^ 
 
 A 
 A 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 7 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 
 DANTE ..ALIGHIERI 
 The anfee-purgatorio of Dante 
 Alighieri 
 
 PQ 
 4315.31 
 
 3 
 
 -i
 
 THE 
 
 Ante-Purgatorio 
 
 OF 
 
 Dante Alighieri 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 T. W. PARSONS 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON 
 
 August, 1875
 
 I THE 
 
 Ante-Purgatorio 
 
 Dante Alighieri 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 T. W. PARSONS 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON 
 
 August, 1S75
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 The first nine Cantos of the Purgatorio of Dante are but 
 preliminary to the rest; and several German critics have 
 adopted the title of " Ante-Purgatorio," by which Italians 
 have sometimes distinguished them. It is not until the open- 
 ing of Canto X., 
 
 " La dove '1 Purgatorio ha dritto inizio," 
 
 that we pass the threshold of the gate which leads to the 
 several rounds of penance. 
 
 The present translator, being occupied with other portions 
 of the Divine Comedy, feels free to postpone for a time the 
 publication of his complete version of the Purgatory, together 
 with such notes as may have approved themselves the fruit of 
 a long study. But as these nine Cantos have already appeared 
 in the " Catholic World," and as they form one recognized 
 division of the poem, they are now reprinted for the use of 
 those who have desired to possess them in one collection.
 
 " Every branch that beareth fruit 
 He purgeth it, 
 
 That it may bring forth more fruit.''' 
 
 In perusing this version of the " Purgatorio " of Dante, the reader 
 may profitably direct his attention less to any dogma of the church or 
 any formula of a special creed, than to the allegorical sense of the poet, 
 founded, as it must be acknowledged by all Christian believers, upon 
 the facts of our nature and the history of the human heart. "The 
 Romish doctrine concerning purgatory" may be combated as an article 
 of faith, but must be admitted as a true statement of the condition of 
 mankind, religiously considered. The wretched state of man " living 
 without God in the world; " the self-conviction of sin; the necessity 
 of a Saviour; and the possibility of attaining, through the heavy 
 passages of contrition and the wearisome stages of penance, to the 
 " peace which passeth understanding," — is the sum of the doctrines 
 embodied in the " Divina Commedia." 
 
 Dante, having partly in imagination, and partly (as we may justly 
 suppose) in reality, passed through the torments of the life of sin 
 and passion and unbelief that make the hell of this world, has come to 
 the antipodes of his poetical creation, whose way is up the toilsome hill 
 of penance to the terrestrial paradise of pardon and peace. Still, as 
 in the infernal realm, under the guidance of his master in song, Virgil, 
 he is met by another pagan spirit, Cato the Suicide, of Utica, who 
 teaches him the first lesson to be learned before the soul of man can 
 enter into the penitential state, — and that lesson is humility. The 
 "lowly reed " wherewith Dante is instructed to gird himself (v. 90) is 
 typical of that which He bare in his hand who wore at the same time 
 the crown of thorns, and who said, " Learn of me, for I am meek and 
 lowly of heart."
 
 TRANSLATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANTE-PURGATORIO OF DANTE. 
 
 PURGATORIO. 
 CANTO FIRST. 
 
 The little vessel of my genius now 
 
 Hoists sail o'er better waves to follow helm, 
 Turning from sea so terrible its prow : 
 
 And I will sing now of that second realm 
 Wherein are purified the souls of men 
 
 Until of heaven they worthy shall have grown. 
 But here, dead poesy must rise again : 
 
 O sacred Muses ! I am now your own ; 
 Nor let Calliope here fall below 
 
 But soar to my * song ! with that epic strain 
 Whereof those wretched magpies* felt the blow 
 
 So that their hope of pardon was but vain. 
 
 * Verses 10 and n : 
 
 " Soar to my song," &c. 
 "... magpies" <.Y.c. 
 
 Ovid tells the story of the nine daughters of-Pierus — Pierides — who 
 challenged the Muses to sing, and being defeated were changed into 
 magpies. As the Mu-es were also called Pierides, — 
 
 " Dulcem quse strepitum, Pieri ! temperas," 
 
 a familiar verse of Horace, — it has been supposed that the victorious 
 Muses took the name of the vanquished maids. 
 
 In this lofty invocation Dante, many times before depressed and 
 faltering, becomes fully conscious of his powers, and, by this allusion
 
 6 dante's purgatorio. 
 
 Of oriental sapphire that sweet blue 
 Which overspread the beautiful serene 
 
 Of the pure ether, far as eye could view- 
 To heaven's first circle, brightened up my mien, 
 
 Soon as I left that atmosphere of death 
 
 Which had my heart so saddened with mine eyes: 
 
 The beauteous planet* which gives love new breath 
 With laughing light cheered all the orient skies, 
 
 Dimming the Fishes that her escort made : 
 Then, turning to my right, I stood to scan 
 
 The southern pole, and four stars there surveyed — 
 Save the first people, never seen by man. 
 
 Heaven seemed rejoicing in their blazing rays. 
 
 widowed North, how much art thou bereft 
 That constellation hidden from thy gaze ! 
 
 Ceasing my look, a little towards the left 
 (The pole whence now the Wain had disappeared) 
 
 1 turned, and saw an old f man all alone 
 Near me, whose aspect claimed to be revered ; 
 
 More might no father claim it of a son. 
 His heard was long, and streaked, as was his hair 
 
 Which fell in two lengths down his breast, with white. 
 The rays of those four sacred splendors there 
 
 So sprinkled o'er his countenance with light 
 It seemed to me the Sun before me stood ! 
 
 And thus he spake, shaking those reverend plumes: 
 
 to the chattering fowl of antiquity, whose successors in every age fret 
 the genuine poet, gives vent to his native scorn for all the pretenders 
 of his art. Horace, in his Ode to Calliope, 
 
 " Descende coelo, et die age tibia 
 Regina longum, Calliope! melos," 
 
 uses the ordinary style 'of poetry: " Mtjj/iv &uSe, 6ea" — "Musa, mihi 
 causas memora," — "Sing, heavenly Muse!"&c. Dante is the first 
 who boldlj « raves the goddess of epic song to be his follower, — " segui- 
 tando V into canto." 
 
 A curious commentator might infer from this how hard a step to 
 tory a nature like Dante's found it to gird his spirit with that 
 " reed of humility." 
 
 * Venus. 
 
 t Cato of L'tiea.
 
 CANTO FIRST. 
 
 Cato. 
 
 " Say, who arc ye 'gainst the dark stream who could 
 
 Fly, as ye have, the eternal dungeon's glooms? 
 Who was your guide? Who lighted you the way 
 
 Escaping forth from that profoundest night 
 Which makes the infernal valley black for aye? 
 
 The laws of that abyss, are they so slight? 
 Or is the purpose changed which heaven did please, 
 
 That ye condemned approach these crags of nunc?" 
 Here my lord beckoned me to bend my knees 
 
 And brows (words adding to his touch and sign), 
 Then answered thus : — 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 "My will was not my guide 
 A maid from heaven besought me so to bear 
 
 This being company that I complied. 
 More of our state wouldst have me to declare, 
 
 Thy will to gainsay, my will cannot be. 
 This man hath never seen life's closing even, 
 
 But through his folly came so nigh to see 
 That for escape but little space was given. 
 
 Therefore was I, as I have told thee, sent 
 To turn him back, and other way was none 
 
 Save this to which my guidance I have lent. 
 All the bad spirits I to him have shown, 
 
 And purpose now revealing to him those 
 Who under thee their natures purify. 
 
 'Twere long how I have led him to disclose, 
 But a grace aids me, granted from on high, 
 
 To bring him thus to see thee and to hear: 
 Now may it please thee, greet him fair ! he goes 
 
 In quest of Liberty, that is so dear ; 
 How dear, who spurneth life for freedom knows. 
 
 Thou know'st ! who didst in Utica delight
 
 D VNTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 To die for her, doffing that vestment there 
 
 Which at the last great day shall show so white. 
 Unchanged for us th' eternal edicts are ; 
 
 This man yet lives, and Minos hinds not me; 
 I come from where thy Marcia's chaste eyes shine, 
 
 Who seems in aspect still imploring thee, 
 O sacred breast ! that thou wilt keep her thine. 
 
 Then for her love incline thee to our prayer; 
 Through thy seven kingdoms grant us leave to go : 
 
 Thy grace I gratefully will tell her where 
 She dwells, if thou deign mentioning below." 
 
 Cato. 
 
