To run o’er better water hoists her sails
the little vessel of my genius now,
which leaves behind her such a cruel sea;
and of that second Realm I ’ll sing, wherein
the human spirit purifies itself,
and groweth worthy to ascend to Heaven.
But here let Poetry arise from death,
since, holy Muses, yours I am; and let
Calliopë, here somewhat higher soaring,
with those sweet tones accompany my song,
whose power the miserable Magpies felt
so keenly, that of pardon they despaired.
The oriental sapphire’s tender hue,
now gathering in the sky’s unclouded face,
as far as to the first of circles pure,
began again to give mine eyes delight,
when forth I issued from the deadly air,
which with its gloom had filled mine eyes and heart.
The beauteous planet which incites to love,
veiling with light the Fishes in her train,
was causing all the eastern sky to laugh.

Round to the right I turned, and set my mind
upon the other pole, and saw four stars,
never perceived, save by the first of men.
The sky appeared to enjoy their little flames.
O region of the North, that widowed art,
because deprived of gazing thereupon!
When I had from the sight of them withdrawn,
turning a little toward the other pole,
whence now the Wain had wholly disappeared,
a lone Old Man beside me I perceived,
deserving of such reverence in his looks,
that no son owes his father any more.
Long was the beard he wore, and partly white,
as likewise was the hair upon his head,
two locks of which hung down upon his breast.
And so the rays of those four holy stars
adorned his face with splendor, that to me course
he looked as if the sun were facing him.
“Who, then, are ye, that ’gainst the blind stream’s
have from the eternal Prison escaped?” he said,
moving the while those venerable locks.
“Who led you, or what served you as a lamp,
when forth ye issued from the night profound,
which makes the infernal Vale forever black?
Are broken thus the laws of Hell’s abyss,
or through new counsel is there change in Heaven,
that ye, though damned, are come to these my cliffs?”

My Leader thereupon took hold of me,
and with his words and with his hands and signs
imposed respect upon my legs and brow.
He then replied: “I came not of myself;
from Heaven came down a Lady, at whose prayer
I helped this man with my companionship.
But since thy will it is that our true state
should be explained to thee more clearly, mine
it cannot be that this should be denied thee.
Not yet hath this man his last evening seen;
but through his folly was so near to it,
that he was left but very little time.
As I have told thee, I was sent to save
his life; nor was there any other way
than this, to which I have addressed myself.
I ’ve shown him all the people who are guilty;
and now I mean those spirits to reveal,
who ’neath thy jurisdiction cleanse themselves.
Long would it take to tell thee how I led him;
virtue descendeth from on high, which helps me
lead him to see thee and to hear thee speak.
His coming, therefore, please to welcome; Freedom
he seeks, which is so dear, as knoweth he
who gives up life therefor. This thou dost know,
since death for its sake was not bitter to thee
in Utica, where thou didst leave the robe,
which on the Great Day will so brightly shine.

The eternal edicts are not void through us;
for this man lives, and I ’m not bound by Minos;
but of that circle am, wherein the eyes
of thy chaste Marcia are, O holy breast,
whose looks implore thee still to hold her thine;
for love of her, then, yield thee unto us!
Permit us through thy seven domains to go.
My grateful praise of thee I ’ll bear to her,
if to be mentioned there below thou deign.”
“Marcia so pleased mine eyes,” he then replied,
“that, while upon the other side I was,
I granted all the favors she desired.
Now that she dwells beyond the evil stream,
no longer can she move me, by the law
made at the moment when I issued thence.
But if a Lady of Heaven impel and guide thee,
as thou hast said, no need of flattering prayers;
suffice it thee that for her sake thou ask.
Go, then, and see that with a leafless rush
thou gird this man, and that thou wash his face,
so that therefrom all foulness thou remove;
for ’t were not fit he went, with eyes o’ercast
by any mist, before the first of those
who serve as Ministers of Paradise.
This little isle around its lowest base,
down yonder where the waves are beating it,
produces rushes on its yielding ooze.

No other plant, like one that brought forth leaves,
or hardened, can maintain its life down there,
because it yields not when receiving blows.
Thereafter be not hither your return;
the sun, which rises now, will show you how
to climb the Mountain by the easiest slope.”
Thereat he disappeared; and I arose
without a word, and to my Leader’s side
I closely drew, and toward him turned mine eyes.
And he began: “Son, follow thou my steps;
let us turn backward, for the shore slopes down
on this side toward its lowly boundaries.”
The dawn was vanquishing the morning breeze,
which fled before it, so that, from afar,
I recognized the shimmering of the sea.
We now were going o’er the lonely plain,
as one who to a road he lost returns,
and, till he find it, seems to go in vain.
When we were there, where with the sun the dew
still struggles on, through being in a place
where, for the breeze, it slowly melts away,
my Teacher, having spread out both his hands,
rested them gently on the tender grass;
whence I, who of his purpose was aware,
yielded to him the cheeks my tears had stained;
he then brought all that natural color back,
which Hell had on my countenance concealed.

We came thereafter to that lonely shore,
which never saw its waters sailed by one
who afterward experienced a return.
Here, as the other pleased, he girded me.
O wondrous sight! For, like the humble plant
which he had chosen, another instantly
sprang forth again from where he tore the first.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

And now already had the sun arrived
at that horizon, whose meridian circle
rests with its zenith o’er Jerusalem;
and Night, which circles opposite thereto,
was issuing from the Ganges with the Scales,
which, when she gains, are falling from her hands;
so that the white and pure vermilion cheeks
of beautiful Aurora, where I was,
were turning orange through excessive age.
Along the seaside we were lingering still,
like folk who, taking thought about their road,
go on in heart, but with their body stay;
when lo, as, at the approach of morning, Mars,
because of heavy vapors, groweth red
down in the West above the ocean’s floor;
even so I saw — may I again behold it! —
a light which o’er the sea so swiftly moved,
that no flight is as rapid as its motion;
from which when I a moment had withdrawn
mine eyes, to ask a question of my Leader,
again I saw it grown more bright and large.

And on each side of it there then appeared
I knew not what white thing, and underneath
little by little came another forth.
Meanwhile my Teacher uttered not a word
until the first white objects looked like wings;
then, having recognized the Pilot well,
he cried: “See, see now that thou bend thy knees!
This is God’s Angel; fold thy hands! Henceforth
shalt thou behold such officers as this.
See how he so scorns human instruments,
as to wish neither oar, nor other sail
than his own wings, between such distant shores!
See how he holds them straight up toward the sky,
stroking the air with those eternal plumes,
which do not moult as mortal feathers do!”
And then, as more and more the Bird divine
drew near to us, the brighter he appeared;
therefore mine eyes endured him not near by,
but down I cast them; with a little boat
he came ashore, so agile and so light,
the water swallowed up no part of it.
Such on its stern the heavenly Pilot stood,
that he would bless one, were he but described;
more than a hundred spirits sat within.
“When Israel out of Egypt came,” they all
in unison were singing there together,
with what is written after in that psalm.

