THE FINAL PURGATION
[Seventh Ledge: the Lustful.--Passage through the flames.--Stairway
in the rock.--Night upon the stairs.--Dream of
Dante.--Morning.--Ascent to the Earthly Paradise.--Last words of
Virgil.]
As when he darts forth his first rays there where his Maker shed his
blood (Ebro falling tinder the lofty Scales, and the waves in the Ganges
scorched by noon), so the sun was now standing; so that the day was
departing, when the glad Angel of God appeared to us[16]. Outside the
flame he was standing on the bank, and was singing "Beati mundo corde"
[Blessed are the pure in heart], in a voice far more living than ours:
then, "No one goes further, ye holy souls, if first the fire sting not;
enter into it, and to the song beyond be ye not deaf," he said to us,
when we were near him. Whereat I became such, when I heard him, as is he
who in the pit is put[17]. With hands clasped upwards, I stretched
forward, looking at the fire, and imagining vividly human bodies I had
once seen burnt. The good Escorts turned toward me, and Virgil said to
me, "My son, here may be torment, but not death. Bethink thee! bethink
thee! and if I even upon Geryon guided thee safe, what shall I do now
that I am nearer God? Believe for certain that if within the belly of
this flame thou shouldst stand full a thousand years, it could not make
thee bald of one hair. And if thou perchance believest that I deceive
thee, draw near to it, and make trial for thyself with thine own hands
on the hem of thy garments. Put aside now, put aside every fear; turn
hitherward, and come on secure."
And I still motionless and against conscience!
When he saw me still stand motionless and obdurate, he said, disturbed a
little, "Now see, son, between Beatrice and thee is this wall."
As at the name of Thisbe, Pyramus, at point of death, opened his eyelids
and looked at her, what time the mulberry became vermilion, so, my
obduracy becoming softened, I turned me to the wise Leader, hearing the
name that in my memory is ever welling up. Whereat he nodded his head,
and said, "How! do we want to stay on this side?" Then he smiled as one
doth at a child who is conquered by an apple.
Then within the fire he set himself before me, praying Statius that he
would come behind, who previously, on the long road, had divided us.
When I was in, into boiling glass I would have thrown myself to cool me,
so without measure was the burning there. My sweet Father, to encourage
me, went talking ever of Beatrice, saying, "I seem already to see her
eyes."
A voice was guiding us, which was singing on the other side, and we,
ever attentive to it, came forth there where was the ascent. "Venite,
benedicti Patris mei" [Come, ye blessed of my Father], sounded within a
light that was there such that it overcame me, and I could not look on
it. "The sun departs," it added, "and the evening comes; tarry not, but
hasten your steps so long as the west grows not dark."
The way mounted straight, through the rock, in such direction that I cut
off in front of me the rays of the sun which was already low. And of few
stairs had we made essay ere, by the vanishing of the shadow, both I and
my Sages perceived behind us the setting of the sun. And before the
horizon in all its immense regions had become of one aspect, and night
had all her dispensations, each of us made of a stair his bed; for the
nature of the mountain took from us the power more than the delight of
ascending.
As goats, who have been swift and wayward on the peaks ere they are fed,
become tranquil as they ruminate, silent in the shade while the sun is
hot, watched by the herdsman, who on his staff is leaning and leaning
guards them; and as the shepherd, who lodges out of doors, passes the
night beside his quiet flock, watching that the wild beast may not
scatter it: such were we all three then, I like a goat, and they like
shepherds, hemmed in on this side and on that by the high rock. Little
of the outside could there appear, but through that little I saw the
stars both brighter and larger than their wont. Thus ruminating, and
thus gazing upon them, sleep overcame me, sleep which oft before a deed
be done knows news thereof.
