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The Divine Comedy, Volume 2, Purgatory [Purgatorio]
by Dante Aligheri
Translated by Charles Eliot Norton
PURGATORY
CONTENTS
CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses. - Dawn of Easter on the shore of
Purgatory. - The Four Stars. - Cato. - The cleansing of Dante from
the stains of Hell.
CANTO II. Sunrise. - The Poets on the shore. - Coming of a boat,
guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory. - Their
landing. - Casella and his song. - Cato hurries the souls to the
mountain.
CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory. - Souls of those who have died in
contumacy of the Church. - Manfred.
CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory. - Ascent to a shelf of the
mountain. - The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last
hour - Belacqua.
CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory. - Spirits who had delayed repentance, and
met with death by violence, but died repentant. - Jacopo del
Cassero. - Buonconte da Montefeltro. - Via de' Tolomei.
CANTO VI. Ante-Purgatory. - More spirits who had deferred
repentance till they were overtaken by a violent death. - Efficacy
of prayer. - Sordello. - Apostrophe to Italy.
CANTO VII. Virgil makes himself known to Sordello. - Sordello
leads the Poets to the Valley of the Princes who have been
negligent of salvation. - He points them out by name.
CANTO VIII. Valley of the Princes. - Two Guardian Angels. - Nino
Visconti. - The Serpent. - Corrado Malaspina.
CANTO IX. Slumber and Dream of Dante. - The Eagle. - Lucia. - The
Gate of Purgatory. - The Angelic Gatekeeper. - Seven P's inscribed
on Dante's Forehead. - Entrance to the First Ledge.
CANTO X. First Ledge the Proud. - Examples of humility sculptured
on the Rock.
CANTO XI. First Ledge: the Proud. - Prayer. - Omberto
Aldobrandeschi. - Oderisi d' Agubbio. - Provinzan Salvani.
CANTO XII. First Ledge: the Proud. - Examples of the punishment of
Pride graven on the pavement. - Meeting with an Angel who removes
one of the P's. - Ascent to the Second Ledge.
CANTO XIII. Second Ledge: the Envious. - Examples of Love. - The
Shades in haircloth, and with sealed eyes. - Sapla of Siena.
CANTO XIV. Second Ledge: the Envious. - Guido del Duca. - Rinieri
de' Calboli. - Examples of the punishment of Envy.
CANTO XV. Second Ledge: the Envious. - An Angel removes the second
P from Dante's forehead. - Discourse concerning the Sharing of
Good. - Ascent to the Third Ledge: the Wrathful. - Examples of
Forbearance seen in Vision.
CANTO XVI. Third Ledge: the Wrathful. - Marco Lombardo. - His
discourse on Free Will, and the Corruption of the World.
CANTO XVII. Third Ledge: the Wrathful. - Issue from the
Smoke. - Vision of examples of Anger - Ascent to the Fourth Ledge,
where Sloth is purged - Second Nightfall - Virgil explains how Love
is the root of Virtue and of Sin.
CANTO XVIII. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful. - Discourse of Virgil on
Love and Free Will. - -Throng of Spirits running in haste to
redeem their Sin. - The Abbot of San Zeno. - Dante falls asleep.
CANTO XIX. Fourth Ledge: the Slothful. - Dante dreams of the
Siren - The Angel of the Pass. - Ascent to the Fifth Ledge. - Pope
Adrian V.
CANTO XX. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious. - The Spirits celebrate
examples of Poverty and Bounty. - Hugh Capet. - His discourse on
his descendants. - Trembling of the Mountain.
CANTO XXI. Fifth Ledge: the Avaricious. - Statius. - Cause of the
trembling of the Mountain. - Statius does honor to Virgil.
CANTO XXII. Ascent to the Sixth Ledge - Discourse of Statius and
Virgil. - Entrance to the Ledge: the Gluttonous. - The Mystic
Tree. - Examples of Temperance.
CANTO XXIII. Sixth Ledge the Gluttonous. - Forese
Donati. - Nella. - Rebuke of the women of Florence.
CANTO XXIV. Sixth Ledge: the Gluttonous. - Forese
Donati. - Bonagiunta of Lucca. - Pope Martin IV. - Ubaldin dalla
Pila. - Bonifazio. - Messer Marchese. - Prophecy of Bonagiunta
concerning Gentucca, and of Forese concerning Corso de'
Donati. - Second Mystic Tree. - The Angel of the Pass.
