Part 10

We came up unto it; O Lombard soul, How lofty and disdainful thou didst bear thee, And grand and slow in moving of thine eyes!

Nothing whatever did it say to us, But let us go our way, eying us only After the manner of a couchant lion;

Still near to it Virgilius drew, entreating That it would point us out the best ascent; And it replied not unto his demand,

But of our native land and of our life It questioned us; and the sweet Guide began: “Mantua,”—and the shade, all in itself recluse,

Rose tow’rds him from the place where first it was, Saying: “O Mantuan, I am Sordello Of thine own land!” and one embraced the other.

Ah! servile Italy, grief’s hostelry! A ship without a pilot in great tempest! No Lady thou of Provinces, but brothel!

That noble soul was so impatient, only At the sweet sound of his own native land, To make its citizen glad welcome there;

And now within thee are not without war Thy living ones, and one doth gnaw the other Of those whom one wall and one fosse shut in!

Search, wretched one, all round about the shores Thy seaboard, and then look within thy bosom, If any part of thee enjoyeth peace!

What boots it, that for thee Justinian The bridle mend, if empty be the saddle? Withouten this the shame would be the less.

Ah! people, thou that oughtest to be devout, And to let Caesar sit upon the saddle, If well thou hearest what God teacheth thee,

Behold how fell this wild beast has become, Being no longer by the spur corrected, Since thou hast laid thy hand upon the bridle.

O German Albert! who abandonest Her that has grown recalcitrant and savage, And oughtest to bestride her saddle-bow,

May a just judgment from the stars down fall Upon thy blood, and be it new and open, That thy successor may have fear thereof;

Because thy father and thyself have suffered, By greed of those transalpine lands distrained, The garden of the empire to be waste.

Come and behold Montecchi and Cappelletti, Monaldi and Fillippeschi, careless man! Those sad already, and these doubt-depressed!

Come, cruel one! come and behold the oppression Of thy nobility, and cure their wounds, And thou shalt see how safe is Santafiore!

Come and behold thy Rome, that is lamenting, Widowed, alone, and day and night exclaims, “My Caesar, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Come and behold how loving are the people; And if for us no pity moveth thee, Come and be made ashamed of thy renown!

And if it lawful be, O Jove Supreme! Who upon earth for us wast crucified, Are thy just eyes averted otherwhere?

Or preparation is ’t, that, in the abyss Of thine own counsel, for some good thou makest From our perception utterly cut off?

For all the towns of Italy are full Of tyrants, and becometh a Marcellus Each peasant churl who plays the partisan!

My Florence! well mayst thou contented be With this digression, which concerns thee not, Thanks to thy people who such forethought take!

Many at heart have justice, but shoot slowly, That unadvised they come not to the bow, But on their very lips thy people have it!

Many refuse to bear the common burden; But thy solicitous people answereth Without being asked, and crieth: “I submit.”

Now be thou joyful, for thou hast good reason; Thou affluent, thou in peace, thou full of wisdom! If I speak true, the event conceals it not.

Athens and Lacedaemon, they who made The ancient laws, and were so civilized, Made towards living well a little sign

Compared with thee, who makest such fine-spun Provisions, that to middle of November Reaches not what thou in October spinnest.

How oft, within the time of thy remembrance, Laws, money, offices, and usages Hast thou remodelled, and renewed thy members?

And if thou mind thee well, and see the light, Thou shalt behold thyself like a sick woman, Who cannot find repose upon her down,

But by her tossing wardeth off her pain.

Purgatorio: Canto VII

After the gracious and glad salutations Had three and four times been reiterated, Sordello backward drew and said, “Who are you?”

“Or ever to this mountain were directed The souls deserving to ascend to God, My bones were buried by Octavian.

I am Virgilius; and for no crime else Did I lose heaven, than for not having faith;” In this wise then my Leader made reply.

As one who suddenly before him sees Something whereat he marvels, who believes And yet does not, saying, “It is! it is not!”