Then, having signed them with the holy Cross,
whereat all cast themselves upon the shore,
he went away as swiftly as he came.
The crowd which stayed seemed strangers to the place,
and gazed around them there, as doth a man,
who with unwonted things acquaints himself.
The sun, which from the middle of the sky
had hunted Capricorn with arrows bright,
was shooting forth the day on every side,
when those new people raised their brows toward us,
and said: “If ye know how, point out to us
the road that one should take to reach the Mount.”
And Virgil answered: “Ye, perchance, believe
that we have had experience of this place;
but we are pilgrim-strangers like yourselves.
We came just now, a little while before you,
but by another way, so rough and hard,
that going up will now seem play to us.”
The souls who, by my breathing, had become
aware that I was still a living being,
in their astonishment turned death-like pale;
and as around a messenger who bears
the olive, people surge to hear the news,
and, as to crowding, none of them seem shy;
so one and all those fortune-favored souls
fixed on my face their gaze, as if forgetting
to go and make their spirits beautiful.

Then one among them I beheld advance,
in such a loving manner, to embrace me,
that it persuaded me to do the like.
O, save in your appearance, empty shades!
Three times behind it did I clasp my hands,
and to my breast therewith as oft returned.
With wonder, I believe, I painted me;
smiling because of this, the shade drew back,
while, following after, I pressed further on.
With gentle words he told me to desist;
then who it was I knew, and begged of him
to stop a little while and speak with me.
“As thee I loved, when in my mortal body,”
he answered me, “even so, when freed, I love thee;
therefore I stop; but wherefore goest thou?”
“Casella mine,” said I, “I take this journey,
that where I am I may return again;
but why from thee hath so much time been taken?”
And he to me: “No outrage hath been done me,
if he, who takes both when and whom he likes,
hath more than once refused me passage here;
for to a Righteous Will is his conformed;
yet peacefully, these three months, hath he taken
whoever wished to enter into his boat.
Hence I, who now was toward the sea-shore bent,
where Tiber’s water mingles with the salt,
was with benignity received by him

at yonder river’s mouth, toward which his wings
ev’n now are turned; for those who go not down
toward Acheron, always assemble there.”
And I: “If some new law take not from thee
the memory or the practice of the song
of love, which used to quiet all my longings,
be pleased a little to console therewith
my spirit, which, because of coming here
when in its body, is so sore distressed!”
“The love that talketh with me in my mind,”
he thereupon began to sing so sweetly,
that still within me is its sweetness heard.
My Teacher, I, and those that with him were,
seemed as contented, as if none of us
had any other thing upon his mind.
Absorbed in listening to his notes, we all
were motionless; when lo, the grave Old Man,
who cried: “Ye laggard spirits, what is this?
What means this negligence and standing still?
Run to the Mount, and strip ye off the slough,
which lets not God be visible to you.”
Ev’n as, when picking grains of wheat or tares,
doves, met together at their feeding, calm,
and not displaying their accustomed pride,
if anything appear that frightens them,
all of a sudden leave their food alone,
because assailed by greater cause for care;

even so I saw that new-come family
give up the song, and toward the hillside move,
like one who goes, but whither knoweth not;
nor was in less haste our departure made.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Although their sudden flight had scattered them
over the plain, and turned them toward the Mount,
where Justice probes us with its penalties,
more closely to my faithful mate I drew.
And how without him had I run my race,
or who had drawn me up the Mountain’s side?
To me he seemed o’erwhelmed with self-reproach.
O conscience, when both dignified and clear,
how sharp a bite a slight fault is to thee!
When once his feet had given up the haste,
which of their dignity deprives all acts,
my mind, to one thought limited at first,
enlarged its scope with eager interest now;
and toward that Mountain I addressed my gaze,
which skyward rises highest from the sea.
The sun, which back of us was flaming red,
in front of me was broken in the shape
wherein I lent its rays a resting place.
I turned, and at my side I looked, afraid
of having been abandoned, when I saw
the ground was dark in front of me alone.

When wholly turned, my Comforter began:
“Why still distrustful? Dost thou not believe
that I am with thee, and am guiding thee?
’T is evening now where buried lies the body,
wherein I cast a shadow; Naples now
possesses it; from Brindisi ’t was taken.
If, then, in front of me no shadow fall,
marvel no more than at the heavenly spheres
thou wouldst, which hinder not each other’s rays.
That Power enables bodies such as mine
to suffer torments, both of heat and cold,
which wills not that Its ways be shown to us.
Insane is he that hopes our human reason
will ever travel o’er the boundless path,
o’er which One Substance in three Persons moves.
Be satisfied, O human race, with facts;
for if ye could have seen the cause of all,
no need had been for Mary to bear child;
and ye ’ve seen, vainly longing, men so great,
that their desire would else have been appeased,
which giv’n them is for an eternal grief;
I speak of Aristotle and of Plato,
and many others.” Here he bowed his head,
and, saying nothing more, remained disturbed.
Meanwhile we had attained the Mountain’s foot;
and there we found the rocky cliff so steep,
that legs would there be nimble all in vain.

’Tween Lèrici and Turbìa the loneliest
and wildest path is, if compared with that,
a safely climbed and easy flight of stairs.
“Now who knows on which side the hill so slopes,”
then said my Teacher, as he stayed his steps,
“that he who wingless goes can make the ascent?”
Meanwhile, as he was questioning his mind
about the path, and held his face bowed down,
and I was gazing upward round the cliff,
upon my left a throng of souls appeared,
who toward us moved their feet, yet did not seem
to move, so slowly were they coming on.
“Teacher,” said I, “lift up thine eyes; behold
on this side people who will give us counsel,
if thou canst not obtain it from thyself.”
He then looked up, and with relief replied:
“Let us go toward them, for they slowly come,
and thou, sweet son, be steadfast in thy hope.”
Those people were as yet as far away,
after a thousand of our steps, I mean,
as a good thrower’s hand would reach, when all
pressed up against the lofty bank’s hard mass,
and stayed there, still, and huddled up together,
as, when in doubt, a walker stops to look.
Virgil began: “O ye whose end was good,
O now elected spirits, by the peace
which I believe ye all look forward to,

say where the Mount so lies, that going up
be possible for us; for loss of time,
to him who knoweth most, is most displeasing.”
As from the fold young sheep are wont to come
by ones, and twos, and threes, while timidly
the others stay, with downcast eyes and muzzle;
and what the first one doth, so do the rest,
all huddling up to her, in case she stop,
simple and quiet, nor yet knowing why;
even so the leader of that favored flock
I saw start forward then, and toward us come,
modest in face and dignified in gait.
When those who were in front the light beheld
so broken on the ground upon my right,
that ’gainst the cliff a shadow fell from me,
they stopped, and backward drew a little way;
and all the others coming on behind,
not knowing why they did so, did the same.
“Without your asking I affirm to you
that this you see a human body is;
therefore the sun’s light on the ground is broken.
Be not surprised, then, but believe that not
without a power that cometh down from Heaven,
is he attempting to surmount this wall.”
My Teacher thus; those worthy people then,
as with the back part of their hands they waved,
said: “Turn, then, and ahead of us go in.”