CANTO XXV. Ascent to the Seventh Ledge. - Discourse of Statius on
generation, the infusion of the Soul into the body, and the
corporeal semblance of Souls after death. - The Seventh Ledge:the
Lustful. - The mode of their Purification.
CANTO XXVI. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful. - Sinners in the fire,
going in opposite directions. - Guido Guinicelli. - Arnaut Daniel.
CANTO XXVII. Seventh Ledge: the Lustful. - Passage through the
Flames. - Stairway in the rock. - Night upon the stairs. - Dream of
Dante. - Morning. - Ascent to the Earthly Paradise. - Last words of
Virgil.
CANTO XXVIII. The Earthly Paradise. - The Forest. - A Lady
gathering flowers on the bank of a little stream. - Discourse with
her concerning the nature of the place.
CANTO XXIX. The Earthly Paradise. - Mystic Procession or Triumph
of the Church.
CANTO XXX. The Earthly Paradise. - Beatrice appears. - Departure of
Virgil. - Reproof of Dante by Beatrice.
CANTO XXXI. The Earthly Paradise. - Reproachful discourse of
Beatrice, and confession of Dante. - Passage of Lethe. - Appeal of
the Virtues to Beatrice. - Her Unveiling.
CANTO XXXII. The Earthly Paradise. - Return of the Triumphal
procession. - The Chariot bound to the Mystic Tree. - Sleep of
Dante. - His waking to find the Triumph departed. - Transformation
of the Chariot. - The Harlot and the Giant.
CANTO XXXIII. The Earthly Paradise. - Prophecy of Beatrice
concerning one who shall restore the Empire. - Her discourse with
Dante. - The river Eunoe. - Dante drinks of it, and is fit to
ascend to Heaven.
PURGATORY
CANTO I. Invocation to the Muses. - Dawn of Easter on the shore of
Purgatory. - The Four Stars. - Cato. - The cleansing of Dante from
the stains of Hell.
To run over better waters the little vessel of my genius now
hoists its sails, and leaves behind itself a sea so cruel; and I
will sing of that second realm where the human spirit is purified
and becomes worthy to ascend to heaven.
But here let dead poesy rise again, O holy Muses, since yours I
am, and here let Calliope somewhat mount up, accompanying my song
with that sound of which the wretched Picae felt the stroke such
that they despaired of pardon.[1]
[1] The nine daughters of Pieros, king of Emathia, who,
contending in song with the Muses, were for their presumption
changed to magpies.
A sweet color of oriental sapphire, which was gathering in the
serene aspect of the sky, pure even to the first circle,[1]
renewed delight to my eyes soon as I issued forth from the dead
air that had afflicted my eyes and my breast. The fair planet
which incites to love was making all the Orient to smile, veiling
the Fishes that were in her train.[2] I turned me to the right
hand, and fixed my mind upon the other pole, and saw four stars
never seen save by the first people.[3] The heavens appeared to
rejoice in their flamelets. O widowed northern region, since thou
art deprived of beholding these!
[1] By "the first circle," Dante seems to mean the horizon.
[2] At the spring equinox Venus is in the sign of the Pisces,
which immediately precedes that of Aries, in which is the Sun.
The time indicated is therefore an hour or more before sunrise on
Easter morning, April 10.
When I had withdrawn from regarding them, turning me a little to
the other pole, there whence the Wain had already disappeared, I
saw close to me an old man alone, worthy in look of so much
reverence that no son owes more unto his father.[1] He wore a
long beard and mingled with white hair, like his locks, of which
a double list fell upon his breast. The rays of the four holy
stars so adorned his face with light, that I saw him, as if the
sun had been in front.
[1] These stars are the symbols of the four Cardinal Virtues, -
Prudence, Temperance, Fortitude, and Justice, - the virtues of
active life, sufficient to guide men in the right path, but not
to bring them to Paradise. By the first people arc probably meant
Adam and Eve, who from the terrestrial Paradise, on the summit of
the Mount of Purgatory, had seen these stars, visible only from
the Southern hemisphere. According to the geography of the time
Asia and Africa lay north of the equator, so that even to their
inhabitants these stars were invisible. Possibly the meaning is
that these stars, symbolizing the cardinal virtues, had been
visible only in the golden age.
This old man, as soon appears, is the younger Cato, and the
office here given to him of warden of the souls in the outer
region of Purgatory was suggested by the position assigned to him
by Virgil in the Aeneid, viii. 670. "Secretosque pios, his dantem
jura Catonem."