At the hour, I think, when from the east on the mountain first beamed
Cytherea, who with fire of love seems always burning, I seemed in dream
to see a lady, young and beautiful, going through a meadow gathering
flowers, and singing; she was saying, "Let him know, whoso asks my name,
that I am Leah, and I go moving my fair hands around to make myself a
garland. To please me at the glass here I adorn me, but my sister Rachel
never withdraws from her mirror, and sits all day. She is as fain to
look with her fair eyes as I to adorn me with my hands. Her seeing, and
me doing, satisfies."[18]
And now before the splendors which precede the dawn, and rise the more
grateful unto pilgrims as in returning they lodge less remote[19], the
shadows fled away on every side, and my sleep with them; whereupon I
rose, seeing my great Masters already risen. "That pleasant apple which
through so many branches the care of mortals goes seeking, to-day shall
put in peace thy hungerings." Virgil used words such as these toward me,
and never were there gifts which could be equal in pleasure to these.
Such wish upon wish came to me to be above, that at every step
thereafter I felt the feathers growing for my flight.
When beneath us all the stairway had been run, and we were on the
topmost step, Virgil fixed his eyes on me, and said, "The temporal fire
and the eternal thou hast seen, son, and art come to a place where of
myself no further onward I discern. I have brought thee here with
understanding and with art: thine own pleasure now take thou for guide;
forth art thou from the steep ways, forth art thou from the narrow. See
there the sun, which on thy front doth shine; see the young grass, the
flowers, the shrubs, which here the earth of itself alone produces.
Until rejoicing come the beautiful eyes which weeping made me come to
thee, thou canst sit down and thou canst go among them. Expect no more
or word or sign from me. Free, upright, and sane is thine own free will,
and it would be wrong not to act according to its pleasure; wherefore
thee over thyself I crown and mitre."
CANTOS XXX AND XXXI
THE MEETING WITH HIS LADY IN THE EARTHLY PARADISE
[Beatrice appears.--Departure of Virgil.--Reproof of Dante by
Beatrice.--Confession of Dante.--Passage of Lethe.--Unveiling of
Beatrice.]
When the septentrion of the first heaven,[20] which never setting knew,
nor rising, nor veil of other cloud than sin,--and which was making
every one there acquainted with his duty, as the lower[21] makes whoever
turns the helm to come to port,--stopped still, the truthful people who
had come first between the griffon and it, turned to the chariot as to
their peace, and one of them, as if sent from heaven, singing, cried
thrice, "Veni, sponsa, de Libano" [Come with me from Lebanon, my
spouse], and all the others after.
As the blessed at the last trump will arise swiftly, each from his tomb,
singing Hallelujah with recovered voice, so upon the divine chariot, _ad
vocem tanti senis_ [at the voice of so great an elder], rose up a
hundred ministers and messengers of life eternal. All were saying,
"Benedictus, qui venis" [Blessed thou that comest], and, scattering
flowers above and around, "Manibus o date lilia plenis" [Oh, give lilies
with full hands].[22]
I have seen ere now at the beginning of the day the eastern region all
rosy, while the rest of the heaven was beautiful with fair clear sky;
and the face of the sun rise shaded, so that through the tempering of
vapors the eye sustained it a long while. Thus within a cloud of
flowers, which from the angelic hands was ascending, and falling down
again within and without, a lady, with olive wreath above a white veil,
appeared to me, robed with the color of living flame beneath a green
mantle.[23] And my spirit that now for so long a time had not been
broken down, trembling with amazement at her presence, without having
more knowledge by the eyes, through occult virtue that proceeded from
her, felt the great potency of ancient love.
Soon as upon my sight the lofty virtue smote, which already had
transfixed me ere I was out of boyhood, I turned me to the left with the
confidence with which the little child runs to his mother when he is
frightened, or when he is troubled, to say to Virgil, "Less than a
drachm of blood remains in me that doth not tremble; I recognize the
signals of the ancient flame,"[24]--but Virgil had left us deprived of
himself; Virgil, sweetest Father, Virgil, to whom I for my salvation
gave me. Nor did all which the ancient mother lost[25] avail unto my
cheeks, cleansed with dew,[26] that they should not turn dark again with
tears.
"Dante, though Virgil be gone away, weep not yet, for it behoves thee to
weep by another sword."
