and left of our successors, — these 
 Stigmatized goats, the others favored sheep; 
 
 Nor were confided to my hand the Keys 
 To be an emblem on a banneret 
 For war on the baptized; nor do I please 
 
 To figure as a signet that is set 
 
 On privileges venal and untrue. 
 
 Whereat my frequent blush is burning yet. 
 
 From here aloft in all the folds a crew 
 
 Of ravening wolves in shepherd garb is seen: 
 Vengeance of God, why dost thou he perdue? 
 
 To drink our blood Gascon and Cahorsine 
 
 Are making ready. Alas, must needs the end 
 Of fair beginning be indeed so mean.f* 
 
 But lofty Providence that once did fend 
 
 Rome's empire of the world with Scipio, 
 Will quickly here, I deem, some succor lend. 
 
 And thou who must return once more below 
 
 Through mortal load, open thy mouth, my son, — 
 Fail not to say what I fail not to show.^' — 
 
 As when our atmosphere is snowing down 
 
 In flakes the frozen vapors, when the horn 
 Of the Sky-goat is gilded by the sun, 
 
Ascent to the Crystalline Heaven 
 
 419 
 
 Such swarming flakes in triumph upward borne 
 
 Seemed those who with us there had sojourn made, 
 And now awhile the ethereal sky adorn. 
 
 My sight was following what their wraiths displayed. 
 And followed till the vastness manifold 
 All power of penetrating farther stayed. 
 
 Whereon my Lady, seeing me withhold 
 
 From gazing up, commanded me: "Now cast 
 Thine eye down at the distance thou hast rolled.'' — 
 
 I saw that, so revolving, I had passed 
 
 From the first hour I lookt, the whole arc through 
 Which the first climate makes from midst to last. 
 
 Hence could the wild course of Ulysses view 
 Past Cadiz, and well-nigh the hither shore 
 Whereon Europa so dear burden grew. 
 
 And further surface of this threshing floor 
 
 Had been uncovered, but the sun sped, turning 
 Beneath my feet, removed a Sign and more. 
 
 Now my enamored spirit always yearning 
 After my Lady, to bring back and sate 
 Mine eyes on her, was more than ever burning. 
 
 All Nature ever made, or art, of bait 
 
 To catch the eye and captivate the thought 
 In human flesh real or delineate. 
 
 This, though united, would appear as naught 
 To the diviner beauty piercing through me 
 When now her smiling face I turned and sought. 
 
 The power wherewith I felt that look endue me. 
 From the fair nest of Leda tore me away 
 And to the fleetest heaven of all updrew me. 
 
 So uniform its parts I cannot say 
 
 Which one had Beatrice chosen for my place, — 
 Full of exceeding life and lofty they. 
 
 Then she, who saw my longing, of her grace 
 Began with smile of so blithe innocence 
 That God app>eared rejoicing in her face: 
 
 An upward fall 
 of snow 
 
 Dante had re- 
 volved with the 
 Tvnns through 
 90° of the ""first 
 climate" and 
 could now see 
 that portion of 
 the earth from 
 the Eastern 
 Mediterranean 
 to where 
 Ulysses voyaged 
 the Atlantic 
 (Inf. xxn). Cf. 
 the close cf 
 Canto xxii 
 
 The nest of 
 Leda by 
 metonymy for 
 the Tvdns, Cos- 
 tor and Pollux 
 
420 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The CrystaUine 
 Heaven, "that 
 first moved" 
 
 Here are the 
 roots of Time 
 
 The daughter is 
 the human 
 race. The Sun 
 is the father of 
 mortal life 
 (Canto xxii, 
 
 lie) 
 
 "The nature of the World which holds suspense 
 The center and makes all else around it fare, 
 Doth here as from its starting point commence. 
 
 And in this Heaven there is no other Where 
 
 Than in the Mind Divine, wherein both move 
 The Love that turns and Power that sheds the sphere . 
 
 Engird it with one cincture light and love. 
 As it engirds the others; He alone 
 Who girdles it is governor thereof. 
 
 No other measures motion all its own. 
 
 But by this mete are measured all the rest, 
 As ten by its half and by its fifth is shown. 
 
 And how in such a vessel Time can nest 
 Its roots, its foliage in the others grow. 
 Henceforward may to thee be manifest. 
 
 O Greed, who overwhelmest mortals so 
 
 Beneath thyself that none has masterdom 
 To lift his eyes again from out thy flow! 
 
 Will does indeed in men to blossom come; 
 However long-continued rain and reek 
 Convert to blighted fruit the perfect plum. 
 
 Only in little children are to seek 
 
 True faith and innocence; then both too soon 
 Vanish before the down is on the cheek. 
 
 Many keep fast while yet they babble and croon. 
 Who swallow, when the tongue is free to play. 
 Whatever food under whatever moon; 
 
 And many while they babble love and obey 
 
 Their mother, who when they can speak aright 
 Long for the dawning of her burial day. 
 
 Even so the skin grows swarthy, which was white 
 At the first aspect, of the daughter fair 
 Of him who ushers morning and leaves night. 
 
 But lest thou shouldst as at a marvel stare. 
 Consider none on earth is governor. 
 Whence human household strays from thoroughfare. 
 
A Sanguine Prophecy 421 
 
 But before January be no more Roughly esti- 
 
 In winter, by the hundredth part neglected TtitcdeZ 
 
 Down there, so shall these upper circles roar amounted to a 
 
 That Fortune, who has been so long expected, tf^l^yLr 
 
 Shall whirl the stern about where lies the boom. 
 So that the fleet will run the course directed; 
 
 And perfect fruit will follow on the bloom." — 
 
4^S 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 He first catches 
 this revelation 
 from the eyes of 
 Beatrice 
 
 A Spaceless 
 Paint of sur- 
 passing bril- 
 liance 
 
 The nine orders 
 of Angels 
 
 Though the 
 rainbow were a 
 complete circle 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 The Heavenly Intelligences 
 
 When she who doth imparadise my mind 
 
 Had ended the veracious charge she brought 
 Against the Hfe of wretched humankind, — 
 
 As one whose eye has in a mirror caught 
 The image of a torch behind him, long 
 Before he has it or in sight or thought. 
 
 And turns to verify if right or wrong 
 
 The mirror speak, and finds it to agree 
 
 With truth, as chimes the meter with the song,-^ 
 
 So did I, as I call to memory. 
 
 On looking in those eyes with beauty burning 
 Wherewith Love made the noose for snaring me. 
 