 " Marcia delighted so mine eyes above, 
 When I was there," he answered, " that I gave 
 
 Whate'er she asked me freely to her love. 
 But now she dwells that side the wicked wave 
 
 She cannot move me longer : I am stayed 
 By laws which when I came thence were decreed. 
 
 But since thou tell'st me a celestial maid 
 Urges and guides thee — of fair words what need? 
 
 Enough her name to sanction thy demand. 
 Go then ! and let this being with a plain 
 
 Smooth reed be girt, and wash with thine own hand 
 His visage pure from every soil and stain : 
 
 For, until every dimness be dispersed, 
 It were not fitting to beclouded eyes 
 
 To come before the One who sits the First 
 Angel, ■ — a ministrant of Paradise. 
 
 Round its low margent, on the yielding ooze, 
 Down by the low strand where the waves have strife, 
 
 This isle bears reeds : not any plant which grows 
 Hard, or that puts forth leaf, may there have life, 
 
 For no such stem to every stroke would bow. 
 In line, not this way look to journey back : 
 
 The sun will show you, which is rising now, 
 To take this mountain at some easier track."
 
 CANTO FIRST. 
 
 Herewith ho vanished : I straightway did rise 
 Without a word, and toward my guiding One 
 
 All closely drew, fastening on him mine eyes, 
 Who thus began : " Follow my steps, my son. 
 
 Turn we hack this way ; lor this way," he said, 
 "The shore sinks low to where its limits are." 
 
 Now day's white light had quelled the morning's red 
 Which fled before it, so that from afar 
 
 I recognized the trembling of the main. 
 Like one who turns to find a pathway lost, 
 
 And till he find it seems to walk in vain, 
 Silent that solitary plain we crossed. 
 
 When we had come to where the dewdrops pass 
 But slowly off (by reason of the shade 
 
 The sun resisting), on the soft small grass 
 His outstretched palms my Master gently laid : 
 
 Whence I, acquainted with his act's intent, 
 Held up my cheeks all wet with tears to him, 
 
 While he restored unto my face besprent 
 My natural hue, which Hell had made so grim. 
 
 We came soon after to the desert shore 
 Which never yet beheld a man who had 
 
 Come back, once having crossed those waters o'er. 
 Here then he girded me as Cato bade : 
 
 O how miraculous ! with instant growth 
 Sprang up immediately another spray 
 
 In the same spot, — and of the same kind both, — 
 Whence he had plucked the lowly reed away.
 
 IO DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 CANTO SECOND. 
 
 Now that horizon whose meridian arch 
 
 Hangs o'er Jerusalem its topmost height 
 The sun had reached : while opposite, her march 
 
 Holding in countercourse, the circling Night 
 Walked forth from Ganges, bearing in her hand 
 
 The Scales that she lets fall with her advance, 
 So fair Aurora's cheeks by ripe age tanned 
 
 From white and red grew orange to my glance. 
 
 Still by the sea we made some brief delay, 
 
 Like lingering men, that on their journey dream, 
 Who go in spirit, but in body stay : 
 
 And lo ! as when, surprised by morning's beam, 
 Through the gross vapors Mars doth redly burn 
 
 Down in the west upon the ocean floor ; 
 A light appeared — oh ! may that light return — 
 
 So rapidly those waters travelling o'er, 
 That to its motion flying were but slow : 
 
 Then, having momently withdrawn my gaze 
 To question of my Guide, I looked, and lo ! 
 
 Larger it burned, and seemed almost ablaze 
 Soon from each side thereof, although I knew 
 
 Naught what they were, something appeared of white, 
 And underneath another of like hue 
 
 Little by little grew forth into sight. 
 
 My Master spake not: I meantime could spell 
 Wings in those first white objects at the side : 
 
 Soon as he recognized the pilot well, 
 
 " Behold God's Angel ! bend thy knees ! " he cried, 
 
 " Lift up thy palms to him ; henceforward more 
 Such heavenly delegates thou shalt behold !
 
 CANTO SECOND. II 
 
 Look how he scorns man's arguments of oar 
 
 And sail, but simply doth unfold 
 His own pure pinions (winnowing the air 
 
 And heavenward stretching those eternal pens), 
 From shore to shore so distant, — plumes that ne'er 
 
 Moult like the changing tresses that are men's." 
 
 Then as more near and nearer to us drew 
 
 That divine bird, so grew the splendor more 
 Till scarce the eye could bear a closer view : 
 
 I bent mine down, and he arrived ashore 
 With a fleet skill", so light upon the flood 
 
 That without wake it skimmed the water's breast: 
 High on the stern the heavenly helmsman stood, 
 
 In aspect such as Holy Writ calls Blest.* 
 More than an hundred spirits in one band 
 
 Within sat blending in one voice their strains, 
 " /// exitu Israel, — From the land 
 
 Of Egypt," — and what else that psalm contains. | 
 
 The sign of holy cross he made them then, 
 
 Whereat they bounded all upon the strand, 
 And he, swift as he came, sped back again. 
 
 The croud that stayed looked wildly round, and scanned 
 The place like strangers coming to things new. 
 
 Now on all sides had Phoebus pierced the day 
 With his keen arrows, which so fiercely flew 
 
 That Capricorn was chased from heaven's midway, 
 When the new-comers raised their brows to us, 
 
 Saying: " Show us the pathway, if ye know, 
 Up to the mountain." Virgil answered thus: 
 
 t. Perchance you think we know this place ; not so. 
 We. like yourselves, are only pilgrims here : 
 
 Just before you, and by another way, 
 We came, a road so rugged, so severe, 
 
 That climbing this will seem thereto as play. 
 
 * " Blessed are the pun- in heart : for they shall see God." 
 t I's-al m cxiv.
 
 I 2 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 The spirits, by my breathing who could guess 
 
 That I was living, wan with wonder grew; 
 And just as people round a herald press 
 
 Who comes with olive wreaths, to hear what new 
 Tidings he bears, regardless how they tread, 
 
 Thus gathering round, those favored souls eyed me ; 
 h one. as 'twere, forgetful how he sped 
 
 Towards where they go, more beautiful to be. 
 
 One I beheld before the rest, who came 
 
 As to embrace me, with such look intense 
 Of love, it moved me to return the same. 
 
 Oh ! save in aspect, shadows void of sense! 
 Three times mv hands around his form I threw. 
 
 And thrice received them back upon my breast. 
 I think my face was tinged with wonder's hue ; 
 
 For the shade smiled as after him I pressed, 
 And. I still following, he so sweetly said : 
 
 •' Follow no longer;" whose that voice must be 
 I knew full well, and begged him, ere he fled, 
 
 To stay a little while to speak with me. 
 
 lie answered me : " As in my mortal part 
 
 I loved thee once, I love thee loose from clay, 
 And therefore stop; but thou, — why wandering art? " 
 
 •' My dear Casella, I come not to stay, 
 And must return where I am dwelling still. 
 
 I tut till me what has so delayed thy bliss?" 
 u If he who taketh whom and when he will 
 
 Refused my passage' oft. no wrong was this," 
 The shade replied : '" To Heaven's his choice conforms 
 
 These' three' months freely he hath carried o'er, 
 At their own pleasure', the peace-parted swarms: 
 
 Whence I. too, coasting by the sacred shore'. 
 Where Tiber's waves grow salt, with gracious hand 
 
 Was gathered. Thitherward he now has gone, 
 Bending his pinions towards that opening strand, 
 
 Since all meet there who sevk not Acheron."
 
 CWTo 51 < OND. 13 
 
 Then I : " Unless the new laws here forbid 
 
 Memory or use of that love-laden style 
 Which all my longings once full gently chitl, 
 
 Soothe with one song, beseech thee, for a while 
 This soul of mine, which, dragging here its clay, 
 
 Is so worn out." Directly he began, 
 " Love reasons ivitJi me" in so sweet a way 
 
 That the same sweetness I could hear, — I can. 
 We stood, my Master and myself, as though 
 
 Naught else possessed us, and that shadowy swarm, 
 Rapt, listening round him to his notes : and lo ! 
 
 That noble old man's venerable form * 
 Came crying: " How now, tardy spirits, — why 
 
 This negligence? why lingering do ye plod? 
 Run to the mountain, that from every eye 
 
 The scales may fall that seal your sight from God." 
 
 As doves, when busy gathering grain or tares, 
 
 Clustered at pasture in a single flock, 
 Quiet, nor showing their accustomed airs, 
 
 If aught approach the timid tribe to shock, 
 Fly from their food, assailed by greater care, 
 
 So quit the song this new-come troop, and started 
 Hillward, like one who goes unknowing where : 
 
 And with no less a pace we, too, departed. 
 