It has been objected to Virgil's thus putting him in Elysium,
that as a suicide his place was in the Mourning Fields. A similar
objection may be made to Dante's separating him from the other
suicides in the seventh circle of Hell (Canto XIII.). "But," says
Conington, "Virgil did not aim at perfect consistency. It was
enough for him that Cato was one who from his character in life
might be justly conceived of as lawgiver to the dead." So Dante,
using Cato as an allegoric figure, regards him as one who, before
the coming of Christ, practised the virtues which are required to
liberate the soul from sin, and who, as be says in the De
Monarchia (ii. 5), "that he might kindle the love of liberty in
the world, showed how precious it was, by preferring death with
liberty to life without it." This liberty is the type of that
spiritual freedom which Dante is seeking, and which, being the
perfect conformity of the human will to the will of God, is the
aim and fruition of nil redeemed souls.
In the region of Purgatory outside the gate, the souls have not
yet attained this freedom; they are on the way to it, and Cato is
allegorically fit to warn and spur them on.
"Who are ye that counter to the blind stream have fled from the
eternal prison?" said he, moving those venerable plumes. "Who has
guided you? Or who was a lamp to you, issuing forth from the deep
night that ever makes the infernal valley black? Are the laws of
the abyss thus broken? or is a new design changed in heaven that,
being damned, ye come unto my rocks?"
My Leader then took hold of me, and with words, and with hands,
and with signs, made my legs and my brow reverent. Then he
answered him, "Of myself I came not; a Lady descended from
Heaven, through whose prayers I succored this man with my
company. But since it is thy will that more of our condition be
unfolded to thee as it truly is, mine cannot be that to thee this
be denied. This man has not seen his last evening, but through
his folly was so near thereto that very little time there was to
turn. Even as I have said, I was sent to him to rescue him, and
there was no other way than this, along which I have set myself.
I have shown to him all the guilty people; and now I intend to
show him those spirits that purge themselves under thy ward. How
I have led him, it would be long to tell thee; from on high
descends power that aids me to conduct him to see thee and to
hear thee. Now may it please thee to approve his coming. He goes
seeking liberty, which is so dear, as he knows who for her
refuses life. Thou knowest it, for death for her sake was not
hitter to thee in Utica, where thou didst leave the garment that
on the great day shall he so bright. The eternal edicts are not
violated by us, for this one is alive, and Minos does not bind
me; but I am of the circle where are the chaste eyes of thy
Marcia, who in her look still prays thee, O holy breast, that for
thine own thou hold her. For her love, then, incline thyself to
us; let us go on through thy seven realms.[1] Thanks unto thee
will I carry back to her, if to be mentioned there below thou
deign."
[1] The seven circles of Purgatory.
"Marcia so pleased my eyes while I was on earth," said he then,
"that whatsoever grace she wished from me I did it; now, that on
the other side of the evil stream she dwells, she can no more
move me, by that law which was made when thence I issued
forth.[1] But if a Lady of heaven move and direct thee, as thou
sayest, there is no need of flattery; suffice it fully to thee
that for her sake thou askest me. Go then, and see thou gird this
one with a smooth rush, and that thou wash his face so that thou
remove all sully from it, for it were not befitting to go with
eye overcast by any cloud before the first minister that is of
those of Paradise. This little island, round about at its base,
down there yonder where the wave heats it, bears rushes upon its
soft ooze. No plant of other kind, that might put forth leaf or
grow hard, can there have life, because it yields not to the
shocks. Thereafter let not your return be this way; the Sun which
now is rising will show you to take the mountain by easier
ascent."
[1] The law that the redeemed cannot be touched by other than
heavenly affections.
So he disappeared, and I rose up, without speaking, and drew me
close to my Leader, and turned my eyes to him. He began, "Son,
follow my steps; let us turn back, for this plain slopes that way
to its low limits."
The dawn was vanquishing the matin hour which fled before it, so
that from afar I discerned the trembling of the sea. We set forth
over the solitary plain like a man who turns unto the road which
he has lost, and, till he come to it, seems to himself to go in
vain. When we were where the dew contends with the sun, and,
through being in a place where there is shade, is little
dissipated, my Master softly placed both his hands outspread upon
the grass. Whereon I, who perceived his design, stretched toward
him my tear-stained cheeks. Here he wholly uncovered that color
of mine which hell had hidden on me.[1]
[1] Allegorically, when the soul has entered upon the way of
purification Reason, with the dew of repentance, washes off the
stain of sin, and girds the spirit with humility.