 And, as I shifted round my look, discerning 
 The contents of that volume, read aright 
 With eye that is intent upon its turning, 
 
 I saw a Point which radiated light 
 
 So piercing that the vision, fired thereby. 
 Is closed perforce by vividness so bright. 
 
 That star appearing smallest to our eye 
 
 Would seem a moon beside its light intense. 
 As star is matcht with star along our sky. 
 
 Perchance in distance equal to that whence 
 Halo engirds the light that has impearled 
 Its color when the vapor is most dense. 
 
 So distant round the Point a circle whirled 
 Of fire so swift its motion had outpaced 
 That which goes quickliest around the world; 
 
 Round this another circle swept in haste. 
 
 Round that a third, a fourth the third enwound, 
 The foiu*th a fifth, and that a sixth embraced; 
 
 The seventh came afterward so wide of bound 
 
 That Jimo's herald, though complete, would run 
 Too narrow to engirdle it around; 
 
Relativity 
 
 423 
 
 Likewise the eighth and ninth; and slowher on 
 Did each one move according as accrued 
 Its number farther from the point of One; 
 
 And shone that flame with clearest plenitude 
 From the Pure Spark at shortest interval, 
 I think because more with its truth imbued. 
 
 Perceiving me become the anxious thrall 
 
 Of dubitance, my Lady spoke this word: 
 
 "From that one Point hang Heaven and nature all. 
 
 Look at that circle which doth next engird 
 
 The Point, and know it has such eager haste 
 For the enkindled love whereby 'tis spurred." — 
 
 But I made question: "If the world were based 
 Upon the order yonder wheels disclose. 
 Enough were what has been before me placed; 
 
 But in the world of sense one sees and knows 
 The orbits to be ever more divine 
 The more their distance from the center grows. 
 
 Whence wouldst thou still the longing that is mine, 
 Within the wonderful angelic Fane 
 Which light and love and these alone confine, 
 
 I need to hear thee furthermore explain 
 
 Why copy is not here with pattern vying. 
 Since I unaided gaze thereon in vain." — 
 
 "Suffice not thy own fingers for untying 
 
 Such knot, there is no wonder, seeing it 
 
 So tangled has become for want of trying." — 
 
 My Lady thus; and then: "Take what seems fit 
 For me to tell, wouldst thou be satisfied, 
 And going round it sharpen thou thy wit. — 
 
 The spheres corporeal are strait or wide 
 According to the virtue less or more 
 Which throughout all their regions is supplied. 
 
 Superior good wills weal superior. 
 
 And if like perfect organs it dispose, 
 Holds larger body weal in larger store. 
 
 The PoeVs sci- 
 entific notion of 
 space (and 
 therefore of 
 time) seems 
 here upset and 
 reversed 
 
 Apparently the 
 sensible uni- 
 verse reverses 
 the pattern 
 
 The larger cor^ 
 poreal circles 
 are more excel- 
 lent; in the 
 world now sud- 
 denly revealed 
 the order is re- 
 versed, so that 
 
424 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 the sphere 'Hhat 
 first moved" 
 corresponds to 
 the smallest 
 circle of intelli- 
 gences 
 
 Referring to 
 pictures of the 
 vnnds on old 
 maps {cf. 
 Shakespeare: 
 "Blow ivinds 
 and crack your 
 cheeks") 
 
 The squares of 
 the board re- 
 duplicated by 
 arithmetical 
 progression 
 
 Therefore this sphere which carries as it goes 
 All the universe beside, must correspond 
 To that small circle which most loves and knows. 
 
 Hence if thou seek to measure with thy wand, 
 Not the appearance, but the excellence 
 Of substances to thy discerning round, 
 
 Of more with greater wondrous congruence. 
 As of the less with lesser wilt thou seek 
 In every Heaven, with its Intelligence." — 
 
 Then as remains serene and cleared of reek 
 The hemisphere of air, soon as the blast 
 Is puffed by Boreas from the gentler cheek, 
 
 Whereby the cloudy rack that overcast 
 The welkin is dissolving, and the blue 
 Of Heaven in all its beauty smiles at last, 
 
 So cleared was I of all confusion through 
 The lucid answer that my Lady made. 
 And like a star in Heaven appeared the true. 
 
 Thereon, when her discourse to me was stayed. 
 As iron rays forth sparkles under stress 
 Of fire, such sparkles now the circles rayed. 
 
 Each spark did with their blazing coalesce. 
 And running into thousands manifold 
 More than the duplication of the chess. 
 
 From quire to quire I heard Hosannah rolled 
 
 To the fixed Point which holds them to the Where 
 From evermore, and will forever hold. 
 
 And she, of my perplexity aware. 
 
 Said: "The first gyres enlighten thee concerning 
 The Seraphim and Cherubim, who fare 
 
 After their bonds so swiftly, because yearning 
 
 To grow as like the Point as most they may, — 
 And so they may, exalting their discerning. 
 
 Those other loves that whirling round them play 
 Are Thrones, wherein God's grace is manifest. 
 For that the primal triad ended they. 
 
Orders of Angels 
 
 425 
 
 And thou must know that one and all are blest 
 According as they penetrate the true. 
 Wherein all understanding is at rest. 
 
 Herein perceive we how the act of view 
 
 Is source wherefrom beatitude draws being. 
 Not act of love thereafter to ensue; 
 
 And merit is the measure of this seeing, — 
 
 Merit begot by Grace and right endeavor: 
 Such are the steps progressively agreeing. 
 
 The second triad, burgeoning forever 
 To flower in this sempiternal spring 
 Which the nocturnal Ram doth ravage never, 
 
 Is here perpetually caroling 
 
 Hosannah, sounded with three melodies 
 Whence orders three with trinal rapture ring. 
 
 This priesthood musters three divinities: 
 
 The Dominations first, the Virtues then. 
 And third the order of the Potencies. 
 
 Next, all but ultimate, in dances twain. 
 
 Are Princedoms and Archangels wheeling on; 
 Rejoicing Angels last in sportive train. 
 
 Upward are gazing all these orders yon, 
 And down prevail so that to the divine 
 They all are drawing as they all are drawn. 
 
 Such zeal to contemplate these orders nine 
 Showed Dionysius, that coincided 
 His definitions and his names with mine. 
 
 Thereafter Gregory from him divided; 
 
 Wherefore that saint, first opening his eye 
 Within this Heaven, himself with smiles derided. 
 