 * The spirit of Cato of Utica, introduced in the First Canto.
 
 M 
 
 DAN fE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 CANTO THIRD. 
 
 THOUGH round the plain their quick flight scattered them, 
 
 Dent for that Hill where reason turns our tread,* 
 My faithful guide close at my garment's hem 
 
 I kept: how could I without him have sped? . 
 Who else had o'er that mountain marshalled me? 
 
 He seemed, methought, as inly touched with shame : 
 O nohle conscience, void of stain, to thee 
 
 I low sharp the bite is of the smallest blame ! 
 Soon as his feet the hurried movement cheeked 
 
 Which every action's dignity destroys, 
 My mind, till now restrained and circumspect, 
 
 Expanded with new strength, as 'twere of joy's. 
 My face I fixed upon that Hill to gaze 
 
 Towards highest heaven which springeth from the wave. 
 The sun behind me redly flamed ; its rays 
 
 Broke by the shadow which my figure gave. 
 When I perceived before me that the ground 
 
 Was darkened only by myself, in dread 
 Of being there deserted, I looked round 
 
 And fronting me in full, my Comfort said : 
 " Why this distrust? believ'st thou not that I 
 
 Am with thee still, thy leader to the last? 
 'Tis evening now already where on high 
 
 My body lies, which once a shadow cast, 
 Buried at Naples, from Brundusium brought. 
 
 Now, if no shade before me meet thy sight 
 It need wake no more wonder in thy thought 
 
 Than why one ray checks not another's light. 
 
 te means the Hill of Purgatory, to the ascent of which we ;we 
 turned no less by the righl reason that is in us than by our contrition 
 for an erroneous course, from which we are happily passing.
 
 CANTO riilKD. 15 
 
 Omnipotence to such forms hath assigned 
 
 The power of suffering torments — cold and heat — 
 But how, reveals not to created kind. 
 
 He is but mad who hopes this incomplete 
 Reason of ours may track the Infinite way 
 
 Which of three persons holds the substance one. 
 Rest, human race ! contented when you say 
 
 Simply because : could ye the whole have known 
 No need had been for Mary to have borne ; 
 
 And ye have seen in hopeless longing those 
 Who now to all eternity must mourn 
 
 Desire for which they vainly sought repose. 
 Of Aristotle and of Plato now 
 
 I speak, and many others : " he remained 
 Silent at this, and stood with bended brow 
 
 And troubled look : meantime the Hill we gained. 
 
 We found the cliff here sloping so steep down 
 
 That nimblest legs had there been useless quite. 
 The wildest way betwixt Turbia's town 
 
 And Lerici, the roughest, were a flight 
 Compared with this, of open, easy stairs. 
 
 " Who knows," my Master said — and stayed his pace — 
 "Where this Hill slopeth, so that one who wears 
 
 No wings may climb it?" then his earnest face 
 Directed closely to the ground as if 
 
 Making in mind a study of the way. 
 Meantime I gazed up round about the cliff, 
 
 And on the left hand came to my survey 
 A band of spirits., moving on towards us, 
 
 That seemed not moving, for they came so slow. 
 " Lift up thine eyes," I to the Master thus, 
 
 " If of thyself thou art not certain, lo ! 
 Yon souls our footsteps may direct perchance." 
 
 Thereat he looked, then frankly made reply : 
 "Go we tow'rds them — so gently they advance — 
 
 And thou, my sweet son ! keep thy hope up high." 
 
 That people seemed as far, when we had gone 
 A thousand steps, I say, or thereabout,
 
 1 6 DANTE* S PURGATOR10. 
 
 id flinger might have cast a stone ; 
 
 When ;ill at once, like one who goes in doubt 
 And stops to look, their moderate march they checked 
 
 And close to that high hank's hard masses drew. 
 " O ve peace-parted ! O ye spirits elect ! 
 
 Ev'n by that peace which waits for each of you 
 As I believe," thus Virgil them bespake, • 
 
 " Inform us where this mountain slopeth so 
 That its ascent we may essay to make ; 
 
 For they mount 77mes loss most, the most who know" 
 
 Like lambs that issue from their fold — one — two — 
 
 Then three at once (the rest all standing shy, 
 With eye and nostril to the ground), then do 
 
 just what the foremost doth, unknowing why, 
 And crowd upon her back if she but stand, 
 
 Quiet and simple creatures, thus the head 
 I saw move towards us of that happy band, 
 
 .Modest in lace, and of a comely tread. 
 
 Soon as their leaders noticed that the light 
 
 On my right side lay broken at my feet, 
 So that my shadow reached the rocky height, 
 
 They stopped and drew a little in retreat. 
 And all the others following, though they knew 
 
 Naught why they drew back, did the very same. 
 " Without your question 1 confess to vou 
 
 That here vou see a living human frame : 
 Hence on the ground the sunlight thus is riven : 
 
 Marvel not at it, but believe ye all 
 Not without virtue by the Most High given 
 
 This man hath come to scale your Mountain's wall." 
 M\ Master thus, and thus that gracious band : 
 
 " Turn then and join us, and before us go ; " 
 
 And while some beckoned us with bended hand, 
 
 ( me called : k - Whoe'er thou art there journeying so, 
 Turn ! Think, — hast ever looked on me before? " 
 
 I turned \\\^\ gazed upon the one who spoke. 
 Handsome and blond, he looked high-born, but o'er 
 
 ( )ne I mow appeared the severance of a stroke.
 
 CANTO THIRD. 
 
 17 
 
 When I had humbly answered him that ne'er 
 
 Had I beheld him, — " Look ! " he said, and high 
 
 Up on his breast showed me a wound he bare ; 
 Then added smilingly; 
 
 " Manfred am I, 
 The Empress Constance' grandson : in such name 
 
 Do I entreat, when back thou shalt have gone, 
 To my fair daughter hie, of whose womb came 
 
 Sicily's boast and Aragon's renown, 
 And tell her this, if aught but truth be said, 
 
 That after two stabs — each of power to kill — 
 I gave my soul back weeping ere it fled 
 
 To Him who pardoneth of His own free will ; 
 My sins were horrible ; but large embrace 
 
 Infinite Goodness hath, whose arms will ope 
 For every child who turneth back to Grace ; 
 
 And if Cosenza's bishop, by the Pope 
 Clement set on to hound me to the last, 
 
 That page of Holy Writ had better read, 
 Mv bones had still been sheltered from the blast 
 
 Near Benevento, by the bridge's head, 
 Under their load of stones ; but now without 
 
 The realm they lie, by Verde's river — bare — 
 For winds and rains to beat and blow about, 
 
 Dragged with quench'd candles and with curses there. 
 Yet not by their poor malediction can 
 
 Souls be so lost but that Eternal Love 
 May be brought back while hope hath life in man. 
 
 'Tis true that one who sets himself above 
 The Holy Church, and dies beneath its ban 
 
 (Even though he had repented at the last), 
 Outside this Mount must unadmitted rove 
 
 Thirty times longer than the term had been 
 Of his presumptuous contumacy past, 
 
 Unless good prayers a shorter penance win. 
 See now what power thou hast to make me glad ; 
 
 Report of me to my good Constance bear, 
 How thou saw'st me, and what I've told thee add ; 
 
 For much it profits us what they do there. 
 3
 
 1 8 dante's purgatorio. 
 
 CANTO FOURTH. 
 
 Whene'er the mind, from any joy or pain 
 In any faculty, to that alone 
 
 Bends its whole strength, its other powers remain 
 Unexercised, it seems (whereby is shown 
 
 Plain contradiction of th' erroneous view 
 Which holds within us kindled several souls). 
 
 Hence, when we hear or see a thing whereto 
 The mind is strongly drawn, unheeded rolls 
 
 The passing hour; the man observes it not: 
 That power is one whereby we hear or see, 
 
 And that another which absorbs our thought ; 
 This bein<>- chained, as 'twere — the former free. 
 
 A real experience of this truth had I, 
 Listening that soul, and wondering at such force, 
 
 For now the sun full fifty degrees high 
 Had risen without mv noticing his course, 
 
 When came we where the spirits, with one voice all, 
 Cried out to us, " Behold the place ye seek ! " 
 
 A wider opening oft, in hedge or wall, 
 Some farmer, when the grape first browns its cheek, 
 
 ■Stops with one forkful of his brambles thrown, 
 Than was the narrow pass whereby my Guide 
 
 Began to climb, I following on alone, 
 While from our way I saw those wanderers glide. 
 
