but your people answer eagerly
but your people answer eagerly
without being called, and cry: ‘I
bend to the task.’
Now be glad, since you have
good reason for it: you who are rich,
at peace, full of wisdom. If I speak
truly, the fact will not belie it.
Athens and Sparta that framed the
ancient laws, and were so rich in
civic arts, gave a mere hint of how
393
to live well, compared to you, who makes such subtle provision that
what you spin in October does not
last till mid-November. How often
in the time you remember, you have
altered laws, money, offices and
customs, and renewed you limbs!
And if you consider carefully, and
see clearly, you will see yourself
like the sick patient, who finds no
rest on the bed of down, but by
twisting about, escapes her pain.
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After the noble and joyful
greetings had been exchanged three
or four times, Sordello drew himself
back and said: ‘Who are you?’ My
leader answered, then: ‘Before those
spirits worthy to climb to God were
394
bones had been buried by Octavian.
I am Virgil, and I lost Heaven for no
other sin than for not having faith.
Sordello seemed like someone
who suddenly sees something, in
front of him, that he marvels at, and
believes, and does not believe,
saying: ‘It is, is not,’ and he bent his
forehead, and turned back, humbly,
towards my guide, and embraced
him as the inferior person does. He
said: ‘O Glory of Latin, through
whom our language showed its
power, O eternal praise of the place
from which I sprang, what merit or
favour will you show me? If I am
worthy to hear your words, tell me
if you come from Hell, and from
what circle.’
He answered him: ‘I came here,
through all the circles of the
395
396
Heaven moved me, and with that I
come. Not for the done, but for the
undone, I lost the vision of the high
Sun, you seek, and who was known
too late by me. Down there, there is
a place not saddened by torment, but
only darkness, where the grief does
not sound as moaning, only sighs.
There, I am, with the innocent
babes, who were bitten by the teeth
of death, before they were baptised
and exempt from human sin. There I
am, with those who did not clothe
themselves with the three holy
virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity, but
without sin, knew the others and
followed them all.
But if you know, and can, give
us some indication of how we might
come most quickly to the place
397
beginning.’
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He answered: ‘No fixed place is
set for us: I am allowed to go up and
round: I act as guide, beside you, as
far as I may go. But see now how
the day is declining, and we cannot climb by night, therefore it would be
well to think of a good place to rest.
Here are some spirits, on the right,
apart: if you allow me I will take
you to them, and they will be known
to you, not without joy.’
Virgil replied: ‘How is that?
Would he who wished to climb by
night be prevented by others, or
would he not climb because he
398
could not?’ And the good Sordello drew his finger along the ground,
saying: ‘See, you could not even
cross this line after sunset, not
because anything other than the
darkness of night hinders you from
going upwards, which obstructs the
will through the will’s
powerlessness. Truly, you could
return downwards at night, and
walk, straying, along the
mountainside while the horizon
shuts up the day.’
Then my lord, as if wondering,
said: ‘Take us, then, where you say
we might have joy in resting.’
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We had gone a short distance,
when I saw that the mountain was
399
scooped out, in the way that valleys are hollowed out here. The shade
said: ‘We will go there, where the
mountainside makes a cradle of
itself, and wait for the new day. The
winding track, that led us to the side
of the hollow, there where the
valley’s rim more than half-fades
out, was neither steep nor flat. Gold
and fine silver; crimson and white
cloth; bright, clear Indian wood;
freshly mined emerald at the
moment it is split; would all be
surpassed in colour by the grass and
flowers, set inside that fold of
ground, as the lesser is surpassed,
by the greater.
Not only had Nature painted
there, but had made there, one
unknown and indefinable perfume,
from the sweetness of a thousand
scents. There I saw souls, sitting
400
singing 6DOYH5HJLQD, who could not be seen from outside, because of the
valley’s depth.
The Mantuan, who had led us
aside, began to speak: ‘Do not wish
me to lead you among them, before
the little sun sinks to its nest. You
will see the faces and actions of
them better from this terrace, than if
received among them down in the
valley.
He who sits highest, and has the
aspect of having left undone what
he should have done, and does not
move his lips to the others’ singing,
was the Emperor Rudolph, who might have healed the wounds that
meant Italy’s death, so that she is
helped, too late, by another. The
next, who seems to be comforting
him, ruled Bohemia, the land where
401
the water rises that the Moldau carries down to the Elbe, and the
Elbe to the sea. He was named
Ottocar, and, even in his swaddling clothes, was far better than bearded
Wenceslas his son, whom lust and sloth consume,.
And that snub-nosed one, Philip
the Third, who seems so deep in counsel with, Henry of Navarre,
who has so kindly a manner, died
fleeing, and withering the lily: look
at how he strikes his chest. See, the
other, sighing, has made a rest for
his cheek with the palm of his hand.
They are the father and the father-
in-law of Philip the Fair, the plague of France: they know his wicked
and sordid life, and from that the
grief comes that so pierces them.
He who seems so stout of limb,
Peter of Aragon, who blends his 402
singing with Charles of Anjou, him of the prominent nose, was
cinctured with the cord of every
virtue. And if the young man, who
sits behind him, had remained king
after him, the worth would have
flowed from vessel to vessel: which
may not be said of his other heirs.
James and Frederick have the kingdoms: but no one has the better
heritage. Human worth rarely
increases through its branches: and
this He wills who creates it, so that
it may be asked for of him.
My words apply to Charles, the
large-nosed one, as well, no less
than to Peter the other, who sings
with him: because of his son Apulia and Provence now groan. So is that
plant more degenerate in its seed, by
as much as Constance, Peter’s wife, still boasts of her husband, more
403
than Beatrice or Margaret do of the other.
See the king of the simple life,
sitting there alone, Henry the Third
of England: he had a better increase
in his branches. That one, looking
up, who humbles himself lower
among them, is William the
Marquis of Montferrat, because of whom the town of Alessandria, in
Piedmont, and its war, made
Montferrat, and Canavese, weep.
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It was now that hour which
makes the thoughts, of those who
voyage, turn back, and melts their
hearts, on the day when they have
said goodbye to their sweet friends;
and which pierces the new pilgrim
404
with love, when he hears the distant chimes, that seem to mourn the
dying day; when I began to neglect
my sense of hearing, and to gaze, at
one of the spirits, who rose, and
begged a hearing with his hand.
He joined his palms, and raised
them, fixing his eyes on the east, as
though saying, to God: ‘I care for
nothing else.’ ‘Te lucis ante,’ issued so devotedly from his mouth, and
with such sweet notes, that it rapt
me from my thoughts. And then the
others accompanied him through the
whole hymn, sweetly and devoutly,
with their eyes locked on the eternal
spheres.
Reader, focus your eyes here on
the truth, since the veil is now so
thin, that surely to pass within is
easy. I saw that noble troop gaze
upwards after that, silently, pale and
405
humble, as if in hope: and I saw two Angels come out from the heights,
and descend with two burning
swords, that were cut short, and
blunted. Their clothes were green as
tender newborn leaves, trailing
behind, stirred and fanned, by their
green wings.
One came to rest a little way
above us, and the other descended
on the opposite bank, so that the
people were between them. I saw
their blonde hair, clearly: but the
eye was dazzled, by their faces, like
a sense confounded by excess.
Sordello said: ‘Both come from
Mary’s breast, to guard the valley, because of the serpent that will now
come.’ At which I, who did not
know which way it would come,
turned, and, icy cold, placed myself
beside the trusted shoulders. And
406
Sordello again said: ‘Now we go into the valley, among the great
souls, and we will talk with them: it
will be a great joy to them to see
you.
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I only think I went down three
paces, and was down, and saw one
who gazed at me, solely, as though
he wished to know who I was.
It was now the time when the air was darkening, but not so dark that
was what hidden from both our eyes
before, now grew clear. He
approached me, and I said to him:
‘Noble Judge Nino, how it pleased me when I knew you, and knew that
you were not among the damned!
407
No kind greeting was left unsaid between us: then he asked: ‘How
long is it since you came, over the
distant waters, to the foot of the
Mount? I said: ‘O, I came from the
depths of the sad regions this
morning, and I am in my first life,
though by this journey I hope to
gain the other.’
And when they heard my answer,
Sordello and he shrank back, like
people who are suddenly
bewildered. One turned to Virgil,
and the other to someone seated
there, saying: ‘Conrad, rise: come
and see what God, in his grace, has
willed.’ Then, turning to me: ‘By
that singular grace, you owe to him
who hides his first cause so deep,
there is no path to it, tell my
Giovanna, when you are over the wide waters, to pray for me, there,
408
where the innocent are heard. I do not think her mother, Beatrice, still loves me, since she has changed her
widow’s weeds, which, unhappily,
she will long for once again. In her,
is easily known, how long the fire of
love endures, in woman, if sight and
touch do not relight it, often. The
viper that Galeazzo, the Milanese, emblazons on his shield, will not
gain her as fair a tomb, as my Pisan
cockerel would have done.’ So he
spoke, his face stamped with the
mark of that righteous fervour, that
with due reason, burns in the breast.
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My eager eyes were turned
towards Heaven again, there, where
the stars are slowest, like a wheel
409
close to the axle, and my leader said: ‘Son, what do you stare at, up
there?’ And I to him: ‘At
those three flames that the whole pole here is burning with.’ And he
to me: ‘The four bright stars, you
saw this morning, are low, on the
other side, and these have risen
where they were.’
As he was speaking, Sordello
drew him towards himself, saying:
‘Look, there is our enemy,’ and
pointed his finger, so that he would
look in that direction. There was a
snake, on that side, where the little
valley has no barrier, perhaps such a
one as gave Eve the bitter fruit. The evil reptile slid through the grass
and flowers, now and again,
twisting its head towards its tail,
licking, like a beast grooming itself.
410
411
I did not see, and so I cannot tell, how the celestial falcons rose: but I
saw both, clearly, in flight. Hearing
the green wings cutting the air, the
serpent fled, and the Angels
wheeled round, flying as one, back
to their places.
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The shade who had drawn close
to the Judge when he called, was not
freed from gazing at me, for even a
moment, during all that threat. He
began: ‘May that lamp that leads
you higher, find as much fuel, in
your will, as is needed to reach the
enamelled summit: if you know true
news of Valdimagra, or its region,
tell it to me, who was once mighty,
there. I was called Conrad
412
descended from him: I had that love
for my own, that here is purified.’
I said to him: ‘O, I have never
been through your lands, but where
do men live throughout Europe, to
whom they are not known? The
fame that honours your house,
proclaims its lords abroad, and
proclaims their country, so that he,
who has never been there, knows it.
And, as I pray that I may go above, I
swear to you, that your honoured
race does not impair the glory of the
coffer and the sword. Nature and
custom grant it such privilege, that it
alone walks rightly, and scorns the
evil way, for all that a guilty head
twists the world.’
And he: ‘Now go, since the sun
will not rest, seven times, in Aries,
that couch that the Ram covers, and
413
straddles with all four feet, before this courteous opinion is fixed in
your brain, with a deeper pinning
than other men’s words, if the
course of justice is not halted.’
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Now the moon’s aurora, mistress
of ancient Tithonus, was whitening at the eastern terrace, free of her
lover’s arms; her forehead glittering
with jewels, set in the form of the
chill creature that stings people with
its tail; and, where we were,
Night had climbed two of the steps by which she mounts, and the third
was already furling its wings; when
I who had in me something of the
old Adam, overcome by sleep, sank 414
down on the grass, where all five of us were already seated.
At the hour, near dawn, when
the swallow begins her sad songs, in memory, perhaps, of her former
pain, and when the mind is almost
prophetic, more of a wanderer from
the body, and less imprisoned by
thought, I imagined I saw an eagle,
in a dream, poised in the sky, on outspread wings, with golden
plumage, and intent to swoop. And I
seemed to be there when Ganymede
left his own, snatched up by Jupiter,
to the high senate.
I thought, inwardly: ‘Perhaps,
through custom, he only strikes
here, and perhaps he disdains to
carry anyone away in his talons
from any other place.’ Then it
seemed to me, that wheeling for a
while, terrible as lightning, he
415
416
upwards, as far as the sphere of fire.
There he and I seemed to burn, and
the flames of vision so scorched me,
that my sleep was broken.
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Achilles was no less startled, turning his waking eyes about, not
knowing where he was, when
Thetis, his mother, carried him away, in her arms, as he slept, from
Chiron to the island of Scyros, the place from which the Greeks, later,
made him go to the Trojan war, than
I was as soon as sleep had left my
face: and I grew pale, like a man
chilled with fear. My comforter was
the only one with me, and the sun
was already more than two hours
417
towards the sea.
My lord said: ‘Have no fear, be
assured, since we are in a good
position: do not shrink back, but put
out all your strength. You have now
reached Purgatory: there, see, the
cliff that circles it: see the entrance,
there, where it seems cleft.
Before, in the dawn, that
precedes the day, when your spirit
was asleep in you, among the
flowers, with which it is all
beautified below, a Lady came, and
said: I am Lucia: Let me take this man, who sleeps, and I will help
him on his way.’ Sordello was left
behind with the other noble forms.
She took you, and came on
upwards, as day brightened, and I
followed in her track. Here she
placed you, and her lovely eyes first
418
showed me that open passage: then she, and sleep, together, vanished.’
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I felt changed, as a man in fear
does who is reassured, and who
exchanges comfort for fear, when
the truth is revealed to him. When
my leader saw me freed from
anxiety, he moved up by the cliff,
and I followed, towards the heights.
