| Notes 1
Good Friday evening, the beginning of the descent.
7 Here Dante is following the poets'
traditional invocation to the Muses, but he also adds his reliance on his own poetical
power (O memory ...).
13 Aeneas is the father of
Silvius.
28 The Chosen Vessel is Paul, who died in
Rome; he describes his mystical journey to the third heaven in the Second Epistle to the
Corinthians (12:2-4)
33 Dante, an ordinary human being, is called to be a hero, a new
creature in Christ. His transformation into the image of the God-Man is human by means of Virgil and
divine through the intercession of Beatrice.
52 Virgil was in Limbo (see Canto IV).
70 Beatrice is the girl Dante loved in his
youth. Dante had written an account of his love for Beatrice in his Vita Nova.
She will return later in the poem as the poet's second guide (see Purgatorio
XXX).
94 The Lady is the Virgin Mary;
Lucia, the second lady, (l. 100) represents divine light; she was sitting
next to Rachel (l. 102) who later in the poem will symbolize the contemplative life.
The third lady is Beatrice (l. 103), Dante's love from the Vita Nuova |
|
- Day
was now fading, and the dusky air
-
Released the creatures dwelling here on earth
- From
tiring tasks, while I, the only one,
-
-
Readied myself to endure the battle
- 5 Both
of the journey and the pathos,
- Which
flawless memory shall here record.
-
- O
Muses, O high genius, aid me now!
- O
memory that noted what I saw,
- Now
shall your true nobility be seen!
-
- 10 I
then began, "Poet, you guide me here:
- Be on
your guard lest my power fail me
-
Before you make me face that plunging pass.
-
-
"You tell us how the father of Silvius,
- While
in the flesh, to the eternal world
- 15 Journeyed,
with all his senses still alert.
-
-
"But if the Enemy of every evil
- Was
kind to him, considering the high purpose
- He
performed, and who and what he was,
-
-
"This is not hard for us to understand,
- 20 Since
in the highest heaven he was chosen
-
Father of honored Rome and of her empire.
-
-
"The two — city and empire — to tell the truth,
- Were
destined to become the holy place
- Where
the successor of mighty Peter sits.
-
- 25 "By
this journey which you praise him for
- He
came to comprehend what was to bring
-
Triumph to him and mantle to the pope.
-
-
"Later the Chosen Vessel journeyed beyond
- To
bring back reassurance in the faith
- 30 Which
is the source of the way to salvation.
"But I, why should I go? Who
gives permission?- I am
not Aeneas, nor am I Paul!
- Not I
nor anyone else would judge me worthy.
-
-
"So, if I surrender myself to going there,
- 35 I
fear the undertaking shall prove folly.
- You
are wise, you see more than I say."
Just as the man who, unwilling what
he wills,-
Thinks back over each thing he proposes
- And
ends by giving up all he has started,
40 So
I acted in that darkened place- As I
undid, by thinking, the same task
- I had
so readily right away accepted.
-
-
"If I have grasped the meaning of your words,"
- That
soul of generosity responded,
- 45 "Your
heart has been beset by cowardice
-
-
"Which often places burdens on a man
- To
turn him back from honorable deeds
- Like
some animal frightened by its shadow.
-
-
"Once and for all to rid you of that fear
- 50 I
will tell you why I came and what I heard
- From
the first moment I felt sorry for you.
-
-
"I was among those spirits in suspense:
- A
lady called me, so beautiful and blessed
- That
I at once implored her to command me.
-
- 55 "Her
eyes outshone the light of any star.
-
Sweetly and softly she began to speak
- With
the voice of an angel, in her own words:
-
-
" 'O courteous spirit from Mantua
- Whose
fame has lasted in the world till now
- 60 And
shall endure as long as does the world,
-
- "
'My friend, who is no longer fortune's friend,
- On a
wasted slope has been so thwarted
- Along
his path that he turns back in panic.
-
-
" 'I fear that he already is so lost
- 65 I
have arisen too late to bring him aid —
- At
least from what I hear of him in heaven.
-
-
" 'Hasten now, and with your polished words
- And
all that is required for his rescue,
- Help
him, so that I can be consoled.
-
- 70 "
'I am Beatrice who urges you to journey,
- Come
from a place to which I long to return.
- Love
moved me to speak my heart to you.
-
-
" ' When I stand once more before my Lord,
- I
shall often sing your praises to him.'
- 75 With
that she fell silent, and I ventured:
-
- "O
lady of virtue, through whom alone
- The
human race surpasses all contained
-
Within the heavens to the smallest sphere,
-
-
"Your command pleases me so thoroughly
- 80
That already to have done it would seem tardy:
- Only
let me know what it is you want.
-
-
"Tell me, however, why you are so bold
- To
descend as far as to this center
- Out
of the wide sky to which you would return?"
85 "
'Since you wish to know the inmost reason,- I
will tell you directly,' she answered me,
- ' Why
I do not dread to come down here.
-
-
" 'The only things we really need to fear
- Are
those that have the power to do harm:
- 90 Nothing
else should cause us to be fearful.
-
-
" 'God in his mercy has so fashioned me
- That
I am not affected by your pain;
- The
fires burning here do me no hurt.
-
-
" 'There is a noble Lady who weeps in heaven
- 95 For
this thwarted man to whom I send you,
- So
that heaven's strict decree is broken.
-
-
" 'That Lady called on Lucia with her request
- And
said: "Your faithful follower has now
- Such
need of you that I commend him to you."
-
- 100 "
'Lucia, the foe of every cruelty,
-
Started up and came to where I was,
-
Sitting at the side of the aged Rachel.
-
-
" 'She said, "Beatrice, true credit to our God,
- Will
you not help the man who so loves you
- 105 That
for your sake he left the common crowd?
-
-
" ' "Do you not hear his pathetic grieving?
- Do
you not see the death besieging him
- On
the river which the ocean cannot sway?"
-
-
" 'No one in this whole world was ever quicker
- 110 To
take advantage or escape from harm
- Than
I — when such words as these were spoken —
-
-
" 'To come below here from my blessed seat,
-
Putting my trust in your honest speech
- Which
honors you and those who listen to it.'
-
- 115 "After
she had discussed these matters with me,
- She
turned her eyes, glittering with tears,
- And
so made me more diligent to come.
-
-
"And I did come to you, just as she wished:
- I
saved you from the fierce beast barring you
- 120 From
the short route up the lovely mountain.
-
-
"So — what is this? Why? why do you stay?
- Why
entertain such cowardice of heart?
- Why
not be courageous and straightforward
-
-
"When there are three such blessed ladies
- 125 Caring
for you in the court of heaven
- And
my words guarantee you so much good?"
-
- As
little flowers in the chill of night
-
Drooping and shriveled, when the sun lights them,
-
Straighten up all open on their stalks,
-
- 130 So
I, with my limp stamina, now bloomed.
- And
such good warmth coursed boldly to my heart
- That
like a free man I once more began:
-
-
"O tender-hearted lady who came to aid me,
- And
you, too, so kind to obey swiftly
- 135 The
words of truth that she proposed to you!
-
-
"You, by your words, have so filled my heart
- With
fervor to go with you on this journey
- That
I am turned again to my first purpose.
-
-
"Now go — one will within the both of us —
- 140 You
the leader, you the lord and master!"
- These
things I said to him. When he moved on,
-
- I
entered on the rank and plunging path.
|
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to Inferno I