We came, then, to the desert shore that never saw navigate its
waters one who afterwards had experience of return. Here he girt
me, even as pleased the other. O marvel! that such as he plucked
the humble plant, it instantly sprang up again there whence he
tore it.[1]
[1] The goods of the spirit are not diminished by appropriation.
CANTO II. Sunrise. - The Poets on the shore. - Coming of a boat,
guided by an angel, bearing souls to Purgatory. - Their
landing. - Casella and his song. - Cato hurries the souls to the
mountain.
Now had the sun reached the horizon whose meridian circle covers
Jerusalem with its highest point; and the night which circles
opposite to it was issuing forth from Ganges with the Scales that
fall from her hand when she exceeds;[1] so that where I was the
white and red cheeks of the beautiful Aurora by too much age were
becoming orange.
[1] Purgatory and Jerusalem are antipodal, and in one direction
the Ganges or India was arbitrarily assumed to be their common
horizon. The night is here taken as the point of the Heavens
opposite the sun, and the sun being in Aries, the night is in
Libra. When night exceeds, that is, at the autumnal equinox, when
the night becomes longer than the day, the Scales may be said to
drop from her hand, since the sun enters Libra.
We were still alongside the sea, like folk who are thinking of
their road, who go in heart and linger in body; and lo! as, at
approach of the morning, through the dense vapors Mars glows
ruddy, down in the west above the ocean floor, such appeared to
me, - so may I again behold it! - a light along the sea coming so
swiftly that no flight equals its motion. From which when I had a
little withdrawn my eye to ask my Leader, again I saw it,
brighter become and larger. Then on each side of it appeared to
me a something, I know not what, white, and beneath, little by
little, another came forth from it. My Master still said not a
word, until the first white things showed themselves wings; then,
When he clearly recognized the pilot, he cried out, "Mind, mind,
thou bend thy knees. Lo! the Angel of God: fold thy hands;
henceforth shalt thou see such officials. See how he scorns human
means, so that he wills not oar, or other sail than his own wings
between such distant shores. See, how he holds them straight
toward heaven, stroking the air with his eternal feathers that
are not changed like mortal hair."
Then, as nearer and nearer toward us came the Bird Divine, the
brighter he appeared; so that near by my eye endured him not, but
I bent it down: and he came on to the shore with a small vessel,
very swift and light so that the water swallowed naught of it. At
the stern stood the Celestial Pilot, such that if but described
he would make blessed; and more than a hundred spirits sat
within. "In exitu Israel de Egypto"[1] they all were singing
together with one voice, with whatso of that psalm is after
written. Then he made the sign of holy cross upon them; whereon
they all threw themselves upon the strand; and he went away swift
as he had come.
1 "When Israel went out of Egypt." Psalm cxiv.
The crowd which remained there seemed strange to the place,
gazing round about like him who of new things makes essay. On all
sides the Sun, who had with his bright arrows chased from
midheaven the Capricorn,[1] was shooting forth the day, when the
new people raised their brow toward us, saying to us, "If ye
know, show us the way to go unto the mountain." And Virgil
answered, "Ye believe, perchance, that we are acquainted with
this place, but we are pilgrims even as ye are. Just now we came,
a little before you, by another way, which was so rough and
difficult that the ascent henceforth will seem play to us.
[1] When Aries, in which the Sun was rising, is on the horizon,
Capricorn is at the zenith.
The souls who had become aware concerning me by my breathing,
that I was still alive, marvelling became deadly pale. And as to
a messenger who bears an olive branch the folk press to hear
news, and no one shows himself shy of crowding, so, at the sight
of me, those fortunate souls stopped still, all of them, as if
forgetting to go to make themselves fair.
I saw one of them drawing forward to embrace me with so great
affection that it moved me to do the like. O shades empty save in
aspect! Three times behind it I clasped my hands and as oft
returned with them unto my breast. With marvel, I believe, I
painted me; wherefore the shade smiled and drew back, and I,
following it, pressed forward, Gently it said, that I should
pause; then I knew who it was, and I prayed it that to speak with
me it would stop a little. It replied to me, "So as I loved thee
in the mortal body, so loosed from it I love thee; therefore I
stop; but wherefore goest thou?"
"Casella mine, in order to return another time to this place
where I am, do I make this journey," said I, "but from thee how
has so much time been taken?"[1]
[1] "How has thy coming hither been delayed so long since thy
death?"
