Canto XXIII
CANTO XXIII
Virgil calls Dante away from the inverted tree to follow behind the two Latin Poets, and he listens with pleasure to their conversation. Soon they hear souls chanting the psalm verse “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.” Like pilgrims in silent meditation, the spirits of the gluttonous then come up behind them, marvel at the living Dante, and pass on by. Their eye sockets are like sunken caverns, their faces pale, their scaly skin molded to the bone (1–36). As the Pilgrim wonders what degree of famine could have caused such extreme emaciation, one of the shades lets out a cry of recognition. His voice alone reveals him as the Poet’s old friend, Forese Donati since his features are so altered by starvation. When Forese inquires about Dante and his two escorts, the Pilgrim is so overwhelmed by his former comrade’s condition that he is unable to reply (37–60). Forese explains that the fragrance of the fruit and of the water cascading upon the foliage excites the appetite of the shades each time they circle around the terrace to the tree though they gladly endure their present hunger and thirst in reparation for their past self-indulgence (61–75). Having expected to find his late-repentant friend in Ante-Purgatory, the Poet shows surprise that he has already advanced so far up the mountain in the few short years since his death. Forese attributes his progress to the intercession of his devoted wife, Nella, whom he contrasts with the immodest women of present-day Florence, and then prophesies that they shall soon have to pay for their indecency (76–114). Finally able to answer Forese’s original question, Dante recounts how Virgil first rescued him from the dissolute life he once shared with his friend, then guided him through the depths of Hell, and now leads him up and around the terraces of Purgatory, on the road to Beatrice. Statius he identifies merely as a soul just released from its penance, at which the mountain shook on every slope (115–133).
1 And while I still was peering, most intent,
Through leaves of green as one is wont to do
Whose life in stalking birds is quite misspent,
4 “My son,” my more than Father spoke anew,[384]
“Come on ahead, since to the time assigned
A much more useful parceling is due.”
7 I turned my face, and feet as quick, behind
Those sages, who discoursed in such a vein[385]
They made my going of no cost, to find
10 That—there!—in tears and song I heard the strain
“Labia mea, Domine” quite clear,[386]
And it gave birth to both delight and pain.
13 “O my sweet Father, what is this I hear?”
My words began. “Perhaps,” he answered so,
“The shades who loose their knot of debt draw near.”
16 And just as pilgrims, pensive as they go,
On overtaking strangers, turn about
To them in passing, never stopping, though,
19 Just so a crowd of silent souls, devout,
Came up behind us, though more quickly flown,
And passed us by, while marveling throughout.[387]
22 The eyes of each were caves that darkly shone,
Each face was pallid, each so very thin
That all his hide was molded to the bone.
25 I don’t believe that Erysichthon’s skin[388]
Had ever been—from hunger’s fast—so dried
When most he felt the fear of it within.
28 “Behold the people,” said my thoughts inside,
“Who lost Jerusalem when, there with them,
Poor Mary’s beak had pecked her infant’s hide.[389]
31 Their sockets seemed like rings without a gem;
If OMO in the face of man is sought,
There one would surely recognize the M.[390]
34 Who would, not knowing how, have ever thought
That but the scent of fruits and streams avails
For such—by causing cravings—to be wrought?
37 I now was wondering what hunger ails
This group of souls, the cause unknown as yet
Of both their leanness and their wretched scales,
40 When—there!—a shadow turned his eyes deep set
Within his skull and stared, intent; “What grace
Is this,” he cried aloud, “that I have met?”
43 I never should have known him from his face;
But in his voice there was made plain to me
That which his looks had stricken from their place.
46 And so, this spark rekindled thoroughly
My knowledge of the features change remade;
Forese’s face I once again could see.[391]
49 “Oh, do not heed my lack of flesh,” he prayed,
“And neither heed these scabs so dried and bleak,
Which cause the color of my skin to fade.
52 But tell me of yourself and tell, I seek,
Who those two souls are there, escorting you;
Do not continue thus with me, but speak!”
55 “Your face, for which, when dead, I wept for too,
Gives no less cause for weeping at you there,”
I answered, “seeing it so wrung askew.
58 For God’s sake, tell me, what so strips you bare?
Don’t make me speak while dazzled by this sight,
For he speaks ill whose will is otherwhere.”
61 He said: “By the Eternal Counsel’s might
Comes power to the water and the plant
You left behind, by which I’ve grown so slight.
64 Once following too much their craving’s slant,
The people here, whom thirst and hunger flay,
Are all made holy, as they weep and chant.
67 The fragrance of the fruit and of the spray
That is diffused upon the leaves of green
Enflames desire to eat and drink away,
70 And not just once, for as we circle, lean,
Around this road, new pains will come to be—
Did I say pain? It’s solace that I mean.
73 The very will that drives us to the tree
Led Christ to call ‘Elí’ with gladsome cry,[392]
When by the blood He shed He set us free.”
76 “Forese, from that day on which,” said I,
“You left the world for better life ahead
Until this time, five years have not rolled by.[393]
79 If all your strength for further sin had fled
Before the hour good sorrow would appear,
By which to God the soul again is wed,
82 How is it you’ve already come up here?
I thought that I would find you there below,
Where time repays lost time for every year.”[394]
85 He said: “My Nella with her tearful flow[395]
So soon has led me up the mountain stairs
To drink from this sweet wormwood of my woe;
88 For by her sighs and by her pious prayers
She’s brought me from the slope where they await
And freed me from the other circles’ cares.[396]
91 And just as precious is my widowed mate
And dear to God—I loved her once so well!—
As she’s alone in doing good to date.[397]
94 For in Barbagia of Sardegna dwell
More chaste and modest women than are they
Where I left her in that Barbagian cell.[398]
97 Oh what, sweet brother, would you have me say?
Already at a future time I stare,
Which from this hour will not be far away,
100 When from her pulpits Florence shall declare
That no audacious female citizen
Shall go about with breasts and nipples bare.
103 What maid of Barbary, what Saracen,
To keep her covered ever once had need
Of priestly or of other regimen?[399]
106 But if they only knew, that shameless breed,
For what swift Heaven readies them, believe,
Their mouths would open now to howl indeed.
109 For if my foresight here does not deceive,
Of those consoled by lullabies not one
Will grow a beard before those women grieve.[400]
112 Ah, brother, hide yourself no more, be done!
As you can see, not only I but all
Are gazing there where you have blocked the sun.”
115 I therefore answered him: “If you recall
What you were once with me and I with you,
Such memories will spread a heavy pall.
118 The one preceding is the spirit who
Withdrew me from that life the other day
Just as his sister showed her fullest view”[401]
121 (I pointed to the sun). “He led the way
Through deepest night of those most truly dead;[402]
I’ve followed him in truly fleshly clay.
124 And only by his help have I been led
From there to mount and circle round this hill
That straightens those the world had bent instead.
127 He says he’ll lend me company until
I’ve come to reach the place of Beatrice,
And there I must remain without his skill.
130 And Virgil is the one who told me this,”
(I signaled him); “the other’s he, O scrag,
For whom just now, in order to dismiss
133 His soul from here, your realm shook every crag.”