Reader, you know, clearly, that I
must enrich my theme, so do not
wonder if I support it with greater
art. We drew close, and were at a
point, just there where a break, like
a fissure, that divides the cliff, first
appeared to me. I saw a gate, and
three steps, of various colours,
below it, to reach it, and a keeper,
419
who as yet said nothing. And as I looked closer, there, I saw that,
seated as he was on the top step,
there was that in his face I could not
endure. He held a naked blade in his
hand, that reflected the sun’s rays
towards us, so that I turned my eyes
towards it, often, but in vain.
He began to speak: ‘Say, what
you want, from where you stand:
where is your escort? Be careful that
coming up here does not harm you!’
My master answered: ‘A heavenly
Lady, who has good knowledge of
these things, said to us, just now:
‘Go there, that is the gate.’ ‘And may she quicken your steps towards
the good,’ the courteous doorkeeper
began again: ‘come then, towards
our stair.’
Where we came, the first step
was of white marble, so smooth and
420
polished that I was reflected there, as I appear. The second was darker
than a dark blue-grey, of a rough,
calcined stone, cracked in its length
and breadth. The third, which is
massed above them, seemed like red
porphyry to me, fiery as blood
spurting from an artery. God’s
Angel kept both his feet on this,
seated at the threshold, which
seemed, to me, to be of adamantine
stone.
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My guide led me, willingly, up
the three steps, saying: ‘Ask humbly
for the bolt to be drawn.’ I flung
myself, devoutly, at the sacred feet:
I begged him for pity’s sake to open
421
the gate to me: but first I struck myself three times on the breast.
He inscribed seven letter 3’s on
my forehead, with the tip of his
sword, and said: ‘Cleanse these
wounds when you are inside.’
Ashes, or dry earth, would be at one
with the colour of his robe, and he drew two keys out from under it.
One was of gold, and the other of
silver: he did that to the gate that
satisfied me, first with the white,
and then the yellow. He said:
‘Whenever one of these keys fails,
so that it does not turn in the lock
correctly, the way is not open. The
one is more precious, but the other
needs great skill and intellect,
before it works, since it is the one
that unties the knot. I hold them, for
Peter, and he told me to err by opening it, rather than keeping it
422
themselves at my feet.’
Then he pushed the door of the
sacred gateway, saying: ‘Enter, but I
let you know, that whoever looks
behind, returns outside, again.’ The
doors of the Tarpeian treasury, did
not groan as harshly, or as much,
when good Metellus was dragged from them, so that it remained poor
afterwards, as the pivots of that
sacred door, which are of strong and
ringing metal, when they were
turned in their sockets.
I turned, listening for a first
sound, and seemed to hear
7H 'HXP /DXGDPXV, in a voice intermingled with sweet music.
What I heard gave me just the kind
of feeling we receive when people
sing to the accompaniment of an
423
clear, and now lost.
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When we were beyond the
threshold of the gate, which the
soul’s worse love neglects, making
the crooked way seem straight
instead, I heard it close again, with a
ringing sound: but if I had turned
my eyes towards it, what could have
excused the fault?
We climbed through a broken
rock, which was moving on this side
and on that, like a wave that ebbs
and flows. My leader began: ‘Here
we must use a little skill, in keeping
near, now here, now there, to the
side that is receding’ And this made
424
our steps so slow that the wandering circle of the moon regained its bed
to sink again to rest, before we were
out of that needle’s eye.
But when we were free, and in
the open, above, where the Mount is
set back, I, being weary, and both of
us uncertain of our way, we stood
still, on a level space, more lonely
than a road through a desert. The
length of three human bodies would
span it, from its brink where it
borders the void, to the foot of the
high bank that ascends sheer. And
this terrace appeared to me like that,
as far as my eye could wing in
flight, now to the left, and then to
the right.
Our feet had not yet moved along
it, when I saw that the encircling
cliff, which, being vertical, lacked
any means of ascent, was pure white
425
marble, and beautified with friezes, so that not merely Polycletus, but Nature also, would be put to shame
by it.
In front of us, so vividly
sculpted, in a gentle attitude, that it
did not seem a dumb image, the
Angel Gabriel, appeared, who came to earth, with the annunciation of
that peace, wept for, in vain, for so
many years, that opened Heaven to
us, after the long exile. You would
have sworn he was saying: ‘$YH,’
since She was fashioned there, who turned the key to open the supreme
Love. And these words were
imprinted in her aspect, as clearly as
a figure stamped in wax, (FFH
DQFLOOD 'HL: behold the servant of
God.
426
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‘Do not keep your attention on
one place alone’ said the sweet
master, who had me on that side of
him where the heart is: at which I
moved my eyes about, and saw
another story set in the rock, behind
Mary, on the side where he was,
who urged me onwards.
There, on the very marble, the
cart and oxen were engraved,
pulling the sacred Ark of the
Covenant, which makes us fear, by
Uzzah’s example, an office not committed to us. People appeared in
front, and the whole crowd, divided
into seven choirs, made one of my
senses say ‘No’ they do not sing,’
another say ‘Yes, they do.’
Similarly, eyes and nose disagreed,
427
between yes and no, over the smoke of incense depicted there.
There King David, the humble Psalmist, went, dancing, girt up, in
front of the blessed tabernacle: and
he was, in that moment, more, and
less, than King. Michal, Saul’s
daughter, was figured opposite,
looking on: a woman sad and
scornful. I moved my feet from the
place where I stood, to look closely
at another story, which shone white
in front of me, beyond Michal.
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There the high glory of the
Roman prince was retold whose
worth moved Gregory
to
intercession, and to great victory: I
speak of the Emperor Trajan: and at 428
his bridle was a poor widow, in the attitude of tearfulness and grief. A
crowd, of horsemen, trampling,
appeared round him, and the gold
eagles, above him, moved visibly in
the wind. The poor woman, among
all these, seemed to say: ‘My lord,
give me vengeance for my son who
was killed, at which my heart is
pierced.’ And Trajan seemed to
answer her: ‘Now, wait, till I
return.’ And she, like a person,
urgent with sorrow: ‘My lord, what
if you do not return?’ And he: ‘One
who will be in place of me will do
it.’ And she: ‘What merit will
another’s good deed be to you, if
you forget your own?’ At which he
said: ‘Now be comforted, since I
must fulfil my duty before I go:
justice wills it, and pity holds me
here.’
429
unfamiliar to him, made this speech
visible, which is new to us, because
it is not found here.
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While I was joying in seeing the
images, of such great humility,
precious to look at, for their
Maker’s sake, the poet murmured:
‘See, here, many people, but their
steps are few: they will send us on
to the high stairs.’ My eyes, that
were intent on gazing to find new
things, willingly, were not slow in
turning towards him.
Reader, I would not wish you to
be scared away from a good
intention, by hearing how God wills
that the debt is paid. Pay no
430
suffering: think of what follows it:
think that, at worst, it cannot last
beyond the great Judgement.
I began: ‘Master, those whom I
see coming towards us do not seem
like persons, but I do not know what
they look like, my sight errs so
much.’ And he to me: ‘The heavy
weight of their punishment, doubles
them to the ground, so that my eyes,
at first, were troubled by them. But
look steadily there, and disentangle
with your sight what is coming
beneath those stones: you can see,
already, how each one beats his
breast.’
O proud Christians, weary and
wretched, who, infirm in the mind’s
vision, put your trust in downward
steps: do you not see that we are
caterpillars, born to form the angelic
431
butterfly, that flies to judgement without defence? Why does you
mind soar to the heights, since you
are defective insects, even as the
caterpillar is, in which the form is
lacking?
As a figure, with knees joined to
chest, is sometimes seen, carved as
a corbel, to support a ceiling or a
roof, which though unreal, creates a
real discomfort in those who see it,
even so, I saw these, when I paid
attention. Truly, they were more or
less bent down, depending as to
whether they were weighted more or
less, and the one who had most
patience in its bearing, seemed to
say, weeping: ‘I can no more.’
432
433
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‘O our Father, who are in
Heaven, not because of your
limitation, but because of the greater
love you have for your first sublime
works, praised be your name and
worth by every creature, as it is
fitting to give thanks for your sweet
outpourings. May the peace of your
kingdom come to us, since we
cannot reach it by ourselves, despite
all our intellect, if it does not come
to us itself. As Angels sacrifice their
will to yours, singing +RVDQQD: so
may men sacrifice theirs. Give us
this day our daily bread, without
which he who labours to advance,
goes backward, through this harsh
desert. And forgive in loving-
434
kindness, as we forgive everyone, the evil we have suffered, and judge
us not by what we deserve. Do not
test our virtue, that is easily
conquered, against the ancient
enemy, but deliver us from him who
tempts it. And this last prayer, dear
Lord, is not made on our behalf,
since we do not need it, but for
those we have left behind.’
So those shades, praying good
speed to us and themselves, went on
beneath their burdens, like those
that we sometimes dream of, weary,
and unequal in torment, all around
the first terrace, purging away the
mists of the world.
If ever a good word is said, there,
for us, by those who have their will
rooted in the good, what can we say
or do for them, here? Truly we
should help them wash away the
435
436
stain, that they have carried from here, so that, light and pure, they
might issue to the starry spheres.
3XUJDWRULR
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Virgil said: ‘Ah, that justice and
mercy might soon disburden you, so
that you might spread your wings,
that will lift you as you desire, show
us, now, in which direction we
might go, most quickly, to the
stairway: and if there is more than
one way, tell us which one ascends
least steeply, because he, who
comes along with me, is slow in
climbing, despite his will, because
of the burden of the flesh of Adam, he is clothed with.’
It was not obvious where the
words came from, which were
437
returned to those that he, whom I followed, had said, but this was the
reply: ‘Come with us, to the right,
along the cliff, and you will find the
pass that a living man can ascend.
And if I were not obstructed by the
stone that weighs my proud neck
down, so that I have to carry my
head low, I would look at him, who
is yet alive, who does not name
himself, to see if I know him, and to
make him pity this burden.
I was Italian, and the son of a
great Tuscan: my father was
Gugliemo Aldobrandesco: I do not know if his name was ever known to
you. My ancestors’ ancient blood
and noble actions, made me so
arrogant that I held all men in such
scorn, not thinking of our common
mother, that it was the death of me,
as the Sienese, and every child in
438
Omberto, and it is not me alone that
pride does ill to, because it has
dragged all my companions to
misfortune. And here, until God is
satisfied, I must carry this burden
among the dead, since I did not do
so among the living.’
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Listening, I had bent my head
down, and one of them, not he who
was speaking, twisted himself
beneath the weight that obstructed
him: and saw me, and knew me, and
was calling out, keeping his eyes
fixed on me, who all bent down was
moving along with them, with
difficulty.
439
I said to him: ‘O, are you not
Oderisi, the glory of Gubbio, and the glory of that art which in Paris
they call ‘Illumination’?’ He said:
‘Brother, the leaves that
Franco of Bologna paints are more pleasing: the glory is all his now,
and mine in part. In truth, I would
not have been so humble while I
lived, because of the great desire to
excel, that my heart was fixed on.
Here the debt is paid for such pride:
and I would still not be here, if it
were not that, having power to sin, I
turned to God.
O empty glory of human power:
how short the green leaves at its
summit last, even if it is not buried
by dark ages! Cimabue thought to lead the field, in painting, and now
Giotto is the cry, so that the other’s fame is eclipsed. Even so, one
440
Guido, Cavalcanti, has taken from
Guinicelli, the other, the glory of our language: and perhaps one is
born who will chase both from the
nest.
Worldly Fame is nothing but a
breath of wind, that now blows here,
and now there, and changes name as
it changes direction. What more
fame will you have, before a
thousand years are gone, if you
disburden yourself of your flesh
when old, than if you had died
before you were done with childish
prattle? It is a shorter moment, in
eternity, than the twinkling of an
eye is to the orbit that circles
slowest in Heaven.
All Tuscany rang with the noise
of him who moves so slowly in front of me, along the road, and now
there is hardly a whisper of him in
441
Siena, where he was lord, when
Florence’s fury was destroyed,
when she was prouder then, than she
is now degraded. Your Reputation is
like the colour of the grass, that
comes and goes, and he through
whom it springs green from the
earth, discolours it.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,
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And I to him: ‘Your true speech
fills my heart with holy humility,
and deflates my swollen pride, but
who is he whom you were speaking
of just now?’ He answered: ‘That is
Provenzan Salvani, and he is here because he presumed to grasp all
Siena in his hand. So he goes, and
has gone, without rest, since he
died: such coin they pay, to render
442
satisfaction, who were too bold over there.’
And I: ‘If spirits who wait until
the brink of death, before they
repent, are down below, and do not
climb up here, unless holy prayers
help them, till as much time has
passed as they once lived, how has
his coming here been allowed him?’
He replied: ‘When he lived in
highest state, he stationed himself in
the marketplace at Siena, of his own
free will, putting aside all shame,
and made himself quiver in every
vein, to deliver a friend from the
pain he was suffering, in Charles’s
prison.
I will say no more, and I know
that I speak darkly, but a short time
will pass and your neighbours will
act such that you will be able to
understand the beggar’s shame. That
443
action released him from those
confines.’
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I went alongside the burdened
spirit, in step, like oxen under the
yoke, as long as the sweet teacher
allowed it. But when Virgil said:
‘Leave him, and press on, since here
it is best if each drives on his boat
with sail and oars, and all his
strength,’ I stood erect, as required
for walking, although my thoughts
remained bowed down and
humbled.