So he appeared; and then bowed down his brow, And with humility returned towards him, And, where inferiors embrace, embraced him.

“O glory of the Latians, thou,” he said, “Through whom our language showed what it could do O pride eternal of the place I came from,

What merit or what grace to me reveals thee? If I to hear thy words be worthy, tell me If thou dost come from Hell, and from what cloister.”

“Through all the circles of the doleful realm,” Responded he, “have I come hitherward; Heaven’s power impelled me, and with that I come.

I by not doing, not by doing, lost The sight of that high sun which thou desirest, And which too late by me was recognized.

A place there is below not sad with torments, But darkness only, where the lamentations Have not the sound of wailing, but are sighs.

There dwell I with the little innocents Snatched by the teeth of Death, or ever they Were from our human sinfulness exempt.

There dwell I among those who the three saintly Virtues did not put on, and without vice The others knew and followed all of them.

But if thou know and can, some indication Give us by which we may the sooner come Where Purgatory has its right beginning.”

He answered: “No fixed place has been assigned us; ’Tis lawful for me to go up and round; So far as I can go, as guide I join thee.

But see already how the day declines, And to go up by night we are not able; Therefore ’tis well to think of some fair sojourn.

Souls are there on the right hand here withdrawn; If thou permit me I will lead thee to them, And thou shalt know them not without delight.”

“How is this?” was the answer; “should one wish To mount by night would he prevented be By others? or mayhap would not have power?”

And on the ground the good Sordello drew His finger, saying, “See, this line alone Thou couldst not pass after the sun is gone;

Not that aught else would hindrance give, however, To going up, save the nocturnal darkness; This with the want of power the will perplexes.

We might indeed therewith return below, And, wandering, walk the hill-side round about, While the horizon holds the day imprisoned.”

Thereon my Lord, as if in wonder, said: “Do thou conduct us thither, where thou sayest That we can take delight in tarrying.”

Little had we withdrawn us from that place, When I perceived the mount was hollowed out In fashion as the valleys here are hollowed.

“Thitherward,” said that shade, “will we repair, Where of itself the hill-side makes a lap, And there for the new day will we await.”

’Twixt hill and plain there was a winding path Which led us to the margin of that dell, Where dies the border more than half away.

Gold and fine silver, and scarlet and pearl-white, The Indian wood resplendent and serene, Fresh emerald the moment it is broken,

By herbage and by flowers within that hollow Planted, each one in colour would be vanquished, As by its greater vanquished is the less.

Nor in that place had nature painted only, But of the sweetness of a thousand odours Made there a mingled fragrance and unknown.

“Salve Regina,” on the green and flowers There seated, singing, spirits I beheld, Which were not visible outside the valley.

“Before the scanty sun now seeks his nest,” Began the Mantuan who had led us thither, “Among them do not wish me to conduct you.

Better from off this ledge the acts and faces Of all of them will you discriminate, Than in the plain below received among them.

He who sits highest, and the semblance bears Of having what he should have done neglected, And to the others’ song moves not his lips,

Rudolph the Emperor was, who had the power To heal the wounds that Italy have slain, So that through others slowly she revives.

The other, who in look doth comfort him, Governed the region where the water springs, The Moldau bears the Elbe, and Elbe the sea.

His name was Ottocar; and in swaddling-clothes Far better he than bearded Winceslaus His son, who feeds in luxury and ease.

And the small-nosed, who close in council seems With him that has an aspect so benign, Died fleeing and disflowering the lily;

Look there, how he is beating at his breast! Behold the other one, who for his cheek Sighing has made of his own palm a bed;

Father and father-in-law of France’s Pest Are they, and know his vicious life and lewd, And hence proceeds the grief that so doth pierce them.

He who appears so stalwart, and chimes in, Singing, with that one of the manly nose, The cord of every valour wore begirt;

And if as King had after him remained The stripling who in rear of him is sitting, Well had the valour passed from vase to vase,

Which cannot of the other heirs be said. Frederick and Jacomo possess the realms, But none the better heritage possesses.

