Notes
8 The muses are invoked, especially Calliope,
the first and the inspirer of epic poetry.
11 The Magpies were daughters of King Pieros;
they challenged the Muses to a song contest and, losing, were turned into birds.
19 The planet Venus rises on this Easter
morning, shortly before sunrise.
23 The four stars represent the four cardinal
virtues: prudence. temperance, fortitude, and justice. Adam and Eve were the first
(and last) people
to see these southern stars from Eden.
31 Cato is the appointed guardian of the foot
of the mountain. Rather than yield to Caesar and the loss of the Republic, he committed
suicide at Utica in 46 B.C. His wife Marcia (l. 79) remains in Limbo.
77 Minos is the judge of souls in hell,
pictured in Inferno V.
88 The stream is the Acheron.
95 The reed symbolizes humility. |
|
- To
race for safer waters, the small ship
- Of my
poetic powers now hoists sail,
-
Leaving in her wake that cruel sea.
-
- And I
shall sing this second kingdom where
- 5
The human spirit purifies itself,
-
Becoming fit to mount up into heaven.
-
- But
let dead poetry here rise once more,
- O
sacred Muses, since I am all your own,
- And
let Calliope rise a step higher,
-
- 10
Accompanying my singing with that strain
- Which
struck the wretched Magpies with such force
- That
they despaired of ever finding pardon.
-
- Soft
coloring of oriental sapphire,
-
Collecting in the calm face of the sky,
- 15
Clear right up to the edge of the horizon,
-
-
Brought back delight again into my eyes
- As
soon as I stepped out from the dead air
- Which
overburdened both my sight and breast.
-
- The
beautiful, love-provoking planet
- 20
Was making the whole east break into smiles,
-
Veiling the Fishes that follow in her train:
-
- I
turned then to the right and fixed my mind
- On
the other pole, and I saw there four stars
-
Which, after the first people, none have seen.
-
- 25
The heavens seemed ecstatic in their flames.
- O
widowed northern hemisphere, you are
-
Deprived forever of wonder at their sight!
-
- When
at last I left off gazing at them,
-
Turning partially to the other pole
- 30
Where the Wain had already disappeared,
-
- I saw
near me an aged man, alive,
- In
bearing worthy of such reverence
- As no
son ever would refuse his father.
-
- His
beard was long and mixed with streaks of white,
- 35
Exactly like his hair which on both sides
- Fell
in two tresses down upon his chest.
-
-
Radiance from the four holy stars
- So
suffused his countenance with light
- That
I saw him as if he faced the sun.
-
- 40
"Who are you, running against the blind stream,
- Who
have fled here from the eternal prison?"
- He
asked, shaking his venerable locks.
-
-
"Who guided you, or what was the lamp there
- That
led you in escaping the deep night
- 45
Which keeps hell’s valley in unending blackness?
-
-
"Are the laws of the abyss so shattered
- Or is
some new design decreed in heaven
- That,
although damned, you come here to my rocks?"
-
- At
that my guide placed his hands upon me
- 50
And with words and gestures and other signs
- Made
me bend my head and knees in reverence.
-
- Then
he replied, "I come not on my own:
- A
lady came from heaven — by her prayers
- I
helped this man with my companionship.
-
- 55
"But since it is your wish that I unfold
- More
about the truth of our condition,
- It is
not my wish to deny your bidding.
-
-
"This man has yet to see his final evening,
- But
by his folly came so close to it
- 60
That not much time was left for him to turn.
-
-
"As I just mentioned, I was sent to him
- For
rescue, and there was no other way
- Than
this on which I set myself to travel.
-
-
"I have shown him all of the sinful people
- 65
And now I want to show him the spirits who
- Purge
themselves beneath your supervision.
-
-
"To tell you how I led him would take long:
- From
up on high the power comes that helps me
- To
guide him here to see and hear you now.
-
- 70
"Now be pleased to support his coming here.
- He
goes in search of freedom, which is so dear,
- As he
who gives his life for it would know.
-
-
"You know, since death for its sake was not bitter
- To
you in Utica, where you have doffed
- 75
The garment which on doomsday shall be bright.
-
-
"We have not broken an eternal edict,
- Since
he’s alive and Minos does not bind me:
- But I
am of the ring where the chaste eyes
-
-
"Of your Marcia gleam; her looks still pray you,
- 80
Oh holy breast, to hold her for your own.
- For
love of her, then, bend to our request:
-
-
"Permit us to pass through your seven realms.
- I
will report your kindness back to her —
- If
you allow such talk of you below."
-
- 85
"Marcia was so pleasing to my eyes
- While
I lived there beyond," he then replied,
-
"That every favor she wished of me, I did.
-
-
"Now that she dwells across that stream of evil,
- She
can no longer move me, by that law
- 90
Which was imposed when I emerged from there.
-
-
"But if, as you say, a lady from heaven
- Moves
and commands you, you need not flatter:
- It is
enough you ask me for her sake.
-
-
"Go then, and make sure that you cincture him
- 95
With a smooth reed and that you cleanse his face
- Until
you have removed all trace of filth.
-
-
"For it would not be fitting to go before
- The
first angel there on guard from paradise
- With
eyes still dulled by the thick murky mists.
-
- 100
"Around about the base of this small island,
- Below
the place where waves beat on the shore,
-
Rushes flourish in the soft wet mud.
-
-
"No other plant that sprouts its leaves, or stalk
- That
hardens, ever could thrive in such a spot
- 105
Because it would not bend to buffeting waves.
-
-
"Then afterwards, do not come back this way.
- The
sun, now rising, will point out to you
- An
easier route for climbing up the mountain."
-
- With
this he vanished. I lifted myself up
- 110
Without a word, drawing myself closer
- To my
guide, and turned my eyes toward him,
-
- And
he began, "Son, follow in my footsteps!
- Let
us turn back, for the plain slopes downward
- In
that direction to its lowest point."
-
- 115
The dawn was winning over the morning hour
- Which
fled before it, so that, still far off,
- I
recognized the trembling of the sea.
-
- We
traveled along the solitary plain,
- Like
a man turning to the road he’s lost
- 120
And, till he finds it, feels the walking useless.
-
- When
we arrived at a meadow where the dew
-
Outlasts the sun, since in the cooling shade
- The
dew scarcely evaporates in the breeze,
-
- My
master gently spread out both his hands
- 125
And pressed them on the grass. And I, at that,
-
Comprehending what he here intended,
-
-
Presented to his touch my tear-stained cheeks:
-
Completely he revealed their rightful color
- Which
hell had hidden underneath the grime.
-
- 130
Then we came down to the deserted shore
- Which
never saw one man sail on its waters
- Who
afterward resolved how to return.
-
-
There, as another willed, he cinctured me.
- O
wonderful! when he had picked the humble
- 135
Plant, the same one instantly sprang up
-
-
Exactly at the spot he plucked it out.
|
return
to Inferno XXXIV