I had moved, and was following,
willingly, in my master’s steps, and
both of us were already showing
how much lighter of foot we were,
when he said to me: ‘Turn your eyes
444
downward: it will be good for you to look beneath your feet, to ease
the journey. As tombstones in the
ground, over the dead, carry the
figures of who they were before, so
that there may be a memory of
them, and often cause men to weep
for them, through that thorn of
memory that only pricks the
merciful, so I saw all the roadway
that projects from the mountainside,
sculpted in relief there, but of better
likeness, because of the artistry.
On one side, I saw Satan, who was created far nobler than any
other creature, falling like lightning
from Heaven.
On the other side I saw Briareus,
transfixed by the celestial
thunderbolt, lying on the ground,
heavy with the chill of death. I saw
Apollo Thymbraeus: I saw Mars and 445
Pallas Athene, still armed, with
Jupiter their father, gazing at the scattered limbs of the Giants.
I saw Nimrod at the foot of his great tower of Babel, as if
bewildered, and looking at the
people, who shared his pride, in
Shinar.
O Niobe, with what sorrowful eyes I saw you sculpted in the
roadway, between your seven dead
sons and seven dead daughters!
O Saul, how you were shown
there, dead by your own sword, on
Gilboa, that never felt rain or dew
after!
O foolish Arachne, already half spider, so I saw you, saddened,
amongst the tatters of your work,
woven by you to your own harm!
446
447
O Rehoboam, now your image seems to threaten no longer, but a
chariot carries you away, terrified,
before chase is given!
Again, the hard pavement
showed, how Alcmaeon made the gift of the luckless necklace costly
to his mother Eriphyle.
It showed how Sennacherib’s
sons flung themselves on him in the
Temple, and how they left him
there, dead.
It showed the cruel slaughter and
destruction that Tomyris generated, at the time when she said, to the
dead Cyrus: ‘You thirsted for blood, now take your fill of blood!’
It showed how the Assyrians fled
in a rout, after Holofernes was killed, and also the remains of the
murder.
448
I saw Troy in ashes and ruin: O
Ilion, how low and debased, the
sculpture, that is visible there,
showed you.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,, 7KH
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What master was it, of the brush,
or the engraving tool, who drew the
lines and shadows that would make
every subtle intellect gaze at them?
The dead seemed dead, and the
living, living: he who saw the reality
of all the tales I trod on, while I
went by, bent down, saw no better
than me. Be proud then, children of, Eve and on with your haughty faces,
and do not bow your heads, in case
you see your path of sin!
Already we had circled more of
the Mount, and more of the sun’s
449
path was spent, than the un-free mind judged so, when he, who was
always going on, alert, in front of
me, began to say: ‘Lift your head
up, this is no time to go absorbed
like that: see an Angel there who is
preparing to come towards us: look
how the sixth handmaiden is returning from her hour’s service.
Be reverent in your bearing, and in
your look, so that it may gladden
him to send us on upward: consider,
that this day never dawns again.
I was well used to his warnings
never to lose time, so that he could
not speak to me unclearly on that
matter. The beautiful creature came
to us, robed in white, and, in his
face, the aspect of the glimmering
morning star. He opened his arms,
and then spread his wings. He said:
‘Come: here are the steps, nearby,
450
and the climb now is easily made.’
Few are those who do come, at this
invitation. O human race, born to
soar, why do you fall so, at a breath
of wind?
He led us to where the rock was
cleft: there he beat his wings against
my forehead: then he promised me a
safe journey.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,,
7KHILUVWOHWWHU3 LVQRZHUDVHG
As the ascent is broken on the
right by steps, made in the times
when the public records, and the standard measure, were safe, that
climb the hill where San Miniato
stands, looking down on Florence,
that well-guided city, over the Ponte
Rubaconte, so is this gully made
easier, that here falls steeply from
451
the next terrace, but so that the high rock grazes it on either side.
While we were changing our
direction, voices sang, so sweetly no
speech could describe it:
‘%HDWLSDXSHUHVVSLULWX, blessed are the poor in spirit.’ Ah! How different
these openings are from Hell’s: here
we enter with songs, and, down
there, with savage groaning.
Now we were climbing by the
sacred stair, and it seemed to me
that I was much lighter, than I
seemed to be on the terrace, at
which I said: ‘Master, say, what
heavy weight has been lifted from
me, so that I hardly feel any effort in
moving?’ He answered: ‘When the
letter 3’s, that have stayed on your
face, but are almost invisible, shall
be erased completely, like that first
one, you feet will be so permeated
452
by goodness, that not only will they not feel it as effort, but it will be a
pleasure to them to be urged on.’
Then, like someone who goes
along with something on their face,
unknown to them, except when
another’s gestures make them guess,
so that the hand lends its help to
make sure, searches, and finds, and
carries out the task that cannot be
done by looking, I, with the fingers
of my right hand outspread, found
only six letters, of those that he, the
key-holder, had cut on me, over the
temples: at which my guide, seeing
it, smiled.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,,, 7KH
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453
stairway, where the Mount, that
frees us from evil by our ascent, is
terraced for a second time. There a
cornice, like the first, loops round
the hill, except that its curve is
sharper. There is no shadow there,
or decoration: the cliff appears so
naked, and the path level, with the
livid colour of the stone.
The poet was saying: ‘If we wait
here for people to ask our way of, I
am afraid our decision may be
delayed too long.’ Then he set his
eyes intently on the sun: he made
his right a pivot, and turned his left
side, saying: ‘O sweet light, trusting
in whom I enter on the new track,
lead us on, as we, would be led,
within ourselves: you give the world
warmth, you shine upon it: if no
454
other reason urges otherwise, your rays must always be our guide.’
We, by our eager will, in a short
time, had already gone as far, there,
as counts for a mile here, when we
heard, not saw, spirits flying
towards us, granting courteous
invitations to love’s feast. The
first voice that passed by in flight said loudly: ‘9LQXP QRQ KDEHQW:
they have no wine,’ and went by,
repeating it behind us.
And before it was completely
lost to hearing, due to distance,
another voice passed by, crying: ‘I
am Orestes, ’ and also did not stay. I said: ‘O, father, what voices are
these,’ and as I asked, there was a
third voice saying: ‘Love those who
have shown you hatred.’ And the
good master said: ‘This circle
scourges the sin of Envy, and so the
455
cords of the whip are made of Love.
The curb or bit is of the opposite
sound: I think you will hear it, I
believe, before you reach the Pass of
Forgiveness.
But fix your gaze steadily
through the air, and you will see
people seated in front of us, along
the cliff.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,,, 7KH
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Then my eyes opened wider than
before: I looked in front and saw
shades with cloaks of the same
colour as the stone. And when we
were a little nearer, I heard a cry:
‘Mary, pray for us,’ and a cry:
‘Michael, Peter, and all the Saints.’
I do not believe there is anyone
on earth so hardened, that they
456
compassion, at what I saw then:
when I had come near them so that
their features were clear to me,
heavy tears were wrung from my
eyes. They seemed to me to be
covered with coarse haircloth: each
supported the other with a shoulder:
and each was supported, by the cliff.
Like this, the blind, lacking
means, sit near the confessionals,
begging for alms, and sink their
heads upon one another, so that pity
may be stirred quickly in people, not
only by their words, but by their
aspects, that plead no less. And as
the sun does not help the blind, so
Heaven’s light will not be generous
to the shades I speak of, since an
iron wire pierces their eyelids, and
stitches them completely shut, just
457
458
as is done to a wild hawk, that will not stay still.
By seeing others, and not being
seen, I felt I did them a wrong as I
went by, at which I turned to Virgil.
He knew well what the dumb would
say, and so he did not wait for my
question, but said: ‘Speak, and be
brief, and to the point.’
My counsellor was with me on
the side of the terrace where one
might fall, since there is no parapet
surrounding it: the devout shades
were on the other side, who were
squeezing out tears, through the
terrible seam, so that they bathed
their cheeks.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,,,
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459
I turned to them and began: ‘O
people, certain to see the light,
above, the only thing your desire
cares for, may grace quickly clear
the dark film of your conscience, so
that memory’s stream may flow
through it clearly: tell me, since it
will be gracious and dear to me, if
any soul among you is ,WDOLDQ, and
perhaps it will bring him good if I
know it.’
I seemed to hear this for answer,
some way further on than where I
was: ‘O my brother, we are all
citizens of a true city: you mean
those who lived as ZDQGHUHUV LQ
,WDO\.’ So I made myself heard more
distinctly towards that side. I saw a
spirit among the others, hopeful in
look, and if you ask: ‘How?’ its chin
was lifted higher in the manner of a
blind person.
460
penance, in order to climb, if you
are the one who replied, make
yourself known to me by place or
name.’ She answered: ‘I was of
Siena, and purge my sinful life, with
these others here, weeping to Him,
that he might lend his grace to us.
Sapia, I was named, though sapient I was not, and I was far happier in
other’s harm, than in my own good
fortune. And so that you do not
think I mislead you, listen, and see
if I was as foolish as I say.
Already when the arc of my
years was declining, my townsmen
were engaged in battle with their
enemies, near to Colle, and I prayed
God for what he had already willed.
They were routed there, and rolled
back in the bitterness of flight, and I
joyed, above all, in watching the
461
chase, so much so that I lifted my impudent face, crying out to God:
“Now I no longer fear you,” as the
blackbird does at a little fine
weather.
I wished to make peace with
God, at the end of my life, and my
debt would not be reduced, even
now, by penitence, had it not been
that Pier Pettignano remembered me in his holy prayers, and grieved for
me out of charity. But who are you,
who go asking about our state, and,
as I believe, have your eyes un-
sewn, and breathing, speak?’
I said: ‘My eyes will yet be
darkened here, but for only a short
time, since they did little offence
through being turned to envy. My
soul is troubled by a far greater fear
of the torment just below, since
even now the burden there weighs
462
on me.’ And she to me: ‘Who has led you then, up her, among us, if
you expect to return below?’ And I:
‘He who is with me, here, and is
silent: and I am alive, and so, spirit
elect, ask something of me, if you
wish me to move my mortal feet for
you, over there.’
She answered: ‘Oh, this is such a
strange thing to hear, that it is a sign
that God loves you: so help me
sometimes with your prayers. And I
beg you, by all you most desire, if
ever you tread the soil of Tuscany,
renew my fame amongst my people.
You will see them among that vain
race, that put their faith in the
harbour of Talamone, and will know
more lost hopes there, than in
searching for the stream of Diana:
but the admirals will lose most.’
463
GHO'XFDDQG5LQLHULGD&DOEROL
‘Who is this, that circles the
Mount, before death has allowed
him flight, and who opens and
closes his eyelids at will?’ ‘I do not
know who he is, but I know he is
not alone. You, who are nearest,
question him, and greet him gently,
so that he might speak.’
So two spirits talked of me there,
on the right, one leaning on the
other: then held their faces up to
speak to me: and one said: ‘O soul, still trapped in the body, journeying
towards Heaven, out of charity,
bring us consolation, and tell us
where you come from, and who you
are, since you make us wonder
greatly at your state of grace, as a
464
thing does that was never known before.’
And I: ‘A river runs through the
centre of Tuscany, rising at
Falterona, in the Apennines, and is
not sated by a course of a hundred
miles. I bring this body from its
banks. It would be useless to tell
you who I am, since my name does
not sound much, as yet.’ Then, he
who had spoken first, answered me:
‘If I penetrate your meaning clearly
with my intellect, you are talking
about the Arno.’ And the other said to him: ‘Why did he hide the name
of the river, as one does with a
dreadful thing?’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,9 7KH
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465
the question replied as follows: ‘I do
not know, but truly it is fit that the
name of such a valley should die,
since from its head, where the alpine
chain from which Cape Faro in
Sicily is separated, is so extensive,
that there are few places where it
exceeds that breadth, as far as Pisa,
where it yields that which the sky
absorbs from the sea, restoring that
water that provides the rivers with
what flows in them, Virtue, like a
snake, is persecuted as an enemy, by
them all, either because of the evil
place, or the evil customs that incite
them; so that the people, who live in
that miserable valley, have changed
their nature, until it seems as if
Circe had them in her sty.
It first directs its feeble channel,
among the Casentines, filthy hogs,
466
more fitted for acorns than any other food created for man’s use. Then
descending, it reaches the Aretines,
curs that snarl more than their
power merits, and turns its current,
scornfully, away from them.
On it goes in its fall, and the
greater the volume in its accursed
ditch the more it finds the dogs
grown to Florentine wolves. Having
descended then, through many
scooped-out pools, it finds the Pisan
foxes, so full of deceit that they fear
no tricks that might trap them.
I will not stop speaking even if
this other hears me, and it would be
well for him if he reminds himself,
again, of what true prophecy
unfolds to me. I see Fulcieri, his grandson, who is becoming a hunter
of those Florentine wolves on the
bank of the savage river, and who
467
fills them all with terror. He sells their flesh while they are still alive,
then slaughters them like worn-out
cattle: he deprives many of life, and
himself of honour. He comes out,
bloodied, from the sad wood. He
leaves it so that, a thousands years
from now, it will not regenerate to
its primal state.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,9
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I saw the other shade, who had
turned round to hear, grow troubled
and sad, after it had heard these
words, as the face of him who
listens is troubled, at the
announcement of heavy
misfortunes, as to which side the
danger might attack him from. The
speech of the one, and the look of
468
the other, made me long to know their names, and I asked them,
mixing the request with prayers. At
this the spirit who first spoke to me,
began again: ‘You want me to
condescend to do that for you, that
you will not do for me, but, since
God wills so much of his grace to
shine in you, I will not be reticent
with you: therefore know that I am
My blood was so consumed by
envy, that you would have seen me
suffused with lividness, if I saw a
man render himself happy. I reap
the straw of that sowing. O
humankind, why set the heart there,
where division of partnership must
follow?