Like an admiral who, on poop or on prow, comes to see the people that
are serving on the other ships, and encourages them to do well, upon the
left border of the chariot--when I turned me at the sound of my own
name, which of necessity is registered here--I saw the Lady, who had
first appeared to me veiled beneath the angelic festival, directing her
eyes toward me across the stream; although the veil which descended from
her head, circled by the leaf of Minerva, did not allow her to appear
distinctly. Royally, still haughty in her mien, she went on, as one who
speaks and keeps back his warmest speech: "Look at me well: I am indeed,
I am indeed Beatrice. How hast thou deigned to approach the mountain?
Didst thou know that man is happy here?" My eyes fell down into the
clear fount; but seeing myself in it I drew them to the grass, such
great shame burdened my brow. As to the son the mother seems proud, so
she seemed to me; for somewhat bitter tasteth the savor of stern pity.
She was silent, and the angels sang of a sudden, "In te, Domine,
speravi" [In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust];[27] but beyond "pedes
meos" [my feet] they did not pass. Even as the snow, among the living
rafters upon the back of Italy, is congealed, blown, and packed by
Slavonian winds, then melting trickles through itself, if only the land
that loses shadow[28] breathe so that it seems a fire that melts the
candle: so was I without tears and sighs before the song of those who
time their notes after the notes of the eternal circles. But when I
heard in their sweet accords their compassion for me, more than if they
had said, "Lady, why dost thou so confound him?" the ice that was bound
tight around my heart became breath and water, and with anguish poured
from my breast through my mouth and eyes.
She, still standing motionless on the aforesaid side of the chariot,
then turned her words to those pious[29] beings thus:--"Ye watch in the
eternal day, so that nor night nor slumber robs from you one step the
world may make along its ways; wherefore my reply is with greater care,
that he who is weeping yonder may understand me, so that fault and grief
may be of one measure. Not only through the working of the great
wheels,[30] which direct every seed to some end according as the stars
are its companions, but through largess of divine graces, which have for
their rain vapors so lofty that our sight goes not near thereto,--this
man was such in his new life, virtually, that every right habit would
have made admirable proof in him. But so much the more malign and more
savage becomes the land ill-sown and untilled, as it has more of good
terrestrial vigor. Some time did I sustain him with my face; showing my
youthful eyes to him, I led him with me turned in right direction. So
soon as I was upon the threshold of my second age, and had changed life,
this one took himself from me, and gave himself to others. When from
flesh to spirit I had ascended, and beauty and virtue were increased in
me, I was less dear and less pleasing to him; and he turned his steps
along a way not true, following false images of good, which pay no
promise in full. Nor did it avail me to win by entreaty[31] inspirations
with which, both in dream and otherwise, I called him back; so little
did he heed them. So low he fell that all means for his salvation were
already short, save showing him the lost people.[32] For this I visited
the gate of the dead, and to him, who has conducted him up hither, my
prayers were borne with weeping. The high decree of God would be
broken, if Lethe should be passed, and such viands should be tasted
without any scot of repentance which may pour forth tears."
"O thou who art on the further side of the sacred river," turning her
speech with the point to me, which only by the edge had seemed to me
keen, she began anew, going on without delay, "say, say if this be true:
to so great an accusation it behoves that thine own confession be
conjoined." My power was so confused that my voice moved, and became
extinct before it could be released by its organs. A little she bore it;
then she said, "What thinkest thou? Reply to me; for the sad memories in
thee are not yet injured by the water."[33] Confusion and fear together
mingled forced such a "Yes" from my mouth that the eyes were needed for
the understanding of it.
As a crossbow breaks its cord and its bow when it shoots with too great
tension, and with less force the shaft hits the mark, so did I burst
under that heavy load, pouring forth tears and sighs, and the voice
slackened along its passage. Whereupon she to me:--"Within those desires
of mine[34] that were leading thee to love the Good beyond which there
is nothing whereto man may aspire, what trenches running traverse, or
what chains didst thou find, for which thou wert obliged thus to abandon
the hope of passing onward? And what enticements, or what advantages on
the brow of the others[35] were displayed, for which thou wert obliged
to court them?" After the drawing of a bitter sigh, hardly had I the
voice that answered, and the lips with difficulty gave it form. Weeping,
I said, "The present things with their false pleasure turned my steps
soon as your face was hidden." And she:--"Hadst thou been silent, or
hadst thou denied that which thou dost confess, thy fault would be not
less noted, by such a Judge is it known. But when the accusation of the
sin bursts from one's own cheek, in our court the wheel turns itself
back against the edge. But yet, that thou mayst now bear shame for thy
error, and that another time, hearing the Sirens, thou mayst be
stronger, lay aside the seed of weeping and listen; so shalt thou hear
how in opposite direction my buried flesh ought to have moved thee.