 A man may climb St. Leo, or descend 
 The steeps of Noli, or Bismantua's height 
 
 Scale to the top, and on his feet depend ; 
 Here one should lly ! 1 mean he needs the light 
 
 Pinions and plumage of a strong desire,
 
 CANTO FOURTH. 
 
 Under such leadership as gave me hope 
 
 And lighted me my way. Advancing higher 
 In through the broken rock, it left no scope 
 
 On either side, but cramped us close ; the 1< 
 O'er which we crept required both feet and hands. 
 
 When we had toiled up to the utmost ed^e 
 Of the high hank, where the clear coast expands, 
 
 "Which way," said I, " my Master, shall we take?" 
 And he to me, " Let not thy foot fall back : 
 
 Still follow me, and for the mountain make, 
 Until some guide appear who knows the track." 
 
 Its top sight reached not, and the hillside rose 
 With far more salient angle than the line 
 
 That from half-quadrant to the centre goes. 
 Most weary was I : " Gentle Father mine," 
 
 I thus broke silence, " turn and see that if 
 Thou stay not for me, I remain alone." 
 
 " Struggle, my son, as far as yonder cliff," 
 He said, and pointed upwards to a zone 
 
 Terracing all the mountain on that side. 
 His word so spurred me that I forced myself 
 
 And clambered on still close behind my Guide 
 Until my feet were on that girdling shelf. 
 
 Here we sat down and turned our faces towards 
 The East, from which point we had made ascent 
 
 (For looking back on toil some rest affords) ; 
 And on the low shore first mine eyes I bent, 
 
 Then raised them sunward, wondering as I gazed 
 How his light smote us from the left. While thus 
 
 I stared, he marked how I beheld amazed 
 Day's chariot entering 'twixt the North and us. 
 
 " Were yonder mirror now," the Poet said, 
 " That with his light leads up and down the spheres, 
 
 In Castor and Pollux, thou wouldst see the red 
 Zodiac revolving closer to the Bears, 
 
 If it swerved nothing from its ancient course ; 
 Which fact to fathom wouldst thou power command, 
 
 Imagine, with thy mind's collected force, 
 
 '9
 
 20 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 This mount and Zion so on earth to stand 
 
 That though in adverse hemispheres, the twain 
 One sole horizon have: thence 'tis not hard 
 
 To see (if clear thine intellect remain) 
 How the Sun's road — which Phaeton, ill-starred. 
 
 Knew not to keep — must pass that mountain o'er 
 On one, and this hill on the other side." 
 
 •• Certes, my Master, — ne'er saw I before 
 So clear as at this moment," I replied, 
 
 " (Where seemed but now my understanding maimed), 
 How the mid-circle of the heavenly spheres 
 
 And of their movements — the Equator named 
 In special term of art — which never veers 
 
 From its old course, 'twixt winter and the Sun, 
 Yet for the reason thou dost now assign, 
 
 Towards the Septentrion from this point dotli run, 
 While to the Jews it bore a South decline. 
 
 But if it please thee, gladly would I learn 
 How far we have to journey ; for so high 
 
 This hill soars that mine eyes cannot discern 
 The top thereof." He made me this reply : 
 
 " Such is this mountain that for one below 
 The first ascent is evermore severe, 
 
 It grows less painful higher as we go. 
 So when to thee it pleasant shall appear 
 
 That no more toil thy climbing shall attend 
 Than sailing down the way the current flows, 
 
 Then art thou near unto thy pathway's end ; 
 There from thy labor look to find repose. 
 
 I know that this is true, but say no more." 
 And this word uttered, not far oft' addressed 
 
 Me thus a voice : " It may be that before 
 That pass, thou wilt have need to sit and rest." 
 
 At sound thereof we both looked round, and there 
 Beheld a huge rock, close to our left hand, 
 
 Whereof till now we had not been aware. 
 Thither we toiled, and in its shade a band 
 
 Behind it stood with a neglectful air, 
 As men in idleness are wont to stand.
 
 CANTO FOURTH. 21 
 
 Belacqua the Sluggard. 
 
 And one was seated, hanging down his face 
 Between his knees, which he with languid limb, 
 
 Looking exhausted, held in his embrace. 
 " O my sweet Seignior ! " I exclaimed, " note him ! 
 
 Lazier-looking than had laziness been 
 His sister-born." Turning towards us, at length 
 
 He gazed, slow lifting o'er his thigh his chin, 
 And drawled, "Go up, then, thou who hast such strength." 
 
 I knew who that was then ; and though the ascent 
 Had made me pant somewhat, I kept my pace, 
 
 Spite of short breath ; close up to him I went, 
 And he droned forth, scarce lifting up his face, 
 
 " Hast thou found out yet how the Sun this way 
 O'er thy left shoulder doth his chariot guide?" 
 
 His sloth, and what few words he had to say, 
 Made me smile slightly, and I thus replied : 
 
 " No more, Belacqua, do I mourn thy fate ; 
 But tell me wherefore in this place I see 
 
 Thee sitting thus? Dost thou for escort wait, 
 Or has thy old slow habit seized on thee? " 
 
 And he — " O brother ! what boots it to climb? 
 God's Angel sitting at the gate denies 
 
 Me way to penance until so much time 
 Be past as living I beheld the skies. 
 
 Outside I must remain here for the crime 
 Of dallying to the last my contrite sighs, 
 
 Unless I happily some help derive 
 From the pure prayer ascending from a heart 
 
 That lives in grace : a prayer not thus alive 
 Heaven doth not hear: what aid can such impart?" 
 
 Now before me the Poet up the height 
 Began to climb, saving, "Come on, for o'er 
 
 This hill's meridian hangs the Sun, and Night 
 Sets foot already on Morocco's shore."
 
 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 CANTO FIFTH. 
 
 Already parted from those shades, I went 
 
 Following the footsteps of my Guide, when one 
 Behind me towards my form his finger bent, 
 
 Exclaiming, " See ! no ray falls from the sun 
 To the left hand of him that walks below ! 
 
 And sure! he moveth like a living man." 
 Mine eyes I turned, at hearing him say so, 
 
 And saw them with a gaze all wonder scan 
 Now me, still me, and now the broken light 
 
 My body caused. The Master then to me : 
 " Why let thy wonder keep thee from the height 
 
 To drag so slowly? what concerns it thee 
 What here is whispered? only follow thou 
 
 After my steps, and let the crowd talk on : 
 Stand like a tower, firm-based, that will not bow 
 
 Its head to breath of winds that soon are gone. 
 The man o'er whose thought second thought hath sway, 
 
 Wide of his mark is ever sure to miss, 
 Because one force the other wears away." 
 
 What could I answer but — " I come" — to this? 
 I said it something sprinkled with the hue 
 
 Which, in less faults, excuseth one from blame. 
 Meanwhile across the mountain-side there drew, 
 
 Just in our front, a train that as they came 
 Sang Jf/screre, verse by verse. When they 
 
 Observed my form, and noticed that I gave 
 No passage through me to the solar ray, 
 
 Into a long hoarse " O ! " they changed their stave ; 
 And two, as envoys, ran up with demand, 
 
 " In what condition is it that ye go? " 
 And my Lord said, " Return ye to the band 
 
 Who sent you towards us, and give them to know
 
 CANTO FIFTH. 2^ 
 
 This body is true flesh. If they delayed 
 At sight, — I deem so, of the shadow here 
 
 Thereby sufficient answer shall be made: 
 
 Him let them reverence, — it may prove dear." 
 
 I never saw a meteor dart so quick 
 
 Through the serene at midnight, or a gleam 
 Of lightning flash at sunset, through a thick 
 
 Piled August cloud, but these would faster seem 
 As they retreated ; having joined the rest, 
 
 Back like an unreined troop towards us they sped. 
 " This throng is large by whom we thus are pressed, 
 
 And come to implore of thee," the Poet said ; 
 " Therefore keep on, and as thou mov'st attend." 
 
 " O soul who travellest, with the very frame 
 
 Which thou wert born with, to thy blessed end, 
 Stay thy step somewhat! " — crying thus they came. 
 
 " Look if among us any thou dost know, 
 That thou of him to earth mayst tidings bear. 
 