This is Rinier: this is the honour and glory of the House of Calboli,
in which no one, since him, has
469
made themselves heir to his worth.
And not only is his bloodline devoid
of the goodness demanded of truth
and chivalry between the River Po
and the mountains, the Adriatic
shore and Reno, but the Romagna,
that is within these boundaries, is
choked with poisonous growth, that
cultivation would now root out with
difficulty.
Where is the good Lizio, and
Arrigo Mainardi, Pier Traversaro or
Guido di Carpigna? Oh, you Romagnols, turned to bastards,
when will a Fabbro again take root in Bologna: when, in Faenza, a
Bernadin da Fosco, scion of a low-born plant?
Do not wonder, Tuscan, if I
weep, when I remember Ugolin
d’Azzo, and Guido da Prata, who lived among us; Federico Tignoso, 470
and his fellows, the Houses of
Traversari, and Anastagi, both races now without an heir, the ladies and
the knights, the toils and the ease,
that love and courtesy made us wish
for, there, where hearts are grown so
sinful.
O town of Bertinoro, famous for
your hospitality, why do you not
vanish, since your noble families,
and many of your people, are gone,
to escape guilt? It is good that
Bagnacavallo produces no more sons, and bad that Castrocaro, and worse that Conio, still trouble to beget such Counts. The Pagani will
do well when Mainardo, their devil, is gone: but not, indeed, in that true
witness of their lives will remain.
O Ugolin de’ Fantolin, your name is safe, since there is no more
471
chance of there being any heir to blacken it through degeneration.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;,9
([DPSOHVRI(QY\
Now, go your ways, Tuscan,
since it delights me more to weep
than talk, our conversation has so
wrung my spirit.’ We knew that
those dear shades heard us leave, so,
by their silence, they gave us
confidence in our road.
When we were left, journeying
on, alone, a voice struck us, like
lightning when it splits the air,
saying: ‘Everyone who findeth me
shall slay me’, and vanished like a
thunderclap, that dies away when
the cloud suddenly bursts.
When our hearing was free of it,
behold, a second, with such a loud
472
crash, that it was like thunder, following on quickly: ‘I am
Aglauros, she, who was turned to stone.’ Then I made a backward
step, not a forward one, to press
close to the poet.
Now the air was quiet on all
sides, and he said to me: ‘That was
the harsh curb, that ought to keep
humankind within its limits. But
you take the bait, so that the old
enemy’s hook draws you towards
him, and the bridle and the lure are
little use. The Heavens call to you,
and circle round you, displaying
their eternal splendours to you, but
your eyes are only on the ground:
for which, he who sees all things,
chastises you.’
473
$QJHORI)UDWHUQDO/RYH
As much of the sun’s course
seemed left before evening, as we
see between dawn and the third hour
of the day, on the zodiacal circle
that is always skipping up and down
like a child: it was Vespers,
evening, there in Purgatory, and
midnight here. And the sun’s rays
were striking us mid-face, since we
had circled enough of the Mount, to
be travelling due west, when I felt
my forehead far more burdened, by
the splendour, than before, and the
unknown nature of it stunned me, so
that I lifted my hands above my
eyes, and made that shade which
dims the excess light.
Just as when a ray of light
bounces from the water’s surface
474
towards the opposite direction, ascending at an equal angle to that
at which it falls, and travelling as far
from the perpendicular line of a
falling stone, in an equal distance,
as science and experiment show, so
I seemed struck by reflected light, in
front of me, from which my eyes
were quick to hide.
I said: ‘Sweet father, what is that,
from which I cannot shade my sight
enough to help me, that seems to be
moving towards us?’ He answered:
‘Do not be amazed if the heavenly
family still dazzles you: it is a
messenger that comes to invite us to
climb. Soon, seeing these things will
not be painful to you, but a joy as
great as nature has equipped you to
feel.’
When we had reached the
blessed Angel, it said, in a pleasant
475
voice: ‘Enter a stairway, here, much less steep than the others.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;9 7KH
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We were climbing, and already
leaving, and, behind us,
‘%HDWLPLVHULFRUGHV: blessed are the merciful,’ was sung, and, ‘Rejoice
you who conquer.’
My master, and I, the two of us,
alone, were climbing, and I thought
to derive profit from his words
while we went, and I addressed him,
saying: ‘What did the spirit from Romagna mean by mentioning
GLYLVLRQ and SDUWQHUVKLS?’ At which
he said to me: ‘He knows the harm
of his great defect, and therefore let
no one wonder if he condemns it, so
476
that the harm, he mourns for, is lessened.
Inasmuch as your desires are
centred where things are diminished
by partnership, it is Envy moving
the bellows, with your sighs. But if
the love of the highest sphere drew
your desire upward, envious fear
would not be core to your heart,
since each possesses that much
more of the good by the measure of
how many more say RXUV, and so
much more love burns in that
cloister.’ I said: ‘I am hungrier by
being fed than if I had kept silent
from the start, and I have added
more confusion to my mind.
How can it be that a shared good
makes a greater number of
possessors richer by it than if it is
owned by a few?’ And he to me:
‘Because you fix your eyes, again,
477
only on earthly things, you produce darkness from true light. That
infinite and ineffable good, that is
up there, rushes towards love as a
ray of light rushes towards a bright
body. The more ardour it finds, the
more it gives of itself, so that,
however far love extends, eternal
good causes its increase: and the
more people there are up there who
understand each other, the more
there are to love truly, and the more
love there is, and, like a mirror, the
one increase reflects the other.
And if my explanation does not
satisfy your hunger, you will see
Beatrice, and she will free you
completely from this and from every
other longing. Only work, so that
the other five wounds that are
healed by our pain are soon erased,
as two have been.’
478
7KLUG 7HUUDFH ([DPSOHV RI
*HQWOHQHVV
As I was about to say: ‘You have
satisfied me,’ I saw I had arrived on
the next terrace, so that my eager
gaze made me silent. There I
seemed to be suddenly caught up in
an ecstatic dream, and to see many
people in a temple, and a lady about to enter, saying, with the tender
attitude of a mother: ‘My son, why
hast thou thus dealt with us? behold
thy father and I sought thee
sorrowing,’ and as she fell silent
that which had appeared at first,
now disappeared.
Then another woman appeared to
me, with those tears on her cheeks,
that grief distils, and that well up in
479
someone because of great anger, saying: ‘O Pisistratus, if you are lord of Athens, the city from which
all knowledge shines, and whose
naming made such strife between
the gods, take revenge on those
audacious arms that clasped our
daughter.’ And her lord, kindly and
gently, seemed to answer her, with a
placid look: ‘What shall we do to
those who wish harm to us, if we
condemn him who loves us?’
Then I saw people, blazing with
the fire of wrath, killing a youth
with stones, and calling continually
and loudly to each other: ‘Kill him,
kill him! And I saw him sinking to
the ground in death, which already
weighed him down, but he made of
his eyes, all the while, gateways to
Heaven, praying to the Lord on
high, in such torment, with that
480
481
forgiveness towards his persecutors.
When my spirit returned
outwards, to find the true things
outside it, I understood my visions
did not lie. My guide who could see
me acting like a man who frees
himself from sleep, said: ‘What is
wrong with you, that you cannot
control yourself, but have come
almost two miles, with your eyes
covered, and your legs staggering,
like someone overcome by wine or
sleep? I said: ‘O sweet my father, if
you listen, I will tell you what
appeared to me, when my legs were
pulled from under me.’
And he said: ‘If you had a
hundred masks on your face, your
thoughts, however slight, would not
be hidden from me. What you saw
was to prevent you having an
482
excuse for not opening your heart, to the waters of peace, that are
poured from the eternal fountain. I
did not ask “What is wrong” for the
reason one does, who only sees with
the eye, that cannot see when the
body lies senseless, but I asked in
order to give strength to your feet:
so the slothful, who are slow to
employ the waking hour when it
returns, have to be goaded.’
We were travelling on, through
the evening, straining our eyes
ahead, as far as we could, against
the bright sunset rays, and behold,
little by little, a smoke, dark as
night, moving towards us, and there
was no space to escape it. This stole
away our sight, and the clear air.
483
:UDWKIXODQGWKHLU3XQLVKPHQW
The gloom of Hell, and a night
deprived of every planet, under a
scant sky, darkened by cloud, as far
as it could be, did not make as thick
a veil for my sight, or as harsh a
texture to the touch, as the smoke
that enveloped us there, since it did
not even allow the eyes to remain
open, at which my wise and faithful
escort came near, and offered me his
shoulder.
As a blind man goes behind his
guide, in order not to wander, and
not to strike against anything that
may harm him, or perhaps kill him,
so I went, through the foul and bitter
air, listening to my leader, who kept
saying: ‘Be careful not to get cut
off, from me.’
484
seemed to pray to the Lamb of God,
who takes away sin, for peace and
mercy. ‘$JQXV 'HL,’ was their only commencement: one word and one
measure came from them all: so that
every harmony seemed to be
amongst them. I said: ‘Master, are
those spirits, that I hear?’ And he to
me: ‘You understand rightly, and
they are untying the knot of anger.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;9,
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A voice said: ‘Now, who are
you, who divide our smoke, and talk
of us, as if you still measured time
by months?’ At which my Master
said to me: ‘You, answer, and ask if
we should go upwards by this path.’
485
purge yourself to return to him who
made you, beautified, you will hear
a wonder if you follow me.’ He
answered: ‘I will follow you, as far
as is allowed me, and if the smoke
prevents us seeing, hearing will
allow contact between us, instead.’
So I began: ‘I am travelling
upwards, with those garments that
death dissolves, and came here
through the pain of Hell, and if God
has so far admitted me to his grace,
that he wills I should see his court,
in a manner wholly outside modern
usage, do not conceal from me who
you were before death, but tell me,
and tell me, also, if I am heading
straight for the pass: and your words
will be our escort.’
He answered: ‘I was called
Mark, and I was a Lombard: I knew 486
487
the world, and loved that worth, at the sight of which every one now
unbends their bow: you go the right
way to ascend,’ and he added, ‘I
pray you to pray for me, when you
are above.’
And I to him: ‘By my faith, I
promise you, to do what you ask of
me, but I am wrung within by doubt
if I cannot free myself of it. First it
was simple doubt, and now it is re-
doubled by your speech,
strengthening it in me here, along
with that which I couple to it from elsewhere. The world is indeed so
wholly destitute of every virtue,
even as you say, and covered and
weighed down with sin: but I beg
you to show me the cause, so that I
can see it, and tell others, since
some people place the cause in the
sky, and others here below.’
488
He first gave a deep sigh, which grief shortened to ‘Ah!’ and then
began: ‘Brother the world is blind,
and you come from there, indeed.
You, the living, refer every cause to
the heavens, as though they carried
all along with them by necessity. If
it were so, free will would be
destroyed in you, and there would
be no justice in taking delight in
good, and lamenting evil. The
heavens initiate your movements: I
do not say all, but even if I said it,
you are given a light to know good
from evil: and you are given free
will, which gains the victory,
completely, in the end, if it survives
the stress of its first conflict with the
heavens, and is well nurtured.
Free, you are subject to a greater
force, and a better nature, and that
creates 0LQG in you, that the sky
489
does not have control of. So if the world today goes awry, the cause is
in yourselves, search for it in
yourselves, and I will be a true
guide to you in this.
From His hands, who loves her
dearly before she exists, issues the
soul, in simplicity, like a little child,
playing, in laughter and in tears, and
she knows nothing, but that, sprung
from a joyful Maker, she willingly
turns towards what delights her. She
savours, at the start, the taste of
childish good, and is beguiled by it,
and chases it, if her love is not
curbed or misguided. That is why it
was necessary to create Law as a
curb, and necessary to have a ruler,
who might at least make out the
towers of the true city.’
490
(UURU RI WKH &KXUFK¶V WHPSRUDO
SRZHU
‘There are laws, but who sets
their hand to them? No one: because
the Shepherd who leads his flock
may chew the cud, may meditate,
but does not have a divided hoof,
and confuses spiritual and temporal.
So the people, seeing their Guide
only aiming at that benefit he is
eager for, feed on that, and do not
question further. You can see
clearly that bad leadership is the
cause of the world’s sinfulness, and
not that nature, corruptible within
you.
Rome, that made the civilised
world, used to have two Suns, that
made the two roads visible, that of
the world, and that of God. One has
491
quenched the other: and the sword and the shepherd’s crook are joined:
and the one linked to the other must
run to harm, since, being joined, one
will not fear the other. If you do not
believe me, look closely at the crop,
since every plant is known by its
seed.
Worth and courtesy used to be
found, in Lombardy, that land the
rivers Po and Adige water, before
Frederick faced opposition. Now it can only be crossed, in safety, by
those who, through shame, have
ceased to talk to good men, or live
near them. True there are three elder
statesmen, in whom the ancient
times reprove the new, and it feels a
long time to them before God takes
them to a better life: Corrado da
Palazzo, and the good Gherardo da
Camino, and Guido da Castel, who 492
is better named in the French way, the KRQHVW Lombard. As of now, say
that the Church of Rome, confusing
two powers in herself, falls in the
mud, and fouls herself and her
charge.’