And one of them began: “Whoe’er thou art,
as thus thou goest, turn thy face! Recall
if thou hast ever seen me in the world.”
Toward him I turned, and on him fixed my gaze.
Blond, handsome, and of noble mien he was,
although an eyebrow by a blow was cut.
When I had with due modesty disclaimed
having e’er seen him there, he said: “Now see!”
and showed me high upon his breast a wound.
Then with a smile he said: “Manfred am I,
the grandson of the Empress Constance; hence
I beg thee that, on thy return, thou go
to my fair daughter, mother of the honor
of Sicily and Aragon, and should
aught else be told her, tell her thou the truth.
After my body by two mortal stabs
had been pierced through, in tears I gave myself
to that One who forgiveth willingly.
My sins were horrible, indeed; and yet
the Goodness Infinite hath arms so wide,
that It receiveth all who turn to It.
And if Cosenza’s Pastor, who by Clement
was sent to hunt me down, had then perused
this page in God’s book, as he should have done,
my body’s bones would still be lying there,
hard by the bridge’s head near Benevento,
under the keeping of the heavy cairn.

Bathed by the rain, the wind now blows them round
outside the Kingdom, near the Verde’s banks,
whither he moved them with extinguished lights.
Not by their cursing is Eternal Love
so lost, that it can not return again,
as long as hope hath still a speck of green.
’T is true that he that dieth in contempt
of Holy Church, though at the very last
he may repent, outside this Mountain’s bank
must stay, for all the time that he hath been
in his presumption, thirty times as long,
unless by good prayers shortened be this ban.
See now if thou canst make me glad, by telling
my good Costanza both where thou hast seen me
and of this interdict; for one is here
greatly advanced by those that are beyond.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Whene’er, because of pleasure or of pain
received by any faculty of ours,
our soul is wholly centered thereupon,
it seems to heed no other faculty;
and this is ’gainst that wrong belief which holds
that one soul in us o’er another burns.
Therefore, when anything is heard or seen,
which toward it holds the soul intently turned,
time passes by, and one perceives it not;
since one thing is the faculty which harks,
and that which holdeth all the soul another;
this last is bound, as ’t were, the former free.
Of this I real experience had, while hearing
and wondering at that spirit; for the sun
had climbed up fifty full degrees at least,
though I had not perceived it, when we came
to where those souls cried out to us together:
“The place which you were asking for is here.”
Oft doth a farmer, when the grapes grow dark,
close up a wider opening in a hedge
with but a little forkful of his thorns,

than was the entrance there, through which my Leader,
and I behind him, mounted all alone,
when once the crowd had gone away from us.
One climbs Sanlèo, and descends to Noli;
one wins the summit of Bismàntova,
helped solely by one’s feet; but one up here
would have to fly; with the swift wings, I mean,
and plumes of great desire, behind the Guide,
who gave me hope and furnished me with light.
As up within the cloven rock we climbed,
its walls on each side closely hemmed us in,
while under us the ground both feet and hands
required. When on the high cliff’s upper edge
we were, and out upon the open slope,
“Which way, my Teacher, shall we go?” said I.
And he to me: “Take thou no backward step;
keep gaining ground behind me up the Mount,
until some guide who knows appear to us.”
So high the summit was, that it surpassed
our sight, and steeper far the slope, than were
a line from center to mid-quadrant drawn.
Weary was I, when I began to speak:
“O gentle Father, turn around, and see
how I remain alone, unless thou stop!”
“Draw thyself up, my son, as far as there!”
he said, and somewhat higher pointed out
a ledge on that side circling all the hill.

His words so spurred me, that I forced myself
to crawl behind him on my hands and knees,
until the girding ledge was ’neath my feet.
There both of us sat down, and faced the East,
whence we had made the ascent; for looking back
upon a traversed course is wont to help.
First to the shores below I turned mine eyes;
then raised them to the sun, and was amazed
that we were smitten by it on our left.
The Poet well perceived that I was gazing
dumbfounded at the chariot of the light,
which now was rising ’tween the North and us.
“If Castor” said he then to me, “and Pollux
were in the company of yonder mirror,
which up and down in turn conducts its light,
thou wouldst the Zodiac’s ruddy part behold
revolving still more closely to the Bears,
unless it issued from its ancient path.
If thou wouldst understand how this can be,
collect thy thoughts within thee, and imagine
both Zion and this Mount so placed on earth,
that both of them one sole horizon have,
and different hemispheres; and thou wilt see
how that the road which Phaëthon could not take,
alas for him, must pass this Mount on one,
while passing that one on the other side,
if thine intelligence but clearly heed.”

“Surely, my Teacher, never have I seen”
said I, “as clearly as I now perceive,
where once my mind appeared to be at fault,
how the mid-circle of supernal motion,
which in a certain art is called Equator,
and ever ’tween the sun and winter stays,
lies toward the North, for reasons giv’n by thee,
as far on this side as the Hebrew people
ever beheld it toward the heated parts.
But, if it please thee, I would gladly know
how far we have to go; because the Mount
higher ascends than eyes of mine can rise.”
“Such is this Mountain” said he then to me,
“that, always hard to climb at first below,
it pains one less, the higher one ascends.
Hence, when so pleasant to thee it shall seem,
that going up shall be to thee as easy
as floating with the current in a boat,
thou then shalt have attained this pathway’s end.
Hope there to rest thee from thy breathless toil!
No more I answer; this I know for truth.”
When he had ended what he had to say,
the voice of one near by cried out: “Perhaps,
ere that shall happen, thou wilt need to sit!”
On hearing this, we both of us turned round,
and saw a massive boulder on our left,
which neither I nor he had seen before.