 And that on earth a mortal might descry 
 
 Such inward truth, need not astonish you. 
 Since learned from him who saw it here on high, 
 
 With much more of these circles that is true.^ — 
 
 Love flows 
 Jrom knowledge 
 
 The constella- 
 tion Aries ap- 
 pears in our 
 sky at the time 
 of the f ailing 
 leaf 
 
 Dionysius 
 learrusd the 
 truth from St. 
 Paul 
 
426 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The setting sun 
 and the rising 
 full moon at the 
 Equinox, — the 
 one under tfie 
 Ram, the other 
 under the scales 
 (Libra) 
 
 Why the Angels 
 were created 
 
 Outside time 
 and space 
 
 Pure form or 
 act is identified 
 vnth intelligence 
 (Angels); matter 
 is the pure 
 potency^ passive 
 in character; the 
 comhinaiion of 
 form and matter 
 is found in cre- 
 ated things, es- 
 pedally in man 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Creation and Nature of Heavenly Intelligence 
 
 When, by the Ram and by the scales o'erbrooded. 
 The twinborn children of Latona fair 
 In one horizon girdle are included. 
 
 Long as the zenith balances them there 
 
 Until both swerve from that circumference 
 Unbalancing and shifting hemisphere. 
 
 So long, with smiles lighting her countenance. 
 Paused Beatrice, concentering her ken 
 Upon the Point that had subdued my glance. 
 
 "I tell and do not ask," began she then, 
 
 "What thou wouldst hear; by vision I assist 
 Where centers every Where and every When. 
 
 Not to possess Himself of good acquist. 
 
 Which cannot be, but in the splendor of 
 His glorious declaration, *I Exist,' 
 
 Beyond all limits, and all time above. 
 As pleased Him, in His o^ti eternity, 
 Unfolded in new loves the Eternal Love. 
 
 Nor yet before as if inert lay He, 
 
 Since nor before nor after moved the flow 
 Of spirit divine to brood upon this sea. 
 
 Matter and form, combined and simple, so 
 Came into being flawless and unblighted. 
 Like arrows three from triple-corded bow; 
 
 And as glass, amber, crystal may be lighted 
 So that between the earliest radiation 
 And full effulgence all remains united. 
 
 Even so the Father's threefold operation 
 All at a flash its being consummated 
 Without an interval in the creation. 
 
 Order was constituted and created 
 
 In substances; and the world's crowning grace 
 Were these, wherein pure act was generated. 
 
Creation of Angels 
 
 427 
 
 Pure potency retained the lowest place; 
 
 Midway did act and potence interweave 
 Such withies as can never disenlace. 
 
 Jerome wrote to you that we must believe 
 The angels to have been created ages 
 Before the other world; thou mayst perceive. 
 
 However, if thou but peruse the sages 
 
 Through whom the Spirit spoke in Holy Writ, 
 The very truth displayed on many pages; 
 
 And also reason gets a glimpse of it. 
 
 Which that Prime Movers for so long could be 
 Without their perfect work, could not admit. 
 
 Now where these loves were formed is known to thee. 
 And when and how; and in thy longing hence 
 Already are extinguisht ardors three. 
 
 Ere they reach twenty who to count commence. 
 So quickly of the angel host a part 
 Disturbed the lowest of your elements. 
 
 The rest, who stayed, began to ply this art 
 Which thou beholdest, — so beatified 
 That never from their circling they depart. 
 
 The Fall originated in the pride 
 
 Accursed of that One whom thou hast seen 
 Crushed by the weights of all the world beside. 
 
 Those whom thou seest here have humble been 
 
 To acknowledge them as from that Goodness kind 
 Which made them apt for knowledge so serene; 
 
 Wherefore illuminative Grace combined 
 
 With their own merit to exalt their view 
 So that they have a full and steadfast mind. 
 
 I would not have thee doubt, but hold it true 
 That grace accepted thus is merited 
 By laying open the longing heart thereto. 
 
 Henceforth, so have my words been harvested, 
 Canst round this Sacred College take thy fill 
 Of contemplation without further aid. 
 
 These substances 
 at the top of cre- 
 ation are the 
 Angels, which 
 are pure act or 
 form (i.e., in- 
 telligence). 
 This interbraid- 
 ing of spirit and 
 matter cannot 
 be severed by 
 death 
 
 The Angels, 
 movers of the 
 spheres, could 
 not be con- 
 ceived as inac- 
 tive 
 
 The rebellious 
 angels fell to 
 earth before one 
 could count 
 twenty 
 
 Cf. Inf. xxxii, 3 
 
428 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Memory cannot 
 be 'predicated of 
 beings outside 
 of time and 
 space, who 
 never forget 
 
 They do not 
 *^look before and 
 after and sigh 
 for what is not" 
 
 The stormy 
 voice again 
 
 Common nick' 
 names in Flor- 
 ence: "Lapo^ 
 corresponds to 
 ''Jake" (Jacopo) 
 (cf. riii, 139) 
 
 But since on earth your schools attribute still 
 
 To the angelic nature, memory 
 
 Together with intelligence and will, 
 I will speak further to make clear to thee 
 
 The truth, confused by men below who indite 
 
 Prelections fraught with ambiguity. 
 These substances, since first they drew delight 
 
 From God's own face, wherefrom is hidden naught. 
 
 Have never turned away from it their sight; 
 Whence they have vision intercepted not 
 
 By concept new, and need not undertake 
 
 To call back memory through divided thought. 
 So men down there are dreaming, wide awake. 
 
 Weening, or weening not, truth to declare; 
 
 But in the one more guilt and shame partake. 
 Below ye travel not one thoroughfare 
 
 Philosophizing; so far does the love 
 
 Of show delude you, and its specious air. 
 Yet even enduring this, the Heavens above 
 
 Are less indignant, than when set aside 
 
 Is Holy Writ or idly prated of. 
 What blood was spent to sow it far and wide 
 
 Is given no heed, nor how their prayer is heard 
 
 Who in humility by it abide. 
 Each is agog to shine, and ply absurd 
 
 Inventions, and these form the staple theme 
 
 Of preachers, — of the Gospel not a word! 
 During Christ's passion, some would have us deem 
 
 The moon turned back again and canceled through 
 
 The intercepted sunlight; and some dream 
 That of its own accord the light withdrew. 
 
 And hence would this eclipse alike appear 
 
 To Spaniard and to Indian, as to Jew. 
 So many a Lapo and Bindo every year 
 
 Breeds Florence not, as fables of this kind 
 
 Are bawled out from the pulpit, far and near; 
 
Sensational Preachers 
 
 4^9 
 
 So that from pasture, flatulent with wind, 
 The silly sheep flock, witless of salvation; 
 Yet is it no excuse that they are blind. 
 
