Purgatorio (The Divine Comedy series Book 2)
Page 4
78
that I was moved to do the same.
Oh empty shades, except in seeming! →
Three times I clasped my hands behind him
81
only to find them clasped to my own chest.
Surprise must have been painted on my face,
at which the shade smiled and drew back →
84
and I, pursuing him, moved forward.
Gently he requested that I stop. →
Then I knew him. And I asked him
87
to stay a while and speak with me.
‘Even as I loved you in my mortal flesh,’ he said,
‘so do I love you freed from it—yes, I will stay.
90
And you, what takes you on this journey?’
‘O Casella, I make this voyage to return →
another time,’ I said, ‘here where I’ve come.
93
But why did it take you so much time to get here?’ →
To which he answered: ‘No wrong is done me →
if he, who takes up whom it pleases him and when,
96
has many times denied me passage,
‘for righteous is the will that fashioned his.
It is three months now that he has taken,
99
acquiescent, all who would embark.
‘And I, finally moving toward the shore
where Tiber’s waters take on salt,
102
was kindly gathered in by him.
‘To that estuary he now sets his wings,
for there the souls collect
105
that do not sink to Acheron.’
And I: ‘If a new law does not take from you →
memory or practice of the songs of love
108
that used to soothe my every sorrow,
‘please let me hear one now to ease my soul,
for it is out of breath and spent,
111
joined to my body coming here.’ →
‘Love that converses with me in my mind,’ →
he then began, so sweetly →
114
that the sweetness sounds within me still.
My master and I and all those standing
near Casella seemed untroubled,
117
as if we had no other care.
We were spellbound, listening to his notes, →
when that venerable old man appeared and cried:
120
‘What is this, laggard spirits?
‘What carelessness, what delay is this?
Hurry to the mountain and there shed the slough
123
that lets not God be known to you.’ →
As when doves, gathered at their feeding, →
pecking here and there at wheat or tares,
126
without their usual display of pride—
should something suddenly make them afraid—
will all at once forget their food
129
because they are assailed by greater care,
thus I saw these new arrivals, their song cut short,
fleeing toward the mountain’s slope
like those who take an unfamiliar road.
133
And we, with no less haste, departed. →
OUTLINE: PURGATORIO III
I. Leaving the shore
1–4
the new crowd scatters toward the mountain, leaving Dante and Virgil running behind them
5–6
the poet’s reflection on his dependency upon Virgil
7
Virgil is stricken with remorse
8–9
apostrophe: the poet’s praise of Virgil’s conscience
10–15
Virgil and Dante stop running; Dante’s curiosity
16–21
the rising sun at Dante’s back and his shadow
22–24
Virgil reproves Dante for his lack of faith
25–30
Virgil speaks of his body, interred at Naples
31–33
Virgil adverts to the mystery of his “aerial body”
34–45
Virgil criticizes those who want such things explained
II. At the foot of the mountain
46–51
the cliff is as steep as those near Genoa
52–63
Virgil’s doubts about how to ascend; Dante sees souls above them and draws Virgil’s attention to these
64–66
Virgil, reassured, suggests they approach the souls
67–69
after they walk a mile, those souls are still distant
70–72
the souls stop, seeming puzzled by Dante and Virgil
73–78
Virgil’s captatio, appealing for their help
79–87
simile: the bellwether and his flock
88–93
further puzzlement of the souls: Dante’s shadow
94–96
Virgil answers their unasked question: Dante is alive
97–99
Virgil’s insistence on Dante’s divine authorization
100–102
the souls advise the travelers to turn and precede them
III. Manfred
103–105
the “bellwether” asks Dante if he recognizes him
106–108
description of his features and his cleft eyebrow
109–111
Dante does not know him; he shows a wound in his chest
112–117
Manfred reveals his identity and asks that Dante tell his daughter that he is saved once he returns to earth
118–135
Manfred’s narrative of his death, burial, and salvation
136–141
the sentence of the excommunicate: thirty for one; it may be reduced by agency of prayer from below
142–145
Manfred again asks Dante to seek out Constance once he has returned and to enlist her prayers for him
PURGATORIO III
Their sudden flight had scattered them →
along the plain, toward the mountain
3
where Justice tries our souls,
and I drew closer to my true companion.