Thither we drew; and there some persons were,
who lingered in the shade behind the rock,
as one is wont to do through indolence.
And one of them, who weary seemed to me,
was sitting with his arms around his knees,
and down between the latter held his face.
“O my sweet Lord,” said I then, “turn thine eyes
on yonder man, who shows himself to be
more lazy than if sloth his sister were!”
Then turning round toward us, and giving heed,
he moved his face no more than o’er his thigh,
and said: “Go up now, thou that active art!”
I then knew who it was; nor did the strain,
which quickened still my breath a little, hinder
my going to him; yet, when at his side
I was, he barely raised his head, and said:
“Hast thou at last seen why it is the sun
driveth his car o’er thy left shoulder here?”
His lazy actions and his few short words
impelled my lips to smile a little; then,
“Belacqua,” I began, “I grieve for thee
no more; but tell me why thou sittest here?
Art waiting for a guide, or hast thou now
merely resumed thy customary mood?”
And he: “What, brother, is the use of climbing?
The Bird of God who at the Gate is seated,
would not allow me to approach the pangs.

The sky must first turn round me here outside,
as long as ever in my life it did,
since I delayed good sighs until the end,
unless before then I be helped by prayers
arising from a heart that lives in grace;
of what avail are those unheard in Heaven?”
But now the Poet, climbing on ahead,
was saying: “Come now on with me! Thou see’st
that our meridian by the sun is touched,
and that already from the Ganges’ banks
Night covers up Morocco with her feet.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Already had I parted from those shades,
and in my Leader’s steps was following on,
when one behind me, pointing with his finger,
cried out: “See how the light seems not to shine
upon the left side of that lower man,
who seems to act like one that’s still alive!”
Hearing this speech, I turned mine eyes, and saw
that with astonishment they gazed at me,
at me alone, and at the broken light.
“Why is thy mind so sore perplexed,” then said
my Teacher, “that thou slackenest thy pace?
What carest thou for what is whispered here?
Follow thou me, and let the people talk!
Firm as a tower remain, which never shakes
its top, however hard the winds may blow!
For from himself he ever turns his mark,
in whom one thought wells up behind another,
for each of them impairs the other’s strength.”
What could I say in answer, save “I come”?
And this I said, tinged slightly with the color
which sometimes makes one worthy of forgiveness.

Meanwhile a little way ahead of us
some people crosswise o’er the slope were coming,
singing the Miserere verse by verse.
When they became aware that through my body
I gave no passage to the rays of light,
they changed their chant into a long, hoarse “Oh!”
and two of them, acting as messengers,
ran out to meet us, and enquiring said:
“Cause us to know what kind of life is yours.”
My Teacher answered: “Ye may go your way,
and unto those that sent you out report
that real flesh this man’s body is. And if,
as I suppose, they stopped because they saw
his shadow, they ’ve been answered well enough;
if they respect him, it may profit them.”
I never saw ignited vapors cleave
at nightfall an unclouded sky, or break
so rapidly from August clouds at sunset,
that these returned not up in shorter time;
and, once there, with the rest they veered toward us,
as would a troop that ran without a curb.
“These people who are crowding us are many,”
the Poet said, “and come to beg of thee;
therefore go on, and listen on thy way.”
“O soul, that goest to be glad” they cried,
as on they came, “with those limbs which thou hadst
when thou wast born, a little stay thy steps!

Recall if thou hast e’er seen one of us,
that yonder thou mayst carry news of him!
Why, pray, dost thou go on? Ah, why not stop?
We all were slain of old by violence,
and sinners were until our latest hour;
then light from Heaven so caused us to beware,
that we, repentant and forgiving, issued
from life at peace with God, who in our hearts
stirs us with grievous longings to behold Him.”
And I: “Howe’er I gaze upon your faces,
none do I recognize; and yet, if aught
within my power can please you, well-born souls,
ask it, and I will do it, by the peace,
which, following the feet of such a Guide,
hath now become my quest from world to world.”
And one began: “Each trusts in thy good help
without an oath, provided lack of power
cut not thy good will short. Hence I, who speak
alone before the others, beg of thee,
if e’er thou see the country which extends
between Romagna and the land of Charles,
be courteous to me with thy prayers in Fano,
that supplications due be made for me,
to help me purge away my grievous sins.
It was from there I came; but those deep wounds,
whence flowed the blood wherein my life resided,
were giv’n me in the Antenori’s lap,

where I had trusted I should be most safe.
The lord of Esti, who was angry with me
beyond the bounds of justice, had it done.
Yet toward La Mira had I only fled,
when at Oriàgo I was overtaken,
still yonder would I be, where people breathe.
Toward the lagoon I ran, whose reeds and mire
so hampered me, I fell; and there a pool
formed from my veins I saw upon the ground.”
Then said another: “So may that desire,
which draws thee to the lofty Mount be granted,
with kindly pity, prithee, help thou mine!
I Montefeltro was, I am Buonconte;
Giovanna cares not for me, nor do others;
hence among these I go with head bowed down.
And I to him: “What force was it, or chance,
caused thee to stray so far from Campaldino,
that never hath thy burial-place been known?”
“Oh!” he replied, “A river called Archiàno
flows crosswise at the Casentino’s foot,
and takes its rise among the Apennines,
above the Hermitage. There, where its name
is lost, I came, a fugitive on foot,
pierced through the throat, and staining with my blood
the plain. And there it was I lost my sight,
and ended speech with Mary’s name; and there
I fell, and all alone my flesh remained.

The truth I tell, tell thou among the living.
God’s Angel took me, while the one from Hell
cried out: ‘Why dost thou rob me, thou from Heaven?
Thou bearest hence this man’s eternal part,
because of one small tear which takes him from me;
but I shall with the rest deal otherwise!’
Well knowst thou how damp vapors in the air,
as soon as they ascend to where the cold
affects them, into water change again.
He joined that wicked will, which asks for naught
but evil, with intelligence, and stirred
the mists and wind, by power his nature gave.
The valley thereupon, when day was spent,
he covered o’er with fog from Pratomagno
up to the mountain-chain, and made the sky
so lowering o’er it, that the pregnant air
to water turned; the rain poured down, and what
the soil absorbed not, reached the rivulets;
then, having joined the torrent-brooks, it rushed
so swiftly toward the royal stream, that naught
could hold it back. The swift Archiàno then
hard by its outlet found my frozen body;
and, as it swept it on into the Arno,
loosened the cross which with my arms I made
upon my breast, when sorrow’s pain o’erwhelmed me;
along its banks and bed it rolled me on;
then covered me, and wrapped me with its spoils.”