 Stay, wilt thou not? ah ! wherefore must thou go? 
 We to our dying hour were sinners there ; 
 
 And all were slain ; but at the murderous blow, 
 Warned us an instant light that flashed from heaven, 
 
 And all from life did peacefully depart, 
 Contrite, forgiving, and by Him forgiven, 
 
 To look on Whom such longing yearns our heart.'' 
 "None do I recognize," I answered, "even 
 
 Scanning your faces with mine utmost art; 
 But whatsoe'er, ye blessed souls, I may 
 
 To give you comfort, speak, and I will do ; 
 Yea, by that peace which leads me on my way 
 
 From world to world such guidance to pursue." 
 
 Jacopo di Fano. 
 
 " Without such protestation," one replied, 
 " Unless thy will a want of power defeat, 
 
 In thy kind offices we all confide ; 
 
 Whence I, sole speaking before these, entreat
 
 2. 1 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 If thou mayst e'er the territory see 
 
 That lies betwixt Romagna and the seat* 
 Where Charles hath sway, that thou so courteous be 
 
 As to implore the men in Fano's town 
 To put up prayers there earnestly for me 
 
 That I may purge the sins that weigh me down. 
 There I was born ; but those deep wounds of mine 
 
 Through which my life-blood issued, I reeeiyed 
 Among the children of Antenor's line,f 
 
 Where most secure my person I believed; 
 'Twas through that lord of Este I was sped 
 
 Who past all justice had me in his hate. 
 Oertak'n at Oriaco, had I fled 
 
 Towards Mira, still where breath is I might wait. 
 But to the marsh I made my way instead, 
 
 And there, entangled in the cany brake 
 And mire, I fell, and on the ground saw spread, 
 
 From mine own veins outpoured, a living lake." 
 
 BUONCONTE DI MONTEFELTRO. 
 
 Here spake another: "O may that desire 
 
 So be fulfilled which to the lofty Mount 
 Conducts thy feet as thou shalt bring me nigher 
 
 To mine by thy good prayers. I am the Count 
 Buonconte ; Montefeltro's lord was I. 
 
 Giovanna cares not, no one cares for me ; 
 Therefore with these I go dejectedly." 
 
 And I to him : " What violence took thee, 
 Or chance of war, from Campaldino then 
 
 So far that none e'er knew thy burial-place?" 
 " O," answered he, " above the hermit's glen J 
 
 A stream whose course is Casentino's base, 
 
 * The Marquisate or March of Ancona was then governed by Charles 
 Hi V:ilois, who held Naples. 
 
 t That i--, in the territory of Padua, founded, as the student will 
 remember, by the Trojan Anterior, whose tomb is shown in Padua to 
 this day. 
 
 J Thai is i„ say, the hermitage of the Camaldolites in Milton's 
 Vall'ombrosa.
 
 CANTO FIFTH. 25 
 
 Springs in the Apennine, Archiano called. 
 
 There, where that name is lost in Arno's flood, 
 Exhausted I arrived, footsore and galled. 
 
 Pierced in my throat, painting the plain with blood. 
 Here my sight tailed me and I fell ; the last 
 
 Word that I spake was Mary's name, and then 
 From my deserted flesh the spirit passed. 
 
 The truth I tell now, tell to living men ; 
 God's Angel took me, but that fiend of Hell 
 
 Screamed out: 'Ha! thou from heaven, why robb'st thou 
 me? 
 His soul thou get'st for one small tear that fell, 
 
 But of this offal other work I'll see.' 
 Thou know'st how vapors gathering in the air 
 
 Mount to the cold and there condensed distil 
 Back into water. That Bad Will which ne'er 
 
 Seeks aught but evil joined his evil will, 
 With intellect, and, from the great force given 
 
 By his fell nature, moved the mist and wind, 
 And o'er the valley drew the darkened heaven, 
 
 Covering it with clouds as day declined 
 From Pratomagno far as the great chain,* 
 
 So that the o'erburdened air to water turned ; 
 Then the floods fell, and every rivulet's vein 
 
 Swelled with the superflux the soaked earth spurned. 
 When to large streams the mingling torrents grew 
 
 Down to the royal river with such force 
 They rushed that no restraint their fury knew. 
 
 Here fierce Archiano found my frozen corse 
 Stretched at its mouth, and into Arno's wave 
 
 Dashed it and loosened from my breast the sign, 
 Which when mine anguish mastered me I gave, 
 
 Of holy cross with my crossed arms: in fine, 
 O'er bed and bank my form the streamlet drave 
 
 Whirling, and with its own clay covered mine." 
 
 * Fur as to the upper Apennines. 
 4
 
 26 dante's purgatorio. 
 
 Pi a de' Tolommei. 
 
 " O stay ! when thou shalt walk the world once more, 
 
 And have repose from that long way of thine," — 
 Said the third spirit, following those before, 
 
 " Remember Pia ! for that name was mine : 
 Sienna gave me birth : Maremma's fen 
 
 Was my undoing : he knows that full well 
 Who ringed my finger with his gem and then, 
 
 After espousal, — took ?ne there to dzveil"
 
 CANTO SIXTH. 
 
 2/ 
 
 CANTO SIXTH. 
 
 When from the game of hazard men depart, 
 
 The loser stays, and, casting o'er his throws, 
 Learns a hard lesson with a heavy heart ! 
 
 While with the winner all the assembly goes : 
 One runs before, one plucks his robe behind, 
 
 But he delays not, though heside his way 
 Another comrade calls himself to mind ; 
 
 And every one perceives that he would say : 
 " Press me no more! " to whom he lifts his hand, 
 
 And by so doing keeps the crowd at bay ; 
 Such I was, freeing me from that dense band, 
 
 To this and that one bending my survey, 
 And promising to answer each demand. 
 
 Here was that Aretine whose lethal wound 
 
 The savage hands of Ghin' di Tacco made ; 
 Also that knight who in pursuit was drowned. 
 
 Here with stretched palms Frederic Novello prayed, 
 The Pisan, too, at whose defeat his sire, 
 
 Good old Marzucco, showed a strength sublime. 
 I saw Count Orso, and that soul whom dire 
 
 Envy and spite, but no committed crime 
 Tore from his mortal frame, as he declared ; 
 
 Pierre de la Brosse I mean: so, while she may, 
 Be that bad woman of Brabant prepared 
 
 Lest she go join a far worse flock than they. 
 
 When I had freed me from the gathering press 
 Of shadows praying still that others' prayers 
 
 Might hasten forward their own blessedness, 
 I thus began : " Thy page, my Light ! declares
 
 28 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 Expressly, in one text, that Heaven's decree 
 
 To no beseeching bendeth.* Yet this race 
 Prays with such purpose: will their praying be 
 
 Without avail? or have I in that place 
 Misread thy word?" He answered : " It is gross 
 
 And plain to reason : no fallacious hope 
 Is theirs, if thy sound mind consider close ; 
 
 The topmost height of judgment doth not slope, 
 Because love's fire may instantly complete 
 
 The penance due from one of these ; but where 
 I closed that point with words which you repeat, 
 
 A gulf betwixt the Most High was and prayer : 
 No praying tJicre could cover past defect. 
 
 Yet verily, in so profound a doubt 
 Rest not, till she who, 'twixt thine intellect 
 
 And truth, shall be thy light, herself speak out. 
 Dost understand me? Beatris I mean : 
 
 Thou shalt behold her in a loftier place, 
 This mountain summit, smiling and serene." 
 
 " Good Guide," said I, " then let us mend our pace, 
 I feel no more my weariness : o'er us 
 
 The mountain shadow grows and hides mine own." 
 " We will go forward " — he gave answer thus — 
 
 " Far as we can, ere this day's light be gone ; 
 But thy thought wanders from the fact. That height 
 
 Ere thou canst gain, thou shalt behold the day's 
 Returning orb, who now so hides his light 
 
 Behind the hill that thou break'st not his rays. 
 But yonder look ! one spirit, all alone, 
 
 By itself stationed, bends toward us his gaze: 
 The readiest passage will by him be shown." 
 
 We came up tow'rds it: O proud Lombard soul ! 
 
 How thou didst wait, in thy disdain unstirred, 
 And thy majestic eyes didst slowly roll ! 
 
 Meanwhile to us it never uttered word, 
 But let us move, just giving us a glance, 
 
 Like as a lion looks in his repose. 
 
 " Desine fata defim flecti sperare precando." — Virg. sEn. vi. 376.
 
 CANTO SIXTH. j< | 
 
 Then Virgil, making a more near advance, 
 
 Prayed him to show us where the mountain rose 
 
 With easier slope, and still that soul replied 
 Nothing to his demand ; but question made 
 
 About life, and our country. My sweet Guide- 
 Began to answer: "Mantua" — and the shade 
 
 From where it had been, separate from his band, 
 All rapt in self, sprang up towards him in haste 
 
 Saying: " O Mantuan, I am of thy land, 
 I am Sordello." And the twain embraced. 
 