And he to me, "No wrong has been done me if he[1] who takes both
when and whom it pleases him ofttimes hath denied to me this
passage; for of a just will[2] his own is made. Truly for three
months he has taken with all peace whoso has wished to enter.
Wherefore I who was now turned to the seashore where the water of
Tiber grows salt was benignantly received by him.[3] To that
outlet has he now turned his wing, because always those assemble
there who towards Acheron do not descend."
[1] The Celestial Pilot.
[2] That is, of the Divine Will; but there is no explanation of
the motive of the delay.
[3] The Tiber is the local symbol of the Church of Rome, from
whose bosom those who die at peace with her pass to Purgatory.
The Jubilee, proclaimed by Boniface VIII., had begun at
Christmas, 1299, so that for three months now the Celestial Pilot
had received graciously all who had taken advantage of it to gain
remission of their sins.
And I, "If a new law take not from thee memory or practice of the
song of love which was wont to quiet in me all my longings, may
it please thee therewith somewhat to comfort my soul, which
coming hither with its body is so wearied."
"Love which in my mind discourseth with me,"[1] began he then so
sweetly that the sweetness still within me sounds.[2] My Master,
and I, and that folk who were with him, appeared so content as if
naught else could touch the mind of any.
[1] The first verse of a canzone by Dante; the canzone is the
second of those upon which he comments in his Convito.
[2] Every English reader recalls Milton's Sonnet to Mr. Henry
Lawes: -
"Dante shall give Fame leave to set thee higher
Than his Casella, whom he woo'd to sing,
Met in the milder shades of purgatory."
Nothing is known of Casella beyond what is implied in Dante's
affectionate record of their meeting.
We were all fixed and attentive to his notes; and lo! the
venerable old man crying, "What is this, ye laggard spirits? What
negligence, what stay is this? Run to the mountain to strip off
the slough that lets not God be manifest to you."
As, when gathering grain or tare, the doves assembled at their
feeding, quiet, without display of their accustomed pride, if
aught appear of which they are afraid, suddenly let the food
alone, because they are assailed by a greater care, so I saw that
fresh troop leave the song, and go towards the hill-side, like
one that goes but knows not where he may come out. Nor was our
departure less speedy.
CANTO III. Ante-Purgatory. - Souls of those who have died in
contumacy of the Church. - Manfred.
Inasmuch as the sudden flight had scattered them over the plain,
turned to the mount whereto reason spurs us, I drew me close to
my trusty companion. And how should I without him have run? Who
would have drawn me up over the mountain? He seemed to me of his
own self remorseful. O conscience, upright and stainless, how
bitter a sting to thee is little fault!
When his feet left the haste that takes the seemliness from every
act, my mind, which at first had been restrained, let loose its
attention, as though eager, and I turned my face unto the hill
that towards the heaven rises highest from the sea. The sun,
which behind was flaming ruddy, was broken in front of me by the
figure that the staying of its rays upon me formed. When I saw
the ground darkened only in front of me, I turned me to my side
with fear of being abandoned: and my Comfort, wholly turning to
me, began to say, "Why dost thou still distrust? Dost thou not
believe me with thee, and that I guide thee? It is now evening
there where the body is buried within which I cast a shadow;
Naples holds it, and from Brundusium it is taken; if now in front
of me there is no shadow, marvel not more than at the heavens of
which one hinders not the other's radiance. To suffer torments,
both hot and cold, bodies like this the Power ordains, which
wills not that how it acts be revealed to us. Mad is he who hopes
that our reason can traverse the infinite way which One Substance
in Three Persons holds. Be content, human race, with the
quia;[1]; for if ye had been able to see everything, need had not
been for Mary to hear child: and ye have seen desiring
fruitlessly men such [2] that their desire would have been
quieted, which is given them eternally for a grief. I speak of
Aristotle and of Plato, and of many others;" and here he bowed
his front, and said no more, and remained disturbed.
[1] Quic is used here, as often in mediaeval Latin, for quod. The
meaning is, Be content to know that the thing is, seek not to
know WHY or HOW - propter quid - it is as it is.
[2] If human knowledge sufficed.
We had come, meanwhile, to the foot of the mountain; here we
found the rock so steep, that there the legs would be agile in
vain. Between Lerici and Turbia[1] the most deserted, the most
secluded way is a stair easy and open, compared with that. "Now
who knows on which hand the hillside slopes," said my Master,
staying his step, "so that he can ascend who goeth without
wings?"