How would I have come this far without him?
6
Who would have led me up the mountain?
He seemed beside himself with self-reproach. →
O pure and noble conscience,
9
how bitter is the sting of your least fault!
When he had slowed the hectic pace →
that mars the dignity of any action,
12
my mind, at first withdrawn into itself, →
now eagerly took in the wider landscape.
I fixed my gaze upon the highest hill
15
rising from the sea into the sky. →
The sun, its rays like red flames at my back, →
was cut off by my body
18
and threw the shadow of my shape before me.
Quickly I turned to look beside me, →
afraid that I had been abandoned,
21
since the ground was dark in front of me alone.
And my comfort, turning, then began to speak: →
‘Why are you still distrustful?
24
Do you not believe I am with you and guide you?
‘Evening has fallen there, where the body →
that cast my shadow while I lived is buried.
27
Taken from Brindisi, Naples holds it now. →
‘Do not wonder if I cast no shadow, →
no more than that the heavenly spheres
30
do not cut off their rays from one another.
> ‘The Power that fits bodies like ours →
to suffer torments, heat, and cold
33
does not reveal the secret of its working.
‘Foolish is he who hopes that with our reason →
we can trace the infinite path
36
taken by one Substance in three Persons.
‘Be content, then, all you mortals, with the quia, →
for could you, on your own, have understood, →
39
there was no need for Mary to give birth,
‘and you have seen the fruitless hope of some, →
whose very longing, unfulfilled,
42
now serves them with eternal grief—
‘I speak of Aristotle and of Plato
and of many others.’ And here he lowered his brow,
45
said nothing more, and seemed perturbed.
We now had come to the mountain’s base. →
There we found the cliff so steep
48
that nimble legs could not have climbed it.
The roughest, most deserted landslide →
between Lèrici and Turbìa, compared with it,
51
seems a wide and easy stairway.
‘Who would know where the hill slopes gently,’ →
mused my master, coming to a halt,
54
‘where someone without wings might climb?’
And while, his eyes cast down,
he was searching in his mind to find the way,
57
and I was looking up among the rocks,
there to the left I saw a company of souls →
moving their steps in our direction,
60
not seeming to approach, they came so slow.
‘Raise your eyes, master,’ I said, ‘look, →
there are some who can offer us advice
63
if you can’t puzzle out the way yourself.’
He looked up then and, reassured, replied:
‘Let us go toward them, for they come slowly,
66
and you, dear son, hold to that hope.’
Even after we had walked a thousand steps
these souls were still quite far away—
69
about the distance a strong arm could throw—
when they all pressed against the solid wall
of the high bank, standing still and close together,
72
as men stop, taking stock, when they are puzzled. →
‘O you who have come to a happy end, →
spirits already chosen,’ Virgil began,
75
‘by that peace which, I think, awaits you all,
‘tell us where the mountain rises gently
so that we may begin the long ascent.
78
The more we know, the more we hate time’s waste.’
As sheep come from the fold, first one, →
then two, then three, and the rest stand timid,
81
bending eyes and muzzle to the ground,
and what the first one does the others copy,
pressing up behind it if it stops,
84
simple and quiet, not knowing why,
so, of that fortunate flock, I saw
the ones in front move shyly forward,
87
with solemn bearing and with modest looks.
As soon as those in front could see the light
upon the ground was broken to my right, so that
90
my shadow stretched up to the cliff,
they stopped, drew back a little,
and all the rest that came behind,
93
not knowing why, did just the same. →
‘Without your asking I declare to you →
this is a human body that you see,
96
which now divides the sun’s light on the ground.