“Prithee, when to the world thou hast returned,
and when from thy long journey thou art rested,”
after the second spirit said the third,
“do thou remember me, who Pia am!
Sièna made me; Maremma me unmade;
he knoweth what this means, who previously
had, in betrothal, ringed me with his gem.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Whene’er a game of dice is broken up,
the one who loses sorrowing stays behind,
and learns, as sadly he repeats the throws;
while with the other all the people leave;
one goes before, one grasps him from behind,
and at his side one asks to be remembered.
And he stops not, but that one heeds and this;
the one whose hand he takes no longer crowds;
and from the throng he thus defends himself.
E’en such as he, was I in that dense crowd;
for as I this and that way turned my face,
and promised each, I freed myself therefrom.
Here was the Aretine who met his death
from Ghin di Tacco’s cruel arms, and he,
who running madly in pursuit was drowned;
here Frederick Novello prayed with hands
outstretched, and he of Pisa, who induced
worthy Marzucco to reveal his strength.
Count Orso I beheld here, and the soul
through spite and envy from its body parted,
and not, so he maintained, through crime committed;

Pierre de la Brosse, I mean; and here, while still
on earth, let Brabant’s Lady see to it,
that ’mong the worse flock she be not for this.
When I was free from each and all those shades,
who only prayed that others pray for them,
that their becoming holy might be sped,
“It seems that thou deniest,” I began,
“O thou my Light, expressly in a text,
that prayer can cause a change in Heaven’s decrees;
and yet these people only pray for this;
could it then be, that this their hope is vain,
or is thy saying not quite clear to me?”
And he to me: “That which I wrote is clear,
nor yet delusive is this people’s hope,
if it be looked at with a healthy mind;
for Justice stoops not from her lofty height,
because Love’s ardor all at once fulfils
what he who dwelleth here must satisfy;
and there where I decided on this point,
the fault was not made good again by praying,
because the prayer discordant was with God.
Yet in so deep a doubt decide thou not,
unless She bid thee do so, who a light
shall be between thine intellect and truth.
I know not if thou understand; I speak
of Beatrice; thou ’lt see her up above,
smiling and happy, on this Mountain’s top.”

And I: “Let ’s go, then, Lord, with greater haste;
for now I grow not weary as before;
and see, the hillside casts its shadow now.”
“We shall go forward with this day,” he answered,
“as long as we are able; but the case
is otherwise than what thou deemest it.
Ere thou shalt be up there, thou him shalt see
return, who now so shields him with the hill,
that thou dost not compel his rays to break.
But yonder see a soul who all alone
is seated, and toward us is looking now;
he will point out to us the quickest way.”
We came to him. O Lombard soul, how full
of self-respect and noble scorn thou wast,
and in the moving of thine eyes how slow
and dignified! Naught did he say to us;
but let us go our way, and only gazed
as would a couching lion in repose.
Virgil, meanwhile, drew near to him, and begged
that he would show to us the best ascent;
and he to his request made no reply,
but asked us of our country and condition;
and my kind Leader was with “Mantua . . .”
beginning, when the self-collected shade,
from where he was, sprang up to meet him, saying:
“O Mantuan, I ’m Sordello, of thy town!”
and each the other thereupon embraced.

Ah, Italy, thou slave, thou inn of woe,
ship without pilot in a mighty storm,
not queen of provinces, but house of shame!
So instant ready was that noble soul,
but at the sweet sound of his city’s name,
to welcome here his fellow citizen;
and yet within thee now, thy living sons
are not exempt from war, and those one wall
and moat enclose upon each other prey!
All round thy coast-line search its shores, poor wretch,
and then within thy bosom look, and learn
if any part of thee be blest with peace.
What boots it that Justinian rearranged
thy bridle, if thy saddle vacant be?
Had it not been for that, thy shame were less.
And ye, ah, ye, that ought to be devout,
and so let Caesar in his saddle sit,
if well ye heeded God’s advice to you,
behold how wild this animal has grown,
through being uncorrected by the spur,
since ye first set your hands upon her rein!
O German Albert, thou that dost forsake
this creature now become untamed and wild,
and oughtest to bestride her saddle-bows,
may some just judgment from the stars befall
thy blood, and may it so unheard of be,
and plain, that it may frighten thy successor!

For, held by greed of lands outside its bounds,
thou and thy father also have allowed
the Empire’s Garden to become a waste.
Come see the Montagues and Capulets,
Monaldi and Filipeschi, careless man,
already troubled those, and these in dread!
Come, come, thou cruel man, and see the oppression
of thy nobility, and right their wrongs;
and thou shalt see how safe is Santafior!
Come see thy Rome, that, widowed and alone,
is shedding tears, and day and night is calling:
“Why dost thou not, my Caesar, stay with me?”
Come see the people, how they love each other!
And if for us no pity move thy soul,
come, then, and shame thee for thine own renown!
And, if I be allowed, O Jove Supreme,
Thou that for us wast crucified on earth,
are Thy just eyes, too, turned away elsewhere?
Or in Thy counsel’s depths art Thou in this
a preparation making for some good,
from our perception utterly cut off?
For all Italia’s towns are full of tyrants,
and a Marcellus every churl is deemed,
who comes to play a party henchman’s rôle.
My Florence, well mayst thou be satisfied
with this digression, which concerns thee not,
thanks to thy people, who look out for that!

Many at heart are just, but slow to shoot,
lest to the bow uncounselled they should come;
but thy folk on their lips alone are just!
Many refuse to bear the common burden;
but thy folk eagerly respond, and cry,
although uncalled: “I ’ll load myself therewith!”
Be joyful, then, since thou hast cause to be;
thou that art rich, that peaceful art, and wise!
Whether I speak the truth, results conceal not.
Athens and Lacedaemon, they that framed
the ancient laws, and were so civilized,
in living well made but a little mark
compared with thee, that dost so carefully
provide thee, that thy fine October spinning
as far as mid-November reaches not.
How many times, within thy memory,
hast thou changed laws and coinage, offices
and customs, and thy membership renewed!
And if thou well recall and face the light,
thou ’lt see thy likeness to a suffering woman,
who on a feather-bed can find no rest,
but seeks, by tossing, to relieve her pain.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

After their words of greeting, dignified
and glad, had three and four times been repeated,
Sordello, drawing back, said: “Who are ye?”
“Or ever yet the spirits, who deserved
to rise to God, were toward this Mount directed,
my bones were buried by Octavian’s order.
Virgil am I; and through no other guilt
did I lose Heaven, than through not having faith.”
’T was thus my Leader thereupon replied.
Like one who sudden sees before him aught
he wonders at, and, as he says: “It is . . .”
and “No, it ’s not,” believes and disbelieves;
such did the former seem; and then his head
he bowed, and, humbly turning back to him,
embraced him where inferior men take hold.
“O glory of the Latins,” said he then,
“through whom our language showed what it could do,
eternal honor of my native town,
what merit, or what grace shows thee to me?
Tell me, if I deserve to hear thy words,
if thou from Hell art come, and from what cloister.”