I said: ‘O my Mark you reason
clearly, and now I see why the
priests, the sons of Levi, were not allowed to inherit. But who is that
Gerard, who you say remains as an
example of the vanished race, to
reprove this barbarous age?’ He
answered: ‘Your speech is either
meant to deceive me or to test me,
since, speaking in Tuscan, you seem
to know nothing of the good
Gherard. I know him by no other
name, unless I were to take one
from his daughter Gaia. God be with you, since I come, with you, no
further. See the light, whitening,
493
shining through the smoke: the
Angel is there, and I must go before
he sees me.’
So he turned back, and would no
longer listen.
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;9,,
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Reader, if a mist has ever caught
you in the mountains, through
which you saw as a mole does,
through the skin, remember how the
sun’s sphere shone, feebly, through
the dense, damp, vapours as it began
to melt away, and your imagination
will easily understand how I saw the
sun again, which was now setting.
So, measuring by steps by my
faithful Master’s, I issued from that
cloud to the sunlight, already dead
on the low shore.
494
O imagination, that takes us out of ourselves, sometimes, so that we
are conscious of nothing, though a
thousand trumpets echo round us,
what is it that stirs you, since the
senses place nothing in front of
you? A light stirs you, which takes
its form from heaven, by itself, or
by a will that sends it downwards.
The traces of Procne’s impiety appeared in my imagination, she,
who changed her form to a
nightingale’s, the bird that most
delights in singing, and here my
mind was so absorbed in itself, that
nothing from outside came to it, or
was received in it.
Then in my high fantasy a
crucified man, scornful and haughty
of aspect, appeared, and it was
Haman, so dying. Round about him were the great Ahasuerus, Esther,
495
his wife, and the just Mordecai, who was so sincere in speech and
actions.
And, as this imagining burst like
a bubble does, when the water
surface it is made of breaks, a girl,
Lavinia, weeping pitfully, rose to my vision, saying: ‘O Queen Amata,
why have you willed yourself to
nothingness, through anger? You
have killed yourself in order not to
lose me: now you KDYH lost me. I am
she, who mourns, Mother, for \RXU
loss, rather than for his.’
3XUJDWRULR&DQWR;9,,7KH
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As sleep is broken, when a new
light suddenly strikes on the closed
eyelids, and hovers, brokenly,
496
before it completely vanishes, so my imaginings were destroyed, as soon
as light struck my face, light far
greater than that which we are used
to. I was turning about to see where
I was, when a voice which snatched
me from any other intention, said:
‘Here, you can climb’, and it made
me want to see who it was who
spoke, with that eagerness that
never rests till it confronts the other.
But my powers failed me there,
as at the sun that oppresses our
vision, and veils his form, through
excess of light. My leader said:
‘This is a Divine Spirit, that points
us towards the path to climb,
without our asking, and hides itself
in its own light. It does towards us
what a man does towards himself:
since he who sees the need, but
waits for the request, has set himself
497
malignly towards denial. Now let our feet fit the invitation: let us try
to ascend before nightfall, since we
cannot, then, until day returns.’ I
turned my steps, with him, towards
a stairway, and as soon as I was on
the first step, I felt something like
the touch of a wing, and my face
was fanned, and I heard someone
say: ‘%HDWL SDFLILFL: blessed are the meek, who are without sinful
anger.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;9,,
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Now the last rays, that night
follows, were angled so high above
us that the stars were appearing, on
every side. ‘Oh, my powers, why do
you ebb away from me like this?’ I
498
said inside myself, since I felt the strength of my legs vanish.
We stood where the stairway
went no further, and were aground,
like a boat, that arrives at the shore:
and I listened for a while to see if I
could hear anything in the new
circle: then turned to my Master,
and said: ‘My sweet father, say what
offence is purged in this circle,
where we are? Though our feet are
stopped, do not stop your speaking.’
And he to me: ‘The love of good,
that fell short of its duties, restores
itself just here: here the sinfully lazy
oar is plied again. But so that you
might understand more clearly, turn
your mind on me, and you will
gather some good fruit from our
delay.’
He began: ‘Son, neither creature
nor Creator, was ever devoid of
499
love, natural or rational, and this you know. The natural is always
free of error: but the rational may
err because of an evil objective, or
because of too much or too little
energy.
While it is directed towards the
primary virtues, and moderates its
aims in the secondary ones, it
cannot be the cause of sinful delight,
but when it is turned awry, towards
evil, or moves towards the good
with more or less attention than it
should, the creature works against
its Creator. So you can understand,
that love is the seed of each virtue in
you, and its errors the seeds of every
action that deserves punishment.
Now, in that love can never turn its
face away from the well being of its
object, everything is safe from self-
hatred. And, because no being can
500
be thought to exist apart, standing separate in itself, from the First
Cause, all affection is prevented
from hating Him.
It follows, if I judge well in my
classification that the evil we desire
is due to the presence of our
neighbours, and this desire has three
origins, in your clay.
There are those who hope to
excel through their neighbour’s
downfall, and because of this alone
want them toppled from their
greatness. This is Pride.
There are those who fear to lose,
power, influence, fame or honour
because another is preferred, at
which they are so saddened they
desire the contrary. This is Envy.
And there are those who seem so
ashamed because of injury, that they
become eager for revenge, and so
501
are forced to wish another’s harm.
This is Wrath.
This three-fold desire is
lamented, below. Now, I want you
to understand the other desires
which aim towards love in an
erroneous manner.
Everyone vaguely apprehends a
good, where the mind finds rest: and
desires it: so everyone labours to
attain it.
If inadequate love draws you on
to sight or attainment of that good,
this terrace torments you for it, after
just repentance. This is Sloth.
There is another good, which
does not make men happy: it is not
happiness: it is not the essential
good, the root and fruit of all
goodness.
The love that abandons itself to
it, excessively, is lamented above
502
us, on three terraces: but how it is separated into three divisions, I will
not say, in order that you search it
out for yourself.’
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The high-minded teacher had
ended his discourse, and was
looking at my face, attentively, to
see if I was satisfied, and I, who was
tormented by a new thirst, was
outwardly silent, but inwardly said:
‘Perhaps the extent of my questions
annoys him.’ But that true father,
who noticed the hesitant wish, that
did not show itself, gave me courage
to speak, by speaking himself.
At which I said: ‘Master, my
vision is so invigorated, by your
light, that I understand, clearly,
503
what all your reasoning means and describes. I beg you, therefore,
sweet, dear father, to define Love
for me, to which you reduce every
good action and its opposite.’ He
said: ‘Direct the keen eyes of the
intellect towards me, and the error
of the blind who make themselves
their guides, will be apparent to you.
The spirit, that is created ready
for love, is moved by everything
pleasing, as soon as it is stirred into
action by pleasure.
Your sensory faculties take an
impression from real objects, and
unfold it inside you, so that the
spirit turns towards those objects.
And if it is attracted to them, being
turned, that attraction is Love: that
is Nature, newly confirmed in you
by pleasure.
504
Then, as fire rises, because of its form, whose nature is to climb to
where it can live longest in its fuel,
so the mind, captured, enters into
desire, which is a movement of the
spirit, and never rests until the
object of its love gives it joy.
Now it may be apparent to you,
how deeply truth is concealed from
those people, who say that every act
of love is praiseworthy in itself,
since love’s material may always be
good, perhaps, but every seal is not
good, even though the wax is good.’
I replied: ‘Your words, and my
wits following you, have made Love
clear to me, but it has made me
more pregnant with doubts, since if
Love is offered to us from outside
ourselves, and the spirit has no other
foot of her own to walk on, it is no
505
merit of hers whether she walks straight or slantwise.’
And he said to me: ‘I can tell you
merely what Reason sees: beyond
this point, wait only for Beatrice, since it is a question of Faith.’
3XUJDWRULR &DQWR ;9,,,
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‘Every living form, which is
distinct from matter, but is united to
it, has a specific virtue, contained in
it, that is not seen except in its
operation, or manifest except by
what it effects, as life is manifest in
a plant in the green leaves.
Therefore human beings do not
know where knowledge of primary
sensations comes from, or attraction
to the primary objects of appetite:
they are in you, as the drive in bees
506
to make honey: and this primary volition merits neither praise nor
blame.
Now, in order that every other
volition may be related to this one,
the virtue, which allows judgement,
is innate in you, and ought to guard
the threshold of assent. This is the
source from which the cause of
merit, in you, derives, according to
how it gathers and sieves good and
evil desires.
Those who went to the
foundations in their reasoning,
recognised this innate freedom, and
so left their Ethics to the world.
Therefore, even if you suppose
that every love, which burns in you,
rises out of necessity, the power to
control it is within you. Beatrice
takes Freewill to be the noble virtue,
so take care to have that in mind, if
507
she sets herself to speak of it, to you.
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shaped like a burning pail, made the
stars appear fainter to us, and her
track across the heavens, in the east,
was on those paths, in Sagittarius,
that the sun inflames, when in Rome
they watch its setting between
Sardinia and Corsica. And that
noble shade, whose birthplace,
Andes, is more renowned than any
other Mantuan town, had laid down
the burden I had put on him, so that
I who had gathered clear, plain
answers to my questions, stood like
one who wanders, drowsily.
508
suddenly snatched from me, by
people who had already come round
on us, from behind our backs. And
just as the Rivers Ismenus and
Asopus, saw, a furious rout, at
night, along their banks, when the
Thebans called on the help of
Bacchus, so, along that terrace, quickening their steps, those were
approaching, who, by what I saw of
them, good will and just desire rode.
They were soon upon us, since all
that vast crowd was moving at a
run, and two in front were shouting,
tearfully: ‘Mary ran with haste to the hill country,’ and: ‘Caesar
lanced Marseilles, and then raced to
Spain, to subdue Lerida in
Catalonia.’
The rest shouted, after that:
‘Hurry! Hurry! Do not let time be
509
510
wasted, through lack of love, so that labouring to do well may renew
grace.’
My guide said: ‘O people, in
whom an eager fervour now makes
good, perhaps, the negligence and
tardiness shown by you, in being
lukewarm at doing good, this one
who lives wishes to climb, if the sun
only shines for us again, and indeed
I do not lie to you, so tell us where
the ascent is nearest.’
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One of the spirits said: ‘Come
behind us, and you will find the
gully. We are so full of desire for
speed, we cannot stay: so forgive us
if you take our penance as an
offence. I was the Abbot of San
511
Zeno in Verona, under the rule of the good Barbarossa, of whom Milan still speaks with sorrow. And
one I know, Alberto della Scala,
who already has one foot in the
grave, will soon mourn because of
that monastery, and will be
saddened at having held power
there, because he has appointed his
son there, Giuseppe, deformed in body, and more so in mind, and
born of shame, instead of a true
shepherd.
I do not know if he said more, or
was silent, he had raced so far
beyond us, already, but I heard that
and was pleased to remember it.
And he who was my help when I
needed it, said: ‘Turn this way, and
see two that come, showing remorse
at Sloth.’
512
Last of them all, they cried: ‘The people for whom the Red Sea
opened, were dead before Jordan
saw their heirs,’ and: ‘Those who
did not endure the labour with
Aeneas, Anchises’s son, until the end, gave themselves to an
inglorious fate.’
Then a new thought rose in me,
when those shadows were distant
from us, so far they could no longer
be seen, from which many other
diverse thoughts sprang: and I
wandered so much, from one to
another, that I closed my eyes in
wandering, and transmuted thought
to dream.’
3XUJDWRULR
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513
In the hour, before dawn, when the day’s heat, lost by Earth, or
quenched by Saturn, no longer
offsets the moon’s coldness; when
the geomancers see their Fortuna
Major, formed of the last stars of
Aquarius, and the first of Pisces,
rise in the east, on a path which is
only dark for a little while, a
stuttering woman, came to me in a
dream, her eyes squinting, her feet
crippled, with maimed hands, and
sallow aspect. I gazed at her, and
my look readied her tongue, and
straightened her completely, in a
few moments, as the sun comforts
the cold limbs that night weighs
down, and her pale face coloured, as
love wills.
When her tongue was freed, she
began to sing, so that I could hardly
turn my attention away. ‘I am,’ she
514
sang, ‘I am the sweet Siren: I am so pleasing to hear that I lead seamen
astray, in mid-ocean. With my song,
I turned Ulysses from his wandering path, and whoever rests with me,
rarely leaves, I satisfy him so
completely.’ Her lips had barely
closed, when a lady appeared, near
me, saintly and ready to put her to
confusion. She said, angrily: ‘O
Virgil, Virgil what is this?’ And he
came, with his eyes fixed on that
honest one.
He seized the Siren, and, ripping
her clothes, revealed her front, and
showed me her belly, that woke me
with the stench that came from it. I
turned my eyes away, and the good
Virgil said: ‘I have called you at
least three times, rise and come with
me, let us find the opening by which
you may climb.’
515
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I rose, and all the circles of the
holy mountain were now filled with
the high day, and we went with the new sun at our backs. I was
following him, with my forehead
wrinkled like someone burdened by
thought, and who makes half a
bridge’s arch of his body, when I
heard words, spoken, in so gentle
and kind a voice, as is not heard in
this mortal world: ‘Come, here is
the pass.’
He, who spoke to us, directed us
upwards, between two walls of solid
stone, with his outspread wings, that
seemed like a swan’s. Then he
516
stirred his feathers, and fanned us, affirming that they who mourn,
TXL OXJHQW, are blessed, whose spirits shall be richly consoled.