[1] Lerici on the Gulf of Spezzia, and Turbia, just above Monaco,
are at the two ends of the Riviera; between them the mountains
rise steeply from the shore, along which in Dante's time there
was no road.
And while he was holding his face low, questioning his mind about
the road, and I was looking up around the rock, on the left hand
appeared to me a company of souls who were moving their feet
towards us, and seemed not, so slowly were they coming. "Lift,"
said I to the Master, "thine eyes, lo! on this side who will give
us counsel, if thou from thyself canst not have it." He looked at
them, and with air of relief, answered, "Let us go thither, for
they come slowly, and do thou confirm thy hope, sweet son.
That people was still as far, I mean after a thousand steps of
ours, as a good thrower would cast with his hand, when they all
pressed up to the hard masses of the high bank, and stood still
and close, as one who goes in doubt stops to look.[1] "O ye who
have made good ends, O spirits already elect," Virgil began, "by
that peace which I believe is awaited by you all, tell us, where
the mountain lies so that the going up is possible; for to lose
time is most displeasing to him who knows most."
[1] They stopped, surprised, at seeing Virgil and Dante advancing
to the left, against the rule in Purgatory, where the course is
always to the right, symbolizing progress in good. In Hell the
contrary rule holds.
As the sheep come forth from the fold by ones, and twos, and
threes, and the others stand timid, holding eye and muzzle to the
ground; and what the first does the others also do, huddling
themselves to her if she stop, silly and quiet, and wherefore
know not; so I saw then moving to approach, the head of that
fortunate flock, modest in face and dignified in gait.
When those in front saw the light broken on the ground at my
right side, so that the shadow fell from me on the cliff, they
stopped, and drew somewhat back; and all the rest who were coming
behind, not knowing why, did just the same. "Without your
asking, I confess to you that this is a human body which you see,
whereby the light of the sun on the ground is cleft. Marvel not
thereat, but believe that not without power that comes from
heaven he seeks to surmount this wall." Thus the Master:and that
worthy people said, "Turn, enter in advance, then;" with the
backs of their hands making sign. And one of them began, "Whoever
thou art, turn thy face as thou thus goest; consider if in the
world thou didst ever see me?" I turned me toward him, and looked
at him fixedly: blond he was, and beautiful, and of gentle
aspect, but a blow had divided one of his eyebrows.
When I had humbly disclaimed having ever seen him, he said, "Now
look!" and he showed me a wound at the top of his breast. Then he
said, smiling, "I am Manfred,[1] grandson of the Empress
Constance; wherefore I pray thee, that when thou returnest, thou
go to my beautiful daughter,[2] mother of the honor of Sicily and
of Aragon, and tell to her the truth if aught else be told. After
I had my body broken by two mortal stabs, I rendered myself,
weeping, to Him who pardons willingly. Horrible were my sins, but
the Infinite Goodness has such wide arms that it takes whatever
turns to it. If the Pastor of Cosenza,[3] who was set on the hunt
of me by Clement, had then rightly read this page in God, the
bones of my body would still be at the head of the bridge near
Benevento, under the guard of the heavy cairn. Now the rain
bathes them, and the wind moves them forth from the kingdom,
almost along the Verde, whither he transferred them with
extinguished light.[4] By their [5] malediction the Eternal Love
is not so lost that it cannot return, while hope hath speck of
green. True is it, that whoso dies in contumacy of Holy Church,
though he repent him at the end, needs must stay outside[6] upon
this bank thirtyfold the whole time that he has been in his
presumption,[7] if such decree become not shorter through good
prayers. See now if thou canst make me glad, revealing to my good
Constance how thou hast seen me, and also this prohibition,[8]
for here through those on earth much is gained."
[1] The natural son of the Emperor Frederick II. He was born in
1231; in 1258 he was crowned King of Sicily. In 1263 Charles of
Anjou was called by Pope Urban IV. to contend against him, and in
1266 Manfred was killed at the battle of Benevento.
[2] Constance, the daughter of Manfred, was married to Peter of
Aragon. She had three sons, Alphonso, James, and Frederick.
Alphonso succeeded his father in Aragon, and James in Sicily, but
after the death of Alphonso James became King of Aragon. and
Frederick King of Sicily. Manfred naturally speaks favorably of
them, but Dante himself thought ill of James and Frederick. See
Canto VII., towards the end.
[3] The Archbishop of Cosenza, at command of the Pope, Clement
IV., took the body of Manfred from his grave near Benevento, and
threw it unburied, as the body of one excommunicated, on the bank
of the Verde.