“Through all the circles of the woeful Realm”
he answered him, “have I come hither; virtue
from Heaven impelled me, and therewith I come.
’T was not for doing aught, but for not doing,
I lost the sight of that exalted Sun
thou longest for, and which was known by me
too late. There is a place below, not sad
because of pain, but only gloom, where moans
sound not as wailings, but are merely sighs.
There with those little innocents I dwell,
who, not delivered yet from human guilt,
were bitten by the teeth of death; and there
with those I dwell, who did not clothe themselves
with the three holy virtues, but who knew
the others without vice, and practiced all.
But give us, if thou know and can, some sign,
whereby the sooner we may reach the place,
where Purgatory hath its real beginning.”
“No fixed place is assigned us;” he replied,
“I may go upward and around; I ’ll join thee,
and be thy guide as far as I can go.
But see already how the day declines,
and one at night can not ascend; it, hence,
were well to think of some fair resting place.
Here to the right are souls that dwell apart;
if thou permit me, I will lead thee to them,
and not without delight will they be known.”

“How, then, is this?” was answered, “Should one wish
to mount by night, would some one hinder him?
Or would one not ascend, through lack of power?
Then with his finger good Sordello marked
the ground, and: “See!” he said, “When once the sun
is gone, thou couldst not even cross this line;
though not because aught else than gloom of night
would hinder one from climbing; that it is
puzzles the will with impotence. One could,
however, downward go again therewith,
and walking o’er the hillside, wander round
while still the horizon kept the day confined.”
My Lord then said, as if in wonder lost:
“Do thou, then, lead us thither, where thou saidst
that one while waiting can enjoy himself.”
But little had we gone away from there,
when I perceived the hill was hollowed out,
as here on earth our hillside valleys are.
“Thither,” that shade said, “we ’ll betake ourselves
where of itself the hillside forms a lap;
and there will we await the coming day.”
A winding path there was, nor steep nor level,
which led us to a border of the dell,
where more than half away the hillside falls.
Gold and fine silver, scarlet and white lead,
indigo blue, wood’s clear and shining brown,
and green of emeralds when newly flaked,

would each in hue be vanquished by the grass
and flowers found growing in that bosomed dell,
as by the greater vanquished is the less.
Nature not only had been painting there;
but with the fragrance of a thousand scents
was making up a blend unknown on earth.
Here, seated on the grass among the flowers,
“Salve, Regina” singing, souls I saw,
who, for the dell, could not be seen outside.
“Before the waning sunlight nest itself,”
began the Mantuan who had guided us,
“desire me not to lead you among these.
Much better from this border shall ye learn
to know the acts and faces of them all,
than greeted ’mong them in the dale below.
The one that sitteth highest up, and seems
to have neglected what he should have done,
and with his mouth joins not the others’ songs,
was Emperor Rudolph, he who might have healed
the wounds that so have left Italia dead,
that by another she reviveth late.
He who appears to cheer him, ruled the land,
where rise the waters which the Moldau gives
the Elbe, and the Elbe gives the sea.
Named Ottocar, he was, in swaddling clothes,
far better than is Wenceslaus, his son,
on whom, a bearded man, feed lust and ease.

That small-nosed man, who close in counsel seems
with him that hath so kind a countenance,
died fleeing, and disflowering the Lily.
Look at him, yonder, how he smites his breast!
And see the other one, who for his cheek
hath, sighing, made a cushion of his hand.
Father and father-in-law of France’s bane,
they know the latter’s foul and vicious life;
hence comes the sorrow that so pierces them.
The one who so large-limbed appears, and joins
in song with him who hath the manly nose,
was girded with the cord of every worth;
and if the youth, who seated is behind him,
had, following after him, remained as king,
worth would, indeed, have gone from vase to vase;
which of the other heirs can not be said.
The kingdoms James and Frederick hold; but none
is owner of the better heritage.
Seldom doth human righteousness ascend
among the branches; this is willed by Him
who gives it, that of Him it may be asked.
My words concern the large-nosed man no less
than the other, Peter, who is singing with him,
whence both Apulia and Provence are grieved.
That plant is as inferior to its seed,
as of her husband Constance still vaunts more
than Beatrice and Margaret do of theirs.

Behold the king, known for his simple life,
Henry of England, seated there alone;
he in his branches better issue hath.
He that among them lower on the ground
is sitting, and looks up, is Marquis William,
for whom both Alexandria and her war
make Montferràt and Canavèsë weep.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

’T was now the hour, which homeward turns the longing,
and melts the heart of those that sail the sea,
the day they ’ve said goodbye to tender friends;
and thrills with love the pilgrim newly sped,
if from afar he hear a tolling bell,
that seems to mourn the slowly dying day;
when I began to render hearing vain,
and of those souls watch one who, risen up,
was asking for attention with his hand.
He joined his palms, and raising them on high,
turned toward the East his eyes with steadfast gaze,
as if to God he said: “I heed naught else.”
“Ere daylight fadeth” issued from his mouth
with such devoutness, and with notes so sweet,
that I was made unmindful of myself.
Thereat the others, sweetly and devoutly
followed that soul, and sang the whole hymn through,
fixing their gaze upon the spheres above.
Sharpen thine eyes here, Reader, for the truth;
for now its veil is certainly so thin,
that easy is the passage into it.

I saw that army of the gentle-born
gazing on high in silence after this,
as if in expectation, pale and meek;
and, issuing from above, and coming down,
two Angels with two fiery swords I saw,
which, broken off, were of their points deprived.
As green they were, as little new-born leaves,
and clothed with garments which, behind them trailed,
were stroked and fanned by verdant plumes. One came
and poised somewhat above us, while the other
alighted on the hillside opposite,
so that the people there remained between.
I well perceived that golden was their hair;
but on their faces vision went astray,
as would a power confounded by excess.
“From Mary’s bosom both of them are come”
Sordello said, “to guard this sheltered vale
against the Serpent, which will soon arrive.”
Hence I, who knew not by what path, turned round,
chilled through with fear, and to the trusted shoulders
drew closely back. Sordello thereupon
began: “And now among the mighty shades
let us descend, and we will speak with them;
greatly will they be pleased to see you here.”
Only three steps, I think, did I go down,
and was below; then one I saw, who looked
at me alone, as if he wished to know me.

The air had for some time been growing dark
but not so much as, ’tween his eyes and mine,
not to reveal what it concealed before.
Toward me he came, and I toward him advanced.
Noble Judge Nino, when I saw that not
among the damned thou wast, how glad I was!
No greetings fair were left unsaid between us;
and then he asked: “How long ago didst thou
o’er the far waters reach the Mountain’s foot?”
“Oh!” I exclaimed, “across the fields of woe
I came this morn, and in the first life am,
though by thus going, I’ll the other win.”
When once my answer had been heard, Sordello
and he drew back, like people suddenly
perplexed. The first to Virgil turned, the other,
to one who there was seated, crying out:
“Get up, Corrado! Come and see what God
hath as a favor willed.”
Then, turned toward me:
“By that rare gratitude thou owest Him,
who hides His primal Why in such a way,
that there ’s no fording it; when thou art past
the wide waves, ask my Joan to pray for me
where to the innocent replies are given.
I think her mother loves me now no more,
for those white wimples hath she laid aside,
which she, poor soul, must needs want back again.