 Christ did not say to his first congregation: 
 *Preach to the world with idle utterance,* 
 But laid for their behoof the true foundation; 
 
 And that had from their lips such resonance. 
 That, to enkindle faith, their battle quest. 
 The Gospel formed their buckler and their lance. 
 
 Now preachers sally forth to break a jest. 
 
 Buffoons who, so they may provoke a grin. 
 Puff out their cowls and reck not of the rest; 
 
 But could the people see what bird of sin 
 
 Is nestling in the hood-tail, they would guess , 
 What kind of pardon they are trusting in; 
 
 Whence in the world so waxes foolishness 
 That, seeking not approof of any sign. 
 Men jump at promise of indulgences. 
 
 Hereby St. Anthony makes fat his swine, 
 
 And others also, far more swine than they. 
 Paying their scot with counterfeited coin. 
 
 But since we have gone very far astray, 
 
 Let us look back to the straight thoroughfare. 
 So with the time to shorten up the way. 
 
 The angelic nature runs up such a stair 
 Of number, scaling so remote a height. 
 Never could tongue or thought pursue it there. 
 
 And Daniel's revelation, read aright, 
 
 Shows, in the thousands he enumerates, 
 That definite number is withheld from sight. 
 
 The Primal Light, which all irradiates. 
 
 By modes as many is received in these 
 As are the splendors whereunto it mates. 
 
 And since love follows on the act that sees. 
 
 Therefore the sweetness of their love is spoken, 
 More or less fervent in diverse degrees. 
 
 St. Anthony 
 jnits the hog 
 under his feet 
 as a symbol; 
 his monks now 
 degenerate to 
 the hog 
 
 Number of the 
 angels countless 
 
430 Paradiso 
 
 Let this the height henceforth, and breadth betoken 
 Of Worth Eternal, fashioning great store 
 Of mirrors whereupon its light is broken. 
 
 One in Itself remaining as before." — 
 
^^Da questo passo vinto mi concedo^^ 431 
 
 XXX 
 
 The Celestial Rose 
 
 When, eastward ho ! six thousand miles perchance 
 Noon blazes, and toward the level bed 
 The shadow of this world already slants. 
 
 The deep of central heaven above our head 
 
 Grows so suffused that here a star and yon 
 Begins to pale the radiance it shed. 
 
 And, as the brightest handmaid of the sun 
 
 Advances, so are quencht the heavenly graces 
 Star after star, even to the fairest one. 
 
 Not else the Triumph that forever races 
 
 Around the Point which overcame me quite. 
 Seeming embraced by that which it embraces. 
 
 Was imperceptibly immerged in light; 
 
 Whereat to turn mine eyes on Beatrice, 
 Love laid constraint on me, and lack of sight. 
 
 Could what is said of her as far as this 
 
 All in one single act of praise conclude, 
 It would but serve the present turn amiss. 
 
 The beauty that I saw doth so elude 
 
 Our measure, that its Maker, I surely deem. 
 Alone can taste its full beatitude. 
 
 I yield me vanquisht at this pass supreme; 
 Comic or tragic poet overborne 
 Was never thus by crisis of his theme. 
 
 For, as to dazzled sight the sun of morn. 
 
 So doth her sweet remembered smile erase 
 My memory, of its very self forlorn. 
 
 From the first day when I beheld her face 
 
 In this life, even until the present viewing. 
 My song yet never faltered on her trace; 
 
 But now I must give over from pursuing 
 Her beauty in these cadences of mine. 
 Like every artist taskt beyond his doing. 
 
 When it is noon 
 90° or more 
 eastward, the 
 sun is about to 
 rise here, and 
 Aurora, the 
 dawn, is put- 
 
 ting out 
 candies" 
 
 night's 
 
 At the ascent to 
 the Empyrean 
 the smile of 
 Beatrice be- 
 comes supremely 
 sweet 
 
432 Paradiso 
 
 Such as I leave her to a more divine 
 
 Renown than any that my trumpet grants, — 
 Which now concludes its arduous design, — 
 
 She said, with leader's voice and vigilance: 
 
 "Quitting the widest sphere of the concrete 
 We reach the heaven that is pure radiance: 
 
 Radiance of intellect with love replete. 
 
 Love of true good replete with ecstasy. 
 Ecstasy far exceeding every sweet. 
 The Host of Here both the one and the other soldiery 
 fhat^o/il """^ ^ Paradise, and one host of the two 
 
 Redeemed Robed as at Final Judgment, shalt thou see.'* — 
 
 As when a sudden lightning routs the crew 
 Of visual spirits, putting them to flight 
 So that the clearest things are canceled through, 
 
 So beamed there all about me Uving light. 
 
 Leaving so thick a veil around me closing. 
 That I saw nothing for that glory bright. 
 
 "The Love wherein this heaven is aye reposing 
 Is wonted so to welcome those who come. 
 Duly the taper for its flame disposing." — 
 
 No sooner had this brief exordium 
 
 Within me penetrated, than I knew 
 Myself upraised beyond my masterdom; 
 
 And I rekindled with new power of view 
 
 Such that no Ught could be so unalloyed 
 But that mine eyes were tempered thereunto. 
 
 And I saw light in river-form with tide 
 
 Of fulgent fire between two margins streaming. 
 Which wondrously with flowers of spring were dyed. 
 
 Out of that current living sparks were teeming 
 
 And flashing from the flowers with hues intense 
 Like very rubies from gold patines gleaming. 
 
 Thereon, appearing drunken with the scents. 
 
 They plunged again into the wondrous eddy. 
 And as one sank another issued thence. 
 
The River of Light 
 
 433 
 
 "The lofty wish aflame in thee already 
 
 For knowledge of this vision, in Hke wise 
 Extends my joy as its increase is steady; 
 
 But thou must of this water of Paradise 
 
 Drink deep, to slake a thirst that so consumes "- 
 Thus spoke to me the sunshine of mine eyes. 
 
 Adding: "The river and the smiling blooms, 
 The plunging and emerging jewels bright, 
 Are types of truth that in their shadow looms; 
 
 Not that these things are hard to see aright, 
 But on thy part there is inaptitude 
 Since not yet so exalted is thy sight." — 
 
 There is no child far later than it should 
 Awakening, with face toward the breast 
 That plunges with more hunger-stricken mood. 
 
 Than did I, that mine eyes might mirror best 
 That vision, bending me my fill to take 
 Out of that flood which pours to make us blest. 
 
 No sooner had I felt its ripple slake 
 
 Mine eyelids, than both margins seemed to yield 
 From long to large and rounded to a lake. 
 
 Then, even as masqueraders are revealed 
 Quite other than beforehand, letting fall 
 The alien guise wherein they were concealed. 
 