‘Do not be amazed, but think
that not without a power sent from Heaven
99
does he attempt to scale this rocky wall.’
Thus the master. And those worthy souls replied:
‘Turn, then, and go on before us,’ →
102
showing the way with the backs of their hands.
And one of them began: ‘Whoever you are, →
as you continue walking, turn to look at me,
105
and think if ever you have seen me in the world.’
I turned and fixed my gaze on him.
He was blond, handsome, and of noble aspect, →
108
but a blow had cleft one of his eyebrows.
When I had courteously disclaimed
ever to have seen him, ‘Look here!’ he said,
111
and showed me a wound high on his breast, →
then, smiling: ‘I am Manfred, →
grandson of the Empress Constance. →
114
Therefore I beg of you, when you return,
‘make your way to my fair daughter,
mother of the pride of Sicily and Aragon,
117
and tell the truth if another tale is told. →
‘After my body was riven
by two mortal blows, I turned
120
in tears to Him who freely pardons.
‘Horrible were my sins, →
but Infinite Goodness with wide-open arms
123
receives whoever turns to it.
‘If the pastor of Cosenza, sent by Clement →
on the hunt to take me down,
126
had read that page in God with greater care,
‘my body’s bones would still be sheltered
at the head of the bridge near Benevento
129
under the cairn of heavy stones.
‘Now the rain washes and the wind stirs them, →
beyond the Kingdom, near the Verde’s banks, there →
132
where he brought them with his torches quenched.
‘By such a curse as theirs none is so lost
that the eternal Love cannot return
135
as long as hope maintains a thread of green.
‘It is true that one who dies in contumacy
of Holy Church, even though repentant at the end,
138
must still endure outside this wall—
‘for every year he spent in his presumption— →
thirty, unless that sentence
141
is reduced by holy prayers.
‘Now you know how you can make me happy:
reveal to my good Constance where you’ve seen me →
and how long I am excluded—
145
for here much can be gained from those on earth.’
OUTLINE: PURGATORIO IV
I. Introductory retrospection
1–12
sense impressions and the human soul: a Scholastic introduction
13–18
three hours and more have passed since they arrived and only now have the travelers reached ante-purgatory
II. The ascent
19–24
pseudosimile: the cleft in the rock as hole in a hedge
25–30
pseudosimile: the steepness of the path upward compared to that of mountainous sites in Italy
31–35
the narrow, rising path through the rock
36–39
Dante’s question and Virgil’s answer: hoping for aid
40–45
on the steep, Dante is outpaced by Virgil and wants rest
46–51
Virgil urges him to make a final effort
52–60
a moment of repose; view of the shore and the sun�
��s path
61–75
Virgil clarifies the astronomical situation
76–84
Dante’s understanding of their relation to the equator
85–87
Dante wants to know how much farther they must climb
88–96
Virgil says that this mountain gets easier as it rises
III. Belacqua
97–99
a voice of one who has been listening to Virgil’s words
100–108
the travelers find souls at rest behind a boulder
109–111
Dante’s gently mocking remark about one soul’s sloth
112–114
the soul’s return shot
115–120
Dante recognizes Belacqua, approaches him, and is greeted by the soul’s laconic, if friendly, rebuke
121–126
Dante names Belacqua, whom he is surprised to find here, and chides him for his customary laziness
127–135
Belacqua explains his unhurried attitude
IV. Coda: Virgil’s urgency
136–139
Virgil notes the time (noon) and wishes to move on
PURGATORIO IV
When one of our faculties is given over →
to pleasure or to pain,
3
our soul will focus on that one alone
and seem to pay no mind to any of its other powers—
revealing the error in the doctrine that maintains
6
among the souls within us one is more aflame.
And therefore when we see or hear a thing
that concentrates the soul,
9
time passes and we’re not aware of it,
for the faculty that hears the passing time
is not the one that holds the soul intent:
12
the one that hears is bound, the other free.
This I truly understood,