My guide began to speak to me,
both of us having climbed a little
higher than the Angel: ‘What is
wrong with you, that you are always
staring at the ground?’ And I: ‘A
strange dream, that draws me towards
it, so that I cannot stop thinking of it,
makes me go in such dread.’ He said:
‘Did you see, that ancient witch,
through whom alone those above us
now weep? Did you see how man
escapes from her? Let that be enough
for you, and spurn the Earth with your
heels, turn your eyes towards the lure,
that the King of Eternity spins, in the
great spheres.’
I became like a falcon, that, at
first, is gazing at his feet, then turns
517
518
at the call, and spreads his wings, with longing for the food, that draws
him towards it, and so I went, as far
as the rock is split, to allow passage,
to him who climbs up, to where the
terrace begins.
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When I was in the open, in the
fifth circle, I saw people around it,
lying on the ground, who wept, all
turned face downwards. I heard
them say: ‘$GKDHVLW SDYLPHQWR
DQLPD PHD, my soul cleaveth unto
the dust’ with such deep sighing the
words were hardly understood. ‘O
God’s elect, whose sufferings
justice and hope make easier, direct
us towards the high ascents.’ So the
poet prayed, and so, a little in front
519
520
of us, there was an answer: ‘If you come longing to find the quickest
way, and are safe from having to lie
prostrate, let your right hand be
always towards the outer edge.’ At
that I noted what was hidden in the
words, and turned my eyes towards
my lord, at which he gave assent,
with a sign of pleasure, to what my
look of longing desired.
When I was free to do what my
mind wished, I went forward,
standing over that creature whose
previous words made me note them,
saying: ‘Spirit, delay your greater
business, a while, for me, you, in
whom weeping ripens that without
which one cannot turn towards God.
If you would have me obtain
anything for you, over there, where
I come from, living, tell me, who
521
you are, and why you have your
backs turned upwards.’
And he to me: ‘You will know
why Heaven turns our backs
towards it, but first VFLDV TXRG HJR
IXLVXFFHVVRU3HWUL: know that I was
Pope Adrian V, a successor of Peter.
A fair river, the Lavagna, flows
down to the Gulf of Genoa, between
Sestri and Chiaveri, and my
people’s title takes its name from it.
For little more than a month, I
learnt how the great mantle weighs
on him, who keeps it out of the
mire, so much so, that all other
burdens seem light as feathers. Alas,
my conversion was late, but when I
was made Pastor of Rome, then I
discovered the false life. I saw that
the heart was not at peace there, nor
could one climb higher in that life:
so that love of this one was kindled
522
in me. Until that moment I was a wholly avaricious spirit, wretched,
and parted from God: now, as you
see, here, I am punished for it.’
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‘Here, what Avarice does is
declared, in the purgation of the
down-turned spirits, and the Mount
has no bitterer penalty. Just as our
eyes did not lift themselves up to the
heights, but were fixed on earthly
things, so here justice has sunk them
towards the earth. Just as Avarice
killed our love for all good, so that
our efforts were lost, so here justice
holds us fast, taken and bound, by
hands and feet, and as long as it is
523
the good Lord’s pleasure, we will lie here outstretched and unmoving.’
I had knelt, and was about to
speak, but he detected my
reverence, merely by listening, and
as I began, he said: ‘Why do you
bend your knees?’ And I to him:
‘My conscience pricked me, for
standing, knowing your high office.’
He answered: ‘Straighten your legs,
and rise, brother: do not err: I am a
fellow servant, of the one Power,
with you and the others. If you ever
understood the words of the holy
gospel, QHTXH QXEHQW, there ‘they
neither marry nor are given in
marriage’ you will understand,
clearly, why I say so.
Now go: I do not wish you to
stay longer, since your remaining
disturbs my weeping, by means of
which I ripen what you spoke of. I
524
have a niece, Alagia by name, over there, who is good in herself, if only
our house does not make her evil by
example, and she is the only one left
to me, over there.’
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The will fights ill against a finer
will: so, to please him, but against
my pleasure, I drew the unsaturated
sponge from the water. I went on,
and my leader went on, also,
through the free space, along the
rock, as you go by the wall close to
the battlements, because those
people, who distil, from their eyes,
drop by drop, the evil that fills the
whole world, were too close to the
edge for us to pass on the other side.
525
ancient she-wolf, who, to satisfy
your endless hunger, take more prey
than any other beast! O Heaven, by
whose circling, it appears to be
believed, conditions down here are
altered, when will one come by
whose actions Avarice will vanish?
We journeyed on, with slow,
meagre paces, and I paying attention
to the spirits, that I heard weeping
piteously, and complaining: and, by
chance, I heard one calling,
tearfully, in front of us: ‘Sweet
Maria’, like a woman in labour, and continuing to speak: ‘you were so
poverty-stricken as can be seen by
that inn where you laid down your
sacred burden.’
Following that I heard: ‘O good
Caius Fabricius, you wished to possess virtue in poverty, rather
526
than great riches with vice.’ These words were so pleasing to me that I
moved forward, to make contact
with the spirit, from whom they
seemed to emerge.
It went on to speak of the gifts,
that Bishop Nicholas gave to the young girls, to lead their youth
towards honour.
I said: ‘O spirit, who speaks of
good so much, tell me who you are,
and why you alone repeat this praise
of worthiness? If I return, to
complete the short space of a life
that flies to its end, you words will
not be un-rewarded.’ And he: ‘I will
tell you, not because I expect any
comfort from over there, but
because so much grace shines in
you before your death.’
527
&DSHWDQGWKH&DSHWLDQ'\QDVW\
‘I was the root of the evil tree,
that overshadows all Christian
countries, so that good fruit is rarely
obtained there. But if Douay, Lille,
Ghent and Bruges can, they will
soon take revenge on it, and I beg
this of Him who judges all. I was
called Hugh Capet, over there: from me the ‘Philip’s and ‘Louis’s derive
by whom France is ruled of late.
I was the son of a Paris butcher.
When the line of ancient kings was
ended, except for one who was
clothed in the grey robe, I found the
reins of the kingdom’s government
held tight in my hands, and had so
much power in new acquisitions,
and was so rich in friends that the
widowed crown was placed on
528
my son’s head, he, with whom the Capetian dynasty’s consecrated
bones begin.
Before the dowry of Provence,
took away all sense of shame from
my race, the line was worth little,
but did little harm. Its rapaciousness
began there in force and fraud, and
then to make amends, Ponthieu,
Normandy and Gascony were
seized. Charles of Anjou came to Italy, and to make amends, made a
victim of Conradin: and then sent Thomas Aquinas back to heaven, to make amends.
I see a time, not far distant from
now, that will bring another
Charles, of Valois, out of France, rendering him and his people better
known. He comes alone, without an
army, and with the lance of
treachery Judas jousted with, and 529
couches it so as to make the guts of Florence spill. From that he will
gather sin and shame, not land, so
much the more grave for him, because
he treats such wrongs so lightly.
I see the other Charles, the Lame, who was once taken captive in his
ship, selling his daughter Beatrice, and haggling over her, as pirates do
over other hostages. O Avarice, who
more can you do to us, since you
have so attracted my tribe to you,
that it does not care about its own
flesh and blood?
To make the ill that is past and to
come, seem lesser, I see the fleur-
de-lys enter Anagni, and Christ
taken captive in the person of
Boniface, his Vicar. I see him mocked for a second time: I see the
gall and vinegar renewed, and see
him killed, between living thieves. I
see the new Pilate, Philip the 530
Fourth, acting so cruelly, that even this does not satisfy him, but he
must carry his sails of greed,
lawlessly, against the Temple. O my
Lord, when will I rejoice to see the
sweet vengeance, which, hidden,
your anger forms in secrecy?’
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‘What I was saying, concerning
the only Bride of the Holy Spirit, that made you turn towards me for
explanation, such is the burden of
all our prayers as long as daylight
lasts, but when the night comes, we
adopt a different strain instead.
Then we rehearse the history of
Dido’s brother Pygmalion, whose insatiable lust for gold made him
531
traitor, thief and parricide, and avaricious Midas’s misery, that followed on his greedy wish, for
which he must always be derided.
Then each remembers foolish
Achan, who stole the consecrated treasure, so that Joshua’s anger still seems here to rend him.
Then we accuse Sapphira and
Ananias her husband; we praise the kicks from the hooves that struck
Heliodorus: and the whole Mount echoes with the infamy of
who murdered
Last of all, here, we cry out:
“Crassus, tell us, since you know, what does gold taste like?”
Sometimes one speaks high and
another low, now with greater or
lesser force, according to the
impulse prompting us to speak: so I
532
was not alone, before, in speaking of the good, as we do, by day, but
no one else was raising his voice
near here.’
We had already left him, and
were labouring to conquer the path,
as far as it was in our power to do,
when I felt the mountain tremble,
like something falling, at which a
coldness seized me, as it seizes him
who goes to death. Surely Delos
was not shaken as violently, before
Latona, there, made her nest give birth to the twin eyes of Heaven.
Then a shout went up on every
side, so that the Master drew near
me, saying: ‘Have no fear, while I
am your guide.’ All were saying:
‘*ORULD LQ H[FHOVLV 'HR: Glory to God in the highest,’ from what I
understood of those nearby, whose
words I could hear. We stood,
533
immobile, still as those shepherds who first heard that hymn, till it
ceased when the quake ended. Then
we took up our holy path again,
gazing at the spirits lying on the
ground, already returned to their
usual laments.
If my memory makes no mistake
in this, no lack of knowledge ever
assaulted me with such a desire to
know, as I appeared to feel then, as I
reflected, and because of our haste, I
was not keen to ask, nor could I see
any cause for it there, myself: so I
went on, fearful, and thoughtful.
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The natural thirst for knowledge
that is never quenched, except by
that water’s grace the woman of
534
Samaria asked for, troubled me, and haste was driving me along the
impeded path behind my leader, and
I was grieving at the spirits’ just
punishment, and behold, just as
Luke writes that Christ, already risen from the mouth of the tomb,
appeared to two who were on the
road, so a shade appeared to us, and
came on behind gazing at the
prostrate crowd at its feet, and we
did not see it until it spoke, saying:
‘My brothers, God give you peace.’
We turned quickly, and Virgil gave
the appropriate sign in reply, then
said: ‘May the true Court, that holds
me in eternal exile, bring you in
peace to the Council of the Blessed.’
As we went forward, strongly,
the spirit said: ‘How is this: if you
are shadows that God does not
allow here above, who has escorted
535
you as far as this, by his stairways?’
And my teacher said: ‘If you look at
the marks this man carries on his
forehead, and which the Angel
traced, you will see clearly that it is
right for him to reign among the
good. But since Lachesis, she who spins, night and day, had not yet
drawn out the thread, fully, that
Clotho places and winds on the distaff, for each of us, his soul
which is sister to yours and mine,
coming up here, could not come
alone, since it does not understand
as we do: so I was sent from the
wide jaws of Hell to guide him, and
as far as my knowledge can lead, I
will guide him upwards.’
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536
‘But, if you know, tell us why
the Mount shook so much before,
and why everyone appeared to shout
with one voice, right down to its
soft base.’ So by asking he threaded
the true needle’s eye of my wish,
and my thirst was less fierce
through hope alone.
That spirit began: The sacred
rule of the mountain allows nothing
without purpose, or beyond what is
customary. Here we are free from
earthly changes: Here, what Heaven
accepts from its own self can
operate as a cause, nothing else: and
rain, hail, snow, dew, and frost
cannot fall higher than the brief stair
with three steps. Thin or dense
cloud does not appear, nor lightning,
nor the rainbow, Iris, Thaumas’s daughter, who over there often
changes zone. Dry vapours rise no
537
higher than the top of the three steps I spoke of, where Peter’s vicar has his feet.
Perhaps it trembles lower down,
more or less, because of the winds
hidden underground, I do not know,
it never trembles here. Here it
quakes when some soul feels itself
purged so that it can rise, or set out
to soar above, and such shouting
follows it. The will alone gives
evidence of the purging, seizing the
soul, completely free to change her
convent, and helping her in willing.
True, she had will before, but the
eagerness that Divine Justice creates
for the punishment, where before
there was eagerness for the sin,
counters the will, inhibiting it.
And, only now, I, who have
undergone this torment for five
hundred years and more, feel free
538
will towards a better threshold. So, you felt the earthquake, and heard
the pious souls around the mountain
render praise to the Lord, that he
might soon send them above.’
So he spoke to us, and since we
enjoy the drink more, the greater the
thirst we have, I could not convey
how much he refreshed me.
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And the wise leader said: ‘Now,
I see the net that traps you here, and
how one breaks through it; why the
mountain quakes; and why you
rejoice together at it. Now may it
please you to tell me who you are,
and let me learn from your words,
why you have been here so many
centuries.’
539
The spirit answered: ‘When the
good Titus, with the help of Heaven’s King, avenged the
wounds, from which the blood, that
Judas sold, issued, I was famous, with the name of poet, that endures
longest, and gives most honour, but
not yet of the faith. The music of my
words was so sweet, that Rome
drew me, from Toulouse, to herself,
where I merited a myrtle crown for
my forehead. The people, there, still
call me Statius: I sang of Thebes, and then of great Achilles: but I fell by the wayside with the second
burden.
The sparks that warmed me,
from the divine flame, which has
kindled more than a thousand fires,
were the seeds of my poetic ardour:
I talk of the $HQHLG, that was a
mother to me, and a poetic nurse,
540
without which I would not have
been worth a drachm. And I would
agree to endure one sun more than I
owe, before coming out of exile, to
have lived over there when Virgil
was alive.’