 So changed for me to ampler festival 
 
 The flowerets and the flashes, till I saw 
 Clearly the two Courts of the heavenly Hall. 
 
 O splendor of very God, whereby I saw 
 
 The Kingdom true in triumph high, increase 
 In me the power to tell it as I saw! 
 
 A light up yonder shows without surcease 
 The Maker to that creature, who alone 
 In seeing Him inherits its own peace; 
 
 And this light broadens in a circling zone 
 So far and wide that its circumference 
 Would be too large a girdle for the sun. 
 
 The stream of 
 grace, the 
 flowers, and the 
 ruby-sparks are 
 but symbols 
 
 Dante's sight 
 exalted to see the 
 reality behind 
 these symbols 
 
 The identical 
 triple rime upon 
 ''saw" has the 
 same solemnity 
 as that upon 
 "Christ." Cf. 
 Hugh Capet's 
 discourse, Purg. 
 XX, 65-69 
 
434 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Striking upon 
 the outermost 
 surface of the 
 Universe, it 
 gives motion to 
 all the spheres 
 
 The last words 
 of Beatrice 
 
 Its semblance, all of radiant effluence. 
 
 Doth to the top of Primal Motion pass. 
 Which takes vitality and vigor thence. 
 
 And as a hillside makes a looking-glass 
 Of water at its foot, as if discerning 
 How fair and rich it is in flowers and grass, 
 
 So mirrored, round and round above the burning 
 On myriads of thrones, beheld I those 
 Of us who there above have won returning. 
 
 And if the lowermost degrees inclose 
 
 Luster so large, what amplitude of light 
 Spread in the outer petals of the Rose! 
 
 My vision in the vastness and the height 
 
 Strayed not, at home and fully conversant 
 With essence and with scope of that delight. 
 
 There near and far do neither add nor scant, 
 For where God is directly governing 
 The law of nature is not relevant. 
 
 Into the yellow Rose unwithering. 
 
 Whose petals are unfurled with fragrance cast 
 Of praise unto the Sun of dateless spring, 
 
 Like one long silent, moved to speak at last. 
 Did Beatrice conduct me, saying: "View 
 The Congregation of white robes, how vast! 
 
 Look the wide circuit of our city through ! 
 Look at our benches which are so replete 
 That here henceforward are expected few! 
 
 There where thine eyes are drawn to that great Seat 
 By the already overhanging crown. 
 Ere thou shalt at this wedding supper eat. 
 
 The soul of noble Henry shall sit down, 
 
 Who comes, august, to render straight the way 
 For Italy, ere she be ready grown. 
 
 Blind Greed, who doth her spell upon you lay. 
 
 Has made you like the child who, though he pine 
 With famine, pushes yet the nurse away. 
 
Last Dreadful Words 435 
 
 Then shall be Pontiff in the Court Divine Clement V, 
 
 One such that open word and covert deed ^^^ ^"^^^ 
 
 ^ opposed Henry 
 
 Walk not on equal feet to one design. VII while pre- 
 
 But Uttle while will God permit him speed ^mP^AlJnais 
 
 In Holy Office, for he shall be thrust Boniface VIII. 
 
 With Simon Magus, and make, by way of meed, ^^^^*' ^^" 
 
 Him of Alagna bite the baser dust." — Infemo xix 
 
436 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The comparison 
 vrith the bee 
 was merely sug- 
 gested in Canto 
 
 Helice waa 
 turned into the 
 Great Bear {the 
 Wain or Dip- 
 per), her son 
 into Bootes 
 
 XXXI 
 
 Beatrice, Assumed into the Celestial Rose, Sends 
 St. Bernard to Dante 
 
 In fashion therefore of a pure white Rose 
 Unfolded to my view the sacred throng 
 Whom Christ in His own blood espoused. But those 
 
 Who witness as they fly, and tell in song 
 
 The glory of Him who makes them love, and sing 
 His excellence who made them fair and strong, — 
 
 Even as a busy swarm of bees a-wing 
 
 That merge in flowers awhile, then speed away 
 To where their labor sweet is savoring, — 
 
 Plunged into the Great Flower, with fair array 
 Of Petals, and were reascending thence 
 Where sojourns their own Love for ever and aye. 
 
 Their features were alive with flame intense. 
 
 Golden their wings, the rest so white that banks 
 Of drifted snow have not their innocence. 
 
 Alighting on the Flower, to ranks on ranks 
 They proffered of the ardor and repose 
 Which they had won by winnowing their flanks. 
 
 Nor did the coming in, between the Rose 
 
 And That Which dwelt above, of flight so great 
 Obstruct the vision; still the splendor glows, 
 
 For through the universe doth penetrate 
 
 In measure of its worth the Light Divine 
 So that no bar can ever separate. 
 
 This safe and happy City, where combine 
 
 Both ancient folk and modern crowded so, 
 Had look and love all turned toward one sign. 
 
 O Trinal Light, that in one Star doth glow 
 Upon their vision with such benison, 
 Look down upon our tempest here below! 
 
 If the barbarians from out that zone 
 
 Where spreads forever Helice her span 
 Revolving with her well-beloved son, — 
 
Coming of St. Bernard 437 
 
 If, entering Rome, her mighty works to scan, 
 
 These stared in wonder, in that era when 
 
 Transcended mortal things the Lateran, — 
 I, who to the Divine had come from men. 
 
 From time unto eternity had come. 
 
 From Florence to a people just and sane. 
 With what amazement was I overcome ! 
 
 Truly the wonder and the joy between, 
 
 *Twas rapture to hear nothing and stand dumb. 
 And as the wayworn pilgrim grows serene 
 
 Gazing around the temple of his vow. 
 
 And muses how he shall describe the scene, 
 I, bending on the living light my brow. 
 
 Followed along the lines, and sought to trace. 
 
 Now up, now down, and round the circle now. 
 I lookt on many a love-persuading face 
 
 Deckt with Another's light, and their own eyes 
 
 Smiling, and action of all noble grace. 
 The universal form of Paradise 
 
 My glance had gathered as a whole immense. 
 