[4] Not with candles burning as in proper funeral rites.
[5] That is, of Pope or Bishop.
[6] Outside the gate of Purgatory.
[7] This seems to be a doctrine peculiar to Dante. The value of
the prayers of the good on earth in shortening the period of
suffering of the souls in Purgatory is more than once referred to
by him, as well as the virtue of the intercession of the souls in
Purgatory for the benefit of the living. [8] The prohibition of
entering within Purgatory.
CANTO IV. Ante-Purgatory. - Ascent to a shelf of the
mountain. - The negligent, who postponed repentance to the last
hour. - Belacqua.
When through delights, or through pains which some power of ours
may experience, the soul is all concentrated thereon, it seems
that to no other faculty it may attend; and this is counter to
the error which believes that one soul above another is kindled
in us.[1] And therefore, when a thing is heard or seen, which may
hold the soul intently turned to it, the time passes, and the man
observes it not: for one faculty is that which listens, and
another is that which keeps the soul entire; the latter is as it
were bound, and the former is loosed.
[1] Were it true that, as according to the Platonists, there were
more than one soul in man, he might give attention to two things
at once. But when one faculty is free and called into activity,
the rest of the soul is as it were bound in inaction.
Of this had I true experience, hearing that spirit and wondering;
for full fifty degrees had the sun ascended,[1] and I had not
noticed it, when we came where those souls all together cried out
to us, "Here is what you ask."
[1] It was now about nine o'clock A. M.
A larger opening the man of the farm often hedges up with a
forkful of his thorns, when the grape grows dark, than was the
passage through which my Leader and I behind ascended alone, when
the troop departed from us. One goes to Sanleo, and descends to
Noli, one mounts up Bismantova[1] to its peak, with only the
feet; but here it behoves that one fly, I mean with the swift
wings and with the feathers of great desire, behind that guide
who gave me hope and made a light for me. We ascended in through
the broken rock, and on each side the border pressed on us, and
the ground beneath required both feet and hands.
[1] These all are places difficult of access.
When we were upon the upper edge of the high bank on the open
slope, "My Master," said I, "what way shall we take?" And he to
me, "Let no step of thine fall back, always win up the mountain
behind me, till some sage guide appear for us."
The summit was so high it surpassed the sight and the side
steeper far than a line from the mid quadrant to the centre.[1] I
was weary, when I began, "O sweet Father, turn and regard howl
remain alone if thou dost not stop." "My son," said he, "far as
here drag thyself," pointing me to a ledge a little above, which
on that side circles all the hill. His words so spurred me, that
I forced myself, scrambling after him, until the belt was beneath
my feet. There we both sat down, turning to the east, whence we
had ascended, for to look back is wont to encourage one. I first
turned my eyes to the low shores, then I raised them to the sun,
and wondered that on the left we were struck by it. The Poet
perceived clearly that I was standing all bewildered at the
chariot of the light, where between us and Aquilo,[2] it was
entering. Whereupon he to me, "If Castor and Pollux were in
company with that mirror [3] which up and down guides with its
light, thou wouldst see the ruddy Zodiac revolving still closer
to the Bears, if it went not out of its old road.[4] How that may
be, if thou wishest to be able to think, collected in thyself
imagine Zion and this mountain to stand upon the earth so that
both have one sole horizon, and different hemispheres; then thou
wilt see that the road which Phaethon, to his harm, knew not how
to drive, must needs pass on the one side of this mountain, and
on the other side of that, if thy intelligence right clearly
heeds." "Surely, my Master," said I, "never yet saw I so clearly,
as I now discern there where my wit seemed deficient; for the
mid-circle of the supernal motion, which is called Equator in a
certain art,[4] and which always remains between the sun and the
winter, for the reason that thou tellest, from here departs
toward the north, while the Hebrews saw it toward the warm
region. But, if it please thee, willingly I would know how far we
have to go, for the hill rises higher than my eyes can rise." And
he to me, "This mountain is such, that ever at the beginning
below it is hard, and the higher one goes the less it hurts;
therefore when it shall seem so pleasant to thee that the going
up will be easy to thee as going down the current in a vessel,
then wilt thou be at the end of this path; there repose from toil
await: no more I answer, and this I know for true."
[1] A steeper inclination than that of an angle of forty-five
degrees.
[2] The North.
[3] The brightness of the sun is the reflection of the Divine
light.
[4] If the sun were in the sign of the Gemini instead of being in
Aries it would make the Zodiac ruddy still farther to the north.
