I was a soul in misery, alienate
Mature that blessed hour, when thou with God
From God, and covetous of all earthly things;
Shalt find acceptance, for a while suspend
Now, as thou seest, here punish’d for my doting.
For me that mightier care. Say who thou wast,
Such cleansing from the taint of avarice
Why thus ye grovel on your bellies prone,
Do spirits converted need. This mount inflicts
And if in aught ye wish my service there,
No direr penalty. E’en as our eyes
Whence living I am come.” He answering spake
Fasten’d below, nor e’er to loftier clime
“The cause why Heav’n our back toward his cope
Were lifted, thus hath justice level’d us
Reverses, shalt thou know: but me know first
Here on the earth. As avarice quench’d our love
The successor of Peter, and the name
Of good, without which is no working, thus
And title of my lineage from that stream,
Here justice holds us prison’d, hand and foot
That’ twixt Chiaveri and Siestri draws
Chain’d down and bound, while heaven’s just Lord shall His limpid waters through the lowly glen.
please.
A month and little more by proof I learnt,
So long to tarry motionless outstretch’d.”
With what a weight that robe of sov’reignty
My knees I stoop’d, and would have spoke; but he, Upon his shoulder rests, who from the mire
Ere my beginning, by his ear perceiv’d
Would guard it: that each other fardel seems
I did him reverence; and “What cause,” said he,
But feathers in the balance. Late, alas!
“Hath bow’d thee thus!”—” Compunction,” I rejoin’d.
Was my conversion: but when I became
“And inward awe of your high dignity.”
56
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory
“Up,” he exclaim’d, “brother! upon thy feet
Wring out their all-infecting malady,
Arise: err not: thy fellow servant I,
Too closely press the verge. Accurst be thou!
(Thine and all others’) of one Sovran Power.
Inveterate wolf! whose gorge ingluts more prey,
If thou hast ever mark’d those holy sounds
Than every beast beside, yet is not fill’d!
Of gospel truth, ‘nor shall be given ill marriage,’
So bottomless thy maw!—Ye spheres of heaven!
Thou mayst discern the reasons of my speech.
To whom there are, as seems, who attribute
Go thy ways now; and linger here no more.
All change in mortal state, when is the day
Thy tarrying is a let unto the tears,
Of his appearing, for whom fate reserves
With which I hasten that whereof thou spak’st.
To chase her hence?—With wary steps and slow
I have on earth a kinswoman; her name
We pass’d; and I attentive to the shades,
Alagia, worthy in herself, so ill
Whom piteously I heard lament and wail;
Example of our house corrupt her not:
And, ‘midst the wailing, one before us heard
And she is all remaineth of me there.”
Cry out “O blessed Virgin!” as a dame
In the sharp pangs of childbed; and “How poor
CANTO XX
Thou wast,” it added, “witness that low roof
Where thou didst lay thy sacred burden down.
Ill strives the will, ‘gainst will more wise that
O good Fabricius! thou didst virtue choose
strives
With poverty, before great wealth with vice.”
His pleasure therefore to mine own preferr’d,
The words so pleas’d me, that desire to know
I drew the sponge yet thirsty from the wave.
The spirit, from whose lip they seem’d to come,
Onward I mov’d: he also onward mov’d,
Did draw me onward. Yet it spake the gift
Who led me, coasting still, wherever place
Of Nicholas, which on the maidens he
Along the rock was vacant, as a man
Bounteous bestow’d, to save their youthful prime
Walks near the battlements on narrow wall.
For those on th’ other part, who drop by drop
So worthy, tell me who thou was,” I said,
57
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory
“And why thou dost with single voice renew
Till the great dower of Provence had remov’d
Memorial of such praise. That boon vouchsaf’d
The stains, that yet obscur’d our lowly blood,
Haply shall meet reward; if I return
Its sway indeed was narrow, but howe’er
To finish the Short pilgrimage of life,
It wrought no evil: there, with force and lies,
Still speeding to its close on restless wing.”
Began its rapine; after, for amends,
“I,” answer’d he, “will tell thee, not for hell, Poitou it seiz’d, Navarre and Gascony.
Which thence I look for; but that in thyself
To Italy came Charles, and for amends
Grace so exceeding shines, before thy time
Young Conradine an innocent victim slew,
Of mortal dissolution. I was root
And sent th’ angelic teacher back to heav’n,
Of that ill plant, whose shade such poison sheds
Still for amends. I see the time at hand,
O’er all the Christian land, that seldom thence
That forth from France invites another Charles
Good fruit is gather’d. Vengeance soon should come, To make himself and kindred better known.
Had Ghent and Douay, Lille and Bruges power;
Unarm’d he issues, saving with that lance,
And vengeance I of heav’n’s great Judge implore.