 Ah slavish Italy ! thou common inn 
 
 For woe to lodge at ! without pilot, thou 
 Ship in great tempest! not what thou hast been, 
 
 Lady of provinces, but brothel now ! 
 That gentle soul so quickly, at the dear 
 
 Sound that recalled his country, forward came 
 To grace his townsman with a greeting here ; 
 
 And now thy living children, to their shame, 
 Are all at war, and they who dwell most near 
 
 Prey, each on each, with moat and wall the same? 
 Search, wretched ! search all round thine either coast, 
 
 And then look inland, in thy bosom, see 
 If peace in any part of thee thou know'st! 
 
 What though Justinian made new reins for thee, 
 What boots it if the saddle remain void? 
 
 Without his mending thy disgrace were less. 
 And O ye tribe that ought to be employed 
 
 In your devotions, and let Caesar press 
 The seat of Caesar if God's word you heed, 
 
 See, since your hand hath on the bridle been, 
 How wanton grown and wicked is the steed, 
 
 Through want from you of the spur's discipline. 
 O German Albert! who abandonest 
 
 Her now run wild, unchecked by curb of thine, 
 When thou shouldst ride her with thy heels hard-pressed ; 
 
 May heaven's just judgment light upon thy line, 
 And be it something strange, and manifest, 
 
 To make him tremble that comes after thee,
 
 30 DANTE S PURGATORIO.. 
 
 Because, for lust of barren fiefs out there,* 
 
 Thou and thy Father have not shamed to see 
 The empire's garden desolate and bare. 
 
 Come see the Capulets and Montagues, 
 Monaldi and Filippeschi, O thou being 
 
 Without concern ! these wan with fears, and those 
 Already crushed : come sate thyself with seeing, 
 
 Thou cruel man, the outrage that is done 
 To thy best blood, and make their bruises well ! 
 
 And thou shalt see too, thou cold looker-on, 
 Santafiore's lords how safe they dwell. 
 
 Come see thy Rome that mourning all alone 
 Weepeth, a widow, calling day and night, 
 
 Why, O my Caesar, dost thou leave thine own? 
 Come see what love there — how all hearts unite ! 
 
 And if no pity move thee at our moan 
 Blush for thy fame beholding such a sight. 
 
 And, lawful if I speak, O most high Jove 
 Who wast for our sakes crucified on earth, 
 
 Are thy just eyes who watchest men above 
 Turned elsewhere? — Or is this before the birth 
 
 Of some great good a preparation hid 
 From us in the abyss of thy intent, 
 
 That all the Italian towns are tyrant-rid, 
 And every clown that comes on faction bent 
 
 Makes as much clamor as Marcellus did? 
 
 My Florence ! well may'st thou remain content 
 
 At this digression ; it concerns not thee, 
 Thanks to thy people, great in argument ! 
 
 Many with justice in their hearts there be 
 Who stay the shaft lest, coming to the bow 
 
 Without discretion, it might err ; but they 
 On their lips wear it. Many men are slow 
 
 To serve the state, and turn from place away ; 
 Thy people do not — every one bends low, 
 
 Crying before he's called for: " I obey." 
 
 * In Germany.
 
 CANTO SIXTH. 3 I 
 
 Now make thee joyful, who may'st triumph well ; 
 
 Thou who art rich — so wise ! and so at peace ! 
 If I speak true in this, — let the truth tell. 
 
 Athens and Sparta, that raised civil Greece 
 To such a height, and framed the ancient laws, 
 
 Towards the well-ordered life made small beginning 
 Compared with thee, whose legislation draws 
 
 Threads out so fine that thy October spinning 
 Comes before mid-November to a pause. 
 
 How many times hast thou renewed thy men, 
 Yea, within days that in thy memory dwell, 
 
 And changed thy laws and offices, and then 
 Customs and coins ! if thou remember well 
 
 Thou wilt behold thyself, unless quite blind, 
 Like a sick woman, restless, that in vain 
 
 Seeks on her pillow some repose to find, 
 And turns and turns as 'twere to parry pain.
 
 32 DANTES PURGATORIO. 
 
 CANTO SEVENTH. 
 
 Three times and four these greetings, glad and free, 
 
 Had been repeated, when Sordello's shade 
 Drew from embrace, and said : " Now, who are ye? " 
 
 And thereupon my Guide this answer made : 
 " Ere to this mountain those just souls, to whom 
 
 Heavenward to climb was given, had guided been, 
 My bones Octavian gathered to the tomb. 
 
 Virgil I am, and for none other sin 
 But want of faith was I from heaven shut out." 
 
 Like one who suddenly before him sees 
 Something that wakes his wonder, whence, in doubt, 
 
 He says, It is not ; then believing, '77s! 
 Sordello stood, then back to him without 
 
 Lifting his eyelids, turned and clasped his knees. 
 " O glory of the Latin race ! " he cried, 
 
 " Through whom to such a height our language rose, 
 Oh ! of my birthplace everlasting pride, 
 
 What merit or grace on me thy sight bestows? 
 Tell me, unless to hear thee is denied, 
 
 Com'st thou from hell, or where hast thou repose?" 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 He to this answered : w ' Grace from heaven moved me, 
 
 And leads me still : the circles every one 
 Of sorrow's kingdom have I trod to thee. 
 
 My sight is barred from that supernal Sun, 
 Whom 1 knew late, and thou desir'st to see, 
 
 Not for I did, but for I left undone. 
 A place below there is where no groans rise 
 
 From torment, sad alone with want of light,
 
 ( WTO SEVENTH. 33 
 
 Where the lament sounds not like moan, but sighs. 
 
 The little innocents whom Death's fell bite 
 Snatched, ere their sin was purified, are there : 
 
 And there I dwell with guiltless ones that still 
 The three most holy virtues did not wear, 
 
 Though all the rest they knew, and did fulfil. 
 But if thou knowest, and may'st us apprise, 
 
 Tell us how we most speedily may find 
 Where Purgatory's actual entrance lies." * 
 
 Sordello. 
 
 " We have," he answered, " no set place assigned ; 
 Around and upward I am free to stray ; 
 
 My guidance far as I may go I lend : 
 But see how fast already fails the day ! 
 
 And in the night none ever can ascend : 
 Best, then, we think of some good resting-place. 
 
 Some souls there be, removed here to the right, 
 Whom, if thou wilt, I'll show thee face to face, 
 
 And thou shalt know them not without delight." 
 " How, then," said Virgil, " should a soul aspire 
 
 To climb by night, would other check be found? 
 Or his own weakness hinder his desire?" 
 
 And good Sordello drew along the ground 
 His finger, saying: " Look ! not even this line 
 
 May'st thou pass over when the sun hath gone : 
 Not that aught else, though, would thy power confine, 
 
 Save want of light, from journeying upwards on : 
 Darkness makes impotent thy will. By night 
 
 One may go back again, and grope below, 
 And, while the horizon shuts the day from sight, 
 
 Wander about the hillside to and fro." 
 My Master then, as 'twere in wonder, spake : 
 
 "Now lead us thitherward where thou hast said, 
 
 La dove '1 Purgatorio ha dritto inizio." 
 5
 
 34 DANTE S PURGATORIQ. 
 
 That we in lingering shall such pleasure take." 
 
 Nor had we forward far advanced our tread, 
 When I perceived that on the mountain-side 
 
 A valley opened, just like valleys here. 
 " We will go forward," said our shadowy guide, 
 
 •• Where on the slope yon hollow doth appear; 
 There let us wait the dawning of the day." 
 
 'Twixt steep and level went a winding path 
 Which led us where the vale-side dies away 
 
 Till less than half its height the margin hath. 
 
 Gold and fine silver, ceruse, cochineal, 
 
 India's rich wood, heaven's lucid blue serene, 
 Or glow that emeralds freshly broke reveal, 
 
 Had all been vanquished by the varied sheen 
 Of this bright valley set with shrubs and flowers, 
 
 As less by greater. Nor had Nature there 
 Only in painting spent herself, but showers 
 
 Of odors manifold made sweet the air 
 With one strange mingling of confused perfume, 
 
 And there new spirits chanting, I descried, 
 " Salve Regina I *' seated on the bloom 
 
 And verdure sheltered by the dingle side. 
 
 Sordeli.o. 
 
