Canto XXX
CANTO XXX
Now that the procession has halted, the twenty-four elders turn to face the chariot, and one of them calls out in the words of Scripture, “Come, my bride, from Lebanon.” The others echo the cry, and a hundred angels rise up, strewing flowers and proclaiming, “Blessed are you who come.” Like the sun rising through a mist, Beatrice appears through the shower of blooms, clothed in a white veil, a green cloak, and a crimson gown. Trembling, Dante feels the force of his old love again (1–39). He turns in his emotional state only to discover that Virgil has disappeared, and in spite of his paradisiacal surroundings, he cannot restrain his tears (40–54). Through her veil, Beatrice addresses the Pilgrim with the authority of an admiral in command of his ship, rebuking him for not having recognized the way to man’s true happiness, and the Poet is stung by her words (55–81). The angels chant a psalm of intercession on his behalf; then, like the snows on the Apennines before the hot winds from Africa, the ice of his heart melts into a flood of tears (82–99). Beatrice now declares to the angels that had he been properly disposed, Dante’s rich endowment of nature and grace would have come to a marvelous issue. But, though sustained by the face of Beatrice for a time and led by her eyes, when she passed from temporal to eternal life, he abandoned her for false images of the good. So deep had he fallen that only a journey through Hell to witness the souls of the damned could bring him back to the way of salvation. And now, before crossing Lethe, he must pay his debt of penitence (100–145).
1 When that first heaven’s Dipper came to halt,[513]
Which never rose nor set nor would support
A veil of other cloud than guilty fault,
4 And there made each to know his duty’s sort,
Just like the lower Dipper shining for[514]
The one who turns the helm to come to port,
7 Then all the truthful people come before[515]
Between the griffin and the candles’ flame
Turned to the car as if to peace in store.
10 And one, as though sent down in Heaven’s name,
Cried: “Veni, sponsa” thrice “de Libano”;[516]
When this was sung, the others did the same.
13 As at the final call the blest below
Will rise up ready from their tombs to cry
With new-clad voice their alleluias, so
16 A hundred ministers rose up to fly
Above God’s car ad vocem tanti senis,[517]
All heralds of the life that will not die;
19 They shouted: “Benedictus” first “qui venis,”[518]
While tossing flowers round them and on high,
Then: “Manibus, oh, date lilia plenis.”[519]
22 I’ve sometimes seen a rosy color lie
On eastern parts as there begins the prime,
The rest of heaven graced with clear blue sky,
25 And watched the sun with shaded visage climb
So that, through vapors tempering, no doubt,
The eye sustains it for a longer time;
28 Just so, in clouds of flowers strewn about
By angel hands to rise and flutter down,
Some in the chariot and some without,
31 There shone a lady with an olive crown[520]
Above her veil of white, her cloak of green
Upon a hue of living flame, her gown.
34 My spirit in the presence of her mien
Had, trembling, not been crushed by awe thereof
For all this time since she had last been seen.[521]
37 And though my eyes had gained no knowledge of
Her yet, her hidden virtue moved in ways
That made me feel the great force of old love.
40 As soon as her high virtue struck my gaze,
With which I had been pierced already when
I had not yet outgrown my boyhood days,
43 I turned around and to the left again
As trustingly as running children go,
Distressed or frightened, to their mother, then
46 Told Virgil this: “I have, from trembling so,
No drop of blood unshaken left; new-born,
These tokens of the ancient flame I know.”
49 But Virgil had just left us all forlorn,
That Virgil, sweetest father, Virgil, he
To whom, for my salvation, I was sworn.
52 And all the ancient mother lost for me[522]
Could not prevent my cheeks, once washed with dew,
From turning dark with tears to some degree.
55 “O Dante, though your Virgil’s leaving you,
Do not yet weep, these tears do not allow,
Since for another sword you yet shall rue.”
58 Just as an admiral at stern or prow
Observes the work on other ships to cheer
The sailors on to do their best, so now,
61 Upon that car’s left side, I saw appear
(Turned round when I had heard my name arise,
Which of necessity is written here)
64 The lady I had seen in veiling guise
Beneath the festive flowers angels spread;
Beyond the stream, she turned to me her eyes.
67 The veil she wore descending from her head,
Round which the leafage of Minerva passed,[523]
Did not let her be clearly seen, unshed;
70 But with a mien of stern and regal cast,
She then continued on and told me this,
Like one who saves the hottest words till last:
73 “Look here! I am indeed your Beatrice!
How is it that you deigned to climb the mount?
Did you not know that man is here in bliss?”
76 My eyes, first lowered to the limpid fount,
Drew to the grass when seen in it so clear—
Such shame oppressed my brow on her account!
79 As to the child the mother seems severe,
So she appeared to me: a bitter tang
The savor of stern pity offered here.
82 She hushed, and suddenly from angels rang:
“In te speravi, Domine,” although[524]
Past “pedes meos” no one further sang.
85 As on the spine of Italy the snow[525]
Mid living rafters freezes, whirls, and packs
When from Slavonia the winds will blow,[526]
88 Then, melting, trickles downwards through its cracks
If breath from regions lacking shade but nears[527]
To seem a fire that melts the candle’s wax,
91 So too was I without deep sighs or tears
Until the song of those whose notes all run
To match the notes of the eternal spheres.
94 When I heard how in sweet tones just begun
They took my part as if they all had stressed:
“O Lady, why do you so shame this one?”
97 The ice by which my heart had been oppressed,
Now made both breath and water, poured a tide
Through mouth and eyes in anguish from my breast.
100 Still firm upon the chariot’s left side,
With words directed then to that display
Of angels showing pity, she replied:
103 “You so keep watch in the eternal day[528]
No night or sleep can steal from you up there
One step the world might take along its way.
106 And therefore my reply takes greater care
That he who weeps may fathom my appeal,
For one sole measure grief and fault must share.
109 Not only through the work of each great wheel
Directing every seed to some sure end
According as companion stars may deal,
112 But through largesse of graces God would lend,
Which have such lofty vapors for their rain[529]
That near to them our sight cannot ascend,
115 From early life such potencies have lain
In him that each right disposition would
Have made in him a proof of wondrous gain.
118 But if ill-sown, untilled, the land has stood,
As much more rank and wild becomes the whole
As first the vigor of the soil was good.
121 Yet for a time my face sustained his soul:
While showing him my eyes so youthful still,
I led him with me towards a righteous goal.
124 When I had reached my second age’s sill,[530]
I changed my life; but, leaving me, he went[531]
To give himself to someone else’s will.
127 And when from flesh to spirit my ascent
Was made and virtue’s beauty in me grew,
I was less dear and pleasing to his bent.
130 He turned his steps to ways that were not true,
And sought false images of good indeed,
Which never pay in full the promised due.
133 The inspirations granted me to lead
Him back in dreams and other ways as well
Did not avail (he paid so little heed!),
136 But rather, since to such a depth he fell,
All means to save his soul came short instead,
Except to show him people lost in Hell.
139 I visited the portals of the dead,
And there my pleadings, made with weepings, met
The one by whom he has thus far been led.
142 We’d break the high decree that God has set
If this one were to pass through Lethe’s bed
And taste of such a draught before his debt
145 Of penitence is paid as tears are shed.”