Not oftentimes upriseth through the branches The probity of man; and this He wills Who gives it, so that we may ask of Him.

Eke to the large-nosed reach my words, no less Than to the other, Pier, who with him sings; Whence Provence and Apulia grieve already

The plant is as inferior to its seed, As more than Beatrice and Margaret Costanza boasteth of her husband still.

Behold the monarch of the simple life, Harry of England, sitting there alone; He in his branches has a better issue.

He who the lowest on the ground among them Sits looking upward, is the Marquis William, For whose sake Alessandria and her war

Make Monferrat and Canavese weep.”

Purgatorio: Canto VIII

’Twas now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they’ve said to their sweet friends farewell,

And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day,

When I began to make of no avail My hearing, and to watch one of the souls Uprisen, that begged attention with its hand.

It joined and lifted upward both its palms, Fixing its eyes upon the orient, As if it said to God, “Naught else I care for.”

“Te lucis ante” so devoutly issued Forth from its mouth, and with such dulcet notes, It made me issue forth from my own mind.

And then the others, sweetly and devoutly, Accompanied it through all the hymn entire, Having their eyes on the supernal wheels.

Here, Reader, fix thine eyes well on the truth, For now indeed so subtile is the veil, Surely to penetrate within is easy.

I saw that army of the gentle-born Thereafterward in silence upward gaze, As if in expectation, pale and humble;

And from on high come forth and down descend, I saw two Angels with two flaming swords, Truncated and deprived of their points.

Green as the little leaflets just now born Their garments were, which, by their verdant pinions Beaten and blown abroad, they trailed behind.

One just above us came to take his station, And one descended to the opposite bank, So that the people were contained between them.

Clearly in them discerned I the blond head; But in their faces was the eye bewildered, As faculty confounded by excess.

“From Mary’s bosom both of them have come,” Sordello said, “as guardians of the valley Against the serpent, that will come anon.”

Whereupon I, who knew not by what road, Turned round about, and closely drew myself, Utterly frozen, to the faithful shoulders.

And once again Sordello: “Now descend we ’Mid the grand shades, and we will speak to them; Right pleasant will it be for them to see you.”

Only three steps I think that I descended, And was below, and saw one who was looking Only at me, as if he fain would know me.

Already now the air was growing dark, But not so that between his eyes and mine It did not show what it before locked up.

Tow’rds me he moved, and I tow’rds him did move; Noble Judge Nino! how it me delighted, When I beheld thee not among the damned!

No greeting fair was left unsaid between us; Then asked he: “How long is it since thou camest O’er the far waters to the mountain’s foot?”

“Oh!” said I to him, “through the dismal places I came this morn; and am in the first life, Albeit the other, going thus, I gain.”

And on the instant my reply was heard, He and Sordello both shrank back from me, Like people who are suddenly bewildered.

One to Virgilius, and the other turned To one who sat there, crying, “Up, Currado! Come and behold what God in grace has willed!”

Then, turned to me: “By that especial grace Thou owest unto Him, who so conceals His own first wherefore, that it has no ford,

When thou shalt be beyond the waters wide, Tell my Giovanna that she pray for me, Where answer to the innocent is made.

I do not think her mother loves me more, Since she has laid aside her wimple white, Which she, unhappy, needs must wish again.

Through her full easily is comprehended How long in woman lasts the fire of love, If eye or touch do not relight it often.

So fair a hatchment will not make for her The Viper marshalling the Milanese A-field, as would have made Gallura’s Cock.”

In this wise spake he, with the stamp impressed Upon his aspect of that righteous zeal Which measurably burneth in the heart.

My greedy eyes still wandered up to heaven, Still to that point where slowest are the stars, Even as a wheel the nearest to its axle.

And my Conductor: “Son, what dost thou gaze at Up there?” And I to him: “At those three torches With which this hither pole is all on fire.”

And he to me: “The four resplendent stars Thou sawest this morning are down yonder low, And these have mounted up to where those were.”