These words made Virgil turn
towards me with a silent look that
said: ‘Be silent.’ But the virtue that
wills is not all-powerful, since
laughter and tears follow the
passion, from which they spring, so
closely, that, in the most truthful,
they obey the will least. I merely
smiled, like someone who signals, at
which the shade fell silent, and
looked me in the eyes, where the
soul is most present. And he said:
‘So that great effort might achieve
its aim, say why your face just now
showed me a flash of laughter?’
541
Now I am caught on both sides:
one forces me to stay silent, the
other demands I speak: at which I
sigh, and am understood by my
master, and he says to me: ‘Do not
be afraid to speak, but speak and tell
him what he asks with such great
desire.’ At which I said: ‘Ancient
spirit, perhaps you wonder at the
laugh I gave, but I wish a greater
wonder to seize you. He, who leads
my vision on high, LV that Virgil
from whom you derived the power
to sing of men and gods. If you
think there was any other reason for
my laughter, set it aside as untrue,
and believe it was the words you
spoke about him.’
He was already stooping to
embrace my teacher’s ankles: but
Virgil said: ‘Brother, do not, since
you are a shadow, and it is a shadow
542
that you see.’ And Statius, rising, said: ‘Now you can understand the
depth of love that warms me
towards you, when I forget our
nothingness, and treat shadows as
solid things.’
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The Angel was already left
behind, the Angel who had directed
us to the sixth circle, having erased
the mark from my forehead, saying
that those whose desire is for
righteousness are blessed, and
accomplishing it with the word
VLWLXQW, ‘they thirst’, and nothing more.
And I went on, lighter than
when I left the other stairways, so
543
that I was following the swift souls upwards, without effort, when
Virgil began to speak, to Statius:
‘Love, fired by virtue, has always
fired further love, when its flame
has been revealed. From that
moment when Juvenal descended amongst us in the Limbo of Hell,
and made your affection known to
me, my good will towards you has
been more than has ever tied anyone
to an unseen person, so that this
stairway will seem short to me.
But tell me, now, and, if too
great a confidence looses the reins,
forgive me, as a friend, and speak to
me, as a friend: ‘How could Avarice
find a place in your heart, amongst
such wisdom as you were filled
with, by your efforts?’
544
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These words, at first, moved
Statius to smile a little, then he
answered: ‘Every word of yours is a
precious mark of affection to me. In
truth, things often appear that
provide false food for doubt,
because of the true reasons that are
hidden. Your question shows me
that you thought , was avaricious in
the other life, perhaps because of the
terrace you found me on. Know now
that Avarice was too far distant
from me, and my excess, in the
other direction, thousands of moons
have punished. And I would feel the
grievous butting, where they roll the
weights in Hell, had I not
straightened out my inclinations,
545
when I noted the lines in your
Aeneid where you, as if angered against human nature, exclaimed:
‘O sacred hunger for gold, why do
\RX not rule human appetite?’ Then
I saw that our hands could open too
far, in spending, and I repented of
that as well as other sins.
How many will rise with shorn
heads, through ignorance, which
prevents repentance for this sin, in
life and at the last hour? And know
that the offence that counters the sin
with its direct opposite, here,
together with it, withers its growth.
So, if I, to purge myself, have been
among those people who lament
their Avarice, it has happened to
me, because of its contrary.’
546
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Virgil, the singer of the pastoral
songs, said: ‘Now, when you sang,
in your 7KHEDLG, of the savage
warfare between Jocasta’s twin sorrows, from the pagan nature of
what Clio touches on there, with you, it seems that Faith, without
which goodness is insufficient, had
not yet made you faithful. If that is
so, what sunlight or candlelight
illuminated the darkness for you, so
that after it you set sail to follow the
And he replied: ‘You first sent
me towards Parnassus, to drink in its
caverns, and then lit me on towards
God. You did what he does who
travels by night, and carries a lamp
547
behind him, that does not help him, but makes those who follow him,
wise, when you said: ‘The Earth renews: Justice returns, and the first
Age of Mankind: and a new race
descends from Heaven.’
I was a poet, through you, a
Christian, through you, but so you
may see what I outhne more clearly,
I will extend my hand to paint it in.
The whole world was already
pregnant with true belief, seeded by
the messengers of the eternal
kingdom, and your words,
mentioned above, were so in
harmony with the new priests, that I
took to visiting them. Then they
came to seem so holy to me, that
when Domitian persecuted them, their sighs were combined with tears
of mine. And I aided them, while I
trod the earth over there, and their
548
honest customs made me scorn all other sects, and I received baptism,
before I had got the Greeks to the
rivers of Thebes in my poem, but
was a secret Christian out of fear,
pretending to Paganism for a long
while: and this diffidence sent me
round the fourth terrace, for more
than four centuries.’
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‘Now you, who lifted the veil
that hid me from the great good I
speak of, when we have time to
spare from the climb, tell me where
the ancients, Terence, Caecilius,
Plautus and Varro are, if you know: say if they are damned, and in what
circle.’ My leader answered: ‘They,
and I, and Persius, and many others, 549
are with that Greek whom the
Muses nursed above all others, in the first circle of the dark gaol. We
often speak of the mountain that
always holds the goddesses, our foster-mothers.
Euripides and Antiphon are there with us, Simonides, Agathon, and many other Greeks who once
covered their foreheads with laurel.
Of the people celebrated in your
poems, Antigone, Deiphyle, and
Argia are seen, and Ismene, as sad as she was. There Hypsipyle, is visible, who showed the fountain,
Langia. Tiresias’s daughter is there, and Thetis, and Deidamia with her sisters.’
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550
Now both the poets were silent, newly intent on looking round, free
of the ascent and the walls, and four
handmaidens of the day were
already left behind, and the fifth was by the pole of the sun’s chariot,
which still had its fiery tip slanted
upwards, when my leader said: ‘I
think we must turn our right
shoulders towards the edge, and
circle the mountain as we did
before.’ So custom was our guide,
even there, and we followed the way
with less uncertainty, because of the
other noble spirit’s assent.
They went on in front, and I,
alone, behind: and I listened to their
conversation, which increased my
understanding of poetry. But soon
the sweet dialogue was interrupted,
by our finding a tree, in the middle
of the road, with wholesome, and
551
pleasant smelling fruit. And as a pine tree grows so that its branches
lessen as the trunk goes upwards, so
that did downwards: I think so that
no one can climb up. On the side
where our way was blocked, a clear
stream fell from the high cliff, and
spread itself over the canopy above.
The two poets went near to the
tree, and a voice inside the leaves
cried: ‘Be chary of this food,’ and
then it said: ‘Mary thought more about how the marriage-feast might
be made honourable, and complete,
than of her own mouth, which now
intercedes for you all. And the
Roman women in ancient times were content to drink water: and
Daniel despised food and gained wisdom. The First Age
was
beautiful, like gold: it made acorns
tasty, to the hungry, and every
552
stream, nectar, to the thirsty. Honey and locusts were the meat that fed
John the Baptist in the desert, and so he is glorious and great, as the
Gospel shows you.’
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While I was gazing through the
green leaves, like a man does who
wastes his life chasing wild birds,
my more-than-father said to me:
‘Son, come on now, since the time
we have been given must be spent
more usefully.’ I turned my face,
and my steps as quickly, towards the
wise pair, who were talking; making
it no penalty to me to go.
And ‘/DELDPHD'RPLQH: O Lord open thou my lips,’ was heard, in
singing and weeping, producing joy
553
and pain. I began to speak: ‘O sweet father, what do I hear?’ And he:
‘Shadows who perhaps go freeing
the knot of their debts.’ Just as
thoughtful travellers, who pass
people unknown to them on the
road, turn to look, but do not stop,
so a crowd of spirits, coming on
more quickly behind us, passed us
by, silent and devout, gazing at us.
Their eyes were all dark and
cavernous, their faces pale, and so
wasted that the skin took shape from
the bone. I cannot believe
Erysichthon was as withered to the skin by hunger, even when he felt it
most. I said in my inward thought:
‘See, the people who lost Jerusalem
at the time when the woman, Mary, devoured her own child.’
The sockets of their eyes seemed
gem-less rings: those who see
554
the letters ‘omo¶ in a man’s face, would clearly have distinguished the
‘m¶ there. Who, if they did not
know the cause, would believe that
merely the scent of fruit and water
had created this, by creating desire?
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I was still wondering what
famished them, since the reason for
their leanness, and their skin’s sad
scurf, was not obvious yet, when a
shadow turned its eyes towards me
from the hollows of its head, and
stared fixedly, then cried out loudly:
‘What grace is this, shown to me?’ I
would never have recognised him
by his face, but what was
extinguished in his aspect, was
revealed by his voice. This spark
555
556
kindled the memory in me of the altered features, and I recognised
Forese’s face.
‘Oh, do not stare at the dry
leprosy that stains my skin,’ he
begged, ‘nor at any lack of flesh I
may have, but tell me truly about
yourself, and who those two spirits
are there, who escort you: do not
stop without speaking to me.’ I
replied: ‘Your face I once wept over
at your death, gives me no less grief
now, even to weeping, seeing it so
tortured. Then tell me, in the name
of God, what strips you of flesh: do
not make me speak while I am
wondering, since he talks badly who
is filled with another longing.’
And he to me: ‘A power flows
down, into the water, and into the
tree we have left behind, from the
Eternal Will, the cause of my
557
wasting. All these people who weep and sing, purify themselves again,
through hunger and thirst, for
having followed Gluttony to excess.
The perfume that rises from the
fruit, and from the spray that
spreads over the leaves, kindles, in
us, the desire to eat and drink. And
our pain is not merely renewed the
once as we circle this road: I say
pain, but ought to say solace, since
that desire leads us to the tree which
led Christ to say ‘(OL’, when he freed us with his blood.’
And I said to him: ‘Forese, less
than five years have revolved since
the day when you left the world for
a better life. If the power to sin
ended in you before the hour of
sacred sorrow came, that marries us
again to God, how have you come
here? I thought I would still find
558
you below, where time is repaid, for time alive.’ And he to me: ‘My
Nella, by her river of tears, has enabled me, so soon, to drink the
sweet wormwood of affliction: by
her devout prayers and her sighs she
has drawn me from the shores of
waiting, and freed me from the other
terraces.’
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‘My widow, whom I loved
deeply, is the more precious and
dear to God the more solitary she is
in her good works, since the savage
women of mountainous Barbagia in
Sardinia are far more modest, than
those of that Barbagia, Florence,
where I left her. O sweet brother,
559
Already I foresee a time to come, to
which this time will not be too
distant, when, from the pulpits, the
brazen women of Florence will be
forbidden to go round displaying
their breasts and nipples.
When was there ever a Saracen
woman, or woman of Barbary, who
needed disciplining spiritually or
otherwise, to force her to cover
herself? But the shameless creatures
would already have their mouths
open to howl, if they realised what
swift Heaven is readying for them,
since, if prophetic vision does not
deceive me, they will be crying
before he, who is now calmed with
a lullaby, covers his cheeks with
soft down.
Brother, I beg you, do not hide
your state from me any longer: you
560
see that all these people, not only I, are gazing at where you veil the sun.’
At which I said to him: ‘If you
recall to mind what you have been
with me, and I have been with you,
the present memory alone will still
be heavy. He who goes in front of
me, turned me from that life, the
other day, when the Moon, the sister
of that Sun, shone full for you,’ (and
I pointed to the sun).
‘This one has led me through the
deep night, from the truly dead, in
this true flesh, that follows him.
From there his companionship has
brought me, climbing and circling
the mountain, which straightens
you, whom the world made crooked.
He speaks of my being his
comrade, till I am there where
Beatrice is: there I must remain
without him. Virgil it is who tells
561
me so (and I pointed to him), and this other shade is one for whom
every cliff of your region, that now
frees him from itself, shook, before.
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Speech did not make the journey
go more slowly, nor the journey
speech, but we went strongly, like a
ship driven by a favourable wind.
And the shades, that seemed doubly
dead, drew their amazement from
me through the pits of their eyes,
knowing I lived.
And I, continuing my
conversation, said: ‘Perhaps Statius
climbs more slowly than he might,
because of the other. But tell me
where Piccarda is, if you know: tell me if I can see anyone of note,
562
amongst the people who stare at me.’ He said, first: ‘My sister - I do
not know if she was more beautiful
or more good - now triumphs,
rejoicing in her crown on high
Olympus,’ and then: ‘It is not
forbidden to name anyone here,
since our features are so shrivelled
by hunger.
This (and he pointed with his
finger) is Bonagiunta, Bonagiunta of Lucca: and that face beyond him,
leaner than the rest, is Martin, who held the Holy Church in his
embrace: he was from Tours, and
purges the eels of Bolsena, and the
sweet wine.’
He named many others to me,
one by one, and all seemed pleased
to be named, so that I did not see a
single black look. I saw Ubaldino, della Pilasnapping his teeth on the
563
564
void, out of hunger, and Bonifazio
who was pastor to many peoples
with his crozier. I saw Messer
Marchese, who had time before, at Forlì, to drink, with less reason for
thirst, and yet was such that he was
never sated.
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But like he who looks, and then
values one more than another, so I
did him of Lucca, who seemed to
know me. He was murmuring, what
sounded like ‘Gentucca’, there where he was undergoing the
wounds of justice, which pares them
so. I said: ‘O spirit, who seem
longing to talk with me, speak so
that I can understand you, and
satisfy us both with your speech.’
565
He began: ‘A woman is born, and is not yet married, who will make my
city pleasing to you, however men
may reprove the fact. You will go
from here with that prophecy: if you
have understood my murmuring
wrongly, the real events will yet
make it clear to you.