 But did no single part yet signahze; 
 And round I turned with will rekindled thence 
 
 To ask my Lady what these matters be 
 
 Concerning which my mind was in susjjense. 
 One thing I meant, another fronted me: 
 
 Weening to look again on Beatrice, 
 
 A glory-vested Elder did I see. 
 His lineaments were overspread with bliss 
 
 Benignant, kindly was his mien and eye, 
 
 Betokening a father's love in this. 
 "And she, — where is she?" was my sudden cry: Speaks St 
 
 Whereat he answered: "To fulfill thy yearning 
 
 Beatrice urged me from my place on high : 
 Third from supreme the circle, which discerning, 
 
 Thou shalt again behold her countenance 
 
 Shine down from where her worth a throne is earn- 
 ing.^ 
 
 Bernard i 
 
Beatrice 
 
 438 Paradiso \ 
 
 Without reply I lifted up my glance 
 
 And saw her, where a coronal she wore j 
 
 Woven from out the eternal radiance. I 
 
 From welkin whence the highest thunders roar \ 
 
 Has never mortal eye so distant been, \ 
 
 Though sunken deep beneath the ocean-floor, j 
 
 As mine from Beatrice; but 'twas so keen j 
 
 No distance mattered, since her features beaming \ 
 
 Shone down on me without a blur between. 
 
 Dante's 'prayer "O Lady in whom my living hope is teeming, \ 
 
 o/^/...?^'*''^'^ And who didst once endure to leave the trace ; 
 
 Of thy dear feet in Hell for my redeeming. 
 
 In all the worth and beauty finding place \ 
 In things thou hast enabled me to see, 
 I recognize thy virtue and thy grace. 
 
 Thou leddest me along from slave to free ' 
 By all those ways, by all expedients 
 
 Whereby the p>ower to do so lay in thee. i 
 
 Preserve in me thine own magnificence, \ 
 So that my spirit through thy healing, may 
 
 Content thee as it slips the coil of sense.^' — \ 
 
 Far as she seemed, on hearing me so pray 
 
 She smiled and lookt: then to the Fountain-head j 
 
 Eternal turned her shining eyes away. ' 
 
 "In order ,'^ now the holy Elder said, j 
 "That thou complete thy course, — whence holy love j 
 
 Dispatched me and true orisons have sped, — i 
 
 Let thy fleet glances through this garden rove, \ 
 
 For better will such sight thy vision steel | 
 
 Upon the ray divine to mount above. j 
 
 And she, the Queen of Heaven, for whom I feel . 
 
 Love's utter flame, will grant us furtherance, : 
 
 For reason that I am her Bernard leal." — j 
 
 Like him who from Croatia, perchance, i 
 
 Comes to see our Veronica, well known j 
 Through old report, and cannot sate his glance. 
 
The Queen of Heaven 
 
 439 
 
 But thinks within, so long as it be shown, 
 
 "My Lord and very God, Christ Jesus Mine, 
 And were these features once thy very own?" — 
 
 Such was I, gazing at that living shrine 
 Of charity, who in the world below 
 By contemplation tasted peace divine. 
 
 "This blithesome being wilt thou never know, 
 
 son of grace,^ such was his further note, 
 "With eyes but fixed here at the bottom so; 
 
 But mark the circles to the most remote 
 
 Until thou shalt the enthroned Queen descry, 
 To whom this realm is subject and devote/' — 
 
 I raised mine eyes; and as the morning sky 
 Displays a point of the horizon bright 
 Beyond that of the westering sun, so I, 
 
 As going with my glance from vale to height. 
 Beheld a region at the verge extreme 
 Surpassing all the other front in light. 
 
 And as, where we expect the chariot-beam 
 
 That Phaeton guided ill, the glows increase. 
 Fading away on either hand, the gleam 
 
 Illumined so that Oriflamme of peace 
 
 In the live center, while on either side 
 In equal measure did the splendor cease. 
 
 And at that center I saw, on wing flung wide, 
 A thousand jocund angels sweep along. 
 In glow and ministry diversified. 
 
 There, smiling on their games and at their song, 
 
 1 saw a Beauty that was bliss indwell 
 The eyes of all the other holy throng. 
 
 Yet were my wealth of diction parallel 
 
 With wealth of fancy, rash were the emprise 
 The least of her delights to strive to tell. 
 
 Then holy Bernard, when he saw mine eyes 
 Fastened upon the object of his yearning. 
 His own in her did so imparadise 
 
 As to make my desire to look more burning. 
 
 Bernard directs \ 
 the Poet to look \ 
 up to the Queen 1 
 
 The quieter tone 
 of this canto, 
 vyith its lovely, 
 familiar images 
 of the bees, the 
 Northman in 
 Rome, the pil- 
 grim in the 
 temple of his 
 vow, the Croa- 
 tian gazing 
 upon the pic- 
 ture of his 
 Saviour, the 
 angels sporting 
 about the beau- 
 tiful Queen, — 
 is in marked 
 artistic contrast 
 vxith the splen- 
 dors and inten- 
 sity of the 
 Thirtieth 
 
440 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 Mary 
 
 Eve 
 
 Rachel 
 
 Sara, 
 Rebecca, 
 Judith, 
 Ruth 
 
 Far the Dia- 
 gram see Gard- 
 ner's " Temiple 
 Primei^ 
 
 Between his 
 own death and 
 that of his Lord 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Order of Places in the Mystic Amphitheater 
 
 That contemplator took the office free 
 
 Of teacher, while intent upon his bhss, 
 Beginning with these holy words to me: 
 
 "The wound by Mary balmed and covered, this 
 That woman fair reposing at her feet 
 Inflicted, opening the cicatrice. 
 
 Beneath her third in order has her seat 
 Rachel, and thou seest at her side 
 Beatrice. Below these in order meet 
 
 Sara, Rebecca, Judith, and that bride, 
 
 Great-grandame of the singer who for grief 
 Of his own guilt the Miserere cried : 
 
 From rank to rank descending, these in chief 
 Mayst thou behold, as, naming each one, I 
 Go downward through the Rose from leaf to leaf. 
 
 And from the seventh degree, as from on high 
 To it, are Hebrew women cutting through 
 All petals of the Flower successively; 
 
 For these, according to the point of view 
 
 Whence lookt their faith to Christ, compose a blended 
 Wall that divides the sacred stair in two. 
 
 Upon this side where every j>etal splendid 
 
 Is full in bloom, are seated in their places 
 All who believed in Christ not yet descended; 
 
 And those half -circling ranks, with vacant spaces 
 On the other side, with happy intuition 
 To Christ already risen turned their faces. 
 
 And just as here the glorious position 
 
 Of Heaven's Lady, with the others one by one 
 Below it, constitute so great division. 
 