As he was speaking, to himself Sordello Drew him, and said, “Lo there our Adversary!” And pointed with his finger to look thither.

Upon the side on which the little valley No barrier hath, a serpent was; perchance The same which gave to Eve the bitter food.

’Twixt grass and flowers came on the evil streak, Turning at times its head about, and licking Its back like to a beast that smoothes itself.

I did not see, and therefore cannot say How the celestial falcons ’gan to move, But well I saw that they were both in motion.

Hearing the air cleft by their verdant wings, The serpent fled, and round the Angels wheeled, Up to their stations flying back alike.

The shade that to the Judge had near approached When he had called, throughout that whole assault Had not a moment loosed its gaze on me.

“So may the light that leadeth thee on high Find in thine own free-will as much of wax As needful is up to the highest azure,”

Began it, “if some true intelligence Of Valdimagra or its neighbourhood Thou knowest, tell it me, who once was great there.

Currado Malaspina was I called; I’m not the elder, but from him descended; To mine I bore the love which here refineth.”

“O,” said I unto him, “through your domains I never passed, but where is there a dwelling Throughout all Europe, where they are not known?

That fame, which doeth honour to your house, Proclaims its Signors and proclaims its land, So that he knows of them who ne’er was there.

And, as I hope for heaven, I swear to you Your honoured family in naught abates The glory of the purse and of the sword.

It is so privileged by use and nature, That though a guilty head misguide the world, Sole it goes right, and scorns the evil way.”

And he: “Now go; for the sun shall not lie Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram With all his four feet covers and bestrides,

Before that such a courteous opinion Shall in the middle of thy head be nailed With greater nails than of another’s speech,

Unless the course of justice standeth still.”

Purgatorio: Canto IX

The concubine of old Tithonus now Gleamed white upon the eastern balcony, Forth from the arms of her sweet paramour;

With gems her forehead all relucent was, Set in the shape of that cold animal Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations,

And of the steps, with which she mounts, the Night Had taken two in that place where we were, And now the third was bending down its wings;

When I, who something had of Adam in me, Vanquished by sleep, upon the grass reclined, There were all five of us already sat.

Just at the hour when her sad lay begins The little swallow, near unto the morning, Perchance in memory of her former woes,

And when the mind of man, a wanderer More from the flesh, and less by thought imprisoned, Almost prophetic in its visions is,

In dreams it seemed to me I saw suspended An eagle in the sky, with plumes of gold, With wings wide open, and intent to stoop,

And this, it seemed to me, was where had been By Ganymede his kith and kin abandoned, When to the high consistory he was rapt.

I thought within myself, perchance he strikes From habit only here, and from elsewhere Disdains to bear up any in his feet.

Then wheeling somewhat more, it seemed to me, Terrible as the lightning he descended, And snatched me upward even to the fire.

Therein it seemed that he and I were burning, And the imagined fire did scorch me so, That of necessity my sleep was broken.

Not otherwise Achilles started up, Around him turning his awakened eyes, And knowing not the place in which he was,

What time from Chiron stealthily his mother Carried him sleeping in her arms to Scyros, Wherefrom the Greeks withdrew him afterwards,

Than I upstarted, when from off my face Sleep fled away; and pallid I became, As doth the man who freezes with affright.

Only my Comforter was at my side, And now the sun was more than two hours high, And turned towards the sea-shore was my face.

“Be not intimidated,” said my Lord, “Be reassured, for all is well with us; Do not restrain, but put forth all thy strength.

Thou hast at length arrived at Purgatory; See there the cliff that closes it around; See there the entrance, where it seems disjoined.

Whilom at dawn, which doth precede the day, When inwardly thy spirit was asleep Upon the flowers that deck the land below,

There came a Lady and said: ‘I am Lucia; Let me take this one up, who is asleep; So will I make his journey easier for him.’

Sordello and the other noble shapes Remained; she took thee, and, as day grew bright, Upward she came, and I upon her footsteps.