 " Ere yon low sun shall nestle in his bed " 
 
 (Began the Mantuan who had brought us here), 
 "Desire not down among them to be led ; 
 
 You better will observe how they appear, 
 Both face and action, from this bank, instead 
 
 Of mixing with them in the dale. That one 
 Who sits the highest, looking, 'mid the throng, 
 
 As though some duty he had left undone, 
 Who moves his lips not with the rest in song, 
 
 Was Rodolph, Emperor, he who might have healed 
 Those wounds which Italy have so far spent 
 
 That slow relief all other helpers yield.
 
 CANTO SEVENTH. 
 
 The other, that on soothing him seems bent, 
 
 Once ruled the region whence those waters are 
 Which Moldau bears to Elbe, and Elbe the sea. 
 
 His name was Ottocar, and better far, 
 Yea, in his very swaddling-robe, was he 
 
 Than Vincislaus, his big-bearded son 
 Whom luxury and ease have made so gross. 
 
 And he of slender nose, who, with the one 
 So bland of aspect, seems in consult close, 
 
 Died flying, and in dust his lilies laid. 
 Look ! how he beats the breast he cannot calm : 
 
 Mark too his mate there sighing, who hath made 
 For his pale cheek a pillow of his palm ! 
 • One is the Father of that pest of France, 
 Father-in-law the other: well they know 
 
 His lewd, base life ! this misery is the lance 
 That to the core cuts either of them so. 
 
 And he so stout of limb, in unison 
 Singing with him there of the manly nose, 
 
 Of every virtue put the girdle on ; 
 And if that youth behind him in repose 
 
 Had after him reigned in his Father's stead, 
 Virtue from vase to vase had been well poured, 
 
 Which of the other heirs may not be said. 
 Frederic and James now o'er those kingdoms lord, 
 
 In whom that better heritage lies dead. 
 Rarely doth human goodness rise again 
 
 Through the tree's branches: He hath willed it so 
 Who gives this boon of excellence, that men 
 
 Should ask of him who can alone bestow." 
 "Not more these words of mine at Peter glance 
 
 Than him he sings with (of the large nose there) 
 Whose loss Apulia mourneth, and Provence, 
 
 So ill the tree doth with its stock compare ! 
 Even so much more of her good lord his wife 
 
 Constance yet vaunts herself, than Margaret may, 
 Or Beatris. That king of simplest life, 
 
 Harry of England, seated there survey 
 
 35
 
 36 dante's purgatorio. 
 
 All by himself: his branches are more blest ! 
 
 The one who sits there with uplifted gaze 
 Among the group, but lower than the rest, 
 
 Is Marquis William, in whose cause the frays 
 Of Alexandria have with grief oppressed 
 
 Both Monferrato and the Canavese."
 
 CANTO EIGHTH. 
 
 37 
 
 CANTO EIGHTH. 
 
 'Twas now the hour that brings to men at sen. 
 
 Who in the morn have bid sweet friends farewell. 
 Fond thoughts and longing back with them to be ; 
 
 And thrills the pilgrim with a tender spell 
 Of love, if haply, new upon his way, 
 
 He faintly hear a chime from some far bell, 
 That seems to mourn the dying of the day ; 
 
 When I forbore my listening faculty 
 To mark one spirit uprisen amid the band 
 
 Who joined, both palms and lifted them on high 
 (First having claimed attention with his hand) 
 
 And towards the Orient bent so fixed an eye 
 As 'twere he said, " My God ! on thee alone 
 
 My longing rests." Then from his lips there came 
 Te lucis ante" so devout of tone, 
 
 So sweet, my mind was ravished by the same : 
 The others next, full sweetly and devout, 
 
 Fixing their gaze on the supernal wheels, 
 Followed him chanting the whole Psalm throughout. 
 
 Now, reader, to the truth my verse conceals 
 Make sharp thy vision ; subtle is the veil 
 
 So fine 'twere easily passed through unseen. 
 I saw that gentle army, meek and pale, 
 
 Silently gazing upward with a mien 
 As of expectancy, and from on high 
 
 Beheld two angels with two swords descend 
 Which flamed with fire, but, as I could descry, 
 
 They bare no points, being broken at the end. 
 Green robes, in hue more delicate than spring's 
 
 Tender new leaves, they trailed behind and fanned
 
 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 With gentle beating of their verdant wings. 
 
 One, coming near, just over us took stand, 
 Down to th' opponent bank the other sped, 
 
 So that the spirits we're between them grouped. 
 Full well could I discern each flaxen head ; 
 
 But in their faces mine eyes' virtue drooped, 
 As 'twere confounded by excess and dead. 
 
 " From Mary's bosom they have both come here," 
 Sordello said — " this valley to protect 
 
 Against the serpent that will soon appear:" 
 Whence I, unknowing which way to expect 
 
 This object, turned me, almost froze with fear, 
 And to those trusty shoulders closely clung. 
 
 Again Sordello : " Go we down and see 
 These mighty shades, and let them hear our tongue : 
 
 Thy presence will to them right gracious be." 
 Only three steps I think brought me below 
 
 Where one I noticed solely eyeing me 
 As if who I might be he fain would know. 
 
 'Twas dusk, yet not so but the dusky air, 
 Between his eyes and mine, within the dell, 
 
 Showed what before it did not quite declare. 
 Towards me he moved, and I towards him as well : 
 
 Gentle Judge Nino, when I saw thee there 
 What joy was mine to find thee not in hell! 
 
 We left unsaid no form of fair salute : 
 Then he inquired : " How long since thou didst come 
 
 O'er the far waters to the mountain's foot?" 
 " O but this morn," said I, " the realms of gloom 
 
 I passed : in the first life I am, but fain 
 Would find the next by following on this track." 
 
 Like to men suddenly amazed, the twain, 
 lie and Sordello, hearing this, drew back. 
 
 One looked at Virgil, one into the face 
 Of a companion sitting there, and cried, 
 
 " Up, Conrad ! see what God hath of his grace 
 Bestowed," then turning unto me replied :
 
 CANTO EIGHTH. 39 
 
 Nino Visconti. 
 
 " By that especial reverence, I beseech, 
 Which thou ow'st Him whose primal way is hid 
 
 So that none sound it, if soe'er thou reach 
 The shore beyond the vasty waters, bid 
 
 My child Giovanna for my peace implore 
 There where the cry of innocents heaven heeds. 
 
 Her mother I am sure loves me no more 
 Since she put off her widow's paly weeds, 
 
 But in her misery fain would wear this day. 
 From her full readily may one be taught 
 
 How soon love's flame in woman dies away 
 If sight or touch full oft relume it not. 
 
 The chanticleer upon Gallura's shield 
 Had graced her sepulchre with fairer show 
 
 Than will that viper, which to battle-field 
 Marshals the men of Milan." With such glow 
 
 He uttered this as in his face revealed 
 The heart's just passion smouldering yet below. 
 
 Still that sole part of heaven I fondly eyed 
 
 Where the stars move, even as a wheel doth move 
 More slowly next the axle. Said my Guide : 
 
 " Son, what dost thou so gaze at there above ? " 
 " Up there ! at yon three torches," I replied, 
 
 " Whose splendor makes this pole here all ablaze." 
 And he to me : " The four clear stars that rose 
 
 This morn before thee have abased their rays, 
 And these have mounted in the place of those." 
 
 While thus he spake, Sordello to his side 
 Drew Virgil, and exclaimed : ik Behold our Foe ! " 
 
 And pointed to the thing which he descried : 
 And where that small vale's barrier sinks most low 
 
 A serpent suddenly was seen to glide, 
 Such as gave Eve, perchance, the fruit of woe.
 
 40 
 
 D \\ I I S PURGATORIO. 
 
 Through flowers and herbage came that evil streak, 
 To lick its back oft turning round its head, 
 
 As with his tongue a beast His fur doth sleek. 
 1 was not looking, so must leave unsaid 
 
 When first they fluttered, but full well I saw 
 Both heavenly falcons had their plumage spread. 
 
 Soon as the serpent felt the withering flaw 
 Of those green wings, it vanished, and they sped 
 
 Up to their posts again with even flight. 
 The shade who had approached the judge when he 
 
 Accosted him, had never moved his sight 
 Through this encounter, looking fixed on me. 
 
 Conrad Malaspina. 
 