Which the arch-traitor tilted with; and that
Hugh Capet was I high: from me descend
He carries with so home a thrust, as rives
The Philips and the Louis, of whom France
The bowels of poor Florence. No increase
Newly is govern’d; born of one, who ply’d
Of territory hence, but sin and shame
The slaughterer’s trade at Paris. When the race
Shall be his guerdon, and so much the more
Of ancient kings had vanish’d (all save one
As he more lightly deems of such foul wrong.
Wrapt up in sable weeds) within my gripe
I see the other, who a prisoner late
I found the reins of empire, and such powers
Had steps on shore, exposing to the mart
Of new acquirement, with full store of friends,
His daughter, whom he bargains for, as do
That soon the widow’d circlet of the crown
The Corsairs for their slaves. O avarice!
Was girt upon the temples of my son,
What canst thou more, who hast subdued our blood
He, from whose bones th’ anointed race begins.
So wholly to thyself, they feel no care
58
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory Of their own flesh? To hide with direr guilt
Sapphira with her husband next, we blame;
Past ill and future, lo! the flower-de-luce
And praise the forefeet, that with furious ramp
Enters Alagna! in his Vicar Christ
Spurn’d Heliodorus. All the mountain round
Himself a captive, and his mockery
Rings with the infamy of Thracia’s king,
Acted again! Lo! to his holy lip
Who slew his Phrygian charge: and last a shout
The vinegar and gall once more applied!
Ascends: “Declare, O Crassus! for thou know’st,
And he ‘twixt living robbers doom’d to bleed!
The flavour of thy gold.” The voice of each
Lo! the new Pilate, of whose cruelty
Now high now low, as each his impulse prompts,
Such violence cannot fill the measure up,
Is led through many a pitch, acute or grave.
With no degree to sanction, pushes on
Therefore, not singly, I erewhile rehears’d
Into the temple his yet eager sails!
That blessedness we tell of in the day:
“O sovran Master! when shall I rejoice
But near me none beside his accent rais’d.”
To see the vengeance, which thy wrath well-pleas’d
From him we now had parted, and essay’d
In secret silence broods?—While daylight lasts,
With utmost efforts to surmount the way,
So long what thou didst hear of her, sole spouse
When I did feel, as nodding to its fall,
Of the Great Spirit, and on which thou turn’dst
The mountain tremble; whence an icy chill
To me for comment, is the general theme
Seiz’d on me, as on one to death convey’d.
Of all our prayers: but when it darkens, then
So shook not Delos, when Latona there
A different strain we utter, then record
Couch’d to bring forth the twin-born eyes of heaven.
Pygmalion, whom his gluttonous thirst of gold
Forthwith from every side a shout arose
Made traitor, robber, parricide: the woes
So vehement, that suddenly my guide
Of Midas, which his greedy wish ensued,
Drew near, and cried: “Doubt not, while I conduct thee.”
Mark’d for derision to all future times:
“Glory!” all shouted (such the sounds mine ear
And the fond Achan, how he stole the prey,
Gather’d from those, who near me swell’d the sounds) That yet he seems by Joshua’s ire pursued.
“Glory in the highest be to God.” We stood
59
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory Immovably suspended, like to those,
Saying, “God give you peace, my brethren!” then
The shepherds, who first heard in Bethlehem’s field Sudden we turn’d: and Virgil such salute,
That song: till ceas’d the trembling, and the song
As fitted that kind greeting, gave, and cried:
Was ended: then our hallow’d path resum’d,
“Peace in the blessed council be thy lot
Eying the prostrate shadows, who renew’d
Awarded by that righteous court, which me
Their custom’d mourning. Never in my breast
To everlasting banishment exiles!”
Did ignorance so struggle with desire
“How!” he exclaim’d, nor from his speed mean while Of knowledge, if my memory do not err,
Desisting, “If that ye be spirits, whom God
As in that moment; nor through haste dar’d I
Vouchsafes not room above, who up the height
To question, nor myself could aught discern,
Has been thus far your guide?” To whom the bard:
So on I far’d in thoughtfulness and dread.
“If thou observe the tokens, which this man
Trac’d by the finger of the angel bears,
CANTO XXI
‘Tis plain that in the kingdom of the just
He needs must share. But sithence she, whose wheel
The natural thirst, ne’er quench’d but from the well, Spins day and night, for him not yet had drawn
Whereof the woman of Samaria crav’d,
That yarn, which, on the fatal distaff pil’d,
Excited: haste along the cumber’d path,
Clotho apportions to each wight that breathes,
After my guide, impell’d; and pity mov’d
His soul, that sister is to mine and thine,
My bosom for the ‘vengeful deed, though just.