But tell me if, here, I see him
who invented the new verse
beginning: “'RQQH
FK¶DYHWH
LQWHOOHWWR G¶$PRUH: Ladies, who
have knowledge of Love.” ’ And I
to him: ‘I am one who, when Love
inspires him, takes note, and then,
writes it in the way he dictates
within.’ He said: ‘Brother, O I see,
now, the knot that held back
Jacopo da Lentino, Fra Guittone, and me, from the GROFH VWLO QXRYR,
the new sweet style I hear. Truly, I
can see how your pens closely
566
follow him who dictates, which
certainly was not true of ours. And
he who sets out to search any
further, cannot distinguish one style
from the other,’ and he fell silent, as
if satisfied.
As birds that winter on the Nile,
sometimes crowd into the air, then
fly more quickly and in files, so all
the people there, turning round,
quickened their steps, made swift by
leanness and longing. And as
someone tired of running lets his
companions go by, and walks, until
the heaving of his chest has eased,
so Forese let the sacred flock pass,
and came on behind them, with me,
saying: ‘When will I see you
again?’
I answered him: ‘I do not know
how long I may live, but my return
will not be soon enough for my
567
longing not to be before me, at the shore, since the place appointed for
me there, is, day by day, more
naked of good, and seems
condemned to sad ruin.’ Now go, he
said, for I see him, who is most
guilty, Corso Donati, dragged at the tail of a beast towards the valley
where sin is never purged. The beast
goes faster at every pace, ever
increasing, until it smashes him, and
leaves his body vilely broken.
Those gyres above (and he lifted
his eyes towards the sky) do not
have long to turn before what my
words may no longer say is clear to
you. Now stay behind, since time is
precious in this region, and I lose
too much of it, matching my pace to
yours.’ He left us, with greater
strides, as a horseman sometimes
issues at a gallop from a troop riding
568
past, and goes to win the honour of the first encounter: and I was left by
the road, with the two who were
such great marshals in the world.
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And when he had gone so far in
front of us that my eyes chased after
him, as my mind did his words, the
green and laden boughs of another
fruit-tree appeared, and not far off,
since I had just come round to it. I
saw people under it lifting their
hands, and calling out to the leaves,
like spoilt, greedy, children begging,
and the one they plead with does not
reply, but holds up high what they
want, and does not hide it, to make
their longing more acute.
569
undeceived, and now, we came, to
that great tree that denies all those
prayers and tears. ‘Go on, without
coming near: higher up there is a
tree that Eve ate from, and this was
grafted from it.’ So a voice spoke,
among the branches: at which
Virgil, Statius, and I went on by the
cliff side. It said: ‘Remember the
accursed Centaurs formed in the clouds, who fought Theseus, with their bi-formed bellies sated with
food and wine: and remember the
Hebrews who appeared fastidious
when drinking, so that Gideon
would not have them for his
comrades when he came down from
the hills to Midian.’
So we passed, close to one of the
two sides, hearing sins of Gluttony,
followed once by woeful victories.
570
Then, a thousand steps or more took us forwards, scattered along the
empty road, each reflecting in
silence.
‘What do you journey
considering so deeply, you solitary
three?’ a voice said suddenly, so
that I started, as timid creatures do
when scared. I lifted my head to see
who it was, and glass or metal was
never seen as red and glowing in a
furnace as the one I saw, who said:
‘If it please you to climb, here you
must turn: they go from here, who
wish to journey towards peace.’
His face had robbed me of sight,
so I turned back towards my
teachers, like one who follows the
instructions he hears. And, as the
May breeze, announcing the dawn,
moves and breathes, impregnated
with herbs and flowers, so I felt a
571
wind on my forehead, and I clearly felt the feathers move, that blew an
ambrosial perfume to my senses:
and I heard a voice say:
‘Blessed are those who are so illumined by grace, that the love of
sensation does not fire too great a
desire in their hearts, and who only
hunger for what is just.’
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It was an hour when nothing prevented our climbing, since the
Sun had relinquished the meridian
circle to Taurus, while night held
Scorpio. So we entered the gap, one
behind the other, climbing the stair,
whose narrowness separates the
climbers, as men do who do not
572
stop, but go on, whatever happens to them, when the spur of necessity
pricks them. And like the young
stork that raises its wing, wanting to
fly, and drops it again, not daring to
leave the nest, so my longing to
question was lit and quenched,
getting as far as the movement one
makes when preparing to speak.
My sweet father did not stop,
even though the pace was quick, but
said: ‘Fire the arrow of your speech,
that you have drawn to the notch.’
Then I opened my mouth
confidently, and began: ‘How can
one become lean, there, when food
is unnecessary?’ He said: ‘If you
recall how Meleager wasted away, as the firebrand was consumed, it
would not seem so hard for you to
understand: or if you thought how
your insubstantial image, in the
573
movement, what seems hard would
seem easy to you. But in order for
you to satisfy your desire, Statius is
here, and I call on him, and beg him,
to heal your wounds.’
Statius replied: ‘If I explain the
eternal justice he has seen, even
though \RX are here, let my excuse
be that I cannot refuse you
anything.’ Then he began: ‘Son, if
your mind listens to and considers
my words, they will enlighten you
about what you ask.
Perfect blood, which is never
absorbed by the thirsty veins, and
remains behind, like food you
remove from the table, acquires a
power in the heart sufficient to
invigorate all the members, as does
the blood that flows through the
veins to become those members.
574
Absorbed again it falls to the part, of which it is more fitting to be
silent than speak, and, from that
part, is afterwards distilled into the
partner’s blood, in nature’s vessel.
There one blood is mingled with the
other’s: one disposed to be passive,
the other active because of the
perfect place it springs from: and
mixed with the former, begins to
work, first coagulating, then giving
life, to what is has formed for its
own material.
The active power having become
a spirit, like a plant’s, different in
that it is developing, while the
plant’s is developed, now operates
so widely that it moves and feels,
like a sea-sponge, and then begins to
develop organs, as sites for the
powers of which it is the seed. Now,
son, the power that flows from the
575
heart of the begetter, expands, and distends, into human members as
nature intends: but you do not yet
understand how it becomes human,
from being animal: this is the point
which made one wiser than you,
Averroës, err, so that he made the intellectual faculty separate from the
spirit, because he found no organ
that it occupied.
Open your mind to the truth
which follows, and understand that
as soon as the structure of the brain
is complete in the embryo, the First
Mover turns to it, delighting in such
a work of nature, and breathes a
new spirit into it, filled with virtue,
that draws into its own substance
what it finds already active, and
forms a single soul, that lives and
feels, and is conscious of itself. And
so that you wonder less at my
576
words, consider the heat of the sun, which becomes wine when joined to
the juice of the grape.
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And when Lachesis has no more thread to draw, the soul frees itself
from the flesh, taking both the
human and divine powers: the other
faculties falling silent: memory,
intellect, and will far keener in
action than they were before. It
falls, by itself, wondrously, without
waiting, to one of these shores: there
it first learns its location.
As soon as that place encircles it,
the formative power radiates round,
in quantity and form as in the living
members: and as saturated air
577
displays diverse colours, by the light of another body reflected in it, so
the surrounding air takes on that
form that the soul, which rests there,
powerfully prints on it: and then,
like the flame that follows fire
wherever it moves, the spirit is
followed by its new form.
Since it is in this way that it takes
its appearance, it is called a shadow:
and in this way it shapes the organs
of every sense including sight. In
this way we speak, and laugh, form
tears, and sighs, which you might
have heard, around the mountain.
The shade is shaped according to
how desires and other affections stir
us, and this is the cause of what you
wondered at.’
578
7KH/XVWIXODQGWKHLU3XQLVKPHQW
And now we had reached the last
turn, and had wheeled round to the
right, and were conscious of other
things. There the cliff hurls out
flames, and the terrace breathes a
blast upwards that reflects them, and
keeps the path free of them, so that
we had to go by the side that was
clear, one by one: and I feared the
fire on one side, and on the other
feared the fall. My leader said:
‘Along this track, a careful watch
must be kept, because an error can
easily be made.’
I heard: ‘6XPPDH 'HXV FOHPHQWLDH:
God of supreme mercy’ sung then,
in the heart of the great burning, that
made me no less keen to turn away:
and I saw spirits walking through
579
the flames, so that I looked at them, and at my steps, with a divergent
gaze, from time to time. After the
end of that hymn, they shouted
aloud: ‘9LUXPQRQFRJQRVFR: I know not a man,’ then they softly
recommenced the hymn. At the end
they shouted again: ‘Diana kept to the woods, and chased Callisto
away, who had known the taint of
Venus.’
Then they returned to singing:
then cried the names of women and
husbands who were chaste, as virtue
and marriage demand. And I believe
this mode is sufficient for the whole
time that the fire burns them: the
last wound must be healed, by this
treatment, and this diet.
580
581
/XVWIXO
While we were going along the
brink, like this, one behind the
other, the good Master often said:
‘Take care, let me caution you.’
The sun was striking my shoulder, his rays already changing the whole
aspect of the west from azure to
white, and I made the flames appear
redder in my shadow, and many
spirits I saw, noted, even so slight a
sign, as they passed. This was the
cause that gave them a reason to
speak about me, and they began to
say, one to another: ‘He does not
seem to be an insubstantial body.’
Then some of them made
towards me, as far as they could,
always careful not to emerge, to
where they would be no longer
582
burning. ‘O you who go behind the others, perhaps out of reverence not
tardiness, answer me who burn in
thirst and fire: and your reply is
needed not by me alone, since all
these thirst for it, more than Indians
or Ethiopians do for water. Tell us
how it is that you make a wall
against the sunlight, as if you were
not held in death’s net.’ So one of
them spoke to me, and I would have
revealed myself then and there, had
I not been intent on something
strange that appeared, since people
were coming through the middle of
the fiery road, their faces opposite
these people, and it made me pause,
in wonder.
There I see, each shadow hurry
to kiss someone on the other side,
without staying, satisfied by a short
greeting: ants, in their dark
583
battalions, embrace each other like this, perhaps to know their path and
their luck. As soon as they break
off the friendly clasp, before the
first step sends them onwards, each
one tries to shout the loudest: the
newcomers: ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’
and the others: ‘Pasiphaë enters the wooden cow, so that the young bull
may run to meet her lust.’
Then like cranes that fly, some to
the northern mountains, others
towards the desert: the latter shy of
frost, the former of the sun: so one
crowd passes on, and the other
comes past, and they return,
weeping, to their previous singing,
and to the cries most suitable to
them: and those same voices that
entreated me, before, drew closer to
me, showing their desire to listen, in
their aspect.
584
I who had seen this desire, twice, began: ‘O spirits, certain, sometime,
of reaching a state of peace, my
limbs have not remained over there,
green or ripe in age, but are here,
with me, with all their blood and
sinews. I go upwards from here, in
order to be blind no longer: there is
a lady there above who wins grace
for us, by means of which I bring
my mortal body through your world.
But - and may your desires may be
satisfied quickly, and Heaven house
you, which stretches furthest, filled
with love – tell me who you are, so
that I may write it on paper, and
who that crowd are, vanishing
behind your backs?’
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585
seemed as troubled as the dazed
mountain man becomes, when he
enters the city, staring about
speechlessly, in his roughness and
savagery, but when they had thrown
off their amazement, which is soon
quenched in finer hearts, the first
shade who had made his request to
me, began: ‘Blessed spirit, who are
gathering knowledge of our borders,
to achieve the holier life! The
people who do not come along with
us, offended in that way that made
Caesar hear ‘5HJLQD:Queen’ called after him in his triumph, so they
leave us, shouting: “Sodom”
reproving themselves, as you have
heard, and helping the burning with
the heat of their shame.
Our sin was heterosexual, but
because we did not obey human
586
law, and followed our appetites like beasts, when we part from them, to
our infamy we call KHU name,
Pasiphaë, that made herself a beast,
in the beast-like framework.
Now you know our actions, and
what we were guilty of: if you want
to know, perhaps, who we are, by
name, there is not time enough to
tell you, nor could I. But I will
indeed make your wish to know me
wane: I am Guido Guinicelli, and am purging myself already, because
I made a full repentance, before the
end.’
As in the midst of Lycurgus’s sorrow, her two sons were on seeing
their mother Hypsipyle again, so I was, though I cannot rise to those
heights, when I heard my ‘father’,
and the ‘father’ of others who are
my betters, name himself, he, who
587
always made use of the sweet and graceful rhymes of love: and
without speaking or hearing, I went
on, thinking, gazing at him for a
long while, and did not move closer
there because of the fire.
When I was filled with gazing, I
offered my services to him, eagerly,
with that strength that compels
belief in the other. And he said to
me: ‘I hear that you leave tracks so
deep and clear, that Lethe cannot
remove or dim them. But if your
words just now expressed truth, tell
me why you demonstrate, in looks
and speech, that you hold me so
dear.’
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588
And I to him: ‘Your sweet lines, whose very ink is precious, as long
as the modern style shall last.’ He
said: ‘O my brother, this one whom
I indicate with my finger,’ (and he
pointed to a spirit in front) ‘was the
better craftsman of his mother
tongue. He surpassed all who wrote
love-verses and prose romances, and
let those fools talk who think that
Giraut de Borneil, he of Limoges, excels. They turn their faces
towards rumour rather than truth,
and confirm their opinions before
they listen to art or reason. So, many
of our fathers did, with Guittone, shouting praise after praise of him,
but truth has won at last, with most
people.
Now if you have such breadth of
privilege, that you are allowed to go
to that cloister, where Christ is head