In Purgatory the sun being seen from south of the equator is on
the left hand, while at Jerusalem, in the northern hemisphere, it
is seen on the right.
[5] Astronomy.
And when he had said his word, a voice near by sounded,
"Perchance thou wilt be first constrained to sit." At the sound
of it each of us turned, and we saw at the left a great stone
which neither he nor I before had noticed. Thither we drew; and
there were persons who were staying in the shadow behind the
rock, as one through indolence sets himself to stay. And one of
them, who seemed to me weary, was seated, and was clasping his
knees, holding his face down low between them. "O sweet my Lord,"
said I, "look at him who shows himself more indolent than if
sloth were his sister." Then that one turned to us and gave heed,
moving his look only up along his thigh, and said, "Now go up
thou, for thou art valiant." I recognized then who he was, and
that effort which was still quickening my breath a little
hindered not my going to him, and after I had reached him, he
scarce raised his head, saying, "Hast thou clearly seen how the
sun over thy left shoulder drives his chariot?"
His slothful acts and his short words moved my lips a little to a
smile, then I began, "Belacqua,[1] I do not grieve for thee
now,[2] but tell me why just here thou art seated? awaitest thou
a guide, or has only thy wonted mood recaptured thee?" And he,
"Brother, what imports the going up? For the bird of God that
sitteth at the gate would not let me go to the torments. It first
behoves that heaven circle around me outside the gate, as long as
it did in life, because I delayed good sighs until the end;
unless the prayer first aid me which rises up from a heart that
lives in grace: what avails the other which is not heard in
heaven?"
[1] Belacqua, according to Benvenuto da Imola, was a Florentine,
a maker of citherns and other musical instruments; he carved with
great care the necks and heads of his citherns, and sometimes he
played on them. Dante, because of his love of music, had been
well acquainted with him.
[2] He had feared lest Belacqua might be in Hell.
And now the Poet in front of me was ascending, and he said, "Come
on now: thou seest that the meridian is touched by the sun, and
on the shore the night now covers with her foot Morocco."
CANTO V. Ante-Purgatory. - Spirits who had delayed repentance, and
met with death by violence, but died repentant. - Jacopo del
Cassero. - Buonconte da Montefeltro - Via de' Tolomei.
I had now parted from those shades, and was following the
footsteps of my Leader, when behind me, pointing his finger, one
cried out, "Look, the ray seems not to shine on the left hand of
that lower one, and as if alive he seems to hear himself." I
turned my eyes at the sound of these words, and I saw them
watching, for marvel, only me, only me, and the light which was
broken.
"Why is thy mind so hampered," said the Master, "that thou
slackenest thy going? What matters to thee that which here is
whispered? Come after me, and let the people talk. Stand as a
tower firm, that never wags its top for blowing of the winds; for
always the man in whom thought on thought wells up removes from
himself his aim, for the force of one weakens the other." What
could I answer, save "I come"? I said it, overspread somewhat
with the color, which, at times, makes a man worthy of pardon.
And meanwhile across upon the mountain side, a little in front of
us, were coming people, singing "Miserere," verse by verse. When
they observed that I gave not place for passage of the rays
through my body, they changed their song into a long and hoarse
"Oh!" and two of them, in form of messengers, ran to meet us, and
asked of us, "Of your condition make us cognizant." And my
Master, "Ye can go back, and report to them who sent you, that
the body of this one is true flesh. If, as I suppose, they
stopped because of seeing his shadow, enough is answered them;
let them do him honor and he may he dear to them."
Never did I see enkindled vapors at early night so swiftly cleave
the clear sky, nor at set of sun the clouds of August, that these
did not return up in less time; and, arrived there, they, with
the others, gave a turn toward us, like a troop that runs without
curb. "These folk that press to us are many, and they come to
pray thee," said the Poet; "wherefore still go on, and in going
listen." "O soul," they came crying, "that goest to be happy with
those limbs with which thou wast born, a little stay thy step;
look if thou hast ever seen any one of us, so that thou mayest
carry news of him to earth. Ah, why dost thou go on? Ah, why dost
thou not stop? We were of old all done to death by violence, and
sinners up to the last hour; then light from Heaven made us
mindful, so that both penitent and pardoning we issued forth from
life, at peace with God, who fills our hearts with the desire to
see him." And I, "Although I gaze upon your faces, not one I
recognize; but if aught that I can do be pleasing to you, spirits
wellborn,[1] speak ye, and I will do it by that peace which makes