Never did nature or art present to thee pleasure such as the fair limbs
wherein I was inclosed; and they are scattered in earth. And if the
supreme pleasure thus failed thee through my death, what mortal things
ought then to have drawn thee into its desire? Forsooth thou oughtest,
at the first arrow of things deceitful, to have risen up, following me
who was no longer such. Nor should thy wings have weighed thee downward
to await more blows, either girl or other vanity of so brief a use. The
young little bird awaits two or three; but before the eyes of the
full-fledged the net is spread in vain, the arrow shot."
As children, ashamed, dumb, with eyes upon the ground, stand listening
and conscience-stricken and repentant, so was I standing. And she said,
"Since through hearing thou art grieved, lift up thy beard and thou
shalt receive more grief in seeing." With less resistance is a sturdy
oak uprooted by a native wind, or by one from the land of Iarbas,[36]
than I raised up my chin at her command; and when by the beard she asked
for my eyes, truly I recognized the venom of the argument.[37] And as my
face stretched upward, my sight perceived that those primal creatures
were resting from their strewing, and my eyes, still little assured, saw
Beatrice turned toward the animal that is only one person in two
natures. Beneath her veil and beyond the stream she seemed to me more to
surpass her ancient self, than she surpassed the others here when she
was here. So pricked me there the nettle of repentance, that of all
other things the one which most turned me aside unto its love became
most hostile to me.[38]
Such contrition stung my heart that I fell overcome; and what I then
became she knows who afforded me the cause.
Then, when my heart restored my outward faculties, I saw above me the
lady whom I had found alone,[39] and she was saying, "Hold me, hold me."
She had drawn me into the stream up to the throat, and dragging me
behind was moving upon the water light as a shuttle. When I was near the
blessed shore, "Asperges me"[40] I heard so sweetly that I cannot
remember it, far less can write it. The beautiful lady opened her arms,
clasped my head, and plunged me in where it behoved that I should
swallow the water. Then she took me, and, thus bathed, brought me within
the dance of the four beautiful ones,[41] and each of them covered me
with her arm. "Here we are nymphs, and in heaven we are stars; ere
Beatrice had descended to the world we were ordained unto her for her
handmaids. We will lead thee to her eyes; but in the joyous light which
is within them, the three yonder[42] who deeper gaze shall make keen
thine own." Thus singing they began; and then to the breast of the
griffon they led me with them, where Beatrice was standing turned toward
us. They said, "See that thou sparest not thy sight: we have placed thee
before the emeralds whence Love of old drew his arrows upon thee." A
thousand desires hotter than flame bound my eyes to the relucent eyes
which only upon the griffon were standing fixed. As the sun in a mirror,
not otherwise, the twofold animal was gleaming therewithin, now with
one, now with another mode.[43] Think, Reader, if I marveled when I saw
the thing stand quiet in itself, while in its image it was transmuting
itself.
While, full of amazement and glad, my soul was tasting that food which,
sating of itself, causes hunger for itself, the other three, showing
themselves in their bearing of loftier order, came forward dancing to
their angelic melody. "Turn, Beatrice, turn thy holy eyes," was their
song, "upon thy faithful one, who to see thee has taken so many steps.
For grace do us the grace that thou unveil to him thy mouth, so that he
may discern the second beauty which thou concealest."
O splendor of living light eternal! Who hath become so pallid under the
shadow of Parnassus, or hath so drunk at its cistern, that he would not
seem to have his mind incumbered, trying to represent thee as thou didst
appear there where in harmony the heaven overshadows thee, when in the
open air thou didst thyself disclose?
PARADISE