Through her one understands with greatest ease
how long the fire of love in woman lasts,
unless rekindled oft by sight and touch.
The Viper which conducts the Milanese
afield, will never make as beautiful
a tomb for her, as would Gallura’s Cock.”
These were the words he used, his countenance
marked with the impress of that righteous zeal,
which burneth in the heart with temperate flame.
My greedy eyes now sought the sky alone,
and only there, where slowest are the stars,
as, nearest to its axle, is a wheel.
My Leader then: “What art thou looking at
up there, my son?” And I: “At those three torches,
wherewith the pole on this side wholly burns.”
Then he: “The four bright stars which thou this morn
didst see, are low down on the other side;
and these have risen there, where those were then.”
While he was speaking thus, Sordello drew him
aside, and saying: “Yonder see our foe!”
lifted his finger up, to have him look.
On that side where the little hollowed vale
hath no defense, a Snake there was like that,
perhaps, which gave the bitter fruit to Eve.
On through the grass and flowers the wicked reptile
glided, and, turning back its head at times,
was licking like a beast that smoothes itself.

I did not see, and therefore cannot tell,
how the celestial Falcons ’gan to move,
but both I clearly saw, when once in motion.
When cleft by their green wings it heard the air,
the Serpent fled, and back the Angels turning,
regained their posts above with equal flight.
The shade who, when he called him, to the Judge
had closely drawn, throughout the whole assault
had not one moment loosed his gaze from me.
“So may the lantern leading thee above,
find in thy will the wax that is required
for one to reach the enamelled green on high;”
he thus began, “if thou of Valdimagra,
or of its neighboring land, dost know true news,
tell it to me, who once was mighty there.
Corrado Malaspina I was called;
I ’m not the elder, but from him descended;
I bore my race the love which here is cleansed.”
“Oh!” said I then to him, “I ’ve never been
in your domains, but where throughout all Europe
dwelleth a man who knows them not? The fame
which honoreth your house, proclaims its lords,
proclaims its district, so that even he
knows of them, who hath never been there yet.
I swear to you, so may I go on high,
that of the glorious use of purse and sword
your honored race doth not despoil itself.

Nature and use so favor it, that, howe’er
the guilty Head distort the world, alone
it goeth straight, and scorns the evil path.”
And he: “Now go, for lo, the sun shall not
seven times on that bed rest him, which the Ram
now covers, and with all four feet bestrides,
ere this thy courteously expressed opinion
shall in the middle of thy head be nailed
with greater nails than words of other men,
unless the course of doom decreed be stayed.”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

Already was old Titan’s concubine
whitening upon the Orient’s balcony,
outside the arms of her sweet paramour;
already was her forehead shining bright
with gems, arranged according to the shape
of that cold beast, which smites one with its tail;
and Night had of the steps wherewith she climbs,
already taken two where we were then,
and now the third was lowering its wings;
when I, who had somewhat of Adam in me,
o’ercome with sleep, reclined upon the grass,
on which all five of us were sitting then.
Near morning, at the hour in which the swallow
begins to sing her melancholy lays,
perchance in memory of her earliest woes,
and when, much more a pilgrim from the flesh,
and less imprisoned by its thoughts, our mind
well nigh prophetic in its vision is;
an Eagle in a dream I seemed to see
suspended in the sky, with plumes of gold
and wings outspread, intent on swooping down;

and it appeared to me that I was where
his friends were left behind by Ganymede,
when to the highest council he was raised.
I thought within myself: “Perhaps this bird
is wont to strike but here, and from elsewhere,
perhaps, disdains to lift one with its claws.”
Then, having wheeled a while, it seemed to me
that terrible as lightning it came down,
and bore me up as far as to the fire.
There it and I both seemed to burn together;
and so intense was that imagined burning,
my sleep was broken of necessity.
Achilles roused himself no differently —
turning around him his awakened eyes,
nor knowing in what region he might be,
when, sleeping in her arms, his mother took him
away from Chiron to the isle of Scyros,
from which the Greeks removed him afterwards —
than I aroused myself, when from my face
sleep fled away; and death-like pale I turned,
like one who freezes when o’ercome by fright.
Only my Comforter was at my side,
and now the sun was higher than two hours,
and toward the open sea my face was turned.
“Be not afraid!” my Lord then said to me.
“Be reassured, for we are faring well;
restrain not, but expand thine every power!

At Purgatory art thou now arrived;
behold the cliff there, which encloses it;
behold the entrance where it broken seems.
Just now, when, in the dawn preceding day,
thy soul was sleeping in thee on the flowers,
wherewith the place down yonder is adorned,
a Lady came and said: ‘I am Lucìa;
allow me to take up this sleeping man;
I shall assist him thus upon his way.’
Sordello and the other noble forms
remained; she took thee, and when daylight dawned,
hither came up, and in her foot-prints I.
She laid thee here; and first her lovely eyes
revealed to me that opened entrance; then
both she and sleep together passed away.”
Like one who, when in doubt, is reassured,
and into comfort turns his fear, when once
the truth has been disclosed to him, I changed;
and when my Leader wholly freed from care
beheld me, upward o’er the cliff he moved,
and I behind him followed toward the height.
Reader, thou surely see’st how I exalt
my subject; therefore be thou not surprised
if I support it now with greater art.
Nearer we drew, and were in such a place,
that where at first there seemed to be a break,
just like a fissure that divides a wall,

I saw a Gate, and under, to approach it,
three steps of different color each, and then
a Keeper, who as yet said not a word.
And as I opened more and more mine eyes,
I saw him sitting on the upper step,
such in his face that I endured him not;
and in his hand he had a naked sword,
which so reflected upon us its rays,
that toward him oft I turned my eyes in vain.
“Say what it is you wish, from where you are,”
he then began, “and where your escort is.
Beware lest coming up should do you harm.”
“A heavenly Lady, of these things aware,”
my Teacher answered him, “said unto us
just now: ‘Go thither, yonder is the Gate.’”
“And unto good may she advance your steps!”
the courteous Keeper of the Gate resumed,
“Come forward, therefore, unto these our stairs.”
Made of white marble was the first great step
to which we came, so polished and so smooth,
I mirrored me therein as I appear.
The second step, darker than purple-black,
was of a rough and calcined kind of stone,
cracked lengthwise and across. The third, which rests
in massive shape above it, seemed to me
to be of porphyry as flaming red,
as blood appears when spurting from a vein.

