Canto II
CANTO II
The sun is rising above Purgatory from Gibraltar in the West, and night is mounting above Jerusalem from the Ganges in the East, as dawn paints the skies with vivid colors (1–9). Dante and Virgil remain standing on the shore, pondering which way to take, when a light comes speeding across the sea, growing in intensity and size. As soon as Virgil discerns that it is an angel propelling his craft by his wings alone, he has Dante kneel and fold his hands. The radiance of the angelic countenance forces the living man to lower his eyes as the celestial helmsman brings his vessel, scarcely laden with weightless spirits, to shore (10–42). Seated within it, more than a hundred souls are chanting in unison a psalm of deliverance. As they disembark, the angel makes a sign of benediction over the new arrivals and then whisks off as quickly as he came (43–51). The disoriented spirits ask Virgil for directions to the mountain’s base, but he must confess that he is no more familiar with the place than the other pilgrims are (52–66). Then they notice that Dante breathes like one alive and crowd around him as if he were a messenger bearing good news. One of them steps forth to greet the Poet, who tries three times in vain to embrace the ethereal shade. Following the soul as it withdraws, Dante is told to stay. He at once recognizes the speaker’s voice as that of Casella, a musician friend of his, and begs him to remain and converse, which he does out of his undiminished love for his former companion (67–90). Casella explains how he underwent some delay after his death before journeying to the shores of Purgatory from the mouth of the Tiber but expresses his submission to the mystery of Divine Providence (91–105). At the request of the travel-weary Dante, Casella intones one of the former’s poems, and all gathered there stand enraptured until Cato rebukes them for their negligence, admonishing them to hasten to the mountain to cast away the slough of their sinful inclinations. The throng then scurries off like a flock of frightened doves, not knowing exactly where it is going, and Virgil and Dante prove no less fleet in departing (106–133).
1 The sun reached the horizon so the height[28]
Of its meridian had come to stand
Above Jerusalem, and thus the night,
4 Which orbits in a counter-circling band,
Had left the Ganges with the Scales in sight
(Which, when she tops the day, fall from her hand),
7 So that the cheeks of fair Aurora, white
And then vermilion, where I stood aside,
Became through greater age a golden light.
10 We still were standing by the ocean tide,
Like people thinking on which road is best,
Who go in heart, in body though abide.
13 And look! Just as, surprised by morning’s quest,
Red Mars will glow above the ocean floor
Through vapors that are thick, down in the west,[29]
16 A light appeared (may it be seen once more!)[30]
That came across the sea and in such wise
No flight could ever match its rapid soar.
19 And having for a while withdrawn my eyes
That I might ask a question of my Guide,
I saw it had increased in light and size.
22 There next appeared to me on either side
Of it an unknown whiteness, and below,
Though bit by bit, another white was spied.
25 My Master still had spoken nothing, though,
Till those first whites appeared as wings to me;
But when he recognized the pilot’s glow,
28 He shouted out: “Now bend, now bend your knee!
Behold God’s angel! Fold your hands!” he warns,
“From now on, such officials you will see.[31]
31 Spy one who spurns all human means and scorns
The use of oars or any sails, and who
Plies but his wings between such distant bourns.[32]
34 See how he holds them up to Heaven’s blue,
As his eternal plumage beats the air;
It does not molt as mortal feathers do.”
37 Then, coming ever nearer towards us there,
That bird of God seemed brighter bit by bit;
Such nearness, though, my eyes could no more bear,
40 And thus I cast them down. At once, he lit
Upon the shore, his vessel light and fleet,
So that the water swallowed none of it.
43 Astern stood Heaven’s pilot on his feet,
And thus he seemed inscribed with bliss’s hue;
A hundred souls or more there had their seat.
46 As from a single voice, “In exitu
Israel de Aegypto” came their song,
With all that psalm has written after too.[33]
49 He signed the holy cross on all the throng,
Which threw itself upon the beach, then flew
Away as swiftly as he’d come along.
52 But they seemed foreign to that place, this crew
Which had remained and looked around each way,
Like one essaying something that is new.
55 On every side the sun shot forth the day
As all throughout the Heaven’s middle space
His well-aimed darts chased Capricorn away.[34]
58 Then each new person raised to us his face;
“If you know how,” they said, “direct us to
The pathway leading to the mountain’s base.”
61 And Virgil said: “Perhaps you think us two
Familiar with this place; but we’re the same,
Since we are pilgrims here, as all of you.
64 We just arrived, a bit before you came,
Another way so rude and rough to scale[35]
That now the climb will seem to us a game.”
67 The souls who noticed that my breath was hale,
And therefore that I still was living, found
This all most marvelous and turned quite pale.
70 As folks who want to hear the news surround
A herald bearing olive branches, where
There is no one too shy to crowd around,[36]
73 So all those happy souls who’d fixed their stare
Upon my face almost forgot to tread
The way one goes to make oneself more fair.
76 I witnessed one among them step ahead[37]
To give me his embrace so fondly then
That to a like embrace I too was led.
79 O empty shades, except in aspect! when
Behind that soul three times my hands were knit,
They thrice were brought back to my chest again.
82 I think that marvel on my face was writ,
At which that shadow smiled and drew away,
But still I pressed ahead to follow it.
85 With gentleness he said that I should stay;
I then knew who he was and had to sue
That, to converse a while, he might delay.
88 “Released from mortal flesh, my love for you
Is as it was,” he said, “and on that score
I stop; but you, why do you journey too?”
91 “O my Casella, to return once more
To where I stand I journey thus,” I cried,
“But were you robbed of so much time before?”[38]
94 “I am not wronged if he who may decide
Just as he pleases when to take which shade
Has often stayed my passage,” he replied,
97 “For of a will that’s just his own is made.
But with all peace, for some three months now, he
Has taken all who will to be conveyed.[39]
100 And therefore I had turned to face the sea,
Where Tiber’s streams turn salty, whereupon[40]
That angel took me in most graciously.
103 He’s set his wings now towards that mouth, upon
Whose shores there always is a gathering
Of those who do not sink to Acheron.”
106 “If no new law prevents remembering
Or practicing the songs of love, whose role
It was to quiet all my hankering,”[41]
109 I told him, “let it please you to console
My spirit some, which, coming here confined
In body still, is such a weary soul.”
112 With Love discoursing to me in my mind[42]
His melody so sweetly was begun
That still its sweetness sounds in me, I find.
115 My Master and myself and every one
Of those with him appeared so well content
Naught else could touch the mind of anyone.
118 We all stood quite enraptured and intent
Upon his notes when suddenly there pressed
That grave old man: “What’s this, you souls full spent?[43]
121 What negligence is this, and what this rest?
Run towards the mount, and from the slough be freed
That does not let your God be manifest!”
124 And just as doves, assembled at their feed,
Which, quietly collecting wheat or tares,
Don’t show the wonted proudness of their breed,
127 Quite suddenly will leave behind their fares
If some appearance causes them a scare
Because they are assailed by greater cares,
130 Just so I saw that new-formed covey there
Forsake the song and seek the mountain-side
Like one who goes and yet does not know where.
133 Nor was our parting much less quick in stride.