 So counterposed is that of mighty John, 
 
 Who bore the desert, martyrdom in fine, 
 And, holy still, two years in Hell thereon; 
 
The Ring Fits the Finger 441 '■ 
 
 And Francis, Benedict, and Augustine, j 
 With others hitherward from row to row 
 
 Continue downward the dividing line. \ 
 
 Now see high Providence Divine, and know 
 
 That one and the other phase of our beheving { 
 
 Shall to this garden equally bestow. i 
 
 And know that down from yonder circle, cleaving i 
 
 Across, midway on the partitions two, \ 
 
 Sit they, no meed of merit so retrieving, i 
 
 But meed of others, by conditions due; Baptized i 
 
 For these are souls who did the flesh divest children ^ 
 
 Before they could make any choices true. "i 
 
 This by their countenances may be guessed 
 
 And by the tune their childish voices hum, • 
 
 If thou but lookest well and listenest. \ 
 
 Now doubtest thou, and doubting makes thee dumb; ' 
 
 But I will shatter for thee the strong chain \ 
 
 Of subtle thought which is so cumbersome. ] 
 
 The boundless amplitudes of this domain I 
 No particle of accident admit. 
 
 More than of hunger, thirst, or any pain, i 
 
 For Law Eternal has established it ,j 
 
 In what thou seest, that with exactitude I 
 Duly the ring doth to the finger fit. 
 
 Wherefore this swiftly hasting multitude, .;| 
 
 Seeking true life, are not without causation ] 
 
 Placed at a higher or lower altitude. j 
 
 The King through whom reposing is this nation ; 
 
 In so great love and in such Paradise I 
 
 That none aspires to loftier consummation, ] 
 
 All minds creating in his own glad eyes, | 
 
 At His good pleasure doth with grace endue j 
 
 Diversely; and here let the fact sufl5ce. ] 
 
 And this expressly is made clear to you ', 
 
 In Scripture, by that twin-embrothered pair ; 
 
 Who even in their mother angry grew. j 
 
442 
 
 Paradiso 
 
 The different 
 complexions of 
 Jacob and Esau 
 symbolize the 
 variations in 
 the gift of grace 
 
 The rime again 
 on the sacred 
 
 Whence fittingly the light supremely fair 
 
 May crown us with a chaplet of that grace 
 According to the color of the hair. 
 
 They stand then, not by merit of their ways. 
 At different stages, only differing 
 Themselves in primal keenness of their gaze. 
 
 So, when the centuries were at the spring, 
 Sufficient was the parents' faith, along 
 With native innocence, for rescuing; 
 
 And when the centuries were no longer young, 
 'Twas needful that the males by circumcision 
 Should have their innocent pinions rendered strong; 
 
 But since the era of free grace has risen. 
 If lacking perfect baptism into Christ, 
 Such innocence has been kept down in prison. 
 
 Look now upon the face most like to Christ 
 
 In its fair lineaments, whose radiance bright 
 Alone can make thee fit to look on Christ." — 
 
 I saw rain down upon her such delight 
 Carried by those intelligences good 
 Created all for soaring through that height, 
 
 That whatsoever I before had viewed 
 
 Did never so suspend my soul in wonder 
 Nor show me of God so great similitude. 
 
 And that Love who had flown before thereunder 
 Singing: "Hail Mary, full of grace benign!" — 
 Now spread in front of her his wings asunder. 
 
 Responses to the minstrelsy divine 
 
 Rang through the blessed Court from all and some, 
 Making all features more serenely shine. 
 
 "O holy Father, who endurest to come 
 
 For me down here, quitting the blissful quire 
 Where by divine allotment is thy home. 
 
 Who is that Angel who with glad desire 
 
 Looks in the eyes of our own Empress yon, 
 Enamored so, he seems a flame of fire.^^" — 
 
Great Peers of the Just Realm 443 
 
 So turned I to the teaching of that one 
 
 Who gathered beauty out of Mary's face 
 
 As does the star of morning from the sun. 
 And he to me: "All confidence and grace 
 
 Are in him, much as ever was conferred on The Seraph 
 
 Angel or soul, and willing is our praise, Gabriel 
 
 For this is he who brought the palm as guerdon 
 
 To Mary down, when took without distrust 
 
 The very Son of God our fleshly burden. 
 But follow with thine eyes now, for I must 
 
 Pursue the theme, and mark the throng of those 
 
 Great peers of this most holy realm and just. 
 The twain who most enraptured there repose, 
 
 Through being next neighbors to Augusta fair, 
 
 Are as the double roots of this our Rose. 
 He who upon the left is next her there 
 
 Is that First Sire by whose audacious taste 
 
 Mankind is savoring such bitter fare. 
 That ancient Father of Holy Church, once graced 
 
 By Christ with keys of this fair realm, beside 
 
 Our Lady and upon her right, is placed. 
 And that one who beheld before he died 
 
 All grievous days of her purchased for us 
 
 At cost of lance and nails, Christ's own fair Bride, 
 Sits next that Father; and over against him thus 
 
 That Leader under whom were fed with manna 
 
 The folk ungrateful, headstrong, mutinous. 
 Opposite Peter seest thou seated Anna, The Poet of the 
 
 So happy in her daughter that no whit ^""^ ^g "^^ 
 
 She moves her eyes away to sing Hosanna. thought far the 
 
 Our greatest of housefathers opposite fK^"^ ^'* 
 
 Sits Lucy, who impelled thy Lady down Let us caU him 
 
 When thou wast heading straight toward the Pit. <^narchitect,vntlt 
 
 ■n ' rri' i i i ati cyc to syiTi- 
 But smce Time speeds along thy trance to drown, metry. "Para- 
 Here let us pause, like prudent tailor who ip°" ^^^^, , 
 Patterns according to the cloth the gown; only three lines 
 
444 Paradiso 
 
 And to the Primal Love turn we our view. 
 So that, on visionary wing upspeeding, 
 Thou pierce as in thee Hes his radiance through. 
 
 Yet lest thou, peradventure, while receding, 
 
 Flutter thy wings, advancing but in thought. 
 Let grace be our petition, grace exceeding 
 
 Through her with power to help thee must be sought; 
 And do thou follow me with adoration 
 ^ ^ ^ That from my word thy heart be severed not." — 
 
 close of Canto v Here he began this holy supplication: — 
 
Prayer for the Eternal Pilgrim 
 
 445 
 
 xxxin 
 
 The Prayer of St. Bernard. The Ultimate Vision 
 
 "Daughter of thine own son, thou Virgin Mother, 
 
 Of the eternal counsel issued fated. 
 