She laid thee here; and first her beauteous eyes That open entrance pointed out to me; Then she and sleep together went away.”

In guise of one whose doubts are reassured, And who to confidence his fear doth change, After the truth has been discovered to him,

So did I change; and when without disquiet My Leader saw me, up along the cliff He moved, and I behind him, tow’rd the height.

Reader, thou seest well how I exalt My theme, and therefore if with greater art I fortify it, marvel not thereat.

Nearer approached we, and were in such place, That there, where first appeared to me a rift Like to a crevice that disparts a wall,

I saw a portal, and three stairs beneath, Diverse in colour, to go up to it, And a gate-keeper, who yet spake no word.

And as I opened more and more mine eyes, I saw him seated on the highest stair, Such in the face that I endured it not.

And in his hand he had a naked sword, Which so reflected back the sunbeams tow’rds us, That oft in vain I lifted up mine eyes.

“Tell it from where you are, what is’t you wish?” Began he to exclaim; “where is the escort? Take heed your coming hither harm you not!”

“A Lady of Heaven, with these things conversant,” My Master answered him, “but even now Said to us, ‘Thither go; there is the portal.’”

“And may she speed your footsteps in all good,” Again began the courteous janitor; “Come forward then unto these stairs of ours.”

Thither did we approach; and the first stair Was marble white, so polished and so smooth, I mirrored myself therein as I appear.

The second, tinct of deeper hue than perse, Was of a calcined and uneven stone, Cracked all asunder lengthwise and across.

The third, that uppermost rests massively, Porphyry seemed to me, as flaming red As blood that from a vein is spirting forth.

Both of his feet was holding upon this The Angel of God, upon the threshold seated, Which seemed to me a stone of diamond.

Along the three stairs upward with good will Did my Conductor draw me, saying: “Ask Humbly that he the fastening may undo.”

Devoutly at the holy feet I cast me, For mercy’s sake besought that he would open, But first upon my breast three times I smote.

Seven P’s upon my forehead he described With the sword’s point, and, “Take heed that thou wash These wounds, when thou shalt be within,” he said.

Ashes, or earth that dry is excavated, Of the same colour were with his attire, And from beneath it he drew forth two keys.

One was of gold, and the other was of silver; First with the white, and after with the yellow, Plied he the door, so that I was content.

“Whenever faileth either of these keys So that it turn not rightly in the lock,” He said to us, “this entrance doth not open.

More precious one is, but the other needs More art and intellect ere it unlock, For it is that which doth the knot unloose.

From Peter I have them; and he bade me err Rather in opening than in keeping shut, If people but fall down before my feet.”

Then pushed the portals of the sacred door, Exclaiming: “Enter; but I give you warning That forth returns whoever looks behind.”

And when upon their hinges were turned round The swivels of that consecrated gate, Which are of metal, massive and sonorous,

Roared not so loud, nor so discordant seemed Tarpeia, when was ta’en from it the good Metellus, wherefore meagre it remained.

At the first thunder-peal I turned attentive, And “Te Deum laudamus” seemed to hear In voices mingled with sweet melody.

Exactly such an image rendered me That which I heard, as we are wont to catch, When people singing with the organ stand;

For now we hear, and now hear not, the words.

Purgatorio: Canto X

When we had crossed the threshold of the door Which the perverted love of souls disuses, Because it makes the crooked way seem straight,

Re-echoing I heard it closed again; And if I had turned back mine eyes upon it, What for my failing had been fit excuse?

We mounted upward through a rifted rock, Which undulated to this side and that, Even as a wave receding and advancing.

“Here it behoves us use a little art,” Began my Leader, “to adapt ourselves Now here, now there, to the receding side.”

And this our footsteps so infrequent made, That sooner had the moon’s decreasing disk Regained its bed to sink again to rest,

Than we were forth from out that needle’s eye; But when we free and in the open were, There where the mountain backward piles itself,

I wearied out, and both of us uncertain About our way, we stopped upon a plain More desolate than roads across the deserts.