Not of herself could mount, for not like ours
When lo! even as Luke relates, that Christ
Her ken: whence I, from forth the ample gulf
Appear’d unto the two upon their way,
Of hell was ta’en, to lead him, and will lead
New-risen from his vaulted grave; to us
Far as my lore avails. But, if thou know,
A shade appear’d, and after us approach’d,
Instruct us for what cause, the mount erewhile
Contemplating the crowd beneath its feet.
Thus shook and trembled: wherefore all at once
We were not ware of it; so first it spake,
Seem’d shouting, even from his wave-wash’d foot.”
60
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory That questioning so tallied with my wish,
Seizes the soul rejoicing in her will.
The thirst did feel abatement of its edge
Desire of bliss is present from the first;
E’en from expectance. He forthwith replied,
But strong propension hinders, to that wish
“In its devotion nought irregular
By the just ordinance of heav’n oppos’d;
This mount can witness, or by punctual rule
Propension now as eager to fulfil
Unsanction’d; here from every change exempt.
Th’ allotted torment, as erewhile to sin.
Other than that, which heaven in itself
And I who in this punishment had lain
Doth of itself receive, no influence
Five hundred years and more, but now have felt
Can reach us. Tempest none, shower, hail or snow,
Free wish for happier clime. Therefore thou felt’st Hoar frost or dewy moistness, higher falls
The mountain tremble, and the spirits devout
Than that brief scale of threefold steps: thick clouds Heard’st, over all his limits, utter praise
Nor scudding rack are ever seen: swift glance
To that liege Lord, whom I entreat their joy
Ne’er lightens, nor Thaumantian Iris gleams,
To hasten.” Thus he spake: and since the draught
That yonder often shift on each side heav’n.
Is grateful ever as the thirst is keen,
Vapour adust doth never mount above
No words may speak my fullness of content.
The highest of the trinal stairs, whereon
“Now,” said the instructor sage, “I see the net Peter’s vicegerent stands. Lower perchance,
That takes ye here, and how the toils are loos’d,
With various motion rock’d, trembles the soil:
Why rocks the mountain and why ye rejoice.
But here, through wind in earth’s deep hollow pent, Vouchsafe, that from thy lips I next may learn,
I know not how, yet never trembled: then
Who on the earth thou wast, and wherefore here
Trembles, when any spirit feels itself
So many an age wert prostrate.”—”In that time,
So purified, that it may rise, or move
When the good Titus, with Heav’n’s King to help,
For rising, and such loud acclaim ensues.
Aveng’d those piteous gashes, whence the blood
Purification by the will alone
By Judas sold did issue, with the name
Is prov’d, that free to change society
Most lasting and most honour’d there was I
61
The Divine Comedy of Dante - Purgatory Abundantly renown’d,” the shade reply’d,
As one who winks; and thereupon the shade
“Not yet with faith endued. So passing sweet
Broke off, and peer’d into mine eyes, where best
My vocal Spirit, from Tolosa, Rome
Our looks interpret. “So to good event
To herself drew me, where I merited
Mayst thou conduct such great emprize,” he cried,
A myrtle garland to inwreathe my brow.
“Say, why across thy visage beam’d, but now,
Statius they name me still. Of Thebes I sang,
The lightning of a smile!” On either part
And next of great Achilles: but i’ th’ way
Now am I straiten’d; one conjures me speak,
Fell with the second burthen. Of my flame
Th’ other to silence binds me: whence a sigh
Those sparkles were the seeds, which I deriv’d
I utter, and the sigh is heard. “Speak on; “
From the bright fountain of celestial fire
The teacher cried; “and do not fear to speak,
That feeds unnumber’d lamps, the song I mean
But tell him what so earnestly he asks.”
Which sounds Aeneas’ wand’rings: that the breast
Whereon I thus: “Perchance, O ancient spirit!
I hung at, that the nurse, from whom my veins
Thou marvel’st at my smiling. There is room
Drank inspiration: whose authority
For yet more wonder. He who guides my ken
Was ever sacred with me. To have liv’d
On high, he is that Mantuan, led by whom
Coeval with the Mantuan, I would bide
Thou didst presume of men arid gods to sing.
The revolution of another sun
If other cause thou deem’dst for which I smil’d,
Beyond my stated years in banishment.”
Leave it as not the true one; and believe
The Mantuan, when he heard him, turn’d to me,
Those words, thou spak’st of him, indeed the cause.”
And holding silence: by his countenance
Now down he bent t’ embrace my teacher’s feet; Enjoin’d me silence but the power which wills,
But he forbade him: “Brother! do it not:
Bears not supreme control: laughter and tears
Thou art a shadow, and behold’st a shade.”
Follow so closely on the passion prompts them,
He rising answer’d thus: “Now hast thou prov’d
They wait not for the motions of the will
The force and ardour of the love I bear thee,