 Lowlier and loftier than any other, 
 To such nobihty hast thou translated 
 
 Man*s nature that its Maker did not spurn 
 
 To make Himself the thing that He created. 
 Beneath thy heart was made again to burn 
 
 The Love by virtue of whose warmth withal 
 
 This Flower has blossomed in the peace eterne. 
 A living torch here art thou to us all 
 
 To kindle love, and down where mortals sigh 
 
 Thou art a fount of hope perennial. 
 Thou art so prevailing. Lady, and so high 
 
 That who wants grace and will to thee not run 
 
 Would have his longing without pinions fly. 
 Thy lovingkindness fails to succor none 
 
 Imploring it, but often is so free 
 
 As to anticipate the orison. 
 In thee is mercy, pity is in thee, 
 
 In thee munificence, in thee a host 
 
 Of human virtues are in unity. 
 This man, who hither from the nethermost 
 
 Pool of the world comes making observation 
 
 Of spiritual natures, ghost on ghost. 
 Now doth to thee of grace make supplication 
 
 That he by vision may uplift his being 
 
 Still higher toward the Ultimate Salvation. 
 And I, who never burned for my own seeing 
 
 More than I do for his, imploring pray 
 
 With all my soul, and pray for thine agreeing. 
 That thou drive every mortal cloud away 
 
 Which darkens round him, with thine interceding, — 
 
 Be the Chief Joy unveiled to him today. 
 
 Compare the 
 Invocation to 
 Mary by 
 Chaucer 
 
446 Paradiso 
 
 Hear, all-prevailing Queen, my further pleading. 
 Keep his aflFections through thy vigilance 
 Sound for him, after vision so exceeding. 
 
 Quell by thy watchcare baser human wants: 
 Lo, yonder, Beatrice with all the blest 
 Clasping their hands to thee are suppliants." — 
 
 The venerated eyes, beloved best 
 
 Of God, attent on him who made the prayer. 
 Showed us her pleasure in devout request; 
 
 Then plunged into the Light Eternal, where 
 We may not think of any creature turning 
 An eye that penetrates so clearly there. 
 
 And I who to the goal of every yearning 
 
 Was drawing near, slaked, as was meet for me, 
 And satisfied the thirst within me burning. 
 
 Then Bernard beckoned to me smilingly 
 To look aloft; but I already grew 
 Of my own accord as he would have me be; 
 
 Because, becoming purified, my view 
 
 Now more and more was entering the ray 
 Of the deep Light that in itself is true. 
 Cf. "In Me- Thenceforth my seeing was more than tongue can say, 
 "Vague\wrdi Yields our discourse before the Light Supreme, 
 
 but ah lum hard And violated memory falls away. 
 
 jram . . . LiJ^g Jum y^\iQ sees while dreaming, and the dream 
 Remains thereafter traced upon his feeling. 
 While memory holds thereof no other gleam. 
 
 Even such am I; for though the great revealing 
 Fades almost all away from me, yet flow 
 Its drops of sweetness in my heart distilling. 
 
 Thus in the sun evanishes the snow; 
 
 Upon the light leaves by the zephyr diifted 
 The wisdom of the Sibyl perished so. 
 
 O Light Supreme, who art so high uplifted 
 
 From mortal thought, still let my mind with some 
 Of what thou didst appear to me, be gifted. 
 
The Beatific Vision 447 
 
 And dower my tongue with so great masterdom 
 That one sole sparkle of thy glory be 
 Thereby transmitted to the folk to come; 
 
 For by some glimpses caught by memory. 
 
 And by some echo in these rimes, perchance 
 Better shall be conceived thy victory. 
 
 Pierced by the vivid living radiance 
 
 Methinks I had been lost, if by the sight 
 Bewildered, I had turned aside my glance; 
 
 And I remember, till I could unite 
 
 My gaze therewith, my hardihood to dare 
 The vision of the Goodness Infinite. 
 
 plenteous grace, whence I presumed to bear 
 
 The stress of the Eternal Light, till thirst 
 Was consummated in the seeing there! 
 
 1 saw in its abysmal deep immerst. 
 
 Together in one volume bound with love, 
 What is throughout the universe disperst: 
 
 Substance and accidents all thereabove 
 So interfused in property and mood, 
 That what I say gives but scant glimpse thereof. 
 
 Of this same fusion do I think I viewed 
 The universal form, for uttering 
 This word, I feel ampler beatitude. 
 
 To me more Lethe doth one moment bring 
 
 Than five and twenty centuries for the emprise 
 Whence Argo's shade set Neptune wondering. 
 
 So was my spirit gazing, all surmise. 
 
 Steadfast, intent, in absolute repose. 
 And evermore enkindled through the eyes. 
 
 In presence of that radiance one grows 
 So rapt, it is impossible the soul 
 Could yield to turn aside to other shows; 
 
 Because the Good, which is volition's goal. 
 All gathers there, and the deficient rest 
 Outside it, there becomes a perfect whole. 
 
448 Paradiso 
 
 Now will my words fall even shorter, in quest 
 Of my remembrance, than the infant lore 
 Of him whose tongue is moistened at the breast. 
 
 Not that the Living Light I saw gave more 
 
 Than one sole semblance to my contemplation, 
 For it is always what it was before; 
 
 But by my gathered strength of observation, 
 One sole appearance, unto me thus seeing. 
 Was ever changing with my transformation. 
 
 To me within the luminous deep being 
 
 Of Lofty Light api>eared three circles, showing 
 Three colors, and in magnitude agreeing; 
 
 And from the First appeared the Second flowing 
 Like Iris out of Iris, and the Third 
 Seemed fire that equally from both is glowing. 
 
 O but how scant, how feeble any word 
 
 To my conceit! and this to what I viewed 
 Is such, to call it little were absurd. 
 
 O Light Eterne, who dost thyself include. 
 Who lovest, smiling at thy own intents. 
 Self -understanding and self -understood! 
 
 That circling which in thee seemed efliuence 
 Of light reverberated, by my view 
 Surveyed awhile in its circumference. 
 
 Within itself of its own proper hue 
 
 Seemed painted with the effigy of man. 
 Whereat my sight was wholly set thereto. 
 
 As the geometer, intent to scan 
 
 The measure of the circle, fails to trace. 
 Think as he may, some feature of the plan, 
 
 Such I at the strange vision of the Face: 
 
 How the image fits the circle, fain aright 
 Would I perceive, and how it there finds place; 
 An instant of But my own wings were not for such a flight — 
 pe^edfulfiU- Except that, smiting through the mind of me. 
 
 There came fulfillment in a flash of light. 
 
 ment 
 
^^L'Amor che move il sole e Valire stelle^* 449 
 
 Here vigor failed the lofty fantasy; 
 
 But my volition now, and my desires, 
 Were moved like wheel revolving evenly 
 
 By Love that moves the sun and stany fires. 
 
 x/' 
 
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