Upon this last God’s Angel held both feet,
sitting upon the threshold, which to me
appeared to be a rock of adamant.
Up over those three steps my Leader then
drew me along with my good will, and said:
“Humbly request him to undo the lock.”
Devoutly at his holy feet I cast me;
I begged that of his mercy he would open,
but first I smote upon my breast three times.
Then with his sword’s sharp point he traced seven P’s
upon my brow, and told me: “See thou to it,
that, when inside, thou wash away these wounds!”
Ashes, or earth when excavated dry,
would with his garment of one color be;
and from beneath it he drew forth two Keys.
One was of gold, the other silver was;
first with the white, and after with the yellow,
he so did to the Gate that I was pleased.
“Whenever one of these Keys faileth so,
that in the lock it doth not rightly turn,”
said he to us, “this passage opens not.
More precious is the first; and yet the other,
ere it unlock, much skill and judgment needs,
for it is that one which unties the knot.
Peter, from whom I hold them, bade me err
rather in opening, than in keeping closed,
provided folk fell prostrate at my feet.”

He pushed the holy Portal’s door thereat,
and said to us: “Go in; but I inform you
that he who looks behind returns outside.”
And when that sacred Gateway’s folding doors,
which were of strong resounding metal made,
were on their iron hinges turned around,
Tarpeia roared not so, nor proved so shrill,
when good Metellus was removed from her,
because of which she afterwards kept lean.
I turned to heed its first resounding tones,
and “Thee we praise, O Lord” I seemed to hear
in voices mixed with those delightful sounds.
What I was hearing made upon me then
just the impression one is wont to get,
when people with an organ sing; for now
the words are heard, and now again are not.

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.

When past the threshold of the Gate we were,
whose use the evil love of souls impairs,
because it makes the crooked path seem straight,
’t was by its sound I knew that it had closed;
and, had I turned mine eyes in its direction,
what would have fittingly excused my fault?
We mounted through a fissure in the rock,
which moved about to this side and to that,
as moves a wave that flees and draweth near.
“A little skill must here be used by us,”
my Leader then began, “in keeping close,
now here, now there, to the receding side.”
This caused our steps to be so slow and short,
that to her bed the waning moon had gone
to rest herself again, ere we had issued
forth from that needle’s eye; but when set free
we were, and in the open up above,
where back the Mountain’s side recedes, I, weary,
and both of us uncertain of our way,
stopped short upon a level place up there,
more lonely than are roads through desert lands.

From where its margin borders on the void,
up to the foot of that high rising bank,
would measure thrice a human body’s length;
and far as e’er mine eye could wing its flight,
now on the right, and now upon the left,
such did this girding ledge appear to me.
Our feet had not been moving on it yet,
when I perceived the bank surrounding it —
which, being perpendicular, could not
be climbed — white marble was, and so adorned
with carvings, that not only Polyclètus,
but Nature, too, would there be put to shame.
The Angel who to earth came with the word
of peace, which, wept-for during many years,
had after its long closure opened Heaven,
appeared before us there in gentle mien,
sculptured so truthfully, it did not seem
that he could be an image that is dumb.
One would have sworn that he was saying: “Hail!”
for She was there portrayed in effigy,
who turned the key that opened Love on high;
and in her mien and acts she had the words
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord” impressed
as clearly as a figure stamped in wax.
“Keep not thy mind on one place only fixed!”
my gentle Teacher said, who had me there
on that side of him, where one has his heart;

I therefore moved my eyes, and further on
than Mary, on the side where him I had,
who urged me to go on, I then beheld
another story graven in the rock;
passing by Virgil, therefore, I drew near
so that it might be set before mine eyes.
Cut in the marble there the cart and oxen
were drawing up the holy Ark, which made
men dread a charge not given them in trust.
People in front appeared; and all of them,
forming seven choirs, made one of my two senses
say “No,” and the other one say “Yes, they sing.”
So, too, by reason of the incense-smoke,
which there was pictured forth, my eyes and nose
became discordant as to Yes and No.
The humble Psalmist there, with loins girt up,
came dancing on, before the blessèd Vessel,
and, doing so, was more and less than king.
And Michal, opposite to this portrayed,
was from a palace window looking down,
as would an angry woman filled with scorn.
From where I was, I onward moved my feet,
that I might closely note another tale,
which after Michal gleamed upon me white.
The glorious action of that Roman prince
was storied here, whose worth moved Gregory
to win his mighty triumph; I refer

to Emperor Trajan; at his bridle stood
a widow who, in tears, showed signs of grief.
The space around him there seemed trampled down
and thronged with horsemen, while above his head
eagles, it seemed, upon a field of gold
were fluttering in the wind. Among all these
the sorrowing woman seemed to say: “My lord,
avenge me for the slaying of my son,
which breaks my heart.” And he to answer her:
“Wait now till I return.” And she, like one
whom sorrow makes impatient, said: “But what,
my lord, if thou shouldst not return?” And he:
“That one will do it, who shall hold my place.”
“How shall another’s goodness help thy case,”
she answered him, “if thou forget thine own?”
Then he: “Now be thou comforted; for needs
must I perform my duty ere I leave;
justice so wills, and pity keeps me here.”
He to whose vision naught was ever new,
created this seen language, new to us,
since not found here on earth. While with delight
I looked upon the pictures of such great
humilities, which for their Maker’s sake
are also dear to see, “On this side, lo,
much people come, but slow the steps they take;”
the Poet murmured, “toward the grades above
these souls will send us forward on our way.”

Mine eyes, intent on gazing, to behold
new things, for which with eagerness they long,
in turning toward him were not slow to move.
Yet I ’d not have thee, Reader, shrink dismayed
from thy good purposes, through hearing how
God wills that what is due be paid. Heed not
the nature of the torment! Think of what
comes after! Think that, at the very worst,
beyond the Judgment-day it cannot go.
Then I began: “That, Teacher, which toward us
I see advancing does not look like people,
nor know I what, my sight is so deceived.”
And he to me: “Their torment’s heavy nature
so bows them toward the ground, that my eyes, too,
struggled therewith at first. But steadily
gaze there, and disentangle with thine eyes
what underneath those stones is coming on;
thou now canst see how each one smites himself.”
O ye proud Christians, sad and weary creatures,
who, sick in mental vision, put your trust
in backward moving steps; perceive ye not
that worms we are, created but to form
the angelic butterfly, which flies unscreened
to judgment? Why, then, is it that your mind
soars up in pride, since ye are, as it were,
defective insects, even as is a worm,
in which formation is not yet complete?

As, to hold up a ceiling or a roof,
in lieu of corbel, one perceives at times
a human figure joining knees to breast,
which out of unreality gives birth
to real distress in him who sees it; such
seemed these to me, when I had given good heed.
They were, in truth, both more and less bowed down,
as each had more or less upon his back;
but he that in his acts most patient was,
seemed to say, weeping: “I can bear no more!”

Courtney Langdon, translator. Full text is available at Liberty Fund.