From where its margin borders on the void, To foot of the high bank that ever rises, A human body three times told would measure;

And far as eye of mine could wing its flight, Now on the left, and on the right flank now, The same this cornice did appear to me.

Thereon our feet had not been moved as yet, When I perceived the embankment round about, Which all right of ascent had interdicted,

To be of marble white, and so adorned With sculptures, that not only Polycletus, But Nature’s self, had there been put to shame.

The Angel, who came down to earth with tidings Of peace, that had been wept for many a year, And opened Heaven from its long interdict,

In front of us appeared so truthfully There sculptured in a gracious attitude, He did not seem an image that is silent.

One would have sworn that he was saying, “Ave;” For she was there in effigy portrayed Who turned the key to ope the exalted love,

And in her mien this language had impressed, “Ecce ancilla Dei,” as distinctly As any figure stamps itself in wax.

“Keep not thy mind upon one place alone,” The gentle Master said, who had me standing Upon that side where people have their hearts;

Whereat I moved mine eyes, and I beheld In rear of Mary, and upon that side Where he was standing who conducted me,

Another story on the rock imposed; Wherefore I passed Virgilius and drew near, So that before mine eyes it might be set.

There sculptured in the self-same marble were The cart and oxen, drawing the holy ark, Wherefore one dreads an office not appointed.

People appeared in front, and all of them In seven choirs divided, of two senses Made one say “No,” the other, “Yes, they sing.”

Likewise unto the smoke of the frankincense, Which there was imaged forth, the eyes and nose Were in the yes and no discordant made.

Preceded there the vessel benedight, Dancing with girded loins, the humble Psalmist, And more and less than King was he in this.

Opposite, represented at the window Of a great palace, Michal looked upon him, Even as a woman scornful and afflicted.

I moved my feet from where I had been standing, To examine near at hand another story, Which after Michal glimmered white upon me.

There the high glory of the Roman Prince Was chronicled, whose great beneficence Moved Gregory to his great victory;

’Tis of the Emperor Trajan I am speaking; And a poor widow at his bridle stood, In attitude of weeping and of grief.

Around about him seemed it thronged and full Of cavaliers, and the eagles in the gold Above them visibly in the wind were moving.

The wretched woman in the midst of these Seemed to be saying: “Give me vengeance, Lord, For my dead son, for whom my heart is breaking.”

And he to answer her: “Now wait until I shall return.” And she: “My Lord,” like one In whom grief is impatient, “shouldst thou not

Return?” And he: “Who shall be where I am Will give it thee.” And she: “Good deed of others What boots it thee, if thou neglect thine own?”

Whence he: “Now comfort thee, for it behoves me That I discharge my duty ere I move; Justice so wills, and pity doth retain me.”

He who on no new thing has ever looked Was the creator of this visible language, Novel to us, for here it is not found.

While I delighted me in contemplating The images of such humility, And dear to look on for their Maker’s sake,

“Behold, upon this side, but rare they make Their steps,” the Poet murmured, “many people; These will direct us to the lofty stairs.”

Mine eyes, that in beholding were intent To see new things, of which they curious are, In turning round towards him were not slow.

But still I wish not, Reader, thou shouldst swerve From thy good purposes, because thou hearest How God ordaineth that the debt be paid;

Attend not to the fashion of the torment, Think of what follows; think that at the worst It cannot reach beyond the mighty sentence.

“Master,” began I, “that which I behold Moving towards us seems to me not persons, And what I know not, so in sight I waver.”

And he to me: “The grievous quality Of this their torment bows them so to earth, That my own eyes at first contended with it;

But look there fixedly, and disentangle By sight what cometh underneath those stones; Already canst thou see how each is stricken.”

O ye proud Christians! wretched, weary ones! Who, in the vision of the mind infirm Confidence have in your backsliding steps,

Do ye not comprehend that we are worms, Born to bring forth the angelic butterfly That flieth unto judgment without screen?

“One work. Many languages. One reading experience.”