THE ENTRANCE ON THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE ETERNAL WORLD, CONTINUED
[Dante, doubtful of his own powers, is discouraged. Virgil cheers
him by telling him that he has been sent to his aid by a blessed
Spirit from Heaven. Dante casts off fear, and the poets proceed.]
The day was going, and the dusky air was taking the living things that
are on earth from their fatigues, and I alone was preparing to sustain
the war alike of the road, and of the woe which the mind that errs not
shall retrace. O Muses, O lofty genius, now assist me! O mind that didst
inscribe that which I saw, here shall thy nobility appear! I began:--
"Poet, that guidest me, consider my virtue, if it be sufficient, ere to
the deep pass thou trustest me. Thou sayest that the parent of Silvius
while still corruptible went to the immortal world and was there in the
body. Wherefore if the Adversary of every ill was then courteous,
thinking on the high effect that should proceed from him, and on the Who
and the What,[11] it seemeth not unmeet to a man of understanding; for
in the empyreal heaven he had been chosen for father of revered Rome and
of her empire; both which (to say truth indeed) were ordained for the
holy place where the successor of the greater Peter has his seat.
Through this going, whereof thou givest him vaunt, he learned things
which were the cause of his victory and of the papal mantle! Afterward
the Chosen Vessel went thither to bring thence comfort to that faith
which is the beginning of the way of salvation. But I, why go I thither?
or who concedes it? I am not AEneas, I am not Paul; me worthy of this,
neither I nor others think; wherefore if I give myself up to go, I fear
lest the going may be mad. Thou art wise, thou understandest better than
I speak."
And as is he who unwills what he willed, and because of new thoughts
changes his design, so that he quite withdraws from beginning, such I
became on that dark hillside; wherefore in my thought I abandoned the
enterprise which had been so hasty in its beginning.
"If I have rightly understood thy speech," replied that shade of the
magnanimous one, "thy soul is hurt by cowardice, which oftentimes
encumbers a man so that it turns him back from honorable enterprise, as
false seeing doth a beast when it is startled. In order that thou loose
thee from this fear I will tell thee wherefore I have come, and what I
heard at the first moment that I grieved for thee. I was among those who
are suspended,[12] and a Lady called me, so blessed and beautiful that I
besought her to command. Her eyes were more lucent than the star, and
she began to speak to me sweet and low, with angelic voice, in her own
tongue:--'O courteous Mantuan soul! of whom the fame yet lasts in the
world, and shall last so long as the world endures, a friend of mine and
not of fortune is upon the desert hillside, so hindered on his road that
he has turned for fear; and I am afraid, through that which I have heard
of him in heaven, lest he already be so astray that I may have risen
late to his succor. Now do thou move, and with thy speech ornate, and
with whatever is needful for his deliverance, assist him so that I may
be consoled for him. I am Beatrice who make thee go. I come from a
place whither I desire to return. Love moved me, and makes me speak.
When I shall be before my Lord, I will commend thee often to him.' Then
she was silent, and thereon I began:--'O Lady of Virtue, thou alone
through whom the human race surpasses all contained within that heaven
which has the smallest circles![13] so pleasing unto me is thy command
that to obey it, were it already done, were slow to me. Thou hast no
need further to open unto me thy will; but tell me the cause why thou
guardest not thyself from descending down here into this centre, from
the ample place whither thou burnest to return.' 'Since thou wishest to
know so inwardly, I will tell thee briefly,' she replied to me,
'wherefore I am not afraid to come here within. One ought to be afraid
of those things only that have power to do another harm; of other things
not, for they are not fearful. I am made by God, thanks be to him, such
that your misery touches me not, nor does the flame of this burning
assail me. A gentle Lady is in heaven who hath pity for this hindrance
whereto I send thee, so that stern judgment there above she breaks. She
summoned Lucia in her request, and said, "Thy faithful one now hath need
of thee, and unto thee I commend him." Lucia,[14] the foe of every cruel
one, rose and came to the place where I was, seated with the ancient
Rachael. She said:--"Beatrice, true praise of God, why dost thou not
succor him who so loved thee that for thee he came forth from the vulgar
throng? Dost thou not hear the pity of his plaint? Dost thou not see the
death that combats him beside the stream whereof the sea hath no vaunt?"
In the world never were persons swift to seek their good, and to fly
their harm, as I, after these words were uttered, came here below, from
my blessed seat, putting my trust in thy upright speech, which honors
thee and them who have heard it.' After she had said this to me, weeping
she turned her lucent eyes, whereby she made me more speedy in coming.
And I came to thee as she willed. Thee have I delivered from that wild
beast that took from thee the short ascent of the beautiful mountain.
What is it then? Why, why dost thou hold back? why dost thou harbor such
cowardice in thy heart? why hast thou not daring and boldness, since
three blessed Ladies care for thee in the court of Heaven, and my speech
pledges thee such good?"
As flowerets, bent and closed by the chill of night, after the sun
shines on them straighten themselves all open on their stem, so my weak
virtue became, and such good daring hastened to my heart that I began
like one enfranchised:--"O compassionate she who succored! and thou
courteous who didst speedily obey the true words that she addressed to
thee! Thou by thy words hast so disposed my heart with desire of going,
that I have returned unto my first intent. Go on now, for one sole will
is in us both: thou leader, thou Lord, and thou Master." Thus I said to
him; and when he had moved on, I entered along the deep and savage road.