 " So may that light," the spirit began to say, 
 
 '• Which leads thee -up, find in thine own free will 
 Sufficient wax to last thee all the way, 
 
 Even to th' enamelled summit of the Hill. 
 If thou true news of Val di Magra know'st, 
 
 Or of those parts, inform me of the same, 
 For I was mighty once upon that coast, 
 
 And Conrad Malaspina was my name. 
 Not the old lord, but his descendant, I: 
 
 The love which once I to my kindred bore 
 Is here refined." " O," thus I made reply, 
 
 " That realm of yours I never travelled o'er ; 
 But where throughout all Europe is the place 
 
 That knows it not? The honor Fame accords 
 Your house illustrates not alone the race, 
 
 But makes the land renowned as are its lords ; 
 He knows that country who was never there : 
 
 Still the free purse they bear, and still bright swords 
 So mount my soul as this to thee I swear! 
 
 Custom and nature privilege them so, 
 That, if through guilt the world's guide lead astray, 
 
 They in the path of right straightforward go 
 Sole of all men, and scorn the evil way."
 
 CANTO EIGHTH. 4 1 
 
 To these my words, " Now go," the spirit said, 
 For the sun shall not enter seven times more 
 
 That part of heaven where Aries o'er his bed 
 Stretches and spreads his forked feet all four, 
 
 Ere this thy courtesy's belief shall be 
 Nailed in the middle of thv head with nails 
 
 Of greater force than men's reports to thee 
 If, unimpeded, Judgment's course prevails.
 
 42 DANTE S PURGATORIO. 
 
 CANTO NINTH. 
 
 Forth from the arms of her beloved now, 
 
 Whitening the orient steep, the concubine* 
 Of old Tithonus came, her lucent brow 
 
 Adorned with gems whose figure formed the signf 
 Of that cold animal whose tail with dread 
 
 Strikes trembling nations ; and the night, where we 
 Now were, had made of her ascending tread 
 
 Two of her paces and was making three, 
 With wings through weariness less fully spread, 
 
 When I, in whom the weakness was alive 
 Of Adam's nature, sank in slumber's power 
 
 Where sat already on the grass all five. 
 
 Near to the dawning and about the hour 
 
 When first the little swallow wakes her lays 
 (Haply remembering her old woes afresh), 
 
 And when our mind, relieved of thinking, strays 
 More of a pilgrim from its cage of flesh 
 
 Till to its vision 'tis almost divine, 
 Dreaming, I seemed to see in heaven suspended 
 
 An eagle that with golden plumes did shine 
 And with spread wings as he to swoop intended : 
 
 And in that place it seemed to be, methought, 
 Where Ganymede, abandoning his own, 
 
 \\ as up to heaven's high consistory caught. 
 Then I considered ; haply here alone 
 
 His wont to strike is, and he scorns elsewhere 
 To hear up what he snatches in his feet; 
 
 Methought he next wheeled somewhat in the air, 
 Then struck like lightning, terrible and fleet, 
 
 .And rapt me up to the empyrean: there 
 
 * Aurora. f Scorpio.
 
 CANTO NINTH. 43 
 
 We burned together in so fierce a heat, 
 
 And such of that imagined fire the smart, 
 My dream perforce was by the scorching broke. 
 
 Not otherwise Achilles with a start 
 Rolled his amazed eyes round him, newly woke, 
 
 And knowing nothing where he was, when flying 
 His mother bore him, slumbering on her breast, 
 
 From Chiron to the isle of Scyros hieing, 
 Whence the Greeks, after, forced him with the rest, 
 
 Than I too started ! so that all repose 
 Fled from my features ; deadly pale and chill 
 
 I grew, like one whom fear hath well-nigh froze. 
 Sole stood my Comforter beside me still ; 
 
 My face was towards the sea-shore turned ; the sun 
 Was risen already more than two hours high. 
 
 " Fear not," my Lord said, " we have well begun : 
 Shrink not! but every way enlarge thy strength ; 
 
 Thou hast arrived at Purgatory ! See 
 Yon cliff that circles it; behold at length 
 
 The entrance, parted where it seems to be." 
 
 In the white light that comes before the morn 
 
 While slumbering in thee lay thy soul, there came 
 Over the flowers this valley that adorn 
 
 A woman, saying, " Lucia is my name : 
 This man here sleeping let me take in care ; 
 
 So shall I speed him forward on his way." 
 Sordello, with his gentle comrades there, 
 
 Remained : she took thee and, at dawn of day, 
 Up hither sped, and I behind her straight. 
 
 Here she reposed thee ; first with her fair eyes 
 Showing the aperture of yonder gate, 
 
 Then vanished and thy sleep in even wise. 
 As a man, doubting, comforteth his fear 
 
 At truth's discovery, confident once more, 
 So did I change ; and seeing me appear 
 
 Without inquietude, my Guide up o'er 
 The cliff moved on, I following in his rear.
 
 44 dante's purgatorio. 
 
 Reader, thou well observ'st to what a height 
 
 I lift my matter, therefore wonder not 
 If with more art I strengthen what I write. 
 
 We still approached and now had reached the spot 
 Where that which first had seemed to me a rent, 
 
 Like to a fissure in a wall, my view 
 Made out a gate, and leading to it went 
 
 Three steps, and each was of a different line; 
 A guardian sat there keeping the ascent. 
 
 As yet he spake not. and as more and more 
 Mine eves I opened, on the topmost stair 
 
 I saw him sitting, and the look he wore 
 Was of such brightness that I could not hear. 
 
 The rays were so reflected from his face 
 By a drawn sword that glistened in his hand 
 
 That oft I turned to look in empty space : 
 
 Then he began : " Speak ye from where ye stand ! 
 
 What seek ye here? who leads you to this place? 
 Take heed lest climbing upward from the strand 
 
 Von come to harm ! " My Master answered thus : 
 "A heavenly lady, of such things aware, 
 
 Spake in these words not long ago to us : 
 ' Go ye up yonder, for the gate is there.' 
 
 And may she speed you on your way to good ! " 
 Rejoined that gracious guard. " Up to our flight 
 
 Advance you then !" We therefore came and stood 
 At the first stair, which was of marble white, 
 
 So clear and burnished, that therein I could 
 Behold myself, how I appear to sight. 
 
 The secend was a rough stone, burnt and black 
 Beyond the darkest purple ; through its length 
 
 And crosswise it was traversed by a crack. 
 The third whose mass is rested on their strength 
 
 Appeared to me of porphyry, flaming red, 
 Or like Mood spouting from a vein; thereon 
 
 < rod's Angel kept with planted feet his tread 
 Silting upon the threshold's gleaming stone, 
 
 Whirl) seemed to me of adamant. My Guide
 
 CANTO NINTH. 
 
 45 
 
 Led me with my good will up that ascent, 
 
 Saying, " Beg humbly that the bolt may slide ! " 
 And at those hallowed feet devout I bent. 
 
 " In mercy open to me ! " I implored, 
 But first I smote me thrice upon my breast. 
 
 He on my forehead with his pointed sword 
 Traced P. seven times, then spake me this behest: 
 
 " Wash thou these wounds when thou hast past the door." 
 
 Ashes or dry heaps dug from gravellv earth 
 
 Were of one color with the robe he wore, 
 From under which two keys he next drew forth. 
 
 One was of gold, one silver; first he plied 
 The white, then used the yellow on the gate, 
 
 In such sort as my spirit satisfied ; 
 Then said : " To none is passable the strait 
 
 When either of these keys be vainly tried, 
 And in the wards without response it grate. 
 
 One is more precious, one more asketh wise 
 Counsel and intellect the lock to free, 
 
 Because 'tis this which error's knot unties. 
 From Peter's hand I hold them. He on me 
 
 Enjoined this rule, that I should rather err 
 In opening unto penitents, than be 
 
 Slow to unbind, if at my feet they were." 
 
 Then of that pass he pushed the sacred gate, 
 
 Saying : " Go in ; but be ye warned, before 
 You enter ! who looks back returneth straight." 
 
 And when the hinge-bolts of the holy door, 
 Which are of strong and sounding metal, rolled 
 
 Round in their sockets, the Tarpeian rock, 
 When robbed of good Metellus and its gold, 
 
 Rung not so loud nor yielded such a shock. 
 At the first thunder, as the portal swung 
 
 I looked about, and as I stood intent 
 Heard Te Dcuni laudamusl clearly sung, 
 
 And the gate's music with the song was blent.
 
 46 DANTE'S PURGAT0R10. 
 
 The same impression what I heard gave me 
 As on the listener's hearing is begot 
 
 When men with organs join their voice, and we 
 Now hear the words, and now we hear them not. 
 
 END OF THE ANTE-PDKGATOI! IO.
 
 
 AA 001075 060 { 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW. 
 
 S.-rics 9482
 
 II I I II III 
 3 1205 024